Leading thinker explains why mass killings by our side is okay:
“The difference is not in the NUMBERS, it’s in the INTENTIONS.” The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 18 November 2015
Jim Mora, Jock Anderson, Ellen Read, Zara Potts, Jesse Mulligan
depravityn. 1. Moral corruption or degradation. 2. A depraved act or condition. 3. Wickedness.
JIM MORA: … And just ahead of Zara, our one—I was gonna say THREE Quick Questions, actually, but they ARE quick —-
ZARA POTTS:[mirthlessly] Ah, ha ha ha.
JIM MORA: Ahhh, the first one: “The killing of, ahhh, innocent civilians in Paris and above the Sinai in a Russian plane are unforgivable atrocities, but do we have an estimate of how many innocent civilians have been killed by American drone strikes in various countries and how many in other military and quasi-military actions around the world?”—William, from Waipara. Robert Ayson—Professor Robert Ayson—ahhh, from Strategic Studies at Victoria University.
PROFESSOR ROBERT AYSON:[speaking slowly to convey how serious and thoughtful he is] The difference is not in the NUMBERS, it’s in the INTENTIONS. The drone attacks are not designed to kill innocent civilians. That’s not to say that civilians are unaffected; one study has estimated that more than two thousand four hundred people have been killed in U.S. drone strikes during the Obama administration, and of these over three hundred have been civilians. But the terrorism in Paris and in the case of the Russian plane over the Sinai is qualitatively different; it reflects a clear intention to target and kill innocent civilians, to cause great shock and fear, and then to affect political decisions.
JIM MORA: Professor Robert Ayson. [brightening up] Second question: “At the moment we have two alternative national flags for New Zealand vessels, the red ensign for merchant ships and for use in places or on occasions of Maori significance, and the white ensign for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Will there be similar alternatives if a new flag is selected, and if so, what? Has in fact this matter been considered by the Flag Consideration Panel?”—Larry Robins. Ahhh, Suzanne Stevenson speaking for the Flag Consideration Project…..
And it was dealt with in the “One Quick Question” feature, which never has any follow-up. Mora—or more likely his producer—made sure that it would not be dealt with any further by burying it with two more “Quick Questions”.
In spite of that deliberate attempt to stymie any further discussion, if even one of the Panelists had any moral fibre, or gumption, he or she would have contested Professor Ayson’s horrifying little homily.
These sorts of comments by prof Ayson, Western coalitions, Russia, and others engaged in bombing and wars around the globe implying the families and compatriots of thousands of civilians killed as “collateral damage” should somehow regard those killings as unfortunate, qualitatively different, and in no way warranting any kind of reciprocal response, are just bizarre.
We never get to hear about the real numbers of innocent people killed by these “great powers” but those who live there all know the situation. Of course some of them will seek vengeance. The righteousness of seeking vengeance is the very example their attackers keep giving them!
The US would say that they don’t intend to do evil things. They bomb a funeral hoping to get some terrorists knowing that civilians will die or a hospital but it is not their intent to do an evil deed.
Russians don’t think their actions are evil. They are supporting what they see as an ally and bombing what they see as terrorists. For any one to try and make a distiction between the US actions and Russian is a sure sign of dishonesty.
Muslim extreemists don’t think they are evil either. They believe that what they are doing is in defence of their religion and that it is the only way to take the fight to those who they see as oppressing them and killing them back home.
All of them do horrible things and the way they can do that is by justifying it to themselves is that its for the greater good. Intentions is the most redicuolous reason to try and distinguish one from the others.
“It is five years on from this explosion and as we know from the Royal Commission of Inquiry and from the excellent book Tragedy at Pike River by Rebecca Macfie that this accident was always going to happen.
A gassy mine, insufficient ventilation, untested mining processes, pressure to produce, and a bullying culture that criticised those that raised concerns, very high staff turnover, lack of training, no viable second way out of the mine, these factors meant that a disaster was, in many way, inevitable.
There was also a dysfunctional, lazy and captured regulator that failed to support the miners who, contrary to popular myth, regularly and formally raised multitudes of serious safety concerns including one miner scrawling “this mine will blow” on his exam papers he was sitting at the local polytech.”
I was surprised to find out yesterday that there is one mainstream television sports presenter who publicly supports the Green Party and the upcoming climate change march – Hayley Holt. She is actually encouraging Green Party members to join the march in an official Green email. I’ve always (perhaps unfairly) assumed all television sports presenters are either apolitical or conservative, and certainly never likely to openly publicly represent a progressive party.
I was discussing this with a friend this morning who said she used to be in a relationship with Ritchie McCaw. Given that more often than not people who get together tend to share similar points of view, could it be that McCaw is actually (quietly) a supporter of Labour or the Greens……
“Given that more often than not people who get together tend to share similar points of view, could it be that McCaw is actually (quietly) a supporter of Labour or the Greens……”
As an alternative may I suggest “Given that people who split up tend to have had a disagreement over a point of view could it be that McCaw dropped her because she was a luddite?”.
Not knowing either of the people concerned it is of course just as much pure speculation as your own proposal.
On the other hand don’t you realise that McCaw is an evil man who associates with John Key and has been expelled by the enthusiasts of this blog to the lowest levels of Belial’s domain?
Can’t say I have seen any one here attack McCaw. More attack John Key for humping his leg at every opertunity.
McCaw can have what ever political view he likes. Pleasantly unlike Dagg and others he has not chosen to use his position of influence to openly back a party as far as I am aware. Even if he did so what. as long as it is within election rules go for broke Richie.
Chris might be on fire, but he is mostly burning himself.
And is Iprent really endorsing Chris’s latest post, which, at least to me, seems to be excusing the crimes of Stalin and Mao.
[lprent: As you clearly haven’t read either my post or his, I’m moving this to OpenMike as being offtopic. Come back when you have read them and argue what is in the post rather than being reflexive reactionary burbling your silly mantras. ]
Did you read his post or mine? He dealt with your usual whine in it.
I was surprised that your comment there dropped directly into repeating exactly what he’d said would be your type of response. And you didn’t say anything different to what he anticipated.
Do you have a cut-n-paste to go with your lack of reading skills.
Whether you agree or disagree with Chris Trotter’s precise political analysis, I have always found his moral compass exceedingly reliable. The reason for this is because he knows where we have come from.
When people get lost in the bush the SAR experts tell us that oddly enough the last thing most people think to do is to backtrack the way they came until they recognise where they are again. (Instead most people blunder on with some illusory idea or wrong-headed strategy that they’ll eventually ‘walk out’)
Trotter not only knows where we have come from, but offers thoughtful and provoking analysis’ of why and how we took these paths. Voices reminding us of our past are not always comforting or pleasing to us; but we’d do well to respect them little more than we are in the habit of.
They forget, of course, that the vast majority of those killed were individuals who refused to accept the right of either of these parties to impose their will on the people in whose name they had accomplished the overthrow of the old oppressors.…whoever, in the name of justice and equity, takes a stand against an oppressive system of domination, coercion and exploitation is, by definition, a leftist.
Chris is defending those who stand up to coercive power, whoever wields it.
Over the years the ability of politicians has steadily declined…I sometimes wonder if perhaps I have a nostalgic view of what came before but I can always rely on you Wayne to confirm my opinion that the quality of thought of the modern politician has indeed descended to a new level of ineptitude.
Quote”National is trying to shut down debate about their appalling record on cold, damp housing.
But National MP David Carter, Parliament’s Speaker, blocked Labour Leader Andrew Little’s healthy homes bill – a law that would have guaranteed warm dry homes for our children.
And when Andrew told the public this was the Speaker protecting National, he was sent to the Privileges Committee – they want to punish him for telling the truth.
But the more they try to shut down the fight to get healthy homes for all New Zealanders the more we’ll push back – in Privileges Committee, in Parliament, in public.
Together we can make it clear that we will not be silenced. Please, lend your support to this crucial campaign before Andrew Little appears before the Committee in a few weeks time.
Because every Kiwi kid deserves a warm, dry home.”
The Speaker must have “heard” about this transgression… I mean it’s way worse, what Little did here, than, say, calling all LP MPs supporters of rapists and child molesterers (sic). Right Mr Speaker, Right?
This is a letter our Doctors that have to write repeated ‘sickness’ certifications for our terminally ill job seekers should send to our WINZ offices and address them all to Pullyer Bennefit.
I was so angry when I read it this morning. An entire industry coming together to do good and Nick Smith claims there is not enough data to show if the waste stream was actually causing significant environmental harm. How deep is his head buried in the sand?
This bothered me, as I found Professor Ayson’s comments to be profoundly disturbing. Unlike Jim Mora, his producers and the four other silent people in that studio yesterday, I don’t think anyone, leave alone a university professor, should be allowed to make such statements without having to defend or explain them.
I have, therefore, just sent the following email to Robert Ayson. I’ll publish his response when it comes in….
Some questions about your statements on RNZ National yesterday afternoon
Dear Professor Ayson,
Yesterday on RNZ National, you claimed that the terrorism in Paris and above the Sinai “reflects a clear intention to target and kill innocent civilians, to cause great shock and fear”. You also stated that when “the West” kills innocent civilians, it is “qualitatively different”.
Could you please explain how you would categorize the intentions of the United States’ strategists when they decided to attack hospitals and kill patients and medical staff, as in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 and Kunduz, Afghanistan just last month.
Thanks for your email. If you have information which shows that the United States was deliberately targeting medical staff and innocent patients I would be interested to see it. I don’t believe that is what they are intending, and I think this makes the comparison with the Paris terrorism problemmatic. But those in the US and similar countries who are making decisions about the use of force and the armed forces personnel who undertake these attacks can and do get targeting wrong, and in seeking to target people and groups they believe to be in particular locations they sometimes make poor judgements about the wider consequences.
so his excuse is simply that as long as the US and its allies proclaim innosence and lack of knowledge in finding their targets it make the killing more human and less murderous?
Good one.
So next time the terrorists just simply state that their suicide drivers drove to the wrong establishment, and oops its ok, cause no harm was intended there.
The United States military was repeatedly given the coordinates of Kunduz Hospital. They didn’t get their targeting wrong.
When they “conquered” Fallujah General Hospital in November 2004, U.S. troops tied up doctors and nurses, and forced patients out of their beds, before also tying them up. Again, that doesn’t seem like getting their targeting wrong.
“The win over France in the quarter-final put some demons to bed.”
—Richie McCaw, at media conference to announce his retirement, speaking as though the French team had tried for even one minute in that 62-13 disgrace.
Thursday 19 November 2015, 12:20 p.m.
The demons of that 2011 RWC final débâcle, of course, remain very much alive.
Yes I know he was. But there were no “demons” after that loss; they were simply beaten by a better team, as they had been four years before, when they lost to Australia, and four years before that, when they were demolished by the Tricolors.
The demons, if one is to accept McCaw’s terminology, all belong to the 2011 farce.
Dunno if any of you are into creating your own videos – e.g. by rendering YOUR OWN video frames in software like DAZ Studio, or BRYCE or POSER.
Anyway, Microsoft has been sending ENDLESS Windows updates to people still using Windows 7 and Windows Vista since the TPA was signed.
I’m no software guru by any stretch of the imagination. But today (after receiving yet more updates overnight) I find I can no longer post-process MY OWN videos. By “My Own” i mean videos entirely and totally legitimately created by me and therefore OWNED by me no matter how you define “Copyright”.
And they ARE currently hell-bent on trying to get everyone to upgrade to Windows 10. So I’ve turned off Windows updates on both machines.
Is this Corporate Madness gone a step too far?
I don’t trust Microsoft any further than I could throw them (if only I were able to pick them up).
The moral rules as laid down by the media unfortunately
For example could what happened in WW2 (the atrocities committed by the allies specifically) be allowed to happen in this day and age or would the media make sure that every civilian back safely at home knew about it
I don’t think it would be allowed to happen in this day and age, could you imagine the dam busters raid going ahead?
The Dresden fire bombing, the treatment of prisoners of war etc etc
Whereas Putin cares not for the opinions of the journalists and is just doing what he thinks is right, he is right in this situation but the West should have the moral courage to do what needs to be done and not leave to Russia
Loads of people get hard ons about WW2 but those days are gone.
The wars the west has fought since have all been wars of choice. The last existential threat we facded was the USSR, and that never got hot. the proxy wars were all wars that we could lose.
that’s the diff, I think. In a war you can afford to lose, getting genocidey is seen as fucking abhorrent.
“MEROM GOLAN, Golan Heights — There is a building boom quietly underway in this little kibbutz, the first established after Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war…
ON TPP – The Fall Rising website focuses its critique on three areas: deregulation, privatization, and the right of corporations to sue governments over expected future profits. Small businesses and poor and oppressed populations, it says, would be the hardest hit. Ten other U.S. and Canadian cities joined in the “Urgent Call to Action” to “stop the global corporate coup.”
Here is a quiz on ISDS and TTIP which is useful in gaining knowledge on ISDS. There are two levels- beginner and advanced. (The information is useful for when you are trying to inform others of the pitfalls of ISDS.)
There was a nice post on here yesterday about Jonah Lomu.
Really disappointed to see how tasteless people can be trying to use this for a political point. FFS – his poor family are grieving and he is not buried as yet.
“Rugby player dead. John Key to immediately return from Vietnam to urgently rub himself against the corpse.”
An interesting article is now up on the Herald website by Juha Saarinen on the IT aspects of the police raid on Hager, as made public via the Court documents released by Scoop.
I am no IT expert (quite the opposite) but the criticisms expressed in the article are close to my thoughts when reading the police evidence and MO as set out in the court documents.
I’d be interested in the comments of those here who are much more IT competent than me.
There are some comic elements around the raid too. As part of cloning of one of Hager’s laptops, the police took a photo of it to record the information on the screen.
This was apparently because the police needed internet access because they didn’t have a 3G/4G mobile data connection with them. You’d think that a mobile data connection would be standard issue so that the police don’t have to obtain internet access via the systems they’re investigating.
Seriously?
That’s as stupid as executing an arrest deemed dangerous enough to warrant armed police and a helicopter insertion, but not having an ambulance on hand when the pregnant wife of the obese target needs medical attention.
We have a serious problem with police forgetting basic details, such as “things they might need during the operation” and “the law”.
Fair enough. Thanks PB. Fancy having completely opposite meanings in the US and the UK respectively. I’d only ever heard/seen the phrase used by Americans.
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Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
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Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
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The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
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Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sonia R. Grover, Clinical Professor of Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne Polina Zimmerman/Pexels Menstruation, or a period, is the bleeding that occurs about monthly in healthy people born with a uterus, from puberty to menopause. This happens when the endometrium, the ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney Lisa Tomasetti/Opera Australia “It’s an old song”, Hermes (Christine Anu) sings at the opening of Hadestown, but “we’re gonna sing it again and again”. Based on a ...
An additional $13 million will be invested in tourism infrastructure, including upgrading huts and resolving the backlog in Milford Sound concessions. ...
The reality is that we have no obligation to tolerate the intolerant. They are using violence to shut down and silence others. The result of tolerating intolerant views is the loss of everyone’s freedom of speech except for the one who most effectively ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Davis, Associate Professor in Conservation, Edith Cowan University Adwo/Shutterstock Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons. In response, manufacturers have produced second generation anticoagulant rodenticides such as bromadiolone, widely ...
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Asia Pacific Report Two independent Jewish Voices groups in Aotearoa New Zealand have written an open letter to the government condemning the Zionist “colonisation” project leading to genocide and criticising the role of the NZ Jewish Council for its “unelected” and “uncritical support” for Israel. The groups, Alternative Jewish Voices ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Newspoll, conducted February 10–14 from a sample of 1,244, gave the Coalition a 51–49 lead, unchanged from the previous Newspoll, ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you enjoy whip-smart satire: The White Lotus (Neon, February 17) HBO’s award-winning The White Lotus is back for what critics are calling “an absolutely exquisite third ...
NZPF called for a slowdown of the curriculum change, asking for one subject at a time, so that teachers and principals could be fully trained and feel confident and competent to implement the changes, New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) President ...
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Analysis: While most Wellingtonians enjoyed a rare but unbeatable sunny day on Saturday, some New Zealand diplomats will have been briefly shocked by a screenshot making the rounds on social media showing US President Donald Trump calling us a “third world country”.The image, it appears, was a fake – certainly a ...
ActionStation Director, Kassie Hartendorp says that the Treaty Principles Bill has galvanised the biggest movement in support of Te Tiriti in modern history. ...
While it is in the interests of Wellington ratepayers to sell off this subsidy for the rich, it is unfortunate that it has come to this point. The council should have never spent a penny on this programme, and the $3.4 million spent is a flagrant abuse ...
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On the heels of The White Lotus season three, Tara Ward travels to Koh Samui, Thailand, to live her best life as a five-star wannabe. I’ve never been one for luxury travel. Despite religiously watching TV shows like Luxury Escapes: World’s Best Holidays and harbouring grand dreams of one day ...
The Treaty Principles Bill submission hearings continue at Parliament today with a range of submitters expected including councils, iwi, community organisations and individuals. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a serious blow to the soft power of the United States and disastrous for many poor countries ...
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The resignation of the director general of health is the latest departure in what Labour is calling a ‘purge’ of health leadership. Another day, another health resignation It’s a dangerous time to be a top health executive. On Friday, Dr Diana Sarfati announced her resignation as director general of health ...
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Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
After a morning spent calf marking, Flock Hill Station manager Richard Hill headed up Bridge Hill – about 100km from Christchurch on the way to the West Coast – to check on a fire near the station’s boundary.It was December 5 last year, and the Craigieburn area had experienced three ...
It can’t be much of a surprise that a relatively inexperienced Act MP, handed the workplace relations portfolio, doesn’t want to entertain the country’s biggest union in her office.But it still astonishes the head of that union, the CTU’s president, Richard Wagstaff.After all, he’s met regularly with ministers of all ...
Leading thinker explains why mass killings by our side is okay:
“The difference is not in the NUMBERS, it’s in the INTENTIONS.”
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 18 November 2015
Jim Mora, Jock Anderson, Ellen Read, Zara Potts, Jesse Mulligan
depravity n. 1. Moral corruption or degradation. 2. A depraved act or condition. 3. Wickedness.
JIM MORA: … And just ahead of Zara, our one—I was gonna say THREE Quick Questions, actually, but they ARE quick —-
ZARA POTTS: [mirthlessly] Ah, ha ha ha.
JIM MORA: Ahhh, the first one: “The killing of, ahhh, innocent civilians in Paris and above the Sinai in a Russian plane are unforgivable atrocities, but do we have an estimate of how many innocent civilians have been killed by American drone strikes in various countries and how many in other military and quasi-military actions around the world?”—William, from Waipara. Robert Ayson—Professor Robert Ayson—ahhh, from Strategic Studies at Victoria University.
PROFESSOR ROBERT AYSON: [speaking slowly to convey how serious and thoughtful he is] The difference is not in the NUMBERS, it’s in the INTENTIONS. The drone attacks are not designed to kill innocent civilians. That’s not to say that civilians are unaffected; one study has estimated that more than two thousand four hundred people have been killed in U.S. drone strikes during the Obama administration, and of these over three hundred have been civilians. But the terrorism in Paris and in the case of the Russian plane over the Sinai is qualitatively different; it reflects a clear intention to target and kill innocent civilians, to cause great shock and fear, and then to affect political decisions.
JIM MORA: Professor Robert Ayson. [brightening up] Second question: “At the moment we have two alternative national flags for New Zealand vessels, the red ensign for merchant ships and for use in places or on occasions of Maori significance, and the white ensign for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Will there be similar alternatives if a new flag is selected, and if so, what? Has in fact this matter been considered by the Flag Consideration Panel?”—Larry Robins. Ahhh, Suzanne Stevenson speaking for the Flag Consideration Project…..
….ad nauseam….
Ahh I see the banality has given way to a more overt ticking of boxes now with the carefully chosen ‘panel’ of predictable themes.
Validate western actions, check. Promote flag, check……..thanks morrissey for keeping us updated on the decline of broadcasting.
And it was dealt with in the “One Quick Question” feature, which never has any follow-up. Mora—or more likely his producer—made sure that it would not be dealt with any further by burying it with two more “Quick Questions”.
In spite of that deliberate attempt to stymie any further discussion, if even one of the Panelists had any moral fibre, or gumption, he or she would have contested Professor Ayson’s horrifying little homily.
+1 Morrissey
These sorts of comments by prof Ayson, Western coalitions, Russia, and others engaged in bombing and wars around the globe implying the families and compatriots of thousands of civilians killed as “collateral damage” should somehow regard those killings as unfortunate, qualitatively different, and in no way warranting any kind of reciprocal response, are just bizarre.
We never get to hear about the real numbers of innocent people killed by these “great powers” but those who live there all know the situation. Of course some of them will seek vengeance. The righteousness of seeking vengeance is the very example their attackers keep giving them!
Professor Ayson – “That’s not to say that civilians are unaffected”.
Hmmm ……. ” Following the drone attack 27 villagers were found ‘not unaffected’ in the rubble. In accordance with local custom their bodies will……”
And closer to home…….” The father of three who was airlifted to Whangarei Base Hospital was ‘not unaffected’ on arrival “.
Classy…….Professor.
This guy has drunk the Sam Harris cool aid.
Intentions are a matter of perspective.
The US would say that they don’t intend to do evil things. They bomb a funeral hoping to get some terrorists knowing that civilians will die or a hospital but it is not their intent to do an evil deed.
Russians don’t think their actions are evil. They are supporting what they see as an ally and bombing what they see as terrorists. For any one to try and make a distiction between the US actions and Russian is a sure sign of dishonesty.
Muslim extreemists don’t think they are evil either. They believe that what they are doing is in defence of their religion and that it is the only way to take the fight to those who they see as oppressing them and killing them back home.
All of them do horrible things and the way they can do that is by justifying it to themselves is that its for the greater good. Intentions is the most redicuolous reason to try and distinguish one from the others.
quite clearly the roads to all religious hellfire are paved with ‘good intentions’!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11547573
http://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/74142696/injustice-at-the-heart-of-pike-river-grief-five-years-on
“It is five years on from this explosion and as we know from the Royal Commission of Inquiry and from the excellent book Tragedy at Pike River by Rebecca Macfie that this accident was always going to happen.
A gassy mine, insufficient ventilation, untested mining processes, pressure to produce, and a bullying culture that criticised those that raised concerns, very high staff turnover, lack of training, no viable second way out of the mine, these factors meant that a disaster was, in many way, inevitable.
There was also a dysfunctional, lazy and captured regulator that failed to support the miners who, contrary to popular myth, regularly and formally raised multitudes of serious safety concerns including one miner scrawling “this mine will blow” on his exam papers he was sitting at the local polytech.”
I was surprised to find out yesterday that there is one mainstream television sports presenter who publicly supports the Green Party and the upcoming climate change march – Hayley Holt. She is actually encouraging Green Party members to join the march in an official Green email. I’ve always (perhaps unfairly) assumed all television sports presenters are either apolitical or conservative, and certainly never likely to openly publicly represent a progressive party.
I was discussing this with a friend this morning who said she used to be in a relationship with Ritchie McCaw. Given that more often than not people who get together tend to share similar points of view, could it be that McCaw is actually (quietly) a supporter of Labour or the Greens……
“Given that more often than not people who get together tend to share similar points of view, could it be that McCaw is actually (quietly) a supporter of Labour or the Greens……”
As an alternative may I suggest “Given that people who split up tend to have had a disagreement over a point of view could it be that McCaw dropped her because she was a luddite?”.
Not knowing either of the people concerned it is of course just as much pure speculation as your own proposal.
On the other hand don’t you realise that McCaw is an evil man who associates with John Key and has been expelled by the enthusiasts of this blog to the lowest levels of Belial’s domain?
Can’t say I have seen any one here attack McCaw. More attack John Key for humping his leg at every opertunity.
McCaw can have what ever political view he likes. Pleasantly unlike Dagg and others he has not chosen to use his position of influence to openly back a party as far as I am aware. Even if he did so what. as long as it is within election rules go for broke Richie.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/74163272/jonah-in-his-own-words-the-only-thing-i-ever-got-teased-about-was-going-to-athletics-with-no-shoes
I like that we both have things in common…the first Omen movie still gives me chills even more so than The Exorcist
Both scared the crap out of me, but the Omen, it was much more subtle and makes me shiver still thinking about it.
Would have thought Jonah was too young for either of those movies?
Probably watched it on vhs I guess
Chris might be on fire, but he is mostly burning himself.
And is Iprent really endorsing Chris’s latest post, which, at least to me, seems to be excusing the crimes of Stalin and Mao.
[lprent: As you clearly haven’t read either my post or his, I’m moving this to OpenMike as being offtopic. Come back when you have read them and argue what is in the post rather than being reflexive reactionary burbling your silly mantras. ]
Did you read his post or mine? He dealt with your usual whine in it.
I was surprised that your comment there dropped directly into repeating exactly what he’d said would be your type of response. And you didn’t say anything different to what he anticipated.
Do you have a cut-n-paste to go with your lack of reading skills.
Whether you agree or disagree with Chris Trotter’s precise political analysis, I have always found his moral compass exceedingly reliable. The reason for this is because he knows where we have come from.
When people get lost in the bush the SAR experts tell us that oddly enough the last thing most people think to do is to backtrack the way they came until they recognise where they are again. (Instead most people blunder on with some illusory idea or wrong-headed strategy that they’ll eventually ‘walk out’)
Trotter not only knows where we have come from, but offers thoughtful and provoking analysis’ of why and how we took these paths. Voices reminding us of our past are not always comforting or pleasing to us; but we’d do well to respect them little more than we are in the habit of.
Is this a TPP post or one of the ones you no longer make comments upon?
You didn’t read it carefully enough.
They forget, of course, that the vast majority of those killed were individuals who refused to accept the right of either of these parties to impose their will on the people in whose name they had accomplished the overthrow of the old oppressors.…whoever, in the name of justice and equity, takes a stand against an oppressive system of domination, coercion and exploitation is, by definition, a leftist.
Chris is defending those who stand up to coercive power, whoever wields it.
Wayne
There are more people living in slavery today than at any time in our history.
And there we have the classic right wing nutter unthinking knee-jerk response, exactly as Trotter intimates.
Well done Wayne you have underlined the post.
Over the years the ability of politicians has steadily declined…I sometimes wonder if perhaps I have a nostalgic view of what came before but I can always rely on you Wayne to confirm my opinion that the quality of thought of the modern politician has indeed descended to a new level of ineptitude.
There seems to be a bit of brouahaha in Parliament, and there is a petition to sign.
So Go Sign it.
http://go.labour.org.nz/healthyhomes?utm_campaign=151115_hhb_pet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nzlabour
Quote”National is trying to shut down debate about their appalling record on cold, damp housing.
But National MP David Carter, Parliament’s Speaker, blocked Labour Leader Andrew Little’s healthy homes bill – a law that would have guaranteed warm dry homes for our children.
And when Andrew told the public this was the Speaker protecting National, he was sent to the Privileges Committee – they want to punish him for telling the truth.
But the more they try to shut down the fight to get healthy homes for all New Zealanders the more we’ll push back – in Privileges Committee, in Parliament, in public.
Together we can make it clear that we will not be silenced. Please, lend your support to this crucial campaign before Andrew Little appears before the Committee in a few weeks time.
Because every Kiwi kid deserves a warm, dry home.”
The Speaker must have “heard” about this transgression… I mean it’s way worse, what Little did here, than, say, calling all LP MPs supporters of rapists and child molesterers (sic). Right Mr Speaker, Right?
It’s the “Labour does it too” syndrome.
in this case, can we have more of it? Thank thee kindly.
This is a letter our Doctors that have to write repeated ‘sickness’ certifications for our terminally ill job seekers should send to our WINZ offices and address them all to Pullyer Bennefit.
http://www.tickld.com/x/jaw/angry-doctor-gives-best-response-ever-to-sick-note-request-this-is-genius?utm_content=inf_10_93_2&utm_source=tickld&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=contentse&ts_pid=477
Ha! very good.
http://www.radiatorgo.org.nz/industry-disappointed-at-ministers-stance-on-elts/
I was so angry when I read it this morning. An entire industry coming together to do good and Nick Smith claims there is not enough data to show if the waste stream was actually causing significant environmental harm. How deep is his head buried in the sand?
“Death keeps its own promises. Love requires us, and our labor, and our courage, over and over again.”
Terrorism, imperialist, capitalism
https://storify.com/thornius/terrorist-imperialism-by-thi
Seeking answers from Professor Ayson
Thursday 19 November 2015
Jim Mora’s producers made sure that there would be no chance for the Panelists to debate with the VUW Strategic Studies professor Professor Ayson yesterday.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19112015/#comment-1097870
This bothered me, as I found Professor Ayson’s comments to be profoundly disturbing. Unlike Jim Mora, his producers and the four other silent people in that studio yesterday, I don’t think anyone, leave alone a university professor, should be allowed to make such statements without having to defend or explain them.
I have, therefore, just sent the following email to Robert Ayson. I’ll publish his response when it comes in….
Some questions about your statements on RNZ National yesterday afternoon
Dear Professor Ayson,
Yesterday on RNZ National, you claimed that the terrorism in Paris and above the Sinai “reflects a clear intention to target and kill innocent civilians, to cause great shock and fear”. You also stated that when “the West” kills innocent civilians, it is “qualitatively different”.
Could you please explain how you would categorize the intentions of the United States’ strategists when they decided to attack hospitals and kill patients and medical staff, as in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 and Kunduz, Afghanistan just last month.
Thank you for your time,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
that Professor Ayson must have never read the thing about “Shock and Awe”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_and_awe
but then i guess some terrorism is more equal than other terrorism.
He’s read it, all right. He just supports it.
But maybe he has a convincing rationale for his comments. I’ll keep you posted.
Professor Ayson replies
Thursday 19 November 2015
Dear Morrissey
Thanks for your email. If you have information which shows that the United States was deliberately targeting medical staff and innocent patients I would be interested to see it. I don’t believe that is what they are intending, and I think this makes the comparison with the Paris terrorism problemmatic. But those in the US and similar countries who are making decisions about the use of force and the armed forces personnel who undertake these attacks can and do get targeting wrong, and in seeking to target people and groups they believe to be in particular locations they sometimes make poor judgements about the wider consequences.
regards
Rob
so his excuse is simply that as long as the US and its allies proclaim innosence and lack of knowledge in finding their targets it make the killing more human and less murderous?
Good one.
So next time the terrorists just simply state that their suicide drivers drove to the wrong establishment, and oops its ok, cause no harm was intended there.
I replied thusly…
Dear Professor Ayson,
The United States military was repeatedly given the coordinates of Kunduz Hospital. They didn’t get their targeting wrong.
When they “conquered” Fallujah General Hospital in November 2004, U.S. troops tied up doctors and nurses, and forced patients out of their beds, before also tying them up. Again, that doesn’t seem like getting their targeting wrong.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Liars of Our Time
No. 53: RICHIE McCAW
“The win over France in the quarter-final put some demons to bed.”
—Richie McCaw, at media conference to announce his retirement, speaking as though the French team had tried for even one minute in that 62-13 disgrace.
Thursday 19 November 2015, 12:20 p.m.
The demons of that 2011 RWC final débâcle, of course, remain very much alive.
Liar No. 52 Michael Cheika: “I genuinely feel for Craig Joubert. It’s so unfair. No other referee has had this stuff put out there like that and he’s a very good referee.”
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/20/michael-cheika-world-rugby-craig-joubert-
More liars…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20102015/#comment-1084864
I think he was referring to the last time the ABs met France in a knockout World Cup match in Cardiff.
Yes I know he was. But there were no “demons” after that loss; they were simply beaten by a better team, as they had been four years before, when they lost to Australia, and four years before that, when they were demolished by the Tricolors.
The demons, if one is to accept McCaw’s terminology, all belong to the 2011 farce.
Dunno if any of you are into creating your own videos – e.g. by rendering YOUR OWN video frames in software like DAZ Studio, or BRYCE or POSER.
Anyway, Microsoft has been sending ENDLESS Windows updates to people still using Windows 7 and Windows Vista since the TPA was signed.
I’m no software guru by any stretch of the imagination. But today (after receiving yet more updates overnight) I find I can no longer post-process MY OWN videos. By “My Own” i mean videos entirely and totally legitimately created by me and therefore OWNED by me no matter how you define “Copyright”.
And they ARE currently hell-bent on trying to get everyone to upgrade to Windows 10. So I’ve turned off Windows updates on both machines.
Is this Corporate Madness gone a step too far?
I don’t trust Microsoft any further than I could throw them (if only I were able to pick them up).
They are, after all, a corporation.
I think you will find its just a bug, or something that you are doing wrong as opposed to some global conspiracy.
Russia’s bombers have a good lash at ISIS:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/17/russia-pounds-isis-with-biggest-bomber-raid-in-decades.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page
Spare me I simply cannot figure out if I should be cheering on the Russians or not.
Maybe I’ve seen too many James Bond movies in a row.
Russia simply doesn’t play by the same rules the West play by so yeah I’m confilcted here as well
The “West” plays by the rules? When did “we” start doing that?
The moral rules as laid down by the media unfortunately
For example could what happened in WW2 (the atrocities committed by the allies specifically) be allowed to happen in this day and age or would the media make sure that every civilian back safely at home knew about it
I don’t think it would be allowed to happen in this day and age, could you imagine the dam busters raid going ahead?
The Dresden fire bombing, the treatment of prisoners of war etc etc
Whereas Putin cares not for the opinions of the journalists and is just doing what he thinks is right, he is right in this situation but the West should have the moral courage to do what needs to be done and not leave to Russia
Depends I think.
Loads of people get hard ons about WW2 but those days are gone.
The wars the west has fought since have all been wars of choice. The last existential threat we facded was the USSR, and that never got hot. the proxy wars were all wars that we could lose.
that’s the diff, I think. In a war you can afford to lose, getting genocidey is seen as fucking abhorrent.
Is this what it is all about?
‘As Syria Reels, Israel Looks to Expand Settlements in Golan Heights’
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/middleeast/syria-civil-war-israel-golan-heights.html?_r=0
“MEROM GOLAN, Golan Heights — There is a building boom quietly underway in this little kibbutz, the first established after Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war…
Heh, beat me to it 😈
Bitter..
.
Iain
@Cuphook108
One is a Nazi cartoon laughing at Jews denied entry to democratic countries. The other is the Daily Mail today.
https://twitter.com/Cuphook108/status/666563241707982848
.
..sweet..
https://twitter.com/Chooglin1/status/667085815890239488
ON TPP – The Fall Rising website focuses its critique on three areas: deregulation, privatization, and the right of corporations to sue governments over expected future profits. Small businesses and poor and oppressed populations, it says, would be the hardest hit. Ten other U.S. and Canadian cities joined in the “Urgent Call to Action” to “stop the global corporate coup.”
http://bullhorn.nationofchange.org/us_anti_tpp_activists_occupy_monsanto_trade_center
Here is a quiz on ISDS and TTIP which is useful in gaining knowledge on ISDS. There are two levels- beginner and advanced. (The information is useful for when you are trying to inform others of the pitfalls of ISDS.)
http://www.bilaterals.org/?the-great-isds-ttip-quiz
There was a nice post on here yesterday about Jonah Lomu.
Really disappointed to see how tasteless people can be trying to use this for a political point. FFS – his poor family are grieving and he is not buried as yet.
“Rugby player dead. John Key to immediately return from Vietnam to urgently rub himself against the corpse.”
From no other than No Right Turn. No class.
@James – may not be in the best taste, but true none the less.
An interesting article is now up on the Herald website by Juha Saarinen on the IT aspects of the police raid on Hager, as made public via the Court documents released by Scoop.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11547949
I am no IT expert (quite the opposite) but the criticisms expressed in the article are close to my thoughts when reading the police evidence and MO as set out in the court documents.
I’d be interested in the comments of those here who are much more IT competent than me.
Seriously?
That’s as stupid as executing an arrest deemed dangerous enough to warrant armed police and a helicopter insertion, but not having an ambulance on hand when the pregnant wife of the obese target needs medical attention.
We have a serious problem with police forgetting basic details, such as “things they might need during the operation” and “the law”.
“Slater was ordered to pay Blomfield costs.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11548070
Slater lucks out on pretty much everything as far as I can see.
Quite a few stories for him to not blog about at the moment
To “luck out” means to strike it lucky I think.
Poor Cam, my heart bleeds, out of luck again. Is the decision likely to be published?
It’s one of them thing that means both.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=LUCKED+OUT
Fair enough. Thanks PB. Fancy having completely opposite meanings in the US and the UK respectively. I’d only ever heard/seen the phrase used by Americans.
Annoyingly. Lucked in and lucked out made sense as a pair.
ahaha