The Far Right have issued death threats against the organisers of the Syria Speaks Hui, (which have been passed on to the police in the interests of attendees safety).
Syrians in New Zealand speak about the uprising against the Assad government, the violence that has followed, the role of foreign governments in the conflict, and what New Zealanders can do to help…..
Syrians in New Zealand speak about the uprising against the Assad government, the violence that has followed, the role of foreign governments in the conflict, and what New Zealanders can do to help.
An informational meeting supported by Fightback and by Organise Aotearoa (views of speakers do not necessarily represent OA). The new edition of Fightback magazine, “Syria: Revolution and Counter-Revolution”, in English and Arabic, will be available.
(NOTE: this meeting was originally scheduled for March 15, [the anniversary of the start of the popular revolt against Assad]*, but was postponed after the massacre that day of 50 worshippers at Christchurch mosques, some of whom were Syrian refugees).
Speakers:
ALI AKIL came from Syria as a teenager and has lived here for two decades. His father was an activist against the Assad regime who was imprisoned, tortured and narrowly escaped execution. Ali was the founder of Syrian Solidarity NZ, which was established in 2011 in response to the dignity uprising in Syria.
MIREAM SALAMEH (by Skype from Melbourne) was born in Homs, Syria in 1983. When the Syrian Revolution broke out in 2011, Salameh was persecuted both as a revolutionary and visual artist. Miream, with her friends, founded a magazine called (Justice) in which they documented Assad abuses in the city of Homs. Due to her involvement in anti-government activism, she was forced to leave her homeland after regime forces made threats of rape, arrest and murder against her, looting and destroying most of her artwork. With her three remaining artworks, she fled her homeland to Lebanon in 2012 and came to Australia in 2013 as a refugee. Miream’s artwork addresses issues of social justice, freedom and the suffering of the Syrian people, who are being violently oppressed for resisting dictatorship.
Trouble with Syria is that the U.S., Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and France have diplomatically and militarily supported Al Qaeda, ISIL, and al-Nusra.
To true morrissey …. although I should thank jenny for leading me down the road to learn a lot about the christchurch sub-uber racist killer.
Which she tried to blame on Assad … in a sickness on top of sickness kind of way.
Here's some real info from a little internet digging
****************************************
Reading NZ papers on wikileaks I learnt John Key was in Obamas company , giving a speech , immediately after Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people in 2011.
Key took the opportunity to call for more resources and surveillance to counter and stop future terrorist attacks … Cynically.
The budget for spooks and security went from $56 Million in 2011 … up to over $ 150 million now.
But apparently while 'making us safe', they were not looking at people like Anders Behring Breivik … who our killer admired in posts on known ‘extreme’ chat rooms … and he wanted to achieve a similar kind of racist immortality. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-12/GCSBandNZSIS.PDF
In the days and hours ahead of his deadly killing spree at a New Zealand mosque on Friday, the alleged shooter left a trail of digital evidence
His followers knew to tune in because he had advertised the shooting—and the fact that he would stream it live—on the message board site 8chan,
Here’s your UN compact! … was one of the many twink scrawled message written on one of the assault rifles in Christchurch … a message that ricochet back at the tRumps … and our Nacts… who effectively gave ammo to a sick mind.
Vote buying and stoking a toxic minority … Invaders!
To lift the topic ,,,,,,I’ll finish with a bloody good powerful Aussie rock song about Aussie racism and exploitation …
The Far Right have issued death threats against the organisers of the Syria Speaks Hui, (which have been passed on to the police in the interests of attendees safety).
Just the regular necessary reminder that most of the economics profession is dedicated to pushing ideas that are flat-out wrong, but happen to benefit wealthy people and screw the not-wealthy. Hence their symbiotic relationship with the "conservative" part of the political spectrum.
A truly silly column by Fran O'Sullivan in the Herald where she offers the opine that the PM should not have annoyed the hosts by making representations over the deportations of Kiwis, but instead raise the matter of New Zealand banking rules.
The thing is the PM is now in the position to quote their words back at them when they representations on behalf of their banks.
And to have raised the matter of banking with the Oz government would have been to undermine the sovereignty of our regime in this matter.
Fran O'Sullivan discards herself as a piece of rubbish. She does not understand the horrendous, indeed Attrocius destruction of Human Life that Australians have carried out on their Country – and continue to carry out.
Concerning Australian Strong arm Deportation
Contrary to little Fran,
I do not see that we need to accept any deportation attempted by the Australian Government.
As far I know, New Zealand has never undertaken to off load citizens from an unfriendly nation.
Any attempt to fly any aircraft or sail any ships into our waters without permission will be deemed a violation.
Any attempt to fly any aircraft or sail any ships into our waters without permission will be deemed a violation
How about an 18 ton spacestation that went down yesterday.
The time has come, however, for Tiangong-2 to be deorbited and, naturally, destroyed in the process. The China National Space Administration indicated that the 18-meter-wide station and solar panels will mostly burn up during reentry, but that a small amount of debris may fall “in a safe area in the South Pacific,” specifying a rather large area that does technically include quite a bit of New Zealand (160-190°W long by 30-45°S lat).
To what extent do you think excusing non-Western imperialism actually manifests a form of racism?
The first time this struck me was when the Arab uprisings started, and I noticed that a section of the Left lumped together the attack on Iraq by U.S.-U.K. imperialism with the uprisings in Libya and Syria, falsely claiming that the uprisings were simply examples of imperialist intervention. This happened despite the fact that we saw huge crowds on television chanting, “The people want the downfall of the regime!” But to this section of the Left, apparently, the peoples of these countries are too backward to fight against an oppressive dictatorship or to want democracy, and those massive crowds simply showed that they were fools being manipulated by Western imperialism and Islamist fundamentalism…..
It seems that this support for authoritarianism leads to a blurring of the line between Left and Right. Do you think this is the case? Is there reason to see this as part of a left-wing authoritarianism that finds affinities with the Right on the issue of imperialism?
Look at the people and parties that admire Bashar al-Assad or have visited him: former KKK leader David Duke, the white supremacists demonstrating at Charlottesville, British National Party leader Nick Griffin, Greek fascists of Golden Dawn, the French National Front, the Belgian Vlaams Belang—all of them are neo-fascists who see their own politics reflected in Assad’s ruthless totalitarian regime. Yet at the same time you find people who are seen to be on the Left, figures like Seymour Hersh, Robert Fisk, David North and Alex Lantier of the World Socialist Web Site, and Max Blumenthal supporting Assad by spreading his propaganda. You find the same convergence between the extreme Right and people seen to be on the Left like John Pilger supporting Putin’s imperialist annexation of Crimea…..
And those supporting Israel's annexation of the Golan heights and East Jerusalem … also supporting the removal of Assad (but failing) …
The right wing white race nationalists only prefer Assad to Islamists. The secular left wingers prefer a secular dictatorship to one based around Islamist theocracy. Compaining about that is in service to the former – the White House and its UK poodle and Israel.
Israel and the USA do not care for ME democracy – being onside with Sisi and the Riyadh Crown Prince and the censorship of al Jazeera.
While the Centre Left still, even now, courts racism and fascism, Leftist webcaster, Democracy Now, offers a different perspective.
“For Sama”
…..And regarding the lies, I think the propaganda has led the conflict to be between al-Assad and the Russians against terrorist groups, ISIS, al-Nusra. And like through all the years, like in 2015, nobody was saying anything about a revolution, about like civilians who are protesting, what happened to those people. All the focus of the media was about beheading people, the ISIS, and the Russians and the Syrians fighting those people.
I think that was the most depressing part for me as a Syrian, to be like ignored from all the Western media, and not mentioning anything about me…..
…..Hamza, you were working as a doctor in Aleppo in 2016 when there was reportedly a chlorine gas attack. There are clips in the film where you see children and adults wearing gas masks. Now, there was some uncertainty about whether there was in fact a gas attack at that time and who was responsible for it. What do you know of what happened?
DR. HAMZA AL-KATEAB: We heard that there was an attack in a near neighborhood. And then, when the casualties, the people started to rush into the hospital, you immediately can tell by the weird smell of the people’s clothes. And it was just like the—it was just chlorine. And we started immediately to get rid of the people’s clothes, wash them, and then start to just examine their respiratory system and try to give them oxygen. This is the only thing that we could do. And the most, like, frustrating thing that the [inaudible] WHO or the U.N. or Security Council, they’re always like uncertain about who does this. Like, when Al Quds Hospital was attacked in April 2016, and it was like obviously attacked by an aircraft, all the reports and the statements by WHO, by the U.N., by the Security Council was the hospital was attacked. Like, they are not sure who attacked it. And there are only like aircrafts there by they can tell exactly what aircrafts were flying at that day…..
SPC to keep things simple, and to avoid the running into the pitfalls of Godwin's Law. I reserve accusations of racism and fascism to;
1/ Those like Philip Arps who openly self identify as fascists, racists/white supremacists/anti-semites/Islamophobes etc.
2/ Those like David Irving who cover up or excuse genocide.
3/ Those like Bashar Assad who commit genocide
As for the governments of the US and Israel
A war of choice launched by the US against Iran, (which would be a genocidal war), in my opinion, would elevate Donald Trump from xenophobic racist to fascist.
I think that it can be reasonably argued, and it has been, that Benjamin Netanyahu is guilty of committing genocide against the people of Gaza. Which by my definition would also qualify Netanyahu as a 'fascist'.
The term ‘fascist’ might well have been around for a hundred years* But in the age of the internet Godwyn’s law rightly warns against the devaluation of the designation of 'fascist' to anyone who disagrees with you.
Godwyn himself has since said that this should not be used to avoid using this description where it is apt and justified.
This obviously makes necessary to define the term in a concise manner where it is accurate.
You might disagree with me that my determination that those who commit or excuse genocide fit this designation. personally I think it is accurate.
*The term fascist has been around for over 2,000 years referring to fasci or sticks carried by Roman Senators which when bound together could not be broken. The symbol of which was adopted by the modern fascists.
It might pay to remember that the ancient Roman Empire which the modern fascists so admire was a brutal slave society.
Jenny, the problem you run into when you use words that already have well-established meanings to mean different things is that nobody then has any chance of figuring out WTF you're on about.
In this particular case, genocide and fascism are separate things. Some genocides were carried out by fascist governments, some were not. Some fascist governments have been genocidal, some have not.
Instead of re-defining a word or language to suit one’s narrative one should re-phrase and re-frame one’s narrative to avoid ambiguity and confusion as much as possible. That is a golden rule in and of communication, especially on a blog site. The problem is that not all people have an equally good grasp of language, which on its own is not a major issue and can be ‘corrected’, but when they dig in and refuse to accept their ‘lingual faux pas’, it can become a major one.
It seems to me that some commenters here are only interested in writing their own comments but not in taking on-board comments by others. In fact, they often become defensive and aggressive or evasive when challenged …
The most notable aspect of fascism is the use of genocide.
At the very least genocide could be called a sub-set of fascism.
I have termed (at various times), the Assad regime as "a fascist style regime" because of its of genocidal air campaign against its own citizens.
Another notable feature of fascist style regimes is the maintenance and operation of mass detention and death camps.
Of which the Assad regime has several, the most notable of these being Saydnaya on the outskirts of Damascus.
You say that I am redefining the meaning of the word fascist. Well one thing I know for sure, a fascist is no longer an ancient stick bearing slave owning Roman Senator.
Next you will be telling me that I would be wrong to label General Pinochet of Chile a fascist. Or General Franco of Spain a fascist. Because they don't meet your Hollywood characterisation of German fascists.
You say that I shouldn't define fascists as people who commit genocide.
Why don't you do some research on the term "fascism" while putting aside the genocide thing for a while? Learn what the term means and then come back. Even just reading the wiki page would be help you heaps.
Next you will be telling me that I would be wrong to label General Pinochet of Chile a fascist. Or General Franco of Spain a fascist.
While Pinochet certainly displayed some elements of fascism, fascist really isn't a good descriptor for Pinochet's flavour of pseudo-populist ultra-nationalist despotism. Furthermore, while Pinochet had a weak spot for mass-murder of his opponents, the fact that it was his political opponents he was murdering rather than attempting to eliminate a particular ethnic/cultural group makes genocide an inaccurate descriptor for Pinochet's murders.
Fascism certainly is a good descriptor for Franco's particular nasty flavour of ideology. However, like Pinochet, genocide is a poor descriptor for Franco's mass murderous activities since it was targeted at political opponents rather than elimination of ethnic/cultural groups.
You say that I shouldn't define fascists as people who commit genocide.
What would you call people who commit genocide?
Genocidal is a pretty good descriptor for those who commit genocide. Rwanda is an example of genocide without fascism.
Indeed. Even though the Japanese Empire, did not explicitly share the Italian and German fascist icongraphy and language, (harking back to the glories of the Western Imperial slave society of ancient Rome). Following the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese imperialists (rightly in my opinion) were termed fascists.
In its brutality and carnage on the same scale as the destruction of Homs by the Assad regime.
One of many main problems jenny … is who are you asking to win your war….. surely not the people commiting genocide in Yemen ??
And even if we were to believe your good war / we must kill more and add more deaths …. to stop a genocide logic.
Lets look at the 'care' towards civilians you are asking for …. a recent war crime shows a good example …of your good war, being nothing but a uncaring death and refugee machine.
So who are you calling on to kill more ?? Turkey is your best option for dragging it out at the moment.
In their campaign against Isis the US has slaughtered civilians also identified by the Assad regime as enemies.
I have never denied Reason, that the US has committed massive crimes against the people of Syria in fact I have written about them long before you. As soon as the Amnesty report came out. I wrote on these pages about this crime.
The US is in Syria for its own reasons. The US has never unleashed the same fury against the Assad regime that it has unleashed against perceived enemies of the US. In the two air strikes against regime resources the US gave the Assad regime, (through its Russian ally), advanced notice of both attacks. And notably, no regime forces were ever killed or wounded in these two attacks. The US didn't exercise such niceties toward the civilian population of Raqqa.
The West and particularly the US has a fetish against anyone (but themselves of course) having weapons of mass destruction, WMDs. As horrible as these weapons are, most of the regime's slaughter of civilians has been conducted with so called "conventional weapons" which the US has raised no real objection to, and has certainly not acted to stop.
You are not anti-war, if you are not anti-Assad's war.
….So who are you calling on to kill more ?? Turkey is your best option for dragging it out at the moment.
reason
It is actually you reason, who is calling to kill more.
In your comment above you are of course alluding to Idlib.
Idlib had previously with Turkish support been declared a deconfliction zone.
Lately the Turkish government of Erdogan has made its peace with the Assad regime and their Russian ally, giving the green light for the regime and Russia to continue their genocidal campaign against the Syrian people into Idlib.
Completing the encirclement Erdogan has ordered the closing of the border to civilians fleeing the impending slaughter, leaving them no where else to go.
Reason you are cheering on this slaughter to begin.
And even when the regime conquers Idlib, the killing will not stop. This is a regime that is currently rounding up and "disappearing" thousands of civilians in the areas it has already retaken.
A year after “reconciliation”: Arrests and disappearances abound in southern Syria
……Among those arrested was Rateb al-Jabawi, the former head of Jasim local council during the opposition rule. In September 2018, al-Jabawi was taken from his home and arrested by a security service patrol in the city of Jasim. “[His arrest] is one of the most important violations of the settlement deal,” said the former military commander.”
Security and military patrols have also been conducting raids and searches on houses of civilians in the town of Rasm al-Halabi, a village in the countryside of al-Quneitra, and have specifically targeted former members of the Civil Defense (The White Helmets). They have recently arrested two brothers who formerly worked with the White Helmets, Bilal and Ala’a Shubat.
A week before the arrest of the Shubat brothers, three former members of the Civil Defense from the village of Saidah al-Joulan, near the Golan Heights, were kidnapped while traveling between the city of al-Sheikh Maskin and Nawa in the Daraa governorate. Local media outlets accused the Syrian government security forces of being behind the kidnappings.
Mohammad al-Ahmad (a pseudonym), a member of the Civil Defense who was displaced from al-Quneitra to Idlib, said that he had nine Civil Defense colleagues working in al-Quneitra.
“Some of them have disguised themselves, as they’re still wanted by the regime. Other [members] are paying money to officers in the regime to ensure that they are not pursued and that they’re protected from arrest.”
Al-Ahmad’s house was raided after he was relocated to Idlib. His brother was at the house at the time and was arrested and taken to an unknown location, while his family was evicted from the home. Security forces also confiscated his cars, farmland, and family possessions.
Al-Ahmad is not the only member of the White Helmets that has faced arrest, expropriation and the detainment of family members at the hands of security services, who have repeatedly accused the group of working with terrorists. He has heard similar stories of White Helmet members and their families being pursued by security services.
Though many members of the group fled the south before the government retook the area, others were unable to make it to the specified spot in time to be “evacuated”.
In July 2018, 400 members of the White Helmets and their families crossed through the Occupied Golan Heights to reach Jordan, after which they were granted refuge in Britain, Germany, and Canada.
After the completion of the evacuation operations, the government campaign against the White Helmets intensified. The Syrian government accused them not only of working with terrorists but also of being Israeli agents.’ The remaining members became wanted by the government, especially in al-Quneitra.
Jenny , you just cant stop your bullshitting your one sided propaganda can you ?? …
Things like your wild conspiracy theories about the Christchurch racist mass murderer … or the murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox … both being caused by Assad / Syria ….
Leave you with sub-zero credibility…. You've proven you'll write any shit.
your comment above you are of course alluding to Idlib.
My comment was about a 100 mile deep strip running the length of the border with Syria ….
Perhaps Turkey was promised it … and Israel the Golan Heights too… in a pre-arranged divy up upon the destruction / balkinization break up of Syria …. which was all on course and following the script of Libya ,,,
before the Isis / al nusra tide was repelled.
Regarding Idlib and ignoring your asshat blather ….The problem with Idib is all the foreign fighters / mercenaries, ,,,which their home countries do not want them to returning too.
New Zealand had 1 ,,,,, and there was a big fuss about him …. Britian and France have hundreds,
“He was part of the al-Muhajiroun network. They were Anjem Choudary’s boys. When the Syrian war first broke out, these guys were organising a lot of people to go there and fight. They did it under humanitarian cover, pretending they were going to give aid and stuff.”
Both the brits and frogs have previously stated they would rather have their radicalized citizens killed than returned … do your own internet search.
So I imagine the best result for the sponsors of your peaceful bloodbath would be to block their return … yet pretend moral outrage when they lose their last Jihad battles.
Personally I believe quite a few could be de-radicalised ,,,,,, so unlike you I'm not into more war / killing….
And I heard that you stayed with people …. like the fine ones in this video … during your time in syria ;(
Assad is not a racist (anti-Zionist maybe), and whether a one party (not based on race, ethnicity or religion) tyranny posing as socialist qualifies as fascist is debatable (a matter of technical definition). Resorting to methods (bombing in civilian areas and economic blockade) used by the Allies during WW2 is not genocide, though war crimes are/were involved. Each would claim they did it to defeat a fascist threat (and Islamo-fascism was ultimately the alternative posed to the regime, not a democracy).
I would also argue that Netanyahu has not committed genocide, albeit collective punishment and war crimes. An ethnic state asserting its will by force is racist and fascist.
As for Trump, his white race nation, "the will of our God and our nation be done" assertion of economic and military power (including sanctions against those nations that refuse to enforce sanctions against targeted states) is fascist in its belligerent exercise of power.
SPC you object to me identifying the Assad regime "fascist" as inaccurate and a redefinition of the word. Yet you have no hesitation of identifying Assad's opponents as "Islamofascists".
The crimes of Isis are dire and extreme, but don’t reach by numbers anywhere near the sheer scale of the crimes committed by the Assad regime.
You criticise me for redefining the word fascist and then make your own redefinition, fascism is the "beligerant exercise of power".
In my opinion your definition is too tame and too broad.
Fascism is something much worse than this.
In my opinion you have fallen into the Godwyn trap.
But even using your definition Assad is a fascist.
Er no, I disagree whether the term fascist is accurate for Syria's Baath regime and explained why (I did not discuss redefintion of the word fascist but mentioned the technical use of the term, as distinct from the colloquial use which both of us are doing). Many have called Moslem terrorists intent on imposition of their rule Islamo-fascists. And not just Islamic State, but also al Nusra.
And I did not redefine fascism as "belligerent exercise of power" but noted that such was practiced by fascist regimes – fascist in its "belligerent use of power" (either domestically and externally).
Yes the Assad regime did exercise "belligerent use of power", but not until it was subject to a conspiracy to depose the regime (its earlier use of gunfire to intimidate democratic protesters in Damascus was commonplace tyranny).
What I find notable SPC is that in his recent extended interview on Democracy Now in which Noam Chomsky covered a wide range of issues, imperialism, the rise of fascism in the ’30s, the campaign against nuclear weapons in the ’80s the Iraq war, the war in Yemen. the war in Libya. But during this extended interview where he was given the complete floor to say whatever he wanted Noam Chomsky never mentioned, (apart from a mention of Israel annexing the Golan Heights). Chomsky never mentioned, not even once, the war in Syria.
This could represent one of two things;
1/ That Chomsky is changing from his previous held position of endorsing the US regime change conspiracy theory spread by the Assad regime and its supporters.
2/ That Chomsky has not changed from his previous position, but knows that it is indefensible, and that Democracy Now will challenge him on it.
I would like to believe that it is the first case not the second.
Thanks for that learned theory about Chomsky's "indefensible" position on Syria. Do you think he should come out in support of Al Qaeda and the Al Nusra Front?
Don't you think it worthy noting SPC that a learned scholar like Noam Chomsky did not feel confidant enough to make a comment on Syria before people who he knew would challenge him on it?
Chomsky is not some cowardly politician. And he has never supported a “regime change conspiracy theory.”
Morrissey
How Noam Chomsky Betrayed the Syrian People
……While those who support Chomsky’s position on Syria may label supporters of the revolution, like myself, as “neoconservatives” or “pro-imperialists,” they are, in fact, more deserving of these epithets themselves.
The Contours of Chomsky’s Views
During his September 2015 Harvard lecture, Chomsky was asked whether Russia’s deployment to Syria was imperialistic. In response, Chomsky repeated the capricious claim that the entire Syrian opposition is either part of ISIS or some variant of al-Qaeda.
As even the most casual observer of the Syrian conflict knows, however, this claim is false. A major contingent of Syria’s rebel forces is not “jihadist” in any sense. Even among those who are Islamist, many support a democratic government, in some form, and are more similar to Hamas than ISIS or al-Qaeda.
Instead of reckoning with these and other realities of the Syrian revolution, Chomsky has tacitly endorsed the logic of the “war on terror,” accepting the view that allying with dictatorships in order to defeat terrorism is perfectly ok…..
…….In 2014, during the height of ISIS’s expansion, Assad and his allies attacked the group only 6 percent of the time, while 64 percent of ISIS attacks were against the Syrian rebels. There have also been numerous cases in which ISIS and Assad’s forces have effectively been allied, with Russian airstrikes often aiding, instead of hindering, the group.
Clearly, the Syrian regime’s sectarian slaughter, backed by Iran and its proxy militias, has generated unprecedented support for ISIS, making Chomsky’s support for an anti-ISIS alignment with Assad ironic at best and unsupportable at worst…..
…..In an interview with Jacobin, Chomsky provides a glimpse into the deeper reasons behind his views on Syria. In response to a question asking for his thoughts on the West’s bombing efforts against ISIS, Chomsky noted that the “sectarian conflicts that are tearing the region to shreds are substantially a consequence of the Iraq invasion.”
For Chomsky, as well as much of the left, the United States’s perceived proximity to the conflict (or the pathological belief that the United States is responsible for the devastating war) has alternatively shaped indifference to and hostility toward the Syrian revolution. In other words, because the United States is against the Assad regime, the left feels compelled to either ignore the revolution all together, or oppose the regime’s enemies.
In his case, Chomsky has expressed ideological disdain for revolutionary forces by supporting their complete annihilation. In the same interview with Jacobin, Chomsky said the outcome in Syria could be “just as bad [as an ISIS victory] if the jihadi elements supported by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the victors.” His statement amounted to tacit approval for the brutal war being waged against these so-called “jihadi elements” by Russia, Iran and Assad…..
…..Though Chomsky and the wider left might not appreciate this, the part they are playing in Syria’s counter-revolution is discrediting leftism. In this way, their actions are comparable to those “socialists” who destroyed the left for generations because of a blind loyalty to the nightmare of Stalinism.
Sadly, the conservative, orientalist, and incoherent stance on Syria expressed by Chomsky and his supporters is symptomatic of a leftism that has no reason to exist beyond the narrow parameters of its own subculture.
Quoting wacky blogs does nothing for your argument, Jenny. The ridiculous sight of a lightweight like “analyst Sam Hammad” calling Noam Chomsky, of all people, “conservative, orientalist, and incoherent” is almost as ridiculous as the shrieking charge that he “betrayed” anyone.
When I read Manufacturing Consent as a teenager, in the summer of 2002 to be precise, at the beginning of War on Terror fever, I never thought that one day its most esteemed author, Noam Chomsky, would accuse me of supporting al-Qaeda. In the following exchange, he does exactly that, as well as accusing me of supporting Daesh. That makes it three times, by my count, that he’s issued this most scurrilous and ironic smear, with his initial accusation of my support for Daesh coming in a response he gave to a friend who had sent an article I wrote criticising his stance on Syria for Muftah……
"And even if it is an immediate disaster, visible on day one, there are few guarantees that leavers would admit their error and seek once more the embrace of Brussels. As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform puts it, “Just because babies are dying, does that mean they’ll say we were better off in the EU?” Aren’t they just as likely to blame the beastly Europeans for inflicting such a hellscape on an innocent nation? After all, even Boris Johnson once thought Britain could leave the EU and keep its seat on the European council of ministers. The Brexiters will cry, “How we were to know that leaving the EU meant leaving the EU?” And if they don’t blame Brussels, they’ll blame someone else: foreigners, minorities, anyone but themselves."
he looks like he is in for (another) hard life lesson – most of which are of his own doing and could have been resolved years ago if he was reasonable.
Massey University’s Dr Andy Towers, from the School of Public Health, wants minimum pricing for alcohol as part of a campaign to make it socially unacceptable for poor people to drink – saying “Sub-groups” who continue to smoke, even though it’s socially unacceptable and expensive, they’re addicted. The same would happen with alcohol if minimum unit pricing came in”
Mimimum pricing would of course have no impact on the craft beers and wines drunk by the well to do, for whom drinking would presumably remain socially acceptable in more upmarket locations and more exclusive private clubs (a bit like in Teheran behind the walls of the well to do).
The Panopticon Society rears its head via Public Health policy academics, their cohorts in criminology presumably justify targeting of the underclass without religion with fear and obey policing intimidation.
The enemies of equality and freedom come out in public like this because they have no shame.
If Andy Tower stuck his head out the window he would realise poor people can barely pay for their rent, pay off their tertiary loan and save a deposit to buy a home and this is why less young people drink. We have the highest rent to house value in the world and the second most expensive property to wages in the world.
Using "price to signal that drinking is unacceptable" (and reserving it as a privilege for those whose drinks prices will remain unchanged) is of an alliance between the haves and those who want to control the behaviour and lives of the common folk. His agenda to describe poor people who drink as addicts is telling.
There is an article linked to the story on Stuff the about a study by Andy Towers himself coming to the same conclusion that the increase in drinking is by those is by those over 50 – so he should know minimum pricing would have no impact on that.
Using "price to signal that drinking is unacceptable"…
Unacceptable to whom? Seriously, apart from devout Muslims, who wants to "signal that drinking is unacceptable?" Some technocrats in government departments in universities, maybe? I was at a pub last night and drinking seemed pretty acceptable to everyone present.
ISTR a low minimum pricing/quantity deters kids when there's not age restriction (e.g. single cigarette sales I think were banned before tobacco became R18). Keeps it just outside the reach of their pocket money.
But I suspect that as the price of alcohol goes up, the more people bring homebrew to parties for their friends. Maybe with a nod and a wink, maybe gratis. None of my business.
Foreigners' unpaid medical debts revealed. And this is just for the Auckland region.
More than $35 million in unpaid debts by foreigners treated for healthcare in Auckland has been written off in the past three years.
Acting Health Minister Julie Anne Genter and the DHBs declined to comment. But in Counties Manukau's OIA response, it stated significant resource goes into determining a patient's eligibility status, and then seeking payment.
Here's a possible solution. Require them to have insurance when entering the country, making it available for those that don't already have cover. No insurance, no entry.
Yesterday I heard a worker at the Maori agency [sorry forget its name] say the problem with Maori babies being taken is that the department will not build/get more housing so Mother AND child can be helped away from their bad life situation.
Such a simple solution to the problem … it must be correct and so beyond the comprehension of beaurocrats
The links are to the NZ Centre for Political Research, which despite it's institutional name is a right-wing political think tank.
I tried to read the second link but could only get through the introduction by Muriel Newman, and the first page before deciding to skim for any nuggets of information. The report by a retired Canadian judge is indicative of the further harm that can be caused by those in authority. His mention of the residential schools being a 'dumping ground' for children of abusive alcoholic parents, ignores the reality that many were taken from intact and loving environments, and put into these abusive institutions.
His reference to FASD is without context for the conditions in which alcohol is used as a release from despair for whole indigenous communities.
I don't think he adds anything new to the conversation, except provide evidence of the level of assumptions that must be made in order to continue to justify the status quo and the harm that occurs.
This refusal to consider perpetual harm and the long-term consequences of government and societal actions on the indigenous community is obstructive to effective solutions.
In Australia they spend more on seizing children … due largely to poverty of their homes / parents …… than would be needed to just lift them out of poverty.
Families are paying a toll for the settings of society …. any civilized evolving society should adapt to overcome serious problems … like affordable housing for all its citizens.
I could well believe market ideology is the main impediment to fixing the failures harming NZ society.
Thimerosal is a mercury-containing compound that has been widely used as an antimicrobial agent in vaccines for over 60 years.
Human exposure tomercury may have potentially significant health con-sequences.
By mid-1999, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had discovered that children could be exposed to an amount of mercury from vaccines that exceeded 1 of 3 existing federal safety thresholds.
After this realization, the organized medical and public health communities in the United States became involved in a series of urgent and intense discussions to determine an appropriate response to the issue.
Not sure how may of the vaccines on the NZ schedule contain thiomersal as formulations and preservatives are constantly evolving but as ever it’s disappointing that Philu is still spreading his antivac. drivel….
First, there is no mercury in vaccines, and never was. And thiomersal is not banned, anywhere.
Let’s start with the beginning. Thiomersal is a powerful antiseptic, that, even in tiny doses, (nanogram levels) blocks the growth of bacteria. Up until the anti-vaccination movement invented some tropes about thiomersal, we had less expensive, multi use vials for many drugs, including vaccines. Thiomersal prevented bacterial growth, which is much more dangerous than the imagined danger of thiomersal.
The claim that it is mercury is silly and shows of an ignorance of chemistry. Thiomersal is not a fancy name for “mercury” it is the proper chemical term for ethyl mercury, an organic compound attached to the mercury molecule. They do not disassociate in the body, and is quickly eliminated through the kidneys.
Table salt is sodium bonded to chlorine. Elemental sodiums is explosive. And elemental chlorine, a gas, is deadly. Yet when they are combined, they became a stable salt. And it does disassociate (unlike thiomersal), although the ionic forms of the sodium and chlorine are not dangerous.
Reducing chemistry to the basic elements is not how biochemistry works. It’s the whole molecule that matters, not the individual parts. So thiomersal does not add to the mercury burden of a human being, unless you have some nobel prize winning research that shows that somehow the mercury atom cleaves from the organic molecule in water. And we have no evidence of that.
Moreover, there simply is no research whatsoever that has established a link between thiomersal or anything, up to and including autism.
What’s next on your list Phil…fluoride in the water ? or is it back to the 5G ?
I could very well be missing something here Higherstandard, and everyone else in the world knows the source of your quoted text, but help me out here and provide a link.
Dr. Baskin: Baylor School of Medicine Neurologist “
There is more data, more and more data on ethylmercury. The cells that I showed you dying in cell culture are dying from ethylmercury. Those are human frontal brain cells. You know, there has been a debate about . . . ethyl versus methyl. But from a chemical point of view, most chemical compounds that are ethyl penetrate into cells better than methyl.
Cells have a membrane on them, and the membrane is made of lipids, fats. And ethyl as a chemical compound pierces fat and penetrates fat much better than methyl. And so, you know, when I began to work with some of the Ph.D.s in my laboratory and discuss this everyone said, `oh gosh, you know, we've got to adjust for ethyl because it's going to be worse; the levels are going to be much higher in the cells
' So . . . I think at best they're equal, but it's probably highly likely that they are worse. And some of the results that we are seeing in cell culture would support that.''
Dr. Baskin explained that according to scientific research in humans and animals, brain tissue absorbs five times more mercury than other tissues in the body.
The vaccine industry plays games suggesting that 10 times the EPA, FDA and WHO maximum ingestion of mercury is safe.
That is not only untrue, but deceptive as oral exposure is very poorly absorbed, whereas injected exposure is 100% absorbed
The culmination of the research that examines the effects of Thimerosal in humans indicates that it is a poison at minute levels with a plethora of deleterious consequences, even at the levels currently administered in vaccines.
It may all be rather pointless discussion though ….. as I said above I not sure if any vaccines in the NZ schedule use thimerosal as a preservative anymore. If philu wants to tell us whether they do he can search it up on the Medsafe website.
Had a wee look.A bunch of different credible sites say thimerosal has not been in any New Zealand childhood vaccines since 2000, and is not currently in any vaccines of any kind in New Zealand (although flu vaccines overseas are commonly cited as still possibly containing thimerosal). Haven't spotted anything that gives a date on when the last vaccines containing thimerosal were phased out in New Zealand.
There's an odd absence of triumphant articles claiming reductions in illnesses previously attributed to thimerosal due to the removal of it, however.
The culmination of the research that examines the effects of Thimerosal in humans indicates that it is a poison at minute levels with a plethora of deleterious consequences, even at the levels currently administered in vaccines.
If you read the linked material… you should have managed to figure out that I had forgotten to used the <blockquote> on 11.1.1.3
The present study showed that Thimerosal-induced cellular damage among in vitro human neuronal and fetal model systems in a concentration- and time-dependent fashion.
Thimerosal at low nanomolar concentrations was able to induce significant cellular toxicity in human neuron and fetal cells.
Thimerosal-induced cellular cytotoxicity similar to that observed in pathophysiological studies of patients diagnosed with ADs. Namely, in both cases, there was evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced cellular oxidative–reduction activity, cell death, and cell degeneration.
The present study also revealed that Thimerosal is significantly more toxic than several other well-established neurodevelopmental toxins.
Finally, future studies should be conducted to further evaluate additional mechanisms for Thimerosal-induced cellular damage and to further assess potential co-exposures that may work to ameliorate or enhance its toxicity.
Vaccines are prophylactics used as the first line of intervention to prevent, control and eradicate infectious diseases.
Young children (before the age of six months) are the demographic group most exposed to recommended/mandatory vaccines preserved with Thimerosal and its metabolite ethylmercury (EtHg).
Particularly in the less-developed countries, newborns, neonates, and young children are exposed to EtHg because it is still in several of their pediatric vaccines and mothers are often immunized with Thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs) during pregnancy.
While the immunogenic component of the product has undergone more rigorous testing, Thimerosal, known to have neurotoxic effects even at low doses, has not been scrutinized for the limit of tolerance alone or in combination with adjuvant-Al during immaturity or developmental periods (pregnant women, newborns, infants, and young children).
Scientific evidence has shown the potential hazards of Thimerosal in experiments that modeled vaccine-EtHg concentrations. Observational population studies have revealed uncertainties related to neurological effects.
However, consistently, they showed a link of EtHg with risk of certain neurodevelopment disorders, such as tic disorder, while clearly revealing the benefits of removing Thimerosal from children's vaccines (associated with immunological reactions) in developed countries.
So far, only rich countries have benefited from withdrawing the risk of exposing young children to EtHg. Regarding Thimerosal administered to the very young, we have sufficient studies that characterize a state of uncertainty:
The collective evidence strongly suggests that Thimerosal exposure is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.
It is claimed that the continued use of Thimerosal in the less-developed countries is due to the cost to change to another preservative, such as 2-phenoxyethanol.
However, the estimated cost increase per child in the first year of life is lower than estimated lifetime cost of caring for a child with a neurodevelopmental disorder, such tic disorder.
The evidence indicates that Thimerosal-free vaccine options should be made available in developing countries.
That concludes the background detail around the toxins which triggered US governmental intervention more than 20 years ago, leading toward so called ‘settled science’…
I’ll be posting about closed door sessions held by the IOM who were hired by the CDC to provide desired outcomes…which the CDC had paid service fees to receive.
Leading to reports (including 2004) which were based on inconclusive studies which can’t ever show ‘safety’…the 2004 report also essentially removed any required for future necessary lab research.
The handful of studies are cited globally including in NZ as ‘settled science’….
16000 more beneficiaries since Labour won the treasury benches, and hardship grant's up from 270,000 which were a disgrace under National to 490,000 per year now. Jeez this politics of kindness is great isn't it, and all the while the neoliberal machine keeps thundering along…
Don't be so mean. Everything is absolutely wonderful. Beloved leader says so so it must be true.
On the other hand she said that her meeting with the Australian PM had been a great success. Perhaps she was talking about her future career after she get bounced from her current role next year.
I heard a suggestion that she and Clarke were going to become stand up comedians. She was practicing for that and her prepared patter at the meeting certainly seemed to cause much hilarity for the Australians didn't it? Scott Morrison and his colleagues were openly laughing at her complaints about the deportations.
Like the Key government, and the Clark government before it, it's going to take over 2 parliamentary terms for the shine to come off this one, no matter the actual results.
The shine WON'T come off inside two terms no matter the actual results – and the shine WILL come off after two terms no matter the actual results. Which points at an electorate detached from, and maybe unaware of, actual results. Depressing really. It results in an excellent government killed off by fear of low-energy light bulbs, and a terrible government surviving fiscally unnecessary public sector austerity.
Cream at the top for public sector chief executives
Public sector salaries are once again under the spotlight after the announcement that Christchurch City Council's new chief executive will earn almost $500,000. But are they really that bad? DOMINIC HARRIS investigates.
I would dispute Todd Muller's disapproval of old cars as at 87 I have been driving for over sixty years, all sorts of vehicles from Trucks to 50cc motorcycles with few problems. Most of which were old and now have a 14yo WV which looks like new to me when washed and waxed, an import. Careful driving and responsible attention to road and conditions rather than arbitary rules.
Driving experience is important and I am sure this started for me as my grand dad drive our 1937 Morris 8 with me beside him sitting on Nan's lap …. not that I would reccomend that 🙂 [no seat-belts in those days]
Plus cycling to school in the easy days before the roads were littered with cars during WWII.
Then there are JAG's speed changes. A good driver slows when the road suggest it and driving in America it was a constant worry looking out for endless speed restriction signs … apart from motorways which are a delight to drive on often above the limi when safe as no cars around and long distances to be covered.
It seems silly to reduce speed limits when all new imported cars are capable and safe at well over the limits.
Western Elites Spruik Media Freedom While Torturing Julian Assange In Belmarsh Supermax.
Jim Mora, Chris Knox, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Graham Bell, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and other such worthies are amused no end by Assange’s persecution and suffering, but serious people, like the Australian psychologist Dr Lissa Johnson don’t see the funny side….
The state-sanctioned mobbing of Julian Assange, the likes of which Professor Melzer has not seen in his 20 years investigating torture, has involved abuse of both legal and political process to pursue, harass and defame the Wikileaks founder. This sustained assault has been augmented by a vicious and baseless smear campaign, conducted through the media, to alienate public support and to hound, humiliate and intimidate Julian Assange, including multiple calls for his assassination.
Treatment such as this, Melzer warns, “aims straight at the destruction of your innermost self, albeit without leaving a physical trace… Through relentless over-stimulation, confusion and stress, it eventually causes total exhaustion, cardiovascular failure and nervous collapse”.
So much for the UK Foreign Office commitment to the safety and protection of journalists.
Thanks Morrissey, interesting ‘perspective’, but Prof. Nils Melzer is just "one academic, and like lawyers, I can provide you with another one that will give you a counterview."
Deeper look at some of the aspects of the simple question – worthwhile read imo
The simple question “where are you from?” becomes, again, regardless of the intent of the questioner, a declaration: “I am entitled, because of my white European-ness, to ask you where are you from.” The pathology becomes most apparent when the person being asked the question is Indigenous. Because of the sense of entitlement that oozes out of it – and that is what is often hard, but not impossible, for others to understand – the question becomes threatening: a person of non-white European ancestry can immediately discern in the power to ask “where do you come from?” the residual power to say: “go back to where you came from”.
yet you refuse to accept the truth – when will you front up moonbreen
A pregnant African American lawmaker in Georgia said she was verbally attacked in a supermarket Friday by a middle-aged white man who used profanity, called her vulgar names and told her to “go back where you came from” as her nine-year-old daughter looked on.
Erica Thomas, a Democrat and Georgia state representative from Austell, said the man was irate that she was in an express line with too many items. Thomas said she was in a line for customers with 10 items or less because she cannot stand for long periods of time.
“And this white man comes up to me and says, ‘You lazy son of a bitch,”’ Thomas said, sobbing as she described the confrontation in a Facebook video. “He says, ‘You lazy son of a bitch; you need to go back where you came from.”’
And yet, and I can't stress this enough, that particular link to the Guardian was incredibly pertinent to the times we live in, the rise of fascism from the dustbin of history. Or so we thought – maybe we just hadn't wanted to notice that the lid wasn't shuit on the dustbin.
You want to bitch about the Guardian not meeting your approval. That's your thing. Ok. I'm fucking worried about if there's anything I can do to stop these bastards, because they will end up killing us all quicker than climate change ever would. Physics doesn't care if we live or die. Fascists actively want to kill all non-fascists. Not just over there, over here, too.
We need to maximise inclusion. That means learning new things about how our behaviour excludes or intimidates groups of people, even if innocently intended.
Putting up with the paradox of tolerance meaning that we have to exclude people with whom there is no compromise on exclusion isn't enough. That's the pointy bit of the pyramid. But the wider bit, about avoiding unintended exclusion, That's what the pointy bit sits on.
So what are your specific thoughts on the Guardian article? Given that you know that the article was quite interesting, what are your thoughts on the topic?
To get really mad about something to the point of yelling or fighting. To go out of one's mind because of the gravity of the seriousness of the situation. To lose it or flip out. Reference to Captain Kirk from Star Trek and the way he used to sign off the com speaker “Kirk out” when he was upset.
National Party embedded journalist, Stacey Kirk, kirks out of journalism. This is yet another example of a right wing media person throwing their toys and quitting because the National Party are in opposition.
True to form, her letter of resignation is nothing more than a John Key puff piece, mentioning him, oh, a dozen or so times.
I read that as her imagining she's been doing public service work thus far, and is embarking on what she imagines is new public service work, ie press secretary for the National Party.
One of the comments after her piece on John Key suggested she left because she didn't get the political editor job after her mate Tracy Watkins left.
Here's who did:
A born and bred Cantabrian, (Luke Malpass) had also worked as a general reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald and previously helped set up the NZ Initiative's operations.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will not halt a pesticide linked with brain damage from being sprayed on crops, the agency said Thursday in response to a lawsuit.
Chlorpyrifos, known on the market as Lorsban, is used on a wide variety of crops, including corn and cranberries, and farmers often call it a last line of defense against certain insects.
A federal appeals court in April gave the EPA 90 days to decide how to deal with the pesticide.
Environmental groups have long contended it’s dangerous and have spent years suing the EPA to end its agricultural use. Studies have linked chlorpyrifos to learning and memory issues and prolonged nerve and muscle stimulation.
Won't be much trouble getting new planes for the NZDF now that the Prime Minister and journalists got stranded in Melbourne when their official RNZAF 757 broke down with a computer malfunction.
Bet the PM ditches our own military service next time and just goes commercial.
If the Prime Minister was really serious about improving wellbeing she would accept the recommendations from her own Welfare Experts Advisory Group to increase benefits by $5.2b/yr now..
Instead of raising benefits, the Minister of Finance would do better to bully and force seasonal employers to put their wages up, because that is where the workers are needed.
Instead we open the doors to foreigners with temporary visas just to get the apples and grapes in. So unemployed NEETS don't see enough attraction to work in season areas.
With Brexit, the US-China trade crisis pulling Chinese economic demand down, and now Iran heating up, and having one of the top two most exposed housing markets in the OECD, I see plenty of reason for the Minister of Finance to keep plenty of debt capacity in reserve.
Agree, wages for seasonal workers need to increase. However, a number of seasonal workers end up back on the benefit when the season is over. Additionally, higher benefits puts upward pressure on wages.
There is scope for loosening the purse strings a little and the extra expenditure will result in savings re improvements in social ills along with increased tax revenue via the economic stimulus due to the increased benefit spend. Nevertheless, loosening the purse strings is merely one option. Cuts could be made elsewhere.
Seems Grant has a blank cheque to tackle Mycoplasma bovis.
There's also a lot of expensive stuff that comes with it – injector pens, needles, blood glucose monitor, test strips etc. I pay a small fraction of what all that costs, thanks to what US right-wingers contemptuously dismiss as "socialised medicine." They'd much rather have ideological purity, readily available at the low, low cost of lots of dead poor people.
Playing footsie with the murderous Assad wasn't such a good idea.
As she runs for the Democratic nominee for president, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) also faces a primary challenge for her seat in the House. But if recent filings made by her political team are any indication, she’s not sweating.
Gabbard raised just $11 in the second quarter of 2019. That number does not factor in a $31 contribution refund, which means her campaign committee ended in the red during that three month period.
The committee spent just $8,828.59 during the quarter—almost all of which was on financial compliance—leaving it with just over $30,000 cash on hand.
The absence of any fundraising or spending on her House race has left political observers with the impression that Gabbard may not return to Congress at all if her White House bid falls short. By contrast, during this quarter in the 2018 election cycle, Gabbard brought in more than $225,000 in net contributions, per federal filings.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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Not to be missed event, The 'Syria Speaks Hui'
The Leftist Daily Blog gives solidarity to the "Syria Speaks' Hui
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/07/19/the-liberal-agenda-syria-speaks/
The Centrist Standard) only posts pro Assad opinion.
https://thestandard.org.nz/category/international/war/syria-war/
The Far Right have issued death threats against the organisers of the Syria Speaks Hui, (which have been passed on to the police in the interests of attendees safety).
*My edit. J.
Trouble with Syria is that the U.S., Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and France have diplomatically and militarily supported Al Qaeda, ISIL, and al-Nusra.
To true morrissey …. although I should thank jenny for leading me down the road to learn a lot about the christchurch sub-uber racist killer.
Which she tried to blame on Assad … in a sickness on top of sickness kind of way.
Here's some real info from a little internet digging
****************************************
Reading NZ papers on wikileaks I learnt John Key was in Obamas company , giving a speech , immediately after Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people in 2011.
Key took the opportunity to call for more resources and surveillance to counter and stop future terrorist attacks … Cynically.
The budget for spooks and security went from $56 Million in 2011 … up to over $ 150 million now.
They brag about how they have made us safe https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-12/GCSB%20and%20NZSIS.PDF page 39 …
But apparently while 'making us safe', they were not looking at people like Anders Behring Breivik … who our killer admired in posts on known ‘extreme’ chat rooms … and he wanted to achieve a similar kind of racist immortality.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-12/GCSBandNZSIS.PDF
Here’s your UN compact! … was one of the many twink scrawled message written on one of the assault rifles in Christchurch … a message that ricochet back at the tRumps … and our Nacts… who effectively gave ammo to a sick mind.
Vote buying and stoking a toxic minority … Invaders!
To lift the topic ,,,,,,I’ll finish with a bloody good powerful Aussie rock song about Aussie racism and exploitation …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0OPPUGJAj4
Jenny – How to Get there?
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
20 July 2019 at 7:25 am
Not to be missed event, The 'Syria Speaks Hui'
The Leftist Daily Blog gives solidarity to the "Syria Speaks' Hui
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/07/19/the-liberal-agenda-syria-speaks/
The Centrist Standard) only posts pro Assad opinion.
/category/international/war/syria-war/
The Far Right have issued death threats against the organisers of the Syria Speaks Hui, (which have been passed on to the police in the interests of attendees safety).
That does tend to happen when you include nine live links and an email address, yes.
Just the regular necessary reminder that most of the economics profession is dedicated to pushing ideas that are flat-out wrong, but happen to benefit wealthy people and screw the not-wealthy. Hence their symbiotic relationship with the "conservative" part of the political spectrum.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/19/20699366/interest-rates-unemployment-globalization-minimum-wage-deficit
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/07/four-economic-myths-plus-one/
A truly silly column by Fran O'Sullivan in the Herald where she offers the opine that the PM should not have annoyed the hosts by making representations over the deportations of Kiwis, but instead raise the matter of New Zealand banking rules.
The thing is the PM is now in the position to quote their words back at them when they representations on behalf of their banks.
And to have raised the matter of banking with the Oz government would have been to undermine the sovereignty of our regime in this matter.
Fran O'Sullivan discards herself as a piece of rubbish. She does not understand the horrendous, indeed Attrocius destruction of Human Life that Australians have carried out on their Country – and continue to carry out.
Concerning Australian Strong arm Deportation
Contrary to little Fran,
I do not see that we need to accept any deportation attempted by the Australian Government.
As far I know, New Zealand has never undertaken to off load citizens from an unfriendly nation.
Any attempt to fly any aircraft or sail any ships into our waters without permission will be deemed a violation.
Any attempt to fly any aircraft or sail any ships into our waters without permission will be deemed a violation
How about an 18 ton spacestation that went down yesterday.
The time has come, however, for Tiangong-2 to be deorbited and, naturally, destroyed in the process. The China National Space Administration indicated that the 18-meter-wide station and solar panels will mostly burn up during reentry, but that a small amount of debris may fall “in a safe area in the South Pacific,” specifying a rather large area that does technically include quite a bit of New Zealand (160-190°W long by 30-45°S lat).
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/18/chinese-space-station-tiangong-2-is-about-to-burn-up-over-the-pacific/
Glad we live in safe area in the SP
Feeding Racism.
How the (Centre) Left's support for the Assad regime has helped feed and spread the growth of fascism beyond Syria's borders.
And those supporting Israel's annexation of the Golan heights and East Jerusalem … also supporting the removal of Assad (but failing) …
The right wing white race nationalists only prefer Assad to Islamists. The secular left wingers prefer a secular dictatorship to one based around Islamist theocracy. Compaining about that is in service to the former – the White House and its UK poodle and Israel.
Israel and the USA do not care for ME democracy – being onside with Sisi and the Riyadh Crown Prince and the censorship of al Jazeera.
‘
While the Centre Left still, even now, courts racism and fascism, Leftist webcaster, Democracy Now, offers a different perspective.
“For Sama”
Racism and fascism is a good description of the governments in Israel and the USA at the moment.
SPC to keep things simple, and to avoid the running into the pitfalls of Godwin's Law. I reserve accusations of racism and fascism to;
1/ Those like Philip Arps who openly self identify as fascists, racists/white supremacists/anti-semites/Islamophobes etc.
2/ Those like David Irving who cover up or excuse genocide.
3/ Those like Bashar Assad who commit genocide
As for the governments of the US and Israel
A war of choice launched by the US against Iran, (which would be a genocidal war), in my opinion, would elevate Donald Trump from xenophobic racist to fascist.
I think that it can be reasonably argued, and it has been, that Benjamin Netanyahu is guilty of committing genocide against the people of Gaza. Which by my definition would also qualify Netanyahu as a 'fascist'.
Given that the term "fascist" has been around for a hundred years it seems silly to try and re-invent the meaning of it now.
Trying to impose order on a chaotic world can seem soothing to some, I guess.
The term ‘fascist’ might well have been around for a hundred years* But in the age of the internet Godwyn’s law rightly warns against the devaluation of the designation of 'fascist' to anyone who disagrees with you.
Godwyn himself has since said that this should not be used to avoid using this description where it is apt and justified.
This obviously makes necessary to define the term in a concise manner where it is accurate.
You might disagree with me that my determination that those who commit or excuse genocide fit this designation. personally I think it is accurate.
*The term fascist has been around for over 2,000 years referring to fasci or sticks carried by Roman Senators which when bound together could not be broken. The symbol of which was adopted by the modern fascists.
It might pay to remember that the ancient Roman Empire which the modern fascists so admire was a brutal slave society.
Fascism is a form of political and social organisation. It is not primarily about genocide.
Godwyn himself has since said that this should not be used to avoid using this description where it is apt and justified.
Exactly. So why don't you do that?
Jenny, the problem you run into when you use words that already have well-established meanings to mean different things is that nobody then has any chance of figuring out WTF you're on about.
In this particular case, genocide and fascism are separate things. Some genocides were carried out by fascist governments, some were not. Some fascist governments have been genocidal, some have not.
Instead of re-defining a word or language to suit one’s narrative one should re-phrase and re-frame one’s narrative to avoid ambiguity and confusion as much as possible. That is a golden rule in and of communication, especially on a blog site. The problem is that not all people have an equally good grasp of language, which on its own is not a major issue and can be ‘corrected’, but when they dig in and refuse to accept their ‘lingual faux pas’, it can become a major one.
It seems to me that some commenters here are only interested in writing their own comments but not in taking on-board comments by others. In fact, they often become defensive and aggressive or evasive when challenged …
Genocide and fascism are two different things?
The most notable aspect of fascism is the use of genocide.
At the very least genocide could be called a sub-set of fascism.
I have termed (at various times), the Assad regime as "a fascist style regime" because of its of genocidal air campaign against its own citizens.
Another notable feature of fascist style regimes is the maintenance and operation of mass detention and death camps.
Of which the Assad regime has several, the most notable of these being Saydnaya on the outskirts of Damascus.
You say that I am redefining the meaning of the word fascist. Well one thing I know for sure, a fascist is no longer an ancient stick bearing slave owning Roman Senator.
Next you will be telling me that I would be wrong to label General Pinochet of Chile a fascist. Or General Franco of Spain a fascist. Because they don't meet your Hollywood characterisation of German fascists.
You say that I shouldn't define fascists as people who commit genocide.
What would you call people who commit genocide?
Why don't you do some research on the term "fascism" while putting aside the genocide thing for a while? Learn what the term means and then come back. Even just reading the wiki page would be help you heaps.
Next you will be telling me that I would be wrong to label General Pinochet of Chile a fascist. Or General Franco of Spain a fascist.
While Pinochet certainly displayed some elements of fascism, fascist really isn't a good descriptor for Pinochet's flavour of pseudo-populist ultra-nationalist despotism. Furthermore, while Pinochet had a weak spot for mass-murder of his opponents, the fact that it was his political opponents he was murdering rather than attempting to eliminate a particular ethnic/cultural group makes genocide an inaccurate descriptor for Pinochet's murders.
Fascism certainly is a good descriptor for Franco's particular nasty flavour of ideology. However, like Pinochet, genocide is a poor descriptor for Franco's mass murderous activities since it was targeted at political opponents rather than elimination of ethnic/cultural groups.
You say that I shouldn't define fascists as people who commit genocide.
What would you call people who commit genocide?
Genocidal is a pretty good descriptor for those who commit genocide. Rwanda is an example of genocide without fascism.
Andre, You say that the word "fascist" has a well-established meaning. (which I have got wrong).
If the 'meaning' of the word fascist is, 'well-established' then you would have no trouble telling us what it is.
I await your reply.
Which of course you won’t give, despite it being so “well-established”.
FFS, check a dictionary or the wikipedia link I gave you above.
https://wikidiff.com/genocide/fascism
A couple more for you Jenny-Armenian genocide by Turkey and the Rape of Nanking by Japan.
Indeed. Even though the Japanese Empire, did not explicitly share the Italian and German fascist icongraphy and language, (harking back to the glories of the Western Imperial slave society of ancient Rome). Following the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese imperialists (rightly in my opinion) were termed fascists.
In its brutality and carnage on the same scale as the destruction of Homs by the Assad regime.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video
One of many main problems jenny … is who are you asking to win your war….. surely not the people commiting genocide in Yemen ??
And even if we were to believe your good war / we must kill more and add more deaths …. to stop a genocide logic.
Lets look at the 'care' towards civilians you are asking for …. a recent war crime shows a good example …of your good war, being nothing but a uncaring death and refugee machine.
So who are you calling on to kill more ?? Turkey is your best option for dragging it out at the moment.
In their campaign against Isis the US has slaughtered civilians also identified by the Assad regime as enemies.
I have never denied Reason, that the US has committed massive crimes against the people of Syria in fact I have written about them long before you. As soon as the Amnesty report came out. I wrote on these pages about this crime.
The US is in Syria for its own reasons. The US has never unleashed the same fury against the Assad regime that it has unleashed against perceived enemies of the US. In the two air strikes against regime resources the US gave the Assad regime, (through its Russian ally), advanced notice of both attacks. And notably, no regime forces were ever killed or wounded in these two attacks. The US didn't exercise such niceties toward the civilian population of Raqqa.
The West and particularly the US has a fetish against anyone (but themselves of course) having weapons of mass destruction, WMDs. As horrible as these weapons are, most of the regime's slaughter of civilians has been conducted with so called "conventional weapons" which the US has raised no real objection to, and has certainly not acted to stop.
You are not anti-war, if you are not anti-Assad's war.
It is actually you reason, who is calling to kill more.
In your comment above you are of course alluding to Idlib.
Idlib had previously with Turkish support been declared a deconfliction zone.
Lately the Turkish government of Erdogan has made its peace with the Assad regime and their Russian ally, giving the green light for the regime and Russia to continue their genocidal campaign against the Syrian people into Idlib.
Completing the encirclement Erdogan has ordered the closing of the border to civilians fleeing the impending slaughter, leaving them no where else to go.
Reason you are cheering on this slaughter to begin.
And even when the regime conquers Idlib, the killing will not stop. This is a regime that is currently rounding up and "disappearing" thousands of civilians in the areas it has already retaken.
‘
Don't support fascism. (It really shouldn't have to be said).
Jenny , you just cant stop your bullshitting your one sided propaganda can you ?? …
Things like your wild conspiracy theories about the Christchurch racist mass murderer … or the murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox … both being caused by Assad / Syria ….
Leave you with sub-zero credibility…. You've proven you'll write any shit.
My comment was about a 100 mile deep strip running the length of the border with Syria ….
Perhaps Turkey was promised it … and Israel the Golan Heights too… in a pre-arranged divy up upon the destruction / balkinization break up of Syria …. which was all on course and following the script of Libya ,,,
before the Isis / al nusra tide was repelled.
Regarding Idlib and ignoring your asshat blather ….The problem with Idib is all the foreign fighters / mercenaries, ,,,which their home countries do not want them to returning too.
New Zealand had 1 ,,,,, and there was a big fuss about him …. Britian and France have hundreds,
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/isis-recruiter-who-radicalised-london-bridge-attackers-was-protected-by-mi5-232998ab6421
Both the brits and frogs have previously stated they would rather have their radicalized citizens killed than returned … do your own internet search.
So I imagine the best result for the sponsors of your peaceful bloodbath would be to block their return … yet pretend moral outrage when they lose their last Jihad battles.
Personally I believe quite a few could be de-radicalised ,,,,,, so unlike you I'm not into more war / killing….
And I heard that you stayed with people …. like the fine ones in this video … during your time in syria ;(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULtNYSUqYHw
The video link about Raqqa very specificly disproves one of your
Assad is not a racist (anti-Zionist maybe), and whether a one party (not based on race, ethnicity or religion) tyranny posing as socialist qualifies as fascist is debatable (a matter of technical definition). Resorting to methods (bombing in civilian areas and economic blockade) used by the Allies during WW2 is not genocide, though war crimes are/were involved. Each would claim they did it to defeat a fascist threat (and Islamo-fascism was ultimately the alternative posed to the regime, not a democracy).
I would also argue that Netanyahu has not committed genocide, albeit collective punishment and war crimes. An ethnic state asserting its will by force is racist and fascist.
As for Trump, his white race nation, "the will of our God and our nation be done" assertion of economic and military power (including sanctions against those nations that refuse to enforce sanctions against targeted states) is fascist in its belligerent exercise of power.
SPC you object to me identifying the Assad regime "fascist" as inaccurate and a redefinition of the word. Yet you have no hesitation of identifying Assad's opponents as "Islamofascists".
The crimes of Isis are dire and extreme, but don’t reach by numbers anywhere near the sheer scale of the crimes committed by the Assad regime.
You criticise me for redefining the word fascist and then make your own redefinition, fascism is the "beligerant exercise of power".
In my opinion your definition is too tame and too broad.
Fascism is something much worse than this.
In my opinion you have fallen into the Godwyn trap.
But even using your definition Assad is a fascist.
Er no, I disagree whether the term fascist is accurate for Syria's Baath regime and explained why (I did not discuss redefintion of the word fascist but mentioned the technical use of the term, as distinct from the colloquial use which both of us are doing). Many have called Moslem terrorists intent on imposition of their rule Islamo-fascists. And not just Islamic State, but also al Nusra.
And I did not redefine fascism as "belligerent exercise of power" but noted that such was practiced by fascist regimes – fascist in its "belligerent use of power" (either domestically and externally).
Yes the Assad regime did exercise "belligerent use of power", but not until it was subject to a conspiracy to depose the regime (its earlier use of gunfire to intimidate democratic protesters in Damascus was commonplace tyranny).
What I find notable SPC is that in his recent extended interview on Democracy Now in which Noam Chomsky covered a wide range of issues, imperialism, the rise of fascism in the ’30s, the campaign against nuclear weapons in the ’80s the Iraq war, the war in Yemen. the war in Libya. But during this extended interview where he was given the complete floor to say whatever he wanted Noam Chomsky never mentioned, (apart from a mention of Israel annexing the Golan Heights). Chomsky never mentioned, not even once, the war in Syria.
This could represent one of two things;
1/ That Chomsky is changing from his previous held position of endorsing the US regime change conspiracy theory spread by the Assad regime and its supporters.
2/ That Chomsky has not changed from his previous position, but knows that it is indefensible, and that Democracy Now will challenge him on it.
I would like to believe that it is the first case not the second.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/7/5/an_hour_with_noam_chomsky_on
Thanks for that learned theory about Chomsky's "indefensible" position on Syria. Do you think he should come out in support of Al Qaeda and the Al Nusra Front?
Don't you think it worthy noting SPC that a learned scholar like Noam Chomsky did not feel confidant enough to make a comment on Syria before people who he knew would challenge him on it?
Chomsky did not feel confidant [sic] enough....
???????
Chomsky is not some cowardly politician. And he has never supported a "regime change conspiracy theory."
Chomsky is not some cowardly politician. And he has never supported a “regime change conspiracy theory.”
Morrissey
https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2016/04/14/how-noam-chomsky-betrayed-the-syrian-people
Quoting wacky blogs does nothing for your argument, Jenny. The ridiculous sight of a lightweight like “analyst Sam Hammad” calling Noam Chomsky, of all people, “conservative, orientalist, and incoherent” is almost as ridiculous as the shrieking charge that he “betrayed” anyone.
Sam Hammad is a 'lightweight'
Ironic then that the most common go to source, for Assad apologists on this site, is 9/11 Truther and comedian Jimmy Dore
YOU WANT THE TRUTH? A CORRESPONDENCE WITH NOAM CHOMSKY ON SYRIA
Posted on April 30, 2017 by Sam Hamad
When I read Manufacturing Consent as a teenager, in the summer of 2002 to be precise, at the beginning of War on Terror fever, I never thought that one day its most esteemed author, Noam Chomsky, would accuse me of supporting al-Qaeda. In the following exchange, he does exactly that, as well as accusing me of supporting Daesh. That makes it three times, by my count, that he’s issued this most scurrilous and ironic smear, with his initial accusation of my support for Daesh coming in a response he gave to a friend who had sent an article I wrote criticising his stance on Syria for Muftah……
https://herecomesthetumbleweed.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/you-want-the-truth-a-correspondence-with-noam-chomsky/
Sam Hammad is a 'lightweight'
Agreed.
The difficulties presented by polarisation
"And even if it is an immediate disaster, visible on day one, there are few guarantees that leavers would admit their error and seek once more the embrace of Brussels. As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform puts it, “Just because babies are dying, does that mean they’ll say we were better off in the EU?” Aren’t they just as likely to blame the beastly Europeans for inflicting such a hellscape on an innocent nation? After all, even Boris Johnson once thought Britain could leave the EU and keep its seat on the European council of ministers. The Brexiters will cry, “How we were to know that leaving the EU meant leaving the EU?” And if they don’t blame Brussels, they’ll blame someone else: foreigners, minorities, anyone but themselves."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/19/upside-no-deal-crashing-out-country-brexit
Exchange Brexit for climate emergency …..the same process is in play
Whaleoik's lawyer begs to be allowed off the case but judge refusing his client's illness or bankruptcy as further delaying tactics. Sheds light on how the slob has been gaming the court system for years. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/18/687813/lawyer-let-me-off-whaleoil-case
he looks like he is in for (another) hard life lesson – most of which are of his own doing and could have been resolved years ago if he was reasonable.
No sympathy for his current legal predicament.
I feel for his children, but that's it.
Massey University’s Dr Andy Towers, from the School of Public Health, wants minimum pricing for alcohol as part of a campaign to make it socially unacceptable for poor people to drink – saying “Sub-groups” who continue to smoke, even though it’s socially unacceptable and expensive, they’re addicted. The same would happen with alcohol if minimum unit pricing came in”
Mimimum pricing would of course have no impact on the craft beers and wines drunk by the well to do, for whom drinking would presumably remain socially acceptable in more upmarket locations and more exclusive private clubs (a bit like in Teheran behind the walls of the well to do).
The Panopticon Society rears its head via Public Health policy academics, their cohorts in criminology presumably justify targeting of the underclass without religion with fear and obey policing intimidation.
The enemies of equality and freedom come out in public like this because they have no shame.
If Andy Tower stuck his head out the window he would realise poor people can barely pay for their rent, pay off their tertiary loan and save a deposit to buy a home and this is why less young people drink. We have the highest rent to house value in the world and the second most expensive property to wages in the world.
Using "price to signal that drinking is unacceptable" (and reserving it as a privilege for those whose drinks prices will remain unchanged) is of an alliance between the haves and those who want to control the behaviour and lives of the common folk. His agenda to describe poor people who drink as addicts is telling.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114298788/a-change-to-minimum-unit-pricing-of-alcohol-will-reduce-harm-says-researcher#comments
If this study was accurate it would appear that the people who drink to much are the old rich ones.
Manual workers apparently drink much less than wealthy professionals. Price increase aren't therefore likely to have any effect.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/01/wealthy-professionals-most-likely-to-drink-alcohol-regularly-figures-show
There is an article linked to the story on Stuff the about a study by Andy Towers himself coming to the same conclusion that the increase in drinking is by those is by those over 50 – so he should know minimum pricing would have no impact on that.
Using "price to signal that drinking is unacceptable"…
Unacceptable to whom? Seriously, apart from devout Muslims, who wants to "signal that drinking is unacceptable?" Some technocrats in government departments in universities, maybe? I was at a pub last night and drinking seemed pretty acceptable to everyone present.
ISTR a low minimum pricing/quantity deters kids when there's not age restriction (e.g. single cigarette sales I think were banned before tobacco became R18). Keeps it just outside the reach of their pocket money.
But I suspect that as the price of alcohol goes up, the more people bring homebrew to parties for their friends. Maybe with a nod and a wink, maybe gratis. None of my business.
Foreigners' unpaid medical debts revealed. And this is just for the Auckland region.
More than $35 million in unpaid debts by foreigners treated for healthcare in Auckland has been written off in the past three years.
Acting Health Minister Julie Anne Genter and the DHBs declined to comment. But in Counties Manukau's OIA response, it stated significant resource goes into determining a patient's eligibility status, and then seeking payment.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/07/foreigners-unpaid-medical-debts-revealed.html
Here's a possible solution. Require them to have insurance when entering the country, making it available for those that don't already have cover. No insurance, no entry.
Yesterday I heard a worker at the Maori agency [sorry forget its name] say the problem with Maori babies being taken is that the department will not build/get more housing so Mother AND child can be helped away from their bad life situation.
Such a simple solution to the problem … it must be correct and so beyond the comprehension of beaurocrats
While being one solution, the problem is more complex than that.
You are correct as I now know if I had not already realised from reading the article listed below
Add this (link below) to your reading list, John.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114346832/mori-four-times-more-likely-to-have-children-removed-study
On the other hand. Rather than removing mother and child(ren) from the family home how about removing the abusive partner?
Set them all up in say one of these….https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/114172252/adult-dorms-a-look-inside-aucklands-newest-coliving-arrangement …and let 'em slug it out.
Sorry Rosemary .. a great idea but hamstrung I am sure by eager lawyers to proect the rights of those abusers.
"lets them slug it out" is not a solution IMO but compounding on the problem.
Here's one organisation doing that: https://gandhinivas.nz/our-houses/
Since writing the above I have been to the following ,,,,
https://www.nzcpr.com/new-zealands-maori-child-welfare-problem/#more-29704
or you could check this if you prefer ….
https://www.nzcpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Research-Paper-Child-Abuse-Brian-Giesbrecht.pdf
It is related to a counry on the other side of the world but I think as I read it often applying to here.
Rather long but full of background for somebody who only has seen two very small parts of that country …. Vancouver and Niagra Falls…. as a tourist 🙁
The links are to the NZ Centre for Political Research, which despite it's institutional name is a right-wing political think tank.
I tried to read the second link but could only get through the introduction by Muriel Newman, and the first page before deciding to skim for any nuggets of information. The report by a retired Canadian judge is indicative of the further harm that can be caused by those in authority. His mention of the residential schools being a 'dumping ground' for children of abusive alcoholic parents, ignores the reality that many were taken from intact and loving environments, and put into these abusive institutions.
His reference to FASD is without context for the conditions in which alcohol is used as a release from despair for whole indigenous communities.
I don't think he adds anything new to the conversation, except provide evidence of the level of assumptions that must be made in order to continue to justify the status quo and the harm that occurs.
This refusal to consider perpetual harm and the long-term consequences of government and societal actions on the indigenous community is obstructive to effective solutions.
Of course it is….![angry angry](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png)
/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/114118908/man-charged-with-murder-of-10monthold-baby
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113881098/breaking-homicide-investigation-launched-into-toddlers-death
https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/215384-name-suppression-toddler-murder-accused.html
In Australia they spend more on seizing children … due largely to poverty of their homes / parents …… than would be needed to just lift them out of poverty.
Families are paying a toll for the settings of society …. any civilized evolving society should adapt to overcome serious problems … like affordable housing for all its citizens.
I could well believe market ideology is the main impediment to fixing the failures harming NZ society.
Joint Statement of The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Public Health Service (FDA & CDC), July 7, 1999
The Process of Public Policy Formulation: The Case of Thimerosal in Vaccines
EMERGENCE OF THIMEROSAL AS A CONCERN
Not sure how may of the vaccines on the NZ schedule contain thiomersal as formulations and preservatives are constantly evolving but as ever it’s disappointing that Philu is still spreading his antivac. drivel….
First, there is no mercury in vaccines, and never was. And thiomersal is not banned, anywhere.
Let’s start with the beginning. Thiomersal is a powerful antiseptic, that, even in tiny doses, (nanogram levels) blocks the growth of bacteria. Up until the anti-vaccination movement invented some tropes about thiomersal, we had less expensive, multi use vials for many drugs, including vaccines. Thiomersal prevented bacterial growth, which is much more dangerous than the imagined danger of thiomersal.
The claim that it is mercury is silly and shows of an ignorance of chemistry. Thiomersal is not a fancy name for “mercury” it is the proper chemical term for ethyl mercury, an organic compound attached to the mercury molecule. They do not disassociate in the body, and is quickly eliminated through the kidneys.
Table salt is sodium bonded to chlorine. Elemental sodiums is explosive. And elemental chlorine, a gas, is deadly. Yet when they are combined, they became a stable salt. And it does disassociate (unlike thiomersal), although the ionic forms of the sodium and chlorine are not dangerous.
Reducing chemistry to the basic elements is not how biochemistry works. It’s the whole molecule that matters, not the individual parts. So thiomersal does not add to the mercury burden of a human being, unless you have some nobel prize winning research that shows that somehow the mercury atom cleaves from the organic molecule in water. And we have no evidence of that.
Moreover, there simply is no research whatsoever that has established a link between thiomersal or anything, up to and including autism.
What’s next on your list Phil…fluoride in the water ? or is it back to the 5G ?
I could very well be missing something here Higherstandard, and everyone else in the world knows the source of your quoted text, but help me out here and provide a link.
Please?![wink wink](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=thiomersal&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Sorry Higherstandard, that simply takes me to generic search page…which particular paper are you quoting from?
Thimerosal: clinical, epidemiologic and biochemical studies.
CONCLUSION:
The culmination of the research that examines the effects of Thimerosal in humans indicates that it is a poison at minute levels with a plethora of deleterious consequences, even at the levels currently administered in vaccines.
One Two do you have any medical qualifications to make that claim to us?
One Two do you have any medical qualifications to make that claim to us?![laugh laugh](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
Not unless he's been holding out on us this chap below does have some medical knowledge though…
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/why-the-latest-geier-geier-paper-is-not-evidence-that-mercury-in-vaccines-causes-autism/
It may all be rather pointless discussion though ….. as I said above I not sure if any vaccines in the NZ schedule use thimerosal as a preservative anymore. If philu wants to tell us whether they do he can search it up on the Medsafe website.
Had a wee look.A bunch of different credible sites say thimerosal has not been in any New Zealand childhood vaccines since 2000, and is not currently in any vaccines of any kind in New Zealand (although flu vaccines overseas are commonly cited as still possibly containing thimerosal). Haven't spotted anything that gives a date on when the last vaccines containing thimerosal were phased out in New Zealand.
There's an odd absence of triumphant articles claiming reductions in illnesses previously attributed to thimerosal due to the removal of it, however.
The chemtrails took over where the evil vaccines left off. Stay in your caves, comrades!
Also, the links in that SBM piece all appear to be dead. But searching for Geier debunked brings up plenty of relevant info.
As if it wasn't blindingly obvious how you manage to maintain yourself at such a stunted level of ignorance.
To the point where you openly…and seemingly without a sense of shame or awareness… share your base level technique…
Andre keyword search:
[subject matter] | [persons name] | [debunk]
Bravo. Shameless.
I can't believe anybody still references that guy. But there it is before my eyes. Stunning.
Ooooh, sounds like this time it's going to need more than a hug and a kiss and a make-up sesh.
CONCLUSION:
If you read the linked material… you should have managed to figure out that I had forgotten to used the <blockquote> on 11.1.1.3
Mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired oxidative-reduction activity, degeneration, and death in human neuronal and fetal cells induced by low-level exposure to thimerosal and other metal compounds
Conclusion
Low-dose Thimerosal in pediatric vaccines: Adverse effects in perspective
That concludes the background detail around the toxins which triggered US governmental intervention more than 20 years ago, leading toward so called ‘settled science’…
I’ll be posting about closed door sessions held by the IOM who were hired by the CDC to provide desired outcomes…which the CDC had paid service fees to receive.
Leading to reports (including 2004) which were based on inconclusive studies which can’t ever show ‘safety’…the 2004 report also essentially removed any required for future necessary lab research.
The handful of studies are cited globally including in NZ as ‘settled science’….
16000 more beneficiaries since Labour won the treasury benches, and hardship grant's up from 270,000 which were a disgrace under National to 490,000 per year now. Jeez this politics of kindness is great isn't it, and all the while the neoliberal machine keeps thundering along…
Don't be so mean. Everything is absolutely wonderful. Beloved leader says so so it must be true.
On the other hand she said that her meeting with the Australian PM had been a great success. Perhaps she was talking about her future career after she get bounced from her current role next year.
I heard a suggestion that she and Clarke were going to become stand up comedians. She was practicing for that and her prepared patter at the meeting certainly seemed to cause much hilarity for the Australians didn't it? Scott Morrison and his colleagues were openly laughing at her complaints about the deportations.
ha – at least you're not trying to bully the baby anymore you sad sack of doggy doos
I don't believe I ever attempted to bully Jacinda Ardern.
What on earth are you dribbling on about, you sad little git?
yeah you’re real ignorant alright – make your idol t.rump look genius level
There are some details at
https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/latest-quarterly-results/all-main-benefits.html
The main increase is in job seeker support and it would be interesting to know why given that many employers are struggling to find staff.
Like the Key government, and the Clark government before it, it's going to take over 2 parliamentary terms for the shine to come off this one, no matter the actual results.
And it goes both ways:
The shine WON'T come off inside two terms no matter the actual results – and the shine WILL come off after two terms no matter the actual results. Which points at an electorate detached from, and maybe unaware of, actual results. Depressing really. It results in an excellent government killed off by fear of low-energy light bulbs, and a terrible government surviving fiscally unnecessary public sector austerity.
The Ardern-Robertson Budget accountability framework will at least show the annual results on poverty alleviation to hold them to.
I have a sneaky feeling the media will warm to that task.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the pay scale
Cream at the top for public sector chief executives
Public sector salaries are once again under the spotlight after the announcement that Christchurch City Council's new chief executive will earn almost $500,000. But are they really that bad? DOMINIC HARRIS investigates.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114345078/cream-at-the-top-for-public-sector-chief-executives
A good read.
National MP and climate change spokesperson Todd Muller, supports the government's low emission vehicle rebate policy.
Simon Bridges and the National Party oppose it.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2019/07/the-pitch-national-s-climate-spokesperson-supports-govt-electric-vehicle-policy-despite-party-opposition.html
I would dispute Todd Muller's disapproval of old cars as at 87 I have been driving for over sixty years, all sorts of vehicles from Trucks to 50cc motorcycles with few problems. Most of which were old and now have a 14yo WV which looks like new to me when washed and waxed, an import. Careful driving and responsible attention to road and conditions rather than arbitary rules.
Driving experience is important and I am sure this started for me as my grand dad drive our 1937 Morris 8 with me beside him sitting on Nan's lap …. not that I would reccomend that 🙂 [no seat-belts in those days]
Plus cycling to school in the easy days before the roads were littered with cars during WWII.
Then there are JAG's speed changes. A good driver slows when the road suggest it and driving in America it was a constant worry looking out for endless speed restriction signs … apart from motorways which are a delight to drive on often above the limi when safe as no cars around and long distances to be covered.
It seems silly to reduce speed limits when all new imported cars are capable and safe at well over the limits.
Regrettably there are too few responsible drivers and car owners like yourself.
Fresh regulation occurs when the system overall is failing. (usually 😉 )
With the road toll and urban air pollution as it is, we need new regulation.
Western Elites Spruik Media Freedom While Torturing Julian Assange In Belmarsh Supermax.
Jim Mora, Chris Knox, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, Graham Bell, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and other such worthies are amused no end by Assange’s persecution and suffering, but serious people, like the Australian psychologist Dr Lissa Johnson don’t see the funny side….
Thanks Morrissey, interesting ‘perspective’, but Prof. Nils Melzer is just "one academic, and like lawyers, I can provide you with another one that will give you a counterview."
Hold. Hold. Wait for it…
Ha, ha, ha, Mr. Kram. Thanks for spoiling this lovely afternoon with that repellent flashback.
Deeper look at some of the aspects of the simple question – worthwhile read imo
The Grauniad?!?!?!?!?
WTF, marty?
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2019/894-dump-the-guardian.html
Or you could read the article Marty linked to. It was quite interesting.
Yes, I know that. Just be careful, that’s all. The Grauniad is dodgy, to say the least.
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2019/894-dump-the-guardian.html
yet you refuse to accept the truth – when will you front up moonbreen
And yet, and I can't stress this enough, that particular link to the Guardian was incredibly pertinent to the times we live in, the rise of fascism from the dustbin of history. Or so we thought – maybe we just hadn't wanted to notice that the lid wasn't shuit on the dustbin.
You want to bitch about the Guardian not meeting your approval. That's your thing. Ok. I'm fucking worried about if there's anything I can do to stop these bastards, because they will end up killing us all quicker than climate change ever would. Physics doesn't care if we live or die. Fascists actively want to kill all non-fascists. Not just over there, over here, too.
We need to maximise inclusion. That means learning new things about how our behaviour excludes or intimidates groups of people, even if innocently intended.
Putting up with the paradox of tolerance meaning that we have to exclude people with whom there is no compromise on exclusion isn't enough. That's the pointy bit of the pyramid. But the wider bit, about avoiding unintended exclusion, That's what the pointy bit sits on.
So what are your specific thoughts on the Guardian article? Given that you know that the article was quite interesting, what are your thoughts on the topic?
Kirk out
verb
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Kirk%20out
National Party embedded journalist, Stacey Kirk, kirks out of journalism. This is yet another example of a right wing media person throwing their toys and quitting because the National Party are in opposition.
True to form, her letter of resignation is nothing more than a John Key puff piece, mentioning him, oh, a dozen or so times.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114165092/conflict-scandal-eventually-progress–its-a-hard-road-making-a-difference-but-thats-politics
It's the ones who make no attempt to stay neutral who don't last. Bye Stacey, your partisan scribblings will not be missed.
Watch now for the announcement she has joined the National Party press team. She will have returned home.
Great news. Though it says she's going to "a new public service career".
I read that as her imagining she's been doing public service work thus far, and is embarking on what she imagines is new public service work, ie press secretary for the National Party.
One of the comments after her piece on John Key suggested she left because she didn't get the political editor job after her mate Tracy Watkins left.
Here's who did:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114251734/stuff-appoints-new-political-editor-to-lead-parliamentary-team
Another RWNJ.
Notice that the puff piece from Kirk used a bold photo of Key and English and a small one showing mostly Jacinda's hair.
Sad that a replacement will probably be a Trump trained mouth.
Love how she frames her whole departure as if she's rilly smart and getting out on top just like that John guy whose loafers she tongued for so long.
Heh heh, Ozzies passing themselves off as the 4th Island of NZ again…
http://www.dailyviewsonline.com/cultura/Nuova-Zelanda-leader-dice-che-CI-manca-di-interesse-in-Asia-Pacifico-h16263.html
Interesting. US govt working to get someone out of Swedish jail.. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/114384085/trump-weighs-in-on-rapper-asap-rocky-we-hope-to-get-him-home-soon
The things a million dollar inaugural gift to tRump can buy.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will not halt a pesticide linked with brain damage from being sprayed on crops, the agency said Thursday in response to a lawsuit.
Chlorpyrifos, known on the market as Lorsban, is used on a wide variety of crops, including corn and cranberries, and farmers often call it a last line of defense against certain insects.
A federal appeals court in April gave the EPA 90 days to decide how to deal with the pesticide.
Environmental groups have long contended it’s dangerous and have spent years suing the EPA to end its agricultural use. Studies have linked chlorpyrifos to learning and memory issues and prolonged nerve and muscle stimulation.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/453777-epa-allows-continued-use-of-pesticide-linked-with-brain-damage
Bolton invokes Hague Invasion act.
https://twitter.com/DeepPolitics/status/1152100676069154817
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Protection_Act
Whilst lawful under US legislation, is it ethical?
Nothings changed except for the removal of a cloak of respectability
Won't be much trouble getting new planes for the NZDF now that the Prime Minister and journalists got stranded in Melbourne when their official RNZAF 757 broke down with a computer malfunction.
Bet the PM ditches our own military service next time and just goes commercial.
Get it together RNZAF!
Here's Jacinda (about 7 mins in on the clip in the link below) talking about the planes
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/07/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-won-t-compare-climate-change-to-world-war-ii.html
Bernard Hickey calls out Jacinda
https://twitter.com/bernardchickey
Instead of raising benefits, the Minister of Finance would do better to bully and force seasonal employers to put their wages up, because that is where the workers are needed.
Instead we open the doors to foreigners with temporary visas just to get the apples and grapes in. So unemployed NEETS don't see enough attraction to work in season areas.
With Brexit, the US-China trade crisis pulling Chinese economic demand down, and now Iran heating up, and having one of the top two most exposed housing markets in the OECD, I see plenty of reason for the Minister of Finance to keep plenty of debt capacity in reserve.
Agree, wages for seasonal workers need to increase. However, a number of seasonal workers end up back on the benefit when the season is over. Additionally, higher benefits puts upward pressure on wages.
There is scope for loosening the purse strings a little and the extra expenditure will result in savings re improvements in social ills along with increased tax revenue via the economic stimulus due to the increased benefit spend. Nevertheless, loosening the purse strings is merely one option. Cuts could be made elsewhere.
Seems Grant has a blank cheque to tackle Mycoplasma bovis.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/06/grant-robertson-signs-blank-cheque-to-tackle-mycoplasma-bovis.html
And of course, there is that massive military spend.
Alternatively, they could look at taxing this lot (in the link below) a bit more
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114345078/cream-at-the-top-for-public-sector-chief-executives
Cool.
https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1141963963451621376
Justin Pemberton talks to Kim Hill this morning about the film Capital In The Twenty-First
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018705001/justin-pemberton-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century
this is heartbreaking
https://twitter.com/hashtag/insulin4all?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag
Insulin manufacturers have basically done a Shkreli. Incrementally, rather than in one hit, so it didn't quite get the attention.
https://www.vox.com/2019/4/3/18293950/why-is-insulin-so-expensive
There's also a lot of expensive stuff that comes with it – injector pens, needles, blood glucose monitor, test strips etc. I pay a small fraction of what all that costs, thanks to what US right-wingers contemptuously dismiss as "socialised medicine." They'd much rather have ideological purity, readily available at the low, low cost of lots of dead poor people.
Playing footsie with the murderous Assad wasn't such a good idea.
As she runs for the Democratic nominee for president, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) also faces a primary challenge for her seat in the House. But if recent filings made by her political team are any indication, she’s not sweating.
Gabbard raised just $11 in the second quarter of 2019. That number does not factor in a $31 contribution refund, which means her campaign committee ended in the red during that three month period.
The committee spent just $8,828.59 during the quarter—almost all of which was on financial compliance—leaving it with just over $30,000 cash on hand.
The absence of any fundraising or spending on her House race has left political observers with the impression that Gabbard may not return to Congress at all if her White House bid falls short. By contrast, during this quarter in the 2018 election cycle, Gabbard brought in more than $225,000 in net contributions, per federal filings.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tulsi-gabbard-raised-negative-dollar20-for-her-house-campaign?
Fuckers are lining up their ducks.
https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1152360605665452032