Our Members, which art in Confusion,
Restless be thy Mood
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done for the next election,
Though it hasn’t since ’08.
Give your MPs your daily thoughts.
And don’t forgive manipulation,
As you have bit your lip while the Clique trespassed against us.
And stop Trevor &co lead us into another failure,
But deliver us from careerists
For this is your Constitutional Right,
The power, and the leverage,
For a members vote in February
Amen.
A counter…
Just before Xmas I spoke to the few.
On the feb vote, I hope we get the vote too.
For the people’s voice i speak of unity
A new direction, a pathway maybe a cup of tea.
Time for our say, members and all.
Time for hope and to stand tall.
Our pollies are our hope
They must talk what we dream.
But I say to you all.
Time for unity, one voice, one dream.
So in bright early feb give me just one united team.
Hang on… A man assaults his wife repeatedly and gets discharged without conviction with a comment by the judge that the charges will probably have an effect on his chosen career path of training to be a surgeon.
A transgendered woman will have to serve 2 years & 1 month in a men’s prison for a single instance of assault after a fight broke out after an argument at home. A month less and the sentence could have been reduced to home detention. The judge recognised that a transgendered person might be at risk in a men’s prison, but sent her there anyway.
Two questions:
1. Will the prosecution appeal the first sentence because it’s inadequate and domestic violence needs to be taken seriously?
2. Will the defence have the money to appeal the second sentence because it’s dangerous and therefore wrong?
There are separate standards applied in New Zealand justice. One standard for those who are so-called professionals and one for those are so-called mere workers.
If a conviction is likely to cause a problem for someone’s job then tough. I would expect that an assault conviction is easier to turn a blind eye to by the NZ Medical Cartel than it is for a lowly delivery driver to avoid losing his job and not being able to find another.
It is like back when the Amercias Cup was here and that rich billionaire fulla got caught with some pot. The useless judge let him off, and got name suppression because it would have a detrimental to him and his business. Well, frikkin’ duh, it would actually have no impact on a billionaires life. And such a similar event for a local Manuwera lad would have a massive impact on his life.
So the judges are full of shit.
In fact Judge Cooper said this “”It is fair to say any conviction is going to impact adversely on your employment.” So if that is the, what do you call it, reason for the decision (latin term?), then I look forward to seeing it applied equally across the land. Convictions have a greater impact on those less well off than those at the top of the pile, completely and totally contrary to the current understanding of our judiciary.
I wonder how many of these example it will take until people accet that the judiciary in NZ are in fact corrupted, and working for/to a completely differnent agenda.
As shown by the links I posted about the SFO Prosecutor, and the bizaare events in the court room as allowed by Judge Mary Beth Sharp
On Tuesday, via her QC Paul Davison, Killeen pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to forgery. However, Judge Mary Beth Sharp discharged her without conviction, describing her as an exceptional person in an exceptional case. The judge accepted Davison’s submissions that Killeen had suffered a rare psychological reaction to a powerful fertility drug she was taking, which can affect 1 per cent of women with symptoms including irrationality, forgetfulness and obsessive behaviour.
I guess some people are more exceptional than others when committing crime!
You are hopelessly wrong. Justice is not linear. Ever crime has different context and differing evidence, remorse, etc. Second guess courts and replacing it with some mob internet rule is just dumber than dumb, its been tried over and again to replace courts and it never works because those with the most money win.
Past behavior is indicative of future behavior, past good civil interactions are always going to add weight to remorse displayed. However if you live a marginal life, then of course your lack of remorse is going to play even more against you. Its one of the problems I believe with the high Maori crime rates, Maori culturally aren’t clued up on how to express good standing and remorse to courts.
While I agree, putting a person who looks and behaves like a women in a man jail does require the prison to take exceptional measures to protect them.
I think you miss the point there aerobubble, as is evidenced by your statement ” However if you live a marginal life, then of course your…….”
The post of muzza and that of mine are (assumed for muzza) based on all else being equal. There is no evidence in the media presentation of these cases that the wife-beater lived a good civil life (simply being a doctor does not equal that – that is just bigotry) or that the tranny lived a less than civil life.
Your assumption that this is the case would seem to be the same assumption that judges always make. I posted a further example of that with the billionaire. This is the exact problem.
I hold the judiciary in high regard. However in this exact area it has failed for a long long time and it was time it was highlighted. Best example being the wildly random application of name suppression and the justifications for and against. It is shit.
The generalization that courts could produce consistency is farfetched given that each crime has its own circumstances, evidence, people, and I doubt we’d want the dictatorship of consistency. Half the court process is just stressing out the accused, lumbering them with costs, putting their lives on hold, even before the case gets going.
Yeah, and wonder how the collecting of that crime levy is going.
The very thing we cannot go into detail about, individual cases, is they very reason we put up a court system to deliberate all the fact in a impartial way. Now yeah, for sure, the Bain of cases comes along too, nobody should think courts are perfect, or could be made that way.
That’s why I took a stance on your general bullshit that courts are all out of kilter with your world view. Poor you, its called a process of compromises, and its never going to be clean or pretty.
What is reasonable, a person who turns up to work, does detailed, highly professional work day in day out for decades, or some transient who hits people to solve their problems. Sorry but people have been around long enough to know that drugs will effect people and they can make mistakes of judgment. But violence, whole different level.
As for the running over, people do, yes even millionaries, have brain fazes when confronted with violence. A very important part, surely of courts, is to find who instigated it. A father with his kid, is more likely to flight than fight, and so if a person is desperate, angry, running at them, avoiding them is only one of the constraints.
Can’t say I agree with you aerobubble. Laws are made and appeals won because courts must show some sort of consistency in sentencing. Of course there are extenuating circumstances in some cases – obviously the reason lawyers argue for them.
My problem with these two cases is that consistency doesn’t seem to be apparent in these cases, and that someone has no sentence for domestic violence because of his status, not because of the crime, and someone else has sentence that, because of her status is unduly harsh. It may even appear bigoted – 2 years + the 1 month so home detention cannot be considered.
Courts hear all the information. Also it doesn’t matter that you can pick out two cases that seem to look inconsistent. Citizens who own their own homes, have savings, are more civil minded because they have more to lose, and so punishing unnecessarily harshly when the mere lose of status in gaining a criminal conviction
would see their career prospect shrink, their kids look question their parents…
As for the puzzle. A person who has nowhere to serve out home detention, and is already give a 15% reduction on their sentence, should necessity a lot of publicity to keep their jailers keen that nothing averse does happen to them when incarcerated.
You see each persons punishment is best contexted to their circumstances, a father has children, children could be harmed and punished too, they lose in other ways that a prison sentence cannot. Like I said, just being accused is punishment (exceptions like attention seekers, sociopaths), so should judges take this into account, the lack of remorse shown by the sociopathic attention seeker self-victim? So unless and until I see every damn piece of evidence I trust in the judges in these trials to weight up decisions. Now, sure if there is a clear skew over time in lots of cases, and fathers are walking scot-free, and trans-sexuals are getting beaten in jail (or worse), then sure no problem it would merit looking at the sentencing, and sacking some managers in the jail system.
One problem with home detention is its consider punishment, so what the country is saying is someone who lives holed up in their home, severely socially inhibited, and effectively the same as punishment to another citizen for the crime of
assault? So I point to you beware making generalizations, I’m sure some will
take it as quite offensive that home detention is offer to people how have been
at the hard end of violence, as they personally may fear leaving their homes
as a result.
aerobubble: Citizens who own their own homes, have savings, are more civil minded because they have more to lose, and so punishing unnecessarily harshly when the mere lose of status in gaining a criminal conviction
would see their career prospect shrink, their kids look question their parents…
Thanks for dismissing all us renters as lacking in community spirit. Actually, the fear of losing one’s home and savings is supporting more of an individualistic focus on what’s in it for themselves and their families. People who rent, and have less savings could be more aware of the need for community-support, caring for others etc.
Certainly I agree that horses for courses, some want to acquire wealth, and thats okay as much as someone who wants to rent. My point was that its not punishment if it doesn’t change their circumstances. A social phobic would be more harshly punished in a prison, but also home detention would be a breeze. So a judge could stipulate limits on say internet access while on home detention, this would be more severe than for most people whose whole community wasn’t online say. Its little point giving home detention to a paraplegic.
So nobody here wants to help me start the ‘Sweet as’ revolution in Hamilton West?
On my home world, we’d call you all mouth and no trousers.
Two minutes silence for fallen internet warriors, but two fingers up at food in kids bellies.
Priorities, nice.
Second track on my website – Games I play.
Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s rough.
Sometimes it breaks your heart inside. You’ve got to break your heart or hide.
Some people come easy, like some people go.
Some people break apart in sight. They have to run away in fright. But not me.
‘Cause you know? It’s just like a game I play.
‘Cause I know we’re just here to fade away.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
Been too lonely here, for too long.
‘Somethings’ aren’t easy. ‘Somethings’ aren’t wrong.
‘Somethings’ can’t fake a hurt inside. They’ve got to take a pain with pride.
Some people go easy. And some people don’t.
Some people make a stand and fight. They have to hold their ground and fight. Just like me.
‘Cause you know? It’s just like a game I play.
‘Cause I’m no way here just to fade. No way.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
‘Cause I’m lonely here, but I’m strong.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
I’m still standing here, so come on.
So come on.
One by one. All at once, I’ll take you all on.
One by one. All at once, until you’re all gone.
And I win.
Or a ‘special investigation’ by a ‘special branch’ that the pm will never get an email, text or phone call about, even if he makes jokes about it, that no-one heard or saw footage of, even while they we’re destroying it just in case.
For the record, I am an alien, but I’m a permanent resident al1en.
I’m also not a ‘predator’ type teeth gnasher and I never consume humans – It’d be like eating less intelligent Dolphin.
Don’t worry, friend. I’ve got your festive customs nailed down.
Every December, all the politicians get to fuck off on holiday and all the hungry kids don’t.
Whew. I have been working on a post (on media bias -difficult topic) for a couple of weeks. Was working on it just now and made quite a few revisions – clicked save, took forever as all the typing disappeared, leaving me with a blank post. However, I opened the post in another tab and the latest version is all there. Gave me a fright.
Remember to take advantage of our position relative to the international dateline to login at midnight onto every form of social media and start making panic stricken reports of massive earthquakes, huge volcanic eruptions and armies of zombies emerging from nowhere.
Obviously not been out walking or anywhere near large swaths of the public recently…Zombie like they are, all head in some screen or another, mindlessly wandering around..
Better watch out you don’t have to eat humble pie like Nick Smith did last year on March 20th. He said Ken Ring’s prediction of a greater risk of increased earthquake activity around this date was that of a fool so he and others went and had a picnic on the Port Hills of Christchurch to thumb their noses at him.
Unfortunately for them there were several earthquakes that day, including the biggest aftershock since Feb 22, and it was Nick Smith and his cronies that had to back down and admit they didn’t know what they were doing.
Let’s see what happens.
You are aware I’m sure that this date tomorrow is solely a measure of a confluence of astronomical cycles. It is simply a physical measurement of stars and planets and galaxies spinning through space. It is as real and as simple as measuring the trajectory of a ball thrown in a backyard.
Ha ha, yep, that’s what many people suggested. Even if they had picniced at the bottom of the Port Hills would have had more cred. There have been many rockfalls at the slightest shake or rain now that the hills have been shattered like a glass block courtesy of the Great Earth Monster.
Not very convincing when they go to the very safest place to go nyah nyah nyah to possible earthquakes. But then again, like John Key, Nick Smith has never come across as a courageous man. In fact the opposite as exhibited here – cowardly.
Actually, this government can be characterised by this and the bully boy tactics described in the Wellington Cuncil thread. They are cowards and bullies, as is so often the case with bullies.
“Unfortunately for them there were several earthquakes that day, including the biggest aftershock since Feb 22”
Really? I live in Christchurch – and I remember the Port Hills stunt, but I don’t remember any big aftershocks. Ring is full of shit, but even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
Well you need to check your facts Pop. Biggest aftershock since Feb 22, one of the largest for a long time in kaikoura and activation of an old similar fault system in McKenzie Basin.
Also, if Ring is full of shit then so too is Isaac Newton.
Tell me Pop, why do you think Ring is full of shit? Some detail and solid points if you could ta.
Wasn’t this all discussed at the time?
The guy is so vague in dates, location and magnitude that it’s like the met office saying “some rain will occur somewhere on the Pacific Rim this week”. And if a typhoon breaks in Fiji, folks jump on the interwebz to say how accurate he is. You can’t predict a chaotic system based on relatively minor influences, compared to say fucking great loads that might or might not already exist on a particular fault.
And that’s without his “read your cat’s future in its paws” book.
“You can’t predict a chaotic system based on relatively minor influences, compared to say fucking great loads that might or might not already exist on a particular fault.”
Fault systems aren’t chaotic. Example, see Alpine Fault measured movements over time.
Relatively minor influences? Sheesh, ever heard the sayings about straws and camels backs? Then place that into context.
The thing about straws and camel’s backs is that there are many other straws on the camel’s back, too. focusing on one and “predicting” that one like it will eventually break the back is just stupid. There are much bigger straws that planetary alignment.
Fault systems are chaotic. Example, Saharan rainfalls over time.
The point is that there are many factors that affect the friction either side of the fault. Then there are the inner earth magma currents affecting tectonic forces. And different rock densities. All obeying basic and predictable laws of physics, but in exponentially compounding combinations are not even roughly predictable on a slide rule with an astrological chart.
“Tell me Pop, why do you think Ring is full of shit? Some detail and solid points if you could ta.”
Science. All Ring does is fling vague scattershot figures around and sometimes they stick. Sideshow psychics do pretty much the same thing. There are earthquakes of varying magnitudes everyday somewhere in the world. And comparing him to Sir Isaac Newton? You win the arsehat prize for that – the second in the space of a week.
Do you know what Newton was about? I am not a fan of Ring but what he says is simply that when the moon is closer to the earth there is an increased gravitational effect. This has a gravitational effect on the air. This has a gravitational effect on the water. This has a gravitational effect on the land.
It is as simple as that.
His underlying proposition is not shit, it is sound. Tell me how the above is not right.
As for arsehat prize – keep it. I see others have you lined up for similar prize. Egg
Sound proposition, but not significant according to the observed data. 1% attribution? Try forecasting weather based on the albedo of roofs in the area.
sanctuary
Don’t frighten the horses. There are enough real and terrible things happening without merry japes as you mention. Not funny. Watch some Mitchell and Webb or something and have laughs at people and politicians to occupy your spare time.
“…. former South Korean military di– uh, ruler”
Language censorship on Television One Breakfast
Television One Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Thursday 20 December 2012
Newsreader Melissa Stokes read the following: “South Korea has elected its first woman president. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of a former South Korean military di– [pause] uh, ruler.”
The change was so sudden, and Melissa Stokes seemed so momentarily nonplussed, that there’s only one plausible explanation: her actual script said “former South Korean military dictator” but some producer urgently hissed into her earpiece “Don’t call him a dictator, call him a RULER!”
Why would Television One’s administration be reluctant to call a dictator a dictator?
That guy’s not funny. He’s even unfunnier when you look at his actual (not “satirical” or “ironic”) support for the mass murder perpetrated by his favorite real-life regime.
I did think he was funny until I realized how hardline and shameless he is in real life. He actually IS Borat, with all of Borat’s brutal anti-Semitism and callous disregard for others. In the same way that some Jewish people cannot listen to Wagner, I just can’t respect Baron Cohen since I learned what a vicious person he is.
Mozza, you appear to be unaware that Baron Cohen is jewish (and a socialist). He’s not anti-semitic and I think you are going to struggle to find any evidence of him supporting mass murder. He has also won a Golden Globe for comedy, something neither of you is ever likely to do. So, objectively, he is funny. He’s got an award for it and made millions making people laugh. And saying he’s not funny, then admitting that you ‘used to’ think he was funny is pretty funny in itself, Moz.
Is there the slimmest chance that Sacha Baron Cohen is actually the funniest comedian Britain has produced in the last twenty years and you two are humourless bores?
I respect your intellect, my friend, but in this case you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll return to this later, with citations you are more than capable of finding for yourself, were you to allow yourself to get out of hero worship mode towards this moral imbecile.
Right now, I have to leave for a few hours, I’m afraid.
Meanwhile, you need to do a little research into Sacha Baron Cohen, that unfunny fraud.
Zionism is inherently Anti Semitic. Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians and other Arabs living in the Levant are all Semites.
Added to that the Semitic Jews who lived with the Arabs for 2000 years are equally discriminated against by the criminal ruling elite of Israel because the are anti Zionist.
Sasha Baron Cohen is a hardcore Zionist (well documented) and I have always avoided his nasty kind of humour.
I call this speech brilliant in that it describes the US (Which he regards as and which behaves as a Zionist slave state) and most Americans have no idea he is talking about them and their regime (1% is in total control).
But tracellerev, Jews are Arabs too. They are not their own separate race, no matter how much that may suit their aims and ends. Why is this such a problem for people?
No actually, TRV let’s not move on. For those of you interested Sasha Baron Cohen a Habonim boy and his work, every film he made one way or another was intended to ridicule Islam and Muslims.
His impact is huge and he defends Israel and attacks Muslims so to say he is neutral is hypocrite to say the least. You want to move on from this discussion that is fine but for those of you curious hit the search button
God you don’t talk halfshite. Militia, ZOG (fucked if I know what that stands for) and how you’re so disappointed. Are those the new catchphrases your are told to use. Militia, Preppers AND 911 truthers are now primed to be the next terrorists with their wilkd weapon collecting blahblah blah (I hear the mother of the SH shooter was a prepper too! Is that how you have been told to typecast people who want a new and independent investigation into the events of 911?
And the disappoining thing, is that so people will get the impression you are a patient lot but them preppers, militia and 911turhters are such a trying lot?
(ROFL) You don’t know me, you don’t know what I do in my daily life (Or maybe you do…) and you have the gall to be “Disappointed”?
Fuck you PB, Fuck you and your sad and futile attempts to typecast me or those of us who want to have a new and independent investigation into the events of 911.
Well, ignoramus is a harsh word to describe Ev, but, yes, I am playing her. But only in the sense of fish/barrel, you understand.
Any chance you’ve found the cites you reckon you were gonna provide? Just curious, because my brief google search finds nothing to support your various and contradictory descriptions of Baron Cohen.
Great, Ev. Perhaps you’d like to share some of the ones that prove SBC is a “hardcore zionist”. Skip the ones that are just opinion, and just cite the factual ones. Preferably quotes from him saying “I’m a hardcore zionist”. Bet that takes more than 0.26 seconds.
Well, ignoramus is a harsh word to describe Ev, but, yes, I am playing her.
“Her”? [Straightens tie, rubs Brylcreme through hair] “Travellerev” is a GIRL?!?!?!?!??
But only in the sense of fish/barrel, you understand.
C’mon, Te Reo, seriously—stop messin’ about.
Any chance you’ve found the cites you reckon you were gonna provide? Just curious, because my brief google search finds nothing to support your various and contradictory descriptions of Baron Cohen.
Baron Cohen is a racist, extreme supporter of the Holy State. There is nothing “various” or “contradictory” about any of those positions.
What is the problem with being a hardcore Zionist TRP? Why is that something that has to be proven. What is a Zionist other then someone who supports the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jews? And as a consequence has to support the discrimination of Arabs, Palestinians especially?
Tell you what. Here is a link from Jews sans frontieres and people who read this and want to know more to form their own opinion can Google Sasha Baron Cohen and Zionism and draw their own conclusions.
I wouldn’t call my self a “girl”. That has come and gone but yes, I’m of the female gender and I thank you for the sentiment expressed. 🙂
Fair enough, Ev, I get where you are coming from. Like you, I think Zionism is bigotted, but I don’t think all Jews are Zionist, nor all Israelis. I think its unfair to call Baron Cohen a Zionist (and therefore, a racist) without evidence. And there really doesn’t seem to be any evidence. Lots of opinion, sure, but nothing that confirms that he is any other than an excellent comedian who has a Jewish heritage.
I call this speech brilliant in that it describes the US (Which he regards as and which behaves as a Zionist slave state) and most Americans have no idea he is talking about them and their regime (1% is in total control).
I’m not sure what you mean by this Eve, but it really is an unfortunate turn of phrase. On the off chance you aren’t aware of why, please take the time to read this:
I know that you read Alex Jones (or at least you used to) so you may have picked up some of this stuff from some of the things he publishes and links to, or not, I don’t really care. But what I do care about is that when people are researching conspiracy stuff, they practice discernment. There really really are some nasty people manipulating things and pushing memes, and using codes. Don’t be one of their dupes. Please.
There certainly is a lot of conspiratorial, anti-Semitic rubbish in cyberspace. This idea that the U.S.A. is “manipulated” by Israel (which is basically Mearsheimer & Walt’s thesis) is plain wrong, but it’s at the root of a lot of noise on the internet.
However, it is not conspiratorial or paranoid to see that Sacha Baron Cohen is a brutal and unapologetic supporter of Israel, and a ruthless defamer of the Holy State’s victims.
For your information. Alex Jones is married to a Jewish lady if I’m correct and goes through great pains to avoid the Israel controversies.
He is actually accused of being a Zionist shill for that reason even though he has no problem pointing out obvious crimes such as the shelling of Gaza.
So please back off with your patronising shite.
For those of you wanting to know more about how the US is duped into being Israels bully boy here is some information you don’t get from the MSM about one of the most powerful Lobbying groups in the world AIPAC
Oh and PB, over the years you have never given any “conspiracy nutter” as you call them the benefit of being able to have discernment so fuck off about that too.
America is Israel’s slave state and while Netanyahu may not like Obama and that is mutual in the end America will abide by what Israel wants to do. End of story.
And Morrisey. wipe the shit out of your eyes and start doing some proper research about Israel and it’s puppet masters. You’re smart, use your brain!
Fits with some of the other militia inspired crap you’ve endorsed over the years, ( OMG FEMA camps etc) so it’s not really a surprise, but disappointing all the same.
My course of reading to get you up to speed has begun today, with the Steven Salaita piece from Electronic Intifada. I’ll put more up for you each day. Of course, you are entirely capable of doing this for yourself, but I get the feeling this is a case of having to lead a horse to water.
Mozza, you appear to be unaware that Baron Cohen is jewish (and a socialist). He’s not anti-semitic
Yes, he is. He is virulently anti-Arab, and most relevantly, anti-Palestinian. As a state-friendly clown, he is absolved from the necessity to even pretend he gives a damn about the victims of his callous “humour”, and doesn’t have to make any false statements that he cares about Palestinians (like Alan Dershowitz keeps claiming about himself) or pretend to be troubled by Palestinian deaths (like the official spokespersons for the Holy State routinely do even as they justify the killings).
…and I think you are going to struggle to find any evidence of him supporting mass murder.
The evidence is irrefutable. Hopefully, after you’ve read today’s introductory article, you will engage in a little more extensive reading for yourself.
He has also won a Golden Globe for comedy,…
I grant you, Sacha Baron Cohen can be funny, but the old Aristotelian device of Arguing from Awards is unwise. Barack Obama won a Nobel Prize for ….. (WAIT FOR IT!) ….. Peace. Martin Devlin and Murray Deaker have both won awards for sports journalism. Some of the direst songs ever written have won Academy Awards for “Best Song”. I could go on, and may well do so at a later date….
….something neither of you is ever likely to do.
WHAT?!!??!?!? Now that is hurtful.
So, objectively, he is funny.
So, by the same logic, Martin Devlin and Murray Deaker are, objectively, outstanding sports journalists; “Into the West”, “My Heart Will Go On” and “You Light Up My Life” are, objectively, top-notch songs; and Barack Obama is, objectively, a Man of Peace.
He’s got an award for it and made millions making people laugh. And saying he’s not funny, then admitting that you ‘used to’ think he was funny is pretty funny in itself, Moz.
I can see he’s funny, and I don’t criticize you for seeing the same thing. However, he clearly has an agenda—and it’s a brutal one, that needs to be called out.
Is there the slimmest chance that Sacha Baron Cohen is actually the funniest comedian Britain has produced in the last twenty years…
Not a chance. Have you never heard of Jack Dee? Or Frankie Boyle? Or Steve Coogan? Or Ricky Gervais? Or Mitchell and Webb?
…and you two are humourless bores?
I have systematically and seriously made a case for the careful examination and reconsideration of a comedian who is lionized by the establishment. You can call me a “humourless bore” if you want, just like Jimmy Savile used to do about anyone who had the temerity to criticize him.
You could start with evidence, mozza. Any evidence at all would be good. But so far … nothing.
If you were a lawyer, you would be admonished (at the very least) for contempt of court. I have argued with you in good faith, and provided an excellent scholarly analysis of Sacha Baron Cohen’s political agenda for you to read—but you have simply closed up and retreated into your shell.
I leave it to others to see who is arguing, and backing his argument with evidence, and who is cynically trying to stymie any argument.
Oh dear, this is well below your usual standard, Mozza. No evidence at all? Surely you must have found at least one quote from the man by now. Nothing? Really?
M, TRP is a shill. This is what he does. He is an excellent tool to give people who read them links but he will always sidestep, accuse, malign and avoid. Still he keeps threads alive and that means more people will eventually get the information they need to make up their own minds. And many over here have done over the last five years.
For those of you interested in understanding the likes of Te Reo Putake here is a nice list of 25 hallmarks of shill behaviour
This is what he does. He is an excellent tool to give people who read them links
Really? Recently, he has refused to read links, or simply denied their validity.
but he will always sidestep, accuse, malign and avoid. Still he keeps threads alive and that means more people will eventually get the information they need to make up their own minds. And many over here have done over the last five years.
You’re being very charitable, travellerev.
For those of you interested in understanding the likes of Te Reo Putake here is a nice list of 25 hallmarks of shill behaviour.
Or, to see a shill in action, simply observe Sacha Baron Cohen’s behaviour.
No, you are right HE won’t read the links but others will and those are the ones I aim for.
Don’t try to win over the haters, you’re not the jerk whisperer is my motto but over the backs of the haters you can actually reach those who are willing to learn.
I apologise for telling you to wipe the shit out of your eyes and start doing research about Israel but I do mean you should do mor9e research on the state of Israel.
Here is a facebook friend of mine. His name is A href=”http://www.gilad.co.uk/”>Gilad Atzmon. He is Jewish and Israeli. He is also a great musician and writer and he recently published a book called: The wandering who? You might want to start there!
WHERE IS HE?
Whither Populuxe1?
Mass Murder Advocate Fails to Front His Critics
I note with some concern that poor old Populuxe1 has failed to surface after being keel-hauled by all and sundry on Tuesday.
I can see five possible explanations for his failure to mount an argument in defence of himself and his outlandish statement on Open Mike:
1.) He lacks the wherewithal to mount a coherent argument;
2.) He is “on leave”, a la the Rt. Hon. Hekia Parata;
3.) Professor Stuart McCutcheon has gotten wind of Populuxe1’s extra-curricular nonsense, called him in for a talk and delivered a stern warning: “If you continue to make a fool of yourself like this, Dr. Hoadley, even under a preposterous surname, we will have to look at your position a little more rigorously….” ;
4.) He is licking his wounds and preparing for an AWESOME comeback, where he sprays around even more awesomely absurd epithets;
Thank you for that, Lanthanide. While we’re on the subject of errors, I note another grievous one, where I show Prof. McCutcheon warning Dr. Hoadley that he must not make a fool of himself, even under the cover of “a preposterous surname“.
Of course, Prof. McCutcheon, a highly educated man, would have used his words far more accurately.
This is what he would have said: “If you continue to make a fool of yourself like this, Dr. Hoadley, even under a preposterous pseudonym, we will have to look at your position a little more rigorously.”
My apologies for the careless error in the original post.
This line of comments offends me greatly. Not only are you speculating on identities based on the flawless logic “I disagree with H, P disagrees with me, therefore P=H”, you also seem to have constructed a fantasy about H’s legislated academic freedom being interfered with by M, who is connected to you only by virtue of being H’s boss’s boss.
Here’s a thought – lose the obsessive vendetta part of your shiny hat. You might be less of a jerk.
This line of comments offends me greatly.
I’ve already admitted out that my (entirely reasonable) speculation was wrong.
Not only are you speculating on identities based on the flawless logic “I disagree with H, P disagrees with me, therefore P=H”, you also seem to have constructed a fantasy about H’s legislated academic freedom being interfered with by M, who is connected to you only by virtue of being H’s boss’s boss.
As I’ve already said, it was a reasonable supposition. Not many in academia, bar a couple of certifiable cases at Waikato, are as ideologically extreme as Steve Hoadley; our friend Populuxe1 made a stunningly foolish and extreme anti-Palestinian comment; Populuxe has made a point of telling this online community that he works in a university, ergo it was a reasonable inference that the extreme anti-Palestinian Populuxe1 was the extreme anti-Palestinian Steve Hoadley.
Happily, Populuxe1 assures us that he is now “on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli”, so assuming he is not lying, there will be no more erroneous assumptions by anyone that Populuxe1 is Steve Hoadley.
Here’s a thought – lose the obsessive vendetta part of your shiny hat.
That was a reasonable inference. You can call it “obsessive”, but on reflection I think you’ll recognize that is not a fair portrayal of my stance.
I work at a university. Am I Hoadley?
There are literally thousands of academic and general university staff, if P was even telling the truth about the sector they worked in at the time they wrote it.
And yeah, inventing conversations between real people based on the fact that you disagree with one person’s pseudonym and another person’s media comments, so therefore it’s a “reasonable supposition” that they are the same person. That’s obsessive.
But nice to know you genuinely believe you were trying to “out” a Standard commenter’s identity. Jerk.
I do not think so. Unlike Populuxe1, you have not been making Hoadley-esque public statements pouring scorn on the victims of state terror.
There are literally thousands of academic and general university staff,
There would be only half a dozen of them that are so brazen and shameless in their public praise of the Holy State.
And yeah, inventing conversations between real people based on the fact that you disagree with one person’s pseudonym and another person’s media comments, so therefore it’s a “reasonable supposition” that they are the same person. That’s obsessive.
No, it is reasonable to assume that an academic brazen enough to publicly state (on radio) that he supports the state that is engaged in the mass murder of imprisoned, ghettoized untermenschen might be foolish enough to come on a popular forum like this and make similar statements, as well as spraying the ridiculous accusation of “anti-Semitism” at anyone who protests at the Holy State’s campaign of terror. That’s what our friend Populuxe1 did.
You can call that “obsessive”, but that slur carries as much critical heft as our friend Te Reo Putake’s repeated claim that any and all evidence is “no evidence”.
But what about pseudonymous comments? With no career reputation to worry about? And besides, I reckon you vastly undercount the number of right-wingers in academia.
No, it is reasonable to assume that an academic brazen enough to publicly state (on radio) that he supports the state that is engaged in the mass murder of imprisoned, ghettoized untermenschen might be foolish enough to come on a popular forum like this and make similar statements,
That is indeed a reasonable assumption. But the assumption you made was that any person who uses a pseudonym to state similar (for a given margin of error) opinions is probably therefore the same person who uses their own name and academic freedom in mass media. Not to mention the defamatory assertion of a vice chancellor interfering in the freedom of an academic to express his opinions.And at least I stated exactly why, with reference to specific facts, I thought you were obsessing over this. Inventing defamatory conversations on the illogical leap you made is not healthy.
But you merely make the assertions, and almost never relate them to verifiable specific facts. Also known as “evidence”.
And I don’t know who Hoadley is, but I ain’t he. However isn’t that sort of speculation against the rules here? Usually the moderators are all over that.
You don’t know who Hoadley is? He’s a far-right commentator from the University of Auckland, who during the recent escalation in Israeli terror against the citizens of Gaza, came onto Radio Rhema (which laughably calls itself the Christian station) and expressed his support not for the victims, but the killers.
Your irrational response the other day led me to think he was you. Seeing you live in Christchurch, obviously that was a mistake.
Anyway, in answer to your vitriol, I condemn Israel’s excessive use of force against the Palestinians and their continued illegal colonisation of the West Bank. It’s bizarre that you assume I would just because I find the continued one-sided generalisations about Israel from you to be irritating, antisemitic and smacking of obsession. FYI Bebe and his Likudniks do not represent the entirety of Jewish or even Israeli opinion.
However I also condemn Hamas for its continued provocations of Israel with little regard for the ordinary Palestinians they were foolishly elected to represent, and for the continued climate of fear it creates for ordinary Israelis. I regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and I lose no love on them.
I am on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli. Now go fuck yourself you presumptive freak.
The vitriol is entirely yours, my friend. I simply held up a mirror.
… I condemn Israel’s excessive use of force against the Palestinians and their continued illegal colonisation of the West Bank.
“Excessive use of force”? What, are you suggesting that there is an ACCEPTABLE use of force that an illegal invading force can use against a civilian population?
It’s bizarre that you assume I would just because I find the continued one-sided generalisations about Israel
What you reflexively and stupidly damned as “anti-Semitism” was in fact a careful, scholarly analysis of systematic bias by the BBC.
… from you to be irritating, antisemitic and smacking of obsession.
I’ve posted some things about Israeli state crimes, as well as crimes by other countries. That’s “obsessive”? You have no strategy other than spraying lame epithets at me?
FYI Bebe…
That’s “Bibi”, actually.
…. and his Likudniks do not represent the entirety of Jewish or even Israeli opinion.
As if we did not KNOW that. So who are Mark Regev, Tzipora Menache and Israel’s other ghastly apologists for state terror representing—the Likudnik regime that runs Israel—or those who belong to the humane, liberal, thoughtful Jewish tradition?
However I also condemn Hamas for its continued provocations of Israel with little regard for the ordinary Palestinians they were foolishly elected to represent, and for the continued climate of fear it creates for ordinary Israelis. I regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and I lose no love on them.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. You would have condemned the French Resistance, the Yugoslav partisans and the Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto.
I am on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli.
High time you said so, sir. We can look forward to an improvement in the quality and morality of your posts, no doubt.
Now go fuck yourself you presumptive freak.
That sort of abuse is fine when used against, say, Araboushim, or, if you like, untermenschen. Here, all it does is re-emphasize the poverty of your argument.
It’s a lovely day out. Why don’t you get a book on New Zealand birds and go twitting… Or even some bark rubbings. I think you need to get outside in the fresh air more.
It’s a lovely day out. Why don’t you get a book on New Zealand birds and go twitting… Or even some bark rubbings. I think you need to get outside in the fresh air more.
I keep telling folks that Greece should play the exact same game. They should build a printing press right in the middle of the city square of Athens, wind it up and churn out mountains of euros, then drive it by the truckload to the German border and tip it out.
That will expose the system for exactly what it is.
Debt is the most heinous evil inhabiting and inhibiting the world today.
Does it not register with people that money is;
1. issued by privately owned banks and
2. is backed only by a printing machine and
3. must be paid for with interest (even though it is only printed paper backed by nothing. Paying for nothing).
It is the western world’s achilles heel. And nobody even fucking knows!
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 10
At some point, should any fellow poster with editing rights have a moment to spare… I’m having the same old, same old problem with scheduled posts not publishing themselves at the designated time I set them for.
There was one slated to go up around 9 O’Clock this morning that didn’t ‘go’. I’ve reschedueled it for tomorrow morning at 8 O’Clock.
Thing is, this same problem has happened previously. Is there something really obvious I’m overlooking in the settings that causes this? I can’t figure it. So…if you have a moment and the inclination, I’d appreciate somebody going into ‘dashboard’ and having a wee look at the post I’ve re-scheduled for tomorrow morning and letting me know if there’s something I’ve not done right or overlooked on the settings front.
I’m getting an effect of tiny white balls falling over my screen from the top noticeable against a dark background. Christmas snowflakes? How cute. By the way Happy Christmas to all and a 2013 year that offers improvements and hope for good direction and achievements in 2014.
Yep. It was a feature that snuck in on wordpress 3.5.
Up in this hemisphere I thought it would be psychological air-conditioning in the sweltering heat. Down in those chilly northern climes it might be a different story as I suspect the storms will be extreme in their winter this year.
Actually I suspect that they will get some quite large snowstorms this year. The oscillating jetstreams have more energy at this phase of the solar cycle and on top of the warming of the Arctic, they’re quite a bit further south. So they’re pushing cold air from the Arctic further south and then it hits more wet air coming up off land and the gulf stream….. Guess what I think will happen.
I agree. We’ve had snow much earlier than usual this year, but have hit a warm-ish period so it’s raining. Pretty boring just before Christmas. It’s an odd climate here with the continental effect enhanced by mountain ranges creating foehn winds up from the desert and then the Siberian/Artic blasts coming the other way.
I’ve been looking around for some graphics of how the oscillating jetstreams are (mis)behaving this year, but there’s not a lot beyond the focus of Britain’s early summer rains.
You saying the outside of the screen will be twitching and black dots will rain across the screen from different directions – whenever I’m at the Standard……until Jan 4?!
US v. Pfc. Bradley Manning is being conducted in de facto secrecy. For more information on the lack of public and press access to United States v. Pfc. Manning, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed a petition requesting the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) “to order the Judge to grant the public and press access to the government’s motion papers, the court’s own orders, and transcripts of proceedings, none of which have been made public to date.”
This transcript of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s testimony at his Article 13 motion hearing was taken at Fort Meade, Maryland on November 29th and 30th, 2012.
[DEFENSE EXAMINATION OF PFC. BRADLEY MANNING ON NOVEMBER 29, 2012]
Defense (Coombs)
Pfc. Manning I know this is a little nerve racking. So what we are going to do, is we are going to ease into this, and just take a little bit of time. Okay?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Yes, sir.
Defense (Coombs)
Alright, I want to first start off by asking some questions about when you were detained in Iraq. Okay?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Yes, Sir.
Defense (Coombs)
Alright, do you recall the date that you were initially detained by [Army] CID?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
It was May 27 of 2010.
Defense (Coombs)
And, how did CID first approach you?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
CID first came to– well I was first in the Supply– I was in the Supply office at the Brigade annex, which was a separate building from Brigade headquarters at FOB Hammer in Iraq, and I was– and then, I was escorted by the Supply NCOIC [Non Commissioned Officer in Charge] to an interview room. It was a conference room that had been turned into an interview room. And, I knew that–
Defense (Coombs)
When you walked in, what did you see– when you walked into that?
Manning has supporters from all over the world. Luckily for him, he has not had to rely on the U.S. branch of Amnesty International, which is a compromised and confused organization, to put it very charitably….
Anyone else hear this Mad, Bad and Sad Santa?
NewstalkZB, Thursday 20 December, 10:40 a.m.
NewstalkZB’s notorious supercrank Leighton Smith never turns down an opportunity to turn any occasion into a soapbox for his crazed theories about the world.
But you would have thought that station management would have warned the old loon that it was off-limits to attempt to pound his anti-science, anti-reason, anti-academic agenda into the heads of children, and that it was distasteful, even immoral, to dress a global warming denier up as St. Nick and let him loose on a programme aimed at little children.
Apparently, however, anything goes at NewstalkZB. Absolutely anything….
LEIGHTON SMITH: Ummmm, ahhhh, ummmm…. Here’s a letter, Santa, and I’d ummmmm, aaaahhhh, really ahhhhhmmmm like to, ummmmm, hear what you have to ummmm, say. It says: “How is the state of the polar ice-cap, given that we are told so much about global warming?”
SANTA CLAUS: Oh there is no problem here in the North Pole! There’s PLENTY of ice! All this talk of global warming! What a lot of nonsense!
LEIGHTON SMITH: Thanks for clearing that up, Santa. You’re quite right, this global warming is a load of nonsense. Okay, ummmm, ahhhhh, on the ummmmm…. phone we have another child. Jessica, what do you want to ask Santa?
INTERESTING FACT:
One of NewstalkZB’s many mottoes is “Tune Your Mind.”
Morrissey Thanks for the reports from the front. How you can bear to listen to it beats me. You deserve a medal. Watch out that you listen extensively or you will suffer a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder – too much could blow your receptor valves.
And that bit about Tune Your Mind. Makes me think of the old large console radios that had a function of a green light that brightened as you turned the knob to the optimum station reception. Guess now we’ll have those transplanted in our young so we can receive the sacred murmurings of our old western gurus like Leighton Smith. China had Confucius, Greece had Socrates, we have LS.
Thanks for that, Mr. Nose. I sent an admonitory e-mail to the great broadcaster, but he did not deign to reply.
Luckily for aficionados of the unhinged rant, however, I have a few of his on-air comments and e-mails from some time back, relating to other topics. If you or anyone else is interested, I will give them another airing.
Economic historians instead trace the “lump-of-labor fallacy” back to an 1892 publication by a certain D.F. Schloss who was discussing workers’ attitudes toward piece work. In the first decades of the 20th Century, the National Association of Manufacturers adapted this concept to its fight against the eight-hour day. Economists such as Samuelson unthinkingly picked up arguments from that discussion. The “lump-of-labor fallacy” was just public-relations rhetoric in service to a now discredited cause.
So, the Lump of Labour Fallacy starts off as anti-worker PR and then gets picked up as gospel by the economists but never actually questioned. Sounds like almost everything in economics – stated as fact and yet reality differs and yet the economist fail to note the differences.
Another ‘FarCup’ by the big man with the big stick in chch, his appeal has been lost on the
re-zoning near the airport.
This story is on the TV3 web site.
Sorry can’t link.
The move marks a stark reversal to the neoliberal policies of the 1990s, when a large number of German municipalities were convinced to sell their public services to large corporations. The result was skyrocketing water and power prices.
Well, at least some governments are waking up to the lies of the neo-liberals. Unfortunately, our government happens to be the neo-liberals and they’re the source of the lies and the actions that doom us to increasing poverty.
Fresh from its court victory on asset sales, the Government is considering selling all three state-owned electricity companies next year.
Finance Minister Bill English linked the possibility of three sales to buoyant financial markets and the plan would also mean the most controversial sales were over before election year.
Earlier this month the High Court dismissed a bid by the Maori Council to delay the float of Mighty River Power, now scheduled for the first half of 2013.
The council is appealing to the Supreme Court, but the matter could be resolved in February.
Mr English said this could clear the way for at least two floats in 2013 as previously signalled, while a third was now being considered.
“We’d certainly do two [sales in 2013], the question is whether we do three. Some people have suggested it,” Mr English said.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, [but] the market’s suggesting it might be possible. That will all get tested if we get through the Supreme Court case.”
Treasury advise against the sale of all three power companies due to flat market and low return rate from the sale.
Hopefully the referendum will stall the sale and or polarise the electorate. Roll on 2014.
Road rage man seeks job back or $600,000
By Matthew Theunissen
Guy Hallwright was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard.
Former Forsyth Barr financial analyst Guy Hallwright is seeking his job back or about $600,000 in lost earnings after being dismissed following his conviction for running over a man with his car.
Wonder what the sentence had been if a patched gang member had done the same thing to Guy Hallwright?
Let’s change the scenario…….
‘Mongrel Mob member XXXXX – in a fit of ‘road rage’ – runs down senior Forsyth Barr analyst Guy Hallwright, and breaks both his legs.
Mr Hallwright has multiple operations since the 2010 incident.
Mongrel Mob member XXXXX is sentenced to 250 hours community work, disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay victim Guy Hallwright $20,000 reparation after a jury finds he unintentionally ran Hallwright down with his car in September 2010.”
Seems to be QUITE a different story/ sentence if you swap the patched jacket for a pin-striped suit ……?
Facebook is so intensively tracking readers and commenters on this site, for profile details, with background scripts they use to do this. It is a real worry.
Like a WSJ article on 07 Dec. rightly reported, the internet is anything but free and anonymous anymore, and rather becoming a large grazing ground for information gathering for commercial profiling, advertising and so forth.
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Tonight’s news suggests the coronavirus outbreak may have originated from pangolins. Details are very sketchy, almost nothing at all beyond a claim of high similarity. My impression is this claim comes from a press release by South China Agricultural University. Initial discussion online suggests this is a more likely candidate ...
by Susanne Kemp The Fire and Emergency service (FENZ) has recently asked firefighters in Auckland Areas 3, 4 and 5 to take on an additional duty that has rather ominous implications. Namely, to collect names and addresses of everyone on the premises of fires they attend. The firefighters’ union, the ...
Part of the story of the Nazis' rise to power in Germany was the willingness of mainstream right-wing parties to work with them to keep out the left. Because of this, one of the fundamental rules of postwar German politics has been "do not work with Nazis". As a result, ...
There has long been a truism in public broadcasting: don't mess with Concert FM. The theory was that although the station has been in a long-term audience decline, and that audience is steadily ageing out, it has powerful establishment support – and any threat to it would provoke a fury.As ...
This is a re-post from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The heat absorbed in Earth’s oceans reached a new record in 2019, found a recent study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Despite the fact that this has been the case for almost every year over the past decade, this information ...
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics.Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...
by Don Franks Under a government claiming empathy with the fine arts, Radio New Zealand ( RNZ) is poised to cut back its classical music station, RNZ Concert. The plan is replacing it on FM radio with music “for a younger audience” as part of a new multimedia music brand. ...
More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Over on The Good Society, Max Rashbrooke suggests that its time to start directly taxing wealth:A wealth tax would be levied on net wealth – that is, the value of people’s assets once their debts have been subtracted. Such a tax would be highly redistributive. Levied at 1% on wealth ...
The quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has dropped to 4%. There are now 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Its not the performance we had under Clark (when unemployment was ~3.3%), but its still a reasonable improvement over prevailing conditions under National. ...
Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Louise Delany, Prof Richard Edwards, Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanThe current national measles epidemic in New Zealand is amongst the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion and fragmentation of national public health ...
I’m about to start teaching science communication to tertiary students, which is equally hilarious and terrifying to me. (Hi to my students who have Googled me and found this post.) I loved English at high school, but we spent most of our time reading The Outsiders, discussing the differences between metaphors and ...
Space-X has started launching its Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit with a plan to use some tens of thousands of these to deliver 5G wifi to the whole globe. Chains of these satellites can be seen in the evening or before-dawn skies, through the sunlight they scatter. Here I provide ...
New Zealand was the first country to decriminalise prostitution and it was promoted as a progressive move. Yet survivors of the sex trade say that pimps and johns are emboldened operating within the law, and that the women are treated more like a piece of property to be used and ...
An obscene 12 percent pay jump for already overpaid CEOs last year reveals a willful ignorance from much of corporate New Zealand to the on-going harm inequality is causing the very society they live in, said Peter Malcolm, spokesperson for the income equality project Closing the Gap. In its annual ...
One thing I remember about the interview I did with Rex Halliday for Planet magazine in 1992 was a couple of times being on the verge of tears.Rex was reflecting on the community effort that went into the second Hero party at the old Princes Wharf building – and the ...
Something you don't see: Malawi's constitutional court has annulled fraudulent elections and ordered new ones:Judges in Malawi have annulled last year’s elections and called for a new ballot within 150 days. In a landmark judgment that experts hailed as a step forward for democracy, the country’s constitutional court found that ...
Our Scibloggers have been providing updates on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. This page will be updated as more posts are published. 3 February 2020 Coronavirus ‘infodemic’ The WHO has called the coronavirus outbreak an ‘infodemic’, with information spreading rapidly – and sometimes incorrectly – online. Sarah-Jane O’ConnorLately, in Science 2 ...
If you haven’t watched Newsroom’s video showing Oranga Tamariki staff attempting to uplift a newborn baby yet you should do so. Although it's not the worst case as far as interventions go, it’s certainly not a good look for the Government. Because of this controversy there’s been a plethora of ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Today, our Government announced the biggest infrastructure investment in a generation.We’re investing $12 billion to upgrade and build rail, roads, schools and hospitals across the country – modernising our infrastructure, preparing for climate change and helping to future-proof our economy.Find out everything you need to know about the ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has declared an adverse event for the Southland and Otago regions, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “Widespread flooding has resulted in severe disruption, with many people evacuated from their homes and many farms being affected by flood waters. It’s putting pressure on our farmers, ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a funeral service for former Labour Prime Minister the Rt Hon Mike Moore, ONZ, AO. A public service will be held on Friday 14 February at 2pm at Dilworth School senior campus, 2 Erin Street, Epsom, Auckland. “The service will be a celebration of ...
Today’s news of low unemployment, rising wages and record numbers of Maori in work shows the economy is in good shape and that the Government is delivering better outcomes across New Zealand. “The Coalition Government has overseen a strong economy. Our investments in infrastructure, our focus on lifting wages of ...
Opening of Waitangi Museum Te Rau Aroha 9.30am, 5 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Good morning, Let us start with important acknowledgements. First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service ...
The government has agreed to help crayfish exporters to minimise the impact of trade disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Between 150 and 180 tonnes of live rock lobster are currently held in New Zealand in pots and tanks, at sea and on land, after export orders were ...
The $11 million tourism package announced after today’s Cabinet is a positive response. Auckland Business Chamber head Michael Barnett said possibly more important in the Prime Minister’s announcement was that further support was possible, as ...
By Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez and Ma. Alena O. Castillo in Manila Thomasian Jesuit priests Fr Albert Alejo and Fr Flaviano Villanueva have posted P10,000 (NZ$310) bail each after a judge issued a warrant of arrest in connection with their sedition case. “Nag-piyansa na kami Fr Flavie at sumama ...
Labour and NZ First are delaying a painful call on either lifting or cutting the annual residency visa limit, while the Greens want the limits removed completely. ...
Tame Impala’s new album The Slow Rush dropped over the weekend to universal acclaim. Jordan Hamel talked to the band’s frontman, Kevin Parker, about the five year gap between albums, and where the band fits into riock music in 2020.Kevin Parker’s musical baby Tame Impala steadily rose to indie prominence in the ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First is facing the boot at this year’s election, especially as it’s now embroiled in an unfolding donations scandal, which comes on top of low poll ratings. But what effect will the scandal have on NZ First’s government coalition colleagues? And is Labour and the Greens’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Jones, Climate Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology After the intensely dry conditions of 2019, January and February have brought much-needed rain. Dams in many cities and towns were replenished and some farmers may be able to grow a crop for the ...
New Zealand’s trusted service for ageing well, Age Concern New Zealand, is receiving a New Year boost after inking an agreement with Perpetual Guardian to have the nation’s largest and most dominant trustee services company as the platinum sponsor of Age ...
The boundaries of free speech were at issue in two recent court cases, one in Britain, the other in New Zealand. In the British case, a judge ruled that the police response to an ex-officer’s tweets (allegedly transphobic) was a “disproportionate interference” with his right to freedom of expression. The ...
The Tauranga-based power company Trustpower has cut its earnings expectations by as much as 14 percent because of lower power prices and pressure on margins. ...
It’s not worth putting much credence in Simon Bridges’s complaints about the current Government’s piling on hikes in petrol taxes until he commits to reversing them, says the Taxpayers’ Union . Spokesman Louis Houlbrooke said, “It’s not ...
Researchers say councils need to be doing much more to ensure homes and buildings aren't wiped out when a mega-tsunami eventually strikes the east coast of the North Island. ...
Water utilities right across the country face major challenges to upgrade and maintain their underground three waters network. Water New Zealand’s Technical Manager, Noel Roberts says Wellington’s waste water woes are not unique to the capital city. ...
With more than a thousand locations in 250 cities worldwide, UK company Stasher is allowing travellers to store their luggage while offering local businesses a way to earn extra cash. Having recently launched in New Zealand, co-founder and CEO Jacob Wedderburn-Day explains how the business works. How did Stasher start and ...
National's deputy leader Paula Bennett says if Winston Peters had any involvement in covert photographs of journalists meeting a source, he is not fit to be deputy prime minister. ...
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa is co-sponsoring a National Day of Action – Our Bodies, Our Choices, with Fem Force, Victoria University Feminists Organisation, NCW, and HELP. “Now is the time for people who care about women and pregnant people ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentPolitical donations Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): The donations mess reveals a vacuum in our political system. Who will fill it? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Robinson, Lecturer, Department of Occupational Therapy, Monash University When people think about Australian Rules Football injuries, they tend to think about head injuries and the long-term effects of concussion. Or they might think of the potentially lengthy recoveries after hamstring, shoulder ...
Simon Bridges reckons those on the average wage shouldn’t be hit by a 33-cents-in-the-dollar tax. And they’re not. Not even close. Alex Braae explains. It takes an incredible political talent to announce that you disagree with a policy setting, and have that critique be so powerful that it retroactively becomes government ...
Sam Brooks heads along to Meatstock 2020, and finds himself questioning the symbiotic relationship between meat-eating and machismo.As I entered Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds for the first day of Meatstock 2020, a girl was exiting. Trucker cap on, eyes hidden behind aviators, manicured fingers wrapped around a can, itself wrapped in ...
Today’s launch of the Ngati Porou treaty settlement documentary is significant for the iwi and for all New Zealanders as we further our understanding of the journey to Te Tiriti o Waitangi settlements, Bernadette Cavanagh CE Manatū Taonga Ministry ...
Why don’t Western democratic governments typically regulate the porn industry, internet service providers (ISPs) or other internet services who make pornographic content accessible to children? And how is a change in the idea of what it means ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Ministry of Health to demand back the $319,000 of taxpayers spent on a flawed study suggesting a weekly lotto ticket is as harmful as an amputated leg and that occasional gambling is comparable to having a heart ...
Across the prime minister’s Monday morning broadcast interviews, there was one overwhelming theme: the behaviour of NZ First and Winston Peters, who happens also to be the deputy prime minister.With turmoil engulfing government coalition partner NZ First and deputy PM Winston Peters, the logical next person to ask for a ...
By Michael Norris in Wellington After a week-long controversy, New Zealand’s public broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has withdrawn a proposal to axe its classical music station RNZ Concert. But despite the sudden backtrack, RNZ Concert isn’t safe yet. Whatever the final outcome of RNZ’s rethink, it is clear ...
“The Government’s current dispute with councils regarding the Urban Development Bill is the result of Phil Twyford’s failure to cut red tape on a broader basis,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “In Opposition, ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the New Zealand First Foundation - which faces investigation from the SFO - has nothing to do with her or Winston Peters' role in her Cabinet. ...
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been speaking with her Australian counterpart about options to evacuate New Zealanders stuck on a cruise ship, quarantined in Japan. ...
Government seeks power to seize reins over electricity industry; and property investors to blame for NZ's high house prices, not lack of supply, researcher says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bénédicte Cenki-Tok, Associate professor at Montpellier University, EU H2020 MSCA visiting researcher, University of Sydney As the world shifts away from fossil fuels, we will need to produce enormous numbers of wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries. Demand for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Salisbury, Research Associate, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland With cries of “Quexit!” still echoing faintly in our ears, Queenslanders head towards a state election in October. For many, interest lies in whether federal Labor’s poor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susanne Becken, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Director, Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University If you’re a traveller who cares about reducing your carbon footprint, are some airlines better to fly with than others? Several of the world’s major airlines have announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University Every year, the Australian Taxation Office releases a report that includes the highest earning occupations in Australia. These are mostly in the medical, legal and financial sectors. This information is commonly used ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Professor of Housing Research and Policy, and Associate Director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Despite two years of housing market cooling in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia stayed near the top of the global unaffordability league in 2019. And with prices ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Diane Kraal, Senior Lecturer, Business Law and Taxation Dept, Monash Business School, Monash University So worried is the government about the meagre income it is getting from gas during the middle of Australia’s biggest gas export boom that it asked an independent ...
NZ's effective policy of tempting guest workers here with the chance of permanent residency and then quietly withdrawing that chance has become a damaging economic addiction that is mean and fraudulent, Bernard Hickey argues. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bridges gives signal of tax cuts, police under pressure over family violence problem, and condemnation rains down over Peters scandal.Expect plenty of news today about National’s economic manifesto to take into the next election. From Simon Bridges’ appearance on Q+A yesterday (welcome back ...
A "surreptitious" conspiracy to introduce special NZ gold kiwifruit plants into China could cost a Chinese-born local grower $15m for breaches of intellectual property laws. ...
Dental decay is NZ's most common chronic disease, yet it is not covered by the health system. Cat McLennan explains why we should introduce free dental care for adults. ...
Maia Wilson is being tipped as the next Maria Folau in the Silver Ferns shooting circle, but she wants to stamp her own unique footprint on netball history. ...
Winston Peters was once the one who could plausibly rail against the self-interest of the establishment. Today that seems laughable, So where are the real critics offering reform, asks Danyl Mclauchlan. Politics is messy. It’s chaotic; most things happen for complex combinations of reasons and these are not always obvious, ...
The conversation around how we prepare for coronavirus here needs to be guided by a sense of our common humanity, write Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew Moore, Ayesha Verrall of the University of Otago’s Department of Public Health.Borders have been closed, arrivals from Wuhan are in quarantine, and New Zealanders ...
Pretty much everything has a breaking point. The only questions are where, when and how. Might it be coming soon with climate change policy? This week there was disarray in the Australian Liberal and National party coalition over the costs of climate change policy. This was one of the issues ...
Ex-tropical cyclone Uesi is due to reach the west of the South Island this afternoon, bringing further pain to flood-hit Southland. Here’s what you need to know.Ex-tropical, you say. What on earth does that mean? A tropical cyclone, which is a low-pressure system that forms over warm waters in the tropics, ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has confirmed anti-poverty campaigner Ricardo Menendez March as their candidate for Maungakiekie in this general election. Ricardo Menendez March has been working as the Coordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty, ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, a bunch of us have a hoon on Burger King’s new chip butty.The United Kingdom’s contributions to world cuisine, like its contributions to the world in general (Morris dancing, Piers Morgan, colonialism etc), are ...
Emily Writes reviews the now infamous orgasm episode of the even more infamous Netflix show The Goop Lab.It was four days after the fourth person asked me to review the orgasm episode of Netflix’s The Goop Lab that I finally sat down to watch it.I don’t like Gwyneth Paltrow but ...
Beige and on-trend? Not for this poet. Paula Harris gives some real-life, applicable decor advice.Last night I was procrastinating and avoiding working on some poem revisions, because being a poet means that when you have other things to do, you write a poem, and when you have a poem to ...
Have we reached peak smartphone? Henry Burrell reviews the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, an engineering marvel which all but highlights how few ways there are to improve phones in 2020.In the age of smartphones, notifications and constant communication, you might wish for a simpler time when the old flip phone ...
By Hans Nicholas Jong in Jakarta Experts have warned that a slate of sweeping deregulation planned by the Indonesian government could prove disastrous for the environment and create even more conflicts over land and resources. The administration of President Joko Widodo is preparing to submit to Parliament two bills ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Does money buy policy in New Zealand politics and government? Based on the ongoing political finance scandal involving New Zealand First, which comes hot on the heels of the Serious Fraud Office charging four people in relation to donations to the National Party, New Zealanders have every ...
It’s an unprecedented level of excitement in the US for a New Zealand novel. It’s also very sudden. The hype for The Absolute Book, published by Victoria University Press in September last year, took off with a hiss and a roar after Dan Kois’s ...
Taxpayers were called on to cough up $87,994 million in the 2019 Budget, accounting for much of the $120,984m which the Treasury estimated would be collected in government revenue this financial year. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said: So, today in this first Wellbeing Budget, we are ...
The State Housing Action Network (SHAN) is deeply disappointed that the Government’s recently announced Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan fails to provide for increases in the state housing stock which are essential for addressing the homelessness crisis. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Norris, Associate Professor, Programme Director (Composition), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington After a week-long controversy, New Zealand’s public broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has withdrawn a proposal to axe its classical music station RNZ Concert. But despite the ...
Serena Bentley writes on an illuminating survey in Auckland and Christchurch of the work of a daring modernist artist deserving of wider attention.Cigarette in hand, Dame Louise Henderson stares straight down the barrel of the camera. Her gaze is magnetic. So begins this exhibition, a partnership between Christchurch and Auckland ...
A secretive group excavating a cave near Huntly believe it’s filled with a race of pre-Polynesian giants’ skeletons, but iwi and archaeologists have serious concerns, reports RNZ’s Susan Strongman.Archaeologists say a group of people tunnelling into the side of a country road in search of a race of pre-Polynesian giants’ ...
Open mike 20/12/2012 
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...5 hours ago
Prof Philippa Howden-Chapman Housing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...7 hours ago
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...7 hours ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...18 hours ago
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...3 days ago
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre. (Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...3 days ago
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...5 days ago
...1 week ago
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...1 week ago
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics. Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...2 weeks ago
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit: Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ... 2 weeks ago
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...2 weeks ago
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...2 weeks ago
New Zealand was the first country to decriminalise prostitution and it was promoted as a progressive move. Yet survivors of the sex trade say that pimps and johns are emboldened operating within the law, and that the women are treated more like a piece of property to be used and ...2 weeks ago
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...9 hours ago
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...3 days ago
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...6 hours ago
Grant Robertson is challenging Simon Bridges to say which services a National government would scrap, in order to deliver tax cuts. ...2 hours ago
The $11 million tourism package announced after today’s Cabinet is a positive response. Auckland Business Chamber head Michael Barnett said possibly more important in the Prime Minister’s announcement was that further support was possible, as ...3 hours ago
By Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez and Ma. Alena O. Castillo in Manila Thomasian Jesuit priests Fr Albert Alejo and Fr Flaviano Villanueva have posted P10,000 (NZ$310) bail each after a judge issued a warrant of arrest in connection with their sedition case. “Nag-piyansa na kami Fr Flavie at sumama ...3 hours ago
Labour and NZ First are delaying a painful call on either lifting or cutting the annual residency visa limit, while the Greens want the limits removed completely. ...3 hours ago
Tame Impala’s new album The Slow Rush dropped over the weekend to universal acclaim. Jordan Hamel talked to the band’s frontman, Kevin Parker, about the five year gap between albums, and where the band fits into riock music in 2020.Kevin Parker’s musical baby Tame Impala steadily rose to indie prominence in the ...4 hours ago
Seaweed harvested or farmed off the coast of Stewart Island by a Kiwi company could prove the key to decreasing methane emissions from livestock. ...4 hours ago
The SFO prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves not one but two $100,000 donations - in June 2017 and June 2018. ...4 hours ago
RNZ's ploy was the equivalent of strapping Concert FM to a car’s front bumper and gunning the engine, and it seems to have worked. ...6 hours ago
The boundaries of free speech were at issue in two recent court cases, one in Britain, the other in New Zealand. In the British case, a judge ruled that the police response to an ex-officer’s tweets (allegedly transphobic) was a “disproportionate interference” with his right to freedom of expression. The ...7 hours ago
Airbnb is putting forward its own blueprint to regulate holiday rentals in New Zealand. ...7 hours ago
The Tauranga-based power company Trustpower has cut its earnings expectations by as much as 14 percent because of lower power prices and pressure on margins. ...7 hours ago
Researchers say councils need to be doing much more to ensure homes and buildings aren't wiped out when a mega-tsunami eventually strikes the east coast of the North Island. ...8 hours ago
The National Party will campaign on a tax cut package, but the leader Simon Bridges is not yet revealing any of the details. ...10 hours ago
A new tenant has been found to occupy the top two floors of what will be New Zealand's tallest commercial building. ...13 hours ago
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been speaking with her Australian counterpart about options to evacuate New Zealanders stuck on a cruise ship, quarantined in Japan. ...14 hours ago
National leader Simon Bridges will today outline the party's economic goals and who will benefit most from the party's proposed tax cuts. ...14 hours ago
Government seeks power to seize reins over electricity industry; and property investors to blame for NZ's high house prices, not lack of supply, researcher says. ...14 hours ago
NZ's effective policy of tempting guest workers here with the chance of permanent residency and then quietly withdrawing that chance has become a damaging economic addiction that is mean and fraudulent, Bernard Hickey argues. ...15 hours ago
A "surreptitious" conspiracy to introduce special NZ gold kiwifruit plants into China could cost a Chinese-born local grower $15m for breaches of intellectual property laws. ...16 hours ago
Dental decay is NZ's most common chronic disease, yet it is not covered by the health system. Cat McLennan explains why we should introduce free dental care for adults. ...17 hours ago
Mary Macpherson looks at the way photographer MItchell Bright has documented the post-earthquake rebuild of Selwyn in Canterbury. ...17 hours ago
A Conservation Department manager decided it wouldn’t submit on a water consent next to a scientific reserve ...17 hours ago
Maia Wilson is being tipped as the next Maria Folau in the Silver Ferns shooting circle, but she wants to stamp her own unique footprint on netball history. ...17 hours ago
Efforts by the Chinese government to contain the coronavirus have an unlikely casualty: our tourist visa processing systems ...17 hours ago
New Zealand has a massive e-waste problem, pushed along by rampant consumerism. ...18 hours ago
Pretty much everything has a breaking point. The only questions are where, when and how. Might it be coming soon with climate change policy? This week there was disarray in the Australian Liberal and National party coalition over the costs of climate change policy. This was one of the issues ...1 day ago
It’s an unprecedented level of excitement in the US for a New Zealand novel. It’s also very sudden. The hype for The Absolute Book, published by Victoria University Press in September last year, took off with a hiss and a roar after Dan Kois’s ...2 days ago
Taxpayers were called on to cough up $87,994 million in the 2019 Budget, accounting for much of the $120,984m which the Treasury estimated would be collected in government revenue this financial year. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said: So, today in this first Wellbeing Budget, we are ...2 days ago
Our Members, which art in Confusion,
Restless be thy Mood
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done for the next election,
Though it hasn’t since ’08.
Give your MPs your daily thoughts.
And don’t forgive manipulation,
As you have bit your lip while the Clique trespassed against us.
And stop Trevor &co lead us into another failure,
But deliver us from careerists
For this is your Constitutional Right,
The power, and the leverage,
For a members vote in February
Amen.
Amen +1
Amen.
Amen
For thine is social democracy,
The power and the material glory,
Redistributed.
Forever and ever,
Amen
A counter…
Just before Xmas I spoke to the few.
On the feb vote, I hope we get the vote too.
For the people’s voice i speak of unity
A new direction, a pathway maybe a cup of tea.
Time for our say, members and all.
Time for hope and to stand tall.
Our pollies are our hope
They must talk what we dream.
But I say to you all.
Time for unity, one voice, one dream.
So in bright early feb give me just one united team.
Hang on…
A man assaults his wife repeatedly and gets discharged without conviction with a comment by the judge that the charges will probably have an effect on his chosen career path of training to be a surgeon.
A transgendered woman will have to serve 2 years & 1 month in a men’s prison for a single instance of assault after a fight broke out after an argument at home. A month less and the sentence could have been reduced to home detention. The judge recognised that a transgendered person might be at risk in a men’s prison, but sent her there anyway.
Two questions:
1. Will the prosecution appeal the first sentence because it’s inadequate and domestic violence needs to be taken seriously?
2. Will the defence have the money to appeal the second sentence because it’s dangerous and therefore wrong?
Surely you don’t think we live in A land of one rule one law for everyone do you..
Justice in NZ is not blind, it is retarded.
@ HS – Actually no, its completely corrupted!
This is appalling. Judge Cooper is full of shit.
There are separate standards applied in New Zealand justice. One standard for those who are so-called professionals and one for those are so-called mere workers.
If a conviction is likely to cause a problem for someone’s job then tough. I would expect that an assault conviction is easier to turn a blind eye to by the NZ Medical Cartel than it is for a lowly delivery driver to avoid losing his job and not being able to find another.
It is like back when the Amercias Cup was here and that rich billionaire fulla got caught with some pot. The useless judge let him off, and got name suppression because it would have a detrimental to him and his business. Well, frikkin’ duh, it would actually have no impact on a billionaires life. And such a similar event for a local Manuwera lad would have a massive impact on his life.
So the judges are full of shit.
In fact Judge Cooper said this “”It is fair to say any conviction is going to impact adversely on your employment.” So if that is the, what do you call it, reason for the decision (latin term?), then I look forward to seeing it applied equally across the land. Convictions have a greater impact on those less well off than those at the top of the pile, completely and totally contrary to the current understanding of our judiciary.
Judge Cooper is a brainless fool.
I wonder how many of these example it will take until people accet that the judiciary in NZ are in fact corrupted, and working for/to a completely differnent agenda.
As shown by the links I posted about the SFO Prosecutor, and the bizaare events in the court room as allowed by Judge Mary Beth Sharp
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10853717
Blames fertility drug…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10853492&ref=rss
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10854173
I guess some people are more exceptional than others when committing crime!
You are hopelessly wrong. Justice is not linear. Ever crime has different context and differing evidence, remorse, etc. Second guess courts and replacing it with some mob internet rule is just dumber than dumb, its been tried over and again to replace courts and it never works because those with the most money win.
Past behavior is indicative of future behavior, past good civil interactions are always going to add weight to remorse displayed. However if you live a marginal life, then of course your lack of remorse is going to play even more against you. Its one of the problems I believe with the high Maori crime rates, Maori culturally aren’t clued up on how to express good standing and remorse to courts.
While I agree, putting a person who looks and behaves like a women in a man jail does require the prison to take exceptional measures to protect them.
I think you miss the point there aerobubble, as is evidenced by your statement ” However if you live a marginal life, then of course your…….”
The post of muzza and that of mine are (assumed for muzza) based on all else being equal. There is no evidence in the media presentation of these cases that the wife-beater lived a good civil life (simply being a doctor does not equal that – that is just bigotry) or that the tranny lived a less than civil life.
Your assumption that this is the case would seem to be the same assumption that judges always make. I posted a further example of that with the billionaire. This is the exact problem.
I hold the judiciary in high regard. However in this exact area it has failed for a long long time and it was time it was highlighted. Best example being the wildly random application of name suppression and the justifications for and against. It is shit.
The generalization that courts could produce consistency is farfetched given that each crime has its own circumstances, evidence, people, and I doubt we’d want the dictatorship of consistency. Half the court process is just stressing out the accused, lumbering them with costs, putting their lives on hold, even before the case gets going.
Yeah, and wonder how the collecting of that crime levy is going.
The very thing we cannot go into detail about, individual cases, is they very reason we put up a court system to deliberate all the fact in a impartial way. Now yeah, for sure, the Bain of cases comes along too, nobody should think courts are perfect, or could be made that way.
That’s why I took a stance on your general bullshit that courts are all out of kilter with your world view. Poor you, its called a process of compromises, and its never going to be clean or pretty.
What is reasonable, a person who turns up to work, does detailed, highly professional work day in day out for decades, or some transient who hits people to solve their problems. Sorry but people have been around long enough to know that drugs will effect people and they can make mistakes of judgment. But violence, whole different level.
As for the running over, people do, yes even millionaries, have brain fazes when confronted with violence. A very important part, surely of courts, is to find who instigated it. A father with his kid, is more likely to flight than fight, and so if a person is desperate, angry, running at them, avoiding them is only one of the constraints.
Can’t say I agree with you aerobubble. Laws are made and appeals won because courts must show some sort of consistency in sentencing. Of course there are extenuating circumstances in some cases – obviously the reason lawyers argue for them.
My problem with these two cases is that consistency doesn’t seem to be apparent in these cases, and that someone has no sentence for domestic violence because of his status, not because of the crime, and someone else has sentence that, because of her status is unduly harsh. It may even appear bigoted – 2 years + the 1 month so home detention cannot be considered.
Courts hear all the information. Also it doesn’t matter that you can pick out two cases that seem to look inconsistent. Citizens who own their own homes, have savings, are more civil minded because they have more to lose, and so punishing unnecessarily harshly when the mere lose of status in gaining a criminal conviction
would see their career prospect shrink, their kids look question their parents…
As for the puzzle. A person who has nowhere to serve out home detention, and is already give a 15% reduction on their sentence, should necessity a lot of publicity to keep their jailers keen that nothing averse does happen to them when incarcerated.
You see each persons punishment is best contexted to their circumstances, a father has children, children could be harmed and punished too, they lose in other ways that a prison sentence cannot. Like I said, just being accused is punishment (exceptions like attention seekers, sociopaths), so should judges take this into account, the lack of remorse shown by the sociopathic attention seeker self-victim? So unless and until I see every damn piece of evidence I trust in the judges in these trials to weight up decisions. Now, sure if there is a clear skew over time in lots of cases, and fathers are walking scot-free, and trans-sexuals are getting beaten in jail (or worse), then sure no problem it would merit looking at the sentencing, and sacking some managers in the jail system.
One problem with home detention is its consider punishment, so what the country is saying is someone who lives holed up in their home, severely socially inhibited, and effectively the same as punishment to another citizen for the crime of
assault? So I point to you beware making generalizations, I’m sure some will
take it as quite offensive that home detention is offer to people how have been
at the hard end of violence, as they personally may fear leaving their homes
as a result.
aerobubble: Citizens who own their own homes, have savings, are more civil minded because they have more to lose, and so punishing unnecessarily harshly when the mere lose of status in gaining a criminal conviction
would see their career prospect shrink, their kids look question their parents…
Thanks for dismissing all us renters as lacking in community spirit. Actually, the fear of losing one’s home and savings is supporting more of an individualistic focus on what’s in it for themselves and their families. People who rent, and have less savings could be more aware of the need for community-support, caring for others etc.
Perhaps we should go back to the good old days where only property owning (Christian men) could vote.
Certainly I agree that horses for courses, some want to acquire wealth, and thats okay as much as someone who wants to rent. My point was that its not punishment if it doesn’t change their circumstances. A social phobic would be more harshly punished in a prison, but also home detention would be a breeze. So a judge could stipulate limits on say internet access while on home detention, this would be more severe than for most people whose whole community wasn’t online say. Its little point giving home detention to a paraplegic.
So nobody here wants to help me start the ‘Sweet as’ revolution in Hamilton West?
On my home world, we’d call you all mouth and no trousers.
Two minutes silence for fallen internet warriors, but two fingers up at food in kids bellies.
Priorities, nice.
Second track on my website – Games I play.
Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s rough.
Sometimes it breaks your heart inside. You’ve got to break your heart or hide.
Some people come easy, like some people go.
Some people break apart in sight. They have to run away in fright. But not me.
‘Cause you know? It’s just like a game I play.
‘Cause I know we’re just here to fade away.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
Been too lonely here, for too long.
‘Somethings’ aren’t easy. ‘Somethings’ aren’t wrong.
‘Somethings’ can’t fake a hurt inside. They’ve got to take a pain with pride.
Some people go easy. And some people don’t.
Some people make a stand and fight. They have to hold their ground and fight. Just like me.
‘Cause you know? It’s just like a game I play.
‘Cause I’m no way here just to fade. No way.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
‘Cause I’m lonely here, but I’m strong.
‘Cause I’m only here for so long.
I’m still standing here, so come on.
So come on.
One by one. All at once, I’ll take you all on.
One by one. All at once, until you’re all gone.
And I win.
Is it snowing on The Standard? 🙂
It stops and then comes back again
And the screen is twitching.
Glad you’ve got it too, I thought I might have picked up a bug.
Ain’t a twitch. It’s a shiver 😉
Or a ‘special investigation’ by a ‘special branch’ that the pm will never get an email, text or phone call about, even if he makes jokes about it, that no-one heard or saw footage of, even while they we’re destroying it just in case.
For the record, I am an alien, but I’m a permanent resident al1en.
I’m also not a ‘predator’ type teeth gnasher and I never consume humans – It’d be like eating less intelligent Dolphin.
😉
The Allen
Merry Christmas dude. Find some earthling to explain it to you and then enjoy it.
Don’t worry, friend. I’ve got your festive customs nailed down.
Every December, all the politicians get to fuck off on holiday and all the hungry kids don’t.
Enjoy yours though, if you conscience lets you.
it seems to be following the cursor
Wind from the NE this time!
Gone from twitching/shivering to fitting at the bottom of the screen.
Calling Dr LPrent if you have a minute.
Firefox, vista home premium.
A feature that’s gone rogue??
On OSX 10.6.8, Safari it’s still a nice snow shower…sorry hear it’s stormy elsewhere…
And it’s behaving using Firefox 14.0.1 on the same O/S.
Whew. I have been working on a post (on media bias -difficult topic) for a couple of weeks. Was working on it just now and made quite a few revisions – clicked save, took forever as all the typing disappeared, leaving me with a blank post. However, I opened the post in another tab and the latest version is all there. Gave me a fright.
Happens. I was fixing a problem with a plugin update last night and the system was a bit upset.
The back button often works if you have to walk backwards…
If you have a wordpress account you can go here and turn off the snow for blogs you look at (I assume this doesn’t work if you log out):
https://wordpress.com/#!/settings/ (untick the snow box)
Eta: doesn’t work 🙁 although it is supposed to http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/its-getting-cold-in-here/ Is this a wordpress.org thing?
Yes. You’d have to login to the site to do that here.
Remember to take advantage of our position relative to the international dateline to login at midnight onto every form of social media and start making panic stricken reports of massive earthquakes, huge volcanic eruptions and armies of zombies emerging from nowhere.
Obviously not been out walking or anywhere near large swaths of the public recently…Zombie like they are, all head in some screen or another, mindlessly wandering around..
Better watch out you don’t have to eat humble pie like Nick Smith did last year on March 20th. He said Ken Ring’s prediction of a greater risk of increased earthquake activity around this date was that of a fool so he and others went and had a picnic on the Port Hills of Christchurch to thumb their noses at him.
Unfortunately for them there were several earthquakes that day, including the biggest aftershock since Feb 22, and it was Nick Smith and his cronies that had to back down and admit they didn’t know what they were doing.
Let’s see what happens.
You are aware I’m sure that this date tomorrow is solely a measure of a confluence of astronomical cycles. It is simply a physical measurement of stars and planets and galaxies spinning through space. It is as real and as simple as measuring the trajectory of a ball thrown in a backyard.
Port Hills? They lack the courage of their convictions. Sitting under the Cathedral would have been more impressive.
Ha ha, yep, that’s what many people suggested. Even if they had picniced at the bottom of the Port Hills would have had more cred. There have been many rockfalls at the slightest shake or rain now that the hills have been shattered like a glass block courtesy of the Great Earth Monster.
Not very convincing when they go to the very safest place to go nyah nyah nyah to possible earthquakes. But then again, like John Key, Nick Smith has never come across as a courageous man. In fact the opposite as exhibited here – cowardly.
Actually, this government can be characterised by this and the bully boy tactics described in the Wellington Cuncil thread. They are cowards and bullies, as is so often the case with bullies.
Cowardly bullies
“Unfortunately for them there were several earthquakes that day, including the biggest aftershock since Feb 22”
Really? I live in Christchurch – and I remember the Port Hills stunt, but I don’t remember any big aftershocks. Ring is full of shit, but even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
Well you need to check your facts Pop. Biggest aftershock since Feb 22, one of the largest for a long time in kaikoura and activation of an old similar fault system in McKenzie Basin.
Also, if Ring is full of shit then so too is Isaac Newton.
Tell me Pop, why do you think Ring is full of shit? Some detail and solid points if you could ta.
Wasn’t this all discussed at the time?
The guy is so vague in dates, location and magnitude that it’s like the met office saying “some rain will occur somewhere on the Pacific Rim this week”. And if a typhoon breaks in Fiji, folks jump on the interwebz to say how accurate he is. You can’t predict a chaotic system based on relatively minor influences, compared to say fucking great loads that might or might not already exist on a particular fault.
And that’s without his “read your cat’s future in its paws” book.
“You can’t predict a chaotic system based on relatively minor influences, compared to say fucking great loads that might or might not already exist on a particular fault.”
Fault systems aren’t chaotic. Example, see Alpine Fault measured movements over time.
Relatively minor influences? Sheesh, ever heard the sayings about straws and camels backs? Then place that into context.
The thing about straws and camel’s backs is that there are many other straws on the camel’s back, too. focusing on one and “predicting” that one like it will eventually break the back is just stupid. There are much bigger straws that planetary alignment.
Fault systems are chaotic. Example, Saharan rainfalls over time.
The point is that there are many factors that affect the friction either side of the fault. Then there are the inner earth magma currents affecting tectonic forces. And different rock densities. All obeying basic and predictable laws of physics, but in exponentially compounding combinations are not even roughly predictable on a slide rule with an astrological chart.
“Tell me Pop, why do you think Ring is full of shit? Some detail and solid points if you could ta.”
Science. All Ring does is fling vague scattershot figures around and sometimes they stick. Sideshow psychics do pretty much the same thing. There are earthquakes of varying magnitudes everyday somewhere in the world. And comparing him to Sir Isaac Newton? You win the arsehat prize for that – the second in the space of a week.
Do you know what Newton was about? I am not a fan of Ring but what he says is simply that when the moon is closer to the earth there is an increased gravitational effect. This has a gravitational effect on the air. This has a gravitational effect on the water. This has a gravitational effect on the land.
It is as simple as that.
His underlying proposition is not shit, it is sound. Tell me how the above is not right.
As for arsehat prize – keep it. I see others have you lined up for similar prize. Egg
Hey did you note that you are lighter when the moon is over head.
Sound proposition, but not significant according to the observed data. 1% attribution? Try forecasting weather based on the albedo of roofs in the area.
sanctuary
Don’t frighten the horses. There are enough real and terrible things happening without merry japes as you mention. Not funny. Watch some Mitchell and Webb or something and have laughs at people and politicians to occupy your spare time.
“…. former South Korean military di– uh, ruler”
Language censorship on Television One Breakfast
Television One Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., Thursday 20 December 2012
Newsreader Melissa Stokes read the following: “South Korea has elected its first woman president. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of a former South Korean military di– [pause] uh, ruler.”
The change was so sudden, and Melissa Stokes seemed so momentarily nonplussed, that there’s only one plausible explanation: her actual script said “former South Korean military dictator” but some producer urgently hissed into her earpiece “Don’t call him a dictator, call him a RULER!”
Why would Television One’s administration be reluctant to call a dictator a dictator?
There are no dictators any more. Here is a brilliant speech from the Dictator! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEUKZCFqyIw
That guy’s not funny. He’s even unfunnier when you look at his actual (not “satirical” or “ironic”) support for the mass murder perpetrated by his favorite real-life regime.
I totally agree but he is of course describing the US as it really is. Brilliant the speech is but funny he is not!
I did think he was funny until I realized how hardline and shameless he is in real life. He actually IS Borat, with all of Borat’s brutal anti-Semitism and callous disregard for others. In the same way that some Jewish people cannot listen to Wagner, I just can’t respect Baron Cohen since I learned what a vicious person he is.
Citaions needed. Lots of them!
Mozza, you appear to be unaware that Baron Cohen is jewish (and a socialist). He’s not anti-semitic and I think you are going to struggle to find any evidence of him supporting mass murder. He has also won a Golden Globe for comedy, something neither of you is ever likely to do. So, objectively, he is funny. He’s got an award for it and made millions making people laugh. And saying he’s not funny, then admitting that you ‘used to’ think he was funny is pretty funny in itself, Moz.
Is there the slimmest chance that Sacha Baron Cohen is actually the funniest comedian Britain has produced in the last twenty years and you two are humourless bores?
I respect your intellect, my friend, but in this case you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll return to this later, with citations you are more than capable of finding for yourself, were you to allow yourself to get out of hero worship mode towards this moral imbecile.
Right now, I have to leave for a few hours, I’m afraid.
Meanwhile, you need to do a little research into Sacha Baron Cohen, that unfunny fraud.
An antisemitic practicing orthodox Jew????
Populuxe, please look on the thread below. You have a case to answer.
Zionism is inherently Anti Semitic. Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians and other Arabs living in the Levant are all Semites.
Added to that the Semitic Jews who lived with the Arabs for 2000 years are equally discriminated against by the criminal ruling elite of Israel because the are anti Zionist.
Sasha Baron Cohen is a hardcore Zionist (well documented) and I have always avoided his nasty kind of humour.
I call this speech brilliant in that it describes the US (Which he regards as and which behaves as a Zionist slave state) and most Americans have no idea he is talking about them and their regime (1% is in total control).
Nope Sasha is as wrong as it gets!!!
But tracellerev, Jews are Arabs too. They are not their own separate race, no matter how much that may suit their aims and ends. Why is this such a problem for people?
No actually, TRV let’s not move on. For those of you interested Sasha Baron Cohen a Habonim boy and his work, every film he made one way or another was intended to ridicule Islam and Muslims.
His impact is huge and he defends Israel and attacks Muslims so to say he is neutral is hypocrite to say the least. You want to move on from this discussion that is fine but for those of you curious hit the search button
To PB,
God you don’t talk halfshite. Militia, ZOG (fucked if I know what that stands for) and how you’re so disappointed. Are those the new catchphrases your are told to use. Militia, Preppers AND 911 truthers are now primed to be the next terrorists with their wilkd weapon collecting blahblah blah (I hear the mother of the SH shooter was a prepper too! Is that how you have been told to typecast people who want a new and independent investigation into the events of 911?
And the disappoining thing, is that so people will get the impression you are a patient lot but them preppers, militia and 911turhters are such a trying lot?
(ROFL) You don’t know me, you don’t know what I do in my daily life (Or maybe you do…) and you have the gall to be “Disappointed”?
Fuck you PB, Fuck you and your sad and futile attempts to typecast me or those of us who want to have a new and independent investigation into the events of 911.
Wow.
I guess it’s the Zionists telling me what to say huh?
Watch out Eve, the Jews are coming for yer shootn arns.
“Sasha Baron Cohen is a hardcore Zionist (well documented)”
So you’ll have no problem providing proof, then, will you, Ev?
You’re playing the ignoramus, Te Reo. That’s never a charming look.
Well, ignoramus is a harsh word to describe Ev, but, yes, I am playing her. But only in the sense of fish/barrel, you understand.
Any chance you’ve found the cites you reckon you were gonna provide? Just curious, because my brief google search finds nothing to support your various and contradictory descriptions of Baron Cohen.
That’s funny TRP because my quick google search comes back with 250.000 results in 0.26 of a second!
Great, Ev. Perhaps you’d like to share some of the ones that prove SBC is a “hardcore zionist”. Skip the ones that are just opinion, and just cite the factual ones. Preferably quotes from him saying “I’m a hardcore zionist”. Bet that takes more than 0.26 seconds.
Well, ignoramus is a harsh word to describe Ev, but, yes, I am playing her.
“Her”? [Straightens tie, rubs Brylcreme through hair] “Travellerev” is a GIRL?!?!?!?!??
But only in the sense of fish/barrel, you understand.
C’mon, Te Reo, seriously—stop messin’ about.
Any chance you’ve found the cites you reckon you were gonna provide? Just curious, because my brief google search finds nothing to support your various and contradictory descriptions of Baron Cohen.
Baron Cohen is a racist, extreme supporter of the Holy State. There is nothing “various” or “contradictory” about any of those positions.
Evidence, Mozza, evidence! No point you having a crack at Populuxe for not backing up his/her arguments if you can’t do it yourself.
And, yes, Ev is a woman. Is if that mattered. 🙄
What is the problem with being a hardcore Zionist TRP? Why is that something that has to be proven. What is a Zionist other then someone who supports the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jews? And as a consequence has to support the discrimination of Arabs, Palestinians especially?
Tell you what. Here is a link from Jews sans frontieres and people who read this and want to know more to form their own opinion can Google Sasha Baron Cohen and Zionism and draw their own conclusions.
I wouldn’t call my self a “girl”. That has come and gone but yes, I’m of the female gender and I thank you for the sentiment expressed. 🙂
Fair enough, Ev, I get where you are coming from. Like you, I think Zionism is bigotted, but I don’t think all Jews are Zionist, nor all Israelis. I think its unfair to call Baron Cohen a Zionist (and therefore, a racist) without evidence. And there really doesn’t seem to be any evidence. Lots of opinion, sure, but nothing that confirms that he is any other than an excellent comedian who has a Jewish heritage.
Anyhoo, time to move on?
I call this speech brilliant in that it describes the US (Which he regards as and which behaves as a Zionist slave state) and most Americans have no idea he is talking about them and their regime (1% is in total control).
I’m not sure what you mean by this Eve, but it really is an unfortunate turn of phrase. On the off chance you aren’t aware of why, please take the time to read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist_Occupation_Government
I know that you read Alex Jones (or at least you used to) so you may have picked up some of this stuff from some of the things he publishes and links to, or not, I don’t really care. But what I do care about is that when people are researching conspiracy stuff, they practice discernment. There really really are some nasty people manipulating things and pushing memes, and using codes. Don’t be one of their dupes. Please.
There certainly is a lot of conspiratorial, anti-Semitic rubbish in cyberspace. This idea that the U.S.A. is “manipulated” by Israel (which is basically Mearsheimer & Walt’s thesis) is plain wrong, but it’s at the root of a lot of noise on the internet.
However, it is not conspiratorial or paranoid to see that Sacha Baron Cohen is a brutal and unapologetic supporter of Israel, and a ruthless defamer of the Holy State’s victims.
For your information. Alex Jones is married to a Jewish lady if I’m correct and goes through great pains to avoid the Israel controversies.
He is actually accused of being a Zionist shill for that reason even though he has no problem pointing out obvious crimes such as the shelling of Gaza.
So please back off with your patronising shite.
For those of you wanting to know more about how the US is duped into being Israels bully boy here is some information you don’t get from the MSM about one of the most powerful Lobbying groups in the world AIPAC
Oh and PB, over the years you have never given any “conspiracy nutter” as you call them the benefit of being able to have discernment so fuck off about that too.
America is Israel’s slave state and while Netanyahu may not like Obama and that is mutual in the end America will abide by what Israel wants to do. End of story.
And Morrisey. wipe the shit out of your eyes and start doing some proper research about Israel and it’s puppet masters. You’re smart, use your brain!
So you were endorsing a ZOG thesis then.
Fits with some of the other militia inspired crap you’ve endorsed over the years, ( OMG FEMA camps etc) so it’s not really a surprise, but disappointing all the same.
Citaions needed. Lots of them!
My course of reading to get you up to speed has begun today, with the Steven Salaita piece from Electronic Intifada. I’ll put more up for you each day. Of course, you are entirely capable of doing this for yourself, but I get the feeling this is a case of having to lead a horse to water.
Mozza, you appear to be unaware that Baron Cohen is jewish (and a socialist). He’s not anti-semitic
Yes, he is. He is virulently anti-Arab, and most relevantly, anti-Palestinian. As a state-friendly clown, he is absolved from the necessity to even pretend he gives a damn about the victims of his callous “humour”, and doesn’t have to make any false statements that he cares about Palestinians (like Alan Dershowitz keeps claiming about himself) or pretend to be troubled by Palestinian deaths (like the official spokespersons for the Holy State routinely do even as they justify the killings).
…and I think you are going to struggle to find any evidence of him supporting mass murder.
The evidence is irrefutable. Hopefully, after you’ve read today’s introductory article, you will engage in a little more extensive reading for yourself.
He has also won a Golden Globe for comedy,…
I grant you, Sacha Baron Cohen can be funny, but the old Aristotelian device of Arguing from Awards is unwise. Barack Obama won a Nobel Prize for ….. (WAIT FOR IT!) ….. Peace. Martin Devlin and Murray Deaker have both won awards for sports journalism. Some of the direst songs ever written have won Academy Awards for “Best Song”. I could go on, and may well do so at a later date….
….something neither of you is ever likely to do.
WHAT?!!??!?!? Now that is hurtful.
So, objectively, he is funny.
So, by the same logic, Martin Devlin and Murray Deaker are, objectively, outstanding sports journalists; “Into the West”, “My Heart Will Go On” and “You Light Up My Life” are, objectively, top-notch songs; and Barack Obama is, objectively, a Man of Peace.
He’s got an award for it and made millions making people laugh. And saying he’s not funny, then admitting that you ‘used to’ think he was funny is pretty funny in itself, Moz.
I can see he’s funny, and I don’t criticize you for seeing the same thing. However, he clearly has an agenda—and it’s a brutal one, that needs to be called out.
Is there the slimmest chance that Sacha Baron Cohen is actually the funniest comedian Britain has produced in the last twenty years…
Not a chance. Have you never heard of Jack Dee? Or Frankie Boyle? Or Steve Coogan? Or Ricky Gervais? Or Mitchell and Webb?
…and you two are humourless bores?
I have systematically and seriously made a case for the careful examination and reconsideration of a comedian who is lionized by the establishment. You can call me a “humourless bore” if you want, just like Jimmy Savile used to do about anyone who had the temerity to criticize him.
You could start with evidence, mozza. Any evidence at all would be good. But so far … nothing.
You could start with evidence, mozza. Any evidence at all would be good. But so far … nothing.
If you were a lawyer, you would be admonished (at the very least) for contempt of court. I have argued with you in good faith, and provided an excellent scholarly analysis of Sacha Baron Cohen’s political agenda for you to read—but you have simply closed up and retreated into your shell.
I leave it to others to see who is arguing, and backing his argument with evidence, and who is cynically trying to stymie any argument.
Oh dear, this is well below your usual standard, Mozza. No evidence at all? Surely you must have found at least one quote from the man by now. Nothing? Really?
Playing dumb does you no credit, my friend.
M, TRP is a shill. This is what he does. He is an excellent tool to give people who read them links but he will always sidestep, accuse, malign and avoid. Still he keeps threads alive and that means more people will eventually get the information they need to make up their own minds. And many over here have done over the last five years.
For those of you interested in understanding the likes of Te Reo Putake here is a nice list of 25 hallmarks of shill behaviour
M, TRP is a shill.
I am well aware of that. Thanks for the heads-up.
This is what he does. He is an excellent tool to give people who read them links
Really? Recently, he has refused to read links, or simply denied their validity.
but he will always sidestep, accuse, malign and avoid. Still he keeps threads alive and that means more people will eventually get the information they need to make up their own minds. And many over here have done over the last five years.
You’re being very charitable, travellerev.
For those of you interested in understanding the likes of Te Reo Putake here is a nice list of 25 hallmarks of shill behaviour.
Or, to see a shill in action, simply observe Sacha Baron Cohen’s behaviour.
No, you are right HE won’t read the links but others will and those are the ones I aim for.
Don’t try to win over the haters, you’re not the jerk whisperer is my motto but over the backs of the haters you can actually reach those who are willing to learn.
I apologise for telling you to wipe the shit out of your eyes and start doing research about Israel but I do mean you should do mor9e research on the state of Israel.
Here is a facebook friend of mine. His name is A href=”http://www.gilad.co.uk/”>Gilad Atzmon. He is Jewish and Israeli. He is also a great musician and writer and he recently published a book called: The wandering who? You might want to start there!
WHERE IS HE?
Whither Populuxe1?
Mass Murder Advocate Fails to Front His Critics
I note with some concern that poor old Populuxe1 has failed to surface after being keel-hauled by all and sundry on Tuesday.
I can see five possible explanations for his failure to mount an argument in defence of himself and his outlandish statement on Open Mike:
1.) He lacks the wherewithal to mount a coherent argument;
2.) He is “on leave”, a la the Rt. Hon. Hekia Parata;
3.) Professor Stuart McCutcheon has gotten wind of Populuxe1’s extra-curricular nonsense, called him in for a talk and delivered a stern warning: “If you continue to make a fool of yourself like this, Dr. Hoadley, even under a preposterous surname, we will have to look at your position a little more rigorously….” ;
4.) He is licking his wounds and preparing for an AWESOME comeback, where he sprays around even more awesomely absurd epithets;
5.) In his shame and desperation, the poor oaf has actually shown some courage and taken the time-honored option, viz. …..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Giotto_-_Scrovegni_-_-47-_-_Desperation.jpg
Conoisseurs of the bizarre and deranged can peruse the poor chap’s comment by clicking here….
Sorry, but Hekia is only Hon., not Rt. Hon.
But she is a real Right One.
Thank you for that, Lanthanide. While we’re on the subject of errors, I note another grievous one, where I show Prof. McCutcheon warning Dr. Hoadley that he must not make a fool of himself, even under the cover of “a preposterous surname“.
Of course, Prof. McCutcheon, a highly educated man, would have used his words far more accurately.
This is what he would have said: “If you continue to make a fool of yourself like this, Dr. Hoadley, even under a preposterous pseudonym, we will have to look at your position a little more rigorously.”
My apologies for the careless error in the original post.
This line of comments offends me greatly. Not only are you speculating on identities based on the flawless logic “I disagree with H, P disagrees with me, therefore P=H”, you also seem to have constructed a fantasy about H’s legislated academic freedom being interfered with by M, who is connected to you only by virtue of being H’s boss’s boss.
Here’s a thought – lose the obsessive vendetta part of your shiny hat. You might be less of a jerk.
This line of comments offends me greatly.
I’ve already admitted out that my (entirely reasonable) speculation was wrong.
Not only are you speculating on identities based on the flawless logic “I disagree with H, P disagrees with me, therefore P=H”, you also seem to have constructed a fantasy about H’s legislated academic freedom being interfered with by M, who is connected to you only by virtue of being H’s boss’s boss.
As I’ve already said, it was a reasonable supposition. Not many in academia, bar a couple of certifiable cases at Waikato, are as ideologically extreme as Steve Hoadley; our friend Populuxe1 made a stunningly foolish and extreme anti-Palestinian comment; Populuxe has made a point of telling this online community that he works in a university, ergo it was a reasonable inference that the extreme anti-Palestinian Populuxe1 was the extreme anti-Palestinian Steve Hoadley.
Happily, Populuxe1 assures us that he is now “on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli”, so assuming he is not lying, there will be no more erroneous assumptions by anyone that Populuxe1 is Steve Hoadley.
Here’s a thought – lose the obsessive vendetta part of your shiny hat.
That was a reasonable inference. You can call it “obsessive”, but on reflection I think you’ll recognize that is not a fair portrayal of my stance.
You might be less of a jerk.
Oooff! Now THAT hurt. I now have hurt feelings….
I work at a university. Am I Hoadley?
There are literally thousands of academic and general university staff, if P was even telling the truth about the sector they worked in at the time they wrote it.
And yeah, inventing conversations between real people based on the fact that you disagree with one person’s pseudonym and another person’s media comments, so therefore it’s a “reasonable supposition” that they are the same person. That’s obsessive.
But nice to know you genuinely believe you were trying to “out” a Standard commenter’s identity. Jerk.
I work at a university. Am I Hoadley?
I do not think so. Unlike Populuxe1, you have not been making Hoadley-esque public statements pouring scorn on the victims of state terror.
There are literally thousands of academic and general university staff,
There would be only half a dozen of them that are so brazen and shameless in their public praise of the Holy State.
And yeah, inventing conversations between real people based on the fact that you disagree with one person’s pseudonym and another person’s media comments, so therefore it’s a “reasonable supposition” that they are the same person. That’s obsessive.
No, it is reasonable to assume that an academic brazen enough to publicly state (on radio) that he supports the state that is engaged in the mass murder of imprisoned, ghettoized untermenschen might be foolish enough to come on a popular forum like this and make similar statements, as well as spraying the ridiculous accusation of “anti-Semitism” at anyone who protests at the Holy State’s campaign of terror. That’s what our friend Populuxe1 did.
You can call that “obsessive”, but that slur carries as much critical heft as our friend Te Reo Putake’s repeated claim that any and all evidence is “no evidence”.
But what about pseudonymous comments? With no career reputation to worry about? And besides, I reckon you vastly undercount the number of right-wingers in academia.
That is indeed a reasonable assumption. But the assumption you made was that any person who uses a pseudonym to state similar (for a given margin of error) opinions is probably therefore the same person who uses their own name and academic freedom in mass media. Not to mention the defamatory assertion of a vice chancellor interfering in the freedom of an academic to express his opinions.And at least I stated exactly why, with reference to specific facts, I thought you were obsessing over this. Inventing defamatory conversations on the illogical leap you made is not healthy.
But you merely make the assertions, and almost never relate them to verifiable specific facts. Also known as “evidence”.
Have you changed your meds recently?
And I don’t know who Hoadley is, but I ain’t he. However isn’t that sort of speculation against the rules here? Usually the moderators are all over that.
You don’t know who Hoadley is? He’s a far-right commentator from the University of Auckland, who during the recent escalation in Israeli terror against the citizens of Gaza, came onto Radio Rhema (which laughably calls itself the Christian station) and expressed his support not for the victims, but the killers.
Your irrational response the other day led me to think he was you. Seeing you live in Christchurch, obviously that was a mistake.
Anyway, in answer to your vitriol, I condemn Israel’s excessive use of force against the Palestinians and their continued illegal colonisation of the West Bank. It’s bizarre that you assume I would just because I find the continued one-sided generalisations about Israel from you to be irritating, antisemitic and smacking of obsession. FYI Bebe and his Likudniks do not represent the entirety of Jewish or even Israeli opinion.
However I also condemn Hamas for its continued provocations of Israel with little regard for the ordinary Palestinians they were foolishly elected to represent, and for the continued climate of fear it creates for ordinary Israelis. I regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and I lose no love on them.
I am on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli. Now go fuck yourself you presumptive freak.
Anyway, in answer to your vitriol,
The vitriol is entirely yours, my friend. I simply held up a mirror.
… I condemn Israel’s excessive use of force against the Palestinians and their continued illegal colonisation of the West Bank.
“Excessive use of force”? What, are you suggesting that there is an ACCEPTABLE use of force that an illegal invading force can use against a civilian population?
It’s bizarre that you assume I would just because I find the continued one-sided generalisations about Israel
What you reflexively and stupidly damned as “anti-Semitism” was in fact a careful, scholarly analysis of systematic bias by the BBC.
… from you to be irritating, antisemitic and smacking of obsession.
I’ve posted some things about Israeli state crimes, as well as crimes by other countries. That’s “obsessive”? You have no strategy other than spraying lame epithets at me?
FYI Bebe…
That’s “Bibi”, actually.
…. and his Likudniks do not represent the entirety of Jewish or even Israeli opinion.
As if we did not KNOW that. So who are Mark Regev, Tzipora Menache and Israel’s other ghastly apologists for state terror representing—the Likudnik regime that runs Israel—or those who belong to the humane, liberal, thoughtful Jewish tradition?
However I also condemn Hamas for its continued provocations of Israel with little regard for the ordinary Palestinians they were foolishly elected to represent, and for the continued climate of fear it creates for ordinary Israelis. I regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and I lose no love on them.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. You would have condemned the French Resistance, the Yugoslav partisans and the Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto.
I am on the side of the innocent civilians, both Palestinian and Israeli.
High time you said so, sir. We can look forward to an improvement in the quality and morality of your posts, no doubt.
Now go fuck yourself you presumptive freak.
That sort of abuse is fine when used against, say, Araboushim, or, if you like, untermenschen. Here, all it does is re-emphasize the poverty of your argument.
It’s a lovely day out. Why don’t you get a book on New Zealand birds and go twitting… Or even some bark rubbings. I think you need to get outside in the fresh air more.
It’s a lovely day out. Why don’t you get a book on New Zealand birds and go twitting… Or even some bark rubbings. I think you need to get outside in the fresh air more.
TRANSLATION: “I got nothing.”
That’s a clever response.
Pretty much a literary correlative to Option 5, really.
Now I know where DunnoKeyo got his fiscal directions from ….
Australia will be a casualty of the currency wars
He’s copying the Australian reserve bank example note for freakin note M8’s!
The NZ MSM should take note of a real article written by real journalists as well!.
I keep telling folks that Greece should play the exact same game. They should build a printing press right in the middle of the city square of Athens, wind it up and churn out mountains of euros, then drive it by the truckload to the German border and tip it out.
That will expose the system for exactly what it is.
Debt is the most heinous evil inhabiting and inhibiting the world today.
Does it not register with people that money is;
1. issued by privately owned banks and
2. is backed only by a printing machine and
3. must be paid for with interest (even though it is only printed paper backed by nothing. Paying for nothing).
It is the western world’s achilles heel. And nobody even fucking knows!
I have the worst hangover in the history of the world.
LOL. It cannot be that bad because:
1. It is not even 9.30am
2. You are obviously able to turn on your computer or other device
3. You typed that comment without spelling errors!
Food, lots and lots of water and paracetemol.
With sympathy
VV
Get up, stagger, eat, stagger around a little bit more, go back to sleep for a while longer, wake up ….. et voila !
Umm.. Talking about zombies…
So, vto – what dooo youuu eat..
At some point, should any fellow poster with editing rights have a moment to spare… I’m having the same old, same old problem with scheduled posts not publishing themselves at the designated time I set them for.
There was one slated to go up around 9 O’Clock this morning that didn’t ‘go’. I’ve reschedueled it for tomorrow morning at 8 O’Clock.
Thing is, this same problem has happened previously. Is there something really obvious I’m overlooking in the settings that causes this? I can’t figure it. So…if you have a moment and the inclination, I’d appreciate somebody going into ‘dashboard’ and having a wee look at the post I’ve re-scheduled for tomorrow morning and letting me know if there’s something I’ve not done right or overlooked on the settings front.
Cheers.
Ummm there is both the basic system and a backup system that sends them off when they overshoot.
I’ll start having a look at scheduled posts.
Just had an embarrassing thought. (cough) It wouldn’t be that I’m meant to hit the publish button to make it load to the schedule would it?
Bugger! Guess not. Oh well.
After you schedule it, the button changes from “Publish” to “Schedule”, and yes that has to be pressed 😈
I’m getting an effect of tiny white balls falling over my screen from the top noticeable against a dark background. Christmas snowflakes? How cute. By the way Happy Christmas to all and a 2013 year that offers improvements and hope for good direction and achievements in 2014.
Yep. It was a feature that snuck in on wordpress 3.5.
Up in this hemisphere I thought it would be psychological air-conditioning in the sweltering heat. Down in those chilly northern climes it might be a different story as I suspect the storms will be extreme in their winter this year.
It will turn itself off on Jan 4
In these northern climes it makes up for the rain outside when it should be snowing 😉
Actually I suspect that they will get some quite large snowstorms this year. The oscillating jetstreams have more energy at this phase of the solar cycle and on top of the warming of the Arctic, they’re quite a bit further south. So they’re pushing cold air from the Arctic further south and then it hits more wet air coming up off land and the gulf stream….. Guess what I think will happen.
I agree. We’ve had snow much earlier than usual this year, but have hit a warm-ish period so it’s raining. Pretty boring just before Christmas. It’s an odd climate here with the continental effect enhanced by mountain ranges creating foehn winds up from the desert and then the Siberian/Artic blasts coming the other way.
I’ve been looking around for some graphics of how the oscillating jetstreams are (mis)behaving this year, but there’s not a lot beyond the focus of Britain’s early summer rains.
Umm. I will try to track some down. Was last looking at it when Sandy hit the US. Usually NOAA is the best source.
You saying the outside of the screen will be twitching and black dots will rain across the screen from different directions – whenever I’m at the Standard……until Jan 4?!
Anything I can do to mitigate Lprent?
Ok – that isn’t the effect it is meant to be happening. Sounds like a meteor shower. What browser and operating system?
I’ll turn it off.
Many thanks for turning off the storm LPrent!
No, it’s just irritating.
Grinch 😀
WITCH TRIAL
Witness | Pfc. Bradley Manning’s Testimony, Article 13 hearing Nov. 29 and 30, 2012
US v. Pfc. Bradley Manning is being conducted in de facto secrecy. For more information on the lack of public and press access to United States v. Pfc. Manning, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed a petition requesting the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) “to order the Judge to grant the public and press access to the government’s motion papers, the court’s own orders, and transcripts of proceedings, none of which have been made public to date.”
This transcript of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s testimony at his Article 13 motion hearing was taken at Fort Meade, Maryland on November 29th and 30th, 2012.
[DEFENSE EXAMINATION OF PFC. BRADLEY MANNING ON NOVEMBER 29, 2012]
Defense (Coombs)
Pfc. Manning I know this is a little nerve racking. So what we are going to do, is we are going to ease into this, and just take a little bit of time. Okay?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Yes, sir.
Defense (Coombs)
Alright, I want to first start off by asking some questions about when you were detained in Iraq. Okay?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
Yes, Sir.
Defense (Coombs)
Alright, do you recall the date that you were initially detained by [Army] CID?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
It was May 27 of 2010.
Defense (Coombs)
And, how did CID first approach you?
Pfc. Bradley Manning
CID first came to– well I was first in the Supply– I was in the Supply office at the Brigade annex, which was a separate building from Brigade headquarters at FOB Hammer in Iraq, and I was– and then, I was escorted by the Supply NCOIC [Non Commissioned Officer in Charge] to an interview room. It was a conference room that had been turned into an interview room. And, I knew that–
Defense (Coombs)
When you walked in, what did you see– when you walked into that?
Read more…
http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wikileaks/bradley_manning/witness_profiles_us_v_pfc_bradley_manning/pfc_bradley_manning_testimony_article_13.html
Bradley Manning – does he have a support group – like amnesty international?
Manning has supporters from all over the world. Luckily for him, he has not had to rely on the U.S. branch of Amnesty International, which is a compromised and confused organization, to put it very charitably….
http://electronicintifada.net/content/amnesty-urged-reject-tainted-funds-leonard-cohen-concert/978
Anyone else hear this Mad, Bad and Sad Santa?
NewstalkZB, Thursday 20 December, 10:40 a.m.
NewstalkZB’s notorious supercrank Leighton Smith never turns down an opportunity to turn any occasion into a soapbox for his crazed theories about the world.
But you would have thought that station management would have warned the old loon that it was off-limits to attempt to pound his anti-science, anti-reason, anti-academic agenda into the heads of children, and that it was distasteful, even immoral, to dress a global warming denier up as St. Nick and let him loose on a programme aimed at little children.
Apparently, however, anything goes at NewstalkZB. Absolutely anything….
LEIGHTON SMITH: Ummmm, ahhhh, ummmm…. Here’s a letter, Santa, and I’d ummmmm, aaaahhhh, really ahhhhhmmmm like to, ummmmm, hear what you have to ummmm, say. It says: “How is the state of the polar ice-cap, given that we are told so much about global warming?”
SANTA CLAUS: Oh there is no problem here in the North Pole! There’s PLENTY of ice! All this talk of global warming! What a lot of nonsense!
LEIGHTON SMITH: Thanks for clearing that up, Santa. You’re quite right, this global warming is a load of nonsense. Okay, ummmm, ahhhhh, on the ummmmm…. phone we have another child. Jessica, what do you want to ask Santa?
INTERESTING FACT:
One of NewstalkZB’s many mottoes is “Tune Your Mind.”
Morrissey Thanks for the reports from the front. How you can bear to listen to it beats me. You deserve a medal. Watch out that you listen extensively or you will suffer a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder – too much could blow your receptor valves.
And that bit about Tune Your Mind. Makes me think of the old large console radios that had a function of a green light that brightened as you turned the knob to the optimum station reception. Guess now we’ll have those transplanted in our young so we can receive the sacred murmurings of our old western gurus like Leighton Smith. China had Confucius, Greece had Socrates, we have LS.
Thanks for that, Mr. Nose. I sent an admonitory e-mail to the great broadcaster, but he did not deign to reply.
Luckily for aficionados of the unhinged rant, however, I have a few of his on-air comments and e-mails from some time back, relating to other topics. If you or anyone else is interested, I will give them another airing.
Just for a laugh.
The Alleged “Lump-of-Labor Fallacy”
So, the Lump of Labour Fallacy starts off as anti-worker PR and then gets picked up as gospel by the economists but never actually questioned. Sounds like almost everything in economics – stated as fact and yet reality differs and yet the economist fail to note the differences.
Another ‘FarCup’ by the big man with the big stick in chch, his appeal has been lost on the
re-zoning near the airport.
This story is on the TV3 web site.
Sorry can’t link.
Lies and hatred from a coward and a bully. 2 more months untill the Messiah returns
[lprent: Context free silly comment – moved to OpenMike. ]
Oops
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/8104255/Brownlee-changes-unlawful-Court-of-Appeal
Is this it VV
Berlin to buy back grid and go 100 percent renewable
Well, at least some governments are waking up to the lies of the neo-liberals. Unfortunately, our government happens to be the neo-liberals and they’re the source of the lies and the actions that doom us to increasing poverty.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
This could be put to Key by one of our esteemed regular interviewers of our PM, say like that radio station The Rock. Ffs.
And here is what Bill English is up to, no doubt hoping to slide this in ‘under the rader’ at this time of year.
Hidden deep in the Business section of Stuff today
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8101449/Possible-sale-of-three-SOE-power-companies
For this “… the market’s suggesting it might be possible…”
Read … the brokers and investment banks want to get in as quickly as possible.
For fucks sake that is like listening to real estate agent advice. They only aim for their fee.
The market, the market, the market is best,
So up with the market and down with the rest.
(Apologies to Flanders and Swan)
Treasury advise against the sale of all three power companies due to flat market and low return rate from the sale.
Hopefully the referendum will stall the sale and or polarise the electorate. Roll on 2014.
Possibly the most encouraging global-Left news all year.
Great stuff.
What do folks think of this one?
Road rage man seeks job back or $600,000
By Matthew Theunissen
Guy Hallwright was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard.
Former Forsyth Barr financial analyst Guy Hallwright is seeking his job back or about $600,000 in lost earnings after being dismissed following his conviction for running over a man with his car.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855219
________________________________________________________________________________
Wonder what the sentence had been if a patched gang member had done the same thing to Guy Hallwright?
Let’s change the scenario…….
‘Mongrel Mob member XXXXX – in a fit of ‘road rage’ – runs down senior Forsyth Barr analyst Guy Hallwright, and breaks both his legs.
Mr Hallwright has multiple operations since the 2010 incident.
Mongrel Mob member XXXXX is sentenced to 250 hours community work, disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay victim Guy Hallwright $20,000 reparation after a jury finds he unintentionally ran Hallwright down with his car in September 2010.”
Seems to be QUITE a different story/ sentence if you swap the patched jacket for a pin-striped suit ……?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Was this a first time offence for Guy Allright! Some leniency to suit guy please! /sarc
Facebook is so intensively tracking readers and commenters on this site, for profile details, with background scripts they use to do this. It is a real worry.
Like a WSJ article on 07 Dec. rightly reported, the internet is anything but free and anonymous anymore, and rather becoming a large grazing ground for information gathering for commercial profiling, advertising and so forth.
I just wonder how many here are aware of this.