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notices and features - Date published:
6:00 am, May 21st, 2021 - 43 comments
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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One of worlds most long standing, fearless and respected reporters and war correspondents gives his views on the West's treatment of both Palestine and China today, and concludes both are rooted in maintaining world hegemony and jingoism…
John Pilger: Campaign Against China & Palestine🇵🇸 Are One & The Same! 400 US Bases Surround China!
Good, the killing has been paused, for now …
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/443041/israel-and-hamas-agree-gaza-truce-after-egyptian-mediation
Good indeed. This horror has been applauded and supported by most of the political elite in the United States. Hearteningly, however, there is one senator with a conscience and the courage to actually give voice to that conscience.
Yes unlike this warmonger….just two days ago, the US Democrats vote to continue to arm a violent crazed apartheid state…
Biden administration approved $735 million arms sale to Israel
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/biden-administration-approved-735-million-arms-sale-israel-sources-2021-05-17/
It is incredible how this current regime in the White House seem to get a free pass on issues that they should be crticised for.
Biden speaking to the family and commenting on the George Flloyd trial before it had finished.
If the reasoning is 'not Trump' then principles have fallen to a dire level.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/125164867/coroner-finds-no-direct-link-between-epilepsy-drug-switch-and-deaths-of-six-people
The coroner relies on the medical person assigned to the case.
In this case I would expect that an overseas expert in epilepsy and lamotrigine be the medical person the coroner used.
I have not read the link.
As well the family have ACC to take on as now there is an issue with information which the GP or specialist may have overlooked when the lamotrigine was prescribed.
That would be a weight on the patient's family – expecting that the replacement drug was as good as the previous and working in the same way, they could likely have followed the same procedures as before. This is a responsibility laid on family that are caring for their relative but are ordinary people, perhaps already stretched and stressed with other matters but also is a problem for the GP trying to keep up with all the medications that flood the market, and the extra drug change that Pharmac which is doing its job, forces on them.
Was the pharmacist who dispensed the lamotrigine also responsible?
I would like to know what info was written on the prescriptions from the doctor and what was put on the prescription box?
Astra Zeneca is ok if you are not the person who developed a blood clot/s from it.
There's an in depth look at the Thornley's reasoning, the Auckland prof behind plan B, in Stuff.
The scientist and the rabbit hole: How epidemiologist Simon Thornley became an outcast of his profession | Stuff.co.nz
Not a prof.
Nor likely to be one – I'm afraid I've become used to the Korean system, which, being US descended, gives the title to all teaching staff with PhDs.
Des Gorman is a prof.
I'm surprised his name is even mentioned on this site. Did you miss his Pod-cast on the Government Covid-19 actions?
Karl du Fresne summarised it pretty well I thought when he covered the subject on his own Blog recently. To give you a feel for Gorman's opinions, and I would suggest they were well informed, he summarises the Government as stretching the truth a little. As du Fresne quotes Gorman
"Gorman accused the government of cultivating a culture of fear while simultaneously spinning the message that New Zealand was “best in show – the envy of the world” when in fact, countries such as Taiwan had “left us for dead”.
Most damningly, he reeled off a series of government claims that were contradicted by the facts. “‘All Russian crewmen have been tested’; no, they hadn’t. ‘They’ve all been in quarantine’; no, they hadn’t. ‘All the border workers have been tested’; no, they hadn’t. ‘No people are leaving quarantine early’; yes, they are. ‘There’s no mixing and mingling’ [in quarantine]; yes, there is. ‘There’s plenty of ’flu vaccine; no, there isn’t. ‘Nurses have plenty of PPE’ [personal protective equipment]’; no, they haven’t.".
du Fresne himself then gets even more direct
I suggest that people can get the short version from du Fresne and then, if they have an open mind, listen to the Pod cast that can be accessed from the Newstalk site.
http://karldufresne.blogspot.com/2021/04/best-in-show-really-des-gorman-on-new.html
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/podcasts/the-leighton-smith-podcast/leighton-smith-podcast-episode-105-april-7th-2021/
I am surprised the Gorman is still mentioned here.
Alwyn, according to the data at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ , over the past year (22 May 2020 to 21 May 2021) there have been five deaths in NZ attributed to COVID-19 infection, i.e. one death per million per year.
That compares to the (likely underestimated) global average of ~400 tragic deaths per million over the last year.
400 versus 1 – it's a shambles, an utter shambles I tell yah – why won't anyone listen to me?
'Well-informed'? An 'open mind'?
We are all too valuable to shovel garbage like that into, I assure you.
Sacha and DMK – I tell ya it gives a lift to the spirits to read your handling of the dig. comments (determinedly ignorant, ie those with such an open mind that facts hardly settle before they blow away,)
You’re quite right, as always, Alwyn. I shall correct this oversight and put the name of he who shall not be named in the Auto-Moderation list, underneath the name of the Christchurch Mosque shooter. We must keep this site pure! Thank you for drawing my attention to this important issue.
du Fresne is probably a trigger word too 🙂
Great article – thanks.
Academics often paint themselves into consequence-free (outlier) corners (it's a perk, and part of the process) – just wait for the paint to dry and walk away. Extreme outliers insist of applying fresh coats of paint. Perhaps Thornley feels he now has little left to lose by continuing to insist that his discredited 'pandemic response views' are correct.
the charts showing the plan B statements and the timeline of new cases were a pretty firm twist of the knife.
Looks like a hit job on a professional offering one of the few alternative viewpoints on covid. I thought science is supposed to embrace theories.. sadly in this environment we seem to have cultured some sort of science-y fascism.
Although there is considerable room for scepticism in the sciences, one must still account for the facts. As the data rolls in, the elimination response looks better and better, however incomplete the available data may have been when the decision had to be made. Swedish style herd immunity is proving a poor hill to die on.
Baker's a bit of a prima donna, but in march 2020 he said elimination in NZ was possible. And was shown correct.
As the stuff piece shows, Thornley has been demonstrably incorrect several times, and has not changed his position. That's the weird bit, for a scientist.
So, you don't know the difference between science and pseudo science.
As for the professional… best not to listen to outliers whose motivation is invariably ideological and bear little to no resemblance to reality. Bit like the CC deniers who think the escalating change in the world's climactic weather and temperatures is a political thing.
Sad…as the nuttiest outlier of them all, Trump would say.
Martin Bashir may not have only robbed William and Harry of their mother. In addition to the terminal damage he did to the most famous woman in the world, can we not now suspect he had a hand in prematurely ending the life of the king of pop?
George Michael? 🙂
Well that seems very racist to me.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/05/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-s-decision-to-only-give-interviews-to-poc-reporters-sparks-outrage.html
If she retained the policy throughout her term perhaps – but in relation to a halfway point as a first poc mayor it is by no means outrageous.
Turn it around the other way. Imagine if Jacinda and Grant said they would only interview one on one with white journalists?
Two differences
If:
Then "turning it around the other way" would be an equivalent comparison.
And if the MSM were historically useless at covering Pakeha politics.
"woosh" over Jimmy's head I imagine.
I can see why she wants to give journalists who are poc their opportunity when some journos want to be negative about something that will only affect them for a short time. Such as this opinion piece by a superior, outraged journo:
Steve Cortes of Newsmax tweeted: "Never mind the thousands of young black men dead in my city while Lori Lightfoot presides over systemic failure = she's facilitating 'healing' by discriminating against white reporters."
Exactly. One on one interviews are not a requirement of the job anyway – she might well have had to exclude a few in any case, they're time consuming. Lot of toxicity in the comments though – better to leave those folk, like Tova, towards the back of a large gallery.
Yep definitely racist alright, but I'm sure she only wants to talk to the reporters who ask the "patsy" questions. Not about Chicago being one of the most violent cities in USA.
McFlock is not expecting all that to be rectified I hope.
We have enough trouble keeping blokes from being blokes and acting nice. Newtalk ZB in NZME Auckland Newsroom:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443077/martin-devlin-keeps-job-after-trying-to-punch-radio-colleague
all what?
All on the list. To get an equivalent comparison,
nah, it was just a list of why the "turning it around the other way" ~ism test isn't always valid.
Nice to see Jimmy trying to get the hang of figuring out when something is racist and when it isn't, and calling it out, though. Totes woke, that bloke…
Yes. If we keep moving quietly we can get to a better place.
I wonder if we ought to be sending aid across the ditch?
There seem to be some endangered creatures in need of support, at least according to FDOTM.