This morning, I made the mistake of checking out Granny Herald on my cell phone, only to be greeted with the following headline from Duplicity (put up at 5am):
“It’s fair to compare Jacinda Adern to Donald Trump”.
She goes on to justify her argument because firstly the Wall Street Journal said so, and secondly because both wanted to radically reduce immigration.
The article seems to have disappeared as of 6am (who knows it might come back), but she should be embarrassed! Her superficiality and lack of any capacity for deeper analysis just screamed at me.
It’s a shame she didn’t recall the policy during the campaign – such as the third tranche that sought to encourage immigrants to regions where various skillsets were needed.
Or the bit after becoming government to increasing labour inspectors.
Actually NOTHING LIKE Donald Trump.
Perhaps she should also consider the pushback from ministry officials (stacked during her wonderful National government) who keep making absolute fuckups (such as the recent Mark Middleton debacle, inconsistent decisions – some obviously based on demographic profiling, the enabling of shitty tertiary education and scams, the lack of adequate oversight).
In some ways, it must be nice to be an absolute airhead – having to do a bit of research and work rather than just sailing along on one’s prejudices
Yes Barfly, she does write “click-bait”, so I don’t bother any more.
She is shallow jealous and vain when she writes about Jacinda, so I stopped reading. As OncewasTim says, “it must be nice to be such an airhead”,
Ministry officials are not stacked by National or indeed any other government.
New Zealand has an entirely politically neutral public service. It is one of its strengths, which is not to say officials get every decision right.
The only appointments by Ministers are to governance boards. They tend to be people who have either technical expertise or public service experience. Ex MP’s are often appointed for the latter reason.
But governance boards do not actually run organisations or in fact employ the people in the organisation.
Maybe duplicity is an avid reader of Joseph Goebbels.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
HDPA can claim Ardern is the NZ Trump when
secret recordings are found of her bragging about dick grabbing pretty young men;
when pretty young men come forward in numbers and accuse JA of sexual harrassment;
when Forbes claims JA is a billionaire only to find that judgment was based on mis-information from JA herself;
when JA annouces she’ll dismantle our public health system;
when JA takes to announcing policy on the hoof on twitter;
when JA appoints several members of her family to key government positions;
when our security services start investigating JA’s election funding from Russia;
when JA starts accusing No Bridges of misuse of his work cell phone and starts chanting “Lock him up!”;
when JA announces a policy for building a wall across the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea;
when JA announces we’ll attack Jamaica (nothing to do with them beating our netball team);
when JA declares Jerusalem the capital of Israel;
hires Steve Bannon;
decalres trans people unfit for military service;
pulls NZ out of international climate agreements;
…… etc, etc
Fair enough that’s your opinion, but many here are making out hdpa is claiming the Ardern has the same moral make up, world view and values as trump which she is clarly not Again like Richardson debate it is playing the person rather than debating point made, no one can deny labour played on immigration d
Fairs and stoked these fairs to their advantage In opposition and during election, wrongly or rightly
Labour immigration policy and campaigning was fuckall compared to trump’s “rapists and murderers” lines. No wall-building. Just an argument that the population was expanding faster than the infrastructure, and therefore population growth needed to be dialled back a bit.
Based on policy or personality, comparing lab/ardern with Trump is bullshit, and anyone who defends it has turned off their brain for the duration – or are, at the least, bewildered.
Why a beautiful red wine is like a rotting corpse.
Some comparisons, metaphors, or analogies just don’t work unless you want to send a subconscious or subliminal message that drags one down to the level of the other. This is not an episode of Myth Busters or The Biennale for Geeks and Nerds.
In case you wondered: both are the result of living microorganisms in action.
Sadly no headline from Granny that Jacinda dramatically wants to increase high wages and high waged jobs!
Or is it fair that the first generation that had to pay mortgage like student loan repayments compounding daily for years, now are paying taxes so that corporations many of them offshore based can pay lower and lower wages to their staff and the student loan generation pay tops ups (over 2 billion in WFF alone), as well as pay for both the infrastructure, housing and social costs for all the new people coming in to ‘pick apples’, ‘milk cows’ and “work in restaurants” or just be relatives of the aforementioned low skilled workers, or have a baby here – not that it is their fault, just another way for the government under the business spell of propping up poorly run business and sell more cornflakes and petrol and retirement village rip offs and luxury apartments with high body corporates.
For every low waged worker and their aged parents coming in (more people entering are not coming in on the skilled worker category) , there is probably one higher paid experienced professional leaving the country in search of fairer wages.
What do you think this country is going to be in another 5 years with that going on… we already have had decades of it, productivity down, social costs up, prisons full, our migrants having less skills than even 5 years ago, can’t build a house, can’t make tech work (at government/council level etc), asbestos trains, headline the other day someone putting their children to work as prostitutes…
Think your self-lucky…HDPA could have gone a little further and brought up how the Labour party attempted to identify non-NZers via their surname, and then tried to use that for political gain.
I could yes. Or could just see it as a hamfisted attempt to identify levels of foreign ownership because our civil service had been run down over nine years and keeping any usable stats could have identified the problems we’re facing now…whether in health or education or housing or you name it.
Maybe Natz deliberately made sure know one knew and the stats can’t come back to them how much they sold our country off and to whom…
As well as made it easy to hide people’s true identity and origin using trusts and corporations.
And of course making gift duty free (it used to be $27k and then you were taxed) so that you can easily just move those million dollar assets around, tax free in NZ.
Picking out of the submissions to the Act all the Chinese sounding names that are supporting the intent of the act because of the negative effects overseas capital is having on our housing market
I never look at the herald website but decided to yesterday. What a disaster zone I don’t know how any body actually reads it with fifty thousand ads everywhere and a confusing layout. The sooner it disappears into irrelevance behind a paywall the better.
I’m sure the Herald was better 25 years ago.
Great quote by Seeby Woodhouse on how awful NZME and Stuff have become on MediaWatch.
“I listen to podcasts, watch educational videos from the likes of Unfiltered, TED and Creative Live, read magazines like Wired, and use Twitter, mainly for news,” he replied.
No Stuff? Herald? RNZ? TVNZ?
“I don’t want to bag our entrants but I’ve been disappointed by the likes of the Herald and Stuff,” he told Mediawatch.
“I used to have them on my (phone) but … the last time I was on the Herald I saw a story about the Kardashians. Why is a New Zealand newspaper reporting some clickbait about the family? I think it’s adding to global mental retardation (having them) in the news,” he said.
“Both of them have become more involved with driving traffic and clicks. News organisations have fallen into that trap and charging advertisers for clicks-per-thousand views. I think the quality of Herald and Stuff has fallen dramatically,” he told Mediawatch.”
I think maybe I did.
Two people in particular who seem (to put it diplomatically) accident prone, as they were in a previous life.
Of course @ Wayne hasn’t yet managed to set himself loose from a 50’s and 60’s notion of an impartial public service.
It may exist amongst the peons and middle management, but sure as shit stacking the deck at senior level is alive and thriving – to the extent that a few are desperately trying to push back – not yet having to come to terms with the fact that there’s a new show in town. (And I don’t mean that tribute to The Muppets)
(Wayne’s gone – in fact he always was ‘gone’ – but so too are Messrs Choice and Coleman).
It’ll be interesting to see just how big some Ministers balls are in what is becoming a bloke’s pissing competition – especially when some of the the ‘stacked deck’ have proven themselves to be as thick as two short planks that are four times as wide.
Perhaps they’ve forgotten they don’t actually have a very pretty record.
The Andarko Amendment is the law passed by the last National government that made it illegal to protest against deep sea oil drilling ships.
The Andarko Amendment is an affront to democracy.
Greenpeace Director Russel Norman has called this law “Repugnant”.
If a law like the Andarko Amendment had been brought in to make it illegal to protest against Springbok games in 198,1 tens of thousands of New Zealanders would have been detained and put on trial.
do not need to become more dependent on fossil fuels while the world is trying to become less so; and anyway, investing in gas projects would draw scare resources such as capital, materials and construction workers away from projects that are more advantageous economically and environmentally.
Instead, we can help ourselves and help the world by playing to our comparative advantages in agriculture and renewable energy.
I imagine that we will have the Green Party coming out in favour of seabed mining in the area around New Zealand shortly.
They claim to be in favour of renewable energy and electric vehicles. That is going to require lots of the rare earths to produce the equipment. At present we would have to get these from China and the security of supply is very uncertain.
Will James Shaw insist that we should develop industries to recover these from the seabed? A sample story on the subject is in the ODT. https://www.odt.co.nz/business/chatham-probes-rare-earth-mineral-recovery
Probably not of course. There are Hector’s dolphins only about 1,000 km away.
Really?
Do you mean there aren’t any Hector’s dolphins?
Or that rare earths aren’t required for most renewable energy technology?
Or that Shaw doesn’t even understand the requirement for such things?
Or this comment of yours is just as foolish as usual?
Sorry, I had to come down to your level. It is the height of folly to continue damaging the environment, and your selective arguments supporting seabed mining are an example of that folly. Shaw knows what he is doing far better than you.
Our actions for the British at the end of WW I … had us violently suppressing a independence movement … among the whippings and some civilian massacres …. NZ soldiers were still serving and taking casualties …. WWI ended in 1919 for a couple of NZ regiments …
1914 -1918 leaves out the bad role we undertook against the nations and people of Egypt and Palestine
“Episodes like the Egyptian revolt suggest that a squalid imperial reality underlay the noble rhetoric, which is why it has been relegated to obscurity. ”
Peter Hitchens asks a very important question.
One that often a point of contention between posters on this site?
Why are left-wing media, which once opposed war, now cheerleaders for righteous intervention?
Remember, this is the Guardian, a newspaper which for decades was the house journal of ban-the-bombers and protestors against the Suez adventure and the Vietnam war, with very high proportions of Quakers, moth-eaten liberals and vegans among its readers. Yet now it has become a trumpet for armed intervention. Under the pious slogan ‘Comment is free…but facts are sacred’ first stated by its greatest editor C.P.Scott, the paper’s opinion column declares (again without the slightest qualification): ‘Syria’s renewed use of chemical weapons against its own people at the weekend is shameless and barbaric. Dozens of people in the remaining rebel-held suburbs of Damascus were suffocated by Saturday’s chemical attack on the Douma district. This is not the first time this has happened. Since the use of sarin at Khan al-Assal in 2013 there have been dozens of chemical attacks by the regime. These deliberate attacks on civilians show callous contempt for humanity and disregard for the laws of war. Official Syrian claims that the latest killings have been fabricated are beneath contempt.’
But if facts are sacred, how can the Guardian be so sure, given that it is relying on a report from one correspondent 70 miles away, and another one 900 miles away, however good they are at their jobs, and some anonymous quotes from people whose stories it has no way of checking?”
I believe Jacinda Ardern and Jeremy Corbyn have met. But I can’t find anything in msm (hardly surprising) about it. Tried Google, but only a message that Corbyn was going to host Jacinda at a meeting.
Anyone out there got any info about this particular meeting please?
Thanks Koff @ (9.1) … you’d think NZ’s PM meeting with the leader of another nation’s same political party would garner at least a couple of paragraphs.
However, not so in our msm! Might generate some interest!
MOSCOW
Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the U.S. sought out and respected Moscow’s positions in Syria when it launched its air strikes last week.
America has bombed Syria
Syria has bombed Syria
Russia has bombed Syria
Israel has bombed Syria
Turkey has bombed Syria
What all those bombing Syria can not tolerate is a free revolutionary Syria.
This all is all reminiscent to me, of the war of intervention in Russia, 1918 to 1920. Russia was invaded by 16 countries including America and England and Germany. Even though at the beginning Germany and America/England were still technically at war with each other. It has been argued that this brutal outside intervention, (which also saw the use of gas weapons against the revolutionaries), and the death and loss of many of the of the most popular and progressive of the Bolshevik revolutionary forces, was what opened the door to turn the Soviet Union into the oppressive Stalinist tyranny that it became.
Did that mean that Leftists and progressives around the world should not have supported the Russian Revolution?
As Marx said of the Paris Commune, (also bloodily suppressed and put down), “They stormed heaven”.
The Arab Spring also stormed heaven, even in the cannons mouth, that the Arab Spring has been tragically subverted and put down and suppressed and even reversed, does not mean that it was not a valid attempt to liberate the oppressed people’s of the Middle East, suffering under the twin yoke of foreign imperialism and local tyranny, just as the Palestinians are doing right now.
We should support and celebrate these liberation movements. At the very least these attempts by the people of the Middle East to free themselves deserve not to be derided and condemned or mocked.
Mary_a I have just been chatting with a friend from NP on the phone. she said the meeting was held in a private home and it went off like a rocket, they got on very well indeed – maybe the TV news tonight may show it but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I have no idea where she read or heard it so can’t link.
At the risk of being labeled a head chopper again;
I can’t help wondering, are those who attack America for bombing the Syrian regime’s installations, (even when it is OK with the Russians), and not one single Syrian soldier or civilian was killed. Are they the same people who supported America bombing Isis where thousands were killed?
The big difference being that the US did not telegraph their punches with Isis, as they have done with the Assad regime, no pre-warning to prevent civilian casualties.
Compare this to the 100 Syrian civilians killed by the US air strikes on Raqqa
At least 100 civilians have been killed over the past 48 hours by US-led air attacks targeting fighters in Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Syria.
Residents told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that at least 100 civilians had been killed since Sunday, with 55 civilians killed in the eastern neighbourhoods of Bedou and al-Sukhani on Monday.
Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) put Monday’s death toll at 42, including 19 children and 12 women, and said 27 were killed on Sunday – a two-day total of 69 people.
The deaths came on the second consecutive day of a ferocious bombing campaign in Raqqa, more than half of which has been captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) battling ISIL.
“The tolls are high because the air strikes are hitting neighbourhoods in the city centre that are densely packed with civilians,” SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency.
“There are buildings full of civilians that are trying to get away from the front lines.
“Why Are Some on the Left Falling for Fake News on Syria?”
Because some readers will instantly jump to the conclusion that my criticism of Assad and Putin’s brutal war on Syrians must imply that I am in favor of the U.S. bombing Syria, let’s put it on the record that, no, I am not in favor, nor have ever been in favor of the U.S. bombing any country for any reason. Bombs, especially those coming from the U.S., are never launched with the well-being of ordinary people in mind. They are launched for reasons that have more to do with geostrategic and/or financial interests. The U.S. was wrong to have been bombing Syria in order to oust Islamic State, and it is wrong to bomb Syria in order to attack Assad.
The pro-Assad lobby has already seized upon Robert Fisk’s exclusive about his “search for truth” in the rubble of Douma. In particular, they are emphasising his interview with a doctor who expresses doubts over the chemical attack and says that it was more likely a case of oxygen starvation caused by heavy shelling on a night of high winds which stirred up a dust storm. Fisk “found” the English-speaking Dr Assim Rahaibani after he shook off his government minders when he walked through the rubble strewn alleys of Douma.
While I have nothing but admiration for Fisk — a man who inspired me as a cub reporter with his harrowing eyewitness despatches from the Middle East; in particular his reports after the Sabra and Shatila massacres of 1982 — not even the great investigative journalist that he is could reach a definitive conclusion. During his day trip to Douma he noted that it had been cleared of rebels and White Helmet volunteers who had all chosen to be escorted out of town to Idlib, which is possibly fated to become the site of the rebels’ last stand.
Oh, I don’t know how much he knows.
But his comments about novichok and instant death were a bit of a laugh, especially as he said porton down couldn’t identify it, and then when the OPCW said it was what the brits said he ignored his previous statements and just went off about how it being novichok proves nuffin about whodunnit.
I think the link has links from you or me for all the various elements of that statement.
Where did he say novichok caused instant death McFlock?
That claim isn’t made by Murray in any part of the quoted text you link to.
And did Porton Down identify Russia as the source of the chemical agent, and was that (the source) what Murray was commenting on, given that May and others had stated there was no other possible source?
Also, did Porton Down identify a specific chemical or a chemical type? And was that not what Murray was commenting on?
The exact term he used was “instant acting”. Either way it’s bullshit. And as I said “the link has links from you or me [ed] for all the various elements of that statement.”
And did Porton Down identify Russia as the source of the chemical agent, and was that (the source) what Murray was commenting on
Actually, fair call on that. My porton down comment was wrong.
But “instant death” was reasonable when he wrote about “instant acting” and “lethality” to argue that a three hour delay is inconsistent with a nerve agent was blatantly wrong.
Or as he put it in one of the links as quoted by Tony Veitch:
But if it was on the doorknob, the last contact they could possibly have had with the nerve agent was a full three hours before it took effect. Not only that, they were well enough to drive, to walk around a shopping centre, visit a pub, and then – and this is the truly unbelievable bit – their central nervous systems felt in such good fettle, and their digestive systems so in balance, they were able to sit down and eat a full restaurant meal. Only after all that were they – both at precisely the same time despite their substantially different weights – suddenly struck down by the nerve agent, which went from no effects at all, to deadly, on an alarm clock basis.
This narrative simply is not remotely credible….
I’ve yet to see Ed or whomever cut&paste murray’s retraction for that bullshit.
Can you explain why you think questioning this idea that two people who were contaminated by a highly toxic and effective chemical agent (by all accounts) at the same time, suffered the effects at the same time, but not until some hours later (like an alarm clock as Murray says) is bullshit?
How would you explain two people with quite obvious physiological differences reacting to some substance simultaneously long after the substance has been introduced to their bodies?
Maybe you can refer me to any other substance that seemingly works independently of a persons physiology, but only after quite some time has passed?
So I’d say that it’s bullshit because it doesn’t exclude the possibility of a nerve agent to being not “remotely credible”.
I’d say it’s bullshit because “instant acting” relies on injection or inhalation in order to get any toxin circulating in the bloodstream and being distributed around the body in that period of time.
I’d say it’s bullshit because it assumes that two people found affected by a chemical at the same time were affected at the precisely the same time, rather than one being overcome first and the other being merely disoriented for a short period before also being overcome.
I’d say it’s bullshit because if the official claim is skin contact, then the main physiological difference to consider in effect delay is transport of the substance through the skin and into the bloodstream, rather than body type or gender or some other broader physiological difference.
I’d say it’s bullshit because “instant acting” in the middle of town with people responding soon enough to clear a blocked airway requires other people to be in very close proximity of a substance that would still be in the air, and yet remain unaffected.
But mostly I’d say it’s bullshit because Murray either now accepts it was a nerve agent but hasn’t retracted his “remotely credible” line, or he still believes it wasn’t novichok but is disingenuosly arguing that the weapon doesn’t imply the perpetrator.
I can’t quite grasp what you’re saying in the first two paras, but never mind.
I’m no doctor either, but from my experiences in a past life, toxic substances that have long “lead” times don’t hit people at the same time if everyone ingested at the same time.
I’m thinking it’s a bit of a stretch for you to suggest that one went unconscious and the other was too disorientated to react but orientated enough to sit on down right beside them. Or alternatively, that after one had become disorientated, that the other didn’t react before they too had passed from normal to disorientated to unconscious . (By seeking some assistance in both cases)
I can’t follow your second to last para either.
Questioning how some strange process of toxicity manages to slam dunk two people at the same time after a long “lead” time hasn’t really got anything to do with nerve agent/not nerve agent. And I don’t believe Murray confuses those separate issues.
And he’s been consistent in saying that many countries would have an interest in “embarrassing” the Russian Federation (eg – a shopping list of ME actors in Syria), and that many countries and non-state actors have the capability to produce or acquire novichoks, if they were used, while also not ruling out the Russian Federation as the culprit.
Well, ingestion isn’t the same as skin contact, is it. Nicotine patches are pretty universal.
As for disorientation in a small group, an analogy is working in confined spaces with fumes, where progressive disorientation isn’t always obvious to other people. Or I had a friend relaying some of the instructor’s cautionary tales of hypoxia when training for his pilot’s license. Or the difficulty in identifying hypothermia in others when you might be in the same boat.
And yes, I’m sure he’s come up with no end of technically-possible but generally pointless reasons other nations might have had to “emabarrass” Putin by sneakily killing putin’s enemies in a way to intimidate future possible assets. Because, as we all know, the Russians are totally embarrassed by this event. Mortified, even. Lol.
Oh, my second to last paragraph:
First responders cleared an airway.
That requires the first responders to have been on the scene within a few minutes of the initial exposure to this “instant acting” nerve agent, otherwise the person with the blocked airway would be dead.
The only responders exposed (if any of the cops had been first responders) had been to his house, although all were tested.
Murray’s bullshit “slam dunk” (if you will): if a nerve agent is “instant acting” as he said, it can’t have a three hour lag. So why were the only people to get sick ones who had been in Skripal’s house?
More of the utter bullshit from Murray, first question “Who do you think did it?” Response “Well we don’t know…” He didn’t go full Theresa so he must be mad…
Simply that Murray, unlike Fisk, doesn’t seem to admit when he gets things wrong (Fisk making a prediction about Turkey going into Arfin, Murray claiming categorically that the chemical couldn’t have been novichok). Murray just continued on to the next Russian defense line.
edit: tell a lie, I said he was a nutbar. It’s not actually a clinical term, though
Sorry to interrupt: I know you’re very busy right now trying to convince yourselves, and the rest of us, that your hero couldn’t possibly have used chemical weapons to kill up to 70 people in rebel-held Douma on April 7. Maybe Robert Fisk’s mysterious doctor has it right — and maybe the hundreds of survivors and eyewitnesses to the attack are all “crisis actors.”
Maybe Assad didn’t use sarin to kill around 100 people in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun a year ago either. A joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found “unmistakable evidence” that he did. Human Rights Watch and Hans Blix also agree that Assad was probably to blame. But maybe they’re all wrong. Or, maybe they’re paid shills for the CIA…..
…..Now, I totally understand why those of you on the MAGA-supporting far right who cheer for barrel bombs don’t give a damn about any of this. But to those of you on the anti-war far left who have a soft spot for the dictator in Damascus: Have you lost your minds? Or have you no shame?
In reply Stephen Gowans writes “If it wasn’t already clear, The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan, wants us to know he’s a beautiful soul. In an April 19 diatribe against “Bashar al Assad apologists,” Hasan professes his distaste for war crimes, torture, and dictatorship, no matter the source, but devotes particular attention to the violence and restrictions on political and civil liberties attributable to the Syrian president. Assad, Hasan concludes, “is a war criminal even if he didn’t gas civilians,” and leftists should stop defending him. The journalist, who also works for the Qatari monarchy’s mouthpiece Al Jazeera, then proceeds to recite a litany of charges against Assad, some undeniable, some unproved or unprovable. One gets the impression that he’s peeved that the latest chemical weapons allegations against the Syrian government, ridiculously thin to begin with, and now largely demolished by Robert Fisk’s reporting, have failed to stick. ”
I just checked the link. McFlock is right. In his words I “f-d up the link”.
Believe me or not, up to you, but this was an honest formatting mistake on my part. Make a big thing of it, as you like. I definitely was not trying to claim Mehdi Hasan’s words as my own.
You keep saying the people who have murdered Christians and other minorities in Syria are liberation fighters Jenny. I can only understand that If you think liberation through murder is a thing.
As for labeling anyone who rejects groups like the white helmets and their liberation fighters friends, as supports of Assard is just really dishonest way to argue.
Adam. You should at least try and provide some links or proofs to back up your allegations, so we can judge their worth.
Those who reject groups like the white helmets, and who actively slander and abuse these rescuers, whether they are conscious of it or not, are Assad supporters.
That you haven’t even got the courage to admit to it, and are trying to distance yourself from the Assad regime, tells me that you do have some sense of shame.
he Syrian volunteer rescue workers known as the White Helmets have become the target of an extraordinary disinformation campaign that positions them as an al-Qaida-linked terrorist organisation.
The Guardian has uncovered how this counter-narrative is propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists and trolls with the support of the Russian government (which provides military support to the Syrian regime).
The White Helmets, officially known as the Syria Civil Defence, is a humanitarian organisation made up of 3,400 volunteers – former teachers, engineers, tailors and firefighters – who rush to pull people from the rubble when bombs rain down on Syrian civilians. They’ve been credited with saving thousands of civilians during the country’s continuing civil war.
They have also exposed, through first-hand video footage, war crimes including a chemical attack in April. Their work was the subject of an Oscar-winning Netflix documentary and the recipient of two Nobel peace prize nominations.
Despite this positive international recognition, there’s a counter-narrative pushed by a vocal network of individuals who write for alternative news sites countering the “MSM agenda”. Their views align with the positions of Syria and Russia and attract an enormous online audience, amplified by high-profile alt-right personalities, appearances on Russian state TV and an army of Twitter bots.
So you saying Jaysh al-Islam were not in East Ghouta? Nor had it as a base of power? Are you saying that Al-Nusra Front were also not in East Ghouta? That there was no Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta which included the free Syrian army?
Do you know who is on the so called rebels side? Do you understand the factions?
Oh God I could troll through all the abusive and sly comments accusing me of being a supporter of terrorism to find the exact quote. But this is not what this is about is it Bill?
The same with the petty nit picking accusing me of plagiarism.
The fact is Bill your support for the Assad regime is indefensible and shameful. And you will look for the little slightest excuse to remove anyone who challenges your position, which you know you cannot defend honestly.
Well, if nobody’s going to fucking google it themselves, I will.
Closest I get is that Adam, in a clear reduction to absurdity, flipped around one of jenny’s comments to write:
“Jenny and all the other apologist for the head choppers, whether unwitting or conscious, you need to hang your head in shame.”
Brigid seemed to think Adam was being serious, and said it was “so true“. And called one side “head choppers” and the other side “the Syrian Government”, when Adam’s point was that by this stage of the war pretty much all sides (more than two) are as pure as muck.
“Established in Turkey and trained by an ex British military mercenary, a “private security” expert, James Le Mesurier….. with multi-million-US, NATO & Gulf state, funded war protagonist money ” ….
Their lack of affiliation with anyone credible ….and their embedding with Al Quada Jihad extremists … makes them dodgy as
“* The name “Syria Civil Defence” was stolen from the legitimate Syrian organization of the same name. The authentic Syria Civil Defence was founded in 1953 and is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization (1958).
* The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance.
* The NATO White Helmets are primarily a media campaign to support the ‘regime change’ goals of the USA and allies. After being founded by security contractor James LeMesurier, the group was “branded” as the White Helmets in 2014 by a marketing company
Do you have any links to nobel and compelling pro-war speeches from Blair / Cameron for me to read about … ?.
You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
Thats an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.
If you want to see some fake pro-war lies …. from the same people funding and spreading white helmet propaganda / lies ….This trip down memory lane …. and the throwing babies out of incubators ( false ) outrage …. is a forerunner of the more refined WHelmitz stuff
“You don’t know the truth”, smiling idiot shouts down Syrian refugees in Auckland, alongside neo nazi wannabees draped in Russian flags and wearing ‘Make America Great’ again caps.
I would suggest to you Reason, that you need to go and actually converse with some Syrian refugees, instead of being like the smiling idiot in this video, shouting Syrian voices down, while standing with fascists.
Here you are reason, someone, unlike you, who actually went and talked with Syrian refugees fleeing Assad’s fascist tyranny. (not to mention also fleeing America’s home grown variety, you know the ones, your new friends).
Even more than that, Jake Halpern went further and took the time and trouble to document their story in a format that even you reason might be able to comprehend.
Two brothers, Jamil and Ammar, fled Syria in 2012, with their wives and children. After four years waiting in Jordan, they finally received a visa and traveled to the United States as refugees. They arrived on Nov. 8, 2016, which happened to be Election Day. It was, of course, a loaded moment. In effect, the brothers and their families landed in one country and woke up the next morning in another.
Since then, I have been reporting their stories and creating a “true comic” about their lives in America. I went to their mosques, schools and job-training programs. I was also there when Ammar’s family received a frightening death threat, which ultimately forced them to flee their town. Today the illustrator, Michael Sloan, and I bring you the final installment in their story. — Jake Halpern
What proof do you have that my sources quoted work for propaganda ministries anywhere ?
reason
I invite anyone with any computer skills to critique the evidence contained below.
Any takers?
How about you, lprent?
“The research that shows the link”
The Guardian spoke to several researchers studying the spread of disinformation and propaganda online who have found evidence of a targeted Russian influence campaign against the White Helmets.
Fil Menczer, a computer science professor at Indiana University, has developed a tool called Hoaxy to chart the spread of misinformation online. Searching for “White Helmets” reveals a handful of sources generated hundreds of stories about the organisation. “It’s like a factory,” he said.
The same handful of people are quoted as “experts” in articles that are repackaged and interlinked to create a body of content whose conspiracy claims gain a semblance of legitimacy.
The analytics firm Graphika has spent years analysing a range of Russian disinformation campaigns including those around the Macron leaks and the Russian doping scandal. In research commissioned by the human rights group the Syria Campaign, it found that the patterns in the online network of the 14,000 Twitter users talking about the White Helmets looked “very similar” and included many known pro-Kremlin troll accounts, some of which were closed down as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the US election. Other accounts appeared to generate more than 150 tweets per day (more than 70 is seen by scholars studying bots as suspicious).
You couldn’t get a better example; Two talking heads in a studio devoid of any factual evidence, without ever addressing the genocide being committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people, say why they think Syria is like Iraq, like Libya, like, Vietnam even.
” You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
That;s an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.”
***********************&**************
Here’s where Jenny is actually coming from …
” February 1982, when the Muslim Brothers seized control of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city. Hama was the epicenter of Sunni fundamentalism in Syria, and a major base of operations for the jihadist fighters. Galvanized by a false report that Assad had been overthrown, Muslim Brothers went on a gleeful blood-soaked rampage throughout the city, ” … ” In some cases, victims were decapitated [49] a practice which would be resurrected decades later by Islamic State fighters. Every Ba’athist official in Hama was murdered. [50] ”
“Washington had conspired to purge Arab nationalist influence from Syria as early as the mid-1950s, when Kermit Roosevelt, who engineered the overthrow of Iran’s prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh for nationalizing his country’s oil industry, plotted with British intelligence to stir up the Muslim Brothers to overthrow…..”
“Washington funnelled arms to Brotherhood mujahedeen in the 1980s to wage urban guerrilla warfare against Hafez al-Assad, who hardliners in Washington called an “Arab communist.” etc etc
\
Here’s a ‘what about’, just for you Jenny …Did / have you ever posted about the genocidal sanctions imposed on Iraq / Syria over the last couple of decades ? …. or the present mass starvation as a war crime in Yemen ? …. 14 minute mark in the below video
Nah, I’m going to assert that because the commenter known as reason supports Bashar Al Assad, a murderous thug supported by white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis, the commenter reason is indeed, a friend of white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis.
Joe90… ” I’m going to assert that because the commenter known as reason supports Bashar Al Assad, a murderous thug supported by white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis, the commenter reason is indeed, a friend of white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis.”
dear oh dear ……. covering yourself in glory now Joe
This is the elephant in Joe90s eye ….
” You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
That;s an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.”
I’m against fascists of all stripes … including ones Britian helps … like their proxy fighters in Syria
Brexit solutions, at least in relation to the British public.
Ref#1: Are the British people happy with the current course of Brexit negotiations or do they want their elected majority govt. to further present them questions for public veto to negotiation issues
Ref#2 if asked for. The public are given a few questions of veto for direction on the relatively stickiest issues with the Brexit negotiations.
The UK should have a new referendum based on the Cambridge Analytics scandal as to whether there was interference and BREXIT went over the campaign amount. Also a significant amount of people did not vote and so it was clear what sort of mandate there was for BREXIT.
Having a referendum to change the result of a prior one without the prior one having taken effect is a VERY different proposition to referendum(s) on ‘how’ to proceed with aspects of a prior referendum.
The other points seem fairly obvious to the contrary, all be it in a more talk talk talk talk area that is not of obligatory interest to me related to the initial post.
Can someone please make a blank post called ‘Syria’ tomorrow and deposit all the blather about that topic in it. Repetitive, scrappy and dominating every day here.
Good morning Newshub I agree with you Australia is not treating US Kiwis fairly .
It is to old-aged primitive behavior the big brother takes all the lollies one day Humans will be able to override this behavior and treat everything fairly.
Duncan you have a new news reader M J hello.
I say there should be a return to glass and plastic bottles it will clean up the enviroment and provide pocket money for some.
Mark S yes I would pay more tax to keep OUR Beautiful country running and humming.
But you have missed one point we need to get companies to pay more tax we pay our fair share the wage earners .Ka kite ano P.S Mark yes our children learn off our behaviour and we should leave the reffs alone to reff Duncan south examination is good and admitting to ones flaws is Ka pai
Newshub Paddy that was a excerlint story on block chain Cryptocurrency is the future if that new system would be safe now but what happens when Quantum computing becomes a reality nothing online is safe then .
As for doctor Goggle what does one do when the sandflys are spewing lies to ones doctor and your are brown well I don’t get very good service from the doctor I still have a problem that I was not satisfied with the doctors here some pain killers by.
I also noticed they leave the door open when I am being checked by the doctor now I wonder why.
AB Coach A giving some hints of his team I wounder why he did that ada ???????.
Ingrid Its cold in Rotorua at the minute Ka kite ano P.S you know who I am watching next
The Crowd Goes Wild good evening Mulls and James Mulls you remember the correction I gave you and the Rock guys algood bro .
You got it James its all about the culture a good fair culture is a winning Formula
Those bass and blue nose that Clark is pulling up are small compeared to the ones Eco Maori has seen blue nose makes the best sashimi raw fish and is tasty on a BBQ you guys give me a sore face .Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori admires sea birds Billara i thinks is the Name for sea hawke
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
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In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
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A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
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It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
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Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
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This morning, I made the mistake of checking out Granny Herald on my cell phone, only to be greeted with the following headline from Duplicity (put up at 5am):
“It’s fair to compare Jacinda Adern to Donald Trump”.
She goes on to justify her argument because firstly the Wall Street Journal said so, and secondly because both wanted to radically reduce immigration.
The article seems to have disappeared as of 6am (who knows it might come back), but she should be embarrassed! Her superficiality and lack of any capacity for deeper analysis just screamed at me.
It’s a shame she didn’t recall the policy during the campaign – such as the third tranche that sought to encourage immigrants to regions where various skillsets were needed.
Or the bit after becoming government to increasing labour inspectors.
Actually NOTHING LIKE Donald Trump.
Perhaps she should also consider the pushback from ministry officials (stacked during her wonderful National government) who keep making absolute fuckups (such as the recent Mark Middleton debacle, inconsistent decisions – some obviously based on demographic profiling, the enabling of shitty tertiary education and scams, the lack of adequate oversight).
In some ways, it must be nice to be an absolute airhead – having to do a bit of research and work rather than just sailing along on one’s prejudices
It’s still there and HDPA has truly jumped the shark on this – mind you I imagine it’s a clickbait win.
Yes Barfly, she does write “click-bait”, so I don’t bother any more.
She is shallow jealous and vain when she writes about Jacinda, so I stopped reading. As OncewasTim says, “it must be nice to be such an airhead”,
Ministry officials are not stacked by National or indeed any other government.
New Zealand has an entirely politically neutral public service. It is one of its strengths, which is not to say officials get every decision right.
The only appointments by Ministers are to governance boards. They tend to be people who have either technical expertise or public service experience. Ex MP’s are often appointed for the latter reason.
But governance boards do not actually run organisations or in fact employ the people in the organisation.
Yeah? So CERA and Southern Response were stacked with screaming incompetents rather than slavering corrupt party minions? Truth is they were both.
Ok then @Wayne….by the previous CEO who in turn…..
“governance boards do not actually run organisations or in fact employ the people in the organisation.”
They only set strategic direction and monitor performance – but who needs that, right.
Clearly judging by NZ going down the toilet in many organisations and businesses, we need better governance boards.
As well as better executive boards.
Surely click-bait, but also related to the age-old ploy that if you wish to spread a false conception make sure the ‘lie’ is blatant and outrageous.
Maybe duplicity is an avid reader of Joseph Goebbels.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Big lies … Iraq
Libya
Afghanistan
Syria
usa airstrikes …. now NATO member Turkey … bombing the ruins
HDPA can claim Ardern is the NZ Trump when
secret recordings are found of her bragging about dick grabbing pretty young men;
when pretty young men come forward in numbers and accuse JA of sexual harrassment;
when Forbes claims JA is a billionaire only to find that judgment was based on mis-information from JA herself;
when JA annouces she’ll dismantle our public health system;
when JA takes to announcing policy on the hoof on twitter;
when JA appoints several members of her family to key government positions;
when our security services start investigating JA’s election funding from Russia;
when JA starts accusing No Bridges of misuse of his work cell phone and starts chanting “Lock him up!”;
when JA announces a policy for building a wall across the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea;
when JA announces we’ll attack Jamaica (nothing to do with them beating our netball team);
when JA declares Jerusalem the capital of Israel;
hires Steve Bannon;
decalres trans people unfit for military service;
pulls NZ out of international climate agreements;
…… etc, etc
Well said, Carolyn – now repost it on the dedicated post by mickeysavage.
I do believe anyone who reads that piece will actually be more stupid for the experience.
Fact free balderdash by a blathering idiot, it wouldn’t make it past the editor of a community newspaper but it appears good enough for the Herald.
Please please please Shayne Currie, put up your firewall so we can see exactly what people think such “quality” opinions are worth!
To be fair hdpa was only claiming policies are like trump not Ardern her self
To be fair Ardern’s policies do not resemble Trump’s.
To be fair duplicity is a bad writer at best, a liar at worst.
Fair enough that’s your opinion, but many here are making out hdpa is claiming the Ardern has the same moral make up, world view and values as trump which she is clarly not Again like Richardson debate it is playing the person rather than debating point made, no one can deny labour played on immigration d
Fairs and stoked these fairs to their advantage In opposition and during election, wrongly or rightly
I can.
Labour immigration policy and campaigning was fuckall compared to trump’s “rapists and murderers” lines. No wall-building. Just an argument that the population was expanding faster than the infrastructure, and therefore population growth needed to be dialled back a bit.
Based on policy or personality, comparing lab/ardern with Trump is bullshit, and anyone who defends it has turned off their brain for the duration – or are, at the least, bewildered.
Exactly. Bewildered seems to give the benefit of the doubt to people who spout the status quo and sublimjnally pine for the 1950s. To be fair.
Why a beautiful red wine is like a rotting corpse.
Some comparisons, metaphors, or analogies just don’t work unless you want to send a subconscious or subliminal message that drags one down to the level of the other. This is not an episode of Myth Busters or The Biennale for Geeks and Nerds.
In case you wondered: both are the result of living microorganisms in action.
I wonder why HDPA didnt say Labour’s policies are like President Trumps if it is about the mesage not “playing the man”.
Your concern to be fair to them is almost torturous. You know, to be fair, your concern is almost naive.
Sadly no headline from Granny that Jacinda dramatically wants to increase high wages and high waged jobs!
Or is it fair that the first generation that had to pay mortgage like student loan repayments compounding daily for years, now are paying taxes so that corporations many of them offshore based can pay lower and lower wages to their staff and the student loan generation pay tops ups (over 2 billion in WFF alone), as well as pay for both the infrastructure, housing and social costs for all the new people coming in to ‘pick apples’, ‘milk cows’ and “work in restaurants” or just be relatives of the aforementioned low skilled workers, or have a baby here – not that it is their fault, just another way for the government under the business spell of propping up poorly run business and sell more cornflakes and petrol and retirement village rip offs and luxury apartments with high body corporates.
For every low waged worker and their aged parents coming in (more people entering are not coming in on the skilled worker category) , there is probably one higher paid experienced professional leaving the country in search of fairer wages.
What do you think this country is going to be in another 5 years with that going on… we already have had decades of it, productivity down, social costs up, prisons full, our migrants having less skills than even 5 years ago, can’t build a house, can’t make tech work (at government/council level etc), asbestos trains, headline the other day someone putting their children to work as prostitutes…
You don’t have to tell me @savenz. Not a good siuation for NZ or the immigrant.
The race to the 3rd World
Think your self-lucky…HDPA could have gone a little further and brought up how the Labour party attempted to identify non-NZers via their surname, and then tried to use that for political gain.
I could yes. Or could just see it as a hamfisted attempt to identify levels of foreign ownership because our civil service had been run down over nine years and keeping any usable stats could have identified the problems we’re facing now…whether in health or education or housing or you name it.
Maybe Natz deliberately made sure know one knew and the stats can’t come back to them how much they sold our country off and to whom…
As well as made it easy to hide people’s true identity and origin using trusts and corporations.
And of course making gift duty free (it used to be $27k and then you were taxed) so that you can easily just move those million dollar assets around, tax free in NZ.
Personally, I blame Jacinda Ardern for Rogernomics. And for the death of my guppy when I was 9.
You mean like Rob Stock did in this article on Stuff today, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/103301517/submissions-on-foreign-homebuyer-ban-flood-in-from-concerned-residents
Picking out of the submissions to the Act all the Chinese sounding names that are supporting the intent of the act because of the negative effects overseas capital is having on our housing market
I’ve taken the step of removing that particular RW publication from my favourites bar. Call it a boycott. You can do it too!
I never look at the herald website but decided to yesterday. What a disaster zone I don’t know how any body actually reads it with fifty thousand ads everywhere and a confusing layout. The sooner it disappears into irrelevance behind a paywall the better.
The New Zealand Herald is just like Donald Trump
They both want a wall and for NZH it can’t come soon enough!
I’m sure the Herald was better 25 years ago.
Great quote by Seeby Woodhouse on how awful NZME and Stuff have become on MediaWatch.
“I listen to podcasts, watch educational videos from the likes of Unfiltered, TED and Creative Live, read magazines like Wired, and use Twitter, mainly for news,” he replied.
No Stuff? Herald? RNZ? TVNZ?
“I don’t want to bag our entrants but I’ve been disappointed by the likes of the Herald and Stuff,” he told Mediawatch.
“I used to have them on my (phone) but … the last time I was on the Herald I saw a story about the Kardashians. Why is a New Zealand newspaper reporting some clickbait about the family? I think it’s adding to global mental retardation (having them) in the news,” he said.
“Both of them have become more involved with driving traffic and clicks. News organisations have fallen into that trap and charging advertisers for clicks-per-thousand views. I think the quality of Herald and Stuff has fallen dramatically,” he told Mediawatch.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018641401/bankrolling-the-big-prizes-for-nz-journalism
I think Granny Herald was always violently prejudiced towards the capitalist ruling class. But 25 years ago it had better (biased) journalists.
Granny seems such a nice name for a violently prejudiced paper.
What about angry uncle Herald?
What about The Trumpian?
Herald was known as ‘Granny Herald’ back in the 1960s, just in case you were unaware.
I was unaware of that fact, thank you.
OncewasTim hit a nerve Wayne?
I think maybe I did.
Two people in particular who seem (to put it diplomatically) accident prone, as they were in a previous life.
Of course @ Wayne hasn’t yet managed to set himself loose from a 50’s and 60’s notion of an impartial public service.
It may exist amongst the peons and middle management, but sure as shit stacking the deck at senior level is alive and thriving – to the extent that a few are desperately trying to push back – not yet having to come to terms with the fact that there’s a new show in town. (And I don’t mean that tribute to The Muppets)
(Wayne’s gone – in fact he always was ‘gone’ – but so too are Messrs Choice and Coleman).
It’ll be interesting to see just how big some Ministers balls are in what is becoming a bloke’s pissing competition – especially when some of the the ‘stacked deck’ have proven themselves to be as thick as two short planks that are four times as wide.
Perhaps they’ve forgotten they don’t actually have a very pretty record.
Free the Andarko Two
Repeal the Andarko Amendment
The Andarko Amendment is the law passed by the last National government that made it illegal to protest against deep sea oil drilling ships.
The Andarko Amendment is an affront to democracy.
Greenpeace Director Russel Norman has called this law “Repugnant”.
If a law like the Andarko Amendment had been brought in to make it illegal to protest against Springbok games in 198,1 tens of thousands of New Zealanders would have been detained and put on trial.
This is not democracy
Related comments: “Greenpeace trial going ahead despite Government’s oil exploration ban”
“Vital Part of Any Democratic Society”
+1 Jenny. Get rid of that law, totally against freedom and human rights.
Rod Oram has an informative piece on Newsroom this morning. He dismantles the economic argument for sea bed gas exploration in NZ.
Taranaki and elsewhere in NZ:
I imagine that we will have the Green Party coming out in favour of seabed mining in the area around New Zealand shortly.
They claim to be in favour of renewable energy and electric vehicles. That is going to require lots of the rare earths to produce the equipment. At present we would have to get these from China and the security of supply is very uncertain.
Will James Shaw insist that we should develop industries to recover these from the seabed? A sample story on the subject is in the ODT.
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/chatham-probes-rare-earth-mineral-recovery
Probably not of course. There are Hector’s dolphins only about 1,000 km away.
Nah, Japan has us covered: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/04/13/editorials/undersea-trove-upend-rare-earths-market/
Alwyn, your imagination is over-ripe and should be severely pruned. And that may not be the end of it..
Really?
Do you mean there aren’t any Hector’s dolphins?
Or that rare earths aren’t required for most renewable energy technology?
Or that Shaw doesn’t even understand the requirement for such things?
Or this comment of yours is just as foolish as usual?
Sorry, I had to come down to your level. It is the height of folly to continue damaging the environment, and your selective arguments supporting seabed mining are an example of that folly. Shaw knows what he is doing far better than you.
Regime change in Riyadh ?
https://twitter.com/hashtag/riyadh?lang=en
#riyadh drone
Just in from the Feeds section: https://openparachute.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/novichock-a-marketing-ploy/
Time to remember the first, inglorious Anzacs:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-04-2018/the-first-forgotten-anzacs-more-than-50-years-before-gallipoli/
Superb article
Our actions for the British at the end of WW I … had us violently suppressing a independence movement … among the whippings and some civilian massacres …. NZ soldiers were still serving and taking casualties …. WWI ended in 1919 for a couple of NZ regiments …
1914 -1918 leaves out the bad role we undertook against the nations and people of Egypt and Palestine
“Episodes like the Egyptian revolt suggest that a squalid imperial reality underlay the noble rhetoric, which is why it has been relegated to obscurity. ”
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/anzac-role-crushing-1919-egypt-revolt
George Galloway and Peter Hitchens talk about Syria
Peter Hitchens asks a very important question.
One that often a point of contention between posters on this site?
https://twitter.com/clarkemicah/status/983359344925462528?lang=en
I believe Jacinda Ardern and Jeremy Corbyn have met. But I can’t find anything in msm (hardly surprising) about it. Tried Google, but only a message that Corbyn was going to host Jacinda at a meeting.
Anyone out there got any info about this particular meeting please?
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn
Corbyn’s Twitter feed!
Thanks Koff @ (9.1) … you’d think NZ’s PM meeting with the leader of another nation’s same political party would garner at least a couple of paragraphs.
However, not so in our msm! Might generate some interest!
The media is a propaganda tool for billionaires.
Syria
REDLINE debunks the “Regime Change” conspiracy theory put about by the Cato Institute and other Right Wing political commentators.
War and revolution in Syria: interview with Syrian left activist Ghayath Naisse
REDLINE December 18, 2016
Talking of “Red Lines”, Russia says that America has crossed none in bombing Syria, surprise, surprise, (not).
Russia: US did not violate red lines during Syria strikes
America has bombed Syria
Syria has bombed Syria
Russia has bombed Syria
Israel has bombed Syria
Turkey has bombed Syria
What all those bombing Syria can not tolerate is a free revolutionary Syria.
This all is all reminiscent to me, of the war of intervention in Russia, 1918 to 1920. Russia was invaded by 16 countries including America and England and Germany. Even though at the beginning Germany and America/England were still technically at war with each other. It has been argued that this brutal outside intervention, (which also saw the use of gas weapons against the revolutionaries), and the death and loss of many of the of the most popular and progressive of the Bolshevik revolutionary forces, was what opened the door to turn the Soviet Union into the oppressive Stalinist tyranny that it became.
Did that mean that Leftists and progressives around the world should not have supported the Russian Revolution?
As Marx said of the Paris Commune, (also bloodily suppressed and put down), “They stormed heaven”.
The Arab Spring also stormed heaven, even in the cannons mouth, that the Arab Spring has been tragically subverted and put down and suppressed and even reversed, does not mean that it was not a valid attempt to liberate the oppressed people’s of the Middle East, suffering under the twin yoke of foreign imperialism and local tyranny, just as the Palestinians are doing right now.
We should support and celebrate these liberation movements. At the very least these attempts by the people of the Middle East to free themselves deserve not to be derided and condemned or mocked.
Mary_a I have just been chatting with a friend from NP on the phone. she said the meeting was held in a private home and it went off like a rocket, they got on very well indeed – maybe the TV news tonight may show it but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I have no idea where she read or heard it so can’t link.
Many thanks for your response Whispering Kate. Much appreciated.
At the risk of being labeled a head chopper again;
I can’t help wondering, are those who attack America for bombing the Syrian regime’s installations, (even when it is OK with the Russians), and not one single Syrian soldier or civilian was killed. Are they the same people who supported America bombing Isis where thousands were killed?
The big difference being that the US did not telegraph their punches with Isis, as they have done with the Assad regime, no pre-warning to prevent civilian casualties.
Compare this to the 100 Syrian civilians killed by the US air strikes on Raqqa
US-led attacks kill 100 civilians in 48 hours
Women and children among the dead as a barrage of US-led coalition raids hit ISIL-held city.
“Why Are Some on the Left Falling for Fake News on Syria?”
Robert Fisk is not fake news.
Faking it for Assad
Yvonne Ridley
What about Patrick Cockburn?
What about Peter Ford ?
What about Craig Murray ?
don’t know them
don’t know them
fucking nutbar who seamlessly goes from contradictory bullshit to contradictory bullshit
Admitting you have strong opinions and at the same time admitting you are ignorant of what you are commenting about.
Classy, mcflock.
Nah dude. I’ve read some of Craig Murray’s bullshit, not the other two.
And Craig Murray is utter bullshit.
Of course he knows less than you.
Oh, I don’t know how much he knows.
But his comments about novichok and instant death were a bit of a laugh, especially as he said porton down couldn’t identify it, and then when the OPCW said it was what the brits said he ignored his previous statements and just went off about how it being novichok proves nuffin about whodunnit.
I think the link has links from you or me for all the various elements of that statement.
He’s still less of a joke than you are, though.
Let’s try and avoid the personal insults, eh?
And here is Peter Hitchens.
Another independent journalist
Why would I bother wasting my life with someone you recommend? Minions is on telly.
Where did he say novichok caused instant death McFlock?
That claim isn’t made by Murray in any part of the quoted text you link to.
And did Porton Down identify Russia as the source of the chemical agent, and was that (the source) what Murray was commenting on, given that May and others had stated there was no other possible source?
Also, did Porton Down identify a specific chemical or a chemical type? And was that not what Murray was commenting on?
@Bill
The exact term he used was “instant acting”. Either way it’s bullshit. And as I said “the link has links from you or me [ed] for all the various elements of that statement.”
And did Porton Down identify Russia as the source of the chemical agent, and was that (the source) what Murray was commenting on
Actually, fair call on that. My porton down comment was wrong.
But “instant death” was reasonable when he wrote about “instant acting” and “lethality” to argue that a three hour delay is inconsistent with a nerve agent was blatantly wrong.
Or as he put it in one of the links as quoted by Tony Veitch:
I’ve yet to see Ed or whomever cut&paste murray’s retraction for that bullshit.
@ McFlock.
Can you explain why you think questioning this idea that two people who were contaminated by a highly toxic and effective chemical agent (by all accounts) at the same time, suffered the effects at the same time, but not until some hours later (like an alarm clock as Murray says) is bullshit?
How would you explain two people with quite obvious physiological differences reacting to some substance simultaneously long after the substance has been introduced to their bodies?
Maybe you can refer me to any other substance that seemingly works independently of a persons physiology, but only after quite some time has passed?
Well, I’m no doctor, but you asked.
So I’d say that it’s bullshit because it doesn’t exclude the possibility of a nerve agent to being not “remotely credible”.
I’d say it’s bullshit because “instant acting” relies on injection or inhalation in order to get any toxin circulating in the bloodstream and being distributed around the body in that period of time.
I’d say it’s bullshit because it assumes that two people found affected by a chemical at the same time were affected at the precisely the same time, rather than one being overcome first and the other being merely disoriented for a short period before also being overcome.
I’d say it’s bullshit because if the official claim is skin contact, then the main physiological difference to consider in effect delay is transport of the substance through the skin and into the bloodstream, rather than body type or gender or some other broader physiological difference.
I’d say it’s bullshit because “instant acting” in the middle of town with people responding soon enough to clear a blocked airway requires other people to be in very close proximity of a substance that would still be in the air, and yet remain unaffected.
But mostly I’d say it’s bullshit because Murray either now accepts it was a nerve agent but hasn’t retracted his “remotely credible” line, or he still believes it wasn’t novichok but is disingenuosly arguing that the weapon doesn’t imply the perpetrator.
I can’t quite grasp what you’re saying in the first two paras, but never mind.
I’m no doctor either, but from my experiences in a past life, toxic substances that have long “lead” times don’t hit people at the same time if everyone ingested at the same time.
I’m thinking it’s a bit of a stretch for you to suggest that one went unconscious and the other was too disorientated to react but orientated enough to sit on down right beside them. Or alternatively, that after one had become disorientated, that the other didn’t react before they too had passed from normal to disorientated to unconscious . (By seeking some assistance in both cases)
I can’t follow your second to last para either.
Questioning how some strange process of toxicity manages to slam dunk two people at the same time after a long “lead” time hasn’t really got anything to do with nerve agent/not nerve agent. And I don’t believe Murray confuses those separate issues.
And he’s been consistent in saying that many countries would have an interest in “embarrassing” the Russian Federation (eg – a shopping list of ME actors in Syria), and that many countries and non-state actors have the capability to produce or acquire novichoks, if they were used, while also not ruling out the Russian Federation as the culprit.
Well, ingestion isn’t the same as skin contact, is it. Nicotine patches are pretty universal.
As for disorientation in a small group, an analogy is working in confined spaces with fumes, where progressive disorientation isn’t always obvious to other people. Or I had a friend relaying some of the instructor’s cautionary tales of hypoxia when training for his pilot’s license. Or the difficulty in identifying hypothermia in others when you might be in the same boat.
And yes, I’m sure he’s come up with no end of technically-possible but generally pointless reasons other nations might have had to “emabarrass” Putin by sneakily killing putin’s enemies in a way to intimidate future possible assets. Because, as we all know, the Russians are totally embarrassed by this event. Mortified, even. Lol.
Oh, my second to last paragraph:
First responders cleared an airway.
That requires the first responders to have been on the scene within a few minutes of the initial exposure to this “instant acting” nerve agent, otherwise the person with the blocked airway would be dead.
The only responders exposed (if any of the cops had been first responders) had been to his house, although all were tested.
Murray’s bullshit “slam dunk” (if you will): if a nerve agent is “instant acting” as he said, it can’t have a three hour lag. So why were the only people to get sick ones who had been in Skripal’s house?
More of the utter bullshit from Murray, first question “Who do you think did it?” Response “Well we don’t know…” He didn’t go full Theresa so he must be mad…
Again, I never said he was mad.
Simply that Murray, unlike Fisk, doesn’t seem to admit when he gets things wrong (Fisk making a prediction about Turkey going into Arfin, Murray claiming categorically that the chemical couldn’t have been novichok). Murray just continued on to the next Russian defense line.
edit: tell a lie, I said he was a nutbar. It’s not actually a clinical term, though
Have you listened to Peter Ford yet ?
“yet”?
see above
Is that Peter ford of the British Syrian Society ?
What about them?
You’re telling this story.
You should read them and listen to them.
Absolutely correct Ed.
“Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn’t Gas Syrians”
Is that you Ed, are you a Bashar Assad apologist?
Give it a break.
No. You give it a break.
Answer the question
Who did this?
And is it not evidence of genocide?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video
Jenny, are you doing ok?…
Plagiarism is frowned upon in most circles Jenny. As you choose not to attribute what you’ve written, I will.
The author is Mehdi Hasan.
The article, with comments showing, is here.
https://theintercept.com/2018/04/19/dear-bashar-al-assad-apologists-your-hero-is-a-war-criminal-even-if-he-didnt-gas-syrians/?comments=1#comments
There are 717 comments. You could read them.
In reply Stephen Gowans writes “If it wasn’t already clear, The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan, wants us to know he’s a beautiful soul. In an April 19 diatribe against “Bashar al Assad apologists,” Hasan professes his distaste for war crimes, torture, and dictatorship, no matter the source, but devotes particular attention to the violence and restrictions on political and civil liberties attributable to the Syrian president. Assad, Hasan concludes, “is a war criminal even if he didn’t gas civilians,” and leftists should stop defending him. The journalist, who also works for the Qatari monarchy’s mouthpiece Al Jazeera, then proceeds to recite a litany of charges against Assad, some undeniable, some unproved or unprovable. One gets the impression that he’s peeved that the latest chemical weapons allegations against the Syrian government, ridiculously thin to begin with, and now largely demolished by Robert Fisk’s reporting, have failed to stick. ”
The full article is here
https://gowans.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/mehdi-hasan-beautiful-soul-and-his-diatribe-against-the-consequential-left/
Gee accusing me of plagiarism. Just shows how little you have.
I put in the link to Mehdi Hasan’s original essay in embedded format.
You must have missed it.
I think you f-d up the link
No Jenny, you did not.
I just checked the link. McFlock is right. In his words I “f-d up the link”.
Believe me or not, up to you, but this was an honest formatting mistake on my part. Make a big thing of it, as you like. I definitely was not trying to claim Mehdi Hasan’s words as my own.
… otherwise you wouldn’t have used the blockquote tag. Silly mistake for a plagiarist 😉
,
Nope.
Jenny formated
to cite
You keep saying the people who have murdered Christians and other minorities in Syria are liberation fighters Jenny. I can only understand that If you think liberation through murder is a thing.
As for labeling anyone who rejects groups like the white helmets and their liberation fighters friends, as supports of Assard is just really dishonest way to argue.
Long live a Free Rojava!
Adam. You should at least try and provide some links or proofs to back up your allegations, so we can judge their worth.
Those who reject groups like the white helmets, and who actively slander and abuse these rescuers, whether they are conscious of it or not, are Assad supporters.
That you haven’t even got the courage to admit to it, and are trying to distance yourself from the Assad regime, tells me that you do have some sense of shame.
“How Syria’s White Helmets became victims of an online propaganda machine”
Jenny
So you saying Jaysh al-Islam were not in East Ghouta? Nor had it as a base of power? Are you saying that Al-Nusra Front were also not in East Ghouta? That there was no Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta which included the free Syrian army?
Do you know who is on the so called rebels side? Do you understand the factions?
Can you please link to the comment where someone called you a head-chopper?
No!
Answer the question
Who did this?
And is it not evidence of genocide?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video
Is that because no such comment exists?
I know you won’t reply Bill. You never have, and you probably never will.
Your deliberate and obdurate silence in the face of this atrocity exposes you as a supporter of mass murder.
Oh God I could troll through all the abusive and sly comments accusing me of being a supporter of terrorism to find the exact quote. But this is not what this is about is it Bill?
The same with the petty nit picking accusing me of plagiarism.
The fact is Bill your support for the Assad regime is indefensible and shameful. And you will look for the little slightest excuse to remove anyone who challenges your position, which you know you cannot defend honestly.
Answer the question.
Who did this?
And is it not evidence of genocide?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video
I only entered this sub-thread to ascertain who had called you a head-chopper.
I’m now taking it as read that no-one has called you head-chopper and leaving it at that.
Pretty sure it was Brigid – not inclined to dig through it all though.
Pretty sure neither Brigid not anyone else around here would make such a ludicrous accusation.
Well, if nobody’s going to fucking google it themselves, I will.
Closest I get is that Adam, in a clear reduction to absurdity, flipped around one of jenny’s comments to write:
Brigid seemed to think Adam was being serious, and said it was “so true“. And called one side “head choppers” and the other side “the Syrian Government”, when Adam’s point was that by this stage of the war pretty much all sides (more than two) are as pure as muck.
A bit like the Syrian arguments here.
Fucksake.
Well, I don’t think Adam was being flippant or absurd. But that’s by the by. No-one called Jenny a headchopper. end.
Unless somebody else actually does their own search and finds a different, more explicit example.
“Established in Turkey and trained by an ex British military mercenary, a “private security” expert, James Le Mesurier….. with multi-million-US, NATO & Gulf state, funded war protagonist money ” ….
Their lack of affiliation with anyone credible ….and their embedding with Al Quada Jihad extremists … makes them dodgy as
They are as credible as any war propaganda …. https://off-guardian.org/2016/10/09/intl-civil-defence-org-the-white-helmets-are-not-even-civil-defence-in-syria/
“* The name “Syria Civil Defence” was stolen from the legitimate Syrian organization of the same name. The authentic Syria Civil Defence was founded in 1953 and is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization (1958).
* The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance.
* The NATO White Helmets are primarily a media campaign to support the ‘regime change’ goals of the USA and allies. After being founded by security contractor James LeMesurier, the group was “branded” as the White Helmets in 2014 by a marketing company
Theres a white helmet blooper moment from them in this video …. 5 mins 45 seconds https://www.bitchute.com/video/hUaWa8L9YPXL/
Reason, by uncritically spreading regime and RT propaganda and lies as truth, what you are actually doing, is inciting fascists to kill.
And not just in Syria.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jo-cox-watch-the-labour-mps-compelling-speech-on-the-aleppo-crisis-a7086011.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/15/late-jo-coxs-white-helmets-nobel-plea-heard/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/25/white-supremacist-support-for-assad/
Which specific part of what I posted about WHs (white helmitz), was ‘lies Jenny ?, Establishment?. Funding?. Anything ?
What proof do you have that my sources quoted work for propaganda ministries anywhere ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBN-61G_U8Y
Do you have any links to nobel and compelling pro-war speeches from Blair / Cameron for me to read about … ?.
You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
Thats an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/hUaWa8L9YPXL/
If the western, Israeli, Saudi support to Islamist fighters stopped ….and the extremists left / stopped killing … then Russia would stop bombing / fighting them. .. but in this latest chapter of a long plan, people with a fascist distemperment do not want peace. https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/the-revolutionary-distemper-in-syria-that-wasnt/
If you want to see some fake pro-war lies …. from the same people funding and spreading white helmet propaganda / lies ….This trip down memory lane …. and the throwing babies out of incubators ( false ) outrage …. is a forerunner of the more refined WHelmitz stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FE8-HkXlOs
Anyway Have a good look in the mirror when you talk of “inciting fascists to kill”…. “spreading propaganda” …. Jenny
“How do you know the truth?”
“You don’t know the truth”, smiling idiot shouts down Syrian refugees in Auckland, alongside neo nazi wannabees draped in Russian flags and wearing ‘Make America Great’ again caps.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11769042
I would suggest to you Reason, that you need to go and actually converse with some Syrian refugees, instead of being like the smiling idiot in this video, shouting Syrian voices down, while standing with fascists.
Meet your new friends;
Italian Fascists Adore Bashar Assad
White Nationalists love Bashar Al Assad
Here you are reason, someone, unlike you, who actually went and talked with Syrian refugees fleeing Assad’s fascist tyranny. (not to mention also fleeing America’s home grown variety, you know the ones, your new friends).
Even more than that, Jake Halpern went further and took the time and trouble to document their story in a format that even you reason might be able to comprehend.
Don’t support fascism. (It really shouldn’t have to be said).
I invite anyone with any computer skills to critique the evidence contained below.
Any takers?
How about you, lprent?
“The research that shows the link”
Sterile Whataboutism writ large.
You couldn’t get a better example; Two talking heads in a studio devoid of any factual evidence, without ever addressing the genocide being committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people, say why they think Syria is like Iraq, like Libya, like, Vietnam even.
From the you tube link supplied by reason above.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22-04-2018/#comment-1478327
You wrote so much to say so little Jenny
This is the elephant in your eye ….
” You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
That;s an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.”
***********************&**************
Here’s where Jenny is actually coming from …
” February 1982, when the Muslim Brothers seized control of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city. Hama was the epicenter of Sunni fundamentalism in Syria, and a major base of operations for the jihadist fighters. Galvanized by a false report that Assad had been overthrown, Muslim Brothers went on a gleeful blood-soaked rampage throughout the city, ” … ” In some cases, victims were decapitated [49] a practice which would be resurrected decades later by Islamic State fighters. Every Ba’athist official in Hama was murdered. [50] ”
“Washington had conspired to purge Arab nationalist influence from Syria as early as the mid-1950s, when Kermit Roosevelt, who engineered the overthrow of Iran’s prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh for nationalizing his country’s oil industry, plotted with British intelligence to stir up the Muslim Brothers to overthrow…..”
“Washington funnelled arms to Brotherhood mujahedeen in the 1980s to wage urban guerrilla warfare against Hafez al-Assad, who hardliners in Washington called an “Arab communist.” etc etc
\
Here’s a ‘what about’, just for you Jenny …Did / have you ever posted about the genocidal sanctions imposed on Iraq / Syria over the last couple of decades ? …. or the present mass starvation as a war crime in Yemen ? …. 14 minute mark in the below video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfXddo5JH_s
And for a bit more of what about Jenny ….
What about the fact her pro-war views / reposts come from the same people making money from the genocide in Yemen ?? Jennys friends ?
What about …. Jenny didn’t actually refute one thing …… not 1 ,,,,, about the WHelmitzz ….
The link below refutes most of her upside down inside out Syria chants
https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/the-revolutionary-distemper-in-syria-that-wasnt/
There’s no need to attack Jenny when attacking her argument/position, aye? And yes, I know she continually getting personal on it, but still…
sorry Bill …. I should not have responded to her insinuation I’m a friend of white power / fascists.
Still waiting for you to provide a link to back up your assertions.
oh your poor ego ….. …. demand another ban ?
Nah, I’m going to assert that because the commenter known as reason supports Bashar Al Assad, a murderous thug supported by white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis, the commenter reason is indeed, a friend of white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis.
/
Joe90… ” I’m going to assert that because the commenter known as reason supports Bashar Al Assad, a murderous thug supported by white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis, the commenter reason is indeed, a friend of white nationalists and Greek Neo-Nazis.”
dear oh dear ……. covering yourself in glory now Joe
This is the elephant in Joe90s eye ….
” You do realise before Russia interviened in the usa.Israel british, saudi sponsored al-quada / Isis shit fight in Syria ….. that Syria was about to suffer the same fate as Libya…. That war torn blood soaked smouldering destruction of a modern society …
That;s an undeniable truth …..And to wish that fate upon any nation / people is despicable.”
I’m against fascists of all stripes … including ones Britian helps … like their proxy fighters in Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/30/athens-1944-britains-dirty-secret
… and western backed fascists in the Ukraine
https://www.bitchute.com/video/H44EYHitZM4q/
Brexit solutions, at least in relation to the British public.
Ref#1: Are the British people happy with the current course of Brexit negotiations or do they want their elected majority govt. to further present them questions for public veto to negotiation issues
Ref#2 if asked for. The public are given a few questions of veto for direction on the relatively stickiest issues with the Brexit negotiations.
The UK should have a new referendum based on the Cambridge Analytics scandal as to whether there was interference and BREXIT went over the campaign amount. Also a significant amount of people did not vote and so it was clear what sort of mandate there was for BREXIT.
Having a referendum to change the result of a prior one without the prior one having taken effect is a VERY different proposition to referendum(s) on ‘how’ to proceed with aspects of a prior referendum.
The other points seem fairly obvious to the contrary, all be it in a more talk talk talk talk area that is not of obligatory interest to me related to the initial post.
If someone cheats in a test, you repeat the test. They need to repeat the referendum and check it’s what the people of the UK all agree too.
They won’t do that, because pretty sure, most people in the UK never wanted Brexit in the first place.
Can someone please make a blank post called ‘Syria’ tomorrow and deposit all the blather about that topic in it. Repetitive, scrappy and dominating every day here.
Good morning Newshub I agree with you Australia is not treating US Kiwis fairly .
It is to old-aged primitive behavior the big brother takes all the lollies one day Humans will be able to override this behavior and treat everything fairly.
Duncan you have a new news reader M J hello.
I say there should be a return to glass and plastic bottles it will clean up the enviroment and provide pocket money for some.
Mark S yes I would pay more tax to keep OUR Beautiful country running and humming.
But you have missed one point we need to get companies to pay more tax we pay our fair share the wage earners .Ka kite ano P.S Mark yes our children learn off our behaviour and we should leave the reffs alone to reff Duncan south examination is good and admitting to ones flaws is Ka pai
Newshub Paddy that was a excerlint story on block chain Cryptocurrency is the future if that new system would be safe now but what happens when Quantum computing becomes a reality nothing online is safe then .
As for doctor Goggle what does one do when the sandflys are spewing lies to ones doctor and your are brown well I don’t get very good service from the doctor I still have a problem that I was not satisfied with the doctors here some pain killers by.
I also noticed they leave the door open when I am being checked by the doctor now I wonder why.
AB Coach A giving some hints of his team I wounder why he did that ada ???????.
Ingrid Its cold in Rotorua at the minute Ka kite ano P.S you know who I am watching next
The Crowd Goes Wild good evening Mulls and James Mulls you remember the correction I gave you and the Rock guys algood bro .
You got it James its all about the culture a good fair culture is a winning Formula
Those bass and blue nose that Clark is pulling up are small compeared to the ones Eco Maori has seen blue nose makes the best sashimi raw fish and is tasty on a BBQ you guys give me a sore face .Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori admires sea birds Billara i thinks is the Name for sea hawke
“Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess
I will just bookmark this blog.
My web page edujobs Circular“