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Open Mike 23/12/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 23rd, 2017 - 98 comments
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98 comments on “Open Mike 23/12/2017 ”

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  1. Stunned mullet 1
    23 December 2017 at 7:33 am

    Beautiful piece by Steve Braunias in the herald this morning.

    • ScottGN 1.1
      23 December 2017 at 8:08 am

      He’s got 2 pieces today.
      The Secret Diary of Christmas and a rather wonderful ping pong rematch with the PM.

        • ScottGN 1.1.1.1
          23 December 2017 at 8:41 am

          So that’s 3 today. Is he the only one left working for the herald?
          And, yes, that is a, typically lovely piece.

        • funstigator 1.1.1.2
          23 December 2017 at 8:51 am

          Yep, nice article. Today is the first day of my precious 2 1/2 weeks with daughters. They live with their mum at the other end of North Island and seeing them walk off the plane yesterday afternoon I had a double take – suddenly at 11 & 13 they are no longer just my little girls but increasingly confident young ladies. One begins her “middle year” of a fantastic integrated school, the youngest having just finished primary will join her. Both doing well socially and academically. We’ll go camping for 2 weeks at a place that I almost grew up – 50 years ago my first visit. Their grandparents & family friends will be there, as will the babies of the children I remember climbing their first trees. The girls will “hold the bag” as their Grandfather & I attempt to catch some crays the old Maori way, we’ll teach them perhaps how to catch them too, as my father did for me in the same place. I’m looking forward to a wonderful, happy & peaceful break after a big year, and even though I think that most on this site are wrong-headed and quite nasty I’ll wish the same for them.

    • Sanctuary 1.2
      23 December 2017 at 8:45 am

      The “beaming assassin”. LOL

  2. Sanctuary 2
    23 December 2017 at 8:39 am

    I was talking to a friend of my in Washington DC yesterday. her health insurance is now $1600 A MONTH.

    She is young, fit and very healthy and she pays almost 20k a year for health insurance.

    Crazy bad.

    • Rosemary McDonald 2.1
      23 December 2017 at 8:49 am

      Looking for something else…I found this….

      • Stunned mullet 2.1.1
        23 December 2017 at 8:59 am

        Great video Rosemary, really interesting perspective from a couple of plain speaking yanks. Must check out their other vids.

        • Rosemary McDonald 2.1.1.1
          23 December 2017 at 9:13 am

          The thing is…and I’m mindful that for these Yanks the concept of a Publicly Funded Health and Disability System is foreign…the video presents a picture that for an increasing number of New Zealanders doesn’t actually exist.

  3. phantom snowflake 3
    23 December 2017 at 10:43 am

    I recently came across a job vacancy that I found quite chilling:

    Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) Coordinator – Mental Health for Older People (Ward 6C) Dunedin Hospital. (22 Hours per week)
    https://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/careers/view-vacancy/?job_id=8203

    I’m thinking to myself: 22 hours per week represents a hell of a lot of ECT sessions for a group of elderly, vulnerable hospitalized people. I took a look at the “Office of the Director Of Mental Health Annual Report 2016”
    https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/office-of-the-director-of-mental-health-annual-report-2016v4_0.pdf
    Statistics related to ECT administration for 2016 are covered on pages 59-65.
    What stands out most is the massively greater number of females (156) than males (95) given ECT, and also that the 70-74 age group contains the highest number (33) of people receiving ECT of any age group. Raises a lot of questions for me…
    [It’s not my purpose (at this time) to critique ECT; however I note ongoing claims from some of the psychiatric establishment that ECT is “lifesaving”. I can’t see how that claim can be anything more than mere speculation, and I’m being charitable here.]

    • weka 3.1
      23 December 2017 at 11:04 am

      From memory, Dunedin historically has had a significantly higher rate of ECT usage than the rest of the country. If that is still going on, that’s fucked up.

      I’m really ok with critiquing ECT, there are major issues with its use in the past as a tool of oppression, and I’m not convinced we are passed that yet. Haven’t looked at this issue for some time but much of my criticism would be that the medical model used by psychiatry and society is why so many people end up in a situation where ECT is being considered. Plus, as you mention, the gender and age disparities.

      • phantom snowflake 3.1.1
        23 December 2017 at 12:09 pm

        Have found an interesting, if rather long, feminist critique of ECT:
        “Electroshock as a Form of Violence Against Women”
        https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/602d/2a60d4eaf167a1941d0f158bb4fc67281f7e.pdf

        “There is no question that women can find themselves in severe emotional distress and in need of help. And there is no question that most practitioners who administer ECT are more or less convinced that they are helping, for they are fashioned by the psychiatric profession and its norms. Nonetheless, as this article demonstrated, electroshock is a part of the repertoire of the patriarchy; and it functions as a fundamental patriarchal assault on women’s brains, bodies, and spirits. It is an assault that has much in common with traditional battery. It is traumatizing, even traumatizing “patients” who only witness it. It controls women and, indeed, is used to control women. It combines with other forms of violence against women. It is a special threat to women who are severely violated. And is used to silence women. As such, its very use is a feminist issue.“

    • JanM 3.2
      23 December 2017 at 4:19 pm

      Gosh, I thought that legalised torture went out with the ark!!! 🙁

    • phantom snowflake 3.3
      23 December 2017 at 5:11 pm

      Another really scary statistic: Of the 251 people who were given ECT in New Zealand last year; 102 did not give consent. That number is made up of 92 who supposedly “did not have the capacity to consent” plus 10 who “had capacity and refused consent.”

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    23 December 2017 at 11:35 am

    Devastating climate change could lead to 1m migrants a year entering EU by 2100

    Climate change will drive a huge increase in the number of migrants seeking asylum in Europe if current trends continue, according to a new study.

    Which is something that I’ve been saying for years. As place become inhospitable due to increasing temperatures then people will leave. Fairly obvious when you think about it.

    They concentrated the study on Europe but similar pressures will come to bear on other countries such as NZ.

    Solomon Hsiang, professor at Berkeley, University of California, and author of a previous study linking conflict and climate change, who was not involved with the current research, said the world must prepare. “We will need to build new institutions and systems to manage this steady flow of asylum-seekers. As we have seen from recent experience in Europe, there are tremendous costs, both for refugees and their hosts, when we are caught flat-footed.”

    Being prepared for the increase in refugees and immigration is something that we haven’t been doing either. Especially considering that NZ’s food production will be decreasing as the world warms.

  5. adam 5
    23 December 2017 at 12:10 pm

    What the hell is up with this russian stuff. It’s getting odd. no wait, this is getting downright silly.

    It’s now attacking Jill Stein.

    .

  6. joe90 6
    23 December 2017 at 12:18 pm

    Mass executions and the imprisonment of millions in an empire of forced labour camps should be celebrated because patriots.
    //

    We stand for organized terror – this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Soviet Government and of the new order of life. We judge quickly. In most cases only a day passes between the apprehension of the criminal and his sentence. When confronted with evidence criminals in almost every case confess; and what argument can have greater weight than a criminal’s own confession?

    – Felix Dzerzhinsky

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared the infamous Soviet Cheka secret police “integral” to the country’s history and stated that those who served in the ranks of the Kremlin’s security forces were patriots.

    http://www.newsweek.com/soviet-secret-police-was-full-true-patriots-says-vladimir-putin-754991

      • joe90 6.1.1
        23 December 2017 at 12:29 pm

        Twenty million dead Russians but hey, let’s play whataboutism.

        /

        • Ed 6.1.1.1
          23 December 2017 at 12:30 pm

          How many native Americans were there in 1776?

          • joe90 6.1.1.1.1
            23 December 2017 at 12:36 pm

            Someone’s celebrating the perpetrators?.

            • Ed 6.1.1.1.1.1
              23 December 2017 at 12:40 pm

              No…it just seems you bash the Russians all the time and forget that the Americans record is hardly flash.

              You’re highly defensive.
              Or as Adam puts it, ‘precious.’

              • Stuart Munro …
                23 December 2017 at 12:54 pm

                Meh.

                You’re letting your anti-Americanism create false positive characteristics for Russia.

                And, you don’t have the excuse the old left had, of belief in Soviet adherence to a value system that would theoretically create a better world.

                Measure the yanks by yank failings, and the Russians by Russian failings.

                Neither has a damned thing to boast of.

                • stunned mullet …
                  23 December 2017 at 1:04 pm

                  To be fair, despite their many failings both Russia and the US have much to boast of, their rich histories and many scientific achievements being just some of them.

                  • Stuart Munro …
                    23 December 2017 at 1:23 pm

                    Which must be weighed against oppressive nationalist enterprises like Molotov/Ribbentrop, the Soviet genocides, the killing of half the Chechen population, the Citrus War, the mufti use of Russian regular forces in the Ukraine, the failure to implement the rule of law, cheating in elections and the murder of journalists and opposition politicians.

                    In the US the long history of invading third world nations and massacres there, political interference in South American countries like the imposition of Chicago school economics in Chile that wrecked that country as thoroughly as Rogergnomics wrecked NZ, failure to resolve race and law and order and corruption issues, and subverting important international institutions like the UN and World Bank to prevent them from performing the functions for which they were established every time some crooked American industrialist can make a bent penny out of it.

                • Ed …
                  23 December 2017 at 1:06 pm

                  I’m not.
                  Russia has a terrible history and anyone in the west would know of it.
                  I just get bored of hearing how amazing America is. We don’t hear about the genocides it performed.

              • Psycho Milt …
                23 December 2017 at 1:06 pm

                No…it just seems you bash the Russians all the time and forget that the Americans record is hardly flash.

                Yeah, because, like, who can recall any comment ever by Joe90 pointing out ugly shit Trump comes out with, right? /sarc

                • Ed …
                  23 December 2017 at 1:07 pm

                  I acknowledge he mocks Trump incessantly.
                  But American ideals?

                • Andre …
                  23 December 2017 at 1:41 pm

                  Why narrow it down to comments about the Dork from New York? There’s been plenty of joe90 commentary about other things that are fucked up about the US. Starting from well before the terracotta turdface splattering onto the scene, IIRC.

                  • Psycho Milt …
                    23 December 2017 at 3:19 pm

                    Trump just seemed the obvious US alternative to Putin in this instance. But yeah, as usual, the extent to which Ed doesn’t know what he’s talking about is easily underestimated.

                    • adam …
                      23 December 2017 at 6:03 pm

                      So one stinking capitalist pig dog, (putin) is fighting with another capitalist pig dog, (trump) and were supposed to pick sides? Is that the agenda?

                    • Psycho Milt …
                      23 December 2017 at 8:46 pm

                      Well, you tell me. Seems like anyone who points out what a shit Putin is attracts rebuttals by left-wing authoritarians I can only assume are deeply confused (given that Putin’s a right-wing authoritarian). If those commenters haven’t picked a side, what’s the alternative explanation?

                    • adam …
                      23 December 2017 at 8:55 pm

                      You do know I agreed with joe90, he the one who made an ass of himself and me, with his very wide of the mark assumption.

                      As the overwhelming majority of my arguments revolver around the state being the enemy, I find it odd you can’t comprehend my question.

                    • Psycho Milt …
                      23 December 2017 at 9:04 pm

                      I saw that you claimed you were agreeing with him, yeah. What he and I both saw was something different: Joe90 posts about a current world leader praising the enforcers of a reign of terror arguably worse than the Nazis, and you respond with a comment that the US government kills people too. Hence the response re “whataboutism.” If Angela Merkel were quacking on about the heroic patriotism of the Gestapo and the Algemeine SS you’d probably have less trouble figuring out why “Yeah, but America…” responses would annoy people.

                    • adam …
                      23 December 2017 at 10:04 pm

                      Funny as I posted this first

                      I have friends in Russian prisons, and I spoken about that on a regular basis.

                      I see no difference between the USA and Russia, both are capitalist scum bags. Both use hard and soft power to control their citizenry, and both play the empire game badly.

                      I would have thought on a site which supports worker rights or socialism in some form. A critique of both Russia and the USA was valid.

                      Sheesh a critique of marxism-leninism is always welcome, wouldn’t you say?

                      Are not debates meant to evolve, and take on a life of their own. But no, let’s shut down any debate by the latest newspeak buzzword. Last week “fake news” this week…

                    • adam …
                      23 December 2017 at 10:13 pm

                      P.S.

                      This video which puts it on the line, but it’s Russian. So maybe you won’t watch.

                    • Ed …
                      23 December 2017 at 10:18 pm

                      The usual smears, abuse and insults from Milt.

        • adam 6.1.1.2
          23 December 2017 at 12:35 pm

          I said, did you miss it,

          “States are nasty things.”

          I did not counter what you said, but supported it. Being precious much.

    • Bill 6.2
      23 December 2017 at 12:35 pm

      I reckon the old Stalinist regime outdoes the USA in terms of any mass execution of its own citizerny by factors containing a fair string of zeros. But the rate of imprisonment? And prison labour?

      Throw in those plea bargains where innocent people are routinely ‘taking the hit’ because they are shit scared of what the US (so-called) justice system will land them with if it turns up a guilty verdict, and yeah…the results aren’t so different to what Dzerzhinsky’s quote describes.

      And patriots? I don’t anyone need say anything about popular, mis-guided and dangerous patriotism where the US is concerned.

  7. Ed 7
    23 December 2017 at 12:34 pm

    Hope srylands is feeling calmer today.

    • SPC 7.1
      23 December 2017 at 1:21 pm

      A suggestible lad, I recommend you try to avoid triggering him with topics involving the term middle finger.

  8. Ant 8
    23 December 2017 at 12:36 pm

    Trivial trivia:

    “Visibly moved, the President…..”
    If it was not “visible” how would the journo have known he was moved?

    Even stranger (on a bottle of contact lens cleaner) “…. this solution is visibly tinted.”
    Mischievously I asked the chemist “if it was invisibly tinted would it be tinted?” She said “I guess not.”

    “That time is his personal best.” Surely if its “his” its personal?

    “Mrs Jones has given birth to a new baby.” Would be a shocker if she gave birth to an old one.

  9. SPC 9
    23 December 2017 at 1:38 pm

    The new tech bubble burst back in 1999.

    The crypto-currency craze will go the same way. They either prove themselves, or they will wither on the vine – they are pretending to be useful information record technology (various), usable currency and stores of value.

    I am reminded of the 1985-86 doubling in our local bubble share market before the collapse. Then a dead cat bounce back to the 1986 high in 1987. Then another collapse – recovery here only came with the 2002 global monetary expansion and post GFC QE.

    Back in the day bitcoin was 30 cents, then rose to $30, then collapsed to $3. This is the course of every upward expansion massive gains and massive corrections.

    But because of growing publicity there are more “takers”, so the pyramid scheme continues and the continuing upward rise (more takers) gives the whole scam credibility – till there is market saturation (cue 1929 shoe-shine boy as investor story). At peak value the whole thing just exposes itself as another new tech bubble albeit hidden behind a crypto-currency front.

    What its actual new tech value will be one factor then (like gold blockchain and other information storage tech it has its uses). But even that will be confused by posing it as an alternative store of value/currency to gold (worth a little over $1000 per ounce and it fluctuations are related to monetary expansion, inflation levels and concerns about the reliability of money in banks).

  10. joe90 10
    23 December 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Accidental, of course.
    /

    Trump has changed the "challenge coin":—The presidential seal is replaced by an eagle bearing Trump’s signature—The 13 arrows representing the original states are gone—The national motto, “E pluribus unum,” is replaced with “Make America Great Again”https://t.co/MeckemSi5W— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 22, 2017

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRsTIv7VQAAiNNo.jpg

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRsTIv9VAAAeY3C.jpg

    The eagle is also looking the other way. Like this. pic.twitter.com/7JOP88IYl4— L-science based evidence-Z (@LZ181818) December 23, 2017

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DRsTrjcUEAAJRka.jpg

  11. Morrissey 11
    23 December 2017 at 2:16 pm

    Drummer of mediocre pop band thinks he’s an intellectual.
    “You’re incredible!” sighs the Fox bimbette.

    This insufferable blowhard says he speaks four languages. Don’t know about his Hebrew and his German, but in very bad Japanese, he tells the woman in this panel of admiring dopes: “You’re beautiful.”

    • Barfly 11.1
      23 December 2017 at 2:30 pm

      Yeah but he does have a really long tongue

    • James 11.2
      23 December 2017 at 5:42 pm

      Well he plays bass not drums and is the lead singer of KISS.

      They are in the rock and roll hall of flame.

      Given that you call him a drummer of a mediocre pop band just shows you ignorance.

      Given he’s Israeli- I’m guessimg he knows Hebrew from German – so I’m guessing you are wrong there as well.

      Compared with you – I guess he’s an intellectual giant.

      • fender 11.2.1
        23 December 2017 at 6:23 pm

        Paul Stanley is actually the lead singer of Kiss, that overrated band with the creepy bass player Gene Simmons who brags about having had sex with thousands of woman. Simmons is an ego-maniac who just recently attempted to trademark a hand gesture he claimed he invented despite the fact people were using it long before he ever did.

        Simmons is also a Trump supporter.

        • James 11.2.1.1
          23 December 2017 at 6:30 pm

          They both have lead vocals – buy gene is listed as lead vocals along with Paul – it’s not a one or other. He certainly isn’t the drummer tho ‘

          Also after fans but 75 million records what makes them overrated?

          • fender 11.2.1.1.1
            23 December 2017 at 6:41 pm

            Listening to their music will illustrate how overrated they are. Wearing the cartoon character makeup is about all they have contributed to music.

        • James 11.2.1.2
          23 December 2017 at 6:40 pm

          So what that he a trump supporter- millions are.

          • fender 11.2.1.2.1
            23 December 2017 at 6:58 pm

            Well I hope all those millions aren’t misogynistic blowhards like those two.

            • James 11.2.1.2.1.1
              23 December 2017 at 7:48 pm

              Some will be. Some not. Just like the supporters of any political party.

            • BM 11.2.1.2.1.2
              23 December 2017 at 7:57 pm

              Even if they are, It helps balance out all those simpering browbeaten eunuchs that are so prevalent on the other side.

              • fender …
                23 December 2017 at 8:26 pm

                Having a decent society doesn’t require a pack of assholes to create some kind of imaginary balance.

              • Barfly …
                23 December 2017 at 8:43 pm

                Wow BM that’s sick…even from you

                • BM …
                  23 December 2017 at 9:36 pm

                  Struck I nerve did I?
                  Truth is though Left-wing men do tend to be complete and utter pusses.

                  • fender …
                    24 December 2017 at 4:53 pm

                    Maybe you could walk around Hamilton wearing a sandwich board declaring your reckons that left voting men are what you say they are. Do the experiment and then see if a nurse could post the results here on your behalf.

                    Your mate Slater sure showed everyone how tough he was.

      • Psycho Milt 11.2.2
        23 December 2017 at 8:42 pm

        Well he plays bass not drums and is the lead singer of KISS.

        We’re talking Morrissey levels of accuracy here, so “drummer of mediocre pop band” is about as good as you could expect.

      • Morrissey 11.2.3
        23 December 2017 at 9:03 pm

        Given that you call him a drummer of a mediocre pop band just shows you ignorance.

        Kiss had less musical credibility than the Bay City Rollers.

        Given he’s Israeli- I’m guessimg he knows Hebrew from German – so I’m guessing you are wrong there as well.

        Well, judging from his hopeless grasp of Japanese, I doubt he speaks German very well either.

        Compared with you – I guess he’s an intellectual giant.

        That statement is about as convincing as Simmons’ claim to have shtupped five thousand shiksas.

        • James 11.2.3.1
          23 December 2017 at 9:26 pm

          for A guy who doesn’t know that the guy at the front singing and playing a guitar isn’t the drummer for will forgive me for thinking you know less than nothing.

          • Ed 11.2.3.1.1
            23 December 2017 at 9:27 pm

            Kiss were a really really bad band. And Simmons likes Trump.

            • James 11.2.3.1.1.1
              23 December 2017 at 9:37 pm

              75 million record sales say you are wrong. (Yet again)

              Induction into the rock and roll hall of fame say you are wrong (yet again)

              Your just not good at this game are you.

              • fender …
                23 December 2017 at 9:54 pm

                They were only inducted out of sympathy for their 14 previous unsuccessful nominations.

                There are many shit products that have become commercially successful, doesn’t mean they’re any good.

                • James …
                  23 December 2017 at 9:58 pm

                  You seem to suffer the lefties self righteous view of the world that just because you don’t like something that millions of other people are wrong.

                  • Ed …
                    23 December 2017 at 10:03 pm

                    This isn’t a political issue.
                    It’s a matter of musical taste.

                  • fender …
                    23 December 2017 at 10:13 pm

                    But I never said people who liked Kiss were wrong to do so did I Dr. James.

                    Let’s just say your music tastes match your taste in political party’s: Lots of bullshit and bluster with very little substance.

              • Ed …
                23 December 2017 at 10:02 pm

                Popular and good is not necessarily the same.
                The Spice Girls sold a lot of records.

                • Pat …
                  24 December 2017 at 12:23 am

                  All that needs to be remembered about Kiss (and probably all that will be) is that once the makeup came off nobody listened to them any more….their popularity (bubblegummers) was in the marketing ,never the music.

          • Morrissey 11.2.3.1.2
            24 December 2017 at 11:00 am

            Simmons’ reputation rested entirely on that long tongue of his. He might have been pretending to play the piano for all anyone cared.

            Certainly not one Kiss “fan” actually cared for their “music”, which everyone acknowledged was nothing more than crap.

  12. Morrissey 12
    23 December 2017 at 2:47 pm

    “What says ‘peace and democracy’ more than
    being shot dead from a helicopter by a prince?”

    One way of shutting up awkward comedians is to send them off on a tour of Afghanistan and/or Iraq. They then feel obligated to say nothing but nice things about the Army. So instead of criticizing the aggression against Iraq as he had in 2003, Lewis Black became a fervent advocate of U.S. troops after being paid to go over there and “entertain” them. David Letterman and Al Franken were similarly muzzled after their trips to Iraq.

    Similarly, the New Zealand comedian Mike King was willingly inveigled into becoming a part of the New Zealand government’s propaganda machinery, travelling to Afghanistan to “entertain the troops” and making a propaganda doco called Postcard from Afghanistan (“I’m just HOPING there’ll be no dramas of the TALIBAN kind!”)

    http://www.throng.co.nz/2012/07/postcard-from-afghanistan-with-mike-king/

    Not all comedians can be bought, however. Like there are some honest politicians, and some honest journalists, there are still some honest comedians too. One of the best of them is Glasgow’s brilliant Frankie Boyle….

    [From the beginning]…We had the Queen’s 91st birthday a couple of months ago. …. Why do they call the Queen “Her Majesty”? Is she majestic? Really? I think of an eagle as being majestic, not a shuffling old woman who hasn’t cracked a fucking smile since Diana died.

    …..

    [From 4:41]…. Prince William and Prince Harry have been fronting a campaign urging people to talk more about their mental health. They’ve been very well received, everybody thinks that this is a great idea. I wonder if Prince Harry ever spares a thought for the mental health of the families of the various shepherds that he gunned down from his twenty million pound death helicopter in Afghanistan. I wonder how he justifies that to himself. “I pictured Dodi’s face on every shepherd I killed! Every Arab we shot serves my mother in Hell! I know that Afghans aren’t Arabs, but I, Prince Harry in this joke, believe that they are!” That’s Britain, man, exporting peace and democracy to the world, and what says “peace and democracy” more than being shot dead from a helicopter by a prince?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TecCuUhLHk

  13. Sabine 13
    23 December 2017 at 7:31 pm

    Jakarta, slowly but surely drowning in the sea.

    Quote:
    But global warming turned out not to be the only culprit behind the historic floods that overran Rasdiono’s bodega and much of the rest of Jakarta in 2007. The problem, it turned out, was that the city itself is sinking.

    In fact, Jakarta is sinking faster than any other big city on the planet, faster, even, than climate change is causing the sea to rise – so surreally fast that rivers sometimes flow upstream, ordinary rains regularly swamp neighbourhoods and buildings slowly disappear underground, swallowed by the earth.

    The main cause: Jakartans are digging illegal wells, drip by drip draining the underground aquifers on which the city rests – like deflating a giant cushion underneath it. About 40 per cent of Jakarta now lies below sea level.

    Coastal districts, like Muara Baru, near the Blessed Bodega, have sunk as much as 14 feet in recent years.

    http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/jakarta-is-sinking-so-fast-it-could-end-up-underwater

    At some stage we really have to ask how long we can continue to fool us to the forthcoming realities of loosing human habitat to a changed environment.
    Might have to watch Waterworld again 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterworld

  14. eco maori 14
    23 December 2017 at 8:19 pm

    It is so hilarious watching these people try there stupid plays on me I read 99% of them they were trying there best tricks today. When I’m driving I just keep a gard up and ignore them it’s comical. Many thanks to my te puna for the sense to see there dum ass moves. What I also find comical is what bullshit they have come up with to carry on this farcical man hunt it should be
    A big warning to everyone that one can be a good person and cross swords with the wrong person and you have the most of the police force trying to intimatedate you and run a smear campaign oppress you WTF. I say if the police are like this in New Zealand then most of the police around the world will be the same. Ana to kai

  15. joe90 15
    23 December 2017 at 8:29 pm

    Mike “thuper therum” Cernovich thought an AMA was a good idea.

    Hilarity ensued.

    I’m Mike Cernovich – Journalist, Author, and Filmmaker. Ask Me Anything from IAmA

  16. joe90 16
    23 December 2017 at 8:54 pm

    Finnish study reckons 100% renewable 2050 is achievable and cheaper.

    Or we could burn the joint down.

    Transitioning the world to 100 percent renewable electricity isn’t just some environmentalist pipe dream—it’s “feasible at every hour throughout the year” and is more cost-effective than the current system, which largely relies on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, a new study claims.

    The research, compiled by Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the Berlin-based nonprofit Energy Watch Group (EWG), was presented Wednesday at the Global Renewable Energy Solutions Showcase, a stand-alone event coinciding with the COP 23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany.

    https://www.ecowatch.com/100-renewable-energy-by-2050-2519335518.html

  17. Macro 17
    23 December 2017 at 9:26 pm

    Finally Mueller meets Trump!

  18. joe90 18
    24 December 2017 at 5:09 am

    Austria’s far right Freedom Party gets to helm foreign, interior and defence ministries.

    But Heinz-Christian Strache isn’t a nazi, now.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-politics-ministries/austrian-far-right-to-control-foreign-interior-ministries-spokesman-idUSKBN1EA0EG

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  • The Fog Of Economic Policy Is Starting To Clear…
    Bryan Bruce, https://www.facebook.com/www.redsky.tv, 19 September 2020 National’s economic policy of temporary tax cuts yesterday proved, if proof be needed, that they are unapologetic neoliberals. While their claim that with more money in their pockets people will spend more might sound attractive, the reality is that tax cuts always benefit the ...
    Closing the GapBy Tracey Sharp
    5 hours ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #38, 2020
    Highlighted article: Carbon pricing and planetary boundaries  Engström et al take what might be called a systems approach to evaluating carbon pricing, taking into a account various economic sectors affected by and affecting paying for emissions. The conclusions are overall a rare pleasant surprise— a feature predicated on cooperation.  Abstract: ...
    Skeptical Science
    10 hours ago

  • Humans ignite almost every wildfire that threatens homes
    Nathan Mietkiewicz, National Ecological Observatory Network and Jennifer Balch, University of Colorado Boulder CC BY-ND Summer and fall are wildfire season across the western U.S. In recent years, wildfires have destroyed thousands of homes, forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and exposed tens of millions to harmful ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    12 hours ago

  • Climate Change: China steps up
    China has increased its climate change ambition, and set a target to be carbon-neutral by 2060: China will reach carbon neutrality before 2060 and ensure its greenhouse gas emissions peak in the next decade, Xi Jinping has told the UN general assembly. “China will scale up its intended nationally ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    14 hours ago

  • Humans have dealt with plenty of climate variability
    Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz How much climate variability have humans dealt with since we ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    15 hours ago

  • Indigenous perspectives on unrestricted access to genomic data
    By Genomics Aotearoa researcher Maui Hudson, University of Waikato It is vital that genomics research respects genomic data and genetic heritage from indigenous communities. Genomics research is a rapidly growing field of study, and there is a strong push to make the huge amount of data being produced open ...
    SciBlogsBy Genomics Aotearoa
    17 hours ago

  • Terrible luck: lockdowns on learning and youth job prospects
    What is bad luck? Bad luck is spilling spaghetti sauce down your shirt right before an important meeting. When the person in front of you gets the last seat on the bus, that’s bad luck. Bad luck is when it’s sunny outside, so you leave the house without a coat, ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    17 hours ago

  • Ian Powell: Does private healthcare threaten public healthcare in New Zealand?
    Is the private health system impacting negatively on the public health system? Health commentator Ian Powell evaluates a recent NZ Herald article by Natalie Akoorie (“Public v private healthcare: Moonlighting, skimming, duplication – should NZ do better”), and looks at how the dual system works, and concludes that the answer ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    21 hours ago

  • A rabbit-hole election debate: So do you want more avocado orchards?
    We live in strange and unusual times. It’s been a century since we’ve endured a global pandemic like this, more than half a century since we’ve had economic woes like this. So maybe we got an opening election debate for the times - because that was a strange and unusual ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    1 day ago

  • LIVE: Jacinda Ardern vs. Judith Collins, First Debate
    Tonight, The Civilian will be live-blogging the first of too many debates between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins, and also the last fifteen minutes of the news. Be sure to tune in from 6:45pm for regular updates, which can be accessed by refreshing this page ...
    The CivilianBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Hundreds of Aucklanders arrested after illegal mass gathering on Harbour Bridge
    An enormous drive-in party, shown here, was held this morning on Auckland’s Harbour Bridge, where police were forced to intervene. Hundreds of Aucklanders were arrested this morning on public health grounds, after an apparent illegal mass gathering on the city’s Harbour Bridge. Police say hundreds of Aucklanders gathered in their ...
    The CivilianBy admin
    1 day ago

  • The Looming Fight.
    Social Distancing Be Damned - It's Jacinda! Shortly after ascending to Labour’s leadership, Jacinda described herself as a “pragmatic idealist”. It was an inspired oxymoron – packing into just two words the essence of the social-democrat’s dilemma. It was good to know that she knew what lay ahead of her. ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change: Moving faster
    Back in 2017, the UK announced that it would ban the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040. Its a basic climate change measure, aimed at reducing emissions by shifting the vehicle fleet to cleaner technologies. Now, in the wake of the pandemic, they're planning to bring it forward ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • The Australian courts have had enough of refugee detention
    For the past decade, Australia has had a racist, anti-refugee policy. Those claiming refugee status are imprisoned without trial and left to rot in the hope they would "voluntarily" return to be tortured and murdered. When the courts have granted them visas, the government has immediately revoked them on racial ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Friction and the Anti-lock Braking System
    Yesterday afternoon I had to call on my car’s anti-lock braking system (ABS). For reasons best known to its driver, a car pulled out of a side road right in front of me while I was driving home after work, and I needed to stop in a hurry. I rather ...
    SciBlogsBy Marcus Wilson
    2 days ago

  • The Inside Word: New Zealand Quarantine
    There are a fair few misconceptions about conditions within New Zealand’s Quarantine Hotels. Madeline Grant’s misplaced accusations being one prominent example, though she is not alone. Today, I thought I’d share the inside word, so to speak. A friend of mine has recently returned to New Zealand from overseas, and ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • Hard News: ASA: Let’s not talk about this
    Last week, major newspapers carried a full-page ad as part of the campaign for a "No" vote to the referendum question about supporting the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill. The ad was authorised by the SAM NZ Coalition, which takes its name from a controversial American anti-cannabis group and includes ...
    Public Address
    2 days ago

  • This is not kind
    New Zealand has a serious homelessness problem, due to skyrocketing rents and a lack of state houses. One of the ways we stick a band-aid on it is to put people up in motels. Previously, they were charged full commercial rates, saddled with odious debt due to the government's failure ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Wokies are the establishment
    by Ani O’Brien In the absence of a better word with which to refer to the rabid activists who claim progressivism while demanding adherence to an increasingly prescriptive set of political beliefs, I call them “woke”. With its roots in Black American slang, the term originally denoted a person or ...
    RedlineBy Daphna
    2 days ago

  • How to strengthen the post-isolation Covid rules
    Over the weekend, the Ministry of Health reported a case of Covid-19 in Auckland that is not related to the current Auckland cluster. Before we start to panic, here’s how I think the case happened and how we can strengthen our current border controls. The new Covid-19 case is someone ...
    SciBlogsBy Siouxsie Wiles
    2 days ago

  • Neuralink and You: A Human-AI Symbiosis
    Becky Casale Elon Musk reckons his Neuralink brain implant is much more than a medical device–that one day it will drive a symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence. “Good morning! I’m Dr Benedict Egg and I’ll be supervising your Neuralink insertion today. Do you have any questions?” “Yes, Doc. ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    3 days ago

  • Liam Hehir: Our obsession with American politics
    Many New Zealanders take a strong interest in US politics, with the death of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg being the latest example. Liam Hehir wonders if it very wise for New Zealanders to get so worked about it.   Many politically engaged New Zealanders are now furiously ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • COVID: Back to Level 1
    After stamping the Coronavirus out via strict lockdown between March and May, New Zealand went through a good three months without any community cases. Then a local outbreak in Auckland rather buggered things up last month. Auckland’s been in level 3 and level 2.5 for the past six weeks. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Climate injustice
    Who's causing our skyrocketing emissions? As with most of our other problems, It's the rich: The wealthiest 1% of the world’s population were responsible for the emission of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorer half of the world from 1990 to 2015, according to new ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Good riddance
    The border closure and resulting lack of foreign slave-workers is driving the fishing industry out of business: One fishing company is effectively out of business while others are bracing for large financial hits as the deepwater New Zealand industry, unable to get skilled foreign workers into the country, have ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #38
    Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... The tipping points at the heart of the climate crisis Many parts of the Earth’s climate system have been destabilised by ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Anyone for Collins?
    In the absence of national public opinion polls, we have had to make do in recent weeks with other guides to voter intentions. Those guides, such as the Auckland Central poll, the incidence of google enquiries and the responses to Vote Compass questions, have suggested, not unexpectedly, that Labour is ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    3 days ago

  • Crusher’s fiscal malfunction
    Crusher Collins - National Party leaderWe all know that the National Party is desperate to gain some traction during this election campaign and have been throwing pretty much everything at the Labour Party in order to try and undermine Jacinda Ardern and what the Coalition Government has achieved. But unfortunately ...
    The Jackal
    3 days ago

  • Much of the commentariat’s reporting of the most recent GDP figure was misleading and unhelpful. The prize for the stupidest remark about the GDP figure for second quarter 2020 (2020Q2) released on Thursday (17 Sept) goes to Judith Collins, whose response to Grant Robertson’s comments indicated she did not ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • Love and Hate as Complementary Revolutionary Acts
    by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh goloing@gmail.com (19/09/2020) Che Guevara said that a true revolutionary is motivated by love i.e. love of the oppressed, the poor, the children dying from preventable illnesses. This phrase of his is true but has been used by reformists and their more hippy wing have taken advantage ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    4 days ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38
    A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 13, 2020 through Sat, Sep 19, 2020 Editor's Choice Get to Net-Zero by Mid-Century? Even Some Global Oil and Gas Giants Think it Can Be Done A report by a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Tax cuts for all!!! (except you, you, and you)
    With the National Party this week announcing a new policy of tax cuts to spice up the election campagin. MyThinks went along to the launch and afterwards we spoke to the party’s finance spokesperson Paul “Golden Touch” Goldsmith. MT: Thanks for speaking to us Mr Goldsmith. PG: No. Thank you. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    5 days ago

  • Great Waves Washing Over New Zealand
    Always to islanders danger Is what comes over the seas ‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us. 1.         The Diminishing Global Dominance of the US. Since 1941 America has dominated the world economically and politically. Probably it could ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    5 days ago

  • New Zealand has role to play in resolving crisis on ‘geopolitical fault line’, Helen Clark says
    By Geoffrey Miller New Zealand should continue to champion human rights in Belarus amidst an ongoing crackdown on protests by the country’s regime, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Protests in the country often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections on August 9 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago

  • Euthanasia referendum: How to cut through the emotions
    Jacqui Maguire, registered clinical psychologist This podcast episode highlights how difficult it is to have effective conversations about euthanasia due to how polarised people’s views are. I’m a clinical psychologist, with a passion for science communication. In early 2020 I founded the podcast Mind Brew, with an aim to make psychological ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    6 days ago

  • Why we need cameras on boats
    In case anyone needed further convincing, there's another example today of why we need cameras on fishing boats: reported seabird bycatch doubled during a camera trial: Commercial fishers operating off Auckland's coast around vulnerable seabirds are twice as likely to report accidentally capturing them when cameras are on ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Graham Adams: The religious right’s campaign to spike the euthanasia referendum
    In the leadup to the euthanasia referendum, an array of conservative Christian political organisations is running an expensive campaign to sow doubt about the safety of assisted dying. Graham Adams argues that these religious forces know that Christian arguments aren’t convincing the public, but that it is in the public ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 days ago

  • Opportunistic looting
    The National Party has spent the last six months acting horrified at the cost of supporting people through the pandemic and banging on about how the debt must be repaid. So what was their economic policy released today? Massive tax-cuts for the rich, of course! National has walked back ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Uncomfortable Choices.
    Dangerous Times: This will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming. Or, throw your ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • Tony Burton: Covid and benefit payments
    It would be a great time to reform the benefit system, according to former Deputy Chief Economic Advisor at the Treasury, Tony Burton. He argues the complexity of benefit system means that it’s failing to achieve its difficult three core objectives, which form an “iron triangle”.   New Zealand’s benefit ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 days ago

  • Talking tax: How to win support for taxing wealth
    Tax Justice UK, September 2020 Serious tax reform is on the political agenda for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus crisis. As this debate hots up it is important to understand what people think about public spending, wealth and tax. Tax Justice UK, along with Survation and ...
    Closing the GapBy Tracey Sharp
    6 days ago

  • Getting Tough.
    Not Mucking Around: With upwards of 800 dead from the virus’s resurgence in the Australian state of Victoria, leniency is not on Premier Daniel Andrews’ agenda. The Victorian Police are cracking down hard on the protesters the Australian press has labelled "Covidiots".IMAGES OF POLICE, some in riot gear, others on ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • Media Link: Nuclear strategy, then and now.
    Although I had the fortune of being a graduate student of some of the foremost US nuclear strategists of the day (1970s) and later rubbed shoulders with Air Force and Naval officers who were entrusted with parts of the US nuclear arsenal, I seldom get to write or speak about ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    7 days ago

  • The Chinese List.
    News that Zhenhua Data, an arm of China Zhenhua Electronics Group, a subsidiary of the military-connected China Electronic Information Industry Group (CETC), maintains a list of 800 New Zealanders on a “Overseas Key Information Database” that contains personal information on more than 2.4 million foreign individuals, has caused some consternation ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    7 days ago

  • Things that grow fast, and things that surprise us
    Marie Becdelievre January 2020. The number of news article mentioning coronavirus exploded and anxious voices whispered about a global pandemic. Whisper? To me, it was only a whisper. I tend to learn about the world through non-fiction books, conferences, and academic research rather than news and social media, so ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    7 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #37, 2020
    2,082,476,000,000,000 Viability of greenhouse gas removal via the artificial addition of volcanic ash to the ocean  (not open access, unfortunately) walks us through the numbers on a particular means of CO2 removal, addition of volcanic tephra to the ocean. The mechanism is straight chemistry and the cost is fully an order of ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Barbados to become a republic
    Barbados is planning to remove the queen as head of state and become a republic in time for the 55th anniversary of its independence in 2021: Barbados has announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic by November 2021. [...] Reading ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Party Like It’s 1989: Bait and Switch is a Bad Look, Mr Hipkins
    At the 2017 election, the New Zealand Labour Party promised a Fees Free Policy for tertiary students. Basically, it would make the first year of university education free in 2018, with a second year in 2021, and a third in 2024. It also promised to restore Post-Graduate access to the ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago

  • Will the tropics eventually become uninhabitable?
    Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz What is the impact of temperature increases in the tropics? ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    1 week ago

  • A first-hand look: What it’s like to live in a 2020 California wildfire evacuation zone
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons It felt like 100 degrees in my in-laws’ Grass Valley, California, kitchen, but at least the lights were on and for the moment we were safely “distanced” from the Jones Fire. We’d just finished dessert, after pizza and a movie ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • COVID-19 is not the only infectious disease New Zealand wants to eliminate, and genome sequencing is...
    Nigel French, Massey University Genome sequencing — the mapping of the genetic sequences of an organism — has helped track the spread of COVID-19 cases in Auckland, but it also plays an important role in the control of other infectious diseases in New Zealand. One example is Mycoplasma bovis, a ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    1 week ago

  • A flaw in our electoral transparency regime
    A key part of our electoral funding regime is a requirement for some transparency around donations, on the basis that if we can find out who has bought our politicians (typically after we have voted for them) then everything is alright. There are a lot of problems with that regime ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Don’t Steal This Book
    On “In Defense of Looting” Matt Taibibi takes an entertaining look at this generation of woke activists and how they compare with Abbie Hoffman the iconic anti-Vietnam war counter-culture figure of the 1960s On Thursday, August 27th, the same day Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination, National Public Radio ...
    RedlineBy Daphna
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Carbon prices must rise
    When Parliament introduced the Emissions Trading Scheme, it was worried that carbon prices might get too high. So it introduced a "fixed price option", allowing polluters to pay the government $25 in the place of surrendering credits. The result was predictable: after we were thrown out of international carbon markets ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Disclosure
    The government will finally be requiring large New Zealand companies to disclose their climate change risks: New Zealand finance companies will be made to report on climate change risk, Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced. The policy will force around 200 large financial organisations in New Zealand to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Tackling the hard issues – trust and relationships
    By Claire Grant, Genomics Aotearoa Communications Manager Community consultation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of research programmes in New Zealand, and with that comes the art of relationship building. Engagement between scientists and user-groups is certainly nothing new. But as stakeholder involvement becomes more of a requirement for science, ...
    SciBlogsBy Genomics Aotearoa
    1 week ago

  • Equality Network – September Newsletter
    Read the Equality Network newsletter here ...
    Closing the GapBy Tracey Sharp
    1 week ago

  • The Left’s Lost Allies.
    Rebels In A Wrong Cause: The truly frightening thing about Jami-Lee Ross’s and Billy Te Kahika’s success in persuading thousands of New Zealanders that Covid-19 is just another trick, just another way of stealing away their power, is realising just how many of them once marched at the Left’s side. ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • Legal Beagle: Low-Hanging Fruit
    In a couple of months, the 53rd Parliament will meet in Wellington, and approximately 120 MPs will be sworn in, many of them for the first time.They will all have political goals, some aligning with their party platforms, some not, some complex, and some simple, but they will gain one ...
    Public Address
    1 week ago

  • Closing the Gap thinks that Labour’s proposal to raise the top tax rate is great but………
    Media Statement For Immediate Release 10th September 2020 The income and wealth inequality lobby group, “Closing the Gap” thinks the Labour proposal a great start says Peter Malcolm, a spokesperson for the group. But they need to be aware of what many of the rich do and of what do ...
    Closing the GapBy Tracey Sharp
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: No nonsense
    ACT is pushing a "no-nonsense climate change plan". What does it involve? Repealing the Zero Carbon Act and Emissions Trading Scheme, reversing the fossil-fuel exploration ban, and allowing mining on conservation land. In other words, repealing any policy which might actually reduce emissions. Which is the very definition of nonsensical. ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • My Climate Story: Coming full Circle
    This blog post is a follow up to my recap of Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Training I recently participated in. One of the exercises we were asked to complete was to write about our respective "Climate Story". This is a slightly updated version to the one I had submitted during ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • A bill to criminalise wage theft
    Wage theft is a problem in New Zealand, with a widespread practice of forcing employees to work without pay, and regular cases of underpayment and exploitation. One reason why its such a widespread problem is impunity: rather than a crime, wage theft is merely a tort, dealt with by the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Liam Hehir: What the voting age debate tells us about our disconnected political media
    New Zealand’s media and online politics often reflect the values of liberal and progressive agendas. According to Liam Hehir, the current proposals to lower the voting age to 16 years – which the media overwhelming supports – is indicative of a wider mismatch with society, which is not good for ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    1 week ago

  • Why Pay Taxes?
    My wife and I, through a combination of good luck and good management, have managed to retire in comfortable circumstances. We celebrate our good fortune by making relatively small but regular donations to a range of good causes – to rescue services like the rescue helicopters, St John’s Ambulance and ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    1 week ago

  • Now everyone’s a statistician. Here’s what armchair COVID experts are getting wrong
    Jacques Raubenheimer, University of Sydney If we don’t analyse statistics for a living, it’s easy to be taken in by misinformation about COVID-19 statistics on social media, especially if we don’t have the right context. For instance, we may cherry pick statistics supporting our viewpoint and ignore statistics showing we ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    1 week ago

  • More timid bullshit from Labour
    Over the weekend, Labour released its welfare policy: an increase in benefit abatement thresholds. And that's it. Faced with clear evidence of ongoing hardship among beneficiaries and a call from its on Welfare Expert Advisory Group to raise core benefits by between 12 percent and 47 percent, Labour's response is ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • The Police Kill as Part of their Social Function
    by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Bogota; 09/11/2020) The murder of Javier Ordoñez in the neighbourhood of Villa Luz in Bogotá, Colombia at the hands of two policemen brings to the fore the issue of police violence and its function in society. First of all we should be clear that we are ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    1 week ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #37
    Story of the Week... La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS...  Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Humans exploiting and destroying nature on unprecedented scale – report Animal populations have plunged an average of 68% ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • The 2019 measles epidemic in Samoa
    Gabrielle Po-Ching In November 1918, the cargo and passenger ship Talune travelled to Apia, Samoa from Auckland, carrying a number of passengers who had pneumonic influenza. From these passengers stemmed the biggest pandemic Samoa had ever seen. With around 8,500 deaths, over 20% of the country’s population at the ...
    SciBlogsBy Guest Author
    1 week ago

  • Shifting all Isolation/Quarantine Facilities to a Single Air Force Base: The Need for a Critical Ana...
    Prof Nick Wilson*, Prof Michael Baker In this blog the arguments for and against shifting all COVID-19 related isolation/quarantine facilities to a single air force base at Ōhakea are considered. The main advantage would be a reduction in the risk of border control failures, which can potentially involve outbreaks ...
    SciBlogsBy Public Health Expert
    1 week ago

  • The difference between Green and Labour: a tale of two Finance Ministers
    So the Greens co-leader James Shaw recently made a mistake. In his role as Associate Finance Minister approving funding for “shovel-ready” projects, he fought hard for a private “Green school” to get funding to expand their buildings and, therefore, their student capacity. There are many problems with what he did: ...
    Cut your hairBy calebmorgan
    1 week ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – The missing election policy on free dental visits
    Over the last three years there have been growing calls for the government to provide dental services under the health system – universal free dental care. This is because at the moment there’s an anomaly in which teeth are regarded as different from the rest of the body which means ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 weeks ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #37
    A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 6, 2020 through Sat, Sep 12, 2020 Editor's Choice With California ablaze, Newsom blasts Trump administration for failing to fight climate change Trinity River Conservation Camp crew members drown ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 weeks ago

  • Letter to the Editor
    Dear Sir, As we head into the run up to the upcoming election I feel it is my duty to draw your attention to the lack of fun we are currently forced to ensure by the Adern regime. In their efforts to keep the nation’s essential workers, health compromised people, ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    2 weeks ago

Older posts

  • Support for innovative Pacific education responses to COVID-19 needs
    Supporting new and creative Pacific education practices as part of our COVID-19 response and recovery is the focus of a new $28.5 million Pacific Education Innovation Fund announced today by Associate Minister of Education Jenny Salesa.  “There is already an incredible amount of innovative and creative work going on in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    16 hours ago

  • Eligibility expanded for COVID-19 leave support
    The expanded scheme will cover: People who have COVID-19 like symptoms and meet the Ministry of Health’s criteria, and need to self-isolate while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test. People who are directed to self-isolate by a Medical Officer of Health or their delegate or on advice of their ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Seasonal work visa available to more people
    The Government is putting in place a range of immigration policy changes to help fill labour shortages in key industries while ensuring New Zealanders, who have lost jobs due to COVID-19, have the chance to find new employment. “Two key sectors we are moving to help are horticulture and wine ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • More border exceptions for critical roles
    The Government has established class exceptions for border entry for a limited number of veterinarians, deep sea fishing crew, as well as agricultural and horticultural machinery operators. “Tight border restrictions remain the backbone of the Government’s border strategy to protect New Zealand against COVID-19 and ensure New Zealand citizens and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Crown will not appeal Dodds v Southern Response decision
    The Crown will not appeal the Court of Appeal decision in the Dodds v Southern Response case, Grant Robertson announced today. “Southern Response will be paying the damages awarded by the Court to Mr and Mrs Dodds shortly. The Crown was already meeting their legal costs for this appeal. “The ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Crucial PGF investments for Northland
    The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $30 million in a diverse range of projects that will create immediate and long-term jobs and lift economic and social outcomes for Northland and its people. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones made the announcement today in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • $27million investment in global vaccine facility
    The Coalition Government has committed to invest $27 million in COVID-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX Facility, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today. “The COVAX Facility is a key part of our COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy to obtain safe and effective vaccines. It allows us to invest in a high-quality, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Government backing Māori landowners
    The Government will provide up to $1.69 million through the One Billion Trees programme to Māori landowners to make their whenua more productive through the planting of forests, both native and exotic, and improve economic and environmental outcomes, Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Around 1.5 million ha of land ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • New tools to make nature more accessible
    People planning to head outdoors now have a resource that lets them know how accessible an area is for people with varying levels of mobility, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The Halberg Foundation, Sensibel, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) have launched Accessibel, a new tool which helps ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

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  • Making it official: The journey of te reo Māori | Kia whakapūmautia: Ngā piki me ngā heke o te r...
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  • Better-than-forecast GDP reflects decision to protect New Zealand
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  • Boost for COVID-19 related Pacific education needs
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  • More resources for kiwi conservation
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  • Improving access to affordable electricity
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  • Government achieves 50 percent women on state boards
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  • Iwi community hub opens in Murupara
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  • PREFU shows economy doing better than forecast
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  • Spruce-up for Ōtaki community facilities
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  • PGF funding for Jobs for Nature programme
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  • Procurement to promote jobs, Māori and Pasifika businesses and sustainability
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  • Timaru’s Theatre Royal to be upgraded and new heritage facility built
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  • District Court judge appointed
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  • Approval given to Commercial Film and Video Production Proposal
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  • Supporting a thriving wānanga sector to benefit Māori learners
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  • Jobs for Nature boosts efforts to restore Kaimai-Mamaku
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  • New Zealand first in the world to require climate risk reporting
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  • Economic data highlights impact of Auckland moving out of Level 3
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  • PM statement on Cabinet COVID-19 Alert Level review
    Takiri mai te ata, ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea, tihei mauriora! Tātou katoa ngā iwi o Aotearoa, tēnā koutou! Tēnā tātou e whakanuia ana i te wiki nei, te wiki o te reo Māori Greeting to you all from Otepoti, Dunedin.  This week is the Māori Language week and ...
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  • Government joins forces with Central Otago communities to clean up waterways
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  • Government confirms new Dunedin Hospital design
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  • Join the one in a million reo Māori moment
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  • Education initiatives add to momentum of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020
    More than 1000 teachers, support staff and school leaders have graduated from a programme designed to grow their capability to use te reo Māori in their teaching practice, as part of the Government’s plan to integrate te reo Māori into education, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Being trialled ...
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  • The Toloa Tertiary Scholarships for 2021 aims to increase Pacific participation in STEM
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  • Financial support for timber industry
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