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Open Mike 23/03/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 23rd, 2017 - 52 comments
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52 comments on “Open Mike 23/03/2017”

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  1. lprent 1
    23 March 2017 at 2:28 am

    Partial reinstall of the search mechanism.

    Still to do…
    1. It doesn’t remember your advanced settings
    2. The @author isn’t working well.
    3. Nor is the multiple selections

    Could probably do with an update to the search form to allow more advanced searches.

    But it is FAST. Try the topical search for “Wayne Mapp” or “robinsod”

    Incidentally for mods. I know the easy way to leave message son a post before publication… It is a weird trick…

    …. and now I’m sounding like one of those come-on net ads

    • Bearded Git 1.1
      23 March 2017 at 9:06 am

      @lprent “Replies” is working well and I love it.

      Using “Replies” is really the only way a debate can develop on a posting over a period of a few days or longer.

    • weka 1.2
      23 March 2017 at 2:05 pm

      wow, that is fast. Looks better than google by site too, I’d forgotten what it does.

  2. ianmac 2
    23 March 2017 at 9:07 am

    Wayne Mapp says that the attack was justified because the NZers were under attack. They were entitled to defend themselves. Seems a bit odd as on the night, apart from some bullets there is no mention of weapons found or being fired at the NZers.

      • weka 2.1.1
        23 March 2017 at 2:13 pm

        He says that the soldiers were under constant attack from the village, and that bomb makers lived there. Was that confirmed in the book?

    • Cinny 2.2
      23 March 2017 at 1:06 pm

      I currently don’t believe their excuse, that NZer’s were under attack as the reason to their behaviour, and I won’t believe it until I see the video footage, because there will be video of it.

      • ianmac 2.2.1
        23 March 2017 at 2:57 pm

        On the night in question there was no report of “coming under fire.” Only some bullets were found
        Therefore the justification must be that 2 weeks previously their patrol had been attacked. Therefore this would form the “self-defence” response. The attack had been from the direction of the valley and those two villages.
        Seems to be a tenuous excuse to me, but maybe that is what happens in a messy war. If so, let it be part of the Terms of Engagement.

        • Cinny 2.2.1.1
          23 March 2017 at 4:00 pm

          ‘coming under fire’ would only be believable as an excuse if it happened in the immediate moments prior to their attack.

          Revenge takes time to plan, maybe two weeks? Someone has stoked a fire, in times of ‘war’ it is easy to do, a good solider follows orders. Only some bullets were found, i wonder whose bullets and when they were fired? (i’m still reading the book, digesting it)

          No wonder so many SAS have spoken to the authors, the decision of a few affecting the lives of many, not only deaths and casualties of innocents, but the PTSD and burden of guilt on those whom were good soldiers, following orders.

          “Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood.

          But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

          Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.

          All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
          – Hermann Göring (Nazi and Hitler Successor, death by suicide in 1946)

          • Red Hand 2.2.1.1.1
            23 March 2017 at 7:02 pm

            Goering was not Hitler’s appointed successor.

            “Hitler appointed the following as the new Cabinet and as leaders of the nation:
            President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Minister of War (Kriegsminister) and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine): Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
            Chancellor of the Reich (Reichskanzler): Dr. Joseph Goebbels
            Party Minister (Parteiminister): Martin Bormann
            Foreign Minister (Aussenminister): Arthur Seyss-Inquart
            Interior Minister (Innenminister): Gauleiter Paul Giesler
            Commander-in-Chief of the Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres): Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner
            Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe): Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim
            Reichsführer-SS and Chief of Police (Reichsführer-SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei): Gauleiter Karl Hanke
            Minister of Economy (Wirtschaft): Walther Funk
            Minister of Agriculture (Landwirtschaft): Herbert Backe
            Minister of Justice (Justiz): Otto Thierack
            Minister of Culture (Kultur): Dr. Gustav Adolf Scheel
            Minister of Propaganda (Propaganda): Dr. Werner Naumann
            Minister of Finance (Finanzen): Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
            Minister of Labour (Arbeit): Dr. Theo Hupfauer
            Minister of Munitions (Rüstung): Karl-Otto Saur
            Director of the German Labour Front and member of the Cabinet (Leiter der Deutschen Arbeitsfront und Mitglied des Reichskabinetts: Reichsminister) Dr. Robert Ley”

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_will_and_testament_of_Adolf_Hitler

          • Cinny 2.2.1.1.2
            23 March 2017 at 8:07 pm

            EDIT… Words spoken by Herman Goring (Nazi, in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices. However… When Goring was informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting permission to assume control of the Reich. Considering it an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest.) to Gustave Gilbert.

            Part of a conversation Gilbert held with a dejected Hermann Goering in his cell on the evening of 18 April 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day Easter recess:

            Is that better red hand?

            “Do you train for passing tests or do you train for creative inquiry?,” Noam Chomsky

    • Morrissey 2.3
      23 March 2017 at 4:47 pm

      Ian, you’re just causing trouble. When our friend Wayne told his lies to his colleagues in the National caucus, they accepted what he said without demur, as did our leading journalists, such as Duncan Garner, Mark Richardson and Mike Hosking.

      • Johan 2.3.1
        23 March 2017 at 5:04 pm

        All MSM personalities are falling over themselves to be apologists for our military blunders.

      • tc 2.3.2
        23 March 2017 at 5:12 pm

        None of those are journalists. You have referenced an egotist, a sports jock/egotist and a self centered tosser/egotist.

  3. saveNZ 3
    23 March 2017 at 9:18 am

    Apple paid no tax in New Zealand for at least a decade, reports say
    Investigation says company paid nothing to Inland Revenue Department because parent company registered in Australia

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/23/apple-paid-no-tax-in-new-zealand-for-at-least-a-decade-reports-say

  5. saveNZ 5
    23 March 2017 at 9:39 am

    contrast with….

    Stressed homeless mother’s desperate plea: ‘It’s too much for me’

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=11821826

    ….So the National party immigration and foreign ownership policy mostly helps businesses, businesses only contribute about 15% of NZ taxes and some like Apple earning billions in NZ and paying no tax at all.

    so those actually living here probably middle NZ, have to pay most of the taxes, local businesses compete against billion dollar companies who pay nothing and now many Kiwis don’t even have a home to rent, let alone own.

    Does not make sense!

    No wonder NZ is going backwards!! The global economic experiment has failed and it’s not just NZ – it is all around the world. Inequality has risen with neoliberalism.

      • dv 5.1.1
        23 March 2017 at 10:04 am

        From the article

        The New Zealand Housing Foundation’s Affordable Rental scheme

        • Helps low-income Kiwis buy homes under a shared-ownership model
        • Must be a first time home buyer
        • Must have minimum deposit of $10,000
        • Have a regular combined household income, (in Auckland, between $55 000 and $95,000)
        • Have a good credit record
        • Currently looking for applicants for housing devolopment in Waimahia Inlet, Weymouth, Flat Bush, Hobsonville, Awatea, Christchurch and Hornby, Christchurch

        There is no indication of the price of the house OR the on going mortgage payments.
        The saving effort was/is impressive

        • McFlock 5.1.1.1
          23 March 2017 at 4:01 pm

          She and her partner were able to buy the home, valued at $580,000 at the time, thanks to two things – the acceptance of their application for support from the New Zealand Housing Foundation, and their knuckled-down efforts to save $13,000 in five months.

          What’s this scheme and how can I get in on it? Servicing a $567,000 mortgage on $55k a year? That’s tight, even for a singleton/no kids.

      • saveNZ 5.1.2
        23 March 2017 at 3:46 pm

        yep, good on the family for getting their own home and the sacrifices they made but when you are homeless and on the benefit how realistic is it to save $250 a week?

        It seems like it is legal for Apple and many other corporations to pay no tax – so you have to wonder why do the NZ government and other governments allow it and discriminate against their own people paying tax and big companies can pay nothing?

        Likewise if NZ is opened up to global housing trade and have to compete against real wages overseas and god knows how many tax advantages off shore people have and the massive amount of people in the world, not only is it not moral, it is not fair.

  6. weka 6
    23 March 2017 at 2:18 pm

    “We know that the Maori Party is using its negotiating position to demand concessions that National would never usually give,” says Mr Seymour.

    “Today ACT and UnitedFuture are offering the Prime Minister another option in order to pass the bill without undermining the rights of property owners and local communities.”

    http://act.org.nz/act-and-unitedfuture-offer-national-a-way-out-of-rma-quagmire/

    Super eyerolling at that.

  7. Xanthe 7
    23 March 2017 at 3:11 pm

    Lest we forget the mass hysteria that pervaded this site recently and in fond memory of CV

    1 the russians have not been shown to have engaged in anything more than the usual “intellegence” that is ongoing.
    ( i do not cite to prove a negative , that would violate logic!)

    2 trumps communications were “Surveiled”
    https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/844632137072623616/video/1

    I am disapointed that so many here seem to welcome gladly being misled

    • McFlock 7.1
      23 March 2017 at 3:25 pm

      lol

      1: trump specifically said that his phones in trump tower had been “tapped”. Even Nunes rejects that in his statement

      2: it says ” incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”. Not Trump personally, and not that the “US citizens involved in the Trump transition” were the targets of that surveillance. A farcical example of that would be if Ivanka was photographed buying a hot dog from a vendor who was under surveillance for being a message hub for an international criminal cartel.

      4: did Nunes say any damned thing about the Russians? I must have missed it.

      5: to recap: Trump is still a paranoid wee oompah-loompah who mashes words together.

      better than wikileaks

      • Xanthe 7.1.1
        23 March 2017 at 3:48 pm

        So you are suggesting a report on what he said “really means” somehow trumps (pun intended) the actual video of him saying it?

        I do agree with your point 5 ! (Yes i really do!) but would add that he is also Is cunning as a rattlesnake and has honed his skills in media manipulation over many series of the apprentice . I am not fooled for a minute that the “obama tapped my phones” tweet was unintended or unproveable he is playing the media at their own game and winning. In the end i am convinced that 1. everyone with any profile had their phones tapped. 2. Obama knew this . Yes that is only my uncited conviction but notwithstanding the atlantic’s spin, That has to be the most likely truth (to set along side “fake truth” and “alternative truth”)

        • McFlock 7.1.1.1
          23 March 2017 at 4:16 pm

          OK, where in the 1m15s video wikileaks have taken out of context does Nunes say trump’s phone was tapped, that trump himself was under surveillance, or the individuals close to trump’s campaign were targets of surveillance (as opposed to being seen connected with legitimate targets of surveillance)?

          Because what I said and the Atlantic article says are consistent with the wikileaks video. They are all irrelevant to the claim that trump’s phones were tapped by obama, or even that trump himself came under any surveillance whatsoever.

          I would suggest that:
          Any communications across the US border were monitored automatically; and
          anyone in the Trump campaign who made contact with an actual target of surveillance (either from spying or international crime) would have been logged as having that contact.

          But then we know all that everyone is under those conditions, because Snowden and Flynn.

          What I think is [insert word “odd” here] is the idea that Obama ordered any intelligence agency to make trump a surveillance target. For what – Democrats to lose the presidency and […], enabling world domination?

          • Xanthe 7.1.1.1.1
            23 March 2017 at 5:05 pm

            He states very clearly that having identified members of trump team as incidental to the target of survellance , these names and details were then disseminated thru the intelligence community ie they became targets themselves.

            Let me put this another way (dramatic reconstruction, actual facts may differ!)

            Scene one (combined intellegence headquarters)
            “how can we get trump?” “I know say the russians helped him to win” this while not true can be proven (heh heh) , of course the russians can be shown to have tried to infuence the us election just as they always do and we always do. And trump won, “brilliant lets do it”

            scene two (trump in his regal slendour of trump towers surrounded by cheap gold plated bathroomware)

            “Hmm how about this” i accuse obama of ordering the tapping of my phones this can be proven even tho its not true (“heh heh”) everyone knows the cia taps everyones phone and because the cia reports to the president he technically has ordered all that they do.

            Scene three (news room of theatlantic.com)
            (ChIef editor)
            “Ha ha trump has accused obama of tapping his phones we can shoot this down easily by showing that it was all just normal activity and the president had nothing personally to do with it,”
            (Junior copywrtier) ” but dosn’t that approach rather undermine the russians helped trump line”

            Trump “heh heh”

            • McFlock 7.1.1.1.1.1
              23 March 2017 at 5:31 pm

              🙄

              First of all, “i.e.” does not mean “I’ve just said A, now I will pretend B is A”. Having your name go through the intelligence cycle does not mean you are a target of surveillance. It just means you have been associated with one.

              Secondly, the US intelligence services do not tap everyone’s phone. They monitor international calls, and those domestic calls for which they have a court order. That is not “everyone’s phone”. It is nowhere close.

              Thirdly, the president cannot legally order phones to be tapped. If the president were dumb enough to interfere in an investigation, the tap would still need a court order. That is why the allegation Trump made is a big deal: he was accusing Obama of breaking a multitude of laws, for which Obama had no motive. That is not business as usual by intelligence services, it is a highly unusual and illegal act.

              Either Obama goes to jail, or Trump is full of shit.

              • xanthe …
                23 March 2017 at 6:13 pm

                gosh you are an expert on the internals of the CIA, who wouda thunk it.

                well thats a great relief to everyone . carry on

                • McFlock …
                  23 March 2017 at 6:19 pm

                  Well, either you have read a fair chunk of what Snowden and others released and matched it against what Nunes actually said, or you have no idea what you’re talking about when you use sentences like “target of survellance” and your comments are the product of wishful thinking and orange fantasies.

                  • xanthe …
                    23 March 2017 at 6:29 pm

                    yes but the thing is my (dramatic reconstruction actual facts may differ) still offers a more plausable and believable scenario (that both stories are bullshit and one is designed to head off the other) than your uncited certainties. why is that?

                    • McFlock …
                      23 March 2017 at 7:54 pm

                      well, your scenario revolves around the logical impossibility of something that is untrue being “proven”, so I guess you have an alternative definition of “plausible”.

                      BTW, pretty much everything in this discussion is “uncited”, including trump’s claim that obama ordered him to be wiretapped. Your comments included.

                    • Xanthe …
                      24 March 2017 at 3:52 am

                      I can tell you that many things that are untrue can be “proven” particularly when they are reputational attacks. The whole point is that you need to have a healthy scepticism …. especially if you dont like the person being inpugned … or their politics

                    • McFlock …
                      24 March 2017 at 11:53 am

                      The other point is that you have a pretty weird idea of what “proven” means.

                      Trump made a massive claim. He has a history of making claims that turned out to be bullshit. He just says whatever is convenient at the time. There is no reason to think that his massive claim about Obama ordering trump tower to be wiretapped is any different.

                      He might be a genius masquerading as an oaf. It might be an amazing act. But so far the signs point to him being a privileged, stupid bully who got richer and powerful because capitalism rewards privileged, stupid bullies.

    • saveNZ 7.2
      23 March 2017 at 3:47 pm

      Where is CV? Is he banned again?

      • McFlock 7.2.1
        23 March 2017 at 4:24 pm

        managed to come back from a ban and get another one within hours. It was pretty funny – he got back from a ban that was for making up unsubstantiated shit, then got another ban for making up unsubstantiated (and incorrect) shit about his previous ban.

        I think this one was for until october.

        Ooooo – [uses reactivated search function] here’s the episode in glorious Panavision.

      • Xanthe 7.3.1
        24 March 2017 at 3:55 am

        I prefer source documents to editorialising personally

        • Andre 7.3.1.1
          24 March 2017 at 6:46 am

          Worthy aspiration. So why show us a clip of a deeply partisan political hack disseminated by an outlet that seems to have developed a penchant for manipulative partisan political games?

          • Xanthe 7.3.1.1.1
            24 March 2017 at 8:24 am

            Because it was raw source , not someone elses opinion about what It means , who published it is not relevant

            • Andre 7.3.1.1.1.1
              24 March 2017 at 8:40 am

              Nunes has made clear by his actions he’s more interested in protecting Trump than finding and publicising what actually happened. So his credibility is on the same level as Trump’s. There’s no discernible relationship between his words and reality. That wikileaks choose to spread this fertilizer in an apparent attempt to defend their past actions further trashes their credibility.

              • joe90 …
                24 March 2017 at 9:10 am

                Digby reckons it’s just another coincidence in a big fat series of coincidences.

                Then on March 15, in the wake of the president’s manic early-morning tweetstorm accusing former President Barack Obama of arranging for him to be wiretapped, Trump demonstrated his own awe-inspiring clairvoyance. Trump told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that despite all the denials from every institution and person in a position to know, “You’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.”

                Wouldn’t you know it? On Wednesday House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was shown some documents by a “source” that had him so up in arms he couldn’t even take the time to alert the other committee members before he ran to the White House to show the president. When asked if he felt vindicated by this alleged bombshell, Trump replied:

                I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found, I somewhat do.

                It’s amazing how Trump and his people are able to see into the future this way, isn’t it?

                http://digbysblog.blogspot.co.nz/2017/03/yes-it-almost-certainly-came-from-white.html

              • xanthe …
                24 March 2017 at 9:52 am

                Andre
                I am unable to discern any actual content in your last post. Apart from attacks on the credibility of sources based on attacks on their credibility…….. nothing!
                WTF ? ?? is this what substituts for discorse here?

  8. ianmac 8
    23 March 2017 at 3:58 pm

    A hoot yet a good point:
    “A conservation trust manager angry at Environment Minister Nick Smith’s swimmable river stance has challenged him to a boxing match – with the loser to “frolic” in one of Christchurch’s most polluted swimming holes.”
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824103

  9. Cinny 9
    23 March 2017 at 4:11 pm

    Jacinda totally OWNED Paula in Parliament today.

    Feeling very proud of Labours Deputy 😀

    • tc 9.1
      23 March 2017 at 5:15 pm

      Yes pullya is going to be fun to watch as karma cycles back to run over her dogma

    • ianmac 9.2
      23 March 2017 at 7:05 pm

      Just watched it thanks Cinny. Jacinda calm measured questions well ordered.
      Paula discomfited, unable to answer for the PM, lacking her usual spite/arrogance.
      Well done Jacinda.

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    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... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denial   Grist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images  Scientific ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Rāhui day 4
    The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
    The little pakehaBy chrismiller
    3 days ago

  • Letter to a friend
    by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
    RedlineBy Daphna
    3 days ago

  • Life in Lock Down: Day 3
    . . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    4 days ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #13
    A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020 Articles Linked to on Facebook Sun, Mar 22, 2020 In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Rāhui day 3
    I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
    The little pakehaBy chrismiller
    4 days ago

  • A test of civil society.
    The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago

  • Life in Lock Down: Day 2
    . . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    5 days ago

  • How Do You Feel? What Do You Think?
    Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • Landlords are NOT an essential service
    If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
    The Jackal
    5 days ago

  • A “new Society” post-COVID19 will definitely emerge. The question is: on what path?
    Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    5 days ago

  • Raise the Bar: Everything you need to know about the wage subsidy
    Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...
    PosseBy chloeanneking
    6 days ago

  • The massacre of prisoners in Modelo jail, Bogota, March 21
    by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    6 days ago

  • We are not America
    When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • When will we know the lockdown is working?
    Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
    SciBlogsBy Siouxsie Wiles
    6 days ago

  • Lock Down: Day 1
    . . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    6 days ago

  • A Compelling Recollection.
    Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
    Bowalley Road
    6 days ago

  • The Warehouse – where everyone gets a virus
    . . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    6 days ago

  • Aggressive action to address climate change could save the world $145 trillion
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • After the Pandemic
    It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
    SciBlogsBy Robert Hickson
    7 days ago

  • Coronavirus – Cuba shows the way
    We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin.  The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    7 days ago

  • Using privacy law to prevent the death penalty
    In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • It’s Time For Disaster Socialism.
    Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #12, 2020
    Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Avoidable hospitalisations: Helping our health system get through COVID-19
    Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick Wilson While it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
    SciBlogsBy Public Health Expert
    1 week ago

  • Raise the Bar: 10 questions to ask your employer proposing redundancy
    Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
    PosseBy chloeanneking
    1 week ago

  • An equitable way to support business
    The Herald reports that the government is planning to lend billions of dollars to large businesses to keep them operating during the pandemic. As with mortgage relief, this is necessary: we need companies to stay in business, to reduce the economic damage and help things get restarted again when this ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Hard News: Together Alone
    We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our  lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
    Public Address
    1 week ago

  • Why timing is everything: ‘A time to refrain from embracing’ starts today
    “There is a time for everything,    and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    1 week ago

  • Dealing with the Covid-19 Tsunami.
    I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • What about renters?
    The government today announced the latest part of its pandemic relief package: a six-month mortgage holiday for people whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic. Which is great, because these people are going to need help, and that's what the government should be doing. At the same time, it ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Living within our means.
    Years ago the Argentine sociologist Carlos Weisman wrote a book titled “Living within our Means.” It was a critique of Argentine society that focused on the paradoxical question of why, in a land of plenty, there was so much economic instability, inequality, corruption and political turmoil. His conclusion was basically ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 week ago

  • Transparency and the pandemic
    Parliament will be leading by example and adjourning tomorrow after a special sitting to consider an epidemic notice and state of emergency. Day-to-day oversight of the government will be delegated to a select committee. But that's not the only overight mechanism. The OIA will still be law, and (so far) ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • ‘Overjoyed’: a leading health expert on New Zealand’s coronavirus shutdown, and the challengin...
    Michael Baker, University of Otago Overjoyed. That’s not a word epidemiologists normally use, but that’s how I felt after hearing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement about New Zealand’s COVID-19 shutdown of everything except essential services for at least four weeks from midnight on Wednesday. More than anything, I just ...
    SciBlogsBy Public Health Expert
    1 week ago

  • One way to solve the housing crisis
    How much homelessness is caused by house hoarding? We're about to find out. The pandemic has destroyed tourism, which means that house hoarders who put their hoarded properties up as short-term tourist rentals are now offering them on the ordinary rental market:Property investors are pulling properties from Airbnb to offer ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • The pros and cons of planting trees to address global warming
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman It seems like such a simple, straightforward, empowering idea: plant trees – a lot of trees – all over the world, and watch the planet’s temperature fall. Who doesn’t love a tree or two, even far more – the right ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Not a grand coalition, but a government of national salvation
    According to Newshub, Simon Bridges is open to joining a “grand coalition” with Labour as we hunker down to go into a month long lockdown. The idea is sound. Before now, the role of the opposition was to scrutinise and oppose. In the context of what almost amounts to a ...
    PunditBy Liam Hehir
    1 week ago

  • Raise the Bar: hospitality workers & wage subsidy entitlements
    Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or ...
    PosseBy chloeanneking
    1 week ago

  • Lifting our game against COVID-19
    We need to be lifting our game against COVID-19. You and I need to help those working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while they’re trying to lift the testing and treatment efforts. We don’t want to be playing this game running backwards. Best to play it solidly forward, from ...
    SciBlogsBy Grant Jacobs
    1 week ago

  • The maths and ethics of minimising COVID-19 deaths in NZ
    Prof Tony Blakely, Prof Michael Baker, and Prof Nick Wilson The NZ Government must do more to clearly articulate its COVID-19 strategy: eradication or ‘flattening the curve’ mitigation. But to do so means understanding the maths and ethics of both these strategies. In this blog, we adapt our work for ...
    SciBlogsBy Public Health Expert
    1 week ago

  • All aboard the Covid Train
    A few days ago I was starting to write something about the pandemic, which now seems unconscionable. It took the form of a letter to an agony aunt:“Dear Deidre, I have an ugly confession. I am quite excited by Covid-19.”This is how the piece went:“I’m not a psychopath, honest. Although the ...
    PunditBy Phil Vine
    1 week ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #12
    Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters The likelihood of extreme events ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • We are all socialists now
    Last week, the government announced a $12 billion initial package to support people during the pandemic. Today, the Reserve Bank is buying government bonds - effectively printing money - to keep up the money supply during the crisis. Normally such moves would have the right apoplectic. Instead, the National Party ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • A plea to experts: safeguard your role in public life
    I am a pundit, somebody who opines and comments on the news. There are no real qualifications to punditry though having a rudimentary way with words and good general knowledge helps. That is one reason there is a constant oversupply of would-be pundits and why it is quite hard to ...
    PunditBy Liam Hehir
    2 weeks ago

  • Enlightenment when?
    I recently encountered the following prescription from a Faculty of Education at a leading New Zealand University. At first I wondered if it was another product of the postmodern generator (http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/pomo/), designed to create gibberish in the postmodern form, but I’m told it is real: The “schooled” society: Towards the ...
    SciBlogsBy Michael Corballis
    2 weeks ago

  • What the Crisis Can teach Us
    The coronavirus pandemic has of course had a major impact on individual lives and on societies as a whole. But, long after the crisis has passed (assuming it does), we will begin to realise that its real and lasting significance lies in the lessons it has taught us, if only ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    2 weeks ago

  • Hammering home measures to stop COVID-19
    COVID-19 has plunged Aotearoa New Zealand (indeed, the world) into territory that, while maybe not totally unprecedented, certainly hasn’t been seen during the lifetimes of most of us here today. Our borders are closed to non-citizens, we’re being told not to gather in groups of more than 500 outside/100 inside, ...
    PunditBy Andrew Geddis
    2 weeks ago

  • What does ‘level two’ mean – and why does it matter?
    For the last few weeks, I’ve been urging you to prepare yourself, your family, business, and community for Covid-19. Now it’s time for real action.  Yesterday the director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced another 13 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, bringing our total to date to 52. ...
    SciBlogsBy Siouxsie Wiles
    2 weeks ago

  • 2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #12
    A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 15, 2020 through Sat, Mar 21, 2020 Editor's Pick Now Isn’t the Time to Forget About Our Climate Change Efforts   Tasha Tilberg, Lindsey Wixson, and Liu Wen photographed ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 weeks ago

  • Is the Guardian becoming  a real newspaper again?
    by Jan Rivers The article has been corrected to show that it was Ewen MacAskill, former Guardian journalist and not Luke Harding who travelled to meet Edward Snowden with journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras.  Some of the Guardian’s well-known journalists who did not sign the protest letter are ...
    RedlineBy Daphna
    2 weeks ago

  • Life asserts itself regardless
    by Cultural Worker Late March 2020 amidst the virus. With gigs crashing and burning all around it was without much hope that I called a long standing rest home booking: “ Hi, I’m supposed to be entertaining at your place this afternoon – is it still on?” “”If you don’t ...
    RedlineBy Daphna
    2 weeks ago

  • Politics, the possible, and the pandemic
    Whenever people demand real change from their politicians, we're told that "politics is the art of the possible". The implication is that change isn't possible, so we'd better just get used to the sucky status quo. But now that there's a pandemic, a lot of things we were previously told ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 weeks ago

Older posts

  • Business Finance Guarantee – applications open
    Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago

  • Work starts on ways to fast-track consents to boost recovery from Covid-19 downturn
    Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy.  Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago

  • Advance payments to support contractors
    Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government seeks infrastructure projects
    The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Health system scaled up to prepare for COVID-19
    Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Essential media COVID-19 guidelines refined
    The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand defence personnel conclude mission at Taji
    Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • State of National Emergency extended
    The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Strong Govt books support ‘go hard, go early’ response
    New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Christchurch Hospital Hagley ICU to open to support COVID-19 response
    Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients.   The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government supports Air NZ freight flights
    The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Tariff concessions on COVID-19 related products
    New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Clarification of modification to wage subsidy scheme
    Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Face masks flowing to DHBs
    Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • COVID-19: Further steps to protect New Zealanders’ jobs
    The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Tax relief for Mycoplasma Bovis farmers
    Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • $27 million for NGOs and community groups to continue providing essential services
    A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Statement on guilty plea of March 15 terrorist
    “The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • COVID-19 updates
    The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Police numbers break through 10,000 mark
    Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Urgent tax measures for economic recovery
    Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Further support for farmers and growers as drought persists
    From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • COVID-19: Temporary changes to Education Act
    Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar join NZ and Singapore in committing to keeping supply a...
    Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.  Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • COVID-19: Rent increase freeze and more protection for tenants
    Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Working together to protect businesses and workers
    As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • State of National Emergency declared to fight COVID-19
    A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Prime Minister’s statement on State of National Emergency and Epidemic Notice
    Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Deadline for domestic travel extended
    People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Mortgage holiday and business finance support schemes to cushion COVID impacts
    The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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  • Guidelines for hospitality establishments released
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