Open mike 25/06/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 25th, 2019 - 201 comments
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201 comments on “Open mike 25/06/2019 ”

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  1. reason 1
    25 June 2019 at 7:24 am

    The U.S. mainstream press and television networks are committing media malpractice and contributing to the rising risk of an American war with Iran.

    * The minimal coverage continues to leave out Israel, even though anyone who has followed the region knows that Benjamin Netanyahu has instigated the U.S. to attack Iran for the past decade, and he even addressed the U.S. Congress in 2015 to try and sabotage the now-dead Iran nuclear deal.

    https://mondoweiss.net/2019/05/mainstream-contributing-rising/

    So far, no one in the U.S. media has reminded Americans about the tragedy on July 3, 1988, when the USS Vincennes, a warship in the Persian Gulf, by mistake shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, (which was in Iranian airspace) killing all 290 people on board, including 66 children.

    https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2017/07/03/the-forgotten-us-shootdown-of-iranian-airliner-flight-655%C2%AD/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unltD5gzd9I

    • A 1.1
      25 June 2019 at 8:12 am

      I'd really like to see all US political stories off in another corner. I've lost interest in this freakshow which required background reading to understand in the beginning and now is even more challenging.

      The ongoing Kabuki theatre has become too exhausting to read

    • Kevin 1.2
      25 June 2019 at 12:42 pm

      I watched this yesterday.

      Amazed at how Tucker Carlson seems to be doing the job of the American left these days.

        • Professor Longhair 1.2.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 2:43 pm

          Carlson is a scoundrel, and a racist, but he's not insane. Unlike the "leaders" of the Democratic Party, he does not believe in prosecuting an illegal war against Iran. An obnoxious Fox News host is more rational, more honest, more trustworthy than the "leaders" of the Democratic Party; what a pretty pass we have come to.

          • Andre 1.2.1.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 3:21 pm

            If you're getting your ideas from the Jimmy Dore show, do keep in mind he's a comedian cherry-picking, misrepresenting, and outright lying for yuks from some sad souls possessed of a particularly fuckwitted mindset. His show is in no way any kind of factual representation of reality, it is a deliberately twisted distortion and obscuration of reality.

            Meanwhile. in the real world, Democrat leaders are working on how to put the dayglo swampzilla on a leash with respect to Iran. Including possibly blocking the National Defense Authorization Act until there's a bill passed that blocks Tyrannosaurus Arse from taking action against Iran without prior approval from Congress. This spending bill is broadly popular across the political spectrum, so even publicly talking about blocking it takes political courage.

            https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/24/politics/filibuster-defense-bill-iran/index.html

            • Morrissey 1.2.1.1.1.1
              25 June 2019 at 6:55 pm

              If you're getting your ideas from the Jimmy Dore show,

              Is Jimmy Dore alone in noting that Tucker Carlson is smarter than, more well read than, more responsible than Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer and the rest of that thoroughly undistinguished gang?

              do keep in mind he's a comedian cherry-picking, misrepresenting, and outright lying for yuks from some sad souls possessed of a particularly fuckwitted mindset. His show is in no way any kind of factual representation of reality, it is a deliberately twisted distortion and obscuration of reality.

              ??? That adjective-rich but analysis-poor rant of yours offers nothing coherent or intelligent about Jimmy Dore, but it reveals a great deal about yourself.

              Meanwhile. in the real world, Democrat leaders are working on how to put the dayglo swampzilla …. Tyrannosaurus Arse ….

              Abuse, especially such limp and unimaginative abuse as that, achieves….. what, exactly? I advise you to read out your posts to some underling before you send them out to the ether; if the underling says something like "Do you really think dayglo godzilla is funny? Really, Andre?" then I advise you to hold back on the old posting front. There's a good fellow.

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPsvJo4LXnY

              • Andre …
                25 June 2019 at 8:15 pm

                Jimmy Dore is the fuckwit who spent years opining fuckwittery about Syria while remaining incredibly ignorant of basic facts about Syria, such as the situation with Kurds in Northern Syria.

                https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jimmy_Dore

                As for his opinion of Tucker Carlson being smarter than Pelosi or Schumer, that's the kind of horseshit designed to appeal to sad sack fuckwits whose only joy in life is whining about Democrats on any and every topic, warranted or not.

                In this case, the only reason Carlson has any relevance whatsoever is because the barbecued bozo in the White House prefers to listen to ass-kissing talking heads on his number-one suck-up TV channel rather than take on board the serious considered advice of actual experts, many of whom he himself appointed. That Carlson had one of his occasional (very rare) moments of actual rationality in no way excuses the extremely dangerous ludicrousness of the situation.

                In this case, there is no point whatsoever in Schumer and Pelosi trying to influence the decisions made by the tangerine toddler. If he paid any attention whatsoever, it would only be to try to figure out what course of action would be most against their counsel. So the only reasonable course of action open to Pelosi and Schumer is through legislation. Which, surprise, they are doing, but Dore and his fuckwit followers have no interest in.

                • Morrissey …
                  25 June 2019 at 8:49 pm

                  Our friend Andre regales us thusly….

                  "fuckwit…. opining fuckwittery…. incredibly ignorant of basic facts … horseshit designed to appeal to sad sack fuckwits …. the barbecued bozo in the White House… the tangerine toddler …. Dore and his fuckwit followers…"

                  Those were the highlights.

                  MEMO ANDRE:

                  Wait till the small hours, then ring up NewstalkZB. That's the proper forum for your standard of analysis.

                • reason …
                  25 June 2019 at 8:53 pm

                  Jimmy dore is anti war …..and he has some interesting guests and clips.

                  Perhaps fuckwits follow you Andre …. 😉

                  Being an expert on Kurds …. why do you think the british pretended it was Iran doing gas attacks …. when Saddam was using Sarin nerve gas against the Kurds in Iraq…..

                  This was after After he had used it against Iran …. which he did with Nato / Usa directions and help

                  the chemical onslaught killed nearly 5000 Iranians and sickened more than 100,000.

                  https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/seeking-answers-iran-s-chemical-weapons-victims-time-runs-out

                  https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/

                  And finally heres a nice humanitarian woman …. however she's anti war …. which could get Andre hissing …. 'fuckwit

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCu8mNC1JyE

                  • Jenny - How to Get there? …
                    26 June 2019 at 7:38 pm

                    reason

                    25 June 2019 at 8:53 pm

                    …..she’s anti war……

                    Don’t you mean pro-genocide

                    • reason …
                      26 June 2019 at 9:52 pm

                      Only you and possibly Andre ….. could watch Carla Ortiz and smear her with the crime of the usa .

                      Genocide and ethnic cleansing was the result of Hillary war criminal Clinton and Nato ,,,,,

                      In 2011 the Obama administration bombed Libya into oblivion while using racist and terrorist rebel groups to do their dirty deeds on the ground. These terrorists often targeted Black Africans for rape, torture, and public lynchings, simply because they were seen as allies to Muammar Gaddafi — who had provided a safe

                      Black Libyans were commonly branded as “foreign mercenaries” by the rebel opposition for their perceived general loyalty to Gaddafi as a community and subjected to torture, executions, and their towns “liberated” by ethnic cleansing. This is demonstrated in the most well-documented example of Tawergha, an entire town of 30,000 black and “dark-skinned” Libyans which vanished by August 2011 after its takeover by NATO-backed NTC Misratan brigades. haven for those same Black Africans.

                      Libya was the blue print for the destruction of syria …. especially with regards to lies, smears and pro war propaganda .

                      Early in the Libyan conflict Secretary of State Clinton formally accused Gaddafi and his army of using mass rape as a tool of war. Though numerous international organizations, like Amnesty International, quickly debunked these claims, the charges were uncritically echoed by Western politicians and major media.

                      https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04MDYW1oEe0

                    • Jenny - How to Get there? …
                      27 June 2019 at 7:33 am

                      The enemy of your enemy is not your friend.

                      The danger of thinking that they are, is that you wind up in some very dark spaces.

                      Because you hate American Imperialism, or British Imperialism, doesn't mean that German fascism is a good thing.

                      Millions of Germans including millions of Leftists, socialists and communists voted for the National Socialist Workers party because of the Nazis exposures of the crimes of the British Empire.

                      Reason, you speak of Libya, only because you know absolutely nothing of Syria.

                      Deliberately trying to conflate the two countries, shows that you are willing to cover up the genocide being carried out against the Syrian people by fascist type Assad regime.

          • reason 1.2.1.1.2
            25 June 2019 at 7:55 pm

            Darn right Professor Longhair ….

            The Usa … and the white, english speaking 5 eyes Lynch mob club ,,, are racist and corrupt.

            So its ironic … not amazing ,,,,that Carlson, a more extreme version of this 'exceptional nation' and their 'master complex' racist delusions ….. Should be against a war that would kill a lot of non-white people in Iran.

            A whole lot of clucked up claptrap from some posters ….about Jimmy dore or Carlson …. does not make the argument for illegal wars and their accompanying mass murder valid .

            Hillary war criminal Clinton ….When campaigning in one of her failed attempts at president ……. threatened to Nuke Iran and wipe it off the world map ….

            … But only if Iran attacked Israel with Nuclear weapons that it does not have … Amazingly this total contrivance and threat to use nukes, was supported by over 50% of the usa public.

            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/23/hillaryclinton.iranhttps://www.globalresearch.ca/hillary-clinton-if-im-president-we-will-attack-iran/5460484

            Wikileaks shows the casual, murderous and barbaric racist crusaders ethos … that is usa / Nato in the middle east

            26 mins

            38 mins

            The lack or respect for human life runs like a common thread through the material …… 40 mins 30 secs

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvmfOaZ34Pk

            • reason 1.2.1.1.2.1
              27 June 2019 at 8:43 am

              Jenny you have as much credibility on Syria as a nasty loon who tried to link the christchucrch mosque shootings with Syria / Assad…. and I'm not misrepresenting you am I ???? …. you did say that .

              Aside from that particulary bit of creepy grave dancing on a NZ tragedy … Your propaganda is the same as used against Libya / Iraq by Hillary war criminal Clinton and other genocide enablers …

              Respected independent journalists including Robert Fisk, Patrick Cockburn and many others debunk a lot of what Jenny says…..

              I believe Carla Ortiz cares a lot more for the Syrian people than Jenny…

              I believe someone like Patrick Cockburn is both more credible and honest than Jenny…

              Unpacking Syria war propaganda with Patrick Cockburn, from Afrin to Eastern Ghouta (Ep. 15)

              https://soundcloud.com/moderaterebels/syria-patrick-cockburn-episode-15

              • Jenny - How to Get there? …
                27 June 2019 at 8:11 pm

                Hi Reason,

                Like all the apologists for genocide committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people, here. I have repeatedly asked a simple question.

                Not one of you has ever had the decency to answer it.

                Who did this?

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3gR4BUPmQ

                • reason …
                  30 June 2019 at 7:16 am

                  The usa set the middle east on fire The greatest purveyor of violence in the world did it.

                  http://johnpilger.com/articles/inside-the-invisible-government-war-propaganda-clinton-trump

                  Such is the basic double standard that is the essence of propaganda. I am referring, of course, to the current siege of the city of Mosul by the government forces of Iraq, who are backed by the United States and Britain and to the siege of Aleppo by the government forces of Syria, backed by Russia. One is good; the other is bad.

                  What is seldom reported is that both cities would not be occupied by fanatics and ravaged by war if Britain and the United States had not invaded Iraq in 2003. That criminal enterprise was launched on lies strikingly similar to the propaganda that now distorts our understanding of the civil war in Syria

                  . As diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have revealed, since at least 2006, the US has consistently sought to undermine it “by any available means”, utilising a variety of techniques including an effort—in co-ordination with Saudi Arabia—to encourage Islamic fundamentalism

                  "Amnesty’s investigation of the Raqqa attacks says that the real civilian death toll was not only shocking but totally unnecessary." ….. Human rights group Amnesty International estimates around 80 percent of Raqqa was devastated by fighting, including vital infrastructure like schools and hospitals…. https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1429616/retaken-not-rebuilt-syrias-raqqa-year-after-isis-ouster … who jenny

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDiKDfX5PWs

              • Jenny - How to Get there? …
                27 June 2019 at 8:24 pm

                reason 1.2.1.1.2.1

                27 June 2019 at 8:43 am

                Jenny you have as much credibility on Syria as a nasty loon who tried to link the christchucrch mosque shootings with Syria / Assad…. and I'm not misrepresenting you am I ???? …. you did say that …..

                You are deliberately misrepresenting me.

                Reason if you choose to make such disgusting slurs, you need to back it up with some evidence.

                Either that, or embarrass yourself before us all, as a genocide denying pro fascist propagandist.

                But of course, facts don’t matter to your pro human slaughter narrative.

                • reason …
                  30 June 2019 at 9:05 am

                  Jenny ” Jo Cox was assassinated by a fascist gunman because she supported the Syrian people against the regime.” ….. nothing like that was raised at the trial of her murderer

                  Jenny: “The attack in Christchurch was conducted on the anniversary of the beginning of the popular revolt against Assad, by a gunman who self describes as a fascist.” …

                  I bet jennys conspiracy theory does not get raised in our New Zealand courts either ….

              • Jenny - How to Get there? …
                27 June 2019 at 10:28 pm

                From two years ago.

                Jenny 13.2

                14 February 2017 at 5:20 am

                [Sick and tired of you habitually posting mostly irrelevant comment upon comment on the bottom of threads that mention Syria in any way. I’m banning you for the weekend so I don’t have to keep an eye out, and I’ll ban you for a very long time if you ever pull this bullshit again.] – Bill

                I just can’t win can I, Bill

                If I put up a post in defence of the Syrian revolution too early in a piece, I get accused of “diverting the thread”.

                Now I get accused of putting my comments at the end of threads, and still get banned.

                Accompanied with a threat that if I don’t agree to self censorship I will be banned totally.

                Sorry Bill, ain’t gonna happen. There is no way that I will agree to be my own censor to suit you.

                The eponymous hero of Orwell’s 1984, near the end of the novel, is allowed his freedom. But it is a constrained and limited freedom, and as he fully takes part in the charade, he knows he is just waiting for the axe to fall,

                For a long time now I have been appalled and distressed by the unbalanced position taken up by you and others at The Standard covering up the genocidal nature of the Syrian regime.

                In my opinion it can be reasonably argued that the failure of the Liberal Centre Left to show solidarity with the Syrian people, and instead side with the regime that is oppressing and murdering them, has helped prolong this war on the Syrian people by the Assad regime and its foreign allies, and helped fuel islamaphobia here…….

                Though it has never been given the same billing as all the pro-fascist posts, that have appeared on this site, anyone who reads this blog can see, my position on Syria is long standing and consistent.

                In 2010 just months before the uprising, I was in Syria and witnessed up close the fascist style nature of this regime. Since leaving, contacts I met and trusted, have shown me video of the slaughter visited on their communities, by the regime, places where I visited.

                I wrote in 2017 long before the Christchurch massacre, that the Centre Left's support for Syrian fascism 'has helped fuel Islamphobia here'.

                Reason, writing either from a place of total ignorance, or consciously lying, has tried to twist my words and the warning I gave in the most disgusting fashion.

                • reason …
                  30 June 2019 at 8:54 am

                  Wayne mapp john key and Rebecca Kitteridge with their jihadi bride rubbish and general racism …. have been behind the general hum of bigotry and war drums since 9/11 …

                  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/373631/i-m-not-a-jihadi-bride

                  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5269065/No-evidence-asylum-seekers-heading-to-NZ

                  Amnesty International New Zealand chief executive Patrick Holmes said Key was talking "nonsense" and was just "scaremongering".

                  Syria is another matter … but part of a long history

                  The mujaheddin were the forebears of al-Qaeda and Islamic State. They included Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who received tens of millions of dollars in cash from the CIA. Hekmatyar's specialty was trafficking in opium and throwing acid in the faces of women who refused to wear the veil. Invited to London, he was lauded by Prime Minister Thatcher as a "freedom fighter".

                  There is now “good” al-Qa’ida on our side and “bad” al-Qa’ida fighting on theirs. In Syria, the former operates under the name of the al-Nusra Front, labelled by the US as the Syrian branch al-Qa’ida, and is the main fighting force of the rebel National Coalition. This is recognised by the US, Britain and many others as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

                  Meanwhile, in Mali an advance last week by the forces of the local al-Qa’ida franchise, of whom we don’t approve, led to immediate action by the French army and air force against them. The hypocrisy of it all is baffling.

                  there is no ambivalence about who is backing Isis, which at the time of writing was butchering and raping Yazidi villagers and slaughtering captured Iraqi and Syrian soldiers.

                  https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/13/the-memo-that-helped-kill-a-half-million-people-in-syria/

                  , the memo argues that the U.S. should topple the Assad regime so as to weaken Iran and allay the fears of Israel, which has long regarded the Islamic republic as its primary enemy. As the memo puts it:

                  “Bringing down Assad would not only be a massive boon to Israel’s security, it would also ease Israel’s understandable fear of losing its nuclear monopoly. Then, Israel and the United States might be able to develop a common view of when the Iranian program is so dangerous that military action could be warranted.”

                  https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/us-war-iraq-legacy-of-blood/

                • reason …
                  30 June 2019 at 9:49 pm

                  The rise of fascism in Europe and the usa … white mans bombs directly leading to brown refugees ….. and boat people

                  Islamophobia in NZ was pushed along by the john keys, wayne mapps type fearmongers and our media in general…. Wayne mapp was dissing the people of Afghanistan …. right up to the day 'Hit and Run' came out .. a man involved in the killing of little Afghan children …. telling us how uncivilized they were.

                  He likes your war though jenny …….

                  “In Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and other countries at the periphery or edges of Europe, U.S. President Barack Obama has been pursuing a policy of destabilization, and even of bombings and other military assistance, that drives millions of refugees out of those peripheral areas and into Europe, thereby adding fuel to the far-rightwing fires of anti-immigrant rejectionism, and of resultant political destabilization, throughout Europe, not only on its peripheries, but even as far away as in northern Europe.”

                  Similarly, many of the refugees come from Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries still being devastated by US wars of aggression.

                  Dem bloody democrats … and hillary War Criminal clinton …

                  "So in late 2011 there is an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock that was produced for Hillary Clinton, and it's the chronological description of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths within Libya; jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee and migrant crisis.

                  Not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people fleeing Syria, the destabilisation of other African countries as a result of arms flows, but the Libyan state itself was no longer able to control the movement of people through it."

                  Clinton shared responsibility for massively de-stabilising the Middle East, which led to the death, suffering and flight of thousands of women, men and children.

                  http://johnpilger.com/articles/clinton-assange-and-the-war-on-truth

                  the struggle to maintain European ‘civilization’ against the barbaric hordes of uncivilized brown-skinned invaders arriving as a “swarm,” to borrow the unintentionally honest expression used by British Prime Minister David Cameron to describe the refugees. This is of course the neocolonial, supremacist position espoused most vocally by the far right throughout Europe, from Marine Le Pen and the Front National in France, to Hungary’s conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban whose heavy-handed tactics – building fences, mobilizing troops and the unemployed, convicts, and fascists of various stripes – to block the refugee influx, have been both praised and condemned by various elements in Europe.

                  https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/06/25/how-the-u-s-under-obama-created-europes-refugee-crisis/

                  https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/25/the-refugee-crisis-separating-the-conspiracies-from-the-conspiracy/

                  the media removes the refugees from their politico-historical context, transforming them into so-called “migrants” – an elusive term designed to obscure the reality of who these people are, and why they’re desperately trying to get into Europe – as if they’re simply poor people looking for work, rather than victims of imperialism looking to protect their families and escape wars and destabilizations initiated by the West.

                  https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/25/how-many-millions-have-been-killed-in-americas-post-9-11-wars-part-3-libya-syria-somalia-and-yemen/

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dj71ywmuOY

    • Sanctuary 2.1
      25 June 2019 at 7:42 am

      Self made loan shark, slumlord and property speculator. What a parasite. I wonder if he has every actually done anything that did something constructive for the economy?

      • Sacha 2.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 7:45 am

        Rickshaws, I guess?

      • mauī 2.1.2
        25 June 2019 at 10:25 am

        Yes, you take a National voter to the extreme and the product is this odious man. You take a lefty to the extreme and you get the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Ed.

    • CHCoff 2.2
      25 June 2019 at 8:08 am

      Might be wrong, but generally i think the govt. is too kind to the political media.

      The Govt. is more popular than the main stream political media, & if it's unable to represent properly, why not just let it rage and fume by itself unbridled.

      Let it throw away that which it can not buy back, & speeden up the workings of NZ market supply and demand.

  3. Observer Tokoroa 3
    25 June 2019 at 7:47 am

    Dear Denialist – yuck

    LPrent wrote on 19 June 2019:

    Greenland holds a large store of fresh water. If fully melted, it will raise sea levels by roughly 7 metres. It is melting – fast. Last week, temperatures across Greenland about 22 degrees Celsius warmer than the normal for that time of year. It produced an extraordinary visual effect of dogs walking on water through surface melt over sea ice.

    It is not only madmen (such as Trump and all Americans) that are in denial about Climate Change and its Effects and Costs, It is Dumb Kiwis.

    National Party and hangers on such as Seymour, too many Farmers and other Assorted nitwits are Denialists. Currently, Councils and Regional Authorities must be deemed as Denialists. They are irresponsible and allow all manner of pollutions.

    We must inform Denialists that they will not receive any assistance whatever, from now on unless they individually and personally commit to keeping Aotearoa in good care.

    Let's get serious. Just like the Children and Youth are. Let us put into Law what Citizens must do. Should they not do it – they will lose their assests as well as their Nationality.

    PS – I realise that most New Zealanders will not know what a metre is – let alone 7 metres. it is 23 Feet High. Nearly as high as a Farmers' Ego.

    • James 3.1
      25 June 2019 at 1:33 pm

      its telling that you think most New Zealanders won’t know what a meter is – where I wouldn’t know a single person who would not know what a meter was.

      You need to widen your group of contacts – preferably with people smart enough to know what a basic unit of measurement is.

      • McFlock 3.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 2:10 pm

        lol or how to spell it 😉

        I think it's a generational thing.

        Buggered if I can visualise 23 feet or 7 metres though. That's a couple of storeys, isn't it?

      • Psycho Milt 3.1.2
        25 June 2019 at 3:37 pm

        Yes, pretty funny – mine was the generation that learned imperial for part of their school years and metric for the rest, in the late 1960s. Everyone since then learned metric only, ie everyone who's been to school since the late 1960s. My kids find it very confusing when people give measurements in feet or inches.

        • Grant 3.1.2.1
          25 June 2019 at 4:18 pm

          I must be about the same age as you. I was in S4 in 1968 and still have my little Dollar Scholar certificate to prove I was ready for the new decimalized currency. wink They started the metrification process the following year and completed the roll out through commerce, education and industry over the next few years.

          Cuisenaire rods had already give our cohort a rough idea of what metric measures looked like, and like most of my generation I'm competent in both imperial and metric units but I tend to default to imperial for some things and metric for others. Funny how your brain works. I've done a lot of work on old British cars and machinery which requires use of imperial measures and also a lot of American equipment as well. Then I'll be working on European stuff and have to shift mental gears to think in metric. I still think of myself as a six footer at the same time I know that is about 1.8 M What gets me is the way Metric came to be used in this country. Everyone else would say I was 1800mm high which is not the way the system was designed to be expressed.

          • In Vino 3.1.2.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 6:14 pm

            Well, personally, I remember spending all my primary/intermediate/early secondary school years doing arithmetic based upon those elegant old imperial systems. eg: Divide 3 tons 5 hundredweight 6 pounds and 14 ounces by 23.

            Or multiply 8 pounds (money this time) 17 shillings and 11pence by 11.

            I really wonder what it is that people do at primary school now… (By the way, they still managed to make us do ghastly folk dancing, etc.)

            • Grant 3.1.2.1.1.1
              25 June 2019 at 6:54 pm

              I enjoy teasing my children by watching their eyes cross as I explain the intricacies of how the old currency worked and why it was called Lsd..smiley

            • greywarshark 3.1.2.1.1.2
              25 June 2019 at 7:37 pm

              They wanted to give us a rounded education and bring boys and girls together with some social graces. Now they don't bother with that and just separate them with a crowbar.

              • In Vino …
                25 June 2019 at 8:33 pm

                Agree with sentence one – by and large, they meant well. Not so sure about the crowbar thing (that was always there) but as a secondary relief teacher I see a lot of wonderful kids coming out of the primary system, so some people there are doing some good things.

                • solkta …
                  25 June 2019 at 8:51 pm

                  They come out of ECE whole, then primary stunts them, intermediate munts them, and secondary crushes them into tiny pieces.

                  • In Vino …
                    25 June 2019 at 9:31 pm

                    Yay! But.. I am not sure that the schools have all that much to do with it, except for causing the toxic social intermingling. Nice kids from nice parents get mingled with shit kids from shit parents, and the descent begins. Don't be too naive about what schools can achieve. They are basically holding pens, aren't they?

                    • solkta …
                      26 June 2019 at 11:40 am

                      Schools should not be seen as "basically holding pens". That is much of the problem right there, attitudes like that. While i am not surprised to hear that from a school teacher i would very much be from an ECE teacher about where they work.

                      I haven't got time today to write an essay on how messed up schools are but if you are interested you could start by having a look at Te Whariki, the ECE curriculum, and how it differs from The New Zealand Curriculum.

                • greywarshark …
                  25 June 2019 at 8:54 pm

                  The crowbar thing is a linefrom some comedian which i slipped in. But the old foksy stuff was quite good does anyone remember The Dashing White Sergeant and the Veleta. It was quite a good way for only children of that gender to actually touch the opposite.

        • Sanctuary 3.1.2.2
          26 June 2019 at 6:51 am

          We save archaic language for weighty matters like death and marriage, where we feel we need the buttress of time to support us. thus we solemnly intone lines unchanged from 1549 when we say , "with this ring I thee wed" or burying a beloved we go back to the1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer for "ashes to ashes, dust to dust"

          So it is with imperial measures. Archaic, but used still for life changing moments. Babies are still announced to the world largely in imperial measurements. People are still buries six feet under.

          This is how it should be.

  4. UncookedSelachimorpha 4
    25 June 2019 at 8:03 am

    Well done First Union!! Winning a fight for the living wage at a miserable retailer owned by millionaires:

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/392838/mitre-10-living-wage-ruling-sets-precedent-for-retail-staff-union

    This absolutely wouldn’t have happened without the union.

    • David Mac 4.1
      25 June 2019 at 9:49 am

      "irst Union retail finance sector secretary Tali Williams said they have been fighting for this for six years, and its members were pleased with the outcome.

      Currently the union has six members across the two stores, but 140 staff could receive the pay increase if they join the union."

      I think the important point in this story is that it is only those workers that are members of the union that will receive the pay rise. I wonder if this sets some kind of precedent for ERA. Currently of the 140 staff, 6 are union members.

      If I'm a worker at these Mitre 10 stores and union membership will cost me $10 a week and the payrise represents $30 extra a week.I'd be a mug not to be signing up. I can see this move by ERA reversing union membership trends.

      • bewildered 4.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 10:48 am

        Or they simply get it anyway in individual contracts and save union fee, rightly or wrongly re what anyone thinks is fair or unfair

        • David Mac 4.1.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 12:38 pm

          You'd be fine bewildered but I suspect not all Mitre 10 staff enjoy your levels of contract renewal negotiation prowess. A good number of them will be jolly grateful to have a regular income and reluctant to risk rocking the boat.

          • UncookedSelachimorpha 4.1.1.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 12:59 pm

            I've been on the receiving end of individual 'negotiation' with a lousy employer – basically "sign this or no job"

        • UncookedSelachimorpha 4.1.1.2
          25 June 2019 at 12:57 pm

          Without the union – they wouldn't have got it at all.

          Freedom from joining the union, is freedom to be dictated to by rich people and screwed.

      • UncookedSelachimorpha 4.1.2
        25 June 2019 at 1:06 pm

        " If I'm a worker at these Mitre 10 stores and union membership will cost me $10 a week and the payrise represents $30 extra a week. "

        Actual First Union fees can be quite a bit lower, depending on your hours, fees range from $2.70/week to $8.20/week.

        For someone working 40 hours per week:

        Union Fee = $8.20

        Wage difference Union negotiation ($21/h) vs Mitre 10 offer ($18.70/h) = $92.00

        Crazy not to join!!

        https://www.firstunion.org.nz/join-us/join-us-information

        • David Mac 4.1.2.1
          25 June 2019 at 6:40 pm

          Yes uncooked, thanks for the numbers.

          There seems to be many comments lately about the waning virility of a left view.

          I don't want to be a communist. I just want to put my shoulder alongside others that think we can do more about improving the quality of life of most of us.

          Being left comes naturally to most decent folk.

  5. johnm 5
    25 June 2019 at 8:17 am

    Kevin Hester and Guy McPherson were joined by meteorologist Nick Humphrey for this pre-recorded show. We discussed the links between climate change, weather, and crop failures. You can support Nick via his Patreon page. Very enlightening talk about the exponential climate change now happening.

    http://prn.fm/nature-bats-last-06-12-19/

  6. WeTheBleeple 6
    25 June 2019 at 8:36 am

    "Economic lunacy" is National's Todd Muller's response to a report considering 100% renewable electricity. The gist is that the last few percent of the 100% goal are hard to get both financially and logistically. Without a plan or even the hint of an original idea; he provides this 'economic lunacy' recycled sound bite from social media, and talking points that have been available for years – as if he has a clue.

    At least he's recycling something. Fonterra needs a lot of hot air to dry milk.

    The last few percent of renewables – that fruit way up in the tree that cherry pickers can't even reach, is, as the report states, best addressed after other, heavier polluting aspects of the economy entire are addressed. 100% renewables is and was aspirational.

    Aspiration is apparently frowned upon by those who dare not dream their own dreams with corporate taskmasters breathing down their necks. Aspiration has been turned around to be used consistently as yet another insult/sound byte meaning nothing and intending harm. Well being and kindness are also favored insults of intellectually challenged social media commentators.

    Unless you are in Oregon, where the right have departed on a fun run: there's sleeves to be rolled up and jobs to be done: A society to fix, a planet to be saved, and yes, an economy to transition.

    There are many places that generate excess heat from industry, and with good design, in some instances, Fonterra won't even need coal fired drying plants, merely some cooperation to use waste heat from other industries.

    They could also use some of their own resources to be truly useful to the countries need to transition. This would position them far more favorably in global markets, where consumers are increasingly demanding environmental accountability from supply chains.

    Biogas is a viable alternative for tanker fleets and might be generated in various localised facilities to produce biofuels, chemicals for industry, compost products for farmers, and excess heat for drying milk powder. These plants can be fueled by industrial and farm wastes, or municipal wastes… with the compost by-product returned to farms or forestry according to how the fuel stock is acquired. This will in turn reduce farm generated water pollution, emissions, and vet bills from issues associated with spraying raw effluent on paddocks.

    This is not a (high) profit generating industry, but can pay for itself, and lend profit via a tremendous PR coup. The fact they’re paying to generate power for the process now lends much room for improvements in efficiency, and subsequent savings.

    Aspirational, or economic lunacy?

    You decide.

    • Bruce 6.1
      25 June 2019 at 12:51 pm

      In 1980 the Hikurangi Dairy Factory was run on a wood chip fired boiler, there were problems for sure, but surely in 40 yrs these could have been sorted out and this could have become the norm but sadly it seems oil and coal must have proved better for the bottom line.

      • WeTheBleeple 6.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 2:06 pm

        Waitoa Dairy factory has/had a coal mine virtually beneath it.

        Convenient? Not for the rest of us. It does explain how they came to be using it there.

        It was, pre-climate change, smart business.

      • SHG 6.1.2
        26 June 2019 at 3:04 am

        yes comrade burning trees is the key to saving the environment

  7. Rosemary McDonald 7
    25 June 2019 at 9:15 am

    Since Noah was popping his pimples the Misery of Health has relied on family carers of disabled people to not use all the meagre funding allocated for respite.

    New scheme giving choice and flexibility on how the allocated funding can be used was anticipated to enable families to now use the allocated funding that the Miserly has come to rely on in other unspecified areas.

    This government has shelved this new project because it was likely to work better for the people it was set up for.

    Well done Coalition of Lovingkindness, well done.

    If this link fails, find it in Natrad Morning Report.

    • A 7.1
      25 June 2019 at 9:27 am

      I have no faith in the HRC (or ODI for that matter) but here is a survey recently out. ODI did one that closed on the 21st.

      In the ODI survey I made sure I pointed out that if they couldn't get their own ministry into a vague compliance with the CRPD (access to Work and Income, housing…just the beginning of a policy would be an improvement) then it's safe to assume they are failing in other areas too. That comment is likely to get shuffled off into beauruacratic oblivion, but at least I made the effort.

      https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HRCEngagement

      • greywarshark 7.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 10:43 am

        The trend to communicate with acronyms could go further into a simplified writing similar to a morse code.

        For instance A's comment at 7.1 could be contracted so that only the initiated could understand it without a translator for communication.

        eg I h n f i t HRC (o ODI f t m) b h i a s r o. ODI d o t c o t 21s.

        Look at the saving of space! Let's all talk in acronyms and letters and have a device that we can scan them on which will reveal the actual meaning. That's the way that things are going. Plain and simple dealing between people can no longer be considered automatic, a machine or device will have to be carried at all times for communication!

        /sarc but only partly as cellphones and smartph. show we are already on the way to this.

        • Rosemary McDonald 7.1.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 1:01 pm

          Is it too much to expect that someone replying to a comment actually addresses the topic of the comment?

          So, Greywarshark, what are your thoughts on the fact that a scheme that would enable a disabled person or their family carer to access respite care funding in a manner that would be flexible and efficient has been shelved by this government because it is likely to be so successful that it could use all of the funds allocated for that scheme?

          Do you think it is honest for successive governments to put in place disability support services through the Ministry of Health that are predicated on being so unworkable by the disabled person that the allocated funding can automatically be spent elsewhere?

          Personally…I think it is pretty shit.

          What do you think?

          • McFlock 7.1.1.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 5:12 pm

            The topic of the comment was incredibly unclear.

            A situation as you describe is pretty shit. Respite care is bloody awesome. But despite not being a sports fan, ODI still to me translates as "one day international".

            • Rosemary McDonald 7.1.1.1.1.1
              25 June 2019 at 7:06 pm

              You see in my circle, if the acronym is not familiar then you can just ask Uncle Google and simply choose the definition that fits the context .

              Continuing the cricket motif…the Office for Disability Issues is very similar to the abbreviated version of the Game That Defies Explanation and Takes an Entire Working Week To Play.

              What should have been instituted was a Ministry for Disability that would ensure that disabled Kiwis could access across the board coordinated supports.

              But that was too hard

              Hence the ODI

              • McFlock …
                25 June 2019 at 11:22 pm

                People wouldn't have to google-guess if public comments used publicly-accessible language.

                How would a ministry be different from an office, and how would it work with ministry of health or ministry of education or work&income on all the areas where disability issues cross over into those areas?

                • Rosemary McDonald …
                  26 June 2019 at 5:48 am

                  Oh,dear.

                  Regular on so-called lefty site fails to recognise common ac ronyms associated with disability.

                  Moderator on said site doubles down and accuses commenters using these common disability associated acronyms of failing to use inclusive language.

                  Am I the only one feeling the irony here?

                  No wonder things are pretty shit for the disability community (with little hope of improvement) if the wider political sector has the same level of comfortable ignorance of some here on TS.

                  HRC….Human Rights Commission

                  ODI….Office for Disability Issues

                  CRPD….(UN) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

                  "Publicly accessible language" indeed.

                  Apologies if there was an assumption made that disability is an integral part if the community.

                  Obviously not.

                  • Incognito …
                    26 June 2019 at 7:53 am

                    Moderator on said site doubles down and accuses commenters using these common disability associated acronyms of failing to use inclusive language. [my bold]

                    Huh?

                    • Rosemary McDonald …
                      26 June 2019 at 8:28 am

                      "People would'nt have to google-guess if public comments used publicly accessible language."

                      Am I misinterpreting this?

                      I can’t tell on my phone if someone is commenting as a moderator.

                    • Incognito []
                      26 June 2019 at 11:33 am

                      That comes straight from the comment by McFlock @ 11:22 PM to which you replied and who is not and to my knowledge has never been a Moderator on this site!?

                    • Rosemary McDonald []
                      26 June 2019 at 11:46 am

                      My mistake.

                      When I get access to my laptop I will try and figure out why I thought otherwise.

                  • McFlock …
                    26 June 2019 at 9:55 pm

                    Besides me never having such power, not being on immediate-acronym-recognition terms with every single issue is not a failure of dedication to the left, it's a recognition that maybe there are a truckload of issues to keep track of.

                • Sacha …
                  26 June 2019 at 7:27 am

                  A ministry would have more power in negotiating the overlaps and perhaps even in managing the thorniest internally.

                  The current 'office' is a tiny part of MSD which inspires all the respect you'd expect in the Thorndon environment.

                  Campaigners have been quite pragmatic and settled for seeking a ‘Commission’.

                  • McFlock …
                    26 June 2019 at 10:02 pm

                    Oh shit, MSD. Good luck with that.

                    A commission has the advantage of organisational autonomy, which can be played pretty well (if no nat funders hate the commission's existence).

                    Don't know how effective the model is in regards to service provision rather than advice and advocacy, though.

                    One thing that is becoming evident to me over the years is that constant ministry restructuring and understaffing creates silos within ministries, where lots of people seem to think that it's just a case of ministries and offices being siloed. Contract duplication and cross-purposes actually go down to units within ministries, because nobody can keep up with what their colleagues are doing let alone what minEd or MoH or MSD are up to.

                    • Sacha …
                      27 June 2019 at 7:53 am

                      Yes, it ultimately takes an approach like Whanau Ora to manage across the dozens of silos. A commission really just provides the ongoing oversight that our politicians are not providing. People are tired of waiting.

      • Rosemary McDonald 7.2.1
        25 June 2019 at 7:12 pm

        Thanks for supplying that link.

        It's not as if it's extra money….it's just that they're unlikely to have the spare ten million bucks to play with by having an inflexible system.

        Either this Government is as shit as the last with respect to non ACC disabled or they have not yet purged the Miserly of all the die hard bastards.

        SSDD

  8. A 8
    25 June 2019 at 9:19 am

    Do city councils know when they go too far?

    It seems like every month or so there is news on Wellington City that makes me grateful I live in the suburbs. (Although those parking wardern blitz things they do are really annoying – I phone/txt people I know to move their cars when I see them creeping around the place…take that WCC!)

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/113726228/residents-parking-up-50pc-despite-lack-of-public-support-and-legal-concerns

  9. Booker 9
    25 June 2019 at 9:37 am

    Just stumbled across this website via an ad: https://www.keepourmoneyclean.govt.nz/

    John Key government: try to turn NZ into a money laundering hub.

    Current government: do the opposite.

    • A 9.1
      25 June 2019 at 4:05 pm

      Another govt website I never heard of before. I think that requiring this (below) is going too far. So much for staying anonymous if you win the lottery. A govt snout isn’t far away.

      PROTECTING NEW ZEALAND

      Making it harder for criminals to launder money provides a significant disincentive to carrying out the criminal activity in the first place.

      New Zealand has had Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism laws operating since 2013. These laws applied to banks, casinos, financial institutions and some trust and company service providers.

      We’re now extending these laws to include:

      Lawyers, conveyancers, and trust and company service providers (from 1 July 2018)
      Accountants and providers of accounting services (from 1 October 2018)
      Real estate agents (from 1 January 2019)

      • Sacha 9.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 6:02 pm

        The Anti-Money Laundering laws were put in by the last govt to meet our international obligations.

  10. One Two 10
    25 June 2019 at 10:03 am

    https://observer.com/2019/04/generic-drug-quality-public-health-urgency

    Contaminated Generic Drugs Reveal an Urgent Public Health Crisis

    Medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rest upon three pillars: safety, efficacy and quality. Up until recently, quality has been a silent partner—but that’s no longer acceptable.

    It often takes a crisis to propel important but overlooked issues to the forefront. Witness the recent public health imbroglio over valsartan, a widely prescribed angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), most commonly used to treat high blood pressure. Over the past few months, a dozen companies have recalled their generic versions of valsartan and other ARBs because of contaminated ingredients containing three different potential carcinogens.

    https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/03/updated-fda-list-of-recalled-blood-pressure-drugs.html

    https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-and-press-announcements-angiotensin-ii-receptor-blocker-arb-recalls-valsartan-losartan

    https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/do-generic-drugs-compromise-on-quality

    In order to get a stamp of approval from the FDA, a generic medication must be "bioequivalent" to its brand-name counterpart.

    This means that chemically the two must be pretty much the same, although makers are allowed 20% variation in the active ingredient from that original formula.

    "While the FDA does allow for up to 20% wiggle room, in reality the observed variation is much smaller, 4%," says Dr. Choudhry.

  11. marty mars 11
    25 June 2019 at 10:23 am

    when we go we will be what we are remembered as imo

    Great initiative – have to say i forgot we had a Ministry for Culture and Heritage – they must be doing a good job if they are not in the news.

    Women’s sex lives, New Zealand’s transgender community, Dungeons and Dragons gaming, ZEALANDIA and ice skating are just some of the fascinating topics covered in this year’s New Zealand Oral History Awards, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage Chief Historian Neill Atkinson said today.

    “The 12 awards made this year are set to reveal a wealth of New Zealand’s stories,” Neill Atkinson said.

    https://mch.govt.nz/oral-history-awards-reveal-new-zealand%E2%80%99s-stories

  12. Observer Tokoroa 12
    25 June 2019 at 10:32 am

    Misery, Misery, Misery

    Complaints, Complaints, Complaints.

    No wonder National Party ignores you …

    You Misery People seem to think you are the only ones with problems. Tiresome

    • WeTheBleeple 12.1
      25 June 2019 at 10:55 am

      It's becoming obvious you fancy yourself as some kind of truth speaker who knows more than everyone else.

      Yet all I hear is broad sweeping insults interspersed with nasty personal attacks.

      Misery and complaints – that is you. Anyone has an opinion on it, another target for your hateful spite.

      A mirror often makes us angry, rather than self-reflective.

      • greywarshark 12.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 11:08 am

        WtB You put up something yesterday that looked useful to someone I know – you mentioned King Salmon in connection with the Black soldier fly bio-pods. Are you okay with me passing on your tip to him? I am thinking that you could become a roving consultant to business and make some decent money out of it. They wouldn't get to know about half the things you do or find without someone passing it on to them!

        • WeTheBleeple 12.1.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 11:21 am

          No problem. It's public knowledge I highlighted the article and a bit of background to point out the 'news' was not news. But it raises awareness so all good in the end.

          Yep I could walk into many businesses and point out savings, efficiencies, processes, means to get natural phenomenon to work for them.

          King Salmon could get their downstream wastes (dirty water) pumped to terrestrial production (a farm) upstream and they'd have a high production farm that required (little to) no fertilising. The excess water returns via groundwater flow back upstream of their fish, cleaned. This would filter out all the pathogens via soil microbiota having them for lunch, and allow less medications and higher stocking rates in the facilities themselves. They could grow protein and turn it into fish food, or part of, on the farm.

    • bewildered 12.2
      25 June 2019 at 11:31 am

      To much time on their hands is probably the problem re the amount they spend here, get out and do something useful for yourself or others it will work wonders rather than wallowing in negativity on the web looking for something to rage or moan about, day in day out

      • greywarshark 12.2.1
        25 June 2019 at 12:31 pm

        Oh bewildered – You are obviously speaking from past experience and so finely put. I suggest you go through the process again, as your past wisdom gained has worn out and you need to replenish yourself with more good honest toil to bring back your own positivity and value to society and this blog.

        • Bewildered 12.2.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 5:03 pm

          Truth hurt Sharky when your while identity and purpose resolves around daily contribution to a website, but hey if it rocks your boat go for it

          • Drowsy M. Kram 12.2.1.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 6:07 pm

            What "rocks your boat", BewilderEd?

            "To [sic] much time on their hands"
            "get out"
            "do something useful"
            "wallowing in negativity"
            "rage or moan… day in day out"
            "Union lovefest"
            "useless twats"
            "grade A a hole unionist"
            "held back by the pack"
            "your true brilliance just remains undiscovered"
            "her grasp of anything is limited"
            "in her rant"
            "she really needs to engage what little grey matter she has"
            "we all know what you grasp and tug on"
            "just plant a few kumeras"
            "a notorious air head"
            "You need to get out more"
            "your [sic] going off the deep end again"

  13. greywarshark 13
    25 June 2019 at 10:51 am

    Cheer up Observer Tokoroa

    Try putting in something positive every day and that will brighten us all up. It is easy to be weighed down by all the things going wrong and continuing wrong when they could be fixed by determined, committed organisers, or at least made better.

    What about putting a joke a day, a youtube piece of practical positivity, or some nice music. Then we won't see misery every time we look at your comments. I have noticed it setting in to your feisty comments and things are getting you down I think. Resist, and look for something interesting and positive, and you will feel better, pass it on to us and we will join you and for a short time we can have a change of mood. And that would be helpful to most of us.

    • marty mars 13.1
      25 June 2019 at 1:28 pm

      It's funny (not ha ha) to me that in our society we don't like 'negativity' – we must mostly always be 'happy' and find the 'positive' – that approach caused problems because it stops people being REAL. That leads to misery for the person and society imo let alone other terrible outcomes for people like isolation and fear. For me I don't try and change what people write, I just react to what they actually write. I'm doing that with what you wrote in this comment.

      • McFlock 13.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 2:19 pm

        Yeah, but on the flipside incessant negativity tends to drag me down. sometimes a joke or two breaks the gloom. Sometimes people do just need to turn off the computer and hug a puppy. I like sitting in my garden.

      • greywarshark 13.1.2
        25 June 2019 at 2:25 pm

        Good on you marty you do great. But I find that people pouring misery into the blog doesn't help at all to go forward finding ways to cope and some resilience. I can sympathise, but not when people are constantly complaining and running others down. There must be pause in negativity, or one doesn't want to go on living.

        It is essential to keep kindness nearby yourself. If people are going to carry on being hard shits when I am writing and thinking and trying to save what's good in life so we have it in the future, then I might as well go away and just think of myself.

        I thought you were trying for fairness and right and kindness. If you are always going to talk things down, noting what is wrong, you will end up always finding the negative and never being happy with the solution. I think it is a case of being firm about what is right and fair, and getting some reparation of past stuff that has hurt, and responding positively to efforts to be better, and realising that we can only do what is possible now.

        It's working to produce positive outcomes, and trying to get the energy that goes into shit-making being put into something positive and useful, and encouraging that all the way. Why the fuck should I react to what people write. A lot of it is just useless malicious, selfish lazy thinking. Now and then I choose to say something that might be uplifting to such people but if they don't change I don't bother and prefer to have nothing to do with them. In these difficult times I like to be with people who front up and be the best humans they can be to others and try and be happy a good part of the time.

        That's life being REAL. Shit happens as the saying goes. Yes admit it, name it, acknowledge it, then try and change it, improve it, and add some positives to take away sadness and bitterness, lessening it and not allowing it to take over. Soon I will be dead, and it is so sad to see the future that I hoped for the world and my children and other young ones so threatened. I am doing my best against that and suggest you lighten up so you can achieve change in the most positive way you can.

  14. Muttonbird 14
    25 June 2019 at 10:55 am

    Murder scooters take their first victim:

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/06/lime-scooter-death-auckland-councillor-christine-fletcher-lashes-out-calls-for-scooter-removal.html

    Helmets should be mandatory on these things and checkpoint testing for alcohol. See how popular they are then!

    • greywarshark 14.1
      25 June 2019 at 11:02 am

      And identity plates – registration front and back. Otherwise they are likely to end up being unidentifiable unsmiling assassins to pedestrians and even their riders.

      Another example of NZ authorities – Creating Chaos for you since 1984.

    • AB 14.2
      25 June 2019 at 12:33 pm

      But Mutton – if you regulate these things, then our billionaire capitalist saviours will not be able rescue us from perdition with their divine techno-fixes.

    • A 14.3
      25 June 2019 at 4:07 pm

      Lucky it's not the second fatality given the Wgtn motorway incident.

    • KJT 14.4
      26 June 2019 at 10:22 pm

      The death was nothing to do with the scooter.

      • Muttonbird 14.4.1
        26 June 2019 at 10:23 pm

        Only a matter of time. Have you not seen Terminator?

        • KJT 14.4.1.1
          26 June 2019 at 10:26 pm

          Still much safer and infinitely less polluting than cars.

          People are still learning how to ride them. In a year we will be wondering what all the fuss was about.

          • Muttonbird 14.4.1.1.1
            26 June 2019 at 10:38 pm

            They are a bike equivalent though, not a car equivalent.

            And they don't look to be as safe as bikes for both riders and pedestrians. Perhaps that's to do with the rules as they stand and the safety equipment worn.

            • KJT 14.4.1.1.1.1
              26 June 2019 at 10:57 pm

              I'm a bike rider.

              And I got collected by a scooter on the Auckland waterfront, on the shared path, six weeks ago, doing about 25k, which was about 15k over his skill level. Both of us escaped with minor bruising.

              Infinitely better than being hit by a car.

              We should be encouraging non-polluting forms of transport such as bikes and electric scooters, not trying to get rid of them.

              Scooters can be speed restricted to say 15k, which I suspect will solve a lot of problems. Tauranga restricts bikes to less than 15k, on shared paths, which makes them safer for recreational bike riders, and pedestrians. The lycra brigade, who think 15k is for pussies, still prefer to duel it out with the cars.

              Most scooter riders are still, learners. Things will improve as people learn to ride them.

  15. greywarshark 15
    25 June 2019 at 10:58 am

    I remembered this wee ditty I once heard coming from Depression Days I think. It's about managing through difficult times – good thinking.

    Use It All;
    Wear It Out;
    Make It Do;
    or Go Without!

    That came from a Canadian discussion blog mainly on economics, readable and thinkable if anyone feels like spending time on working through various discussion points, like did World War 2 help countries out of the Depression. Some say not.

    https://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2010/10/did-war-based-fiscal-stimulus-end-the-great-depression.html

    • ianmac 15.1
      25 June 2019 at 11:21 am

      Use It All;
      Wear It Out;
      Make It Do;
      or Go Without!

      Great things in small packages. (My shoes fit into the "wear it out" category but although the water gets in easily they also drain easily.)

      • greywarshark 15.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 12:00 pm

        I think you are Bleheim ianmac. I am giving a pair of old Neilson shoes made in Blenheim to go in a collection of local articles from last century. Definitely not worn out or crumbling as crap from overseas does. I saw them with their identity sticker at an op shop and phoned the museum who are interested. Neilson's had to close down of course when the cheap overseas stuff with in-built obsolescence put them out of business.

        I see this as being the theme of this century. Good things that tended to be plain, a little low on style, but long-lasting being thrown aside in favour of the glamourous, quickly deteriorating, and disrespectful of true value in goods and people.

        • Adrian 15.1.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 3:13 pm

          I have a pair of 23 year old McKinlays from Dunedin, brilliant, comfortable and my boys have a pair each which should last to retirement in about 40 or so years.. Go and buy yourself some.

        • WeTheBleeple 15.1.1.2
          25 June 2019 at 3:47 pm

          That explains the Nat Party having so many thumb twiddlers.

          Built in obsolescence.

  16. joe90 16
    25 June 2019 at 11:24 am

    Only the best people.

    Nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents leaked to "Axios on HBO" identify a host of "red flags" about officials who went on to get some of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government.

    Why it matters: The massive trove, and the story behind it, sheds light on the slap-dash way President Trump filled his cabinet and administration, and foreshadowed future scandals that beset his government.

    Some highlights:

    • Scott Pruitt, who ultimately lost his job as EPA Administrator because of serial ethical abuses and clubbiness with lobbyists, had a section in his vetting form titled "allegations of coziness with big energy companies."
    • Tom Price, who ultimately resigned as Health and Human Services Secretary after Trump lost confidence in him in part for stories about his use of chartered flights, had sections in his dossier flagging "criticisms of management ability" and "Dysfunction And Division Has Haunted Price's Leadership Of The House Budget Committee."
    • Mick Mulvaney, who became Trump's Budget Director and is now his acting chief of staff, has a striking assortment of "red flags," including his assessment that Trump "is not a very good person."
    • The Trump transition team was so worried about Rudy Giuliani, in line for Secretary of State, that they created a separate 25-page document titled "Rudy Giuliani Business Ties Research Dossier" with copious accounting of his "foreign entanglements."
    • One red flag for Gen. David Petraeus, who was under consideration for Secretary of State and National Security Adviser: "Petraeus Is Opposed to Torture."

    https://amp.axios.com/leaked-donald-trump-vetting-docs-hbo-6ce3cd26-1eb9-4da8-b15e-47b56020aef7.html?

    • Macro 16.1
      25 June 2019 at 12:25 pm

      Yeah! And that was only 5% of them. The rest are just as bad. But only the best people.

      In the meantime I see Kellyanne is being stopped by the WH in testifying to the House oversight Committee wrt her repeated violations of the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities in their official capacity, and the civil service watchdog known as the Office of Special Counsel determined earlier this month that Conway violated the act by "disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in an official capacity during television interviews and on social media."

  19. greywarshark 19
    25 June 2019 at 12:46 pm

    I don't see why USA can't impeach Trump using his own method of listing transgressions – they could say that he has made so many un-Presidential decisions that have brought the US into discombobulation "and many other things".

  20. Peter 20
    25 June 2019 at 1:17 pm

    Adams and Scott?

    Bit of a bugger for the next one wanting to leave. Pressure's really on and they'll be wishing they'd done it yesterday. One = mmmmmm, two = ahhhhh, three = rats off sinking ship.

  22. greywarshark 22
    25 June 2019 at 1:41 pm

    Is this wise – enabling businesses specialising in providing retirement homes to hold vast numbers of elderly-home estates?

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/businessnews/audio/2018701222/arvida-snaps-up-3-retirement-villages-from-family-business
    The retirement village operator Arvida is buying three villages from the family-owned business Sanderson Group for 180-million-dollars.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12243597 Arvida Group to buy villages for $180m with new equity and debt 25/6/2019

    The purchase will be funded through an underwritten placement of $50 million of shares at $1.25 each. A total of $92 million will come from a 1-for-5.7 pro-rata renounceable rights offer at an issue price of $1.15 per share. An additional $10 million of new Arvida shares will be issued to the vendors at market price and there will be $32 million of bank debt.

    The villages are being acquired in an off-market transaction from interests controlled by Mr Fraser Sanderson, a long-term developer of high-quality retirement villages in New Zealand.

    https://www.arvida.co.nz/For-Investors/Overview-of-Arvida
    This company was as apparently Hercules Ltd. in 2014. then Arvida Group Ltd, Auckland NZ. 2014
    Hercules Ltd was subsidiary of Ashland Global Holdings Ltd. Manchester, UK –
    through S&P Global Market Intelligence under S&P Global connected to Bloomberg.com.

    Arvida subsidiaries

    https://www.nbr.co.nz/tags/hercules-limited Another aged care provider mulls listing amid private equity investment.
    The country’s largest unlisted rest home operator is mulling whether to list on the stock exchange, after an ownership shake-up and operations expansion.
    Calida Stuart-Menteath Fri, 03 Oct 2014 NBR (National Business Review)

    • Ryman Healthcare
    • Metlifecare
    • knox investment partners
    • Summerset Group
    • Oceania Healthcare
    • Radius Residential Care
    • retirement sector
    • Hercules Limited
    • Tim Sumner
    • bret jackson
    • Brien Cree

    In comparison Ryman Healthcare says that there are challenging market conditions and flat sales. Yet Arvida steams ahead. Is NZ where dodgy overseas finance gets cleaned up? Is dairy farming out and elder farming in?
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/390542/ryman-healthcare-posts-326m-profit-for-year

  24. OnceWasTim 24
    25 June 2019 at 4:32 pm

    Oh dear! My heart is bleeding and I just can't cope:

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/113755074/amy-adams-retiring-at-the-2020-election

    She must feel utterly devastated! Poor, POOR Amy!!!!!!!!!!!

    Could she not sign up as a rent-a-voice somehwere in the MSM possibly? A little gig on The Nayshun maybe? or even Q+A?. Perhaps daddy Wayne could give her a bit of advoice going forwid. Maybe one or two Lions Club speaking engagements?

    And if worse comes to worst it wouldn't take to much for her to become accredited selling a bit of real estate surely. I'm sure Harcourts would snap her up in a jiffy.

  25. greywarshark 25
    25 June 2019 at 5:10 pm

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/392887/chinese-shiitake-mushrooms-labelled-as-new-zealand-grown-hoodwinked-customers

    The authorities are not concerned at Chinese fungus-impregnated logs are being imported into NZ. How casual. We are constantly finding new nasties coming here. It is hard to believe that the people supposed to be responsible at keeping things out of, and protecting us at the borders of New Zealand could do this. The regulations should be used as much as possible seeing we have so few of them now.

    • WeTheBleeple 25.1
      25 June 2019 at 5:41 pm

      The growing substrate arriving is pasteurised straw &/or grain &/or woodchip with innoculate of the fungi. This is sealed in a plastic bag.

      The local guys have always been terribly overpriced for persons just wishing to grow mushrooms at home. Something like $40 retail and lucky to get a kilo of oyster mushrooms. A fad or a fling, not really a feasible purchase otherwise. $40, a plastic bag of straw/grain in a cardboard box…

      I'm glad there is competition.

      You can take the original purchase and propagate if you're good. Then you might see some ROI.

      I have fungi related skills and tips. Perhaps for HTGT sometime.

      • greywarshark 25.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 5:47 pm

        I don't know if you would want to be bothered but if you start you might get pestered – I've one on my lawn and it's light creamy fawn and quite long in the stalk etc etc.

        • WeTheBleeple 25.1.1.1
          25 June 2019 at 6:00 pm

          I will qualify that's not what it is and ignore those trying it on. Got several unidentified species in my own garden. Or I could do this.

          Let's play let's identify fungi:

          Cap 1-2 cm diameter, white/translucent with striations leading to undulate margin. Stem hollow, white. Gill attachment decurrent. Spore print white. Spore smooth non-septate elliptical ~ 20-30 um creamy yellow.

          What is it?

          Once you answer this question, enter the above parameters for your unidentified fungi and sod off to a fungi database.

          • Macro 25.1.1.1.1
            25 June 2019 at 6:53 pm

            Talking of growing ….

            I saw this and immediately thought of you

            World’s largest crop art message to Trump unveiled in 33-acre field on the Tanderup farm in Neligh, Nebraska was created by volunteers with artist John Quigley.

            World’s largest crop art message to Trump unveiled in 33-acre field on the Tanderup farm in Neligh, Nebraska was created by volunteers with artist John Quigley. (Photo: Dakota Aerials)

            “Pres. Trump stands on stage saying he loves farmers while approving a foreign export pipeline using eminent domain on Americans,” said Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska founder. “The land is everything to farmers and Tribal Nations, and Trump continues to show his lack of respect and understanding. We the people have stopped this risky pipeline for 10 years and will not let a reckless President destroy our land and water.”

            “’We The People’ – Farmers, Ranchers, and Tribal Nations have come together to protect the land, water, and people from the Keystone XL pipeline. The Crop Art is a reminder that the strength of America comes from its people,” said Nebraska farmer and “tractor artist” Art Tanderup, on whose family’s land the Crop Art was created.

            “Our people depended on the buffalo and used all of it for food, clothing and tools. It sustained our people for generations. They are our relatives, part of our clan. They were driven to near extinction until people took measures to stop and protect them. Today this is a symbol and reminder that the same is happening to Mother Earth. The people here want to stop the continued, systematic exploitation practices that harm our environment and resources,” said Chairman Larry Wright, Jr., Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.

            http://boldnebraska.org/cropart2019/

            • WeTheBleeple 25.1.1.1.1.1
              25 June 2019 at 7:23 pm

              Good on them. It might not stop the Govt trying it on but will remind the public they're still trying it on. Been a long fight that one.

            • greywarshark 25.1.1.1.1.2
              25 June 2019 at 7:24 pm

              One of the wonders of the world. What an extraordinary thing – a lot of work and heartfelt message. Trump has a hide thicker than a bison though.

  26. Puckish Rogue 26
    25 June 2019 at 5:14 pm

    Losers:
    • Judith Collins (#4 to #4) – Loses infrastructure, keeps housing and urban development and RMA reform

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12243809

    There will be consequences for this undeserved slight and they will be…severe

    • McFlock 26.1
      25 June 2019 at 5:27 pm

      lol and gets Goldsmith promoted over her head. The dude whose only political achievement is to consistently lose an election to a hologram.

      If I were Bridges I'd be promoting Collins. Tie her as closely to his leadership as possible. Gives him a chance of dragging her down to political oblivion when his time cometh.

      • greywarshark 26.1.1
        25 June 2019 at 5:48 pm

        He's got the right name for an image of goooold.

      • mac1 26.1.2
        25 June 2019 at 5:58 pm

        It was noticeable that Q2 today at Question Time in the House was on housing but asked by Bridges, and not by Collins. It is seen as a large issue by the Opposition, and worthy of the Leader leading the charge (well, charge is too grand a word- stumble more like). But it is also a snub for Ms Collins.

        This is part of what PM Ardern said to Simon "Stuff All" Bridges.

        Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I said, 10,000 homes are currently under contract to go under construction; 480 are currently under construction; 141 have been completed; 2,700 State houses are currently under construction; 1,200 State homes, since we took office, have been completed; 2,000 more homes have families living in them, public housing, because of us; and, of course, we have the additional investment in Housing First. The reason I mention that, for the benefit of members, is because, as I've said, every single area of housing we have had a crisis that we have been addressing, and we will continue to address."

        • Puckish Rogue 26.1.2.1
          25 June 2019 at 7:17 pm

          The longer Jude is kept from her preordained destiny to lead NZ the more I weep the longer we wait for the her glorious vision to be made real

  27. Puckish Rogue 27
    25 June 2019 at 7:11 pm

    Judes going to go medieval on everyone that's ever slighted her!

  28. Eco maori 28
    27 June 2019 at 8:19 am

    Kia ora The Am Show.

    I agree foster parents should be able to put their fostered children in Kiwisaver. Tamariki having a Kiwisaver account will set them up for a better life.

    Bernie I no what you're saying

    Lloyd it's good for Pakistan to have a win in the Cricket World Cup they look very happy about it .

    New evidence found from the Pike River mine disaster Duncan the black box was lost and found now it cannot be analized more cover ups My intenet just failed to I wonder why I Am watching the Show on a ph I won't CROW to much.

    What the NZ housing market stabilization is going to do is make people INVEST in other productive parts of our economy Mark billions sittings in the housing market doesn't do much to produce exports income its export income that is what pays Aotearoa bills in reality. I say it's good news that the housing market has stabilized.

    Sugar should be voluntary lowered in all our food the damages sugar does to our mokopuna health is to high to humanely justify our food being loaded with sugar.

    Ka kite ano

  30. Eco maori 30
    27 June 2019 at 12:20 pm

    Eco Maori has been trying to higher legal help for near on 3 years no one will ring back yesterday I thought i had found a lawyer but no my meeting was canceled at the last minute I new it was to good to be TRUE but i look for something good in every situation. I have decide to file my own court actions against the bent police force and the JUSTICE department. Ka kite ano.

    https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo

  31. Eco maori 31
    27 June 2019 at 3:09 pm

    Ka pai Angie people like you who can see reality about Global warming and climate changes people like you are so special. Its is awesome that the tide is changing on this issue now most people know it is Reality

    After 40 years of climate activism, I feel a surge of hope

    Angie Zelter

    I was arrested at an Extinction Rebellion protest and found guilty of an offence. But I don’t regret it for a second

    Iam now 68 years of age but when I was 21, in my final year at university, I became aware of major problems then facing the world – war, poverty, acid rain, ozone depletion, desertification, deforestation, species loss, civil and military uses and abuses of nuclear power, pollution, population growth, consumerism and the climate crisis. I was determined to devote my life to helping solve these problems. After spending three years in Cameroon, learning about deforestation for timber and cash crops such as palm oil, and the exploitation of the rich resources of Africa to the detriment of locals and enrichment of corporations and western societies, I returned home to the nuclear weapons crisis of the cold war

    I joined the Greenham Common protests, founded the Snowball civil disobedience campaign and then later the anti-nuclear weapons group Trident Ploughshares. I also became involved in work on the climate crisis. I learned that everything is connected and that it all has an impact on the climate, on biodiversity and on the sustainability of life on Earth. I discovered more about how our reliance on fossil fuels was causing the greenhouse effect and soon joined with climate scientists and local environmentalists to start a group in Norwich that tried to educate the public

    Ka kite ano.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/26/climate-activism-extinction-rebellion-protest-guilty

  32. Eco maori 32
    27 June 2019 at 4:22 pm

    Some Eco Maori music for the minute.

    https://youtu.be/Yd2T3o-Ybow

    Whanau the JUSTICE department will be un wise to underestimate Eco Maori

  33. Eco maori 33
    27 June 2019 at 5:14 pm

    Here you go Whanau reality for a brown person or any minority cultural in New Zealand is unfair unjustified and BULLSHIT

    That's A Bit Racist, TVNZ 1, Sunday (July 7)

    Documentary filmed before Christchurch attack finds inequality in New Zealand

    "Most of us wander round thinking that New Zealand is a fair and decent country where everyone's treated equally, that we're a right on, cool bunch of people who are a bit different to every other place in the world but the reality is a bit different. That's the bottom line. New Zealand is a different place depending on the colour of your skin and the accent you have.

    Racism can be as simple as mocking people, mimicking accents or telling cheap jokes at the expense of others.

    Then there is institutional racism.

    "It's not that nasty name-calling, low-level, joking, silly stuff. It's how your opportunities are affected based on unconscious decisions people make in positions of power," Andrews says

    New Zealand is a great big melting pot but, unfortunately, although we are filled with all the world and all it's got, we are not equal. We are not treated equally, we don't have equal opportunity and our kids still don't and that is what motivated me most to keep working with this documentary "If we don't have it, nothing is going to change and I don't know if that's that flash ka kite ano link below.

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/113758540/documentary-filmed-before-christchurch-attack-finds-inequality-in-new-zealand

  34. Eco maori 34
    27 June 2019 at 6:26 pm

    Kia ora Newshub.

    Good on Chris for his post in cabinet in the Coalition Government.

    Wow White Island is heating up thats Rua Moko getting upset I wonder what's upsetting.

    Kevin good on you and victim support for administrativing that money for the Christchurch disaster victims.

    Well we had a big frost to Im from te taiwhiti so I prefer the Warm Sun.

    The commissioner Hughes should tell that to the NZ police. I have written a letter to the minister of justice using the FYI site ma te wa.

    Ka kite ano

  35. Eco maori 35
    27 June 2019 at 6:43 pm

    Kia ora te ao Maori news.

    Cool that Te Waitangi treaty growns have been made a nation heritage site.

    Kris got a cabinet job ka pai i got his name correct this time.

    Jacinda don't listen to the cop's spinning lies about my whanau they will try anything to try a shit on Eco Maori Mana Wairua.

    Ka kite ano.

    https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU

  36. Eco maori 36
    27 June 2019 at 6:54 pm

    I stand proud to be a Maori it is awesome that our people are showing a big surge in Interest in our te reo and culture. I agree the government needs to invest more money in training te reo Teachers

  37. Eco maori 37
    27 June 2019 at 7:10 pm

    With that shooting in Vags I wonder why they stated that the person who died was from Eco Maori IWI Ngati Porou I have never seen this before????????????????????????.

  38. Eco maori 38
    27 June 2019 at 7:24 pm

    Since the UNJUSTIFIED system is not providing Eco Maori with a satisfactory service I.E can no get a lawyer to represent Eco Maori .

    I Am going to make a Waitangi Tribunal claim and use the treaty of Waitangi to defend my Whanau from the attacks to my reputation my mana my tamariki my mokopuna by the NZ GOVERNMENT department of police .

    One might say why tell them well them they are monitoring every fart I do.

  39. Eco maori 39
    28 June 2019 at 8:05 am

    Kia ora Newshub.?

    I agree that some use of 1080 is needed but I still say that a bounty needs to be payed on the RAT extermination I no of a place where there are heaps of RATS.

    mark I see you and duncan have had your egos blown up because the mens mens Netball team beat the Wahine team there is nothing to CROW about there boys. Men are physically taller stronger than Wahine the win is quite predictable you 2 crowing about the win shows you're chauvinistic neanderthal true characters to the Papatuanuku good on you Ingrid for pointing out that they have no need to be insecure about Wahine getting more mana.

    The new reservation on whenua showing a big increase in the bird's and other wildlife in and around the reservations the same phenomenon will happen with our new marine reservation all marine reservation and reservation on land are needed to protect our wildlife. The unusual warm weather creates a huge population growth of rats that is caused by Global Warming Human Caused Climate Change.

    The Democrats debate issues with their broad casting their debate live shows how low trump's rednecks crew will go you see people the rightneck are dirty there just like they are here .

    judy national sold a lot of state houses in high value places to wealthy people who just creamed it you shut down hundreds of states houses with the bullshit PEE testing scheme that retired police were running and creaming that to you and you m8 created this housing SHORT.

    Kris congratulations.

    Capitalism at its best pokie machines one arm bandits there are 5 times more of these things in poor communities that can least afford to play them than wealthy places. The idiot's use the excuse that they give a lot to charity's in the lower class place what about the tamariki at home with out the basics healthy living conditions while the parent are feeding their habit addiction.

    I say that the dry July is a great thing alcohol free for one month. What it will do ultimately is lower ones consumption of alcohol. No wonder Amanda took the morning off dealing with the big dumb egos stand firm Ingrid.

    Ka kite ano

  40. Eco maori 40
    28 June 2019 at 10:24 am

    Some Eco Maori music for the minute.

    https://youtu.be/ycOPGarZ9nM

  41. Eco maori 41
    28 June 2019 at 4:05 pm

    Ka pai to all the people Championing action against climate change.

    Extinction Rebellion highlight climate emergency at Glastonbury

    Campaigners joined by indigenous people who have led fight against Global warming.

    Nearly 2,000 festival-goers have joined climate change campaigners Extinction Rebellion to stage a procession across the Glastonbury site, paying tribute to indigenous people who have led the fight against global heating.

    Waving flags bearing the extinction symbol, which was seen across central London earlier this year when Extinction Rebellion protests brought the city to a standstill, the crowd marched for about an hour in the scorching afternoon sun on Thursday from the festival’s park stage to its stone circle.

    Speaking to the crowd on the second day of the 49th Glastonbury festival, Dr Gail Bradbrook from Extinction Rebellion, said: “[Extinction Rebellion] is not a protest. It is not a campaign. It is a rebellion. We are in active rebellion against our government. The social contract is broken, the governments aren’t protecting us and it’s down to us now.”

    Bradbrook said people were waking up to the climate emergency. “This is not a slow movement of change. It’s a shift in the consciousness of each of us.

    “It is a collective shift. It involves facing grief and trauma and undoing our numbness and our narcissism and our indulgence that we have in this privileged western society.

    Ka kite ano.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/27/extinction-rebellion-highlight-climate-emergency-at-glastonbury

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