Good on ya Stuff for putting the “This is what patriarchy looks like” photo on your front page, but then you go and caption the photo with “US President Donald Trump, surrounded by senior staff, signs an executive order to reinstate the banning foreign aid being used for abortions overseas.”
US foreign aid already was banned from being used to fund abortions, but readers skimming the piece probably don’t know that. At least the article itself gets it right: “The order blocks United States funding to foreign organisations that perform or provide advice on abortions.”
I recommend saving a copy of this photo somewhere so you can attach it to your reply, next time right-wing fuckwits are sneering about Cunliffe apologising on behalf of men. It’s not like we’ve nothing to apologise for, you lackwits.
This is Mark Zuckerberg’s own Facebook page and message, and it sounds like the beginning of a Presidential run to me:
Mark Zuckerberg
3 January at 13:43 ·
..
Every year I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside of my work. In recent years, I’ve run 365 miles, built a simple AI for my home, read 25 books and learned Mandarin.
My personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year. I’ve spent significant time in many states already, so I’ll need to travel to about 30 states this year to complete this challenge.
After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future.
Priscilla and I have enjoyed taking road trips together since we started dating. Recently, I’ve traveled around the world and visited many cities, and now I’m excited to explore more of our country and meet more people here.
Going into this challenge, it seems we are at a turning point in history. For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone.
My work is about connecting the world and giving everyone a voice. I want to personally hear more of those voices this year. It will help me lead the work at Facebook and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative so we can make the most positive impact as the world enters an important new period.
My trips this year will take different forms — road trips with Priscilla, stops in small towns and universities, visits to our offices across the country, meetings with teachers and scientists, and trips to fun places you recommend along the way.
I’ve enjoyed doing these challenges with our community and I’ll post tomorrow about how everyone around the world can join in. I’m looking forward to this challenge and I hope to see you out there!
If Maggie ‘Garden Show’ Barry can do it, why not Hosking? Actually, it’ll probably be easier for him. Auntie Mags had to drop that carefully nurtured facade of warmth and amiability she’d been trading on for so long on the telly. Hosking, by contrast, has all the warmth of a fucking glacier, so he’ll slot right in as though he was born to it. (Pro-tip: Mike Hosking was not actually born. He was grown in a vat in a bio-tech facility run by a faceless multinational corporation controlled by a rogue artificial intelligence.)
Mike Hosking was not actually born. He was grown in a vat in a bio-tech facility run by a faceless multinational corporation controlled by a rogue artificial intelligence.
Considering who just became president i think all of he above must also be qualified.
And the public pays the up keep of these self indulging wankers. No difference anywhere. All the same non taxpaying rich guys that are gonna make life for the tax payers easier once voted into office . Yeah, right Tui.
Mars has an atmosphere due to CO2 being a greenhouse gas. Increasing CO2 is akin to putting a blanket on a bed, traps heat. So after a decade of increasingly hotter temperate rises its utterly stupid to continue throwing more blankets on the bed each summer. Yet this serious thinker went out of his way to consider that climate change was impossible for humanity to achieve. This is akin to saying we didn’t goto the moon.
”What they found [his travelling party] surprised them – a people who were poor, yes, but wonderfully engaged, well-dressed, fully employed and well informed. In Gareth’s view, what North Korea has achieved economically despite its lack of access to international money has been magnificent.”
Yeah a serious thinker
[Something over here needing your attention Puckish] – Bill
So, because he refused to simply regurgitate the catechism of “North Korea is evil”, he’s not a serious thinker?
Yes, I think, like you do, that it’s more than likely that Morgan in that case was suckered by a Potemkin scenario, but it shows that he at least is open to thinking about things, and doesn’t feel compelled to mouth received “wisdom”.
I don’t think he’s always right or wise, but he IS serious, and intelligent. That’s not something anyone could credibly say about Mike Hosking, “Sir” Robert Jones, Mark Zuckerberg or Donald Trump.
Fair enough, Sabine. But, even so, he’s far more intelligent, and far more serious, than Mike Hosking, “Sir” Robert Jones, Mark Zuckerberg or Donald Trump.
mate, he is a wanker. No matter how dumb or intelligent he is a wanker. In fact, if he is so intelligent its even worse as he knows he is a wanker and he is doing it for shits n giggles, while the world has run out of shits n giggles a long time ago.
nah, he shall climb on his bike and go to Mongolia. ride a goat or such.
You might have his measure there Sabine. Gareth Morgan has been pissing off NZers for as long as I can remember. He’s far too pushy and opinionated, I can’t see his party getting anywhere.
Morgan openly said on Checkpoint last night, that he’d made his “Uncle Tom” comment at Ratana, to get attention to issues he wanted to raise. Maybe he’s trying to take a leaf from Trump’s book. These days, there’s no telling what that kind of approach may achieve, whether we like it or not.
I’m not aiming to be a cheerleader for TOP. Just pointing out that sensationalist publicity that pisses off a lot of people, seems to work for some people politically.
Great, and that is what got the World Trump. Cause politics is just fuckwits pissing of other fuckwits into voting against ‘the others’.
not to better their country, not to create a more equal society, but simply to fuck of the others.
Great.
As i said before Trump/Morgan are the same kind of over rated rich fuckwits.
btw, i read the comments he made at Ratana, and frankly he should have been pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes pretty much immediately. Fuckwit.
So Zuckerberg, who is one of the worst underminers of U.S. public education and a zealous promoter of profit-based “charter schools”, has read only 25 books “in recent years”. That doesn’t surprise me.
Remember all that successful pressure the left put on President Obama to stop the Dakota pipeline?
Trump just overrode all that.
The Dakota pipeline is back on, by Presidential decree.
And to remind all fellow lefties why Trump was always going to be so much better than anything else, this is what a massive pipeline does; 200,000 litres of fracked oil on native land, since Friday:
And for all who expected to see those steel mills rolling again in little towns, the quote for the day is:
“Creating a second Flint does not make America great again”.
– Dave Archimbault II, Chairman, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
I suppose that might be a second good thing about the trump presidency:
if he follows through on his plan of tax breaks for companies that invest in automation (sorry, “bring jerbz back to murka”), other (more sane) governments around the world might be forced to sensibly consider their transition to a low-employment society.
She says that history shows us exactly what will happen under the Trump administration.
WE ALREADY KNOW that the Trump administration plans to deregulate markets, wage all-out war on “radical Islamic terrorism,” trash climate science and unleash a fossil-fuel frenzy. It’s a vision that can be counted on to generate a tsunami of crises and shocks: economic shocks, as market bubbles burst; security shocks, as blowback from foreign belligerence comes home; weather shocks, as our climate is further destabilized; and industrial shocks, as oil pipelines spill and rigs collapse, which they tend to do, especially when enjoying light-touch regulation.
All this is dangerous enough. What’s even worse is the way the Trump administration can be counted on to exploit these shocks politically and economically.
She writes about the way Pence put disaster capitalism into action after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
What stands out in the package of pseudo “relief” policies is the commitment to wage all-out war on labor standards and on the public sphere — which is ironic because the failure of public infrastructure is what turned Katrina into a human catastrophe. Also notable is the determination to use any opportunity to strengthen the hand of the oil and gas industry.
So, in case anyone thinks impeachment is the solution to Trump…. Pence is no solution.
Watch out for Trump using the cover of (allegedly) positive legislation for workers, while dodgy practices (some illegal and unchecked) will be used to benefit private corporations. eg the likes of Halliburton.
This is the disaster capitalism blueprint, and it aligns with Trump’s own track record as a businessman all too well.
… disasters, …are coming fast and furious. Trump has already declared the U.S. a rolling disaster zone. And the shocks will keep getting bigger, thanks to the reckless policies that have already been promised.
Thank Goodness we have the Democrats to fight the good fight…or maybe not…
“FOURTEEN SENATE DEMOCRATS joined all but one Senate Republican in confirming Rep. Mike Pompeo as the new CIA director on Monday evening”
“On the surface, the drug companies won a battle against Senator Bernie Sanders as his bill to allow pharmaceutical distributors and pharmacists to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other countries lost by a narrow 52-46 vote. And Sanders is fuming at the 13 Democratic Senators who essentially killed the bill by voting against it.”
sorry guys, but your world is being fucked over again by those that should look out for your interest. But i am sure it will make all these young people feel good to know that America will be made Great Again, one pipeline at a time.
rejoice young ones and say thanks to your parents especially those that voted for that bullshit.
Don’t despair—America will survive because it has people like this
At a time when the United States seems to be over-run with people like Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel and Donald J Trump, it’s important to remember that there are still decent, heroic people there. People like Norman Finkelstein….
There is zero chance that Gareth Morgan will benefit from his attack on Winston Peters, who in fact will benefit from it.
Who on earth is even going to vote for TOP?
Presumably it would have to be people who are disenchanted with all existing parties. It won’t be people who are not already voting. Why would TOP suddenly be the thing that motivates them to vote?
I will be surprised if TOP gets much more than 1%, if that.
As there is a good chance Peters may be part of the next Government, is it wise for The Opportunities Party to rip into him when their stated objective is to substantially influence the policies of the Government of the day?
Moreover, if The Opportunities Party is targeting NZF supporters, wouldn’t it suggest there are synergies they can build upon to substantially influence the policies of the Government of the day?
Interesting comments in The Sydney Morning Herald.
“we can no longer slothfully afford to leave our national strategy on autopilot, as we’ve done since John Curtin unilaterally declared we “look to America” in 1941. We now need to identify exactly what’s in our interests, and what’s not. The way a lot of people are talking at the moment suggests this is something they haven’t bothered thinking through.
Sure, and just like the Philippines, we’d prefer it if the Chinese weren’t militarising artificial islands across the South China Sea. But does preventing this require a war? Definitively not. In exactly the same way, it would be preferable if ASEAN was offering a united front against Beijing. It’s not and won’t. The tectonic plates of alliance politics are shifting, and wishing things were otherwise is both pointless and futile.
So we’ve got to move with the times too. The vital thing is to avoid getting locked into definitive positions that risk curtailing the possibility of negotiation. …
…Artificial-island building is an irrelevancy compared with climate change, yet it risks somehow becoming the focal point of Western engagement with China. We will never achieve real security until we envisage the problem in its broadest sense. It’s time, now, for some urgent action. Before Trump curtails our freedom to manoeuvre.
Will National succumb to ACT’s bottom line or will ACT be left out in the cold?
“The bottom line for ACT is that if we hold the balance of power after the next election, the Government must remove urban councils, those with more than 100,000 people, from the jurisdiction of the RMA and introduce new legislation that promotes an adequate supply of housing.”
They won’t need them – they’ll have to deal with NZF anyway. They’ll continue to prop up their existence in Epsom, but Seymour will be a fringe figure in the next government.
ACT, the only party who are so incompitent that they were taken over in a coup by an outsider (John Banks). Since then, just a branch of National. No doubt these demands were actually thought up at head office.
Shopping around for alternative partners requires actual independence, which ACT does not have.
At the United Nations conference on the Syria crisis in Helsinki on 24th January, where journalists and Syrian representatives were not invited to any discussions, Helen Clarke was asked a question that made her a tad uncomfortable.
It’s the palpable relief shown by the guy next to her as he realises Helen has ‘an angle’ that got me.
Watch Clark’s body language while the question is being asked – the ‘leaning in’, the subsequent ‘sitting up and slightly back’ and then the “gotcha” swilling of the glass of water…she had it covered (as in had constructed a ‘get around’).
Aw Brigid. They’re having meetings! And as everyone of a certain mind-set knows, meetings are the ‘go to’ places if you want things done!
The UN’s in a fucking pickle. They fucked up big time on Syria (they still endorse regime change) and they’ve been reduced to making their mendacity palpable for a western audience (most of the rest of the world – and certainly the Arab world – already knows that the UN’s just a faithful lap dog ‘fetching the slippers’ for US/NATO/western masters and mistresses).
Clark looks like she wanted to unload on Vanessa Beeley in the same way she unloaded on the likes of Selwyn Manning when she came under pressure to explain her government’s persecution of Ahmed Zaoui.
But since she’s only a minor figure here rather than top dog, she resorts to windy nothings. Change the accent, add a few repetitions of “uh” to indicate moral sincerity, and it could have been the Chief Windbag himself, Barack Obama.
Who invited them? Well, duh the Assad regime and its patrons don’t want the UN involved in any form, not even the UNDP. Of course they haven’t been invited. Fortunately, the UN doesn’t require invitations from one side in a civil war to take an interest in looking after the victims of it (to the extent that a huge, inefficient and pretty corrupt bureaucracy is capable of looking after people, at least).
Of more interest is why the Assad regime has one of its shills trying to discredit UN efforts to render humanitarian assistance.
What? The? Fuck? Here’s some of the recent activity:
18 January 2017 – Amid an overall scale-up in relief operations in Syria, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, Ali Al-Za’tari, approved today $19 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to sustain immediate life-saving and early recovery assistance for tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Aleppo.
Also:
in 2016, UN agencies and partners operating in Syria and cross-border disbursed more than $220 million for programmes and services to people in need in Aleppo city, which included $14 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund.
It didn’t make her uncomfortable at all. It was an effing stupid, grandstanding and irrelevant question, which showed that the questioner was clearly in the wrong room. Clark politely showed that in her clear, concise response to the so called “independent journalist” (which can probably be more rightly be said as “self appointed activist with a blog”).
The person in the wrong room was that trougher über alles Helen Clark. Your ignorant dismissal of Vanessa Beeley, who is one of the world’s best journalists reminds me of Clark’s foaming hostility towards two of New Zealand’s finest: Nicky Hager and Selwyn Manning.
No indeed. However, travelling the country with the regime’s representatives and its military, talking to people the regime allows you to talk to, then promoting the regime’s interests in every available venue, is shilling for a regime.
and that’s without going into Germany so I genuinely believe that, based on the experiences of European countries, bringing in mass muslim refugees will lead to bad outcomes for our country, maybe not now, maybe not even later, but a generation or two down the line we’ll experience the same issues (on a lesser scale) as being dealt with in Europe
We can still take refugees in but I don’t see why we have to specifically take muslim refugees over Christian refugees (which you would think would be an easier assimilation) especially as to how Christians are treated in Syria
PR – You’re still squirrelling the discussion. The focus is on the ultra-rich trying to avoid the consequences of climate change instead of forgoing or using some of those riches in a proactive way to help limit the extent of climate change (ie, to help the world and all its people rather than just themselves).
I’m not going to drawn into arguing about other immigration issues, because that would mean you’d succeed in your attempt to distract.
Shouldn’t kick a man when he’s down, I know, Pucky but I’d like to see you do better with your comments here. The derailment attempt (sorry, the unintentional derailment attempt) was kinda dull.
There was this whole Western European thing called the Renaissance and the Enlightenment that means there are a whole set of cultural values like democracy and freedom that we seem to take for granted these days. PR has a point, we should allow immigration on our terms, I am sick of our open slather policy. Winston was right…
I’m not an expert (no surprise) but as I understand it Islam hasn’t had any sort of reformation like what the Christians had and that’s why the bible has the new testament and the Koran doesn’t
The NT predates the Reformation, but the reformation broke the hegemony of the Catholic Church, allowing anyone to interpret the Bible & think for themselves. Dictators & religious control freaks don’t like that sort of thing.
The Bible started off ugly, and then got better (but still ugly).
The problem is that the Koran started off nice, and then got real ugly the further through you read… compounded by the proclamation that anything you read early on is superseded by anything that follows that may contradict earlier reading.
For one thing you’re conflating cultural norms with religious norms.
You’re also confusing the Reformation with the entire “oh snap, there’s a guy called Jesus that we’ll write about” that occurred something like 1200 years earlier (there was a lag between the reported events and the documentation in the testaments). And that’s if one views Protestantism as any better than Catholicism anyway (compare the comments of the Pope with the comments of Falwell, for example).
The basic rule I follow is that one’s religion says nothing about one’s character, it’s the passages in your holy text one chooses to elevate over the others that describes it.
Thanks for that, I guess the issue becomes when cultural and religious norms overlap or are similar enough that theres no issue with either but then I’m cultural norms are probably mostly derived from the dominant religious norm of the time
I’m not disagreeing with you, in fact you’re probably right, but this is starting to get into one of the areas that I’ve self-censored myself from joining in so I’ll just quietly slip out the door
It’s probably a good idea to self-censor when discussing Islam on a left-wing blog, but I’m a poor self-censor. The reason we should minimise our intake of Muslim refugees is that Islam’s a totalitarian ideology that’s inimical to liberal values so the chances of importing a dangerous fascist are pretty high (higher even than the chances of importing one among our South African religious fundamentalist immigrants, which is pretty fucking high if you ask me).
False equivalence. Islam is a totalitarian ideology per se – no focus on its worst elements is required and no other religion (that I’m aware of, which isn’t particularly comprehensive) fits that bill.
It’s also a fairly obvious scam, but given the number of Mormons in the world White people don’t have any reason to feel superior about that.
Not so. To stick to the most obvious ones: Islam comes with a legal code (Sharia) and the right of religious authorities to classify all human behaviour into five categories ranging from compulsory to forbidden (ahkam). Someone who is born into it or agrees to join it is not permitted to leave. Those are the features that make it a totalitarian ideology, and other religions tend not to have them. Those other religions may or may not feature just as high a proportion of fucked-up individuals as Islam, but they aren’t totalitarian ideologies per se.
Never heard of ecclesiastic law? Apostasy or heresy? Excommunication? Shunning?
Yes, many nominally “christian” countries are pretty relaxed – unless you need an abortion, or are gay. Then the number of relaxed countries decreases markedly.
Nobody rewrote the Bible after 1600. Translated, yes, but all the prohibitions are still there. All the Leviticus bullshit. The reason Christians don’t go around stoning witches or adulterers today is because they choose to ignore specific passages. The few jerks who choose to obey those passages do so because of the cultural and personal baggage of their society, not because they’re better at following an inherently self-contradictory and historically doubtful book than everyone else.
Never heard of ecclesiastic law? Apostasy or heresy? Excommunication? Shunning?
Sure. All of it was made up. Authorities can invent legal code whenever they want, but there was none written into Christianity in the first place. They had to make it up. The legal code’s written into Islam to start with, which is why it’s different.
Same with heresy – of course religious authorities of whatever stripe will persecute their opponents if they get the chance, but Islam’s the only religion I’m aware of that proscribes apostasy right there in the documentation. In Islam, there is no dispute over whether apostasy is proscribed or not because it clearly is – the only dispute is over whether the punishment for it is death or not.
…all the prohibitions are still there. All the Leviticus bullshit.
Yes, Judaism’s also pretty shit, but it’s not in Islam’s league.
Thinking further about it, this might be a better explanation. If I say that fascism is a totalitarian ideology because it prescribes a one-party state in which the leader has absolute authority, a person could make the counter-argument that it’s bullshit to single out fascism, because Turkey and Russia are nominal democracies that have effectively become one-party states in which the leader has absolute authority. That counter-argument would be wrong, because democracy can succumb to those features but it doesn’t prescribe them.
NB: the above is to illustrate the logic of an argument, not to equate Muslims with fascists.
Yeah, I’m not questioning the logic of your argument, just its accuracy.
The Bible has entire lists of “crimes” and their punishments (generally involving rocks). Apostasy? Check out Deuteronomy 13.
But even if the Quran were exceptional (as you claim) in explicitly requiring violent ends for violators of religious law, the fact remains that Muslim refugees are fleeing religious literalists. The problem isn’t the text, the problem is the emphasis people place on random passages they happen to agree with. Nice people follow all the peace and mung beans passages. Arseholes will go out of their way to interpret the peace and mung bean passages as requiring executions of heretics.
I recall the story of one particular Catholic order of monks during the height of the inquisitions: they really wanted to get in on the “torture heretics and confiscate their lands” action, but the founding saint had explicitly forbidden the order from shedding blood.
Then some imaginative monk remembered hot oil and fire pokers. Theological quandary solved.
“The responsible application of science to government”
What is the Scientists’ March on Washington
UPDATE: 4:00 1-24-16 : Since 10am today, over 50 people have volunteered to help make this event a reality! We’re going to get back to everyone and try to make sure that everyone’s time is put to the best use possible. A single google hangout looks unfeasible if volunteers keep coming in at this rate until Saturday, so we’re working ways to break into working groups. Stay tuned!
The Earth is becoming warmer due to human action.
The diversity of life arose by evolution.
An American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas threatens not only the environment of which humans are a part, but America itself.
Scientific research in the United States is underfunded.
Politicians who devalue expertise risk making decisions that do not reflect reality.
Who can participate:
Science is a methodology and a way of thinking. Anyone who uses and values these tools for understanding the world, not just professional scientists, may participate.
How can I help?
We are still in the very early stages of organizing this event. We need all the help we can get, especially from people with expertise in the following areas:
Web Design
Logo/Graphic design
Law, incorporation of a not-for-profit
Fundraising
Public relations and media relations
Social media management
Organizing large events
Acquiring permits in DC
Contacts with possible speakers
You don’t need to be a professional scientist to participate. Just fill out this google form: https://goo.gl/forms/zAdY02dBEz3Ykii42 and please let us know how you can help.
How can I donate?
You can’t yet. We’re working on figuring out a legal framework that will allow you to donate.
When will it be?
We’re still in the very earliest stages. The date will be announced as soon as it is available.
Isn’t science apolitical?
Yes. Scientists, however are not. The march is non-partisan, however it is intended to have an impact on policy makers.
Too much happening at once, I’m not keeping up and don’t have time to fact check. How much is normal administration hand over and how much is advancing fascism?
4. No syncretistic faith can withstand analytical criticism. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.
some of the things people are talking about are handover things (aid funding and abortion, some of the things being taken off the WH website on day one). I’m not suggesting really bad shit isn’t happening, I’m just looking for the sources that are applying critical thinking so I don’t have to fact check so much.
Part of this is about whether the comms clampdown is “normal”. Mostly concludes it’s unusual, although it’s hard to compare given how many communication channels have opened up in the last decade or so.
“While the impressive numbers are more to do with the easy access to live video online than Mr Trump’s popularity, we need more measured analysis when it comes to the new president – his record viewer claim certainly isn’t the most ridiculous thing he’s ever said.”
The same recipe of deep meaningful sighs, chuckling, and sardonic little quips:
Jim Mora’s light chat show has not improved one whit since last year The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 25 January 2017
Jim Mora, Mai Chen, Peter Fa’afiu
First “expert” today is….(wait for it)….Professor Al Gillespie. This time he’s delivering his anodyne pronouncements on the topic of trade negotiations post-Brexit and post-rational America. Mai Chen, as ever, tries to talk “street” style….
MAI CHEN: It’s all very well for us to rock up and say, Mr Trump, we want a bilateral trade deal…
JIM MORA:[drily] Yes, we’d need Chris Liddell lobbying very hard.
MAI CHEN:[appreciatively] Ha!
AL GILLESPIE: New Zealand as a small nation is a law TAKER rather than a law MAKER.
JIM MORA: We can rest our hopes on Britain, we can be best friends with everybody in the middle east, except Israel….
PETER FA’AFIU: We’ve got the best trade negotiators in the world—and I don’t say that because I was one of them.
JIM MORA: Heh!
PETER FA’AFIU: We punch well above our weight. ….
JIM MORA: Thank you Peter, for your great injection of optimism.
PETER FA’AFIU: Ha ha ha ha!
…..
4:26 p.m.: I’ve just heard Mai Chen say that “we” should charge people to see the Punakaiki Rocks and other tourist attractions. She attempted to justify this by citing the example of having to pay tolls in Israel to swim in the Sea of Galilee. I can’t take any more of this bilge today. If they say something interesting, someone might like to tell the rest of us, but I presume the next half hour will continue on like this.
So, 11 years ago Al Gore said in An Inconvenient Truth that pacific Islands were being evacuated to NZ because of climate change. Has anyone identified these mystic islands yet?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
What’s the bet this fool Roberts will be quoted, seriously and respectfully, by Jim Mora some time soon? Mora regularly gives oxygen, without demur, to one of our loudest and dimmest science-deniers, Jordan Williams….
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As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal. Animals Australia, an animal welfare ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
A new poem by Freya Turnbull. Hunger Song – After Kaveh Akbar (Untitled With Hunger And Matcheads) I hold my age in ripped fishnet hold an empty vessel oldyoung body cracks like gunshot like killa i was a father ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station.NASA Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found ...
Troy Rawhiti-Connell reviews Kia Tupu Te Ara, a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Aotearoa’s groundbreaking metal band. “Two brothers attempt to storm the world of thrash metal with the Māori language, despite the fact they’re both still teenagers,” reads the synopsis of Kent Belcher’s documentary, Kia Tupu Te Ara. ...
Three freelance writers have been awarded grants to work on their ambitious journalism projects. In January, The Spinoff announced the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund, supported by the Auckland Radio Trust (ART). The fund was established to provide much-needed financial and editorial support to talented freelance journalists, empowering them to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga China has confirmed details of its meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown for the first time, saying Beijing “stands ready to have an in-depth exchange” with the island nation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during his ...
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and Keystone XL and Dapl are all go again. http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/24/1624420/-Trump-signing-executive-order-forcing-through-Keystone-XL-and-DAPL-pipelines
Good morning world.
Pretty much as expected.
More Trump: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/88738307/donald-trump-surrounded-by-men-signing-antiabortion-executive-order-sparks-outrage.
Good on ya Stuff for putting the “This is what patriarchy looks like” photo on your front page, but then you go and caption the photo with “US President Donald Trump, surrounded by senior staff, signs an executive order to reinstate the banning foreign aid being used for abortions overseas.”
US foreign aid already was banned from being used to fund abortions, but readers skimming the piece probably don’t know that. At least the article itself gets it right: “The order blocks United States funding to foreign organisations that perform or provide advice on abortions.”
I recommend saving a copy of this photo somewhere so you can attach it to your reply, next time right-wing fuckwits are sneering about Cunliffe apologising on behalf of men. It’s not like we’ve nothing to apologise for, you lackwits.
This is Mark Zuckerberg’s own Facebook page and message, and it sounds like the beginning of a Presidential run to me:
Mark Zuckerberg
3 January at 13:43 ·
..
Every year I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside of my work. In recent years, I’ve run 365 miles, built a simple AI for my home, read 25 books and learned Mandarin.
My personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year. I’ve spent significant time in many states already, so I’ll need to travel to about 30 states this year to complete this challenge.
After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future.
Priscilla and I have enjoyed taking road trips together since we started dating. Recently, I’ve traveled around the world and visited many cities, and now I’m excited to explore more of our country and meet more people here.
Going into this challenge, it seems we are at a turning point in history. For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone.
My work is about connecting the world and giving everyone a voice. I want to personally hear more of those voices this year. It will help me lead the work at Facebook and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative so we can make the most positive impact as the world enters an important new period.
My trips this year will take different forms — road trips with Priscilla, stops in small towns and universities, visits to our offices across the country, meetings with teachers and scientists, and trips to fun places you recommend along the way.
I’ve enjoyed doing these challenges with our community and I’ll post tomorrow about how everyone around the world can join in. I’m looking forward to this challenge and I hope to see you out there!
Geezus… what is it with these wealthy guys that think they are the right people to be the new rulers of the world?
Lucky this country doesn’t have such shallow and arrogant rich people….
http://mediawhores.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/bob-jones.jpg
i raise you a wanna be called Gareth Morgan.
I raise you.
Mike Hosking.
Paul, have you heard rumours that “The Hosk” (as Jack Tame calls him) is thinking of making a run for parliament?
Until recently, I would have written that off as a not particularly amusing joke, but not any longer.
No I had not.
What a horrible thought.
Well Seymour is a dud…
If Maggie ‘Garden Show’ Barry can do it, why not Hosking? Actually, it’ll probably be easier for him. Auntie Mags had to drop that carefully nurtured facade of warmth and amiability she’d been trading on for so long on the telly. Hosking, by contrast, has all the warmth of a fucking glacier, so he’ll slot right in as though he was born to it. (Pro-tip: Mike Hosking was not actually born. He was grown in a vat in a bio-tech facility run by a faceless multinational corporation controlled by a rogue artificial intelligence.)
Mike Hosking was not actually born. He was grown in a vat in a bio-tech facility run by a faceless multinational corporation controlled by a rogue artificial intelligence.
Gareth Morgan is a serious and credible commentator. Bob Jones is not, and neither is Mark Zuckerberg.
Please don’t interpret that as an endorsement of Morgan: I don’t particularly like him.
Gareth Morgan is a self indulging wanker.
Bob Jones is a self indulging wanker.
Mark Zuckerberg is a self indulging wanker.
Donald Trump is a self indulging wanker.
Considering who just became president i think all of he above must also be qualified.
And the public pays the up keep of these self indulging wankers. No difference anywhere. All the same non taxpaying rich guys that are gonna make life for the tax payers easier once voted into office . Yeah, right Tui.
That’s too simplistic, Sabine. You need to consider carefully what each of these people has said and written over a long time.
One of them—Gareth Morgan—is a genuine, serious thinker. That doesn’t mean you have to like him.
Mars has an atmosphere due to CO2 being a greenhouse gas. Increasing CO2 is akin to putting a blanket on a bed, traps heat. So after a decade of increasingly hotter temperate rises its utterly stupid to continue throwing more blankets on the bed each summer. Yet this serious thinker went out of his way to consider that climate change was impossible for humanity to achieve. This is akin to saying we didn’t goto the moon.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/9134900/If-anybody-can-Gareth-Morgan-can
”What they found [his travelling party] surprised them – a people who were poor, yes, but wonderfully engaged, well-dressed, fully employed and well informed. In Gareth’s view, what North Korea has achieved economically despite its lack of access to international money has been magnificent.”
Yeah a serious thinker
[Something over here needing your attention Puckish] – Bill
Done and if you still want to ban me then its all good, just please not for racism (I’ve no issue with the colour of their skin)
Yeah a serious thinker
So, because he refused to simply regurgitate the catechism of “North Korea is evil”, he’s not a serious thinker?
Yes, I think, like you do, that it’s more than likely that Morgan in that case was suckered by a Potemkin scenario, but it shows that he at least is open to thinking about things, and doesn’t feel compelled to mouth received “wisdom”.
I don’t think he’s always right or wise, but he IS serious, and intelligent. That’s not something anyone could credibly say about Mike Hosking, “Sir” Robert Jones, Mark Zuckerberg or Donald Trump.
i have read what he is writing, i carefully considered and he is a self indulging wanker.
Fair enough, Sabine. But, even so, he’s far more intelligent, and far more serious, than Mike Hosking, “Sir” Robert Jones, Mark Zuckerberg or Donald Trump.
mate, he is a wanker. No matter how dumb or intelligent he is a wanker. In fact, if he is so intelligent its even worse as he knows he is a wanker and he is doing it for shits n giggles, while the world has run out of shits n giggles a long time ago.
nah, he shall climb on his bike and go to Mongolia. ride a goat or such.
You might have his measure there Sabine. Gareth Morgan has been pissing off NZers for as long as I can remember. He’s far too pushy and opinionated, I can’t see his party getting anywhere.
Morgan openly said on Checkpoint last night, that he’d made his “Uncle Tom” comment at Ratana, to get attention to issues he wanted to raise. Maybe he’s trying to take a leaf from Trump’s book. These days, there’s no telling what that kind of approach may achieve, whether we like it or not.
I don’t pay much attention to him Carolyn_nth. In his earlier days he always seemed one of the enemy, a right little free-market fan club.
He might be a born again socialist now but that just says to me he was wrong in his earlier views and if was wrong then what makes him right now?
I’m not aiming to be a cheerleader for TOP. Just pointing out that sensationalist publicity that pisses off a lot of people, seems to work for some people politically.
Fair ’nuff. From what I’ve seen of him he manages to annoy almost everyone and you don’t win many friends that way.
Great, and that is what got the World Trump. Cause politics is just fuckwits pissing of other fuckwits into voting against ‘the others’.
not to better their country, not to create a more equal society, but simply to fuck of the others.
Great.
As i said before Trump/Morgan are the same kind of over rated rich fuckwits.
btw, i read the comments he made at Ratana, and frankly he should have been pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes pretty much immediately. Fuckwit.
So Zuckerberg, who is one of the worst underminers of U.S. public education and a zealous promoter of profit-based “charter schools”, has read only 25 books “in recent years”. That doesn’t surprise me.
Mark rationalizing that he really is a good person not just a wealthy prick.
Or he could challenge himself to pay proper taxes
Remember all that successful pressure the left put on President Obama to stop the Dakota pipeline?
Trump just overrode all that.
The Dakota pipeline is back on, by Presidential decree.
And to remind all fellow lefties why Trump was always going to be so much better than anything else, this is what a massive pipeline does; 200,000 litres of fracked oil on native land, since Friday:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-pipeline-leak-idUSKBN1572UJ
And for all who expected to see those steel mills rolling again in little towns, the quote for the day is:
“Creating a second Flint does not make America great again”.
– Dave Archimbault II, Chairman, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Yep. Trump is bringing industry back to the greatest industrial powerhouse the world has ever seen. Fantastic stuff.
I suppose that might be a second good thing about the trump presidency:
if he follows through on his plan of tax breaks for companies that invest in automation (sorry, “bring jerbz back to murka”), other (more sane) governments around the world might be forced to sensibly consider their transition to a low-employment society.
“Creating a second Flint does not make America great again” A’ho !!!!
The new national anthem…???
Naomi Klein on The Intercept about Trump’s disaster capitalism.
She says that history shows us exactly what will happen under the Trump administration.
She writes about the way Pence put disaster capitalism into action after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
So, in case anyone thinks impeachment is the solution to Trump…. Pence is no solution.
Watch out for Trump using the cover of (allegedly) positive legislation for workers, while dodgy practices (some illegal and unchecked) will be used to benefit private corporations. eg the likes of Halliburton.
Thank Goodness we have the Democrats to fight the good fight…or maybe not…
“FOURTEEN SENATE DEMOCRATS joined all but one Senate Republican in confirming Rep. Mike Pompeo as the new CIA director on Monday evening”
“On the surface, the drug companies won a battle against Senator Bernie Sanders as his bill to allow pharmaceutical distributors and pharmacists to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other countries lost by a narrow 52-46 vote. And Sanders is fuming at the 13 Democratic Senators who essentially killed the bill by voting against it.”
and this is just the start.
Student walk out in the US cause Climate Change.
sorry guys, but your world is being fucked over again by those that should look out for your interest. But i am sure it will make all these young people feel good to know that America will be made Great Again, one pipeline at a time.
rejoice young ones and say thanks to your parents especially those that voted for that bullshit.
http://www.ecowatch.com/student-protest-trump-2209339481.html
just what we need (not)….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/323046/nz-seen-as-apocalypse-haven,-new-yorker-reports.
An interesting read on a NZ citizen, Peter Thiel, titled
The evolution of Mr Thiel
The tech billionaire has morphed from a libertarian into a corporate Nietzschean
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21699954-tech-billionaire-has-morphed-libertarian-corporate-nietzschean-evolution
Interesting? Repulsive, more like.
Don’t despair—America will survive because it has people like this
At a time when the United States seems to be over-run with people like Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel and Donald J Trump, it’s important to remember that there are still decent, heroic people there. People like Norman Finkelstein….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/01/24/norman-finkelstein-die-gedanken-sind-frei-3/
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the inauguration.
https://youtu.be/OM7B56xok9M
When did ripping into Winston become an objective of The Opportunities Party?
When that’s one of their competitors for votes.
There is zero chance that Gareth Morgan will benefit from his attack on Winston Peters, who in fact will benefit from it.
Who on earth is even going to vote for TOP?
Presumably it would have to be people who are disenchanted with all existing parties. It won’t be people who are not already voting. Why would TOP suddenly be the thing that motivates them to vote?
I will be surprised if TOP gets much more than 1%, if that.
As there is a good chance Peters may be part of the next Government, is it wise for The Opportunities Party to rip into him when their stated objective is to substantially influence the policies of the Government of the day?
Moreover, if The Opportunities Party is targeting NZF supporters, wouldn’t it suggest there are synergies they can build upon to substantially influence the policies of the Government of the day?
Ripping into Peters fails to assist in that.
A tax on oldies’ homes would go down like a cup of cold sick.
Interesting comments in The Sydney Morning Herald.
“we can no longer slothfully afford to leave our national strategy on autopilot, as we’ve done since John Curtin unilaterally declared we “look to America” in 1941. We now need to identify exactly what’s in our interests, and what’s not. The way a lot of people are talking at the moment suggests this is something they haven’t bothered thinking through.
Sure, and just like the Philippines, we’d prefer it if the Chinese weren’t militarising artificial islands across the South China Sea. But does preventing this require a war? Definitively not. In exactly the same way, it would be preferable if ASEAN was offering a united front against Beijing. It’s not and won’t. The tectonic plates of alliance politics are shifting, and wishing things were otherwise is both pointless and futile.
So we’ve got to move with the times too. The vital thing is to avoid getting locked into definitive positions that risk curtailing the possibility of negotiation. …
…Artificial-island building is an irrelevancy compared with climate change, yet it risks somehow becoming the focal point of Western engagement with China. We will never achieve real security until we envisage the problem in its broadest sense. It’s time, now, for some urgent action. Before Trump curtails our freedom to manoeuvre.
Nicholas Stuart is a Canberra writer.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/now-trumps-president-we-need-a-new-strategy-20170122-gtwlpv.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_todayworld
Will National succumb to ACT’s bottom line or will ACT be left out in the cold?
“The bottom line for ACT is that if we hold the balance of power after the next election, the Government must remove urban councils, those with more than 100,000 people, from the jurisdiction of the RMA and introduce new legislation that promotes an adequate supply of housing.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88670392/ACT-leader-David-Seymour-calls-for-action-on-housing-affordability
They won’t need them – they’ll have to deal with NZF anyway. They’ll continue to prop up their existence in Epsom, but Seymour will be a fringe figure in the next government.
National tends to utilize ACT’s position. It helps them get things considered a little more extreme through while remaining at arms length.
ACT, the only party who are so incompitent that they were taken over in a coup by an outsider (John Banks). Since then, just a branch of National. No doubt these demands were actually thought up at head office.
Shopping around for alternative partners requires actual independence, which ACT does not have.
“No doubt these demands were actually thought up at head office.”
It’s a shame Labour don’t tend to leverage off the smaller left wing parties in a similar way.
At the United Nations conference on the Syria crisis in Helsinki on 24th January, where journalists and Syrian representatives were not invited to any discussions, Helen Clarke was asked a question that made her a tad uncomfortable.
It’s the palpable relief shown by the guy next to her as he realises Helen has ‘an angle’ that got me.
Watch Clark’s body language while the question is being asked – the ‘leaning in’, the subsequent ‘sitting up and slightly back’ and then the “gotcha” swilling of the glass of water…she had it covered (as in had constructed a ‘get around’).
As a politician she is very good.
The ‘we’re really not doing anything’ angle?
The ‘we can say something that sounds really good while directly avoiding answer your actual question’ angle.
Clark looks appalling. Hunched, crazy eyes, stiff body. I had a hard time watching her.
Aw Brigid. They’re having meetings! And as everyone of a certain mind-set knows, meetings are the ‘go to’ places if you want things done!
The UN’s in a fucking pickle. They fucked up big time on Syria (they still endorse regime change) and they’ve been reduced to making their mendacity palpable for a western audience (most of the rest of the world – and certainly the Arab world – already knows that the UN’s just a faithful lap dog ‘fetching the slippers’ for US/NATO/western masters and mistresses).
Trump and Putin will save us.
They can’t do worse than Obama and Clinton, those champions of Al Qaeda and ISIS, did to Syria.
And yet Putin and his lapdog Assad would suggest you are once again thinking with your colon.
???
A baffling and incoherent reply, my friend.
Could you try writing in English?
On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest (and unattainable)
What would you say your self awareness level is, Mullett?
Overall general awareness?
w/4
That is true Bill
I think they were thinking “what’s this idiot going on about?” Clark was gracious in her answer.
Clark looks like she wanted to unload on Vanessa Beeley in the same way she unloaded on the likes of Selwyn Manning when she came under pressure to explain her government’s persecution of Ahmed Zaoui.
But since she’s only a minor figure here rather than top dog, she resorts to windy nothings. Change the accent, add a few repetitions of “uh” to indicate moral sincerity, and it could have been the Chief Windbag himself, Barack Obama.
Who invited them? Well, duh the Assad regime and its patrons don’t want the UN involved in any form, not even the UNDP. Of course they haven’t been invited. Fortunately, the UN doesn’t require invitations from one side in a civil war to take an interest in looking after the victims of it (to the extent that a huge, inefficient and pretty corrupt bureaucracy is capable of looking after people, at least).
Of more interest is why the Assad regime has one of its shills trying to discredit UN efforts to render humanitarian assistance.
Do you genuinely believe the UN is a ‘renerderer of humanitarian assistance’ in Syria?
What? The? Fuck? Here’s some of the recent activity:
18 January 2017 – Amid an overall scale-up in relief operations in Syria, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, Ali Al-Za’tari, approved today $19 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to sustain immediate life-saving and early recovery assistance for tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Aleppo.
Also:
in 2016, UN agencies and partners operating in Syria and cross-border disbursed more than $220 million for programmes and services to people in need in Aleppo city, which included $14 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund.
source
It didn’t make her uncomfortable at all. It was an effing stupid, grandstanding and irrelevant question, which showed that the questioner was clearly in the wrong room. Clark politely showed that in her clear, concise response to the so called “independent journalist” (which can probably be more rightly be said as “self appointed activist with a blog”).
???
The person in the wrong room was that trougher über alles Helen Clark. Your ignorant dismissal of Vanessa Beeley, who is one of the world’s best journalists reminds me of Clark’s foaming hostility towards two of New Zealand’s finest: Nicky Hager and Selwyn Manning.
Vanessa Beeley appears to do a lot of associating with David Icke and Alex Jones. Seems like odd behaviour for “one of the world’s best journalists”.
Really? She subscribes to their mad views, does she? Or are you simply smearing her?
Vanessa Beeley is a great independent journalist.
Whereas Helen Clark sold her soul a long time ago.
Dunno about you, but I find “great independent journalist” and “Assad regime shill” incompatible.
Telling the truth is not shilling for a regime.
Which side has funded ISIS and Al Qaeda in Syria? Russia? Or the United States and its vassals?
Telling the truth is not shilling for a regime.
No indeed. However, travelling the country with the regime’s representatives and its military, talking to people the regime allows you to talk to, then promoting the regime’s interests in every available venue, is shilling for a regime.
This is the complete live broadcast.
The arrogance and ignorance of them is astounding.
https://formin.videosync.fi/2017-01-24-press
Ok well this for starters
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510866/Poll-reveals-40pc-of-Muslims-want-sharia-law-in-UK.html
That’s in the UK, not the middle east and I don’t want that kind of foothold starting here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks
As you can see there has been an increase in terrorist attacks by the followers of Islam over the last couple of years
a possible reason why:
http://www.commonsenseevaluation.com/2013/06/03/muslim-behaviorterrorism-correlated-with-population-size/#sthash.OzpQ7VGF.dpbs
and the figures are from here:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html
So that’s a no from me for muslim refugees or at least we match some of these countries:
http://usherald.com/heres-simple-reason-wealthy-muslim-countries-taken-zero-syrian-refugees/
Theres this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-go_area#Sweden (links onto the UK)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/12103667/Suddenly-the-Swedes-are-talking-about-their-refugee-problem.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/sex-assaults-sweden-stockholm-music-festival
and that’s without going into Germany so I genuinely believe that, based on the experiences of European countries, bringing in mass muslim refugees will lead to bad outcomes for our country, maybe not now, maybe not even later, but a generation or two down the line we’ll experience the same issues (on a lesser scale) as being dealt with in Europe
We can still take refugees in but I don’t see why we have to specifically take muslim refugees over Christian refugees (which you would think would be an easier assimilation) especially as to how Christians are treated in Syria
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22270455
Almost forgot, its just starting to happen in Australia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Australia#Endeavour_Hills_stabbings_.282014.29
So in the end I want to err on the side of caution
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
PR – You’re still squirrelling the discussion. The focus is on the ultra-rich trying to avoid the consequences of climate change instead of forgoing or using some of those riches in a proactive way to help limit the extent of climate change (ie, to help the world and all its people rather than just themselves).
I’m not going to drawn into arguing about other immigration issues, because that would mean you’d succeed in your attempt to distract.
red-blooded is right about the puckish ploy to distract from the essence of this post.
When a moderator asks for a “please explain” I try my best to explain
[next time relate what you are saying to the post. As it is, it looks to me like you just used the post to start an anti-muslim conversation – weka]
Of course you do, and butter wouldn’t , y’know, in your mouth, melt. Really, Pucky, transparent.
Not a derailment attempt, at least it wasn’t my intention.
[nevertheless you’ve been here long enough to know better. – weka]
An unintentional derailment attempt, Pucky?
Bending reality there a bit, aren’t you?
No no no there was no derailment attempt, unintentional or otherwise
With Key gone, you’re floundering, Pucky.
That’s a low blow
[See here] – Bill
Shouldn’t kick a man when he’s down, I know, Pucky but I’d like to see you do better with your comments here. The derailment attempt (sorry, the unintentional derailment attempt) was kinda dull.
Still no need to bring Lord John Key (hes had an upgrade) into it, hes enjoying a well deserved holiday
[See here.] – Bill
Give him his dues, Pucky, a simple, “Lord” would do for his sycophants.
His departure, aligned as it was with the collapse of the TPPA, was a doozey though, wasn’t it! Lordy!!
Or Baron…Baron Key sounds quite good as well
[See here] – Bill
Barren? Like his legacy? Liking it…
Robber Baron.
Here’s a new tool,
https://twitter.com/leunigcartoons/status/824109041567809536
Point taken
“Better rich americans then moslem refugees”
ohhhh shit no, id take a good honest working class refugee over some weird , over moneyed pointless bouji parasite thank you very much…
yuck..
Mind you if the proverbial hits the fan i suppose they are good ” stock piles” if nothing else…
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[sorry Anno, not your fault, but the best place to split the convo and move it after PR’s derailment – weka]
Don’t forget sharia law would a good long term benefit as well, no interests rates
no need to get hysterical , im sure someone will keep you safe from the nasty men !
There was this whole Western European thing called the Renaissance and the Enlightenment that means there are a whole set of cultural values like democracy and freedom that we seem to take for granted these days. PR has a point, we should allow immigration on our terms, I am sick of our open slather policy. Winston was right…
Well put
I’m not an expert (no surprise) but as I understand it Islam hasn’t had any sort of reformation like what the Christians had and that’s why the bible has the new testament and the Koran doesn’t
Or I have lost the plot completely?
The NT predates the Reformation, but the reformation broke the hegemony of the Catholic Church, allowing anyone to interpret the Bible & think for themselves. Dictators & religious control freaks don’t like that sort of thing.
Thanks for that, I’ll admit my religious education is less than stellar
The Bible started off ugly, and then got better (but still ugly).
The problem is that the Koran started off nice, and then got real ugly the further through you read… compounded by the proclamation that anything you read early on is superseded by anything that follows that may contradict earlier reading.
Yes, yes you have.
For one thing you’re conflating cultural norms with religious norms.
You’re also confusing the Reformation with the entire “oh snap, there’s a guy called Jesus that we’ll write about” that occurred something like 1200 years earlier (there was a lag between the reported events and the documentation in the testaments). And that’s if one views Protestantism as any better than Catholicism anyway (compare the comments of the Pope with the comments of Falwell, for example).
The basic rule I follow is that one’s religion says nothing about one’s character, it’s the passages in your holy text one chooses to elevate over the others that describes it.
Thanks for that, I guess the issue becomes when cultural and religious norms overlap or are similar enough that theres no issue with either but then I’m cultural norms are probably mostly derived from the dominant religious norm of the time
Or not
yeah, not.
Hence the wide variety of clothing (mostly) men insist women wear across the globe, regardless of religion.
I’m not disagreeing with you, in fact you’re probably right, but this is starting to get into one of the areas that I’ve self-censored myself from joining in so I’ll just quietly slip out the door
A bit like my attitudes to cyclists 🙂
Wise move.
It’s probably a good idea to self-censor when discussing Islam on a left-wing blog, but I’m a poor self-censor. The reason we should minimise our intake of Muslim refugees is that Islam’s a totalitarian ideology that’s inimical to liberal values so the chances of importing a dangerous fascist are pretty high (higher even than the chances of importing one among our South African religious fundamentalist immigrants, which is pretty fucking high if you ask me).
You can say that about almost any religion, if you obsess on their worst elements.
False equivalence. Islam is a totalitarian ideology per se – no focus on its worst elements is required and no other religion (that I’m aware of, which isn’t particularly comprehensive) fits that bill.
It’s also a fairly obvious scam, but given the number of Mormons in the world White people don’t have any reason to feel superior about that.
I figure most religions would fit that bill, frankly. Islam doesn’t seem much different from what I gather.
Not so. To stick to the most obvious ones: Islam comes with a legal code (Sharia) and the right of religious authorities to classify all human behaviour into five categories ranging from compulsory to forbidden (ahkam). Someone who is born into it or agrees to join it is not permitted to leave. Those are the features that make it a totalitarian ideology, and other religions tend not to have them. Those other religions may or may not feature just as high a proportion of fucked-up individuals as Islam, but they aren’t totalitarian ideologies per se.
Never heard of ecclesiastic law? Apostasy or heresy? Excommunication? Shunning?
Yes, many nominally “christian” countries are pretty relaxed – unless you need an abortion, or are gay. Then the number of relaxed countries decreases markedly.
Nobody rewrote the Bible after 1600. Translated, yes, but all the prohibitions are still there. All the Leviticus bullshit. The reason Christians don’t go around stoning witches or adulterers today is because they choose to ignore specific passages. The few jerks who choose to obey those passages do so because of the cultural and personal baggage of their society, not because they’re better at following an inherently self-contradictory and historically doubtful book than everyone else.
Never heard of ecclesiastic law? Apostasy or heresy? Excommunication? Shunning?
Sure. All of it was made up. Authorities can invent legal code whenever they want, but there was none written into Christianity in the first place. They had to make it up. The legal code’s written into Islam to start with, which is why it’s different.
Same with heresy – of course religious authorities of whatever stripe will persecute their opponents if they get the chance, but Islam’s the only religion I’m aware of that proscribes apostasy right there in the documentation. In Islam, there is no dispute over whether apostasy is proscribed or not because it clearly is – the only dispute is over whether the punishment for it is death or not.
…all the prohibitions are still there. All the Leviticus bullshit.
Yes, Judaism’s also pretty shit, but it’s not in Islam’s league.
Thinking further about it, this might be a better explanation. If I say that fascism is a totalitarian ideology because it prescribes a one-party state in which the leader has absolute authority, a person could make the counter-argument that it’s bullshit to single out fascism, because Turkey and Russia are nominal democracies that have effectively become one-party states in which the leader has absolute authority. That counter-argument would be wrong, because democracy can succumb to those features but it doesn’t prescribe them.
NB: the above is to illustrate the logic of an argument, not to equate Muslims with fascists.
Yeah, I’m not questioning the logic of your argument, just its accuracy.
The Bible has entire lists of “crimes” and their punishments (generally involving rocks). Apostasy? Check out Deuteronomy 13.
But even if the Quran were exceptional (as you claim) in explicitly requiring violent ends for violators of religious law, the fact remains that Muslim refugees are fleeing religious literalists. The problem isn’t the text, the problem is the emphasis people place on random passages they happen to agree with. Nice people follow all the peace and mung beans passages. Arseholes will go out of their way to interpret the peace and mung bean passages as requiring executions of heretics.
I recall the story of one particular Catholic order of monks during the height of the inquisitions: they really wanted to get in on the “torture heretics and confiscate their lands” action, but the founding saint had explicitly forbidden the order from shedding blood.
Then some imaginative monk remembered hot oil and fire pokers. Theological quandary solved.
But…but…”liberal” is a dirty word around here.
I’ve knocked judges before but cases like this, well you can only go damn
The judge certainly earned their keep on this one
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11788494
Too generous, not enough or did the Government and councils get the balance about right?
A 50 per cent subsidy and a one year time-frame.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/88752734/new-earthquake-laws-could-force-building-owners-to-strengthen-within-a-year
A low interest loan (utilizing Government’s low cost of borrowing) would have been a more prudent use of taxpayers money.
Nice.
“The responsible application of science to government”
http://www.scientistsmarchonwashington.com/
Sure enough, the war on science is real and the tweet was deleted.
Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate
— Badlands Nat’l Park (@BadlandsNPS) January 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/BadlandsNPS/status/823978872152715265
https://twitter.com/mcspocky/status/824007373429706752
btw, the McSpocky™ thread is good.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/24/epa-pause-public-communications-fuels-wider-alarm-openness/97009206/
Too much happening at once, I’m not keeping up and don’t have time to fact check. How much is normal administration hand over and how much is advancing fascism?
It may take a wee while to tick all the boxes.
4. No syncretistic faith can withstand analytical criticism. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/
almost need a daily Agent Orange thread so much going on for sures
If I thought the commentariat here would do something useful with such a space I’d put it up 😉
Hard case
nothing to do with handover.
some of the things people are talking about are handover things (aid funding and abortion, some of the things being taken off the WH website on day one). I’m not suggesting really bad shit isn’t happening, I’m just looking for the sources that are applying critical thinking so I don’t have to fact check so much.
Part of this is about whether the comms clampdown is “normal”. Mostly concludes it’s unusual, although it’s hard to compare given how many communication channels have opened up in the last decade or so.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/315989-trump-clamps-down-on-federal-agencies
Oh dear Donald might just have been right!
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11788569
Agent Orange suddenly feels his small hands growing LMAO
“While the impressive numbers are more to do with the easy access to live video online than Mr Trump’s popularity, we need more measured analysis when it comes to the new president – his record viewer claim certainly isn’t the most ridiculous thing he’s ever said.”
Lol.
Jo Goodhew has got the hint and is throwing in the towel
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/88762713/jo-goodhew-drops-out-of-rangitata-election-contest
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rats.gif
The same recipe of deep meaningful sighs, chuckling, and sardonic little quips:
Jim Mora’s light chat show has not improved one whit since last year
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 25 January 2017
Jim Mora, Mai Chen, Peter Fa’afiu
First “expert” today is….(wait for it)….Professor Al Gillespie. This time he’s delivering his anodyne pronouncements on the topic of trade negotiations post-Brexit and post-rational America. Mai Chen, as ever, tries to talk “street” style….
MAI CHEN: It’s all very well for us to rock up and say, Mr Trump, we want a bilateral trade deal…
JIM MORA: [drily] Yes, we’d need Chris Liddell lobbying very hard.
MAI CHEN: [appreciatively] Ha!
AL GILLESPIE: New Zealand as a small nation is a law TAKER rather than a law MAKER.
JIM MORA: We can rest our hopes on Britain, we can be best friends with everybody in the middle east, except Israel….
PETER FA’AFIU: We’ve got the best trade negotiators in the world—and I don’t say that because I was one of them.
JIM MORA: Heh!
PETER FA’AFIU: We punch well above our weight. ….
JIM MORA: Thank you Peter, for your great injection of optimism.
PETER FA’AFIU: Ha ha ha ha!
…..
4:26 p.m.: I’ve just heard Mai Chen say that “we” should charge people to see the Punakaiki Rocks and other tourist attractions. She attempted to justify this by citing the example of having to pay tolls in Israel to swim in the Sea of Galilee. I can’t take any more of this bilge today. If they say something interesting, someone might like to tell the rest of us, but I presume the next half hour will continue on like this.
Eating no meat has a bigger impact on reducing one’s carbon footprint than any other action, including flying.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
So, 11 years ago Al Gore said in An Inconvenient Truth that pacific Islands were being evacuated to NZ because of climate change. Has anyone identified these mystic islands yet?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Denying climate change is on a par with holocaust denial.
Millions more will die because of our inaction, which you encourage.
What’s the bet this fool Roberts will be quoted, seriously and respectfully, by Jim Mora some time soon? Mora regularly gives oxygen, without demur, to one of our loudest and dimmest science-deniers, Jordan Williams….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042013/#comment-620413