Key couldn’t remember what he was doing in the early 1980s.
He was possibly thumbing through his “Battler Britain” comics.
Seems now he might also have been captured by the Falklands and is now
hoping for his own “Thatcher” moment.
hi paul, ref a rogue government: perhaps we do, however till the sheeple wake up to this, nothing changes.
to raise awareness perhaps a day of action akin to the anti tppa protests coming up early march?
If the NZ role is just training, then why not bring the trainees here to New Zealand and teach them all the tactics they need in a non-war zone, peaceful environment.
Because then our “force protection” troops could not help to secure a Forward Operating Base in Iraq from which assault operations on ISIS will be launched from.
Was Key channeling Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men for his performance in parliament yesterday?
Once again key simply does not ring true.Little is a true leader, calm, capable and cogent.
Mr Little was in very good form on tv3 this morning he gave solid reasoned views on Iraq.
Paddy giving not a bad breakdown of the cost of keys announcement in his eyes its when not if we get a retaliation from I S.
To an extent. But he said it doesn’t take guts to sit in Wellington making tough decisions. I think he’s wrong about that.
If he believes what he said then I don’t think he’s ready to step up to Prime Ministerial level, which is a very tough job involving many tough decisions.
Nowhere near that les. I think Key should have sought Parliamentary support, but it wasn’t a democratic requirement.
If it had come to the crunch would Labour have voted against it? There’s no way of knowing now, but as this is at the request of Iraq it’s arguably more legitimate than decisions made by the Clark Government and Parliament at the time.
Seeing as Labour and the Greens both put forward a motion for a vote – which National objected to both times – your “no way of knowing” is as empty as Key’s credibility.
ha ha that is the funniest thing heard in a long time. Well actually not that long as it has been heard quite a lot lately. Not surprised you fall for it Pete.
I think Key should have sought Parliamentary support, but it wasn’t a democratic requirement.
Yeah, actually, it was. We don’t get democracy by having a few people in cabinet making executive decisions. Going to war is a major policy and really should have been put to referendum even if the nation that we’d be fighting for requested it.
Many of them genuinely seem to think that if they got away with it (so far), it can’t be wrong.
A similar but lighter example is an opinion piece in Stuff today that argued the underarm ball incident was not actually wrong: it was legal, it might have been possible to still hit a six and tie the game, even if it wasn’t possible then the bowler could have bowled a perfect ball that was impossible to hit for six, or that the aussie team could have turned into the keystone cops and allowed NZ to get six runs via fielding errors.
There’s a basic inability to recognise a dick move when it’s there. That winning a game of athletic skill via bureaucratic oversight is preferable to getting a draw. That exploiting a tax loophole to pay less than your fair share is fine because it’s temporarily legal. That taking the ability the Executive has to use the armed forces speedily to react to threats and using it to avoid gaining parliament’s permission for a contentious, planned, long term deployment is not an abuse of the very democracy that parliament is there to exercise.
And the signature of a dick is to not know or care that it’s a dick. That’s why key shrugs his shoulders so often.
actually it’s more like Timothy Dalton’s character thinking that pronouncing it “super marshay” is a cool thing to do, rather than mildly greasy and irritating. 🙂
What tough decisions? A tough decision would be to kick all pedophiles out of the NAct party, or to up the top tax rate, or to chase after corporate fraudsters. Sending our kids to war, or selling state houses are not tough decisions. They come naturally to Tory scum.
“When we’re talking about guts, I think I’ll reserve that for the soldiers who we’re sending up there,” Mr Little responded on Firstline this morning.
“This is one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world – you don’t need much guts to sit on a leather couch in Wellington and send people off to do your bidding for you, so let’s get that in perspective.”
Sorry chaps. Forgot the rules. DNFTT. Starting at A.
The aardvark (/ˈɑrd.vɑrk/ ard-vark; Orycteropus afer) is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlike New World edentates such as the giant anteater, it has a long pig-like snout, which is used to sniff out food. It roams over most of the southern two-thirds of the African continent, avoiding mainly rocky areas. A nocturnal feeder, it subsists on ants and termites, which it will dig out of their hills using its sharp claws and powerful legs. It also will utilize its digging ability to create burrows in which to live and rear its young.
As it turns out I didn’t like Key’s second speech, I don’t think that was appropriate. But there was an unusual amount of emotion expressed so fair enough for Key to say what he thought.
And the Green faithful will have lapped up Norman’s naivety and contradictions.
Chard and the other beets are chenopods, a group which is either its own family Chenopodiaceae or a subfamily within the Amaranthaceae. Although the leaves of chard are eaten, it is in the same species as beetroot (garden beet), which is grown primarily for its edible roots. Both are cultivated descendants of the sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, but they were selected for different characteristics.
Chard is also known by its many common names such as Swiss chard,[7] silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights, seakale beet, and mangold.[8] In South Africa, it is simply called spinach.[9]
Key’s performance yesterday was Oscar worthy. He has to make an effort to convince NZer’s he’s made the right decision. And I agree with freedom, he is under stress and losing his composure.
Bullshitting to save your arse can be really stressful, and add all that acting effort, it’s no wonder he’s looking a bit undone.
E. lecontei adults are smaller than most terrestrial weevils, measuring only 3 mm in length. This weevil is generally dark-colored with a pattern of dark brown/black and yellowish stripes on the dorsal half, fading to a lighter, yellow-beige underbelly. However, some weevil individuals vary in color from almost completely tan to beige.
“From observing your pet every day, you’ll have noticed that your cat has a pattern that it follows quite religiously. For example, your adult indoor cat might spend the mornings lying in a pool of sunshine in the corner of the dining room. Later, he watches you as you go about your household chores, and then his rigorous day winds down with a patient vigil by the kitchen door waiting for his children – otherwise known as your children – to come home. Your feline has developed these routines to protect his territory and frequently your pet’s definition of “territory” includes his human family members.
As your cat grows older, he becomes less capable of adapting to changes in his environment. Your pet gets particular about even the smallest detail of his surroundings and will notice changes in food (brand or type), the consistency of his litter and even in your schedule or in the schedules of other family members. Abrupt or drastic changes in your cat’s routine and environment can produce a great deal of stress, which can result in a variety of stress-induced behaviors – including litter box problems, aggression, self-mutilation or general despondency.
The best possible way to keep your cat stress free is to try to maintain your daily routine and to keep changes to a minimum. When changes are necessary, try introducing them to your cat gradually while leaving every other aspect of the routine in place. Limit exposure to new people and new foods, etc., on the first day and increase the exposure to newness over a seven-day period. If you have houseguests or other situations where the household is materially changed, remember to give your cat as much extra attention as you can.”
what with: spying in tangimoana on behalf of the us,
rounding up that pesky german,
altering nz labour law,
offering tax breaks to american film companies,
sending kiwi soldiers to help clean up another us war,
and being a golf buddy to the pousa.
i am reminded of a the the song, heartland.
youtube.com/watch?v=1osdqwaiu08
” The ammunition’s being passed and the lords been praised
But the wars on the televisions will never be explained
All the bankers gettin’ sweaty beneath their white collars
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
this may give an insight to what our dear leader wants our new flag to look like.
Alcohol is not so much the elephant in the room – It’s were is the room, because I can’t see anything but the elephant.
As long as we keep up prohibition – people suffer, people dying suffer, families suffer, criminals are made for no reason, racist cops have laws which enable them to be racists, and we can’t tell children not to smoke pot in a public debate.
Clemgeopin, live pure – like that going to happen. I’d rather we had open debate around drugs and drug use rather than it being hidden.
Hell I dream of the day we can have adds on TV which say.
“Don’t smoke pot and drink alcohol together – why? Because – it really does make you into an arsehole”
or
“Smoking pot under the age of 21 is like drinking under 21 – a licence to make you stupid and compliant. Wait till your 21 ah.”
alcohol and cannabis aren’t the problem. Why some people use in unhealthy ways is where to look if we want to see the problem. Take away the drugs, what are those people going to do?
No, no, I do enjoy a drink or three.
Don’t do drugs and will most certainly NEVER visit a NZ casino EVER AGAIN after the recent fiasco and the disgraceful dodgy nexus between the two evils : The nasty Nats and the gambling Casino goons.
Cripes phillip u can you stay off pot for a week? I am not talking about what happens at your place just give us a break here. Make that a month would you. I and some others would be grateful to not have that subject for a good while.
Regulating it is fine but taxing it ‘heavily’ is not so much because, as is always the case, be it tobacco, dope, or GST, it will hit the poorest the most…and in the case of dope, I think it will be the gangs that will rub their hands with joy and heartily support ‘heavy’ taxes!
I was wondering how long it would take you to reference that red herring of a study.
They simply compared the lethal dose 50 of alcohol to the lethal dose 50 of marijuana.
The LD50 of alcohol is significantly lower than marijuana. That’s it. That’s all the study found.
It doesn’t mention anything about societal use or injuries / damage caused by the drugs, it’s purely looking at the dose it would take to kill you.
You might notice, that very few people actually die of alcohol poisoning. Virtually no one dies of marijuana poisoning.
These findings are not news nor surprising to anyone who understands what the study is *actually* about. Unfortunately, as usual, the media have boiled it down to the lowest-common-denominator and written a headline and article that distorts the study to a huge degree and presents it as if it is some great new finding and is somehow relevant to the marijuana vs alcohol debate, when really it warrants nothing more than a passing interest.
No, I’m not arguing against that proposition. Alcohol is obviously much more damaging to society and individuals than marijuana is.
I’m saying *this* article doesn’t offer any new insight to anyone who would be making legislative decisions about this. Anyone trumpeting this as some sort of grand new evidence is misguided.
In simple terms: this study is telling us what we already knew and what was already obvious.
Just a couple of pieces to remind people that rabid right wing have no morals. They love money not people and are only interested in “the bottom line”. The sooner we stand up against this greed mentality – the better for humanity and an increased chance for it’s survival, as we approach the end of the golden weather.
Barry Gustafson I think was on Radionz – came to know her well. She was very supportive of old Fartface and was a true blue lady herself. She probably enjoyed a relationship with Margaret Thatcher. I think she had a pretty good time of it all.
Cf Margaret Thorn’s life. Now that was a staunch and beautiful woman to admire. Does anyone remember her?
Thanks for that greywarshark. Just read a short piece about her on Te Ara website. Sounds like an interesting and admirable woman, and the experience of her and her husband is a timely one to read regarding the ISIS discussion.
As for the title of her last book: “Stick out, and keep left”. Pretty much sums it up.
Yes Molly I had the book in the back of my mind for yonks but couldn’t get the name right and I think Ennui or one of the stalwarts here gave me the steer.
And the difference between now and how politics used to be! At one stage she and her husband filled a major political role, can’t remember the exact position and she visited an organisation in her elevated capacity. Then they were out of government, her husband got sick, and she was back at that organisation as a cook working flat out in the kitchens. Real Cinderella stuff. A very hard worker. Both of the Thorns were.
Thea Muldoon was a genuine conservative lady – one of the old fashioned
Conservatives who believed in following and supporting her husband at all cost. I met her once after her husband had died and realised she was a kind and genuine person. She was a product of her conservative upbringing, but I came to admire her for her loyalty and decency.
Grey – Best not to compare and contrast these very different women in this manner.
Would you do the same if a man you disliked passed away (find a ‘worthy’ man with whom to compare him)?
Massive methane gas blowholes opening up in SIberia
Seems like Russian scientists think that the “clatharate gun” has gone off. That 2 degree C target is history, methinks, and with it, hundreds of millions of human lives.
I have been expecting that to start showing up in the far north. They’re still estimating how much is stored there on land, but it looks like a lot.
Fortunately there is less of a tundra land mass in the south. It looks like the WAIS has been burnt off several times for shortish periods in the last 25 million years anyway which means that it probably has little methane stored.
US Police now using Stasi secret police tactics on protestors
Chicago’s “Homan Square” police facility where protestors can get disappeared to and chained up without access to lawyers, phone calls, or contact with the outside world. Detainees are not officially charged.
This is what the gradual evolution of a totalitarian security state looks like, people.
Can I add, one of the Anarchy-capitalist I talk to sometimes. He’s always good for a argument. Got pulled into something similar to this. Luckily he was missed, and his friends/family knew/guessed it was the cops – so eventually got a lawyer – after 3 days from memory.
So if you think it’s only us on the left they are targeting – think again.
With their new systems they are targetting anyone who is identified as a potential dissenter to the current systems of privilege and power. That’s why they’ll target lefty protestors, Tea Party members, whistle blowers and journalists.
This more than anything else, signals how the Left/Right paradigm is breaking down. Now it is about the Inner Circle (and their professional enablers/hangers ons) and Everybody else.
The PTB want you to think the left/right paradigm is breaking down. It’s actually the monopolist right versus everyone else as we head into peak capitalism.
Don’t know about Snowden’s politics, but he is currently sheltering in an authoritarian country and Assange is a fan of surprise sex, so probably a wee bit of the do as I say style bastard about him, too. Hitler right, Stalin left, as we know. I think Snowden is probably the only one who might conceivably be ‘left’ but Assange is clearly some sort of libertarian, and, as most of them do when opportunity arises, likes taking an authoritarian line. Though of course it’s not just opportunity that arises with Jules, if you get my drift.
The point is that Marx is still entirely correct about the class divide and the inevitable tendency of capital to coalesce around itself, sort of a black hole of money, sucking in everything of value including the light of understanding. Unless the working class and its allies recognise that their class interests are not shared by their masters, then we will not have control of our destiny. The bollocks about the left/right paradigm is defeatist and ignorant. But, that’s the way the 1% want it.
Snowden is a right wing libertarian, while Assange is a left wing libertarian.
Hitler was right wing authoritarian and Stalin a left wing authoritarian.
I guess then (and it is only a guess) that you’d have been among the millions lauding Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin et al last century even as they sent non-authoritarian leftists to the gulags and worse. (Right wing libertarianism didn’t exist back then as a political field of thought as far as I’m aware.)
And Marx had only a partial insight to class divisions. He missed the co-ordinators – the managers if you prefer – those with a penchant for authoritarianism (wielders of, and/or faithful adherents to) who breath life into the hierarchies of our systems of production and distribution and who, on a 9 – 5 basis, help ‘teach’ workers that ‘this (servility to authority) is the way’.
Apart from the fact that self labelled ‘right wing libertarians’ are under the delusion that markets are neutral, they exhibit far more understanding of, and appetite for, such basic ‘leftist’ values as liberty, freedom etc than many a supposed left wing liberal…and waaay more than any apologist (many still around!) for what what flowed from Lenin and the Bolsheviks’ successful defeat of the Russian Revolution.
Smoking, growing and owning small amounts of marijuana became legal in Alaska on Tuesday as a growing decriminalization movement reached the United States’ northwest frontier.
Alaska, which narrowly passed the measure in November, followed Colorado and Washington among states allowing recreational use, reflecting a rapidly shifting legal landscape for the drug.
One aspect of that article niggles me bones. The article fails to say why rent has not been paid since October. That seems too obvious a question for the journalist – or the editor – to ignore. Call me a cynic, but could it be they want it to grow negative suspicions in the minds of the reader as to why it has not been paid?
it seems to be the date her mother was removed to hospital … then her mother’s death .. fear of winz and generally overwhelmed … who knows ? but the cynic in me agrees with the cynic in you …
and that must have been her home for her whole life .. imagine the hurt and horror of it …
Yeah, that was what I was thinking. I suspect that it has something to do with the house being in her mother’s name and with her mother moving into a rest home and then dying has stuffed things up. She’s probably been trying to get things sorted but that’s not mentioned in the article.
did you see the picture of her belongings under what looks like cardboard at the back of the house ? Shame on the Winz enforcers treating a young mother and two children like this. THERE ARE NO HOUSES ! and yes, dying has a habit of stuffing things up .. you;d think Winz might fairly know this ? Yeah ? Nah. Not under this regime.
“In adopting such an approach, Key was seeking to go over the heads of the media and talk directly to New Zealanders about the reasons why such a deployment is necessary without his rationale being analysed and criticised before the public had actually heard that rationale.”
The media think that they need to be told first so they can then tell the plebs (sorry people of NZ) what to think
Yes, Field was corrupt. Gaining benefit from his role as an MP. He was stood down when the charges were made, and thoroughly investigated and prosecuted by the police.
As opposed to, say, using his role as an MP to ask questions that directly pertained to a significant share investment.
Are you saying that National MP’s just cost more to buy?
Or that they do not need bribes while in power as they have lucrative retirement plans, in figurehead directors jobs.
Funding by their US corporate pay masters, when they leave Parliament.
” ‘access to minsters’ via the Cabinet Club. $25,000 entry fee”
That is the declared open amount. God knows how much more is given under the table, hidden and unaccounted. I won’t be surprised knowing the way the rich crooks and the corrupt politicians work around many corrupt countries.
thanks for that saveNZ, a better illustration of The Fear would be hard to find.
from the comments in the linked article
“I think that this art installation has accomplished something by uncovering the fact that just seeing something that they don’t understand is sending many into a xenophobic panic.”
I feel so incensed about the whole Dong Liu donations saga and the spin about Labour and Liu, that I contacted the Press Council last night and asked them to re-consider Frank Mac’s submission to them about the Herald’s claims that Dong Liu donated $$$$ to Labour. The complaint from Frank wasn’t upheld, because the Herald maintained there was “more to come” about Liu and Labour. And of course nothing has come about Labour and Liu, but indeed we find out it was National receiving donations.
Last night I re-submitted Frank’s complaint to the Press Council, copied a link about National’s donations and asked them to re-consider Frank’s complaint. (hope that’s o.k. Frank???? didn’t know how to contact you to get your permission);
Much to my surprize I had an email this morning saying it would be re-presented to the council.
Thanks Adam, I will contact him to make sure he is o.k. about it. Should have done so first, but feeling very cross, so just went ahead and assumed he would be o.k.
Autralians (Tarn Yabbit and Joe Joe) just announcing changes to foreign ownership of houses and farms.
… a register
… a $5k application fee for houses under 1 mill
… a 10k application fee over 1 mill
… breaking the rules, $25k fine with the potential for confiscation
… a claim that the rules will be strictly enforced
probably the latter but the potential for confiscation might be a deterrent. We’ll see just how strictly the rules are enforced. I was just interested to see on Planet Key the Prime Munster still appears to be ‘comfortable’ by comparison
In some areas fierce fights break out when a person is wearing the wrong colours which denote a rival gang. Pretty awful that a PM indulges in gang colour sneers.
” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an invitation to meet with US Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week.
“Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein.”
What a cheek coming from an awful chap who is so backed by the republicans. Hypocrisy?
At least 10 banks, including Barclays Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, are being probed by the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
Precious metals have come under scrutiny as authorities around the world investigate allegations that other financial benchmarks have been rigged. While the Justice Department’s probe is in its early stages, the Swiss finance regulator included the issue in a November settlement with UBS Group AG over currency-rate manipulation. Switzerland’s antitrust regulator said Tuesday that it opened a preliminary probe into the possibility of price fixing in the precious-metals market.
Great news that once again a person endangering lives has been stopped – this person was under the influence of ‘foreign’ and weaving all over his lies – concerned citizens confiscated Mr Key and handed him over to the police. “No comet” was the only comment Mr Key could make as he sat dejectedly in his mobile awaiting orders.
I have no reason to question the charges but Carmel did the right thing by immediately telling Little’s CoS and by agreeing to stand down and Little has done the right thing by standing her down. The charges relate to her mother and she had no idea they existed until she was asked about them today. Note no attempt to hide or suppress the information unlike other cases. And it will be interesting to see how the right spin this.
AND it would be interesting to find out how TV one found out …
paula bennet minster for welfare, & opposit of carmel sepuloni at parlement & elections. hope this is not extra special utu from bennet for carmel. can be or not, I think yes.
A part of this morning's transport announcement which hasn't got a lot of attention yet: biofuels are back: “Our Government has agreed in principle to mandate a lower emitting biofuel blend across the transport sector. Over time this will prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions from cars, ...
After almost twenty years of ignoring the Māori vote, National may run in the Māori seats again: A former National MP is excited the party could stand a candidate in the Māori electorate seats for the first time since 2002. One News reported last night that National's leader Judith ...
If one stubbornly clings to the Elimination strategy (I don’t support it, but that will have to wait for another occasion) then try to get it right. You need secure borders. We have attempted this with a very large measure of success. It has not been perfect as the Covid-19 Response ...
Diaspora: perception departs from reality In this collection of articles are two papers currently captivating the attention of people following the science and emergence of climate change, especially the rapid variety we've accidentally unleashed and which is now unfolding around us. The synthesis and review article Earth's Ice Imbalance by Slater ...
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity AustraliaWe’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end up spending hours downloading and updating before we can even play with our new toy. But ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Zero emission buses, cleaner cars and environmentally-friendly biofuels will soon be hitting New Zealand’s roads, as the Government delivers on its election promise to make our transport network more sustainable. ...
The Green Party is already delivering on its commitment for cleaner, climate-friendly transport through our Cooperation Agreement with the Government. ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Prudence Steven QC, barrister of Christchurch has been appointed as an Environment Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Christchurch, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Steven has been a barrister sole since 2008, practising in resource management and local government / public law. She was appointed a Queen’s ...
The Government is delivering on its first tranche of election promises to take action on climate change with a raft of measures that will help meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. “This will be an ongoing area of action but we are moving ...
The Government is investing up to $10 million to support 30 of the country’s top early-career researchers to develop their research skills. “The pandemic has had widespread impacts across the science system, including the research workforce. After completing their PhD, researchers often travel overseas to gain experience but in the ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The whānau of Te Ahikaiata Turei supported by Māori and non-Māori staff at Unitec will take back a portrait of the Tūhoe leader who led the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae and the values that brought the institute back from the brink of ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Key couldn’t remember what he was doing in the early 1980s.
He was possibly thumbing through his “Battler Britain” comics.
Seems now he might also have been captured by the Falklands and is now
hoping for his own “Thatcher” moment.
We have a rogue government that does not ask its people or parliament whether it should go to war or not.
hi paul, ref a rogue government: perhaps we do, however till the sheeple wake up to this, nothing changes.
to raise awareness perhaps a day of action akin to the anti tppa protests coming up early march?
If the NZ role is just training, then why not bring the trainees here to New Zealand and teach them all the tactics they need in a non-war zone, peaceful environment.
Because then our “force protection” troops could not help to secure a Forward Operating Base in Iraq from which assault operations on ISIS will be launched from.
Was Key channeling Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men for his performance in parliament yesterday?
Once again key simply does not ring true.Little is a true leader, calm, capable and cogent.
Mr Little was in very good form on tv3 this morning he gave solid reasoned views on Iraq.
Paddy giving not a bad breakdown of the cost of keys announcement in his eyes its when not if we get a retaliation from I S.
To an extent. But he said it doesn’t take guts to sit in Wellington making tough decisions. I think he’s wrong about that.
If he believes what he said then I don’t think he’s ready to step up to Prime Ministerial level, which is a very tough job involving many tough decisions.
so is NZ a dictatorship now Pete?
Nowhere near that les. I think Key should have sought Parliamentary support, but it wasn’t a democratic requirement.
If it had come to the crunch would Labour have voted against it? There’s no way of knowing now, but as this is at the request of Iraq it’s arguably more legitimate than decisions made by the Clark Government and Parliament at the time.
‘at the request of Iraq’…really…is it a legitimate,democratic ‘Iraq’ that made the request?
Seeing as Labour and the Greens both put forward a motion for a vote – which National objected to both times – your “no way of knowing” is as empty as Key’s credibility.
“at the request of Iraq ”
ha ha that is the funniest thing heard in a long time. Well actually not that long as it has been heard quite a lot lately. Not surprised you fall for it Pete.
at the request of Iraq
ha ha ha
at the request of Iraq
Pete:
“I think Key should have sought Parliamentary support, but it wasn’t a democratic requirement.”
Nope. It wasn’t a legal requirement to be democratic, so he chose not to be democratic.
+1
Yeah, actually, it was. We don’t get democracy by having a few people in cabinet making executive decisions. Going to war is a major policy and really should have been put to referendum even if the nation that we’d be fighting for requested it.
The normal right wing excuses for their latest antisocial, cruel and sadistic actions.
“It is legal”.
“Some one else would have done it (And creamed off the money) if I hadn’t”.
“Eastasia or Westasia this week?
yeah.
Many of them genuinely seem to think that if they got away with it (so far), it can’t be wrong.
A similar but lighter example is an opinion piece in Stuff today that argued the underarm ball incident was not actually wrong: it was legal, it might have been possible to still hit a six and tie the game, even if it wasn’t possible then the bowler could have bowled a perfect ball that was impossible to hit for six, or that the aussie team could have turned into the keystone cops and allowed NZ to get six runs via fielding errors.
There’s a basic inability to recognise a dick move when it’s there. That winning a game of athletic skill via bureaucratic oversight is preferable to getting a draw. That exploiting a tax loophole to pay less than your fair share is fine because it’s temporarily legal. That taking the ability the Executive has to use the armed forces speedily to react to threats and using it to avoid gaining parliament’s permission for a contentious, planned, long term deployment is not an abuse of the very democracy that parliament is there to exercise.
And the signature of a dick is to not know or care that it’s a dick. That’s why key shrugs his shoulders so often.
Imagine the cast of Hot Fuzz intoning “The letter of the law, the letter of the law…”
National Party values.
actually it’s more like Timothy Dalton’s character thinking that pronouncing it “super marshay” is a cool thing to do, rather than mildly greasy and irritating. 🙂
What tough decisions? A tough decision would be to kick all pedophiles out of the NAct party, or to up the top tax rate, or to chase after corporate fraudsters. Sending our kids to war, or selling state houses are not tough decisions. They come naturally to Tory scum.
Boy, Pete, you know how to twist words.
“When we’re talking about guts, I think I’ll reserve that for the soldiers who we’re sending up there,” Mr Little responded on Firstline this morning.
“This is one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world – you don’t need much guts to sit on a leather couch in Wellington and send people off to do your bidding for you, so let’s get that in perspective.”
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/little-doesnt-take-guts-to-boss-troops-around-2015022509#ixzz3Si1IYSLK
Andrew Little was contrasting the amount of guts shown by Key sitting on his couch and the guts shown by the soldiers sent by John Key.
Sorry chaps. Forgot the rules. DNFTT. Starting at A.
The aardvark (/ˈɑrd.vɑrk/ ard-vark; Orycteropus afer) is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlike New World edentates such as the giant anteater, it has a long pig-like snout, which is used to sniff out food. It roams over most of the southern two-thirds of the African continent, avoiding mainly rocky areas. A nocturnal feeder, it subsists on ants and termites, which it will dig out of their hills using its sharp claws and powerful legs. It also will utilize its digging ability to create burrows in which to live and rear its young.
Yep key went for the oscar – simplistic messages delivered as if he believed them – his non-thinking minions will lap it up – pg 101
As it turns out I didn’t like Key’s second speech, I don’t think that was appropriate. But there was an unusual amount of emotion expressed so fair enough for Key to say what he thought.
And the Green faithful will have lapped up Norman’s naivety and contradictions.
attack the Greens, attack the Greens – maintain low tones – attack the Greens, attack the Greens…
Chard and the other beets are chenopods, a group which is either its own family Chenopodiaceae or a subfamily within the Amaranthaceae. Although the leaves of chard are eaten, it is in the same species as beetroot (garden beet), which is grown primarily for its edible roots. Both are cultivated descendants of the sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, but they were selected for different characteristics.
Chard is also known by its many common names such as Swiss chard,[7] silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights, seakale beet, and mangold.[8] In South Africa, it is simply called spinach.[9]
😀
or
lol!!!
pete wants to beet his green – all of the day and all of the night
As predictable as the sun coming up each day is old petey.
“emotion” ? or a loss of composure, due to stress grown from insincere motives
“emotion ? or a loss of composure..”.
I thought it was an act. ShonKey using some false “emotion” to try to show sheeples that he really does believe this tripe about needing to go to war.
The guy is an actor. A puppet. Whose strings are pulled from afar, and who has never shown his real self to NZers.
+1 Jenny and freedom.
Key’s performance yesterday was Oscar worthy. He has to make an effort to convince NZer’s he’s made the right decision. And I agree with freedom, he is under stress and losing his composure.
Bullshitting to save your arse can be really stressful, and add all that acting effort, it’s no wonder he’s looking a bit undone.
I remember Peter Sellers on The Muppet Show, where he said, “There isn’t a me, I’ve had it surgically removed!”
E. lecontei adults are smaller than most terrestrial weevils, measuring only 3 mm in length. This weevil is generally dark-colored with a pattern of dark brown/black and yellowish stripes on the dorsal half, fading to a lighter, yellow-beige underbelly. However, some weevil individuals vary in color from almost completely tan to beige.
O, vole mio !!
“From observing your pet every day, you’ll have noticed that your cat has a pattern that it follows quite religiously. For example, your adult indoor cat might spend the mornings lying in a pool of sunshine in the corner of the dining room. Later, he watches you as you go about your household chores, and then his rigorous day winds down with a patient vigil by the kitchen door waiting for his children – otherwise known as your children – to come home. Your feline has developed these routines to protect his territory and frequently your pet’s definition of “territory” includes his human family members.
As your cat grows older, he becomes less capable of adapting to changes in his environment. Your pet gets particular about even the smallest detail of his surroundings and will notice changes in food (brand or type), the consistency of his litter and even in your schedule or in the schedules of other family members. Abrupt or drastic changes in your cat’s routine and environment can produce a great deal of stress, which can result in a variety of stress-induced behaviors – including litter box problems, aggression, self-mutilation or general despondency.
The best possible way to keep your cat stress free is to try to maintain your daily routine and to keep changes to a minimum. When changes are necessary, try introducing them to your cat gradually while leaving every other aspect of the routine in place. Limit exposure to new people and new foods, etc., on the first day and increase the exposure to newness over a seven-day period. If you have houseguests or other situations where the household is materially changed, remember to give your cat as much extra attention as you can.”
lol thank you !
what with: spying in tangimoana on behalf of the us,
rounding up that pesky german,
altering nz labour law,
offering tax breaks to american film companies,
sending kiwi soldiers to help clean up another us war,
and being a golf buddy to the pousa.
i am reminded of a the the song, heartland.
youtube.com/watch?v=1osdqwaiu08
” The ammunition’s being passed and the lords been praised
But the wars on the televisions will never be explained
All the bankers gettin’ sweaty beneath their white collars
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
this may give an insight to what our dear leader wants our new flag to look like.
song on my mind
“Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence.
Who are we mistaken?…”
zombie indeeds
The 51st state is the great state of Saudi Israelia
Last year there we not going to be boots on the ground this year….
Tough decision HA
The tough decision would be Not to go
And it is not his kids that he is putting in danger.
my problem is I find it difficult to trust anything Key says.
Key says we are sending Army ‘trainers’ to Iraq in order to keep us Kiwis safe. You cannot be serious!
…and his announcement has just made Kiwis less safe!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/66608944/brace-for-is-threats-analyst-warns
a reply given in a discussion of what children should be taught in schools..
“What about: a history of morals, ethics and decency – self realisation and why being a dick gets you no where”
brilliant!!
Key makes even more of a joke of himself when he yells like a show-off schoolboy.
He has no gravitas, no mana. He is just an empty hollow man and his yelling speech yesterday evidenced this yet again.
Yes vto you are dead right , Empty wine glasses make the loudest noise.
Meanwhile, in one of the great cities of our friend the USA, the rule of law is ? ? ?
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/chicago-police-operating-cia-style-black-site-for-domestic-interrogations-report
“..Pot is 114 Times Safer Than Booze – Says Study..
..New research finds pot is the least deadly among recreational drugs –
– by far..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/pot-114-times-safer-booze-says-study
But isn’t it better, healthier and safer to live without either of those?
And Oh, also by boycotting and without visiting our casinos ever again for good measure?
ideally..i guess..
(but that is really up there with ‘wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had a pony?’..
..as in..it isn’t going to happen..)
..and the facts of the matter are that young people (esp.) of most cultures like to take intoxicants of some form..
..(it is/always has been – thus..and not only for ‘the young’..)
..so we have the intoxicant safest by ‘114 times’..being prohibited..
..and the intoxicant ‘114’ times more dangerous..
..the killer-drug alcohol..
..is advertised/encouraged..
True, true.
Like the rum or the coke dilemma. ‘Which is more harmful?’
Alcohol is not so much the elephant in the room – It’s were is the room, because I can’t see anything but the elephant.
As long as we keep up prohibition – people suffer, people dying suffer, families suffer, criminals are made for no reason, racist cops have laws which enable them to be racists, and we can’t tell children not to smoke pot in a public debate.
Clemgeopin, live pure – like that going to happen. I’d rather we had open debate around drugs and drug use rather than it being hidden.
Hell I dream of the day we can have adds on TV which say.
“Don’t smoke pot and drink alcohol together – why? Because – it really does make you into an arsehole”
or
“Smoking pot under the age of 21 is like drinking under 21 – a licence to make you stupid and compliant. Wait till your 21 ah.”
Making marijuana medically available and also an R21 drug has merits worth considering.
I think we need to put alcohol back to R21.
I have no issue with it going to R21 retail.
alcohol and cannabis aren’t the problem. Why some people use in unhealthy ways is where to look if we want to see the problem. Take away the drugs, what are those people going to do?
“Clemgeopin, live pure”
I didn’t say I don’t enjoy a drink.
“But isn’t it better, healthier and safer to live without either of those?”
What did you mean by that? I took that to mean you support complete abstinence as ideal.
What Weka said
No, no, I do enjoy a drink or three.
Don’t do drugs and will most certainly NEVER visit a NZ casino EVER AGAIN after the recent fiasco and the disgraceful dodgy nexus between the two evils : The nasty Nats and the gambling Casino goons.
Cripes phillip u can you stay off pot for a week? I am not talking about what happens at your place just give us a break here. Make that a month would you. I and some others would be grateful to not have that subject for a good while.
legalise it and i’ll shut up…
..’till then…
…and regulate and tax it heavily.
(You always seem to miss that crucial part)
not really…
..legalise..regulate..tax is/has been the/my basic argument all along..
..i just don’t necessarily restate the pillars in every story/link..
..and as for txing..
..didyaknow that colorado has taken so much income from tax from legal pot..
….it breaches some sort of government-greed stricture..
..and that excess tax will be distributed back to the citizens of colorado..
..legal pot..and a tax-refund..?
..only a true curmudgeon wd sneer @ that..
“…and regulate and tax it heavily”
Regulating it is fine but taxing it ‘heavily’ is not so much because, as is always the case, be it tobacco, dope, or GST, it will hit the poorest the most…and in the case of dope, I think it will be the gangs that will rub their hands with joy and heartily support ‘heavy’ taxes!
Even after heavy taxation the price is going to be cheaper than today’s black market prices.
I was wondering how long it would take you to reference that red herring of a study.
They simply compared the lethal dose 50 of alcohol to the lethal dose 50 of marijuana.
The LD50 of alcohol is significantly lower than marijuana. That’s it. That’s all the study found.
It doesn’t mention anything about societal use or injuries / damage caused by the drugs, it’s purely looking at the dose it would take to kill you.
You might notice, that very few people actually die of alcohol poisoning. Virtually no one dies of marijuana poisoning.
These findings are not news nor surprising to anyone who understands what the study is *actually* about. Unfortunately, as usual, the media have boiled it down to the lowest-common-denominator and written a headline and article that distorts the study to a huge degree and presents it as if it is some great new finding and is somehow relevant to the marijuana vs alcohol debate, when really it warrants nothing more than a passing interest.
oh..!..ok..lath..
..how about you link us to yr research that shows how cannabis is a far more dangerous drug than alcohol..
..u r dancing around the edges..
..deliberately missing the point..
..is it only 95 times worse than alcohol..not 114..?
..50 times..?
..and factcheck…unless a bale of it falls on yr head..
..there is no ‘lethal-dose’ of pot..
..booze however..?
Who needs a link? The damage is obvious every time you post, Phil.
correlation != causation 🙂
waiting for the body-bags..?..war-monger..?
..will you still be such an armchair-warrior when that happens..eh..?
..you fucken unthinking-fool..
..trp..supporting/handwringing-around cia propaganda-campaigns..
.. since at least..gadfaffi..
Change down man, find your neutral space …
war-mongering/unthinking clowns piss me off..
..i have no ‘neutral-space’ for fools such as that..
(and i can roll joints like that..)
who said americans as a nation are warmongering psycopathic-bastards..?
..is it because in the 237 yrs since the foundation of america -america has largely been at war..?
– guess how many years of those 237 america was not at war with someone..?
..21 yrs…
.21 out of 237..
..that means that since its’ founding..
..america has been in a state of war for 93% of the fucken time..
..deserving of a ‘whoar!’..?..surely..?
You’ve completely missed my point, of course.
How about we compare the boiling points of THC and ethanol and use that guide us as to whether the drugs should be illegal or not?
That would only be slightly less relevant that what the study is talking about.
no..u miss the point..
..that alcohol is far more dangerous than cannabis..
..r u arguing against that proposition..?
..legalise..!..regulate..!..tax..!
No, I’m not arguing against that proposition. Alcohol is obviously much more damaging to society and individuals than marijuana is.
I’m saying *this* article doesn’t offer any new insight to anyone who would be making legislative decisions about this. Anyone trumpeting this as some sort of grand new evidence is misguided.
In simple terms: this study is telling us what we already knew and what was already obvious.
so why isn’t it legal..?
..if it is so fucken ‘obvious’..?
..and i thought the article/information was useful..
..emphasising how dangerous alcohol is..
..and how not dangerous cannabis is..
You’re either wilfully ignoring what I’m saying, or incapable of understanding it.
Heavy recreational dope use might make him wilfully incapable 🙂
Just a couple of pieces to remind people that rabid right wing have no morals. They love money not people and are only interested in “the bottom line”. The sooner we stand up against this greed mentality – the better for humanity and an increased chance for it’s survival, as we approach the end of the golden weather.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/02/20/16796/hsbcs-political-committee-goes-dark-days-swiss-leaks-scandal
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/02/24/16809/mitt-romney-rand-paul-and-porno-spoof
Anybody notice that Thea Muldoon passed away? It’s on Stuff. Given his turbulent political career I can only hope she enjoyed a peaceful widowhood.
Barry Gustafson I think was on Radionz – came to know her well. She was very supportive of old Fartface and was a true blue lady herself. She probably enjoyed a relationship with Margaret Thatcher. I think she had a pretty good time of it all.
Cf Margaret Thorn’s life. Now that was a staunch and beautiful woman to admire. Does anyone remember her?
Thanks for that greywarshark. Just read a short piece about her on Te Ara website. Sounds like an interesting and admirable woman, and the experience of her and her husband is a timely one to read regarding the ISIS discussion.
As for the title of her last book: “Stick out, and keep left”. Pretty much sums it up.
Yes Molly I had the book in the back of my mind for yonks but couldn’t get the name right and I think Ennui or one of the stalwarts here gave me the steer.
And the difference between now and how politics used to be! At one stage she and her husband filled a major political role, can’t remember the exact position and she visited an organisation in her elevated capacity. Then they were out of government, her husband got sick, and she was back at that organisation as a cook working flat out in the kitchens. Real Cinderella stuff. A very hard worker. Both of the Thorns were.
Thea Muldoon was a genuine conservative lady – one of the old fashioned
Conservatives who believed in following and supporting her husband at all cost. I met her once after her husband had died and realised she was a kind and genuine person. She was a product of her conservative upbringing, but I came to admire her for her loyalty and decency.
RIP Thea Muldoon.
Grey – Best not to compare and contrast these very different women in this manner.
Would you do the same if a man you disliked passed away (find a ‘worthy’ man with whom to compare him)?
I agree with Anne’s sentiments; nicely put.
Massive methane gas blowholes opening up in SIberia
Seems like Russian scientists think that the “clatharate gun” has gone off. That 2 degree C target is history, methinks, and with it, hundreds of millions of human lives.
http://rt.com/news/235219-craters-siberia-yamal-lake/
thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis
https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/awakening-the-horrors-of-the-ancient-hothouse-hydrogen-sulfide-in-the-worlds-warming-oceans/
Might be of interest to some along with the other links.
H2s was the thing that scared me most when I worked on oil rigs.
I have been expecting that to start showing up in the far north. They’re still estimating how much is stored there on land, but it looks like a lot.
Fortunately there is less of a tundra land mass in the south. It looks like the WAIS has been burnt off several times for shortish periods in the last 25 million years anyway which means that it probably has little methane stored.
US Police now using Stasi secret police tactics on protestors
Chicago’s “Homan Square” police facility where protestors can get disappeared to and chained up without access to lawyers, phone calls, or contact with the outside world. Detainees are not officially charged.
This is what the gradual evolution of a totalitarian security state looks like, people.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site
More.
America, rotten to the core.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/american-police-brutality-chicago-guantanamo
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/19/chicago-police-richard-zuley-abuse-innocent-man
I agree, this story cannot be linked to often enough 😉
CRIPES!!
Can I add, one of the Anarchy-capitalist I talk to sometimes. He’s always good for a argument. Got pulled into something similar to this. Luckily he was missed, and his friends/family knew/guessed it was the cops – so eventually got a lawyer – after 3 days from memory.
So if you think it’s only us on the left they are targeting – think again.
With their new systems they are targetting anyone who is identified as a potential dissenter to the current systems of privilege and power. That’s why they’ll target lefty protestors, Tea Party members, whistle blowers and journalists.
This more than anything else, signals how the Left/Right paradigm is breaking down. Now it is about the Inner Circle (and their professional enablers/hangers ons) and Everybody else.
The PTB want you to think the left/right paradigm is breaking down. It’s actually the monopolist right versus everyone else as we head into peak capitalism.
Pretty sure peak capitalism was reached by the early 80’s. Crony capitalism and financialisation began to take over then.
Pretty sure it’s well gone.
Snowden and Assange? Hitler and Stalin?
Which ones are left and which ones are right? Which ones a penchant for authoritarianism and which ones not?
Answering that gives a far clearer picture of potential political friends and enemies 😉
Is it a trick question, Bill!?
Don’t know about Snowden’s politics, but he is currently sheltering in an authoritarian country and Assange is a fan of surprise sex, so probably a wee bit of the do as I say style bastard about him, too. Hitler right, Stalin left, as we know. I think Snowden is probably the only one who might conceivably be ‘left’ but Assange is clearly some sort of libertarian, and, as most of them do when opportunity arises, likes taking an authoritarian line. Though of course it’s not just opportunity that arises with Jules, if you get my drift.
The point is that Marx is still entirely correct about the class divide and the inevitable tendency of capital to coalesce around itself, sort of a black hole of money, sucking in everything of value including the light of understanding. Unless the working class and its allies recognise that their class interests are not shared by their masters, then we will not have control of our destiny. The bollocks about the left/right paradigm is defeatist and ignorant. But, that’s the way the 1% want it.
It wasn’t a trick question.
Snowden is a right wing libertarian, while Assange is a left wing libertarian.
Hitler was right wing authoritarian and Stalin a left wing authoritarian.
I guess then (and it is only a guess) that you’d have been among the millions lauding Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin et al last century even as they sent non-authoritarian leftists to the gulags and worse. (Right wing libertarianism didn’t exist back then as a political field of thought as far as I’m aware.)
And Marx had only a partial insight to class divisions. He missed the co-ordinators – the managers if you prefer – those with a penchant for authoritarianism (wielders of, and/or faithful adherents to) who breath life into the hierarchies of our systems of production and distribution and who, on a 9 – 5 basis, help ‘teach’ workers that ‘this (servility to authority) is the way’.
Apart from the fact that self labelled ‘right wing libertarians’ are under the delusion that markets are neutral, they exhibit far more understanding of, and appetite for, such basic ‘leftist’ values as liberty, freedom etc than many a supposed left wing liberal…and waaay more than any apologist (many still around!) for what what flowed from Lenin and the Bolsheviks’ successful defeat of the Russian Revolution.
Another jurisdiction does the right thing.
Smoking, growing and owning small amounts of marijuana became legal in Alaska on Tuesday as a growing decriminalization movement reached the United States’ northwest frontier.
Alaska, which narrowly passed the measure in November, followed Colorado and Washington among states allowing recreational use, reflecting a rapidly shifting legal landscape for the drug.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-usa-alaska-marijuana-idUSKBN0LS0ZH20150224
To think we were once the envy of the world for our compassionate social justice and welfare …
Paula Bennett and Key are cruel beyond belief … read and weep …
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/66578463/housing-shortage-hits-young-mum-hard
One aspect of that article niggles me bones. The article fails to say why rent has not been paid since October. That seems too obvious a question for the journalist – or the editor – to ignore. Call me a cynic, but could it be they want it to grow negative suspicions in the minds of the reader as to why it has not been paid?
it seems to be the date her mother was removed to hospital … then her mother’s death .. fear of winz and generally overwhelmed … who knows ? but the cynic in me agrees with the cynic in you …
and that must have been her home for her whole life .. imagine the hurt and horror of it …
Nope, 15 years but she’s only 26 so most of her life.
Yeah, that was what I was thinking. I suspect that it has something to do with the house being in her mother’s name and with her mother moving into a rest home and then dying has stuffed things up. She’s probably been trying to get things sorted but that’s not mentioned in the article.
did you see the picture of her belongings under what looks like cardboard at the back of the house ? Shame on the Winz enforcers treating a young mother and two children like this. THERE ARE NO HOUSES ! and yes, dying has a habit of stuffing things up .. you;d think Winz might fairly know this ? Yeah ? Nah. Not under this regime.
This is funny though
“In adopting such an approach, Key was seeking to go over the heads of the media and talk directly to New Zealanders about the reasons why such a deployment is necessary without his rationale being analysed and criticised before the public had actually heard that rationale.”
The media think that they need to be told first so they can then tell the plebs (sorry people of NZ) what to think
is it funny ?? like really ha ha funny, or just too twisted for words funny ? what did you mean ?
O, vole mio and all that.
How do you envisage the plebs knowing about what the Govt is deciding without the media? Examples?
When Key says “talk directly to nzers” he doesn’t mean all of them of course.
Just the important ones.
You still have it wrong Felix, just the ones who voted for him
Voted? With their cheque books?
With cheque books it’s called ‘access to minsters’ via the Cabinet Club. $25,000 entry fee. Saves having to vote, knowing that.
Its about value for money, I mean access to a Labour mp would be a packet of biscuits at the most
PR
Systematic corruption is indeed not so entrenched in the Labour caucus as in NAct’s.
Well lets talk MPs that have been convicted of corruption then
I’ll start with Labour and Phillip Field, your turn
corruption? You mean like fraud, identity theft, of filing false returns?
stupid mistakes, nothing to compare to out and out corruption
Sabin.
“The NBR understands that the party has known since before the 2011 election…”
lolright. Stupid mistakes 🙄
Yes, Field was corrupt. Gaining benefit from his role as an MP. He was stood down when the charges were made, and thoroughly investigated and prosecuted by the police.
As opposed to, say, using his role as an MP to ask questions that directly pertained to a significant share investment.
or stealing a dead babies identity. Even accepting garrets claim of doing it for a joke its way worse than a stupid mistake
Are you saying that National MP’s just cost more to buy?
Or that they do not need bribes while in power as they have lucrative retirement plans, in figurehead directors jobs.
Funding by their US corporate pay masters, when they leave Parliament.
He seems to saying the National MPs understand the Golden Rule: He with the gold, rules.
” ‘access to minsters’ via the Cabinet Club. $25,000 entry fee”
That is the declared open amount. God knows how much more is given under the table, hidden and unaccounted. I won’t be surprised knowing the way the rich crooks and the corrupt politicians work around many corrupt countries.
Billboard Art Project Sets Off Terrorism Scare Near US/Mexico Border
http://hyperallergic.com/183852/billboard-art-project-sets-off-terrorism-scare-near-usmexico-border/
thanks for that saveNZ, a better illustration of The Fear would be hard to find.
from the comments in the linked article
21st birthday celebration balloons gets read as “IS” – cops called
http://rt.com/news/235135-21-birthday-balloons-isis/
Hi everyone,
I feel so incensed about the whole Dong Liu donations saga and the spin about Labour and Liu, that I contacted the Press Council last night and asked them to re-consider Frank Mac’s submission to them about the Herald’s claims that Dong Liu donated $$$$ to Labour. The complaint from Frank wasn’t upheld, because the Herald maintained there was “more to come” about Liu and Labour. And of course nothing has come about Labour and Liu, but indeed we find out it was National receiving donations.
Last night I re-submitted Frank’s complaint to the Press Council, copied a link about National’s donations and asked them to re-consider Frank’s complaint. (hope that’s o.k. Frank???? didn’t know how to contact you to get your permission);
Much to my surprize I had an email this morning saying it would be re-presented to the council.
I will keep you updated!
brilliant action — awesome awesomeness!
ripples are the promises the waves make to the flood 😀
Great idea. Do keep us in the loop
+3 thanks anker!
+1
That is 4 pluses, anke-raw-shark!….Well done! Now you are on to the boot camp and hopefully get to boot the bastards.
Frank runs his own blog
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/author/fmacskasy/
Thanks Adam, I will contact him to make sure he is o.k. about it. Should have done so first, but feeling very cross, so just went ahead and assumed he would be o.k.
That’s very cool, great work!
He’s got away with it, again.
http://bluenationreview.com/breaking-zimmerman-cleared-federal-charges/
Autralians (Tarn Yabbit and Joe Joe) just announcing changes to foreign ownership of houses and farms.
… a register
… a $5k application fee for houses under 1 mill
… a 10k application fee over 1 mill
… breaking the rules, $25k fine with the potential for confiscation
… a claim that the rules will be strictly enforced
(Sky News)
will 25k be a detterent or merely seen as a business cost?
probably the latter but the potential for confiscation might be a deterrent. We’ll see just how strictly the rules are enforced. I was just interested to see on Planet Key the Prime Munster still appears to be ‘comfortable’ by comparison
Correction:
That fine is ‘… up to 25 PERCENT of the value of the property ….’
Reasons why National don’t stand in the Maori seats, No94:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/266807/blue-t-shirt-sales-stopped-after-pm%27s-comments
In some areas fierce fights break out when a person is wearing the wrong colours which denote a rival gang. Pretty awful that a PM indulges in gang colour sneers.
” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined an invitation to meet with US Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week.
“Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein.”
What a cheek coming from an awful chap who is so backed by the republicans. Hypocrisy?
(meh..!..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-wednesday-25-february-2015/
Another day, another rort.
( heh, gold buggers can’t quite get it right)
At least 10 banks, including Barclays Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, are being probed by the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
Precious metals have come under scrutiny as authorities around the world investigate allegations that other financial benchmarks have been rigged. While the Justice Department’s probe is in its early stages, the Swiss finance regulator included the issue in a November settlement with UBS Group AG over currency-rate manipulation. Switzerland’s antitrust regulator said Tuesday that it opened a preliminary probe into the possibility of price fixing in the precious-metals market.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-24/banks-said-to-face-u-s-manipulation-probe-over-metals-pricing?
Big Barbie is watching….
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/02/23/the-internet-of-things-meet-the-wifi-connected-barbie-doll-that-talks-to-your-children-and-records-them/
News I’d like to hear
Great news that once again a person endangering lives has been stopped – this person was under the influence of ‘foreign’ and weaving all over his lies – concerned citizens confiscated Mr Key and handed him over to the police. “No comet” was the only comment Mr Key could make as he sat dejectedly in his mobile awaiting orders.
“I wasnt driving – it was my office”
“I am a different Mr Key. Can’t you see my different hat?”
2015: Mr Key is adamant that NZ will be in Iraq for no more than 2 years. Adamant! Repeated and adamant.
2017: Mr Key says his statement about 2 years was misunderstood. He really meant that 2 years meant about 2 years and maybe as much as 10 years.
Journalists accepted his word and applauded his resoluteness.
That was very convenient.
Wonder if the charges were timed to distract from any criticism of Key the warmonger.
Dirty Politics again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11407862
Yes timing very interesting.
I have no reason to question the charges but Carmel did the right thing by immediately telling Little’s CoS and by agreeing to stand down and Little has done the right thing by standing her down. The charges relate to her mother and she had no idea they existed until she was asked about them today. Note no attempt to hide or suppress the information unlike other cases. And it will be interesting to see how the right spin this.
AND it would be interesting to find out how TV one found out …
paula bennet minster for welfare, & opposit of carmel sepuloni at parlement & elections. hope this is not extra special utu from bennet for carmel. can be or not, I think yes.
Some contemporary kiwiland commentary from Tourettes, and it’s only a dollar
https://tourettesone.bandcamp.com/track/john-keys-sons-a-dj