America is – there’s no other way of saying this – fucked! But . . . but . . . but you’ve gotta laugh!
Two short clips to set up your Sunday morning:
The first, from Bill Maher, was posted last night by Bruce, but with terrible sound sync. Donald Trump the con man. I particularly like: ‘At least with a used-car salesman, you get a car . . .”
And John Oliver on the Federal Budget. What a way to run a country!
A number of Conservatives running for the the party’s leadership have been outspoken about the problems they see in M-103.
Brad Trost said he could not support the motion because it “will only serve to strengthen extremist elements within the Muslim community itself that seek to preserve and promote their own form of hate and intolerance.” He added that any “serious plan to combat religious discrimination in Canada should include all faith groups, including Christians and Jews.”
Pierre Lemieux said that Canadians should be wary of the language in the motion.
“Do you have a valid concern about Islam? Do you disagree with Sharia Law? Uneasy about radical Islamic terrorism? The Liberals may very well classify you as Islamophobic,” he wrote in an email to supporters.
Lemieux, who called on supporters to pressure MPs to force a recorded vote on M-103, called it a “great day for accountability and for freedom of speech in Canada” when almost two dozen MPs stood up on Tuesday to demand such accountability.
Leadership contender Andrew Scheer also added his voice of opposition to the motion shortly before the vote, saying that it “could be interpreted as a step towards stifling free speech and legitimate criticism” of Islam.
“M-103 is not inclusive. It singles out just one faith. I believe that all religions deserve the same level of respect and protection,” he wrote in an email to supporters.
“I will be voting against it because I believe in Freedom of Speech,” he wrote.
Of course, something calling itself the “Liberal Party” should have been opposed to this in principle, and the idea of a “Muslim Liberal MP” is just ridiculous.
“…and the idea of a “Muslim Liberal MP” is just ridiculous.”
Why? Why could there not be liberally minded people who believe in Islam? In a religious sense, there can’t. But I am sure there are millions of Muslims around the world who, while agreeing with the basic tenets of Islam, differ on how the traditions and teachings should be applied to the practicalities of dealing with everyday life. Some more progressively than others. That has certainly appeared the to be the case for most of the Muslim people I have met and know.
Why could there not be liberally minded people who believe in Islam?
Because a liberal would recognise an ideology that consists of a bunch of arbitrary commands (“Put your arse in the air five times a day and make obeisance!” “Give to charity!” “Visit the town where Mohammad and his relatives have their business interests!” “Starve yourself at these appointed times!” “Don’t eat pork!” It’s a long list) and that proscribes freedom of expression (see punishment demanded for blasphemy) and freedom of conscience (punishment demanded for apostasy) is fundamentally, irredeemably illiberal.
There certainly are people who call themselves Muslim and liberal, but the two are incompatible – one way or another they’re fooling themselves, whether it’s in believing themselves liberals or believing themselves Muslims. Judging by this motion, Iqra Khalid falls into the first category.
Christianity’s also problematic for liberalism in that it’s predicated on God having authority over you and your body, but that difficulty’s at a fairly abstract level: the kind of prescriptions and proscriptions that make Islam fundamentally illiberal are at a practical and directly-experienced level.
Quite true, Milt. The problem we have, however, is that some of the most destructive and violent ideologues on the planet, including the likes of Tony Blair, George W. Bush, and of course one Donald J. Trump, regularly invoke the Christian scriptures to justify their violence. The results of their actions—just look at Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia—are anything but “fairly abstract.”
Well, first up that’s irrelevant what-aboutery. But, accepting your invitation to go off on a tangent: do you have some evidence for Blair, Bush and Trump’s military activities being based on religious ideology rather than ordinary old great power politics?
Blair and Bush were infamous for their sanctimonious invoking of religion to bolster their aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump claims the Bible is his favorite book. Like you, I see their religious posturing as mere cant, but that doesn’t change the fact that they, and other dangerous fanatics like Paul Ryan, continue to invoke Christianity as they go about their business.
I’m interested to see that you choose to claim that my calling you out for your hypocritical singling out of Muslim fanaticism is going “off on a tangent”. I would have thought that, to any reasonable person, pointing out a blinkered determination to excoriate only the crimes of Muslims, while ignoring the (far more destructive and widespread) crimes of Christians, was dealing with the heart of the issue, not tangential to it.
…they, and other dangerous fanatics like Paul Ryan, continue to invoke Christianity as they go about their business.
Yes, but you’re missing the bit where you explain how politicians invoking religion in support of their activities reflects anything useful about the characteristics of the religion in question.
… my calling you out for your hypocritical singling out of Muslim fanaticism…
I realise that’s the fantasy you’ve got going on in your head, but it bears no resemblance to my comment at 2.1 or the ones following. My claim was that liberalism and Islam are incompatible – do you have any comment about that other than pointless what-aboutery? I must admit I’d find it unusual if you did.
In your zeal to ridicule Muslims you claim that they are all required to obey the following command:
“Put your arse in the air five times a day and make obeisance!”
Yes, yes, yes, I know that you were simply trying to be funny, but that sort of thing makes you look like hatemongers such as Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Leighton Smith, rather than someone who is “reasonably good at argument.”
I, in turn, have opinions on what your comments make you look like, but personal opinion doesn’t carry a lot of weight outside the opinionator’s own head.
I prefer arguments more explicitly stated. That one seems to be saying that a blanket declaration that Muslims can’t be liberals fails to take individual circumstances and philosophies into account, but that’s an assumption on my part. Arguments that leave you guessing at the meaning are not very good arguments.
So stupid is it not. Like a lot of other people, I was raised Christian. It was pretty obvious that the number of “Christians” in town bore no relationship to the number for whom being a Christian meant anything other than ticking a box on the census form and having somewhere to hold weddings and funerals. Along the same lines, 1940s Germany was full of fascists and 1920s – 1980s Russia was full of communists, but for quite a few of them it didn’t matter what was actually involved in being a communist or fascist. I’m talking about the people for whom the prescriptions and proscriptions of Islam actually count for something – it’s a much smaller number than 1.6 billion, just like the number of Christians in New Zealand when I was growing up was much smaller than 3 million.
You forget the billions of christians, muslims, and even communists who actually regularly read their respective books, agree in general with the contents, and try to follow the general gist of the entire text rather than elevating a few passages above others with extreme literalist interpretations.
So, you read a comment in which I point out that dilettantes aren’t really relevant to a discussion about the thing they’re idly dabbling in, and tell me I’m forgetting about all the dilettantes? The Muslim world is packed full of people who call themselves Muslim but pay little attention to what that actually means – it’s human nature, and also a natural consequence of making apostasy a terrible crime worthy of draconic punishments. Those people can perhaps be liberals, but only by ignoring what their religion is actually about – and we can tell from her sponsorship of this motion that Iqra Khalid is not one of those people.
Well, if most of the billion and a half people who call themselves Muslims thought the five pillars of Islam were suggestions only and the fact that God prescribed punishments for blasphemy and apostasy were a “general gist” sort of thing that no-one actually needed to pay attention to, from my perspective that would be totally fucking awesome, but unfortunately it bears no correspondence to reality.
Oh, I expect the proportion is probably pretty similar to the number of christians who think people should be stoned for various pointless but prescribed reasons.
If you’re imagining that the proportion of Muslims who reject fundamental tenets of Islam is similar to the proportion of Christians who imagine Jesus wanted them to stone people to death, you don’t have a very good grasp of what a religion is.
You’re peddling a thesis that Da’esh are the only Muslims who believe in the five pillars of Islam, punishments for blasphemy and apostasy, and the many other prescriptions and proscriptions of Islam. OK, that was probably hyperbole and your thesis is just that few Muslims actually believe it. Don’t be surprised that I don’t take your thesis very seriously, because it’s ridiculous.
It takes a very special kind of believer to believe in the literal truth of every single part of their hallowed documents, especially the bits that are contradictory or demonstrably inconsistent with the historical record.
Most believers can follow, say, the ten commandments and believe they came from god without believing that anyone who eats shrimp should be stoned to death for offending god, let alone insisting upon it and volunteering to do so.
You might argue “no true scotsman” would ever forget the words to “To a Mouse”, but the rest of the planet doesn’t really seem to have the same exceptionally narrow definition as you.
“No true Scotsman” my arse. Either there’s a definition of Muslim, or it’s a meaningless term and people should stop using it. And there isn’t any useful definition of “Muslim” that’s also compatible with any useful definition of “liberal.” Not unless we’ve reached the “a woman is someone who identifies as a woman” level of semantic idiocy, at least.
Anyway – like I said, it’s easy enough for a person who disbelieves the fundamental tenets of the Muslim faith to be a liberal. No argument there.
But your definition isn’t at all useful, as it’s made redundant by pre-existing terms for religious or specifically Islamic extremists.
Whereas you leave no term to describe the majority of the billion or so folks everyone but you (and ISIL) calls “Muslim”. Or “Christian”, for that matter.
At least the commenters here using “liberal” differently (economic vs social vs all permutations) are roughly even in number, but you seem to be the only one following a hardline definition.
When it comes to the crunch, language is about communication. If you insist on using nouns differently to the majority of people, there’s not much point to your contribution because your act of communicating can only lead to misunderstanding.
If you’re operating a definition of “Muslim” that doesn’t involve belief in the fundamental tenets of Islam, it’s you that’s using a noun differently from everyone else.
And when it comes to something calling itself “The Liberal Party,” it’s reasonable to assume they mean it the same way Wikipedia does.
If you’re operating a definition of “Muslim” that doesn’t involve belief in the fundamental tenets of Islam, it’s you that’s using a noun differently from everyone else.
Some tenets? All? Which bits are “fundamental tenets”? How deeply do you have to believe them? How literally do you have to believe them?
I’m using “Muslim” in the same way that wikipedia does when it says there are 1.6 billion of them whereas there are only a million or so members of ISIL/AQ/Al shabab etc. I guess everyone else wikipedia refers to is not a true Muslim because they’re not running around killing infidels and apostates.
The fundamental tenets are the five pillars of Islam, which you can look up for yourself. The absolute minimum is the shahadah, but that’s the basis for the lack of religious freedom in the Muslim world, so even the bare minimum effectively rules out liberalism.
As to the false dichotomy strawman you’re putting up (my argument supposedly based on anyone outside Da’esh et al not being a “real” Muslim), fuck knows how you came up with it but please stop.
Well, maybe there’s a version of liberalism which is compatible with believing that all humanity has been issued with a serious of arbitrary and irrational but nevertheless compulsory commands by a supreme and unquestionable supernatural authority and that these are the final commands ever to be issued by that authority, but I’m not familiar with that version – does it ring any bells for you?
Religion is what you believe. Liberalism is whether you think you can force your religion on everyone else. Which is why 99.99% of followers of all Abrahamic religions over much of the world don’t immediately run out and stone every fornicator they see. Sure, they believe their magic books, but they choose to not be a dick about it.
Liberalism and religion are both philosophy. Some philosophies are incompatible with others, depending upon their content. Whether individuals want to be dicks about something or not is irrelevant to that. Individuals are only relevant to the extent that an individual claiming to follow two incompatible philosophies is probably a bit confused about one or both.
So you’re right about how you define whether a person is an adherent of a particular religion, it’s just that few billion Christians and Muslims are “a bit confused” about what they claim to believe?
It doesn’t matter what a person believes or doesn’t believe, or who I might or might not define as a member of a particular religion. Those things remain irrelevant no matter how often you repeat them. What matters in this case is whether two particular philosophies are compatible or incompatible, and the one with a long list of illiberal features is not compatible with liberalism.
What? As witnessed by those bastions of liberalism, the Muslim countries of the world? We have an ideology that’s composed almost entirely of illiberal features (from the name “Submit” down through the list of prescriptions and proscriptions that are its only substance) and that has proved fundamentally illiberal everywhere its followers form a majority of the population. I find that pretty persuasive evidence that it’s not compatible with liberalism. For evidence to the contrary, you have… I’m not sure what. You know some Muslims and they’re OK blokes?
Given that many of those countries are in a continent that has Christian countries that are about as permissive as their Islamic neighbours, and given the liberalism of Russia or some areas of the US, I tend to wonder whether one religion is worse than another, or simply that regional culture has more to do with whether someone feels compelled to be a dick about it.
Especially when almost everyone seems to change their tunes and stop stoning folks when they get to more liberal regions, sometimes within the same damned country.
For the most part. “Liberal” doesn’t imply “left-wing” – there are plenty of liberals with very unpleasant politics, David Farrar probably being the most-familiar one to Standard readers.
I presume he is – politically, he comes across as one. I see where you’re going with this, but see my comment 2.1.1.1 above:
“There certainly are people who call themselves Muslim and liberal, but the two are incompatible – one way or another they’re fooling themselves, whether it’s in believing themselves liberals or believing themselves Muslims. Judging by this motion, Iqra Khalid falls into the first category.”
Groser might well be a third category: liberals who declared themselves Muslim so they could marry a Muslim, but don’t actually believe the bullshit they signed up to. From what I remember, Groser isn’t married to a Muslim any more, but he’s probably aware by now that it’s a cult not easily backed out of once you’re in – we non-Muslims wouldn’t give a shit if he committed apostasy, but at best it would seriously inconvenience his future dealings with Muslims. At worst he could be charged with an offence if he visited Indonesia or other Muslim countries. Much easier to just let it slide.
I will let it slide mainly because of your comment that you repeated twice:
There certainly are people who call themselves Muslim and liberal, but the two are incompatible – one way or another they’re fooling themselves, whether it’s in believing themselves liberals or believing themselves Muslims. Judging by this motion, Iqra Khalid falls into the first category.
To me this comes across as extremely judgemental and patronising or just plain ignorant of how others might reconcile concepts and beliefs that you find obviously irreconcilable and you thus deny offhand. To use and paraphrase a part-quote by John Searle in this context:
You’re entitled to whatever opinion of it you want to have. But it’s arguments that count – if you have some actual argument for how the tenets of Islam are compatible with liberalism, feel free to present them.
Very socially upwardly mobile and a follower of US Corporate policy and indoctrination, Key, English and Groser are disciples of Corporate America and the US Bankers. Loyal to the IMF and the Federal Reserve.
Why have the Jews been left out of this comparison of Monotheists?
In my case, because the comment was about a supposedly Liberal Muslim MP. Only Morrissey can tell you why he dragged another religion into it, and why that particular one.
In my view they are all as guilty, bigoted and delusionary as each other.
And you’re fully entitled to that view. Is there a reason other people should care? Your opinion matters only to you. Only what you can argue persuasively should matter to other people.
So who funds this endeavor? Who pays for a team of young men to travel the country in a tour bus? The answer resides in the organization behind the tour. Glittering Steel, LLC is a small production company located at the same address in Beverly Hills as Breitbart News and a number of other companies owned and supported by Trump-supporting Hedge funder Robert Mercer.
From Granny…. The lawyers who manage the process get more in fees than the victims… but thats just efficient capitalism under National I guess…
“The Ministry of Social Development spent more than a million dollars paying private lawyers to fight claims of abuse at a state-funded bootcamp on Great Barrier Island before finally settling with victims for $340,000.
Settlement with four claimants to proceedings, the last of which came in February, followed a 12-year battle in the courts which also saw the Ministry stuck with costs due to Legal Aid of $369,000.
Labour Party deputy leader Jacinda Ardern called the expense and delays extraordinary and questioned whether it was a just or wise use of taxpayer money.
“No one is going to look at a case like this – with extraordinary amounts spent on legal costs and small outcomes for victims – and think this is a good process,” she said.
Ardern said figures provided to her office showed $6.5m had been spent in total by MSD on external legal counsel fighting a handful of historic abuse cases over the past decade, with only one getting to trial.”
Abuse victims deserve that money (I mean the amount paid to the lawyers, not the trickle of piddle they are currently awarded). They suffer through the abuse, and then suffer again through the legal process which is super highly skewed towards the state / the abuser.
Worst abuse of all is that because many are considered “already damaged” the payout only reflects the additional damage. The reality is that abuse in this type of situation reinforces exsisting issues and makes further recovery almost impossible.
Taken to it’s extreme someone in a vegetative state, gang raped in care would be ineligible for any payout, because how can you prove that any damage occurred?
John Pilger being interviewed by Wallace Chapman right now!
RNZ National, Sunday 26 March 2017, 10.17 a.m.
As I suspected would happen, the callow Chapman has already been corrected twice by Pilger after making foolish and ill considered comments. But it’s still worth a listen…
Wallace speaks to award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger about his latest film, The Coming War On China, which examines the increasing focus of the United States on the Asia-Pacific region.
You’ve chosen, for whatever reason, to cite something which is nothing more than a dishonest and ideologically driven attack on Pilger. It’s slightly more elevated in style, but not essentially different to the dyspeptic anti-Hager ranting we’ve heard from the likes of Mark Richardson, Leighton Smith and Mike Hosking over the last few days.
His sleazy insinuation that Pilger’s journalism is comparable to the methods of Goebbels is enough to instantly discredit him, but perhaps the best way of assessing the moral and intellectual credentials of David Hutt is to savour the casual indifference and brutality of the following….
Certainly what the United States did was a crime, but it was a crime committed decades ago.
You need to read more, and read thoroughly, Red Hand. And you need to read with discrimination.
Reading with discrimination to me means reading writers with different points of view. The Pilger interview shows his anti US bias. I chose the article because it exposes this.
You clearly chose that article because it attacked Pilger. He is not “anti-US”, as you claim, but anti-imperialist.
I believe in reading writers with different points of view, but not in citing them as any kind of authority if they are as flagrantly biased and contemptuous of the facts as David Hutt.
… the casual indifference and brutality of the following…
Context is your friend, Morrissey. In this case, the context is that the 40 minutes Pilger spends dwelling on the crime in question is irrelevant to a documentary supposedly about a coming war against China. So, not “indifference and brutality,” just “rational argument.”
From Hutt’s description, Pilger’s lengthy segment on the USA’s crimes against the Marshall Islands is simply framing. You need to introduce the bad guy and show him doing something evil, so the audience knows who the bad guy is and satisfies itself that Bad Guy is indeed a Really Terrible Person. It’s part of movie-making, albeit not usually part of documentary movies – but then, we are talking about John Pilger here.
So Pilger’s detailed history of American crimes against humanity in the region are not relevant? He should just ignore it, or better simply not know about it in the first place, like such outstanding journalists as Mike Hosking and Duncan Garner?
You’re concerned that a full contextualising of the conflict in the South China Sea makes the United States look like the bad guy. Sadly, that’s also the result if you contextualise the conflicts in Central and South America, in Indonesia, in the Philippines, in much of Africa.
I understand your concern. Context is not your friend, Milt, that’s for sure.
I’m not “concerned” about Pilger framing great-power politics as good guys vs bad guys, but it is mildly annoying and some of the dimmer bulbs among his fans seem to lap it up, so it’s worth a mention.
As a unforeseen consequence of (in particular) Auckland House prices, it has been noticed of quite a number of smaller spec builders are now being seen to be exiting the market and there are no new young replacement builders/tradies etc turning to the spec market.
Why ? To buy a section would cost $400k and then you have to manage and fund the process of the build. Banks are uncomfortable to fund such large loans in the vicinity of $1m. So we see less spec builders and the increase of “corporate/franchise” coys. active within the industry.
i went for a drive round Taupo the other day. The lake front is now Fast Food or Junk food alley. No beautiful old victorian buildings housing eateries and such, no Lonestar, Burgerfuel, KFC, McDo, Sierra Cafe etc etc.
The priciest real estate right by the lake front is essentially priced in such a matter that individual private businesses can’t afford the leases. And with this goes the fabled right of ‘choice’ and ‘free market’. But you can have crab food for $5 to go with your minimum wage.
And the Taupo council is happy for businesses to apply for Grants for up to 25000 a tick to locate their business to their fair town. Sadly so, this would not even cover a years worth of ground lease plus outgoings.
We are killing any and all business with these costs. Maybe we need to import some more cheap labour to make up for the lazy drug addled kiwis that are no good at business and work.
If it is anything like Auckland it seems to be a exploitation/immigration scam with food franchises… many of these places seem near empty of customers in Auckland and yet they are still paying exorbitant leases…. something doesn’t seem right.
It’s also driving others out of business. Place in Ponsonby, Auckland used to be a Baker’s Delight, been empty for nearly 2 years in a prime spot.
You have to wonder who owns it if they are willing to have it empty for nearly 2 years…
Someone was telling me they leased a place on Queen ST about 15 years ago, they paid $220,000 a year for the lease. Then you have to do the refit, then you have the rent increases… etc… etc… all is not well in NZ small businesses…
Apparently the Malls are very exploitative to the businesses.
As well as not being able to afford to buy our own houses under National.
We can’t afford to be tenants in our country.
And we can’t afford to run a business in our own country.
Michael Friedlander owns a lot of properties in and around Ponsonby – he’s been responsible for many businesses going to the wall, or at least leaving, as a result of exorbitant rents
Ponsonby in ten years will look like Downtown AKL. Friedlander is land banking and has been doing this systematically since at lest 20 years.
Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Symond Street, K-Road etc…..all will simply become part of down town with the appropriate shit architecture cause nothing says progress like crap Plattenbau.
A chocolatier in AKL from whom i worked many many years ago, could not believe that Queen Street charged at much lease as Rive Gauche in Paris.
Malls are ludicrous. From the fixed opening hours, to the lack of toilets for staff only and the total lack of lunchspaces to the crap air to the noise pollution to the fact that people hang in Malls but actually spend very very little.
In NZ however it pays to keep rents so high as to be un-affordable and simply claim a loss on your property. IF you could not write of the loss a landlord might be ‘incentivesed’ so as to drop the rent to something the ‘market’ could pay.
And we are already tenants in this fair country. Very little really still belongs to NZ. Water, Electricity and land is all flogged of at bargain prices – get rich now while you can.
There have been some Property deals since Christmas that required offshore funding, to have failed due to the increased difficulty in being able to access the funds. With a few cases I am aware of where the contracted buyer vanished !! Perhaps they found out that they had paid too much, as if there was some appreciation in the property values all that would have happened was that it was on sold. Even if tax was paid better to pay that than incur a loss of the deposit.
One anticipates a flood of posts from the resident Assad/Putin apologists declaring that these fake western media propaganda outrage stories can’t be trusted, that the claims of civilian casualties are Da’esh propaganda, and we mustn’t let western governments’ support for jihadis interfere with this operation to liberate the people of Mosul…
Your sarcasm can’t cover up the fact that the United States and its vassal states (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom) have created and supported Da’esh, and are ultimately responsible for the carnage in the Middle East.
The people who design, manufacture and sell weapons are ultimately responsible.
No arms industry, no carnage.
You and others write about events as though they are due to the actions of states, avoiding the fact that they are due to the actions of people. People who design, manufacture, sell and buy weapons, recruit mainly men into military groups and train them to obey orders.
In the Pilger interview, he mentions an episode during the Cuba Missile Crisis in which a few people at the Kwajalein Base were moments from activating the launch of a nuclear armed missile. The US is an abstraction. Not a person with a code and means to activate it.
By personifying states the responsibility of individual human beings for events is avoided.
Do you really think I envisage “the United States” as an abstraction? Really?
And do you think those thriving arms industries in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States would thrive if they were not massively supported by the governments of those states? Not those abstract governments that you’ve dreamed up, but real brutal regimes, run by nasty people like Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping.
Yes, governments support arms industries, but are not essential to their existence.
Really? You think that (for example) cluster bombs would still have continued to be produced and exported if the United Kingdom, French, U.S., Russian and Israeli government had not supported their manufacture and use?
Labelling Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping as “nasty people” is so silly !
Assad/Putin apologists declaring that these fake western media propaganda outrage stories can’t be trusted
Indeed the irrefutable evidence presented say by the NYT or the WP or the economist,routinely cited by progressives,suggest that one should never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Thanks for that, Poission. I suspect, however, that even if Psycho Milt bothers to click on those damning links you provide, it won’t dent his devotion to these sources on which he relies for the “arguments” at which he rates himself “reasonably good.”
it is truly time the world over to just build a legal frame work such as we have with alcohol and be done with the fake pious ‘but wont anyone think of the children’.
A good read although I did miss a reference to one of the best-known Utopias/Dystopias: Amazonia/Feminye [sp?].
Economic downturns make vulnerable people more vulnerable – and societies in trouble tend to retreat to an imagined past of certainty and stability. To put it another way: justice feels affordable in times of plenty, and starts to feel like a luxury in times of want.
Which is one thing I really miss: a government that makes you look up to the horizon.
I miss it because in my lifetime I haven’t seen it. S’cuse me going all Ernst Bloch.
Utopia is a favourite theme/concept of mine; I have written about it here on TS and even once submitted a writing for a Guest Post Utopian Musings: Companionship, Community, Compassion, Passion but it never saw the light of day; it was probably too lengthy – it was long – and/or just not good/interesting enough.
Personally, I am influenced by Zygmunt Bauman. According to him we now live “inside a Utopia” rather than “towards a Utopia”.
It is no coincidence that Utopia or Utopian thinking keeps reoccurring here on TS and elsewhere; it is (more than) a stubborn meme.
“The sex at least is mostly consensual, but an accusation of rape can follow from a girl who feels sexually used, or taken for granted, and who seeks to inflict some measure of vengeance (like in the case of Mattress Girl).”
women like pierson fuel rape culture!!! if a woman feels sexually used or taken for granted then as my close friend carol says she was raped!!!
George Webb (YouTube citizen journalist) deserves some kind of humanitarian award.
For a long time now he has been diligently sifting through Podesta (I think) emails via Wikileaks and uncovered the Clinton crime family maneuvers.
If you are new to George best to go back over the oldest YouTube’s you can find (he was subject to a YT take down a few months ago), probably the ones with the title “Where is Eric Braverman day__”. You need to do this in order to follow the more recent ones.
Think ratlines, drugs, mangos, children, organs, dodgy appointments with suspiciously high security clearance. Ugh.
“This investigation concluded that this may have resulted in civilian casualties but no evidence of this was established.”
But, but.. dude didn’t you fellas lose the copy of the report/investigation? Lol
Brownlee has had a busy afternoon, catching up with English and Keating prior to this article coming out. Just because they say it didn’t happen, does not mean that it did not happen.
The Defence Force will be in full damage mode. Nobody does “full damage mode” like the Defence Force. I spent 5 years as a civilian working on a Defence Force base in the late 80s and early 90s and it was an illuminating experience. Somebody found out I had been a supporter of the Labour’s Govt’s anti-nuclear legislation and I ended up under close watch night and day. Even my trips to and from my home to the base were monitored. Talk about excessive paranoia!
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Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Associate Prof George Thomson, Louise Delany, Prof Nick WilsonWhile it is possible that New Zealand can use intense public health controls to eradicate COVID-19 from the country – we must also plan for other scenarios where thousands of New Zealanders are sick – including many urgently hospitalised.1 Better resilience ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...
I was surprised when the prime minister described the Economic Response to Covid-19 package as the ‘largest peacetime government spend in New Zealand's history’. Reflecting – checking through history – I realised that the term ‘spend’ was crucial and the package had no income tax cuts. Even so, it has ...
Years ago the Argentine sociologist Carlos Weisman wrote a book titled “Living within our Means.” It was a critique of Argentine society that focused on the paradoxical question of why, in a land of plenty, there was so much economic instability, inequality, corruption and political turmoil. His conclusion was basically ...
Parliament will be leading by example and adjourning tomorrow after a special sitting to consider an epidemic notice and state of emergency. Day-to-day oversight of the government will be delegated to a select committee. But that's not the only overight mechanism. The OIA will still be law, and (so far) ...
Michael Baker, University of OtagoOverjoyed. That’s not a word epidemiologists normally use, but that’s how I felt after hearing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement about New Zealand’s COVID-19 shutdown of everything except essential services for at least four weeks from midnight on Wednesday. More than anything, I just ...
How much homelessness is caused by house hoarding? We're about to find out. The pandemic has destroyed tourism, which means that house hoarders who put their hoarded properties up as short-term tourist rentals are now offering them on the ordinary rental market:Property investors are pulling properties from Airbnb to offer ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman It seems like such a simple, straightforward, empowering idea: plant trees – a lot of trees – all over the world, and watch the planet’s temperature fall. Who doesn’t love a tree or two, even far more – the right ...
According to Newshub, Simon Bridges is open to joining a “grand coalition” with Labour as we hunker down to go into a month long lockdown. The idea is sound. Before now, the role of the opposition was to scrutinise and oppose. In the context of what almost amounts to a ...
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or ...
We need to be lifting our game against COVID-19. You and I need to help those working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while they’re trying to lift the testing and treatment efforts. We don’t want to be playing this game running backwards. Best to play it solidly forward, from ...
Prof Tony Blakely, Prof Michael Baker, and Prof Nick WilsonThe NZ Government must do more to clearly articulate its COVID-19 strategy: eradication or ‘flattening the curve’ mitigation. But to do so means understanding the maths and ethics of both these strategies. In this blog, we adapt our work for ...
A few days ago I was starting to write something about the pandemic, which now seems unconscionable. It took the form of a letter to an agony aunt:“Dear Deidre, I have an ugly confession. I am quite excited by Covid-19.”This is how the piece went:“I’m not a psychopath, honest. Although the ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of DisastersThe likelihood of extreme events ...
Last week, the government announced a $12 billion initial package to support people during the pandemic. Today, the Reserve Bank is buying government bonds - effectively printing money - to keep up the money supply during the crisis. Normally such moves would have the right apoplectic. Instead, the National Party ...
I am a pundit, somebody who opines and comments on the news. There are no real qualifications to punditry though having a rudimentary way with words and good general knowledge helps. That is one reason there is a constant oversupply of would-be pundits and why it is quite hard to ...
I recently encountered the following prescription from a Faculty of Education at a leading New Zealand University. At first I wondered if it was another product of the postmodern generator (http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/pomo/), designed to create gibberish in the postmodern form, but I’m told it is real: The “schooled” society: Towards the ...
The coronavirus pandemic has of course had a major impact on individual lives and on societies as a whole. But, long after the crisis has passed (assuming it does), we will begin to realise that its real and lasting significance lies in the lessons it has taught us, if only ...
COVID-19 has plunged Aotearoa New Zealand (indeed, the world) into territory that, while maybe not totally unprecedented, certainly hasn’t been seen during the lifetimes of most of us here today. Our borders are closed to non-citizens, we’re being told not to gather in groups of more than 500 outside/100 inside, ...
For the last few weeks, I’ve been urging you to prepare yourself, your family, business, and community for Covid-19. Now it’s time for real action. Yesterday the director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced another 13 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, bringing our total to date to 52. ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 15, 2020 through Sat, Mar 21, 2020 Editor's Pick Now Isn’t the Time to Forget About Our Climate Change EffortsTasha Tilberg, Lindsey Wixson, and Liu Wen photographed ...
by Jan Rivers The article has been corrected to show that it was Ewen MacAskill, former Guardian journalist and not Luke Harding who travelled to meet Edward Snowden with journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras. Some of the Guardian’s well-known journalists who did not sign the protest letter are ...
by Cultural Worker Late March 2020 amidst the virus. With gigs crashing and burning all around it was without much hope that I called a long standing rest home booking: “ Hi, I’m supposed to be entertaining at your place this afternoon – is it still on?” “”If you don’t ...
Whenever people demand real change from their politicians, we're told that "politics is the art of the possible". The implication is that change isn't possible, so we'd better just get used to the sucky status quo. But now that there's a pandemic, a lot of things we were previously told ...
Together: In leading New Zealand through the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Prime Minister could do a lot worse than allow herself to be guided by the spirit of collective sacrifice and co-operation that animated the New Zealanders of 80 years ago. Most Kiwis alive today have had no opportunity to prove their ...
It is said that generals fight the last war. In the case of the early stages of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) they had learned from the Great Depression of the 1930s and they fought intelligently and successfully. Later their advice would be ignored in favour of the Austerians who ...
Solidarity Forever: All over the world, the arrival of the Covid-19 virus has exposed the fragility of the walls we erect around ourselves and our loved ones. It has shattered our illusions of autonomy and revealed to us how utterly dependent we all are on other human-beings. Finally, we see ...
Looking across the various arguments for/against the leading candidates to take the Democratic Nomination, you might honestly be very hard pressed to tell. There are a number of things that have now started happening since Amy Klobuchar and “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg both threw the towel in and immediately (and ...
by Daphna Whitmore Abortion is no longer in the Crimes Act in New Zealand. The law reform passed yesterday and now abortion is a medical matter between a woman and her doctor. Many women’s groups and progressive people have campaigned for reform for decades. The women’s liberation movement and some ...
Doug Specht, University of Westminster and Julio Gimenez, University of Westminster When fake news, misreporting and alternative facts are everywhere, reading the news can be a challenge. Not only is there plenty of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other scientific topics floating around social media, you also ...
Michael Baker, University of Otago and Nick Wilson, University of OtagoWith some of the toughest border restrictions and a newly-announced NZ$500 million boost to health services, New Zealand is among a small number of countries with a strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand is also fortunate in ...
As expected, the government has introduced a sessional order to allow Parliament to operate during the pandemic. You can read it on the Order Paper here, but the short version is that questions and motions can be filed electronicly, select committees can work remotely, and the the Business Committee can ...
Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology; Daniel Angus, Queensland University of Technology; Timothy Graham, Queensland University of Technology, and Tobias R. Keller, Queensland University of Technology News and views about coronavirus has spread via social media in a way that no health emergency has done before. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, ...
So you’ve recently returned from overseas, come into contact with someone who tested positive, got a bit of a dry cough yourself or perhaps just want to self isolate for 14 days to avoid other people who might have COVID-19. Here are a few tips and tricks to help get ...
Our Good Fortune: Precisely because she has never been an ideologue (she calls herself a “pragmatic idealist”) Jacinda Ardern has a political nimbleness and spontaneity which, when infused with her exceptional emotional intelligence, produces spectacular demonstrations of leadership. Jacinda's empathic political personality contrasts sharply with the less-than-sunny ways of her ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill has just passed its third reading, 68-51. NZ First MPs bailed because their referendum amendment didn't pass, but there were plenty of MPs to provide a majority without them. The bill is a long way from perfect - most significantly, it subjects pregnant people who need ...
As most of the world tries to suppress the coronavirus spread, some countries are going it alone – trying to manage the pandemic through so-called “herd immunity”. Herd immunity means letting a large number of people catch a disease, and hence develop immunity to it, to stop the virus spreading. ...
So, as I sit at home with a very, very slight headache (i.e. not at work when I would otherwise be so), the now familiar figure of Ashley Bloomfield reports eight new confirmed cases of COVID-19 including two in Waikato. A surprise, given that we had just twelve yesterday? No. ...
Many who advocated for, and voted for, the current Coalition – particularly those who voted Labour and the Green Party – expected to see a sea change in the reality of social services. A real, deep change of attitude, approach of process through which the system negotiates the difficult and ...
New Zealand’s border restrictions will come with significant job and business losses in the tourism sector, both at home and in the Pacific. But the new travel rules are absolutely necessary to protect the health of New Zealanders and people right across Pacific Islands, because New Zealand is a gateway ...
Professor Philip Hill and Associate Professor James UssherMost infectious diseases have an Achilles heel, the secret is to find it. The question is if we don’t have a drug or a vaccine for COVID-19, is there something else we can do to beat it? Some people estimate that, without ...
The Coalition Governments $12.1 billion economic package to help combat the financial effects of COVID-19 was generally well received across the board, even amongst many business leaders who would normally be critical of a Labour led Government.However there was one glaringly obvious exception, Simon Bridges. The so-called leader of the ...
With confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand up to 12, many influential people are writing open letters and opinion pieces and doing press conferences asking why we aren’t pulling out all the stops and testing thousands of people a day like they are in South Korea. The thing is, ...
by Daphna Whitmore The willingness to put human life before business shows that sometimes capitalism is capable of suspending its relentless drive for profit. For a short time it can behave differently. Flatten the curve is the public health message since COVID-19 suddenly overwhelmed the hospital system in northern Italy. ...
Worldwide, the 1918 influenza epidemic – wrongly called ‘Spanish’ flu – lasted about two years. However, it lasted about six weeks in New Zealand (remembered as ‘Black November’, because the dead turned a purplish-black). It is thought about 7000 Pakeha died and 2,500 Maori. The population mortality rate was about ...
In a world and a time when the worst off and most vulnerable have been asked, time and again, to foot the bill for the complete subjugating to the will of the 1% thanks to the GFC, at a point where the world as a whole is now seeing quite ...
With the economy already reeling from a crisis that’s barely begun, the Government today sought to provide reassurance to workers and businesses in the form of a massive phallic pun to insert much-needed cash into the private sector and help fight the looming pandemic. Here are the key components: $5.1 ...
I am a member of the working poor and so still need state welfare to make rent. So I had booked an appointment for yesterday with my caseworker at Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) to apply for a transition to work grant. However the current health advice in New ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
We know some people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill drawn from the ballot today seeks to overhaul the youth justice system by instigating a system of demerit points for offences committed by young offenders. “The ‘Youth Justice Demerit Point System’ will put an end to ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic DevelopmentThe Provincial Growth Fund is investing $6 million in a land-based aquaculture pilot to see whether yellowtail kingfish can be commercially farmed in Northland, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today.A recirculating land-based aquaculture system will be built and operated ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for ForestryForestry Minister Shane Jones has announced two One Billion Trees programme grants of more than $1.18 million to help hapu and iwi in Northland restore whenua and moana.“Many communities around Aotearoa have benefited from One Billion Trees funding since the programme was launched ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign AffairsAhead of the start of the criminal trial in the Netherlands on 9 March, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has reaffirmed the need to establish truth, accountability and justice for the downing of Flight MH17 ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterThe Government is investing $19.9 million through the Provincial Growth Fund in a game-changing hydrogen energy facility in South Taranaki, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters announced today.“The development of alternative energy initiatives like this one is vital for the Taranaki region’s economy. ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Minister for Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand is partnering with countries in the Pacific to ensure they are prepared for, and able to respond to the global threat of Coronavirus (COVID-19).“There are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Minister of Transport Phil Twyford has today announced details of the Government’s support package to keep key air freight moving and ensure New Zealanders retain access to essential goods during the four-week level 4 lockdown. “The Government is working with airlines and air freight operators to ensure New Zealand’s key ...
New Zealand moved up to COVID-19 Alert Level 3 – Restrict New Zealand to move up to COVID-19 Alert Level 4 – Eliminate, in 48 hours Two-staged approach to give people and businesses time to prepare Level 3, from tomorrow Non-essential businesses must close All events and gatherings must be ...
Good afternoon The Cabinet met this morning to discuss our next actions in the fight against COVID-19. Like the rest of the world, we are facing the potential for devastating impacts from this virus. But, through decisive action, and through working together, do we have a small window to get ...
The Government is announcing significant further support for the economy, workers and businesses as the country unites to prepare for Alert Level 4 in the fight against COVID-19. Cabinet today agreed to remove the cap on the Government’s wage subsidy scheme, which will inject a further $4 billion into the ...
The Government is backing the Reserve Bank’s latest action to support the economy by reducing longer-term interest rates, meaning lower costs for businesses and mortgage holders, and a lower currency to help our exporters. The Minister of Finance has signed a memorandum of understanding and a letter of indemnity with ...
The Government has asked the Commerce Commission to take account of the exceptional circumstances created by COVID-19 when monitoring business behaviour in coming weeks. “The purpose of my request to the Commerce Commission is to make sure businesses can work together in ways that will allow them to provide ...
The New Zealand Government has temporarily closed its High Commission in Bridgetown, Barbados and its Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Due to the increasing scarcity of air links in and out of Bridgetown and Yangon, and the pressure COVID-19 is placing ...
Associate Health and Whānau Ora Minister Peeni Henare has today announced the Government’s plan to support Māori communities and businesses in the face of COVID-19. “Our Government’s $12.1 billion economic package will help many Māori whānau, workers and businesses, whether it’s through wage subsidies, income support and worker redeployment, or ...
The Government and the hospitality industry have worked together to produce guidelines to assist with managing and reducing transmission of COVID-19, Health Minister David Clark announced today. The guidelines developed between the Government, Hospitality New Zealand and SkyCity Entertainment Group, set out how the new restrictions on physical distancing and ...
Four stage Alert System for COVID-19 announced New Zealand moved up to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 – Reduce Contact New Zealanders over 70 and those with certain medical conditions told to stay at home as much as they can to reduce risk of contact with the virus Workplaces to implement ...
Kia ora koutou katoa I’m speaking directly to all New Zealanders today to give you as much certainty and clarity as we can as we fight Covid-19. Over the past few weeks, the world has changed. And it has changed very quickly. In February it would have seemed unimaginable to ...
New Zealand and Singapore have jointly committed to keep supply chains open and to remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker welcomed the commitment. “This is an important collective response, and ...
JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY SINGAPORE AND NEW ZEALAND AFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO ENSURING SUPPLY CHAIN CONNECTIVITY AMIDST THE COVID-19 SITUATION The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis. As part of our collective response to combat COVID-19, Singapore and New Zealand are committed to maintaining open and connected supply chains. We ...
Travel restrictions, closing our border to almost all travelers came into force from 23:59 on Thursday 19 March 2020 (NZDT). All airlines were informed of these restrictions before they came into force. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says “The transit of passengers between Australia and New Zealand has been agreed upon and ...
The Government has allocated $100 million to help redeploy workers affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, with the hard-hit region of Gisborne-Tairāwhiti to be the first helped, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford, Forestry and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. Phil Twyford ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is ramping up support for Tairāwhiti’s wood processing sector to bolster the region’s economy at a time of heightened uncertainty, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Following earlier announcements today of a regional support package for Tairāwhiti, Minister Jones has also announced a ...
The Coalition Government has stepped in to protect Air New Zealand with a significant financial deal that protects essential routes and allows the company to keep operating. The Government and Air New Zealand have agreed a debt funding agreement through commercial 24-month loan facilities of up to $900 million*. The ...
The Government has taken further measures to protect New Zealanders from the COVID-19 virus, effectively stopping all people from boarding a plane to New Zealand from 11:59pm today, except for returning New Zealanders, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. New Zealanders’ partners, legal guardians or any dependent children travelling with ...
The Government has reinforced its commitment to protecting the health of New Zealanders from COVID-19 through the cancellation of indoor events with more than 100 people. “Protecting the health of New Zealanders is our number one priority, and that means we need to reduce the risks associated with large gatherings,” ...
The New Zealand Government is advising New Zealanders not to travel overseas due to COVID-19, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “We are raising our travel advice to the highest level: do not travel,” Mr Peters said. “This is the first time the New Zealand Government has advised New Zealanders ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today outlined the first tranche of the $600 million aviation sector relief package announced earlier this week as part of the Government’s $12.1 billion COVID-19 economic response. The initial part of the aviation package aims to secure the operators of New Zealand’s aviation security system, and ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia has risen by four to 34. The update from the government said the hospitalisation rate is unchanged with one person in care. Last night a curfew was declared for the first time, forcing residents across ...
It’s a town where people often feel the rest of the country has given up on them, in the middle of a region where every place feels isolated. So how did Ohura become an unlikely centre of Medieval Combat sports in New Zealand? Alex Braae spent three days there finding ...
If you want to understand some of the thinking behind the policy response to the spread of coronavirus, you might want to read the paper from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, which is credited with accelerating the introduction of the current lockdown measures in the UK.The paper builds ...
‘It seems like someone else’s dream of my past.’ For Emma Neale, the painting ‘Wanderlust’ by Dunedin artist Sharon Singer stirs memories of her childhood, and new understandings of guilt and forgiveness.There were gifts from my father when he came home from overseas trips. Love offerings; a bit like those ...
Westpac is forecasting 200,000 jobs will be lost in NZ as a result of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Chief economist Dominick Stephens estimates economic activity during the four week lock-down would decline by a third, despite the government and the Reserve Bank having “done a lot to calm ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.I have a wild tomato flopping all over the path down the back of the veg garden. I picked a ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Online criminals have been making the most of Covid-19 by preying on people’s fear and doubt. Here are some of the calling cards of these con artists.With most New Zealanders tucked up at home, digital devices are proving to be critical tools for staying connected with each other, making good ...
Author and illustrator Sarah Laing draws a rite of passage in The Lockdown.Reprinted with the permission of the author from Let Me Be Frank, Sarah Laing's blog devoted to "Reading. Writing. Parenting. Angsting." Let Me Be Frank is also the ...
As New Zealand adjusts to a month of lockdown, many pet owners have questions about their furry friends. Alex Casey had a chat with the SPCA – here’s what she learned.AC: My cat had a disgusting abscess on his tail and now has to get his stitches out. ...
Books editor Catherine Woulfe takes an energising walk around the lockdown block of New Zealand books. When the bubbles settled over us they settled over the books too. Libraries were the first to shut down, then the physical bookstores and finally, the hammer blow: online sales and indeed any notion of ...
Convincing its citizens to take lockdown seriously will be a major challenge for Fiji’s government, writes Mandy De Vries. My husband, Howie, and I are lucky enough to live on the beautiful Coral Coast in Fiji. We started a tourism operation here two years ago which was, until recently, booming. ...
New Zealand’s businesses and government are far better prepared for the rapidly escalating global health and economic crisis than they were for the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09 or the stock market crash in 1987, says Rob Campbell, one of the country’s most experienced corporate leaders. “Executive teams and boards ...
Journalism commentator and former editor Gavin Ellis says media organisations play a vital role in keeping the community informed and, if possible, safe. They also have a crucial part to play in the maintenance of public order and morale, just as they did in the 1940s. With the country in ...
The country has millions of protective gowns, gloves and eyewear – midwives ask: Where are they? David Williams reports Two days into a national lockdown some midwives didn’t have any protective equipment, adding to concerns about safeguards for frontline health workers. On Friday, announcements were made by the Health Ministry ...
Covid-19 lockdown provides valuable time for planning a new business, as Dr Mary-Ellen Gordon explains You have a great idea for a business. You’ve been working to get it up and going. Then, just as you were starting to gain traction, the entire country and much of the rest of ...
Low-income workers whose jobs have disappeared thanks to Covid-19 will increasingly need to access benefit income. When this happens, however, they lose a tax credit for their children. As a direct result of the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has improved its rescue policies for business. We now need to see urgent ...
The strange energy of preparing for level four is over, now the dystopian reality has kicked in. Danyl Mclauchlan writes an essay about home life during a ‘cosy catastrophe’.We start by setting up our home workspaces, covering the kitchen table with such a thick mass of black cables and USB ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will unvieil on Sunday a $1.1 billion set of measures to make Medicare telehealth services generally available during the coronavirus pandemic and to support mental health, domestic violence and community services. The “Medicare ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. There were 83 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, down from the previous day's 85 new cases. Details of how many tests have been completed are now bing released ...
By RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke to her followers on Facebook today from her office in Premier House. Her chat lasted about 15 minutes and garnered more than 310,000 views. She discussed wage subsidies for full-time and part-time workers, personal protection equipment (PPE) supplies for ...
COMMENTARY:By Bob Howarth (self-isolating in Australia after his latest trip to Timor-Leste) After days of web surfing for Covid-19 coronavirus news around the Asia-Pacific, two areas that appear to need improving in some countries are official communication and fact checking. So here’s my two cents, rupiah, kina or ...
Whether it’s a robot uprising, a woman catfishing into the publishing world or a bunch of lovestruck islanders, NEON has you covered. Here’s what we’re bingeing on NEON for the foreseeable future.WestworldJust in time for lockdown, there’s a buzz-worthy show with endless discussion points coming out on a weekly basis. ...
There’s been a lot of talk about PPE of late – do we have enough, is it getting to the right people, and who exactly are the right people, anyway? Here’s the latest official advice.The Ministry of Health has now circulated updated advice on the appropriate use of PPE (personal ...
A month ago, not many had heard of Ashley Bloomfield. But as the Covid-19 response has ramped up, the director-general of health has become a calm, reassuring presence in a time of uncertainty and fear. Rachel Thomas profiles him, in a piece first published on RNZ.Today, Saturday, director-general of health ...
Jim Kayes tests the waters of social media to see how people are coping with being told to avoid their favourite pastime.“There is something ridiculously exhilarating about catching a fish. The thrill might have faded for the salty angler, but for this rookie, the novice still snagging fish hooks ...
The Government yesterday reassured us there are plenty of masks for front line staff dealing with the public. Yet it seems home care workers, who provide up-close personal care for tens of thousands of people every day, won’t be given them. Yesterday two documents hit my inbox. One was a ...
Hobson’s Choice spokesman Don Brash (a former leader of the National and ACT Parties) is not alone in challenging the justification for tribes claiming to have closed roads to protect their people against Covid. Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters – his remarks apparently ignored by ...
Preliminary results from a survey investigating how well-equipped Māori whānau in the South Island are to stay at home for extended periods show that the majority are prepared to manage their short-term needs, but have increasing anxiety about ...
"The risk of fraud and corruption is compounded during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. When quick decisions are necessary to move vast amounts of resources, bribery, fraud and corruption abound," says Suzanne Snively, Chair of Transparency International ...
By RNZ Pacific Guam remains the Pacific pandemic hot spot with the number of Covid-19 coronavirus cases climbing above 50. On Friday six people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to 51. Thirteen of the cases are currently in hospital. READ MORE: Al Jazeera live updates – ...
By Mong Palatino Many Indonesian internet users have expressed anger over the decision of the House of Representatives (DPR) to test its 575 members for Covid-19. Indonesia has a population of more than 260 million. As of today, the country has 913 Covid-19 positive cases with 87 deaths. But ...
New Zealand has 78 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and five probable cases, the Government has announced today, taking the total to 451. Civil Defence Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black said 12 people are in hospital and two are in intensive care, including one on a ventilator. Twelve are in ...
New Zealand has 78 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and five probable cases, the Government has announced today, taking the total to 451. Civil Defence Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black said 12 people are in hospital and two are in intensive care, including one on a ventilator. Twelve are in ...
By Michelle Steven in Port MoresbyPacific New Guinea’s National Capital City Covid-19 Task Force team is preparing ahead should there be a possible coronavirus case during the 14-day lockdown. NCD Governor Powes Parkop told a media conference that the capital city would be in total lockdown with no public ...
Leading immigration lawyer Aaron Martin assesses the impact of the announcement of the epidemic notice for migrants. Immigration New Zealand announced that the government epidemic management notice relating to immigration matters comes into effect on 2 ...
Just a tiny handful of print publications will continue through the lockdown, with only daily newspapers specifically identified as being able to continue. Duncan Greive spoke to publishers of magazines and community newspapers about the impact on them and their communities.Publishers of magazines and community newspapers are reeling, after a ...
Just a tiny handful of print publications will continue through the lockdown, with only daily newspapers specifically identified as being able to continue. Duncan Greive spoke to publishers of magazines and community newspapers about the impact on them and their communities.Publishers of magazines and community newspapers are reeling, after a ...
Jacinda Ardern has pleaded with the Australian Prime Minister to make an exception to the rule that bars many of the 650,000 New Zealanders there from receiving a benefit. ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, political commentator and essayist Morgan Godfery.I’M TWEETING AT 2AM.The responsible part of my brain is sending sleep signals. Inconvenient yawns. The ...
Take a vicarious roadie via Attraction, the novel by Ruby Porter that was longlisted for the country’s biggest fiction prize. Released last year, it’s now a slightly eerie snapshot of Aotearoa as we were. Attraction is a New Zealand road trip novel with a heavy dose of postcolonial guilt. Whitewashing, cultural ...
Iwi everywhere put support plans into action, focusing on their kaumātua, writes Kayne Ngātokowhā Peters. Iwi are ramping up support services to assist their people in need following the closure of Ministry of Social Development offices and the move to online and phone assistance from Work and Income. Central North Island ...
It’s been 10 years since the release of Dane Rumble’s solo album The Experiment. Josie Adams looks back on why New Zealand fell so hard and fast.At The Experiment’s launch, a decade ago yesterday, Dane Rumble had only one wish: “I just want to write the best album that I ...
"She blindfolded each of the children with a scarf, saying, ‘There’s going to be a surprise!'": a horror story set at a children's birthday party, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. As soon as the last child arrived at Bevan’s ninth birthday party, the bashing began. Allan walloped Bevan with a ...
As New Zealand adjusts to our new normal, one thing from the old world remains – commercial breakfast radio. We tuned into the first morning of lockdown on the airwaves. In a time when the world seems completely upside-down, you can thankfully still count on commercial breakfast radio to be there ...
Dynamic Silver Ferns defender Jane Watson shares her heartrending and brave story in the final episode of the Pure As documentary series. The fading scar just below Jane Watson's left shoulder is the only clue to her until-now untold story, of the challenges that have tormented the netball world champion. The dynamic, tenacious ...
By now, everybody should know about staying in their bubble and leaving the house only for essential services and exercise, provided social distancing rules are followed. Does this mean people can still take the boat out, or go surfing? “Staying at home will save lives,” said Jacinda Ardern in a question ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here.New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Donald Trump and Boris Johnson's response to coronavirus has revealed some disturbing attitudes towards segments of the population As New Zealand enters a period of indeterminate lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we (and I mean us as a global population) have learned a lot about the importance of ...
As New Zealand entered national lockdown, The Spinoff commissioned social media polling company Stickybeak to measure the mood of the nation. Stickybeak co-founder David Brain reveals what the poll results show.As soon as the PM made her Monday afternoon announcement that the country was going to alert level three and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra All Australians arriving from overseas will be quarantined in hotels or other facilities under strict supervision for a fortnight, under the latest crackdown in the battle against the coronavirus. Announcing the measure after Friday’s meeting ...
By RNZ News As the number of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic cases in New Zealand increases, daily demand for protective clothing for medical workers has come under pressure. On the second day of the country’s lockdown, the number of New Zealand’s Covid-19 cases has jumped by 85, with a man ...
Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr and Bernard Hickey 'Zoom' out to talk about the once-in-a-lifetime shock to the global economy this week and what it means for businesses and investors. Just as many other businesses are adjusting to the lockdown, so too are Kiwibank and Newsroom. Chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon MacKay, Lecturer, Business Analytics, University of Auckland New Zealand and much of the world is now under an unprecedented lockdown. Public health experts say this is the best way to suppress the spread of the virus. But how long will such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allen Cheng, Professor in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Monash University According to Google Trends, the top globally trending topic this week is “orthohantavirus”, as spurious sites claim it’s the next pandemic on the horizon. Take it from me: it’s not. This baseless claim ...
As soon as the Prime Minister announced that the country had moved to a Level Three alert and would then move to a full Level Four lockdown, the only thing on most people's minds in downtown Wellington was how to prepare for living and working from home for at least ...
Two Cents' Worth hosts Bernard Hickey, Nikki Mandow and Gyles Beckford reflect on the most turbulent week in New Zealand’s economic history. They look at two new tools for business and online working advice that were built over a weekend to help deal with the Covid-19 crisis. They also talk ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erica Mealy, Lecturer in Computer Science, University of the Sunshine Coast These past few weeks have shown the brittleness of Australia’s online systems. It’s not surprising the federal government’s traditionally slow-moving IT systems are buckling under the pressure. On Sunday, the federal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arindam Basu, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University of Canterbury The number of New Zealanders testing positive for COVID-19 will continue to rise despite the strict conditions of the four-week lockdown that began this week. As of today, there are 368 ...
Advocates say they’re drowning in complaints of exploitation brought on by the lockdown, Dileepa Fonseka reports Migrant associations and unions have been swamped with allegations that some employers have abused the Government’s wage subsidy scheme or skirted their obligations. Indian Workers Association spokesman Mandeep Bela said he had been “flooded” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona MacDonald, Senior Research Fellow, Victoria University For children, school is about more than just learning. This is even more the case for children living in disadvantage as many schools also provide vital food and a welcoming environment. As the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Leaders of the world’s largest economies came together at a virtual G20 this week to “do whatever it takes to overcome the coronavirus pandemic”. But the reality is that global capacity to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Sonnemann, Fellow, Grattan Institute Australian schools and teachers are preparing to shift classes online – some independent schools already have. Remote learning is likely to be the norm in the second term and possibly longer. Even if done well, there are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dilan Thampapillai, Senior Lecturer, ANU College of Law, Australian National University The coronavirus and its attendant emergency measures are set to deliver a profound shock to the residential tenancy market. How it will work out is anybody’s guess, but it is looking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, NHMRC early career fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity In three short months, more than half a million cases of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, have been reported worldwide. The US now has the highest number of COVID-19 ...
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist A 43-year-old woman has reportedly died due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in Indonesian-administered West Papua province. It is the first recorded death from Covid-19 in the Papua region, and adds to fears that a looming surge in cases could overwhelm the health ...
By JC Gotinga in Manila Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff General Felimon Santos Jr has tested positive for the Covid-19 novel coronavirus. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana shared the information today with reporters covering defence issues. General Santos said yesterday that he was on home quarantine after coming ...
The Fold podcast returns for March into a media world transformed by the impact of Covid-19. Host Duncan Greive records a monopod to assess its impact.In last month’s edition of this podcast, The Spinoff editor Toby Manhire and I discussed RNZ’s Concert debacle. At the time, it was the biggest ...
As New Zealand faces the most brutal recession in living memory, the battle to preserve the core of the economy deepens. Companies are cancelling dividends to protect what cash they have, others are reaching for financial aid from their banks or the government. Yet for some businesses, notably the big ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentPublic health strategy Henry Cooke (Stuff): New model shows coronavirus could kill 80,000 Kiwis without lockdown Kate Newton (RNZ): Modelling shows ...
Shoppers are ignoring physical distancing rules, while rule-flouters face jail time in Sāmoa and the Cook Islands, writes Teuila Fuatai. Scenes from one of Fiji’s best-known fresh produce markets illustrate the difficulties of clamping down on Covid-19. Footage captured at the Sigatoka markets on Viti Levu on Thursday March 26 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminology, Bond University As coronavirus continues to affect all aspects of life, law enforcement agencies are playing a more pivotal role in enforcing new health and social regulations while ensuring society continues to function in a civil ...
This week in politics: Parliament authorises 'the biggest blank cheque in the history of the country', as the massive economic cost of Covid-19 starts to emerge. ...
Open Mike 26/03/2017 
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...1 hour ago
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...16 hours ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...22 hours ago
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...1 day ago
1 day ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...2 days ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...2 days ago
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...2 days ago
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...2 days ago
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...2 days ago
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...3 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...4 days ago
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives. Our lives. We'll do it together, in households, in isolation ...4 days ago
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”So writes the author of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament that’s counted as a ‘wisdom’ book and written as if by an unnamed king of Jerusalem. But who would have thought there would be a time ...4 days ago
According to Newshub, Simon Bridges is open to joining a “grand coalition” with Labour as we hunker down to go into a month long lockdown. The idea is sound. Before now, the role of the opposition was to scrutinise and oppose. In the context of what almost amounts to a ...6 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or ...6 days ago
A few days ago I was starting to write something about the pandemic, which now seems unconscionable. It took the form of a letter to an agony aunt:“Dear Deidre, I have an ugly confession. I am quite excited by Covid-19.”This is how the piece went:“I’m not a psychopath, honest. Although the ...6 days ago
I am a pundit, somebody who opines and comments on the news. There are no real qualifications to punditry though having a rudimentary way with words and good general knowledge helps. That is one reason there is a constant oversupply of would-be pundits and why it is quite hard to ...7 days ago
The coronavirus pandemic has of course had a major impact on individual lives and on societies as a whole. But, long after the crisis has passed (assuming it does), we will begin to realise that its real and lasting significance lies in the lessons it has taught us, if only ...1 week ago
COVID-19 has plunged Aotearoa New Zealand (indeed, the world) into territory that, while maybe not totally unprecedented, certainly hasn’t been seen during the lifetimes of most of us here today. Our borders are closed to non-citizens, we’re being told not to gather in groups of more than 500 outside/100 inside, ...1 week ago
by Jan Rivers The article has been corrected to show that it was Ewen MacAskill, former Guardian journalist and not Luke Harding who travelled to meet Edward Snowden with journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras. Some of the Guardian’s well-known journalists who did not sign the protest letter are ...1 week ago
Looking across the various arguments for/against the leading candidates to take the Democratic Nomination, you might honestly be very hard pressed to tell. There are a number of things that have now started happening since Amy Klobuchar and “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg both threw the towel in and immediately (and ...1 week ago
Some fave speeches: ...1 week ago
Many who advocated for, and voted for, the current Coalition – particularly those who voted Labour and the Green Party – expected to see a sea change in the reality of social services. A real, deep change of attitude, approach of process through which the system negotiates the difficult and ...2 weeks ago
In a world and a time when the worst off and most vulnerable have been asked, time and again, to foot the bill for the complete subjugating to the will of the 1% thanks to the GFC, at a point where the world as a whole is now seeing quite ...2 weeks ago
With the economy already reeling from a crisis that’s barely begun, the Government today sought to provide reassurance to workers and businesses in the form of a massive phallic pun to insert much-needed cash into the private sector and help fight the looming pandemic. Here are the key components: $5.1 ...2 weeks ago
I am a member of the working poor and so still need state welfare to make rent. So I had booked an appointment for yesterday with my caseworker at Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) to apply for a transition to work grant. However the current health advice in New ...2 weeks ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...23 hours ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...4 days ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...5 days ago
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...23 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia has risen by four to 34. The update from the government said the hospitalisation rate is unchanged with one person in care. Last night a curfew was declared for the first time, forcing residents across ...46 mins ago
It’s a town where people often feel the rest of the country has given up on them, in the middle of a region where every place feels isolated. So how did Ohura become an unlikely centre of Medieval Combat sports in New Zealand? Alex Braae spent three days there finding ...2 hours ago
If you want to understand some of the thinking behind the policy response to the spread of coronavirus, you might want to read the paper from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, which is credited with accelerating the introduction of the current lockdown measures in the UK. The paper builds ...2 hours ago
The Māori Party is delaying the launch of its new-look party to fight Covid-19 in Māori communities. ...2 hours ago
Westpac is forecasting 200,000 jobs will be lost in NZ as a result of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Chief economist Dominick Stephens estimates economic activity during the four week lock-down would decline by a third, despite the government and the Reserve Bank having “done a lot to calm ...3 hours ago
Author and illustrator Sarah Laing draws a rite of passage in The Lockdown. Reprinted with the permission of the author from Let Me Be Frank, Sarah Laing's blog devoted to "Reading. Writing. Parenting. Angsting." Let Me Be Frank is also the ...6 hours ago
Convincing its citizens to take lockdown seriously will be a major challenge for Fiji’s government, writes Mandy De Vries. My husband, Howie, and I are lucky enough to live on the beautiful Coral Coast in Fiji. We started a tourism operation here two years ago which was, until recently, booming. ...7 hours ago
New Zealand’s businesses and government are far better prepared for the rapidly escalating global health and economic crisis than they were for the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09 or the stock market crash in 1987, says Rob Campbell, one of the country’s most experienced corporate leaders. “Executive teams and boards ...7 hours ago
Journalism commentator and former editor Gavin Ellis says media organisations play a vital role in keeping the community informed and, if possible, safe. They also have a crucial part to play in the maintenance of public order and morale, just as they did in the 1940s. With the country in ...7 hours ago
The country has millions of protective gowns, gloves and eyewear – midwives ask: Where are they? David Williams reports Two days into a national lockdown some midwives didn’t have any protective equipment, adding to concerns about safeguards for frontline health workers. On Friday, announcements were made by the Health Ministry ...7 hours ago
Covid-19 lockdown provides valuable time for planning a new business, as Dr Mary-Ellen Gordon explains You have a great idea for a business. You’ve been working to get it up and going. Then, just as you were starting to gain traction, the entire country and much of the rest of ...8 hours ago
Low-income workers whose jobs have disappeared thanks to Covid-19 will increasingly need to access benefit income. When this happens, however, they lose a tax credit for their children. As a direct result of the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has improved its rescue policies for business. We now need to see urgent ...8 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. There were 83 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, down from the previous day's 85 new cases. Details of how many tests have been completed are now bing released ...15 hours ago
Jim Kayes tests the waters of social media to see how people are coping with being told to avoid their favourite pastime. “There is something ridiculously exhilarating about catching a fish. The thrill might have faded for the salty angler, but for this rookie, the novice still snagging fish hooks ...21 hours ago
The Government yesterday reassured us there are plenty of masks for front line staff dealing with the public. Yet it seems home care workers, who provide up-close personal care for tens of thousands of people every day, won’t be given them. Yesterday two documents hit my inbox. One was a ...21 hours ago
Hobson’s Choice spokesman Don Brash (a former leader of the National and ACT Parties) is not alone in challenging the justification for tribes claiming to have closed roads to protect their people against Covid. Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters – his remarks apparently ignored by ...21 hours ago
Preliminary results from a survey investigating how well-equipped Māori whānau in the South Island are to stay at home for extended periods show that the majority are prepared to manage their short-term needs, but have increasing anxiety about ...23 hours ago
New Zealand has 78 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and five probable cases, the Government has announced today, taking the total to 451. Civil Defence Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black said 12 people are in hospital and two are in intensive care, including one on a ventilator. Twelve are in ...1 day ago
Iwi everywhere put support plans into action, focusing on their kaumātua, writes Kayne Ngātokowhā Peters. Iwi are ramping up support services to assist their people in need following the closure of Ministry of Social Development offices and the move to online and phone assistance from Work and Income. Central North Island ...1 day ago
"She blindfolded each of the children with a scarf, saying, ‘There’s going to be a surprise!'": a horror story set at a children's birthday party, by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. As soon as the last child arrived at Bevan’s ninth birthday party, the bashing began. Allan walloped Bevan with a ...1 day ago
Dynamic Silver Ferns defender Jane Watson shares her heartrending and brave story in the final episode of the Pure As documentary series. The fading scar just below Jane Watson's left shoulder is the only clue to her until-now untold story, of the challenges that have tormented the netball world champion. The dynamic, tenacious ...1 day ago
Donald Trump and Boris Johnson's response to coronavirus has revealed some disturbing attitudes towards segments of the population As New Zealand enters a period of indeterminate lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we (and I mean us as a global population) have learned a lot about the importance of ...1 day ago
Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr and Bernard Hickey 'Zoom' out to talk about the once-in-a-lifetime shock to the global economy this week and what it means for businesses and investors. Just as many other businesses are adjusting to the lockdown, so too are Kiwibank and Newsroom. Chief ...2 days ago
As soon as the Prime Minister announced that the country had moved to a Level Three alert and would then move to a full Level Four lockdown, the only thing on most people's minds in downtown Wellington was how to prepare for living and working from home for at least ...2 days ago
Two Cents' Worth hosts Bernard Hickey, Nikki Mandow and Gyles Beckford reflect on the most turbulent week in New Zealand’s economic history. They look at two new tools for business and online working advice that were built over a weekend to help deal with the Covid-19 crisis. They also talk ...2 days ago
Advocates say they’re drowning in complaints of exploitation brought on by the lockdown, Dileepa Fonseka reports Migrant associations and unions have been swamped with allegations that some employers have abused the Government’s wage subsidy scheme or skirted their obligations. Indian Workers Association spokesman Mandeep Bela said he had been “flooded” ...2 days ago
Shoppers are ignoring physical distancing rules, while rule-flouters face jail time in Sāmoa and the Cook Islands, writes Teuila Fuatai. Scenes from one of Fiji’s best-known fresh produce markets illustrate the difficulties of clamping down on Covid-19. Footage captured at the Sigatoka markets on Viti Levu on Thursday March 26 ...2 days ago
America is – there’s no other way of saying this – fucked! But . . . but . . . but you’ve gotta laugh!
Two short clips to set up your Sunday morning:
The first, from Bill Maher, was posted last night by Bruce, but with terrible sound sync. Donald Trump the con man. I particularly like: ‘At least with a used-car salesman, you get a car . . .”
And John Oliver on the Federal Budget. What a way to run a country!
https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight
Enjoy – but wring your hands too!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-24/canada-passes-blasphemy-bill-silence-critics-islam
A number of Conservatives running for the the party’s leadership have been outspoken about the problems they see in M-103.
Brad Trost said he could not support the motion because it “will only serve to strengthen extremist elements within the Muslim community itself that seek to preserve and promote their own form of hate and intolerance.” He added that any “serious plan to combat religious discrimination in Canada should include all faith groups, including Christians and Jews.”
Pierre Lemieux said that Canadians should be wary of the language in the motion.
“Do you have a valid concern about Islam? Do you disagree with Sharia Law? Uneasy about radical Islamic terrorism? The Liberals may very well classify you as Islamophobic,” he wrote in an email to supporters.
Lemieux, who called on supporters to pressure MPs to force a recorded vote on M-103, called it a “great day for accountability and for freedom of speech in Canada” when almost two dozen MPs stood up on Tuesday to demand such accountability.
Leadership contender Andrew Scheer also added his voice of opposition to the motion shortly before the vote, saying that it “could be interpreted as a step towards stifling free speech and legitimate criticism” of Islam.
“M-103 is not inclusive. It singles out just one faith. I believe that all religions deserve the same level of respect and protection,” he wrote in an email to supporters.
“I will be voting against it because I believe in Freedom of Speech,” he wrote.
Seems like it’s one of those feel-good “the House opposes bad things” statements rather than oppressive new legislation: http://globalnews.ca/news/3256675/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-anti-islamophobia-motion-making-waves-in-ottawa/.
Of course, something calling itself the “Liberal Party” should have been opposed to this in principle, and the idea of a “Muslim Liberal MP” is just ridiculous.
“…and the idea of a “Muslim Liberal MP” is just ridiculous.”
Why? Why could there not be liberally minded people who believe in Islam? In a religious sense, there can’t. But I am sure there are millions of Muslims around the world who, while agreeing with the basic tenets of Islam, differ on how the traditions and teachings should be applied to the practicalities of dealing with everyday life. Some more progressively than others. That has certainly appeared the to be the case for most of the Muslim people I have met and know.
Why could there not be liberally minded people who believe in Islam?
Because a liberal would recognise an ideology that consists of a bunch of arbitrary commands (“Put your arse in the air five times a day and make obeisance!” “Give to charity!” “Visit the town where Mohammad and his relatives have their business interests!” “Starve yourself at these appointed times!” “Don’t eat pork!” It’s a long list) and that proscribes freedom of expression (see punishment demanded for blasphemy) and freedom of conscience (punishment demanded for apostasy) is fundamentally, irredeemably illiberal.
There certainly are people who call themselves Muslim and liberal, but the two are incompatible – one way or another they’re fooling themselves, whether it’s in believing themselves liberals or believing themselves Muslims. Judging by this motion, Iqra Khalid falls into the first category.
Just like liberalism and Christianity, in other words.
Christianity’s also problematic for liberalism in that it’s predicated on God having authority over you and your body, but that difficulty’s at a fairly abstract level: the kind of prescriptions and proscriptions that make Islam fundamentally illiberal are at a practical and directly-experienced level.
Quite true, Milt. The problem we have, however, is that some of the most destructive and violent ideologues on the planet, including the likes of Tony Blair, George W. Bush, and of course one Donald J. Trump, regularly invoke the Christian scriptures to justify their violence. The results of their actions—just look at Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia—are anything but “fairly abstract.”
Well, first up that’s irrelevant what-aboutery. But, accepting your invitation to go off on a tangent: do you have some evidence for Blair, Bush and Trump’s military activities being based on religious ideology rather than ordinary old great power politics?
Blair and Bush were infamous for their sanctimonious invoking of religion to bolster their aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump claims the Bible is his favorite book. Like you, I see their religious posturing as mere cant, but that doesn’t change the fact that they, and other dangerous fanatics like Paul Ryan, continue to invoke Christianity as they go about their business.
I’m interested to see that you choose to claim that my calling you out for your hypocritical singling out of Muslim fanaticism is going “off on a tangent”. I would have thought that, to any reasonable person, pointing out a blinkered determination to excoriate only the crimes of Muslims, while ignoring the (far more destructive and widespread) crimes of Christians, was dealing with the heart of the issue, not tangential to it.
hi morrissey. just wanted to say me and my very close friend carol love your posts esp the satirical ones!
~ tui
Thanks for your kind words, Tui. Perhaps you and carol might like to pop round to Chez Breen for a glass of Pimms one of these days.
…they, and other dangerous fanatics like Paul Ryan, continue to invoke Christianity as they go about their business.
Yes, but you’re missing the bit where you explain how politicians invoking religion in support of their activities reflects anything useful about the characteristics of the religion in question.
… my calling you out for your hypocritical singling out of Muslim fanaticism…
I realise that’s the fantasy you’ve got going on in your head, but it bears no resemblance to my comment at 2.1 or the ones following. My claim was that liberalism and Islam are incompatible – do you have any comment about that other than pointless what-aboutery? I must admit I’d find it unusual if you did.
My claim was that liberalism and Islam are incompatible
The paradox is well known.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
To Psycho Milt: Do you paint your pictures with a broad or fine brush?
I don’t paint. I am, however, reasonably good at argument – do you have one of those?
In your zeal to ridicule Muslims you claim that they are all required to obey the following command:
Yes, yes, yes, I know that you were simply trying to be funny, but that sort of thing makes you look like hatemongers such as Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Leighton Smith, rather than someone who is “reasonably good at argument.”
I, in turn, have opinions on what your comments make you look like, but personal opinion doesn’t carry a lot of weight outside the opinionator’s own head.
I, in turn, have opinions on what your comments make you look like….
Please share them with us. I’m sure they’re “rather good.”
Look at Johan’s question more carefully.. I see a metaphorical argument in it that you have deliberately ducked, PM.
I prefer arguments more explicitly stated. That one seems to be saying that a blanket declaration that Muslims can’t be liberals fails to take individual circumstances and philosophies into account, but that’s an assumption on my part. Arguments that leave you guessing at the meaning are not very good arguments.
One of the core concepts of Christianity, and many other religions for that matter, is free will.
lol
They thought occurs that you share your definition of “true Muslim” with groups such as ISIL, and nobody else on the planet.
A bit like the Brethren definition of “true Christian”. Most would disagree.
So stupid is it not. Like a lot of other people, I was raised Christian. It was pretty obvious that the number of “Christians” in town bore no relationship to the number for whom being a Christian meant anything other than ticking a box on the census form and having somewhere to hold weddings and funerals. Along the same lines, 1940s Germany was full of fascists and 1920s – 1980s Russia was full of communists, but for quite a few of them it didn’t matter what was actually involved in being a communist or fascist. I’m talking about the people for whom the prescriptions and proscriptions of Islam actually count for something – it’s a much smaller number than 1.6 billion, just like the number of Christians in New Zealand when I was growing up was much smaller than 3 million.
You forget the billions of christians, muslims, and even communists who actually regularly read their respective books, agree in general with the contents, and try to follow the general gist of the entire text rather than elevating a few passages above others with extreme literalist interpretations.
So, you read a comment in which I point out that dilettantes aren’t really relevant to a discussion about the thing they’re idly dabbling in, and tell me I’m forgetting about all the dilettantes? The Muslim world is packed full of people who call themselves Muslim but pay little attention to what that actually means – it’s human nature, and also a natural consequence of making apostasy a terrible crime worthy of draconic punishments. Those people can perhaps be liberals, but only by ignoring what their religion is actually about – and we can tell from her sponsorship of this motion that Iqra Khalid is not one of those people.
The trouble is that the people you and ISIL call “dilettantes”, pretty much the rest of the planet call “Muslims”.
Well, if most of the billion and a half people who call themselves Muslims thought the five pillars of Islam were suggestions only and the fact that God prescribed punishments for blasphemy and apostasy were a “general gist” sort of thing that no-one actually needed to pay attention to, from my perspective that would be totally fucking awesome, but unfortunately it bears no correspondence to reality.
Oh, I expect the proportion is probably pretty similar to the number of christians who think people should be stoned for various pointless but prescribed reasons.
If you’re imagining that the proportion of Muslims who reject fundamental tenets of Islam is similar to the proportion of Christians who imagine Jesus wanted them to stone people to death, you don’t have a very good grasp of what a religion is.
I’m not sure I have any grasp on how you, specifically, use nouns when it comes to belief systems.
You’re peddling a thesis that Da’esh are the only Muslims who believe in the five pillars of Islam, punishments for blasphemy and apostasy, and the many other prescriptions and proscriptions of Islam. OK, that was probably hyperbole and your thesis is just that few Muslims actually believe it. Don’t be surprised that I don’t take your thesis very seriously, because it’s ridiculous.
It takes a very special kind of believer to believe in the literal truth of every single part of their hallowed documents, especially the bits that are contradictory or demonstrably inconsistent with the historical record.
Most believers can follow, say, the ten commandments and believe they came from god without believing that anyone who eats shrimp should be stoned to death for offending god, let alone insisting upon it and volunteering to do so.
You might argue “no true scotsman” would ever forget the words to “To a Mouse”, but the rest of the planet doesn’t really seem to have the same exceptionally narrow definition as you.
“No true Scotsman” my arse. Either there’s a definition of Muslim, or it’s a meaningless term and people should stop using it. And there isn’t any useful definition of “Muslim” that’s also compatible with any useful definition of “liberal.” Not unless we’ve reached the “a woman is someone who identifies as a woman” level of semantic idiocy, at least.
Anyway – like I said, it’s easy enough for a person who disbelieves the fundamental tenets of the Muslim faith to be a liberal. No argument there.
But your definition isn’t at all useful, as it’s made redundant by pre-existing terms for religious or specifically Islamic extremists.
Whereas you leave no term to describe the majority of the billion or so folks everyone but you (and ISIL) calls “Muslim”. Or “Christian”, for that matter.
At least the commenters here using “liberal” differently (economic vs social vs all permutations) are roughly even in number, but you seem to be the only one following a hardline definition.
When it comes to the crunch, language is about communication. If you insist on using nouns differently to the majority of people, there’s not much point to your contribution because your act of communicating can only lead to misunderstanding.
If you’re operating a definition of “Muslim” that doesn’t involve belief in the fundamental tenets of Islam, it’s you that’s using a noun differently from everyone else.
And when it comes to something calling itself “The Liberal Party,” it’s reasonable to assume they mean it the same way Wikipedia does.
If you’re operating a definition of “Muslim” that doesn’t involve belief in the fundamental tenets of Islam, it’s you that’s using a noun differently from everyone else.
Some tenets? All? Which bits are “fundamental tenets”? How deeply do you have to believe them? How literally do you have to believe them?
I’m using “Muslim” in the same way that wikipedia does when it says there are 1.6 billion of them whereas there are only a million or so members of ISIL/AQ/Al shabab etc. I guess everyone else wikipedia refers to is not a true Muslim because they’re not running around killing infidels and apostates.
The fundamental tenets are the five pillars of Islam, which you can look up for yourself. The absolute minimum is the shahadah, but that’s the basis for the lack of religious freedom in the Muslim world, so even the bare minimum effectively rules out liberalism.
As to the false dichotomy strawman you’re putting up (my argument supposedly based on anyone outside Da’esh et al not being a “real” Muslim), fuck knows how you came up with it but please stop.
So anyone who does faith, prayer, charity, fasting and gets around to the pilgrimage, you count as a “real” muslim?
Why does someone being monotheistic rule out “liberalism”?
Well, maybe there’s a version of liberalism which is compatible with believing that all humanity has been issued with a serious of arbitrary and irrational but nevertheless compulsory commands by a supreme and unquestionable supernatural authority and that these are the final commands ever to be issued by that authority, but I’m not familiar with that version – does it ring any bells for you?
Yeah, classical liberalism will do.
Religion is what you believe. Liberalism is whether you think you can force your religion on everyone else. Which is why 99.99% of followers of all Abrahamic religions over much of the world don’t immediately run out and stone every fornicator they see. Sure, they believe their magic books, but they choose to not be a dick about it.
Liberalism and religion are both philosophy. Some philosophies are incompatible with others, depending upon their content. Whether individuals want to be dicks about something or not is irrelevant to that. Individuals are only relevant to the extent that an individual claiming to follow two incompatible philosophies is probably a bit confused about one or both.
lol
So you’re right about how you define whether a person is an adherent of a particular religion, it’s just that few billion Christians and Muslims are “a bit confused” about what they claim to believe?
It doesn’t matter what a person believes or doesn’t believe, or who I might or might not define as a member of a particular religion. Those things remain irrelevant no matter how often you repeat them. What matters in this case is whether two particular philosophies are compatible or incompatible, and the one with a long list of illiberal features is not compatible with liberalism.
Yes, that’s what you keep saying.
It’s just at odds with the way much of the planet seems to view those terms and actually practise their monotheism.
What? As witnessed by those bastions of liberalism, the Muslim countries of the world? We have an ideology that’s composed almost entirely of illiberal features (from the name “Submit” down through the list of prescriptions and proscriptions that are its only substance) and that has proved fundamentally illiberal everywhere its followers form a majority of the population. I find that pretty persuasive evidence that it’s not compatible with liberalism. For evidence to the contrary, you have… I’m not sure what. You know some Muslims and they’re OK blokes?
Given that many of those countries are in a continent that has Christian countries that are about as permissive as their Islamic neighbours, and given the liberalism of Russia or some areas of the US, I tend to wonder whether one religion is worse than another, or simply that regional culture has more to do with whether someone feels compelled to be a dick about it.
Especially when almost everyone seems to change their tunes and stop stoning folks when they get to more liberal regions, sometimes within the same damned country.
Do you consider National MPs liberals?
For the most part. “Liberal” doesn’t imply “left-wing” – there are plenty of liberals with very unpleasant politics, David Farrar probably being the most-familiar one to Standard readers.
O.k. let me be more specific: do you consider Tim Groser a liberal?
he is both an apostate and fundamentalist ie the duality being both a Moslem and a believer in the church of the hidden hand.
I presume he is – politically, he comes across as one. I see where you’re going with this, but see my comment 2.1.1.1 above:
“There certainly are people who call themselves Muslim and liberal, but the two are incompatible – one way or another they’re fooling themselves, whether it’s in believing themselves liberals or believing themselves Muslims. Judging by this motion, Iqra Khalid falls into the first category.”
Groser might well be a third category: liberals who declared themselves Muslim so they could marry a Muslim, but don’t actually believe the bullshit they signed up to. From what I remember, Groser isn’t married to a Muslim any more, but he’s probably aware by now that it’s a cult not easily backed out of once you’re in – we non-Muslims wouldn’t give a shit if he committed apostasy, but at best it would seriously inconvenience his future dealings with Muslims. At worst he could be charged with an offence if he visited Indonesia or other Muslim countries. Much easier to just let it slide.
I will let it slide mainly because of your comment that you repeated twice:
To me this comes across as extremely judgemental and patronising or just plain ignorant of how others might reconcile concepts and beliefs that you find obviously irreconcilable and you thus deny offhand. To use and paraphrase a part-quote by John Searle in this context:
You’re entitled to whatever opinion of it you want to have. But it’s arguments that count – if you have some actual argument for how the tenets of Islam are compatible with liberalism, feel free to present them.
Very socially upwardly mobile and a follower of US Corporate policy and indoctrination, Key, English and Groser are disciples of Corporate America and the US Bankers. Loyal to the IMF and the Federal Reserve.
Why have the Jews been left out of this comparison of Monotheists?
In my view they are all as guilty, bigoted and delusionary as each other.
Correct!
Not to a tribesmen, however
Why have the Jews been left out of this comparison of Monotheists?
In my case, because the comment was about a supposedly Liberal Muslim MP. Only Morrissey can tell you why he dragged another religion into it, and why that particular one.
In my view they are all as guilty, bigoted and delusionary as each other.
And you’re fully entitled to that view. Is there a reason other people should care? Your opinion matters only to you. Only what you can argue persuasively should matter to other people.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency
He’s been busy.
So who funds this endeavor? Who pays for a team of young men to travel the country in a tour bus? The answer resides in the organization behind the tour. Glittering Steel, LLC is a small production company located at the same address in Beverly Hills as Breitbart News and a number of other companies owned and supported by Trump-supporting Hedge funder Robert Mercer.
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/24/mercer-milo-tour/
From Granny…. The lawyers who manage the process get more in fees than the victims… but thats just efficient capitalism under National I guess…
“The Ministry of Social Development spent more than a million dollars paying private lawyers to fight claims of abuse at a state-funded bootcamp on Great Barrier Island before finally settling with victims for $340,000.
Settlement with four claimants to proceedings, the last of which came in February, followed a 12-year battle in the courts which also saw the Ministry stuck with costs due to Legal Aid of $369,000.
Labour Party deputy leader Jacinda Ardern called the expense and delays extraordinary and questioned whether it was a just or wise use of taxpayer money.
“No one is going to look at a case like this – with extraordinary amounts spent on legal costs and small outcomes for victims – and think this is a good process,” she said.
Ardern said figures provided to her office showed $6.5m had been spent in total by MSD on external legal counsel fighting a handful of historic abuse cases over the past decade, with only one getting to trial.”
Yep, it’s shocking alright.
Abuse victims deserve that money (I mean the amount paid to the lawyers, not the trickle of piddle they are currently awarded). They suffer through the abuse, and then suffer again through the legal process which is super highly skewed towards the state / the abuser.
Worst abuse of all is that because many are considered “already damaged” the payout only reflects the additional damage. The reality is that abuse in this type of situation reinforces exsisting issues and makes further recovery almost impossible.
Taken to it’s extreme someone in a vegetative state, gang raped in care would be ineligible for any payout, because how can you prove that any damage occurred?
Abuse in care is the ultimate dehumaniser.
John Pilger being interviewed by Wallace Chapman right now!
RNZ National, Sunday 26 March 2017, 10.17 a.m.
As I suspected would happen, the callow Chapman has already been corrected twice by Pilger after making foolish and ill considered comments. But it’s still worth a listen…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
Wallace speaks to award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger about his latest film, The Coming War On China, which examines the increasing focus of the United States on the Asia-Pacific region.
David Hutt shows in this article how Pilger consistently glosses over China’s past crimes while dwelling on America’s.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/12/the-trouble-with-john-pilgers-the-coming-war-on-china/
You’ve chosen, for whatever reason, to cite something which is nothing more than a dishonest and ideologically driven attack on Pilger. It’s slightly more elevated in style, but not essentially different to the dyspeptic anti-Hager ranting we’ve heard from the likes of Mark Richardson, Leighton Smith and Mike Hosking over the last few days.
His sleazy insinuation that Pilger’s journalism is comparable to the methods of Goebbels is enough to instantly discredit him, but perhaps the best way of assessing the moral and intellectual credentials of David Hutt is to savour the casual indifference and brutality of the following….
You need to read more, and read thoroughly, Red Hand. And you need to read with discrimination.
Reading with discrimination to me means reading writers with different points of view. The Pilger interview shows his anti US bias. I chose the article because it exposes this.
You clearly chose that article because it attacked Pilger. He is not “anti-US”, as you claim, but anti-imperialist.
I believe in reading writers with different points of view, but not in citing them as any kind of authority if they are as flagrantly biased and contemptuous of the facts as David Hutt.
… the casual indifference and brutality of the following…
Context is your friend, Morrissey. In this case, the context is that the 40 minutes Pilger spends dwelling on the crime in question is irrelevant to a documentary supposedly about a coming war against China. So, not “indifference and brutality,” just “rational argument.”
From Hutt’s description, Pilger’s lengthy segment on the USA’s crimes against the Marshall Islands is simply framing. You need to introduce the bad guy and show him doing something evil, so the audience knows who the bad guy is and satisfies itself that Bad Guy is indeed a Really Terrible Person. It’s part of movie-making, albeit not usually part of documentary movies – but then, we are talking about John Pilger here.
So Pilger’s detailed history of American crimes against humanity in the region are not relevant? He should just ignore it, or better simply not know about it in the first place, like such outstanding journalists as Mike Hosking and Duncan Garner?
You’re concerned that a full contextualising of the conflict in the South China Sea makes the United States look like the bad guy. Sadly, that’s also the result if you contextualise the conflicts in Central and South America, in Indonesia, in the Philippines, in much of Africa.
I understand your concern. Context is not your friend, Milt, that’s for sure.
I’m not “concerned” about Pilger framing great-power politics as good guys vs bad guys, but it is mildly annoying and some of the dimmer bulbs among his fans seem to lap it up, so it’s worth a mention.
“Dimmer bulbs among his fans.” Oh that’s clever. Ouch. You’re so deft.
No, really.
Meh. The people who fall for stuff like that won’t exactly be masters of critical thinking, will they?
Accept it PM – America are the baddies.
That’s twice you’ve said
“great power politics”..
You’re good at arguing….Congratulations
Dimmer bulbs indeed!
As a unforeseen consequence of (in particular) Auckland House prices, it has been noticed of quite a number of smaller spec builders are now being seen to be exiting the market and there are no new young replacement builders/tradies etc turning to the spec market.
Why ? To buy a section would cost $400k and then you have to manage and fund the process of the build. Banks are uncomfortable to fund such large loans in the vicinity of $1m. So we see less spec builders and the increase of “corporate/franchise” coys. active within the industry.
nothing unforeseen about this.
i went for a drive round Taupo the other day. The lake front is now Fast Food or Junk food alley. No beautiful old victorian buildings housing eateries and such, no Lonestar, Burgerfuel, KFC, McDo, Sierra Cafe etc etc.
The priciest real estate right by the lake front is essentially priced in such a matter that individual private businesses can’t afford the leases. And with this goes the fabled right of ‘choice’ and ‘free market’. But you can have crab food for $5 to go with your minimum wage.
And the Taupo council is happy for businesses to apply for Grants for up to 25000 a tick to locate their business to their fair town. Sadly so, this would not even cover a years worth of ground lease plus outgoings.
We are killing any and all business with these costs. Maybe we need to import some more cheap labour to make up for the lazy drug addled kiwis that are no good at business and work.
If it is anything like Auckland it seems to be a exploitation/immigration scam with food franchises… many of these places seem near empty of customers in Auckland and yet they are still paying exorbitant leases…. something doesn’t seem right.
It’s also driving others out of business. Place in Ponsonby, Auckland used to be a Baker’s Delight, been empty for nearly 2 years in a prime spot.
You have to wonder who owns it if they are willing to have it empty for nearly 2 years…
Someone was telling me they leased a place on Queen ST about 15 years ago, they paid $220,000 a year for the lease. Then you have to do the refit, then you have the rent increases… etc… etc… all is not well in NZ small businesses…
Apparently the Malls are very exploitative to the businesses.
As well as not being able to afford to buy our own houses under National.
We can’t afford to be tenants in our country.
And we can’t afford to run a business in our own country.
Michael Friedlander owns a lot of properties in and around Ponsonby – he’s been responsible for many businesses going to the wall, or at least leaving, as a result of exorbitant rents
Ponsonby in ten years will look like Downtown AKL. Friedlander is land banking and has been doing this systematically since at lest 20 years.
Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Symond Street, K-Road etc…..all will simply become part of down town with the appropriate shit architecture cause nothing says progress like crap Plattenbau.
A chocolatier in AKL from whom i worked many many years ago, could not believe that Queen Street charged at much lease as Rive Gauche in Paris.
Malls are ludicrous. From the fixed opening hours, to the lack of toilets for staff only and the total lack of lunchspaces to the crap air to the noise pollution to the fact that people hang in Malls but actually spend very very little.
In NZ however it pays to keep rents so high as to be un-affordable and simply claim a loss on your property. IF you could not write of the loss a landlord might be ‘incentivesed’ so as to drop the rent to something the ‘market’ could pay.
And we are already tenants in this fair country. Very little really still belongs to NZ. Water, Electricity and land is all flogged of at bargain prices – get rich now while you can.
To Herodotus: Are you telling us that the influx of dodgy money out of China has ended?
There have been some Property deals since Christmas that required offshore funding, to have failed due to the increased difficulty in being able to access the funds. With a few cases I am aware of where the contracted buyer vanished !! Perhaps they found out that they had paid too much, as if there was some appreciation in the property values all that would have happened was that it was on sold. Even if tax was paid better to pay that than incur a loss of the deposit.
Iraq suspends Mosul offensive after coalition airstrike atrocity.
One anticipates a flood of posts from the resident Assad/Putin apologists declaring that these fake western media propaganda outrage stories can’t be trusted, that the claims of civilian casualties are Da’esh propaganda, and we mustn’t let western governments’ support for jihadis interfere with this operation to liberate the people of Mosul…
Your sarcasm can’t cover up the fact that the United States and its vassal states (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom) have created and supported Da’esh, and are ultimately responsible for the carnage in the Middle East.
The people who design, manufacture and sell weapons are ultimately responsible.
No arms industry, no carnage.
You and others write about events as though they are due to the actions of states, avoiding the fact that they are due to the actions of people. People who design, manufacture, sell and buy weapons, recruit mainly men into military groups and train them to obey orders.
In the Pilger interview, he mentions an episode during the Cuba Missile Crisis in which a few people at the Kwajalein Base were moments from activating the launch of a nuclear armed missile. The US is an abstraction. Not a person with a code and means to activate it.
By personifying states the responsibility of individual human beings for events is avoided.
Your ignorance and naivete are breathtaking.
So you agree with what I wrote ?
Do you really think I envisage “the United States” as an abstraction? Really?
And do you think those thriving arms industries in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States would thrive if they were not massively supported by the governments of those states? Not those abstract governments that you’ve dreamed up, but real brutal regimes, run by nasty people like Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping.
The US is an abstraction, not a concrete reality. The ICC prosecutes individuals, not states.
Yes, governments support arms industries, but are not essential to their existence.
Labelling Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping as “nasty people” is unnecessary I think.
Yes, governments support arms industries, but are not essential to their existence.
Really? You think that (for example) cluster bombs would still have continued to be produced and exported if the United Kingdom, French, U.S., Russian and Israeli government had not supported their manufacture and use?
Labelling Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping as “nasty people” is so silly !
So how would YOU describe Trump or Netanyahu?
To Red Hand: “The US is an abstraction, not a concrete reality.” WTF?
I actually agree with most of what you write, apart from when you misconstrue my comments.
Please ignore that insult of mine at 7.1.1.1—I see you’re much smarter than that, and I withdraw and apologise.
Thanks, but no need to apologise. I did not intend to misconstrue your comments.
No, no, I insist! I was in the wrong, and on reflection, you didn’t misconstrue me; we simply disagreed.
Assad/Putin apologists declaring that these fake western media propaganda outrage stories can’t be trusted
Indeed the irrefutable evidence presented say by the NYT or the WP or the economist,routinely cited by progressives,suggest that one should never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7UNaooVAAAvQwV.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C667ZFHU8AAIqxI.jpg:large
Thanks for that, Poission. I suspect, however, that even if Psycho Milt bothers to click on those damning links you provide, it won’t dent his devotion to these sources on which he relies for the “arguments” at which he rates himself “reasonably good.”
Harrowing stuff..
Trafficked and enslaved: the teenagers tending UK cannabis farms
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/25/trafficked-enslaved-teenagers-tending-uk-cannabis-farms-vietnamese
it is truly time the world over to just build a legal frame work such as we have with alcohol and be done with the fake pious ‘but wont anyone think of the children’.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/90853933/after-denials-over-sas-raid-in-afghanistan-nzdf-admits-suspected-civilian-casualty
The NZDF and the Nat’s sounding like Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 is the 1960s comedy show……………..”what you believe………????”
I see the government is expected to make an announcement on an inquiry shortly.
A little feminist sic fi primer for the upcoming film The Handmaid’s Tale:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/25/dystopian-dreams-how-feminist-science-fiction-predicted-the-future
For those who can still imagine utopias, as well as dystopias.
there are very few around that would happily throw women under the bus in order to provoke change.
After all its only women, and they are not women.
A good read although I did miss a reference to one of the best-known Utopias/Dystopias: Amazonia/Feminye [sp?].
QFT
Which is one thing I really miss: a government that makes you look up to the horizon.
I miss it because in my lifetime I haven’t seen it. S’cuse me going all Ernst Bloch.
Utopia is a favourite theme/concept of mine; I have written about it here on TS and even once submitted a writing for a Guest Post Utopian Musings: Companionship, Community, Compassion, Passion but it never saw the light of day; it was probably too lengthy – it was long – and/or just not good/interesting enough.
Personally, I am influenced by Zygmunt Bauman. According to him we now live “inside a Utopia” rather than “towards a Utopia”.
It is no coincidence that Utopia or Utopian thinking keeps reoccurring here on TS and elsewhere; it is (more than) a stubborn meme.
TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh wait he’s white – it will be out of the news cycle in a day.
No wait, only coverage I’ve seen
Has the Sensible Sentencing Trust issued a statement supporting his actions yet?
LOL…though I shouldn’t
Really?.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/90795967/Army-veteran-aimed-to-make-statement-by-murdering-black-man
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11824225
Odd from head lines alone, seem like apologist crap to me. And not calling a spade a spade. Funny how white people have different rules.
Nice sinecure if you can get it
Cook 250 looks like the worst taxpayer rort since the Flag Consideration Project and/or Bill Douple Dipper English’s housing scam….
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1703/S00739/jenny-shipley-to-visit-whitianga-to-help-progress-cook-250.htm
i am so angry!!! this woman is a traitor!!!
http://www.oliviapierson.org/blog/rape-culture-carping
“The sex at least is mostly consensual, but an accusation of rape can follow from a girl who feels sexually used, or taken for granted, and who seeks to inflict some measure of vengeance (like in the case of Mattress Girl).”
women like pierson fuel rape culture!!! if a woman feels sexually used or taken for granted then as my close friend carol says she was raped!!!
~tui
Technically that isn’t the legal definition, but I get your point.
I see the blog in question links to WO – ‘nough said.
rwnj!
“If a woman feels taken for granted then she was raped”
wut?
@lprent
you probably know all this but interesting thing is I click on “replies” i get nothin BUT it i “open in new tab” they there, if that helps 🙂
George Webb (YouTube citizen journalist) deserves some kind of humanitarian award.
For a long time now he has been diligently sifting through Podesta (I think) emails via Wikileaks and uncovered the Clinton crime family maneuvers.
If you are new to George best to go back over the oldest YouTube’s you can find (he was subject to a YT take down a few months ago), probably the ones with the title “Where is Eric Braverman day__”. You need to do this in order to follow the more recent ones.
Think ratlines, drugs, mangos, children, organs, dodgy appointments with suspiciously high security clearance. Ugh.
quick, go self-investigate…
Defence Force, are unavailable for comment (stitching their story together),
Then they lose “the report”
but this, this takes the cake, news just in…
Keating said an ISAF investigation found that a gun sight malfunction on a helicopter resulted in several rounds falling short, missing the intended target and striking two buildings.
“This investigation concluded that this may have resulted in civilian casualties but no evidence of this was established.”
But, but.. dude didn’t you fellas lose the copy of the report/investigation? Lol
Brownlee has had a busy afternoon, catching up with English and Keating prior to this article coming out. Just because they say it didn’t happen, does not mean that it did not happen.
Was Wayne Mapp hallucinating?
A good journalist would be asking many questions by now.
The Defence Force will be in full damage mode. Nobody does “full damage mode” like the Defence Force. I spent 5 years as a civilian working on a Defence Force base in the late 80s and early 90s and it was an illuminating experience. Somebody found out I had been a supporter of the Labour’s Govt’s anti-nuclear legislation and I ended up under close watch night and day. Even my trips to and from my home to the base were monitored. Talk about excessive paranoia!
Congratulations National, you’ve selected a lazy, principle free idiot.
The National Party’s Whanganui electorate delegates have chosen Whanganui lawyer Harete Hipango to contest the September election.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11825896