I ask only that they go further and explain why we ought to tolerate sharia law. It will be helpful to cite usage of sharia by the Sultan of Brunei in support of their rationale.
DF is an idiot. He read one verse of the Quran (in the context of the terrorist manifesto) and decided it required changing. Then he began to tell us how the terrorist has a point, based on this verse and more from the killers mind Dennis was happy to quote.
Now let’s just get a few words of his post above and take a look
Sure. But this religious attack has already been deemed a racist attack by many. I think the horse has bolted.
… side track… religion pfftt … science is continually eating away at it, and has been for eons. Dolly the original cloned sheep should have raised alarm bells with the religious in the world…. yet like all extremists the religious* block, deny, re-define etc..
.. it would be good to be around in a few more hundreds of years to see where science and religion have got to… methinks science will continue to explain and define more and more of the unknown/religious as simply previously unexplained physical realities…
.. like science explained the sun as a burning thing and not a god
.. like science explained the spiritual/soul as a subset of the physical via dolly the sheep.
.. like science could well explain a ‘creation event’ in the future
.. like science could well explain that a ‘creator’ existed and still does – elsewhere in the universes, as a physical entity right now, made up of carbon and iron or some such
It is certainly unfortunate that this world contains many iterations of doctrine that condemn ‘others’ and even incite violence. The world also contains a majority of faithful who have adopted more peaceful memes from said doctrines.
Personally, I think (some of) the worlds religions are a two edged sword. On the one hand they provide community service where governments fail. They also add the all important human contact to such services. Many work tirelessly to help societies less fortunate and are commendable. Others use piousness and scripture to persecute their fellow man. Often churches have both groups present in the one fellowship.
In all of this, the crazy world, Trump, Brexit, terrorist extremism from both ends of the scale as well as famines, drought, fires, flooding, corruption, exploitation, random nutters, poverty and financial uncertainty, and of course global warming….
We desperately need leadership. Churches swell in the vacuum.
Look at the anti-vaxxers. That’s a faith that denies all scientific evidence. Look at the many conspiracy theorists (including those within the Muslim community who have publically claimed it was all a Jewish plot).
Not to mention neoliberalism. It’s a fucking cult – it’s neither explanatory nor are its ostensible benefits reproducible. But still we’re stuck with it because of the number of less acute pencil heads who’ve momentarily got their paws on the levers of power.
Science is not all things to all men. Faith in our fellow humans is gold. Those who have faith in a higher being often are calm in their certainty.
Mind you a certain Destiny fellow has shaken that!!
So foreign nation of choice wasn’t trying to disarm nz readying us to be invaded.
Geez can you imagine being a white supremacist and going to a gun meet right now, theyweren’t policing their own now everyone blames them for losing their toys.
Na they’re to fucking thick to blame the person /people who cost them there toys .
Its the gubimints fault .
Some of the memes floating around out there boogle the mind in their stupidity and it’s amazing how many gobble them up and shear them .
I wouldnt call them racist just fucking dumb .
I have pointed out the stupidity of memes to those dumb enough to shear them to my page . Hopefully it sunk in a little.
It’s the typical trash man being Mr Trash again. Jacinda or any one else can not walk around the APEC conference with there heads held high while Brunei is legally allowed to stone gays to death. It’s just a matter of time before homosexuality is completely normal in society so a hardline fundamentalist religious group will not gain a majority in any APEC or associated forum. You’re just complete trash.
Why it’s much easier measuring internal factors like hormones so when guys or even girls get into fight mode they’ll release a shot of adrenaline which is objective. But it’s more subjective to measure external factors like what some one might say because people lie all the time so it’s like untrustworthy and as I say, trash.
Wait a sec. So if hormones are irrelevant, I’ll have to question whether you are talking about a human or some sort of machine, perhaps an AI or something. There are plenty of studies that say that hormones play a huge part in why people fight. People pick up on pheromones all the time and want to duke it out. Hitler was one such guy who was disgusted by germs, Jew germs specifically which is much more measurable than saying every German is rascist, Y’know? I happen to like Germany, doesn’t make me a rascist.
Seriously, you are either taking too many drugs or not nearly enough drugs.
The thread is simply a semantic issue about whether the attacks could reasonably be described as “racist”, even if Islam is a religion that crosses ethnic boundaries.
My position is that a racist act doesn’t need to be against a single “race”, it can be for a single “race”, as well. Yes, hormones are irrelevant to that semantic discussion.
Yeah, I just don’t care about semantics or true believers or something as much as you do. All I care about is if some nut case gets so emotional it motivates the nut to do something criminal and preventing that. Other wise people are free to do what ever, say what ever. And I say that because of the Urewera raids, like one chance tip off about what some nastiness some one said cause so much preventable harm. And you are like trying to pin the same rhetoric on people, just this time white peoples and that’s just immoral by my objective standards, trash basically.
And you are like trying to pin the same rhetoric on people, just this time white peoples
Two points:
No, that’s not remotely close to what I actually wrote.
Secondly, if you’re not interested in a semantic discussion, don’t include yourself in a semantic discussion.
So do you agree that in this case that theracism wasn’t against a particular race, it was that the religion he picked in his mind “not white”. ? So do you agree because I don’t, I literally don’t care for semantics. I just don’t believe that too people should agree all the time just to have a debate so, what you have to say for yourself.
If you don’t care for a semantic debate, don’t include yourself in a semantic debate.
I don’t include myself in discussions about sport, because I don’t care for such discussions. I don’t care about Married at First Sight, so I don’t include myself in discussions about that.
As for whether a racist attack must be restricted to being against one ethnicity, or whether that description could also include an attack against every ethnicity except a particular one, that is a semantic discussion in which you have no interest.
So the question I asked you was do you agree that in this case that theracism wasn’t against a particular race, it was that the religion he picked was in his mind “not white”. ? Yes, or no?
As I originally said, yes, I suspect that might be the case for that particular fucker. An anti-semite hates Jews, but I suspect this guy hated everyone he didn’t regard as “white”. As in he is a “white supremacist”.
Yeah, and my premis was that by any “objective” standard, measuring how many times he says his race is purer is more measurable, now I’m not going to write a list of rascist rhetoric for every one to see because we need to be able to spot these guys but it is measurable. Or that they put up walls so thick that it makes it difficult for ideas to cross contaminate potential extremist ideology. I hope you’re following me so far because there’s not much value in semantics catching national security threats when there are fix targets that spooks can knock off.
Ok so a terrorist attack is kind of a random event. But if you’ve got the history you’ll be able to see that it’s not so random after all, it’s measurable and we can prevent this stuff through internal observations.
Well, that leads into another discussion about the validity of using past measurements to predict human behaviour, the holy grail of silicon vally, wall st, and the soviet central planning bureaucracy.
It doesn’t work, because the inputs required to substantially change the outputs are much smaller and more numerous than can ever be measured. So you come up with an “objective” metric (and objectivity in automated data collection and analysis is a whole other issue) and you find pretty quickly that it unfairly targets some groups while other rogue anusses plan their massacres in secret.
But that is all separate from the semantic “was it a racist attack” discussion you included yourself in.
Was in quotation marks as “immoral” was the one word. So what I’m saying is your data or statements is them getting interviewed and reported. Maybe like filling out a questionnaire for being like rapped of ideas so if you give that questionnaire to grandma she’s going to say what the fuck, no, who likes getting mind fucked for ideology and then she’ll watch coronation street that same night. It’s just dumb and nothing to orient national security measures around.
If you were more specific in your phrasing and more conventional in your grammar and vocabulary, you might be able to communicate your ideas more effectively.
The thing about kiwi culture is we obviously value the right to vote and human rights in general, if most people don’t want those rights to apply then it’s not going to happen by consensus. So in this case you might want to establish that viewing content is wrong, is that where you are going with that?
Sam
You say homosexuals have been stoned to death. And I have heard of erring females condemned to this in some countries. That is bad – are you in a group which protests against this.? When you hear of this happening will you let us know who you are protesting to and we can join and add to the number. If enough people notice perhaps, on a change of leader there would be a change of heart.
Why would we protest? IMO there’s no need to protest because Brunei and New Zealand are members of APEC and we have trade and foreign relations that go back to WW2. Any self respecting prime minister would have the issue top 10 on there things to do at APEC. Like stoning people to death is barbaric and would be enough to get your country thrown out of APEC.
sam
You are probably a great guy. But never become a politician otherwise the compromises you will have to make to achieve things for your country will fragment you so much you will fall in flakes on the floor.
Every country has a stain that won’t wash out, and it pays to remember that and not look at each other’s dirty linen while sitting at meetings with other countries about mutually important matters.
I have heard of so many really terrible things in my lifetime that if I concentrated too much on any one of them I would go mad. It is like looking at the sun – you can’t stare at it without hurting yourself. I
do hope you understand analogies otherwise I am wasting my time.
And I do hope that you can take suggestions to your heart and brain and learn from them, I fear from reading your numerous missives that they don’t get far in. And I suggest that you who are so shocked at what happened, do something personal to protest it. If you try it you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you aren’t like the people who are so callous, and have shown them how different you are.
1. Islam and Christianity aren’t races.
2. Why would anti-racists necessarily even have a view on whether “Christendom” (for want of a better term) is “better” than the Umma, let alone feel the urge to hold forth on the subject?
3. I haven’t noticed any anti-racists claiming we should tolerate Sharia law (in this country, at least). Or did you mean “tolerate Sharia law” anywhere in the world including Brunei? That would be even less likely.
Literalism, Gabby? So early in the day? Do you also do push-ups before breakfast?
If you’re fishing for admission that I used a rhetorical device, happy to oblige…
Yes I remember Felix vto. Maybe the smartest contributor ever to grace this site. His one/two liners were pithy and always went straight to the heart of the topic under discussion. He floored those who tried to up-end him. One day one of them went too far and it turned nasty. Felix got up and walked away never to return. Gabby does remind me of him too.
Reminds me a bit of a mate of mine at the pub. Me, I’m mouthing off all the time on everything and anything. Others aren’t shy of sharing an opinion. S is usually pretty quiet. But every so often when one of us (usually me) is in full flight and takes an instant to draw breath, S will say (at most) half a dozen words that just deflate me completely and cause much laughter.
Nah, to be fair I can’t take the credit. The Sultan is the dude on the day. Exemplary demonstration of sharia law to leftists everywhere, so they can explain why it ought to be tolerated. I encourage them not to hold back any longer. Get started!! 😎
I put up a comment on dishonest debating tactics not long ago in the, somewhat forlorn hope, that some would get the hint, and make an honest attempt to discuss, solutions.
Rather than having “pissing contests”.
Those who just want to “win the debate”, or show how clever they are, are just playing games, not helping.
You haven’t heard of sin by omission? It’s a traditional thing. The danger I’m alerting everyone too is that tolerance of islam means tolerance of sharia law.
I agree that implementation of sharia law as per the Sultan or Saudia Arabia etc is not currently attempted here (as far as I know). If the Islamic community has issued an official statement that it will not be used in Aotearoa, well and good. We need citation as proof to provide reassurance.
Shooting the canary in the coal-mine is a dumb response imo. Best to address the actual issue.
Still nobody addressing the actual issue. Wonder why evasion is so appealing? It was last year that a media report featured the verse that proves the prophet required his follower to kill unbelievers, WTB. Who would actually want to read the Koran?? Certainly not me, so stop spinning your usual misrepresentations of others.
How many times have I already told you here that I’ve never wanted to read that manifesto due to the likelihood psychic contamination. Yet still you wrote “Reads Terrorist manifesto” – in order to prove yourself a liar?? Such behaviour seems a more worthy candidate for banning. Why would any moderators here want to tolerate such deliberate lying? You ought to apologise.
And I did not call “for reassurance from New Zealand’s ‘Islamic community’”. Re-read what I wrote! I pointed out how that community could reassure the kiwi public. Allay fears about sharia law. I hope they do so. Peaceful assimilation requires it.
Still trying to get people banned eh Dennis. You really are a lot less smart than you think you are. Remember the other day with Mickey you thicko? Youre becoming a parody poster, a joke. Thank God you never got near power.
You’re also misrepresenting me. First time I ever suggested behaviour here could deserve a ban! Get a grip Marty. Just because you feel unable to address the moral issue is no excuse.
Untrue – you did it to me too Dennis. If you grip it any tighter mate the toothpick will snap. Funny how you like running against the tide – just a big ego wank to you, you seem to lack any idea of others. Sad.
Most Westerner’s never read the Bible, much less the Quran. Even many believers don’t.
But having a reasonable working knowledge of the former, and made an attempt at understanding the latter, what I can say is that most people are going to encounter the English translation of the Quran with almost total bafflement. It’s written in a language that is largely incomprehensible to the modern mind, it’s history, it’s allusions and that it’s really only understood at multiple levels of abstraction simultaneously are a challenge to even the serious student.
Personally I got some distance into it and found it too hard. So I’m not posing as any kind of expert.
The other big challenge is that most Westerners will instinctively compare Muhammad with Christ, when realistically the better comparison is with Moses. The trajectory of both their ministries meant they were not only the pivotal spiritual source for their followers, but were also responsible for the civil administration of substantial communities in their own lifetime.
Nor do most modern people have much grasp of how entirely different the nature of Arabian society was in that era. It was an extremely tribal and fractured society, placing a high value on prowess in battle, while at the same time boasting highly developed poetic literary tradition. There really was nothing resembling the ‘rule of law’ as we would recognise it.
So when modern people look at sharia law what we miss is that compared to the relative barbarity it replaced, Islamic Law was highly enlightened. For instance the usual tribal punishment for theft was for a posse of young bloods to track down the suspected offender and disembowel him on the spot. When Muhammad required a minimum number of witnesses, due process and the removal of the left hand little finger for the third offense; it would have been regarded as absurdly liberal by the people of the time.
Hey, WTB, trying to pretend you can’t tell the difference between reading the Koran and commenting on selected quotations from it in the media just insults the intelligence of every reader of what you wrote. Is that really your purpose? You usually come across as smarter than that.
Plus it’s the only quote from it that I’ve ever felt the need to comment on. Due to the apparent fear & motive of the shooter.
Suitable context for relative judgment, RL. People tend to move on. Too bad ideologies don’t move with them, eh? I have no problem with the general practice of islam. I’m only targeting the toxic bit, which is maintained via ideology down through the centuries.
If I did it to you then I’m sorry Marty. It isn’t part of my conscious way of contributing, so I suspect it was just how you perceived something I wrote (not my intended meaning).
Also, ego is a seeming thing. I’m aware of the extent to which I fight the good fight as per childhood Christian brainwashing. If my conscience did not require me to do so on an issue by issue basis, I would relinquish that motivation. I’m old enough to!
But someone ought to represent the centrist view here as a positive alternative to partisan leftists. Have you noticed how easily I identify common ground with non-partisan leftists here? And you sometimes – you seem to oscillate between both stances. I just wish you would copy me & play the ball, not the man. Consensus never develops if participants polarise on a personal basis.
The right are a problem. Centrists are also a big problem imo. You Pete George, red logix all push the middleman line and I think it is dishonest because you enable the right and dilute solid left thinking and actions so really you may as well be right as far as I’m concerned. The velvety smooth tones dripping with false concern make my skin crawl when middlemen do it. So yeah nah.
Thing is, the concern isn’t actually false! Dunno why you would even want to try that stance on. Can you really not detect genuine motivations in others?? Doing so is part of emotional intelligence, which you do exhibit in other respects. It’s vital to how groups function. I’m aware it ain’t easy online, of course.
Way to miss the point. ffs you’re a frustrating bastard – bet you’ve heard that before. You aren’t an ally you’re on the other side imo for the reasons above.
So I’ve been contributing here for 12 years and it’s all a fake? That is an impressive long bow you have there.
Nor am I a centrist, politically I’m moderate left with a libertarian streak.
But you are correct; us moderates who in fact comprise at least 90% of the political spectrum, are capable of working with people of all persuasions, and we are the ones who stand in the way of radicals like you imposing yet another mad, utopian revolution every 10 minutes or so.
So yes I do understand why you shit on me so. If indeed I was a fake you wouldn’t get so angry with me all the time.
Ever thought that rather than being “partisan”, we are responding to an observed reality.
Whereas the fence sitters are pretending to be concerned and looking for solutions, when in reality it is all bloodless to them, so long as their comfortable middle class boat, doesn’t get rocked.
The fact is for everyone to do better, some of us have to give up a little, socialism. And I am one who has enough income to be paying higher taxes. A small price to pay to live in a decent society.
Mad utopian revolution. Like the first Labour party, you mean?
I haven’t seen anyone, you call “partisan left” advocating anything more extreme than Democratic socialism, in a mixed economy. Not much different from the statements of our present Prime Minister.
Your concern is noted, but it doesn’t help even one young person into a home, or a decent job, when you support those who are doing the harm.
so long as their comfortable middle class boat, doesn’t get rocked.
What the same middle class boat that everyone aspires to in order to escape poverty and insecurity?
Did you know that globally there are now more people in the middle class, more people who have escaped poverty than any time in all of human history? 3.8 billion people, more than half of humanity?
@ red yep you stand in the way and obstruct and distract and dilute left thinking. You are a roadblock to the future. Your fakeness is you think you add value to the left – you don’t imo you add value to the right.
I have a picture in my mind of a nice doggie with a stick and the game is to drop it and then the other picks it up and throws it. And doggie runs after it swiftly and happily and brings it back. And part of the game is the doggie holds onto it and won’t drop it so it can be thrown again, until encouraged by the other; ‘Drop it, drop, drop’.
Should the doggie be left holding the stick and the game finish?
Should it be left to hold the stick and beat everybody with it?
As everyone knows who has a dog, this game can go on for hours.
In the dog’s mind it is fun and a very fulfilling and satisfying activity
but the other involved has to decide when to stop and do something else. The game then is put on hold, and the those involved go away and attend to other pursuits.
Perhaps someone could report other newsworthy events so we can switch focus? But I’m already in the garden pulling wet weeds. Still at least one dark frog in the rainwater tub.
Attended Taranaki 2050 workshop on people & talent session 3 yesterday. Still amazed that the govt is actually providing a design-for-resilience process. Impressed with both the format and conduct of their process too. Full marks to the coalition + Greens again!
DF
Next Sunday in the How to get there post – Would you put up a small – even bulleted – report of what impressed you about the event’s outcomes, please? And what you think about the Labour Coalition’s plans and directions and achievements in them so far?
It sounds so interesting to hear positives is so good and what you think we should look for government progress in, and perhaps what isn;t being grasped satisfactorily. Regards to you. Woof, wag.
“Pence’s ascent to the second most powerful position in the U.S. government is a tremendous coup for the radical religious right. Pence — and his fellow Christian supremacist militants — would not have been able to win the White House on their own. For them, Donald Trump was a godsend.”
Here’s a Muslim man answering dennis s negative Muslim stereotyping ,,,,, it’s probably best he says it ….. as dennis s sort always complains about the Muslim community not condemning enough ….
The draconian nation of Brunei to enforce capital punishment for LGBT
•This is barbaric & has no semblance w/Islam & human rights
•UK heavily funds & supports Brunei—that must end
•Brunei’s own leadership is corrupt & evil This is wrong. It must stop.
The article reports the UK has thousands of troops in Brunei and buys oil from Brunei. Moreover Brunei was a UK colony until 1984 & its anti-LGBT laws were enacted during that colonial period. It’s a wealthy dictatorship supported by a world superpower. Horrible combination.
The draconian nation of Brunei to enforce capital punishment for LGBT •This is barbaric & has no semblance w/Islam & human rights •UK heavily funds & supports Brunei—that must end •Brunei's own leadership is corrupt & evil
The son of a Japanese immigrant who fought for New Zealand, makes a powerful statement against xenophobia and fascism at the age of 95.
“People like John gave my children a tomorrow and are an example for future generations. They dared to stand up against injustice and fascism and now they have to fight it again,” it said.
Others said they were touched by his simple deed and would like to express their appreciation to Mr Sato.
A friend read the letters this morning to Mr Sato, who said he’s no hero and was just doing what he could.
Mr Sato said the most important thing he has learnt in life is love, and he’s still learning.
“As valiant as our campaign to silence racism may seem, what we really need to do is understand it. We’ll need to meet people, in real life. Perhaps the only good thing of these past days has been meeting people. I’ve seen diversity and genuine interest from strangers in one and other. It has restored a sense of heart during a time that has seemed so dark. Maybe we also need to reach out to those who share views similar to the attacker. Our only other option is to live under a surveillance state.”
He’s getting dangerously close to having an open mind, eh? Leftist brain police will have to bombard him with denial. Hippie advocacy of peace, love & understanding prevailed over the mainstreamer’s ethos of war, hate and misunderstanding during the seventies, but perhaps we are due to repeat the cycle…
Indeed a good example. Who would have thought that cyclist is dehumanising? However, social science research would need to establish a solid basis for deciding that the word does have that effect in the minds of most drivers.
People who drive motor vehicles franky. Please don’t dehumanise them or Nanelle will get upset. I’m sure the people who conduct research have done a fine job for the person who teaches at a place where people go to learn stuff after they finish learning stuff at the places where people under 18 go to learn easier stuff.
I imagine certain phrases can become ‘curses’ rapidly in social media where meme generation is a full time preoccupation for some.
There are some drivers who feel the road is solely their domain, and cyclists are encroaching on it. While I think entitlement is a large part of the issue, it comes from both sides. We’ve all seen the clips of cyclists two-three abreast on winding country roads – and cyclists have all been cut off at some point…
Again, two aggrieved sides, escalation, words traded, sides taken.
Across the road from me a Professor who cycles. Next door a tradie with a pick up. Neighbors and friends.
Neither the enemy, but when I drive the cyclists are annoying, and when I cycle the cars are dangerous. The (slight) dehumanising aspect occurs in a split second. The brain keeps this rot in check so I can drive A-B and all involved get home safely.
The driver who thinks the road is theirs, the cyclist who thinks the road is theirs, both part of the problem. imo.
I think referring to cyclists as people on bicycles has merit. But is it all a bit silly?
You’re right – there’s a silly side plus a serious side. I’ve encountered the `cyclists two-three abreast’ thing myself several times. I wonder if they are deliberately breaking the law or if the law got changed & I never noticed.
I became a competitive driver in Auckland & Sydney traffic, ended up always beating others to the gap in the traffic flow, but nowadays take it real easy. I know how road rage kicks in fast.
My advice to any friends visiting AK is to give themselves an extra half hour for their journeys across town. So if traffic hits they’re still ok not frothing. Phones help too. Pull aside and let your destination know you’re in traffic it takes the pressure right off.
And I always take some reading with me, for when traffic is light I get to relax before meetings. Others might prefer something else to reading.
I think it would be useful to spread memes/public education something around when you see a cyclist – it is a human on a cycle – when you see a car – it is a human in a car. Obviously more catchy than that…
From drivers vs cyclists to humans in cars and humans on bikes.
The main reason why cyclists don’t always keep closely to the left is to prevent motorists from cutting them off at intersections, pinch points, bridges and roundabouts.
Every cyclist frequently has the experience of a car or truck coming dangerously close at a point where the rider has no room to move, and as a matter of simple survival they quickly find the best tactic is to move to the centre of the lane for a short period to stop this from happening.
Then when space permits the rider or group will generally move back closer to the left. Cyclists riding in large groups are almost always moving at a reasonable speed usually > 40km/hr and while people love moaning about these ‘lycra-clad road rats’, for the most part they really don’t hold motorists up for more than 30secs or maybe a minute or two at worst.
While the road code does give guidance around motorists to leaving a 1.0 or 1.5m passing distance, the reality is that there are many places where achieving that is not possible.
Years back I was riding somewhere in the South Is near Timaru heading onto a bridge, when an NZR bus roared past at full speed, frighteningly close. I crossed the bridge and a bit shaken took a break on the other side. I still recall my shock at finding a distinct little pile of NZR bus paint on the buckle of my roadside pannier.
Good link that RL, A most important point is made:
” If it is a narrow road, then generally the safest option is to overtake using the next lane over, when the way is clear. If it’s not safe to overtake due to oncoming traffic, then slow down and wait – it’s what you would do if it was (say) a slow-moving tractor. It’s interesting how so many drivers jump straight to the default option of trying to squeeze past between a bike and an adjacent motor vehicle”
In cities one reason not to keep left is car door openers – a real hazard.
Back when I biked frequently I used to reckon on one close call a week, and the only real solution is to keep as far as possible away from drivers. Things like the free left turn bikes take at lights are a safety thing – they put space between you and trouble.
Park cars, when the driver exit, they can’t see a cyclist, the further left the more in the blind spot. So good drivers know this, and govt should lower speed to 30 in tightly parked areas.
There is actually a simple cure for the car door bike killers. In the Netherlands, drivers are taught to open doors with the inside hand, which tilts the shoulders and makes looking behind much easier – no risk of cricks in necks.
As an (almost) daily cyclist, the biggest thing motorists need to remember is, cycles are allowed to ride in the lane. Not confined to the left of the white line where the parked cars, glass, bits of metal, sharp stones etc reside. If I am passing parked cars I allow for someone opening the door.
I understand the arguments from both sides and in general it boils down to tolerance. I have had quite a few arguments with people over the ‘rights’ of cyclists but I have found that asking them whose fault it is why kids no longer find it safe to bike to school usually shuts them up.
There is such an unsatisfactory story here. Cyclists are not being looked after. Everyone is disadvantaged who is trying to be responsible and not use cars.
* A cyclist is doing good for themselves and the planet.
* But there is not a safe lane for them.
* If they go for too long in the way of a car the driver can’t use the car effectively. So has to dawdle behind the cyclist. and holds up a line of traffic at 10-20km when the road was built and planned for 40 km up.
* Bikes on pavements – I hadn’t realised that adults aren’t legally allowed to ride there, just children. I don’t notice adult cyclists paying much attention to the law, and both adults and schoolboys in my area are menacing pedestrians without concern as they whip by either silently, or alarmingly with bells announcing I’m coming – get out of my way.
* If one runs into me and I fall over and sprain or break something, who cares? Who pays for my doctor visit, for the extra dressings I need, for my pain relief, for my lost opportunities while I recover at home stiff and sore? Who recompenses me for the loss of my freedom to move relaxed and peaceful on the footpath without the constraint of awareness, to enjoy my surroundings without being compromised by vehicles that can harm me?
* Cyclists involved in an accident have those same problems.
So they move onto the footpath and endanger pedestrians and behave just like the drivers they are avoiding.
* The effect of cyclists children and adults on the footpath is
that pedestrians have to be on the watchout as if they are walking on a road with slowish traffic; a pavement, is supposed to be a safe haven from vehicles on the road, but is now a path taken over by two-wheeled vehicles, mobility carts, scooters and now Lime scooters.
Ways forward:
* All bicycles with a chain and pedals, even little ones must have a licence with number plates, not too costly but enough to cover the adminisration and number plate costs. This will put in people’s and children’s minds that they are driving a moving vehicle and they must take care, and avoid pedestrians, not the other way round.
* Same for mobility scooters which will be required to use the footpath unless it is too narrow etc. (On the road mobility scooters are really dangerous as their riders are often away in another world, or in a bubble of entitlement that doesn’t include being courteous to other road users.)
* Anyone who runs into someone or causes an accident should, as part of a code of behaviour which will be drawn up and publicised continually to bike and mobility riders, have to help the person they have struck or caused to fall, and leave their licence number.
** And car imports should gradually be reduced, cars should go back to normal size not be high, metal, tiny houses.
* Public transport increase.
* Legitimate taxi companies set up an arrangement where you can place an order for one at a set price, but choose to register for a shared route going to your destination with the cost apportioned. This might take people to a rail hub, a bit like a small bus but would come to your door. There would be a flag fall fee for registering for the shared ride.
* Uber drivers have to pay a flag-fall to the government for each ride. And the system have to pay a user-free for use of the roads.
* Roads should where possible have a wide left hand lane for bikes.
* Planners should stop doing just the same as they do overseas as we are different. Other systems may not work in NZ. Give them a try in some places but not blanket over a whole area.
* Bicycles and bus and truck drivers should have special understandings of each other, be encouraged to see themselves as special, worthy people, looking out for each other; bicycles good for the planet and trucks and buses hauling things and people around – helping, working for community and our business. Each aware of the other and trying to be very clear about hand signals and being aware of future moves.
* Bicycles to have rear mirrors on handlebars so they know what is behind.
* Lime scooters zipping past my place or on city footpaths always a bit fast are going to be more than an irritation.
* There needs to be a tiny, inexpensive Court to deal with infractions (and perhaps fractures) on the footpath so that pedestrians and other users have somewhere to meet and settle who should pay costs after injury and damage. And an established level of violence is to be allowed. Hitting someone over the head with a handbag just okay, but if it has a brick in it, no. Using a bottle will be forbidden. Slapping with gloves means a fine or cycle pumps at dawn with seconds present.
And there should be a code of conduct – pedestrians must not stand having long conversations in the middle of the path; no poking umbrellas through the bicycle spokes, or at riders. Water pistols would be allowed, but not containing indelible dyes.
I have written down all the thoughts that came to me. We need to make changes and I thought that would be a nice lot to start with. No doubt there will be some helpful comments on these.
1. Media releases
Noise camera a ‘sound’ initiative
14 Feb 2014 12:55 pm | NZ Transport Agency
The NZ Transport Agency is working with the Road Transport Association NZ, Log Transport Safety Council, and National Road Carriers to reduce engine braking noise through a trial in Tauranga.
A ‘noise camera’, which has been installed on SH2 Takitimu Drive near the Elizabeth St roundabout, is at the centre of the trial.
Transport Agency Freight Director Harry Wilson says the camera, a first for New Zealand, photographs only those trucks using noisy engine brakes.
The conversation will require all road users and persons cleverer than me at the table. There’s obviously misunderstanding on both sides (cyclists/motorists) as to road rules regarding cycling, and motorists ‘rights’.
Maybe the process would be something like: Work out exactly what’s what – data, law and the views/experiences of road users and experts, see if things might need a tweak to improve safety and then tweak, package in laymans terms a guide for all road users, disseminate the information broadly.
Two abreast is legal. You just have to think of them as just another slow vehicle. Like the old guy with a cap driving at 30 k.
Also riding in front of a car to ensure your safety, on a road or roundabout where it is too narrow for the car to pass you against oncoming traffic, without pushing you off the road.
Some Car drivers often think they have an absolute right to pass a bike, and a tractor or any slower vehicle, in any situation. Or to turn left in front of you.
The rules say you cannot pass unless you can do it safely. Same as with any vehicle which holds you up. That means being able to keep at least 1m from the bike.
I’ve biked in just about all New Zealand cities. Most car drivers are actually OK. Often they simply don’t see you. Something you have to allow for. Their focus is on other cars. I’ve decided Auckland drivers drive with their eyes shut 🙂
It is only in Wellington, I’ve had car drivers deliberately try and run me over.
I stopped cycling into uni in Auckland it was too dangerous. Rain made road surfaces reflective and shiny, sun made buildings reflective and shiny, pedestrians darting across, buses weaving in and out… I walked.
Sensory overload!
Much nicer walking, and often just as fast as the backed up traffic.
http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2013/06/16/can-you-ride-two-abreast/
“Many cyclists believe that the law is completely on their side with this behaviour, as the Road Code (and the underlying legal Road Rules) allows cyclists to ride two abreast. However the rules do not give cyclists the right to ride two abreast in all circumstances. For example, they must resume cycling single-file when passing to the right of another vehicle, including a parked vehicle. Technically this makes it rather hard to ride next to your mate on many urban streets; you’d be constantly switching back and forth between one and two abreast.”
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/cyclist-code/about-cycling/rules/
Always ride as near as you can to the left side of the road. If you are holding back traffic you must move as far as possible to the left side of the road to allow traffic to pass, as soon as you can. However, you do need to cycle in a sensible position on the road to keep safe. See Cyclist responsibilities for more information.
Two cyclists can ride next to each other but should take into account the keep left rule and not hold back traffic. Three or more people cycling next to each other is illegal, except in the case of a road race that has been given traffic management approval from a road controlling authority.
The amount of effort to lift your foot slightly off the accelerator or softly push the break pedal is nothing compared to those cyclists using all their energy in all weather. It astounds me how impatient drivers are, just calm the fuck down. Sure there are idiot cyclists, but there are a screaming lot of bully car drivers out there.
I doubt there’s ever been a war in Yemen without British involvement.
At least five members of Britain’s special forces have reportedly been injured in gun battles in Yemen. If true, the story has serious implications because the British government has long insisted that it is not a party to the conflict.
Well technically it may have “serious implications” but who really cares about Yemen when the papers are full of Brexit.
The “man on the Clapham Omnibus” – (the famous average Joe in England) worries about himself and whether Brexit will affect his holiday in Spain this year.
May is toast, so who is actually worrying about Yemen? Surely not her, and it wont sell papers but for one day, Then its back to Brexit and how it will affect our holidays in Spain.
It will be interesting to know who has been pressing this guys buttons in Christchurch, I doubt very much he is a “Lone Wolf”, I think some of the other shooters at the Bruce Rifle Range should be investigated by the SIS ?
I had the same impression from the ex-soldier who joined that gun club, was dismayed by the culture, and never went back! Saw him interviewed a couple of times, thought he was a credible witness.
So disgusting and the cause of SO MUCH SUFFERING – just horrendous.
“The figures released this month by Oranga Tamariki into the extent of child abuse in state care are shocking.
There’s no way you can look at these statistics – 220 children physically, sexually, and emotionally abused and neglected in a mere six month time period – and not be appalled. “
That article was originally published on the morning of the 15th. I recall Siobahn and myself, both as former foster parents, had a brief discussion about these dreadful stats. This was before our world exploded.
Significant is that the the numbers are high because Oranga Tamariki are collecting and recording the data differently….there may not actually be more abuse…it is that the abuse is being counted.
Also relevant is the breakdown of which particular type of person involved with the care of these children is attracting the greatest number of complaints…and type of complaint.
This whanau’s world was exploding in full public view, in the glare of the media spotlight, and none of the authorities the neighbours expressed their concerns to about the wee girl’s safety stepped in to save her life.
It is so difficult to rejoin/trust society when state sanctioned caregivers are in fact tormentors and abusers. Especially where folk then go to other authorities only to be patronised and have it all swept under the carpet.
And so a new generation arrive with anti-social tendencies created by society.
I remember you posting on the 15th about this. I left a poem there as it’s all a bit close for comfort to talk at length about here.
I met Shane in State ‘Care’.
Shane
He was 14 and he slept
Curled up in our dog kennel
Under an old cooking apple tree
That had seen
It was better, he said
than the last foster care
and the one before that
and back through the years
He had the prettiest longest eyelashes
This side of the Caribbean
and he
Won hearts and minds
and he
Broke them again
The prize, he said, is Doctor’s bags
Chemists shelves
And surgery swag
As he lit out from his captors
Once more
He was caught then escaped
Till too aged for such japes
Then they took him to Waikeria
To grow old.
I’d like to think that it is understood that not all ‘state sanctioned caregivers’ are/were tormentors and abusers…
Most of us did our very best…realising that in many cases it would never be enough.
I can say with some certitude that all of the children we cared for needed to be removed from their family home to ensure their immediate safety. The myth that authorities are constantly cruising, seeking to violently remove perfectly happy children from safe and loving homes needs to be debunked once and for all.
It simply isn’t true in the vast number of instances. And when they are tardy in responding to reports of children at risk…yet another dead child.
That the authorities (because who the hell knows what we’ll be calling them next restructuring) don’t place these children in safe environments and don’t provide much needed support for these children and their new (hopefully temporary) families is the true crime.
The fact that so many children’s homes are so absolutely dysfunctional, and there seems to be no imperative to find out why is a national disgrace.
What got/still gets me is that there have been no significant improvements in the care and protection of children since I was officially an ‘at risk’ child some fifty odd years ago.
Yes. There’s so much that works in society, but why aren’t we actively taking on feedback and fixing the things which aren’t working and especially causing harm? BAU finds it inconvenient? Too simplistic…
Perhaps we are at least in some areas now making progress. For me it seems the wheels grind interminably slower for those aware of the issues.
e.g. Some people have been fighting on climate change for half a century or maybe more, that’s got to be SO frustrating. I was a late tagger on, maybe 20 years, still feeling a bit tired of talking about it 😉
I remember someone caring for a young child who came to them without any of the personal management milestones, and was helped greatly. Soon she could use the toilet, didn’t do it all in her pants/naps. But each time she went back home to visit she would return having reverted to the default system she had adopted in all the basics. It was very hard to deal with and it seemed that keeping her in touch with home was possibly spoiling her development, retarding her so she would be behind her peers as she grew up. It also made foster care of her more difficult than it should have been, and more demanding on the rest of the household.
This week, there have been two opinion pieces commenting on gangs following to the Christchurch massacres. Stuff’s offering from Mike Yardley, was based on old prejudices, unsubstantiated assumptions and was dripping with cynicism and insulting language. In it he advocated legal changes which would presume gang members should not share the same rights as others and indicated that gangs should be disposed of by the State using violent means. To add flavor, he referenced a comment by the Minister of Police that was at odds with the aspirational, inclusive and kindness of the Prime Minister that have gained international respect. The rant was obviously poorly researched, ill-considered and lacked the insight and eloquence of Paito Fatu, the inspirational president of the county’s largest Mongrel Mob chapter. In summary, he depicting a country where the ‘good people’ are constantly being assaulted in a war with gang members who are armed to the teeth with semi-automatic rifles that they won’t surrender. A strange commentary when it was white supremacy that stirred the pot. Stuff carried the opinion piece at the most inopportune of times but at least had the decency to remove it from the website within hours. On the other hand, today’s Herald carries an informed nuanced opinion piece by a qualified researcher and expert, Jarrod Gilbert (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216426).
Sonny Fatu inspired nothing but fear for a long time. The name is legend in some circles and it aint good. A supposed change of heart is commendable, but cynicism is not unreasonable (not talking about the news attack pieces but people in general).
I commend the man for his current stance. It is up to him to show if he is posturing or genuine. We love redemption stories, and they do occur. If Sonny can turn it around, there’s hope for a lot of bad bastards.
Address addictions, they make bad stuff worse and healing much harder.
Address hate by humbling yourself in the service of others more vulnerable than yourself. When love is given, love is received, not before.
Service to your community builds pride.
Staying your hand shows strength. Especially where you are stronger physically.
Re-establish ties to culture and family where broken. Be patient. Where family is not present build new ties based on love and respect.
It’s so much better being part of the world than hating it. Despite the fact some may have lists of grievances against them, it is not an excuse to cause harm.
You could find good news every day if you sought it out. Even better, you could create good news.
Some might think I’m patronising, they have no idea of the shit I’ve survived to be here.
…and Gilbert is not entirely 100% without a modicum of skepticism, in fact he says…
” There will be sceptics, of course, and that isn’t just understandable; it’s probably healthy.
Not only are the Mongrel Mob responsible for some of New Zealand’s most notorious crimes – think Ambury Park 1986 – but they have also been apt to bite the hand that helps them.
In 2012 a chapter in Dunedin were given access to $20,000 of Whanau Ora funding and they promptly used it to set up a cannabis growing operation. Entrepreneurial, for sure, but not what was envisaged.
So people are right to cast a narrow eye to see how this plays out, but the evidence thus far is there to see. ”
If the days of a father with peripheral Mob connections saying his 15 year old daughter deserved the ‘block’ for hanging around the gang house are over…I’ll be on the road to optimism.
As Gilbert says….these guys are getting old…hopefully they’ll use the last of their ‘influence’ for positive change.
aom
Thanks for link to Jarrod Gilbert. It is interesting to know what he is thinking after his in-depth period being in contact with gangs and knowing how they tick.
As for Mike Yardley, here is a man who apparently free lances and writes in a punchy style, well flavoured so to speak. He does a bit of everything, likes travel, and is probably waiting for his next assignment there. In the meantime he needs to provide some lucre in his pocket and the gangs are reliably colourful and rambunctious.
There is hope for good things from gang initiatives that have come up FTTT and I looked at Denis O’Reilly? the other day for some background. We can give more positives to him and the other leaders who want to find a place where they can be good citizens able to make their way legally whether pakeha or Maori.
You mention Paito Fatu and if he and his Mongrel Mob cohort want to move in a positive direction, that’s good, and the good they have achieved so far should be cause for a happy smile from citizens and with a willingness to support further steps. So let us hear less of Mike Yardley popping up for a fast buck, and more from the Mongrel Mob going after the decent life which should be due to everybody in this society who cares to be a good citizen, whether they wear a suit coat or a leather jacket showing a golf club, or other, logo on it.
A provincial election has been called in Canada’s smallest province Prince Edward Island. The Greens are currently leading in the polls. Should they win they will be the country’s first Green government at provincial level. Islanders will also vote in a referendum on electoral reform asking if they want to stay with FPTP or switch to MMP.
Shit Scott I drove around PEI (Prince Edward Island in February 1976 as a resident Kiwi in Toronto before leaving Canada.
They are the most friendly folks I have ever met, and a lot of residents there spend all winter in the pubs there, and it reminded me of the west coast of South Island here.
I can see why they would vote for ‘Greens’ as it is a horticulture industry and fishing mainly.
There was a settlement at the south east side of PEI that is called New Zealand.
I stopped at the store and we three kiwis signed the log book of visitors and there was the library of evidence that explained how it was named after a Mariner from NZ was sailing around PEI in the early 1900’s about 1910 i think from memory and he capsized his boat on a reef there and set up their life there afterwards.
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark was refreshingly honest when centre right commentator Matthew Hooton took her to task on Twitter over the failure to reform the laws in her years from 1999 to 2008.
Oh i paid a million for my home, no, wait you paid two… …these peolple selling homes to each other to tap capital gain are bottom of the barrel capitalists. Creaming the top for no advantage to the economy. End the private tax on us all, tax capital gains now.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) took to the House floor on Monday to portray President Trump’s detractors as Nazis but ended up slurring them using an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory drawn verbatim from Adolf Hitler’s writings.
It’s 2019, and the Führer’s magnum opus, “Mein Kampf,” has become a playbook for political combat in Congress, at the very moment that Trump is calling the Democrats “anti-Jewish. ”
Brooks, a five-term Republican, accused Democrats and members of the media of propagating a “big lie” about collusion. The expression was coined by Hitler to describe how Jews used their “unqualified capacity for falsehood” to blame a top German military commander for the country’s losses in World War I. A lie could be so big, Hitler claimed, that it perversely defied disbelief.
It was unclear if Brooks grasped that by leveling charges of the “big lie,” he had inverted his own analogy, making Democrats the equivalent of interwar German and Austrian Jews. He set out to compare the other side to fascists, but he was the one employing a fascist smear — one that, ironically, came to define Nazi propaganda.
Pence? Does he even believe the moon exists wtf is going on here – just out right bullshit or a way to get the big rockets fixed for spacearmy.
“The first woman and the next man on the Moon will both be American astronauts launched by American rockets from American soil,” he pledged. It’s an audacious pledge, given NASA’s current capabilities, and especially in light of recent setbacks to the Space Launch System (SLS), the agency’s long-delayed and over-budget heavy lift rocket. If NASA faces difficulties with that timeline, Pence said, “We need to change the organization, not the mission.” How this will affect NASA’s wide host of other goals, from astrophysics to education, remains unknown.
One could argue the Earth has more pressing issues, but others might argue the Earth is cooked and we need an escape capsule.
Others might simply argue 😉
I am a self confessed space geek. I don’t go too deep into it as all that math is well over my pay grade. But I absolutely love the imagery and commentary returned by excursions and experts.
This stuff fires the imagination, lends wonder and discovery to jaded minds.
To Pence it is a PR tool. A powerful PR tool for an administration direly in need of PR.
I’m picturing an earlier meeting in which the administration agreed on the need for a bold new initiative to inspire the American people, something like JFK’s announcement that the US would send astronauts to the moon, and Pence noting down “inspring new initiative – astronauts to moon.”
Burnside head girl Amelia MacDonald said since the attacks students were more likely to speak out against racist comments when they heard them.
“It’s people that may not have necessarily said that two, three, weeks ago are the people that are finding the courage within themselves to be determined to stop any inappropriate comments or any racism,” she said.
“This event of hate has shown us that we must stand up against anything that’s not right. We can’t let people get through with these messages of hate.”
Here on Earth we stand living our our potentially wonderful lives of everyday impact of new ideas, new vistas, change and building on the past, retaining, holding what we can of the good, and trying to learn from the bad. A full time job. Exploring caves with features built up over a the course of a thousand lifetimes. And the capitalist creations made from thousands of ideas and agreements and tokens have built the money system that strips Earth of its resources and denies people the ability or right to have a place to stand and live and be themselves.
Instead capitalism has tilted the playing field where the people stand so that most of us will slide, fall off and die. Then the money-mad materialists will use the requisitioned required resources to send a man and woman to the moon for a permanent base. They know so much that when they look up to the sky they don’t see heaven, religious fantasies are for fools. They have better, scientific fantasies. It’s doing things and utilising the money system that fires the sagging dolls of capitalism as pictured in the Alex cartoons in The Telegraph, limited to their rat runs and their figures on screens.
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon believes President Trump will “come off the chains” and “go full animal” on his political opponents. “He will use it to bludgeon them,”
In the days preceding the official conclusion of the Mueller Report, Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, was on a trip to Romania, where he outlined a $1 billion dollar strategy to get the U.S. President re-elected in 2020.
This will be exposed in documents being released soon.
Republican Senior Lindsey Graham press release; He claims; –
George Soros Billionaire bankrolled a campaign to get a phony Russian collusion case against Donald Trump from Russia/Ukraine contacts under Hillary Clinton before his election as an ‘insurance policy’ should he win that election.
The case began when “A secretive Washington firm that commissioned the dubious intelligence dossier on Donald Trump is stonewalling congressional investigators trying to learn more about its connections to the Democratic Party.”
“The Senate Judiciary Committee is also investigating whether the FBI has wrongly relied on the anti-Trump dossier and its author, Christopher Steele — the old spy who was hired by Fusion GPS to build a Russia file on Trump — to aid its ongoing espionage investigation into the Trump campaign and its possible ties to Moscow.”
We know this was fake information now of Russian Collusion between Trump debunked by special Council Mueller.
We have Corporate Welfare, where the government spends $1.7 billion protecting investors in the collapsed South Canterbury Finance, and another $1.48 billion bailing out AMI insurance when they wouldn’t pay out their insurance claims after the Christchurch Earthquake.
Now the Government say they will cover the losses of Spec Builders.
Kia ora Newshub It’s good that Facebook has started to ban the hate group from their site.
Its is awesome that the joint year of tourism with China and Aotearoa is underway Kelvin.
I seen the stats on the Sips tamariki being abuse more mess our humane Government has to clean up.
NO comment on brexit. The Tauranga Council need to get its – – – – they created the environment for the poor homeless people I drove through greeaton quite a lot I never seen that many homeless that shop owner looks like he has a personal problem with poor people – – – – – – – -. It gives me hope that someone is challenging this law in the courts.
With the elite school issues in America at the minute that is how the systems work in America and around the world?????????.
Thunder birds car in Britain Lloyd it looks like a classic and its getting a lot of interest from potential buyers Ka pai. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News
Its looks like the government needs to do some more research on classification of manuka honey everyone knows the best Manuka Honey comes from the place where it was first discovered and has the highest % of the good stuff in it Te tairawhiti. Sea Lords has to clean up its act.
Its cool to see te tai tokerou kapa haka is on the up ka kite ano P.S I see
Kia ora R&R With the emrgenc of super bugs part of the problem is drug companies pushing the sale of antibiotics hence the bugs mutanta and become rasistance to drugs. That is another reason money it’s not profitable for the company’s to develop the drugs so government has to step up and make sure the drugs are being research and develop.
That is the reason why we need to protect Tane Mahuta Wild life because one of the plants /animals that are going EXTINCT could hold the cure for humam AILMENTs.
We best learn fast to save these species from extinction if not that could be the down fall of humans.
We also should research old Maori medicines to. I agree with him tangata go to the DOCTOR. Live longer to guide OUR Mokopuna up there ladders of Life. Ka kite ano
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Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...
Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...
A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Increased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...
The latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...
With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again, on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Experts are calling for hotels with sub-par ventilation systems to no longer be used as managed isolation facilities as health officials investigate how a Northland woman became infected with Covid-19 while staying at the Pullman hotel, Rowan Quinn reports. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 26, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur Members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Rabid rottweilers of racism here – who see racism wherever they look – will relish an opportunity to explain why the Islamic race is better than the Christian race. Here’s one: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/brunei-lgbt-whipping-stoning-gay-people-sharia-law-a8841706.html
I ask only that they go further and explain why we ought to tolerate sharia law. It will be helpful to cite usage of sharia by the Sultan of Brunei in support of their rationale.
You’re confusing race vs religion
I’m referring to their tendency to do that, actually! 🙄
“Someone said something upsetting. Can I upset you too. Can I repeat their shitty views here while posing as a concerned citizen”
Smilies are out already. So human and filled with emotion aren’t you.
Do you think you’ve been picked on? Where did the bad man touch your argument?
I suggest you go to Brunei, a one twat delegation, and sort it out.
Random irrelevancies all you are capable of this morning? Get some fresh air, do a few exercises, tai chi, to help clear your head…
WTB has got you in one.
Inability to get to the point is well-worth demonstrating, you think. Dunno if it’s quite the brilliant idea you seem to think it is.
Yeah franksplain it again for us cos we dum
+1
Can I ask you Mr Frank Sir?
What’s your tipple?
I’ll save up real hard so I can send you a case down Courier Post, and another for the Beige Badger
Nice of you to offer, OWT, but I can afford my own no problem. 🍷
You’re confusing race vs religion
That’s what has happened over the mosque attacks though, surely …. the call of racism has gone out, yet it was a religious attack
both are all mixed up at the moment I think
DF’s issue is entirely legitimate
DF is an idiot. He read one verse of the Quran (in the context of the terrorist manifesto) and decided it required changing. Then he began to tell us how the terrorist has a point, based on this verse and more from the killers mind Dennis was happy to quote.
Now let’s just get a few words of his post above and take a look
“the christian race”
and
“the Islamic race”
A muppet by any other name would sound as stupid.
Being disingenuous is cool? Or confused? If you genuinely have never heard of satire, there’s a quick remedy: google it. 😎
Definitely confused. Your methods and jokes are well over my head.
Sure. But this religious attack has already been deemed a racist attack by many. I think the horse has bolted.
… side track… religion pfftt … science is continually eating away at it, and has been for eons. Dolly the original cloned sheep should have raised alarm bells with the religious in the world…. yet like all extremists the religious* block, deny, re-define etc..
.. it would be good to be around in a few more hundreds of years to see where science and religion have got to… methinks science will continue to explain and define more and more of the unknown/religious as simply previously unexplained physical realities…
.. like science explained the sun as a burning thing and not a god
.. like science explained the spiritual/soul as a subset of the physical via dolly the sheep.
.. like science could well explain a ‘creation event’ in the future
.. like science could well explain that a ‘creator’ existed and still does – elsewhere in the universes, as a physical entity right now, made up of carbon and iron or some such
It is certainly unfortunate that this world contains many iterations of doctrine that condemn ‘others’ and even incite violence. The world also contains a majority of faithful who have adopted more peaceful memes from said doctrines.
Personally, I think (some of) the worlds religions are a two edged sword. On the one hand they provide community service where governments fail. They also add the all important human contact to such services. Many work tirelessly to help societies less fortunate and are commendable. Others use piousness and scripture to persecute their fellow man. Often churches have both groups present in the one fellowship.
In all of this, the crazy world, Trump, Brexit, terrorist extremism from both ends of the scale as well as famines, drought, fires, flooding, corruption, exploitation, random nutters, poverty and financial uncertainty, and of course global warming….
We desperately need leadership. Churches swell in the vacuum.
Good people use religion, theism, or atheism, to do good.
Arseholes, use it to do bad.
No, religion will never die, just change form.
Look at the anti-vaxxers. That’s a faith that denies all scientific evidence. Look at the many conspiracy theorists (including those within the Muslim community who have publically claimed it was all a Jewish plot).
Not to mention neoliberalism. It’s a fucking cult – it’s neither explanatory nor are its ostensible benefits reproducible. But still we’re stuck with it because of the number of less acute pencil heads who’ve momentarily got their paws on the levers of power.
Science is not all things to all men. Faith in our fellow humans is gold. Those who have faith in a higher being often are calm in their certainty.
Mind you a certain Destiny fellow has shaken that!!
Yes, ignorance is bliss, for some people Patricia.
You do know that science and religion are not mutually exclusive, don’t you?
Yes, a certain astronaut (John Glenn) found science and religion not mutually exclusive, as many others who went to space after him did as well.
They gained a sense of perspective perhaps.
Vto stay in compassion mate you get ugly fast when your fear takes hold. Just think it through and I’m saying this from compassion believe me.
Que? Sorry, I don’t follow..
So foreign nation of choice wasn’t trying to disarm nz readying us to be invaded.
Geez can you imagine being a white supremacist and going to a gun meet right now, theyweren’t policing their own now everyone blames them for losing their toys.
Na they’re to fucking thick to blame the person /people who cost them there toys .
Its the gubimints fault .
Some of the memes floating around out there boogle the mind in their stupidity and it’s amazing how many gobble them up and shear them .
I hope you are reporting them. Be brave and we can get to a better place.
I wouldnt call them racist just fucking dumb .
I have pointed out the stupidity of memes to those dumb enough to shear them to my page . Hopefully it sunk in a little.
I suspect in this case that theracism wasn’t against a particular race, it was that the religion he picked was in his mind “not white”.
It’s the typical trash man being Mr Trash again. Jacinda or any one else can not walk around the APEC conference with there heads held high while Brunei is legally allowed to stone gays to death. It’s just a matter of time before homosexuality is completely normal in society so a hardline fundamentalist religious group will not gain a majority in any APEC or associated forum. You’re just complete trash.
Bit early for you to be on the piss again isn’t it? Still in the AM in Aus?
So that white wash you was seeing magically cleared right up or are you faking it again?
Maybe you should reread what I wrote, and get your parents to help you with the larger words.
You were mind reading again. Like I said, makes you trash.
Because that was such a big call for guessing whate a white supremacist might be motivated by?
Why it’s much easier measuring internal factors like hormones so when guys or even girls get into fight mode they’ll release a shot of adrenaline which is objective. But it’s more subjective to measure external factors like what some one might say because people lie all the time so it’s like untrustworthy and as I say, trash.
Hormones.
totally relevant as to whether the fucker committed a racist attack or whether that’s a misnomer.
Wait a sec. So if hormones are irrelevant, I’ll have to question whether you are talking about a human or some sort of machine, perhaps an AI or something. There are plenty of studies that say that hormones play a huge part in why people fight. People pick up on pheromones all the time and want to duke it out. Hitler was one such guy who was disgusted by germs, Jew germs specifically which is much more measurable than saying every German is rascist, Y’know? I happen to like Germany, doesn’t make me a rascist.
Seriously, you are either taking too many drugs or not nearly enough drugs.
The thread is simply a semantic issue about whether the attacks could reasonably be described as “racist”, even if Islam is a religion that crosses ethnic boundaries.
My position is that a racist act doesn’t need to be against a single “race”, it can be for a single “race”, as well. Yes, hormones are irrelevant to that semantic discussion.
Yeah, I just don’t care about semantics or true believers or something as much as you do. All I care about is if some nut case gets so emotional it motivates the nut to do something criminal and preventing that. Other wise people are free to do what ever, say what ever. And I say that because of the Urewera raids, like one chance tip off about what some nastiness some one said cause so much preventable harm. And you are like trying to pin the same rhetoric on people, just this time white peoples and that’s just immoral by my objective standards, trash basically.
Two points:
No, that’s not remotely close to what I actually wrote.
Secondly, if you’re not interested in a semantic discussion, don’t include yourself in a semantic discussion.
So do you agree that in this case that theracism wasn’t against a particular race, it was that the religion he picked in his mind “not white”. ? So do you agree because I don’t, I literally don’t care for semantics. I just don’t believe that too people should agree all the time just to have a debate so, what you have to say for yourself.
If you don’t care for a semantic debate, don’t include yourself in a semantic debate.
I don’t include myself in discussions about sport, because I don’t care for such discussions. I don’t care about Married at First Sight, so I don’t include myself in discussions about that.
As for whether a racist attack must be restricted to being against one ethnicity, or whether that description could also include an attack against every ethnicity except a particular one, that is a semantic discussion in which you have no interest.
So why do you even ask?
So the question I asked you was do you agree that in this case that theracism wasn’t against a particular race, it was that the religion he picked was in his mind “not white”. ? Yes, or no?
As I originally said, yes, I suspect that might be the case for that particular fucker. An anti-semite hates Jews, but I suspect this guy hated everyone he didn’t regard as “white”. As in he is a “white supremacist”.
Yeah, and my premis was that by any “objective” standard, measuring how many times he says his race is purer is more measurable, now I’m not going to write a list of rascist rhetoric for every one to see because we need to be able to spot these guys but it is measurable. Or that they put up walls so thick that it makes it difficult for ideas to cross contaminate potential extremist ideology. I hope you’re following me so far because there’s not much value in semantics catching national security threats when there are fix targets that spooks can knock off.
Ok so a terrorist attack is kind of a random event. But if you’ve got the history you’ll be able to see that it’s not so random after all, it’s measurable and we can prevent this stuff through internal observations.
Well, that leads into another discussion about the validity of using past measurements to predict human behaviour, the holy grail of silicon vally, wall st, and the soviet central planning bureaucracy.
It doesn’t work, because the inputs required to substantially change the outputs are much smaller and more numerous than can ever be measured. So you come up with an “objective” metric (and objectivity in automated data collection and analysis is a whole other issue) and you find pretty quickly that it unfairly targets some groups while other rogue anusses plan their massacres in secret.
But that is all separate from the semantic “was it a racist attack” discussion you included yourself in.
So in one word they don’t think it’s “immoral” to be like spying on your own citizens or even friends and family.
Um, everything you just wrote was either incorrect or nonsensical. Starting with “in one word”.
Was in quotation marks as “immoral” was the one word. So what I’m saying is your data or statements is them getting interviewed and reported. Maybe like filling out a questionnaire for being like rapped of ideas so if you give that questionnaire to grandma she’s going to say what the fuck, no, who likes getting mind fucked for ideology and then she’ll watch coronation street that same night. It’s just dumb and nothing to orient national security measures around.
If you were more specific in your phrasing and more conventional in your grammar and vocabulary, you might be able to communicate your ideas more effectively.
The thing about kiwi culture is we obviously value the right to vote and human rights in general, if most people don’t want those rights to apply then it’s not going to happen by consensus. So in this case you might want to establish that viewing content is wrong, is that where you are going with that?
And what has that got to do with whether the fuckers attack was racist or not?
Sam
You say homosexuals have been stoned to death. And I have heard of erring females condemned to this in some countries. That is bad – are you in a group which protests against this.? When you hear of this happening will you let us know who you are protesting to and we can join and add to the number. If enough people notice perhaps, on a change of leader there would be a change of heart.
Why would we protest? IMO there’s no need to protest because Brunei and New Zealand are members of APEC and we have trade and foreign relations that go back to WW2. Any self respecting prime minister would have the issue top 10 on there things to do at APEC. Like stoning people to death is barbaric and would be enough to get your country thrown out of APEC.
sam
You are probably a great guy. But never become a politician otherwise the compromises you will have to make to achieve things for your country will fragment you so much you will fall in flakes on the floor.
Every country has a stain that won’t wash out, and it pays to remember that and not look at each other’s dirty linen while sitting at meetings with other countries about mutually important matters.
I have heard of so many really terrible things in my lifetime that if I concentrated too much on any one of them I would go mad. It is like looking at the sun – you can’t stare at it without hurting yourself. I
do hope you understand analogies otherwise I am wasting my time.
And I do hope that you can take suggestions to your heart and brain and learn from them, I fear from reading your numerous missives that they don’t get far in. And I suggest that you who are so shocked at what happened, do something personal to protest it. If you try it you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you aren’t like the people who are so callous, and have shown them how different you are.
So then what if I argue that votes or those opinions are superficial?
But is your judgment worth a dime? Do you know what superficial opinion is like when you see it?
None of your comment makes any sense.
1. Islam and Christianity aren’t races.
2. Why would anti-racists necessarily even have a view on whether “Christendom” (for want of a better term) is “better” than the Umma, let alone feel the urge to hold forth on the subject?
3. I haven’t noticed any anti-racists claiming we should tolerate Sharia law (in this country, at least). Or did you mean “tolerate Sharia law” anywhere in the world including Brunei? That would be even less likely.
1. You don’t get satire? 2. No idea. 3. I have. No.
Will they franky? Says who?
Literalism, Gabby? So early in the day? Do you also do push-ups before breakfast?
If you’re fishing for admission that I used a rhetorical device, happy to oblige…
Is that what fuckups are called now franky?
ha ha make me laugh Gabby – remind me of a previous poster Felix who used to sprinkle these pages with delightful one-liners of wit and mirth
Yes I remember Felix vto. Maybe the smartest contributor ever to grace this site. His one/two liners were pithy and always went straight to the heart of the topic under discussion. He floored those who tried to up-end him. One day one of them went too far and it turned nasty. Felix got up and walked away never to return. Gabby does remind me of him too.
Yes exactly, he was great.. and as you say impenetrable..
Same here; I think everyone learned very quickly to not rub the kitty up the wrong way 🙂
Reminds me a bit of a mate of mine at the pub. Me, I’m mouthing off all the time on everything and anything. Others aren’t shy of sharing an opinion. S is usually pretty quiet. But every so often when one of us (usually me) is in full flight and takes an instant to draw breath, S will say (at most) half a dozen words that just deflate me completely and cause much laughter.
It really is an art form
No, still called push-ups. I leave them to younger folk. Running on the beach just downhill from here is way better. 🏃 + 🧘♂️
You certainly pushed that one right up franky.
Nah, to be fair I can’t take the credit. The Sultan is the dude on the day. Exemplary demonstration of sharia law to leftists everywhere, so they can explain why it ought to be tolerated. I encourage them not to hold back any longer. Get started!! 😎
I put up a comment on dishonest debating tactics not long ago in the, somewhat forlorn hope, that some would get the hint, and make an honest attempt to discuss, solutions.
Rather than having “pissing contests”.
Those who just want to “win the debate”, or show how clever they are, are just playing games, not helping.
Look up straw man, Frank.
Please point to the posts, specifically from The Standard where lefties have given you cause to ask for them to:
“explain why it [Sharia Law] ought to be tolerated”
You are looking for fuel to take to another blog.
“They said Sharia Law’s all good”
I can only speak for myself. But I’d hazard
No, we (the left on TS) did not approve of, or ever argue for, Sharia Law. Your claim is repulsive, your motives? WTF is wrong with you mate?
Almost bannable, imo.
You haven’t heard of sin by omission? It’s a traditional thing. The danger I’m alerting everyone too is that tolerance of islam means tolerance of sharia law.
I agree that implementation of sharia law as per the Sultan or Saudia Arabia etc is not currently attempted here (as far as I know). If the Islamic community has issued an official statement that it will not be used in Aotearoa, well and good. We need citation as proof to provide reassurance.
Shooting the canary in the coal-mine is a dumb response imo. Best to address the actual issue.
Bullshit Dennis.
Does my toleration of Christianity, mean I tolerate the Catholic view on “apostasy” homosexuality or womens rights?
Obviously not.
Something else for you to look up. False equivalence,
It’s a good metaphor, that canary.
Only worth listening to when it falls silent.
Man who reads his first verse of the Quran days ago imagines himself
‘the canary in the coal-mine’
and supposes that he has some important insight.
Reads Terrorist manifesto, right wing rants, concerns over extremist government in Brunei…
Calls for reassurance from New Zealand’s ‘Islamic community’.
Delusional, and a bigot?
Still nobody addressing the actual issue. Wonder why evasion is so appealing? It was last year that a media report featured the verse that proves the prophet required his follower to kill unbelievers, WTB. Who would actually want to read the Koran?? Certainly not me, so stop spinning your usual misrepresentations of others.
How many times have I already told you here that I’ve never wanted to read that manifesto due to the likelihood psychic contamination. Yet still you wrote “Reads Terrorist manifesto” – in order to prove yourself a liar?? Such behaviour seems a more worthy candidate for banning. Why would any moderators here want to tolerate such deliberate lying? You ought to apologise.
And I did not call “for reassurance from New Zealand’s ‘Islamic community’”. Re-read what I wrote! I pointed out how that community could reassure the kiwi public. Allay fears about sharia law. I hope they do so. Peaceful assimilation requires it.
Still trying to get people banned eh Dennis. You really are a lot less smart than you think you are. Remember the other day with Mickey you thicko? Youre becoming a parody poster, a joke. Thank God you never got near power.
You’re also misrepresenting me. First time I ever suggested behaviour here could deserve a ban! Get a grip Marty. Just because you feel unable to address the moral issue is no excuse.
“Who would actually want to read the Koran?? Certainly not me”
You just keep going, like an energizer dunny.
You were quoting the terrorists views here, don’t be lying, wayback knows.
Untrue – you did it to me too Dennis. If you grip it any tighter mate the toothpick will snap. Funny how you like running against the tide – just a big ego wank to you, you seem to lack any idea of others. Sad.
Most Westerner’s never read the Bible, much less the Quran. Even many believers don’t.
But having a reasonable working knowledge of the former, and made an attempt at understanding the latter, what I can say is that most people are going to encounter the English translation of the Quran with almost total bafflement. It’s written in a language that is largely incomprehensible to the modern mind, it’s history, it’s allusions and that it’s really only understood at multiple levels of abstraction simultaneously are a challenge to even the serious student.
Personally I got some distance into it and found it too hard. So I’m not posing as any kind of expert.
The other big challenge is that most Westerners will instinctively compare Muhammad with Christ, when realistically the better comparison is with Moses. The trajectory of both their ministries meant they were not only the pivotal spiritual source for their followers, but were also responsible for the civil administration of substantial communities in their own lifetime.
Nor do most modern people have much grasp of how entirely different the nature of Arabian society was in that era. It was an extremely tribal and fractured society, placing a high value on prowess in battle, while at the same time boasting highly developed poetic literary tradition. There really was nothing resembling the ‘rule of law’ as we would recognise it.
So when modern people look at sharia law what we miss is that compared to the relative barbarity it replaced, Islamic Law was highly enlightened. For instance the usual tribal punishment for theft was for a posse of young bloods to track down the suspected offender and disembowel him on the spot. When Muhammad required a minimum number of witnesses, due process and the removal of the left hand little finger for the third offense; it would have been regarded as absurdly liberal by the people of the time.
Hey, WTB, trying to pretend you can’t tell the difference between reading the Koran and commenting on selected quotations from it in the media just insults the intelligence of every reader of what you wrote. Is that really your purpose? You usually come across as smarter than that.
Plus it’s the only quote from it that I’ve ever felt the need to comment on. Due to the apparent fear & motive of the shooter.
Suitable context for relative judgment, RL. People tend to move on. Too bad ideologies don’t move with them, eh? I have no problem with the general practice of islam. I’m only targeting the toxic bit, which is maintained via ideology down through the centuries.
If I did it to you then I’m sorry Marty. It isn’t part of my conscious way of contributing, so I suspect it was just how you perceived something I wrote (not my intended meaning).
Also, ego is a seeming thing. I’m aware of the extent to which I fight the good fight as per childhood Christian brainwashing. If my conscience did not require me to do so on an issue by issue basis, I would relinquish that motivation. I’m old enough to!
But someone ought to represent the centrist view here as a positive alternative to partisan leftists. Have you noticed how easily I identify common ground with non-partisan leftists here? And you sometimes – you seem to oscillate between both stances. I just wish you would copy me & play the ball, not the man. Consensus never develops if participants polarise on a personal basis.
@ Dennis yep fair enough.
The right are a problem. Centrists are also a big problem imo. You Pete George, red logix all push the middleman line and I think it is dishonest because you enable the right and dilute solid left thinking and actions so really you may as well be right as far as I’m concerned. The velvety smooth tones dripping with false concern make my skin crawl when middlemen do it. So yeah nah.
Thing is, the concern isn’t actually false! Dunno why you would even want to try that stance on. Can you really not detect genuine motivations in others?? Doing so is part of emotional intelligence, which you do exhibit in other respects. It’s vital to how groups function. I’m aware it ain’t easy online, of course.
Way to miss the point. ffs you’re a frustrating bastard – bet you’ve heard that before. You aren’t an ally you’re on the other side imo for the reasons above.
@marty
So I’ve been contributing here for 12 years and it’s all a fake? That is an impressive long bow you have there.
Nor am I a centrist, politically I’m moderate left with a libertarian streak.
But you are correct; us moderates who in fact comprise at least 90% of the political spectrum, are capable of working with people of all persuasions, and we are the ones who stand in the way of radicals like you imposing yet another mad, utopian revolution every 10 minutes or so.
So yes I do understand why you shit on me so. If indeed I was a fake you wouldn’t get so angry with me all the time.
Ever thought that rather than being “partisan”, we are responding to an observed reality.
Whereas the fence sitters are pretending to be concerned and looking for solutions, when in reality it is all bloodless to them, so long as their comfortable middle class boat, doesn’t get rocked.
The fact is for everyone to do better, some of us have to give up a little, socialism. And I am one who has enough income to be paying higher taxes. A small price to pay to live in a decent society.
Mad utopian revolution. Like the first Labour party, you mean?
I haven’t seen anyone, you call “partisan left” advocating anything more extreme than Democratic socialism, in a mixed economy. Not much different from the statements of our present Prime Minister.
Your concern is noted, but it doesn’t help even one young person into a home, or a decent job, when you support those who are doing the harm.
so long as their comfortable middle class boat, doesn’t get rocked.
What the same middle class boat that everyone aspires to in order to escape poverty and insecurity?
Did you know that globally there are now more people in the middle class, more people who have escaped poverty than any time in all of human history? 3.8 billion people, more than half of humanity?
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/09/27/a-global-tipping-point-half-the-world-is-now-middle-class-or-wealthier/
So exactly why do you want that boat rocked again?
@ red yep you stand in the way and obstruct and distract and dilute left thinking. You are a roadblock to the future. Your fakeness is you think you add value to the left – you don’t imo you add value to the right.
How to miss the point again @Red.
We have more people in poverty in New Zealand, than we ever had.
Despite having more physical resources per capita than almost any other country.
I have a picture in my mind of a nice doggie with a stick and the game is to drop it and then the other picks it up and throws it. And doggie runs after it swiftly and happily and brings it back. And part of the game is the doggie holds onto it and won’t drop it so it can be thrown again, until encouraged by the other; ‘Drop it, drop, drop’.
Should the doggie be left holding the stick and the game finish?
Should it be left to hold the stick and beat everybody with it?
As everyone knows who has a dog, this game can go on for hours.
In the dog’s mind it is fun and a very fulfilling and satisfying activity
but the other involved has to decide when to stop and do something else. The game then is put on hold, and the those involved go away and attend to other pursuits.
Perhaps someone could report other newsworthy events so we can switch focus? But I’m already in the garden pulling wet weeds. Still at least one dark frog in the rainwater tub.
Attended Taranaki 2050 workshop on people & talent session 3 yesterday. Still amazed that the govt is actually providing a design-for-resilience process. Impressed with both the format and conduct of their process too. Full marks to the coalition + Greens again!
DF
Next Sunday in the How to get there post – Would you put up a small – even bulleted – report of what impressed you about the event’s outcomes, please? And what you think about the Labour Coalition’s plans and directions and achievements in them so far?
It sounds so interesting to hear positives is so good and what you think we should look for government progress in, and perhaps what isn;t being grasped satisfactorily. Regards to you. Woof, wag.
Had been thinking of doing so. Hope I will remember to. Pulling together impressions, commenting on design & process…
“Pence’s ascent to the second most powerful position in the U.S. government is a tremendous coup for the radical religious right. Pence — and his fellow Christian supremacist militants — would not have been able to win the White House on their own. For them, Donald Trump was a godsend.”
” Horror that a candidate who ran on a platform of open bigotry, threats against immigrants and Muslims, and blatant misogyny will soon be president is now sinking in. ” https://theintercept.com/2016/11/15/mike-pence-will-be-the-most-powerful-christian-supremacist-in-us-history/
Here’s a Muslim man answering dennis s negative Muslim stereotyping ,,,,, it’s probably best he says it ….. as dennis s sort always complains about the Muslim community not condemning enough ….
Tweets by QasimRashid
The draconian nation of Brunei to enforce capital punishment for LGBT
•This is barbaric & has no semblance w/Islam & human rights
•UK heavily funds & supports Brunei—that must end
•Brunei’s own leadership is corrupt & evil This is wrong. It must stop.
The article reports the UK has thousands of troops in Brunei and buys oil from Brunei. Moreover Brunei was a UK colony until 1984 & its anti-LGBT laws were enacted during that colonial period. It’s a wealthy dictatorship supported by a world superpower. Horrible combination.
The danger of fighting monsters is that you risk becoming a monster yourself.
On the fact that every frontline New Zealand police officer now has a compulsory glock on their hip, (alongside their tazer).
That police with fully automatic weapons attend every public event.
That the National Party are seeking even more intrusive powers, and even lesser accountability for our spy agencies.
I am totally against the routine arming of police, for many reasons.
But. I agree with it for the next few weeks, as an measured response to an immediate threat.
Given the police commissioner has put a time limit on it.
Like you, I don’t think the spies need any more power.
They have shown they cannot be trusted with those they have.
The spies need more adult supervision.
Doesn’t attract the sort of person who wants to be a spy. 🙂
Love drives out hate
The son of a Japanese immigrant who fought for New Zealand, makes a powerful statement against xenophobia and fascism at the age of 95.
Glenn McConnell is a journalist and student. He writes a fortnightly column for Stuff. His view of the manifesto suppression:
“I’ve seen people online offering to distribute the document via less well moderated sites than Facebook, in retaliation against the censor. The rare banning is simply a warning shot. It’s virtue-signalling in its greatest form. It lets people know that, if they share views like that, they really have no place in New Zealand. They are not “us”.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111574053/were-banning-their-comments-manifesto-and-books–lets-stop-and-talk
“As valiant as our campaign to silence racism may seem, what we really need to do is understand it. We’ll need to meet people, in real life. Perhaps the only good thing of these past days has been meeting people. I’ve seen diversity and genuine interest from strangers in one and other. It has restored a sense of heart during a time that has seemed so dark. Maybe we also need to reach out to those who share views similar to the attacker. Our only other option is to live under a surveillance state.”
He’s getting dangerously close to having an open mind, eh? Leftist brain police will have to bombard him with denial. Hippie advocacy of peace, love & understanding prevailed over the mainstreamer’s ethos of war, hate and misunderstanding during the seventies, but perhaps we are due to repeat the cycle…
This is your expert’s advice
“We’ll need to meet people, in real life.”
You are correct, that’s ‘dangerously close to an open mind’, and the left will undoubtedly be upset by the concept of sunlight and human relations.
Thanks for the wisdom.
“Maybe we also need to reach out to those who share views similar to the attacker.”
We’ve seen you doing exactly that. What a humanitarian.
Unlike you to give credit where it’s due, but I appreciate the momentary lapse. 😇
I think this is a much better example where censorship might be considered OTT, but maybe still worth a debate:
The word: cyclist.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12216990
Indeed a good example. Who would have thought that cyclist is dehumanising? However, social science research would need to establish a solid basis for deciding that the word does have that effect in the minds of most drivers.
People who drive motor vehicles franky. Please don’t dehumanise them or Nanelle will get upset. I’m sure the people who conduct research have done a fine job for the person who teaches at a place where people go to learn stuff after they finish learning stuff at the places where people under 18 go to learn easier stuff.
I imagine certain phrases can become ‘curses’ rapidly in social media where meme generation is a full time preoccupation for some.
There are some drivers who feel the road is solely their domain, and cyclists are encroaching on it. While I think entitlement is a large part of the issue, it comes from both sides. We’ve all seen the clips of cyclists two-three abreast on winding country roads – and cyclists have all been cut off at some point…
Again, two aggrieved sides, escalation, words traded, sides taken.
Across the road from me a Professor who cycles. Next door a tradie with a pick up. Neighbors and friends.
Neither the enemy, but when I drive the cyclists are annoying, and when I cycle the cars are dangerous. The (slight) dehumanising aspect occurs in a split second. The brain keeps this rot in check so I can drive A-B and all involved get home safely.
The driver who thinks the road is theirs, the cyclist who thinks the road is theirs, both part of the problem. imo.
I think referring to cyclists as people on bicycles has merit. But is it all a bit silly?
You’re right – there’s a silly side plus a serious side. I’ve encountered the `cyclists two-three abreast’ thing myself several times. I wonder if they are deliberately breaking the law or if the law got changed & I never noticed.
I became a competitive driver in Auckland & Sydney traffic, ended up always beating others to the gap in the traffic flow, but nowadays take it real easy. I know how road rage kicks in fast.
Absolutely agree to take it easy.
My advice to any friends visiting AK is to give themselves an extra half hour for their journeys across town. So if traffic hits they’re still ok not frothing. Phones help too. Pull aside and let your destination know you’re in traffic it takes the pressure right off.
And I always take some reading with me, for when traffic is light I get to relax before meetings. Others might prefer something else to reading.
I think it would be useful to spread memes/public education something around when you see a cyclist – it is a human on a cycle – when you see a car – it is a human in a car. Obviously more catchy than that…
From drivers vs cyclists to humans in cars and humans on bikes.
The main reason why cyclists don’t always keep closely to the left is to prevent motorists from cutting them off at intersections, pinch points, bridges and roundabouts.
Every cyclist frequently has the experience of a car or truck coming dangerously close at a point where the rider has no room to move, and as a matter of simple survival they quickly find the best tactic is to move to the centre of the lane for a short period to stop this from happening.
Then when space permits the rider or group will generally move back closer to the left. Cyclists riding in large groups are almost always moving at a reasonable speed usually > 40km/hr and while people love moaning about these ‘lycra-clad road rats’, for the most part they really don’t hold motorists up for more than 30secs or maybe a minute or two at worst.
While the road code does give guidance around motorists to leaving a 1.0 or 1.5m passing distance, the reality is that there are many places where achieving that is not possible.
http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2015/11/13/mythbusting-what-a-safe-passing-rule-means/
Years back I was riding somewhere in the South Is near Timaru heading onto a bridge, when an NZR bus roared past at full speed, frighteningly close. I crossed the bridge and a bit shaken took a break on the other side. I still recall my shock at finding a distinct little pile of NZR bus paint on the buckle of my roadside pannier.
Good link that RL, A most important point is made:
” If it is a narrow road, then generally the safest option is to overtake using the next lane over, when the way is clear. If it’s not safe to overtake due to oncoming traffic, then slow down and wait – it’s what you would do if it was (say) a slow-moving tractor. It’s interesting how so many drivers jump straight to the default option of trying to squeeze past between a bike and an adjacent motor vehicle”
In cities one reason not to keep left is car door openers – a real hazard.
Back when I biked frequently I used to reckon on one close call a week, and the only real solution is to keep as far as possible away from drivers. Things like the free left turn bikes take at lights are a safety thing – they put space between you and trouble.
Park cars, when the driver exit, they can’t see a cyclist, the further left the more in the blind spot. So good drivers know this, and govt should lower speed to 30 in tightly parked areas.
@ Soddenleaf
There is actually a simple cure for the car door bike killers. In the Netherlands, drivers are taught to open doors with the inside hand, which tilts the shoulders and makes looking behind much easier – no risk of cricks in necks.
As an (almost) daily cyclist, the biggest thing motorists need to remember is, cycles are allowed to ride in the lane. Not confined to the left of the white line where the parked cars, glass, bits of metal, sharp stones etc reside. If I am passing parked cars I allow for someone opening the door.
I understand the arguments from both sides and in general it boils down to tolerance. I have had quite a few arguments with people over the ‘rights’ of cyclists but I have found that asking them whose fault it is why kids no longer find it safe to bike to school usually shuts them up.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216713
Not really sure how being licensed, have a WOF and Rego contributed to this situation…
There is such an unsatisfactory story here. Cyclists are not being looked after. Everyone is disadvantaged who is trying to be responsible and not use cars.
* A cyclist is doing good for themselves and the planet.
* But there is not a safe lane for them.
* If they go for too long in the way of a car the driver can’t use the car effectively. So has to dawdle behind the cyclist. and holds up a line of traffic at 10-20km when the road was built and planned for 40 km up.
* Bikes on pavements – I hadn’t realised that adults aren’t legally allowed to ride there, just children. I don’t notice adult cyclists paying much attention to the law, and both adults and schoolboys in my area are menacing pedestrians without concern as they whip by either silently, or alarmingly with bells announcing I’m coming – get out of my way.
* If one runs into me and I fall over and sprain or break something, who cares? Who pays for my doctor visit, for the extra dressings I need, for my pain relief, for my lost opportunities while I recover at home stiff and sore? Who recompenses me for the loss of my freedom to move relaxed and peaceful on the footpath without the constraint of awareness, to enjoy my surroundings without being compromised by vehicles that can harm me?
* Cyclists involved in an accident have those same problems.
So they move onto the footpath and endanger pedestrians and behave just like the drivers they are avoiding.
* The effect of cyclists children and adults on the footpath is
that pedestrians have to be on the watchout as if they are walking on a road with slowish traffic; a pavement, is supposed to be a safe haven from vehicles on the road, but is now a path taken over by two-wheeled vehicles, mobility carts, scooters and now Lime scooters.
Ways forward:
* All bicycles with a chain and pedals, even little ones must have a licence with number plates, not too costly but enough to cover the adminisration and number plate costs. This will put in people’s and children’s minds that they are driving a moving vehicle and they must take care, and avoid pedestrians, not the other way round.
* Same for mobility scooters which will be required to use the footpath unless it is too narrow etc. (On the road mobility scooters are really dangerous as their riders are often away in another world, or in a bubble of entitlement that doesn’t include being courteous to other road users.)
* Anyone who runs into someone or causes an accident should, as part of a code of behaviour which will be drawn up and publicised continually to bike and mobility riders, have to help the person they have struck or caused to fall, and leave their licence number.
** And car imports should gradually be reduced, cars should go back to normal size not be high, metal, tiny houses.
* Public transport increase.
* Legitimate taxi companies set up an arrangement where you can place an order for one at a set price, but choose to register for a shared route going to your destination with the cost apportioned. This might take people to a rail hub, a bit like a small bus but would come to your door. There would be a flag fall fee for registering for the shared ride.
* Uber drivers have to pay a flag-fall to the government for each ride. And the system have to pay a user-free for use of the roads.
* Roads should where possible have a wide left hand lane for bikes.
* Planners should stop doing just the same as they do overseas as we are different. Other systems may not work in NZ. Give them a try in some places but not blanket over a whole area.
* Bicycles and bus and truck drivers should have special understandings of each other, be encouraged to see themselves as special, worthy people, looking out for each other; bicycles good for the planet and trucks and buses hauling things and people around – helping, working for community and our business. Each aware of the other and trying to be very clear about hand signals and being aware of future moves.
* Bicycles to have rear mirrors on handlebars so they know what is behind.
* Lime scooters zipping past my place or on city footpaths always a bit fast are going to be more than an irritation.
* There needs to be a tiny, inexpensive Court to deal with infractions (and perhaps fractures) on the footpath so that pedestrians and other users have somewhere to meet and settle who should pay costs after injury and damage. And an established level of violence is to be allowed. Hitting someone over the head with a handbag just okay, but if it has a brick in it, no. Using a bottle will be forbidden. Slapping with gloves means a fine or cycle pumps at dawn with seconds present.
And there should be a code of conduct – pedestrians must not stand having long conversations in the middle of the path; no poking umbrellas through the bicycle spokes, or at riders. Water pistols would be allowed, but not containing indelible dyes.
I have written down all the thoughts that came to me. We need to make changes and I thought that would be a nice lot to start with. No doubt there will be some helpful comments on these.
I’m definitely learning things here I’d not fully considered before with regards to cyclists on roads.
I think more public education is required – education in the points cyclists and car drivers are making here, and other relevant points of course.
Life saving education. Bonus – making the roads more pleasant to be on.
Time management
Respect
Understanding the other’s perspective and situation (a mile in the others shoes)
Re-humanising fellow travelers
WTB= ” I think more public education is required – education in the points cyclists and car drivers are making here,”
What about truck drivers too?
2400 truck movements pass every day on Napier’s roads to Napier port so how do you intend to police the trucks?
Answers please?
Camera surveillance perhaps like Tauranga had on noisy trucks??
14 Feb 2014 12:55 pm | NZ Transport Agency
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/noise-camera-a-sound-initiative/
NZ Transport Agency
1. Media releases
Noise camera a ‘sound’ initiative
14 Feb 2014 12:55 pm | NZ Transport Agency
The NZ Transport Agency is working with the Road Transport Association NZ, Log Transport Safety Council, and National Road Carriers to reduce engine braking noise through a trial in Tauranga.
A ‘noise camera’, which has been installed on SH2 Takitimu Drive near the Elizabeth St roundabout, is at the centre of the trial.
Transport Agency Freight Director Harry Wilson says the camera, a first for New Zealand, photographs only those trucks using noisy engine brakes.
“Answers please?”
I don’t have answers.
The conversation will require all road users and persons cleverer than me at the table. There’s obviously misunderstanding on both sides (cyclists/motorists) as to road rules regarding cycling, and motorists ‘rights’.
Maybe the process would be something like: Work out exactly what’s what – data, law and the views/experiences of road users and experts, see if things might need a tweak to improve safety and then tweak, package in laymans terms a guide for all road users, disseminate the information broadly.
I like the noise cameras, clever.
Two abreast is legal. You just have to think of them as just another slow vehicle. Like the old guy with a cap driving at 30 k.
Also riding in front of a car to ensure your safety, on a road or roundabout where it is too narrow for the car to pass you against oncoming traffic, without pushing you off the road.
Some Car drivers often think they have an absolute right to pass a bike, and a tractor or any slower vehicle, in any situation. Or to turn left in front of you.
The rules say you cannot pass unless you can do it safely. Same as with any vehicle which holds you up. That means being able to keep at least 1m from the bike.
I’ve biked in just about all New Zealand cities. Most car drivers are actually OK. Often they simply don’t see you. Something you have to allow for. Their focus is on other cars. I’ve decided Auckland drivers drive with their eyes shut 🙂
It is only in Wellington, I’ve had car drivers deliberately try and run me over.
I stopped cycling into uni in Auckland it was too dangerous. Rain made road surfaces reflective and shiny, sun made buildings reflective and shiny, pedestrians darting across, buses weaving in and out… I walked.
Sensory overload!
Much nicer walking, and often just as fast as the backed up traffic.
Two abreast was illegal when I passed my driver test & got my licence in ’67. Either that or I’m now so old memory is unreliable.
http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/2013/06/16/can-you-ride-two-abreast/
“Many cyclists believe that the law is completely on their side with this behaviour, as the Road Code (and the underlying legal Road Rules) allows cyclists to ride two abreast. However the rules do not give cyclists the right to ride two abreast in all circumstances. For example, they must resume cycling single-file when passing to the right of another vehicle, including a parked vehicle. Technically this makes it rather hard to ride next to your mate on many urban streets; you’d be constantly switching back and forth between one and two abreast.”
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadcode/cyclist-code/about-cycling/rules/
Always ride as near as you can to the left side of the road. If you are holding back traffic you must move as far as possible to the left side of the road to allow traffic to pass, as soon as you can. However, you do need to cycle in a sensible position on the road to keep safe. See Cyclist responsibilities for more information.
Two cyclists can ride next to each other but should take into account the keep left rule and not hold back traffic. Three or more people cycling next to each other is illegal, except in the case of a road race that has been given traffic management approval from a road controlling authority.
It’s actually a pretty balanced article, DF just quoted the bits that are the cons against censoring nazis.
The amount of effort to lift your foot slightly off the accelerator or softly push the break pedal is nothing compared to those cyclists using all their energy in all weather. It astounds me how impatient drivers are, just calm the fuck down. Sure there are idiot cyclists, but there are a screaming lot of bully car drivers out there.
I’m trying to keep out of the cycling debate.
The cycling debate is othering.
Othering is easy when you are in a car and they are in lycra.
A related example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HdgVcGjzgR4
I doubt there’s ever been a war in Yemen without British involvement.
At least five members of Britain’s special forces have reportedly been injured in gun battles in Yemen. If true, the story has serious implications because the British government has long insisted that it is not a party to the conflict.
https://medium.com/@Brian_Whit/british-forces-injured-in-yemen-is-uk-now-a-party-to-the-conflict-7149fc0efcbd
Well technically it may have “serious implications” but who really cares about Yemen when the papers are full of Brexit.
The “man on the Clapham Omnibus” – (the famous average Joe in England) worries about himself and whether Brexit will affect his holiday in Spain this year.
May is toast, so who is actually worrying about Yemen? Surely not her, and it wont sell papers but for one day, Then its back to Brexit and how it will affect our holidays in Spain.
The yankers mightn’t have even told Maybot there were pommies in Yemen.
Were they hit by fragments of wedding guests?
You’se kin pry mah BBQ tongs from mah cold deed hands.
Kiwi Nationalism.
Rugger version – you can take the ‘Crusaders’ name from my…
Yeah…
Ha ha – oh yes there fuckin’ is matey! I’ll be feeling both joy and happiness when yours finishes.
I usually find that somewhere between 45-55% of the nation finds joy and happiness in the end of a high profile politicians career.
Tho the numbers may have been higher when Bill Birch pulled the pin
Poor Jacob isn’t nearly as smart as his dad Bill.
It will be interesting to know who has been pressing this guys buttons in Christchurch, I doubt very much he is a “Lone Wolf”, I think some of the other shooters at the Bruce Rifle Range should be investigated by the SIS ?
I had the same impression from the ex-soldier who joined that gun club, was dismayed by the culture, and never went back! Saw him interviewed a couple of times, thought he was a credible witness.
I’m sure the authorities are all over it. Unless someone’s cousin / school chum would rather they weren’t.
I would think that the other shooters at Bruce Rifle Range will have been investigated thoroughly in the past week or so.
To not do so would be negligent
So disgusting and the cause of SO MUCH SUFFERING – just horrendous.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/111311921/we-finally-know-the-true-extent-of-abuse-in-state-care-it-is-shocking
That article was originally published on the morning of the 15th. I recall Siobahn and myself, both as former foster parents, had a brief discussion about these dreadful stats. This was before our world exploded.
Significant is that the the numbers are high because Oranga Tamariki are collecting and recording the data differently….there may not actually be more abuse…it is that the abuse is being counted.
Also relevant is the breakdown of which particular type of person involved with the care of these children is attracting the greatest number of complaints…and type of complaint.
And when Oranga Tamariki fail to act decisively on notifications from concerned neighbours… https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/385757/little-waihi-residents-vow-that-2yo-nevaeh-jahkaya-whatukura-ager-s-death-not-in-vain
This whanau’s world was exploding in full public view, in the glare of the media spotlight, and none of the authorities the neighbours expressed their concerns to about the wee girl’s safety stepped in to save her life.
Yes I wanted to bring it back to awareness for some – for others like us we havent forgotten it – just timing really.
It is so difficult to rejoin/trust society when state sanctioned caregivers are in fact tormentors and abusers. Especially where folk then go to other authorities only to be patronised and have it all swept under the carpet.
And so a new generation arrive with anti-social tendencies created by society.
I remember you posting on the 15th about this. I left a poem there as it’s all a bit close for comfort to talk at length about here.
I met Shane in State ‘Care’.
Shane
He was 14 and he slept
Curled up in our dog kennel
Under an old cooking apple tree
That had seen
It was better, he said
than the last foster care
and the one before that
and back through the years
He had the prettiest longest eyelashes
This side of the Caribbean
and he
Won hearts and minds
and he
Broke them again
The prize, he said, is Doctor’s bags
Chemists shelves
And surgery swag
As he lit out from his captors
Once more
He was caught then escaped
Till too aged for such japes
Then they took him to Waikeria
To grow old.
I’d like to think that it is understood that not all ‘state sanctioned caregivers’ are/were tormentors and abusers…
Most of us did our very best…realising that in many cases it would never be enough.
I can say with some certitude that all of the children we cared for needed to be removed from their family home to ensure their immediate safety. The myth that authorities are constantly cruising, seeking to violently remove perfectly happy children from safe and loving homes needs to be debunked once and for all.
It simply isn’t true in the vast number of instances. And when they are tardy in responding to reports of children at risk…yet another dead child.
That the authorities (because who the hell knows what we’ll be calling them next restructuring) don’t place these children in safe environments and don’t provide much needed support for these children and their new (hopefully temporary) families is the true crime.
The fact that so many children’s homes are so absolutely dysfunctional, and there seems to be no imperative to find out why is a national disgrace.
“Most of us did our very best…realising that in many cases it would never be enough.”
I absolutely agree. And if not for people like yourself in the system, some of us would have had no hope.
What got/still gets me is that there have been no significant improvements in the care and protection of children since I was officially an ‘at risk’ child some fifty odd years ago.
Yes. There’s so much that works in society, but why aren’t we actively taking on feedback and fixing the things which aren’t working and especially causing harm? BAU finds it inconvenient? Too simplistic…
Perhaps we are at least in some areas now making progress. For me it seems the wheels grind interminably slower for those aware of the issues.
e.g. Some people have been fighting on climate change for half a century or maybe more, that’s got to be SO frustrating. I was a late tagger on, maybe 20 years, still feeling a bit tired of talking about it 😉
I remember someone caring for a young child who came to them without any of the personal management milestones, and was helped greatly. Soon she could use the toilet, didn’t do it all in her pants/naps. But each time she went back home to visit she would return having reverted to the default system she had adopted in all the basics. It was very hard to deal with and it seemed that keeping her in touch with home was possibly spoiling her development, retarding her so she would be behind her peers as she grew up. It also made foster care of her more difficult than it should have been, and more demanding on the rest of the household.
This week, there have been two opinion pieces commenting on gangs following to the Christchurch massacres. Stuff’s offering from Mike Yardley, was based on old prejudices, unsubstantiated assumptions and was dripping with cynicism and insulting language. In it he advocated legal changes which would presume gang members should not share the same rights as others and indicated that gangs should be disposed of by the State using violent means. To add flavor, he referenced a comment by the Minister of Police that was at odds with the aspirational, inclusive and kindness of the Prime Minister that have gained international respect. The rant was obviously poorly researched, ill-considered and lacked the insight and eloquence of Paito Fatu, the inspirational president of the county’s largest Mongrel Mob chapter. In summary, he depicting a country where the ‘good people’ are constantly being assaulted in a war with gang members who are armed to the teeth with semi-automatic rifles that they won’t surrender. A strange commentary when it was white supremacy that stirred the pot. Stuff carried the opinion piece at the most inopportune of times but at least had the decency to remove it from the website within hours. On the other hand, today’s Herald carries an informed nuanced opinion piece by a qualified researcher and expert, Jarrod Gilbert (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216426).
Gilbie has no idea aomy.
Its becoming so hard to tell who these ‘good people ‘ are,
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thai-king-urges-support-for-good-people-hours-before-polls-open
thank some deity for bertold brecht
Sonny Fatu inspired nothing but fear for a long time. The name is legend in some circles and it aint good. A supposed change of heart is commendable, but cynicism is not unreasonable (not talking about the news attack pieces but people in general).
I commend the man for his current stance. It is up to him to show if he is posturing or genuine. We love redemption stories, and they do occur. If Sonny can turn it around, there’s hope for a lot of bad bastards.
Address addictions, they make bad stuff worse and healing much harder.
Address hate by humbling yourself in the service of others more vulnerable than yourself. When love is given, love is received, not before.
Service to your community builds pride.
Staying your hand shows strength. Especially where you are stronger physically.
Re-establish ties to culture and family where broken. Be patient. Where family is not present build new ties based on love and respect.
It’s so much better being part of the world than hating it. Despite the fact some may have lists of grievances against them, it is not an excuse to cause harm.
You could find good news every day if you sought it out. Even better, you could create good news.
Some might think I’m patronising, they have no idea of the shit I’ve survived to be here.
It’s so much better being part of the world than hating it.
This.
Some might think I’m patronising, they have no idea of the shit I’ve survived to be here.
No it was always clear you were being honest and authentic to your own story …
Still overly defensive I guess.
Yardley’s piece is still there….https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111533164/despite-their-sorrow-over-the-terror-attacks-nz-gangs-have-not-changed
…and Gilbert is not entirely 100% without a modicum of skepticism, in fact he says…
” There will be sceptics, of course, and that isn’t just understandable; it’s probably healthy.
Not only are the Mongrel Mob responsible for some of New Zealand’s most notorious crimes – think Ambury Park 1986 – but they have also been apt to bite the hand that helps them.
In 2012 a chapter in Dunedin were given access to $20,000 of Whanau Ora funding and they promptly used it to set up a cannabis growing operation. Entrepreneurial, for sure, but not what was envisaged.
So people are right to cast a narrow eye to see how this plays out, but the evidence thus far is there to see. ”
If the days of a father with peripheral Mob connections saying his 15 year old daughter deserved the ‘block’ for hanging around the gang house are over…I’ll be on the road to optimism.
As Gilbert says….these guys are getting old…hopefully they’ll use the last of their ‘influence’ for positive change.
aom
Thanks for link to Jarrod Gilbert. It is interesting to know what he is thinking after his in-depth period being in contact with gangs and knowing how they tick.
As for Mike Yardley, here is a man who apparently free lances and writes in a punchy style, well flavoured so to speak. He does a bit of everything, likes travel, and is probably waiting for his next assignment there. In the meantime he needs to provide some lucre in his pocket and the gangs are reliably colourful and rambunctious.
There is hope for good things from gang initiatives that have come up FTTT and I looked at Denis O’Reilly? the other day for some background. We can give more positives to him and the other leaders who want to find a place where they can be good citizens able to make their way legally whether pakeha or Maori.
You mention Paito Fatu and if he and his Mongrel Mob cohort want to move in a positive direction, that’s good, and the good they have achieved so far should be cause for a happy smile from citizens and with a willingness to support further steps. So let us hear less of Mike Yardley popping up for a fast buck, and more from the Mongrel Mob going after the decent life which should be due to everybody in this society who cares to be a good citizen, whether they wear a suit coat or a leather jacket showing a golf club, or other, logo on it.
A provincial election has been called in Canada’s smallest province Prince Edward Island. The Greens are currently leading in the polls. Should they win they will be the country’s first Green government at provincial level. Islanders will also vote in a referendum on electoral reform asking if they want to stay with FPTP or switch to MMP.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5065522/poll-pei-election/
Shit Scott I drove around PEI (Prince Edward Island in February 1976 as a resident Kiwi in Toronto before leaving Canada.
They are the most friendly folks I have ever met, and a lot of residents there spend all winter in the pubs there, and it reminded me of the west coast of South Island here.
I can see why they would vote for ‘Greens’ as it is a horticulture industry and fishing mainly.
There was a settlement at the south east side of PEI that is called New Zealand.
I stopped at the store and we three kiwis signed the log book of visitors and there was the library of evidence that explained how it was named after a Mariner from NZ was sailing around PEI in the early 1900’s about 1910 i think from memory and he capsized his boat on a reef there and set up their life there afterwards.
You have to hand it to Claire Trevett. Her articles are always well put together, and often very funny. He latest offering is both:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216819
This bit:
LOL
Claire and Hooten have had to go back over a decade to any Labour leader responsibility for lack of gun control.
Anytime they want to hold National’s last three terms to account would be good.
Hooten’s shocking bias against Labour and in defence of National undercuts any rational message he may have.
Hooten = RWNJ
Oh i paid a million for my home, no, wait you paid two… …these peolple selling homes to each other to tap capital gain are bottom of the barrel capitalists. Creaming the top for no advantage to the economy. End the private tax on us all, tax capital gains now.
A fairly charitable read of the situation from the Washington Post:
When it comes to foreign invaders, we must be vigilant:
https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/The-Wiggles-tickets/artist/705291
Is the ‘big red car’ a communist trojan horse?
Does the song ‘toot toot chuga chuga’ encourage our infants to use cocaine and beer?
And what of ‘hot potato’ – a reference to the contentious immigration debate?
In the Herald today there is an article stating that The Wiggles have Sold Out.
Who to?
They’ll deny it, of course, but we mustn’t give them any wriggle room.
Thank you – I needed a smile after wading through all that combative stuff!
Pence? Does he even believe the moon exists wtf is going on here – just out right bullshit or a way to get the big rockets fixed for spacearmy.
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/03/pence-america-will-put-astronauts-back-on-the-moon-in-five-years
Yay to space science. Boo to the posturing.
One could argue the Earth has more pressing issues, but others might argue the Earth is cooked and we need an escape capsule.
Others might simply argue 😉
I am a self confessed space geek. I don’t go too deep into it as all that math is well over my pay grade. But I absolutely love the imagery and commentary returned by excursions and experts.
This stuff fires the imagination, lends wonder and discovery to jaded minds.
To Pence it is a PR tool. A powerful PR tool for an administration direly in need of PR.
Murica!
Yeah – funny. A few days saying “no collusion”, then when the news starts saying “no ,i>conclusive evidence of collusion” we’re back to the moon lol
They need the space suits, first.
The comments under the article are funny.
I’m picturing an earlier meeting in which the administration agreed on the need for a bold new initiative to inspire the American people, something like JFK’s announcement that the US would send astronauts to the moon, and Pence noting down “inspring new initiative – astronauts to moon.”
Damn – is Trump getting all his policy from Iron Sky?
So proud of our people, of our youth. Thank you.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/rnz/teacher-shuts-down-hate-speech-wake-terror-attack
Here on Earth we stand living our our potentially wonderful lives of everyday impact of new ideas, new vistas, change and building on the past, retaining, holding what we can of the good, and trying to learn from the bad. A full time job. Exploring caves with features built up over a the course of a thousand lifetimes. And the capitalist creations made from thousands of ideas and agreements and tokens have built the money system that strips Earth of its resources and denies people the ability or right to have a place to stand and live and be themselves.
Instead capitalism has tilted the playing field where the people stand so that most of us will slide, fall off and die. Then the money-mad materialists will use the requisitioned required resources to send a man and woman to the moon for a permanent base. They know so much that when they look up to the sky they don’t see heaven, religious fantasies are for fools. They have better, scientific fantasies. It’s doing things and utilising the money system that fires the sagging dolls of capitalism as pictured in the Alex cartoons in The Telegraph, limited to their rat runs and their figures on screens.
Caves:
Caves reveal past climate change
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2018688270/caves-reveal-past-climate-change
US wants permanent moon base in five years
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018688550/us-wants-permanent-moon-base-in-five-years
(They will go that far just to get away from those pesky Mexicans?)
Alex – just double click for size.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/alex/alex-archive/
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon believes President Trump will “come off the chains” and “go full animal” on his political opponents. “He will use it to bludgeon them,”
https://nypost.com/2019/03/25/bannon-predicts-trump-to-go-full-animal-now-that-russia-probe-is-over/
Bannon expects the next year in politic to be the most vitriolic since the civil war.
Fasten your seat belts, world.
well he should know, right?
I would agree with that assessment.
The Billion dollar fix.
In the days preceding the official conclusion of the Mueller Report, Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, was on a trip to Romania, where he outlined a $1 billion dollar strategy to get the U.S. President re-elected in 2020.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tudormihailescu/2019/03/24/trump-campaign-chief-outlines-1-billion-strategy-for-2020-on-trip-to-romania/amp/
Latest is;
This will be exposed in documents being released soon.
Republican Senior Lindsey Graham press release; He claims; –
George Soros Billionaire bankrolled a campaign to get a phony Russian collusion case against Donald Trump from Russia/Ukraine contacts under Hillary Clinton before his election as an ‘insurance policy’ should he win that election.
The case began when “A secretive Washington firm that commissioned the dubious intelligence dossier on Donald Trump is stonewalling congressional investigators trying to learn more about its connections to the Democratic Party.”
“The Senate Judiciary Committee is also investigating whether the FBI has wrongly relied on the anti-Trump dossier and its author, Christopher Steele — the old spy who was hired by Fusion GPS to build a Russia file on Trump — to aid its ongoing espionage investigation into the Trump campaign and its possible ties to Moscow.”
We know this was fake information now of Russian Collusion between Trump debunked by special Council Mueller.
https://nypost.com/2017/06/24/inside-the-shadowy-intelligence-firm-behind-the-trump-dossier/
How to sell a massacre part 2 is up
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/australia-nation-offered-change-voting-system-cash-190327170846167.html
Oh deary me…
Thanks WTB for the link, much appreciated.
NRA targeting NZ social media users
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12216973
‘From the cradle to the grave’
The Welfare State still lives
We have Corporate Welfare, where the government spends $1.7 billion protecting investors in the collapsed South Canterbury Finance, and another $1.48 billion bailing out AMI insurance when they wouldn’t pay out their insurance claims after the Christchurch Earthquake.
Now the Government say they will cover the losses of Spec Builders.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383859/what-does-the-crown-underwrite-of-kiwibuild-homes-mean-for-taxpayers
Good to know spec builders are being looked after,
Meanwhile, as spec builders get paid for houses left standing empty, for lack of buyers.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/107698218/at-least-3600-homeless-in-auckland-but-problem-could-be-worse-than-count-results-show
Kia ora Newshub It’s good that Facebook has started to ban the hate group from their site.
Its is awesome that the joint year of tourism with China and Aotearoa is underway Kelvin.
I seen the stats on the Sips tamariki being abuse more mess our humane Government has to clean up.
NO comment on brexit. The Tauranga Council need to get its – – – – they created the environment for the poor homeless people I drove through greeaton quite a lot I never seen that many homeless that shop owner looks like he has a personal problem with poor people – – – – – – – -. It gives me hope that someone is challenging this law in the courts.
With the elite school issues in America at the minute that is how the systems work in America and around the world?????????.
Thunder birds car in Britain Lloyd it looks like a classic and its getting a lot of interest from potential buyers Ka pai. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News
Its looks like the government needs to do some more research on classification of manuka honey everyone knows the best Manuka Honey comes from the place where it was first discovered and has the highest % of the good stuff in it Te tairawhiti. Sea Lords has to clean up its act.
Its cool to see te tai tokerou kapa haka is on the up ka kite ano P.S I see
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Kia ora R&R With the emrgenc of super bugs part of the problem is drug companies pushing the sale of antibiotics hence the bugs mutanta and become rasistance to drugs. That is another reason money it’s not profitable for the company’s to develop the drugs so government has to step up and make sure the drugs are being research and develop.
That is the reason why we need to protect Tane Mahuta Wild life because one of the plants /animals that are going EXTINCT could hold the cure for humam AILMENTs.
We best learn fast to save these species from extinction if not that could be the down fall of humans.
We also should research old Maori medicines to. I agree with him tangata go to the DOCTOR. Live longer to guide OUR Mokopuna up there ladders of Life. Ka kite ano