The Zionists are not the only ones who kill Palestinians and get away with it with seeming impunity.
From the very beginning of the Arab Spring in Syria, Syrian Palestinian refugees in Syria because they stood with the Syrian against Assad, have been a particular target of the regime.
The tactic of aerial bombardment directed against the Syrian people in Homs, in Aleppo, in Douma, and first suffered by the Palestinian refugees in Latakia in march 2011, (where I stayed in 2010 and knew intimately) is now being directed against the Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk.
The ICRC is calling on all involved in fighting to allow the immediate and unimpeded passage of urgent humanitarian aid and to permit civilians who wish to leave the camp for safer areas to do so at any time.
“With the recent upsurge in fighting in and around Yarmouk the situation for civilians has deteriorated once again,” said Marianne Gasser, the head of the ICRC in Syria. “People were already worn down by months of conflict and constant shortages of food, water and medicine and they need urgent help.”
Some families have managed to escape Yarmouk for the nearby district of Yelda. Since 3 April, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) have delivered 9,500 food parcels to families in Yelda, some of which had fled the camp…….
…….The ICRC has not been able to enter Yarmouk Camp since October 2014, when it delivered medical and water purification supplies in collaboration with the SARC and the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
UNRWA expressed in a statement it issued yesterday, its deep concern about the escalation of fighting and the fate of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk camp and the surrounding areas.
UNRWA Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl, said in his statement, a copy of which was received by the Action Group, that “Yarmouk and its people are in indescribable pain and living in suffering which has lasted over the years of conflict. We are extremely concerned with the fate of the civilians, including the Palestinian refugees, after over a week of dramatically escalating violence.”
UNRWA also warned of the catastrophic consequences of the serious escalation in the fighting, which is affecting Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees in Damascus and its surrounding areas.
Syria is a country of approximatly 23 million people … Before thje start of the government overthrow attempts by western / and Israeli backed violent Sunni extremists.
There were approximatly`500,000 palestinian refugees in Syria …. and 1.2 million Iraq refugees
If New Zealand were to take comparable numbers in a ratio sense ,,,, we would need to take in 342 857 refugees,.. aproximatly
342 857 would put quite a strain on New Zealand …. But Syria has the extra burden of usa / nato Sanctions …. described as sanctions of mass destruction … as similar ones killed half a million children in IRAQ … more than all the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ ever used … like nuclear bombs etc
Starvation in Syria …. just like the 400 000 or more dead Syrians killed in our western backed Islamic uprising … lies firmly at the feet of NATO …and their ‘coalition of the killing’
Britain and the USa are making money out of their participation in the starvation and genocide they are waging on Yemen … they make Assad look like a schoolboy.
That poor innocent Assad really did nothing. His shooting of thousands of demonstrators at the beginning of the Arab spring is just a figment of the imagination.
Wayne …..A person who under the Geneva convention definition of war crimes passed after the Nazis were defeated …. Is a war criminal in my eyes.
And thats before his participation in the killing of three year old girls and other children.
And his ‘not knowing’ …. about the torture NZ participated in …
Watch this video and make your own minds up about Wayne …. is he a war criminal / committed crimes against peace
16 minutes 30 seconds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFgrXnSH4g
I give him the trifecta …
A racist ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.. “speak English or die”) with Wayne Mapp criticisng Statistics New Zealand’s decision to offer a joint English / Maori census form in some areas as politically correct bilingualism. According to Mapp,
Warmongering … ” In the case of Iraq the case is clear. Iraq has been in continual defiance of UN resolutions. They possess weapons of mass destruction.” … mapp
Criminal ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “After the war, he claimed that our refusal to participate would ruin relations with Australia and the US, and that our refusal to participate in an illegal war of aggression would cost us a free trade agreement with the USA (guess they were wrong on that too). He even went so far as to demand that the government make a crawling apology to Australia and the US for being right about the war. ”
Waynes remarks about Assad…. should take into account his record of calling dead children ‘ Taliban fighters’,… and his bullshit “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction”,
The man loves war …. and couldn;t give a stuff about the arab or middle eastern victims ….
You have seriously defamed New Zealand soldiers (and myself) by accusing them of being war criminals.
As you know there is an Inquiry into this whole situation, which Inquiry I have encouraged.
I suggest that you leave this matter to the Inquiry rather than making highly defamatory remarks in a situation where many people involved cannot effectively reply.
I’ll try to simplify this down even more for you, Wayne…(I’m speaking only my own views)…
* You have a public profile consisting of words and actions which are documented as a matter of record…
* Your comments on this site are a continuation of your documented public record…
* Your ideological bent which is referenced through your documented public record is also played out through your handle on an incompatible left leaning blog site…
* You ignore the legitimate comments reason has made about your documented public record…
* You’re attempting to play the victim…
What compels you to perform this charade is debateable…that you are seemingly oblivious to the damage your documented public service has done and continues to do lacks later stage life contrition or evidence of reticence…
You frequent this site looking for something….trying unsuccessfully to relieve yourself of [something]…or possibly to find [something]…
What you’re looking for can be found in any mirror…in private…
I put up a post with information about the 1.7 million refugees which were in Syria … Just before their country became the target of western backed Islamic extremists….
If we took that same ratio of refugees into New Zealand … to proportionally match the 1.7 million Syria took in ….. we would have to let in 342,857 people …. aprox
I also mentioned sanctions …. and how these quiet killers have been labeled as “sanctions of mass destruction” …. with up to 500 000 thousand Iraqi children made to suffer, starve and die through them … with Syrian people now suffering from this usa favored weapon of siege
Wayne Mapp ignores the content of my post ….this long trail of mass suffering and killing of children … Seemingly oblivious to the concentration camp scale of victims …
Not caring to comment on the over half a million needless deaths / murders of children …He instead parks a dump of steaming Assad is Hitler dribble.,,,
Regardless … The main thing Waynes post showed me …… is how he ignored all the real suffering and death of children to dish up his stale old war propaganda.
Waynes just demonstrated very clearly the level of his regret … regarding Fatima, his mystery dead three year old Afghanistan girl … the mystery being how she was misrepresented as a Taliban fighter
I’m not sure what he thought he wrote …but what he showed was a complete lack of consideration or care … for all the other children or civilians killed, maimed or bereaved …. and His non existent concern for future victims…. From all the Waynes and Johns and donalds of this world.
In my opinion …Wayne does not give a shit about foreign people, poor people .. or brown kids … he cares more for his reputation.
*********
I’m specifically calling you a war criminal … or wannabe war criminal Wayne … ” War of Aggression” is mentioned in the Geneva convention as the ultimate crime …. trade deals, consummated or not, … do not get you an exemption. Wayne
I have a relative who is SAS … years and years ago at a funeral I asked him about Afghanistan … Summarizing his answer … ‘ it was a load of shit with poorly defined non achievable objectives ‘ … People like you are the threat to our military ,,, in both reputation and conduct, Wayne.
Has any other poster or Author here at The Standard …. ever played a part in the killing or cover-up of a three year old child?.
What reputation do those who have been involved in something as absolutely wrong as that deserve?
Over this subject ..Wayne is like the stupid teenager driving at 140 kms around suburban streets ,,,, and running over a kid .
Saying or feeling sorry does not help the parents much …. what the hell did the teenager / wayne think was going to be the end result of selfish stupid reckless behavior
There are other aspects of Waynes dishonesty which I will raise later ….
I wish you’d stop promoting a disgusting rape denier around here. George Galloway is not someone whose arguments I care to listen too given his mansplaining downgrading of rape because it happened after consensual sex.
I don’t. Still sick of you spamming his links all over here. It tells me you excuse, or perhaps even support given how often you spam his links, his belief that non consensual sex is not necessarily rape.
Wayne, Assad is just a pawn. The issue is the gas pipeline that runs through Syria. The Arabs need to have this halted if the oil price is to clime – it is their only income and any additional fuel supply via Russia would be highly detrimental to the power they yield. Coupled with their religious fundamentalist nature, all bets are off. And the west supports this as it is in their interest to have the energy cake split by as fewer players as possible.
In the end, nothing really has and ever will change – its about power and money. It does not matter in that “game” who gets killed, maimed and left behind starving an dying. Humans are just primitive creatures who have been handed the means of destroying the planet many times over. The yard bullies are in charge right now and reason has left the building.
From the very beginning of the Arab Spring in Syria, Syrian Palestinian refugees in Syria because they stood with the Syrian against Assad, have been a particular target of the regime.
So, as guests in the country they tried to overthrow the government and are now complaining that there’s consequences to that?
The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in South Damascus which has been under a long term starvation siege by the Assad government.
You do understand that there’s a war on right? And that in wars there happens to be shortages?
And that this war was seemingly encouraged by the US?
Assad is no saint but I think you’ll find that the Syrians and refugees would be a hell of a lot better off if the US hadn’t started a civil war there.
Draco puts up a new theory for the war in Syria; It was the Palestinian refugees, that dun it
From the very beginning of the Arab Spring in Syria, Syrian Palestinian refugees in Syria, because they stood with the Syrian [people] against Assad, have been a particular target of the regime.
Jenny
So, as guests in the country they tried to overthrow the government and are now complaining that there’s consequences to that?
Draco T Bastard
In his desperate efforts to justify mass murder, torture and genocide; Any straw to grasp at will do.
Libya Until recently was a modern evolving society …with the highest standard of living on its continent … and it attained this after spending most of last centuary being one of the poorest countries in the world
Gaddafi in a bloodless coup,,, ousted a corrupt monarchy and BP oil ….taking over a country Beset by poverty, slums, cholera, malnutrition and other third world ills and hardships for his people .
Using Libyian resources for the benefit of Libyans in a form of socialism … The largest improvements in quality of life ,,,, were achieved in the shortest period of time … than any other example / country in the world that I can find.
Achievements such as …. went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.
“Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
infant mortality rates had decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970 to an Infant mortality rate 14.0
Confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), undernourishment was less than 5 %,
Took literacy from 25% up to 87% under with 25% earning university degrees.
University education was free.
Gross primary school enrollment ratio was 97% for boys and 97% for girls (2009) .
(see UNESCO tables
The pupil teacher ratio in primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data)
Went from a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems …. to a very low percentage of people without access to safe water (3 percent), health services (0 percent) and sanitation (2 percent) … and was investing in the largest
irrigation project in the world
With regard to Women’s Rights,………… World Bank data point to significant achievements, “In a relative short period of time … passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law…
In secondary and tertiary education, girls outnumbered boys by 10%.” (World Bank Country ….. child marriages were banned and the minimum legal age to marry placed at 18. ……Since 1973, Libyan women have had equal rights in obtaining a divorce. There were also gender-friendly women’s laws passed on marriage and divorce.
Such freedoms for women were hated by ‘rebels’ …. aka british sponsored Islamist extremists such as the Manchester based Libyan Islamic Fighting Group….
“TWENTY-TWO innocent lives were lost on May 22, 2017, when a suicide bomber detonated his device at the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert.
“The Manchester Bombing: Blowback from British state collusion with jihadists abroad Three quarters of all foreign fighters in Libya came from Manchester. Now that one of their number has returned to bomb the same city, apparently under the influence of ISIL, remarkably few are questioning the British foreign policy decisions David Cameron took while in power.”
What happened to Libya was the destruction of it as a modern state .,… It is now a blood soaked lawless failed state … a Islamic extremist bolt hole …. with women living in fear…. and Libyans of black African decent being ethnically cleansed … or sold into slavery.
Refugees are further abused …”Nearly half the women and children interviewed had experienced sexual abuse during migration,” the report says.” “Often multiple times and in multiple locations.” …..”Libya, as the funnel through which so many journeys pass, has earned itself a shocking reputation as the epicentre of abuse” …
“None of this would be possible if not for … the involvement of a NATO coalition that included the United States.” As in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lesson of Libya is that regime change through military intervention can have catastrophic consequences. That lesson should be taken far more seriously.
“The evidence suggests that British actions in three different theatres — Libya, Iraq and Syria — cannot be viewed in isolation:
In Libya, US and UK led intervention destroyed the functioning state and created a vacuum allowing hardline Islamist fighters to consolidate their foothold in the country. This paved the way for the empowerment of ISIS. The direct line between Libyan and Syrian Islamist rebels fuelled jihadism in both countries.
In Iraq, US and UK led intervention also destroyed the existing state infrastructure and fuelled an Islamist insurgency which incubated al-Qaeda in Iraq and culminated in the emergence of ISIS.
In Syria, US and UK covert action, again in partnership with Gulf states such as Qatar, and Turkey, has had the effect of augmenting the role of al-Qaeda in the rebel movement.
This combination of Anglo-American policies across the region has contributed to further instability and the rise of violent jihadism. In fact, an even stronger conclusion may be warranted based on the evidence of the extent of UK covert and overt action in the region in alliance with states consistently supplying arms to terrorist groups: that agencies of the British government itself have, in some senses, become part of the broader ‘terrorist network’ with which the British public is now confronted.”
What happened in Libya and Iraq was despicable butchery accomplished with murderous dishonesty ..
Libya 23 minutes///
the same tactics, the same Islamist extremism … Almost achieved the same result in Syria …. Until Russia reversed the Sunni extremists expansion … protecting normal Syrians from ethnic cleansing in NATOs latest disaster / NATOs newest Islamic State. https://www.bitchute.com/video/hUaWa8L9YPXL/
You have to appreciate that madmen like Saddam and Gaddaffi had to be removed,because they were jealous of the freedom and democracy of the west.
Now they are free and democratic.
Zorb6: You’re having a laugh, right? “had to be removed,because they were jealous of the freedom and democracy”
If it wasn’t sarcasm… ?
The great USof A where voters are routinely kicked off the electoral roll.
The lesser Great Britain where legitimate Windrush imigrants are being bullrushed from YarlsWood on chartered planes and even their own diplomats have trouble bringing in their own child born overseas.
The majority of people asking for food parcels have never had to ask for help before, the Salvation Army says.
Community Ministries spokesperson Lindsay Andrews said the high cost of everyday living was creating a “working poor”.
“We’re seeing across the country 336 new families presenting each week so that equates to 60 percent of the families requesting help and given that a number of these are not on benefits, that’s quite concerning.”
I don’t think it’s right that neoliberalism is same as feudalism.
The people expected to be heard when they went to the leaders in feudalism. While Europe etc. worked out how to run their societies and who was going to be in control there were big wars. Here is an interesting quote about it. I don’t know if you think that this is akin to neoliberalism:
The 17th century saw very little peace in Europe – major wars were fought in 95 years (every year except 1610, 1669 to 1671, and 1680 to 1682.)[10] The wars were unusually ugly. Europe in the late 17th century, 1648 to 1700, was an age of great intellectual, scientific, artistic and cultural achievement. Historian Frederick Nussbaum says it was:
prolific in genius, in common sense, and in organizing ability. It could properly have been expected that intelligence, comprehension and high purpose would be applied to the control of human relations in general and to the relations between states and peoples in particular. The fact was almost completely opposite.
It was a period of marked unintelligence, immorality and frivolity in the conduct of international relations, marked by wars undertaken for dimly conceived purposes, waged with the utmost brutality and conducted by reckless betrayals of allies.[11]
The worst came during the Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648, which had an extremely negative impact on the civilian population of Germany and surrounding areas, with massive loss of life and disruption of the economy and society.
Gosh there is so much to learn about the past while we watch with dismay, society’s wheels drop off today.
Here is some more interesting perhaps pertinent stuff:
It’s not just housing, it’s neoliberalism. The private sector has failed and so have the PPP and COO schemes. You should not try to profit from the basics, housing, electricity, food, water, transport.
It takes $34 on cash fare for a family of 4 to go 2 states return in Auckland. Or you pay an extra $40 for 4 HOP cards to get it down.
People have no electricity for days because of underinvestment and the reliance of making a ‘pay as you go’ infrastructure around Auckland which can mean anyone building a house pays around $25k for all the transformers, cables, meters, private pillars and then somehow doesn’t own it, but ‘rents’ if off Vector. Likewise with Vector and the trees somehow it’s more efficient to have 1 million people without cherry pickers and electricity qualifications to be liable to maintain the trees around electricity lines… also easier to make tradies do years of expensive study and then find out that they have no experience and it’s cheaper to get in someone from overseas for cash and then if it all goes wrong, the councils can pick up the tab for remedial work.
People are at the Salvation Army because even if you work full time, wages are so out of whack with the cost of living that it becomes difficult to survive and you need to constantly go around looking for subsidies whether it be WFF, accomodation, community services card, not paying donations at schools, food parcels, emergency grants and so forth. All that takes up a lot of time and pretty hit and miss. I’d like to see that someone employed is able to support a family on one income… like in the old days… now some people can’t support a family on 2 incomes.
Wages need a serious rethink…. with the new minimum wage increases you get $660 less taxes… that is no longer enough to live on with everybody from private companies to COO’s to councils to government wanting more money.
The high paid jobs are not there, and our best and brightest have to leave NZ or work at a fraction of what they should be on, to stay in NZ. Meanwhile the system does everything possible to bring down most people’s wages in real terms.
Universities closing libraries, hospitals outsourcing hospital meals, the list goes on… we are losing jobs or making people get less in the same job, while somehow the prices for all the services keep going up to pay for all the middle men often with top heavy corporations like Serco, keeping this rout going.
And with the houses, resources are concentrated on luxury hotels, private retirement villages, luxury apartments, renovating houses into luxury houses. Those focusing on the bottom end like in Tauranga, well they were condemned before even being lived in… and time to start again.
With the amount of low waged or asset rich but cash poor coming into NZ who are also qualifying for subsidies and competing with the existing poor, it’s hard to make it all work.
Reports are coming out of Gaza that the people have lost their fear, the situation is that bad, they have nothing left, they’ve had enough.
A reporter who has been covering the situation in Gaza for years says she has never seen the people so desperate.
“Their situation is so miserable in Gaza. I’ve been reporting from the Gaza Strip for years and it’s never been this bad.”
Five Fridays of protests… and the death toll is at least 45 Palestinian demonstrators, with more than 6,000 wounded, including medical professionals and journalists since the mass movement began on March 30. There have been no Israeli casualties.
Israeli officials have accused Gaza’s rulers Hamas of instigating the protests, but not a single rocket has been fired from the Gaza Strip since the demonstrations began.
UN are condemning Israel for their actions, but from what I can see no one is taking any action, how long will this go on for?
It’s always talk, talk, then nothing, nada. I see it as systematic genocide.
Does what happened in Libya and Iraq, justify the genocide committed by Assad regime against the Syrian people, and the Palestinian refugees in Latakia and Yarmouk?
These are actually attempts to change the conversation to an unrelated topic; we can call it “whataboutery”. “What about Syria?” the Zionists ask. What about China? What about women? And so on.
These crude distractions have become even harder to sell over the past year, with Israel’s open embrace of US President Donald Trump and his cohort of white supremacists, hard-right Zionists and even Nazi-aligned figures like former advisor Sebastian Gorka.
What happened in Libya and Iraq was despicable butchery accomplished with murderous dishonesty ..
Libya 23 minutes///
the same tactics, the same Islamist extremism … Almost achieved the same result in Syria …. Until Russia reversed the Sunni extremists expansion … protecting normal Syrians from ethnic cleansing in NATOs latest disaster / NATOs newest Islamic State. https://www.bitchute.com/video/hUaWa8L9YPXL/
When the uprisings in Syria unravelled in 2011, most Palestinians wanted to remain neutral, haunted by the memory of what happened to Palestinians in Jordan in the 1970s, Lebanon in the 1980s, Kuwait in 1991, and Iraq in the early 2000s. Joining any opposition to the Syrian regime came with high risks, even within the framework of the popular movement, with which many young Palestinians identified. This identification is unsurprising: The integration of Palestinians into Syrian society meant that they, too, were subject to the social control enforced by the Assad regime throughout the country. Arresting and torturing dissidents was a common practice long before the spirit of the Arab uprisings reached the Syrian streets in 2011. Therefore, while Bashar al-Assad’s anti-Western and anti-Zionist rhetoric made him seem a trustworthy ally to Palestinians, in practice the lives of Syrian Palestinians were no better nor worse than his other subjects.
Does what happened in Libya and Iraq get ignored so US/UK/ISRAEL/FRANCE/SAUDI can destroy and occupy another sovereign nation..
Jenny, your comments are filled with ill thought hypocrisy and a lack of love and empathy for those who are dying…those on the ‘other side’ of the discussion…those who you repeatedly ignore while you push your one wheeled cart around this site..
Taking a side is endorse death, injury and misery…that is what you are doing..
Perhaps unwittingly…perhaps not…
I also can’t but help notice that supporters of the regime like yourself, and others, also maintain a strict silence, amounting to complicity, at any mention of Saydnaya
Actually, most of Assad’s victims are not “headchopping jihadis” – but you are so biased you lump the innocents in with them. This is why we will find no common ground.
And no time whatsoever for the millions of refugees created by Assad’s regime. But lots of time for the saccharine propagandists of RT and their dubious mouthpieces.
There is some very dim bulbs who comment here, Stuart…
I’ve told you multiple times that a primary difference between myself and the likes of you and Jenny….is that I do not take sides…the two of you are openly and unashamedly bias…
The two of you can’t wrap your narrow bandwidth around such a concept….so you continue with the line that is the opposite of what I state in comments…
See if you can widen your narrow bandwidth just enough to let that get into your head…
I’ll help you out…again…
Posting a link does NOT alter the fact that I do not, and will not take a side…
I do have disdain for those such as yourself and jenny who seek to offer validation of illegal foreign invation, occupation and destruction of sovereign nation…after nation…after nation…
Pause to see if you can understand why distain for the position shared by yourself and Jenny, exists…
And if that is beyond your narrow bandwidth…it is likely that you have problems over and above the ignorance born out of prejudice…
I’m always impressed about how you are just as quick to criticise people’s hubris when they say what bad things the US etc are up to as when others criticise Assad and Russia. You jump on both sides equallol, can’t finish that line. You’re just as partisan as everyone else, doofus.
Jenny, you have passion and what does appear to be an honest desire to highlight the plight of peoples who are suffering around the world…
Your comments regarding Syria, are one sided, overly simplistic and indicate that you have barriers preventing you from acknowledging what are mainstream documented happenings inside Syria…
That you repeatedly and undoubtedly, willingly ignore mainstream acknowledgement of ‘western backed rebels’ being funded, armed, trained and supported by international law breaking, UN charter violating sponsors, is unfortunate to observe…
So while you’re ignoring those same sponsors of ‘moderate rebels’ long and document history of regime change/creating failed states…I’ve not raised the subject because I do not pretend to know what is really going on…
But if I were to engage with you at your level using simplistic, lopsided evaluation techniques…regime change/failed state would be the position I would take….because that’s what a simplistic view of history, including recent history indicates is being attempted since 2011 in Syria…
But I’m not saying that’s what is going on…because Syria, is a complex situation….and I will not endorse either or sides…
To your question…not only are you wrong…you are showing yourself to be a ‘well meaning idiot’….
Jennys position appears to be in direct conflict with her efforts to highlight injustice and atrocities…there are not many reasons why she would take that position…
There will be atrocities carried out by every faction involved in the conflict…openly ignoring that truism is dangerous energy to play with…
It’s natural to wish to know whats actually going on…but that’s not possible except through the mediums created by the efforts of others….what we the people are left with is speculation based on constants such as ‘previous form’ and motive…
The honest thing to do is at least pay respect to injustice and atrocities on all sides…
Hi Maui, I enjoy your perspectives…and I appreciate your comments…
Truth is such a mystery…the truth I adide is that humans are not it…babies are close to pure truth…after that…less so by the day without constant self reflection and the awareness to make necessary changes…and not be scared to do so…continually…
You simply can’t grasp the concept that taking sides is the wrong thing to do…it is the opposite of what you need to be doing…what we all need to be doing…
There is no morality to be found in war and atrocity in the M.E…there are only varying degress of atrocity and human suffering…
Rise above the primitive lizard brain and understand that by taking a side, is to be part of the problem…and a barrier to any solution…
When you can understand that simple concept…life as you believe it to be will have a very different perspective for you…
Good luck on the journey….
Edit: don’t equate not taking sides with no longer caring…that’s not what it’s about…it is about having more measured thinking so that you are no longer in reaction mode…step back…evaluate….respond…not react…
Nice informative piece on France and Libya over at The Intercept.
Sarkozy’s dodgy dealings with Gaddafi aside, the fact that the French foreign minister had offered Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the use of France’s security forces to help quash protests is kinda illuminating.
Sarkozy had found his administration out of step when the Arab Spring broke out in Tunisia. He had a strong relationship with Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and when security forces fired on massive street protests in January, instead of condemning the violence, Sarkozy’s foreign minister offered to share the “savoir-faire” of France’s security forces “in order to settle security situations of this type.”
The National Government inflicted the notorious Waikato University crackpot Jacqueline Rowarth on us to antagonize the conservation movement. The Trump regime pulled the same trick with Scott Pruitt…
EPA ex Chief Scientist Jacqueline Rowarth on glyphosate. … after the EPA ruled that the ingredient used in Roundup was unlikely to be carcinogenic. “This is very good news and of course it’s based on the fact that there is no link to human health issues when used as regulated,” she said.
All so simple, and without a shadow of doubt clouding her perfectly pure scientific mind.
This despite the Ministry of Health, and a group of esteemed Professors from Auckland and Massey universities, and others. Oh, and of course, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) who in 2015 listed glyphosate as a probable carcinogen for humans.
and..
Carcinogenicity of glyphosate: why is New Zealand’s EPA lost in the weeds?
EPA ex Chief Scientist Jacqueline Rowarth on glyphosate. … after the EPA ruled that the ingredient used in Roundup was unlikely to be carcinogenic. “This is very good news and of course it’s based on the fact that there is no link to human health issues when used as regulated,” she said.
All so simple, and without a shadow of doubt clouding her perfectly pure scientific mind.
This despite the Ministry of Health, and a group of esteemed Professors from Auckland and Massey universities, and others. Oh, and of course, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) who in 2015 listed glyphosate as a probable carcinogen for humans.
and..
Carcinogenicity of glyphosate: why is New Zealand’s EPA lost in the weeds?
“National was trying to turn voters against the Labour government by suggesting that the latter’s recently introduced compulsory superannuation scheme might lead to Soviet-style Communism (conveniently ignoring the fact that the Cossack peoples had traditionally been opponents of the Bolsheviks).”
The voiceover said that the superannuation fund would dominate the economy, which would be laughable in today’s open, global, economy. But in Muldoon’s “fortress New Zealand”…. well, history shows what happened. And from the success of our current superannuation funds we can only wonder where New Zealand would be now if Labour had won that election.
” In the first campaign held after the introduction of colour TV, National’s advertising agency, Colenso, engaged the famous American cartoon studio Hanna-Barbera to produce a colourful, animated advert.”
Probably more like Colenso shopped around for the best outfit and naturally got the best offer from the purveyors of the American Dream. The script would have been right up their alley.
That is amazing! What beautiful flowers and yet they signal that the plant will now die.
Thanks so much for sharing it. Seeing it today of all days was rather symbolic, on a very sad day as my dog died last night – a little white troublemaker – probably my last dog ever sadly. He was a little 6kg Maltese who thought he was the size of his former best friend who he had to protect – my Rottweiler/Mastiff cross who at his biggest weighted in at 67kg, who would run away if you said boo and who died two years ago.
Now I will remember him (and the big boy) and this amazing plant all together.
Oh so sad to hear about your little dog VV – they are such good companions. Was he a little white troublemaker with a capital T? We had decided no more animals after our little Honeybear – but a nephew who was moving house and needed a new home for his puss cat (the new home did not permit animals) donated Princess Lollabout to us. 🙂
And thanks Joe for the pic – I enjoy all your posts but this is a special treasure.
Condolences for the sad loss of your little dog veutoviper (11.1) Our loving and loyal pets, particularly dogs, certainly leave a massive void in our lives and our hearts when they are gone. The best friends we will ever have.
Hang on to those wonderful memories. The companionship and devotion of a dog is something very precious and wonderful. But you already know that vv.
Hello V V. So sorry to hear of your companion’s passing.
Your story about your wee dog reminded us of a dear wee Australian terrier we cared for for friends. We loved Molly as she was fearless.
We arrived at the dog park and Molly tried to see off a huge Great Dane who gave her “the regal stare” totally unruffled by 5/6 kgs of bravado.
They leave a huge painful hole, and then you remember the happy times.
A friend, like you, said no more. Then went to the local SPCA described a small gentle house trained dog. They rang her two months later and she took Loxie home. Loxie was a tiny ” bitsa” who settled on her lap and is a loved 5 year old in her second chance home. Hugs xx Trish.
Berner cultists get their racist out, because black people who weren’t Sanders fans aren’t quite progressive enough for them.
.
For almost a year now, a very vocal segment of Bernie Sanders supporters have harassed and stalked black activists, journalists and contributors on Twitter and other social media sites. Behind this campaign was the fact that a lot of black voters didn’t vote for Bernie, which was met with incredible anger by a part of the Bernie left.
Instead of analyzing why POC were critical of Bernie, or why Bernie refused to campaign among POC, they started to harass and intimidate black Twitter users.
The list of victims to this aggressive crowd of Bernie supporters is long by now: Joy Ann Reid, Donna Brazile, Jehmu Greene, Neera Tanden, Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Yamiche Alcindor, Zerlina Maxwell, and less known Twitter users: Angry Black Lady (Imani Gandy), T_FisherKing, Mr Dane/ Mr Weeks, Sir James, Ange_Amene, Bravenak and many, many more.
What these people have in common is that
A: they’re POC,
B: they’re at times very critical of Bernie Sanders.
This in itself is enough for ongoing extreme harassment, stalking, threats, intimidation and worse.
On top of this, a number of LGTB activists/ writers have met the same fate: be critical at Bernie Sanders at your own peril.
[…]
The user @Jamie_Maz who in November went through Joy’s old blog posts through the so called WayBack machine never mentioned other blog posts, never mentioned there was more ‘homophobic’ content.
Now let me be absolutely clear: I do not have any evidence whether or not Joy Ann Reid’s recently surfaced blog posts were altered, added or whether or not they are genuine. That is also not the subject of this article: the subject is the excessive campaign to get Joy Ann Reid fired by the Bernie left.
I saw the same user @Jamie_Maz post the recently ‘found’ blog posts and at first this just led to great enthusiasm among the Bernie crowd on Twitter. The idea that they found something damaging on Joy Ann Reid was absolutely fantastic to this crowd of Bernie supporters: #FireJoyReid!
Let’s be absolutely clear: this campaign isn’t coming from trump supporters, or breitbart or right wing racists, this is coming from the racist Bernie left.
Although I have no evidence one way or the other it would NOT surprise me at all when in the end we find out this Bernie crowd altered the screenshots, because let’s face it: a crowd who contacts people’s employers with anonymous letters (as in the case of Humorless Kev), who starts internet campaigns to get people fired and posts racist pictures would be very willing to do this
If you want an intelligent and thoroughly researched piece on Joy Reid, then Glen Greenwald’s piece is where I’d suggest you want to be going. (Unless he’s to be avoided because “racist Bernie left”?)
Looks to me like the author’s calling out the cult kiddies enmity for progressives who dare opt for pragmatic incrementalism, rather than their own burn the fucking house down shtick.
btw, thread calling Greenwald on his disingenuous claptrap.
Now that my friend @JoyAnnReid has apologized, my friend @ggreenwald is now pretending denial of authorship and hacking claims by Joy is now and was always "the *only* issue" and asserts her "anti-LGBT bigotry" was "never the issue."And, unfortunately, Glenn is lying.Thread. pic.twitter.com/KSSsnuD0wS— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) April 28, 2018
It basically revolved around the issue of denial and hacking claims. And Greenwald, in relation to her previous phobic writings, has the following as the second para
Most people, at least in the media, seemed quick to accept Reid’s apology — and they were right to do so. People have the right to change their beliefs as they and the society around them grow, learn, and evolve. That process should be encouraged, not stigmatized. Politics, at its core, should be about persuading people to repudiate misguided and destructive beliefs and adopt ones that are more reasoned, humane, and just. And when that happens, it should be celebrated, not scorned.
And later…
If, in response to these new even-uglier posts, Reid had done what she did in December — acknowledged they were hers, owned her mistakes, apologized for the hurt she caused, and explained that she no longer holds these views — the reaction would have almost certainly been the same. Though many would likely be a bit bothered by just how deeply bigoted these writings were, few would hold them against her now. I know I would have reacted the same: If someone repudiates past beliefs and changes their views, they should be judged by their current viewpoints, not ones they held a decade ago.
So sure. He was writing disingenuous claptrap and the “radical centre/dead centre” isn’t consumed by hate these day for just about anyone who doesn’t “toe the line” or is otherwise seen as representing a threat to their (and their world view’s) fading prominence.
McElrath notes how @ggreenwald pushed out the idea @JoyAnnReid is homophobic and transphobic as recently as December of 2017, but revised his position to denial of authorship and hacking claims by Joy is now and was always “the *only* issue” and asserts her “anti-LGBT bigotry” was “never the issue.”.
I raised this point yesterday, my observation it is a left phenomena where intersectional politics trumps individualism and god help you if you identify with a particular supposed left wing group be it black, lgbt, the arts and culture and you step out of the left play book with your own individual opinion Recent examples include Kanya West and Shsnia Twain, your examples been non Bernie black voters is also testament to this To me it’s actually quite racist to expect because you are of a certain colour, sexual orientation you must think and vote s particular way or face vitriol and social media hate Not saying all left is like this as not all left on social media
Bomber lets rip with righteous indignation at Sepuloni’s stalling tactics….and doesn’t hold back with criticism of those ace patch-protectors at the PSA.
We know food parcels are soaring because MSD toxic culture means people will beg from Churches rather than go to WINZ.
We know MSD are still spitefully cutting off welfare for Tinder dates.
We know that the sadists at MSD chase beneficiaries through the courts for obscene debt they should never be forced to pay.
We know that when one judge questioned MSD why they were chasing a beneficiary for $120 000 debt (most of which was penalties and interest) was because she might win Lotto…
…it is unacceptable that the new Government apparently have no idea what to do next.
There are two reasons why the new Government are not doing anything and it comes down to cowardice.
The new government are too cowardly to take on the PSA over their toxic sadism culture and they are too cowardly to go up against right wing media and the bash a beneficiary culture we have in NZ.
It is deeply disappointing to see such a lack of real political courage.”
Methinks this government needs to stop seeing the task in terms of getting a container ship to alter course (the reference I think was on Carmel’s mind) and start acting.
I am pretty sure Susan St. John and Sue Bradford have a few ideas….
MSD needs to strike a balance between preventing fraud and treating those who are entitled with dignity No easy job but probably have not got the balance right, all for recalibration but coming down like ton of bricks on fraudsters
Correct balance:
“Helping people” 100%
“Fraud detection (because it’s not really prevention, is it)” the most basic automated tracking of payments possible, using IRD resources to identify suspicious patterns..
“I had dinner with one of the MSD Auckland senior managers last night.”
I do hope your digestion was not adversely affected Ad. Sitting at the same table, breaking bread with a sociopath.
I could be being harsh…perhaps your dining pal is new to MSD? Parachuted into a senior management role very recently…. on a mission to begin the ‘culture change’?
“Minister Sepuloni simply isn’t on their radar yet.”
Assuming that means they don’t see her as a threat to the status quo, that its full steam ahead in the bene bashing business, I believe after her prevarication today they can rest easy.
If we get long lasting peace in Korea and demilitarisation does Donald trump deserve a Nobel peace prize You would argue so if Obama is the standard. Obama left us with Syria, a weak Iran deal and emboldened Russia with his softly softly let’s not upset any one You could argue the Donald no matter how unagreeable you find him his muscular diplomacy has been far more effective in driving peace
Got to say the madman routine actually seems to have been a significant factor.
If I were the committee I’d want to wait until his term is up, though, just in case he nukes somewhere for the hell of it.
And then there’s the concept of giving a peace prize to someone who contributed to peace by threatening nuclear war, but that’s just semantics, really.
It’s ok. I don’t expect a tory to understand the concept that a genuine coalition of different political parties requires compromise, especially after Joyce’s fiscal trapdoor was discovered.
Lol and if they’d updated the website before Clark’s announcement you’d say they were whitewashing history.
Overall, as far as I can see this is about the first policy point they’ve clearly failed to achieve, and announced that failure well in advance. Not bad for a coalition partner.
It’s clear James and his National Party don’t understand how a real MMP coalition govt works. That’s why National is in opposition. Failiure to negotiate a coalition and still no mates.
Yes James, before you niggle, I know National were in a coalition, but Act, United Future and the Maori Party were no more than National’s well trained lap dogs. Labour, NZ First and the Greens are working together to form policy, that’s how MMP is supposed to work.
National and thier supporters need to realise that they can’t govern alone, otherwise National and Soimun will remain in opposition for a very long time.
I’ve got news for you, James: National has failed to deliver on all its election promises so far. Arguably, they have been delayed, just like Labour’s election promise of cheaper doctors’ visits for all. Only problem is that National’s delay will be at least 3 years, possibly longer 😉
how Tony Blair was able to call a public inquiry into the “suspected suicide” of David Kelly only minutes after being told of Kelly’s apparent death whilst on a long-haul flight, long before Dr Kelly had officially been declared a suicide victim, or the body confirmed as his.
Good news for protesters intent on disrupting the work of oil and gas exploration vessels.
It seems that the heavy handed Andarko Amendment, that was supposed to protect the oil companies from protesters, has turned out to be a bit of a paper tiger.
After some high level behind the scene negotiations. The Crown and Greenpeace have come to an agreement.
Russel Norman and Sara Howel will agree to plead guilty, if the Crown agree to drop the case against Greenpeace.
The understanding being, that both Russel and Sara will not face any penalties at all. and despite their guilty pleas, convictions will not appear on their records. ie Diversion.
Tomorrow at 10am at the Napier District Court, to avoid putting them out, or inconveniencing them in anyway, both Sara and Russel will phone in their court appearance, and make their guilty plea by skype from Auckland. Another First.
Rapist’s descendants annoyed everyone keeps on bringing up all the rapes.
.
MANILA – A new memorial dedicated to the Philippines “comfort women” forced into Japan’s military brothels before and during World War II was removed Friday night, days after suspicions surfaced that it was being targeted for demolition.
[…]
The issue of the comfort women, Japan’s euphemism for the girls and women, is a sensitive one for Japan, and the embassy had expressed concerns over the statue, one of many sprouting up in South Korea, the United States and elsewhere to memorialize an episode of history Japan would rather forget
“Can civilisation prolong its life until the end of this century? “It depends on what we are prepared to do.” He fears it will be a long time before we take proportionate action to stop climatic calamity. “Standing in the way is capitalism. Can you imagine the global airline industry being dismantled when hundreds of new runways are being built right now all over the world? It’s almost as if we’re deliberately attempting to defy nature. We’re doing the reverse of what we should be doing, with everybody’s silent acquiescence, and nobody’s batting an eyelid.”
It’s almost as if we’re deliberately attempting to defy nature.
It’s not ‘almost’. We are attempting to defy nature and reality to maintain a few people in wealth and luxury.
think it realistic to note that this theme from an increasing number of informed individuals will become prevalent.
It probably will but, with the help of the RWNJs in National and Labour (and similar parties around the world), probably after we’ve pushed the ecosphere to the point where we will no longer be able to live in it.
The Am Show The closing of that Auckland park to save OUR great Kauri trees the atua of our forest is a big win for us greenies. If business go broke so be it they have had years to come up with plan B or C. We have had a big win in Europe with the banning of those insecticides and other chemicals that kill BEEs now we need to look into it .
When my children were young 2nd 1 was less than 6 months old we stayed across the road from a vineyard our baby had rashes he had breathing problems off in a ambulance twice. As soon as we moved from this location his symptoms disappeared that tells one some thing about man made chemicals .
This inquire on the treatment of children in state care should include church organization after all there is alot of evidence that there has been abuse of the mokopunas in the churches care all around the world and in NZ .
As for Trump I will ease off maybe he should be given the credit for the deescalation of the tension in Korea and then he will not throw a spanner in the works and the peace and diplomacy will work .
OUR Banks need to be investigated if the banks in Aussie are cheating than Our banks will be doing the same . They stereotype people and I say they will turn down people for loans just because they are brown. I am having a tussel with 2 of OURs Banks at the minute.
Charter School are for the 1% the poor mokopunas that end up at these schools will have been targeted for sports and less than 5% of the roll .I want more REO taught in schools
these charter schools will have better grades because they are getting the cream of the crop of mokopunas so one cannot fairly use those stats to justify the existence of these institutions. Ka kite ano
Newshub Ka pai Paddy Gloriavale is not a nice sect especially if they can keep a mans family away from him did you know that most of the sandflies hierarchy are religious fanatics
There you go I was talking about all the sacred sites around Aotearoa that need to be carefully examined buy trained archaeologist like that site that they found the half built Waka that site should be sifted to find other precious Maori relics.
Many thanks to the Australians for taking steps to protect there precious Great Barrier Reef Man is nothing with out mother nature.
The weekends sports was GREAT . Ka kite ano P.S thats another pukana to the sandflies they did not like what I wrote this morning
The Crowd goes Wild the sandflys have stuff with my computer I have a good post on it but it won’t load I told you the are upset Ka kite ano P.S. I will post my post with my pH it will be late but you will have a laugh
The former Green Party co-leader and Sara Howell swam in front of the Amazon Warrior as it searched for oil off the Wairarapa coast in April last year.
They were charged under a 2013 amendment to the Crown Minerals Act, dubbed the “Anadarko Amendment”, by New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals, a division of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The amendment was designed to stop protests at sea around oil exploration and the case was the first time the amendment was enforced….
…..Convictions were not entered against Norman and Howell as they seek a discharge without conviction and will be sentenced later this year.
Overall a win, win for Greenpeace and a lose, lose, for the Anadarko Amendment on its first ever outing.
With the fangs pulled from the Anadarko Amendment, a new campaign on the water can commence.
The clock has started ticking on achieving a total ban on oil and gas exploration. The campaign that has begun achieving a halt in all new block offers, will finish with a campaign to shut down all deep sea oil and gas exploration
Greenpeace head Russel Norman pleads guilty to obstructing oil survey ship”
New Zealand Herald, 30 Apr, 2018
The former Green Party co-leader and Sara Howell swam in front of the Amazon Warrior as it searched for oil off the Wairarapa coast in April last year.
They were charged under a 2013 amendment to the Crown Minerals Act, dubbed the “Anadarko Amendment”, by New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals, a division of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The amendment was designed to stop protests at sea around oil exploration and the case was the first time the amendment was enforced….
…..Convictions were not entered against Norman and Howell as they seek a discharge without conviction and will be sentenced later this year.
Overall a win, win for Greenpeace and a lose, lose, for the Anadarko Amendment on its first ever outing.
With the fangs pulled from the Anadarko Amendment, a new campaign on the water can commence.
The clock has started ticking on achieving a total ban on oil and gas exploration. The campaign that has begun achieving a halt in all new block offers, will finish with a campaign to shut down all deep sea oil and gas exploration
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
A company gives a large amount of money to a political party because they are concerned about law changes which might affect their business model. And lo and behold, the changes are dumped, and a special exemption written into the law to protect them. Its the sort of thing we ...
Active Shooters: With more than two dozen gang-related drive-by shootings dominating (entirely justifiably) the headlines of the past few weeks, there would be something amiss with our democracy if at least one major political party did not raise the issues of law and order in the most aggressive fashion. (Photo ...
Going Down? Governments also suffer in recessions and depressions – just like their citizens. Slowing economic activity means fewer companies making profits, fewer people in paid employment, fewer dollars being spent, and much less revenue being collected. With its own “income” shrinking, the instinct of most government’s is to sharply ...
In the 50 years since Norm Kirk first promised to take the bikes off the bikies, our politicians have tried again and again to win votes by promising to crack down on gangs. Canterbury University academic Jarrod Gilbert (an expert on New Zealand’s gang culture) recently gave chapter and verse ...
Misdirection: New Zealanders see burly gang members, decked out in their patches, sitting astride their deafening motorcycles, cruising six abreast down the motorway as frightened civilians scramble to get out of their way, and they think these guys are the problem. Fact is, these guys represent little more than the misdirection ...
New Zealand’s defence minister, Peeni Henare, has had a very busy first half of the year. In January, Henare was the face of New Zealand’s relief effort to Tonga, following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano. Then, from March onwards, Henare was often involved in Jacinda Ardern’s announcements ...
James Heartfield wrote this article on intersectionalism and its flaws nine years ago. He noted on Twitter: “Looking back, these problems got worse, not better.” Published 17 November 2013. Is self-styled revolutionary Russell Brand really just a ‘Brocialist’? Is Lily Allen’s feminist pop-video racist? Is lesbian activist Julie Bindel a ...
The New Zealand First donations scandal trial began in the High Court this week. And it’s already showing why the political finance laws in this country need a significant overhaul. The trial is the outcome of a high-profile scandal that unfolded in the 2020 election year, when documents were made ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Changes to electoral law announced by Justice Minister Kiri Allan today aim to support participation in parliamentary elections, and improve public trust and confidence in New Zealand’s electoral system. The changes are targeted at increasing transparency around political donations and loans and include requiring the disclosure of: donor identities for ...
The Labour government has announced a significant investment to prevent and minimise harm caused by gambling. “Gambling harm is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating effect on the wellbeing of individuals, whānau and communities. One in five New Zealanders will experience gambling harm in their lives, ...
The Government has widened access to free flu vaccines with an extra 800,000 New Zealanders eligible from this Friday, July 1 Children aged 3-12 years and people with serious mental health or addiction needs now eligible for free flu dose. From tomorrow (Tuesday), second COVID-19 booster available six months ...
The Government is investing to create new product categories and new international markets for our strong wool and is calling on Kiwi businesses and consumers to get behind the environmentally friendly fibre, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said today. Wool Impact is a collaboration between the Government and sheep sector partners ...
At today’s commemoration of the start of the Korean War, Veterans Minister Meka Whaitiri has paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of our New Zealand veterans, their families and both nations. “It’s an honour to be with our Korean War veterans at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park to commemorate ...
Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Tourism Peeni Henare announced the sixth round of recipients of the Government’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which supports local government to address tourism infrastructure needs. This TIF round will invest $15 million into projects around the country. For the first time, ...
Matariki tohu mate, rātou ki a rātou Matariki tohu ora, tātou ki a tātou Tīhei Matariki Matariki – remembering those who have passed Matariki – celebrating the present and future Salutations to Matariki I want to begin by thanking everyone who is here today, and in particular the Matariki ...
Oho mai ana te motu i te rangi nei ki te hararei tūmatanui motuhake tuatahi o Aotearoa, Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, me te hono atu a te Pirīmia a Jacinda Ardern ki ngā mahi whakanui a te motu i tētahi huihuinga mō te Hautapu i te ata nei. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker will represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the second United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, which runs from 27 June to 1 July. The Conference will take stock of progress and aims to galvanise further action towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, to "conserve and sustainably use ...
The Government is boosting its partnership with New Zealand’s dairy sheep sector to help it lift its value and volume, and become an established primary industry, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “Globally, the premium alternative dairy category is growing by about 20 percent a year. With New Zealand food ...
The Government is continuing to support the Buller district to recover from severe flooding over the past year, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today during a visit with the local leadership. An extra $10 million has been announced to fund an infrastructure recovery programme, bringing the total ...
“The Government has undertaken preparatory work to combat new and more dangerous variants of COVID-19,” COVID-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall set out today. “This is about being ready to adapt our response, especially knowing that new variants will likely continue to appear. “We have undertaken a piece of work ...
The Government’s strong trade agenda is underscored today with the introduction of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill to the House, Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “I’m very pleased with the quick progress of the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill being introduced ...
A ministerial advisory group that provides young people with an opportunity to help shape the education system has five new members, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins said today. “I am delighted to announce that Harshinni Nayyar, Te Atamihi Papa, Humaira Khan, Eniselini Ali and Malakai Tahaafe will join the seven ...
Austria Centre, Vienna [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] E ngā mana, e ngā reo Tēnā koutou katoa Thank you, Mr President. I extend my warm congratulations to you on the assumption of the Presidency of this inaugural meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. You ...
The Government is taking action to make sure homecare and support workers have the right to take a pay-equity claim, while at the same time protecting their current working conditions and delivering a pay rise. “In 2016, homecare and support workers – who look after people in their own homes ...
A law change passed today streamlines the process for allowing COVID-19 boosters to be given without requiring a prescription. Health Minister Andrew Little said the changes made to the Medicines Act were a more enduring way to manage the administration of vaccine boosters from now on. “The Ministry of Health’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ritesh Chugh, Associate Professor – Information and Communications Technology, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock While manufacturers have successfully increased the water-repelling nature of smartphones, they are still far from “waterproof”. A water-resistant product can usually resist water penetration to some extent, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suze Wilson, Senior Lecturer, School of Management, Massey University Phil Walter/Getty Images The US Supreme Court’s recent ruling to throw out Roe v Wade is an issue of relevance to political leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand. The decision was ...
New Zealand will present its legal view on Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations' international court, contesting the Kremlin's claim of genocide. ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Government has declared or reiterated three bold ambitions, one of them (the elimination of family violence) probably unachievable. Whether progress is being made towards the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Price, Team Leader / Senior Research Officer, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Shutterstock Most new parents and caregivers will know the phrase “put your baby down when drowsy but awake”. But some parents may find this just doesn’t work for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Stavrou, English Language Instructor, University of Cyprus, and PhD Graduate, Charles Sturt University Traditional approaches to adult language teaching often use resources such as textbooks and generic learning materials that are less than inspiring for learners. New research shows ...
Accompanied by a giant albatross sculpture made of reclaimed plastic bottles, Greenpeace has delivered a 100,000-strong petition to parliament calling on the Government to ban single-use plastic bottles and incentivise reusable and refillable alternatives. ...
Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall says the country needs to remain at the orange traffic light setting as case numbers are starting to "creep up". ...
Our Annual plan 2022/23 was presented to the House of Representatives today. This annual plan is a key accountability document for our Office. It describes the discretionary work we consider will help us to achieve our ultimate outcome – that Parliament ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Associate Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Arts, Monash University AAP Image/Supplied by Department of Justice In 2020 the killing of Hannah Clarke and her three children – Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University The election of the Albanese Labor government brings an opportunity to end one of the most detrimental elements of Australian refugee law and policy in the past decade: the use of temporary ...
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has welcomed the launch of the Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women's Employment Action Plan today. For too long, women have been disadvantaged in the world of work. While many improvements have been made over ...
The experimental weekly series provides an early indicator of employment and labour market changes in a more timely manner than the monthly employment indicators series. Key facts The 6-day series includes jobs with a pay period equal to or less than ...
Statement from Auckland Transport Interim Chief Executive Mark Lambert: Auckland Transport is proud to support the New Statement of Ambition being launched tonight by the Climate Leaders Coalition. We’re delighted that AT’s work to achieve the ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa, SAFE, Animals Aotearoa, SPCA, and the New Zealand Animal Law Association have joined forces to call for an end to intensive winter grazing through the Government’s Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare review. The coalition says that as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Swift, Educational Experiences team lead (Senior Lecturer), ANU School of Cybernetics, Australian National University Shutterstock I love writing code to make things: apps, websites, charts, even music. It’s a skill I’ve worked hard at for more than 20 years. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Baillie, Professor of Allied Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock COVID might be the largest mass casualty event in Australian history. And with one in 20 people with COVID still experiencing symptoms three months later, long COVID might even become Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick O’Connor, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide A tiny parasitic mite that lives on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) has breached Australia’s border quarantine and been detected in managed bee hives in New South Wales. This is bad news for Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Main, Visiting Scholar, Australian National University Shutterstock The COVID pandemic slowed mining activity across the Pacific. But as economic activity returns, an Australia-based company is poised to pursue what would be the largest mine in Papua New Guinea’s history. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachele Sloane, Graduate Researcher and Tutor – Master of Education, Student Wellbeing Specialisation (MGSE), The University of Melbourne Shutterstock New Child Safe Standards come into effect in Victoria this Friday, July 1. The set of 11 standards builds on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Morag Kobez, Associate lecturer, Queensland University of Technology shutterstock When the temperature drops in the southern hemisphere, you might like to stave off the chill with a big steaming pot of mulled wine, and fill your home with the comforting aroma ...
Russia's actions in Ukraine are an affront to the world but mustn't be allowed to create a more polarised, dangerous world, the prime minister says. ...
Russia's actions in Ukraine are an affront to the world but mustn't be allowed to create a more polarised, dangerous world, the prime minister says. ...
EDITORIAL:Bythe Rappler teamWe will continue bringing you the news, holding the powerful to account for their actions and decisions, calling attention to government lapses that further disempower the disadvantaged. We will hold the line. Dear readers and viewers, We thought this day would never come, even as ...
ANALYSIS:By Gavin Ellis The Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill — introduced to Parliament this week — will have a long journey before it is fit for purpose. The Bill gives effect to the government’s plan to replace TVNZ and RNZ with a new entity designed for the digital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caleb Goods, Senior Lecturer – Management and Organisations, UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia Uber Australia has struck a historic agreement with the Transport Workers’ Union – a statement of principles that re-regulate work in the Australian rideshare and food ...
Today the signatures of 72 Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Councillors, Local board members, and the LGNZ Young Elected Members Committee will be handed to the Government in support of making the voting age 16 via an open letter organised by Make It 16. “Young ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Grogan, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, The Daffodil Centre, University of Sydney E-cigarettes and vape products are illegally imported into Australia. Some claim not to contain nicotine, but do.Simon Collins/Shutterstock ABC TV’s Four Corners this week reported how unlawful sale of e-cigarettes ...
However, more work is needed to understand the cost of rolling out a new approach to disability support, Minister for Disability Issues Poto Williams says. ...
Hospitality New Zealand is calling for MPs across Parliament to send ACT MP Chris Baillie’s Member’s Bill on repealing Easter trading restrictions to a select committee so hospitality businesses can have their say on whether to stay open or ...
On 1 July an exciting new Ministry for Disabled People – will come into being to lead much-needed change. There is nothing that people will need to do on day one to continue receiving disability support services. “Many disabled people and whānau ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team. Michelle and Peter Browne from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Shutterstock “Stagflation” is an ugly word for an ugly situation – the unpleasant combination of economic stagnation and inflation. The last time the world experienced ...
The Ardern government has done it again, announcing a grandiose plan to reform Wellington’s transport system. The plan includes a long-overdue duplicate Mt Victoria tunnel, a rearrangement of the road around the Basin Reserve and a light rail operation from the city centre to the south coast, all in the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Legislation to tighten things, legislation to relax things and a speech which reminds us of threats to our democracy – from the PM, we are delighted to note – feature in the latest posts on the Beehive website. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark has ...
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner has expressed disappointment over the delay in undertaking urgent action to address ethnic, gender and disability pay gaps across workplaces in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Government has committed to scoping ...
OP-ED by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). ...
Our report Improving value through better Crown entity monitoring was presented to the House of Representatives today. Crown entities carry out a wide range of important public services and functions. In 2020/21, Crown entities were responsible for 39% ...
Auckland Council has formally adopted the 2022/23 Annual Budget. This includes Mayor Phil Goff’s proposal for a billion-dollar “Climate Action” package to be funded by a new targeted rate levied on households. The Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance has ...
"The Wellington Chamber of Commerce welcomes today’s announcement of a preferred option for mass rapid transit," Chief Executive Simon Arcus said today. "It is good to see the government being very clear on its thoughts. These are the kind ...
Wellington Airport is welcoming progress on Wellington’s transport network with the Government announcing a preferred option today. “It’s good to see progress being made and a clear pathway forward,” says Wellington Airport chief executive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ismini Vasileiou, Associate Professor in Information Systems, De Montfort University Shutterstock Today marks 15 years since Apple released what’s arguably its flagship device: the iPhone. A decade and a half later, there are few products that have managed to reach ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Phillimore, Executive Director, John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University Just before the Western Australian state election in March 2021, the then leader of the Liberal Party did an unusual thing. He conceded defeat – but then asked voters to ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon says he has no interest "importing culture wars" into New Zealand after Roe v Wade was overturned in the US. ...
New polling out this morning confirms that Aucklanders overwhelmingly support fare free public transport. These results follow the release of a report jointly co-commissioned by FIRST Union and the NZ Public Service Association Te Kauae Kaimahi, making the ...
New research released today emphasises our growing concern for harmful content online. Today, the Classifications Office released their report, ‘What we’re watching - New Zealanders’ views about what we see on screen and online.’ The report shows ...
A new poll conducted by Talbot Mills purports to show overwhelming support for mayoral candidate Efeso Collins’ fares-free public transport policy. However, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance says the wrong question was asked. The poll of 772 Aucklanders, ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is urging candidates to tone down their rhetoric and leave personal attacks out of the campaign. On Wednesday morning, The New Zealand Herald reported that mayoral candidate Efeso Collins and his family were “nearly ...
The Electoral Commission begins an enrolment drive today to make sure people are enrolled for this year’s local body elections. ‘It’s time to check you’re enrolled, and that you’re listed at the right address, so you’re ready to vote ...
New government information about the deepwater fish orange roughy shows the fish may not reach full maturity until the age of 80, throwing the entire management of the fishery into doubt. Orange roughy, a long-lived deepwater fish, grow and mature ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa has delivered its oral submission in support of the Fair Pay Agreements Bill, outlining how it will benefit workers and improve the quality of early childhood education. When the legislation comes into force the Union will be seeking a Fair ...
Hindu Youth New Zealand (HYNZ), a Division of Hindu Council of New Zealand Inc., is pleased to announce its first online webinar series focused on recent changes in visa, and immigration requirements in New Zealand – Pathway to Aotearoa . Whether ...
Crime victims are being urged to seek support even if they don’t report the crime. Victim Support, the charity that supported more than 43,000 victims of crime, trauma and suicide last year, says the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey released today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isaac Alan Robert Kerr, PhD Candidate for Palaeontology, Flinders University Illustration by Peter Schouten, Author provided Long ago, almost up until the end of the last ice age, a peculiar giant kangaroo roamed the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea. Now, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Professor of Politics, Monash University Renewal or decline? These are the competing narratives that now surround Daniel Andrews’ Victorian Labor government, with five senior ministers exiting cabinet as a preliminary to leaving parliament at November’s state election. The resignations of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Senior Research Fellow, Western Sydney University Initial data from the 2021 census released this week shows Australia continues to become more culturally diverse. Almost half of us have at least one parent born overseas (48.2%), and almost a quarter ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Watson, Senior Lecturer in Disability and Inclusion, Deakin University Netflix The Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things is vividly soaked in 1980s nostalgia, famously catapulting Kate Bush’s 1985 song Running up that Hill to the top of the music ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Hamilton, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England Shutterstock A friend introduces their partner as “my current husband”. Another jokes about marriage as a life sentence. Everyone laughs, no one is surprised. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ayesha Scott, Senior Lecturer – Finance, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Cost of living is – and should be – on everyone’s mind. But how we are managing increasing costs could impact us well into retirement. As cost-of-living pressures ...
NZ Political Polls need to be held to account, to protect our democracy Ted Johnston, Auckland Mayoral candidate for the New Conservative party has called out Curia for its crooked poll. “Biased political polls can fix elections and this poll does ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australians are becoming more fearful in an insecure world, and want to see the country armed up, favouring more defence spending and the planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. Three quarters of Australians say it ...
By Leah Tebbutt, RNZ News reporter An Aotearoa New Zealand health workforce recruiting agency is fielding calls from senior US doctors who say they can no longer live in their own country. Accent Health Recruitment has been flooded with inquiries from US doctors wanting to come to New Zealand following ...
By Luke Nacei in Suva Foreign investors could be sent to jail in Fiji for breaking a new investment law, says the prominent Suva law firm Munro Leys. The company said the “vague and unsatisfactory” new Investment Act could create greater uncertainty for foreign investors. In a legal alert to ...
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The Zionists are not the only ones who kill Palestinians and get away with it with seeming impunity.
From the very beginning of the Arab Spring in Syria, Syrian Palestinian refugees in Syria because they stood with the Syrian against Assad, have been a particular target of the regime.
The tactic of aerial bombardment directed against the Syrian people in Homs, in Aleppo, in Douma, and first suffered by the Palestinian refugees in Latakia in march 2011, (where I stayed in 2010 and knew intimately) is now being directed against the Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk.
The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in South Damascus which has been under a long term starvation siege by the Assad government.
Is now under regime and Russian bombardment.
Syria: Civilians in Yarmouk Camp need immediate help
09 APRIL 2015
UNRWA: “Yarmouk camp and its residents suffered from indescribable pain”
Published : 27 April 2018
Syria is a country of approximatly 23 million people … Before thje start of the government overthrow attempts by western / and Israeli backed violent Sunni extremists.
There were approximatly`500,000 palestinian refugees in Syria …. and 1.2 million Iraq refugees
If New Zealand were to take comparable numbers in a ratio sense ,,,, we would need to take in 342 857 refugees,.. aproximatly
342 857 would put quite a strain on New Zealand …. But Syria has the extra burden of usa / nato Sanctions …. described as sanctions of mass destruction … as similar ones killed half a million children in IRAQ … more than all the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ ever used … like nuclear bombs etc
Starvation in Syria …. just like the 400 000 or more dead Syrians killed in our western backed Islamic uprising … lies firmly at the feet of NATO …and their ‘coalition of the killing’
Sanctions are also good for the most cynical of propaganda ,,,,,, blame the victim 11 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfXddo5JH_s
Britain and the USa are making money out of their participation in the starvation and genocide they are waging on Yemen … they make Assad look like a schoolboy.
That poor innocent Assad really did nothing. His shooting of thousands of demonstrators at the beginning of the Arab spring is just a figment of the imagination.
Wayne …..A person who under the Geneva convention definition of war crimes passed after the Nazis were defeated …. Is a war criminal in my eyes.
And thats before his participation in the killing of three year old girls and other children.
And his ‘not knowing’ …. about the torture NZ participated in …
Watch this video and make your own minds up about Wayne …. is he a war criminal / committed crimes against peace
16 minutes 30 seconds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFgrXnSH4g
I give him the trifecta …
A racist ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.. “speak English or die”) with Wayne Mapp criticisng Statistics New Zealand’s decision to offer a joint English / Maori census form in some areas as politically correct bilingualism. According to Mapp,
Warmongering … ” In the case of Iraq the case is clear. Iraq has been in continual defiance of UN resolutions. They possess weapons of mass destruction.” … mapp
Criminal ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, “After the war, he claimed that our refusal to participate would ruin relations with Australia and the US, and that our refusal to participate in an illegal war of aggression would cost us a free trade agreement with the USA (guess they were wrong on that too). He even went so far as to demand that the government make a crawling apology to Australia and the US for being right about the war. ”
Waynes remarks about Assad…. should take into account his record of calling dead children ‘ Taliban fighters’,… and his bullshit “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction”,
The man loves war …. and couldn;t give a stuff about the arab or middle eastern victims ….
as his history shows
What drives Wayne to continue such a lame charade in the face of a well documented history of his own quotes and actions…
Not even the humility or self awareness to slink off into obscurity…
Couldn’t just address the point he made huh?
You have seriously defamed New Zealand soldiers (and myself) by accusing them of being war criminals.
As you know there is an Inquiry into this whole situation, which Inquiry I have encouraged.
I suggest that you leave this matter to the Inquiry rather than making highly defamatory remarks in a situation where many people involved cannot effectively reply.
My last comment (1.1.1.1.3) is specifically directed to reason, and to a lesser extent One Two.
I’ll try to simplify this down even more for you, Wayne…(I’m speaking only my own views)…
* You have a public profile consisting of words and actions which are documented as a matter of record…
* Your comments on this site are a continuation of your documented public record…
* Your ideological bent which is referenced through your documented public record is also played out through your handle on an incompatible left leaning blog site…
* You ignore the legitimate comments reason has made about your documented public record…
* You’re attempting to play the victim…
What compels you to perform this charade is debateable…that you are seemingly oblivious to the damage your documented public service has done and continues to do lacks later stage life contrition or evidence of reticence…
You frequent this site looking for something….trying unsuccessfully to relieve yourself of [something]…or possibly to find [something]…
What you’re looking for can be found in any mirror…in private…
I put up a post with information about the 1.7 million refugees which were in Syria … Just before their country became the target of western backed Islamic extremists….
If we took that same ratio of refugees into New Zealand … to proportionally match the 1.7 million Syria took in ….. we would have to let in 342,857 people …. aprox
To put the scale of that number of refugees another way …. At our present annual quota and intake of refugees … Its over 450 years worth https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/322576/nz%27s-refugee-numbers-an-awkward-topic-in-europe
I also mentioned sanctions …. and how these quiet killers have been labeled as “sanctions of mass destruction” …. with up to 500 000 thousand Iraqi children made to suffer, starve and die through them … with Syrian people now suffering from this usa favored weapon of siege
Wayne Mapp ignores the content of my post ….this long trail of mass suffering and killing of children … Seemingly oblivious to the concentration camp scale of victims …
Not caring to comment on the over half a million needless deaths / murders of children …He instead parks a dump of steaming Assad is Hitler dribble.,,,
Far more credible people and sources than him provide information,,, that leave Waynes outburst as honest looking …as his claiming 3 year old girls are “Taliban fighters”. James can read it too. https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/the-revolutionary-distemper-in-syria-that-wasnt/
Regardless … The main thing Waynes post showed me …… is how he ignored all the real suffering and death of children to dish up his stale old war propaganda.
Waynes just demonstrated very clearly the level of his regret … regarding Fatima, his mystery dead three year old Afghanistan girl … the mystery being how she was misrepresented as a Taliban fighter
I’m not sure what he thought he wrote …but what he showed was a complete lack of consideration or care … for all the other children or civilians killed, maimed or bereaved …. and His non existent concern for future victims…. From all the Waynes and Johns and donalds of this world.
In my opinion …Wayne does not give a shit about foreign people, poor people .. or brown kids … he cares more for his reputation.
*********
I’m specifically calling you a war criminal … or wannabe war criminal Wayne … ” War of Aggression” is mentioned in the Geneva convention as the ultimate crime …. trade deals, consummated or not, … do not get you an exemption. Wayne
I have a relative who is SAS … years and years ago at a funeral I asked him about Afghanistan … Summarizing his answer … ‘ it was a load of shit with poorly defined non achievable objectives ‘ … People like you are the threat to our military ,,, in both reputation and conduct, Wayne.
Has any other poster or Author here at The Standard …. ever played a part in the killing or cover-up of a three year old child?.
What reputation do those who have been involved in something as absolutely wrong as that deserve?
Over this subject ..Wayne is like the stupid teenager driving at 140 kms around suburban streets ,,,, and running over a kid .
Saying or feeling sorry does not help the parents much …. what the hell did the teenager / wayne think was going to be the end result of selfish stupid reckless behavior
There are other aspects of Waynes dishonesty which I will raise later ….
You obviously did not read David Fisher’s article in the Herald last week.
Are you pretending to support human rights, Wayne? You seem to have changed since your time in government.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/90748732/former-defence-minister-wayne-mapp-says-civilian-deaths-in-afghanistan-were-an-accident
https://www.globalresearch.ca/anti-syrian-propaganda-based-on-false-images-of-torture-danish-state-tv/5637801
Why the need for misdirection (lies) in 2011….
Wayne, your comments are pathetic…there is no other word for it…
You’re an apologist at best, and accomplice at worst…to rogue states who commit war crimes…
That’s what YOUR comments here suggest…
Was Dhouma staged?
Peter Hitchens and George Galloway discuss.
I wish you’d stop promoting a disgusting rape denier around here. George Galloway is not someone whose arguments I care to listen too given his mansplaining downgrading of rape because it happened after consensual sex.
Then don’t listen
I don’t. Still sick of you spamming his links all over here. It tells me you excuse, or perhaps even support given how often you spam his links, his belief that non consensual sex is not necessarily rape.
Yawn
I’m reminded of the words of W.S.Gilbert:
But many a king on a first class throne
If he wants to call his crown his own
must manage somehow
to get through
more dirty work than e’re I do
from “I am a pirate king”
in The Pirates of Penzance
Wayne, Assad is just a pawn. The issue is the gas pipeline that runs through Syria. The Arabs need to have this halted if the oil price is to clime – it is their only income and any additional fuel supply via Russia would be highly detrimental to the power they yield. Coupled with their religious fundamentalist nature, all bets are off. And the west supports this as it is in their interest to have the energy cake split by as fewer players as possible.
In the end, nothing really has and ever will change – its about power and money. It does not matter in that “game” who gets killed, maimed and left behind starving an dying. Humans are just primitive creatures who have been handed the means of destroying the planet many times over. The yard bullies are in charge right now and reason has left the building.
Frank Macskasy presents a superb timeline to expose the ” mendacities of the mainstream media” in Syria.
In his usual manner he thoroughly destroys the lies of the corporate press.
Any yet you Wayne and Jenny believe these lies.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/04/29/syria-the-mendacities-of-the-mainstream-media-part-rua/
So, as guests in the country they tried to overthrow the government and are now complaining that there’s consequences to that?
You do understand that there’s a war on right? And that in wars there happens to be shortages?
And that this war was seemingly encouraged by the US?
Assad is no saint but I think you’ll find that the Syrians and refugees would be a hell of a lot better off if the US hadn’t started a civil war there.
Spot on Draco
+1
Not on the spot Draco. In fact nowhere near the Spot. Just wandering all around it.
Make up your mind.
Is it a US backed invasion, or a civil war?
Assad destroys invading city.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/feb/04/drone-footage-homs-syria-utter-devastation-video
Draco puts up a new theory for the war in Syria; It was the Palestinian refugees, that dun it
In his desperate efforts to justify mass murder, torture and genocide; Any straw to grasp at will do.
Libya Until recently was a modern evolving society …with the highest standard of living on its continent … and it attained this after spending most of last centuary being one of the poorest countries in the world
Gaddafi in a bloodless coup,,, ousted a corrupt monarchy and BP oil ….taking over a country Beset by poverty, slums, cholera, malnutrition and other third world ills and hardships for his people .
Using Libyian resources for the benefit of Libyans in a form of socialism … The largest improvements in quality of life ,,,, were achieved in the shortest period of time … than any other example / country in the world that I can find.
Achievements such as …. went from one of the poorest nations in its continent into the richest nation….it also gained the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy.
“Health care is [was] available to all citizens free of charge by the public sector.
infant mortality rates had decreased from 105 per 1000 live births in 1970 to an Infant mortality rate 14.0
Confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), undernourishment was less than 5 %,
Took literacy from 25% up to 87% under with 25% earning university degrees.
University education was free.
Gross primary school enrollment ratio was 97% for boys and 97% for girls (2009) .
(see UNESCO tables
The pupil teacher ratio in primary schools was of the order of 17 (1983 UNESCO data)
Went from a country beset with cholera and unsafe water problems …. to a very low percentage of people without access to safe water (3 percent), health services (0 percent) and sanitation (2 percent) … and was investing in the largest
irrigation project in the world
With regard to Women’s Rights,………… World Bank data point to significant achievements, “In a relative short period of time … passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law…
In secondary and tertiary education, girls outnumbered boys by 10%.” (World Bank Country ….. child marriages were banned and the minimum legal age to marry placed at 18. ……Since 1973, Libyan women have had equal rights in obtaining a divorce. There were also gender-friendly women’s laws passed on marriage and divorce.
Such freedoms for women were hated by ‘rebels’ …. aka british sponsored Islamist extremists such as the Manchester based Libyan Islamic Fighting Group….
“TWENTY-TWO innocent lives were lost on May 22, 2017, when a suicide bomber detonated his device at the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert.
Family and friends of victims as young as eight paid heartbreaking tributes to their loved ones in the wake of the attack which left the nation shocked and in mourning. ” https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/the-manchester-bombing-as-blowback-the-latest-evidence-83ec2127801d
“The Manchester Bombing: Blowback from British state collusion with jihadists abroad Three quarters of all foreign fighters in Libya came from Manchester. Now that one of their number has returned to bomb the same city, apparently under the influence of ISIL, remarkably few are questioning the British foreign policy decisions David Cameron took while in power.”
What happened to Libya was the destruction of it as a modern state .,… It is now a blood soaked lawless failed state … a Islamic extremist bolt hole …. with women living in fear…. and Libyans of black African decent being ethnically cleansed … or sold into slavery.
Refugees are further abused …”Nearly half the women and children interviewed had experienced sexual abuse during migration,” the report says.” “Often multiple times and in multiple locations.” …..”Libya, as the funnel through which so many journeys pass, has earned itself a shocking reputation as the epicentre of abuse” …
“None of this would be possible if not for … the involvement of a NATO coalition that included the United States.” As in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lesson of Libya is that regime change through military intervention can have catastrophic consequences. That lesson should be taken far more seriously.
“The evidence suggests that British actions in three different theatres — Libya, Iraq and Syria — cannot be viewed in isolation:
In Libya, US and UK led intervention destroyed the functioning state and created a vacuum allowing hardline Islamist fighters to consolidate their foothold in the country. This paved the way for the empowerment of ISIS. The direct line between Libyan and Syrian Islamist rebels fuelled jihadism in both countries.
In Iraq, US and UK led intervention also destroyed the existing state infrastructure and fuelled an Islamist insurgency which incubated al-Qaeda in Iraq and culminated in the emergence of ISIS.
In Syria, US and UK covert action, again in partnership with Gulf states such as Qatar, and Turkey, has had the effect of augmenting the role of al-Qaeda in the rebel movement.
This combination of Anglo-American policies across the region has contributed to further instability and the rise of violent jihadism. In fact, an even stronger conclusion may be warranted based on the evidence of the extent of UK covert and overt action in the region in alliance with states consistently supplying arms to terrorist groups: that agencies of the British government itself have, in some senses, become part of the broader ‘terrorist network’ with which the British public is now confronted.”
What happened in Libya and Iraq was despicable butchery accomplished with murderous dishonesty ..
Libya 23 minutes///
the same tactics, the same Islamist extremism … Almost achieved the same result in Syria …. Until Russia reversed the Sunni extremists expansion … protecting normal Syrians from ethnic cleansing in NATOs latest disaster / NATOs newest Islamic State.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/hUaWa8L9YPXL/
That seems to have been the goal.
It’s easier to steal a countries wealth when there’s not a strong state government to stop it.
+1
Would be interesting to see the statistics on Libya and Iraq pre USA Invasion and post USA Invasion ?
You have to appreciate that madmen like Saddam and Gaddaffi had to be removed,because they were jealous of the freedom and democracy of the west.
Now they are free and democratic.
Libya is neither free nor democratic today.
It is also no longer a state.
It is a group of fiefdoms run by jihadi headchopping warlords.
But I sense you knew that.
Does the leader of Saudi Arabia ‘need to be removed ‘?
And Trump. And Erdogan. And Netanyahu.
Perhaps zorb6 was indulging in hyperbole , at least thats how i took it.
“were jealous of the freedom and democracy of the west.”
That’s not hyperbole.
It’s US propaganda
It is possible to construct hyperbole from snippets of US propaganda.
In the context of the whole comment it was obviously hyperbole/sarcasm.
He certainly needs to grow up.
I imagine the people of Yemen have somewhat different opinions of him.
No doubt – but Yemen is not uniquely of his making – it’s been going on for a while.
Zorb6: You’re having a laugh, right? “had to be removed,because they were jealous of the freedom and democracy”
If it wasn’t sarcasm… ?
The great USof A where voters are routinely kicked off the electoral roll.
The lesser Great Britain where legitimate Windrush imigrants are being bullrushed from YarlsWood on chartered planes and even their own diplomats have trouble bringing in their own child born overseas.
Democracy? Nothing but a stamp on the loo paper.
Like Draco above, I think it was obvious sarcasm. I sniggered!
But there you are.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/356187/the-working-poor-driving-up-demand-for-food-parcels-sallies
The majority of people asking for food parcels have never had to ask for help before, the Salvation Army says.
Community Ministries spokesperson Lindsay Andrews said the high cost of everyday living was creating a “working poor”.
“We’re seeing across the country 336 new families presenting each week so that equates to 60 percent of the families requesting help and given that a number of these are not on benefits, that’s quite concerning.”
One word: housing
Another word – Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is another word for feudalism ask Roger Douglas or Ruth Richardson, they were key proponents of this ideology ?
Refer to the Monte Perelin Society and the Bilderberg Group ?
*Mont Pelerin
I don’t think it’s right that neoliberalism is same as feudalism.
The people expected to be heard when they went to the leaders in feudalism. While Europe etc. worked out how to run their societies and who was going to be in control there were big wars. Here is an interesting quote about it. I don’t know if you think that this is akin to neoliberalism:
The 17th century saw very little peace in Europe – major wars were fought in 95 years (every year except 1610, 1669 to 1671, and 1680 to 1682.)[10] The wars were unusually ugly. Europe in the late 17th century, 1648 to 1700, was an age of great intellectual, scientific, artistic and cultural achievement. Historian Frederick Nussbaum says it was:
The worst came during the Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648, which had an extremely negative impact on the civilian population of Germany and surrounding areas, with massive loss of life and disruption of the economy and society.
Gosh there is so much to learn about the past while we watch with dismay, society’s wheels drop off today.
Here is some more interesting perhaps pertinent stuff:
Brief listing of major trade periods
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_world#Middle_Ages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_international_trade#Middle_Ages
It’s not just housing, it’s neoliberalism. The private sector has failed and so have the PPP and COO schemes. You should not try to profit from the basics, housing, electricity, food, water, transport.
It takes $34 on cash fare for a family of 4 to go 2 states return in Auckland. Or you pay an extra $40 for 4 HOP cards to get it down.
People have no electricity for days because of underinvestment and the reliance of making a ‘pay as you go’ infrastructure around Auckland which can mean anyone building a house pays around $25k for all the transformers, cables, meters, private pillars and then somehow doesn’t own it, but ‘rents’ if off Vector. Likewise with Vector and the trees somehow it’s more efficient to have 1 million people without cherry pickers and electricity qualifications to be liable to maintain the trees around electricity lines… also easier to make tradies do years of expensive study and then find out that they have no experience and it’s cheaper to get in someone from overseas for cash and then if it all goes wrong, the councils can pick up the tab for remedial work.
People are at the Salvation Army because even if you work full time, wages are so out of whack with the cost of living that it becomes difficult to survive and you need to constantly go around looking for subsidies whether it be WFF, accomodation, community services card, not paying donations at schools, food parcels, emergency grants and so forth. All that takes up a lot of time and pretty hit and miss. I’d like to see that someone employed is able to support a family on one income… like in the old days… now some people can’t support a family on 2 incomes.
Wages need a serious rethink…. with the new minimum wage increases you get $660 less taxes… that is no longer enough to live on with everybody from private companies to COO’s to councils to government wanting more money.
The high paid jobs are not there, and our best and brightest have to leave NZ or work at a fraction of what they should be on, to stay in NZ. Meanwhile the system does everything possible to bring down most people’s wages in real terms.
Universities closing libraries, hospitals outsourcing hospital meals, the list goes on… we are losing jobs or making people get less in the same job, while somehow the prices for all the services keep going up to pay for all the middle men often with top heavy corporations like Serco, keeping this rout going.
And with the houses, resources are concentrated on luxury hotels, private retirement villages, luxury apartments, renovating houses into luxury houses. Those focusing on the bottom end like in Tauranga, well they were condemned before even being lived in… and time to start again.
With the amount of low waged or asset rich but cash poor coming into NZ who are also qualifying for subsidies and competing with the existing poor, it’s hard to make it all work.
Something is wrong.
Reports are coming out of Gaza that the people have lost their fear, the situation is that bad, they have nothing left, they’ve had enough.
A reporter who has been covering the situation in Gaza for years says she has never seen the people so desperate.
“Their situation is so miserable in Gaza. I’ve been reporting from the Gaza Strip for years and it’s never been this bad.”
Five Fridays of protests… and the death toll is at least 45 Palestinian demonstrators, with more than 6,000 wounded, including medical professionals and journalists since the mass movement began on March 30. There have been no Israeli casualties.
Israeli officials have accused Gaza’s rulers Hamas of instigating the protests, but not a single rocket has been fired from the Gaza Strip since the demonstrations began.
UN are condemning Israel for their actions, but from what I can see no one is taking any action, how long will this go on for?
It’s always talk, talk, then nothing, nada. I see it as systematic genocide.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/israeli-forces-kill-palestinians-wound-955-gaza-protest-180427170725104.html
Roger Waters is excellent in this interview on the situation.
Thanks for the link Ed, I thoroughly enjoyed that interview, insightful and honest.
It’s already been going on for seven decades – with help from the West. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Ikr, but now it really seems to be at breaking point.
Somethings going to give very soon.
It wouldn’t surprise me. People that are invaded and oppressed as Palestine has been usually bite back eventually.
Trouble is that the only “give” at this stage will be a forced relocation into Egypt of roughly two million people.
I strongly suspect that this is BB’s objective.
What about Libya?
What about Iraq?
Does what happened in Libya and Iraq, justify the genocide committed by Assad regime against the Syrian people, and the Palestinian refugees in Latakia and Yarmouk?
Isn’t this the same Whataboutery argument that is used by the Zionists to justify their butchery of the Palestinians in Gaza?
related comments:
The act of liberation can only be an act of the people themselves.
My thoughts on the Syrian revolution and civil war.
I was in Syria in late 2010
Basha Assad is no Che Guevara, or Ho Chi Minh, or Patrice Lumumba, fighting imperialism
CV, from the link you provided is this paragraph.
“The agency he co-founded has had a roster of clients including repressive regimes and Asma al-Assad, the wife of the Syrian president.”
I think Bill and CV you need to take this into account when you repost propaganda of a mass murderer as some sort of truth.
The legitimacy of a movement is determined locally, not by Faux News or RT
Does what happened in Libya and Iraq get ignored so US/UK/ISRAEL/FRANCE/SAUDI can destroy and occupy another sovereign nation..
Jenny, your comments are filled with ill thought hypocrisy and a lack of love and empathy for those who are dying…those on the ‘other side’ of the discussion…those who you repeatedly ignore while you push your one wheeled cart around this site..
Taking a side is endorse death, injury and misery…that is what you are doing..
Perhaps unwittingly…perhaps not…
SHAME!
One Two, or maybe some of you other supporters and apologists for Syrian fascism and genocide, might like to explain away Saydnaya.
Just outside of Damascus.
Everyone knows where it is.
Why have none of your embedded regime stooges and self promoting little Lord Haw haws, asked for a guided tour?
One Two, Just like Bill’s complicit silence in the horrific genocidal destruction of Homs.
I also can’t but help notice that supporters of the regime like yourself, and others, also maintain a strict silence, amounting to complicity, at any mention of Saydnaya
“Human Slaughterhouse – Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria”.
I notice you constantly take the side of Assad. I tend to have more sympathy for those he bombs, gases, or drives out.
I notice you constantly take the side of the head chopping Jihadis. I tend to have more sympathy for those they bomb, gases, or drives out.
Many critics of the bombing of Syria by the US, the UK and France are not taking sides.
They just don’t want World War 3.
Actually, most of Assad’s victims are not “headchopping jihadis” – but you are so biased you lump the innocents in with them. This is why we will find no common ground.
No I have little time for cheerleaders for ISIS, al Nusra and the rest of ‘the alphabet soup’ of Jihadi headchoppers.
And no time whatsoever for the millions of refugees created by Assad’s regime. But lots of time for the saccharine propagandists of RT and their dubious mouthpieces.
If the Guardian and the BBC tells you something enough times, do you believe it?
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
We live in 1984.
There is some very dim bulbs who comment here, Stuart…
I’ve told you multiple times that a primary difference between myself and the likes of you and Jenny….is that I do not take sides…the two of you are openly and unashamedly bias…
The two of you can’t wrap your narrow bandwidth around such a concept….so you continue with the line that is the opposite of what I state in comments…
See if you can widen your narrow bandwidth just enough to let that get into your head…
I’ll help you out…again…
Posting a link does NOT alter the fact that I do not, and will not take a side…
I do have disdain for those such as yourself and jenny who seek to offer validation of illegal foreign invation, occupation and destruction of sovereign nation…after nation…after nation…
Pause to see if you can understand why distain for the position shared by yourself and Jenny, exists…
And if that is beyond your narrow bandwidth…it is likely that you have problems over and above the ignorance born out of prejudice…
I’m always impressed about how you are just as quick to criticise people’s hubris when they say what bad things the US etc are up to as when others criticise Assad and Russia. You jump on both sides equallol, can’t finish that line. You’re just as partisan as everyone else, doofus.
Yes yes – you do not take sides but somehow always support Assad – you’re not fooling anyone except yourself – and maybe Ed.
Nah, Stu…you’re repeatedly making a fool of yourself while I walk through your childish commentary…
I’ve explained it to you so many times, you obviously have a deficiency…
Your interpretation of what constitutes support is your own twisted view…
I support a sovereign nations absolute right to defend itself against illegal, serial foreign invaders….against any invaders actually…
That’s not supporting Assad….see if you can figure out why…
Well actually…..
Going with the ‘regime change’ conspiracy theory, sort of shows you support the Assad regime’s narrative.
Which in my opinion, identifies you as a hard out Assad supporter. (But without the guts to admit it).
Am I wrong?
Jenny, you have passion and what does appear to be an honest desire to highlight the plight of peoples who are suffering around the world…
Your comments regarding Syria, are one sided, overly simplistic and indicate that you have barriers preventing you from acknowledging what are mainstream documented happenings inside Syria…
That you repeatedly and undoubtedly, willingly ignore mainstream acknowledgement of ‘western backed rebels’ being funded, armed, trained and supported by international law breaking, UN charter violating sponsors, is unfortunate to observe…
So while you’re ignoring those same sponsors of ‘moderate rebels’ long and document history of regime change/creating failed states…I’ve not raised the subject because I do not pretend to know what is really going on…
But if I were to engage with you at your level using simplistic, lopsided evaluation techniques…regime change/failed state would be the position I would take….because that’s what a simplistic view of history, including recent history indicates is being attempted since 2011 in Syria…
But I’m not saying that’s what is going on…because Syria, is a complex situation….and I will not endorse either or sides…
To your question…not only are you wrong…you are showing yourself to be a ‘well meaning idiot’….
Jenny is blind to the faults of the opposition.
I admire your viewpoint.
Jennys position appears to be in direct conflict with her efforts to highlight injustice and atrocities…there are not many reasons why she would take that position…
There will be atrocities carried out by every faction involved in the conflict…openly ignoring that truism is dangerous energy to play with…
It’s natural to wish to know whats actually going on…but that’s not possible except through the mediums created by the efforts of others….what we the people are left with is speculation based on constants such as ‘previous form’ and motive…
The honest thing to do is at least pay respect to injustice and atrocities on all sides…
Not so – at least I have the honesty to take a position – that for all their many faults the west is on the whole more reliable than Putin’s spin.
Your constant pretentions of superiority would fare better were they supported by evidence other than your wishful thinking.
On what basis is the West reliable?
Because the BBC and the Guardian told you so?
Did you miss the lies about WMD, the lies about Kuwait, the lies about Ukraine, the lies about Libya, the lies about Vietnam……
You’re a sucker propaganda from the military industrial complex.
Posted by lettuce yesterday night.
‘I do not take sides’. Well said One Two, I greatly respect your viewpoints. You only take the side of truth imo 🙂
Hi Maui, I enjoy your perspectives…and I appreciate your comments…
Truth is such a mystery…the truth I adide is that humans are not it…babies are close to pure truth…after that…less so by the day without constant self reflection and the awareness to make necessary changes…and not be scared to do so…continually…
That’s about the best any adult human can do IMO…
Be well…
I take the side of the people under the bombs and under the gas clouds. That makes Assad an enemy.
You implicitly support the bombers.
It’s not morally tenable.
Atrocities are litmus tests – when you no longer react you’ve lost your moral compass.
It makes both warring groups the enemy as both sides are killing civilians.
Evidence required.
And that means rebels – not ISIS.
Stuart, you are so terribly confused…
You simply can’t grasp the concept that taking sides is the wrong thing to do…it is the opposite of what you need to be doing…what we all need to be doing…
There is no morality to be found in war and atrocity in the M.E…there are only varying degress of atrocity and human suffering…
Rise above the primitive lizard brain and understand that by taking a side, is to be part of the problem…and a barrier to any solution…
When you can understand that simple concept…life as you believe it to be will have a very different perspective for you…
Good luck on the journey….
Edit: don’t equate not taking sides with no longer caring…that’s not what it’s about…it is about having more measured thinking so that you are no longer in reaction mode…step back…evaluate….respond…not react…
Reflection.
So important.
Nice informative piece on France and Libya over at The Intercept.
Sarkozy’s dodgy dealings with Gaddafi aside, the fact that the French foreign minister had offered Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the use of France’s security forces to help quash protests is kinda illuminating.
Yes, Bill
It’s such a sordid history which some on the site either do not read about, or willfully ignore…
I suspect the Sykes Picot Agreement is unheard of in certain quarters on these boards…
Have you read Frank Macskasy on the daily Blog?
Quite a thorough denunciation of the lies propagated.
That’s a fairly extensive couple of pieces by Frank. Not so easy to read through mind, but still.
Listening to a very good interview of Professor Piers Robinson on Newstalk NB that Brigid linked to.
Worth a listen.
Thank you
Fora Pruitt.
The National Government inflicted the notorious Waikato University crackpot Jacqueline Rowarth on us to antagonize the conservation movement. The Trump regime pulled the same trick with Scott Pruitt…
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/4/27/you_really_should_resign_lawmakers_slam
The Nats also inflicted us with a board of Cronies, (all but one lacking an Environmental bone in either of their body’s’)
https://www.epa.govt.nz/about-us/our-people/management-team/
… And a CE, Dr Allan Freeth, who, rather than deny Climate Change attempts to muzzzle scientists and influence academics careers!
https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/14-03-2018/why-is-nzs-environmental-regulator-trying-to-muzzle-scientist-mike-joy/
About time for further resignations and a dose of Sunshine shone on the EPA
https://fyi.org.nz/request/5656-chief-executive-itemised-listed-of-expenses-for-millbrook-resort-queenstown
…back in the old days in the agricultural industry we were told Round Up was less toxic than table salt ?
EPA ex Chief Scientist Jacqueline Rowarth on glyphosate. … after the EPA ruled that the ingredient used in Roundup was unlikely to be carcinogenic. “This is very good news and of course it’s based on the fact that there is no link to human health issues when used as regulated,” she said.
All so simple, and without a shadow of doubt clouding her perfectly pure scientific mind.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/13-12-2017/what-gives-with-the-chief-scientist-of-the-environmental-protection-agency/
This despite the Ministry of Health, and a group of esteemed Professors from Auckland and Massey universities, and others. Oh, and of course, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) who in 2015 listed glyphosate as a probable carcinogen for humans.
and..
Carcinogenicity of glyphosate: why is New Zealand’s EPA lost in the weeds?
https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2018/vol-131-no-1472-23-march-2018/7531
EPA ex Chief Scientist Jacqueline Rowarth on glyphosate. … after the EPA ruled that the ingredient used in Roundup was unlikely to be carcinogenic. “This is very good news and of course it’s based on the fact that there is no link to human health issues when used as regulated,” she said.
All so simple, and without a shadow of doubt clouding her perfectly pure scientific mind.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/13-12-2017/what-gives-with-the-chief-scientist-of-the-environmental-protection-agency/
This despite the Ministry of Health, and a group of esteemed Professors from Auckland and Massey universities, and others. Oh, and of course, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) who in 2015 listed glyphosate as a probable carcinogen for humans.
and..
Carcinogenicity of glyphosate: why is New Zealand’s EPA lost in the weeds?
https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2018/vol-131-no-1472-23-march-2018/7531
David Seymour has finally made the Big Time and given true substance to their policies and philosophies. Dancing with the Stars.
If I were clever I’d get the reds under the bed dancing Cossacks and superimpose Seymour “Dancing with the Csars.”
A gem of a comment Pete (9) Love it. A good laugh for the day 🙂 I remember Muldoon’s dancing Cossacks well.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/video/dancing-cossacks
“National was trying to turn voters against the Labour government by suggesting that the latter’s recently introduced compulsory superannuation scheme might lead to Soviet-style Communism (conveniently ignoring the fact that the Cossack peoples had traditionally been opponents of the Bolsheviks).”
The voiceover said that the superannuation fund would dominate the economy, which would be laughable in today’s open, global, economy. But in Muldoon’s “fortress New Zealand”…. well, history shows what happened. And from the success of our current superannuation funds we can only wonder where New Zealand would be now if Labour had won that election.
That cartoon was supplied by the American Hanna Barbera ..USA influencing the election? You betcha!!
From the link I posted –
” In the first campaign held after the introduction of colour TV, National’s advertising agency, Colenso, engaged the famous American cartoon studio Hanna-Barbera to produce a colourful, animated advert.”
Probably more like Colenso shopped around for the best outfit and naturally got the best offer from the purveyors of the American Dream. The script would have been right up their alley.
Great piece over at Public Address about Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti and his prediction that Trump will not serve out his term
https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/the-remarkable-rise-of-michael-avenatti/
FYI – after eighty years in the family, my friend’s Queen of the Andes [Puya raimondii] has bloomed.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/photogalleries/101117-exotic-rare-plant-blooms-flower-pictures/#/28913.jpg
That is amazing! What beautiful flowers and yet they signal that the plant will now die.
Thanks so much for sharing it. Seeing it today of all days was rather symbolic, on a very sad day as my dog died last night – a little white troublemaker – probably my last dog ever sadly. He was a little 6kg Maltese who thought he was the size of his former best friend who he had to protect – my Rottweiler/Mastiff cross who at his biggest weighted in at 67kg, who would run away if you said boo and who died two years ago.
Now I will remember him (and the big boy) and this amazing plant all together.
Oh so sad to hear about your little dog VV – they are such good companions. Was he a little white troublemaker with a capital T? We had decided no more animals after our little Honeybear – but a nephew who was moving house and needed a new home for his puss cat (the new home did not permit animals) donated Princess Lollabout to us. 🙂
And thanks Joe for the pic – I enjoy all your posts but this is a special treasure.
Big tough night there Veuto.
Very sorry to hear it.
Sorry to hear about your loss VV.
The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.
~ Mark Twain
Hugs VV.
Condolences for the sad loss of your little dog veutoviper (11.1) Our loving and loyal pets, particularly dogs, certainly leave a massive void in our lives and our hearts when they are gone. The best friends we will ever have.
Hang on to those wonderful memories. The companionship and devotion of a dog is something very precious and wonderful. But you already know that vv.
Take good care.
My condolences VV.
I am reminded of a Rudyard Kipling poem, The power of the dog.
https://m.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/power-dog
always hurts, that.
Hello V V. So sorry to hear of your companion’s passing.
Your story about your wee dog reminded us of a dear wee Australian terrier we cared for for friends. We loved Molly as she was fearless.
We arrived at the dog park and Molly tried to see off a huge Great Dane who gave her “the regal stare” totally unruffled by 5/6 kgs of bravado.
They leave a huge painful hole, and then you remember the happy times.
A friend, like you, said no more. Then went to the local SPCA described a small gentle house trained dog. They rang her two months later and she took Loxie home. Loxie was a tiny ” bitsa” who settled on her lap and is a loved 5 year old in her second chance home. Hugs xx Trish.
Very sorry to hear about your dog Veuto
It is devastating to lose a beloved pet
Great to see the EU ban all nicotinoids for good.
Brilliant news for the bees.
Berner cultists get their racist out, because black people who weren’t Sanders fans aren’t quite progressive enough for them.
.
For almost a year now, a very vocal segment of Bernie Sanders supporters have harassed and stalked black activists, journalists and contributors on Twitter and other social media sites. Behind this campaign was the fact that a lot of black voters didn’t vote for Bernie, which was met with incredible anger by a part of the Bernie left.
Instead of analyzing why POC were critical of Bernie, or why Bernie refused to campaign among POC, they started to harass and intimidate black Twitter users.
The list of victims to this aggressive crowd of Bernie supporters is long by now: Joy Ann Reid, Donna Brazile, Jehmu Greene, Neera Tanden, Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Yamiche Alcindor, Zerlina Maxwell, and less known Twitter users: Angry Black Lady (Imani Gandy), T_FisherKing, Mr Dane/ Mr Weeks, Sir James, Ange_Amene, Bravenak and many, many more.
What these people have in common is that
A: they’re POC,
B: they’re at times very critical of Bernie Sanders.
This in itself is enough for ongoing extreme harassment, stalking, threats, intimidation and worse.
On top of this, a number of LGTB activists/ writers have met the same fate: be critical at Bernie Sanders at your own peril.
[…]
The user @Jamie_Maz who in November went through Joy’s old blog posts through the so called WayBack machine never mentioned other blog posts, never mentioned there was more ‘homophobic’ content.
Now let me be absolutely clear: I do not have any evidence whether or not Joy Ann Reid’s recently surfaced blog posts were altered, added or whether or not they are genuine. That is also not the subject of this article: the subject is the excessive campaign to get Joy Ann Reid fired by the Bernie left.
I saw the same user @Jamie_Maz post the recently ‘found’ blog posts and at first this just led to great enthusiasm among the Bernie crowd on Twitter. The idea that they found something damaging on Joy Ann Reid was absolutely fantastic to this crowd of Bernie supporters: #FireJoyReid!
Let’s be absolutely clear: this campaign isn’t coming from trump supporters, or breitbart or right wing racists, this is coming from the racist Bernie left.
Although I have no evidence one way or the other it would NOT surprise me at all when in the end we find out this Bernie crowd altered the screenshots, because let’s face it: a crowd who contacts people’s employers with anonymous letters (as in the case of Humorless Kev), who starts internet campaigns to get people fired and posts racist pictures would be very willing to do this
https://medium.com/@investigator_21314/the-lynching-of-joy-ann-reid-by-the-bernie-left-c7de005a19fb
If you want an intelligent and thoroughly researched piece on Joy Reid, then Glen Greenwald’s piece is where I’d suggest you want to be going. (Unless he’s to be avoided because “racist Bernie left”?)
Yeah, Cernovich and Prosobiec are going after Reid, too.
But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.
/
All I’m seeing in the piece you provided is the “dead centre” lashing out. Again.
Shades of the anti-Momentum, anti- Corbyn bullshit to it all.
Anyway. I saw the name and was reminded of the Greenwald piece and thought it worth linking.
Looks to me like the author’s calling out the cult kiddies enmity for progressives who dare opt for pragmatic incrementalism, rather than their own burn the fucking house down shtick.
btw, thread calling Greenwald on his disingenuous claptrap.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/990311780038660096.html
You read the piece Joe, yes?
It basically revolved around the issue of denial and hacking claims. And Greenwald, in relation to her previous phobic writings, has the following as the second para
And later…
So sure. He was writing disingenuous claptrap and the “radical centre/dead centre” isn’t consumed by hate these day for just about anyone who doesn’t “toe the line” or is otherwise seen as representing a threat to their (and their world view’s) fading prominence.
McElrath notes how @ggreenwald pushed out the idea @JoyAnnReid is homophobic and transphobic as recently as December of 2017, but revised his position to denial of authorship and hacking claims by Joy is now and was always “the *only* issue” and asserts her “anti-LGBT bigotry” was “never the issue.”.
And of course, McElrath has a link to that, and the date is from a time after she apologised, right? Yeah, thought not.
I raised this point yesterday, my observation it is a left phenomena where intersectional politics trumps individualism and god help you if you identify with a particular supposed left wing group be it black, lgbt, the arts and culture and you step out of the left play book with your own individual opinion Recent examples include Kanya West and Shsnia Twain, your examples been non Bernie black voters is also testament to this To me it’s actually quite racist to expect because you are of a certain colour, sexual orientation you must think and vote s particular way or face vitriol and social media hate Not saying all left is like this as not all left on social media
Bomber lets rip with righteous indignation at Sepuloni’s stalling tactics….and doesn’t hold back with criticism of those ace patch-protectors at the PSA.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/04/29/new-government-response-to-msd-sadism-is-just-not-good-enough/
“We know MSD treat beneficiaries with sadism.
We.
Know.
This.
We know food parcels are soaring because MSD toxic culture means people will beg from Churches rather than go to WINZ.
We know MSD are still spitefully cutting off welfare for Tinder dates.
We know that the sadists at MSD chase beneficiaries through the courts for obscene debt they should never be forced to pay.
We know that when one judge questioned MSD why they were chasing a beneficiary for $120 000 debt (most of which was penalties and interest) was because she might win Lotto…
…it is unacceptable that the new Government apparently have no idea what to do next.
There are two reasons why the new Government are not doing anything and it comes down to cowardice.
The new government are too cowardly to take on the PSA over their toxic sadism culture and they are too cowardly to go up against right wing media and the bash a beneficiary culture we have in NZ.
It is deeply disappointing to see such a lack of real political courage.”
Methinks this government needs to stop seeing the task in terms of getting a container ship to alter course (the reference I think was on Carmel’s mind) and start acting.
I am pretty sure Susan St. John and Sue Bradford have a few ideas….
MSD needs to strike a balance between preventing fraud and treating those who are entitled with dignity No easy job but probably have not got the balance right, all for recalibration but coming down like ton of bricks on fraudsters
Correct balance:
“Helping people” 100%
“Fraud detection (because it’s not really prevention, is it)” the most basic automated tracking of payments possible, using IRD resources to identify suspicious patterns..
Here you go Bewildered….a wee primer on how we as a nation deal with benefit fraud as opposed to tax evasion and white collar fraud.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/88924330/Benefit-fraud-v-tax-avoidance-why-is-one-dealt-with-more-harshly-by-courts
Brought to you by our friends at Stuff…so not overly complicated by too many polysyllables.
And there’s charts and graphics and photos!
Comment dedicated to Wendy Shoebridge.
I had dinner with one of the MSD Auckland senior managers last night.
Minister Sepuloni simply isn’t on their radar yet.
“I had dinner with one of the MSD Auckland senior managers last night.”
I do hope your digestion was not adversely affected Ad. Sitting at the same table, breaking bread with a sociopath.
I could be being harsh…perhaps your dining pal is new to MSD? Parachuted into a senior management role very recently…. on a mission to begin the ‘culture change’?
“Minister Sepuloni simply isn’t on their radar yet.”
Assuming that means they don’t see her as a threat to the status quo, that its full steam ahead in the bene bashing business, I believe after her prevarication today they can rest easy.
Plenty of time to kick a few more of the fallen…
Dinner was awesome cheers.
It’s Minister Sepuloni who is going to determine if there will be substantial reform or not. That is where accountability lies.
If we get long lasting peace in Korea and demilitarisation does Donald trump deserve a Nobel peace prize You would argue so if Obama is the standard. Obama left us with Syria, a weak Iran deal and emboldened Russia with his softly softly let’s not upset any one You could argue the Donald no matter how unagreeable you find him his muscular diplomacy has been far more effective in driving peace
Got to say the madman routine actually seems to have been a significant factor.
If I were the committee I’d want to wait until his term is up, though, just in case he nukes somewhere for the hell of it.
And then there’s the concept of giving a peace prize to someone who contributed to peace by threatening nuclear war, but that’s just semantics, really.
Labour breaking promises.
Well there is a shock. Over promising and not delivering.
https://www.labour.org.nz/gp_fees
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12041822
It’s ok. I don’t expect a tory to understand the concept that a genuine coalition of different political parties requires compromise, especially after Joyce’s fiscal trapdoor was discovered.
It’s ok I don’t expect a leftie to understand commitments or promises.
It’s so mush easier to say slogans and go for feelz- it’s the adren government way.
What, like Bridges’ non-bridges?
Most people understand that election pledges are contingent on having the electoral power to follow through on them.
“Adren”, eh? Good name. sounds cool and hip and much more active than your lot ever could be.
“Most people understand that election pledges are contingent on having the electoral power to follow through on them.“
Labour stated (and still have on their website) that they WILL do this starting June this year.
Simply put – they are making promises they cannot deliver and are showing themselves up to be exactly what a lot of us expected.
Lol and if they’d updated the website before Clark’s announcement you’d say they were whitewashing history.
Overall, as far as I can see this is about the first policy point they’ve clearly failed to achieve, and announced that failure well in advance. Not bad for a coalition partner.
Do you feel the Adrenaline rush?
Yeah, I wonder what connection the sleazers were going for when they came up with that one.
As James was saying, they’re going for “feelz” 😂
It’s clear James and his National Party don’t understand how a real MMP coalition govt works. That’s why National is in opposition. Failiure to negotiate a coalition and still no mates.
Yes James, before you niggle, I know National were in a coalition, but Act, United Future and the Maori Party were no more than National’s well trained lap dogs. Labour, NZ First and the Greens are working together to form policy, that’s how MMP is supposed to work.
National and thier supporters need to realise that they can’t govern alone, otherwise National and Soimun will remain in opposition for a very long time.
I’ve got news for you, James: National has failed to deliver on all its election promises so far. Arguably, they have been delayed, just like Labour’s election promise of cheaper doctors’ visits for all. Only problem is that National’s delay will be at least 3 years, possibly longer 😉
how Tony Blair was able to call a public inquiry into the “suspected suicide” of David Kelly only minutes after being told of Kelly’s apparent death whilst on a long-haul flight, long before Dr Kelly had officially been declared a suicide victim, or the body confirmed as his.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/peter-oborne/inconvenient-book-miles-goslett-david-kelly-aaronovitch
Brutal AF.
#Michelle Wolf
Good news for protesters intent on disrupting the work of oil and gas exploration vessels.
It seems that the heavy handed Andarko Amendment, that was supposed to protect the oil companies from protesters, has turned out to be a bit of a paper tiger.
After some high level behind the scene negotiations. The Crown and Greenpeace have come to an agreement.
Russel Norman and Sara Howel will agree to plead guilty, if the Crown agree to drop the case against Greenpeace.
The understanding being, that both Russel and Sara will not face any penalties at all. and despite their guilty pleas, convictions will not appear on their records. ie Diversion.
Tomorrow at 10am at the Napier District Court, to avoid putting them out, or inconveniencing them in anyway, both Sara and Russel will phone in their court appearance, and make their guilty plea by skype from Auckland. Another First.
Related comments and posts:
“Govt drops charges against Greenpeace”
Greenpeace Friday, 27 April 2018, 9:16 am
“Greenpeace Vs Simon Bridges”
Thanks Guys!
That is really great. Thanks for the update Jenny.
Sunday read.
The History of the Shariʿa
How Islam’s divine law emerged, evolved, and spread—then reached a crisis point.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/history-sharia
Rapist’s descendants annoyed everyone keeps on bringing up all the rapes.
.
MANILA – A new memorial dedicated to the Philippines “comfort women” forced into Japan’s military brothels before and during World War II was removed Friday night, days after suspicions surfaced that it was being targeted for demolition.
[…]
The issue of the comfort women, Japan’s euphemism for the girls and women, is a sensitive one for Japan, and the embassy had expressed concerns over the statue, one of many sprouting up in South Korea, the United States and elsewhere to memorialize an episode of history Japan would rather forget
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/28/national/politics-diplomacy/new-comfort-women-memorial-removed-thoroughfare-manila-pressure-japanese-embassy/
“Can civilisation prolong its life until the end of this century? “It depends on what we are prepared to do.” He fears it will be a long time before we take proportionate action to stop climatic calamity. “Standing in the way is capitalism. Can you imagine the global airline industry being dismantled when hundreds of new runways are being built right now all over the world? It’s almost as if we’re deliberately attempting to defy nature. We’re doing the reverse of what we should be doing, with everybody’s silent acquiescence, and nobody’s batting an eyelid.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/26/were-doomed-mayer-hillman-on-the-climate-reality-no-one-else-will-dare-mention
think it realistic to note that this theme from an increasing number of informed individuals will become prevalent.
It’s not ‘almost’. We are attempting to defy nature and reality to maintain a few people in wealth and luxury.
It probably will but, with the help of the RWNJs in National and Labour (and similar parties around the world), probably after we’ve pushed the ecosphere to the point where we will no longer be able to live in it.
The Am Show The closing of that Auckland park to save OUR great Kauri trees the atua of our forest is a big win for us greenies. If business go broke so be it they have had years to come up with plan B or C. We have had a big win in Europe with the banning of those insecticides and other chemicals that kill BEEs now we need to look into it .
When my children were young 2nd 1 was less than 6 months old we stayed across the road from a vineyard our baby had rashes he had breathing problems off in a ambulance twice. As soon as we moved from this location his symptoms disappeared that tells one some thing about man made chemicals .
This inquire on the treatment of children in state care should include church organization after all there is alot of evidence that there has been abuse of the mokopunas in the churches care all around the world and in NZ .
As for Trump I will ease off maybe he should be given the credit for the deescalation of the tension in Korea and then he will not throw a spanner in the works and the peace and diplomacy will work .
OUR Banks need to be investigated if the banks in Aussie are cheating than Our banks will be doing the same . They stereotype people and I say they will turn down people for loans just because they are brown. I am having a tussel with 2 of OURs Banks at the minute.
Charter School are for the 1% the poor mokopunas that end up at these schools will have been targeted for sports and less than 5% of the roll .I want more REO taught in schools
these charter schools will have better grades because they are getting the cream of the crop of mokopunas so one cannot fairly use those stats to justify the existence of these institutions. Ka kite ano
Here’s a man who is learning Te reo
Ka pai Jole
https://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/103432641/joel-maxwell-learning-te-reo-has-made-me-whole-for-the-first-time-in-my-life could be whano with that Sir name Ka kite ano P.S I’m envious of him but I will learn te reo and I will have speach to Te whano
Newshub Ka pai Paddy Gloriavale is not a nice sect especially if they can keep a mans family away from him did you know that most of the sandflies hierarchy are religious fanatics
There you go I was talking about all the sacred sites around Aotearoa that need to be carefully examined buy trained archaeologist like that site that they found the half built Waka that site should be sifted to find other precious Maori relics.
Many thanks to the Australians for taking steps to protect there precious Great Barrier Reef Man is nothing with out mother nature.
The weekends sports was GREAT . Ka kite ano P.S thats another pukana to the sandflies they did not like what I wrote this morning
The Crowd goes Wild the sandflys have stuff with my computer I have a good post on it but it won’t load I told you the are upset Ka kite ano P.S. I will post my post with my pH it will be late but you will have a laugh
No probs Pat.
Here’s a good write up of the case by Sam Hurley, NZ Herald court reporter.
Greenpeace head Russel Norman pleads guilty to obstructing oil survey ship”
New Zealand Herald, 30 Apr, 2018
Overall a win, win for Greenpeace and a lose, lose, for the Anadarko Amendment on its first ever outing.
With the fangs pulled from the Anadarko Amendment, a new campaign on the water can commence.
The clock has started ticking on achieving a total ban on oil and gas exploration. The campaign that has begun achieving a halt in all new block offers, will finish with a campaign to shut down all deep sea oil and gas exploration
Thank you Patricia.
Here’s a good write up of the case by Sam Hurley, NZ Herald court reporter.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12042049
Overall a win, win for Greenpeace and a lose, lose, for the Anadarko Amendment on its first ever outing.
With the fangs pulled from the Anadarko Amendment, a new campaign on the water can commence.
The clock has started ticking on achieving a total ban on oil and gas exploration. The campaign that has begun achieving a halt in all new block offers, will finish with a campaign to shut down all deep sea oil and gas exploration