Open mike 29/04/2024
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- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...3 hours ago - Dance Magic
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...14 hours ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...14 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
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The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...2 days ago - Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
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The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...3 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...3 days ago
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“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...3 days ago
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Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...4 days ago
- Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...4 days ago - MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day
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- The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
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This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...4 days ago - Book Review: How Big Things Get Done
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In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...5 days ago
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New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...5 days ago
- “Better economic management”
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...5 days ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...6 days ago
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Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...6 days ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...6 days ago
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In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...6 days ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
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And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...7 days ago - A Lipstick Government
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Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...7 days ago
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...1 week ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
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- Making Gravy
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- 2 Men, 1 Haircut
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago - Tell me a story
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
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National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350259858/andrew-tates-trial-charges-rape-and-human-trafficking-can-start-romanian-court
Excellent news to start the day on,
Paula BennettChair of Pharmac. Payback for sourcing millions of donors money for election? All the old crony’s lining up for plush jobs. The fish is rotting. Stinks to high heaven.
Looks like good planning by Luxon to keep her engaged in Wellington on governance, rather than entertaining a run at the Auckland mayoralty.
I had heard a whisper that Simon Bridges was entertaining a run at the Auckland mayoralty. No idea if it's true or not. But, if he is, then making sure there are not two Right pollies splitting the vote is politics 101.
Not sure how being a less than stellar Minister shows you might make a good mayor. Except in his own mind maybe.
Good planning by Luxon? Nah. By someone behind the scenes maybe.
No doubt all of those sick people need to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
No need for them to suckle on the public teat and waste hard working kiwi's money on all this expensive medicine nonsense.
Not just that. Seymour the Minister in charge as well, he with an extremely neo-liberal agenda, and who knows how much 'influence' by big pharma. Things are bad enough already, but between the two of them, we should all be extremely worried where this is headed.
Paula Bennett Chair off Pharmac! Payment for her wonderful fund raising for last election? The fish is rotting… Something stinks.
And just like that- coincidence?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350259986/nz-politics-live-govt-announces-63b-pharmac-budget
That $1.7 billion increase is over 4 years. Assuming this is carefully spent by Pharmac on drugs that have the best overall effectiveness on health outcomes this is good news.
Of course the "Labour left an unfunded Pharmac deficit of $1.7 billion" is complete rubbish. I'm sick of this government telling lies like this.
Surely if they could find $1.7 billion for Pharmac they could have found $3 billion for a desperately needed efficient ferry service between the islands (including provision for rail) that would have had utility over 50 years?
New and expensive cancer drugs are part of the coalition agreement with ACT – twenty of them I believe. My partner has just finished six months of chemo (he is fine). The chemo suite in Nelson Hospital currently operates four days a week and will be going to five days once these new drugs are funded his chemo nurse told him. These are drugs that give people an extra few months.
That’s why David Seymour is Associate Health Minister – Pharmac.
Wow..1.7 billion to Pharmac, let’s see… hmmm..to my mathematically challenged brain that’s a whopping .3% per year or so increase in the budget or as the senior health professional in Chch said, enough to keep the lights on for a few more days. After 75 years I’ve never known a NZ Government to run on so much bullshit.
Our CoC government firmly believes in getting landLord wealth back on track.
God that's awful reading.
more of that obsessive women's rights stuff.
A social worker who was harassed by her employer and her professional body over he gender critical social media has been awarded 58,000 GBP by a tribunal judge. Her lawyer states this is unprecedented.
Also of note is the judge's words on freedom of expression and political belief,
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/social-worker-suspended-gender-critical-views-awarded-58000-2b7c337n7
sans paywall https://archive.is/UTJ4h#selection-2987.0-3001.214
That's yet another in a long line of cases that gender critical people, often women, have won.
Commentary from a UK lawyer,
https://twitter.com/legalfeminist/status/1784687053717774449
Meade's crowdfunder has an explanation of what she had been saying on SM.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/unlawful-discrimination-by-soc/
But the article is hilarious. I just love this bit:
The relevant law has not changed since 2014 I believe. What actually happened is that this council uncritically accepted what ideologues told them the law was (even when it clearly was not) and then changed all their processes and policies to comply with a law that only existed in the imagination of activists. And now they have to pay up $$$
Every HR department in the UK should be holding an emergency meeting right now.
One would hope so.
What worries me is that both those organisations will have lawyers, and what where they thinking?
I really wish someone had kept a running list of all the cases.
Well maybe SexMatters, UK might have it?
They kept a log of academics being targeted – between Oct 2015-April 2023 https://sex-matters.org/resources/academics-targeted/
the first case I remember is from November 2019, about a doula who lost her job, from Doula U.K., for stating "only women can have babies".
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2250551/birth-coach-hounded-out-of-profession-by-transgender-activists-for-claiming-only-women-can-have-babies/
thanks, I hadn't seen that list before. It has a couple of useful links in it to other lists too. I have a feeling there might be an Australian academics website for anonymous stories.
And that's just the academics. The others like Fair Cop, and what happened to Marian Millar?
Then there are all the ones we never hear about.
"what happened to Marian Millar? "
28 Oct 2021
"the Scottish prosecutors dropped the case against her" [Marian Millar]
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/28/scottish-prosecutors-drop-transphobia-case-against-marion-millar
Also this response from the Chief executive of Social Work England.
"Colum Conway, chief executive of Social Work England, said the regulator was considering the judgement."
How come he can hold on to his job when they get the workings of the law so wrong. He couldn't even be bothered to apologise to her.
Poll results out tonight TV1
https://twitter.com/MaikiSherman/status/1784779696590512433
I don't think it will. Got me hooked though, lol.
Melissa Lee has been in the house for 18 odd years and that's all she can do. Bugger me, I can be that incompetent for half the money.
I think I've not said for a while our managerial class are like a penectomy or a mastectomy, you know the bit they cut off, staved of blood and dying.
Get that image out of your head.
"Melissa Lee has been in the house for 18 odd years"
That is 18 years on a good salary, a nice pension on leaving parliament.
Better still a job that doesn't asks for any qualifications, experience, knowledge, nor carry any accountability.
I know it gives any and every person the ability to become a MP, but still the absent of accountability is an invitation to "do what you like", as we now see with the Fast Track Act
Fast track to civil disobedience.
I'm in.
Wonder what plum(s) she'll pick up on leaving the House? Maybe an unripe damson or two, but nothing as ripe and succulent as Pullya's, I'll bet.