A record-shattering heat wave continued to scorch Australia on Thursday as temperatures soared above 120 degrees in some spots.
The extreme heat has spurred on health warnings, air quality alerts and fire bans across the nation. High temperatures are forecast to be in the 105- to 120-degree range into the weekend in many locations. Nighttime won’t offer much relief, either, as temperatures will remain well above normal.
Though heat isn’t unusual in Australia this time of year, the level and duration of the heat wave are extreme. High temperature records have already been set in four states, news.com.au, an Australian news site said.
A blistering high temperature of 120 degrees reported Thursday in Marble Bar, Western Australia, was only 3 degrees below the continent’s all-time record high temperature of 123 degrees, set in 1960 in Oodnadatta.
The Northern Territory has already had a brutally hot month: “Forget frying an egg on the footpath, in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, you could roast a whole chook in the main square, as the town heads toward its 28th day above 104 degrees this December,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
(A chook, for those of us who don’t live Down Under, is Australian slang for a chicken.)
Forecaster Bradley Wood of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said Tennant Creek’s month in the cauldron “completely smashes their previous record.”….
Where’s the justice?
Taking advantage of the open border with White Majority Australia, I think, that over the next coming weeks, we can expect a movement of Australians to NZ to escape the heat.
Will all our resident xenophobes and racists be complaining about this?
Of course not, they are not brown skinned Pacific Islanders.
Per capita, Australians are the one of the peoples most responsible for climate change.
Per capita, (and overall being barely measurable), Polynesians are one of the peoples least responsible for climate change. Butone of the world’s peoples most negatively impacted by it.
(A fact that also gets little media attention here).
If post colonial racist immigration policies were not an issue.
In balance, Australians would have their free entry removed. (Well at least) until they pressured their leaders to do something about Australia’s world record breaking emissions). And Pacific Islanders, who are in less able to act against climate change, and most affected by it, would enjoy free entry.
Global warming is on track to cause a major wipeout of insects, compounding already severe losses, according to a new analysis.
Insects are vital to most ecosystems and a widespread collapse would cause extremely far-reaching disruption to life on Earth, the scientists warn. Their research shows that, even with all the carbon cuts already pledged by nations so far, climate change would make almost half of insect habitat unsuitable by the end of the century, with pollinators like bees particularly affected.
However, if climate change could be limited to a temperature rise of 1.5C – the very ambitious goal included in the global Paris agreement – the losses of insects are far lower……
It’s not that they’re missing it. It’s that they’re misunderstanding it. They truly don’t understand that Australians are directly responsible for their actions.
As a white economic immigrant yourself, where do you stand on priority access to this country?
Wealthy white Englishmen like yourself? Chinese, rich from poor human rights standards? Middle-class Indian students brought here on a scam? Aussie cobbers who just got too hot? Pacific peoples whose homes are wrecked every other year?
Who gets priority according to Coatsville resident and grandfather, James?
muttonbird – still running with the meme that Im not from NZ I see.
I also love how you and a couple of others keep bringing up details I have sharded on here previously (relating to the topics in hand) like where I live, where my kids went to school, their approximate ages, the fact that they own their own businesses etc.
Its like a disney version of doxxing.
Not sure how this works with the policy however – I guess that is up to the mods – but generally it would be seen as very poor form to start trying to identify people or keep on republishing their information.
I know that this wont make you stop (after all you are like a dog with a bone) – but Hey – Ive called you out for it.
You make a good point, james. Nature and nurture take us through childhood, and as adults, we are shaped by our experiences. It really doesn’t matter where we come from, its where we are here and now that matters on a topical blog. I agree that repeated references to your alleged country of origin borders on doxxing. It also means that some people are pointlessly limiting their responses based on what they think they know about your background. That’s just daft, in my opinion.
So, a general warning that reference to any commenters background, known or not, should be clearly relevant to the discussion at hand.
Fair enough, but I think it’s wise to not use details of your personal station in life to troll a forum. James does this a lot – the barbecues, the private schools, etc. The reason I bring it up is that I believe not much of it is the truth, and that particular commenter is making stuff up in order to annoy others on this forum.
If the moderators think this is ok then that is the course they follow.
Also, I’m not sure about references to background being limited to the discussion at hand. That suggests all commenters come to a thread with a clean sheet but in reality we know what drives each other because of historical knowledge. Are you saying we should scrub that knowledge?
Given that it’s all conjecture anyway, why bother keep bringing it up?
After a year in government, the worst he can manage is a misinterpretation of a report that exposed a massive failing in NZ’s record keeping, and you take the bait. Make him try harder so it becomes obvious who is trolling whom.
Nature and nurture take us through childhood, and as adults, we are shaped by our experiences. It really doesn’t matter where we come from, its where we are here and now that matters on a topical blog
Now I happen to think it can matter where we come from because you are shaped by your experiences. My accusation was that aging white immigrants from England have limited understanding of New Zealand identity and their largely anti-minority beliefs are a result of that. Their comments on immigration policy need to be taken in that context.
But I have absolutely no understanding of Waitakere, because I’ve never even been there. I have no reference upon which to gauge your “understanding of New Zealand”. Just as you have no reference to gauge mine, at the other end of the country. Maybe an immigrant without our local baggage can in fact have a deeper understanding of “New Zealand” than we do, noticing the little conceits and quirks that are the water we swim in as fish. And maybe how we treat immigrants is part of what it is to be a New Zealander.
But it’s all pointless anyway, because nothing about a commenter is verified. I can say my father is dead, and maybe that gives me some cache to talk about grief and loss. Or maybe my father is alive, or I never knew him, at I simply told a fib to get that credibility. Who knows – not you, that’s for sure.
Now, it can be funny when commenters tell conflicting stories about themselves – claims to live in difference places, or have degrees in everything from economics to rocket science to medicine. But that’s all it is. Everything else are just snowflakes landing on a discussion and then melting, leaving nothing of substance.
But it’s all pointless anyway, because nothing about a commenter is verified. I can say my father is dead, and maybe that gives me some cache to talk about grief and loss.
Well, unlike RWNJs that have to lie because reality doesn’t suit their beliefs, I simply don’t lie.
Online or face to face.
But I have absolutely no understanding of Waitakere, because I’ve never even been there.?
It’s really no different from anywhere else.
Maybe an immigrant without our local baggage can in fact have a deeper understanding of “New Zealand” than we do, noticing the little conceits and quirks that are the water we swim in as fish.
I’m not an immigrant – merely autistic and that means that I live outside of the norm.
Except that there’s nothing in this subthread about you, so it’s a non sequiter to talk about yourself.
But let’s say it is about you. Maybe you never lie. Nobody here knows that. You are frequently mistaken about small facts that tend to invalidate your cunning plans. Maybe that’s just because you have an inflated opinion of yourself so assume your assumptions are equivalent to facts. If it concerns your argument, it should probably be verifiable. If it’s about yourself, it’s not hugely relevant to any discussion. Mildly interesting, maybe, but completely unverifiable for most intents and purposes. So maybe you never lie in fact to face conversations. So what?
Posting in good faith seems to not be an issue these days…
James clearly does not post in good faith…that is abundantly clear…
Watching bans get distributed to others , for less IMO while James plays ‘victim’, is a low point among many for this site…
James openly posts his personal details regarding his family and preferences as an agitator to rub others up the wrong way…yes others let that happen…but why enable the root cause…
Playing his make believe family life, which he openly shares back to Jmaes is not the problem this site faces, TRP…
It’s that James and ilk are enabled…empowered on this site…quite why is up for debate…
Well, you did offer these details on this forum in your arguments against socially conscious thought and policy. I think they are fair game because of that.
It’s not a question of skin colour or of names but if we can support them on the limited resources that we have.
I find it amusing that a RWNJ, who is most likely to say that we must live within our means will then demand that we live outside our means. To live beyond what is physically available.
Will all our resident xenophobes and racists be complaining about this?
Your problems, like fuckwits, is that you believe that we can support all those that decide to come here.
We cannot.
That is simply reality.
Now, if you were the prosper who looks after the environment as you portray youself to be then the first question you would be asking is: Given present technological constraints, how many people can NZ support?
The most important point being that we cannot support unlimited immigration.
That’s a physical impossibility that no amount of whinging from you can ever displace.
It’s not xenophobic to say that we cannot support any more people.
In fact, given your support to protect the environment, if you were taking into account actual physical realities, you’d be saying the same.
Geez I can’t keep up with you Draco, aren’t we living in a swirling neoliberal cesspit? What the hell do you care if other suckers want to come and live under the constant persecution we all suffer from….We’ve got it pretty good hey bro.
“is that you believe that we can support all those that decide to come here” citation needed
“We cannot” citation needed
“The most important point being that we cannot support unlimited immigration.
That’s a physical impossibility that no amount of whinging from you can ever displace.” Strawman argument – no one said UNLIMITED IMMIGRATION – this is dishonest arguing.
“… to say that we cannot support any more people” citation needed
See what you do there?
You make stuff up, create bogus arguments and then win those arguments whilst continuing to not actually deal with ANY reality.
You make bold statement after bold statement – all opinion and all fear based.
Nah, because the number would always change according to technology.
The real question is “how many net migrants can we absorb each year”?
Then we can take a decent number of refugees and essential skills first and fill up the rest with economic migrants.
Currently we’re on around 70k. Reasonable arguments have been made to lower that until neglected housing and other infrastructure has been upgraded. But the biggest problem are tourists, even though businesses love their money.
Nah, because the number would always change according to technology.
True but what does present technology allow?
Because if technology may increase later we need to know what we can support now. This helps us to decide how many we can support later when our knowledge improves.
So, how many people can we presently support?
Then we can take a decent number of refugees and essential skills first and fill up the rest with economic migrants.
That is secondary to how many we can support given present knowledge.
Reasonable arguments have been made to lower that until neglected housing and other infrastructure has been upgraded.
The present number of immigrants should be halted until we know how many people that our nation can support.
So, how many people can our nation support?
It is up to you, and all others who support immigration, to show those of us who don’t.
We’re doing pretty fucking well when we don’t leave essential infrastructure up to market forces. Are you asserting that we’re anything close to over-capacity at the moment?
Except that the world population almost tripled in the thousand years before the industrial revolution. And a little over doubled in the thousand years before that.
We (globally) have been in “factorial” growth for thousands of years, it just has a long tail because that’s what such growth consists of.
@DTB: yeah, that’s how capitalism works. And NZ is doing better than most places, which is what I meant by “we”.
It depends on what and how you measure it Pat – it isn’t a nice easy round number like you seem to be thinking. Perhaps go and read draco’s link to get an idea of the complexities and aspects to the calculation – you may be surprised.
the repetition would appear to be a bug…and one im having trouble working round …however requiring you to access the data and doing the equation yourself allows you thye opportunity to dispute the method
I’m just wondering why the criteria is “post-agrarian revolution but pre-industrial revolution”. I’m assuming the only permissable food production is crop rotation but hopefully with better healthcare?
Prior to the industrial revolution there was about 500 million people sustainably supported.
We now have in excess of 7 billion.
You need to show, because it you argument, that the Earth can support more than 500 million sustainably.
As a subset, you need to show how many people that NZ can support sustainably.
I think five million is the limits for NZ and that one billion is the limits for the Earth as a while. This has, of course, come from many readings but here’s one.
So, how many people can NZ support sustainably?
How many people can the Earth support sustainably?
oh dear thats an unconvincing line to take so Ill hold your hand and walk you through it.
World population pre industrial revolution is estimated to be between 700 million and a billion…probably closer to the low end but we will be generous and work with a billion.
which if allocated at pre industrial stocking rates (which i contest is the sustainable level, with perhaps a small premium for technology) equates to around 4.1 million souls
Current NZ population is around 4.7 million…that is not to say we shouldnt assist our neighbours who will undoubtably need refuge soon but dont kid ourselves that it is sustainable
Will all our resident xenophobes and racists be complaining about this?
Your problems, like fuckwits, is that you believe that we can support all those that decide to come here.
We cannot.
That is simplyreality…..
….It’s not xenophobic to say that we cannot support any more people.
In fact, given your support to protect the environment, if you were taking into account actual physical realities, you’d be saying the same.
“It’s not xenophobic to say that we cannot support any more people”,
Draco T Bastard
Hi Draco, don’t you mean, ‘any more Brown People’? Remember that we allow unlimited entry to White Majority Settler nation Australia?
Your above statement is not factual, And if your statement is not factual – what is it, that motivates some people to believe this?
My opinion is, that your opinion is deeply xenophobic. But unlike my opinion, your opinion, your surety that we cannot support any more people, is not backed up by fact.
Let’s look at the raw data
New Zealand Surface area – 267710 sq.Km
New Zealand Population density, people per sq.Km, – 15
That’s less than half the population density of Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Sahran Africa Population density, people per sq.Km – 34.7
But let’s be fair, Eh Draco? Let’s compare apples with apples. New Zealand, with two other First World countries with roughly the same surface area, and temperate climate, with a similar standard of living.
United Kingdom Surface area – 243610 sq.Km
United Kingdom Population density, people per sq.km – 271
Surface area Japan, 364560 sq.Km
Japan Population density, people per sq.Km – 336
But maybe we should go further afield and look at the stats for some other countries.
Let’s look for instance at the Netherlands with one of the highest population densities in the world.
Netherlands Population density, people per sq.Km – 488
The thing about the Netherlands that disproves your xenophobic trope, Draco, is that despite it’s high population density the Netherlands has one of the highest living standards in the world.
Continuing:-
USA Population density, people per sq.Km – 33.21
China Population density, people per sq.Km – 145
And you have the gall to tell me, “….we cannot
May I politely suggest that you seriously need to question your surety, that immigration controls are not xenophobic.
Maybe, like Solkta, you believe we have the right to impose our borders on the region because the Polynesians were/are savage cannibals.
Hi Draco, don’t you mean, ‘any more Brown People’?
No I don’t and, as far as I know, we also allow unlimited entry to brown Australians.
Your above statement is not factual
Yes it is. There are limits and we don’t know what they are so the best option is to prevent excess now.
But let’s be fair, Eh Draco? Let’s compare apples with apples. New Zealand, with two other First World countries with roughly the same surface area, and temperate climate, with a similar standard of living.
You’re making the assumption that those countries aren’t over-populated and can sustainably maintain that population level indefinitely. Consider that the US is over-populated at a population density less than both of those.
May I politely suggest that you seriously need to question your surety, that immigration controls are not xenophobic.
May I politely tell you to get yourself before spouting off your ignorance?
The world is over-populated. This is fact. As a subset every country has it’s own carrying capacity that many, all the ones you listed as a matter of fact, have already exceeded.
So, we can all live like Ugandans or we can reduce the population of the Earth. What we can’t do is maintain a living standard for everyone equivalent to the First World while maintaining or expanding that population.
That’s physical reality no matter how much you dislike it.
If the obscure organisation contained in the link you supplied, thinks that the US is overpopulated at 33.21 people per sq.Km, I wonder what they think of the Netherlands at 448 people per sq.Km.
It may interest them, and you, to know that the Netherlands, are a major food exporter. (Sort’a makes a nonsense of your claim that “the US is overpopulated”, or beyond its “carrying capacity” Don’t you think?)
…Germany is the most important export market for Dutch farm products, accounting for sales of €23.4bn in 2017, or roughly 25% of total exports. At the same time, the Netherlands is Germany’s most important agricultural export market, the CBS said. After Germany, the biggest markers are Belgium (€10.4bn), Britain (€8.6bn) and France (€8bn). While Dutch exports to Belgium and France increased, they actually fell to Britain probably because of a weaker pound sterling related to Brexit, the CBS said.
:
Draco, in my opinion, you are just mindlessly regurgitating misanthropic rubbish to suit your anti-immigrant prejudices. (the dog whistle being, not that there are too many people in the world, but that there are too many brown people in the world).
You often hear people citing overpopulation as the single biggest threat to the Earth. But can we really single out population growth in this way? Are there really too many people on our planet?
It is clear to all of us that the planet is not expanding. There is only so much space on Earth, not to mention only so many resources – food, water and energy – that can support a human population. So a growing human population must pose some kind of a threat to the wellbeing of planet Earth, mustn’t it?
Not necessarily……
…….”It is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue – but the number of consumers and the scale and nature of their consumption,” says David Satterthwaite, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. He quotes Gandhi: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”…..
As it stands now, though, the world’s population is over 7.3 billion.According to United Nations predictionsit could reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, and over 11 billion by 2100.
Population growth has been so rapid that there is no real precedent we can turn to for clues about the possible consequences. In other words, while the planet might hold over 11 billion people by the end of the century, our current level of knowledge does not allow us to predict whether such a large population is sustainable, simply because it has never happened before.
We can get clues, though, by considering where population growth is expected to be strongest in the years ahead. Satterthwaite says that most of the growth over the next two decades is predicted to be in urban centres in what are currently low and middle-income countries.
On the face of it, the global impact of adding several billion people to these urban centres might be surprisingly small. This is because urbanites in low- and middle-income countries have historically consumed little.
The emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases give us a good indication of how high consumption is in a city.
“We know of cities in low-income nations that emit less than one tonne CO2-equivalent per person per year,” says Satterthwaite. “Cities in high-income nations [can] have six to 30 tonnes CO2-equivalent per person per year.”
Citizens of more affluent nations leave a much greater footprint on our planet than people living in poorer countries – although there are exceptions. Copenhagen is the capital of a high-income nation – Denmark – while Porto Alegre is in upper-middle-income Brazil. Living standards are high in both cities, yet per capita emissions are relatively low…..
…..So a world with a human population of 11 billion might put comparatively little extra strain on our planet’s resources. But the world is changing. Low-income urban centres may not continue on low-carbon development trajectories.
The real concern would be if the people living in these areas decided to demand the lifestyles and consumption rates currently considered normal in high-income nations; something many would argue is only fair. If they do, the impact of urban population growth could be much larger.
This fits with a general pattern that has played out over the past century or so, explainsWill Steffen, an emeritus professor with the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. It is not the rise in population by itself that is the problem, but rather the even more rapid rise in global consumption (which of course is unevenly distributed).
This leads to an uncomfortable implication: people living in high-income nations must play their part if the world is to sustain a large human population. Only when wealthier groups are prepared to adopt low-carbon lifestyles, and to permit their governments to support such a seemingly unpopular move, will we reduce the pressure on global climate, resource and waste issues……
“The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry”
Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the field to landfill, because of unrealistic and unyielding cosmetic standards, according to official data and interviews with dozens of farmers, packers, truckers, researchers, campaigners and government officials.
From the fields and orchards of California to the population centres of the east coast, farmers and others on the food distribution chain say high-value and nutritious food is being sacrificed to retailers’ demand for unattainable perfection.
“It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. It is perfect to them, or they turn it down. And then you are stuck.”….
:World overpopulation wouldn’t be such a big problem (space-wise, at least) if everyone lived as densely as they do in South Korea or New Jersey.”
Sydney Brownstone –
The UN has predicted that the world population will reach 9.6 billion by 2050–nearly 2.5 billion more people on Earth than we have at the moment. In 2013,the annual dayin which humanity consumes more natural resources than the planet is capable of recovering from in a year came early, once again. Overpopulation also just happens to be one of those words that immediately triggers images of the apocalypse, despite the fact that nothing in human existence seems more routine than birthing a child.
But before anyone takes Rush Limbaugh’s advice that environmentalists ought to save the planet by committing suicide, let’s take a step back and unpack what “overpopulation” really means. The good people atWait But Whyhave come out with another set of dazzling infographics (we first saw them when they madethis shocking piece about the death tolls of major disasters) that deal with rethinking population density and space. For example, if we lived at the density that people live in Manhattan, the entire global population could fit in New Zealand:
Or, look at the possibilities if we lived as they do in Bangladesh and New Jersey:
“Space is certainly not the problem,” one of the creators of Wait But Why (who prefers to remain anonymous) tells me. “I’m walking right now through Manhattan. It’s crowded, but it’s not that crowded,” he adds. “The point is when we talk about all the issues we have with growing population, the thing that’s scary about that is not space, it’s of course resources, and the distribution of resources.”
In some ways, the infographics are mildly comforting: When we talk about overpopulation, the implication should be that we’re talking about systems of consuming and producing waste that desperately need to be overhauled and made efficient. It’s a big task, but not completely dire…..
……In Germany last week there was a rare piece of good news. Germany’s birthrate was found to be higher than it has been for 13 years, thanks to the 33,000, or 4.8%, more babies born last year than in 2013. Nevertheless, the scale of the demographic crisis Europe’s largest economy faces has finally hit home. For decades there have been far more deaths (last year 153,000 more) than births in Germany. Those women who do give birth are bearing relatively few (on average 1.4) children. Experts say to keep the population at its current rate, that would need to rise to just over two…….
…..In order to offset this shortage, Germany needs to welcome an average of 533,000 immigrants every year, which perhaps gives context to the estimate that 800,000 refugees are due to come to Germany this year.
Only Scandinavia appears to be weathering the demographic storm with any success, partly thanks to generous parental leave systems, stable economies, and, in the cases of Sweden and Norway, high net immigration…….
……For Swedes, improving the demographic profile is advanced as one of the most powerful arguments in favour of immigration. At a meeting in Brussels in June, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven enjoined other European countries follow his country’s example.
“I am not going to sweep under the carpet the fact that it’s a major challenge at the moment,” he said of Sweden’s high levels of asylum applications. “But it is also an asset. We must recognise that if we do not do this now, we are going to have a gigantic problem in a few years.”
Immigration also props up the fertility rate and Britain and France have received a similar fillip to its population growth as a result…..
.
To sum up; We have a societal problem, not an overpopulation problem, global inequality, resource theft, post colonial and neo-colonial enslavement of the Third World by the First World. division and redivision, competition, greed, war. Part of this is the artificial division of the world into cantons. Our global civilisation is organised in such a way, as to benefit the few, at the expense of the majority.
We (generally the West) go around the world creating inequality. When people try to escape this inequality, we act to punish them very severely.
As the above link shows, as societies become richer – as poor people, especially women, become more empowered, population growth slows and even reverses.
Global inequality not overpopulation is the problem. If overpopulation was a problem, it is as a symptom rather than as a cause.
And let’s not forget Draco that you brought up this overpopulation argument to justify your anti-immigrant stance. If there was a problem with overpopulation, don’t you think that the humane thing to do would be to allow people to move to areas with less overcrowding.
IMHO Draco, your whole overpopulation justification for your anti-immigrant stance, is inhumane, xenophobic, and misanthropic, targeting as if does the Third World immigrant fleeing persecution, poverty and war. And more recently, climate change, it is also racist.
It may interest them, and you, to know that the Netherlands, are a major food exporter.
Being able to produce food is not the same as living sustainably which is the mistake you and many others are making.
Climate change is the result of us not living sustainably.
”It is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue – but the number of consumers and the scale and nature of their consumption,” says David Satterthwaite, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.
Another idiot not understanding how cycles work.
The number of people a country can sustain is limited by the time it takes for the natural environment to turn human waste into fertiliser.
That is the hard limit of a nation’s carrying capacity. We’ve temporarily gone above that by using fossil fuels to produce artificial fertilisers but it is only temporary.
He quotes Gandhi: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”
Ghandi and him are wrong. It’s people trying to justify the status quo and nothing more.
World overpopulation wouldn’t be such a big problem (space-wise, at least) if everyone lived as densely as they do in South Korea or New Jersey
And this is mistaking the actual cause of over-population. It’s not space that’s the problem but maintaining the natural services of the environment.
Global inequality not overpopulation is the problem.
They are both problems.
“Across Europe birth rates are tumbling. The net effect is a ‘perfect demographic storm’ that will imperil economic growth across the continent”
Yeah, it’s called the Baby Boom. Been known about for around 50 years. It’s why both National and Labour have been importing so many people in to NZ despite the fact that it’s not going to help. It’s more ignorance trying to keep the status quo, which requires infinite growth of the human population, going.
IMHO Draco, your whole overpopulation justification for your anti-immigrant stance, is inhumane, xenophobic, and misanthropic, targeting as if does the Third World immigrant fleeing persecution, poverty and war.
Your opinion is wrong and it seems that you only have it because I’ve successfully pointed out that you’re talking out your arse. Spouting ignorance and BS to try and justify your delusional position.
That is a read and a half Pat. A kick in the guts reading about the way that our semi-government goes about not helping small business being grown by NZ. And how it views the responsibility to inform the public about its moves, in this democracy.
I followed up info for Geoff Gwyn, a leader at MPI. It is below.
Director: Joint Border Management System
Ministry for Primary Industries
March 2013 – May 2014 1 year 3 months
Wellington, New Zealand
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
Manager Central and South, Border Operations, MPI
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
December 2011 – March 2013 1 year 4 months
Wellington, New Zealand
NZ Police
Inspector
NZ Police
April 1985 – May 2010 25 years 2 months
Education
Tawa College
1978 – 1982
Massey University
Massey University
Master of Arts – MA
That is a pretty good upward-moving trajectory. He gets a Master of Arts at Massey, not a science degree. He goes into the police for 25 years and gets to Inspector. Then he starts another career, with MPI as Manager Border Security for central region for just over one year, then is made Director for another year,
then becomes Chairman for government nationwide dealing with borders, and so on. Seems easy peasy. He wouldn’t want to spoil his shiny record.
Yes GWS it is yet another example of the cosy relationship between big business and those that supposedly protect the interest of the wider public…and the value placed on the interests of joe public….and they wonder why populism, go figure
National is once again whining about the proposed changes to edcuation taking away power from parents. Even though the last government brought charter schools, where parents had absolutely no input into the running of those places, and school PPP’s, which outsourced all the school property to a private company.
Rural races would be problematic because without licensing which the race courses are apparently having trouble gaining there is no oversight on what people drink and how much they eat. That’s what licensing does – protect people. Also in rural areas I expect there to be difficulty getting home after drinking and we know crash rates on rural roads are terrible. The police and emergency services are rightly concerned.
Not you though. 👎
And yes, Peters has spoken about this before. Bishop knows this and is simply using the issue to manufacture division in the government, not for the good people of rural New Zealand.
“And yes, Peters has spoken about this before. Bishop knows this and is simply using the issue to manufacture division in the government, not for the good people of rural New Zealand.”
Really – and how do you know this ?
Do you think NZ First are willing to do such harm to the rural community?
Clearly you know nothing about liquor licensing. To get a licence to serve alcohol you must be able to provide food and have trained managers and staff. Some of these rural tracks are obviously struggling to meet the liquor licensing requirements and if they can’t manage the safety of their punters with respect to alcohol consumption on a hot day then BYO is no go. This seems obvious.
I should have stopped at, “Clearly you know nothing”.
Yep. A red meat diet is a big indicator for bowel cancer. We could all eat a lot less of it. My consumption is no more than 2-3 times a month and that’s without even thinking about it.
One evening that March, Hossein and five friends met at his parents’ home to discuss politics. They talked about a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Syria in the eighties, and the regime’s vicious response, which left thousands dead. “We knew very well that if we wanted to stand against the regime the bill would be high,” he told me. But the recent protests in Daraa had been about basic democratic reforms, not overthrowing the government, and Hossein felt confident that Assad would feel constrained by the gaze of the international community and by social media, which could broadcast abuses.
And it could have worked out that way; except, right from the earliest days, the Western Liberal Left, instead of standing with the Syrian people, threw their lot in with the regime instead.
The suffering of the people and genocide carried out against them by the regime was ignored, and minimised, social media was swamped with a sea of regime propaganda and slander, repeated and amplified by their embedded Western puppets. All this was eagerly swallowed and reposted by both the fascist Right and the gullible Left.
In the end, the only ones to give any material aid to the Syrian people were the demented fundamentalist billionaire princes of Saudi Arabia.
If Saraqib did represent the soul of the revolution, as Hossein believed, then it also suggested what Syria might be like today had the democratic revolutionaries received more international solidarity, had they been more united, and had they been more effective at collecting taxes. Perhaps they could have outmaneuvered the fundamentalists in the battle for hearts and minds. Or perhaps no democratic revolution could survive interventions on the scale of those staged by Russia and the Gulf states.
The writing is on the wall for Saraqib and Idlib province. The Saudis, the Americans, the Turks, and the Regime and their Russian allies, have all come to terms. The US will abandon their former Kurdish allies to the regime, which will keep Turkey happy. In exchange Turkey will let the regime and Russia conduct their genocide in Idlib.
A victorious Russia and the regime will agree to isolate and crowd out the Iranians and corral Hezbollah, which will also keep the Us and their Zionist allies happy.
Already international relations are being normalised with the Assad regime. It has begun with a few pro-Western autocratic regimes, but it will not be long before the capitals of the West follow suit.
Trump’s sudden decision to get US forces out of Syria is a green-light to both Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad and Turkish ruler Erdogan to move into the northeastern part of Syria currently controlled by the (until now) US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and of course also a nod towards the big ally of both Assad and Erdogan, Trump’s friends in Russia, who of course praised Trump’s decision. Of course, a US betrayal of its Kurdish allies was always a matter of time……
The Kurds were not at war with the Assad regime prior to the Arab Spring.
The have already invited the Syrian army into some of the territory it holds to protect them from there actual enemy, the Turks. They even stated the Syrian regime is the legitimate ruler of the Sryian Kurd territory.
The international community will not accept a Turkish invasion of The Kurdish areas of Syria. If the Syrian Kurds are stupid and attack Turkish territory then reprisals would be expected to happen.
The putrid poisoned pimple is just a low grade liar.
Trump told the servicemen and women he had secured a 10 per cent pay rise on their behalf — and claimed it was their first raise in more than a decade.
“You protect us. We are always going to protect you. And you just saw that, ’cause you just got one of the biggest pay raises you’ve ever received,” Trump said.
“You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years. More than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one.
“They had plenty of people that came up, they said, ‘You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 per cent, we could make it 2 per cent, we could make it 4 per cent.
“I said, ‘No. Make it 10 per cent. Make it more than 10 per cent.’ Cause it’s been a long time, it’s been more than 10 years. Been more than 10 years, that’s a long time.”
You’re claiming he was talking about a 10% increase on the annual increase. This is 0.2% of say USD30K. About a dollar a week – gee no wonder they were happy. 😉
You’re career as a union advocate would be brief, but memorable, DJ!
“Comrades, lets bring this meeting to order. I’m here to report that I’ve negotiated a 10% pay rise. Yes, brothers and sisters, they offered us fuck all and I’ve managed to talk them up to fuck all, plus 10%.
That’s a whopping ten percent more fuck all, comrades!
Yes it is a bit of a joke overall just getting a tiny extra 0.2% except overall it’s a big total. I was just making the point how MSM took his comment and presented it differently. They would have known just as the solders exactly what he meant by his 10% comment. So the lesson for Trump is to qualify everything he says or MSM will spin it to make him look bad, nowingly misrepresenting his comment as they have done on countless other occasions.
If I was in a union and my rep said they only wanted to give you 2.4% (inflation) but he/she managed to talk them into 2.6% I would be happy with my rep. It’s a, in real terms a pay rise.
“They would have known just as the solders exactly what he meant by his 10% comment.”
This is where your argument falls down. In my example union rep Ward spelt out the maths of the rise, admitting it was only 10% more on the base. Trump did no such thing. He repeatedly said 10% over and over again. So how would the troops in front of him know it was a qualified 10% that was really worth 0.26%?
The simple truth is they had no way to know. Neither did anyone else in the room, apparently.
There is also the possibility that Trump is so stupid, he didn’t realise it was just ten percent more on the base offer and genuinely believed it was a straight 10% rise. Bear in mind he’s a serial bankrupt, so accountancy isn’t his strong suit.
Correction. Trump’s 10% is actually 0.2364 extra. That’s 2.364 plus 0.2364, making a total of 2.6%. Alternatively, it went from 2.4% to $2.60% a change of 8%, not ten. Or, to put in real life terms, just over a dollar a week more. The buck stops here!
There’s ample evidence that Jabba the Drumpf just says whatever is going to make him feel good in the moment, without the slightest care about whether it bears any relationship to reality. But if we really wanted to make the unwarranted assumption he wanted his comment to be somehow related to facts, we could grant him that he did increase the total defense budget by around 10%. Which is a very different thing to pay increases of 10%, but he wouldn’t understand that.
I have yet to find any organisation or anything, really, reporting the raise in the way you’re claiming. Articles in publications that appear aimed at active servicepeople are calling out the 10% claim as false. Here’s a sample:
Well amongst thousands of people you will find people who know nothing about what Trump says he did. That’s how this version of Propaganda works. If all you hear is Trumps says he is giving us a 10 % pay rise, but the reality is he is lying to you, then you will believe the Propaganda. If you already knew the context of the comment, the propaganda of the MSM doesn’t work.
You might still thing Trump was silly and wrong in describing things as he has, but you wouldn’t say he was lying.
This years figure is 2.6%. What was this years original figure.
Until we know that we don’t know what Trump did.
The site you gave is nothing to do with the people involved in deciding the pay rise.
Seems pretty clear you didn’t bother to look at it, but joe90’s politifact link it spells it out:
“Military pay increases are determined by a statutory formula mandated by federal law – the raises must be equal to increases in the Employment Cost Index, or ECI.
According to an April 2017 report by the Congressional Research Service, “the president can specify an alternative pay adjustment that supersedes the automatic adjustment,” and “Congress can pass legislation to specify the annual pay raise, which would supersede the automatic adjustment and/or any presidential adjustment if it were enacted.”
In fact, while the 2.4 percent increase for 2018 was the largest in eight years, Trump actually requested 2.1 percent, “an amount below the automatic adjustment (of 2.4 percent) for 2018.” Congress ultimately overrode the administration’s proposal.
For 2019, the CRS reported that Trump requested 2.6 percent, which is a raise equal to the ECI, and one that the president’s 2019 budget called “modest.” ”
So last year Don the Con tried to stiff servicepeople with a raise lower than what was mandated, but congress overrode him to pay what is mandated. For this coming year the Dork from New York might have learned something and just went along with the mandated increase. And is now trying to con servicepeople into thinking he did something special for them. Seems to have worked on you, but I suspect most servicepeople will see through it.
56% support in the military? Really? Where did you get that from? Just made it up on the spot, like your hero the rotting jack’o’lantern does?
Coz the first result that turned up when I went looking for actual facts was 44% approve, 43% disapprove, and a strong trend of dropping approval and rising disapproval. The next results I looked were similar. That trend is likely to continue with his ongoing shitty behaviour towards actual active duty real people, as opposed to the vague idea of a strong military he’s so infatuated by.
“Overall, 56 percent of veterans — both current and former service members — said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 43 percent disapproved”
I dug into this sufficiently to guess that the 10% figure derives from the increase from 2.4% a year ago to 2.6%. Actually, do the math & you’ll get 8.3%, right?
So looks like Trump is trying to take credit for this increase and rounding it up, on the assumption that nobody does precision any more, so near enough is good enough. There’s an entire industry based on this kind of thinking (advertising).
But I agree with the critique from the msm and Marty’s disgust. Bombast from the Trump won’t impress the non-clueless (opinion-leaders) so not good politics. Better for him to be a straight-shooter. More votes down that path.
We don’t know the actual starting 2019 figure. But based on the fact I’ve seen no comments from those involved in the negotiations for the pay rise one can assume the 10% figure is correct. Think about it. He talks about the discussion as to it being a certain %. Hence it did happen, on his initiative and it is 10%.
“Pay raises beginning in 2007 are equal to the increase in the ECI. Pay raises may exceed these automatic levels if authorized and funded by Congress.”
So you’re saying the Democrats agreed to this 10% increase? If so, how come the msm haven’t quoted any confirmation of that from them? All the reporters couldn’t be bothered doing their job?
The Democrates don’t control anything yet. Assuming it’s in the part of the budget already voted in, then yes they have voted. It’s irrelevant if the Dems agree with it or not, but if it’s part of the budget the Dems are blocking in Congress with the 60% rule it’s likely not a good move by them.
The 2.6% figure is not something that’s majicaly arrived post Trumps comment. They had it available to them all along.
Are you saying MSM are so stupid as to not understand what Trump was referring to. They new what the 10% was about and chose to misrepresent it anyway. Or the TDS is so bad they didn’t bother to do a tiny bit of homework, but jumped into full Fake News Propaganda mode.
No, just seeking clarification. Reality-aversion all round, currently. Competing spin is pointless in this context. Nobody knows the facts.
I’m inclined to agree re msm laziness & fake news production, but we’ll have to wait for a news media CEO to tell his troops “Hey, enough of this kindergarten stuff, you turkeys. I expect a return to professional standards or you’re all fired! A bunch of drainlayers could do better, after some basic training. You wanna call my bluff??”
“On August 31, 2017, President Trump sent a letter to congressional leaders invoking his authority under 37 U.S.C. 1009(e) to set the pay raise at 2.1%. However, Section 601 of the enacted version of the FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) specified the statutory formula increase (2.4%) would go into effect, superseding the President’s alternative adjustment.”
During a holiday visit to troops stationed in Iraq, President Donald Trump bragged that he had secured them not only their first pay raise in over a decade, but “one of the biggest” ever.
This is inaccurate and not the first time Trump has made false claims about annual military raises.
His full remarks:
“..you just got one of the biggest pay raises you’ve ever received … You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one.
“They had plenty of people that came up. They said, ‘You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 percent. We could make it 2 percent. We could make it 4 percent.’ I said, ‘No. Make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent.’ Because it’s been a long time. It’s been more than 10 years. It’s been more than 10 years.”
We fact-checked a similar claim from Trump in May, when he told military mothers and spouses at a White House event that he signed a bill to give service members a raise for the “first time in 10 years.” We rated it Pants on Fire.
In reality, service members have received pay raises every year for more than three decades. The 2019 military pay increase of 2.6 percent is the largest in nine years, but it is not the “more than 10 percent” that Trump mentioned.
He is talking about above the formula rises. The military pay rise is benchmarked. This will be the first rise above that benchmark in a long time.
If you understood Trump you would see why non military staff are not getting pay rises. He would prefer to cut there numbers. He however is very pro military, law enforcement. The non military staff is the swamp.
He is not fucking over there lives. The House voted yes. The Senate (Schumer) is blocking the budget in the Senate. Trump is blocking nothing. Trump has not stopped the government, the Senate has. Some hypocrites that wanted a wall, now don’t want one because Trump wants it.
You didn’t check out joe90’s politifact link, did you?
If you had and followed politifact’s sources you might have spotted this little gem:
“On August 31, 2017, President Trump sent a letter to congressional leaders invoking his authority under 37 U.S.C. 1009(e) to set the pay raise at 2.1%. However, Section 601 of the enacted version of the FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) specified the statutory formula increase (2.4%) would go into effect, superseding the President’s alternative adjustment.”
page 12 of https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33446.pdf
So the satsuma shitgibbon tried to diddle the military on their mandated raise and had to be over-ridden by Congress, then he just bare-faced lied straight to servicepeople’s faces to falsely claim he got a better deal for them.
I’m curious though, where’s your bullshit supply coming from? Direct from Huckabooboo, or Kellyanne? Hannity? Pootee?
“Put simply, if we are determined to maintain the economic status quo, we cannot possibly mitigate climate change, so we must turn to adapting to it. And if we opt for adaptation, they write, “we have to come to terms with the impossibility of material, social, and political progress as a universal promise: life is going to be worse for most people in the 21st century in all these dimensions. The political consequences of this are hard to predict.”
The choice is radicalism today or disaster tomorrow, and from all signs, humanity is choosing the latter.”
Kia ora Clint from R&R We have to respect our grandchildrens future that places respect and provide all the children of papatuanuku rights to a good life now and in the future and respect all life on papatuanuku more than the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Profits has to stop be made by sacrificing our grandchildrens full stop .
The way the world is at the minute has to be totally changed that means abandoning most of the capitalist systems that runs the world.
Ka kite ano
I see the sight has had a up grade it mite help with some of the stats to ??????????.
Thanks for the hard work Iprent has put in maintaining and up grading thestandard Happy New year to all on this site and all the people around the world all the best the. Lefty,s keep up the good work we must never stop fighting for the good of ALL. The invention of the internet has the same effect,s as when fire was invented it has many positive effects but if you don’t respect it you one get burned
.ka kite ano
Here you go the carbon coalithion goverment of Australia is going to let black-throated finch go extint all for coal and money muppets
Adani ‘conservation area’ for endangered finch sits on proposed Clive Palmer mine
Exclusive: environmental group calls plan to protect black-throated finch an ‘elaborate hoax’ The bird is endangered and researchers have previously said the Adani Carmichael mine’s offset strategy would be “grossly inadequate” to protect it.
Waratah Coal requires permission from pastoral land holders, including Adani, before being granted a mining lease. If there is a dispute, the matter goes before the Queensland land court.
Carmel Flint from Lock the Gate, which has a history of advocating for pastoral land owners in conflict with miners, said the land court “would do little to stop Waratah Coal from mining the area”.
“Mining licences trump pastoral leases completely under the law in Queensland,” Flint said. “As a result, this so-called ‘conservation area’ that Adani has allocated to the black-throated finch is utterly meaningless. It’s an elaborate hoax they’ve devised to enable them to start the Carmichael links below ka kite ano
Kia ora Clint from R&R Climate change is the biggest risk to human kind and yes we can make a diffence te Papatuanuku is like any living orgnasim . If one pumps just sugar in to a pepe /baby it will grow obeast and die same with Papatuanuku we are pumping to much bad gasses into her and she is warming fast . Life is finely balanced it does not take much to put life’s ballance out and that means collapes if we make changes in Aotearoa our neighbours will follow suit . trump wont be in power for ever and then changes for the better for our enviroment and our mokopunas future .Happy new years to you all ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori use to shear the aroha but I got ahi all the time . I strongly agree we need to restore the respect being cast out over the whole whano and IWI instead some just rip you off that’s not the old tangata whenua way.The old maori way was to respect everything
Kia ora Te kaea Tewhare has a good way to help people who have slipped down there ladder of life whano shearing and gardening raising stock is good for the wairua and respecting all .
Ka pai Ngahuia for getting funding to study the health benerfits of sailing a dubble hulled waka in Te taiwhiti.
Its cool that there heaps of interest in books and all maori culture now .
Nania has had a good year she is a good maori wahine leader and role modle for our young wahine. I Te puni korkiri need to work harder at providing a good service for maori. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Milisa from Newshub thats sad the church in Mount Eden Auckland has burnt down .
People have to be careful and check the weather yes and if caught in a rip ride it will bring you out of the rip or back to shore.
Ilegal weed just made the people grow weed up the east coast instead of becoming more industrious and growing food for export our tipuna were one of the most industrious in there time.
People need to show respect and stop damaging things burning things is dumb.
The Sudan people looks like they are not happy lets hope it all ends well for all of the people.
June was quite funny she has given me a few sore faces condolences to her whano
Shellys bay Tauranga is a gem of a place nice people and great views into the harbour Mike ka kite ano
Kai ora Newshub looks like the fireworks show in Auckland will be a good show tonight with the Sky tower and Auckland harbour bridge synchronised.
To everyone don’t drink to much tonight as one could end up in the——-.
The Gisborne festival packs the city up with heaps of people and long lines in the shops.
People love to come to the Aotearoa te whenua of Cream & Honey be save and happy on your travels to Queens Town.
It has been a good year for wahine sport stars in Aotearoa in 2018 Ross Ka kite anoP.S hope the weather is going to be ka pai Ingrid happy new year
Happy healthy Positive New Year to Te Papatuanuku . The people of the world must make sure we dont lose Tanemahuta and Tangaroa’s beautiful creations all the tamariki of the world needed to be taught about how close a link humans have with mothernature and how finely ballanced life actualy is. Our World has been placed in just the correct place with marama moon the tilt of the axis how close we are to Ra Sun the planets all play a role that keeps like thriving on Earth. Change just one of those phenomen change the ballance and the world could be a frozen ball or a fire ball thats a fact . We must learn to respect all thing thy neighbours thee creatures thee earth all things
The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer,” she told the Guardian. “It’s different from climate change, where people feel the impact in everyday life. With biodiversity, it is not so clear but by the time you feel what is happening, it may be too late.”
The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer.
Cristiana Pașca Palmer
Pașca Palmer is executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – the world body responsible for maintaining the natural life support systems on which humanity depends.
Its members – 195 states and the EU – will meet in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, this month to start discussions on a new framework for managing the world’s ecosystems and wildlife. This will kick off two years of frenetic negotiations, which Pașca Palmer hopes will culminate in an ambitious new global deal at the next conference in Beijing in 2020. Links below Ka kite ano
Kia ora when we protect our fisheries for the mokopuna’s we will be protect there welbeing as well. In the future with population incresses and other countrys fisheries collapsing the presures on our fisheries will be huge as the demand out strips supply of our seafood the price paid will shoot throught the roof then all the wrong people will target our fishes . Hence when we protect te fishes now in 20 years crayfish paua kina osters will be worth more than gold a sustainable managment system needs to guarantee our fisheries future. People will pay big money to come here and catch our fishes as well in the future .
Fisheries New Zealand wants people to have their say on proposed rule changes for recreational fishers to assist with rebuilding the CRA2 fishery, which covers the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty.Fisheries New Zealand wants people to have their say on proposed rule changes for recreational fishers to assist with rebuilding the CRA2 fishery, which covers the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty.
Manager of inshore fisheries Steve Halley says under the proposals the number of spiny rock lobsters recreational fishers can take per day would be reduced from six to three.
“As part of the consultation, we also want feedback on introducing telson (tail fan) clipping as a tool to assist with minimising the illegal black market sales of rock lobster,” Mr Halley says.
“The proposals follow the decision by the Minister of Fisheries to make a large reduction to the Total Allowable Catch, Total Allowable Commercial Catch and the overall allowance for recreational fishers for the fishery on 1 April 2018.
“These proposed changes are designed to double the number of rock lobster in the area over the next 4-8 years. links below Ka kite ano P.S one of Eco maori favorite kaimoana gathers on this video
This is were human’s future is exploring space ka pai Happy new year to Elon Musk and all this teams at Spacex and Tesla big changes coming in 2019 for the good of all.
SpaceX’s Starship prototype proceeds at breakneck pace towards hop tests Well illustrated by recent drone photos of SpaceX’s up-and-coming Boca Chica, Texas facilities, dozens of SpaceXers and local contractors have congregated at the company’s Starship prototype work site over the last few weeks, progressing it from an empty tent and a collection of parts to a handful of large assemblies for what appears to be the first full-scale Starship hopper.
Much like Falcon 9’s Grasshopper and F9R (Reusable) hop test articles, this ungainly Starship hopper – standing an impressive 9m (29.5 ft) wide and ~40m (131 ft) tall – appears all but guaranteed to become the first integrated BFR hardware to take flight, hopefully supporting a productive series of low-altitude hop tests from a roughly-prepared South Texas pad.links below ka kite ano
Kia ora Tekaea Ka pai to Maori Kings Tuheitia Potatau goal of uniting te iwis at the 85 Poukai at Horahora marae newyear .
Its good to see Meka Whaitiri tau toko the young wahine aspirations to become Mps Its good to see all the new maori soft ball stars starting to shine bright .
Ka kite ano Happy new year to the Maori TV team P.S Our tipuna use waiata to record our histoy its is good to see our young music stars shining bright
Kia ora Tom from Newshub I read that there was not to much havoc in Aotearoa last night. Nine years of decision made on the base of making money and saving money well the effects of these choices are still rolling in . New Years eve celebration is for the youth. Good on Malasia for stopping taking our plastic waste we need to minermize the poision make laws to combat this problem that is growing bigger everyday. That campfire in California was a big deaster and there are hundreds of people living in tents condloences to them some one need to come up with inovative ways to solve there housing hardship I wonder they want to spend billions on a WALL when people need there housing go figure. Tawhirirmatea was good to us in Vags last night Ingrid
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The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Mazza, Director, SPHERE NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care and Professor and Head of the Department of General Practice, Monash University PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock Ahead of the government’s response this week ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle It generally ends badly. An old tyrant embarks on an ill-considered project that involves redrawing maps. They are heedless to wise counsel and indifferent to indigenous interests or experience. Before they fail, are killed, deposed or otherwise disposed of, these vicious old men can cause immense ...
The Cook Islands PM is in Beijing to sign an agreement with China - but the government says he failed to consult with NZ on the matter, as is required. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katinka van de Ven, Alcohol and other drug specialist, UNSW Sydney Fewer young Australians are drinking. And when they do drink, they are drinking less and less often than previous generations at the same age. It’s a trend happening all around the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavio Macau, Associate Dean – School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University Hitra/Shutterstock Coles is reducing its product range by at least 10%, a move that has sparked public backlash and renewed discussions about the role of supermarkets in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacinta Humphrey, Research Fellow in Urban Ecology, RMIT University Golf courses are sometimes seen as harmful to the environment. According to the popular notion, the grass soaks up too much water, is cut too short and sprayed with dangerous chemicals. But in ...
New Zealand has long championed a fair, stable, and resilient global order. As a nation with deep ties to the Pacific and beyond, we cannot afford to be passive in the face of these shifts. ...
Things are going to look a little different this year. Here’s what to expect.Good news, Shortland Street fans: after a well-earned summer holiday, New Zealand’s longest running drama returns to TVNZ2 and TVNZ+ tonight. Ahead of us is a fresh year of living, loving and laughing in the nation’s ...
The poll, conducted between 02 and 04 February, shows National up 2.3 points to 31.9 percent, while Labour has risen 0.4 points from last month to 31.3 percent. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina McFerran, Professor and Head of Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit; Director of Researcher Development Unit, The University of Melbourne New York Public Library Many of us take pleasure in listening to music. Music accompanies important life events and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina McFerran, Professor and Head of Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit; Director of Researcher Development Unit, The University of Melbourne New York Public Library Many of us take pleasure in listening to music. Music accompanies important life events and ...
The Cook Islands finds itself in a precarious dance — one between the promises of foreign investments and the integrity of our own sovereignty. As the country sways between partners China and Aotearoa New Zealand, the Cook Islands News asks: “Do we continue to haka with the Taniwha, our constitutional ...
A diplomatic scuffle with the Cook Islands. Plus: What went down at Waitangi. The Cook Islands prime minister, Mark Brown, has provoked the wrath of the New Zealand foreign minister with his decision to head to China to sign a new strategic deal. By failing to consult on the ...
The deputy chairperson of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Michael Connelly, said simply setting targets without "resourcing" them was a pointless exercise, as the number of patients - and their acuity - continuing to grow. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suvradip Maitra, PhD Student, Australian National University Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock Late last year, ChatGPT was used by a Victorian child protection worker to draft documents. In a glaring error, ChatGPT referred to a “doll” used for sexual purposes as an “age-appropriate toy”. ...
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Looking less like a slaughter in Manbij
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/1ecf9b83-c785-43ad-a38a-5840a37291a7
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/12/turkey-delegation-russia-syria-talks-intervention.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/28/syrian-kurdish-militia-manbij-turkey
‘Quid pro quo’
The geopolitical maneuvering between the US and Turkey, has paved the way for the re-commencement of a genocidal slaughter in Idlib.
I fully expect, you, like other Assad apologists here, will politely look away. Just as you always have.
From USA Today. (little reporting of this from our media)
Record-shattering heat wave scorches Australia as temperatures reach 120 degrees (F)
Doyle Rice – USA TODAY, December 27, 2018
Where’s the justice?
Taking advantage of the open border with White Majority Australia, I think, that over the next coming weeks, we can expect a movement of Australians to NZ to escape the heat.
Will all our resident xenophobes and racists be complaining about this?
Of course not, they are not brown skinned Pacific Islanders.
Per capita, Australians are the one of the peoples most responsible for climate change.
Per capita, (and overall being barely measurable), Polynesians are one of the peoples least responsible for climate change. Butone of the world’s peoples most negatively impacted by it.
(A fact that also gets little media attention here).
On the frontline of climate change in the South Pacific
Admin – Friends of the Earth Scotland, August 27, 2018
‘There [are] no climate change sceptics in these island communities’
If there were any justice,
If post colonial racist immigration policies were not an issue.
In balance, Australians would have their free entry removed. (Well at least) until they pressured their leaders to do something about Australia’s world record breaking emissions). And Pacific Islanders, who are in less able to act against climate change, and most affected by it, would enjoy free entry.
The elephant in the front room*.
Local media are still missing this story.
Australian heatwave spans five states with high of 49C forecast
Naaman Zhou – The Guardian, December 27, 2018
If the New Zealand media ever finally get around to reporting on this. The words “climate change” will likely be missing from their reports.
cue cricket sounds:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/
http://ifasgallery.ifas.ufl.edu/entnem/walker/buzz/585ss.wav
Well at least in the meantime, until they become extinct,
Climate change on track to cause major insect wipeout, scientists warn
Damion Carrington – The Guardian, May 17, 2018
It’s not that they’re missing it. It’s that they’re misunderstanding it. They truly don’t understand that Australians are directly responsible for their actions.
Reality doesn’t give a shit about ‘justice’.
It really only takes into account those who are still alive.
Chances are, if we continue our present direction, that won’t include humans.
Now do you understand?
EDIT:
This will actually be justice – we just won’t like it.
“Will all our resident xenophobes and racists be complaining about this?
Of course not, they are not brown skinned Pacific Islanders.”
Nor will they have Chinese sounding surnames – which is probably more important to this government.
As a white economic immigrant yourself, where do you stand on priority access to this country?
Wealthy white Englishmen like yourself? Chinese, rich from poor human rights standards? Middle-class Indian students brought here on a scam? Aussie cobbers who just got too hot? Pacific peoples whose homes are wrecked every other year?
Who gets priority according to Coatsville resident and grandfather, James?
muttonbird – still running with the meme that Im not from NZ I see.
I also love how you and a couple of others keep bringing up details I have sharded on here previously (relating to the topics in hand) like where I live, where my kids went to school, their approximate ages, the fact that they own their own businesses etc.
Its like a disney version of doxxing.
Not sure how this works with the policy however – I guess that is up to the mods – but generally it would be seen as very poor form to start trying to identify people or keep on republishing their information.
I know that this wont make you stop (after all you are like a dog with a bone) – but Hey – Ive called you out for it.
You make a good point, james. Nature and nurture take us through childhood, and as adults, we are shaped by our experiences. It really doesn’t matter where we come from, its where we are here and now that matters on a topical blog. I agree that repeated references to your alleged country of origin borders on doxxing. It also means that some people are pointlessly limiting their responses based on what they think they know about your background. That’s just daft, in my opinion.
So, a general warning that reference to any commenters background, known or not, should be clearly relevant to the discussion at hand.
Fair enough, but I think it’s wise to not use details of your personal station in life to troll a forum. James does this a lot – the barbecues, the private schools, etc. The reason I bring it up is that I believe not much of it is the truth, and that particular commenter is making stuff up in order to annoy others on this forum.
If the moderators think this is ok then that is the course they follow.
Also, I’m not sure about references to background being limited to the discussion at hand. That suggests all commenters come to a thread with a clean sheet but in reality we know what drives each other because of historical knowledge. Are you saying we should scrub that knowledge?
Given that it’s all conjecture anyway, why bother keep bringing it up?
After a year in government, the worst he can manage is a misinterpretation of a report that exposed a massive failing in NZ’s record keeping, and you take the bait. Make him try harder so it becomes obvious who is trolling whom.
I’m comfortable with my actions.
By the way, I was born at Waitakere Hospital – as Westie as you get!
um – okaaay
I’ll walk you through it. TRP states:
Now I happen to think it can matter where we come from because you are shaped by your experiences. My accusation was that aging white immigrants from England have limited understanding of New Zealand identity and their largely anti-minority beliefs are a result of that. Their comments on immigration policy need to be taken in that context.
But I have absolutely no understanding of Waitakere, because I’ve never even been there. I have no reference upon which to gauge your “understanding of New Zealand”. Just as you have no reference to gauge mine, at the other end of the country. Maybe an immigrant without our local baggage can in fact have a deeper understanding of “New Zealand” than we do, noticing the little conceits and quirks that are the water we swim in as fish. And maybe how we treat immigrants is part of what it is to be a New Zealander.
But it’s all pointless anyway, because nothing about a commenter is verified. I can say my father is dead, and maybe that gives me some cache to talk about grief and loss. Or maybe my father is alive, or I never knew him, at I simply told a fib to get that credibility. Who knows – not you, that’s for sure.
Now, it can be funny when commenters tell conflicting stories about themselves – claims to live in difference places, or have degrees in everything from economics to rocket science to medicine. But that’s all it is. Everything else are just snowflakes landing on a discussion and then melting, leaving nothing of substance.
Well, unlike RWNJs that have to lie because reality doesn’t suit their beliefs, I simply don’t lie.
Online or face to face.
It’s really no different from anywhere else.
I’m not an immigrant – merely autistic and that means that I live outside of the norm.
Looking in.
And I’m horribly logical about it.
Except that there’s nothing in this subthread about you, so it’s a non sequiter to talk about yourself.
But let’s say it is about you. Maybe you never lie. Nobody here knows that. You are frequently mistaken about small facts that tend to invalidate your cunning plans. Maybe that’s just because you have an inflated opinion of yourself so assume your assumptions are equivalent to facts. If it concerns your argument, it should probably be verifiable. If it’s about yourself, it’s not hugely relevant to any discussion. Mildly interesting, maybe, but completely unverifiable for most intents and purposes. So maybe you never lie in fact to face conversations. So what?
So was I.
In fact, a close friend of mine throughout childhood was someone who was born two days earlier in the same hospital.
There is absolutely no chance that they would vote for anyone but National.
High five, fellow westie.
“Make him try harder so it becomes obvious who is trolling whom.”
A great general principle, thanks.
Far too easy for the righties to get a rise here.
Good question. Why would someone, who’s obviously follows the belief that the Left are envious of the rich, always bring up how rich they are?
There is absolutely no chance that they would vote for anyone but National.
Hardly “always”. To me, James just seems to like watching people with neither a sense of humour nor proportionality jump up and down.
Posting in good faith seems to not be an issue these days…
James clearly does not post in good faith…that is abundantly clear…
Watching bans get distributed to others , for less IMO while James plays ‘victim’, is a low point among many for this site…
James openly posts his personal details regarding his family and preferences as an agitator to rub others up the wrong way…yes others let that happen…but why enable the root cause…
Playing his make believe family life, which he openly shares back to Jmaes is not the problem this site faces, TRP…
It’s that James and ilk are enabled…empowered on this site…quite why is up for debate…
Good post which gets to the heart of the matter.
One Two
+1
Well, you did offer these details on this forum in your arguments against socially conscious thought and policy. I think they are fair game because of that.
“James” is unlikely to be a real individual. More likely a troll-construct.
Well, despite apparently owning one he spells bach, “batch” which isn’t the Kiwi way. 😆
I thought it was interesting why baches are called baches.
In the past young men attempting to establish themselves settled for the most humble of abodes and directed their energies into making a living.
Upon meeting the woman they chose to create a family with they heard the words ‘There is no way I’m living in that shanty!’
Bach is a shortened version of bachelor.
Perhaps he owns many baches that are very similar, like scones?
Sorry Enough, I did reply but it has been censored. ☹️
Yes, he uses them as excuses for injustice.
Sharded’s not a verb jimby, did you mean shatted?
It’s not a question of skin colour or of names but if we can support them on the limited resources that we have.
I find it amusing that a RWNJ, who is most likely to say that we must live within our means will then demand that we live outside our means. To live beyond what is physically available.
To maintain capitalism.
Your problems, like fuckwits, is that you believe that we can support all those that decide to come here.
We cannot.
That is simply reality.
Now, if you were the prosper who looks after the environment as you portray youself to be then the first question you would be asking is: Given present technological constraints, how many people can NZ support?
The most important point being that we cannot support unlimited immigration.
That’s a physical impossibility that no amount of whinging from you can ever displace.
It’s not xenophobic to say that we cannot support any more people.
In fact, given your support to protect the environment, if you were taking into account actual physical realities, you’d be saying the same.
Geez I can’t keep up with you Draco, aren’t we living in a swirling neoliberal cesspit? What the hell do you care if other suckers want to come and live under the constant persecution we all suffer from….We’ve got it pretty good hey bro.
“is that you believe that we can support all those that decide to come here” citation needed
“We cannot” citation needed
“The most important point being that we cannot support unlimited immigration.
That’s a physical impossibility that no amount of whinging from you can ever displace.” Strawman argument – no one said UNLIMITED IMMIGRATION – this is dishonest arguing.
“… to say that we cannot support any more people” citation needed
See what you do there?
You make stuff up, create bogus arguments and then win those arguments whilst continuing to not actually deal with ANY reality.
You make bold statement after bold statement – all opinion and all fear based.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrying_capacity
And you, like Jenny, is ideologically biased against reality.
Yes I am aware of this and that is not a citation – so basically you are making shit up.
No, just applying logic – something that you fail to do.
If the world has a carrying capacity then so does every nation.
It’s a relatively inescapable logic.
So, as you’re the one who thinks we should open up our borders without thought about these things, what is the carrying capacity of NZ?
It really is up to you to prove that we can carry all the people that you think we should import.
Yeah sure lol – always back to the non answer eh. Just bombast and bluster – sad.
how many people can NZ support MM?
how long is the coastline of Aotearoa Pat?
that wasnt the question….have the courage of your convictions and put a number on it
Nah, because the number would always change according to technology.
The real question is “how many net migrants can we absorb each year”?
Then we can take a decent number of refugees and essential skills first and fill up the rest with economic migrants.
Currently we’re on around 70k. Reasonable arguments have been made to lower that until neglected housing and other infrastructure has been upgraded. But the biggest problem are tourists, even though businesses love their money.
technology will only impact at the margin…it certainly wont be factorial
It’s already been “factorial”, ever since the first plough
not since the first plough if you look at the numbers…since the industrial revolution
really?
https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth#long-run-historical-perspective
yes, really. It didn’t turn factorial at the steepest bit. It started slow and gained momentum. Due to technological and social progresion.
True but what does present technology allow?
Because if technology may increase later we need to know what we can support now. This helps us to decide how many we can support later when our knowledge improves.
So, how many people can we presently support?
That is secondary to how many we can support given present knowledge.
The present number of immigrants should be halted until we know how many people that our nation can support.
So, how many people can our nation support?
It is up to you, and all others who support immigration, to show those of us who don’t.
the reason why its not post agrian and is post industrial is explained here
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
We’re doing pretty fucking well when we don’t leave essential infrastructure up to market forces. Are you asserting that we’re anything close to over-capacity at the moment?
Are we?
Extinction levels at 1000+ times the normal rate.
Climate change.
Oceans food stocks collapsing.
Are we really doing well or are we burning up stored wealth?
I think it’s the latter.
Except that the world population almost tripled in the thousand years before the industrial revolution. And a little over doubled in the thousand years before that.
We (globally) have been in “factorial” growth for thousands of years, it just has a long tail because that’s what such growth consists of.
@DTB: yeah, that’s how capitalism works. And NZ is doing better than most places, which is what I meant by “we”.
It depends on what and how you measure it Pat – it isn’t a nice easy round number like you seem to be thinking. Perhaps go and read draco’s link to get an idea of the complexities and aspects to the calculation – you may be surprised.
i already have a calculation and a number…the only thing that will surprise me is if you can provide one
Wow I’d love to see your workings – must make the Drake equation seem a doddle. Probably just as tough guestimating some of those factors though eh.
so no number nor courage? I’ll give you a clue…weve already exceeded it
prove it
what was the world population prior to the industrial revolution?…im assuming you can google
what was the world population prior to the industrial revolution?…im assuming you can google
You said it – prove it. Please don’t ask me to prove YOUR assertion.
the repetition would appear to be a bug…and one im having trouble working round …however requiring you to access the data and doing the equation yourself allows you thye opportunity to dispute the method
Okay, so you have got nothing. I thought as much.
Plus that bug is a shit alright.
I’m just wondering why the criteria is “post-agrarian revolution but pre-industrial revolution”. I’m assuming the only permissable food production is crop rotation but hopefully with better healthcare?
oh dear MM…so unsure of yourself you wont even do some basic arithmetic…dissappointing
Pat you had your big chance to homerun it but you faltered at the hurdle – what were you saying about courage again lol.
No, he has a valid point and a valid number.
Prior to the industrial revolution there was about 500 million people sustainably supported.
We now have in excess of 7 billion.
You need to show, because it you argument, that the Earth can support more than 500 million sustainably.
As a subset, you need to show how many people that NZ can support sustainably.
I think five million is the limits for NZ and that one billion is the limits for the Earth as a while. This has, of course, come from many readings but here’s one.
So, how many people can NZ support sustainably?
How many people can the Earth support sustainably?
He hasn’t given ANY numbers, ANY calculations, ANY evidence – yeah I can see why you love it cos that’s what YOU do.
No it doesn’t.
We have so much land. So much of that needs to be wild, So much needs to be farm.
What’s the absolute physical amounts?
Given those amounts, how many people can we support?
You’re one of the ones that we can simply import more and more people so it’s up to you to show that we can support them.
“So much of that needs to be wild, So much needs to be farm.”
citation needed
You’re talking but saying nothing – just moving those gums – put your evidence up not your opinion.
what are you scared of MM?….worst case you may have additional information…best case you can shoot me down.
Pat you said it and I asked you to prove it. I know you can’t and you know you can’t because it is not provable. Yeah I’m really scared wooo wooo lol
https://peakoilbarrel.com/carrying-capacity-overshoot-and-species-extinction/
https://royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/our-expert-advice/all-expert-advice-papers/the-sustainable-carrying-capacity-of-new-zealand/
My position is simple precautionary: NZ is finite and so we must determine what the carrying capacity is before we expand it further.
There are limits. You have to prove that we’re not already exceeding them and that we can take more people.
oh dear thats an unconvincing line to take so Ill hold your hand and walk you through it.
World population pre industrial revolution is estimated to be between 700 million and a billion…probably closer to the low end but we will be generous and work with a billion.
https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth
The habitable land area of the earth is around 6.4 billion hectares, or 6.4 hectares per person
https://www.quora.com/If-every-person-on-earth-was-to-be-given-an-equal-portion-of-inhabitable-land-how-much-land-would-each-person-get
the land area of NZ is around 26,000,000 hectares (not necessarily habitable…mountains, lakes etc)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_New_Zealand
which if allocated at pre industrial stocking rates (which i contest is the sustainable level, with perhaps a small premium for technology) equates to around 4.1 million souls
Current NZ population is around 4.7 million…that is not to say we shouldnt assist our neighbours who will undoubtably need refuge soon but dont kid ourselves that it is sustainable
Yes ask Pat cos he has proof we are already exceeding the limits for this country based on his idea of sustainability of course.
Simply precautionary? Yes I said that earlier – your opinion is based on fear. I’d rather see the evidence ta.
“It’s not xenophobic to say that we cannot support any more people”,
Draco T Bastard
Hi Draco, don’t you mean, ‘any more Brown People’? Remember that we allow unlimited entry to White Majority Settler nation Australia?
Your above statement is not factual, And if your statement is not factual – what is it, that motivates some people to believe this?
My opinion is, that your opinion is deeply xenophobic. But unlike my opinion, your opinion, your surety that we cannot support any more people, is not backed up by fact.
Let’s look at the raw data
New Zealand Surface area – 267710 sq.Km
New Zealand Population density, people per sq.Km, – 15
That’s less than half the population density of Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Sahran Africa Population density, people per sq.Km – 34.7
But let’s be fair, Eh Draco? Let’s compare apples with apples. New Zealand, with two other First World countries with roughly the same surface area, and temperate climate, with a similar standard of living.
United Kingdom Surface area – 243610 sq.Km
United Kingdom Population density, people per sq.km – 271
Surface area Japan, 364560 sq.Km
Japan Population density, people per sq.Km – 336
But maybe we should go further afield and look at the stats for some other countries.
Let’s look for instance at the Netherlands with one of the highest population densities in the world.
Netherlands Population density, people per sq.Km – 488
The thing about the Netherlands that disproves your xenophobic trope, Draco, is that despite it’s high population density the Netherlands has one of the highest living standards in the world.
Continuing:-
USA Population density, people per sq.Km – 33.21
China Population density, people per sq.Km – 145
And you have the gall to tell me, “….we cannot
May I politely suggest that you seriously need to question your surety, that immigration controls are not xenophobic.
Maybe, like Solkta, you believe we have the right to impose our borders on the region because the Polynesians were/are savage cannibals.
https://thestandard.org.nz/nutjobs-and-the-un-global-migration-pact/#comment-1559880
Or Dave B who like Donald Trump believes that immigrants are criminals.
And now for the real outlier, that other White Majority settler nation, arguably even more racist and xenophobic than New Zealand.
Australia Population density, people per sq.Km – 3.1
Saying that, of course a lot of Australia, is inhospitable desert, but even then…..
To end on a personal note.
On the last day of the year let’s make a resolution to begin the new year by trying not to refer to people with views different to ours as “fuckwits”
Imagine
No I don’t and, as far as I know, we also allow unlimited entry to brown Australians.
Yes it is. There are limits and we don’t know what they are so the best option is to prevent excess now.
You’re making the assumption that those countries aren’t over-populated and can sustainably maintain that population level indefinitely. Consider that the US is over-populated at a population density less than both of those.
May I politely tell you to get yourself before spouting off your ignorance?
The world is over-populated. This is fact. As a subset every country has it’s own carrying capacity that many, all the ones you listed as a matter of fact, have already exceeded.
Too bad, Draco, that you can’t bring any facts to back up your “fact” that the world is overpopulated.
You are just regurgitating ignorant Right Wing rubbish. (the dog whistle always being, there are too many brown people in the world).
There are many erudite fact based studies that the world is not over-populated.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160311-how-many-people-can-our-planet-really-support.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3016331/think-the-world-is-crowded-you-could-fit-the-entire-human-race-in-new-zealand
Europe needs many more babies to avert a population disaster
“Across Europe birth rates are tumbling. The net effect is a ‘perfect demographic storm’ that will imperil economic growth across the continent”
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33133712
So, we can all live like Ugandans or we can reduce the population of the Earth. What we can’t do is maintain a living standard for everyone equivalent to the First World while maintaining or expanding that population.
That’s physical reality no matter how much you dislike it.
Surely you are joking.
If the obscure organisation contained in the link you supplied, thinks that the US is overpopulated at 33.21 people per sq.Km, I wonder what they think of the Netherlands at 448 people per sq.Km.
It may interest them, and you, to know that the Netherlands, are a major food exporter. (Sort’a makes a nonsense of your claim that “the US is overpopulated”, or beyond its “carrying capacity” Don’t you think?)
The Netherlands is the second-largest agricultural exporter after US
Dutch News, Business, January 19, 2018
:
Draco, in my opinion, you are just mindlessly regurgitating misanthropic rubbish to suit your anti-immigrant prejudices. (the dog whistle being, not that there are too many people in the world, but that there are too many brown people in the world).
How many people can our planet really support
“We do not know if today’s population of seven billion is remotely sustainable, or what the limit is”
Vivien Cumming – BBC, March 14, 2016.
Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests
“The demand for ‘perfect’ fruit and veg means much is discarded, damaging the climate and leaving people hungry”
Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the field to landfill, because of unrealistic and unyielding cosmetic standards, according to official data and interviews with dozens of farmers, packers, truckers, researchers, campaigners and government officials.
From the fields and orchards of California to the population centres of the east coast, farmers and others on the food distribution chain say high-value and nutritious food is being sacrificed to retailers’ demand for unattainable perfection.
“It’s all about blemish-free produce,” says Jay Johnson, who ships fresh fruit and vegetables from North Carolina and central Florida. “What happens in our business today is that it is either perfect, or it gets rejected. It is perfect to them, or they turn it down. And then you are stuck.”….
Think The World Is Crowded? You Could Fit The Entire Human Race In New Zealand
:World overpopulation wouldn’t be such a big problem (space-wise, at least) if everyone lived as densely as they do in South Korea or New Jersey.”
Sydney Brownstone –
Europe needs many more babies to avert a population disaster
“Across Europe birth rates are tumbling. The net effect is a ‘perfect demographic storm’ that will imperil economic growth across the continent”
Ashifa Kassam – Madrid,
Rosie Scammell – Rome,
Kate Connolly – Berlin,
Richard Orange – Malmö,
Kim Willsher – Paris,
Rebecca Ratcliffe – London
The Guardian, August 15, 2018
.
To sum up; We have a societal problem, not an overpopulation problem, global inequality, resource theft, post colonial and neo-colonial enslavement of the Third World by the First World. division and redivision, competition, greed, war. Part of this is the artificial division of the world into cantons. Our global civilisation is organised in such a way, as to benefit the few, at the expense of the majority.
We (generally the West) go around the world creating inequality. When people try to escape this inequality, we act to punish them very severely.
As the above link shows, as societies become richer – as poor people, especially women, become more empowered, population growth slows and even reverses.
Global inequality not overpopulation is the problem. If overpopulation was a problem, it is as a symptom rather than as a cause.
And let’s not forget Draco that you brought up this overpopulation argument to justify your anti-immigrant stance. If there was a problem with overpopulation, don’t you think that the humane thing to do would be to allow people to move to areas with less overcrowding.
IMHO Draco, your whole overpopulation justification for your anti-immigrant stance, is inhumane, xenophobic, and misanthropic, targeting as if does the Third World immigrant fleeing persecution, poverty and war. And more recently, climate change, it is also racist.
No, I’m not.
Being able to produce food is not the same as living sustainably which is the mistake you and many others are making.
Climate change is the result of us not living sustainably.
Another idiot not understanding how cycles work.
The number of people a country can sustain is limited by the time it takes for the natural environment to turn human waste into fertiliser.
That is the hard limit of a nation’s carrying capacity. We’ve temporarily gone above that by using fossil fuels to produce artificial fertilisers but it is only temporary.
Ghandi and him are wrong. It’s people trying to justify the status quo and nothing more.
And this is mistaking the actual cause of over-population. It’s not space that’s the problem but maintaining the natural services of the environment.
They are both problems.
Yeah, it’s called the Baby Boom. Been known about for around 50 years. It’s why both National and Labour have been importing so many people in to NZ despite the fact that it’s not going to help. It’s more ignorance trying to keep the status quo, which requires infinite growth of the human population, going.
Your opinion is wrong and it seems that you only have it because I’ve successfully pointed out that you’re talking out your arse. Spouting ignorance and BS to try and justify your delusional position.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZCm2QQZVYk
The most important video you will ever watch.
A tale that demonstrates the power of the status quo and how difficult it will be to move.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/12/27/106218/culture-of-silence-or-a-cover-up
That is a read and a half Pat. A kick in the guts reading about the way that our semi-government goes about not helping small business being grown by NZ. And how it views the responsibility to inform the public about its moves, in this democracy.
I followed up info for Geoff Gwyn, a leader at MPI. It is below.
Director: Joint Border Management System
Ministry for Primary Industries
March 2013 – May 2014 1 year 3 months
Wellington, New Zealand
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
Manager Central and South, Border Operations, MPI
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)
December 2011 – March 2013 1 year 4 months
Wellington, New Zealand
NZ Police
Inspector
NZ Police
April 1985 – May 2010 25 years 2 months
Education
Tawa College
1978 – 1982
Massey University
Massey University
Master of Arts – MA
NZ Defence Force Staff College
2007 – Present
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/geoff-gwyn-428aab7b
That is a pretty good upward-moving trajectory. He gets a Master of Arts at Massey, not a science degree. He goes into the police for 25 years and gets to Inspector. Then he starts another career, with MPI as Manager Border Security for central region for just over one year, then is made Director for another year,
then becomes Chairman for government nationwide dealing with borders, and so on. Seems easy peasy. He wouldn’t want to spoil his shiny record.
Yes GWS it is yet another example of the cosy relationship between big business and those that supposedly protect the interest of the wider public…and the value placed on the interests of joe public….and they wonder why populism, go figure
Fuckwits is too kind.
National is once again whining about the proposed changes to edcuation taking away power from parents. Even though the last government brought charter schools, where parents had absolutely no input into the running of those places, and school PPP’s, which outsourced all the school property to a private company.
Nice take-down of Mr Snapcnat’s ‘get drunk at the races’ bill.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/109655183/a-picnic-at-the-races-is-a-kiwi-tradition-but-is-it-part-of-our-problem-with-alcohol
Lots of people can have a drink or two and not get drunk.
Wouldnt be suprised if Winny supports this.
You don’t say.
Rural races would be problematic because without licensing which the race courses are apparently having trouble gaining there is no oversight on what people drink and how much they eat. That’s what licensing does – protect people. Also in rural areas I expect there to be difficulty getting home after drinking and we know crash rates on rural roads are terrible. The police and emergency services are rightly concerned.
Not you though. 👎
And yes, Peters has spoken about this before. Bishop knows this and is simply using the issue to manufacture division in the government, not for the good people of rural New Zealand.
“And yes, Peters has spoken about this before. Bishop knows this and is simply using the issue to manufacture division in the government, not for the good people of rural New Zealand.”
Really – and how do you know this ?
Do you think NZ First are willing to do such harm to the rural community?
Because he’s a RWNJ.
“ there is no oversight on what people drink and how much they eat. That’s what licensing does – protect people”
So now you want to licence how much people can eat?
Are organic and non organic foods licences at different rates?
Are lentils licenced as well? Do vegans get extra licence points to make up for not eating meat dishes?
It’s called Argumentum ad absurdum and fits you like a glove.
Farrar uses this a lot.
Imagine if everyone used it !!!
🙂
No one would know anything…
Oh, wait – that describes all National voters.
Clearly you know nothing about liquor licensing. To get a licence to serve alcohol you must be able to provide food and have trained managers and staff. Some of these rural tracks are obviously struggling to meet the liquor licensing requirements and if they can’t manage the safety of their punters with respect to alcohol consumption on a hot day then BYO is no go. This seems obvious.
I should have stopped at, “Clearly you know nothing”.
How do you spot a vegan at a party?
Just wait, they’ll tell you.
How many meat eaters does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, they would rather stay in the dark about things.
Yep, I can find and gnaw on a lamb roast in the dark. I’d worry about illumination afterwards.
deleted
can’t be bothered wasting energy and my witticisms
Yeah, I conserve wit too. I’m saving it up for when the oceans start licking at CEO’s homes.
“Norman Gimbel, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning lyricist, has died at the age of 91, his family has announced.
Gimbel’s work included Killing Me Softly with his Song – recorded by Roberta Flack.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw380nL67nE
enjoy.
Yep. A red meat diet is a big indicator for bowel cancer. We could all eat a lot less of it. My consumption is no more than 2-3 times a month and that’s without even thinking about it.
I know some people are afraid of vegans but they don’t bother me at all.
Not me, I’m mortified by vegans. I’m worried they’ll take my leather belt and when my pants fall down point and laugh at my little penis.
Could we do a whip-around for a pair of undies for David?
With frontal padding sewn in?
Standard issue, carnivore grundies.
Some of those vegan sausages are huge!
(I’ve seen them at parties).
Not sure why you would be afraid of vegans. But I do find them amusing
Would you laugh if they called you “meat-head”?
He wouldn’t get it.
Most likley.
Seems obvious huh?
So winny wouldn’t support it huh? After all it’s obvious and there wouldn’t be any other factors he would support it at all.
There’s been a limit in place for decades. Paraphrased:
No pub (or facsimile thereof) may serve a drunk customer.
No, just how much they can drink – as has been standard practice for decades.
Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom
Anand Gopal – New Yorker, December 10, 2018
And it could have worked out that way; except, right from the earliest days, the Western Liberal Left, instead of standing with the Syrian people, threw their lot in with the regime instead.
The suffering of the people and genocide carried out against them by the regime was ignored, and minimised, social media was swamped with a sea of regime propaganda and slander, repeated and amplified by their embedded Western puppets. All this was eagerly swallowed and reposted by both the fascist Right and the gullible Left.
In the end, the only ones to give any material aid to the Syrian people were the demented fundamentalist billionaire princes of Saudi Arabia.
The writing is on the wall for Saraqib and Idlib province. The Saudis, the Americans, the Turks, and the Regime and their Russian allies, have all come to terms. The US will abandon their former Kurdish allies to the regime, which will keep Turkey happy. In exchange Turkey will let the regime and Russia conduct their genocide in Idlib.
A victorious Russia and the regime will agree to isolate and crowd out the Iranians and corral Hezbollah, which will also keep the Us and their Zionist allies happy.
Already international relations are being normalised with the Assad regime. It has begun with a few pro-Western autocratic regimes, but it will not be long before the capitals of the West follow suit.
It will be like it all never happened.
Trump leaves Syria: On ‘regime change’ and other tall stories
Michael Karadjis – December 21, 2018
It is unlikely to be what it appears at face value, Jenny…it certainly won’t be because they give a toss about human life…
Perhaps they’re just shifting the illegally posted war machine to another location and leaving the mercs / isis to manage themselves…
Breaking international law won’t have featured in any ddecions, you can be sure of that…
Perhaps Trump will instruct Israel to hand back The Golan Heights….
The Kurds were not at war with the Assad regime prior to the Arab Spring.
The have already invited the Syrian army into some of the territory it holds to protect them from there actual enemy, the Turks. They even stated the Syrian regime is the legitimate ruler of the Sryian Kurd territory.
The international community will not accept a Turkish invasion of The Kurdish areas of Syria. If the Syrian Kurds are stupid and attack Turkish territory then reprisals would be expected to happen.
The putrid poisoned pimple is just a low grade liar.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12183644
ffs – how long is this shit going on for???
For as long as people accept outright lies rather than locking up the liars.
I know you operate on genius level and never tell lies, but is locking up liars a good idea Draco?
Yes.
World class cannon fodder.
If my boss told me a lie that he was giving me a 10 per cent pay rise, I would be doing my darndest to hold him to it.
The US soldiers stationed in Iraq rapturously cheering, and posing for selfies with the President aren’t calling him out on this lie?
They must be dumber than a sack full of hammers.
https://militarypay.defense.gov/Pay/Basic-Pay/AnnualPayRaise/
The next rise is 2.6% and has just been signed off. Is the biggest rise in 9 years.
Technically it’s 10% bigger than the pay rise they would have got.
So no Trump didn’t lie. The MSM media is the Fake News bullshiters and misrepresenters.
If you think the troops didn’t know exactly what he meant your deluded.
Diagnoses: TDS.
Treatment: 1hour of RT, exposing the MSM, and Democrates lies.
Is that how the extreme right are spinning this? 🤣
State how he didn’t make the pay rise 10% bigger.
I can see how the left spun it.
It’s a fact Morrissey. The pay rise is 10% bigger. No spin.
You’re claiming he was talking about a 10% increase on the annual increase. This is 0.2% of say USD30K. About a dollar a week – gee no wonder they were happy. 😉
“The pay rise is 10% bigger. No spin.”
You’re career as a union advocate would be brief, but memorable, DJ!
“Comrades, lets bring this meeting to order. I’m here to report that I’ve negotiated a 10% pay rise. Yes, brothers and sisters, they offered us fuck all and I’ve managed to talk them up to fuck all, plus 10%.
That’s a whopping ten percent more fuck all, comrades!
All those in favour?”
Yes it is a bit of a joke overall just getting a tiny extra 0.2% except overall it’s a big total. I was just making the point how MSM took his comment and presented it differently. They would have known just as the solders exactly what he meant by his 10% comment. So the lesson for Trump is to qualify everything he says or MSM will spin it to make him look bad, nowingly misrepresenting his comment as they have done on countless other occasions.
If I was in a union and my rep said they only wanted to give you 2.4% (inflation) but he/she managed to talk them into 2.6% I would be happy with my rep. It’s a, in real terms a pay rise.
“They would have known just as the solders exactly what he meant by his 10% comment.”
This is where your argument falls down. In my example union rep Ward spelt out the maths of the rise, admitting it was only 10% more on the base. Trump did no such thing. He repeatedly said 10% over and over again. So how would the troops in front of him know it was a qualified 10% that was really worth 0.26%?
The simple truth is they had no way to know. Neither did anyone else in the room, apparently.
There is also the possibility that Trump is so stupid, he didn’t realise it was just ten percent more on the base offer and genuinely believed it was a straight 10% rise. Bear in mind he’s a serial bankrupt, so accountancy isn’t his strong suit.
Correction. Trump’s 10% is actually 0.2364 extra. That’s 2.364 plus 0.2364, making a total of 2.6%. Alternatively, it went from 2.4% to $2.60% a change of 8%, not ten. Or, to put in real life terms, just over a dollar a week more. The buck stops here!
There’s ample evidence that Jabba the Drumpf just says whatever is going to make him feel good in the moment, without the slightest care about whether it bears any relationship to reality. But if we really wanted to make the unwarranted assumption he wanted his comment to be somehow related to facts, we could grant him that he did increase the total defense budget by around 10%. Which is a very different thing to pay increases of 10%, but he wouldn’t understand that.
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-defense-20180212-story.html
I have yet to find any organisation or anything, really, reporting the raise in the way you’re claiming. Articles in publications that appear aimed at active servicepeople are calling out the 10% claim as false. Here’s a sample:
https://www.armytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/12/27/in-iraq-visit-trump-makes-false-claim-about-military-pay-again/
Well amongst thousands of people you will find people who know nothing about what Trump says he did. That’s how this version of Propaganda works. If all you hear is Trumps says he is giving us a 10 % pay rise, but the reality is he is lying to you, then you will believe the Propaganda. If you already knew the context of the comment, the propaganda of the MSM doesn’t work.
You might still thing Trump was silly and wrong in describing things as he has, but you wouldn’t say he was lying.
This years figure is 2.6%. What was this years original figure.
Until we know that we don’t know what Trump did.
The site you gave is nothing to do with the people involved in deciding the pay rise.
Seems pretty clear you didn’t bother to look at it, but joe90’s politifact link it spells it out:
“Military pay increases are determined by a statutory formula mandated by federal law – the raises must be equal to increases in the Employment Cost Index, or ECI.
According to an April 2017 report by the Congressional Research Service, “the president can specify an alternative pay adjustment that supersedes the automatic adjustment,” and “Congress can pass legislation to specify the annual pay raise, which would supersede the automatic adjustment and/or any presidential adjustment if it were enacted.”
In fact, while the 2.4 percent increase for 2018 was the largest in eight years, Trump actually requested 2.1 percent, “an amount below the automatic adjustment (of 2.4 percent) for 2018.” Congress ultimately overrode the administration’s proposal.
For 2019, the CRS reported that Trump requested 2.6 percent, which is a raise equal to the ECI, and one that the president’s 2019 budget called “modest.” ”
So last year Don the Con tried to stiff servicepeople with a raise lower than what was mandated, but congress overrode him to pay what is mandated. For this coming year the Dork from New York might have learned something and just went along with the mandated increase. And is now trying to con servicepeople into thinking he did something special for them. Seems to have worked on you, but I suspect most servicepeople will see through it.
He has 56% support in the military. So only 44% of them potentially have TDS.
56% support in the military? Really? Where did you get that from? Just made it up on the spot, like your hero the rotting jack’o’lantern does?
Coz the first result that turned up when I went looking for actual facts was 44% approve, 43% disapprove, and a strong trend of dropping approval and rising disapproval. The next results I looked were similar. That trend is likely to continue with his ongoing shitty behaviour towards actual active duty real people, as opposed to the vague idea of a strong military he’s so infatuated by.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/10/15/support-for-trump-is-fading-among-active-duty-troops-new-poll-shows/
It was from a comment I heard last night. I’m guessing it’s from this poll.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/12/30/poll-shows-high-job-approval-for-trump-from-veterans/
“Overall, 56 percent of veterans — both current and former service members — said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 43 percent disapproved”
I dug into this sufficiently to guess that the 10% figure derives from the increase from 2.4% a year ago to 2.6%. Actually, do the math & you’ll get 8.3%, right?
So looks like Trump is trying to take credit for this increase and rounding it up, on the assumption that nobody does precision any more, so near enough is good enough. There’s an entire industry based on this kind of thinking (advertising).
But I agree with the critique from the msm and Marty’s disgust. Bombast from the Trump won’t impress the non-clueless (opinion-leaders) so not good politics. Better for him to be a straight-shooter. More votes down that path.
We don’t know the actual starting 2019 figure. But based on the fact I’ve seen no comments from those involved in the negotiations for the pay rise one can assume the 10% figure is correct. Think about it. He talks about the discussion as to it being a certain %. Hence it did happen, on his initiative and it is 10%.
“Pay raises beginning in 2007 are equal to the increase in the ECI. Pay raises may exceed these automatic levels if authorized and funded by Congress.”
So you’re saying the Democrats agreed to this 10% increase? If so, how come the msm haven’t quoted any confirmation of that from them? All the reporters couldn’t be bothered doing their job?
The Democrates don’t control anything yet. Assuming it’s in the part of the budget already voted in, then yes they have voted. It’s irrelevant if the Dems agree with it or not, but if it’s part of the budget the Dems are blocking in Congress with the 60% rule it’s likely not a good move by them.
The 2.6% figure is not something that’s majicaly arrived post Trumps comment. They had it available to them all along.
Are you saying MSM are so stupid as to not understand what Trump was referring to. They new what the 10% was about and chose to misrepresent it anyway. Or the TDS is so bad they didn’t bother to do a tiny bit of homework, but jumped into full Fake News Propaganda mode.
No, just seeking clarification. Reality-aversion all round, currently. Competing spin is pointless in this context. Nobody knows the facts.
I’m inclined to agree re msm laziness & fake news production, but we’ll have to wait for a news media CEO to tell his troops “Hey, enough of this kindergarten stuff, you turkeys. I expect a return to professional standards or you’re all fired! A bunch of drainlayers could do better, after some basic training. You wanna call my bluff??”
There’s an explanation of the process here:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33446.pdf
On page 12 there’s this wee nugget:
“On August 31, 2017, President Trump sent a letter to congressional leaders invoking his authority under 37 U.S.C. 1009(e) to set the pay raise at 2.1%. However, Section 601 of the enacted version of the FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) specified the statutory formula increase (2.4%) would go into effect, superseding the President’s alternative adjustment.”
Pants on fire.
During a holiday visit to troops stationed in Iraq, President Donald Trump bragged that he had secured them not only their first pay raise in over a decade, but “one of the biggest” ever.
This is inaccurate and not the first time Trump has made false claims about annual military raises.
His full remarks:
We fact-checked a similar claim from Trump in May, when he told military mothers and spouses at a White House event that he signed a bill to give service members a raise for the “first time in 10 years.” We rated it Pants on Fire.
In reality, service members have received pay raises every year for more than three decades. The 2019 military pay increase of 2.6 percent is the largest in nine years, but it is not the “more than 10 percent” that Trump mentioned.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/dec/27/donald-trump/trump-military-pay-increases-wrong-size-timing/
btw, not content with fucking over the lives of more than 300K federal workers and their families, the POS has canned their pay rises, too.
https://www.axios.com/trump-executive-order-freezes-federal-worker-pay-raise-20368531-713a-46f3-8d57-2f3f70197220.html?
He is talking about above the formula rises. The military pay rise is benchmarked. This will be the first rise above that benchmark in a long time.
If you understood Trump you would see why non military staff are not getting pay rises. He would prefer to cut there numbers. He however is very pro military, law enforcement. The non military staff is the swamp.
He is not fucking over there lives. The House voted yes. The Senate (Schumer) is blocking the budget in the Senate. Trump is blocking nothing. Trump has not stopped the government, the Senate has. Some hypocrites that wanted a wall, now don’t want one because Trump wants it.
You didn’t check out joe90’s politifact link, did you?
If you had and followed politifact’s sources you might have spotted this little gem:
“On August 31, 2017, President Trump sent a letter to congressional leaders invoking his authority under 37 U.S.C. 1009(e) to set the pay raise at 2.1%. However, Section 601 of the enacted version of the FY2018 NDAA (P.L. 115-91) specified the statutory formula increase (2.4%) would go into effect, superseding the President’s alternative adjustment.”
page 12 of https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33446.pdf
So the satsuma shitgibbon tried to diddle the military on their mandated raise and had to be over-ridden by Congress, then he just bare-faced lied straight to servicepeople’s faces to falsely claim he got a better deal for them.
I’m curious though, where’s your bullshit supply coming from? Direct from Huckabooboo, or Kellyanne? Hannity? Pootee?
This comment relates to this years pay rise, they get 2.6% so what are you reading?
“Put simply, if we are determined to maintain the economic status quo, we cannot possibly mitigate climate change, so we must turn to adapting to it. And if we opt for adaptation, they write, “we have to come to terms with the impossibility of material, social, and political progress as a universal promise: life is going to be worse for most people in the 21st century in all these dimensions. The political consequences of this are hard to predict.”
The choice is radicalism today or disaster tomorrow, and from all signs, humanity is choosing the latter.”
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/28/18156094/conditional-optimism-climate-change
Physics v economics?….its no contest
Kia ora Clint from R&R We have to respect our grandchildrens future that places respect and provide all the children of papatuanuku rights to a good life now and in the future and respect all life on papatuanuku more than the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Profits has to stop be made by sacrificing our grandchildrens full stop .
The way the world is at the minute has to be totally changed that means abandoning most of the capitalist systems that runs the world.
Ka kite ano
I’m think R&R is a recording this week We have to ban sales of land to over sea people ka kite ano P.S what happened to the editing buttons
I see the sight has had a up grade it mite help with some of the stats to ??????????.
Thanks for the hard work Iprent has put in maintaining and up grading thestandard Happy New year to all on this site and all the people around the world all the best the. Lefty,s keep up the good work we must never stop fighting for the good of ALL. The invention of the internet has the same effect,s as when fire was invented it has many positive effects but if you don’t respect it you one get burned
.ka kite ano
Here you go the carbon coalithion goverment of Australia is going to let black-throated finch go extint all for coal and money muppets
Adani ‘conservation area’ for endangered finch sits on proposed Clive Palmer mine
Exclusive: environmental group calls plan to protect black-throated finch an ‘elaborate hoax’ The bird is endangered and researchers have previously said the Adani Carmichael mine’s offset strategy would be “grossly inadequate” to protect it.
Waratah Coal requires permission from pastoral land holders, including Adani, before being granted a mining lease. If there is a dispute, the matter goes before the Queensland land court.
Carmel Flint from Lock the Gate, which has a history of advocating for pastoral land owners in conflict with miners, said the land court “would do little to stop Waratah Coal from mining the area”.
“Mining licences trump pastoral leases completely under the law in Queensland,” Flint said. “As a result, this so-called ‘conservation area’ that Adani has allocated to the black-throated finch is utterly meaningless. It’s an elaborate hoax they’ve devised to enable them to start the Carmichael links below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/30/adani-conservation-area-for-endangered-finch-sits-on-proposed-clive-palmer-mine
Kia ora Clint from R&R Climate change is the biggest risk to human kind and yes we can make a diffence te Papatuanuku is like any living orgnasim . If one pumps just sugar in to a pepe /baby it will grow obeast and die same with Papatuanuku we are pumping to much bad gasses into her and she is warming fast . Life is finely balanced it does not take much to put life’s ballance out and that means collapes if we make changes in Aotearoa our neighbours will follow suit . trump wont be in power for ever and then changes for the better for our enviroment and our mokopunas future .Happy new years to you all ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori use to shear the aroha but I got ahi all the time . I strongly agree we need to restore the respect being cast out over the whole whano and IWI instead some just rip you off that’s not the old tangata whenua way.The old maori way was to respect everything
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Kia ora Te kaea Tewhare has a good way to help people who have slipped down there ladder of life whano shearing and gardening raising stock is good for the wairua and respecting all .
Ka pai Ngahuia for getting funding to study the health benerfits of sailing a dubble hulled waka in Te taiwhiti.
Its cool that there heaps of interest in books and all maori culture now .
Nania has had a good year she is a good maori wahine leader and role modle for our young wahine. I Te puni korkiri need to work harder at providing a good service for maori. Ka kite ano
Kia ora Milisa from Newshub thats sad the church in Mount Eden Auckland has burnt down .
People have to be careful and check the weather yes and if caught in a rip ride it will bring you out of the rip or back to shore.
Ilegal weed just made the people grow weed up the east coast instead of becoming more industrious and growing food for export our tipuna were one of the most industrious in there time.
People need to show respect and stop damaging things burning things is dumb.
The Sudan people looks like they are not happy lets hope it all ends well for all of the people.
June was quite funny she has given me a few sore faces condolences to her whano
Shellys bay Tauranga is a gem of a place nice people and great views into the harbour Mike ka kite ano
Eco Maori wishes the whole Papatuanuku a happy healthy positive New year .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89858196/bill-english-says-employers-are-regularly-telling-him-that-kiwis-cant-pass-drug-tests
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/95988656/peter-dunne-resigns-from-politics-only-weeks-out-from-the-election
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96249118/winston-peters-super-mistake-culprit-unknown
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/nz-s-new-government-nz-first-chooses-labour.html
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/02/former-pm-bill-english-resigns-as-national-party-leader.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/metoo-reaches-85-countries-with-1-7-million-tweets/
https://unfccc.int/katowice
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Kai ora Newshub looks like the fireworks show in Auckland will be a good show tonight with the Sky tower and Auckland harbour bridge synchronised.
To everyone don’t drink to much tonight as one could end up in the——-.
The Gisborne festival packs the city up with heaps of people and long lines in the shops.
People love to come to the Aotearoa te whenua of Cream & Honey be save and happy on your travels to Queens Town.
It has been a good year for wahine sport stars in Aotearoa in 2018 Ross Ka kite anoP.S hope the weather is going to be ka pai Ingrid happy new year
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Some Eco Maori Miusic for the minute
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Happy healthy Positive New Year to Te Papatuanuku . The people of the world must make sure we dont lose Tanemahuta and Tangaroa’s beautiful creations all the tamariki of the world needed to be taught about how close a link humans have with mothernature and how finely ballanced life actualy is. Our World has been placed in just the correct place with marama moon the tilt of the axis how close we are to Ra Sun the planets all play a role that keeps like thriving on Earth. Change just one of those phenomen change the ballance and the world could be a frozen ball or a fire ball thats a fact . We must learn to respect all thing thy neighbours thee creatures thee earth all things
The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer,” she told the Guardian. “It’s different from climate change, where people feel the impact in everyday life. With biodiversity, it is not so clear but by the time you feel what is happening, it may be too late.”
The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer.
Cristiana Pașca Palmer
Pașca Palmer is executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – the world body responsible for maintaining the natural life support systems on which humanity depends.
Its members – 195 states and the EU – will meet in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, this month to start discussions on a new framework for managing the world’s ecosystems and wildlife. This will kick off two years of frenetic negotiations, which Pașca Palmer hopes will culminate in an ambitious new global deal at the next conference in Beijing in 2020. Links below Ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/03/stop-biodiversity-loss-or-we-could-face-our-own-extinction-warns-un
Kia ora when we protect our fisheries for the mokopuna’s we will be protect there welbeing as well. In the future with population incresses and other countrys fisheries collapsing the presures on our fisheries will be huge as the demand out strips supply of our seafood the price paid will shoot throught the roof then all the wrong people will target our fishes . Hence when we protect te fishes now in 20 years crayfish paua kina osters will be worth more than gold a sustainable managment system needs to guarantee our fisheries future. People will pay big money to come here and catch our fishes as well in the future .
Fisheries New Zealand wants people to have their say on proposed rule changes for recreational fishers to assist with rebuilding the CRA2 fishery, which covers the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty.Fisheries New Zealand wants people to have their say on proposed rule changes for recreational fishers to assist with rebuilding the CRA2 fishery, which covers the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty.
Manager of inshore fisheries Steve Halley says under the proposals the number of spiny rock lobsters recreational fishers can take per day would be reduced from six to three.
“As part of the consultation, we also want feedback on introducing telson (tail fan) clipping as a tool to assist with minimising the illegal black market sales of rock lobster,” Mr Halley says.
“The proposals follow the decision by the Minister of Fisheries to make a large reduction to the Total Allowable Catch, Total Allowable Commercial Catch and the overall allowance for recreational fishers for the fishery on 1 April 2018.
“These proposed changes are designed to double the number of rock lobster in the area over the next 4-8 years. links below Ka kite ano P.S one of Eco maori favorite kaimoana gathers on this video
http://business.scoop.co.nz/2018/11/07/have-your-say-on-rebuilding-the-cra2-fishery/#more-182186
This is were human’s future is exploring space ka pai Happy new year to Elon Musk and all this teams at Spacex and Tesla big changes coming in 2019 for the good of all.
SpaceX’s Starship prototype proceeds at breakneck pace towards hop tests Well illustrated by recent drone photos of SpaceX’s up-and-coming Boca Chica, Texas facilities, dozens of SpaceXers and local contractors have congregated at the company’s Starship prototype work site over the last few weeks, progressing it from an empty tent and a collection of parts to a handful of large assemblies for what appears to be the first full-scale Starship hopper.
Much like Falcon 9’s Grasshopper and F9R (Reusable) hop test articles, this ungainly Starship hopper – standing an impressive 9m (29.5 ft) wide and ~40m (131 ft) tall – appears all but guaranteed to become the first integrated BFR hardware to take flight, hopefully supporting a productive series of low-altitude hop tests from a roughly-prepared South Texas pad.links below ka kite ano
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-hopper-prototype-rapid-work-pace-hop-tests/
Kia ora Tekaea Ka pai to Maori Kings Tuheitia Potatau goal of uniting te iwis at the 85 Poukai at Horahora marae newyear .
Its good to see Meka Whaitiri tau toko the young wahine aspirations to become Mps Its good to see all the new maori soft ball stars starting to shine bright .
Ka kite ano Happy new year to the Maori TV team P.S Our tipuna use waiata to record our histoy its is good to see our young music stars shining bright
Kia ora Tom from Newshub I read that there was not to much havoc in Aotearoa last night. Nine years of decision made on the base of making money and saving money well the effects of these choices are still rolling in . New Years eve celebration is for the youth. Good on Malasia for stopping taking our plastic waste we need to minermize the poision make laws to combat this problem that is growing bigger everyday. That campfire in California was a big deaster and there are hundreds of people living in tents condloences to them some one need to come up with inovative ways to solve there housing hardship I wonder they want to spend billions on a WALL when people need there housing go figure. Tawhirirmatea was good to us in Vags last night Ingrid
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.