There are many similarities of what is happening in the USA presently, to that what occurred in Germany 1936-1945. The great unwashed in both countries are/were easily manipulated, partly due to a poor education system. Lies are easily converted and swallowed up as facts. Assessing Trump’s past behaviour towards those possessing less power, I am very worried about the demise of America.
“There are many similarities of what is happening in the USA presently, to that what occurred in Germany 1936-1945. The great unwashed in both countries are/were easily manipulated”
If by “the great unwashed” you’re suggesting that the Poor / Unemployed / Working Class / Precariat disproportionately voted for Hitler and Trump then I’d have to disagree.
But, ironically enough, “the great unwashed” is precisely the sort of contemptuous elite rhetoric that encouraged a lot of ordinary Democrats to stay home on Election Day … and a crucial few to swing towards Trump in the Rust Belt swing states.
An elite DNC mindset reflected, of course, in an abysmally unprogressive record (that ordinary Americans were apparently supposed to enthusiastically embrace because … er … Trump …………… Precisely the same Trump that Hillary, the DNC and their chums in the media did everything to promote during the Primaries because they assumed an already woefully unpopular ‘Hills’ would have a better chance of beating him on Election Day).
Behind the media-manufactured facade of white working class men as the cackling villains who gave the country to Donald Trump, in other words, lies a reality far more in keeping with the complexities of American electoral politics: a ramshackle coalition of many different voting blocs and interest groups, each with its own assortment of reasons for voting for a candidate feared and despised by the US political establishment and the mainstream media. That coalition included a very large majority of the US working class in general, and while white working class voters of both genders were disproportionately more likely to have voted for Trump than their nonwhite equivalents, it wasn’t simply a matter of whiteness, or for that matter maleness.
It was, however, to a very great extent a matter of social class. This isn’t just because so large a fraction of working class voters generally backed Trump; it’s also because Trump saw this from the beginning, and aimed his campaign squarely at the working class vote. His signature red ball cap was part of that—can you imagine Hillary Clinton wearing so proletarian a garment without absurdity?—but, as I pointed out a year ago, so was his deliberate strategy of saying (and tweeting) things that would get the liberal punditocracy to denounce him. The tones of sneering contempt and condescension they directed at him were all too familiar to his working class audiences, who have been treated to the same tones unceasingly by their soi-disant betters for decades now.
Entirely agree with him on the elite’s sneering contempt and class bigotry towards American workers.
But I think he’s smuggling in a few too many assumptions when he confidently asserts that Trump’s “ramshackle coalition” notably included “a very large majority of the US working class” and that Trump’s victory was hence “to a very great extent a matter of social class”.
He seems to assume that having: No (or only some) University Education automatically equals Working Class.
The Exit Polls certainly suggested that the less formally educated were more likely to vote Trump (especially among White voters). But that group actually includes a huge number of both affluent and middle income business owners (more than 25 million if you include spouses), senior managers and supervisors, insurance and real-estate agents (another 20 mill, including spouse), as well as various other members of that sector of society so often considered inherently conservative – the so-called “Petite Bourgeoisie”
Some will, no doubt, possess a degree, but clearly that still leaves tens of millions of non-working-class people in the US who are included in the lack advanced formal education category, and who are more likely to (1) get out and vote and (2) be traditional / frequent Republican voters than a majority of blue-collar workers.
Exit polls, while prone to error and by no means definitive, do suggest that, though disaffected, economically insecure white blue-collar voters no doubt helped Trump win the key “battleground” Rust Belt states, they can’t explain his performance nationwide … middle-class and wealthy suburban whites came out in droves for Trump and made up a larger part of his coalition.
Certainly was a white working class swing to Trump (albeit dwarfed by significant numbers among the Democrats’ traditional core constituencies – so disenchanted with Clinton – boosting the already huge number of poorer non-voters), but his victory was disproportionately a middle-class, upper-income phenomenon
To swordfish:
“If by “the great unwashed” you’re suggesting that the Poor / Unemployed / Working Class / Precariat disproportionately voted for Hitler and Trump then I’d have to disagree.”
The great unwashed refers, as I mentioned above as those who can be easily manipulated, nothing less, nothing more. If you like to falsely interpret what I have said then take that responsibility.
an offensive or humorous word for people from low social classes.
From Urban Dictionary:
Coined by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, “the great unwashed” refers to the lower classes. The common people.
From The Phrase Finder UK
The common, lower classes; the hoi polloi..
From Wiktionary
the populace: hoi polloi, unwashed masses.
From Wikipedia
Synonyms for hoi polloi, which also express the same or similar distaste for the common people felt by those who believe themselves to be superior, include “the great unwashed”, “the plebeians” or “plebs”, “the rabble”, “the masses”,”the dregs of society”, “riffraff”, “the herd”, “the canaille”, “the proles” (proletariat), “sheeple”, and “peons”.
.Although, to be scrupulously fair, Johan , you may be adopting more of a Humpty Dumpty approach:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” … “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
Another term of contempt for working people is “redneck”. The use of that putdown became particularly virulent in the late 1960s and early ’70s, as sniffy East Coast Democratic Party elites—I won’t call them “liberals” because they weren’t then and aren’t now—sought to abuse working people who they blamed for Nixon’s victory.
I’ve repeatedly taken Martyn Bradbury to task over his thoughtless reiteration of the term. And, sadly, some people on this fine site sometimes lapse into using it….
Sorry Morrissey but I think you’re wrong. The term redneck is used to describe someone (usually male) who has ultra sexist/racist attitudes. They invariably have low IQs… are poorly educated and vote along conservative lines. Trump’s more virulent supporters could be described as such including Trump himself. While they are to be found among working people it is certainly not a term to describe working people as such. Many workers – including those on low incomes – are a damm sight more intelligent than their ‘superiors’ and you won’t find rednecks among them.
The term redneck is used to describe someone (usually male) who has ultra sexist/racist attitudes.
Then why not just call them peasants? It’s an equivalent term of contempt, and just as accurate—in other words, it’s totally inaccurate.
The proper term for people with ultra sexist/racist attitudes is “bigot”. The worst bigots in our country are not working people but privileged people who hold white collar jobs and/or do little or no hard work: Leighton Smith, Mike Hosking, John Ansell, Cameron Slater, John Banks, John “Hone the Dole Bludger” Carter, Sir Robert Jones. The only two notorious bigots I can think of who might deserve the term “redneck” are the S.S. Trust’s Grand Dragon Garth “The Knife” McVicar and Sir Peter “Mad Butcher” Leitch.
Trump is not a redneck; he hasn’t done a day’s work in his worthless life.
For people interested, here is a pretty good conversation, at times debate, on the dysfunctional DNC, with some interesting pointers to possible ways forward… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOrv-xloSGA
Just got sent this little vid from Joe Carolan, Socialist candidate for the Auckland electorate of Mt Albert, really refreshing to see a NZ politician actually talking about some real and viable solutions for long term housing security for working and poor people…. used to be that the Labour party would defend and talk on behalf of the working class and the poor, now they are far more interested in defending and talking to the middle class.
I was reading that Fisher & Pykel are thinking about bringing some of their manufacturing back to NZ if Trump goes ahead with his 20% tariff on Mexican goods.
Ummmm… Wouldn’t that be a good thing for New Zealand workers?
That is the Trump problem. So entrenched are the zombie economics of neoliberalism amongst the liberal elite that the real problem isn’t that Trump will fail – it is that enough of his economic policies will succeed to utterly consign them to the dustbin of history forever – and they may take the actual left with them.
Not many unemployed workers will care much about the rights of migrants or a free press if Trump can take the credit when a factory re-opens nearby that pays a decent wage and gives them healthcare.
Also, I spent the day with a bunch of 60 something Americans from Virginia last week, parents of a friend visiting NZ. They voted Trump, I didn’t bring it up directly (a good host does not discuss politics with his guests) but listening to them gave me an interesting insight into how they thought, at least. Generally, they HATED illegal immigrants and voted entirely on the issue of immigration. But their reasoning was fascinating, and way tied up with the general brainwashing the US population has about how the USA is the greatest country ever in the history of the world, and a general comment on a country where collective social security has never happened.
They reasoned that living in and being a citizen of the greatest nation on earth is a privilege that has to be earned. Sneaking in illegally is a form of freeloading on that privilege. Not only are they not deserving to live in that great land, but they use resources that the more deserving should have first call on. And being American is strictly interpreted as how white Americans like them see the country, there was no sense of be able to be American in any other way. So failure to integrate and assimilate – by people who snuck in anyway – is just the last straw. They really do just want mass deportations of these undeserving and sneaky foreigners.
I’m fairly confident your group of 60somethings don’t appreciate what jobs undocumented immigrants generally do. It’s the shitty, very low-paid ones that American citizens generally don’t want to do. But exploitation of undocumented workers is a key part of keeping the price of many things low in the US, food in particular.
Interesting comment, I think you are quite right in your reasoning that the ‘ liberal elite’ are so blinded by their own neo liberal ideology that they are in danger of being dust binned, not that I have a problem with that.
On Cory Booker, New Yorker 2012…
“I don’t think there could be a finer young rising star in urban politics than Cory Booker. His policies go far beyond Democratic-Republican. There has to be a new way of thinking about poverty. Cory understands that private enterprise is not the enemy of the urban poor.”
Yes it looks like they are prepared to drive off the cliff screaming…See I told you the free market works………
Nah, I’m not going to copy and paste…read it for yourself. 🙂
So far the ferals have refrained from slagging this couple in the comments section, and all comments so far are overwhelmingly in support of them.
FFS, even the Missing on Disability Issues seems to think they should at least have home help…she’s wrong…but hey…she’s interested.
“Subsidised support services for disabled people were not determined by a person’s income alone, Wagner said.
“It wouldn’t matter if you were a multi-millionaire, if you had cerebral palsy and you need people to look after you we would give you that disability service.”
This is bullshit…but never mind…there is means and asset testing for personal care…it’s just couched in terms of “natural support”.
As one of the commenters says…these rules have been in place since before National….yes, Labour did this.
Too much to ask that these issues attract cross party non political policies?
Damn right.
The Green’s Mojo Mathers comments for the article, but Labour is MIA.
I don’t even know who Labour’s spokesperson is for disability issues….
….and I generally keep up with shit like that…..
Come on Labour…stop the posing and step up…the tide of public opinion is rising in favour of people in this situation….
Oh good, I was just about to see if you were around so I could check some things (might put this up as a post). I can’t tell if her homehelp and personal cares were coming from the MoH or the DHB. Would it matter, or are both means/asset tested despite what the Minister says?
Personal cares are (in this couple’s case) assessed and funded through their local Miserly of Health Disability Support Services’ agency the NASC.
assessment is done, hours allocated and funding is through either a provider or through IF. The assessment is supposed to be on need…but it is very closely tied to “natural supports” (that is who you live with and what support they can unreasonably be expected to provide at no cost.)
In the case of this couple…clearly (to any sighted, rational human being) neither can be expected to provide personal care support to the other.
Home help…IS means tested and can only be funded (through MSD )if you have a community services card and no “natural supports” to do the work.
Obviously, ( heavy long drawn out sigh), in the case of this couple, community services card or not, no reasonable person would expect either of them to be able to perform all the tasks required to keep their home clean to a standard slightly above squalid. Pete will be knackered at the end of his working day…having to do housework on top of that will likely send him to an early grave.
Likewise having to pay from their actually quite limited income for a cleaner… (bet they don’t live in the Paratai Drive equivalent in Christchurch)…will cause significant stress, which would also increase his chances of an early demise.
Unless of course…and no joking or sarcasm here…that is the intended purpose.
Bear in mind those of you who do not have a wheelchair user in the family…floors become dirtier quickly as as yet the techos have not invented the wheelchair with interchangeable tyres twixt the outdoor and in.
Some fuckwit bureaucratic with megalomaniacal tendencies has has taken the rule book and used it to punish this couple for having the sheer audacity to think that when they say “go live and ordinary life disabled person…we will support you to do this” they actually mean’t it.
What this couple should have done…is simply not told anyone they were a couple.
Hidden their relationship.
The system…set up under Labour…always left plenty of room for the exploiting of loopholes.
….and speaking of shit, so far it seems that Farrar’s Ferals haven’t started in on Amy and Peter yet. David Garrett is usually up for a spot of cripple bashing of a morning….
Thanks Rosemary. I understand how the NASC works, and good to have it clarified that home help is means/asset tested. I wasn’t sure from her diagnosis if she would go through the MoH disability funding or the DHB chronic illness funding (can’t remember if that has the same CSC criteria). Just had a quick look online and the MoH sites are saying go to the DHB sites, but I can’t find anything on them.
I wanted to put the article out to people on TS who wax lyrical about a UBI and then state that supplementary income benefits can be paid via Health because it’s so much better than WINZ. I’d like them to see that Health is often just as fucked up as Welfare, but people don’t like hearing that.
“…via Health because it’s so much better than WINZ.”
TBH….I have found staff at WINZ who are positively kind compared with NASC staff and their MOH:DSS overlords.
We doooooo have a system here in Godzone that does take an holistic approach to disability supports and living allowances, has a rights and entitlement based protocol and a complaints and review mechanism….
….we call it ACC…and if I remember rightly Labour actually ran the idea of extending it to all with permanent impairments up the flagpole to see if it fluttered…what came of that????
Tracey is covered by ACC…so why the hell aren’t they paying for her and her family to stay in a motel?
Ye gods and little fishes…is being a fuckwit a prequisite for working for Housing NZ, WINZ, ACC and MOH:DSS et al?
The Auckland Spinal Rehab Unit has small one bedroom accessible units available….file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Auckland%20Spinal%20Unit%20Patient%20booklet%202016.pdf
….if Tracey has a pressure sore she should be in the ASRU having it treated, and her husband and daughter should be put up in one of these on site units.
How hard is this…
I couldn’t agree more, Labour are MIA or tacit at best on nearly all issues concerning the disenfranchised, working and poor..except when it comes to policing them it seems, then they have that centrist shill Nash breathing fire…what about Little showing us some fire in his belly for the citizens who have little or no voice, isn’t that what Labour exists for?…well it should.
Ah! But the disabled DO have “voices”…advocacy groups (funded by the Government 😉 ) to speak on behalf of ALL disabled people.
Again…Labour did it too. (Though admittedly National, with the help of traitor Turia, ensured that ONLY these government funded groups get to speak out officially on disability issues.)
Absolutely typical of how Social Welfare operates, and not one jot of a legal basis for it. Then when there’s publicity they burst into action.
How many other people are on the receiving end of treatment like this? If it’s a “rule” that not being able to show you’ve been looking for a private rental results in being chucked out of emergency motel accommodation (regardless of how fair or correct or legal that “rule” might be) then you can bet your house on it there’s a whole bunch more.
It is silly to have people find their own housing, given that they wouldnt have been going to MSD for emergency housing if they wernt looking because they would have found a place to live.
There really needs to be some sort of matching program for rentals in place, rather than telling people to bugger off and find their own place.
And if a tetraplegic woman who cannot control her own bowel movements is left to rot in a van, then what hope do the rest of us have if we find ourselves needing stable housing?
And good on her man for sticking by her through all this. A lesser man would have slung his hook for the first bimbo that waved her legs at him.
“And good on her man for sticking by her through all this. A lesser man would have slung his hook for the first bimbo that waved her legs at her.”
There is so much wrong with what you’re saying here that even gabby old me can’t think where to start.
Don’t, please don’t comment on a person’s relationship in these terms again. Ever.
Prentice will probably ban me for a couple of weeks for that comment. He banned me for 2 months for a comment I made about that gay bar massacre last year that was more tamer than that.
So I had better float my idea of DHB’s and ACC running their own social housing for clients such as her. There is a case for it.
[lprent: The most common reason for a banning is because a commenter trying to start fires rather than debates. I can’t remember what I banned you for because I simply don’t bother remembering details. If I need to I can always look them up. However I do have mental notes on your typical behaviours gained over any years. You :-
1. Often try to enhance a debate that is proceeding reasonably well by trying to pour petrol on it.
2. Will proceed to personally abuse anyone who pulls you up on it and generally act like a idiotic libertarian.
So I have a canned response as a result. If you start acting like a pyromaniac arsehole – I douse you immediately without any hesitation. Don’t whine about it. But perhaps you should consider your own behaviour that built that reaction. ]
I mean individuals having their own flats, but modified, etc. Having disabled people flat together isnt a really good idea, given the informaton that comes out of those care homes every so often.
“If all of the theoretical hundred thousand or so of new social houses are NOT based on Universal Design…then they really are a bunch of fwits.”
No guarantees there, across the parties. Other nations like the UK manage to make the basic universal access features like level entrances and wider doorways compulsory in new *private* housing but our backwoods clowns can’t yet manage it in all public stock.
Just watch the panic as the boomer population surge arrives at that lifestage where such things are no longer optional.
War with the US under Donald Trump is “not just a slogan” and becoming a “practical reality”, a senior Chinese military official has said.
The remarks were published on the People’s Liberation Army website, apparently in response to the aggressive rhetoric towards China from America’s new administration.
They communicated a view from inside the Central Military Commission, which has overall authority of China’s armed forces.
Seymour doesn’t want to be “inconsistent” and he can’t condemn every silly (!) thing that has happened in the world – not that he was asked – so he does exactly nothing. If he had kept his mouth shut (on Twitter) he would have been more consistent and would be looking less like a political weakling. Show some guts, David!
With the ascension of President-elect Donald Trump, Republicans see an opportunity to roll back the Endangered Species Act, which has become one of the government’s most powerful conservation tools. The GOP contends the act has been used by wildlife advocates to block economic development and to hinder drilling, logging and other activities. Over the past eight years, Republican lawmakers have sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law. Almost all were blocked by Democrats and the White House or lawsuits from environmentalists.
So it wasn’t necessarily an affectionate holding of hands after all.
[…]
But Government sources in Washington DC were suggesting that the hand-holding was not as a result of a deep and lasting friendship after all.
The insider said that Mr Trump is known to have an aversion to slopes or stairs, and said this could have been the reason for the president’s decision to grasp the Prime Minister’s hand.
Such a fear is a recognised condition – called bathmophobia.
and then they might get an idea who Pence is, Ryan, Haley and all the others that want to bring “god” back to the US, and only do ‘gods work’ and be ‘godly’ and such.
i also suggest that when you have done so you have available lots of chocolate and a furry beast for cuddles. Cause…..reasons.
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Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
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Trump is the fastest moving president ever. It’s both impressive and frightening.
They are re-using executive decrees written for the 2012 election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FRbBDRcjQ
Toast. I wish I could afford a stash of gold and a secret lair.
What happens when you point out that a
Fox News presenter has told a lie? (On his show)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcD2KXQXSFM
Yeh loved that one…” ok you are clearly obfuscating the truth time and time again through this segment.”
America burns…. A lot of other countries are going to catch light also.
There are many similarities of what is happening in the USA presently, to that what occurred in Germany 1936-1945. The great unwashed in both countries are/were easily manipulated, partly due to a poor education system. Lies are easily converted and swallowed up as facts. Assessing Trump’s past behaviour towards those possessing less power, I am very worried about the demise of America.
As well as their education maybe their monocultural diet….
France’s wild hamsters being turned into ‘crazed cannibals’ by diet of corn
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/28/frances-wild-hamsters-being-turned-into-crazed-cannibals-by-diet-of-corn
Another example of how our mono-cropping destroys life rather than supporting it.
“There are many similarities of what is happening in the USA presently, to that what occurred in Germany 1936-1945. The great unwashed in both countries are/were easily manipulated”
If by “the great unwashed” you’re suggesting that the Poor / Unemployed / Working Class / Precariat disproportionately voted for Hitler and Trump then I’d have to disagree.
But, ironically enough, “the great unwashed” is precisely the sort of contemptuous elite rhetoric that encouraged a lot of ordinary Democrats to stay home on Election Day … and a crucial few to swing towards Trump in the Rust Belt swing states.
An elite DNC mindset reflected, of course, in an abysmally unprogressive record (that ordinary Americans were apparently supposed to enthusiastically embrace because … er … Trump …………… Precisely the same Trump that Hillary, the DNC and their chums in the media did everything to promote during the Primaries because they assumed an already woefully unpopular ‘Hills’ would have a better chance of beating him on Election Day).
precisely the sort of contemptuous elite rhetoric
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-hate-that-dare-not-speak-its-name.html
Cheers, RedLogix.
Entirely agree with him on the elite’s sneering contempt and class bigotry towards American workers.
But I think he’s smuggling in a few too many assumptions when he confidently asserts that Trump’s “ramshackle coalition” notably included “a very large majority of the US working class” and that Trump’s victory was hence “to a very great extent a matter of social class”.
He seems to assume that having: No (or only some) University Education automatically equals Working Class.
The Exit Polls certainly suggested that the less formally educated were more likely to vote Trump (especially among White voters). But that group actually includes a huge number of both affluent and middle income business owners (more than 25 million if you include spouses), senior managers and supervisors, insurance and real-estate agents (another 20 mill, including spouse), as well as various other members of that sector of society so often considered inherently conservative – the so-called “Petite Bourgeoisie”
Some will, no doubt, possess a degree, but clearly that still leaves tens of millions of non-working-class people in the US who are included in the lack advanced formal education category, and who are more likely to (1) get out and vote and (2) be traditional / frequent Republican voters than a majority of blue-collar workers.
Exit polls, while prone to error and by no means definitive, do suggest that, though disaffected, economically insecure white blue-collar voters no doubt helped Trump win the key “battleground” Rust Belt states, they can’t explain his performance nationwide … middle-class and wealthy suburban whites came out in droves for Trump and made up a larger part of his coalition.
Certainly was a white working class swing to Trump (albeit dwarfed by significant numbers among the Democrats’ traditional core constituencies – so disenchanted with Clinton – boosting the already huge number of poorer non-voters), but his victory was disproportionately a middle-class, upper-income phenomenon
To swordfish:
“If by “the great unwashed” you’re suggesting that the Poor / Unemployed / Working Class / Precariat disproportionately voted for Hitler and Trump then I’d have to disagree.”
The great unwashed refers, as I mentioned above as those who can be easily manipulated, nothing less, nothing more. If you like to falsely interpret what I have said then take that responsibility.
.
“the great unwashed”
.
From MacMillan Dictionary
From Urban Dictionary:
From The Phrase Finder UK
From Wiktionary
From Wikipedia
.Although, to be scrupulously fair, Johan , you may be adopting more of a Humpty Dumpty approach:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” … “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
Another term of contempt for working people is “redneck”. The use of that putdown became particularly virulent in the late 1960s and early ’70s, as sniffy East Coast Democratic Party elites—I won’t call them “liberals” because they weren’t then and aren’t now—sought to abuse working people who they blamed for Nixon’s victory.
I’ve repeatedly taken Martyn Bradbury to task over his thoughtless reiteration of the term. And, sadly, some people on this fine site sometimes lapse into using it….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21032013/#comment-607424
Sorry Morrissey but I think you’re wrong. The term redneck is used to describe someone (usually male) who has ultra sexist/racist attitudes. They invariably have low IQs… are poorly educated and vote along conservative lines. Trump’s more virulent supporters could be described as such including Trump himself. While they are to be found among working people it is certainly not a term to describe working people as such. Many workers – including those on low incomes – are a damm sight more intelligent than their ‘superiors’ and you won’t find rednecks among them.
The term redneck is used to describe someone (usually male) who has ultra sexist/racist attitudes.
Then why not just call them peasants? It’s an equivalent term of contempt, and just as accurate—in other words, it’s totally inaccurate.
The proper term for people with ultra sexist/racist attitudes is “bigot”. The worst bigots in our country are not working people but privileged people who hold white collar jobs and/or do little or no hard work: Leighton Smith, Mike Hosking, John Ansell, Cameron Slater, John Banks, John “Hone the Dole Bludger” Carter, Sir Robert Jones. The only two notorious bigots I can think of who might deserve the term “redneck” are the S.S. Trust’s Grand Dragon Garth “The Knife” McVicar and Sir Peter “Mad Butcher” Leitch.
Trump is not a redneck; he hasn’t done a day’s work in his worthless life.
Nice to see that you have so much free time on your hands. lol
Well, you know, I was in the mood. 🙂
That reminds me of something….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teJfuKdzbOo
For people interested, here is a pretty good conversation, at times debate, on the dysfunctional DNC, with some interesting pointers to possible ways forward…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOrv-xloSGA
Corruption in education in a country patting itself on the back for being without corruption:
https://networkonnet.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/parents-teachers-and-community-of-rangiora-high-school-get-a-load-of-this/
Thank you repateet. I had heard snippets of this but you have put it very well. What a debacle, and shame on Parata.
Test.
Bill’s out of the office …you should be fine.
Just got sent this little vid from Joe Carolan, Socialist candidate for the Auckland electorate of Mt Albert, really refreshing to see a NZ politician actually talking about some real and viable solutions for long term housing security for working and poor people…. used to be that the Labour party would defend and talk on behalf of the working class and the poor, now they are far more interested in defending and talking to the middle class.
https://www.facebook.com/solidarityjoe/videos/10154121963567601/?pnref=story
I was reading that Fisher & Pykel are thinking about bringing some of their manufacturing back to NZ if Trump goes ahead with his 20% tariff on Mexican goods.
Ummmm… Wouldn’t that be a good thing for New Zealand workers?
That is the Trump problem. So entrenched are the zombie economics of neoliberalism amongst the liberal elite that the real problem isn’t that Trump will fail – it is that enough of his economic policies will succeed to utterly consign them to the dustbin of history forever – and they may take the actual left with them.
Not many unemployed workers will care much about the rights of migrants or a free press if Trump can take the credit when a factory re-opens nearby that pays a decent wage and gives them healthcare.
Also, I spent the day with a bunch of 60 something Americans from Virginia last week, parents of a friend visiting NZ. They voted Trump, I didn’t bring it up directly (a good host does not discuss politics with his guests) but listening to them gave me an interesting insight into how they thought, at least. Generally, they HATED illegal immigrants and voted entirely on the issue of immigration. But their reasoning was fascinating, and way tied up with the general brainwashing the US population has about how the USA is the greatest country ever in the history of the world, and a general comment on a country where collective social security has never happened.
They reasoned that living in and being a citizen of the greatest nation on earth is a privilege that has to be earned. Sneaking in illegally is a form of freeloading on that privilege. Not only are they not deserving to live in that great land, but they use resources that the more deserving should have first call on. And being American is strictly interpreted as how white Americans like them see the country, there was no sense of be able to be American in any other way. So failure to integrate and assimilate – by people who snuck in anyway – is just the last straw. They really do just want mass deportations of these undeserving and sneaky foreigners.
I’m fairly confident your group of 60somethings don’t appreciate what jobs undocumented immigrants generally do. It’s the shitty, very low-paid ones that American citizens generally don’t want to do. But exploitation of undocumented workers is a key part of keeping the price of many things low in the US, food in particular.
Interesting comment, I think you are quite right in your reasoning that the ‘ liberal elite’ are so blinded by their own neo liberal ideology that they are in danger of being dust binned, not that I have a problem with that.
I commented yesterday, they are already positioning Cory Booker for 2020, the guy who while being in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry, just voted down Sanders affordable medicine bill,
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/12/cory-booker-joins-senate-republicans-to-kill-measure-to-import-cheaper-medicine-from-canada/
http://maplight.org/us-congress/interest/H4300
On Cory Booker, New Yorker 2012…
“I don’t think there could be a finer young rising star in urban politics than Cory Booker. His policies go far beyond Democratic-Republican. There has to be a new way of thinking about poverty. Cory understands that private enterprise is not the enemy of the urban poor.”
Yes it looks like they are prepared to drive off the cliff screaming…See I told you the free market works………
Stuff this morning…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/88515678/Punished-for-love-Disabled-couple-lose-home-help
Nah, I’m not going to copy and paste…read it for yourself. 🙂
So far the ferals have refrained from slagging this couple in the comments section, and all comments so far are overwhelmingly in support of them.
FFS, even the Missing on Disability Issues seems to think they should at least have home help…she’s wrong…but hey…she’s interested.
“Subsidised support services for disabled people were not determined by a person’s income alone, Wagner said.
“It wouldn’t matter if you were a multi-millionaire, if you had cerebral palsy and you need people to look after you we would give you that disability service.”
This is bullshit…but never mind…there is means and asset testing for personal care…it’s just couched in terms of “natural support”.
As one of the commenters says…these rules have been in place since before National….yes, Labour did this.
Too much to ask that these issues attract cross party non political policies?
Damn right.
The Green’s Mojo Mathers comments for the article, but Labour is MIA.
I don’t even know who Labour’s spokesperson is for disability issues….
….and I generally keep up with shit like that…..
Come on Labour…stop the posing and step up…the tide of public opinion is rising in favour of people in this situation….
Oh good, I was just about to see if you were around so I could check some things (might put this up as a post). I can’t tell if her homehelp and personal cares were coming from the MoH or the DHB. Would it matter, or are both means/asset tested despite what the Minister says?
Personal cares are (in this couple’s case) assessed and funded through their local Miserly of Health Disability Support Services’ agency the NASC.
assessment is done, hours allocated and funding is through either a provider or through IF. The assessment is supposed to be on need…but it is very closely tied to “natural supports” (that is who you live with and what support they can unreasonably be expected to provide at no cost.)
In the case of this couple…clearly (to any sighted, rational human being) neither can be expected to provide personal care support to the other.
Home help…IS means tested and can only be funded (through MSD )if you have a community services card and no “natural supports” to do the work.
Obviously, ( heavy long drawn out sigh), in the case of this couple, community services card or not, no reasonable person would expect either of them to be able to perform all the tasks required to keep their home clean to a standard slightly above squalid. Pete will be knackered at the end of his working day…having to do housework on top of that will likely send him to an early grave.
Likewise having to pay from their actually quite limited income for a cleaner… (bet they don’t live in the Paratai Drive equivalent in Christchurch)…will cause significant stress, which would also increase his chances of an early demise.
Unless of course…and no joking or sarcasm here…that is the intended purpose.
Bear in mind those of you who do not have a wheelchair user in the family…floors become dirtier quickly as as yet the techos have not invented the wheelchair with interchangeable tyres twixt the outdoor and in.
Some fuckwit bureaucratic with megalomaniacal tendencies has has taken the rule book and used it to punish this couple for having the sheer audacity to think that when they say “go live and ordinary life disabled person…we will support you to do this” they actually mean’t it.
What this couple should have done…is simply not told anyone they were a couple.
Hidden their relationship.
The system…set up under Labour…always left plenty of room for the exploiting of loopholes.
Right..back to emptying the shit tanks on my Bus.
….and speaking of shit, so far it seems that Farrar’s Ferals haven’t started in on Amy and Peter yet. David Garrett is usually up for a spot of cripple bashing of a morning….
Thanks Rosemary. I understand how the NASC works, and good to have it clarified that home help is means/asset tested. I wasn’t sure from her diagnosis if she would go through the MoH disability funding or the DHB chronic illness funding (can’t remember if that has the same CSC criteria). Just had a quick look online and the MoH sites are saying go to the DHB sites, but I can’t find anything on them.
I wanted to put the article out to people on TS who wax lyrical about a UBI and then state that supplementary income benefits can be paid via Health because it’s so much better than WINZ. I’d like them to see that Health is often just as fucked up as Welfare, but people don’t like hearing that.
“…via Health because it’s so much better than WINZ.”
TBH….I have found staff at WINZ who are positively kind compared with NASC staff and their MOH:DSS overlords.
We doooooo have a system here in Godzone that does take an holistic approach to disability supports and living allowances, has a rights and entitlement based protocol and a complaints and review mechanism….
….we call it ACC…and if I remember rightly Labour actually ran the idea of extending it to all with permanent impairments up the flagpole to see if it fluttered…what came of that????
The words had no sooner left my fingertips when Stuff post this…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/88811571/tetraplegic-mum-her-partner-and-4yearold-live-in-a-van
Tracey is covered by ACC…so why the hell aren’t they paying for her and her family to stay in a motel?
Ye gods and little fishes…is being a fuckwit a prequisite for working for Housing NZ, WINZ, ACC and MOH:DSS et al?
The Auckland Spinal Rehab Unit has small one bedroom accessible units available….file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Auckland%20Spinal%20Unit%20Patient%20booklet%202016.pdf
….if Tracey has a pressure sore she should be in the ASRU having it treated, and her husband and daughter should be put up in one of these on site units.
How hard is this…
Also, there is TASC… http://tasc.org.nz/ theoretically “peer support”.
I couldn’t agree more, Labour are MIA or tacit at best on nearly all issues concerning the disenfranchised, working and poor..except when it comes to policing them it seems, then they have that centrist shill Nash breathing fire…what about Little showing us some fire in his belly for the citizens who have little or no voice, isn’t that what Labour exists for?…well it should.
“…for the citizens who have little or no voice,”
Ah! But the disabled DO have “voices”…advocacy groups (funded by the Government 😉 ) to speak on behalf of ALL disabled people.
Again…Labour did it too. (Though admittedly National, with the help of traitor Turia, ensured that ONLY these government funded groups get to speak out officially on disability issues.)
Trump (greatest president since Reagan): America gets back it’s borders.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/824407390674157568
This family was kicked out a motel because they “couldn’t show they’d been looking for a private rental”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/88811571/tetraplegic-mum-her-partner-and-4yearold-live-in-a-van
Absolutely typical of how Social Welfare operates, and not one jot of a legal basis for it. Then when there’s publicity they burst into action.
How many other people are on the receiving end of treatment like this? If it’s a “rule” that not being able to show you’ve been looking for a private rental results in being chucked out of emergency motel accommodation (regardless of how fair or correct or legal that “rule” might be) then you can bet your house on it there’s a whole bunch more.
Tens of thousands.
It is silly to have people find their own housing, given that they wouldnt have been going to MSD for emergency housing if they wernt looking because they would have found a place to live.
There really needs to be some sort of matching program for rentals in place, rather than telling people to bugger off and find their own place.
And if a tetraplegic woman who cannot control her own bowel movements is left to rot in a van, then what hope do the rest of us have if we find ourselves needing stable housing?
And good on her man for sticking by her through all this. A lesser man would have slung his hook for the first bimbo that waved her legs at him.
“And good on her man for sticking by her through all this. A lesser man would have slung his hook for the first bimbo that waved her legs at her.”
There is so much wrong with what you’re saying here that even gabby old me can’t think where to start.
Don’t, please don’t comment on a person’s relationship in these terms again. Ever.
The rest of your comment is ok. 🙂
Prentice will probably ban me for a couple of weeks for that comment. He banned me for 2 months for a comment I made about that gay bar massacre last year that was more tamer than that.
So I had better float my idea of DHB’s and ACC running their own social housing for clients such as her. There is a case for it.
[lprent: The most common reason for a banning is because a commenter trying to start fires rather than debates. I can’t remember what I banned you for because I simply don’t bother remembering details. If I need to I can always look them up. However I do have mental notes on your typical behaviours gained over any years. You :-
1. Often try to enhance a debate that is proceeding reasonably well by trying to pour petrol on it.
2. Will proceed to personally abuse anyone who pulls you up on it and generally act like a idiotic libertarian.
So I have a canned response as a result. If you start acting like a pyromaniac arsehole – I douse you immediately without any hesitation. Don’t whine about it. But perhaps you should consider your own behaviour that built that reaction. ]
Prentice should do some re-programming….apologies for my snipe, it’s only manners to offer some education when someone’s inadvertently stuffed up….so here…http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachelle-friedman/10-things-you-shouldnt-say_b_4334039.html kinda basic, but you’ll get the drift.
“So I had better float my idea of DHB’s and ACC running their own social housing for clients such as her. There is a case for it.”
Oh dear…and you’re trying so hard!
Disabled people don’t want to live with other disabled people just because they are disabled. If that makes sense?
All houses should be built with accessible features. This is not hard. The traditional Kiwi single story house can very easily be built as an accessible home. Piece of piss really, and I’ve no idea why they make such a fuss about it.
Its an actual ‘thing’….http://www.superseniors.msd.govt.nz/finance-planning/choosing-where-you-live/universal-design.html
If all of the theoretical hundred thousand or so of new social houses are NOT based on Universal Design…then they really are a bunch of fwits.
I mean individuals having their own flats, but modified, etc. Having disabled people flat together isnt a really good idea, given the informaton that comes out of those care homes every so often.
“If all of the theoretical hundred thousand or so of new social houses are NOT based on Universal Design…then they really are a bunch of fwits.”
No guarantees there, across the parties. Other nations like the UK manage to make the basic universal access features like level entrances and wider doorways compulsory in new *private* housing but our backwoods clowns can’t yet manage it in all public stock.
Just watch the panic as the boomer population surge arrives at that lifestage where such things are no longer optional.
The peace dividend.
/
War with the US under Donald Trump is “not just a slogan” and becoming a “practical reality”, a senior Chinese military official has said.
The remarks were published on the People’s Liberation Army website, apparently in response to the aggressive rhetoric towards China from America’s new administration.
They communicated a view from inside the Central Military Commission, which has overall authority of China’s armed forces.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-donald-trump-war-us-military-official-practical-reality-president-latest-a7550601.html
A twitter thread about Trump with David Seymour:
Seymour doesn’t want to be “inconsistent” and he can’t condemn every silly (!) thing that has happened in the world – not that he was asked – so he does exactly nothing. If he had kept his mouth shut (on Twitter) he would have been more consistent and would be looking less like a political weakling. Show some guts, David!
David Seymour is one of the silly things that has happened in the world.
Nice but dim.
“There you are, that’s the quality of celebrity that Trump has behind him.”
Angelina Jolie’s moronic old man can’t handle being questioned over his support for Twitler….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LzoP5qVeQg
eric and junior will be delighted
/
With the ascension of President-elect Donald Trump, Republicans see an opportunity to roll back the Endangered Species Act, which has become one of the government’s most powerful conservation tools. The GOP contends the act has been used by wildlife advocates to block economic development and to hinder drilling, logging and other activities. Over the past eight years, Republican lawmakers have sponsored dozens of measures aimed at curtailing the landmark law. Almost all were blocked by Democrats and the White House or lawsuits from environmentalists.
https://www.yahoo.com/digest/20170117/gop-makes-plans-invalidate-endangered-species-act-00837573
This guy Mike Malloy can be a very riveting commentator if one likes his style – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4emO2sOC50o
Donald Trump is afraid of stairs.
So it wasn’t necessarily an affectionate holding of hands after all.
[…]
But Government sources in Washington DC were suggesting that the hand-holding was not as a result of a deep and lasting friendship after all.
The insider said that Mr Trump is known to have an aversion to slopes or stairs, and said this could have been the reason for the president’s decision to grasp the Prime Minister’s hand.
Such a fear is a recognised condition – called bathmophobia.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/28/revealed-real-reason-donald-trump-theresa-may-held-hands-not/
Jeez, his hands look even smaller than hers!
Just in case you missed it, it seems war mongering is now official USA policy. Be afraid be very afraid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8XKzI_NZKA
Whatever problems there are in the U.S., one thing’s for sure:
that “certifiable lunatic” Alex Jones is NOT the answer.
This is a 2013 clip featuring Jeremy Scahill….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIe3R6N6vBI
I suggest that People have a bit of fun with this movie here – on youtube
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/second_civil_war/
but not before they watch this
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486358/
and they might want to read this
https://www.autostraddle.com/i-was-trained-for-the-culture-wars-in-home-school-awaiting-someone-like-mike-pence-as-a-messiah-367057/
and then they might get an idea who Pence is, Ryan, Haley and all the others that want to bring “god” back to the US, and only do ‘gods work’ and be ‘godly’ and such.
i also suggest that when you have done so you have available lots of chocolate and a furry beast for cuddles. Cause…..reasons.