What I’m really asking is why the killing of one Arab journalist is more equal than the killing of other Arab journalists? Why, for example, is the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, a friend and colleague of many of us, of infinitely more pressing importance than the fate of Yaser Murtaja?
The first clue is that Yaser Murtaja was killed in Gaza. The second is that he is one of 15 reporters or camera crew, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, killed by Israeli fire since 1992, two of them last year. Shooting at reporters in Gaza has become so routine – four more were wounded by Israeli bullets between May and September 2018 – that western newspapers and television scarcely bother to record their suffering.
bewildered wayne and others get a easy run as our media keeps us uninformed … hacked the usa elections for instance ?
“I’m not sure people are aware now how much Netanyahu dictates American policy. Anything that is decided now – UNRWA [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine], all the cuts – it comes from Israel. Trump couldn’t care less. You think he knew what UNRWA was before? Racism is now politically correct.”
UNRWA, created in 1949 to provide short-term relief for Palestinian refugees after the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, runs schools, hospitals and social services in five areas including the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
As a persistent critic of Israel and the wickedness of its colonial land theft and its vile treatment of the Palestinians, I find myself curiously at odds with Levy – not so much because of his condemnation of journalists, but of his plate-glass shattering of the Israeli window. Would Israeli readers really be more interested in the death of an Israeli dog than the slaughter of 20 Palestinians? Are they as poorly educated as Levy claims?
Now the same correspondents, who spent years slandering a man who lifted 40 million people out of poverty ( Lula )while a homophobic, racist, rape culture promoter stole the 2018 presidential elections, are wringing their hands and feigning shock at the Intercept revelations. To anyone who has been following events during the last 5 years as Brazil was transformed from a burgeoning young social democracy to a client-fascist banana republic, nothing that has been revealed yet comes as a surprise. http://www.brasilwire.com/bad-neighbor-a-us-hand-behind-the-sergio-moro-show/
Winter is where the water tables and hydro dams get filled.
If it doesn't happen in winter, it gets really bad in spring for that "it's all good" stuff like electricity production, tree growth, and grass growth.
European Sauna: A Profoundly Serious Heatwave: Part 2 of 2
A packet of air sitting over the Sahara Desert gets rapidly warmed up by the relentless heat of the Sun in a cloudless sky, with single digit relative humidity (dry) conditions, and 50+ C temperatures. Transported northward by the stuck jet stream ridge, it crosses the rapidly warming water surface of the Mediterranean Sea where it reaches relative humidities of 70 to 80%. Saturated with water vapour, it continues northward guided under the jet stream ridge to cover vast areas of Europe with unbearable temperatures (reaching 45.9 C) and high humidities. And it is only June; what will July and August be like?
I live in Madrid. This is hellish. You can't get out much during the day, and the heat during the night makes sleeping a very hard thing. Add all the air conditioning exhausts going out in the street, and take into account the fact that most of Madrid is cement and alquitranate streets that retain a shitload of heat during the day, making nights too hot, while they release all that heat accumulated during the day. I'm getting really freaked out, if these conditions were to become semi permanent, like Paul is saying might happen, this city will not be habitable in the near future.
Thank you for this excellent explicatory video. I live in Zaragoza, Spain, where we had 44° C at 5 o`clock this afternoon (Sat 29th June) – going outside feels is like stepping into an oven! This video provides me with a much better understanding of what’s going on and helps me to appreciate the potential seriousness of the heatwave affecting presently Europe.
The Sahara Bubble is sitting over France. How long will it stay? And Yes Paul you are right with these tempretures and everything stagnating, no movement of the jet streams, we are in for a hot summer. Fires, drought and crop failure. I can't go outside. It is too hot. I don't even think the weather channel has got the tempreture right, they say it is 39 degrees, but it feels hotter. Oh my lord. It is terrible. Thankfully the humidity is low 43%. But then that can cause forest fires. Fucked if you do, fucked if you don't. Catch 22. x
This is like one of those Sci Fi movies like day after tomorrow, They are saying the Beer in German beer gardens is going thermal before peoplle can get drunk.
Everybody gonna die soon. We need food water and a reasonable temp to survive. The change in the jet stream changes our climate. It will dry up your water (India) flood other places (mid West USA). Heat waves will kill the plants and wet bulb cook humans. And it will only get hotter. Methane is being released. Sure it is only 100x more powerful for 10 years but 10 years is all it needs. I used to wonder if it would hit 90f in the summer on Ohio. It rarely did. Now i wonder what days are not gonna hit 89 to 90f. My tomatoes have grown like a hyper weed. It rains everyday too. Droughts and heat waves are all over the globe right now and breaking records. We just broke the world heat record at 161f. Cars and roads melt and no power for you. No air conditioning. Most all plants will die at 145f. It is still June. Wait till there is algae in your water supply. You will not last a week. And you are dead. Algae is growing all over the place now.
AND climate change is JUST starting to ramp up! Consider what is happening now, is happening with ice still in the Arctic. Once the Arctic ice goes, which may be this year but certainly not many years from now at this point, the jet stream will be REALLY messed up, if it exists at all. Paul Beckwith did a recent video about entire summer seasons of heatwave weather. Can you imagine that? THAT will cause climate refugees which Europe definitely does not want. What happens when the Europeans are the climate change refugees? Please someone tell me I am wrong!
Oh gawd… too much to go through with a fine tooth comb, but I did note the word used to describe her at one point – attention seeker.
Maybe some of those things did happen to her but it was unlikely to be intelligence agencies. I don't think they go around threatening individuals and their children – especially in NZ. There are a lot of thugs and weirdos out there and since she invites publicity then she has to expect consequences.
This brings into focus the way that an Assange industry has developed and the efforts of players to corner this market and drive others out of it. ..and then monetise it and build personal reputation to leverage off. just another product to these players
Peters calls (the campaign against the UN global migration pact) a "campaign of fake news and misinformation".
"It was international – and here you have got a bunch of suckers who fell for it. And now they are threatening me," Peters says.
Peters says there are too many connections to the far right – deliberate or not – for Bridges to continue as leader of the Opposition, and he's calling on him to resign.
"Bridges was allowing a bunch of neo-Nazis in Austria to reflect his opinions and now he is part of a campaign to get someone murdered in our country," he says.
The death threats made against Winston Peters by the far-right is obviously very serious, but it's a stretch for Winston to link National and Simon Bridges to those threats, just because they oppose the UN Global Migration Compact.
Then again, National urgently removed the petition from their website and then told lies about who removed it and why, so they can't be trusted to tell the truth. Maybe the Nats were lobbied and received a "donation" to run the petition.
Agree the Nats and Bridges didn't make those threats directly but they are part of the movement those threats issue from, and their actions have emboldened the extreme-right.
This isn't a coincidental one-off nutter threatening a politician. It's him, and the Christchurch Australian murderer, the alt-right, Southern and Molyneux, Jordan Peterson and the incels, and Sellner and his fake news identarian crowd.
National under Bridges bought into all that in a deliberate strategy to attack the government and gain votes. Now it's time for them to withdraw from it and apologise.
They already tried to scrub their involvement and rewrite history in the emotional junior staffer scandal. Now it’s time to apologise properly.
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Works as a tutorial. Ends well (`don't worry about socialists or Socialists, we've got em under control'). But I question whether recycling such twentieth-century reasoning is any more than a waste of time. Having a state monopoly of the means of production is merely a euphemism for making private business illegal. Without folks who start businesses, wealth doesn't get created, so the economy dies on the vine.
Having been anti-business myself in the distant past, I realise the general ignorance of the social function of businesses is caused by the failure of the education system to provide children with the facts of life. Obviously teachers have to brainwash kids with crap instead, to defend their class interests.
If the cowboy economist were to extend his logic re govt provision of value to the people, and suggest kids get taught all the goods govt provides everyone in return for taxes paid, I'd support him. But the idea that teachers could become fit for purpose is too radical still.
"Peters says there are too many connections to the far right .."
'The far Right" is a cuddily phrase for 'The Worldwide political Murderers'
No one of right mind should be tied up with poltical Murderers, and National here must get in and clean their shit up immediately!
It is strange that National ratbags, according to recent reports (which I have lost track of) continue to have access to Goverment Papers without due process or permission. It will not be a problem if I am wrong. Will it Simon Bridges ?
But I sincerely think there should be be a determined effort by our Security Bodies to Rip through National and report on their connections with far right Groups and their access to Government Information. Also Report on whether our Security Staff knew in advance of the Slug into Winston Peters.
For Instance, and In brief, who got a far right missile into Winston Peters – as Reported by Journalist Paddy Gower. just several Hrs ago. Peters is being monitored very effectively by exceedingly evil Far Right Murderers.
But not unfortunately, by Our Security Staff, and Police. I wonder why !
So what becomes of you, my love?When they have finally stripped you ofThe handbags and the gladragsThat your poor old granddadHad to sweat to buy you, babySongwriter: Mike D'aboIn yesterday’s newsletter, I expressed sadness at seeing Golriz Ghahraman back on the front pages for shoplifting. As someone who is no ...
It’s Friday and time for another roundup of things that caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join ...
Note: This Webworm discusses sexual assault and rape. Please read with care.Hi,A few weeks ago I reported on how one of New Zealand’s richest men, Nick Mowbray (he and his brother own Zuru and are worth an estimated $20 billion), had taken to sharing posts by a British man called ...
The final Atlas Network playbook puzzle piece is here, and it slipped in to Aotearoa New Zealand with little fan fare or attention. The implications are stark.Today, writes Dr Bex, the submission for the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill closes: 11:59pm January 16, 2025.As usual, the language of the ...
Excitement in the seaside village! Look what might be coming! 400 million dollars worth of investment! In the very beating heart of the village! Are we excited and eager to see this happen, what with every last bank branch gone and shops sitting forlornly quiet awaiting a customer?Yes please, apply ...
Much discussion has been held over the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB), the latest in a series of rightwing attempts to enshrine into law pro-market precepts such as the primacy of private property ownership. Underneath the good governance and economic efficiency gobbledegook language of the Bill is an interest to strip ...
We are concerned that the Amendment Bill, as proposed, could impair the operations and legitimate interests of the NZ Trade Union movement. It is also likely to negatively impact the ability of other civil society actors to conduct their affairs without the threat of criminal sanctions. We ask that ...
I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?And I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?Song: The Lonely Biscuits.“A bit nippy”, I thought when I woke this morning, and then, soon after that, I wondered whether hell had frozen over. Dear friends, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Asheville, North Carolina, was once widely considered a climate haven thanks to its elevated, inland location and cooler temperatures than much of the Southeast. Then came the catastrophic floods of Hurricane Helene in September 2024. It was a stark reminder that nowhere is safe from ...
Early reports indicate that the temporary Israel/Hamas ceasefire deal (due to take effect on Sunday) will allow for the gradual release of groups of Israeli hostages, the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails (likely only a fraction of the total incarcerated population), and the withdrawal ...
My daily news diet is not what it once was.It was the TV news that lost me first. Too infantilising, too breathless, too frustrating.The Herald was next. You could look past the reactionary framing while it was being a decent newspaper of record, but once Shayne Currie began unleashing all ...
Hit the road Jack and don't you come backNo more, no more, no more, no moreHit the road Jack and don't you come back no moreWhat you say?Songwriters: Percy MayfieldMorena,I keep many of my posts, like this one, paywall-free so that everyone can read them.However, please consider supporting me as ...
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, I was not planning on writing anything about them… but as A Phuulish Fellow ...
Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...
A while back I was engaged in an unpleasant exchange with a leader of the most well-known NZ anti-vax group and several like-minded trolls. I had responded to a racist meme on social media in which a rightwing podcaster in the US interviewed one of the leaders of the Proud ...
Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...
Last year, 292 people died unnecessarily on our roads. That is the lowest result in over a decade and only the fourth time in the last 70 years we’ve seen fewer than 300 deaths in a calendar year. Yet, while it is 292 people too many, with each death being ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob HensonFlames from the Palisades Fire burn a building at Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire had destroyed thousands of structures and ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Regulatory Standards Bill, as I understand it, seeks to bind parliament to a specific range of law-making.For example, it seems to ensure primacy of individual rights over that of community, environment, te Tiriti ...
Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...
The future teaches you to be aloneThe present to be afraid and coldSo if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists…And if you tolerate thisThen your children will be nextSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Do you remember at school, studying the rise ...
When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, The City of AngelsLonely as I am together we crySong: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante.A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area. ...
Open access notablesLarge emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications:Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkGlobal surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time.These include CO2, which is the primary ...
There are times when movement around us seems to slow down. And the faster things get, the slower it all appears.And so it is with the whirlwind of early year political activity.They are harbingers for what is to come:Video: Wayne Wright Jnr, funder of Sean Plunket, talk growing power and ...
Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...
2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...
..I/We wish to make the following comments:I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill."5. Act binds the CrownThis Act binds the Crown."How does this Act "bind the Crown" when Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which the Act refers to, has been violated by the Crown on numerous occassions, resulting in massive loss of ...
Everything is good and brownI'm here againWith a sunshine smile upon my faceMy friends are close at handAnd all my inhibitions have disappeared without a traceI'm glad, oh, that I found oohSomebody who I can rely onSongwriter: Jay KayGood morning, all you lovely people. Today, I’ve got nothing except a ...
Welcome to 2025. After wrapping up 2024, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see this year along with a few predictions. Council and Elections Elections One of the biggest things this year will be local body elections in October. Will Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Canadians can take a while to get angry – but when they finally do, watch out. Canada has been falling out of love with Justin Trudeau for years, and his exit has to be the least surprising news event of the New Year. On recent polling, Trudeau’s Liberal party has ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Much like 2023, many climate and energy records were broken in 2024. It was Earth’s hottest year on record by a wide margin, breaking the previous record that was set just last year by an even larger margin. Human-caused climate-warming pollution and ...
Submissions on National's racist, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are due tomorrow! So today, after a good long holiday from all that bullshit, I finally got my shit together to submit on it. As I noted here, people should write their own submissions in their own ...
Ooh, baby (ooh, baby)It's making me crazy (it's making me crazy)Every time I look around (look around)Every time I look around (every time I look around)Every time I look aroundIt's in my faceSongwriters: Alan Leo Jansson / Paul Lawrence L. Fuemana.Today, I’ll be talking about rich, middle-aged men who’ve made ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 29, 2024 thru Sat, January 4, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Hi,The thing that stood out at me while shopping for Christmas presents in New Zealand was how hard it was to avoid Zuru products. Toy manufacturer Zuru is a bit like Netflix, in that it has so much data on what people want they can flood the market with so ...
And when a child is born into this worldIt has no conceptOf the tone of skin it's living inAnd there's a million voicesAnd there's a million voicesTo tell you what you should be thinkingSong by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.The moment you see that face, you can hear her voice; ...
While we may not always have quality political leadership, a couple of recently published autobiographies indicate sometimes we strike it lucky. When ranking our prime ministers, retired professor of history Erik Olssen commented that ‘neither Holland nor Nash was especially effective as prime minister – even his private secretary thought ...
Baby, be the class clownI'll be the beauty queen in tearsIt's a new art form, showin' people how little we care (yeah)We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fearLet's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like, yeah (yeah)Songwriters: Joel Little / Ella Yelich O ...
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
What I’ve Been Doing: I buried a close family member.What I’ve Been Watching: Andor, Jack Reacher, Xmas movies.What I’ve Been Reflecting On: The Usefulness of Writing and the Worthiness of Doing So — especially as things become more transparent on their own.I also hate competing on any day, and if ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by John Wihbey. A version of this article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections on Nov. 11, 2008. (Image credits: The White House, Jonathan Cutrer / CC BY 2.0; President Jimmy Carter, Trikosko/Library of Congress; Solar dedication, Bill Fitz-Patrick / Jimmy Carter Library; Solar ...
Morena folks,We’re having a good break, recharging the batteries. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday period. I’m not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, I’m afraid—not from a writing point of view, anyway.So, today, we’re travelling back in time. You’ll have to imagine the wavy lines and sci-fi sound ...
Completed reads for 2024: Oration on the Dignity of Man, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola A Platonic Discourse Upon Love, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Of Being and Unity, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The Life of Pico della Mirandola, by Giovanni Francesco Pico Three Letters Written by Pico ...
Welcome to 2025, Aotearoa. Well… what can one really say? 2024 was a story of a bad beginning, an infernal middle and an indescribably farcical end. But to chart a course for a real future, it does pay to know where we’ve been… so we know where we need ...
Welcome to the official half-way point of the 2020s. Anyway, as per my New Years tradition, here’s where A Phuulish Fellow’s blog traffic came from in 2024: United States United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Sweden Australia Germany Spain Brazil Finland The top four are the same as 2023, ...
Completed reads for December: Be A Wolf!, by Brian Strickland The Magic Flute [libretto], by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder The Invisible Eye, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Owl’s Ear, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Waters of Death, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Spider, by Hanns Heinz Ewers Who Knows?, by Guy de Maupassant ...
Well, it’s the last day of the year, so it’s time for a quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened in 2024 for urbanism and transport in our city. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in our mission to make ...
Leave your office, run past your funeralLeave your home, car, leave your pulpitJoin us in the streets where weJoin us in the streets where weDon't belong, don't belongHere under the starsThrowing light…Song: Jeffery BuckleyToday, I’ll discuss the standout politicians of the last 12 months. Each party will receive three awards, ...
Hi,A lot’s happened this year in the world of Webworm, and as 2024 comes to an end I thought I’d look back at a few of the things that popped. Maybe you missed them, or you might want to revisit some of these essay and podcast episodes over your break ...
Hi,I wanted to share this piece by film editor Dan Kircher about what cinema has been up to in 2024.Dan edited my documentary Mister Organ, as well as this year’s excellent crowd-pleasing Bookworm.Dan adores movies. He gets the language of cinema, he knows what he loves, and writes accordingly. And ...
Without delving into personal details but in order to give readers a sense of the year that was, I thought I would offer the study in contrasts that are Xmas 2023 and Xmas 2024: Xmas 2023 in Starship Children’s Hospital (after third of four surgeries). Even opening presents was an ...
Heavy disclaimer: Alpha/beta/omega dynamics is a popular trope that’s used in a wide range of stories and my thoughts on it do not apply to all cases. I’m most familiar with it through the lens of male-focused fanfic, typically m/m but sometimes also featuring m/f and that’s the situation I’m ...
Hi,Webworm has been pretty heavy this year — mainly because the world is pretty heavy. But as we sprint (or limp, you choose) through the final days of 2024, I wanted to keep Webworm a little lighter.So today I wanted to look at one of the biggest and weirdest elements ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 22, 2024 thru Sat, December 28, 2024. This week's roundup is the second one published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, ...
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...
The Green Party welcomes the extension of the deadline for Treaty Principles Bill submissions but continues to call on the Government to abandon the Bill. ...
Complaints about disruptive behaviour now handled in around 13 days (down from around 60 days a year ago) 553 Section 55A notices issued by Kāinga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period in the previous year. Of that 553, first notices made up around 83 ...
The time it takes to process building determinations has improved significantly over the last year which means fewer delays in homes being built, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has a persistent shortage of houses. Making it easier and quicker for new homes to be built will ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is pleased to announce the annual list of New Zealand’s most popular baby names for 2024. “For the second consecutive year, Noah has claimed the top spot for boys with 250 babies sharing the name, while Isla has returned to the most popular ...
Work is set to get underway on a new bus station at Westgate this week. A contract has been awarded to HEB Construction to start a package of enabling works to get the site ready in advance of main construction beginning in mid-2025, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“A new Westgate ...
Minister for Children and for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is encouraging people to use the resources available to them to get help, and to report instances of family and sexual violence amongst their friends, families, and loved ones who are in need. “The death of a ...
Uia te pō, rangahaua te pō, whakamāramatia mai he aha tō tango, he aha tō kāwhaki? Whitirere ki te ao, tirotiro kau au, kei hea taku rātā whakamarumaru i te au o te pakanga mo te mana motuhake? Au te pō, ngū te pō, ue hā! E te kahurangi māreikura, ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says people with diabetes and other painful conditions will benefit from a significant new qualification to boost training in foot care. “It sounds simple, but quality and regular foot and nail care is vital in preventing potentially serious complications from diabetes, like blisters or sores, which can take a long time to heal ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this government assumed ...
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As the world farewells visionary director David Lynch, we return to this 2017 piece by Angela Cuming about escaping into the haunting world of Twin Peaks. I was only 10 years old when Twin Peaks – and the real world – found me.Once a week, in the dark, I ...
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Finally, some good fucking news. The Friday Poem is back! Last year, The Spinoff leveled with its audience about the financial reality it faced and called for support from its audience. Some tough decisions were made at the time including cuts to our commissioning budget and the discontinuation of The ...
The soon-to-be deputy PM has already had a crucial win behind the scenes. First published in Henry Cooke’s politics newsletter, Museum Street. Margaret Thatcher used to love prime minister’s questions. If you’re not familiar, the UK parliamentary system has a weekly procedure where the prime minister is subject to at least ...
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“Israeli investigations are no better than Saudi investigations,”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/04/how-the-murders-of-journalists-in-the-middle-east-are-brushed-aside/
bewildered wayne and others get a easy run as our media keeps us uninformed … hacked the usa elections for instance ?
"It is largely propping up Gaza, subject to a total blockade by air, land and sea since 2007." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/1-million-face-hunger-in-gaza-after-us-cut-to-palestine-aid
The New Zealand media omitted to inform us at all …. with their right wing bias dead socialists are non-people … and not worth reporting .
http://www.brasilwire.com/not-only-marielle-10-human-rights-activists-assassinated-in-last-5-months/
they are still missing in action ,,,with their black out / censorship on the corrupt right wing coup …. http://www.brasilwire.com/not-only-marielle-10-human-rights-activists-assassinated-in-last-5-months/
Looks like all New Zealand is going to get all winter is weak subtropical systems.
http://metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain®ion=swp&noofdays=10
It may not be climate change, but it's a pretty weird, warm, dry winter.
it has been a weird warm dry summer. but hey we are not in a drought be cause somewhere somewhere its a. cold and b. it drizzles.
its all good.
Winter is where the water tables and hydro dams get filled.
If it doesn't happen in winter, it gets really bad in spring for that "it's all good" stuff like electricity production, tree growth, and grass growth.
i know, i visited quite a few of them a few years back and it was dodgy then, and now its down right scary.
I had no idea that hospices had only been around in NZ for the last 40 years: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/113824817/the-past-present-and-future-of-nzs-oldest-hospice-as-it-celebrates-the-big-40
Subject: worsening climate change. Content: Northern hemisphere being badly affected this year.
BLACK BEAR NEWS 6.28.19 Disaster Upon Disaster
European Sauna: A Profoundly Serious Heatwave: Part 2 of 2
A packet of air sitting over the Sahara Desert gets rapidly warmed up by the relentless heat of the Sun in a cloudless sky, with single digit relative humidity (dry) conditions, and 50+ C temperatures. Transported northward by the stuck jet stream ridge, it crosses the rapidly warming water surface of the Mediterranean Sea where it reaches relative humidities of 70 to 80%. Saturated with water vapour, it continues northward guided under the jet stream ridge to cover vast areas of Europe with unbearable temperatures (reaching 45.9 C) and high humidities. And it is only June; what will July and August be like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fu1gvMkEhw&fbclid=IwAR36kZZrDPCs6iECY1o3GjWVNSv7homthkw4z2KphSBfOtgv-bRxPveQCdY
Artifex Optimus 8 hours ago
I live in Madrid. This is hellish. You can't get out much during the day, and the heat during the night makes sleeping a very hard thing. Add all the air conditioning exhausts going out in the street, and take into account the fact that most of Madrid is cement and alquitranate streets that retain a shitload of heat during the day, making nights too hot, while they release all that heat accumulated during the day. I'm getting really freaked out, if these conditions were to become semi permanent, like Paul is saying might happen, this city will not be habitable in the near future.
Hanns Jürgen Hodann 2 hours ago
Thank you for this excellent explicatory video. I live in Zaragoza, Spain, where we had 44° C at 5 o`clock this afternoon (Sat 29th June) – going outside feels is like stepping into an oven! This video provides me with a much better understanding of what’s going on and helps me to appreciate the potential seriousness of the heatwave affecting presently Europe.
Veronica Harris 9 hours ago
The Sahara Bubble is sitting over France. How long will it stay? And Yes Paul you are right with these tempretures and everything stagnating, no movement of the jet streams, we are in for a hot summer. Fires, drought and crop failure. I can't go outside. It is too hot. I don't even think the weather channel has got the tempreture right, they say it is 39 degrees, but it feels hotter. Oh my lord. It is terrible. Thankfully the humidity is low 43%. But then that can cause forest fires. Fucked if you do, fucked if you don't. Catch 22. x
ValhalaFiveSix 13 hours ago
This is like one of those Sci Fi movies like day after tomorrow, They are saying the Beer in German beer gardens is going thermal before peoplle can get drunk.
What's "alquitranate"?
looks like a Spanish word for "tarry"
Spanish for
alquitranado
adjective
tarred ⧫ tarry
masculine noun
[de carretera] tarmac
Looking at the record temperatures by country in Europe, a majority of them have occurred since 2000.
https://twitter.com/capitalweather/status/1144608081923444738
Trent Black 2 hours ago
Everybody gonna die soon. We need food water and a reasonable temp to survive. The change in the jet stream changes our climate. It will dry up your water (India) flood other places (mid West USA). Heat waves will kill the plants and wet bulb cook humans. And it will only get hotter. Methane is being released. Sure it is only 100x more powerful for 10 years but 10 years is all it needs. I used to wonder if it would hit 90f in the summer on Ohio. It rarely did. Now i wonder what days are not gonna hit 89 to 90f. My tomatoes have grown like a hyper weed. It rains everyday too. Droughts and heat waves are all over the globe right now and breaking records. We just broke the world heat record at 161f. Cars and roads melt and no power for you. No air conditioning. Most all plants will die at 145f. It is still June. Wait till there is algae in your water supply. You will not last a week. And you are dead. Algae is growing all over the place now.
Joey Crikey 2 hours ago
AND climate change is JUST starting to ramp up! Consider what is happening now, is happening with ice still in the Arctic. Once the Arctic ice goes, which may be this year but certainly not many years from now at this point, the jet stream will be REALLY messed up, if it exists at all. Paul Beckwith did a recent video about entire summer seasons of heatwave weather. Can you imagine that? THAT will cause climate refugees which Europe definitely does not want. What happens when the Europeans are the climate change refugees? Please someone tell me I am wrong!
Suzie eats the internet party
https://masonbee.nz/suzie-dawson-and-the-whistle-blower/
Sounds like she might be a bit of an attention seeker to me.
I await my summons from Netsafe.
Wingnut fight!
https://jimmysllama.com/2019/02/18/12842/
Oh gawd… too much to go through with a fine tooth comb, but I did note the word used to describe her at one point – attention seeker.
Maybe some of those things did happen to her but it was unlikely to be intelligence agencies. I don't think they go around threatening individuals and their children – especially in NZ. There are a lot of thugs and weirdos out there and since she invites publicity then she has to expect consequences.
This brings into focus the way that an Assange industry has developed and the efforts of players to corner this market and drive others out of it. ..and then monetise it and build personal reputation to leverage off. just another product to these players
How diversity at the top table would improve oversight: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018701784/senior-execs-more-likely-to-get-away-with-white-collar-crime
Big ups to Stormzy.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/29/entertainment/stormzy-glastonbury-scli-gbr-intl/index.html
I think it truly funny when the entertainment pages give better coverage to a topic than the MSM news.
Bye bye, Biden and Buttigieg.
And good riddance to the pair of you.
Some of the action they missed from the lotto ad;
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/shocking-pictures-show-brutal-bashing-of-political-activist-in-thailand/news-story/a8a17c1f26b0dcf9bb3957da0b64ce8c
I love how this gesture uplifts different groups/religions (both the givers + receivers + those who hear about it). Thanks!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/113888912/a-us-jewish-federation-donates-nearly-1m-to-victims-of-chch-mosque-shootings
TRUMP IN NORTH KOREA
Pls excuse the caps I got excited. I still hold hope for world peace.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/113887858/trump-and-kim-jong-un-to-meet-in-korean-demilitarised-zone
We all know the story but do you reckon the President of the USA mentioned Otto Warmbier to the North Korean President?
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2169308/otto-warmbier-what-happened-north-korean-jail-led
Peters tearing strips off Bridges here. What fun.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/06/exclusive-police-investigating-white-supremacists-death-threats-against-winston-peters.html
well maybe its time to stop calling them 'lone wolfs' and start calling them 'organised mass murderers"
The death threats made against Winston Peters by the far-right is obviously very serious, but it's a stretch for Winston to link National and Simon Bridges to those threats, just because they oppose the UN Global Migration Compact.
Then again, National urgently removed the petition from their website and then told lies about who removed it and why, so they can't be trusted to tell the truth. Maybe the Nats were lobbied and received a "donation" to run the petition.
Agree the Nats and Bridges didn't make those threats directly but they are part of the movement those threats issue from, and their actions have emboldened the extreme-right.
This isn't a coincidental one-off nutter threatening a politician. It's him, and the Christchurch Australian murderer, the alt-right, Southern and Molyneux, Jordan Peterson and the incels, and Sellner and his fake news identarian crowd.
National under Bridges bought into all that in a deliberate strategy to attack the government and gain votes. Now it's time for them to withdraw from it and apologise.
They already tried to scrub their involvement and rewrite history in the emotional junior staffer scandal. Now it’s time to apologise properly.
And if they refuse to do so? Should they be forced to do so?
What do you mean "forced to do so"? They can't be forced but they should serious consider it.
Otherwise they should expect to be called out for aligning with extreme right wing groups. Voters will then decide.
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nice
Works as a tutorial. Ends well (`don't worry about socialists or Socialists, we've got em under control'). But I question whether recycling such twentieth-century reasoning is any more than a waste of time. Having a state monopoly of the means of production is merely a euphemism for making private business illegal. Without folks who start businesses, wealth doesn't get created, so the economy dies on the vine.
Having been anti-business myself in the distant past, I realise the general ignorance of the social function of businesses is caused by the failure of the education system to provide children with the facts of life. Obviously teachers have to brainwash kids with crap instead, to defend their class interests.
If the cowboy economist were to extend his logic re govt provision of value to the people, and suggest kids get taught all the goods govt provides everyone in return for taxes paid, I'd support him. But the idea that teachers could become fit for purpose is too radical still.
"Peters says there are too many connections to the far right .."
'The far Right" is a cuddily phrase for 'The Worldwide political Murderers'
No one of right mind should be tied up with poltical Murderers, and National here must get in and clean their shit up immediately!
It is strange that National ratbags, according to recent reports (which I have lost track of) continue to have access to Goverment Papers without due process or permission. It will not be a problem if I am wrong. Will it Simon Bridges ?
But I sincerely think there should be be a determined effort by our Security Bodies to Rip through National and report on their connections with far right Groups and their access to Government Information. Also Report on whether our Security Staff knew in advance of the Slug into Winston Peters.
For Instance, and In brief, who got a far right missile into Winston Peters – as Reported by Journalist Paddy Gower. just several Hrs ago. Peters is being monitored very effectively by exceedingly evil Far Right Murderers.
But not unfortunately, by Our Security Staff, and Police. I wonder why !
Are you suggesting the government should direct the security services to investigate the main opposition party?
If only the government had people like you in positions to influence these sorts of decisions. I would so very much like it if they did do that.
Hi Gosman
I would certainly direct all sectors of Parliaments Security Staff to Take you through your rubbish.
Also the Police.
Because you are clearly calling for The National party and its Trolls to destroy Winston Peters with Right Wing Murder.
Why not. They have been investigating the Alliance and later the Greens.
Many more genocidal extremists, in National, than the former two.
Fair's fair.