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On The Three Strikes Cycle Of Failure
Tuesday, 22 October 2024, 12:18 pm | Gordon Campbell
We all know the “tough on crime” approach is only a stop gap measure at best, and that a justice model based on incarceration doesn’t work. Our prisons are already overcrowded, under-staffed and more often than not, function as training centres ... More >>
Languages In Hospital
Monday, 21 October 2024, 9:58 pm | David Cooke
Language use often excites people’s passions and regularly results in very misleading interpretations, so this seems a good time to air out several issues. More >>
Weak Endeavours: The Meekness Of Australia’s Anti-Corruption Body
Monday, 21 October 2024, 7:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
For a body that offered so much promise, the Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has failed to impress. Instead of restoring trust in the public service and politics, the Commission has shown a lack of appetite to pursue its broader More >>
Widening The War: The US Sends Troops To Israel
Sunday, 20 October 2024, 1:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In a measure that should have garnered bold headlines, the Biden administration has announced the deployment of some 100 US soldiers to Israel who will be responsible for operating the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. More >>
Heroes Not Felons: The Climate Change Activists Leading The Way By Scaling The Fonterra Factory Walls
Friday, 18 October 2024, 3:51 pm | Lynley Tulloch
If we want a habitable world for not only humans, but all species of animals and plants, then we need to take climate change seriously. Techno-fixes and offsetting carbon schemes are at best fanciful and at worst distracting from what is a dire ... More >>
Beethoven’s 7th And Conducting Beauty Beyond The Mind Of Man
Friday, 18 October 2024, 12:28 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
His performance (a word at once too small and too big for Kleiber) is an expression of not only his joy, but also an ineffable bliss flowing through him, giving literal meaning to the phrase “music of the spheres.” More >>
Nuclear Fever: War Mongering On Iran
Friday, 18 October 2024, 6:45 am | Binoy Kampmark
The nuclear option is now available to governments that should never have had them. But acquiring the dangerously untenable followed. To assume that brutal, amputation loving theocrats in Tehran should not have them defies the trajectory of a certain ... More >>
‘Text Me You Haven’t Died’ - My Sister Was The 166th Doctor To Be Murdered In Gaza
Thursday, 17 October 2024, 2:31 pm | Ramzy Baroud
I wrote about Soma as a central character in my book "My Father Was a Freedom Fighter", because she was indeed central to our lives, and to our very survival in a Gaza refugee camp. More >>
On The Language Of Healthcare, And Mink DeVille
Thursday, 17 October 2024, 11:55 am | Gordon Campbell
So far, the Great Multi-lingual Healthcare Crisis has passed by without any damage to life, or to limbs. To date, no-one appears to have mistaken the Hindi word for “lunch-break” for the Filipino word for “tracheotomy.” But then, the risk ... More >>
Dunne's Weekly: Health Needs Rescuing Not Reforming
Thursday, 17 October 2024, 8:37 am | Peter Dunne
Labour’s bold health reforms, announced three and a half years ago, have long since been dead in the water. In fact, they were virtually stillborn when Labour refused to commit to the long-term funding that its plans would require to be implemented. More >>
Israel’s War On The United Nations
Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 11:56 am | Binoy Kampmark
On its establishment, the UN became a hostage to the political intrigues and power blocs that have continued to plague it for its duration. Of particular concern was the body’s pursuit of international law protocols – formulation, drafting and ... More >>
On Conservative Ghosts, Holly Arrowsmith And Fazerdaze
Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 11:23 am | Gordon Campbell
Explaining the path of decline of the British Conservative Party is interesting for New Zealanders. The explanation that Bloomberg News recently published does sound very, very familiar. And despite Israeli war crimes and escalation, NZ obediently More >>
Radical Change Requires Going To The Root
Monday, 14 October 2024, 1:11 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
AI be damned. Realising our true potential is not only our birthright as human beings; it has become essential to our survival as an aspiring intelligent species. More >>
Non-disclosure Agreements In Health Systems – An Oxymoron!
Saturday, 12 October 2024, 7:33 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses Health New Zealand’s use of non-disclosure agreements in the context of oxymorons and health system culture. More >>
On Luxon Living In Denial About His Privilege
Friday, 11 October 2024, 1:05 pm | Gordon Campbell
Chris Luxon’s latest bout of self-congratulation was entirely irrelevant to the actual point at issue. Which was: shouldn’t New Zealand tax the income earned from capital gains, for the same reason that we tax the income earned from wages? More >>
Welcome To Tariff Land: The Retreat Of Free Trade
Friday, 11 October 2024, 12:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Free trade remains, in general, a fantasy, dangerous for the naïve who feel that by embracing it, they are somehow enlarging their appeal and standing. Often, countries extolling its value are only those desiring exclusive or privileged access to a market. More >>
Edmonds Aims To Follow Willis - And Roger Douglas
Friday, 11 October 2024, 10:46 am | Peter Dunne
Edmond’s admiration of the speedy way the current government went about its early changes simply confirms that a future Labour-led government will perform just the same as current government. Therefore, the National-Labour political merry go-round ... More >>
No Matter The Cost – Things The Israeli Genocide In Gaza Taught Us About Palestine, And The World
Friday, 11 October 2024, 9:26 am | Ramzy Baroud
One year of war has taught us that, while superior firepower may determine political outcomes in the short run, no amount of weapons can possibly break the will of a nation that has vowed to restore its dignity and win its freedom, no matter the cost. More >>
Why Socialism (Why Not New Zealand)
Thursday, 10 October 2024, 6:41 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses an Albert Einstein 1949 article on socialism and its relevance to New Zealand. More >>
A Year Of Genocide - Despite The Unbelievable Pain, Palestinians Emerge Stronger
Thursday, 10 October 2024, 3:43 pm | Ramzy Baroud
The ongoing war has exposed the limits of Israel’s military machine. The typical trajectory of Israel's relationship with the occupied Palestinians has been predicated on unhindered Israeli violence and deafening international silence. More >>
License To Muzzle: Taking Offence At Flag Wavers For Hezbollah
Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 2:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In the previous first three instances, all outfits were integrated into the political fold of their countries, revealing the flimsy nature of badging organisations as terrorist entities. War makers and practitioners of violence can become peacemakers ... More >>
Animals Don’t Have Complicated Relationships With Death
Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 11:56 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
It’s no longer necessary or fitting to “have all these symbolic representations of death.” We can directly perceive the actuality of death, without fear and blind cultural immersion. And there is tremendous freedom doing so. More >>
On The Coalition’s Fast-tracked Speed Dates With Property Developers
Tuesday, 8 October 2024, 10:57 am | Gordon Campbell
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop admitted that not everyone will “like” his fast track wish-list, before adding: “We are a government that does not shy away from those tough decisions." More >>
Raw Deals: The Continued Shafting Of The Chagossians
Sunday, 6 October 2024, 2:46 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The advocacy group, Chagossian Voices, deplored “the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations which have produced this statement of intent concerning the sovereignty of our homeland.” More >>
Effectiveology
Saturday, 5 October 2024, 9:22 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses a new word for improving health systems. More >>
Handmaiden To The Establishment: Peter Greste’s Register Of Journalists
Friday, 4 October 2024, 1:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Greste now wishes, with dictatorial sensibility, to further impress his views on journalism through Journalism Australia, a body he hopes will set “professional” standards for the craft and, problematically, define press freedom in Australia. More >>
Why Trump Could Become POTUS Again
Thursday, 3 October 2024, 3:13 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
It may be wishful thinking, but I don’t feel the outcome has been metaphysically determined, as it was with Bush before the 2000 election and Trump in 2016. More >>
Words Kill - Why Israel Gets Away With Murder In Gaza And Lebanon
Thursday, 3 October 2024, 2:32 pm | Ramzy Baroud
Perpetuating Israeli lies is dangerous, not only because truth-telling is a virtue but also because words kill, and dishonest reporting can, in fact, succeed in justifying genocide. More >>
On The Perils Of Israel’s War Fever
Thursday, 3 October 2024, 12:25 pm | Gordon Campbell
Israel seems on the brink of achieving the war with Iran that Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying all year to provoke. Until now, Iran had not replied in kind to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its bombing of Iran’s consulate in Syria, and its assassinations More >>
Unrealisable Justice: Julian Assange In Strasbourg
Wednesday, 2 October 2024, 2:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Assange’s full testimony began with reflection and foreboding: the stripping away of his self in incarceration, the search, as yet, for words to convey that experience, and the fate of various prisoners who died through hanging, murder and medical neglect. More >>
We Cannot Return And Recover As Humans; We Can Only Transcend As Human Beings
Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 1:42 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
AI cannot be more intelligent than humans are, and people who believe it will save us without radically changing ourselves are deluding themselves. More >>
Presidential Marxism: AKD And The Sri Lankan Elections
Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 1:11 pm | Binoy Kampmark
AKD’s presidential victory tickles and excites the election watchers for various reasons. He does not hail from any of the dynastic families that have treated rule and the presidential office as electoral real estate and aristocratic privilege. More >>
On The Dunedin Hospital Fiasco
Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 12:01 pm | Gordon Campbell
Finance Minister Nicola Willis was still insisting this morning that Dunedin’s promised new hospital project has gone “ off track” and that we all “need to be sensible.” So let's be sensible - the increase in costs has been the absolutely More >>
War Of Legitimacy - How The ICJ, UNGA Challenged Decades Of Israeli, US Arrogance
Monday, 30 September 2024, 11:14 am | Ramzy Baroud
UN resolutions are merely an expression of the balances of power that exist on the international stage. Therefore, Palestinians and their supporters should not expect that a UN resolution, binding or otherwise, will drive the Israeli military out of ... More >>
The Illusion Of A Solution: Killing Hassan Nasrallah
Sunday, 29 September 2024, 2:35 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Another Nasrallah is bound to be in tow, with several others in incubation. More >>
Zelenskyy Joins The US Election
Friday, 27 September 2024, 1:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Ukrainian president has succeeded most brazenly in getting himself, and the war effort, into the innards of the US presidential election. In doing so, he has become an unabashed campaigner for the Democrats and the Kamala Harris ticket while offering ... More >>
Conditioning Is Not A Given
Friday, 27 September 2024, 11:42 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
Self-knowing parents and teachers deepening in insight will see how to help children intelligently navigate society, in which the old strictures and structures have broken down, replaced by toxic social media. More >>
African Union Must Intervene - Asylum Seekers Enlisted To Kill Palestinians In Gaza
Thursday, 26 September 2024, 1:34 pm | Ramzy Baroud
Many countries throughout Africa have already raised their voice in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people. The bond between Africa and Palestine should now be strengthened by Israel’s utter disregard, not only for the lives of the Palestinians ... More >>
On The Government’s Bizarre Hostility To A Capital Gains Tax
Thursday, 26 September 2024, 12:11 pm | Gordon Campbell
Antonia Watson, CEO of the biggest bank in NZ has come out in favour of a capital gains tax! Over the past three decades institutions and mainstream economists have all treated our lack of a capital gains tax as a globally unusual flaw in our tax ... More >>
Dunne's Weekly - No Quick End To Tana Saga
Thursday, 26 September 2024, 8:41 am | Peter Dunne
Under the Electoral Integrity Act 2018, there is a deliberate process for expelling a Member of Parliament who has left the party for which they had originally been elected. It is triggered by a letter from the Member’s party leader to the Speaker. More >>
Ancient Ancestry, Israel And Palestine
Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 6:16 pm | Keith Rankin
Why cannot these Levantine people just settle with each other, create a post-apartheid liberal secular state in which all races & religions are constitutionally equal, & compensate the descendants of the dispossessed for the loss of their land? And More >>
Sorry Secretary-General Guterres, Multilateralism Is A Pipe Dream
Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 11:04 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
The international order is dead, and the ideal of multilateralism is a pipe dream. The old institutions like the UN can still serve humanity, but only if they are superseded by enough human beings who have ended tribalism/nationalism within themselves. More >>
Careful What You Ask For Labour Party: Following UK Labour Not Smart Politics
Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 7:52 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the importance of the Labour Party demonstrating smart politics in considering UK Labour’s recent election win in the context of Chris Hipkins current visit to the UK. More >>
Project Disharmony: The Murdoch Family In Court
Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 2:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In upending the nature of the trust, Rupert intends to consolidate the power of the media imperium in the hands of his eldest son Lachlan. More >>
On Nicola Willis’ Perverse Hostility To Working From Home
Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 11:00 am | Gordon Campbell
Work-in-the-office mandates? Hell yes, Finance Minister Nicola Willis is all for them. Given half the chance, she believes, “some people but not all” will just skive off, otherwise. Willis is happy to barge in and tell departmental heads how ... More >>
Concerning Death, Hell And Illumination
Monday, 23 September 2024, 10:58 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
It is deeply mistaken to gloss over evil with fey love, within or without. It’s only by facing and continuously learning from the darkness within us that we dissolve it, and thereby do our part to end the rule of evil in the world. More >>
Predatory Instincts: The Phoney Pharaoh Of Harrods
Sunday, 22 September 2024, 1:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Underneath Harrods’ glitz and glamour,” observes US lawyer and prominent women’s right advocate Gloria Allred, “was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.” That, it seemed, was far from phoney. More >>
Blending False Narratives With Scapegoating; Think Pots, Kettles And Black!
Saturday, 21 September 2024, 7:19 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the ousting of a chief finance officer in the context of the blending of false narratives and scapegoating. More >>
An Attack On The Whole Of Humanity
Saturday, 21 September 2024, 1:15 pm | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
The insertion of explosives in thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies is one of the most evil acts ever perpetrated by a state in the history of nations. So the pervasiveness of the evil pertains not just to the Lebanese, much less demonized Hezbollah, but ... More >>
Failed Machismo: Israel’s Pager Killings
Friday, 20 September 2024, 1:15 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The pager killings in Lebanon and parts of Syria on September 17 that left almost 3000 people injured and 12 dead were just another facet of this move. On September 18, a number of walkie-talkies used by members of Hezbollah were also detonated, ... More >>
Israel’s True Objectives In Gaza, And Why It Will Fail
Friday, 20 September 2024, 9:02 am | Ramzy Baroud
The most optimistic estimation of Israeli army is that their war, which has practically destroyed all of Gaza, has resulted in a stalemate. A more sober reading of the war, according to former Israeli PM General Ehud Barak, is that Israel must end it before ... More >>
On New Zealand’s Timid Reluctance To Tax The Rich
Thursday, 19 September 2024, 12:37 pm | Gordon Campbell
In one respect at least, New Zealand appears to be the Monaco of the South Pacific. Our wealthy pay low income taxes, face no significant tax on their capital gains, and there is no wealth tax at all. If you were rich, why live anywhere else? More >>
How Deep Does The Human Crisis Go?
Thursday, 19 September 2024, 11:55 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
As deep as the human mind goes. A higher and immeasurably truer order of consciousness awaits our transmutation. More >>
Dunne's Weekly: Hipkins' Risky Overseas Trip
Thursday, 19 September 2024, 7:58 am | Peter Dunne
If there is a move afoot within the Caucus for change, Hipkins’ absence will give any challengers the opportunity to quietly canvass Caucus support and then to assess the mood of the Party overall. More >>
Peter Doherty: Public Science Communicator
Wednesday, 18 September 2024, 2:20 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When it finally comes to Doherty’s turn to speak, one is immediately disabused by the image of a tyrannical professor lording over labs, staff and students. With mischief, he enters, unevenly, that treacherous field of educating the public about ... More >>
Beyond Irritation: Bali’s Tourism Scourge
Tuesday, 17 September 2024, 5:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In its modern form, Bali’s tourism industry has become a plague of monumental proportion. A group calling itself Responsible Travel is not shy in calling the Indonesian island “one of the world’s most high-profile victims of mass tourism.” More >>
Gordon Campbell On ACT’s Plans To Strip Away The Rights Of Gig Economy Workers
Tuesday, 17 September 2024, 12:38 pm | Gordon Campbell
The ways the ACT Party are aiming to redraw the lines between being an employee and being a contractor will set back the clock, and reduce the ability of workers to organise collectively. In all parts of the gig economy, ACT wants to individualise More >>
Sunday Morning In California As The Season Changes
Monday, 16 September 2024, 11:45 am | Martin LeFevre - Meditations
Behind the impossibility of finding freedom in man’s theological contortions is a refusal to face the human condition as it is, and do the spadework of finding out for oneself what is true and what is false. More >>
Abbas ‘Postponed’ Democracy - So, Who Speaks On Behalf Of The Palestinian People?
Monday, 16 September 2024, 9:35 am | Ramzy Baroud
Only those who truly reflect the wider collective Palestinian experience and aspiration deserved to be centered, listened to or engaged with. Doing so would help protect the Palestinian cause of the self-seeking few, who use the Palestinian struggle as ... More >>
Bypassing Sanctions: Russia, Trade Routes And Outfoxing The West
Monday, 16 September 2024, 2:19 am | Binoy Kampmark
Russia’s inventive response to sanctions has revitalised its economy and trade, forging new routes and partnerships, particularly with China and India, amidst ongoing conflict in Ukraine. More >>
