Compassion?
May claimed she couldn’t wait until Monday before unleashing compassion on Syria on Friday night. Which brought a line from this to mind….
International
us politics
The Government’s response to the Syrian crisis
Jacinda Ardern has accepted the US, UK and French response to the Syrian crisis. Should she have instead condemned it?
The Humanity.
Apparently “this lot” really do care about people.
Is this a new cold war?
It’s really easy to get cranky right now and believe the world is retreating into to a sad Cold War binary in which Russia and its allies are always in high tension with the United States and its allies. A new Cold War.
North Korea redux
Does being incoherent work sometimes? With the President of North Korea visiting China for the first time, meeting with the South Korean President for the first time, and preparing to meet with the Japanese President and with the President of the United States, was Trump’s approach actually right for the circumstances?
Evidence-based foreign policy
In the second stage of a false flag attack, facts go out the window and the sole issue becomes “are you for us or against us.” Our media and National Party politicians are well into this stage in the Skripal affair. But as questions mount and skeptics proliferate from all sides, Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters may well be wiser than media advisers by not following blindly the western herd. 26 countries is not the whole world. Update: Porton Down unable to establish Novichok of Russian origin.
“Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job”
Two speakers from yesterday’s March for Our Lives.
US Trade Tariffs against China
Make no mistake: this is the single biggest anti-trade act the world has seen since the Iranian revolution’s nationalisation program from 1979.
Facebook is in trouble
A whistleblower, Christopher Wyllie, has explained how Cambridge Analytica managed to secure the data of 50 million Americans and how it was used in the last US Presidential election.
Remember President Obama?
The world has changed dramatically since Barak Obama was President of the United States.
Sanctions. Weapons of War.
When elite’s tussle, shouldn’t we look after us and ours?
#MeToo
It’s been awesome to see feminist activists in New Zealand enable a new and fast liberation occur. It’s worth reflecting on the success of #MeToo and all its new forms.
Inevitably the crazy old morons remain
In his usual dignified way, Donald Trump announced that he was sacking Rex Tillerson, the American Secretary of State in a tweet. And so the round of musical chairs that marks the White House’s descent into even more incompetence continues. Meanwhile the farce of the Russian election proceeds in their background of state operated terrorism in the UK. But there is some light
Putting some steel into trade
Does anyone want to take a punt on where the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum will go?
Break Up Social Media Itself
It is time to regulate the power of cyber criminals and cyber monopolies.
Arm me with
Teachers in America have responded to Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers in response to the Parkland School massacre with a request that they be armed with anything but guns.
Democratic burn
“I’m joining whatever political party those kids in Florida just started”
US kids fight back: you are either with us or against us
Four days after surviving a shooting massacre at her school, student Emma Gonzalez gave this stunning speech at an anti-gun rally in Florida. Other students are organising the National School Walkout and March for Our Lives.
Mueller v Russia
Robert Mueller has laid an indictment alleging that thirteen Russians and three Russian entities illegally interfered with the 2016 American Election campaign.
Trickledown …
Over in America Republican intellectual genius Paul Ryan tweeted how a School teacher who will receive $1.50 extra per week because of Republican tax cuts was grateful for the increase. But it did not go down well …
Waihopai and North Korea
It’s worth asking ourselves what Goriz Gharaman was doing protesting at Waihopai. It’s the right place to protest.
The Dogs of War
At a Union/NDP conference in March 2002 in Ottawa I saw wall-to-wall US TV attacking Iraq in my room. My caucus report that […]
The planet needs women
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin discuss women’s friendship, sisterhood, equality, and the power of women to change the world.
The Humanity.
Thoughtless thugs. Killers.
Obstructionist losers
Despite controlling all three branches of the Government the Republicans have failed to get a funding bill passed and the US Government is facing shut down.
Why President Trump should be opposed by the left
Ten reasons why Donald Trump is anti worker and bad for America’s working class.
Shock horror right wing think tank thinks NZ not very democratic
National’s cheerleaders are pushing an international report which suggests that New Zealand’s democratic system is only slightly better than average in world terms. But the organisation behind the report and the methodology used need some checking.
“Politics isn’t a game”
Branko Marcetic on a piece in the Herald about why Trump’s first year wasn’t that bad.
Racist dog whistling
We may think that we now live in more enlightened times where the scourge of racism is finally being dealt to and is no longer considered acceptable but recent events in Australia and the United States suggests that this is not the case.
Theatre and Oprah
Maybe ‘circus’ would be more apt that ‘theatre’ with regards the Oprah spectacle.
Up in Smoke.
US reverses Federal marijuana stance.
Duck and cover
Over the past 24 hours Trump has threatened war by comparing button sizes with Kim Jon Un and Steve Bannon has described Trump Campaign’s 2016 meeting with a group of Russians in Trump Tower as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.
What will 2018 bring for Donald Trump?
The New York Times has broken a astory suggesting that Australian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Downer informed the FBI that the Trump camp knew about the Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton’s emails four months before the 2016 Presidential election.
Man of the year and global leader of the year
Why Donald Trump should be considered to be man of the year and why the left should be thinking about why he is succeeding.
The Adventures of CosmoGuy: US Ambassador to New Zealand (and Samoa!)
The alleged ‘thoughts’ of Scott Brown, the highly intelligent and very cool ambassador of the Partisan States of America to NooZiland. In an exposition of typical blinding intelligence, he tries to explain to his beloved Orange Lord what he is doing here (and in Samoa!).
The United Nations gives Trump the middle finger
The United Nations has responded to Donald Trump’s threat to cut aid funding if it voted to condemn America’s decision to recognise Jerisalem as Israel’s capital by overwhelmingly support the decision.