The extent of the right to free speech
Lauren Southern’s cancelled lecture has caused some debate about what freedom of speech is, is it absolute, and if not where is the line to be drawn?
Media
internet
US Democrats plan to start civil war today *
* according to Alex Jones on Infowars.
Blogs and the Political Establishment
Being in the thick of student politics in the mid 2000s, I was around just at the very beginning of social media.
Shock horror, National is telling fibs about Labour’s Industrial Relations policy
National has claimed that Jacinda Ardern ruled out national strikes during the last year’s election campaign. And has trimmed a video and taken comments out of context to justify its claim.
Godwin’s flaw?
In which we discuss a number of quick hits: Trump thinks judges only exist to be bribed, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders can’t get a seat at a restaurant, and whether Godwin’s Law needs to be amended.
Doofus of the week June 24, 2018
The latest in an occasional series where we celebrate the horrendously awful and bizarre behaviour of political figures both locally and overseas.
New Zealand basks in the birth of the Prime Minature
Day one of her life and New Zealand is basking in the birth of the Prime Minature.
Jessica Williams tweets about the stupidity of the Taxpayer’s Union
Twitter in the right hands can be a very dangerous thing. As shown by Jessica Williams when she questioned the intellectual grunt of the taxpayers union in this series of tweets.
Hoax video of Paul Goldsmith starts circulating on the Internet
Surely it cannot be real …
National tags parody account in Northcote by election tweet
The difference between running a professional well organised campaign and a chaotic shambles can be slight.
#twyfordaccusations
The Twitter hashtag #twyfordaccusations has been set up to allow people to speculate on what other nefarious allegations will be made against Phil Twyford by Judith Collins.
Doofus of the week – May 20, 2018
Aaron Schlossberg, American Attorney and Trump Supporter, and someone who thinks people speaking Spanish to each other in a New York restaurant poses some sort of existential threat to the Union is this week’s doofus of the week.
Shouty Simon’s strange budget claim
National’s claims about Labour’s health spend suffer from the not insignificant problem that they do not make any sense when analysed.
Fairs fair : how to complain, how not to and why not
Phil Quin has been his usual dickheaded self on the net. Trying to bully people about material that they probably didn’t write on this site is not a way to get it looked at. For that everyone need to follow the procedures detailed in our contact page and the pages linked to it. The alternatives aren’t nice. Ask Dermot Nottingham. Updated
Algorithms are threatening our democracy
Algorithms are a form of fascism – yet a fascism from data manipulation rather than from the state. Are they a threat to our democracy?
ACT’s failed charter school protest in tweets
Last weekend ACT had a protest against charter schools and spent in the vicinity of $10,000 to get maybe 50 people to attend. They should have gone to Labour Hire.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy
Make of this what you will.
NRT: A lawless multinational
Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn on Facebook and the Privacy Commissioner.
overpopulation myth
Conversations on overpopulation are so often framed in a way that is racist and fail to acknowledge the unfair distribution and use of resources. With the added dimension of seeking to punish the poor for problems created by the economically secure.
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.
Doofus of the week March 10, 2018
An occasional post where we celebrate the extremely banal or bad taste or idiotic behaviour in politics.
Fonterra’s High Court injunction against Newsroom
Current affairs site Newsroom has been served an injunction until a further hearing on March 26.
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 …
National brings its B game to social media
A couple of recent examples suggests that National’s social media game is well below standard. And Judith Collins is no longer the Parliamentary Queen of twitter.
Net Neutrality and New Zealand
Trump’s administration has recently set course to repeal Net Neutrality in the USA. What does that mean for New Zealand, and should we be considering stronger regulation here?
The UK Social media political arms race
Robert Peston in the Spectator has analysed the social media performance of the two big parties in the United Kingdom and has concluded that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour had a significant advantage over Theresa May’s conservatives.
To you live, from bed! – Writehanded
Writer Sarah Wilson blogged about her experience of the recent Nethui event, looking at Nethui itself, corporate control and the internet, safety for kids, sex worker access to the net, disability access, the importance of digital inclusion and literacy, and the social/cultural consequences of the internet.
@realDonaldTrump does not exist
For a brief moment, the internets rejoiced.
This coming digital war
This is the first Labour Government of the digital age. How progressives respond to social media attacks may be crucial to its success.
Sean Plunket resigns from Broadcasting Standards Authority
Anyone feeling for Sean Plunket?
Anatomy of a plonker
“Anyone else feeling for Harvey Weinstein?” – Sean Plunket
Electoral Commission refers Sean Plunket’s tweets to the police
The Opportunities Party’s election campaign Communications Director and recent appointee to the Broadcasting Standards Authority has had their election day tweets referred to the police.
National does u turn on paid parental leave
National has announced a policy of increasing paid parental leave after complaining last year that it was unaffordable.
Bill English’s texts leaked
Some of Bill English’s texts have been released. And they are not what you might expect.
Breaking: calls for Paddy Gower’s resignation as MSM slips in its own bullshit
Last night all the excitement finally caught up with them, leading to calls for Paddy Gower to resign and for MSM organisations to delete their social media accounts.
The Doctor Who helpline
Lordy, what’s going on?