An Early Christmas.
Christian tradition dictates Christmas falls on the 25th of December. This year though, if we simply view Christmas through a lens of ‘good things happening’, then Christmas is coming early.
Media
Propaganda
Sacha Baron Cohen – greatest propaganda machine in history
A must watch video of Sacha Baron Cohen where he has launched an all out assault on Facebook and Twitter and has called them “the greatest propaganda machine in history”.
UK Conservative’s social media is remarkably similar to National’s social media
The British Conservative Party and the New Zealand National Party appear to be using very similar twitter strategies involving the setting of highly edited video to naff music and the making of patently ridiculous claims.
Elizabeth Warren on Facebook and the US presidential election
“They’re allowing Trump to spend over $1 million a week right now for ads on their platform—including ones that air the same lies that TV stations won’t.”
Fool me twice?
Boris Johnson’s ruthless purge of Cabinet and hard right shift looks like preparation for an early election. Reminds me of 1984 at home, as a right wing coup is on the way. He lied his way to Brexit – will it work again?
Budget commentary
Has New Zealand’s social media spent too much time on gocha politics and not enough on the substance of the wellbeing budget?
The Brady Papers
Anne-Marie Brady submitted to yesterday’s Select Committee Inquiry into foreign interference in our elections, making copious reference to her “Magic Weapons” paper of 2017. She didn’t mention another paper which casts a much different light on her independence and purpose
WTF Free Speech coalition?
The Free Speech coalition has attacked the Chief Censor’s decision to rule the Christchurch Mosque killer’s manifesto as objectionable as an attack on free speech. But the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties has characterised the Censor’s decision as being entirely conventional.
More political interference on Huawei
Here’s another one for the select committee reviewing foreign interference. Visitor from Britain Charlie Parton of the Royal United Services Institute was on Morning Report this morning telling us to avoid Huawei because they are Chinese and different from us. At least he does us a favour by making it clear the matter is political not technical.
Magicked-Up Weapons
I’m glad Anne-Marie Brady will get the chance to present her “Magic Weapons” paper to the select committee examining the last election. At long last it might get given some proper critical examination, of its content as well as it provenance. In my opinion it reads like a long list of the blindingly obvious, mixed with a large dose of conspiracy theory. It certainly doesn’t show much sign of the sort of critical thinking one might expect from an academic.
What does the right have against Venezuela?
Simon Bridges has claimed that the Government is going to follow a “Venezuela model” in making much needed reform of the Polytechnic sector. But no one knows what he means.
Trump’s brilliant strategy to dismantle US dollar hegemony
Polymath economist Professor Michael Hudson’s latest article is a geopolitical panoramic masterpiece, sparked by outrage at a series of concurrent events on January 31 which he predicts means that 2019 will be the “year of global fracture.” Definitely worth a read.
Chinese Herald changed Herald articles to be more China friendly
Stuff has reported that its opponent, the New Zealand Herald, has via its Chinese version amended stories to make them more acceptable to the Chinese Government.
Matt King goes full nut job
National MP Matt King has claimed that Stuff has been censoring comments that are critical of the Government and that an article expressing concerns about the run down of health infrastructure, the increase in child poverty, the use of private contractors to spy on us and the inability of NZTA to properly regulate WOF inspections is “left wing claptrap”.
The Taxpayers’ Union* responds to the Clark and Thompson spying fiasco
* not a real union.
Nutjobs and the UN Global Migration Pact
National and ACT have alleged that a United Nations Pact supported by New Zealand in 2016 will take away sovereign rights even though the pact itself says that it is not legally binding.
Media Thriving on its Own Shit.
When purveyors of propaganda come to believe their own spin and start entertaining really quite idiotic conspiracy theories and abandoning any pretense of being in possession of rational thought, then we’ve got a problem.
Zionism: Protestant Tosh.
I’m willing to bet you probably didn’t know that.
Failed Estate – the ABC of Trust
In Australia this week the Liberal Government has become embroiled in a scandal relating to political pressure being brought to sack the head of the ABC and one of its most senior reporters. Failed estate has the details.
Will there be a Brexit?
In short, I think not.
Paranoia, Bullshit and Ordinary Lives.
It seems that for some, trashing out the lives of ordinary people is fine, because “Russia bad”. It’s not fine…
Is Politik a propaganda mouthpiece for the UK Embassy?
In Politik’s 7 September issue we are told that Western diplomats in Wellington are surprised that Winston Peters has not accused Russia of the Skripal poisoning or joined some other countries in taking reprisals. Editor Richard Harman quotes a source to tell us that the British in particular were “pissed” at Peters’ response. Well dearie me. I’m with Winston, a wise old owl.
And the antisemites are…?
UK Labour adopted the IRHA definition of antisemitism in full, and…
Censorship
It seems that if you’re the right person, harbour the correct thoughts, have the right connections, and you don’t like whatever the political opinion, news or information that’s floating about is, then you can get it banned.
Finkelstein on Dame Hodge
“…if any – if any – of the rules that are now being implemented in the Labour Party have any meaning whatsoever… the first person who should be booted out of the Labour Party is Dame Hodge.” – Finkelstein.
About freedom of speech
Simon Wilson in the Herald neatly skewers suggestions that Donald Brash is a free speech warrior and raises important issues about the interplay between free speech and attacks on “political correctness” also known as tolerance and respect.
Propaganda Wars.
No-one reading this blog would willfully offer support to an ideology that’s killing people, right?
Auntie Beeb gets a well deserved skelping.
Censorship kicked into touch.
Burning it Down.
The BBC goes a bit ‘book burny’ on it.
Glenn Greenwald on…
Excerpts from Glenn Greenwald speaking on Democracy Now! (h/t Adrian Thornton)
There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech
There’s never been Free Speech and that’s not actually much of a problem according to Te Reo Putake, who is no stranger to the downside of Saying Things.
And then there was….
The aftermath of Douma chemical attacks and Skripal poisonings…
Flying Kites.
If we can’t see the wood for the trees, shouldn’t we simply step back a bit and look again?
Sonic Attack
What follows isn’t satire or parody. Apparently.
Strange Democracy.
Quietly mulling on the difference between foreign interference (malign) and influence (benign).
Yulia wants to go home.
Oops. Was this desire meant to be in the script?