Joe Ascroft
Economist
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union
Our team has just returned from the Beehive, where we attended the media and analysts’ lock-up event for the government’s new “Wellbeing Budget”. This year’s Budget was accompanied by some level of turmoil, with leaks, alleged hacks, and a (very brief) police investigation all entering the headlines throughout the week.
We’ve had two and a half hours to file through the fiscal documents and spending announcements. We now want to give you an insider’s look, before the spin on the 6pm news.
Our overall impression of this Budget is, glossy marketing aside, it is a classic welfare-spending, rail-worshipping, Michael Cullen-style budget.
The government is holding up its big spend on mental health services as evidence of a fresh new “wellbeing” approach, but the figures tell a different story. The government is spending almost three times as much on rail ($2.14 billion / $1,175 per household) – including KiwiRail, regional rail and the Auckland City Rail Link – than on direct mental health spending ($823 million / $452 per household).
The “wellbeing” focus appears to be nothing more than a communications strategy from the government. Budget 2019 is indistinguishable from any other normal Labour Budget, with more money for welfare recipients and no room for tax relief.
The big-ticket items
KiwiRail: An additional $1 billion ($549 per household) is being allocated for KiwiRail including $375 million for new wagons and locomotives and $331 million for new track and infrastructure. As a State-Owned Enterprise, KiwiRail is expected to be profitable – but it has never paid a cent in dividends to the government. An additional billion dollars will not change reality – KiwiRail is a fundamentally unprofitable enterprise. Click here for my comments to the media.
Mental health: An extra $823 million ($452 per household) is being spent on mental health and addiction services. It has high aspirations, but few plans for judging value for money. As Scotland learned in the 1990s, a lot of extra money can go into mental health with little or no effect on measured outcomes. Click here for Louis’ comments to the media.
Venture Capital Fund: Wealthy tech entrepreneurs rejoice! The government is allocating $300 million ($164 per household) for a venture capital fund to help tech entrepreneurs who can’t convince investors or the bank to fund their projects.Worst of all, the project is being routed through the New Zealand Super Fund, which should be focused on delivering returns for future retirees. We say socialism for tech nerds is still socialism. Click here for my comments to the media.
Maori, Pasifika initiatives: Much of the spending on education, health, and even business is targeted on the basis of race, including an $80 million ($44 per household) injection for the Whanau Ora programme. We say targeting spending on race will lead to unfair and inefficient outcomes. Click here for Louis’ comments to the media.
Welfare changes: Following the release of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group’s report, the government has chosen to spend $535 million ($293 per household) to boost up the welfare system. Benefit sanctions for breaking the rules are being withdrawn and beneficiary payments will be adjusted upwards annually in line with wages, rather than inflation. Click here for my comments to the media.
As for the economy…
The economy itself is expected to track slightly weaker in coming years (forecast GDP growth is set to average 2.6 percent in the next five years) but is not projected to enter recession or enter serious headwinds. Business investment growth, however, is expected to fall off a cliff in 2019 (0.7 percent growth) compared to 2018 (6.8 percent growth), which could be a reflection of weak business confidence in response to plans for a capital gains tax and international trade sentiment. The government also still expects to meet its self-imposed Budget Responsibility Rules, including reducing net debt to below 20 percent of GDP by 2022.
Christian groups have reacted in vastly different ways in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks – many offering empathy and support, others warning darkly of an Islamic threat. In part two of our series ‘God in the Time of Terror’, Tony Wall reports on some evangelicals who believe they’re in a spiritual battle.
When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wore a hijab and spoke in Arabic during a Muslim call to prayer in Hagley Park a week after the deadly mosque attacks, the world saw a strong, compassionate leader sending a message of inclusion and tolerance.
Pastor Ross Smith just saw red.
To Smith, a motorbike-riding pentecostal preacher, this was the leader of a western country essentially asking people to “bow down” to Allah and embrace a dangerous ideology.
It might seem paranoid, but Smith and other conservative evangelicals see this as the first step on a road that leads to the “deletion” of the Christian God, the rise of Islamic radicals and eventually the implementation of Sharia law in New Zealand.
“Do we want to go down that track? Because that’s the reality of the hardcore side of that ideology,” says Smith, pastor of Wellington’s Celebration Church.
He says it’s time for Christians to get political.
“I think it’s a wake-up call. The church has been quiet for too long.”
After the mosque attacks, churches of various denominations around the country made symbolic gestures of support, invited Muslims to pray with them and gave money.
Examples included Mormons inviting imams to speak at conferences; the All Souls Church in Merivale, Christchurch, laying out 50 pairs of painted white shoes to represent each victim of the massacres; the Tauranga Central Baptist Church including an Arabic greeting on its billboard and the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ponsonby, Auckland inviting Muslims from the mosque across the road to pray with them.
DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF
Peace be upon you, says the sign in Arabic on the Tauranga Central Baptist Church.
But some of the more fundamentalist branches of Christianity reacted angrily to all this outpouring of support for Islam.
Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki tweeted his objection to the national broadcast of the call to prayer, saying “this is offensive to all true Christians … our national identity is at stake”.
Destiny’s senior Christchurch pastor, Derek Tait, was photographed comforting a Muslim man at the peace vigil in Hagley Park on March 22 – a month later he led a crowd of people who gathered opposite the Al Noor Masjid, scene of the deadliest massacre, and loudly proclaimed Christchurch a Christian city.
JOSEPH JOHNSON/STUFF
Destiny Church pastor Derek Tait reaches out to a member of the Muslim community during the call to prayer and peace vigil.
Tait told Stuff at the time the gathering was not inappropriate, “because in that very same place the decree was put out by our Prime Minister and the Muslim community to declare that Allah is the one true God, which I emphatically disagree with”.
The idea that Ardern was somehow declaring New Zealand an Islamic nation by having the call to prayer broadcast on state TV and radio was shared widely in conservative Christian circles. It seems to be based on the words of the call itself.
The call, or adhan, recites that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Ardern’s office says all decisions she made in the aftermath of March 15 “were in the intention to show respect for the Muslim community during a time of grief”.
That’s not good enough for the conspiracy theorists.
In the days and weeks after the massacres, Carl Bromley, a pro-Trump, pro-gun pastor with the Life Connection Baptist Fellowship in Christchurch, was busy on social media.
His Facebook page filled with posts about attacks on Christians by Muslims in Nigeria (which he claims went ignored by the media), criticism of moves to tighten gun control, outrage at calls to drop the name of the Crusaders rugby team and numerous links to articles on an anti-Muslim conspiracy blog.
“Those who drive Christianity out of society are paving the way for Islam,” he wrote.
Bromley declined an in-person interview but says by email there is a “huge discrepancy” between the concern expressed over the Christchurch attacks, which were “heinous and evil”, and attacks on Christians overseas.
He says he read the gunman’s manifesto before it was banned and believes his motives have been misrepresented.
“If it wasn’t for our neo-socialist government banning the … manifesto, any thinking person could have read that the issue was about immigration and not Muslims.
YOUTUBE
Carl Bromley says New Zealand is “too PC”.
“With access to facts being suppressed the powers that be are free to make the incident [about] ‘Muslims’ and ‘Islam’ rather than ‘immigration in general’.”
In addition, as he drove to the first mosque the alleged gunman played a song idolising Radovan Karadžić, who was jailed for genocide against Bosnian Muslims. Inscriptions on his rifles referenced Charles Martel, who is hailed by white supremacists for defeating an invading Muslim force in 732.
Every one of the gunman’s 51 victims was Muslim, killed at places of worship on their most important day of prayer, jumah.
But in Bromley’s conspiracy world view, the Government is using the actions of a “psychopath” to promote and advance Islam.
It’s a theme pastor Peter Mitchell of Radikal Kingdom Ministries International in Queensland echoes.
In a widely shared Facebook post, Mitchell called on Ardern to stand down for “forcing … by strong suggestion” New Zealanders to “submit” to the Islamic call to prayer.
“I am getting a little sick of you as the PM and the media using Islam as a race card,” he wrote.
It’s not just fringe preachers who allege hypocrisy in the reaction to March 15 – broadcaster Leighton Smith wrote a column for the New Zealand Herald titled ‘The War on Christianity’, in which he lamented what he saw as a subdued reaction from world leaders to the Sri Lanka church bombings compared to Christchurch.
This is all part of a “rumbling undercurrent of nervousness” – especially within conservative Christian groups – about the way Islam has been portrayed post-March 15, says Professor Peter Lineham, an expert in religious history.
“There seemed to be a fear around that Muslims were taking advantage of the sympathy and were in some way profiting from it and as a result greatly improving their status within New Zealand.”
CHRIS SKELTON
Religious history expert Peter Lineham says conservative evangelicals feel nervous about how Islam has been pushed to the forefront.
Because these conservatives have felt that everything they say gets criticised, Lineham says, they haven’t taken kindly to Muslims being in public favour.
“They have felt at the edge of quite a degree of public hostility, especially as a result of LGBT issues and so they’ve felt pushed to the boundary, when a group they regard as a real threat … [has been embraced].”
Dr Geoff Troughton, religious studies director at Victoria University, says this small group of Christians is involved in what they see as a spiritual battle.
“There are some groups who have been very concerned about what they perceive as a public acknowledgement given to Islam – they are concerned that … it’s a rival for hearts and minds.”
The recitation of Koranic verses in Parliament was a big deal to these groups, Troughton says.
An imam was invited to deliver a prayer in Arabic – the first time Parliament had opened to a Muslim prayer – on the Tuesday after the attacks.
As is normal after any major incident in which there is significant loss of life, party leaders gave statements about the Christchurch attacks; Ardern started her speech with “Al salam Alaikum — peace be upon you”.
Troughton says to some Christians, this was not merely symbolic.
“[They believe] it’s spiritually potent actions … that activate spiritual powers that they believe are malign or not working in the nation’s interests.”
He founded the group Jesus for NZ, aimed at having the name restored. He says even some Muslim leaders agree with him on the issue because they see the removal of Christ’s name as diminishing God.
“I don’t hate Muslims, it’s the ideology I don’t like,” Smith says.
DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF
Smith believes radical Muslims want to take over the world.
He repeatedly quotes Lebanese-American author Brigitte Gabriel, whose anti-Muslim statements are popular with the alt-right in America.
“As she said, the peaceful majority … are irrelevant, because it’s the radicals you have to watch for.
“You come back to the hard core element who will not stop until this nation is declared under the flag of Islam.”
“After 9-11, after the London bombings, some people threw stones at our mosques and … the church groups came in support of us immediately.
“After the Christchurch incident, we still have that good, friendly, loving reaction from all the church groups. Everybody opened their hearts.”
The religions can co-exist, Zaman says.
“The root of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the same – it comes from Abraham.
“There are a lot of similarities in the scriptures. Islam has a whole chapter on Jesus Christ and his mother Mary, we respect them as prophets.”
Smith rejects the suggestion that his claims about an “Islamic threat” constitute hate speech of the very type that motivated the Christchurch gunman.
“I don’t think it’s insensitive to talk about these issues … we’re talking about ideologies.
“We sympathise with the people … we have compassion, that’s a gimme. I think it’s probably the perfect time to talk about it.”
Smith says he would like to read the gunman’s manifesto and objects to it being banned.
People should be able to choose whether to read it, he says.
“Otherwise we have the powers that be telling us about this guy from their own perspective/agenda, which may or may not be the whole truth.”
To Smith, Ardern and other leaders are sending confusing messages.
“She’s already said there was no Christian foundation in this nation, which is rubbish … there she is wearing the [hijab] and expecting everyone to bow to Allah. What are we expected to do?”
Smith notes that many Christians posted the national anthem after March 15.
“It’s very timely – God defend New Zealand. We don’t want more of this stuff.
“We don’t want Muslims hurting people – they’re not doing it in this nation – we don’t want white supremacists doing it either, we don’t want anyone doing it.
“So God defend New Zealand – it was a written as a prayer, I think it’s a fantastic anthem.”
* This story is the second in a four-part series examining the reaction of the Christian community to the terror attack at two Christchurch mosques on March 15. Other stories in the series include reports on: members of the South West Baptist Church in Christchurch, who helped victims of the mosque attacks; an Auckland suburb where the two religions live side by side; a retired minister who has spent much of his life fostering Christian-Muslim relations
This week John Black is volunteering at a leper colony in East Africa. His place is taken by a well-known television reporter…
THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT BROWN SUPREMACY IN NEW ZEALAND
A brave expose by a very brave and important reporter.
Being a fearless reporter that is also brave, when the boss asked me to investigate brown supremacy in New Zealand I knew things could get rough. What I didn’t realize was how rough. What I uncovered almost made me soil my Barker’s Menswear suit (the Hampton charcoal with waistcoat). Yes, this investigation was to take a serious personal toll.
I would even have to leave the office.
True, it was only to get a soy latte, but I needed it to stay awake while I surfed the internet all night.
That’s where I started. The internet. I hadn’t really been a fan previously. I mainly used it to order handmade Italian ties and book Austrian skiing holidays. But I thought I knew its dangers. Once when the wife was away I got lonely, locked my bedroom door and spent three hours googling myself.
I felt ashamed after. Only three measly hits.
But now I looked into the internet more, I was shocked. Did you know that you can pretty much say anything on the internet? Including terrible, terrible things like ‘Gas the Jews’ and ‘I don’t like Jacinda Ardern’.
I was shocked.
My fearless investigation into brown supremacy started on YouTube. I found grainy footage of a Mr Dun Mihaka exposing his buttocks to royalty back in 1983. I was shocked. So shocked I spilt my soy latte all over my Gucci loafers (the tan ones with off-white soles). Here was a man motivated by the sick ideology of brown supremacy. He certainly wasn’t motivated by the superiority of his buttocks, which were rather flabby. I had to look into this further.
I joined a Facebook group called ‘Kohitanga Aotearoa’ posing as ‘Hone Jones’. Discussions by the members of this group centred on how they as ancestors of the original brown inhabitants of this country deserve special rights. Based on their genetics they claimed ownership of land and natural resources. Some even wanted their own legal system. One guy called ‘Harawira298’ claimed he wouldn’t let his daughter date a white guy.
Pure brown supremacy.
It took a while, but I began to understand their code words.
‘Chur Bro’ meant ‘screw whitey’. ‘Honour the Treaty’ meant ‘screw whitey’ and ‘Hey cuz any sticky buds? I’m all out’ was either a drug reference or meant ‘screw whitey’, I wasn’t sure.
I decided I needed to consult an expert. Professor T. Spoon at Massey University is the country’s foremost expert on racism. After twenty years of study, he’s concluded it’s not a good thing.
‘In some ways this country was founded on brown supremacy’ he explained. ‘Look at our founding document – the Treaty of Waitangi – it entrenches brown privilege.’ ‘We still live with the repercussions today’, he went on, ‘look at the All Blacks, the national team of our national sport. It’s a team disproportionately dominated by brown skinned people’. I paused and loosened my tie (a silk Armani, cornflower blue). I was feeling shocked. I asked about the brown supremacist movement.
‘Oh, brown supremacists are everywhere,’ he told me ‘They could be your next door neighbour, your yoga instructor or even your cat’. This was insane, I thought. Fluffy was white.
‘Most obviously the gangs’, he continued. ‘Black power, Mongrel Mob etc., they are open brown supremacists’.
My investigative reporter nose started twitching. I formulated a plan. I would bravely go undercover in one of these gangs to bravely expose their menace to society. I might need a few hours in a tanning salon first but no sacrifice is too big when you are seeking the truth. Professor Spoon offered to connect me with some contacts he had in the Mongrel Mob that very evening. Then I remembered it was my wife’s book club evening and it was my turn to make the cheese and onion dip. ‘What about tomorrow?’ Professor Spoon, asked helpfully. But that was my Pilates class.
It was impossible.
I put down the phone and started thinking. My brother-in-law’s hairdresser was beaten up by a Samoan. At school a Maori kid called Hemi used to steal my play-lunch. Logically this means that brown supremacy must be everywhere. Embedded deep within New Zealand society like Christianity and marmite. I promised myself I would bravely continue my brave fight to expose brown supremacy in New Zealand.
I am not generally a bacon person… often the taste can be a bit strong for me, and generally, I try to avoid it. However, I wanted the steak pack, and the best one of those included bacon. There was no getting away from it.
(I just want you to know at this point that Nige was horrified that I said I didn’t like bacon. I lost ALL my brownie points because of it.)
However, when the pack arrived, I decided to give the bacon a go. And wow. Just wow.
Tasty, succulent, no water pouring out of it, it was absolutely delicious. It was the way bacon used to be. And, honestly, it was the way that bacon should be.
I have completely changed my mind about bacon, but forget the stuff you get in the supermarket. I have learnt, to my great cost, that you cannot compromise on quality. This is the best bacon I’ve ever had.
Christie
Whale Meat Company customer photo
There was half a packet of Whale Meat bacon in the ‘carbonara’
I think it is in the public interest to highlight the risks of this highly addictive substance.
(I have to say that the bacon was very much better than the crap that you get from supermarkets these days, no ‘juice’ at all when it was diced up for the carbonara – I even had to add a bit of fat to the pan).
Wally Betts’ Sock
Did you know that our bacon is a health food? (As if you needed an excuse!)
Many Whale Meat Company customers have had their lives changed forever as they have tried Whale Meat bacon and found that they could never go back to the soupy, tasteless offerings that proliferate in the supermarket chillers.
Bacon is your healthful breakfast food.
There is no sugar in Whale Meat Bacon and here are 5 other healthy reasons to make Whale Meat Bacon part of your diet:
Healthy Nutrients In Bacon
Bacon has healthy nutrients that make it a useful part of a healthy diet. Bacon contains thiamin, vitamin B12, zinc and selenium, which are all vital nutrients the body does not naturally produce.
The B vitamins are a necessary part of fighting anaemia and maintaining high energy levels throughout the day. Since bacon contains natural B vitamins, it is healthy for the body.
Zinc and selenium are vital antioxidants that are necessary for immune health. Bacon is useful in fighting health problems because it contains healthy antioxidants.
Fat in Bacon
Bacon does contain fat, which resulted in the concerns to personal health. While bacon has some fat, it does not contain the most harmful form of fat. According to the website FillYourPlate.org, bacon does not have any trans fats. The most harmful form of fat is trans fats, which are created fats designed for preservation.
Bacon does contain fat, but the amount is exaggerated.
The low fat content when compared to the amount of nutritional value is surprising. Bacon has the highest protein to fat content of any meat, which makes it a great option when following a high protein diet or after exercise.
Improved Mood
Bacon is surprisingly nutritious and good for mental health. Bacon is a natural mood enhancer that helps encourage positive mental states. According to Visual.ly, the umami in bacon is an addictive substance that has a neurological impact on the brain.
Since stress is a serious complication to physical and mental health, it is important to take measures to control the harmful emotional state. While several other options are available to reduce stress, many solutions take time. When time is short, grabbing a piece of bacon can help enhance mood and reduce stress levels within a short period of time.
Protection To The Heart
A surprising fact is that bacon is healthy for the heart. Bacon contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are the same nutrients found in fish. The healthy benefits of omega fatty acids are the reduced cholesterol and improved overall health in the heart.
Reduced Rates Of Brain-Related Illnesses
The health of the brain is vital for the entire body.
Choline in bacon is not only useful for the heart. Choline is a necessary component for the health of the brain.
A diet that contains choline on a regular basis will show reduced rates of memory loss over time. It is used in treatment for mental impairments, including Alzheimer?s Disease and similar dementia diseases. Studies have shown that choline improves memory, intelligence testing and reduces the speed of damage to the brain from dementia.
Bacon is not bad for the body or health. Since the meat contains a high level of nutrients, it is a useful addition to any diet. The key to eating bacon and gaining health benefits is keeping the portions to reasonable sizes. When eaten in proper portion sizes, the amount of salt and fat is a negligible concern and the health benefits will outweigh the possible downsides associated with the meat.
Trade Me has recently started selling T-shirts with the message – “It’s OK to be white” on them. Trade Me are not selling them themselves, of course. A local seller is making the T-shirts available on Trade Me, and apparently they are selling like hot cakes.
Enter the New Zealand Human Rights Commission. Yes, that’s right. quote.
The New Zealand Human Rights Commission says that the message “it’s okay to be white” has “no place” in the country.
The ‘controversy’ began when “it’s okay to be white” t-shirts and stickers were sold on a New Zealand auction site called Trade Me.
“Wear this shirt as a white person to troll your local Communists, or wear this shirt as a brown person to troll stuck-up middle-class urbanites. Either way it’s funny!” read the description to the products.
The Human Rights Commission said they don’t see the funny side and that the message “it’s okay to be white” has “no place” in New Zealand because it conveys “a message of intolerance, racism and division”. end quote.
But… a T-shirt saying – “It’s OK to be black” would be perfectly OK, wouldn’t it? quote.
To its credit, the Trade Me website refused to pull the items, saying the slogan didn’t break its rules.
“While we know there is some debate about this slogan we don’t think these items cross that line,” said head of trust and safety, George Hiotakis.
Good on Trade Me for trying to stand up to the rabble, but we all know this is going to end badly for them. Once the hysterical lefties start their screeching from high places, Trade Me will be forced to back down. Just watch.
Personally, I think it is perfectly okay to be white, and many people are exactly that. Many people are not, and that is okay too. What is not okay is that, in this world of racial division, some people feel that it needs to be said.
What is even worse is that it is not okay to say it.
Oh dear, oh dear! Ardern did not know the difference between GDP and the Crown financial accounts and now the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson has displayed his ignorance about GDP for all to see. Quote.
Hon Paul Goldsmith: To the nearest billion dollars, what is an additional 1 percent GDP growth worth to New Zealand?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I believe it’s about $800 million.
Hon Paul Goldsmith: $800 million?
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: About that.
Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he think that the people of New Zealand would expect their Minister of Finance to know that 1 percent of GDP is about $3 billion and that’s the amount of money that we’ve missed out on given the sharp decline in growth in the past year? End quote.
To quickly estimate one percent of a number, divide by 100. This can be easily achieved by moving the decimal point two places to the left. So 1% of, say, 293 would be 2.93. Or 3 to the nearest whole number.
See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?
Back to the question in the house, “To the nearest billion dollars what is 1% of GDP?” And Robertson did not know!
If 1% of GDP was $800 million, the question was, “To the nearest billion” so Robertson should have answered, “One.” So Robertson failed English comprehension as well as finance.
The Minister of Finance, responsible for allocating the expenditure has no idea of the size of the New Zealand economy, he was out by a factor of nearly four. He thinks the New Zealand economy is a quarter of the size it actually is.
That is an F for Fail – Roberston. Well played Mr Goldmith, well played!
Disclaimer: I haven’t watched Newshub’s “Because It Matters” show, as no one bothered to recommend it to me. I have, however, read a few articles on it and watched a few short related interviews. My interest in this series is due to Paddy wanting to interview me for it (don’t laugh too hard), and you can read about that in an article I wrote last week. Newshub also contacted other conservatives about being interviewed for what they claimed was a little series on “right-wing views”.
The main exposé seems to be aimed at one notorious neo-Nazi Phil Arps. This is a bit short of the rampant white supremacy we were promised, but supposedly it’s just an appetiser. (Let’s hope they didn’t lead with their best, else this series will be a snooze.) Arps is quite a disturbed individual who left a pig’s head at a mosque several years ago and likes to talk about killing Jews and Muslims.
In an interview, Patrick Gower is almost reduced to tears when explaining how Arps only got an $800 fine for this and gloated about it on video. He complains there aren’t harsh penalties and special “hate crimes” for scum like Arps. I hate to break it to you Paddy, but the New Zealand legal system (it would be a crime to refer to it as “justice”) is a joke across the board. Criminals can get home detention for bloody murder. We’ve got rapists and paedophiles walking our streets. How often have you cried about that?
Patrick Gower isn’t too worried about the state of the ex-justice system, he’s just worried that his political enemies might not get the jail time he wants for them.
This is where we come to the main problem with Newshub’s series: it’s not about journalism, it’s just political activism designed to push for changes to our laws.
It appears they haven’t even done much original research either. A third-party group of soy-latte sipping social justice warriors called Paparoa has done all the groundwork. They have a special website with a secret list of all the white supremacists out there. Good on them, I’d say, but there is a catch. There always is.
This Marxist group has an agenda. They’re not just after white supremacists and neo-Nazis, they’re also looking to bump off some of their conservative opponents and any other figures who might be critical of Islam. Would you be surprised to read that I’m on their list of “the organised far right in New Zealand“? I’m flattered, but it does call into question the validity of their lists and entire programme. What else might they be lying about? They’ve made it a useless resource by mixing in their prejudices against myself and others with, what I assume to be, profiles of actual white supremacists. That’s the problem, once you know they’re willing to lie about me then without external knowledge you can’t know if anything else they’ve written is true.
Even my good friend Elliot Ikilei gets an honourable mention on their list, although in a slightly bigoted fashion—they think he’s too dumb to figure out all of his friends are apparently white nationalists. The bonus there is that they appear to be very worried about the potential of the New Conservative Party.
Let’s get back to the docu-drama series from Newshub. The same crowd that won’t be reporting accurately on the Tarrant trial is giving kids a tutorial on how to access white supremacist material online. They’ve gone from “we won’t show or promote white supremacist material” to “here’s how to access a global network of white supremacy with a few clicks” in the space of around one week. Did they run into some sudden cash flow problems? Oh, wait, what’s this?
There appear to be some market forces at work. After Tarrant, the media has realised that such stories sell very well indeed. It’s clear that the demand for white supremacy is outweighing the supply. Like all good manufacturers, when the demand outweighs the supply, they just make more. This used to be an overseas phenomenon most recently perfectly exemplified in the case of African-American actor Jussie Smollett claiming to be the victim of a hate crime. It was a hoax. It turned out that he had to hire two Nigerians to pretend to be white supremacists and assault him. It’s the only recorded case of an American ever scamming Nigerians.
Even when Newshub is doing something good, like showing the despicable Phil Arps delivering a pig’s head to a mosque, they follow it up with a bunch of groveling apologies about how hard it was to show. It’s a bit of a mess, and quite sad to see former journalist turn into melting snowflakes, or at the very least, presume their audience is filled with snowflakes and kids needing tutorials on how to join the chan network. Thrown into that mix is Patrick Gower demanding a rematch with some Canadians who got the best of him in an “interview”.
This brings us to the crux of the matter: Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux broke Patrick Gower. It’s been nearly a year since they graced our shores, but their ghosts still haunt the halls of Newshub HQ.
You can see where this is all going. Paddy has recast Southern and Molyneux as “white supremacists” and tied them into the Christchurch terrorist attacks. As I’ve documented elsewhere, he’s not the first to try that, but he has ramped the drama up a few notches. You know who’s next in their sights? Anyone who supports either of them or might agree with some of their views. (That’s you, dear reader.)
If Paddy has been on all the chatrooms and forums, then why doesn’t he know what bone fide white supremacists think about Lauren Southern? Even I get the occasional little picture posted of me with “Jew” written over it in red. (I’m not Jewish, but thanks for asking.) I’ve never visited the chan network, but based on the comments they leave on her YouTube channel, I’d assume it gets a lot worse down there in the dark corners of the net.
Paddy’s not genuinely after exposing white supremacy, it would be commendable if he were, but he’s just trying to make more of it in a desperate attempt to keep Newshub relevant. In the crazy Marxist world that seems to be collapsing around them, anyone who isn’t one of them is deemed “far right” and put into the same basket.
We shall see if journalism decides to make a comeback, but until then the partisan activists masquerading as journalists can keep wondering why we don’t want to talk to them. Why would we waste our time when the end product will be fake news regardless of what we say or don’t say?
They really are the enemy of the people and the enemy of the truth.
The Government is also funding the continued roll out of the NCEA Online programme so students can opt to sit their exams using a PC or laptop.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF
The Government is also funding the continued roll out of the NCEA Online programme so students can opt to sit their exams using a PC or laptop.
“This reflects the way students already interact with the world and how they are doing much of their learning, and it helps to prepare them for their next steps after school,” Hipkins said.
The removal of fees was one of a number of improvements to the NCEA announced today.
It follows a year-long review which 16,000 New Zealanders took part in.
“These improvements are a major step towards making the respected and valued NCEA more relevant for students.”
The changes addressed issues which had build up over time, Hipkins said.
“Over-assessment has been swamping students and teachers and getting in the way of actual learning, and the current reality is that some students can finish school with gaps in their knowledge and skills.
“Some young people don’t cover all the learning that is important and there has not been a strong enough focus on literacy and numeracy.”
The changes would make NCEA more credible and robust, he said.
“Considering that only around a third of Year 13 school leavers go into degree-level study, it is vital we do more to prepare all students for successful transitions into vocational training, work, or further studies.”
Teachers would get more time to teach, he said.
“[It’s] a shift away from fragmented, small assessments towards larger, more unified blocks of learning and assessment.”
Improving support for students to undertake NCEA through Māori-medium education was “long overdue”, he said.
“The default choice that many whanau face is to revert to English-medium schooling at secondary level.
“The Government has already announced more investment to recruit and train teachers fluent in Te reo Māori.”
National Party education spokeswoman Nikki Kaye said there was still a lot of detail to be worked out, but they generally supported the move to scrap the fees.
“The scrapping of fees will reduce barriers to NCEA and will see more young people have their qualifications recognised.”
There were too many standards, creating large workloads for teachers and students, she said.
“We believe it is important to ensure that changes trade a little bit of NCEA’s vast flexibility for fewer, bigger standards that equip young people with the essential knowledge and concepts from each subject area.”
The strengthening of numeracy and literacy would make a huge difference in the lives of young people, she said.
“We know that nationally, expectations can and should be higher, and that schools and students will rise to the challenge.”
National has previously raised concerns about the risk of NCEA Level 1 being scrapped. “We are pleased it will remain an option for schools.”
The Ministry of Education will work with stakeholders to confirm the detailed design and implementation plan by the end of the year, with implementation expected over four years starting in 2020.
Among the dead: 22 young boys and girls that were to receive their First Holy Communion on Easter Sunday. They would have been prepared for receiving this sacrament for the first time for months and would have been looking forward to this.
It was not churches and hotels that were killed, Ms May. It was not Easter worshippers that were slain, Obama and Clinton. It was tourists and Christians. These are not hard words and they are not too difficult to pronounce. They have been in the English lexicon for a few years now so most people understand their meaning.
So it is refreshing to see a Muslim condemning the gutless media over their aversion to using the C word. Perhaps we should ask Marama to reclaim it for us? Quote.
The mainstream media’s aversion to mentioning Christians when reporting on the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday massacre that killed 321 is “unacceptable” and “very troubling,” a Muslim scholar told Fox News.
Dr. Qanta Ahmed, the author of “In the Land of the Invisible Women,” told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday morning it’s an “afterthought” for the media that provides “a very troubling lack of context.”
During Monday’s nightly network news coverage of the Sri Lanka Islamic terror attack, there was hardly any mention of “Christian,” “Christians,” or “Christianity.” ABC World News Tonight didn’t mention them a single time, and CBS Evening News and NBC Night News mentioned the term once. That was it.
“This was an assault on Christians, not only in Sri Lanka but all over the world,” Ahmed said.
“It was marked during the holiest day of the Holy Week, Easter, and some of the attacks went off during the thanksgiving service themselves,” Ahmed said. “There is a general reluctance to examine Christian persecution globally. In Asia, one in three Christians is subject to extreme persecution. More Christians are persecuted in more countries than any other group in the world. 144 countries now persecute Christians. A decade ago, it was 107, and now Asia is the site of tremendous Christian persecution.”
The Muslim scholar points out that extreme Muslims see Judeo-Christianity as a conspiracy against Islam, which she calls a “falsehood” because the Virgin Mary and Jesus are a part of Islam, too.
“We believe in Jesus and his message. We have to accept the gospel,” Ahmed said. “That is anathema to radical Islamists, and not talking about the persecution of Christians in this attack or in Asia, in general, is unacceptable.”
A Washington Post headline read, “Christianity under attack? Sri Lanka church bombings stoke far-right anger in the West.”
Ahmed responded: “I’m sure that’s what Islamists would like to do, but every decent person of whatever faith, is abhorring this attack. We saw the kind of innocent people who were lost in worship but understand the magnitude. This attack was six times greater than Christchurch, where my co-religionists – Muslims – were killed. Fifty nine [sic] Muslims were killed in New Zealand. This is 310 people passed away, possibly more coming, yet the magnitude of that assault is not reflected in the global media and saying so does not stoke any anger, that is an admission of honesty.” […] E
