Posts by Alfie
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
To be clear, the guy using the 14/88 symbology discussed above is the ChCh insulation man who was arrested later... not the shooter.
-
Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Dennis Frank,
"14.88 is a hate symbol popular with white extremists", but no explanation why.
It's not something I'd come across either, but apparently every nazi will recognise the symbolism. The Anti-Defamation League has a concise answer.
1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for the "14 Words" slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
The second is 88, which stands for "Heil Hitler" (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs.
As such, they are ubiquitous within the white supremacist movement - as graffiti, in graphics and tattoos, even in screen names and e-mail addresses, such as aryanprincess1488@hate.net. Some white supremacists will even price racist merchandise, such as t-shirts or compact discs, for $14.88.
Anyone who'd choose $14.88 per m2 as an integral part of his company's branding knew exactly what he was doing. Highly offensive... and proud of it.
-
Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Dennis Frank,
Also a link there to this similar prosecution...
Posting "target acquired" over a photo of the mosque in advance of the shooting suggests that case may be more sinister. I believe that person is still in custody.
-
Following an offensive Facebook post about the mosque shootings a 28 year old Masterton woman has been charged with inciting racial disharmony. Good.
One of the downsides of living in a tolerant society has been a reluctant tolerance of the racists openly living/posting/broadcasting in our midst. I truly hope that those days are almost over.
Given the grotesque evil which visited our country last week, if ever there was a time to declare our complete intolerance of racism and hate speech, that time is now. Let's make that New Zealand's new norm.
-
Back to the original Dirty Politics crew for a moment...
Cameron Slater has been left partially disabled following a stroke.
As you were.
-
Hard News: Cannabis reform is a serious…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I also hope that no one minds too much that I’ve uploaded a PDF of the editorial at the top of this comment
Quite the opposite, Russell. I went to the NZMA site yesterday and was disappointed to find the controversial editorial, which was being widely discussed in the media, was locked behind a subscriber-only firewall. Thanks for sharing.
-
Medicann, founded in March last year, has been placed into liquidation after investing $3m in the business.
Company chair and Tauranga GP Dr Franz Strydom describes competing factions within the business making his job difficult. There's also just a little whiff of possible fraud in the story.
Strydom said he had serious concerns about the high salaries some of the executives were giving themselves, particularly given that this came out of investor money.
He also said he had no say in the matter when some executives decided to give themselves increases.
He also said that he had referred the matter to the Financial Markets Authority to investigate the matter.
"I initially approached the Serious Fraud Office, but they told me that there wasn't enough money involved and that I should go to the FMA," Strydom says.
This gives Medicann the unenviable title of the first ever Kiwi cannabis firm to go bust.
-
"As high as 95% (THC)..." "deaths from cannabis..."
I'd have to say, Bob McCoskrie is still a fucking idiot.
-
Hard News: Let Canada do our cannabis homework, in reply to Dennis Frank,
It's worth noting that this paper was based on an evaluation of 16 previous studies, the quality of which was variable to say the least.
We rated the quality of the evidence from studies using four levels: very low, low, moderate, or high. Very low-quality evidence means that we are very uncertain about the results. High-quality evidence means that we are very confident in the results.
There was no high-quality evidence.
I'm sure the work was well-intentioned, however it appears that neither the source nor the strains of cannabis were taken into account. While some patients may have been using high-quality CBD strains, others could have been consuming rough as guts bush weed. This omission lacks scientific rigour.
And more importantly, the SMH report implies that the participants continued to use opiods throughout the process, concluding "It did not help them cut their opiod use at all." Is it even possible to assess the effectiveness of cannabis to treat pain when all of the subjects are simultaneously consuming other serious painkillers?
Recording degrees of pain (on a scale of one to ten) is always subjective but as it apparently increased for the majority of participants, you could just as easily hypothesise that this study proves opiods decrease in effectiveness over time.
For years, the illegality of cannabis has restricted scientific research into its healing properties. While high quality studies are undoubtably needed, this does not appear to be one of them. It's unfortunate that certain sections of the media feel empowered to draw their own conclusions because, well... clickbait.
Medicinal cannabis users of my acquaintance who use the drug as an alternative to opiods claim it's effective in pain management with far fewer side effects, if any. As a bonus they sleep better and are happier most of the time. Dennis is correct in saying that quality of life must be taken into account and should inform policy.
-
The Canadian system seems pretty chaotic at the moment, mainly because each state can decide its own laws. As Russell points out above, some states intend to allow users to grow their own modest crops, while other states will expressly forbid this. Some states encourage local businesses, while others have created a free-for-all where big money will be allowed to dominate the market, effectively knocking out existing, smaller producers.
While I welcome the possibility of seeing weed legalised in NZ in my lifetime, I'd hate to see either big tobacco or big pharma control the local industry. You just need to look at what's happening in Oregon to see how that might go.
As a better starting point for NZ, why not consider the Drug Foundation's draft policy, which appears to be based on a common sense, health-based approach to drugs.
As I recall the Drug Foundation supports the concept of small-scale growers all over the country, with centralised sales being restricted to a single government website. This would bring jobs to the regions, tax is calculated and collected at the point of sale and no corner dairies get robbed in the process.
I'm sure we'll be looking closely at the Canadian experience, but hopefully with enough nouse to keep it kiwi wherever possible.