Posts by Katita
-
Oh how I've missed you guys. I went for a walk today. I live on a massively busy T3 route. It's mostly empty apart from the odd goods truck. But we can hear tui and kereru flapping about now. I stopped at the dairy and bought an ice cream to take home to the kids as I came out a man was waiting patiently outside. One in one out. The postie had been and we'd had a covid-19 flyer delivered..when I'm not stressed out trying to figure out how my partner and I can both work from home and keep two littlies occupied, I have to pause and admire our government. This is scary as shit. But I'm so glad to be in NZ and not the UK, US or Oz.
-
Anti-vaxxer (or as I like to call them total fucktards)
-
I just finished reading Roger McNamee's Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe .
Some of it wasn't new news ... other parts were horrifying. Enough so that I've changed my FB and Google habits and used McNamee's excellent bibliography to create myself a very long reading list. I found McNamee's description of the evolution from Silicon Valley 'hippy' hackers (think Steve Jobs) to Libertarian (and NZ citizen Peter Theil) particularly chilling. No prizes for guessing where Topham Guerin fit on that continuum.
Thanks for writing about this Russell, if Jacinda and the Coalition govt decide to take on the tech monopolies as part of a global crackdown, then I think we're in for some interesting times indeed (provided we can unclog our newsfeeds long enough to find out about them). -
So what I've been thinking...
The gunman (*Voldemort) spent (according to some estimates) $50k on weapons and ammo. He lived in a paid-up flat. He had a paid in advance gym membership. He had travelled O/S extensively and for extended periods. He didn't seem to have a job.
Where did the money come from? If he acted alone on the day, was he self-funded? -
+1
-
Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Russell Brown,
the case of National's disappearing petition about the UN Global Migration Compact ...
One can only imagine the 'emotional junior staff member' is code for human being
-
Hard News: These things we must now change, in reply to Dennis Frank,
mentioned that he knew the name was wrong back when he first heard it. I had the same reaction at the time. It’s like glorifying war.
I don't follow rugby - I saw a clip of the pre-match entertainment for the first time as part of that story on TV. "Crusader" horsemen with swords riding around the field. My first thought was that they looked like Klansmen.
I made the mistake of finding the team's FB page only to read 100's of comments about how the name change was a disgrace, PC gone mad, they have 28 years proud history, what's next renaming 'Christ' church etc. etc. It made me wonder 1. how is it these fans don't see the connection and 2. Surely not all rugby fans this self-obsessed? -
I got increasingly angry with Paul Buchanan’s reckless commentary on the day of the attack
Me too. Most of what he said seemed inflammatory and the views of one old white guy. Thankfully other commentators like Robert Patman seemed more balanced.
What was better, was hearing the voices and seeing the faces of Muslim commentators like Guled Mire. But what struck me most was how we'd never head those voices on mainstream media before. -
Hard News: Just quietly, this is a big deal, in reply to BenWilson,
+1
-
As someone whose grandparents always lived in State Housing (and other extended family too) I've found the shift from an agency for social good to a government revenue stream (by way of dividend) completely unfathomable. And just like the private sector, you get the behaviours you incentivise. Suddenly we found ourselves in a position where beneficiary-bashing isn't just the norm. Removing due process and criminalisation of a whole underclass suddenly becomes acceptable too.
Thank you to all those in government, housing activism, science and journalism who not only saw something wrong but would not let this scandal lie.
BTW I heard Judith Collins interviewed this morning saying these 'criminals' should not get any form of compensation. Given the harm this saga has done to our most vulnerable families, I can only say there's a special place reserved for people like Judith and it aint with the angels.