That depends on the owner's age and definition of sexual activity. A penis has two main functions, and the frequency of these varies over its lifespan.
Printable View
For me a woman is someone who can have babies = biology, scientific fact.
And that is what Posie Parker is saying “Why should I be ‘cancelled’ for arguing that biological sex is real?”
My understanding is that Posie Parker is a woman, and not trans, and she is an anti-transgender rights activist.
I agree with her and JK Rowling and Richard Dawkins who says “Science. There are two sexes. You can talk about gender, if you wish. That’s a subjective—I’m not interested in that. As a biologist, there are two sexes and that’s all there is to it. … Sex really is binary.”
https://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/richard-dawkins-biologist-there-are-two-sexes-and-thats-all-there-it
Gender is a cultural construction. There are societal rules such as if you are a woman you wear dresses, make-up etc. If you are a man you play rugby, drink beer, etc. And those rules about gender identity are a barrier to equality. And that is what feminists have been fighting for years. We should all be identified primarily as human beings, and in some circumstances sexual differences are relevant. Gender is the problem because it focuses on differences between male and female, and there are double standards for men and women.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/jk-rowling-confronted-critics-past-trans-comments
Rowling on the accusation that she believes trans women are "second-class women" because of their biological differences and that they're "not quite" women. Can you understand the pain that that could cause?" Phelps-Roper asked.
"Yes is the short answer. Yes, I could understand that hurt," Rowling said.
…. many people of my generation particularly think that we're talking about old school transsexuals, people who've been through full sex reassignment because of profound gender dysphoria, and I feel 100% compassion for such people and I would absolutely respect their pronouns — always have, always will — and would want, as I say, to have comfortable, easy lives.
This [new] movement, though, is pressing for something different, very different. This movement has argued, continues to argue, that a man may have had no surgery whatsoever but if he feels himself to be a woman, the door of every woman's bathroom, changing room, rape center should be open to him. And I say no. I'm afraid I say no."
I have been following Richard Dawkins with admiration for more than 40 years, but in this instance he is simply wrong.
Sex is not always binary. Its complicated. Even if we regard sex purely as a chromosomal matter, there used to be at least four known possibilities (there are probably more now). Then each of the chromosomal possibilities can be affected by gradations in terms of the production of a range of hormones. That says nothing about orientation - a whole different topic again.
That's sex. But gender is even more complicated, because it is a social construct - hugely affected by personal history and the social climate.
We have certainly become very aware of the whole range of "Rainbow issues" over the last 10-20 years. I think that is a good thing. But "Transgender" has been sucessfully weaponised by the right. I think thatis a shame and has added to the sum total of human misery.
Thank you moka. I wonder why all the Posey Parker critics/Michael Wood supporters couldn't say the same? Not one of them would front on a definition.
I do take issue with gender being completely a social construct. Societal norms accentuate natural traits. Traits natural to male and female have been documented in the psychological science for decades (as well as being inherently understood by the populace).
What the gender activists have done is seperate gender from sex. French and other languages have used gender to show a masculine and a feminine and I believe this is the activists leaping point.
People with gender dysphoria have in recent years been encouraged in their delusion by the psychology profession, which is a scandal that is coming back to bite them. This encouragement has led many physically healthy people to mutilate their bodies with hormones and surgeries. The lawsuits are stacking up in the UK and the US.
Becoming clearer by the day that the 'most transparent' government ever is anything but!
The stench of COVERUP is over-powering except for the kissers of Marama Davidson's culturally brown backside.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...-picks-up-pace
Nash’s office and the staff from the prime minister’s office discussed the OIA request three times in July, and then decided later that month that the email – along with other emails to donors – “were out of scope” of the request because Nash wasn’t writing in his capacity as a minister but as an MP.
“How does Stuart Nash, backbench Labour MP, happen to have information Stuart Nash, government minister, has about discussions in Cabinet,” Treadwell said.
However, this was despite the content of the email relating entirely to his work as a minister, and detailing information he gleaned from Cabinet meetings – which only ministers attend.
Andrew Ecclestone, a Victoria University researcher, said senior Beehive staffers should know what a Cabinet breach looks like.
“It does raise questions about training on propriety and ethics,” said the senior associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. “You don't get to be a senior adviser on OIA requests unless you are pretty experienced.”
How is it legal for Labour PM to have government pay for advertisement about increasing benefits during election year? I keep getting Hipkins ugly mug on Youtube, telling me how amazing he is for wasting more taxpayer money to fix cost of living crisis they caused.
Some big blurring of the lines here .
Another good example of this was Julie Anne Genter writing to the Wellington Mayor on Ministerial letter head and refusing to release the contents.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/po...port-minister/
Becoming very very clear that Guarav Sharma’s accusation that Labour MPs were being carefully coached and briefed on how to avoid the requirements of the OIA is bang on and true :
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political...nformation-act
Your post makes no sense to me in the context of the discussion. Dawkins claimed "As a biologist, there are two sexes and that’s all there is to it. … Sex really is binary.”
My post explained why he is wrong. There are more than two sexes chromosomally, and even more than that developmentally, anatomically, and hormonally.
If there were only two sexes, your "binary" claim would stand. As there are more than two, it doesn't.
Dawkins is arguably still the world's greatest evolutionary biologist, but over the last 20 years he has increasingly ventured into other areas in which he is sometimes wrong. This is one of them.
Then why do the trans brigade demand to be acknowledged as women? Dawkins is correct. Men cannot be women and vice versa. What you are describing is people who have come to be known as intersex. Not a third sex. This is a very small minority and is the "i" in the alphabet soup. They don't identify as trans.
It appears the political commentariat are united on the Labour stench of corruption. From Bryce Edwards who quotes sundry others in agreement. Do I see Cinders overseas posting going up in smoke?
Political Roundup: The Astonishing Government suppression of Nash’s email
It’s truly astonishing the way that the Government has been able to suppress evidence of business donors gaining special access to Cabinet information.
Now that Stuart Nash has been fired from Cabinet for leaking sensitive information to individuals who funded his election campaign, the focus has shifted to why this information was kept from the public back in 2021. It turns out that the Prime Minister’s Office knew Nash had given privileged information to donors. Furthermore, the PM’s Office played a central role in preventing that information from being released to a journalist who specifically asked for it, and should have received it, under the provision of the Official Information Act.
The Nash scandal is now far wider than the ex-minister, and there are fundamental questions about the role of the Government in allegedly covering up the misuse of public office for vested interests. Labour politicians are calling the suppression of official information a “stuff up” due to “human error” in the PM’s Office, while the National Opposition is calling it a “conspiracy”, and demanding an inquiry into what looks like “corruption”.
The Facts of how unlawful political-donor communications were suppressed
Sometimes the details of scandals involving breaches of ethics and integrity can become mired in overly complicated minutiae and competing allegations. Therefore, it’s worth outlining the astonishing facts about what has happened in the Nash scandal:
Two businessmen gave donations to Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash to help his election campaign
Nash subsequently sent an email to those donors detailing Cabinet inside information, breaking Cabinet rules
A journalist then requested copies of any emails between Nash and the donors and, under the Official Information Act, he was legally entitled to receive these
Nash’s office decided to withhold the email to the donors based on the incorrect notion that they weren’t legally required to relinquish it. They deemed that the Cabinet information was sent by the Minister in his capacity as a local MP
In declining to release the Nash email, Nash’s office checked three times with the staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, including Jacinda Ardern’s deputy Chief of Staff
Ardern’s staff agreed with Nash’s staff about withholding the email, and say they didn’t inform either the Prime Minister or the Chief of Staff about the existence of Nash’s email or the decision not to release it to the media
“Disturbing, staggering, mysterious, outrageous”
The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan has labelled the latest revelations about the suppression of official information as “disturbing”, and says National’s allegations of a coverup are “staggering”. He explains that the Government successfully withheld the Nash email on the (incorrect) grounds “the email was written in Nash’s capacity as a Labour MP, rather than as a minister – and the OIA only applies to ministerial material.” He points out that the Government isn’t disputing that this decision was incorrect.
So why did the information get wrongly suppressed? Labour is claiming it was “human error” by staff in the two ministerial offices, and presumably Nash himself. Labour has pointed to the Beehive staff being overworked and not having enough resources to deal properly with OIA requests from journalists. Covid has even been offered as an excuse.
Many others don’t accept that it was an oversight. For example, Coughlan isn’t quite buying the line from the PM’s Office that it was a mistake, saying today: “it’s very hard to believe that not one of the multiple staff who saw and handled the damning email on multiple occasions ever once understood that it needed to be released”. He says that if the genuine explanation is one of “incompetence” at the top of the Beehive, then this is also “staggering”.
The other explanation is even more disturbing – that the Labour Government deliberately conspired to cover up the violation of Cabinet rules and what might look like a “cash for Cabinet access” fundraising scenario.
National deputy leader Nicola Willis made the coverup allegation yesterday in Parliament. Willis accused Labour of a “conspiracy between a minister’s office and the Prime Minister’s Office to decide to hide information from the New Zealand public”.
Most commentators seem to be incredulous that the senior staffers in the PM’s Office regarded it as unnecessary to raise with their boss that a journalist’s request for information about political donations had produced an email from Stuart Nash to two of his donors providing sensitive Cabinet information.
Likely that the PM’s Office wanted to prevent a scandal
It’s hard not to conclude that the staffers saw Nash’s email and the journalist’s request for it and realised an enormous scandal would occur if it was released. Quite simply the OIA request and what it uncovered was clearly explosive. And this led to numerous discussions about political management – the email was referred three times to the PM’s Office, in this sense receiving the serious attention it deserved. It certainly wasn’t a case that the Nash email simply fell through the cracks unnoticed.
The staffers who dealt with the Nash email were very senior, which means that they are very unlikely to have missed the significance of the issues at hand. One expert on the OIA, Greg Treadwell from AUT, is quoted today saying “You don't get to be a senior adviser on OIA requests unless you are pretty experienced.”
It was Ardern’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Holly Donald, who was ultimately responsible for the decision not to allow the Nash email to be released to the media. She was also in the news in August last year when rebel Labour MP Gaurav Sharma alleged that the PM’s Office was coaching MPs about how to get around the OIA.
According to Sharma, Donald was the person who led a Beehive coaching panel to help MPs understand the OIA and how to stay within the boundaries of the law in their communications and release of information. Donald’s expertise in navigating the OIA means it’s unlikely she made a “human error” in suppressing the Nash email.
In order to believe that Ardern’s Deputy Chief of Staff didn’t understand the problematic nature of the Nash email and the ramifications of releasing it to a journalist investigating political donations, you would have to believe that she was incompetent. If she decided not to elevate the email to her boss, then she would have been in clear dereliction of her duty.
Of course, it is possible that Donald did in fact elevate the issue to either Ardern or the Chief of Staff, and the public isn’t being told of this. Alternatively, Donald was fully aware of the need to keep the Nash email from her superiors, so that there was plausible deniability for the Government.
Does the Beehive have a culture of suppressing public information?
The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire has also expressed shock at the latest revelations about the deliberate suppression of the Nash email – saying it is “is mysterious – or, to put it another way, outrageous” and what has occurred is “an act of dissembling at best, straight out deceit at worst.”
Manhire believes that National’s application of the term “cover-up” now has merit, and the scandal should call into question whether the public can trust that the OIA isn’t being seriously abused by the Government: “just how often are OIA requests unscrupulously denied, stonewalled, ruled out of scope, for sheer, naked, political expediency? How often is official information withheld in defiance of the law, in affront to public scrutiny?”
Similarly, Thomas Coughlan writes today that the latest revelation “leaves the Government facing unsettling questions about probity: How many information requests have seen information withheld that should have been released? And worse still: Whether this was by accident or whether the Government has a broader culture problem around the release of official information.”
Official Information Act abuse and reform
The Official Information Act is meant to allow the public to be informed about what goes on at the highest levels of decision-making in New Zealand. It’s intended to create open government. And yet this latest scandal has come out due to the official information being leaked.
There will now be increased calls for reform of the OIA. Writing today for Newsroom, Marc Daalder says “These systemic flaws in the official information system mean we still have no idea how common it is to improperly withhold information as Nash may have done”. Due to the OIA’s weaknesses, Daalder says “It's much harder to tell how common breaches like Nash's are, by virtue of the secrecy”.
Confidence in the Ombudsman’s office in dealing with abuses of the OIA will also take a big hit from this scandal. The Ombudsman is supposed to be the watchdog on misuse of the OIA, but in this case appears to have allowed the misuse to occur, even after a complaint was made by the journalist involved. It now appears that the Beehive was easily able to fob off the Ombudsman’s office with weak justifications for suppressing the Nash email, and at this stage, it appears that the Ombudsman didn’t even insist on seeing the full Nash email before making a decision not to investigate.
The Ombudsman’s Office has indicated that they are now reviewing the case. Their office needs to take strong action to uncover how such a serious breach of the OIA has occurred, and how their own office became party to this.
An inquiry should occur. And as National-aligned political commentator David Farrar says, “we need a full inquiry into this led by a QC with powers to compel testimony and potential perjury charges for anyone who gives false testimony.”
Leftwing blogger No Right Turn is also incensed by what has occurred, arguing “it’s clear that the announced review into what else Nash might have corruptly disclosed isn't enough; we also need a full investigation into Labour's handling of OIA requests. And if this government won't do it, I'd hope the next one will.”
The blogger says: “the PM's staff's willingness to overlook this calls every OIA judgement they have ever made into question, and suggests they are systematically illegally withholding information on political grounds.”
He raises the question of whether the OIA now needs to include criminal penalties which could apply for deliberate non-compliance. The blogger explains: “this is a perfect example of why the OIA needs criminal penalties for deliberate violations. Canada does this, with the Access to Information Act having a penalty of two years imprisonment for those who, with intent to frustrate a request, conceal, falsify or destroy records. We should do the same, to deter such behaviour and enable public servants to stand up to illegal demands from their political masters.”
It's also worth mentioning that Chris Hipkins was in charge of open government when these OIA breaches occurred. He has also admitted that the legislation needs “more teeth”. The Government had previously promised to undertake a review of how to strengthen the OIA, but this has been continuously delayed.
Today, Toby Mahire appeals to Prime Minister Hipkins to add OIA reform back into the Government’s urgent reform agenda, and explains why: “What often looks like an esoteric subject of interest to few has suddenly emerged as emblematic of something much bigger, going to the heart of the probity, integrity and basic honesty of government.”
Problems for the Prime Minister
In dealing with the burgeoning scandal, the Labour Government’s new strategy is to blame everything on Stuart Nash. He certainly deserves blame for his involvement in it all. But he’s also now being used as a convenient fall guy for what seems like unethical behaviour in other parts of the Beehive.
It’s not clear that this strategy of blaming Nash for it all will wash. For instance, broadcaster Tova O'Brien responded to these events yesterday, saying “Something is very rotten. And just because Hipkins has cut out the source of the rot, I’m not feeling particularly assured that the government’s going to get to the bottom of how deep that rot goes.”
She also says that the public shouldn’t allow the Prime Minister to hide behind the fact that he’s launched an investigation. Hipkins has been refusing to answer questions about the scandal on the basis that he will “await the outcome of that review before making any further decisions or comment on it”. Commenting on this, O’Brien says it’s “beyond appalling that the PM is using that as a smokescreen to hide behind and avoid accountability now.”
Increasingly political commentators and journalists are using words like “stench” and “rottenness” in regard to the Government’s Nash email scandal. Hipkins will be forced to take the issue much more seriously than he has been if he’s to avoid his reputation being tarnished and his government associated with the smell of corruption.
[QUOTE=dobby41;997970]Maybe this should have its' own thread rather than filling this one with off-topic stuff.]
I agree. And the thread could be called Transphobia
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transphobia
That's because you don't understand whan Binary means. The extra sexes you're talking about are just a combination of the 2 basic sexes, therefore binary.
Take it this way, computers only work in binary code, but can count into almost infinity. It's because by combining 0 and 1, we can achieve any number under binary system.
Because it's very much on topic. Michael Wood denounced a women's rights activist as having "vile and incorrect views". No one amongst the usual Labour supporter suspects have been willing to explain what was vile and incorrect about them. No one apart from moka was prepared to define a woman. They all ran a mile.
Emperor's New Clothes playing out in front of our eyes. Many of us don't buy into the identity/gender politics/victim posers. Labour, along with the Greens, clearly does. Long may it haunt them. As if they haven't got enough stench to deal with in the PM's office!
The SMELL of CORRUPTION
In dealing with the burgeoning scandal, the Labour Government’s new strategy is to blame everything on Stuart Nash. He certainly deserves blame for his involvement in it all. But he’s also now being used as a convenient fall guy for what seems like unethical behaviour in other parts of the Beehive.
It’s not clear that this strategy of blaming Nash for it all will wash. For instance, broadcaster Tova O'Brien responded to these events yesterday, saying “Something is very rotten. And just because Hipkins has cut out the source of the rot, I’m not feeling particularly assured that the government’s going to get to the bottom of how deep that rot goes.”
She also says that the public shouldn’t allow the Prime Minister to hide behind the fact that he’s launched an investigation. Hipkins has been refusing to answer questions about the scandal on the basis that he will “await the outcome of that review before making any further decisions or comment on it”. Commenting on this, O’Brien says it’s “beyond appalling that the PM is using that as a smokescreen to hide behind and avoid accountability now.”
Increasingly political commentators and journalists are using words like “stench” and “rottenness” in regard to the Government’s Nash email scandal. Hipkins will be forced to take the issue much more seriously than he has been if he’s to avoid his reputation being tarnished and his government associated with the smell of corruption.
A very uncomfortable Michael Wood as Erica Stanford focused on the cover up in the PMO over Stuart Nash’s email :
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8pUd4Yg/
Where is Clueless Cindy? Most transparent government ever!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...OGDVIMRGEL5YQ/
Thirsty Work: Three Waters consultant and contractor spend gushes past $50 million
(Premium)
$50 Million so far ******* up against the Wall by the Clueless Labour crew on something the majority
didn't want ;)
Where is that walking precious art piece and relic from the past all would like seen gone - Mahuta hiding now ? ;)
(The same Mahuta who couldn't even get her legislation correct without need for wheelbarrows more amendments to fix up the errors in the very next session)
No wonder the cost of consultants etc is going off the graph when the calibre of the talent residing in Wellington doing the steering in Parliament is seen for what it is :)
Comrade Cinders burning ambition to get an international job must be extinguished by now.
Anyone who appoints her to a high level job should be fired.
It's been out of the frying vat and into the fire for Cinders.
Back to the local chippie for you Cinders.
2F 1C
Business looks like it is doing real well under the current Govt:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kools-...NMBIETTCBSSIU/
Kool’s Chicken and Gracias Tex-Mex closing their doors for good
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/teenag...KBREWU5I6GWYU/
Teenage girls smash 19 vehicles at Whangārei car dealership
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/armed-...NDGY2IKSLJ6Y4/
Armed supermarket robbery: Thirteen-year-old among youths arrested
Labour’s solution on the way :
Just reduce the standard so they can all pass.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/...cea-test-rates
A related article. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...tudents-report
"Some teachers and principals are worried the tests will be too difficult for some students and Māori and Pacific students will be particularly disadvantaged."
Does the test somehow know the particular race of the student? This sort of stuff makes me incredibly angry. Perhaps their solution will be to lower the passing grade for just Maori and Pacific students.
I think you've misunderstood. The NCEA tests are designed to test Reading, Writing & Maths levels, not fluency & familiarity with digital devices.
Since the tests are online & often require repeated scrolling up & down from question to answer, students who haven't had access to digital devices, who are suddenly presented with a test on a desktop, PDA or Tablet or iPad, are seriously disadvantaged & their results may not be a true indication of their reading writing or maths level.
There's plenty of adults who if they use macOS and then asked to do something on Windows, struggle with the alternative operating system, so imagine a year 10 student who has had little access to a digital device suddenly presented with a test on one. These students may do better with pen & paper.
It was an independent report so its silly to blame the govt & no need to get incredibly angry.
They just want a clear picture of these specific levels & there should/could be a seperate test for digital literacy.
Incidentally, despite the catastrophising of our education system, NZ is ahead of countries like Australia, UK & US in either writing or reading, and the US & UK have the top universities in the world.
Always aim for improvement but there's so much hyperbole in some quarters, we lose perspective.
What annoyed me about the article was the suggestion that Maori and Pacific students were somehow more disadvantaged than others. People who grow up in a low socioeconomic environment are disadvantaged, its correlation v causation.
I fully agree that students should be given the option to sit the test using pen and paper.
Anyone have an opinion on, or able to explain the reasoning behind Maori able to change back and forth between General and Maori electoral rolls?
Are there any clowns out there who intend to do the census but haven’t done it yet? If not, why not? Took about 5 minutes to complete. Sick of the deluge of TV ads begging people to ‘do the census’. It’s like the ‘car safety rating’ ads (“your neck will be snappy snap, stop talking, no more chatterbox”) that seem to have been running for about 10 years now. How many ‘one star rated’ cars are currently being sold in NZ?! How much money is being wasted on this type of garbage?
This made me laugh. I actually grew up without computer and managed to learn how to use it in school in couple months. There's so much access to computers and digital devices for example in schools or libraries that your comment must be a satire. Do you actually think in year 2023 you'd find a kid that has problem scrolling? My guess is if you go to decile 10 school, you won't find a single kid that doesn't know how to use computer, tablet and phone.
Oh it's extremely disappointing to read posts like this.
There are many kids in South Auckland for example where there is 1 digital device, maybe a tablet (& maybe its broken) for a family of 4 or 5 kids to share. Guess who gets the tablet for most of the night, - the eldest who may have left school, meaning the younger ones miss out.
There are hundreds of families in Northland, Tairāwhiti, etc where children have extremely limited access to good digital devices, even good internet.
Andrea Vance calling a spade a spade. Labour's "grubby irony".
"This was an administration obsessed with keeping an iron grip on the control of information, despite farting out promises to be the most open, honest, and transparent in history."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/1316...t-nash-scandal
Maybe Andrea's been reading sharetrader!
That makes absolutely no difference to what I said, there will not be a single year 10 student that would fail, because they're not able to effectively use the computer.
I find this an interesting insight into your mind and frankly find it racist that you say kids of minority groups from South Auckland are not capable of using digital devices to the point their inability to scroll and click on checkboxes contributes to them failing tests.
Clueless Cindy’s soul mate, Finland’s PM, voted out.
Must admit Cindy is very smart about one thing and one thing only - self preservation.
She jumped before she got booted out.
Useless and fallen woman.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe...tight-election
Not a squeak from Labour and NZ First to questions about anti-corruption measures :
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8sk4ynr/
Very telling!
Hipkins and the Labour Party along with their spin artists are trying to make fools of NZers with their 'cock-up' explanation for Stuart Nash's email cover-up. Fortunately, their deceitful behaviour has been uncovered along with their arrogance.
" Only the hopelessly jejune can take this explanation at face value.
It relies on the assumption that Stuart Nash’s ministerial advisors and two of Jacinda Ardern’s staffers could not recognise a very blatant breach of cabinet confidentiality.
Nor could they properly classify a document and apply freedom of information laws, even under the looming threat of an investigation by official information guardian, the chief Ombudsman.
(The email was withheld for being “out of scope” – Nash arguing it was sent in his capacity as an MP, which is not covered by official information rules, even though it explicitly discussed information he held as a minister).
Implausibly, none of this was picked up during at least three separate conversations between the prime minister’s office, Nash’s office and the Ombudsman?
Lastly, we would have to believe that two experienced aides at the heart of government could not spot a glaring political risk."
jejune - naive, simplistic and superficial
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/c...pg?format=300w
Vances writings will make the labour shills on sharetrader apoplectic.
Previously I have classed her as an ardern sycophant. Maybe she is further proof that wise people gravitate to the conservative spectrum as they get older.
Unlike dobby, bs, panda and tim.23 et al.
Our PM struggles when asked the most basic question. What is a woman? Says he hadn't come prepared for that question.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/amLibEgaqSs
This is what happens when you give into the lie of gender ideology. He literally doesn't know whether he's Arthur or Martha.
Emperor's New Clothes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...g-his-messages
Stuart Nash to leave at election, Cabinet secretary reviewing his messages
To borrow the very convenient quote by Mikhail Podolyak:
“The spiders are eating each other in a jar,”
;)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui...DYTWFEL4J6B3Y/
National Party candidate for Whanganui Carl Bates starts petition demanding a greater local voice in UCOL’s future
The start of unravelling of this Govt's "Puke Up" of a shambles that now is the Country's Tertiary Education sector ? ;)
Familiarity with technology is related more to poverty. NZ is an unequal society. Lockdown exposed more starkly the uneven access to computers and tablets. Pupils who have access at home to their own computer and tablet, will obviously likely be more adept at using them. In addition, pupils who arrive at school after having slept in a warm and dry bedroom, and after a hearty and nutritious breakfast, will likely be able to learn more effectively.
I grew up in the same situation, so it really irritates me when people think poor people are dumb to not know how to scroll or check a box to push their virtue signaling. Literally skills you can learn in 5 minutes and any year 10 kid wiill posses them. Having done a fair bit of digital tests, the skills required are so basic, I'm convinced this is not impairing any able minded child in finishing the test. I'd even say let them use paper, because I'm convinced the test would finish with the same result.
If you guys want to feel better about "helping poor minorities", why don't you guys donate couple computers to schools. Surely you can spare couple hundred dollars from your portfolios to purchase some old office computers.
This is a full on case of failing education blaming their failure on something else.
"The Four Yorkshiremen" argument?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEIApUNVBKg
You are right though there many factors, other than access to technology, relating to poverty which could impact scholastic achievement.
Peetter, calm down.
Hurling insults, accusing people of racism & making wild assumptions accusing people of thinking "poor people are dumb" are not on, and what would you know about other posters engagement with the countries education providers.
Admirable you've managed to overcome challenges, but too often people fall into the trap of saying if I can pull myself up then everyone can.
That's just not reflected in the data we're seeing.
Data collected in recent years show in Decile 1-3 schools, 47% said more than half students lacked a device at home, & 23% said fewer than half had home internet access.
During the pandemic with schools switching to online teaching for extended periods, internet access has been critical.
There's also examples of Secondary school students not asking their schools for Ministry funded devices for a whole range of reasons, including being worried younger siblings would damage the devices with some schools charging a $100 bond, others due to embarrassment for having to ask, while a student on a scholarship to a private school was too worried about how their device would look compared to all the wealthy private school kids having the latest MacBook.
1 in 6 of the countries poorest schools found less than a quarter of the students had access to internet at home.
Chorus did a survey finding 40% of homes in Muripara don't have access to home internet.
Grandparents who were looking after school age kids after school saying they don't have either a digital device or internet.
I could go on, but hope this might modify your thoughts on this issue.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-...5JATBHZMCW2QU/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/school...EQINUTDH5MQ5M/
Think about this for one minute :
$56m down the drain on the bridge to nowhere.
Say $1,000 per laptop so that’s 56,000 laptops which could have been made available to underprivileged students.
$58.9m down the drain so far on the Auckland light rail to oblivion.
That’s another 58,900 laptops which could make a huge difference (if the Labourite posters are to be believed).
Where is this Labour government’s priority?
Again not a single of those statistics you provided actually mentions year 10 students are unable to effectively use a computer (scrolling and clicking) to the point of causing failures on tests.
And yes, you associating this with minority groups in South Auckland and Northland is racist in nature. If this doesn't indicate you think the kids are literally stupid, I don't know what does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Skies
Here's another question for all those Labourites who ran from answering "What is a woman?". Especially now that our PM doesn't know whether he's Arthur or Martha.
If it is offensive for white folks to put on black face and a woolly wig and ham it up as a black person (and I agree it is), why is it OK, and even to be encouraged, for men to trowel on makeup, over the top wigs and fake breasts and ham it up as women? Even flaunting themselves to little children. Why is that not deemed offensive? As gender appropriation or mocking?
To put it in simple terms (because I suspect I have to), why is a drag queen OK when black face or golliwogs are not?
Women's Rights are challenged by this. The militant trans activists are trying to make trans entry into the opposite sex's facilities and sports compulsorily available. Which was Posey Parker's point if anyone had bothered to listen. Why are women's rights suddenly disposable for those who have gender dysphoria?
People like you and our PM haven't thought this through. Hipkins' bumbling answer to "What is a woman?" was toe curling. You could see he wanted to tell the truth but is too scared of the trans cancel culture mob. He clearly has the spine of a jelly fish.
The Emperor's new clothes. The truth is staring you in the face. You just have to have the spine to declare it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/acts-d...BTBJYP6IBA2GI/
Act’s David Seymour calls Ardern ‘too dumb’ to be part of a global conspiracy
;)Quote:
He made the comments on a podcast with Max Key last month while speaking about Covid-19 conspiracy theories.
Seymour assured people Ardern couldn’t have been part of one because she was “too dumb” and would “screw it up”.
It must be the weaving and confused Hippocritter's turn for some red hot poker waving next week :)
“It’s a tough job and it’s tougher for Jacinda as a young woman to do the job! “ Hipkins
No, Hipkins - it’s because she is a useless and clueless woman.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8sVqqXq/
The arrogance of this useless and incompetent Labour government is beyond contempt.
Here we have the Minister of Justice, Kiri Allan, mouthing off and criticising RNZ because her partner did not get the job she coveted.
She obviously thinks that her partner must get the job as she is Maori and these days, being Maori is the most important criteria.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/kiri-a...OJBC4SIBTPTNU/
“Allan took aim at RNZ’s treatment of Māori reporters and urged the public broadcaster to have a look at its culture”.
Allan told the Herald that, while she does not have ministerial responsibility for media and broadcasting, she sincerely apologised “if any of my comments or reflections said at Māni’s farewell made any person feel uncomfortable”.
“On reflection, I also accept that it could have been interpreted as me telling RNZ how to manage their staff or company. That was not my intent and it is certainly not my job.”
More colour on the Kiri Allan saga:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...well-from-rnz/
Bloody disgraceful.
Yep .. she's there in Parliament to do a job
The fine line of self interest has been crossed
Some might say the same line that MAHUTA may or may not have crossed
with contracts etc for the whanau
Will Hipkins have the balls to send ALLAN packing by lunchtime tomorrow
seeing as the Media are hot onto this sort of transgression or would that leave
one too many empty deckchairs ? :)
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...cents-in-july/
How's the Cost of Living going of recent days .. a bit of an extra handout helping ? .. make the most of it :)
Brace yourselves - this is on the horizon:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...cents-in-july/
AA warns Kiwis petrol prices likely to go up by 40 cents in July
The Spotlight wont be too far away from the very thing he doesn't want illuminated in floodlights
and which could blow things completely out of the water, if it hasn't already ;)
It must be Willy Wonka's turn next to make a complete @%s4 of himself .. he really wouldn't want
to be seen to be missing out on the action or seeing some limelight ..
Corrected stats from Te Whatu Ora show worsening wait times for surgeries.
Legacy of Clueless & Useless Cindy - and now, being made worse by Hipkins and the new minister of healthless mess.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/surger...BEZEIMLPKNWAY/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...CLSQPM66Z4NRI/
Grant Robertson seeking ETS advice, as tumbling carbon price lowers cost of pollution
Oh look the retreating price of carbon has woken up another sleeping giant ;)
To be perfectly honest it was probably a fabricated load of BS anyway and now everyone has much
more urgent and productive things to do as your hobby horse economic mess starts imploding
and limping faster than Trevor (the clueless)'s lame leg towards full blown recession ..
It's okay Robbo - everyone knows your lot have blown it badly and everything is well on the way
towards turning to cr@p under your management .. no Einstein help needed to see that :)
How's the wider Support package promised coming along for all those Cyclone affected businesses - Robbo
or perhaps all disappearing carbon vapor promises you didn't really mean to make.. before losing your
keys to the side door at Adrian Orr-Some's large money vault ? ;)
Chamber of Commerce Offices are running very low of funds and have more claims than they can eat in the next five years .. ;)
Better get off the fat useless perch - Grant and do something, otherwise everyone will be wanting to forget your name well before this side of the election :)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...OABMWP5DIRHLM/
Fresh from b*&&ering up the Health System and now onto the next disaster
National and Act want audit of communist security cameras on ‘sensitive’ buildings
Anyone recognise the critter with the beard in the photo ?
Here is what he has to say on Security Cameras:
Quote:
Intelligence Agencies Minister Andrew Little says he is unlikely to do an audit of Government buildings that have controversial Chinese security cameras installed, despite many like-minded countries like Australia and the UK dumping the cameras from public infrastructure.
Little said a full audit would be “unlikely - because there could be any number of cameras”.
Sounds like a pathetic cop out in any number of eyes
As for an Audit - sure that's not too difficult .. ? ;)
How did the audit at the bottom of Pike River Mine go ? ;)
Another too difficult job ? ;)
How many audits of the needs of front lines in our hospitals were done or are another
10 layers of middle manager brass (who likely have run away already) needed to
even start that mission ? :)
but alas did that all become yet another too difficult job as well ? ;)
People are probably keeling over and suffering dearly while the chapters of Beehive BS get
spun out, ignored and minimalised, but does that really matter to those who would rather
hide away in the beehive with the frequent breaks in Bellamy's on the Taxpayer's ticket,
as if nothing is happening or important in the world on the outside ? ;)
then obviously the health portfolio got ripped out of one lot of hands and tossed at another
to pick up the pieces .. ;)
all very convenient isn't it ? ;)
when does the little stint producing little leading into retirement finally come to the close, when
all will finally get to see the back end of such an amazing performer disappearing into the distance ? ;)
Clueless and useless Cindy - a phenomena for sure but hopeless in running a government
and
in the end, she blazed, crashed and burned.
And NZers is paying the price and will continue to pay for decades to come for her incompetence and BS.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8GetpvX/
And lest we forget what this Labour government is all about :
"Jacinda Ardern gives her valedictory statement to Parliament today.
She came in with great promises.
Her Government would be kind, open and transparent, the housing crisis would be fixed, climate change solved in “her generation’s nuclear-free moment”, and child poverty dealt with.
Sadly, none of her promises came true.
Some of them now seem ironic. “The most open and transparent Government” is a joke after the past week. "
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/c...pg?format=500w
And besides being useless and clueless, Cindy is ungrateful and ungracious - did not even mention the man who chose and made her to be PM.
Something to do with her stabbing him in the back?
Showing her true colours.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...r-final-speech
I've just seen a recording of this week's Fair Go.
A couple of wheel chair people having issues with accessing Eden Park, and concerts at normal prices.
Who can believe this is an issue in 2023?
What has the Ministry of Disabilities achieved in the last 2 terms?
Are you there Poto?
Please update us on what your Ministry is costing us, and what, if anything you have done, that would not of otherwise happened anyway?
You were not mentioned in Cinders feel good valedictory speech?
Sharma!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...OCS3UKQJHDOMI/
Scarbro Construction liquidation: $39m, 89-unit Kāinga Ora projects left in the lurch
Things going well in Housing Sector as all can see ;)
Laughing stock of the world - woke PM does not know what is a woman!
Enjoy!
https://www.gbnews.com/politics/jaci...zealand-latest
More importantly - if you are disabled and need to access hospital services - you have little chance of finding a mobility car space near to a hospital entrance. Hospital car park owners have no motivation in policing car spaces to ensure those without a mobility permit are towed from disabled parks. As long as they get their expensive fees, they earn profits.
Mobility car space enforcement is a joke in general too.
Not sure we really want to go here but...the Chipster doesn't need to undergo a cut and tuck. In his fantasy world people can define their own gender. If the Chipster wanted to, he could declare himself a woman and go up against Marama for leader of the Greens alongside James Shaw. I wonder how welcoming the alphabet soupers in the Greens would be?
Hipkins and that dreaded word ‘woman’ …. the embarrassment/gift which keeps giving to all who are objective and comfortable with who they are.
‘Woman’ - the scariest word to the wokesters in the government and specifically, the Labour Party & ‘Spread your legs’ Hipkins!
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/0...at-a-woman-is/
“So, is Hipkins a coward, or is he a card-carrying subscriber to gender ideology? Either way, his ridiculous comments don’t bode well for women’s rights in New Zealand.”