Ake (not a kererū .... yet)

A National/ACT/NZ First politician/voter
#nzpol

A black and rainbow chainmail bracelet on my wrist

My stunning chainmail bracelet from @verbscape.bsky.social arrived today 🥰🏳️‍🌈 I don't buy or wear a lot of jewellery but I can see this being on heavy rotation

The centre left base is significantly supported by women and political parties should be heavily rewarding that - especially given the current political context

Let's see some absolutely overt pro-women policies to "energise the base" and force the government to respond (and lose even more ground)

'Act of racism': Education Ministry cans children's school book for too many Māori words "Our members see this move as an act of white supremacy. It's an act of racism," says Te Akatea, the Māori Principals' Association.

It uses too much of an official language, is a weird thing for the government to say, to put it mildly

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Do you dislike RFK, Jr as much as this goddess? You’ll likely enjoy Stephen Colbert’s no-fucks-left takedown. 😂

Peter Jackson is annoying to me because he has done several things that I love:
- Heavenly Creatures
- Forgotten Silver
- Get Back

and several things where I want to punch him in the nuts:
- TOO MUCH LOTR STUFF, thereby making the whole country a theme park
- fucking our labour laws

On the one hand, ACT regularly throws poo at the walls for attention.
OTOH The government does stuff like repeal the Therapeutic Goods Act.
OTOH getting rid of compatibility with Australia (via FSANZ) adds costs.
OTOH with the most profitable supermarkets in the world, the problem is not the regs.

Wellington mayoral hopeful Rob Goulden banned from Taxpayers' Union debates Rob Goulden was "disappointed" at his exclusion from a Victoria University mayoral event.

Someone needs to alert the Freeze Peach Onion to this on-campus act of censorship by a bunch of snowflakes who feel unsafe in the face of robust dialogue … why won’t VUW take action to make sure its student groups respect the values of free and open debate?

Tory Whanau on the phones at green office

I’m one of those millennials who hates talking on the phone… will literally stare at it until it goes to voicemail. But I loved chatting to people about the Māori Ward referendum.

There’s heaps of people who don’t realise there’s an election this year. We’ll need more volunteers soon. DM if keen.

So Ani O'Brien led the anti-Maori ward campaign for Jordan Williams / Hobsons Pledge then tried to steer people off course from her using a photo that was disallowed for ad/promotion purposes

#nzpol

Government to review product labelling regulations It aims to enticing new international retailers and lowering compliance costs.

as someone with a dairy allergy who has been hospitalised due to inadequate labelling, I for one am excited that our deputy dipshit wants to make product labelling far worse

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

People magazine headline reading: Baby Goose Abandoned by Its Parents Learns to Be a Tall Bird After Finding an 'Unexpected Family' with 3 Cranes

People magazine covering a story about a photographer (Alan Ginsberg) in Wisconsin spending the summer photographing a Sandhill Crane family that adopted a Canada Goose gosling is precious

but “learns to be a tall bird” is sending me haha

Generative AI by definition is conformity. It is an averaging of anything you ask of it - quite literally guessing what the most likely version of a thing might be. It is, by definition, mainstream, as is everything it creates old and deeply ideological, as every model trains on similar data.

Saying AI is “anti-establishment” is incredible, not only because it’s being bundled with major products now, but because generative AI is by definition formed from the aggregate of established works

"As teachers and researchers in the discipline of linguistics at La Trobe, we take a sceptical stance towards using Generative AI (GenAI); including Large Language Models (LLMs)..."

This is a far more considered and detailed response than certain other organisations' position statements lately. I

Extract from Wikipedia Article: Alan Brash died on 24 August 2002. The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa summed up the life of The Very Rev Alan Anderson Brash as follows: A concern for justice for all people; a conviction that the Church should never forget that it is called to serve the poor of the world; an unwavering commitment to pacifism and the search for peace; and a life-long commitment to ecumenism and the unity of the Church were the hallmarks of Alan Brash's life. He saw these as challenges that should confront all who confess to follow Jesus Christ and he was absolute and fearless in his resolve to walk in that way.[

Everytime I see chronic dufus Don Brash making a complete dick of himself with Hobson's Pledge I think of what his father, Alan, would have this total waste of energy.

A bit of NZ copyright law around commercial use of your image.

Complaining that our education system is "too flexible" while opening charter schools for "greater flexibility": make your minds up dickweeds #nzpol

Wellington signs friendly city agreement With Palestinian city of Ramallah Ramallah was a cultural and administrative centre for the Palestinian Authority, and home to about 85,000 people.

There are no words to describe the feeling I had as I met with Mayor Issa Kassis to sign a Friendly City Agreement. A moment I’ll never forget 🇵🇸

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

‘A cycleway barrier damaged by Tesla’ - some drivers fume at new barricades Separators are wrecking wheels, smashing undercarriages and creating chaos, say New Plymouth drivers

News story describes drivers navigating their cars into stationary objects, who then characterise this as suffering an attack on themselves. Are they OK in New Plymouth?

Nau mai, haramai! Come listen to me talk about what I’ve been up to the last few years 👩🏻‍🔬 Registration link below ⬇️

'Stressful': Auckland councillor hands over committee leadership amid safety concerns Josephine Bartley has also taken her name and image off her car for safety reasons.

And here we go again, dammit 🤬

I wish you all the best, Josephine, in whatever way you can continue your dedication and your hard work that benefits your community SO MUCH 🌸
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/safety-co... Safety concerns force Auckland councillor Josephine Bartley to decline leadership role

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"
- Albert Einstein
#Hiroshima #HiroshimaDay

Very thoughtful, well-informed and clearly motivated stance

Position Statement on Generative AI in teaching... Position Statement on Generative AI in teaching and research   The Linguistics Discipline in the Department of Languages and Cultures at La Trobe University have developed a discipline-specific posi...

The Linguistics Discipline at La Trobe University have developed a discipline-specific position statement on the role of generative AI in our classrooms.

www.superlinguo.com/post/7908973...

🌱 Spring seeds - Fundraiser for Gaza - Aotearoa 🌱 Get ready for spring sowing and support The Sameer Project <3 #nzgardens #mahimāra #mārakai

www.facebook.com/philip.wills...

‘Biggest change in 50 years’: Petrol tax to go, everyone to pay road user charges Transport Minister Chris Bishop has unveiled a shake-up to how roads are paid for.

So all that money that cities were bringing through petrol taxes to pay for roading improvements goes where?
To the back pockets of the Coalition Clowns, donors and oh my god I hate this fucking govt.
#nzpol
www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

It’s not just that unemployment is up 28% since the govt took office it’s that they engineered it! If you have the faintest clue about how the economy works you know that cutting public spending impacts the private sector immediately. The govt is the private sector’s BIGGEST customer.

‘A cycleway barrier damaged by Tesla’ - some drivers fume at new barricades Separators are wrecking wheels, smashing undercarriages and creating chaos, say New Plymouth drivers

It’s not the cycle lane’s fault you’re a shit driver www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

As with so many problems that our government is trying to "fix" by destroying public services, the answer at this moment isn't to change anything about the specific system

It's not an education crisis, it's a material conditions crisis that has impacts on education