Angry Tūī

Warning: Some images may be disturbing. Also, this is a personal rant so please ignore this newsletter if personal notes aren’t of interest. Thanks for your patience.

I’m pretty angry today.

Yesterday, I was told that I had a “political agenda” when making comments in a political discussion, and it floored me for a minute.

Do I have strong opinions after studying this government for over 18 months?

Absolutely. I do!

And I’ve never been shy or reticent in sharing it.

Who I am and what I do has always been obvious, consistent, true to myself, and my analysis.

The only reason I usually take so much time to structure and research topics is to help others see and review matters for themselves - and to point out things that might be missed, yet could impact our country deeply.

I do it because I care.

The other thing people miss is everything is political - everything that affects us originated in politics from workplace culture to who gets the pay rise, to development approvals, to the price we pay for power, to the quality and motivation of the our teachers, to whether you can get a good GP or not.

You see, I’m someone who’s not as interested when fate is sealed, when the meal is cooked, so to speak.

On the day, Donald J Trump won his second Presidency, I wrote on this Substack that America had become a fascist state on that day.

And everything that has happened since - while hurtful - is no surprise to many of us1

The time to fight is before the inevitable, before our energy prices spike again, before the next calamity, before the health system is destroyed, before our water assets are sold off to Saudia Arabia, before we get dominated by another aspiring Fox media.

That’s why I do it.

The other thing I’m angry about is the state of media.

I highly rate Newsroom and NZ Geo. I am grateful RNZ and TVNZ exist, or we would know much less, and I think there are amazing independent journalists around, many whom I recommend from my Substack2 but then I look around and also see dereliction -

BBC drops Gaza medics documentary over impartiality concerns

“The BBC has scrapped plans to show a documentary about medics in Gaza after concluding it “risked creating a perception of partiality” over the corporation’s coverage of the conflict.”

Here is a media platform with a responsibility for proper journalism yet recoils from its responsibilities because it wants to protect itself and its self-image. And probable political pressure.

The coverage on Iran also shows how propaganda is deeply embedded in Western media.

A few days ago, Iran told the US it sought to talk and hold negotiations as Donald Trump teased the bombings.

Even Trump admitted it, telling media:

“They [Iran] want to talk”

Yet after the US launched missiles, most outlets repeat US propaganda that all Trump wants is negotiations.

Excuse me?!

This action by the nucleur power USA, to aid and abet another nuclear power (Israel), in attacking a country which has willingly submitted to international nuclear inspections for decades - and which even US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said has not escalated or advanced those plans - is mindblowing idiocy.

Who else would ever put down their nuclear weapons or advancement under international law again?

Look at what they do to you when you comply.

(Ukraine also learned this lesson after it abandoned its plans when the USA and NATO promised they would protect Ukraine if it did)

Last week, Israel launched separate airstrikes on a refugee camp and another encampment, killing at least 26 people. In another incident the same week week, medics said at least 59 people were killed by Israeli tank fire near a World Food Program site.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident and regretted “any harm to uninvolved individuals”.

What?!

These are innocents - most of them are.

Dereliction of duty is dereliction of responsibility for caring about this world and others - especially those that cannot help themselves, and especially if it fundamentally weakens and harms the public good, and puts us on a negative trajectory.

People like me share information only because I care - not for any other reason in the world - and if that’s a devious political agenda, I’m all for it.

Thanks for reading my rant - I will be back to my regularly programmed schedule soon.

Cheers,

Tūī

Post Script

If you haven’t seen already, Melanie has another great interview - this time, with Sir Geoffrey Palmer who says ACT’s dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill is “unworkable, unconstitional and unacceptable”. In it, constitutional law expert and former NZ PM Palmer notes that it’s like “nothing I’ve seen before” - a fourth attempt by the former Business Roundtable / NZ Initiative to squirm their way into making NZ a dysfunctinal, libertarian hellscape.

Dr Ganesh Nana and NZ Council of Civil Liberties also have amazing and cogent submissions.

Looks like I wasn’t off the mark when my instinct told me last year that ACT’s dangerous RSB was “one law / one ring to rule them all”

Thanks for participating.

Post publication update: This article explains what this post was inspired by