Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

lieslm.bsky.social @lieslm.bsky.social · 19h

Halving our methane target? What do farmers think their children will inherit? Wealth? Useless if the planet is wrecked.

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Ed Hyde @edhyde.bsky.social · 21h

Generally mild-mannered @clrenney.bsky.social ripping the government a new one 🔥

Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 5d

#nzpol Sometimes a policy is so stupid it makes you question the very fabric of reality. Decisions so fabulously, almost wantonly dumb, you wonder if we actually live in a simulation. Welcome to the world of removing Jobseeker Support for 18 & 19-year-olds. craigrenney.substack.com/p/a-small-wr...

A small wrinkle in the Jobseeker policy

The government’s recent changes to benefits feel like this: the house is on fire, and this policy is them turning off the smoke alarm and saying it’s fixed

craigrenney.substack.com

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lieslm.bsky.social @lieslm.bsky.social · 19h

So if I put on a mask, a vest, wear black , carry a weapon openly and drive an SUV with no plates..... I could kidnap, capture, "disappear" people....... and be anyone. Wouldnt happen, would it?

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David Clegg @delphijunkie.bsky.social · 20h

It still saddens me to my core that so many of us are OK with asking the majority if the minority should have a voice. Talk about stacking the deck. #nzpol

Nandor Tanczos @nandortanczos.bsky.social · 20h

MĀORI WARDS
40% of areas chose to keep Māori wards. Some by a wide margin.

A better result than I expected, given the demographics and embedded racism in our country.

In areas that lost, I'd love to know whether the numbers have improved since any previous referendum.

Aotearoa on the move.

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Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 20h

I'm kind of at a loss for words. NZ's Stuff published a genocide denial piece on Gaza under the guise of an attack on Chloe Swarbrick. It's both intimate in its attacks and horrifying for what it represents...

#nzpol #stuff #gaza #auspol

Even on the UN definition, intention matters so the case becomes untenable in my opinion, but that isn’t important. Most of us don’t study the United Nations manual on crimes against humanity. We understand that genocide entails rounding up families, herding them into cattle carts before cramming them into a fake shower. We imagine mothers hugging their children as they choke to death on poison gas. On an industrial scale.

One word. Two very different meanings.

The Auckland Central MP’s choice of language warrants comment. Because she does understand the distinction. She is aware that, whatever Israel’s intent, there can be no comparison to what happened in Rwanda, Cambodia or Treblinka.

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Paul_BarlowNZ @paulbarlownz.bsky.social · 1d

Well fuck - Selwyn has elected a majority of Council with links to VFF, Act, and Trump fans. Maybe put that on the no fly list for the next three years

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Alan (not ekshully a B'Stard) @alans-world.bsky.social · 1d

#NZpol

ICYMI

"Waititi said the government and media had engaged in a "constant attack" on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, pointing to "14 inquiries in the last 18 months into Māori organisations".

"Not a single allegation was upheld... Where are the apologies? That silence speaks volumes."

Te Pāti Māori accuses government, media of 'constant attack' on Treaty of Waitangi

Co-leader Rawiri Waititi pointed the finger during a blistering speech in Parliament.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Paul_BarlowNZ @paulbarlownz.bsky.social · 1d

Ok after an afternoon of results, texts, calls, messages on other apps and emails, I have some thoughts on today’s Local Election results

1) Voter turnout is depressing. 32%ish on average across AoNZ is pathetic.
2) The Māori Wards referendum should never have happened - it was a racebaiting farce…

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Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 1d

Nicola Willis promised affordable tax cuts and zero borrowings - OR she would resign.

Instead, Willis borrowed $12,000 million i.e. $12 billion & has created another $8 billion hole in the budget. She's now down $20 billion and counting #nzpol #kiwi

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lieslm.bsky.social @lieslm.bsky.social · 1d

More worrying given the percentage of rate payers who voted.

lieslm.bsky.social @lieslm.bsky.social · 1d

Hmmm

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d

Reporting live from Chicago, there’s no “hellscape” I’d rather be in.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

HA! How much is Stephen Miller a propagandist? He’s saying the building in Chicago raided by DHS, where children were zip-tied and citizens dragged out, was “full of Tren de Aragua terrorists.”

Even DHS’s own account claims just TWO gang members total — and even that is a highly suspect claim!

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

Stephen Miller just said that Chicago ICE raid was one of the most successful law enforcement operations ever. I asked Pritzker to respond.

"If this was Pinochet’s Chile, if this was Argentina under authoritarian rule, maybe you’d call it successful," he said. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 2d

Judge Perry: “I’m trying to put this delicately. There has been evidence submitted that the very presence of federal agents, that the way they’re interacting with the populace, is itself the cause of violence.”

Judge blocks Trump from deploying troops in Illinois for now

Officials in Oregon and Illinois had challenged the Trump administration’s push to dispatch the National Guard in both states.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 2d

Betcha 20 bucks nine out of ten MAGA cultists don’t get this meme.

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 2d

Cartoon by @claytoonz.bsky.social.

#ICE

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 2d

NEWS: Trump accuses China of launching “hostile” export restrictions on rare earths and threatens massive new tariffs and financial countermeasures from the U.S. in response.

Markets quickly dropped after he made this post.

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 2d

It really feels like they’re trolling our autocrat.

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Huia Sue @huiasue.bsky.social · 2d

1. Anne Salmond: Hunger Games in the Beehive
Radical libertarian ideologies are generating extreme inequality and ripping the social fabric of NZ, writes Anne Salmond. Don’t we want to be a place where talent wants to live?
newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/04/a...

Anne Salmond: Hunger Games in the Beehive

Comment: Radical libertarian ideologies are generating extreme inequality and ripping the social fabric of NZ, writes Anne Salmond. Don’t we want to be a place where talent wants to live?

newsroom.co.nz

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

So I guess for MAGA when a Chinese balloon goes over US airspace it’s a week straight of apoplectic comments that WW3 is starting because Biden is weak, but when Trump allows the Qataris to have an airbase in the US and fly fighter jets over our country that is America First.

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Oli - ultracrepidarian @olimnz.bsky.social · 2d

I present to you, a New Zealand citizen.
#nzpol

Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 2d

Conservative tech lord Thiel said tighter financial regulations “were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.” Via WashPost

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Mask Up Comments and Opinions @commentsandopi2.bsky.social · 2d

This is where we will end up too, if we don't start dealing with the imported culture wars of the right wing more effectively.
#nzpol
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Byron C Clark @byroncclark.bsky.social · 2d

New Zealands most subscribed far-right YouTuber made multiple videos spreading hate and disinformation targeting Doyle, one was was watched nearly 4,000 times. It would not surprise me if one of the viewers was this man who threatened Doyle

share.google/6nXjhHy875sa...

Lee Williams and the problem of Stochastic Terrorism

What can be done about someone who doesn't directly call for violence, but spreads the kind of misinformation we know leads to violence?

share.google

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Hayley @writagal.bsky.social · 2d

“The committee reported back on Friday, recommending “by majority” that it be passed.”

As Emeritus professor Jane Kelsey says, “this has the potential to be our ideologically driven version of the Trump administration.”

The progression of the RSB needs more scrutiny than a Friday night news dump.

The Act leader's proposed legislation has been contentious for a list of reasons.

www.nzherald.co.nz

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Bee @dailybee.bsky.social · 2d

"Everyone has challenges" Paul Goldsmith says when asked about leaving young jobseekers with medical certificates with no safety net.

I'll add that line to the list of ways this government sounds like a invalidating and gaslighting abuser. #nzpol

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