Posts by Neil
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It’s a sad irony that just as the harm reduction approach is about to gain critical mass a new set of drugs comes along to complicate things.
Harm reduction was based on the fact that drugs in themselves were essentially harmless - at least for all except a very small number.
But the new drugs are actually harmful. P and synthetics are poisons destroying lives. It’s not a moral panic.
The hope is that decriminalising the more traditional drugs will result in displacing the new poisons but it could be the genie can’t be put back. It may also take firm disincentives to manufacture and supply, ie long prison time, that haven’t til now been part of the harm reduction paradigm.
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I think Jones is a bit jealous that Mark is getting all the free flights.
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Once the PM has finished cleaning up after male NZF MPs she might have the time to deal with these issues.
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Hard News: Trump 2018, in reply to Prudence,
I’ve seen similar claims that there is no moderate Palestinian opposition to Israeli occupation.
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One the common smear tactics used against Hillary Clinton was blasting the internet with out of context photos of her at a social event with someone unpleasant.
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Hard News: Trump 2018, in reply to Bart Janssen,
I sure as hell can’t guess what he’d do.
There’s still some checks and balances though - lots of golf courses in South Korea Trump won’t want obliterated.
He comes across more venal than psychopathic but the risk of disaster via misadventure looks high.
I think a big danger is Iran going the way of Syria with the US incapacitated by Trump.
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Russsian State propaganda is doing its best to discredit the current opposition protests in Iran. Their line is much the same as what was used in Syria - there is no moderate opposition and it’s all instigated by the US.
They would, and did, say much the same if Obama was in office but Trump really has squandered a great deal of moral authority making such allegations harder to counter. Tragically it will most likely be non-Americans that pay the highest price for his narcissism.
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Hard News: Trump 2018, in reply to Russell C,
What struck me was the speed and manner with which the Putin propaganda machine reacted to this. Feeding directly into the alt world memes of how it’s all really the fault of liberals. They clearly keep a close watch on that sector of US political opinion and play into with considerable skill.
RT backing up the nonsense of
The irony of Bannon’s newfound acceptance by Russia-obsessed liberals is not lost on all commentators.
with two tweets from Greenwald is classic.
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You’re missing the most important aspect of the story - how this reflects so badly on Trump’s liberal opponents.
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Foreign investment is one of the main drivers of the current boom in Auckland apartment construction which has made things a lot easier financially for first home buyers.
That foreign investment has helped create the social environment where apartment living is seen as good lifestyle choice and has also driven a review of body corporate management – something badly needed as NZers do not have an extensive history of being a part of that management and there are lots of pitfalls for the unwary.
Labour and NZF chose to tell a story of foreigners and speculators stealing our homes when reality is far more complicated. There are indeed problems with the building industry and blaming others is the last thing a responsible government should be doing. It was after all kiwis that created the leaky building debacle (more accurately the compliance debacle) – the full consequences of which we have as yet only seen a glimpse.