Revisionist Media

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11820161

This article made my blood boil and the debate it started made me even angrier. People who didn’t agree to the free for beginners and highly subsidised swimming lesson for more advanced swimmers for woman, particularly Muslim woman, were accused of racism. There is no racism. Firstly, it is sexism to close the pool to males because woman are using it. Secondly, whilst this article didn’t say, the online debate forums revealed the the people who are paying for these free and subsidised private swim classes are Auckland City Council and Water Safety New Zealand – so I’m paying through my taxes and rates.

My children used to have swimming lessons each Saturday morning for half and hour. It was $16 per half hour. I stopped them swimming when it became $18 per half hour for the lesson. We do the school holiday program instead as that is cheaper at $85 per child for an hour and a half 5 days a week. I have four children. Putting all my children into swimming classes would cost me 18×4 = $72 for a half hour session, I’m soon to have another child, so when I have 5 kids I would be paying $90 per half hour session for each of my kids to attend a half hour swim class. The school holiday program is only for school aged children and is an hour and a half each child, they do a preschool class from age three, this is only for half an hour. So for me to put my three school aged children through the school holiday swimming program it is going to cost me 85×3 = $255. I will have one preschooler that is old enough for the half hour classes and these are $50. So for a week of school holiday swimming I would be spending $305. My children’s swim classes are not private lessons. The pool is closed in the mornings of the school holidays for lessons, but each lesson is in a lane of the pool and everyone has their designated areas and they are all swimming together.

How these free lessons for woman came about was because of the low number of Muslim woman learning to swim. The reason for the low number of Muslim woman learning to swim is they could not be around men in swimwear and being around men in general at a swimming pool complex made them feel uneasy. So for this reason Water Safety NZ and Auckland City Council decided to use the hard working tax payers taxes and rates to pay for them to get free and private lessons.

To those who call anyone against this racism, no one is saying that Muslim woman can’t use the pool, that would be discrimination. All those of us who are against this policy are saying is, that if Muslim woman want to use the pool and learn how to swim without men being around, then they have to pay the cost of hiring the whole pool complex for private hire and for the instructor. Why should anyone else pay for them to have these private and free classes? The way I see it people like my family are being discriminated against because for us to learn how to swim it costs a lot of money, yet I’m expected to pay for their private lessons. This is wrong. I know the church youth group also go to the swim complex for youth group activities, again, they pay the entry fee and share the pool with other pool users – seems like they are also the ones being discriminated, if anyone, on religious grounds because they are paying and sharing the pool, not Muslims getting free and private lessons that the rest of us pay for.

It is also poor economics, you aren’t going to get the best return out of these free lessons. My kids are learning to swim as New Zealand is surrounded by water. We will be taking them to the beach. We will be taking them on bushwalks where there are creeks, lakes, rivers. They will be going on school trips around water, either boats, pools or camps where kids do water slides, canoeing, kayaking. Some of their friends could have pools. I need my kids to be confident around water because my kids are going to be around water a lot and maybe exposed to it when I am not around – school trips, at their friends houses, so I need them to be confident enough to get to the side and get out without drowning should they fall in the water or be taken by a rip when at the beach.

Teaching Muslim woman, who wear headscarfs and dresses from head to toe, how to swim is not going to have the same pay off because they are not going to go swimming in the sea and be taken by a rip because men are around so they can’t wear their swimming attire. If they fall out of a boat they are not going to be able to swim if they fall in as the first thing you are taught when you learn about water safety is that your clothes make you heavy and you will sink, so kick off your shoes and take off your jeans, with all the layers of material they have on they will be held down and they likely wouldn’t take it off even if their lives depended on it. They are also not going to be going into water on school camps, as they are adults, and won’t decide to jump fully clothed into a pool at a friends house – this is the kind of thing kids do without thinking through the consequences. There is really no reason for them to learn to swim, other than swimming is a good sport to be involved in, fun and good for social reasons – but why am I paying for their hobby when I have to pay a fortune for swim classes for my kid’s safety?

One commenter on the Facebook thread I read through stated that no one kicks up a fuss when pregnant woman have their own swim class, disabled swim class, children’s swim classes and when the pool is closed for a private function – therefore anyone against this must be racist. NO! All these groups pay for their events. Pregnancy classes are expensive, I looked at doing them because when you are the size of a house walking is hard enough, your body aches and the buoyancy of water is excellent for pregnant woman not just for the exercise but to relieve their achy joints and to meet other woman who they have things in common with. I decided not to do pregnancy classes as I couldn’t justify the expense and the family budget was tight. They also don’t close the whole pool complex and make it a woman only night for these pregnant ladies. Despite you feeling like a beached whale whilst pregnant and really hating the way your body looks (well not all woman feel this way, but I know A LOT who do) they have to share the pool with others, either using the designated learning pool or one of the lanes in the large public pool. Same goes for kids classes, expensive and not stopping anyone else from swimming, they just take up their own space. The disabled pay too. Sometimes it is covered through ACC but a lot of them pay full cost despite the difficulties they often face to earn an income because of their disability. As for private parties, this particular swimming school that

As for private parties, this particular swimming school that these ‘woman only’ sessions take place has a separate ‘learn to swim’ pool and I imagine they book that pool, not the whole complex. I have a nearer swim school to me where there is one pool and they do close it for parties, but my friend gave her child a birthday party at the pool and it costs a lot of money. It is more profitable for the pool, given the numbers they have come in during the paid session times, to shut the pool for a party. I don’t see how you can compare the pool being closed due to woman who do not want to be around men getting free or highly subsided lessons to the other groups of people who are paying top dollar for a lot less.

I can’t find statistics on drownings in New Zealand based on religion. I found this http://www.watersafety.org.nz/assets/PDFs/Media-Releases/MEDIA-New-Zealand-Drowning-Statistics-2015-Summary.pdf which shows drowning statistics by race, but this isn’t particularly helpful. It says that more Asians drowned than any other race but Asians aren’t all Muslim but some Asians are Muslim so it doesn’t support or debunk whether Muslim woman are a higher risk of drowning than other groups. The second highest rate of drowning by race is Muslim and it is rare for Maori to be Muslim. As for the Asians, from what I have read in the papers at the time of some of these drownings, often they are tourists. Tourists do not understand the risks at the beach. Some of them have never been near the sea before. Many of them don’t know what a rip is. Plus they come from countries where they are not taught to swim, whereas most schools in New Zealand and Australia teach swimming because water is such a part of our upbringing. I had a friend who moved to New Zealand from Russia and she paid for her own swimming lessons because she wanted to be able to enjoy the beach and wanted to embrace the New Zealand way of life. She had the right attitude. If people move here they need to pay if they want to learn to swim. Most New Zealanders don’t learn to swim properly just at school, even though swim classes are available it is more water confidence than swimming. The kids don’t get the skills from school lessons if they found themselves in water that was over their heads, they are very basic classes so most parent who can afford it pay for lessons, many others would like to but it is a luxary they can not afford.

In conclusion, swimming is expensive which sucks. But if you want to learn to swim you have to pay. If you want to make sure your kids are safe in water, you have to pay, or you can teach your kids yourselves at the beaches, lakes, rivers – however currently there is regular occurrence of sewage run off into these places as the council have failed to deal with the increased population and instead of fixing this disgusting issue, they are paying for newcomers to get swimming lessons – grrr. A lot of Muslims are very rich, particularly the ones who managed to get to move to New Zealand. They are perfectly capable of paying for lessons, whilst some may be poor same goes for every racial group there are some rich and some poor. Even if they do have to pay for the whole swimming complex to close down so they can have their privacy, that is an added expense because of lifesytle or religious beliefs they hold so they can pay to uphold them. No one else should be paying for them. They need to pay their own way. Sure it is going to be dearer if they need the whole complex to shut down because they feel insecure around men, but this is New Zealand, we treat men and woman equally, so unless men get a ‘man only night’, woman shouldn’t get a ‘woman only night’, and they sure as hell shouldn’t be getting free private lessons at the expense of the rest of us.

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4289770/Muslim-Brotherhood-creating-parallel-society-Sweden.html?login
When will people start to believe what they see and hear from friends, family – real people experiences, rather than the rubbish that they are fed in the media. Another report has come in which shows what the rest of us have been seeing with our own eyes, hearing with our own ears and that commonsense told us would be the inevitable outcome of letting people of a different faith and culture integrate on mass to a country whilst the locals fund it and adapt to their needs.

Trouble is brewing. We need to act now to prevent the takeover or things will end in violence. This mass immigration and destruction of the host nations culture and core beliefs will be detrimental to the future generations of the natives. When they had such an awesome upbringing in their country why are they destroying their country for the next generation? This breaks my heart. RIP Sweden, a once proud, strong, hard working nation – how did they lose their way? Could it happen here in New Zealand?

http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/90029807/jane-bowron-shame-on-english-for-his-stonerloser-youth-claim
This story asks the question, “When does the government talk to unemployed youth?” I don’t believe they do talk to them directly. Doesn’t mean they aren’t looking out for them though. Bill English strategy of talking to business leaders to discover why they are not employing unemployed youth makes more sense. He could have discovered that they were lacking in confidence, or had poor resumes, that there was a skill that they were missing all things that the government could have put money into to help youth who were unemployed maybe via providing training course in the areas they lacked the skills. But instead he found the number one reason business owners were not employing youth was failed drug tests. Obviously those he were speaking with were industries that tested for drugs, as most employers don’t test, but this was the feedback he got. Instead of the media putting down the person who is the messenger, why don’t they do their jobs and go and talk to the youth about why they are taking drugs. Do they not want to work? Do they not value being a part of society? 

Youth do have a chance to talk to the government. It’s via voting on Election Day. However, this article says the unemployed youth are most likely to not vote on Election Day. That is clearly a choice they are free to make. But let’s be honest, if you don’t vote in election, you are saying you don’t care how the country is run and will just go along with it. Too lazy to vote, then likely too lazy to work. Let’s not tar all youth with the same brush though – I’ve voted in every single election since I was old enough to vote. I know when I was old enough to cast my first vote, or maybe it was my second, I was at Uni and everyone was voting. It was the year the Helen Clark promised interest free student loans. Even though I was a student I was against this as I didn’t feel that it was in the countries best interest long term to be lending out money at no charge (I still feel this way). Students were very divided on this topic. There were those who had been working hard during their studies and had been paying their own way and we hated the idea. Those who had been drinking and partying their way though study knocking up everything to their student loan thought all their Christmases had come at once. It was an issue that was hotly discussed. So a lot of youth are very engaged in politics. I know young people who are in the Young Nats and I know a lot of young people who support Labour as they are always sharing their political message on Facebook, so to say youth in general are disengaged with elections would be wrong. But I do see the connection between those who are unemployed and don’t vote and this to me seems more like their disconnection with society and their disinterest in being involved. I think we need to stop pushing blame to the government. They have equal opportunity to vote, at some point you have to step up and get involved. If you don’t, don’t complain when other people didn’t get up and go and vote to make things go your way.

The reporters words of “Throwing young Kiwis under the bus” really irks me. It makes me angry because that is a lie. We are talking about a segment of unemployed youth. Most youth are either still in education or if they have left school have jobs. This is such an incorrect generalisation as it the first sentence of the article, “”Kicking young people when they are down and out, and by “out” I mean often unhoused is a nasty bullying tactic.” What? Unhoused! So the group of unemployed youths that we are talking about here have no where to live, living in cars, possibly on people’s couches and you wonder why they can’t get jobs. If they are on the streets or in cars they are probably going to interviews smelling from no shower access, bad breath and unclean clothes. Forget the drugs test, the employer would know they are not fit for work the second they walk in the door and this group has to be an incredibly small percentage of youth unemployed. We need to look at their parents. What parent kicks their child out at 18 when they have no place to go, no job and tells them, “You’re 18 now, fend for yourself”. If this is the case then their unemployed status is not a reflection of the government but a reflection of their parents. If they have this attitude clearly they are not going to have given them the best start in life, in particular on making sure they get homework and study for exams in order to be prepared for the workforce when they leave school. 

The only situation I would be kicking out my 18 year old child, or even an older child or adult, who was struggling to survive is drugs, alcohol, crime. I believe in personal responsibility and I disagree with supporting this lifestyle choice. I would help them when they say they want help making a change but won’t facilitate this poor choice. So to me this reporter scored an own goal in the first sentence of her inaccurate report, the unemployed youth in this situation are unemployable. They have issues they need to resolve. They have chosen the path they are taking and they can’t blame others for not giving them a job when they are not living up to the expection a of society. The only unemployed person I have been aware of lately is a relative of mine who is in construction. 

Construction is booming. Why couldn’t he find work? No driver’s license, lost through drunk driving (multiple charges which started as a youth, now in his 30s), a license is pretty essential in this role. He has a job now and he drives even though it’s illegal. He can get his license back, it’s just $2k to get a breathiliser lock on his car so he doesn’t want to waste his money. He’s been driving illegally for the best part of 10 years now. He has only been caught a couple of times. Got fines he will never pay. He also smokes marijuana. He has been fired from his previous two jobs because he got in disagreements with his employers. He would be unemployable but he is extremely good at what he does. I can understand a youth who might also have the same drug and alcohol record would be passed over as they don’t have the experience that this person has. Incidentally, the last job he got and stayed at for sometime getting experience that he has now, he got through his father. My first job as a checkout chick I got through my mum talking to a lady in the street who worked there and said she would put in a good word for me. That act by my mum not only got me my first job, but because of my job attitude and work ethic my employer was keen to employ my younger brothers when they turned 15 (part time jobs whilst still at school) and even my sister got a job from this act,  as one of my old supervisors worked at another nearby supermarket when my sister was old enough to work and made sure my sister’s name got to the top of the list. This basic work experience lead on to all of eventually stepping out and working up into other jobs, my brother even works in the Head Offfice of my original employer. See how much your parents can do to help you get a job. Networking is so important.

I would ask the question,  “How many of these unemployed youths do volunteer work?” Volunteer work shows you have the ability to get up everyday and work. It teaches you skills. It gets you a reference. It gets you contacts. You could be doing volunteer work with someone who works somewhere and hears about a job that would suit you – networking. They can help you get that foot in the door, that first interview. These opportunities won’t come to you when you are sitting on the benefit not putting yourself out there. You could volunteer at a company you wish to work for but I’m more meaning places that are always needing volunteers – Youth groups, Scout groups, schools – for fairs, reading assistance, help in the library, their canteen, sausage sizzle days, Citizens Advise Bureau, helping new immigrants with English, SPCA, Youthline, Cancer Society – these kinds of community organizations. Show a potential employer you want to work, you want to be involved in society.

I think she is the low blow blaming migrants. We only bring migrants in to fill roles that we don’t have the people for. They are filling a gap. Migrants benefit society. We have a strict criteria on who we let in and part of that requirement is a language skills level. The migrants that we have that are creating a drain on society are those who arrived on the family reunification visas who don’t speak English and can’t work. Often they are elderly grandparents who never planned to work here – and too be fair, they could be caring for the grandkids so their son and daughter  inlaw could be free to save lives at hospital – in an area where we have a desparate need. We can’t blame the migrants who arrived on family reunification visas and can’t speak English for taking our low paid jobs. If they are taking the job of a youth then their must be something wrong with that youth because English is a pretty important part of any job in NZ. 

We have to import people to pick fruit from overseas. Anyone can do that but people don’t want too. An easy job for youth as they don’t have kids tied to a school or even a house that they are paying rent on long term, they are most likely at the flating stage, it’s easy for them to move to where the work is. Yes, the wages are low, but they have to meet minimum wage or it is illegal and they have legal avenues to address if they are not paid right. It’s experience to a better job. These seasonal workers do arrive unable to speak English but provision is made for them because NZers won’t do the job. Stop trying to blame others who are filling the gap the unemployed youth are refusing to fill. New Zealand is very close to full employment, so when the reporter says the government is being “inept, out of touch, bloody minded with its immigration policy” she is plain wrong. We are desparate for workers in the trades and in the medical profession, agriculture and if we sent these migrant workers home it would be detrimental to NZ because it would make the skills shortage even worse for the trades and medical profession and as for fruit picking we would just have wasted fruit, it would lower our exports – the unemployable will still not be doing these jobs.

When David Seymour, leader of the Act party, blames the schools for turning out unemployable youth, the reporter seems to agree kids are leaving school unemployable (personally this is not something I have noticed) and has blamed the education minister. Again, we are talking about a small percentage of youths. If it was the educational minster then wouldn’t all youth be coming out unemployable? Pretty sure University enrollments are full, so we are producing people who are reaching Uni standards, I  haven’t been reading there is a shortage of students studying, and then there are a pile of kids who go out and get actual jobs straight from school. I’m not seeing any evidence that it is the Educational Ministers fault. The only gap I see in this area is special needs kids. There is not enough funding for kids who have special needs and who, with a little work, could be very productive members of society. I’m talking about kids with dyslexia, ADHD, autism – again, a very small percentage of kids and I have not heard learning difficulties being mentioned by employers as a reason they are not employing people so that doesn’t link in too much with this article – but this is where I believe their is a gap in funding and it could be addressed. 

In terms of general youth getting through school without these skills, I would look to the parents. Were they helping their kids do their homework during their school years? Where they getting the kids to school on a regular basis? Did they make sure the kids did their eye and hearing checks to make sure they could see and hear what was going on in class? Where they going to school we’ll feed with a packed lunch? Did they read them bedtime stories? Did they engage with the teachers at parent interviews? Were these kids from violent backgrounds – drugs, crime? There is so much parents can do. When most kids in a class are successful, as a parent surely you discuss with the teacher where things are going wrong with your child? I certainly see my childen’s teachers if I see a problem, not just academically but socially as well – was the child being bullied? Did this cause them to be disengaged at school?

The reporter is claiming the younger generation are being written off. This is a lie. Bill English was speaking about unemployed youth and the feedback he had been given about why they weren’t being employed from businesses owners he believed should be employing them. Most youth are either in work and studying. We have youth in training to be doctors, nurses, construction workers, IT consultants and employed in many professions. The main issue facing our youth today is high house prices but this is as a result of New Zealand’s success. Everyone wants to live here, our economy is booming, Kiwi’s who left discovered the grass wasn’t greener on the other side and came home. We can’t build homes fast enough because we don’t have enough builders – a job an unemployed youth could do if they weren’t on drugs, so they could be part of the solution if they got their lives together. 

Ironically the reporter talks about the protests going on overseas. Again, an own goal. She speaks of immigrants taking the youths jobs yet the protests in America are about Trump wanting to send illegal immigrants home and his wall to stop illegal Mexicans coming in and taking Americans jobs. He is doing what she is complains about here. She mentions the Black Lives Matter movement, that was formed after some questionable police shootings where white officers shot at black men – hardly a New Zealand issue, our officers don’t normally carry guns. Guns are only used by police in extreme circumstances and a thorough investigation is done every time a policeman uses his weapon. Police in NZ get put through the mill even if they shot someone who had been on a murderous rampage and the cops life was in danger – I think the reporter had no clue about the Black Lives Matter movement. The Occupy Movement makes more sense but I thing all the crazy political turmoil around the world is what is making stable New Zealand seem like such a fab option. 

She has even dismissed the invasiveness of us building more housing, despite the start of the article talking about how there is no where for these youth to live. As well as talking about our intensive dairy industry in a negative way – Fonterra is our biggest earner for our GDP, it creates a lot of jobs, it gives free milk to low deciles schools because, again, so many parents are failing their kids. She talks about our polluted waterways – something I am concerned about too, but pleased that National has said that clearing up our waterways is a priority for them.

Her only evidence that drugs are not a problem for youth getting jobs is she states the numbers as, 91,300 unemployed youth, only 30,000 who sort a drug test (I don’t know how they decide who gets a drug test and who doesn’t) and only 100 failed. The problem is she doesn’t state where these numbers came from. I assume she is talking about the numbers from the tests that are administered in order to get a benefit and if this is the case, then people who use drugs recreationally can just avoid taking that drug before their test date, so it is not a reliable source. In my opinion, those who interact with the youth are the ones who are in the best position because they are the ones interacting and engaging with them, whereas statistics can be manipulated. 

Basically this article is a completely untrue. She is taking a statement about a small group of youth unemployed and tarnishing all youth with the same brush, completely misconstruing the PM’s statement. The media should not be misleading the public like this. It is a disgrace articles like this are being published by our mainstream media. Completely dishonest reporting.

Personally, I believe that the age that you get the pension needs to be raised and it needs to be raised slowly so we need to start now. We have been told by experts that the pension scheme in its current form is not affordable long term. What I would hate to see is sudden changes to the pension scheme. I like the idea of it being raised to 67 by 2034 as set out by the retirement commission http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/money/87548876/lift-nz-super-age-to-67-by-2034-retirement-commissioner-tells-politicians. This system seems to me to be the fairest. What would be truly cruel would be for it to suddenly jump to 67 when many people had been so close to getting the pension then have a further 2 years to wait. Whilst it would be annoying if you were a month off getting the pension and they raised it 2 months it is spreading the pain across several age groups rather than one group taking a hit. And it has to change as it is unaffordable in its current form. I also agree that it should only be available to those who have been in the country for 25 years, not 10 as it is currently. People need to have paid into the pension in this country to have received it – of course there will be some who end up still getting it without paying into the pot, but still better than our current situation where 55 year parents come over on the family reunification visa, get the pension 10 years on, yet for the past 10 years they have not been contributing to the country but supporting their children. 55 is a common age to be a grandparent so they are coming over, bringing their life savings and putting it into a property with their kids – putting up our housing prices, babysitting their grandkids and doing the housework for them so they can focus on their careers climbing the corporate ladder whilst the rest of us are busy juggling our work/childcare/elderly parent commitments and then they get the pension having only helped their own family, not the country. Making them wait 25 years before they can get the pension makes more sense as they likely haven’t got grandkids at age 42 so if they come at that stage in their life they will be more likely to work here, learn the language and be active in the community, or if they do come out later in their life at least we won’t be responsible for paying for them for so long. That burden will fall on the family they are supporting – which seems fair.

I don’t agree it should be means tested. Means testing puts people off saving for their retirement and it is best that they travel when they are retired so they can do a decent trip rather than the 4 weeks they are currently entitled to – and many employers don’t want to lose someone for 4 weeks straight anyway, it works for all of they save for their retirement. They paid into the system, they deserve to take it out. You have to apply for the pension so if people don’t want it then they don’t need to apply – but it should be their choice. Things like rest homes and healthcare cost a lot of money, someone’s life savings can be diminished very quickly.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/90070673/peters-puts-his-foot-in-the-open-door-after-english-confirms-option-of-super-reset. This article discussed the proposed changes to the retirement process and what the political parties think. John Key famously said he would not raise it whilst he was in power. He resigned as Prime Minister so now National is free to change their stance on this and Bill English has signaled that he is currently reviewing the situation. He has said there will be changes to NZ Super/pension and told us that he is working on plans now but he has assured us that the changes won’t be drastic. Sounds perfectly fair – after all as stated above I too feel change is necessary but don’t want it to be drastic and don’t want one group of retirees to be hardest hit but the pain to be less spread across time.
But of course this isn’t good enough for Andrew Little who is jumping up and down that his failure to reveal his policy is causing New Zealanders stress. He is an absolute clown. Most people with commonsense know you don’t release your policy until you have finalized things. He has stated he is still working out long term affordability with Treasury. This is an entirely sensible thing to do. Whilst if you were approaching retirement you’d be following this policy closely, anyone with half a brain must be able to accept getting the policy right is more important than racing to the media with a half baked plan that hasn’t been priced out or properly thought though – ironically exactly my problem with so many of his policies. It will be released before the election so people know what they are voting for. Andrew should take a leaf out of National’s book and actually think through his policies. 

I look forward to hearing what National’s next step with regards to NZ Super will be. Little and Winston’s head in the sand attitude to the aging population is foolish. The rest of the world seem to be looking ahead and raising their age. Advances in health mean people can work for longer these days and live longer. As for those in poor health who have to leave work prior to reaching the age they will receive a pension, they will be able to get a sickness benefit – assuming their doctor agrees with their personal assessment. I don’t think we need to fear National releasing their plans. I think we need to fear the other parties who are ignoring the problem that we will have in the future and leaving it to the next generation who will be left with no choice but to make sudden changes due to spiraling costs and that is my fear if we don’t act to make changes now.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/education/90073114/were-not-racist-claims-new-european-student-association. There are Maori student associations, Pacifica student associations, Chinese student associations, Indian student associations and no one screams racism but a European student association pops up and it is racist.

They obviously didn’t do themselves any favors using wording and logos associated with white supremacy groups but what they are saying could be true, it could be as a publicity stunt to promte the group. Personally I think this was a risky move, you could be struck down before you start. On the other hand, as Mr Trump says, “There is no such thing as overexposure” – his campaign proved this to be true, so maybe doing something a bit risky to get exposure and interest to get numbers up was exactly what they needed. They do have a logo of hands with many different colours – so it does look inclusive rather than excluding based on colour and they do say that they welcome people of all races.

I guess in a way any group based on race or excluding a race is racist because that is what racist means. Why is it always white people who are accused of being racist? Others are racist too. If I didn’t have a friend who was South Africa I would be completely unaware of the situation going on there http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4281088/Zuma-wants-land-owned-white-occupiers-taken.html. We get daily reports on what Trump has done and trying to tell us that his policies are racist (like trying to deport illegals and stop more illegals coming in – NOTE – NZ already  does this, we just have a giant moat which makes it harder for illegals to get in. Are we racist? I think we have a strict immigration criteria that is not based on race but based on the countries need to fill certain jobs and import certain skills. That is not racist. It’s smart. We already do it so it would be hypocritical to call Trump racist). So whilst the news media are trying to convince us that Trump is racist for having policies our country already has – and that we value, they are ignoring an actual story of racism. 

When I was at University I trawled through the scholarships available and there wasn’t one I could even apply for. 90% were based on what race you were, mostly for Maori and Pacifica, the others were for disability or if your parents worked for a certain company. I couldn’t even apply for a scholarship. Thought they were supposed to be based on good grades or participation in the community, not race.
The article says all cultures are welcome. Instead of jumping to conclusions and making accusations of the group, why doesn’t Sarah actually go and check it out and see if her suspicions are accurate. If they are acting like a white supremacy group then she can complain. At the moment she is making unfounded accusations – could they not sue her for defamation?

So the name, European association, what does that even mean? They say that anyone can join but if we assume that only people who are European join we would have: Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, Poland, Britain (or will Brexiting exclude them?), Germany, Switzerland, Romania, Austria, Italy, Monoco, Luxembourg – I’m getting tired of typing, so I looked it up  https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/countries-of-europe.html. There are 44 countries in Europe. The countries all have different races, different religions and different colours. Plus most forms call us Kiwis NZ European – so assuming it includes countries that were formed with immigrants from these European countries we can include NZ, Australia, Canada and America. So how is a group that says it is welcome to all and is celebrating the culture of about 50 countries more racist than the group that caters to just Maori? I just don’t get this logic.

When these student associations were formed they were to support minority students, that is why it wasn’t seen as being racist but inclusive. To try and make minorities feel welcome in an infamiliar environment. I used to go to AUT and I belonged to the gym at Auckland Uni, I can confidently say that the European group is now just as much a minority as the Indian or Chinese student association. I don’t have statistical numbers to back this up, just a visual guess, and sometimes it’s is hard to visually be certain of someone’s culture, especially as so many people are of mixed decent, but I can tell you statistically the data from my son’s primary school because the data was just in the newsletter – over 50% of the school identified themselves as Asian. At my oldest son’s Kindy there were only 3 kids who had white skin. When I look back at my Kindy photos there were only 3 kids with dark skin and similar statistics for my primary school. The racial make up of NZ is changing.

Why not give this group a chance? Why is every other group based on race not racist but a group for Europeans is racist? Is the fact that this group makes the news not evidence of the racism against Europeans in this country?

http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/90058252/oscar-kightley-cut-out-the-trumpisms-bill. This article is wrong. Don’t cut the Trumpisms Bill, some of us like to hear the truth. Most of us actually know the truth and think politicians have their heads in the clouds and need to wake up and walk in the shoes of us little people who encounter the druggies in public or at our jobs, or who they related to us, and we see first hand how incapable they are to be fit for work. JK was also honest and got blasted for telling the truth. I for one like to hear the truth.

I can only assume that by Trumpisms the author is referring to telling truth because in the examples he used Trump was proven to be telling the truth. 

It was the media who were ultimately proved wrong. They mislead the public on Trump’s comments about Sweden, he never said they had a terrorist attack but was talking about how many cities in the country had lost control to immigrants who lived their way and were ruled by the mosques. We only had to wait a couple of days afterwards when their were riots in Sweden by immigrants because a Muslim was arrested for dealing drugs, that escalated so much the police had to retreat and ask the mosque for help to calm the situation, for proof that Trump was right. 

Bill English should be commended for talking to business leaders to see what barriers they were facing to employing people who were currently unemployed. Maybe there is something the government can do, such as more money for rehab centres and more penalties for those caught taking illegal drugs. Sure putting them in prison costs money but so does funding them on the outside. Theoretically people shouldn’t be able to access drugs in prison, so they have the opportunity to break free from the bad crowd, detox and start over when they are released. Much cheaper in the long run than letting them be a drain on society. Especially in the case of P addicts who wreak houses through their addiction, which we as tax payers ultimately pay for too either through it being a State house, so state funded, or increased insurance premiums if private landlords make claims. The more claims the more insurance rises, it’s not a charity. 

I fail to see how Statistics NZ would help in this situation. I do not recall there being a census question, “Do you take illegal drugs?”  And even if the question was there, would people who take illegal drugs really answer that honestly – if they answer the census at all. Yes, it’s a legal requirement but if you are taking illegal drugs you are hardly a law abiding citizen who is going to care that it is illegal. I’m not sure if they keep statistics on reasons for job rejections either.

Ministry of Social Development likely do have a record, as I believe they test for drugs on people and people who take illegal drugs could get their benefits cut, but their statistics won’t be accurate anyway. Many people are recreational users, not addicts, so if they are going to be assessed for a benefit they know not to take their chosen drug prior to taking the test. It doesn’t mean they can’t go and get a hit as soon as they have past and if they don’t want to work take a hit before going to the company drug test. I don’t believe the Ministry of Social development is like a random drug test that can be taken at anytime. Easy to trick the system here but if you go to the source of employers, the employer, and get their feedback they are going to be the most accurate. It is their personal experience. It doesn’t mean that all employers feel the same as those he surveyed and it is possible that different industries/locations would give different feedback, but he is merely passing on the feedback he has been given by employers he has spoken to. These observations are the same as what I have observed just living my life, so I have no reason to question the integrity of these business owners. I mean, what incentive do they have to lie? None.

Finding a job can be hard, it is depressing when you can’t find what you want and when it is taking longer than expected. People need to be ready to work though – that means drug and alcohol free, and with a good attitude that they’ll show up on time and follow instructions. We need to be honest about why some people are sitting on benefits long term and are seen as unemployable. This is what he is referring to not a teacher’s aid who lost her job through funding cuts at one school, she just has to wait for another job to come up and she’ll likely get it, or if in a hurry for work hopefully get into a different role – I know of many people who faced temporary employment, yes it’s depressing and demoralizing but they all kept looking and found something and are working hard in their new found jobs. They are using the benefit system how it should be used, a safety net for short term/temporary hardship. We need to get honest about our long term beneficiaries and tell them the free ride is over and they have to pay their way. It isn’t just their lack of working and contributing, these druggies are often commiting crimes on the side to fund their lifestyle, so innocent people are becoming victims of their drug taking. The money would be better of helping those struggling with sickness than supporting the lazy.

A few days ago I wrote about how the press misinterpreted Trump’s speech and made up a story about a terrorist attack in Sweden when there wasn’t one. The very next day after Trump’s speech there was a riot in Sweden, but the stories coming out from Sweden were very vague, no one could confirm who was rioting, who was arrested, who was hurt – all we were told was that it was a drug deal bust that turned to rioting. The vagueness of the story was very strange. Today I saw this article on the UK’s Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4258014/Was-Trump-right-Sweden.html.

When people were claiming Trump said there was a terrorist attack last night in Sweden, which he never said, every media outlet seemed to be talking about it. I check the news often in US, UK, NZ and Australia, both internet, printed and TV news were talking about Trump talking about the terrorist attack in Sweden that never happened. I saw it popping up on social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, and comedy shows had picked it up too. When the news about the riot in Sweden came out, a few media outlets printed it, but all the articles were very much lacking in details. It certainly didn’t get the media coverage that the fake news story the media put out about Donald Trump’s Sweden terrorist attack managed to get. Now this Daily Mail story that has far more details about the riots is the only detailed story about the riots that I have seen. And Trump was right. The violence was immigrants. Immigrants so out of control that the police had to recede and had to ask the leaders at the mosque to help talk to the out of control crowd as the police were powerless.

I read the comments section and many of them shared first hand their experiences in Sweden and how much it had changed from 10 years ago. I even read one who was a Swedish national and she said she would never return to Sweden. The Sweden she once knew and loved had been destroyed by mass immigration. It was very disturbing to read. I checked various newspapers in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, and I could not find one other story on this subject. Why are the news covering up Trump being correct? Even the Daily Mail didn’t have this as a top story. It was so far down the list of stories it came below George Clooney’s wife going out in a gown that showed her baby bump.

It is truly bizarre to live in a world that seems to be covering up the truth of what is going on in the world. It scares me. It is very hard to know what is true and what isn’t. But reading the comments section and hearing from people, not reporters, on their experiences helps makes things clearer. I would rather hear a mix of people’s experiences than one reporter’s interpretation. You also put your own life experiences in the picture to help you work out what is true and what isn’t. I lived in the UK 15 years ago and on two occasions I ventured into areas for job interviews that were majority immigrant areas. I did not feel safe. People were drinking on the side of the road, making rude comments as you walked down the road, people were even openly smoking marjuana (which is illegal there). It was creepy and smelt. The first job I turned down because I did not want to have to walk home from the job when it was dark – it was scary enough in the middle of the day. The second interview I didn’t even get to. I went into a couple of stores to get directions on how to get where I was going and neither of the shopkeepers spoke English. There didn’t seem to be anyone on the street who looked like they could speak English and people were looking at me like I was an alien from out of space. I didn’t belong there and I felt unsafe. So I left before I got to the job interview. I had never done that before.  I called my agent to apologise but I just couldn’t work in that area and she wasn’t surprised. She told me that I was the third person who had called to say they wouldn’t work in that area, two Australians and me, the New Zealander, immigrants, British people heard the name of the suburb and said they were not interested in working there. So I have seen immigrant/refugee communities first hand, and I have seen that they are cesspits of alcohol, drugs, smoking, people did not take pride in the area, graffiti was everywhere, they just had a bad vibe, people looked at you in a creepy way. So when the media tells us that mass immigration is working I find it hard to believe as that is now what I have seen. This article makes more sense to me. When people can’t speak the language of a country, they can’t work. They can’t provide for themselves and a providing for yourself and a job is part of your selfworth. So it is no surprising that people fall into crime, gangs, alcohol, drugs, violence, they are set up to fail. Supporting displaced people in their own homelands and trying to defend them from their attackers makes more sense.

One day on, the Daily Mail UK print this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4260908/Swedish-policeman-blames-migrants-violent-crime.html. A story direct from a Swedish police officer who is nearing retirement on what he has seen happening in Sweden. He is nearing retirement so feels safe speaking out as he is about to stop working anyway, but he says that young ones won’t speak out due to fear. It sounds like a cover up at a high level.

So what are the other newspapers reporting? Stuff news in New Zealand is still on about the terrorist attack that Trump made up – but he never ever said there was a terrorist attack in Sweden http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/89826504/sweden-puzzled-a-second-time-after-unknown-security-adviser-defends-donald-trump. Apparently the new scandal is Fox interviewed a person and they gave him the title of Swedish Defense and National Security Advisor yet no one in Sweden had heard of the guy. So Fox news made a mistake on the guys title – it has nothing to do with President Trump, but they try and link it to his imaginery (made up by the media) terrorist attack. Whilst Fox got the title wrong, this person wasn’t just some guy they plucked off the street. Here is the definition of his role straight from the article:

Bildt is a founding member of a corporate geopolitical strategy and security consulting business with offices in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo, according its website.

His bio speaks to expertise on defense and national security issues, saying his experience includes serving as a naval officer, working for a Japanese official and writing books on issues ranging from investment and political climates to security issues in working in hostile environments.

So whilst they got his title wrong, it is his area of expertise that he was talking about, yet they completely wrote him off because Fox got the title wrong. Bildt said that Fox put that title up and it was not the description that he gave of himself, so at no point was he trying to be fraudulent and the description of the job, whilst wrong, was not the point of the story, the point was what is happening in Sweden. New York Times is still discussing that Trump revoked the transgenders being able to use the bathrooms they identified order that Obama signed, and The Sydney Morning Herald are trying to convince Trump supporters that they have been betrayed by Trump, an article they took from the New York times,

New York Times is still discussing that Trump revoked the transgenders being able to use the bathrooms they identified order that Obama signed, and The Sydney Morning Herald are trying to convince Trump supporters that they have been betrayed by Trump, an article they took from the New York times, http://www.smh.com.au/comment/donald-trump-voters-have-been-sold-a-dud–they-need-to-fight-back-20170226-gulvjo.html. Kind of a strange thing to claim given he has only been in charge for a couple of months and he has set about implementing exactly what he promised in his campaign, despite all the protests and legal blocks he has experienced, he is working to fulfill the campaign promises. I have to say, so far, the people who voted for Trump got what they asked for. It writes, “The Washington Post Fact Checker is tracking 60 specific campaign promises and found only six cases so far of promises kept.” This may be true but he has had a couple of months, I have seen him make more moves than most political parties do in their whole term. He has a long time left to implement the rest of his policies. Not everything can happen overnight, who knows what actions are being taken in the background getting prepared for public announcement.

It seems the Daily Mail is the only paper brave enough to print something that backs up what Trump has said. We need more honesty in the media. We need the news to focus on the news and the fact rather than to get swept up in hysteria.

 

Since when did we lose our minds and have to legislate everything rather than using common sense? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/devos-sessions-transgender-students-rights.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-newsObama passed a law saying that transgender students were legally allowed to use the bathroom they most identified with, Trump has stopped that causing people to take to the streets chanting, “No hate, no fear, trans students are welcome here.” This chant makes no sense – no one is saying they hate them, they are scared of them or they aren’t welcome, just that they have to use the bathroom that matches their anatomy. Quite frankly, I think that is fair enough. It’s not like he has even banned transgenders using the bathroom that they identify with, it’s just saying that principals, or whoever it is that makes the decision on school matters, can say that they need to use a specific bathroom rather than being forced to comply to the request. To me, this just makes sense. Some kids are just confused and aren’t going to transition as adults. It is not discrimination to say you use the bathroom that matches their anatomy.

Continue reading “Which bathrooms should transgender students use?”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503076&gal_cid=1503076&gallery_id=171791. You have probably heard the media cries of Trump’s fake news that he spoke about a terrorist attack in Sweden that never happened. The only fake news that happened came from the media. Trump never mentioned a terrorist attack in Sweden. When I read Trump’s speech I saw no reference to a terrorist attack in Sweden. I didn’t know what he meant by, “What happened last night in Sweden”, but as I don’t live in America I don’t watch Fox news, so never saw the documentary he was referring to. Now whilst his statement, “Last night in Sweden”, was very vague and needed further clarification, I can’t understand why the media didn’t get clarification on the statement before reporting that Trump claimed there had been a terrorist attack in Sweden when there had never been a terrorist attack. That is a completely irresponsible claim. It scares me the number of people who are talking about Trump’s false claim, when the speech was in the printed news and it never mentioned a terrorist attack in Sweden. Have people lost the ability to read? Or even listen to a speech (posted above) and comprehend it for themselves? I read the speech prior to Trump clarifying but now I can’t even find the written copy. All the stories that I could find under the search are sensationalising the issue rather than letting us see the actual facts. Why do people believe things the media say when their own eyes and ears should prove to them it never happened? And why are the media trying to confuse us with their false stories? It is their job to get all the information and report it, not fail to clarify a point of confusion so just make up the news. This is just nuts!

Since the media lies, Donald Trump has clarified that what he was in fact referring to was the increase crime, violence and security in Sweden since they opened their borders and let in piles of immigrants. As I said, I haven’t watched the Fox news documentary, however, this does fall in line with reports I have read in the past from various news agencies. The crazy thing is, despite news agencies reporting the increased crime and violence in Sweden, official statistics apparently say that crime hasn’t increased. I would love to be able to see these statistics, but I can’t. I have done several searches and they are reporting on the statistics or opinions wading into the Trump debate, but I can’t find the actual statistics. Why are the statistics not released and made clear given the confusion about what is going on in Sweden? I don’t want to know what every newspaper with their own agenda thinks, I want statistics. Along with crime hasn’t increased I have seen the complete opposite that rapes have increased by 70%. Also that Sweden refuses to give an ethnicity breakdown of crime. The amount of false information out there is huge and without official government statistics it is impossible to know who is telling the truth. Despite media sites claimed stats are down, here is a report direct from a cop there, that doesn’t match these statistics: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4243442/Sweden-suffering-migrant-crime-wave-says-cop.html. This is why there is so much conflict and debate around the issue, completely incompatible pieces of information.

Today I see this article in the news http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/89668916/Riots-erupt-in-Stockholm-suburb-after-Trumps-Sweden-comments-strike-nerve. What is this article even about? It talks about riots in a neighbourhood, links them to Trump’s speech and says levels of crime in Sweden have not increased since all the immigrants arrived. It says that the city of Rinkeby is mostly inhabited by migrants but fails to identify who was rioting. Was it the immigrants? Were they upset at Trump’s comments? Was it the Swedes protesting the immigrants being there? The article is just veiled pieces of information where they expect us to guess the rest. If it was immigrants burning cars and rioting, then it proves Trump’s point. Are the media too scared to say anything that reaffirms anything Trump says so they completely overlooked who was rioting? If it is the Swedes rioting in this migrant neighbourhood, why? And what was the reaction of the migrants? This is just a non-story without saying who it was rioting and why. Here is another article – still no mention of who the rioters were: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4245322/Riots-Stockholm-suburb-Trump-mentioned-speech.html. Why can’t the media be straight up and report the facts?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4240590/President-Trump-reiterates-Syria-safe-zones-plan.html Trump makes me laugh. First, he told Mexico they will pay for the wall between their two countries, now he is telling the Middle East that they can pay for his plan for Syria. I would have loved to see the faces of those Middle Eastern leaders when he announced this plan – why do the news media always miss the good stuff? That would have been a classic moment. Despite how hilarious I think it is the Trump believes he can tell the Middle East what to do, I think his plan has merit. Well more merit than Angela Merkel’s policy of invite everyone into your land and have them destroy the very fabric of your culture, as well as increasing violent crime and terrorist attacks – guess it doesn’t have to be that of an amazing plan to bet her one. Clearly Angela’s plan isn’t working, although she hasn’t worked that out yet. The rest of the world has, not sure about the German people, sounds like at this point they still might vote her back in, I have to question their sanity if they do.

Continue reading “Trump tells the Middle East they will pay for his plans.”