Nemo

"Complex issues are not assisted by conclusory mantras, or the reflexive reframing of discussion as bigotry."

Three years ago, Posie Parker @ThePosieParker (Kellie-Jay Keen) came to Auckland to speak to women about what it means to be a woman @StandingforXX. She was surrounded by a mob of 1,000 protesters. Tomato soup was thrown on her. A 60-year-old woman was punched in the face by a man. 📌 Stream the episode here: pod.link/1467711438 Over the past three years, a lot has changed - and many now view what happened in Albert Park as a watershed moment for freedom of speech in New Zealand. 🇳🇿 It's hard to watch a group of women trying to speak, being violently attacked by men, and not ask the question: "Who are the fascists here, anyway?" Today marks three years since that day - and on today's Free to Speak podcast, Posie Parker talks us through what happened, and what's changed since. 🎙️ 🔗 Listen now: pod.link/1467711438

@toddmstephenson What NZNO say is irrelevant. What the government should be doing is reining in the Nursing Council.

This is weak from the nurses' union. Of course healthcare should be delivered by professionals. But regulators should also be accountable. ACT has asked reasonable questions about the Nursing Council’s proposed rules for nurses. The Nursing Council is a statutory body set up by Parliament, with a clear mandate. It is entirely fair to ask: when regulations shift away from competence and safety, and toward enforcing equity-based worldviews, is the Nursing Council really fulfilling its mandate? And how many nurses will be dissuaded from even applying, if they’re forced to advance a worldview they don’t share? Nurses themselves are raising concerns with ACT. Everyone wants better outcomes for Māori, but good intentions don’t cut it. We need to be clear about what rules work, why they work, and whether they actually help the nurse on a busy ward do their job better. And at the end of the day, ACT will never support rules that divide patients into categories based on their background, rather than their individual circumstances. Good care comes from professional judgement, backed by evidence, focused on the person in front of you.

@JoelMacManus Beneficiaries don’t need to drive to work.

@ZackPolanski Your hypocrisy is vile.

Horrified by the antisemitic attack in our city. Antisemitism is vile and has no place here. Solidarity with the Jewish community in Golders Green - and with our communities across the country who will be feeling this today.

"Yet he was unable to offer any alternative policy ideas of his own to highlight how Labour would address the issue if it was in power currently." Labour leader Chris Hipkins not offering policy ideas to help Kiwis amid fuel price rises, via @nzherald nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/la…

@NZFreeSpeech @aniobrien I can grit my teeth and agree that on free speech grounds the Teaching Council shouldn’t discipline him - but I can’t help feeling a little schadenfreude that someone on the woke left, which has been weaponising professional regulators for years, might get the same treatment.

A Kiwi teacher is facing online calls to lose his job after posting lawful - but arguably offensive - political content on social media. 🇳🇿 Decisions about someone's professional future shouldn't be made by a virtual mob. ⚖️ As Ani O'Brien @aniobrien explains: if you believe in free speech, you have to defend the principle - even when the speech is uncomfortable. 🗣️

@toddmstephenson @1NewsNZ The thing I struggle to understand is why you, as the government, can’t rein in this kind of overreach.

Last night @1NewsNZ covered my concerns with the proposed cultural competency statements by the Medical Council of New Zealand.

⚠️ Tomorrow, the 24th of March, the window to challenge the Medical Council’s new "loyalty test" will be closed. If these draft standards pass, New Zealand doctors could be forced to affirm contested political ideologies on race and "system change" just to keep their licenses. This isn't about patient care, it's about policing thought. Every doctor has a duty to treat patients with dignity. No doctor should be forced to adopt an activist role to practice medicine. 📍Link: fsu.nz/donation-pages…

@KNEECAPCEOL I imagine the citizens of Havana do not give a tinker’s cuss about Palestine.

Even in Havana, with the power cutting out shorty after our gig, the message of solidarity to Palestine remains the same ❤️

Matthew Wright proves our point on LBC this morning. The official definition of Islamophobia — now repackaged as “anti-Muslim hostility” — is already silencing legitimate debate and criticism of Islam and its practices. It amounts to a de facto Muslim blasphemy law. The treatment of Nick Timothy by Labour MPs is deeply sinister. The Shadow Justice Secretary criticised mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square, was reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, branded “Islamophobic”, and faced calls to resign from Labour MPs and even the Prime Minister. This morning, FSU External Affairs Officer @_ConnieShaw was invited on to discuss the comments made by Nick Timothy. Matthew Wright didn’t want to hear it. After the interview, he told another guest he had “closed her down” because she was “putting out anti-Muslim hatred”. Farcical. In a crowded field, Matthew is this week’s runner up as for chief enforcer of the blasphemy law this week. 👏

@Dallas_Brodie This complaint is literally as absurd as asserting that the human rights of Catholics are violated by a refusal to believe that the consecrated host is the actual body of Christ.

Now Jessica Simpson (better known to some as Jessica Yaniv) hopes to take me to the BC Human Rights Tribunal for stating my support for @BillboardChis. He is saying that I am also engaged in “existential denialism” because I do not believe that a man can be a woman or vice versa. Jessica Yaniv Simpson wants control over the thoughts and speech of other people. Let’s see how far this gets!

@aniobrien Sorry to hear about the hate you are getting, Ani. For what it’s worth, you are, in my view, NZ’s best political/social commentator and your substack is excellent.

Last comment on the matter & then I’m moving on. This week has been seriously awful. And I’d like to get on with things & look after my own mental wellbeing. It is for Jade and Chris to deal with the situation. My involvement remains nothing more than being a friend to Jade. That’s it. Unless something genuinely becomes news again, I won’t be commenting on it. However, I write & make content about politics. Chris is one of two men likely to be PM in Nov, so I will continue to talk about him a lot in that context. I don’t want to be unable to do that because I’m trapped by people thinking it’s a personal thing. Of course people will make up their own minds but I want to be clear that I intend to treat him like any other LOTO. I refuse to back down in defending myself & maybe that is dumb but I don’t know how to sit back & allow people to lie about me. I’m considering my options in terms of what I can do about it but they are limited to say the least. People will make up their own minds about what’s happened. Unsurprisingly, that seems to be happening down partisan lines. In hindsight, I should have known even a couple of tweets from me would be seized on & twisted by bad actors. What this week has shown, more than anything, is how nasty and grubby some people are willing to be. To those people, I ask if you have an ounce of decency under the politics that’s blinding you please at least just hate me from afar. Stop messaging me & commenting on everything. Leave me alone. I’m tired & struggling. And not that it seems to bother them, but none of what they’re saying about me is true anyway.

@realzoestrimpel Quite apart from the grotesque antisemitic tropes, this “art” looks like it was done by a 5 year old child with psychopathic tendencies.

In Margate. My cheeks are red. I am shaking. I popped into an exhibition that turned out to be the insane fever dream of an artist called Matthew Collins: ‘Drawings Against Genocide.’ The exhibition is described as ‘drawings… raising consciousness about hell…. Israel is the pure encapsulation of it. Zionism is this terror state’s ruling ideology.’ Shocked by the use of Nazi imagery - the room is full of the Star of David pasted around figures meant to be Israelis and the Jewish ‘lobby’ spewing blood, to say nothing of blonde yummy mummies wearing ‘globalise the intifada’ shirts, I spoke to the artist to share my reaction as a Jewish person. He was instantly aggressive. As soon as I started to say I was shocked and threatened by what I was seeing because it was Nazi imagery, the artist started yelling at me that I didn’t mean anything I was saying. Anytime I tried to speak (calmly) he said: ‘you don’t mean any of what you said, you’re just repeating ‘hasbarah talking points’ because ‘you’re defending a genocide’. On and on he yelled, in my face. I said: ‘if I was a Black person…’ but couldn’t finish the sentence because: ‘you’re not are you?’ On the Nazi ideology point he said: ‘yeah. Why do you think it’s there. Israel are the Nazis’. His breath was disgusting. The crowd began booing and closing in around me, making to shoe me out. I said: ‘fine, get the Jew out’ and he yelled more across the room at me, ‘repeatedly jeering ‘call the police, go ahead, call the police’. I said I would, and the community security trust, which features as a devil in his exhibition. This was met with even more jeering. ‘Yeah, call the CST’ was the last I heard before leaving. Someone snapped pictures of me while I was being shouted at. Short video shows the artist. The longer video, of our final almost surreally disgusting exchange, didn’t record.

🚨 A doctor’s job is to treat patients with dignity and excellence, not to pass an ideological loyalty test. Under these draft statements, doctors may soon be required to endorse contested political theories on "colonialism" and "privilege" as a condition of their professional standing. The Free Speech Union believes this crosses a fundamental line. The consultation closes Tuesday, 24 March. Don’t let the Council trade medical expertise for political conformity. 📍Link: fsu.nz/donation-pages…

@BenGrahamUK Apart from the cost, which is outrageous, I’ve always been puzzled by why the people doing this are so keen for their sacred symbol to be walked and driven over.

This rainbow junction in Hounslow cost £48,174 of public money. Some will say it promotes inclusion. Others will question the cost. Where do you stand?

@codepink Haven't the Cuban people suffered enough without a planeload of the most irritating people in the world descending on them?

NOW 🇨🇺 We're on our way to Cuba! Our CODEPINK delegation to the Nuestra América convoy is carrying thousands of pounds of urgently needed humanitarian aid. We stand with Cuba!

@ellymelly The look when you realise that the cuckoo of Islamism you have been nurturing in your nest is about to bite your head off.

The look of a Prime Minister that realised political Islam is a HUGE MISTAKE.

@GregPresland The implication that we would be in a better economic position under Labour is absurd.

I thought this government was meant to be full of economic geniuses? Fitch puts New Zealand AA+ rating on negative outlook over rising debt nzherald.co.nz/nz/fitch-puts-…

@AlboMP “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Australia's diversity is our strength. And I’m proud our team is as diverse as the communities we represent. Different backgrounds, different perspectives, all making us a better government. On the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we’re committed to making sure every Australian feels safe and respected. No matter what language you speak, or what faith you practice.

Labour’s Islamophobia definition is unlawful and infringes free speech. Atheists such as Richard Dawkins could be silenced by Labour’s new anti-Muslim hostility definition. Dawkins has regularly criticised Islam for its oppressive qualities. The Free Speech Union has sent a pre-action letter to the Communities Secretary, threatening judicial review if the definition and guidance are not withdrawn immediately. In our letter, we also warned about the chilling effect this definition will have on women’s ability to comment on and critique aspects of Islam, and the acts of those who follow it, that are deeply harmful to women in particular. “For example, women, and indeed Muslim women (in particular) may feel inhibited from speaking about actions such as so-called ‘honour killings’ where such speech may be labelled and regulated as anti-Muslim hostility”. The definition could also hinder campaigners working to expose practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), predatory grooming gangs, and abuses of women’s rights. Another problem is that this definition could penalise people simply for recounting historical events. This could impact Sikhs, for example, when marking the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who defended the Hindu faith against Muslims. In our letter, we warned that the definition and guidance could lead to “offensive comments” — or perfectly legitimate expressions of free speech — being logged as “anti-Muslim hostility”. This would create a new form of non-crime hate incident (NCHI), inhibiting public debate while wasting police time and taxpayers’ money. This official definition is a Muslim blasphemy law by the back door, which will silence public debate and legitimate criticism of Islam, its practices, and its history. Read more below 👇