G Jacobs (NotJustDNA on other sites)🧬🔬💻✍️📚🇳🇿

Science writer and computational biologist. Available internationally for comp. biology, writing, editing. Enquiries welcome: DM me, or email nzibis (gmail). RTs ≠ endorsements. Opinions are my own. Currently I'm in New Zealand🇳🇿 (Previously in SE Asia and Europe.) 1/

@winstonpeters "the low IQ media" – very Trump-lite.

The only thing THICKER than Chris Hipkins ruling me out TWELVE MONTHS AFTER I RULED HIM OUT is the low IQ media who report it.

@SimeonBrownMP So, a campaign entirely consisting of empty fear-mongering? (And deflection from what you do and have done.)

Sell nothing, earn nothing, change nothing. The bill still turns up. Nearly every tax you have ever paid came from something happening. You earned money, so you paid tax. You spent money, so you paid tax. You sold something, so you paid tax. Something moved, and the taxman took a cut. What Labour's mates want is different. Nothing has to happen; you just have to own things. Add up what you own, and if that number is big enough, a bill turns up every single year. You could have had the worst year of your life, and the bill still comes. They will tell you not to worry, because they have drawn a line, and you are safely underneath it. So watch where that line has been. In 2023 both the Greens and Te Pāti Māori campaigned on it sitting at $2 million. It was still $2 million in Chloe Swarbrick’s alternative Budget last year. Now, months out from an election, the Greens have shifted theirs, and Te Pāti Māori are still keeping theirs secret. But here is the part that should really stop you cold. They never have to touch it again. They can leave the line exactly where it is and simply wait. Your land value goes up, the value of your shed goes up, your farm value goes up, and the value of your shop goes up. The line sits perfectly still, and one morning you look up and find you are standing on the wrong side of it. You spent your whole life being careful with your money, and now that same carefulness gets you an annual bill. And think about who could end up caught. Not just some bloke with millions sitting in the bank, but a farm that has been in the same family for three generations, a small business with the building on the books, and a sparky who owns his yard, his vans, a shed full of gear, and one rental unit he bought to see himself through retirement. Remember too, you were already taxed on that money once. You earned it, they took a cut, and you saved what was left instead of spending it. Now the saving itself is the offence. Do not let anyone tell you this could never happen, because Labour needs them to govern. They also need the money to fill their $18 billion funding gap. That is the real choice this November. National believes what you have built is yours. The other side reckons it is a number to be taxed, every year, for as long as you hold on to it. Share this if you reckon what you have built is your own business and nobody else's.

@actparty According to those who know this topic better (paraphrased), “There is already a right to restrain on 3 conditions: - immediate danger - how it’s done is safe & balanced - teachers have no other choice” PS: “Refuse a lawful direction” – teachers are not, and should not be, law.

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀... 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀! “Education is the key to a better tomorrow. Somehow, we've allowed disruptive students to steal valuable learning time from their classmates while teachers are denied the authority to stop them," says ACT Candidate Paul Henry, announcing new policy to address classroom disruption. "How can we expect teachers to administer world class education if we are not providing them with world class support? “Around half of teachers face disruption in every lesson. Forty-seven per cent say they lose 40 to 50 minutes or more a day dealing with it. “New Zealand has recorded some of the lowest disciplinary scores in the OECD. And here’s a tragedy: ERO says poor behaviour is driving good teachers out of the profession.
 “Most students behave well and want to learn. They should not have their education held hostage by a minority who refuse to respect their teacher or classmates. We should not be pandering to the disrupters. We should be supporting teachers and education. “ACT will give teachers a clear legal power to direct seriously or persistently disruptive students to leave the classroom. “The principle is simple: disrupt the class, leave the class. Refuse a lawful direction and the matter escalates. There will be real consequences, not woke complacency. “At the sharp end, disruption becomes violence, threats, intimidation, bullying or deliberate destruction of school property. Teachers and students should not be expected to put up with that. Teachers are not bystanders in a classroom, they are in charge, and I want them to feel supported and respected.” ACT will: - Give teachers the power to remove disruptive students: Teachers will have a clear legal power to direct seriously or persistently disruptive students to leave the classroom and go to a staffed, supervised space. - Back teachers who act reasonably: Staff will be protected when they use reasonable and proportionate intervention to prevent harm or the destruction of property. - Set firm consequences for assault: Assaulting a teacher, student, or other member of school staff will trigger immediate removal and a mandatory stand-down or suspension. Serious assaults will be referred to Police Youth Aid. - Make parents share responsibility: Parents will be required to engage when behaviour becomes serious or repeated, and may be held liable for deliberate property damage caused by their child. “This is not about returning to corporal punishment or locking children away. Removed students will remain supervised, and any physical intervention must be reasonable, proportionate, and backed by law. “When the school system allows a disruptive few to wreck a whole class, it fails every child who plays by the rules. “A teacher’s job is to teach. ACT will give them the authority to get on with it.”

@Whitneyed2 @celinegounder Aside from Fauci including his experiences in his biography, Jeremy Farrar (at the time director of the Wellcome Trust) wrote 'Spike', and long-time science writer David Quammen wrote 'Breathless'. Not medical treatises as such, of course.

@celinegounder I would like to ask if you can recommend a good recent book about the history of the pandemic, maybe one written at a level suitable for doctors and medical students and public health professionals. I need to read such a book if one has been published. Thanks!

Senator Paul claimed 80,000 animals tested at Wuhan market found zero COVID. The number's right, but he was citing nationwide surveillance. At the actual Huanan wet market? China CDC sampled 457 specimens across 18 species. All negative. The live mammals being sold in the wet market were removed on January 1, 2020, before sampling began. There was no testing of raccoon dogs, masked palm civets, or bamboo rats, the most likely intermediate hosts. Save and send to someone who heard this claim: celinegounder.com/p/fauci-senate… Read & subscribe for free: celinegounder.com

@winstonpeters If media "should" spend time investigating other parties, then they "should" investigate yours, too eh? You’ve undone your own argument 🤦 LOL

It seems Charlie Mitchell from Stuff is attempting a typical pathetic lowball hit job on NZFirst. This is what we are expecting from the leftwing shill media wanting to try and attack NZFirst because we are winning. Stuff has decided to try and drag a young member of our party through the mud. Not standing for the election. Not a candidate. Not a board member. Just a young member who is involved with the young NZF electorate. We have been sent a list of questions about the young member alleging his past “links” and “ties” with certain “right-wing” groups. The questions imply some sort of influence or involvement with our party - which is utterly ridiculous. It’s a loser of a journalist who thinks it’s ok to attack a young party member and member of the public just for biased clickbait gain - and that somehow any of this is the party’s responsibility. News flash: we have thousands of members and we don’t hire a private investigator to interrogate them before they sign up. This is a free country. Maybe Stuff should spend their time investigating stories on the Manchurian candidates in other parties actually standing for parliament or previous presidents of other parties who are actual criminals.

@nzfirst It was official de facto (= "in fact"). All that is new is "legal" paperwork added—a waste of Parliament’s time, when better things could have been done. This is a Peters song playing colonial/sovereignty conspiracy/white nationalist notes for votes.

@SAHZ74 @nzfirst Sorry, but last words as you’re being argumentative. Maori and NZSL never had de facto official status, leaving them unofficial; hence they had to be brought into official status. English didn’t, it was de facto official already by it’s use.

@BioinfoTools @nzfirst So Maori would be fine with their language being de facto instead of official because it doesn't mean anything?

@SAHZ74 @nzfirst De facto literally means it was "in fact".

@BioinfoTools @nzfirst Always was? No it wasn't. As you say it was defacto. Now it's official.

@CaseyCostelloMP Always was - x.com/BioinfoTools/s…

English is an official language of our country.

@nzfirst What Peters said in the House had nothing to do with democracy or free speech. He reacted badly to opposition doing what opposition does: oppose! In that he treated another person very badly, and was a Foreign Minister slagging another country – both good reasons for him to go.

@nzfirst See x.com/BioinfoTools/s…

We've made English an official language of New Zealand. Watch the full speech here: youtube.com/watch?v=5Pra-0…

@winstonpeters “see what it’s like in those communist and dictatorship countries” – doesn’t this make you even *less* suited to continue as Foreign Minister? Sure, they may work differently—but (good) Foreign Ministers are more careful about what they say. c.f. x.com/HelenClarkNZ/s…

The Chinese Ambassador’s comments have just proven the point I made in the House yesterday. No amount of pearl clutching and faux outrage is going to change it. We live in a democracy that includes free speech and rights - those two values that other certain countries not only limit, but do so with force. If you want to compare what our free democratic country has - in particular our parliament - then go back and see what it’s like in those communist and dictatorship countries and look for yourself. I will not resile from that point and New Zealanders should not resile from it. If that offends the pearl clutchers and the communist shills labelling it as ‘dangerous’ - welcome to New Zealand.

@piersmorgan A vaccine can do more that "just" help "prevent you dying from a disease". That is *a* main aim, yes, but not the only outcome. The *degree* each vaccine reduces the – odds of getting the disease, – severity of the disease if you get it, – transmission of the disease differs.

No, a vaccine helps prevent you dying from a disease. In COVID’s case, we were first told you couldn’t transmit it if you had the jab, then told the complete opposite. One of numerous scientific advisory contractions during the pandemic. x.com/pitinoempire16…

@vincristine @TakethatCt Mullis’ invention (for want of a better word) is excellent, but I wouldn’t put much weight on anything political he said. (FWIW, I spoke briefly with him at a conference 😀)

@TakethatCt And he patented it for this

Mullis was a huge fan of PCR for infectious disease diagnostics!

@AlexBerenson You’re best to think in terms of hospitalisations first, e.g. “Ten percent of all US case-patients ages 5 and under this year have required hospitalization, as have 10% of those 20 years and older.” (Source: CIDRAP.)

URGENT: US MEASLES DEATHS BY MONTH JANUARY: 0 FEBRUARY: ZIP MARCH: NONE APRIL: NADA MAY: ZILCH JUNE: ZERO JULY: 000.000

@ajlamesa @DrTedros @gabbystern @WHO Perhaps he misread the quoted passage by Fauci as being from you? IMHO a timeline may help? To my reading Fauci _notes_ China hadn’t _YET_ invited anyone from the USA to be on the international team *at that point in time*, c.f. "Still no" – i.e. not finalised yet, etc.

@DrTedros @gabbystern @WHO I'm surprised by this post. I reflected on criticism of the WHO (an organization I respect and have repeatedly defended) by Dr. Anthony Fauci, and never said that Americans didn't participate in the 2020 mission. I wish you and your colleagues the best.

Thanks @gabbystern for sharing the eveidence that there were two Americans in the @WHO mission to China in 2020, contrary to the claim by @ajlamesa. WHO doesn’t bow to anyone. We do our work neutrally and impartially. We don’t take sides with one country or another—we take sides with science and facts.

@kksheld The viral genome was sequenced & released within days, on Jan. 10, 2020. The vaccines were developed very quickly. Instant "antidote, cure" reads like pseudo-medicine—they require study of the infection, etc. Framing someone to project your trauma on them isn’t a solution.

Fauci lied. If only he had told the truth… the entire pandemic could have been managed differently. The gain of function-engineered viral code could have been immediately revealed and an antidote, cure, whatever you want to call it, could have been developed immediately. He’s a psychopath, a modern day evil villain, liar, cover up engineer, amoral, unethical mass-murderer. The truth will be known. Only the truth shall set us free. God help us!

@matt_horncastle Choosing one: a government (Nat/NZF/ACT) that made both worse.

What is a bigger problem in New Zealand? The price of housing / rent? The price of groceries? You can only choose one.

@kobo Is Kobo going to update the macOS Desktop Edition app? macOS is now warning as it contains Intel code it will need updating: Apple is set to drop Intel-based apps in upcoming versions of the OS. Also, the performance of the app "creaky"! It needs a good refresh, last done in 2024

The LATEST from the #KoboBlog: LIVE from Ever After, with Julia McKay & Kristine Winters bit.ly/45fyKVb