THIS IS THE THING. People who love to read are often too exhausted--by labor, by far of homelessness, of political violence, of the fucking *future*--to read for pleasure, and even escapist reading can succumb to those pressures ::raises both hands frantically:: ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

Whether against Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Ghahraman, Ardern, other MPs, Wiles, Bloomfield, & others involved in pandemic response, transgender activists, drag queens, judges, lawyers or academics - effects of doxxing are inherently harmful, & often leads to kinetic violence or vandalism.

Remember a few years back when an angry mob camped outside parliament, harrassed school children, shat everywhere, set the playground on fire and put up a noose to hang members of the government with?

There’s nothing like seeing a distant kangaroo in the mist to make me feel the age of the landscape.

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

Least surprising story of the day #nzpol

I haven't seen Love Actually! Or Titanic, or most famous movies. I don't have the attention span for movies.

Luxon said multiple times during the announcement of these Jobseeker changesand the following interviews is; "we're sending a message". Aside from being an unnecessary change it's just vice signalling to the conservative voting base and a threat against anyone struggling #nzpol

I believe in Long COVID... AND ALSO brain fog, cognitive decline, and memory loss sound like what all of us are suffering from living under patriarchal capitalism that uses us up

#protest #genocide #gaza

"In accordance with the prophecy"

So I just finished writing a very long letter to W&I explaining how my children aren't normal. And, you know, we get through each day, and it's usually only when I have to tell someone the whole situation, like today, that I think ... Wow, that's all kind of a lot

And when the kids complain about me playing SEB again they can just shut up

We should all be demanding access to generational wealth

“Research released in 2023 found that it is impossible for a median-income couple in NZ to save for a house deposit without parental help. That’s putting into official words what everyone under 40 has known for at least 10 years.” Our tagline: You can only thrive in NZ with generational wealth.🫠

'We want young people in work, in training or other ed' says the man whose government halved the apprenticeship boost allowance and moved fees free to year 3 along with destablising Polytech learning.

*checks chore list* do i have time to fit a little cry in

W&I once pressured me to walk out on my ~20 hour fixed contract job to go and pick fruit for six weeks (SIX WEEKS). Obviously it was better for everyone if I stayed with the long-term work! Such a box-ticking exercise I have never seen

I mean this is just more of neoliberalism recentering the (nuclear, White, heteronormative) family as the One True social safety-net and then wandering off whistling, hands in pockets. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

I was on the benefit when I was 19, and *nothing* about it was comfortable

Just a reminder that a policy to reduce the number of people on benefits isn’t the same as ensuring they have jobs. The language and metrics used in policy decisions can create perverse outcomes.

This “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” propaganda is demonstrably a false narrative when all the ways to pull yourself up have been deliberately and systemically removed by people who have never had to worry a single day in their entire lives about where their next meal is going to come from.

If Luxon wants young people who can't find work (because the government has screwed the job market) to do training... he shouldn't be cutting training. What a lying hypocritical piece of shit

Luxon just said that young people need to go to Hawkes Bay where all the jobs are

Any New Zealander who doesn’t see a problem with this requires a in-depth cultural literacy education. Pākehā domination is not acceptable anymore. The voices of diversity in this country are no longer something Pākehā systems can suppress. To see the face of Pākehā domination in 2025 is chilling.

It's lovely to hear US radio playing Aotearoan music, but... I don't think we expect you to pronounce everything in te reo perfectly (god knows we Pākehā don't), but maybe you could pronounce 'Māori' correctly?

So anyway as a now semi-professional funeral-attender i have some thoughts: 1. Religious services are better than secular services because there's a bunch of other stuff to fill the hour. I'm especially taken with catholic services where standing up and sitting down takes up A LOT of the time.

I've had my two small cups of wine, I've had an awful day/month/year, and actually I think I'm going to carry on. (This is a magic. I know from experience that by verbalising this I will almost certainly stop drinking for the evening. Such is the contrary nature of human existence)

Honestly, politics comes down to asking Do you want to help people? Like, all the people? Right now? Like, straight up, you've got access to the funds, you can start improving people's lives FOR REAL *tomorrow*, do you want to do that? Or do you just want to enrich a few people?

I love daylight savings. That is all.

Neurodivergent folks should all be paid a stipend to do things we like to do, and the world would end up benefiting from it.

'Liking' is as important as 'Loving'. So often Love seems obligatory or assumed. Of course you love your father or your spouse. But 'Liking' is active, intentional. You want to spend time with those you like. You talk to them, share things with them. I quite like my gumpy father (most of the time).

I saw some article worrying about how Taylor Swift is leading the 'gamifying of music', hiding references and puzzles and secret meanings in her songs, and folks *that* is why we need Art History

Yeah so maybe today *is* an only listening Crystal Gayle morning maybe you should just mind your business

You can’t fix autism because autistic people are not broken.

What is it with men and leaf-blowers?

London Transport women bus conductors play snooker between shifts. Photo by Keystone Press Agency, September 1941. Ref 2005/4584, London Transport Museum.

Hey, I think people shouldn't be objectifed in their workplace. And it doesn't matter what gender they are. Or how old they are, or whether you think they ought to flattered. People should stay professional.

Hey, fuck you, universe

In the thirty years following the Second World War, there was a broad political consensus. Taxpayers & politicians alike recognised that the best defence against fascism was to ensure that everyone's needs were met through a strong social safety net and robust public services. #nzpol

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller August 8,1945

I wrote a thing. As someone who survived the 1970s and kept the receipts.

Hey, remember when Minnesota senator Melissa Hortman was murdered, along with her husband, and her fellow senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot? Like, this year? Because apparently a lot of other people don't

I'm going through the local elections booklet and jesus people, if you are a new candidate and an unknown quantity I don't particularly care as much about your qualifications as WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO IF YOU GET INTO COUNCIL HOW HARD WOULD THAT BE TO WRITE DOWN VERY HARD APPARENTLY

Re: Te Pati Māori members (supposedly) giving the Pākehā media the cold shoulder… I watch my Māori (and Pacifika) collegues expending *so much energy* to engage with the Pākehā establishment on behalf of Māori students, and honestly? I'd kind of get it if TPM want to pick and choose their battles.

Conservative pundits: We will not be silenced Everyone else: no shit

When you make two to three meals a night due to various dietry needs, and you realise as you're dishing it all up that you've forgotten someone... well, it becomes kind of spirit-breaking

The taxi driver wanted to talk about the Phillips case, specifically: "What I want to know is, what's the story with the mother", which I thought quite an impressive backward summersault into mother-blaming and 'why did she let this happen'

Looking forward to strong commentary from David Seymour and Winston Peters on the difference between free speech & violence and the need to protect democracy regarding the resignation of an MP who received death threats following politically motivated targeting amplified by members of the NZ Govt.🦗

Ideally, I would have just enough money that I would barely ever have to leave my house, and never leave my neighbourhood.