Friday Open Thread

Essay by Eric Worrall

Jacinda Ardern, who once called public climate skepticism “weapons of war” from which people have to be protected, has resigned as Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Jacinda Ardern resigns as prime minister of New Zealand

Labour leader will stand down no later than 7 February, saying she ‘no longer had enough in the tank’ to do the job

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said she is resigning, in a shock announcement that came as she confirmed a national election for October this year.

At the party’s annual caucus meeting on Thursday, Ardern said she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job. “It’s time,” she said.

“I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple,” she said.

Her term as prime minister will conclude no later than 7 February, but she will continue as an MP until the election later this year.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/jacinda-ardern-resigns-as-prime-minister-of-new-zealand

That call for climate censorship;

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The lessons of COVID are in many ways the same as the lessons of climate change.

When crisis is upon us, we cannot and will not solve these issues on our own.

The next pandemic will not be prevented by one country’s efforts but by all of ours. Climate action will only ever be as successful as the least committed country, as they pull down the ambition of the collective.

I am not suggesting though that we rely on the goodwill of others to make progress. 

We need a dual strategy. One where we push for collective effort but we also use our multilateral tools to make progress.

That’s why on pandemic preparedness we support efforts to develop a new global health legal instrument, strengthened international health regulations and a strong and empowered World Health Organization.

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On March 15, 2019, New Zealand experienced a horrific terrorist attack on its Muslim community. 

More than 50 people were killed as they prayed. The attack was live-streamed on a popular social media platform in an effort to gain notoriety, and to spread hate.

At that time, the ability to thwart those goals was limited. And the chances of Government alone being able to resolve this gap was equally challenging. 

That’s why, alongside President Emmanuel Macron, we created the Christchurch Call to Action.

The Call community has worked together to address terrorism and violent extremist content online. As this important work progresses, we have demonstrated the impact we can have by working together collaboratively.

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This week we launched an initiative alongside companies and non-profits to help improve research and understanding of how a person’s online experiences are curated by automated processes. This will also be important in understanding more about mis and disinformation online. A challenge that we must as leaders address.

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As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even those most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as being hostile to the values of free speech we value so highly.

But while I cannot tell you today what the answer is to this challenge, I can say with complete certainty that we cannot ignore it. To do so poses an equal threat to the norms we all value.

After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble? How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld, when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology?

The weapons may be different but the goals of those who perpetuate them are often the same. To cause chaos and reduce the ability of others to defend themselves. To disband communities. To collapse the collective strength of countries who work together.

But we have an opportunity here to ensure that these particular weapons of war do not become an established part of warfare.

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Read more: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/09/full-speech-jacinda-ardern-addresses-un-general-assembly.html

Video of Prime Minister Ardern’s speech calling for climate censorship;

I’m guessing she has decided to leave before she is pushed.

The following is high profile Aussie commentator Andrew Bolt’s view on Jacinda’s legacy;

I can’t think of any important New Zealand industry which wasn’t impacted by Jacinda’s green wrecking ball. She will be remembered for her fart tax and her damaging green zealotry, long after she has gone, along with her imposition of one of the most extreme Covid lockdowns in the Western World. New Zealand’s hermit kingdom lockdown was only rivalled by China’s Covid lockdown insanity.

Good riddance Jacinda. I for one won’t miss you.

By Jo Nova

What would it look like if a doomsday cult had a billion dollars to spend on a skiing holiday?

Maybe like the World Economic Forum: Here are people who think they are the select few, saviours of the world. They’re touched, they say by something (like an extra terrestrial maybe?) It’s an apocalypse, you know, like 600,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs says Al Gore. They’re boiling the oceans.

They might be powerful and rich, but the good news is they are utterly absurd.

The modern prophets are here to rescue you

Especially US climate envoy John Kerry:

“When you start to think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary that we – a select group of human beings, because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives – are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet,” Kerry told a WEF panel on Tuesday.

“It’s so… almost extra-terrestrial to think about, saving the planet. If you say that to most people most people, they think you’re just a crazy tree hugging and lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, whatever,” he added.

From somewhere above Earth in an omnipotent kind of place, here’s someone who thinks he’s God:

As Jordan Peterson says: “Who are you gong to sacrifice to save the planet @JohnKerry  — and do you think and how will you ensure that they have any say in the matter?“

Thanks to Umang Sharma at Firstpost

It’s the hellfire and brimstone formula, with hyperbole, sensationalism and big-scary-numbers.

Chris Donaldson, BizPac Review, claimed the overstuffed prophet of climate doom delivered a deranged rant, and all Donaldson had to do was quote him:

“We’re still putting 162 million tons into it every single day, and the accumulated amount is now trapping as much extra heat as would be released by 600,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs exploding every single day on the Earth,” Gore said.

“That’s what’s boiling the oceans, creating these atmospheric rivers and the rain bombs and sucking the moisture out of the land and creating the droughts and melting the ice and raising the sea level and causing these waves of climate refugees predicted to reach 1 billion in this century,” he ranted.

“Look at the xenophobia and political authoritarian trends that have come from just a few million refugees. What about a billion? We would lose our capacity for self governance on this world.

Have you seen a bomb going off? Me neither.

Give us your money

It all comes back to one thing.

Or that other thing at €2,300 a night:

You’d think planetary heroes would be more popular with the girls?

My favourite description of the WEF is that they are globalization’s “Mafiocracy” of bankers, industrialists, oligarchs, technocrats and politicians.

h/t another ian, John Connor II, Doc, David.