I so wish I could be there! Sadly, but unsurprisingly, already in touch with the organisers, and Police. I'm sure the event will be a great success, but the online rancour, violent misogyny, and related threats are already quite voluminous, & targeted. Would be folly to not consider seriously.
Family sues ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over school shooting in Canada www.yahoo.com/news/article...
FYI @siouxsiew.bsky.social @hendysh.bsky.social @ashbloomfield.bsky.social
And some other key differences in stress, and, essentially, science. Given the Inquiry's robust rejection of VFF's disinformation, it's easier to understand why the far-right network now seeks to vehemently discredit it, and the report's findings. bsky.app/profile/sanj... #nzpol
Row one covers viral risk and clinical outcomes. VFF claims the government exaggerated case numbers and mortality to justify an elimination strategy and argues COVID-19 posed risks similar to a severe influenza season. The inquiry reports epidemiological evidence showing much higher hospitalisation, intensive care use, and mortality than seasonal influenza, with risk remaining elevated until immunity increased through vaccination and prior infection. Row two addresses alleged synthetic DNA contamination in mRNA vaccines. VFF claims vaccines contain harmful levels of synthetic DNA and an SV40 promoter-enhancer that could cause cancer or genomic alteration. Regulators including Medsafe and the European Medicines Agency state that trace residual DNA appears in many biological products and remains far below safety limits. Scientific reviews show the SV40 fragment lacks the components required for oncogenic activity, and serious complications occur more often after infection than vaccination. Row three concerns alleged suppression of early treatments. VFF claims authorities discredited Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to protect vaccine authorisations. The inquiry cites large clinical trials, including RECOVERY and TOGETHER, which found no reduction in hospitalisation or mortality. Row four examines behavioural science in public health communication. VFF describes messaging and behavioural βnudgesβ as psychological manipulation. The inquiry frames them as crisis risk communication intended to coordinate behaviour and protect vulnerable groups. Row five covers international cooperation. VFF portrays the World Health Organization and pandemic agreements as threats to national sovereignty. The inquiry describes global data sharing and coordination as necessary for detecting emerging threats and developing countermeasures while states retain domestic authority.
Row one covers viral risk and clinical outcomes. VFF claims the government exaggerated case numbers and mortality to justify an elimination strategy and argues COVID-19 posed risks similar to a severe influenza season. The inquiry reports epidemiological evidence showing much higher hospitalisation, intensive care use, and mortality than seasonal influenza, with risk remaining elevated until immunity increased through vaccination and prior infection. Row two addresses alleged synthetic DNA contamination in mRNA vaccines. VFF claims vaccines contain harmful levels of synthetic DNA and an SV40 promoter-enhancer that could cause cancer or genomic alteration. Regulators including Medsafe and the European Medicines Agency state that trace residual DNA appears in many biological products and remains far below safety limits. Scientific reviews show the SV40 fragment lacks the components required for oncogenic activity, and serious complications occur more often after infection than vaccination. Row three concerns alleged suppression of early treatments. VFF claims authorities discredited Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to protect vaccine authorisations. The inquiry cites large clinical trials, including RECOVERY and TOGETHER, which found no reduction in hospitalisation or mortality. Row four examines behavioural science in public health communication. VFF describes messaging and behavioural βnudgesβ as psychological manipulation. The inquiry frames them as crisis risk communication intended to coordinate behaviour and protect vulnerable groups. Row five covers international cooperation. VFF portrays the World Health Organization and pandemic agreements as threats to national sovereignty. The inquiry describes global data sharing and coordination as necessary for detecting emerging threats and developing countermeasures while states retain domestic authority.
This comparison between what's in VFF's "People's Position" report, submitted to the Inquiry, & distributed amongst its vast membership vs what's in the Phase 2 official report may help others, incl. NZ journalists, understand the network's central role in creating splintered realities. #nzpol
Jacinda Ardern & Grant Robertson Old Friends. One Stage. One Night. In conversation with Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, NgΔi Tahu) Thursday 16 April | 7.30pm | Regent Theatre, Εtepoti
This should be interesting for folks in Dunners. nz.patronbase.com/_RegentTheat... @paullecomtephoto.nz @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social
Yes but Iβd encourage a different view in which what they say, aided by WPβs open arms to countryβs worst imaginable actors, becomes a hot button issue leading up to Novβs GE. From films to reports, YouTube series to podcasts, thereβs a universe of material fuelling violently splintered realities.
Indeed.
I fully expect partial readings, misrepresentations, & completely inaccurate, false frames around the report's findings - led by populist parties, & disinfo actors working in concert - to play out in the weeks, and months ahead leading up the general election, whipping up performative anger/angst.
Winston Peters is doing his own song, and dance on report's findings (generating 1000s of responses), which invariably will dovetail into what VFF/RCR et al will do to completely corrupt the report's findings (some of which is critical of official responses to C-19, but based on sound reasoning).
They entirely dismiss the Phase 2 report's scientific foundations as flawed assumptions, & also (now) frame the inquiry as the administrative state defending itself, serving to deepen distrust of consensus expertise. Encourages a wholesale retreat into a manufactured, nescient, alternative reality.
In a podcast today, RCR/VFF actors recast Phase 2's findings on information integrity (mis/disinfo etc) as a pretext for state censorship. They validate spread of false/inaccurate data by portraying it as suppressed truth whilst characterising the Commission as an instrument of official propaganda.
After milking it as much as it could during public hearings to grow their audiences, New Zealand's leading far-right, & anti-vaxx disinfo network now vehemently dismisses Phase 2's report - most likely because it doesn't embrace, & amplify their conspiracy mongering. Entirely expected. #nzpol
Financing the framework, fleeing the fallout: World Bank financing #digitalisation in Sri Lanka
www.linkedin.com/pulse/financ... (LinkedIn)
sanjanah.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/f... (WordPress)
#SriLanka #HumanRights
The reportβs rather simplistic suggestion that better information will somehow suffice (suggesting authors never spoke to or learnt from disinfo experts) doesn't counter what was then, & still is a strategic, sustained, sophisticated, industrial-scale, coordinated assault on the national psyche.
Rec on transparency to protect public trust good, but fails to address nature of information integrity's collapse, impacting NZ post-pandemic. We mapped rapid evolution in how domestic actors weaponised false narratives to destabilise democratic processes. Continues at an accelerated pace today.
IMO, Phase 2 report skims over what The Disinformation Project documented as a more strategic, sustained shift towards extremist ideologies, & intentional radicalisation during Covid-19. In a quick reading, the official review overlooks the systemic complexity of NZ's media/information ecologies.
All good points. *Every single one of them* (& far, far more!) are those that The Disinformation Project, led by Kate Hannah, consistently, & in near real-time provided grounded, & gendered insights, & warnings around - incl. in our 1st public report. static1.squarespace.com/static/65c9c... #nzpol
To counter future information threats, the inquiry recommends a measured and transparent approach to strategic comms. To essentially strengthen information integrity, & bolster public confidence, report notes the govt should be open about the science, & evidence that underpin its decisions.
Authors highlight evidence which suggests that disinfo had tangible effects on vaccine acceptance/uptake during Covid-19's height. Distribution of anti-vaxx content, frequently focused on safety concerns, reduced the intent of some (incl vaxx hesitant) citizens to seek immunisation.
Report notes that proliferating sources of false/inaccurate content targeted specific areas of Ardern govt's Covid-19 strategy. Anti-government narratives and conspiracy theories gained traction during the '21 lockdowns, which appears to have weakened social licence required for such measures.
Report notes a surge of inaccurate international information reached New Zealand, complicating an already volatile environment. This influx of disinformation exacerbated vaccine hesitancy and social division at critical junctures in the domestic responses.
The Phase 2 report's out www.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/reports-less... Inter alia, it flags how mis/disinfo significantly impacted NZ's pandemic response. Both undermined efficacy of vaxx campaign and implementation of lockdowns, contributing to a measurable decline in public trust. #nzpol
βIn this βeverything and nowβ society, people find it hard to understand that if we do not act now in the face of the climate crisis, the consequences will be even more seriousβ www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-po...
It is true that Proton is located in Switzerland and responded to a legal request from the Swiss authorities. But it is also true that most people do not know what an MLAT is and there is a widespread misunderstanding that using Proton will protect your account from US govt requests.
"The decision to rely on a US provider for sovereign defence work is something that unsettles many analysts" | Palantir embedding staff in Defence and mining Australian data under contract with Trump-aligned company www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/09/p... @openpolicy.bsky.social
Unsurprisingly, President Trump lies about doing things to children. This time, it's killing them. | U.S. Tomahawk Hit Naval Base Beside Iranian School, Video Shows www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w... (Gift link)
Interesting thread.
A request to sound smart and inspirational can also be read as a remarkable self-awareness around the acute realisation that one is innately neither. Beyond NZ, I see an increasing disconnect between what's written or posted to social media by politicians, & their actual moral compass/competencies.
