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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 5m

In case you missed this, the coalition Government is utterly without shame…

When Phonics Isn’t Reading: Why Today’s ‘Literacy Breakthrough’ Doesn’t Add Up

This afternoon, the Minister of Education announced what she called a “transformational boost” in reading achievement, crediting the government’s mandated structured literacy programme and newly intro...

aecnz.substack.com

Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Bevan Holloway @bevanholloway.com · 1h

“Stanford has been claiming a national “transformation” based in large part on the results over time of only 0.007% of the current Year 1 school population.”

Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Dodgy Claims About Reading Achievement – werewolf

werewolf.co.nz

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re not already reading Mountain Tui’s excellent Substack, you should. Easily one of the best sources for insight on #nzpol

Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 1d

Luxon boasting today about ram raid numbers falling - meanwhile #nzpol

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Duncan Webb MP @duncanwebbmp.bsky.social · 3d

The select committee report on the Regulatory Standards Bill is in.
📝166,000 submissions.
❌98.7% opposed.
Yet National are going to continue supporting it.
🗣New Zealand could not have been louder, but Luxon still isn’t listening.

Regulatory Standards Bill:
Select Committee Report:
166,000 submission total
0.7% supported
0.6% unclear
98.7% opposed

AUTHORISED BY DUNCAN WEBB MP, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS WELLINGTON

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 4d

Just when your think this government can’t possibly plumb new depths of stupidity: #nzpol

Screenshot of stuff.co.nz article describing farming lobby groups celebrating a reduction of methane targets

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Foxy @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 5d

There has been so much shit flying around about Luxon these last few days it's taken me this long to find out Luxon accidentally referred to Chris Hipkins as "The prime minister" in the House. Fuckin' lol #NZPol

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Funksta Uzz @funksta-uzz.bsky.social · 5d

Pretty bleak seeing people celebrate the awarding of the Nobel 'peace' prize to someone who not only fully supports Trump (and US attacks & interference in Venezuela), but who is also fully pro-Israel, pro-privatisation, and has sought alliances with far right leaders in Europe like Orban & Le Pen.

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Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 7d

In 2022, protestors hurled bricks, faeces at police & lit fires. Winston Peters said those protestors just wanted to be "heard" & shook their hands.

This week Peters called the mostly peaceful, law abiding Kiwis outside his home "gutless, spineless, [the] worst" protestors #nzpol

Faeces thrown at police at Parliament protest

Poo was pelted at officers during an early morning operation today to contain the protest at Parliament. The 3.30am operation caught the occupiers off guard with attempts to thwart the plan, resulting...

www.rnz.co.nz

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Watershitdown @watershitdown.bsky.social · 8d

Nats clutch their pearls and sanction Chloe in the house then call everyone a snowflake when they spout shit #nzpol

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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 10d

#nzpol The government has announced that 18/19 year olds, who live in a household where the parents earn $65,529 or more, can't claim jobseekers support. If both parents work 27 hours on the minimum wage - $634 a week - they will be expected to now financially support their adult offspring. A 🧵

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David Cormack @davidcormack.bsky.social · 10d

god help me. this is just cruelty. these are human beings, you monsters.

'The world doesn’t owe you a living’: PM says 4300 teens will lose Jobseeker benefit next year

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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 17d

#nzpol Monthly employment data - and there are 4,814 more jobs than this time last month! Whoop. Only 42,746 to go to get us to where we were at the last election. 62 jobs lost every single day of this government, one roughly every 23 minutes. A 🧵

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 17d

Aimé Césaire

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 17d

Aotearoa has been governed by some awful people in the past; grifters, racists, drunks and economic vandals. But never ever have we had such a spineless coward for a prime minister. Chris Luxon is an utterly craven husk of a person. #nzpol #freepalestine

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · 20d

Cartoon
Bondi-the DOJ will be targeting hate speech
Reporter- define hate speech
Bondi-speech that we hate!

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · 22d

Nothwithstanding those folk who voted for this chaos. And the groundswell tractor circus, uncles listening to talkback, Brian T’s clown parade, Sean Plunkett, anybody on Newstalk ZB, VFF grifters, Don “I’m not racist” Brash, the Wizard of Christchurch, Wayne “road cone Brown, Peter fucking Thiel…

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · Sep 7

Posted duckface selfies as if he was a teenage Kardashian Stan…like a fucking weirdo.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Aug 12

“The AI in the study probably prompted doctors to become over-reliant on its recommendations, ‘leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance,’ the scientists said in the paper.”

AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study

Artificial intelligence, touted for its potential to transform medicine, led to some doctors losing skills after just a few months in a new study.

www.bloomberg.com

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · Aug 12

Is it Fascism yet?

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · Aug 8

I wonder if there is a more acute way to capture the zeitgeist of horrific and criminal contradictions than a picture of a dead paedophile wearing an IDF sweatshirt alongside a claim that he loved life.

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · Jul 30

New Zealand still part of the coalition of cowardice. To have still not recognised Palestine despite the horrific situation there is now an historically craven position.

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Jul 22

“whether or not you were infected” 😬

COVID-19 Made Our Brains Age Faster

A new study suggests that the pandemic took a toll on your brain even before you got infected.

time.com

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Jul 20

It's utterly mad.
These people are the opposite of terrorists.
THEY WANT PEACE.
The police know they're not terrorists.
The government knows they're not terrorists.
Yet, on the Home Secretary's orders, they're being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

More than 100 arrested across UK at protests related to Palestine Action

Police in London detain scores of people and confiscate placards under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000

www.theguardian.com

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Jai Bentley-Payne @abstractivist.bsky.social · Jul 19

M. Beatrice Fazi @mbfazi.bsky.social · Nov 18

The Journal of Continental Philosophy has just published my latest article, “The Computational Search for Unity: Synthesis in Generative AI”.

I address the representational reality of LLMs through the philosophical concept of synthesis.

Online First PDF here:
www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf...

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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Jul 9

"Grok is not an anomaly; it is a mirror. It reflects, with algorithmic fidelity, the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the ideology it was designed to serve."

www.thedissident.news/the-algorith...

The Algorithmic Unmasking: How Grok's "MechaHitler" Turn Revealed the Inevitable Collapse of "Anti-Woke" AI

The moment Elon Musk’s AI, Grok, began praising Adolf Hitler was not a bug or a glitch. It was a moment of perfect, unadulterated clarity. When Grok declared itself “MechaHitler” and spouted antisemit...

www.thedissident.news

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