The comments will be disabled on all CBC Facebook pages, including News, Current Affairs and Local and all video posts.
“Although Twitter is also mentioned as often being a “cesspool of hatred” for journalists, at least for now, only comments on Facebook will be temporarily turned off, apparently as a healthcare measure prescribed by the broadcaster, to itself,” writes Didi Rankovic.
A number of years ago, many news outlets began removing forums and comment sections after studies found that many people judged the accuracy and trustworthiness of the article based on reader responses.
In other words, media corporations are so desperate to control the narrative that they don’t want respondents calling them out on bias and misreporting.
As well as objects, the Kapiti Museum in Elizabeth Street has an interesting collection of photos and documents. This shows pupils and presumably the teacher hoeing vegetables in a large patch outside the school. At its initial roll was 26 in 1896, this must show them all, perhaps some parents also. Pumpkins are in the foreground.
Three contractors bid to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Kentucky and the third is from New Orleans. All three go with a White House official to examine the fence.
The New Orleans contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil.
“Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $9,000. That’s $4,000 for materials, $4,000 for my crew and $1,000 profit for me.”
The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $7,000. That’s $3,000 for materials, $3,000 for my crew and $1,000 profit for me.”
The Chicago contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$27,000.”
The official, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?”
“The Chicago contractor whispers back, “$10,000 for me, $10,000 for you, and we hire the guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.”
“Done!” replies the government official.
And that, my friends, is how the Government stimulus plan worked.
Remember — four boxes keep us free: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.
“I love my country … it’s the government I’m afraid of!”
It is an unforgettable story of frantic marching, extreme weather, brutal fighting and extraordinary courage of those caught up in the last great battle of horse, musket and cannon shot. –Historian, Tim Clayton
Not all over
By Roger Childs
It was March 1815 and the European great powers thought that Napoleon was no longer a threat to peace on the continent. They had endured over 20 years of war and were now in Vienna, feasting, dancing, playing up and occasionally negotiating the future map of Europe.
However, they were jolted out of their revelry and increasing political disagreement by the news that Bonaparte had escaped from the Mediterranean island of Elba and was being welcomed back to France. It was time for the allies to get back in the saddle and unite against the common enemy.
A legacy of on-going war
From the mid 1790s France was the dominant power in Europe. Following the French revolution in 1789 which overthrew the corrupt and autocratic Bourbon dynasty, the European monarchies were terrified that the revolutionary contagion would spread.
They decided to invade France, but ultimately, lead by a young Corsican soldier, the French turned the tables. Napoleon Bonaparte is arguably one of the greatest military strategists of all time and it was under his leadership that France came to dominate Europe. He redrew the map of the continent and helped spread revolutionary ideas from Spain to Poland.
However, in 1812 he made his greatest mistake: invading Russia. Although he reached Moscow, Napoleon was forced to retreat in the freezing Russian winter and lost most of his army. Under the inspirational leadership of Czar Alexander I, the well organised and provisioned Russian forces drove the French back across Europe.
The end of the Napoleonic wars?
By 1814, the Quadruple Alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia and Britain, had defeated the French, exiled Napoleon to Elba and restored Louis XVIII to the throne of France. With the war seemingly over it was off to Vienna where a Congress was held to decide the future boundaries of Europe.
It was no easy task and in trying to distribute the spoils among themselves and nations that had supported them, they were soon at loggerheads. However, Napoleon’s return to France and overthrow of Louis XVIII, re-established the united front among the four powers.
Napoleon’s gamble
When his attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with the other powers failed, Napoleon realised that he would have to defeat the coalition on the battlefield to gain recognition of his renewed rule in France. He rebuilt the French army and headed north-east to confront the Allied forces.
His fate and the future of Europe would be decided on a small battlefield in Belgium. The epic battle was fought in an area of only 8km².
Napoloen had some early successes in minor engagements, defeating
the British forces at Quatre Bras
the Prussians at Ligny.
However, both Coalition armies were able to withdraw in good order to fight another day. Surprisingly Napoleon failed to give instructions to harass the retreating Prussians, until it was too late.
The great general or the little corporal as many called him, was suffering from stomach cancer and his usual superb strategic instincts would often elude him in the coming days.
Wellington calls the shots
The Duke of Wellington led the main Allied army which consisted of thousands of Dutch, Belgian and Hanoverian troops as well as British divisions. Because Napoleon had to seek a battle, Wellington was able to choose the ground: near the village of Waterloo.
So he-
took the high ground
placed most of his troops behind a ridge
fortified two small settlements Le Haye Sainte and Hougoumont on the slope of the ridge to allow cross fire on the advancing French
forced the French to attack up the ridge.
A lethal one day battle: 18 June 1815
The battle raged all day and had many twists and turns. The weather had been dreadful in the preceding days with heavy rain turning the battlefield into a quagmire. This made it difficult for troops to advance, for cavalry to ride easily and for cannon balls to bounce.
Infantry in those days advanced in tight columns, so that once the firing began the casualties were horrific. Musket rounds always shattered bones so if you were hit in the arms or legs it was automatic amputation, that’s if you made it back to the field station.
Casualties were horrific and in the space of 12 hours
the Allies lost c. 22,000 dead or wounded
the French lost c. 25,000 dead, wounded or captured.
The heroism of the combatants on both sides was extraordinary as they fought on in dense smoke and incredible noise. Understandably in this age before field telegraph and cellphones, it was very difficult for the generals to communicate. Also leaders on horseback were easy targets for sharpshooters. Much depended on the intiative of local commanders.
The outcome was in doubt until the early evening. After holding off the French infantry advances and cavalry sorties, Wellington’s forces were under pressure late in the day, especially when the French eventually captured the ferociously defended Hougoumont settlement.
Both sides were anticipating reinforcements.
Napoleon hoped Marshal Grouchy, who had chased after the Prussians a few days earlier, would arrive with his 30,000 strong army.
Wellington was expecting the 50,000 Prussian forces under General Blucher.
Then out of the smog behind the French and on their left flank, Blucher appeared in the nick of time. Blucher greeted Wellington with Mein lieber Kamerad! Quelle affaire! Napoleon was doomed.
The Duke of Wellingtonwould later make this judgment of the battle “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life”
The Waterloo legacy
This time Napoleon was banished to the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic. Louis XVIII was again restored to the French throne and Russia, Austria, Britain and Prussia eventually redrew the map of Europe at Vienna.
The map would change drastically as the 19th century progressed, but in the aftermath of Waterloo and the end of 26 years of on and off warfare, the great powers established a process of meeting to discuss major issues on the continent.
Although there were many revolutions and localised wars in Europe during the 19th century, the great powers would not engage in a continent wide conflict until the horrendous war of 1914-18.
Our region was named after the Duke of Wellington, and naturally the city has a Waterloo Quay.
The Lion’s Mound (French: Butte du Lion, lit. “Lion’s Hillock/Knoll”; Dutch: Leeuw van Waterloo) is one of the monuments around the historical battleground area in what is now Belgium. The engineer Jean-Baptiste Vifquain conceived of it as a symbol of the Allied victory rather than as glorifying any sole individual. (Wikimedia commons)
As most readers will know, after being on the market for some time, TV3 was finally bought by U.S. media company Discovery for the now disclosed amount of $20 million recently and the above question is the subject of this article on the Newsroom website.
Many see TV3 as just an alternate Legacy Media broadcaster to TVNZ and associate it with the annoyingly partisan (pro-Labour, anti-National) Newshub newshour and current affairs shows where political dominatrix Tova O’Brien and the equally irritating Jenna Lynch and Patrick Gower are regular features. Even the politically similar Newsroom says in the article: “Newshub’s underperformance, particularly at 6pm, is a problem Discovery will need to solve if it is to extract full value from increases in local programming after 7.30 pm.”
But Newshub a.k.a. TelePravda is only one aspect of what is a full fledged Free to Air channel which includes local programs — according to new boss Glen Kyne these are slated to be increased, and although entertainment like drama can be expensive to make, it also attracts bigger audiences. Having the backing of a big U.S. media company with plenty of cash should enable that.
“The first big change viewers will notice is the disappearance of Three Now (the old MediaWorks’ video on demand platform) and the arrival of Discovery’s new flagship streaming service Discovery +. No real surprise here, as acquiring a local launch pad for its digital ambitions was always likely to be the reason behind Discovery’s purchase of MediaWorks’ TV assets.
“Discovery+ is the US company’s response (albeit a slightly slow one) to the streaming revolution which has seen Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ grab a huge share of the entertainment market. Discovery added some serious firepower to its own arsenal recently by merging with Warner Bros. The deal adds CNN and a host of top dramas, including Game of Thrones, to Discovery’s stable of reality TV, nature and crime shows.”
