Daily Kindness Blog

Right here, right now, you already matter. Even if you’re dead broke and struggling to make ends meet; even if no one outside your circle of friends and loved ones recognizes your name.

You know why? Because you exist. Because you see the world through your own unique set of eyes, love others in your own individual way, and create memories that only you can call your own. You have your very own sense of humor, your very own taste in music and books, ticks and annoyances.

‘This is not my New Zealand.’ Ahead of her speech to the UN this week, the Race Relations Commissioner calls on politicians to stand on principle and do right by the victims of institutional abuse.

Earlier this year I was on the same train in America where a week before a man had murdered two strangers after they challenged his racist abuse of two young women. That train carriage was a galaxy away from New Zealand, where we are consistently rated one of the most peaceful nations on earth, as well as one of the most ethnically diverse.

And yet back home, while I’m incredibly privileged to have met so many awesome New Zealanders during my time as Race Relations Commissioner, the reality is that so many of them have faced racial abuse from strangers as they ride the train or take the bus to work. Overt racial attacks do not only happen overseas. Racial hatred starts small, but so too does hope. This is why we launched our country’s first nationwide anti-racism campaign, millions of people have shown their support for our message that Taika Waititi articulated so perfectly: Give Nothing to Racism. The fact that so many of our celebrities dropped everything to support us made me feel so proud to be a Kiwi.

That’s why when I speak at the UN Committee responsible for the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this week I will be talking about hope. Because my hope is that everyday people will agree that we need to treat each other with respect if we want our children to have the kind of future they deserve. One thing we want is for our police to record hate crimes. At the moment if someone attacks a mosque or a synagogue with racist graffiti it is recorded as property damage; we want to ensure it is also recorded as a racially motivated crime.

Last month I stood alongside survivors of state abuse who were put in government institutions – often for little or no reason at all – as children where they suffered horrific abuse over many years. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever done. They held onto photos of themselves and others as children: youngsters with cheeky toothless grins, beautiful babies. These New Zealanders went on to suffer years of abuse at the hands of their own government. We know that of the children who were taken, the overwhelming majority were Māori: upwards of 80% and sometimes 100% in various children’s homes. These state homes were the beginning of the mass incarceration of Māori New Zealanders in our state institutions. And it is still going on.

The fact that our government has refused a full investigation into the systemic abuse of children and disabled New Zealanders is not only wrong, it is immoral. This is not my New Zealand and I will be urging the UN to tell our government to do the right thing.

I’ve met thousands of people during my time in this role. So many former refugees, asylum seekers and migrants tell me these words: I love New Zealand. My role is to ensure that New Zealand loves them back. My role is to encourage other New Zealanders to treat them with respect as fellow Kiwis and vice versa.

Generations of Māori New Zealanders have suffered so much at the hands of the state. One man who’d spent his childhood in a state institution where he was horrifically abused told me “My government has never loved me or cared about me”. My role is to make sure that his government cares about him enough to say sorry and to investigate what happened to him and thousands of others so it can never happen again.

NOTE: This blog will be going into breaking weather news coverage on Wednesday, due to the massive winter storm slated to hit the Eastern coast of the United States.

Unforgiving cold has punished the eastern third of the United States for the past 10 days. But the most severe winter weather yet will assault the area late this week.

First, a monster storm will hammer coastal locations from Georgia to Maine with ice and snow. By Thursday, the exploding storm will, in many ways, resemble a winter hurricane, battering easternmost New England with potentially damaging winds in addition to blinding snow.

Forecasters are expecting the storm to become a so-called “bomb cyclone” because its pressure is predicted to fall so fast, an indicator of explosive strengthening. The storm could rank as the most intense over the waters east of New England in decades at this time of year. While blizzard conditions could paste some coastal areas, the most extreme conditions will remain well out over the ocean.

In the storm’s wake, the mother lode of numbing cold will crash south — likely the last but most bitter in brutal blasts since Christmas Eve.

The storm: How much snow and wind, and where

The responsible storm is forecast to begin taking shape off the coast of Florida Wednesday, unloading hazardous snow and ice in highly unusual locations not accustomed to such weather. The National Weather Service has already posted winter storm watches from Lake City, Fla. to Norfolk

It is then expected to rapidly intensify, buffeting the Mid-Atlantic beaches and eastern New England, where winter storm watches have also been issued.

The National Weather Service office serving northeast Florida and southeast Georgia cautions that a nasty mix of light freezing rain, light sleet and light snow is expected to develop Wednesday “with significant icing possible.”

In Charleston, one to three inches of snow and sleet is forecast Wednesday, where the Weather Service warns to “plan on difficult travel conditions.”

Here is the latest from WPC regarding the East Coast winter storm for Wednesday and Thursday. pic.twitter.com/kfpoWoT38n

— NWS WPC (@NWSWPC) January 2, 2018

From Norfolk to the Maryland and Delaware beaches, including much of the southern half of the Delmarva Peninsula, 3 to 6 inches of heavy snow are predicted from Wednesday evening to Thursday afternoon.

Farther inland in the Mid-Atlantic, near Interstate 95, the storm’s exact track will be highly consequential. Current computer models suggest most, if not all, snowfall will occur east of Washington and Baltimore on Wednesday night into early Thursday. But small shifts to the west could bring some snow to these cities.

To the north, Philadelphia and New York have a better chance for a coating of snow, but  — unless the storm edges closer to the coast — the more significant snow should remain to their east from Atlantic City to eastern Long Island, where at least four to six inches could fall late Wednesday to late Thursday.

By the time the storm reaches the ocean waters east of Long Island and eastern New England on Thursday, it will be explosively intensifying. The storm’s central pressure will have fallen 53 millibars in just 24 hours — an astonishing rate of intensification.

“Some computer models are projecting a minimum central air pressure of below 950 millibars at its peak, which would be nearly unheard of for this part of the world outside of a hurricane,” wrote Mashable’s Andrew Freedman. “For comparison, Hurricane Sandy had a minimum central pressure of about 946 millibars when it made its left hook into New Jersey in 2012.”

Winds will crank in response to this pressure drop, howling to at least 30 to 50 mph along the coast. Winds will be considerably stronger over the ocean — exceeding hurricane force — where enormous waves will form.

In Boston, the Weather Service is predicting not only four to seven inches of snow but also winds strong enough to bring down branches. Throughout eastern Massachusetts and eastern Maine, the combination of wind and snow could create blizzard conditions, especially if the storm wobbles west.

“Our biggest concern is the potential for damaging wind gusts especially near the southeast New England coast,” the Weather Service tweeted. “Power outage risk followed by arctic air Fri/Sat a big concern!”

The cold in its wake: record-breaking

The storm’s enormous circulation will help draw several lobes of the polar vortex, the zone of frigid air encircling the North Pole, over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast by Friday and Saturday. Wicked cold air sourced from Siberia, the North Pole and Greenland will all converge on the region.

Even in the first 12/28 entry offered, regardless of where this storm tracks, it was quite evident that EVERYTHING pours in behind it. Siberia, North Pole, Greenland. Everything. Severe cold snap behind this storm. Think power may go? Start planning… pic.twitter.com/ye85dPHjcW

— crankyweatherguy (@crankywxguy) January 1, 2018

Temperatures are forecast to be 20 to 40 degrees below normal, the coldest of the winter so far.

Most locations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are predicted to set records for cold temperatures on Friday with highs in the single digits and teens.

On Saturday morning, subzero cold is forecast over almost all of New England, with single digits in the Mid-Atlantic.

Winds, gusting to 30 mph, will make these areas feel 10 to 20 degrees colder.

Doot doot doot doot doot doot doot- doot doot doot- dooooo

(10:00)