David, I'm concerned (and I am sure I am not the only one) that this might happen to you. News outlets report border officers going through people's social media to find a just cause for detention. Do you (and this is the world we are in right now) have a detention plan? Do you have the NZ embassy phone number memorized to get a Murray Hewitt on case? On second thought, maybe you should memorize someone else's number, but yeah, maybe think about having a plan.
So often, when I'm feeling like shit, a webworm post lands in my hands and lends me a little bravery. A little defiance. Cheek. And strength. Thanks, David ❤️. I needed it today x
Beautifully said and I appreciate your courage. In the letter from Mahmoud Khalil, one sentence in particular hit me hard - "Who has the right to have rights?" The truth in our current political climate is that now more than ever, everybody's rights are up for grabs. When I first started getting more educated and involved in various "political issues" (I use quotes because the basic rights of our fellow humans to simply live their lives really shouldn't be considered political), one quote I regularly came back to was a particular gem from Bayard Rustin, "Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don't fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later, it will return on me." So many people are content to look away saying "this doesn't involve me" but it ALWAYS involves you. That's why it's more important than ever for us to stand together and support one another.
So happy to keep paying my (small) share to keep Webworm going. The comments sections on here are the least scary comments sections on the entire internet - and that's a true testament to you.
Gaza is - or rather should be - literally incredible. But then, so is all that is happening in a country that for so long has boasted of being the world's greatest democracy, while billions of people have nodded in agreement, seduced by the happiness of buying more and more crap. USA has been involved in supporting - not stopping - tyranny for decades. Ask the Argentines and the Chileans, or African nations whose ,"socialist", ie left-wing, socially progressive governments, have been manipulated out of power so that USA can lay its greedy hands on their resources.
The only difference now, is that Donald Trump doesn't even try to disguise things any more. No more dressing land grabs up as "interventions to restore/install democracy". Just we want it and therefore we'll take it.
Gaza today. West Bank tomorrow. Greenland and Panama next. And any other unfortunate country that comes under their rapacious eyes.
Be very, very careful David. Being white and male is no longer enough protection.
Glad to be a paying member, even if it's not much. A lot of things in this world are complicated, but being against genocide is not one of them. And yet so, so many people are failing this simple test.
It's hard to put into words how I feel as an American right now. Ashamed, embarrassed, angry. A lot of dread at what it's going to take to get people to wake up and realize what's happening in front of their faces. I'm daunted by the prospect of the decades of work it's going to take to undo all the damage that's being done. And I'm relatively safe in a blue state.
But I also have to remember it's important not to give in to despair. Saying it's hopeless is just surrendering in advance. There will be an "After Trump". We just don't know how we'll get there yet.
And thanks for the reminder of "after Trump" - I just hope the pendulum swings back and we find a way to care for each other again. Right now things feel too broken and unhinged.
If it's any help, Michael Wolff (who is the definitive cataloguer of the Trump catastrophe) has described him as "sui generis" ie when he's gone, he's gone.
Along with Musk, Bezos, and every other tech billionaire. They can all hop into a space rocket, and once it safely reaches space.....they can just keep going!!!
David, I deeply admire the work that you. Quite frankly, I still can’t comprehend how you deal with the pressure that comes with that. I work in media, not at the coal face, but to help set the stage for that important work to shine. Media has, and continues to face, a hard road ahead. It is a beast. Having this community feels like an honest, safe and important space to discuss and support each other in understanding these issues.
Given I have recently finished a legal dispute myself (one that lasted nearly 7 years), that praise is deeply reinforced. Dealing with legal matters only compounds stress, and to think you are faced with many from the important work you do amazes me. As one person juggling all this, I hope you manage to do plenty of self care!
Thank you for all you do. The bullshit you put up with. Thank you for keeping the bastards honest. Thank you for Webworm and building this community. I love it here, even if I don’t comment a lot. Ya’ll give me hope, which is often hard to come by in times like these.
Sorry to hear of your seven year journey. But also - congrats at being at the end of it.
That shit adds grey hairs to your head (I went grey around the time D'Amato started using the court system). I hate the *ding* in the inbox from a lawyer. I hate dealing with it because it's money that could be better spent elsewhere - and it's headspace away from doing the work.
Thanks for being here, Luci. And again, congrats at wrapping the legal stuff.
While I very genuinely cannot fathom your decision to continue to work and live in the US right now, I'm thankful for you and your continuous coverage of shit that actually matters (and some that doesn't really, but what is life for if not the occasional blimp post.)
I hate so many things about my country right now. This is one of the top reasons. No one is safe when a citizen is detained by the government without cause. I am not staying quiet on this one. He may end up fine in the court system and he might not. The fact that is even a thing at all is DEEPLY disturbing. I don’t love or believe in my government at all. I am actively hostile towards it.
There's a Canadian woman whose account of being held by the "authorities" for two weeks was published in the Guardian. It was dreadful to read.
Apparently, ICE is contracted to arrest and detain - it boosts their monetary rewards to keep people locked up (in appalling conditions, moreover), and not to try to resolve any issues about whether the arrests were justified or not.
My granddaughter leaves for China on the 31/3 with a school group. Comment made, was I worried that she was going to be indoctrinated. My reply was that I’d be more worried about her going to the USA in the present climate. Some of the teenagers, my granddaughter included, are of Māori and Polynesian decent and with what is being reported, would worry that if they would be safe. I was married to an American and have visited many times and liked the people, hated the food sizes but always felt safe.
Possibly overreacting but when I go to Canada this year I’m flying straight to Vancouver and not through LAX.
Tautoko David. As Francesca Albanese said in her channel 4 interview with Krishnan when he noted she is the subject of threats right now (because of her tireless exposure of the genocide in Palestine), “I’m in good company let me tell you”.
I genuinely feel so grateful to have webworm. It is such a rarity. I live in a Murdoch media hellscape (a different one) and whilst we have pockets of good journalism there is nothing long form. I've said it here before but we all need to hang in there together. It is rough but I genuinely believe staying connected with decent people, engaging with actual news and building community will get us through. Well, that is what I am telling myself.
Every time I read a bit of news about people (not all of them have been migrants, some have been citizens) in the U.S. being rounded up and imprisoned, tortured (yes, some of them have been tortured while in custody for immigration reasons) and disappeared, I have a little worry about you David. I know you're a white guy but that doesn't seem to be stopping them now. They're taking anyone they see fit to.
I am glad your principles are so clear and strong. But I also want you to be safe. You can write about all of this stuff from Aotearoa if you need to. It is better that you are free and still publishing than locked up and silent.
Thanks, Kath. I still feel a certain very strong urge not to run, but to be here as a witness to it all. That sounds pretentious maybe, but I really do just want to SEE it. And report on it.
A pretty incredible essay, FYI: "I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped" - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney
David, I'm concerned (and I am sure I am not the only one) that this might happen to you. News outlets report border officers going through people's social media to find a just cause for detention. Do you (and this is the world we are in right now) have a detention plan? Do you have the NZ embassy phone number memorized to get a Murray Hewitt on case? On second thought, maybe you should memorize someone else's number, but yeah, maybe think about having a plan.
Very grateful for you & all journalists with courage & integrity.
This is the best money I spend ❤️
Thank you for continuing the brave mahi, the world would be a bleaker place with out it. Kia kaha e hoa
I keep saying it, but the people here make it feel well, well worth it.
Tautoko! Thank you David, we're all standing with you ❤️
So often, when I'm feeling like shit, a webworm post lands in my hands and lends me a little bravery. A little defiance. Cheek. And strength. Thanks, David ❤️. I needed it today x
Bravery. Defiance. Cheek.
I fucking love that. Thank you. A mission statement, of sorts.
Beautifully said and I appreciate your courage. In the letter from Mahmoud Khalil, one sentence in particular hit me hard - "Who has the right to have rights?" The truth in our current political climate is that now more than ever, everybody's rights are up for grabs. When I first started getting more educated and involved in various "political issues" (I use quotes because the basic rights of our fellow humans to simply live their lives really shouldn't be considered political), one quote I regularly came back to was a particular gem from Bayard Rustin, "Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don't fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later, it will return on me." So many people are content to look away saying "this doesn't involve me" but it ALWAYS involves you. That's why it's more important than ever for us to stand together and support one another.
I love that Rustin quote. I had not come across that before. And it's so, so true. I think of the Trump voter who suddenly found their wife deported: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/16/mass-deportation-ice-detains-non-criminals/82304354007/
And again, you're right - the rights of our fellow humans to just *live* as *themselves* should not be political. But here we are.
So happy to keep paying my (small) share to keep Webworm going. The comments sections on here are the least scary comments sections on the entire internet - and that's a true testament to you.
It's pretty amazing, right? Not a day goes by that it doesn't blow my mind in here. I literally look forward to sitting down and reading them.
Gaza is - or rather should be - literally incredible. But then, so is all that is happening in a country that for so long has boasted of being the world's greatest democracy, while billions of people have nodded in agreement, seduced by the happiness of buying more and more crap. USA has been involved in supporting - not stopping - tyranny for decades. Ask the Argentines and the Chileans, or African nations whose ,"socialist", ie left-wing, socially progressive governments, have been manipulated out of power so that USA can lay its greedy hands on their resources.
The only difference now, is that Donald Trump doesn't even try to disguise things any more. No more dressing land grabs up as "interventions to restore/install democracy". Just we want it and therefore we'll take it.
Gaza today. West Bank tomorrow. Greenland and Panama next. And any other unfortunate country that comes under their rapacious eyes.
Be very, very careful David. Being white and male is no longer enough protection.
Glad to be a paying member, even if it's not much. A lot of things in this world are complicated, but being against genocide is not one of them. And yet so, so many people are failing this simple test.
It's hard to put into words how I feel as an American right now. Ashamed, embarrassed, angry. A lot of dread at what it's going to take to get people to wake up and realize what's happening in front of their faces. I'm daunted by the prospect of the decades of work it's going to take to undo all the damage that's being done. And I'm relatively safe in a blue state.
But I also have to remember it's important not to give in to despair. Saying it's hopeless is just surrendering in advance. There will be an "After Trump". We just don't know how we'll get there yet.
Hey Joe - the thing is, it's a lot. So thank you.
And thanks for the reminder of "after Trump" - I just hope the pendulum swings back and we find a way to care for each other again. Right now things feel too broken and unhinged.
If it's any help, Michael Wolff (who is the definitive cataloguer of the Trump catastrophe) has described him as "sui generis" ie when he's gone, he's gone.
He's a one off.
The sooner the better, I say.
As long as, when he goes, he takes Vance with him.
Along with Musk, Bezos, and every other tech billionaire. They can all hop into a space rocket, and once it safely reaches space.....they can just keep going!!!
David, I deeply admire the work that you. Quite frankly, I still can’t comprehend how you deal with the pressure that comes with that. I work in media, not at the coal face, but to help set the stage for that important work to shine. Media has, and continues to face, a hard road ahead. It is a beast. Having this community feels like an honest, safe and important space to discuss and support each other in understanding these issues.
Given I have recently finished a legal dispute myself (one that lasted nearly 7 years), that praise is deeply reinforced. Dealing with legal matters only compounds stress, and to think you are faced with many from the important work you do amazes me. As one person juggling all this, I hope you manage to do plenty of self care!
Thank you for all you do. The bullshit you put up with. Thank you for keeping the bastards honest. Thank you for Webworm and building this community. I love it here, even if I don’t comment a lot. Ya’ll give me hope, which is often hard to come by in times like these.
Sorry to hear of your seven year journey. But also - congrats at being at the end of it.
That shit adds grey hairs to your head (I went grey around the time D'Amato started using the court system). I hate the *ding* in the inbox from a lawyer. I hate dealing with it because it's money that could be better spent elsewhere - and it's headspace away from doing the work.
Thanks for being here, Luci. And again, congrats at wrapping the legal stuff.
While I very genuinely cannot fathom your decision to continue to work and live in the US right now, I'm thankful for you and your continuous coverage of shit that actually matters (and some that doesn't really, but what is life for if not the occasional blimp post.)
Part of it is not wanting to run away - to be here, and to be LOUD. Observing it up close. And screaming back at it.
I hate so many things about my country right now. This is one of the top reasons. No one is safe when a citizen is detained by the government without cause. I am not staying quiet on this one. He may end up fine in the court system and he might not. The fact that is even a thing at all is DEEPLY disturbing. I don’t love or believe in my government at all. I am actively hostile towards it.
That was the madder thing - HE WAS A CITIZEN. Not a Visa holder. A fucking citizen.
It's terrifying to speak out against a genocide and be cuffed by the State.
There's a Canadian woman whose account of being held by the "authorities" for two weeks was published in the Guardian. It was dreadful to read.
Apparently, ICE is contracted to arrest and detain - it boosts their monetary rewards to keep people locked up (in appalling conditions, moreover), and not to try to resolve any issues about whether the arrests were justified or not.
It's obscene.
That article is written so well
Sadly, they're coming for the judges. So much for the separation of powers.
My granddaughter leaves for China on the 31/3 with a school group. Comment made, was I worried that she was going to be indoctrinated. My reply was that I’d be more worried about her going to the USA in the present climate. Some of the teenagers, my granddaughter included, are of Māori and Polynesian decent and with what is being reported, would worry that if they would be safe. I was married to an American and have visited many times and liked the people, hated the food sizes but always felt safe.
Possibly overreacting but when I go to Canada this year I’m flying straight to Vancouver and not through LAX.
Keep safe David. This page helps me keep sane
Thanks for being here. And your granddaughter sounds smart and cool.
Tautoko David. As Francesca Albanese said in her channel 4 interview with Krishnan when he noted she is the subject of threats right now (because of her tireless exposure of the genocide in Palestine), “I’m in good company let me tell you”.
I genuinely feel so grateful to have webworm. It is such a rarity. I live in a Murdoch media hellscape (a different one) and whilst we have pockets of good journalism there is nothing long form. I've said it here before but we all need to hang in there together. It is rough but I genuinely believe staying connected with decent people, engaging with actual news and building community will get us through. Well, that is what I am telling myself.
Free Palestine x
Free Palestine.
Every time I read a bit of news about people (not all of them have been migrants, some have been citizens) in the U.S. being rounded up and imprisoned, tortured (yes, some of them have been tortured while in custody for immigration reasons) and disappeared, I have a little worry about you David. I know you're a white guy but that doesn't seem to be stopping them now. They're taking anyone they see fit to.
I am glad your principles are so clear and strong. But I also want you to be safe. You can write about all of this stuff from Aotearoa if you need to. It is better that you are free and still publishing than locked up and silent.
Be safe e hoa, you are needed.
Thanks, Kath. I still feel a certain very strong urge not to run, but to be here as a witness to it all. That sounds pretentious maybe, but I really do just want to SEE it. And report on it.
I have SO many thoughts and feelings after reading this piece, but I’m having difficulty putting them into words.
So many innocent Palestinians slaughtered, and for what? Their “endgame” for this is batshit crazy and horrific.
I’m thinking if Jesus DID return after they accomplished their evil plan, would he send these “Christians” to heaven? I’m gonna say no.
Keep going, David. We need honest journalism. Now, more than ever.
I suspect, if Jesus did return, they wouldn't recognize him. He'd be in jail and then deported because, you know, he's middle-eastern.
I think the idea that Jesus wouldn't have been some white guy is quite shocking to many Americans!
Yes, a blue-eyed white man with light brown curly hair. Like his many portraits!
😂😂😂
As the saying goes. If the Christ came back the Christian’s would crucify him. Written I believe in the 1800