And in the middle east a Palestinian Feminist MP is placed in administrative detention by Isreali forces. She is one of 17 legislators who have been treated this way.
“According to the Alternative Information Center, Jarrar is joining 16 other members of the PLC who are currently serving time in Israeli prisons, which means that more than 10 percent of Palestinian lawmakers are currently in Israeli prisons. Nine of those members — including Hamas member Aziz Dweik — are in administrative detention, and have not stood trial nor been sentenced. The PLC is comprised of 132 members who were elected in the last democratic elections held in the PA in 2006.”
The el at the end of Israel refers to their God. Thought he might have been making a point on that considering the subject.
My mind works in funny ways, just wanted to see if I was seeing something that sounded interesting to me.
The “Palestinian feminist MP” thing is a bit misleading (makes her sound like she could be a Palestinian version of Hillary Clinton!).
This isn’t at all a criticism of you Micky, you just got it from another magazine and it’s great that you’ve mentioned her case – but I really dislike the way people in the West, like that magazine, continuously deny agency to the Palestinians. In this case denying Khalida Jarrar the right to be presented as what she actually is.
Khalida Jarrar is a Marxist and a member of the Politbureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. That’s why she was snatched by the Israeli occupation forces.
Her two main areas of work as a central leader of the PFLP are around prisoners and women’s rights. The occupation has been continuously harassing her, trying to force her to leave Ramallah, while simultaneously attempting to prevent her leaving the country. https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/free-khalida-jarrar/
Police shut 30 stations in an effort to combat budget cuts-‘O’connor says stations are being moved from low-socio economic areas, because residents tend to put up less of a fight. “That’s why we are a little cynical about this . . . people there often do need somewhere to go running to.”
They claim there are more cops on the street instead of in the station but 111 call response times have lengthened and have failed to meet targets which makes a mockery of the “street vs station approach” does it not?
David Farrar’s love of statistics is well known – I wonder if he’ll highlight this?
Lack of recording. Last time I went in to report a crime they tried really hard to get me not to. I suspect those that aren’t as much of a bastard as I am are probably persuaded not to.
I have just searched TS (POA Tony Gibson) and am puzzled as to why the latest item about POA on TS dates back to the fight between the Union and POA in 2012.
ON TVNZ Q&A yesterday Gibson claimed he was not arrogant , that he had discussed
expansion plans, that the extensions proposed did not need to be notified , etc etc etc ad nauseum.
It is my opinion that the complex governance arrangement where our elected Mayor & Councillors are twice removed from the POA by two appointed boards, ACIL and POA
who appear to be in thrall to the CEO Tony Gibson is part of the problem.
Be quite clear that the major shipping company using POA is Maersk and Tony Gibson is an ex CEO of Maersk , The Fox in the Henhouse?
He also said that continuing expansion will not be needed as there will be a “Paradigm Shift” in the international freight industry , what ever that means.
The fact that we Aucklanders own the POA outright and that we have elected a Mayor and Council seems to be lost to the people near the action, is this Democracy in the 21st Century?
I noted in the first interview that Mayor, Les Brown suggested expanding the Onehunga port on the Manukau Harbour and building the much needed railway across the isthmus connecting the two ports. Seemed like an eminently sensible idea to me and would counter the need to expand out into the harbour.
When it came to the interview with Gibson, he appeared to ignore Brown’s suggestion and to concentrate instead on the geographical and economic inadequacies of moving port facilities to Whangarei or Tauranga. I had the impression he deliberately left out the alternate idea of the Onehunga port expansion probably because it came from Mayor Brown. In other words there is the usual political game playing from POA.
These POA executives were put in place by Rodney Hide were they not?
The Manukau is a mass of shifting sandbanks and not really suitable for a major port:
Because of the large harbour area and narrow mouth between the Manukau Heads, tidal flow is rapid and a bar at the mouth makes navigating in or out of the harbour dangerous. New Zealand’s most tragic shipwreck occurred on the bar in 1863 when HMS Orpheus ran aground in clear weather with a loss of 189 lives. For this reason, along with the harbour’s shallowness, it is not Auckland’s favoured port, and the facilities at Onehunga are not very large compared to the other Ports of Auckland facilities on the Waitemata Harbour on the northeast of the isthmus.
Surely with modern equipment the sandbanks and the bar at the mouth could be regularly dredged to keep a channel open and clear. Of course the large container ships could not use the port, but the small cargo boats – and there’s plenty of them – could be diverted to Onehunga, especially if facilities are expanded to cater for them.
It probably could be but how much damage do you want to do to the ecosystem there?
Personally I’m more in favour of shutting down the ports and moving most of the operation to Marsden Point where there’s a nice deep harbour and rail to Auckland.
@ DTB
As I understand it there is no rail link to Marsden from Whangarei and the tunnels to Auckland are not big enough for 40ft containers, other wise that does seem to be a smart solution for more and bigger ships.
As I understand it there is no rail link to Marsden from Whangarei
Heh, was wondering about that but couldn’t find it either way so just guessed. Still, it’s one of those things that should be put in before more roads.
I’m sure that there will be one by the end of the year.
Their new MP has promised it. As he said while campaigning.
“Mr Peters said the Northland to Auckland line has been run down, but worse than that was no rail link to the deep water port at Marsden Pt. “We will fix both of those up.””
He can advance a members bill and I’m reasonably certain that a majority of MPs in parliament would support it – if it gets pulled from the hat. We really do need to make government more representative of the voters.
Alwyn above @ 2.56 pm today – some bleak consolation I guess that the 13,000 turnaround Northland thrashing can be turned to fuel a mock-fest because Peters not being in government is actually powerless without the happenchance of ballot draw supported beyond the opposition benches.
Something we all knew of course when ‘sending the message’ about conceit and duplicity and emperor-no-clothes. Apparently not known to the conceited and duplicitous and emperor-no-clothes however who invested considerable fetid air in fearmongering that the sky would fall in if they weren’t ‘allowed’ to win.
Goodness…….the unnatural contortions of the miffed ‘Born To Rule’, found out and suffering third-termitis !
@Anne The suggestion about using Onehunga may not be as silly as some think.
What if the waste area above the bridge was reclaimed and used for industry but more importantly heaps of space to store imported cars while they are processed before being released for sale thus leaving a huge area clear for container freight at Auckland . The vehicle ships would simply use Onehunga rather than Auckland.
Sound too simple??
My knowledge of the subject is very limited, but every time I cross the bridge and look across at the port it saddens me that it has been left to run down. It was a bustling port once. My conclusion is that the decision over the decades to ignore the area is a political one. That is, there were/are few votes in it for the predominantly National govts. since the 1950s. The potential to turn it into a modern day collection point for appropriate cargo storage and a quick turn-around for the smaller cargo boats is huge. Add a dedicated railway link between the two ports and that has got to be good for the entire Auckland isthmus and well beyond.
The problem is, it takes imagination and a long term outlook. We know the self- grandiosing NAct puppets have negligible quantities of both.
The fact that we Aucklanders own the POA outright and that we have elected a Mayor and Council seems to be lost to the people near the action, is this Democracy in the 21st Century?
The capitalists don’t like democracy as it gets in the way of them doing anything they want. This is shown in National’s canning of democracy and implementation of dictatorship in Canterbury.
The fact of the matter is that our entire Representative Democracy was set up so as to prevent actual democracy and to leave the rich and powerful in charge.
How Gibson wasn’t frog marched into council chambers and dismissed after the antics exposed in the book Dirty Politics has me fucked. On that note the one pity of Maritime Union finally settling their collective agreement with the POAL, was the union didn’t seek discovery. This is the real reason the port company settled. Damage control and what came out would have been very very interesting.
Gibson is scum, the first thing Phil Goff Off needs to be pinned down on is a shake up of the port board and getting rid of Gibson and or both.
Most likely that the fake competition between ports, and lack of co-operative planning, will result in NZ losing the major hub port to Australia or Singapore.
I see Pete has just put up his 5th post in four days about how he’s not at all obsessional about TS. Even his regular righty commenters are starting to question his sanity.
PG has shown his true colours (authoritarian worshiper of the wealthy) and gone back to his mates at Kiwibog. DPF to tries appear beige and reasonable as well, even though his blog is composed of ACT talking points.
It’s a relief not to face PG ‘s walls of text diverting from the serious issues facing NZ
The drama comes after the creditors refused to rubber stamp Athens’ latest bid to unlock funds, raising objections over Syriza plans to boost union powers in collective bargaining and boost pensions for lower income groups.
So the creditors are upset that Greece may help it’s people? This comes back to:
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
And now they’re whinging that they won’t get it back despite knowing that risk.
Former European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso warned Greece that they have a moral obligation to other states, describing the demands for more time and money as “completely unacceptable”.
“We should remember that there are poorer countries that are lending money to Greece, so to propose a cut to their debt would be certain to receive a no from their partners,” he said.
As we’re being blessed with increasing establishment palaver about Gallipoli, it’s important to remember just what a dirty political business it was. Nothing glorious about NZ’s motives – we were helping invade Turkey so that Britain (and France) could carve up the Ottoman Empire.
A Kiwi mum in Perth whose baby boy has a rare medical condition is pleading for help.
Stacy Maitai had to give up her job to care for her baby and she now survives on less than $100 a week.
Her son, Malakai, is seven months old and has never left hospital.
“It breaks my heart that I can’t do that for him, I can’t do what I can to get him home,” Ms Maitai says.
Ms Maitai is from Tolaga Bay and moved to Perth four years ago.
Her baby boy has a rare condition called Pallister Killian Syndrome (PKS), and he can’t see or hear and struggles to breathe.
A single mother of two, Ms Maitai has had to give up work to care for him, but because she’s not an Australian citizen, she survives on $180 a fortnight. She can barely pay for her bus ride to the hospital.
“I’ve looked at every avenue to get support for us, but basically there is nothing, only because I am a Kiwi,” says Ms Maitai.
“If Malakai was just a normal baby I would be able to part-time work, but because of my condition there’s a stop with my future because of what I can do and what I can’t do.”
PKS is a rare developmental disorder, with only a few hundred people diagnosed with it. Two live here in New Zealand – one in Whangarei, the other in the Waikato.
How many of folks on The Standard, have actually read and considered the research and opinions of over 2000 registered architects and engineers for 9/11 truth?
Given that 9/11 was arguably a convenient UNtruth upon which was based the (unlawful) invasion of Iraq, the never-ending (and very profitable) ‘War on Terror’, the mass surveillance and attacks on privacy of millions of people, and attacks on civil liberties and democratic rights of USA citizens under the Patriot Act?
Remember – the focus of architects and engineers for 9/11 TRUTH is not WHO was behind and caused 9/11.
The focus is HOW 9/11 happened.
Could the heat generated by burning airline fuel (kerosene), cause the collapse of the Twin Towers in their footprint at ‘free fall’ speed?
Seriously?
If so – how come your kerosene heater doesn’t melt when you fire it up?
1: it wasn’t “free fall speed”
2: they didn’t collapse into their own “footprint”
3: even if we assumed the fire consisted solely of “kerosene” and had no other environmental factors, it would have been hot enough to significantly weaken steel structures that were already overloaded due to having an aircraft collision damage the structure.
Yes, bush/cheney used 9/11 and spurious intelligence on Al Qaeda connections as excuses to invade Iraq. That doesn’t mean that they engineered the 9/11 attacks.
Yes, bush/cheney used 9/11 and spurious intelligence on Al Qaeda connections as excuses to invade Iraq. That doesn’t mean that they engineered the 9/11 attacks
It makes them along with a number of others who share long standing associations the top of the suspects sheet
Five Eyes was going long before 9/11, fool. All that’s changed in the last 14 years is the technology.
As for a full and transparent enquiry, the yanks went one better and had a commission. You wanna try reading the report, all the answers are in there. Or you can continue parroting the lines of the US right, boring friends and acquaintances shitless with your witterings. Happily, as time goes by, less and less time is wasted on this shit.
Is it a nice day where you are? Why don’t you go for a walk?
Yeah, that’s right, Draco. 800 pages that explain exactly what happened doesn’t count. The eyewitness testimony of thousands of New Yorkers doesn’t count. The deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count. Some mad righties with no alternatives frothing on the interwebs? Totes reliable.
unless the redactions in the 911 commission report include bits like “and everything else in this report is fabricated and made up”, it’s erroneous to say that “all the answers are ██ █████.”
Included in the unredacted bits are analyses of how 3000 people died.
All I’m doing is pointing out a weird non-sequitur. If you think there’s a reasonable explanation for it that doesn’t amount to ‘AND THEY HATE PUPPIES TOO!!!’ then I’m all ears.
Draco said all the answers are redacted.
TRP listed three things that supply or strongly imply answers: 800 pages, eyewitness testimony, and 3000 deaths. And TRP said that apparently according to DTB, none of those things count, but some rightwing nutter on the internet provides totally reliable evidence.
It only makes sense if TRP is saying that Draco doesn’t believe those examples represent facts.
Draco contests the redacted report. TRP therefore reasonably attributes to Draco the belief that the report doesn’t count.
Then – in the exact same context – he attributes the belief that “the deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count”.
The problem with that is that the fact that 3000 people died isn’t evidence for or against any particular theory under discussion, crackpot or otherwise.
Like I say, it depends what flavour crackpot we’re dealing with. But whatever. If you want to focus on one out of three as some sort of victory of… whatever, that’s cool. What about the other two?
Yeah I’ve figured out that you’re playing the “ignore things that don’t suit you, fixate on the one thing you think you can distract with” game.
Although personally I’d like every truther here to categorically state that they believe the official victim count is correct before I agree with your call on its relevance.
So go ahead and ask them, but playing games with the precise body count doesn’t change what’s already been said and it doesn’t open up any explanations for it neither.
And I’ll thank you not to ascribe motives to me when you seem to be having so much trouble even following what I’ve said, which really hasn’t been all that complicated.
You’ve spent half a dozen comments debating one of three things trp listed that contradict dtb’s statement that all the answers are redacted.
You have made no comments on the other points.
Dtb is still incorrect.
“You’ve spent half a dozen comments debating one of three things trp listed that contradict dtb’s statement that all the answers are redacted.
You have made no comments on the other points.”
Why should I respond to those other points, McFlock? I’m not disputing them.
If you like I can go through every comment on every thread on TheStandard and put a +1 after all the ones I agree with, but I reckon you might then want to know why I haven’t actively disputed all of the remainder.
Arguing about the relevance of a single point when the outcome of that argument is irrelevant to the outcome of the argument that the points were made in does seem remarkably postmodern of you, Felix.
Whereas sandwiching emotive attacks on your opponents in-between relevant rebuttals of their arguments is just an excersise in nasty dishonest bullshit.
So in this instance, sure I’ll be the post-modernist. Of course you could probably qualify too by arguing that being right about something means you can ascribe absolutely any view to people who are wrong about that thing, and that process doesn’t matter as long as the outcome doesn’t change.
It’s not dishonest. It’s the honest outcome of listening to ten years of nutbars fail to comprehend basic concepts like gravity and footprint. Given that and the nanothermite bullshit in links commenters have posted in this very thread, you’re lucky that only every other comment has been “emotive”.
While you’ve apparently been a fucking Vulcan all along. /sarc
No I’m just a Vulcan right now. It’s a post modern thing.
I understand your frustration on this topic. However there is no justification for accusing people of thinking 3000 deaths “doesn’t count” when they haven’t said anything of the sort.
Even if they’ve said other things that drive you nuts.
Even if they’re wrong about all of them.
Even when you have other valid points to make, that just isn’t one of them.
And although it’s right up TRP’s alley to fling that sort of monkey shit at the wall, it’s beneath you to defend it.
I had a browse of this thread and while I couldn’t really understand what you and McFlock were arguing about, your summary here clarifies it quite a bit. It really is very poor to attribute outrageous statements to people when they didn’t make them.
“doesn’t count” as evidence. Like the other two things in TRP’s list. If all the answers are redacted, nothing can be concluded from everything that is unredacted. Which is bullshit.
But even if your complaint were accurate, what’s your point: that it harms the reputation of a bunch of nutbars who seem to treat 911 as a hobby? It doesn’t.
Because that’s what would have to have been said in order for your “evidence” defense to stand.
You are incorrect. What would have to have been said is that the deaths of 3000 people do not count as evidence, not that they didn’t happen.
As in “oh fuck, all these people are dead. What can we infer from that? Nothing. Wow – 800 pages of report. what can we infer from that? Nothing. Holy crap, loads of eyewitnesses say that they saw planes fly into buildings. What can we infer from that? Nothing”.
All because some of one report was redacted. Which is what dtb said: “all the answers are ██ █████”.
“You are incorrect. What would have to have been said is that the deaths of 3000 people do not count as evidence, not that they didn’t happen.”
Only (yawn) if it was (yaaawn) someone’s argument that (yaaaaaawn) those people didn’t die, i.e. that the (yaaaaawn) event itself never occurred.
Which it (yaaaaaaaaaawn) still isn’t.
Seriously dude, I’ve explained this to you so many times now. You’re either not being honest or you have a serious problem with comprehension. And you’ve never struck me as a fool.
It’s all there in black and white for anyone who’s interested, I’m done wasting time with people who treat 911 as a hobby.
Only (yawn) if it was (yaaawn) someone’s argument that (yaaaaaawn) those people didn’t die, i.e. that the (yaaaaawn) event itself never occurred.
Ah.
Your fixation on a logical fallacy is obviously due to fatigue.
Fuck off and get some sleep, then. Maybe you’ll understand basic logic when you wake up.
I’m done wasting time with people who treat 911 as a hobby.
And yet you go to such effort to defend their reputations.
It absolutely did not fall at free fall speed. Why do people keep repeating this easily disproved “fact” when it has conclusively shown to be fucking rubbish?
How would you know? You haven’t even read the official story, nor are you equipped to assess its veracity, nor willing to debate any of your talking points.
For example, when Penny Bright displayed her ignorance of the tensile response of steel to temperature, and pretended that aviation fuel was the only flammable substance present, you agreed with her, then failed to respond to the rebuttal.
I take this as a demonstration of ignorance and bias rather than willful deceit. Apparently 0.1% (approx.) of the architects and engineers of the USA are similarly afflicted. So what?
I think you are missing something…was it just a fire or was it a fire caused by a fucking airliner smashing into the building at several 100’s of kms per hour.
but it wasn’t just “steel framed”, was it. And it wasn’t just a fire, was it.
Or to flip it around, can you name a single building with similar construction design (as well as materials) that had a decent-sized passenger jet fly into it and it didn’t collapse? Because AFAIK plane crashes are running at two for two.
Indeed I am.
So feel free to replace “decent-sized passenger jet fly into it” with “hit by debris from a larger building collapsing next to it”, if you wish.
Hardly touched it.
And there were only tiny fires.
Are you aware the BBC reported its collapse before it happened.
Have you seen clips of its free fall collapse?
Clips of firefighters saying they were blowing it?
Really have you actually looked at the mass of evidence supported by architects and engineers about WTC7?
I take evidence from experts seriously.
Who do you listen to?
The governments flawed enquiry ?
You cherry pick the evidence that suits your beliefs, while either ignoring the vast majority of opinion, or implying that everyone who disagrees with you is corrupt.
See, the thing is that I have seen those clips due to previous arguments. And they never live up to their advertising, or rely on heavy editing. Like your “free fall collapse” theory, it took significantly longer than free-fall time to collapse. The math blatantly disproves the “free fall” hyperbole. I argued this with CR last time, using footage and G calculators and everything.
I’m surprised you missed that debate.
And another one.
And another one.
And oh look, 2009.
But feel free to keep recycling the same old bullshit.
I must admit i’m a bit bemused that people still debate what happened that day. I’ve never found it surprising that any of the buildings collapsed after the damage that they suffered.
Can you explain what issue you have with the official story of plane crashes followed by fires and the other nearby buildings being collateral damage from the major two buildings collapsing ?
I think the significant issue is that 911 was used as a pretext for extreme paranoia, the creation of a police state, and an endless war on terror in “the land of the free”.
With the strange stock market fluctuations leading up to the disaster, and GWB’s weird reaction to it, it’s not too much of a leap to think it was an inside job.
If it wasn’t a deliberate false flag operation it was a perfect opportunity for Bush, Cheney et al to live out their teenage wet dreams and play global war games (encouraged by their .mil sponsors).
But as Hanlon’s razor goes (paraphrase) “never attribute to conspiracy that which is adequately explained by an epic fuck-up”
I would have thought they could have come up with a better load of perpetrators than “Saudis trained in Afghanistan”, if it were all a bush/cheney concoction to invade Iraq.
Iraqi kurds, for example. Then throw in suspicion that it was Saddam not the Kurds.
I fully agree that it was an excuse to invade Iraq, and even that maybe they thought they might be able to build and protect an oil pipeline across Afghanistan as well. But a number of charlatans have also made a lot of money out of pretending way more happened than what seemed to happen on the day: nineteen hijackers gambling that hostages on four aircraft will work to an old template, while the hijackers switch it up a notch.
Note the violence of the attacks made, Penny.
These 9/11 deniers are not open to critical thinking on this issue.
No open minds on this topic for some.
Truther? Name calling.
Actually 2000 Arcitects and Engineers.
I call that experts.
But hey you know better!
Make an argument rather than attack the messenger.
Hahaha, rebutting right-wing nut-jobs with “renowned left wing thinkers”…
It really doesn’t matter if they’re left or right; we’re really just pointing out the fact that those with right-wing tendencies are on average more fearful and also distrustful of government/organisation, thus increasing their propensity to believe in conspiracy theories.
Any of you folk arguing against 9/11 TRUTH ever cut steel with an oxy-acetylene gas axe
Indeed I have Penny, and with carefully considered application of techniques and heat sink properties I’ve straightened, cambered, bent, distorted, twisted and deflected all manner and sizes of steel posts, beams, rafters, supports and stanchions using nothing more than propane, cotton waste and a bucket of water.
Used to work in the steel making industry so I know a little bit about it as well. Helps to have some knowledge of the field when throwing conspiracy theories about.
Most polls show that increasing numbers of people question 9/11.
We now know the US government lied about WMD in Iraq, chemical weapons in Syria and through Snowden we know they’ve lied about spying.
And so you take the fairy tale about 9/11 as gospel truth.
Most people no longer believe the official tale.
Most polls? Go on, cite me baby! Last time I looked, one in twenty Americans believed Elvis was still alive. I’m told quite a few of them are also convinced that God exists. Funny old world, eh?
via the Irascible Curmudgeon, in the sidebar
` There’s trouble brewing in Middle Earth
1. Huge dairy slump, down 45% since 2013
2. Overall exports down 27% since last February
3. World dairy prices slide 10.8% in 2 weeks, in anticipation of a huge oversupply
4. Auckland property CVs out of date, 20% jump in median price in 18 months
It must be an Anglo-Saxon disease. You can see it in London, in Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Toronto. The new normal way to make your failing economy look ‘healthy’ is to sell assets to any rich foreigner or investment fund who comes knocking, no matter what the consequences, short term or long term. In all these cities, young people can forget about buying a home, that allegedly government supported dream.
And everyone but the rich are pushed out ever further into the boondock burbs. It’s a ‘policy’ that kills cities, of necessity. Cities need people, real people, all people, poor and rich and old and young, that have grown up where they live, they love where they live, they are interested in making it look good and feel good. This is an ongoing and organic process, because cities are alive, and yes, you can kill them. But that’s for another story.
…The country’s prime minister since 2008, John Key, used to work at Merrill Lynch and the New York Fed, and that sort of background guarantees valiant efforts to sell anything in the country that’s not bolted down, and take an axe to what is. It also guarantees zero initiative to become self-sufficient.
Here’s Bernard Hickey:
China embarked on an infrastructure spree after the global financial crisis. Over the three years to 2013, China poured 6.4 gigatonnes of concrete, which was more than was poured in the US in the entire 20th century. All that concrete needed reinforcing with steel and China didn’t have enough iron ore and coking coal to make it. That building boom created a glut of apartments and debt, which China now needs to digest.
… iron ore production in Australia has only now ramped up to its peak levels. Weak demand met high supply to produce a price slump. This all may seem irrelevant to New Zealand, but it’s not. The Australian dollar has fallen in response to the iron ore crash, while New Zealand’s dollar has remained strong because our economy is humming along, thanks to building surges in Christchurch and Auckland and plenty of spending and investment.
…The biggest log-trucking firm in the Nelson region was recently put into voluntary administration owing $14m, partly because of a slump in log exports to China. New Zealand’s logs are now mostly shipped to China to be timber boxing for the concrete being poured in its new “ghost” cities. The Chinese iron ore butterfly has flapped and now we’re seeing Gold Coast winter breaks become cheaper and logging contracts rarer.
Time is winding down for NZ’s housing bubble ponzi scheme
There is nothing nerdish about the irrepressible Gabrielle O’Brien. She carries her keys on a Southpark key ring and her Benson and Hedges in her knock-off Gucci handbag. She wears T-shirts with messages: “Do Not Start With Me, You Will Not Win”. O’Brien, at 26, is quite old for a Young Nat. Her parents are staunch Labour. O’Brien is studying politics and Maori and admits she wants to be Prime Minister.
I was on a busy motorway when I listened to RNZ news the afternoon. Top story? The bloody pip-squeak from Dirty Politics, Jordan Williams and his equally pip-squeak “tax payers union”. The air turned blue inside my car.
Why oh why don’t the opposition parties expose the little ratbag and his ratbag bunch of dishonest losers? Nah… they sit there and let them get away with the hoax, because that is all it is – a mighty big hoax supported and abetted by the MSM.
Over the years I’ve watched lots of sci-fi on TV and at the movies. Quite a few of them would have cars and trucks in them with dashboards that’d make a battleships sensors officer jealous.
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Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
And in the middle east a Palestinian Feminist MP is placed in administrative detention by Isreali forces. She is one of 17 legislators who have been treated this way.
“According to the Alternative Information Center, Jarrar is joining 16 other members of the PLC who are currently serving time in Israeli prisons, which means that more than 10 percent of Palestinian lawmakers are currently in Israeli prisons. Nine of those members — including Hamas member Aziz Dweik — are in administrative detention, and have not stood trial nor been sentenced. The PLC is comprised of 132 members who were elected in the last democratic elections held in the PA in 2006.”
http://972mag.com/israel-puts-feminist-palestinian-mp-in-admin-detention/105317/
Unusual way of spelling Israel Mickey, or was that intentional?
Typo Ron. Easy to transpose two letters when typing.
For instance typing Mickey instead of micky 😉
Totally accidental Ron. I was in a hurry …
No Problem I just had a thought that you might have intentionally spelt it that way to make a point.
Ron, what was the point you imagined mickysavage might have been making?
The el at the end of Israel refers to their God. Thought he might have been making a point on that considering the subject.
My mind works in funny ways, just wanted to see if I was seeing something that sounded interesting to me.
The “Palestinian feminist MP” thing is a bit misleading (makes her sound like she could be a Palestinian version of Hillary Clinton!).
This isn’t at all a criticism of you Micky, you just got it from another magazine and it’s great that you’ve mentioned her case – but I really dislike the way people in the West, like that magazine, continuously deny agency to the Palestinians. In this case denying Khalida Jarrar the right to be presented as what she actually is.
Khalida Jarrar is a Marxist and a member of the Politbureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. That’s why she was snatched by the Israeli occupation forces.
Her two main areas of work as a central leader of the PFLP are around prisoners and women’s rights. The occupation has been continuously harassing her, trying to force her to leave Ramallah, while simultaneously attempting to prevent her leaving the country.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/free-khalida-jarrar/
On ‘administrative detention’ see:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/palestine-ireland-free-the-political-prisoners/
(this is from a talk I gave a few years ago on political prisoners in Ireland and Palestine, places internment without trial have been widely used)
An update on ‘administrative detention’ was provided by one of our readers yeterday, see: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/israels-use-of-administrative-detention-an-update/
Police shut 30 stations in an effort to combat budget cuts-‘O’connor says stations are being moved from low-socio economic areas, because residents tend to put up less of a fight. “That’s why we are a little cynical about this . . . people there often do need somewhere to go running to.”
– The Dominion Post
They claim there are more cops on the street instead of in the station but 111 call response times have lengthened and have failed to meet targets which makes a mockery of the “street vs station approach” does it not?
David Farrar’s love of statistics is well known – I wonder if he’ll highlight this?
And there has been this 20% drop in crime says Mike Bush – really so why not have budget cuts too ?? Or is the drop just lack of recording
Lack of recording. Last time I went in to report a crime they tried really hard to get me not to. I suspect those that aren’t as much of a bastard as I am are probably persuaded not to.
This clip from ‘The Wire’ seems relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNLiHmEUxA
First it was the post offices…
..then it was the hospitals…
..then the schools…
now the police stations..
What goes around, comes around ..
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/when-it-comes-to-moneyshufflers-its-time-for-the-whip-20150405-1meivv.html
I have just searched TS (POA Tony Gibson) and am puzzled as to why the latest item about POA on TS dates back to the fight between the Union and POA in 2012.
ON TVNZ Q&A yesterday Gibson claimed he was not arrogant , that he had discussed
expansion plans, that the extensions proposed did not need to be notified , etc etc etc ad nauseum.
It is my opinion that the complex governance arrangement where our elected Mayor & Councillors are twice removed from the POA by two appointed boards, ACIL and POA
who appear to be in thrall to the CEO Tony Gibson is part of the problem.
Be quite clear that the major shipping company using POA is Maersk and Tony Gibson is an ex CEO of Maersk , The Fox in the Henhouse?
He also said that continuing expansion will not be needed as there will be a “Paradigm Shift” in the international freight industry , what ever that means.
The fact that we Aucklanders own the POA outright and that we have elected a Mayor and Council seems to be lost to the people near the action, is this Democracy in the 21st Century?
So many things to write about, so little time…. And authors tend to write opinions about things that they are interested in
Guest post
Thanks for your comment Iprent so now a search will show April 2015, cool.
I noted in the first interview that Mayor, Les Brown suggested expanding the Onehunga port on the Manukau Harbour and building the much needed railway across the isthmus connecting the two ports. Seemed like an eminently sensible idea to me and would counter the need to expand out into the harbour.
When it came to the interview with Gibson, he appeared to ignore Brown’s suggestion and to concentrate instead on the geographical and economic inadequacies of moving port facilities to Whangarei or Tauranga. I had the impression he deliberately left out the alternate idea of the Onehunga port expansion probably because it came from Mayor Brown. In other words there is the usual political game playing from POA.
These POA executives were put in place by Rodney Hide were they not?
The Manukau is a mass of shifting sandbanks and not really suitable for a major port:
Surely with modern equipment the sandbanks and the bar at the mouth could be regularly dredged to keep a channel open and clear. Of course the large container ships could not use the port, but the small cargo boats – and there’s plenty of them – could be diverted to Onehunga, especially if facilities are expanded to cater for them.
It probably could be but how much damage do you want to do to the ecosystem there?
Personally I’m more in favour of shutting down the ports and moving most of the operation to Marsden Point where there’s a nice deep harbour and rail to Auckland.
@ DTB
As I understand it there is no rail link to Marsden from Whangarei and the tunnels to Auckland are not big enough for 40ft containers, other wise that does seem to be a smart solution for more and bigger ships.
Heh, was wondering about that but couldn’t find it either way so just guessed. Still, it’s one of those things that should be put in before more roads.
I’m sure that there will be one by the end of the year.
Their new MP has promised it. As he said while campaigning.
“Mr Peters said the Northland to Auckland line has been run down, but worse than that was no rail link to the deep water port at Marsden Pt. “We will fix both of those up.””
He didn’t say how he would get it to happen though.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11317686
He can advance a members bill and I’m reasonably certain that a majority of MPs in parliament would support it – if it gets pulled from the hat. We really do need to make government more representative of the voters.
Alwyn above @ 2.56 pm today – some bleak consolation I guess that the 13,000 turnaround Northland thrashing can be turned to fuel a mock-fest because Peters not being in government is actually powerless without the happenchance of ballot draw supported beyond the opposition benches.
Something we all knew of course when ‘sending the message’ about conceit and duplicity and emperor-no-clothes. Apparently not known to the conceited and duplicitous and emperor-no-clothes however who invested considerable fetid air in fearmongering that the sky would fall in if they weren’t ‘allowed’ to win.
Goodness…….the unnatural contortions of the miffed ‘Born To Rule’, found out and suffering third-termitis !
@Anne The suggestion about using Onehunga may not be as silly as some think.
What if the waste area above the bridge was reclaimed and used for industry but more importantly heaps of space to store imported cars while they are processed before being released for sale thus leaving a huge area clear for container freight at Auckland . The vehicle ships would simply use Onehunga rather than Auckland.
Sound too simple??
My knowledge of the subject is very limited, but every time I cross the bridge and look across at the port it saddens me that it has been left to run down. It was a bustling port once. My conclusion is that the decision over the decades to ignore the area is a political one. That is, there were/are few votes in it for the predominantly National govts. since the 1950s. The potential to turn it into a modern day collection point for appropriate cargo storage and a quick turn-around for the smaller cargo boats is huge. Add a dedicated railway link between the two ports and that has got to be good for the entire Auckland isthmus and well beyond.
The problem is, it takes imagination and a long term outlook. We know the self- grandiosing NAct puppets have negligible quantities of both.
The capitalists don’t like democracy as it gets in the way of them doing anything they want. This is shown in National’s canning of democracy and implementation of dictatorship in Canterbury.
The fact of the matter is that our entire Representative Democracy was set up so as to prevent actual democracy and to leave the rich and powerful in charge.
How Gibson wasn’t frog marched into council chambers and dismissed after the antics exposed in the book Dirty Politics has me fucked. On that note the one pity of Maritime Union finally settling their collective agreement with the POAL, was the union didn’t seek discovery. This is the real reason the port company settled. Damage control and what came out would have been very very interesting.
Gibson is scum, the first thing Phil Goff Off needs to be pinned down on is a shake up of the port board and getting rid of Gibson and or both.
Most likely that the fake competition between ports, and lack of co-operative planning, will result in NZ losing the major hub port to Australia or Singapore.
6 days remaining until the scheduled return of the Rawshark 2.
Who?
Kevin who?…CR whose who..
what?
..& PU makes 2 for you..
What is this, a Billie Piper song?
+100 Parsupial…lol…am with you …still waving the placard for absent friends
There, there. You can play with the WAAAAAAAHMBULANCE as soon as Pete George has finished playing with it.
I see Pete has just put up his 5th post in four days about how he’s not at all obsessional about TS. Even his regular righty commenters are starting to question his sanity.
Heh, that was worth a look to see the quality of his commenters 😈
Useful to see The Al1en showing his true colours.
I’m glad he’s not bovvered at all 🙂
Not all his fault. I tend to goad people sometimes to display the full force of their personality (defects) when they start having a go at this site.
PG has shown his true colours (authoritarian worshiper of the wealthy) and gone back to his mates at Kiwibog. DPF to tries appear beige and reasonable as well, even though his blog is composed of ACT talking points.
It’s a relief not to face PG ‘s walls of text diverting from the serious issues facing NZ
the serious issues facing NZ
Such as long thread below on 9/11 Truth. Irony.
That’s nothing compared to PG’s long winded papal missives.
This is hilarious-and would probably have been banned in an election here….(maybe not any more after the recent HC decision)
https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FiSo39wiRxOM&h=DAQG4tBci
Fixed link
Thanks folks
That was funny
Greece draws up drachma plans, prepares to miss IMF payment
So the creditors are upset that Greece may help it’s people? This comes back to:
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
And now they’re whinging that they won’t get it back despite knowing that risk.
Former European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso warned Greece that they have a moral obligation to other states, describing the demands for more time and money as “completely unacceptable”.
“We should remember that there are poorer countries that are lending money to Greece, so to propose a cut to their debt would be certain to receive a no from their partners,” he said.
Poorer than Greece… lending them money…
That makes sense.
As we’re being blessed with increasing establishment palaver about Gallipoli, it’s important to remember just what a dirty political business it was. Nothing glorious about NZ’s motives – we were helping invade Turkey so that Britain (and France) could carve up the Ottoman Empire.
Gallipoli: a dirty and bloody business: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/gallipoli-invasion-a-dirty-and-bloody-business/
And for NZ society in WW1, you can’t go past Eldred-Grigg’s work: Stevan Eldred-Grigg’s The Great Wrong War: NZ society and WW1: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/stevan-eldred-griggs-the-great-wrong-war-nz-society-and-ww1/
Plus Field Punishment Number One reviewed: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/field-punishment-no-1-reviewed-reminder-that-the-wars-not-over/
I’ve stuck up on Redline a major feature on the catastrophe in the Middle East since the western powers invaded Iraq:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/the-middle-east-blowback-from-the-iraq-war/
A Kiwi mum in Perth whose baby boy has a rare medical condition is pleading for help.
Stacy Maitai had to give up her job to care for her baby and she now survives on less than $100 a week.
Her son, Malakai, is seven months old and has never left hospital.
“It breaks my heart that I can’t do that for him, I can’t do what I can to get him home,” Ms Maitai says.
Ms Maitai is from Tolaga Bay and moved to Perth four years ago.
Her baby boy has a rare condition called Pallister Killian Syndrome (PKS), and he can’t see or hear and struggles to breathe.
A single mother of two, Ms Maitai has had to give up work to care for him, but because she’s not an Australian citizen, she survives on $180 a fortnight. She can barely pay for her bus ride to the hospital.
“I’ve looked at every avenue to get support for us, but basically there is nothing, only because I am a Kiwi,” says Ms Maitai.
“If Malakai was just a normal baby I would be able to part-time work, but because of my condition there’s a stop with my future because of what I can do and what I can’t do.”
PKS is a rare developmental disorder, with only a few hundred people diagnosed with it. Two live here in New Zealand – one in Whangarei, the other in the Waikato.
Read more:
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/kiwi-mum-needs-help-with-sick-baby-2015040517#ixzz3WUBIlFVs
A ‘Hope for Malakai’ fundraising page has been set up. If you would like to contribute, here is the link to the fund raising page:
https://www.mycause.com.au/page/90460/hopeformalakai
How many of folks on The Standard, have actually read and considered the research and opinions of over 2000 registered architects and engineers for 9/11 truth?
http://www.ae911truth.org
Given that 9/11 was arguably a convenient UNtruth upon which was based the (unlawful) invasion of Iraq, the never-ending (and very profitable) ‘War on Terror’, the mass surveillance and attacks on privacy of millions of people, and attacks on civil liberties and democratic rights of USA citizens under the Patriot Act?
Remember – the focus of architects and engineers for 9/11 TRUTH is not WHO was behind and caused 9/11.
The focus is HOW 9/11 happened.
Could the heat generated by burning airline fuel (kerosene), cause the collapse of the Twin Towers in their footprint at ‘free fall’ speed?
Seriously?
If so – how come your kerosene heater doesn’t melt when you fire it up?
Penny Bright
I agree Penny.
Expect to cop some abuse for saying this.
I agree to.
What happens if you put a bunch of curtains and office furniture and stationary and other flammable items on your burning kerosene heater?
PS: how does temperature affect the tensile strength of steel?
…and is her kerosene heater holding up a decent-sized building while being used</i.
For the upteenth time:
1: it wasn’t “free fall speed”
2: they didn’t collapse into their own “footprint”
3: even if we assumed the fire consisted solely of “kerosene” and had no other environmental factors, it would have been hot enough to significantly weaken steel structures that were already overloaded due to having an aircraft collision damage the structure.
Yes, bush/cheney used 9/11 and spurious intelligence on Al Qaeda connections as excuses to invade Iraq. That doesn’t mean that they engineered the 9/11 attacks.
Yes, bush/cheney used 9/11 and spurious intelligence on Al Qaeda connections as excuses to invade Iraq. That doesn’t mean that they engineered the 9/11 attacks
It makes them along with a number of others who share long standing associations the top of the suspects sheet
So about those 28 redacted pages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Inquiry_into_Intelligence_Community_Activities_before_and_after_the_Terrorist_Attacks_of_September_11,_2001#Redacted_sections
[lprent: Interesting, you just used a IP that has been previously used to permanently exclude a troll. A offshore cell IP. Explanation please. ]
Most people who question the 9/11 fairy tale just want an open, full and transparent enquiry.
Not a big ask.
BTW, 9/11 was also the gateway for major incursions into our civil rights.
Five Eyes and total surveillance could not have happened without 9/11.
That’s why the events of that day are so important and need to be investigated properly.
Five Eyes was going long before 9/11, fool. All that’s changed in the last 14 years is the technology.
As for a full and transparent enquiry, the yanks went one better and had a commission. You wanna try reading the report, all the answers are in there. Or you can continue parroting the lines of the US right, boring friends and acquaintances shitless with your witterings. Happily, as time goes by, less and less time is wasted on this shit.
Is it a nice day where you are? Why don’t you go for a walk?
FTFY
Yeah, that’s right, Draco. 800 pages that explain exactly what happened doesn’t count. The eyewitness testimony of thousands of New Yorkers doesn’t count. The deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count. Some mad righties with no alternatives frothing on the interwebs? Totes reliable.
lol
talk about editing “as necessary”
“The deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count.”
How is that relevant to the point you’re making?
unless the redactions in the 911 commission report include bits like “and everything else in this report is fabricated and made up”, it’s erroneous to say that “all the answers are ██ █████.”
Included in the unredacted bits are analyses of how 3000 people died.
I didn’t think anyone was arguing that 3000 people hadn’t died though.
depends on which flavour truther you speak to, apparently
Seriously? That’s fucking nuts. Who here is arguing that?
McFlock is just out on some sort of flight of fancy reading in more than what was there.
Weird thing for TRP to say.
There’s been a lot of that lately:
“doesn’t count” becoming “hadn’t died”, for example.
So where’s the relevance then?
All I’m doing is pointing out a weird non-sequitur. If you think there’s a reasonable explanation for it that doesn’t amount to ‘AND THEY HATE PUPPIES TOO!!!’ then I’m all ears.
Ok Felix:
Draco said all the answers are redacted.
TRP listed three things that supply or strongly imply answers: 800 pages, eyewitness testimony, and 3000 deaths. And TRP said that apparently according to DTB, none of those things count, but some rightwing nutter on the internet provides totally reliable evidence.
Are you up with the play, now?
I have been all along buddy.
It only makes sense if TRP is saying that Draco doesn’t believe those examples represent facts.
Draco contests the redacted report. TRP therefore reasonably attributes to Draco the belief that the report doesn’t count.
Then – in the exact same context – he attributes the belief that “the deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count”.
The problem with that is that the fact that 3000 people died isn’t evidence for or against any particular theory under discussion, crackpot or otherwise.
Like I say, it depends what flavour crackpot we’re dealing with. But whatever. If you want to focus on one out of three as some sort of victory of… whatever, that’s cool. What about the other two?
The other two relate to the discussion. The third one was a weird irrelevant accusation.
Are you up with the play yet?
Yeah I’ve figured out that you’re playing the “ignore things that don’t suit you, fixate on the one thing you think you can distract with” game.
Although personally I’d like every truther here to categorically state that they believe the official victim count is correct before I agree with your call on its relevance.
So go ahead and ask them, but playing games with the precise body count doesn’t change what’s already been said and it doesn’t open up any explanations for it neither.
And I’ll thank you not to ascribe motives to me when you seem to be having so much trouble even following what I’ve said, which really hasn’t been all that complicated.
Meh ok I’ll rephrase without suggesting motive:
You’ve spent half a dozen comments debating one of three things trp listed that contradict dtb’s statement that all the answers are redacted.
You have made no comments on the other points.
Dtb is still incorrect.
Here you go McFlock, France has an answer for you.
😈 😆
“You’ve spent half a dozen comments debating one of three things trp listed that contradict dtb’s statement that all the answers are redacted.
You have made no comments on the other points.”
Why should I respond to those other points, McFlock? I’m not disputing them.
If you like I can go through every comment on every thread on TheStandard and put a +1 after all the ones I agree with, but I reckon you might then want to know why I haven’t actively disputed all of the remainder.
Arguing about the relevance of a single point when the outcome of that argument is irrelevant to the outcome of the argument that the points were made in does seem remarkably postmodern of you, Felix.
Whereas sandwiching emotive attacks on your opponents in-between relevant rebuttals of their arguments is just an excersise in nasty dishonest bullshit.
So in this instance, sure I’ll be the post-modernist. Of course you could probably qualify too by arguing that being right about something means you can ascribe absolutely any view to people who are wrong about that thing, and that process doesn’t matter as long as the outcome doesn’t change.
It’s not dishonest. It’s the honest outcome of listening to ten years of nutbars fail to comprehend basic concepts like gravity and footprint. Given that and the nanothermite bullshit in links commenters have posted in this very thread, you’re lucky that only every other comment has been “emotive”.
While you’ve apparently been a fucking Vulcan all along. /sarc
No I’m just a Vulcan right now. It’s a post modern thing.
I understand your frustration on this topic. However there is no justification for accusing people of thinking 3000 deaths “doesn’t count” when they haven’t said anything of the sort.
Even if they’ve said other things that drive you nuts.
Even if they’re wrong about all of them.
Even when you have other valid points to make, that just isn’t one of them.
And although it’s right up TRP’s alley to fling that sort of monkey shit at the wall, it’s beneath you to defend it.
+1 felix
I had a browse of this thread and while I couldn’t really understand what you and McFlock were arguing about, your summary here clarifies it quite a bit. It really is very poor to attribute outrageous statements to people when they didn’t make them.
“doesn’t count” as evidence. Like the other two things in TRP’s list. If all the answers are redacted, nothing can be concluded from everything that is unredacted. Which is bullshit.
But even if your complaint were accurate, what’s your point: that it harms the reputation of a bunch of nutbars who seem to treat 911 as a hobby? It doesn’t.
Nope, the point is (still) that he didn’t say it. And you (still) don’t think that matters, because nutbars. Or something.
And it (still) wouldn’t be evidence anyway unless someone were denying that 3000 people died, which (still) no-one here seems to have done.
how did you get “denying that 3000 people died” from “The deaths of 3000 people doesn’t count”, again?
I didn’t, you did. Because that’s what would have to have been said in order for your “evidence” defense to stand.
Again.
Yawn.
You are incorrect. What would have to have been said is that the deaths of 3000 people do not count as evidence, not that they didn’t happen.
As in “oh fuck, all these people are dead. What can we infer from that? Nothing. Wow – 800 pages of report. what can we infer from that? Nothing. Holy crap, loads of eyewitnesses say that they saw planes fly into buildings. What can we infer from that? Nothing”.
All because some of one report was redacted. Which is what dtb said: “all the answers are ██ █████”.
“You are incorrect. What would have to have been said is that the deaths of 3000 people do not count as evidence, not that they didn’t happen.”
Only (yawn) if it was (yaaawn) someone’s argument that (yaaaaaawn) those people didn’t die, i.e. that the (yaaaaawn) event itself never occurred.
Which it (yaaaaaaaaaawn) still isn’t.
Seriously dude, I’ve explained this to you so many times now. You’re either not being honest or you have a serious problem with comprehension. And you’ve never struck me as a fool.
It’s all there in black and white for anyone who’s interested, I’m done wasting time with people who treat 911 as a hobby.
Ah.
Your fixation on a logical fallacy is obviously due to fatigue.
Fuck off and get some sleep, then. Maybe you’ll understand basic logic when you wake up.
And yet you go to such effort to defend their reputations.
Q. How does the report explain exactly what happened ?
You are unwilling to debate this topic reasonably
It absolutely did not fall at free fall speed. Why do people keep repeating this easily disproved “fact” when it has conclusively shown to be fucking rubbish?
Have you seen the Architects and Engineers film?
You can see chunks of rubble, which are in free fall, fall faster than the building. Pretty clear evidence the building isn’t falling at free fall.
Have you seen the Architects and Engineers film?
Yes. An it is still very clear that the building isn’t falling at free fall.
It’s clear the official story is nonsense.
How would you know? You haven’t even read the official story, nor are you equipped to assess its veracity, nor willing to debate any of your talking points.
For example, when Penny Bright displayed her ignorance of the tensile response of steel to temperature, and pretended that aviation fuel was the only flammable substance present, you agreed with her, then failed to respond to the rebuttal.
I take this as a demonstration of ignorance and bias rather than willful deceit. Apparently 0.1% (approx.) of the architects and engineers of the USA are similarly afflicted. So what?
Name 1 steel framed skyscraper that has collapsed due to fire except on 9/11
I think you are missing something…was it just a fire or was it a fire caused by a fucking airliner smashing into the building at several 100’s of kms per hour.
No plane hit WTC7
WTC7 was severally damaged by debris – one of many buildings damaged
Hardly touched, actually
Have you watched the Architects film?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3OZtI7Go4
http://www.911myths.com/html/wtc7_damage.html
but it wasn’t just “steel framed”, was it. And it wasn’t just a fire, was it.
Or to flip it around, can you name a single building with similar construction design (as well as materials) that had a decent-sized passenger jet fly into it and it didn’t collapse? Because AFAIK plane crashes are running at two for two.
No plane crashed into WTC7.
Apparently it crashed due to fire.
Are you aware of WTC7?
Indeed I am.
So feel free to replace “decent-sized passenger jet fly into it” with “hit by debris from a larger building collapsing next to it”, if you wish.
Hardly touched it.
And there were only tiny fires.
Are you aware the BBC reported its collapse before it happened.
Have you seen clips of its free fall collapse?
Clips of firefighters saying they were blowing it?
Really have you actually looked at the mass of evidence supported by architects and engineers about WTC7?
I take evidence from experts seriously.
Who do you listen to?
The governments flawed enquiry ?
You cherry pick the evidence that suits your beliefs, while either ignoring the vast majority of opinion, or implying that everyone who disagrees with you is corrupt.
It’s pathetic.
4,954 Days. No evidence.
According to you.
Not 2000 Architects and Engineers.
But hey, you know better.
0.1% of the engineers in the USA!
out of how many hundreds of thousands?
Every profession has its share of nutters, I guess.
“Hardly touched it”.
How would you know? You’re too lazy to gain an understanding of the engineering reports, and yet suddenly now you’re an expert on building fires.
See, the thing is that I have seen those clips due to previous arguments. And they never live up to their advertising, or rely on heavy editing. Like your “free fall collapse” theory, it took significantly longer than free-fall time to collapse. The math blatantly disproves the “free fall” hyperbole. I argued this with CR last time, using footage and G calculators and everything.
I’m surprised you missed that debate.
And another one.
And another one.
And oh look, 2009.
But feel free to keep recycling the same old bullshit.
Hi Paul
I must admit i’m a bit bemused that people still debate what happened that day. I’ve never found it surprising that any of the buildings collapsed after the damage that they suffered.
Can you explain what issue you have with the official story of plane crashes followed by fires and the other nearby buildings being collateral damage from the major two buildings collapsing ?
I think the significant issue is that 911 was used as a pretext for extreme paranoia, the creation of a police state, and an endless war on terror in “the land of the free”.
With the strange stock market fluctuations leading up to the disaster, and GWB’s weird reaction to it, it’s not too much of a leap to think it was an inside job.
If it wasn’t a deliberate false flag operation it was a perfect opportunity for Bush, Cheney et al to live out their teenage wet dreams and play global war games (encouraged by their .mil sponsors).
But as Hanlon’s razor goes (paraphrase) “never attribute to conspiracy that which is adequately explained by an epic fuck-up”
I would have thought they could have come up with a better load of perpetrators than “Saudis trained in Afghanistan”, if it were all a bush/cheney concoction to invade Iraq.
Iraqi kurds, for example. Then throw in suspicion that it was Saddam not the Kurds.
I fully agree that it was an excuse to invade Iraq, and even that maybe they thought they might be able to build and protect an oil pipeline across Afghanistan as well. But a number of charlatans have also made a lot of money out of pretending way more happened than what seemed to happen on the day: nineteen hijackers gambling that hostages on four aircraft will work to an old template, while the hijackers switch it up a notch.
Here’s a handy index to truther claims and the rebuttals thereof. Should save you some effort in future iterations of this argument.
Skepticism is healthy when applied to TPTB but not so useful when opining on matters requiring some training in engineering or science.
There are plenty of real conspiracies happening under our noses, no need to add a fictional one
(the military surveillance state, brazen bankster rorts, TPPA and the sale of NZ for example)
plus 100 ropata!
“There are plenty of real conspiracies happening under our noses, no need to add a fictional one.”
Oh i agree with you on that – the 9/11 stuff all seems as a bit of a distraction from the more important stuff that you’ve highlighted.
Any of you folk arguing against 9/11 TRUTH ever cut steel with an oxy-acetylene gas axe ?
Familiar with the term ‘heat sink’?
Have you actually bothered reading the research of over 2000 qualified architects and engineers on this matter?
Seriously?
http://www.ae911truth.org
Just have a look for yourselves – with an open mind?
Kind regards
Penny Bright
I stopped looking at it – years ago- when it brought out the same old easily-disprovable myths you’re recycling here.
Which myths?
Really? I listed some of them upthread.
I posted an article on why many on the left are scared of questioning 9/11
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41437.htm
Note the violence of the attacks made, Penny.
These 9/11 deniers are not open to critical thinking on this issue.
No open minds on this topic for some.
🙄
Wow, those rolly-eyes really are violent, eh /sarc
That does not represent a reasoned argument.
Have you actually watched this film?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3OZtI7Go4
Before I watch yet another truther video, have you read the NIST report cover to cover?
edit: btw, the comment my rolly eyes comment was replying to was not a “reasoned argument” either. So stop being precious.
Truther? Name calling.
Actually 2000 Arcitects and Engineers.
I call that experts.
But hey you know better!
Make an argument rather than attack the messenger.
Is an attack to point out you and your right wing mates are mad as cut snakes? If so, I apologise unreservedly.
I have previously given you the names of renowned left wing thinkers who question 9/11.
What’s left of their arguments that hasn’t been comprehensively debunked years ago?
How sad for them. It’s a right wing beat up. Entirely up to you whether you buy into it.
Hahaha, rebutting right-wing nut-jobs with “renowned left wing thinkers”…
It really doesn’t matter if they’re left or right; we’re really just pointing out the fact that those with right-wing tendencies are on average more fearful and also distrustful of government/organisation, thus increasing their propensity to believe in conspiracy theories.
Architects whose beliefs have been publicly disowned by their professional body.
Note: that’s an attack upon the message, not the dishonest messenger.
that would be a “no” then.
Indeed I have Penny, and with carefully considered application of techniques and heat sink properties I’ve straightened, cambered, bent, distorted, twisted and deflected all manner and sizes of steel posts, beams, rafters, supports and stanchions using nothing more than propane, cotton waste and a bucket of water.
Used to work in the steel making industry so I know a little bit about it as well. Helps to have some knowledge of the field when throwing conspiracy theories about.
good comments, thanks
Aw Jesus, Penny, you’re not a Truther are you?
Any Rand – why is she still a thing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8m8cQI4DgM&feature=iv&src_vid=l8QNDRbjong&annotation_id=annotation_2151799137
Believing the official 9/11 story.
Why is that still a thing?
Trolling. Why is that still a thing?
No…debating a vital topic that makes sense of the the events since 2001.
The Elephant in the Room
You appear in denial.
Denial?
Ever think you might be wrong, that the events have already been pretty thoroughly explained by the “official” story?
Most polls show that increasing numbers of people question 9/11.
We now know the US government lied about WMD in Iraq, chemical weapons in Syria and through Snowden we know they’ve lied about spying.
And so you take the fairy tale about 9/11 as gospel truth.
Most people no longer believe the official tale.
lol
You started with “increasing numbers of people” and finished with “most people”. In one comment.
And yet only 2000 architects and engineers are in that group…
Most polls? Go on, cite me baby! Last time I looked, one in twenty Americans believed Elvis was still alive. I’m told quite a few of them are also convinced that God exists. Funny old world, eh?
via the Irascible Curmudgeon, in the sidebar
`
There’s trouble brewing in Middle Earth
1. Huge dairy slump, down 45% since 2013
2. Overall exports down 27% since last February
3. World dairy prices slide 10.8% in 2 weeks, in anticipation of a huge oversupply
4. Auckland property CVs out of date, 20% jump in median price in 18 months
Here’s Bernard Hickey:
Time is winding down for NZ’s housing bubble ponzi scheme
Let the chips fall where they may.
And Europe cuts it’s milk quota.
Even more oversupply on its way.
http://www.dairyherd.com/news/dairy-groups-analyze-potential-impact-end-eu-milk-quotas
BUT bank economists here and abroad say Key and English are super duper top whizzy guys.
Yep, they do – but have you seen this?
Believing a banker these days is tantamount to stupidity.
Indeed… the self interested talking up the self absorbed and self interested
On Radio NZ news just now:
“Taxpayers Union Executive Director Jordan Williams welcomes the return of 10 years passports.”
Why do they continue to quote this star of “Dirty Politics” and his far-right group?
Anybody out there know the structure and status of of the Taxpayers Union; how many members; who funds it?
Answering my own question. Some info. here:
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/who_we_are
But I note “when we launched all of our donations were from individuals.” Who were they? How much? And where has the funding come from since?
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/who_we_are
Read it and chuckle… they say they represent everyone… but they have one woman and are all white and seemingly suited and tied.
and those so-called taxpayers spend money on their accountants and tax lawyers to be taxavoiders. what a hoot.
yeah I know…
heh
There is nothing nerdish about the irrepressible Gabrielle O’Brien. She carries her keys on a Southpark key ring and her Benson and Hedges in her knock-off Gucci handbag. She wears T-shirts with messages: “Do Not Start With Me, You Will Not Win”. O’Brien, at 26, is quite old for a Young Nat. Her parents are staunch Labour. O’Brien is studying politics and Maori and admits she wants to be Prime Minister.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3007056
http://lawisanass-wingate.blogspot.co.nz/2010/09/gabrielle-obrien-regional-deputy-chair.html
I was on a busy motorway when I listened to RNZ news the afternoon. Top story? The bloody pip-squeak from Dirty Politics, Jordan Williams and his equally pip-squeak “tax payers union”. The air turned blue inside my car.
Why oh why don’t the opposition parties expose the little ratbag and his ratbag bunch of dishonest losers? Nah… they sit there and let them get away with the hoax, because that is all it is – a mighty big hoax supported and abetted by the MSM.
Well said Anne, and so bloody true.
Sadly says so much about the direction RNZ is travelling.
@Anne.
Agreed. I think his role in DP needs to be mentioned whenever and wherever possible.
Over the years I’ve watched lots of sci-fi on TV and at the movies. Quite a few of them would have cars and trucks in them with dashboards that’d make a battleships sensors officer jealous.
and then this turned up on twitter.
The machines are taking over…
India to use weaponized drones for crowd control
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/india-to-use-weaponized-drones-for-crowd-control_042015
India has imported that technology from umm which country that has exported and continues to experiment with it?
China?