Author Archive

Astroturf organisation accuses Tax Justice Aotearoa of being an astroturf organisation

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:13 pm, April 8th, 2019 - 18 comments

The Taxpayer’s Union (not a real union) has hit peak irony by accusing another organisation of being an astroturf organisation.

Trump’s tax returns and the Mueller investigation

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:40 am, April 5th, 2019 - 53 comments

Donald Trump and his supporters have been celebrating Mueller’s finding as interpreted by William Barr. But with Congress formally requesting his tax records and with the Mueller report not being yet released the celebration could be premature.

Why we cannot afford to tolerate fascists

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:30 am, April 4th, 2019 - 130 comments

Inn the United Kingdom a neo nazi has been convicted of making plans to kill a female Labour Member of Parliament.

David is delayed

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:27 am, April 3rd, 2019 - 13 comments

David Seymour has done something even more embarrassing than twerking on Dancing with the Stars.

Dumb as a plank

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:18 pm, April 2nd, 2019 - 80 comments

Pro gun lobby groups are making some outlandish claims about the Government’s proposed gun law changes.

The benefits of a Labour led Government

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:18 pm, April 1st, 2019 - 67 comments

Today marks the day that the largest ever increase in the minimum wage will occur.

The gun lobby fights back

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:27 pm, March 30th, 2019 - 16 comments

The Herald is reporting that Gun City the business that sold the military style semi automatic weapons to the Christchurch Mosque killer, has urged customers to sign a petition against banning military style semi automatic weapons.

Daily review 29/03/2019

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:03 pm, March 29th, 2019 - 13 comments

Daily review is also your post.This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

The Brexit Fuster Cluck

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:32 pm, March 29th, 2019 - 97 comments

Watching from the opposite side of the world it is hard to imagine how badly the Conservative Party has handled it. I mean we are days away from the end and the UK now relies on the whim of shifting temporary alliances to determine how it will finish. Theresa May is finished. No matter what […]

The Green Party on the Mosque murders

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:00 am, March 29th, 2019 - 194 comments

Recent criticism of Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman over their drawing links between racism and the Mosque murders is misplaced.

Did Hanson’s One Nation Party seek funding from the NRA and the Koch Brothers?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:05 am, March 27th, 2019 - 23 comments

Pauline Hanson’s One Australia party is trying to defend claims that it should funding to oppose gun restrictions from the NRA and the Koch Brothers by stating that its chief of staff was drunk.

WTF Free Speech coalition?

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:54 am, March 26th, 2019 - 564 comments

The Free Speech coalition has attacked the Chief Censor’s decision to rule the Christchurch Mosque killer’s manifesto as objectionable as an attack on free speech. But the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties has characterised the Censor’s decision as being entirely conventional.

Reform of the SIS

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:29 am, March 25th, 2019 - 60 comments

Following the Christchurch Mosque murders there are strong calls for an inquiry into the SIS. But should it be given more power or should it be reformed to remove a pretty clear blind spot.

The trouble with Facebook

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:11 am, March 24th, 2019 - 79 comments

The Government and some major corporations have called for changes to Facebook in the way it operates.

The power of compassionate politics

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:20 am, March 20th, 2019 - 205 comments

Jacinda Ardern has shown over the past week that she is one of the country’s best leaders.

National’s unfortunate misstatement about its migrant petition

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:51 am, March 19th, 2019 - 76 comments

National has been caught out in what is euphemistically called a misspeak about when it took its odious anti UN Migration pact petition down from its website. It said it was weeks before the Christchurch murders but it appears the petition was still live after the event.

Mike Hosking’s unusual take on the Christchurch massacre

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:09 am, March 19th, 2019 - 137 comments

Mike Hosking has delivered an analysis of the Mosque murders that omits saying the massacre occurred in a mosque or that all the victims were of the Muslim faith or that the terrorist was a right wing extremist.

DPF does the right thing

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 5:05 pm, March 18th, 2019 - 101 comments

Kiwiblog comments have been turned off as David Farrar grapples with how to handle a crisis concerning hate speech.

Lets ban assault weapons – now

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:45 am, March 18th, 2019 - 284 comments

The Government needs to urgently change the law to ban the sale of military style semi automatic weapons.

The trouble with hate speech

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:02 pm, March 16th, 2019 - 319 comments

Yesterday’s terrorist attack which has resulted in 49 kiwis losing their lives highlights issues brought up by the tour of New Zealand by Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux and the debate about if hate speech should ever be tolerated.

Ardern backs students striking for climate change

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:43 am, March 15th, 2019 - 70 comments

Jacinda Ardern has publicly supported the School students strike about climate change and urged them not to underestimate the power of their voices.

Simon Bridges is distancing himself from Simon Bridges

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:01 am, March 13th, 2019 - 44 comments

Simon Bridges did the remarkable thing yesterday of distancing himself from his own party over events he had major involvement in.

Landlord advocates threatening rent increases if Labour wins next election

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:05 am, March 11th, 2019 - 288 comments

A landlord has advocated that all landlords should threaten to increase tenant’s rentals if Labour wins the next election.

The tax debate – Dogwhistle time

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:07 am, March 7th, 2019 - 111 comments

National has resorted to race baiting in its attempt to denigrate the Tax Working Group’s proposed capital gains tax.

Young people and climate change

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:56 am, March 6th, 2019 - 50 comments

School students are planning national protests against climate change on March 15, 2019. The response of some politicians to this news is less than optimal.

National’s Tax review strategy

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:22 am, March 5th, 2019 - 107 comments

The Government is not due to announce its response to the Tax Working Group’s recommendations for a few more weeks. It appears that National using outrageous assumptions will take the opportunity to raise horror stories in the media on how bad the tax could be.

The Green’s electoral law reform petition

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:47 am, March 4th, 2019 - 389 comments

The Green Party’s launching of a petition to seek changes to the electoral system has met with some Trumpian style rhetoric from the right.

Kim Hill eviscerates Chris Christie on National radio

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:06 am, March 3rd, 2019 - 54 comments

Chris Christie agreed to be interviewed by Kim Hill about his recently released book. It seems like he did not know what he was letting himself in for.

National’s Maggie Barry problem

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:20 am, March 3rd, 2019 - 25 comments

The Herald has reported that there has been concerns at Maggie Barry’s behaviour towards staff has been raised on three separate occasions. And Parliamentary Services is at the suggestion of the Auditor General investigating claims of misuse of Parliamentary Services resources.

Lies damn lies and tax analysis

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 1:21 pm, March 2nd, 2019 - 67 comments

National’s claim that a capital gains tax would reduce the value of an average worker’s Kiwisaver account by $64,000 over a 45 year working life seems to be as valid as Steven Joyce’s claim there was an $11.5 billion dollar hole in Labour’s draft budget.