democracy under attack

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The Left Trumped?

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, November 21st, 2024 - 32 comments

We woke up last week to the post-mortem on the US election. How and why Trump won, and their implications for political alignments everywhere, are front and centre. A fundamental issue, explicitly identified when Trump won in 2016, is the presence of large sections of the working class vote into the Trump camp. So why has that happened – again?

When you remove nuts & bolts, things tend to fall over

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, June 22nd, 2024 - 21 comments

Nuts and loose screws are holding together this callous coalition government.

Democracy in Dire Straits

Written By: - Date published: 7:27 pm, June 20th, 2024 - 59 comments

Like an auto-immune disease, democracy can attack itself with dire consequences.

Fast-Track to Fast-Fail

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 pm, June 8th, 2024 - 35 comments

Only a fool insists on furiously flogging a dead horse to go faster on the track.

Are we drifting away or falling apart?

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, May 18th, 2024 - 16 comments

What is the antidote for our socio-economic problems and how do we deal with this coalition government?

Towards Banana Republic Status

Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, April 17th, 2024 - 27 comments

There is a bill before Parliament right now that has the potential of blowing a rather big hole in our reputation as an open and transparent democracy.

Where is Melissa Lee?

Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, March 4th, 2024 - 44 comments

The New Zealand media sector has been in turmoil during the past week. But Broadcasting Minister has refused to publicly discuss what is happening or what her government proposes to do about it.

A sad lament from the serial left

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 pm, February 13th, 2024 - 103 comments

Attacking leftists attempts to expose the Atlas Network of right-wing think tanks, Chris Trotter offers this gem “Morally speaking, is taking money from oil companies really all that distinguishable from giving money to oil companies every time we fill up our petrol tank?”

National and the Gutting of Local Democracy

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, February 13th, 2024 - 16 comments

We have remarkably little democracy left in New Zealand. 

The best Electoral System that money can buy

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, January 19th, 2024 - 22 comments

The Independent Electoral Review Panel has recommended changes to the electoral system including the banning of any donations unless made by enrolled voters, a cap on the size of those donations and a requirement that third parties disclose all large donations that they receive.

Atlas smirked

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 115 comments

A George Monbiot article in the Guardian made me wonder what effect the Atlas Network is having on New Zealand politics through the Taxpayer’s Union. Publicly available information suggests considerable funding is being made available and that the current Government’s priorities are precisely those that the Atlas Network would approve of.

The New Zealand’s New Neo-Authoritarian Coalition Government

Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, December 21st, 2023 - 20 comments

The coalition government has hijacked the democratic process for its own partisan and nefarious agenda.

Why won’t Winston Peters answer straight forward questions about NZ First policy?

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 2nd, 2023 - 116 comments

Jack Tame vs Winston Peters.

Seymour’s bad faith Treaty policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 20th, 2023 - 67 comments

ACT’s proposal to put the potential meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi up for popular vote in a referendum is absurd dog whistling of the worst sort.

NACT’s Law & Order Policies: Dog Whistle Or Proto-Fascism?

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, June 26th, 2023 - 22 comments

NACT’s Law & Order policies are a dog whistle and signs of proto-fascism.

Iwi Kiwi 2.0

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, May 10th, 2023 - 54 comments

In 2005 the National Party went full on racist with attacks on supposed Maori privilege which almost won the party power. Looks like they are going to try this tactic again.

We Need A Proper Constitution

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, September 20th, 2022 - 41 comments

She’s in the ground and it’s time.

The Freedumb Protesters give protesting a bad name

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, November 10th, 2021 - 58 comments

As a principle the right to protest is important.  But the freedumb protesters making outlandish claims and at the same time plagarizing the language of progressive protest movements deserves to be called out.

Trump and Russia

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, July 18th, 2021 - 41 comments

The Guardian has reported on claims of a leaked Russian Government paper which on the face of it confirms Russian support for the Trump 2016 election at the highest level.

Demand the debate

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, July 13th, 2021 - 52 comments

In two separate leaks it has emerged that Judith Collins privately briefed Don Brash on National’s demand the debate campaign and that Brash wrote to wealthy donors seeking $300,000 for an Iwi Kiwi style billboard response.

America’s Democratic Decline Really Matters

Written By: - Date published: 11:57 am, July 4th, 2021 - 48 comments

With the United States Supreme Court allowing individual states to choke voting rights into bare consciousness, that country is accelerating its democratic decline. That matters for every democracy including ours.

Openness and transparency

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments

On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.

A very Samoan coup

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, May 23rd, 2021 - 43 comments

In overnight news the Samoan head of state Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II has suspended the recalling of Parliament due to occur on Monday throwing Samoa’s democracy into turmoil.

Hang Facebook

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, May 9th, 2021 - 30 comments

The decision by the Oversight Board of Facebook to continue banning Donald Trump is one of the biggest moves against free speech and the modern definition of its limits that the world has seen.

Einstein versus Trump*

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, April 18th, 2021 - 10 comments

Einstein tried to explain complex things and understand reality; Trump tried to explain it away and distort reality.

The ugly finale of the Trump Presidency

Written By: - Date published: 1:02 am, January 9th, 2021 - 150 comments

Wednesday’s insurrection further tarnishes America’s reputation as a credible democratic nation. Significant changes will be needed before this reputation can be restored and it is hard to be optimistic that the US political system is capable of reforming itself in the way it needs to.

Anatomy of a failed coup

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, January 8th, 2021 - 175 comments

America’s descent into chaos was almost completed yesterday.  An amazingly inept display by local police saw a takeover of Congress and a temporary disruption of the confirmation of the clearly expressed view of the majority of Americans.

US democracy is under threat

Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, January 7th, 2021 - 43 comments

Short post to update on developments in Washington.

Trump’s next 48 hours

Written By: - Date published: 11:18 am, January 6th, 2021 - 66 comments

With crucial Senate run off races in Georgia and Congress meeting to receive the declared results of the US election and with Republicans determined to oppose the results at every turn the next couple of days will be very significant for America’s future. Update (lprent): The democratic senators from Georgia are called as victors. A riot pushed by an irresponsible President Trump happened at the Capitol building with people dead. Congress subsequently made a determined proclamation that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are confirmed a the newly elected president and vice-president. As for Donald Trump – goodbye to unstable rubbish..

No extradition for Assange

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 am, January 5th, 2021 - 104 comments

Great news. While unexpected, Nicky Hager who was an expert witness for Assange at the trial, thought this might be a possibility when he spoke to the Fabian Society in November. More details tomorrow.

Update: Bail application to be heard on Wednesday London time.

Trump’s chances of winning the Presidential Election through legal action

Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, November 18th, 2020 - 19 comments

To win the Presidential Election Donald Trump has to win multiple legal challenges in multiple states.  So far his cases have not gone very well.

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