Daily review 04/07/2019
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5:30 pm, July 4th, 2019 - 65 comments
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- The 1 Good Thing Left In Journalism
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...2 hours ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Monday, December 23
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...2 hours ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51
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Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...22 hours ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...22 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
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- As Our Power Lessens: Published
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The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...2 days ago - Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
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The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...3 days ago
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- ZB’s Power Couple
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The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...3 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
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Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...4 days ago
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The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...5 days ago
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Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...5 days ago
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Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...6 days ago
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Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...6 days ago - Corrections is torturing prisoners again
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...6 days ago
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...6 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...6 days ago
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And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...7 days ago - A Lipstick Government
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Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...7 days ago
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...1 week ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
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Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago
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National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...3 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...3 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
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The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...4 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...4 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...6 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...6 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...6 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...7 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
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I see the man-child narcissist in the USA wants to have his own parade like his good mates in other parts of the world. I reckon his will be huger than theirs though.
https://time.com/5619191/donald-trump-july-4-speech-controversy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMLtkp4AFkchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMLtkp4AFkc
tRump sized.
https://twitter.com/biner54/status/1146436537074298880
Hey, those were among the best APCs money could buy back in 1990.
Sabine also posted a wonderful picture at 6 on Open Mike today – well worth a look and a laugh.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04-07-2019/#comment-1634002
all those tanks will do wonders for the US crumbling infrastructure
Those seventy tonne behemoths should grind the National Mall into hard fill.
So there's that.
I think it's great that he got over the trauma of not being able to serve in the forces and now loves to be seen with the military. That shows the enormous courage and quality of the man.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/donald-trump-avoided-the-military-draft-which-was-common-at-the-time-vietnam-war-2018-12?r=US&IR=T
Anyone with connections avoided the draft
https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/its-not-just-donald-trump-these-famous-americans-also-received-draft-deferments.html
tRump is the chickenhawk personified – a bullying, strutting, obnoxious and dangerous thug who liked to play soldier boi dress-up.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160503/http://www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks/
First US Pres to step inside North Korea though, and gets along pretty well with Vlad too. Hopeful signs for the world.
he's not cool – 120 years
this is why he doesn't
lol didn't need one politically – what a crooked stick he is
First POTUS to legitimise a murderous thug and his regime's system of collective punishment that results in the intergenerational and often lifetime incarceration, forced hard labour, calculated starvation and torture of families percieved or otherwise to be enemies of the ruling clique.
Too many CNN talking points possibly there Joe…
You could have mentioned their green tech and decent public transport that functions under heavy sanctions, but that would be a whole lot less warmongering.
Apparently things were as peachy as fuck in Theresienstadt, too.
/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZt92quVOsg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresienstadt_(1944_film)
Legitimising the NK regime is a shit idea.
And so is joe90's Godwinism.
Likening Bartlett's vile propaganda to an historical example ain't Godwinism.
/
It's just Trumpian farce. No-one who has been watching him objectively could think it was anything but. It may be to show Iran that if they would just abandon their plans for nuclear use they too could be sweet flavour of the month.
The North Koreans being shown the pics on their side of the border don't necessarily know the orange one is a petulant manbaby.
All many of them know is that the regime rattled sabres with the US and the US now recognises their regime. Helps keep the slave camps going for a bit longer.
That's a pretty good list of arseholes. Didn't know about Clinton (the least arseholey of the lot). There was a pretty good scene in Trumbo where John Wayne gets bollocked for having avoided doing anything in WW2.
Given that list was heavy with right wing fuckwits, I'm not sure you demonstrated any point of note. Got a similar list of lefties who refused service using paperwork shenanigans? Not conchies, who stood up and said "no" and took the consequences, but the dudes who sadly just missed out because of some convenient condition that hasn't stopped them leading full lives, or because their bosses just really needed them and only them as a law clerk?
Wasn't really taking into consideration their political affiliations, as I just was pointing out it was a common thing for people with connections.
But if you insist on going there
Both Trump and Rudy would have been democrats at the time.
Comments?
I'm sure that the millionaire fraudster living in a golden mansion (that would make Louis IV make snide comments to Liberace about the tacky decor) and the hardline prosecutor would both have been regarded as "lefties", but I was thinking someone more conventionally "left", even for the US.
Sanders was a conchy, and faced billyclubs anyway. Biden seems to be the closest bet, as far as I can see.
People of all colours have been getting out of ugly work and risk since time immemorial.
It is one of those things where "who is the worst" is a tad silly.
The whole democrat/republican thing in the US is a tad silly anyway given everything kind of switched.
Don't know why people bother so much talking about the idiot orange sexist twat or even US politics in general
Maybe a case that your list had a funny sample bias?
No idea
I just googled famous people who avoided the draft and that came up
Feel free to do a "right", "left", "politicians", if it gives you a buzz
John Wayne was a racist piece of scum by all accounts btw
You mean hollywood…… 14.20
Not just John wayne … who fitted in just fine 15 mins 55 secs
To be fair, he was dealing with his own personal Vietnam at the time. It was so unfair to him that he didn't get a Congressional Medal of Honor for it.
https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/14/media/trump-stern-vietnam-stds/index.html
Very excited.
'scuse the male pale stale that follows.
The Chills, Straitjacket Fits and The Blams (as well as a bunch of other artists), are playing The Others Way gig.
K Road, August 30th from 10 am.
Flying out.co.nz for tickets.
I am stoked to see The Blams.
Did you see this review/story? https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/04-07-2019/shayne-carters-rock-n-roll-memoir-and-stories-from-someone-who-was-there/
No, thanks Sacha.
IMO Kim Hill's hour long in depth interview with Shane Carter last Saturday was well worth a listen if you did not hear it.
Here is the RNZ article about the interview with links to the actual interview.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018693579/shayne-carter-on-his-memoir-dead-people-i-have-known
Thanks VV for pointing that out. Always enjoy hearing Shane Carter speak.
The problem the world has with trump is not trump himself but the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been disenfranchised by previous administrations and think he is the second messiah because his go to phrase is “ put America first.” Don’t blame the clown preacher blame the dumb congregation.
You could also blame tradition. America First has been percolating through US society for a century, so all Trump did was revive it. Complex memes that have been doing contagion for a century are very powerful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First
Preceded by this mob.
The Native American Party, renamed the American Party in 1855 and commonly known as the Know Nothing movement, was an American nativist political party that operated nationally in the mid-1850s. It was primarily anti-Catholic, xenophobic, and hostile to immigration, starting originally as a secret society. The movement briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party. Adherents to the movement were to reply "I know nothing" when asked about its specifics by outsiders, thus providing the group with its common name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing
Ah, so that's where Sergeant Schultz got his favourite saying from!
"The Prime Minister sounded increasingly like Sergeant Schultz, his repeated “I know NOTHING” denials less and less credible or convincing as the interviews proceeded. He looked irritated and out of sorts, frustrated by the inability of these idiots to see his point of view that, though he was Minister for the SIS, he could not be held responsible for the actions of people in his department that impinged on the impartiality of the Service. It had nothing to do with him."
https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/uncanny-resemblance-between-john-key-and-sergeant-schultz
Blame them both New view. Cheap, crass, dim-witted, a thug and devoid of class. That's Trump for you and his supporters are no better.
I listened to some of Trump's 4th July speech extolling the military – courageous and the mightiest soldiers in the world he said – or something like that. How would he know? He was a draft dodger.
In the meantime the concentration camps are thriving in the South but not the inmates, they are dying. It's only a matter of time before the camps start appearing elsewhere.
This is interesting. Aussie billionaire selling his property to himself for increased value.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/113994687/aussie-billionaire-tim-roberts-sells-queenstown-property-for-top-price#comments
The comments touch on a few interesting scenarios:
This is worth investigating.
My theory: Poor misunderstood billionaire suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder flips house to an alternate personality state.
Shades of 'I wasn't speaking as a Prime Minister at that moment.' Rich people can afford lots of hats.
A big thank you to whoever is choosing the Daily Review pictures – am loving the "Where is
WallyIvanka?" series!A wonderful follow-on to her performance as ‘Ambassador-at-Large’ at the G20 meeting last week – LOL Shame she was not accredited to the role …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador-at-large
Ya wanna know where to go to overdose on them or you prefer to enjoy them one by one as micky trickles them out?
Here’s a few of them:
https://news.sky.com/story/unwantedivanka-awkward-g20-meeting-inspires-flurry-of-parodies-11752649
My fave is "Yalta". Three old men are sitting on a park bench and Ivanka is serenading them. 😉
I wasn't going to spoil it by linking a bunch, but this one brought tears to my eyes so I had to share …
https://c.nau.ch/i/54WBw/1024/512/unwantedivanka.jpg
There's some brilliant ones out there. I nearly had a wee accident the other night. Micky must show the 'allied landing' one. It's a classic.
"The Shining" might be a bit too scary for use here, tho.
Oh my goooooddddd…..!!!!!!! Not just tears to my eyes, but what Anne said below!
Thanks Anne and Andre (that's got a good ring about it …) will check them out.
I tried to see some on an Indy100 link but that froze my computer so did not pursue that link or others.
You two will also appreciate the link that Sabine put up at 6 on Open Mike – check it out if you haven't already. LOL.
I suspect it is going to be another little sleep night tonight as I check out July 4 'celebrations' in my adopted US home town (Washington DC). I lived there for almost 7 years, aged 14 – 21, so it disgusts me what Trump is doing to some very important American traditions etc.
Just google unwanted ivanka and check out the images. Here's a starter pack.
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=CUZob_1562030953
Won’t somebody please think of the racist, sexist turnkeys.
https://twitter.com/hectorgarza2455/status/1146484821654478848
https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memes
lol put those arseholes in the cages I say – dirty racists
There's an exciting fashion trend evident in leftist political thought: using code in brand names for political parties. This quote gives two examples: "The European Realistic Disobedience Front, or MeRA25, is a left-wing Greek political party founded in 2018. Its founder and secretary is former Syriza MP and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. MeRa25 is part of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), the European Spring and the Progressive International". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeRA25
Decoding things, looks like democracy is intended to be introduced to Europe in 2025, and it will happen as the result of realistic disobedience. The code format seems to be derived from standard internet password format (upper & lower case letters mixed with numbers), to get younger generations aboard I guess.
Top work those Westland Milk farmers who took the dividends for years, underinvested, hollowed the company with low product development, made the only choice to go for a for sale, cut its executives bonuses if they completed the sale, the sold it off the the Chinese.
Pack of pricks.
Really, really hard to see us getting ahead as a country when this is the long term attitude of milk farmers.
They bring to mind some of the cockies of my youth.
Dumb AF on their 60 acre rehab blocks with 40 cows, separators and pigs, yet they considered themselves landed gentry because could afford a new car every other year.
I heard the chair of the board say he bears full responsibility, so that's ok.
I wonder what full responsibility looks like?
It looks like dressing up in traditional costume and sitting cross-legged on the floor, then taking your short sword and stabbing it deep into your abdomen before twisting it and slicing left, then right. Somehow I doubt that the board chair will genuinely take full responsibility.
I doubt that was in the prospectus.
it's a shower of gold
Do you mean in $NZ dollars?
Somebody got annoyed with the West Coast intransigence about new ideas, new business and called them 'feral'.
It's a miracle!
https://twitter.com/VicBergerIV/status/1145888528439508992
Nazis lie?
Say it ain't so.
https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1146238223485743104
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/07/02/news/allegations-against-portland-antifa-latest-effort-far-right-activists-vilify
Priorities.
https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1146173126373498884
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1146172211251822593
yep, one saving them, one killing them and we know which one is punished
I’ve seen a dementia sufferer get as teary AF.
https://twitter.com/ShotgunZen/status/1135453852617052161