Why should English condemn Trump for protecting US security when other presidents have also banned certain nationalities? e.g. Carter-Iran, Obama-Iraq. And where is the condemnation of the 16 nations that ban entry to Israelis?
[lprent: Since this appears to have become a diversion thread that bears little of no relationship to the post and has a certain degree of factless argument, I’m sending this thread to OpenMike. The short answer is that most of the 16 nations appear to have been ones that Israel has bans on travel to and from. A few of the Arab states appear to have bans on Israeli citizens or people travelling through Israel – which as a side-comment, also appear to have been ones that Mossad appears to have been most active in.
If anyone wants a ban, then they are free to raise this topic again as a factless diversion. If anyone has more information then use OpenMike or a post on the topic. ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You can’t tell the difference between pausing the approval of visa applications and Trump’s racist executive order. And compound that failure by whining that “Obama did it too”, even though he didn’t. Reality fail plus a broken moral compass. Classy.
We covered your pathetic inability to use Google to discover the various NZ left condemnations of antisemitism yesterday. While I realise that a failure like you only has the argumentum ad nauseam to fall back on, why not try harder rather than blowing harder for a change?
As for leadership, after all your other public failures, it’s hardly surprising that you prefer the Attlee approach over the Churchillian model.
“In addition, Iran,[31] Kuwait,[32] Lebanon,[33] Libya,[34] Saudi Arabia,[35] Sudan,[36] Syria[37] and Yemen[38] do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa.”
I think Steve Wrathall was drawing attention to the hypocrisy of calling out the US but not all these other countries?
Except he failed to demonstrate that those countries haven’t been called out.
Whereas a simple Google search demonstrates that antisemitism is routinely condemned by the left, the right, and pretty much everyone except fascists and POTUS.
Steve wasn’t referring to anti-semitism. He was referring to the hypocrisy of criticizing the US policy and not criticizing the exact same policy exercised by other nations against Israeli citizens. If you can show where they have been called out, address that to him.
That isn’t how this works: he made the assertion: it’s up to you or him to prove it.
Given his and your track record of lying, first you’d have to demonstrate how legal residents were affected too.
From my own perspective, Maninthemiddle, I think you have far more in common with the bigots in all the countries concerned than you do with their victims, and I condemn the lot of you.
1. Why should English condemn Trump for protecting US security when other presidents have also banned certain nationalities? e.g. Carter-Iran, Obama-Iraq, and
2. And where is the condemnation of the 16 nations that ban entry to Israelis?
Point 2 is not an assertion, it is a question. Where is the condemnation?
Both points nicely highlight the hypocrisy of the anti-Trump rhetoric currently being produced by the left. If you want another example, look a few posts down, where Draco posted a humorous but inaccurate Tweet, which LPrent endorsed without any fact check.
For the record, Trump is a nutter, IMHO, but the left are empowering him by the irrational criticism and hyperbole. It will see his ratings go through the roof.
Why should English condemn Trump for protecting US security when other presidents have also banned certain nationalities?
Is he doing that or is he giving the illusion of doing that?
IMO, it’s the latter.
Now, he could declare all those nations an enemy of the US and he might have a leg to stand on for banning people from there. It is, after all, what Israel did to its own citizens. The problem with him doing that though is that none of those nations have ever attacked the US – the US has attacked them though.
And where is the condemnation of the 16 nations that ban entry to Israelis?
To me it comes down to the reason for the ban. Israel has been, IIRC, quite aggressive to those nations and so they may do the same as Israel do to 8 of those states and hold Israel as an enemy state which would make banning Israelis quite reasonable.
“Now, he could declare all those nations an enemy of the US and he might have a leg to stand on for banning people from there.”
Why? His beef seems to be with some very specific citizens of those countries, not the countries themselves. Seems like s blunt instrument to me, but those who call this racism are either stupid or dishonest.
“Israel has been, IIRC, quite aggressive to those nations”
Oh please. Those nations ban Israeli citizens, something the left is criticising Trump for. The hypocrisy is blatant. Stop making excuses.
The hypocrisy doesn’t actually exist. NZ left parties and individuals have been highly critical of eg: Ahmadinejad for years, including here on this blog.
Nice to see that when the chips are down you fall in behind your fuhrer.
“NZ left parties and individuals have been highly critical of eg: Ahmadinejad for years, including here on this blog.”
Where on this blog has there been condemnation of bans on Israeli citizens visiting the countries listed in the same manner as the vitriol against Trump? Post it, or run away and curl up in your hypocrisy.
[lprent: Tracing back. I see that you are continuing a diversion that has nothing to do with the post. One that I seem to remember to have already banned a couple of people for. ]
1. Accept results, no matter how much you don’t like them.
2. Don’t blame the system just because this time the system gave you the “wrong” results. It gave you the “right” results the time before and the time before that, and the system is the same as it was before.
3. Look at what YOU did wrong and what YOU are doing wrong.
Not doing the above makes any protest look like the actions of a sore loser. A really bad sore loser!
I’d add a fifth and a sixth in the case of the US today
5. Do not let the focus be Trump – keep sheeting it back to the Republican Party.
6. Do not allow Democrats a platform.
And to HDCAFriendlyTroll, in the interests of holding bad fuckers to account, I’d have been looking for similar widespread protests in the case of a Clinton Presidency too.
The risk I see in that Marty (an over-riding or exclusive focus on Trump) is that, yes Trump will be forced out or ‘let go’ by the Republican machine at some point. Then Pence comes in and does the whole conciliatory bullshit thing by resiling from Trump’s more onerous policies – people ‘go home’…and the shit keeps coming down but in more acceptable wrapping.
But if the Republican Party are kept in the cross-hairs, (as a part of the focus) that avenue is cut off.
And besides, Trump isn’t an anomaly any more than (say) Stalin was an anomaly. Both are/were products of, and rely/relied on, definitive political structures.
Late edit – for clarity, I should have said that Pence will appear to resile from Trump’s more onerous policies….
I totally agree bill, lay off trump…. one reason he was elected in the first place was because the dems concentrated on a personal attack on him, it backfired, will continue to backfire, and if finally they push him out… what exactly will change?
And i would make one final point about protests, it isn’t about the protesters. Or promoting the leaders of the protest.. its supposed to be about making the rest of us think!
Also, an exclusive focus on Trump (as media is doing) allows the Democrats to rehabilitate themselves too….y’know, Trump was a monstrous aberration and everything’s fine now… “Trust in us little children – you know what happens when you don’t 👿 “
Insults and personal attacks Trump himself directed at Hillary Clinton
“no enthusiasm!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“unfit to serve”
“decades of lies and scandal”
“Crooked Hillary’s corruption is closing in”
“Crooked”
“Guilty – cannot run”
“a big mistake”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“should not be allowed to run for president”
“Crooked”
“Crooked Hillary”
“unfit to be president”
“Bad judgement!”
“We must not let #CrookedHillary take her CRIMINAL SCHEME into the Oval Office”
“Crooked”
“launched her political career by letting terrorists off the hook”
“Hillary said she was under sniper fire (while surrounded by USSS.) Turned out to be a total lie. She is not fit to lead our country”
“Crooked H”
“Crooked”
“wants to take in as many Syrians as possible”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“FAILED ALL OVER THE WORLD”
“loves to lie”
“She’ll say anything and change NOTHING!”
“Crooked”
“a Wall Street PUPPET!”
“Crooked”
“has never created a job in her life”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a foreign policy DISASTER”
“you have failed, failed, and failed”
“too weak to lead”
“no solutions, no ideas, no credibility”
“the most corrupt person to ever run for the presidency of the United States”
“If we let Crooked run the govt, history will remember 2017 as the year America lost its independence”
“So CROOKED”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Such a dishonest person”
“crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“SO CORRUPT!”
“Crooked”
“should be in jail”
“Crooked”
“PAY TO PLAY POLITICS”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Fraud”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“disgraceful behavior”
“unfit to run”
“Crooked”
“Hypocrite”
“Hypocrite!”
“nothing Hillary has said about her secret server has been true”
“If I win-I am going to instruct my AG to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation”
“there’s never been anything like your lies”
“has only created jobs at the FBI and DOJ!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“nasty to Sanders supporters behind closed doors”
“Owned by Wall St and Politicians”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT!”
“Crooked”
“terrible!”
“failing for 30 years”
“not getting the job done”
“Crooked”
“failed all over the world”
“a typical politician”
“all talk, no action”
“taking the day off again, she needs the rest”
“copying my airplane rallies”
“puts the plane behind her like I have been doing from the beginning”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“said horrible things about my supporters”
“SO INSULTING to my supporters”
“Crooked”
“very dumb”
“totally confused”
“Unfit to serve as #POTUS”
“just gave a disastrous news conference”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“doesn’t have the strength or the stamina to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“doesn’t have the drive or stamina to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“brainpower is highly overrated, decision making is so bad”
“has BAD JUDGEMENT”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“called African-American youth “SUPER PREDATORS””
“Crooked”
“will NEVER be able to solve the problems of poverty, education and safety”
“CORRUPTION”
“SABOTAGE OF THE INNER CITIES”
“only knows how to make a speech when it is a hit on me”
“No policy”
“using the oldest play in the Dem playbook”
“using race-baiting”
“all talk and NO ACTION!”
“pandering to the worst instincts in our society”
“She should be ashamed of herself!”
“crooked”
“lies”
“fear-mongering!”
“LIE!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not a talented person or politician”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not fit to be our next president!”
“Anybody whose mind ‘SHORT CIRCUITS’ is not fit to be our president! Look up the word ‘BRAINWASHED.”
“Crooked”
“Very dangerous!”
“bad judgment”
“unfit to serve as President”
“incompetent”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!”
“Crooked”
“100% owned by her donors”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has very small and unenthusiastic crowds in Pennsylvania”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a formula for disaster!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a lose cannon”
“extraordinarily bad judgement & insticts”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“very long and very boring speech”
“Crooked”
“no one has worse judgement”
“corruption and devastation follows her”
“owned by Wall Street!”
“unfit to lead the country”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“wants to flood our country with Syrian immigrants that we know little or nothing about”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“incompetent”
“a liar!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“betrayed Bernie voters”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“judgement so bad”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not at all loyal”
“Crooked”
“BAD JUDGEMENT”
“Crooked”
“killed jobs!”
“Crooked”
“destroyed jobs and manufacturing”
“Against steelworkers and miners”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“look at all of the bad decisions she has made”
“Crooked”
“led Obama into bad decisions!”
“Crooked”
“bought and paid for by Wall Street, lobbyists and special interests”
“will sell our country down the tubes!”
“has made so many mistakes”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“embarrassed herself and the country with her e-mail lies”
“a DISASTER on foreign policy”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“negative ads are not true”
“email lies”
“fraudulent”
“Crooked”
“Having ZERO impact”
“Sad!!”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“WEAK leadership”
“lies”
“Lyin’ Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“lied to the FBI and to the people of our country”
“sooooo guilty”
“Crooked”
“dishonest”
“incompetent”
“very bad judgement”
“Crooked”
“Not fit!”
“Crooked”
“unfit to serve as President”
“Her temperament is weak”
“BAD JUDGEMENT!”
“Crooked”
“As usual, bad judgment.”
“A total disgrace!”
“Crooked”
“guilty as hell”
“Crooked”
“will NEVER be able to handle the complexities and danger of ISIS”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton has bad judgement. Bill’s meeting was probably initiated and demanded by Hillary!”
“sellng out America”
“Not capable!”
“Presidency would be catastrophic”
“ill-fit”
“bad judgment”
“Lying”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“no sense of markets”
“such bad judgement”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“bad judgement”
“Disgraceful!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“All talk, no action!”
“Crooked”
“would be a disaster”
“may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency”
“Crooked”
“will be a disaster for jobs and the economy!”
“defrauded America”
“Corrupt”
“dangerous”
“dishonest”
“judgement has killed thousands, unleashed ISIS and wrecked the economy”
“failed policies”
“bad judgment”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“totally unfit to be our president”
“really bad judgement and a temperament”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“will be a disaster”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“total fraud!”
“Crooked”
“record is so bad, unable to answer tough questions!”
“unfit to be president”
“bad judgement”
“poor leadership skills”
“very bad and destructive track record”
“Crooked”
“Not honest!”
“Bad performance”
“Crooked”
“Reading poorly from the telepromter!”
“doesn’t even look presidential!”
“Crooked”
“no longer has credibility”
“too much failure in office”
“Crooked”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“has made so many mistakes”
“Crooked”
“BAD judgement!”
“Crooked”
“zero natural talent”
“temperament is bad”
“decision making ability-zilch!”
“Crooked”
“fraud”
“very stupid use of e-mails”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“bad judgement and temperament”
“Crooked”
“CROOKED”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“suffers from plain old bad judgement!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified”
“her judgement has been proven to be so bad!”
“Would be four more years of stupidity!”
“Wrong!”
“reckless and dangerous”
“Crooked”
“very dishonest”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has no chance!”
“zero imagination and even less stamina”
“ISIS, China, Russia and all would love for her to be president”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a fraud”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“can’t close the deal with Bernie Sanders”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Can’t believe she would misrepresent the facts!”
“Crooked”
“Liar!”
“Crooked”
“can’t close the deal on Crazy Bernie”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has bad judgment!”
“Crooked”
“pushing the false narrative that I want to raise taxes”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“corrupt”
“ZERO leadership ability”
“bad judgement”
“Constantly playing the women’s card – it is sad!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“said she is used to “dealing with men who get off the reservation.” Actually, she has done poorly with such men!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“perhaps the most dishonest person to have ever run for the presidency”
“one of the all time great enablers!”
“Crooked”
“unqualified to be president”
“incompetent”
“has been involved in corruption for most of her professional life!”
“Who should star in a reboot of Liar Liar- Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz? Let me know”
“a major national security risk”
“not presidential material”
“such bad judgement”
“lied last week”
“doesn’t have the strength or stamina to be president”
“totally flawed candidate”
“stupidity”
“pathetic”
“LIED at the debate last night”
“SAD!”
“We need a #POTUS with great strength & stamina. Hillary does not have that”
“lied”
“disloyal person”
“weak and ineffective”
“no strength, no stamina”
“does not have the STRENGTH or STAMINA to be President”
“won’t call out radical Islam”
“will be soundly defeated”
“afraid of Obama & the emails”
“SHE HAS NO STRENGTH OR STAMINA”
“corruption is what she’s best at”
“weak”
“totally incompetent as a manager and leader”
“no strength or stamina”
“she looked lost”
“her record is so bad”
“the trade deal is a disaster, she was always for it!”
“100% CONTROLLED”
“Just can’t read speeches!”
How do you know it was Trump ? I saw a video of a short-cropped southern guy with a long beard who was hired by the Trump team – described as having developed an effective tweet marketing model. It was innovative and professional – but I have yet to hear anyone claim it was ethical. His company was hired to do it .. I can’t remember further.
It was the same tactic as the ‘Arab Spring’ – innovative use of new technology to achieve a desired political effect. You could describe it as a shock tactic. But democratic ?
Not so. He had people working for social media companies who did the tweeting for him in a professional way – I saw one interviewed on youtube.
It takes time and dedication to send out so many tweets and stay on message. None of this was accidental but carefully, precisely, and persistently targeted at swinging voters.
It is unclear how his campaign had access to mobile numbers in such a large marketplace with many competing providers.
You’d have a point, if there weren’t numerous videos of him calling her “crooked” (and pretty much everything else in that tweet list) at rallies and in other campaign events.
It’s not like he’s been subtle about his attack lines.
I’m not making judgements, just describing his modus operandi from what I saw on the net. It would be interesting if someone documented the campaign more throughly and made it available online, but I think there may be a few professional secrets involved. In the end, you have to improvise with what you have. We don’t live in a perfect world ..
Nonetheless, we can still appreciate the humour of someone saying that one reason trump won was because the dems attacked him, when the very words from his own mouth were unmitigated bile against clinton, personally.
@bill I don’t think you understand the trump phenomenon – it is a personal one, his inner circle are personal, the repugs will support him, he’ll get more personal power, he’ll become bigger than the parties and unstoppable by any legal or normal means. You won’t get rid of bannon through the repugs. No trump is the lynchpin.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that Trump shouldn’t be ‘taken out’ And I’m not saying there should be no focus on Trump. I’m saying it’s bigger and broader than just one man – that it’s a systemic or structural or cultural phenomenon.
If you think it’s all about one man, and that everything gets fixed by just getting rid of one man (and his immediate cohorts), then we’re just going to have to agree to disagree Marty.
If hit1er had gone before the infrastructure around him and his toxic philosophy became embedded then it would not have grown and caused so much suffering. Same with trump. And I explicitly are saying NOT killing him. There is no one like trump next in line. If he loses power his team withers.
I’m thinking that’s a fairly simplistic take on Hitler…there are lots of ‘carts and horses’ and external factors to take into account with the rise of Nazism. But anyway.
And sure, I didn’t think you said Trump should be killed. Neither did I. By ‘taking out’ I was referring to neutralising him – not killing him.
And Trump already has political infrastructure around him and is largely building on legacies laid down by previous Presidents*… but he doesn’t have a philosophy. He’s a buffoon who brings simplicity to bear on complexity. And it’s ugly and it won’t end well.
* He says he’ll deport 3 million – Obama already deported more than any other President.
He says he’ll build a wall – the Mexican/US border is already largely fortressed
He says he’ll execute trade deals that favour the US – FTAs already ensured that. (Trump promised it in terms of protecting workers and jobs – that won’t happen)
He reinstated the gag rule – just like every previous Republican President since Reagan has done.
And so on…but with a recklessness and stupidity/simple mindedness that other Presidents avoided. (Which in a perverse way, is kind of refreshing – like the yellow curtain’s been pulled aside) Previous Presidents were no less mendacious, simply- how to say? – a bit more sophisticated or circumspect in their modes of execution.
And when the clown is gone, the world gets Pence – and pretty much nothing bar the approach/mode of execution will change.
I happy to disagree with you Bill, happy that I see it different to you. And happy to consider that what I would have done to oppose hit1er and his boys is what I’m doing now to oppose trump. I can look in the mirror and feel a congruence between my values and actions. Simple really.
And Mussolini? And Salazar? And Franco? And Pinochet? You would oppose them all by ignoring the systemic or institutional underpinnings that occasioned their rise? And you’d ignore the even wider political and cultural contexts that (in some of those cases) meant that popular support could be garnered?
Meanwhile, I’m reflecting on the most unpopular Presidential candidate in US election history winning an election over the second most unpopular candidate in US election history and thinking there’s maybe a bit more to all this, that it runs a bit deeper than merely swapping out the nominal top dog.
Why you see that as something you’re ‘happy to disagree with’ and in such a way ( it seems) that you’ll leverage your own sense of righteousness off the back of it , is a bit beyond me.
above all People should stop insisting that what is in Congress and Senate are Republicans. They are all – bar John Mccain and Graham Lindsay – Tea Partiers.
the Republican Party was taken over by the TeaParty over the last 12 years.
Its the Tea Party running the show and Trump signs every thing they put to him as even he knows that that they do have teh power to unseat him via the 25 th – mental health, or by impeachment – its not as if he did not have the one or other conflict of interest, or by death – if anyone thinks that they would not, ah. Yeah, right Tui.
As long as he does as he is told, he will be fine. IF he does step out of line it will be Pence, a man so odious he puts light and fire to Cruz and Rubio.
What I am not quite sure about, in all this talk of “effective protests ‘ etc is that while we are all meant to be focused on this resistance to Trump/the Right, what about our own dysfunctional Left institutions?
Say we all manage to create an incredible movement and somehow dislodge this threat, then what?, we are still left with our own neo liberal Left back in power, but now further entrenched and with a new found brand of credibility,
….didn’t see too much opposition from the Left Party’s back then, so you see my point, get rid of Trump, of course. but lets clean our own back yard first.
I for one am not going to expend my fighting power on re establishing the neo liberal centrists back into power, especially when the writing is clearly on the wall for them now.
There is not a left wing liberal anywhere and there never has been. That’s very much tied into – is inseparable from the meaning of liberalism in a political context.
Being open minded about sexual or cultural or whatever other ‘difference’ might be charactarised as being liberal minded, and that’s got nothing whatsoever to do with liberalism as a political concept.
So are there liberal minded people who ascribe to left politics? Yes. Are they then liberals? No.
I see what you’re saying and what not, but to go a bit further, I can’t see how a person could be lacking in a ‘live and let live’ attitude (ie – liberal) and be left wing in any meaningful way.
So, “liberal left wing” is akin to talking of the “big huge elephant”. (There’s a term for that that I can’t remember)
But then there are the intransigent ‘knuckle-headed’ cultists who claim to be more left wing and pure than anyone else, but who are no more left wing than Genghis bloody Khan.
Just typing thoughts out loud btw.
Capitalisation could work if the meanings are unknown to too many people.
Me neither (something about stating what is obvious in the other word?).
The problem is political confusion. If people are seeing the idea of liberal being attacked, that needs more nuance in the presentation than I’m seeing (not you specifically, but in general esp in the US). If ‘liberal’ is going to be a dirty word, then we need to be bloody careful about how that gets presented.
I’d hazard a guess that most people don’t know what Liberalism is in the way you are using it. By most, I mean for instance Kiwis (you’d hope that in political circles the % would be much higher). There will be people who have a general or vague idea. In NZ I would say most people still think of liberal as progressive or left wing, but that could be changing with the focus on US politics.
tautology
tɔːˈtɒlədʒi/Submit
noun
the saying of the same thing twice over in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g. they arrived one after the other in succession ).
synonyms: repetition, repetitiveness, repetitiousness, reiteration, redundancy, superfluity, periphrasis, iteration, duplication; More
a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words.
plural noun: tautologies
LOGIC
a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form.
Liberal, in the sense that Bill is using it, is almost useless as a term.
It has been co-opted and corrupted so much that, to most of us, it is misleading.
In the same way as Neo-liberals are not liberal at all. Happy with authoritarianism to preserve their “right” to make money. The support for more cops and jails, for ordinary people, combined with opposition to laws against white collar crime, tax evasion and misuse of power.
I suspect that the more correct term now would be “libertarian”.
Absolute freedom for the lucky to screw the rest of us.
KJT, last year I decided we were in the age of the politics of confusion. Lately liberal appears to be being used to refer to people who are supportive of progressive politics but don’t want the end of capitalism. People that voted Clinton. Bill and adam tie this into economic and sociopolitical theory from the last century or so. I point out that in NZ liberal means progressive to non-politico types. Not sure that libertarianism is the right word for what Bill is talking about because Libertarianism in NZ is the politics of the extreme end of neoliberalism. And on and on it goes 😉
The RWNJ party in Australia call themselves the Liberal Party. They mean the freedom of the individual to do whatever they want with no restriction or regulation and tend to view ‘property rights’ as more absolute than human rights.
I haven’t seen to much evidence of ” Effective protests have to take account of that fact” which is exactly my point.
Protesting Trump without addressing our own serious political problems on the Left first, is like us here in NZ going on about saving Whales, pointing out finger at the Japanese Whalers, all the while allowing the breeding and releasing trout, a aggressive territorial predator and foreign intruder, into our own rivers, helping to seal the ultimate extinction of our own Native fish, not just a little bit hypocritical.
I for one am not going to expend my fighting power on re establishing the neo liberal centrists back into power, especially when the writing is clearly on the wall for them now.
Thus illustrating how the perfect is the enemy not only of the good, but also of the least-worst outcome.
“The perfect is the enemy of the good” means that if you reject a good outcome because you demand a perfect one, you may end up with an outcome that’s neither perfect nor good.
In terms of electing Democrat governments in the USA or Labour governments in NZ, the outcome can be better described as “least-worst” than “good,” but the same applies: if you reject the least-worst because you demand the perfect, what you’re likely to end up with is the most-worst, here exemplified in the figure of President Donald J. Trump.
But trump is very far from worst nightmare. I can think of many worse case scenarios. But then again I have read a fair amount of dystopian literature. He is bad that is not up for discussion.
But this least perfect argument seems like you putting absolutes around peoples arguments to score points. Or worse defending the system at any cost and shutting down any discussion which challenges the status quo. Or questions the official narrative.
Mind you, nothing new from you on that front. So more of the same, you will pick somthing someone says – then take it out of context and attack them with it?
Silly question, are you a liberal or a socialist or some other thing today? Look forward to what you will morph into tomorrow. Chin, chin.
Really, that your argument. It’s serious point to always go for the lesser option and never have a discussion on what could be better? If this is ‘the’ argument that is ‘serious’ what a sad day this is.
Come on McFlock, to say voting for the somthing bad because it’s better than somthing else bad, is a b.s argument no matter how nicely you want to dress it up.
But what is worse, is that this style of diminishing returns politics is what so many on the left are happy with. And they wonder why they can’t engage people.
Your point only stands if the bads are equivalently bad. Otherwise one evil is less evil than the other, by definition.
“Diminishing returns” means the same amount of effort gets less results. We’re talking about “loss minimisation”.
I don’t even know if there’s an economic parallel to what you’re advocating, which is to spend so much effort attacking the mediocre that the really bad get in.
Yeah, I’m trying to “shut down any discussion” by making comments that then get discussed by multiple people. Maybe I should re-think my strategy.
Silly question, are you a liberal or a socialist or some other thing today?
Meh – I don’t know much about ideology, but I know what I like. To Kiwiblog commenters I’m a socialist because I want a unionised workforce, a strong public sector and a comprehensive social welfare system, and to Standard commenters I’m a liberal because I want people to take some responsibility for their actions, and to be able to start and run their own business with the minimum of government interference. The ideological inconsistency may annoy actual socialists and liberals, but I don’t think I’m particularly unusual for a leftist.
@Psycho Milt, I completely reject your analysis…
“If you reject the least-worst because you demand the perfect, what you’re likely to end up with is the most-worst, here exemplified in the figure of President Donald J. Trump.”
The reason Trump exists as potus is not because clear thinking idealists tried to bring a new voice and reason into politics via Sanders, no the reasons are exactly the opposite, because so many lazy thinking lefties didn’t challenge the centre left free market status quo, didn’t hold our own left leaders and parties and media to the fire and demand more from them, and were prepared to take any old bullshit line from them. as long as they, themselves were comfortable…that is the reason Trump is in the White House.
And now to cry wolf, what a fucking joke, except it is not all that funny.
Yes I demand something better from the Left political institutions that I support, they should stand for something that I and people want to really fight for,and I make no apology’s for that.
No what I just can’t understand, is how low so many on the left have set their bar, it’s pathetic, sad and frustrating.
I wasn’t referring to the efforts to get Bernie Sanders nominated – that was a joy to watch and it would have been great if it had succeeded. It’s more that when things don’t turn out how we would have liked, and the candidate is Hillary Clinton, it’s counter-productive to disavow further involvement because Clinton isn’t left enough. Doing that results in a much worse outcome than President Hillary Clinton.
Look I can understand anyone who wanted to vote foe Clinton, some people whom I hold in upmost respect did just that.
However I guess I am just sick and tied of having no political representation from my own party, so I have got to that stage where I had to draw a line in the sand, based on my own moral compass, and I am just not prepared to support neo liberal free market politics anymore with my vote, wether if I where in the US and now here in NZ.
And you, and everyone else, will pay the price for that.
We now have a person, who is clearly unfit for the office, thinking he can run a Nation of 300+ million by tweets and special decree, and throwing tantrums when people dare to criticize. If it wasn’t the fact that this is the most sensitive job in the whole world – I wouldn’t give a toss and say “Well Yankees! You voted for him – You live with it!” But unfortunately his irrationality affects the whole world, as we have just witnessed, and the unpredictability of his behaviour could send us all into Global warfare.
Re the quote…You guys spend too much time reading self help psychology blogs…I’m pretty sure no one here is talking about wanting political ‘perfection’, just something that’s worth voting for.
As you may have noticed, the Left aren’t exactly managing that very well these days.
Are you implying that people who felt they couldn’t vote for Clinton because of her own mountain of flaws, who didn’t vote for her because she and the DNC where more interested in courting hard core republican war hawks, I could go on and on, are you implying that they are at fault and are responsible for Trump?
If you are, you are an idiot, but if you didn’t mean that, I then apologize for calling you an idiot.
I’m saying people who decided they couldn’t vote for Clinton had a choice between Clinton and Trump, and they chose Trump – whether by actively voting for him or just by abstaining is irrelevant. I wouldn’t use words like “fault” or “responsible,” but individual voters’ choices do affect the outcome – that’s the whole point.
I was actually answering Marco in relation to the idiot comment.
Individual choices of course effect outcomes, I couldn’t agree more.
So lets follow the time line of the US primaries, while Sanders was running, and after he was defeated.
We all wanted him to win, and it was obvious he was suffering from massive press misinformation and distortion, mainly from Liberal MSM.
Then he gets beaten, we all suffer a bit of pain, but most could of us could (theoretically of course )probably be persuaded to vote Clinton, maybe while holding your nose, but you know take one for the team..
But Clinton, after beating Sanders, by her own choices proceeded to do some of the following…
1. Straight away, instead of inviting the highly motivated progressives to join her, or have a seat at her table, out right rejected them.
Instead at that crucial moment, Clinton chose instead to welcome the endorsements of some of the most hard core Republican war hawks on the planet.
2. When Wasserman Schultz got basically fired “after a leak of internal DNC emails showed officials actively favoring Hillary Clinton during the presidential primary and plotting against Clinton’s rival, Bernie Sanders”
Clinton hired her the same day!
3, After Donna Brazile got fired from CNN after she used her position to pass questions to the Clinton campaign before the debates, she was unbelievably retained as DNC vice chair, a position she still holds.
I could add more, but you get the drift, it was her choice to shift to the Right, instead of conceding just a little to the progressive movement and bring them on board, it was her choice to protect publicly corrupt officials, not to mention she managed her campaign ( in the later stages) with an arrogance seldom seen…so if you want to blame anyone for Trump, blame Clinton and her DNC stooges, they lost the most winnable election the DNC ever got offered.
Peter Thiel is without doubt a very smart guy. But it appears he’s also prone to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Seems he’s got input into appointing the FDA leadership, and he’s got dangerously misguided ideas about how the FDA should change. Such as not requiring big pharma to show their products do what they claim they do.
Seeing as how drug companies get to pick and choose which drug trial results they forward to the FDA, and do not have to make their other trial results public, it’s fair to say that they already do not necessarily show their drugs to be either safe or effective.
And Thiel rushes off in precisely the wrong direction.
Yeah, there’s the problem of cherry-picking studies for approval. Then there’s the problem of once a drug is approved for one thing, it becomes much easier to sell it for “off-label” uses.
Personally I’ve got a policy that I won’t consider using a medication that hasn’t been on the market for at least ten years. So when I was really struggling with migraines and the quack was pushing sumatriptan that had just come out, I wasn’t interested. Although that policy might disappear pretty quick if I ever got a genuinely threatening condition with no good existing treatments but a promising new medication.
There is a lot of things that are wrong with Peter Thiel. But, he is a money man, will do anything for money, and above all will always have money to leave the US and go to a country where the future of Health Care is not based on prayer and faith.
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has decided to pay back part of his ministerial housing allowance to Ministerial Services, saying that as Finance Minister he had to lead by example.
He will receive an accommodation allowance on the same basis as out of town MPs who live in Wellington.
Sort of ironic after he double dipped on accommodation some yeas ago.
“National also released material that showed rents paid for ministerial homes currently range from $24,000 a year to $41,000. Those rents under Labour ranged from $31,000 to $36,000.
The information also listed Ministerial Services as leasing Mr English’s home for $36,400 a year.
Mr Key yesterday defended his ministers and said they deserved their taxpayer-funded Wellington homes, considering the demands of their jobs and stresses on families.
But he said he wasn’t happy with the rules that covered their claims and has called for a review of what he considered to be “arcane” regulations.
Mr Key said he had placed a cap on ministerial rental claims at $700 a week, which equates to $36,400 – the same as the cost of Mr English’s house to the taxpayer.
Mr English said he welcomed the review and any changes that came from it.”
…..and look! Here’s that fellow Wayne Mapp….claiming his $700 per week while at the same time being paid $400 per week by Parliamentary services for rent on his trust owned flat….
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said his previous apartment had been very small and was not suitable for him and his wife now he was spending more time in Wellington as a minister.
He confirmed the apartment was owned by his superannuation trust and was rented to National MP Bakshi Singh for $400 a week.
As an MP, Mr Singh can claim up to $24,000 year in accommodation costs from Parliamentary Service.
Dr Mapp also collected around $700 a week for his new larger apartment and said he could see why his rental income should be used to offset his expense claims.
“I can see why people have concerns and the review will deal with that,’ Dr Mapp said.”
You can Wayne? Really? Honestly?
Do you ever look back Wayne and, you know, get that cringey feeling like…”I maybe shouldn’t have done that…makes me look like a grasping, greedy, privileged prick.” ?
I think you will find that most Ministers now stay in their original apartments, rather than taking ministerial apartments.
The ministerial apartment concept dated back to the times when overseas visitors (ministers etc) were entertained in Minister’s homes. That is not what happens now with the diversity of Wellington restaurants.
I ended up relinquishing the Ministerial apartment after 12 months and went back to my small apartment in Kelvin Chambers. Mr Singh went elsewhere.
It was not double dipping. If I own an apartment, no-one would reasonably expect me to supply it to a tenant for free. But that was too hard to explain. As they say, “explaining is loosing”.
Its not that anyone expect you to ‘supply’ your apartment for free, its that that income derived of the apartment should be taxed and offset against any benefits you may wish to claim.
Hence why so many people actually consider you guys to be no moral role model.
You guys are legal double dippers while at the same time you would cut some poor schmucks 5.5 $ for a sandwich.
Listening to how assured Greg O’Conner was dealing with Guyon Espiner this morning on NatRad really highlighted to me how clueless the average Labour MP is, and thus how awful Labour’s candidate selection process clearly is, constantly promoting the talentless hacks of various factions (like Clare Curran and Sue Moroney) and incumbency protection of hopeless timeservers (Ruth Dyson and Trevor Mallard) over people who might actually be good politicians. The thing is, if you have effective politicians like O’Connor who increase your vote, it actually increases the chances of less effective politicians, but very talented people, like Deborah Russell (or even a Liz Marvelly) getting into parliament on the rising tide.
Yup but the points about dullards and careerists such as Dyson, curran, mallard etc are spot on before we get onto white ants like Nash eating it out from inside sniping and generally being the twat he is.
You don’t see the Nats pushing their dead wood in front of issues, they push them out the back door, perception of renewal V listening to curran on technology ffs.
Neither greg nor liz . They are both dishonest bullshitters pushing divisive lines , they may well bring votes but they will drive yet more away and those votes will not return
The right is obviously worried about the talented people willing to put their names forward to change the government. Those who have been there a while are acting as efficient and encouraging mentors. Together they are building momentum.
In what an official said was the first military raid carried out under President Donald Trump, two Americans were killed in Yemen on Sunday — one a member of SEAL Team 6 and the other the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born al Qaeda leader who himself was killed in a U.S. strike five years ago.
Some different opinions about whether the raid resulted in non-combatant or combatant (Al Qaeda) women, plus children in the raid.
And the difference between not saying you intend to kill families of terrorists but droning wedding parties, and saying you will is…?
In my book one is as bad as the other. Trump’s just a bit more distasteful in terms of polite dinner conversation. I mean, we’d prefer to identify with the ‘good guys’…and allow our civilised selves an ‘out’ by pointing to ‘mistakes’, right?
The question I asked was specific. You want to impress on me that the US Government accommodates and empowers a complete bastard or arse-hole? You think I thought otherwise?
edit – Maybe you think the US was a force for good in the world before Trump?
Nah. The question in the comment you’re responding to was quite clear.
What is the difference between saying you’re going to kill families and then killing families, and refusing to say you’re going to kill families but then taking actions that can only result in families being killed?
Banging on about Bannon and how despicable he is completely beside the point.
Okay, I’ll try again – we’re going to drone your arses, oops, wedding party – sorry, we fucked up and here’s your compensation versus we’re going to drone your arses, oops, wedding party – great, less heretics, let’s get serious about heretics and fuck wedding parties, let’s drone.
We got month of people telling us about Killary, Oblamblam Hopey Changey, and all the other assorted bullshite, while people like mineself and others were trying desperately to argue that it does not matter who will win, they all will end up killing for resources and geo political power.
We got month after month of people telling those of us us that were not Trumpsters (after Bernie lost) that we are Killary Lovers, and others bullshit just because we were trying to point out why we think – apart from the sameness that we expect in foreign relations – that maybe people should look beyond and see what Trump has in store for the US.
and now we have a ‘failed’ state in the making, a ‘democracy’ being flushed down the drain and we will end up with the same old same old, Trump will continue with the Wars started under the Republican Persident George W Bush – but to boot we now have a nuclear power run by a fucking madman with loyality issues and a religiously inspired bunch of fuckwits and a population that soon enough will stay at home for fear of being arrested.
This is not about ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ this is about two ‘bad choices’ of whom one was not quite as bad and odious as the other.
SO no i don’t identify with good or bad, i identify with what is longterm the best choice for myself, for my family, for my country. And sadly for the world, Trump is the worst that we could have gotten. But i guess if he starts ‘ww63’ it will be a gooder war then if Hillary would have started it, right?
…bunch of fuckwits and a population that soon enough will stay at home for fear of being arrested.
No. Or at least, we’ll see. As I said prior to the election, a good that could possibly come from a Trump win, was that the left would be able to come together and be galvanised in a way that wouldn’t be possible under a Clinton Presidency.
On other portions of your comment, there are plenty of people who have held to some strange notion of the US as being essentially benevolent. Not a notion I ever held. Seems you didn’t and don’t either.
i consider no government to be essentially benevolent. That is not what most people want in their government. They essentially want a ‘benevoelnt dictator’ that will make the trains run on time, keep the ‘unwashed masses’ in place.
And essentially that is what quite a few people have advocated for here, lets watch him pivot, see he is just a show man, blahblahblahblahblahblahblah.
I guess the collective guild education that i got in Germany made me cynical, but in saying that, “WE” the “Left” should maybe start defining a. what is the left, b. and what does the left want.
Cause there is one thing for sure, in the month leading up to the election I was not considered ‘left’ by a bunch of very vocal posters here.
The difference is that the first option involves you bombing a random wedding party because your fucked up tactic is so impractical that you widen the targeting scope to include “crowds where my suspected terrorist might be”.
Whereas Trump said he’d bomb the wedding parties even if he knew for a fact no terrorists were there.
And I suspect the number of wedding parties being bombed will increase, as well.
And the difference between not saying you intend to kill families of terrorists but droning wedding parties, and saying you will is…?
…the difference between engaging in military action knowing that it’s likely some civilians will be killed, and engaging in military action that deliberately targets civilians for the purpose of killing them. Which is one of the major differences that the concept of war crimes is built on, and is accepted throughout the world as a very significant difference. Are you genuinely saying you don’t accept it exists?
I have just received a letter from Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson on
“ridding all introduced predators by 2050“ .. mentioning rats, stoats, and possums.
He states that “a new government company will be formed .. to develop predator eradication programs”. We have had them for years.
The wording is general enough to imply that there are predators in Miramar besides small and furry ones.
It closes with a survey to “help .. inform our policies and targets”, concluding that “the project will require a massive effort from our communities”.
On the other side it asks for environmental priorities, rankings of electoral issues for importance, and who you support politically.
Finlayson has been testing the waters with Rongotai electorate voters for the last two years, since shortly after the 2014 election. I and my neighbours/friends in the electorate have had phone calls/surveys from National staff members supporting Finlayson and also letters seeking views on issues, priorities etc.
Previously, my experience had been that Finlayson made very minimal attempts to engage with voters in the electorate over the many years he has run in the electorate, and that he has been almost distainful of such engagement.
My cynical reaction to his ‘sudden’ change in approach has been to tell the callers where to go and why (and i know many others who have done the same regardless of their political leanings) , and to not bother returning the questionnaires.
I could be generous and say that in the past he has stepped back to allow his cousin, Annette King, a clear run, but don’t actually believe that, knowing how arrogant he is.
Obviously a fishing expedition but I am not so sure that it is to decide whether he will stand in the electorate again because as I say above, the fishing expedition has been long running for about two years and not one just starting now in the run-up to the 2017 election.
I had to laugh at that too, because it’s a line I use (mine is I’ve always voted to the left of Labour because there were no Greens when I started voting). But that’s 11 elections 😉
So what if National wins the seat? It’s the party vote that counts and both Labour and the Greens should be campaigning hard for that vote in every electorate.
Not really. They already have sufficient standing/prominence. People know who they are.
They already have 14 mps. They’ve had electorate seats before. If swarbrick wins because Labour stood back, she’s not a giant-killer so no increase there. If labgrn split the vote so the nat gets in, it doesn’t affect the overall outcome. But if lab stand back and the nat still wins, then the nat looks like the giant killer and gets boosted “prominence”.
Your plan has no upside if it succeeds and no downside if it’s ignored, but a downside if it fails.
I wouldn’t call having 14 MPs sufficient. Double that and you may have a point.
Moreover, it’s been sometime since they last held an electoral seat.
If Labour were to stand-down and avert splitting the vote resulting in Swarbrick winning against National, it would still be largely perceived as an accomplishment. The added positive media attention wouldn’t go a miss.
If the left vote is split and National win, it will rob the left of that electoral seat.
National beating the Greens wouldn’t be seen by many as a major accomplishment. The Greens are clearly the underdog, thus a win as such would help further boost their prominence.
By the way, It’s not my plan, I merely asked the question.
Everyone knows who the greens are. They don’t need gimmicks for “prominence” like an electorate contest. They fight on policy, and they have a solid support base.
You talk about “added positive media attention”. Are you joking? All they’ll get is comparisons with Epsom gift seats, especially from the media. “Underdogs” don’t get credit if their opponent is being ganged up on.
Robbed of an electoral seat? If the only point to winning an electoral seat is “added prominence”, then that’s the most the left lose. A little bit of “prominence”. I guess they’ll have to have pretty good campaigners and policies then – lucky that.
If you’re not asking about your plan, who’s plan was it? Where did you get this pointless idea to question?
An electorate contest is not a gimmick. Electorate MPs have serious undertakings representing the local constituents of their electorate. Therefore, it’s largely the local left leaning constituents that lose if the electorate seat goes to National. Being the underdog, the Greens have little to lose.
Winning an electorate seat can help get the party’s message out while helping to boost a party’s profile. Hence, one of the reasons the Greens are standing.
The Greens didn’t stand in the recent Mt Roskill by election, yet despite that Labour’s victory largely received glowing media coverage.
Moreover, Labour standing-down in Auckland Central (if they decided too) would be the party’s own individual decision as was with the Greens standing-down in Mt Roskill.
There has been discussion of whether or not Labour and the Greens should do electoral deals. I was wondering what the larger sentiment was/is? Hence the question.
Having a good campaign boosts the party’s profile. Actually winning an electorate is neither here nor there unless there is a major upset.
So now you’re asking “won’t anyone think of the constituents”? Well, standing a candidate lets the constituents choose, rather than having a deal foisted on them by the party that they’re expected to swallow.
How much of this “discussion” has come from someone other than you? How much of it has come from commenters who seem aligned with labour or greens or even farther left?
Of course having a good campaign is all part and parcel. The Greens winning against National in Auckland Central is far from expected, thus would be seen as an upset.
I wasn’t asking. I was highlighting what you overlooked, the impact on local constituents.
And again, if Labour decided to stand-down, it would be their own individual decision, therefore, countering your foisted deal assertion.
Labour and the Greens have recently had discussions about this (doing electoral deals). However, they’ve ruled it out. This has spurred wider discussions.
Seeing as electoral deals are within the rules, the opposition does it and it could be of benefit (at this stage the days of Labour winning alone are long behind us). I don’t see why Labour refuses to take advantage.
Well maybe you should go back to the discussion that’s already been had in order to answer the question.
Of course if the party makes a decision about where to run it’s foisting that decision on its voters in that electorate. They can’t choose to vote for a nonexistent candidate.
But either way you’re the only one who indicates that this is a serious question. Which I suspect is because you still don’t understand mmp
The Green’s and Labour’s discussion has concluded.
Of course it is a serous issue. Deals could and do change election outcomes.
The obvious example is Epsom and Nationals deal with ACT.
However, if they were willing, Labour and the Greens could do a deal not to stand in Epsom and advise their supporters to support National, effectively keeping ACT out.
A deal in Ohariu could potentially keep Dunne out. Deals in these two electorates could result in robbing National of its support partners.
For you not to consider this a serious issue suggests it’s you that fails to understand the workings of MMP.
Political parties make decisions regarding all manner of things. Therefore, all manner of things can and are foisted upon us. However, if Labour decided to stand-down, it would be their own individual decision, thus not a “foisted deal” as you initially asserted.
Epsom is an issue because without it ACT would have zero parliamentary presence. The Greens have 14 mps without an electorate mp. If they did have an electorate mp, they would still only have 14 mps.
Everyone else understands that, why don’t you?
It would be Labour’s decision, and the voters would have to lump it. The decision would be foisted on the voters. As I said “Well, standing a candidate lets the constituents choose, rather than having a deal foisted on them by the party[…]”.
“So just to be clear, if Labour choose to not stand a candidate so the Green has a chance of winning, it’s foisting that decision on voters who would have preferred the choice, rather than foisting a deal on voters who would have liked the choice? That’s really what you’re attempting to parse, not whether whateverthefuckitwas has been foisted on the voters?”
No.
“More seats” means an overhang, and that only happens if the number of electorate seats a party gains exceeds the seats they would receive as a proportion of the party vote.”
I’ve already pointed that out to you above.
“If the greens win an electorate seat, they will only have an electorate seat and 13 list seats, rather than 14 list seats.”
Depends on what percentage of the party vote they secure. Additionally, if they decide to contest more electorate seats, they may win more seats than their share of the party vote.
“You’re “question” about Auckland central in no way would change the composition of parliament on numbers of seats each party gets”.
That wasn’t my argument in regards to Auckland Central.
“There is no second bite at the apple”
You are highlighting you poor understanding again. The party vote allows one bite. Seeking the electoral vote gives you two as a party could possibly exceed it’s party vote and secure more seats through the overhang.
As explained above, my question was an attempt to gauge the larger sentiment.
If you think it’s stupid to act strategically and keep the opposition from winning Auckland Central, that’s your prerogative. I’ll put you down as a no.
So now you want Labour to stand back on a dozen seats in the hope that the greens can get an overhang if they maintain their party vote?
This gets better and better.
Acting strategically is good. But it only works if your strategy matches the situation and constraints of reality, not some half-arsed misunderstanding of the electoral rules.
If the Greens (or any party for that matter) win more electorate seats than their share of the party vote they retain those seats as it results in a overhang.
ACT having zero parliamentary presence robs National of their support and ability to leverage off their harder right stance. Which would be a result from a decision a number of left leaning voters wouldn’t mind having foisted upon them.
I wasn’t disputing it would be foisted upon them, I was disputing your assertion of a foisted deal.
What agency do voters have in deciding whether Labour runs a candidate? None. It would be a foisted decision.
As for the overhang, if the greens got 15 electorate seats but only 11% of the vote, yes there’d be an overhang. But you’re only talking about one electorate.
ACT get seats because they don’t score enough for any representatives in parliament.
Clearly I wasn’t using the overhang as an example for Auckland Central alone. The benefits of that have already been discussed above.
The overhang was something you overlooked in your haste to imply I have no understanding of the workings of MMP.
It would be a foisted decision, yes . A foisted deal, no.
There is no guarantee what percentage of the party vote a party will secure, therefore standing candidates gives parties another bite at the apple so to speak. Increasing the odds of securing more seats.
However, in saying that, in some cases it can also be strategically more beneficial not to stand a candidate.
So just to be clear, if Labour choose to not stand a candidate so the Green has a chance of winning, it’s foisting that decision on voters who would have preferred the choice, rather than foisting a deal on voters who would have liked the choice? That’s really what you’re attempting to parse, not whether whateverthefuckitwas has been foisted on the voters?
Increasing the odds of securing more seats.
NO! “More seats” means an overhang, and that only happens if the number of electorate seats a party gains exceeds the seats they would receive as a proportion of the party vote.
If the greens win an electorate seat, they will only have an electorate seat and 13 list seats, rather than 14 list seats.
You’re “question” about Auckland central in no way would change the composition of parliament on numbers of seats each party gets. There is no second bite at the apple. You might think that the Greens plummenting to sub-threshold levels is a threat that means Labour should foist a stupid, system-gaming decision on voters, but I’m not sure it keeps the Green caucus up at night.
Your question is a bullshit question about a stupid plan that quite frankly should be avoided if it’s needed because any party would deserve what it gets if it nosedives that badly. You need to have a caucus of incompetents, identity-fraudsters, and doddering bigots to fail that badly, if NZ parliamentary history is anything to go by.
I suspect the Greens and Labour will come to an arrangement about Auckland Central. Jacinta got mighty close to unseating Nikki Kaye last time. The Green Party candidate was a waaaay further back.
The massive question is who is Labour going to put up in Auckland Central.
It is seriously not easy: this area has house prices in the multiple millions, except for apartments, and salaries that go along with it.
With the City Rail Link and Sky City Convention Centre it also has billions of dollars of government funding pumping capital into it.
Jacinta did serious hard work doorknocking the joint from Herne Bay all the way along.
Will need a spectacular candidate, with capital, chutzpah and massive networks.
Indeed, Jacinta did do some serious hard work door-knocking. Apparently, so did Nikki Kaye. Don’t know if she’ll be up to the challenge this year though.
I also concur in regards to Labour requiring a spectacular candidate, with capital, chutzpah and massive networks.
President Donald Trump is taking aim at one of the federal government’s main agencies for climate change research – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – and NOAA employees are girding for drastic changes in how they conduct science and report it to the public.
Trump has appointed a leading denier of climate change, Kenneth Haapala of the Heartland Institute, to serve on the administration team handling appointments for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the federal agency that oversees NOAA. Haapala will be in a position to help choose top administrators at NOAA, an agency that conducts atmospheric research and, among other duties, also oversees the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Transition officials debated internally about whether the Trump administration should seek a major reversal of U.S. EPA’s core authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and it continues today, according to sources.
No decision was made about potentially overturning the agency’s endangerment finding before President Trump was sworn in, and three sources said independently that a future determination would likely be made jointly by EPA Administrator-designate Scott Pruitt and White House officials.
House Republicans laid out plans Tuesday to strike down a controversial Obama-era coal rule.
The Interior Department’s stream protection rule could become just the second regulation in history — and the first in 16 years — to be repealed under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn regulations they disapprove of with a simple majority.
The House will vote Wednesday on whether to overturn it.
The stream rule prohibits the coal industry from polluting the water sources near mines, but Republicans say this makes it nearly impossible for these companies to operate and is pushing them out of business.
Repugs want to sell off public land, too. This’ll be one to watch since the Chump has said he doesn’t want to do that. He just wants to drill and dig the fuck out of them.
A Pennsylvania family fighting to have their relatives return to the United States after they were detained at Philadelphia International Airport and sent back overseas under the immigration order told “NBC Nightly News” that they voted for Donald Trump.
“I understand he wants to make America safe,” Sarmad Assali said. “We’re all on with this. I definitely want to be in a safe place. But people need us and we need to be there for them.”
cause only by bringing untold misery to legal migrants will the country be made great again. And of course if the country will do this to legal migrants what would they do to ‘illegal’ migrants.
Inside the Loews Hotel in downtown Philadelphia at various points Thursday were President Trump, Vice President Pence, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and scores of other Republican members of Congress. Reporters were kept out, and only a few select staffers, family members and outsiders were allowed to participate in the private GOP policy retreat.
But at least one unauthorized person made it inside, and while it is unclear to what degree the country’s top leaders were in physical danger, their circle of trust was undoubtedly breached.
A person secretly recorded closed sessions on national security and health care that were attended by many dozens of GOP lawmakers. They had gathered for a private discussion of some of the thorniest legislative issues of the moment, as well as a question-and-answer session with Pence.
The recordings were anonymously emailed that night to reporters for The Washington Post and other news outlets that published stories exposing qualms inside the GOP over the party’s plans to roll back the Democratic health-care overhaul and a looming debate between defense hawks and advocates of fiscal rectitude.
Just to track off from Trump and the USA for a bit. TS wants to run a reading group and big political and policy discussion which happens after we have all read the same book. We have been talking about it on Open Mike 31 January. We thought we would start off with an oldie but goodie E F Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.
Everyone who expressed interest yesterday and anyone today, who want to bring their minds and ideas to the reading and on-line discussion later, would you please give your pseudos as we want a committed core group to be the heart of the project. We can give advice on how to access the book, we just want you to be with us on the journey for the whole book if humanly possible. You matter, and as I said we want a core group and then others who get interested can join later on.
It will be surfacing on the Sunday page which will be a place for spiky, bright iand practical ideas (Tip: Look down No.8 in 31/1 for tip on solar panels for mobiles),
and thoughts and future-building talented commenters and story tellers.
I’m looking forward to reading the book and the discussion!
(a small but important correction, this isn’t an initiative from The Standard authors or Trust, it’s coming from the community with some back up from a couple of authors 🙂 )
Thanks Molly that’s great. I am trying to find more of our keen thinkers and so have what I think would be a good core of commenters to bounce ideas around on our finishing post! Hopefully it will be a grand national effort. It will be great I think only one or two more would be a good number.
weka and Molly
Just to update you. There is a core of readers going to be in on the reading circle or whatever you call it – any ideas for a snappy understandable moniker? So I’m feeling happy. Got a few more feelers out but will stop shoulder tapping after this and get on with something else. By the way r0b has also offered to help but has over-riding concern at present.
Will get onto jobs weka over weekend. Will you be around Sat Sun Mon or are you swanning off?
Trump's #SCOTUS nominee #Gorsuch is anti-woman, prefers corporations to workers — he may be more extreme than Scalia & that says something.— WA Democrats (@washdems) February 1, 2017
“Government Confidence Rating has increased to 140pts (up 9pts) in January with 63% (up 4.5%) of NZ electors saying NZ is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 23% (down 4.5%) that say NZ is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.”
Seems most people seem to think that the government is going OK..
[lprent: If you are going to quote something as a fact, then link to it.
Arbitrarily cheery picking a number that is traditionally high (ie Jan) is a bit dumb.. For instance look at the March/April numbers over the years as they bounce around.
March 24 – April 6, 2008 47.5 37.5 110 15 100
March 23 – April 5, 2009 65 22 143 13 100
March 22 – April 4, 2010 57 31.5 125.5 11.5 100
March 21 – April 3, 2011 54.5 29.5 125 16 100
March 12 – April 1, 2012 53.5 29.5 124 17 100
March 11-24, 2013 53.5 34 119.5 12.5 100
March 31 – April 13, 2014 65 22 143 13 100
March 2-15, 2015 64.5 24 140.5 11.5 100
April 4-17, 2016 57.5 30.5 127 12 100
Basically the GCR measures confidence in the government even more than it measures confidence in the political parties running the government.
Banned for 4 weeks. But next time I see you start a unsubstantiated diversion causing a simple minded flame war because you didn’t link or even provide enough information to even identify the poll then it will be 4 months. ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Seems most people seem to think that the government is going OK.
Which is weird. Either the majority think that skyrocketing house prices, a growing underclass and deteriorating water quality are “the right direction,” or they imagine these things are beyond the government’s capacity to influence. Which in turn means the majority of people are mistaken. I guess it’s a matter of “You can fool most of the people some of the time.”
Most polls show that right wing people prefer to read progressive sites because the level of debate is much higher than on right wing blogs. This is because the arguments put forward by the right wing are very weak due to the fact that their motivation is based purely on self-interest, hence truth is not required and is usually avoided.
When 63% of the population think that the country is going in the right direction what makes you think that in 234 days it will mean a change of government. I suspect that figure will keep growing and reflect a first ever majority MMP government.
[lprent: If you want to quote a ‘fact’, then link to the source. I detest the flamewars that follow such diversionary trolling and I really dislike having to go and look it up to provide an explanation of what you are referring to. Banned 4 weeks ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
63% of the population? Depends on who the pollster polled, doesn’t it? National has been unable to achieve that in 3 general elections, remember, the majority didn’t vote for them. Now John key, the poster boy the party threw everything into, has run away.
The fact still remains that the majority didnt vote National. Bet you didn’t predict John key running away with a general election just around the corner, after publicly stating that he “plans to stay entire fourth term”
From memory, when labour got removed last time the GCR was at similar levels before the election.
It has very little to do with the political government of the day and more to do with the perception of how government process is going – regardless of what political parties are in power.
It is somewhat pathetic watching these dimwitted people clinging to this measure.
If I recall correctly, not long ago I saw ads for off grid systems with 6kW of panels, 18 kWhr of lead-carbon batteries with inverters/controllers etc for $25k. That struck me as a huge reduction from the last time I had looked just a few years ago.
Somebody hand me the hemlock—
The Gruesome Twosome are back. The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 1 February 2017
Jim Mora, Brian Edwards, Michelle Boag, Julie Moffett
Jim Mora and his producers seem determined to insult his long-suffering listeners by lining up a steady diet of clickbait stories and pointless consumer surveys. Most of the poor saps who appear on this dismal chat show are so shallow and/or stupid that they don’t give a damn. Or, if they do care, they’re so desperate for work or so timid that they keep quiet. Occasionally, though, they show a sign of impatience. The most common way of doing this is to pass an exasperated remark, usually with a defusing giggle, on the inanity of the topics under discussion.
Today, after Julie Moffett had finished talking about something completely inconsequential and ridiculous, Brian Edwards asked:
“Have you got any items that aren’t completely preposterous?”
This plaintive cry was greeted with awkward laughter, but the menu of trivia and inanity continued. Last item of the preshow was something about the retirement of Peter Capaldi from the role of Dr. Who.
BRIAN EDWARDS: Capaldi’s BRILLIANT though, isn’t he!
Morrissey
Did they ever discuss on Jim Mora the John Key low of talking about whether he wees in the shower? That would have been a shower. It would have been good dross to listen to and laugh and cry over.
No, I missed it if they did. But I think Mora would not have allowed it to be discussed, as it’s rather unsavoury and he seems squeamish about such matters. He has no problem at all with his guests laughing at the suffering of dissidents, quoting hateful right wing ideologues like David Brooks, and even having one of them—Dr Michael Bassett—call Nicky Hager a Holocaust-denier, but a lowlife pissing in the shower is not acceptable discussion fodder.
Note this new acronym TS. DRF (Diverting Repetition Fetishes) – in this year of Our Lord 2017 and the election year to see who our earthly lord will be, the fuckwits will try and overwhelm discourse, of course, so we might see a lot of DRF and that will be welcomed.
The resulting debate is dead boring – especially for moderators.
I tend to have an abrupt response when I see it happening. It is based around the idea that if I get rid of a fool(s) doing it, then I won’t have to read it.
lprent
Well I hope that won’t apply to me in the future – getting the DRF or other actions but they do smarten up all our acts which keeps the blog sharp.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
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:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
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. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
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 ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
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. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
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Why should English condemn Trump for protecting US security when other presidents have also banned certain nationalities? e.g. Carter-Iran, Obama-Iraq. And where is the condemnation of the 16 nations that ban entry to Israelis?
[lprent: Since this appears to have become a diversion thread that bears little of no relationship to the post and has a certain degree of factless argument, I’m sending this thread to OpenMike. The short answer is that most of the 16 nations appear to have been ones that Israel has bans on travel to and from. A few of the Arab states appear to have bans on Israeli citizens or people travelling through Israel – which as a side-comment, also appear to have been ones that Mossad appears to have been most active in.
If anyone wants a ban, then they are free to raise this topic again as a factless diversion. If anyone has more information then use OpenMike or a post on the topic. ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You can’t tell the difference between pausing the approval of visa applications and Trump’s racist executive order. And compound that failure by whining that “Obama did it too”, even though he didn’t. Reality fail plus a broken moral compass. Classy.
We covered your pathetic inability to use Google to discover the various NZ left condemnations of antisemitism yesterday. While I realise that a failure like you only has the argumentum ad nauseam to fall back on, why not try harder rather than blowing harder for a change?
As for leadership, after all your other public failures, it’s hardly surprising that you prefer the Attlee approach over the Churchillian model.
Yes that aussie school boy banned entry going to a space camp would have been really dangerous.
[citation needed]
Actually, considering their acts of war against NZ over the last few years I’d probably ban them as well.
“[citation needed]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_passport
Interesting. Half of them are restrictions by Israel itself as it considers the others enemy states.
I don’t believe that the US has declared the nations involved as enemy states.
Also forgot to quote this:
“In addition, Iran,[31] Kuwait,[32] Lebanon,[33] Libya,[34] Saudi Arabia,[35] Sudan,[36] Syria[37] and Yemen[38] do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa.”
I think Steve Wrathall was drawing attention to the hypocrisy of calling out the US but not all these other countries?
Except he failed to demonstrate that those countries haven’t been called out.
Whereas a simple Google search demonstrates that antisemitism is routinely condemned by the left, the right, and pretty much everyone except fascists and POTUS.
Steve wasn’t referring to anti-semitism. He was referring to the hypocrisy of criticizing the US policy and not criticizing the exact same policy exercised by other nations against Israeli citizens. If you can show where they have been called out, address that to him.
That isn’t how this works: he made the assertion: it’s up to you or him to prove it.
Given his and your track record of lying, first you’d have to demonstrate how legal residents were affected too.
From my own perspective, Maninthemiddle, I think you have far more in common with the bigots in all the countries concerned than you do with their victims, and I condemn the lot of you.
Steve Wrathall posed two questions.
1. Why should English condemn Trump for protecting US security when other presidents have also banned certain nationalities? e.g. Carter-Iran, Obama-Iraq, and
2. And where is the condemnation of the 16 nations that ban entry to Israelis?
Point 2 is not an assertion, it is a question. Where is the condemnation?
Both points nicely highlight the hypocrisy of the anti-Trump rhetoric currently being produced by the left. If you want another example, look a few posts down, where Draco posted a humorous but inaccurate Tweet, which LPrent endorsed without any fact check.
For the record, Trump is a nutter, IMHO, but the left are empowering him by the irrational criticism and hyperbole. It will see his ratings go through the roof.
protecting US security
He’s doing that, is he?
False frames aren’t arguments.
Is he doing that or is he giving the illusion of doing that?
IMO, it’s the latter.
Now, he could declare all those nations an enemy of the US and he might have a leg to stand on for banning people from there. It is, after all, what Israel did to its own citizens. The problem with him doing that though is that none of those nations have ever attacked the US – the US has attacked them though.
To me it comes down to the reason for the ban. Israel has been, IIRC, quite aggressive to those nations and so they may do the same as Israel do to 8 of those states and hold Israel as an enemy state which would make banning Israelis quite reasonable.
banned certain nationalities
Obama didn’t ban any nationalities. Your support for fascism requires a false premise. All your other argument are equally shit, Blockleiter
“He’s doing that, is he?”
Debatable, but that’s his intent. The hypocrisy Steve highlights is not debatable.
“Now, he could declare all those nations an enemy of the US and he might have a leg to stand on for banning people from there.”
Why? His beef seems to be with some very specific citizens of those countries, not the countries themselves. Seems like s blunt instrument to me, but those who call this racism are either stupid or dishonest.
“Israel has been, IIRC, quite aggressive to those nations”
Oh please. Those nations ban Israeli citizens, something the left is criticising Trump for. The hypocrisy is blatant. Stop making excuses.
The hypocrisy doesn’t actually exist. NZ left parties and individuals have been highly critical of eg: Ahmadinejad for years, including here on this blog.
Nice to see that when the chips are down you fall in behind your fuhrer.
Oh, and glass houses:
2.12.2016
“NZ left parties and individuals have been highly critical of eg: Ahmadinejad for years, including here on this blog.”
Where on this blog has there been condemnation of bans on Israeli citizens visiting the countries listed in the same manner as the vitriol against Trump? Post it, or run away and curl up in your hypocrisy.
[lprent: Tracing back. I see that you are continuing a diversion that has nothing to do with the post. One that I seem to remember to have already banned a couple of people for. ]
How to make a protest be effective rather than a fizzer.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/31/14430584/four-rules-making-protest-work
How not to be a sore loser:
1. Accept results, no matter how much you don’t like them.
2. Don’t blame the system just because this time the system gave you the “wrong” results. It gave you the “right” results the time before and the time before that, and the system is the same as it was before.
3. Look at what YOU did wrong and what YOU are doing wrong.
Not doing the above makes any protest look like the actions of a sore loser. A really bad sore loser!
What insincerity: you never met a protest you didn’t hate.
To paraphrase the main points in the linked article. Effective protests are –
1 – On Point.
2 – Multi-faceted
3 – Enable Subsequent Actions
4 – Pro-active (not reactive)
I’d add a fifth and a sixth in the case of the US today
5. Do not let the focus be Trump – keep sheeting it back to the Republican Party.
6. Do not allow Democrats a platform.
And to HDCAFriendlyTroll, in the interests of holding bad fuckers to account, I’d have been looking for similar widespread protests in the case of a Clinton Presidency too.
Nah focus on trump. He goes first then his minions will go as pence comes in with his crew. Then focus on pence and his minions.
Focusing on parties is a nongoer because both sides will hold the coattails of the mango mussolini until they don’t need him.
The risk I see in that Marty (an over-riding or exclusive focus on Trump) is that, yes Trump will be forced out or ‘let go’ by the Republican machine at some point. Then Pence comes in and does the whole conciliatory bullshit thing by resiling from Trump’s more onerous policies – people ‘go home’…and the shit keeps coming down but in more acceptable wrapping.
But if the Republican Party are kept in the cross-hairs, (as a part of the focus) that avenue is cut off.
And besides, Trump isn’t an anomaly any more than (say) Stalin was an anomaly. Both are/were products of, and rely/relied on, definitive political structures.
Late edit – for clarity, I should have said that Pence will appear to resile from Trump’s more onerous policies….
I totally agree bill, lay off trump…. one reason he was elected in the first place was because the dems concentrated on a personal attack on him, it backfired, will continue to backfire, and if finally they push him out… what exactly will change?
And i would make one final point about protests, it isn’t about the protesters. Or promoting the leaders of the protest.. its supposed to be about making the rest of us think!
Also, an exclusive focus on Trump (as media is doing) allows the Democrats to rehabilitate themselves too….y’know, Trump was a monstrous aberration and everything’s fine now… “Trust in us little children – you know what happens when you don’t 👿 “
Really?.
Insults and personal attacks Trump himself directed at Hillary Clinton
“no enthusiasm!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“unfit to serve”
“decades of lies and scandal”
“Crooked Hillary’s corruption is closing in”
“Crooked”
“Guilty – cannot run”
“a big mistake”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“should not be allowed to run for president”
“Crooked”
“Crooked Hillary”
“unfit to be president”
“Bad judgement!”
“We must not let #CrookedHillary take her CRIMINAL SCHEME into the Oval Office”
“Crooked”
“launched her political career by letting terrorists off the hook”
“Hillary said she was under sniper fire (while surrounded by USSS.) Turned out to be a total lie. She is not fit to lead our country”
“Crooked H”
“Crooked”
“wants to take in as many Syrians as possible”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“FAILED ALL OVER THE WORLD”
“loves to lie”
“She’ll say anything and change NOTHING!”
“Crooked”
“a Wall Street PUPPET!”
“Crooked”
“has never created a job in her life”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a foreign policy DISASTER”
“you have failed, failed, and failed”
“too weak to lead”
“no solutions, no ideas, no credibility”
“the most corrupt person to ever run for the presidency of the United States”
“If we let Crooked run the govt, history will remember 2017 as the year America lost its independence”
“So CROOKED”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Such a dishonest person”
“crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“SO CORRUPT!”
“Crooked”
“should be in jail”
“Crooked”
“PAY TO PLAY POLITICS”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Fraud”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“disgraceful behavior”
“unfit to run”
“Crooked”
“Hypocrite”
“Hypocrite!”
“nothing Hillary has said about her secret server has been true”
“If I win-I am going to instruct my AG to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation”
“there’s never been anything like your lies”
“has only created jobs at the FBI and DOJ!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“nasty to Sanders supporters behind closed doors”
“Owned by Wall St and Politicians”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT!”
“Crooked”
“terrible!”
“failing for 30 years”
“not getting the job done”
“Crooked”
“failed all over the world”
“a typical politician”
“all talk, no action”
“taking the day off again, she needs the rest”
“copying my airplane rallies”
“puts the plane behind her like I have been doing from the beginning”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“said horrible things about my supporters”
“SO INSULTING to my supporters”
“Crooked”
“very dumb”
“totally confused”
“Unfit to serve as #POTUS”
“just gave a disastrous news conference”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“doesn’t have the strength or the stamina to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“doesn’t have the drive or stamina to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“brainpower is highly overrated, decision making is so bad”
“has BAD JUDGEMENT”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“called African-American youth “SUPER PREDATORS””
“Crooked”
“will NEVER be able to solve the problems of poverty, education and safety”
“CORRUPTION”
“SABOTAGE OF THE INNER CITIES”
“only knows how to make a speech when it is a hit on me”
“No policy”
“using the oldest play in the Dem playbook”
“using race-baiting”
“all talk and NO ACTION!”
“pandering to the worst instincts in our society”
“She should be ashamed of herself!”
“crooked”
“lies”
“fear-mongering!”
“LIE!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not a talented person or politician”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not fit to be our next president!”
“Anybody whose mind ‘SHORT CIRCUITS’ is not fit to be our president! Look up the word ‘BRAINWASHED.”
“Crooked”
“Very dangerous!”
“bad judgment”
“unfit to serve as President”
“incompetent”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!”
“Crooked”
“100% owned by her donors”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has very small and unenthusiastic crowds in Pennsylvania”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a formula for disaster!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a lose cannon”
“extraordinarily bad judgement & insticts”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“very long and very boring speech”
“Crooked”
“no one has worse judgement”
“corruption and devastation follows her”
“owned by Wall Street!”
“unfit to lead the country”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“wants to flood our country with Syrian immigrants that we know little or nothing about”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“incompetent”
“a liar!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“betrayed Bernie voters”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“judgement so bad”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not at all loyal”
“Crooked”
“BAD JUDGEMENT”
“Crooked”
“killed jobs!”
“Crooked”
“destroyed jobs and manufacturing”
“Against steelworkers and miners”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“look at all of the bad decisions she has made”
“Crooked”
“led Obama into bad decisions!”
“Crooked”
“bought and paid for by Wall Street, lobbyists and special interests”
“will sell our country down the tubes!”
“has made so many mistakes”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“embarrassed herself and the country with her e-mail lies”
“a DISASTER on foreign policy”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“negative ads are not true”
“email lies”
“fraudulent”
“Crooked”
“Having ZERO impact”
“Sad!!”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“WEAK leadership”
“lies”
“Lyin’ Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“lied to the FBI and to the people of our country”
“sooooo guilty”
“Crooked”
“dishonest”
“incompetent”
“very bad judgement”
“Crooked”
“Not fit!”
“Crooked”
“unfit to serve as President”
“Her temperament is weak”
“BAD JUDGEMENT!”
“Crooked”
“As usual, bad judgment.”
“A total disgrace!”
“Crooked”
“guilty as hell”
“Crooked”
“will NEVER be able to handle the complexities and danger of ISIS”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton has bad judgement. Bill’s meeting was probably initiated and demanded by Hillary!”
“sellng out America”
“Not capable!”
“Presidency would be catastrophic”
“ill-fit”
“bad judgment”
“Lying”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“no sense of markets”
“such bad judgement”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“bad judgement”
“Disgraceful!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“All talk, no action!”
“Crooked”
“would be a disaster”
“may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency”
“Crooked”
“will be a disaster for jobs and the economy!”
“defrauded America”
“Corrupt”
“dangerous”
“dishonest”
“judgement has killed thousands, unleashed ISIS and wrecked the economy”
“failed policies”
“bad judgment”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“totally unfit to be our president”
“really bad judgement and a temperament”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“will be a disaster”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“total fraud!”
“Crooked”
“record is so bad, unable to answer tough questions!”
“unfit to be president”
“bad judgement”
“poor leadership skills”
“very bad and destructive track record”
“Crooked”
“Not honest!”
“Bad performance”
“Crooked”
“Reading poorly from the telepromter!”
“doesn’t even look presidential!”
“Crooked”
“no longer has credibility”
“too much failure in office”
“Crooked”
“Lyin’”
“Crooked”
“has made so many mistakes”
“Crooked”
“BAD judgement!”
“Crooked”
“zero natural talent”
“temperament is bad”
“decision making ability-zilch!”
“Crooked”
“fraud”
“very stupid use of e-mails”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“bad judgement and temperament”
“Crooked”
“CROOKED”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“suffers from plain old bad judgement!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“not qualified”
“her judgement has been proven to be so bad!”
“Would be four more years of stupidity!”
“Wrong!”
“reckless and dangerous”
“Crooked”
“very dishonest”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has no chance!”
“zero imagination and even less stamina”
“ISIS, China, Russia and all would love for her to be president”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“a fraud”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“can’t close the deal with Bernie Sanders”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Can’t believe she would misrepresent the facts!”
“Crooked”
“Liar!”
“Crooked”
“can’t close the deal on Crazy Bernie”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“has bad judgment!”
“Crooked”
“pushing the false narrative that I want to raise taxes”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“corrupt”
“ZERO leadership ability”
“bad judgement”
“Constantly playing the women’s card – it is sad!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“said she is used to “dealing with men who get off the reservation.” Actually, she has done poorly with such men!”
“Crooked”
“Crooked”
“perhaps the most dishonest person to have ever run for the presidency”
“one of the all time great enablers!”
“Crooked”
“unqualified to be president”
“incompetent”
“has been involved in corruption for most of her professional life!”
“Who should star in a reboot of Liar Liar- Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz? Let me know”
“a major national security risk”
“not presidential material”
“such bad judgement”
“lied last week”
“doesn’t have the strength or stamina to be president”
“totally flawed candidate”
“stupidity”
“pathetic”
“LIED at the debate last night”
“SAD!”
“We need a #POTUS with great strength & stamina. Hillary does not have that”
“lied”
“disloyal person”
“weak and ineffective”
“no strength, no stamina”
“does not have the STRENGTH or STAMINA to be President”
“won’t call out radical Islam”
“will be soundly defeated”
“afraid of Obama & the emails”
“SHE HAS NO STRENGTH OR STAMINA”
“corruption is what she’s best at”
“weak”
“totally incompetent as a manager and leader”
“no strength or stamina”
“she looked lost”
“her record is so bad”
“the trade deal is a disaster, she was always for it!”
“100% CONTROLLED”
“Just can’t read speeches!”
Lol joe
How do you know it was Trump ? I saw a video of a short-cropped southern guy with a long beard who was hired by the Trump team – described as having developed an effective tweet marketing model. It was innovative and professional – but I have yet to hear anyone claim it was ethical. His company was hired to do it .. I can’t remember further.
It was the same tactic as the ‘Arab Spring’ – innovative use of new technology to achieve a desired political effect. You could describe it as a shock tactic. But democratic ?
Excusing the pumpkin pinochet’s vileness – that’s just sad.
Not so. He had people working for social media companies who did the tweeting for him in a professional way – I saw one interviewed on youtube.
It takes time and dedication to send out so many tweets and stay on message. None of this was accidental but carefully, precisely, and persistently targeted at swinging voters.
It is unclear how his campaign had access to mobile numbers in such a large marketplace with many competing providers.
You’d have a point, if there weren’t numerous videos of him calling her “crooked” (and pretty much everything else in that tweet list) at rallies and in other campaign events.
It’s not like he’s been subtle about his attack lines.
I’m not making judgements, just describing his modus operandi from what I saw on the net. It would be interesting if someone documented the campaign more throughly and made it available online, but I think there may be a few professional secrets involved. In the end, you have to improvise with what you have. We don’t live in a perfect world ..
Nonetheless, we can still appreciate the humour of someone saying that one reason trump won was because the dems attacked him, when the very words from his own mouth were unmitigated bile against clinton, personally.
Projection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ4PYVATBac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqYJRc0TJkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lGH_DvtBEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcGPSnswzjc
@bill I don’t think you understand the trump phenomenon – it is a personal one, his inner circle are personal, the repugs will support him, he’ll get more personal power, he’ll become bigger than the parties and unstoppable by any legal or normal means. You won’t get rid of bannon through the repugs. No trump is the lynchpin.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that Trump shouldn’t be ‘taken out’ And I’m not saying there should be no focus on Trump. I’m saying it’s bigger and broader than just one man – that it’s a systemic or structural or cultural phenomenon.
If you think it’s all about one man, and that everything gets fixed by just getting rid of one man (and his immediate cohorts), then we’re just going to have to agree to disagree Marty.
If hit1er had gone before the infrastructure around him and his toxic philosophy became embedded then it would not have grown and caused so much suffering. Same with trump. And I explicitly are saying NOT killing him. There is no one like trump next in line. If he loses power his team withers.
I’m thinking that’s a fairly simplistic take on Hitler…there are lots of ‘carts and horses’ and external factors to take into account with the rise of Nazism. But anyway.
And sure, I didn’t think you said Trump should be killed. Neither did I. By ‘taking out’ I was referring to neutralising him – not killing him.
And Trump already has political infrastructure around him and is largely building on legacies laid down by previous Presidents*… but he doesn’t have a philosophy. He’s a buffoon who brings simplicity to bear on complexity. And it’s ugly and it won’t end well.
* He says he’ll deport 3 million – Obama already deported more than any other President.
He says he’ll build a wall – the Mexican/US border is already largely fortressed
He says he’ll execute trade deals that favour the US – FTAs already ensured that. (Trump promised it in terms of protecting workers and jobs – that won’t happen)
He reinstated the gag rule – just like every previous Republican President since Reagan has done.
And so on…but with a recklessness and stupidity/simple mindedness that other Presidents avoided. (Which in a perverse way, is kind of refreshing – like the yellow curtain’s been pulled aside) Previous Presidents were no less mendacious, simply- how to say? – a bit more sophisticated or circumspect in their modes of execution.
And when the clown is gone, the world gets Pence – and pretty much nothing bar the approach/mode of execution will change.
I happy to disagree with you Bill, happy that I see it different to you. And happy to consider that what I would have done to oppose hit1er and his boys is what I’m doing now to oppose trump. I can look in the mirror and feel a congruence between my values and actions. Simple really.
And Mussolini? And Salazar? And Franco? And Pinochet? You would oppose them all by ignoring the systemic or institutional underpinnings that occasioned their rise? And you’d ignore the even wider political and cultural contexts that (in some of those cases) meant that popular support could be garnered?
Meanwhile, I’m reflecting on the most unpopular Presidential candidate in US election history winning an election over the second most unpopular candidate in US election history and thinking there’s maybe a bit more to all this, that it runs a bit deeper than merely swapping out the nominal top dog.
Why you see that as something you’re ‘happy to disagree with’ and in such a way ( it seems) that you’ll leverage your own sense of righteousness off the back of it , is a bit beyond me.
But hey…
Yeah I don’t rate your analysis sorry.
Happy to stick with what I know and have ascertained.
‘Knowing’ is a strong statement in ones own understandings
Being happy being wrong is ok too…
Is it? Gd 4 u 1,2
“God shapes the progressive expansion of happiness”
If there hadn’t been a Pinochet, a Shah of Iran, a Suharto, a Greek junta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2%80%9374, a Franco, a Noriega.
The USA would have installed another equally suitable Dictator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Panama#US_involvement
above all People should stop insisting that what is in Congress and Senate are Republicans. They are all – bar John Mccain and Graham Lindsay – Tea Partiers.
the Republican Party was taken over by the TeaParty over the last 12 years.
Its the Tea Party running the show and Trump signs every thing they put to him as even he knows that that they do have teh power to unseat him via the 25 th – mental health, or by impeachment – its not as if he did not have the one or other conflict of interest, or by death – if anyone thinks that they would not, ah. Yeah, right Tui.
As long as he does as he is told, he will be fine. IF he does step out of line it will be Pence, a man so odious he puts light and fire to Cruz and Rubio.
What I am not quite sure about, in all this talk of “effective protests ‘ etc is that while we are all meant to be focused on this resistance to Trump/the Right, what about our own dysfunctional Left institutions?
Say we all manage to create an incredible movement and somehow dislodge this threat, then what?, we are still left with our own neo liberal Left back in power, but now further entrenched and with a new found brand of credibility,
And further, both Bill Clinton and Obama run brutal deportation operations…
Human Rights Watch report…
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/25/us-20-years-immigrant-abuses
….didn’t see too much opposition from the Left Party’s back then, so you see my point, get rid of Trump, of course. but lets clean our own back yard first.
I for one am not going to expend my fighting power on re establishing the neo liberal centrists back into power, especially when the writing is clearly on the wall for them now.
Turn Labour Left.
Liberalism isn’t of the left. Never has been and never will be. Effective protests have to take account of that fact. (Many disagree)
And yet many liberals are left wing, and many left wingers would call themselves liberal.
There is not a left wing liberal anywhere and there never has been. That’s very much tied into – is inseparable from the meaning of liberalism in a political context.
Being open minded about sexual or cultural or whatever other ‘difference’ might be charactarised as being liberal minded, and that’s got nothing whatsoever to do with liberalism as a political concept.
So are there liberal minded people who ascribe to left politics? Yes. Are they then liberals? No.
Lots of people in NZ identify themselves as liberal and left wing. Maybe use Liberal for people who are into Liberalism then?
I see what you’re saying and what not, but to go a bit further, I can’t see how a person could be lacking in a ‘live and let live’ attitude (ie – liberal) and be left wing in any meaningful way.
So, “liberal left wing” is akin to talking of the “big huge elephant”. (There’s a term for that that I can’t remember)
But then there are the intransigent ‘knuckle-headed’ cultists who claim to be more left wing and pure than anyone else, but who are no more left wing than Genghis bloody Khan.
Just typing thoughts out loud btw.
Capitalisation could work if the meanings are unknown to too many people.
“(There’s a term for that that I can’t remember)”
Me neither (something about stating what is obvious in the other word?).
The problem is political confusion. If people are seeing the idea of liberal being attacked, that needs more nuance in the presentation than I’m seeing (not you specifically, but in general esp in the US). If ‘liberal’ is going to be a dirty word, then we need to be bloody careful about how that gets presented.
I’d hazard a guess that most people don’t know what Liberalism is in the way you are using it. By most, I mean for instance Kiwis (you’d hope that in political circles the % would be much higher). There will be people who have a general or vague idea. In NZ I would say most people still think of liberal as progressive or left wing, but that could be changing with the focus on US politics.
That would be a tautology.
tautology
tɔːˈtɒlədʒi/Submit
noun
the saying of the same thing twice over in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g. they arrived one after the other in succession ).
synonyms: repetition, repetitiveness, repetitiousness, reiteration, redundancy, superfluity, periphrasis, iteration, duplication; More
a phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words.
plural noun: tautologies
LOGIC
a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form.
Liberal, in the sense that Bill is using it, is almost useless as a term.
It has been co-opted and corrupted so much that, to most of us, it is misleading.
In the same way as Neo-liberals are not liberal at all. Happy with authoritarianism to preserve their “right” to make money. The support for more cops and jails, for ordinary people, combined with opposition to laws against white collar crime, tax evasion and misuse of power.
I suspect that the more correct term now would be “libertarian”.
Absolute freedom for the lucky to screw the rest of us.
That’s the one riffer, cheers.
KJT, last year I decided we were in the age of the politics of confusion. Lately liberal appears to be being used to refer to people who are supportive of progressive politics but don’t want the end of capitalism. People that voted Clinton. Bill and adam tie this into economic and sociopolitical theory from the last century or so. I point out that in NZ liberal means progressive to non-politico types. Not sure that libertarianism is the right word for what Bill is talking about because Libertarianism in NZ is the politics of the extreme end of neoliberalism. And on and on it goes 😉
The RWNJ party in Australia call themselves the Liberal Party. They mean the freedom of the individual to do whatever they want with no restriction or regulation and tend to view ‘property rights’ as more absolute than human rights.
I haven’t seen to much evidence of ” Effective protests have to take account of that fact” which is exactly my point.
Protesting Trump without addressing our own serious political problems on the Left first, is like us here in NZ going on about saving Whales, pointing out finger at the Japanese Whalers, all the while allowing the breeding and releasing trout, a aggressive territorial predator and foreign intruder, into our own rivers, helping to seal the ultimate extinction of our own Native fish, not just a little bit hypocritical.
I for one am not going to expend my fighting power on re establishing the neo liberal centrists back into power, especially when the writing is clearly on the wall for them now.
Thus illustrating how the perfect is the enemy not only of the good, but also of the least-worst outcome.
I don’t understand what you mean?
It means that the little Dutch boy who cut off their right hand because it offended them found himself in a pickle when the dyke sprung a second leak.
“The perfect is the enemy of the good” means that if you reject a good outcome because you demand a perfect one, you may end up with an outcome that’s neither perfect nor good.
In terms of electing Democrat governments in the USA or Labour governments in NZ, the outcome can be better described as “least-worst” than “good,” but the same applies: if you reject the least-worst because you demand the perfect, what you’re likely to end up with is the most-worst, here exemplified in the figure of President Donald J. Trump.
But trump is very far from worst nightmare. I can think of many worse case scenarios. But then again I have read a fair amount of dystopian literature. He is bad that is not up for discussion.
But this least perfect argument seems like you putting absolutes around peoples arguments to score points. Or worse defending the system at any cost and shutting down any discussion which challenges the status quo. Or questions the official narrative.
Mind you, nothing new from you on that front. So more of the same, you will pick somthing someone says – then take it out of context and attack them with it?
Silly question, are you a liberal or a socialist or some other thing today? Look forward to what you will morph into tomorrow. Chin, chin.
seriously?
It’s a pretty simple point that was made. There’s no need to contort yourself to avoid addressing it.
Really, that your argument. It’s serious point to always go for the lesser option and never have a discussion on what could be better? If this is ‘the’ argument that is ‘serious’ what a sad day this is.
Discuss, by all means.
But if ranting against the best option available likely results in the worst option available being elected, maybe learn to chillax.
Come on McFlock, to say voting for the somthing bad because it’s better than somthing else bad, is a b.s argument no matter how nicely you want to dress it up.
But what is worse, is that this style of diminishing returns politics is what so many on the left are happy with. And they wonder why they can’t engage people.
Your point only stands if the bads are equivalently bad. Otherwise one evil is less evil than the other, by definition.
“Diminishing returns” means the same amount of effort gets less results. We’re talking about “loss minimisation”.
I don’t even know if there’s an economic parallel to what you’re advocating, which is to spend so much effort attacking the mediocre that the really bad get in.
Yeah, I’m trying to “shut down any discussion” by making comments that then get discussed by multiple people. Maybe I should re-think my strategy.
Silly question, are you a liberal or a socialist or some other thing today?
Meh – I don’t know much about ideology, but I know what I like. To Kiwiblog commenters I’m a socialist because I want a unionised workforce, a strong public sector and a comprehensive social welfare system, and to Standard commenters I’m a liberal because I want people to take some responsibility for their actions, and to be able to start and run their own business with the minimum of government interference. The ideological inconsistency may annoy actual socialists and liberals, but I don’t think I’m particularly unusual for a leftist.
@Psycho Milt, I completely reject your analysis…
“If you reject the least-worst because you demand the perfect, what you’re likely to end up with is the most-worst, here exemplified in the figure of President Donald J. Trump.”
The reason Trump exists as potus is not because clear thinking idealists tried to bring a new voice and reason into politics via Sanders, no the reasons are exactly the opposite, because so many lazy thinking lefties didn’t challenge the centre left free market status quo, didn’t hold our own left leaders and parties and media to the fire and demand more from them, and were prepared to take any old bullshit line from them. as long as they, themselves were comfortable…that is the reason Trump is in the White House.
And now to cry wolf, what a fucking joke, except it is not all that funny.
Yes I demand something better from the Left political institutions that I support, they should stand for something that I and people want to really fight for,and I make no apology’s for that.
No what I just can’t understand, is how low so many on the left have set their bar, it’s pathetic, sad and frustrating.
I wasn’t referring to the efforts to get Bernie Sanders nominated – that was a joy to watch and it would have been great if it had succeeded. It’s more that when things don’t turn out how we would have liked, and the candidate is Hillary Clinton, it’s counter-productive to disavow further involvement because Clinton isn’t left enough. Doing that results in a much worse outcome than President Hillary Clinton.
Look I can understand anyone who wanted to vote foe Clinton, some people whom I hold in upmost respect did just that.
However I guess I am just sick and tied of having no political representation from my own party, so I have got to that stage where I had to draw a line in the sand, based on my own moral compass, and I am just not prepared to support neo liberal free market politics anymore with my vote, wether if I where in the US and now here in NZ.
And you, and everyone else, will pay the price for that.
We now have a person, who is clearly unfit for the office, thinking he can run a Nation of 300+ million by tweets and special decree, and throwing tantrums when people dare to criticize. If it wasn’t the fact that this is the most sensitive job in the whole world – I wouldn’t give a toss and say “Well Yankees! You voted for him – You live with it!” But unfortunately his irrationality affects the whole world, as we have just witnessed, and the unpredictability of his behaviour could send us all into Global warfare.
Quoted for Truth.
Re the quote…You guys spend too much time reading self help psychology blogs…I’m pretty sure no one here is talking about wanting political ‘perfection’, just something that’s worth voting for.
As you may have noticed, the Left aren’t exactly managing that very well these days.
🙄
Well why don’t you go and seek nomination yourself then!
Are you implying that people who felt they couldn’t vote for Clinton because of her own mountain of flaws, who didn’t vote for her because she and the DNC where more interested in courting hard core republican war hawks, I could go on and on, are you implying that they are at fault and are responsible for Trump?
If you are, you are an idiot, but if you didn’t mean that, I then apologize for calling you an idiot.
I’m saying people who decided they couldn’t vote for Clinton had a choice between Clinton and Trump, and they chose Trump – whether by actively voting for him or just by abstaining is irrelevant. I wouldn’t use words like “fault” or “responsible,” but individual voters’ choices do affect the outcome – that’s the whole point.
I was actually answering Marco in relation to the idiot comment.
Individual choices of course effect outcomes, I couldn’t agree more.
So lets follow the time line of the US primaries, while Sanders was running, and after he was defeated.
We all wanted him to win, and it was obvious he was suffering from massive press misinformation and distortion, mainly from Liberal MSM.
Then he gets beaten, we all suffer a bit of pain, but most could of us could (theoretically of course )probably be persuaded to vote Clinton, maybe while holding your nose, but you know take one for the team..
But Clinton, after beating Sanders, by her own choices proceeded to do some of the following…
1. Straight away, instead of inviting the highly motivated progressives to join her, or have a seat at her table, out right rejected them.
Instead at that crucial moment, Clinton chose instead to welcome the endorsements of some of the most hard core Republican war hawks on the planet.
2. When Wasserman Schultz got basically fired “after a leak of internal DNC emails showed officials actively favoring Hillary Clinton during the presidential primary and plotting against Clinton’s rival, Bernie Sanders”
Clinton hired her the same day!
3, After Donna Brazile got fired from CNN after she used her position to pass questions to the Clinton campaign before the debates, she was unbelievably retained as DNC vice chair, a position she still holds.
I could add more, but you get the drift, it was her choice to shift to the Right, instead of conceding just a little to the progressive movement and bring them on board, it was her choice to protect publicly corrupt officials, not to mention she managed her campaign ( in the later stages) with an arrogance seldom seen…so if you want to blame anyone for Trump, blame Clinton and her DNC stooges, they lost the most winnable election the DNC ever got offered.
Peter Thiel is without doubt a very smart guy. But it appears he’s also prone to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Seems he’s got input into appointing the FDA leadership, and he’s got dangerously misguided ideas about how the FDA should change. Such as not requiring big pharma to show their products do what they claim they do.
http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/31/14364090/peter-thiel-fda-trump-silicon-valley-oneill-gulfo-srinivasan-gottlieb
Seeing as how drug companies get to pick and choose which drug trial results they forward to the FDA, and do not have to make their other trial results public, it’s fair to say that they already do not necessarily show their drugs to be either safe or effective.
And Thiel rushes off in precisely the wrong direction.
Yeah, there’s the problem of cherry-picking studies for approval. Then there’s the problem of once a drug is approved for one thing, it becomes much easier to sell it for “off-label” uses.
Personally I’ve got a policy that I won’t consider using a medication that hasn’t been on the market for at least ten years. So when I was really struggling with migraines and the quack was pushing sumatriptan that had just come out, I wasn’t interested. Although that policy might disappear pretty quick if I ever got a genuinely threatening condition with no good existing treatments but a promising new medication.
There is a lot of things that are wrong with Peter Thiel. But, he is a money man, will do anything for money, and above all will always have money to leave the US and go to a country where the future of Health Care is not based on prayer and faith.
“Everything Wrong with Peter Thiel’s Doomsday Survival Plan”…
https://www.outsideonline.com/2152476/everything-thats-wrong-billionaires-doomsday-survival-plan
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/88957414/bill-english-legally-cant-live-in-premier-house
It’s illegal for Prime Minister Bill English to live in Premier House, the official prime ministerial residence.
In a quirk of the law, English isn’t allowed access to taxpayer-funded accommodation in the capital – because he’s based there.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10588814
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has decided to pay back part of his ministerial housing allowance to Ministerial Services, saying that as Finance Minister he had to lead by example.
He will receive an accommodation allowance on the same basis as out of town MPs who live in Wellington.
Sort of ironic after he double dipped on accommodation some yeas ago.
yes…the loopholes must be exploited.
This article from 2009….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10588653
“National also released material that showed rents paid for ministerial homes currently range from $24,000 a year to $41,000. Those rents under Labour ranged from $31,000 to $36,000.
The information also listed Ministerial Services as leasing Mr English’s home for $36,400 a year.
Mr Key yesterday defended his ministers and said they deserved their taxpayer-funded Wellington homes, considering the demands of their jobs and stresses on families.
But he said he wasn’t happy with the rules that covered their claims and has called for a review of what he considered to be “arcane” regulations.
Mr Key said he had placed a cap on ministerial rental claims at $700 a week, which equates to $36,400 – the same as the cost of Mr English’s house to the taxpayer.
Mr English said he welcomed the review and any changes that came from it.”
…..and look! Here’s that fellow Wayne Mapp….claiming his $700 per week while at the same time being paid $400 per week by Parliamentary services for rent on his trust owned flat….
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said his previous apartment had been very small and was not suitable for him and his wife now he was spending more time in Wellington as a minister.
He confirmed the apartment was owned by his superannuation trust and was rented to National MP Bakshi Singh for $400 a week.
As an MP, Mr Singh can claim up to $24,000 year in accommodation costs from Parliamentary Service.
Dr Mapp also collected around $700 a week for his new larger apartment and said he could see why his rental income should be used to offset his expense claims.
“I can see why people have concerns and the review will deal with that,’ Dr Mapp said.”
You can Wayne? Really? Honestly?
Do you ever look back Wayne and, you know, get that cringey feeling like…”I maybe shouldn’t have done that…makes me look like a grasping, greedy, privileged prick.” ?
I think you will find that most Ministers now stay in their original apartments, rather than taking ministerial apartments.
The ministerial apartment concept dated back to the times when overseas visitors (ministers etc) were entertained in Minister’s homes. That is not what happens now with the diversity of Wellington restaurants.
I ended up relinquishing the Ministerial apartment after 12 months and went back to my small apartment in Kelvin Chambers. Mr Singh went elsewhere.
It was not double dipping. If I own an apartment, no-one would reasonably expect me to supply it to a tenant for free. But that was too hard to explain. As they say, “explaining is loosing”.
“I think you will find that most Ministers now stay in their original apartments, rather than taking ministerial apartments.”
I hope the strangling from the loophole being closed was not too painful Wayne.
“”Explaining is losing.””
Spoken like a true blue elitist.
One day, Wayne, the words you and your ilk have uttered will come back to bite you.
Mate it might be legal, but its still wrong.
Its not that anyone expect you to ‘supply’ your apartment for free, its that that income derived of the apartment should be taxed and offset against any benefits you may wish to claim.
Hence why so many people actually consider you guys to be no moral role model.
You guys are legal double dippers while at the same time you would cut some poor schmucks 5.5 $ for a sandwich.
Vile.
Are you going to pay back the tax payer for your 12 months of bludging?
Which today’s Stuff article was noticeably silent about I note.
Listening to how assured Greg O’Conner was dealing with Guyon Espiner this morning on NatRad really highlighted to me how clueless the average Labour MP is, and thus how awful Labour’s candidate selection process clearly is, constantly promoting the talentless hacks of various factions (like Clare Curran and Sue Moroney) and incumbency protection of hopeless timeservers (Ruth Dyson and Trevor Mallard) over people who might actually be good politicians. The thing is, if you have effective politicians like O’Connor who increase your vote, it actually increases the chances of less effective politicians, but very talented people, like Deborah Russell (or even a Liz Marvelly) getting into parliament on the rising tide.
Bit early. One interview does not a winner make.
Yup but the points about dullards and careerists such as Dyson, curran, mallard etc are spot on before we get onto white ants like Nash eating it out from inside sniping and generally being the twat he is.
You don’t see the Nats pushing their dead wood in front of issues, they push them out the back door, perception of renewal V listening to curran on technology ffs.
Neither greg nor liz . They are both dishonest bullshitters pushing divisive lines , they may well bring votes but they will drive yet more away and those votes will not return
The right is obviously worried about the talented people willing to put their names forward to change the government. Those who have been there a while are acting as efficient and encouraging mentors. Together they are building momentum.
The right is not the slightest bit worried. They own both parties!
Liz Marvelly talented , cough, why ? Possible if based on Tamati weather man threshold of achievements
Shit hitting the fan for Trump:
SEAL, American Girl Die in First Trump-Era U.S. Military Raid
Some different opinions about whether the raid resulted in non-combatant or combatant (Al Qaeda) women, plus children in the raid.
This tweet by Avi Ashi-Schapiro
And the difference between not saying you intend to kill families of terrorists but droning wedding parties, and saying you will is…?
In my book one is as bad as the other. Trump’s just a bit more distasteful in terms of polite dinner conversation. I mean, we’d prefer to identify with the ‘good guys’…and allow our civilised selves an ‘out’ by pointing to ‘mistakes’, right?
IMO, Steve Bannon, a
militant Catholicreligious extremist who seems to be in the early stages of taking control of the US war machine and believes we’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict.Yeah if trump is a little distateful to some – bannon is a bucket of sick.
The point of pages of google hits on Bannon is…?
The question I asked was specific. You want to impress on me that the US Government accommodates and empowers a complete bastard or arse-hole? You think I thought otherwise?
edit – Maybe you think the US was a force for good in the world before Trump?
Gosh, I wouldn’t like to point you towards anything you might consider fake news, would I, Bill.
/
edit: but if you insist
https://medium.com/@christophermchale/bannon-at-war-church-militant-wannabe-7c66808c4555#.nm5e5lb30
https://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/this-is-how-steve-bannon-sees-the-entire-world?utm_term=.nwY111jbwr#.pn2zzz76nx
Nah. The question in the comment you’re responding to was quite clear.
What is the difference between saying you’re going to kill families and then killing families, and refusing to say you’re going to kill families but then taking actions that can only result in families being killed?
Banging on about Bannon and how despicable he is completely beside the point.
Full capture of the most potent military ever by religious extremists is completely beside the point.
Righto……
To the question that was posed? Yes.
Okay, I’ll try again – we’re going to drone your arses, oops, wedding party – sorry, we fucked up and here’s your compensation versus we’re going to drone your arses, oops, wedding party – great, less heretics, let’s get serious about heretics and fuck wedding parties, let’s drone.
Yup. (Don’t know about your “trying again”) but McFlock expanded on the original premise and put it to bed at 5.1.3. below.
We got month of people telling us about Killary, Oblamblam Hopey Changey, and all the other assorted bullshite, while people like mineself and others were trying desperately to argue that it does not matter who will win, they all will end up killing for resources and geo political power.
We got month after month of people telling those of us us that were not Trumpsters (after Bernie lost) that we are Killary Lovers, and others bullshit just because we were trying to point out why we think – apart from the sameness that we expect in foreign relations – that maybe people should look beyond and see what Trump has in store for the US.
and now we have a ‘failed’ state in the making, a ‘democracy’ being flushed down the drain and we will end up with the same old same old, Trump will continue with the Wars started under the Republican Persident George W Bush – but to boot we now have a nuclear power run by a fucking madman with loyality issues and a religiously inspired bunch of fuckwits and a population that soon enough will stay at home for fear of being arrested.
This is not about ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ this is about two ‘bad choices’ of whom one was not quite as bad and odious as the other.
SO no i don’t identify with good or bad, i identify with what is longterm the best choice for myself, for my family, for my country. And sadly for the world, Trump is the worst that we could have gotten. But i guess if he starts ‘ww63’ it will be a gooder war then if Hillary would have started it, right?
…bunch of fuckwits and a population that soon enough will stay at home for fear of being arrested.
No. Or at least, we’ll see. As I said prior to the election, a good that could possibly come from a Trump win, was that the left would be able to come together and be galvanised in a way that wouldn’t be possible under a Clinton Presidency.
On other portions of your comment, there are plenty of people who have held to some strange notion of the US as being essentially benevolent. Not a notion I ever held. Seems you didn’t and don’t either.
sorry mate, but i don’t share your optimism.
i consider no government to be essentially benevolent. That is not what most people want in their government. They essentially want a ‘benevoelnt dictator’ that will make the trains run on time, keep the ‘unwashed masses’ in place.
And essentially that is what quite a few people have advocated for here, lets watch him pivot, see he is just a show man, blahblahblahblahblahblahblah.
I guess the collective guild education that i got in Germany made me cynical, but in saying that, “WE” the “Left” should maybe start defining a. what is the left, b. and what does the left want.
Cause there is one thing for sure, in the month leading up to the election I was not considered ‘left’ by a bunch of very vocal posters here.
but yeah, not sharing your optimism.
My optimism might be misplaced. But until some time has passed and some events have unfolded, there’s really no way to say one way or the other.
well one can always check the history books.
i base my pessimism on what the man said, on what he did and does and put out an educated guess. 🙂
By ‘the man’, you mean Trump? My optimism is for people mounting an indefatigable, and hopefully pro-active, opposition.
yep. the man. in the sense of the world. and mounting an opposition works in a democracy but not in a totalitarian state.
And the US has faux democracy – which is good enough for the purpose at hand 😉
The difference is that the first option involves you bombing a random wedding party because your fucked up tactic is so impractical that you widen the targeting scope to include “crowds where my suspected terrorist might be”.
Whereas Trump said he’d bomb the wedding parties even if he knew for a fact no terrorists were there.
And I suspect the number of wedding parties being bombed will increase, as well.
Thanks for that McFlock. Hadn’t been thinking it through in quite those terms.
And the difference between not saying you intend to kill families of terrorists but droning wedding parties, and saying you will is…?
…the difference between engaging in military action knowing that it’s likely some civilians will be killed, and engaging in military action that deliberately targets civilians for the purpose of killing them. Which is one of the major differences that the concept of war crimes is built on, and is accepted throughout the world as a very significant difference. Are you genuinely saying you don’t accept it exists?
Straw man bullshit there PM.
To expand on my reply to McFlock – I was over focusing on the hypocrisy of targeting/killing families while purporting to only target/kill terrorists.
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWiaYQUV2oM
…. and so it goes on and on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN4Sn5u_pK0
I wonder when they will kill the Grandfather ……
The u.s.a govt is worse than the mafia …………
I have just received a letter from Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson on
“ridding all introduced predators by 2050“ .. mentioning rats, stoats, and possums.
He states that “a new government company will be formed .. to develop predator eradication programs”. We have had them for years.
The wording is general enough to imply that there are predators in Miramar besides small and furry ones.
It closes with a survey to “help .. inform our policies and targets”, concluding that “the project will require a massive effort from our communities”.
On the other side it asks for environmental priorities, rankings of electoral issues for importance, and who you support politically.
Sorry Chris, I won’t be returning mine.
Yea, it’s a fishing expedition for party affiliation and support. He’s obviously trying to decide if he’s going to stand in the electorate again.
Finlayson has been testing the waters with Rongotai electorate voters for the last two years, since shortly after the 2014 election. I and my neighbours/friends in the electorate have had phone calls/surveys from National staff members supporting Finlayson and also letters seeking views on issues, priorities etc.
Previously, my experience had been that Finlayson made very minimal attempts to engage with voters in the electorate over the many years he has run in the electorate, and that he has been almost distainful of such engagement.
My cynical reaction to his ‘sudden’ change in approach has been to tell the callers where to go and why (and i know many others who have done the same regardless of their political leanings) , and to not bother returning the questionnaires.
I could be generous and say that in the past he has stepped back to allow his cousin, Annette King, a clear run, but don’t actually believe that, knowing how arrogant he is.
Obviously a fishing expedition but I am not so sure that it is to decide whether he will stand in the electorate again because as I say above, the fishing expedition has been long running for about two years and not one just starting now in the run-up to the 2017 election.
A humorous message to Trump in his own words from the Dutch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELD2AwFN9Nc
Thanks Glenn I enjoyed that. Then I listened to Seth Meyer and he ran down Billy Joel and The Piano Man. That’s really unforgivable.
Chlöe Swarbrick has put her name forward to run as the Greens’ candidate in Auckland Central.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/01/former-mayoral-hopeful-chl-e-swarbrick-has-sights-on-auckland-central.html
If selected, could she do for the Greens what Jacinda failed to do for Labour – beat Nikki Kaye?
Who will Labour stand? Should they stand-down to give the Greens a better chance?
Your link doesn’t work for me…but try this from the Herald….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11746176
Chloe states…””I have always voted Greens,” the 22-year-old said after confirming her candidacy this morning.
“I just affiliate with what they do and I’m on board with their policies and their values.””
By my reckoning she will have at most been able to vote for the Greens in one election…hardly qualifies as “always”.
I’m not slagging this very young candidate…but she must be more careful with her wording.
Creates altogether the wrong impression.
Yes, I do set very high standards…I’ve had a gutsful of veneered candidates.
Try this one (link).
http://tinyurl.com/jrgam4l
“I’m not slagging this very young candidate…but she must be more careful with her wording.”
Indeed.
I had to laugh at that too, because it’s a line I use (mine is I’ve always voted to the left of Labour because there were no Greens when I started voting). But that’s 11 elections 😉
Should they stand-down to give the Greens a better chance?
Why would they do that? It’s not like the Green Party desperately needs an electorate seat to remain in Parliament.
“Why would they do that?”
To prevent splitting the vote, allowing National to win the seat.
So what if National wins the seat? It’s the party vote that counts and both Labour and the Greens should be campaigning hard for that vote in every electorate.
“So what if National wins the seat?”
I suspect left leaning voters of Auckland Central would prefer a left leaning candidate to represent the electorate.
MMP refresher.
Why would anyone outside Auckland Central care who the Auckland Central MP is?
Winning such a seat (Auckland Central) would help boost the Greens political standing/prominence.
Not really. They already have sufficient standing/prominence. People know who they are.
They already have 14 mps. They’ve had electorate seats before. If swarbrick wins because Labour stood back, she’s not a giant-killer so no increase there. If labgrn split the vote so the nat gets in, it doesn’t affect the overall outcome. But if lab stand back and the nat still wins, then the nat looks like the giant killer and gets boosted “prominence”.
Your plan has no upside if it succeeds and no downside if it’s ignored, but a downside if it fails.
I wouldn’t call having 14 MPs sufficient. Double that and you may have a point.
Moreover, it’s been sometime since they last held an electoral seat.
If Labour were to stand-down and avert splitting the vote resulting in Swarbrick winning against National, it would still be largely perceived as an accomplishment. The added positive media attention wouldn’t go a miss.
If the left vote is split and National win, it will rob the left of that electoral seat.
National beating the Greens wouldn’t be seen by many as a major accomplishment. The Greens are clearly the underdog, thus a win as such would help further boost their prominence.
By the way, It’s not my plan, I merely asked the question.
Everyone knows who the greens are. They don’t need gimmicks for “prominence” like an electorate contest. They fight on policy, and they have a solid support base.
You talk about “added positive media attention”. Are you joking? All they’ll get is comparisons with Epsom gift seats, especially from the media. “Underdogs” don’t get credit if their opponent is being ganged up on.
Robbed of an electoral seat? If the only point to winning an electoral seat is “added prominence”, then that’s the most the left lose. A little bit of “prominence”. I guess they’ll have to have pretty good campaigners and policies then – lucky that.
If you’re not asking about your plan, who’s plan was it? Where did you get this pointless idea to question?
An electorate contest is not a gimmick. Electorate MPs have serious undertakings representing the local constituents of their electorate. Therefore, it’s largely the local left leaning constituents that lose if the electorate seat goes to National. Being the underdog, the Greens have little to lose.
Winning an electorate seat can help get the party’s message out while helping to boost a party’s profile. Hence, one of the reasons the Greens are standing.
The Greens didn’t stand in the recent Mt Roskill by election, yet despite that Labour’s victory largely received glowing media coverage.
Moreover, Labour standing-down in Auckland Central (if they decided too) would be the party’s own individual decision as was with the Greens standing-down in Mt Roskill.
There has been discussion of whether or not Labour and the Greens should do electoral deals. I was wondering what the larger sentiment was/is? Hence the question.
Having a good campaign boosts the party’s profile. Actually winning an electorate is neither here nor there unless there is a major upset.
So now you’re asking “won’t anyone think of the constituents”? Well, standing a candidate lets the constituents choose, rather than having a deal foisted on them by the party that they’re expected to swallow.
How much of this “discussion” has come from someone other than you? How much of it has come from commenters who seem aligned with labour or greens or even farther left?
Of course having a good campaign is all part and parcel. The Greens winning against National in Auckland Central is far from expected, thus would be seen as an upset.
I wasn’t asking. I was highlighting what you overlooked, the impact on local constituents.
And again, if Labour decided to stand-down, it would be their own individual decision, therefore, countering your foisted deal assertion.
Labour and the Greens have recently had discussions about this (doing electoral deals). However, they’ve ruled it out. This has spurred wider discussions.
Seeing as electoral deals are within the rules, the opposition does it and it could be of benefit (at this stage the days of Labour winning alone are long behind us). I don’t see why Labour refuses to take advantage.
Well maybe you should go back to the discussion that’s already been had in order to answer the question.
Of course if the party makes a decision about where to run it’s foisting that decision on its voters in that electorate. They can’t choose to vote for a nonexistent candidate.
But either way you’re the only one who indicates that this is a serious question. Which I suspect is because you still don’t understand mmp
The Green’s and Labour’s discussion has concluded.
Of course it is a serous issue. Deals could and do change election outcomes.
The obvious example is Epsom and Nationals deal with ACT.
However, if they were willing, Labour and the Greens could do a deal not to stand in Epsom and advise their supporters to support National, effectively keeping ACT out.
A deal in Ohariu could potentially keep Dunne out. Deals in these two electorates could result in robbing National of its support partners.
For you not to consider this a serious issue suggests it’s you that fails to understand the workings of MMP.
Political parties make decisions regarding all manner of things. Therefore, all manner of things can and are foisted upon us. However, if Labour decided to stand-down, it would be their own individual decision, thus not a “foisted deal” as you initially asserted.
Epsom is an issue because without it ACT would have zero parliamentary presence. The Greens have 14 mps without an electorate mp. If they did have an electorate mp, they would still only have 14 mps.
Everyone else understands that, why don’t you?
It would be Labour’s decision, and the voters would have to lump it. The decision would be foisted on the voters. As I said “Well, standing a candidate lets the constituents choose, rather than having a deal foisted on them by the party[…]”.
“So just to be clear, if Labour choose to not stand a candidate so the Green has a chance of winning, it’s foisting that decision on voters who would have preferred the choice, rather than foisting a deal on voters who would have liked the choice? That’s really what you’re attempting to parse, not whether whateverthefuckitwas has been foisted on the voters?”
No.
“More seats” means an overhang, and that only happens if the number of electorate seats a party gains exceeds the seats they would receive as a proportion of the party vote.”
I’ve already pointed that out to you above.
“If the greens win an electorate seat, they will only have an electorate seat and 13 list seats, rather than 14 list seats.”
Depends on what percentage of the party vote they secure. Additionally, if they decide to contest more electorate seats, they may win more seats than their share of the party vote.
“You’re “question” about Auckland central in no way would change the composition of parliament on numbers of seats each party gets”.
That wasn’t my argument in regards to Auckland Central.
“There is no second bite at the apple”
You are highlighting you poor understanding again. The party vote allows one bite. Seeking the electoral vote gives you two as a party could possibly exceed it’s party vote and secure more seats through the overhang.
As explained above, my question was an attempt to gauge the larger sentiment.
If you think it’s stupid to act strategically and keep the opposition from winning Auckland Central, that’s your prerogative. I’ll put you down as a no.
So now you want Labour to stand back on a dozen seats in the hope that the greens can get an overhang if they maintain their party vote?
This gets better and better.
Acting strategically is good. But it only works if your strategy matches the situation and constraints of reality, not some half-arsed misunderstanding of the electoral rules.
If the Greens (or any party for that matter) win more electorate seats than their share of the party vote they retain those seats as it results in a overhang.
ACT having zero parliamentary presence robs National of their support and ability to leverage off their harder right stance. Which would be a result from a decision a number of left leaning voters wouldn’t mind having foisted upon them.
I wasn’t disputing it would be foisted upon them, I was disputing your assertion of a foisted deal.
What agency do voters have in deciding whether Labour runs a candidate? None. It would be a foisted decision.
As for the overhang, if the greens got 15 electorate seats but only 11% of the vote, yes there’d be an overhang. But you’re only talking about one electorate.
ACT get seats because they don’t score enough for any representatives in parliament.
Clearly I wasn’t using the overhang as an example for Auckland Central alone. The benefits of that have already been discussed above.
The overhang was something you overlooked in your haste to imply I have no understanding of the workings of MMP.
It would be a foisted decision, yes . A foisted deal, no.
There is no guarantee what percentage of the party vote a party will secure, therefore standing candidates gives parties another bite at the apple so to speak. Increasing the odds of securing more seats.
However, in saying that, in some cases it can also be strategically more beneficial not to stand a candidate.
🙄
So just to be clear, if Labour choose to not stand a candidate so the Green has a chance of winning, it’s foisting that decision on voters who would have preferred the choice, rather than foisting a deal on voters who would have liked the choice? That’s really what you’re attempting to parse, not whether whateverthefuckitwas has been foisted on the voters?
Increasing the odds of securing more seats.
NO! “More seats” means an overhang, and that only happens if the number of electorate seats a party gains exceeds the seats they would receive as a proportion of the party vote.
If the greens win an electorate seat, they will only have an electorate seat and 13 list seats, rather than 14 list seats.
You’re “question” about Auckland central in no way would change the composition of parliament on numbers of seats each party gets. There is no second bite at the apple. You might think that the Greens plummenting to sub-threshold levels is a threat that means Labour should foist a stupid, system-gaming decision on voters, but I’m not sure it keeps the Green caucus up at night.
Your question is a bullshit question about a stupid plan that quite frankly should be avoided if it’s needed because any party would deserve what it gets if it nosedives that badly. You need to have a caucus of incompetents, identity-fraudsters, and doddering bigots to fail that badly, if NZ parliamentary history is anything to go by.
“Who will Labour stand? Should they stand-down to give the Greens a better chance?”
They said the other day that they would not be making “deals” like this – So I guess they will be standing somebody.
I believe they said they would be making no deals , that’s different from deciding to not stand a candidate off there own bat.
I suspect the Greens and Labour will come to an arrangement about Auckland Central. Jacinta got mighty close to unseating Nikki Kaye last time. The Green Party candidate was a waaaay further back.
The massive question is who is Labour going to put up in Auckland Central.
It is seriously not easy: this area has house prices in the multiple millions, except for apartments, and salaries that go along with it.
With the City Rail Link and Sky City Convention Centre it also has billions of dollars of government funding pumping capital into it.
Jacinta did serious hard work doorknocking the joint from Herne Bay all the way along.
Will need a spectacular candidate, with capital, chutzpah and massive networks.
Indeed, Jacinta did do some serious hard work door-knocking. Apparently, so did Nikki Kaye. Don’t know if she’ll be up to the challenge this year though.
I also concur in regards to Labour requiring a spectacular candidate, with capital, chutzpah and massive networks.
It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
Err umm… both of you should have her name right by now. It’s Jacinda.
Meet Kenneth Haapala, Trump’s new man at NOAA.
https://www.desmogblog.com/ken-haapala
President Donald Trump is taking aim at one of the federal government’s main agencies for climate change research – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – and NOAA employees are girding for drastic changes in how they conduct science and report it to the public.
Trump has appointed a leading denier of climate change, Kenneth Haapala of the Heartland Institute, to serve on the administration team handling appointments for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the federal agency that oversees NOAA. Haapala will be in a position to help choose top administrators at NOAA, an agency that conducts atmospheric research and, among other duties, also oversees the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article129716229.html
Polluters will be delighted.
Transition officials debated internally about whether the Trump administration should seek a major reversal of U.S. EPA’s core authority to regulate greenhouse gases, and it continues today, according to sources.
No decision was made about potentially overturning the agency’s endangerment finding before President Trump was sworn in, and three sources said independently that a future determination would likely be made jointly by EPA Administrator-designate Scott Pruitt and White House officials.
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060049261
https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment-and-cause-or-contribute-findings-greenhouse-gases-under-section-202a
Who needs clean water.
House Republicans laid out plans Tuesday to strike down a controversial Obama-era coal rule.
The Interior Department’s stream protection rule could become just the second regulation in history — and the first in 16 years — to be repealed under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn regulations they disapprove of with a simple majority.
The House will vote Wednesday on whether to overturn it.
The stream rule prohibits the coal industry from polluting the water sources near mines, but Republicans say this makes it nearly impossible for these companies to operate and is pushing them out of business.
http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/317193-house-to-repeal-obama-coal-rule-wednesday
Repugs want to sell off public land, too. This’ll be one to watch since the Chump has said he doesn’t want to do that. He just wants to drill and dig the fuck out of them.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/31/public-lands-sell-congress-bureau-management-chaffetz
CBS has just become a whole lot more credible. NOT.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/88959020/Oprah-Winfrey-to-join-US-60-Minutes-as-special-contributor
http://trumpdonald.org/
I thought some here would appreciate it. Childish silly humour that it is. Needs sound.
Buyer’s remorse…
A Pennsylvania family fighting to have their relatives return to the United States after they were detained at Philadelphia International Airport and sent back overseas under the immigration order told “NBC Nightly News” that they voted for Donald Trump.
“I understand he wants to make America safe,” Sarmad Assali said. “We’re all on with this. I definitely want to be in a safe place. But people need us and we need to be there for them.”
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Assali-Family-Syria-Donald-Trump-Vote-Allentown-Immigration-Ban-Travel-Order-412238593.html
cause only by bringing untold misery to legal migrants will the country be made great again. And of course if the country will do this to legal migrants what would they do to ‘illegal’ migrants.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-circulates-more-draft-immigration-restrictions-focusing-on-protecting-us-jobs/2017/01/31/38529236-e741-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?postshare=2611485889175975&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.32e8d0598f4a
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
.
Inside the Loews Hotel in downtown Philadelphia at various points Thursday were President Trump, Vice President Pence, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and scores of other Republican members of Congress. Reporters were kept out, and only a few select staffers, family members and outsiders were allowed to participate in the private GOP policy retreat.
But at least one unauthorized person made it inside, and while it is unclear to what degree the country’s top leaders were in physical danger, their circle of trust was undoubtedly breached.
A person secretly recorded closed sessions on national security and health care that were attended by many dozens of GOP lawmakers. They had gathered for a private discussion of some of the thorniest legislative issues of the moment, as well as a question-and-answer session with Pence.
The recordings were anonymously emailed that night to reporters for The Washington Post and other news outlets that published stories exposing qualms inside the GOP over the party’s plans to roll back the Democratic health-care overhaul and a looming debate between defense hawks and advocates of fiscal rectitude.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/lawmakers-want-answers-after-intruder-breaches-gops-inner-sanctum/2017/01/31/3a94331e-e729-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html?postshare=6471485895676006&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.bd55dd1bd082
This is a good policy from the greens I fully support.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/education/every-child-should-learn-maori
Where as, this is business as usual on nationals watch. What a sad government we have, one which costs, and costs and costs.
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/specialist-clinics-assess-children-affected-faulty-dental-equipment
I agree that Māori should be compulsory in school. In fact, I think all of our official languages should be.
Can’t help but agree, then people would have 4 languages.
This parent agrees. The benefits for the kids to learn a second language consistently from a young age are enormous.
compulsory Maori years 1-10, another massive vote catcher for the Greens
Will labour support it – I mean they have a MOU and all that.
Just to track off from Trump and the USA for a bit. TS wants to run a reading group and big political and policy discussion which happens after we have all read the same book. We have been talking about it on Open Mike 31 January. We thought we would start off with an oldie but goodie E F Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.
Everyone who expressed interest yesterday and anyone today, who want to bring their minds and ideas to the reading and on-line discussion later, would you please give your pseudos as we want a committed core group to be the heart of the project. We can give advice on how to access the book, we just want you to be with us on the journey for the whole book if humanly possible. You matter, and as I said we want a core group and then others who get interested can join later on.
It will be surfacing on the Sunday page which will be a place for spiky, bright iand practical ideas (Tip: Look down No.8 in 31/1 for tip on solar panels for mobiles),
and thoughts and future-building talented commenters and story tellers.
Cheers, fellow Standardistas! Waiting to hear<
Background here https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-31012017/#comment-1293808
I’m looking forward to reading the book and the discussion!
(a small but important correction, this isn’t an initiative from The Standard authors or Trust, it’s coming from the community with some back up from a couple of authors 🙂 )
Would like to join in as well.
Thanks Molly that’s great. I am trying to find more of our keen thinkers and so have what I think would be a good core of commenters to bounce ideas around on our finishing post! Hopefully it will be a grand national effort. It will be great I think only one or two more would be a good number.
A good resource for second-hand books. Better World Books. Note: Prices are $USD but shipping is free, and the company is a B-Corp.
Thanks for that. We could draw up a list of options that get used in every post.
weka and Molly
Just to update you. There is a core of readers going to be in on the reading circle or whatever you call it – any ideas for a snappy understandable moniker? So I’m feeling happy. Got a few more feelers out but will stop shoulder tapping after this and get on with something else. By the way r0b has also offered to help but has over-riding concern at present.
Will get onto jobs weka over weekend. Will you be around Sat Sun Mon or are you swanning off?
probably around 😉
Celebrity SCOTUS Pick!
https://twitter.com/jeffzeleny/status/826545822594633728
But her emails.
/
https://twitter.com/washdems/status/826601449706565632
Election date announced – September 23rd.
“Government Confidence Rating has increased to 140pts (up 9pts) in January with 63% (up 4.5%) of NZ electors saying NZ is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to 23% (down 4.5%) that say NZ is ‘heading in the wrong direction’.”
Seems most people seem to think that the government is going OK..
[lprent: If you are going to quote something as a fact, then link to it.
For relevance look at this…
http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll/new-zealand/nz-government-confidence
Arbitrarily cheery picking a number that is traditionally high (ie Jan) is a bit dumb.. For instance look at the March/April numbers over the years as they bounce around.
March 24 – April 6, 2008 47.5 37.5 110 15 100
March 23 – April 5, 2009 65 22 143 13 100
March 22 – April 4, 2010 57 31.5 125.5 11.5 100
March 21 – April 3, 2011 54.5 29.5 125 16 100
March 12 – April 1, 2012 53.5 29.5 124 17 100
March 11-24, 2013 53.5 34 119.5 12.5 100
March 31 – April 13, 2014 65 22 143 13 100
March 2-15, 2015 64.5 24 140.5 11.5 100
April 4-17, 2016 57.5 30.5 127 12 100
Basically the GCR measures confidence in the government even more than it measures confidence in the political parties running the government.
Banned for 4 weeks. But next time I see you start a unsubstantiated diversion causing a simple minded flame war because you didn’t link or even provide enough information to even identify the poll then it will be 4 months. ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Depends on who they polled, doesn’t it?
More people, from a wider variety of NZ’s socioeconomic spectrum, than you.
You know this how?
Seems most people seem to think that the government is going OK.
Which is weird. Either the majority think that skyrocketing house prices, a growing underclass and deteriorating water quality are “the right direction,” or they imagine these things are beyond the government’s capacity to influence. Which in turn means the majority of people are mistaken. I guess it’s a matter of “You can fool most of the people some of the time.”
Most polls show that right wing people prefer to read progressive sites because the level of debate is much higher than on right wing blogs. This is because the arguments put forward by the right wing are very weak due to the fact that their motivation is based purely on self-interest, hence truth is not required and is usually avoided.
+1
When 63% of the population think that the country is going in the right direction what makes you think that in 234 days it will mean a change of government. I suspect that figure will keep growing and reflect a first ever majority MMP government.
[lprent: If you want to quote a ‘fact’, then link to the source. I detest the flamewars that follow such diversionary trolling and I really dislike having to go and look it up to provide an explanation of what you are referring to. Banned 4 weeks ]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
63% of the population? Depends on who the pollster polled, doesn’t it? National has been unable to achieve that in 3 general elections, remember, the majority didn’t vote for them. Now John key, the poster boy the party threw everything into, has run away.
“the majority didn’t vote for them”
No but more people voted for them than anybody else – thats why they are in government – and “your lot” are not.
I predict the same again this year.
I know it seems to be lost on you – but your meme is irrelevant.
The fact still remains that the majority didnt vote National. Bet you didn’t predict John key running away with a general election just around the corner, after publicly stating that he “plans to stay entire fourth term”
<a href="http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2016/11/key-plans-to-stay-entire-fourth-term.html
Obviously John key doesn’t think National are going to win.
Where are these magical figures coming from Fisiani? Lala land? OZ? do tell.
Poll results – google is your friend.
[lprent: You use them, then you link to them. ]
FFS..
From memory, when labour got removed last time the GCR was at similar levels before the election.
It has very little to do with the political government of the day and more to do with the perception of how government process is going – regardless of what political parties are in power.
It is somewhat pathetic watching these dimwitted people clinging to this measure.
“From memory, when labour got removed last time the GCR was even higher.”
Actually it wasnt.
it was 123 then – its 140 points now.
It was a minimal difference. But I had to look that up. However you have disrupted a whole thread with an unlinked and unsubstantiated ‘fact’.
In case you haven’t got it – link facts or get me pissed off dealing with the stupid conversations that follow such stupid trolling.
Bye fisiani.
Perhaps you could campaign for the National Party with a loud-hailer outside Queensgate instead.
Battery prices are coming down so fast that renewables plus battery storage is cheaper than fossil-fueled peaker plants.
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/01/31/tesla-needs-just-three-months-complete-worlds-largest-grid-storage-facility/
https://thinkprogress.org/chart-of-the-month-driven-by-tesla-battery-prices-cut-in-half-since-2014-718752a30a42#.o49zjbrwm
No need to “power down”.
Powerdown would still be the best thing to do. But it ain’t gonna happen for political reasons.
Thanks Andre. Be good when the price comes down for domestic storage.
If I recall correctly, not long ago I saw ads for off grid systems with 6kW of panels, 18 kWhr of lead-carbon batteries with inverters/controllers etc for $25k. That struck me as a huge reduction from the last time I had looked just a few years ago.
More about the energy disruption coming from storage and renewables costs coming down.
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/01/31/great-energy-disruption/
Somebody hand me the hemlock—
The Gruesome Twosome are back.
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 1 February 2017
Jim Mora, Brian Edwards, Michelle Boag, Julie Moffett
Jim Mora and his producers seem determined to insult his long-suffering listeners by lining up a steady diet of clickbait stories and pointless consumer surveys. Most of the poor saps who appear on this dismal chat show are so shallow and/or stupid that they don’t give a damn. Or, if they do care, they’re so desperate for work or so timid that they keep quiet. Occasionally, though, they show a sign of impatience. The most common way of doing this is to pass an exasperated remark, usually with a defusing giggle, on the inanity of the topics under discussion.
Today, after Julie Moffett had finished talking about something completely inconsequential and ridiculous, Brian Edwards asked:
This plaintive cry was greeted with awkward laughter, but the menu of trivia and inanity continued. Last item of the preshow was something about the retirement of Peter Capaldi from the role of Dr. Who.
BRIAN EDWARDS: Capaldi’s BRILLIANT though, isn’t he!
MICHELLE BOAG: Oh he is.
JULIE MOFFETT: He IS.
ad nauseam….
Morrissey
Did they ever discuss on Jim Mora the John Key low of talking about whether he wees in the shower? That would have been a shower. It would have been good dross to listen to and laugh and cry over.
No, I missed it if they did. But I think Mora would not have allowed it to be discussed, as it’s rather unsavoury and he seems squeamish about such matters. He has no problem at all with his guests laughing at the suffering of dissidents, quoting hateful right wing ideologues like David Brooks, and even having one of them—Dr Michael Bassett—call Nicky Hager a Holocaust-denier, but a lowlife pissing in the shower is not acceptable discussion fodder.
He’s got a point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Stop the settlements and declare all existing ones illegal and the rocket attacks will be a thing of the past.
You mean like when Israel withdrew from Gaza?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[lprent: FFS -banned for 16 weeks. I really don’t have time to deal with fuckwits with diverting repetition fetishes. ]
Interesting you want to split Palestine into Gaza and West Bank when it suits you then accuse Palestine of being split when suits you too.
Note this new acronym TS. DRF (Diverting Repetition Fetishes) – in this year of Our Lord 2017 and the election year to see who our earthly lord will be, the fuckwits will try and overwhelm discourse, of course, so we might see a lot of DRF and that will be welcomed.
The resulting debate is dead boring – especially for moderators.
I tend to have an abrupt response when I see it happening. It is based around the idea that if I get rid of a fool(s) doing it, then I won’t have to read it.
lprent
Well I hope that won’t apply to me in the future – getting the DRF or other actions but they do smarten up all our acts which keeps the blog sharp.