Open Mike 01/03/2016
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6:00 am, March 1st, 2016 - 101 comments
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- Beyond the percentage: Australia’s defence debate needs a smarter metric
The global strategic landscape is undeniably shifting. Great power competition is reasserting itself, technological disruption is accelerating, and the familiar certainties of decades past are eroding. For a trading nation such as Australia, deeply connected ...6 hours ago - Far from responsible and anything but gutsy
Back home to the seaside village, back home to a waterlogged and gobsmacked New Zealand.Waterlogged by the most April rain in April for half a century.Gobsmacked by this dismal government managing to set a new low in its disregard for anyone who isn’t white, wealthy or a man.Fair-minded and right-thinking ...6 hours ago - Albanese’s visit shows Indonesia is still a foreign policy priority
As Anthony Albanese prepares to travel to Jakarta for his first state visit in his second term, the symbolism is clear: Indonesia remains a cornerstone of Australia’s foreign policy. Since taking office, the Albanese government ...7 hours ago
- Monday 12 May
Opposition to the Government’s attacks on pay equity are gathering steam, with protests around the country and more than 65,000 people already signed on to a petition calling on the Government to reverse the changes. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Cabinet will consider a social media ban on under-16s, despite ...8 hours ago - Naked corruption
When National passed its corrupt, Muldoonist fast-track law, they were criticised for accepting donations from fast-track applicants. You'd think that after such criticism, and the consequent effect on the reputation of our state, they might have ceased the practice - but of course not. Instead, they're still taking money from ...8 hours ago - Nicola Willis Calls Pay Equity “A Grievance Industry”
Nicola Willis pulled the sympathy and sexism card this morning in an opinion piece for Stuff/The Post.In it, claimed she had been much maligned by, well, everyone, on pay equity, and “mainstream” journalists were guilty of “sexist slurs” and misinformation against her.The offending piece was Andrea Vance’s “The girl-math budget ...9 hours ago - Rhys Williams – Arsehole of the Week
It’s time to shine the spotlight on a particularly vile specimen slithering through New Zealand’s political underbelly: Rhys Williams, this week’s Arsehole Award winner. Williams is a NZ First party activist (who didn’t renew his membership), and has carved out a niche as a homophobic, defamatory troll, hiding behind the ...11 hours ago - Bookshelf: Australia in a fragmenting and deglobalising world
Elisabeth Braw’s insightful 2024 book, Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World, has proven remarkably prescient in understanding the turbulent global landscape of 2025. While the era of globalisation promised unprecedented interconnectedness and prosperity, ...12 hours ago
- Announcing Law & Order
Poets, priests and politiciansHave words to thank for their positionsWords that scream for your submissionAnd no one's jamming their transmissionAnd when their eloquence escapes youTheir logic ties you up and rapes you!Songwriter: Sting. Read more ...14 hours ago - A counter to drone swarms: high-power microwave weapons
Military forces must prioritise a counter to drone swarming tactics with which inexpensive, mass-produced drones can overwhelm defences. What is needed is a layered defensive system that includes systems that can neutralise many threats within ...15 hours ago
- Pay equity shock to have unintended consequences
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, May 12:The gutting of pay equity laws may force hospices to close, pushing extra patients and extra cost into hospitals, the sector says at the start of Hospice Awareness Week. Barnados’ CEO says the law change will hit ...15 hours ago - The Death of a Deer
Edit: This stuff is fascinating - and for the record you are definitely OK to disagree with me on any of this in the comments. This community rules, and you’re respectful and great even when disagreeing.With that said — this email just landed in my inbox from a Webworm subscriber ...16 hours ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19
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- NZ First Resorts To Dirty Politics 2.0
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- Mother’s Day
My mama saidThat it's good to be fruitfulBut my mama saidDon't take more than a mouthfulAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be naturalAnd my mama saidThat it's good to be factualAlways on the Run, by Lenny Kravitz & Slash.Morena folks, let me begin by acknowledging that Mother’s Day can ...1 day ago - Dunedin Mayor Calls On Government To Help Homeless
Last week, a fire tore through a homeless camp at Dunedin’s Oval, destroying tents and makeshift shelters in a stark reminder of New Zealand’s soul-destroying housing crisis. This isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a predictable outcome of the Coalition of Chaos’s reckless policies, which have gutted funding for emergency accommodation ...2 days ago
- Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to May 11
Brooke van Velden says she had proposed the repeal of the Pay Equity Act in a letter to PM Christopher Luxon as soon as she became Workplace Relations and Safety Minister in late 2023. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesBriefly in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to Sunday, May 11:PM Christopher ...2 days ago - Mothers’ Day
In honour of those who have come, those who are, and those who will come to be.Kate SheppardKate Sheppard is famous for leading the successful campaign that made New Zealand the first self-governing nation to grant women the right to vote in 1893. CorrespondenceMarilyn WaringDame Marilyn Joy Waring DNZM is ...2 days ago - Fact brief – Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather?
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- Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, May 10
Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy on Saturday, May 10: Protests have erupted over the Government’s pay equity betrayal this week. Abuse in care survivors are shocked the Government ignored the Royal Commission’s main recommendation.The Government has launched a review of the Waitangi Tribunal’s ‘activism,’ late on a Friday afternoon.Food poverty ...3 days ago - Cold as Ice
I've seen it before; it happens all the timeYou're closing the door, you leave the world behindYou're digging for gold, you're throwing awayA fortune in feelings, but someday you'll payYou know that you are(Cold as ice) As cold as ice to me(Cold as ice)Songwriters: Mick Jones / Lou Gramm.“My suffragette ...3 days ago - Seeking Fiscal Balance
Should we pursue a ‘Golden Rule’ where any public borrowing for consumption is temporary?This columnist is a fiscal conservative who is cautious about government borrowing for public consumption. I was not originally. The Keynesian model I first studied said borrow as much as is necessary to sustain demand. But the ...3 days ago - Taiwan’s polarised politics risks undermining its resilience and security
Taiwan’s opposition parties—including the once-dominant Kuomintang (KMT)—now wield real power in the legislature for the first time since 2012. But their recent actions have cast serious doubt on their commitment to Taiwan’s long-term security and ...3 days ago
- US Defense Secretary cancels Women, Peace and Security programs
Last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the cancellation of his department’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program. In doing so, he ignored the well-established overlap of insecurity and gender inequality. When announcing ...3 days ago
- PHOTOS: NZ Protests – Again
Kiwis around the country protest: RNZ reports more than 1000 descended on Brooke Van Velden’s officeNote:The government started this pay equity process in April 2024.That’s over a year ago.Cabinet signed it off two months ago.There was no reason for urgency - and never was.The Minister for Woman was left with ...3 days ago - More constitutional vandalism
Since the national government embarked on its racist campaign against Māori, the Waitangi Tribunal has emerged as one of its chief adversaries, putting the impacts of its racist policies formally on the record so they can not be denied. National has responded by sabotaging it, replacing almost the entire membership ...3 days ago
- Nicola Grigg’s Video A Tale Of Two Women
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The planned $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords and high earners will effectively be paid for by wage cuts for the poorest workers, almost all of whom are women. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāBriefly, in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, May ...5 days ago - A British carrier group is coming to the Pacific—with doubts looming over it
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5 days ago - It’s Time — To Fight
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A couple of months ago, the government held a public "consultation" on their proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. People responded en masse, and made it crystal clear what they thought of it: The Ministry received approximately 23,000 submissions and worked with a specialist consultancy to quantitatively assess support and opposition ...5 days ago
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- Still 34,000 unemployed under National
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- Where’s your evidence, Brooke? Where’s your evidence?
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- The Government Aren’t Paying For Our Defence Spend. Workers Are.
Saving money? The best budgeters recommend cutting the biggest expenses first. I have several facts to present. The earnings gap between management and workers, and particularly between CEOs and workers, has been diverging dramatically since the 80s.The public sector (nearly) matches the pay rate of the private sector for managerial ...6 days ago - The Government Aren’t Paying For Our Defence Spend. Workers Are.
Saving money? The best budgeters recommend cutting the biggest expenses first. I have several facts to present. The earnings gap between management and workers, and particularly between CEOs and workers, has been diverging dramatically since the 80s.The public sector (nearly) matches the pay rate of the private sector for managerial ...6 days ago
- China needs Taiwanese ports to take the island. Mines are the key to protecting them
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- China needs Taiwanese ports to take the island. Mines are the key to protecting them
If China ever makes good on decades of implicit threats to invade Taiwan, most of its ground force will have to land at ports. Relatively little of it can come over beaches, because they ‘lack ...6 days ago
- Dropped
All charges against the Restore Passenger Rail protestors have finally been dropped. Good. But they should never have been laid in the first place, and it shouldn't have taken a jury telling the police to go fuck themselves (or the threat of them doing so again) for the state to ...6 days ago
- Cameron Slater’s Selective Outrage Over Benjamin Doyle
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- National supports sexism
That's the only possible conclusion we can draw from their decision to legislatively terminate all pay equity claims, and make future claims much harder to win: Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced the moves to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim, ...6 days ago
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- Tuesday 6 May
New analysis found the clean slate law has no relevant impact on the likelihood of eligible individuals finding work. The New Zealand film sector is keeping calm and carrying on in the wake of new tariff threats on film and TV production made in non-US countries. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister “has ...7 days ago
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- Release: Peeni Henare takes over foreign affairs
Labour’s Peeni Henare will pick up the foreign affairs portfolio, following David Parker’s departure from Parliament. ...9 hours ago - Release: Govt better at crushing women’s rights than cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women’s pay. ...14 hours ago
- No Justice for State Abuse Survivors- Kapa-Kingi
Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau calls out the government’s decision to keep funding state abuse, turning their backs on justice and real change for abuse in care survivors. “The government has committed to throwing $744 million down the drain, reinforcing a violent regime of disrespect against the ...2 days ago
- Govt’s War on Te Tiriti Continues as Review of Treaty Act Announced
Te Pāti Māori is absolutely disgusted by the Government’s announcement to review the Waitangi Tribunal- a deliberate and dangerous escalation in its ongoing campaign to undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and silence tangata whenua. “The Government’s onslaught against Te Tiriti continues with this latest move to review the Treaty of ...3 days ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...3 days ago - Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...3 days ago
- Release: Labour asks why Govt is silent on Gaza
Labour is asking the Government why it is silent on Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, saying New Zealand should be speaking out. ...3 days ago
- Release: Govt ignores the voices of survivors
Survivors of abuse in state care have a right to feel disappointed and sidelined by the Government. ...3 days ago
- Redress announcement leaves little justice for survivors
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s decision to severely underfund financial compensation for survivors of abuse in state care. ...3 days ago
- Release: Bill launched to stop tobacco industry lobbying
Labour is launching a members’ bill to stop the Government from putting tobacco industry interests ahead of public health. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour fights for firefighters
The Labour Party backs volunteer firefighters who are currently not covered by ACC for workplace disease and mental injury and is drafting policy to put this right when the party wins the election in 2026. ...4 days ago
- Wildlife law change a deep betrayal of public trust
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife. ...5 days ago
- Release: National cuts women’s pay
National has forced through a law change that will take money out of women’s pockets. ...5 days ago
- ‘Govt’s Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women’ – Kemp
Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government’s so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. “This bill doesn’t just undermine equal pay — it completely ...5 days ago
- Release: Fewer jobs and opportunities for Māori, again
In the last 12 months life has only got worse for Māori under Christopher Luxon’s Government. ...5 days ago
- Release: More than one in 10 Pacific people unemployed under National
There are more Pacific people unemployed as the rate increases to a staggering 10.8% under National. ...5 days ago
- Release: Unemployment remains high under National
Job losses remain stubbornly high under National, as their attack on jobs, wages, and women rages on. ...5 days ago
- Govt for the rich is failing the unemployed
The latest job market statistics show that unemployed people are being failed by a Government more focused on punishing the poor than creating jobs. ...5 days ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...6 days ago
- RSE Draft Erases Rainbow and Takatāpui Youth
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi. “This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour welcomes inquiry into school lunches
Labour welcomes the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the Government’s school lunches programme. ...6 days ago
- Release: Women will keep being paid less under National
This Government is taking the women’s movement backwards, ensuring women will continue to be paid less into the future. ...6 days ago
- Govt takes workplace equity efforts backwards
The Green Party has called out the Government’s latest attack on workers with the announcement that it is halting all pay equity claims. ...6 days ago
- Release: Questions over Erica Stanford’s personal email use
Erica Stanford has been misusing her personal email address to manage sensitive information relating to Budget and visa changes prior to their public release. ...7 days ago
- Greens launch Member’s Bill to close loophole allowing animal cruelty in imports
Today, Green Party MP Steve Abel has added a new Member’s Bill to the biscuit tin to ensure any product sold in New Zealand meets New Zealand’s animal welfare standards, even if it’s produced overseas. ...7 days ago
- Iwi Rights Under Attack in Government Treaty Clause Purge
Te Pāti Māori warns that the Government’s Treaty Clause Review represents the most severe erosion of iwi rights in modern legal history. “Luxon's Government is doing what the Treaty Principles Bill failed to do. They are removing every legal reference to Te Tiriti across health, housing, conservation, and child wellbeing ...1 week ago
- Release: Cuts to beds for seniors at Dunedin Hospital
After failing to be upfront about cuts to intensive care beds, it’s now becoming clear that other downgrades to Dunedin Hospital are being concealed by the Minister of Health. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour backs workers while Govt cuts jobs and protections
This May Day Labour is standing with workers to defend decent jobs and fair pay. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Still no ferries as first of old fleet retire
Two old and ageing ferries are going to have to work double time because of this Government’s failure to get a ferry deal. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens mark May Day with Green Jobs Guarantee
The Green Party has marked May Day with a pre-budget announcement in Tokoroa, detailing the party’s plan for a Green Jobs Guarantee. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori: Keep the Window Open- UCOL Must Stay
Te Pāti Māori stands firmly against any moves to downsize or close UCOL Whanganui. With over 30% of students identifying as Māori, the campus is a vital lifeline for education, upskilling, and community transformation in Te Tai Hauāuru. “Matapihi ki te Ao is more than a name, it’s a promise. ...2 weeks ago
- Twice the Impact, Half the Budget: Budget 25 Must Invest in Whakaata Māori
Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Broadcasting, Tākuta Ferris, and MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, are demanding the Government significantly increase its investment in Whakaata Māori in Budget 2025. The call comes following the release of the network’s 2025 Social Value Report at an event today, attended by MP ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori: Denying the Right to Vote is a Breach of Te Tiriti and Human Rights
The National Party’s announcement to reinstate a total ban on prisoner voting is a shameful step backwards. Denying the right to vote does not strengthen society — it weakens our democracy and breaches Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “Voting is not a privilege to be taken away — it is a ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Closure of North Shore Women’s Centre a huge loss
Today’s confirmed closure of the North Shore Women’s Centre after losing government funding is a huge loss for women in Auckland. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Simeon Brown hid Dunedin Hospital downgrade
Simeon Brown needs to come clean to the people of Dunedin about why he hid plans to downgrade their new hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt cuts will cost jobs, health, and homes
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1.8 million Chinese steel and coal workers being laid off. 15% of workforce.
Just another statistic to show to oncoming collapse of the world economy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-employment-idUSKCN0W205X
But it should be ok because there is still the same amount of money in the world – it just needs a different means of distribution to ensure all are provided for …
No, there is not the same amount of money.
Example: My bank owns $1 billion in shares or bonds or mortgages in a companies/farms which go bust. Yesterday the shares, bonds, and mortgages were worth $1 billion. Today it is worthless. $1 billion has disappeared from the bank’s balance sheet. Will the bank be able to cash my cheque? That’s how banks go bust. Deflation.
The moment when someone realises that when it comes to “cash or cash equivalents”, the “cash equivalents” are not like cash at all.
China endures, Paul. China endures.
Yep. Worlds oldest bureaucracy.
And in New Zealanders farmers are on the brink.
Dairy farm debt has reached $38 billion.
More than one in 10 are already under pressure from banks over their mortgage.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/297776/fears-banks-will-leave-farms-in-the-cold
Part of the coming restructure of our crumbling ponzi scheme banking system may be to require bank lending to rise and fall alongside the activities of the organisation lent to…. like a form of equity return rather than flat interest return which bears no relation to the activities lent to.
The current system is, yet again, being highlighted as fundamentally flawed
Thats a damned good idea, vto. Only trouble is it would require GOVERNMENTS to re-take control of the economy. And the banks ain’t about to allow that!
The government’s and trucking sector’s desire for bigger and heavier trucks makes such sense eh….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/77382030/crash-between-a-car-and-a-truck-leaves-one-dead
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/77379469/patea-crash-tanker-driver-found-dead
more death coming soon to a town near you
………………………………………………………
Yep more deaths but it’s so much easier to blame everything and everybody else for road deaths – young people, 4 km over the limit people etc etc.
Now at least we know that the ACC levy reductions for safer cars are a complete load of tripe designed to benefit the those who can afford expensive late model cars -it’s what hits you that matters.
And how much more expensive bridge strengthening is going to be loaded onto us taxpayers and ratepayers so the extra tonnage can cross over – figures from the government please?
New Study Confirms: Private “Trade” Courts Serve the Ultra-Wealthy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/new-study-confirms-privat_b_9348238.html
“Op-Ed The jobs tradeoffs in the TPP trade deal”
Using these assumptions the following can be deduced
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0225-baker-trans-pacific-trade-20160225-story.html
Likewise in NZ, the TPP favours financially just a few at the expense of the rest of the citizens. At same time, the TPP inflicts a host of rules and regulations requiring Government, Local Government, SOEs etc to pay for legal help to get through the potential litigation minefield. The “right to regulate” will be kneecapped by the extrajudicial ISDS “chill”.
A good basis for a submission re TPPA. Only super big corporations stand to benefit from those insidious “private Trade Courts.” Well spotted TMM.
TPP: Although not a new article, this piece is useful for those who are making submissions. I particularly like the way the author, Michael Reddell expresses his concerns.
He then goes on in depth about Temporary Safeguard Measures in Chapter 29 Exceptions and General Provisions.
http://croakingcassandra.com/2015/11/09/temporary-safeguards-crises-and-tpp/
There is concern about this issue in Australia.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2016/02/29/Australias-national-interest-statement-on-TPP-neglects-capital-control-risks.aspx
Maybe “they” see that we must accept the loss of sovereignty as being the price we pay for playing with the big boys of Global Market. But I doubt that Key and his team will even acknowledge that there is a loss.
Todd Barclay haemorrhaging support in Clutha Southland.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/77386997/national-party-cluthasouthland-chairman-stuart-davie-resigns
How long before Bill English is required to step in and steady the ship?
English must already be involved in the background, but hasn’t been able to calm things down enough to prevent escalation. Not a good sign for Toddy Barclay’s political future.
Up in low tar smoke.
medicinal cannabis for OZ, maybe now our Politicians find some guts and glory?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/australia-to-legalise-growing-of-medicinal-marijuana
not holding my breath tho.
Wee Toddy would insist that his staff be part paid in snout, and made them promise to inhale.
Barclay could try to sweep staff resignation under carpet with statements about “employment matters” but when his Electorate Chairman ,who is a highly regarded salt of earth Southlander, walks a month before scheduled AGM then he is in real strife.
And that’s an understatement.
Would love to know if English is making calls around his old electorate on behalf of his protege.
I don’t know that neck of the woods at all well, but I wonder if it has to do with town mouse-country mouse tensions within National. John Key is clearly a town mouse with town mouse priorities, and I wonder if they are putting up inexperienced people in places like Southland so that they have someone to blame when the good old country mouse gets shortchanged. If I am right, then it’s a bit tricky for English, who has a foot in both camps.
It’s very similar to Northland. Nats have taken Southland for granted and were content to blood an unsuitable but ultra abitious rookie who thought he could bide his time quietly doing photo ops until he qualified for cabinet. Unfortunately for him locals actually want someone to advocate for them. Times are due to get very tough in this neck of woods as the dairy and sheep downturn really starts to bite ,so we will see how Barclay measures up. Given his own comittee are abandoning him the signs aren’t good.
This is the conversation PR was at pains to derail the other day – whether the Key kleptocracy has served their country voter base well. I expect the 20% or so of farmers poised to lose their properties will not think so. Aspiring young farmers watching our land being inflated and snapped up by offshore buyers are probably not too happy either.
Dead right Stuart and that will all be playing out around election time. Even Nathan Guy is starting to concede it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/77414152/farmers-getting-increasingly-desperate-bank-signals-it-wont-finance-some-debt
This is the real story.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201790904/the-dairy-downturn-starts-to-bite-in-rural-new-zealand
Foreign investors will be all that stands in the way of a major land price correction. Either way its a major headache in the making for the Nats.
In regards to Act’s David Seymour arguing that ACT is more Green than the Green Party, I don’t know that anyone has looked deeply at his comment that there should be more private business involvement in the administration of the conservation estate.
“It’s unclear exactly what that will include, but is expected to centre on Government incentives to increase private environmental custodianship, and moves to better define ownership.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/77288879/david-seymour-launches-attack-on-greens-says-theyre-doing-bugger-all-for-the-environment
I think this should be linked into what is happening in the United States where the Koch brothers (and others?) are actively funding groups like the Bundys who recently took over a nature reserve with the aim of privatising the conservation estate in the United States,
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/11/3748602/koch-brothers-funding-bundy-agenda/
Sections of the Republican Party are also supporting this.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/ken-ivory-federal-land-bundy
When ACT puts in their manifesto that protection of the environment is far more important than corporate profits I might start to listen to them.
So if you put those words in a manifesto you somehow magically become super environmentalist do you? I think it is more to do with the outcome of your policies rather than what you say before hand.
Mike Yardley wrote this in relation to whether Key Team are shoulder tapping prominent people to support the flag change:
“They’ve clearly had to work a long way down the food chain, because even I was propositioned. A senior Government member telephoned me, to sound me out about overtly cheerleading for change. I declined – but was somewhat mystified , given my long-standing support for flag retention. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/the-flag-debate/77381443/mike-yardley-flag-change-campaign-has-been-farcical
National’s database ain’t perfect. I hope it includes a lot more errors.
I love the way he calls out Shipley for being the total fucking hypocrite she is.
+1. Exquisitely done.
And spoken by a National Party voter too. There were a number of those in the comments section too, opposed to a flag change.
Key’s hypocrisy as a Royal schmoozer and the one to bring back the outdated knighthood system, as discussed in that article, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the left or right. Here’s an article from yesterday also referring to that:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/297717/has-the-pm-mistaken-himself-for-a-flag
“How else to explain the informal alliance of lifelong republicans and ageing anti-establishment boomers with monarchists and RSA traditionalists? If anything unites these camps it seems less likely to be a shared loathing of the prime minister than a nose for what you might call a false dichotomy – an unnecessary choice between two inadequate options.”
False dichotomy indeed. It IS an unnecessary choice between two inadequate options.
Can’t wait till March is over and we can get this flag hoopla over and done with and see how Key is going to handle the defeat of his vanity project. My guess he will go for the petulant sulky style.
Bernie Sanders trounces Hillary Clinton at first Super Tuesday contest – in Wellington
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/77402782/bernie-sanders-trounces-hillary-clinton-at-first-super-tuesday-contest–in-wellington
These socialist leaning Kiwi Americans are practically communists…lol
They’re feeling the burn
https://youtu.be/XQP6nzhi4s8
And a singles dating website for Bernie Sanders supporters lol
Must be Clinton Derangement Syndrome, no other explanation for it!
Maybe the left should not get inspired by the Trump
Exactly. Everything about the man is as bullshit as his hairdo. Everybody arguing this guy should be US president should be required to see this video. If they still feel the same way afterward they should be taken out the back way, straitjacketed, and driven away in an ambulance for psychiatric evaluation.
“It’s the sound produced when a morbidly obese pigeon flies into the window of a foreclosed old lady: Drumpf!”
He made his money… …inheriting it… …how could he lose in NY real estate… …the guy is all circumstance rather than substance, even become a name in reality tv.
I watched a bit over 10 mins of this and found it largely irrelevant in a nitpicking intellectual cleverly self congratulating lefty liberal kind of way.
Pretty much it is stuff like this which will push Trump over the line on general election day.
Hmm. You should really have watched it all the way through. It’s not just satirical. But never mind, I’ve phoned for the ambulance. Do you mind just taking off your jacket and putting this one on?
I do feel sorry for Americans. Their political system is obviously completely rooted.
Here y’ go…. 🙂
http://www.monkeydungeon.com/images/white-6-d-straight-jacket.gif
Ha!!!
As I have said elsewhere, I’m for Trump and day in a head to head between him and that country destroying civilian droning closet sociopath Clinton.
With Trump he’s not pretending to be something he’s not.
You must be joking CV. Christ – his whole persona & business career is based on bullshit.
What a choice Americans have. A screaming fucking nutcase or a faux liberal neocon of extremely dodgy character who’s suffered from convenient alzheimers ever since she married serial philanderer Bill Clinton.
I didn’t say that Trump wasn’t full of shit.
I said that in a head to head against civilian droning, bankster embracing, Benghazi lying Hillary Clinton, I am going for Trump every time.
I know… I know… Would you please hold still so I can get these bloody straps done up properly…
You know, I don’t even know that much about the other Republican contenders. This clown Trump has sucked all the attention off everyone else.
Trust me, they’re even nastier pieces of work, but they try to put prettier faces on it. With Trump, there’s at least a chance he’ll do something neutral or even positive now and then, whereas the rest are entirely nasty from start to finish.
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/29/rubio_and_cruz_are_the_real_monsters_liberals_should_be_rooting_for_trump_and_hell_be_easier_to_beat_come_november/
Kasich is just as nasty as Cruz or Rubio, for all that he’s presented as “moderate”.
Cheers. I see your point.
“I do feel sorry for Americans. Their political system is obviously completely rooted.”
…this is why they have no faith in the Clintons or Bushes…
How to handle Trump (or should that be Drumpf?)…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-showed-how-to-take-down-donald-trump-five-years-ago-and-its-just-as-brutal-today_us_56d45adce4b0871f60ec03e6?utm_hp_ref=politics
Or even…
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/73fxht/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-don-t-forget–donald-trump-wants-to-bang-his-daughter
Yes, he went there.
If its Trump vs Clinton, my money is on Trump every time.
I’ve got no argument with your assessment of Clinton. But I really don’t think you appreciate how unencumbered Trump is by empathy or even the need to fake any other behavioural norms. He really could do anything on a whim, given the opportunity.
Exactly. I can agree with you on that.
Trump may be an uncaring mean mouthed sonofabitch, but IMO he’s not a clever civilian murdering nation destroying bankster embracing closet sociopath like Clinton has already proven she is.
Trump will just feel the need to prove he can do all those things too, but even more so. And he won’t even see why he should try to keep the sociopath in the closet.
Exactly. Plus, Trump probably thinks sociopath is just another name for pavement.
A bit like choosing between diarrhea and constipation, isn’t it?
Malaria or cholera
I choose the gin and soda water.
lol. +1
Great company you’re keeping dude.
/
http://archive.li/6Gnb7/a54009bccb9327b0530528e307f8c04755c3e681.png
Doesn’t matter mate, because the alternative is Clinton: the bankster embracing, civilian droning, country destroying, regime changing, Empire of Chaos member of the ruling oligarch who charges US$250K for her big corporate speeches.
And Sanders is a dove, righto…
/
The attack on Kosovo is hardly the extent of Sanders’ hawkishness. While it’s true he voted against the Iraq War, he also voted in favor of authorizing funds for that war and the one in Afghanistan. More recently, he voted in favor of a $1 billion aid package for the coup government Ukraine and supported Israel’s assault on Gaza. At a town hall meeting he admitted that Israel may have “overreacted”, but blamed Hamas for the entire conflict. After a woman asked why he refused to condemn Israel’s actions, he told critics: “Excuse me! Shut up! You don’t have the microphone.”
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-troubling-history-supporting-us-military-violence-abroad
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/08/31/3697175/bernie-sanders-wouldnt-end-obamas-drone-program-promises-to-use-it-very-selectively/
joe90, what’s your point? That Clinton is the best candidate for President out of some very limited options?
I would disagree with that position. Out of the Republicans Trump would be best for the world IMO, and out of the Democrats, it’s got to be Sanders.
Two old white men. But that’s the way it is this time around.
Not withstanding that Hillary Rodham defended a child rapist in 1975
yeah ok, but so? She was working as a public defender at the time I guess? so it was her job.
more relevant to me is that the Clintons, both of them, have overseen foreign policy which has led to the death of millions, including supplying advanced US arms to Israel which used them to kill hundreds of Palestinian children.
It’s all the same journey involving familiar names
All the candidates are establishment. That is not a question
The Clintons are compromised and controlled. That is not a question
Who will be the lesser evil doer as POTUS. That is not a question
How can all of this stopped. That is a question
Ahhhh, you are interested in the big question(s), not the question of which party/candidate represents the lesser evil.
This century, “how can all of this be stopped” is the biq question indeed. Because stop, it will, one way or another.
George H.W. Bush Throat Cut Gesture To Trump (CNN GOP Debate Houston, Texas)
https://youtu.be/rx35I7Yb2Xc
+100 The Chairman…the verdict of history has yet to be written on George H Bush , his sons and the Clintons
Trump is a threat alright!
An interview with Roger Stone on his recent book ‘Jeb! And the Bush Crime family’
https://www.rt.com/shows/watching-the-hawks/332840-petition-march-white-house/
Is there anyone on the NZ scene who gives answers in slightly ambiguous form but designed to suit what the audience wants to hear? No?
This one’s for b waghorn.
When I saw it, I was reminded of your rant about Fletcher’s a while ago. Vocabulary is a bit limited, but more than makes up for it with the delivery.
Definitely NSFW, especially since it’s best appreciated with the volume up loud.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/25/pebble-cockatoo-swearing-saskatoon_n_9322066.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green
Its a shame the parrots around here are not that funny.
Great comment on the flag change on a Stuff article yesterday:
“the NZ public has never had a vote to decide their flag.
therefore there was no robust process, other than parliamentarians debating in the House. Hardly a chance for the masses to have their say.
I have never stated the opinions of my grandparents, and i dare say if i did ask them, Since they all sailed to NZ in the early 1900’s, they would all swear allegiance to the Union Jack, and i do not begrudge them than.
My children on the other hand, were born here. All of the athletes that they hold as role models, Silver ferns, Black Caps, Rowing, Track and field and yes, the All Blacks etc wear the fern with Pride. Our national Airline, flys the fern on it’s tail. My passport is black, and has a fern motif on it.
So, so answer your question, have i considered the argument. Yes i have. I was born in NZ. i do associate with the Silver Fern more than i have ever associated with the Union jack. The Fern is on my money, my passport, my licence plate, the airline i use and the chests, hats and bags of athletes i cheer on.
I do not in anyway begrudge or hold contempt for the Union Jack flag in any way. It is a great flag for the people of Great Britan to fly and to rally to. But it is the flag of Great Britan….Even England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have their own flags to fly for their own people.”
But wait a moment. Its not the fern alone, the sourthern cross..
…canada simplicity of the maple leaf, is not clutered by two different symbols on one flag.
I don’t understand your argument, are you saying we shouldn’t move to the silver fern and southern cross because it is more complicated than the union jack and southern cross?
Are you saying that you identify more as a NZer with the union jack on your flag than the silver fern?
Or are you saying we should just have the silver fern alone, like John Key wanted?
It’s only a “silver fern” because they call it a “silver fern”.
In reality it’s a stylised white fern frond that might be found on any continent (including Antarctica if you count fossils).
The thing about the current one is that it is two seperate and distinct symbols, both highly relevant to NZ (our government and our location) on a maritime blue background that sort of shows the expanse of ocean around us.
The alternative:
Black… coz rugby?
Generic fernly thing, NOT a silver fern
Weird bright blue/sky blue depending on printing errors, because… sky?
Southern cross – well they got that bit ok
And the symbols overlap messily, not being distinct elements of a whole.
Basically, a reasonable argument can be made about the symolism of the current flag. The alternative is more contrived.
Although my main reason for voting for the status quo is simply to fuck off tories.
The alternatve:
Black – cos all blacks, black ferns, tall blacks, black caps, the black outfits almost all of our athletes wear when representing our country, the colour that most people outside of New Zealand would associate with us.
Generic fernly thing – Because all flags are stylised! Do you think the maple leaf on the Canadian flag is biologically accurate?
Blue – Again represents the ocean around us
Southern Cross – Points the way home
Messy overlap – Kind of like creating a flag then stuffing the union jack in the top left hand corner?
voting for the status quo is simply to fuck off tories – You’re doing it wrong, true tories are against the change, so you trying to be smart by being a fuckwit is actually supporting the people you claim to be against. That’s a bit like the TPP protestor lining up in McDonald’s for a feed, irony at its best.
black: the colour most people outside of NZ associate with ISIS and darth vader.
The maple leaf is stylised, but still distinctly a maple leaf. Not any one of 12,000-odd fern species
Blue: which blue? Bright blue? Pale blue? The ocean is dark blue. Deep dark blue in the deep seas surrounding us.
Messy overlap: clear separation between element sections in current flag. No horizontal or vertical separation in the alternative. Cluttered. Messy.
Voting for the status quo fucks key. He placed his support around the alternative. He is their only drawcard. He loses prestige, they lose the election. They get fucked off.
oh well, can’t make this shit up.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/trump-jr-offers-to-pay-for-black-celebrities-to-leave-us-when-president-trump-is-elected/
what ever, surely he will be better then Hillary and all the others cause he has yet to bomb someone.
Well, we get to see how trigger happy he is once he has got one of the largest nuclear arsenals at his disposition. 🙂 Fun games for all of us.
Trump has been resolutely resistant to demonising Putin and joining the Pentagon and NATO in sabre rattling against Russia. That’s a good start for avoiding WWIII.
Donald says Putin said Trump’s “a genius and he’s gonna be the leader of the party and he’s gonna be the leader of the world or something”.
The Trumpster then says that they’ll probably get along fine just as long as Putin doesn’t take advantage of him like he takes advantage of Obama; “Nobody’s gonna take advantage of me folks”.
http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/02/17/trump-putin-called-me-a-genius?videoId=367432272
Of course Putin’s gonna “take advantage” of this dork: then it’s anybody’s guess what the bombastic dickhead is likely to do.
*Shrug*
Liberal lefties can scream at Trump all they want, it won’t make fuck all difference.
A lot of people in the US have had it with the post modern liberal lefty agenda.
Personally, I think Trump’s statements that Russia is doing a good job annihilating Islamic terrorists in Syria and the US shouldn’t be getting in the way of Putin hitting terrorist enemies of the US, is damn sensible.
Yes I think that’s a very smart approach as well. But…where do you think he thinks Putin is taking advantage of Obama? Because that’s the kind of weird, egotistical bully boy double-talk he comes out with all the time.
Just remember that Trump is trying to appeal to primary vote wielding Republican delegates at this stage. Hating on Obama for being “weak” is an instant winning message amongst this crowd.
TL/DR Trump is playing primary politics.
Oh well, it’s the 2016 quadrennial US Presidential Electoral Cycle. Must be the biggest & longest running electoral circus in the world. The actual election’s not until 8 November. A lot can happen between now & then.
There’s nothing we can do meantime but sit back and watch the show. Way too early to tell who is gonna come out the winner. When it comes to digging up & chucking around dirt closer to the actual election Trump should have the edge on Hillers if they’re the two finalists. Just from reading Wikipedia there’s a lot of material to work with there.
So if Russia indiscriminately bombs civilians that’s ok, but if the USA does it (generally less discriminately), that is not?
One set of morals for Russia, a different set for the USA?
The US has caused the deaths of approx 2M Muslims since 1990. Most of them civilians.
Russia has also done some pretty unpleasant stuff in the same timeframe but its a rounding error.
bwhahahahashahahahahahah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Ng7PF7ru4
yeah right tui.
Trump says:
Putin has a tremendous popularity in Russia. I was over in Moscow 2 years ago. I’ll tell you what, I tell you, you can get along with those people and get along with them well. You can do deals with them. But Obama can’t…I’d be willing to bet that I would have a great relationship with Putin.
And Trump is willing to say this to the red meat Republican crowd on Fox.
+100 CV…to all your comments on this
Can I believe this?
Gangs cost $714m in welfare
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/77419828/gangs-cost-714m-in-welfare-report-reveals-as-new-intelligence-centre-launched
Is it Collins dog whistle party leadership yada yada yada
Best set up a legalised market for drugs then, to tank the profits of gangs.
“Gangs cost $714m in welfare”
Around 9 out of 10 members in Grey Power are on a pension.
LOL yeah… real baaad gang that one! Drug dealers too… and they consume 2/3rds of the imports of Ibuprofen. Outrageous!
Actually Crusher got double value dog whistle from this one – with “gangs” and “beneficiaries” in the same sentence. The future PM is tough on lawn order, dontcha know.