It's a pivotal scene from the original TV series of V. Diana swallowing a hamster not realising that she is being watched. The realisation that she isn't a human!
Covid may end up slowing down Barrett getting rammed through onto the SCOTUS. But it won't stop it. Even if it's delayed the Repugs will still have plenty of time after the election in the lame duck period and every incentive to make sure it happens and zero incentive to back off.
Yep. There's no law stopping them, and even a law wouldn't stop them trying.
The only reasons for them not to do it would be respect for the will of the American people, personal integrity, or principle. They have all given plentiful proof that they have precisely zero of any of those attributes, that the only thing that animates their dead-brained zombie carcasses is the exercise of power.
The practical reality is current sitting senators hold their seats and retain all their powers until noon on January 3, 2021. So they can confirm Barrett at any time up until then.
Politically, it's arguable whether they're better off confirming Barrett before or after the election. Any backlash for underhandedly confirming Barrett after the election is two or four years away for those senators not up for election, and by then the election is over and a done deal for those running this year.
If they do it before the election, then yes, they've "delivered" for their base. But then they also have nothing left to offer to those that are otherwise disgusted with them but would nevertheless stick with them in order to get reactionary judges appointed.
What adverse rulings are you referring to that RBG stopped?
In recent 5-4 rulings, Roberts has been the deciding swing vote. But you can be damn sure that Roberts would vote in favour of throwing the election to the Repugs if there were any possible way to do it.
At 5-4, Gorsuch or Roberts could decide matters in a non partisan way.
At 5-3 they could make it a 4-4 tie.
At 6-3 they would need to agree to block the GOP/partisans.
If Breyer is replaced, then even together they could not block the conservative GOP appointees deciding matters.
The Democrat Party need a POTUS and a Democrat majority on the Senate to appoint Garland and another to make a 11 seat SCOTUS. It would have a 6-5 GOP appointed majority, equivalent to the 5-4 one it would have been if they had confirmed Garland in 2016.
But Biden says he will not do this and thus allow Mad Mitch to get his way, no wonder he has friends across the aisle.
People like Susan Collins only win their Senate seats by posing as anti-Republican conservative positions from time to time.
Fortunately for her and the GOP her vote is not required for the appointment to go ahead. So it makes no difference when the vote is held – so she will try and win the Senate seat in Nov by saying she is against another conservative pick for SCOTUS.
For mine if her vote was required they would delay until after the election to allow her vote to get Barrett through without any electoral consequences.
Had I disappeared off-grid to live in a cave 10 weeks ago – and don’t think I wasn’t tempted – then returned last night to the Newshub “powerbrokers” debate, I’d have confidently told you this: Winston Peters, perched on the far-left stool, beaming above his immaculate white-spotted tie, is heading back to parliament… Here he was relaxed, quick, funny, grinning – he appeared not to have a worry in the world https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/02-10-2020/winston-peters-looked-like-a-man-transformed-at-the-newshub-debate/
Te ao Māori was present throughout – not just because of the questions, and not just because Tamihere and Davidson worked hard to raise kaupapa at every turn, but also because every candidate on the stage was Māori. Tamihere afterwards scoffed at that characterisation, though, saying that not everyone could, like him, be called a “practising Māori”.
Between them, the warhorse pair of Peters and JT were great entertainment. It was as if they had been sitting beside each other on those stools forever. A mix of banter, back slapping…
Tamihere told Peters to his face that he was “the biggest handbrake on the Māori renaissance … of all politicians”. Peters retorted that the people who sailed the Pacific to populate Aotearoa had the wherewithal to lift themselves up without the nannying state.
Does seem significant, this evidence of Māori renaissance. How many of the four will function as powerbrokers post-election is a pertinent question. Volatility in the polls with two weeks to go suggests potential for someone to get a shift happening…
Seem clear, but volatility emanates from two sources: fluctuations in the short term amongst those who indicate an intent to pollsters yet change their mind in response to events on the campaign trail, and a separate crowd that don't respond to the pollster request for an indication because they are genuinely undecided.
This latter lot apparently make up their mind on the day of voting. Given the size of the two crowds combined (20% of the electorate according to one recent media view, and 10-15% according to another, somewhat earlier) it is evident that the margin of error gets totally obliterated if they all vote.
Statistics tells us that they are most likely to break down along the lines of the portion of the electorate who do give an intent to vote party preference to pollsters. However the nature of volatility is such that campaign events can easily shift them en masse.
Complexity now being a science, the metaphor of weather shifts due to a butterfly wing flutter in the distance does apply. The electorate is a complex system.
I see the idiot/savant has declared his voting intent: "Having the Greens in government is the only way we have a hope in hell of doing that. So, I'm going to hold my nose, and vote for them as the lesser evil – and you should too. But they need to change. Because we deserve something better to vote for than a lesser evil."
Ah, the lesser evil thesis. So much the default mass psychology of representative democracy. It's hallowed status still has everyone by the balls.
I'll be voting Green, but for the common good reason. Not with enthusiasm – just a sense of inevitability. Slow learners will get crunched by reality sufficiently to figure it out eventually. Probably after I've passed on. Faith in the Greens withstands the reducing effect of the lack of political competence of those in parliament, because the common cause has more staying power.
Nice report from the backwaters of the culture wars:
My friend and I smoked pot nearly every day of our final year of university. We both graduated with close to A-grade BAs.
Fast forward 30 years and that friend is now a fulltime naturopath who regularly consumes cannabis chocolates. She says it’s a popular form of therapy among the healthy set. In those three decades I’ve had a successful career, working for high-profile, multi-national companies abroad and running my own business at home for the last 20 years.
Marijuana has been a constant companion throughout. That said, I seldom smoke these days. After a lot of pot and a 25-year ciggie habit, I look after my health and have taken up the vaporiser instead.
It’s called the Mighty, made in Germany. Precision engineered, rapid heat-up, variable temperature settings to get the most out of your weed, clear LCD display, excellent battery life, and pocket sized with discrete aesthetics. I’d been off the pot for several years because I was wrangling anxiety, and smoking weed wasn’t helping. But the vaporiser brought the good times back. The Mighty high is lighter, more uplifting. It makes me feel relaxed, cheery and open.
There is a higher level of THC in the blood if one vapes, rather than smokes.
Perception is just that.
It's easier on the lungs than smoking – unless its not.
There have been deaths amongst those vaping – leading to suspicion about the harmful impact of other ingredients (such as Vit E acetate) used on lungs.
You could be in Texas, where you might have to drive over a hundred miles to drop off your ballot at the one ballot-drop location that serves the hundreds of thousands of people in your county.
It's completely intentional – it was an explicit order by Texas' Repug governor, Greg Abbott. A lot of already installed drop-boxes had to be removed to comply with the order.
Vote suppression tactics last because they work. They're targeted in ways that don't really inconvenience the supporters of those that benefit from them. Repugs are quite open about the fact that their only chance of remaining widely in power is through successful vote-suppression, so they have to keep doing and their supporters continue to reward them for it.
However, undeterred from our quest to exercise our right to an early vote, off we went.
There are three potential public entrances to the voting room in Te Ahu in Kaitaia and the only one open and guarded by security was the one with the steep steps.
One of the other possible entrances was accessible by a ramp that would be easily doable by a paralegic…bit of a mission for a quad. That was completely out of bounds.
The other was a set of double fire exit doors that opened outwards and access involved negotiating a 50 mm edge on the frame. Totally unnecessary as there was already a aluminum ramp fitted…for want of a couple of seconds thought it could have been level entry.
However. We were admitted into the Inner Sanctum with way too much fuss and bother and with much 'oh, its no trouble really" s (which of course it was) an did our thing. (Social Credit candidate, Green Party vote and a no and a yes…FWIW) (With very little in the way conferring, as couples are wont to do.)
Repeat of the fuss and bother to get us and the wheelchair out of the room.
Sadly for the lady struggling with a single crutch…the Keepers of the Inner Sanctum had shut the fire doors and turned their backs and Security made her take the steps.
Sorry, there are no voting places that match that set of filters.
However.
Of the eleven polling booths between Kaitaia and Te Rerenga Wairua only two rather proudly declare " Independent access to and within this building." Both are primary schools and unfortunately not available for early voting.
The others all rather sheepishly admit "Accessible with assistance. May have step, steep ramp etc. "
Understandable for Te Hapua perhaps, and maybe Te Kao, but totally unacceptable for a busy metropolis like Kaitaia.
Of course the wee help elves are more than happy to rush over and give assistance…they are the Guardians of Democracy, right? But they shouldn't have to. Not in 2020 and certainly not in a relatively new and rather awesome community building like Te Ahu.
I've always had a soft spot for Social Credit, and young Brad is a solid , bright and enthusiastic candidate. I met him at a NZ Outdoors Party do, and after we chatted over washing the dishes I was not surprised that he chose a different waka. The Green Party seems to be always on the verge of self-destructing and I very nearly gave another tick to Social Credit. However Darlene Tana Hoff-Nielsen has taken considerable interest in local issues and did attend and support activists at the consent hearings for the most recent water grab from the Te Aupouri aquifer.
There needs to be a Ministry of Employment/Micro Business which helps people get skills and jobs, helps small entrepreneurs, and gets people doing useful stuff onto a payroll so they can keep on doing it.
The tall lean Southlander has been living on and off in the bush around the furthest reaches of the inlet in the Marlborough Sounds for about five years now, setting traps and living off the land… Apart from a few labouring jobs around about, Gary earns an income by selling possum fur, but lately, that’s been down because of Covid, he says. The price was about 25 percent down last time he went in but it hasn't put him off the job because "it's still for a cause."
Gary feels there should be a bounty for getting all the other pests he gets, like the feral cats, rats and stoats.
And the last time that was tried the country ended up with people spreading possums around so they wouldn't have to leave home to get the bounty. Trying a failed system again isn't going to make it work any better than the last time it failed.
"The first large-scale attempt to control possums was a bounty scheme which ran from 1951 to 1961. Eight million bounties of two shillings and sixpence were paid out for ‘possum tokens’ – the ears and a strip of fur. However, more than 75% of these animals were taken from near farms, picked off roads or caught in other easily accessible places. In the forests, possum numbers continued to grow."
How did they determined that those for whom the bounty was paid were taken from road kill? Even if possum numbers in forests continued to grow, it's hardly insignificant that numbers from other environments did decrease. I suspect there were other reasons for ceasing the bounty payments.
A bounty places a value on the existence of possums. They have been tried before in New Zealand but failed to reduce possum numbers. During the era when bounties were in existence, possum populations continued to expand in Coromandel and Northland as hunters deliberately introduced the pest to those areas in order to have a local population to 'farm'.
My bold.
Besides the bloody things are everywhere and even if the most accessible are only caught and the bounty claimed it's worth it.
I don't think it is. It's simply too labour intensive to be effective at anything other than short range.
From your link:
In more accessible areas, hunting reduced possum numbers.
Traditionally possum fur has been valued for trimming clothes, but since the 1990s prices have been low, forcing hunters out of the industry.
How did they determined that those for whom the bounty was paid were taken from road kill?
I suspect listening at the pub as people talked about getting easy money from the government.
I argued in a Waatea column back in 2014 about how NZs wider political framework could work alongside a Māori Parliament to fulfil our Treaty obligations. I imagine a NZ Parliament Upper House that has 50-50 representation between Maori and Pakeha.
Having a 50-50 Upper House with the power to delay legislation that was not in the best interests of the Nation when it comes to Treaty issues would stop Government’s from fire sales of national assets and prevent things like the Foreshore and Seabed legislation from becoming law.
Too conservative, I reckon. However the principle is validated by the racial partnership ethos, eh? Those for whom Te Tiriti is a handy device for shackling progress will be persuaded.
Note Bomber's subtle way of demonstrating class solidarity: stop Government’s from fire sales. Signalling that he couldn't pass School C English exhibits solidarity with the working class. Effective tacit psychology and totally pc. Full marks.
Yeah I agree, upper houses are an out of date idea. They can and have provided some useful balance of representation and scrutiny of legislation in countries where they exist, but very few (no?) countries are creating them if they don't have an historic one. It would presumably require a referendum to create and I think the idea of adding more politicians would be hard to sell. And what are the chances of selling an upper house of 50-50 ethnicity via a referendum?
I’m not convinced by binding citizens referenda – too often reduces complex problems to binary choices. A better answer would possibly be more democracy at local levels?
They can and have provided some useful balance of representation and scrutiny of legislation in countries where they exist
True but they've also done the opposite and rushed through bad legislation that the people didn't want. This has been especially true when both houses have been controlled by the same party.
And what are the chances of selling an upper house of 50-50 ethnicity via a referendum?
Non-existent.
I’m not convinced by binding citizens referenda – too often reduces complex problems to binary choices.
Depends upon how its done. It could be done in a way so that it's not just a binary choice.
A better answer would possibly be more democracy at local levels?
One of the reasons why I want to get rid of electorates is so that people have to get involved in local politics. No more running off to the local MP and thus immediately bypassing the local council who could probably do what needs to be done.
Not sure how well they work – but Korea routinely prosecutes members of outgoing administrations – and they are imprisoned while the investigation proceeds, to stop them covering things up. Such an investigation into Brownlee's performance in Christchurch would have ended very badly for him.
Probably not…at least in legal terms…and probably not even in political terms either.
That which occurred was widely recognised though probably not criminal and he remained supported in his electorate and party….dosnt make it right but such is life.
It was criminal – whether the law recognizes that or not. And healthy societies find ways to deal with such malefactors, either judicially or by mechanisms such as ostracism. That NZ has not augurs poorly for our future.
Yes ,I considered that when I wrote it, but technically is wasnt criminal (going on the information available)…and that is the point. The gutting thing about it is the lack of will by the opposition, the media and the public to fdorce the issue over a period of years….essentially he was given a free pass to behave as he did.
It was criminal – whether the law recognizes that or not.
There is a major problem when law fails to recognise immoral behaviour. It's an even bigger problem when the government then fails to adjust the law so that it will recognise and prosecute that same immoral behaviour.
next showdown between Judith Collins and Jacinda Ardern will be in front of a packed Christchurch audience and two staunchly Cantabrian moderators, next Tuesday.
The Press Leaders Debate has been held since 2011 and is the only town hall-style debate of the election campaign season. It will be in front of a live audience of 750 and the topics will be informed by The Press and Stuff readers.
Which leader can play a big crowd well, live? Does it matter? It does, inasmuch as floating voters can still flip the election outcome. Reef fish? Yeah, they can spin on a dime if something spooks them.
The Press Leaders Debate will be moderated by The Press editor Kamala Hayman and Stuff political editor Luke Malpass.
Having co-moderators is good, and one of each sex creates a good balance.
Hayman, who has held the editor’s chair of The Press since 2017, said… Christchurch voters would expect genuine, honest answers from the leaders, not political slogans or point scoring.
Let's hope the crowd provides a voice of unison on that basis, to loudly object when Collins tries to get away with talking over Ardern. Campbell & Gower were utter wimps, totally ineffective in moderating that behaviour!
Malpass worked at The Australian Financial Review where he was an editorial writer, opinion and editorial page editor and features editor, and spent time as acting foreign editor. He also worked at The Sydney Morning Herald. “The great thing about live town hall-style debates is that they test a different set of skills. The leaders get an immediate response from the crowd, who will decide which issues they care about, which answers are good and which are duds."
Non-floaters like you & me are irrelevant to the reef fish scenario. Will be interesting to see if the debate flushes out an issue or, more likely, a stance that could then go viral on social media & change the outcome (as per chaos theory).
Nigel Roberts once said that all election predictions are safe as long as you start your sentence with 'I'd be very surprised if …'
Well I'd be very surprised if the voting blocs revealed in the last dozen or so mainstream polls (and especially the last 3 or so) did not translate more-or-less into the election night result. That suggests Lab 45-50%, Nats 29-33%, Greens and Act each on 6-7%, NZFirst c 3%, quite a few smaller parties c 1%. A tightening of the race between the two leading parties and/or the major blocs often tends to happen in elections, though, as for example happened with National's results in 2011 and 2014.
Me neither. But that wasn't what I was writing about, eh? Remember how Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow changed the course of history? Well, maybe you weren't around then. Only took that trigger to shift the mass perception of a swathe of voters, turned him into a swarthy, shifty loser in their minds.
That showed how a leaders tv debate can transform politics. Overturned mass bias too, got the first catholic president in after three centuries of hard-line anti-papist sentiment.
Oh, the election you say. Labour following the 'art of the possible' when that doesn't reach what is necessary. No one shouting, only Yertle quivering far below.
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Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
It’s great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, it’s fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by Pātea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the world’s best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine Māori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences — Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history — it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealand’s border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public service’s pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. “The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the government’s commitment to establish a body – a “Voice” – that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
Ngā Tāngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a ‘stop now’ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual ‘Be British High Commissioner for the Day’ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an ‘honorary High Commissioner’, ...
The Māori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the Māori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the Māori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and vilified in the media as somehow being involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 30th. ...
In its Thursday editorial the NZ Herald speaks an important truth: “Investment important to stay on track”. This won’t have startled its more literate readers but in its text it notes the strong result in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which prompted Westpac to raise its forecast for dairy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University With the spread of COVID-19 steadily worsening in Japan since the onset of winter — daily records for infections and deaths continue to be broken — the fate of the Tokyo Summer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University All eyes are on COVID-19 vaccines, with Australia’s first expected to be approved for use shortly. But their development in record time, without compromising ...
Yesterday’s government announcement on new state housing is a pathetic response to the biggest housing crisis in New Zealand since the 1940s. At a time when the country needs an industrial-scale state house building programme, the government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Obadiah Mulder, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology, University of Southern California Australia is in the midst of tropical cyclone season. As we write, a cyclone is forming off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, and earlier in the week Queenslanders were bracing for a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynette Vernon, School of Education – VC Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University When the holidays end, barring a fresh outbreak of COVID-19, teenagers across Australia will head back to school. Some will bounce out of bed well before the alarm goes off, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Twenty years ago, on January 25 2001, a virtually unknown German supermarket chain quietly opened its first stores in Australia. The two stores – one in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Bluey is easily the most successful Australian television show of the last decade. A record-breaking success for its local broadcaster the ABC, as well as production partners BBC Studios and Screen Australia, ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permissionIt will take $3 million to clean up 1 million litres of abandoned toxic waste from a property in Ruakaka - three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies A two-year mission to clean up 1 million ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The action Biden took on just his first afternoon in office demonstrates a radical shift in priority for the US when it comes to its efforts to combat the climate crisis. It could put more pressure on New Zealand to step up. ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
The lights are burning into the night at the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup base as they race to fix their damaged boat. And Suzanne McFadden discovers something surprising may emerge. Out of American Magic’s calamity may come opportunity - for even more speed. While the lights burn bright ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $29.99) Every January, there's a new best-selling crime thriller by the New Zealand-born author who lives in Melbourne. Pomare is ...
Our approach so far in trying to end what Dr Collin Tukuitonga describes as a 'racist' disease - rheumatic fever - has not worked. It's time we try something new, he writes. Acute rheumatic fever and the rheumatic heart disease it causes, long-known as a disease of poverty, is a blight on ...
New Zealand triple-code star, Anna Harrison, can't stop returning to the courts - whether it's netball or beach volleyball. She tells Ashley Stanley what keeps drawing her back. The day before Anna Harrison leaps back into netball, she will have one more hit-out at another of her favourite old sports ...
New to sailing? With the Prada Cup resuming this weekend, here’s how to bluff your way into sounding like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and I join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually ...
A formal complaint to the UN, signed by a NZ Muslim group, says France’s Islamophobic laws and policies are entrenching discrimination and breaching human rights laws. The Khadija Leadership Network has joined a global coalition of Muslim organisations to formally complain about the French government’s systemic entrenchment of Islamophobia and discrimination against ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and a lineup of incredibly successful New Zealand women as they confront their imposter syndrome once and for all. First published 20 October, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Long form article on the Pacific orchard workers, the so-called RSEs.
Oddly, they never become eligible for residence, unlike 4th tier "language students". It's not blackbirding of course – plus ca change 🙁 .
Jaeezzzusss, around America's Number One Crime Family, even women are nasty-ass sexual predators.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8796579/Kimberly-Guilfoyle-left-Fox-News-female-assistant-accused-host-sexual-misconduct.html
That sums it up nicely Joe90
I find this absolutely revolting. Normally I block images out but how do I do it for this.
I do too RedBaronCV, but what an image to recall when someone or media says that a politician has swallowed a dead rat.
It's a pivotal scene from the original TV series of V. Diana swallowing a hamster not realising that she is being watched. The realisation that she isn't a human!
Diana played by Jane Badler.
Covid may end up slowing down Barrett getting rammed through onto the SCOTUS. But it won't stop it. Even if it's delayed the Repugs will still have plenty of time after the election in the lame duck period and every incentive to make sure it happens and zero incentive to back off.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-lee-covid-supreme-court-hearing-amy-coney-barrett_n_5f775beec5b6d4e948b523fb
even if the Dems win?
Yep. There's no law stopping them, and even a law wouldn't stop them trying.
The only reasons for them not to do it would be respect for the will of the American people, personal integrity, or principle. They have all given plentiful proof that they have precisely zero of any of those attributes, that the only thing that animates their dead-brained zombie carcasses is the exercise of power.
Don't they want it before the election as insurance?
The practical reality is current sitting senators hold their seats and retain all their powers until noon on January 3, 2021. So they can confirm Barrett at any time up until then.
Politically, it's arguable whether they're better off confirming Barrett before or after the election. Any backlash for underhandedly confirming Barrett after the election is two or four years away for those senators not up for election, and by then the election is over and a done deal for those running this year.
If they do it before the election, then yes, they've "delivered" for their base. But then they also have nothing left to offer to those that are otherwise disgusted with them but would nevertheless stick with them in order to get reactionary judges appointed.
Don't they need her in place beforehand to help throw the election? Hanging chads and all that..
They've already got 5-3 for that. Going to 6-3 is just gilding the lily.
How was RBG stopping adverse rulings then?
What adverse rulings are you referring to that RBG stopped?
In recent 5-4 rulings, Roberts has been the deciding swing vote. But you can be damn sure that Roberts would vote in favour of throwing the election to the Repugs if there were any possible way to do it.
At 5-4, Gorsuch or Roberts could decide matters in a non partisan way.
At 5-3 they could make it a 4-4 tie.
At 6-3 they would need to agree to block the GOP/partisans.
If Breyer is replaced, then even together they could not block the conservative GOP appointees deciding matters.
The Democrat Party need a POTUS and a Democrat majority on the Senate to appoint Garland and another to make a 11 seat SCOTUS. It would have a 6-5 GOP appointed majority, equivalent to the 5-4 one it would have been if they had confirmed Garland in 2016.
But Biden says he will not do this and thus allow Mad Mitch to get his way, no wonder he has friends across the aisle.
People like Susan Collins only win their Senate seats by posing as anti-Republican conservative positions from time to time.
Fortunately for her and the GOP her vote is not required for the appointment to go ahead. So it makes no difference when the vote is held – so she will try and win the Senate seat in Nov by saying she is against another conservative pick for SCOTUS.
For mine if her vote was required they would delay until after the election to allow her vote to get Barrett through without any electoral consequences.
So the powerbrokers are all Maori, eh?
Does seem significant, this evidence of Māori renaissance. How many of the four will function as powerbrokers post-election is a pertinent question. Volatility in the polls with two weeks to go suggests potential for someone to get a shift happening…
Polling trends are pretty clear. Nobody is going to be a powerbroker.
Seem clear, but volatility emanates from two sources: fluctuations in the short term amongst those who indicate an intent to pollsters yet change their mind in response to events on the campaign trail, and a separate crowd that don't respond to the pollster request for an indication because they are genuinely undecided.
This latter lot apparently make up their mind on the day of voting. Given the size of the two crowds combined (20% of the electorate according to one recent media view, and 10-15% according to another, somewhat earlier) it is evident that the margin of error gets totally obliterated if they all vote.
Statistics tells us that they are most likely to break down along the lines of the portion of the electorate who do give an intent to vote party preference to pollsters. However the nature of volatility is such that campaign events can easily shift them en masse.
Complexity now being a science, the metaphor of weather shifts due to a butterfly wing flutter in the distance does apply. The electorate is a complex system.
I see the idiot/savant has declared his voting intent: "Having the Greens in government is the only way we have a hope in hell of doing that. So, I'm going to hold my nose, and vote for them as the lesser evil – and you should too. But they need to change. Because we deserve something better to vote for than a lesser evil."
Ah, the lesser evil thesis. So much the default mass psychology of representative democracy. It's hallowed status still has everyone by the balls.
I'll be voting Green, but for the common good reason. Not with enthusiasm – just a sense of inevitability. Slow learners will get crunched by reality sufficiently to figure it out eventually. Probably after I've passed on. Faith in the Greens withstands the reducing effect of the lack of political competence of those in parliament, because the common cause has more staying power.
Please provide a link.
Sorry, here it is: http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/10/an-unenthusiastic-endorsement.html
Ta
Nice report from the backwaters of the culture wars:
FYI.
There is a higher level of THC in the blood if one vapes, rather than smokes.
Perception is just that.
It's easier on the lungs than smoking – unless its not.
There have been deaths amongst those vaping – leading to suspicion about the harmful impact of other ingredients (such as Vit E acetate) used on lungs.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/11/11/20959198/vaping-vitamin-e-acetate
That's not vaping cannabis though, is it.
Yes it is.
Not the real thing. Only prepared liquids.
So if the THC is inhaled as vapour rather than as smoke its not cannabis …
Cannabis inhaled as vapour is cannabis. Some liquid with THC and other additives in it, not so much.
OK. This covers it.
https://bedrocan.com/vaping-vs-vaporization/
So I'm talking about vapourising cannabis, not vaping it? OK then.
Went to find the location of my most convenient polling booth…..
Oh well, scrolled through the map and off to vote…
You could be in Texas, where you might have to drive over a hundred miles to drop off your ballot at the one ballot-drop location that serves the hundreds of thousands of people in your county.
how is that anything other than intentional, and why do people put up with it?
It's completely intentional – it was an explicit order by Texas' Repug governor, Greg Abbott. A lot of already installed drop-boxes had to be removed to comply with the order.
Vote suppression tactics last because they work. They're targeted in ways that don't really inconvenience the supporters of those that benefit from them. Repugs are quite open about the fact that their only chance of remaining widely in power is through successful vote-suppression, so they have to keep doing and their supporters continue to reward them for it.
Damn these first world problems…
Fortunately you can also find a polling place old styles by typing: https://vote.nz/voting/ways-you-can-vote/find-a-voting-place-from-a-list/
Try applying few filters…say, Northland Electorate, in Kaitaia and accessible venues only…https://vote.nz/voting/ways-you-can-vote/find-a-voting-place-from-a-list/?ElectorateType=General+electorates&Electorate=Northland&Suburb=Kaitaia&isAccessible=1&action_filter=View+voting+places
Big zero.
However, undeterred from our quest to exercise our right to an early vote, off we went.
There are three potential public entrances to the voting room in Te Ahu in Kaitaia and the only one open and guarded by security was the one with the steep steps.
One of the other possible entrances was accessible by a ramp that would be easily doable by a paralegic…bit of a mission for a quad. That was completely out of bounds.
The other was a set of double fire exit doors that opened outwards and access involved negotiating a 50 mm edge on the frame. Totally unnecessary as there was already a aluminum ramp fitted…for want of a couple of seconds thought it could have been level entry.
However. We were admitted into the Inner Sanctum with way too much fuss and bother and with much 'oh, its no trouble really" s (which of course it was) an did our thing. (Social Credit candidate, Green Party vote and a no and a yes…FWIW) (With very little in the way conferring, as couples are wont to do.)
Repeat of the fuss and bother to get us and the wheelchair out of the room.
Sadly for the lady struggling with a single crutch…the Keepers of the Inner Sanctum had shut the fire doors and turned their backs and Security made her take the steps.
I did nae lose it, but I said my piece.
...and why do people put up with it indeed.
What did the 'Accessible voting place' filter produce?
Sorry, there are no voting places that match that set of filters.
However.
Of the eleven polling booths between Kaitaia and Te Rerenga Wairua only two rather proudly declare " Independent access to and within this building." Both are primary schools and unfortunately not available for early voting.
The others all rather sheepishly admit "Accessible with assistance. May have step, steep ramp etc. "
Understandable for Te Hapua perhaps, and maybe Te Kao, but totally unacceptable for a busy metropolis like Kaitaia.
Of course the wee help elves are more than happy to rush over and give assistance…they are the Guardians of Democracy, right? But they shouldn't have to. Not in 2020 and certainly not in a relatively new and rather awesome community building like Te Ahu.
http://www.kaitaianz.co.nz/
"Social Credit candidate, Green Party vote.." 🙂 Yup
I've always had a soft spot for Social Credit, and young Brad is a solid , bright and enthusiastic candidate. I met him at a NZ Outdoors Party do, and after we chatted over washing the dishes I was not surprised that he chose a different waka. The Green Party seems to be always on the verge of self-destructing and I very nearly gave another tick to Social Credit. However Darlene Tana Hoff-Nielsen has taken considerable interest in local issues and did attend and support activists at the consent hearings for the most recent water grab from the Te Aupouri aquifer.
There needs to be a Ministry of Employment/Micro Business which helps people get skills and jobs, helps small entrepreneurs, and gets people doing useful stuff onto a payroll so they can keep on doing it.
Like this:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018766647/a-precious-endeavour
The tall lean Southlander has been living on and off in the bush around the furthest reaches of the inlet in the Marlborough Sounds for about five years now, setting traps and living off the land…
Apart from a few labouring jobs around about, Gary earns an income by selling possum fur, but lately, that’s been down because of Covid, he says.
The price was about 25 percent down last time he went in but it hasn't put him off the job because "it's still for a cause."
Gary feels there should be a bounty for getting all the other pests he gets, like the feral cats, rats and stoats.
edit
Here's an enterprising business outside the cafe and bar trade for a change.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018766640/meet-the-farming-couple-breeding-leeches-for-nz-hospitals
And this is one of the diverse directions that will be valuable to the individual learning and the society in terms of balanced interaction on a civilised and friendly level with others.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018765486/top-mma-fighter-starts-mentorship-to-train-young-talent
[Removed hyperlink that had somehow (?) sneaked into the middle of the word “bar”.]
And the last time that was tried the country ended up with people spreading possums around so they wouldn't have to leave home to get the bounty. Trying a failed system again isn't going to make it work any better than the last time it failed.
Pretty sure I've told you that before.
So you're saying they caught the possums from the bush then let them go again so they could catch them closer to home?
If breeding them is the aim, considering it takes a year from conception to maturity it's hardly worth the trouble.
Besides the bloody things are everywhere and even if the most accessible are only caught and the bounty claimed it's worth it.
At present any attempt at growing fruit, vegetables, roses even in any semi rural area is impossible without both fencing and trapping.
According to this https://teara.govt.nz/en/possums/page-2
"The first large-scale attempt to control possums was a bounty scheme which ran from 1951 to 1961. Eight million bounties of two shillings and sixpence were paid out for ‘possum tokens’ – the ears and a strip of fur. However, more than 75% of these animals were taken from near farms, picked off roads or caught in other easily accessible places. In the forests, possum numbers continued to grow."
How did they determined that those for whom the bounty was paid were taken from road kill? Even if possum numbers in forests continued to grow, it's hardly insignificant that numbers from other environments did decrease. I suspect there were other reasons for ceasing the bounty payments.
Yes:
My bold.
I don't think it is. It's simply too labour intensive to be effective at anything other than short range.
From your link:
I suspect listening at the pub as people talked about getting easy money from the government.
Bomber was prescient:
Too conservative, I reckon. However the principle is validated by the racial partnership ethos, eh? Those for whom Te Tiriti is a handy device for shackling progress will be persuaded.
Note Bomber's subtle way of demonstrating class solidarity: stop Government’s from fire sales. Signalling that he couldn't pass School C English exhibits solidarity with the working class. Effective tacit psychology and totally pc. Full marks.
I get so irritated by people who say an upper house is the solution to our political troubles.
All the evidence from around the world shows that upper houses don't work the way that they want them to work.
Really want to stop the government from doing stupid stuff? Then go for binding citizens referenda.
Yeah I agree, upper houses are an out of date idea. They can and have provided some useful balance of representation and scrutiny of legislation in countries where they exist, but very few (no?) countries are creating them if they don't have an historic one. It would presumably require a referendum to create and I think the idea of adding more politicians would be hard to sell. And what are the chances of selling an upper house of 50-50 ethnicity via a referendum?
I’m not convinced by binding citizens referenda – too often reduces complex problems to binary choices. A better answer would possibly be more democracy at local levels?
True but they've also done the opposite and rushed through bad legislation that the people didn't want. This has been especially true when both houses have been controlled by the same party.
Non-existent.
Depends upon how its done. It could be done in a way so that it's not just a binary choice.
One of the reasons why I want to get rid of electorates is so that people have to get involved in local politics. No more running off to the local MP and thus immediately bypassing the local council who could probably do what needs to be done.
Not sure how well they work – but Korea routinely prosecutes members of outgoing administrations – and they are imprisoned while the investigation proceeds, to stop them covering things up. Such an investigation into Brownlee's performance in Christchurch would have ended very badly for him.
Probably not…at least in legal terms…and probably not even in political terms either.
That which occurred was widely recognised though probably not criminal and he remained supported in his electorate and party….dosnt make it right but such is life.
It was criminal – whether the law recognizes that or not. And healthy societies find ways to deal with such malefactors, either judicially or by mechanisms such as ostracism. That NZ has not augurs poorly for our future.
Yes ,I considered that when I wrote it, but technically is wasnt criminal (going on the information available)…and that is the point. The gutting thing about it is the lack of will by the opposition, the media and the public to fdorce the issue over a period of years….essentially he was given a free pass to behave as he did.
There is a major problem when law fails to recognise immoral behaviour. It's an even bigger problem when the government then fails to adjust the law so that it will recognise and prosecute that same immoral behaviour.
So the
Which leader can play a big crowd well, live? Does it matter? It does, inasmuch as floating voters can still flip the election outcome. Reef fish? Yeah, they can spin on a dime if something spooks them.
Having co-moderators is good, and one of each sex creates a good balance.
Let's hope the crowd provides a voice of unison on that basis, to loudly object when Collins tries to get away with talking over Ardern. Campbell & Gower were utter wimps, totally ineffective in moderating that behaviour!
Too late to be relevant. I've already voted.
Non-floaters like you & me are irrelevant to the reef fish scenario. Will be interesting to see if the debate flushes out an issue or, more likely, a stance that could then go viral on social media & change the outcome (as per chaos theory).
Well they'll probably call it off, now that you've voted.
They may as well.
You and many others from the reports
Funny how the journalists who get these gigs seem to be the most excited by them. The voters, not so much?
Cui bono?
You seem really stuck on this. Not going to happen given the really big gap between left and right blocs.
Nigel Roberts once said that all election predictions are safe as long as you start your sentence with 'I'd be very surprised if …'
Well I'd be very surprised if the voting blocs revealed in the last dozen or so mainstream polls (and especially the last 3 or so) did not translate more-or-less into the election night result. That suggests Lab 45-50%, Nats 29-33%, Greens and Act each on 6-7%, NZFirst c 3%, quite a few smaller parties c 1%. A tightening of the race between the two leading parties and/or the major blocs often tends to happen in elections, though, as for example happened with National's results in 2011 and 2014.
Yep. Not seeing any conditions at all that suggest a big shift.
Me neither. But that wasn't what I was writing about, eh? Remember how Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow changed the course of history? Well, maybe you weren't around then. Only took that trigger to shift the mass perception of a swathe of voters, turned him into a swarthy, shifty loser in their minds.
That showed how a leaders tv debate can transform politics. Overturned mass bias too, got the first catholic president in after three centuries of hard-line anti-papist sentiment.
This is not one of the first televised elections. Nor is Ardern a comms lightweight. Sorry it is all less interesting than you want it to be.
I'm sure Codger will give herself a going over with the triple blade beforehand.
Hey I think Billy T K has a new candidate
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12370079
Oh, the election you say. Labour following the 'art of the possible' when that doesn't reach what is necessary. No one shouting, only Yertle quivering far below.
Trumpty Dumpty and his team have really spread the love across the states.
The contract tracing overnight is now an enormous task.
Who he met and who's tested positive.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54386681
Footage on overnight tv shows the rose garden ceremony on 26 September is set to be the super spreader event.
Kelly Conway positive and shown in footage mixing close and Senator Lee just announced as positive shared the hugs
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-54401069