The orange one always had a very shady past with a German bank, which gave him loans to avoid his bankruptcies, was fined for money laundering via Russia.
The US government is tilting from military +intelligence+business frame to business+military frame with business interests dominant, and will stay there for the remainder of this century.
On Jan 9th a book is coming out claiming that Donald Trump himself met with the Russians following meetings with his son and the Russians. Bannon may well have a axe to grind, but you can hardly fault him as an insider source on Trump:
Most presidential candidates spend their entire careers, if not their lives from adolescence, preparing for the role. They rise up the ladder of elected offices, perfect a public face, and prepare themselves to win and to govern. The Trump calculation, quite a conscious one, was different. The candidate and his top lieutenants believed they could get all the benefits of almost becoming president without having to change their behavior or their worldview one whit. Almost everybody on the Trump team, in fact, came with the kind of messy conflicts bound to bite a president once he was in office. Michael Flynn, the retired general who served as Trump’s opening act at campaign rallies, had been told by his friends that it had not been a good idea to take $45,000 from the Russians for a speech. “Well, it would only be a problem if we won,” Flynn assured them.
Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real-estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns. Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement. Kellyanne Conway would be a cable-news star. Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn’t become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing would work out for everybody. Losing was winning.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend — Trump might actually win — seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears—and not of joy.
There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon’s not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States.
Many of those sounding the loudest alarm bells over Russian influence in U.S. politics were curiously silent when far greater concerns were raised about the Clintons.
Had Hillary become prez, no doubt the likes of Trey Gowdy and Chuck Grassley would have spent all their time with serial investigations of Hillary. Indeed, there are active Congressional investigations into Hillary going on right now.
But she’s not prez, and it’s very unlikely she will ever be in a position of authority in the future. The person with decision-making power right now is by far the more important one to be interested in.
That’s long before you even get to considering the merits of the cases against each person. But to address your citation, the opinions published by Schweizer and Fox News against Clinton over the uranium deal have already been thoroughly debunked.
I don’t know why they bother trying to hokey up some reason that sounds plausible for locking her up. They should just be honest and say they want to lock her up coz it will make them feel good. Just because.
The Hawke’s Bay tribe that sought to have a track on Te Mata Peak removed is disappointed the path is proving popular with locals.
Ngāti Kahungunu Trust chair Ngahiwi Tomoana
“ Just because it is popular does not make it right.”
Would have been a whole bunch better to dedicate a cycle lane on the existing road up to the peak. – which Council could have done as the road controlling authority without too much fuss.
Don’t be too hard on Craggy Range. As a local I understand they did what they were told they had to do. I believe the Hastings District Council staff judged the application was non-notifiable and if the finger gets pointed at anyone it should be at them.
After the initial blowback Craggy Range’s reponse was to say they would remove the track and remediate it (good luck with that).
Since then a counter “keep the track” petition has soundly passed the initial “the desecration of Te Mata Peak must be removed” petition.
Latest word is that there will be talks involving the local iwi organisation and possibly the track will stay. I hope it will.
Yes the process was flawed. No it wasn’t Craggy Range’s fault. The initial reaction was knee-jerk. And hopefully we retain a community asset.
It’s on private land. And they obtained resource consent:
“The Hastings District Council approved resource consent for the track in October, pointing out that the track would not include any cuts with overall vertical extent more than 1m, and adding that all cuts would be battered back and regrassed.
The council also pointed out that no trees or significant vegetation would be removed, and there were no known archaeological sites. Nor did the area of work contain a District Plan-mapped waahi tapu site.”
[if you are going to cut and paste, please link to your source. – weka]
Does your work involve vandalising (or hey let’s just say.. any modification) of the most significant regional landmark that is extremely important to local Maori and for local tourism?
There are multiple failings in a system created haphazardly to deal with connections of local iwi to land.
Case in point. Auckland Council has inherited the existing waahi tapu sites all former district councils. Our local one, Franklin District Council, had no comprehensive list of sites. Local iwi were given a short window of opportunity – but no resources – to submit new sites before the amalgamation.
Given the vast area of land that had been confiscated, this burden fell to a few to try and cover the historical aspects of land that had been out of iwi ownership for many years.
I attended a resource consent hearing regarding a local landmark that was taken from local iwi in the 1860s, and has since been subdivided a few times. We were not there in the capacity of local tangata whenua, but did have with us an archived map of the site that showed the land in question was part of a Native Reserve, including urupa. While interest from the panel was shown, the fact that this had not been recorded on the waahi tapu register meant that this consideration was not going to be taken into account.
The original tribe and iwi had scattered and their history – over a century later after their land – is thus removed.
Neighbouring local iwi are burdened with the task of uncovering evidence such as these archives, and even those are not considered evidence enough.
You have a confidence in the system working, but it does not do so. Honest consultation with iwi – whether or not it is required – is at least a step in acknowledging those systematic failures in a genuine way.
There is an economic storm coming in 2018.
Here are some of the first drops.
‘The most notable change was in Auckland, where for the first time since February 2011 it was now a “buyer’s market”, realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said.’
Oh Im sure that the many many many homeowners will be ecstatic that Labour oversaw their house values and equity slashed.
Thats bound to be a vote winner.
Its not being stupid – its that it impacts people and their lives for the worse – might be good for people who are envious, but in the real world it will cost votes.
Tory tactics again there we see with the usual ‘property price slump scare’ from them again eh?
Our home price has ‘slumped after all those increased trucks National Party have ‘encouraged’ to carry freight through our residential communities ruining our health & wellbeing as property values have slumped now.
Because who wants 24/7 hour truck noise vibration & pollution in their lives as living near these horrible “truck roads now”?
Whereas normal political analysis has the electorate perfectly capable of realising that it takes more than one term to repair the things the National Party does.
So while I sympathise somewhat with your need to believe you’re going be returned to government at the next election, in the end, derision wins.
why is it Labours fault when people buy things on credit they actually can’t afford, especially if you were to have another global financial crisis like we had in 2007/8?
Oh because Phil – Housing Allowance Fraud – English would said so?
Question: Leading up to the overheating of the market, what has National done to prevent the market from crashing in the future during their reign of power?
What about all the people who would then be able to buy a house (or upgrade to a more suitable one)? Surely the 10-15% of people who lose out big (because they weren’t smart enough to catch on to the trend early enough) will be overshadowed by the 50-60% who then benefit?
Or do you think everyone has 5 houses, a boat and 5 luxury cars all based on the increasing value of their home they brought in 1960?
They won’t let a housing crash happen in Auckland. They’ll buy every house coming on the market for HousingNZ which would see the demand (and so prices) stay high.
So before that happens James, what should they do to prevent a housing crash in Auckland? What should they do not have it a “buyers market” or are those things mutually exclusive?
> They won’t let a housing crash happen in Auckland. They’ll buy every house coming on the market for HousingNZ which would see the demand (and so prices) stay high.
Hey guys, before we all get too excited, let’s think this through… We all know that a huge problem in recent times has been rising house prices (esp in Auckland). If there was a drop in prices that would actually be a good thing for buyers, especially those who are struggling to cover the extremely inflated costs. (And, btw, buyers vote, too, as do parents and others who care about people trying to buy.)
As it happens, your report of a “buyers’ market” is actually just based on a slight increase in stock and longer time on the market – prices are still up 2.7% in Auckland, with many sellers seemingly having waited for new council valuations before putting their properties on the market. Read past the headline…🙄
Hardly an economic meltdown! And we have to accept that if we want a more equitable, accessible housing market, some people are going to see their houses drop in value. That may be a problem for those people, especially if they’ve been using their property as a proxy superannuation plan, but it’s not armageddon. Plus, the government is trying to be careful about this stuff. Increasing the stock of reasonably priced housing will slow down growth in value, but the market won’t tank because of it.
‘Iran – Early U.S. Support For Rioters Hints At A Larger Plan
In Iran – Regime Change Agents Hijack Economic Protests we looked at the developing U.S.-Israeli operation to instigate a revolt in Iran. What follows are a few more background points and a view on the developments since. A color revolution or revolt in Iran have only little chances of success. But even as the fail they can be used as pretext for additional sanctions and other anti-Iranian measures. The current incidents are thus only one part of a much larger plan.
The “western” democracies are used to distinguish political parties as left or right with fixed combinations of economic and cultural policies. The “left” is seen as preferring a social economy that benefits the larger population and as cultural liberal or progressive. The right is seen as cultural conservative with a preference for a free market economy that favors the richer segments of a nation.
The political camps in Iran are different.
The simplified version: The conservatives, or “principalists”, are cultural conservative but favor economic programs that benefit the poor. Their support base are the rural people as well as the poorer segments of the city dwellers. The last Iranian president near to them was Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. One of his major policies was the implementation of cash payments to the needy as replacement of general and expensive subsidies on oil products and foodstuff. The current Iranian president Hassan Rouhani is a member of the “reformist” camp. His support base are the merchants and the richer parts of the society. He is culturally (relative) progressive but his economic polices are neoliberal. The new budget he introduced for the next year cuts back on the subsidies for the poor Ahmedinejad had introduced. It will increase prices for fuel and basic food stuff up to 30-40%.
The protests on December 28 and 29 were about these and other economic issues. Such protests have regularly occurred in Iran throughout the decades. But the current ones were soon hijacked by small groups which chanted slogans against the Iranian system and against the strong Iranian engagement in Syria and Palestine. These are not majority positions of the 80 million inhabitants of Iran:
According to the poll, 67.9% say Iran should increase backing for anti-IS groups, up from 59.8% a year ago. Meanwhile, a majority of 64.9% backs the deployment of Iranian military personnel to Syria to help the regime of Bashar al-Assad, up slightly from 62.7% a year ago.
The small groups that hijacked the protests against Rouhani’s economic polices were heavily promoted by the usual suspects of U.S. influence operations. Avaaz, the RAND cooperation, Human Rights Watch and others immediately jumped onto the bandwagon…..
Eco likes Prince Philip he has been around for a while and he knows the big picture I know he is laughing at the charade that is going on in OUR WORLD.Many thanks to the Prince.
Ka pai
“This is who he is – and the long panoply of his racist, sexist, elitist, misogynistic, class-privileged and unhinged prejudices is a mobile museum of European bigotry on display.”
This is what you get after 35 years of neoliberalism.
Selfish people.
ME people, not WE people.
People who don’t care about society.
People who don’t care about Maori values.
‘A request from local iwi for visitors to stay away from Auckland’s Waitākere Ranges to stop the spread of kauri dieback appears to be falling on deaf ears.
Hundreds of people are continuing to walk in the ranges, despite Te Kawerau-ā-Maki placing a rāhui over them to try and stop visitors flocking there in the summer months.
At least 500 people are estimated to be walking the popular Kitekite Falls track near Piha every day.’
Often these people claim to care about their families – but even then they show by their actions they don’t care about their children and grandchildren, as they refuse to make any sacrifices to their lifestyles to mitigate climate change.
In your opinion obviously. Just because you don’t like or agree with their actions does not mean that they do not care about their children.
For example – I think if you imposed your ideological eating disorder (vegan) on kids – does that make you uncaring not giving them a full healthy diet ?
Or do you let them grow and make their own mind up (or is that uncaring also)?
NZ Is a country being destroyed by the food industry.
The solution is the way we are dealing with big tobacco.
This article shows how we can deal with this disgraceful and disgusting industry and its pimps like Katherine Rich.
Ban advertising
Tax unhealthy food for its externalities
Limit its sale points
‘Dan Parker, who was a successful advertising executive earning his living promoting Coca Cola and McDonalds, told the Guardian in his first interview that the food industry is behaving like Big Tobacco. “I think what the food industry does now will define where it lands. If it behaves like tobacco it will end up being treated like tobacco. And I think it is behaving like tobacco,” said the former industry insider.
“There are an awful lot of people not very interested in seeing the size of the packaged food industry drop by those kind of figures. The amount of money involved is billions of pounds.” That includes the food industry, the supermarkets, the exchequer and also the media. “Parts are almost entirely propped up by advertising for those unhealthy products. Early Saturday night TV, for example, would struggle without pizzas and fishfingers.”‘
No chocolate fast for me. You must be confusing me with another poster.
I am enjoying a James-free fast though. So far I feel so cleansed. And being a BM-free zone helps as well.
Speaking of cleansing after much humid foreboding the forecast rain had arrived. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I have a saying about HB weather – it is normally better than predicted and very rarely worse.
Grey for short but not for long. We both get Grey but I am greywarshark. And the chocolate fast is biting me the more that I’m not biting. This is a good test on my eating habits. It won’t last but each New Year it might be a good move.
And good to limit the James-mosquito. The whining is annoying and subverts the blog.
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Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
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The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Forest & Bird says WWF-NZ's plan for protecting Māui dolphins is based on testing unproven methods on a species that is almost extinct, and is urging the Government to reject the proposal. ...
Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to accept a new settlement from the Ministry of Education, which includes entrenched pay parity with secondary principals. ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the 2014 search of a property belonging to Nicky Hager. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the Police's unlawful search of Nicky Hager's property in October 2014 resulted from an unwitting neglect of duty and did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer. Police policy at the ...
Tuesday, August 20: Greenpeace has labeled an overnight announcement by fishing company Sanford as a danger to Māui and Hector’s dolphins, and is calling on the Government to reject the ‘Sanford Plan’ immediately. ...
World Animal Protection describes an overnight announcement (19 August, embargoed until 6am 20 August), by fishing company Sanford as a cynical move to undermine growing support for full habitat protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. They called ...
When the combined tax on fuel hits over 50 percent in some parts of the country, it is hypocritical for the Government to blame corporates, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . ...
A leading expert in suicide prevention has urged MPs not to confuse suicide with assisted dying as they consider the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
Over the weekend Māoridom arrived in the Waikato for the annual Koroneihana Celebrations. Yesterday almost 300 attended a Hui in Hamilton to continue the Oranga Tamariki Review led by an independent Māori panel to coincide with the Koroneihana. The Hui confirmed ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) says the newly issued ‘price list’ for compensation of banned firearms reveals that haste in preparing the ban has led to an underestimation of the number of affected firearms and their value. ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has admitted parts of the prison system are “extremely racist” and says that’s why the Government is asking Māori to work with it to make changes. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Jacinda Ardern’s election campaign was high on hope but this Government should remember that those who encourage what cannot be achieved are quickly found out. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Tim Bentley, Director of Research, professor of Work and Organisation, Massey University According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workplace can be a positive force for improving mental health. But many workers are exposed to work environments that are damaging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Alan Jones’s political power is to a large extent based on a self-fulfilling prophecy: politicians believe he can shift votes, so they pay homage to him, which adds ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Associate Professor Ralph Brougham Chapman, Director, Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Australia’s leading universities are now looking to India in search of new sources of international students. This comes amid worries they may have reached a “China max” – no more room for growth in Chinese ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Couch, Senior Lecturer – Youth Work and International Development, Australian Catholic University One of the biggest challenges young people of refugee background face in their new country is finding safe, affordable and appropriate housing. Yet this is central to social inclusion ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sheil, Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW The results of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics biennial survey of income and wealth met have met with an uneven response, perhaps in part due to a slipshod press release. Released with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Lee, Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies, Curtin University This story contains spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was asked why Margot ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald.The aim is to ...
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...
So who is Jennie Wyllie, thrust into the spotlight in New Zealand netball’s darkest hour, and now holding the key to the cabinet storing the sport’s three greatest prizes? ...
The fundamental problem with silver bullets is they permit a ‘business as usual’ approach to farming when that is neither ecologically sustainable nor economically desirable. ...
As Auckland attempts to encourage greener alternatives to car use, a huge new car park is rising beside Les Mills’ flagship inner-city gym. Josie Adams asks Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills how it tallies with the company’s clean, green brand.Les Mills Victoria Street has 12,000 members, and up to 700 ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...
The problem of political parties disputing each others costing was highlighted in the 2017 election and now an independent entity to ensure parties aren't fudging their figures is a step closer. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this episode right click and save.At ...
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one ...
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse.When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Māori prison strategy, prisoner voting 1News: Kelvin Davis admits parts of prison system ‘extremely racist’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Krystian Seibert, Industry Fellow, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a new assault on the campaigning group GetUp. At the Liberal Party’s state conference in Adelaide, he said GetUp needed to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Hemer, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO The rise in sea levels is not the only way climate change will affect the coasts. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, found a warming planet will also alter ocean waves ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...
Open Mike 04/01/2018 
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...60 mins ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...18 hours ago
Canada is having an election in the next few months, and (perhaps because their Prime Minister is so nice and reasonable) they have a party running on a platform of Trumpism and climate change denial. But there's a twist: the latter means that it will be illegal for anyone in ...21 hours ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...23 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...3 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...3 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...5 days ago
5 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...5 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...7 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...7 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...7 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...7 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...7 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 7 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...3 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
That’s the vision of Anthony Rimell, Chair of the Christchurch Tenants’ Protection Association, and Riccarton Ward City Council Candidate. ...47 mins ago
Jacinda Ardern’s election campaign was high on hope but this Government should remember that those who encourage what cannot be achieved are quickly found out. ...21 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Tim Bentley, Director of Research, professor of Work and Organisation, Massey University According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workplace can be a positive force for improving mental health. But many workers are exposed to work environments that are damaging ...44 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make ...59 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Associate Professor Ralph Brougham Chapman, Director, Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...59 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sheil, Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW The results of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics biennial survey of income and wealth met have met with an uneven response, perhaps in part due to a slipshod press release. Released with the ...59 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Lee, Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies, Curtin University This story contains spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was asked why Margot ...59 mins ago
The finance minister is accusing Simon Bridges of "electioneering" and introducing "the very worst of American politics'' to New Zealand. ...1 hour ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald. The aim is to ...2 hours ago
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...3 hours ago
An environmental group floats ideas for protecting the Mackenzie Basin’s landscapes. ...3 hours ago
So who is Jennie Wyllie, thrust into the spotlight in New Zealand netball’s darkest hour, and now holding the key to the cabinet storing the sport’s three greatest prizes? ...4 hours ago
The fundamental problem with silver bullets is they permit a ‘business as usual’ approach to farming when that is neither ecologically sustainable nor economically desirable. ...4 hours ago
With fewer kākā beak plants in the wild than kākāpō, conservationists have been testing novel ways to hold the fort on extinction. ...4 hours ago
Australia have one hand on the Ashes, and two feet upon the moral high ground, after the second test match in England. ...4 hours ago
Should we worry about robots taking over? Not anytime soon, says the University of Auckland's Dr Craig Sutherland. ...4 hours ago
Heartbreaking stories of cancer sufferers who need expensive drugs are helped into the spotlight by the drug companies that will benefit. ...4 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...9 hours ago
Plans for an independent body to cost political policies seems sensible - Simon Bridges' opposition borders on dangerous. ...11 hours ago
Refugee leaders and advocacy groups call for an end to discriminatory refugee policy. ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...15 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute It was a key plank of what was dubbed the most significant package of private health insurance reforms in more than a decade. From April 1 this year, private health insurers have been permitted to ...16 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...16 hours ago
The Commerce Commission recommends taking aim at Z Energy, BP and Mobil to make the fuel market more competitive. ...17 hours ago
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...19 hours ago
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...19 hours ago
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...20 hours ago
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...21 hours ago
Chris Gallavin followed in the footsteps of James K Baxter when he staged a spectacular poetry event on the Whanganui River. ...21 hours ago
Falling wool prices in Australia and New Zealand are being attributed to trade tensions between the US and China. ...22 hours ago
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...22 hours ago
Mercury Energy has made a record annual profit as it generated more geothermal power and charged higher spot prices. ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...1 day ago
Russia and the PEEOTUS: follow the money trail. It goes back a long long way.
https://www.vox.com/2017/7/18/15983910/donald-trump-russia-putin-fbi-collusion-fusion-gps
The orange one always had a very shady past with a German bank, which gave him loans to avoid his bankruptcies, was fined for money laundering via Russia.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-russia-secret-deutsche-bank-753780.html
He’ll get away with it.
The US government is tilting from military +intelligence+business frame to business+military frame with business interests dominant, and will stay there for the remainder of this century.
They’ve always had that frame. It’s where the phrase Military-industrial-complex comes from.
I’m aware of the origin.
It is being rapidly reshaped.
You said that business was becoming dominant while I contend that business has been dominant in the US since the Robber Barons at the minimum.
Our own sir John Key has closer ties to the dodgy and corrupt german Deutshe bank than any other New Zealander or politician that I am aware of ….
According to our New Zealand companies register he was involved in 7 Deutsche bank fronts ….. https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=John+Key&start=25&limit=25&entitySearch=&addressKeyword=&postalCode=&country=&addressType=&advancedPanel=false&mode=standard&roleType=ALL&indEntityTypes=ALL&indEntityStatusGroups=ALL&indDirStatus=ALL&sf=&sd=
On Jan 9th a book is coming out claiming that Donald Trump himself met with the Russians following meetings with his son and the Russians. Bannon may well have a axe to grind, but you can hardly fault him as an insider source on Trump:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-trump-tower_us_5a4cde0be4b0b0e5a7a9fe93?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Adolf Twitler’s response doesn’t disappoint…
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-steve-bannon_us_5a4d200ce4b0b0e5a7aa6f15?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
If former naval officer Bannon said that to a journalist, imagine what he’s said to Mueller.
Bannon is burning Kushner – and there is every reason for him to do it real slow.
I haven’t seen anything that says Mueller has interviewed Bannon yet, and a quick google turned up nothing. You seen anything?
Maybe it’s happened, but been successfully kept quiet …
Haven’t seen anything myself but I reckon he’s conspicuous because of his absence from any coverage about potential interviewees.
Oh boy.
Most presidential candidates spend their entire careers, if not their lives from adolescence, preparing for the role. They rise up the ladder of elected offices, perfect a public face, and prepare themselves to win and to govern. The Trump calculation, quite a conscious one, was different. The candidate and his top lieutenants believed they could get all the benefits of almost becoming president without having to change their behavior or their worldview one whit. Almost everybody on the Trump team, in fact, came with the kind of messy conflicts bound to bite a president once he was in office. Michael Flynn, the retired general who served as Trump’s opening act at campaign rallies, had been told by his friends that it had not been a good idea to take $45,000 from the Russians for a speech. “Well, it would only be a problem if we won,” Flynn assured them.
Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real-estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns. Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement. Kellyanne Conway would be a cable-news star. Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn’t become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing would work out for everybody. Losing was winning.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend — Trump might actually win — seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears—and not of joy.
There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon’s not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html
If anything in this is remotely true the entire party should be gone for a generation.
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/15/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns
But probably won’t even if it is true.
Many of those sounding the loudest alarm bells over Russian influence in U.S. politics were curiously silent when far greater concerns were raised about the Clintons.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/03/peter-schweizer-trump-vs-clintons-russia-ties-guess-who-always-got-free-pass.html
“She did it too” isn’t going to get the serial rapist off the hook.
Had Hillary become prez, no doubt the likes of Trey Gowdy and Chuck Grassley would have spent all their time with serial investigations of Hillary. Indeed, there are active Congressional investigations into Hillary going on right now.
But she’s not prez, and it’s very unlikely she will ever be in a position of authority in the future. The person with decision-making power right now is by far the more important one to be interested in.
That’s long before you even get to considering the merits of the cases against each person. But to address your citation, the opinions published by Schweizer and Fox News against Clinton over the uranium deal have already been thoroughly debunked.
https://www.factcheck.org/2017/10/facts-uranium-one/
What, they denied it and have all the facts on their side?
Lock her up! 🙄
I don’t know why they bother trying to hokey up some reason that sounds plausible for locking her up. They should just be honest and say they want to lock her up coz it will make them feel good. Just because.
I think it more likely that they are gullible fuckwits who believe the last thing they were told.
They should lock her up over Libya ….. or better yet make her go and live there with Obama .,…..
They should enjoy the fruits of their creation …
Removing Te Mata Peak track ‘not a cheap thing to do’
Well Craggy Range you should have consulted first.
Pay up.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347432/removing-te-mata-peak-track-not-a-cheap-thing-to-do
The Hawke’s Bay tribe that sought to have a track on Te Mata Peak removed is disappointed the path is proving popular with locals.
Ngāti Kahungunu Trust chair Ngahiwi Tomoana
“ Just because it is popular does not make it right.”
Wise words.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347134/iwi-frustrated-as-locals-take-to-te-mata-peak-track
Would have been a whole bunch better to dedicate a cycle lane on the existing road up to the peak. – which Council could have done as the road controlling authority without too much fuss.
Was it arrogance or ignorance that meant Craggy Range did not consult with iwi?
I’m not familiar enough with the landowner or the Council on iwi relationships (although it generally doesn’t stop me 😉 )
There was and is no requirement to do so. It’s their land.
And the Christchurch Cathedral is owned by the church, so Cantabrians can piss off too because they don’t own that either?
Indeed.
Don’t be too hard on Craggy Range. As a local I understand they did what they were told they had to do. I believe the Hastings District Council staff judged the application was non-notifiable and if the finger gets pointed at anyone it should be at them.
After the initial blowback Craggy Range’s reponse was to say they would remove the track and remediate it (good luck with that).
Since then a counter “keep the track” petition has soundly passed the initial “the desecration of Te Mata Peak must be removed” petition.
Latest word is that there will be talks involving the local iwi organisation and possibly the track will stay. I hope it will.
Yes the process was flawed. No it wasn’t Craggy Range’s fault. The initial reaction was knee-jerk. And hopefully we retain a community asset.
That’s why I asked was it ignorance.
New Zealandees should be aware of Maori values.
Pay up why?
It’s on private land. And they obtained resource consent:
“The Hastings District Council approved resource consent for the track in October, pointing out that the track would not include any cuts with overall vertical extent more than 1m, and adding that all cuts would be battered back and regrassed.
The council also pointed out that no trees or significant vegetation would be removed, and there were no known archaeological sites. Nor did the area of work contain a District Plan-mapped waahi tapu site.”
[if you are going to cut and paste, please link to your source. – weka]
The resource consent checklist must have missed:
Does your work involve vandalising (or hey let’s just say.. any modification) of the most significant regional landmark that is extremely important to local Maori and for local tourism?
James has no concern for Maori values.
I wouldn’t waste your time with him.
Like Trump, he continues to hit new lows.
I love the way you project.
The owners did everything right. Its their land. They sought and obtained permission.
But little the green eyed monster comes out looking for them to “pay up” – based on, well nothing as per usual.
No they didn’t (They should have consulted iwi) and no it’s not (it’s lease-simple and not ownership).
“The owners did everything right.”
Like offend local iwi? Deface the local landmark? Upset many locals? Cause a national controversy?
If it was their land and could do what they liked then why would they need resource consent?
As I’ve said Maori don’t count in James’s world.
Nor do women. ( see Rhythm and Vines thread)
Nor do animals.
Only James counts in James’s world.
He is an Ayn Rand devotee.
This may come as a shock in your tiny mind – but just because you say something it does not make it so.
Thats a 7 on the Ed scale this morning.
Right there Ed,
Doesn’t care about climate change, or future of our rail, community public environmental health, we have seen either Ed.
It is best to always ignore the nonsense he writes
and many locals are very happy with it – seems very popular.
There are multiple failings in a system created haphazardly to deal with connections of local iwi to land.
Case in point. Auckland Council has inherited the existing waahi tapu sites all former district councils. Our local one, Franklin District Council, had no comprehensive list of sites. Local iwi were given a short window of opportunity – but no resources – to submit new sites before the amalgamation.
Given the vast area of land that had been confiscated, this burden fell to a few to try and cover the historical aspects of land that had been out of iwi ownership for many years.
I attended a resource consent hearing regarding a local landmark that was taken from local iwi in the 1860s, and has since been subdivided a few times. We were not there in the capacity of local tangata whenua, but did have with us an archived map of the site that showed the land in question was part of a Native Reserve, including urupa. While interest from the panel was shown, the fact that this had not been recorded on the waahi tapu register meant that this consideration was not going to be taken into account.
The original tribe and iwi had scattered and their history – over a century later after their land – is thus removed.
Neighbouring local iwi are burdened with the task of uncovering evidence such as these archives, and even those are not considered evidence enough.
You have a confidence in the system working, but it does not do so. Honest consultation with iwi – whether or not it is required – is at least a step in acknowledging those systematic failures in a genuine way.
moderation note for you to attend to.
done – thanks.,
Thanks James
Sorry – please find link following: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11957991
There is an economic storm coming in 2018.
Here are some of the first drops.
‘The most notable change was in Auckland, where for the first time since February 2011 it was now a “buyer’s market”, realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11969056
Just ‘conditioning’ ,because sellers expectations are too high.Propert ponzi is the real bitcoin.
Crash coming this year.
That will be good for labour. In government for a year and then allowing a housing crash to happen.
Lots of unhappy voters come next election time.
I don’t think the electorate are all as stupid as you.
Oh Im sure that the many many many homeowners will be ecstatic that Labour oversaw their house values and equity slashed.
Thats bound to be a vote winner.
Its not being stupid – its that it impacts people and their lives for the worse – might be good for people who are envious, but in the real world it will cost votes.
In the real world it’s a Ponzi Scheme that National engineered to make a few people richer and everybody else worse off.
Yes Draco,
Tory tactics again there we see with the usual ‘property price slump scare’ from them again eh?
Our home price has ‘slumped after all those increased trucks National Party have ‘encouraged’ to carry freight through our residential communities ruining our health & wellbeing as property values have slumped now.
Because who wants 24/7 hour truck noise vibration & pollution in their lives as living near these horrible “truck roads now”?
Whereas normal political analysis has the electorate perfectly capable of realising that it takes more than one term to repair the things the National Party does.
So while I sympathise somewhat with your need to believe you’re going be returned to government at the next election, in the end, derision wins.
why is it Labours fault when people buy things on credit they actually can’t afford, especially if you were to have another global financial crisis like we had in 2007/8?
Oh because Phil – Housing Allowance Fraud – English would said so?
Question: Leading up to the overheating of the market, what has National done to prevent the market from crashing in the future during their reign of power?
What about all the people who would then be able to buy a house (or upgrade to a more suitable one)? Surely the 10-15% of people who lose out big (because they weren’t smart enough to catch on to the trend early enough) will be overshadowed by the 50-60% who then benefit?
Or do you think everyone has 5 houses, a boat and 5 luxury cars all based on the increasing value of their home they brought in 1960?
50-60% wont benefit – because when the values drop too much they will either hold on to them – or rent them out to cover the cost.
So the current land owners don’t lose out then… you can’t have it both ways you know
If it happens then it was a crash engineered by National.
perhaps – but overseen by Labour. And guess who the owners will blame come election time ?
You may be right. Depends upon how well it’s framed and the fact that many on the left have been calling property a bubble for a long time.
They won’t let a housing crash happen in Auckland. They’ll buy every house coming on the market for HousingNZ which would see the demand (and so prices) stay high.
So before that happens James, what should they do to prevent a housing crash in Auckland? What should they do not have it a “buyers market” or are those things mutually exclusive?
> They won’t let a housing crash happen in Auckland. They’ll buy every house coming on the market for HousingNZ which would see the demand (and so prices) stay high.
TBH that sounds like a long shot.
A.
The crash is a global crash.
And they’ll have that as Ms Ardern’s fault too!
Hey guys, before we all get too excited, let’s think this through… We all know that a huge problem in recent times has been rising house prices (esp in Auckland). If there was a drop in prices that would actually be a good thing for buyers, especially those who are struggling to cover the extremely inflated costs. (And, btw, buyers vote, too, as do parents and others who care about people trying to buy.)
As it happens, your report of a “buyers’ market” is actually just based on a slight increase in stock and longer time on the market – prices are still up 2.7% in Auckland, with many sellers seemingly having waited for new council valuations before putting their properties on the market. Read past the headline…🙄
Hardly an economic meltdown! And we have to accept that if we want a more equitable, accessible housing market, some people are going to see their houses drop in value. That may be a problem for those people, especially if they’ve been using their property as a proxy superannuation plan, but it’s not armageddon. Plus, the government is trying to be careful about this stuff. Increasing the stock of reasonably priced housing will slow down growth in value, but the market won’t tank because of it.
I do hope we are shielded from the worst of the 2018 economic meltdown. Our dependence on China could cause businesses to fail.
The World Bank are pretty damn confident about China’s prospects for 2018. Do you know something they don’t?
Ken RingMax Keiser predicted it so it must be true.The symptoms have been present for 12-18 months, Horncastle Homes closing up
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/97089754/horncastle-homes-wraps-up-after-40-years
I have had to implement the winding up of 3 builders for failure to pay debts for building supplies, and there are many others that are on limited supplies as they are on agreements to reduce debt.
Building material inflation well above CPI and pay rate increases. This building inflation excludes land
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11789263
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=11683028
The timing of when this happens has alot to do with what economic conditions from the recent past.
Very interesting.
I have a sense the banks are doing everything they can to reduce their exposure to bad debt before the oncoming storm.
‘Iran – Early U.S. Support For Rioters Hints At A Larger Plan
In Iran – Regime Change Agents Hijack Economic Protests we looked at the developing U.S.-Israeli operation to instigate a revolt in Iran. What follows are a few more background points and a view on the developments since. A color revolution or revolt in Iran have only little chances of success. But even as the fail they can be used as pretext for additional sanctions and other anti-Iranian measures. The current incidents are thus only one part of a much larger plan.
The “western” democracies are used to distinguish political parties as left or right with fixed combinations of economic and cultural policies. The “left” is seen as preferring a social economy that benefits the larger population and as cultural liberal or progressive. The right is seen as cultural conservative with a preference for a free market economy that favors the richer segments of a nation.
The political camps in Iran are different.
The simplified version: The conservatives, or “principalists”, are cultural conservative but favor economic programs that benefit the poor. Their support base are the rural people as well as the poorer segments of the city dwellers. The last Iranian president near to them was Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. One of his major policies was the implementation of cash payments to the needy as replacement of general and expensive subsidies on oil products and foodstuff. The current Iranian president Hassan Rouhani is a member of the “reformist” camp. His support base are the merchants and the richer parts of the society. He is culturally (relative) progressive but his economic polices are neoliberal. The new budget he introduced for the next year cuts back on the subsidies for the poor Ahmedinejad had introduced. It will increase prices for fuel and basic food stuff up to 30-40%.
The protests on December 28 and 29 were about these and other economic issues. Such protests have regularly occurred in Iran throughout the decades. But the current ones were soon hijacked by small groups which chanted slogans against the Iranian system and against the strong Iranian engagement in Syria and Palestine. These are not majority positions of the 80 million inhabitants of Iran:
According to the poll, 67.9% say Iran should increase backing for anti-IS groups, up from 59.8% a year ago. Meanwhile, a majority of 64.9% backs the deployment of Iranian military personnel to Syria to help the regime of Bashar al-Assad, up slightly from 62.7% a year ago.
The small groups that hijacked the protests against Rouhani’s economic polices were heavily promoted by the usual suspects of U.S. influence operations. Avaaz, the RAND cooperation, Human Rights Watch and others immediately jumped onto the bandwagon…..
Read more here.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/iran-early-us-support-for-rioters-hints-at-a-larger-plan.html
Is that a whole cut ‘n’ paste job from the linked article with no original content from you, and no formatting for clarity? Again?
Fucking rude.
Cannot remember the selfish posters name on here who happily states to driving on the wrong side of the road in a major gorge “in case a rock falls”.
Thiught of them this morning when I read this
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/100316172/driver-caught-on-camera-in-coromandel-on-wrong-side-of-road
Eco likes Prince Philip he has been around for a while and he knows the big picture I know he is laughing at the charade that is going on in OUR WORLD.Many thanks to the Prince.
Ka pai
Prince Philip is not a nice person.
http://www.aljazeera.com/amp/indepth/opinion/2017/08/priceless-racism-duke-edinburgh-170810082226234.html
http://mashable.com/2017/05/04/prince-philip-gaffes-list.amp
“This is who he is – and the long panoply of his racist, sexist, elitist, misogynistic, class-privileged and unhinged prejudices is a mobile museum of European bigotry on display.”
Sums the matter well.
They show him up to be a cruel father and an unfaithful husband on the Crown as well.
Phil the Greek is a great bloke, funniest great grandad on the planet.
Where to begin!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/israel-offers-to-pay-african-migrants-to-leave-threatens-jail/9302960
Aren’t the Royal Family such lovely ordinary people?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/03/windsor-council-calls-removal-homeless-people-before-royal-wedding
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/670975/prince-harry-meghan-markle-monaco-new-year-celebration-party-france-royal/amp
LOL – you quote the Daily star.
that’s hilarious. But then again – its more reliable that some of the other links he proves.
and just to help you with your comprehension – the first link is somebody else requesting it – The royal family have nothing to do with it at all.
Ed
Sour cream goes with baked potatoes and chives nicely.
This is what you get after 35 years of neoliberalism.
Selfish people.
ME people, not WE people.
People who don’t care about society.
People who don’t care about Maori values.
‘A request from local iwi for visitors to stay away from Auckland’s Waitākere Ranges to stop the spread of kauri dieback appears to be falling on deaf ears.
Hundreds of people are continuing to walk in the ranges, despite Te Kawerau-ā-Maki placing a rāhui over them to try and stop visitors flocking there in the summer months.
At least 500 people are estimated to be walking the popular Kitekite Falls track near Piha every day.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347455/they-re-just-making-their-job-more-difficult-and-more-expensive
Often these people claim to care about their families – but even then they show by their actions they don’t care about their children and grandchildren, as they refuse to make any sacrifices to their lifestyles to mitigate climate change.
In extreme case, they deny climate change.
Burn the witches !
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/religion-clergy-popes-bishop-stake-burning-bron2676_low.jpg
In your opinion obviously. Just because you don’t like or agree with their actions does not mean that they do not care about their children.
For example – I think if you imposed your ideological eating disorder (vegan) on kids – does that make you uncaring not giving them a full healthy diet ?
Or do you let them grow and make their own mind up (or is that uncaring also)?
“Selfish people.
ME people, not WE people.
People who don’t care about society.
People who don’t care about Maori values.”
That’s the perception I have of you. Nice to see you come out and admit it.
NZ Is a country being destroyed by the food industry.
The solution is the way we are dealing with big tobacco.
This article shows how we can deal with this disgraceful and disgusting industry and its pimps like Katherine Rich.
Ban advertising
Tax unhealthy food for its externalities
Limit its sale points
‘Dan Parker, who was a successful advertising executive earning his living promoting Coca Cola and McDonalds, told the Guardian in his first interview that the food industry is behaving like Big Tobacco. “I think what the food industry does now will define where it lands. If it behaves like tobacco it will end up being treated like tobacco. And I think it is behaving like tobacco,” said the former industry insider.
“There are an awful lot of people not very interested in seeing the size of the packaged food industry drop by those kind of figures. The amount of money involved is billions of pounds.” That includes the food industry, the supermarkets, the exchequer and also the media. “Parts are almost entirely propped up by advertising for those unhealthy products. Early Saturday night TV, for example, would struggle without pizzas and fishfingers.”‘
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/02/former-advertising-executive-reveals-big-foods-junk-food-pushing-tactics
“NZ Is a country being destroyed by the food industry”
You have anything to back that up? No thought not.
And no – the daily star or vegan news blogs are not reputable links.
You’re doing well hitting the mental ignore button Ed, keep it up. I just wish more would do the same. He brings a sour note to The Standard.
4 days.
And it’s great just scrolling past 😎
How is your chocolate fast going?
No chocolate fast for me. You must be confusing me with another poster.
I am enjoying a James-free fast though. So far I feel so cleansed. And being a BM-free zone helps as well.
Speaking of cleansing after much humid foreboding the forecast rain had arrived. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I have a saying about HB weather – it is normally better than predicted and very rarely worse.
Grey for short but not for long. We both get Grey but I am greywarshark. And the chocolate fast is biting me the more that I’m not biting. This is a good test on my eating habits. It won’t last but each New Year it might be a good move.
And good to limit the James-mosquito. The whining is annoying and subverts the blog.
Good on you for keeping off the chocolate!
Agreed
4 days and no mosquito shall bother me..
Scrolling past.