I’ve a $20 bet since March that Trump will be out of the Whitehouse by Christmas.
I read that Muller is now briefing senior officials (unimplicated ones).
Is this a sign that my $20 is safe?
I think your bet is lost. Trump is currently the favourite candidate to win the presidency in 2020. (that said he is the incumbent and we do not know who will be running against him from the Democratic side. He is though a long shot to be out of office by the end of the year. http://www.betfair.com
It was more than nine months from the Saturday Night Massacre to Nixon’s resignation – and we haven’t yet had an equivalent to it in terms of open blatant misconduct for the express purpose of saving his own skin. Firing Comey didn’t come close. These things move slowly. Even if Mueller already has the evidence to put the Chump away for the rest of his life, Christmas is way too soon for anything to have happened.
1 Rt Hon Winston Peters
2 Ron Mark
3 Tracey Martin
4 Fletcher Tabuteau
5 Darroch Ball
6 Clayton Mitchell
7 Mark Patterson
8 Shane Jones
9 Jenny Marcroft
Half the GP caucus are based in Auckland. The NZF caucus tends to have more links with regions outside Auckland.
NZF could negotiate a coalition with either Nats or Labour, but they could also opt to sit on the cross benches, abstain from confidence and supply votes, and allow the Nats to run a minority government.
Hold it Sister: the GP did not win any electoral seats. The way you displayed the two lists is misleading. You seem to suggest that all the NZ F are list and the GP are electoral.
Please correct it.
Say what? the only differences is that the GP list numbers did not copy. They are at the link. But I would need to add each number individually. Is that really necessary?
The NZF numbers copied with the names from a straight copy and paste. Not my fault, and otherwise there is no indication I’m saying the GP MPs are electorate MPs.
My pick is that English would prefer another election to leading a minority government that could be out-voted on anything other than confidence and supply.
The Nats’ born to rule sense of entitlement is too strong to tolerate it. National’s coffers are full and they could fight another, probably even nastier, election with MMP itself in the crosshairs.
National continue to show a disdain for democracy, they’ve not diversified the economy, they’ve gutted crucial areas like health, education and housing whilst selling out nz.
So personally I’d like to see them wear this one with Peters sniping away making them own the damage they’ve caused.
Bill can manage that rockstar economy they’ve been blathering on about so there’s a challenge for the DP acolytes.
It’s not in their hands, though. If Mr. English can’t accept a deal with NZ First (assuming he is even in a position to make one), then NZ First has other options before a new election is called, and English’s most likely immediate destination is opposition.
As we know National is under corporate control (English accompanied Key to the 2011/12 Bilderberg Group annual meeting) and since then has to deliver what they need to complete their mission out, in total control as you say correctly.
“The Nats’ born to rule sense of entitlement is too strong to tolerate it. National’s coffers are full and they could fight another, probably even nastier, election with MMP itself in the crosshairs”
Interesting. But expecting Lab/NZF govt with Gs giving cross-bench support. Re-election would potentially strengthen nzf n G hands, as social electioneering would stand solid. Gnats must fold. Transition is safe and on-track.
No doubt co-incidental that one of the Nats backers is having a big-wig conference now as well.
:A white-shirted church member at the gate, Eddy Suckling, said it was “just a church conference”.
“There are a few from around the regions that have come in, just locals,” he said.
Suckling was unable to say how many people were inside, but cars were forced to park on the grass surrounding the 200-plus car park alongside the hall.
At least 15 white buses were lined up, as well as more than 20 white vans. Shiny white SUVs and utes filled the adjacent streets.”
Anyone want to make the argument that Bitcoin is actually a good and useful thing?
To me, it looks like the ultimate example of a thing that only has value because a bunch of people delude themselves it has value.
Bitcoin is not like fiat money, which in many ways is backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion.
Even gold and diamonds, while they are way overvalued because people are attracted by shiny things, actually have particular properties that make them useful.
But it looks to me like a bitcoin is nothing more than a certificate of gratuitously wasted computing time and electricity. See this article to illustrate how much goes into this waste.
Bitcoin is not like fiat money, which in many ways is backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion.
And the issuing state’s economy.
BitCoin is a perfect example of why bank money was actually made illegal. What happens, and we know this from history, is that multiple companies start making their own currency that a) isn’t universally accepted and b) creates far too much money for the economy.
Of course, that latter part is happening now as the private banks create huge amounts of money pushing up house prices.
Slow clap for du Plessis-Allan and her unilluminating ‘me me me’ Winston Peters nonsense in the Herald this morning. Served up in vintage, passive-aggressive du Plessis-Allan, sly-smile style.
From the top – “At Auckland airport this week, on my way down to Wellington, ‘ I ‘ bumped into a man from the capital.” Oh really ? Who cares how you get to work dear ?
Story is…….Winston will sit on the cross benches. Without even confidence and supply seemingly. Reasoning being that since first Maori PM’s not on……..then ‘Pfft’ to the flash job, the baubles, the government limos. Like no one else ever used one. I daresay du Plessis-Allan herself has greased her way into a few of those in her time.
You see Winston’s into “legacy”. But because National actually won this MMP election “fair and square” (at least in her FPP figurings), Winston should send English to the Governor-General vaunting a minority government, Wow ! Such “legacy”.
This would be Winston being “uncharacteristically responsible”. He’s going to (and should) cement in the “vacuum” of the last 14 days which [gulp] she and her cohort have snortingly bitched about for all of those 14 days. And the uncertainty will run for three lame duck years or until the sooner (inevitable) snap election.
The truth is that she and hubby Soper (“the man from the capital”?) seek to endorse the National Party’s perennial ‘entitlement’ burden. The National Party has served their vainglory for years now. Here’s hoping Mickey Savage doesn’t risk blowing his Shyte-Meter by passing through it this ‘Bazza ‘n’ Me Hate Winston’ nonsense.
Do these people get angry when a Fast Food giant tells them they have to wait 2 minutes for their order?
Government is not fast food. It should be a well thought through thing. It has ONLY been 2 weeks.
This older generation better never speak again of the young folks need for instant gratification or bemoan their short concentration spans ( both of which are myths).
Do these people get angry when a Fast Food giant tells them they have to wait 2 minutes for their order?
My daughter works at Domino’s, and apparently yes they do. For some people, the fact there are currently over a hundred pizza orders shouldn’t make theirs take any longer to arrive, and the fact that the votes haven’t been counted yet shouldn’t make forming a government take any longer. Like the poor, the stupid will always be with us.
Learning about our new MP’s on Q+A, feeling very proud to have these two women in Parliament.
I didn’t know that Angie, Labours new MP used to run the Womens Refugee in Tauranga, awesome, maybe some of her ideas gained from knowledge in that sector can help NZ with the insipid domestic violence that touches most of our lives.
Both well past their use by dates! Many years ago had the ‘pleasure’ of having a lot to do with Prebble as Minister of Transport. Was not a highlight of my career in the public service.
The report aligns with the American Cancer Society that the IARC report identifies hazards, whereas the regulatory authorities identify risks, and then the regulations required to keep people safe.
The IARC just assesses whether a particular thing might cause cancer in some people if they get a high enough dose of it. They don’t do any work on how high a dose might be needed. The EPA’s reviewed the evidence out there and not found any to suggest glyphosate might be a cancer risk at any dose it’s feasible for a human to encounter in everyday circumstances. Maybe if you were to sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of glyphosate on your Weetbix every morning for 50 years there’s a chance it might give you cancer, but who knows? The IARC certainly doesn’t. Maybe you’d need to eat a kilo a day to have a risk of getting cancer – that’s still “probably carcinogenic” from the IARC’s perspective.
Thing is, all these groups involve humans and agribusiness isn’t the only interest group lobbying them. The organic food industry, Green politicians and anti-glyphosate nutcases aren’t honest brokers in this any more than Monsanto is.
You could defend Round-Up on having a good GHG balance, but “safe-to-health” claims are shit-nuggets through a knowledge-filter. Tests on glyphosphate, may differ from tests on Round-up mix… and endless other hat-tricks to produce poison.
Nothing’s safe for your health if consumed in large enough quantities, up to and including pure water. The relevant question is: at what quantity does it become unsafe? Anti-glyphosate nutters might be convinced there’s no dose small enough to be allowed to enter the sacred temple of their bodies, but the EPA has to take a more objective view.
One Two is an unfortunate pseudo I think for this person. Indicates a low standard of numeracy. And spacing things out like mod poetry and enigmatically saying why to everything – what a waste of space. Tell me something about some subject with a source that might shed some light on our concerns please.
Despite the misgivings raised by responding to the kind of person who puts quotation marks around the word science….
looking at your history commenting when this subject comes up, you’re consistent in defending glyphosate
“Defending” glyphosate? What next? Nigger-lover? There’s nothing to “defend.”
An idiot might ‘think’ that’s the relevant question.
Well this particular “idiot” certainly thinks the EPA’s job in this case is to consider the potential harm of using glyphosate as a pesticide relative to the benefits of using it. If you hold a different view of its job, you’re going to need to elaborate because I seriously have no fucking idea what you’re on about.
The Rod Oram article seems to cover the issue very well – it shows that there is spin and selective interpretation both for aand against. The concept of “net benefit” on an undefined basis that offsets health risks against production increases is scary in hiding components – we should be able to do better. Poisons can have long term effects – some of the orchard poisons that caused long term problems in a Hamilton subdivision also caused reductions in fertility – but they did increase production so that’s all right – ? We should at least know details of both sides of the equation . . . and that may require another government.
The concept of “net benefit” on an undefined basis that offsets health risks against production increases is scary in hiding components – we should be able to do better.
In what way? Using axes and chainsaws involves health risks orders of magnitude higher than the possibility that someone might conceivably suffer cancer at some point in the future if they disregard the safety instructions for using glyphosate over a long period, and yet the forestry industry exists. X-rays are definitely carcinogenic, not probably, and at relatively low doses, and yet we still X-ray people because “net benefit.” It’s an entirely reasonable approach.
* Parscale and his team submitted the email addresses of all known Trump supporters in Facebook’s advertising system. They then got their Facebook profiles, which were sorted by, among other things, ethnicity, gender, and home district.
* Through the Facebook Lookalike Audiences tool, they identified “lookalikes”, i.e. other Facebook users with similar interests and profiles. In addition, they built an external database of, among others, GOP’s registry of approximately 100M Americans.
** By adding large amounts of information for each person in the database, for example, interest according to the person’s site statistics, personality type after prior behaviors such as online purchases, credit card purchases, insurance history, etc. they could segment the people into different categories of voters.
** After that, they created large amounts of overly relevant non-truthful news for each segment of people that were then targeted towards the right people on the right occasions.
** Ex: when Hillary was already embarrassed by the emails, they heaped on even more negative news towards the voters who were doubtful of Hillary. View at Medium.com
* Parscale’s team then bombarded the various profiles with targeted ads or articles through Facebook
* Nothing was left to chance: the team sent out tens of thousands of variations of the ads, which prompted quick acquiescence of what worked (so-called A/B-testing). On the day of the third presidential election debate between Trump and Clinton for example, 175 000 different ads where used.
Despite the ethically dubious goal, Project Alamo was not a secret intelligence operation: Brad Parscale and his co-workers have on multiple occasions openly talked about how they manipulated the American election process and actively undermined democracy.
This is what happens when private companies have free access to your data and you have no control over it.
If it’s on Facebook you have plenty of control over your information.
I’m not on Facebook, Baidu, Twitter, anything like that, and I have no loyalty cards.
But with my regular Google use they still know me pretty well.
If it’s on Facebook you have plenty of control over your information.
[Citation Needed]
And they’re not actually looking at the information. They’re using algorithms to see if one person ‘looks’ like another and then targeting those people with fake news.
I almost start to understand why the US public does not want to relinquish their right to bear arms. With the enemy within, it is difficult to argue against.
Maybe we are all looking at the wrong horizon for direction how to achieve peace and a reasonable trade world. Perhaps the US, being only 241 years old and despite technological advance just behaves like a child throwing a tantrum which we mistook for strength? There are no Homers or Socrates in sight, neither short nor long term.
INTERVIEWER: I mean, what were Facebook, Google and YouTube people actually doing here? Why were they here?
THERESA HONG: They were helping us, you know I mean they were basically our hands-on partners as far as being able to you know, utilize the platform as effectively as possible.
When you’re pumping in millions and millions of dollars to these social platforms, you’re gonna get white club treatment, so they would send people, you know, representatives, to the Project Alamo to ensure that all of our needs were being met
I don't know how many people are on Mueller's list to interview but I'm guessing she made like #17 pic.twitter.com/pN9qjXXId7
Facebook’s response? Hire a right-wing outlet to fact check news stories.
According to a new report from Quartz, Facebook plans to sign conservative magazine Weekly Standard as a fact checking partner. Several outlets currently work as fact checkers for the platform, though all the outlets Facebook has signed thus far have been approved by the Poynter Institute.
Scarey when you think of what they are doing and why. Privacy has become a thing of the past. Those fake ads are designed to get you thinking the way they want. Bastards.
Just watched M.Moore in the 9TH Floor on ex P.M’s.Interesting opinion he has of himself .Seems he still regards himself as a real Labour man’,despite embracing Rogernomics and globalisation.Mentioned that Douglas still regards Labour as ‘our party’ too.Had some interesting quotes from Lange,Churchill and Lloyd George,but the underlying timbre of the discourse appeared to me that he regards himself as a man of destiny that was…unlucky.
Duncan Garner has written an article backing Winston on immigration after his experience shopping in Kmart.
It has provoked a lot of criticism and support on Stuff and twitter.
Bradbury also writes this article
‘Why we urgently need to investigate Chinese influence over National’
‘The shocking reality that the National Party is little more than a front for Chinese business interests demands far more attention than it gained…
New research paper lays bare China’s influence campaign in New Zealand
Concerns raised over political donations and directorships offered to former ministers and relatives
Chinese-owned New Zealand dairy farms said to possibly being used to test advanced missile technology’
Keeps the white honkey’s and the Bro’s wages to a manageable level , eh what old boy?…. keeps them in their place, – all those commie unionists and what not…
Lets the other crowd in to invest and plunder the proceeds back to their home country , eh old sausage?… bit like the bally old English did , … my these foreigners learn fast , don’t they , say what ?
‘Rather than complaining about the racial make up of the people standing in line, the real story is why Kmart has been able to hollow out their staff for self-check outs. The economic system that exploits everyone shopping there is the issue, not the ethnicity of those forced to wait in line.
So what is this column really about?
A multinational retailer gutting worker rights to the same level of the sweat shop made products they import is crowded by poor people and migrants trying to stretch their dollar while a middle class white bloke happy to exploit the low prices brought about by globalisation hisses about immigrants because he has to wait in line with them.
To be honest, that kinda does sum up NZ almost perfectly doesn’t it?’
I think you’ll find that lot ( and others – witness the amount of Indian /Chinese exploiting recent immigrants from their home country and flouting our laws ) are only one section.
What we have here , – is enabled neo liberalism that sets worker against worker and unscrupulous employers reigning supreme.
I get a little sick and tired of wankers using the overdone cliched ‘oppressive white man’ card when every other bastard from every other race takes less than 1.5 seconds to realize an opportunity in order to exploit some other poor bastard regardless of their race .
I usually find the same sort of wankers actively encourage this sort of sanctimonious inverse racism because it suits their surreptitious pecuniary advantage to do so.
And if it was up to me ?
I would cut immigration massively and encourage taking on a much larger quota of refugees instead.
And not necessarily RICH ONES either.
That’d soon sort out all these parsimonious fuckers who like to play the race issue to further their own ends,… AND , – as well as THAT , – legislate an AWARD RATE for wages.
I can hear the wankers , the racists , the opportunist’s and the disgusting treasonous globalist shitters squealing from here as they kick their troughs over in panic….
The fuck with the whole howling , squawking sanctimonious hypocritical lot of them.
AND THAT’S ,… the power of balanced nationalism and taking a fucking pride in ones own country – and not being a doormat for FUCKING WANKERS.
I agree with him about Garner’s racism.
But I doubt we agree on much else.
Steve Cowan, a true leftie, writes.
‘A dedicated cheerleader for the market economy , Garner won’t place the responsibility for New Zealand’s economic and social problems at the door of those who are really responsible- successive governments, both Labour and National, who have pursued economic and social policies that have led inevitably to more poverty and inequality and more division.
We live in a society where market forces and values have been prioritised over basic human needs and aspirations. But Garner would rather scapegoat immigrants instead – even claiming they are responsible for stealing ‘our dreams’.’
Yep , – its the same old blaming the ‘ little people’ instead of looking at the shit – for – brains neo liberal treasonist’s who created the situation we are in.
Meanwhile ,… as the veneer is removed , we see both the privatized media and the globalist National party for the supercilious fuckers they really are.
Relax.
The Jeremy Corbyn effect / awakening is well on its way.
I get that warm fuzzy feeling every time I perceive neo liberal / treasonist scumbags suffering ,… sort of like ,… when you crack your ankle joints in the morning after a refreshing nights sleep,… you know,… that sense of ”oooo ”… mild slight dull ‘cracking ‘ pain but instant mobility and warmth in the joints…
Well ,… expelling neo liberals is much the same … mild pain at first but then a great sense of mobility , warmth and perception of circulation ,… a great feeling of ‘can do ‘ …
And that’s whats in store for us,… transcending the diseased state into the full picture of health once the virus is expelled… a little bit more , a little bit more application ,… and we will be all sitting around wondering what all the fuss was all about and why it took us all so long …
And that’s all neo liberalism ever was : a virus. An extremist far right wing virus concocted by neo NAZI’s and their sympathizers.
‘Foreign direct investment (ownership of companies) in New Zealand increased from $15.7 billion in March 1989 to $110.8 billion at March 2016 – over seven times. As a proportion of the total output of the economy, Gross Domestic Product, it has risen from 22% to 44%. Ownership of overseas companies by New Zealand residents has not grown as fast over that period (five and a half times) so net foreign direct investment has grown over eight times from a net liability of $8.8 billion to $72.8 billion, and as a percentage of GDP multiplied over two times from 13% of GDP to 29%.
Foreign owners controlled 36% of the share market in 2016. In 1989, the figure was 19% and it was estimated to be below 5% in 1986.
At March 2015, they owned an estimated 22% of the value of all equity (shareholdings) and 26% of privately owned equity of enterprises in New Zealand, including shares not listed on the stock exchange.
Foreign investors owned 24% (or $368 billion) of net wealth in New Zealand whose commercial net value totalled $1.5 trillion at March 2015. They owned 27% of private net wealth. This comprised housing, land, other property, plant, equipment and financial assets owned directly or indirectly by households, government, non-profit organisations and foreign investors. New Zealand residents owned a further $215 billion of investments abroad. (These totals exclude shared natural wealth such as rivers, and human and social capital.)’
And I hope the Moanday morning scumbag privatized newsmedia take notice ( as I KNOW they do because the lazy bastards look at these types of blogs to gauge some sort of ‘ public sentiment’ – I worked security at a major NZ TV network and was a fly on the wall, – to their detriment – like a ‘plant’ as it were …)
And I would just like to shove THIS in their faces for all the junior politico wanks who weren’t even born in 1984…
Here’s your fucking neo liberalism for ya,… and your fucking Ruth Richardson and her bullshit NZ Initiative mentality …
…………………………………………………………
Ken Douglas, then president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, recalled in the 1996 documentary Revolution:
The Employment Contracts Act was deliberately intended to individualize the employment relationship. It was a natural outcome of the ideological propaganda of rugged individualism, of self-interest and greed and the appeal to individuals that you could find better for you by climbing over the tops of your colleagues, your mates, and so on. Ruth Richardson was very clear, very blunt, very honest about its purpose. It was to achieve a dramatic lowering of wages, very, very quickly.
……………………………………………………………
There you go ,.. and Bolger the wanker crying his crocodile tears about ‘ neo liberalism was a mistake’… what a wanker.
As if he didn’t see the massive demonstrations at the time.
As if he didn’t realize what this would do to NZ society.
As if he didnt know what this would do to the NZ worker.
As if he didn’t know all the insider trading and the massive profits shifted offshore and the massive profits gained by his colleagues in the NZ Business Roundtable ( now renamed the NZ Initiative ).
What a total hypocritical cunt.
Him playing along with Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson , – BOTH Board of Directors of the Mont Pelerin Society of England.
What a piece of shit.
What a dirty filthy reptilian piece of snake scum.
Crack those ankles and feel good , people,… the awakening is happening.
And your about to be vindicated for every hateful thought you ever had against these wanking scum.
Apparently Canadians and the English own more property. Racism is stupid. Being worried about losing what we have is valid. I wish the 2 were kept separate.
Was interesting listening to the professor on Kim Hill Saturday who’s field is ‘electoral physiology’ talking about studies that show when people vote by postal ballot or internet they vote along more egocentric lines as opposed to actually going to the polling both. http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201861544
Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet
WWF report finds 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to meat-based diets which put huge strain on Earth’s resources
‘The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals, a new report has warned.
The vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species, according to the study from the conservation charity WWF.’
…60% of global biodiversity loss is down to meat-based diets…
That’s your spin on it. The non-spin version is that 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to growing crops to feed stock animals, which certainly is a stupid thing to do but isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet. So, not actually the same thing, but nice propaganda you’ve got there.
He did lead with: “Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet”
Is New Zealand’s pasture-based system included in the figure? If so, it would be even higher. Loss of biodiversity through conversion to pasture is enormous, imo. I don’t get your point, “…isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet” – seems to me, it is! Are you meaning some meat-based diets are serviced by hunting wild game? Wouldn’t be a very big %
Loss of biodiversity through conversion to pasture is enormous, imo. I don’t get your point, “…isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet” – seems to me, it is!
So, pasture and crops both reduce biodiversity. Which means the issue isn’t that a meat-based diet reduces biodiversity, it’s that having 7 billion-plus people on the planet reduces biodiversity.
Meat-eating necessitates a loss of diversity. Plant eating could be managed to increase diversity significantly, at least over that which exists presently. A mixed, managed woodland that’s filled with edible perennials and a sprinkling of annual vegetables would do it 🙂 As to population management, that’s a whole other story.
I expect meat-eating could be managed to increase diversity significantly as well. The problems are that we aren’t doing that either for plants or livestock, and we have way too many people to do it for everyone anyway. Whether people eat meat or not is of little relevance.
Pedantry!!!
🙂
Most lightly populated.
Least populated.
Most unpopulated.
Emptiest of people.
Quietest.
Most thinly populated.
Least peopled.
In any case, “least sparsely populated” means the opposite of what might have been intended (by my reckoning 🙂
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Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
Tuesday, July 23: The Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have reached OMV’s offices on the 20th floor and announced a public protest to evict the Austrian oil giant. ...
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...
The latest Safety of Children in Care report reveals the scale of the challenge facing social workers as they act to better protect children / tamariki and young people / rangatahi in Oranga Tamariki in the system. While the statistics ...
The next round of proposed Arms Act Amendments will further alienate law abiding firearms licence holders from the Government, according to the NZ Outdoors Party. ...
The current law for dividing property on separation is out of date and in need of reform, the Law Commission concludes in its report, Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 – Te Arotake i te Property (Relationships) Act 1976 ...
First National Real Estate Chief Executive Bob Brereton is predicting that homes currently being built as part of a KiwiBuild development, in Te Kauwhata, will not sell and that the Government will be left with 175 homes and few, if ...
A short time ago, kaumatua and kuia representing mana whenua from Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Ākitai Waiohua, and Tainui, walked onto the land that Fletcher Building owns at Ōruarangi Road, known as Ihumātao, and asked protestors to leave. ...
The Greenpeace climb of the Majestic Tower in Wellington is ignorant grandstanding says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). ...
Tuesday, July 23: The two Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have unfurled the first of a series of banners. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer's decision to fire three warning shots to stop a fleeing driver from reversing towards him was not justified. ...
Government figures out today are consistent with what working people have told the Council of Trade Unions in our own survey, that a significant group of working Kiwis are unhappy and dissatisfied at work. Now the Government must act to ...
Deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler has today announced the outcome of an examination of what led Inland Revenue to commission a public poll that included a question about the political leanings of taxpayers. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Tracey Martin for wasting money on a meaningless “translation” of a written press statement into a sign language video, when the vast majority of any deaf or hard-of-hearing persons are perfectly capable of reading ...
Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust (Te Mana) and Tūhourangi Tribal Authority (TTA) have announced that they will jointly negotiate with the Crown for the return of the lands at Waimangu and Otūkapuarangi. These lands have been at the centre ...
Government documents reveal the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) approved a shipment of cattle last month, despite the Government announcing a review into live export five days earlier. ...
“The Government’s second round of firearms reforms has hunters concerned that they will be burdened with onerous and unnecessary compliance and costs,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) are concerned at the statements by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Minister Stuart Nash at the Post-Cabinet Press Conference this afternoon stating that firearm ownership and licences should ...
National’s Climate Change spokesperson Todd Muller told Q+A he has “total confidence” that technology will be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change. “To simply take the New Zealand agriculture sector which is the most emissions efficient ...
PM can’t say whether the Government will meet its KiwiBuild goals. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern couldn’t say whether the Government would meet its goal of building 16-thousand KiwiBuild homes by the end of its first term. She was interviewed on ...
Greenpeace climbers are scaling the outside of the Majestic Centre, the tallest building in Wellington, to reach the headquarters of Austrian oil giant, OMV. ...
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...
Announcement today by the Prime Minister of further gun law reform is being shrouded by fear, so that scrutiny of the law is seen as an affront to the victims of the horror attack in March. The Prime Minister acknowledged ...
Misgivings about the practicality and cost of a firearms register is likely to dominate feedback from rural areas on the second round of proposed Arms Act amendments, Federated Farmers says. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ organisers Sophie Handford and Raven Maeder delivered a clear message to over 600 local government mayors, chairs, chief executives and councillors at the recent LGNZ conference : make climate change a priority. ...
The Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai backs the government’s emphasis on public safety as the driver of its second tranche of amendments to New Zealand’s firearms law, announced today. ...
The growing housing shortage crisis about more than supply and demand- it is about inequity. Recently released analysis by Kiwibank shows that last year’s “severe” shortage of housing has worsened, with the shortfall growing from 100,000 to 130,0000 ...
One of the country’s largest district health boards has a severe shortage of hospital specialists, says the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is joining opposition to possible regulations on the strength of nicotine vaping liquid. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government would certainly benefit from regulations on the strength ...
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) is calling for significant changes to the Zero Carbon Bill with a new analysis using the Government’s preferred modelling indicating that the proposed methane targets are excessive if all other gases go to net zero. ...
Victoria University Feminist Organisation and ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa, in conjunction with the VUW Feminist Law Students, Organise Aotearoa, Fem Force, and with the support of VUW Student Association announced they are sponsoring a march ...
With the Government's firearm buyback scheme starting to draw over 30,000 police man hours away from fighting crime, the safety of law abiding citizens is being compromised. ...
Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch is calling on the sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili to be put on hold pending an approach to the Government by Westland Milk for funding assistance. ...
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa seems intent on ensuring the Government’s vaping legislation will heavily target flavours and nicotine levels – a move that would be completely counterproductive to helping Kiwis quit smoking and achieving ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
Opinion - The gun buyback scheme is working to remove firearms from society and enforcement laws are strong, but creating a meaningful gun registry is also essential, writes Lew Stoddart. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...
Hundreds of people marched to Parliament today calling for reform of New Zealand's abortion laws, as Cabinet prepares to consider a bill that would remove abortion from the Crimes Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The two Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will often be pivotal to the fate of government legislation. The smaller non-Green Senate crossbench ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Australian authorities have been told to stop interfering in the case of the Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun who has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...
The Greens may have achieved their sought-after mainstream credibility, and scored some wins in government, but commentators warn this will not necessarily result in more votes. On the contrary – it might even result in a loss of enthusiasm from ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe supposed end of the 20-year standoff between environmentalists and farmers was announced last week, with the release of the Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on “Action on agricultural emissions”. It was celebrated as an “historic consensus” ...
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 contentGovernment Joseph Nunweek (Spinoff): Jacinda Ardern and bringing the ...
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Questions about political leanings in surveys by Inland Revenue, DOC and Stats NZ were inappropriate and had the potential to undermine political neutrality, a report has found. ...
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says he cannot understand why the previous government ever accepted Ngāpuhi's problematic Tūhoronuku mandate. ...
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...
A nightmarish and near-fatal high-speed pursuit of a New Zealand Chinese family concluded with a judge rejecting the prosecution’s request for hate crime sentencing. Tze Ming Mok discusses why New Zealand’s approach to hate crime is utterly useless.I don’t like ...
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stopped short of committing to a declaration of climate emergency in Parliament, despite again saying she supports such a move. ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University A key element in the success of countering terrorism in Australia has been a series of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...
Almost as soon as it was announced, the Royal Commission tasked with probing the lead-up and response to the terrorist attacks in March attracted criticism, both over the process and its engagement with Muslim groups. Former race relations commissioner Joris ...
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend.News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely ...
Joseph Nunweek joins the adoring throngs gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to watch the New Zealand prime minister. The warm feeling is contagious, but a question hangs in the airThursday, 18 July: a big night for New Zealanders in ...
Open Mike 08/10/2017 
The person responsible for the ad has been sent to their bedroom for further scapegoating. The Green Party is standing by its views that 16-year-olds should be eligible to vote, even as they acknowledge that they shouldn’t have let them ...15 mins ago
My idealistic position on the role of MPs was articulated by Edmund Burke: ‘Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.’read more ...3 hours ago
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled on the pillage of swamp kauri, stating clearly that export was forbidden unless it had been clearly turned into a finished product. But less than a month later, MPI was again approving minimally carved ...6 hours ago
Having spent the last 3 months in these countries and getting some appreciation of their dependence on fossil fuels – oil, gas, coal – one realises how loopy is the idea popular in societies like New Zealand that have negligible ...11 hours ago
I have been unimpressed with Western corporate media coverage of the tensions involving Iran in the Straits of Hormuz. They repeat the line that Iran is the source of current tensions, that it is a major sponsor of terrorism, that ...2 days ago
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Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...3 days ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...3 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...3 days ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...4 days ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...6 days ago
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On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 week ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 week ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...2 days ago
Tuesday, July 23: The Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have reached OMV’s offices on the 20th floor and announced a public protest to evict the Austrian oil giant. ...2 hours ago
Opinion - The gun buyback scheme is working to remove firearms from society and enforcement laws are strong, but creating a meaningful gun registry is also essential, writes Lew Stoddart. ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...3 hours ago
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...5 hours ago
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The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...6 hours ago
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...7 hours ago
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...8 hours ago
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...9 hours ago
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...9 hours ago
Mistakes happen but this one was a biggy, and a lack of proactive correction did not look good for the Government. ...9 hours ago
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...10 hours ago
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...11 hours ago
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...12 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...14 hours ago
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I’ve a $20 bet since March that Trump will be out of the Whitehouse by Christmas.
I read that Muller is now briefing senior officials (unimplicated ones).
Is this a sign that my $20 is safe?
Is there Book on it?
I think your bet is lost. Trump is currently the favourite candidate to win the presidency in 2020. (that said he is the incumbent and we do not know who will be running against him from the Democratic side. He is though a long shot to be out of office by the end of the year. http://www.betfair.com
It was more than nine months from the Saturday Night Massacre to Nixon’s resignation – and we haven’t yet had an equivalent to it in terms of open blatant misconduct for the express purpose of saving his own skin. Firing Comey didn’t come close. These things move slowly. Even if Mueller already has the evidence to put the Chump away for the rest of his life, Christmas is way too soon for anything to have happened.
The NZ First and Green Party caucuses are divided markedly by gender. NZF’s 9 MPs includes 2 women and the GP 8 MPs include 2 men;
NZF MPs:
1 Rt Hon Winston Peters
2 Ron Mark
3 Tracey Martin
4 Fletcher Tabuteau
5 Darroch Ball
6 Clayton Mitchell
7 Mark Patterson
8 Shane Jones
9 Jenny Marcroft
GP MPs:
James Shaw (Wellington Central)
Marama Davidson (Tamaki Makaurau)
Julie Anne Genter (Mt Albert)
Eugenie Sage (Port Hills)
Gareth Hughes (East Coast)
Jan Logie (Mana)
Chlöe Swarbrick (Maungakiekie)
Golriz Ghahraman (Te Atatu)
Half the GP caucus are based in Auckland. The NZF caucus tends to have more links with regions outside Auckland.
NZF could negotiate a coalition with either Nats or Labour, but they could also opt to sit on the cross benches, abstain from confidence and supply votes, and allow the Nats to run a minority government.
Interesting, there is balance to be found there 😀
Hold it Sister: the GP did not win any electoral seats. The way you displayed the two lists is misleading. You seem to suggest that all the NZ F are list and the GP are electoral.
Please correct it.
Say what? the only differences is that the GP list numbers did not copy. They are at the link. But I would need to add each number individually. Is that really necessary?
The NZF numbers copied with the names from a straight copy and paste. Not my fault, and otherwise there is no indication I’m saying the GP MPs are electorate MPs.
I would have thought the point of showing the GP locations/electorates was because of the comment about the number of Ak MPs.
Would the governor General accept a government that could not show that it had 51% support in the house?
My pick is that English would prefer another election to leading a minority government that could be out-voted on anything other than confidence and supply.
The Nats’ born to rule sense of entitlement is too strong to tolerate it. National’s coffers are full and they could fight another, probably even nastier, election with MMP itself in the crosshairs.
National continue to show a disdain for democracy, they’ve not diversified the economy, they’ve gutted crucial areas like health, education and housing whilst selling out nz.
So personally I’d like to see them wear this one with Peters sniping away making them own the damage they’ve caused.
Bill can manage that rockstar economy they’ve been blathering on about so there’s a challenge for the DP acolytes.
Oh yeah, the Rock Star Economy:
“Sell your soul to the company. They’re all waiting there to sell plastic wares…”
It’s not in their hands, though. If Mr. English can’t accept a deal with NZ First (assuming he is even in a position to make one), then NZ First has other options before a new election is called, and English’s most likely immediate destination is opposition.
Ab 100%
I see it this way to.
As we know National is under corporate control (English accompanied Key to the 2011/12 Bilderberg Group annual meeting) and since then has to deliver what they need to complete their mission out, in total control as you say correctly.
“The Nats’ born to rule sense of entitlement is too strong to tolerate it. National’s coffers are full and they could fight another, probably even nastier, election with MMP itself in the crosshairs”
Interesting. But expecting Lab/NZF govt with Gs giving cross-bench support. Re-election would potentially strengthen nzf n G hands, as social electioneering would stand solid. Gnats must fold. Transition is safe and on-track.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/97629437/exclusive-brethren-supreme-leader-bruce-hales-in-nz-to-curb-wicked-behaviour
No doubt co-incidental that one of the Nats backers is having a big-wig conference now as well.
:A white-shirted church member at the gate, Eddy Suckling, said it was “just a church conference”.
“There are a few from around the regions that have come in, just locals,” he said.
Suckling was unable to say how many people were inside, but cars were forced to park on the grass surrounding the 200-plus car park alongside the hall.
At least 15 white buses were lined up, as well as more than 20 white vans. Shiny white SUVs and utes filled the adjacent streets.”
I wonder what Don Brash is up to this weekend
Brash was on Radio live an hour ago with some other right wing nutters.
surely not… lmao 😀
I’m learning all the time, and found this article about difference between a Coalition government and Confidence & Supply one, very informative. However, are there rules within a NZ context which defines what legislation other than budget expenditure that gets passed with C&S?
Anyone want to make the argument that Bitcoin is actually a good and useful thing?
To me, it looks like the ultimate example of a thing that only has value because a bunch of people delude themselves it has value.
Bitcoin is not like fiat money, which in many ways is backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion.
Even gold and diamonds, while they are way overvalued because people are attracted by shiny things, actually have particular properties that make them useful.
But it looks to me like a bitcoin is nothing more than a certificate of gratuitously wasted computing time and electricity. See this article to illustrate how much goes into this waste.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/why-the-biggest-bitcoin-mines-are-in-china
Works if you are a criminal seeking to evade tax, or evade all state scrutiny.
The Chinese government is on to them.
“To me, it looks like the ultimate example of a thing that only has value because a bunch of people delude themselves it has value”
Sounds like it has that in common with the share market to me.
And the issuing state’s economy.
BitCoin is a perfect example of why bank money was actually made illegal. What happens, and we know this from history, is that multiple companies start making their own currency that a) isn’t universally accepted and b) creates far too much money for the economy.
Of course, that latter part is happening now as the private banks create huge amounts of money pushing up house prices.
Worth a read
https://e-tangata.co.nz/news/veronica-tawhai-building-hope-that-there-can-be-change
Awesome wahine toa
I once knew her parents; awesome people and I’m chuffed to read of their daughter. Thanks marty.
Thank’s Marty. That’s a web site I’ll now visit regularly.
Thanks so much for that link. Excellent read and site, now bookmarked etc for the future.
Slow clap for du Plessis-Allan and her unilluminating ‘me me me’ Winston Peters nonsense in the Herald this morning. Served up in vintage, passive-aggressive du Plessis-Allan, sly-smile style.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11930019
From the top – “At Auckland airport this week, on my way down to Wellington, ‘ I ‘ bumped into a man from the capital.” Oh really ? Who cares how you get to work dear ?
Story is…….Winston will sit on the cross benches. Without even confidence and supply seemingly. Reasoning being that since first Maori PM’s not on……..then ‘Pfft’ to the flash job, the baubles, the government limos. Like no one else ever used one. I daresay du Plessis-Allan herself has greased her way into a few of those in her time.
You see Winston’s into “legacy”. But because National actually won this MMP election “fair and square” (at least in her FPP figurings), Winston should send English to the Governor-General vaunting a minority government, Wow ! Such “legacy”.
This would be Winston being “uncharacteristically responsible”. He’s going to (and should) cement in the “vacuum” of the last 14 days which [gulp] she and her cohort have snortingly bitched about for all of those 14 days. And the uncertainty will run for three lame duck years or until the sooner (inevitable) snap election.
The truth is that she and hubby Soper (“the man from the capital”?) seek to endorse the National Party’s perennial ‘entitlement’ burden. The National Party has served their vainglory for years now. Here’s hoping Mickey Savage doesn’t risk blowing his Shyte-Meter by passing through it this ‘Bazza ‘n’ Me Hate Winston’ nonsense.
Do these people get angry when a Fast Food giant tells them they have to wait 2 minutes for their order?
Government is not fast food. It should be a well thought through thing. It has ONLY been 2 weeks.
This older generation better never speak again of the young folks need for instant gratification or bemoan their short concentration spans ( both of which are myths).
Pfffffff
Do these people get angry when a Fast Food giant tells them they have to wait 2 minutes for their order?
My daughter works at Domino’s, and apparently yes they do. For some people, the fact there are currently over a hundred pizza orders shouldn’t make theirs take any longer to arrive, and the fact that the votes haven’t been counted yet shouldn’t make forming a government take any longer. Like the poor, the stupid will always be with us.
Learning about our new MP’s on Q+A, feeling very proud to have these two women in Parliament.
I didn’t know that Angie, Labours new MP used to run the Womens Refugee in Tauranga, awesome, maybe some of her ideas gained from knowledge in that sector can help NZ with the insipid domestic violence that touches most of our lives.
Well done NZ for voting in these two MP’s.
Prebbles last column bemoaning the power of one man. Irony alert anyone?
Prebbles? Or do you mean Rodney Hide’s last column in the Herald today? Hurrah!
Oops. I meant Hide. Of course they are interchangeable.
Both well past their use by dates! Many years ago had the ‘pleasure’ of having a lot to do with Prebble as Minister of Transport. Was not a highlight of my career in the public service.
Good piece by Rod Oram at Newsroom exposing the reprehensible Jacqueline Rowarth and her pro-agribusiness lies and disinformation about Monsanto’s Roundup poison. Thirty pieces of silver, Jacquie? https:// http://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/07/52025/concerns-at-okay-for-roundup-poison.
Rowarth is correct, as per her response in the comments thread of this Sciblogs post linked from Oram’s article:
The report aligns with the American Cancer Society that the IARC report identifies hazards, whereas the regulatory authorities identify risks, and then the regulations required to keep people safe.
The IARC just assesses whether a particular thing might cause cancer in some people if they get a high enough dose of it. They don’t do any work on how high a dose might be needed. The EPA’s reviewed the evidence out there and not found any to suggest glyphosate might be a cancer risk at any dose it’s feasible for a human to encounter in everyday circumstances. Maybe if you were to sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of glyphosate on your Weetbix every morning for 50 years there’s a chance it might give you cancer, but who knows? The IARC certainly doesn’t. Maybe you’d need to eat a kilo a day to have a risk of getting cancer – that’s still “probably carcinogenic” from the IARC’s perspective.
Thing is, all these groups involve humans and agribusiness isn’t the only interest group lobbying them. The organic food industry, Green politicians and anti-glyphosate nutcases aren’t honest brokers in this any more than Monsanto is.
I suspect if you sprinkled a couple of spoonfuls of roundup on your weetbix every morning you would risk ending up in organ failure.
Don’t try this at home, kids!
You could defend Round-Up on having a good GHG balance, but “safe-to-health” claims are shit-nuggets through a knowledge-filter. Tests on glyphosphate, may differ from tests on Round-up mix… and endless other hat-tricks to produce poison.
“You could defend Round-Up on having a good GHG balance”
How so?
Nothing’s safe for your health if consumed in large enough quantities, up to and including pure water. The relevant question is: at what quantity does it become unsafe? Anti-glyphosate nutters might be convinced there’s no dose small enough to be allowed to enter the sacred temple of their bodies, but the EPA has to take a more objective view.
An idiot might ‘think’ that’s the relevant question..
But it isn’t!
Can you figure out what is?
PS, looking at your history commenting when this subject comes up, you’re consistent in defending glyphosate
I would suggest you spend some more time looking into the revolving door, before citing the EPA
Widen the focus and stop pretending you understand the relevant ‘science’…you do not
Citing?
😆
You don’t need to cite the EPA to understand the relationship between dosage and toxicity.
Please don’t bother answering this, you wretched fool.
No amygdala reference…
Dosage and toxity is not the question either
It’s incorrect framing of a relevant question
You’re a fan of censorship…well done..
I’m not!
Five sentences. Nothing substantive imparted.
One Two is an unfortunate pseudo I think for this person. Indicates a low standard of numeracy. And spacing things out like mod poetry and enigmatically saying why to everything – what a waste of space. Tell me something about some subject with a source that might shed some light on our concerns please.
Despite the misgivings raised by responding to the kind of person who puts quotation marks around the word science….
looking at your history commenting when this subject comes up, you’re consistent in defending glyphosate
“Defending” glyphosate? What next? Nigger-lover? There’s nothing to “defend.”
An idiot might ‘think’ that’s the relevant question.
Well this particular “idiot” certainly thinks the EPA’s job in this case is to consider the potential harm of using glyphosate as a pesticide relative to the benefits of using it. If you hold a different view of its job, you’re going to need to elaborate because I seriously have no fucking idea what you’re on about.
The Rod Oram article seems to cover the issue very well – it shows that there is spin and selective interpretation both for aand against. The concept of “net benefit” on an undefined basis that offsets health risks against production increases is scary in hiding components – we should be able to do better. Poisons can have long term effects – some of the orchard poisons that caused long term problems in a Hamilton subdivision also caused reductions in fertility – but they did increase production so that’s all right – ? We should at least know details of both sides of the equation . . . and that may require another government.
Rod Oram writing a lot of good stuff at Newroom.
The concept of “net benefit” on an undefined basis that offsets health risks against production increases is scary in hiding components – we should be able to do better.
In what way? Using axes and chainsaws involves health risks orders of magnitude higher than the possibility that someone might conceivably suffer cancer at some point in the future if they disregard the safety instructions for using glyphosate over a long period, and yet the forestry industry exists. X-rays are definitely carcinogenic, not probably, and at relatively low doses, and yet we still X-ray people because “net benefit.” It’s an entirely reasonable approach.
Trump’s fake news factory
This is what happens when private companies have free access to your data and you have no control over it.
If it’s on Facebook you have plenty of control over your information.
I’m not on Facebook, Baidu, Twitter, anything like that, and I have no loyalty cards.
But with my regular Google use they still know me pretty well.
[Citation Needed]
And they’re not actually looking at the information. They’re using algorithms to see if one person ‘looks’ like another and then targeting those people with fake news.
Dont forget push polling of which Joyce was quite the fan…
Push polling type question… would you still support Bill English if he was homosexual… type of thing
I almost start to understand why the US public does not want to relinquish their right to bear arms. With the enemy within, it is difficult to argue against.
Yeah, the next govt wants budget to counter lobby, eg. Front- n cross-benches with body-doubles n social PR unit.
Maybe we are all looking at the wrong horizon for direction how to achieve peace and a reasonable trade world. Perhaps the US, being only 241 years old and despite technological advance just behaves like a child throwing a tantrum which we mistook for strength? There are no Homers or Socrates in sight, neither short nor long term.
Draco didn’t National worms follow the same plan over this election? I don’t follow Facebook but I hear that it was happening.
Probably but I haven’t seen anything on it.
Trumps digital leader –
(around 2:35 into the video clip)
INTERVIEWER: I mean, what were Facebook, Google and YouTube people actually doing here? Why were they here?
THERESA HONG: They were helping us, you know I mean they were basically our hands-on partners as far as being able to you know, utilize the platform as effectively as possible.
When you’re pumping in millions and millions of dollars to these social platforms, you’re gonna get white club treatment, so they would send people, you know, representatives, to the Project Alamo to ensure that all of our needs were being met
Another reason to ditch Facebook.
Facebook helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency with fake Russian accounts and ads from the country that were pro-Trump, undermined the Clinton campaign, stoked arguments about social issues, and shared fake news stories.
The platform also embedded Republican employees with the Trump campaign to assist with ad technology, according to a new 60 Minutes interview with the campaign’s digital media director.
Facebook’s response? Hire a right-wing outlet to fact check news stories.
According to a new report from Quartz, Facebook plans to sign conservative magazine Weekly Standard as a fact checking partner. Several outlets currently work as fact checkers for the platform, though all the outlets Facebook has signed thus far have been approved by the Poynter Institute.
https://thinkprogress.org/facebook-weekly-standard-fact-check-8dfc1cba987c/
Scarey when you think of what they are doing and why. Privacy has become a thing of the past. Those fake ads are designed to get you thinking the way they want. Bastards.
Just watched M.Moore in the 9TH Floor on ex P.M’s.Interesting opinion he has of himself .Seems he still regards himself as a real Labour man’,despite embracing Rogernomics and globalisation.Mentioned that Douglas still regards Labour as ‘our party’ too.Had some interesting quotes from Lange,Churchill and Lloyd George,but the underlying timbre of the discourse appeared to me that he regards himself as a man of destiny that was…unlucky.
Douglas Moore Goff Prebble Lange…
Where are they now… and after finishing politics
Who are serving society and who went on to serve themselves…
Apparently Pebble was on the telly this morning being asked for his reckons 🙄
Good god. Why dont they just quit pretending and call Alan Gibbs
lol. I’d have less of a problem if they were balancing it with left wing voices.
Josie Pagani almost sounded left wing on telly the other day
NOoooooo. Was that by comparison to who else was on?
Probably… was she on with Mr Mapp? I cannot recall cos I didnt watch for long.
Maybe Nandor needs to some writing/appearances?
He would be a very interesting political commentator!
I believe Lange is deceased as for the others …
Just dead inside?
Moore et al = delusional.
Probably because they can feel the chill winds of time blowing and can see the Grim Reaper at Monty Python’s dinner party : “It was neoliberalism!”
Is Kelvin Davis still getting political advice from Josi Pagani? I hope not.
Duncan Garner has written an article backing Winston on immigration after his experience shopping in Kmart.
It has provoked a lot of criticism and support on Stuff and twitter.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/97625919/duncan-garner-dear-nz-how-do-we-want-to-look-in-20-years
https://twitter.com/DuncanGarnerNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Bomber Bradbury’s analysis is excellent.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/10/08/why-duncan-garners-k-mart-checkout-metaphor-is-actually-delightfully-perfect/
Bradbury also writes this article
‘Why we urgently need to investigate Chinese influence over National’
‘The shocking reality that the National Party is little more than a front for Chinese business interests demands far more attention than it gained…
New research paper lays bare China’s influence campaign in New Zealand
Concerns raised over political donations and directorships offered to former ministers and relatives
Chinese-owned New Zealand dairy farms said to possibly being used to test advanced missile technology’
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/10/06/why-we-urgently-need-to-investigate-chinese-influence-over-national/
Garners a racist fuck wit.
Does Garner ever look around and think look at all those fucking Germans/Swedes/Russians?Polish etc.
No, he doesn’t because they’re White, Garners sees Black and Brown faces and automatically thinks Foreigner, not New Zealanders
He’s a thick as pig shit rat-eyed racist arsehole.
I agree with you.
And I think New Zealand needs a mature discussion about immigration, identity and infrastructure.
Gotta love those cheap waged imports , eh ?
Keeps the white honkey’s and the Bro’s wages to a manageable level , eh what old boy?…. keeps them in their place, – all those commie unionists and what not…
Lets the other crowd in to invest and plunder the proceeds back to their home country , eh old sausage?… bit like the bally old English did , … my these foreigners learn fast , don’t they , say what ?
Martin Bradbury’s analysis of Garner’s piece.
‘Rather than complaining about the racial make up of the people standing in line, the real story is why Kmart has been able to hollow out their staff for self-check outs. The economic system that exploits everyone shopping there is the issue, not the ethnicity of those forced to wait in line.
So what is this column really about?
A multinational retailer gutting worker rights to the same level of the sweat shop made products they import is crowded by poor people and migrants trying to stretch their dollar while a middle class white bloke happy to exploit the low prices brought about by globalisation hisses about immigrants because he has to wait in line with them.
To be honest, that kinda does sum up NZ almost perfectly doesn’t it?’
… ” middle class white bloke ” …
I think you’ll find that lot ( and others – witness the amount of Indian /Chinese exploiting recent immigrants from their home country and flouting our laws ) are only one section.
What we have here , – is enabled neo liberalism that sets worker against worker and unscrupulous employers reigning supreme.
I get a little sick and tired of wankers using the overdone cliched ‘oppressive white man’ card when every other bastard from every other race takes less than 1.5 seconds to realize an opportunity in order to exploit some other poor bastard regardless of their race .
I usually find the same sort of wankers actively encourage this sort of sanctimonious inverse racism because it suits their surreptitious pecuniary advantage to do so.
And if it was up to me ?
I would cut immigration massively and encourage taking on a much larger quota of refugees instead.
And not necessarily RICH ONES either.
That’d soon sort out all these parsimonious fuckers who like to play the race issue to further their own ends,… AND , – as well as THAT , – legislate an AWARD RATE for wages.
I can hear the wankers , the racists , the opportunist’s and the disgusting treasonous globalist shitters squealing from here as they kick their troughs over in panic….
The fuck with the whole howling , squawking sanctimonious hypocritical lot of them.
AND THAT’S ,… the power of balanced nationalism and taking a fucking pride in ones own country – and not being a doormat for FUCKING WANKERS.
Totally agree.
I would be very wary about agreeing with BM if I were you….
I agree with him about Garner’s racism.
But I doubt we agree on much else.
Steve Cowan, a true leftie, writes.
‘A dedicated cheerleader for the market economy , Garner won’t place the responsibility for New Zealand’s economic and social problems at the door of those who are really responsible- successive governments, both Labour and National, who have pursued economic and social policies that have led inevitably to more poverty and inequality and more division.
We live in a society where market forces and values have been prioritised over basic human needs and aspirations. But Garner would rather scapegoat immigrants instead – even claiming they are responsible for stealing ‘our dreams’.’
Yep , – its the same old blaming the ‘ little people’ instead of looking at the shit – for – brains neo liberal treasonist’s who created the situation we are in.
Meanwhile ,… as the veneer is removed , we see both the privatized media and the globalist National party for the supercilious fuckers they really are.
Relax.
The Jeremy Corbyn effect / awakening is well on its way.
That what I hope…
🙂
Me too…. but as I’ve said time and again….
Time is on our/ your / my side.
And that’s just what the far right neo liberal hates to hear.
They know its true.
I like your positive thoughts.
😊
I get that warm fuzzy feeling every time I perceive neo liberal / treasonist scumbags suffering ,… sort of like ,… when you crack your ankle joints in the morning after a refreshing nights sleep,… you know,… that sense of ”oooo ”… mild slight dull ‘cracking ‘ pain but instant mobility and warmth in the joints…
Well ,… expelling neo liberals is much the same … mild pain at first but then a great sense of mobility , warmth and perception of circulation ,… a great feeling of ‘can do ‘ …
And that’s whats in store for us,… transcending the diseased state into the full picture of health once the virus is expelled… a little bit more , a little bit more application ,… and we will be all sitting around wondering what all the fuss was all about and why it took us all so long …
And that’s all neo liberalism ever was : a virus. An extremist far right wing virus concocted by neo NAZI’s and their sympathizers.
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
From CAFCA’s website.
‘Foreign direct investment (ownership of companies) in New Zealand increased from $15.7 billion in March 1989 to $110.8 billion at March 2016 – over seven times. As a proportion of the total output of the economy, Gross Domestic Product, it has risen from 22% to 44%. Ownership of overseas companies by New Zealand residents has not grown as fast over that period (five and a half times) so net foreign direct investment has grown over eight times from a net liability of $8.8 billion to $72.8 billion, and as a percentage of GDP multiplied over two times from 13% of GDP to 29%.
Foreign owners controlled 36% of the share market in 2016. In 1989, the figure was 19% and it was estimated to be below 5% in 1986.
At March 2015, they owned an estimated 22% of the value of all equity (shareholdings) and 26% of privately owned equity of enterprises in New Zealand, including shares not listed on the stock exchange.
Foreign investors owned 24% (or $368 billion) of net wealth in New Zealand whose commercial net value totalled $1.5 trillion at March 2015. They owned 27% of private net wealth. This comprised housing, land, other property, plant, equipment and financial assets owned directly or indirectly by households, government, non-profit organisations and foreign investors. New Zealand residents owned a further $215 billion of investments abroad. (These totals exclude shared natural wealth such as rivers, and human and social capital.)’
Brilliant !
And I hope the Moanday morning scumbag privatized newsmedia take notice ( as I KNOW they do because the lazy bastards look at these types of blogs to gauge some sort of ‘ public sentiment’ – I worked security at a major NZ TV network and was a fly on the wall, – to their detriment – like a ‘plant’ as it were …)
And I would just like to shove THIS in their faces for all the junior politico wanks who weren’t even born in 1984…
Here’s your fucking neo liberalism for ya,… and your fucking Ruth Richardson and her bullshit NZ Initiative mentality …
…………………………………………………………
Ken Douglas, then president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, recalled in the 1996 documentary Revolution:
The Employment Contracts Act was deliberately intended to individualize the employment relationship. It was a natural outcome of the ideological propaganda of rugged individualism, of self-interest and greed and the appeal to individuals that you could find better for you by climbing over the tops of your colleagues, your mates, and so on. Ruth Richardson was very clear, very blunt, very honest about its purpose. It was to achieve a dramatic lowering of wages, very, very quickly.
……………………………………………………………
There you go ,.. and Bolger the wanker crying his crocodile tears about ‘ neo liberalism was a mistake’… what a wanker.
As if he didn’t see the massive demonstrations at the time.
As if he didn’t realize what this would do to NZ society.
As if he didnt know what this would do to the NZ worker.
As if he didn’t know all the insider trading and the massive profits shifted offshore and the massive profits gained by his colleagues in the NZ Business Roundtable ( now renamed the NZ Initiative ).
What a total hypocritical cunt.
Him playing along with Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson , – BOTH Board of Directors of the Mont Pelerin Society of England.
What a piece of shit.
What a dirty filthy reptilian piece of snake scum.
Crack those ankles and feel good , people,… the awakening is happening.
And your about to be vindicated for every hateful thought you ever had against these wanking scum.
Apparently Canadians and the English own more property. Racism is stupid. Being worried about losing what we have is valid. I wish the 2 were kept separate.
I agree.
We urgently need a mature discussion about immigration, identity and infrastructure.
However, it just may be too late.
Hi weka,
I’ve sent you a message.
School holidays.
I’m bored ! ,… is the cry … send em along for a little bit of this…. or then again, perhaps not.
Alice Cooper – School’s Out (from Alice Cooper: Trashes The World …
TransCanada Corp’s Energy East tarsands pipeline has been canned and both the Keystone XL and Trans Mountain projects are on shakey ground.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/10/05/news/disappointment-and-delight-mark-death-energy-east-pipeline
http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/energy-east-death-pins-oil-sands-hopes-on-two-troubled-pipelines
http://www1.aer.ca/ST98/figures/transporation_facilities/figure_9_2.jpg
Was interesting listening to the professor on Kim Hill Saturday who’s field is ‘electoral physiology’ talking about studies that show when people vote by postal ballot or internet they vote along more egocentric lines as opposed to actually going to the polling both.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201861544
Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet
WWF report finds 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to meat-based diets which put huge strain on Earth’s resources
‘The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals, a new report has warned.
The vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species, according to the study from the conservation charity WWF.’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/05/vast-animal-feed-crops-meat-needs-destroying-planet
…60% of global biodiversity loss is down to meat-based diets…
That’s your spin on it. The non-spin version is that 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to growing crops to feed stock animals, which certainly is a stupid thing to do but isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet. So, not actually the same thing, but nice propaganda you’ve got there.
He did lead with: “Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet”
Is New Zealand’s pasture-based system included in the figure? If so, it would be even higher. Loss of biodiversity through conversion to pasture is enormous, imo. I don’t get your point, “…isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet” – seems to me, it is! Are you meaning some meat-based diets are serviced by hunting wild game? Wouldn’t be a very big %
Loss of biodiversity through conversion to pasture is enormous, imo. I don’t get your point, “…isn’t inherent to a meat-based diet” – seems to me, it is!
So, pasture and crops both reduce biodiversity. Which means the issue isn’t that a meat-based diet reduces biodiversity, it’s that having 7 billion-plus people on the planet reduces biodiversity.
Meat-eating necessitates a loss of diversity. Plant eating could be managed to increase diversity significantly, at least over that which exists presently. A mixed, managed woodland that’s filled with edible perennials and a sprinkling of annual vegetables would do it 🙂 As to population management, that’s a whole other story.
I expect meat-eating could be managed to increase diversity significantly as well. The problems are that we aren’t doing that either for plants or livestock, and we have way too many people to do it for everyone anyway. Whether people eat meat or not is of little relevance.
Did you read the intro – the report said it and ed repeated it – that is the opposite of spin unlike your spin which actually is spin
the report said it and ed repeated it
Well, yes. That’s “your” spin as in “you vegetarian/vegan activists,” of which the Guardian is one as well as Ed.
Ok got it ,didn’t realise it was inclusive. The author of the article may be in, not sure about the media outlet as a whole though.
Edit yesterday’s news sorry now back to today…
24/7, it’s like Huxley, Time Must Have a Stop.
Map pron.
http://brilliantmaps.com/population-circle/
Interesting.
Inside the circle you will also find:
“The least sparsely populated country on earth (Mongolia)”
?
Why the “?” ? A quick google of “country population density ranking” comes up with this.
https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=21000
That the worst effects of climate change are expected in a broad belt right across the most densely populated part of that circle is fukn scary.
Perhaps I’m denser than usual this morning, but shouldn’t it be “The most sparsely populated…?
I wouldn’t say denser. Suffering from an excess of pedantry, perhaps.
Pedantry!!!
🙂
Most lightly populated.
Least populated.
Most unpopulated.
Emptiest of people.
Quietest.
Most thinly populated.
Least peopled.
In any case, “least sparsely populated” means the opposite of what might have been intended (by my reckoning 🙂
I love pedantry and Robert’s quite correct. Most sparsely.
Asian are good in the lower back – but every thing sounds like fear-porn to me 9-)