The prudence of the banks is heartening on one level – we need the major banks to stay strong through any economic downturn that may eventuate.
That strength was a blessing for Australasia during the Global Financial Crisis.
But its also a little worrying to consider just what they are bracing for.
Do they see a significant property market correction coming? There’s no shortage of commentators and economists who have delivered similar warnings.
A long range weather forecast is one thing, watching the biggest ships the sea batten down for a storm is another thing altogether.
The fact is that New Zealand is highly vulnerable to any world economic slowdown. Our government debt has skyrocketed since Key and his crew have taken over. It’s over $120 billion. You can watch it grow here. In addition our private debt has soared. We Kiwis are slaves to mortgages, rent and credit cards.
Why isn’t big media informing us about what’s going on with the world’s economy? Are the owners and drivers of our media that shallow, that bound to their class interests, that they can’t bear to tell the truth?
Have we learnt nothing from 2007/8? Don’t trust big media to educate you. Do it yourself, check out some of the links in this post and learn about what’s about what’s going to happen.
Then buckle up, people, it’s going to be a rough landing.
There seems to be rumbling coming from the World Economy. NZ high against the pound etc. And why has Putin “ordered” Russians home? Why are our Banks preparing to cover themselves?
I don’t know because I am an Economic Illiterate.
@Ianmac – the banks have lent too much foreign money and some of the lending is fraudulent or over valued. For example with the SHA zoned by the government, overnight the land was worth millions more. Then the owners sold for those millions more and the banks lent on the new values. However it was the same land, and the same land has no or few houses on it years later. So the bank lending was always reliant on development, development is reliant on more people living there and more people living there and buying houses is reliant on them having secure jobs and wealth…
The government never got around to putting legislation and investment in place to provide more secure jobs and wealth for enough people …. to pay the debts for the houses… that the bank lent on.
Under neoliberalism that opposite is happening, less jobs for more people… less secure wealth… Executives are given short term incentives to save money to get their bonuses… easiest way is to cut jobs, but long term the company will grind to a halt because without investment in quality people then businesses go under.
Thanks Save NZ. So the Bank positioning is to bank against the “grinding to a halt.” Uggh! The withdrawl of Government funding to essential services is another alarm bell. Key/Joyce/English cannot warn us as this would be an admission of defeat.
Judith Collins is not fit to be an MP let alone a minister of the Crown. Her latest brainfart is unacceptable and she should be removed from office immediately.
agreed – she is an utter disgrace and shows her very limited thinking capacity. Typical lazy gnat – blame parents for child poverty –
“I don’t just see monetary poverty,” she said. “I see a poverty of ideas, a poverty of parental responsibility, a poverty of love, a poverty of caring.Ms Collins then said that in New Zealand there was money available to everyone who needed it. “I can tell you that it’s not just a lack of money, it’s primarily a lack of responsibility – I know it’s not PC – but, you know, that’s just me.”
yep the dirty politics queen, friend to the scum, sweet talker to the rwnjs – a disgusting person and reason enough to work hard and replace this govt – collins is not fit for public office.
She and her brethren are dodging the real issue(s) all the time now.
One law for all …. you’d think with all of the bs about the Nat’s being responsible “managers” they would of been on top of Tax Evasion?
Here’s a report backed up with evidence … $1.24 billion of tax was evaded in 2014, while just $33.55 million were cases for fraud were for welfare payments.
Thought she was talking about the national government?
“I don’t just see monetary poverty,” she said. “I see a poverty of ideas, a poverty of parental responsibility, a poverty of love, a poverty of caring.Ms Collins then said that in New Zealand there was money available to everyone who needed it. “I can tell you that it’s not just a lack of money, it’s primarily a lack of responsibility – I know it’s not PC – but, you know, that’s just me.”
Nah, keep her in the limelight as it’s very important for the people to see the calibre of a nat senior minister sooo important to this regime that she is still around after her many indiscretions.
I Prefer Transcendence; if in fact we are nothing we are everything, to remember the Self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things……
“Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”
“My proudest moment here wasn’t when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No. It was a young Greek guy, first job in the country, hardly spoke a word of English, but he came to me and he went ‘Mr. Brent, will you be the Godfather to my child?’. Didn’t happen in the end. We had to let him go, he was rubbish. He was rubbish.”
Who exactly writes these ghastly, politically servile “news” bulletins
for the likes of Daniel Faitaua to uncomprehendingly recite to camera? Breakfast Television 1, Thursday 13 October 2016
Anyone bored enough or unfortunate enough to have been watching TV1 at 7 o’clock this morning would have witnessed the pleasant but vacuous newsreader Daniel Faitaua blankly, dutifully, reading out a little propaganda nugget which might well have been written for him by the Saudi Arabian or Turkish Foreign Ministries or the U.S. State Department:
The Syrian regime’s Russian-backed ASSAULT on Aleppo CONTINUES.”
At 7:30 a.m. Faitaua was back at it, blandly reading: “the devastating attack by the Russian-backed Syrian regime CONTINUES…”
I might have missed it, but I can remember no occasion when any TV1 newsreader ever recited the following words in 2014: “The Israeli regime’s U.S.-backed ASSAULT on Gaza CONTINUES. … the devastating attack by the U.S.-backed Israeli regime CONTINUES…”
Wait – has Hamas killed tens of thousands of Israelis in the last year (some by beheading, burning and drowning, then putting it up on the internet), just like ISIS has killed tens of thousands of Syrians in the last year (some by beheading, burning and drowning, then putting it up on the internet)?
Or are you just an idiot?
NB Israel took the land of the Palestinians and ethnically cleansed it. Israel is the illegal occupying force.
You won’t hear that because the US is not bombing Gaza and never has, whereas the Russians are actually currently bombing Aleppo. Not hard to figure out, except perhaps for a Russian apologist.
Wayne Mapp: “the US is not bombing Gaza and never has”
(1) Israel only carries out its periodic carpet-bombing campaigns / massacres in Gaza (and Lebanon and the West Bank) when it’s sure it will receive a tacit Green Light from the US.
(2) Most of the weaponry deployed by Israel in these massacres is either US-manufactured or bought with the billions in US aid to Israel.
For example, in their report ” “Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza”, Human Rights Watch found that the white phosphorus shells repeatedly and indiscriminately fired by the IDF over densely populated neighbourhoods in Gaza during 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead were entirely US-manufactured.
More broadly, leading Human Rights groups have concluded that Israel committed a series of War Crimes (based on the definition under International Law) in its regular “operations” against Gaza over the last decade. And yet – despite US law prohibiting military assistance to countries that engage in human rights violations – each year, the US Govt approves more than $3 billion in new weaponry and military financing for Israel.
In just one recent year, for instance, this included F-35 stealth fighters, 14,500 kits to upgrade “dumb” bombs into precision-guided munitions, over 12,000 unguided bombs, over 3,000 hellfire missiles and 50 Super Penetrator “bunker buster” bombs, designed to hit targets underground.
Basically, each time the IDF commit yet another massacre of civilians, they have their weaponry and munitions fully replenished by the US.
Maybe the US wants a war with Russia as bravado to prove to the world they are still relevant after getting no where in the middle east? But what about China and North Korea? So many countries to invade, so little victory so far.. add on Mexico to invade if Trump gets in.
Yep they are coming for everything in a last ditch orgy of excess – last chance for a while to accumulate so they are digging deep.
“The production and consumption of natural Andean and Amazonian ancestral products in Peru is threatened by the “biopiracy” of foreign companies who have filed over 11,690 patents for the domestic produce of the region, effectively poaching the natural heritage of the country. The resources are said to be rich in nutrients and vitamins and range from those with anti-aging properties to those that act as natural aphrodisiacs.
Small farmers could be among those worst affected if foreign companies obtain the patents. “Campesinos have been guardians of seeds and diversity generation after generation, from our ancestors to our fathers we have inherited the seeds,” said Director of the National Association of Ecological Products of Peru Moises Quispe.
“We campesinos are very conscious about it. These seeds are part of our lives, and if there’s a new owner who patents them for their own economic interests, it’s a very worrying situation.””
The same old, same old only comes from the RWNJs that want to keep us the way we are. In fact, National seems to want to take us back to the 15th century and feudalism.
Did you know that the RWNJs in the 19th and 20th centuries were trying to make us more British than the British? The model that they wanted to copy was the failed aristocracy.
Yes, once inflation is taken into account. Hell, Adam Smith reckons there was one lord who could have dined 30, 000 lords and ladies at his dinner table.
Of course, he did have the same poverty levels in the majority of people that National has as well.
They spent their surpluses on Wars.
Wars paid for by taxing peasants and serfs.
I know this wasn’t done with cash, rather produce, free labour etc…but its the same difference, it’s ‘surplus’ being diverted, while the welfare needs of the peasants are ignored.
I was kind-of hoping for Trump to run a stronger case against Hillary.
I was expecting that he would be far superior in the debates, and she would win the electoral college largely through Democrat Party superior vote-collecting capacity.
But putting a misogynist up against a feminist has gone badly.
Trump is beginning to look like the best Democratic Party renewal programme for the Senate that we have seen for many, many years.
Yes, he has also ‘renewed’ the republican party by sending many of the neo-con members back to their original political allies in the democratic party.
The actual paper in question does not even go into gender in grammatical terms at all. Most people master Genders meaning in the real world during pre-school, others conduct ‘serious’ academic research on the subject in higher education.
‘The second is the fact that, usually, sex and gender come together in the way that is expected, I.e. the fact that most females are women and most males are men needs to be explained.’
or
‘It will be concluded that, even in our postmodern world with its technological opportunities the division into the two sexes is extraordinarily persistent’
One can quite vividly see the authors of these statement struggling with the fact that words actually have commonly held meaning (Something routinely denied by postmodern literature).
“Sex” is clearly a 3 letter word if you can count. I don’t seem to have the context for that joke, probably its not a funny one (in case its hilarious please explain it).
… the fact that most females are women and most males are men needs to be explained.
It’s the fact that people who can’t write are able to work as academics that needs to be explained. The above doesn’t get any less funny if it’s written correctly as “most women are female and most men are male.”
That is not an equivalent statement though, correct English though it may be. This may have important implications for what pressing question the author of those words is puzzled about.
Kim Hill is a breath of fresh air on RNZ’s Morning Report. This morning’s treasure was the interview with Judith Collins. Kim started by handing the Minister a shovel, then passed over replacements ones as Collins dug herself ever more deeply into the hole of her own making. The coup was letting the Minister ventilate non-stop at length then advising listeners where Judith Collins’ credibility could be checked.
“…Since the financial crisis in 2008, people have been fleeing the centre-ground across the Western political system and the political establishment are yet to confront this with any real, substantive solutions. Whether it is Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in America, Jeremy Corbyn and the historic Brexit vote or the rise of the far-right in Europe – more and more people are fleeing an intellectually and morally bankrupt centre-ground.
Votes are gushing to the political fringes because since the financial crash, establishment politicians have failed to come up with any meaningful solutions to the problems that ordinary working people face every single day. Politicians on both the centre-left and the centre-right across the West have failed to make neoliberalism and globalisation work for the masses.”
Gordon Campbell presents another excellent piece on the current political landscape…..where is the alternative, and why have all parties failed to construct and present one in the 8 years post GFC, let alone the past three decades??
Top level Democratic strategist emails show understanding of and complicity with producing “an unaware and compliant citizenry.
But apparently the “compliance” of the citizenry is fading and it is a “problem” that “demands some serious, serious thinking.”
Thanks go to wikileaks and Julian Assange
How does this get handled in the general? Secretary Clinton is not an entertainer, and not a celebrity in the Trump, Kardashian mold; what can she do to offset this? I’m certain the poll-directed insiders are sure things will default to policy as soon as the conventions are over, but I think not. And as I’ve mentioned, we’ve all been quite content to demean government, drop civics and in general conspire to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry. The unawareness remains strong but compliance is obviously fading rapidly. This problem demands some serious, serious thinking – and not just poll driven, demographically-inspired messaging.
Actually, the full email reads like something you or I might have written – sort of a “told you so” commentary on the situation.
It opens:
Well, we all thought the big problem for our US democracy was Citizens United/Koch Brothers big money in politics. Silly us; turns out that money isn’t all that important if you can conflate entertainment with the electoral process.
Talking with a friend who is being evicted from their rental property as the Chinese landlords are bringing their parents over to live in nz. They were quite upfront with their plan.
The children live here and are nz residents.
The grandparents will be the babysitters for the grandchildren.
Parents are currently 54 and 55 years old.
The parents children are both working and will be supporting their parents.
At the ten year mark both parents will be applying for national super.
This, is fundamentally wrong. The parents are loaded, and will be complying with the requirement for funding to get the parental category visa.
If they have the funds to apply for the parental category visa, why should they be able to claim national super?
Easiest way to remove that ability is to simply state that people who were granted residency under parental category are ineligible for national super. Simple and effective.
Easiest way to remove that ability is to simply state that people who were granted residency under parental category are ineligible for national super. Simple and effective.
and when they become NZ citizens, what then?
Do you suggest that this category of NZ residents also be denied the vote?
And of course, all this is simply micro-managing a much bigger problem.
It is time to drive down immigration numbers by 90% plus, as Winston Peters suggested.
This, is fundamentally wrong. The parents are loaded, and will be complying with the requirement for funding to get the parental category visa.
Hey here’s a bright idea that the Left can raise: means testing NZ Super.
“Hey here’s a bright idea that the Left can raise: means testing NZ Super”.
That would really piss off Jim Anderton, wouldn’t it?
He was collecting it when he was getting a ministerial salary. The traditional “I’m entitled” attitude of his class. I wonder if Michael Cullen collects it?
At least Bob Jones never applied for it and tells off wealthy people who do claim it.
CV
Just how strange is it for you being; the token Asian in NZ First? I don’t know if you’ve formally joined the party yet, but you certainly parrot their positions frequently. And as you’ve; burnt your bridges with Labour, and the Green Party doesn’t want anything to do with you, then I can’t see you’ve got many other options (except starting your own party I guess, but that’s a pretty lonely proposition).
I can’t imagine that you will just become politically disengaged from the electoral system. Even though you have stated that you think (contemporary representative ballot-box) democracy is inadequate to the challenges facing it this millenium, I don’t think you were recommending a military coup by that. Direct action maybe?
Stunned Mullet
Last I heard; MANA were falling back to a Māori seat only strategy, their partnership with the IP is history (as is the IP itself – there were only two nominations for their exec last month; so both were elected unopposed). I can’t really see where CV would fit in there (yes, I too know his offline name; but tend to avoid using it unless he has that day).
Anyway, the MANA movement is as much about empowering the powerless generally, as it is about Nga Tino Rangatiratanga. See the continued involvement of Trinder and Minto (who might be non-Māori seat candidates next election, so I guess that’s some precedent for CV’s involvement):
It is not so far-fetched that some Asians (say; exploited sub minimum wage fastfood workers), might turn to MANA for representation (if none of the other parties thought there were the votes to be got from advocating for noncitizens). Whereas NZF are reknowned for their racist anti-immigration stances (though not for their consistency). Also, CV hasn’t been repeating MANA talking points, but has been for NZF.
It’s also that we just don’t have the resources to keep up with the infrastructure needed for the population growth and that higher population is not sustainable either.
Well if the Left think that rich Chinese immigrants shouldn’t get NZ super (which is fair enough), then a means test is going to have to be instituted.
And once you institute a means test for super, why not make that means test universal?
Unless of course we simply mean to make it a modern day poll tax for the Chinese.
Well, how can we be sure that some of these wealthy older Chinese coming in to NZ don’t have criminal backgrounds, and that’s why they’re so keen on leaving and coming here?
Stories of Chinese wanting to take $$$ of hard currency out of China that they have obtained through fraudulent means are common enough that the Chinese Govt is working hard to stomp out the practice.
Maybe it’s time that NZ implement some extreme vetting for these people before we accept them into our country. They seem to be placing unjustifiable burdens on our health and social welfare system as many commentators on this post have recognised.
So it’s a suggestion which I think would make a lot of sense to a lot of people.
there is not enough super for everybody…it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives
( are elderly NZers flocking to live in China and applying for Chinese super?…or don’t they have super over in China for the elderly?)
young new Zealanders can not afford to pay for their NZ tertiary education and NZ houses ( because they have been taken up by recent rich immigrants) …let alone get well paying jobs ….and on top of this pay for super for the New Zealand elderly!!!!
…young New Zealanders should not have the burden of paying for recent elderly foreign immigrants
“it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives”
Only those ones? Is that really how you are going to cut it off? No taxes paid, no super is the Chooky credo.
You must mean that people who have been on benefits during their younger days won’t get anything then.
People who stayed at home raising families will have to miss out as well.
Are you really sure you mean what you are saying?
God you really are a hard-hearted SOB.
stupid argument from you alwyn (look in the mirror and you will find the answer to your final insult)
… every NZer pays taxes for being a NZer and living here…what about GST? ( or in the case of NZ students overseas they pay taxes and extra interest on student loans)
( the country is tax ridden …except for those who evade and avoid and hide their incomes…generally the wealthy )
…even those on benefits pay taxes (GST) on their fruit and veges and everything else when they can least afford it
….and especially people, generally women, who have stayed at home raising families have paid taxes indirectly( with their life’s blood)….do they get paid a living wage for bringing up the kids and looking after the elderly?…they should be paid by the State ( do they…NO…so for them tax is a double whammy)
…so yes all NZers should get super if they have lived here most of their lives and contributed to New Zealand society… they have all paid taxes
“( or in the case of NZ students overseas they pay taxes and extra interest on student loans)”
No wonder your arguments make so little sense.
Somehow you seem to see the repayment of a loan, and paying interest on a loan as being “taxes”.
On that logic you would have to argue that anyone who borrows money to buy a house wasn’t repaying a loan and paying interest on the loan. They were, by your strange argument, “paying taxes”.
You do, finally, come round to being rather more generous on who is to get the super. However the way you seem to justify it is more than a little irrational.
“there is not enough super for everybody…it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives”
This is based on an incorrect assumption (that NZ can run out of money) in practice it does not work like this. The only super crisis in NZ is caused by NZ actually trying to deal with the make believe super crisis often discussed in the media. The make believe NZ super crisis is trying to cut the government deficit by limiting the governments total super payment obligations. This is also what Kiwi-Saver, the Cullen Fund and so on are about.
In practice if the government succeeds in under-funding retirees they will in turn not be able to fund their retirement. By funding their retirement they will on the other hand provide ample opportunities for NZ’s workforce to cater to their needs. If the government under-funds retirees on the other hand and they can’t afford to live then they miss-out on their consumption (what they can buy to live on) and the workforce misses out on its work opportunity and income. That would be a tragedy for everybody involved and would also be more difficult to deal with as the private sector would lose some capacity to cater to the retired as this occurred. Also any spending the government does will eventually return to it to be collected as tax as it gets spent or earned. This will always provide ample income to actually fund any borrowing the government undertook to fund the super payments to begin with (not that the government can actually go broke anyway).
It would also be possible to have a retirement crisis as too much of the active workforce was needed to assist the retired with their needs. This argument however is ridiculous (this is quite clearly not happening) and nobody is making it. The only super crisis in NZ will be caused if NZ tries to deal with its make believe super crisis. The make believe super crisis is entirely premised on economic models which claim all government deficit spending is inflationary (in the long run) but this is quite clearly more fiction than observable fact of the actual economy.
“The increasingly secretive central bank does not reveal how much it costs to print each bill, but based on international parameters, José Manuel Puente, an economist and professor with the Institute of Higher Administration Studies, estimates that the cost of paper, ink and printing of each note is about 20% more than their face value. “They are not worth what they cost. It’s a joke. But that’s the way things are,” he said.”
Thanks Pat. I think UK penies cost more than their nominal value to issue also. Most spending however (in most coumtries is electronic account entries) so obviously does not suffer such an issue.
Yes, Venezuela has a significant inflation and problems arising from that. The question is what is the cause however. Is it government spending or on the other hand is it political instability causing shortages and supply issues (some intentional by opponents of the government), or is it some cause (exchange rate arbitrage) from the heavy use of US dollers by their economy?
So if its government over spending then this implies their economy is operating beyond capacity, does it not? Is it then?
BTW, all examples of hyper inflation I know about were caused by some significant drop in real supply side capacity. That includes Weimar confiscation of German industrial capacity as war reparations and Mugabe well known handing over of farm lands to African Native ownership.
lol..thats an interesting chicken and egg proposition…however even if you were correct it remains the relationship between realised (not potential) capacity and money supply….but print away.
Why does money supply come into it? Its a relationship between productive capacity and utilisation of that capacity causing suppliers to increase prices. The money supply is only a poor proxy for describing capacity utilisation rates of the economy, and difficult to limit spending via to boot!
“The money supply is only a poor proxy for describing capacity utilisation rates of the economy, and difficult to limit spending via to boot!”
Money supply is indeed used as a proxy, poor or otherwise for describing capacity utilisation rates and it is for that simple reason that changing the supply rate changes the description even though the utilisation rate can remain unchanged.
In terms of using money as a proxy for capacity utilisation it probably doesn’t help that such modelling assumes that equilibrium is reached and therefore full capacity utilisation of the economy is always reached, because this is nonsense! That is the only basis for the QToM, a nonsense assumption not any form of scientific evidence.
On the other hand there is reasonable evidence that changes in the unemployment rate (a more direct proxy for capacity utilisation) does correlate well with changes in inflation.
“It would also be possible to have a retirement crisis as too much of the active workforce was needed to assist the retired with their needs. This argument however is ridiculous (this is quite clearly not happening)”.
The argument being made is not that it IS happening. The argument is that it WILL happen in the future. With the declining birth-rate, the huge bulge in the elderly from the retiring baby boomers and the great increase in the life expectancy of the population that there will be a massive increase in the ratio of retired people to the number of working people.
That is expected to happen in New Zealand between now and about 2040. This is just the same thing that has been happening in Japan.
The solution isn’t saving now and still retiring at the same age. It requires that people work longer and keep producing.
After all, the only things that can be consumed are those that are produced. If a retired person is no longer producing their consumption can come only from the goods produced by those who are still working.
If cutting the government deficit by saving up a large stock of investments is the answer then this was never the question, was it? Neither was it the question if we are trying to get people to save for their own retirement.
On the other hand if we want to boost capacity for elderly care then increasing their spending capacity now probably is an answer to that question.
Is HNZ a for profit organisation? national framing the debate as always and the media enabling them.
Funky idea, find a region with high unemployment, not hard
Setup a training institution,
train and employee the locals to build their own houses, and the required infrastructure to support the local community. Extend this to supportive industries like forestry or quarry’s and stone masonry, Empower people instead of taking away their ability to support themselves.
How to get former President Clinton to your conference: pay over US$6M
In what appears an amusing instance of the Clinton Foundation caught (with its pants down) in a glorious pay-to-play moment, in one of today’s leaked Podesta emails from November 2011, Ira Magaziner, who is Vice Chairman and CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, sent an email to John Podesta and Amitabh Desai, Director of Foreign Policy at the Clinton Foundation, in which he said that “CHAI [Clinton Health Access Initiative] would like to request that President Clinton call Sheik Mohammed to thank him for offering his plane to the conference in Ethiopia and expressing regrets that President Clinton’s schedule does not permit him to attend the conference.”
He appears to be referring to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-‘Amoudi, a Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian billionaire businessman, whose net worth was estimated at Forbes at $8.3 billion as of 2016.
He is also a prominent donor of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
To this the response by Desai is a very simple one: “Unless Sheikh Mo has sent us a $6 million check, this sounds crazy to do.”
At this point, Bill Clinton’s former chief advisor and current president of the infamous Teneo Holding Doug Band, chimes in that it probably is a good idea: “If he doesn’t do it Chai [Clinton Health Access Initiative] will say he didn’t give the money bc of wjc [William Jefferson Clinton].”
Finally, John Podesta chimes in: “I agree with Doug and this seems rather easy and harmless and not a big time sink.”
Russia has just requested that all public officials with children studying overseas recall their children home immediately, regardless of whether or not that disrupts the completion of the childs year of study.
NZ “burning” is very much what I am concerned about.
Former police officer and National MP for Whanganui Chester Borrows is confident he won’t be found guilty on a charge of injuring two TPP protesters and says he wouldn’t step down from Parliament if he was… pleaded not guilty, and was remanded at large until a case review hearing in September…
incident happened on March 22, when he was driving a car at an anti-TPP protest in Whanganui’s Liverpool St… It is alleged he injured two female protesters with his vehicle…
In a statement released at the time he was charged, Borrows said he would defend the matter.
He’s pretty forgettable, so I couldn’t recall his name at first (googling “national MP assault” gives a couple of million choices – it took a while to refine the search till he popped up). Nothing new shows up for; “Chester Borrows case review hearing”, has anyone heard of any developments in this case?
My suspicion is that Borrows’ lawyers are trying to push the case out past the 2017 election, at which point he can safely take his sentence: “The maximum penalty for careless driving causing injury is three months’ jail, or a fine of up to $4500. An MP must resign from Parliament if convicted of a crime with a maximum penalty of two or more years’ jail time.” So even if convicted, he wouldn’t be obligated to leave parliament. However, he might find it harder to get re-elected if the case does go to trial before the election.
But wait … there’s more! That’s the problem with saying you like to molest women, sooner or later some of the women you molested will confirm that its true.
We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.
Now, I’m a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger—a looming figure—and he was fast, taking me by surprise, and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trump’s longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.
The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview.
I was still in shock, and remained speechless as we both followed him to an outdoor patio overlooking the grounds. In those few minutes alone with Trump, my self-esteem crashed to zero. How could the actions of one man make me feel so utterly violated? I’d been interviewing A-list celebrities for over 20 years, but what he’d done was a first. Did he think I’d be flattered?
I tried to act normal. I had a job to do, and I was determined to do it. I sat in a chair that faced Trump, who waited for his wife on a loveseat. The butler left us, and I fumbled with my tape recorder. Trump smiled and leaned forward. “You know we’re going to have an affair, don’t you?” he declared, in the same confident tone he uses when he says he’s going to make America great again. “Have you ever been to Peter Luger’s for steaks? I’ll take you. We’re going to have an affair, I’m telling you.” He also referenced the infamous cover of the New York Post during his affair with Marla Maples. “You remember,” he said. “Best Sex I Ever Had.”
Melania walked in just then, serene and glowing. Donald instantly reverted back to doting husband mode, as if nothing had happened, and we continued our interview about their wedded bliss. I nodded at his hollow words and smiled at his jokes, but I was nauseated. It didn’t seem to register to him in the slightest that what he’d done might have hurt or offended me, or his wife.
An hour later, I was back at my hotel. My shock began to wear off, and was replaced by anger. I kept thinking, Why didn’t I slug him? Why couldn’t I say anything?
Has Melania Trump personally and politically attacked this outspoken “bimbo” (using Hillary Clinton’s phrasing) just as Hillary Clinton did to the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault?
The English had their own version of Donald J. Trump. This bloke was also a raving egomaniac as well as being, like Trump, about as funny as a mass grave…..
Those father daughter pics become way more disturbing.
Trump deliberately walked in on naked 15-year-old girls during the Miss USA pageant, because he could "get away with things like that" pic.twitter.com/5D8wKwr2kb— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) October 12, 2016
I wanna spill my tea so bad……. sooooo bad! But let me just say – I believe every word. https://t.co/PM5G2Q4H1K— Kamie Crawford (@TheRealKamie) October 12, 2016
The linked page was posted in June by Lisa Bloom, attorney and “Legal analyst for NBC News”. Excerpt: I’ve carefully reviewed this federal complaint. It is now much stronger than the one she filed on her own, which makes sense because she now has an experienced litigator representing her. Jane Doe says that as a thirteen year old, she was enticed to attend parties at the home of Jeffrey Epstein with the promise of money modeling jobs. Mr. Epstein is a notorious “billionaire pedophile” who is now a Level 3 registered sex offender – the most dangerous kind, “a threat to public safety” — after being convicted of misconduct with another underage girl.
Jane Doe says that Mr. Trump “initiated sexual contact” with her on four occasions in 1994. Since she was thirteen at the time, consent is not an issue. If Mr. Trump had any type sexual contact with her in 1994, it was a crime.
On the fourth incident, she says Mr. Trump tied her to a bed and forcibly raped her, in a “savage sexual attack,” while she pleaded with him to stop. She says Mr. Trump violently struck her in the face. She says that afterward, if she ever revealed what he had done, Mr. Trump threatened that she and her family would be “physically harmed if not killed.” She says she has been in fear of him ever since.
Former Miss Arizona: Trump 'just came strolling right in' on naked contestants https://t.co/JcoXVjRKRx— (((gocart mozart))) (@gocartmozart1) October 13, 2016
It appears that in 2002 Trump was very approving of how his neighbor Jeffrey Epstein; “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side”.
Epstein likes to tell people that he’s a loner, a man who’s never touched alcohol or drugs, and one whose nightlife is far from energetic. And yet if you talk to Donald Trump, a different Epstein emerges. “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump booms from a speakerphone. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.
Tiffany Doe corroborates, based on her own personal observations, just about everything in Jane Doe’s complaint: that twelve year old Maria was involved in a sex act with Mr. Trump, that Mr. Trump threatened the life of Jane Doe if she ever revealed what happened, and that she would “disappear” like Maria if she did. – from that HuffPo link above.
Fortunately, neither Bill Clinton nor Jeffery ‘took the fifth’ Epstein are running for office.
Q. Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?
A: Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir
It only takes one courageous soul to take a stand to embolden others:
By late Wednesday evening the list of new allegations against Trump included:
Two Miss USA contestants who claimed Trump deliberately walked in on them when they were naked in a dressing room.
Two women who allege Trump groped or kissed them without consent – one in the first-class seat of an aircraft.
A claim by a woman that she was groped at a Trump event at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida.
A People magazine reporter who says Trump forced himself on her shortly before she was due to interview him and his wife in 2005.
An incident in which Trump appears to sexualize a 10-year-old girl.
The encounter with the young girl surfaced in a video of a 1992 Entertainment Tonight Christmas special in which Trump appeared, according to CBS News. Trump was 46 at the time.
There has been a steady trickle of women relating similar instance of Trump’s sexual predation where he felt he was secure in in position of wealth and power. Even now he threatens to sue those who make allegations against him – and this would have been his modus operandii against the women who felt they were alone thus keeping them silent until now. But as with Crosby, Rolf Harris, et al, who also felt secure in their power, it will come to a bad end.
The one and only (probably) teen African-American Trump supporter in Illinois somehow made it onto the LA Times tracking poll panel. Which is why that poll has skewed massively towards Trump.
Today all information is supplied to us, the best we can do is seek credible sources, and vet the information they supply to us based on our own rational and the truths we hold dear. Propagating misinformation and lies based on our own confirmation bias is a trap we all fall into, I have fallen for lies and been manipulated into believing falsehoods and yes it hurts when you find out, cognitive dissonance is real and blinds us all at times.
In this age of social media manipulation it is imperative we hold to account those we follow even more so than those we oppose. When someone or something effects you emotionally or appeals to you in some way, stop and ask yourself why, and examine how this was present and supplied to you,
“Not only will the SIS and GCSB have the legal protection to break any bloody law they like – THEY CAN EXTEND THIS POWER TO ANY OTHER STATE AGENCY THEY DESIGNATE TO HAVE THAT POWER!!!!
Are you listening yet sleepy hobbits?
Not only will the state spies be able to break any law legally – they can deputise different agencies to have the same power.
ARE YOU LISTENING YET?
Look, this is an extraordinary abuse of power the likes we’ve honestly never ever seen before. NO state agency should have the power to break any law they like and they sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to tag in any other agency to have the same powers.
As more and more NZers suddenly wake up to this appalling legislation and its ramifications – people are going to be outraged.”
They can also break into your house, and steal your phone or computer. However, they don’t need to do that because they can sift through all your email, record all your phone conversations, and txts, and they can let the police do that also, or customs, or whoever,… and you need never know.
I wouldn’t even bother responding to him, Paul. Over the weekend, somebody defended that witless troll, claiming that he had an interesting take on things. If only that were the case.
I agree Paul your Conspiracies and Armageddon predictions sprinkled with a daily dose of uplifting positivity is so much more interesting. Interesting in a way as the characters in one flew over the cuckoo nest where also interesting
The Trump campaign sent a fundraising email Wednesday morning claiming that “all the momentum” was on their side — and they used what appears to be a map showing only male voters’ preferences to prove it.
…”Dotcom faces copyright infringement and money laundering charges over his now defunct file sharing website Megaupload. New Zealand’s High Court in Auckland has heard the extradition appeal over the last four weeks.
Lawyers for Dotcom contended in their closing arguments that there was not enough evidence to show he conspired to commit a crime, according to Reuters.
Dotcom took to Twitter to express his delight that the hearing has finished and thanked his lawyers for their work.
He also revealed his focus is now on the launch of Megaupload 2 and Bitcache – a blockchain powered service that links file transfers to bitcoin microtransactions, both planned for next year…
and
‘Kim Dotcom runs ‘Trump vs Clinton vs Putin’ Twitter poll, result is something you’d expect’
The irony of a homeless person finding shelter in an artwork about homelessness which the council workers removed on the advice of police in spite of council permits for artwork…
The consequences being increasing social stress – spikes in crime, homelessness, and housing unaffordability being three very visible indicators currently trending.
Of course – however there are lots of positives out there as well – but I know you are incapable of seeing them – but if you open your eyes they are out there.
Many New Zealanders are more than happy and confident that the country is doing well. You know its great to look things that we should all be grateful for as well.
You are doing a fine job as cheerleader. I apologise for turning your attention to those less fortunate than yourself – I know you don’t like thinking about them.
Big spend up for Election year….for tax cuts…that’s not wise governance, that’s short term bribery.
Shiny baubles for National Voters.
But no plan for economic growth. Which is why there are traditional National Business folk who are not that thrilled with this neo-liberal National Government.
Though another earthquake would save them I guess.
Meantime, with Public debt, we’re hitting around half a trillion dollars worth of gross debt, that’s an average of $100,000 for every New Zealander.
You’d think such a ‘fiscally’ responsible Government would keep an eye on that.
You would think Business would want affordable houses for their workers.
You would think business would want people investing in business not housing.
You would think that business would want investment in R and D.
From the Herald, Mood of the Boardroom……
“The Government’s Business Growth Agenda has produced short term results but some CEOs are questioning whether it will be successful in the long term.
The CEOs suspect the Government may have an eye on retaining power (next year) rather than promoting sustainable economic measures.”
I think you will find that it is Bill who is the idiot:
“A Treasury paper showed Housing NZ was due to run out of cash for development and maintenance by February.”
“”HNZC modelling indicates that it is likely to exhaust its cash balance by February 2017 based on its planned development activity.”
This was despite the Government’s decision to forgo dividends from HNZ for the next two years.
The documents showed this would no longer make a difference because HNZ was now unlikely to produce any dividends.
HNZ’s financial situation was partly the result of the transfer of 2800 state houses to the Tamaki Regeneration Company, a Government-council entity, this year.
The transfer meant $1.6 billion was removed from HNZ’s balance sheet and it was now collecting $34m less in rent a year.
English has been asked for comment.”
You should read further than the Headline idiot!
if the government accounts were a business what would the shareholders think of a board that announced a profit on the back of reduced investment, deferred maintenance, a reduction in product development and staff training and the sale of core assets, and how would the future viability of that business be viewed?
Isn’t it fascinating the government has gone from demanding ‘fiscal responsibility’ from HNZ, to suddenly forgoing the once crucial dividend, to now throwing several hundred million at them in the space of a few short months? All this without a plan or coherent announcement.
It’s obvious from many examples now that when the opposition says ‘jump’, the government says ‘how high?’
National’s pathological lying pretends their non-performance is better than it is.
The people, living in the real economy, know better.
There are in the world objective truths, and subjective ones. There is no objective truth in National’s claims of economic continence, only subjective ones. Thus, only their crawliest sycophants credit their assertions.
Which is more inane: this light chat show on public radio
or Seven Sharp with New Zealand’s Sean Hannity? The Panel pre-show, RNZ National, Thursday 13 October 2016, 3:58 p.m.
Jim Mora, James Elliott, Lisa Scott, Julie Moffett, Jesse Mulligan
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! Hmm, hmm.
JESSE MULLIGAN: Ha ha!
JULIE MOFFETT: No one ever looks HAPPY when they’re running, though, DO they?
JESSE MULLIGAN: No, ho, they DON’T! [snicker]
JULIE MOFFETT: Ahhh, and finally, uh, how are your selfie skills? Are you doing the old selfies a lot, James, or—?
JAMES ELLIOTT: Yeah, my children encourage me to do that and then they normally put it on an app and then do something funny with my face so I’m a little bit confli—
JIM MORA: Yeah I’ve had that.
JAMES ELLIOTT: —little bit conflicted about that.
JULIE MOFFETT: So-o-o, have they also tried the High Five selfie?
JIM MORA: Hmmm….
JESSE MULLIGAN: Naahh, how’s that?
JULIE MOFFETT: Maybe this is NEW. So basically, a guy in the States decided—he MUST have had a lot of time on his hands—threw his phone up, took, you know, must have clicked the clicker at the same time while he was clapping his hands, and got a selfie of himself clapping his hands that he’d taken himself.
JIM MORA: It’s pretty impressive.
JULIE MOFFETT: So it’s basically hands-free selfie.
JESSE MULLIGAN: Hmmmm….
JIM MORA: That MUST be hard to DO.
JULIE MOFFETT: It WOULD be hard to do, and apparently people have been IMITATING him and—-
JESSE MULLIGAN: A ha ha HA!
JULIE MOFFETT: —breaking their phones.
JIM MORA: Breaking their phones.
JULIE MOFFETT: They drop them.
JESSE MULLIGAN: You like to send us a hands-free selfie—
JULIE MOFFETT: He, he! High Five!
JESSE MULLIGAN: The Panel at Radio NZ dot co dot NZ. Jim’ll make a gallery over the course of the next hour, while Lisa Scott and James Elliott chat about the issues facing the WORLD—
JIM MORA: HA! If we can get Lisa in the building!
JESSE MULLIGAN: Heh, indeed! And tomorrow on MY show, we put your food questions to Julie Biuso, send ’em THROUGH! Jesse at Radio New Zealand dot co dot NZ. Anything you want to know about FOOD, we can help….
It only got worse after four o’clock. More tomorrow…
Come on Red, are you really serious when you ask such a question? No doubt people like you upbraided Molière for wasting his time transcribing and sending up the hypocrisies and idiocies of people he found appalling.
I do agree with you that these people constitute nothing more than “shite”, but in spite of my distaste for them, I have a duty….
“Dozens of astrologers are coming together to predict who will be president, anticipating a ‘potentially explosive’ October surprise that could shape the result”
Speaking of fake; do you believe a single word that you type, Red? Or are you just here for the shits and giggles?
You are certainly not skilled enough to be a professional threadjacker (and your words are such shit that I can’t help picturing you giggling vapidly as you bang them out).
+100 Red…there is a oligarchy witch hunt against Trump from both the elite establishment in the Democrats and the Republicans…they are scared shitless of him
…sure he is a bad mouth but that is as far as it goes imo
…whereas the Clintons have real corrupt form and worse from a way back …which most peop-le are ignorant of
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Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
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Storm clouds brewing……
Liam Dann: Are the banks bracing for a storm?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11727593
BNZ plans restructure, won’t say how many jobs could be impacted
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11727398
NZ’s big banks see profits dip
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/315452/nz's-big-banks-see-profits-dip
I would point you to this
https://thestandard.org.nz/keep-calm-and-carry-on/
I would point you to this
https://thestandard.org.nz/keep-calm-and-carry-on/
If you keep saying there’s going to be a financial melt down you will undoubtedly be right sooner or later.
There seems to be rumbling coming from the World Economy. NZ high against the pound etc. And why has Putin “ordered” Russians home? Why are our Banks preparing to cover themselves?
I don’t know because I am an Economic Illiterate.
@Ianmac – the banks have lent too much foreign money and some of the lending is fraudulent or over valued. For example with the SHA zoned by the government, overnight the land was worth millions more. Then the owners sold for those millions more and the banks lent on the new values. However it was the same land, and the same land has no or few houses on it years later. So the bank lending was always reliant on development, development is reliant on more people living there and more people living there and buying houses is reliant on them having secure jobs and wealth…
The government never got around to putting legislation and investment in place to provide more secure jobs and wealth for enough people …. to pay the debts for the houses… that the bank lent on.
Under neoliberalism that opposite is happening, less jobs for more people… less secure wealth… Executives are given short term incentives to save money to get their bonuses… easiest way is to cut jobs, but long term the company will grind to a halt because without investment in quality people then businesses go under.
Thanks Save NZ. So the Bank positioning is to bank against the “grinding to a halt.” Uggh! The withdrawl of Government funding to essential services is another alarm bell. Key/Joyce/English cannot warn us as this would be an admission of defeat.
It’s rude to point Paul
I just would like to point out however Tomorrow it may rain but it may not, just a rumbling
Yes it is – but it doesn’t stop Trump
Judith Collins is not fit to be an MP let alone a minister of the Crown. Her latest brainfart is unacceptable and she should be removed from office immediately.
Do tell…….
I haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary, not that I take much notice of what she says.
agreed – she is an utter disgrace and shows her very limited thinking capacity. Typical lazy gnat – blame parents for child poverty –
“I don’t just see monetary poverty,” she said. “I see a poverty of ideas, a poverty of parental responsibility, a poverty of love, a poverty of caring.Ms Collins then said that in New Zealand there was money available to everyone who needed it. “I can tell you that it’s not just a lack of money, it’s primarily a lack of responsibility – I know it’s not PC – but, you know, that’s just me.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/315510/collins-criticised-over-child-poverty-comments
yep the dirty politics queen, friend to the scum, sweet talker to the rwnjs – a disgusting person and reason enough to work hard and replace this govt – collins is not fit for public office.
She and her brethren are dodging the real issue(s) all the time now.
One law for all …. you’d think with all of the bs about the Nat’s being responsible “managers” they would of been on top of Tax Evasion?
Here’s a report backed up with evidence … $1.24 billion of tax was evaded in 2014, while just $33.55 million were cases for fraud were for welfare payments.
http://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/84038/tax-professor-calls-independent-inquiry-how-tax-evaders-and-benefit
Thought she was talking about the national government?
“I don’t just see monetary poverty,” she said. “I see a poverty of ideas, a poverty of parental responsibility, a poverty of love, a poverty of caring.Ms Collins then said that in New Zealand there was money available to everyone who needed it. “I can tell you that it’s not just a lack of money, it’s primarily a lack of responsibility – I know it’s not PC – but, you know, that’s just me.”
Nah, keep her in the limelight as it’s very important for the people to see the calibre of a nat senior minister sooo important to this regime that she is still around after her many indiscretions.
The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NO04VXBIS0M
BUT Don’t worry, apparantly the appocolypse is nigh…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3833941/Russia-orders-officials-fly-home-relatives-living-abroad-tensions-mount-prospect-global-war.html
What is this appocolypse you speak of ?
Does it have anything to do with the imbeseals who post here.
It’s imbecile, I am picking an imbeseal is something the Green Party wants protected from set nets…
yeah well they are endangered 🙂
Good to see you can spell imbecile Tory, now look in the mirror.
I’m not sure I understand your point as I am wearing a moron filter…..
Doesn’t that keep you in a permanent existential crisis?
In case anyone is in a permanent existential crisis or want to get out of it:
http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-with-an-Existential-Crisis
With pictures!
I Prefer Transcendence; if in fact we are nothing we are everything, to remember the Self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things……
Conan laughs at your philosophy:
“Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”
“My proudest moment here wasn’t when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No. It was a young Greek guy, first job in the country, hardly spoke a word of English, but he came to me and he went ‘Mr. Brent, will you be the Godfather to my child?’. Didn’t happen in the end. We had to let him go, he was rubbish. He was rubbish.”
Who exactly writes these ghastly, politically servile “news” bulletins
for the likes of Daniel Faitaua to uncomprehendingly recite to camera?
Breakfast Television 1, Thursday 13 October 2016
Anyone bored enough or unfortunate enough to have been watching TV1 at 7 o’clock this morning would have witnessed the pleasant but vacuous newsreader Daniel Faitaua blankly, dutifully, reading out a little propaganda nugget which might well have been written for him by the Saudi Arabian or Turkish Foreign Ministries or the U.S. State Department:
At 7:30 a.m. Faitaua was back at it, blandly reading: “the devastating attack by the Russian-backed Syrian regime CONTINUES…”
I might have missed it, but I can remember no occasion when any TV1 newsreader ever recited the following words in 2014: “The Israeli regime’s U.S.-backed ASSAULT on Gaza CONTINUES. … the devastating attack by the U.S.-backed Israeli regime CONTINUES…”
As I understand it the Russians are attacking the ISIS forces who are occupying Aleppo illegally.
As I understand it the IDF is attacking Hamas who are firing missiles at Israel.
Wait – has Hamas killed tens of thousands of Israelis in the last year (some by beheading, burning and drowning, then putting it up on the internet), just like ISIS has killed tens of thousands of Syrians in the last year (some by beheading, burning and drowning, then putting it up on the internet)?
Or are you just an idiot?
NB Israel took the land of the Palestinians and ethnically cleansed it. Israel is the illegal occupying force.
Oh the irony………….and the silvery for that matter.
I suggest you go have have one off the wrist to calm down…here use this.
https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-c14e24f1ee8d11015dc9b134847f19d7-c?convert_to_webp=true
Israel is an invasion of Palestine. Do you not think that the Palestinians have a right to self-defence?
He’s just an idiot, Viper. But I think you already knew that.
Morrissey
You won’t hear that because the US is not bombing Gaza and never has, whereas the Russians are actually currently bombing Aleppo. Not hard to figure out, except perhaps for a Russian apologist.
True about Aleppo – but US aid buying IDF bombs muddies that water good.
Exactly SM.
Aiding and abetting, is as much a crime, as actually physically committing the crime. As Wayne is well aware.
Wayne Mapp: “the US is not bombing Gaza and never has”
(1) Israel only carries out its periodic carpet-bombing campaigns / massacres in Gaza (and Lebanon and the West Bank) when it’s sure it will receive a tacit Green Light from the US.
(2) Most of the weaponry deployed by Israel in these massacres is either US-manufactured or bought with the billions in US aid to Israel.
For example, in their report ” “Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza”, Human Rights Watch found that the white phosphorus shells repeatedly and indiscriminately fired by the IDF over densely populated neighbourhoods in Gaza during 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead were entirely US-manufactured.
More broadly, leading Human Rights groups have concluded that Israel committed a series of War Crimes (based on the definition under International Law) in its regular “operations” against Gaza over the last decade. And yet – despite US law prohibiting military assistance to countries that engage in human rights violations – each year, the US Govt approves more than $3 billion in new weaponry and military financing for Israel.
In just one recent year, for instance, this included F-35 stealth fighters, 14,500 kits to upgrade “dumb” bombs into precision-guided munitions, over 12,000 unguided bombs, over 3,000 hellfire missiles and 50 Super Penetrator “bunker buster” bombs, designed to hit targets underground.
Basically, each time the IDF commit yet another massacre of civilians, they have their weaponry and munitions fully replenished by the US.
Maybe the US wants a war with Russia as bravado to prove to the world they are still relevant after getting no where in the middle east? But what about China and North Korea? So many countries to invade, so little victory so far.. add on Mexico to invade if Trump gets in.
http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Shop/Browse/baking-cooking/oven-trays-foil-bags/foil
Repeaters , not reporters.
Yep they are coming for everything in a last ditch orgy of excess – last chance for a while to accumulate so they are digging deep.
“The production and consumption of natural Andean and Amazonian ancestral products in Peru is threatened by the “biopiracy” of foreign companies who have filed over 11,690 patents for the domestic produce of the region, effectively poaching the natural heritage of the country. The resources are said to be rich in nutrients and vitamins and range from those with anti-aging properties to those that act as natural aphrodisiacs.
Small farmers could be among those worst affected if foreign companies obtain the patents. “Campesinos have been guardians of seeds and diversity generation after generation, from our ancestors to our fathers we have inherited the seeds,” said Director of the National Association of Ecological Products of Peru Moises Quispe.
“We campesinos are very conscious about it. These seeds are part of our lives, and if there’s a new owner who patents them for their own economic interests, it’s a very worrying situation.””
https://intercontinentalcry.org/corporate-biopiracy-peru-threatens-indigenous-knowledge/
It’s how capitalism works – by stealing off of everyone else.
Yep that is why I agree with you that it must go.
Don’t get Draco started, please
Why?
Are you afraid that your tightly held beliefs will be challenged by reality?
No just hearing the same old same old does sap your wil to live
The same old, same old only comes from the RWNJs that want to keep us the way we are. In fact, National seems to want to take us back to the 15th century and feudalism.
Didn’t know there was feudalism in 15th century NZ ?
Did you know that the RWNJs in the 19th and 20th centuries were trying to make us more British than the British? The model that they wanted to copy was the failed aristocracy.
Same attitude still seems to apply in the RWNJs.
Did fuedal overlords run 1.5b surpluses
Yes, once inflation is taken into account. Hell, Adam Smith reckons there was one lord who could have dined 30, 000 lords and ladies at his dinner table.
Of course, he did have the same poverty levels in the majority of people that National has as well.
They spent their surpluses on Wars.
Wars paid for by taxing peasants and serfs.
I know this wasn’t done with cash, rather produce, free labour etc…but its the same difference, it’s ‘surplus’ being diverted, while the welfare needs of the peasants are ignored.
I conceed😀
I was kind-of hoping for Trump to run a stronger case against Hillary.
I was expecting that he would be far superior in the debates, and she would win the electoral college largely through Democrat Party superior vote-collecting capacity.
But putting a misogynist up against a feminist has gone badly.
Trump is beginning to look like the best Democratic Party renewal programme for the Senate that we have seen for many, many years.
Yes, he has also ‘renewed’ the republican party by sending many of the neo-con members back to their original political allies in the democratic party.
Just discovered a new and actually quite exciting twitter account, ‘New Real Peer Review’.
Best recent tweet “Gender scholar puzzled over the fact that most females are women and most males are men”
Nice
“Gender” is a grammatical term. Nouns and adjectives, in some languages, have genders. People have sexes. “Sex” is not a four letter word.
Yes, but ‘sex scholar’ would have a different connotation.
The actual paper in question does not even go into gender in grammatical terms at all. Most people master Genders meaning in the real world during pre-school, others conduct ‘serious’ academic research on the subject in higher education.
‘The second is the fact that, usually, sex and gender come together in the way that is expected, I.e. the fact that most females are women and most males are men needs to be explained.’
or
‘It will be concluded that, even in our postmodern world with its technological opportunities the division into the two sexes is extraordinarily persistent’
One can quite vividly see the authors of these statement struggling with the fact that words actually have commonly held meaning (Something routinely denied by postmodern literature).
“Sex” is clearly a 3 letter word if you can count. I don’t seem to have the context for that joke, probably its not a funny one (in case its hilarious please explain it).
… the fact that most females are women and most males are men needs to be explained.
It’s the fact that people who can’t write are able to work as academics that needs to be explained. The above doesn’t get any less funny if it’s written correctly as “most women are female and most men are male.”
That is not an equivalent statement though, correct English though it may be. This may have important implications for what pressing question the author of those words is puzzled about.
Kim Hill is a breath of fresh air on RNZ’s Morning Report. This morning’s treasure was the interview with Judith Collins. Kim started by handing the Minister a shovel, then passed over replacements ones as Collins dug herself ever more deeply into the hole of her own making. The coup was letting the Minister ventilate non-stop at length then advising listeners where Judith Collins’ credibility could be checked.
Yes. It was brilliant. Kim is such a gem.
“…Since the financial crisis in 2008, people have been fleeing the centre-ground across the Western political system and the political establishment are yet to confront this with any real, substantive solutions. Whether it is Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in America, Jeremy Corbyn and the historic Brexit vote or the rise of the far-right in Europe – more and more people are fleeing an intellectually and morally bankrupt centre-ground.
Votes are gushing to the political fringes because since the financial crash, establishment politicians have failed to come up with any meaningful solutions to the problems that ordinary working people face every single day. Politicians on both the centre-left and the centre-right across the West have failed to make neoliberalism and globalisation work for the masses.”
Gordon Campbell presents another excellent piece on the current political landscape…..where is the alternative, and why have all parties failed to construct and present one in the 8 years post GFC, let alone the past three decades??
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2016/10/11/gordon-campbell-on-how-the-political-centre-is-a-mirage/
The Sound radio just reported that Housing NZ is pretty much broke? Can’t seem to find anything on web at present.
This?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/housing-new-zealand-warned-broke-in-months
Top level Democratic strategist emails show understanding of and complicity with producing “an unaware and compliant citizenry.
But apparently the “compliance” of the citizenry is fading and it is a “problem” that “demands some serious, serious thinking.”
Thanks go to wikileaks and Julian Assange
(bold mine)
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3599
Actually, the full email reads like something you or I might have written – sort of a “told you so” commentary on the situation.
It opens:
Talking with a friend who is being evicted from their rental property as the Chinese landlords are bringing their parents over to live in nz. They were quite upfront with their plan.
The children live here and are nz residents.
The grandparents will be the babysitters for the grandchildren.
Parents are currently 54 and 55 years old.
The parents children are both working and will be supporting their parents.
At the ten year mark both parents will be applying for national super.
This, is fundamentally wrong. The parents are loaded, and will be complying with the requirement for funding to get the parental category visa.
If they have the funds to apply for the parental category visa, why should they be able to claim national super?
Easiest way to remove that ability is to simply state that people who were granted residency under parental category are ineligible for national super. Simple and effective.
Why single out the Chinese ?
I know of Indian, South African, Zimbabwean, English and all flavours of imigrants doing exactly the same thing.
and when they become NZ citizens, what then?
Do you suggest that this category of NZ residents also be denied the vote?
And of course, all this is simply micro-managing a much bigger problem.
It is time to drive down immigration numbers by 90% plus, as Winston Peters suggested.
Hey here’s a bright idea that the Left can raise: means testing NZ Super.
“Hey here’s a bright idea that the Left can raise: means testing NZ Super”.
That would really piss off Jim Anderton, wouldn’t it?
He was collecting it when he was getting a ministerial salary. The traditional “I’m entitled” attitude of his class. I wonder if Michael Cullen collects it?
At least Bob Jones never applied for it and tells off wealthy people who do claim it.
CV
Just how strange is it for you being; the token Asian in NZ First? I don’t know if you’ve formally joined the party yet, but you certainly parrot their positions frequently. And as you’ve; burnt your bridges with Labour, and the Green Party doesn’t want anything to do with you, then I can’t see you’ve got many other options (except starting your own party I guess, but that’s a pretty lonely proposition).
I can’t imagine that you will just become politically disengaged from the electoral system. Even though you have stated that you think (contemporary representative ballot-box) democracy is inadequate to the challenges facing it this millenium, I don’t think you were recommending a military coup by that. Direct action maybe?
Isn’t [deleted] the token asian in Mana ?
[Banned for 2 weeks for referring to an author by their real world identity] – Bill
Stunned Mullet
Last I heard; MANA were falling back to a Māori seat only strategy, their partnership with the IP is history (as is the IP itself – there were only two nominations for their exec last month; so both were elected unopposed). I can’t really see where CV would fit in there (yes, I too know his offline name; but tend to avoid using it unless he has that day).
Anyway, the MANA movement is as much about empowering the powerless generally, as it is about Nga Tino Rangatiratanga. See the continued involvement of Trinder and Minto (who might be non-Māori seat candidates next election, so I guess that’s some precedent for CV’s involvement):
http://mananews.co.nz/wp/?p=9704
It is not so far-fetched that some Asians (say; exploited sub minimum wage fastfood workers), might turn to MANA for representation (if none of the other parties thought there were the votes to be got from advocating for noncitizens). Whereas NZF are reknowned for their racist anti-immigration stances (though not for their consistency). Also, CV hasn’t been repeating MANA talking points, but has been for NZF.
NZF talking points on reducing immigration perhaps, but mainly because they are the only party willing to slash immigration to the bone.
And the equivalent of one jumbo jet entering and leaving the country a day is more than enough, thanks.
It’s time to transition away from this utterly unsustainable fuel burning aviation reliant foreign tourism enterprise.
It’s also that we just don’t have the resources to keep up with the infrastructure needed for the population growth and that higher population is not sustainable either.
I think non-violent resistance against the world destroying capitalist direction we’re all being told to run in might be an idea.
+1
“Hey here’s a bright idea that the Left can raise: means testing NZ Super.”
Please dear god no. Has the left not lost enough elections based on unwanted super anuation reforms yet?
Well if the Left think that rich Chinese immigrants shouldn’t get NZ super (which is fair enough), then a means test is going to have to be instituted.
And once you institute a means test for super, why not make that means test universal?
Unless of course we simply mean to make it a modern day poll tax for the Chinese.
OK, I’m pretty sure that your last line is meant sarcastically.
The rest of 13.2.3.1 and 13.2 is impossible to tell, because it’s you.
Well, how can we be sure that some of these wealthy older Chinese coming in to NZ don’t have criminal backgrounds, and that’s why they’re so keen on leaving and coming here?
Stories of Chinese wanting to take $$$ of hard currency out of China that they have obtained through fraudulent means are common enough that the Chinese Govt is working hard to stomp out the practice.
Maybe it’s time that NZ implement some extreme vetting for these people before we accept them into our country. They seem to be placing unjustifiable burdens on our health and social welfare system as many commentators on this post have recognised.
So it’s a suggestion which I think would make a lot of sense to a lot of people.
See, again, it’s something Trump might say. If you weren’t such a Trump fanboi then you’d definitely be taking the piss, but as it is… who knows?
Extreme vetting? Good grief
Totally agree.
there is not enough super for everybody…it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives
( are elderly NZers flocking to live in China and applying for Chinese super?…or don’t they have super over in China for the elderly?)
young new Zealanders can not afford to pay for their NZ tertiary education and NZ houses ( because they have been taken up by recent rich immigrants) …let alone get well paying jobs ….and on top of this pay for super for the New Zealand elderly!!!!
…young New Zealanders should not have the burden of paying for recent elderly foreign immigrants
“it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives”
Only those ones? Is that really how you are going to cut it off? No taxes paid, no super is the Chooky credo.
You must mean that people who have been on benefits during their younger days won’t get anything then.
People who stayed at home raising families will have to miss out as well.
Are you really sure you mean what you are saying?
God you really are a hard-hearted SOB.
stupid argument from you alwyn (look in the mirror and you will find the answer to your final insult)
… every NZer pays taxes for being a NZer and living here…what about GST? ( or in the case of NZ students overseas they pay taxes and extra interest on student loans)
( the country is tax ridden …except for those who evade and avoid and hide their incomes…generally the wealthy )
…even those on benefits pay taxes (GST) on their fruit and veges and everything else when they can least afford it
….and especially people, generally women, who have stayed at home raising families have paid taxes indirectly( with their life’s blood)….do they get paid a living wage for bringing up the kids and looking after the elderly?…they should be paid by the State ( do they…NO…so for them tax is a double whammy)
…so yes all NZers should get super if they have lived here most of their lives and contributed to New Zealand society… they have all paid taxes
“( or in the case of NZ students overseas they pay taxes and extra interest on student loans)”
No wonder your arguments make so little sense.
Somehow you seem to see the repayment of a loan, and paying interest on a loan as being “taxes”.
On that logic you would have to argue that anyone who borrows money to buy a house wasn’t repaying a loan and paying interest on the loan. They were, by your strange argument, “paying taxes”.
You do, finally, come round to being rather more generous on who is to get the super. However the way you seem to justify it is more than a little irrational.
“there is not enough super for everybody…it should be restricted to New Zealanders who have been paying taxes for it all their lives”
This is based on an incorrect assumption (that NZ can run out of money) in practice it does not work like this. The only super crisis in NZ is caused by NZ actually trying to deal with the make believe super crisis often discussed in the media. The make believe NZ super crisis is trying to cut the government deficit by limiting the governments total super payment obligations. This is also what Kiwi-Saver, the Cullen Fund and so on are about.
In practice if the government succeeds in under-funding retirees they will in turn not be able to fund their retirement. By funding their retirement they will on the other hand provide ample opportunities for NZ’s workforce to cater to their needs. If the government under-funds retirees on the other hand and they can’t afford to live then they miss-out on their consumption (what they can buy to live on) and the workforce misses out on its work opportunity and income. That would be a tragedy for everybody involved and would also be more difficult to deal with as the private sector would lose some capacity to cater to the retired as this occurred. Also any spending the government does will eventually return to it to be collected as tax as it gets spent or earned. This will always provide ample income to actually fund any borrowing the government undertook to fund the super payments to begin with (not that the government can actually go broke anyway).
It would also be possible to have a retirement crisis as too much of the active workforce was needed to assist the retired with their needs. This argument however is ridiculous (this is quite clearly not happening) and nobody is making it. The only super crisis in NZ will be caused if NZ tries to deal with its make believe super crisis. The make believe super crisis is entirely premised on economic models which claim all government deficit spending is inflationary (in the long run) but this is quite clearly more fiction than observable fact of the actual economy.
“The increasingly secretive central bank does not reveal how much it costs to print each bill, but based on international parameters, José Manuel Puente, an economist and professor with the Institute of Higher Administration Studies, estimates that the cost of paper, ink and printing of each note is about 20% more than their face value. “They are not worth what they cost. It’s a joke. But that’s the way things are,” he said.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/11/venezuela-on-the-brink-a-journey-through-a-country-in-crisis
Thanks Pat. I think UK penies cost more than their nominal value to issue also. Most spending however (in most coumtries is electronic account entries) so obviously does not suffer such an issue.
Yes, Venezuela has a significant inflation and problems arising from that. The question is what is the cause however. Is it government spending or on the other hand is it political instability causing shortages and supply issues (some intentional by opponents of the government), or is it some cause (exchange rate arbitrage) from the heavy use of US dollers by their economy?
So if its government over spending then this implies their economy is operating beyond capacity, does it not? Is it then?
BTW, all examples of hyper inflation I know about were caused by some significant drop in real supply side capacity. That includes Weimar confiscation of German industrial capacity as war reparations and Mugabe well known handing over of farm lands to African Native ownership.
lol..thats an interesting chicken and egg proposition…however even if you were correct it remains the relationship between realised (not potential) capacity and money supply….but print away.
Why does money supply come into it? Its a relationship between productive capacity and utilisation of that capacity causing suppliers to increase prices. The money supply is only a poor proxy for describing capacity utilisation rates of the economy, and difficult to limit spending via to boot!
“The money supply is only a poor proxy for describing capacity utilisation rates of the economy, and difficult to limit spending via to boot!”
Money supply is indeed used as a proxy, poor or otherwise for describing capacity utilisation rates and it is for that simple reason that changing the supply rate changes the description even though the utilisation rate can remain unchanged.
Not clear to me what you are trying to say here.
In terms of using money as a proxy for capacity utilisation it probably doesn’t help that such modelling assumes that equilibrium is reached and therefore full capacity utilisation of the economy is always reached, because this is nonsense! That is the only basis for the QToM, a nonsense assumption not any form of scientific evidence.
On the other hand there is reasonable evidence that changes in the unemployment rate (a more direct proxy for capacity utilisation) does correlate well with changes in inflation.
“It would also be possible to have a retirement crisis as too much of the active workforce was needed to assist the retired with their needs. This argument however is ridiculous (this is quite clearly not happening)”.
The argument being made is not that it IS happening. The argument is that it WILL happen in the future. With the declining birth-rate, the huge bulge in the elderly from the retiring baby boomers and the great increase in the life expectancy of the population that there will be a massive increase in the ratio of retired people to the number of working people.
That is expected to happen in New Zealand between now and about 2040. This is just the same thing that has been happening in Japan.
The solution isn’t saving now and still retiring at the same age. It requires that people work longer and keep producing.
After all, the only things that can be consumed are those that are produced. If a retired person is no longer producing their consumption can come only from the goods produced by those who are still working.
If cutting the government deficit by saving up a large stock of investments is the answer then this was never the question, was it? Neither was it the question if we are trying to get people to save for their own retirement.
On the other hand if we want to boost capacity for elderly care then increasing their spending capacity now probably is an answer to that question.
Meanwhile in Natland the finance minister shows his head for business…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11728095
In Natland:
In Natland:
In Natland:
Is HNZ a for profit organisation? national framing the debate as always and the media enabling them.
Funky idea, find a region with high unemployment, not hard
Setup a training institution,
train and employee the locals to build their own houses, and the required infrastructure to support the local community. Extend this to supportive industries like forestry or quarry’s and stone masonry, Empower people instead of taking away their ability to support themselves.
How to get former President Clinton to your conference: pay over US$6M
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-12/clinton-foundation-moment-unless-saudi-sheikh-gave-us-6-million-sounds-crazy-do
Still rabbiting on about Clinton while New Zealand burns. 😐
Russia has just requested that all public officials with children studying overseas recall their children home immediately, regardless of whether or not that disrupts the completion of the childs year of study.
NZ “burning” is very much what I am concerned about.
Mate of yours ?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-ally-tells-americans-vote-trump-or-face-nuclear-war-n665376
Why Susan Sarandon had to break up with Clinton, and why Trump is less scary than Hillary
Now that you mention it, Sarandon might be a mate too…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdvAfsNImWU
I’m with Susan on this
Clinton has a serious talk about climate plans.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/al-gore-hillary-clinton-campaign-miami-climate-214351
I was commenting yesterday (Open Mike comment #19) about protestors being run over in the USA:
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/crime/2016/10/10/driver-plows-through-reno-protesters-under-arch/91883894/
Which made me think about this case in Aotearoa:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/82715740/MP-Chester-Borrows-in-court-over-protester-incident
He’s pretty forgettable, so I couldn’t recall his name at first (googling “national MP assault” gives a couple of million choices – it took a while to refine the search till he popped up). Nothing new shows up for; “Chester Borrows case review hearing”, has anyone heard of any developments in this case?
My suspicion is that Borrows’ lawyers are trying to push the case out past the 2017 election, at which point he can safely take his sentence: “The maximum penalty for careless driving causing injury is three months’ jail, or a fine of up to $4500. An MP must resign from Parliament if convicted of a crime with a maximum penalty of two or more years’ jail time.” So even if convicted, he wouldn’t be obligated to leave parliament. However, he might find it harder to get re-elected if the case does go to trial before the election.
Protester should have been arrested for public nuisance
I don’t know about Hillary going to jail But Trump could be.
But wait … there’s more! That’s the problem with saying you like to molest women, sooner or later some of the women you molested will confirm that its true.
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37639839
It appears his propensity to molest women is the only thing he’s told us the truth about.
The thug responds.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/786338751706378240/photo/1
It’s pouring.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/palm-beach-post-exclusive-local-woman-says-trump-groped-her/w5ii48gwdJY9htsLl88GcP/?ecmp=pbp_social_twitter_2015_sfp
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/300475-apprentice-winner-trump-demeaning-to-women-on-set
Yep the flood to wash away
And yet another woman comes forward.
edit: turn the volume down – damned auto play
http://people.com/politics/donald-trump-attacked-people-writer/
Has Melania Trump personally and politically attacked this outspoken “bimbo” (using Hillary Clinton’s phrasing) just as Hillary Clinton did to the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault?
She may still be in shock at the number of allegations coming out. Possibly she is consoling the man she loves in his darkest hour.
Personally, I think Hillary came to terms with Bill’s predatory sexual nature decades ago. The perpetrator and the enabler. What a combo.
Boy the Clinton campaign is on the rocks now.
Hillary employed strategies to help Wal Mart avoid raising their poverty level wages according to The Intercept.
Also learnt that Hillary was on the board of Wal Mart for 6 years. Fine employers, the Waltons.
I’m not surprised you think that – pretty tame for you.
AFAIK there’s only been one rapist in the White House in modern times. And if Hillary wins, he’ll be back in the White House.
Yeah i get the feeling that believing that really bothers you
The English had their own version of Donald J. Trump. This bloke was also a raving egomaniac as well as being, like Trump, about as funny as a mass grave…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mJ4a0ODPBM
Another link to Macro’s ref:
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/trump-to-head-to-court-in-december-for-allegedly-tying-up-and-raping-a-13-year-old-girl-report/
Those father daughter pics become way more disturbing.
https://twitter.com/laurenduca/status/786206480265457664
Flash flooding.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-unearthed-footage-trump-says-of-10-year-old-i-am-going-to-be-dating-her-in-10-years/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=29868172
edit: yup, it gets worse
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/timeline-of-trumps-creepiness-while-he-owned-miss-universe-w444634
http://www.king5.com/news/local/miss-washington-2013-says-donald-trump-groped-her/334981243?C=n
This has got to hurt.
Former Miss teen USA…
https://twitter.com/therealkamie/status/786335518963408896
On that twitter page, by ‘Harmony & Grace’, is this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/why-the-new-child-rape-ca_b_10619944.html
The linked page was posted in June by Lisa Bloom, attorney and “Legal analyst for NBC News”. Excerpt:
I’ve carefully reviewed this federal complaint. It is now much stronger than the one she filed on her own, which makes sense because she now has an experienced litigator representing her. Jane Doe says that as a thirteen year old, she was enticed to attend parties at the home of Jeffrey Epstein with the promise of money modeling jobs. Mr. Epstein is a notorious “billionaire pedophile” who is now a Level 3 registered sex offender – the most dangerous kind, “a threat to public safety” — after being convicted of misconduct with another underage girl.
Jane Doe says that Mr. Trump “initiated sexual contact” with her on four occasions in 1994. Since she was thirteen at the time, consent is not an issue. If Mr. Trump had any type sexual contact with her in 1994, it was a crime.
On the fourth incident, she says Mr. Trump tied her to a bed and forcibly raped her, in a “savage sexual attack,” while she pleaded with him to stop. She says Mr. Trump violently struck her in the face. She says that afterward, if she ever revealed what he had done, Mr. Trump threatened that she and her family would be “physically harmed if not killed.” She says she has been in fear of him ever since.
Oh fuck….another Saville.
https://twitter.com/gocartmozart1/status/786366245549531136
It appears that in 2002 Trump was very approving of how his neighbor Jeffrey Epstein; “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side”.
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/
They “like” them … enough to make them disappear?
Tiffany Doe corroborates, based on her own personal observations, just about everything in Jane Doe’s complaint: that twelve year old Maria was involved in a sex act with Mr. Trump, that Mr. Trump threatened the life of Jane Doe if she ever revealed what happened, and that she would “disappear” like Maria if she did. – from that HuffPo link above.
How come the name Jeffrey Epstein rings a bell when it comes to the Clintons?
Fortunately, neither Bill Clinton nor Jeffery ‘took the fifth’ Epstein are running for office.
Q. Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?
A: Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir
It only takes one courageous soul to take a stand to embolden others:
There has been a steady trickle of women relating similar instance of Trump’s sexual predation where he felt he was secure in in position of wealth and power. Even now he threatens to sue those who make allegations against him – and this would have been his modus operandii against the women who felt they were alone thus keeping them silent until now. But as with Crosby, Rolf Harris, et al, who also felt secure in their power, it will come to a bad end.
The one and only (probably) teen African-American Trump supporter in Illinois somehow made it onto the LA Times tracking poll panel. Which is why that poll has skewed massively towards Trump.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/10/12/one_of_trump_s_african_americans_in_illinois_is_messing_up_the_l_a_times.html
Should be all good then. Clinton by double digits come November. Right?
Today all information is supplied to us, the best we can do is seek credible sources, and vet the information they supply to us based on our own rational and the truths we hold dear. Propagating misinformation and lies based on our own confirmation bias is a trap we all fall into, I have fallen for lies and been manipulated into believing falsehoods and yes it hurts when you find out, cognitive dissonance is real and blinds us all at times.
In this age of social media manipulation it is imperative we hold to account those we follow even more so than those we oppose. When someone or something effects you emotionally or appeals to you in some way, stop and ask yourself why, and examine how this was present and supplied to you,
From TDB about the spying, sounds appalling…
“Not only will the SIS and GCSB have the legal protection to break any bloody law they like – THEY CAN EXTEND THIS POWER TO ANY OTHER STATE AGENCY THEY DESIGNATE TO HAVE THAT POWER!!!!
Are you listening yet sleepy hobbits?
Not only will the state spies be able to break any law legally – they can deputise different agencies to have the same power.
ARE YOU LISTENING YET?
Look, this is an extraordinary abuse of power the likes we’ve honestly never ever seen before. NO state agency should have the power to break any law they like and they sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to tag in any other agency to have the same powers.
As more and more NZers suddenly wake up to this appalling legislation and its ramifications – people are going to be outraged.”
yes and Labour supports them
Shocking.
No wonder people don’t vote. What sort of decent person thinks that’s ok?
According to Chooky this guy does:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/a/u/y/d/a/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1avzb4.png/1460270362288.jpg
have you heard the Labour Party opposing this BILL?
…NZF opposes it.
… The Greens oppose it
+ 73.61 Chooky
thanx…lol ( not 100% though…this is what I always aim for)
Yawn
Hobbit
The SIS and GCSB can go around murdering people, driving on the wrong side of the road and exposing themselves in public ?
Sounds terrible..
Yes it is.
They can also break into your house, and steal your phone or computer. However, they don’t need to do that because they can sift through all your email, record all your phone conversations, and txts, and they can let the police do that also, or customs, or whoever,… and you need never know.
Also internet banking transactions, websites and blogs visited/written on, access your email/facebook/social media accounts and post/alter content.
In the US it is thought that the IRS have used these records to target individuals and organisations for political reasons.
If this reminds you of the Stasi State…well, the Stasi were low powered amateurs compared to the FVEY system.
I’m off home to tinfoil all my possessions including the cat.
The usual ad hominem from someone who does not know how to debate.
I wouldn’t even bother responding to him, Paul. Over the weekend, somebody defended that witless troll, claiming that he had an interesting take on things. If only that were the case.
He is SO dull.
I agree Paul your Conspiracies and Armageddon predictions sprinkled with a daily dose of uplifting positivity is so much more interesting. Interesting in a way as the characters in one flew over the cuckoo nest where also interesting
Did you Dita da Boni on The Panel today?
All these revelations are years old and covered by The Intercept, Bill Binney, Jacob Appelbaum, Laura Poitras, Edward Snowden and others.
But you do perform an admirable imitation of an ostrich.
Here’s the link: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/10/13/must-read-dear-new-zealanders-do-you-have-any-idea-what-the-bloody-hell-the-nz-security-and-intelligence-bill-does/
& http://axesofjustice.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/nz-security-intelligence-bill-assault.html
Uday ain’t too bright.
The Trump campaign sent a fundraising email Wednesday morning claiming that “all the momentum” was on their side — and they used what appears to be a map showing only male voters’ preferences to prove it.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/eric-trump-tweets-map-if-only-men-voted
Aww….them womans and their votes..
/
https://twitter.com/latimes/status/786289108184424448
‘NZ Court hears closing arguments in Kim Dotcom’s US extradition appeal hearing’
https://www.rt.com/viral/360986-kim-dotcom-extradition-us/
…”Dotcom faces copyright infringement and money laundering charges over his now defunct file sharing website Megaupload. New Zealand’s High Court in Auckland has heard the extradition appeal over the last four weeks.
Lawyers for Dotcom contended in their closing arguments that there was not enough evidence to show he conspired to commit a crime, according to Reuters.
Dotcom took to Twitter to express his delight that the hearing has finished and thanked his lawyers for their work.
He also revealed his focus is now on the launch of Megaupload 2 and Bitcache – a blockchain powered service that links file transfers to bitcoin microtransactions, both planned for next year…
and
‘Kim Dotcom runs ‘Trump vs Clinton vs Putin’ Twitter poll, result is something you’d expect’
https://www.rt.com/viral/362353-putin-clinton-trump-kimdotcom-poll/
+72.3-141,23 Chooky
+100 Stunned Mullet …so you are showing me your maths prowess…?…I am very impressed!
here is another one for you …Piers Morgan stands up for Trump
…Piers Morgan always did have guts , probably his Irish ancestry…he made himself very unpopular in the States over his views on gun control
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-tapes-piers-morgan-twitter-defends-us-republican-sexist-election-debate-latest-a7352791.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Morgan
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-10-08/piers-morgan-gun-control-me-doing-nothing-unconscionable
( arithmetic please)
Well if Piers Morgan is pro Trump he must surely be the man for president, after all who are the voters to disagree with the celebrities of the day.
Matt Damon for head of UN I say and Tom Cruise for Pope……..Save me Oprah Winfrey !
+100…actually yes Trump for President
…I think Hillary Clinton for Pope
…Oprah Winfrey for Head of the UN
….Matt Damon Head of the FBI
…and Tom Cruise for Head of UFO investigations
btw this is damned good …shows how easily humans are brainwashed
‘Going Clear Scientology and the Prison of Belief’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbtOQsQiG0k
+1000 Chooky
Good luck to Dotcom.
And good bye
sorry…I think he has won…it will be HELLO!
( anyone around who deserves to have the pants sued off them for the way he was illegally treated?)
I hope Dotcom wins. And that NZ stops being an illegal enforcement arm of US corporate interests.
+100 to that !
Blockchains are big. Why oh why does the government persecute our most talented migrants who could really create jobs and a silicon valley here in NZ.
They did a deal for Mr Yan, and Dotcom is a lot more talented and probably a lot less guilty.
+100 save nz …yes why did they persecute Dot.com…probably NZ’s most genius and entrepreneurial new migrants?!
…because Jonkey Nact is a servant to USA Hollywood corporate interests and monopolies
…and many New Zealanders bought into this bullshit
The irony of a homeless person finding shelter in an artwork about homelessness which the council workers removed on the advice of police in spite of council permits for artwork…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11726953
It’s called hubris.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/trump-said-no-opposition-research-vetting
Good grief….it just gets worse and worse:
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37639839
“Trump ‘groped woman like an octopus'”
Shudder….
Its not always a bad thing: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Hokusai_The_Dream_of_the_Fisherman's_Wife.jpg
Octopussy?
God, thinking about an amorous Trump is revolting. I need to wash my brain with bleach
Get that bleach ready.
https://youtu.be/uOxHhD55lFI
🙀😸😈
Nationals good management delivers 1.8 Billion surplus.
Waiting for lefties to tell us what a bad job they have done.
Lots of money in the kitty for next year.
It’s a trade off though, isn’t it?
The consequences being increasing social stress – spikes in crime, homelessness, and housing unaffordability being three very visible indicators currently trending.
Of course – however there are lots of positives out there as well – but I know you are incapable of seeing them – but if you open your eyes they are out there.
Many New Zealanders are more than happy and confident that the country is doing well. You know its great to look things that we should all be grateful for as well.
You are doing a fine job as cheerleader. I apologise for turning your attention to those less fortunate than yourself – I know you don’t like thinking about them.
Im capable of thinking about both – it keeps me balanced.
You should try it.
I don’t see any evidence of that from your post history.
Big spend up for Election year….for tax cuts…that’s not wise governance, that’s short term bribery.
Shiny baubles for National Voters.
But no plan for economic growth. Which is why there are traditional National Business folk who are not that thrilled with this neo-liberal National Government.
Though another earthquake would save them I guess.
Meantime, with Public debt, we’re hitting around half a trillion dollars worth of gross debt, that’s an average of $100,000 for every New Zealander.
You’d think such a ‘fiscally’ responsible Government would keep an eye on that.
“Which is why there are traditional National Business folk who are not that thrilled with this neo-liberal National Government.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11716154
A quote from the traditional business folk who you say are not thrilled with this government:
“An overwhelming majority agree the Government’s current economic management is good.”
But you keep telling yourself that we are not happy.
You would think Business would want affordable houses for their workers.
You would think business would want people investing in business not housing.
You would think that business would want investment in R and D.
From the Herald, Mood of the Boardroom……
“The Government’s Business Growth Agenda has produced short term results but some CEOs are questioning whether it will be successful in the long term.
The CEOs suspect the Government may have an eye on retaining power (next year) rather than promoting sustainable economic measures.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11716940
Debt
NZ$ 114,859,082,834
That is 114 billion
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/305802/mental-health-workers-struggling-to-cope
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/305163/official-suicide-numbers-'miss-the-bigger-picture‘
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/315564/maggie's-mother-found-not-guilty-due-to-insanity
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/303524/another-inquest-for-capital-mental-health
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11726792
And that’s just in Mental Health – Underfunded and poorly staffed.
Yep! National are doing a great job.
How much is a life worth these days….?
But never mind John and Bill and Judith will all get their tax cuts next year – and that is what really matters.
If they have such a huge surplus, why then is Housing New Zealand going broke, has Bill cooked the books I wonder – explain please.
They’re not going broke, the issue is with Phil Twyford who an idiot and doesn’t understand financing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11728095
National have such a great record with Solid Energy…
Maybe they have given all the state house cronies all the money… how many advisor fees, how many P fees, how many unoccupied ghost state houses….
I think you will find that it is Bill who is the idiot:
“A Treasury paper showed Housing NZ was due to run out of cash for development and maintenance by February.”
“”HNZC modelling indicates that it is likely to exhaust its cash balance by February 2017 based on its planned development activity.”
This was despite the Government’s decision to forgo dividends from HNZ for the next two years.
The documents showed this would no longer make a difference because HNZ was now unlikely to produce any dividends.
HNZ’s financial situation was partly the result of the transfer of 2800 state houses to the Tamaki Regeneration Company, a Government-council entity, this year.
The transfer meant $1.6 billion was removed from HNZ’s balance sheet and it was now collecting $34m less in rent a year.
English has been asked for comment.”
You should read further than the Headline idiot!
Do you not understand Bill English explanation?
when is a surplus not a surplus?
if the government accounts were a business what would the shareholders think of a board that announced a profit on the back of reduced investment, deferred maintenance, a reduction in product development and staff training and the sale of core assets, and how would the future viability of that business be viewed?
What was that about Bill’s explanation?
Isn’t it fascinating the government has gone from demanding ‘fiscal responsibility’ from HNZ, to suddenly forgoing the once crucial dividend, to now throwing several hundred million at them in the space of a few short months? All this without a plan or coherent announcement.
It’s obvious from many examples now that when the opposition says ‘jump’, the government says ‘how high?’
More like “how low can we get away with?”
Then Farrar fills em in,
palm greased with silver.
National.
Great for the super rich.
Dreadful for the rest of us.
slogans slogans slogans, Dull
National’s pathological lying pretends their non-performance is better than it is.
The people, living in the real economy, know better.
There are in the world objective truths, and subjective ones. There is no objective truth in National’s claims of economic continence, only subjective ones. Thus, only their crawliest sycophants credit their assertions.
Which is more inane: this light chat show on public radio
or Seven Sharp with New Zealand’s Sean Hannity?
The Panel pre-show, RNZ National, Thursday 13 October 2016, 3:58 p.m.
Jim Mora, James Elliott, Lisa Scott, Julie Moffett, Jesse Mulligan
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! Hmm, hmm.
JESSE MULLIGAN: Ha ha!
JULIE MOFFETT: No one ever looks HAPPY when they’re running, though, DO they?
JESSE MULLIGAN: No, ho, they DON’T! [snicker]
JULIE MOFFETT: Ahhh, and finally, uh, how are your selfie skills? Are you doing the old selfies a lot, James, or—?
JAMES ELLIOTT: Yeah, my children encourage me to do that and then they normally put it on an app and then do something funny with my face so I’m a little bit confli—
JIM MORA: Yeah I’ve had that.
JAMES ELLIOTT: —little bit conflicted about that.
JULIE MOFFETT: So-o-o, have they also tried the High Five selfie?
JIM MORA: Hmmm….
JESSE MULLIGAN: Naahh, how’s that?
JULIE MOFFETT: Maybe this is NEW. So basically, a guy in the States decided—he MUST have had a lot of time on his hands—threw his phone up, took, you know, must have clicked the clicker at the same time while he was clapping his hands, and got a selfie of himself clapping his hands that he’d taken himself.
JIM MORA: It’s pretty impressive.
JULIE MOFFETT: So it’s basically hands-free selfie.
JESSE MULLIGAN: Hmmmm….
JIM MORA: That MUST be hard to DO.
JULIE MOFFETT: It WOULD be hard to do, and apparently people have been IMITATING him and—-
JESSE MULLIGAN: A ha ha HA!
JULIE MOFFETT: —breaking their phones.
JIM MORA: Breaking their phones.
JULIE MOFFETT: They drop them.
JESSE MULLIGAN: You like to send us a hands-free selfie—
JULIE MOFFETT: He, he! High Five!
JESSE MULLIGAN: The Panel at Radio NZ dot co dot NZ. Jim’ll make a gallery over the course of the next hour, while Lisa Scott and James Elliott chat about the issues facing the WORLD—
JIM MORA: HA! If we can get Lisa in the building!
JESSE MULLIGAN: Heh, indeed! And tomorrow on MY show, we put your food questions to Julie Biuso, send ’em THROUGH! Jesse at Radio New Zealand dot co dot NZ. Anything you want to know about FOOD, we can help….
It only got worse after four o’clock. More tomorrow…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/201819849/the-panel-pre-show-for-13-october-2016
Why do you listen and watch all this shite if it upsets you so , remedy switch off
Like an ostrich.
Come on Red, are you really serious when you ask such a question? No doubt people like you upbraided Molière for wasting his time transcribing and sending up the hypocrisies and idiocies of people he found appalling.
I do agree with you that these people constitute nothing more than “shite”, but in spite of my distaste for them, I have a duty….
http://www.foreveroldies.com/johnwayne3.jpg
Sorry all you f…..s looks like Trump is going to WIN!
‘Astrologers predict the election: Trump is from Mars, Clinton is from Venus’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/12/astrologers-predict-us-election-trump-clinton-zodiac
“Dozens of astrologers are coming together to predict who will be president, anticipating a ‘potentially explosive’ October surprise that could shape the result”
( read more )
Good thing astrology is a pile of steaming horseshit then
lol…I was waiting for the cockroaches to come out of the woodwork…but AOB must be away and McFlock safely tucked up in bed like a good boy
…however it is good to see you on the case The Extremist66…(lol heartily again)
Well, it is horseshit
Trump will win people understand him good and bad, Clinton they just see a fake
Speaking of fake; do you believe a single word that you type, Red? Or are you just here for the shits and giggles?
You are certainly not skilled enough to be a professional threadjacker (and your words are such shit that I can’t help picturing you giggling vapidly as you bang them out).
+100 Red…there is a oligarchy witch hunt against Trump from both the elite establishment in the Democrats and the Republicans…they are scared shitless of him
…sure he is a bad mouth but that is as far as it goes imo
…whereas the Clintons have real corrupt form and worse from a way back …which most peop-le are ignorant of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACyGsAAjfCI