Robert Fisk is a rare beacon of light in a dimming world.
Here he provides valuable insights on the geopolitical events going on in Turkey.
“A US trade war with Turkey over a little known pastor? Don’t believe a word of it.
For here’s the real list of Erdogan’s crimes. He is buying the Russian S-400 missile system for Turkey. He refuses to accept US support for America’s Kurdish YPG allies. He allowed Islamist fighters to pour over Turkey’s border into Syria along with a lot of weapons, mortars and missiles – to which Washington had no objections at the time since the US was trying to knock Erdogan’s former friend Bashar al-Assad off his perch. Then, after shooting down a Russian aircraft along the Syrian border in November 2015 – for which he was immediately boycotted by Moscow – Erdogan cuddled up to Putin. It was thus the Russians and the Iranians who first warned Erdogan of the impending “Gulen coup” against him in July 2016. They had been listening in to the Turkish military’s internal radio traffic – and tipped off the Sultan of Istanbul.
And now Erdogan is helping Iran to dodge US sanctions which were imposed after Trump flagrantly tore up the 2015 nuclear agreement, and – in a decision demonstrating the cowardly response of the EU’s own oil conglomerates to Trump’s insanity – has announced that he will continue to import Iranian oil. Thus will Washington’s further threat of increased oil sanctions against Iran be blunted. Sunni Saudi Arabia, one of Trump’s closest allies – where religious freedom for the likes of Pastor Brunson has never existed – is already furious with Erdogan. Not long ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced Turkey as part of a “triangle of evil” – the other bits of the “triangle” being Shiite Iran and militant Islamists.
So you can see how things are lining up in the Middle East right now. “
Read the whole article here,
Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.
Robert Fisk is a brilliant and highly informed commentator on Middle Easter affairs. His “Great War for Civilisation” is a must read for anyone who wants an in depth analysis of the political situation there, although much has happened since he wrote that tome.
@Ed, “Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.”
I Like that.
Isn’t it interesting that most of the most regular and balanced live debates on current affairs come from Press TV (Iran), RT (Russia) and Al Jerezza (Qatar), now I am not saying these countries are beacons of democracy, but they at least these networks offer regular and balanced debates on important world news, which is either almost non existent on MSM or when is presented, so short they they often lack substance and/or context.
And the other thing that RT/Al Jerezzra/Democracy Now/Press TV and The Real News do that MSM don’t do any longer, now that any narrative that doesn’t follow party line is shut down, is give Fisk, John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Max Blumenthal (amongst others) a platform to speak.
Perhaps if biosecurity and stock movement rules had been adhered to this step wouldn’t be necessary. You can’t have it both ways. If you want M Bovis sorted you have to accept that regular checks may be necessary. The market was left to police itself. It failed.
I’m getting close to drawing the pension and grew up and worked most of my life around the construction industry. In that game you come across most types and degrees of dodgy bastards. And I got to know, for better or worse quite a few.
Over the last 10 years I’ve been doing a lot of work on and around farms. I always thought agriculture was an honest industry, undertaken by people with integrity and good faith. Some, probably most, farmers I’ve dealt with are people of the highest moral standing with the greatest honesty and integrity you’ll ever meet.
But the dodgy bastards in the industry are in another league all together. And it’s accepted. Total dishonesty, violence when challenged, and you’ll never get anything in writing so there’s never any proof. Stock appearing on a property, then get retagged, plant with illegible identification numbers, but always just enough to get the right parts, and plenty more shit.
The idea that agriculture is some how cleaner than driven snow is utter bullshit. Refusal to obey, and operate under the law is criminality. There’s plenty of evidence from the M. Bovis debacle of farmers operating outside the law by refusing to comply with NAIT, or subverting the intent of NAIT. And really the only reasons to not tag is because they are either too lazy (or cashflow challenged), or having the tag on is going to stuff up their dodgy scheme.
Agriculture is no different to any other struggling industry, some will push the limits for gain at someone else’s cost. In other industries those outside the law feel the sanction of central or local government. Somehow agriculture feels it is exempt from this sanction.
Plenty of agencies can enter a property without a search warrant. Many acts give warrant powers to government officials (both central and local) to gather evidence and enforce. Worksafe and council building, planning and health as examples. MPI already have extensive warrant power.
But if they have been gathering information for some time a standard warrant is not an issue to get.
They can get your phone records/bank records without warrants now , as its done under the ‘maintenance of law and order’. Doesnt even need evidence of a crime in the first place
Any business that serves food can be inspected without notice, will have to have a food safety plan ready upon demand, training notices on staff etc etc. Failure to provide demanded documentation, failure to strict adherence to the food safety plan can and will result in fines, downgrading of the business etc.
that is usually how the non compliant businesses are caught.
Now why should farmers be exempt from this?
Maybe the farmer should welcome this action, so that the ‘rotten apples’ which are only a few here and there of course, can be found and kicked out of the box before all the other apples go rotten too.
Farming is a business and as such you have good an bad farmers. Farmers are no more special then any other proffession in this country. They are no more and no less ‘real NZ’ then any other Kiwi who happens to not work in farming.
They are no more and no less prone to abusing the system then others in other profession.
Maybe its time Farmers understand that they actually demand special status in a country where two thirds of people literally are too poor to buy their butter and milk.
Also how much tax payers moneys is going to be squandered on M Bovis clean up? The very least the taxpayer who is not a farmer but is having funds used to dig them out of their own cow shite is that the farmers might have to open for inspections day and night.
All business people these days are on drugs! The drug is profit, and more profit. Very addictive and many will go the extra mile to get the moolah, on or off farms, Queen Street farmers and lawyers, building companies and anywhere there is money to be made. And if they make a success of their business, they will sell it, because it is the money drug they want, not just a good living for themselves and family.
And that’s without even getting into the Health Act, which is damned near totalitarian. Even the routine admin stuff, rather than the outbreak emergency controls.
It is not an excuse Chris T – it is a reason.
Farmers will have to put up and shut uop. They have consistently gone light on following the right practices, and not taken responsibility for controlling those who have made no or little effort to manage their businesses ethically.
Is it not true that MPI have to observe all rules that cover farms now? That would mean health and safety requirements such as reporting to the farmer first and being excluded from the farmhouse, and so on, as is normal?
Just as Union Officials must do when entering a farm to visit an union member, as Jacinda spent several question times pointing out to Simon in the House over the last two weeks. But I divert … Sorry …
You’ve read the article from “Stuff” published last December then. The protocol seems reasonable to me considering the threat that myrtle rust presents to the horticulture industry. Pity about your language – doesn’t suggest a great range of vocabulary.
“Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??”
That would be under existing biosecurity rules, just as Police can enter without a warrant in certain circumstances -misuse of drugs act etc. and SIS can burgle your place without warrants
Ok, a lot of speculation going on here – including my own in this comment.
I really have not followed this closely but my understanding is that the changes to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act are to realign it with the Search and Surveillance Act which was adopted under the National Government in 2012. This realignment has become urgent due to the M. Bovis emergency and the lack of compliance – by a few – with the NAIT requirements.
If you only read the The third reading debate, the last item in the list in the link (in particular Damian O’Connor’s background speech), and the first item in the list (the last debate yesterday) this will give a pretty good outline of the situation and the ‘faux’ outrage from the Opposition led by Nathan Guy. In the last item in the list, Mark Patterson of NZF, himself a farmer, gives a good explanation of the need for urgency – as does Gareth Hughes.
The Bill passed its third reading unanimously – with all Parties including National passing it and no Nos – at 1.08 mins in this video.
If a warrant isn’t hard to get, it defeats the purpose of having a warrant system in the first place.
Basically, let’s say an inspector comes to the farm gate looking for noncompliant cows. You say “fuck off”, and while they’re off getting a warrant you truck any non-compliant cows to another location. Not only is a warrant ineffecive, it actually motivates the transmission of diseases the noncompliant cows might have.
Now let’s look at a single parent living alone – the presence of a person doesn’t indicate a cohabiting relationship. That requires a long term pattern to be established. So immediate powers to enter without warrant are a bit pointless in that case, no?
It’s not hypocrisy to recognise that the same protection that prevents unnecessary invasion in one instance is actually counterproductive in another.
Do you have any proof farmers are hiding infected animals?
The main problem with it being traced was caused because young calves could be legally shifted without nait tags .
But hay it’s only farmers and this government got elected by playing the wedge politics card against them so why should I be surprised.
That’s why we have inspectors.
We have a load of proof that farmers won’t control infections by themselves.
No, it’s not only farmers. Several organisations don’t need warrants – the health sector is significantly more powerful than the justice sector in that regard.
You’re just pissed because your industry is being held accountable for its abject failure to protect itself, and now the government needs to clean up the mess.
I think bwaghorn had a very difficult day at work yesterday because he got it for being a leftie and supporting the pretty communist that’s going to chuck farmers off their farms. It wasn’t a good day to be a leftie on a farm yesterday. The bullshit was flowing strong.
But really it was only the seriously dodgy side of framing throwing a spaz that it’s going to be a lot harder to do the dodgy stock sales and movements now that NAIT is much tighter and actually enforced.
The actual political situation was pointed out by veutoviper in 2.8 above /open-mike-17-08-2018/#comment-1514840
The third reading passed unanimously, with all parties speaking in support. Including National.
Nice fantasy chump . .
I’ve been in sheep and beef for 8 years and havent seen any one actively rout nait . Slow to take up yes but every cattle beast I’ve sent off since nait arrived has had a nait tag in its ear . And every one that has come on has had a nait tag in its ear .
But you clowns believe what you hateful little minds want .
In two years labour will realise it’s lost the fight on mb . The chance of stopping it is long gone thanks to the useless nats . .
I’ll have to hope top hangs in their
Actually, from a disease control perspective, unless it has an endemic wildlife vector in the way that TB has, eradication of a virus from a controlled population only requires tracking to identify exposed animals, even without a vaccine.
Do you know how hard mb is to track . Our local very up to date vet told us at a recent meeting it can only be found when an animal is shedding cells . It only sheds cell sporadically.
That only effects the math in the same way a longer incubation time effects the math.
If I have ubiquitous surveillance of a population, any positive test means I can track exactly which individuals had transmission-likely contact with the infected individual. So all of those other individuals get tested or quarantined or (in the case of livestock) culled.
A few iterations of that, and the disease is eradicated. The only factor that changes is the number of iterations – how much effort we put into it.
“Wedge Politics” – what a joke- it was the clowns in Morrinsville, led by the “Jolly old Fed of Farmers” who played the wedge card – will never forget the image of “Worzle Gummige” holding up the “pretty communist” placard. Desperate measures by sore losers. Labour’s Agriculture Ministers from Aubrey Begg and beyond have all been respected by the farming community even though it stuck in ts craw to admit it.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~Horace Mann
“Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as other fossil fuels combined and it still has far greater reserves. We must stop using it.”
James Hansen
Australia is our closest geographical neighbor, Australia is also our closest cultural cousin.
What we do here in New Zealand, has an impact in Australia.
You better believe it
Sir Peter, (Professor), Gluckman, the government’s top science adviser, has said that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to fighting climate change, will be by “setting an example”.
In my opinion that example must be for New Zealand to strike an iconic death blow against the local coal industry.
If we can’t do it, how can we ask our Australian neighbours and cultural cousins to?
The very least, we need to do, is urgently impose an immediate moratorium on the opening of all new coal mines.
Our other regional neighbours in the Pacific have called on New Zealand and Australia to put a total stop to all coal production.
Pacific leaders call for coal mining to be shut down to save island nations from effects of climate change
Eric Tlozek – ABC News, September 8, 2015
The leaders of some of the world’s smallest nations have called for coal mining — one of Australia’s biggest industries — to be shut down, in a bid to save their countries from the effects of climate change.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which includes Pacific Ocean countries like Tuvalu and Palau, said global warming was already harming their people.
The AOSIS said it wanted a moratorium on new coal mines, but was realistic about its chances of convincing Australia to give up its lucrative fossil fuel assets.
Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga is the new chair of the group.
“We’re simply seeking for the rights of small island states to survive,” he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that climate change is our Nuclear Free Moment.
Prime Minister Ardern needs to make it our Coal Free Moment.
Anything less, is surrender.
Another great leader once said, “We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard”.
And from an earlier era, another Prime Minister, facing up to existential crisis – Said this:
“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill, speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940).
The Uninhabitable Earth
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
David Wallace-Wells – New York Magazine, July 10, 2017
It is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today…..
…..absent a significant adjustment to how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth will likely become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century.
Yes, it is achievable. “But it will demand a united global effort”.
There is one thing missing….
Leadership…..
……the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published a study by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, “Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene.” It predicts the strong likelihood of a “Hothouse Earth” with uninhabitable regions and a 10- to 60-metre rise in sea levels — even if we limit temperature rise to 2 C.
The Stockholm study says that should still be enough to trigger other climatic forces, from the melting of ice sheets to the collapse of ocean currents. A “Stabilized Earth” is achievable, they say, but it will demand a united global effort.
re Bridges Expenses And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far
Hosking reports this
And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far reater rate than it is for government ministers. So if you compared apples with apples the bill probably wasn’t that dramatic at all.
Thats because he likely had a crown limo and driver tag along for his regions tour.
Not only do you get the standard rate but its PLUS accomodation costs
Limos arent in every town and city. Mostly the bigger ones with I think one car based in Dunedin but a few more in Christchurch, more again in Auckland and a big chunk in Wellington. There may be one or 2 in waikato etc.
As well when there isnt a car available they have private limos on call and they might be on a ‘spot’ rate and higher than the standard crown limo rate
Just heard on the wireless… simons crown limo rides are charged out at twice the rate of Ministers. Thanks for explaining a bit more Duke as to why that would be.
Find it hard to believe that he didn’t know this before his ‘road’ trip.
It’s something all of us consider when planning a ‘road trip’ … the cost of the journey.
He could have flown in then asked the local MP to drive him around.
Or were local nat MP’s also enjoying looking fancy in the limo?
Everything Duke said applies equally to Ministers.
If Winston, for example was to turn up in Hastings to go to the races he is certainly going to expect to have a Limo there for him.
It still doesn’t seem to be any rationale for the double rate for the Leader of the Opposition or for the Speaker.
The higher rate is only mentioned in the expenses returns for this year. I wonder if it was put in, probably at Winston’s request, so that it would make the Leader of the Opposition look extravagant? Knowing what Winston is like it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
It certainly seems to have worked. Look at all the people on this site who are rabbiting on about how Bridges is supposedly more extravagant than Little or Ardern were. He isn’t, it is just a little smear tactic by the current Coalition of Losers who have fiddled the accounting rules to make it look like that..
I’m unable to personally attend. But I’m hopeful there will be discussion on what the Greens are doing to help the poor offset new environmental charges (such as significantly increasing tip fees) the Greens are championing.
There is momentary concern that will die away till the next open complaint.
This will have a contradictory on the call for euthanasia. Instead of bringing in a principled matter for choice, all the authorities involved will resist fiercely saying that what is required is better care and that presently it is a disgrace.
The nostalgic past is our zeitgeist in today’s society. Plus ‘shoulds’ as a way to cope with problems that require action by government in line with expressed wishes from the citizens. And a response to the statistics concerning population bulges and mismatched spending so it is more on the old than the young who are being starved of funding and attention to their needs at the start of what should be their full, active life.
What is also interesting is that the family went to some disputes tribunal to get the award (aka I think it’s their rest home fee’s refunded) but health and disability and the rest home industry are all ok with poor conditions and poorly trained staff even though people (or the state) are paying in excess of $1000 a week for care that they obviously expect to be quality for their loved one? No wonder the rest home industry seem to have one of the highest returns on the share market when you just put a few poorly trained and cheap people in and the regulators seem to say it’s optional to attending to the patients needs promptly.
Speaking of complaints here is the top ten companies complained about to the commerce commission. (from Granny) Other companies like power and banking I think have their own complaints bodies and are regulated to be allowed to rip off customers which is probably why nobody bothers to complain anymore.
Revealed: New Zealand’s most complained about companies
Viagogo
Vodafone
Spark
Foodstuffs
2 Degrees
Woolworths
Air New Zealand
Noel Leeming
Wilsons parking
Sky
vocus
The Warehouse
The corporate portal
Trade Me
Harvey Norman
Brand developers
Ticketmaster
Luxstyle Apps
Contact energy
NZ post
No surprises to see retail telco high up and in numbers on that list.
Vodafone would be probably top if their customers had stayed to complain. The fact they were allowed to Hoover up the fibre links of Telstraclear and drive that into the dust is a total fail in terms of retail v wholesale segregation.
Watch that space as the race to the bottom gathers pace.
Maybe later, if I can organize 240V power supply and access to the internet, I’d really like to to have an in depth discussion about the link between the current wording of the euthanasia bill and the very real possibility that those who need a high level of hands on care will, out of despair, feel obliged to request the blue juice.
I personally believe that all debate about euthanasia should be suspended until we sort out the serious problems with providing safe care for disabled and elderly.
Hi Rosemary, did you hear the two interviews that Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon has had in the last two days on the wording of the Euthanasia Bill? Well worth a listen if you can.
Peripherally listened yesterday…was totally engrossed and cheering Paula on as we were hurtling towards Kaitaia this morning.
FWIW, IMHO, Paula Tesoriero has really stepped up to the role of Disabilities Commissioner. She had large shoes to fill, taking over from Paul Gibson.
Over the rattle of the diesel, I’m sure I heard her talk about the despair some living with disability experience when trying to access vital funded supports.
And then some numpty contacted Natrad saying Paula had no place speaking on behalf of all disabled…”and if he were disabled” etc etc…. The short answer to numpty would be stfu until you have actually lived with a significant disability for an appreciable amount of time..then comment.
For many, the thought of being disabled, of being dependent on others for sometimes the most basic of cares, is beyond comprehension and they will state categorically they would rather be dead.
Extrapolating, they would see those who do need that level of support as what? A burden on society? A waste of vital resources? That they should do the ‘decent thing’ and check out? Because they, in their limited experience and even more limited imagination, could not envisage any kind of worthwhile life without all their functions intact.
The situation right now for those who require a reasonably high level of support is dire. And I do not exaggerate. The story of the old lady lying in her own pee is not rare. Stories of disabled and vulnerable elderly being neglected and abused (sometimes unto death) are tragically not unusual or isolated.
And what Robert Love was saying about the inadequacies of the complaints and monitoring processes is sadly correct.
ACC claimants have rights and entitlements enshrined by law. Those with need for supports who are not covered by ACC, who are under MOH:DSS or a DHB, have no entitlements and few rights. A bureaucrat can decide that such and such will not be provided and there is no avenue of complaint. Serious incidents of inadequate care that leads to harm or death can take years to wend their way through the Health and Disability Commission complaints process…and seldom result in prosecution.
(NB…Paula Tesoriero is attached to the Human Rights Commission not the Health and Disability Commission. )
The whole system is dysfunctional and treats users with little or no respect.
The current disability System Transformation which is marketed as solving all such problems is superficial window dressing being rolled out in yet another pilot with a full roll out nationwide not expected for nearly another decade.
And this System Transformation does not, and this is specifically stated in the System Transformation documentation, give users any entitlement to the supports they need.
This is unacceptable in a country that has given a select group of disabled citizens such entitlement.
The disparities, the gross inequities between ACC and others is a stain on New Zealand and until this is addressed, there should be no discussion of euthanasia outside of definite terminal illness at all.
And having said that, I’d be tempted to make it a further condition to progressing this Bill that this crappy little travesty is sorted.
Re Paula Tesoreiro, I too have a lot of respect for her as we worked in the same government department some years ago and worked together on one or two issues. Top notch intellectually, more than able and willing to stand her ground, and a lovely person as well. I knew she would do well as Disability Commissioner (as you say within the HRC) – and sadly despite the recent problems within that agency.
I am well aware and have major concerns re the existing problems for those with disabilities, in poverty etc. As I think I have mentioned before, I too have disabilities and I and my doctors have been hitting our heads against a brick wall in getting me some support.
However, personally I do think we need to have the euthanasia discussion despite these other situations – but I am definitely not convinced that the bill as it is currently drafted is in any way acceptable for many of the reasons raised by Paula, and others including yourself.
‘NZ First’s constitution states any of its MPs who resign or are expelled from the party are personally liable for up to $300,000 if they don’t leave Parliament immediately.
The clause states if the MP is either an electorate MP or a list MP, they have up to three days to vacate their seat in Parliament, or pay up.’
One way to make sure plebs (sorry MPs) toe the line winston wants I guess
Or maybe it’s just a way of ensuring that the voters don’t get their intentions overturned by Nats and Nat cronies throwing their (copious) money around to turn MPs against their own parties?
So in a sense, you could see it as keeping money out of politics. Protecting the voters from National Party money in effect.
Winston, having once been inside the tent, probably has a better understanding of the dark heart of National than most. And this attack on him looks like another nail in the coffin of any future Nat-NZF coalition. Dumb politics from National.
With furrowed brow and tightened sphincter
The little man sat and fretted on the future
If our dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
With furrowed brow and puckered sphincter
The little rogue sat and fretted on the future
If Judith’s dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
So this is why I don’t vote the WinnieFirst party… but how is it news exactly? I mean each party has its own internal processes, isn’t that like part of the deal of a democracy? That we have a wide range of ideas that come together and get mixed and debated and we get a good output? I mean who didn’t know that the WinnieFirst party was all about Winston?
next you will be telling us that ACT are a go nowhere party that are too controlled by self-interest business people and are in no way a liberal party, which they have just cottoned onto and want to change to the far-right populist party of the rich
Well when you look at “waka jumping” its mostly (not always) happens to NZFirst, why?
What is about NZFirst that makes this happen, maybe instead of trying to charge someone 300 grand (which I don’t think would stand up in court) maybe NZFirst should see whats happening internally
I think most of us know why, NZF is a populist party, which revolves around Winston. And yes that means what Winston says goes, who doesn’t know that? but then that is how it started and is the basis of policy. I actually trust Winston to do what he says, with the cravat that he really says he will do anything with any real certainty, so he can normally find a way to twist what he said into what he actually did…
Waka-jumping isn’t only NZF of course, and really this is all a bit of a smoke-screen around the troubles of ACT and the inability of National to not look deeply divided.
The weather is affecting land prices, not. Land prices continue to rise with QE.
Actually the Left Party in Germany have made a popularist policy suggestion regarding agricultural lease prices. If there is no income coming from the land due to drought, then farmers should be able to escape paying the full price to the land owner. Govt will have to rule on it, which will be a bit complex. Actually this one goes back to the bible, as an option to just pay a percent of your harvest to the land owner.
What a fundamentally stupid idea. If people can’t make a decent living from the land they need to stop doing what they are doing and do something else.
Yeah, time to reduce herd size a bit and build up feed reserves. Organic requires larger feed reserves, as they usually have less maize and grain which are more market accessible.
Getting one step ahead of the game seems to be the biggest barrier to organic conversion. Similar with cropping, as cropping is generally dependent on manure from animals. Could say the same regarding debt ratio, requiring more reserves to weather conversion.
“This is yet more fake news from Winston Peters. I don’t think I’ve even had a conversation with Ron Mark this year let alone made any suggestions to him.
So, did he make the approach late last year instead. 😉
Edit: I know he wasn’t leader of the Nats until Feb of this year, but that needn’t stop him from having a go.
Notice Bridges is lying by saying didnt have a conversation
Doesnt mean he didnt have a chat or a few words or that other situation: ‘a discussion’
Bridges needs to learn form Trump – lie big, little lies dont change anything
Normally these sort of things arent done by the party leaders, to give them deniability.
But as you mention Bridges was ‘a go to guy’ until he became leader in Feb.
“Ron Mark backs Winston Peters on approach Simon Bridges made to him.”
OOps Simon old chap.
“Ron Mark says National leader Simon Bridges talked to him about a deal during a flight earlier this year, contradicting Bridges’ claim no such approach was made.
“It’s true. Simon and I were next to each other on a flight from Auckland to Wellington in May. He bought it up out of the blue during a conversation we were having.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters is asking why Mark didn’t simply follow the instructions he was given.
Mark isn’t offering any answers. He did not respond to requests for an interview and did not answer questions. A spokesman said: “This matter has now been dealt with and we consider it closed.”
Defence minister Ron Mark was specifically told he was breaking all the rules wearing his military medals but went ahead and did so anyway.
Documents show Mark was told on October 27 – just after being sworn in as Minister of Defence – that his rack of medals was a breach of protocol and rules.
The NZ First deputy leader went on wearing his medals until November 15 when the Herald revealed he was in breach of the regulations governing decorations.
Mark’s medals wrongly placed his Omani service in a position over prominence over his New Zealand service. Also, wearing the Omani medals wrongly suggested he had the required permission from the Governor General’s to wear a foreign decoration.
In the 20 days since Mark learned his medals were a breach of the Crown’s rules on decorations and honours, he wore them while standing in front of veterans, next to the Chief of Defence Force, with foreign leaders and while inspecting troops.
Stop trying to divert attention PR. You’re usually better than that.
Who cared a damm – apart from a bunch of bureaucratic military pin prickers – what medals he wore and where he wore them. What a load of puerile nonsense.
Bridges took a leaf out of Trump’s book and tried to gerrymander the political stability of the country for personal political gain and then lied about it. An infinitely worse offence than a row of medals not in the right order.
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade.
He wouldn’t have given a damm – unless they were wearing their jacket inside out or their pants back to front then he might have. 😀
It’s time the medal pin-prickers grew up and looked around them. There’s a big wide world needing urgent attention. My father had a heap of medals from two world wars but never wore them. He was more interested in the here and now.
As an ex member of the NZDF, ADF and a veteran i couldn’t really give a rats ass, how old Ronnie wear his goddam gongs, yes there are grumpy old shell backs (usually they No Mates voters) who don’t have a life outside of the Forces, who have SFA to do but complain but do SFA to fix the problems. All I want from Ronnie is to stop the rot of the 30 odd yrs of under spending, neglect, and to provide better welfare/ conditions of service to Defence personal, Defence families and to the veterans now and into the future as they don’t have union to back them like the every other Government employee has.
If some old grizzle dick came up and told me I was wearing my gongs around the wrong way if I was the NZ MoD, then that I will ask this simple question.
What is more important my medals which I have one NZ gong (NZDM) among my other 9 or 10 gongs or the welfare issues of Defence members, underfunding issues of the NZDF or the welfare of Veterans?
If they say my NZDM is out of place, so you don’t give shit about NZDF or Veterans problems so piss off and get a life.
Had some muppet in NZ try and tell me last year “Your NZDM should be at the front and not a the rear of your row of medals as Foreign Medals are always to the rear etc etc?” My reply was “Ah you must be a National voter then?” He said yes and I’ll it leave to your imagination on the spray I give this muppet and his muppet mates in a pub in Dunedin.
“The awful news that all but two penguin chicks have starved to death out of a colony of almost 40,000 birds is a grim illustration of the enormous pressure Antarctic wildlife is under. The causes of this devastating event are complex, from a changing climate to local sea-ice factors, but one thing penguins, whales and other marine life don’t need is additional strain on food supplies.
Over the next year we have the opportunity to create an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary – the largest protected area on Earth – which would put the waters off-limits to the industrial fishing vessels currently sucking up the tiny shrimp-like krill, on which all Antarctic life relies.”
I wonder how Australia feels about this, being the home of the CCAMLR.
They seem very ‘upbeat’ about the scientific awesomeness of the management of the fisheries and its sustainability. They seem to have ‘forgotten’ to include a speaker to talk about the wider ecosystem.
“A National Science Week (Australia) public seminar to help people understand the connections between commercially available krill products, human health claims and the biology and ecology of this tiny crustacean.
Find out why Hobart is the global centre of krill science and krill fishery management and how each of the relevant institutions are connected through international scientific and government networks.
Dr So Kawaguchi talked about his research on krill biology and ecology and Dr Laura Laslett discussed her research on the medicinal value of krill oil.
Dr Keith Reid, Science Manager for CCAMLR, outlined how fishing for krill is regulated by this international body and how fishing limits are informed by the best available scientific studies on krill and their ecosystems.”
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Social Development show 26,000 more hardship grants for food were given out compared with the June quarter last year.
Could we (please) link up the super-wealthy food purveyors, the supermarket barons, with the very poor needers of food and just let the former receive the needs of the latter, as an ongoing gesture of thanks for their good fortune, from those rich-listers?
And yet those who have made it to the list that are Pak n Sav owners can achieve this and still sell below the competitors ?
And as someone who has a family member working there they pay above min wage and is treated well.
Perhaps we should be asking their competitors why that is the case ??
Good to hear Pak n Sav pay above min wage and treat staff well. One of the biggest reasons for NZ lack of productivity is that for 30 years the business community has been taught to get employee’s as cheap and subservient as possible, keep them on casual and temporary contracts or subcontractor contracts so there is not much loyalty, rip off customers and ‘confuse’ them and then they wonder why there are worker and skills “shortages” and they are falling behind the rest of the world in productivity and customer services!!! Doh!
Look at Germany, they make things, and they have strong worker rights, pay higher wages and employ educated people (free university education in Germany). Unfortunately NZ decided to go down the Asian path of high inequality and low wages combined with western neoliberalism and government privatisations and deregulation.
Judging from what’s happening the penny hasn’t dropped yet for most NZ business and government that they are about to be out competed due to their incompetence and reliance of lowest common denominator and contempt for both consumer and employee and selling the country off for peanuts over the past decades.
Supermarkets may decide to screw their suppliers instead of their workers.
Also they may limit what brands they will carry, so that turnover ratio targets must be met or you are out. They will drop good lines which are replaced by some from another country. They will copy a good selling line from a company and sell it under their own brand name. It may in fact still be made by the original company, I don’t know, but it is a way to smother innovated products and also prevent the other company from building its own brand and reputation.
They can conduct phony wars against other supermarket chains. This was done a few years ago with milk, and the loss of profit was passed on also to the dairy suppliers. In Australia they have invoked nationalistic emotions and taken other country’s products off their shelves, which included ours.
Everything is calculated, and the giant stores with their convenient parking are hard to compete against by small local business people forming part of the core local business enterprise. The money leaches out of local pockets and most of it flows onwards to others’ capital accretions.
I agree with you greywarshark. Many on this site are very anti farmers, (and some with good reason) but primary producers are also people being screwed over by middle men, like supermarkets.
Also with supermarkets they are cutting costs by for example not employing qualified butchers, but instead ring in orders of meat from a warehouse where it comes pre cut.
The issue with this is, that the meat can be 3 months old and so they use a gas in the packaging to keep it looking fresh. They also have special lights etc so that the food looks better than it actually is in real life.
When they analysed the food with gases which is used in other countries to keep food longer they found that a salad looked fresh, but had lost all it’s nutrition when packaged with the long life gases.
So food can look fresh now, but actually be old and have zero nutritician but the consumers are being fooled.
All this to make more and more profit while people are being ripped off nutrition from their own food!
Good links The Chairman. Interesting so many making a fortune from just owning one supermarket. Maybe the commerce commission are a bit amiss when they dropped their investigation on Countdown – instead they need to search further a field.
Also these firms are creaming the money, while often the employee’s are on poor working conditions and Close to minimum wages, aka the taxpayer (nurses and teachers for example) are then paying taxes like WFF and accomodation benefits for their employees wages while the supermarket owner makes the rich list! Something is wrong. Apparently a family on minimum wages with 2 kids needs a $5000 wage top up per family from the government to cover the short fall of wages.
I’m not against people being rich, but it should not be on having poorly paid employees, corporate welfare and overcharging customers.
I commented on this yesterday, and to Wayne you may find this of interest
How the union is NOT supporting its own members, IMO NZEI your lack of representing “YOUR” members over the last 9 years and letting the Nat govts off lightly and making the current govt appear to be the enemy is highly embarrassing to say the least.
Perhaps there is a need for performance pay for good teachers as the union is not working for them. “She wants to see the pay scale reflective of experience rather than qualification, and said there was a place for performance pay.” These teacher support the union how about the union returning the favour ?
“Of more than 2500 responses, 66 per cent said they earned under $71,000, and dozens of commenters said they had also been locked out of progressing up the pay scale because they only held a diploma.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/106321443/teachers-with-40-years-experience-stuck-on-59600-because-of-pay-inequality
Herodotus, I am a secondary school teacher, not an NZEI member. But I doubt that NZEI is going to undergo a membership collapse because of the tendentious argument you put that teacher unions betray good teachers by not approving of performance pay.
All teachers have been underpaid, and before you even speak of performance pay, you need to pay a decent salary to all teachers first. I think tis is what NZEI is aiming at, and you are wasting your breath in trying to sow dissension.
Try all those teachers who are paid $15-$17k below their fellow teachers for doing the same job.
At my local school on Wednesday 40-50% of the teachers were at school. This is a school with a roll excessive of 700 primary students.
It may be an isolated case. but it speaks of the support for the unions, and of those 5 are Q1 or Q2 level.
So you say all teachers are underpaid, what about those who are severely underpaid ?? Or do you agree that Q1-4 should be on a similar pay scale ?
Strikes me that having an “Evening post “to go to as an extra venue for those that have to work in the day time could be good .While its interesting to get home from work switch on the comp and see whats been happening during the day on TS its also hard work scrolling thru whats usually hundreds of comments and half a doz posts .I often think wouldnt it be nice if there was a smaller space for those who only have the time for a couple of hours in the eve .In a sense the days activities and opinions are already “old news” by the end of the day .Might make a few more people come out of the woodwork also .
Thanks for replying vv but as much as open mike is oversubscribed especially by the same people {just saying }you could say daily review is under subscribed …i just thought something new might have the effect of capturing a bit more of the available market so to speak .. in fishermans terms if nothings biting change your bait or your method location etc .Dont get me wrong im in awe of a great many of the regulars and posters here and grateful the site exists and to everyone who makes it happen .
I understand what you are saying re the size of OM vs DR, but it is my impression (rightly or wrongly) that the imbalance is a fairly recent phenomenon. The number of comments on OM certainly seems to be reaching record numbers, while the DR comment numbers seem to have gone down. I am one of those who have been around TS for many years and it is interesting how things change over time. Daily Review was introduced just a couple of years ago – cannot remember when exactly.
Lots of things could have affected the comment distribution in recent months – eg being a post election year, loss of some authors with fewer separate posts, time of year (eg winter). Re the latter, I find that with age and retirement I am going to bed earlier in the evening but then wake up in the early hours and do what you are NOT supposed to do – reach for the IPAD. Hence my reply to you at 4.25am!
Lprent probably has lots of information re changes in patterns etc but he is so hardworking and generous with his time, energy etc to keep TS going I would not like to ask him, especially now that he seems to spend a lot of time overseas with his paid work.
Kris Faafoi is “committed to ensuring the wheels of commerce move smoothly and that New Zealand capitalises on every advantage it can to grow our economy, jobs wages and opportunities.”
Sounds good, but actions speak louder than words and in Parliament he utters a snide, nasty remark about a fellow parliamentarian. His impulse to hurt and offend smudges his reputation as a Labour member.
Let’s get this straight alcohol is run by big business who spend there lobbing mone to distort the true negative fact’s of there prouduct’s .
Here you are It’s a man made chemical drug that will kill you instantly if you drink it to fast it can kill you slowly by over loading your liver the liver is the body’s filter no liver no life it has carcinogenic properties that cause cancer it over load’s our police work load every weekend as well as hospitals firefighters ambulance service and this all cost mone. People are killed every day because of this drug .
Mean while mone talks about how our consumption of this drug has lowered by a quarter since the 1970 but what they have not said is the alcohol % have we drink have has gone up by at least 100% you see the 00.1 Are the fake it till you make it people they don’t care it there profits are directly linked to there products killing people of Papatuanuku and her creatures Ana to kai .
Ka kite ano link is below
Good morning Newshub Nation I totally agree with the lady how fake fact’s fake new’s it’s start’s grabbing te tangata reality the more tangata that are exposed to it and the more that start believing these lies the 00.1% have been doing this to us for century’s
Look at the nose’s being cut off those beautiful statues in Egypt.
And reducing our carbon use to at least – 99% of today’s use will make our country great and wealthy Ka kite ano P.S looking after our moko’s it;s busy time’s Eco supports the Green Party 100%
The reality with these under cover sandfly is that there handler’s like to recruit the young people fresh out of police school why because they are easy to intimidate manipulate and mold there reality into believing that what there handler’s are telling them is true why don’t they hire people in there 30’s + to do this job well they have a better grasps on reality and are not as easy to sell lies to or intimidate into backing there corrupt move’s on te tangata How do I know this well this man’s story’s and a few other’s said they were recruited stright out of police school nice and easy to mold into the undercover system’s Greg O’Connor Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S one of these people can not take his flash fishing boat out to sea because he is being Eco Maori shamed lol
You know what they had a soft drink and sweet’s machine all around the hospital what’s worse is they had one right out side the mokopuna’s ward this sugar vending machine’s should be banned from all hospitals Ka kite ano
I see the OIL baron are using there money to attack The Great Visionary Elon Mus credibility all over the media If the OIL baron get there way we will all be in the—–while they swim in there oil mone .
Ka Kaha Elon nobody perfect E hoa you keep up your good work you are one of the many people who are going to change our energy system’s to green electricity carbon free energy
Eco Maori supports you 100 % ka kite ano
P.S unlike some other leader who is championing old failing energy carbon
Because of those wanker sandflys actions my Mokopunas is still suffering in pain do they give a shit no I will be laughing at them in a court house muppets and all these ashole that no what’s going on are just as bad as them
The Justice system serves the Wealthy a free pass or impunity this man bashed people knocked them on the ground and was still hitting them on the ground and he gets to fly back to Britain to play cricket what example does that set for the Mokopunas link below Ka kite ano
Well back get my Mokopuna checked once again at the lakes care and the smart ass sandflys send in one of there muppets red necks I wonder how the can sleep at nite the way they behave O that’s right the Sun shines out there elites ass and We are just savages Ka kite ano
Here is a great leader who we have lost I agree with his last speech at the head of the UN secretary General I see a pattern emerging I will let you know later link below Ka kite ano
The sandflys don’t give a shit about there actions causeing my Mokopunas pain an suffering for weeks I don’t give a shit who get mud in there faces from now on anything I find on the net I’m going to throw it in there faces they are scared – – – – reap what you sow muppets Ana to kai P.S I at the hospital with my Mokopuna at the minute
This is what Aotearoa would have started to look like if we did not ban foreign buyers from buying Property. The real estate mone men say that they were only a minority of buyers yea right Aotearoa real estate market is mone for jam if you can afford to play the games.
Link below Ka kite ano
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Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Almost $600 million has been paid into taxpayers’ bank accounts in the past two months, after the first season of automatic tax assessments. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says the completion of this year’s tax refund season is a significant milestone. “The ability of Inland Revenue to run auto calculations for ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
LGNZ will be cautiously assessing the wider implications of the newly proposed National Position Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), noting that that it traverses a number of highly complex policy areas including housing affordability and property ...
Horticulture New Zealand has welcomed the Government’s draft National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land, saying it will help ensure that New Zealand can grow its own vegetables and fruit. ...
Background documents for Budget 2019 are now available from on the Treasury website: https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/information-release/budget-2019-information-release ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has welcomed a move by Crown agencies to lift confidentiality obligations on survivors of abuse in State care arising from settlement agreements with the Crown. ...
An evaluation of New Zealand’s first sexual violence court has confirmed that the approach taken in the judge-led pilot considerably reduces the time that cases take to reach trial. ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Paula Bennett as our Campaign Chair for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. ...
14 August 2019 – 18 senior business leaders and employment experts have been appointed as judges for New Zealand’s sixth annual Equal Pay Awards reflecting the breadth of companies who have entered. The Awards added three new categories in 2018: Innovation, ...
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This is more proof that bureaucrats do not make good tech tycoons, no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at geeks in Silicon Valley.” ...
August marks five years of the Community Finance initiative. In addition to its well established Financial Mentoring service, The Salvation Army has held more than 5800 financial conversations with Community Finance clients. The loan program helps ...
Today 14/8/19 on news hub AM show Duncan Garner asked National Party leader Simon Bridges ‘what would he do to combat climate change and improve the economy again if he is the next PM”. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/simon-bridges-says-most-kiwis-believe-system-gamed-at-last-election.html ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is urging the Government to work with agricultural groups to drive real behaviour change on farm, instead of imposing a broad-based tax. Sector organisations have put forward an alternative Primary Sector Climate ...
Iwi forging closer relationship with Stats NZ over Māori data solutions The Data Iwi Leaders Group supports the findings of an independent review into the 2018 New Zealand Census – but says its failings provide a unique opportunity to co-design ...
“Any justification for paying exorbitant salaries to senior managers in business has just been buried in the Fonterra debacle” said Peter Malcolm spokesperson for Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc---“Closing the Gap” ...
Good on their own, even better with cheese – these crisp, moreish crackers are destined to become your new go-to savoury snack.These crackers have been on high rotation in our household – they’ve filled lunchboxes, accompanied fine cheeses on evening platters and been eaten by the fistful straight from the jar. ...
Lists are good and so are Sundays. We combine both those things in a new Spinoff feature. This week: Headlines from the past six months about the the Reserve Bank governor, Adrian OrrRBNZ prepares to stick its Orr inASB, March 29Banks Orr-struck yet againThe Australian, April 10Big banks brace for ...
Over 300 hours of interviews condensed into five episodes that cover the entirety of New Zealand’s comedy history – how do you even start to approach that? Sam Brooks interviews Paul Horan, the documentarian behind the show.It’s one of those projects that sounds utterly futile – how does one cover ...
Judgement prevents understanding, which in itself is a barrier to preventing unsafe behaviour. Are different approaches to harm reduction in the Rainbow community needed? Sex. Drugs. Carly Rae Jepsen. This is the iconography that tends to be massaged into mainstream conceptions of gay culture. Depictions in TV/film see us railing lines ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...
He’s the artist who launched a million memes and over a billion streams. Sam Brooks picks out Bazzi’s best moments so far, from his career-making breakthrough to his mature new mixtape Soulsearching.1. ‘Mine’“You’re so fuckin’ precious when you smile.”It’s the line that didn’t just launch a million memes, it’s the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...
A new poem by Waikato poet Loren Thomas.to convince myself we’re dreamingwe were walking through suburbia houses kissing front lawns copied one after anotheryou tasted like mint leaves and chlorophyll that’s been pissed on by catsI held your hand and we walked towards the ocean dodging planks from dead train ...
The ancient Australian shock-jock yesterday targeted Jacinda Ardern, urging Australia’s PM to ‘shove a sock down her throat’. It’s all in keeping with a substantial history of being an arse.The plucky nation of Australia excels in a range of endeavours, but nowhere more than the angry, anguished howls of bloated, ...
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University There can be no doubt violence against women is a national crisis. On average in Australia, one woman every week is killed. A 2016 survey found one in four women experienced violence ...
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein on the band’s ninth studio album, working with St Vincent, and the departure of bandmate and drummer, Janet Weiss.It’s been almost five years since Sleater-Kinney broke their decade-long hiatus with an album that received almost near-universal praise. It was “raw”, “bristling”, “emotive”, “taut” – all adjectives you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of Technology When news of the stabbings in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon came through, one of the first tweets about the incident came from Sky News reporter Laura Jayes. Immediately it got retweeted and sent ...
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 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney2 An ...
When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...
When Josie Adams broke her laptop last week, she knew she’d never find love like that again. Can the Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA offer a new kind of technological relationship? She reviews how it stands up to everyday use and the cosmic forces that seek to destroy her.Last Thursday I ...
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...
Pacific Media Watch NewsdeskBy Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Corrections, Christchurch mosque shootings Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Upholding The Accused’s Right To Write Mark Daalder ...
Open Mike 17/08/2018 
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...2 hours ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...7 hours ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...2 days ago
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...2 days ago
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...2 days ago
2 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...2 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...4 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...4 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...4 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...4 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...4 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...4 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 4 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...5 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...6 days ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ... 2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...1 week ago
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...2 hours ago
The government will spend $54 million on fresh initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness. ...3 hours ago
The debate over cancer drug funding us further complicated by lobby groups and opaque agenda. ...3 hours ago
Good on their own, even better with cheese – these crisp, moreish crackers are destined to become your new go-to savoury snack.These crackers have been on high rotation in our household – they’ve filled lunchboxes, accompanied fine cheeses on evening platters and been eaten by the fistful straight from the jar. ...8 hours ago
Over 300 hours of interviews condensed into five episodes that cover the entirety of New Zealand’s comedy history – how do you even start to approach that? Sam Brooks interviews Paul Horan, the documentarian behind the show.It’s one of those projects that sounds utterly futile – how does one cover ...12 hours ago
Judgement prevents understanding, which in itself is a barrier to preventing unsafe behaviour. Are different approaches to harm reduction in the Rainbow community needed? Sex. Drugs. Carly Rae Jepsen. This is the iconography that tends to be massaged into mainstream conceptions of gay culture. Depictions in TV/film see us railing lines ...12 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...1 day ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...1 day ago
The three parties in the coalition have to negotiate compromises, concessions and conquests week after week. ...1 day ago
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...1 day ago
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...1 day ago
Today, a short story from the late 1920s, published in a posthumous new collection by Marlborough writer Eileen Duggan. Photo by Peter Black. ...1 day ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...1 day ago
Black Fern Aleisha-Pearl Nelson was told by doctors, twice, that her rugby days were over - after serious horse-riding accidents. ...1 day ago
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...2 days ago
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...2 days ago
Protests in Hong Kong have attracted worldwide attention - but are we ignoring a more serious situation across the sea? ...2 days ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...2 days ago
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...2 days ago
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Robert Fisk is a rare beacon of light in a dimming world.
Here he provides valuable insights on the geopolitical events going on in Turkey.
“A US trade war with Turkey over a little known pastor? Don’t believe a word of it.
For here’s the real list of Erdogan’s crimes. He is buying the Russian S-400 missile system for Turkey. He refuses to accept US support for America’s Kurdish YPG allies. He allowed Islamist fighters to pour over Turkey’s border into Syria along with a lot of weapons, mortars and missiles – to which Washington had no objections at the time since the US was trying to knock Erdogan’s former friend Bashar al-Assad off his perch. Then, after shooting down a Russian aircraft along the Syrian border in November 2015 – for which he was immediately boycotted by Moscow – Erdogan cuddled up to Putin. It was thus the Russians and the Iranians who first warned Erdogan of the impending “Gulen coup” against him in July 2016. They had been listening in to the Turkish military’s internal radio traffic – and tipped off the Sultan of Istanbul.
And now Erdogan is helping Iran to dodge US sanctions which were imposed after Trump flagrantly tore up the 2015 nuclear agreement, and – in a decision demonstrating the cowardly response of the EU’s own oil conglomerates to Trump’s insanity – has announced that he will continue to import Iranian oil. Thus will Washington’s further threat of increased oil sanctions against Iran be blunted. Sunni Saudi Arabia, one of Trump’s closest allies – where religious freedom for the likes of Pastor Brunson has never existed – is already furious with Erdogan. Not long ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced Turkey as part of a “triangle of evil” – the other bits of the “triangle” being Shiite Iran and militant Islamists.
So you can see how things are lining up in the Middle East right now. “
Read the whole article here,
Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/us-turkey-trump-erdogan-trade-war-a8493956.html
Thanks fisk. For pointing out that America is taking non-violent and justified actions. Obama would have gone to war
Stupid
“Obama would have gone to war”
Turkey is a nato country, there is certain difficulties with going to war there.
But you have forgotten Trumps oft repeated questions about a war between US and Venezuela, only a fool would think Trump is less war-monger than Obama
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-asked-if-he-could-invade-venezuela/
How many invasions has trump authorised?
How many invasions has trump led?
How many drone strikes has trump ordered?
actions speak louder than words. I don’t like the ginger fool, but he doesn’t talk out of both sides of his mouth on peace like obama did
None, but Obama also authorised none
None but Obama also led none
Obama did use bombing and drone strikes more than Bush but Trump;
Trump is ordering airstrikes at 5 times the pace Obama did –
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-is-ordering-airstrikes-at-5-times-the-pace-obama-did-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
US counter terror air strikes double in Trump’s first year – https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-12-19/counterrorism-strikes-double-trump-first-year
Under Trump, U.S. Launched 8 Airstrikes Against ISIS in Libya. It Disclosed 4. – https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/world/africa/us-airstrikes-isis-libya.html
The more you know.
touche. the more you know
Robert Fisk is a brilliant and highly informed commentator on Middle Easter affairs. His “Great War for Civilisation” is a must read for anyone who wants an in depth analysis of the political situation there, although much has happened since he wrote that tome.
Yes but he captures the history as it feeds the complexity and paints an excellent picture to that point.
Highly recommend especially his osama bin laden coverage.
Amen Marcus, Fisk’s book is to be recommended.
I have done it twice now and am keen to read it again.
@Ed, “Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.”
I Like that.
Isn’t it interesting that most of the most regular and balanced live debates on current affairs come from Press TV (Iran), RT (Russia) and Al Jerezza (Qatar), now I am not saying these countries are beacons of democracy, but they at least these networks offer regular and balanced debates on important world news, which is either almost non existent on MSM or when is presented, so short they they often lack substance and/or context.
And the other thing that RT/Al Jerezzra/Democracy Now/Press TV and The Real News do that MSM don’t do any longer, now that any narrative that doesn’t follow party line is shut down, is give Fisk, John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Max Blumenthal (amongst others) a platform to speak.
Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??
You are dead to me .and any party that supports them is dead to me .
Cunts
But unions is ok?
Perhaps if biosecurity and stock movement rules had been adhered to this step wouldn’t be necessary. You can’t have it both ways. If you want M Bovis sorted you have to accept that regular checks may be necessary. The market was left to police itself. It failed.
That is a piss poor excuse to try to justify this change
Police need a warrant to raid a gang pad full of drug dealers, but MPI can now rock on in or undercover surveil, seize property, at the drop of a hat.
This is coming from the same people who went ballistic over the GCSB working with the SIS monitoring kiwis crims.
They are farmers, not criminals
Another sell out by the Greens
I can smell the hypocrisy on their breath
I’m getting close to drawing the pension and grew up and worked most of my life around the construction industry. In that game you come across most types and degrees of dodgy bastards. And I got to know, for better or worse quite a few.
Over the last 10 years I’ve been doing a lot of work on and around farms. I always thought agriculture was an honest industry, undertaken by people with integrity and good faith. Some, probably most, farmers I’ve dealt with are people of the highest moral standing with the greatest honesty and integrity you’ll ever meet.
But the dodgy bastards in the industry are in another league all together. And it’s accepted. Total dishonesty, violence when challenged, and you’ll never get anything in writing so there’s never any proof. Stock appearing on a property, then get retagged, plant with illegible identification numbers, but always just enough to get the right parts, and plenty more shit.
The idea that agriculture is some how cleaner than driven snow is utter bullshit. Refusal to obey, and operate under the law is criminality. There’s plenty of evidence from the M. Bovis debacle of farmers operating outside the law by refusing to comply with NAIT, or subverting the intent of NAIT. And really the only reasons to not tag is because they are either too lazy (or cashflow challenged), or having the tag on is going to stuff up their dodgy scheme.
Agriculture is no different to any other struggling industry, some will push the limits for gain at someone else’s cost. In other industries those outside the law feel the sanction of central or local government. Somehow agriculture feels it is exempt from this sanction.
Plenty of agencies can enter a property without a search warrant. Many acts give warrant powers to government officials (both central and local) to gather evidence and enforce. Worksafe and council building, planning and health as examples. MPI already have extensive warrant power.
It seems to me that BEFORE ANY compensation is paid the farmer HAS to show compliance with NAIT
It was voluntary
Nothing “voluntary” about NAIT chum
“Anyone in charge of cattle or deer must comply with NAIT regulations. The same rules apply whether you have one animal or 1000.”
http://www.nait.co.nz/nait-basics/farmers-and-lifestylers/
It is now, but it wasn’t then
That is why I used the word was
Alway’s been my understanding that it was compulsory on cattle and deer, with an initial phase in period.
Just some people thought it didn’t apply to them
Indeed it was. And compensation should be paid to the farmers who made the responsible choice.
Otherwise we’re just subsidising biological negligence.
I have no doubt there are dodgy ones
But this doesn’t show why there should be entrance and seizure without authority
Entry would be under the authority of the act. Plenty of existing examples of that already.
Police can use Misue of Drugs Act to act without a warrant
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1975/0116/82.0/DLM436101.html
But if they have been gathering information for some time a standard warrant is not an issue to get.
They can get your phone records/bank records without warrants now , as its done under the ‘maintenance of law and order’. Doesnt even need evidence of a crime in the first place
So you are putting farmers in the same class as drug dealers
Thanks
That’s how they act so doing so seems reasonable.
Any business that serves food can be inspected without notice, will have to have a food safety plan ready upon demand, training notices on staff etc etc. Failure to provide demanded documentation, failure to strict adherence to the food safety plan can and will result in fines, downgrading of the business etc.
that is usually how the non compliant businesses are caught.
Now why should farmers be exempt from this?
Maybe the farmer should welcome this action, so that the ‘rotten apples’ which are only a few here and there of course, can be found and kicked out of the box before all the other apples go rotten too.
Farming is a business and as such you have good an bad farmers. Farmers are no more special then any other proffession in this country. They are no more and no less ‘real NZ’ then any other Kiwi who happens to not work in farming.
They are no more and no less prone to abusing the system then others in other profession.
Maybe its time Farmers understand that they actually demand special status in a country where two thirds of people literally are too poor to buy their butter and milk.
Also how much tax payers moneys is going to be squandered on M Bovis clean up? The very least the taxpayer who is not a farmer but is having funds used to dig them out of their own cow shite is that the farmers might have to open for inspections day and night.
All business people these days are on drugs! The drug is profit, and more profit. Very addictive and many will go the extra mile to get the moolah, on or off farms, Queen Street farmers and lawyers, building companies and anywhere there is money to be made. And if they make a success of their business, they will sell it, because it is the money drug they want, not just a good living for themselves and family.
Labour inspectors have some interesting powers.
And that’s without even getting into the Health Act, which is damned near totalitarian. Even the routine admin stuff, rather than the outbreak emergency controls.
Best you familiarise yourself with the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.
The problem being that many are criminals – they just haven’t been caught yet.
It is not an excuse Chris T – it is a reason.
Farmers will have to put up and shut uop. They have consistently gone light on following the right practices, and not taken responsibility for controlling those who have made no or little effort to manage their businesses ethically.
No. It’s a perfectly valid reason for this change. We need to protect ourselves from these people.
Farmers that didn’t follow the movement rules, to avoid taxes, are criminals.
Currently costing us all, more than the gangs did.
Agree 100% Riffer
Is it not true that MPI have to observe all rules that cover farms now? That would mean health and safety requirements such as reporting to the farmer first and being excluded from the farmhouse, and so on, as is normal?
Just as Union Officials must do when entering a farm to visit an union member, as Jacinda spent several question times pointing out to Simon in the House over the last two weeks. But I divert … Sorry …
Fisheries officers have been doing it for years. What’s the difference?
How does it go….. nothing to hide, nothing to fear…
I think Electricity Providers and Telephone Providers have right of Entry to your home. They used to have that right. Still so?
You’ve read the article from “Stuff” published last December then. The protocol seems reasonable to me considering the threat that myrtle rust presents to the horticulture industry. Pity about your language – doesn’t suggest a great range of vocabulary.
Lol – you are dead to me – ott buddy
“Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??”
That would be under existing biosecurity rules, just as Police can enter without a warrant in certain circumstances -misuse of drugs act etc. and SIS can burgle your place without warrants
Ok, a lot of speculation going on here – including my own in this comment.
I really have not followed this closely but my understanding is that the changes to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act are to realign it with the Search and Surveillance Act which was adopted under the National Government in 2012. This realignment has become urgent due to the M. Bovis emergency and the lack of compliance – by a few – with the NAIT requirements.
Here is the Bill Digest giving an outline of the Amendment Bill and its purpose:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-digests/document/52PLLaw25631/national-animal-identification-and-tracing-amendment-bill
A quick troll through the Hansard records of the debates in the House on the Amendment Bill in the last few days seems to confirm my comments above.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_78997/tab/hansard
If you only read the The third reading debate, the last item in the list in the link (in particular Damian O’Connor’s background speech), and the first item in the list (the last debate yesterday) this will give a pretty good outline of the situation and the ‘faux’ outrage from the Opposition led by Nathan Guy. In the last item in the list, Mark Patterson of NZF, himself a farmer, gives a good explanation of the need for urgency – as does Gareth Hughes.
The Bill passed its third reading unanimously – with all Parties including National passing it and no Nos – at 1.08 mins in this video.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20180816_20180816_12/tab/video?page=2
So, sorry bwaghorn – I don’t know who you are going to vote for in the future.
Why should farmers be allowed to commit criminal acts?
All these lefties would be scanning blue murder if the govt decided winz could rock into a solo parents house to make sure they are living alone
Because benefit fraud is the same as spreading disease throughout the sector?
A warrant would not be hard to get
Fucking hypocrites.
If a warrant isn’t hard to get, it defeats the purpose of having a warrant system in the first place.
Basically, let’s say an inspector comes to the farm gate looking for noncompliant cows. You say “fuck off”, and while they’re off getting a warrant you truck any non-compliant cows to another location. Not only is a warrant ineffecive, it actually motivates the transmission of diseases the noncompliant cows might have.
Now let’s look at a single parent living alone – the presence of a person doesn’t indicate a cohabiting relationship. That requires a long term pattern to be established. So immediate powers to enter without warrant are a bit pointless in that case, no?
It’s not hypocrisy to recognise that the same protection that prevents unnecessary invasion in one instance is actually counterproductive in another.
Do you have any proof farmers are hiding infected animals?
The main problem with it being traced was caused because young calves could be legally shifted without nait tags .
But hay it’s only farmers and this government got elected by playing the wedge politics card against them so why should I be surprised.
That’s why we have inspectors.
We have a load of proof that farmers won’t control infections by themselves.
No, it’s not only farmers. Several organisations don’t need warrants – the health sector is significantly more powerful than the justice sector in that regard.
You’re just pissed because your industry is being held accountable for its abject failure to protect itself, and now the government needs to clean up the mess.
I think bwaghorn had a very difficult day at work yesterday because he got it for being a leftie and supporting the pretty communist that’s going to chuck farmers off their farms. It wasn’t a good day to be a leftie on a farm yesterday. The bullshit was flowing strong.
But really it was only the seriously dodgy side of framing throwing a spaz that it’s going to be a lot harder to do the dodgy stock sales and movements now that NAIT is much tighter and actually enforced.
The actual political situation was pointed out by veutoviper in 2.8 above /open-mike-17-08-2018/#comment-1514840
The third reading passed unanimously, with all parties speaking in support. Including National.
Nice fantasy chump . .
I’ve been in sheep and beef for 8 years and havent seen any one actively rout nait . Slow to take up yes but every cattle beast I’ve sent off since nait arrived has had a nait tag in its ear . And every one that has come on has had a nait tag in its ear .
But you clowns believe what you hateful little minds want .
In two years labour will realise it’s lost the fight on mb . The chance of stopping it is long gone thanks to the useless nats . .
I’ll have to hope top hangs in their
Actually, from a disease control perspective, unless it has an endemic wildlife vector in the way that TB has, eradication of a virus from a controlled population only requires tracking to identify exposed animals, even without a vaccine.
Guinea worm comes to mind.
Do you know how hard mb is to track . Our local very up to date vet told us at a recent meeting it can only be found when an animal is shedding cells . It only sheds cell sporadically.
That only effects the math in the same way a longer incubation time effects the math.
If I have ubiquitous surveillance of a population, any positive test means I can track exactly which individuals had transmission-likely contact with the infected individual. So all of those other individuals get tested or quarantined or (in the case of livestock) culled.
A few iterations of that, and the disease is eradicated. The only factor that changes is the number of iterations – how much effort we put into it.
“Wedge Politics” – what a joke- it was the clowns in Morrinsville, led by the “Jolly old Fed of Farmers” who played the wedge card – will never forget the image of “Worzle Gummige” holding up the “pretty communist” placard. Desperate measures by sore losers. Labour’s Agriculture Ministers from Aubrey Begg and beyond have all been respected by the farming community even though it stuck in ts craw to admit it.
You do understand that that would only work if people were really pissed off with the actions of farmers right?
You know, things like polluting our waterways, getting special treatment from government, not being prosecuted when they should be etcetera.
Basically, the farmers brought it on themselves by being a bunch of self-righteous, self-important and overly entitled arseholes.
Just like you’re being now.
What is it that these farmers are doing with their cows?
lol
They can’t go into the farmer’s house without a warrant.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~Horace Mann
Australia Hits Worst Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Record
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/12/australia-hits-worst-greenhouse-gas-emissions-on-record/
Australia world’s largest coal exporter
US Energy Information Administration, EIA – November 25, 2011
This Must Stop – New Zealand has a role to play.
Australia is our closest geographical neighbor, Australia is also our closest cultural cousin.
What we do here in New Zealand, has an impact in Australia.
You better believe it
Sir Peter, (Professor), Gluckman, the government’s top science adviser, has said that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to fighting climate change, will be by “setting an example”.
In my opinion that example must be for New Zealand to strike an iconic death blow against the local coal industry.
If we can’t do it, how can we ask our Australian neighbours and cultural cousins to?
The very least, we need to do, is urgently impose an immediate moratorium on the opening of all new coal mines.
Our other regional neighbours in the Pacific have called on New Zealand and Australia to put a total stop to all coal production.
Pacific leaders call for coal mining to be shut down to save island nations from effects of climate change
Eric Tlozek – ABC News, September 8, 2015
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that climate change is our Nuclear Free Moment.
Prime Minister Ardern needs to make it our Coal Free Moment.
Anything less, is surrender.
Another great leader once said, “We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard”.
And from an earlier era, another Prime Minister, facing up to existential crisis – Said this:
The Uninhabitable Earth
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
David Wallace-Wells – New York Magazine, July 10, 2017
Mum, When you were Prime Minister. What did you do about climate change?
Not sure about sharing from facebook but this map makes very scary viewing, but them im sure its all happened before and its only scaremongering.
if that doesnt work it was from this site , the world seems to be on fire.
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
When I see how cruelly Australians treat refugees. I can’t help but wonder. How do they think they might be treated when the time comes.
Which on our current trajectory of inaction, it surely will.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/08/15/Stop-Hothouse-Earth/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=150818
Yes, it is achievable. “But it will demand a united global effort”.
There is one thing missing….
Leadership…..
The immortal Aretha Franklin.
Respect.
I cry a little tear for you
She was epic in the Blues Brothers.
She was awesome when she sang Natural Woman on the national party bus… Oh whoops that was someone else.
Oh bloody hell !… its morning again,… ugh…
re Bridges Expenses And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far
Hosking reports this
Oppo’ do pay a higher rate apparently
Have no idea why.
Seems a bit stupid to me
Agree
Thats because he likely had a crown limo and driver tag along for his regions tour.
Not only do you get the standard rate but its PLUS accomodation costs
Limos arent in every town and city. Mostly the bigger ones with I think one car based in Dunedin but a few more in Christchurch, more again in Auckland and a big chunk in Wellington. There may be one or 2 in waikato etc.
As well when there isnt a car available they have private limos on call and they might be on a ‘spot’ rate and higher than the standard crown limo rate
Just heard on the wireless… simons crown limo rides are charged out at twice the rate of Ministers. Thanks for explaining a bit more Duke as to why that would be.
Find it hard to believe that he didn’t know this before his ‘road’ trip.
It’s something all of us consider when planning a ‘road trip’ … the cost of the journey.
He could have flown in then asked the local MP to drive him around.
Or were local nat MP’s also enjoying looking fancy in the limo?
Everything Duke said applies equally to Ministers.
If Winston, for example was to turn up in Hastings to go to the races he is certainly going to expect to have a Limo there for him.
It still doesn’t seem to be any rationale for the double rate for the Leader of the Opposition or for the Speaker.
The higher rate is only mentioned in the expenses returns for this year. I wonder if it was put in, probably at Winston’s request, so that it would make the Leader of the Opposition look extravagant? Knowing what Winston is like it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
It certainly seems to have worked. Look at all the people on this site who are rabbiting on about how Bridges is supposedly more extravagant than Little or Ardern were. He isn’t, it is just a little smear tactic by the current Coalition of Losers who have fiddled the accounting rules to make it look like that..
Anyone here going to the Green Party AGM?
I understand that all the MPs have been ordered to attend.
The problem they have is getting the 2 other people they need to get a quorum.
Aren’t you thinking of the Association of C*nts and Tossers?
Their broom closet was packed shoulder to shoulder
The first part anyway.
“Association of C*nts”.
Hasn’t the XX chromosome co-leader of the Green’s copyrighted this name for the Green Party?
Relieved to learn you believe in chromysomies wally, they’re not the Devil’s Slinkies after all then.
I’ve never heard of “chromysomies” Gobby.
I presume they are some product of your warped imagination.
I know about chromosomes though.
“Devil’s Slinkies” got a chuckle here 🙂
I’m unable to personally attend. But I’m hopeful there will be discussion on what the Greens are doing to help the poor offset new environmental charges (such as significantly increasing tip fees) the Greens are championing.
Fuck off Chairman we all know you no member.
Save it, egg.
Na stop going when they cancelled the folk dancing and applied a dress, make up, hair and use of deroderant code 😊
A 92 year old in a rest home with little covering urine soaked bedclothes and covered with something fairly thin and window open.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658500/govt-needs-to-intervene-in-aged-care-patient-s-son
There is momentary concern that will die away till the next open complaint.
This will have a contradictory on the call for euthanasia. Instead of bringing in a principled matter for choice, all the authorities involved will resist fiercely saying that what is required is better care and that presently it is a disgrace.
The nostalgic past is our zeitgeist in today’s society. Plus ‘shoulds’ as a way to cope with problems that require action by government in line with expressed wishes from the citizens. And a response to the statistics concerning population bulges and mismatched spending so it is more on the old than the young who are being starved of funding and attention to their needs at the start of what should be their full, active life.
yet another example of regulatory capture
What is also interesting is that the family went to some disputes tribunal to get the award (aka I think it’s their rest home fee’s refunded) but health and disability and the rest home industry are all ok with poor conditions and poorly trained staff even though people (or the state) are paying in excess of $1000 a week for care that they obviously expect to be quality for their loved one? No wonder the rest home industry seem to have one of the highest returns on the share market when you just put a few poorly trained and cheap people in and the regulators seem to say it’s optional to attending to the patients needs promptly.
Speaking of complaints here is the top ten companies complained about to the commerce commission. (from Granny) Other companies like power and banking I think have their own complaints bodies and are regulated to be allowed to rip off customers which is probably why nobody bothers to complain anymore.
Revealed: New Zealand’s most complained about companies
Viagogo
Vodafone
Spark
Foodstuffs
2 Degrees
Woolworths
Air New Zealand
Noel Leeming
Wilsons parking
Sky
vocus
The Warehouse
The corporate portal
Trade Me
Harvey Norman
Brand developers
Ticketmaster
Luxstyle Apps
Contact energy
NZ post
I wonder if they are the ones who feel that business confidence is down?
If so, maybe their customer service needs addressing instead.
No surprises to see retail telco high up and in numbers on that list.
Vodafone would be probably top if their customers had stayed to complain. The fact they were allowed to Hoover up the fibre links of Telstraclear and drive that into the dust is a total fail in terms of retail v wholesale segregation.
Watch that space as the race to the bottom gathers pace.
Maybe later, if I can organize 240V power supply and access to the internet, I’d really like to to have an in depth discussion about the link between the current wording of the euthanasia bill and the very real possibility that those who need a high level of hands on care will, out of despair, feel obliged to request the blue juice.
I personally believe that all debate about euthanasia should be suspended until we sort out the serious problems with providing safe care for disabled and elderly.
Maybe later.
Hi Rosemary, did you hear the two interviews that Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon has had in the last two days on the wording of the Euthanasia Bill? Well worth a listen if you can.
Yesterday was two members of the Australian Advisory Board who are in NZ at present:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018658341/proposed-euthanasia-bill-in-nz-needs-tweaking
Today it was Paula Tesoriero, the Disability Commissioner, who has very grave concerns re the current wording.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018658517/assisted-dying-bill-undermines-disabled-people
Peripherally listened yesterday…was totally engrossed and cheering Paula on as we were hurtling towards Kaitaia this morning.
FWIW, IMHO, Paula Tesoriero has really stepped up to the role of Disabilities Commissioner. She had large shoes to fill, taking over from Paul Gibson.
Over the rattle of the diesel, I’m sure I heard her talk about the despair some living with disability experience when trying to access vital funded supports.
And then some numpty contacted Natrad saying Paula had no place speaking on behalf of all disabled…”and if he were disabled” etc etc…. The short answer to numpty would be stfu until you have actually lived with a significant disability for an appreciable amount of time..then comment.
For many, the thought of being disabled, of being dependent on others for sometimes the most basic of cares, is beyond comprehension and they will state categorically they would rather be dead.
Extrapolating, they would see those who do need that level of support as what? A burden on society? A waste of vital resources? That they should do the ‘decent thing’ and check out? Because they, in their limited experience and even more limited imagination, could not envisage any kind of worthwhile life without all their functions intact.
The situation right now for those who require a reasonably high level of support is dire. And I do not exaggerate. The story of the old lady lying in her own pee is not rare. Stories of disabled and vulnerable elderly being neglected and abused (sometimes unto death) are tragically not unusual or isolated.
And what Robert Love was saying about the inadequacies of the complaints and monitoring processes is sadly correct.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658500/govt-needs-to-intervene-in-aged-care-patient-s-son
‘Who watches the watches?’
ACC claimants have rights and entitlements enshrined by law. Those with need for supports who are not covered by ACC, who are under MOH:DSS or a DHB, have no entitlements and few rights. A bureaucrat can decide that such and such will not be provided and there is no avenue of complaint. Serious incidents of inadequate care that leads to harm or death can take years to wend their way through the Health and Disability Commission complaints process…and seldom result in prosecution.
(NB…Paula Tesoriero is attached to the Human Rights Commission not the Health and Disability Commission. )
The whole system is dysfunctional and treats users with little or no respect.
The current disability System Transformation which is marketed as solving all such problems is superficial window dressing being rolled out in yet another pilot with a full roll out nationwide not expected for nearly another decade.
And this System Transformation does not, and this is specifically stated in the System Transformation documentation, give users any entitlement to the supports they need.
This is unacceptable in a country that has given a select group of disabled citizens such entitlement.
The disparities, the gross inequities between ACC and others is a stain on New Zealand and until this is addressed, there should be no discussion of euthanasia outside of definite terminal illness at all.
And having said that, I’d be tempted to make it a further condition to progressing this Bill that this crappy little travesty is sorted.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018618748/hospices-deprived-of-strong-painkillers-due-to-safety-concerns
Re Paula Tesoreiro, I too have a lot of respect for her as we worked in the same government department some years ago and worked together on one or two issues. Top notch intellectually, more than able and willing to stand her ground, and a lovely person as well. I knew she would do well as Disability Commissioner (as you say within the HRC) – and sadly despite the recent problems within that agency.
I am well aware and have major concerns re the existing problems for those with disabilities, in poverty etc. As I think I have mentioned before, I too have disabilities and I and my doctors have been hitting our heads against a brick wall in getting me some support.
However, personally I do think we need to have the euthanasia discussion despite these other situations – but I am definitely not convinced that the bill as it is currently drafted is in any way acceptable for many of the reasons raised by Paula, and others including yourself.
Thanks.
Got a number?
Reply to ChrisT 6.1
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/106338625/nz-first-mps-could-end-up-300k-out-of-pocket-if-they-flout-party-rules
‘NZ First’s constitution states any of its MPs who resign or are expelled from the party are personally liable for up to $300,000 if they don’t leave Parliament immediately.
The clause states if the MP is either an electorate MP or a list MP, they have up to three days to vacate their seat in Parliament, or pay up.’
One way to make sure plebs (sorry MPs) toe the line winston wants I guess
So is that the market price of an MP? I like the transparency of this NZ1st team. If a housing contract has a value of… 😉
Or maybe it’s just a way of ensuring that the voters don’t get their intentions overturned by Nats and Nat cronies throwing their (copious) money around to turn MPs against their own parties?
So in a sense, you could see it as keeping money out of politics. Protecting the voters from National Party money in effect.
Winston, having once been inside the tent, probably has a better understanding of the dark heart of National than most. And this attack on him looks like another nail in the coffin of any future Nat-NZF coalition. Dumb politics from National.
Nice.
Get fired by Winston for not doing what he says and then have three days to leave or get fined 300 grand
I see no way this could possibly have any effect on an MPs actions at all
Smearing again? – not doing what he says? Rubbish – your fear is showing is all.
Fear of what exactly?
You tell me – the list is no doubt long.
Thats nice dear
Puckwit’s wit – there’s hardly even a little bit, but belittling women we find, he’s got energy and time.
Yes dear
I say yes dear to hide my fear
My knees are fairly quivering
The meany Winnie makes me feel queasy
Even my reflection looks withering
Thats nice dear
With furrowed brow and tightened sphincter
The little man sat and fretted on the future
If our dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
or maybe:
With furrowed brow and puckered sphincter
The little rogue sat and fretted on the future
If Judith’s dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
Yes dear
Your eyes are cloudy
Is it raining inside you?
You fall for ages.
So this is why I don’t vote the WinnieFirst party… but how is it news exactly? I mean each party has its own internal processes, isn’t that like part of the deal of a democracy? That we have a wide range of ideas that come together and get mixed and debated and we get a good output? I mean who didn’t know that the WinnieFirst party was all about Winston?
next you will be telling us that ACT are a go nowhere party that are too controlled by self-interest business people and are in no way a liberal party, which they have just cottoned onto and want to change to the far-right populist party of the rich
Well when you look at “waka jumping” its mostly (not always) happens to NZFirst, why?
What is about NZFirst that makes this happen, maybe instead of trying to charge someone 300 grand (which I don’t think would stand up in court) maybe NZFirst should see whats happening internally
I think most of us know why, NZF is a populist party, which revolves around Winston. And yes that means what Winston says goes, who doesn’t know that? but then that is how it started and is the basis of policy. I actually trust Winston to do what he says, with the cravat that he really says he will do anything with any real certainty, so he can normally find a way to twist what he said into what he actually did…
Waka-jumping isn’t only NZF of course, and really this is all a bit of a smoke-screen around the troubles of ACT and the inability of National to not look deeply divided.
Heres a list of Winstons bottom lines, well at least some of them, so you can judge for yourself about the veracity of what he says
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/the-comprehensive-list-of-winston-peters-bottom-lines.html
“inability of National to not look deeply divided.”
Nationals on 45% so that line will only start to work if/when they hit 35% or o
Almost all of those have a high likelihood of happening. I guess that means Winston’s trustworthy these days.
As for your confusing poll results with internal stability… well, there’s an investigation as to whether the nats have a leaker on their hands.
They haven’t happened yet so no Winston isn’t trustworthy
https://thespinoff.scdn5.secure.raxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/winston_peters_no-e1455067432260.jpg
Given that there’s no timeframe on most of those other than “this term”, there’s a high likelihood he’s trustworthy, then.
Of course, your attitude is the sort of thing that meant the nats are in opposition rather than government.
Meh, National needed a good clean out anyway, be good for them to have a term or two out of power to remind them what its all about
So they don’t look deeply divided but they need a good clean out.
Sounds legit lol
The cleanout hasn’t finished yet, still a ways to go
I’m sure the ones to be cleaned out are totally happy about it. Otherwise there might be deep division in the nats lol
They’re past their used by date so f**k ’em
lol
You’re really helping the biggest losers present a united front there. Soimon would be proud.
Oh please theres no such thing a political party without divisions but deep divisions, thats another story and when you’re on 45% you’ll keep quiet
Until those percentages start to meaningfully drop
We’ll see if Mallard’s investigator decides whether the nat caucus are keeping quiet 🙂
35% is as good as 45% with no friends.
Has Simon been telling lies?
Ron Mark contradicts Bridges’ claims; who to believe, who to believe?? Mr Pants-on-fire?
Food quality around Europe is mixed, bit down. The cows haven’t got so much grass, but they will be getting feed the dodgy potatoes, ya might say.
The weather is affecting land prices, not. Land prices continue to rise with QE.
Actually the Left Party in Germany have made a popularist policy suggestion regarding agricultural lease prices. If there is no income coming from the land due to drought, then farmers should be able to escape paying the full price to the land owner. Govt will have to rule on it, which will be a bit complex. Actually this one goes back to the bible, as an option to just pay a percent of your harvest to the land owner.
What a fundamentally stupid idea. If people can’t make a decent living from the land they need to stop doing what they are doing and do something else.
Yeah, farmers are better off working in factories where the pay is better. Why eat food, when we could simply eat the poor?
Yeah, time to reduce herd size a bit and build up feed reserves. Organic requires larger feed reserves, as they usually have less maize and grain which are more market accessible.
Getting one step ahead of the game seems to be the biggest barrier to organic conversion. Similar with cropping, as cropping is generally dependent on manure from animals. Could say the same regarding debt ratio, requiring more reserves to weather conversion.
Simon Bridges tried to poach Ron Mark and a couple of other NZ First MPs according to Winston Peters:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12108668
Bridges denies it:
So, did he make the approach late last year instead. 😉
Edit: I know he wasn’t leader of the Nats until Feb of this year, but that needn’t stop him from having a go.
Doing the ground work late last year. Understandable.
Exactly what those who aspire to his job are doing right now.
Judith Collins is loving it. She’s got her… I’m a nice gal too, but I’m better’n stronger than Jacinda hat on.
Awww yeah!
“Mark did not return a call for comment but in a text message said “Wow, how did you find out about that.” ”
LOL – time to stop telling untruths Simon you dumbarse.
Memo to Ron Mark.
Don’t try using Irony.
People like Marty don’t understand it and think you are being serious.
Stick to using your middle finger.
Lol I don’t think you know what irony is – just cos it’s spelt i-ron-y doesn’t mean Ron marks did it.
You could be a Rasta and saying I Ron irie but somehow i doubt that.
Notice Bridges is lying by saying didnt have a conversation
Doesnt mean he didnt have a chat or a few words or that other situation: ‘a discussion’
Bridges needs to learn form Trump – lie big, little lies dont change anything
Normally these sort of things arent done by the party leaders, to give them deniability.
But as you mention Bridges was ‘a go to guy’ until he became leader in Feb.
@Anne, we all know it is only a matter of time before the Natz try to bribe individual MP’s to destable the government. It’s worked for them before.
Interesting that Winston mentions this after the good behaviour bond comes out, diversion by any chance?
“Ron Mark backs Winston Peters on approach Simon Bridges made to him.”
OOps Simon old chap.
“Ron Mark says National leader Simon Bridges talked to him about a deal during a flight earlier this year, contradicting Bridges’ claim no such approach was made.
“It’s true. Simon and I were next to each other on a flight from Auckland to Wellington in May. He bought it up out of the blue during a conversation we were having.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12108791
300 grand hanging over your head would make anyone say whatever Winston wants them to say
No puck it is the dirty filthy wee gnat bumbling idiot simon that has been caught out AGAIN – whats that about 3 times this week so far?
Yeah I’m not particularly interested in what Ron “happy for the media to describe him ex-SAS” Mark has to say
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11956076
NZ First leader Winston Peters is asking why Mark didn’t simply follow the instructions he was given.
Mark isn’t offering any answers. He did not respond to requests for an interview and did not answer questions. A spokesman said: “This matter has now been dealt with and we consider it closed.”
Well did he or didnt he follow unstructions this time – you seem a bit confused.
Defence minister Ron Mark was specifically told he was breaking all the rules wearing his military medals but went ahead and did so anyway.
Documents show Mark was told on October 27 – just after being sworn in as Minister of Defence – that his rack of medals was a breach of protocol and rules.
The NZ First deputy leader went on wearing his medals until November 15 when the Herald revealed he was in breach of the regulations governing decorations.
Mark’s medals wrongly placed his Omani service in a position over prominence over his New Zealand service. Also, wearing the Omani medals wrongly suggested he had the required permission from the Governor General’s to wear a foreign decoration.
In the 20 days since Mark learned his medals were a breach of the Crown’s rules on decorations and honours, he wore them while standing in front of veterans, next to the Chief of Defence Force, with foreign leaders and while inspecting troops.
So what Puck?
Stop trying to divert attention PR. You’re usually better than that.
Who cared a damm – apart from a bunch of bureaucratic military pin prickers – what medals he wore and where he wore them. What a load of puerile nonsense.
Bridges took a leaf out of Trump’s book and tried to gerrymander the political stability of the country for personal political gain and then lied about it. An infinitely worse offence than a row of medals not in the right order.
“Who cared a damm”
It actually matters to a lot of people, it means something plus he ignored all advice when told what he was doing was incorrect
Hes the minister of defence, hes a former serving soldier, he damn well should be getting the absolute bare minimum correct
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade
It matters
But did Bridges try to poach Mark?
And later claim he hadn’t??
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade.
He wouldn’t have given a damm – unless they were wearing their jacket inside out or their pants back to front then he might have. 😀
It’s time the
medalpin-prickers grew up and looked around them. There’s a big wide world needing urgent attention. My father had a heap of medals from two world wars but never wore them. He was more interested in the here and now.As an ex member of the NZDF, ADF and a veteran i couldn’t really give a rats ass, how old Ronnie wear his goddam gongs, yes there are grumpy old shell backs (usually they No Mates voters) who don’t have a life outside of the Forces, who have SFA to do but complain but do SFA to fix the problems. All I want from Ronnie is to stop the rot of the 30 odd yrs of under spending, neglect, and to provide better welfare/ conditions of service to Defence personal, Defence families and to the veterans now and into the future as they don’t have union to back them like the every other Government employee has.
If some old grizzle dick came up and told me I was wearing my gongs around the wrong way if I was the NZ MoD, then that I will ask this simple question.
What is more important my medals which I have one NZ gong (NZDM) among my other 9 or 10 gongs or the welfare issues of Defence members, underfunding issues of the NZDF or the welfare of Veterans?
If they say my NZDM is out of place, so you don’t give shit about NZDF or Veterans problems so piss off and get a life.
Had some muppet in NZ try and tell me last year “Your NZDM should be at the front and not a the rear of your row of medals as Foreign Medals are always to the rear etc etc?” My reply was “Ah you must be a National voter then?” He said yes and I’ll it leave to your imagination on the spray I give this muppet and his muppet mates in a pub in Dunedin.
no contract can breach the law…its unenforceable
In bad news from Antartica,
“The awful news that all but two penguin chicks have starved to death out of a colony of almost 40,000 birds is a grim illustration of the enormous pressure Antarctic wildlife is under. The causes of this devastating event are complex, from a changing climate to local sea-ice factors, but one thing penguins, whales and other marine life don’t need is additional strain on food supplies.
Over the next year we have the opportunity to create an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary – the largest protected area on Earth – which would put the waters off-limits to the industrial fishing vessels currently sucking up the tiny shrimp-like krill, on which all Antarctic life relies.”
From
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/13/penguins-starving-death-something-very-wrong-antarctic
Here is a petition to the EU – Russia and China are the two main blockers
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/antarctic_ocean_loc_fr_pa/?slideshow
I wonder how Australia feels about this, being the home of the CCAMLR.
They seem very ‘upbeat’ about the scientific awesomeness of the management of the fisheries and its sustainability. They seem to have ‘forgotten’ to include a speaker to talk about the wider ecosystem.
“A National Science Week (Australia) public seminar to help people understand the connections between commercially available krill products, human health claims and the biology and ecology of this tiny crustacean.
Find out why Hobart is the global centre of krill science and krill fishery management and how each of the relevant institutions are connected through international scientific and government networks.
Dr So Kawaguchi talked about his research on krill biology and ecology and Dr Laura Laslett discussed her research on the medicinal value of krill oil.
Dr Keith Reid, Science Manager for CCAMLR, outlined how fishing for krill is regulated by this international body and how fishing limits are informed by the best available scientific studies on krill and their ecosystems.”
https://www.ccamlr.org/en/fisheries/krill-fisheries-and-sustainability
We are so fucked…
There were 34 newcomers on the NBR Rich List this year – many of which made their fortunes in the grocery trade.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/106288425/supermarket-owners-banking-super-profits-nbr-rich-list-shows
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Social Development show 26,000 more hardship grants for food were given out compared with the June quarter last year.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658324/surge-in-families-seeking-food-parcels.
It will be interesting to see what impact Labour’s Family Package will have on the demand for hardship grants going forward.
Could we (please) link up the super-wealthy food purveyors, the supermarket barons, with the very poor needers of food and just let the former receive the needs of the latter, as an ongoing gesture of thanks for their good fortune, from those rich-listers?
And yet those who have made it to the list that are Pak n Sav owners can achieve this and still sell below the competitors ?
And as someone who has a family member working there they pay above min wage and is treated well.
Perhaps we should be asking their competitors why that is the case ??
Good to hear Pak n Sav pay above min wage and treat staff well. One of the biggest reasons for NZ lack of productivity is that for 30 years the business community has been taught to get employee’s as cheap and subservient as possible, keep them on casual and temporary contracts or subcontractor contracts so there is not much loyalty, rip off customers and ‘confuse’ them and then they wonder why there are worker and skills “shortages” and they are falling behind the rest of the world in productivity and customer services!!! Doh!
Look at Germany, they make things, and they have strong worker rights, pay higher wages and employ educated people (free university education in Germany). Unfortunately NZ decided to go down the Asian path of high inequality and low wages combined with western neoliberalism and government privatisations and deregulation.
Judging from what’s happening the penny hasn’t dropped yet for most NZ business and government that they are about to be out competed due to their incompetence and reliance of lowest common denominator and contempt for both consumer and employee and selling the country off for peanuts over the past decades.
Supermarkets may decide to screw their suppliers instead of their workers.
Also they may limit what brands they will carry, so that turnover ratio targets must be met or you are out. They will drop good lines which are replaced by some from another country. They will copy a good selling line from a company and sell it under their own brand name. It may in fact still be made by the original company, I don’t know, but it is a way to smother innovated products and also prevent the other company from building its own brand and reputation.
They can conduct phony wars against other supermarket chains. This was done a few years ago with milk, and the loss of profit was passed on also to the dairy suppliers. In Australia they have invoked nationalistic emotions and taken other country’s products off their shelves, which included ours.
Everything is calculated, and the giant stores with their convenient parking are hard to compete against by small local business people forming part of the core local business enterprise. The money leaches out of local pockets and most of it flows onwards to others’ capital accretions.
I agree with you greywarshark. Many on this site are very anti farmers, (and some with good reason) but primary producers are also people being screwed over by middle men, like supermarkets.
Also with supermarkets they are cutting costs by for example not employing qualified butchers, but instead ring in orders of meat from a warehouse where it comes pre cut.
The issue with this is, that the meat can be 3 months old and so they use a gas in the packaging to keep it looking fresh. They also have special lights etc so that the food looks better than it actually is in real life.
When they analysed the food with gases which is used in other countries to keep food longer they found that a salad looked fresh, but had lost all it’s nutrition when packaged with the long life gases.
So food can look fresh now, but actually be old and have zero nutritician but the consumers are being fooled.
All this to make more and more profit while people are being ripped off nutrition from their own food!
One would expect being lower priced than their competitors would see them attract more customers , thus make their money by selling more.
And while they may pay above the minimum wage, they don’t pay the Living Wage.
Good links The Chairman. Interesting so many making a fortune from just owning one supermarket. Maybe the commerce commission are a bit amiss when they dropped their investigation on Countdown – instead they need to search further a field.
Also these firms are creaming the money, while often the employee’s are on poor working conditions and Close to minimum wages, aka the taxpayer (nurses and teachers for example) are then paying taxes like WFF and accomodation benefits for their employees wages while the supermarket owner makes the rich list! Something is wrong. Apparently a family on minimum wages with 2 kids needs a $5000 wage top up per family from the government to cover the short fall of wages.
I’m not against people being rich, but it should not be on having poorly paid employees, corporate welfare and overcharging customers.
Thanks SaveNZ. And as usual, some good points made by greywarshark and yourself.
The sector is basically a duopoly, thus consumers, suppliers and employees are all being squeezed as the two dominant players thrive.
I commented on this yesterday, and to Wayne you may find this of interest
How the union is NOT supporting its own members, IMO NZEI your lack of representing “YOUR” members over the last 9 years and letting the Nat govts off lightly and making the current govt appear to be the enemy is highly embarrassing to say the least.
Perhaps there is a need for performance pay for good teachers as the union is not working for them. “She wants to see the pay scale reflective of experience rather than qualification, and said there was a place for performance pay.” These teacher support the union how about the union returning the favour ?
“Of more than 2500 responses, 66 per cent said they earned under $71,000, and dozens of commenters said they had also been locked out of progressing up the pay scale because they only held a diploma.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/106321443/teachers-with-40-years-experience-stuck-on-59600-because-of-pay-inequality
Herodotus, I am a secondary school teacher, not an NZEI member. But I doubt that NZEI is going to undergo a membership collapse because of the tendentious argument you put that teacher unions betray good teachers by not approving of performance pay.
All teachers have been underpaid, and before you even speak of performance pay, you need to pay a decent salary to all teachers first. I think tis is what NZEI is aiming at, and you are wasting your breath in trying to sow dissension.
Try all those teachers who are paid $15-$17k below their fellow teachers for doing the same job.
At my local school on Wednesday 40-50% of the teachers were at school. This is a school with a roll excessive of 700 primary students.
It may be an isolated case. but it speaks of the support for the unions, and of those 5 are Q1 or Q2 level.
So you say all teachers are underpaid, what about those who are severely underpaid ?? Or do you agree that Q1-4 should be on a similar pay scale ?
Farage is on his way to a gig in Sky City where he will peddle Brexit.
If you want “all I need to know about Brexit” in one video……………here it is:
I see facebook is now censoring the left. Oh well we get what we deserve, right? TeleSUR English page taken down again.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/telesur-english-facebook-censorship-news
People more often than not simply do not see the traps…and they walk right into them…
Point out the traps…and get called names, abused or labelled into some or other plagiarized transplanted term…
THE LEFT!
Strikes me that having an “Evening post “to go to as an extra venue for those that have to work in the day time could be good .While its interesting to get home from work switch on the comp and see whats been happening during the day on TS its also hard work scrolling thru whats usually hundreds of comments and half a doz posts .I often think wouldnt it be nice if there was a smaller space for those who only have the time for a couple of hours in the eve .In a sense the days activities and opinions are already “old news” by the end of the day .Might make a few more people come out of the woodwork also .
That is what the Daily Review posts are for, Weston. These go up nightly at about 5.30pm Mon to Friday.
Thanks for replying vv but as much as open mike is oversubscribed especially by the same people {just saying }you could say daily review is under subscribed …i just thought something new might have the effect of capturing a bit more of the available market so to speak .. in fishermans terms if nothings biting change your bait or your method location etc .Dont get me wrong im in awe of a great many of the regulars and posters here and grateful the site exists and to everyone who makes it happen .
I understand what you are saying re the size of OM vs DR, but it is my impression (rightly or wrongly) that the imbalance is a fairly recent phenomenon. The number of comments on OM certainly seems to be reaching record numbers, while the DR comment numbers seem to have gone down. I am one of those who have been around TS for many years and it is interesting how things change over time. Daily Review was introduced just a couple of years ago – cannot remember when exactly.
Lots of things could have affected the comment distribution in recent months – eg being a post election year, loss of some authors with fewer separate posts, time of year (eg winter). Re the latter, I find that with age and retirement I am going to bed earlier in the evening but then wake up in the early hours and do what you are NOT supposed to do – reach for the IPAD. Hence my reply to you at 4.25am!
Lprent probably has lots of information re changes in patterns etc but he is so hardworking and generous with his time, energy etc to keep TS going I would not like to ask him, especially now that he seems to spend a lot of time overseas with his paid work.
Kris Faafoi is “committed to ensuring the wheels of commerce move smoothly and that New Zealand capitalises on every advantage it can to grow our economy, jobs wages and opportunities.”
Sounds good, but actions speak louder than words and in Parliament he utters a snide, nasty remark about a fellow parliamentarian. His impulse to hurt and offend smudges his reputation as a Labour member.
Let’s get this straight alcohol is run by big business who spend there lobbing mone to distort the true negative fact’s of there prouduct’s .
Here you are It’s a man made chemical drug that will kill you instantly if you drink it to fast it can kill you slowly by over loading your liver the liver is the body’s filter no liver no life it has carcinogenic properties that cause cancer it over load’s our police work load every weekend as well as hospitals firefighters ambulance service and this all cost mone. People are killed every day because of this drug .
Mean while mone talks about how our consumption of this drug has lowered by a quarter since the 1970 but what they have not said is the alcohol % have we drink have has gone up by at least 100% you see the 00.1 Are the fake it till you make it people they don’t care it there profits are directly linked to there products killing people of Papatuanuku and her creatures Ana to kai .
Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/106343048/alcohol-harm-more-than-triple-the-cost-of-all-treaty-claims-so-far–economist
Good morning Newshub Nation I totally agree with the lady how fake fact’s fake new’s it’s start’s grabbing te tangata reality the more tangata that are exposed to it and the more that start believing these lies the 00.1% have been doing this to us for century’s
Look at the nose’s being cut off those beautiful statues in Egypt.
And reducing our carbon use to at least – 99% of today’s use will make our country great and wealthy Ka kite ano P.S looking after our moko’s it;s busy time’s Eco supports the Green Party 100%
The reality with these under cover sandfly is that there handler’s like to recruit the young people fresh out of police school why because they are easy to intimidate manipulate and mold there reality into believing that what there handler’s are telling them is true why don’t they hire people in there 30’s + to do this job well they have a better grasps on reality and are not as easy to sell lies to or intimidate into backing there corrupt move’s on te tangata How do I know this well this man’s story’s and a few other’s said they were recruited stright out of police school nice and easy to mold into the undercover system’s Greg O’Connor Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S one of these people can not take his flash fishing boat out to sea because he is being Eco Maori shamed lol
There you go a good story to back up my wrath against The organization that make or use SUGAR in there prouduct’s link below Ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/18/cases-of-type-2-diabetes-among-young-people-rise-41-in-three-years
You know what they had a soft drink and sweet’s machine all around the hospital what’s worse is they had one right out side the mokopuna’s ward this sugar vending machine’s should be banned from all hospitals Ka kite ano
I see the OIL baron are using there money to attack The Great Visionary Elon Mus credibility all over the media If the OIL baron get there way we will all be in the—–while they swim in there oil mone .
Ka Kaha Elon nobody perfect E hoa you keep up your good work you are one of the many people who are going to change our energy system’s to green electricity carbon free energy
Eco Maori supports you 100 % ka kite ano
P.S unlike some other leader who is championing old failing energy carbon
Because of those wanker sandflys actions my Mokopunas is still suffering in pain do they give a shit no I will be laughing at them in a court house muppets and all these ashole that no what’s going on are just as bad as them
The Justice system serves the Wealthy a free pass or impunity this man bashed people knocked them on the ground and was still hitting them on the ground and he gets to fly back to Britain to play cricket what example does that set for the Mokopunas link below Ka kite ano
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/106272398/england-cricketer-ben-stokes-found-not-guilty-in-assault-trial
Well back get my Mokopuna checked once again at the lakes care and the smart ass sandflys send in one of there muppets red necks I wonder how the can sleep at nite the way they behave O that’s right the Sun shines out there elites ass and We are just savages Ka kite ano
Here is a great leader who we have lost I agree with his last speech at the head of the UN secretary General I see a pattern emerging I will let you know later link below Ka kite ano
Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general, dies
The sandflys don’t give a shit about there actions causeing my Mokopunas pain an suffering for weeks I don’t give a shit who get mud in there faces from now on anything I find on the net I’m going to throw it in there faces they are scared – – – – reap what you sow muppets Ana to kai P.S I at the hospital with my Mokopuna at the minute
This is what Aotearoa would have started to look like if we did not ban foreign buyers from buying Property. The real estate mone men say that they were only a minority of buyers yea right Aotearoa real estate market is mone for jam if you can afford to play the games.
Link below Ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/18/san-francisco-poop-problem-inequality-homelessness
P.S I read 15 years ago that Aotearoa was going to be the home for the wealthy and famous it also priditived the homeless problem we got now