The US Justice Department will phase out use of privately owned prisons, citing safety concerns.
Contracts with 13 private prisons will be reviewed and and allowed to expire over the next five years.
“They do not save substantially on costs and … they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said explaining the decision.
The majority of US prisoners are held in state-run prisons.
On Wall Street, the stocks of private prison companies declined sharply after the news was announced.
By Thursday afternoon, Corrections Corp stock had plunged by nearly 50%.
An Inspector General’s report released this month found that private prisons saw higher rates of violent incidents and rule infractions in comparison with government-run institutions.
In November 2009, an expanded panel of 9 judges of the Israeli Supreme Court ruled (in an eight to one decision) that privately run prisons are unconstitutional.
As usual NZ is playing catch up with other nations who have tried and failed with turning state agencies into private ones. We obviously are too arrogant and think we can do it when others have failed. Ideology is failing us in every direction in this country from education to health and corrections.
A snippet which offers hope. Nats should take note.
‘U.S. Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons
The Justice Department plans to phase out its use of private prisons after they were determined to be less safe and less effective that government facilities, The Washington Post reports.’ http://thehill.com/
Helen said something like..’Only the democratically elected state has a mandate to incarcerate people- not commercially motivated private companies or individuals.’
If even the US now realizes this axiom, how long will it take the English/Key cabal to catch up with what the civilized world already knows.
This is a comment particularly for Anne; here is a recent video on how long term climate change is now affecting the specific day to day and week to week weather system behaviours that we are now seeing in the world.
Thanks again CV. I was transported back to a former life. He also did a cracking good job explaining what Climate Change actually is for the uninitiated.
NZ Women at Rio : seems to me that we have quite a few women winning medals – has anyone done a count of how many medals the men have won, and how many the women have won ? Would be interested to know ……
What I like, as opposed to some of the coverage coming in from overseas, is that we give proper dues to our female athletes whereas in places like the USA mens performances are glamourised over their female counterparts.
Coca-Cola’s second largest bottling plant in India has been shut down
The bottling plant in Hapur has been under scrutiny by the National Green Tribunal India’s ‘Green Court ‘ since 2015, and a number of inspections by government regulators have found the plant to be flouting environmental laws in India, and also operating without valid licenses, or No Objection Certificate (NOC).
The Indian govt seems to be doing some interesting things,
Monsanto is losing millions on failed GM cotton. The company illegally pushed a form of Bt cotton into India and Africa more than a decade ago, but farmers are now pushing back by planting their own indigenous seed.
Monsanto is accused of writing laws and then breaking them to enter the market in India, but after more than 300,000 farmer deaths between 1995 and 2013, many of them attributed to Monsanto, the company is finally paying for their misdeeds. The corporation’s greed is linked to farmer suicides throughout Maharashtra, considered the ‘Cotton Belt’ in India.
The Indian government is now actively promoting the use of indigenous seed, and has called Monsanto out for profiteering illegally on Bt cotton seed.
Monsanto has already lost nearly $75 million in royalties this year (5 billion rupees) due to the change in seed choice by farmers. Sales in India have fallen by 15 percent, and though this is a relatively small market share, it is still making a huge impact on the company’s bottom line.
A question from me after reading the Mother Jones story I linked to above:
Why are prisons sex segregated? Spanish prisons allow conjugal visits every 4-8 weeks. They are experimenting with family cells to keep families together if both parents are in jail and they have children under three, Spanish prisons have separate mens and womens wings, but the inmates mix in work and sometimes even marry,
Now, thinking about it, if a man is convicted of a domestic violence crime why do we send him to a all-male, hyper-aggressive environment? How will that challenge his attitudes towards woman? Surely, strictly supervised interaction with women in prison (for example, in anger management sessions wouldn’t it be handy to have a few women inmates there to describe how they feel when assaulted?) would be much better? Surely, allowing sexual activity via conjugal visits would have a major impact on sexual assault inside prisons?
My views on this are similar to posh, single sex private schools. Is sending your kids to an all white, decile 10, mono cultural, single sex school really the best way to prepare them for lives in a multi cultural society? Or is it just a way to try and preserve class based advantage for a clearly identifiable social minority? I am pretty sure it is for the latter. Personally, I would abolish all single sex and private schools completely and make it a requirement that schools reflect as accurately as possible the socioeconomic and ethnic mix of a 10km radius.
And if I reason like that for schools, why then would I reason any differently about prisons?
Girls schools emphasis seems to be at the 40th percentile. Boys schools emphasis seems to be at the 90th percentile (and sports stars).
It means more girls pass, but boys fill the top spots.
If your boy is top-notch academically send him to a boys schools, if he is top-notch at sport send him to a boys school, if he is neither send him coed.
Well CV , I finally have found something I disagree with you on(apart from Trump by a landslide – there just aren’t enough redneck white males to get him there).
I think boys need the interaction with females to grow up as better balanced citizens.
I have taught at both a boys and a coed and I know which I prefer. In an all boys school Sport is paramount and used as bribery.
I think Sanctuary’s comments re schooling are spot on.
The hypocrisy and vacuousness of the right wing National Party member mind is something to behold …….
We have the steel suppliers who were all happy with the free market at play in the Chch rebuild when they made gold out of their steel through demand and supply driving prices from around $2-3 kg up to $7-8 kg.. oh yay they went, smiling all the way to the bank, driving around in new utes, buying new boats, aint it great this unfettered free market …
… yet when supply from China drives those prices back down to where they used to be there is all manner of wailing and gnashing of teeth and crying to mummy in the government for some help..
… pathetic
Same with employers in the regions making their wares and voting for the free market and voting for the free market National Party ….
… yet when they need a component for their business, namely labour, all semblance of the free market is abandoned for more crying and tears….. instead of paying more for what they need…
… pathetic
its called the free market business people, the free market. You voted for it. Man up and live with it, you are pathetic with your whingeing
“It makes no sense that the government is continuing to push the TPPA legislation through Parliament even though it would add huge costs from extending copyright from 50 to 70 years and strengthening patent rights. The benefits will go to big foreign corporations – New Zealand innovators and consumers will lose out.
The research and evidence on TPPA is shoddy, with superficial analysis written or commissioned by MFAT to support their position. This contrasts with more thorough reports done in the US by the International Trade Commission that found virtually no economic benefit for the US, and a recent draft report by the Australian Productivity Commission that concluded the TPPA provisions would inhibit innovation and raise costs.
In New Zealand, a series of expert peer-reviewed papers have raised serious questions about the TPPA, and highlighted the economic costs and problems such as restrictions on the government’s right to regulate (see https://itsourfuture.org.nz/tppa-research/).
The TPPA is in big trouble in the US, and there is a huge majority of the public against it, as well as the two leading Presidential candidates. There is time for New Zealand to re-think its involvement in the TPPA and undertake proper research. The more we find out about this agreement, the more concerns that it raises. When we see the objective evidence, the government will have to agree with the majority of the public and reject the TPPA.
Or if they don’t, the voters of New Zealand will have their chance at the next election to support political parties that reject the TPPA and similar agreements, and get rid of the provisions in exising treaties that allow foreign investors to sue our government.”
These are the full prepared remarks from Trump a couple of days ago. He was relentlessly on message, regretting his more offensive remarks, nailing his rationale hard:
“How Bloomberg spun their own poll data to make Clinton seem inevitable”
Clinton 6 points ahead of Trump said the Bloomberg headline.
(Except when you look at the four way data between Clinton, Trump, the Libertarians and the Greens, Clinton was actually only 2 points ahead i.e. in a statistical tie with Trump).
Yeah, that’s happened a number of times over the last week or two. Headlines based on the two-way rather than four-way data, thus exaggerating Clinton’s lead.
Similar in the UK – in the last couple of days, there’s been some dodgy reporting of a BMG Poll on Corbyn vs Smith as Labour leader. Among people who voted Labour in 2015, Corbyn beats Smith marginally (by 4 points – 52% vs 48%). But among people currently intending to vote Labour at the next General Election, Corbyn wins by a massive 32 points (66% vs 34%).
A number of UK media outlets (along with prominent poll analyst-twitters with strong anti-Corbyn tendencies) have focussed solely on the 52/48 split, strongly implying that these are the figures for current Labour supporters.
Dunno but the DNC CEO, chair, communications director and CFO all resigned in disgrace over it, so they were all involved in screwing the scrum against Bernie.
well, bad-mouthing the fuck out of him in emails to each other. A bit like how that general lost his job after badmouthing the president when the embedded rolling stone journo was in the room.
Didn’t affect the number of votes Sanders got in the primaries, though.
Oh I see McFlock. The DNC’s cheating doesn’t count as cheating unless it affected things on the ground?
Well, for starters it lends credence to Sanders supporters complaints that from the very start that voter registration and polling booth management was slanted against them.
You haven’t demonstrated any cheating. A lot of griping and unprofessional emails, but nothing that affected the election.
It doesn’t “lend credence” to anything, unless D W-S was personally handling voter registrations or managing a polling booth. Do the parties even have anything to do with polling booth management or voter registration? Because at least some seem to be run by state boards of elections.
Trump campaign has curtained off most of this large convention hall in Charlotte for this rally: pic.twitter.com/x7uuPl3icp— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) August 19, 2016
Hillary doesn’t really need to do another rally. She’s already won. If big numbers at rallies was the decider, Bernie Sanders would have won the Democrat nomination, because he sure packed ’em out. But, in the real world, it’s votes that count and most voters make their mind up via their favourite media, not down at the town hall. The big rallies to come will really be aimed at maxing out the win. That’s about Democrat senators, congressman and governors. The real victory will be winning back control of the house and senate and taking the governorships in states that haven’t been democrat in years. That’ll be Trump’s legacy; handing the Democrats near total control of the political apparatus.
I suspect you’re going to very quiet in November, oh great sage. But I for one won’t be rubbing it in when you do reappear. We all make mistakes. The point is to not repeat them too often or too publicly.
From the Washington Post, about the top revelations from the DNC emails:
1) Targeting Sanders’s religion?
On May 5, DNC officials appeared to conspire to raise Sanders’s faith as an issue and press on whether he was an atheist — apparently in hopes of steering religious voters in Kentucky and West Virginia to Clinton. Sanders is Jewish but has previously indicated that he’s not religious.
2) Wasserman Schultz calls top Sanders aide a “damn liar”…
On May 17, after controversy erupted over the Nevada state Democratic convention and how fair the process was there, Wasserman Schultz herself took exception to Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver’s defense of his candidate’s supporters.
3) … and says Sanders has “no understanding” of the party
That wasn’t the only time Wasserman Schultz offered an unvarnished opinion about the Sanders operation. And in one late-April email, she even questioned Sanders’s connection to the party.
4) A Clinton lawyer gives DNC strategy advice on Sanders
When the Sanders campaign alleged that the Clinton campaign was improperly using its joint fundraising committee with the DNC to benefit itself, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias offered the DNC guidance on how to respond.
5) Plotting a narrative about how Sanders’s campaign failed
On May 21, DNC national press secretary Mark Pautenbach suggested pushing a narrative that Sanders “never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess.”
After detailing several arguments that could be made to push that narrative, Paustenbach concludes: “It’s not a DNC conspiracy, it’s because they never had their act together.”
6) Mocking Sanders for his California debate push
One of the chief complaints from Sanders and his supporters was a lack of debates. They said the fact that there were so few was intended to help Clinton by reducing her opponents’ exposure and their chances to knock her down.
7) Wishing Sanders would just end it
Many of these emails came as it was clear Clinton was going to win — which makes the apparent favoritism perhaps less offensive (though Sanders supporters would certainly disagree).
But it’s also clear that there was plenty of cheerleading for the race to simply be over — for Sanders to throw in the towel so that Clinton could be named the presumptive nominee. The party, of course, was still supposed to be neutral even though the odds and delegate deficit for Sanders looked insurmountable.
8) Calling an alleged Sanders sympathizer a “Bernie bro”
The term “Bernie bro” — or “Berniebro,” depending on your style — over the course of the campaign became a kind of shorthand for the worst kind of Sanders supporter. These were the supporters who couldn’t be reasoned with and verbally assaulted opponents, sometimes in very nasty ways.
9) Criticizing Obama for lack of fundraising help — “That’s f—ing stupid”
While the Sanders emails have gained the most attention, some of the more interesting emails involve a peek behind to curtain of how party officials talk about fundraising and major donors — and even President Obama.
In one email on May 9, DNC mid-Atlantic and PAC finance director Alexandra Shapiro noted that Obama wouldn’t travel 20 minutes to help the party secure $350,000 in donations.
“He really won’t go up 20 minutes for $350k?” Shapiro wrote. “THAT’S f—ing stupid.”
10) 10) Flippant chatter about donors
In a May 16 exchange about where to seat a top Florida donor, Kaplan declared that “he doesn’t sit next to POTUS!” — referring to Obama.
“Bittel will be sitting in the sh—iest corner I can find,” responded Shapiro. She also referred to other donors as “clowns.”
Funny list, none of which expplains why Sanders didn’t win the nomination. It does explain the resignations, though – especially ripping shit out of Obama. Very similar to McChrystal.
Itemised response below, but TL:DR – all can be answered with some combinations of “In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?” and “Did it effect the primary?”
1) Targeting Sanders’s religion?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
2) Wasserman Schultz calls top Sanders aide a “damn liar”…
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
3) … and says Sanders has “no understanding” of the party
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
4) A Clinton lawyer gives DNC strategy advice on Sanders
Did it effect the primary?
5) Plotting a narrative about how Sanders’s campaign failed
Did it effect the primary?
6) Mocking Sanders for his California debate push
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
7) Wishing Sanders would just end it
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
8) Calling an alleged Sanders sympathizer a “Bernie bro”
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
9) Criticizing Obama for lack of fundraising help — “That’s f—ing stupid”
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?
10) 10) Flippant chatter about donors
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?
Um, if you win a two option democratic election, you are, by definition, the popular candidate. Sanders has got over it and showed that he understands the process and the real threat facing the people of the States (and the rest of us). You, on the other hand, not so much …
Repeating already forgotten attack lines doesn’t change the simple fact that Hillary Clinton won the nomination. More people voted for her than for her opponent. She campaigned and won. You’d better get used to that, because it’s going happen again in a couple of months.
No wonder the Clinton machine had to work so hard to exclude independent voters from their primaries.
Read and weep status quo supporting bros.
Right now the poll averages reported by both Real Clear Politics and the Huffington Post show Sanders with an average 11 percent lead over Trump, and Clinton ahead of Trump by a much narrower margin of 3 percent. The four latest polls that compare Sanders and Clinton all show Sanders ahead with margins of 12, 13, 13, and 4 percent.1 Clinton, in contrast, is ahead by 3, 2, and 6 points in three of the four polls and behind Trump by 3 points in the latest of the four; together these four polls produce an average Sanders lead of 10.5 points and a Clinton lead of 2 points.
cv why are you bringing up bernie – you support trump – are you really saying you’d have flip flopped between sanders and trump – that seems hardly credible.
Spotted at Trump's rally in Charlotte, NC: Man holding a "Citizen's Rule Book" and an 8-pointed star w/ 'Muslim': pic.twitter.com/62AcuuFEji— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) August 19, 2016
First thing that springs to mind is why are you linking to a story over a week old?
I think cannabis reform is inevitable and there is a huge appetite for more open access to medicinal cannabis right now.
If anyone is having a bob each way it is of course John Key who intimated during the week that cops ‘kind of’ turn a blind eye to recreational possession already. He worries about sending the wrong message through decriminalisation but isn’t the slightest bit concerned about sending the wrong message by stating cops currently enforce the law (or not) as they see fit.
I think we can all guess which type of person cops are likely to throw the book at…
If that’s the beat up from last week I understood perfectly clearly where Labour stand. They will move on medical csnnsbis as soon as in power and they will consider a referendum on general decriminalisation but it won’t be a priority eg not in their first hundred days. Don’t know why some people found that difficult to understand.
Don’t shoot the messenger. I merely put the question out there.
Moreover, Labour don’t require me to paint them as indecisive and contradictory, they’ve done a pretty good job of giving voters that impression themselves. They often grandstand against things, only to later go on and support them, albeit, with a few minor changes.
Don’t tell me. You’ve always voted Labour. As did your father, and your father’s father. Your family has always been Labour, but you can’t bring yourself to vote for them now because Andrew Little doesn’t smile enough.
One finds politicians often come and go. It’s the Party’s agenda that tends to remain. Unfortunately, Labour adopted a neo-liberal agenda long before Little came along and have yet to fully let go.
Therefore, it would be fair to say Labour parted with me. Nevertheless, still hoping they’ll find their Corbyn moment.
While there is no Corbyn in the NZ Labour Party, it doesn’t necessarily mean a Corbyn moment will never develop.
Labour being center left robs the party of that crucial point of difference (not merely fluffing around the edges as they do) while allowing National far greater opportunity to copy policy.
Moreover, it’s helping shift the whole political spectrum to the state now that the Greens are considered by a number to be far left, while reaffirming to voters there is no real alternative but to fluff around the edges. Helping to strengthen and cement in the neo-liberal view.
Additionally, this has disappointed and disenfranchised a number of voters, giving them the impression little changes, there is no brighter future regardless who one votes for. Thus. they no longer partake.
Bringing into question your assertion that we are better served at this point by letting Labour be centre left.
I’m not calling for extreme leftism. But Labour requires to show more of a point of difference. As they did with Kiwibuild, which was widely welcomed by voters.
This highlights voters are open to a more hands on Government where they feel the market is lacking (or, as the cannabis poll highlights, laws are deemed heavy handed and outdated).
I don’t know where you or CV are coming from on this.
While there are some areas where Labour today finds it important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, from what I understand the very core Labour values of the past around housing as a right and not a privilege, strong rights and representation for workers, and educational investment in the future for all Kiwis have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party.
I think there is a fair amount of Corbyn in Little and despite what the conservative media and blogosphere might have you believe, Little is very consistent on these things mentioned above.
I see socialist values in Little. I just don’t think he is a Corbyn. He has his own attributes though and I think we are better served at this poin by letting Labour be centre left (hopefully moving left), rather than expecting people to be who and what they are not. You can’t manufacture a Corbyn, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other good ways to be.
“While there are some areas where Labour today finds it important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, from what I understand the very core Labour values of the past around housing as a right and not a privilege, strong rights and representation for workers, and educational investment in the future for all Kiwis have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party.”
Well said. However, I somewhat disagree.
While it is important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, Labour have yet to identify that appropriate junction which also brings a significant number of voters along.
It’s good Labour is trying to improve rights and representation for workers but their educational investment falls short. As with their housing policy, it doesn’t go far enough mitigating offshore demand.
So while these may have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party, there is clearly more work to be done.
Andrew Little -Qualified Lawyer, -Union president- Labour. Got my vote against I’m relaxed … John -‘no but what I can say’ boy.
It’s interesting how the Nat trolls persist in using multiple questions and repetitive question marks. That’s Amway 101 strategy. (He who asks the questions controls the conversation). Zzzzz
I think it would depend on how they were doing with everything else. Lots of NZers support decriminalisation, but would not be too happy about it being prioritised over other things that are more important. I think the medical cannabis issue is more important and should be dealt with separately. I also think that the L/G govt will need to coax NZ left again not go hard out. Then there is the Peters issue.
btw Little didn’t say what a priority meant for Labour. The example he gave was not in the first hundred days. So you calling the first term a priority is about you not Labour. Just so we are clear.
“I think it would depend on how they were doing with everything else. Lots of NZers support decriminalisation, but would not be too happy about it being prioritised over other things that are more important.”
Hence, to be clear, my suggesting within the first term.
Moreover, surely Labour are capable of doing more than one thing at a time?
Coaxing NZ left again opens Labour up to falling short and looking indecisive. Often resulting in disappointing both the right and left.
Equal rights based on humanity not sexual orientation and the right to take natural substances that aren’t going to get you sent to jail – hmmm both rights to fight for imo and I don’t really see the binary of one verses the other. Your pettiness and privilege and ihatelabour colours are showing again cv and it ain’t pretty.
Labour was quite happy to lead the charge for gay marriage
Actually it was a private member’s bill that received cross-party support. It wasn’t exactly Labour policy. Nor were civil unions, although they were ministerial decisions. Helen Clark was about as committed to “gay marriage” as Litte is for marijuana legalisation.
Because it was the correct thing to do. And I’m sure the Greens, and even half of the nats, were pretty happy about it. They also voted for it. Hell, the most famous speech in support of it was an otherwise unremarkable nat talking about big gay rainbows.
I also liked how you could only respond to facts with a tone argument. Very illuminating.
Little’s and Labour’s priorities have been clearly spelt out several times, Weka. They are (not necessarily in this order) housing, education, good public health, jobs, and being fair to people (not just the 1%) .
“First thing that springs to mind is why are you linking to a story over a week old?”
Merely catching up with some older news.
Yes, there is a huge appetite for more open access to medicinal cannabis right now. Moreover, overwhelming support for a law change around recreational use/possession.
Unfortunately, Little personally doesn’t support a law change. However, he is open to a referendum, but doesn’t believe it’s a priority.
Considering how poorly Labour is polling while keeping in mind the strong support in the poll for a cannabis law change, perhaps Little should reconsider making it a priority?
I think he was referring to something in the previous comment that demonstrated Labour don’t listen (his interpretation). Not aimed at you, and the comment was a reply to yours.
Unfortunately, Little personally doesn’t support a law change. However, he is open to a referendum, but doesn’t believe it’s a priority.
Considering how poorly Labour is polling while keeping in mind the strong support in the poll for a cannabis law change, perhaps Little should reconsider making it a priority?
I’m pretty sure I do show respect, where it’s deserved. However, woman hating, lefty baiting, ableist, conservative misanthropes get very little respect from me at all. Get used to it.
Ah, well. It’s nice that you acknowledge she’s a winner, CV.
Speaking of jumped up authoritarians, hows Donald Trump going? I see he’s lost yet another leader from his team this morning. Maybe you should offer to take Paul Manafort’s place? You’re definitely his kinda guy (see list above).
You telling porkies about some rule I’ve apparently either laid down or adhere to there trp?
tsk-tsk.
Mind you, thanks to the torturous catch 22 that your assertion spawns, you won’t actually have to be self banning for six weeks in the interests of consistency or whatever….I mean, that would’ve been quite a thing, aye? 😉
The truth is the best defence, CV. I’ve never described your unpleasant traits inaccurately. They’re your comments, your opinions. If you don’t like being identified as a misogynist or ableist etc. don’t write the comments that show you to be those things.
No, clearly, you don’t get it. CV. You comment like an unrestrained arse and don’t like being called on it. Your expressed opinions are often deeply offensive to women, the old, unionists, the left and most recently, those you consider to be physically unfit to contribute to society in the way they choose. You don’t get to have it both ways. Express your hate filled opinions freely and get called on it from time to time or moderate your language so it’s not quite so obvious that you are a misanthrope.
You’ll have spotted that plenty of other righties can comment here without being deliberately offensive. Perhaps you can learn from them?
I made a decision. A decision is not a rule. eg – today I decided to put on red socks. That doesn’t mean a rule has been passed or laid down to the effect that red socks must be worn.
You’re behaving like a school yard bully – making shit up with the sole intention of abusing people.
It’s really fucking boring and unpleasant trp – one of the worst types of trolling.
Fair call, Bill. Apologies for getting the terminology wrong. It’s a decision, not a ruling. I respect your decision and will build on the precedent it sets where needed.
Some in Labour and a number of their cheerleaders often don’t like having their position questioned or critiqued. Thus, regularly pull out the old right wing troll line instead of genuinely taking it on board.
The guts of their behaviour is that they are so internally certain they both know more and know better than everyone else. Pretty arrogant for a declining party on track to come in somewhere around the 25% mark.
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Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk New Zealand’s unprecedented “internet-native mass shooting” attack on two mosques, the New Caledonia independence referendum, Fiji’s general election and news media responses are featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review being published next week. Analysis ...
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs.Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Flannery, Planetary Scientist, Queensland University of Technology This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australia’s small but significant role in enabling NASA ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag.First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag.Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned ...
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogsat the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
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 contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Open mike 19/08/2016 
Open mike is your post.
Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...2 hours ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...5 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...12 hours ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...1 day ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...1 day ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...1 day ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...2 days ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...3 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...3 days ago
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On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...4 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...5 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...1 week ago
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Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...3 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...3 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...3 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...5 days ago
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37124183
In November 2009, an expanded panel of 9 judges of the Israeli Supreme Court ruled (in an eight to one decision) that privately run prisons are unconstitutional.
As usual NZ is playing catch up with other nations who have tried and failed with turning state agencies into private ones. We obviously are too arrogant and think we can do it when others have failed. Ideology is failing us in every direction in this country from education to health and corrections.
Big big call in the US.
But has time run out on Obama to close Guantanamo?
Obama legacy shopping…but it is both a good and surprising move
A snippet which offers hope. Nats should take note.
‘U.S. Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons
The Justice Department plans to phase out its use of private prisons after they were determined to be less safe and less effective that government facilities, The Washington Post reports.’
http://thehill.com/
Well, well, well. How interesting to find that private operators of prisons do not do it all that well ! As if some of us ever thought they could.
Helen said something like..’Only the democratically elected state has a mandate to incarcerate people- not commercially motivated private companies or individuals.’
If even the US now realizes this axiom, how long will it take the English/Key cabal to catch up with what the civilized world already knows.
A background piece of outstanding journalism from Mother Jones…
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer
This is a comment particularly for Anne; here is a recent video on how long term climate change is now affecting the specific day to day and week to week weather system behaviours that we are now seeing in the world.
Thanks. Will watch later today. 🙂
Thanks cv – will also watch when time permits.
Thanks again CV. I was transported back to a former life. He also did a cracking good job explaining what Climate Change actually is for the uninitiated.
very welcome, Anne.
NZ Women at Rio : seems to me that we have quite a few women winning medals – has anyone done a count of how many medals the men have won, and how many the women have won ? Would be interested to know ……
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/83337433/rio-olympics-2016-recordbreaking-games-for-new-zealand-as-medal-tally-reaches-14
I’m not sure why its interesting but ok
Men have won three golds and women have won one
Men have won one silver and women have won seven silvers
Bronze have been equally shared one each
Probably more to come of course
What I like, as opposed to some of the coverage coming in from overseas, is that we give proper dues to our female athletes whereas in places like the USA mens performances are glamourised over their female counterparts.
Coca-Cola’s second largest bottling plant in India has been shut down
The Indian govt seems to be doing some interesting things,
Monsanto is losing millions on failed GM cotton. The company illegally pushed a form of Bt cotton into India and Africa more than a decade ago, but farmers are now pushing back by planting their own indigenous seed.
Monsanto is accused of writing laws and then breaking them to enter the market in India, but after more than 300,000 farmer deaths between 1995 and 2013, many of them attributed to Monsanto, the company is finally paying for their misdeeds. The corporation’s greed is linked to farmer suicides throughout Maharashtra, considered the ‘Cotton Belt’ in India.
The Indian government is now actively promoting the use of indigenous seed, and has called Monsanto out for profiteering illegally on Bt cotton seed.
Monsanto has already lost nearly $75 million in royalties this year (5 billion rupees) due to the change in seed choice by farmers. Sales in India have fallen by 15 percent, and though this is a relatively small market share, it is still making a huge impact on the company’s bottom line.
http://www.ecosnippets.com/environmental/farmers-in-india-rebel-cotton-seed/
All Monsanto are good for now is selling themselves into corporate parts.
They’ve been on the block for a while and vastly overestimating their price to suitors.
Very interesting as the US has been pressuring India to open its domestic market up to large US corporates more and more.
Very heartening after such brutal corporate control of India’s farmers
A question from me after reading the Mother Jones story I linked to above:
Why are prisons sex segregated? Spanish prisons allow conjugal visits every 4-8 weeks. They are experimenting with family cells to keep families together if both parents are in jail and they have children under three, Spanish prisons have separate mens and womens wings, but the inmates mix in work and sometimes even marry,
Now, thinking about it, if a man is convicted of a domestic violence crime why do we send him to a all-male, hyper-aggressive environment? How will that challenge his attitudes towards woman? Surely, strictly supervised interaction with women in prison (for example, in anger management sessions wouldn’t it be handy to have a few women inmates there to describe how they feel when assaulted?) would be much better? Surely, allowing sexual activity via conjugal visits would have a major impact on sexual assault inside prisons?
Good points Sanctuary. We need new thinking and ideas about social issues, and then pilot programs to see if they work.
My views on this are similar to posh, single sex private schools. Is sending your kids to an all white, decile 10, mono cultural, single sex school really the best way to prepare them for lives in a multi cultural society? Or is it just a way to try and preserve class based advantage for a clearly identifiable social minority? I am pretty sure it is for the latter. Personally, I would abolish all single sex and private schools completely and make it a requirement that schools reflect as accurately as possible the socioeconomic and ethnic mix of a 10km radius.
And if I reason like that for schools, why then would I reason any differently about prisons?
Boys do better in single sex schools, so they should be kept, especially given how disadvantaged males are in the public education system today.
Girls schools emphasis seems to be at the 40th percentile. Boys schools emphasis seems to be at the 90th percentile (and sports stars).
It means more girls pass, but boys fill the top spots.
If your boy is top-notch academically send him to a boys schools, if he is top-notch at sport send him to a boys school, if he is neither send him coed.
Well CV , I finally have found something I disagree with you on(apart from Trump by a landslide – there just aren’t enough redneck white males to get him there).
I think boys need the interaction with females to grow up as better balanced citizens.
I have taught at both a boys and a coed and I know which I prefer. In an all boys school Sport is paramount and used as bribery.
I think Sanctuary’s comments re schooling are spot on.
well, i started by saying Trump by landslide, I’ve ratcheted that back down to Trump by easy win 🙂
Yes boys need interaction with females, thats what going to a coed for the final year is for 🙂
The Emperor has no Balls
Donald Trump Sculptures, real live and all are popping up all over the US.
http://gothamist.com/2016/08/18/naked_donald_trump_statue.php#photo-1
oh dear, someone please fetch me some pearls to clutch and a cup o tea 🙂
LUV IT LUVIT!!!
The parks department offer stiff opposition:
“NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small,” said Sam Biederman, a parks spokesman.
😀 Thanks for that Sam Biederman! (Hope you don’t lose your job).
The hypocrisy and vacuousness of the right wing National Party member mind is something to behold …….
We have the steel suppliers who were all happy with the free market at play in the Chch rebuild when they made gold out of their steel through demand and supply driving prices from around $2-3 kg up to $7-8 kg.. oh yay they went, smiling all the way to the bank, driving around in new utes, buying new boats, aint it great this unfettered free market …
… yet when supply from China drives those prices back down to where they used to be there is all manner of wailing and gnashing of teeth and crying to mummy in the government for some help..
… pathetic
Same with employers in the regions making their wares and voting for the free market and voting for the free market National Party ….
… yet when they need a component for their business, namely labour, all semblance of the free market is abandoned for more crying and tears….. instead of paying more for what they need…
… pathetic
its called the free market business people, the free market. You voted for it. Man up and live with it, you are pathetic with your whingeing
Angela Merkel surprised by massive protest march against TTIP in Berlin
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-hundreds-of-thousands-protest-in-berlin-against-eu-us-trade-deal-2015-10/?r=AU&IR=T
Injured Aleppo boy in ambulance illustrates Syrian conflict
http://www.newshub.co.nz/world/injured-aleppo-boy-in-ambulance-illustrates-syrian-conflict-2016081821?ref=newshubFB
(Not sure if the world’s media is ready to share images of kids in war by US bomb strikes which are edited out of the world’s media).
message from Barry Coates
“It makes no sense that the government is continuing to push the TPPA legislation through Parliament even though it would add huge costs from extending copyright from 50 to 70 years and strengthening patent rights. The benefits will go to big foreign corporations – New Zealand innovators and consumers will lose out.
The research and evidence on TPPA is shoddy, with superficial analysis written or commissioned by MFAT to support their position. This contrasts with more thorough reports done in the US by the International Trade Commission that found virtually no economic benefit for the US, and a recent draft report by the Australian Productivity Commission that concluded the TPPA provisions would inhibit innovation and raise costs.
In New Zealand, a series of expert peer-reviewed papers have raised serious questions about the TPPA, and highlighted the economic costs and problems such as restrictions on the government’s right to regulate (see https://itsourfuture.org.nz/tppa-research/).
The TPPA is in big trouble in the US, and there is a huge majority of the public against it, as well as the two leading Presidential candidates. There is time for New Zealand to re-think its involvement in the TPPA and undertake proper research. The more we find out about this agreement, the more concerns that it raises. When we see the objective evidence, the government will have to agree with the majority of the public and reject the TPPA.
Or if they don’t, the voters of New Zealand will have their chance at the next election to support political parties that reject the TPPA and similar agreements, and get rid of the provisions in exising treaties that allow foreign investors to sue our government.”
Today, nearly one hundred and fifty-three years after the bloodiest post-Treaty battle on the soil of these islands, the invaders are withdrawing, and Rangiriri pa is being returned to Maori: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/311348/rangiriri-pa-returned-after-1863-invasion
What was the battle of Rangiriri like for the men who fought it? We can get one answer to this question but looking at the beautiful and terrible photographs taken by the man who won a VC at Rangiriri:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/going-to-war-with-william-temple.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/north-island/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503932&objectid=11696970
The rape and plunder goes on, good old free market in action
These are the full prepared remarks from Trump a couple of days ago. He was relentlessly on message, regretting his more offensive remarks, nailing his rationale hard:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-never-lie-227183
Enjoy! He ain’t out out of this race.
“How Bloomberg spun their own poll data to make Clinton seem inevitable”
Clinton 6 points ahead of Trump said the Bloomberg headline.
(Except when you look at the four way data between Clinton, Trump, the Libertarians and the Greens, Clinton was actually only 2 points ahead i.e. in a statistical tie with Trump).
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-16/how-bloomberg-spun-its-own-poll-data-make-hillary-clinton-seem-inevitable
Yeah, that’s happened a number of times over the last week or two. Headlines based on the two-way rather than four-way data, thus exaggerating Clinton’s lead.
Similar in the UK – in the last couple of days, there’s been some dodgy reporting of a BMG Poll on Corbyn vs Smith as Labour leader. Among people who voted Labour in 2015, Corbyn beats Smith marginally (by 4 points – 52% vs 48%). But among people currently intending to vote Labour at the next General Election, Corbyn wins by a massive 32 points (66% vs 34%).
A number of UK media outlets (along with prominent poll analyst-twitters with strong anti-Corbyn tendencies) have focussed solely on the 52/48 split, strongly implying that these are the figures for current Labour supporters.
in the Bloomberg one they also had to throw in the “lean to” results from the don’t knows to give Clinton her 6 point lead.
If Scott Adams is right at least some of those will have said Clinton because they didn’t want to admit to supporting Trump.
As prepared.
How was his delivery?
Compare the crowd size to Clinton’s campaign events.
didn’t we do the same comparison with Bernie’s crowds? How did that work out?
Bernie lost, the Democrats stabbed him in the back
You mean he didn’t get enough delegates to win.
The more Trump speaks, the more he becomes entertainment rather than presidential material.
No, I mean Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the other leaders of the DNC stabbed Bernie in the back, and had to resign over it.
Uh-huh.
How did their activities affect Sanders’ delegate votes?
Dunno but the DNC CEO, chair, communications director and CFO all resigned in disgrace over it, so they were all involved in screwing the scrum against Bernie.
well, bad-mouthing the fuck out of him in emails to each other. A bit like how that general lost his job after badmouthing the president when the embedded rolling stone journo was in the room.
Didn’t affect the number of votes Sanders got in the primaries, though.
they organised against Sanders. You know, like using his religion against him.
But you don’t know if it’s even likely that this affected the primaries? Were there any indications of ballot-stuffing, or whatever?
How did they organise against him?
Oh I see McFlock. The DNC’s cheating doesn’t count as cheating unless it affected things on the ground?
Well, for starters it lends credence to Sanders supporters complaints that from the very start that voter registration and polling booth management was slanted against them.
You haven’t demonstrated any cheating. A lot of griping and unprofessional emails, but nothing that affected the election.
It doesn’t “lend credence” to anything, unless D W-S was personally handling voter registrations or managing a polling booth. Do the parties even have anything to do with polling booth management or voter registration? Because at least some seem to be run by state boards of elections.
Trump was entertainment during the primaries. Now he’s a very bad horror movie.
My worry is that he learns how to stick to an autocue.
Yuuge….
Looked like a crowd of maybe 5,000 to me. How many at the Hillary campaign rally today?
Oh yeah there wasn’t one.
Hillary doesn’t really need to do another rally. She’s already won. If big numbers at rallies was the decider, Bernie Sanders would have won the Democrat nomination, because he sure packed ’em out. But, in the real world, it’s votes that count and most voters make their mind up via their favourite media, not down at the town hall. The big rallies to come will really be aimed at maxing out the win. That’s about Democrat senators, congressman and governors. The real victory will be winning back control of the house and senate and taking the governorships in states that haven’t been democrat in years. That’ll be Trump’s legacy; handing the Democrats near total control of the political apparatus.
I’ll check back in with your personal fantasy world come November
I suspect you’re going to very quiet in November, oh great sage. But I for one won’t be rubbing it in when you do reappear. We all make mistakes. The point is to not repeat them too often or too publicly.
The aggregate state polling is interesting, albeit still a bit soon to tell 🙂
trp – Hillary won because the Democratic Party shafted Bernie.
How?
From the Washington Post, about the top revelations from the DNC emails:
1) Targeting Sanders’s religion?
On May 5, DNC officials appeared to conspire to raise Sanders’s faith as an issue and press on whether he was an atheist — apparently in hopes of steering religious voters in Kentucky and West Virginia to Clinton. Sanders is Jewish but has previously indicated that he’s not religious.
2) Wasserman Schultz calls top Sanders aide a “damn liar”…
On May 17, after controversy erupted over the Nevada state Democratic convention and how fair the process was there, Wasserman Schultz herself took exception to Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver’s defense of his candidate’s supporters.
3) … and says Sanders has “no understanding” of the party
That wasn’t the only time Wasserman Schultz offered an unvarnished opinion about the Sanders operation. And in one late-April email, she even questioned Sanders’s connection to the party.
4) A Clinton lawyer gives DNC strategy advice on Sanders
When the Sanders campaign alleged that the Clinton campaign was improperly using its joint fundraising committee with the DNC to benefit itself, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias offered the DNC guidance on how to respond.
5) Plotting a narrative about how Sanders’s campaign failed
On May 21, DNC national press secretary Mark Pautenbach suggested pushing a narrative that Sanders “never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess.”
After detailing several arguments that could be made to push that narrative, Paustenbach concludes: “It’s not a DNC conspiracy, it’s because they never had their act together.”
6) Mocking Sanders for his California debate push
One of the chief complaints from Sanders and his supporters was a lack of debates. They said the fact that there were so few was intended to help Clinton by reducing her opponents’ exposure and their chances to knock her down.
7) Wishing Sanders would just end it
Many of these emails came as it was clear Clinton was going to win — which makes the apparent favoritism perhaps less offensive (though Sanders supporters would certainly disagree).
But it’s also clear that there was plenty of cheerleading for the race to simply be over — for Sanders to throw in the towel so that Clinton could be named the presumptive nominee. The party, of course, was still supposed to be neutral even though the odds and delegate deficit for Sanders looked insurmountable.
8) Calling an alleged Sanders sympathizer a “Bernie bro”
The term “Bernie bro” — or “Berniebro,” depending on your style — over the course of the campaign became a kind of shorthand for the worst kind of Sanders supporter. These were the supporters who couldn’t be reasoned with and verbally assaulted opponents, sometimes in very nasty ways.
9) Criticizing Obama for lack of fundraising help — “That’s f—ing stupid”
While the Sanders emails have gained the most attention, some of the more interesting emails involve a peek behind to curtain of how party officials talk about fundraising and major donors — and even President Obama.
In one email on May 9, DNC mid-Atlantic and PAC finance director Alexandra Shapiro noted that Obama wouldn’t travel 20 minutes to help the party secure $350,000 in donations.
“He really won’t go up 20 minutes for $350k?” Shapiro wrote. “THAT’S f—ing stupid.”
10) 10) Flippant chatter about donors
In a May 16 exchange about where to seat a top Florida donor, Kaplan declared that “he doesn’t sit next to POTUS!” — referring to Obama.
“Bittel will be sitting in the sh—iest corner I can find,” responded Shapiro. She also referred to other donors as “clowns.”
You missed the bit where the DNC forced people at gunpoint to vote for Hillary against their will. Bastards.
TRP, I think people can read for themselves to see what the self proclaimed “neutral” DMC was all about, when it came to Clinton vs Sanders.
The pro status quo’ers backed Clinton the weaker, less popular, more right wing candidate.
lol
Funny list, none of which expplains why Sanders didn’t win the nomination. It does explain the resignations, though – especially ripping shit out of Obama. Very similar to McChrystal.
Itemised response below, but TL:DR – all can be answered with some combinations of “In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?” and “Did it effect the primary?”
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
Did it effect the primary?
Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email? Did it effect the primary?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?
In public? Or, shock horror, did someone use an unprofessional tone in an internal email?
Um, if you win a two option democratic election, you are, by definition, the popular candidate. Sanders has got over it and showed that he understands the process and the real threat facing the people of the States (and the rest of us). You, on the other hand, not so much …
Repeating already forgotten attack lines doesn’t change the simple fact that Hillary Clinton won the nomination. More people voted for her than for her opponent. She campaigned and won. You’d better get used to that, because it’s going happen again in a couple of months.
Not according to the votes.
No wonder the Clinton machine had to work so hard to exclude independent voters from their primaries.
Read and weep status quo supporting bros.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerome-karabel/sanders-clinton-electability_b_10106256.html
How did they exclude independent voters?
Isn’t voter registration administered by the states, not the parties?
cv why are you bringing up bernie – you support trump – are you really saying you’d have flip flopped between sanders and trump – that seems hardly credible.
Fox and Trump campaign on the difference between a crowd of 5,000, and one person and their tv:
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/08/17/michael-cohen-donald-trump-poll-number-brianna-keilar-sot-tsr.cnn
Them 3 percenters love some Donald.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Rule_Book
National voters now think they own the colour blue…
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/complaint-over-goffs-blue-billboards-2016081913
Media beat-up or was Andrew Little trying to highlight to voters that Labour can row in different directions all on its own?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/where-does-labour-stand-on-decriminalising-cannabis-2016081116
Thoughts?
First thing that springs to mind is why are you linking to a story over a week old?
I think cannabis reform is inevitable and there is a huge appetite for more open access to medicinal cannabis right now.
If anyone is having a bob each way it is of course John Key who intimated during the week that cops ‘kind of’ turn a blind eye to recreational possession already. He worries about sending the wrong message through decriminalisation but isn’t the slightest bit concerned about sending the wrong message by stating cops currently enforce the law (or not) as they see fit.
I think we can all guess which type of person cops are likely to throw the book at…
If that’s the beat up from last week I understood perfectly clearly where Labour stand. They will move on medical csnnsbis as soon as in power and they will consider a referendum on general decriminalisation but it won’t be a priority eg not in their first hundred days. Don’t know why some people found that difficult to understand.
Agree. It’s a beat up by those interested in painting Andrew Little and Labour as indecisive and contradictory. See The Chairman.
Don’t shoot the messenger. I merely put the question out there.
Moreover, Labour don’t require me to paint them as indecisive and contradictory, they’ve done a pretty good job of giving voters that impression themselves. They often grandstand against things, only to later go on and support them, albeit, with a few minor changes.
Don’t tell me. You’ve always voted Labour. As did your father, and your father’s father. Your family has always been Labour, but you can’t bring yourself to vote for them now because Andrew Little doesn’t smile enough.
One finds politicians often come and go. It’s the Party’s agenda that tends to remain. Unfortunately, Labour adopted a neo-liberal agenda long before Little came along and have yet to fully let go.
Therefore, it would be fair to say Labour parted with me. Nevertheless, still hoping they’ll find their Corbyn moment.
There is no Corbyn in the NZ Labour Party. Not point in waiting for something that is literally not possible.
While there is no Corbyn in the NZ Labour Party, it doesn’t necessarily mean a Corbyn moment will never develop.
Labour being center left robs the party of that crucial point of difference (not merely fluffing around the edges as they do) while allowing National far greater opportunity to copy policy.
Moreover, it’s helping shift the whole political spectrum to the state now that the Greens are considered by a number to be far left, while reaffirming to voters there is no real alternative but to fluff around the edges. Helping to strengthen and cement in the neo-liberal view.
Additionally, this has disappointed and disenfranchised a number of voters, giving them the impression little changes, there is no brighter future regardless who one votes for. Thus. they no longer partake.
Bringing into question your assertion that we are better served at this point by letting Labour be centre left.
I’m not calling for extreme leftism. But Labour requires to show more of a point of difference. As they did with Kiwibuild, which was widely welcomed by voters.
This highlights voters are open to a more hands on Government where they feel the market is lacking (or, as the cannabis poll highlights, laws are deemed heavy handed and outdated).
I don’t know where you or CV are coming from on this.
While there are some areas where Labour today finds it important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, from what I understand the very core Labour values of the past around housing as a right and not a privilege, strong rights and representation for workers, and educational investment in the future for all Kiwis have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party.
I think there is a fair amount of Corbyn in Little and despite what the conservative media and blogosphere might have you believe, Little is very consistent on these things mentioned above.
You can tell that there is less Corbyn rather than more Corbyn in Little simply because Labour’s right wing tolerate Little.
Whereas UK Labour’s right wing couldn’t tolerate a self declared socialist like Corbyn.
Well, happy to see you recognise at least some true socialist values in Little even if weka doesn’t.
“Labour’s right wing tolerate Little” lol I think you have been out of the loop too long cv – what a rubbish line you’ve used.
I see socialist values in Little. I just don’t think he is a Corbyn. He has his own attributes though and I think we are better served at this poin by letting Labour be centre left (hopefully moving left), rather than expecting people to be who and what they are not. You can’t manufacture a Corbyn, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other good ways to be.
+100% Muttonbird
“While there are some areas where Labour today finds it important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, from what I understand the very core Labour values of the past around housing as a right and not a privilege, strong rights and representation for workers, and educational investment in the future for all Kiwis have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party.”
Well said. However, I somewhat disagree.
While it is important to meet a changed world at an appropriate junction, Labour have yet to identify that appropriate junction which also brings a significant number of voters along.
It’s good Labour is trying to improve rights and representation for workers but their educational investment falls short. As with their housing policy, it doesn’t go far enough mitigating offshore demand.
So while these may have not been a stronger priority in recent times than under the current Andrew Little lead Labour party, there is clearly more work to be done.
Andrew Little -Qualified Lawyer, -Union president- Labour. Got my vote against I’m relaxed … John -‘no but what I can say’ boy.
It’s interesting how the Nat trolls persist in using multiple questions and repetitive question marks. That’s Amway 101 strategy. (He who asks the questions controls the conversation). Zzzzz
Weka, do you believe if Labour were to make it (a referendum) a priority (sometime within the first term) it will harm them or improve their support?
I think it would depend on how they were doing with everything else. Lots of NZers support decriminalisation, but would not be too happy about it being prioritised over other things that are more important. I think the medical cannabis issue is more important and should be dealt with separately. I also think that the L/G govt will need to coax NZ left again not go hard out. Then there is the Peters issue.
btw Little didn’t say what a priority meant for Labour. The example he gave was not in the first hundred days. So you calling the first term a priority is about you not Labour. Just so we are clear.
“I think it would depend on how they were doing with everything else. Lots of NZers support decriminalisation, but would not be too happy about it being prioritised over other things that are more important.”
Hence, to be clear, my suggesting within the first term.
Moreover, surely Labour are capable of doing more than one thing at a time?
Coaxing NZ left again opens Labour up to falling short and looking indecisive. Often resulting in disappointing both the right and left.
Labour is happy to lead in a “priority” area like gay marriage, but not on a non-priority area like cannabis decriminalisation.
Equal rights based on humanity not sexual orientation and the right to take natural substances that aren’t going to get you sent to jail – hmmm both rights to fight for imo and I don’t really see the binary of one verses the other. Your pettiness and privilege and ihatelabour colours are showing again cv and it ain’t pretty.
as I pointed out Marty Mars Labour was quite happy to lead the charge for gay marriage but not in decriminalising cannabis. Because not as important.
Actually it was a private member’s bill that received cross-party support. It wasn’t exactly Labour policy. Nor were civil unions, although they were ministerial decisions. Helen Clark was about as committed to “gay marriage” as Litte is for marijuana legalisation.
Yeah but in reality all the Labour MPs speeches on the night the Bill passed into law were so thoroughly triumphant and righteous.
Because it was the correct thing to do. And I’m sure the Greens, and even half of the nats, were pretty happy about it. They also voted for it. Hell, the most famous speech in support of it was an otherwise unremarkable nat talking about big gay rainbows.
I also liked how you could only respond to facts with a tone argument. Very illuminating.
Little’s and Labour’s priorities have been clearly spelt out several times, Weka. They are (not necessarily in this order) housing, education, good public health, jobs, and being fair to people (not just the 1%) .
Thanks Jenny 🙂
“First thing that springs to mind is why are you linking to a story over a week old?”
Merely catching up with some older news.
Yes, there is a huge appetite for more open access to medicinal cannabis right now. Moreover, overwhelming support for a law change around recreational use/possession.
Unfortunately, Little personally doesn’t support a law change. However, he is open to a referendum, but doesn’t believe it’s a priority.
Considering how poorly Labour is polling while keeping in mind the strong support in the poll for a cannabis law change, perhaps Little should reconsider making it a priority?
Concern troll is concerned.
You may have noticed The Chairman that Labour does not have well developed listening skills.
I’m not the Labour Party, CV. Remember Bill’s rule about telling porkies about authors. Six weeks off, as I recall.
I think he was referring to something in the previous comment that demonstrated Labour don’t listen (his interpretation). Not aimed at you, and the comment was a reply to yours.
Unfortunately, Little personally doesn’t support a law change. However, he is open to a referendum, but doesn’t believe it’s a priority.
Considering how poorly Labour is polling while keeping in mind the strong support in the poll for a cannabis law change, perhaps Little should reconsider making it a priority?
Fair call, weka, benefit of the doubt and all that.
I think it was the threading that made it a bit clearer for me.
this ain’t your post TRP, and if you want authors treated with respect you can always try and show us how by example why don’t you.
I’m pretty sure I do show respect, where it’s deserved. However, woman hating, lefty baiting, ableist, conservative misanthropes get very little respect from me at all. Get used to it.
I’ve dealt with plenty of jumped up authoritarians before TRP. Join the list.
Yes, dear. Care to remind us again of the mortal blows you struck against jumped up authoritarian Clare Curran?
Curran’s majority will be under 3,000 next year; she’s totally trashed the almost 11,000 electorate majority that Benson Pope built up.
Ah, well. It’s nice that you acknowledge she’s a winner, CV.
Speaking of jumped up authoritarians, hows Donald Trump going? I see he’s lost yet another leader from his team this morning. Maybe you should offer to take Paul Manafort’s place? You’re definitely his kinda guy (see list above).
You telling porkies about some rule I’ve apparently either laid down or adhere to there trp?
tsk-tsk.
Mind you, thanks to the torturous catch 22 that your assertion spawns, you won’t actually have to be self banning for six weeks in the interests of consistency or whatever….I mean, that would’ve been quite a thing, aye? 😉
That is a good recursive one Bill nice
Boy you dribble out incoherently some days marty mars. And boy am I over you having a go at Colonial Viper.
Take it to the right thread bub.
I don’t care what you think about my interrelationshp with cv – we have been conversing for years.
Bill, it’s your ruling. Peter Swift a few weeks ago. Look it up if it’s slipped your mind.
Are you going to ban yourself now TRP for misrepresenting Bill’s ruling?
Or is it different rules for yourself, than for everyone else?
It’s Bill’s ruling. Lie about an author, get banned. It seems perfectly sensible to me and I’m happy to follow the path he has laid down.
Then feel free to ban yourself for calling me misogynist, ableist, and those other stupid sneers you spout.
The truth is the best defence, CV. I’ve never described your unpleasant traits inaccurately. They’re your comments, your opinions. If you don’t like being identified as a misogynist or ableist etc. don’t write the comments that show you to be those things.
Easy, eh?
OK I get it, your sneering bullshit about another author is the unvarnished honest truth whereas my bullshit about you are merely lies.
Whateva you say, you like being the boss.
No, clearly, you don’t get it. CV. You comment like an unrestrained arse and don’t like being called on it. Your expressed opinions are often deeply offensive to women, the old, unionists, the left and most recently, those you consider to be physically unfit to contribute to society in the way they choose. You don’t get to have it both ways. Express your hate filled opinions freely and get called on it from time to time or moderate your language so it’s not quite so obvious that you are a misanthrope.
You’ll have spotted that plenty of other righties can comment here without being deliberately offensive. Perhaps you can learn from them?
I made a decision. A decision is not a rule. eg – today I decided to put on red socks. That doesn’t mean a rule has been passed or laid down to the effect that red socks must be worn.
You’re behaving like a school yard bully – making shit up with the sole intention of abusing people.
It’s really fucking boring and unpleasant trp – one of the worst types of trolling.
Fair call, Bill. Apologies for getting the terminology wrong. It’s a decision, not a ruling. I respect your decision and will build on the precedent it sets where needed.
Some in Labour and a number of their cheerleaders often don’t like having their position questioned or critiqued. Thus, regularly pull out the old right wing troll line instead of genuinely taking it on board.
The guts of their behaviour is that they are so internally certain they both know more and know better than everyone else. Pretty arrogant for a declining party on track to come in somewhere around the 25% mark.