Andy Sinclair is the CEO of Hyundai Motors New Zealand:
The nation’s first zero emission hydrogen-fuelled electric truck arrived in late November. Hyundai New Zealand has bought five XCIENT FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) trucks, with the help of some funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, and using the fuel cell technology developed by the Hyundai Motor Company from Korea.
New Zealand will be one of the first three countries in the world to run hydrogen trucks in fully commercial daily operations with freight operators (along with Korea and Switzerland). At the start of commercial operations, the trucks will be fuelled by their own hydrogen refueller until the first group of hydrogen-refuelling stations are built.
For the engine nerds out there, the XCIENT is powered by a 350kw electric motor with 2237Nm of torque. It has a range of about 400km – the driving distance between Auckland and Palmerston North.
The difference from diesel trucks is instantly noticeable to experienced drivers. They are almost as quiet as their passenger car peers, with no loud engine noises. There are two other fascinating technologies. A special filter is required to clean the air that goes into the engine. In a neat twist, it ends up removing particulates belched into the environment by diesel trucks on the road alongside the XCIENT. The other technology is an artificial engine-sound generator. The truck is so quiet at low speeds that the sound is needed as a safety precaution.
The spending included about $188 on chocolate fish, an executive team meeting at Mood on 17th Ave that cost $796 and $471.50 on the chief executive’s annual car valet.
Aitken said the council provided a “supply of chocolate fish” to its finance team who worked long hours at the end of the financial year and preparing the annual plan for adoption.
“Our executive team also provided a supply of chocolate fish to attendees of a series of internal roadshows, which included presentations on the Long-term Plan, the implementation of our community relations strategy, and council’s vision and values. Spare chocolate fish have been given to staff as a form of special recognition throughout the remainder of the year.”
Aitken said the executive team meeting at Mood was a “planning day” for 36 attendees – equating to $22 per person for food and drinks. A further $178 was spent on staff chocolates for an “executive walkabout” on December 8, 2020.
Tauranga City Council was the biggest spender, with 15 staff members spending more than $88,500 with council credit cards between November 8, 2020 and November 7, 2021.
As capitalists everywhere well know–they appropriate socially produced wealth for tiny elite gain–the riches that come from the physical and intellectual labour of the worlds workers applied to natural and technological resources.
The petty indulgences of local Govt. minions while unseemly, are nothing compared to the real bludgers of society in finance capital.
But the income that produces those taxes is in no small part a product of our transport, education, and health systems. So that's socially produced wealth, isn't it?
But the income those taxes come from was markedly increased by all the infrastructure and systems we have available to us in this society, so yes.
Private enterprise often adds value to the capital it starts with. So does public enterprise. We have a mixed economy. Not all economic growth is due to private enterprise.
"But the income those taxes come from was markedly increased by all the infrastructure and systems we have available to us in this society, so yes."
But that infrastructure was originally funded by taxes, so no.
"Private enterprise often adds value to the capital it starts with. So does public enterprise. We have a mixed economy. Not all economic growth is due to private enterprise."
Public enterprise can only begin with the capital it taxes from the private sector. In a mixed market economy, the public sector is able to use that capital to plan and to provide the infrastructure for growth. But ultimately it is all funded by private sector income.
"Those systems are all paid for out of taxes, so no."
You do realise the state has always had income streams other than taxation. The state used to have more than they do now but they were sold at bargain based prices to members of the business round table et al.
It also has lots of assets that were stolen – as does the private sector – Taranaki farmers for instance.
The rest of society are individuals and businesses paying tax.
With their personal productivity boosted vastly by public resources. IP protection, law and order, roads, schools, trades education, workers kept healthy by the public health system.
"You do realise the state has always had income streams other than taxation."
The only income stream a government can have is from private enterprise. When the government owned the post office (and it took months to get a phone), all of their income came from tax payers buying their services. The difference is that for most products and services, the private sector just does a much better job.
"Any idea what the private sector is like at running airlines?"
Public Airlines only survive because the government is spending other peoples money. 'Flagship' carriers were replaced by private sector operators until economic shocks (eg Covid) prompted governments to intervene (again with other peoples money). But there are a number of countries desperate for the private sector to take back nationalised airlines (e.g. Air India, Malaysian Airlines).
If governments see airlines as strategic assets, then they can take an ownership share. But the operation is best left to the private sector.
EDIT:
“In conclusion, there are lots of reasons to privatize an airline, or to keep it state-owned. The crucial differentiator is the quality of that airline’s management. An airline that is owned by the government but allowed to operate as an efficient, profit-focused entity can do very well, but those that are too encumbered by politics are unlikely to succeed.” https://simpleflying.com/pros-cons-state-owned-airlines/
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian responds to media on NATO-US role in Ukraine crisis…when you have the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson telling you..correctly…how you should be doing your job as a Journalist..you know you have lost the moral high ground…..
Why should the US stop other nations from voluntarily applying to join NATO? There is a reason nations like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia would want to join a collective defence pact. Do you know what that reason is? I'll give you a clue – It rhymes with Tussar and it's military is currently bombing Ukraine.
Thanks for displaying your lack of Geo-Political insight and understanding for all to see..and therefore saving me the time of having to spell it out…well done.
The Ukrainian army and its far-right paramilitary allies were responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties, with the United Nations reporting in January 2022 that, between 2018 and 2021, 81.4% of all civilian casualties caused by active hostilities were in Donetsk and Luhansk.
These are Russian-speaking Ukrainians being killed their own government. They are not secret Russian forces.
Researchers at the US government-sponsored RAND Corporation acknowledged in a January 2022 report in Foreign Policy magazine that, “even by Kyiv’s own estimates, the vast majority of rebel forces consist of locals—not soldiers of the regular Russian military.”
He makes many points that counter the official stories we are told to accept
"He makes many points that counter the official stories we are told to accept"
Where's an official story we are told to accept as you suggest? The fact that you even see fit to include the "even by Kyiv's own estimates" gives lie to your proposition.
It has been well known and reported that it is predominantly separatists fighting the government i.e. locals fighting locals.
If someone makes a valid point and your response amounts to "Well you just lack the special insight into geo-political affairs that I have," you've effectively conceded the point.
No. What is happening in Ukraine at present and is not happening in any of the Baltic states is WHY Ukraine wanted to join NATO. Do you think Russia will try it on with Estonia anytime soon?
Agreed. While Ukraine had quite few internal issues to sort out (there clearly is a conservative right-wing fascist element within it's population and consequently it's military for instance and still lots of corruption) they like other countries that once were under the USSR yoke did not wish to go back there.
Putin had no right to invade Ukraine let alone do much of the stuff that is going on.
Meanwhile while I get it is a war scenario what the hell is this tying people to lampposts with their pants down and beating them that is going on in Ukraine. It's weird shit by scared people but I'm assuming that this does reflect the conservative nature of the country (is it religious? Is it a remnant of USSR punishment methods) that this is seen as a justified punishment. It isn't something I've come across before.
I kind of understand it with the terrible history of that area .Stalin’s Holodomor visited upon Ukrainians, huge emptying of the areas of the Donbas, by starvation, Russian workers sent in to keep the steel factories going.The opportunity to wreak vengeance by siding with the Nazis (western Ukrainians and not all )in WW2, aiding and abetting the mass killing of Ukrainian Jews, Roma, and Poles.
When the Russian army made its way home from chasing the Germans to Berlin, they stopped in Kiev and guerrilla warfare took off , with revenge killings on both sides .
The divisions are baked in
“A fully independent Ukraine emerged only late in the 20th century, after long periods of successive domination by Poland–Lithuania, Russia, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). Ukraine had experienced a brief period of independence in 1918–20, but portions of western Ukraine were ruled by Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia in the period between the two World Wars, and Ukraine thereafter became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.
Independence in 1991,thats when it changed its name to Ukraine according to Brittanica
Do yourself a favour Gosman and exercise your mind a smidgen by researching the background of this situation. Russia issued a red line ages ago. If Zelenskyy was really in control of what is regarded as the most corrupt European country, he would have pointed out the limits and told NATO and the US to fuck off to their side of the line. Instead, he was prepared to sacrifice his people to a sad and predictable fate.
In the meantime, he could also have made even a mild effort to abide by the Minsk accords. His failure to do so has ended up with a higher death toll (as per yesterdays numbers) in Donbas than in Ukraine so far. As for your 'whataboutery' Russia seems never have been a threat to any other country from the former USSR.
Regrettably, it is people like you who have encouraged our Government to prostitute the country by selling out on its supposed international morality and 'independent foreign policy' stance by sucking up to NATO/US like a domestic violence victim with a sever case of Stockholm syndrome. No doubt our Prime Minister impressed you with her 15 minutes of fame electronic cuddle-up with the President of Ukraine and her offer to provide NATO funding and protective gear to excite young Ukrainians to face off against Russian kids in a suicidal shootout as a prelude to a possible nuclear conflagration. The $5 million would have been better spent on humanitarian aid for Ukrainians than feeding the military industrial complex.
Putin still had choices. He chose to do what he did. Nobody forced him to invade another country. It is still his decision and his fault. It is also his decision to continue.
Not really. Actions are often predetermined by strategic situations. Ukraine seems to be the meat in the sandwich in a struggle between the US and Russia for the domination of that area. The strategic implications of Ukraine's joining NATO, with respect to that struggle, would have been the determining factor in Putin's decision.
The US didn't "encourage" them to join NATO, in fact NATO was reluctant to have them. It gave in to their demands, if anything. Their well-justified demands, as it turns out.
I still don't grasp while so many people think a country wanting to join an alliance it neighbour doesn't like justifies a massive unprovoked invasion. I can imagine all the usual suspects justifying a brutal Chinese attack on Taiwan by saying the US is just as bad and besides, Kiang Kai-Shek was corrupt and a thoroughly unpleasant man.
Anyway, the Ukrainians just might be on the verge of winning this war without the help of the Standard's ragtag of of appeasers, pacifists and would-be Quislings.
Thanks to the massive aid they've had US intelligence says they still have 90% of their combat power, so the attritional phase of the war is going their way. The Russians are not "regrouping" they have been defeated.
The Russian air force sortie rate into the Ukraine is dwindling in the face of a still-effective SAM network, to the point where the Ukrainians appear to now be able to embark on limited manoeuvre warfare with successful counter attacks at Makariv and Makovyshche clearing Russian forces from the M06 highway, re-opening a major supply route for Kyiv west to Zhytomyr and thence to the Ukrainian supply hub at Lviv.
If these counter-attacks develop into a counter offensive in the direction of Borodyanka with the aim of trapping Russian forces against the West bank Dnieper then a real chance of a first class Russian collapse in the decisive theatre of this war presents itself.
Putin wouldn't survive a military humiliation of that order.
What a twisted little world you gung-ho keyboard Generals live in. Far easier to stuff more arms into Ukraine that they will be paying for forever than to give in to the realities of MEANINGFUL negotiations that intelligent world leaders are attempting to get on the table. (Reluctant to include Naftali Bennett in that list but he appears to be genuine.)
Some of us 'ragtag of appeasers, pacifists and would-be Quislings.' have more humanity and concern for the Ukrainians than you could possibly muster in a lifetime judging by all your bullshit and bluster. We also lack your hypocrisy gene. Surely you are not blind to the fact that Russia is not doing anything much different to what your empire heroes have sown so many times before.
Actually, fuck it – time for a bit of nuclear conflagration to make your day. Perhaps you can arrange it.
Being a useful idiot is a tough job, you have to rationalise the most ridiculous illogic. See also "Ukraine has neo-Nazi groups similar to Russia's ones, therefore Russia must invade to 'denazify' Ukraine."
I hope you're right re the military situation. Can't help thinking the resulting peace negotiations would be the making of a "Treaty of Versailles betrayal" story for Russian fascists, though.
Standard's ragtag of of appeasers, pacifists and would-be Quislings.
Way to go full dickhead.
Anti war is just that, anti-war. But that is probably a bit to much logic for you.
Most pacifists commenting here, if not all have condemned the invasion as a war crime. So you lack logic their as well.
But then again, jingoistic dogs are not know for their ability to go beyond guttural violent depravity.
[Clearly, the shoe fits, but it is still not an invitation to spew your “hyperbolized rhetoric”, which is irony in full display. Tone it down – Incognito]
Yeah, no better source than the dude who denied the existence of a nation called “Ukraine”and who went on to assert that the crisis besetting Ukraine at the time were caused by their own internal divisions, not primarily Putin’s actions.
Is US fudging their covid death count numbers? On 13th March I said (elsewhere) they were close to hitting a million. They had something like 993 000 deaths at that stage, and > 1 500 average deaths daily. But today they're still a few thousand shy of the million. The last three days deaths reported were 327, 88, and 7.
Miraculous! A headline worthy story! Covid is vanishing!
Mar 20 reported a seven day average down to 719. The numbers don't add up.
It is extremely difficult for Covid numbers to be fudged in the way you suggest as each State manages health reporting. They may take advice from Federal organisations like the CDC but it is still managed locally. What you suggest is happening would require a level of centralised control that just doesn't exist in the US health care system. You can see the reason for the fall in deaths when you look at the numbers reporting the virus. The Omicron outbreak has now subsided.
No, a far simpler explanation. This happens every week and is due to reporting (or not) around weekends. It seems to be more the case for the US than other countries.
The 'nothing to see here','Russian misinformation ' campaign run by the American msm,regarding Hunter Biden going to the Ukraine for a 'job',has come back to haunt the U.S President.
'long after all mainstream media outlets killed a legitimate story about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, the New York Times finally announced it had ‘authenticated’ the computer and its messages. The computer, left at a Delaware computer repair shop, is filled with damning information about Hunter’s operations, which appeared to take advantage of his family’s political power. Hunter’s only proper marketable skill was opening doors with his last name. It’s still unclear how deeply and directly Hunter’s father, Joe, is implicate….'
The Democratic party's National Democratic Institute, the Republican party's International Republican Institute, the US state department and USAid are the main agencies involved in these grassroots campaigns as well as the Freedom House NGO and billionaire George Soros's open society institute.
Officially, the US government spent $41m (£21.7m) organising and funding the year-long operation to get rid of Milosevic from October 1999. In Ukraine, the figure is said to be around $14m.
Over at The NZ Herald they've had their thinking caps on, and come up with a new word of the day (no not Wordle) "An Ardernity". A clever play on words. Even the NZH are getting annoyed with the announcing a decision but we wont tell you what it is for another 48 hours.
When I was the same mental age as Chris Bishop and David Seymour I couldn’t wait till Christmas Day to open my present even though I already knew it was a football.
Beautiful comment – thanks. Being annoyed at receiving a heads up on an impending policy announcement really is infantile. I believe the PM has rightly said that if the media don't want the heads up, she won't give it. Add to this the mania for 'certainty' where none is possible, and we really get the flavour of how deranged so many people have become over what amounts to nothing more than rational and unremarkable public health measures.
"When I was the same mental age as Chris Bishop and David Seymour".
Come, come. Such boasting really doesn't become you. It is quite beyond belief that you were ever that smart. Even if you were only half their level at your peak it illustrates the rapid drop in brain size and decline in mental acuity that occurred as you got older doesn't it?
Have you recently had Covid 19? That can also cause these problems.
Two snotty little boys with a (political) football are upset because none of the other older kids in the street wants to play ball with them, not even Chippy. Alwyn is picking his brain because he can’t get his head around such injustice. Alwyn, blow your nose, wipe your face and go do a puzzle with no more than 8 pieces.
There seems to be a new version of gotcha politics at play here,
The opposition hears that a new move is going through the 'about to be announced new decisions" process and demands that it happens, saying the government is slow etc. But government can't announce something until processes such as cabinet approval and regulation creation occur.
So does the government attempt to counter this barracking by announcing decisions as a heads up with detail to follow?
In this case, the PM announced the heads up saying it wasn't immediately, crucially needed.
So, the government gets barracked for 'unnecessary' delays, etc.
In the long term it's a bad thing for our democracy that this type of attack politics comes from both media and opposition.
Fair enough if reasonable, but like using the word 'shambles' and 'crises' unreasonably, the net result is public turn-off, or public distrust in ordinary government processes, and a weakening of the proper roles of media and opposition.
They're using John Key as an attack weapon now? National have gone back six leaders to find someone to attack Ardern? Because Luxon, and Collins, and Muller, and Bridges, and English weren't very good at it.
And what is craw-sticking about Key's attack is that this comes from a man who never issued a press release that carried bad news. That job always fell to an underling. Pffffft!
The NZH political reporter probably didn’t put a lot of thinking as such into his balanced report, which is not an opinion piece. Whoever came up with the headline may have put a bit more ‘thought’ into it.
You are too easily impressed by a silly wordplay by David Seymour, who didn’t write the report and doesn’t work for the NZH AFAIK.
If I may ask, what’s your thought on the matter of having to wait 48 hours? Care to share?
David Seymour thinks New Zealand is the missing link to the world being putting right. No doubt his supporters will be on board with the big bold Act, us saving Ukraine.
"Act Party leader David Seymour wants New Zealand to send missile launchers to Ukraine – and has called New Zealand the "weakest link in the West" in its response to the Russian invasion.
"Asked what he would have done if he were in government, Seymour said he would have called Australia to ask what they were doing."
It's the sort of talk of an 8 year old boy when the question is 'you hear a noise downstairs at night what do you do?' The kid of course gets up and goes downstairs, tackles the burglar and scares them away. Or these days would he get under the blankets and call Australia?
Michael walker and Barnaby Raine host Tysky Sour interview with a very anti russian young woman from Kakiev more about Ukraine the Zazanin Zaghari story pommie politics Pinochet conservatives and more !
It's hard when someone keeps doing things to suggest he's an idiot, from being thought an idiot.
Brian Tamaki in full flight on his travels with Freedom & Rights.
"Making clear he was not aiming for political office, he said he wanted NZ's official religion to be Christianity – and for all other religions to be outlawed."
So we're to be free and have choice except we can't choose our religion?
The first proposal was to broaden protection under the Human Rights Act. It currently prohibits hatred incited against people because of their colour, race, or ethnic origin. The law would be expanded to include religious groups and rainbow communities.
Hmm, I wonder what group of people, who experience some of the worst targeted abuse in society, are missing from this list.
Nope. NZ already has laws against inciting violence. Inciting "hate" is too nebulous and subjective, and very likely to cause stupid outcomes as in Scotland where they have police visiting private citizens who write rude things on Twitter. What a waste of time and effort.
The legislation was drafted in response to the Christchurch mosque massacre, but I suspect that the Muslim community feedback was not supportive.
However I expect it will be forced through sooner or later because it is an important part of the woke millennial cultural project to force their rather cultic belief system on everyone.
“RUSSIA ALREADY VICTORIOUS? | U.S. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR'S ASSESSMENT OF THE UKRAINE CONFLICT
Russia is likely more victorious than Western media indicates. Russia is slowed by their intention of saving as many civilians as possible, which Western media will not acknowledge.
In addition to the above:
Ukrainian war ….. hypersonic weapons and Russia v USA v China
The puzzle….. so it’s all about timing of your military advantage
I wonder …. who has won this race ….Russians or US or China.
Very much noted US news via RNZ underplay Russians exhibiting real use of hypersonic weapons….
(maybe NZs 4th estate and Labour/National are Bidens bitches or fluffers)
The U.S. Army has finally provided an official range for its future Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW. This range figure notably means it would have been prohibited under the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, that the United States and Russia were parties to until 2019. This disclosure also follows criticism earlier this yearfrom a senior Air Force officer about the utility of this weapon, especially in the Pacific region.
"The Long Range Hypersonic Weapon provides a capability at a distance greater than 2,775 km," an Army spokesperson said, according to Breaking Defense. This means that the LRHW can strike targets at least 1,725 miles away. For comparison, the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missile, the longest-range ground-based missile system currently in Army service, can only reach targets out to 300 kilometers, or close to 186 miles.”
”US ARMY
One of the first inert Long Range Hypersonic Weapon missile canisters, which are now being used for training purposes, arrive at an undisclosed US Army base in 2021.
The complete LRHW missile consists of a large rocket booster with an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle on top. The rocket is used to loft the conical boost-glide vehicle to a desired speed and altitude. The vehicle then detaches and comes zooming back down toward its target along an atmospheric flight trajectory at hypersonic velocity, defined as anything above Mach 5.
Hypersonic boost-glide vehicles are designed to have a high degree of maneuverability, especially compared to traditional ballistic missiles, even those with advanced maneuverable reentry vehicles. This makes them ideal for striking time-sensitive or other high-value targets protected by dense enemy air and missile defenses and doing so on short notice, even at extended ranges. The combination of speed and maneuvering makes it very difficult for opponents to spot and track these weapons, let alone try to defend against them, including just trying to relocate critical assets or otherwise seek cover.
“RUSSIA ALREADY VICTORIOUS? | U.S. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR'S ASSESSMENT OF THE UKRAINE CONFLICT
Question 1 Is US behind Russia in hypersonic weapons technology?
Question 2 If you corner a wild animal…. (NATO surrounding Russia via Ukraine) What do you expect the result will be…?????
It’s like a psychotic parent (US) taking a child (Ukraine) to a wild dog and saying hey “child” take it’s territory (bone) it’s not going to bite. The sickness is that the parent knows full well the dog will bite (as its in its natureg). The worst thing is the parent gets some sick physiological kick out of it…(aka power advantage).
Question 3 Why did US et al not push Ukraine to be a non military Swiss like state? What was the point of the destruction in Ukraine?
Question 4 Has Biden (Obama et al) effectively thrown Ukraine under a bus to benefit there world view
Question 5 Who benefits (follow the money and power)
[Less is generally more – I reckon that very few will read long comments and all the (embedded) links in these. 10 or more links will hold up any comment in Auto-Moderation until a Moderator makes the time to review & release it – Incognito]
Ive always thought 'better out than in ' so in general im not in favour of censorship .Youre link to the Bitchute site which is using a genuine Greyzone piece to make its point tells us that you by association are surely imbued with the same fairly ugly antisemitism which coupled with your incoherent comment gives us a reasonable idea of who you are .Congratulations for revealing yourself as a complete fuckwit !
Weston…. OMG did you eat a bad sandwich, suck on a car tail pipe or just get out of bed the wrong way. Ya logic circuits are fried mate. you said to me:
” Greyzone piece to make its point tells us that you by association are surely imbued with the same fairly ugly antisemitism which coupled with your incoherent comment gives us a reasonable idea of who you are .Congratulations for revealing yourself as a complete fuckwit !”
Did you even bother to watch the interview?
No, probably note…. Spending too much time with ya head up your own arse (carbon monoxide and methane not a good combo for clear thoughts)
How the f$&&k did you arrive at “antisemitism”
Good luck with that …. Maybe take some Prozac to calm ya farm and a chaser of viagra to make your mind now, shall we say, firm (or less flaccid)
Hugs kisses …. Watch the video… use analytical thought, get back to me mate
Ive already watched that video karl on Grey zone itself so i didnt need it second hand plus the site had sidebars labled jew this an jewery that why was i suposed to be impressed ?
For some reason im having a few glitches commenting karl so if u get this twice you,ll know why .Ive already watch the vid on greyzone itself so didnt need to go to Bitchute to watch it .The side bars or the click bait pics on that site are rabidly antisemetic suggesting that jewery are responsible for this an that and this persons a filthy jew etc Its not my cup of tea karl why did you think it would impress anybody ?
Not my worry what others might make of it karl particularly although im pretty sure it wouldnt go down well .the actual interview i thought was thoughtfull balanced and relevant most if not all the stuff from greyzone is .
Saying that however..if it wasn’t for the “freedom” to host that video it may never get the air time it deserves and people wouldn’t stumble across it.
Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are all definitely playing in the pig pen of propaganda to. RNZ / Herald seem to also play in the pen, seemingly parrot Bidens BS to a large extent. An alliance to Democrats…some digging to done there.
However alternative sites need to exist to promote freedom of speech
Elon Musk had the bulls to say this regarding censorship:
”Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources,” he tweeted.
“We will not do so unless at gunpoint,” Musk added. “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”
Additionally Twitter has been going all out jihad on the satirical site babylonbee for taking the piss out of msm, wokeness and Biden. Banning them for satire. Babylonbees response rather funny I thought as Twitter do allow Taliban (no hypocrisy there ehh)
KABUL—Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem Warda has finally been banned from Twitter this week after carelessly sharing a satirical headline from The Babylon Bee.
"Wallahi, I just thought the joke was funny," said the bloodthirsty terrorist PR rep. "A man who thinks he's a woman? Whoever heard of such a thing? Those Babylon Bee people are so fun and crazy, even though they're infidels who must die a painful death by our hands."
At the end of the day probably a critically thinking population is the best defence against “hate” not curbs on freedoms of speech.
The issue is getting a critically thinking population. Maybe the “powers” at be don’t really want that. But hey, that’s another debate
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The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – The United States shares the pathologies of all dying empires with their mixture of buffoonery, rampant corruption, military fiascos, economic collapse and savage state repression.ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges The billionaires, Christian fascists, grifters, psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has secured bipartisan support for a major new regime covering political donations and spending, after making significant concessions. The government agreed to increase the proposed threshold above which donations must be disclosed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the election only months away, the Labor government finds itself suddenly battling with the Trump administration for an exemption from new US tariffs on steel and aluminium. The opposition has supported the effort, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julee McDonagh, Senior Research Fellow of Frailty Research, University of Wollongong PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock Ageing is a normal part of the life course. It doesn’t matter how many green smoothies you drink, or how many “anti-ageing” skin care products you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Critical Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, Macquarie University The Conversation, CC BY-SAAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people. Colonial commemorations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Masarik/Shutterstock In some overseas countries, pets can travel with their owners in a plane’s cabin, in a carrier under a seat. In Australia, pets must travel in the ...
A raft of proposed legislation changes to the media and screen industry have been announced this morning – we read through it all all so you don’t have to. What’s all this then? This morning the Ministry for Culture and Heritage released its draft proposed changes to media and screen ...
David Seymour's recent off-road parliamentary excursion led to a reprimand from the Speaker, who also said the rules didn't apply to this instance. What are the rules? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Morgenbesser, Associate Professor, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Griffith University Many Americans have watched in horror as Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has been permitted to tear through various offices of the United States government in recent ...
By Patrick Decloitre,RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls has announced he will travel to New Caledonia later this month to pursue talks on the French territory’s political future. These discussions on February 22 follow preliminary talks held last week in Paris in “bilateral” mode ...
As Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to resume war, Hamas outlines widespread Israeli ceasefire violations in document sent to the mediators.By Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Dropsite News Hamas officials submitted a two-page report to mediators yesterday listing a wide range of Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire since ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Print, Professor of Education, University of Sydney A federal parliamentary inquiry has just recommended civics and citizenship become a compulsory part of the Australian Curriculum, which covers the first year of school to Year 10. The committee also recommended a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Claire Baylis, author of Dice and guest at the forthcoming HamLit programme at the Hamilton Arts Festival. The book I wish I’d writtenMy mind seems surprisingly unwilling ...
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Andy Sinclair is the CEO of Hyundai Motors New Zealand:
Good luck with this taking off.
Looks like a vanity project to me.
The volatility of Hydrogen,plus transportation and storage challenges will be negatives imo.
Like chocolate? Become a councillor…
Democracy is an excellent system to game. Competitive players get to spend other people's money on themselves all the time.
It is very easy to spend other people's money.
As capitalists everywhere well know–they appropriate socially produced wealth for tiny elite gain–the riches that come from the physical and intellectual labour of the worlds workers applied to natural and technological resources.
The petty indulgences of local Govt. minions while unseemly, are nothing compared to the real bludgers of society in finance capital.
What is 'socially produced wealth', and can you give an example?
A happy, healthy, and educated society.
I get that e.g. Education can be provided by the state, but ultimately that is paid for out of taxes. That's privately produced wealth, isn't it?
But the income that produces those taxes is in no small part a product of our transport, education, and health systems. So that's socially produced wealth, isn't it?
Those systems are all paid for out of taxes, so no.
But the income those taxes come from was markedly increased by all the infrastructure and systems we have available to us in this society, so yes.
Private enterprise often adds value to the capital it starts with. So does public enterprise. We have a mixed economy. Not all economic growth is due to private enterprise.
"But the income those taxes come from was markedly increased by all the infrastructure and systems we have available to us in this society, so yes."
But that infrastructure was originally funded by taxes, so no.
"Private enterprise often adds value to the capital it starts with. So does public enterprise. We have a mixed economy. Not all economic growth is due to private enterprise."
Public enterprise can only begin with the capital it taxes from the private sector. In a mixed market economy, the public sector is able to use that capital to plan and to provide the infrastructure for growth. But ultimately it is all funded by private sector income.
Now do private enterprise without public infrastructure provided by the rest of society.
"Those systems are all paid for out of taxes, so no."
You do realise the state has always had income streams other than taxation. The state used to have more than they do now but they were sold at bargain based prices to members of the business round table et al.
It also has lots of assets that were stolen – as does the private sector – Taranaki farmers for instance.
"Now do private enterprise without public infrastructure provided by the rest of society."
The rest of society are individuals and businesses paying tax.
With their personal productivity boosted vastly by public resources. IP protection, law and order, roads, schools, trades education, workers kept healthy by the public health system.
"You do realise the state has always had income streams other than taxation."
The only income stream a government can have is from private enterprise. When the government owned the post office (and it took months to get a phone), all of their income came from tax payers buying their services. The difference is that for most products and services, the private sector just does a much better job.
Any idea what the private sector is like at running airlines?
I'll give you the answer=hopeless.
"Any idea what the private sector is like at running airlines?"
Public Airlines only survive because the government is spending other peoples money. 'Flagship' carriers were replaced by private sector operators until economic shocks (eg Covid) prompted governments to intervene (again with other peoples money). But there are a number of countries desperate for the private sector to take back nationalised airlines (e.g. Air India, Malaysian Airlines).
If governments see airlines as strategic assets, then they can take an ownership share. But the operation is best left to the private sector.
EDIT:
“In conclusion, there are lots of reasons to privatize an airline, or to keep it state-owned. The crucial differentiator is the quality of that airline’s management. An airline that is owned by the government but allowed to operate as an efficient, profit-focused entity can do very well, but those that are too encumbered by politics are unlikely to succeed.”
https://simpleflying.com/pros-cons-state-owned-airlines/
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian responds to media on NATO-US role in Ukraine crisis…when you have the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson telling you..correctly…how you should be doing your job as a Journalist..you know you have lost the moral high ground…..
Why should the US stop other nations from voluntarily applying to join NATO? There is a reason nations like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia would want to join a collective defence pact. Do you know what that reason is? I'll give you a clue – It rhymes with Tussar and it's military is currently bombing Ukraine.
Thanks for displaying your lack of Geo-Political insight and understanding for all to see..and therefore saving me the time of having to spell it out…well done.
A Ukrainian leftist gives his view
https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/14/ukrainian-leftist-war-russia-us/
"He makes many points that counter the official stories we are told to accept"
Where's an official story we are told to accept as you suggest? The fact that you even see fit to include the "even by Kyiv's own estimates" gives lie to your proposition.
It has been well known and reported that it is predominantly separatists fighting the government i.e. locals fighting locals.
If someone makes a valid point and your response amounts to "Well you just lack the special insight into geo-political affairs that I have," you've effectively conceded the point.
The U.S expressly promised Russia that NATO would not expand eastwards.
But when you think about it…why would anyone trust…the U.S.
What is happening in Ukraine at present would seem to be a darn good reason why US should not have encouraged them to join NATO.
No. What is happening in Ukraine at present and is not happening in any of the Baltic states is WHY Ukraine wanted to join NATO. Do you think Russia will try it on with Estonia anytime soon?
Agreed. While Ukraine had quite few internal issues to sort out (there clearly is a conservative right-wing fascist element within it's population and consequently it's military for instance and still lots of corruption) they like other countries that once were under the USSR yoke did not wish to go back there.
Putin had no right to invade Ukraine let alone do much of the stuff that is going on.
Meanwhile while I get it is a war scenario what the hell is this tying people to lampposts with their pants down and beating them that is going on in Ukraine. It's weird shit by scared people but I'm assuming that this does reflect the conservative nature of the country (is it religious? Is it a remnant of USSR punishment methods) that this is seen as a justified punishment. It isn't something I've come across before.
you think that's weird
How about an army medic saying he has given the order to castrate russian POWs
Long memories.
/
Nah. just bog standard genocide
https://theparadise.ng/ukrainian-tv-personality-calls-for-genocide-of-russian-children-quotes-adolf-eichmann-in-unhinged-rant/
"Frau, komm."
Yep I think that is weird as well. People clearly can do dumb shit.
It isn't medieval times but sometimes seems like it.
I kind of understand it with the terrible history of that area .Stalin’s Holodomor visited upon Ukrainians, huge emptying of the areas of the Donbas, by starvation, Russian workers sent in to keep the steel factories going.The opportunity to wreak vengeance by siding with the Nazis (western Ukrainians and not all )in WW2, aiding and abetting the mass killing of Ukrainian Jews, Roma, and Poles.
When the Russian army made its way home from chasing the Germans to Berlin, they stopped in Kiev and guerrilla warfare took off , with revenge killings on both sides .
The divisions are baked in
“A fully independent Ukraine emerged only late in the 20th century, after long periods of successive domination by Poland–Lithuania, Russia, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). Ukraine had experienced a brief period of independence in 1918–20, but portions of western Ukraine were ruled by Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia in the period between the two World Wars, and Ukraine thereafter became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.
Independence in 1991,thats when it changed its name to Ukraine according to Brittanica
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine
The bitterness and rage and hatred bred from years of conquest , defeat,famine and all of that
At least here in NZ we still have the opportunity to address all our wrongs in a peaceful way (I hope)
Do yourself a favour Gosman and exercise your mind a smidgen by researching the background of this situation. Russia issued a red line ages ago. If Zelenskyy was really in control of what is regarded as the most corrupt European country, he would have pointed out the limits and told NATO and the US to fuck off to their side of the line. Instead, he was prepared to sacrifice his people to a sad and predictable fate.
In the meantime, he could also have made even a mild effort to abide by the Minsk accords. His failure to do so has ended up with a higher death toll (as per yesterdays numbers) in Donbas than in Ukraine so far. As for your 'whataboutery' Russia seems never have been a threat to any other country from the former USSR.
Regrettably, it is people like you who have encouraged our Government to prostitute the country by selling out on its supposed international morality and 'independent foreign policy' stance by sucking up to NATO/US like a domestic violence victim with a sever case of Stockholm syndrome. No doubt our Prime Minister impressed you with her 15 minutes of fame electronic cuddle-up with the President of Ukraine and her offer to provide NATO funding and protective gear to excite young Ukrainians to face off against Russian kids in a suicidal shootout as a prelude to a possible nuclear conflagration. The $5 million would have been better spent on humanitarian aid for Ukrainians than feeding the military industrial complex.
Putin still had choices. He chose to do what he did. Nobody forced him to invade another country. It is still his decision and his fault. It is also his decision to continue.
Putin still had choices.
Not really. Actions are often predetermined by strategic situations. Ukraine seems to be the meat in the sandwich in a struggle between the US and Russia for the domination of that area. The strategic implications of Ukraine's joining NATO, with respect to that struggle, would have been the determining factor in Putin's decision.
What is happening in Ukraine at present and is not happening in any of the Baltic states is WHY Ukraine wanted to join NATO
The Ukraine, and the US, are obviously not very clever, given that they failed to anticipate Russia's reaction.
The US didn't "encourage" them to join NATO, in fact NATO was reluctant to have them. It gave in to their demands, if anything. Their well-justified demands, as it turns out.
I still don't grasp while so many people think a country wanting to join an alliance it neighbour doesn't like justifies a massive unprovoked invasion. I can imagine all the usual suspects justifying a brutal Chinese attack on Taiwan by saying the US is just as bad and besides, Kiang Kai-Shek was corrupt and a thoroughly unpleasant man.
Anyway, the Ukrainians just might be on the verge of winning this war without the help of the Standard's ragtag of of appeasers, pacifists and would-be Quislings.
Thanks to the massive aid they've had US intelligence says they still have 90% of their combat power, so the attritional phase of the war is going their way. The Russians are not "regrouping" they have been defeated.
The Russian air force sortie rate into the Ukraine is dwindling in the face of a still-effective SAM network, to the point where the Ukrainians appear to now be able to embark on limited manoeuvre warfare with successful counter attacks at Makariv and Makovyshche clearing Russian forces from the M06 highway, re-opening a major supply route for Kyiv west to Zhytomyr and thence to the Ukrainian supply hub at Lviv.
If these counter-attacks develop into a counter offensive in the direction of Borodyanka with the aim of trapping Russian forces against the West bank Dnieper then a real chance of a first class Russian collapse in the decisive theatre of this war presents itself.
Putin wouldn't survive a military humiliation of that order.
What a twisted little world you gung-ho keyboard Generals live in. Far easier to stuff more arms into Ukraine that they will be paying for forever than to give in to the realities of MEANINGFUL negotiations that intelligent world leaders are attempting to get on the table. (Reluctant to include Naftali Bennett in that list but he appears to be genuine.)
Some of us 'ragtag of appeasers, pacifists and would-be Quislings.' have more humanity and concern for the Ukrainians than you could possibly muster in a lifetime judging by all your bullshit and bluster. We also lack your hypocrisy gene. Surely you are not blind to the fact that Russia is not doing anything much different to what your empire heroes have sown so many times before.
Actually, fuck it – time for a bit of nuclear conflagration to make your day. Perhaps you can arrange it.
Being a useful idiot is a tough job, you have to rationalise the most ridiculous illogic. See also "Ukraine has neo-Nazi groups similar to Russia's ones, therefore Russia must invade to 'denazify' Ukraine."
I hope you're right re the military situation. Can't help thinking the resulting peace negotiations would be the making of a "Treaty of Versailles betrayal" story for Russian fascists, though.
Way to go full dickhead.
Anti war is just that, anti-war. But that is probably a bit to much logic for you.
Most pacifists commenting here, if not all have condemned the invasion as a war crime. So you lack logic their as well.
But then again, jingoistic dogs are not know for their ability to go beyond guttural violent depravity.
[Clearly, the shoe fits, but it is still not an invitation to spew your “hyperbolized rhetoric”, which is irony in full display. Tone it down – Incognito]
Mod note
On the whole I don't think Ukraine wanted to join either. I think it was a small Neo Nazi contingent with too much influence that was pushing for it.
Stephen Cohen was professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at NYU and Princeton. No better source.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/americas-collusion-with-neo-nazis/
Yeah, no better source than the dude who denied the existence of a nation called “Ukraine”and who went on to assert that the crisis besetting Ukraine at the time were caused by their own internal divisions, not primarily Putin’s actions.
/
https://archive.ph/BZEKs
Is US fudging their covid death count numbers? On 13th March I said (elsewhere) they were close to hitting a million. They had something like 993 000 deaths at that stage, and > 1 500 average deaths daily. But today they're still a few thousand shy of the million. The last three days deaths reported were 327, 88, and 7.
Miraculous! A headline worthy story! Covid is vanishing!
Mar 20 reported a seven day average down to 719. The numbers don't add up.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/#graph-deaths-daily
Maybe they don't want to reach this auspicious milestone while strutting about the world stage posing as leader.
It is extremely difficult for Covid numbers to be fudged in the way you suggest as each State manages health reporting. They may take advice from Federal organisations like the CDC but it is still managed locally. What you suggest is happening would require a level of centralised control that just doesn't exist in the US health care system. You can see the reason for the fall in deaths when you look at the numbers reporting the virus. The Omicron outbreak has now subsided.
No, a far simpler explanation. This happens every week and is due to reporting (or not) around weekends. It seems to be more the case for the US than other countries.
Thanks Brigitte that makes a lot more sense than wishful thinking.
It is good to see they are coming down off a peak though.
You want numbers that don't add up? Try China.
The 'nothing to see here','Russian misinformation ' campaign run by the American msm,regarding Hunter Biden going to the Ukraine for a 'job',has come back to haunt the U.S President.
'long after all mainstream media outlets killed a legitimate story about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, the New York Times finally announced it had ‘authenticated’ the computer and its messages. The computer, left at a Delaware computer repair shop, is filled with damning information about Hunter’s operations, which appeared to take advantage of his family’s political power. Hunter’s only proper marketable skill was opening doors with his last name. It’s still unclear how deeply and directly Hunter’s father, Joe, is implicate….'
The shameful silence about the Hunter Biden laptop story | The Spectator
The US has been at it for a long time , ever since the wall came down
18 years ago, the Guardian was open and almost boastful about interference in Eastern European elections.All in the name of democracy of course
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa
Officially, the US government spent $41m (£21.7m) organising and funding the year-long operation to get rid of Milosevic from October 1999. In Ukraine, the figure is said to be around $14m.
Over at The NZ Herald they've had their thinking caps on, and come up with a new word of the day (no not Wordle) "An Ardernity". A clever play on words. Even the NZH are getting annoyed with the announcing a decision but we wont tell you what it is for another 48 hours.
Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: PM Jacinda Ardern under fire over big vax pass, mandates announcement delay – NZ Herald
The Herald annoyed with a Labour government ?
strange days indeed.
When I was the same mental age as Chris Bishop and David Seymour I couldn’t wait till Christmas Day to open my present even though I already knew it was a football.
Beautiful comment – thanks. Being annoyed at receiving a heads up on an impending policy announcement really is infantile. I believe the PM has rightly said that if the media don't want the heads up, she won't give it. Add to this the mania for 'certainty' where none is possible, and we really get the flavour of how deranged so many people have become over what amounts to nothing more than rational and unremarkable public health measures.
"When I was the same mental age as Chris Bishop and David Seymour".
Come, come. Such boasting really doesn't become you. It is quite beyond belief that you were ever that smart. Even if you were only half their level at your peak it illustrates the rapid drop in brain size and decline in mental acuity that occurred as you got older doesn't it?
Have you recently had Covid 19? That can also cause these problems.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6
Two snotty little boys with a (political) football are upset because none of the other older kids in the street wants to play ball with them, not even Chippy. Alwyn is picking his brain because he can’t get his head around such injustice. Alwyn, blow your nose, wipe your face and go do a puzzle with no more than 8 pieces.
Remember the old joke:
How do you keep an idiot in suspense?
I'll tell you on Wednesday.
You’re killing me! Who’s in suspense?
Who’s in suspenders?
Dr Frank
There seems to be a new version of gotcha politics at play here,
The opposition hears that a new move is going through the 'about to be announced new decisions" process and demands that it happens, saying the government is slow etc. But government can't announce something until processes such as cabinet approval and regulation creation occur.
So does the government attempt to counter this barracking by announcing decisions as a heads up with detail to follow?
In this case, the PM announced the heads up saying it wasn't immediately, crucially needed.
So, the government gets barracked for 'unnecessary' delays, etc.
In the long term it's a bad thing for our democracy that this type of attack politics comes from both media and opposition.
Fair enough if reasonable, but like using the word 'shambles' and 'crises' unreasonably, the net result is public turn-off, or public distrust in ordinary government processes, and a weakening of the proper roles of media and opposition.
You don't say there's going to be an announcement. Just do it suddenly.
Then the caterwauling is all about "surprises" and "making decisions on the fly."
And predictably, out come former PM John Key to attack PM Ardern on her press releases.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-john-key-criticises-government-over-delayed-announcements-jacinda-ardern-set-to-reveal-vaccine-mandate-decisions/Y7Q2IUNO7M3RD5YJ7M75XPKYNY/
They're using John Key as an attack weapon now? National have gone back six leaders to find someone to attack Ardern? Because Luxon, and Collins, and Muller, and Bridges, and English weren't very good at it.
And what is craw-sticking about Key's attack is that this comes from a man who never issued a press release that carried bad news. That job always fell to an underling. Pffffft!
The NZH political reporter probably didn’t put a lot of thinking as such into his balanced report, which is not an opinion piece. Whoever came up with the headline may have put a bit more ‘thought’ into it.
You are too easily impressed by a silly wordplay by David Seymour, who didn’t write the report and doesn’t work for the NZH AFAIK.
If I may ask, what’s your thought on the matter of having to wait 48 hours? Care to share?
David Seymour thinks New Zealand is the missing link to the world being putting right. No doubt his supporters will be on board with the big bold Act, us saving Ukraine.
"Act Party leader David Seymour wants New Zealand to send missile launchers to Ukraine – and has called New Zealand the "weakest link in the West" in its response to the Russian invasion.
"Asked what he would have done if he were in government, Seymour said he would have called Australia to ask what they were doing."
It's the sort of talk of an 8 year old boy when the question is 'you hear a noise downstairs at night what do you do?' The kid of course gets up and goes downstairs, tackles the burglar and scares them away. Or these days would he get under the blankets and call Australia?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/russia-invasion-of-ukraine-act-partys-david-seymour-calls-for-nz-to-send-missile-launchers/ELKZ75S6EPQLDCOMTUE6TRSJ7A/
Considering the amount of training we do together it makes sense to see what our closet ally is up to and work in with them
It occurred to him to imply that there'd been no communication with Australia about Ukraine and that he had come up with a genius, novel notion.
Michael walker and Barnaby Raine host Tysky Sour interview with a very anti russian young woman from Kakiev more about Ukraine the Zazanin Zaghari story pommie politics Pinochet conservatives and more !
He has a tendency to get a bit over excited but he dials it back and is right on the money on this:
Great stuff puck i,ll let you off for making me watch all that kung fu crap !!
It makes you wonder how much of what we think we know is merely what the corporations want us to think
It's hard when someone keeps doing things to suggest he's an idiot, from being thought an idiot.
Brian Tamaki in full flight on his travels with Freedom & Rights.
"Making clear he was not aiming for political office, he said he wanted NZ's official religion to be Christianity – and for all other religions to be outlawed."
So we're to be free and have choice except we can't choose our religion?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/destiny-church-founder-brian-tamaki-calls-on-flock-to-lease-their-vote-to-new-political-movement/R7P4NGQ5QU7G3RYEQTZWI5VLBI/
Kudos to the government for taking their time with the proposed hate speech laws. Better yet would be if they ditch them altogether.
better than rushing them through.
Hmm, I wonder what group of people, who experience some of the worst targeted abuse in society, are missing from this list.
legislation won't stop people from being dicks.
i note that discrimination based on wealth & privilege is normal and encouraged by a major political party.
Should speech that some pointy head deems insulting be hate speech, in your opinion? Because Chris Faafoi didn't seem to know.
Nope. NZ already has laws against inciting violence. Inciting "hate" is too nebulous and subjective, and very likely to cause stupid outcomes as in Scotland where they have police visiting private citizens who write rude things on Twitter. What a waste of time and effort.
The legislation was drafted in response to the Christchurch mosque massacre, but I suspect that the Muslim community feedback was not supportive.
However I expect it will be forced through sooner or later because it is an important part of the woke millennial cultural project to force their rather cultic belief system on everyone.
Agreed.
Russia Ukraine conflict:
Potentially if genuine this analysis this could inform the Ukraine conflict. Something we don’t see in MSM
https://www.bitchute.com/video/hQ2SvStulvPf/
“RUSSIA ALREADY VICTORIOUS? | U.S. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR'S ASSESSMENT OF THE UKRAINE CONFLICT
Russia is likely more victorious than Western media indicates. Russia is slowed by their intention of saving as many civilians as possible, which Western media will not acknowledge.
In addition to the above:
Ukrainian war ….. hypersonic weapons and Russia v USA v China
The puzzle….. so it’s all about timing of your military advantage
I wonder …. who has won this race ….Russians or US or China.
Very much noted US news via RNZ underplay Russians exhibiting real use of hypersonic weapons….
(maybe NZs 4th estate and Labour/National are Bidens bitches or fluffers)
If you then assess the above with the below
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40584/the-army-has-finally-revealed-the-range-its-new-hypersonic-weapon
The U.S. Army has finally provided an official range for its future Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW. This range figure notably means it would have been prohibited under the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, that the United States and Russia were parties to until 2019. This disclosure also follows criticism earlier this yearfrom a senior Air Force officer about the utility of this weapon, especially in the Pacific region.
"The Long Range Hypersonic Weapon provides a capability at a distance greater than 2,775 km," an Army spokesperson said, according to Breaking Defense. This means that the LRHW can strike targets at least 1,725 miles away. For comparison, the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missile, the longest-range ground-based missile system currently in Army service, can only reach targets out to 300 kilometers, or close to 186 miles.”
”US ARMY
One of the first inert Long Range Hypersonic Weapon missile canisters, which are now being used for training purposes, arrive at an undisclosed US Army base in 2021.
The complete LRHW missile consists of a large rocket booster with an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle on top. The rocket is used to loft the conical boost-glide vehicle to a desired speed and altitude. The vehicle then detaches and comes zooming back down toward its target along an atmospheric flight trajectory at hypersonic velocity, defined as anything above Mach 5.
Hypersonic boost-glide vehicles are designed to have a high degree of maneuverability, especially compared to traditional ballistic missiles, even those with advanced maneuverable reentry vehicles. This makes them ideal for striking time-sensitive or other high-value targets protected by dense enemy air and missile defenses and doing so on short notice, even at extended ranges. The combination of speed and maneuvering makes it very difficult for opponents to spot and track these weapons, let alone try to defend against them, including just trying to relocate critical assets or otherwise seek cover.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40584/the-army-has-finally-revealed-the-range-its-new-hypersonic-weapon ”
Question 1
Potentially if genuine and meant with accurate and informed analysis this could inform wider questions of the Ukraine conflict.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/hQ2SvStulvPf/
“RUSSIA ALREADY VICTORIOUS? | U.S. COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR'S ASSESSMENT OF THE UKRAINE CONFLICT
Question 1 Is US behind Russia in hypersonic weapons technology?
Question 2 If you corner a wild animal…. (NATO surrounding Russia via Ukraine) What do you expect the result will be…?????
It’s like a psychotic parent (US) taking a child (Ukraine) to a wild dog and saying hey “child” take it’s territory (bone) it’s not going to bite. The sickness is that the parent knows full well the dog will bite (as its in its natureg). The worst thing is the parent gets some sick physiological kick out of it…(aka power advantage).
Question 3 Why did US et al not push Ukraine to be a non military Swiss like state? What was the point of the destruction in Ukraine?
Question 4 Has Biden (Obama et al) effectively thrown Ukraine under a bus to benefit there world view
Question 5 Who benefits (follow the money and power)
[Less is generally more – I reckon that very few will read long comments and all the (embedded) links in these. 10 or more links will hold up any comment in Auto-Moderation until a Moderator makes the time to review & release it – Incognito]
Mod note for you.
Fair point…. Less is more
Ive always thought 'better out than in ' so in general im not in favour of censorship .Youre link to the Bitchute site which is using a genuine Greyzone piece to make its point tells us that you by association are surely imbued with the same fairly ugly antisemitism which coupled with your incoherent comment gives us a reasonable idea of who you are .Congratulations for revealing yourself as a complete fuckwit !
Weston…. OMG did you eat a bad sandwich, suck on a car tail pipe or just get out of bed the wrong way. Ya logic circuits are fried mate. you said to me:
” Greyzone piece to make its point tells us that you by association are surely imbued with the same fairly ugly antisemitism which coupled with your incoherent comment gives us a reasonable idea of who you are .Congratulations for revealing yourself as a complete fuckwit !”
Did you even bother to watch the interview?
No, probably note…. Spending too much time with ya head up your own arse (carbon monoxide and methane not a good combo for clear thoughts)
How the f$&&k did you arrive at “antisemitism”
Good luck with that …. Maybe take some Prozac to calm ya farm and a chaser of viagra to make your mind now, shall we say, firm (or less flaccid)
Hugs kisses …. Watch the video… use analytical thought, get back to me mate
Ive already watched that video karl on Grey zone itself so i didnt need it second hand plus the site had sidebars labled jew this an jewery that why was i suposed to be impressed ?
you still need to check the user name (and email fields) when commenting from whatever device this comment was done on. As you can see.
For some reason im having a few glitches commenting karl so if u get this twice you,ll know why .Ive already watch the vid on greyzone itself so didnt need to go to Bitchute to watch it .The side bars or the click bait pics on that site are rabidly antisemetic suggesting that jewery are responsible for this an that and this persons a filthy jew etc Its not my cup of tea karl why did you think it would impress anybody ?
if you make a mistake in your name or email address, the TS system will treat you as a new commenter and hold your comment back for manual release.
Thanks Weka i think ive sorted it
Weston….. what hell are you on
Ok i didnt look at all the multiple embedded links in yr comment karl just the bitchute one did u not notice the all the stuff to the side ?
Weston…. So you seem to be trying, the “let’s distract tactics” so no one will look up the interview….due to fear of being called a Nazi
The interview is clearly not
However….
Whats your informed opinion on
“DOUGLAS MACGREGOR'S ASSESSMENT OF THE UKRAINE CONFLICT”
Can your synapses coordinate to provide an articulate response….or has the lobotomy proven to problematic
Hugs kisses Karl
tick… tick…. Waiting
Not my worry what others might make of it karl particularly although im pretty sure it wouldnt go down well .the actual interview i thought was thoughtfull balanced and relevant most if not all the stuff from greyzone is .
Weston, glad you took the time to review the video. It provides an alternative perspective that is not being let out in NZs MSM.
I had no idea that the site that hosted the video Bitchute was controversial (never visited it before). Now I understand your initial response.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitChute
Saying that however..if it wasn’t for the “freedom” to host that video it may never get the air time it deserves and people wouldn’t stumble across it.
Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are all definitely playing in the pig pen of propaganda to. RNZ / Herald seem to also play in the pen, seemingly parrot Bidens BS to a large extent. An alliance to Democrats…some digging to done there.
However alternative sites need to exist to promote freedom of speech
Elon Musk had the bulls to say this regarding censorship:
”Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources,” he tweeted.
“We will not do so unless at gunpoint,” Musk added. “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.”
Additionally Twitter has been going all out jihad on the satirical site babylonbee for taking the piss out of msm, wokeness and Biden. Banning them for satire. Babylonbees response rather funny I thought as Twitter do allow Taliban (no hypocrisy there ehh)
https://babylonbee.com/news/taliban-spokesman-finally-banned-from-twitter-after-sharing-babylon-bee-headline
KABUL—Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem Warda has finally been banned from Twitter this week after carelessly sharing a satirical headline from The Babylon Bee.
"Wallahi, I just thought the joke was funny," said the bloodthirsty terrorist PR rep. "A man who thinks he's a woman? Whoever heard of such a thing? Those Babylon Bee people are so fun and crazy, even though they're infidels who must die a painful death by our hands."
At the end of the day probably a critically thinking population is the best defence against “hate” not curbs on freedoms of speech.
The issue is getting a critically thinking population. Maybe the “powers” at be don’t really want that. But hey, that’s another debate
That’s enough bla blaa blaa from me
Take care…. It’s a crazy world