“Everything” is behind liberalism’s (arguably) fascist drift. In politics, you don’t create a space unless you intend to fill it. Pushing the Republicans to supposedly untenable positions, surely means the “lesser evil” intends to occupy the space they’ve cleared out – which by the traditional way of viewing politics, is ever further to the “right”.
A cursory glance at the treatment meted out to the likes of Sanders, Corbyn or Melenchon shows various centres of power certainly don’t favour striking off in a social democratic direction.
And (in line with the “pied piper” strategy) the amount of oxygen and arm waving around the Le Penns and Farages of the world, that then scares the horses back to the status quo and its inexorable drift….
Footnote. Macron – the poster boy of liberalism – two of his body guards (Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase) disguised themselves as cops, and Benalla was filmed beating the crap out of protesters on May Day.
Imagine the furore if that had been Le Penn’s body guards? And yet, here we are, nearly two months later, and all we have is disapproving “tsks” that the guys retained their employment.
Why do we allow these disgraced wankers to come here and buy our country? – tell him to piss off I say – buy the land back – give it to Iwi and make the edges and tracks publicly accessible.
“Taxpayers could be forced to pay millions of dollars in compensation to disgraced TV host Matt Lauer to guarantee public access to his high country station.”
The lease will come up for renewal some time in the future…at this point the access available to the public can be improved by the government…lets hope the Greens are in government when the lease comes up.
Meanwhile a little birdy tells me Peter Thiel is about to start building his mansion…since the Nats changed the RMA this can no longer be publicly notified so doubtless his unsightly development will be waved through in the Outstanding Natural Landscape his property is situated within by the pro-rich pro-development Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Talking of Peter Thiel… is he still a close political associate of Donald Trump’s? If so, we don’t want him here thank-you. He qualifies to be of “undesirable character”.
I suppose he wasn’t known to be disgraced when he made the purchase.
What I am curious about is what does it take to fail the good character test?
From the article: November last year, the OIO is concerned about his character after being fired for alleged sexual misconduct and starts an inquiry.
June this year OIO is happy and he ‘passes the test’.
OIO probably should have been added to yesterday’s Open Mike 2.2 and below.
I can hear the “buzz” now from ‘officials’ along the lines “we follow international best practice”; and “we make comprehensive checks with our international partners going forward”; and “good faith” thrown in a few times, and “we’re satisfied we’ve abided by our legal obligations and in compliance with the points system’ etc etc etc rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
money money money, foreign investment, what’s wrong with it, they can’t take the land with them (/sarc)
Oh, and ComCom that allowed a duopolistic supermarket supply chain that disadvantages the little players (such as the dairy producer also on RNZ Sunday this morning), or NZTA or or or.
Again, let’s hope Skippy’s wish for reform goes a little deeper than window dressing.
On the positive side, there are a few ministers who seem to be aware that they’ve been severely let down by various ‘deficiencies’ in our current ps model.
(you should hear what I really think though – and not just me)
Why did they not put in full access when the granted the lease? Again very bad advice and paper work by the NZ government! Too much sensitive land is being sold and leased without enough provision for public access, it is even worse if it is public land in the first place!
Although with public access there should be responsibilities for those using it, to behave reasonably and enforcement options strict, (no litter, no walking off paths, no noise and partying, fire risks respected, dogs under control, clear ideas on motorised use etc) and there should be instant penalties for those that can’t respect these public paths.
Overseas public access is completely normal and people behave reasonably.
In NZ there are problems of bad behaviour, hooning, dangerous and noisy ATV use with non licensed and registered vehicles destroying the sand dunes around Auckland and making forests dangerous to walk in with crazy ATV use and so forth. As Kiwis get more obese their ideas of public access are becoming motorised actually stopping people from walking with the amount of danger from this. People making fires and driving around drunk. Kauri forests and Kauri die back disease being spread. This is what frightens people about public access.
Public access needs to be protected for everyone that includes safety and enforcement of those who abuse the public access. It is normal overseas for people to enjoy full public access, in NZ there needs to be a bit more thought about why with such small population we seem to not be able to get this right.
Hopefully in remote areas people know how to behave, sadly around urban public areas many people don’t and the enforcement needs to be tightened as well as more access allowed.
Land access to the Hunter has always been severely restricted by the lessees going back a long way. The previous lessee (who’s still there as Lauer’s manager) was particuarly hard nosed about this. So there’s really been no change with the new ownership.
How it’s going to pan out going forward as the owner discovers that owning the lease over Hunter Valley Station becomes a cashflow negative undertaking, and tenure review may not work out on that lease.
I had a wee epiphany yesterday.
Listening to Venus Envy, a podcast from spinoff and RNZ.
Talking about identity and multi cultural feminism intersectionality in the workplace.
I must admit, in the past, to trying to understand and get my head around this and putting it in the too hard basket.
What emerged from the conversation was that it is the practice of manaakitanga.
“To how you bring people together, how you look after them inside a space, how you ensure that their mana, all peoples mana, is taken care of and looked after. Manaaki – to give mana to all sections. By the end of that a lot of people were a lot more comfortable with the term ‘Manaakitanga’, rather than intersectionalising their practice inside the workspace.”
This really helped, ensuring someone’s mana is looked after seems a lot easier.
human Rights Conference organisers denied visas to NZ. Thank goodness we have the Freeze peach Coalition to raise $90,000 to challenge these decisions!
Hearing you, but thinking a campaign against NZ Immigration’s apparent racism would be more in order. And given that, expect “nuffin happenin”. 🙁
From the link.
A woman who campaigns for sex education in Uganda was denied entry because Immigration NZ deemed her at risk of overstaying, and a man who is part of a group starting schools in Uganda is still waiting to find out if he will be granted entry, months after applying. The idea the members would overstay here, when they were heavily invested in projects overseas was laughable, Passmore said.
Nigerian Leo Igwe just finished a PhD in Germany, and arrived in the country this week. He said he was not given a reason his visa was declined initially, but after doing extensive international travel it was a surprise, and he believes it is likely because he holds a passport from a poor country.
Seems odd to me that Bridges has opposed the setting up of a Review system for doubtful court cases. He concedes that there are miscarriages of justice but is against a system for investigation. Will this help him win friends?
Bridges trying to be relevant, but just hot air behind it, zero substance. Also sounds like the National party and ACT has repeatedly halted the Nepata brother’s requests for defence compensation. Then Pike River, nothing for the Ellis case either over their decade of rule… the National party record is truely despicable.
“I know of a case he prosecuted that has many of the elements of the Ellis case.”
Intriguing.
Can you give another clue please.
By elements of the Ellis case I am keen to know what you mean.
Evidence obtained by leading questioning by ‘experts’- a discredited method from the ’80s?
Selective quoting of children?
The senior investigating officer having ‘relationships’ with the mother of the main witness?
An underworked, over excited police ‘child sex ring’ investigation unit, looking for its first scalp?
You could remove “The senior investigating officer having ‘relationships’ with the mother of the main witness?” The other aspects appear to be common.
The prosecutor’s personal beliefs may have clouded objectivity as well.
I don’t want to say too much here, the guy was convicted, served society’s sanction and now is trying to get on with some sort of life. I’ve only heard that side of it, but knowing both the accuser and convicted I am very sceptical.
The Ellis case would make an interesting interview topic for Mr Bridges, and leading into his time as a prosecutor.
More inequality in NZ
…now you need $60k for ‘experts’ to have your say in court under the new RMA rules trickled in by the Natz to stack the decks to keep the rich getting richer and creating an expensive system to have your say (only a micro amount of ‘issues’ are allowed to be considered all stacked towards industry and excess) .
Considering you can go to most tribunals in NZ like disputes tribunal for under $100 and get a ruling, interesting when it comes to land, taking from communities and plundering of our resources and pushing risks onto others, it’s now taking $60,000+ to have your say…. which is very revealing of where our power interest lie.
We are no longer an equal country but one that is wink wink, open for exploitation to the right sorts…and our legal system has been changed to allow for this.
“… interesting when it comes to land, taking from communities and plundering of our resources and pushing risks onto others, it’s now taking $60,000+ to have your say…. ”
The local activists who stepped up and spoke at the consent hearings in Kaitaia cost bugger all. The hard ground work was done by a few staunch locals who found and dug up their greatest assets. Long term locals with generations of living with the Aquifer. Locals with degrees and engineering experience. Locals who were wise and knowledgeable and one outstanding woman who had taken her legal qualifications around the world.
The $$$ spent by the opposition was from DOC, who sent in a Team to speak on behalf of the vulnerable Kaimaumau wetlands.
Those folk rightfully objecting to the Super Chook Farm need to take a breath or two before spending hard won $$$ on ‘experts’. They should go have a chat with others who have run interference on such plans without going into hock. NZ environmental activist history is peppered with cautionary tales of groups that have formed to fight this kind of shit who have ended up in financial crap because they have tried to fight the moneyed enemy with extremely limited resources.
I’ll be watching closely for when the hearing is….they need to make sure supporters know. So we can plan to be there.
How convenient for corporate interests.
1.3 million chickens in concentration camp conditions.
And Tegels profit from torture, misery and environmental degradation.
The dice are stacked folks.
So the torture and killing of the vast majority of chickens in NZ, the degradation of our environment, the dehumanising of some of our workers all occurs to make a profit for overseas owners.
It leaves you speechless.
We are owned.
And far too many New Zealanders are ignorant, apathetic and too self absorbed.
Ed, stinking out an entire community including Marae, having incinerators burning waste daily, needing copious amounts of water, clogging up and making the ratepayers pay to repair the roads between Dargarville and West Auckland as well as add to the Auckland congestion and increase risks like bird flu with intensive farming like we have never seen before in NZ , while destroying the tourist opportunities of a town so that a Chinese firm can profit, is all in a days work for our RMA, free “rich” market approach and their champions the ‘environmental’ lawyers NZ resource asset stripping.
“Tegel Foods Limited is a poultry company based in New Zealand. It employs approximately 1,700 people at locations across New Zealand. Pacific Equity Partners acquired the company from Heinz in 2005, and sold it to Affinity Equity Partners in 2011.
Affinity Equity Partners is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions.
Affinity operates as a Pan-Asian firm focusing on investment opportunities in Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Greater China and Southeast Asia.
The firm is led by Kok-Yew Tang (Founding Chairman and Managing Partner), Young-Taeg Park (Chairman and Managing Partner) and Chul-Joo Lee (Managing Partner). It has over 60 employees with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, South Korea, Sydney, Australia, Jakarta, Indonesia and Beijing, China“
Now I do.
Is anything in New Zealand still owned by New Zealand companies or New Zealanders?
Tegal is owned by Affinity Equity Partners which is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions.
The Herald sinks to another new low, publishing this ignorant. Ill-informed piece of war mongering. The level of propaganda emanating from western media atm is McCarthyesque.
The Herald’s owners and editors should enlist for service in Lithuania as they are so keen for World War 3.
Invaded by Russia in 1918, again in 1940, and annexed in 1944 to endure Stalin’s reign of terror as tens of thousands were deported to the far east to make way for ethnic Russians.
So yeah, 50 years worth of oppressive Soviet rule gives Lithuanians a fucking good reason to be terrified by Putin’s posturing.
Dictators come and go and stalins brutality is well documented but its worth remembering it was that same brutality and that same dictators willingness to sacrifice millions of his countrymans lives that led to the eventual defeat of nazism in europe .What has that got to do with putin ?
A falling out between thieves [Molotov–Ribbentrop/Unternehmen Barbarossa] doesn’t change the fact that Putin believes he’s destined to make Russia great again by reunifying the Soviet Union.
You should join Stuart and enlist. Then grab your tin hat and race to the Suwalki Gap, where John Roughan and the rest of the Herald warmongers are scrambling to head off the Russian beast.
Sadly for you name calling, no.
Unlike you though, I support attempts for detente and lowering of tensions between nations.
Jaw jaw beats war war.
If the 2 countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons sit down to talk , what is wrong with that.
Russia is not about to invade Europe. Get real.
And be honest about NATO.
It is the expansionist side. The west promised it would not move NATO east in the 1980s .
It lied.
How the Bill Clinton administration successfully meddled in Russia’s 1996 election, elevating Boris Yeltsin to the presidency.
Irony: Yeltsin would later appoint a successor – a then little known former KGB agent by the name of Vladimir Putin.
In 1996, not only did the Clinton team influence Russia’s election to Boris Yeltsin (who collapsed their economy and made the life expectancy go down by 5 years), they bragged about it in Time Magazine. “
Actually the government—-first Clark’s administration and then Key’s—-pretended we were over there “helping the Afghan people to rebuild.”
John Wayne killing Native Americans is in fact pretty much like it was, and is.
By the way, did you hear Paula Penfold on Mora’s show a few weeks ago calling out the retiring head of the “Defence” force? She reminded listeners of how he had consistently refused to answer questions about reports of New Zealand troops committing war crimes in Afghanistan. She called him a “coward”. To my knowledge, he still hasn’t answered the allegations.
Most of the world sees the US as the imperialist thug.
You are in the minority that regards Russia as a clear and present threat.
Does calling me ‘wee’ add strength to your argument?
You seem a very angry person joe.
Give peace a chance.
There is no Planet B.
Give peace a chance while encouraging people to go and kill and die in war is sorta creepily sick mate – you should reread some of 5the he heinous encouragement to war that you are doing – pull your head out your arse ed.
You need to refresh your understanding of McCarthy Ed – try this if books don’t appeal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Night,_and_Good_Luck McCarthy was domestic policy hounding moderates while ostensibly hunting down sympathisers like the Rosenbergs.
Resurgent Russian militarism is a problem for lots of countries. But they won’t lie down and let it happen again.
I provide my sources transparently.
To call Pilger, Chomsky, Greenwald, Fisk, Cockburn, Bartlett and Bealey uninformed is quite a statement by you Stuart.
What are your sources?
And again swearing doesn’t strengthen your argument.
You seem very angry.
Give peace a chance.
In your own world.
And the whole world.
I’m not telling them. They just seem so keen for war that these armchair warriors should back up theirs views rather than forcing others to die for their Russophobia.
I know you can barely read, but journalists produce a lot of material. Some of it is professional, it goes to multiple and original sources and takes care to uncover the position of local people.
And some doesn’t.
But you argue from authority – as if the journalist is an authority in their own right, rather than according to how assiduously they make sure that they have the real facts.
You might want to consider how it is with such a list of luminaries supposedly informing you, you consistently manage to be completely wrong on everything pertaining to Russia and Syria.
So that you – a self-styled progressive, have become a vociferous apologist for the murdering and invading Putin regime.
Resurgent Russian militarism is a problem for lots of countries.
And what about the militarism of the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Israel? And what about the Al Qaeda-linked forces they support in Syria?
Yeah You’re right – Chechenya, Georgia, the Ukraine – bordering Russia is a really dangerous place to be. Because of Russia, though of course the extremity of your biases won’t let you see that.
Russian murder is good, US murder is bad – politics according to Ed.
You seem to be implying that U.S. militarism is comparable to Russia’s. It’s far, far more widespread, and far more lethal. The U.S. is directly responsible for massive destruction in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine and much of the African continent.
Russia’s aggression is, by comparison, negligible.
Not at all. That’s not what I said and not what I implied. What I did point out—and I’m sure you already knew it anyway—was that if Russia is bad, and I acknowledge that it is bad, then the United States and its vassals like the U.K. are off the scale.
And you won’t ever hear an admission of that from Stuart.
Humans rights and independence for the Ukrainians, the Latvians, the Poles, the Georgians…
Yemenis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Chileans……not so much.
Calm down.
Did you not read my last comment.
I agree with Morrissey on this statement.
“What I did point out—and I’m sure you already knew it anyway—was that if Russia is bad, and I acknowledge that it is bad, then the United States and its vassals like the U.K. are off the scale.”
So I guess what we would like to see a more balanced critique by you on joe. You seem to see the world In a simple goody/ baddy framing, whereas – even in the Ukraine, Lithuania etc its a lot more complex than that.
Crimea voted to rejoin Russia.
The present Ukrainian government was established by an anti democratic coup, aided by fascists.
NATO, not Russia, has expanded since the Reagan Gorbachev agreements.
We were lied to abt it chemical weapons in Syria by our western governments.
We were lied to about Salisbury.
It’s not that simple Stuart.
We are not living in a Bruce Willis film.
“You can support Trump talking with Putin and not be a sopportercof either.”
It’s certainly possible.
But you have established time and again that you are nothing more a lickspittle lackey of Putin without an independent thought in your head.
I’m for peace with Russia Ed – but that doesn’t license them to murder Chechens, Georgians, Ukranians, journalists, political opponents or former spys. Or Syrians come to that.
Your conspicuous silence on those issues looks a lot like guilt.
So, long time US allies Canada, Germany, and Japan’s aluminum and steel is lumbered with tariffs because national security threat, but Russia’s off the hook because…..oh, oligarch mates.
You couldn’t make this shit up.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian aluminum producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business.”
West Ukraine or East Ukraine.
They are quite different ethnically.
Most of the country voted for the government which was ousted by an anti democratic coup, supported by the CIA and fascist groups in west Ukraine.
“The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all
The threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policy with the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.
That might be more explicable if what is going on in eastern Ukraine now were not the mirror image of what took place in Kiev a couple of months ago. Then, it was armed protesters in Maidan Square seizing government buildings and demanding a change of government and constitution. US and European leaders championed the “masked militants” and denounced the elected government for its crackdown, just as they now back the unelected government’s use of force against rebels occupying police stations and town halls in cities such as Slavyansk and Donetsk.
Ed, you’re in an environment now where reading and understanding something is a liability. This site is more and more being dominated by the sorts of people who would normally have only posted on Whaleoil or Kiwiblog, or spent their time ringing up Leighton Smith to agree with him.
I’m realising this.
Stuart Munro is an out and out bully boy.
He doesn’t debate, doesn’t actually read my links: he just attacks like a pit bull with lies about me.
I shall give up replying to him.
There is no point.
This excellent article I recommend to you Morrissey,
It is by Craig Murray. He is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
Oh, I SEE now! If you point out the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Democrats and their media megaphones like Rachel Maddow, that makes you a Trump supporter.
What’s wrong with all these people?
Surely Iraq in 2003 made them start to look at what their governments, ‘intelligence’ agencies and media told them with a touch of critical thinking and skepticism.
You saw the link to US meddling in Ruusia’s elections in the 1990s.
Bill was so proud he bragged about it.
And of course US interference in other countries ‘ democratic processes – we ignore all that, don’t we.
And we beat the war drums……
Russia bad.
Putin bad.
Russia bad.
Putin bad.
Russia bad.
Putin bad……..
LONDON—Steve Bannon plans to go toe-to-toe with George Soros and spark a right-wing revolution in Europe.
Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections next spring.
The non-profit will be a central source of polling, advice on messaging, data targeting, and think-tank research for a ragtag band of right-wingers who are surging all over Europe, in many cases without professional political structures or significant budgets.
Bannon’s ambition is for his organization ultimately to rival the impact of Soros’s Open Society, which has given away $32 billion to largely liberal causes since it was established in 1984.
Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungary’s Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East.
He envisions a right-wing “supergroup” within the European Parliament that could attract as many as a third of the lawmakers after next May’s Europe-wide elections. A united populist bloc of that size would have the ability to seriously disrupt parliamentary proceedings, potentially granting Bannon huge power within the populist movement.
“The Useful Altruists: How NGOs Serve Capitalism and Imperialism
Global imperialism doesn’t just give NGOs a reason to exist, but involves them actively in the project of imperialist domination.”
James Renwick tweets with reference to an article about Arizona.
“The water that we can’t see, the groundwater, is quietly disappearing.”
Capitalism + disregard for environmental limits = disaster. Is the Mackenzie any different?”
A follows up tweet from Peter Harkess nail it.
“It’s almost as if our economic system will simply not allow humanity to avoid complete global catastrophe.”
We have a choice.
Capitalism or a sustainable planet.
The Wealthy business owner’s are having a tangi because there hoiho tripped up on the last leg of te race and ended up with ———- on there faces .
They poured te putea into backing this hoiho .
Business confidence has no correlation to economic performance its just a trick to get the .99% to let business get there way with employment laws that are inhumane.
The 90 day trial is a farce the employer can sack some one with no reason no paper work given .??????????????????? it could be because one is brown or many reason that have nothing to do with the employee work performance . It could be that the employer only wanted the employee for 89 days and did not tell the employee this because if he did the employee would not take the job as it would put them in hardship at the end of the job.
Employers think that employees are not human that they don’t deserve to be treated with respect and dignity . What they have to know is that employment is a major part of ones life and if one loses a job for bullshit reasons they are placing the employee in hardship they are placing the person whole whano in hardship. The hardship is even greater if your a Dairy-farm worker as you lose your house . But are it doesn’t matter they are not humans .
I my eyes employees should be treated like diamonds if you look after them and polish them the will make you putea if you don’t well you lose your daimond and your putea .
Yes I know there are some bad employees out there its up to the employer to find the correct employee and train them to be productive employees and a bit of polishing will go a long in improving the prospects of this relationship being positive for the employer and the employee. ANY WAY Eco Maori says the 90 day clause is a breach of the human rights act.
link is below ka kite ano
This is why I say the 90 day trial breaches the Human Rights ACT .
ACT 27 The rights to justices . When a employer can sack a employee without giving a written warning or reason in writing during the 90 day trial . This employment act breaches the employee rights to justice or a fair trial they can not defend there employment rights fairly if the employer does not give a written reason why they sacked the employee.
No written evidence and the employer can change the facts they uses to suit there dismissal of the employee employer wins case .Thats it in a karaka shell. link below. ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub Mike I will have to chose my words wisely .
Winston handles te media in his unique way he is Maori ka pai some will have
nightmares because of this fact. Who wants to get involved with that circus in America at the minute .
Condolences to the whanau of the boy who died in Tokomaru Bay of a heart attack .
With our homeless this is still the tsunami of the inhumane policy’s that national have imposed on us for the last nine years thats a fact . Helen Kelly will be smiling at the humane changes that the Coalition Government has made to our society ka pai.
One day our beaches could like the Cuban beaches if we keep putting our head in Papatuanuku on this subject of waste its everyones problem and we should all pay to get rubbish recycled in a sustainable way manufactures and consumers .
Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild James and Mulls Congratulations to our AllBlack 7 teams win in the Rugby Papatuanuku Cup Kia Kaha .
I will preform a Haka for one person I tautoko who is on the up.
Some people still have to learn to stop spraying on Eco Maori.
Mulls how the guys at the Rock Radio going I heard you when you first come back to the Rock you were a bit quite for the first 2 days then you got your hilarious mojoe going the first week I thought you were James till my Son in law corrected my mistake .
Ka kite ano i would not like those ear warmers
Good morning Newshub The block Mark is a unfair contest to be fair each team should have one person who is qualified In a trade in the construction industry per team the way it is at the minute you have two teams with a big advantage over the other teams.
And that creates tensions was that the plan.
Aotearoa produces some of the best meat in Papatuanuku grass feed Meat has properties beneficial to the consumer . The animals get to live a life close to what they would in the wild they are less stressed =better meat quality less stress = more humane way of farming. I see some organization is still scare mongering saying meat prouduction is going to wreck our environment YEA RIGHT .. These studys are conducted in country’s were the have to irrigate grow harvest and feed the stock in feed lots . 1 This is not a natural environment for the animals 2 they have to use alot of carbon to produce this meat they probably have to pump the water from hundreds of miles away as well’.
Were as in Aotearoa most farms the wai falls from tawhiri for free the stock harvest the grass for free they get a wider variety of fodder . Producing meat in Aotearoa has a lot less carbon input and more humane that meat produced else were . And I know that Aotearoa farmers can reduce there carbon foot print they just need to be guided in correct direction to achieve that goal of lowering our farming foot print .
Its so hypercritical the Tsunami of home less people. people who are living in squalor mokopunas going hungry is still growing .This phenomenon has been created by nationals policy’s of the last nine years and they decide to kick sand in the common persons face who cares who these statements hurt so long as they mite get a lift in there poles so primitive .
The problem with OUR employment is wages to the common tangata has only risen by %50 in 30 years this is lower for contracted piece rates 30% mean while the cost of living has risen 300% .Rents were $60 now they are $400 to $600 so with these facts poking us in the eyes any intelligent person can predict from the math that there was going to be big problems but O tangata its better to rent than buy a house YEA RIGHT. Mark a common person most likely pays more tax than you they don’t have the fancy accountant that you have to minimizes your tax bill O we will not raise GST whose are those words . Ka kite ano .P.S I have been missing your right clawed guest Duncan I will sort them out in good time
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On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
Once or twice a week, Dr Margaret Henley rolls up the door on a windowless storage locker in central Auckland, pulls her plastic chair up to a picnic table and sifts through the history of netball in New Zealand.She works alongside netball archivist and statistician Todd Miller, together trawling through ...
Corin DannThe time is 7:36am on Wednesday, April 23, and you’re listening to Morning Report, New Zealand’s voice of the educated left on good incomes. I’m joined now by acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. Good morning Mr Peters.Winston PetersIt was, until I saw you. I much prefer your brother.Corin DannLiam ...
When Professor David Krofcheck got an email congratulating him on winning the Oscar of the science world, he dismissed it as a hoax.“I thought it was a scam, I thought it was a phishing email,” recalls Krofcheck, nuclear physicist at Auckland University.“Yeah right, I’ve won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.I’ve been re-watching Girls lately, the HBO classic that perfectly captures millennial women in the most painful way. I highly recommend it especially if you haven’t watched it before. Every character on the show is deeply flawed and frustrating in their own ...
With the double-header long weekend comes a welcome chance to escape streaming slop, writes Alex Casey. Over Easter I texted my husband Joe a sentence that perhaps nobody in human history has ever texted: “hurry up geostorm is starting”. No punctuation, no capitalisation, not because I was trying to ...
April 27 is Moehanga Day, the anniversary of the day in 1806 when Ngāpuhi warrior Moehanga became the first Māori to visit England. This is his story. The wooden ship sailed down the River Thames, past smoke stacks and brick factories, until it reached a wharf in industrial south London. ...
Heidi Thomson on how her husband’s illness and Daniel Kalderimis’s book Zest have enhanced her understanding of George Eliot’s great novel.Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. In early December my husband John had a stroke. At the time we were both reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch, ...
The musician, actor and star of upcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds takes us through his life in television. Musician Marlon Williams has been on our My Life in TV wish list ever since he revealed during his My Boy tour that he wrote ‘Thinking ...
When she walked dripping into the lounge, hair wet from the shower, she took one look at Hamish and dropped her towel.He was holding her phone.—How long has it been going on for?His blue eyes blazed. She wanted to pluck them out and blow on them gently, cool them off. ...
A citizens’ assembly of 100 Porirua locals has provided the city council with more than a dozen recommendations about how to tackle climate change and make sure the region is resilient to worsening extreme weather events.Ranging from expanding access to renewable energy and incentivising the planting of native trees through ...
Comment: Democracy globally is in crisis. Around the world we are seeing the rise of nationalism and declining trust in democratic institutions. Politicians, even in Aotearoa, undermine the authority of core institutions like the media and the courts, which are critical for a functioning democracy. To live well together, in ...
Journalist Rod Oram, who died last year, would have been delighted to see the commitment to addressing climate change shown by the 23-year-old winner of a prize established in his memory.Mika Hervel, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, is today named winner of the Rod Oram Memorial Essay Prize, ...
COMMENTARY:By Nour Odeh There was faint hope that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza would succeed. That hope is now all but gone, offering 2.1 million tormented and starved Palestinians dismal prospects for the days and weeks ahead. Last Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister once again affirmed ...
An ocean conservation non-profit has condemned the United States President’s latest executive order aimed at boosting the deep sea mining industry. President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals and resources” order on Thursday, directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allow deep sea mining. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players. A Roy Morgan survey has found, for ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The former head of BenarNews’ Pacific bureau says a United States court ruling this week ordering the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to release congressionally approved funding to Radio Free Asia and its subsidiaries “makes us very happy”. However, Stefan Armbruster, who has ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 25, 2025. Labor takes large leads in YouGov and Morgan polls as surge continuesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With just eight days until the May 3 federal election, and with in-person early voting well under way, Labor has taken a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Fictionalised true crime for foodies. 2 Sunrise on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria Healthcare in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid. In 2021, nearly half of ...
Australia and New Zealand join forces once more to bring you the best films and TV shows to watch this weekend. This Anzac Day, our free-to-air TV channels will screen a variety of commemorative coverage. At 11am, TVNZ1 has live coverage of the Anzac Day National Commemorative Service in Wellington. ...
Our laws are leaving many veterans who served after 1974 out in the cold. I know, because I’m one of them.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.First published in 2024.As I write this story, I am in constant pain. My hands ...
An MP fighting for anti-trafficking legislation says it is hard for prosecutors to take cases to court - but he is hopeful his bill will turn the tide. ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)2 Everyday Comfort Food by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)3 Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
This Anzac Day marks 110 years since the Gallipoli landings by soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the ANZACS. It signalled the beginning of a campaign that was to take the lives of so many of our young men - and would devastate the ...
The violent deportation of migrants is not new, and New Zealand forces had a hand in such a regime after World War II, writes historian Scott Hamilton. The world is watching the new Trump government wage a war against migrants it deems illegal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
A new poem by Aperahama Hurihanganui, about the name of Aperahama and Abby Hauraki’s three-year-old son, Te Hono ki Īhipa (which translates to ‘The Connection to Egypt’). Te Hono ki Īhipa what’s in a name? te hono – the connection to your tīpuna, valiant soldiers of the 28th Māori Battalion ...
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Pacific Media Watch The Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network today condemned the Fiji government’s failure to stand up for international law and justice over the Israeli war on Gaza in their weekly Black Thursday protest. “For the past 18 months, we have made repeated requests to our government to do ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan and Amanda Dunn discuss the fourth week of the 2025 election campaign. While the death of Pope Francis interrupted campaigning for a while, the leaders had another debate on Tuesday night and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Whatever the result on May 3, even people within the Liberals think they have run a very poor national campaign. Not just poor, but odd. Nothing makes the point more strongly than this week’s ...
Noam Chomsky on Trump – a salutary listen for a Sunday morning! 24 minutes. Particularly the first minutes about the orange powder-puff.
The Republican Party the most dangerous organisation on earth!!!
Google search “Pied Piper Democracts”.
“Everything” is behind liberalism’s (arguably) fascist drift. In politics, you don’t create a space unless you intend to fill it. Pushing the Republicans to supposedly untenable positions, surely means the “lesser evil” intends to occupy the space they’ve cleared out – which by the traditional way of viewing politics, is ever further to the “right”.
A cursory glance at the treatment meted out to the likes of Sanders, Corbyn or Melenchon shows various centres of power certainly don’t favour striking off in a social democratic direction.
And (in line with the “pied piper” strategy) the amount of oxygen and arm waving around the Le Penns and Farages of the world, that then scares the horses back to the status quo and its inexorable drift….
Footnote. Macron – the poster boy of liberalism – two of his body guards (Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase) disguised themselves as cops, and Benalla was filmed beating the crap out of protesters on May Day.
Imagine the furore if that had been Le Penn’s body guards? And yet, here we are, nearly two months later, and all we have is disapproving “tsks” that the guys retained their employment.
Why do we allow these disgraced wankers to come here and buy our country? – tell him to piss off I say – buy the land back – give it to Iwi and make the edges and tracks publicly accessible.
“Taxpayers could be forced to pay millions of dollars in compensation to disgraced TV host Matt Lauer to guarantee public access to his high country station.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105595864/controversial-tv-star-demands-millions-to-give-public-access-to-south-island-station
The land is still owned by NZ, he has the bought the lease,
BUT obviously the principle of access is not a problem, its ONLY the money.
AND why not cancel his visa as he is an undesirable.
From what I have seen allegations have been made but none proven legally. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.
Nots on the tellys anymores is he.
The lease will come up for renewal some time in the future…at this point the access available to the public can be improved by the government…lets hope the Greens are in government when the lease comes up.
Meanwhile a little birdy tells me Peter Thiel is about to start building his mansion…since the Nats changed the RMA this can no longer be publicly notified so doubtless his unsightly development will be waved through in the Outstanding Natural Landscape his property is situated within by the pro-rich pro-development Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Talking of Peter Thiel… is he still a close political associate of Donald Trump’s? If so, we don’t want him here thank-you. He qualifies to be of “undesirable character”.
I think his interest in young blood would be reason enough:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/peter-thiel-wants-to-inject-himself-with-young-peoples-blood#~o
I suppose he wasn’t known to be disgraced when he made the purchase.
What I am curious about is what does it take to fail the good character test?
From the article: November last year, the OIO is concerned about his character after being fired for alleged sexual misconduct and starts an inquiry.
June this year OIO is happy and he ‘passes the test’.
OIO probably should have been added to yesterday’s Open Mike 2.2 and below.
I can hear the “buzz” now from ‘officials’ along the lines “we follow international best practice”; and “we make comprehensive checks with our international partners going forward”; and “good faith” thrown in a few times, and “we’re satisfied we’ve abided by our legal obligations and in compliance with the points system’ etc etc etc rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
money money money, foreign investment, what’s wrong with it, they can’t take the land with them (/sarc)
Interesting RNZ’s Insight this morning http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018654295/insight-money-laundering-in-nz
which kind of scratched the surface re the kinds of rackets going on
1000+
Oh, and ComCom that allowed a duopolistic supermarket supply chain that disadvantages the little players (such as the dairy producer also on RNZ Sunday this morning), or NZTA or or or.
Again, let’s hope Skippy’s wish for reform goes a little deeper than window dressing.
On the positive side, there are a few ministers who seem to be aware that they’ve been severely let down by various ‘deficiencies’ in our current ps model.
(you should hear what I really think though – and not just me)
Why did they not put in full access when the granted the lease? Again very bad advice and paper work by the NZ government! Too much sensitive land is being sold and leased without enough provision for public access, it is even worse if it is public land in the first place!
Although with public access there should be responsibilities for those using it, to behave reasonably and enforcement options strict, (no litter, no walking off paths, no noise and partying, fire risks respected, dogs under control, clear ideas on motorised use etc) and there should be instant penalties for those that can’t respect these public paths.
Overseas public access is completely normal and people behave reasonably.
In NZ there are problems of bad behaviour, hooning, dangerous and noisy ATV use with non licensed and registered vehicles destroying the sand dunes around Auckland and making forests dangerous to walk in with crazy ATV use and so forth. As Kiwis get more obese their ideas of public access are becoming motorised actually stopping people from walking with the amount of danger from this. People making fires and driving around drunk. Kauri forests and Kauri die back disease being spread. This is what frightens people about public access.
Public access needs to be protected for everyone that includes safety and enforcement of those who abuse the public access. It is normal overseas for people to enjoy full public access, in NZ there needs to be a bit more thought about why with such small population we seem to not be able to get this right.
Hopefully in remote areas people know how to behave, sadly around urban public areas many people don’t and the enforcement needs to be tightened as well as more access allowed.
Land access to the Hunter has always been severely restricted by the lessees going back a long way. The previous lessee (who’s still there as Lauer’s manager) was particuarly hard nosed about this. So there’s really been no change with the new ownership.
How it’s going to pan out going forward as the owner discovers that owning the lease over Hunter Valley Station becomes a cashflow negative undertaking, and tenure review may not work out on that lease.
Taxpayers aren’t “forced” to do anything. Change the law and tell him to fuck off.
I had a wee epiphany yesterday.
Listening to Venus Envy, a podcast from spinoff and RNZ.
Talking about identity and multi cultural feminism intersectionality in the workplace.
I must admit, in the past, to trying to understand and get my head around this and putting it in the too hard basket.
What emerged from the conversation was that it is the practice of manaakitanga.
“To how you bring people together, how you look after them inside a space, how you ensure that their mana, all peoples mana, is taken care of and looked after. Manaaki – to give mana to all sections. By the end of that a lot of people were a lot more comfortable with the term ‘Manaakitanga’, rather than intersectionalising their practice inside the workspace.”
This really helped, ensuring someone’s mana is looked after seems a lot easier.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/are-we-there-yet/21-07-2018/people-would-always-compare-us-to-the-boys-we-came-out-on-top/
Filmic effects on Te Whanganui a Tara property values
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/1015078.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/whats-on/entertainment/10.
human Rights Conference organisers denied visas to NZ. Thank goodness we have the Freeze peach Coalition to raise $90,000 to challenge these decisions!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105660382/humanists-conference-organisers-shocked-at-immigration-nz-denials-for-hero-members
Hearing you, but thinking a campaign against NZ Immigration’s apparent racism would be more in order. And given that, expect “nuffin happenin”. 🙁
From the link.
A woman who campaigns for sex education in Uganda was denied entry because Immigration NZ deemed her at risk of overstaying, and a man who is part of a group starting schools in Uganda is still waiting to find out if he will be granted entry, months after applying. The idea the members would overstay here, when they were heavily invested in projects overseas was laughable, Passmore said.
Nigerian Leo Igwe just finished a PhD in Germany, and arrived in the country this week. He said he was not given a reason his visa was declined initially, but after doing extensive international travel it was a surprise, and he believes it is likely because he holds a passport from a poor country.
Typical, human rights activists seem more ‘dangerous’ to immigration than the abusers of them, who are waived through.
Seems odd to me that Bridges has opposed the setting up of a Review system for doubtful court cases. He concedes that there are miscarriages of justice but is against a system for investigation. Will this help him win friends?
AND he has discovered the Ellis case from ChCh.
Shame he didn’t find it in the 9 years of Nat power.
Bridges trying to be relevant, but just hot air behind it, zero substance. Also sounds like the National party and ACT has repeatedly halted the Nepata brother’s requests for defence compensation. Then Pike River, nothing for the Ellis case either over their decade of rule… the National party record is truely despicable.
Maybe he’s a little concerned some of the work he did in his previous occupation might come under scrutiny.
I know of a case he prosecuted that has many of the elements of the Ellis case.
“I know of a case he prosecuted that has many of the elements of the Ellis case.”
Intriguing.
Can you give another clue please.
By elements of the Ellis case I am keen to know what you mean.
Evidence obtained by leading questioning by ‘experts’- a discredited method from the ’80s?
Selective quoting of children?
The senior investigating officer having ‘relationships’ with the mother of the main witness?
An underworked, over excited police ‘child sex ring’ investigation unit, looking for its first scalp?
Do share.
You could remove “The senior investigating officer having ‘relationships’ with the mother of the main witness?” The other aspects appear to be common.
The prosecutor’s personal beliefs may have clouded objectivity as well.
I don’t want to say too much here, the guy was convicted, served society’s sanction and now is trying to get on with some sort of life. I’ve only heard that side of it, but knowing both the accuser and convicted I am very sceptical.
The Ellis case would make an interesting interview topic for Mr Bridges, and leading into his time as a prosecutor.
Does Ministerial connivance fit into the picture as well?
Thanks Graeme for your response.
I’d be curious as to how much Mr Bridges would reveal and how clearly he would state his position or beliefs.
More inequality in NZ
…now you need $60k for ‘experts’ to have your say in court under the new RMA rules trickled in by the Natz to stack the decks to keep the rich getting richer and creating an expensive system to have your say (only a micro amount of ‘issues’ are allowed to be considered all stacked towards industry and excess) .
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/07/dargaville-group-falls-short-of-funds-to-oppose-tegel-factory-build.html
Considering you can go to most tribunals in NZ like disputes tribunal for under $100 and get a ruling, interesting when it comes to land, taking from communities and plundering of our resources and pushing risks onto others, it’s now taking $60,000+ to have your say…. which is very revealing of where our power interest lie.
We are no longer an equal country but one that is wink wink, open for exploitation to the right sorts…and our legal system has been changed to allow for this.
“… interesting when it comes to land, taking from communities and plundering of our resources and pushing risks onto others, it’s now taking $60,000+ to have your say…. ”
https://www.nzgeo.com/audio/avocado-growers-water-take-divides-northland-communities/
The local activists who stepped up and spoke at the consent hearings in Kaitaia cost bugger all. The hard ground work was done by a few staunch locals who found and dug up their greatest assets. Long term locals with generations of living with the Aquifer. Locals with degrees and engineering experience. Locals who were wise and knowledgeable and one outstanding woman who had taken her legal qualifications around the world.
The $$$ spent by the opposition was from DOC, who sent in a Team to speak on behalf of the vulnerable Kaimaumau wetlands.
Despite presenting a staunch opposition at the hearings (which were heavily weighted in favour of the applicants, with some seriously dubious shit going on) the consents were granted…https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/359123/suck-it-and-see-avo-water-consents-worry-conservationists
And after a pause for breath….DOC, bless them, are taking the bastards to the Environment Court.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360455/doc-challenge-council-over-water-consent-for-growers
Those folk rightfully objecting to the Super Chook Farm need to take a breath or two before spending hard won $$$ on ‘experts’. They should go have a chat with others who have run interference on such plans without going into hock. NZ environmental activist history is peppered with cautionary tales of groups that have formed to fight this kind of shit who have ended up in financial crap because they have tried to fight the moneyed enemy with extremely limited resources.
I’ll be watching closely for when the hearing is….they need to make sure supporters know. So we can plan to be there.
How convenient for corporate interests.
1.3 million chickens in concentration camp conditions.
And Tegels profit from torture, misery and environmental degradation.
The dice are stacked folks.
Yes and they bought out Inghams.
So the torture and killing of the vast majority of chickens in NZ, the degradation of our environment, the dehumanising of some of our workers all occurs to make a profit for overseas owners.
It leaves you speechless.
We are owned.
And far too many New Zealanders are ignorant, apathetic and too self absorbed.
Ed, stinking out an entire community including Marae, having incinerators burning waste daily, needing copious amounts of water, clogging up and making the ratepayers pay to repair the roads between Dargarville and West Auckland as well as add to the Auckland congestion and increase risks like bird flu with intensive farming like we have never seen before in NZ , while destroying the tourist opportunities of a town so that a Chinese firm can profit, is all in a days work for our RMA, free “rich” market approach and their champions the ‘environmental’ lawyers NZ resource asset stripping.
I never knew that Tegel was owned by China.
“Tegel Foods Limited is a poultry company based in New Zealand. It employs approximately 1,700 people at locations across New Zealand. Pacific Equity Partners acquired the company from Heinz in 2005, and sold it to Affinity Equity Partners in 2011.
Affinity Equity Partners is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions.
Affinity operates as a Pan-Asian firm focusing on investment opportunities in Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Greater China and Southeast Asia.
The firm is led by Kok-Yew Tang (Founding Chairman and Managing Partner), Young-Taeg Park (Chairman and Managing Partner) and Chul-Joo Lee (Managing Partner). It has over 60 employees with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, South Korea, Sydney, Australia, Jakarta, Indonesia and Beijing, China“
Now I do.
Is anything in New Zealand still owned by New Zealand companies or New Zealanders?
Tegal is owned by Affinity Equity Partners which is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_Equity_Partners
Yes just checked it out.
Has anything in New Zealand not been sold to foreign interests?
The smartest parts of the NZ economy have been strangled over recent years, says Global Innovation Index: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12091676
@Sacha, interesting stats. We seem to have been going towards a scary path under National hopefully the rot starts being reversed…
Can’t afford not to improve or we will just be a low-wage economy owned from overseas.
The Herald sinks to another new low, publishing this ignorant. Ill-informed piece of war mongering. The level of propaganda emanating from western media atm is McCarthyesque.
The Herald’s owners and editors should enlist for service in Lithuania as they are so keen for World War 3.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12093282
Invaded by Russia in 1918, again in 1940, and annexed in 1944 to endure Stalin’s reign of terror as tens of thousands were deported to the far east to make way for ethnic Russians.
So yeah, 50 years worth of oppressive Soviet rule gives Lithuanians a fucking good reason to be terrified by Putin’s posturing.
Dictators come and go and stalins brutality is well documented but its worth remembering it was that same brutality and that same dictators willingness to sacrifice millions of his countrymans lives that led to the eventual defeat of nazism in europe .What has that got to do with putin ?
A falling out between thieves [Molotov–Ribbentrop/Unternehmen Barbarossa] doesn’t change the fact that Putin believes he’s destined to make Russia great again by reunifying the Soviet Union.
Lithuanians believe him, and so do I.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Europe_1815_map_en.png
There’s a name for folk who’re prepared to allow an imperialist thug to ride roughshod over anyone’s self determination and hard fought independence.
Supporters of the U.S. ?
Supporters of neoliberalism?
…..running dog….
You should join Stuart and enlist. Then grab your tin hat and race to the Suwalki Gap, where John Roughan and the rest of the Herald warmongers are scrambling to head off the Russian beast.
Or you could just stop talking utter crap.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12093282
Oh look, wee Eddies a cowardly appeaser of an imperialist thug.
I never supported the imperialist thuggery of the US in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Laos, Chile,…….
Did you?
so you’re an inconsistent cowardly appeaser of an imperialist thug…
Sadly for you name calling, no.
Unlike you though, I support attempts for detente and lowering of tensions between nations.
Jaw jaw beats war war.
If the 2 countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons sit down to talk , what is wrong with that.
Russia is not about to invade Europe. Get real.
And be honest about NATO.
It is the expansionist side. The west promised it would not move NATO east in the 1980s .
It lied.
Why are you so keen for war?
Are you mad?
Ed, just ignore him. Before you know it, he’ll be calling you an anti-Semite.
Some reading for him.
How the Bill Clinton administration successfully meddled in Russia’s 1996 election, elevating Boris Yeltsin to the presidency.
Irony: Yeltsin would later appoint a successor – a then little known former KGB agent by the name of Vladimir Putin.
In 1996, not only did the Clinton team influence Russia’s election to Boris Yeltsin (who collapsed their economy and made the life expectancy go down by 5 years), they bragged about it in Time Magazine. “
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dh9sJHhWkAA3Kt3?format=jpg
Russia has no further territorial demands in Europe? Good to know.
Edit: ed, the point isn’t that the US is wonderful and Russia is bad. The point is that Russia is as bad as the US, and maybe even quite a bit worse..
Shootin’ all the bad guys, one, two, three, four.
Too many Rambo films when young , I fear.
As for the Kiwi Rambo, spreading death and destruction in Afghanistan….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3255254/Apiata-picture-may-mean-changes-to-SAS-operations
Yes until Jon Stephenson investigated, we were given a John Wayne version of our involvement in another people’s country.
Actually the government—-first Clark’s administration and then Key’s—-pretended we were over there “helping the Afghan people to rebuild.”
John Wayne killing Native Americans is in fact pretty much like it was, and is.
By the way, did you hear Paula Penfold on Mora’s show a few weeks ago calling out the retiring head of the “Defence” force? She reminded listeners of how he had consistently refused to answer questions about reports of New Zealand troops committing war crimes in Afghanistan. She called him a “coward”. To my knowledge, he still hasn’t answered the allegations.
Penfold is another with courage.
I did hear that – but can’t temember how Mora coped.
I haven’t enlisted Ed.
That’s just another facet of your puerile fantasy.
Swearing really adds to the strength of your argument.
Anytime there’s mention of resisting the imperialist thug, Putin, wee Eddies loses his head, runs around squealing war! war!.
Yep this – ‘go to the front’ really shows the low calibre of the man. He’s done fuck all yet he’ll encourage people to war and death. Anti hero.
Most of the world sees the US as the imperialist thug.
You are in the minority that regards Russia as a clear and present threat.
Does calling me ‘wee’ add strength to your argument?
You seem a very angry person joe.
Give peace a chance.
There is no Planet B.
Give peace a chance while encouraging people to go and kill and die in war is sorta creepily sick mate – you should reread some of 5the he heinous encouragement to war that you are doing – pull your head out your arse ed.
Resistance against Putin? What’s he done this time? Apart from solving the west’s terrorism problem in Syria.
You need to refresh your understanding of McCarthy Ed – try this if books don’t appeal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Night,_and_Good_Luck McCarthy was domestic policy hounding moderates while ostensibly hunting down sympathisers like the Rosenbergs.
Resurgent Russian militarism is a problem for lots of countries. But they won’t lie down and let it happen again.
It’s Stuart, posting from the Donbass.
How’s your tin hat?
Geez Ed – you backward fuck.
Inform yourself on these issues – you’re an embarrassment.
Ed follows independent and decent journalists/commentators. You follow the corporate propamediaz.
I provide my sources transparently.
To call Pilger, Chomsky, Greenwald, Fisk, Cockburn, Bartlett and Bealey uninformed is quite a statement by you Stuart.
What are your sources?
And again swearing doesn’t strengthen your argument.
You seem very angry.
Give peace a chance.
In your own world.
And the whole world.
Tell him to go to war why dont you eh ed. Go on warmonger send another body to the front line to kill and die.
I’m not telling them. They just seem so keen for war that these armchair warriors should back up theirs views rather than forcing others to die for their Russophobia.
You are inciting killing – SHAME SHAME SHAME
I’m not actually.
I want Russia and the US to be at peace.
I can’t be bothered cutting and pasting all of your incitements – they are many and they are obvious.
They’re at war?
/
detentedeɪˈtɑːnt/nounnoun: detente; plural noun: detentes; noun: détente; plural noun: détentes
Ed follows third rate propagandists with no journalistic standards whatsoever. And he follows them inconsistently.
Cockburn.
Chomsky.
Greenwald.
Pilger.
Fisk.
Third rate propagandists?
Sometimes, yes.
I know you can barely read, but journalists produce a lot of material. Some of it is professional, it goes to multiple and original sources and takes care to uncover the position of local people.
And some doesn’t.
But you argue from authority – as if the journalist is an authority in their own right, rather than according to how assiduously they make sure that they have the real facts.
You might want to consider how it is with such a list of luminaries supposedly informing you, you consistently manage to be completely wrong on everything pertaining to Russia and Syria.
So that you – a self-styled progressive, have become a vociferous apologist for the murdering and invading Putin regime.
Love it Ed quoting Tin hats, the world is crazy
He’s a discerning connoisseur.
Resurgent Russian militarism is a problem for lots of countries.
And what about the militarism of the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Israel? And what about the Al Qaeda-linked forces they support in Syria?
A question joe90 and Stuart ignore.
For some reason the only places in the world to suffer imperialist advances are the Nations on Russia’s borders…..
I don’t understand their world view. Do you?
Yeah You’re right – Chechenya, Georgia, the Ukraine – bordering Russia is a really dangerous place to be. Because of Russia, though of course the extremity of your biases won’t let you see that.
Russian murder is good, US murder is bad – politics according to Ed.
Six year old stuff.
Extremity of your biases.. on the other hand I don’t think you’re biased at all Stuart.. though somehow I doubt it.
On the day that Ed begins to recognize ANY flaw whatsoever in his totalitarian crush I might entertain such critiques.
But he never has and probably never will.
Which is why I correct him with such frequency.
Although that’s a problem too, Russian militarism doesn’t make it go away.
“Although that’s a problem too”.
???
You seem to be implying that U.S. militarism is comparable to Russia’s. It’s far, far more widespread, and far more lethal. The U.S. is directly responsible for massive destruction in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine and much of the African continent.
Russia’s aggression is, by comparison, negligible.
Just compare each country’s “defence” spending.
Right – so two wrongs eh?
You can ignore Putin’s murders because of America’s.
Actually both are a concern.
Not at all. That’s not what I said and not what I implied. What I did point out—and I’m sure you already knew it anyway—was that if Russia is bad, and I acknowledge that it is bad, then the United States and its vassals like the U.K. are off the scale.
And you won’t ever hear an admission of that from Stuart.
Humans rights and independence for the Ukrainians, the Latvians, the Poles, the Georgians…
Yemenis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Chileans……not so much.
Right back at you Putinella.
It’s fine for Putin to murder these people – Ed says so.
Ed is like a third rate Lord Haw Haw – a tireless promoter of murderous totalitarian dictators.
And with fuckwits like him contaminating the discourse, no discussion will ever get anywhere.
The Rohingya will never get a kindly word on the Standard because Ed will use that space to promote his murderous buddy Putin.
You’re a disgrace, Ed.
Calm down.
Did you not read my last comment.
I agree with Morrissey on this statement.
“What I did point out—and I’m sure you already knew it anyway—was that if Russia is bad, and I acknowledge that it is bad, then the United States and its vassals like the U.K. are off the scale.”
So I guess what we would like to see a more balanced critique by you on joe. You seem to see the world In a simple goody/ baddy framing, whereas – even in the Ukraine, Lithuania etc its a lot more complex than that.
Crimea voted to rejoin Russia.
The present Ukrainian government was established by an anti democratic coup, aided by fascists.
NATO, not Russia, has expanded since the Reagan Gorbachev agreements.
We were lied to abt it chemical weapons in Syria by our western governments.
We were lied to about Salisbury.
It’s not that simple Stuart.
We are not living in a Bruce Willis film.
If that were true we could be forgiven for misunderstanding you.
That’s exactly what Ed is saying, and you’re endorsing him.
Incorrect.
I am saying the same as Morrissey, whose views I respect.
Rubbish.
You’re just grasping at the only friendly straw you can find.
You need to straighten up, my little totalitarian fellow-traveler – you’re not fooling anyone.
Most people on this thread are for peace with Russia.
Absolutely correct, and we don’t work for the Tzar either.
You can support Trump talking with Putin and not be a sopportercof either.
“You can support Trump talking with Putin and not be a sopportercof either.”
It’s certainly possible.
But you have established time and again that you are nothing more a lickspittle lackey of Putin without an independent thought in your head.
I’m for peace with Russia Ed – but that doesn’t license them to murder Chechens, Georgians, Ukranians, journalists, political opponents or former spys. Or Syrians come to that.
Your conspicuous silence on those issues looks a lot like guilt.
Yet it seems to me that you and others seem to bleat only about one side, not both.
That would be because I’m not posting pro-US comments, I’m merely trying to contain Ed’s most egregious failures.
You’re a self avowed ‘russophobe’, Stuart..
You and J90 both…
Focus on containing your own egregious failures, eh…
Thanks for the support.
I have copped a lot abuse for simply pointing out the Herald’s propaganda this morning !
How about you lift your game One Two – instead of boosting Ed’s dysfunction.
I come here for progressive views and by golly Putin is not the revolution I’m looking for.
Any more than Stalin was. But you could excuse the Old Reds to some degree – they didn’t know what they were dealing with.
We do. There is no excuse.
+100
Juno’s 6,200 kilometre Jovian fly-by.
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia22426-16.jpg
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/high-altitude-jovian-clouds
“Democratic Institutions?” – 10 Lessons from history that will destroy your trust in the CIA”
https://off-guardian.org/2018/07/20/democratic-institutions-10-lessons-from-history-that-will-destroy-your-trust-in-the-cia/
So, long time US allies Canada, Germany, and Japan’s aluminum and steel is lumbered with tariffs because national security threat, but Russia’s off the hook because…..oh, oligarch mates.
You couldn’t make this shit up.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian aluminum producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-argentina-mnuchin-rusal-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-open-to-lifting-sanctions-off-aluminum-giant-rusal-mnuchin-idUSKBN1KA2VS
The U.S. had no right to place sanctions on Russia in the first place.
Russian soldiers have no business being in the Ukraine either.
They have more right to be there than the U.S. and U.K. have to be in Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen.
Russia should be sanctioned straight after the U.S. and U.K. are sanctioned.
I don’t think the Ukrainians would agree.
And it’s for the Ukrainians to decide.
West Ukraine or East Ukraine.
They are quite different ethnically.
Most of the country voted for the government which was ousted by an anti democratic coup, supported by the CIA and fascist groups in west Ukraine.
You see, it’s complicated Stuart….
Only if you need to reconcile the contradictory ramblings if RT.
Otherwise, it’s pretty simple: Russia sent Russian troops into part of the Ukraine.
To help you
https://welections.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ukraine-2012.png?w=604
awww you’re sweet.
Thanks. The map is clearly labelled “ukraine”. where did Russia send it’s troops?
Here is some more help.
“Yanukovych was elected President in 2010, defeating Yulia Tymoshenko. The election was judged free and fair by international observers.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_presidential_election,_2010
Seamus Milne in 2014.
“The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all
The threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policy with the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.
That might be more explicable if what is going on in eastern Ukraine now were not the mirror image of what took place in Kiev a couple of months ago. Then, it was armed protesters in Maidan Square seizing government buildings and demanding a change of government and constitution. US and European leaders championed the “masked militants” and denounced the elected government for its crackdown, just as they now back the unelected government’s use of force against rebels occupying police stations and town halls in cities such as Slavyansk and Donetsk.
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict
It’s not simple.
It’s complex.
So that map you supplied that was labelled “Ukraine”. Were Russian troops sent there?
Is that a map of part of Europe?
And you are not sufficiently informed to unravel that complexity Ed.
And neither is Putin, which is why he tried to unravel it with tanks.
By all means get into the complexities – astound us with something not pasted from RT for a change.
Have you read Patrick Cockburn on these matters?
I have.
Have you read John Pilger on these matters?
I have.
Have you read Robert Fisk on these matters?
I have.
Have you read Glenn Greenwald on these matters?
I have.
Have you read Eva Bartlett on these matters?
I have.
Have you read Craig Murray on these matters?
I have.
Have you read l Vanessa Beeley on these matters?
I have.
Ed, you’re in an environment now where reading and understanding something is a liability. This site is more and more being dominated by the sorts of people who would normally have only posted on Whaleoil or Kiwiblog, or spent their time ringing up Leighton Smith to agree with him.
I’m realising this.
Stuart Munro is an out and out bully boy.
He doesn’t debate, doesn’t actually read my links: he just attacks like a pit bull with lies about me.
I shall give up replying to him.
There is no point.
Good – on your bike you vile apologist for totalitarian dictators.
This excellent article I recommend to you Morrissey,
It is by Craig Murray. He is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/07/detente-bad-cold-war-good/
Have you talked to real Ukranians Ed?
Have you read anyone outside your RT circle-jerk?
Because you don’t come across as being well-informed so much as a blatantly ignorant and partisan supporter of Putin’s military ambitions.
And Russia had no place meddling in US elections.
And yes there is plenty of evidence.
No there’s not. You can’t supply us with it, any more than the hapless and doomed Democratic Party “leaders” can.
lol we’ve got another one who’s been watching too much Rachel Maddow and CNN.
The embarrassingly bad Rachel Maddow is, sorry to say, a conspiracy theorist.
Everyone knows it even your man t.rump. Didn’t you get the memo?
My man is Trump, is it? When did that happen?
Oh, I SEE now! If you point out the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Democrats and their media megaphones like Rachel Maddow, that makes you a Trump supporter.
Got it.
Check out who i replyed to fuckwit and apologise again.
Why are joe90, Munro and mars so anti Russia?
Why are they so angry?
And why are they make things up up what we say.
And to prove my point, I receive this hate speeech from Munro.
“Good – on your bike you vile apologist for totalitarian dictators.”
How does one respond without being banned?
Change your behaviour and apply your cynicism to Russia as well as the west. That might help.
I was asking Morrissey.
Ah yes. You needed reassurance rather than an actual suggestion.
“How does one respond”
Learn, you ignorant muppet.
Learn from the people occupied by the last Russian empire.
I was asking Morrissey.
I tend not to listen or learn from people who routinely abuse people for a differing point of view.
So you don’t listen to yourself.
You abuse me all the time.
Lay off the Putin boosting. This is not a Putin fan site.
Learn to make real arguments and learn a bit of 20th century history. Your position is no better than that of neo-Nazis.
Yes another ghastly comment from Munro.
Another piece of empty Ed echoing from Maui.
Got anything intelligent to say?
I guess not.
Maui, how would you respond to the litany of abuse Munro throws at me? Quite a list today. The most recent being a neoNazi.
I wish to avoid being banned and I want to keep sharing well written articles by journalists I respect.
Sorry, I don’t feel like reliving the cold war right now.
Not sure Ed, it has turned into quite a harsh winter with all this rhetoric flying around. Maybe just hunker down and wait them out.
Ok. Thank you for your usual kind words and wisdom.
You are a breath of fresh air and enlightenment on this site.
“Why are they so angry?”
Half a million murdered Chechens Ed. Can you tell me how many Georgians?
I’ll bet you don’t care enough to find out.
Because all your pretensions to progressive values are empty.
What’s wrong with all these people?
Surely Iraq in 2003 made them start to look at what their governments, ‘intelligence’ agencies and media told them with a touch of critical thinking and skepticism.
Yeah they should go to war and kill people eh ed.
You saw the link to US meddling in Ruusia’s elections in the 1990s.
Bill was so proud he bragged about it.
And of course US interference in other countries ‘ democratic processes – we ignore all that, don’t we.
And we beat the war drums……
Russia bad.
Putin bad.
Russia bad.
Putin bad.
Russia bad.
Putin bad……..
The three times daily beat of the Cold War drum……..
Michelle Wolf’s recruitment video for ICE.
https://youtu.be/dNF6sVurAuI
ICE is
Soros funds Soros.
Who’s funding Bannon?
LONDON—Steve Bannon plans to go toe-to-toe with George Soros and spark a right-wing revolution in Europe.
Trump’s former White House chief advisor told The Daily Beast that he is setting up a foundation in Europe called The Movement which he hopes will lead a right-wing populist revolt across the continent starting with the European Parliament elections next spring.
The non-profit will be a central source of polling, advice on messaging, data targeting, and think-tank research for a ragtag band of right-wingers who are surging all over Europe, in many cases without professional political structures or significant budgets.
Bannon’s ambition is for his organization ultimately to rival the impact of Soros’s Open Society, which has given away $32 billion to largely liberal causes since it was established in 1984.
Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungary’s Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East.
He envisions a right-wing “supergroup” within the European Parliament that could attract as many as a third of the lawmakers after next May’s Europe-wide elections. A united populist bloc of that size would have the ability to seriously disrupt parliamentary proceedings, potentially granting Bannon huge power within the populist movement.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-bannons-plan-to-hijack-europe-for-the-far-right
Soros
Thought provoking and worthy of a post.
“The Useful Altruists: How NGOs Serve Capitalism and Imperialism
Global imperialism doesn’t just give NGOs a reason to exist, but involves them actively in the project of imperialist domination.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/20/the-useful-altruists-how-ngos-serve-capitalism-and-imperialism/
James Renwick tweets with reference to an article about Arizona.
“The water that we can’t see, the groundwater, is quietly disappearing.”
Capitalism + disregard for environmental limits = disaster. Is the Mackenzie any different?”
The New York Times article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/magazine/the-water-wars-of-arizona.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine
A follows up tweet from Peter Harkess nail it.
“It’s almost as if our economic system will simply not allow humanity to avoid complete global catastrophe.”
We have a choice.
Capitalism or a sustainable planet.
Regional schedules out next week.
https://www.nziff.co.nz/2018/film/merata-how-mum-decolonised-the-screen/
The Wealthy business owner’s are having a tangi because there hoiho tripped up on the last leg of te race and ended up with ———- on there faces .
They poured te putea into backing this hoiho .
Business confidence has no correlation to economic performance its just a trick to get the .99% to let business get there way with employment laws that are inhumane.
The 90 day trial is a farce the employer can sack some one with no reason no paper work given .??????????????????? it could be because one is brown or many reason that have nothing to do with the employee work performance . It could be that the employer only wanted the employee for 89 days and did not tell the employee this because if he did the employee would not take the job as it would put them in hardship at the end of the job.
Employers think that employees are not human that they don’t deserve to be treated with respect and dignity . What they have to know is that employment is a major part of ones life and if one loses a job for bullshit reasons they are placing the employee in hardship they are placing the person whole whano in hardship. The hardship is even greater if your a Dairy-farm worker as you lose your house . But are it doesn’t matter they are not humans .
I my eyes employees should be treated like diamonds if you look after them and polish them the will make you putea if you don’t well you lose your daimond and your putea .
Yes I know there are some bad employees out there its up to the employer to find the correct employee and train them to be productive employees and a bit of polishing will go a long in improving the prospects of this relationship being positive for the employer and the employee. ANY WAY Eco Maori says the 90 day clause is a breach of the human rights act.
link is below ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/105665923/minister-says-campaign-against-labour-law-reform-is-deliberately-misleading
This is why I say the 90 day trial breaches the Human Rights ACT .
ACT 27 The rights to justices . When a employer can sack a employee without giving a written warning or reason in writing during the 90 day trial . This employment act breaches the employee rights to justice or a fair trial they can not defend there employment rights fairly if the employer does not give a written reason why they sacked the employee.
No written evidence and the employer can change the facts they uses to suit there dismissal of the employee employer wins case .Thats it in a karaka shell. link below. ka kite ano
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225529.html?search=sw_096be8ed80b62589_27_25_se&p=1&sr=1
Good evening Newshub Mike I will have to chose my words wisely .
Winston handles te media in his unique way he is Maori ka pai some will have
nightmares because of this fact. Who wants to get involved with that circus in America at the minute .
Condolences to the whanau of the boy who died in Tokomaru Bay of a heart attack .
With our homeless this is still the tsunami of the inhumane policy’s that national have imposed on us for the last nine years thats a fact . Helen Kelly will be smiling at the humane changes that the Coalition Government has made to our society ka pai.
One day our beaches could like the Cuban beaches if we keep putting our head in Papatuanuku on this subject of waste its everyones problem and we should all pay to get rubbish recycled in a sustainable way manufactures and consumers .
Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild James and Mulls Congratulations to our AllBlack 7 teams win in the Rugby Papatuanuku Cup Kia Kaha .
I will preform a Haka for one person I tautoko who is on the up.
Some people still have to learn to stop spraying on Eco Maori.
Mulls how the guys at the Rock Radio going I heard you when you first come back to the Rock you were a bit quite for the first 2 days then you got your hilarious mojoe going the first week I thought you were James till my Son in law corrected my mistake .
Ka kite ano i would not like those ear warmers
Not my team, speak for yourself.
Good morning Newshub The block Mark is a unfair contest to be fair each team should have one person who is qualified In a trade in the construction industry per team the way it is at the minute you have two teams with a big advantage over the other teams.
And that creates tensions was that the plan.
Aotearoa produces some of the best meat in Papatuanuku grass feed Meat has properties beneficial to the consumer . The animals get to live a life close to what they would in the wild they are less stressed =better meat quality less stress = more humane way of farming. I see some organization is still scare mongering saying meat prouduction is going to wreck our environment YEA RIGHT .. These studys are conducted in country’s were the have to irrigate grow harvest and feed the stock in feed lots . 1 This is not a natural environment for the animals 2 they have to use alot of carbon to produce this meat they probably have to pump the water from hundreds of miles away as well’.
Were as in Aotearoa most farms the wai falls from tawhiri for free the stock harvest the grass for free they get a wider variety of fodder . Producing meat in Aotearoa has a lot less carbon input and more humane that meat produced else were . And I know that Aotearoa farmers can reduce there carbon foot print they just need to be guided in correct direction to achieve that goal of lowering our farming foot print .
Its so hypercritical the Tsunami of home less people. people who are living in squalor mokopunas going hungry is still growing .This phenomenon has been created by nationals policy’s of the last nine years and they decide to kick sand in the common persons face who cares who these statements hurt so long as they mite get a lift in there poles so primitive .
The problem with OUR employment is wages to the common tangata has only risen by %50 in 30 years this is lower for contracted piece rates 30% mean while the cost of living has risen 300% .Rents were $60 now they are $400 to $600 so with these facts poking us in the eyes any intelligent person can predict from the math that there was going to be big problems but O tangata its better to rent than buy a house YEA RIGHT. Mark a common person most likely pays more tax than you they don’t have the fancy accountant that you have to minimizes your tax bill O we will not raise GST whose are those words . Ka kite ano .P.S I have been missing your right clawed guest Duncan I will sort them out in good time
.