Hey drumpfkopf, what happened to all the press conferences you told us Trump did? Is he running scared of questions like how his foundation is a scam to funnel other people’s money into things that benefit him?
Hey Andre, help yourself to a long walk off a fucking short pier.
First TV debate is up in a week.
I wonder if Trump will bring up the former president of the Haitian senate saying that the Clintons tried to bribe him after the massive earthquake there.
Gawd you really are a fuckwit, drumpfkopf. The likes of InfoWars really aren’t reliable sources.
“The Clinton Foundation spends between 80-90 percent on program services, which experts say is the standard in the industry to define charitable works. It spends the majority of its money directly on projects rather than through third-party grants.”
So Saudi and Russian business interests as well as US banksters spend tens of millions on the Clinton Foundation and almost all of it goes to charitable good deeds? Bullshit.
The Observer summarises key points
1) Selling access to the Clinton State Dept (“pay for play.”)
2) Accepting sketchy foreign donations from abusive nations.
3) Helping major donors with US gov help.
Could it possibly be because Republicans want to play dirty tricks? “The request for a review came from 64 House Republicans led by Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn, who have tasked the IRS, FBI, and Federal Trade Commission with examining the dealings of the Foundation.
“
How typical of them.
Andre your ‘attachment’ is either causing you to bend ever farther, or you are not well versed at analysing information..
Should Clinton become POTUS will you take some responsibility for the results and outcomes of her presidency?
By overtly putting yourself out there, you are taking on ownership of future problems…you realise that as a voter committed to ensuring a Clinton ‘victory’ this is what you are doing right?
According to Charity Watch The Clinton foundation spends $2 for every $100 it raises and spends 88% of its budget on its stated programme – it has an A rating as a charity. By comparison Amnesty International has an A- It spends $14 to raise $100 and spends 80% of its budget on its stated programme.
And
The Donald J. Trump Foundation is not eligible to be rated by CharityWatch because it is structured as a private foundation. CharityWatch primarily rates public charities, as well as some social welfare and veterans organizations that broadly solicit the public for donations.
The governing board of the Trump Foundation consists of Trump family members and an employee of The Trump Organization (Trump’s for-profit business conglomerate) that control the Foundation’s grant-making activities, as is typical for private foundations. This differs from public charities whose operations usually are directed by independent boards with no or few related parities.
I think you are being a little too disparaging in your comment here CV.
The private company that runs Dunedin’s public transport (Go Bus/Ngai Tahu) are importing overseas workers to drive their buses? According to a letter in the ODT yesterday anyway.
From an article earlier in the year “NZ Bus paid $20.97 an hour to union drivers in Wellington, going up to $21.25 at the end of the year, he said. But Go Bus paid about $16.02 in Dunedin, and up to $18 in Auckland. ”
That is good. We’re still going to have to seriously decrease flying from our present high use though. There’s no way that enough bio-fuels can be grown to support it.
Bio-Fuels are a terrible idea. We already destroy enough land for farming so we don’t need to start clear-cutting forests to fuel our various devices too.
Yeah bio-ethanol from corn or sugar and bio-diesel from oil-seeds are really crap ideas. But bio-fuels from sources like algae, agricultural and forestry waste have much less of a downside. Given that I doubt we will make the cultural changes necessary to give up global long-haul aviation, and there’s no technology in sight that could substitute for the energy density of liquid fuels required for long-haul aviation, this looks like a reasonable step forward.
Spot on Andre, bio fuels from forestry wood waste etc will be able to start replacing fossil fuels in the near future (within the next 10 years).
Producing bio oil is an easy enough exercise via pyrolysis. The trick is to upgrade the bio oil to have similar properties as fossil fuel, while making the process commercially viable.
Lanza Tech has recently announced progress via there process for bio fuels. And I know of a bunch of other companies making very good progress as well.
It’s possible to grow the organisms that would be the basis for the bio-fuels in the ocean. So it doesn’t use land it also helps pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Electric and/or hydrogen could feasibly take over for shorter flights – maybe up to 1500km. So bio-fuels would then allow some long-haul aviation even in a zero-fossil future.
Will never happen CV, so we must look for better alternatives to fuel the planes.
There are no such alternatives in the foreseeable future and thus air travel must be curtailed. This is real economics and so you don’t actually get a say in it.
“There are no such alternatives in the foreseeable future and thus air travel must be curtailed”
Draco is your comment above based on any particular observation or experience? For example are you involved in the R&D of bio-oil for use as a transport fuel (land, sea, air)?
My work allows me close access to alternative / green fuels…and I can confirm that bio-oil for use as a fuel oil (to replace medium and heavy fossil fuel oil) is doable right now.
As for a transport fuel, bio-oil can be upgraded now as well. However the problem is its uneconomical to do so, but will not be for too much longer as the technology is refined.
The recent AirNZ / Virgin Aust RFI for jet bio-fuel attracted a lot of interest. And will enable a bio-fuel industry to proceed in Australasia, underpinned by the volumes required by the above airlines.
My work allows me close access to alternative / green fuels…and I can confirm that bio-oil for use as a fuel oil (to replace medium and heavy fossil fuel oil) is doable right now.
Yes, I’m quite aware that it’s available now. The problem, that I’ve read a couple of articles on over the years, is the inability to scale it up to support the present demand.
“up to 1500km”
That is very consoling. I shall be grateful for that information when we come down in the Tasman when only two thirds of the way from Wellington to Sydney.
“Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies to end the secrecy which cloaks much of their research.”
Massey is doing a study on the kids in Motueka re the effects of pesticides. Many of the young kids at school were asked to be part of the study.
I feel sorry for the islanders working the orchards, it’s not very OSH friendly for them. They should be part of the study as well.
Save the bees, grow as many bee loving plants as you can, most bee friendly plants are flowers, the end result is a beautiful garden, who would not want that ?
Well, it’s not actually that hard to have your own hives if you’ve got a garden and you get fantastic, fresh honey.
It does require maintaining standards of course but that’s normal for anything really (The abnormality and that which causes so much pain in society is the RWNJs demand that we don’t have any standards).
All research needs to be done by public companies and available to the public to ensure that such secrecy as this doesn’t cause us harm as recent history proves that it does.
Marlborough Council to investigate the “Whale Blubber” leak. All whom were present at the meeting that was ‘leaked’ to fat boy were asked to sign a declaration stating that they did not leak details of the meeting.
“But two councillors, Jessica Bagge and Jamie Arbuckle, have refused to sign statutory declarations issued to all councillors as part of an ongoing Marlborough District Council investigation.”
You can’t claim that you were not responsible for the leak then refuse to sign a declaration confirming it… makes you look guilty as sin. JS
If fairness – he is trying to improve his blog. There are generally more insults and horrid things said on the standard in the comments these days than there is on his blog.
Thats not supporting what his blog used to be like – but giving credit for what is happening now.
Care to address the topic? Whaleoil publishing leaked & private information? 2 wrongs don’t make a right? SO no more ‘those emails were stolen’ whines from the feral blogger? Pfft, doubt it.
Care to address the topic? Nicky Hager publishing leaked & private information? 2 wrongs don’t make a right? SO no more ‘those emails were stolen’ whines from the feral blogger? Pfft, doubt it.
The Marlborough District Council leak was from a whistle blower (a Councilor or employee). I would of thought our left leaning friends here would of been horrified that the Council is now conducting a witch hunt for said whistle blower.
Considering the frequency with with which you and other RWNJ trolls utter offensive and ill-founded personal abuse of Little I see no reason not to shame personifications of corruption, greed and sloth like the Whale and Gerry Brownlee.
Your interest is not sincere – when you are assiduous in disciplining your fellow trolls for abuse we may reconsider.
Care to give any example of where I have ever given put any personal abuse against Little?
I actively try never to do it to anyone (may have had a slip here and there – but in general – I try to be polite to people on here). Not that I get the same back mind.
You have to do a little better than that – you made an attack on a local over fatshaming – show us your sincerity by pointing out where you did the same to a fellow concern troll – or where you condemned the Whale directly for any of his many grossly offensive slurs – that on the dead west coast boy for example. Otherwise you’re just special pleading.
I have been consistant in pointing out the name calling on this blog. I didnt make an attack – if you consider what I wrote one – then you must be feeling very sensitive.
I have commented on this several times – from women being called a bitch – to references to peoples weight, and also raising issue with comments like a poster telling people to go hang themselves.
I also shared a story of a family member who was self harming and threatening suicide because of bulling (both physical and online). As I said then, and I will again now – I hope that others do not have to go thru the heartbreak, stress and fear of the damage that this causes.
TRP mod commented agreeing and that they are trying to improve this – without damaging robust debate.
So – I can back up my sincerity by being consistent.
Here is a challenge to you – why dont you be part of a solution and try stopping abuse when you see it instead of being and enabler and calling out people who actually try.
And as far as the reference to weight …. agreed not such a good idea.
HOWEVER, perhaps one of the reasons is that such a reference often goes hand in hand with laziness. Not unloik JFK’s language mangler machine. Diction is lazy, language is based on learned spin and slogans dreamed up by spin meisters, – lazy mind – ideologically driven, absent of critical thought.
Smart flabby arsed attitude.
Oh you HATER Matty! How very dare you!
She’d probably have just been better to use the blubber’s own spin and call him out for what he is:
FERAL ((especially of an animal) in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication.)
Slater has picked on me before, published a photo of me on his blog when I requested that he did not. His trolls slammed me for it and as i defended my actions of a single woman protest against Key in Nelson, on his blog in an intelligent and factual manner I was bullied and then blocked.
There is a big difference between debating political views and bullying, and WE ALL know what Slater does best and it sure isn’t debating. My description of him is factual.
Have a dead cat, I’m more interested and what is going on at the Marlborough Council chambers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJzSTNDUGI Aww you hurt his feelings Cinny, good on you for making a stand & put yourself out there, a very brave thing to do within NZ current political climate.
Fat Cambo loves the cut and thrust of personal abuse, well, one side of it anyway. Maybe he looks up from stamping head to have a wee sweaty cry about the mean boys and girls, but I doubt it.
Colin King exMP, is a contender for Mayoralty in Blenheim.
He is an “acquaintance” of one Mr Lusk, a “friend” of Cameron Slater who earlier this year was in Blenheim to “assist” aspiring candidates.
Cameron Slater’s use of the leaked recording seemed aimed at damaging the top Mayoral candidate Mr Leggett.
Mr King’s daughter is a Councillor I believe. I think her name is Jessica Bagge who refused to sign the statutory declaration to absolve her of being the leaker.
I’ve met Grant Robertson a few times.
Does that make me a closet commie or something similar?
Does that mean people shouldn’t talk to me because I might pass on their deepest, darkest secrets to the Opposition?
alwyn, when you spoke to Grant Robertson a few months ago at a seminar on how to go about running local political campaigns targeted at ‘sympathetic’ candidates, did you talk about opposing in-house meetings? And then, having talked about these meetings, lo and behold did a release of a recording of a in-house, public-excluded meeting happen, months later at the time voting papers were distributed?
I believe what you are talking about- meeting, having a chat- is very different, and an attempt to minimise what is a very serious breach of councillor ethics and trust, and having huge consequences for mayor, council, staff and the public.
“alwyn, when you spoke to Grant Robertson a few months ago at a seminar on how to go about running local political campaigns targeted at ‘sympathetic’ candidates”.
That really is news to me. He can’t have invited me because I haven’t heard of that activity of his before.Should you have told me that Grant ran such a seminar? Sounds terrible to me and I am surprised that you allowed such a damaging story about Grant’s activities to leak.
Ianmac, Colin King’s daughter is Cr Laressa Shenfield. Jessica Bagge is a retiring (that is, she is leaving Council!) councillor with a long-term feud with the outgoing mayor.
She refused on principle. Both councillors who refused to sign the declaration, Jamie Arbuckle and Jessica Bagge, have denied sending the tape to Cameron Slater.
What is noticeable, though, is by refusing to sign the declaration, they don’t have to answer the second part which addresses whether they know who did the leak.
I think you’re right to factor in the role of Simon Lusk into the affair as he is connected to both Slater and some
right-wing council candidates here who attended his seminar. Lusk is concerned to obtain control of Councils by suitable, right wing candidates.
There is another question that concerns me, as well as the poisoning effect upon trust of Council by the public, trust within Council between councillors and staff, trust
between councillors, and trust between councillors and Mayor.
That is bad enough, but what concerns me is the distinct and shadowy possibility that behind the Council shenanigans, behind Slater and Lusk, is money- money
that wants a compliant Council to allow further treatment of Marlborough as a third world style economy, complete with low wages, slave labour and extraction of primary industry resources, like wine, dairy, timber and seafood, and profits out of the region away to Auckland and overseas.
Yes, Anne, there are many stories about the LEAK. Stuff and the Marlborough Express web sites carry many stories. What I wrote above is of course conjecture, and while there are questions that need answering, the real facts are still not fully known.
Simon Lusk and his seminar can be researched in the same two web sites- who attended, who spoke, its purpose.
Another curious thing is the way in which Colin King resigned from Parliament. Was it Lusk who was involved with King out and Smith replaced in, as a sort of deal involving Mayorship?
Nah. Just kidding.
National Guard called out in continuing Charlotte, North Carolina riots sparked by another police shooting of a black man. The PD refuses to release the video footage.
Charlotte is a city with strong incomes and jobs, and often regarded as one of the best places in the US to live.
That such a city can spiral out of control is a lesson in why so many Americans think the USA is on the wrong path.
That such a city can spiral out of control is a lesson in why so many Americans think the USA is on the wrong path.
.
yeah nah
.
My uncle stood there still without blinking. “Yeah, you’re right,” he finally said. “But if Obama is still talking, that means they ain’t kill him. If they killed him, we likely to all be dead. Sound like a win to me.”
Hi joe90, other protestors/police have now been seriously harmed in the disturbances.
I don’t expect someone like you to pay attention to the mood of ordinary people on the ground, but I do expect that reality on the ground is going to give Trump a real chance of winning North Carolina.
There was an interesting article in the July 16 issue of the Economist on police interactions with black, and white people.
It was a report on a study done be an Afro-American Harvard academic Roland Fryer.
He found that black men were more likely to be subject to non-lethal use of force.
However, in an admittedly limited study, he found that black suspects were LESS likely to be shot, fatally or otherwise, than non-black ones.
The assumption that US cops casually shoot black men more readily that non-blacks does not appear to be based on evidence.
I’m sorry I cannot post a link to the article. Perhaps some one else can locate it on-line.
”However, in an admittedly limited study, he found that black suspects were LESS likely to be shot, fatally or otherwise, than non-black ones.”
Surely though if you are treating a far greater number of innocent blacks as suspects based on their total population , it could look like the % getting shot was lower.
Because as we know a black man in the wrong place will be instantly classed as a suspect.
I’m sorry I can’t post a link to the story, and I don’t think I would be very popular, or accurate, if I tried typing in the whole story.
He acknowledged that blacks were more likely to be stopped. However even allowing for this the incidence of shootings seemed to be less. It could be attributed to the fact that ALL police shootings were subjected to detailed investigations. Nevertheless the shootings were not as common as is claimed.
There will probably be a copy of the magazine in your local library if you can’t find it on-line.
Russell Normans not overly happy with Little at the moment. And given forest and bird are writing to him as well we can assume Kevin Hague isn’t going to be in a supportive position.
either way looks like little is bumbling another opportunity where the mates haven’t done the best of jobs.
Lolz the government says they will review their position and everything is peachy. The next PM says he wants to review his position and you call him out for bumbling? Dude, sharpen up.
Go check out RT’s review of the UN debate and the full reality of Kerrys claims. I think you will find that more interesting and topical. Shame the NZ media doesn’t do more ‘fact checking’
Here i find a link, it’s fascinating what RT says compared with the likes of MSM, or the Herald.
Appears to me it is still being discussed, besides I thought the Government was in control… what Little has to say on the matter.
“I do not believe that when they have a Treaty Negotiations Minister as talented as Chris Finlayson, they cannot come up with a creative solution to the issue. I simply do not accept that. But if they are so incompetent and have mishandled it so badly they are now prepared to give up on it, that sits firmly with John Key.”
There is not a cigarette paper between the positions of Labour and the Greens on this issue. The real story is that National have stuffed up. But maybe given their recent track record even that isn’t a surprise either.
Nathan Guy needs to resign over the fish-dumping scandal. Nick Smith should be sacked over the Kermadecs (and housing and….). McCully should have been sacked long ago over the Saudi sheep fiasco. Parata is a shambles in education. Bennett has been a disaster over housing (lets buy another sticking-plaster motel). Upston should resign as Minister for Women because she refuses to comment on women’s issues….and so on.
All this lot presided over by Key big-mouthing over Syria (“there will be blood on your hands”-doh!) while hypocritically refusing to raise the refugee intake to a humanitarian level.
I think they are delaying and delaying the publishing of the Auditor General’s report on McCulley’s Sheep deal, so that they can announce a trade deal with the Saudis to justify the means of getting the deal.
Norman is a denier of rights for indigenous people. And the other environmental groups show their middle class ugly denier of rights consciousness – I am disgusted by them all and I’m withdrawing my support for them.
Little and Labour could make a big positive impact with Māori if they stick to their principles – I hope they do but I suspect the pressure from their pollers and their middle class consciousness will turn them.
Marty – did you ever see any signs of Russel Norman being a “denier of rights for indigenous people” when he was Green co-leader?
Perhaps you are mistaking the mechanics of lobbying for something else.
In any case, the problem here is with the mismanagement of the issue by the Government. Sniping at the minor players seems the perfect result for strategists from the Government, using the “divide and rule” technique of diverting attention and blame.
I’m getting memory-glimpses of a Tibetan flag, some totalitarian security guards and Russel Norman, alone, exposed, standing up for some indigenous culture or other, can you remember, Marty?
yeah often they love the overseas indigenous cultures (and the political attention gained from grandstanding) and forget about the ones in the land they are living in – funny that eh. Could be that he just doesn’t need votes anymore though…
Do “they”?
That’s very unlikely, Marty and given that Russel’s friend and ex co-leader is Maori and staunch with it, it seems to me very unlikely that you are correct in your accusations.
I expect that Russel is now more free to lever wins than he was previously and is able to play a hand that will result in a win for those he represents. I expect “the environment” is high on his list, having committed so much of his time to it in recent times. Perhaps you believe he should jettison his principles? I also believe that Russel’s position on the rights of tangata whenua have not changed. Perhaps you are misreading the situation. In any case, where’s your condemnation of the real player here – Key?
He tangata uaua ia!
What about you Robert – do you think middle class greenwash is more important than upholding the rights agreed to and signed off with indigenous peoples?
No, Marty, I don’t though to be fair, I’m not sure what you mean by “middle class greenwash”, is that where someone buys a Prius rather than a Prelude? Regarding the proposed sanctuary, I think it’s festooned with fish hooks (matua, if you prefer). For starters, you might like to comment on this: Ko nga taunga ika tuuturu e paa ana ki nga taonga tuku iho ki te iwi aa rohe – are they traditional fishing grounds? I’m not saying one way or the other, only that there are fish hooks, details that need to be tested, including the global environmental questions that Russel Norman, in his new role, is honour-bound to ask. I am big on honouring treaties, Marty. I’m also aware that the projections of our shared future is shaking up world views through all cultures.
I’d say the fishhook is we are making ocean sanctuaries and still doing next to nothing about climate change. That is greenwash because how do you think those sanctuaries are going to go when temperatures rise even more. It isn’t even stopping the killing of fish in the ocean – hell even the whales still get killed and fish species hit the ecological wall every day. So what is the point of it? – makes people feel they are doing something – and that is a good reason in many respects but not if it is at the expense of indigenous rights – rights fought for with blood and sacrifice for generations, rights so often discarded as inconvenient to the abusers of those rights, rights tenaciously dug out of the colonisers as they lie, cheat and pretend care all the way dragging their feet.
This issue is about Treaty rights not sanctuaries (red herring) or the commercial catch (red herring), or whether Māori lived loved or died there (red herring). Respecting people (especially those that have been treated so, so ,so badly) is essential if you want to respect the planet, the oceans, the ecosystems and nature herself. There is no compromise on that imo.
Marty. This issue is about Key and National going ahead without consulting Maori. This quibbling about Russel is pointless. Key failed to respect Maori, failed to consult, failed to inform. He and his National mates should be the target of your ire – what are you thinking of, diverting attention from the real miscarriage of justice
by taking pot-shots at others???
Marty. My apologies to you also. I’m not wishing to shame you in any way – I like your stuff. Perhaps I was using language too strong for the moment. I like evocative words and phrases and sometimes use them too freely.
So…create ocean sanctuaries but not at the expense of indigenous communities, yes, but you know, the Japanese and the Norwegians and their whale-hunting… indigenous peoples of our Pacific islands have ceased, I believe, roasting kakapo, though it must surely have been their habit to do so in past times. That right might be enshrined in the Treaty, I don’t know, but modern times are different from those i nga wa o mua. Present day indigenous peoples must surely be willing to discuss the present situation where there is scarcity of a resource that was once plentiful. I don’t mean capitulating, I do mean discussing. Treaties, while absolute, have to flex with the times, I would like to think. In this case, I believe all fault lies with the Government for not consulting, not hearing, not offering the opportunity to debate and propose. They will though, ’cause that’s how they roll, but their sub-surface arrogance has been revealed, imho.
Robert i like, respect and admire you. I am sorry for raising the energy. This is a tough issue that confronts my values. I certainly blame the crook key and his minions and the left need to be aware of the issues from all sides too.
Marty, thanks and yes, it’s an issue with more than a little heat embedded. Despite the occasional boil-over (on all sides) debate like this is they way forward, imo and that’s what should have been had around the sanctuary or around any issue where people hold treaty rights.
Robert, I think you (like many) are missing the point.
Treaty settlements are said to be full and final. What is happening here is that a settlement made in 1992 is being overruled by this government. What this means is the Māori have to accept that Treaty settlements are only final for them, but the state can change the rules anytime it likes.
Do you think this is fair? Do you not see that this has implications for all treaty agreements? Do you realise that Māori have only recieved recompense for 2% of the worth of the land that was illegally confiscated? You are also trying to question the validity of a claim that has been settled.
I am a Green Party supporter but I was horrified by the way Russel Norman completely ignored Treaty rights in that interview on the Nation. I was relieved he is no longer the leader.
Karen – how gracious of you to inform me of my point-missing. I believe I have a good handle on treaties and the likes. In this instance, the ‘bad play’ has come from the Nats, dismissing tangata whenua. Why you want to drag others into that business, I can’t fathom.
I like democracy – and no part of it includes John Key disenfranchising me or dicks like you telling me what to do.
You are a traitor to the principles of democracy – winning dirty is all you care about – you’re a shabby beast not much better than Wayne the trougher.
Chuck – way above you again wrote ‘would of’. I have already told you that there is no such thing -“would’ve” (short for ‘would have’) please. Unless you are trying to come across as an ignorant klutz. Furthermore, the Shakespearian ‘Methinks’ which you attempt to use is one word, not two. If you can’t do it right, stop pretending that you can.
Wrong side of logic, wrong side of history, pretending to be matey while dissing destructively…
It is you who are sad. A sadly incompetent troll, who smugly employs straw man argument. You did not accurately portray SM’s attitude.
““Te Ohu Kaimoana and iwi representatives worked hard to find a compromise solution where the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary could go ahead and where Māori would not have extant rights, as agreed in the 1992 Deed of Settlement, unilaterally expropriated by the Government.”
“We considered that an offer to voluntarily shelve the use of Māori fisheries quota in the Kermadec region while maintaining extant fishing rights would achieve the same thing. While ultimately iwi quota owners would have needed to agree, we considered this was a constructive and reasonable solution to the impasse,” Mr Tuuta said.”
““We considered that an offer to voluntarily shelve the use of Māori fisheries quota in the Kermadec region while maintaining extant fishing rights would achieve the same thing. While ultimately iwi quota owners would have needed to agree, we considered this was a constructive and reasonable solution to the impasse”
I am responding to your reply to me here Robert. You evidently thought I was being patronising to you. That was not my intention.
You are one of the very few people here I read. You obviously believe you understand the issues here but I see no evidence from what you have posted that you do. I was trying to help.
I apologise, Karen and I agree with the views you expressed. I’m not trying to unpick or argue whatever Russel Norman has said, I’m just saying that the issue here is the Government’s decision, conscious decision I believe, to go ahead without involving Maori. Reactions and responses from NGO’s and individuals such as Russel don’t really have much bearing on the issue, I reckon and those have to be taken in the context of whatever sector they come from. Why would Key and his band of orcs be proposing a sanctuary for fish in the first place is an interesting question, when it is counter to most everything else they do. I believe they hoped to trumpet their big fish sanctuary as evidence that they are greener than the Greens, but to get there they had to behave badly with regard Maori, and decided they could swing it nonetheless, or at least suppress it till the election passes.
Perhaps you are right, I may not understand the issue, but leopards, spots and all that. I’m not mesmerized by such ploys. I’m interested in the idea though, that iwi can’t be trusted to say, “We’ll voluntarily abstain from fishing there, so long as you don’t ban us”, and how people can’t conceive that such an agreement might work. I believe it could. It’s a cultural interface there though, so who knows…
Yes emotion is highish and my understanding of what Te Ohu Kaimoana and Iwi leaders have said is that they are quite okay with sanctuaries. I just don’t think saying, “TOKM are opposed to ocean sanctuaries PERIOD.” is 100% true, and I put a link to back up my point.
I think you have been a bit rude by saying, “…well stuff you.” and the other one you said to me yesterday – and so I have replied in kind – I have offered reciprocity/utu.
yes I play chess and yes I am being pedantic a bit on this I admit – and I still think my understanding is correct.
edit and I’ll also say I am not opposed to ocean sanctuaries in any way – hell I welcome them with open arms – I don’t eat fish because of the way we have depleted the numbers and affected species survival. I’d like ocean sanctuaries to be part of a plan to help people cope with climate change, to bring people together – however as it stands at the moment I have to call this greenwash and Treaty breaching and I cannot tolerate Treaty breaching – see my comment to Robert above (i think)
So you are being selective who you name call and abuse now Marty Mars? My post was in support of what Barfly was saying. So if you think that of me, then you must think that of Barfly as well, given that he has been responding to you in far greater detail than I.
And further, in other words only YOUR opinion is right and everyone else is wrong, while you try and selectively bully people with abuse because you can’t handle any home truths being said about the Maori party.
For Christ sakes Marty, do you hear yourself? What gives you the right to abuse me for supporting what someone else said? And you’re “happy to let me be…” What does that mean exactly? you’ll leave me alone as long as I don’t post opinions on the Maori party and don’t challenge what you post?
Leftie you are entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to reply to me anyway you like within the policy bounds of this site. I may not like or believe what you say and i may think you are not actually arguing a point, just kneejerking slogans and i might think that in my way I could counter that with some logic and compassion. I might think all of that and you know what? Who cares. It is my opinion. That’s all.
Well that was a piece of patronizing abusive swill you just wrote there Marty Mars, clearly by your own behaviour you don’t believe in people, particularly me, voicing opinions, (that are not “kneejerking slogans” btw), because they differ from your own and I have been responding “within the policy bounds of this site”. On the other hand, your pointless abuse is not painful in the least, I see it as a weakness, it’s infantile, and shows you’re struggling.
Well said. It’s amazing how some people are completely blind to that which you have pointed out, Barfly. You cannot have a “sanctuary” while maintaining extant fishing rights. They can’t have it both ways.
you are a troll – an annoyingly thick slogan spinner. You might as well be a rwnj your understanding is below average on anything I’ve ever seen you write. I’m sick of you.
What a load of sanctimonious rubbish Marty Mars. You abuse when an obvious fact is pointed out to you that you can’t handle. You have lost all reasoning and are being totally irrational.
Are you comprehension challenged ? Or can a Maori organization never be wrong because they are Maori?
If you make an agreement with another party about something, and then want to change that agreement, you need to negotiate with that other party. And if the change you want to make is really important, you need to stir yourself to figure out some way to make the other party to the agreement happy for that change to occur, even if it involves making concessions you didn’t actually want to make. Otherwise, you shouldn’t enter into agreements in the first place.
Toussaint Romain was held up as a hero by the media in the Charlotte protests. As a public defender, dressed in a shirt and tie, he got between the protestors and police and tried to stop conflict. The second half of this interview with Romain was edited out by CNN. I wonder why… https://youtu.be/J_hGdgG1JiI
Had Maurice Williamson kept his trap shut or John Key himself been able to control his impulses and keep his hands to himself, you might have a point.
/
It’s not actually an option, cobber. You gave it a shot, which is more than most ever do, so kudos to you for that. But obviously, you’ve blown it and you’ll never entrusted with any responsibility again. I imagine you’re Ok with that.
Assad , an eye surgeon, and the democratically elected leader of Syria states that the attack on his forces was no accident and US does not want to fight ISIS.
“Syrian President Bashar Assad says that US airstrikes which killed 62 Syrian government troops were “intentional” and they lasted for an hour. He added that the US “does not have the will” to join Russia in fighting terrorists in Syria…
‘Russian military contacted US twice to stop airstrikes against Syrian govt troops’
“What was a ray of hope has turned into a gaze into the abyss. The Russia-US ceasefire to end the Syrian conflict is in tatters. For many the American bombing of the Syrian military marks a process of mission creep and forced regime change.
CrossTalking with Ali Rizk, Nadim Shehadi, and Rick Sterling.”
It’s a shame Assad/Putin have run out of hospitals to bomb. They’ve been reduced to just attacking aid convoys and that only kills healthy adults, not the sick and infirm. Where’s the fun in that?
“President Bashar al-Assad meanwhile indicated he saw no quick end to the war, telling AP News it would “drag on” as long as it is part of a global conflict in which terrorists were backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States.” http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN11S1C5
It’s a shame that all can’t focus on their same common enemy, ISIS
ISIS aren’t a common enemy though; they are a proxy army being financed, armed and used by western allies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey) as well as directly by the Pentagon itself, to try and regime change Assad out of Damascus.
It’s a shame that all can’t focus on their same common enemy, ISIS
Pretty straightforward – if the Russians and their Syrian client do that, the sizable proportion of the Syrian population that wants their client dead will eventually get what they want, and if their client’s not running things the Russians’ military presence in the Mediterranean is fucked. Fighting Da’esh is a bit of a sideshow from the Russian perspective – much more important is knackering the ceasefire in such a way that they have plausible deniability.
Assad is extremely popular with the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. The Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers are not.
Fighting Da’esh is a bit of a sideshow from the Russian perspective – much more important is knackering the ceasefire in such a way that they have plausible deniability.
More Psycho Milt bullshit.
You don’t understand the “Russian perspective” one whit.
The US has limited positive control over the extremist Islamist groups that it arms and funds to try and overthrow Assad (an effort which is thoroughly illegal in international law). These terrorist groups never respected any terms of the cease fire from day 1.
In fact, a number of those groups signed a document saying that they would not be bound by any terms of the ceasefire.
In addition, the US special forces who are training these proxy regime change fighters know full well that they are being asked to train the next generation of Jihadist terrorists, and they are not happy about it.
Assad is extremely popular with the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. The Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers are not.
Well, he is with his own one, at least. The Kurds, not so much. And hardly anyone in Syria is keen on “Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers.”
You don’t understand the “Russian perspective” one whit.
One only achieves understanding of the Russian perspective by hoovering up endless Russian government propaganda from RT, I suppose? That might help with understanding Putin’s propaganda aims, but I’m not really interested in those.
The US has limited positive control over the extremist Islamist groups that it arms and funds to try and overthrow Assad…
Leaving aside for a moment your obsession with the US supposedly funding Da’esh, of course the US has limited positive control over participants in a civil war in a foreign country. That’s because the rebel forces aren’t clients of the US government, the way Assad is a client of the Russian government. Expecting the US government to give Syrian rebel groups orders and have them carried out would be pointless – expecting the Russian government to give Assad orders and expect them to be carried out, on the other hand, is entirely reasonable.
If Russia had any specific intent of eliminating Da’esh, that would be true. However, its actual intent is to eliminate all opponents of its Syrian client regime, so cooperating with Russia would be a terrible thing to do. In any case, aligning yourself with a mafia state is a bad idea in general, let alone in this particular instance.
Russia is keen to eliminate the 101 flavours of jihadists that the west implicitly and explicitly supports in Syria, yes, that includes the fictional “Free Syrian Army” that no one can find and also the “moderate terrorists” that the US seems to enjoy backing.
Also, do try and remember that Russia is operating in Syria at the invitation of the Damascus government, while the US, UK and France are all operating in Syria illegally.
It’s unfortunate that Hillary Clinton and the rest of the neocon set embarked on supporting yet another disastrous regime change op in Syria.
And these people still want Assad gone, even if that means that the black ISIS flag gets run up over Damascus. Which of course means, the ISIS version of Sharia law gets applied over the whole country, and women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities (including Christians) all get slaved out, head chopped or burnt alive.
The Assad government is the only shot for stable, secular rule in Syria. The Americans however would prefer chaotic, Islamic extremist rule in an imploded failed state balkanized Syria.
And behind all of this, is a contest for who gets to control the real estate for massive oil and gas pipelines through the territory.
“And these people still want Assad gone, even if that means that the black ISIS flag gets run up over Damascus. ”
It’s saying things like this that destroys the credibility of your argument, CV. Certainly Assad should be removed. preferably to the Hague, but there’s not a scrap of evidence that anyone in the west wants ISIS in control.
Just because you choose to blind yourself to the facts on the ground doesn’t mean that other people will, TRP.
The west’s allies would prefer for the Assad government to fall and for Assad to be gone tomorrow. In fact, regime change remains the first and foremost priority of the USA in Syria, and it has done for years.
That leaves no one to oppose the western supplied Daesh/ISIS forces on the ground, leaving Syria imploded just like NATO/USA left Libya.
Gotta agree here any strongman regieme change in the Middle East by the west has not gone very well. Tribal affiliation, religious intolerance, artificial countries are simply not conducive to democracy forming, maybe in a few hundred years when they have butchered themselves silly and society is s bit more secular there may be a chance To be fair Europe or the west where not much better 500 years ago
The west might also try to no longer assassinate/encourage the assassination of middle of the road secular leaders whenever these leaders spring up and try to take their countries in an independent direction. From Mossadegh to Sadat to Gadaffi.
If you could stop thinking of murderous dictators (Sadat and Gadaffi in this case) as “middle of the road, secular leaders,” it would be a good start on a move away from tinfoil-hattery.
There’s a reason that GW Bush and Tony Blair are wanted for war crimes, Psycho Milt.
Further every time the West gets rid of a middle of the road secular leader, they replace him with someone far more shit, far more radical, and usually far more radical Islamist.
Well, you can simply post the facts you reckon are so readily available. That’d really take the wind out of my sales. Until then, it’s just another example of you using hyperbole instead of your grey matter.
Well, you can simply post the facts you reckon are so readily available. That’d really take the wind out of my sails. Until then, it’s just another example of you using hyperbole instead of your grey matter.
I think CV may be making the wrong side of the argument about ISIS – not that it represents a desirable end state for Syria, but that it has value or is perceived as having value to the furtherance of US ends in Syria – mostly destabilising Assad.
Likewise the Assad’s forces offer a vehicle or a letter of marque like legitimacy to Russian skirmishing, the Turkmen offer buffer stability to Turkey, and the Kurds must look after themselves having no reliable state sponsor.
The Russians are wedded to Assad because a Syrian government the US was not supporting insurgency against would have no particular interest in becoming Putin’s client. So in principle the US should push to remove Assad through the UN and let Russia make what deals it may with his successor.
Don’t worry CV , you are correct in the above thread . The others don’t want to know the truth about the situation in Syria and the Middle East in general. The blind acceptance of the American version of everything is mind boggling.
You would have thought the lies about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in 2003 would have wised up some of the left.
But no…..still blind acceptance of the western establishment’s propaganda.
You bump into this lack of critical thinking at its most visceral when you question the official propaganda about 9/11.
We’re not too far way from the start of the cyclone/hurricane season. This semi- tropical “muck” could be the fore-runner to an active season which might see NZ hit a few times this summer.
Yes, I have a reputation for being a bundle of joy.
500 prisoners up for early release after Department of Corrections’ mistake
“Around 500 prisoners will have their release dates brought forward because of the Supreme Court ruling on the Department of Correction’s mistaken interpretation of the Parole Act.”
“The court ruled on Thursday that the department had miscalculated parole and release dates, meaning some prisoners had spent more time in custody than the department had taken into account.”
“The court didn’t rule on compensation, but it’s an issue that’s going to come up”
I notice, Leftie, that you read and commented on the response just before mine on this topic.
I find it hard to believe that you didn’t even seem to have noticed what I said.
What is the problem? Does it upset you that the department seem to have followed the interpretation of the law that the highest court that had considered the matter seemed to believe was the right one?
Are you really as stupid, or biased, as the Green and Labour spokesmen are? Should the Department have said something like “The Court of Appeal may tell us that the law means X but we think they are wrong”.
If so, they might have appealed to you but I am sure the legal fraternity would have been up in arms.
Why do you still think that the Department is at fault? Why aren’t you yelling at the Court of Appeal?
I realise that David Clendon and Kelvin Davis, as well as TVNZ and RNZ are on your side but do you really want to be on the side of the Green and Labour Party idiots rather than on the side of accuracy?
Come on, admit that the Department was following the best interpretation of the law that was available to them.
The “mistake” the Department made was, apparently, to believe that the distinguished jurists on the Court of Appeal actually knew what the law meant.
As far as I have understood it the Department have been using the same method since 2003. It is the method that follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court, now the final stage for appeals, has now ruled that the law doesn’t mean that at all. In effect that is saying that the Court of Appeal simply didn’t know what they were doing.
None of the 500 people you are talking about would appear to be eligible for any compensation at all. They are people who are in prison now and will still be in prison even if the release date is brought forward. You can be forgiven though. Espiner on Morning Report didn’t seem to understand that either. 500 rather than 21 seemed much sexier to him I guess.
An example of one of these 500 would be someone who was first charged, and remanded in custody, in January 2015. Further investigation led to additional charges in March 2015 and more still in April 2015. They went to trial and were sentenced to 14 years without parole.
This would give them a release date according to Wednesday’s interpretation of the law of April 2029. Now it will be January 2029. Just what “compensation” do you think they are due?
The people who may be eligible are the 21 people, currently in prison, whose time should have been up before today and the unknown number who have already been released after serving a longer time than they should have.
Disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and everything I am saying could be total rubbish.
Perhaps a real lawyer could comment?
On the other hand perhaps we should expect all the Judges on the Court of Appeal to resign? Their senior brethren (and sisteren) clearly think they are incompetent.
I do not see that there is any compensation due to any current prisoner whose release date on the “correct” basis is not affected by the miscalculation, but I would expect that if the basis for calculation has been consistent since 2003 that there will be quite a number of now released prisoners who were not released until after the correct date. Yet again we are looking at a situation where reasonable compensation is being determined not on the basis of any principals or agreed assessment criteria, but determined by politicians who will not be consistent over time, and may be swayed by non-relevant issues (such as polling and focus groups). If we really have a justice system, it should be handled by them – and not by a minister attempting to change the law.
Naw, that was just software glitches in her body-double android. She’s all better now that she had her motherboard replaced and tuned in during her few days off.
Trump Jr warned against poison Skittles (Syrians).In 1939 Germans were warned 1 poison (Jewish) mushroom would make the whole bowl lethal. pic.twitter.com/WFHWgX5nJB— Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) September 22, 2016
[We] wanted to see what level of support the comments would get if we took some famous pieces of Nazi propaganda and changed the word ‘Jew’ with ‘migrant’.
BBC article on the US election, comparing Hillary and Trump to various world leaders, has to use two heads for Trump on several of the images, to represent his varying statements: http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37423550
“A shallow trench running the width of the closed state highway at Rangiriri marks the start of a restoration project 152 years in the making.
Spades were handed out to New Zealand Transport Agency staff and management to begin filling the trench – a symbolic step toward a massive restoration project to see Rangiriri Pa returned to its original state.
State Highway 1 drove a line through the pa site when it was built in the 1960s. The path of the new expressway offers a way to heal that wound. ”
How low can the Labour vote go? At 22% probably no one on the Labour List would get in. Not even Andrew Little (who has never won a seat and only got into Parliament on the specials). Trevor Mallard is standing List only, not wanting to lose Hutt South to the very popular Chris Bishop. He hopes for a high List spot. If you want to be a Labour MP in 2017-20 you have to deselect a sitting member in a safe Red Seat. Already the jockeying has begun.
Of course they will backtrack on gender balance. Remember that balance has to be on winnable seats. They could for instance have chosen a woman for Phil Goff’s seat but have not. All talk and no action unless Labour women stand up to be counted..
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
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What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
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The calls for assassination:
So, why hasn’t the FBI put Trump into the back of a police wagon and taken him in for questioning?
A bought Presidential campaign: US$149.9M in political advertising booked between now and Election Day Nov 8
Clinton’s campaign has reserved $145.3M of advertising.
Trump’s campaign has reserved $4.4M of advertising.
Clinton has 33x more advertising scheduled than Trump. The minor candidates have a small spend as well.
Interesting that in general, the Left seems to be backing the Big Money Corporate Sponsored candidate.
On the advertising budget alone, Clinton should totally swamp Trump in November.
Hey CV.@1.2. Is this comment an attempted distraction from Trump’s thinly disguised call for someone to take out Hillary Clinton? 🙂
The Secret Service apparently did talk to Trump and the Trump campaign to clarify issues around what he said.
Remember too that the Clintons were guests at Trump’s wedding so I’m sure that the anxiety ridden liberal left misinterpreted his comments 😛
Or maybe The Joker has contracted a private security firm .. or two.. or three.. or …
He surrounds himself with his own ‘privatized mercenary force’. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/12/11-private-security-firms-guarding-donald-trump.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/inside-trumps-security-juggernaut-221543
And yet it is the “left” who are “anxiety ridden”. Yeah, right.
Hey drumpfkopf, what happened to all the press conferences you told us Trump did? Is he running scared of questions like how his foundation is a scam to funnel other people’s money into things that benefit him?
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-finally-asked-about-his-foundation-scandal-descends-into-complete-incoherence-1b662d8de8c7#.ibbd3ijnv
Hey Andre, help yourself to a long walk off a fucking short pier.
First TV debate is up in a week.
I wonder if Trump will bring up the former president of the Haitian senate saying that the Clintons tried to bribe him after the massive earthquake there.
Trump’s flat out lining his own pocket and laughing all the way to the bank.
I wonder if Clinton has done any more no-shows to her own $10,000 per seat fundraisers for the rich and elite of US society?
Difference is the Clinton Foundation actually does things whereas the Trump ‘Foundation’ appears to be a scam intended to enrich himself
Yes the Clinton Foundation does spend a small single digit percentage of its receipts in actual charitable type activities.
And some.
https://www.charitywatch.org/ratings-and-metrics/bill-hillary-chelsea-clinton-foundation/478
https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-hot-topic/why-doesn-39-t-charitywatch-rate-the-trump-foundation-/65
Gawd you really are a fuckwit, drumpfkopf. The likes of InfoWars really aren’t reliable sources.
“The Clinton Foundation spends between 80-90 percent on program services, which experts say is the standard in the industry to define charitable works. It spends the majority of its money directly on projects rather than through third-party grants.”
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/aug/25/reince-priebus/reince-priebus-false-claim-80-clinton-foundation-c/
So Saudi and Russian business interests as well as US banksters spend tens of millions on the Clinton Foundation and almost all of it goes to charitable good deeds? Bullshit.
The Observer summarises key points
1) Selling access to the Clinton State Dept (“pay for play.”)
2) Accepting sketchy foreign donations from abusive nations.
3) Helping major donors with US gov help.
http://observer.com/2016/08/the-six-clinton-foundation-scandals-everyone-needs-to-know/
Surprise surprise, Jared’s rag bags his dad in-laws opponent.
/
Why the IRS is probing the Clinton foundation.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-31/why-irs-probing-clinton-foundation-clinton-cash-author-explains
Could it possibly be because Republicans want to play dirty tricks?
“The request for a review came from 64 House Republicans led by Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn, who have tasked the IRS, FBI, and Federal Trade Commission with examining the dealings of the Foundation.
“
How typical of them.
Neither is the link you have posted to, Andre
‘Program Services’
Andre your ‘attachment’ is either causing you to bend ever farther, or you are not well versed at analysing information..
Should Clinton become POTUS will you take some responsibility for the results and outcomes of her presidency?
By overtly putting yourself out there, you are taking on ownership of future problems…you realise that as a voter committed to ensuring a Clinton ‘victory’ this is what you are doing right?
Same applies to whichever ‘side’ is taken
According to Charity Watch The Clinton foundation spends $2 for every $100 it raises and spends 88% of its budget on its stated programme – it has an A rating as a charity. By comparison Amnesty International has an A- It spends $14 to raise $100 and spends 80% of its budget on its stated programme.
And
I think you are being a little too disparaging in your comment here CV.
This one’s for guess whom ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11715022
It’s simply amazing what an obssessive home grown bitterness about the NZLP can do for a “guess whom”.
More liberal whining.
The private company that runs Dunedin’s public transport (Go Bus/Ngai Tahu) are importing overseas workers to drive their buses? According to a letter in the ODT yesterday anyway.
From an article earlier in the year “NZ Bus paid $20.97 an hour to union drivers in Wellington, going up to $21.25 at the end of the year, he said. But Go Bus paid about $16.02 in Dunedin, and up to $18 in Auckland. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/81527792/Bus-drivers-union-threatens-industrial-action-on-a-scale-never-seen-before
Hardly a surprise as major iwi share the same values the maori party endorse in their support of the shonky regime.
They will hide behind the layers of management and corporate dribble if challenged.
I wonder if the rates paid are a function of demand for bus services? that would be a novel idea wouldn’t it
Maybe aviation has taken one small step away from fossil fuels.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/09/22/100-percent-invisible-biofuel-powers-us-navys-green-growler/
That is good. We’re still going to have to seriously decrease flying from our present high use though. There’s no way that enough bio-fuels can be grown to support it.
Bio-Fuels are a terrible idea. We already destroy enough land for farming so we don’t need to start clear-cutting forests to fuel our various devices too.
Yeah bio-ethanol from corn or sugar and bio-diesel from oil-seeds are really crap ideas. But bio-fuels from sources like algae, agricultural and forestry waste have much less of a downside. Given that I doubt we will make the cultural changes necessary to give up global long-haul aviation, and there’s no technology in sight that could substitute for the energy density of liquid fuels required for long-haul aviation, this looks like a reasonable step forward.
Spot on Andre, bio fuels from forestry wood waste etc will be able to start replacing fossil fuels in the near future (within the next 10 years).
Producing bio oil is an easy enough exercise via pyrolysis. The trick is to upgrade the bio oil to have similar properties as fossil fuel, while making the process commercially viable.
Lanza Tech has recently announced progress via there process for bio fuels. And I know of a bunch of other companies making very good progress as well.
It’s possible to grow the organisms that would be the basis for the bio-fuels in the ocean. So it doesn’t use land it also helps pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Electric and/or hydrogen could feasibly take over for shorter flights – maybe up to 1500km. So bio-fuels would then allow some long-haul aviation even in a zero-fossil future.
Air travel needs to be heavily curtailed. That’s all there is to it. None of these fuel alternatives will be ready in time.
“Air travel needs to be heavily curtailed”
Will never happen CV, so we must look for better alternatives to fuel the planes.
And the alternatives are closer to being ready than you think.
There are no such alternatives in the foreseeable future and thus air travel must be curtailed. This is real economics and so you don’t actually get a say in it.
“There are no such alternatives in the foreseeable future and thus air travel must be curtailed”
Draco is your comment above based on any particular observation or experience? For example are you involved in the R&D of bio-oil for use as a transport fuel (land, sea, air)?
My work allows me close access to alternative / green fuels…and I can confirm that bio-oil for use as a fuel oil (to replace medium and heavy fossil fuel oil) is doable right now.
As for a transport fuel, bio-oil can be upgraded now as well. However the problem is its uneconomical to do so, but will not be for too much longer as the technology is refined.
The recent AirNZ / Virgin Aust RFI for jet bio-fuel attracted a lot of interest. And will enable a bio-fuel industry to proceed in Australasia, underpinned by the volumes required by the above airlines.
And its 2nd and 3rd generation bio-fuels.
Yes, I’m quite aware that it’s available now. The problem, that I’ve read a couple of articles on over the years, is the inability to scale it up to support the present demand.
Air travel is going to be heavily curtailed, one way or another, within 15 years-ish.
Cellulosic butanol is one of the best – distributes through existing fuel infrastructure and burns safely in existing engines.
“up to 1500km”
That is very consoling. I shall be grateful for that information when we come down in the Tasman when only two thirds of the way from Wellington to Sydney.
You’ve just made many commenters here very happy contemplating that possibility.
Pesticide companies’ own secret/ unpublished research found serious harm to honey bees:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/22/pesticide-manufacturers-own-tests-reveal-serious-harm-to-honeybees
“Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies to end the secrecy which cloaks much of their research.”
Massey is doing a study on the kids in Motueka re the effects of pesticides. Many of the young kids at school were asked to be part of the study.
I feel sorry for the islanders working the orchards, it’s not very OSH friendly for them. They should be part of the study as well.
Save the bees, grow as many bee loving plants as you can, most bee friendly plants are flowers, the end result is a beautiful garden, who would not want that ?
Well, it’s not actually that hard to have your own hives if you’ve got a garden and you get fantastic, fresh honey.
It does require maintaining standards of course but that’s normal for anything really (The abnormality and that which causes so much pain in society is the RWNJs demand that we don’t have any standards).
All research needs to be done by public companies and available to the public to ensure that such secrecy as this doesn’t cause us harm as recent history proves that it does.
+1
Marlborough Council to investigate the “Whale Blubber” leak. All whom were present at the meeting that was ‘leaked’ to fat boy were asked to sign a declaration stating that they did not leak details of the meeting.
“But two councillors, Jessica Bagge and Jamie Arbuckle, have refused to sign statutory declarations issued to all councillors as part of an ongoing Marlborough District Council investigation.”
You can’t claim that you were not responsible for the leak then refuse to sign a declaration confirming it… makes you look guilty as sin. JS
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/84562873/two-marlborough-councillors-refusing-to-sign-statutory-declaration-over-whale-oil-leak-named
What’s his weight got to do with it. Think you can make comments without going on the persons weight?
Or is that only acceptable if you are insulting a man or someone with different political views?
And of course the Whale is such a scrupulous respecter of persons…
Two wrongs dont make a right.
If fairness – he is trying to improve his blog. There are generally more insults and horrid things said on the standard in the comments these days than there is on his blog.
Thats not supporting what his blog used to be like – but giving credit for what is happening now.
Care to address the topic? Whaleoil publishing leaked & private information? 2 wrongs don’t make a right? SO no more ‘those emails were stolen’ whines from the feral blogger? Pfft, doubt it.
🙂
Care to address the topic? Nicky Hager publishing leaked & private information? 2 wrongs don’t make a right? SO no more ‘those emails were stolen’ whines from the feral blogger? Pfft, doubt it.
Yes people here defend hagers use of emails out of public interest. Slater was outraged by it… then copies the behaviour.
“Care to address the topic?”
You are confused I Feel Love.
The Marlborough District Council leak was from a whistle blower (a Councilor or employee). I would of thought our left leaning friends here would of been horrified that the Council is now conducting a witch hunt for said whistle blower.
While Slater was hacked by a third party.
Considering the frequency with with which you and other RWNJ trolls utter offensive and ill-founded personal abuse of Little I see no reason not to shame personifications of corruption, greed and sloth like the Whale and Gerry Brownlee.
Your interest is not sincere – when you are assiduous in disciplining your fellow trolls for abuse we may reconsider.
Care to give any example of where I have ever given put any personal abuse against Little?
I actively try never to do it to anyone (may have had a slip here and there – but in general – I try to be polite to people on here). Not that I get the same back mind.
You have to do a little better than that – you made an attack on a local over fatshaming – show us your sincerity by pointing out where you did the same to a fellow concern troll – or where you condemned the Whale directly for any of his many grossly offensive slurs – that on the dead west coast boy for example. Otherwise you’re just special pleading.
I dont need to do anything.
I have been consistant in pointing out the name calling on this blog. I didnt make an attack – if you consider what I wrote one – then you must be feeling very sensitive.
I have commented on this several times – from women being called a bitch – to references to peoples weight, and also raising issue with comments like a poster telling people to go hang themselves.
I also shared a story of a family member who was self harming and threatening suicide because of bulling (both physical and online). As I said then, and I will again now – I hope that others do not have to go thru the heartbreak, stress and fear of the damage that this causes.
TRP mod commented agreeing and that they are trying to improve this – without damaging robust debate.
So – I can back up my sincerity by being consistent.
Here is a challenge to you – why dont you be part of a solution and try stopping abuse when you see it instead of being and enabler and calling out people who actually try.
You’re a troll – you don’t get to challenge until you demonstrate sincerity – probably when hell freezes over.
Or take a long walk off a short pier or some such, as above.
And as far as the reference to weight …. agreed not such a good idea.
HOWEVER, perhaps one of the reasons is that such a reference often goes hand in hand with laziness. Not unloik JFK’s language mangler machine. Diction is lazy, language is based on learned spin and slogans dreamed up by spin meisters, – lazy mind – ideologically driven, absent of critical thought.
Smart flabby arsed attitude.
Oh you HATER Matty! How very dare you!
She’d probably have just been better to use the blubber’s own spin and call him out for what he is:
FERAL ((especially of an animal) in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication.)
“Thats not supporting what his blog used to be like – but giving credit for what is happening now.”
i fail to see what relevance any cleaning up of comments has to do with the fact hes still running smear campaigns
talking about just the comments section while ignoring what WO actually does is a massive red herring
Slater has picked on me before, published a photo of me on his blog when I requested that he did not. His trolls slammed me for it and as i defended my actions of a single woman protest against Key in Nelson, on his blog in an intelligent and factual manner I was bullied and then blocked.
There is a big difference between debating political views and bullying, and WE ALL know what Slater does best and it sure isn’t debating. My description of him is factual.
Have a dead cat, I’m more interested and what is going on at the Marlborough Council chambers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJzSTNDUGI Aww you hurt his feelings Cinny, good on you for making a stand & put yourself out there, a very brave thing to do within NZ current political climate.
Fat Cambo loves the cut and thrust of personal abuse, well, one side of it anyway. Maybe he looks up from stamping head to have a wee sweaty cry about the mean boys and girls, but I doubt it.
Colin King exMP, is a contender for Mayoralty in Blenheim.
He is an “acquaintance” of one Mr Lusk, a “friend” of Cameron Slater who earlier this year was in Blenheim to “assist” aspiring candidates.
Cameron Slater’s use of the leaked recording seemed aimed at damaging the top Mayoral candidate Mr Leggett.
Mr King’s daughter is a Councillor I believe. I think her name is Jessica Bagge who refused to sign the statutory declaration to absolve her of being the leaker.
Just wondering if there are connections?
I’ve met Grant Robertson a few times.
Does that make me a closet commie or something similar?
Does that mean people shouldn’t talk to me because I might pass on their deepest, darkest secrets to the Opposition?
Yes
I am truly hurt.
Puckish Rogue seems to think I am a “snitch”.
Boo Hoo.
Your refund cheque for membership in the VRWC will be in the mail
alwyn, when you spoke to Grant Robertson a few months ago at a seminar on how to go about running local political campaigns targeted at ‘sympathetic’ candidates, did you talk about opposing in-house meetings? And then, having talked about these meetings, lo and behold did a release of a recording of a in-house, public-excluded meeting happen, months later at the time voting papers were distributed?
I believe what you are talking about- meeting, having a chat- is very different, and an attempt to minimise what is a very serious breach of councillor ethics and trust, and having huge consequences for mayor, council, staff and the public.
“alwyn, when you spoke to Grant Robertson a few months ago at a seminar on how to go about running local political campaigns targeted at ‘sympathetic’ candidates”.
That really is news to me. He can’t have invited me because I haven’t heard of that activity of his before.Should you have told me that Grant ran such a seminar? Sounds terrible to me and I am surprised that you allowed such a damaging story about Grant’s activities to leak.
alwyn, I think you understand my intention that for Grant Robertson you should read Simon Lusk as the real persona of my story……………
Ianmac, Colin King’s daughter is Cr Laressa Shenfield. Jessica Bagge is a retiring (that is, she is leaving Council!) councillor with a long-term feud with the outgoing mayor.
She refused on principle. Both councillors who refused to sign the declaration, Jamie Arbuckle and Jessica Bagge, have denied sending the tape to Cameron Slater.
What is noticeable, though, is by refusing to sign the declaration, they don’t have to answer the second part which addresses whether they know who did the leak.
I think you’re right to factor in the role of Simon Lusk into the affair as he is connected to both Slater and some
right-wing council candidates here who attended his seminar. Lusk is concerned to obtain control of Councils by suitable, right wing candidates.
There is another question that concerns me, as well as the poisoning effect upon trust of Council by the public, trust within Council between councillors and staff, trust
between councillors, and trust between councillors and Mayor.
That is bad enough, but what concerns me is the distinct and shadowy possibility that behind the Council shenanigans, behind Slater and Lusk, is money- money
that wants a compliant Council to allow further treatment of Marlborough as a third world style economy, complete with low wages, slave labour and extraction of primary industry resources, like wine, dairy, timber and seafood, and profits out of the region away to Auckland and overseas.
Ty for the info, much appreciated and well said. I’ve often heard that Slater has connections in Blenheim
The plot thickens. Thank-you Ianmac and mac1. Slater lost the National Party DP contract so he’s moved into Local Bodies.
Yes mac1. Follow the money. Is the local media following the story and getting the true facts out to the public?
Yes, Anne, there are many stories about the LEAK. Stuff and the Marlborough Express web sites carry many stories. What I wrote above is of course conjecture, and while there are questions that need answering, the real facts are still not fully known.
Simon Lusk and his seminar can be researched in the same two web sites- who attended, who spoke, its purpose.
Another curious thing is the way in which Colin King resigned from Parliament. Was it Lusk who was involved with King out and Smith replaced in, as a sort of deal involving Mayorship?
Nah. Just kidding.
I think there is a connection, but one which involves egos primarily. Search for the simple answer- women, land, money, power, ambition.
Colin King’s advertising slogan for the mayoralty, “Ambitious for Marlborough”, is delightfully ambiguous.
Thanks Mac1. Jessica Bagge is not Colin King’s daughter. I withdraw and apologise Jessica.
National Guard called out in continuing Charlotte, North Carolina riots sparked by another police shooting of a black man. The PD refuses to release the video footage.
Charlotte is a city with strong incomes and jobs, and often regarded as one of the best places in the US to live.
That such a city can spiral out of control is a lesson in why so many Americans think the USA is on the wrong path.
In a nutshell this explains the popularity of trump.
Voters aren’t going to vote FOR trump as such, more voting for a change.
Whether that change occurs is another story.
.
yeah nah
.
My uncle stood there still without blinking. “Yeah, you’re right,” he finally said. “But if Obama is still talking, that means they ain’t kill him. If they killed him, we likely to all be dead. Sound like a win to me.”
http://www.thefader.com/2016/09/19/my-mississippi-pledge-kiese-laymon
http://www.kieselaymon.com/
Hi joe90, other protestors/police have now been seriously harmed in the disturbances.
I don’t expect someone like you to pay attention to the mood of ordinary people on the ground, but I do expect that reality on the ground is going to give Trump a real chance of winning North Carolina.
There was an interesting article in the July 16 issue of the Economist on police interactions with black, and white people.
It was a report on a study done be an Afro-American Harvard academic Roland Fryer.
He found that black men were more likely to be subject to non-lethal use of force.
However, in an admittedly limited study, he found that black suspects were LESS likely to be shot, fatally or otherwise, than non-black ones.
The assumption that US cops casually shoot black men more readily that non-blacks does not appear to be based on evidence.
I’m sorry I cannot post a link to the article. Perhaps some one else can locate it on-line.
”However, in an admittedly limited study, he found that black suspects were LESS likely to be shot, fatally or otherwise, than non-black ones.”
Surely though if you are treating a far greater number of innocent blacks as suspects based on their total population , it could look like the % getting shot was lower.
Because as we know a black man in the wrong place will be instantly classed as a suspect.
I’m sorry I can’t post a link to the story, and I don’t think I would be very popular, or accurate, if I tried typing in the whole story.
He acknowledged that blacks were more likely to be stopped. However even allowing for this the incidence of shootings seemed to be less. It could be attributed to the fact that ALL police shootings were subjected to detailed investigations. Nevertheless the shootings were not as common as is claimed.
There will probably be a copy of the magazine in your local library if you can’t find it on-line.
The real concern is police impunity.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/counted-us-police-killings
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11713393
Russell Normans not overly happy with Little at the moment. And given forest and bird are writing to him as well we can assume Kevin Hague isn’t going to be in a supportive position.
either way looks like little is bumbling another opportunity where the mates haven’t done the best of jobs.
Lolz the government says they will review their position and everything is peachy. The next PM says he wants to review his position and you call him out for bumbling? Dude, sharpen up.
Go check out RT’s review of the UN debate and the full reality of Kerrys claims. I think you will find that more interesting and topical. Shame the NZ media doesn’t do more ‘fact checking’
Here i find a link, it’s fascinating what RT says compared with the likes of MSM, or the Herald.
https://www.rt.com/news/360271-us-fact-checking-moscow/
So Greenpeace and forrest and bird etc are all wrong. Good to know.
Appears to me it is still being discussed, besides I thought the Government was in control… what Little has to say on the matter.
“I do not believe that when they have a Treaty Negotiations Minister as talented as Chris Finlayson, they cannot come up with a creative solution to the issue. I simply do not accept that. But if they are so incompetent and have mishandled it so badly they are now prepared to give up on it, that sits firmly with John Key.”
“Labour leader Little said today that at a bare minimum Labour wanted amendments to preserve the rights of iwi to contest their rights in court.”
Sensible man.
There is not a cigarette paper between the positions of Labour and the Greens on this issue. The real story is that National have stuffed up. But maybe given their recent track record even that isn’t a surprise either.
Nathan Guy needs to resign over the fish-dumping scandal. Nick Smith should be sacked over the Kermadecs (and housing and….). McCully should have been sacked long ago over the Saudi sheep fiasco. Parata is a shambles in education. Bennett has been a disaster over housing (lets buy another sticking-plaster motel). Upston should resign as Minister for Women because she refuses to comment on women’s issues….and so on.
All this lot presided over by Key big-mouthing over Syria (“there will be blood on your hands”-doh!) while hypocritically refusing to raise the refugee intake to a humanitarian level.
McCully should have been jailed over that. That was pure bloody corruption.
I think they are delaying and delaying the publishing of the Auditor General’s report on McCulley’s Sheep deal, so that they can announce a trade deal with the Saudis to justify the means of getting the deal.
ianmac – indeed.
Norman is a denier of rights for indigenous people. And the other environmental groups show their middle class ugly denier of rights consciousness – I am disgusted by them all and I’m withdrawing my support for them.
Little and Labour could make a big positive impact with Māori if they stick to their principles – I hope they do but I suspect the pressure from their pollers and their middle class consciousness will turn them.
Marty – did you ever see any signs of Russel Norman being a “denier of rights for indigenous people” when he was Green co-leader?
Perhaps you are mistaking the mechanics of lobbying for something else.
In any case, the problem here is with the mismanagement of the issue by the Government. Sniping at the minor players seems the perfect result for strategists from the Government, using the “divide and rule” technique of diverting attention and blame.
+111
I’m getting memory-glimpses of a Tibetan flag, some totalitarian security guards and Russel Norman, alone, exposed, standing up for some indigenous culture or other, can you remember, Marty?
yeah often they love the overseas indigenous cultures (and the political attention gained from grandstanding) and forget about the ones in the land they are living in – funny that eh. Could be that he just doesn’t need votes anymore though…
Do “they”?
That’s very unlikely, Marty and given that Russel’s friend and ex co-leader is Maori and staunch with it, it seems to me very unlikely that you are correct in your accusations.
I expect that Russel is now more free to lever wins than he was previously and is able to play a hand that will result in a win for those he represents. I expect “the environment” is high on his list, having committed so much of his time to it in recent times. Perhaps you believe he should jettison his principles? I also believe that Russel’s position on the rights of tangata whenua have not changed. Perhaps you are misreading the situation. In any case, where’s your condemnation of the real player here – Key?
He tangata uaua ia!
What about you Robert – do you think middle class greenwash is more important than upholding the rights agreed to and signed off with indigenous peoples?
No, Marty, I don’t though to be fair, I’m not sure what you mean by “middle class greenwash”, is that where someone buys a Prius rather than a Prelude? Regarding the proposed sanctuary, I think it’s festooned with fish hooks (matua, if you prefer). For starters, you might like to comment on this: Ko nga taunga ika tuuturu e paa ana ki nga taonga tuku iho ki te iwi aa rohe – are they traditional fishing grounds? I’m not saying one way or the other, only that there are fish hooks, details that need to be tested, including the global environmental questions that Russel Norman, in his new role, is honour-bound to ask. I am big on honouring treaties, Marty. I’m also aware that the projections of our shared future is shaking up world views through all cultures.
I’d say the fishhook is we are making ocean sanctuaries and still doing next to nothing about climate change. That is greenwash because how do you think those sanctuaries are going to go when temperatures rise even more. It isn’t even stopping the killing of fish in the ocean – hell even the whales still get killed and fish species hit the ecological wall every day. So what is the point of it? – makes people feel they are doing something – and that is a good reason in many respects but not if it is at the expense of indigenous rights – rights fought for with blood and sacrifice for generations, rights so often discarded as inconvenient to the abusers of those rights, rights tenaciously dug out of the colonisers as they lie, cheat and pretend care all the way dragging their feet.
This issue is about Treaty rights not sanctuaries (red herring) or the commercial catch (red herring), or whether Māori lived loved or died there (red herring). Respecting people (especially those that have been treated so, so ,so badly) is essential if you want to respect the planet, the oceans, the ecosystems and nature herself. There is no compromise on that imo.
Marty. This issue is about Key and National going ahead without consulting Maori. This quibbling about Russel is pointless. Key failed to respect Maori, failed to consult, failed to inform. He and his National mates should be the target of your ire – what are you thinking of, diverting attention from the real miscarriage of justice
by taking pot-shots at others???
Sure but guess what – you don’t get to tell me what my priorities should be.
Why don’t you respond to what I wrote instead of attempting to shame me.
+ 100000 Marty Mars.
Marty. My apologies to you also. I’m not wishing to shame you in any way – I like your stuff. Perhaps I was using language too strong for the moment. I like evocative words and phrases and sometimes use them too freely.
So…create ocean sanctuaries but not at the expense of indigenous communities, yes, but you know, the Japanese and the Norwegians and their whale-hunting… indigenous peoples of our Pacific islands have ceased, I believe, roasting kakapo, though it must surely have been their habit to do so in past times. That right might be enshrined in the Treaty, I don’t know, but modern times are different from those i nga wa o mua. Present day indigenous peoples must surely be willing to discuss the present situation where there is scarcity of a resource that was once plentiful. I don’t mean capitulating, I do mean discussing. Treaties, while absolute, have to flex with the times, I would like to think. In this case, I believe all fault lies with the Government for not consulting, not hearing, not offering the opportunity to debate and propose. They will though, ’cause that’s how they roll, but their sub-surface arrogance has been revealed, imho.
Robert i like, respect and admire you. I am sorry for raising the energy. This is a tough issue that confronts my values. I certainly blame the crook key and his minions and the left need to be aware of the issues from all sides too.
Marty, thanks and yes, it’s an issue with more than a little heat embedded. Despite the occasional boil-over (on all sides) debate like this is they way forward, imo and that’s what should have been had around the sanctuary or around any issue where people hold treaty rights.
Robert, I think you (like many) are missing the point.
Treaty settlements are said to be full and final. What is happening here is that a settlement made in 1992 is being overruled by this government. What this means is the Māori have to accept that Treaty settlements are only final for them, but the state can change the rules anytime it likes.
Do you think this is fair? Do you not see that this has implications for all treaty agreements? Do you realise that Māori have only recieved recompense for 2% of the worth of the land that was illegally confiscated? You are also trying to question the validity of a claim that has been settled.
I am a Green Party supporter but I was horrified by the way Russel Norman completely ignored Treaty rights in that interview on the Nation. I was relieved he is no longer the leader.
Karen – how gracious of you to inform me of my point-missing. I believe I have a good handle on treaties and the likes. In this instance, the ‘bad play’ has come from the Nats, dismissing tangata whenua. Why you want to drag others into that business, I can’t fathom.
Russell Norman getting criticised for not being left enough is something even I couldn’t have come up with 🙂
It’s a weird and unrewarding world of frustration being a lefty
You might say that, I couldn’t possibly comment 🙂
No-one ever accused the menkurt footsoldiers of the far right of an over abundance of imagination.
The left imagines it can be in power, the right make it happen
Irrespective of public interest or mandate – PR, proud supporter of forte main over representive democracy – just another RWNJ quisling.
You really don’t like democracy do you
I like democracy – and no part of it includes John Key disenfranchising me or dicks like you telling me what to do.
You are a traitor to the principles of democracy – winning dirty is all you care about – you’re a shabby beast not much better than Wayne the trougher.
LOL Stuart Munro… “I like democracy – and no part of it includes John Key disenfranchising me or dicks like you telling me what to do.”
Me thinks you only like democracy when you get your way (the Government you want).
“winning dirty is all you care about”
The number 2 go-to reason from the activist left…
1/ The voters are stupid, why don’t they see things as we do…
Or
2/ The Nat’s play dirty. Which is directly linked back to reason number 1.
Sad really.
Democracy is about government representing us.
It’s not complicated. This one doesn’t.
Chuck – way above you again wrote ‘would of’. I have already told you that there is no such thing -“would’ve” (short for ‘would have’) please. Unless you are trying to come across as an ignorant klutz. Furthermore, the Shakespearian ‘Methinks’ which you attempt to use is one word, not two. If you can’t do it right, stop pretending that you can.
Wrong side of logic, wrong side of history, pretending to be matey while dissing destructively…
It is you who are sad. A sadly incompetent troll, who smugly employs straw man argument. You did not accurately portray SM’s attitude.
by his actions and words is he known
here you go Robert – this is grizzly norman
http://www.newshub.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/panel-jenna-raeburn-mihingarangi-forbes-and-russel-norman-2016091711
+1111 on your comments Robert.
TOKM are opposed to ocean sanctuaries PERIOD.
The Maori Party are wedded to supporting TOKM’s position.
Russell Norman heads a large environmental organization that wants ocean sanctuaries.
…..and all you have is anger for those who want help protect the environment …well stuff you.
““Te Ohu Kaimoana and iwi representatives worked hard to find a compromise solution where the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary could go ahead and where Māori would not have extant rights, as agreed in the 1992 Deed of Settlement, unilaterally expropriated by the Government.”
“We considered that an offer to voluntarily shelve the use of Māori fisheries quota in the Kermadec region while maintaining extant fishing rights would achieve the same thing. While ultimately iwi quota owners would have needed to agree, we considered this was a constructive and reasonable solution to the impasse,” Mr Tuuta said.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1609/S00159/government-rejects-maori-compromise-to-kermadec-sanctuary.htm
so lie 1 – which is your first sentence is shown to be a lie
is there any point reading anything else you write? nah
““We considered that an offer to voluntarily shelve the use of Māori fisheries quota in the Kermadec region while maintaining extant fishing rights would achieve the same thing. While ultimately iwi quota owners would have needed to agree, we considered this was a constructive and reasonable solution to the impasse”
That’s what I would have suggested.
I am responding to your reply to me here Robert. You evidently thought I was being patronising to you. That was not my intention.
You are one of the very few people here I read. You obviously believe you understand the issues here but I see no evidence from what you have posted that you do. I was trying to help.
I apologise, Karen and I agree with the views you expressed. I’m not trying to unpick or argue whatever Russel Norman has said, I’m just saying that the issue here is the Government’s decision, conscious decision I believe, to go ahead without involving Maori. Reactions and responses from NGO’s and individuals such as Russel don’t really have much bearing on the issue, I reckon and those have to be taken in the context of whatever sector they come from. Why would Key and his band of orcs be proposing a sanctuary for fish in the first place is an interesting question, when it is counter to most everything else they do. I believe they hoped to trumpet their big fish sanctuary as evidence that they are greener than the Greens, but to get there they had to behave badly with regard Maori, and decided they could swing it nonetheless, or at least suppress it till the election passes.
Perhaps you are right, I may not understand the issue, but leopards, spots and all that. I’m not mesmerized by such ploys. I’m interested in the idea though, that iwi can’t be trusted to say, “We’ll voluntarily abstain from fishing there, so long as you don’t ban us”, and how people can’t conceive that such an agreement might work. I believe it could. It’s a cultural interface there though, so who knows…
“while maintaining extant fishing rights ”
When is a sanctuary not a sanctuary? When TOKM demand the right to fish it at any point they want.
Are you comprehension challenged ? Or can a Maori organization never be wrong because they are Maori?
“TOKM are opposed to ocean sanctuaries PERIOD.:”
That is what you said and I proved you a fibber.
Oh right so it’s a ghost sanctuary is it ?…
The one that you have when it’s not one?
Maintaining the right to fish in a “sanctuary” at any point renders the area not a sanctuary.
Perhaps you should argue to change the meaning of sanctuary.
Good points Barfly.
Just put the link up that shows your point – oh that’s right there isn’t one is there…
Marty your own posts refute your argument
Maintaining the right to fish in a “sanctuary” at any point renders the area not a sanctuary.
I understand anger and emotion but can you calm yourself and look rationally at my posts..
Sorry you are simply wrong, you call me a troll and liken me to a RWNJ, you insult my intelligence, this I believe cheapens you not me.
P.S. do you play chess by any chance?
No I have called Leftie those things not you.
Yes emotion is highish and my understanding of what Te Ohu Kaimoana and Iwi leaders have said is that they are quite okay with sanctuaries. I just don’t think saying, “TOKM are opposed to ocean sanctuaries PERIOD.” is 100% true, and I put a link to back up my point.
I think you have been a bit rude by saying, “…well stuff you.” and the other one you said to me yesterday – and so I have replied in kind – I have offered reciprocity/utu.
yes I play chess and yes I am being pedantic a bit on this I admit – and I still think my understanding is correct.
edit and I’ll also say I am not opposed to ocean sanctuaries in any way – hell I welcome them with open arms – I don’t eat fish because of the way we have depleted the numbers and affected species survival. I’d like ocean sanctuaries to be part of a plan to help people cope with climate change, to bring people together – however as it stands at the moment I have to call this greenwash and Treaty breaching and I cannot tolerate Treaty breaching – see my comment to Robert above (i think)
So you are being selective who you name call and abuse now Marty Mars? My post was in support of what Barfly was saying. So if you think that of me, then you must think that of Barfly as well, given that he has been responding to you in far greater detail than I.
And further, in other words only YOUR opinion is right and everyone else is wrong, while you try and selectively bully people with abuse because you can’t handle any home truths being said about the Maori party.
Of course I’m selective. I’m happy to let you be if you do the same, let’s call it a treaty.
For Christ sakes Marty, do you hear yourself? What gives you the right to abuse me for supporting what someone else said? And you’re “happy to let me be…” What does that mean exactly? you’ll leave me alone as long as I don’t post opinions on the Maori party and don’t challenge what you post?
Leftie you are entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to reply to me anyway you like within the policy bounds of this site. I may not like or believe what you say and i may think you are not actually arguing a point, just kneejerking slogans and i might think that in my way I could counter that with some logic and compassion. I might think all of that and you know what? Who cares. It is my opinion. That’s all.
Edit plus im sorry for causing you any pain.
Well that was a piece of patronizing abusive swill you just wrote there Marty Mars, clearly by your own behaviour you don’t believe in people, particularly me, voicing opinions, (that are not “kneejerking slogans” btw), because they differ from your own and I have been responding “within the policy bounds of this site”. On the other hand, your pointless abuse is not painful in the least, I see it as a weakness, it’s infantile, and shows you’re struggling.
Well said. It’s amazing how some people are completely blind to that which you have pointed out, Barfly. You cannot have a “sanctuary” while maintaining extant fishing rights. They can’t have it both ways.
you are a troll – an annoyingly thick slogan spinner. You might as well be a rwnj your understanding is below average on anything I’ve ever seen you write. I’m sick of you.
What a load of sanctimonious rubbish Marty Mars. You abuse when an obvious fact is pointed out to you that you can’t handle. You have lost all reasoning and are being totally irrational.
Are you comprehension challenged ? Or can a Maori organization never be wrong because they are Maori?
If you make an agreement with another party about something, and then want to change that agreement, you need to negotiate with that other party. And if the change you want to make is really important, you need to stir yourself to figure out some way to make the other party to the agreement happy for that change to occur, even if it involves making concessions you didn’t actually want to make. Otherwise, you shouldn’t enter into agreements in the first place.
Spot on Barfly +100
thankyou
Toussaint Romain was held up as a hero by the media in the Charlotte protests. As a public defender, dressed in a shirt and tie, he got between the protestors and police and tried to stop conflict. The second half of this interview with Romain was edited out by CNN. I wonder why…
https://youtu.be/J_hGdgG1JiI
Probably because he waffled on too long. TV is sound bites. But the conspiritory types look for it everywhere LOLZ.
Good old Stuart Nash – http://www.newshub.co.nz/opinion/opinion-embracing-my-bare-face-2016092212
Belittling women and raining over their self esteem because they aren’t wearing makeup.
“Shame on you Stuart Nash, I feel sorry for the women you work with on a day-to-day basis if you hold them to the same standard.”
Aww Jenna Lynch makes a priority of not wearing makeup over an important story. Dead cats everywhere.
“Shortly after, Labour MP Stuart Nash walked in trying to sell some bloody story about cops. ” as quoted from the article you posted James.
Judith is due to speak about the prisoners soon, sounds like corrections have messed up again.
Imagine the uproar if a National MP or even John Key himself had said something similar
Had Maurice Williamson kept his trap shut or John Key himself been able to control his impulses and keep his hands to himself, you might have a point.
/
You have just proved Puckish Rogue point without knowing it…
/, moran
Stuart Nash, I hear some in Labour think of him as talented leadership material.
They used to say that about you, too, CV, or so I’m told 😉
Currently, there’s only one LP member who thinks of Stuart as talented leadership material … a Mr S Nash of Napier.
+ 100% trp
Fuck no, I have better things to do than be backstabbed by fellow Labourites.
It’s not actually an option, cobber. You gave it a shot, which is more than most ever do, so kudos to you for that. But obviously, you’ve blown it and you’ll never entrusted with any responsibility again. I imagine you’re Ok with that.
Huh? Not being trusted by you backstabbing lot of careerists is a fucking badge of honour that I wear with pride.
Labour is a toxic brand.
James your phony outrage on this thread over fat shaming and the negative impact the beauty industry has on women is touching.
why phoney?
Better than being an enabler like the people on here who are happy for people to be called and treated as such.
All hail James! The greatest enabler seen on this website since Hitler, Goebbels, Stalin, and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Assad , an eye surgeon, and the democratically elected leader of Syria states that the attack on his forces was no accident and US does not want to fight ISIS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asma_al-Assad
‘US airstrikes on Syrian troops were ‘intentional,’ lasted nearly 1 hour – Assad to AP’
https://www.rt.com/news/360248-assad-ap-intentional-us-airstrikes/
“Syrian President Bashar Assad says that US airstrikes which killed 62 Syrian government troops were “intentional” and they lasted for an hour. He added that the US “does not have the will” to join Russia in fighting terrorists in Syria…
‘Russian military contacted US twice to stop airstrikes against Syrian govt troops’
https://www.rt.com/news/360156-airstrike-usa-syria-russia/
‘Ceasefireless’
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/360096-russia-us-ceasefire-regime/
“What was a ray of hope has turned into a gaze into the abyss. The Russia-US ceasefire to end the Syrian conflict is in tatters. For many the American bombing of the Syrian military marks a process of mission creep and forced regime change.
CrossTalking with Ali Rizk, Nadim Shehadi, and Rick Sterling.”
It’s a shame Assad/Putin have run out of hospitals to bomb. They’ve been reduced to just attacking aid convoys and that only kills healthy adults, not the sick and infirm. Where’s the fun in that?
USA are not innocent in bombing and pointing fingers at others. JS.
https://www.rt.com/news/360271-us-fact-checking-moscow/
USA have just done a huge weapons deal with the Saudi’s, profit via war, and it’s horrid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-defense-congress-idUSKCN11R2LU
“President Bashar al-Assad meanwhile indicated he saw no quick end to the war, telling AP News it would “drag on” as long as it is part of a global conflict in which terrorists were backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN11S1C5
It’s a shame that all can’t focus on their same common enemy, ISIS
ISIS aren’t a common enemy though; they are a proxy army being financed, armed and used by western allies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey) as well as directly by the Pentagon itself, to try and regime change Assad out of Damascus.
It’s a shame that all can’t focus on their same common enemy, ISIS
Pretty straightforward – if the Russians and their Syrian client do that, the sizable proportion of the Syrian population that wants their client dead will eventually get what they want, and if their client’s not running things the Russians’ military presence in the Mediterranean is fucked. Fighting Da’esh is a bit of a sideshow from the Russian perspective – much more important is knackering the ceasefire in such a way that they have plausible deniability.
Assad is extremely popular with the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. The Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers are not.
More Psycho Milt bullshit.
You don’t understand the “Russian perspective” one whit.
The US has limited positive control over the extremist Islamist groups that it arms and funds to try and overthrow Assad (an effort which is thoroughly illegal in international law). These terrorist groups never respected any terms of the cease fire from day 1.
In fact, a number of those groups signed a document saying that they would not be bound by any terms of the ceasefire.
In addition, the US special forces who are training these proxy regime change fighters know full well that they are being asked to train the next generation of Jihadist terrorists, and they are not happy about it.
Assad is extremely popular with the ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. The Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers are not.
Well, he is with his own one, at least. The Kurds, not so much. And hardly anyone in Syria is keen on “Islamic fundamentalist headchoppers.”
You don’t understand the “Russian perspective” one whit.
One only achieves understanding of the Russian perspective by hoovering up endless Russian government propaganda from RT, I suppose? That might help with understanding Putin’s propaganda aims, but I’m not really interested in those.
The US has limited positive control over the extremist Islamist groups that it arms and funds to try and overthrow Assad…
Leaving aside for a moment your obsession with the US supposedly funding Da’esh, of course the US has limited positive control over participants in a civil war in a foreign country. That’s because the rebel forces aren’t clients of the US government, the way Assad is a client of the Russian government. Expecting the US government to give Syrian rebel groups orders and have them carried out would be pointless – expecting the Russian government to give Assad orders and expect them to be carried out, on the other hand, is entirely reasonable.
Also, you fail to understand how dangerous it is for the world for Russia and the US/UK to continue to confront each other in Syria.
The US/UK are both operating illegally in Syria.
At least Trump has it correct – the US should be fully cooperating with Russia to eliminate ISIS, not getting in Russia’s way.
If Russia had any specific intent of eliminating Da’esh, that would be true. However, its actual intent is to eliminate all opponents of its Syrian client regime, so cooperating with Russia would be a terrible thing to do. In any case, aligning yourself with a mafia state is a bad idea in general, let alone in this particular instance.
Russia is keen to eliminate the 101 flavours of jihadists that the west implicitly and explicitly supports in Syria, yes, that includes the fictional “Free Syrian Army” that no one can find and also the “moderate terrorists” that the US seems to enjoy backing.
Also, do try and remember that Russia is operating in Syria at the invitation of the Damascus government, while the US, UK and France are all operating in Syria illegally.
Hi TRP,
It’s unfortunate that Hillary Clinton and the rest of the neocon set embarked on supporting yet another disastrous regime change op in Syria.
And these people still want Assad gone, even if that means that the black ISIS flag gets run up over Damascus. Which of course means, the ISIS version of Sharia law gets applied over the whole country, and women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities (including Christians) all get slaved out, head chopped or burnt alive.
The Assad government is the only shot for stable, secular rule in Syria. The Americans however would prefer chaotic, Islamic extremist rule in an imploded failed state balkanized Syria.
And behind all of this, is a contest for who gets to control the real estate for massive oil and gas pipelines through the territory.
“And these people still want Assad gone, even if that means that the black ISIS flag gets run up over Damascus. ”
It’s saying things like this that destroys the credibility of your argument, CV. Certainly Assad should be removed. preferably to the Hague, but there’s not a scrap of evidence that anyone in the west wants ISIS in control.
Just because you choose to blind yourself to the facts on the ground doesn’t mean that other people will, TRP.
The west’s allies would prefer for the Assad government to fall and for Assad to be gone tomorrow. In fact, regime change remains the first and foremost priority of the USA in Syria, and it has done for years.
That leaves no one to oppose the western supplied Daesh/ISIS forces on the ground, leaving Syria imploded just like NATO/USA left Libya.
Facts, huh? Show me the facts, CV. Put up a credible cite of western leaders saying they would prefer ISIS to Assad.
Call bullshit on your cheap transparent rhetorical tactic TRP.
Western leaders want the Assad government gone ASAP which de facto means that the western ally backed Islamists will take over the country.
End of.
Gotta agree here any strongman regieme change in the Middle East by the west has not gone very well. Tribal affiliation, religious intolerance, artificial countries are simply not conducive to democracy forming, maybe in a few hundred years when they have butchered themselves silly and society is s bit more secular there may be a chance To be fair Europe or the west where not much better 500 years ago
The west might also try to no longer assassinate/encourage the assassination of middle of the road secular leaders whenever these leaders spring up and try to take their countries in an independent direction. From Mossadegh to Sadat to Gadaffi.
If you could stop thinking of murderous dictators (Sadat and Gadaffi in this case) as “middle of the road, secular leaders,” it would be a good start on a move away from tinfoil-hattery.
There’s a reason that GW Bush and Tony Blair are wanted for war crimes, Psycho Milt.
Further every time the West gets rid of a middle of the road secular leader, they replace him with someone far more shit, far more radical, and usually far more radical Islamist.
Which leads us to our current situation.
So you have nothing, CV? And facts are now a cheap rhetorical device? Fascinating!
Hi TRP, I guess you imagine that no one else can see what you are doing with your silly rhetorical tricks.
Bottom line is that the West wants to see a failed Islamist state in Syria, just like they have accomplished in Libya.
Well, you can simply post the facts you reckon are so readily available. That’d really take the wind out of my sales. Until then, it’s just another example of you using hyperbole instead of your grey matter.
Well, you can simply post the facts you reckon are so readily available. That’d really take the wind out of my sails. Until then, it’s just another example of you using hyperbole instead of your grey matter.
+100 CV for all your comments here
Chur Chooky!
I think CV may be making the wrong side of the argument about ISIS – not that it represents a desirable end state for Syria, but that it has value or is perceived as having value to the furtherance of US ends in Syria – mostly destabilising Assad.
Likewise the Assad’s forces offer a vehicle or a letter of marque like legitimacy to Russian skirmishing, the Turkmen offer buffer stability to Turkey, and the Kurds must look after themselves having no reliable state sponsor.
The Russians are wedded to Assad because a Syrian government the US was not supporting insurgency against would have no particular interest in becoming Putin’s client. So in principle the US should push to remove Assad through the UN and let Russia make what deals it may with his successor.
Don’t worry CV , you are correct in the above thread . The others don’t want to know the truth about the situation in Syria and the Middle East in general. The blind acceptance of the American version of everything is mind boggling.
Chur, Garibaldi
You would have thought the lies about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in 2003 would have wised up some of the left.
But no…..still blind acceptance of the western establishment’s propaganda.
You bump into this lack of critical thinking at its most visceral when you question the official propaganda about 9/11.
Malcolm Evans is a rare media questioner.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-22-at-10.28.20-am.png
“And the answer is not Russian hackers!”
Great cartoon.
Anyone seen the 10 day forecast?
Post-tropical wash in early spring. What muck.
http://www.metvuw.co.nz/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain®ion=nz&noofdays=10
We’re not too far way from the start of the cyclone/hurricane season. This semi- tropical “muck” could be the fore-runner to an active season which might see NZ hit a few times this summer.
Yes, I have a reputation for being a bundle of joy.
500 prisoners up for early release after Department of Corrections’ mistake
“Around 500 prisoners will have their release dates brought forward because of the Supreme Court ruling on the Department of Correction’s mistaken interpretation of the Parole Act.”
“The court ruled on Thursday that the department had miscalculated parole and release dates, meaning some prisoners had spent more time in custody than the department had taken into account.”
“The court didn’t rule on compensation, but it’s an issue that’s going to come up”
<a href="https://nz.news.yahoo.com/top-stories/a/32705867/500-prisoners-up-for-early-release-after-department-of-corrections-mistake/#page1
collins says national will change the law if needed ,to avoid compensation
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11715509
How true to form, isn’t that what this National government always do B Waghorn?
I notice, Leftie, that you read and commented on the response just before mine on this topic.
I find it hard to believe that you didn’t even seem to have noticed what I said.
What is the problem? Does it upset you that the department seem to have followed the interpretation of the law that the highest court that had considered the matter seemed to believe was the right one?
Are you really as stupid, or biased, as the Green and Labour spokesmen are? Should the Department have said something like “The Court of Appeal may tell us that the law means X but we think they are wrong”.
If so, they might have appealed to you but I am sure the legal fraternity would have been up in arms.
Why do you still think that the Department is at fault? Why aren’t you yelling at the Court of Appeal?
I realise that David Clendon and Kelvin Davis, as well as TVNZ and RNZ are on your side but do you really want to be on the side of the Green and Labour Party idiots rather than on the side of accuracy?
Come on, admit that the Department was following the best interpretation of the law that was available to them.
The “mistake” the Department made was, apparently, to believe that the distinguished jurists on the Court of Appeal actually knew what the law meant.
As far as I have understood it the Department have been using the same method since 2003. It is the method that follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court, now the final stage for appeals, has now ruled that the law doesn’t mean that at all. In effect that is saying that the Court of Appeal simply didn’t know what they were doing.
None of the 500 people you are talking about would appear to be eligible for any compensation at all. They are people who are in prison now and will still be in prison even if the release date is brought forward. You can be forgiven though. Espiner on Morning Report didn’t seem to understand that either. 500 rather than 21 seemed much sexier to him I guess.
An example of one of these 500 would be someone who was first charged, and remanded in custody, in January 2015. Further investigation led to additional charges in March 2015 and more still in April 2015. They went to trial and were sentenced to 14 years without parole.
This would give them a release date according to Wednesday’s interpretation of the law of April 2029. Now it will be January 2029. Just what “compensation” do you think they are due?
The people who may be eligible are the 21 people, currently in prison, whose time should have been up before today and the unknown number who have already been released after serving a longer time than they should have.
Disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and everything I am saying could be total rubbish.
Perhaps a real lawyer could comment?
On the other hand perhaps we should expect all the Judges on the Court of Appeal to resign? Their senior brethren (and sisteren) clearly think they are incompetent.
I do not see that there is any compensation due to any current prisoner whose release date on the “correct” basis is not affected by the miscalculation, but I would expect that if the basis for calculation has been consistent since 2003 that there will be quite a number of now released prisoners who were not released until after the correct date. Yet again we are looking at a situation where reasonable compensation is being determined not on the basis of any principals or agreed assessment criteria, but determined by politicians who will not be consistent over time, and may be swayed by non-relevant issues (such as polling and focus groups). If we really have a justice system, it should be handled by them – and not by a minister attempting to change the law.
Trump and his record of racism:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughTrumpSpam/comments/4r2yxs/a_final_response_to_the_tell_me_why_trump_is/
Among many, many points:
80% of Trump’s supporters claim to have no problem with racist comments.
And to save time:
“Buuuuut Kiiiiilary has lycanthropy and Dutch Elm Disease!”
Naw, that was just software glitches in her body-double android. She’s all better now that she had her motherboard replaced and tuned in during her few days off.
You mean the body double for the lizard that wears the human disguise?
Oh, it’s been confirmed she’s one of the shapeshifting lizards? Last I heard they were investigating rumours she’s actually Chthulhu.
That’s what they want you to think!
Clinton is likely chronically ill and the evidence suggests that both her core campaign team and her secret service detail all know it.
Look out for many days off the campaign trail between now and Nov 8.
Oh dear.
https://twitter.com/PaladinCornelia/status/778801494292213761
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OI5FrHTjixwJ:vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres10/PoisonMush.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz&client=firefox-b
On the same theme:
“What happens when you comment on Daily Mail articles with actual Nazi propaganda”
https://www.indy100.com/article/what-happens-when-you-comment-on-daily-mail-articles-with-actual-nazi-propaganda–Zy4ccsnBEx
[We] wanted to see what level of support the comments would get if we took some famous pieces of Nazi propaganda and changed the word ‘Jew’ with ‘migrant’.
Here’s what happened
Good news.
https://twitter.com/tomfowlerbug/status/778065973572173824
I’ll never be able to eat an orange Skittle ever again. Never.
BBC article on the US election, comparing Hillary and Trump to various world leaders, has to use two heads for Trump on several of the images, to represent his varying statements: http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37423550
Awesome
“A shallow trench running the width of the closed state highway at Rangiriri marks the start of a restoration project 152 years in the making.
Spades were handed out to New Zealand Transport Agency staff and management to begin filling the trench – a symbolic step toward a massive restoration project to see Rangiriri Pa returned to its original state.
State Highway 1 drove a line through the pa site when it was built in the 1960s. The path of the new expressway offers a way to heal that wound. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/84594488/rangiriri-pa-site-cleaved-by-state-highway-to-be-restored-to-its-original-state
The heart was cleaved and now joined, the healing can begin in earnest. Good result and shows what we can all do when we work in partnership.
Good stuff Marty.
Scott Hamilton on Rangiriri.
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Rangiriri+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Freadingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=gK7kV6PEO6vr8Ae_7LKgCQ
How low can the Labour vote go? At 22% probably no one on the Labour List would get in. Not even Andrew Little (who has never won a seat and only got into Parliament on the specials). Trevor Mallard is standing List only, not wanting to lose Hutt South to the very popular Chris Bishop. He hopes for a high List spot. If you want to be a Labour MP in 2017-20 you have to deselect a sitting member in a safe Red Seat. Already the jockeying has begun.
remember we have to add gender balance in for 2017 also http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/84243686/Poor-polls-sensitive-issue-as-Labour-MPs-brace-for-gender-balanced-list
Or will labour backtrack on this?
Of course they will backtrack on gender balance. Remember that balance has to be on winnable seats. They could for instance have chosen a woman for Phil Goff’s seat but have not. All talk and no action unless Labour women stand up to be counted..
Trolling.
For all those who sneeringly dismiss libertarianism on the grounds that it’s never been tried: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/libertarian-herman-mashaba-elected-mayor-of-johannesburg/article31942363/