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…
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
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
[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..
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
An easy, flavour-packed noodle recipe from Bounty – Cooking With Vegetables, the new cookbook from national food education charity the Garden to Table Trust.The fresh flavours of these noodles are less complex than many Thai dishes, as the simple spice paste uses just a few ingredients. If you’d rather not ...
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...
With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy.By ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
Hayden Donnell looks for inspiration and innovation on how to house the city’s future.Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan has enabled a building boom. More than 14,600 building consents were issued in the city in the year to September. Despite that, houses remain extremely expensive and out-of-reach for many first home buyers. ...
Simon Shepherd: David Seymour's euthanasia bill passed this week, and next week he will be putting the finishing touches on his next bill. Is he just a very hard-working politician or is this the longest one-person election campaign known to mankind? ...
Simon Shepherd: It's Transgender Awareness Week, the same week a feminist group, Speak Up For Women, has brought Megan Murphy from Canada to speak in New Zealand. Murphy is a radical feminist who believes trans women aren't women, views that have ...
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...
Books editor Catherine Woulfe follows Wellington author Lawrence Patchett into his extraordinary story of heat and humanity and history repeating. The Burning River begins like the best kind of yarn. “Someone had been there. Someone strange. In the centre of his camp, a new circle of sooted rocks. A campfire, with ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in BrisbaneMelanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two –The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...
In this special episode of The Real Pod, brought to you by Nando’s, we chat to the champions of My Restaurant Rules NZ 2019.In the afterglow of Rustic Kitchen’s historic win on My Restaurant Rules NZ, Duncan and Alex got on the blower with Tyson and Denise. Then we forgot ...
Hannah Kronast attends a women’s empowerment panel focused on the huge disparities in training and employment within science and technology. In the far back left-hand corner of a women’s equality and empowerment event, a male stuck up his hand. “What can men do to help?” he asked.It was at a panel ...
Our recent Spinoff Art survey provided a snapshot on gender equality in the local art scene, but it wasn’t the full story. Anna Knox continues the conversation by asking some gallery owners and directors for their responses to our findings.The Spinoff’s survey of gender bias in visual arts found that ...
Based on their study of trans wellbeing Aotearoa, the research team at Counting Ourselves find six data points that highlight the strength of our trans and non-binary community.Last month the first comprehensive national survey on transgender health and wellbeing in Aotearoa was published by the academics and researchers at Counting ...
The SpinoffBy Dr Jaimie Veale, Jack Byrne and Ahi Wi-Hongi
Ten thousand years ago, roasted hares and figs were flat-layed on Levantine flax leaves. Now, we drape prosciutto over strawberries on computer desks. Josie Adams mourns the death of the platter.Three days ago I stumbled on an accidental recreation of a 1950s platter: a giant ham, a cake that was ...
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains.It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Crisp discusses the the week in politics the government’s response to the bush fires as well as the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. They also talk about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The proposed acquisition of infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia Ltd by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited has been given approval by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Strict, legally enforceable conditions, have been set by the treasurer, which ...
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is condemning the All Saints Day evening raid on 31 October. With the arrest of over 60 union organisers, human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines province of Negros. The 16th of November is an international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant professor, University of Canberra What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank, announced that because Australia and Canada were “not ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Opening session – Day OneThe problems of operating in the Pacific and the impact of online news and the emergence of ‘citizen journalists’ were common concerns for all delegates to this week’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum.The forum, held at Griffith ...
Standoff between protesters and the police at Yeung Uk Road, Hong Kong. Image by Studio Incendo – 20190825 Tsuen Wan March. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81751531.The recent surge in social protests world-wide is quantitatively and qualitatively different than in previous ages. The advent of individualised mass communications technologies and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is going to start asking internet service providers to block certain offshore gambling websites. The decision follows former New South Wales premier ...
The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) is over a week old, but it’s still being heavily debated and analysed. After all, depending on who you listen to, it’s the most significant new law of the year, of this Government, or even of some people’s lifetime. And it deals with a giant ...
Green MP and refugee Golriz Ghahraman was there last night when the former Manus Island detainee and acclaimed writer arrived in New Zealand.Last night, quietly and without fanfare a small group made up of human rights activists, literary folk, and just two journalists, came together at Auckland Airport to welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra D’urso, Researcher, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne To perform an exit is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, exiting a situation can be almost impossible for some. Exit Strategies is a new production by indie performer and theatre ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, University of Melbourne Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation If you have kids, chances are you’ve worried about their presence on social media. Who are they talking to? What are they posting? Are they being bullied? Do they spend too much time on it? ...
New Zealand Police has won a prestigious World Class Policing Award for its ‘more street than station approach’ Mobility programme, which has saved millions of hours of officers’ time. ...
SEA-Unite SkyCity workers are expected to strike this weekend after 50 called in sick with symptoms linked to smoke inhalation from the convention centre fire. ...
In a powerful rebuff to critics who question whether the prime minister is willing to use her political capital, this morning she powerfully demonstrated her commitment to New Zealand culture.For two years, my professional life has been devoted to winning respect for the lowbrow, beaten-up, off-brand artefacts that truly define ...
MPs and staffers will likely begin moving out of their Bowen House offices over the next six months, so the building can undergo earthquake strengthening work. ...
The party that sold off the BNZ, NZ Rail, Petrocorp, Postbank, the Shipping Corporation, Air New Zealand, the State Insurance Office, the Tourist Hotel Corporation and a host of other New Zealand assets is at it again – with the assistance of its coalition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Penman, Associate professor, University of Melbourne As sure as night follows day, this week’s bushfires prompted inevitable debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists prevented this. There are two key ...
A new poem by writer and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove.TURDUCKEN I blow my body around like the huge clump of brown hairthat I once saw blowing up Cuba StreetI follow its movements with interestI put a video of it on the internet my favourite bragis that a groundskeeper ...
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...
Tara Ward reviews Goodnight Kiwi, a new series that features well-known New Zealanders reading bedtime stories to kids. It’s strange to think that New Zealand television wasn’t always the 24-hour, infomercial-tastic extravangza that it is today. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, our televisions used to go dark every night at ...
FIRST Union members at Countdown have ratified a new agreement that will set their supermarket team on a path towards a living wage, and significantly raise the pay of 15,000 workers across the country. ...
13 moments that prove the music awards are so much > than all other award showsBENEE cleaned up, every performance was somewhere between an eight and a ten, there was an unfeasible quantity of award presenter awkwardness and many nights ended very late. The music awards are over 50 and ...
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Media Peter Thompson (Stuff): A new model for public media – but have the old ...
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 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...
We agree with the Ombudsman Peter Boshier in his new report on councils QUOTE ; “leaders, officials lack of action to "ensure an approach is adopted that is consistent with openness and transparency" Un-quote. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00186/chief-ombudsman-new-report-wakeup-call-for-council-leaders.htm ...
Māori food systems are rich with potential, and whānau-based food producers across the country are looking to traditional ways to ensure their communities thrive in the future. Alice Neville reports from the Eat New Zealand Food Hui.In recent years there has been much talk – in food business, hospitality, tourism ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commends the Government’s proposal to take school zoning responsibilities out of the hands of school boards and principals and instead have these taken up by a new Education Service Agency. ...
SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Global BioLife Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD), will present its 3F Antimicrobial Fragrance as a new method to prevent and treat Tuberculosis at the ASM Biothreats Conference, ...
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...
Responding to news that the Screen Production Grant handed a $243,000 subsidy to a propaganda film produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Louis Houlbrooke says: “Taxpayers have all been made complicit ...
The campaign to take more colour coded bins into the regions has been developed by The Packaging Forum which promotes recycling under the Government’s Love NZ brand and The Auckland Litter Prevention Steering Group which manages the Be a Tidy Kiwi ...
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National University There’s a lot of uncertainty in a research career. Most funding – and most jobs – are doled out by the project, or in chunks of a few years at a time. Recently, however, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University For many parents whose teenage children are completing Year 12, this time of year means mixed emotions. Parents might feel proud, exhausted and excited. And as young people start heading to schoolies and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heiko Timmers, Associate Professor of Physics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Much is made of the “next generation” of nuclear reactors in the debate over nuclear power in Australia. They are touted as safer than older reactors, and suitable for helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, adults make choices for children, particularly about how they live and play. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW What do a billionaire, a former vice president, and a US democratic socialist have to do with Australia’s nearly three-decade run of economic growth? More than you might think. The race for the Democratic Party’s 2020 ...
Open Mike 23/09/2016 
Open mike is your post.
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...3 hours ago
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...4 hours ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...22 hours ago
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...1 day ago
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...2 days ago
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...2 days ago
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...3 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...5 days ago
5 days ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 1 week ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 2 weeks ago
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...3 days ago
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...1 week ago
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...2 hours ago
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have arrived in New Zealand for their week-long visit to the country. ...1 hour ago
Green Party MP Gareth Hughes first entered Parliament in 2010. ...2 hours ago
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...3 hours ago
Many fund managers are overconfident and the public buy the illusion. ...7 hours ago
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...8 hours ago
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...8 hours ago
New Zealand's coroners learnt lessons of cultural competency and communication from March 15. ...9 hours ago
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...1 day ago
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Melanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two – The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...1 day ago
"I rang the ambulance service then went to the shed": a new short story by a master of the form, Oamaru writer Owen Marshall. ...1 day ago
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains. It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...2 days ago
Phil Goff warns of further city centre chaos as City Rail Link project enters stage three. ...2 days ago
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...2 days ago
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...2 days ago
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...2 days ago
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…
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:
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.
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.
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/