The local ranking police officer did not appreciate being told by Bridges that the police did not seem to be interested.
A very confusing news report.
Versions of events vary widely. Gang members or two polite women? Gang members or no members on the roster and no patches worn. Road blocks or community staffed information points with official approval?
Staffers informing MPs. Police performing own lengthy interview with alleged complainant.
Don't be too quick to dismiss the idea. If it could be structured to align Key's interests with the country's, it could be a good use of his talents. Key's history suggests he's pretty good at sucking up to those he wants something from, and we know the Lard of the Links enjoys a good tongue-bathing of his nether regions.
DT: It would be a beautiful thing, maybe the best game of golf ever. And great for the economy- everybody is saying it would be great for the economy. It would be a powerful game of golf, very strong. And powerful – that's the way we thinking at the moment. We'll see what happens.
Key probably wants a job with Trump. Key left politics when he knew being the PM was over and Peters would favour a Labour coalition. Now that there are hard times with Air NZ Key will run again.
I reckon it was the chorus of boos at the Big Gay Out and the League at Eden Park
Key had a vision of his future and he didn't like it one bit…better to retire undefeated (keeping his popular veneer) and exit before more became aware of his true nature
"The Herald is clinging to Key like a comfort blanket"
There's a lot of psychic damage occurring on the right at the moment – they need some time out for self care. I could say 'be kind' – but I think we should follow the advice (can't remember from whom) that "when your enemy is drowning, throw him an anvil".
Would Key tolerate Trump's habit of cheating? Not counting strokes. Not handing in card. Lying about his skills but then is Key squeaky clean on the golf course?
Crikey, just tuning in for trumps 9,45am propaganda broadcast and apparently the net is down in California and some other states. Anyone know about it please?
Turns out that one of the network providers is having an outage over there.
Meanwhile, agent orange has wheeled out a spokesperson for the Dept Homeland Security Science and Tech. Which he cut funding to not so long ago. To tell the people that sunlight can help in the fight against the virus.
There you go USA, get naked and work outside, you'll be fine.
Never thought that Betsy DeVos would manage to destroy public education and dumb down the population so quickly. I guess there’s a Crusher Destroyer lurking inside all of us.
In my younger days I did home based childcare for 5 years. Usually with 2-3 kids. This would work well at level 3. The pay was awful, but knowing children had stability was a good thing.
It will be interesting to know the difference between private ECE run daycare and ECE government run daycare.
As well if you have children at school or in daycare.
Xero founder Rod Drury says we should sell off the land in NZ to overseas investors who have $50 million each to give us. Then we can build houses and be rich. I admit I was sceptical of this plan, because rich people are bad, but then he reassured me by saying,
"What's the downside of having these people here? People instinctively say 'no that's bad' but do we have any examples of it actually being bad?"
You cannot imagine what immediate enlightenment was like. Suddenly it all made sense. Universities everywhere were exposed as the fraudulent dosshouses they really are.
My mind swooped past a formative moment in our nation's history – The Great War. It truly was a great war, after all. Not just from a manufacturing perspective, but because it also gave Hitler his formative years. People say war is bad, but do we have any examples of it actually being bad? And Hitler, is he really that bad? Without Hitler we would not have the UN, and Helen Clark would be unemployed.
But spare a thought for what Hitler did for Jews in just ten short years, when Moses wasted 40 years in the desert with the Jews and didn't even think to invent anti-Semitism! These are the kind of opportunities our old way of thinking should avoid. Don't be a Moses!
No. You're right. There are downsides. But are there really? Displaced cows and sheep who'd otherwise just be standing around on farmland can swarm down out of the hills and find employment, perhaps working as passengers on public transport. Our rivers and waterways are saved! Even those pesky Greens couldn't object to that.
Suddenly I knew we had found our visionary for the post covid reality. So selfless was his sacrifice, so efficient his methods, that he didn't even use a Z for his own company's name. Quite rightly he assumed that Z is for zero, and that means no money. I was sad. But then I thought of all the words now free to choose another consonant, perhaps by taking a vote. Democracy in action!
Then it struck me. The single biggest thought I've ever had. We might think firing Rod Drury out of a canon, far out into the Tasman Sea, is a "bad" idea. But do we have any examples of it actually being bad?
Apparently ACT is polling at 5% or over as Nat voters run for cover. So National won’t need to cut them a deal in Epsom right? That poor cuckold Goldsmith can stand up straight and actually campaign to win for once. And we can put this shabby episode in our MMP history behind us.
Let’s face it that 5% is almost all Nat voters getting out before the shit really hits the fan.
The main point though is that if ACT can hit the threshold there’s no point National gifting them a seat, they’ll no longer get the extra vote in parliament for nothing.
In the long game it would still be worthwhile for the Nats to keep ACT alive for when they pick up again. So that segment of wingnuts that think Nats aren't nutty enough for them and can kid themselves that ACT isn't really just a sockpuppet will still end adding adding to the Nats numbers in parliament.
But the researchers instead found evidence for the opposite: “The key factor for infection was the direction of the airflow,” with downstream individuals being most at risk—a result consistent with the thesis that COVID-19 is transmitted primarily through the ballistic transmission of large respiratory droplets.
Pat Baskett at Newsroom tells it like it is on industry resistance to getting to 100% renewable electricity generation.
Also points to the nonsense of requiring peak demand gas fired generators when renewable options are available if generators would get off their asses and put the different generation in.
Sure made me wonder if Tesla battery storage (apropos the South Australian solution) would be more useful as resilience than peak generation.
Otherwise it was pretty clear the main generators aren't going to act fast enough to get to the goal of 100% renewable generation by 2040.
Tiwai Point is a major obstacle to generators getting off their asses and putting in new generation. Who in their right commercial mind wants to invest in new generation when there's the ever-present threat of the market getting flooded with cheap excess electricity at a year's notice?
For storage, New Zealand is blessed with an abundance of water and hilly country – ideal for pumped hydro storage. There's the Onslow-Manorburn depression in the South Island – if fully exploited it could store 1/3 of New Zealand's current annual electricity consumption. It would be surprising if there weren't at least a few suitable sites along the Waikato, even though I've been told most of the soild are unsuitable due to susceptibility to piping. No doubt there's lots of other potential sites in other North Island hill country.
edit: another major obstacle to generators getting off their asses is our market structure. It’s actually in the generators’ commercial interest to ride the line of major shortages as closely as possible, to increase the market price of what they sell. On top of the regular commercial incentive to not over-capitalise.
This government tends to kill new electricity generation dams. It's OK with those that are consented but unbuilt on the West Coast. Otherwise the era of such dams is gone.
At some point water storage for climate mitigation and water storage for electricity generation will find a sweet spot.
To be sure, it is usually more economic to just build a dam across an already existing water-carved valley, but that existing watercourse can be tiny. Especially if you're going for using a lot of head height and low flow for storing energy, rather than a lot of water volume at low head.
Also points to the nonsense of requiring peak demand gas fired generators when renewable options are available if generators would get off their asses and put the different generation in.
It's even more of a nonsense when you consider that methane leakage from natural gas networks can easily cancel out the AGW gains made by the renewables. I don't have the linky to hand, but I've read at least two solid studies that have done the numbers on this.
Renewables are a very welcome transition technology, we need them and should exploit them to the optimum extent possible … but they come with their own set of limitations we should be aware of.
Why should the left wing support liberals who have stuffed their lives for the last 40 years? trump is scum, but I'm not seeing biden being a much better type of scum. What with the sexual assault allegations, voting, and civil rights record.
Presumably yourself and Waters are okay with the multi-generational harm that will undoubtedly ensue should repugs get the opportunity to continue packing courts with conservative/religious extremists.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined a conference call with conservative pastors hosted by the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins last Thursday. Pompeo told the pastors that he has two big projects: the high-level international conferences he has hosted to promote religious liberty around the world, and the Commission on Unalienable Rights.
Pompeo’s remarks on the FRC pastors call strongly suggest that he hopes the commission will do exactly what human rights advocates fear, which is to seek to limit what some conservatives call “human rights inflation,” especially the recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people
McTurtle is working damn hard to ensure all empty slots are filled, and is trying to persuade all the older conservative judges to resign so thay can be replaced by young ones while he still can.
Poor presumption, Joe90. Waters is furious that they have chosen Biden because he sees him as sure to lose to Trump, and thereby empower the repugs to do exactly all that, and worse.
The time for that message ended a month ago. The voters have made their choice clear. Now it's time to move on to defeating the Marmalade Moron.
Continuing to throw whiny tantrums just helps the chances of Darth Hater continuing his covfiefdom in the Oval Office. But maybe that is indeed the intent.
Given this is NZ, I don't suppose it really matters if the 'winning strategy' is to piss off people who might otherwise vote for the dead head over the fuck head…
The people who selected Biden are the same people whose failings are responsible for Trump.
If the primaries had been a neutral arena voters entered into, then Biden would not have been the nominee.
The DNC, corporate media and donors have been successful in preserving a political establishment that's divorced from the lives of workers and pushes policies that have scant regard for voters.
You reckon Roger Waters is somehow at fault to be pointing out some obvious home truths?
The Supreme Court nominations, serious as they are, can be nullified by any Democratic President increasing the number of judges that sit on the Supreme Court btw. So potential damage, yes. Inter-generational…not so much.
And it's not as if working class people aren't already struggling beneath multiple layers of inter-generational trauma. So, not to diminish the effects of some court appointments, but what's another boulder on top of the existent heap?
There was no way that the Democrats in Senate could have stopped those appointments – even if they had filibustered for the 30 hours available.This was just prior to the mid-term elections and every good reason for Democratic senators to be back in the states supporting candidates and canvasing their electorate. The only way to stop this relentless attack on the court system by a ideologically driven conservative right wing establishment is to regain a majority in the Senate, and to do that the Democrats needed to preserve the seats they held. McTurtle is a clever and calculating politician and he runs the timing everything that the Senate considers. Many progressive Bills passed by the House just sit mouldering on the floor of the Senate and will never see the light of day.
In the end the fast tracking of these few judges (193 federal judges have been sworn in, in the 3 years of this "administration") was a calculated move by the Dems to ensure that in the future, such massive attacks on the US justice system will not be possible.
That may be a bit too nuanced for some, because all Dems are bad anyway therefore QED.
Yeah it probably is. Most here have no real idea of how the system works over there. They seem to think that all the power rests in the President. But it way more subtle than that. The 3 Arms of government are the executive,the legislature and the judicial system. The GOP by stacking the judiciary with highly Conservative judges are attempting to subvert any progressive moves by future governments through legal action. You may recall how much of Trumps initial programme wrt immigration were stymied in the courts and never progressed.
If the courts are filled with Conservative judges future attempts at socially progressive legislation will be effectively stymied for decades. The only way to stop this from happening is for the left to take back control of the Senate. That is why just before election day 2018 the Democrats agreed to fast track those 15 judges in order to ensure that they were available in their states for electioneering and ensure the blue wave that did eventuate.
Uhh, McFlock, they Dems won big in the House*, but had a net loss of two in the Senate. They gained Arizona and Nevada, but lost North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, and Florida.
To be fair, Florida was the only loss the Dems should have even have been competitive in. The others were only Dem because 2012 was an exceptionally good year, and the Repugs put up gargoyles like Todd "legitimate rape" Akin in those other seats. But overall, it was still very good for Senate Dems, winning 22 of the 33 seats.
*Congress strictly speaking refers to both the House of Representatives and the Senate put together as the legislative branch. Yes, House Reps are commonly referred to as Congressman or Congresswoman, while Senators aren't. But using Congress to refer to just the House rarks up my inner pedant every time. Sorry.
The latest round of opinion polling data suggests you don't really have a clue what constitutes politically toxic, or any idea of what folks are thinking, Ainsley.
People don't like being told their lives are worthless. Consequently Biden is ahead with the elderly. I doubt younger people are all that keen on dying either.
A string of recent polls shows troubling signs for President Trump with older voters, a group central to his reelection effort that appears to be drifting away from him amid a pandemic that has been especially deadly for senior citizens.
[…]
While it’s unclear if Biden’s polling strength with older voters will carry over into November, the shifts are enough to reshape the dynamics of a close race that has already been upended by a viral pandemic that has killed more than 47,000 Americans.
“We know that Americans over the age of 50 make up the majority of voters — and as a result, they’re a deciding factor in our elections,” Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, said in an interview. “They aren’t a monolith as a voting bloc, but one thing is clear: They do plan to vote.”
LeaMond said that while older voters were responsible for Trump’s narrow electoral college victory in 2016, their support shifted to Democrats in 2018, helping propel Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to become speaker of the House of Representatives.
We need to bring back the League of Militant Atheists.
A few armed athiests trashing churches will make the god-bothers think about stripping people of their human rights, which is soooo what they want to do.
"Joe Biden is a 'fucking slimeball' who can't beat Trump"
Joe Biden has to beat Trump. Biden's a horrible candidate – dull, uninspiring, with a terrible record and a rich target for attack ads. But he has to beat Trump, and it looks like the only way that happens is if Trump's mismanagement of the C-19 crisis is so terrible that people turn on him. Polls indicate it may be happening. This has opened up a whole new landscape of moral hazard for the left. Put crudely – how many deaths are you wishing for in order to beat Trump? This is a disgusting calculus – and you can blame the DNC for it, because they deemed just about the worst possible candidate to be the most electable, and enough of the voters fell in line.
"I'm so flabbergasted and gobsmacked by the way the Democratic National Committee has railroaded Bernie"
Oh come on – Waters sounds like an idiot if his understanding of power is so naive. They were never, never going to let Sanders anywhere near the nomination – he is a material threat to their existing wealth and income streams. Add to that the mistakes of the Sanders campaign itself and it was always very unlikely.
It's all the DNC, huh? The 49% of South Carolina Dem primary voters that chose Biden have no agency of their own? Nor do any of the other subsequent primary voters that coalesced around Biden to give him substantial majorities and pluralities?
edit: To me it really looks like the DNC bent over backwards to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as handicapping Bernie. Especially considering that Bernie pointedly rejects being a Democrat. Except when he runs.
Having 'agency' is not the same as being immune to external influence. Communicating a clear message from Obama on downwards that it must be Biden, constitutes influence. With influence comes culpability (at least partially).
Bugger, ran out of edit time for what I wanted to add. Which that Bernie pointedly rejects being a part of the Democratic party. Except when he wants to do an Alien facehugger/chestburster on it in service of presidential ambitions.
Around 50% of African American Dem voters in S. Carolina said they made a last minute decision to vote Biden in light of James Clyburn's endorsement.
There was also a very interesting interview with a black professor on The Hill a while back exploring the purportedly fairly unique and prevalent mind set of African American voters in states such as South Carolina. Essentially, the argument goes that white politics and white politicians have let down African Americans so often over so many generations, that many in those states approach any political promise of improvement from a 'white quarter' with such deep cynicism that they're inclined to vote instead for 'honest' white candidates who promise nothing.
America's Pest and Blightest is not a doctor, y'know, but he has a very good you-know-what. So he knows ways, lots of ways, that can cure virus. That nobody else has ever thought of. It's amazing. We could put a yuge beautiful burst of heat and light inside of people to kill the virus. Because heat and light kills viruses, you just have to get it where the virus is.
The difference between Trump and Cuomo is, Trump is one step behind the virus and Cuomo is trying to be one step ahead of the virus.
On a serious note, have you caught up with reading about people presenting with reduced oxygen as much as 50%?
I tend to read a bit on medical matters compared to other topics. What I am reading about Covid-19, so much is unknown when it comes to what to do and not what to do in an ICU setting. When I read clinicians comments about how scarey the management of blood clots are and the usual treatment which is given I can see how up against the fight they are. Selfless and doing the best they can with the knowledge they have got.
Yeah, it's scary the things this virus is doing that we're slowly learning about.
I've reported this before here, but here's a repeat of what my nephew in France has observed with his case of COVID. He is currently still in recovery from COVID-19. His case would be called mild – ie like the worst case of flu most people ever experience, but he didn't get to the point of needing external breathing assistance (his mother's case is similar). He has noticed his normal reflex to draw breath has been significantly suppressed. This is shown most dramatically by exhaling as far as possible, then trying to not inhale again. Normally this gets very distressing very quickly. In his current COVID-recovering state, he is able to sit there completely calmly feeling no need to inhale, even while his measured CO2 levels are spiking and oxygen dropping. This is particularly concerning for stopping breathing while asleep, and he notes that simply dying while asleep appears to happening at an unusually high rate among COVID-recovering patients.
Then I recall seeing a report where pregnant women were turning up to hospital, not reporting COVID symptoms, but for other pregnancy related reasons. Then low oxygen reading would show up. Then they'd take an x-ray, and find significant signs of COVID in their lungs. Which would then by confirmed by a coronavirus test.
thanks, that's a really good description. I feel like the emerging reports this week of hypoxia, as well as the blood clot issues, are another Italy moment for us, this one is not so in our face but a big wake up call nonetheless. Can't shake the feeling that we're still at the early stages of this whole thing and that we've not go to grips with the bigger picture yet.
Maybe he'll ask for a beautiful big burst of light and heat inside him. To kill any germs there. And they give it to him. Along with a big injection of antiseptic like he asked for.
Someone sent me this. See Trumps suggestions about disinfectant. He maybe onto something with his UV claims as he spends a lot of time in sun beds and hasn't gotten sick.
"The disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. It gets in the lungs"
The MSD investigation of the wage subsidy. While the numbers are a little muddled it looks like some where over 50% of the investigations produced a repayment. That's huge. Note the really crooked claimants can just pay it back not face criminal proceedings. Other MSD nvestigations have never been that forgiving.
Just wait for Bridges to get cracking on the government's "slack monitoring, giving money away hand-over-fist" incompetence.
The reality is, Simon, that the government needed to get that money out straight away. If they took a slow and overly careful approach to assessment there'd be an outcry of how long the process was taking, as well as how eligible businesses were missing out. This is precisely what happens with any tightly controlled targeted regime – eligible people miss out. Just look at our benefit system. The cases where there's been payments made in error are likely to have come from confusion over the criteria rather than employers setting out deliberately to defraud. Everything happened so quickly, and it needed to. Of course mistakes were going to be made.
Will Bridges touch this one – It's likely to be RW supporters who are taking far too much advantage? Yes there will some errors and mistakes and voluntary repayments before audit because of that but lets not let it all go as "a just errors" narrative. It was a high trust enviroment, meant to be a last resort and likely has been abused. We've had discussions already on the "how did they get a subsidy" and how the high end managers didn't do more than slap a wet bus ticket on their incomes.
Yes, perhaps. There'll be a mix of reasons and no doubt some fraud, just like with any system. But it's very easy to slip into thinking the majority of cases are where employers understood exactly what they were doing. I just don't think there are that many people across the board who think like that. But maybe there is – dunno. It was a massive undertaking that happened very quickly.
Whether Bridges goes on the offensive, who knows. He's probably got bigger things to think about right now, putting his foot in his mouth is probably one of them so maybe he won't. If he does he could still take a hard line against the fraudulent and/or a slack government but I think he'd be wrong on both accounts.
There will be people with forensic accountancy experience looking for work soon. The government were quick to act with this matter and hats off to them. Business owners exploiting the opportunity is nothing short of white collar looting in a crisis. I think the looters should be made to pay it back twofold and if they can't, sell up their assets. The recovery and relevant fines should more than pay for the investigations and prosecutions.
I wonder how many of those white collar looters might also be the types that have unexplained income tucked in the shadows? Might prompt a ring from an IRS team.
Both Countdown and Foodstuffs supermarkets will be cutting the 10% bonus they’ve been paying workers throughout lockdown starting from the week after next.
I know plenty of people already attempt to buy from small retail outlets. But I take it there will be a more widespread effort to buy stuff from places other than supermarkets now?
If they get rid of Shaw, Genter, and Swarbrick they won't have to worry about the ones ahead of those players not doing the right thing in government next time round, or in Parliament. No-one from the party will be in Parliament.
The group is tiny, possibly representing fewer than 100 current members and their efforts to shape the final list exactly as they want it will almost certainly be unsuccessful.
The issues in 2017 were largely caucus issues from what I can tell, about how the different MPs were communicating with each other under the pressures of a tough election campaign, and then their unpreparedness for the fall out and MSM response. I totally expect them to have done a lot of work on that.
That is quite different from a member network publishing ideas internally on how to make the party more left wing. On the face of it their proposal seems daft, both as strategy for the party in election year assuming theoretically they could actually influence the list, but also in terms of ignoring how it might affect the party as a whole. But I suspect it's more in the context of how to get some kind of leftward movement by using this controversial approach rather than working within the more cooperative processes within the party (the latter may not have been effective).
If so, it's very trad left and not something I see as particularly useful for the party. Hard to tell how influential the group is. Journo is saying less than 100 people, Jack McDonald is saying it's a much bigger group and one of the most influential in the party.
The media may not owe politicians anything but they do owe their position in society to their supposed commitment to the journalistic concepts of truthful and contextual reporting. If their role is only produce profit then we are being badly served. As citizens we are owed an factual and informative media.
A communist purge from within the the Greens ! That would be a really interesting development & cat fight before the election. I look forward to it happening as post Covid-19 lockdown entertainment. Off to the gulag for the "Green" Greens while the Reds take control !!
Donald Trump, the Pope, the World's most renowned virologist and a little girl are the only ones still on a damaged plane that is rapidly losing height. There are 4 people and only 3 parachutes.
The virologist grabs a parachute, says "I have to do important work to save the world from COVID-19", and jumps out of the plane.
Donald Trump grabs one and says "I am the smartest man in America and must lead the nation through this crisis", and jumps out of the plane.
The Pope turns to the little girl and says "You take the last parachute, I am an old man who has lived his life, and you have yours ahead of you."
The little girl says "We can both take one your Holiness – the smartest man in America just jumped out of the plane wearing my Hello Kitty backpack."
Irony is dead if it turns out nicotine does have a beneficial use.
Nicotine could protect people from contracting the coronavirus, according to new research in France, where further trials are planned to test whether the substance could be used to prevent or treat the deadly illness.
The findings come after researchers at a top Paris hospital examined 343 coronavirus patients along with 139 people infected with the illness with milder symptoms.
They found that a low number of them smoked, compared to smoking rates of around 35 percent in France's general population.
"Among these patients, only five percent were smokers," said Zahir Amoura, the study's co-author and a professor of internal medicine.
The research echoed similar findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month that suggested that 12.6 percent of 1,000 people infected in China were smokers. That was a much lower figure than the number of regular smokers in China's general population, about 26 precent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
[…]
The theory is that nicotine could adhere to cell receptors, therefore blocking the virus from entering cells and spreading in the body, according to renown neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux from France's Pasteur Institut who also co-authored the study.
The researchers are awaiting approval from health authorities in France to carry out further clinical trials.
They plan to use nicotine patches on health workers at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris — where the initial research was conducted — to see if it protects them against contracting the virus.
They have also applied to use the patches on hospitalised patients to see whether it helps reduce symptoms and also on more serious intensive care patients, Amoura said.
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
The government should not set military style academies into youth justice law, the children's commissioner says, despite its first bootcamp getting a glowing report. ...
The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a TradeMe auction. ...
MONDAYSheriff Seymour rode slowly down the main street of Dodge on his faithful white horse Atlas Network.He liked what he saw.Children were being fed free lunches prepared by kind people who collected the scraps from an offal rendering plant.“Very strongly flavoured liver, such as ox liver, can be soaked overnight ...
Once upon a time it was all about being an astronaut, a firefighter or doctor; but these days kids have their sights set on becoming vloggers or YouTubers.That’s according to a 2019 study by Lego that surveyed 3000 children between the ages of eight to 12 from the US, the ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. From the moment I started high school and realised almost every other girl in my year was at least partially interested in what the boys were up to, I realised that I would be single for life. The feeling wasn’t one of ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Selina Alesana Alefosio.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.On a bright Sunday morning from her grandparent’s home in Pito-one, I spoke with ...
The White Lotus star reflects on her life in TV, including the local ad reference that doesn’t work in Australia, and her bananas co-star on Neighbours.Morgana O’Reilly was scrolling her phone next to her sleeping son on an idle Saturday morning when she got the call confirming that she ...
Claire Mabey explores the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.In January, Publishers Weekly put out an article by Sean Manning – publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship US imprint – in which he said he’d “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.The ...
New Zealand’s Entomological Society is hosting its annual bug of the year contest. Here are some of the insects in the running. For some reason – perhaps humans’ inherent competitiveness, the idealisation of democracy, the need to demarcate winners and losers – one of the best ways to get people ...
A journey along the border, with words and illustrations by Bob Kerr.The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members.The Sunset Limited leaves Union Station New Orleans on time at nine in the morning. We ...
Neville Peat is the 2024 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in nonfiction. He’s written 56 books, mostly on natural history; this excerpt is from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal, first published in 1992. The falcon wintering on the Rock and ...
It was a light-hearted gesture Greta Pilkington will be forever grateful for – thanks to an Aussie rival who jumped in when the Olympic sailor couldn’t be at her own graduation.Pilkington, then 20, had been leading a double life – while qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the ILCA ...
I was born in the back of my grandfather’s ute, by an overgrown windbreak in a remote place called Wahi-Rakauyou can’t find on a map. I was born a girl but given the man’s name Harvey, as my dad always wanted a violent-minded boy to one day help him ...
“We’re not here to interfere in people’s property rights,” Ngāi Tahu’s Te Maire Tau has told the High Court.Tau, a historian, Upoko (traditional leader) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and a university professor of history, is the lead witness in a case designed to force the Crown to recognise the tribe’s rangatiratanga ...
Pacific Media Watch Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda. The AP is being punished for using the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal. Animals Australia, an animal welfare ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
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 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
simon's just making shit up now!
https://i.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/121209651/coronavirus-police-refute-simon-bridges—no-gang-members-at-maket-checkpoint
That's the trouble with a silly dog that will chase anything looking like a car….
Some are so silly they even chase parked cars…with a predictable results..
Woof Woof Simon – Bravo, sic em boy!
The local ranking police officer did not appreciate being told by Bridges that the police did not seem to be interested.
A very confusing news report.
Versions of events vary widely. Gang members or two polite women? Gang members or no members on the roster and no patches worn. Road blocks or community staffed information points with official approval?
Staffers informing MPs. Police performing own lengthy interview with alleged complainant.
Reporter reporting upon incident/s.
Who's right?
Burning irony, just saw a photo of a MAGA anti-lockdown placard "My body! My decision!".
Yup, the lady really did go there.
Ha! I actually saw a man with the sign, I also read a good article on Vox and basically saying these people really are a minority.
What about the medical workers who might need to treat the person for high level care.
To be complacent of a virus which can cause nasty blood clots which can lead to an amputation or respiratory failure or a stroke.
So much is not yet known.
Brilliant!
The Herald is clinging to Key like a comfort blanket. This time a drooling piece about how he wants to play golf with Trump!
Don't be too quick to dismiss the idea. If it could be structured to align Key's interests with the country's, it could be a good use of his talents. Key's history suggests he's pretty good at sucking up to those he wants something from, and we know the Lard of the Links enjoys a good tongue-bathing of his nether regions.
Andre, I have to say it: you are always refreshingly scathing and inventive with your language when on the topic of Trump. Thanks.
Right about Shonky too.
DT: It would be a beautiful thing, maybe the best game of golf ever. And great for the economy- everybody is saying it would be great for the economy. It would be a powerful game of golf, very strong. And powerful – that's the way we thinking at the moment. We'll see what happens.
JK: Ekshully thet's true.
And get into good shape to.
Key probably wants a job with Trump. Key left politics when he knew being the PM was over and Peters would favour a Labour coalition. Now that there are hard times with Air NZ Key will run again.
Trump is unlikely to be re elected.
Key left politics when his wife demanded it, so it was rumoured.
He never recovered after his ponytail antics in the Parnell cafe. That was his downfall.
He had plenty of reasons to go rumoured or not.
I reckon it was the chorus of boos at the Big Gay Out and the League at Eden Park
Key had a vision of his future and he didn't like it one bit…better to retire undefeated (keeping his popular veneer) and exit before more became aware of his true nature
The rumours seem more persuasive.
And the rest of the rumour?
Relevant how?
"The Herald is clinging to Key like a comfort blanket"
There's a lot of psychic damage occurring on the right at the moment – they need some time out for self care. I could say 'be kind' – but I think we should follow the advice (can't remember from whom) that "when your enemy is drowning, throw him an anvil".
Yup, I’ve run out of Voodoo dolls.
Would Key tolerate Trump's habit of cheating? Not counting strokes. Not handing in card. Lying about his skills but then is Key squeaky clean on the golf course?
You misunderstand. At their level, it's not a game of skills. It's a dominance/supplicance game.
I wonder if they play for money and how much?
Saves him the effort of throwing the game to suck up.
Crikey, just tuning in for trumps 9,45am propaganda broadcast and apparently the net is down in California and some other states. Anyone know about it please?
Turns out that one of the network providers is having an outage over there.
Meanwhile, agent orange has wheeled out a spokesperson for the Dept Homeland Security Science and Tech. Which he cut funding to not so long ago. To tell the people that sunlight can help in the fight against the virus.
There you go USA, get naked and work outside, you'll be fine.
God help those poor people.
Never thought that Betsy DeVos would manage to destroy public education and dumb down the population so quickly. I guess there’s a
CrusherDestroyer lurking inside all of us.Too true, too true.
She sure is another terrible billionaire, dodgy betsy, her brother started Blackwater.
As a side issue see the low turnout expected back at school in NZ at level 3.
I am not sure about ECE but would expect a similar result.
I just called my friend who is an ECE teacher, she is currently in a work meeting, will let you know the outcome, am interested too.
I to know someone well who works in ECE.
In my younger days I did home based childcare for 5 years. Usually with 2-3 kids. This would work well at level 3. The pay was awful, but knowing children had stability was a good thing.
It will be interesting to know the difference between private ECE run daycare and ECE government run daycare.
As well if you have children at school or in daycare.
Xero founder Rod Drury says we should sell off the land in NZ to overseas investors who have $50 million each to give us. Then we can build houses and be rich. I admit I was sceptical of this plan, because rich people are bad, but then he reassured me by saying,
"What's the downside of having these people here? People instinctively say 'no that's bad' but do we have any examples of it actually being bad?"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prosper/121209460/international-property-investment-could-kickstart-construction-sector-drury
You cannot imagine what immediate enlightenment was like. Suddenly it all made sense. Universities everywhere were exposed as the fraudulent dosshouses they really are.
My mind swooped past a formative moment in our nation's history – The Great War. It truly was a great war, after all. Not just from a manufacturing perspective, but because it also gave Hitler his formative years. People say war is bad, but do we have any examples of it actually being bad? And Hitler, is he really that bad? Without Hitler we would not have the UN, and Helen Clark would be unemployed.
But spare a thought for what Hitler did for Jews in just ten short years, when Moses wasted 40 years in the desert with the Jews and didn't even think to invent anti-Semitism! These are the kind of opportunities our old way of thinking should avoid. Don't be a Moses!
No. You're right. There are downsides. But are there really? Displaced cows and sheep who'd otherwise just be standing around on farmland can swarm down out of the hills and find employment, perhaps working as passengers on public transport. Our rivers and waterways are saved! Even those pesky Greens couldn't object to that.
Suddenly I knew we had found our visionary for the post covid reality. So selfless was his sacrifice, so efficient his methods, that he didn't even use a Z for his own company's name. Quite rightly he assumed that Z is for zero, and that means no money. I was sad. But then I thought of all the words now free to choose another consonant, perhaps by taking a vote. Democracy in action!
Then it struck me. The single biggest thought I've ever had. We might think firing Rod Drury out of a canon, far out into the Tasman Sea, is a "bad" idea. But do we have any examples of it actually being bad?
Ah, I can see that you're exposing your inner Hosking again.
Is that wise? You might wind up a talk show host and go mindless from too much agonising about what to say today.
/sarc
Refugees add more value to NZ than overseas billionaires.
100%
Last thing we need is to give rich people even more power over the rest of us.
Thanks, I enjoyed that read. Wasn't bad – or was it?
Apparently ACT is polling at 5% or over as Nat voters run for cover. So National won’t need to cut them a deal in Epsom right? That poor cuckold Goldsmith can stand up straight and actually campaign to win for once. And we can put this shabby episode in our MMP history behind us.
If the national average is 5%, imagine what the Epsom support level would be?
I'd vote Seymour over Goldsmith it it was my electorate.
Despite being ACT Seymour has done some great things in parliament, and advocating for his electorate.
Where would the euthanasia debate be now without Seymour. He is far more effective than Goldsmith.
That 5% would be projected *party* vote, not for their single current MP renowned for his doorknocking and saying 'hi'.
Let’s face it that 5% is almost all Nat voters getting out before the shit really hits the fan.
The main point though is that if ACT can hit the threshold there’s no point National gifting them a seat, they’ll no longer get the extra vote in parliament for nothing.
Yes, a good point.
In the long game it would still be worthwhile for the Nats to keep ACT alive for when they pick up again. So that segment of wingnuts that think Nats aren't nutty enough for them and can kid themselves that ACT isn't really just a sockpuppet will still end adding adding to the Nats numbers in parliament.
That's my point. I think if National campaigned hard against Seymour, Seymour would still win. He's a better candidate than Goldsmith.
An interesting COVID read from a different angle:
My theory ,worked out while walking in the park, if I can smell their aftershave they could be infecting me. I stay upwind where ever possible.
Pat Baskett at Newsroom tells it like it is on industry resistance to getting to 100% renewable electricity generation.
Also points to the nonsense of requiring peak demand gas fired generators when renewable options are available if generators would get off their asses and put the different generation in.
Sure made me wonder if Tesla battery storage (apropos the South Australian solution) would be more useful as resilience than peak generation.
Otherwise it was pretty clear the main generators aren't going to act fast enough to get to the goal of 100% renewable generation by 2040.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/greenroom/2020/04/24/1141358/pat-baskett
The report itself is worth a read, as well as the article.
Tiwai Point is a major obstacle to generators getting off their asses and putting in new generation. Who in their right commercial mind wants to invest in new generation when there's the ever-present threat of the market getting flooded with cheap excess electricity at a year's notice?
For storage, New Zealand is blessed with an abundance of water and hilly country – ideal for pumped hydro storage. There's the Onslow-Manorburn depression in the South Island – if fully exploited it could store 1/3 of New Zealand's current annual electricity consumption. It would be surprising if there weren't at least a few suitable sites along the Waikato, even though I've been told most of the soild are unsuitable due to susceptibility to piping. No doubt there's lots of other potential sites in other North Island hill country.
edit: another major obstacle to generators getting off their asses is our market structure. It’s actually in the generators’ commercial interest to ride the line of major shortages as closely as possible, to increase the market price of what they sell. On top of the regular commercial incentive to not over-capitalise.
This government tends to kill new electricity generation dams. It's OK with those that are consented but unbuilt on the West Coast. Otherwise the era of such dams is gone.
At some point water storage for climate mitigation and water storage for electricity generation will find a sweet spot.
But not I fear with this government.
Thing is, pumped hydro doesn't necessarily require trashing an existing substantial waterway. See this one built basically on top of a hill.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-aerial-view-upper-reservoir-of-the-rnkhausen-pumped-storage-hydroelectric-72731151.html
To be sure, it is usually more economic to just build a dam across an already existing water-carved valley, but that existing watercourse can be tiny. Especially if you're going for using a lot of head height and low flow for storing energy, rather than a lot of water volume at low head.
Any time one of the generators wants to put a proposal like that through our ridiculous system, I have teams that will build it for them.
Agree with your point about the market.
I have this nasty feeling we're about to find out how little this government is interested in structural change of about anything.
any good reason the government can't legislate to make this happen?
Only their commitment to neoliberalism.
Good being the operative word in my question 😉
Also points to the nonsense of requiring peak demand gas fired generators when renewable options are available if generators would get off their asses and put the different generation in.
It's even more of a nonsense when you consider that methane leakage from natural gas networks can easily cancel out the AGW gains made by the renewables. I don't have the linky to hand, but I've read at least two solid studies that have done the numbers on this.
Renewables are a very welcome transition technology, we need them and should exploit them to the optimum extent possible … but they come with their own set of limitations we should be aware of.
Roger Waters doing the right thing again.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/04/roger-waters-joe-biden/
Lol. I thought it was going to be, "Roger Waters calls for Democrats to put differences aside".
Why should the left wing support liberals who have stuffed their lives for the last 40 years? trump is scum, but I'm not seeing biden being a much better type of scum. What with the sexual assault allegations, voting, and civil rights record.
Presumably yourself and Waters are okay with the multi-generational harm that will undoubtedly ensue should repugs get the opportunity to continue packing courts with conservative/religious extremists.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined a conference call with conservative pastors hosted by the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins last Thursday. Pompeo told the pastors that he has two big projects: the high-level international conferences he has hosted to promote religious liberty around the world, and the Commission on Unalienable Rights.
The Commission on Unalienable Rights has generated alarm among human rights advocates and excitement among anti-LGBTQ religious-right groups that opposed the Obama administration’s promotion of LGBTQ human rights globally. In the past, the commission’s chair, conservative Harvard University law professor Mary Ann Glendon, has dismissed those concerns without allaying them.
Pompeo’s remarks on the FRC pastors call strongly suggest that he hopes the commission will do exactly what human rights advocates fear, which is to seek to limit what some conservatives call “human rights inflation,” especially the recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mike-pompeo-says-unalienable-rights-commission-will-return-human-rights-policy-to-judeo-christian-tradition-on-which-this-country-was-founded/
"Leave no vacancy behind".
McTurtle is working damn hard to ensure all empty slots are filled, and is trying to persuade all the older conservative judges to resign so thay can be replaced by young ones while he still can.
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/22/mcconnell-rushes-to-confirm-judicial-nominees-as-trump-flounders-in-polls-leave-no-vacancy-behind/
Poor presumption, Joe90. Waters is furious that they have chosen Biden because he sees him as sure to lose to Trump, and thereby empower the repugs to do exactly all that, and worse.
The time for that message ended a month ago. The voters have made their choice clear. Now it's time to move on to defeating the Marmalade Moron.
Continuing to throw whiny tantrums just helps the chances of Darth Hater continuing his covfiefdom in the Oval Office. But maybe that is indeed the intent.
Continuing to throw whiny tantrums just …
Given this is NZ, I don't suppose it really matters if the 'winning strategy' is to piss off people who might otherwise vote for the dead head over the fuck head…
Ever considered applying that idea to your own contributions to the discourse?
You have any ready examples of me vote shaming individuals there Andre?
"Vote shaming" is just one way to "piss off people", Bill.
Waters' presumes to know better than the people who selected Biden.
Nice.
/
The people who selected Biden are the same people whose failings are responsible for Trump.
If the primaries had been a neutral arena voters entered into, then Biden would not have been the nominee.
The DNC, corporate media and donors have been successful in preserving a political establishment that's divorced from the lives of workers and pushes policies that have scant regard for voters.
You reckon Roger Waters is somehow at fault to be pointing out some obvious home truths?
The Supreme Court nominations, serious as they are, can be nullified by any Democratic President increasing the number of judges that sit on the Supreme Court btw. So potential damage, yes. Inter-generational…not so much.
And it's not as if working class people aren't already struggling beneath multiple layers of inter-generational trauma. So, not to diminish the effects of some court appointments, but what's another boulder on top of the existent heap?
They are stacking way more courts than just the supreme one, and with quite young judges. Locked in for decades.
You mean like the nominations Chuck Schumer (Dem Senate leader) helped fast track?
There was no way that the Democrats in Senate could have stopped those appointments – even if they had filibustered for the 30 hours available.This was just prior to the mid-term elections and every good reason for Democratic senators to be back in the states supporting candidates and canvasing their electorate. The only way to stop this relentless attack on the court system by a ideologically driven conservative right wing establishment is to regain a majority in the Senate, and to do that the Democrats needed to preserve the seats they held. McTurtle is a clever and calculating politician and he runs the timing everything that the Senate considers. Many progressive Bills passed by the House just sit mouldering on the floor of the Senate and will never see the light of day.
In the end the fast tracking of these few judges (193 federal judges have been sworn in, in the 3 years of this "administration") was a calculated move by the Dems to ensure that in the future, such massive attacks on the US justice system will not be possible.
That may be a bit too nuanced for some, because all Dems are bad anyway therefore QED.
"a calculated move by the Dems to ensure that in the future, such massive attacks on the US justice system will not be possible."
Way too subtle for me.
Yeah it probably is. Most here have no real idea of how the system works over there. They seem to think that all the power rests in the President. But it way more subtle than that. The 3 Arms of government are the executive,the legislature and the judicial system. The GOP by stacking the judiciary with highly Conservative judges are attempting to subvert any progressive moves by future governments through legal action. You may recall how much of Trumps initial programme wrt immigration were stymied in the courts and never progressed.
If the courts are filled with Conservative judges future attempts at socially progressive legislation will be effectively stymied for decades. The only way to stop this from happening is for the left to take back control of the Senate. That is why just before election day 2018 the Democrats agreed to fast track those 15 judges in order to ensure that they were available in their states for electioneering and ensure the blue wave that did eventuate.
But they lost.
Who lost? Dems caned the Congress and gained a few in the senate seats that were up for grabs.
Uhh, McFlock, they Dems won big in the House*, but had a net loss of two in the Senate. They gained Arizona and Nevada, but lost North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, and Florida.
To be fair, Florida was the only loss the Dems should have even have been competitive in. The others were only Dem because 2012 was an exceptionally good year, and the Repugs put up gargoyles like Todd "legitimate rape" Akin in those other seats. But overall, it was still very good for Senate Dems, winning 22 of the 33 seats.
*Congress strictly speaking refers to both the House of Representatives and the Senate put together as the legislative branch. Yes, House Reps are commonly referred to as Congressman or Congresswoman, while Senators aren't. But using Congress to refer to just the House rarks up my inner pedant every time. Sorry.
Yeah its pretty obvious what is politically toxic to most folks, apart from the lefty "elite" and their hangers on of course.
The latest round of opinion polling data suggests you don't really have a clue what constitutes politically toxic, or any idea of what folks are thinking, Ainsley.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
People don't like being told their lives are worthless. Consequently Biden is ahead with the elderly. I doubt younger people are all that keen on dying either.
A string of recent polls shows troubling signs for President Trump with older voters, a group central to his reelection effort that appears to be drifting away from him amid a pandemic that has been especially deadly for senior citizens.
[…]
While it’s unclear if Biden’s polling strength with older voters will carry over into November, the shifts are enough to reshape the dynamics of a close race that has already been upended by a viral pandemic that has killed more than 47,000 Americans.
“We know that Americans over the age of 50 make up the majority of voters — and as a result, they’re a deciding factor in our elections,” Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, said in an interview. “They aren’t a monolith as a voting bloc, but one thing is clear: They do plan to vote.”
LeaMond said that while older voters were responsible for Trump’s narrow electoral college victory in 2016, their support shifted to Democrats in 2018, helping propel Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to become speaker of the House of Representatives.
http://archive.li/VTCyt
Then there's the inconvenient problem that in the swing states the people dying are demographically more likely to have voted for the Covfefuhrer.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/23/how-coronavirus-could-upend-2020-battlegrounds-204708
We need to bring back the League of Militant Atheists.
A few armed athiests trashing churches will make the god-bothers think about stripping people of their human rights, which is soooo what they want to do.
Roger isn't voting in the US Presidential election is he?
What party does he support in the UK?
"Joe Biden is a 'fucking slimeball' who can't beat Trump"
Joe Biden has to beat Trump. Biden's a horrible candidate – dull, uninspiring, with a terrible record and a rich target for attack ads. But he has to beat Trump, and it looks like the only way that happens is if Trump's mismanagement of the C-19 crisis is so terrible that people turn on him. Polls indicate it may be happening. This has opened up a whole new landscape of moral hazard for the left. Put crudely – how many deaths are you wishing for in order to beat Trump? This is a disgusting calculus – and you can blame the DNC for it, because they deemed just about the worst possible candidate to be the most electable, and enough of the voters fell in line.
"I'm so flabbergasted and gobsmacked by the way the Democratic National Committee has railroaded Bernie"
Oh come on – Waters sounds like an idiot if his understanding of power is so naive. They were never, never going to let Sanders anywhere near the nomination – he is a material threat to their existing wealth and income streams. Add to that the mistakes of the Sanders campaign itself and it was always very unlikely.
It's all the DNC, huh? The 49% of South Carolina Dem primary voters that chose Biden have no agency of their own? Nor do any of the other subsequent primary voters that coalesced around Biden to give him substantial majorities and pluralities?
edit: To me it really looks like the DNC bent over backwards to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as handicapping Bernie. Especially considering that Bernie pointedly rejects being a Democrat. Except when he runs.
Having 'agency' is not the same as being immune to external influence. Communicating a clear message from Obama on downwards that it must be Biden, constitutes influence. With influence comes culpability (at least partially).
Bugger, ran out of edit time for what I wanted to add. Which that Bernie pointedly rejects being a part of the Democratic party. Except when he wants to do an Alien facehugger/chestburster on it in service of presidential ambitions.
Around 50% of African American Dem voters in S. Carolina said they made a last minute decision to vote Biden in light of James Clyburn's endorsement.
There was also a very interesting interview with a black professor on The Hill a while back exploring the purportedly fairly unique and prevalent mind set of African American voters in states such as South Carolina. Essentially, the argument goes that white politics and white politicians have let down African Americans so often over so many generations, that many in those states approach any political promise of improvement from a 'white quarter' with such deep cynicism that they're inclined to vote instead for 'honest' white candidates who promise nothing.
America's Pest and Blightest is not a doctor, y'know, but he has a very good you-know-what. So he knows ways, lots of ways, that can cure virus. That nobody else has ever thought of. It's amazing. We could put a yuge beautiful burst of heat and light inside of people to kill the virus. Because heat and light kills viruses, you just have to get it where the virus is.
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/23/21233628/trump-disinfectant-injections-sunlight-coronavirus-briefing
The difference between Trump and Cuomo is, Trump is one step behind the virus and Cuomo is trying to be one step ahead of the virus.
On a serious note, have you caught up with reading about people presenting with reduced oxygen as much as 50%?
I tend to read a bit on medical matters compared to other topics. What I am reading about Covid-19, so much is unknown when it comes to what to do and not what to do in an ICU setting. When I read clinicians comments about how scarey the management of blood clots are and the usual treatment which is given I can see how up against the fight they are. Selfless and doing the best they can with the knowledge they have got.
Yeah, it's scary the things this virus is doing that we're slowly learning about.
I've reported this before here, but here's a repeat of what my nephew in France has observed with his case of COVID. He is currently still in recovery from COVID-19. His case would be called mild – ie like the worst case of flu most people ever experience, but he didn't get to the point of needing external breathing assistance (his mother's case is similar). He has noticed his normal reflex to draw breath has been significantly suppressed. This is shown most dramatically by exhaling as far as possible, then trying to not inhale again. Normally this gets very distressing very quickly. In his current COVID-recovering state, he is able to sit there completely calmly feeling no need to inhale, even while his measured CO2 levels are spiking and oxygen dropping. This is particularly concerning for stopping breathing while asleep, and he notes that simply dying while asleep appears to happening at an unusually high rate among COVID-recovering patients.
Then I recall seeing a report where pregnant women were turning up to hospital, not reporting COVID symptoms, but for other pregnancy related reasons. Then low oxygen reading would show up. Then they'd take an x-ray, and find significant signs of COVID in their lungs. Which would then by confirmed by a coronavirus test.
thanks, that's a really good description. I feel like the emerging reports this week of hypoxia, as well as the blood clot issues, are another Italy moment for us, this one is not so in our face but a big wake up call nonetheless. Can't shake the feeling that we're still at the early stages of this whole thing and that we've not go to grips with the bigger picture yet.
God almighty – when are some people in white coats going to turn up and take him away?
Maybe he'll ask for a beautiful big burst of light and heat inside him. To kill any germs there. And they give it to him. Along with a big injection of antiseptic like he asked for.
Someone sent me this. See Trumps suggestions about disinfectant. He maybe onto something with his UV claims as he spends a lot of time in sun beds and hasn't gotten sick.
Hell i've still got the giggles.
Don't try this at home now, yih hear.
Just waiting for the reports of the people that do try it at home. There might be some truly awesome idiot inventiveness coming up.
The hydroxychloroquine thing has already killed.
Although apparently diy/vet treatments are the only affordable option for many yanks, because their health system sucks that bad.
Iso Prop shooters at Don and Mel's.
https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1253474772702429189
Be warned – cannot be unseen.
The MSD investigation of the wage subsidy. While the numbers are a little muddled it looks like some where over 50% of the investigations produced a repayment. That's huge. Note the really crooked claimants can just pay it back not face criminal proceedings. Other MSD nvestigations have never been that forgiving.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121215598/coronavirus-more-than-16-million-in-wage-subsidy-to-be-refunded-after-government-audit
Pretty much equivalent to how WINZ audits their stuff…
Just wait for Bridges to get cracking on the government's "slack monitoring, giving money away hand-over-fist" incompetence.
The reality is, Simon, that the government needed to get that money out straight away. If they took a slow and overly careful approach to assessment there'd be an outcry of how long the process was taking, as well as how eligible businesses were missing out. This is precisely what happens with any tightly controlled targeted regime – eligible people miss out. Just look at our benefit system. The cases where there's been payments made in error are likely to have come from confusion over the criteria rather than employers setting out deliberately to defraud. Everything happened so quickly, and it needed to. Of course mistakes were going to be made.
Will Bridges touch this one – It's likely to be RW supporters who are taking far too much advantage? Yes there will some errors and mistakes and voluntary repayments before audit because of that but lets not let it all go as "a just errors" narrative. It was a high trust enviroment, meant to be a last resort and likely has been abused. We've had discussions already on the "how did they get a subsidy" and how the high end managers didn't do more than slap a wet bus ticket on their incomes.
Yes, perhaps. There'll be a mix of reasons and no doubt some fraud, just like with any system. But it's very easy to slip into thinking the majority of cases are where employers understood exactly what they were doing. I just don't think there are that many people across the board who think like that. But maybe there is – dunno. It was a massive undertaking that happened very quickly.
Whether Bridges goes on the offensive, who knows. He's probably got bigger things to think about right now, putting his foot in his mouth is probably one of them so maybe he won't. If he does he could still take a hard line against the fraudulent and/or a slack government but I think he'd be wrong on both accounts.
There will be people with forensic accountancy experience looking for work soon. The government were quick to act with this matter and hats off to them. Business owners exploiting the opportunity is nothing short of white collar looting in a crisis. I think the looters should be made to pay it back twofold and if they can't, sell up their assets. The recovery and relevant fines should more than pay for the investigations and prosecutions.
I wonder how many of those white collar looters might also be the types that have unexplained income tucked in the shadows? Might prompt a ring from an IRS team.
On the difficulties, limitations and accuracy of anti-body testing.
https://www.city-journal.org/understanding-covid-19-testing
You find better links than me on Covid-19 that I have been reading. I think I will just wait for you to post them.
Maybe I could supply a list and you could find the link.
Try PubMed.
Bastards.
Both Countdown and Foodstuffs supermarkets will be cutting the 10% bonus they’ve been paying workers throughout lockdown starting from the week after next.
I know plenty of people already attempt to buy from small retail outlets. But I take it there will be a more widespread effort to buy stuff from places other than supermarkets now?
Absolutely. Luckily we have a local organic shop open in competition.
The government has given the duopoly license to make bank all the way.
Time the Commerce Commission made these food barons prove their prices and their margins.
Why? They had no need to pay 10% extra but did . Things are mostly likely going to be a whole lot safer in a couple of weeks .
Make the minimum wage a living wage!
Sadly, as Deborah Russell astutely noted the other day, there's an issue with small businesses that would need to fixed first.
New from the Stones.
I still prefer Nemesis Dub Systems
You're allowed to like more than one thing. I myself like several things.
Tried that once. Didn't like it.
At how many levels did you not like it?
Why is the Left-Green faction of the Greens seeking to roll Shaw, Genter, and Swarbrick?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121235996/leftwing-green-faction-wants-to-axe-coleader-james-shaw-and-eugenie-sage-and-chle-swarbrick
Five months to go – keep your shit together team.
Don't need another 2017 meltdown.
Stuff, as usual, gets it wrong.
If they get rid of Shaw, Genter, and Swarbrick they won't have to worry about the ones ahead of those players not doing the right thing in government next time round, or in Parliament. No-one from the party will be in Parliament.
Sage not Genter. They have Genter at the same slot as the initial list.
Members are entitled to an opinion, that is democracy. As the article says they are a small group relative to the total number of members.
Goodness me, the "Green Left" are a bit of a larf, arn't they? About 100 fanatics getting their most electable MPs as much bad publicity as possible.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121235996/leftwing-green-faction-wants-to-axe-coleader-james-shaw-and-eugenie-sage-and-chle-swarbrick
Only 5 months to keep it together Greens.
Stay on target, stay on target.
Your concern is misplaced. From the article:
Only took one last time.
There's fewer fucking up the Nats right now.
No, it took a hostile media beat-up, as we are see again with this amplification of a marginal group within a democratic organisation.
I still support the actions of Turei, she did not deserve the pile-on for highlighting the failures of our welfare system.
The media are even more hostile to Bridges right now.
The media don't owe politicians anything, nor do they owe their party supporters anything.
The Greens will I suspect get through this unless they are terminally stupid.
The issues in 2017 were largely caucus issues from what I can tell, about how the different MPs were communicating with each other under the pressures of a tough election campaign, and then their unpreparedness for the fall out and MSM response. I totally expect them to have done a lot of work on that.
That is quite different from a member network publishing ideas internally on how to make the party more left wing. On the face of it their proposal seems daft, both as strategy for the party in election year assuming theoretically they could actually influence the list, but also in terms of ignoring how it might affect the party as a whole. But I suspect it's more in the context of how to get some kind of leftward movement by using this controversial approach rather than working within the more cooperative processes within the party (the latter may not have been effective).
If so, it's very trad left and not something I see as particularly useful for the party. Hard to tell how influential the group is. Journo is saying less than 100 people, Jack McDonald is saying it's a much bigger group and one of the most influential in the party.
The media may not owe politicians anything but they do owe their position in society to their supposed commitment to the journalistic concepts of truthful and contextual reporting. If their role is only produce profit then we are being badly served. As citizens we are owed an factual and informative media.
A communist purge from within the the Greens ! That would be a really interesting development & cat fight before the election. I look forward to it happening as post Covid-19 lockdown entertainment. Off to the gulag for the "Green" Greens while the Reds take control !!
Donald Trump, the Pope, the World's most renowned virologist and a little girl are the only ones still on a damaged plane that is rapidly losing height. There are 4 people and only 3 parachutes.
The virologist grabs a parachute, says "I have to do important work to save the world from COVID-19", and jumps out of the plane.
Donald Trump grabs one and says "I am the smartest man in America and must lead the nation through this crisis", and jumps out of the plane.
The Pope turns to the little girl and says "You take the last parachute, I am an old man who has lived his life, and you have yours ahead of you."
The little girl says "We can both take one your Holiness – the smartest man in America just jumped out of the plane wearing my Hello Kitty backpack."
In the USA they have Drs having to tell people to not ingest disinfectant, please!
Dr Brix, what a battle it is for her.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1253482576699969537
Yes, poor woman, the wellbeing of the USA on her mind and she is forced to walk through crowded supermarkets holding that spinning toddler's hand.
Apologies to Solomon Linda.
https://twitter.com/mneelzy/status/1250844274108686336
https://twitter.com/mneelzy/status/1253384693266788354
Irony is dead if it turns out nicotine does have a beneficial use.
Nicotine could protect people from contracting the coronavirus, according to new research in France, where further trials are planned to test whether the substance could be used to prevent or treat the deadly illness.
The findings come after researchers at a top Paris hospital examined 343 coronavirus patients along with 139 people infected with the illness with milder symptoms.
They found that a low number of them smoked, compared to smoking rates of around 35 percent in France's general population.
"Among these patients, only five percent were smokers," said Zahir Amoura, the study's co-author and a professor of internal medicine.
The research echoed similar findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month that suggested that 12.6 percent of 1,000 people infected in China were smokers. That was a much lower figure than the number of regular smokers in China's general population, about 26 precent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
[…]
The theory is that nicotine could adhere to cell receptors, therefore blocking the virus from entering cells and spreading in the body, according to renown neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux from France's Pasteur Institut who also co-authored the study.
The researchers are awaiting approval from health authorities in France to carry out further clinical trials.
They plan to use nicotine patches on health workers at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris — where the initial research was conducted — to see if it protects them against contracting the virus.
They have also applied to use the patches on hospitalised patients to see whether it helps reduce symptoms and also on more serious intensive care patients, Amoura said.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-drug-news-france-testing-if-nicotine-prevents-coronavirus-from-attaching-to-cells-2217313