“What are you asking me to change to?” he says. “What will you give up? Will you give up your house, your car, your retirement fund, your super fund, everything that you own and have strived for, your retirement and walk away from that?”
“If the government or the people of New Zealand believe that is what they want, then pay me out, and I’ll walk away. But in the interim, don’t just tell me I need to cut cows or do something different, when I have no pathway,” he says.
An ECAN councillor, has no way forward. Seems like another lying manipulative victim of his own inaction and hubris, now attention seeking [deleted].
He would know exactly what others are doing to create change, and clearly he's not prepared to do any of it. "Buy me out" – much preferable to hearing him out, what a tosser.
You know that child you keep yelling at to get ready for school, and when it's time to go they clearly haven't lifted a finger, so you say buddy you got to move, NOW. So they go outside and yell to any and all who care to listen that they're being abused…
Not everyone Ad – there's plenty of room for GROWTH. Juts imagine 2030!
Bringing this all together, achieving 10% reduction in methane emissions by 2030 looks feasible but challenging. It can only happen if some of the marginal sheep and beef country is converted to forestry – something in excess of 500,000 hectares. My key concern is that this occurs on the genuinely steep marginal country, and with a focus on non-harvested forests, rather than short-cycle production forests of which we already have close to two million hectares. [+ 102 comments] https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/116182/big-challenges-and-change-lie-ahead-if-methane-emissions-are-be-reduced-10-2030
That farmer is not wrong. Uncomfortable though it is, the dairy industry is the single largest exporting business we have, and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers.
That farmer responded to powerful market signals from central government including major direct public investment in South Island and particularly Canterbury irrigation machinery and systems during the Key administration.
Can the combination of the new water quality regulator, water pricing regulator, and new water management entity reverse all of that in Canterbury? Probably not – until there is an agricultural industry that is even more profitable than dairy.
That farmer is wrong. Us the workers pay most of the tax in this country. Dairy farmers pay not a great deal in comparison. Turnover and taxation are not the same thing as that famer lobbyist Bill English explains here.
I’ve long advocated for a turnover tax however which if put in place at 3% would mean they make a meaningful tax contribution in line with their GDP contribution that they love to spout on about so much.
There is also good GDP and bad GDP e.g. some places in the US rely on prisons in their towns to increase GDP. Chopping a forest down will increase GDP e.g. Amazon forest. That is bad GDP. GDP isn’t necessarily a good measure.
IRD figures showed the 17,244 entities registered as being in the dairy sector, including companies, trusts and individuals, paid only NZ$26 million in tax.
The data showed that 9,014 or more than half reported a loss for the 2008/09 year and 2,635 reported trading income of between NZ$1 and NZ$20,000. Nearly 40,000 of the 72,000 companies in the primary sector were unprofitable.
Thats 2011 during the gfc,since high prices for dairy and other agriculture due to the global food shortage,dairy and pastoral farming have decreased both borrowing and repaid substantive capital.The substantive capital appreciation both decreased our overseas borrowings,paid interest on overseas debt,and allowed the banks to lend to the village idiots to buy a fully overpriced house.
Dairy and agriculture exports will sustain mortgages to 10% in this mortgage cycle,without dairy and beef and lamb,mortgage interest rates will double to 20% with a substantive housing crash ie we will have the same economic conditions of the first oil shock and agriculture price ( due to EU quota) crash of the late 70's .
At present we have sufficient Forex reserves to last 2 quarters (13B) which only pays our current account trading deficit.
The austerity measures that would be needed would be similar to Sri lanka
Show me the actual tax paid data. I looked for more recent as a comparison but couldn't find any. The oft reiterated we pay large amount of tax always seems in contradiction to the continual moaning about how hard it is and how inputs are increasing and costs going up.
It can't be both – either these farmers are making large profits and paying large amounts of tax on those profits or they are not.
High amounts of tax but low profits simply cannot co-exist.
“As shoppers recoil at the rising cost of staples like milk, cheese and butter, Aotearoa’s largest dairy company, Fonterra, says it’s not reaping bumper profits. In fact, its consumer business in New Zealand is “struggling,” with low margins and profit down more than 80%.”
Dairy farming loans april 2020/2022 decreased by 10% ie capital repayment.If they are not paying tax on profits and can repay capital debt,then there is a problem with the tax system,and not with the farmers who milk cows for a living.
now how much untaxed capital gain is going unpaid with every house sale? Over the same period of time 60 billion went into the housing market to fund capital gains.
So would be the same in the housing market.The dairy farms do however (as all farms do) pay tax on the sale of the land and assets,(both gst and capital gain ) which the untaxed capital gains on residential housing do not.
So you are agreeing that dairy farmers don't pay much tax on actual farming but are proposing that they pay copious amounts of GST when they sell their farms and that is their contribution to the tax system – ignoring the fact that GST is netted off as it becomes an expense against other GST paid for the new owner. Unlike working people who pay the full cost of GST on purchases to the tax system business people only pay the difference between the GST on purchases and sales.
You keep making excuses and provide little evidence to support your original proposition:
"and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers."
I know farmers who have several farms who have community service cards. Community Service cards are based on taxable income. That is a dead giveaway they are not paying much tax. They do go overseas regularly though on farming trips.
The produce that is sold overseas pays for our imports including debt.You need overseas funds to pay for the imported goods such as vaccines,computers, wind turbines.
They exported goods also pay the interest on our debt.As we have high inflation we also need to find increased funds to pay the interest on our sovereign debt such as inflation bonds of which the government has 19.5B$ of,and a doubling of interest debt as bonds roll over.
How do you propose we pay for that debt? all overseas derived.As the government has a budget deficit,the deficit is funded by debt.
Markets are pricing in this year another 1.75% increase in rates at the sovereign level where is the money to come from?
You're still not talking about the amount of tax the industry pays to pay for the cost of hospitals, roads etc.
We get GDP and the balance of trade and surpluses versus deficits and the impact that has on interest rates and but your claim, and farmers like to proclaim this quite loudly, that they pay lots of tax.
Bear in mind all company tax in NZ only makes up 14% of the tax take. Individual people like myselves paying tax make up 40% of the tax take – without being able to claim expenses back and GST including customs GST makes up 32% of tax take again with individuals like myself paying full GST as we cannot net off our GST like businesses can.
So how much of the 14.8% of company tax is from dairy farmers – sweet FA.
How much tax does the building industry pay,being a larger part of the domestic economy and net importer.the builder, or plumber, plasterer? or electrician using just about all imported parts.
They are all small to large businesses,all paying wages,gst,corporate tax and all part of the 17250b forcast corporate tax this year.
How about the banks,their total tax bills on record profits what are those?
"and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers."
It is oft said but patently false.
The other industries aren't the ones claiming that without them we wouldn't have hospitals or roads etc. The proportion of company tax as part of the tax take peaked in the 60's.
I don't think a banker has ever suggested that without the tax they pay we would have no hospitals.
Have you thought of getting some recent data (not data that includes the gfc etc) or data distorted from anomalous capital injections such as the CHCH eq.
You first used an item from 2011,now 2012.Try forging some stronger arguments Smith.
South Africa use a sliding scale of 1%, 2% and 3%. Particularly if you replaced other taxation with e.g. personal taxation and GST.
Net off wages at its introduction so a worker gets to keep all their income. The idea isn't to collect more tax – the idea is to spread it more evenly so all businesses pay tax and it is simple. Wage costs would be reduced for companies that have workers and as they transition to robotics for instance to improve productivity the tax revenue would not be affected. They would need to make more sales to pay more tax.
It would enable all tax to be collected at point of sale as well as well. This would help prevent businesses going bust owing IRD millions / hundreds of thousands. That in itself would be of great benefit to pay for hospitals.
Expenses should be between the shareholders and the people running the company.
I would also suggest when a surplus occurs in a good year all governments should have a commitment to determine how much of that should be returned to businesses.
But it is also important to remember that while farmers were severely hit
by depression, rather less than a quarter of all farmers actually sought formal mortgage relief under the 1936 Act; moreover, farming always provided at least subsistence, whereas urban dwelling did not. And within the rural sector, farmers were not always the worst off. As Alfred Coleman, Chairman of the Taranaki Commission, observed early in 1935:
It is the prerogative of the farmer . . . to grumble, but he has by no means lost heart.
He appears to motor into town, attend race-meetings, picture shows, etc., as freely as ever. No doubt he economises by patronising cheaper seats etc., but he nevertheless still avails himself of all social amenities. The people who appear to be losing heart and drifting into a state of despair are those in the towns throughout the Province who are either out of work or whose avocations barely afford the necessities of life. Their condition is pitiable.”
The occupation of Canterbury by the dairy industry at the invitation of the Key government is equivalent to the occupation of Palestine by Israeli settlers at the invitation of conservative Israel.
Get in there by any means necessary, encourage it, fund it, and it's a whole lot more difficult to wind back later. This is the narrative now, that you can get rid of cows families now they are settled in…
Actual farmers know, that intensive dairying in Canterbury was not a long term business proposition. You know, the ones that have actually studied things such as soil depletion and nutrient balances. Several told me, just that.
Not those who are farming capital gains, expecting to sell to a "greater fool" before realisation hit.
"Farming families" is a good propaganda meme, but it appears that land speculators, or even "Queen Street farmers" is more accurate.
And he did so in pursuit of personal profit. Now all he needs is more powerful societal signals, since he has chosen to operate in a fashion that causes damage beyond the narrow confines of his property.
Can the combination of the new water quality regulator, water pricing regulator, and new water management entity reverse all of that in Canterbury? Probably not – until there is an agricultural industry that is even more profitable than dairy.
Probably, seeing as one of (if not the) biggest diary farm operators in Canterbury is Ngai Tahu…………
No idea about farm ownership across Canterbury as a whole, but this from Ngai Tahu about their dairy holdings
Eyrewell is a region 40km north west of Christchurch which sits within the tribal area of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, a Ngāi Tahu sub tribe. At Eyrewell, there are six operational dairy farms that cover 2,000 hectares in total with each farm having a 64-bail rotary dairy shed and a herd of 1,400 cows.
Dairy Holdings' 75 farms – 59 dairy and 16 grazing – are all in the South Island and predominantly in Canterbury. It is Fonterra's largest supplier with 54 farms, with the remaining five supplying Westland Milk Products.
The figures are impressive: in the 2017-18 season its 59 dairy farms milked almost 50,000 cows on 14,300 hectares, producing an estimated 17.26 million kilograms of milksolids.
As well as Purata Farming formerly Synlait Farms, larger than the Ngāi Tahu holdings:
In February 2016, Standard Farm New Zealand Ltd of Shanghai Pengxin Group becomes the sole owner of SFL Holdings Ltd.
Commencing 31st of August 2016 Hunan Dakang to acquire fiduciary management rights in respect of 100% of New Zealand Standard Farm Limited’s shareholder rights in SFL Holdings Limited, including Purata Farming Ltd which owns 13 farms in Canterbury.
Our 13 irrigated South Island dairy farms as of August 2016 three are certified with Gold Plus supplier for Synlait Milk. The total effective area of the farms is around 3,942 ha with annual production of 5.4 million kgMS.
If farming wasn't such a "sacred cow" we would be telling that guy the same as we would tell anyone else who over invested in a business with an obviously unsustainable future, expecting to sell to a "greater mug" for an untaxed capital gain before reality hits.
Mike Joy is quite correct…the growth of dairy in Canterbury was a mistake (as was the RBNZ promotion of the 'wealth effect')…the question remains how do we readdress that mistake?…Canterbury dairy is around 20% of output and dairy is our largest export…if we are to reduce our exports, we must be willing to reduce our imports…what are we willing to forego?
Unless someone has a solution that has evaded our best minds for the best part of 5 decades.
Am inclined to agree we lack grey matter, however i ask would you support a political party that advocated some form of import licensing, knowing that you may not be able to access some goods you desire?
We have under 6 months of foreign reserves now,It would require a substantive correction of the economy (as the dollar went through the floor and investment grade bonds went to junk)
We would need to remove around 200k jobs at least across the economy.
We should encourage more investment in areas that involve intellectual capacity – gaming is one that springs to mind. Strengthen our university science research capabilities, invest in areas like trades, etc as we know we will be losing many of our tradies to age and Australia. I pointed out twenty years ago to one ITO that Australia had identified their aging trade workforce and planned to get 20% of their future tradies from NZ.
National sadly missed a great opportunity with the Christchurch earthquake to beef up the NZ skillset in this area.
Personally I would reduce the amount of crap imported into the country as well. The used car comment being but one example. Improving public transport and making it free would be one way of doing this.
If we continue to reply on physical production of things and not expand to other opportunities we will run out of workforce with an aging population.
I despair at the lack of planning and discussion around this very important aspect of our population. We are going to be whacked by it and GDP will be going down as a result. I'm also unsure why famers get a special thought this time round – uneconomic farms fell by the wayside when subsidies were removed in the 80's, car manufacturing, clothing manufacturing, etc were all allowed to fall over with nary a thought, as beef and sheep farming reduced freezing works closed everywhere.
farming fell over at the same time…land values halved and a hell of a lot of farmers were sold up.
Id suggest we dont have time to develop a range of new industries. (even if we could, which history suggests not)..as you note we have wasted decades already, so as far as I can see if we are to reduce our export capacity we must also reduce our import demand…the question then is how and what?
Some were really uneconomic though e.g. the farmer up the Whanganui River who could only get sheep to his farm a few at a time by jet boat. Was profitable with subsidies.
Business is in my view bad at forecasting the future even when warned and predictable – the Pandemic planning 10 years ago and the actual preparedness and response when COVID hit is one example. Preparation for an aging workforce is another.
Even now where is the business community discussing things like supply chain risk (needing ramped up production in NZ) or considering that normal has changed and we won't ever see the same volumes of workers centralised in a CBD or that substantially more people now would like to order meals delivered online and eat in comfort watching their movies on a large TV at home rather than go out on a cold and windy night and eat at a restaurant or even that young people drink less than the older generations.
Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers. How we utilise the potential of those with disabilities in a much more meaningful way – especially now as since COVID-19 there is much more acceptance of working from home.
Not everything needs a massive change to make a difference – lots of smaller things can start to accumulate quite big change.
We do need to think wider than roads and dairy and cutting down trees and low paid tourism. What I keep hearing from business is "when can we go back to normal". Normal has changed.
Depends on the business doesn't it? What a weird question.
Aging workforces go across export businesses as well or do you think they somehow magically have a special ability to attract young people.
Horticulture and forestry are prime examples where they have instead of developing the local Maori workforce they have treated them badly and those communities are now saying "fuck you". There are whole families who will no longer work in forestry as they have had too many family members die. The flooding slag issue in Ruatoria has pissed the whole community off – especially as many hapu were warning about the risk and raising concerns.
I know people now who as a result of working from home are now working for overseas companies here in little ole NZ – their income comes directly from overseas without having to pay shipping costs. One earns well over $100,00 a year with basically very few overheads.
So one person working in IT making 100k plus is the sum of fx….
Your statement was…
"Even now where is the business community discussing things like supply chain risk (needing ramped up production in NZ) or considering that normal has changed and we won't ever see the same volumes of workers centralised in a CBD or that substantially more people now would like to order meals delivered online and eat in comfort watching their movies on a large TV at home rather than go out on a cold and windy night and eat at a restaurant or even that young people drink less than the older generations.
Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers. How we utilise the potential of those with disabilities in a much more meaningful way – especially now as since COVID-19 there is much more acceptance of working from home"
…all non tradable activities…and you may wish to consider the following
"The latest figures show that of New Zealand's asset classes, Māori own 50 per cent of the country's fishing quota, 40 per cent of forestry, 30 per cent of its sheep and beef production, 30 per cent of lamb production, 10 per cent of dairy production and 10 per cent of kiwifruit.
Collectively, Māori own $13 billion in primary sector assets, according to the Māori Investors Guide 2017."
Yep, and the iwi corps are also heavily into urban property. And they appear to be starting to take positions in export IT startups.
that substantially more people now would like to order meals delivered online and eat in comfort watching their movies on a large TV at home rather than go out on a cold and windy night and eat at a restaurant or even that young people drink less than the older generations.
That made me laugh. This ancient programmer has stopped going to pickup food on Ponsonby Rd becauae of the frigging crowding. I miss the those brief periods at the end of lockdowns when it was posible to find a park outside of the Ponsonby fast food like Boy and Bird.
Ponsonby is pretty much back to normal. Jervois Rd as well. Not sure about K Rd – it is closer than Ponsonby Rd, but I seldom walk that way.
That needs to accelerate is the point and will offset some of the reduction that dairy may have to endure. The more we support Maori to do well the better off the country will be.
Now if we could only tap the potential of our disabled workforce.
"Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers."
"Horticulture and forestry are prime examples where they have instead of developing the local Maori workforce they have treated them badly and those communities are now saying "fuck you".
Well the industry disagrees with you. Three quarters of the use of online apps for food delivery comes from people who would normally eat at a restaurant.
And this doesn't include those that do their own on-line ordering and delivery.
The study estimated food apps added around $59,000 to the 2019 revenue of the restaurants using them – about $19.6m in total. It also found about 26 per cent of the orders came from people who would not have usually chosen a restaurant meal.
The Joy paper has a lot of problems,especially for the Christchurch city aquifers.The age of the water is around 300 years old in the west to 1400 years in the east.( south cant,and north has water 10k old)
The hydrology into the aquifers is horizontal not vertical,as there are two clay layers above the deep aquifers.So horizontal transport from the waimak will be above the take zone.
If we are to redesign the economy ( limits to growth are required under the IPCC SE scenarios) then we have to limit severely immigration,and expansion,and most probably tourism (which if the flights and full costs were accounted for would make steel smelting look green)
The moving to 1990 levels,also require a population decrease as energy efficiency is limited to the cost of the respiration of a human.
We would need to also still have to repay our debt obligations.
I dont know about the time lag for Christcjurch's aquifers but I do know that Selwyn is already experiencing problems with Rolleston (pop 25,000 and growing) and the wider plains have a huge problem (as Joy notes, the bulk of Canty water is artesian)…our own levels well exceed the current (high) limit…I would suggest that Christchurch will not be immune from the impact for long.
As Joy notes the cow population has grown tenfold (in 20 years)…curiously so has land value…i doubt a rapid reduction to 1990 levels is viable but a reduction is definitely needed, probably in conjunction with other mitigations.
Agree…pre current inflation we were spending around 6 billion a year on oil.that would be a very good place to start…and the aussie banks took around another 4 billion,…but even without all that (some is unavoidable) we still need to export to maintain demand for the NZD and in reality that means ag/hort.
No need to revisit the law, just borrow from the GOP playbook and pass a new law defunding abortion services & forbiiding DHBs offering them so they become unaffordable and/or unavailable in any DHB. That way, abortion remains decriminalised you just won’t be able to get one.
That is how those lying Evangelical fanatics work. Roe v Wade was settled law, until it wasn't and then it could be repealed with a fig leaf of not having lied.
And who dare not use the word ' abortion' but rather wants a very open minded, de-sexed, gender neutral return to rights and healthcare that some un – named people seem to have lost.
No one really lost rights and or health care altogether, but fertile women lost the right to a safe and legal medical service called abortion in the states that legislate against abortions thanks to federal rules.
Abortions are a small part of sex based rights and female centric healthcare they are not the sum total of 'healthcare' and/or sex based rights.
May I ask, Visubversa, if Vi Subversa is the inspiration for your handle (guessing she must be) and whether this,
"Highly intelligent, with a voice honed by nicotine and late-night rants, Subversa refused to take the expected, often requisite, left-wing stance" describes your position well?
Trans "men" only ever hit the headlines when they do that most female of things – give birth. And "non binary" is non sense. Human beings come in either 1 of 2 sexes. The rest of it is ideology and twaddle.
In your opinion. Which you are entitled to, but it is only an opinion.
Just as an aside I do remember many headlines and much commentry made about the ‘loss of lesbians’ and other such things when Elliot Page came out in 2020
As is their opinion that they have a "gendered soul" or are neither male nor female. Both of those things are produced by an ideology – a belief system.
but neither their opinions nor their ideas will ever get pregnant. That would be their female sexed body who does that, generally after a penis ejaculated into their vaginas and sperm meets egg and bingo voila a future human was created.
And btw, Arkie, no matter the Lady feels of penis havers, non of these ideas, opinions and feelz of a penis haver will ever need an abortion.
but neither their opinions nor their ideas will ever get pregnant. That would be their female sexed body who does that, generally after a penis ejaculated into their vaginas and sperm meets egg and bingo voila a future human was created.
that refers to women who want to be non binary or transmen.
this refers to men who want to be women or are non binaries with women feelz so they need access to all the wominz things.
And btw, Arkie, no matter the Lady feels of penis havers, non of these ideas, opinions and feelz of a penis haver will ever need an abortion.
Only one of them is able to give birth, and its the body of the female. 🙂
And i mention transwomen, as they too want to have a say on what rights females – the real ones – not the 'my feelz' ones, can have and not have. Never mind, that NO Transwoman will ever need an abortion as they are Men.
So women have lost the right in the US to female centric spaces such as toilets, changing rooms, rape centres, domestic violence shelters, retirment homes for women, hospital wards and so on and so froth. All of trhat came thanks to the left, while the right sat by and said 'thank you, may i have another please'. Heck they even lost the word women, pregnancy, child bearing, birthing, breastfeeding and so on and so forth. All to men. And this can and will happen here, and the left paved the way all the way.
Case in point Biden Signing and ED to cancel Title IX in favor of Gender ideology.
The right does not need to do much, they can just sit by and watch the left undo not only the work of women over the last century but to literally take women back into a time were they were not even considered human.
But go on and pretend that Transmen are not women. Until they need an abortion or female centric healthcare.
As for Chloe Swarbruck, that poor thing will sooner or later come out as non binary/transmen. She has no other option in this current Green Party, literally as she presents the worst of the worst human beings that exist – namely white cis gendered women. Heck even as a white cis gendered lesbian she would not win in the grievance/minority board game that is the Green Party.
Play pretend all day long, but deny biology on your own risks.
And btw, Arkie, no matter the Lady feels of penis havers, non of these ideas, opinions and feelz of a penis haver will ever need an abortion.
This is the third time you have brought this up unprompted. It's not relevant in this discussion and no one but you has connected this idea to the discussion of Abortion rights. I understand you don't like transwomen, we all understand.
Think what you want about Chlöe Swarbrick but I think what you've said is distasteful and not remotely true. The Green party will continue to advocate for minority rights whether you see that as valuable or not.
'Removing women's language' really is just a negative reframing of 'language that includes transmen and NB people'. Scare phrasing. The history of the fight for women's rights is evidence that the use of 'woman's language' didn't prevent men from 'deciding' before the common use of inclusive language.
I find it easy (and inclusive) to argue for abortion rights from a position of advocacy for bodily autonomy. Women and other people that need access to abortion services should have that access unrestricted, because it's their body, their life.
And I still question whether the language difference is worse, for abortion rights, than the inaction of those whose silence on the issue tacitly endorses the status quo ante.
It is a hard pill to swallow for a misogynist society, sentimentally attached to its ideology of patriarchal motherhood, but the truth is that gestators should get to decide which bodies to give form to.
My body, my choice is as succinct a demand as is possible, no one is excluded while emphasising that we all should have autonomy over our own bodies.
Again my question is why the language used by some is more concerning than the silence from people not prepared to stand up for women and others who might need abortion access.
That poor women in that tweet was not even able to state that. Lol
But let me explain her tweet for you as you seem to have gotten lost in all that 'non sexed' bull.
Gestators is referring not to males, or males with feelz about things that are stereotypically associated to the female beings, or non binary males who like to wear ladies silk/cotton and lippy, or males who moonlight as partime women.,
Gestators it is refering ONLY TO female bodies regardless of their presentation and self id.
Forming bodies – that would be referring to the incubating of a human being., something that takes 9 month and culminates with a baby either exiting via the Vagina (female sexual organ – not an inverted penis) or via a cesarian if the need arises. It is called Pregnancy.
Also, does My BODY MY CHOICE apply when the government wants you to take three + shots of vaccine that one may or may not approve of? ?
No? Then my body my choice has no meaning and must be abandoned by those that would like hte government to force people into taking medication they don't approve of. It either is MY Body MY choice, or it is not. In that case, also legalize all drugs, my body my choice, the amputation of healthy limbs or removal of eyes for those that feelz like amputees or want to be blind, and so on and so forth.
Choose Arkie. Choose. But understand that this Roe vs Wade decision is not a win for the right, it is however a great loss of the left. And any lefty women who is not captured by Party Ideology must ask herself what other rights the left is happy for women to lose in their quest of sex and biology denial.
Fear mongering does not work anymore when you stood by and lost the right to control ones body. And fwiw, quite a few Dem leaders could have done something.
Biden signed an Executive order to repeal Title IX in favor of Trans. He could sign an Executive order to codify abortion rights into law on a federal level. But then the left needs women to vote for them, and Losing Roe Vs Wade was a good vote getter. Now women in the US should really ask themselves how well they are served by this current administration. And guess what, they just lost the right to a lifesaving procedure in the states that don't allow abortions.
Maybe we need a better left, one that is not engaged in total denial of biological reality for the 50% of humanity that birthed the full 100% of humanity since the dawn of time.
As for the rightk, they did what they advertised since the day Roe vs Wade was decided. Be that they Hyde ammendment, trigger laws, or now R vs W.
It is the left that has dropped the ball on that one and it will be the poor women of the US who will pay the bill. It will not be the non binary kid of a white well to do family that will be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, or worse die because abortion as a medical life saving tool can no longer be used, worse even taught in Universities to future medical doctors. (mind these doctors will probably not know a man from a women)
Your animus for transwomen is clear but irrelevant to anything I or Swarbrick or Sophie Lewis were saying. Women, Transmen and some NBs will require abortion access and they all should have that access as needed and without restriction. It's not that deep.
Arkie one of the things I hear from women who support trans ideology is that they don’t like being called chest feeders etc.
just because some people don’t want to face up to the reality of their biology ie trans men and non binary who are actually women, we are changing our language for their beliefs that are a denial of reality.
I am afraid that’s a no from me and many others. Our bodies our language our choice mate. End of
That's fine, that's your view and your choice, but don't be upset when others disagree with your determination about other peoples identity, or when people use inclusive, less gendered language, that's their choice. End of.
First Tom Cruise movie to break a billion and without having to pander to China.
Lightyear failed, Dr Strange needed to break a billion (what does it say when a movie needs to make a billion to make money) and didn't
A few more of these and a few more Disney flops and soon even the money men in the studios might start asking questions
My prediction is The Little Mermaid and The Marvels will also fail, being able to hide your lack of box office behind covid and streaming will soon be over
I can't wait for more, better, entertainment
*I just don't mean to focus woke, I also mean intersectionality, diversity and representation, bullshit like that but woke is just a useful shorthand etc
Diversity is not the death knell for movie profitability – it just isn't a substitute for a decent story. I expect most of the other irrelevancies are in the same boat too.
The problem is diversity seems to be more important than the storyline, just see how long you can get through this video without cringing, I'd say take a drink everytime someone says something woke but that would probably lead to hospitalization/death:
I'm currently working my way through New Who at the moment and its woke but its still in the basis of a good storyline so its fine (I will not be watching the 13th Dr, Dr Karen though)
Too many entertainment properties are looking at what woke elements they can add at the expense of the storyline, imho and they’ll start paying the price at the box office
I just wonder how many more properties will be ruined before this period is over
Well, it's hard for Americans. They struggle with fantasy & scifi, having had relatively poor role models like Robert Jordan & Terry Brooks. Half the genre for their market (the better half) is made in Canadia – which has a better education system, hence The Expanse.
Not sure about Rings of Power – my pirate site of choice doesn't have it yet. Overall I expect Carnival Row will be more fun. House of the Dragon has been fairly good from what I've seen – GRRM may be hanging on to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms though, until he meets a crew that won't screw it up.
The Expanse was good, we just need more like it. The Orvilles not bad either.
I haven't watched Carnival Row but René Echevarria looks to have a pretty decent track record.
I'd like GRRM to pull finger, stop faffing about and get back to finishing The Winds Of Winter but I don't think he ever will, check out what hes done since A Dance With Dragons and thats only writing
And without a push for diversity we would likely never have seen a Black Panther movie (or indeed a Whale rider or a Boy and might have had to watch reruns of the dreary The Piano over and over and over.
You can't view the Marvel stuff as just the movie though. There's money made from the merchandising even if the film doesn't make money. I've enjoyed watching them in time sequence order – much more coherent and sensible. Some definitely better than others though. And I like the Jodie Whittaker Dr Who. She has the same degree of eccentricity that I like in The Doctors and frankly that it is a female rather than male for me makes not one iota of difference. Got used to that type of change when they rebooted Battlestar Galactica with Katee Sackhoff being the new Starbuck. After that it just became normalised.
I'm not sure why people get upset about it and going on about it being PC or woke is just being a dick. I like variety and diversity. It is the quality of the script and the acting that is much more important.
The push for diversity is secondary to the narrative – or you have a sermon, not a movie.
And, in the event that there is a pre-existing artwork upon which the cinematic adventure is based, the original deserves enough respect to protect it from egregious and bad taste changes. Looking at you, Peter Jackson, mutilator of The Hobbit.
The woke crowd have never done anything for me, and when my colleagues were committing suicide like flies, they not only didn't give a fuck, but in fact began harassing me for mentioning it. I say "quack".
"The woke crowd have never done anything for me, and when my colleagues were committing suicide like flies, they not only didn't give a fuck, but in fact began harassing me for mentioning it. I say "quack".'
Damn dude, thats harsh. What job do you do to have colleagues like that?
I don't get the connection between the woke crowd and the suicides.
I know tradesmen who committed suicide after then businesses failed after being forced to become self-employed contractors (good tradesmen but not good at bookwork and a really short learning curve, men who were laid off in their 50's via Rogernomics who were never able to find a job again, and recently a young friend after losing his job through a business ceasing got sick of applying for job after job and in most cases not even getting a response. Good kid, never been in trouble. Good worker. Watched him grow up since 5. There's quite a few more I can think of.
Nothing to do with anything but employers and capitalism that chews people up and spits them out. The example you give to me looks like the race to the bottom type of capitalism as well.
Unsure why the woke aspect unless it is a bit like my wife. She grew up with a lot of church / youth group influence but when she needed some support from who she thought were her friends it wasn't forthcoming. All talk but when the chips were down they didn't want to know. I've seen that scenario play out a few times and picked up the pieces – ended up a few times with people living with us for months while they got into a good space.
Wife is still angry at times about this which I don't blame her. I'm not that sympathetic to the notion you should forget about it. I think it is OK to be angry about it now and then and to remind people that these things occurred. If it never gets talked about it is like it never existed.
The woke crowd had taken over Labour – when I went for support to the party of the workers, it transpired than they did not care about sending young New Zealander workers to their deaths, nor were they concerned by being complicit in a slaveship operation.
A lot of their moral logic on tolerance of rainbow issues is predicated on a narrative of reducing youth suicides. Faced with real instances however, it turned out that youth suicides didn't matter to them at all. The hypocrisy was breathtaking. I believe they have improved slightly in the meantime – but they have considerable ground to make up.
I feel the same way about their response to poverty (and WEAG only reinforced that). Youth in particular. Too many of my kids friends have passed away with the struggle and grind through suicide.
It became obvious to me as well that they didn't really care that much about the reality of peoples situations. But then it was Labour that started Rogernomics so I'm not too surprised actually.
This lie by Roberston made me feel ill. He's only referring to the $20-00 per week cut which over time had the least effect. I can only re-iterate time and time again that benefits and NZS used to be the same amount before Ruth Richardson did her budget.
“With the changes that we have made today we will finally return all main benefits to their values before that budget,” he said of former National finance minister Ruth Richardson’s mother of all budgets. “This is righting a wrong.”
What is the point of making all these people struggle from day to day?
Even when experts do their analysis they fuck it up by ignoring the delinking of benefits from the average wage and only doing an inflation assessment comparison which is a self-perpetuating fuck-up. Because benefits were linked to inflation now of course they rose at the same rate as inflation. That was the intention.
We'll just pretend that the actual biggest change – decoupling from the average wage didn't occur. NZS which wasn't uncoupled streaked ahead.
So does the 2021 budget directly undo the 1991 benefit cuts? Not exactly. By 2020 benefits had already been returned to similar levels in terms of purchasing power to what they were before the cuts in 1991. The 2021 budget closed what small gap remained and then added some more. Perhaps such a statement about reversing the ‘Mother of All Budgets’ says more about the politics of budgets than about the economics.
WEAG also pointed out the youth issue and recommended all youth be paid the adult rate. I had miles more time for Sue Bradford than anyone in the Labour Party in the end. It was just like talking to a brick wall.
Are they better than National – yep. Are they better enough to get my support – nope. Still a long way to go.
Here is a movie trailer from 20 years ago. I could have used Blade but Blade 2 is the superior movie:
I could also have used Halle Berry in either 2004 or as the leader of the X Men from 2000
I have no issues with any entertainment being made, I do have an issue when an existing property is changed merely to suit the whims of present day woke culture
Blade, a movie I am fond of, was a movie with a good action movie black lead actor. Nearly everyone else in the movie was white. I do like Kris Kristofferson in the movie as well. That was cool.
Black Panther was much more of an African story and resonates much more as different – even though I don't think it is as good a movie.
I suspect that is the main difference between the two in terms of thinking or wokeness – take your pick.
You have identified the unidentified enemy in TGM. Well done! I’ll know what anti-woke jetfighters look like, if I were to watch it (over my dead body); they’ll be the ones with the cheap bumper sticker labels that blow off so easily that overzealous fans have to keep sticking them back on all the time.
"National/Act able to form a coalition" and "18 months out from the Election!? Well, that would save a lot of money".
Many a true word is said in what the speaker thinks is a jest.
Oh, if only they could form a coalition now it certainly would save a lot of money, wouldn't it? How many billions do you think? I would think $10b would probably be at the bottom end of the scale.
By the way I wouldn't look forward to 18 months before the election. Down to 16 months I should think
"Oh, if only they could form a coalition now it certainly would save a lot of money, wouldn't it? How many billions do you think? I would think $10b would probably be at the bottom end of the scale."
It's irresponsible of them not to. Dreadful money-managers, both!
I personally would pick the end of October, although it could easily go back into November. That was the common month in the 1950s and 60s.
That would be it though. It is a long time since they had an election in December and they won't try for a January one. People are simply too distracted after the end on November to take any notice.
Nope, that was Johnny Weissmuller and he died decades ago.
Hell the guy scored his biggest hit and first billion dollar box office at 59 years old
Not bad for a solo act but how does this prove anything, e.g., his ‘greatness’? He does look remarkably preserved.
I do admire his work ethic and his desire to create great entertainment
I know nothing about his “work ethic” and when some people mention “work ethic” and “hard work” it makes my skin crawl because they really mean something different from getting up on time each morning and brushing your teeth after breakfast.
I'm not surprised you think this, you thought using Spanish Archer was something that made you look, what you consider, hip or cool rather than the reality of being obscure and out of touch
Word of advice for you, if most people have no idea what you're talking and have to google it then the phrase probably isn't working as well as you think it is
Firstly Tom Cruises range.
Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Action, Sci-Fi shows he has a very good range
The accolades he, rightly, received for Born On The Fourth Of July shows hes a very good, very under rated, actor
His physical acting and willingness to push the boundries shows hes right up there with Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan
So yeah hes a great and at his age when most people are slowing down hes doing best work
But then I'm guessing you're just a bit down over emerging trend of the polls showing National/Act leading, worried that Ardern will be given the Spanish Archer?
Yup, hip & cool is the stage of life I’m at after my short phase of obscure & out of touch. It’s called development (aka wise down). Soon I’ll be watching Blue’s Clues for guidance and Barney as my lifestyle coach. I’m afraid I’ve never had a Tom Cruise phase and I don’t think it is gonna happen this lifetime.
Cruise may have done some good stuff but that doesn’t make him great let alone “the last, great movie star”. A box office hit doesn’t make him great either, it makes the movie franchise successful.
I prefer Johnny Weissmuller’s physical ‘acting’ because he had real physical presence that was and could not be faked.
BTW, I’m surprised if you need to Google anything of the above and/or of the comment that you replied to; was it “brushing your teeth after breakfast”? If yes, this link might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_brushing
I absoludely refute ant suggestion that you, Spanish Archer, is out of touch and talking out his arse.
You are of course entitled to your opinion as I am to mine (personally speaking making a sequel over 30 years after the original, and bettering it, is pretty damn impressive) so instead I'll leave it to some others to see what they have to say
That’s nice to know but none of those others are commenting here and you are, so what matters is your opinions and how you can put your arguments together. I actually like Simon Pegg as an actor, but that headline fooled me, and I cannot see how it shows that he [Pegg] disagrees with me 🙁
I doubt that I’ve said that TGM is “bad” because I have not seen it.
I doubt that I’ve called you “plebs”.
It looks to me that you cannot argue your own opinions very well, which is why you have to call in support from and hide behind others’ views to impress me into bowing to your opinion of TGM and TC – how can I not be in awe of TGM and TC as the greatest actor alive! I must be outdated and out of touch! – and which is why you start putting words into my mouth. I don’t take my cues from infotainment sources or talk-back unlike some others here.
If you hadn’t made those stupid anti-woke comments in the context of TGM I wouldn’t have given you so much rope.
'That’s nice to know but none of those others are commenting here and you are, so what matters is your opinions and how you can put your arguments together.'
Cool so from word of mouth Spanish Archer no one needs to link to anything because its all about your opinions, good to know moving on
'I actually like Simon Pegg as an actor, but that headline fooled me, and I cannot see how it shows that he [Pegg] disagrees with me'
Did you miss this: ‘He’s perhaps the only movie star left’, let me guess you'll dance on the head of pin to argue that doesn't mean hes the last great movie star
'I doubt that I’ve said that TGM is “bad” because I have not seen it.'
'I doubt that I’ve called you “plebs”.'
You did say this:
'I have greatly enjoyed Hollywood movies in the past, even the action flicks, but taste develops with time & experience just as good wine ripens [intentional pun; hope it wasn’t too subtle for you]'
So now of course you'll claim you weren't saying Hollywood movies are 'bad' nor the people that enjoy them plebs
I'll admit you didn't say the exact words but we both know what you were implying
'It looks to me that you cannot argue your own opinions very well, which is why you have to call in support from and hide behind others’ views to impress me into bowing to your opinion of TGM and TC – how can I not be in awe of TGM and TC as the greatest actor alive!'
Well yes people do use links to back up their words especially in areas where they're less informed, is this a surprise to you?
'I must be outdated and out of touch! – and which is why you start putting words into my mouth.'
Well yes, your use of Spanish Archer certainly proved that
'I don’t take my cues from infotainment sources or talk-back unlike some others here.'
When its entertainment related I go to a wide range of sources, infotainment being one.
However I can't recall the last time I listened to talkback
'If you hadn’t made those stupid anti-woke comments in the context of TGM I wouldn’t have given you so much rope.'
Woke is ruining movies, I stand by the comments but since you yourself admitted to not watching Hollywood movies for years who are you to say if I'm right or wrong as only one of us here watch Hollywood movies
So I suggest that watch a few Hollywood movies and then, and only then, can you come back and argue badly whatever point it is you’re trying to make
Nope. Links (but not too many) are good and sometimes required to support assertions and claims of fact, not to wave opinions around from others to hide behind as if they’re one’s own but then to claim that they were not when one is challenged on them, which is disingenuous commenting behaviour. Nice try though, but a Fail nonetheless.
Yes, I missed that, so perhaps Simon Pegg would disagree with me on that if Simon Pegg were to comment here, but he isn’t, is he? You’re clutching at straws.
So, taste develops and usually gets more refined. That doesn’t imply at all those previous experiences were ‘bad’ nor that people who do enjoy those guilty pleasures are ‘plebs’. You’re clutching at straws.
Odd, my taste has moved on and become more refined and you argue that I am outdated and out of touch. Very odd, indeed, almost contradictory, wouldn’t you agree?
I don’t think I’ll watch TGM, also because of the anti-woke message it contains according to you or isn’t that what you’ve been implying?
I now remember watching Arrival and I quite enjoyed it. Apparently, it passes the Bechdel Test. Is that too woke for you?
Indie movies, all the way. Move with the times, you dinosaur, celebrating old actors in old franchises. You’re so stuck in your habitual tastes that you have no idea what you’re missing out on. I don’t give a toss about popularity because it is a meaningless measure of joy, for me, and thus I give it the Kondo treatment. When I check a movie on IMDB I don’t look at its popularity at all, ever. What a silly way to make choices!
No, it’s not. The irony is that you hail this as an example and benchmark of entertainment without a message, woke or whatever, and are tripping over yourself to attach your own message to it. It must have been some story-less and message-less vacuous movie to create such an urge in you.
'if you want to change politics you first have to change culture because politics flows from culture. If you want to change culture, you have to first understand what the units of culture are, and the people are the units of culture. So, if you want to change politics, you first have to change people to change culture.'
Whats the most popular movie this year in the USA:
There are political messages in TGM?? Do tell, besides the anti-woke epitaph that you and others have attached to it with fervour without realising the immense irony. You seem to see TGM as some kind of backlash!? In other words, the absence of a message is the message, which is just too deep for me and Mr ‘Maverick’ Cruise, I suspect, but then again, he’s used to subliminal messaging.
I just wasted 3:17 min on some garbage about HRC 🙁
De Santis 2024 has a good chance, mind if Biden does not last till then and Kamala Harris get the care taker role all bets are off.
In NZ, yes I can see a N/A coalition, but would not be surprised if N manages to go along.
L under Cunliffee was 26.7 % in 2014, and i doubt that the Leader of the L's will be running if they get any more non affirmative press or the polls go down another few points which they will. And fwiw, like after Helen Clark, the dudes of the Labour Party are still the same unelectable beige suits they were before the elevation of the current leader and this time they have run out of presentable quota non males /uterushavers /brithing people to shove to the forefront to hide a losing dude.
i agree with you on most, but the last line. While i don't want them to win, they stand a good chance of doing so.
My friend went into the family shower room of a large public pool just to come across full bodied male showering in it cause women feels.
that will peak one after another, slowly slowly. And while N signed up to that bullshit most women will not know that. And the question is for women voters, be a publicly traded utility for all under the Left or be private property under the right.
Suck 40 dicks a day for dinner /shelter, or suck one dick. What do you think it is going to be? Edit: Or for those that don’t want to marry / suck one dick only for ever, they can make money then for their upkeep by being birthing bodies for others, lactating for others, selling their ova whilst they are fertile. Honestly someone please answer me that question? Because this is were this is going to.
Insert a picture of Quark saying ‘female’. Naked, no rights other then to negotiate their wombrental for the Ferengi Female.
. Woke is the perfect term … short, snappy, initially adopted with some gusto by the ID Pols cadre themselves but now hitting a raw nerve & deeply upsetting to them.
They would have you believe it's all about "anti-racism" & "anti-sexism" in the broadest & vaguest of terms … but, of course, it refers to a very specific, extreme & highly discriminatory dogma serving the interests of a segment of the professional middle class & guaranteed to create whole new forms of social injustice on a massive scale.
An elite authoritarian vanity project that systematically scapegoats swathes of the Left's traditional constituency: working people & the poor.
LOL! Are we still talking about that elite vanity project by that working class hero Tom Cruise? Instead of letting them eat cake they have an even better opiate for the masses: mindless parading of military masculinity and jingoistic patriotism. If Trump were still president, he’d bestow an honour on Mr Cruise (missile).
Was commenting on the current subversion & perversion of core Left principles & democratic norms … precisely zero interest in whatever inane shite Tom Cruise is currently promoting … his only relevance here is his devotion to Scientology … a dogma that bears some resemblance to the various sub-branches of Wokedom's Critical Theory in its cultish attributes, tendency toward struggle sessions / purity spirals & total disconnect from anything approaching reality.
He can be as mad as he likes as long as he keeps putting out quality movies like he has been (hes been on a real tear of late) and that he doesn't do anything seriously illegal
We know your current job and I’m not interested in your CV nor your family situation, just in your fascinating statement about “seriously illegal” and what that means, to you. For example, parking in a disabled spot, or not picking up the doggie doo after a number two, or being a peeping Tom?
While I didn't see any branches of Critical Theory which fall in this category, for many involved in Scientology it appears to function as a harmful cult. Members of the sea org in particular who appear to be recruited into being a slave work force.
So long as you realise that its the same type of fantasy as the Marvel movies which at least are recognisable as such. US N and AF are having a field day in signing up young fantasists to a life with a very high rate of suicide. Pentagon written and produced with an absolute right to dictate the story and actors.
I find the star wars story line is getting a bit tired now. Once again the rebel forces fly their fighters down a narrow channel flanked by enemy weaponry to deliver the killer missile down the air duct that is the one weak point.
'And they think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me'
You're problem here is that you are conflating a number of things: someone who makes shit movies with being female (yes, you did post that photo), and bringing woke into film equates to shit movies.
Do you know what the Bechdel Test is? Changing filmmaking to make films more interesting to women is a good thing.
Plenty of shit films out there made by men. Is the film in question shit because it's made by a women (or man), or because it's too woke, or because it just is a bad film in terms of plot, character, acting etc?
Multiverse is second on your box office list. I wouldn't call it a great film. I like the Dr Strange storylines, so I watched it and mostly enjoyed it but its a 3/5 kind of thing. I found the America character stereotyped and boring. I'm getting burned out on the contrivances of let's make up any old magic/alternative reality stuff, but I don't know the comics so have zero sense of if this is true to form or they're just doing whatever the hell they like. It wasn't too bad on this, but some films are obviously structured for the pleasure of the special effects team (I also find this boring because too often it tries to stand in for storyline or character).
Can't see the woke causing a problem in there though. The stereotpying is embedded in Hollywood, the alt reality contrivances are probably because the series has been running so long. Dunno why they can't just write good stories. Maybe they're spread too thin.
You haven't heard of Marcia Lucas, well from the article it says:
'She served as an editor on “Star Wars,” for which she won the Oscar for film editing in 1977, and “Return of the Jedi,” and she was an uncredited editor on “The Empire Strikes Back.” Lucas was credited with editing the thrilling Battle of Yavin and Death Star assault sequences in the first film of the trilogy. Her other editing credits include “Taxi Driver,” for which she earned an BAFTA nod, “American Graffiti,” which nabbed her an Oscar nom, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “New York, New York.”'
So you know what I feel confident that she knows what shes talking about when it comes to Star Wars AND movie making so I'll defer to her when it comes to her views on Kathleen Kennedy
'You're problem here is that you are conflating a number of things: someone who makes shit movies with being female (yes, you did post that photo), and bringing woke into film equates to shit movies.'
Yes, I posted those pics to show how woke Star Wars has become and who was to blame.
Rey was an afterthought, Finn was going to be the main star of Disney Star Wars until KK pulled rank and had a self-insert added and Finn got absolutely crapped on.
'Do you know what the Bechdel Test is?'
The Bechdel Test doesn't tell me if as movie is good or not.
As an idea I googled best movies to pass the Bechdel test and this what came up:
Some of my favourite movies are on this list (see if you can guess) but also Ghostbusters 2016, The Last Jedi and Frozen are on this list as well
'Changing filmmaking to make films more interesting to women is a good thing.'
Absolutely and I agree with that. Just stop using, and changing, established series to do it.
Start a new series, make new titles, show some originality and create more entertainment.
'Plenty of shit films out there made by men. Is the film in question shit because it's made by a women (or man), or because it's too woke, or because it just is a bad film in terms of plot, character, acting etc?'
There are, my views on Disney Star Wars are well known. The problem is, especially with Disney movies, is that most of the answers is yes because of how much imput KK has
Shes the main reason the movies suck
'they're just doing whatever the hell they like.'
This. Absolutely this. Remember this film was basically remade on the fly very quickly because of the success of the previous Spiderman movie.
The bosses then decided that because people reacted positivley to all the characters coming back they should have more characters in Dr Strange so they filmed a shit-ton of new scenes and added even more cameos which is why it had to break a billion (it fell just short)
What they didnt understand is that the additions in Spiderman worked because it was part of the story, because you could tell the actors were into it and the characters were treated with respect
Also the Dr Strange movie also followed on the events of the WandaVision series which started strongly but ended really badly
Dr Strange was supposed to be in that but Kevin Feige didn't want a man teaching Wanda, even though hes the Sorcerer Supreme:
I ask my whanau who have seen this film, "who is the enemy"? The answer is the enemy is unnamed. The studio and producers are too scared to show the enemy of Tom Cruise's west as Chinese, Russian, or Arab. Instead we are treated with opaque black visors with no clues to what manner of communist and/or Muslim villainy is behind them!
If the professional thespian was acting as an actress portraying a female pilot, then for all intents and purposes the pronouns would not have made one iota of a difference.
True… Yet I would think that a truly woke Director would have thought to have pronouns clearly printed on the helmets above those opaque screens, n'est-ce pas?
A nice example of a small party wielding disproportionate political power and a warning against the weak arguments suggesting that National will not touch present Abortion Law in NZ.
In a statement, Allan said an Electoral Amendment Bill would soon be introduced to tighten the rules for disclosure of political donations and loans, and temporarily widen access for overseas voters.
The bill would require the identity of donors of more than $5000 to be made public – down from $15,000 – along with loans to candidates from unregistered lenders.
Parties would also be required to make public their financial statements, the number and total value of non-anonymous donations below $1500, and the proportion of total donations that are non-monetary.
Allan, who came to the role two weeks ago, said public and targeted consultation showed New Zealanders wanted greater transparency about how candidates and parties were funded.
"Better transparency of party and candidate financing helps support public trust and confidence in our electoral system. These changes will provide the public with more of the information they want," she said.
…
The bill offers a more constrained and Labour-led approach to similar changes proposed in a member's bill from Green Party justice spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman.
Drawn from the biscuit tin last month, the member's bill would also have allowed Māori roll voters to change roll at any time, lower the voting age to 16, overturn the prisoner voting ban, and implement the recommendations of the 2012 MMP review.
“No one wants an American style of politics in New Zealand. Together with a cap on how much can be donated to political parties each year, we can truly remove the risk of big money interference in New Zealand democracy. And this is precisely what my Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament last month, will achieve.
“The Green Party also welcomes the changes to eligibility rules for overseas voters, also introduced in my Democracy Bill. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we were the only party calling for an extension to the three-year time-frame so New Zealanders stuck overseas can still exercise their democratic rights.
“The changes announced today are a step forward but it is disappointing that it is only a temporary measure for the 2023 General Election. The residency requirement must be removed for all citizens, as is the case in most other countries, so that there are no longer unnecessary barriers to participation.”
Apparently it doesn't matter, there's some form of group just floating around that take money in and dole it out as the whim of the leader dictates. Financial statements? Who needs 'em!
With NATO, does anybody know if it can go on the offensive if attacked. Should Putin attack Lithuania to “defend” Kaliningrad, would NATO forces push back deep into Russia, or do they have to stop at the border?
You would certainly see retaliatory strikes on key infrastructure inside Russia but boots on the ground would be most unlikely and pretty much impossible to do effectively.
Basically a missile war that once started will be disastrous.
The day Nato attacks Russia directly there will be explosions in Non Russia. Be that London, Paris, Berlin or somewhere in the US. And that is a guaranteed.
Other targets would likely take priority – Chernyakhovsk being a nuclear bomber base in Kaliningrad, the Kerch Strait Bridge, and the various Severomorsk bases on the Kola peninsula near Murmansk.
Although Russia has excellent air defense systems and prob superior missiles as well so i would think NATO would think twice before not minding its own business and acting rashly Russia will be thinking enough is enough and Nato hopefully isnt stupid enough to prod the bear further .
Wash his face, replace “terf ” with women and all you have a half naked white dude in heels strutting down a parade in the middle of a town calling for the death of women.
So brave, so stunning, so vulnerable and so so marginalized, most marginalized of them all actually
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Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes 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). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
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“What are you asking me to change to?” he says. “What will you give up? Will you give up your house, your car, your retirement fund, your super fund, everything that you own and have strived for, your retirement and walk away from that?”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/dairy-on-the-canterbury-plains-was-it-a-big-mistake
“If the government or the people of New Zealand believe that is what they want, then pay me out, and I’ll walk away. But in the interim, don’t just tell me I need to cut cows or do something different, when I have no pathway,” he says.
An ECAN councillor, has no way forward. Seems like another lying manipulative victim of his own inaction and hubris, now attention seeking [deleted].
He would know exactly what others are doing to create change, and clearly he's not prepared to do any of it. "Buy me out" – much preferable to hearing him out, what a tosser.
You know that child you keep yelling at to get ready for school, and when it's time to go they clearly haven't lifted a finger, so you say buddy you got to move, NOW. So they go outside and yell to any and all who care to listen that they're being abused…
That's this guy.
You know that patrician scolding left that juts fucks everyone off?
That's you.
Not everyone Ad – there's plenty of room for GROWTH. Juts imagine 2030!
That farmer is not wrong. Uncomfortable though it is, the dairy industry is the single largest exporting business we have, and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers.
That farmer responded to powerful market signals from central government including major direct public investment in South Island and particularly Canterbury irrigation machinery and systems during the Key administration.
Can the combination of the new water quality regulator, water pricing regulator, and new water management entity reverse all of that in Canterbury? Probably not – until there is an agricultural industry that is even more profitable than dairy.
That farmer is wrong. Us the workers pay most of the tax in this country. Dairy farmers pay not a great deal in comparison. Turnover and taxation are not the same thing as that famer lobbyist Bill English explains here.
I’ve long advocated for a turnover tax however which if put in place at 3% would mean they make a meaningful tax contribution in line with their GDP contribution that they love to spout on about so much.
There is also good GDP and bad GDP e.g. some places in the US rely on prisons in their towns to increase GDP. Chopping a forest down will increase GDP e.g. Amazon forest. That is bad GDP. GDP isn’t necessarily a good measure.
IRD figures showed the 17,244 entities registered as being in the dairy sector, including companies, trusts and individuals, paid only NZ$26 million in tax.
The data showed that 9,014 or more than half reported a loss for the 2008/09 year and 2,635 reported trading income of between NZ$1 and NZ$20,000. Nearly 40,000 of the 72,000 companies in the primary sector were unprofitable.
https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/53495/dairy-farmers-pay-lower-tax-couple-pension-ird-says-fonterra-gets-tax-credits-fair#:~:text=Meanwhile%20DairyNZ%20put%20out%20a,not%20%2426%20million%20as%20claimed.
Thats 2011 during the gfc,since high prices for dairy and other agriculture due to the global food shortage,dairy and pastoral farming have decreased both borrowing and repaid substantive capital.The substantive capital appreciation both decreased our overseas borrowings,paid interest on overseas debt,and allowed the banks to lend to the village idiots to buy a fully overpriced house.
Dairy and agriculture exports will sustain mortgages to 10% in this mortgage cycle,without dairy and beef and lamb,mortgage interest rates will double to 20% with a substantive housing crash ie we will have the same economic conditions of the first oil shock and agriculture price ( due to EU quota) crash of the late 70's .
At present we have sufficient Forex reserves to last 2 quarters (13B) which only pays our current account trading deficit.
The austerity measures that would be needed would be similar to Sri lanka
Show me the actual tax paid data. I looked for more recent as a comparison but couldn't find any. The oft reiterated we pay large amount of tax always seems in contradiction to the continual moaning about how hard it is and how inputs are increasing and costs going up.
It can't be both – either these farmers are making large profits and paying large amounts of tax on those profits or they are not.
High amounts of tax but low profits simply cannot co-exist.
“As shoppers recoil at the rising cost of staples like milk, cheese and butter, Aotearoa’s largest dairy company, Fonterra, says it’s not reaping bumper profits. In fact, its consumer business in New Zealand is “struggling,” with low margins and profit down more than 80%.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128805146/fonterras-nz-consumer-business-doing-it-very-tough-profit-down-80
Dairy farming loans april 2020/2022 decreased by 10% ie capital repayment.If they are not paying tax on profits and can repay capital debt,then there is a problem with the tax system,and not with the farmers who milk cows for a living.
now how much untaxed capital gain is going unpaid with every house sale? Over the same period of time 60 billion went into the housing market to fund capital gains.
How much of that decrease, was sales to overseas interests?
Loan repayments,not capital sales.
Loans do tend to get repaid, when you sell.
So would be the same in the housing market.The dairy farms do however (as all farms do) pay tax on the sale of the land and assets,(both gst and capital gain ) which the untaxed capital gains on residential housing do not.
Farms are not subject to Capital gains tax on sale
Hence the transfer of income, which would be taxed, to increase untaxed capital gains on sale.
Capital gains farming.
Which is why we have all the screams from farmers when CGT is mentioned. Currently farmers pay little tax.
The land isnt the farm assets ( by recovered depreciation are)
So you are agreeing that dairy farmers don't pay much tax on actual farming but are proposing that they pay copious amounts of GST when they sell their farms and that is their contribution to the tax system – ignoring the fact that GST is netted off as it becomes an expense against other GST paid for the new owner. Unlike working people who pay the full cost of GST on purchases to the tax system business people only pay the difference between the GST on purchases and sales.
You keep making excuses and provide little evidence to support your original proposition:
"and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers."
I know farmers who have several farms who have community service cards. Community Service cards are based on taxable income. That is a dead giveaway they are not paying much tax. They do go overseas regularly though on farming trips.
The produce that is sold overseas pays for our imports including debt.You need overseas funds to pay for the imported goods such as vaccines,computers, wind turbines.
They exported goods also pay the interest on our debt.As we have high inflation we also need to find increased funds to pay the interest on our sovereign debt such as inflation bonds of which the government has 19.5B$ of,and a doubling of interest debt as bonds roll over.
How do you propose we pay for that debt? all overseas derived.As the government has a budget deficit,the deficit is funded by debt.
Markets are pricing in this year another 1.75% increase in rates at the sovereign level where is the money to come from?
You're still not talking about the amount of tax the industry pays to pay for the cost of hospitals, roads etc.
We get GDP and the balance of trade and surpluses versus deficits and the impact that has on interest rates and but your claim, and farmers like to proclaim this quite loudly, that they pay lots of tax.
Bear in mind all company tax in NZ only makes up 14% of the tax take. Individual people like myselves paying tax make up 40% of the tax take – without being able to claim expenses back and GST including customs GST makes up 32% of tax take again with individuals like myself paying full GST as we cannot net off our GST like businesses can.
So how much of the 14.8% of company tax is from dairy farmers – sweet FA.
Tax is NZD…exports offset our USD requirements…they are two seperate issues
How much tax does the building industry pay,being a larger part of the domestic economy and net importer.the builder, or plumber, plasterer? or electrician using just about all imported parts.
They are all small to large businesses,all paying wages,gst,corporate tax and all part of the 17250b forcast corporate tax this year.
How about the banks,their total tax bills on record profits what are those?
You are struggling to make a formative point.
Nah you just keep deflecting.
My original post was responding to this comment:
"and it pays for a whole bunch of the taxes that in turn pay for our hospitals, police, and teachers."
It is oft said but patently false.
The other industries aren't the ones claiming that without them we wouldn't have hospitals or roads etc. The proportion of company tax as part of the tax take peaked in the 60's.
I don't think a banker has ever suggested that without the tax they pay we would have no hospitals.
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/wp/average-marginal-income-tax-rates-new-zealand-1907-2009-html#section-6
Have you thought of getting some recent data (not data that includes the gfc etc) or data distorted from anomalous capital injections such as the CHCH eq.
You first used an item from 2011,now 2012.Try forging some stronger arguments Smith.
If the farmer's profit is 3% of turnover a 3% turnover tax would wipe out his income. The poor bugger would starve!
South Africa use a sliding scale of 1%, 2% and 3%. Particularly if you replaced other taxation with e.g. personal taxation and GST.
Net off wages at its introduction so a worker gets to keep all their income. The idea isn't to collect more tax – the idea is to spread it more evenly so all businesses pay tax and it is simple. Wage costs would be reduced for companies that have workers and as they transition to robotics for instance to improve productivity the tax revenue would not be affected. They would need to make more sales to pay more tax.
It would enable all tax to be collected at point of sale as well as well. This would help prevent businesses going bust owing IRD millions / hundreds of thousands. That in itself would be of great benefit to pay for hospitals.
Expenses should be between the shareholders and the people running the company.
I would also suggest when a surplus occurs in a good year all governments should have a commitment to determine how much of that should be returned to businesses.
The poor bugger would starve!
Nah he has cows to eat and can put in a vege garden.
Will no one think of the farmers.
But it is also important to remember that while farmers were severely hit
by depression, rather less than a quarter of all farmers actually sought formal mortgage relief under the 1936 Act; moreover, farming always provided at least subsistence, whereas urban dwelling did not. And within the rural sector, farmers were not always the worst off. As Alfred Coleman, Chairman of the Taranaki Commission, observed early in 1935:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-5daeurrD7MJ:www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1987/NZJH_21_2_03.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz
The occupation of Canterbury by the dairy industry at the invitation of the Key government is equivalent to the occupation of Palestine by Israeli settlers at the invitation of conservative Israel.
Get in there by any means necessary, encourage it, fund it, and it's a whole lot more difficult to wind back later. This is the narrative now, that you can get rid of cows families now they are settled in…
*can't get rid of cows and families.
Actual farmers know, that intensive dairying in Canterbury was not a long term business proposition. You know, the ones that have actually studied things such as soil depletion and nutrient balances. Several told me, just that.
Not those who are farming capital gains, expecting to sell to a "greater fool" before realisation hit.
"Farming families" is a good propaganda meme, but it appears that land speculators, or even "Queen Street farmers" is more accurate.
responded to powerful market signals
And he did so in pursuit of personal profit. Now all he needs is more powerful societal signals, since he has chosen to operate in a fashion that causes damage beyond the narrow confines of his property.
Can the combination of the new water quality regulator, water pricing regulator, and new water management entity reverse all of that in Canterbury? Probably not – until there is an agricultural industry that is even more profitable than dairy.
Probably, seeing as one of (if not the) biggest diary farm operators in Canterbury is Ngai Tahu…………
Can you cite any evidence for this claim?
No idea about farm ownership across Canterbury as a whole, but this from Ngai Tahu about their dairy holdings
https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/investment/ngai-tahu-farming-2/
Yes, then there's Dairy Holdings Ltd
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/104314481/biggest-corporate-dairy-farmer-lowcost-and-lowprofile
So Grumpy here is spreading effluent, to continue with the dairy theme.
As well as Purata Farming formerly Synlait Farms, larger than the Ngāi Tahu holdings:
https://milknewzealand.com/our-business/theland-farm-group/purata-farming/
And yet Grumpy feels fine to just spray and walk away. This is how the pollution spreads.
If farming wasn't such a "sacred cow" we would be telling that guy the same as we would tell anyone else who over invested in a business with an obviously unsustainable future, expecting to sell to a "greater mug" for an untaxed capital gain before reality hits.
Tough biccies!
https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/exports-by-category
Think about it…
Mike Joy is quite correct…the growth of dairy in Canterbury was a mistake (as was the RBNZ promotion of the 'wealth effect')…the question remains how do we readdress that mistake?…Canterbury dairy is around 20% of output and dairy is our largest export…if we are to reduce our exports, we must be willing to reduce our imports…what are we willing to forego?
Unless someone has a solution that has evaded our best minds for the best part of 5 decades.
I would say cut off the importing of cheap cars. We are stupidly flooding our roads with them faster than even National could build new roads.
But that is yet another holy cow: "Oh, You must not interfere with the market of a healthy, thriving economic industry!"
Yeah, Right. Lots of bleeding hearts, please…
K..at least you are willing to nominate something…do we only then import expensive new cars?…and if so do we limit the number?
If we have any brains at all, we have to stop what we are doing. Fat chance.
Am inclined to agree we lack grey matter, however i ask would you support a political party that advocated some form of import licensing, knowing that you may not be able to access some goods you desire?
I've never been convinced that having a choice of 38 brands of baked beans instead of 10 is beneficial to me in any way.
Have you been to supermarket lately?….you may be lucky to find 2 varieties of baked beans..and a lot of gaps on the shelves.
And a distinct lack of acknowledgement of the issue.
We have under 6 months of foreign reserves now,It would require a substantive correction of the economy (as the dollar went through the floor and investment grade bonds went to junk)
We would need to remove around 200k jobs at least across the economy.
so what is the solution?…we cant do without our dairy exports (at current or near to volume) and we cannot continue at current volume?
We should encourage more investment in areas that involve intellectual capacity – gaming is one that springs to mind. Strengthen our university science research capabilities, invest in areas like trades, etc as we know we will be losing many of our tradies to age and Australia. I pointed out twenty years ago to one ITO that Australia had identified their aging trade workforce and planned to get 20% of their future tradies from NZ.
National sadly missed a great opportunity with the Christchurch earthquake to beef up the NZ skillset in this area.
Personally I would reduce the amount of crap imported into the country as well. The used car comment being but one example. Improving public transport and making it free would be one way of doing this.
If we continue to reply on physical production of things and not expand to other opportunities we will run out of workforce with an aging population.
I despair at the lack of planning and discussion around this very important aspect of our population. We are going to be whacked by it and GDP will be going down as a result. I'm also unsure why famers get a special thought this time round – uneconomic farms fell by the wayside when subsidies were removed in the 80's, car manufacturing, clothing manufacturing, etc were all allowed to fall over with nary a thought, as beef and sheep farming reduced freezing works closed everywhere.
farming fell over at the same time…land values halved and a hell of a lot of farmers were sold up.
Id suggest we dont have time to develop a range of new industries. (even if we could, which history suggests not)..as you note we have wasted decades already, so as far as I can see if we are to reduce our export capacity we must also reduce our import demand…the question then is how and what?
Some were really uneconomic though e.g. the farmer up the Whanganui River who could only get sheep to his farm a few at a time by jet boat. Was profitable with subsidies.
Business is in my view bad at forecasting the future even when warned and predictable – the Pandemic planning 10 years ago and the actual preparedness and response when COVID hit is one example. Preparation for an aging workforce is another.
Even now where is the business community discussing things like supply chain risk (needing ramped up production in NZ) or considering that normal has changed and we won't ever see the same volumes of workers centralised in a CBD or that substantially more people now would like to order meals delivered online and eat in comfort watching their movies on a large TV at home rather than go out on a cold and windy night and eat at a restaurant or even that young people drink less than the older generations.
Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers. How we utilise the potential of those with disabilities in a much more meaningful way – especially now as since COVID-19 there is much more acceptance of working from home.
Not everything needs a massive change to make a difference – lots of smaller things can start to accumulate quite big change.
We do need to think wider than roads and dairy and cutting down trees and low paid tourism. What I keep hearing from business is "when can we go back to normal". Normal has changed.
And does any of that provide export dollars?
Depends on the business doesn't it? What a weird question.
Aging workforces go across export businesses as well or do you think they somehow magically have a special ability to attract young people.
Horticulture and forestry are prime examples where they have instead of developing the local Maori workforce they have treated them badly and those communities are now saying "fuck you". There are whole families who will no longer work in forestry as they have had too many family members die. The flooding slag issue in Ruatoria has pissed the whole community off – especially as many hapu were warning about the risk and raising concerns.
I know people now who as a result of working from home are now working for overseas companies here in little ole NZ – their income comes directly from overseas without having to pay shipping costs. One earns well over $100,00 a year with basically very few overheads.
We need to be smarter.
So one person working in IT making 100k plus is the sum of fx….
Your statement was…
"Even now where is the business community discussing things like supply chain risk (needing ramped up production in NZ) or considering that normal has changed and we won't ever see the same volumes of workers centralised in a CBD or that substantially more people now would like to order meals delivered online and eat in comfort watching their movies on a large TV at home rather than go out on a cold and windy night and eat at a restaurant or even that young people drink less than the older generations.
Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers. How we utilise the potential of those with disabilities in a much more meaningful way – especially now as since COVID-19 there is much more acceptance of working from home"
…all non tradable activities…and you may wish to consider the following
"The latest figures show that of New Zealand's asset classes, Māori own 50 per cent of the country's fishing quota, 40 per cent of forestry, 30 per cent of its sheep and beef production, 30 per cent of lamb production, 10 per cent of dairy production and 10 per cent of kiwifruit.
Collectively, Māori own $13 billion in primary sector assets, according to the Māori Investors Guide 2017."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/agribusiness-report-three-concerns-underpinning-maori-agribusiness/N7BAMSISLFEBSEBLSL6MJYYC3U/
Yep, and the iwi corps are also heavily into urban property. And they appear to be starting to take positions in export IT startups.
That made me laugh. This ancient programmer has stopped going to pickup food on Ponsonby Rd becauae of the frigging crowding. I miss the those brief periods at the end of lockdowns when it was posible to find a park outside of the Ponsonby fast food like Boy and Bird.
Ponsonby is pretty much back to normal. Jervois Rd as well. Not sure about K Rd – it is closer than Ponsonby Rd, but I seldom walk that way.
I'm well aware of the growth in Maori business.
That needs to accelerate is the point and will offset some of the reduction that dairy may have to endure. The more we support Maori to do well the better off the country will be.
Now if we could only tap the potential of our disabled workforce.
"I'm well aware of the growth in Maori business."
Apparently not
"Things like transitioning skills and knowledge from one (mainly white) generation to another with a much greater, proportion of Maori and Polynesian workers."
"Horticulture and forestry are prime examples where they have instead of developing the local Maori workforce they have treated them badly and those communities are now saying "fuck you".
Both those things exist simultaneously – it isn't one or the other.
Well the industry disagrees with you. Three quarters of the use of online apps for food delivery comes from people who would normally eat at a restaurant.
And this doesn't include those that do their own on-line ordering and delivery.
The study estimated food apps added around $59,000 to the 2019 revenue of the restaurants using them – about $19.6m in total. It also found about 26 per cent of the orders came from people who would not have usually chosen a restaurant meal.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/food-delivery-wars-doordash-uber-eats-menulog-delivereasy-and-yummi-compared/XS6DEEL2X6HPALTM4IQ6CH2VGQ/
The Joy paper has a lot of problems,especially for the Christchurch city aquifers.The age of the water is around 300 years old in the west to 1400 years in the east.( south cant,and north has water 10k old)
The hydrology into the aquifers is horizontal not vertical,as there are two clay layers above the deep aquifers.So horizontal transport from the waimak will be above the take zone.
If we are to redesign the economy ( limits to growth are required under the IPCC SE scenarios) then we have to limit severely immigration,and expansion,and most probably tourism (which if the flights and full costs were accounted for would make steel smelting look green)
The moving to 1990 levels,also require a population decrease as energy efficiency is limited to the cost of the respiration of a human.
We would need to also still have to repay our debt obligations.
I dont know about the time lag for Christcjurch's aquifers but I do know that Selwyn is already experiencing problems with Rolleston (pop 25,000 and growing) and the wider plains have a huge problem (as Joy notes, the bulk of Canty water is artesian)…our own levels well exceed the current (high) limit…I would suggest that Christchurch will not be immune from the impact for long.
As Joy notes the cow population has grown tenfold (in 20 years)…curiously so has land value…i doubt a rapid reduction to 1990 levels is viable but a reduction is definitely needed, probably in conjunction with other mitigations.
and late edit…"redress" not readdress.
Cutting our imports of oil, and finance, would be a good start.
Agree…pre current inflation we were spending around 6 billion a year on oil.that would be a very good place to start…and the aussie banks took around another 4 billion,…but even without all that (some is unavoidable) we still need to export to maintain demand for the NZD and in reality that means ag/hort.
Luxon and the Natz getting a lot of, well justified, stick on social media for their equivocal stance on Roe vs Wade.
Although Luxon has said the Natz won't re-litigate our laws on the subject, for some unfathomable reason, few people appear to believe him.
I wonder why? "We won't increase GST."
No need to revisit the law, just borrow from the GOP playbook and pass a new law defunding abortion services & forbiiding DHBs offering them so they become unaffordable and/or unavailable in any DHB. That way, abortion remains decriminalised you just won’t be able to get one.
That is how those lying Evangelical fanatics work. Roe v Wade was settled law, until it wasn't and then it could be repealed with a fig leaf of not having lied.
No further asset sales etc. Luxon fronts a party with zero credibility on what they promise v what they do.
Telling cartoon in Stuff
Top right Chloe Swarbrick
Bottom right Simon O'Connor
And we note who does, and who does not, use the word "women".
And who dare not use the word ' abortion' but rather wants a very open minded, de-sexed, gender neutral return to rights and healthcare that some un – named people seem to have lost.
No one really lost rights and or health care altogether, but fertile women lost the right to a safe and legal medical service called abortion in the states that legislate against abortions thanks to federal rules.
Abortions are a small part of sex based rights and female centric healthcare they are not the sum total of 'healthcare' and/or sex based rights.
100% sabine
May I ask, Visubversa, if Vi Subversa is the inspiration for your handle (guessing she must be) and whether this,
"Highly intelligent, with a voice honed by nicotine and late-night rants, Subversa refused to take the expected, often requisite, left-wing stance" describes your position well?
Saw her playing at a TUC rally in London in 1985. Poison Girls rule!
Lucky you!
Should we also note those who make no comment at all?
Acknowledging that transmen and NBs will also suffer due to these law changes isn’t worse than the complicity of silence on this issue.
But that’s just my opinion, you go off.
Trans "men" only ever hit the headlines when they do that most female of things – give birth. And "non binary" is non sense. Human beings come in either 1 of 2 sexes. The rest of it is ideology and twaddle.
In your opinion. Which you are entitled to, but it is only an opinion.
Just as an aside I do remember many headlines and much commentry made about the ‘loss of lesbians’ and other such things when Elliot Page came out in 2020
As is their opinion that they have a "gendered soul" or are neither male nor female. Both of those things are produced by an ideology – a belief system.
And are they not also entitled to their opinions?
Yours too is an ideology – we all have our ideologies/belief systems.
Biological sex is not an ideology, only females can get pregnant. Fact
oh they can have opinions and ideas as we all do.
but neither their opinions nor their ideas will ever get pregnant. That would be their female sexed body who does that, generally after a penis ejaculated into their vaginas and sperm meets egg and bingo voila a future human was created.
And btw, Arkie, no matter the Lady feels of penis havers, non of these ideas, opinions and feelz of a penis haver will ever need an abortion.
Transmen and NB people aren't 'penis havers' hence why they may need an abortion. No one except you has previously mentioned transwomen I would note.
that refers to women who want to be non binary or transmen.
And btw, Arkie, no matter the Lady feels of penis havers, non of these ideas, opinions and feelz of a penis haver will ever need an abortion.
Only one of them is able to give birth, and its the body of the female. 🙂
And i mention transwomen, as they too want to have a say on what rights females – the real ones – not the 'my feelz' ones, can have and not have. Never mind, that NO Transwoman will ever need an abortion as they are Men.
So women have lost the right in the US to female centric spaces such as toilets, changing rooms, rape centres, domestic violence shelters, retirment homes for women, hospital wards and so on and so froth. All of trhat came thanks to the left, while the right sat by and said 'thank you, may i have another please'. Heck they even lost the word women, pregnancy, child bearing, birthing, breastfeeding and so on and so forth. All to men. And this can and will happen here, and the left paved the way all the way.
Case in point Biden Signing and ED to cancel Title IX in favor of Gender ideology.
The right does not need to do much, they can just sit by and watch the left undo not only the work of women over the last century but to literally take women back into a time were they were not even considered human.
But go on and pretend that Transmen are not women. Until they need an abortion or female centric healthcare.
As for Chloe Swarbruck, that poor thing will sooner or later come out as non binary/transmen. She has no other option in this current Green Party, literally as she presents the worst of the worst human beings that exist – namely white cis gendered women. Heck even as a white cis gendered lesbian she would not win in the grievance/minority board game that is the Green Party.
Play pretend all day long, but deny biology on your own risks.
This is the third time you have brought this up unprompted. It's not relevant in this discussion and no one but you has connected this idea to the discussion of Abortion rights. I understand you don't like transwomen, we all understand.
Think what you want about Chlöe Swarbrick but I think what you've said is distasteful and not remotely true. The Green party will continue to advocate for minority rights whether you see that as valuable or not.
100% Visu!
you can only get pregnant if you are a women/female sex.
Acknowledging TM and NB females isn't the problem. Removing women's language is.
'Removing women's language' really is just a negative reframing of 'language that includes transmen and NB people'. Scare phrasing. The history of the fight for women's rights is evidence that the use of 'woman's language' didn't prevent men from 'deciding' before the common use of inclusive language.
I find it easy (and inclusive) to argue for abortion rights from a position of advocacy for bodily autonomy. Women and other people that need access to abortion services should have that access unrestricted, because it's their body, their life.
And I still question whether the language difference is worse, for abortion rights, than the inaction of those whose silence on the issue tacitly endorses the status quo ante.
would that be inclusive enough for you?
Sophie Lewis
@reproutopia
· Jun 23
It is a hard pill to swallow for a misogynist society, sentimentally attached to its ideology of patriarchal motherhood, but the truth is that gestators should get to decide which bodies to give form to.
My body, my choice is as succinct a demand as is possible, no one is excluded while emphasising that we all should have autonomy over our own bodies.
Again my question is why the language used by some is more concerning than the silence from people not prepared to stand up for women and others who might need abortion access.
That poor women in that tweet was not even able to state that. Lol
But let me explain her tweet for you as you seem to have gotten lost in all that 'non sexed' bull.
Gestators is referring not to males, or males with feelz about things that are stereotypically associated to the female beings, or non binary males who like to wear ladies silk/cotton and lippy, or males who moonlight as partime women.,
Gestators it is refering ONLY TO female bodies regardless of their presentation and self id.
Forming bodies – that would be referring to the incubating of a human being., something that takes 9 month and culminates with a baby either exiting via the Vagina (female sexual organ – not an inverted penis) or via a cesarian if the need arises. It is called Pregnancy.
Also, does My BODY MY CHOICE apply when the government wants you to take three + shots of vaccine that one may or may not approve of? ?
No? Then my body my choice has no meaning and must be abandoned by those that would like hte government to force people into taking medication they don't approve of. It either is MY Body MY choice, or it is not. In that case, also legalize all drugs, my body my choice, the amputation of healthy limbs or removal of eyes for those that feelz like amputees or want to be blind, and so on and so forth.
Choose Arkie. Choose. But understand that this Roe vs Wade decision is not a win for the right, it is however a great loss of the left. And any lefty women who is not captured by Party Ideology must ask herself what other rights the left is happy for women to lose in their quest of sex and biology denial.
Fear mongering does not work anymore when you stood by and lost the right to control ones body. And fwiw, quite a few Dem leaders could have done something.
Biden signed an Executive order to repeal Title IX in favor of Trans. He could sign an Executive order to codify abortion rights into law on a federal level. But then the left needs women to vote for them, and Losing Roe Vs Wade was a good vote getter. Now women in the US should really ask themselves how well they are served by this current administration. And guess what, they just lost the right to a lifesaving procedure in the states that don't allow abortions.
Maybe we need a better left, one that is not engaged in total denial of biological reality for the 50% of humanity that birthed the full 100% of humanity since the dawn of time.
As for the rightk, they did what they advertised since the day Roe vs Wade was decided. Be that they Hyde ammendment, trigger laws, or now R vs W.
It is the left that has dropped the ball on that one and it will be the poor women of the US who will pay the bill. It will not be the non binary kid of a white well to do family that will be forced to carry a pregnancy to term, or worse die because abortion as a medical life saving tool can no longer be used, worse even taught in Universities to future medical doctors. (mind these doctors will probably not know a man from a women)
Your animus for transwomen is clear but irrelevant to anything I or Swarbrick or Sophie Lewis were saying. Women, Transmen and some NBs will require abortion access and they all should have that access as needed and without restriction. It's not that deep.
Arkie one of the things I hear from women who support trans ideology is that they don’t like being called chest feeders etc.
just because some people don’t want to face up to the reality of their biology ie trans men and non binary who are actually women, we are changing our language for their beliefs that are a denial of reality.
I am afraid that’s a no from me and many others. Our bodies our language our choice mate. End of
That's fine, that's your view and your choice, but don't be upset when others disagree with your determination about other peoples identity, or when people use inclusive, less gendered language, that's their choice. End of.
Sabine, you have to link. Click on the date/time stamp, then copy and past the URL to the TS comment box.
please supply a link now
this link?
https://twitter.com/reproutopia/status/1539679713190445057?cxt=HHwWgoC8ydSihd4qAAAA
sorry did not realise it did not copy.
Mind i follow this one up with her 'clarification' about here tweet. lol
https://twitter.com/reproutopia/status/1540718333820956672?cxt=HHwWgMCjpavK3eEqAAAA
What did I do? where? I generally take good care to link.
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27-06-2022/#comment-1897469
You can't embed twitter images, only tweets themselves.
Chile comment is a good example of what happens when you degrade language….meaning is lost. She could be referring to anything
Simon O'Connor….Labour's best performing MP!…..LOL!
Not according to this link
https://www.parliament.nz/en/mps-and-electorates/members-of-parliament/oconnor-simon/
Member for Tāmaki, National Party
Whoosh!
Looking forward to the Nelson Police investigation of this recalcitrant.
Defiant counsellor ignores conversion therapy ban | RNZ News
Another nail in the coffin of woke* entertainment:
https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/top-gun-maverick-highest-grossing-movie-globally-1235303535/
First Tom Cruise movie to break a billion and without having to pander to China.
Lightyear failed, Dr Strange needed to break a billion (what does it say when a movie needs to make a billion to make money) and didn't
A few more of these and a few more Disney flops and soon even the money men in the studios might start asking questions
My prediction is The Little Mermaid and The Marvels will also fail, being able to hide your lack of box office behind covid and streaming will soon be over
I can't wait for more, better, entertainment
*I just don't mean to focus woke, I also mean intersectionality, diversity and representation, bullshit like that but woke is just a useful shorthand etc
Diversity is not the death knell for movie profitability – it just isn't a substitute for a decent story. I expect most of the other irrelevancies are in the same boat too.
I agree, diversity doesn't have to be a death knell:
https://www.mensjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/predator-main-223.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/aliens-1986/Aliens-image-2.jpg
The problem is diversity seems to be more important than the storyline, just see how long you can get through this video without cringing, I'd say take a drink everytime someone says something woke but that would probably lead to hospitalization/death:
I'm currently working my way through New Who at the moment and its woke but its still in the basis of a good storyline so its fine (I will not be watching the 13th Dr, Dr Karen though)
Too many entertainment properties are looking at what woke elements they can add at the expense of the storyline, imho and they’ll start paying the price at the box office
I just wonder how many more properties will be ruined before this period is over
Well, it's hard for Americans. They struggle with fantasy & scifi, having had relatively poor role models like Robert Jordan & Terry Brooks. Half the genre for their market (the better half) is made in Canadia – which has a better education system, hence The Expanse.
Not sure about Rings of Power – my pirate site of choice doesn't have it yet. Overall I expect Carnival Row will be more fun. House of the Dragon has been fairly good from what I've seen – GRRM may be hanging on to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms though, until he meets a crew that won't screw it up.
The Expanse was good, we just need more like it. The Orvilles not bad either.
I haven't watched Carnival Row but René Echevarria looks to have a pretty decent track record.
I'd like GRRM to pull finger, stop faffing about and get back to finishing The Winds Of Winter but I don't think he ever will, check out what hes done since A Dance With Dragons and thats only writing
Most films lose money. Indeed, 80% do.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/schuylermoore/2019/01/03/most-films-lose-money/?sh=47ec3d95739f
And without a push for diversity we would likely never have seen a Black Panther movie (or indeed a Whale rider or a Boy and might have had to watch reruns of the dreary The Piano over and over and over.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_(film)
You can't view the Marvel stuff as just the movie though. There's money made from the merchandising even if the film doesn't make money. I've enjoyed watching them in time sequence order – much more coherent and sensible. Some definitely better than others though. And I like the Jodie Whittaker Dr Who. She has the same degree of eccentricity that I like in The Doctors and frankly that it is a female rather than male for me makes not one iota of difference. Got used to that type of change when they rebooted Battlestar Galactica with Katee Sackhoff being the new Starbuck. After that it just became normalised.
I'm not sure why people get upset about it and going on about it being PC or woke is just being a dick. I like variety and diversity. It is the quality of the script and the acting that is much more important.
The push for diversity is secondary to the narrative – or you have a sermon, not a movie.
And, in the event that there is a pre-existing artwork upon which the cinematic adventure is based, the original deserves enough respect to protect it from egregious and bad taste changes. Looking at you, Peter Jackson, mutilator of The Hobbit.
The woke crowd have never done anything for me, and when my colleagues were committing suicide like flies, they not only didn't give a fuck, but in fact began harassing me for mentioning it. I say "quack".
"The woke crowd have never done anything for me, and when my colleagues were committing suicide like flies, they not only didn't give a fuck, but in fact began harassing me for mentioning it. I say "quack".'
Damn dude, thats harsh. What job do you do to have colleagues like that?
They were deepsea fishermen – the generation that lost their job security to the slave fishermen. Can't compete with folk on $2 US a day.
For what it's worth I feel for you
I don't get the connection between the woke crowd and the suicides.
I know tradesmen who committed suicide after then businesses failed after being forced to become self-employed contractors (good tradesmen but not good at bookwork and a really short learning curve, men who were laid off in their 50's via Rogernomics who were never able to find a job again, and recently a young friend after losing his job through a business ceasing got sick of applying for job after job and in most cases not even getting a response. Good kid, never been in trouble. Good worker. Watched him grow up since 5. There's quite a few more I can think of.
Nothing to do with anything but employers and capitalism that chews people up and spits them out. The example you give to me looks like the race to the bottom type of capitalism as well.
Unsure why the woke aspect unless it is a bit like my wife. She grew up with a lot of church / youth group influence but when she needed some support from who she thought were her friends it wasn't forthcoming. All talk but when the chips were down they didn't want to know. I've seen that scenario play out a few times and picked up the pieces – ended up a few times with people living with us for months while they got into a good space.
Wife is still angry at times about this which I don't blame her. I'm not that sympathetic to the notion you should forget about it. I think it is OK to be angry about it now and then and to remind people that these things occurred. If it never gets talked about it is like it never existed.
The woke crowd had taken over Labour – when I went for support to the party of the workers, it transpired than they did not care about sending young New Zealander workers to their deaths, nor were they concerned by being complicit in a slaveship operation.
A lot of their moral logic on tolerance of rainbow issues is predicated on a narrative of reducing youth suicides. Faced with real instances however, it turned out that youth suicides didn't matter to them at all. The hypocrisy was breathtaking. I believe they have improved slightly in the meantime – but they have considerable ground to make up.
I understand now.
I feel the same way about their response to poverty (and WEAG only reinforced that). Youth in particular. Too many of my kids friends have passed away with the struggle and grind through suicide.
It became obvious to me as well that they didn't really care that much about the reality of peoples situations. But then it was Labour that started Rogernomics so I'm not too surprised actually.
This lie by Roberston made me feel ill. He's only referring to the $20-00 per week cut which over time had the least effect. I can only re-iterate time and time again that benefits and NZS used to be the same amount before Ruth Richardson did her budget.
“With the changes that we have made today we will finally return all main benefits to their values before that budget,” he said of former National finance minister Ruth Richardson’s mother of all budgets. “This is righting a wrong.”
What is the point of making all these people struggle from day to day?
Even when experts do their analysis they fuck it up by ignoring the delinking of benefits from the average wage and only doing an inflation assessment comparison which is a self-perpetuating fuck-up. Because benefits were linked to inflation now of course they rose at the same rate as inflation. That was the intention.
We'll just pretend that the actual biggest change – decoupling from the average wage didn't occur. NZS which wasn't uncoupled streaked ahead.
So does the 2021 budget directly undo the 1991 benefit cuts? Not exactly. By 2020 benefits had already been returned to similar levels in terms of purchasing power to what they were before the cuts in 1991. The 2021 budget closed what small gap remained and then added some more. Perhaps such a statement about reversing the ‘Mother of All Budgets’ says more about the politics of budgets than about the economics.
https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2021/fact-check–did-the-2021-budget-reverse-1991s-mother-of-all-budgets-benefit-cuts.html
WEAG also pointed out the youth issue and recommended all youth be paid the adult rate. I had miles more time for Sue Bradford than anyone in the Labour Party in the end. It was just like talking to a brick wall.
Are they better than National – yep. Are they better enough to get my support – nope. Still a long way to go.
That is simply incorrect.
Here is a movie trailer from 20 years ago. I could have used Blade but Blade 2 is the superior movie:
I could also have used Halle Berry in either 2004 or as the leader of the X Men from 2000
I have no issues with any entertainment being made, I do have an issue when an existing property is changed merely to suit the whims of present day woke culture
Blade, a movie I am fond of, was a movie with a good action movie black lead actor. Nearly everyone else in the movie was white. I do like Kris Kristofferson in the movie as well. That was cool.
Black Panther was much more of an African story and resonates much more as different – even though I don't think it is as good a movie.
I suspect that is the main difference between the two in terms of thinking or wokeness – take your pick.
You have identified the unidentified enemy in TGM. Well done! I’ll know what anti-woke jetfighters look like, if I were to watch it (over my dead body); they’ll be the ones with the cheap bumper sticker labels that blow off so easily that overzealous fans have to keep sticking them back on all the time.
Thats nice Spanish Archer
What does that mean, Puckish Rogue?
I understand that to give someone the "Spanish archer" equals giving them the elbow, but why do you say that to Incognito?
That would be you (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-03-2022/#comment-1878545) and me (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-03-2022/#comment-1878600) and then a Mod note from me to PR (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-03-2022/#comment-1878762). Since then, PR has been using this new-found epitaph as a silly snide attempt aimed at me and it really hurts 😀
Kinda like we created an eddy and Pucky's still caught in it.
(At an appointment so have to be quick)
You called yourself that so I'm merely following your example but I get why you're salty
National/Act able to form a coalition, the attacks on Luxon not working and now Roe v Wade consigned to the history books
National/ACT able to form a coalition?
That's a hoot.
Have they won an election?
If they haven't, you're blowing.
18 months out from the Election!? Well, that would save a lot of money 😀
Then why is he sweating like a pig?
We must learn from history or else we’re doomed to repeat it here in NZ.
Zorro says sajonara.
"National/Act able to form a coalition" and "18 months out from the Election!? Well, that would save a lot of money".
Many a true word is said in what the speaker thinks is a jest.
Oh, if only they could form a coalition now it certainly would save a lot of money, wouldn't it? How many billions do you think? I would think $10b would probably be at the bottom end of the scale.
By the way I wouldn't look forward to 18 months before the election. Down to 16 months I should think
"Oh, if only they could form a coalition now it certainly would save a lot of money, wouldn't it? How many billions do you think? I would think $10b would probably be at the bottom end of the scale."
It's irresponsible of them not to. Dreadful money-managers, both!
You think it’ll be late Oct 2023? Possibly, but I wouldn’t be so sure 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_New_Zealand_general_election#Election_date
As to how much money we would save, nobody knows because they have lost their envelope.
I personally would pick the end of October, although it could easily go back into November. That was the common month in the 1950s and 60s.
That would be it though. It is a long time since they had an election in December and they won't try for a January one. People are simply too distracted after the end on November to take any notice.
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/877/219/6c9.jpg
OMG! Your JC fetish has made way for a TC obsession!
"JC" … who?
Hes the last, great movie star.
Hell the guy scored his biggest hit and first billion dollar box office at 59 years old
I do admire his work ethic and his desire to create great entertainment
Nope, that was Johnny Weissmuller and he died decades ago.
Not bad for a solo act but how does this prove anything, e.g., his ‘greatness’? He does look remarkably preserved.
I know nothing about his “work ethic” and when some people mention “work ethic” and “hard work” it makes my skin crawl because they really mean something different from getting up on time each morning and brushing your teeth after breakfast.
I'm not surprised you think this, you thought using Spanish Archer was something that made you look, what you consider, hip or cool rather than the reality of being obscure and out of touch
Word of advice for you, if most people have no idea what you're talking and have to google it then the phrase probably isn't working as well as you think it is
Firstly Tom Cruises range.
Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Action, Sci-Fi shows he has a very good range
The accolades he, rightly, received for Born On The Fourth Of July shows hes a very good, very under rated, actor
His physical acting and willingness to push the boundries shows hes right up there with Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan
So yeah hes a great and at his age when most people are slowing down hes doing best work
But then I'm guessing you're just a bit down over emerging trend of the polls showing National/Act leading, worried that Ardern will be given the Spanish Archer?
Yup, hip & cool is the stage of life I’m at after my short phase of obscure & out of touch. It’s called development (aka wise down). Soon I’ll be watching Blue’s Clues for guidance and Barney as my lifestyle coach. I’m afraid I’ve never had a Tom Cruise phase and I don’t think it is gonna happen this lifetime.
Cruise may have done some good stuff but that doesn’t make him great let alone “the last, great movie star”. A box office hit doesn’t make him great either, it makes the movie franchise successful.
I prefer Johnny Weissmuller’s physical ‘acting’ because he had real physical presence that was and could not be faked.
BTW, I’m surprised if you need to Google anything of the above and/or of the comment that you replied to; was it “brushing your teeth after breakfast”? If yes, this link might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_brushing
I absoludely refute ant suggestion that you, Spanish Archer, is out of touch and talking out his arse.
You are of course entitled to your opinion as I am to mine (personally speaking making a sequel over 30 years after the original, and bettering it, is pretty damn impressive) so instead I'll leave it to some others to see what they have to say
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/business/media/tom-cruise-top-gun-maverick.html
[excessive number of links deleted. That’s spam and the comment gets held up in Pending which annoys mods]
Toodles
mod note.
LOL!
To Weka:
Noted and out of interest is there a max amount of links we can put in, just so I know for next time
10
To Spanish Archer
Simon Pegg disagrees with you:
https://fandomwire.com/hes-perhaps-the-only-movie-star-left-simon-pegg-reveals-why-tom-cruise-is-last-of-his-kind-in-hollywood/
The Guardian and the LA Times also disagree with you (yes I chose left wing papers)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/08/top-gun-maverick-tom-cruise
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-05-27/the-inexplicably-ageless-and-fearless-tom-cruise
But hey you do you Spanish Archer, if its popular it must be bad because what do the plebs know
That’s nice to know but none of those others are commenting here and you are, so what matters is your opinions and how you can put your arguments together. I actually like Simon Pegg as an actor, but that headline fooled me, and I cannot see how it shows that he [Pegg] disagrees with me 🙁
I doubt that I’ve said that TGM is “bad” because I have not seen it.
I doubt that I’ve called you “plebs”.
It looks to me that you cannot argue your own opinions very well, which is why you have to call in support from and hide behind others’ views to impress me into bowing to your opinion of TGM and TC – how can I not be in awe of TGM and TC as the greatest actor alive! I must be outdated and out of touch! – and which is why you start putting words into my mouth. I don’t take my cues from infotainment sources or talk-back unlike some others here.
If you hadn’t made those stupid anti-woke comments in the context of TGM I wouldn’t have given you so much rope.
'That’s nice to know but none of those others are commenting here and you are, so what matters is your opinions and how you can put your arguments together.'
Cool so from word of mouth Spanish Archer no one needs to link to anything because its all about your opinions, good to know moving on
'I actually like Simon Pegg as an actor, but that headline fooled me, and I cannot see how it shows that he [Pegg] disagrees with me'
Did you miss this: ‘He’s perhaps the only movie star left’, let me guess you'll dance on the head of pin to argue that doesn't mean hes the last great movie star
'I doubt that I’ve said that TGM is “bad” because I have not seen it.'
'I doubt that I’ve called you “plebs”.'
You did say this:
'I have greatly enjoyed Hollywood movies in the past, even the action flicks, but taste develops with time & experience just as good wine ripens [intentional pun; hope it wasn’t too subtle for you]'
So now of course you'll claim you weren't saying Hollywood movies are 'bad' nor the people that enjoy them plebs
I'll admit you didn't say the exact words but we both know what you were implying
'It looks to me that you cannot argue your own opinions very well, which is why you have to call in support from and hide behind others’ views to impress me into bowing to your opinion of TGM and TC – how can I not be in awe of TGM and TC as the greatest actor alive!'
Well yes people do use links to back up their words especially in areas where they're less informed, is this a surprise to you?
'I must be outdated and out of touch! – and which is why you start putting words into my mouth.'
Well yes, your use of Spanish Archer certainly proved that
'I don’t take my cues from infotainment sources or talk-back unlike some others here.'
When its entertainment related I go to a wide range of sources, infotainment being one.
However I can't recall the last time I listened to talkback
'If you hadn’t made those stupid anti-woke comments in the context of TGM I wouldn’t have given you so much rope.'
Woke is ruining movies, I stand by the comments but since you yourself admitted to not watching Hollywood movies for years who are you to say if I'm right or wrong as only one of us here watch Hollywood movies
So I suggest that watch a few Hollywood movies and then, and only then, can you come back and argue badly whatever point it is you’re trying to make
Ta Ta Spanish Archer, its been real
Nope. Links (but not too many) are good and sometimes required to support assertions and claims of fact, not to wave opinions around from others to hide behind as if they’re one’s own but then to claim that they were not when one is challenged on them, which is disingenuous commenting behaviour. Nice try though, but a Fail nonetheless.
Yes, I missed that, so perhaps Simon Pegg would disagree with me on that if Simon Pegg were to comment here, but he isn’t, is he? You’re clutching at straws.
So, taste develops and usually gets more refined. That doesn’t imply at all those previous experiences were ‘bad’ nor that people who do enjoy those guilty pleasures are ‘plebs’. You’re clutching at straws.
Odd, my taste has moved on and become more refined and you argue that I am outdated and out of touch. Very odd, indeed, almost contradictory, wouldn’t you agree?
I don’t think I’ll watch TGM, also because of the anti-woke message it contains according to you or isn’t that what you’ve been implying?
I now remember watching Arrival and I quite enjoyed it. Apparently, it passes the Bechdel Test. Is that too woke for you?
TTFN
No.
Hollywood is still where the most popular movies come from.
You admit to moving on from Hollywood which means you're not watching Hollywood movies
So yes you are out of touch
Indie movies, all the way. Move with the times, you dinosaur, celebrating old actors in old franchises. You’re so stuck in your habitual tastes that you have no idea what you’re missing out on. I don’t give a toss about popularity because it is a meaningless measure of joy, for me, and thus I give it the Kondo treatment. When I check a movie on IMDB I don’t look at its popularity at all, ever. What a silly way to make choices!
'When I check a movie on IMDB I don’t look at its popularity at all, ever. What a silly way to make choices!'
Its a great way to keep in touch with what the majority of people are into
You know so you can keep in touch
I’ll let you know when I turn into a sheep.
I'm sure you will
You liked it so much that you liked it 13 times! Wow, no wonder you liked Tom Cruise.
No, it’s not. The irony is that you hail this as an example and benchmark of entertainment without a message, woke or whatever, and are tripping over yourself to attach your own message to it. It must have been some story-less and message-less vacuous movie to create such an urge in you.
Heres why it matters:
"politics is downstream from culture"
'if you want to change politics you first have to change culture because politics flows from culture. If you want to change culture, you have to first understand what the units of culture are, and the people are the units of culture. So, if you want to change politics, you first have to change people to change culture.'
Whats the most popular movie this year in the USA:
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/
The people are voting with their wallets, they're saying what they want and what they don't want.
There are messages in Top Gun:Macerick but its not the message the Left want to champion.
Even Hilary Clinton gets it:
There are political messages in TGM?? Do tell, besides the anti-woke epitaph that you and others have attached to it with fervour without realising the immense irony. You seem to see TGM as some kind of backlash!? In other words, the absence of a message is the message, which is just too deep for me and Mr ‘Maverick’ Cruise, I suspect, but then again, he’s used to subliminal messaging.
I just wasted 3:17 min on some garbage about HRC 🙁
You'll see.
Trump or De Santis in 2024.
Luxon and Seymour 2023.
Get used to it
De Santis 2024 has a good chance, mind if Biden does not last till then and Kamala Harris get the care taker role all bets are off.
In NZ, yes I can see a N/A coalition, but would not be surprised if N manages to go along.
L under Cunliffee was 26.7 % in 2014, and i doubt that the Leader of the L's will be running if they get any more non affirmative press or the polls go down another few points which they will. And fwiw, like after Helen Clark, the dudes of the Labour Party are still the same unelectable beige suits they were before the elevation of the current leader and this time they have run out of presentable quota non males /uterushavers /brithing people to shove to the forefront to hide a losing dude.
The only way forward for the Democrats at the moment is for someone, anyone, other than Biden and Harris
The issue for De Santis is hes a doing a really good job in Florida and maybe he should stay there a bit longer
I really can't see National getting anywhere near winning by themselves, nor would I want them to
i agree with you on most, but the last line. While i don't want them to win, they stand a good chance of doing so.
My friend went into the family shower room of a large public pool just to come across full bodied male showering in it cause women feels.
that will peak one after another, slowly slowly. And while N signed up to that bullshit most women will not know that. And the question is for women voters, be a publicly traded utility for all under the Left or be private property under the right.
Suck 40 dicks a day for dinner /shelter, or suck one dick. What do you think it is going to be? Edit: Or for those that don’t want to marry / suck one dick only for ever, they can make money then for their upkeep by being birthing bodies for others, lactating for others, selling their ova whilst they are fertile. Honestly someone please answer me that question? Because this is were this is going to.
Insert a picture of Quark saying ‘female’. Naked, no rights other then to negotiate their wombrental for the Ferengi Female.
'Suck 40 dicks a day for dinner /shelter, or suck one dick.'
Probably the same question a lot of Hollywood actors and actresses (do we still say that?) have had to ask themselves to get a role
You’re diverting away from the political pseudo-non-messages in TGM.
I will never get used to an imaginary future because it may never happen! It’s just foolish wishful thinking, like hoping to win Lotto.
You'll never win if you don't buy a ticket.
I've won lotto plenty of times.
Good for you, so working as a Correction Officer is just a hobby for you?
More a vocation
.
Woke is the perfect term … short, snappy, initially adopted with some gusto by the ID Pols cadre themselves but now hitting a raw nerve & deeply upsetting to them.
They would have you believe it's all about "anti-racism" & "anti-sexism" in the broadest & vaguest of terms … but, of course, it refers to a very specific, extreme & highly discriminatory dogma serving the interests of a segment of the professional middle class & guaranteed to create whole new forms of social injustice on a massive scale.
An elite authoritarian vanity project that systematically scapegoats swathes of the Left's traditional constituency: working people & the poor.
"Woke" is the perfect term for commenters who operate at the name-calling level.
Anti-wokes gonna anti-woke – such ‘sport’.
Call it what you like Robert, swordfishes definition nails it
I call it woke also. Anker, you are not woke. Neither is swordfish.
LOL! Are we still talking about that elite vanity project by that working class hero Tom Cruise? Instead of letting them eat cake they have an even better opiate for the masses: mindless parading of military masculinity and jingoistic patriotism. If Trump were still president, he’d bestow an honour on Mr Cruise (missile).
.
Was commenting on the current subversion & perversion of core Left principles & democratic norms … precisely zero interest in whatever inane shite Tom Cruise is currently promoting … his only relevance here is his devotion to Scientology … a dogma that bears some resemblance to the various sub-branches of Wokedom's Critical Theory in its cultish attributes, tendency toward struggle sessions / purity spirals & total disconnect from anything approaching reality.
He can be as mad as he likes as long as he keeps putting out quality movies like he has been (hes been on a real tear of late) and that he doesn't do anything seriously illegal
So, pretty legal is ok then?
I'm not a judge nor my brothers keeper Spanish Archer
I love it when Incognito gives you the Spanish archer!
We know your current job and I’m not interested in your CV nor your family situation, just in your fascinating statement about “seriously illegal” and what that means, to you. For example, parking in a disabled spot, or not picking up the doggie doo after a number two, or being a peeping Tom?
Case by case basis innit but as an example of actors going off the deep end
Mel Gibson = not so bad
Juicy Smollet = bad
So, “seriously illegal” is context-dependent and sometimes it is just “pretty legal”?
While I didn't see any branches of Critical Theory which fall in this category, for many involved in Scientology it appears to function as a harmful cult. Members of the sea org in particular who appear to be recruited into being a slave work force.
So long as you realise that its the same type of fantasy as the Marvel movies which at least are recognisable as such. US N and AF are having a field day in signing up young fantasists to a life with a very high rate of suicide. Pentagon written and produced with an absolute right to dictate the story and actors.
Of course its a fantasy but its certainly not the same type as Disney Marvel (you have to differentiate between Marvel and Disney Marvel)
It is fantastic entertainment though, what movies used to be like, what movies people still want today
I find the star wars story line is getting a bit tired now. Once again the rebel forces fly their fighters down a narrow channel flanked by enemy weaponry to deliver the killer missile down the air duct that is the one weak point.
Theres a homage to that (or Dambusters) in Top Gun:Maverick
But yes since Disney bought out Star Wars (and Marvel) they've bot gone downhill
Can't think why…
https://www.piratesandprincesses.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Kathleen-Kennedy-THe-Force-is-Female.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DSy9zoy.jpg
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20161119-skywalkerranch8400-h_2016_thr.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Because women make shit movies?
Some women make great movies, some women make bad movies.
This particular woman destroys franchises (remember this if Indian Jones 5 ever comes out)
Now I could point out how bad the movies and TV series shes overseen have been or I could just post this:
Its from Marcia Lucas, I assume you've heard of her:
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/star-wars-marcia-lucas-kathleen-kennedy-jj-abrams-1235069465/
'And they think it’s important to appeal to a woman’s audience, so now their main character is this female, who’s supposed to have Jedi powers, but we don’t know how she got Jedi powers, or who she is. It sucks. The storylines are terrible. Just terrible. Awful. You can quote me'
How long have you thought that movie series is called Indian Jones?
Meh
Wireless keyboard sucks at times.
nope, haven't heard of her.
You're problem here is that you are conflating a number of things: someone who makes shit movies with being female (yes, you did post that photo), and bringing woke into film equates to shit movies.
Do you know what the Bechdel Test is? Changing filmmaking to make films more interesting to women is a good thing.
Plenty of shit films out there made by men. Is the film in question shit because it's made by a women (or man), or because it's too woke, or because it just is a bad film in terms of plot, character, acting etc?
Multiverse is second on your box office list. I wouldn't call it a great film. I like the Dr Strange storylines, so I watched it and mostly enjoyed it but its a 3/5 kind of thing. I found the America character stereotyped and boring. I'm getting burned out on the contrivances of let's make up any old magic/alternative reality stuff, but I don't know the comics so have zero sense of if this is true to form or they're just doing whatever the hell they like. It wasn't too bad on this, but some films are obviously structured for the pleasure of the special effects team (I also find this boring because too often it tries to stand in for storyline or character).
Can't see the woke causing a problem in there though. The stereotpying is embedded in Hollywood, the alt reality contrivances are probably because the series has been running so long. Dunno why they can't just write good stories. Maybe they're spread too thin.
exhibit B:
That was sarcasm…
You haven't heard of Marcia Lucas, well from the article it says:
'She served as an editor on “Star Wars,” for which she won the Oscar for film editing in 1977, and “Return of the Jedi,” and she was an uncredited editor on “The Empire Strikes Back.” Lucas was credited with editing the thrilling Battle of Yavin and Death Star assault sequences in the first film of the trilogy. Her other editing credits include “Taxi Driver,” for which she earned an BAFTA nod, “American Graffiti,” which nabbed her an Oscar nom, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “New York, New York.”'
So you know what I feel confident that she knows what shes talking about when it comes to Star Wars AND movie making so I'll defer to her when it comes to her views on Kathleen Kennedy
'You're problem here is that you are conflating a number of things: someone who makes shit movies with being female (yes, you did post that photo), and bringing woke into film equates to shit movies.'
Yes, I posted those pics to show how woke Star Wars has become and who was to blame.
Rey was an afterthought, Finn was going to be the main star of Disney Star Wars until KK pulled rank and had a self-insert added and Finn got absolutely crapped on.
'Do you know what the Bechdel Test is?'
The Bechdel Test doesn't tell me if as movie is good or not.
As an idea I googled best movies to pass the Bechdel test and this what came up:
https://www.gamesradar.com/au/best-movies-that-pass-the-bechdel-test/3/
Some of my favourite movies are on this list (see if you can guess) but also Ghostbusters 2016, The Last Jedi and Frozen are on this list as well
'Changing filmmaking to make films more interesting to women is a good thing.'
Absolutely and I agree with that. Just stop using, and changing, established series to do it.
Start a new series, make new titles, show some originality and create more entertainment.
'Plenty of shit films out there made by men. Is the film in question shit because it's made by a women (or man), or because it's too woke, or because it just is a bad film in terms of plot, character, acting etc?'
There are, my views on Disney Star Wars are well known. The problem is, especially with Disney movies, is that most of the answers is yes because of how much imput KK has
Shes the main reason the movies suck
'they're just doing whatever the hell they like.'
This. Absolutely this. Remember this film was basically remade on the fly very quickly because of the success of the previous Spiderman movie.
The bosses then decided that because people reacted positivley to all the characters coming back they should have more characters in Dr Strange so they filmed a shit-ton of new scenes and added even more cameos which is why it had to break a billion (it fell just short)
What they didnt understand is that the additions in Spiderman worked because it was part of the story, because you could tell the actors were into it and the characters were treated with respect
Also the Dr Strange movie also followed on the events of the WandaVision series which started strongly but ended really badly
Dr Strange was supposed to be in that but Kevin Feige didn't want a man teaching Wanda, even though hes the Sorcerer Supreme:
https://tvline.com/2021/05/03/wandavision-doctor-strange-cameo-benedict-cumberbatch-kevin-feige-marvel/
'Dunno why they can't just write good stories'
Gee I wonder why…
https://jezebel.com/the-oscars-best-picture-inclusion-requirements-turn-div-1844997080
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/05/warner-bros-adopts-company-wide-inclusion-policy-to-boost-diversity
https://deadline.com/2021/06/amazon-studios-inclusion-policy-playbook-1234776831/
They literally (yes literally) have people with checklists going over scripts and deciding if the script is inclusive enough
A really neat Syfy Western with an awesome female role, lots of gender non conforming roles, etc and diversity!!!
Kill Joys.
epic on all accounts. Excellent actors, excellent scenery, excellent world building, and no woke prostelising what so ever.
Sadly they finished the show (yei for that) and stopped it. Mind that could have been a good thing, but gosh did i enjoy that series.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3952222/
I thought you were talking Firefly at first but I'll check out Killjoys as well
You could call Kill Joys the sequel to Fire Fly – or related kin a few hundred years down the track.
A damn shame it was cancelled after one series
I reckon Top Gun: Maverick is pretty woke.
I ask my whanau who have seen this film, "who is the enemy"? The answer is the enemy is unnamed. The studio and producers are too scared to show the enemy of Tom Cruise's west as Chinese, Russian, or Arab. Instead we are treated with opaque black visors with no clues to what manner of communist and/or Muslim villainy is behind them!
Why can't Hollywood call a spade a spade?
BLM gone mad, I tells ya'.
Could be woke, there was a female pilot.
At least I think she was female but because she didn't state her pronouns I don't want to assume.
If the professional thespian was acting as an actress portraying a female pilot, then for all intents and purposes the pronouns would not have made one iota of a difference.
True… Yet I would think that a truly woke Director would have thought to have pronouns clearly printed on the helmets above those opaque screens, n'est-ce pas?
Maverick: He/Him
Can't wait for the next Hot Shots movie
Maverick: Ho/Hum
If you want to be a bit more up to date try this:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/114832270/jeff-bell-cartoons
Colour-coding the helmets should suffice and makes it easier for those who cannot read.
Lol PR
Was pretty sexist though, all the guys took their shirts off to play in the surf but she/he/they/them/xie didn't
Talking about the SCOTUS, is Brown V Board of Education safe?
Mr Jackson has questions.
https://twitter.com/SamuelLJackson/status/1540550316977885184
Is it still SCOTUS or is it now SCROTUS with the uneven balance of Republicans?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/469693/crown-calls-nz-first-foundation-deed-a-sham-as-it-closes-donations-case
Any updates yet?
A nice example of a small party wielding disproportionate political power and a warning against the weak arguments suggesting that National will not touch present Abortion Law in NZ.
The Greens,
Necessary to spur Labour into action;
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/469854/political-donations-overseas-voting-rules-to-change-before-election-minister
https://www.greens.org.nz/democracy_reforms_green_win_but_need_cap_donations
And won't Winston just love that.
"won't"
Apparently it doesn't matter, there's some form of group just floating around that take money in and dole it out as the whim of the leader dictates. Financial statements? Who needs 'em!
/sarc/
With NATO, does anybody know if it can go on the offensive if attacked. Should Putin attack Lithuania to “defend” Kaliningrad, would NATO forces push back deep into Russia, or do they have to stop at the border?
I dont recall Nato abiding by any "rules". Not sure which Nato country was invaded when they bombed Belgrade? Same with Libya.
You would certainly see retaliatory strikes on key infrastructure inside Russia but boots on the ground would be most unlikely and pretty much impossible to do effectively.
Basically a missile war that once started will be disastrous.
After the debacle of their 3 day special operation, it's obvious they have no ability to conduct conventional military operations against NATO.
But torpedo oil tankers in Dutch ports and use tactical nuclear weapons against the EU?
Even tankie twerps should be appalled by these rants.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1541035666187980800
The day Nato attacks Russia directly there will be explosions in Non Russia. Be that London, Paris, Berlin or somewhere in the US. And that is a guaranteed.
.
So, theoretically they could missile the living daylights out of Moscow and the Kremlin.
Other targets would likely take priority – Chernyakhovsk being a nuclear bomber base in Kaliningrad, the Kerch Strait Bridge, and the various Severomorsk bases on the Kola peninsula near Murmansk.
Right. And I wonder what the response to either of those scenarios would be… Hmmmm…
Well, controlling Russia's nuclear bomber airfields is what you do when they've totally lost it, and they need to lose their nuclear options.
Moscow really isn't important at that point – Arguably it's not now – it's not as if one can negotiate with Putin.
Although Russia has excellent air defense systems and prob superior missiles as well so i would think NATO would think twice before not minding its own business and acting rashly Russia will be thinking enough is enough and Nato hopefully isnt stupid enough to prod the bear further .
Yup, excellent air defense systems and superior missiles.
/
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1540214406549749766
Oh well gotta expect a dud from time to time joe gd bang tho !
The Judges of the SCOTUS are getting all fired up, strange days indeed
https://twitter.com/CountDankulaTV/status/1540438089298055169
What are women? Do they exist? Where do they exist? Are they allowed to exist? do they need permission to exist?
https://twitter.com/HomoLittlest/status/1541460144101416962
Well theres my nightmare fuel
Wash his face, replace “terf ” with women and all you have a half naked white dude in heels strutting down a parade in the middle of a town calling for the death of women.
So brave, so stunning, so vulnerable and so so marginalized, most marginalized of them all actually
Reminds me a bit of this:
yes, that is a classic.
Except…what is a woman?
who knows, it is a question as old as time.