It needs to be remembered that the United States was never designed as a democracy. In 1777 when the Constitution was drafted there were no democratic constitutions at all. There are questions about whether it is one now… Many would argue the United States political system is dysfunctional and cannot be fixed. https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/27/geoffrey-palmer-democracy-falls-out-of-favour/
The first Trump administration appeared to many other countries to be a bad joke. Now it has morphed into a new and dangerous reality… It is almost as if democracy has become a partisan political issue in the United States.
That's been evidently so for quite a while, but Sir G travels at the leisurely mental pace of academics.
The New York Times, has an Editorial Board comprising a group of opinion journalists separate from the newsroom whose views are informed by their expertise, research and debate and certain longstanding values.
Elites are ever so cool.
Here is part of what its members said in an editorial headed “Standing up to Donald Trump’s fear tactics” on January 17, 2025: Trump is using fear not only with Congress but also with other essential independent institutions such as courts, business, higher education and the news media. The goal is broadly the same: to deter elected officials, judges, executives and others from exercising their duties in ways that challenge him or hold him accountable. He wants to make dissent so painful as to be intolerable.
Having read a bunch of insider accounts of the Trump family ecosystem, I see this as merely a powerful need to do one's thing despite the social constraints of normalcy. Youthful rebellion can embed as a life-long stance, and guys who want to play hero as rebel get locked in easily. Transcendence is the escape technique, but hedonists aren't subtle enough to value that. His dad's KKK march in 1927, that got him arrested but not charged, indicates a fascist propensity and dimension of character that made him a role model for Donald's opinions – though dominating New York's real estate market did so more. Plus his middle name was Christ!
The USA set up their system to emulate that of the British.
Only men who owned property could vote.
POTUS was constrained from exercise of power as per their monarch – Bill of Rights formulated by its parliament.
Aaron Burr was one of the few who wanted the later progressive development – Jacksonian democracy (and went further in women’s rights). The UK Chartists followed after them (but the extension of the male franchise was gradual and not universal till WW1).
Christ was the surname of Fred Trump's mother (he and his son Donald claimed they had Swedish ancestry into the 1980's – 2 of his grandparents were born in Bavaria, the other 2 in Scotland).
Yet Wyoming has 2 Senators, as does California, with a pollution of around 39.4 million. How democratic is that!?
Senators get to appoint people such as Judges to the Supreme Court, and Secretaries of State. The votes of ordinary people are influenced by which State in which you happen to reside. The vote of a Californian resident is worth a tiny fraction of someone in Wyoming.
That is true. But even though the House of Representatives proposes legislation it must also pass though the Senate. As of today there are over 800 bills passed by the House that lie under the table of the Senate. The leader of the Senate decides which Bill will be considered. Because smaller States are predominantly Republican the Senate is skewed towards the Right. Bills of a progressive nature seldom get to see the light of day. Even under the last Senate – when the Democrates had a supposed majority – that was not really the case as two Senators Manchin and Sinema were DINOsaurs Democrates In Name Only – more Republican than Democrate.
It is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Nazi death camp by Soviet troops.
King Charles made a speech, and 90 year old plus survivors were in attendance. Charles noted that the industrial scale killing facilities showed the depths to which humanity can sink.
“Never Again” is the refrain–that never should mean never, has escaped the Israeli butchers. Starved and brutalised Palestinians from Gaza and West Bank in 2025 could easily be from the WWII Warsaw Ghetto or a death camp.
Keep up the BDS and solidarity movements–Palestinians certainly need support when the gutless EU, UK and US turns their back on them, and the yanks supply “2000lb” bombs so the IDF can keep up their bloody work.
Perhaps a different type of support? Mental health around not killing people?
Stabbing Jews brings dignity to the Palestinians. We have to stab the Jews. They teach us that Jews are terrorists. I am ready to stab a jew and drive a car over them. I am ready to join ISIS”
This is pretty chilling and invigorating at the same time .this video is about a protest in that "Green and pleasant land " on the 25 th of this month .How many lawyers do you know aged 91 that look and can speak like this woman .?
The crazy thing is if you watch this vid on you tube a banner will automaticly come up underneath informing the watcher of the facts about THE HOLOCAUST but not a mention of course of the fact of those same group of people carrying out one of there own right now across the middle east .
“Final Solution” should be used judiciously, but what other term is sufficient when the US President wants to move a whole population from their land. The Israeli Knesset has members that have admitted they want to erase Gaza from the face of the earth in their own words… https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-gaza-genocide
The stuff about the Turks and Kurds (and the related UK action) speaks to the issue of a cartel of nations whose security axis allows suppression of dissent to enable continued oppression by those in their group.
The next step is more general top down rule over people – as per Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill.
… it's what he colonial settlers are doing everywhere in the world and have done, going back as far as getting into North and South America and stealing indigenous people's lands that's the way that the zionists operate…
I wonder if she realises that she's echoing every Storm Front person who ever talked about the fearful ZOG.
Sicily endured more than 8,000 fires in 2021 as temperatures spiked to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. They were so severe, the regional Anti-Mafia Commission conducted an investigation into the potential criminal causes behind them. It found perfect fire weather combined with inaccessible forested terrain helped set the stage for fast, uncontrollable fires. But criminal activities “constitute the most dangerous factor,” its report said.
These criminal activities are not just a Mafia business, said Laura Biffi, who works for the environmental non-profit Legambiente, which has been documenting the Mafia’s ecological crimes for decades. Experts say there is a “fire industry” in southern Italy, she told CNN, because there are so many people involved. Fires are set by seasonal workers eager to prolong firefighting contracts, farmers who want to clear forest for grazing, protestors or people with vendettas.
So that's 4 sectors of the populace motivated to ignite fires, plus the 5th – nature.
In 2023, more than half of Italy’s nearly 3,700 fires occurred in Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Campania, regions where southern Italy’s four major historical Mafias have their roots, said Vincenzo Linarello, the founder of GOEL, a network of farmers fighting Mafia influence. Repeated fires in those areas are “either an attack on mafias or they are the perpetrators. It’s a matter of simple logic,” said Sergio Nazzaro, a journalist and former spokesman for the president of the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission.
The Mafia’s use of fires tends to have two main aims: power and profit. Fire is money, Nazzaro told CNN. It creates an emergency that has to be solved and profits for the companies that step in. There are contracts for firefighting, clean-up operations and rebuilding. The Mafia is a multilayered criminal enterprise, he said, that goes “from the labor force that sets the fire to the concession to build on burned land.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/climate/mafia-wildfire-italy/index.html
An alternate control system operating alongside regional governments in those 4 regions drives their regional economies. Public life thereby features random fire outbreaks as signs of industrious economic enterprise.
The worst nightmare for the USA plan for another tech monopoly (AI) in the imperial economy across borders.
The biggest takedown since The Machine vs Samaritan (TV series – Person of Interest – interface between advanced tech surveillance state and government GOP tyranny vs the democratic people of New York).
There’s no denying the impressive performance of DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 compared to ChatGPT, along with the appeal of their pricing model. However, I’m highly skeptical of some of the claims DeepSeek has been making:
Questionable Hardware Claims: Founder Liang Wenfeng has suggested that they stockpiled around 10,000 Nvidia A100 chips, either before or in contravention of the U.S. export ban. That’s a staggering amount of computing power.
While it’s theoretically possible they trained their model on Nvidia’s downgraded H800 chips (designed for the Chinese market), achieving their reported results with those would require an almost unbelievable leap in training efficiency.
Given the lack of transparency and the near-impossibility for external verification, I find it far more likely they relied on A100s and are obfuscating the issue to avoid potential U.S. sanctions.
Censorship and Bias: DeepSeek’s models exhibit clear biases when asked about sensitive topics like the Tiananmen Square protests, Xi Jinping, Communism, or human rights issues in China. This raises questions about how much influence Chinese government regulations or oversight might have on their technology.
CCP Oversight: While there’s no direct evidence linking DeepSeek to the CCP, it’s hard to believe the company operates without some level of state oversight or regulation, given China’s stringent control over key technologies. This raises significant concerns about the privacy and security of customer data.
While DeepSeek represents an exciting development in the AI space, I’d caution against hopping on the hype train too soon or prematurely declaring it a “ChatGPT killer.” Much of the market reaction appears to be driven by investors who lack a deep understanding of the underlying technology or the experience to question DeepSeek’s claims.
This is yet another sign of the hype bubble AI currently exists in, and it’s worth approaching with a healthy dose of skepticism.
But that would undermine their main claim to fame: allegedly being able to train their models at a fraction of the cost and time of it's competitors using much less powerful hardware.
Do you participate in a tech forum where you can assess user feedback? Should only take 2/3 months for a sense of confidence to establish in the group mind of users if the product works well. If not, disquiet will become contagious & drive the market away. Tech gurus able to test the thing for themselves will suss it out even faster I expect.
The key challenge here isn't so much about user confidence or functionality—on the surface, DeepSeek doesn't offer much to differentiate itself from its competitors for the average consumer.
For most users, it appears to be a cheaper alternative to the various GPT products already on the market. These models generally have comparable capabilities, operate in similar ways, and are optimized for slightly different use cases.
What really sets DeepSeek apart—and is driving the buzz—is their claim to train models faster and at dramatically lower costs, even on less powerful hardware. If true, that would be a significant innovation.
However, as of now, these claims haven’t been independently verified, which raises some uncertainty. Until there’s independent validation of their training and data efficiency, it’s hard to gauge whether DeepSeek can deliver on its promises or stand out in a meaningful way.
DeepSeek wrote in a paper last month that it trained its DeepSeek-V3 model with less than $6 million worth of computing power from what it says are 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips to achieve a level of performance on par with the most advanced models from OpenAI and Meta.
Those chips are less advanced than the most cutting edge chips on the market, which are subject to export controls, though DeepSeek claims it overcomes that disadvantage with innovative AI training techniques. DeepSeek's AI assistant, which is powered by the DeepSeek-V3 model, surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT as the top-rated free application in the Apple App Store in the U.S.
So Apple users are rating it top free app merely due to price advantage?? I would have thought a view of product user-friendliness deriving from experience would have more influence on rating. So-called wisdom of the crowd.
The DeepSeek-R1 model was released last week and is 20 to 50 times cheaper to use than OpenAI's o1 model, depending on the task, according to a post on the company's official WeChat account. The R1 model is also open source and available to users for free, while OpenAI's ChatGPT Pro Plan costs $200 per month.
Almost like the Chinese are teaching the Californians how to do competitive capitalism…
The app itself isn’t the core issue. It’s the training methods, data quality, and the underlying model that determine the long-term value of an AI product.
Competition in AI is only fair and sustainable when it’s legal, equal, and held to the same standards of privacy, data security, and transparency.
DeepSeek’s alleged use of less advanced hardware with innovative training techniques could represent a massive breakthrough for AI accessibility, potentially disrupting the market. However, we must approach these claims with caution, carefully assessing both the viability of its approach and the veracity of its statements.
For example, OpenAI, despite being significantly further along in terms of maturity, partnerships, and infrastructure, reported a $5 billion loss in 2024 on $3.7 billion in revenue. This highlights the immense difficulty of building a profitable, scalable AI business, even with substantial resources.
Ultimately, while ratings and downloads might indicate short-term popularity, the true measure of success lies in long-term trust, compliance, and responsible innovation.
Without equal standards, I'd be reluctant to define this as genuine competition.
When it comes to Western tech, I worry less about the CIA stealing my data and more about it being sold to companies like Amazon, Facebook, or Palantir.
The key difference is that, in most Western countries, there’s at least an expectation of a fundamental right to privacy. Organizations handling private information are generally expected to respect that right.
In a Chinese context, such rights don’t exist in the same way. Moreover, many Chinese companies are less inclined to adhere to Western standards of transparency, security, and privacy protection.
The Guardian has whipped up a quick editorial discussing the geopolitical ramifications of open source via locked AI, and the various polities rushing to develop it.
"The contradiction is clear: open-source AI democratises technology and fuels progress, but it also enables exploitation by malefactors. Resolving this tension between innovation and security demands an international framework to prevent misuse."
"Geoffrey Hinton, the AI pioneer and Nobel laureate… warns that the breakneck pace of progress shortens the odds of catastrophe. In the race to dominate this technology, the greatest risk isn’t falling behind. It’s losing control entirely."
I’m fairly sure my KiwiSaver is not invested in AI tech stocks because it's been doing fuck all recently while autistic Nazis in Silicon Valley have each been making millions per day.
Sir GP sets out the evidence of loss of faith in democracy:
A rigorous 2020 report produced by the Centre for the Future of Democracy at the University of Cambridge concluded: “We found that dissatisfaction with democracy has risen over time, and is reaching an all-time global high, in particular in developed democracies. Across the globe democracy is in a state of malaise. Dissatisfaction has risen sharply since 2005.”
The report states there exists an especially acute crisis of democratic faith in the Anglo-Saxon democracies, where dissatisfaction has doubled.
A report by human rights NGO Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2020-Dropping the Democratic Façade, and its most recent annual report, found that the decline of democracy was alarming, with more countries moving toward authoritarian rule. Recently the organisation has said three-quarters of people who live on earth live in countries where freedom is declining. The decline has been going on for 15 years at least.
The lesson to learn here is that believers in democracy are out of touch with the zeitgeist – increasingly they will seem delusional to switched-on, tuned-in folk.
The lesson to learn here is that believers in democracy are out of touch with the zeitgeist – increasingly they will seem delusional to switched-on, tuned-in folk.
Some curmudgeons return to their Brexit youth, some return to their white race assimilation culture.
Others return to one of intellectual condescension and counter-culture opt out of engagement with democratic solidarity with others – unless it is part of some sectarian change movement. But once that is gone, back to their roots.
What a weird hybrid of nihilism and psuedo high brow sentiency, are youth supposed to find a guru in old men?
My theory is: In the "Western World" the people impacted by the hardship and horrors of the 2nd World War are disappearing. My parents now in their 80s still have some old, vague memories of the early years after the world war and the related hardship. They also experienced the big, incredible improvements in living standards in their lifetime.
Not only do we take the today's living standards for granted, we are extremely dissatisfied if they don't improve significantly anymore. Maybe, we reached some saturation point.
Is there some form of "reset" is coming? Another devastating war closely involving the "Western World"? How would we deal with the hardship most Europeans had to go through over the world wars and the early rebuilding period?
There is a good chance it will be over competition for scarce natural resources, as our standard of living is based on consuming them as if there were no tomorrow.
I suspect so. Could be via war, but I'm inclined to be more optimistic. Muddle through the middle is more prevalent as a political stance. Macho is more often posturing than serious, even in the Donald, but he's got a more serious mandate than in his first term and will proceed confidently as a result.
MAGA has the potential to trend towards political substance now – whereas previously it was mere resonant sloganeering. The thing to watch is non-conformist Republicans in congress. A 3 person defection, he loses control…
The Guardian background this issue well. The US AI companies thought if they sequestered hi-tech chips away from China, it would stifle AI competition there. Instead, in best entrepreneurial fashion, the opposite occurred.
Instead DeepSeek, the open-source workaround China developed, claims to deliver AI systems at a 100th of the expected cost of US AI models, without much need for fancy chips. The 50% drop in Nvidia chip company stock is due to rapid realisation of the implications by the stock market. Plus the AI giants will have their beards trimmed.
Instead DeepSeek, the open-source workaround China developed, claims to deliver AI systems at a 100th of the expected cost of US AI models, without much need for fancy chips.
The operative word in that sentence is claims. Thus far DeepSeek has not been able to satsifactorily explain how they acheived such a massive increase in the efficiency of their training process, or let external parties verify these claims.
Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada has been taken from his Swiss cell in handcuffs and in the back of a police van to the airport and loaded onto a flight to Istanbul.
He was invited by Swiss citizenry to speak at a Palestine justice conference.
This in the same few days that Herzog, the Israeli president flew in to speak to the Davos crowd along with al Jolani of ISIS leadership fame.
As well, Netanyahu, originally Polish himself, flew to Poland for Auschwitz liberation celebrations. An ICC arrest warrant not executed of course.
While this was obviously orchestrated for Jan 27. And based on marginalising those opposed to a Jewish state of Israel – such as a unitary state advocacy.
The real premise is a transition in the international rules based order to one where a cartel of nations form common cause in suppression of dissent (as per a new Cold War regime).
Thus the action in the UK against Kurds to appease Turkey.
This follows a defamatory article published in a local newspaper, baselessly accusing him of radical islamism and antisemitism, accompanied by a request by cantonal police to prohibit him from entering the territory, supposedly based on the media accusations.
His arrest was announced first by Electronic Intifada in a statement released on Saturday. The outlet stated, “Abunimah’s arrest appears to be part of a growing backlash from Western governments against expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people…Speaking out against injustice in Palestine is not a crime. Journalism is not a crime.”
In October, the home of Abunimah’s colleague, Asa Winstanley, was raided and electronic devices seized by United Kingdom authorities, but was not charged with any crime.
“I share the shock and urge for a prompt investigation into this matter,” said United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca K. Albanese in response to Abunimah’s arrest. “The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned.”
There are Jews of the state of Israel who support a unitary state too.
The unitary state cause is consistent with Arab opposition to the existence of the state of Israel in 1947-48 (why some might proscribe their advocacy), yet also with the UN's own position on right of return.
For mine they should focus on the later as a cause mover, and operate via a legitimate pathway process.
1.A UN Palestinian passport for all refugees (1948 and 1967).
2.67 border states.
3.compensation for loss of property for each family of refugees and otherwise a right to seek work and residency in Israel for descendants of refugees.
4.support an economic union and mutual residency rights.
5.advocacy for full political union on both sides of the border.
– An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. AP
The mood was joyous, even though many knew their homes had been destroyed in Israeli offensives against Hamas that levelled large parts of Gaza City and the surrounding north.
The important thing was to go back, they said, to prevent what many had feared would be a permanent expulsion from their homes.
“By returning, we are victorious,” said Rania Miqdad, who was heading back to Gaza City with her family.
Seems fairly important to these people to return home, rather than the Sinai Desert.
David Seymour is a master of doublespeak and uses classic socialist rhetoric to turn their own values against oppressed people. Anybody who still thinks that the Coalition is not fighting a class war with weapons of mass destruction such as the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill should make an urgent appointment with a specialist and stop immediately with commenting on-line.
“Once you have an idea that relates to emancipating people and freeing them from systems that oppress them, by giving some privilege to one group at the expense of another, which the partnership principle most certainly does, then eventually the tide for human freedom, the tide that people will want to join… that idea will eventually succeed.
I’ve always somewhat puzzled about the supposed rights or privileges individual maori persons have, over the rights/privileges that individual pakeha persons have here in good old New Zealand.
Individual Māori have the privilege of dying 6-7 years younger. This shows the cynical absurdity of David Seymour framing his views in terms of equality.
The right to die younger, and the privileges of worse access in the healthcare system, and a better chance of a prison sentence for the same crime than most other NZers.
With regard to the Regulatory Standards Bill, Hipkins stated, in the debate on the PM's statement, that it would be revoked in the first 100 days of a Labour administration.
“Invest New Zealand will be the Government’s one-stop-shop for foreign direct investment, excluding public infrastructure, and will be an Autonomous Crown Entity.
“With Invest New Zealand leading the charge, we’re rolling out the welcome mat to the world. Streamlining processes and supporting investors as they navigate our legal and commercial landscape,” Mr McClay says.
IDF soldiers tend to holiday abroad after they complete their conscription (males 3 year and females 2 year conscription) – this is their OE (most then do their tertiary degree/or via their military "apprenticeship" into civilian jobs).
When they do so, they are ex IDF.
The reservists go back to civilian/family life.
The permanent/careerist IDF would be older than the OE type – but the age of others who served in the IDF years back.
How does one identify someone?
This is a campaign to harrass tourists to force the government to visa check.
But few would be found by government because it is not those still serving in the IDF who do OE etc.
I'd dob in an IDF soldier on holiday in a heartbeat.
We should make it a visa requirement entry for Israelis and make service in the IDF in the last 18 months in either Gaza or the West Bank grounds for automatic rejection.
It is interesting how the pro-Israel lobby is trying to twist this as anti-semitism. It is very disturbing how readily paticipants in a genocide are protected by the smear of anti-semitism. The so-called "uptick" in anti-semitism can entirely be put down to Israel conducting a genocide in plain sight where they've deliberately blurred the boundary between the state of Israel and being Jewish and weaponised that blurring to divert and suppress criticism of their mass slaughter of Palestinian women and children. In other words, if people are drawing less favourable opinions of Jews and their Israeli apologist spokespeople like Juliet Moses then Israelis can only blame the mirror for it.
…Did we ban all those who served in the German army or Japanese army?…"
We we kinda perma banned heaps of them on account of killing them. Do you propose we wage war on Israel and then decide if we want their defeated soldiers to come here on holiday once we won?
I'd dob in an IDF soldier on holiday in a heartbeat.
How would you know?
We should make it a visa requirement entry for Israelis and make service in the IDF in the last 18 months in either Gaza or the West Bank grounds for automatic rejection.
That is it at least possible.
Are you proposing the same for Russians who served in Ukraine?
Luckily theres an easy way to get the war criminal IDF and hold them to account. The Hind Rajab Foundation has collected all the uploaded videos of self flagellating IDF and have distributed them around the world using block chain protection.
You may remember Hind. Shes the little 6 yr old girl that was trapped in a car while her patents and relations were picked off one by one.
The Palestinian Red Crescent recorded her as they sent two paramedics to save her but of course the IDF shot the medics and Hind.
Cases for all these psychos are being prepared and lists made of those to track. Exactly as for the SS.
So far an IDF soldier holidaying in Cyprus and one in Brazil have needed emergency evacuation flights supplied by the Israeli Government.
Its a great story and they onlly accept personal donations.
Ali and Nora for Electronic Intifada interviewed Dyab Abou Jahjah, a founder of the foundation just before Ali’s trip to Switzerland.
There is now confirmation that Israeli minister Amichai Chikli canceled his planned visit to Belgium because of the risk of arrest linked to our legal action. Israeli Kan News reported that Israel asked Belgium whether Chikli would have immunity, and Belgium responded that he would not. By refusing to grant immunity, Belgium has upheld international law, making it clear that arrest remains a possibility. This development is a victory for accountability and a warning to those who believe they can act with impunity.
It’s an issue if what you say is true that young IDF conscript soldiers do a gap year in places like NZ. Probably not many of them are guilty of war crimes like Subliminal outlined @ 13.1.1.1.1.1, but they are complicit in a military apparatus which does carry out those war crimes.
They are complicit by Israeli law (compulsory conscription) so every single Israeli person must own that because they are the people who keep voting the ethnic cleansers and murderers into power.
It is not a full conscription, only Druze of the Arab population are conscripted (and only their men).
It does not apply to those who migrate over age 22 and until 2024 Haredi Jews were exempt. They also exempt those in various sports and cultural activities. Thus in 2019 59% of Jewish women (there being an exemption for religious Jewish women who civil national service) and 69% of Jewish men were being drafted.
Not about what I want, but what is some little form of justice for the slaughtered we might achieve from this distance. Sanctuary’s idea of a time window has merit.
"Billionaires of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your gains!"
“The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!” The final three sentences of the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848,
177 years after the Manifesto was published….has anything changed?
The Manifesto essence still stands despite massive change since 1848.
This digital world may have been a shock to Marx and Engels–though they would likely have quickly pegged concentrated private ownership and the ascendency of Finance Capital (Monopoly, Bitcoin etc.).
what are the steps you would only take if push came to shove? and what constitutes a "shove"? and how many shoves have you already gone through without noticing? the final Alt-Right Playbook is now live. it's called The South Bank of the Rubicon.
And it's not about tRump/rimmer, it's about restoring the perceived dog-given right to be an arsehole.
The Cruel Kids’ Table
Among the young, confident, and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on America.
[…]
“Six months into Biden being president, I was like, I can’t fucking do this anymore,” says a 19-year-old New Yorker who once quite literally had blue hair and attends Marymount Manhattan, which he describes as “75 percent women and 23 percent trannies.” He had supported Biden, but “I hate watching the things I say. I took a much farther horseshoe around this time.” Later, a former Bernie supporter (who looked like the most Bernie-supporting person one could imagine with long, curly hair and a plaid shirt) told me the same: He wanted the freedom to say “faggot” and “retarded.”
“Conservatives used to be uptight, but the left has become the funless, sexless party. Not that the right is the party of sex, necessarily. We have fun,” says a 31-year-old influencer, Arynne Wexler. “What does a conservative even look like anymore?”
Somehow those rights to be rude are not commutative. The same people must therefore be free to be openly abused in return in equivalent fashion without taking umbrage.
Looking at how he has been played by Winston and Seymour, you would think Luxon might fold within minutes, but then again, cometh the moment cometh the man, Luxon could shock everyone and refuse to agree.
Like Holyoake's refusal to send our army to Vietnam, eh? Believers in the notion that left/right = good/evil always evade such subtle dimensions of our world.
My guess is that the analogy of which way a stack of jellies eventually topples is the key to predicting Lux's spinal shifts. Essentially indeterminate, yet the inherent mutability seems strangely decisive when the topple happens. "Folks," he'll declare, "this randomly-selected trajectory is the right one for us. God's will be praised!"
The US Navy has nuclear powered submarines, along with the nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Neither of which are likely to visit our shores. That leaves destroyers, frigates and cruisers all of which are now conveniently powered and don’t carry nuclear weapons. Currently we are too far away from the world’s hotspots, so I doubt the issue will arise anytime soon
A sensible view. Trump does have a track record of doing the opposite of sensible though. He could get a thing in his head about fence-sitter nations. Binary people see the world as divided into friends & enemies and any suggestion that a tertiary category exists (neutral) rolls off lefters & righters like water off a duck's back. So if he issues an exec order to the US Navy to send a nuke-powered vessel to NZ it's odds-on that Lux's spine would collapse towards the US.
I suppose it's remotely plausible that Lux gets good advice first, and secures an agreement with coalition partners to take the issue to a referendum. He could tell the US ambassador that unfortunately they only agreed if it was held with the next election, so it would get a proper mandate. Or not.
"Modernising" the system of managing conservation lands seems to be heavily weighted towards allowing development by business (we have recently heard the PM’s speech about economic growth as the focus).
The second document refers to the Ruataniwha case, which saw a dam on a prime Hawkes Bay trout river blocked because DoC wanted to swap conservation land for other land. DoC claimed there would be a net conservation benefit, but the Supreme Court held the deal was illegal.
The document states (p 58):
“The Fast-track Approvals Bill … intends to provide for land exchanges of [public conservation land] to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits. However, there is scope to consider whether the Government should have greater flexibility for exchanges and disposals more generally, beyond the scope of the Fast-track Approvals Bill.”
This means dams and irrigation schemes can go ahead if a minister decides there is economic benefit. No need to worry about the environmental costs.
It's broken windows policing, innit. There's more than a whiff that the homeless people using shopping trollies in Rotorua for support have recently been evicted from emergency and social housing by Uncle Tom Potaka and 'renter's advocate' Chris Bishop.
There has to be a more accurate term for this policy than broken window. Something that implies mean, spiteful, appealing to cold hearted people.
After all the state is seeking to take property (albeit stolen) from those that have nothing, The trolleys are a shelter, a place to sleep with a nod to security.
This is the new commissioners policy, formed in consultation with and awareness of the eviction policy set by pakeha strongman, Chris Bishop, and porch Maori, Tama Potaka.
That they are targeting the vulnerable in Rotorua/Southern BOP having recently thrown them on the street is disgraceful.
The various conspiracy nutters and losers up the road from us always have a bunch of supermarket trollies outside their "affordable" accommodation. The Police are there quite regularly and the trolley recovery people on a similar schedule.
When you, as a society, make the means of carrying the goods required for basic living out of reach of the most vulnerable then they are going to use a shopping trolly. Suck it up.
Can someone please hold my hair while I have a wee vomit.
Mike Hosking comes out as a Trump fan. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised a few days ago, but with everything happening it seems a strange point in the meltdown to nail your colours to that particular mast.
Is he going to start doing the salute as well?
The GOP Project 2025 turning point agenda (and here) is premised on utilising information overload to diminish reaction and resistance to revolutionary reform.
1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" – using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual – it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.
So our Coalition is using the same Klein Doctrine. Sort of like a conman switching cups so quickly you get easily bluffed. It is no wonder Seymour is so confident as he swamps us so fully.
Thanks but the principle is the same. Pour a tirade of "stuff" over the voters so that we are unable to concert a rejection because there are so many targets.
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
Hundreds of engineers are losing their jobs and leaving our shores due to infrastructure project delays, creating "significant" risk to our nation's development, says the head of New Zealand's engineering body. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
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Sir Geoffrey takes a sceptical view:
That's been evidently so for quite a while, but Sir G travels at the leisurely mental pace of academics.
Elites are ever so cool.
Having read a bunch of insider accounts of the Trump family ecosystem, I see this as merely a powerful need to do one's thing despite the social constraints of normalcy. Youthful rebellion can embed as a life-long stance, and guys who want to play hero as rebel get locked in easily. Transcendence is the escape technique, but hedonists aren't subtle enough to value that. His dad's KKK march in 1927, that got him arrested but not charged, indicates a fascist propensity and dimension of character that made him a role model for Donald's opinions – though dominating New York's real estate market did so more. Plus his middle name was Christ!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Trump
The USA set up their system to emulate that of the British.
Only men who owned property could vote.
POTUS was constrained from exercise of power as per their monarch – Bill of Rights formulated by its parliament.
Aaron Burr was one of the few who wanted the later progressive development – Jacksonian democracy (and went further in women’s rights). The UK Chartists followed after them (but the extension of the male franchise was gradual and not universal till WW1).
Christ was the surname of Fred Trump's mother (he and his son Donald claimed they had Swedish ancestry into the 1980's – 2 of his grandparents were born in Bavaria, the other 2 in Scotland).
just reading now, but as an aside, that is mind blowing that Wyoming only has a population of 584,000
The Senate was designed to be like Lords, a check on the Commons majority.
Thus small New England colonies would not be dominated by New York.
as someone who lives in the South Island, this makes sense to me (theoretically at least)
Yet Wyoming has 2 Senators, as does California, with a pollution of around 39.4 million. How democratic is that!?
Senators get to appoint people such as Judges to the Supreme Court, and Secretaries of State. The votes of ordinary people are influenced by which State in which you happen to reside. The vote of a Californian resident is worth a tiny fraction of someone in Wyoming.
Wyoming has just one representative in the house of Representatives, California has 52.
Each state has 2 senators.
That is true. But even though the House of Representatives proposes legislation it must also pass though the Senate. As of today there are over 800 bills passed by the House that lie under the table of the Senate. The leader of the Senate decides which Bill will be considered. Because smaller States are predominantly Republican the Senate is skewed towards the Right. Bills of a progressive nature seldom get to see the light of day. Even under the last Senate – when the Democrates had a supposed majority – that was not really the case as two Senators Manchin and Sinema were DINOsaurs Democrates In Name Only – more Republican than Democrate.
It is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Nazi death camp by Soviet troops.
King Charles made a speech, and 90 year old plus survivors were in attendance. Charles noted that the industrial scale killing facilities showed the depths to which humanity can sink.
“Never Again” is the refrain–that never should mean never, has escaped the Israeli butchers. Starved and brutalised Palestinians from Gaza and West Bank in 2025 could easily be from the WWII Warsaw Ghetto or a death camp.
Keep up the BDS and solidarity movements–Palestinians certainly need support when the gutless EU, UK and US turns their back on them, and the yanks supply “2000lb” bombs so the IDF can keep up their bloody work.
Perhaps a different type of support? Mental health around not killing people?
This is pretty chilling and invigorating at the same time .this video is about a protest in that "Green and pleasant land " on the 25 th of this month .How many lawyers do you know aged 91 that look and can speak like this woman .?
The crazy thing is if you watch this vid on you tube a banner will automaticly come up underneath informing the watcher of the facts about THE HOLOCAUST but not a mention of course of the fact of those same group of people carrying out one of there own right now across the middle east .
“Final Solution” should be used judiciously, but what other term is sufficient when the US President wants to move a whole population from their land. The Israeli Knesset has members that have admitted they want to erase Gaza from the face of the earth in their own words…
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-gaza-genocide
If only Germans had expelled Jews from Europe as homeless refugees.
Accurate language is important, forced displacement (temporary) and ethnic cleansing (permanent exile).
(Methods including war crimes and crimes against humanity).
The stuff about the Turks and Kurds (and the related UK action) speaks to the issue of a cartel of nations whose security axis allows suppression of dissent to enable continued oppression by those in their group.
The next step is more general top down rule over people – as per Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill.
Fascinating:
I wonder if she realises that she's echoing every Storm Front person who ever talked about the fearful ZOG.
Regional fire economy fuels private enterprise:
So that's 4 sectors of the populace motivated to ignite fires, plus the 5th – nature.
An alternate control system operating alongside regional governments in those 4 regions drives their regional economies. Public life thereby features random fire outbreaks as signs of industrious economic enterprise.
Hope no one here has Kiwisaver accounts exposed to AI stocks.
Bloodbath
Deep Seek a lower cost AI download.
And for the tech companies this AI requires less computing power (thus impact on the stockmarket – as per demand for advanced chips).
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cjr85l2e4l4t
… and as an industry, well due for a full unwind.
But will anyone hold Trump accountable for his announcement last week of US$800 billion to support this industry?
Top work tech bros.
$800 b would be better as a tax break to those on minimum wage.
Free download and open source.
The worst nightmare for the USA plan for another tech monopoly (AI) in the imperial economy across borders.
The biggest takedown since The Machine vs Samaritan (TV series – Person of Interest – interface between advanced tech surveillance state and government GOP tyranny vs the democratic people of New York).
AI and Data Engineer here:
There’s no denying the impressive performance of DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 compared to ChatGPT, along with the appeal of their pricing model. However, I’m highly skeptical of some of the claims DeepSeek has been making:
While it’s theoretically possible they trained their model on Nvidia’s downgraded H800 chips (designed for the Chinese market), achieving their reported results with those would require an almost unbelievable leap in training efficiency.
Given the lack of transparency and the near-impossibility for external verification, I find it far more likely they relied on A100s and are obfuscating the issue to avoid potential U.S. sanctions.
While DeepSeek represents an exciting development in the AI space, I’d caution against hopping on the hype train too soon or prematurely declaring it a “ChatGPT killer.” Much of the market reaction appears to be driven by investors who lack a deep understanding of the underlying technology or the experience to question DeepSeek’s claims.
This is yet another sign of the hype bubble AI currently exists in, and it’s worth approaching with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Obviously their AI is Chinese user governance compliant.
Developed using A100 chips, able to operate on H800 ones in China?
That's possible, sure.
But that would undermine their main claim to fame: allegedly being able to train their models at a fraction of the cost and time of it's competitors using much less powerful hardware.
Do you participate in a tech forum where you can assess user feedback? Should only take 2/3 months for a sense of confidence to establish in the group mind of users if the product works well. If not, disquiet will become contagious & drive the market away. Tech gurus able to test the thing for themselves will suss it out even faster I expect.
The key challenge here isn't so much about user confidence or functionality—on the surface, DeepSeek doesn't offer much to differentiate itself from its competitors for the average consumer.
For most users, it appears to be a cheaper alternative to the various GPT products already on the market. These models generally have comparable capabilities, operate in similar ways, and are optimized for slightly different use cases.
What really sets DeepSeek apart—and is driving the buzz—is their claim to train models faster and at dramatically lower costs, even on less powerful hardware. If true, that would be a significant innovation.
However, as of now, these claims haven’t been independently verified, which raises some uncertainty. Until there’s independent validation of their training and data efficiency, it’s hard to gauge whether DeepSeek can deliver on its promises or stand out in a meaningful way.
Dramatic price undercutting does spook competitors but this report suggests the software design is significant too: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/what-chinese-ai-startup-deepseek
So Apple users are rating it top free app merely due to price advantage?? I would have thought a view of product user-friendliness deriving from experience would have more influence on rating. So-called wisdom of the crowd.
Almost like the Chinese are teaching the Californians how to do competitive capitalism…

The app itself isn’t the core issue. It’s the training methods, data quality, and the underlying model that determine the long-term value of an AI product.
Competition in AI is only fair and sustainable when it’s legal, equal, and held to the same standards of privacy, data security, and transparency.
DeepSeek’s alleged use of less advanced hardware with innovative training techniques could represent a massive breakthrough for AI accessibility, potentially disrupting the market. However, we must approach these claims with caution, carefully assessing both the viability of its approach and the veracity of its statements.
For example, OpenAI, despite being significantly further along in terms of maturity, partnerships, and infrastructure, reported a $5 billion loss in 2024 on $3.7 billion in revenue. This highlights the immense difficulty of building a profitable, scalable AI business, even with substantial resources.
Ultimately, while ratings and downloads might indicate short-term popularity, the true measure of success lies in long-term trust, compliance, and responsible innovation.
Without equal standards, I'd be reluctant to define this as genuine competition.
Is CCP AI access really any different to 5 Eyes or CIA harvesting?
Speaking as someone too paranoid for a Woolworths card.
When it comes to Western tech, I worry less about the CIA stealing my data and more about it being sold to companies like Amazon, Facebook, or Palantir.
The key difference is that, in most Western countries, there’s at least an expectation of a fundamental right to privacy. Organizations handling private information are generally expected to respect that right.
In a Chinese context, such rights don’t exist in the same way. Moreover, many Chinese companies are less inclined to adhere to Western standards of transparency, security, and privacy protection.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/what-is-deepseek-ri-chinese-ai-model-that-rattled-chatgpt-openai-nvidia-and-freaked-out-ai-world/articleshow/117607991.cms
So the Chinese invented a better mousetrap? That's free market competition in action.
The Wall Street honchos have no right to complain.
The Guardian has whipped up a quick editorial discussing the geopolitical ramifications of open source via locked AI, and the various polities rushing to develop it.
"The contradiction is clear: open-source AI democratises technology and fuels progress, but it also enables exploitation by malefactors. Resolving this tension between innovation and security demands an international framework to prevent misuse."
"Geoffrey Hinton, the AI pioneer and Nobel laureate… warns that the breakneck pace of progress shortens the odds of catastrophe. In the race to dominate this technology, the greatest risk isn’t falling behind. It’s losing control entirely."
How do we find this out?
I’m fairly sure my KiwiSaver is not invested in AI tech stocks because it's been doing fuck all recently while autistic Nazis in Silicon Valley have each been making millions per day.
I think I’m safe, lol.
Sir GP sets out the evidence of loss of faith in democracy:
The lesson to learn here is that believers in democracy are out of touch with the zeitgeist – increasingly they will seem delusional to switched-on, tuned-in folk.
… unless governments deliver for citizens.
Some curmudgeons return to their Brexit youth, some return to their white race assimilation culture.
Others return to one of intellectual condescension and counter-culture opt out of engagement with democratic solidarity with others – unless it is part of some sectarian change movement. But once that is gone, back to their roots.
What a weird hybrid of nihilism and psuedo high brow sentiency, are youth supposed to find a guru in old men?
My theory is: In the "Western World" the people impacted by the hardship and horrors of the 2nd World War are disappearing. My parents now in their 80s still have some old, vague memories of the early years after the world war and the related hardship. They also experienced the big, incredible improvements in living standards in their lifetime.
Not only do we take the today's living standards for granted, we are extremely dissatisfied if they don't improve significantly anymore. Maybe, we reached some saturation point.
Is there some form of "reset" is coming? Another devastating war closely involving the "Western World"? How would we deal with the hardship most Europeans had to go through over the world wars and the early rebuilding period?
I think another war may be brewing.
There is a good chance it will be over competition for scarce natural resources, as our standard of living is based on consuming them as if there were no tomorrow.
Is there some form of "reset" is coming?
I suspect so. Could be via war, but I'm inclined to be more optimistic. Muddle through the middle is more prevalent as a political stance. Macho is more often posturing than serious, even in the Donald, but he's got a more serious mandate than in his first term and will proceed confidently as a result.
MAGA has the potential to trend towards political substance now – whereas previously it was mere resonant sloganeering. The thing to watch is non-conformist Republicans in congress. A 3 person defection, he loses control…
The Guardian background this issue well. The US AI companies thought if they sequestered hi-tech chips away from China, it would stifle AI competition there. Instead, in best entrepreneurial fashion, the opposite occurred.
Instead DeepSeek, the open-source workaround China developed, claims to deliver AI systems at a 100th of the expected cost of US AI models, without much need for fancy chips. The 50% drop in Nvidia chip company stock is due to rapid realisation of the implications by the stock market. Plus the AI giants will have their beards trimmed.
The operative word in that sentence is claims. Thus far DeepSeek has not been able to satsifactorily explain how they acheived such a massive increase in the efficiency of their training process, or let external parties verify these claims.
An even more operative word would reproducibility – the key criterion in assessing any claim of major scientific or technological advance.
Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada has been taken from his Swiss cell in handcuffs and in the back of a police van to the airport and loaded onto a flight to Istanbul.
He was invited by Swiss citizenry to speak at a Palestine justice conference.
This in the same few days that Herzog, the Israeli president flew in to speak to the Davos crowd along with al Jolani of ISIS leadership fame.
As well, Netanyahu, originally Polish himself, flew to Poland for Auschwitz liberation celebrations. An ICC arrest warrant not executed of course.
This is the proud state of Western democracy.
https://x.com/AliAbunimah/status/1883973368069906853
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/27/un-experts-slam-palestinian-journalist-ali-abunimahs-arrest-in-switzerland
While this was obviously orchestrated for Jan 27. And based on marginalising those opposed to a Jewish state of Israel – such as a unitary state advocacy.
The real premise is a transition in the international rules based order to one where a cartel of nations form common cause in suppression of dissent (as per a new Cold War regime).
Thus the action in the UK against Kurds to appease Turkey.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/01/27/global-outcry-following-detention-of-palestinian-journalist-ali-abunimah/
There are Jews of the state of Israel who support a unitary state too.
The unitary state cause is consistent with Arab opposition to the existence of the state of Israel in 1947-48 (why some might proscribe their advocacy), yet also with the UN's own position on right of return.
For mine they should focus on the later as a cause mover, and operate via a legitimate pathway process.
1.A UN Palestinian passport for all refugees (1948 and 1967).
2.67 border states.
3.compensation for loss of property for each family of refugees and otherwise a right to seek work and residency in Israel for descendants of refugees.
4.support an economic union and mutual residency rights.
5.advocacy for full political union on both sides of the border.
Best for your blood pressure if you stop expecting fairness.
Given the history how could people think a Polish government would arrest an Israeli PM?
Seems fairly important to these people to return home, rather than the Sinai Desert.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360561544/watch-drone-footage-shows-tens-thousands-palestinians-trekking-along-coast-return-gaza-ruins
Absolutely Muttonbird. Heading north to their homes, not south to Egypt. Who wants to be a refugee let alone in a Trump world.
Palestinians are the ultimate in steadfastness in support of their rights
Trump's "suggestion" that Jordan and Egypt should take displaced Palestinians is laughable because neither wants to take them, for various reasons.
Trump would have to make a serious offer for them to change their minds, he wouldn't be able to bully them like the Colombians.
Ever wondered what workers worry about?
https://union.org.nz/mood-of-the-workforce-2025-results/
https://union.org.nz/something-is-very-wrong-in-our-society-and-economy-nzctu-workforce-survey-shows-people-fear-for-future/
Should contain some fodder (aka food for thought and even a policy idea or two) for the Opposition.
David Seymour is a master of doublespeak and uses classic socialist rhetoric to turn their own values against oppressed people. Anybody who still thinks that the Coalition is not fighting a class war with weapons of mass destruction such as the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill should make an urgent appointment with a specialist and stop immediately with commenting on-line.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/360560301/david-seymour-says-treaty-principles-movement-will-succeed-eventually
I’ve always somewhat puzzled about the supposed rights or privileges individual maori persons have, over the rights/privileges that individual pakeha persons have here in good old New Zealand.
Individual Māori have the privilege of dying 6-7 years younger. This shows the cynical absurdity of David Seymour framing his views in terms of equality.
The right to die younger, and the privileges of worse access in the healthcare system, and a better chance of a prison sentence for the same crime than most other NZers.
That's without going into suicide.
https://mentalhealth.org.nz/suicide-prevention/statistics-on-suicide-in-new-zealand
With regard to the Regulatory Standards Bill, Hipkins stated, in the debate on the PM's statement, that it would be revoked in the first 100 days of a Labour administration.
Here's hoping!
He should shred it into pieces in the debating chamber while belting out The Internationale.
Luxon has ruled out wholesale assets sales this term. So is planning assets sales.
He says there would be a mandate for wholesale assets sales, once the government is re-elected.
Listening to the master of double speak on RNZ mid-day news.
Nationals’ idea-box is barren and the drawers are empty usual but it does have an old dirty-stained label on the outside reading: Sell! Sell! Sell!
Luxon was on-Key in his speech:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/economic-growth-key-better-days-ahead
Judith Collins echoed the same:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/reforms-boost-science-sector-and-economy
Todd McClay is another good choir-boy:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/invest-new-zealand-opens-doors-world
The single-most sought-after asset by overseas investors and multinational corporations in (and of) NZ is land.
"Luxon has ruled out wholesale assets sales this term."
That's because the master negotiator would do them for cost price…
Meanwhile.
IDF soldiers tend to holiday abroad after they complete their conscription (males 3 year and females 2 year conscription) – this is their OE (most then do their tertiary degree/or via their military "apprenticeship" into civilian jobs).
When they do so, they are ex IDF.
The reservists go back to civilian/family life.
The permanent/careerist IDF would be older than the OE type – but the age of others who served in the IDF years back.
How does one identify someone?
This is a campaign to harrass tourists to force the government to visa check.
But few would be found by government because it is not those still serving in the IDF who do OE etc.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jewish-groups-slam-hotline-for-reporting-israeli-soldiers-holidaying-in-new-zealand/EZPNFCSH6BHQPB66JQ7PFPHSVA/
Not about still serving, but have served at all. Like ex SS that turned up in various countries after WWII including one in NZ in South Island.
https://northandsouth.co.nz/2021/06/17/willi-huber-mt-hutt-nazi/
So you want all Israelis who have served in the IDF to be banned from New Zealand?
Did we ban all those who served in the German army or Japanese army?
I'd dob in an IDF soldier on holiday in a heartbeat.
We should make it a visa requirement entry for Israelis and make service in the IDF in the last 18 months in either Gaza or the West Bank grounds for automatic rejection.
It is interesting how the pro-Israel lobby is trying to twist this as anti-semitism. It is very disturbing how readily paticipants in a genocide are protected by the smear of anti-semitism. The so-called "uptick" in anti-semitism can entirely be put down to Israel conducting a genocide in plain sight where they've deliberately blurred the boundary between the state of Israel and being Jewish and weaponised that blurring to divert and suppress criticism of their mass slaughter of Palestinian women and children. In other words, if people are drawing less favourable opinions of Jews and their Israeli apologist spokespeople like Juliet Moses then Israelis can only blame the mirror for it.
…Did we ban all those who served in the German army or Japanese army?…"
We we kinda perma banned heaps of them on account of killing them. Do you propose we wage war on Israel and then decide if we want their defeated soldiers to come here on holiday once we won?
How would you know?
That is it at least possible.
Are you proposing the same for Russians who served in Ukraine?
Luckily theres an easy way to get the war criminal IDF and hold them to account. The Hind Rajab Foundation has collected all the uploaded videos of self flagellating IDF and have distributed them around the world using block chain protection.
You may remember Hind. Shes the little 6 yr old girl that was trapped in a car while her patents and relations were picked off one by one.
The Palestinian Red Crescent recorded her as they sent two paramedics to save her but of course the IDF shot the medics and Hind.
Cases for all these psychos are being prepared and lists made of those to track. Exactly as for the SS.
So far an IDF soldier holidaying in Cyprus and one in Brazil have needed emergency evacuation flights supplied by the Israeli Government.
Its a great story and they onlly accept personal donations.
Ali and Nora for Electronic Intifada interviewed Dyab Abou Jahjah, a founder of the foundation just before Ali’s trip to Switzerland.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AwQFvkbPFXM&t=5s&pp=2AEFkAIB
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/
The latest tweet from the Hind Rajab Foundation:
https://x.com/HindRFoundation/status/1883983762083676437
We have existing sanctions against Russian individuals as per Ukraine (and can add to it).
If it has has verified evidence, it does the work for nation states.
By speaking with them.
It’s an issue if what you say is true that young IDF conscript soldiers do a gap year in places like NZ. Probably not many of them are guilty of war crimes like Subliminal outlined @ 13.1.1.1.1.1, but they are complicit in a military apparatus which does carry out those war crimes.
They are complicit by Israeli law (compulsory conscription) so every single Israeli person must own that because they are the people who keep voting the ethnic cleansers and murderers into power.
It is not a full conscription, only Druze of the Arab population are conscripted (and only their men).
It does not apply to those who migrate over age 22 and until 2024 Haredi Jews were exempt. They also exempt those in various sports and cultural activities. Thus in 2019 59% of Jewish women (there being an exemption for religious Jewish women who civil national service) and 69% of Jewish men were being drafted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Israel
Aotearoa New Zealand a big destination for young Haredi Jews, is it?
Not about what I want, but what is some little form of justice for the slaughtered we might achieve from this distance. Sanctuary’s idea of a time window has merit.
Billionaire take-down list: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/27/deepseek-billionaire-rout-nvidias-huang-and-oracles-ellison-lose-combined-48-billion/
10 Biggest Billionaire Losers Monday
Altogether now in unison – Boo Hoo!
"Billionaires of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your gains!"
“The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!” The final three sentences of the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848,
177 years after the Manifesto was published….has anything changed?
Great first line.
The Manifesto essence still stands despite massive change since 1848.
This digital world may have been a shock to Marx and Engels–though they would likely have quickly pegged concentrated private ownership and the ascendency of Finance Capital (Monopoly, Bitcoin etc.).
Seymour and co are using the same tactic.
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@InnuendoStudios
what are the steps you would only take if push came to shove? and what constitutes a "shove"? and how many shoves have you already gone through without noticing? the final Alt-Right Playbook is now live. it's called The South Bank of the Rubicon.
https://xcancel.com/InnuendoStudios/status/1883878937052455382
And it's not about tRump/rimmer, it's about restoring the perceived dog-given right to be an arsehole.
The Cruel Kids’ Table
Among the young, confident, and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on America.
[…]
“Six months into Biden being president, I was like, I can’t fucking do this anymore,” says a 19-year-old New Yorker who once quite literally had blue hair and attends Marymount Manhattan, which he describes as “75 percent women and 23 percent trannies.” He had supported Biden, but “I hate watching the things I say. I took a much farther horseshoe around this time.” Later, a former Bernie supporter (who looked like the most Bernie-supporting person one could imagine with long, curly hair and a plaid shirt) told me the same: He wanted the freedom to say “faggot” and “retarded.”
“Conservatives used to be uptight, but the left has become the funless, sexless party. Not that the right is the party of sex, necessarily. We have fun,” says a 31-year-old influencer, Arynne Wexler. “What does a conservative even look like anymore?”
https://archive.li/yGCKI (nymag)
Somehow those rights to be rude are not commutative. The same people must therefore be free to be openly abused in return in equivalent fashion without taking umbrage.
Good question from Bomber here: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/01/28/if-trump-threatens-tariffs-if-nz-doesnt-allow-a-nuclear-ship-to-dock-in-auckland-would-luxon-fold/
Like Holyoake's refusal to send our army to Vietnam, eh? Believers in the notion that left/right = good/evil always evade such subtle dimensions of our world.
My guess is that the analogy of which way a stack of jellies eventually topples is the key to predicting Lux's spinal shifts. Essentially indeterminate, yet the inherent mutability seems strangely decisive when the topple happens. "Folks," he'll declare, "this randomly-selected trajectory is the right one for us. God's will be praised!"
The US Navy has nuclear powered submarines, along with the nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Neither of which are likely to visit our shores. That leaves destroyers, frigates and cruisers all of which are now conveniently powered and don’t carry nuclear weapons. Currently we are too far away from the world’s hotspots, so I doubt the issue will arise anytime soon
A sensible view. Trump does have a track record of doing the opposite of sensible though. He could get a thing in his head about fence-sitter nations. Binary people see the world as divided into friends & enemies and any suggestion that a tertiary category exists (neutral) rolls off lefters & righters like water off a duck's back. So if he issues an exec order to the US Navy to send a nuke-powered vessel to NZ it's odds-on that Lux's spine would collapse towards the US.
I suppose it's remotely plausible that Lux gets good advice first, and secures an agreement with coalition partners to take the issue to a referendum. He could tell the US ambassador that unfortunately they only agreed if it was held with the next election, so it would get a proper mandate. Or not.
Dept of Conservation is consulting on 2 proposals:
"Modernising" the system of managing conservation lands seems to be heavily weighted towards allowing development by business (we have recently heard the PM’s speech about economic growth as the focus).
The second document refers to the Ruataniwha case, which saw a dam on a prime Hawkes Bay trout river blocked because DoC wanted to swap conservation land for other land. DoC claimed there would be a net conservation benefit, but the Supreme Court held the deal was illegal.
The document states (p 58):
“The Fast-track Approvals Bill … intends to provide for land exchanges of [public conservation land] to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits. However, there is scope to consider whether the Government should have greater flexibility for exchanges and disposals more generally, beyond the scope of the Fast-track Approvals Bill.”
This means dams and irrigation schemes can go ahead if a minister decides there is economic benefit. No need to worry about the environmental costs.
Deadline for public submissions is 5pm, 28 Feb.
Breaking: Police find person with shopping trolley in Onehunga.
Backstory.
' “Since when did being ‘tough on crime’ start with shopping trolleys at the top of the shopping list of governmental priorities,” said Waititi.'
It's broken windows policing, innit. There's more than a whiff that the homeless people using shopping trollies in Rotorua for support have recently been evicted from emergency and social housing by Uncle Tom Potaka and 'renter's advocate' Chris Bishop.
There has to be a more accurate term for this policy than broken window. Something that implies mean, spiteful, appealing to cold hearted people.
After all the state is seeking to take property (albeit stolen) from those that have nothing, The trolleys are a shelter, a place to sleep with a nod to security.
This is the new commissioners policy, formed in consultation with and awareness of the eviction policy set by pakeha strongman, Chris Bishop, and porch Maori, Tama Potaka.
That they are targeting the vulnerable in Rotorua/Southern BOP having recently thrown them on the street is disgraceful.
The various conspiracy nutters and losers up the road from us always have a bunch of supermarket trollies outside their "affordable" accommodation. The Police are there quite regularly and the trolley recovery people on a similar schedule.
When you, as a society, make the means of carrying the goods required for basic living out of reach of the most vulnerable then they are going to use a shopping trolly. Suck it up.
Update. Not a shopping trolly but "mismatched plates" caused the multiple suburb, several car and helicopter police chase this afternoon.
This is what the pigs are doing instead of responding to mental health and domestic violence emergencies.
The new Police commissioner is obviously a fan of Grand Theft Auto.
Can someone please hold my hair while I have a wee vomit.
Mike Hosking comes out as a Trump fan. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised a few days ago, but with everything happening it seems a strange point in the meltdown to nail your colours to that particular mast.
Is he going to start doing the salute as well?
Nah, just arse-licking.
There was always something musky about Mike but now he’s blown his Trumpet.
Hosking – "both morally and intellectually bankrupt", and that was nearly 8 years ago.
Jaysus
The GOP Project 2025 turning point agenda (and here) is premised on utilising information overload to diminish reaction and resistance to revolutionary reform.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219951124
So our Coalition is using the same Klein Doctrine. Sort of like a conman switching cups so quickly you get easily bluffed. It is no wonder Seymour is so confident as he swamps us so fully.
Klein merely identified it, didn't use it. As said, Goebbels was the one who cynically used it as a tool to establish and maintain the Nazi State.
Thanks but the principle is the same. Pour a tirade of "stuff" over the voters so that we are unable to concert a rejection because there are so many targets.