Posts Tagged ‘USA’

Mountain Tui: Trump’s shooting reveals a hidden danger for New Zealand too

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, July 15th, 2024 - 73 comments

Trump’s shooting has left the world shocked and bewildered. But what, if anything, does it mean for us here in New Zealand?

Biden/Harris

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, August 12th, 2020 - 53 comments

Joe Biden announces his VP pick.

Pandemic: a flourishing enterprise. Business needs to get real.

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, July 28th, 2020 - 40 comments

A few weeks ago we were at 14 million cumulative confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide. A million more cases in just 4 days. Now a few weeks later, we are at 16 million confirmed cases worldwide. The lobbyists and business groups affected by our blocked borders need to get real. We won’t be opening our borders until we get a widely used vaccine later next year (at the earliest). It is too expensive to do so.

The Race To Replace Trump has Started

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, January 1st, 2019 - 112 comments

Elizabeth Warren has announced that she will be seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to be the 46th President of the USA. With the Republicans unsure about whether Trump will run again due to the difficulties of campaigning from Federal prison, the Presidential election should be a shoo in for the Dems. Warren is just the first; there will be many more candidates who will see this as the opportunity of a lifetime.

Godwin’s flaw?

Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, June 26th, 2018 - 213 comments

Sarah Huckabee-Sanders briefing the White House press corps

In which we discuss a number of quick hits: Trump thinks judges only exist to be bribed, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders can’t get a seat at a restaurant, and whether Godwin’s Law needs to be amended.

Free market efficiency in health – not

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, March 15th, 2017 - 37 comments

The idea of free market efficiency is not nearly as powerful or universal as its (often fanatical) proponents would have us believe. The sorry state of the USA’s health system is yet another compelling example of its limitations.

Turkey is in trouble and the US is part of it

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, February 23rd, 2016 - 33 comments

The Middle East temperature is heating up and Turkey is finding itself in trouble on many fronts.

Afghanistan – a forgotten war

Written By: - Date published: 6:43 pm, February 15th, 2016 - 27 comments

More than a decade after the Taliban Government was ‘regime changed’ by the west, the Taliban are resurgent and Afghan civilian deaths are as high as ever.

Collision course Syria

Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, December 5th, 2015 - 81 comments

Russia is backing anti-Islamist Kurds in Northern Syria to control their own territory, and acting directly against the interests of the jihadist groups that Turkey, a NATO member, is supporting. The temperature will only rise from here.

NRT: Imperial over-reach

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, October 15th, 2012 - 10 comments

Should have reposted this last week – NRT on a bizarre and scary US legal opinion.  Thoughtcrime will be next…

A time of trouble, a time for action

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, October 25th, 2010 - 5 comments

The release of 400,000 classified documents on the Iraq war today highlights a much broader issue for New Zealand. As the world moves into uncertainty, some commentators call it a ‘new new world order’, New Zealand must establish itself definitively, cementing the values we wish to hold true for the coming century.

Mining our national parks for the US war-machine

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, March 23rd, 2010 - 23 comments

Most of the world’s supply of the key rare earth metals comes from China. That’s a strategic problem for the US, which needs rare earths for high-tech military equipment. They don’t want to be dependent on the world’s other superpower, and potential adversary, for their military hardware. Is it a coincidence that the Nats are so keen to let foreigners mine for rare earths in our national parks?

How Obama reinvented campaign finance

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, June 24th, 2008 - 15 comments

Click for the full-res version. (an infographic by XPLANE)

Political logos

Written By: - Date published: 3:19 pm, May 26th, 2008 - 2 comments

[lprent: This post has been revised due to an on-going copyright dispute] A week or so ago someone sent me this link to historical American political logos. It’s an interesting examination of trends and themes. A week or so ago someone sent me this link [removed] to historical American political logos. It’s an interesting examination of trends […]

Cheney shoots himself in the face

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 pm, August 22nd, 2007 - Comments Off on Cheney shoots himself in the face

Seems John Key’s not the only politician who’s had his previous statements on Iraq come back to bite him recently. Here’s Dick Cheney in 1994 explaining why the invasion and occupation of Iraq would not be the smartest course of action and would quickly become, in his own words, “a quagmire”. Interestingly, even in 2000 […]

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