The US election daily discussion post

Written By: - Date published: 5:55 am, October 20th, 2016 - 108 comments
Categories: us politics, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

 

Sound of music

This week we are trialling something new. In order to free up Open Mike and Daily Review for other conversations we are asking that all discussion, posting of links etc on the US election goes in the daily dedicated thread rather than OM or DR.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

There will continue to be author-written posts on the US election as well, usual rules apply there too.

108 comments on “The US election daily discussion post ”

  1. Cinny 1

    Debate at 2pm today, it’s going to be ALL ON LIKE DONKEY KONG, will donald lose it and sniff his way through? Will Hill’s cry? Those poor Americans, I really feel for them.

    Debate will be live on the wireless via Radio Live from 2pm, also streamed live on the Duke channel on TV, or via various streams on the internet. I’ll be tuning in via Al Jazeera’s alternative youtube stream, have found that nice and reliable, here is a link.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YnlX4CkPDY

  2. Manuka AOR 2

    “Critics want her to go to jail, she’s the ‘devil’ and can’t be president. No, they weren’t talking about Hillary Clinton.

    “Victoria Woodhull faced the same obstacles as Hillary Clinton in the late 1800s, and so did the more than 200 women who have aimed for the White House since – yet a constant barrage against Ms Clinton can make it easy for people to dismiss her historic achievement” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sexism-hillary-clinton-victoria-woodhull-margaret-chase-smith-president-weak-devil-donald-trump-a7360421.html

    • Manuka AOR 2.1

      “There’s a woman running for president.

      “She is criticised for her ties to Wall Street. […] Many find her untrustworthy; investigations into her past fill the newspapers. […] even her marriage is the subject of public speculation and debate.

      “Her ambition alone is alienating to some and her most vociferous critics have even likened her to the devil. Rather than send her to the White House, there are those that wish to see her locked up in prison on election day.”

      “Ellen Fitzpatrick, New Hampshire University professor of history was speaking about Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in 1872.

      “While Woodhull was described as “Mrs Satan” and caused strong controversy when she cut her hair short, Ms Clinton was likened to the “devil” by Donald Trump who attacked her “weak stamina”, physical health and her appearance.

      “Almost 100 years after women won the right to vote in 1920, America could finally be about to vote for a woman president.

      “But the road has been long and hard-fought, and apparent double standards are confronted at every turn, said Ms Fitzpatrick.”
      From The Independent link above.

  3. Interesting

    “If our membership in thought communities is powerful enough to shift our very perception of color, then it must be able to influence our thinking in many other ways, too. In Social Mindscapes, Zerubavel shows that what we pay attention to, the categories we use, what we remember, and even our perception of time are all shaped by our thought communities.

    Accordingly, cognitive sociology would predict that the rising polarization in politics and the fragmentation of media will make it harder and harder to understand each other, not because we don’t agree on the facts or because we have different political interests, but because our brains are actually working in divergent ways. That is, what we’re experiencing with this election is not just political disagreement, it’s a total breakdown in functional communication, which sounds about right.”

    https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2016/10/19/can-cognitive-sociology-explain-why-people-are-voting-for-a-different-candidate-than-you/

    • RedLogix 3.1

      Very. He and other cognitive sociologists argue that our thought communities shape cognition itself, that the brains of people in strongly divergent thought communities literally work differently.

      Or you could argue its the internet doing it to us; all the splintered off little echo-chambers/thought ghettos rewire and reshape our brains into patterns that are rewarded in that environment, but isolate us and render us dysfunctional in any other.

      In one sense there is nothing surprising in this result; religions are essentially ‘thought communities’ and through teaching, prayer, meditation are very powerful tools for shaping how people think.

      The big illusion we ALL suffer from is that we mistake the model of the world that we create in our heads for the real thing. Community is how we learn to create models with enough commonalities so as we can co-operate in each other’s space. In this sense ALL community is a shaping of our minds.

      But crucially not everyone will have the SAME model in their head at the SAME time. And fundamentally this is a good thing, because no single person’s model of reality is either complete or perfect; combining the best of multiple models has enormous survival value. Hence 7 billion humans.

      The trick the combining part. If all the energy goes onto the differences then nothing can be agreed on. If you start with the commonalities, fitting the divergences into that much larger framework is far easier.

  4. Andre 4

    Why many of the things you dislike about Hillary the candidate actually are useful traits for the president.

    https://newrepublic.com/article/137057/hillarys-president

    • Colonial Viper 4.1

      Yeah they were real useful in her job as Sec State, selling her office, embarrassing her ambassadors, breaking diplomatic protocol, breaching national security laws, etc.

      Also I understood that she took Dept of State furniture to put in her own place (was it ever returned? The White House had to force the Clintons to return White House furniture that they took when they left the White House – they literally took the china).

      • Manuka AOR 4.1.1

        How dare she touch anything at all in the Old Little Boys Club that the presidential line should be!

        She’ll probably start cleaning up the place, and no man wants that.
        From Andre’s link:
        “Trump’s critique of Hillary as the master of corruption can be made about any politician running for office today. Attacking her for what everyone does is the oldest political charade in the books. But if her opponents are serious about their outrage over Crooked Hillary, then this could be the first advantage of electing her president.

        “The day after she’s inaugurated, let the new Congress crack down on campaign financing, tighten ethical standards for elected officials, and ban blatant scams like pay-for-play. If we outlaw all the things Hillary’s enemies hate in her, we’ll be doing away with everything the rest of the country hates about the entire political class. So sure, ruin Michael Kinsley’s joke. Bring it.”

        • weka 4.1.1.1

          As Joss Whedon tweeted recently, people are pissed that it’s a Clinton Administration reboot with a female lead.

          • Manuka AOR 4.1.1.1.1

            I wonder how many of those “people” are male and how many are female. Joss appears to be very much a male.

            One of the ways that women are still being subjugated is via a ‘commanding of the narrative’, by males. That is very often seen in domestic violence situations. And it is seen here and now, in Hillary’s run for the presidency. “People” are interpreting in advance, what Hillary will do or say – as in, being a ‘reboot’ of Bill’s days.

  5. joe90 5

    I suppose he could leap to his feet in the middle of the debate and tell the world Barack Obama was born in Kenya, or something…..
    /

    Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced that President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Obama, will be his personal guest at the final presidential debate in Las Vegas. The choice highlights an unusual division between Trump and some of the right-wing media outlets he often relies on, who have for years accused Malik Obama of having alleged ties to various extremist groups in a fringe effort to smear President Obama.

    http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/10/19/trump-allied-media-previously-attacked-his-debate-guest-malik-obama-alleged-ties-extremist-groups/213925

    • Sabine 5.1

      we will need a big bucket of popcorn and vodka.
      it will be entertaining, tremendously entertaining, like the most entertainingest ever.

  6. Colonial Viper 6

    Scott Adams: People who believe Trump is the new Hitler, have fallen for a Mass Delusion

    Here’s a little thought experiment for you:

    If a friend said he could see a pink elephant in the room, standing right in front of you, but you don’t see it, which one of you is hallucinating?

    Answer: The one who sees the pink elephant is hallucinating.

    Let’s try another one.

    If a friend tells you that you were both abducted by aliens last night but for some reason only he remembers it, which one of you hallucinated?

    Answer: The one who saw the aliens is hallucinating.

    Now let’s add some participants and try another one.

    http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152024526021/i-wake-you-up-for-the-presidential-debate

    • Stuart Munro 6.1

      Not sure how far we want to go down the road of DeLilo’s White Noise – but Hitler was not a silver spooner like Trump.

      Alistair Cooke actually attended a couple of rallies and described them:

      “A small ambulance standing by seemed [an] unnecessary come-on, but at the end of the twenty-minute speech I heard, two or three women had fainted, for the good neurological reason that he could hypnotize even a small audience with omens of a dire future. He did this not with the hysterical bawling which was all we saw in the newsreels before and throughout the Second World War but with a style of the most artful variation of mood, from tenderness to whimsy to outrage. He convinced me, for one, that we had had it.”

      Alcibiades may be a better comparison: ” Plutarch calls Alcibiades “the least scrupulous and most entirely careless of human beings.” He also documents his fellow statesman, Eupolis, calling him the “prince of talkers, but in speaking most incapable” http://utopianist.com/804

      • RedLogix 6.1.1

        He did this not with the hysterical bawling which was all we saw in the newsreels before and throughout the Second World War but with a style of the most artful variation of mood, from tenderness to whimsy to outrage.

        And a mass population largely unexposed to such techniques would have been exquisitely vulnerable to them back then.

        What both Cooke and Adams are both saying here, albeit from different starting points, is that essentially us ordinary people need to build up a LOT better resistance to this kind of manipulation … no matter the source.

        I often go back to line from a very senior KGB officer in the immediate aftermath of the break up of the Soviet Union. From memory and paraphrasing he said " Russian propaganda was crude and no-one believed it, but the Americans had Madison Avenue and this is what defeated us".

        • Stuart Munro 6.1.1.1

          Yep – and this is the point of real journalism – the intrusion of fact and experience readily collapses the grand facades of propaganda that is directed at broad demographics rather than individuals. This is the existential threat Al Jazeera posed to Bush’s media support – not propaganda, but disillusionment.

          With Lavrov & RT the Russians have clearly upped their game, they are capable of attracting liberal support as they have not been since maybe 1950. How many schools teach the betrayal of liberal goodwill that saw Russian nationalism subvert Comintern, or have students read For Whom the Bell Tolls? There’s a lot of koolaid being drunk – even if Jones’s death cult actually used a grape flavoured product.

    • RedLogix 6.2

      Interesting. Even though I’ve pointed to the idea myself, I’m still warying of painting Trump as another Hitler. For as start history never quite repeats like that. Nonetheless if nothing else the human brain is a fantastic pattern recogniser, and Trump may well represent one populist mis-step in a much larger slide into fascism. That pattern possibility cannot be ignored.

      Equally Adams is a very cool guy and his argument is clever. He’s right, mass delusions are indeed quite common, if not almost normal. My counter to Adams is that since the 1960’s onwards we’ve been trained to perceive Hitler as pretty much ‘the most evil shit in all of history’. I’ll acknowledge that’s a very, very powerful pattern. So much so he’s more or less become the Lord Voldemort of the internet, no-one respectable should speak his name. Labelling Trump as Hitler redux exploits this pattern very potently.

      Prior to WW2 most Germans (and most people elsewhere) perceived Hitler through a quite different lens. To borrow Adams allegory, they didn’t see any pink elephants. He was indeed a largely popular, Times Man of the Year reformer who got things done. And looked very much like he was going to make Germany great again.

      So which of these two models is going to be closer to reality? And how do we seriously go about telling the difference/

      • Colonial Viper 6.2.1

        He did make Germany great again. Breifly. And if he had kept Germany to occupying Poland and Austria, we would have had a very different world today.

        • Stuart Munro 6.2.1.1

          There is also the matter of the Weimar Republic – which often gets treated like martyrs of some kind. They deserved to lose power. Like the Key kleptocracy, the Weimar Republic did not act to resolve Germany’s economic problems.

          Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, and Key did not realise how dangerous a habit kleptocracy is. If your state only survives by stealing from the Jews, the Kulaks, the planter/farmers, or assets accumulated by thriftier administrations, what will it predate upon once these are gone?

          • Colonial Viper 6.2.1.1.1

            Like the Key kleptocracy, the Weimar Republic did not act to resolve Germany’s economic problems.

            Oh fuck off.

            Typical western colonial attitude from you.

            Conveniently forgetting that post world war I Germany was forced by the west to send the bulk of its industrial and financial output overseas to repay France, US, UK,

            Keynes and others knew that this would lead to untenable political-social stresses in Germany and set up another massive war and so it was.

            • Stuart Munro 6.2.1.1.1.1

              Not sure why that upset you – did the Weimar government relitigate its Versailles debt? Or was that left to someone more confrontational?

              “Typical western colonial attitude from you.”

              Spare us your inane prejudices.

      • Colonial Viper 6.2.2

        Re: Times Man of the Year – Hitler was highly favoured by US industrialists and bankers.

    • TheExtremist 6.3

      Your other buddy in the Philippines is the one who likes to compare himself to Hitler

      • Colonial Viper 6.3.1

        You still pushing for regime change in the Philippines? You should look up how many people the US sponsored Marcos got rid of during his term in power. And stop being so gullible to the corporate/imperial MSM.

        • TheExtremist 6.3.1.1

          Yesterday I told you “no” when you asked if I supported regime change in the Philippines yet today here you are lying through your fucking teeth about what I said.

          As to me “being so gullible to the corporate/imperial MSM” it was fucking Duterte himself, in his own words, that compared himself to Hitler.

          So in one comment you flat out lied followed by smearing me as gullible for reporting on what someone actually said.

          Can a mod please reign CV’s lies in? Isn’t flat out lying about someones POV, when they know they are lying, against policy somehow?

          [It’s reasonable for a commenter to be asked to substantiate a claim. In this case, CV should do so or withdraw and apologise. TRP]

          • Colonial Viper 6.3.1.1.1

            Oh, so now you now finally accept that Duterte is the legitimate and democratically elected head of the Philippines Government?

            Good to hear. Last thing we need is the US starting destabilising regime change/colour revolution operations in the Asia Pacific.

            • TheExtremist 6.3.1.1.1.1

              Please point to any comment where I a) supported regime change in the Philippines and B) refused to accept Duterte is the legitimate and democratically elected head of the Philippines Government.

              It was only yesterday in a single place where I discussed Duterte so it should be easy for you. If you can’t you should withdraw. Otherwise you are just a liar.

              (EDIT: Thanks TRP for the above)

              • Colonial Viper

                I apologise and withdraw my comment – but believe that TheExtremist should also withdraw his BS about Duterte being my “buddy” unless he can substantiate some kind of friendship between Duterte and myself.

                [Cheers, CV. Appreciated. I think it’s obvious that the friendship line is hyperbole rather than a claim of fact. Given that you’ve just stated your belief that Hitler made Germany great again, there’s probably no way you can be slandered now anyway 😉 TRP.]

                • TheExtremist

                  Now you’re just being silly.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Just as long as you are seen to be applying your rules equally to everyone TRP…

                  [Quite. But then, they aren’t my rules, they are the site rules. And your regular ad homs and unsubstantiated claims need to be seen in the light of some the first words in the Policy:

                  “What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others. We are intolerant of people starting or continuing flamewars where there is little discussion or debate.”

                  You are generously tolerated here, despite your extreme right wing views, but that doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to abuse the rules or, indeed, other commenters. TRP]

          • Peter Swift 6.3.1.1.2

            “Can a mod please reign CV’s lies in?”

            His lies are easy to see through, ridicule and move past.
            His adulation of Putin, the butcher of Aleppo, and now Adolf, not so much.

            “He did make Germany great again. Breifly. And if he had kept Germany to occupying Poland and Austria, we would have had a very different world today.”

            That’s the thing one expects to find aired on Whale oil or Yawnz perhaps, but not The Standard.
            I’m a little shocked, tell the truth.

            • Colonial Viper 6.3.1.1.2.1

              US spox struggles to explain why siege and civilian deaths in Mosul is OK, while siege and civilian deaths in Aleppo is war crime

              The imperial double standard at play

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW42vtWDihc

            • Peter Swift 6.3.1.1.2.2

              Are you suggesting that because I’m anti you being pro a Russian murderer I’m supportive of the USA equivalent?
              That would be as big a lie as the one you told up thread.

              It’s clearly not your day so far, comrade.

              • Colonial Viper

                Oh Peter Swift, you do need to get away from the continuous ad homs, it’s really a bit embarrassing for someone as smart as you. Do sharpen up.

                [CV, it’s fine to post whatever you want on the politics, but once you start misrepresenting other people’s arguments it creates a more hostile environment that is inevitably going to escalate and create more work for the mods. You’ve had one moderator warn you, this is another one. Please be more careful.

                I’m also going to suggest that everyone take a step back and consider what they write. A dedicated post for the election isn’t a free for all. Please focus on the politics and less on the bitching at each other – weka]

                • Peter Swift

                  Yes, not your day at all. lol

                • Colonial Viper

                  Weka – I get called “pro a Russian murderer” by Peter Swift, and I am the one who gets the warning for misrepresenting others?

                  [You clearly misrepresented someone else in this thread and were moderated accordingly. I think it’s a pattern, but I could be wrong. I don’t have time to read through the whole thread and then track back through past conversations. If you want to put up some actual evidence then go for it. If instead you want to pick an argument with me as a moderator, go for it too, I don’t have time for this shit and am happy to ban anyone who thinks wasting my time is appropriate. – weka]

                  • Peter Swift

                    I don’t want to drag this out and go against directives, but for the sake of clarity and fairness in having right of reply given the complaint made against me in the post above, I’ll simply state the following and then desist on the subject as requested.

                    I believe, like many do, that Putin has childrens blood on his hands. As CV openly posts support for him, I genuinely stand by the ‘pro a Russian murderer’ part of my comment.
                    If that’s too offensive a claim to make, when viewed in context of hospital and aid convoy bombings, my opinion is it’s not really.

                  • One Two

                    You’re being bullied and while at times you appear to be your own worst enemy, largely comments you post come with too much ‘history’ for readers to comprehend…they simply can’t match your broad knowledge base

                    As for the extremist complaining to the moderators, it is terribly weak especially given the hostility your comments attract from the extremist…hypocrisy in the extreme is the order of the day

                    The moderation response appears to be weighted against your ‘hard right wing views’

                    Did Weka threaten you with a ban or did I read that incorrectly?

                    The decent appears to be terminal and the ‘fix’ is in

                    [Don’t make up shit about authors/moderators. You apparently missed my point about not wasting the moderator’s time. Take the rest of the week off, back on Monday – weka]

                    • Colonial Viper

                      You’re being bullied and while at times you appear to be your own worst enemy

                      Well, who isn’t 🙂

                      But just observe the massive levels of dishonesty amongst a few of the liberal lefties.

                      Sec State Clinton was instrumental in continuing and enforcing increasingly strict sanctions against Syria. These sanctions have strong similarities with those applied against Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the 1990s by Sec State Madeline Albright, and even affect things like medical supplies and drugs going into Syria.

                      The Iraqi sanctions cost hundreds of thousands of Iraqi childrens lives. The Syrian sanctions have no doubt also cost thousands of Syrian childrens lives.

                      But hardly a lefty liberal here seems willing to say that Hillary Clinton “has childrens blood on (her) hands”. Instead – Putin will get attacked for exactly that while everyone is deadly quiet on Clinton’s bloody record.

                      Chur, dude.

              • TheExtremist

                “Are you suggesting that because I’m anti you being pro a Russian murderer I’m supportive of the USA equivalent?”

                That’s pretty much CV’s standard argument.

            • In Vino 6.3.1.1.2.3

              Then, Peter Swift, you are rather ignorant of history. It is quite true that Hitler had a winning position for a long time in WW2, and CV is quite right – Hitler did BRIEFLY restore Germany’s greatness. Fortunately, Hitler was quick to become over-confident, and make blunders.

              This does not mean that I ‘adulate’ Hitler, nor does it mean that CV does.

              Why on earth do you and moderator TRP have such a personal grudge against CV? He is factually correct, but TRP gets to accuse him of ‘extreme right’ views. I am calling bullshit on that. I speak and taught German; I taught debating in English; I studied and taught History, especially the origins and course of WW2. CV has said nothing incorrect about Hitler, nor has he expressed admiration for him. I have followed CV’s disputes a lot on this site, and he gets falsely accused of being right wing every time he questions what appears to be the party line.

              I see a long, bitter personality conflict on this website, and I think TRP has overstepped his mark as a moderator. I cannot see CV as having ‘extreme Right’ views simply because he questions the standard line. To my mind, TRP owes CV an apology and withdrawal for accusing him of having extreme right wing views.

              When CV makes comment on social policy, I see them as left wing, not extreme right.

              See Garibaldi’s comment on today’s Daily Review if you think I am alone, TRP.

              • McFlock

                Actually, CV is wrong about Hitler. Specifically the line “if he had kept Germany to occupying Poland and Austria, we would have had a very different world today.”

                That’s CV right there: it sounds interesting and vaguely knowledgable, but that ignores the Sudetenland, the Ruhr, and the fact that WW2 started because poland had defence treaties with the French and English – basically, it treats the things he mentioned as if they existed in a vacuum. Occupying Poland without starting WW2 was impossible. And then it ignores every other foolish and just plain wrong thing Hitler was doing at the time and the fact that Germany needed expansion to pay for all the stuff it had already done, as well as importing food and fuel and the resulting stress on the Mark.

                The world would be different if Hitler had moderated his territorial demands, and I’d be much more fit if I’d stopped aging a couple of decades ago. Nice to pretend,but that ain’t the nature of the beast. Anyone who says it is is selling moonshine and unicorn farts.

                And don’t get me started on when he tries to do math – he makes a statement that sounds reasonable right up until you work the problem through, and then he packs a wobbly and mutters about him being right even when the outright opposite is, according to him, “technically more correct” or some such crap.

                • In Vino

                  Maybe I misinterpreted CV’s words: I believe that until Hitler attacked Russia, he had a winning position. Had he held this, and maybe the war had come to a negotiated end, the world may have indeed been a very different place. I assumed that CV thought the same. So we are talking about the war after 1939, and what might have been. But it is all useless conjecture now..

                  Let’s just say that a lot of conclusions seem to get leapt to with excessive rapidity and little discipline, like TRP leaving out the word ‘briefly’ in order to accuse CV of claiming that Hitler made Germany great again, as if CV were an admirer of Hitler. A leap too far, to my mind.

                  • weka

                    I wouldn’t be surprised if CV did admire Hitler. Not the genocide, but other things. CV does fairly often express admiration for people who have pretty reprehensible politics or behaviours in general e.g. Trump. He also expresses admiration for the right when they do something he approves of.

                  • McFlock

                    The world would have been very different if a nazi state managed to coexist peacefully with a slavic communist nation as its immediate neighbour, but then the nature of nazis would also have been very different.

                    Besides, “briefly” or not, that comment about Hitler was guaranteed to be provocative. It’s factually highly debatable (e.g. enigma penetration, RADAR, development of ASDIC etc were all independent of Hitler invading Soviet Union) for a given semantic definition of “great”.

              • weka

                “When CV makes comment on social policy, I see them as left wing, not extreme right.”

                His views on identity politics, and rape and rape culture suggest is he alt-right. His views on Trump suggest he is in some weird no-mans land, but I definitely wouldn’t call it left wing. His views on the political spectrum in NZ suggest he is centrist (hence his praise of Peters). And yes, some of his views are left wing. I actually think it’s not possible to know what he thinks now, because his naked hatred of the left clouds most of the things he says. It’s not him challenging the centre-left, it’s him burning bridges with every natural ally he has who doesn’t see the world in the way he does.

                The recent accusations of him being right wing are a lot to do with his promotion of Trump. As I’ve said, it’s possible to have a left wing analysis of the groups of people in the US who’ve been disenfranchised and thus vote Trump, but CV insists on throwing others under the bus as he tries to do that and he actively supports the right at times.

                In case that’s not clear, there is the problem with his political shift in the past year, and then there is his behaviour. I think we’ve reached the point of intolerance for both because of how they intersect.

                • In Vino

                  I see left and right as socialism-vs- capitalism; equitable distribution of wealth -vs- oligarchy, equal opportunity -vs- privilege, and a well-educated population -vs- manipulated proletariat.

                  Crime I do not see as left or right: it is civilisation -vs- barbarism, human rights -vs- imposition of power. That is where I put rape and rape culture. How do you manage to make rape culture a matter of left and right? Are you suggesting that there are no misogynist left-wingers? Because Communism has been tried only in poor countries with a tradiition of violent repression, there is a very strong belief among many that the left are even more repressive than the right when given the chance.

                  • weka

                    “How do you manage to make rape culture a matter of left and right?”

                    I don’t. What I am doing is saying that different parts of the spectrums respond to rape culture differently. e.g. the alt-right denies rape culture and promotes ideas and politics that support it. Conservatives generally are against rape, but do little to combat rape culture except at a personal level. Centre left people tend to be supportive to the extent that it fits with the status quo e.g. let’s fund Rape Crisis, but the idea of doing rape prevention education in schools as standard is probably too much. Progressives and the identity politics side of the actual left, support addressing rape culture in the same way as addressing all oppression.

                    etc. Of course within all of that you will have individuals who don’t fit (left wing men who are rapists, left wing rape apologists both personal and political), and who have range of views. And there are RW people with better response to rape culture than some left wing people.

                    That’s not even getting to authoritarian/libertarian. I’m not really a political theorist along those lines, I’m more interested in how groups of people organise and the politics they use.

  7. Colonial Viper 7

    Tracey Martin, elite travel chef for President Clinton, explains how Hillary Clinton degraded her servants, called people the N****r word, call women b**ch, and referred to the “little people”

    The Clintons are a money power machine; they are not a couple.

    Also how Hillary is charming and gracious on camera. And completely different at other times. (Alex Jones interview).

    https://youtu.be/E2aNIU1Z9lw?t=4858

    • Manuka AOR 7.1

      It’s like having a J’s Witness or Destiny evangelical in a philosophy discussion.
      (CV chanelling AJ)

      • Andre 7.1.1

        This is a much more entertaining clip of Alex Jones (CV’s go-to idea source).

        It’s been posted before, but it never gets old.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j9ggrvke4Q

          • Colonial Viper 7.1.1.1.1

            Tracey Martin was travel chef for the Clintons for several years, and continues to serve the elite VIP throughout the world.

            His personal experience with the Clintons, and particularly Hillary Clinton’s treatment of the “little people” is eye opening to say the least.

            • TheExtremist 7.1.1.1.1.1

              “His personal experience with the Clintons, and particularly Hillary Clinton’s treatment of the “little people” is eye opening to say the least.”

              Yet the dozen or so woman who detail their personal experiences with Trump are smearers and liars.

              • Colonial Viper

                Where did I say they were liars?

                Anyway, try and concentrate.

                Tracey Martin, who continues to be a VIP executive chef, talks about how Hillary Clinton frequently degraded the staff and servants around her.

                This matches descriptions from former State Dept security staff and Secret Service about how Hillary used to abuse, dismiss and ridicule them, as well as breaking security protocols in ways which put her entire team in danger.

                • TheExtremist

                  Ah good, so you believe they are telling the truth. That means you agree Trump is a serial sexual assaulter. Still want to back him?

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Do try and concentrate: I am talking about the interview with Tracey Martin, 5 star VIP travel chef, and his experiences with Hillary Clinton.

                    For instance, when he was serving Hillary Clinton tea with Mrs Bernadette Chirac, wife of the former French President, Hillary told Martin to tell that “N****r” to take that away, after someone delivered an item to the room that was not to her satisfaction.

                    • Manuka AOR

                      I don’t believe that happened.

                    • TheExtremist

                      So let me get this straight – one person reckons he heard Clinton use a racial epitaph. There are no corroborating witnesses, no one else has come forward with any thing else to support this particular claim, no other person has come forward sharing their similar experiences outside of this case and you believe this to be a bombshell truth yet a dozen odd woman come forward, sharing very similar stories about being sexually assaulted by Trump while the man himself brags about it and this is a disgusting smear job.

                      Is that *really* where your head is?

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Former State Dept security personnel and former Secret Service personnel have corroborated with similar stories of Clinton’s abusive and degrading behaviour towards staff and servants.

                    • TheExtremist

                      [Citation Needed]

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Citation? It would be my pleasure.

                      FBI docs: Clinton ‘contemptuous’ of security agents, put team at risk for photo op

                      The official said “agents were indignant that they were required to follow security policy but [Clinton] made herself exempt from the same regulations.” This was on display during a 2009 visit to Indonesia, where the agent said Clinton overrode security recommendations to stay out of potentially hostile areas in Jakarta.

                      Agents on the team felt Clinton’s behavior put the traveling party in “unnecessary danger in order to conduct a photo opportunity for ‘her election campaign,’” the document says.

                      “…[the DS advance team] recommended in writing that this excursion be stricken from the schedule but were told by DS management that it was going to happen because ‘she wanted it,’” the document says.

                      “It was also believed that [Clinton] disregarded security and diplomatic protocols, occasionally without regard for the safety of her staff and protection detail, in order to gain favorable press.”

                      The unnamed agent also said that Clinton’s “poor treatment” of her security detail was so “contemptuous” that many agents sought reassignment or employment elsewhere. Consequently, Clinton’s security detail was staffed by younger, less experienced officers.

                      http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/17/fbi-docs-clinton-contemptuous-security-agents-put-team-at-risk-for-photo-op.html


                      [CV, you have been asked to provide cites for the following comment:

                      Former State Dept security personnel and former Secret Service personnel have corroborated with similar stories of Clinton’s abusive and degrading behaviour towards staff and servants.

                      Back up your claim with specific and credible cites or withdraw and apologise. TRP]

                    • TheExtremist

                      First and foremost do you actually think Fox News is a good cite? Really?

                      Secondly – here is the difference between our approaches. If you could find credible, corroborated, sources for Clintons alleged mistreatment of staff and racially charged language I would find it disturbing and hope that it gets addressed by the candidate. I wouldn’t call it a smear (which it does currently because it is all “unnamed agent” which is in no way credible at this stage).

                      You on the other hand scream “Smear!” “Witch Hunt!” “Media/MSM lies!” at every suggestion of Trump doing something improper despite the weight of evidence coming full force down on top of his shoulders, marked by his very own words on the topic which implicate Trump as being a sexual aggressor and assaulter by a dozen sp people who publicly (not unnamed) have alleged crimes.

                      Do you see the difference…?

          • Manuka AOR 7.1.1.1.2

            Can anyone listen to that (“Destroys Piers Morgan”) and think he sounds sane? He sounds like a freaking basket case.

            • Colonial Viper 7.1.1.1.2.1

              Oh, he’s a tad excitable at times, but I think for the most part Alex Jones gets what is going on in the modern world.

              • TheExtremist

                Yeah – like Obama and Clinton being demons who smoke DMT to meet with the clockwork elves.

            • joe90 7.1.1.1.2.2

              Jones is a rich boy basket case with a *sniff* problem.

    • joe90 7.2

      Yeah, and sulphur, man, high up people have told Alex that both Obama and Hillary smell like sulphur.
      /

      https://mediamatters.org/video/2016/10/10/trump-ally-alex-jones-i-was-told-people-around-clinton-shes-demon-possessed/213712

      • Sabine 7.2.1

        someone once said this and someone once said that …no one was around to hear it being said – so was it said?

        • gsays 7.2.1.1

          must admit i laughed when hugo chavez commented on smelling sulphur, as he stood at a lectern that bush jnr had recently occupied.

  8. Paaparakauta 9

    Clinton campaign & DNC on violence at Trump rallies
    https://youtu.be/5IuJGHuIkzY

    Vote Fraud HOWTO
    https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs

  9. Observer Tokoroa 11

    .
    . The pitiful hatred of Hillary Clinton as expressed by a number of persons on here says more about our uneducated misguided NZ than it does about any USA Democrat.

    No one has to like the personality of any particular person. But nobody has the right to accuse and slander any person.

    I would hope that the extreme gratuitous allegations made against this Woman will be tested in Court after the Election. Huge compensation would flow to her. Rightly so.

    For me the really disturbing thing is that the supporters of Trump have been given permission to see her murdered over her sane gun control policies. This is serious .

    Also why is Donald Trump such a bully. Standover man. Creepy and constantly abusive. Is he the true model of a Republican? If so what a fall GOP has taken.

    .

    • joe90 11.1

      In 140 characters or less.

      If you don't know how Trump still has even 40% of the vote, just remember we as Americans need warning labels telling us not to eat soap.— shauna (@goldengateblond) October 19, 2016

    • One Two 11.2

      Some can observe criminality when it’s in front of them repeatedly over many decades

      Some won’t, or refuse to see anything untoward in the patterns of behaviour over many decades for ‘whatever reasons’

      Some are simply ‘too thick’ and or have stunted their cognative development by being undisciplined and lazy with reading and thinking habits and use elementary forms of projection and transference in place of logic and sound reasoning

  10. joe90 13

    About O’Keefe’s video nonsense.

    .
    At other moments, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the same quotes on these tapes can be read both ways. Take this one from Foval: “The one thing I’m never going to do is have some kid get punched out at a rally and then not have his doctor bill and his legal bill, if he gets arrested, paid for.” Veritas says that is proof that the “Clinton dark machine is ready for the violence they foment.” Defenders say it is proof that Foval was rejecting Veritas’ suggestion that they ought to start riots to draw attention. Without the full context, it’s impossible to know.

    […]

    A third player is Cesar Vargas, an activist who has helped young people who came illegally to the United States as young children, or whose immigration status has lapsed. Vargas’ work with the DREAM Action Coalition made him an easy mark for Veritas. But, on tape, he says the plan to bus immigrants in the country illegally to states with lax rules on voting is “not gonna’ happen this election.” Off-camera, a Veritas operator seems to get Vargas to admit the plan is voter fraud, but there’s no way of telling if that person said what the tape purports.

    http://time.com/4536212/james-okeefe-project-veritas-video-democrats/

    .

    For giggles – how boy blunder stung himself.

    .

    She heard a click, a pause, and then a second male voice. The person who had introduced himself as Kesh said, “Don’t say anything . . . before I hang up the phone.”

    “That piqued my interest,” Geraghty recalls. Other aspects of the message puzzled her: “Who says they’re with a foundation without saying which one? He sounded scattered. And usually people call to get funding, not to offer it.” Victor Kesh, she suspected, was “someone passing as someone else.”

    She continued to listen, and the man’s voice suddenly took on a more commanding tone. The caller had failed to hang up, and Kesh, unaware that he was still being recorded, seemed to be conducting a meeting about how to perpetrate an elaborate sting on Soros. “What needs to happen,” he said, is for “someone other than me to make a hundred phone calls like that”—to Soros, to his employees, and to the Democracy Alliance, a club of wealthy liberal political donors that Soros helped to found, which is expected to play a large role in financing this year’s campaigns. Kesh described sending into the Soros offices an “undercover” agent who could “talk the talk” with Open Society executives. Kesh’s goal wasn’t fully spelled out on the recording, but the gist was that an operative posing as a potential donor could penetrate Soros’s operation and make secret videos that exposed embarrassing activities. Soros, he assured the others, has “thousands of organizations” on the left in league with him. Kesh said that the name of his project was Discover the Networks.

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/james-okeefe-accidentally-stings-himself

    • joe90 13.1

      More, from the WaPO.

      Two Democratic operatives lose jobs after James O’Keefe sting

      […]

      Foval, who repeatedly ties a noose with his tongue, also seems to overhype his successes. Reporters who covered the Trump UIC appearance found that students, not Americans United for Change, were responsible for the shutdown of the Trump rally. The video’s evidence to the contrary is that Zulema Rodriguez, an activist paid in February by the Democratic National Committee, says on tape that she was there and “did that.” In the first video, O’Keefe makes much of the term “bird-dogging,” which Foval describes as putting people at the front of rope lines to make sure “they’re the ones asking questions.”

      “It’s a word we had not heard until we began this investigation,” O’Keefe says, noting that the term appears in WikiLeaks emails that include Clinton staffers.

      But it’s not a new term and certainly not secret. Bird-dogging is a fairly common activist tactic, and reporters often recognize it when seemingly “perfect” questions come from a political audience. In August 2015, Foval told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that People for the American Way, his employer at the time, was “bird-dogging all of” the Republican presidential candidates. What was seen as a nuisance political tactic then becomes, in the video sting, a secretive form of voter-candidate intimidation.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/19/two-democratic-operatives-lose-jobs-after-james-okeefe-sting/

    • Manuka AOR 13.2

      Defenders say it is proof that Foval was rejecting Veritas’ suggestion that they ought to start riots to draw attention. Without the full context, it’s impossible to know.
      That had been bugging me. It felt like a lie, and the feeling worsened when a local radio commenter reporting it as fact. (“Trump brought out some strong points in the debate” he said, and cited that stirring- up- violence example.) Now it makes sense.

  11. Anne 14

    Ok. It’s not really about the American election but:

    to whomsoever came up with the post caption… thank-you for the laugh of the day. Brilliant.

  12. joe90 15

    Are the folks running the Trump Foundation either knowingly dishonest, or totally inept?

    “We’re past the point where a reasonable person could believe this is just a never-ending series of once in a lifetime errors,” said CREW Communications Director Jordan Libowitz. “This may not be anything nefarious, but if it isn’t, that would mean that the Trump operation is completely inept when it comes to running the Trump Foundation.”

    http://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/trump-foundations-got-problems-taxes/

  13. Gangnam Style 18

    http://www.votefortrumppence.com

    “Twenty minutes ago, I got bored and found out that http://www.votefortrumppence.com wasn’t taken. I bought it for $9 and uploaded a picture of myself giving the middle finger.” – Brian Lam

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    2 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    5 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    11 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    13 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    15 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T08:02:11+00:00