US Election Discussion Post weekend edition 29/10/16

Written By: - Date published: 5:14 am, October 29th, 2016 - 152 comments
Categories: us politics, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

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.

152 comments on “US Election Discussion Post weekend edition 29/10/16 ”

  1. Michael 1

    I was a Bernie supporter and quite anti-Hillary.

    But now I have to say, I’ve really come around on Hillary.

    Before I was just anti-Trump, and seeing Hillary as the lesser of two evils, but now I’m more convinced that a Hillary presidency can be effective. While I have major concerns over foreign policy still, I think that with a Democratic congress and a progressive movement led by Sanders and Warren, Hillary can get some things done that will ensure positive change.

    **A few things that I think can definitely happen**
    – Passing immigration reform that will ensure undocumented immigrant families aren’t deported.
    – Heavy spending on new infrastructure to stimulate the economy and repair crumbling infrastructure.
    – Appointing progressive judges to the Supreme Court that will overturn Citizens United and protect abortion rights, and ensure stricter gun control.
    – Going further than Obama on climate action.
    – Progressives in the Senate can block any overly Wall St-friendly appointments
    – A cabinet that will be 50% women and the most diverse in history.
    – TPP, at least in current form, will not pass.

    **A few things that have a chance of happening if Congress aligns**
    – Passing paid parental leave and more affordable childcare.
    – Raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour and eliminating subminimum wages, but I don’t think $15 will happen nationally unfortunately.
    – Ensuring the wealthy pay more in taxes.
    – Making tertiary education more affordable.
    – Equal pay for women.

    • Karen 1.1

      +1 Michael.
      The key to some progressive policies getting through is a Democratic majority in the Senate, and having Warren and Sanders in positions to put pressure on Clinton will be very important.

  2. Andre 2

    Oh dear. Jill Stein gets a lot of mileage out of purity and principle politics. But it seems that behind the facade, she’s happy to play the game too.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/26/jill-stein-s-ideology-says-one-thing-her-investment-portfolio-says-another.html?via=FB_Page&source=HuffPoFacebook

    • Colonial Viper 2.1

      That smacks of desperate smearing of Jill Stein, I’m afraid.

      Stein and her husband jointly invest in large generic mutual funds which cover all sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, etc. So do most people.

      What are you going to say next – because Stein flies and uses a car she’s a moral sell out to the environmental cause?

      • Andre 2.1.1

        It’s quite difficult to avoid flying or using a car.

        It’s very easy to find environmentally and socially responsible mutual funds to invest in. Did it myself, coz it’s the right thing to do, without the added motivation of being the leader of a group that spends a lot of time publicly being holier-than-thou.

        • weka 2.1.1.1

          I agree on the ethical investments (see below). Flying and driving though, there are still ethical choices to be made that are relatively easy. One doesn’t have to be absolute about it, one can make choices to do it less, to change one’s life over time to rely on it less etc.

      • weka 2.1.2

        I had a good read through of the online commentary on this yesterday.

        1. some of the funds are in generic investments where Stein would have little control over where the money went. She would still easily know that those funds were likely to be being invested in fossil fuels and corporate banking. She didn’t have to invest in that way.

        2. some of the funds were directly into investments where she would have control, and those funds also are in things she is actively against. Again, there is choice here.

        The general consensus seems to be that she invested her money for the best return at the expense of ethical investment. Yes, that is what most people do. Most people support fossil fuels and big banking. Stein doesn’t, except at the personal financial level.

        It’s a fuck up on her part. If the Green MPs in NZ were doing this, they should be criticised too. It’s not going to surprise me if some of them do, because as you say, most people do. It’s still worthy of criticism and ethical analysis.

        If she has something like $3.5M worth of investments, how much of a return does she actually need? At that level, one could easily invest in lower $ return and higher ethical return and still make money to live on. Unless one was being greedy. The only rationale I could see for choosing higher $ return would be if the returns were funding her political campaign, but then there is still an issue there of ethical compromise undermining the political ethics and message.

        Myself, I just put it in the ‘anyone running for president in the US is going to be corrupt somewhere along the line, (it’s a requirement of the job)’ bracket. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t do good things in general, but she is not above criticism either.

        Always interesting to see who supports a 2%er doing status quo, pro-capitalist actions when they don’t need to.

        • Andre 2.1.2.1

          “corrupt somewhere along the line” seems a bit harsh in this case. I’d put it as “flawed in some way”.

          • weka 2.1.2.1.1

            In Stein’s case I was thinking corrupt as in morally questionable rather than dishonest or bribable etc, but fair enough. Maybe somewhere between corrupt and flawed then.

        • Karen 2.1.2.2

          I had a closer look at Jill Stein a few months back and decided that, although she has done some really good things in environmental terms she wasn’t someone I would be voting for if I had a vote in the US elections. She has some unfortunate baggage (mostly financial) and some of her views on various issues are not ones I could could ever support. I was not, therefore, at all surprised to read about these investments.

          Politicians always end up having a “the ends justify the means” situation. In the end it comes down to who gets hurt and who benefits, and that ends up a judgement of personal values for the politician and the voter.

          • weka 2.1.2.2.1

            “and some of her views on various issues are not ones I could could ever support.”

            Me too, but that’s true of everyone running, so how does one vote? Likewise the point of who gets hurt. For me it’s pragmatics. Clinton to keep Trump out, out of necessity for preserving the remaining power we have. Or Stein to support a change in values at the political level away from R/D (despite her flaws and problematic stances on things).

            I agree that politicians always end up having a “the ends justify the means” situation. That’s a good way of putting it, better than my attempt above by calling them all corrupt.

            • Pasupial 2.1.2.2.1.1

              Ovid’s maxim; “Exitus acta probat”, is often translated as; “the ends justify the means” (and attributed to Machiavelli). However, it does not mean that; the intended results excuse any action, nearly the opposite in fact. The problem is “probat” being translated as “justify”, which is only accurate if you use an archaic version of the word (prove might be better, but that has shifted meaning too). It might be better to say that; the results demonstrate the worth of those actions used to achieve them.

              Anyway, this is all a bit of an irrelevant aside, but I’ve typed it now. I don’t actually expect anyone to stop using the phrase as a glib way to excuse their failings.

  3. Pasupial 5

    New emails surface sending the Republic machine into overdrive condemning Clinton. But where were they discovered, and what do they actually say in the contents?

    “In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation,”… I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”

    Comey added: “Although the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant and I cannot predict how long it will take to complete this additional work

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/28/fbi-reopens-hillary-clinton-emails-investigation

    Gee, do you think you could vague that up a bit?

    • joe90 5.1

      Of course Trump’s saying that his faith in the FBI and DOJ has been restored because, well, now that they’re focusing on Clinton again they aren’t as corrupt as he’s spent months saying they were.

      Then there’s this.

      New emails tied to the FBI's Clinton inquiry were discovered during the investigation into Anthony Weiner's sexting https://t.co/FMHEkn03B0— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 28, 2016

      (I’ve done my ten NYT freebies for the month so I’ve not read the article and I can’t be arsed with a work-around)

    • joe90 5.2

      What to make of this?.

      Pete Williams has sources saying not about Clinton world w/holding emails. Not about Podesta emails. Not emails from Clinton.— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) October 28, 2016

      1. FBI not reopening the investigation.2. Comey legally had 2 inform Congress, because he testified they had finished reviewing evidence,— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 28, 2016

      If we don't hear more from Comey, we just have to conclude that he was trying to swing election. And *that* should be the story.— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 28, 2016

  4. Richard Rawshark 6

    Perhaps the FBI has a plan, and that plan is to immediately arrest the winner and force a new Election? IDNK but both these contenders are seriously flawed, perhaps the ebst thing would be to disqualify them both at a late stage and get a new one going for the sake of humanity?

    Probably need more coffee, it’s early.

  5. Andre 8

    Seth Meyer on Trump and the GOP

    https://youtu.be/zkSm1Pgyy7w

  6. Morrissey 10

    On WikiLeaks, Journalism, and Privacy:
    Reporting on the Podesta Archive Is an Easy Call

    by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, October 14 2016

    FOR YEARS, WIKILEAKS has been publishing massive troves of documents online — usually taken without authorization from powerful institutions and then given to the group to publish — while news outlets report on their relevant content. In some instances, these news outlets work in direct partnership with WikiLeaks — as the New York Times and The Guardian, among others, did when jointly publishing the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and U.S. diplomatic cables — while other times media outlets simply review the archives published by WikiLeaks and then report on what they deem newsworthy.

    WikiLeaks has always been somewhat controversial, but reaction has greatly intensified this year because many of its most significant leaks have had an impact on the U.S. presidential election and, in particular, have focused on Democrats. As a result, Republicans who long vilified the group as a grave national security threat have become its biggest fans (“I love WikiLeaks,” Donald Trump gushed last night, even though he previously called for Edward Snowden to be executed), while Democrats who cheered the group for its mass leaks about Bush-era war crimes now scorn it as an evil espionage tool of the Kremlin.

    The group’s recent publication of the emails of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta has been particularly controversial because it comes less than a month before the election; it included all sorts of private and purely personal exchanges along with substantive, newsworthy material; and it was obtained through actions that were likely criminal (hacking). Compounding the intensity of the debate is the now standard Democratic campaign tactic of reflexively accusing adversaries of being tools or agents of Moscow.

    As a result, it’s worth reviewing a few crucial principles and facts about the journalistic process….

    Read more…
    https://theintercept.com/2016/10/13/on-wikileaks-journalism-and-privacy-reporting-on-the-podesta-archive-is-an-easy-call/

  7. Richard Rawshark 11

    http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/politics/new-emails-in-clinton-case-came-from-anthony-weiner%E2%80%99s-electronic-devices/ar-AAjxsUE?li=BBv6TfA&ocid=spartandhp

    So here’s an pretty good educated guess at what happened.

    Hillarys used her press secretary and access to personal information to feed through her email server classified information on her opponents for her press secretary to use.

    Now as her press secretary’s dumb assed husband like sending pics of his willy he got investigated and her phone had the trail and information on it has come to light.

    If Hillary indeed sent her press secretary highly classified personal information to use to help her presidential campaign she is up shit creek without a paddle unless she can bury it and influence the FBI.

    Or not. but that would be a pretty good educated guess I think.

    • Lanthanide 11.1

      Currently available information says:
      – The emails were not sent by Clinton
      – The emails are not from her server
      – The emails are not ones that were withheld from the earlier investigation

      It appears it might be something someone sent to (or by) this aide with commentary or extra information about the server situation, but they don’t appear to be emails that Clinton herself had anything to do with.

      So far it looks like this whole thing has been blown up out of proportion, because Comey’s letter is very sparse on actual information, and so Trump, the press (and the public) have projected their own ideas into the vacuum.

      • Richard Rawshark 11.1.1

        Not enough info yet L, IMHO there is initially after these things are announced, a shit storm of subterfuge, misdirection and playing down of the issue.

        As the story develops the truth comes out, my past experiences lead me to believe the truth has to be squeezed out of these people till there is none left, they roll on the misgiving, what the people don’t know were not telling them.

      • Macro 11.1.2

        Exactly so. This is IMHO nothing more than a beat up by Comey (a Republican of long standing who has had it in for the Clinton’s for as long as he has been around). With Trump having little more than a 20% chance of winning at this stage, Comey is attempting to increase the odds. This is not the only instance in the States where incumbent political officials have attempted to influence the outcome of an election in their favour. Just yesterday an Attorney General was sent to jail for such an offence.

        • Richard Rawshark 11.1.2.1

          OH come on 20%, give him his due, it’s going to be closer come election day than that, just remember there’s a professor who’s never been wrong on the election result since 84, using a set of indicators that have nothing to do with polls who’s just doubled down on Trump.

            • Richard Rawshark 11.1.2.1.1.1

              So how accurate do you think that site and it’s polls are, where do there vested interests lay, IE who owns it what do they vote.

              • Lanthanide

                They aren’t “their” polls. They’re a poll aggregator. They take all published polls and analyse them in as impartial and scientific fashion as they can.

                So far their record is 50 out of 50 states accurately predicted in 2012, and 49 out of 50 in 2008, alongside predictions for US house and senate seats (which I don’t know their precise record on, but have no reason to suspect they’re less accurate than their presidential predictions).

                They’re owned by ESPN, although they used to be owned by The New York Times.

                • Richard Rawshark

                  Ok cheer L, hadn’t heard of the site and it’s name was a bit weird , like something out of a tool song.

        • Colonial Viper 11.1.2.2

          This is IMHO nothing more than a beat up by Comey (a Republican of long standing who has had it in for the Clinton’s for as long as he has been around).

          Firstly, Comey is a political appointee of Barack Obama. If he wants a job next term he has to stay close to Hillary. Trump will never select him as FBI director.

          Secondly, it is clear that Comey was a pretty good FBI director, until Russian President Vladimir Putin got to him and turned him into a Russian double agent.

          • Richard Rawshark 11.1.2.2.1

            I just watched a video of Comey in front of senators completely exonerate Hillary. You confuse me by saying that CV, as he looks to have been under the microscope for his actions.

    • Colonial Viper 11.2

      For the FBI to announce their 180deg turn around on the investigation just before the election suggests that something so big is in the works that the Clinton machine influence has hit its very limits.

      What to watch for: any further circumstantial evidence that the Deep State has decided to turn against Clinton – for whatever reason.

      • Lanthanide 11.2.1

        It’s not an “180deg turn around on the investigation”.

        The investigation was not officially closed. Comey made testimony to congress saying all relevant information had been reviewed. New information that may be relevant to the case has been uncovered, and so he has alerted congress that his previous testimony is now out of date and needs to be corrected.

        All evidence so far suggests this has been a massive over-reaction. That of course will still damage Clinton’s campaign.

        • Colonial Viper 11.2.1.1

          The key point is that Comey previously declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would charge Hillary Clinton based on the evidence available at that time.

          Now there is new evidence.

          • Lanthanide 11.2.1.1.1

            Yes, and presently its not known if the new evidence is relevant, because it hasn’t been investigated yet.

            • Colonial Viper 11.2.1.1.1.1

              I am almost sure that Comey knows that there is new *relevant* evidence in the pile, and that amongst them there are a few sticks of pure dynamite.

              I say that because otherwise he would not have needed to formulate and send his painfully vague cover-arse letter to Congress about amending his recent testimony.

              Because: sooner or later, this “dynamite” evidence is going to go off with a bang, and members of Congress are going to be interrogating Comey about his previous testimony.

              If the new email haul is all about weddings, yoga classes and duplicates of existing known emails, the issue would never be raised.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                I am almost sure that Comey knows that there is new *relevant* evidence in the pile, and that amongst them there are a few sticks of pure dynamite.

                Translation: being clueless won’t stop me from rejecting the outcome if I don’t like it.

                • Colonial Viper

                  You missed out adding anything relevant.

                  Comey clearly knew that his notification letter to Republican Congressional heads would cause a media firestorm at this stage of the election cycle.

                  But he did it anyway because he came to the conclusion that he absolutely had to, and could not wait 11 days.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    Suuuuuurrrrrrrrre.

                    What I mean to say is: your opinion is irrelevant, because if Comey says there’s new evidence against Clinton you’ll read far too much into it, and if he says there isn’t you’ll accuse him of lying.

                    Just another reader who’s had a gutsful of your shit, CV.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Your opinion that my opinion is irrelevant is itself irrelevant, but I welcome you to continue to hold it.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Don’t piss in my pocket: you support a man who wants to jail his political opponents.

                    • Peter Swift

                      “you support a man who wants to jail his political opponents.”

                      It’s a pattern. Think Putin, who remarkebly keeps running out of opponents as they either get incarcerated or wind up dead in suspicious circumstances.
                      Though he can, which gets some gushing, speak unscripted for hours before going off to fight bears and tigers with his shirt off.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      More irrelevancies? Keep on going, you are on a roll.

                      Now, can you make your point?

                    • Peter Swift

                      “Now, can you make your point?”

                      Already did. Have a look behind you. It’s right there in the back of the net.

                  • Richard Rawshark

                    CV, do you not think the bloody lot of them are as bent as a Uri Gellar spoon?

                    To think Putin an example of virtue is naïve in the extreme.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      I don’t think of Putin as an “example of virtue”. I think of Putin as a leader who put together the team which pulled his entire country back from the very brink of deliberate implosion and then went on to rebuild the nation bit by bit.

                  • TheExtremist

                    “But he did it anyway because he came to the conclusion that he absolutely had to, and could not wait 11 days.”

                    I am frankly sickened by this. From a person that has spent the last three fucking weeks questioning why all of a sudden woman would come forward and complain that Trump had sexually abused them you have the goddamned audacity to say this guy should be taken seriously because he had to say something that couldn’t wait.

                    That is straight up fucking bullshit.

              • Lanthanide

                Actually the opposite is true: he’s doesn’t know what is in this, and is sending that letter to cover is arse for any eventuality.

                Given that sources have already said that emails were not from Clinton, not from her server and not anything that was withheld from earlier in the investigation, it does make it difficult to imagine there’s going to be anything specifically damaging to her.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Can I contrast something in what you wrote and ask you to compare your own statements? I have my own opinion but am interested in your view

                  Firstly

                  he’s doesn’t know what is in this, and is sending that letter to cover is arse for any eventuality.

                  Then

                  sources have already said that emails were not from Clinton, not from her server and not anything that was withheld from earlier

                  • Lanthanide

                    Pretty easy, CV. New information comes to light – write letter in case of any eventuality.

                    More information comes to light, which is shared with the media. I don’t know who the sources are, but I’d have thought they would have said it was Comey if he were the source.

                    Also, the fact that he was so vague about the issue, lends more credence to it not being immediately clear what the emails may mean – that is, they’re not a clear smoking gun, and may require further questioning of other involved individuals to determine how relevant they are.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      But how confident are you that someone has already gone through the thousands of new emails which allowed them to ascertain that none of them are from Hillary, that they did not go through her server, and they included no materials that were witheld from the previous investigation?

                      I don’t know who the sources are, but I’d have thought they would have said it was Comey if he were the source.

                      Which Federal organisation has had the access required to evaluate all these emails? Clearly it is the FBI. Is it not. The source does not need to have been Comey personally.

                    • Lanthanide

                      I’m not confident of anything.

                      The point is, though, I’m looking for all available information and drawing conclusions from it.

                      You’re speculating on a wet dream.

                • Richard Rawshark

                  I think many of CV’s talking points are valid, he like myself is sceptical of bullshit.

                  here’s a few points I think others need to take in perspective.

                  Donald trumps and egotistic wanker, However, without doubt Hillary is a master of dirty politics, has an army of media and government support behind her, and there is without doubt dirty politics coming on, now the sweet old lady m,ay not be everyone’s immediate thought, but facts show the truth.

                  Take the Heralds piece on Clintons lies..

                  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11738420

                  Fact check. good facts check them out..

                  You circumvent the watchers (security) for what purpose?

                  Nothing OK about what she did, and knowingly, then there is the 250m the Clintons made in a couple years.

                  If one National MP was doing that you’d be over it alike flys on shit.

                  I too, am marvelled how suddenly all these women appear just before the election when he’s been campaigning for how long?

                  Take a step back from your horror of sexual assault and breathe a minute between your hysteria at anyone who says, is this true?

                  General reply L, not directed or aimed at you. your comment just incurred my general reply on the thread.

      • joe90 11.2.2

        The FBI didn’t announce anything, they wrote a fucking letter to congressional leaders about the Clinton email investigation.

        This is competent ratfucking by the GOP.

    • Poission 11.3

      Thousands of emails have been discovered.

      The problem for clinton is for so called unimportant emails that were deleted off her servers are in deed confidential (read government classified) on the recipients devices.

      Then she would have indeed lied to both FBI and congress and be liable to a semester or two in some mid western federal gulag.

      http://www.businessinsider.com.au/fbi-re-opening-investigation-into-hillary-private-e-mail-server-2016-10?r=US&IR=T

      • Lanthanide 11.3.1

        No, thousands of emails have been taken from Abedin’s and Weiner’s accounts. That’s what happens when you’re looking to see if someone has had inappropriate communication with minors – you go through *all* of their correspondence.

        No one has said thousands of emails are related to the FBI’s investigation of Clinton.

        How many emails have you got in your personal inbox (assuming you don’t delete any)? How many of those hundreds/thousands of emails are about any 1 particular topic? A very small number, I would suggest.

        • Poission 11.3.1.1

          The preliminary reading of the emails by FBI investigators,required them to brief Comey , and in turn his requirement to brief the oversight committee
          ( and u turn) which suggests the correspondence was not discussing which deli has the best baloney sandwich.

          The problem is obvious.

        • lprent 11.3.1.2

          I have emails going back to 1986 in my mail system.

          About 30% in automated spam trap folders that I don’t both cleaning out and about 20% in automated logging folders (notifications of backups etc) that I also don’t clean out.

          God knows what else in in there because I barely manage to read more than 30% of the emails under normal circumstances. Mostly I read the subject line, who it is from, and direct to the “learn to recognise spam” folders or ignore it.

          Space is cheap.

  8. joe90 12

    Clinton on the latest emails.

    BREAKING: Hillary Clinton addresses FBI director's revelation of new review related to private email server case. https://t.co/vSxftfXcIZ— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 28, 2016

    https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/792142514471907329

    • Richard Rawshark 12.1

      yep the usual move on, nothing to see here, and remember vote Hillary, if you don’t our voting machines will.

    • marty mars 12.2

      Yep joe – now clinton has the audacity to ask the for the following

      “Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is calling on the FBI to release more information about its review of emails that may be related to its investigation into her private server.”

      and

      “”Let’s get it out,” said Clinton, hours after the FBI announced it was reviewing newly discovered emails to see if they are relevant to its closed investigation into her private email server.”

      and

      “She said the American people deserved to have as much information as possible before they voted in less than two weeks.”

      and

      “”The [FBI] director himself has said he doesn’t know whether the emails referenced in his letter are significant or not. I’m confident whatever they are will not change the conclusion reached in July.””

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/85870023/fbi-to-review-newly-discovered-emails-related-to-hillary-clintons-private-email-use

      This is classic deep state machine logic politics – now that machines can mostly win at chess we should expect these very very devious ruses to come along where the deep state pretends to do something so that it can actually do the opposite and then claim it did neither but rather a 3rd option not even on the radar.

      Clinton obviously has something unspeakable to hide otherwise she wouldn’t ask for everything to be revealed. She knows the deep state is deep and a state and that it can cover ANYTHING up. I’m shocked trump and his acolytes have fallen for this deep state 101 play – shows they aren’t fit for office.

    • Richard Rawshark 13.1

      The Democratic Coalition Against Trump

      I just pissed my pants laughing.

      • Richard Rawshark 13.1.1

        The coalition of anti, anti trump, reversed, will, I have been assured from my sources lay charges relating to the security of the USA be laid with the CIA that the DOJ are accusing the FBI of interfering with the CIA’s oversight of the FBI investigation into whether the DOJ is interfering with an FBI investigation of the C..,

        I think you get what’s coming…

      • joe90 13.1.2

        Have you always had urinary incontinence problems?.

        • Richard Rawshark 13.1.2.1

          Only when I hear there is actually a thing called “The Democratic Coalition Against Trump”

          Real democratic that.

          • Pasupial 13.1.2.1.1

            I’m sure that the name is funny in your own head, but you might have to explain it to the rest of us.
            Do you mean that coalitions are undemocratic?
            Or is it the being against political opponents?

            • Richard Rawshark 13.1.2.1.1.1

              NO that a group of people form against someone, I find that funny as democracy is not about stifling expression but allowing it and letting the people decide, yet over in the states anti campaigns are allowed.

              So hence forth I am the founding member of the Coalition against John Key.

              memberships open everyone who wants rid of Key please join.

              And lastly because I read the post in seriousness till I got to the point where it said the Coalition against Trump had laid a complaint with the DOJ and all seriousness vanished. it looks ridiculous, is this how they campaign over there? It’s like watching children squabble.

  9. Andre 16

    Uh-oh. They caught the 32nd case of in person voter fraud (out of over a billion votes cast), red-handed in the act. She’s a Trump supporter.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voter-fraud-donald-trump-iowa_us_5813e775e4b0390e69d075a4

    • Colonial Viper 16.1

      Democrats are way better at voter fraud than that. They’ve had practice for years. Ref: Project Veritas videos.

      • Andre 16.1.1

        I guess we’ll see if any arrests come out of those videos. Or whether it ends up like James O’Keefe’s mate David Daleiden and the “Planned Parenthood sells baby parts” videos. Y’know, where the grand jury convened to consider charges against Planned Parenthood looked at all the evidence, decided Planned Parenthood were not guilty and indicted Daleiden instead.

  10. Chooky 17

    FBI is running scared of wikileaks…even more scared than it is of the Clintons

    ‘Gingrich on what the FBI October surprise means for Clinton’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45djGBWdgIw

    • Colonial Viper 17.1

      Thanks for the link Chooky. Hannity is too often under-rated IMO.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 17.1.1

        LOL

      • marty mars 17.1.2

        hannity does a cameo in a trump election video – yeah he’s really under-rated alright – wonder how much he had to pay trump to get in that ad – maybe he’s going for a cut of the monetising of trumpies supporters.

      • TheExtremist 17.1.3

        Hannity is too often under-rated IMO

        All I have is….. wow.

        • Pasupial 17.1.3.1

          People may see Hannity as a mere paid shill, when in fact he is a committed propagandist for the very worst impulses of anti-socialists. I guess you could call that being under-rated.

    • marty mars 17.2

      ” the clinton family business is in fact a corporation engaged in organised crime”

      gingrich is unhinged

      like this lot starting from don on down

      “Donald Trump really is building a wall. But his supporters are going to pay for it.

      “I want to show you something very special,” the candidate says in a video out Thursday. “I am dedicating this wall right here in Trump Tower to a select group. . . . They chipped in whenever and however they can.”

      In a QVC-worthy pitch, Trump continues: “The wall has only space for 2,000 more supporters. Contribute today . . .”

      It was an undignified position for a presidential candidate less than two weeks before the election, selling off naming rights to a Trump Tower wall for contributions of $49 or more. And the symbolism was unhelpful: Such walls of names bring to mind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and others that honor the fallen.”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/newt-gingrich-alex-jones-and-the-other-bricks-in-trumps-wall-of-shame/2016/10/28/bb652aee-9d09-11e6-b3c9-f662adaa0048_story.html?utm_term=.00eeddb51916

      • Colonial Viper 17.2.1

        ” the clinton family business is in fact a corporation engaged in organised crime”

        A little hyperbolic perhaps, and we need to recognise that not all unethical/immoral/corrupt activities are definitively criminal in nature, but I think Gingrich’s comment is heading in the right direction.

        • marty mars 17.2.1.1

          nah he is short on some major neural connections – like trump and a lot of trump supporters – driven to the depths with irrational hatred and undisguised self interest

          • Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster 17.2.1.1.1

            What I found most disturbing was the reference to Richard Nixon – that he was elected with huge popular support – and 18 months later was being impeached!

            I think, if she wins, Hillary’s time as president will be beset with major problems!

            • Colonial Viper 17.2.1.1.1.1

              major with a capital M

            • marty mars 17.2.1.1.1.2

              yeah – as the twilight’s last gleaming at the end of empire for the states unfolds it will become very problematic – clinton will have it tough but not as tough as trump whether he wins or loses. He just hasn’t got a hope and would/will make so many bad calls that he really would be the last pres. But I suspect he’ll end up as a money making schmoozer (sorta like a las vegas evangelical act) or in Jail.

              • Colonial Viper

                I’m mystified by what you mean. IMO Clinton is simply going to profiteer from her time in the Oval Office, corrupt the institutions of the Federal Govt further, and focus on furthering the agenda of a tiny free market globalist elite.

                • Yes I know your opinion. No doubt clinton will have problems, some major. Trump whether pres or as a carnival sideshow drumming up money will/would be worse simply because he hasn’t got good decision making skills imo. If he did get to pres he would definitely profiteer from his time in the Oval Office, corrupt the institutions of the Federal Govt further, and focus on furthering the agenda of a tiny free market globalist elite which includes him and his 0.1% buddies – so yep I agree with you there.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    Come now, marty mars, that’s a cheap rhetorical trick you used there.

                    I came to those conclusions about what Hillary Clinton is likely to do based on how she sold out the office of the Secretary of State.

                    Now, Trump benefitted from the tiny free market globalist elite yes – but he is not a member of that club. He is not a DC insider, he is not an investment banking insider, he is not a military industrial surveillance complex insider, he is not a Bilderberger.

                    Clinton on the other hand, is.

                    As for profiteering from the Oval Office.

                    What you need to understand is that for the Clintons, their elected public life is utterly central to their ability to make millions of dollars a month.

                    For Trump, he makes his millions a month from private enterprise. So IMO he has no need to use the Oval Office to make (what to him is) small $$$.

                    • trump is a billionaire isn’t he. He is a DC insider – photos show he knows them well – hell even that nice shot of him buddy buddy with clinton was on here recently, or he will become one soon enough – he couldn’t survive DC without being one – the maverick pose is another lie. He is/has owed wall st and the bankers money and favours – you don’t get to billionaire without that happening imo. He wants to bomb the families of suspects and distribute the nukes so I’m sure the military etc insiders will love him to bits, even more than they do now.

                      trump needs the money, that much is obvious and he’ll do whatever to get it – just watch his monetising campaigns – they’ll come thick and fast.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      BTW I probably have a narrower definition of being a DC insider than you do.

                      By “DC insider” I don’t mean a big rich donor who gets invited to pay $10,000 for a dinner seat at a Clinton fundraiser, or someone who adds celebrity pizzazz.

                      People like that are simply the glamourous trimmings to the DC political set.

                      I do mean someone who is a power player in the halls of Congress, in the halls of the White House, someone who gets knocks on the door from Fortune 500 corporate lobbyists, someone who understands the networks and levers of how things get done in DC and often pulls those levers themselves.

                      That’s the Clintons to a tee.

                      trump needs the money, that much is obvious and he’ll do whatever to get it – just watch his monetising campaigns – they’ll come thick and fast.

                      Forbes: Trump net worth falls US$800M to US$3.7B

                      http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferwang/2016/09/28/the-definitive-look-at-donald-trumps-wealth-new/#1aa590cc7e2d

                    • Yeah I’m sure our definitions differ. To fit yours you have to be ELECTED or at least do a dc job. Trump hasn’t so under your def he could NEVER be a dc insider could he?

                      So the whole thing is moot and spin.

                      Trump is a liar – we’ll see some truth when he released his tax returns lol sorry IF HE ever does.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Trump’s tax return is of limited relevance to how he will conduct himself in the Oval Office. After all, the IRS apparently has no issues with his tax return.

                      Hillary’s behaviour as Sec State however is of incredibly high relevance to how she will conduct herself in the Oval Office.

                      And yes, Trump does lie at times. Or at least grossly exaggerate/embelish.

                      Let me ask you a question – do you believe that Hillary Clinton has ever lied to the FBI or lied to Congress about her handling of government emails and confidential information?

                    • TheExtremist

                      “I do mean someone who is a power player in the halls of Congress, in the halls of the White House, someone who gets knocks on the door from Fortune 500 corporate lobbyists, someone who understands the networks and levers of how things get done in DC and often pulls those levers themselves.”

                      Not bad for someone who was, just recently, about to be felled by Parkinsons, Cerebral Palsy, Alzheimer.

                      Get your fucking story right dude. One second shes at deaths door and the next shes fucking ringing every bell on Wall Street.

                    • @cv I think everyone lies in some way shape or form. Personally the emails are yesterdays news for me – irrelevant to the job ahead for clinton.

                    • Chooky

                      +100 CV re Trump:

                      …”he is not a member of that club. He is not a DC insider, he is not an investment banking insider, he is not a military industrial surveillance complex insider, he is not a Bilderberger.

                      Clinton on the other hand, is…

                  • Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster

                    I don’t think a Trump presidency will be any less problematic than a Clinton one! So I agree with you, Marty!

                    Hey, we might be about to witness the last American election. Post election, we could see events in the good old US of A which will make the Russian event of 1917 seem like a picnic in the park!

                    Hows that for a flight of fancy – ‘the pitchforks are coming, the pitchforks are coming!’

                    When 70% of the population can’t find $1000 in savings, that’s some pretty serious inequality!

                    My. we live in momentous times!

  11. Richard Rawshark 18

    The USA will implode into massive civil war, just like Osama bin Laden probably wanted.

    Well it’s a possibility.

    I wonder if the good old US of A actually has even thought about that.

    They are fighting amongst themselves, a sure sign the stress has gotten to it’s leadership.

    • Colonial Viper 18.1

      The US is already in the middle of a cultural civil war.

      Worth while remembering that Osama Bin Laden was CIA trained and funded. Until when…we cannot be sure.

  12. Richard Rawshark 19

    Specially for you CV. Be afraid Hillary supporters, be very afraid

    I actually have a survival kit prepped now ready to hit a cave nearby when the missiles come.., oh to live in interesting times..

    We can rebuild a better world than this.., there is no other way.

    http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/professor-who%e2%80%99s-predicted-30-years-of-presidential-elections-correctly-is-doubling-down-on-a-trump-win/ar-AAjxYGu?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=iehp

    • Colonial Viper 19.1

      I’ve also been following the comments of this professor. I agree with you that we need to be (mentally and physically) ready for all eventualities. I predict a very rough 20 year period ahead. If its not some stupid war with China/Russia it is going to be climate change biting very hard. Or some crazy combo.

      • Richard Rawshark 19.1.1

        Yep and after careful mulling it over I can’t wait. this planet is Fubar due to the complete disorder of western democracy. It will never be a good planet while the west and it’s industrially backed politicians keep running it behind the façade of a democratic process.

        We see it in NZ with Key coming here and how attituides have changed since he did.

        People have become extremely selfish money centered and greedy take the candidate Trump as an example, but here we have an example of greed on display, for Hillary it’s fed in disguise from the likes of Coke Cola favours for power private emails, wealth accumulation.

        Stories of charities bringing in 2.5m and spending 200k on the people who the charity is for, not to mention the absolute poisoning by business of the planet we live in .. for what?

        Bring on the anarchy or a government leader who may talk a lot of hot air, but has said the right things if you actually listened instead of assumed.

        AKA take your business to China i’ll slap a 35% tariff on it.

        Well that’s NOT bowing to big business so he gets my vote, and if he wrecks the planet and poor old Keys 50 million becomes fire starters i’d be happier than a pig rooting.

    • Pasupial 19.2

      I find Lichtman to be entirely unconvincing, except maybe to himself. This was him in August (trying to have it both ways depending on the audience?):

      “Every election is basically a referendum on the incumbent party,” Lichtman said. “If it does a good job, their candidate gets reelected. If it does a bad job, their candidate gets thrown out.”

      Lichtman added his model currently predicts Clinton will win about 52 percent of the vote because eight of the test statements are true.

      http://dailybruin.com/2016/08/15/experts-predict-clinton-win-during-hammer-museum-lecture-2/

      Nate Silver gave a rundown of the model’s 13 criteria (some of which are quite subjective), and how it has performed in practice back in 2011. His main criticism was that:

      the formula is not actually all that accurate. Although it may have gotten the winners right, it does not do particularly well at accounting for their margin of victory.

      http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/despite-keys-obama-is-no-lock/

      • Nic the NZer 19.2.1

        “the formula is not actually all that accurate. Although it may have gotten the winners right, it does not do particularly well at accounting for their margin of victory.”

        Nate Silver is claiming that the model must have the mechanism of being additive in its components then. But why should the model be additive, maybe there are not a set of independent weighted factors which can be added together to forecast the election outcome. If there were Nate Silver’s job would be much simpler. That is not a valid criticism of a model which is consistently right, its just saying the real world is more complex than simplistic additive forecasting models (and the model may reflect that).

        • Pasupial 19.2.1.1

          Gore did not win in 2000 thus invalidating the claim of infallibility. That he did win the popular vote did not get him back into the white house. Also the model developed in 1981 had 12 keys, that is now up to 13 – thus it is not the same model.

          My opinion is that Lichtman’s reliability in prediction is only slightly better than that of Paul the octopus.

          • red-blooded 19.2.1.1.1

            And let’s remember these comments from the man himself:
            “The second qualification is Donald Trump. We have never seen someone who is broadly regarded as a history-shattering, precedent-making, dangerous candidate who could change the patterns of history that have prevailed since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

            I do think this election has the potential to shatter the normal boundaries of American politics and reset everything, including, perhaps, reset the keys to the White House. Look, I’m not a psychic. I don’t look at a crystal ball. The keys are based on history. And they’re based on a lot of changes in history, they’re very robust. But there can come a time when change is so cataclysmic that it changes the fundamentals of how we do our politics, and this election has the potential — we don’t know yet, but it has the potential.”

  13. Andre 20

    “Republicans want voters to believe Clinton is just as bad as Trump, Maher said, “and in pursuit of that goal, they have one very powerful ally: lazy people.”

    http://www.salon.com/2016/10/29/watch-bill-maher-millennials-cant-tell-trump-clinton-apart-but-have-100-kinds-of-dance-music/

  14. dv 21

    This is sort of funny. BUT ironic its a Tump supporter committing the fraud.
    And interesting it was picked up.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/us-election-2016/85880951/Trump-supporter-charged-with-voting-twice-after-fearing-first-vote-would-be-changed

    Rote told Iowa Public Radio that she cast her first ballot for Donald Trump but feared it would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton.

    “I wasn’t planning on doing it twice – it was spur-of-the-moment,” Rote told the radio station. “The polls are rigged

    Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald told the Register that it was the first time in 12 years he could remember having to report possible voter fraud.

    “I think it shows that our voting system works in Iowa, that we’re able to catch it,” Fitzgerald told the paper, adding that the reported instances could have been honest mistakes but “that’s not for me to decide.”

    • Richard Rawshark 21.1

      They have thing called a straight vote over there, so if you straight vote Democrats , it should tick Hillary for president and democrat as party.

      For Trump voters there has been many reports of them selecting straight Republican but the president selection changes to Hillary. it’s above somewhere in a link on another post.

      If Trump voters don’t check the ticket before handing it over for recording, well. I mean the sitting party over there really fucks with elections look at Bush and Gore..

      they both do it.. democracy it’s a freacking façade..

      then here, we have fat guts Jerry would throw all his staff and the airport worker under the bus to save his fat fucking arse and job all for the fucking tuck shop.

      If I had 20 people with guns i’d invade the behive tomorrow and force a new election.

      That’s how serious politics and the façade of it have become.

      • Adrian Thornton 21.1.1

        Have to say, I like the idea of invading the beehive, one glaring problem with that idea though…
        Labour as they stand today, are not, in my view worth getting arrested for (and I have no problem in standing up and being arrested for the right cause), I mean they aren’t exactly what you would describe as inspirational in any kind of political or socially/economically transformative way, or in any way at all, now that I think about it.

      • Pasupial 21.1.2

        RR
        You may feel that way, and I understand the frustration of having limited avenues to change the world for the better as one person in the middle of nowhere (geopolitically speaking). However; out of respect for the site, and forum it gives for semi-free discussions, could you please refrain from calls for armed revolution (however hypothetical)?

        • Richard Rawshark 21.1.2.1

          Fair enough, though I really do want to shout take the power back, chuck on some..

          Rage against the machine

          and kick fat Gerries arse out of town.

          Which is half my problem their are no vents anymore, we used to protest, they have fucked us so hard, we whimper our disdain and they carry on like it’s a board game.

          • Adrian Thornton 21.1.2.1.1

            The main problem with kiwi’s today is that we don’t shout loud and hard at things that matter, unless of course it is some sort of escapism in the form of sport (the new state religion). There is a movie about Richie McCaw but will probably never be a movie about Helen Kelly, someone who dedicated their lives to the people of this county, we have out sense priorities as a country all fucked up…
            example…
            I would expect the leader of the NZ Labour party to be absolutely outraged and seething with tears of indignation at the commodification of human housing to the point where citizens are forces to live in cars, where students are who seek to gain higher education are left with outrageous debt, where real wages for most workers have stagnated for 25 years, the same workers are expected to compete with countries with no workers rights, and living costs at less than 1/4 of ours, oh that’s right Labour was in power and let these things happen as well, and now a Labour Party with up and coming stars like Stuart Nash, little hope for real any change to the status quo even if they get in power…
            So I agree 100% – Rage against the machine.
            Turn Labour Left.

            • Richard Rawshark 21.1.2.1.1.1

              I gave labour the benefit of having no nuts too come out and say outright they will turn the tide of oppression, as the current voting public are so drunk on house price rises they can’t see the woods for the tree’s.

              Their fear of losing is driving their policies instead of policies that drive voting, but not in all cases, there housing policy is quite good always has been. However, any whimpers of restructuring business, employment laws or taxes is met with slumps in polls and they shit themselves, mainly because they do it in half measures instead of just going all out.

              They should really look into Trumps success, if not for Trump himself, what it meant and what he proposed would have wiped Hillary out.

              • Pasupial

                The last political group to rage against the machine in Aotearoa would have been the Internet/ Mana party. But that didn’t work out so well last election (though they did get more votes than in 2011, but that did not translate into any seats in parliament with our flawed version of proportional representation). The MANA movement is still around, and likely to be a contender for the Maori seats. The IP not so much – and it’s difficult not to compare Dotcom to Trump in this context.

                Yes, the modern Labour party does seem a bit spineless (or as they might say; a broad church). But there is always the chance that the Greens, or even NZF might lend them a backbone in coalition.

  15. Morrissey 22

    The United States’ political class hates and fears democracy:
    Here’s one more item to add to the mountain of evidence.

    http://observer.com/2016/10/2006-audio-emerges-of-hillary-clinton-proposing-rigging-palestine-election/

    • Adrian Thornton 22.1

      +100 Morrissey, heard that one yesterday.
      It is almost beyond belief that a politician running for the president of the USA can be caught on tape openly saying ‘We should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win’ about a democrat election process in a foreign country, and it doesn’t make the worlds headlines… if that isn’t manufacturing consent in action and in real time right in front of all our eyes, I don’t know what is.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHa6NflkW3Y

  16. Chooky 23

    +100 Morrissey…says it all really

  17. Adrian Thornton 24

    I notice that of course Clinton has nothing to say about the Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline standoff where the state has deployed dogs and militarized police against the peaceful protesters, where 127 were arrested by police, some armed with AR 15 assault rifles and wearing full battle dress for crying out loud…
    No just like Obama,(and Trump of course) silent, we might as well just go ahead and rename the US democratic party ‘The Corporate Defense League of America'(copyright).
    You can be sure that if Sanders had been running against Trump, he would have spoken out loudly on this issue.
    Such a shame, such a lost opportunity for the Democrats to reestablish some desperately needed credibility back into the now openly exposed poisoned and poisonous world of US politics/media…but no they (the DNC) chose to back Clinton, thereby exposing the heart of the DNC to be corporate/wall st. shills just like the candidate they enabled all along, unsurprising but still disappointing and sad.

    • Richard Rawshark 24.1

      That’s because the democrat elite have been taken over and it’s run by an inner circle?

      This is how they roll keeping the circle member in the white house, wouldn’t surprise me if a group that formed for that reason wouldn’t have split and members in both parties to cover eventualities.. raegan bush Clinton bush Obama Clinton.. you know…

    • Pasupial 25.1

      in Georgia, a voting machine has been removed from service after complaints that it flipped votes intended for Hillary Clinton to Trump.

      Some voters in Texas, which began its early voting period this week, have experienced problems casting their ballots… Shannon Lackey, the elections administrator at Randall County, said… personal hypothesis is that voters, so accustomed to touch screens in their everyday lives, hit the machine’s button after indicating their choices, inadvertently “deselecting” their preferred vote…

      the Randall County woman behind the viral Facebook post never alleged corruption, and she made it clear that she was able to correct her vote before officially casting the ballot.

      Lackey! What a name for an elections administrator.

      Anyway, the problem with Trump’s rigging allegations is that the voting systems are administered by the individual states. These are three quarters Republican controlled (especially Texas, and Georgia too for that matter). Thus you would expect any rigging to favour the Republican candidate.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_state_legislatures

      That said, those voting machines are a nightmare for electoral transparency. I hope that in NZ we stick with paper ballots than can be scrutinized and recounted by laymen unfamiliar with computer programming (if the manufacturers are even disposed to provide access to their proprietary software).

  18. Lanthanide 26

    Right, so it seems Comey, nor anyone else at the FBI, haven’t actually read any of the emails because they don’t have a warrant to read them.

    So that suggests the earlier sources about the emails definitely not being to/from Hillary etc, may not be true.

    It also does mean that there’s no indication that they are serious new evidence.

    Comey should have just put that in his letter – “as yet we don’t have the warrants to be able to read the content of the emails, so this letter is just a ‘heads up'” or words to that effect. Would have considerably lessened all this drama.

    As of Saturday night, the FBI had still not gotten approval from the Justice Department for a warrant that would allow them to read any of the newly discovered Abedin emails, and therefore are still in the dark about whether they include any classified material that the bureau has not already seen.

    “We do not have a warrant,” a senior law enforcement official said. “Discussions are underway [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/comey-wrote-bombshell-letter-to-congress-before-fbi-had-reviewed-new-emails-220219586.html

  19. joe90 27

    Remember, this is all about this man having less than a $1000 in the bank.
    /

    Guy chants "Jew-S-A" in front of press pen pic.twitter.com/2yqgA6dD4k— Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) October 29, 2016

    https://twitter.com/NYTnickc/status/792510299232284672

  20. Sacha 28

    A write-in candidate emerges: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/queen-offers-to-restore-british-rule-over-united-states

    Addressing the American people from her office in Buckingham Palace, the Queen said that she was making the offer “in recognition of the desperate situation you now find yourselves in.”

    “This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn’t end well,” she said.

  21. Karen 29

    David Fahrenthold has done some fantastic investigative journalism on Trump’s charity credentials. Some appalling behaviour by Trump:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html

  22. Adrian Thornton 30

    Interesting piece on the different ways the media/public have handled Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct as opposed to Bill Cosby’s similar deviant behavior ….

    http://www.steynonline.com/7573/the-questions-that-were-never-put-i

    • joe90 30.1

      I suppose you think Steyn’s Eurabia nonsense is interesting, too.
      /

    • Andre 30.2

      Sigh. A piece that starts with “The 6’8″ gummi worm that runs the FBI…” isn’t likely to be packed with rational analysis, but anyhoo

      First up, Bill isn’t running for president, Hillary is.

      In the 90s, there was quite a media frenzy every time any hint of another Bill Clinton allegation came to light. The American public by and large got bored with it, so when Hillary even described Bill as “a hard dog to keep on the porch” it was kind of “meh”. The evidence that came out at the time made it seem everything Bill was involved in was consensual (although morally serious abuses of the power Bill had).

      The most credible allegation of non-consensual activity (the rape of Juanita Broaddrick) didn’t get wide publicity until 1999, by which time Clinton sex fatigue had well and truly set in. Broaddrick herself gave a deposition that she had not been raped, which would make any serious investigation and prosecution extremely difficult, no matter how credible her subsequent allegations were.

      For more info,

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_sexual_misconduct_allegations

      Compared with the allegations against Cosby…

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby_sexual_assault_allegations

      Not really very similar, either in quality or quantity.

    • Siobhan 30.3

      Reply to Andre..
      “In an election year when Bill Clinton’s policies and personal indiscretions have faced intense scrutiny, Hillary Clinton is beginning to shape the role her husband would play in her administration, zeroing in on economic growth and job creation as crucial missions for the former president.

      Mrs. Clinton told voters in Kentucky on Sunday that Mr. Clinton would be “in charge of revitalizing the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it,” especially “in places like coal country and inner cities.” On a campaign swing this month before the West Virginia primary, she said her husband has “got to come out of retirement and be in charge” of creating jobs.”

      So yeah, not President…but not exactly walking around rearranging the White House furniture.

  23. Andre 31

    Oh boy! Get your triple-strength tinfoil hat on before reading this one.

    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/10/28/the_kim_dotcom_theory

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    10 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
    10 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
    13 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
    14 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
    14 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
    14 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
    15 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
    16 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
    18 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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
    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
  • 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
    4 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
    5 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 ...
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    7 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
    12 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
    14 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
    14 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
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