About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

February 9, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 February 2024

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment295

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (295)

Login to comment or vote

Yvette

Opinion
Willie Jackson, in his then-ministerial capacity held over 70 hui with selected targeted Maori influencers to discuss He Puapua initiatves, requested by Nainia Mahuta, to alter the Treaty, the “founding document” of New Zealand

Jackson then considered about 20 percent of the response was potentially too controversial to even present to his own Labour Cabinet colleauges – as their filtering to what their response to the Maori response after Willie’s filtering of that response, was to be discussed in some way with the non-Maori – the lowly plebs out here (basically the Team of Five Million) – for our response, by the end of 2022 as promised by Ardern ( <how quick an evil memory can be shrouded in history)

But, saved from the policy bonfire, the entire issue was shelved (where presumably it still is) until after the Election, to avoid any persons-splaining embarrassment to Labour.

Jackson? No, it is National, urged by ACT, who would meddle with the Treaty – to return it to its 1840 original version. //
______________

As a starting point, the Treaty Principles Bill suggests using the three articles in the Māori version of the Treaty originally signed in 1840:

Article 1: “kawanatanga katoa o o ratou whenua” – the New Zealand Government has the right to govern all New Zealanders.

Article 2: “ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o o ratou whenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa” – the New Zealand Government will honour all New Zealanders in the chieftainship of their land and all their property.

Article 3: “a ratou nga tikanga katoa rite tahi” – all New Zealanders are equal under the law with the same rights and duties.

There, that is what the crafty bastards plan enacting. More //

Christopher Luxon says he “can’t be any clearer” about his stance on the controversial Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill, despite ACT Party leader David Seymour being seemingly convinced he will change the Prime Minister’s mind – and most of the unthinking nation

Through one person, Willie Jackson, Labour was going to filter change to the Treaty – and one person it seems, at the moment, will honour the 1840 version
60 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:01am
- Scooter
  
  I was thinking about this today, we need to see this report and why Willie Jackson thought was too controversial to present to his colleagues. Maybe David Seymour needs to address this just as much as the Principles debate. At least we might have a better idea what those behind He Puapua are really up to.
  
  31 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:12am
  - Philview
    
    Most New Zealanders are probably unaware of He Puapua and would have no understanding of the context of Three Waters, the Maori Health Authority and all the other stepping stones towards the 2040 goals.
    
    17 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:20am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Not if they watch TV news, that’s for sure.
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 1:29pm
  - Damocles11
    
    The actual He Puapua report is bad enough –
    
    https://www.tpk.govt.nz/documents/download/documents-1732-A/Proactive%20release%20He%20Puapua.pdf
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:08pm
- PeeJay
  
  I would think that should someone manage to leak the shelved demands from Iwi, that even Jackson thought too controversial, this could shock a lot of people into realising just how close we are to becoming a country where the select few tribal elite effectively control the country – I suspect this would see such a demand from ordinary folk to stop this drift that even Luxon and his ilk would struggle to oppose the treaty principles referendum.
  
  34 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:16am
  - Swifty
    
    That’s a good point.
    
    Yes, let’s see that input from tribal groups – let us see just what some would impose on us, just what racial privilege they wish, what extra rights and powers for themselves they think warranted and what they should be gifted and granted just for who their ancestors were.
    
    Let’s have it all out in the open.
    
    And then let’s have a national debate on what direction we wish to take the country.
    
    29 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:38am
  - rouppe
    
    Leak?
    
    It was a report submitted to government in their capacity as the appropriate minister. There’s no way it should be invisible to the current government, and therefore could legitimately be used by the current government to highlight what changes Maori wanted to make, to contrast with the rhetoric they are using now
    
    15 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:13am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  This morning Basset, Brash and Hide has posted a link to the audio and text of Don Brash’s 2004 speech. He was vilified for his racism but was in fact frightenly accurate. The speech should be a required text for all kiwi students, for its historical reseach, for the quality of the language and argument, and to remind us that, sadly, “the more things change the more they are the same”. I expect another reader will post the link if you cannot find it.
  
  33 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:30am
- PurplePen
  
  I wonder whether the better approach for ACT or any party is to remove all reference to treaty principles from all legislation as well as the treaty, the latter being NZ First initiative. As Elizabeth Rata points out in her recent interview with Thomas Coughlan (pod cast series “On The Tiles”) the ToW is a significant and interesting historical document, that is all, but it has no relevance nor part in NZ today. I think the logic stems from the 1853 NZ Constitution Act passed by the British Parliament. Prior to that NZ Maori were British subjects by dint of ToW article 3. Post the 1853 act above every law and method of government flows from the 1853 act making the ToW redundant.
  
  The “treaty settlements” that followed in the 1970’s and onwards are really reparations for the wrong-doings of the govt from 1853 onwards. Nothing to do with the treaty being honoured. In a way the term “treaty settlements” is and was a misnomer, as is the “Waitangi Tribunal”. Both might better have been labelled something such as “Maori land reparations” and “Maori land reparations commission or tribunal”.
  
  32 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:35am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    This is theoretically correct but has practical drawbacks:
    
    1. There is a lot of legislation to change
    2. Labour can put that stuff back in later
    3. It doesn’t involve voters and would be seen as partisan
    
    21 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:56am
    - PeeJay
      
      100% agree.
      
      While I can understand the NZF approach and find it elegant in its simplicity, the flaws you highlight above are reason alone not to do this. Parliaments can rarely bind future Parliaments – what can be undone by a legislation change now, will most certainly be reintroduced, potentially on steroids, under a future Labour/Green/Maori government. Furthermore, there is absolutely no guarantee that National will agree to these changes – they seem terrified of the activists to such an extent that they won’t even agree to the people having a say on the Treaty principles! I suspect a similar activist reaction to the NZF policy would result in the same reaction from National to the ACT proposals – run away!
      
      I believe that the best way to enshrine real change is by giving the people a vote through a binding referendum – should the principles referendum occur and be agreed through a popular vote (and I suspect in the privacy of the voting booth it would be a massive vote in support of ACT’s bill), there would be very few governments that would have the gall to try and reverse this through legislation.
      
      25 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 10:23am
      - thirteenstars
        
        That’s always been my view and I’m sure it’s Seymour’s and I suspect it’s the view of many National MPs.
        
        It was quite a cynical move by National to consent only to a first reading and committee since it was an attempt to forestall a referendum. Seymour must surely understand that and now it’s only a citizen’s initiated referendum petition that will force National’s hand.
        
        So this will now take some time. The referendum will be at the 2027 election, and assuming the coalition has made steady progress in all other matters, it will surely cement a win since voters will know that only a coalition involving ACT will be able to give legislative reality to the result.
        
        Seymour, armed with a referendum victory, will have a monster weapon during coalition negotiations, a weapon so powerful in fact that it will make the Treaty Principles bill look like a small thing. At that point, Luxon, Peters and the rest of the softly-softly middle management types will realise they made the wrong moves.
        
        20 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 11:36am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      “3. It doesn’t involve voters and would be seen as partisan.”
      
      Politicians in NZ need to get the F away from the idea that they are god kings appointed to do what the F they see fit to do.
      
      To stop the shambolic see-sawing between tweedle dee and tweedle DUMB and the great amount of throwing the baby out with the bath water that goes on with each swing of the pendulum, things of great importance for the future need to go to a referendum and can only pass with a super majority (say 75%). Yet our useless grifting f-head pollies always find an excuse not to do this!
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 6:36pm
- Souvlaki
  
  Related to this theme, an opinion piece by Cameron Slater on BFD about Luxon’s inexplicable capitulation to Maori.Like him , or not ,Slater is politically astute…in a way that National strategists clearly are not. Botany could be lost to National, in same way as St Heliers was…..?
  
  https://thebfd.co.nz/2024/02/09/is-luxon-going-to-sell-us-out/
  
  21 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:43am
  - Damocles11
    
    Is he really that astute though? He seems to have backed the wrong horse a fair bit of the time.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 5:21pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Agreed, Damockwa11,
      
      Mr Slater comes across to me as being just as ‘astute’ as his Labour-leaning Lookalike Mike Williams…
      
      Clive James had a great quote on Jane Fonda wherein he opined that if he shared any of her opinions he immediately reconsidered his clearly-flawed viewpoint.
      
      I’m the same with both Slater and Williams..
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 6:51pm
      - Biscuit
        
        How the hell did my typing fingers come up with Damockwa11 as Damocles’ name?
        
        Apologies, D!
        
        3 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 6:55pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Isn’t it amusing how the MSM are bemoaning the removal of the Auckland fuel tax. Not a single voice celebrating the reduction in the cost of living.

IIRC, when the tax was first considered, the stories were all about its impact on the poor.

What’s the matter, MSM? Don’t the poor count anymore?
69 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:01am
- bjools
  
  They are claiming (Mayor and media) that the “loss” in revenue will halt major projects in Auckland and that the rest of us will pay for them.
  Couple of points.
  1. What MAJOR project????… couple of minor ones..bus lanes and cycle ways??
  2. The tram to the airport has already been canned.
  3. What loss in tax? surely people will be able to spend this money saved, in the economy. Meaning the Govt. will collect the GST on it, business’ will make more profit and stay viable, paying tax and employing people.
  ie I see no down side to tax cuts, provided they are coupled with responsible (a word with no meaning for 6 LONG years) spending and real investment.
  
  34 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:17am
- Damocles11
  
  Brown is carrying on like a pork chop while Auckland Transport are completely out of control right under his nose. Brown’s hot headed nature is his achilles heel, firing up and beating his chest at the wrong people.
  
  28 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:37am
  - Jethrod
    
    Do you seriously believe that this was unexpected by Wayne Brown? He is savvy enough to know what would have been on the chopping block. He probably has a separate balance sheet in the event of this happening. The rest is just make-believe indignation for the children of the media.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 12:52pm
    - Damocles11
      
      Who is he impressing with the mock indignation though? The people of Auckland (voters) are free to think “hmmm….the Mayor is unhappy that we got a tax cut”.
      
      10 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 1:31pm
- GJM
  
  What have they doen with the hundreds of milliosn of dolalrs colelcted so far. Taken under flase pretences, it has been scammed off to consultants and grifters for the tram ssytem that was never goign to go ahead. Despite their best efforts to steal the lot, there was more tax taken than went on the tram ssytem, so where has the rest gone?
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:43am
Scott

I’m still pleasantly surprised by the new government’s vigour in rolling back labour’s legislarive agenda.

Yesterday we had two more pleasing announcements –
The Auckland regional fuel tax is to go.

“Auckland Regional Fuel Tax to end in June, PM announces

National campaigned on scrapping the tax – of 11.5 cents per litre of fuel including GST – within its first 100 days.

Speaking alongside the transport minister at a carpark in Parnell, Auckland, Luxon confirmed the scrapping of the tax, saying it would lower the cost of filling a Toyota Hilux’s tank by $9.20, or by $5.75 for a Toyota Corolla.”

And we also have the government announce the priority of getting people off the benefit and into paid employment –
” The coalition government will refocus employment efforts and the welfare system so that supporting people who can work into jobs is the number one priority.”

To me this marks the change from the socialist government of the previous 6 years. They wanted to tax more and didn’t seem at all concerned about people being on a benefit in perpetuity.

These are two significant changes from the new government that will make things better. Good! 😎
51 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:02am
- david
  
  Along these lines, where are we seeing replays of the political rationalisation for the introduction of this fuel tax. I’m not in Auckland but clearly recall the promises made for how there would be clarity over how it would be spent, how it wouldn’t be shoved into a slush fund and how it would be spent to improve the traffic flows and transit times in the City.
  Well, how did that work out?
  Let’s see a breakdown of projects actually funded and let us point the bone at those who made promises that they had no intention of keeping. Eviscerate their legacies and ensure that they never, ever get the opportunity to try and snow a city or the country again.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:15am
- Bobba Fret
  
  I watched the announcement and I am thoroughly disgusted by the media questions afterwards. After a couple of questions relating to the fuel announcement, they immediately and continuously asked questions about Act treaty bill, and would National support it. Luxon did well basically giving the same answer over and over to the same question asked in numerous ways.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:39am
iMP

Oh dear, Joe Biden on Kohl, Mitterrand, Merkel, Macron… he’s unfit for office. Although the MSM coverage of this now, hints that another Dem candidate will be in the offing. Can Michelle Obama beat Trump? I don’t think so. American voters will see it for what it is, desperation and Establishment trying to beat down Trump just like the selective court cases.

Stand by (the Supreme Court decision).
42 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:02am
- Grunter
  
  Michelle Obama might do an Ardern….?
  
  Hope not.
  
  13 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:29am
  - bjools
    
    NO….She has had her babies.//
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:22am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    America wants more destructive woke socialism? Don’t think so.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 6:39pm
- Homas
  
  What a dreadful piece of work is Mrs. Obama.
  
  Not only having ridden the wave of affirmative action her entire adult life, she has experienced the singular privilege of having the entire Western media and entertainment complex conspire in the gargantuan task of transforming a frumpy, dumpy Oprah clone into the Black Jackie K*, and to this day she still carps endlessly about how she’s always had to work [insert toil multiplier here] to get [insert bigotry ratio here] of the recognition she apparently deserves.
  
  *It is left to the reader’s judgement to determine how that one turned out.
  
  25 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:33am
- Grunter
  
  And Putin agrees! – just saying don’t shoot the messenger with downticks…. 🙂
  
  And he knows what a woman is – not like Hipkins!
  
  TUCKER: What is your opinion of President Biden?
  
  PUTIN: We’re convinced he is not running the country. Let’s say we have good sources that confirm that but it’s plain for anyone to see for themselves. The US has now entered into a dark period. It has unaccountable leadership.
  
  TUCKER: Do you think Joe Biden won fair and square?
  
  PUTIN: I would rather not get into domestic American politics but will say my embassy reported your southern border was better run than that 2020 election. (chuckles)
  
  TUCKER: One poll in America shows you more popular than Biden – any reaction?
  
  PUTIN: (laughs) I don’t know if that should be taken seriously but Russian ideals have support. We believe in traditional values; marriage is between a man and a woman: men are men and women are women.
  
  42 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:37am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    The geopolitical situation IMHO.
    1. Russia. If allowed to take Ukraine will move on the Baltic States and then Poland to re-establise the old Soviet Empire. Will use the threat of its Nukes to deter NATO.
    
    2. China. Watching Russia. If it sees the West is weak will move on Tawian again using the threat of its Nukes. Will then seek economic and military control of SE Asia the Pacific ( except US terrority) Australia and NZ.
    
    3. Iran. Wants to destroy Israel and establish a Palestein State. Will use Russia and China Nuke threat to do so.
    
    4. North Korea. Will seek to take South Korea with China support again using its own and China Nuke threat.
    
    This is why the Dooms Day Clock is at 2 minutes 30 seconds to midnight the closest since the height of the Cold War.
    
    24 12
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:12am
    - bjools
      
      Only dispute #3
      Iran is close to having their own nukes, thanks to Biden’s incompetent foreign policy in the region.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:27am
      - Jack5
        
        BJools at 9.27: …Iran is close to having their own nukes …
        
        Israel is successfully slowing Iran’s nuclear progress.
        
        All it needs to wipe out the Iranian programme would be American-supplied bunker-buster bombs to wipe out underground facilities.
        
        Iranian nuclear engineers have a bull’s eye on their backs and can’t get life insurance, and Israel’s spooks successfully hijacked the complete (truck load) of Iranian nuclear plans and records.
        
        7 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 11:58am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      The domino theory was disproved 50 years ago.
      This is 2024, not 1974.
      
      2 13
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:55am
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        The theory has not be disproved.
        
        I would suggest that Putin has given new credence to the theory.
        
        Georgia, Crimea, Ukraine, next?
        
        12 4
        Report
        February 9, 2024 10:15am
      - bjools
        
        When was it disproved and by who???
        USSR
        INVADES Afghanistan, to get closer to an Indian ocean port.
        Vietnam is used to get Southern Pacific access.
        Attempts to undermine South America/ Central America
        Africa (Angola via Cuba)
        etc etc
        
        7 1
        Report
        February 9, 2024 10:54am
      - kowtow
        
        Direct line from Russia to the Baltic states and central and eastern Europe .
        To N Korea ( who also invaded the south)
        To China , then Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia .
        
        “Disproven” pffffft.
        
        4 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:19pm
    - Grunter
      
      Lastman – I agree with your final comment, the world is clearly in a very dangerous place right now.
      
      IMO (for what it is worth, and I know you’ll disagree, but….
      
      1. I don’t think the Ruskies will push into any NATO country. They know that they are completely outnumbered and have less military power than NATO (only because of the USA). Russia would be smashed by NATO in a conventional war. They know that so why would they do that? I do however think the Ruskies will take Ukraine, how far into western Ukraine they go no one really knows. How NATO responds to the imminent defeat in Ukraine is the critical factor as to how this escalates or de-escalates.
      
      If NATO and the Ruskies do end up in a conventional war (doesn’t matter who starts what), then at some point that goes nuclear – which means we are all pharked!
      
      2. China will in some way move on Taiwan. How that then develops is anyone’s guess, but it will be a mess and very dangerous.
      
      3. Iran will only go nuts if someone bombs them first. They know the USA will cause massive damage to their country if they end up in a war. But Iran’s 160,000+ missiles will flatten Israel in the process. Israel is in a very dangerous spot right now with few good options (I can’t see any way out for them).
      
      4. North Korea – who knows?? He could literally do anything IMO
      
      So, yes we agree. 4 very dangerous nuclear threats. How they develop is of course debatable. And once the nukes buttons are pushed, everything happens within hours as 12,000+ warheads are launched…..
      
      And that is why I continuously rant on about “don’t escalate….” I do hope I am wrong.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 10:00am
    - Damocles11
      
      Not sure why you are getting so many downticks when all you are doing is accurately stating what the current situation is on the geopolitical chess board. Some downtickers will be from the ‘the US is an evil empire’ school, others will be social conservatives who are unfortunately embracing totalitarianism as the answer to all perceived ills. Deeply troubling.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 12:57pm
    - Che Guava
      
      “1. Russia. If allowed to take Ukraine will move on the Baltic States and then Poland to re-establise the old Soviet Empire. Will use the threat of its Nukes to deter NATO”
      
      The same people who assure us that Russia isn’t going to win in Ukraine are also the ones telling us to fear that Russia will invade the rest of Europe and reconstitute the Soviet Union. That’s either braindead or dishonest.
      
      So which is it, because they can’t both be true? But they can both be wrong, and in fact they are wrong on both counts.
      
      0 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 6:59pm
  - Taieri
    
    Can full interview be accessed?
    Where?
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:16am
    - Ghost
      
      It’s not confirmed that is a transcript, I posted it the other day. But the actual interview airs today
      
      https://tuckercarlson.com/
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:24am
      - Grunter
        
        Sorry – Fake news. Please ignore.
        
        Robert Malone’s Substack had it. He has now said it is BS.
        
        3 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 9:35am
      - emmess
        
        Have just watched the first half hour or so.
        Tucker is doing fine; I was concerned it would be a softball interview. But Putin is coming across as a complete nutcase, blathering on about what happened 1000 years ago, he even claimed Poland colluded with Nazi Germany to be invaded.
        
        4 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 1:17pm
    - Grunter
      
      Sorry – see note below. I got sucked in by Robert Malones Substack. He is now saying it is a fake transcript. He got suckered as well.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:37am
  - Damocles11
    
    No matter who is in power, whether it be here or the US or wherever….when you throw a murderous mafioso dictator like Putin softball questions that boost his prestige & attack the leadership of your own country then there is only one word to describe it: treason. Carlson allows Putin to present himself as a force for moral good, and the subtext is that strongman dictatorship is necessary to ensure the sort of society conservative people see as ideal. But I’m not prepared to throw the baby (freedom) out with the bath water. We must vigorously fight for freedom against any threat, from either of the political extremes. Once freedom is gone, it is gone. Totalitarianism is infinitely worse than any of the social issues we are grappling with in the West.
    I know that a significant portion of the people commenting here hate Biden, love Trump, and buy into ‘money laundering in Ukraine / US proxy war’ etc etc etc, but we still need the West – for all its wokeness and flaws – to hold against totalitarianism, as represented by Russia, China, Iran and others. Carlson is trying to score political points domestically by weakening the US’s standing geopolitically. It is reprehensible in my view. Republicans should be able to win by other means rather than going to these horrible extremes. Sadly Carlson is exploiting the freedom that living in a free democracy allows. He can do things against his own government (and moreover, against the US’s own national interests) that a totalitarian state would not allow. That freedom he enjoys should come with responsibility and good judgement. I don’t know what drives Carlson but suspect it is hate and ego, a combination which can lead to amoral behaviour.
    
    4 9
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:57am
    - Ghost
      
      We don’t yet know what Tucker asked him. Wait until the interview is released today
      
      7 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:02am
    - Grunter
      
      I understand what you’re saying, but we do need some balance on the BS that MSM spew out on the Ukraine war. It is mostly biased rubbish, like most serious topics. I’m no Putin fan, I hate totalitarianism with a passion.
      
      The MSM turned Zelensky into another consumer brand just like they did with Ardern. Made him look like a new-age Churchill etc. In reality he is a total crook and he could have agreed to no war back in April 2022. Instead he has taken Ukraine into an unwinnable war, 500k+ dead, maybe a million seriously injured, and the country completely broken with no chance of winning.
      
      10 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:39am
      - Damocles11
        
        Yeah, well you are coming into this from a position of blaming Zelensky for the war. I don’t what is behind that but suspect it is along the lines of ‘he didn’t honour the Minsk Accords, he was going to station US missiles in Ukraine etc etc etc’.
        I know Russia was violating the Minsk accords in umpteen different ways and people who were described as ‘separatists’ were in fact Russians from places like St Petersburg and there were Russian army units fighting there etc etc.
        The default position of many is to declare they are ‘no fan of Putin’ and then trot out a whole screed of Putinist talking points, but anyway…..I don’t want to go down this rabbit hole because the war in Ukraine is extremely polarising and people can get extremely would up about it. All I will say is that the history books record that on 24 February 2022 Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after repeated and emphatic denials by the Russian regime that they would do so. So that is on Putin. Putin took the two countries into a full blown war on 24 February 2022.
        
        5 7
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:04pm
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      The point was made yesterday around how much we might be being misled by ur MSM.
      Fair point. The western MSM told us Covid was deadly, and vaccines are the answer. We are being told today that the planet is boiling, women certainly have penises, and 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
      I do not like Putin invading the Ukraine, and know he is a killer and a tyrant. I support Ukraine in their resistance and anyone that is prepared to support Ukraine in turn. But I am open to the fact that we hear a certain narrative on the war in the west. Putin is also a nationalist and a traditionalist, and even with his cruelties he is probably better for his own ‘people’ than the limp and stupid rulers in the USA or UK.
      I am not turning onto RT, but I certainly wouldn’t call Carlson a “TRAITOR” for interviewing a world figure.
      Whether it is Ghandi or Ghaddaffi there is never a reason to denounce a Q&A in itself.
      Expose it all to sunlight, and conceal nothing.
      Let ideas and ‘truth’ contest openly.
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 12:35pm
    - KH
      
      Dameocles11. Ridiculous comment. Treason ? Really?
      It’s an interview. Why would you not want to know more about a guy, even if you hate him?
      It’s an interview.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:59pm
      - Damocles11
        
        Want to know more about the guy? What did we learn about ‘the guy’? Two things strike me about the responses of people who’ve watched ‘the interview’.
        1/ The number of people who readily believe Putin and his ‘facts’ without engaging in any critical thinking.
        2/ The number of people who think there was something new in what Putin had to say, when we’ve heard it all many times before from him.
        
        0 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 9:17pm
  - MCōs
    
    “PUTIN: I would rather not get into domestic American politics”
    
    Sure
    
    3 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:10am
    - Damocles11
      
      Yeah, he steered well clear of it. Lol.
      
      ‘Putin then said “Don’t you have anything better to do? You have issues on the border. Issues with migration, issues with the national debt. More than US$33 trillion.”’
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:18pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  You might be interested in what I wrote about this a week or so ago, SCOTUS 2024, A Big Year – Part III: Trump and Colorado. The Democrat activist groups had been peddling this theory around multiple states for months. Colorado was the one that bit.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:45am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    It looks hilarious at the moment. Even Kagan is calling them out. She’ll vote with the Originalists. It should be 9-0 but Jackson doesn’t seem to be able to let go of the fact that Trump hasn’t actually being convicted of Insurrection (although she’s still having a go at the lawyers for their stupidity). Sotomayer seems to be leaving herself out of it so she can justify going against Trump by simply not justifying her position.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:58am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I still say it will be Hillary.
  
  3 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:51am
- colina
  
  Michelle Obama
  No — look, she hates politics. Read her autobiography,” Rove told “Varney & Co.” “She didn’t want her husband to run for the [Illinois] State Senate. She didn’t want him to run for the presidency. She’s not a political animal.”
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    But now she don’t mind that US$18M at Martha’s Vineyard.
    Before Obama entered Politics he had a net worth of US$800,000.
    Isn’t Politics wonderful?
    
    12 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:25am
    - RichardX
      
      It has previously been pointed out to you where some of the Obama wealth originated.
      
      You have to be mindful of memory issues as you age.
      
      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obamas-land-65m-joint-book-deal-largest-payment-ever-for-presidential-memoir
      
      3 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:00am
      - Colville
        
        and $400K per speaking engagement… it adds up!
        
        6 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 11:16am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Gun running through Libya paid well.
        
        4 1
        Report
        February 9, 2024 11:27am
    - RichardX
      
      You couldn’t even get the purchase price of their house correct.
      
      Only off by USD6 million but why would I expect anything more accurate from you.
      
      “Barack and Michelle Obama Buy an $11.75 Million Home on Martha’s Vineyard”
      
      https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/barack-and-michelle-obama-buy-a-home-on-marthas-vineyard
      
      0 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:49am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Depends where you go on the google machine.
        $11.75M, $6.5M, $17.8M, all sorts.
        One outfit said 15 million Pounds!
        Anyway I don’t care. Obama made money from being a crook.
        [Mod – unnecessary]
        
        8 1
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:34pm
      - RichardX
        
        I’ve heard confusion is a thing you need to watch for as you age as well.
        
        A house the Obama’s had previously rented sold for USD17.6 million.
        The Obama’s did not ever own that property.
        
        https://nypost.com/2023/08/24/barack-obamas-former-marthas-vineyard-rental-wants-17-6m/
        
        I could not find any mention of GBP15 million or USD6.5 million but the algorithm on your search engine probably takes you to sites I don’t use.
        
        Anyway I don’t care. Obama made money from being a crook.
        
        There is another recurring theme.
        Who needs to bother with supporting facts or evidence when Steve believes something?
        
        1 3
        Report
        February 9, 2024 2:43pm
  - Grunter
    
    She only has to read the tele-prompter.
    
    If it does end up her it shows a new level of pharked for the USA.
    
    4 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:41am
Suze Wainwright

Is Chloe saying she didn’t really know what ‘From the River to the sea…’ actually meant, kinda like Jacinda saying she didn’t know what the articles in the ToW really were?
56 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:11am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ardern: “not something I would necessarily be aware of”
  She chaired the netting ffs!
  
  31 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:58am
- peterwn
  
  Just shows she is a ‘doubleplusgood duck speaker’, that is one who spews forth propaganda which they do not know they are talking about.
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:02am
- kowtow
  
  In the context of her post Twyford , expelled from the podium rant , which included an attack on Auckland War memorial Museum , she knew.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:35am
- Couchpotatoe
  
  I’d agree “free from the river to the sea” if it referred to Hamas.
  
  Israel has no option but to continue unrelenting war now that it knows it can no loner keep their useful idiot Jihad child under control.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:43pm
Matt Long

Tory paid $43,000 of ratepayer money to go on the hunt for leaking councillors, and the witch found nothing.
Fix the leaks Tory, WATER leaks.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington-city-council-spent-43000-on-mayor-tory-whanaus-hunt-for-leaker/K7MXNDJT5ZFHRFPDIAIR3FM6VU/
61 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:13am
- cmm
  
  Questions:
  * Who got the $43k? Are they one of Tory’s mates?
  * Was this expenditure approved by the council or was it out of Tory’s slosh (hick, slush) fund?
  
  This woman is insane. She needs to be recalled. Unfortunately Wellington would just install a clone.
  
  50 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:20am
  - Matt Long
    
    Linda Clark and Associates got the witch hunter contract.
    
    44 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 8:26am
    - Yabster
      
      also- Clark’s recommendation- what a waste of rate payers’ money yet again….
      
      Clark recommended a copy of the council’s code of conduct be provided to all councillors for review, training on when it is appropriate to withhold information from the public and a private workshop to discuss the complaint and air grievances.
      
      25 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:36am
      - Paulus
        
        Linda Clark will conduct her recommended training – for a fee of course.
        
        8 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 10:56am
    - cmm
      
      I’m going to guess that they know eachother socially.
      
      But that’s just my bigotry of low expectations showing.
      
      31 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:37am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I’m going to guess that they know eachother socially.
        
        Of course they do… It’s just that Linda Clark couldn’t recognise a conflict of interest….
        
        The four councillors raised a potential conflict of interest as part of their response to the draft inquiry, noting that Clark knew Whanau in a personal capacity.
        
        “I acknowledge that prior to my appointment I have met the Mayor in both a business and personal setting,” Clark wrote. But as Whanau was not the subject of the complaint or involved in the review, she considered that a conflict of interest did not exist.
        
        https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350125845/investigation-councillors-slammed-failed-costly-vendetta
        
        36 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 8:50am
      - Matt Long
        
        There’s no such thing as conflicts of interest in Councils, the Whangarei DC was happy to hire the Head of the Environmental Defence Society to write a Landscape review of SNAs 20 years ago, and when this was pointed out saw no conflict.
        A councillor who later became Mayor saw no reason to recuse herself from a vote on the dissolution of the CCO that just happened to have her sister as CEO.
        It’s Boss Hogg territory.
        
        29 1
        Report
        February 9, 2024 8:59am
      - PeeJay
        
        On conflict of interest.
        
        When I was not long out of Uni, I was working on a project for a charity in the north of England – there was some political involvement as well. As we presented the options to the committee, one of the committee members announced he had a potential conflict of interest. The potential conflict was so incredibly vague & tenuous I thought it was overkill but he refused to have any risk of impropriety associated with the process. Have to say, even to this day I am still impressed and at the time, I naively thought this is how all individuals with such responsibility should act – with honour and integrity.
        
        Around 15 years ago I had my first experience of conflict of interest in a New Zealand political setting. One of the members of the numerous Advisory Boards for a rather large Council had an active and real conflict of interest in a project up for discussion. Active, real and ongoing – it was noted that he was somehow involved in one of the consortiums, although the details were far from transparent (I lost count after about 12 different inter-connected companies with the usual mix of shareholder to director to shareholder etc). I naively expected an honourable departure from the meeting as that was my last experience in a political setting. Nope. Brief discussion by the rest of the Board, she’ll be right – you wouldn’t do anything dodgy I’m sure, you’re a good guy, on we go.
        
        Since then, I’ve had many dealings of this kind and the results tend to follow a similar pattern – not always so blatant (there has been a few though), but so many potential conflicts just ignored. Conflict of interest has sadly become a checkbox on a form – barely an afterthought it would seem.
        
        I therefore share your “bigotry of low expectations” (love it) but this is sadly informed by experience!
        
        19 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 9:41am
  - Yabster
    
    go woke go broke – Wellington what are you thinking!!
    
    31 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 8:28am
- Matt Long
  
  “Is Mayor Whanau (
  @WgtnCC
  ) taking on foreign affairs because the city is so well run and maintained?https://x.com/IsraelInstNZ/status/1755507151353819500?s=20
  Tory;”I’m in total awe of the resilience and kindness of the Palestinian people. “
  
  35 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:22am
  - Matt Long
    
    Tory’s rapist friends’ valiant allies, the Houthis, “we just kindly sentenced 13 people to death for homosexual acts.”
    https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/08/houthi-rebels-death-penalty-homosexuality-charges/
    
    32 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 8:25am
    - igm
      
      Send Greens/Labour/TPM MPs to visit . . . they will be treated accordingly!
      
      20 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:28am
    - pdm
      
      Not to mention her Hamas friends Matt.
      
      20 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:32am
  - cmm
    
    Well one thing she could learn from Gaza, is those guys are experts at putting massive pipes in the ground.
    
    52 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 8:38am
    - Biscuit
      
      Brilliant, cmm!
      
      27 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 8:42am
- Prince
  
  Nice work for Linda Clark.
  
  The 15% rates increase proposed this year would mean a 62% rates increase in 3 years, for worse services.
  A sign of things to come for the country under a Green Govt,
  
  30 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:24am
- KH
  
  I expect councillors we elect to be inconvenient. I expect them to say what they like. I expect them to release information as they see useful.
  It’s time to ditch this code of conduct farce. It’s anti democratic.
  When they ask a new councillor to sign the code and that councillor says “Nah”. That’s a councillor I will vote for.
  
  26 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:39am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  There is a leak in the bottle – the hole at the top.
  
  11 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:59am
Trev

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
I’m not an American but a Kiwi and I see, perhaps wrongly, that it will come down to whom is perceived as least bad between Biden and Trump and their respective administrations. I’m an economic conservative thus should lean Republican and have in the past but currently I find Trump’s foreign policy and some of his behaviour and also speaker Johnson’s behaviour off putting. Therefore if American I would somewhat reluctantly vote Democrat. Will many/any American’s see it this way?
5 36
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:15am
- Matt Long
  
  Many many Americans, both dead and alive and imaginary will vote democrat to keep Trump out.
  
  40 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:02am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I think (hope) security is better this time.
    2020 the ballot drops and counting (recounting) machines were a joke. So blatant and nobody cared that Biden got 81 million votes.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:09am
- NothingLeft
  
  Rather amazing final report on Biden’s classified documents scandal; he clearly and intentionally broke the law but wont be charged:
  
  “Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” according to a special counsel’s final report.
  
  In the report, special counsel Robert Hur wrote, “Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during his interview with our office, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
  
  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-charges-biden-willfully-retained-classified-documents-special-counsel-says-biden
  
  16 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:05am
- Damocles11
  
  I honestly wish that there was another option that wasn’t Biden or Trump. There is a huge expectation around Trump being reelected because people crave the drama and excitement this will create, the sight of Trump going after ‘enemies’ and settling scores. The US has become this basket case that we all watch with fascination and endless buckets of popcorn. Unfortunately it is a lot more serious than that: the US tearing itself apart will just allow the totalitarian states to step into the void that will be created.
  
  6 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:09pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Kennedy is polling surprisingly well as an independent (National Realclearpolitics polling Trump 42, Biden 37, Kennedy 13) . He would do far better with a (D) next to his name and with Biden gone. Probably even be ahead of Trump.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 1:40pm
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Not sure I agree. If Trump wanted to go after his enemies he would have during his first presidency. In fact he did not, even against the worst, “Crooked” Hilary who tried to frame him.
    
    Evidence shows, time & again, Trump is a counter puncher. Attack him & he will respond verbally & it will not be pretty. However, I cannot recall him instituting action against his personal enemies afterwards in the same way the Democrats do by ruining their lives.
    
    His foreign policy showed the reverse. He talked politely in meetings & praised leaders to the media but was unafraid to act. I think that is why he stopped wars, not started them.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 2:34pm
    - Damocles11
      
      The magnanimous Trump who let Hillary off the hook after his election victory was not the embittered Trump who thought an election had been stolen from and thought that he was being unfairly persecuted over January 6 and vis a suite of legal cases. He will be a very different President if re-elected, but my viewpoint can only be vindicated by the course of future events.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 5:28pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Trump is a buffoon, but Biden is positively dangerous. His decrees on prisons, borders and transgenders are worst than any gaffes or gobshite Trump might do.
  But both options are quite unpalatable – just one tastes bad and the other tastes bad AND will kill you.
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:40pm
tedbear

So Maori activist Mike Smith has been granted the right to take on 7 big polluters including Z Energy.
I had the idea that Z Energy only owns service stations for people to transfer fuels to their vehicles.
Where’s the pollution in that transfer?
That process is exactly the same as buying a loaf of bread from Countdown and taking it home.
Either way there’s zero pollution.
The case against Z energy is bound to fail as their carbon footprint is no greater than an importer of EVs.
33 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:17am
- Burtland
  
  so who’s responsible for the so-called “damage” from the pollution
  
  the company that supplies the source of pollutant
  the end user who does the polluting
  the government who takes the tax to mitigate the pollution
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:07am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Ultimately, it’s the Government that decided, through the ETS, to permit carbon emissions up to a certain total level. I can’t see that it would be legally feasible to argue that the Government didn’t have the right to do that. Nor do I think it likely that the companies concerned can be successfully accused of failure to voluntarily do more than the law requires. However, we’ll see what the legal argument is in due course
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:45am
  - peterwn
    
    So Mr Smith should sue the AA since many polluting motorists belong to the AA.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 1:39pm
- Damocles11
  
  Mike Smith attacking 7 ‘polluters’ (vital food and energy producers) for ‘causing climate change’ and here’s Fonterra working hard to get out of using coal. Meanwhile, up in China they are approving new coal fired power plants at the rate of 2 per week.
  Make it make sense!
  
  ——
  
  ‘Fonterra will install a 20-megawatt electrode boiler at its Edendale site in Southland in the co-op’s next step to get out of coal by 2037.
  Fonterra’s General Manager of Energy and Climate, Linda Mulvihill, said the new electrode boiler will cut Edendale’s emissions by about 20 per cent.
  “[That’s] the equivalent of taking close to 20,000 cars off our roads,” she told The Country Sport Breakfast’s Brian Kelly.’
  
  ——
  
  ‘China is approving new coal power projects at the equivalent of two plants every week, a rate energy watchdogs say is unsustainable if the country hopes to achieve its energy targets.
  But after regional power crunches in 2022, China started a domestic spree of approving new projects and restarting suspended ones. In 2022 the government approved a record-breaking 106 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity. One gigawatt is the equivalent of a large coal power plant.’
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:22am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘here’s Fonterra working hard to get out of using coal.’
    
    Why bother , for all the thanks you’ll get from the Loons .
    
    Hoping the “big polluters” learn from this review their wokery , take a leaf outta Trumps book and say a big Foxtrot Oscar to the UN , WEF , Davos etc and get back to basics of making money , efficiently.
    
    13 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:39am
    - Damocles11
      
      Why bother? Probably so they can stave of the attacks of Mike Smith and his legal chainsaw (metaphor, see Peeni Henare).
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 12:11pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The same asshole who cut down the tree on one tree hill, and bashed the Americas cup with a sledge hammer, why can criminals get away with this shit
    
    27 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:49am
    - kowtow
      
      Why .
      
      Cos our “learned” judges have just seen another Trojan Horse to be trundled into our constitutional issues .
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 10:28am
    - MCōs
      
      I’ve got no problem with someone damaging the Americas Cup
      It’s been an albatross around the country’s neck, a very expensive albatross
      The taxpayers/ratepayers have spent God knows how many millions on the wretched thing and grumpy Grant Dalton OBE has moved racing offshore around the other side of the world because he couldn’t get any more
      
      4 17
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:30am
      - kowtow
        
        The ‘Cup” itself is a ‘treasure’ of our culture and must be respected.
        It’s also private property and no one has an y business attacking it.
        
        Now the competition , that’s another matter entirely.
        
        10 2
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:00pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      G the giant: In 1996 you were 34 years old. Therefore, you must surely know that Mike Smith had nothing to do with the damaging of the America’s Cup. A bit of basic checking would have served you well here.
      
      “On 14 March 1996, a man entered the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s clubroom and damaged the America’s Cup with a sledgehammer. The man, Benjamin Peri Nathan, was charged and found guilty of criminal damage and sentenced to 34 months imprisonment (reduced to 18 months on appeal).”
      
      (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_America%27s_Cup, 1992–2007: The IAAC rule.)
      
      12 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:30am
      - Fuzzysnuggleduck
        
        Yeah, I thought G was off there.
        The guy was a real bone-headed knuckle dragger from memory, inarticulate or just surly when asked questions about it on TV by a white devil. He has since acquired facial tattoos. (as has Mike Smith, since his infamy)
        
        But whoah! Actual prison time! Was truly a different era.
        I wonder if the guy who defaced the Te Papa exhibit more recently will feel the sting of the law?
        I jest of course.
        
        6 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:55pm
  - Burtland
    
    “The (boiler) upgrade will be partly funded by a $90m decarbonisation deal with the former government”
    
    EU pressures Nestle’s – Nestle’s pressures Fonterra – Fonterra pressures Labour – Labour robs the NZ net tax payer
    
    the “decarbonisation deal” – NZ tax payer robbed for Nestle’s benefit
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350157871/fonterras-36m-electrode-boiler-welcomed-southland
    
    16 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:49am
    - Grumpy Silver Top
      
      Yes, but. The foreign exchange that this country, ie its farmers and all the workers at Fonterra and the support structures etc etc, receive from our Dairy industry, ie Fonterra et al, is a huge contributor to the NZ economy. Without our Dairy industry NZ is truly a third world country.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:20am
      - GJM
        
        Dairy is 25% of NZ exports as I recall. The NZ domestic market for milk is less than 2% of NZ production, so if we didn’t export, there would be a whole lot of cheap land for sale, and cows in burial holes.
        
        6 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 11:54am
      - Burtland
        
        NZ will become a 3rd world country if our tax is paying for Switzerland and Nestles decarbonisation, dairy or no dairy.
        
        you cant subsidise your way out of decarbonisation – someone has to pay
        
        0 0
        Report
        February 10, 2024 8:11am
- jon
  
  Can anyone tell me, who is paying for Mike Smith to take on the seven big polluters, through the courts?
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:29am
  - Paulus
    
    The Taxpayers of course !
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:59am
    - jon
      
      Thanks Paulus, though i expected as much.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 2:02pm
  - artemisia
    
    According to Liam Hehir Mike Smith’s legal team is pro bono, but that the defendants are going to have costs in the millions even if they win. Mr Smith is requesting that costs fall to the parties.
    
    Assuming the Supreme Court agrees, nice work if you can get it.
    
    Can anyone advise how that works? What happens if the Supreme Court does not agree?
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 2:49pm
- PurplePen
  
  I’m repeating my post from yesterday, I’m assuming that’s ok as I don’t know how to link it and it was late evening. But wouldn’t Mike’s side of the case have to prove to the court that the climate change is 1. anthropogenic caused and 2. the change is detrimental to all the things he has listed. And I mean prove. Even the IPCC can’t definitively prove it as their reports are littered with terms such as likely, very likely, almost certain. Here’s some other interesting facts:
  
  Ol earth is very old as is its climate history. There are many versions of the graph below available from any number of scientific agencies. The graph shows CO2 over millions of years. It’s worth noting that CO2 is at the lowest it’s ever been … 400 parts per million (ppm) at the moment. At 200ppm plants die. It also shows over a long period there is no correlation between earth climate temperature and CO2.
  
  The other point is calculations from the IPCC show if you double the CO2 rapidly to 800ppm you decrease the thermal radiation to space by 1 degree. It’s based on a scientific principle called Chatelier’s Principle. If you have a system in equilibrium and you add more of one element to the system, the system will counter the addition of the additional element to get back to equilibrium.
  
  And here’s a quote directly out of an IPCC report:
  
  “In climate research and modelling, we should recognise that we are dealing with a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore that the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible”. Admittedly from their ARC3 report.
  
  Another point, all the climate models from the ICPP don’t allow for cloud formations as they are just too complex to model.
  
  https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11640-climate-myths-ice-cores-show-co2-rising-as-temperatures-fell/
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:49am
- rouppe
  
  Here’s something to try:
  
  “Mr Smith, didn’t your forebears burn entire forests just to score a few birds to eat?”
  
  “That wouldn’t have affected global emissions by any discernible amount!”
  
  “Mr Smith, are you aware that New Zealand’s contribution to global emissions is about 0.17% ?”
  
  “……”
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:24am
- Skippytony
  
  What a coincidence….
  
  https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/04/hawaii-supreme-court-justice-handling-lawsuit-against-oil-companies-calls-climate-change-an-existential-threat/
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:38am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    The climate clowns are simply jumping the gun. Their apostles have a hypothesis (that’s all it is) and it’s been shown over and over again to be full of holes. At best it’s a yet to be proven “maybe”. Modelling the outcomes of a (half arsed) hypothesis and selling it as settled science is insane.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 6:52pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Z aren’t forcing the stuff onto us. It’s called a market.
  Fossil fuels have made all our lives much better – I doubt Mike Smith would be alive today without them.
  
  Oh, CO2 is not pollution.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:43am
- Damocles11
  
  Does anyone know why none or these activists are looking to sue China through the international justice system? China is approving the equivalent of 2 new coal fired power stations every week.
  
  ‘In 2022, China produced about 1.34 billion tons of steel, a slight increase of 0.2 percent compared to 2021. In the past decade, China’s annual steel production has increased steadily from 1.08 billion tons in 2013.’
  
  Our one little steel mill at Glenbrook produces a pitiful 650,000 tons of steel a year….and Mike Smith is going after it through the courts for ‘causing climate change’. 😂
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 1:09pm
Paulus

Sadly today it still appears that the so called media are bitching about the ACT Party bill to review the fallout of the Treaty of Waitangi.
What they will not because it does not suit them is that the Treaty in to remain untouched
– there is nothing wrong with
– it the the Interpretations of the Treaty which need to be reviewed – there are some 35 plus interpretations taken following the Waitangi Tribunals interpretations and we should look at these in today’s terms.
The media are still wetting themselves – see Trevett in today’s Herald whereby she has her anti the Elected Government, with her knickers in a twist still – to sell papers really.
As people no longer read the newspapers she is not relevant in her gross dislike of the Government the country elected, and by telling the Prime Minister what he has to do – he was, unlike her, elected to be Prime Minister and make decisions.
Her opinion as what he must do is irrelevant.
I hear Tova is still far up herself today as well.
Will these women ever learn – no – they are not capable of doing so.
More in sorrow than in anger, unlike them.
34 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:20am
RockyJ

Leading article in the NZ Herald is text messages between Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Commissioner Andy Costner. They show a constructive and friendly relationship. It just shows that a boss can be clear with his or her expectations (recall the letter of expectation Mitchell gave Costner) and then have an amicable working relationship. I am impressed.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-commissioner-andrew-coster-and-police-minister-mark-mitchell-texts-reveal-insight-into-relationship/ZCCH2R5YKNEUNCCBWNHNEOMSHQ/
28 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:23am
- kowtow
  
  The headline might as well have been “Water is wet , who knew” for all that non story was about .
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:41am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hosking read them out this morning, Coster congratulated The minister on new job, Mark said thanks see you soon, what the hell are they supposed to do?
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:52am
- Inandout
  
  Rocky, good to read they are ‘connecting’.
  
  “Congratulations, Minister! I’ll [sic] looking forward to working with you as Minister of Police and connecting soon. Kind regards Andy.”
  
  Now can we see emails between Jacinda and Pfizer?
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:03am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    And some of the dodgy emails with that mate dhe gave a high paying job too.
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:40am
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  I’m surprised how semi-literate the texts are. You’d think people in positions of such responsibility might try just a little harder. It’s not like taxpayers are underpaying them.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:11pm
Maggie Pie

Can’t WAIT to watch the Tucker/Vlad interview.
Elon expecting it will get more than a Billion ‘X’ views!!

Lots of people with knowledge of the matter saying
Tucker might find himself on the Clinton’s list 🙁

https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1755424940575068245
22 4
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:25am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  I’m guessing that’s the list that doesn’t come with an Epstein Island weekend break?
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:31am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I think they might mean this one?
    
    https://twitter.com/Ran_Dumb_Libs/status/1755425605548466676
    
    9 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:02am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The most evil woman on the planet.
      
      11 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:18am
  - Paulus
    
    Is it not accepted that Clinton was recorded on 18 occasions as a passenger on one of the Epstein weekend barbeque flights.
    Hilary will of course deny !~
    
    6 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:02am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  “He’s been fired”. Coming from a woman that was given the ultimate archer by the the American people. Clinton has zero shame. What a waste of the worlds oxygen.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:47am
  - bjools
    
    “Spanish archer”…El Bow
    Just being pedantic, I like the expression and agree with you.
    
    7 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:35am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hillary’s head is still polluted with Russian misinformation.
  Interview is 6pm EST which is midday here. On X and his website http://www.tuckercarlson.com
  
  8 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:13am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    People are saying this is probably more the ‘hard-hitting’ interview style that CNN would wanted to have seen from Carlson 😀 😀 😀
    
    https://twitter.com/MaxEvansUMP/status/1755318270725366027
    
    LOL!!
    
    8 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:33am
    - Ghost
      
      Is this the interview where he was Playing in snow. And then he got in his Private plane
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:49am
kowtow

In yet another example of we hold back the facts we think you don’t need ;
NZME reports about the guy who used to be called Connor Taurapa Mathews, but now just Taurapa ,who was deregistered as a teacher but fails to tell us , as reported on kiwiblog GD yesterday, his current employment at ;
Te Puni Kokiri.

Just as they failed to report Seymour being flashed or Peni Henari’s gun talk.
26 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:27am
- pdm
  
  Has the thug that `flashed’ Seymour and others, almost certainly including Ladies given the setting, been arrested?
  
  Public indecency I think may be the appropriate charge.
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:28am
  - Paulus
    
    Nah! Bottom up is part of the Maori way of life that doesn’t change.
    It’s now known as arseholes.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:05am
  - H. Upmann
    
    Nobody has complained; the offending appendage was too small to see from any further away than two metres.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:19am
    - lifesgood
      
      That small!!!! How embarrassing. You’d think he’d be too ashamed to show it.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 12:50pm
peterwn

See:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/immigration-nz-warning-against-third-party-sites-ripping-off-tourists-buying-electronic-visas/B46IYFWVIZESPDWNJPKKJ6632A/

Issue for incoming Government – is there a real need for forcing everyone visiting NZ to have to buy one of these ‘visas’? The only purpose as far as I can see is to collect a ‘tax’ which goes to tourism interests. At the very least this ‘tax’ should be abolished.
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:32am
- rouppe
  
  The NZETA (theoretically) allows some pre-checking of a person’s eligibility before they board a plane.
  
  So for example, if someone had been deported with a “do not return” they used to be able to turn up at the border and hope the systems were so poor that they’d be let back in.
  
  The NZETA does some systematic checking, to deny such people from boarding the plane, and wasting customs time
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:28am
  - peterwn
    
    But would have stopped Mr Zaoui flushing his passport down the aeroplane dunny then claiming refugee status. Hope his Algerian prison cell is not too grotty (he has been charged with subversion).
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:49am
    - Paulus
      
      Understand Ahmed Zaoui still in prison awaiting trial in Algeria for Subversion, which is from whence he came here, with his extended family whom I assume are still here ~!
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 1:27pm
KH

If you thought Vlad Putin was evil, you would want to see the interview.
And to deny other people seeing it, is just anti democratic.
11 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:33am
pdm

I listened to the latest Leighton Smith podcast which was about an hour with Winston Peters last night.

I am no fan of Peters but Leighton handled him superbly (as one would expect) and it was an hour plus well spent. Link follows:

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/podcasts/the-
leighton-smith-podcast/leighton-smith-podcast-225-february-7th-2024-winston-peters/?utm_source=edm&utm_campaign=CE-RS-NL-EDM&utm_medium=email

mod – link is a bit convulted so if you want to tidy it up feeel free.
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:36am
- My-Gumboot
  
  Yep I had it on while smoking some Kahawai last night. Also not a big Winston fan, but he came across as pretty well.
  Perhaps it was a smart move for Luxon to not rule him out prior to the election. Winston and Shane Jones can shoot from the hip and take the flak for the Maori stuff for the Nats who seem to be floundering a bit.
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:36am
  - rouppe
    
    Except Luxon is not using them like that.
    
    He’s allowing the media to scare him into making “rule out” statements
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:30am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Here’s the link:
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/podcasts/the-leighton-smith-podcast/leighton-smith-podcast-225-february-7th-2024-winston-peters/
  
  You’ll need to find your way through the clutter on that web-page to the correct play button (it’s roughly about a third of the way down the web page above the red “follow”button). Intro crap ends and talk starts at 01:03.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:01pm
Hugh Jarse

Re Coster and Mitchell’s texts conversations. It seems beyond the experience of the angst ridden teenage girls in the media that two older white males who have to work together while perhaps not particularly liking each other can be polite and professional in their communication. They seem to judge everyone by their own limited experience and inter personal tools. Pathetic.
36 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:37am
- Swifty
  
  I really can’t see the point of the article you mention.
  
  Just what was it for?
  
  Is it supposed to be some sort of ‘gotcha’?
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:41am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Yep it seems like it, it also got raised in the AM show this morning with Erica Stanford being asked if she was comfortable with it FFS. Maybe coalition Ministers aren’t allowed to be civil to their CE’s, might be just Labour Ministers who can do that ?. Like only Labour are allowed to look after Maori or the poor. Whatever it is it’s infantile.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:37am
  - Damocles11
    
    I really think they asked for the texts under the OIA thinking there would definitely be something substantive there, like Mitchell firing up at Coster, but when it came back a nothingburger they just decided to run a story anyway.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:29pm
Scooter

After listening to the painful interview by Thomas Coughlan (NZ Herald) of Elizabeth Rata it was a relief to find there are still some interviewers and platforms where you can go to hear intelligent conversations, here is Reality Check Radio Paul Brennan’s interview.

https://realitycheck.radio/prof-elizabeth-rata-on-the-events-at-waitangi-and-her-research-on-the-two-treaties-of-waitangi-and-the-arguments-therein/
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:38am
peterwn

So there is concern that supermarkets want to use facial recognition to detect ‘shoppers’ who have been previously ‘trespassed’ from the supermarket. There is scope for another service. Just as Z servos have a ‘pay by plate’ system, perhaps the supermarkets could offer ‘pay by face’ for their regulars.
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:49am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nek minit everyone is wearing masks again 🙂
  
  13 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:27am
Yvette

‘Can’t be any clearer’: Luxon fires back after Seymour suggests PM’s ‘nervous’ about Treaty Bill

Byron Katie Q1: “Is it true?”

PM unwilling to stake his job on Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill stance

Q2: “Is it really, really true?”

It is a pity the media do not apply their oh so thorough questing for truth to most of what they themselves ask and write
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 8:51am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He has been crystal clear from day one about this, so has Peters, Seymour is doing what he did when he lost 50% of their support, his mouth once again getting away on him
  
  2 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:49am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Luxon has most definitely NOT been crystal clear prior to yesterday. There is a big difference between not being committed to support and making a definite commitment to NOT support. And even now the weaselly Luxon appears to be leaving some wriggle room and won’t make his support for his Iwi leader mates a matter of resignation.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 2:12pm
  - Damocles11
    
    You think Seymour is currently losing support. But I get your point of view: he must never stand up to National, only meek submission is acceptable.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:30pm
Grunter

I spent some time on ACT’s Treaty website last night
http://www.treaty.nz
It is very good. Easy to read and a lot of well explained points.

I’ve used it as a tool instead of arguing pointlessly with friends/family who have argued against ACT’s position in the past. So far 2 have been convinced already and will support ACT on this one.

Also, a very good performance by Seymour on an RNZ YouTube interview a day ago. Typical RNZ leftie attempts to take him apart. Seymour is very good, I don’t know how he stays so calm….!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jawqYy3rgQw&pp=ygURZGF2aWQgc2V5bW91ciBSTlo%3D
24 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:07am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The problem is pre election Seymour did not word his policy well, it left the thought the treaty should be scrubbed, I know that’s was not his agenda, but he damaged this policy, too late now to tidy it up, I know I will get down voted, but it’s fact.
  
  3 11
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:51am
  - Grunter
    
    It is only fact in the corrupt MSM. Stop reading the ODT!!
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:46am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Also G, I am still genuinely confused as to what Luxon’s view is. On the one hand he says no co-governance of public services. Next minute he asserts that TOW actually IS akin to a partnership. How can he have it both ways?
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 2:17pm
  - Damocles11
    
    You seem to know an awful lot about the mentality of ACT voters. The way you tell it, Seymour has made umpteen blunders and should be polling -15 by now. For the reckon, I don’t want Seymour to be a lap dog of National.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:32pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Seymour was excellent but FFS the whole presentation from RNZ was nauseatingly pretentious. Another mob of twits living in la la land!
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:14pm
TripeWryter

It is a bit rich of the Green MP Tamatha Paul to demand that CCTV remain to keep an eye on Wellington city – and then to blame the Government for cancelling Three Waters, which in her view would have provided money to fix Wellington’s water pipes, which leak.
The city council has floated the proposal to cut back on CCTV and use that money on fixing the pipes.
Miss Paul until Octover 14 was a Wellington city councillor.
She was a leading voice – if not the leading voice – for the council to allocate millions to cycleways, get cars out of the city, and generally save the planet.
You did bugger-all about the pipes, Tamatha.
29 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:11am
- Burtland
  
  Tamatha Paul, in Sept last year, blamed the pipes on
  
  “nine years of a National government that failed to invest properly in Wellington City’s water and transport infrastructure”
  
  Apparently six years of Labour doesnt count and the NZ Tax payer should pay.
  
  another Wellington fruitcake
  
  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=801245992004011&set=a.352539880207960
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:39am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Lol Burt, “National failed to invest”. How about Wellington City Council failed to invest. Just another Greenist whack-job who thinks money grows on trees and the rest of NZ should have to pay for Wellington’s mismanagement. I’m surprised that the Greenists haven’t tried to implement a fuel tax to gather up more money to waste.
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 10, 2024 10:16am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  What ever happened to using the water part of the rates to invest in pipes ffs
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:00am
- artemisia
  
  Slogans, ideology and always someone else’s fault. Yep, that’s her.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:09pm
Matt Long

Did your family agree to give $24,000 to the international Climate Rort? On top of domestic costs?
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/barry-brill-an-absurd-ardern-ambition
24 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:13am
- Drone
  
  Matt Long, this is scary. I haven’t seen anything about it anywhere in the MSM (doesn’t mean it wasn’t there). I will wait to see it become headline news.
  
  9 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:13am
  - Ghost
    
    The 50% reduction was reported widely in NZ and around the world when she did it, and the $30 billion hole was reported 2 years ago.
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/climate-master-plan-what-to-expect-from-todays-big-reveal/HE7OO6MZDIGRJAJ7LR75VOR67E/
    https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/climate-change/we-uncover-nzs-30-billion-carbon-target-hole
    https://newsroom.co.nz/2022/10/10/if-a-tree-falls-in-an-overseas-forest-what-could-30b-buy-nz-instead/
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:37am
- Grunter
  
  More money for the ponzi scheme. Surely Luxon will stop this nonsense.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:40am
- Burtland
  
  Well it seems the climate rort is coming to its natural conclusion …
  
  as reported by the BBC today, mother earth didnt read the Paris Agreement “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
  
  what now for all the pledges, legislation and profligate spending – double down?
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68110310
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:18am
- artemisia
  
  Meanwhile Liam Hehir is mind boggled today – New Zealand’s newest climate activist – The Supreme Court
  
  The prospect of holding individual businesses liable to individual claimants for their contributions to climate change is a bit mind boggling. We are not talking about a particular factory contributing to the particular pollution of a particular river. Global warming is, as the name suggests, a worldwide phenomenon involving countless sources of emissions.
  
  Paywalled on ZBPLUS but might be X referenced.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:36pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTHGaZHasmg
Shane Jones Talks To Corin Dan About Rebuilding Our Nation’s Pride, Resilience, And Unity.
Shane Jones Talks to Corin Dan about rebuilding our nation’s pride, resilience, and unity. Touching on Waitangi, Ratana, Maoridom and a range of issues.
9 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:18am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G2wFMK5DO0
I Found A Massive Immigrant Community Being Built Near Houston.
In this video, I traveled out to Colony Ridge, a sprawling housing development marketed to Mexicans. [I guess there won’t be any clips on the Sux O’Clock ‘news’.]
6 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:19am
Damocles11

Unless Luxon gets more assertive with the rude and borderline out of control media pack, New Zealanders will lose respect for him. New Zealanders are turning away from the mainstream media, for good reason. The mainstream media treats the general public with utter contempt, and it’s a national embarrassment when they treat the Prime Minister the same way & do it to his face.
22 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:27am
- Ghost
  
  You seem to get embarrassed by everything. There is nothing new in how stand ups go.
  
  1 19
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:31am
  - Damocles11
    
    “Jessica, and then Tova”. Calm and orderly media playing ball. Tune in to a Luxon press conference and it’s mainly a bunch of mad yelling.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:35pm
    - Ghost
      
      No, not really. I suggest you look at media pressers. You just like to create issues that aren’t there. It’s normal for the media to shout out to get a questions, and it’s normal in other countries as well
      
      Here is a presser where it shows the media shout out to get selected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO7lRX9ratc
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 9:47pm
- PeeJay
  
  Personally, I have no issue with the media holding the prime minister, nor any politician, to account. They should be asking the hard questions – it is literally their job. Anyone who seeks or gains public office, regardless of political affiliation, should be subject to hard questioning from the media. My issues with the media are that they are clearly displaying their left wing bias (far too many examples to list) and, most importantly, where was this ‘holding the government to account’ over the last six years?
  
  All politicians should be held to account, regardless of party or political view.
  
  I’d have no issue with the media’s approach to the government if it was consistent and free from their own bias. However, we can all see the soft touch / powder puff interviews of Labour, Greens or Maori politicians for what they are – they are not only interviewing politicians with whom they agree, but they are often interviewing their mates – punches are pulled, free passes are handed out and no hard questions are to be asked. It’s so bloody obvious it’s pathetic.
  
  It’s always difficult to put aside our own bias and views. However, a core part of being a journalist is to be free from bias and present the facts and far too many individuals in our media seem incapable of this basic requirement of the craft. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the public trust in media is declining so rapidly.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:10am
  - Ghost
    
    And the problem on this blog when you have someone in the media that holds both sides to account like Heather du Plessis-Allan is that people don’t thank her for doing her job, they bitch she is turning into a leftie. It’s a no win situation for the few who actually know how to do their job.
    
    6 12
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:19am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It’s these made up pathetic stories they do that possess me off, when Collins was in Aussie they did some touristy things, Shd nearly bumped the Aussie counter part over, the media head line, Crusher Collins almost bowls over counterpart or something to that effect, it was utter bullshit
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:23am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Rubbish, part of the reason he is pm was because people seen the way the frenzied attacks from Labours paid for media were going, the more they treat him like shit, the more level headed voters will go off media snd support the government, let’s not forget a poll late Jan showed Nats surging to 41%
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:03am
- Paulus
  
  In treating us all with contempt the media will soon go bust after the PIFJ (our money) finishes.
  Not too far away as some are already on the breadline and will have to reduce staff soon – eh Tova -last in first out.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:10am
Chuck Bird

I hope that Luxon is not going pay the $30 Billion Ardern promised. As Seymour has said we pay enough so that other countries do treat NZ as a pariah.

I hope Act has a say and makes sure we do not replace Rod Carr will another climate alarmist.

BARRY BRILL: An Absurd Ardern Ambition

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/barry-brill-an-absurd-ardern-ambition?postId=65c3e5c2b9a8c685c71fc1d1
29 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:29am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Every single one of Ardern’s ‘Captain’s Calls’ need to be assigned to the rubbish bin.
  The amount of damage that crazy socialist did to NZ is incredible.
  
  30 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:09am
  - Grumpy Silver Top
    
    I suspect she is a short-term-viewpoint egotist. I want to look good now! No consideration was undertaken into the long term effects of the Captain’s Call announcements, any of them. Even in the short term of 6 years, they were all bs posturing.
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:25am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That will be seen as thirty billion waste, notice they changed the free fees too last year of study, this means after this year no payments for at least two years, then another election where they can say we can dump this and save a billion
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:25am
- Burtland
  
  So now weve hit 1.5deg whats the plan
  
  Rod Carr? … hello hello
  Lisa Tumahai? …
  Jo Hendy? …
  Judy Lawrence? …
  Catherine Leining? …
  James Renwick? …
  Tanira Kingi? …
  Andy Reisinger? …
  Steven Ratuva? …
  
  yoo-hoo anyone home …
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:41am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I see Jo Hendy is Shaun Hendy’s sister.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:49am
- PurplePen
  
  Should ask Ardern for her and hubby’s share first .. and all Labour ministers from last govt.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 2:01pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Yes a tribal raid/Coup is happening.
I do wish NZ would wake up to this.
Put some serious heavy pressure on Luxon. Is he the Prime Minister or a Maori sympathiser?
I have emailed Chris Luxon to express my views on this, and to ask him how long he expects to stay in his job. No reply yet.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/what-we-all-have-to-realise-is-that-a-tribal-raid-is-in-progress/
18 5
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:38am
- Grunter
  
  “Yes a tribal raid/Coup is happening.
  I do wish NZ would wake up to this.”
  
  Exactly Steve O
  
  IMO – this is the single issue that has the potential to tip up NZ. This type of problem has caused so much havoc in other countries at times. There are no examples where separate race-based systems have ever worked. They all end up in total chaos.
  
  Luxon saying he won’t listen to public submissions to the Select Committee is appalling. He listens to the Maori Separatists that want apartheid, but not to the rest of NZ. That has not surprised me, but appalling all the same.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:17am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He has already told Māori there will not be any separatist services
    
    3 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:27am
    - Grunter
      
      Yep – but he still calls the Treaty a partnership and leaves to door wide open for future re-interpretation. We have all seen what Ardern did with it.
      
      Who in their right mind would invest in a country that has some wishy-washy ‘partnership’ between obscure races??
      
      14 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 11:56am
      - Ghost
        
        It’s been a partnership since the court of appeal declared it one in the 1987 land case
        
        2 8
        Report
        February 9, 2024 12:12pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Ghost. AKIN to a partnership. AKIN. Like um, sort of. IE a load of waffle.
        
        2 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 8:45pm
    - Paulus
      
      What does he mean by saying that there will not be any separatist services ?
      Does that include the Waitangi Tribunal ?
      Get off the grass Prime Minister.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 1:31pm
  - PurplePen
    
    And those separatists or tribalists are very very much a minority, even among Maori. Luxon is unfathomable at the moment.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 1:57pm
cmm

I bet the new 10 shot taser is somehow racist.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350172628/new-tasers-coming-police-officer-near-you

I wonder though on the practicality of a ten shot taser.
If tasing hasn’t fixed the problem in 5 shots then it’s probably time for lead.
16 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 9:57am
- Libertarians are right
  
  10 gang members can’t be dealt with with 1 bullet.
  
  10 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 9:59am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    So buy 10 bullets. It is that simple.
    
    9 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Cost of lead? About one lousy dollar. That’s 9mm. Make it a 44.
  
  9 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 10:12am
  - cmm
    
    Cost of keeping a prisoner is $600 a day or more, so $1 sounds like a good deal.
    
    12 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:54am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Man wakes up from 3 year coma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbALaoX9r0
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:11am
Swifty

Here a life lesson for the day.

When you break up, don’t throw out your missus’ balls she kept in the fridge – she might have a go at you in the courts.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13062699/testicles-michigan-transgender-muslim-woman-sued-genitals.html

Make sure that when she leaves she takes her balls with her.

Important to know I reckon.
13 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:25am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  It surely was a satire…but then it seems not. Just insane people who really exist.
  
  Looked like parody since I had saved an internet meme like that previously, all the way back in 2017.
  
  https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1252556-i-bet-there-will-be-flying-cars-in-the-future
  
  Nope, no flying cars in this future. But there are transgender-Muslims.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 2:03pm
JJ56

Mann vs Simberg and Steyn – Mann wins https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/breaking-news-jury-finds-against-steyn-climate-fraud-rewarded/
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:36am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  What a disgrace!
  The best “evidence” that Mann came up with seemed to be that somebody gave him a mean look at a supermarket, or the knowingly false record of funding applications that got turned down.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:01pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  These guys have been paying close attention to the trial, even doing some reconstructions of what happened in the trial…
  
  https://youtu.be/UQJ1bLahMSM?si=CJPEjr2UbFwr0YzZ
  
  Tom Nelson called it though – he didn’t have much hope that the jury would come to the correct verdict.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:57pm
Maggie Pie

LDR has just realeased the list of what it says are “Auckland’s Filthiest Restaurants”
This year, 43 have been identified as being either a D or E grade.

Probably comes as no surprise to most people, that of the 43 named, 37 are either Asian or Indian. And certainly of no surprise to me, that none of them are in Remuera.
11 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:37am
- MCōs
  
  India is Asian and so is Turkey
  
  4 10
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 11:50am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I think most people of normal intelligence will get the drift Cossie.
    And one is a Kebab shop ….so Turkey’s represented.
    None are Thai you’ll be pleeased to no 😀
    
    13 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 11:59am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Calling Indians and Turkish people “Asian” seems to be some strange lefty UK thing. Normal people know Asians are very distinctly different physically. As with all things lefty this will have arisen in an attempt to hide some “hurtful” truth which is obvious to normal people.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 1:41pm
  - Jack5
    
    Europeans, at least North Europeans, are less distinct from Asians than you think.
    
    DNA research has added to traditional studies of archaeologists, and of linguists who study language history.
    
    Not only are northern and eastern Europeans partly or mainly descended from people from the steppes of Russia and Kazahkstan, but these ancestors introduced to Europeans genes that made them susceptible to some diseases, including multiple sclerosis.
    
    An ancient Indo-European language over thousands of years led to English and most other European languages, and also to Persian and to Sanskrit the ancient tongue of northern India.
    
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yamnaya-herders-dna-europeans-genetic-multiple-sclerosis
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 3:17pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Yes and if we go way back we could do some more intensive mental gymnastics to claim we are all “Africans”.
      
      I’m thinking this was all about embedded lefties muddying the waters on crime stats, lest any lowly ordinary humans come to the realisation that some communities commit more crime than others.
      
      Rename those communities committing more crime with the same name as the ones committing much less crime. Lefty propaganda problem solved!
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 5:23pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    ‘India is Asian and so is Turkey’
    
    Not Turkey West of the Golden Horn. Those Turks are European.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 10:18pm
- PurplePen
  
  Have to say from last visit to Bangkok the Thai restaurants there and even the mall street food vendor outlets are spic and span. If they can do it there , hy can’t they clean up their act here.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 1:55pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

CNN Town Hall.
Nikki Haley confronts Donald Trump.//

https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1754038949188702576?
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:47am
Jack5

Accountants get on the Global Warming wagon …

Red Radio reports 40 per cent of companies listed on the NZ Stock Exchange are reporting on climate change risk.

It would be more interesting to know:

– which accountants have retained their heads in the weather panic.

– relationship between profitability and company fascination with “global warming”.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/508407/big-jump-in-new-zealand-companies-disclosing-climate-related-risks-report
8 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:51am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Jack, I am an accountant (or was, until I retired). The whole green reporting thing is basically a money making gig for the big Audit and Consultancy firms. And a good few CEO’s over the last 30 years spend a good amount of time pissing on posts. Green credentials make them more employable.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 10, 2024 10:10am
BeaB

Ministry of Education debacle. 14,000 extra staff since Winston anointed Ardern and Labour. They still had to spend millions on consultants to write the new curriculum, which will probably be mainly dumped.
Now they can’t deliver the most basic and essential property projects, desperately needed by schools which have already been waiting for years.
Sack the CEO. Sack most of the staff. Begin again. Read Picot.
23 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 11:58am
- Paulus
  
  In Otumoetai, Tauranga there is just finished a brand new huge multi Million (guess $35mill) new Kura – ex Primary School – this is the largest three story apparently know to some people in education.
  It is two huge three story blocks outside patterned tile finished and of course full window slat covers and total huge air conditions, plus reception and large round Maori style Kapa Haka hall. And large car park for teachers. This must be be of the largest school , and most expensive, of any kind built over the last two/three years.
  This we are not told as was done very quietly over the last two years – no local paper comments of a primary school for 750.
  We assume it is awaiting some Maori waffle probably next week before the children move 300 metres away from the old primary school, sorry got changed to a Kura last year.
  We are told that biggest problem for teachers, is that a large proportion, of the children that actually attend – many refugees and immigrants and locals, is they cannot speak English or much else.
  What the old Kura is to be used for, we again have no idea.
  Nor far away in Bethlehem (can see between the other) is now about 6/7 years old a new Maori Secondary School, but no results, or anything are publicised.
  We know that they travel distances in their own coaches and that no expenses are spared.
  All this kind of work is done in effectively private over recent years at huge Taxpayers expense for appalling education results – and will have great difficulty in getting better, for well known reasons.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 1:51pm
  - MCōs
    
    Are you referring to Bethlehem College?
    https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/find-school/school/population/age?district=&region=&school=77
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 5:30pm
I remember when

What a strange world we live in.
“Kia Ora” started the grammatically correct, nicely worded and neatly printed begging sign.
Holding them were two young Maori, one male the other female, sitting at different entrances to the shopping centre.
Meanwhile, inside the centre, someone who was obviously a grandmother, was gainfully employed, presumably supplementing their pension.
14 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 12:11pm
- Inandout
  
  Irw, and in supermarkets trolley walkouts with free items take place.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 12:22pm
  - MCōs
    
    Hence the name ‘Inandout’?
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 5:11pm
Ghost

Tucker’s interview with Putin is now up

https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 12:30pm
- Inandout
  
  Ghost, it is seriously overloaded at present.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 1:28pm
  - Ghost
    
    Try YouTube
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOCWBhuDdDo
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 1:37pm
- NothingLeft
  
  A fairly short neutral summary and notes of interview: https://ehack.com/
  
  Doesn’t look to be anything said that could or will make any real change to situation.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:59pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/
Putin is translated, but he does speak English, fluent enough to correct his translators.
6 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 12:39pm
Maggie Pie

It’s now been a month to the day that I tweeted @RMarchNZ to ask exactly what he’s been doing since October 8th to justify pulling 4k a week from New Zealand taxpayers.
STILL no response!

Are ‘summer siestas’ still a thing for Mexicans?
12 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 12:51pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Mags, I go with Richard Hammond’s Mexican description: “Why would you want a Mexican car? Because cars reflect national characteristics don’t they? Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat.”
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 10, 2024 10:07am
MCōs

Renewing a Thai passport involves an in person interview at the embassy in Wellington
Consequently we drove down there from Auckland the other day and returned yesterday. The applicant, my wife, refuses to fly in and out of the airport down there.
On our way back the trip was elongated by about four hours by road works. Including, but not limited to, some sort of road resurfacing at Waitahanui near Taupo
Pro tip
Go round the other side of the lake!
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 1:11pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  I find Sygic car navigation to be pretty good for automatically routing around holdups (if there is an alternative route to be had).
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 1:45pm
  - MCōs
    
    Today Google maps indicates heavy congestion on SH1 where we were bogged down yesterday
    For most of the time while we sat there we had no reception so didn’t know what was going on
    I’d have thought NZTA might’ve put up a sign at Turangi
    Maybe the sign branch has been given the heave ho already?
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 2:48pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Turangi is a Maori word.
      Maybe it was de-maorified but NZTA got it wrong?
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 4:12pm
      - MCōs
        
        What?
        
        2 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 5:08pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      MCōs: “For most of the time while we sat there we had no reception so didn’t know what was going on”
      
      Which network were you on?
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 5:30pm
wreck1080

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/john-macdonald-i-didnt-buy-three-waters-now-ive-got-non-buyers-remorse/K2CFPKPO7VFFBFOD5TITJMD3YM/

John Macdonald misses the point of three waters opposition. That is, three waters was a treaty payout disguised as an infrastructure project.

To date, government have kept secret the fiscal structure of three waters. Three waters was going to create a government backed system allowing Maori to tax every household and business in the country. Those who don’t pay the tax would have their water cut off!

Maori would not have had to do a single hour of work or pay a single dollar in maintaining the three waters infrastructure.

Interesting I see that investors are running scared from the Whakapapa ski field rescue buyout …. Maori demands were simply excessive. Is Turoa a done deal? Poor buggers who have to deal with that mess!
18 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 1:14pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Yep, was really piss poor reflection on what the opposition was about. Either avoiding it actively – maybe a lingering effect of the PIJF or ideological induced blindness, or else the guys is just a thickie who is less politically insightful than a random person on the footpath. Either way, a waste of a banner on the website.
  Lack of local control, and essentially handing the deciding vote on the management of the asset to Maori was the issue that repelled people. The fact the entities boundaries were drawn up along iwi rohe was a giveaway on the real ambition of Mahuta there.
  Yeah, Mahuta reaalllly cared about local government issues. Not using it as a stalking horse at all.
  Of course people can see that central government is needed to assist in water somehow- either compelling local councils to stick to their key obligations around public services (which does not mean building theatres & vanity projects) AND perhaps a conditional financial assistance on those that need it (which does not mean bailing them out over water out so that councils can build cycleways and rainbow crossings instead).
  
  I think the issue is that vainglorious council people always want to leave a legacy, and well-maintained pipes hidden under the ground is not deemed worthy compared to some expensive public architecture or engineering.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 2:27pm
Paulus

What was suggested in the Three Waters Scheme was to ensure that all properties had water input control, plus outpu.t so charges can be raised by both water in and sewage out.
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 1:55pm
Maggie Pie

I’ve really warmed to Putin tbh!
Makes you wonder what this country would be like if Cookie has been a Muscovite?

And to those of youse like me wondering who the American journalist Evan Gershkovich is who’s been imprisoned for spying (vid @ 1:51:07), here’s a link to some of the stories he wrote about Russia….

https://wsj.com/story/on-the-ground-in-putins-russia-evan-gershkovichs-coverage-of-a-country-at-war-922125c2

(The photography is truly amazing.)
3 4
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 1:56pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Before Ukraine I thought that Putin was OK.
  Is he being blackmailed to take over Ukraine just to stay in power? Or, if he drops the lot Russia will be back to the USSR days?
  
  4 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:06pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I developed a whole new respect for Vlad a couple of years back when I discovered
    he uses the same wonderful Fragrance as my partner does.
    
    3 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 3:42pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Sounds reasonable. 🤣
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 6:24pm
- MCōs
  
  I have a copy of Diana Moseley’s autobiography
  She was the wife of the loathsome Oswald Moseley and an open admirer of Herr Hitler throughout her life
  He was apparently a very persuasive and charming fellow as was she
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:44pm
jon

The latest monthly Curia poll will be out in next few days. Hopefully Act is surging, NZF get a bounce and the Nats get a wakeup call.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 2:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

A police officer stepped forward with one unnerving revelation about the Epstein files.

Cop Joseph Recarry gave CDs to Cop John Dougan for safekeeping. He copied the CDs to a hard drive, and gave them back. Dougan is now in Russia and Recarey is dead. How Come?
Dougan will not release the files because the FBI already has them. He says the FBI should release them. The corruption runs deep in the FBI, DOJ, Police, and anywhere Democrats are involved!

https://unmuzzlednews.com/a-police-officer-stepped-forward-with-one-unnerving-revelation-about-the-epstein-files/?
6 3
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 2:45pm
- Ghost
  
  Ummm, because he was ill and died.
  
  https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/lifestyle/death-notices/2018/06/01/decorated-former-palm-beach-detective/9600759007/
  
  You need to stop falling for things on the internet, you post so much crap that is false.
  
  And the last story I read John Douga fled to Russia with information about the Seth Richd’s murder. So much shit going around and it’s changed for each crap site and quickly debunked.
  
  3 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:04pm
  - Inandout
    
    Ghost. as reported:
    ‘No other information about the cause of death was released’.
    
    Overworked, or the man who knew too much?
    
    5 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 3:17pm
    - Ghost
      
      He had retired and was working privately when he passed. Retired in 2013, passed in 2018. Just another internet myth
      
      https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/west-palm-beach-fl/joseph-recarey-7862448
      
      1 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 3:27pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Passed what?🤔
        
        Oh, you mean passed away?😛
        
        2 0
        Report
        February 9, 2024 5:39pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Good thing that Ghost and I do not have any dirt on Hillary.
      No sarc.
      
      4 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 4:27pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Funny how a lot of people who die seem to be centered around certain things that need to be kept quiet.
    
    https://twitter.com/Ran_Dumb_Libs/status/1755425605548466676
    
    No?
    
    5 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 4:21pm
    - Ghost
      
      He died of an illness with his family around him. He died 5 years after retiring as a cop. I realise you like to believe everything on the internet, but you really need to stop believing everything on the internet
      
      2 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 9, 2024 4:29pm
- miltonF
  
  Indeed. It’s a bit like how the FBI had Hunter Biden’s laptop for months before the election and said nothing. They let the MSM run with (or instructed them) the “laptop is Russian disinformation” narrative. This was disinformation and election interference.
  
  It’s a complete s$&tshow really. These intelligence services are completely compromised. They ARE the deep state.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 4:03pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Silly Ol’ Joe calls press conference to dispel Special Counsels assertion
he has ‘memory issues’.

Tells reporters…. “Gaza is on the Mexican border”

https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1755761097624236525

😀 😀 😀
8 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 3:33pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, as regards Biden can someone verify if the PM ZB host said Joe last year had passed the cognitive test with flying colours?
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:39pm
- Ghost
  
  Now I understand why the greens are so passionate about Gaza, one of their mp’s lived next to it before he left Mexico……
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 3:43pm
Jack5

San Francisco parents have won a battle with the public school system over the age children can start learning algebra.

After about a decade, San Francisco’s Unified School district has conceded in a battle with parents over a ban on pupils studying algebra before high school. The goal of the ban was to reduce inequities from identifying students by math ability too young. It was argued delaying beginning algebra would reduce racial inequity.

The Wall Street Journal backgrounds the issue this way:

“The subject is the gateway to a series of math classes culminating in calculus, which many see as crucial for STEM careers and selective college admissions. Students aspiring to take calculus before graduating have traditionally begun this sequence in eighth grade.

STEM careers are based on, or require a foundation in: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The newspaper says a quarter to a third of American eighth-graders take algebra. (High school in the United States begins at grade 9 and goes to grade 12.) In most districts, students can choose when to enrol in algebra based on parent or teacher recommendations, a system that tends to fast-track fewer Black and ethnic Latin-American pupils.

The percentages of young Americans who reach calculus-level in algebra before graduation are: Asians 48; Whites 22; Latin-Americans 14; Blacks 11.

American “middle schools,” sometimes called junior high schools, cater for grade 6 to grade 8, pupils typically aged 11 or 12 to 13 or 14.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 3:34pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wots algebra? Is it like core math?//
  
  3 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 4:38pm
  - Jack5
    
    “Core math” is this new approach to maths. Not what the parents have been fighting over:
    
    https://brighterly.com/blog/common-core-math/
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 7:52pm
- [email protected]
  
  Very funny,
  
  About a month ago I started trying to teach simple algebra to our two seven year old twins. They absolutely loved it, begging me daily to do some more.
  
  Then taught them to add four columns of four digit numbers using the carry principal. They would do the sums then use a calculator to verify the accuracy of their results.
  
  Hope I don’t get into too much trouble with their school. Seeing as to how they go to a very respected Catholic school in Whangarei I doubt I will have to be too worried.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 6:35pm
Chuck Bird

DONALD TRUMP WARNS PRO-HAMAS SUPPORTERS IN AMERICA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRWUPUOeJ1Q
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 3:51pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Well worth the15 minute watch, thankyou.
  Dropped it on Facebook – I will be in jail tomorrow LOL!
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 5:05pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Chuck the guy speaks a lot of sense. He seems to be completely immune to the woke brain virus.
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 5:59pm
- Jack5
  
  Who would not support the man in Chuck Bird’s link when the man asks rhetorically: “What has Woke-ism given to the world?”
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 7:56pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Tuku Morgan survives as CEO of Tainui-Waikato’s piggy-bank.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350174215/tukoroirangi-morgan-retains-tainui-leadership-role
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 4:07pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  No numbers.
  Was it a silent auction?
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 5:08pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

How did the FBI get into Biden’s garage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvp_jiSWefw
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 5:29pm
Maggie Pie

My doublre partner retweets….

https://twitter.com/DigiFusion24/status/1755648081394081949
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 7:06pm
Gravelroad

I once thought that the TV1 “journalist “ Benedict Collins, was one of the more sensible and believable reporters.
But this evening, during a piece on Te News about the resumption of pseudoephdrine availability in pharmacies, he challenged Minister David Seymour about whether he would resign if more pharmacy burglaries resulted from this policy.
Can anyone recall if any journalist in the past six years of the Labour Party government asked a minister if they would resign if one of their policies failed in any way?
Seymour said no, he wouldn’t resign.
Stupid question.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 7:09pm
- Jack5
  
  I notice this in the Wikipedia entry on pseudoephedrine:
  
  Retailers in the US have created corporate policies restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine-containing products. Their policies restrict sales by limiting purchase quantities and requiring a minimum age and government issued photographic identification. These requirements are similar to and sometimes more stringent than existing law.
  
  The TV reporter’s an idiot unless he asked whether our retailers are going to self-regulate sales, and how they will do this.
  
  As for burglaries – chemists’ shops won’t be any more vulnerable than dairies.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:01pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/te-ao-maori/350173947/university-otago-appoints-first-deputy-vice-chancellor-maori
Maori ?
What crap !
From Wikipedia:
“Ruru was born in Australia and is of Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Maniapoto descent. Her mother and both maternal grandparents were English and Australian.”

Very selective ancestry: no doubt because of the monetary benefits of a “maori” connection.

This is simply corruption.
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 9, 2024 7:16pm
- Jethrod
  
  Does this mean Grant Robertson doesn’t get his Otago University job that everyone has been worried about?
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 7:28pm
- Jack5
  
  The appointment is another landmark in Ngai Tahu”s Maorification of Otago University.
  
  Already all research projects at Otago must be vetted by a Maori committee, and racial preference is used in admission to the university’s medical courses.
  
  Here’s prominent Otago Maori Edward Ellison on the appointment: “We acknowledge the university for the commitment to Maori and matauraka [traditional knowledge] that the position represents.”
  
  The following is from the Otago University site on Maori “consultation” required on research projects at the university:
  
  “Please note:
  
  “Appropriate consultation is required before you begin work on research proposals.
  
  “Consultation is required for all areas of research.
  
  “Consultation may take time – so start well in advance of preparing your proposal.”
  
  Details:
  
  https://www.otago.ac.nz/research/maoriconsultation?policy=Research
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 7:41pm
- MCōs
  
  You appear to be skeptical about her being Māori
  Do you exam the lineage of everyone in this manner to determine, for example, the true percentage of the Māori prison population?
  Maybe everyone in the country should be made to take a dna to find out their true ethnicity
  Patterns could be modeled and certain persons prohibited from driving and so on.
  
  2 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 9, 2024 8:48pm
  - Damocles11
    
    I think you’ve missed the point entirely.
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 9, 2024 9:44pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« This would be a good research project

Biden must withdraw now »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

Target achieved II
Good progress on attendance
Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments

Links

Parliament fails to defend transparency
No Right Turn
"The principal view of human laws is, or ought always to be, to explain, protect, and enforce such rights as are absolute, which in themselves are few and simple."
Not PC
To be fair – nothing manages to celebrate the sham 250 year democracy of a neofascist regime quite like Vanilla Ice
The Daily Blog
Daily review 04/06/2026
The Standard
Word of the day
Hompaddock
The response to Budget 2026 has been unusually muted
Point of Order
We Are a Country That Decided Housing Was The Economy
No Minister
My Opening Statement for the UATX Caplan-Jones Immigration Rematch
Utopia
Playing with numbers.
Kiwipolitico
Another non-tariff barrier
Offsetting Behaviour
Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 18
Stats Chat
Budget 2026
NZCPR
UK Conversion Therapy Ban, Digital ID, Rallies, Elections
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: