The 2nd US Presidential debate was a terrible ugly debate, at least at first. To have one candidate get up and proclaim that the spouse of the other candidate is a rapist was so ugly. Especially when the spouse is a former US President, and sitting in the audience with his daughter.

Yes Juanita Broaddrick has made allegations that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 but as it happens there is also an accusation of rape against Donald Trump. Thank God Hillary Clinton didn’t respond by bringing that up. These allegations should be dealt with in court, not in political debates.

Almost as bad a lowlight was Trump proclaiming that if he wins the election, Hillary Clinton will be in jail. This is what you might expect in Uganda politics, not the US. To have someone seeking the most powerful job in the world proclaim he will jail his political opponent is chilling.

It made his casual dismissal of his Vice-Presidential candidate’s remarks on Syria as totally wrong, as less important than they normally would be.

However despite all this, the second debate was actually better for Trump that the first one. If you put aside the awful first 20 to 30 minutes, he was far more effective in attacking the foreign and domestic policies of Clinton and Obama. He didn’t allow her to get inside his head this time and make it all about his business record. And even on the issue of his taxes, he responded quite well.

To some degree they both came out of the debate having done what they needed to do.

There was incredible pressure on Trump with the 2005 video tape. His entire campaign was seen to be on the brink of collapse, yet he got through the debate with a better performance than in the first one. His ugly ugly remarks about the Clintons probably went down well with his core supporters.

As for Clinton, she mainly played defence, interrupting Trump rarely. She didn’t need to. She now has a commanding lead in the polls and just had to get through the debate. She is perhaps fortunate that the Wikileaks leaks of her speeches were released around the time of the Trump tape. If they had come out during the primary against Bernie Sanders, she may have lost to him. They show her as very friendly to Wall Street (saying bankers are best placed to regulate themselves) and also as a rampant free trader (which is great, except contradicts her phony position on TPP).

It could have been even uglier. The Trump campaign tried to have the accusers against Bill Clinton seated next to him, so they could confront him. This really would have turned it into the Jerry Springer show.  It still ranks as the worst debate I have ever watched in a democracy.

Audrey Young had done 10 reasons Helen Clark didn’t become UN Secretary-General. They are:

1. State of Origin I: She was not from Eastern Europe
2. State of Origin II: She was not from Europe at all
3. Leadership Style: Guterres is seen as a warmer character than Clark.
4. Refugee crisis: Helped Guterres.
5. Reform agenda: P5 not want a reformer
6. No advantage: Security Council not into “turn for a woman”
7. Head start: Clark started campaigning too late
8. US opposition: US not forgiven her for the 80s
9. UK’s passive support: UK supportive but not a champion
10. No momentum: Clark’s support declined.

The Herald reports:

Air New Zealand will begin rolling out inflight wifi on its jet services next year, starting with transtasman flights.

Chief executive Christopher Luxon said “Air New Zealand is in the final stages of commercial negotiations with suppliers.

Proving flights would begin in the second half of 2017 and internet services progressively available on Tasman, Pacific Island and long haul jet fleets from the end of next year, said Luxon.

The airline is negotiating with Inmarsat and Panasonic Avionics. Internet connectivity wil be supplied by Inmarsat’s new global GX satellite constellation and integrated with Air New Zealand’s in-cabin Panasonic Avionics technology.

Domestic New Zealand jet services were likely to offer a wifi service from 2018.

Long overdue. Hopefully it will be priced at a sane level.

Stuff reports:

It was just a scraped knee. So three-year-old Ashley Pacheco’s Venezuelan parents did what parents do: They gave her a hug, cleaned the wound twice with rubbing alcohol and thought no more of it.

Two weeks later, the little girl writhed screaming in a hospital bed. Her breathing came in ragged gasps as she begged passing patients for a sip of water.

Her mother stayed day and night in the trauma unit. She kept Ashley on an empty stomach in case she might cut in front of hundreds of other patients for emergency surgery in one of the hospital’s few functioning operating rooms.

Her father scoured Caracas for scarce antibiotics to fight the infection spreading through his daughter’s body. They had no idea how much worse it was going to get.

If Venezuela has become dangerous for the healthy, it is now deadly for those who fall ill.

One in three people admitted to public hospitals last year died, the government reports. The number of operational hospital beds has fallen by 40 per cent since just 2014. And as the economy fails, the country is running short on 85 per cent of medicines, according to the national drugstore trade group.

One in three admitted to hospital now die!!! In NZ the figure is 1.48%.

What is so appalling isn’t just that Venezuela has ended up in this state, but the Government refuses to acknowledge its policies are failing and they are doubling down on them rather than take steps to help the people suffering.

“I really don’t know of any other country where things have deteriorated so quickly, to such an incredible extent,” said Rafael Perez-Escamilla, a Yale University School of Public Health professor who has worked in Latin America and Africa. “Venezuela’s health system was a model for Latin America. Now you are seeing an implosion where people cannot get basic care.”

This was all preventable. This is not a country that never had a strong economy and healthcare system. Their policies have led to this.

The left-wing administration of President Nicolas Maduro calls the medical crisis an invention peddled by opponents of the country’s 17-year-old socialist revolution. The week Ashley was hospitalised, Maduro went on television and called on Venezuelans to start growing medicinal herbs.

What a terrible man.

The government has refused to let in humanitarian aid. So donations of medical supplies sit in warehouses and shipping containers in countries including the US, Spain and Panama.

Appalling.

A guest post by GROTIBCW:

ELECTORAL FRAUD — WILL IT EXPLODE THIS ELECTION

Its easy and we posted earlier that it is happening.
https://www.facebook.com/Noislandbaycycleway/posts/1143346702410849

How widespread time will tell. The above post talked about intercepting postal ballots and voting using some one else’s ballot paper. This post talks about overseas voting and the potential for easy fraud.

Overseas special votes are one area the Greens have always targeted and done better at it than any other party at national, and presumably local body elections. Remember it is often the Greens that get an extra seat or two well after national election night, when “Special Votes”, usually from overseas voters or those not in the electorate on voting day, are fully counted.

Its usually the fringe parties that focus on benefiting from this voter segment. But with the MoU between Labour and Greens once could say that Labour will benefit in both local body and national elections. Lester with his open and public endorsement by Greens might be feeling happy.

Overseas and postal votes are increasing. Here is a paper from a Maori voter perspective done under the aegis of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University which has some interesting statistics.

http://ips.ac.nz/publications/files/759b2c8f278.pdf

___
“The first major leap in the total overseas vote came in the 2002 election. In June of that year, the chief electoral officer announced that overseas voters would be able to download their papers from the internet and fax them back to New Zealand to record their vote. The result was that the number of New Zealanders enrolled overseas jumped from 18,000 to over 30,000 and the number of overseas votes cast
rose 47% to nearly 17,000.

Sensing the potential for overseas votes, the political parties scrambled to entice them. ACT leader Richard Prebble speculated that there were as many as 250,000 potential expatriate New Zealand voters around the world, while Labour Party president Mike Williams suggested that there were ‘hundreds of thousands’ of potential voters in Australia alone. Prebble went so far as to predict that the new laws could lead to a ten-fold increase in the overseas vote. He announced that ACT would send its MPs to campaign in Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom and that it planned to contact 100,000 New Zealanders abroad via email (ACT New Zealand press release, 13 June 2002).

The Green Party based candidates in London and Sydney, and Labour placed advertisements in overseas magazines, launched a website, and made use of its London branch and its links with the Australian Labor Party. National also targeted overseas voters via a website and permission-based emailing lists, although its campaign director was sceptical of the value of sending MPs overseas to campaign.

The other notable exception to this excitement was New Zealand First, which preferred to put all its efforts into securing local votes”
___

Also at the last election, an attempt to create an Expatriate Party was made on the basis that about 20% of NZ population lives overseas.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/236378/party-wants-to-%27galvanise%27-expatriates

But the Green Party with the international Green movement and focus on climate change has the most success in this area. As evidenced by them repeatedly winning extra seats after special votes (that include overseas votes) are counted.

The Green party also has as its natural constituency young, idealistic (and dare we say it – naive) voters who are easy fodder to target. Their need social acceptance and virtue signalling and the fact that they are overseas and will not pay any of the taxes and tax increases (which are the usual consequence of implementing Green policies) here makes them more likely to vote Green and for Green Policies without thinking too much about impact on resident tax payers or rate payers.

The Green Party has organised “enrolment parties” overseas at pubs over wine, beer and skittles to encourage supporters to enrol.
https://kiwigreensuk.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/cheers-to-voting/

Greens also ran voting parties during the 2014 elections to get people to vote electronically with their Print->Tick->Snap->Upload->Green in Govt! campaign. See Pic 1 below and here https://goo.gl/btYMal

When the voting systems were First Past the Post, it did not matter much because fringe parties could NOT pick up a seat easily. With the MMP system they can add 1-2 candidates, or more, easily–as proven by the Greens’ results in recent past. Under STV system for local bodies, overseas votes can be even more influential. Remember Celia W-B beat Kerry Prendergast by a measly 176 votes in the 5th iteration of counting. At that time she was supported by the Greens.

One of the other key factors in overseas and special votes influence on local body elections is the low turnout. At 40% turnout in recent times for Wellington, a zealous, committed and active voter base with a good communication system provides the opportunity fringe parties to easily benefit. Being comfortable with using online technology also helps. And the electoral system has made it easier to do this without appropriate checks and balances.

With the percentage of special votes and postal votes steadily increasing at national elections, this becomes an issue. It is even more of an issue at local body elections because voting is 100% by postal vote.

The biggest weakness with NZ enrolment and voting processes is its total, and in our view naive, trust based acceptance of a signature on a form, whether sent in physical form or electronic form, with out any need for verification of identity. There is an attemp to use the RealMe governement logon feature, but it is not mandatory.

The addition of online enrolment and voting options, and the fact that postal voting is becoming more prevalent, with no published process that checks for where these actions originated from, and who they were done by, before people vote or even before votes are counted are all creating conducive conditions for fraud.

If there is a suspicion that votes were rigged, political party or candidates’ scrutineers could raise objections and trigger a enquiry. Its no longer petitions but an expensive and lengthy legal challenge. But that has not happened only once recently. Parties tend not to progress this if overall results were favourable. Also because suspicion can only be raised after full count of votes, parties seem reluctant to be seen as sore complaining losers.

We think this will change soon. And either the law will be changed before a scandal hits or will definitely be changed once more scandals occur. And those scandals could occur during the local body elections currently underway.

To ENROL right now (rolls are processes are same for all elections), one can go online and enrol by providing details which are effectively name, date of birth, occupation, phone number and address (or last address if you are now overseas). One can opt for the enrolment form with those details included, to be sent an email address or a physical address.

The form needs to be signed and posted back. If being done electronically, the process allows the form to be printed, signed, scannned and upload (or posted). One can use a RealMe account to do this, but it is not mandatory.

To VOTE in national elections you just need to provide you name date of birth and address to obtain a ballot paper either electronically or by post. Which you vote, sign, scan and upload or post back.

To VOTE in local body elections which is a fully postal vote, you can ask for your a physical pre-printed ballot paper to be sent to a different address locally or overseas. It is not clear what checks are done to validate the person requesting this is the voter. Once received you just tick, sign and post back. Local body elections do not seem to allow for electronic option (print-vote-sign-scan-upload/post)

IN ALL PROCESSES ABOVE THERE IS NO MANDATED NEED FOR PROVIDING PROOF, OR VERIFICATION, OF WHETHER THE SIGNATURE IS OF THE PERSON WHO CLAIM THEY ARE. IT IS ACCEPTED ON TRUST UNLESS SOME PARTY RAISES OBJECTIONS AT THE TIME OF COUNTING OR AFTER RESULTS ARE DECLARED.

There is another option. One of the ways of enrolling if you are overseas is as follows (from elections.org.nz)

“You can get someone else to complete the enrolment form for you, but:
– they must be a registered elector (ie, they must be enrolled
themselves), and
– they must print “Elector Overseas – signed by their direction” on
the form next to their signature.”

That is it ! So really any eligible voter can enrol anyone eligible to vote! At this point there is no proof required for identity verification, or residence.

If someone intent on committing electoral fraud is willing to take the risk to sign enrolment and voting papers they can easily do so.

It is a long and difficult process to identify and prove fraud. Although a recent high profile case has succeeded and wet bus ticket convictions handed out.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9511429/Aspiring-politician-guilty-of-election-fraud

There is talk about how fraud may be detected using statistical methods, but NZ does not seem to have a routine process of applying such techniques.
http://polity.co.nz/content/uncovering-electoral-fraud

All the while, the Green Party continues to resist all attempts at any tightening of the process.
https://home.greens.org.nz/speeches/holly-walker-speaks-third-reading-electoral-amendment-bill

We think the process is archaic naive and totally based on trust. It is too open to manipulation and any fraud is very difficult to prove.

THE ENROLMENT AND VOTING PROCESS NEED TIGHTENING UP. THE ABILITY VALIDATE IDENTITY IS ESSENTIAL. ESPECIALLY FOR POSTAL VOTING.

The Washington Post has an article detailing the allegations against Bill Clinton that Trump may raise in today’s debate. They are:

• Paula Jones – sexual harrassment
• Juanita Broaddrick – rape
• Kathleen Willey – indecent assault
• Gennifer Flowers – long-term affair
• Monica Lewinsky – affair
• Dolly Browning – 22 year affair
• Elizabeth Gracen – one night stand
• Myra Miller – affair in 1983

It is fair to say there is no smoke without fire. Of course Bill Clinton is not standing for President, Hillary is. And nothing Bill Clinton did makes what Donald Trump said more acceptable. But it could be a very messy debate today.

UPDATE: Trump is not going to go quietly. Just done a joint press conference with Broaddrick, Willey and Jones. The debate is going to be a train wreck.

David Seymour announced:

Britain’s revision of immigration settings is a chance to propose a free movement zone, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“We can’t stand by and let the traditional Kiwi OE be put at risk,” says Mr Seymour.

“Successful nations like Britain and New Zealand shouldn’t be putting up walls and shutting off from each other when it’s the exchange of ideas that has made our nations so prosperous.

“Brexit provides new options as Britain pivots away from European immigration. Let’s approach Britain with a proposal for a two-way free movement agreement, similar to what we have with Australia.

“In the long term, we could even negotiate a broader free movement zone for citizens of Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada – all English-speaking, industrialised Commonwealth nations. ‘CANZUK’.

“We already have strong connections with these nations through family, friendship, and business. Let’s break down the walls and make the great OE even greater.”

This is a great idea, and one that would be very popular in all countries. The level of support in each country is:

• UK 58%
• Australia 70%
• Canada 75%
• NZ 82%

Very little opposition also – only 20% in the UK, 10% in Australia, 15% in Canada and 10% in New Zealand.

The Telegraph reports:

In an embarrassing u-turn, the International Monetary Fund has said the UK will be the fastest growing major economy this year. It follows earlier predictions that a vote to leave the EU could plunge the country into recession and trigger a stock market crash. 

The scare mongering was a major recession with huge spending cuts would be necessary.

A focus on the benefits of the sharp depreciation in the pound catapulted the domestically-focused FTSE 250 to a fresh intraday record high. The mid-cap index climbed by as much as 2.3pc to 18,607.13 in intraday trade.

Meanwhile, the internationally-focused FTSE 100 charged into bull-market territory, surging more than 20pc from its February nadir to 7,121.93 in intraday trading – a whisker away from its all-time record high of 7,122.74. However, it finished at 7,074.34 – up 90.82 points, or 1.3pc.

Not quite a stock market crash!

Liam Hehir writes:

There has been talk of a possible Cabinet reshuffle lately. There’s no certainty of this, of course, but the Government does at least have the luxury of having some very good backbenchers who look ready for promotion. Foremost among them is Alfred Ngaro, a list MP from Auckland, who is widely tipped by National MPs and activists as a certainty for higher things.

I have only met Ngaro once – and very briefly at that. But I have also heard him speak twice. On each occasion, I was impressed with his ability to take and answer questions from the floor. In particular, he was good at acknowledging the concern of the asker, distilling the theory behind the Government’s policy and then illustrating his point with an anecdote or two – which is essentially what you are looking for in a political communicator. Maybe it has something to do with his background as a minister (of religion, that is).

If Ngaro is promoted, then you can bet that the buzz from the media will focus on the demographic “first” of his appointment. As the first Cook Islander to be elected to Parliament, he would also be the first person of that heritage to receive a ministerial warrant. And as the National Party is keen to make further inroads into the Pacific community, the Government would not be displeased about that.

However, there is another thing about him that makes him a bit of an outlier in Parliament. Something that probably won’t get the attention it deserves. You see, before he became a pastor and community leader, Alfred Ngaro was self-employed as an electrician.  

We have far too few skilled tradesmen in Parliament – and probably too many who have spent their entire adult lives in and around politics. There will always be a place for career politicians in Government since, if nothing else, a lifetime in politics can be assumed to impart knowledge about how the system actually works. But an effective Government should also include people who have experience with how things are in the real economy.

I agree that experience with the real economy is important.

I like the fact that Ria Bond (NZ First) is a former hairdresser. That means she has run a small business, employed people, and dealt with a wife wide variety of people.

That’s why I think government could do with more people like Alfred Ngaro. In addition to the skills he will have picked up in his as a pastor and a backbench MP, the five years he spent as a self-employed tradesman will give him an insight into the world so many of us live in. This is the world of GST returns, uneven cash-flows, customer complaints, hard to manage work-flows, provisional tax payments, accounting and legal fees, red tape, health, bad debtors and health and safety compliance costs. It is world with which fewer and fewer lawmakers have much, if any, familiarity.

I spent some time working for a small business on the finance side. You learn first hand the huge difference between profitability and cashflow. You might be profitable on paper, but you are constantly juggling debtors, creditors and the bank.

But if there is a reshuffle, then it looks like Alfred Ngaro will get his opportunity. Chances are he will be assigned to a “social” portfolio – though it would be good if he could also be entrusted with something in the economic or business spheres. Whatever the role, the elevation to high office of somebody who knows his way around a live circuit and a pair of pliers will be very much a good thing.

I too hope Alfred will become a Minister.

The Herald reported:

An Auckland man whose discharge without conviction for beating his wife with a hammer has been overturned says he fears the consequences for his family.

Yasir Mohib denies a hammer was involved but admits assaulting his wife. The facts of the case are that the assault occurred after she complained they weren’t holding hands while watching a movie together.

So he bashes her for that – charming.

He told the Herald today he was “disappointed” the decision to discharge him had been overruled by the High Court but was prepared to accept his punishment.

But he fears his family will be punished too if it means he is deported to Pakistan. His family do not want to be split up and deportation would mean his two New Zealand-born wives and their five Kiwi children would go with him.

All they could choose to stay with someone who doesn’t bash them.

“If I did wrong I should be punished for it but not my whole family,” Mohib told theHerald.

That’s called consequences.

He said he had pleaded guilty to the charge of assault with a weapon because he was desperate to be reunited with his family from whom he was separated after the assault.

“I wanted to go back to my family and they wanted me to come back but there was no way until I pleaded guilty.

“No, there was no hammer involved. There was an argument. There were bruises. I punched her with my empty hand.”

The victim, his wife Fatimah, also told the Herald that no weapon was involved. She said the hammer came to be part of the statement of facts put before the court because of pressure from members of the wider family.

They have since had a fourth child. Mohib has one child with his second wife.

Yes – he has two wives.

Judge Wylie said he had seen photographs of the bruises. “The bruises are significant and they appear to have an inner round ring which I suspect is consistent with a blow from an object such as a hammer.”

He had doubts about Mohib’s insight into the offending and said the victim’s retraction of her initial statement to police was a “rather disturbing factor in the domestic violence context”.

“The assault was vicious and premeditated. Mr Mohib has denied full responsibility and he has sought to shift the blame to the victim and her family,” said Justice Wylie.

It’s so sad to see them now covering up for him.

The Herald reports:

Labour will be relying on former television presenter Tamati Coffey to take out the Maori Party’s sole remaining electorate seat, Waiariki, but the Maori Party has been on its own drive to recruit some big names.

Coffey was the only person entered when nominations for the Waiariki seat closed on Wednesday night, making him a certainty for selection. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Rotorua in 2014.

Waiariki is held by Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell with a healthy majority of 9700 votes but Labour is hopeful Coffey will be able to turn that around.

Actually his majority is 3,889. The votes for him were 9,726. But he outpolled the Labour candidate by 18% so not marginal.

Coffey didn’t make much of an impact in Rotorua. Todd McClay won by 7,357 votes in 2011 against Chadwick and by 7.418 in 2014 against Coffey.

It comes as the Maori Party prepares its counter-offensive. President Tukoroirangi Morgan has shoulder-tapped some big names as potential candidates, including long-standing Ngai Tahu head Sir Mark Solomon.

It is understood the Maori Party is in talks with Solomon about standing in the South Island electorate of Te Tai Tonga, held by Labour’s Rino Tirikatene.

That would turn the seat into a real battle.

The selection for Tamaki Makaurau could also be hotly contested. Broadcaster Willie Jackson confirmed he had been approached and was considering it.

“That crazy Tuku Morgan has talked to a lot of people. Tuku will have a talk and then you have a think about it, I suppose. We’ll let you know.”

Former TVNZ presenter Shane Taurima, a former Labour member, is also interested in standing in the seat.

Other names in the mix are singer Moana Maniopoto and Ngati Whatua leader Ngarimu Blair.

It looks like the Maori seats will be ones to watch next year.

This is page 1 of 4 of the ballot paper for Colorado. A lot of candidates for President!

They are voting for President, Senator and Representative but also none state referenda questions. They include:

• Amendment T to ban involuntary servitude (slavery) for criminals. This would remove the exception in the state constitution. (unopposed)
• Amendment 69 to have an extra 10% income tax to fund universal healthcare (polls 2:1 against)
• Amendment 70 to increase minimum wage from $8.31 an hour to $12.00 an hour (polls 55% in favour)
• Proposition 106 to allow euthanasia if prognosis less than six months (polls 70% in favour)

Stuff reports:

Kristin Lajeunesse, a vegan travel blogger, was left in tears at the sight of sheep on an Interislander ferry. She uploaded her reaction in a video on Facebook.

Farming groups, the trucking firm and Kiwi Rail had no problem with the practice.

“I came to the back of the boat because I thought it would be, you know, beautiful” Lajeunesse said at the beginning of the video.

As she ventured outside, she was caught off guard by a truck filled with live sheep.

“I’m sorry,” she said to the sheep. “I just feel so helpless.”

The blogger came to New Zealand on a junket paid for by Vegan Travel. Her videos, photographs and articles would be shared by the company.

Stuff reports:

Southern Hemisphere supremacy sealed, as if there were any doubts, the All Blacks moved one step closer to knocking off the world record for test wins in Durban. Oh, and while they were at it, also recorded their biggest ever win against the Boks, eclipsing the 36-point margin at Loftus, Pretoria, back in 2003.

This 57-15 victory was truly remarkable. A proud rugby nation in South Africa was left decimated. So much for the Aaron Smith saga impacting this team.

NZ has played South Africa 93 times. South Africa used to bear New Zealand more often than not. But in the professional era NZ wins around two out of every three.

Since 2010 they have played 15 times and NZ has won 13 out of 15 matches.

The Washington Post reports:

Donald Trump bragged in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation caught on a hot microphone, saying that “when you’re a star, they let you do it,” according to a video obtained by The Washington Post.

“I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump is heard saying. It was unclear when the events he was describing took place. The tape was recorded several months after he married his third wife, Melania.

 

“Whoa,” another voice said.

“I did try and f— her. She was married,” Trump says.

Trump continues: “And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’”

“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.” …

At that point in the audio, Trump and Bush appear to notice Arianne Zucker, the actress who is waiting to escort them into the soap-opera set.

“Your girl’s hot as s—, in the purple,” says Bush, who’s now a co-host of NBC’s “Today” show.

“Whoa!” Trump says. “Whoa!”

 

“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

“Whatever you want,” says another voice, apparently Bush’s.

“Grab them by the p—y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

So a Bush may be Trump’s downfall!

Responses so far include:

• Paul Ryan cancelling an invitation for Trump to speak in Wisconsin
• The Governor of Utah rescinding his support
• Senator Kirk of Illinois calling on Trump to pull out
• Mitt Romney saying “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world,”
• Marco Rubio saying “Donald’s comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify.
  No one should ever talk about any woman in those terms, even in private.”

The damage isn’t so much to Trump himself (though there may be some) but everyone else standing on the Republican ticket who has to either unendorse him or risk being tarred.

Clare Curran released:

Just weeks after TVNZ opened its refurbished Auckland head office costing more than $60 million, RNZ (Radio New Zealand) has been forced to put its Auckland office on the market to keep itself afloat, says Labour’s Broadcasting spokesperson Clare Curran.

I do media quite a lot in Auckland. It has always struck me that the two state owned broadcasters have offices in the middle of the CBD, in the most expensive part of Auckland.

Their private sector rivals are in much cheaper areas such as Grafton where rents are $220 or so per square metre. In the CBD they can exceed $1,000 per square metre.

“The Government is trying to starve RNZ out of existence, which has forced it to put its Auckland asset on the market. Yet, the Prime Minister continues to support TVNZ by recently opening the new state broadcaster’s Auckland building despite a cost blowout of $60.3 million.

TVNZ isn’t funded by taxpayers. To the contrary it pays dividends to taxpayers.

If Radio NZ is saving money on its office costs, so there is more money for radio – that is a good thing.

Casey Costello has made a fair point:

Hobson’s Pledge has, in only two days, achieved an astounding level of interest resulting in mainstream media rallying to vilify Don Brash and hiding behind racist taunts to avoid having a real conversation, spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

Despite all media releases sent by Hobson’s Pledge naming Casey Costello, a driving force behind Hobson’s Pledge, as the authorised spokesperson, not one media representative has directly contacted her.

“I have no appreciation as to why my voice is not considered worthy of providing opinion,” Ms Costello said.

“The Maori Issues correspondent for Radio New Zealand, Mihi Forbes, directly approached as many members of the Hobson’s Pledge Trust as could be located and despite being directed to me, I was never contacted,” she said.

“The resulting article made specific reference to males of clearly European descent within the trust and quoted their comments. I am unclear whether it is my ethnicity or gender that made me irrelevant to her article,” Ms Costello said.

Hobson’s Pledge appointed Ms Costello as a spokesperson based on her experience, empathy, and ability to promote awareness on these issues.

“I have no doubt that my ancestry will be placed under scrutiny – whether I am Maori enough to claim authority to speak or even have empathy” Ms Costello said, “will no doubt be subject for debate.”
For the record Casey Costello is very specific on the point that she represents Hobson’s Pledge as a New Zealander with, as she reiterates, a proud Ngapuhi and Anglo-Irish heritage.

So the official spokesperson is a female with Maori ancestry, yet the media ignore here so they can paint the group as white old men.

Voting has now closed so results will start to trickle in this afternoon and evening. Use this thread to discuss them. I’ll try to do some updates on a few races as I get them.

1302 – Dalziel has crushed Minto by 73,001 to 12,533. That makes it around 85% to 15%.

1331 – Lower Hutt is here. Looks like Labour and friends only got five out of 13 so have failed to gain control. Mallard will be disappointed.  Told Mark Leicester (Labour’s Electorate Secretary) spent over $30,000 and failed to get in.

1340 – Goff has won in Auckland. No surprise. Results here. Well done Chloe Swarbrick who came third!

1. Goff 48.8%
2. Chrome 29.7%
3. Swarbrick 7.2%
4. Palino 5.8%
5. Thomas 2.5%
6. Bright 1.8%

There have been some upsets on the Auckland Council. Greg Sayers has beaten Penny Webster in Rodney and Daniel Newman has beaten Calum Penrose in Manurewa-Papakura.

1443 – Greg Brownless elected Mayor of Tauranga.

1520 – Andrew King ahead in Hamilton.

1620 – And Justin Lester wins easily in Wellington.

The Guardian reports:

A controversial proposal to ban abortion in Poland appears to have collapsed after senior politicians from the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) backed away from it after a parliamentary committee urged MPs to vote it down following mass protests.

The justice and human rights committee, which reviews proposed legislation, recommended that parliament reject the bill following a wave of protests earlier in the week that appear to have caught the rightwing government off guard.

In a humiliating climbdown, PiS members who had referred the legislation to the committee less than two weeks ago threw it out.

The Liberal MP and former prime minister Ewa Kopacz told reporters the PiS had “backtracked because it was scared by all the women who hit the streets in protest”.

Tens of thousands of people boycotted work and classes on Monday to protest against the proposals, which if enacted would impose a blanket ban on abortion, including in instances of pregnancy as a result of rape or incest.

About 30,000 people, many dressed in black, gathered in wretched weather in Warsaw’s Castle Square, chanting “We want doctors, not missionaries!” and carrying placards bearing messages such as “My Uterus, My Opinion” and “Women Just Want to Have FUN-damental Rights.”

Jarosław Gowin, the minister of science and higher education, said on Wednesday that the protests had “caused us to think and taught us humility”.

“The protest was bigger than anyone expected. People were astonished,” said Agnieszka Graff, a commentator and activist. “Warsaw was swarming with women in black. It was amazing to feel the energy and the anger, the emotional intensity was incredible.”

The proposed law which is a ban with no exceptions for rape or pregnancy incest is at the extreme end of abortion laws – only Vatican City and Malta have the same.

A recent poll found only 14% supported the proposed law of a total ban.

The law would have seen women who had an abortion eligible for a five year jail term!

Raybon Kan writes:

I’m no fan of the burqa. It’s subjugation. A woman whose face is covered, is like a document with all the words blacked out.

A woman in a burqa has been redacted from society. A burqa says, don’t look. Nothing to see here. Her identity is unimportant.

Her smile, her frown, all her expressions, are on the cutting-room floor. (God knows how she’s meant to eat, or drink.)

And don’t get me started on other forms of cutting.

And when this burqa silhouette is out and about, at the mall, on the street, what message do her children receive, unable to see her face?

The message is power and identity – and she has none of it. A woman in a burqa likely isn’t voting, and damn sure isn’t running for office.

She is generic. No wonder her husband can have more than one wife. How to tell the wives apart anyway, their faces covered? Do burqas have a licence plate?

Faces are incredibly important. People who work in CGI have an expression: the uncanny valley. That’s when they try to make a photo-real face, but it’s unconvincing.

Because we know faces. We know faces so well, a huge amount of the time, we feel bad we can’t remember names.

The burqa is medieval. And like medieval plumbing and medieval medicine, it’s out of date. Like women not owning property, not going to school, or not leaving home without male guardians, the burqa contradicts basic human rights.

Of course, basic human rights, is a recent concept. But air travel and YouTube have given us time travel. Medieval people are time-travelling into the 21st century, leap-frogging centuries of liberal progress, and they find our ways shocking.

The burqa isn’t some post-feminist freedom from a bad hair day. It’s a mistake we made to get here.

That is a good argument – that a burqa is used to remove identity from women.

I don’t support banning it, but I don’t think we should see the burqa as empowering for anyone.

#Colombia has just delivered one of the biggest polling fails of all time. Actual result:

SI 49.76
NO 50.23#ColombiaDecide#ColombiaVota pic.twitter.com/EwX1OGjWzt

— Matt Singh (@MattSingh_) October 2, 2016

That is a big failure. The 10 polls in September predicted on average the referendum on the peace treaty would pass by 29%. It failed by 0.4%.

Information on what it means for Colombia is here. Hopefully a revised peace deal can be agreed on and ratified.