The Dogs of War
At a Union/NDP conference in March 2002 in Ottawa I saw wall-to-wall US TV attacking Iraq in my room. My caucus report that […]
International
The planet needs women
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin discuss women’s friendship, sisterhood, equality, and the power of women to change the world.
Plastic Fantastic
Billions of disease laden pieces of plastic killing reefs. No effective solution offered.
Waitangi Day and Australia Day
Australia Day (January 26th), like Waitangi Day (February 6th) often divides our countries as much in its silence as anything else.
The Humanity.
Thoughtless thugs. Killers.
Solidarity
History not forgotten.
Women’s March Speech.
Sometimes, someone just knocks it out the park. Viola Davis just knocked it out the park. (h/t Carolyn_nth)
Obstructionist losers
Despite controlling all three branches of the Government the Republicans have failed to get a funding bill passed and the US Government is facing shut down.
Cape Town
A 100 day count down.
States United.
On how states in conflict, have seemingly and nevertheless, managed to share in the likely or possible creation of one common goal.
Why President Trump should be opposed by the left
Ten reasons why Donald Trump is anti worker and bad for America’s working class.
Shock horror right wing think tank thinks NZ not very democratic
National’s cheerleaders are pushing an international report which suggests that New Zealand’s democratic system is only slightly better than average in world terms. But the organisation behind the report and the methodology used need some checking.
NRT: Spain refuses to respect Catalonia’s election.
Idiot/savant on Spain’s love of democracy.
“Politics isn’t a game”
Branko Marcetic on a piece in the Herald about why Trump’s first year wasn’t that bad.
Racist dog whistling
We may think that we now live in more enlightened times where the scourge of racism is finally being dealt to and is no longer considered acceptable but recent events in Australia and the United States suggests that this is not the case.
Two Faced Liberalism.
Caring and heartless.
Climate Change and the New Zealand Defence Forces
It’s always bugged me that our military forces are under-used in New Zealand. It’s time we invited them to protect us from climate change.
Theatre and Oprah
Maybe ‘circus’ would be more apt that ‘theatre’ with regards the Oprah spectacle.
Hatchets and Knives.
A little on the (predictable) fallout from Emily Thornberry’s BBC Radio 4 interview.
The Saviour Machine
Our ingenuity.
UK Intelligence
From the Opposition Labour Party, a rare instance of common sense and intelligence on display with regards foreign relations.
Up in Smoke.
US reverses Federal marijuana stance.
The Froth Comes off The Beer
Auckland appears to be following the trend set by Melbourne and Sydney of a softening in expected prices for selling houses.
Duck and cover
Over the past 24 hours Trump has threatened war by comparing button sizes with Kim Jon Un and Steve Bannon has described Trump Campaign’s 2016 meeting with a group of Russians in Trump Tower as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.
Israel fights back
In what may be the first of a number of publicity stunts Rabbi Shmulay Boteach has placed a full page advertisement in the Washington Post condemning Lorde and New Zealand for showing solidarity with Palestine.
What will 2018 bring for Donald Trump?
The New York Times has broken a astory suggesting that Australian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Downer informed the FBI that the Trump camp knew about the Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton’s emails four months before the 2016 Presidential election.
The Failed Estate: Us and Them
In Australia the Murdoch press has chosen the Christmas down period to try and whip up some anti beneficiary hysteria. Jim Parker from the blog Failed Estate calmly dissects the figures and concludes there is no reason for concern.
When the jet stream slows…
…let’s ridicule Donald Trump.
Man of the year and global leader of the year
Why Donald Trump should be considered to be man of the year and why the left should be thinking about why he is succeeding.
The Adventures of CosmoGuy: US Ambassador to New Zealand (and Samoa!)
The alleged ‘thoughts’ of Scott Brown, the highly intelligent and very cool ambassador of the Partisan States of America to NooZiland. In an exposition of typical blinding intelligence, he tries to explain to his beloved Orange Lord what he is doing here (and in Samoa!).
The right loses its shit after a public servant accidentally tweets from the wrong account
An accidental tweet from a Government account has led the right to claim the existence of all sorts of conspiracies.
Ain’t Gonna Play
New Zealand musician Lorde has announced that she will respect the boycott of Israel and not perform there.
Another middle finger?
With just over half the votes counted, it looks like Catalonia has opted to ditch Spanish central rule.
The United Nations gives Trump the middle finger
The United Nations has responded to Donald Trump’s threat to cut aid funding if it voted to condemn America’s decision to recognise Jerisalem as Israel’s capital by overwhelmingly support the decision.
Jian Yang wanted to help the SIS with recruitment
Matt Nippert has made further revelations about Jian Yang including that he lobbied on behalf of an unsuccessful applicant for a security sensitive job with the New Zealand Defence Force and that he disclosed to Auckland University but not to Immigration that he had worked for a PLA University.
Germany and New Zealand Redux
New Zealand and Germany are both successful societies, with proportional democracies, strong economies, underpinned by strong public institutions and legal frameworks, and consistently believe that we are going in the right direction. But both countries rely on MMP and coalition governments. What will happen to the support parties?