You can never, ever, have too many Teslas
Fresh from news that Christopher Luxon ordered a State supplied Tesla when his household already owns one comes news that the household Tesla was upgraded, and that the clean car discount was obtained.
Media
making shit up
When You Pay Peanuts, You Get Propaganda
Trust requires vigilant efforts to build and keep. This means time and money.
National keeps making shit up
National has been caught out misrepresenting official data by claiming that 19,000 nurses had left public health when they knew that the figure includes transfers between health boards and the number of employed nurses actually increased by 4,108.
Making s%*t up
Is it just me or is Mike Hosking becoming more unbalanced? The recent misrepresentation of a speech from Deborah Russell would suggest that he is getting worse.
Boris Johnson – why he fell and can he come back?
It is risky to make predictions, but it is safe to assume we have not heard the last of Boris Johnson. And much like Berlusconi in Italy, the results will undoubtedly be bad both for politics and the country.
The Three Sly Donkeys
There are no single truths in politics and wicked problems have no easy solutions if at all.
BusinessNZ has been telling porkies about fair pay agreements
BusinessNZ’s attempt to put New Zealand on the ILO naughty list because of fair pay agreements has failed.
The prospects of a snap election
Various media and the National Party are speculating that there may be an early election. What are the chances of one being called?
Luxon’s triple backward summersault on Labour Day
In the space of one day Chris Luxon called repeatedly for the scrapping of Labour Day as a holiday then confirmed that a future National Government would not do this and said that his earlier comment was facetious.
Five Eyes Joins Morning Report
Morning Report today interviewed ex MI6 chemical weapons false flag specialist Hamish de Bretton-Gordon saying because Russia has lost in Ukraine it will likely resort using to chemical weapons. FiveEyes hawks want NATO to intervene, so we get World War 3, Hurrah!
Bad Covid takes
There seems to be a correlation between commentators who have both Herald and Newstalk ZB exposure and how really bad their Covid takes are.
Astroturfers of the world unite
Two days before what is claimed will be the mother of all protests links between the Groundswell organisation and the Taxpayers Union have been discovered.
Shock horror, Ardern chooses to keeps her mask on
Barry Soper has accused the Prime Minister of, wait for this, not taking her mask off when she was inside visiting a vaccination centre in South Auckland.
Who are these angry Aucklanders?
This weekend there have been two attempts to undermine the current Auckland Covid lock down. Brian Tamaki’s was not the most ludicrous.
Dirty Politics does not work any more
Egged on by a shock horror smear campaign on Cameron Slater’s latest post Judith Collins has attacked Dr Siouxsie Wiles by fat shaming her.
Covid and the media
This week there has been some argy bargy between the Twitterati including the Waitakerati and the media on coverage of Covid in Aotearoa with elements of the media complaining that the criticisms are unjustified. A brief review of some of the offerings this week would suggest otherwise.
Bowker may be a dick but he has not breached the draft hate speech legislation
Troy Bowker has bowled out of Hurricanes Rugby but has claimed free speech martyrdom after the response to his well publicised criticism of the word “Aotearoa”. But his claims of martyrdom like his recent attacks on lefties would appear to be hopelessly overbaked.
Lies damned lies and Crime statistics
It should be an offence for political parties to deliberately misrepresent law and order statistics as National has done this week. It should be an aggravating feature if the party is a conservative party that champions law and order issues. After all fraud is an offence and if we don’t punish it appropriately then everyone will do it.
About the Hate Speech law changes
The debate about the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to hate speech laws continues, with the level of heat increasing, but the level of actual understanding of what is being proposed in critical shortage.
The five eyes beat up
There has been a conservative sourced beat up of Aotearoa New Zealand for not using an intelligence gathering treaty grouping to publicly attack China.
National is focused on the issues that matter to Kiwis
National MP Barbara Kuriger has seized on the decision of the owners of Dr Seuss’s copyright to discontinue the printing of six Dr Seuss books with questionable content as evidence of cancel culture and has misrepresented which books are being discontinued.
Amandla …
David Seymour and Act have likened the institutional suppression of people based on the colour of their skin with a desire to ensure local government representation for Tangata Whenua.
Cruz’s Cancun crisis
What should a Texan representative do when the state is frozen over following an extreme weather event? How about take a trip across the Mexican border for a holiday in a beach resort?
Texas’s power crisis
Over in the US of A in the great state of Texas and in surrounding states locals are experiencing unusually cold weather and are suffering from the effects. But instead of blaming their not fit for purpose electrical systems they are blaming the Green New Deal, even though it has not been implemented.
Uyghur allegation escalation?
Radio New Zealand carried a long story this week from the BBC of rape allegations in Xinjiang based on accounts from two Uyghur women Tursunay Ziawudun and Gulzira Auelkhan. Independent analyst Bernhard at Moonofalabama asks the question “Why do these Uyghur witnesses stories constantly change?
The ugly finale of the Trump Presidency
Wednesday’s insurrection further tarnishes America’s reputation as a credible democratic nation. Significant changes will be needed before this reputation can be restored and it is hard to be optimistic that the US political system is capable of reforming itself in the way it needs to.
Anatomy of a failed coup
America’s descent into chaos was almost completed yesterday. An amazingly inept display by local police saw a takeover of Congress and a temporary disruption of the confirmation of the clearly expressed view of the majority of Americans.
No extradition for Assange
Great news. While unexpected, Nicky Hager who was an expert witness for Assange at the trial, thought this might be a possibility when he spoke to the Fabian Society in November. More details tomorrow.
Update: Bail application to be heard on Wednesday London time.
How low will Bridges go?
Simon Bridges has spent the last week casting aspersions on people who have tragically died at Music Festivals in an attempt to score culture war inspired political points and undermine the Government’s new pill testing law.
Plan B activists still think NZ should be like Sweden
In a letter published in the Royal New Zealand College of Medical Practitioners journal Plan B academics have criticised the Government’s Covid elimination strategy because of the economic effects at the same time that recently announced growth figures show the economy grew in the past 12 months despite Covid.
What does Steinlager and the Pacific anti nuclear movement have in common?
In as blatant a case of cultural and historical misappropriation as you can imagine the makers of Steinlager has produced a dumbed down video that distorts the history of decades of opposition to French Nuclear testing in the Pacific in an effort to sell beer.
Blood sucking leeches blame young for blood supply crisis
The Property Investor Federation’s executive officer has expressed the opinion that every time a first home buyer buys a house it makes the housing crisis worse.
Aotearoa New Zealand is a hell hole paradise dystopian democracy
Fox News has seized upon a four month old video of Jacinda Ardern to suggest that New Zealand has a terrifying new response to the disease and are throwing people into quarantine camps.
The Trump Covid game
Let’s imagine a scenario where you are the President of the United States and it is in the middle of a pandemic. You then contract the virus yourself. How would you rate compared to Donald Trump?
Paul Goldsmith should stop digging
Paul Goldsmith has shown yet again his complete inability to understand how Government finances work by claiming there is a $10 billion dollar hole in Labour’s fiscal plan where there is none.