IT doESN’t aDD up
For a few days now Gerry Brownlee has been peddling this dog whistle conspiracy campaign that the Government is hiding bad news about Covid and we should all be really concerned.
spin
you couldn’t make this shit up
National’s Auckland Central problem
National is facing another PR disaster with reports of an increasingly hostile Auckland Central candidate selection process and with allegations that National’s head office has misapplied the party’s constitution.
The Heron Report
The Heron Report has been released and reinforces the public perception that this was a cynical misuse of confidential information by National for political purposes and a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
National’s Internal Polling Leaked
Yet another leak from Judith Collins’ Strong Team™. This time it’s their own polling … and it’s grim news.
How do you tell when Judith is saying something that is not true?
Judith Collins has backed away from telling a mistruth about escape statistics during her time as Minister of Corrections by claiming that her eyebrow was raised and this is evidence that what she was saying was a joke.
Winston Peters Names Alleged Super Leaker
Winston Peters has named the person he says leaked his super details. Has ACT joined National in doing Dirty Politics?
Strong team?
Earlier this year National boasted that it had a strong team. But this was before two coups and the loss of seven MPs in the past few weeks, the latest for sending indecent material to a teenager which the leader initially described as a case involving mental health concerns.
Of course it’s dirty politics
National’s latest attempted spin is to try and suggest that last week’s clusterfuck of rolling events did not involve in any way the slightest trace of dirty politics. How wrong they are.
Did any National MP not receive confidential information from Michelle Boag?
Michael Woodhouse has admitted that he received confidential information from Michelle Boag a couple of weeks before he said that it was “unconscionable and unacceptable” that the leaks were happening.
Some Random impertinent questions about Michelle Boag’s access to confidential medical information
Westpac Helicopter Trust’s claim that it had not breached privacy rights of Covid sufferers raises some serious questions about why Michelle Boag was provided with sensitive information. And who she has provided it to.
The many and varied Covid reckons of Mike Hosking
A review of recent opinion pieces by Mike Hosking shows that he has adopted a series of contradictory positions with the one common feature that they are critical of the Government’s actions.
Paora Goldsmith in fake news scandal
Paora Goldsmith has shown either that he is lacking in basic numeracy and literacy skills or that he is prepared to tell porkies for political advantage.
Protesters, Anarchists, Agitators and Lowlifes
Donald Trump has planned to hold a political rally on the day used to celebrate the abolition of slavery at a place where one of the worst examples of white brutality on black people using advertising material containing nazi symbols. All in the middle of a global pandemic.
Todd Muller and the strange tale of the Leader’s Safe
The Herald has reported that Todd Muller’s staff used a safe cracker to open up a safe previously used by Simon Bridges, even though they had the access codes.
Todd’s Odd Distress Signal
How odd of Todd! A condescending gesture turns into a cry for help.
More Skripal bullshit
Skripal’s relatives don’t believe it, Jacinda Ardern doesn’t believe it, Paul Buchanan doesn’t believe it, and I never believed it. But a story planted in the UK Sunday Times that the Skripals are here lets our media rerun the assassination attempt that failed, even though the most deadliest poison in the world was involved. Stuff website has a British Minister from Theresa May’s time rerunning the old lies,as does the NZ Herald. Fits in nicely with the SIS anti-Russian history.
Bunker boy Trump finally builds that wall
This week Donald Trump has hid in a bunker, used tear gas to move protestors away from a church so that he could have a photo opportunity with a bible, and has started to build his much vaunted wall. Although it is around the White House and not on the Mexican border.
New leadership same old tactics
National has released a social media ad suggesting that New Zealand’s per head of population Government debt figure will be worse than Greece’s by 2014. But the data used presumes the effects of Covid 19 in New Zealand’s figure but no effects of Covid 19 in Greece’s figure.
Ko Paora Goldsmith tenei
National’s new brains trust has not had a great day today. They responded to claims that their front bench looked awfully white and had no Tangata Whenua by claiming that Paora Goldsmith was from Ngāti Porou. The only trouble was that he wasn’t.
Two Tier. Bull. Shit.
I thought we were “in this together” or some such?
Nat Vote: And the Loser Is ….
The Nation holds its breath as the dullest political leadership race in a generation snores to a close. Who will win by losing? Who will lose by winning? Who cares?
UPDATE: It’s Mullertime!
UPDATE: Bennett dumped!
This is exactly why the MSM should be scrutinised as much as the government
The Herald’s misleading, clickbait sound-biting of Labour MP Tamati Coffey isn’t even close to what we need in reporting from the Epidemic Response Committee.
When Bridges’ social media goes wrong
Simon Bridges’s Facebook post criticising the extension of lockdown level 4 has been met with overwhelming opposition, including from people who are clearly National Party supporters.
Two Bubbles Bridges’ Big Day Out
Simon ‘Two Bubbles’ Bridges feels he’s entitled to flaunt the rules because he’s, ahem, essential.
M.I.A. Joe
America has a question.
Bridges thinks the solution to Covid 19 is tax cuts
Simon Bridges thinks that tax cuts are the best way to address financial stress caused by businesses by the Covid 19 epidemic. Even though businesses under financial stress will be paying little if any tax and a tax cut would have little if any effect.
The Herald creates a panic and Trump says Coronavirus is a hoax
If a society ever wanted to set out how to handle a pandemic the Herald’s media response and Donald Trump’s handling of the situation provide perfect examples of what not to do.
National’s new conservation policy was previously announced in 2014
National has announced a “new” policy that it previously announced in 2014. And that has already been implemented.
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges Calls on Simon Bridges to Stand Down
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges calls on the leader of the opposition to stand down while the SFO case is before the courts.
Bridges’ many and varied positions on coalition with NZ First
In the past 10 days Simon Bridges has said that National will not go into coalition with NZ First after the next election, to it could consider coalition in the future, to there is no way it will ever go into coalition with NZ First.
How low will Bridges go?
Simon Bridges has wondered out loud if anti semitism stopped the Government from sending a senior representative to a Holocaust memorial in Israel.
Steve Mnuchin, not Greta Thunberg, needs to go back to school
US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has attacked Greta Thunberg for not understanding the economics of climate change. But he has then been roundly criticised by a number of people, including his wife.
Labour is signing up to Facebook transparency tool
Jacinda Ardern has announced that Labour will abide by Facebook Ad Library Report rules which allow voters to see where campaigning money is being spent on Facebook ads. And that it will have its major policies independently costed.
The great political heist that wasn’t
National has hinted darkly that the theft of laptops from its headquarters was possibly motivated by political considerations even though it had been told of a similar burglary of a neighbouring office had also occurred recently.
What Cheeto, Bojo and Scomo are up to
It has been a tough week for conservative leaders with Trump impeached and the evangelical magazine Christianity Today calling for his resignation, Johnson in the UK announcing voter fraud measures reminiscent of the American deep South, and in Australia Morrison being criticised for missing in action, upstaged by a 13 year old girl and pushing through protection for religious bigotry that Israel Folau would be pleased with.
Rush to Judgment redux
Barrister Maria Dew has delivered a strong conclusion in the report concerning allegations of sexual assault by one Labour Party member against another member. And Paula Bennett has not as yet apologised for her totally unfounded allegations against third parties.