News that the head of Waikato’s Mongrel Mob chapter was given an essential workers exemption to travel to and around Auckland recently has attracted derision from the usual quarters. But right now Sonny Fatupaito’s help is essential.
On Monday of this week David Seymour received a roasting after posting a confidential Health code that was to be used by Waitakere Whanau to receive priority vaccination slots. He has now doubled down on his effort and claimed that prioritisation is wrong.
In an extraordinary move National’s board has reselected Peter Goodfellow as Party Chairperson and this has caused former MP David Carter to resign as board member and express no confidence in the leadership or in National’s chances at the next election.
Last week’s final between England and Italy showed that there is still an ugly racist underside to what should be a beautiful game.
In two separate leaks it has emerged that Judith Collins privately briefed Don Brash on National’s demand the debate campaign and that Brash wrote to wealthy donors seeking $300,000 for an Iwi Kiwi style billboard response.
On Monday, RNZ reported that “Chinese Communist Party spies are infiltrating New Zealand universities”. Our guest poster views this thin and anecdotal ‘investigative’ reporting with deep suspicion. Was any of this activity was reported to the proper authorities. Or is it just the usual paranoia / racist dog-whistling or a paid story?
The Government has announced it will publicly apologise for the treatment of Pacific people in the 1970s when they were harassed and discriminated against by the Police because of the place of their birth and the colour of their skin.
Paora Goldsmith, who last hit National headlines for botching up National’s alternative budget, has again hit the headlines and for the wrong reasons. And this time members of his caucus publicly disagree with him.
Fresh from a claim that the Ministry of Education is trying to persuade kids not to eat home made lunches, David Seymour has taken aim at a new target, a radical education policy that intends to teach our kids about racism and inequality and what has happened in the country’s past.
There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday. Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report. And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.
Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society. But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.
Last weekend Judith Collins spoke to the Northern Regional Conference of the National Party and gave as crude an analysis of te Tiriti as you can imagine.
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.
Paora Goldsmith thinks that learning about Māori history is engaging in identity politics.
It may be that we have heard publicly from John Banks for the last time. If so this will be a good thing.
You would think that after the Trump years the media would be turning away from the reporting of “both sides” of an issue and in many cases they are. But there is a recent example of a hold out urging that extremist views should be given media attention.
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.
A post reflecting on the history of the Parihaka settlement, how local Taranaki Iwi were treated appallingly by the Crown and the Government, and how the settlement amount paid is but a miniscule amount of the damage actually caused.
National Backbench MP Hamish Walker has claimed that Queenstown is to be invaded by people from India, Pakistan and Korea when the reality is the Government is considering using empty Hotels for quarantining returning kiwis.
A really successful and very modern revolution has already started in just the last few weeks. It’s not the revolution we expected.
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.
In politics there are two general theories, the conspiracy theory where events are the result of deep Machiavellian planning, and the f*ck up theory where things just happen because of human stuff ups. Todd McClay’s decision to defend the use of the Confederate Flag is that much of a f*ck up there must be a deep Machiavellian reason for him deciding to do so publicly.
Yesterday saw two back bench National MPs unintentionally set National’s position on the Government response to Covid 19 and on Hamilton City’s decision to take down a statute that was repugnant to Waikato Tainui. What has happened to their messaging discipline?
The Black Lives Matter movement is causing many countries to reflect on their history and practices. And the decision of the police to discontinue the Armed Response Teams Trial and the Childrens Commissioner’s scathing report on Oranga Tamariki’s practices in the uplifting of young children, mostly Maori, from their mothers are examples of the change that is happening.
The toppling of a statute of former slave trader Edward Coulson has led to conjecture that the statute may have tripped and fallen rather than forcibly removed and deposited in Bristol Harbour.
The civil war may have ended slavery, the civil rights movement may have changed the legal framework ending segregation in the Southern States, but the idea that white people’s lives matter more has survived into the 21st century.
Donald Trump is engaged in an escallating war with Twitter after the Social Platform hid one of his tweets calling for Minneapolis rioters to be shot.
Judith Collins has responded to criticisms that National’s front bench has no diversity by asking if there was something wrong being white and then saying she was sick of being demonised for her ethnicity.
Todd Muller has spent the weekend not introducing himself to the country and talking about his ideas for our future but by defending the displaying of a MAGA hat in his office.
“You cannot have free speech, if you make some people less free”
The repercussions from Simon Bridges’ disastrous Waitangi performance continue to reverberate. His suggestions that Māori seats and the Waitangi Tribunal should be done away with have resulted in the Māori Party indicating it is more likely to support Labour after the election.
Jacinda Ardern has publicly slapped Shane Jones down for blatantly racist comments by requiring Immigration Officials to reverse a policy change that was adversely affecting Kiwis who have recently entered into arranged marriages.
Simon Bridges has borrowed heavily from Donald Trump in releasing a press release saying that Ihumātao protesters should go home.
We are frogs in the pot.
Donald Trump has attacked a group of young female Democrat politicians and has claimed they should go back to the country they were born in. Even though they were actually born in the United States.
