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6:00 am, April 24th, 2026 - 22 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
Well thats not a good look:
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/21/g-s1-118275/southern-poverty-law-center-fraud-charges-paid-informants
'Prosecutors say another informant was a member of the "online leadership chat group" that planned the 2017 white nationalist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The informant attended the rally at the direction of the SPLC, according to the indictment, and helped coordinate transportation for several others. That person was allegedly paid more than $270,000 between 2015 and 2013.'
A paid informant, like what the cops do? Prob the dumbest case the US DOJ has made, yet. A stupid self own.
**Argh! Will correct user name next time.
Greg Thornhill, chair of the New Zealand History Teachers Association, says today that the new draft history curriculum "could have been written in 1985…..if we are framing our past using westernised Eurocentric histories then I don't think that positions us very well as a bicultural nation…..the process has been rushed and the timeline is unrealistic."
Another embarrassment for this government of dinosaurs. The so-called centrist Minister of Education Erica Stanhope is as bad as the rest of this pack of carnivores.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2019032299/teachers-concerns-about-proposed-history-curriculum
Erica is certainly a bridge back to the glorious past of the settlement of the land of hope in western glory.
Given her education consultants in Oz, no surprise.
This built on the Luxonesque decision to replace the 2020 Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines (his own opinion), but were said to be at the behest of NZ First.
TheSpinoff has a good summary of the enormous Central Otago proposed fast track gold mine:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-04-2026/the-debate-over-central-otagos-enormous-controversial-new-gold-mine-explained
Fast Track result is due out week before our election.
Back in 1996, National was very unpopular and Peters campaigned as part of the opposition and then kept it in power (the excuse was Labour-Alliance division). Thus a very low MW and market rents in state houses continued.
When National was generous in the Indian FTA, they knew NZF would oppose it.
They also knew, if Labour did not back it they would use this against them. And if they did, then NZ First would use it against them.
Either way they would use the FTA to reduce the Labour vote to stay in government.
They did not care about whether the FTA would be good for New Zealand, it was all political strategy.
I think that by November nobody will be talking about this.
I heard Hipkins argue a couple of days ago that the Indian immigration generated by the trade deal will result in a tiny increase in immigration, so no "butter chicken" influx.
Shane Jones should be sacked as a minister for that widely condemned racist comment.
If Nobody is called Winston or Shane, then yes.
The interesting thing at the moment is that Willis is saying a vote for Winston is a vote for Hipkins. Labour should be saying a vote for Winston is a vote for Luxon.
I say, yet again, that Labour should rule out working with this pro-fascist version of NZF, which is much different to the 2017 version.
Well, that's not a good look – the art of the
dealgrift:Sounds like they (not Trump or Kushner, of course) have a bit of a cost of living crisis.
Not in NZ though, because the CoC is laser-focussed on austerity and the cost of living.
Sweep in, sweep out.
Gee that Labour 3 Waters is looking like….woulda, coulda,shoulda…but didna. : (
FYI, I definitely tried my hardest to fight back against the racists/Anti 3 Waters : Groundswill, TPU, Garrick Tremain et al…..
1998 and 2011: the last 2 times we got a credit downgrade were under National. Not Labour.
And we're now on for another this year.
1998 was on them.
2011 may not have happened without the earthquakes on top of the GFC.
(John Key will advise Luxon to shrug it off as he did).
National being unwilling to soak up money off the well to do to sustain the economy is well known (end of estate tax 1993).
If we get a downgrade along with others because of the Gulf blockage impact – then it is happenstance, but otherwise it is more than a coincidence – it is a pattern.
Siphoning income out of the economy (away from workers and government funding) to increase the wealth of corporate shareholders and the wider rentier class strangles the life out of it.
It was expected to happen next year, but the Maui field might be closing at the end of this year.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360992753/maui-gas-field-closure-will-increase-risk-energy-shortage-regulator-warns
A search of 'The Centrist', a news 'organ' founded by NZ-based Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon, for 'meridional' or 'Amoc' returned no hits. Doubt is their product.
https://thestandard.nz/almost-20-million-budget-cut-to-rnz-is-met-with-near-silence-from-kiwis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Doubt
Now that Prime Minister Luxon has canceled his weekly TVNZ appearances, i hope to see Hipkins in there like a robbers dog.
Robbers' dogs do interviews??
Mayor of Auckland Wayne Brown (ex Mayor of Far North 2007-2013 approx). Not quite like Muldoon but getting aggressive to journalists and showing his developing muscle.
Apr.24/26 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions_auckland/593337/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-refers-to-rnz-staffer-as-a-muslim-terrorist
Back a bit – Oct.4/22 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/476007/journalist-on-mayoral-candidate-wayne-brown-s-comments-it-s-a-horrible-thing
April 2026 finds him upset. Join the club I say, and it isn't exclusive.
2026? (yr not shown in detail) April 6 – https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/04/06/wayne-brown-slams-council-after-kaitaia-flooding-hits-120m-precinct/
Brown develops on a known flood-prone area along with others of his ilk, and possibly got a cheap price for the property, and then wants the taxpayers and ratepayers to pay out for earthworks to protect his investment return. In this time of climate change, unpredictable weather bombs, and spoilt man-boys who are fan-boys for themselves, and b***r the people weighed down with debt and grief.
A further note on the housing unprinciples of people in power.
Apr.24/26 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions_northland/593273/kawakawa-social-housing-planned-for-known-flood-zone-beyond-belief-some-residents-say
Mar.11/26 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/589226/northland-rough-sleepers-face-more-than-800-day-wait-for-home-through-housing-first
Jan.29/1850 https://www.victorianlondon.org/mayhew/mayhew30.htm
End of a grand era: Maui field dies.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/593343/omv-signals-end-of-maui-gas-field-this-year&ved=2ahUKEwiayeao9YWUAxXgklYBHXPANRoQFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0KeCthc06QE3kTgqB1KF5c
The Maui field winds to nothing this year.
I'll be shifting the Auckland flat gas hot water to the Rheem dual heat pump end of this year.
Simeon Brown has a grumble on FB tonight complaining about the media. He finishes "– not a media-driven soap opera." Well, he's right- not a media-driven soap opera.
"What I can tell you", as the lead character often says when avoiding any issue, is that the Luxon theatrical company manages its own sudsy lack of substance quite well on its own. The script of its soap opera "Look Over There, They Did It" is banal , the drama contrived, and the plot predictable when it's not lost.
Threatened by the withdrawal of sponsors, the mini-series is seriously facing a one series season. The theme song "Drill Baby Drill" never struck oil, the follow-up "The Miner's Dream" never struck gold and a third is still flatulent in the not yet built pipe-line.
Some say "Look Over There"is comedic, others that it is dystopian and counterfactual. Whatever its genre, the viewing public is switching channels away from episodes such as Roads of National Insignificants, The Ferry that was Frightened of the Sea, Lost in the Lagoon, The Ghost of the Parliamentary Corridors, The Leader who Promised Heaven and Gave us Hell, and the block-buster Rich and Sorted.
Now the media critics are panning the production in reviews of this soap. 'Focus on Politics" tonight is the latest example- https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/focusonpolitics Great listening……..
Great satire Mac1 and beside an ironic snigger I know it is sadly true. These are exemplary actors, could-be avatars or puppets, and their controllers have deep purses.