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6:00 am, January 29th, 2026 - 28 comments
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Open mike is your post.
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Step up to the mike …
new video and song from Bruce Springssteen:
The Streets of Minneapolis.
[Verse 1]
Through the winter's ice and cold
Down Nicollet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
'Neath an occupier's boots
King Trump's private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes
[Verse 2]
Against smoke and rubber bullets
In the dawn's early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead, left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good
[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We'll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home, they killed and roamed
In the winter of '26
We'll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
The tune reminds me of Dylan's Desolation Row.
His singing was a bit Dylan like at times, the focus on lyrics along with a toning down of the anthem style.
Yes. The singing was very like Dylan's. The toning down of the anthem style harks back to the days of protest songs as kind of street politics in the days before the world wide web.
https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/red-meat/farmer-concerned-over-venison-sales
Wealthy owner trys to protect self interest,
All culled wild deer in nz should be recovered and consumed
deer snort. I'll take wild venison over farmed any day.
Selling wild as farmed is weird though.
Selling wild as farmed.
It's a guaranteed outcome of not having a decent wild recovery system going like we had in the 80s, easy money is always going to attract dishonest people
are they not allowed to sell it as wild?
If the animal goes to the works it'll have a NAIT tag for traceability through the process (can be an interesting task getting 100 wild deer though the shed and onto the truck…) but no rules against it provided it's traceable. Economics here are pretty good as effectively these are free, or even negative cost to the farm, once you account for the damage they do. Market depends on meat quality, good stuff will go to the top, just like 'farmed' animals, but sometimes it's hard to tell them apart on the hoof.
For wild shot stuff it has to go through a licences packing facility, there's several that supply domestic and international markets. Economics here aren't so flash, the farm might get a few free chopper hours if they get enough good, easy animals / hour. Mostly it depends on prices for pet food.
I am a hunter and am not allowed to sell wild venison at all, so maybe I don't quite understand the rules but how is wild shot venison allowed to be sold at all?? Is there a permit system or something or are they just shooting "wild" venison on the farm instead of sending it to a abattoir?
MPI regulate the processing of wild game along with what goes through the works.
There's quite a few outfits that process wild shot animals for domestic and export markets. It's a well established industry going back to helicopter and ground meat hunting days in 60's. Currently going through a bit of a resurgence with good markets and plentiful deer numbers.
Bomber has it so right on TDB today about Winston, who has decided that Trump is right to ditch the WHO and NZ should do this too.
The practical effect of this Winston bollocks is that he supports withdrawing 8 million dollars of funding for the WHO while he is happy to give Phillip Morris 216 million dollars.
Winston has simply lost it. So glad he ruled out working with Labour, the Greens and TPM yesterday.
Winston ruling out means nothing as I'm sure you know.
Has Labour ruled out Winston?
That makes me think of the political quote on TDB today –
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: Politics have no relation to morals. Niccolo Machiavelli.
Winson's timing might not be so good. Nipah Virus may have the last word.
Cases of deadly Nipah virus found in Asia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-29/abc-news/106282322
Can you provide the source?
If Peters has ruled out 'Labour' and not just Hipkins – then that's a significant shift in his rhetoric.
I'd be surprised if he has, since it weakens his bargaining position in November. Not at all like the wily political player that he is.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/winston-peters-rubbishes-polls-as-nz-first-surges-in-support-in-election-year-voter-sampling/RZB6NOP4WFB4PISH3RCV3B3SKU/
I'd like to see his actual words and the context though.
It's in the first five minutes of the video in that NZH link. He implies he won't work with TPM, GP, and Hipkins, then Bridge let's him do a party political broadcast on behalf of NZF.
Classic Peter blather, totally deniable closer to the election.
Thanks Weka,
This looks like really poor quality reporting by MSM.
Taking a Peters 'implication' as a policy statement is an incredibly stupid take.
And, if called on, Peters would reply (as he's done so often in the past) 'I never said that' – and he'd be absolutely correct.
exactly. Bridge is entertaining enough, but that wasn't serious journalism. Clickbait I guess. I didn't watch the second half, maybe it got better.
Winston Peters' repeated comments that he won't consider working with Labour if Chris Hipkins is leader seem an evident attempt to create uncertainty among voters and division in Labour.
Peters' personal attacks against Hipkins continued in Parliament and to the media this week. Likewise David Seymour. They come across as threatened by and envious of Hipkins. Their frequent derisive comments suggest that the Government parties' private polling is a serious concern. Their attacks are clear attempts to deflect from their own unpopular policies, which have caused so much socioeconomic damage to many NZers, particularly to the most vulnerable.
Rather than supposed supporters of Labour criticising that Hipkins' popularity levels aren't higher, given the relentless attacks and lies on social media, as prior to the 2023 election, it's a positive sign that he and Labour are retaining their lead in support.
While I think that Peters rejection of Hipkins (although, not necessarily Labour) is absolutely an attempt to divide and weaken the Labour party – it's not new. He's been doing this for months, if not years – so unlikely to reflect a concern over current polling.
It's absolutely Peters modus operandi – he's the original attack politician.
And it pays dividends for him in the polls.
Media account.
https://archive.li/t5wXI
https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360936411/te-pati-maori-leaves-door-ajar-nz-first-winston-peters-slam-it-shut-ratana
Discussed here.
https://thestandard.nz/the-rise-of-winston-follows-the-rise-of-pauline-hansen-and-nigel-farage/
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Lew
@lewsos.bsky.social
2013: Recently former ACT leader writes a column arguing that slavery was better for slaves than democracy: http://www.nbr.co.nz/a-southern-s... 2026: ACT refuses to support anti-slavery legislation, forcing Grand Coalition http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... I suppose consistency is a kind of virtue
https://www.nbr.co.nz/a-southern-slave-owner-vs-the-modern-democratic-state/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/585319/watch-national-and-labour-mps-team-up-to-get-slavery-bill-heard-after-act-objects
Slavery isn't a priority for Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden – slaves don’t need no safety.
Deputy PM and Associate Minister for Justice David Seymour says "It's virtue signalling."
2 dead in Minnesota…………and then look what happened to Nixon…….
For those who think Luxon is right, and Winston was crazy not to approve the India Free Trade Agreement. As he said, India is on such a growth spurt and we can get access to it. As the Indian Government said, unprecedented access to the New Zealand economy.
Who wouldn't want a piece of India right now?
But give a thought… If India's doing so well, why would they be as eager as we are to cut a free trade agreement after such a short negotiation time?
https://www.bitget.com/amp/news/detail/12560605171109
I see that Starmer an Xi seek better relations between Britain and China. I wonder what Trump thinks of that.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360931510/starmer-and-xi-call-deeper-ukchina-ties-trump-shakes?cx_testId=87&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s