Know Your Place (this is a White Man’s Island)
Just remember that
Open Mike 12/01/2017
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Obama’s last speech
Tired of jokes about Trump and golden showers? Want to read a real political speech? Well here is the text to Barak Obama’s last political speech as POTUS.
The great Taxpayers Union fraud and corruption discovery
The Taxpayer’s Union has shown a concerning inability to comprehend in its criticism of MFAT for supporting an aid initiative to address malnutrition in Africa.
NRT: Denying the obvious
I/S at No Right turn writes on Revenue Minister Collins’ denial of obvious tax avoidance.
Open Mike 11/01/2017
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The end of ‘governing from the centre’?
And a return to the politics of division by Blinglish…
The CIA Director confirmation hearings
Mike Pompey is Donald Trump’s chosen head for the CIA. He is someone who believes in the mass collection of all metadata and combining it with all publicly available information. Are we going to see the unprecedented destruction of rights of privacy?
Screwing more out of Auckland renters
Already sky-high Auckland rents are set to rise further.
Refining that dog whistle
Bill English has used a proposal for timing of his Waitangi speech to wrongly claim that he is being silenced. And most of the media bought it.
Open Mike 10/01/2017
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Spy vs Spy
It is MAD. In the frenzy leading up to Trump’s inauguration, we have the extraordinary spectacle of the CIA interfering in the US election by accusing the Russians of interfering in the same election. The CIA used only to interfere in other people’s elections. On the serious side this intervention means the war party hasn’t given up yet, no matter what Trump may say.
2016 hottest year – NIWA live stream
As long predicted and widely reported, 2016 has been confirmed as the hottest year ever. Watch the NIWA stream on the situation in NZ, live at 11am.
English won’t attend Waitangi Day
I don’t think it does a PM any harm to shut up and listen for a change instead of talking, but this does not seem to be possible for the Nats.
Open Mike 09/01/2017
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Advertising Standards Authority rules in favour of Greenpeace ad on river quality
The Advertising Standards Authority rejects all 12 complaints about the ad, including one from Dairy NZ.
Changes in the United States
The implications for the world of Donald Trump’s forthcoming ascendancy to the office of President of the United States.
Wikileaks unravels
In the space of a day Wikileaks managed to complain about another entity leaking information, threaten to dox pretty well every reporter, delete the tweet and then sound like Donald Trump.
Open Mike 08/01/2017
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Hacking Schmacking
In all seriousness. Apparently.
The St Johns Industrial Dispute – #HealthyAmbosSaveLives
St Johns is one of the first organisations to use new Industrial powers brought in by the Government and is attempting to refuse to negotiate with First Union and is docking workers pay for wearing a campaign t-shirt.
Open Mike 07/01/2017
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The Centrelink fiasco
In Australia the Turnbull Government is implementing a policy that will demand in 12 months at least 200,000 Australians repay benefits they were entitled to because of faulty data mapping.
A word of thanks
Robert Guyton deserves many thanks for the series of posts he recently wrote for the Standard.
Open Mike 06/01/2017
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Pathological consumption
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a free trip to the landfill and a subscription to the end of the world as we know it.
Some lighthearted banter
Peter Leitch has hired Michelle Boag to deal with publicity issues caused by his comment that Waiheke is a white man’s island. She has not helped.
The Standard Summer
We’re taking some time out for the holidays. Hope you are able to do the same – enjoy! Open Mike will continue, but other posting will be low volume if at all.
Open Mike 05/01/2017
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If home is where the heart is, then…
What have we become?
Open Mike 04/01/2017
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The Briefing Papers: NZ’s time on the Security Council
The Briefing Papers assesses NZ’s time at the UN Security Council, which came to an end on 31 December. Here are extracts from pieces by commentators Grant Duncan and Paul Buchanan.
Open Mike 03/01/2017
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The return of Kim Dotcom and the Internet Party and the NZ journalist seeking asylum in Russia
In strange news Kim Dotcom is talking about resurrecting the Internet Party and claims have been made that a New Zealand journalist is seeking asylum in Russia. Update: I am satisfied the application is for real.
Positive
This is a difficult concept for the left to address in election year in New Zealand but it’s possible to be positive about 2017.
Open Mike 02/01/2017
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