Why American Foreign Policy still matters
So what should the next President of the United States focus on? Military power or economic domination or international institutions?
Official climate change fraud
Scientists and experts have been knowingly understating the unfolding climate change catastrophe to governments and decision makers. Why? For the sake of what is “politically palatable”.
Migration
The refugee rise didn’t go far enough… but we need to stop importing cafe managers and retail supervisors and fuelling Auckland’s housing and transport problems.
Open mike 14/06/2016
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 …
Kiwi Values
Epsom hologram David Seymour reckons we need to force refugees to pledge allegiance to what he calls ‘values’. Of course, ACT don’t know value, they only know price. And haven’t we heard this sort of thing from another party in years gone by?
Daily Review 13/06/2016
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standarnistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Refugee quota increase “shameful and inhumane”
Reaction to Key’s pathetic increase in the refugee quota – “shameful and inhumane” (Amnesty International), “stinks of a Government that doesn’t care” (Double the Quota).
How about a bit of balance on Hillary Clinton?
I think it’s time we stopped buying into the Trump-ite view of Hillary Clinton.
The ghost house epidemic and the invisible hand
Last year there were officially 22,000 unoccupied properties in Auckland. This year 33,000 are officially classified as empty. “Auckland’s 6.6 per cent vacancy rate is higher than either Sydney (5.2 per cent) or Melbourne (4.8 per cent), where there has been an uproar over “ghost houses” deliberately left empty by speculators trading on a soaring market”. This is madness.
Florida – 50 dead in attack on LGBT club
Open mike 13/06/2016
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 …
Essential reading – Hickey on immigration
Hickey: “Helping employers to bring in low-skilled migrants instead of investing in new technology and becoming more productive so they can pay local workers more is essentially stunting our productivity and real GDP per capita.”
Fiji flop
Open mike 12/06/2016
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 …
Scottish Parliament votes to ban fracking.
Imagine a country where the political divide is over whether to ban fracking outright or to be opposed to fracking but have a moratorium first in order to gather more evidence.
Police undermined by their own minister
Good piece by Jo Moir on Stuff this morning, about National’s train-wreck week. Follow it up with Andrew Geddis on the legality of the Collins blurt.
Warren on Trump (and the Republicans)
Elizabeth Warren, who is positioning herself as Clinton’s potential VP, rips in to The Donald (and the Republicans) in a speech to the American Constitution Society (ACS).
Where is Paula?
In the middle of a housing crisis the Minister of Social Housing Paula Bennett is nowhere to be seen.
Open mike 11/06/2016
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 …
Daily Review 10/06/2016
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standarnistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Jonathan Pie thinks Tony Blair is a psychopath
Jonathan Pye analyses Tony Blair’s history and contrasts his statements and actions with that of Jeremy Corbyn.
Caption contest
There is no housing crisis in New Zealand *
* according to Nick Smith and Paula Bennett.
Banks act on housing affordability crisis (while National sits on its hands)
Despite Key’s barnstorming 2007 speech on the housing affordability crisis, National these days prefer to deny that it exists. Apparently fed up with waiting for the government to take action, banks are moving to reduce their risk and limit foreign buyers.
H1 and H2
In a few months, the two most important leadership roles on the planet could be held by women. How cool is that? We’ve come a long way, world!
Open mike 10/06/2016
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 …
Daily Review 09/06/2016
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standarnistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Robert Reich’s letter to Bernie Sanders
The text of an open letter written by Ribert Reich to his friend Bernie Sanders.
FIFY: Bennett too embarrassed to visit marae
National’s lies, damn lies and statistics on housing
The housing crisis is not going away, and National needs to offer something better than lies, damn lies, and statistics.
If you still need to be persuaded about New Zealand’s homeless crisis …
Eleven year old TA is bright, dedicated but homeless. She has challenged John Key to try walking in her shoes.
Time for Bernie to stand down?
What will Bernie do now?
Open mike 09/06/2016
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 …
Daily Review 08/06/2016
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standarnistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Funding priorities
Why are we spending so much money on “defense” when there are so many real and urgent needs? It is hard to imagine that our “enemies” could possibly do us more damage than we are inflicting on ourselves.
Yet another indicator of the homeless crisis
The homeless population of central Auckland has more than doubled in the last 3 years. That’s quite a legacy John Key. Meanwhile Te Puea Marae is still putting the government to shame, you can donate here.