David Lillis: Is Tertiary Education for Learning or for Indoctrination?

“Any edifice that rests on the shifting sands of contemporary academic fashion is bound sooner or later to fall. The university of the future will, paradoxically, need to offer its students an education with deeper historical roots.” (Ferguson and Howland, 2024). 

Compulsory Courses at the University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is set to deliver courses entitled ‘Waipapa Taumata Rau’ (University of Auckland, 2024). All undergraduate programmes there must include a Waipapa Taumata Rau core course that students must complete within their first year of study.

Clive Bibby: Real change requires compromises from all of us

When you look at the Nation as a whole and our region on its own, it isn’t hard to see why we face serious challenges and yet always seem to have difficulty finding answers to problems that in the main are the result of self inflicted wounds.

It is probably because, no matter who we are or where we live, we generally tend to approach all problems in the same way.

NZCPR Newsletter: The Radicalisation of Local Government

Last week Prime Minister Chris Luxon delivered a broadside across the bow of local authorities at the Local Government New Zealand Conference in Wellington. This was a gathering of hundreds of mayors, chairs, chief executives, councillors and senior management from councils across the country, who had paid $1,500 plus travel and accommodation to attend this annual three-day shindig.

Derek Mackie: And I'm feelin' screwed!

Birds flying high; kiwi, you know how I feel 

Sun in the sky; fog, you know how I feel 

Breeze driftin' by; doldrums, you know how I feel 

It's a woke dawn…. it's a woke day…. it's a woke life…. 

For me - [cause I ain’t an inclusive minority] 

    And I'm feelin’ screwed! 

David Farrar: Labour desperate to tax us more

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the party’s tax policy is still a live discussion after the Labour Party social media account shared an account of a party meeting where former Revenue Minister David Parker allegedly discussed something called a Capital Income Tax.

Hipkins confirmed members were discussing a range of taxes,

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.8.24

Saturday August 31, 2024 

News:
Māori King Kiingi Tūheitia dies
The Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, has died.

A Kiingitanga spokesperson say he had been in hospital recovering from heart surgery, days after celebrating the anniversary of his Coronation.

Ben Espiner: Can beer be racist?

There are very few things I’d stick my neck out for in life, beer is one of them.

Cultural and social advisers in New Zealand do some decent work. They can be important in facilitating events and processes in companies or organisations that must be culturally cognisant in their undertakings.

Bob McCoskrie: 1News’ social media policy… good for some

1News’s social media moderation… for some but not others.

This week, TVNZ published information about how its newsroom operates, as it focuses – as it says – “on transparency and inspiring trust in news”.

Ooh – they’ve just realised that it matters. Trust and transparency.

Alexander Plum, Kabir Dasgupta: Why a universal basic income might foster wellbeing but not productivity

Labour or leisure? Why a universal basic income might foster wellbeing but not productivity

The current cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates and the ensuing economic contraction have disproportionately hit low-income households. And for many low-income workers, the future remains uncertain.

On top of that, the rise of artificial intelligence may result in significant job redundancies and displacements. And recent employment data for New Zealand has been grim, with a rise in the number of unemployed.

Nick Clark: Localism: NZ needs a better system

A short walk from Wellington’s shiny Tākina Convention Centre, a burst water main floods Kent Terrace. This contrast between impressive civic buildings and failing infrastructure captures local government's challenge: finding a balance between ambition, financial responsibility, independence and accountability.

Lushington D. Brady: What Does ‘Far-Right’ Mean, Exactly?

It’s the media’s favourite phrase, but what does it mean?

Does anyone remember keyboard macros? They were pretty hot stuff in the early days of internet chat, back when bulletin board systems and GeoCities ruled. Just hit a keyboard shortcut and it would instantly type out any phrase you’d taught it.

I rather suspect mainstream media journalists are still using them, judging by how often they parrot stuff like ‘misinformation and disinformation’, ‘transphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia’ and ‘white supremacist’.

Friday August 30, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 30/8/24

Simon Court’s “biography” is blank on the Beehive website – but he has been busily buzzing about his PPP duties

Go googling for information about Simon Court, an ACT MP since 2020, and – among the first half dozen suggestions – you will find a steer to the government’s official website:

Mike's Minute: We must question insurance companies

Is the insurance market the last to get a good going over from the regulatory authorities?

Having become a country that loves a good market study, we've had petrol, banks, supermarkets – so surely insurance, and while you are at it, Air New Zealand, would be a good next stopping point.

Australia isn't overly happy with the way their insurance industry works either, and the regulator last week hinted inspections of some sort were coming.

Chris Lynch: Government cracks down on disabled parking misuse

The New Zealand Government is taking action against the misuse of disabled parking spaces, introducing measures to ensure that tow-truck operators are fairly compensated and that parking fines are adjusted for inflation.

These changes were announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston and Transport Minister Simeon Brown.

David Farrar: Now that’s a crackdown!

Stuff reports:

Police have arrested every patched member of the Christchurch chapter of the Comancheros in a massive blow to the international bikie gang’s reach into the South Island.

They’ve also seized millions of dollars worth of drugs, cash and guns as part of a major eight-month investigation into the gang’s illicit activities.

Lindsay Mitchell: The child poverty conundrum

The Child Poverty Report 2024 has just been published. It's an overview and selected findings, as opposed to a full report which is due in 2025.

Poverty can be measured in various ways.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Have the Greens underestimated Darleen Tana?

Is anyone else getting the feeling the Greens have underestimated just how far Darleen Tana will go to to mess with them? 

I feel like they might have bit off a bit much with this one. Because so far - it’s 2-nil to Darleen.

She won the first round when she refused to quit Parliament. The Greens clearly thought that after they’d finished the report she’d just slink off in shame - but she refused to do that.

Michael Reddell: Wholly inappropriate

It didn’t used to be terribly controversial that powerful independent government bodies and powerful statutory officeholders should “stay in their lane” or “stick to their knitting”. Those entities/individuals typically have a pretty narrow set of official statutory responsibilities and if they are exercising power independently of the naturally-partisan governments of the day, they should focus their energies on those official responsibilities and keep quiet about, and keep out of, other stuff.

DTNZ:

“Even in Opposition, Hipkins is cratering our chances of getting the energy we need to keep homes warm and factories running through the winter,” says ACT Energy and Resources spokesperson Simon Court.

“He says he’s open to cross-party action on the energy crisis, but not if it involves natural gas.

Dr Guy Hatchard: Fact checking Luxon and Collins on biotechnology deregulation

Fact Checking the Incredible Claims of Prime Minister Chris Luxon, Judith Collins and the New Zealand Biotech Lobby

Unfortunately none of the above are ever likely to publicly debate their policy to deregulate biotechnology, instead they are saturating a compliant media with disingenuous tales about how wonderful it all is. So a big thank you this week to Reality Check Radio who set up a virtual debate.

As a result, this week I appeared on Mornings with Paul Brennan right after an interview with biotech advocate Dr. Alec Foster and was able to fact check his claims and those of an earlier interview with Science and Technology Minister Judith Collins. My main take home was shock at the brazen deceit being employed to get this policy over the line with a suspicious public. You can listen to the replays, but here are some of the main points fact checked:

Peter Dunne: Labour's tax policy

Over recent elections, tax policy has proven to be Labour’s Achilles Heel.

Its coyness on tax in the 2011 campaign led to John Key’s famous “Show me the money, Phil” retort to leader Phil Goff on Labour’s spending plans. When Goff could not answer satisfactorily, Labour’s campaign was sunk amidst a public suspicion of new taxes looming to pay for Labour’s policies. So, in 2014 Labour resolved to be more specific, explicitly promising to introduce a capital gains tax. But that did not work either and Labour was again heavily rejected by voters.

Eliora: Bloomfield Is Behind It Again

It’s hard to believe the former Director General of Health again is promoting a harmful substance and threatening those who do not comply.

The Tauranga public turned out in large numbers fronting up to the newly democratically elected councillors to voice their disapproval of Dr Ashley Bloomfield’s directive to put fluoride in the residents’ unfluoridated drinking water. The room was overcrowded and the atmosphere electric. Many had to move into the foyer and the ‘health and safety’ irony of the situation wasn’t lost on the crowd. A lot of booing took place.

Kerre Woodham: The infrastructure plan is wildly exciting

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced yesterday what National had promised all the way through the election campaign. The government's new National Infrastructure Agency will be established this year, unlocking access to more capital for infrastructure and strengthening the government's private finance and commercial capability. So, from the 1st of December, Crown Infrastructure Partners is going to be reimagined and repurposed into the National Infrastructure Agency. It will be charged with acting as the Crown's shop front to receive unsolicited proposals and to facilitate private sector investment in infrastructure, partner with agencies and in some cases, local governments on projects involving private finance, administer central government funds and continue the work that CIP is already doing.

Thursday August 29, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 29/8/24

What’s gone on in climate-change talks with China? Watts is coy while Brown buries his news about raising road revenue

Point of Order is disappointed that Climate Change Minister Simon Watts didn’t tell us much more about his chat with China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu.

Watts said the Chinese minister is departing New Zealand today ”after the Fifth Ministerial Climate Change Dialogue between New Zealand and China…”

Nick Hanne: The NZ Herald and a not so “free” press

While it may seem impossible that this case could get any more ironic, let’s not forget the free publicity which Hobson’s Pledge is now getting due to the furore.

If Hobson’s Pledge, a lobby group led by Don Brash, wasn’t on your radar a few weeks ago, it will almost certainly be now. Of course, it ought not be confused with the ironic term ‘Hobson’s Choice’ which means ‘having no choice at all’, which in light of the NZ Herald’s actions only makes it all the more ironic. I’ll spare you, though, all the details from the controversy of the past two weeks, and deal here instead with two key questions.

The first is relatively easy: Can a newspaper like the NZ Herald lawfully turn down an advertisement?  

The short answer: Yes, they can.

David Farrar: Fixes for our energy shortages

We have both a short-term and long-term energy challenge. The high wholesale electricity price is because of supply shortages. The Government has announced some steps towards the short-term supply problem, being:

Duggan Flanakin: Greta versus the volcano

As America’s “greenest” President (Joe Biden) fades into the sunset, one is reminded of the 1990 Tom Hanks blockbuster Joe Versus the Volcano. Our salvation may be near.

In the movie, Joe Banks (Hanks) is told by a doctor he is dying. He is then duped by an unscrupulous billionaire into throwing himself into a volcano. The billionaire (and crony of the lying doctor) needs a sucker to appease the gods of the native Pacific islanders who control access to a mineral essential for manufacturing superconductors.

Sir Bob Jones: World class wetness

Prepare to weep.

Last week a drowning wet London employment Tribunal dismissed a claim for unfair dismissal by a primary school teacher, Charlotte Moore.

It transpired Charlotte had entered her mixed-race classroom to find the kids in full cry, as is their timeless universal wont when temporarily left to themselves.

Mike's Minute: Surely the clock is ticking for Chris Hipkins

You can see how the rumblings around the future of Chris Hipkins as Labour Leader have started.

They have added to their problems this week with the social media post from David Parker wittering on about his tax dream. The old Capital Gains Tax, get all those rich bastards lined up and raid their pockets.

It's a sorry old state they find themselves in.

Ele Ludemann: Labour pondering envy tax again

Labour hasn’t learned:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the party’s tax policy is still a live discussion after the Labour Party social media account shared an account of a party meeting where former Revenue Minister David Parker allegedly discussed something called a Capital Income Tax.

Hipkins confirmed members were discussing a range of taxes.

David Farrar: Unfair criticism of judge, but there is a double standard

Stuff reports:

Fisheries Minister Shane Jones called a High Court Judge a “Communist Judge” during a meeting with the seafood industry over Māori rights.

High Court Judge, Justice Cheryl Gwyn, who has awarded Customary Marine Titles to Māori, comes up in the meeting notes.

Professor Robert McCulloch: Hipkins wants NZ to fail

The Labour Party Leader's Sad Plan for NZ is a text-book copy of the UK Prime Minister's. Except there is a difference - Hipkins wants NZ to fail.

The Leader of the Labour Party, Chris Hipkins, has proved he nicely fits the joke about the dog that chases cars - what does it do when it catches a car? 

Dr Don Brash: Hipkins' Dangerous Statement on Māori Not Ceding Sovereignty

This week, Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has stirred controversy by asserting that “Māori did not cede sovereignty” when signing the Treaty of Waitangi. According to the New Zealand Herald, Hipkins was “unequivocal” in this claim.

Hipkins stated:

Dr Eric Crampton: A prescription for better regulation

A Bargain Chemist in Upper Hutt has been unable to dispense prescriptions since it opened in 2022. Its website simply notes “Prescriptions not currently available”.

The problem seems to have nothing to do with the chemist itself. Instead, it is just one symptom of a much broader public policy problem.

Jeffrey A. Tucker: This Is Not Capitalism

The word capitalism has no stable definition and should probably be permanently retired. That won’t happen, however, because too many people are invested in its use and abuse.

I’m long over trying to push my definition over someone else’s understanding, generally viewing disputes about vocabulary and dictionary definitions as a distraction against the real debate over concepts and ideals.

Professor Alan Brent: NZ energy crisis: electricity demand will jump as NZ decarbonises....

NZ energy crisis: electricity demand will jump as NZ decarbonises – can renewable generation keep up?

The prime minister has called it an “energy security crisis” and signalled a review of New Zealand’s electricity market as wholesale prices spike and industries suffer.

And he’s right – this year has seen pricing turmoil. August saw daily averages ranging between NZ$164.52 and $853.57 per megawatt hour (MWh). By comparison, August 2023 saw a maximum daily average price of $168.43 per MWh.

Bob McCroskrie: Even the left are getting sick of the left-wing media bias

We always knew that the mainstream media leans heavily left.

And that’s not an opinion. That’s a fact.

But what happens when even the left get sick of the left wing bias. It’s happening!


In NZ they have researched the political leanings of newsrooms via a Massey University Worlds of JournalismStudy published in 2022, and they found that

65% of journalists admitted that they leaned left in their political views, and just 12% leaned right.

And there has also been research on the coverage by the NZ media of some recent crucial social issues. Coverage should be balanced and close to 50/50.

During the cannabis debate in 2020, an analysis of all the media coverage found that 66% of the coverage leant in favour of a yes vote.

During the debate about a conversion therapy ban and despite concerns about freedom of expression & belief, and the criminalising of parents and pastors and professional counsellors, there was a 78% bias in support of the law

And when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the media manifested their opposition to the decision with an 82% bias against the decision.

Shocking.

And that’s why trust in the media is at an all time low.

Now please note that is not just my personal view as a social conservative. These are from random sample professional surveys.

It seems that even those on the side of the media – the left – are getting sick of the bias.

And that was on display for all to see last week.

In 2019, I actually attended a conference in Atlanta Georgia, so I popped down to check out the head office of CNN. As someone who has been heavily involved in the media, CNN was always held in high esteem – up until about 10 years ago.

Last week, left leaning host Stephen Colbert in front of a left leaning New York audience make a comment about CNN being balanced – or “objective” was the word I think he used – to a host of CNN, and the audience burst out laughing. It was very telling. Have a watch

Ouch. Remember this is a left wing host with a left wing audience with a left wing interviewee.

They almost laugh as to say – yeah we’re objective – ha ha ha ha. Sarcasm!

A couple of days later, in an interview with the same CNN host on the HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher,

Maher called himself a big supporter for CNN – but he also argued that many consider CNN extremely biased and he completely understands why.

“CNN is the place where both sides can watch, and I think my show is evidence of that. We have lawmakers on from both the parties. We’ll have Elizabeth Warren on one night and we’ll have Ted Cruz on another night. I think lawmakers from both parties should take questions, and you should push both of them,”

Well, that sounds nice in theory – but let me explain how that actually works. And it’s a case in New Zealandinvolving me as the token conservative.

During the same sex marriage debate back in 2013, I was invited onto 1 News Breakfast. My understanding was that it would be an interview with me. Just me v the interviewer. But for the last 18 years of doing this job, the interview is never balanced and definitely not tilted in our favour.

Not only do they bring in someone from the opposite side as another interviewee, but usually the interviewer is also against our position.

So the interview was with the breakfast host, who, of course, was certainly not on our side. But they also bought inpop psychologist Nigel Latta. Now in my view, he was deliberately positioned behind me so I couldn’t see what he was up to, but he was making faces and gestures when I was speaking. I didn’t realise this until after the interview.

But not only that. They timed the interview to the exact day when a pro same sex marriage campaign was launched by none other than the weather presentator on the breakfast show – Tamati Coffey who is gay.

And so leading into the interview, they did a puff piece. On this new campaign.

So that makes it the interviewer, one of the guests.

AND even the weather guy.

And me. The token conservative.

3 to 1. And they called it balance.

(Plus the famous people in the promo campaign.)

Have a watch of the first 2 minutes of the interview that followed the campaign advert. This is from 2013.

That sounded really fair eh

But not only were they 3:1 biased, but they were also promoting the website for the pro gay marriage website in the ribbon along the bottom.

Are you feeling sorry for me? No – don’t. These types of biased interview setups are typical of the mainstream media these days. They can’t win 1-1 so they have to stack the table.

But they claim that they’re balanced because they’ve had a stack debate with a token social conservative.

As Bill Maher said to the CNN host,

“When you look at the panel, it does look like tokenism…”

“They come across that way. In a moment like that. It was like 5 to 1..”

MSNBC make no excuse that they are rabid left wing.

But in NZ, 1News and Stuff and Radio NZ and the NZ Herald and the Newstalk ZB newsroom pretend to be balanced. But they’re not.

We all know that.

But even the left are getting sick of the left wing bias, it seems.

And that’s a good thing.

In fact, there was a study which has just been released in the US. The US Media Research Center study looked at all 2024 presidential campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from July 21, the day Biden exited the race through the next four weeks. 194 reports with a combined airtime of 437 minutes.

84% positive for Kamala

89% negative for Trump. So just 11% positive.

Shocking eh.

Now you know why trust in the media is at an all-time low and will continue to deteriorate.

Just to give you one more example, let me show you the Editorial from the Press (formerly the Christchurch Press) at the weekend. It’s truly one of the most biased pieces you will ever read.

Entitled “Now the race is really on”, let me quote some lines from it

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑏 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑, “𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑”, 𝑏𝑦 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒’𝑠 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑇𝑖𝑚 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑧, 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐵𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟.

.. 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦, 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙–𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛, 𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒛 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. * 𝐼𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑐𝑦𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, “𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟”, 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑂𝑏𝑎𝑚𝑎 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘, 𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒛 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒕𝒆.

..𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑠, ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔.

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑔𝑜, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔. 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑎𝑛 “𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑛” 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒈𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕–𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑏𝑖𝑧, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑟, 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 “𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏” 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 “𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎?” 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑? 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑖𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐾𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔.

How truly embarrassing. Editorials are usually written by the senior journalists at a newspaper. It is quite evident that the newsroom at The Press is controlled by a bunch of activists, and you’ll be able to hear the sobbing and wailing in their newsroom from Auckland if Trump does win in November.

If you pay to read the Press, you may have no cents left.

And if you rely solely on the mainstream media for watching and reading the news, maybe its your head that needs reading.

Bob McCoskrie is the National Director of Family First New Zealand, he has a Masters of Commerce with Honours from the University of Auckland and a Diploma of Teaching from the Auckland College of Education. He posts regularly on McBlog - Where this article was sourced.

JC: RFK Jnr’s Move Is Seismic for Trump

This week it will be interesting to see what the numbers are when the polls come out.

On Friday of last week America played host to the equivalent of a political earthquake. It came in the form of the confirmation of a rumour that had been doing the rounds earlier in the week: that Robert Kennedy Jnr was going to pull out of the presidential race and endorse Donald J Trump.

Kerre Woodham: How have people become so desensitised?

You could hear yesterday the sadness and the contempt and the disbelief in Inspector Tony Wakelin’s voice:

“Look, can I just say I thought that was disgusting. It really was. I mean, I saw some of the footage, it was filmed before emergency services arrived. There were close-ups of people deceased in the van and injured lying on the road. As I say, I thought it was horrible. As I said, a lot of my colleagues, that's not acceptable. You know, we should not be doing that, and I say to the people that are filming that, how would you feel if that was your family?”

Wednesday August 28, 2024 

                    ⇩

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 28/8/24

Bishop outlines challenges for new National Infrastructure Agency while Collins names woman as Army chief

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced plans for the establishment later this year of the National Infrastructure Agency, unlocking access to more capital for infrastructure and strengthening the Government’s private finance and commercial capability, when he addressed the Building Nations 2024 conference.

He also informed his audience about the National Infrastructure Plan.

Andrew Hoggard: Scope of Significant Natural Areas review revealed

The Government has decided the scope of a review that will consider how significant natural areas (SNAs) should be identified, assessed and managed, Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced today.

In May, the Government introduced a Bill that proposes to suspend requirements for councils to identify new SNAs to provide time for a review of SNA provisions in the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPS-IB).

'Chris Lynch: Minister unveils plans for national infrastructure agency

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has announced plans for a National Infrastructure Agency.

“Right now, our infrastructure system is not performing as well as it needs to be. We rank in the bottom 10% of high-income countries for the quality and efficiency of our infrastructure investments. Put simply – we get less and poorer quality infrastructure for our spending,” Bishop said.

Dr Eric Crampton: Difficult to see method in the Government’s moves to tackle youth vaping

Captain Williard’s response to Colonel Kurtz’s question about his methods, in Apocalypse Now, is among the most classic lines in cinema. Kurtz, who had clearly gone mad, asked Willard whether Willard saw Kurtz’s methods as unsound. Willard replied, “I don’t see any method at all, sir.”

The line came to mind while reading the cabinet paper on proposed vaping reforms.

The government is clearly responding to schools and parents’ concerns about youth vaping.

Mike's Minute: The Goldsmith scandal is no scandal

It was never five percent, it was always spit balling.

Paul Goldsmith as Treaty Negotiations Minister is in a meeting with the seafood people, who are not happy about their lack of input into the government's foreshore plan to revert a court ruling back to the original intent of the law as passed in 2011.

Goldsmith, it was reported, said customary title will drop to 5 percent. 1News fell over themselves breathlessly reporting this as some sort of scandal on Sunday.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: ‘Career suicide’ - the price of dissent in NZ universities

“We have become a corporate body concerned about brand image in a content marketing world in a climate of cancel culture,” lamented one academic.

“I feel my job is at risk if I question the direction the university is taking. The last round of redundancies was definitely about getting rid of those who were not boot lickers,” another reported.

A third warned, “Questioning anything about the radical current interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi is likely to be career ending.”

Ele Ludemann: Stupidity & sabotage

Some of us can learn from others’ mistakes, some of us have to be the others, and Labour is showing it can’t, or won’t, even learn from it’s own mistakes:

Labour would re-instate a ban on oil and gas exploration if it got back into power. . .

David Farrar: NZ Initiative on academic freedom

The NZ Initiative has published a thorough report on academic freedom. I’ll quote some data, and then their recommendations:

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Labour can't hold on to the oil and gas ban forever

That was quite a smart move from Chris Luxon yesterday, calling on opposition parties to support the Government in fixing this energy crisis we’re in at the moment.

Not only because this is now so serious, with businesses closing down and cutting jobs because they can’t afford the power bill, that it really requires everyone in Parliament to be grown ups about it - but also because I think this is going to politically snooker Labour on that oil and gas ban.

DTNZ: Financial risks loom over universities

A Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) briefing paper reveals that New Zealand universities’ financial situations are more precarious than they appear, with two universities classified as high risk and the sector’s forecasted surpluses under scrutiny.

Andrew Dickens: Reality always catches up to politics

Do I need to remind you that politics is show business?

It's all about seeming to be the best instead of necessarily being the best.

This is why politicians often say the most ridiculous things and make the most outlandish promises. It’s also why they boil complex issues down to simple catchy slogans which are repeated ad nauseum until they gain their own reality.

Dr Jonathan Newman: What the Media Says about Homeschooling

You would think that the growing popularity of homeschooling in the United States would be in more news headlines. Estimates from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) reveal a staggering increase in the number of homeschool students since the 1970s—by a factor of 238. Of course, there was a surge in homeschooling during the Covid lockdowns, when many public schools either went completely virtual or implemented harsh measures that severely limited both learning and student satisfaction.