Mike's Minute: Trump is fantastic. Nuts, but fantastically nuts

We have to talk about Donald Trump.

He is fantastic.

What I like about what he has done so far is none of it’s a surprise. He actually does what he said he would do.

Tuesday January 28, 2025 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 28/1/25

Simeon Brown steps out as Minister of Health

Your PoO monitors of ministerial doings have noted that, since we last reported, Simeon Brown has stepped out to deliver his first media statement as Minister of Health.

The PM and his refreshed Cabinet team have been …

DTNZ: Wellington bus lane camera nets $221K+ in fines in just over a month

A new fixed bus lane camera on Riddiford Street, near Wellington Regional Hospital, issued 1,475 tickets totaling $221,250 in fines between December 9 and January 17, significantly outpacing nearby Adelaide Road’s $26,250 in fines.

Simon O'Connor: Grotesque

It's the only word I can think of to describe the hideously choreographed return of Israeli hostages by Hamas and it's supporters.

Grotesque. It’s the word that keeps coming to mind when I reflect on what is happening around the Israeli hostage return. From how Hamas are hideously choreographing the handovers to how New Zealand legacy media are reporting things, the whole situation is grotesque yet telling.

Professor Elizabeth Rata: Oral Presentation to the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill

What is the best title given to any New Zealand legislation? My money is on the 1877 Education Act – 'An Act to make Further Provision for the Education of the People of New Zealand' – the People of New Zealand. So as early as the 1870s there's the commitment to a united people who belong to, and benefit from, the nation 'New Zealand'. Nearly 150 years later that commitment is under serious threat from those who would replace liberal democracy with tribal sovereignty and, by doing so, create a racialised society – apartheid.

Richard Eldred: Police Officers Told Not to Say “Black Sheep” or “Blacklisted” Over Racism Fears

Police officers have been told to avoid terms like “black sheep” and learn about “white fragility” in a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion reference guide at three constabularies. The Telegraph has the story.

A nine-page document, seen by the Telegraph, was published online in 2023 in a diversity, equality and inclusion reference guide for staff at Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire constabularies.

DTNZ: Charter schools turn away students amid high demand

Several charter schools are experiencing overwhelming demand even before their official openings, with some turning away students due to limited capacity.

Tipene, the first Māori boarding school in 100 years, received four times the number of applications for its initial intake and increased its roll to 42 students.

Kelli Ballard: US Saw a Quarter Million Births by Illegal Migrants in 2023

And the cost to America’s taxpayers was staggering.

When those in America illegally have babies, who should bear the burden? The question of birthright citizenship is a hot button issue, with persuading arguments on both sides of the dispute. While it might be easy, on the surface, to agree that anyone born here should be a citizen, there are other matters to consider. That may seem silly, until you read the preliminary report from the Center for Immigration Studies that shows a quarter million babies were born to illegal migrants in 2023 alone – and it cost the American taxpayers billions.

Sir Bob Jones: The coming insurance crisis

The catastrophic California fires will hit every New Zealander in the pocket. That’s because all insurances world-wide, are pooled.

That’s hardly surprising after all if you’re in the insurance business your first and most important client and thus initial step as an insurance company, is to insure yourself.

Mark Angelides: Trump Lays Down the Law for Columbia

Columbia made a big show of refusing to accept flights from the United States returning illegal migrants. President Gustavo Petro on Sunday, January 26, made a series of public X posts in which he insisted the deportations were a non-starter until President Trump found a way to do it that treated the repatriated with the “dignity that a human being deserves.” Trump was far from amused and immediately put the full power of the executive to work. From tariffs to sanctions, Surprise, surprise, it worked. By Sunday afternoon – just a couple of hours after Trump’s response – President Petro sent his presidential plane to pick up the deported individuals in Honduras.

Dr Michael Johnston: Wither the University?

How should politicians respond if public hospitals decided to stop treating injuries and illnesses? A version of this scenario is playing out in higher education across the English-speaking world.

Universities have two core missions. One is to produce and test knowledge. The other is to teach students to think using the methods of rigorous disciplines like science and history. Both require environments in which ideas can be freely expressed and contested.

Monday January 27, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: National in decline

Has Prime Minister Christopher Luxon just signed the National Party’s death warrant?

According to our unreliable, biased media: “The Prime Minister says he will refuse any demand from the Act Party for a referendum on the Treaty Principles Bill after the next election – even if he needs Act to form a Government.”

With the present mood of the country calling for a referendum on the Treaty Principles Bill (TPB) and Luxon’s utterances above, I now predict a huge swing to David Seymour and ACT, it could be a swing so large that National will no longer be the go to party for sending the looney lefties to the opposition benches, in fact with National’s current pro-Maori ideology they may as well join the lefties.

Fiona Mackenzie: Submission on the Department of Conservation’s Discussion Document

17th January 2025

By email to landlegislation@doc.govt.nz

Feedback on the Department of Conservation’s Discussion Document:
Modernising Conservation Land Management Nov 2024
(for a planned Conservation Amendment Bill to be passed by 2026)

https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/have-your-say/all-consultations/2024-consultations/proposals-to-modernise-the-conservation-system/

Damien Grant: National are squandering an opportunity to reshape our faltering economy

It was a friendly crowd; corralled by the energetic Simon Bridges into the Great Room at the Cordis Hotel to hear from Dear Leader; Christopher Luxon. Business owners, executives, professionals and the magnificently attired Michelle Boag had chipped in a few bob to hear his State of the Nation speech.

What did we learn?

Dr Michael Bassett: Reforming the Waitangi Tribunal

So loud are the squeals from the likes of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer against the new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal that I can only assume that Minister Tama Potaka has got things right. And that the new members are likely to shake the organisation into some sort of compliance with its mission that was set out in legislation fifty years ago. Decades of misbehaviour since the Tribunal was established in 1975 where a series of leaders have allowed the organisation to become a state-funded plaything for Maori radicals will hopefully come to an end. With luck, the minister will go a step further and trim the Tribunal’s legislation so that it doesn’t slip back into the manifold sins of recent years.

Dan Brunskill: The Coalition Government promises an economic growth plan within weeks.....

The Coalition Government promises an economic growth plan within weeks, but can it deliver results?

It is awkward for a Government, elected to get the economy back on track, to have spent its first full year in office watching output shrink almost $2 billion in inflation adjusted prices.

2024 was a year of recession by any definition of the word, although a more useful definition would show the New Zealand economy has been in a recession since September 2022.

Olivia Pierson: Trump 2.0

I can’t get over the acute difference between Trump’s 2017 inauguration and what has just taken place in DC this week. To see a president, such as he is, so welcomed with full fanfare and proper respect was nothing but a high. This almost super-human man has been through hell in order to save the republic of his birth, and this time America gave him all his well-earned dues.

Dave Patterson: Are Aircraft Carriers Too Vulnerable to Be Useful?

Every so often, someone will present a case disparaging the value of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers. These attempts to persuade military leaders of more effective ways to project sea power generally pick up on some new weapon or threat to justify deep-sixing the backbone of the US force presence – the modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. So it is with economist Mr. Philip Pilkington’s National Interest article “Why Aircraft Carriers Are Becoming Obsolete.”