BARONS CYBER SKULL posted:

Of course English blames "too much regulation"

El Pollo Blanco posted:

Conservative millennials are going to be worse than the boomers by the time they're 40.

SurreptitiousMuffin posted:

Has anybody considered the possibility that it's a pair of bogan teenagers dressing up scary "just to piss people off"?


Because I was a bogan teenager and I totally woulda done something like that if I'd been only a tiny bit stupider.

quote:

Two-thirds of more than 160 monitored river swimming spots in New Zealand have been deemed unsafe for a dip.

Information released to the Green Party by regional councils and unitary authorities showed 66 per cent of the sites had a Suitability For Recreational Grade (SFRG) of either poor or very poor during the 2013/14 summer.

The data covered all of the country's monitored rivers except for those in Auckland, Waikato, Northland and the West Coast, where councils did not use SFRG indicators in the period.

...

The Greens claimed there had been a deterioration over recent years, with reports from the Ministry for the Environment showing 61 per cent of monitored spots were unsafe for swimming in 2013, compared with 52 per cent in 2012.

...

Last night, Environment Minister Nick Smith said neither he nor the ministry had been able to properly assess the figures, but felt they should be treated with caution.

"Just comparing the results from one year after another does not give a long-term trend on freshwater quality."

Dr Smith also felt it would be "false" to draw conclusions around the country's overall freshwater quality from what he considered a "narrow data set" that wasn't representative of all freshwater bodies.

Exclamation Marx posted:

PMO was told about Sabin at least a couple of weeks earlier than was originally stated

Exclamation Marx posted:

that was only the second-most interesting thing Winston said yesterday, he also all but outright claimed that Sabin got done for domestic violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3WeDiyRSjw&t=240s

linked directly to what he said, but the whole thing is good (terrible) for how obfuscatory the Nats are about it.

Exclamation Marx posted:

If you mean revealing the details, maybe never? If it is a DV case then name suppression might have been the right thing to do, in order to protect the victim.

Butt Wizard posted:

Come play "spot the fuckwit blaming ISIS" on the NZ Media's Facebook comment streams. Fun for the whole family!

Jacobin posted:

In other news drivers taking it upon themselves to aggressively confiscate the keys off of tourist drivers deemed terrible vigilante style is now an established thing particularly in the SI

Wandle Cax posted:

No it's pretty stupid to throw away your vote on a third candidate with no chance of winning, sorry. Especially since it splits the vote and causes probably the candidate they would feel least represents them to get in. I think most people in the thread understand MMP though.

Wandle Cax posted:

Exactly, the STV system should be used for the candidate vote. That would probably make things too complicated for people to understand though.

bobbilljim posted:

I guess he still has this role?

quote:

Attorney General Christopher Finlayson will assume the portfolios of Minister Responsible for taking the blame when the GCSB gently caress up

focal ischemia posted:

Butt Wizard posted:

I know you guys don't like John Key and he can't hammer a nail for poo poo, but....loving hell

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-shocks-as-he-eats-a-raw-onion-whole-20150313-143syz.html

is this satire? I can't tell.

Ghostlight posted:

lol if you still own a tv like some kind of lumpenproletariat.

fong posted:

Hate to tell you but Tru Bliss didnt even have originality going for them. Spice Girls were formed via talent/reality show.

Exclamation Marx posted:

Lorde sent the contestant cupcakes

also, if/when some despicable political news comes out tomorrow, please remember that that's what the 1080 formula story was originally planned to run interference for.

Exclamation Marx posted:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11419782

quote:

Winston Peters took his Northland by-election campaign to his hometown of Whananaki today.

The New Zealand First leader used his personal "paradise" to launch a political attack at the town hall, accusing National of covering up why MP Mike Sabin left Parliament.

"They are still trying to shut it down as we speak," he says.

Mr Peters says the National Party knew before the election of a police investigation into Mr Sabin.

"That's why $1 million is being spent on this by-election, to cover up that mess."

He also accused his opponent Mark Osborne, who was the local party treasurer and a friend of Mr Sabin's, of knowing about Mr Sabin's issues.

But Mr Osborne denies the allegation.

"The reality of it is I knew nothing until the end of last year, and they are only rumours, and that is what they are still," he says. "I still know nothing about the details."

Slavvy posted:

Maybe I'm out of touch because I don't live in Auckland for the adorable harbour lifestyle, I dunno. It seems like Auckland has lots of shoreline real estate that could be turned into something pretty and grand but everyone fixates on the harbour. I don't see a good outcome here because it's the only port for container ships in Auckland, and Auckland is a relatively big city which is growing rapidly and will presumably need more cargo capacity eventually.

bobbilljim posted:

I couldn't give a flying poo poo about the port tbh, and it looks like I'll never be able to buy a house at all, let alone one near the cbd. lol

truther posted:

To be frank I think local MPs are completely useless. Apart from attending public events I can't think of anything they actually do.

I presume they do a lot... I just don't see or hear about it.

Butt Wizard posted:

The best thing that could happen for New Zealand in this campaign would be if the candidates involved crashed their cars into each other then got out and started fighting while someone recorded it for YouTube

BARONS CYBER SKULL posted:

What the hell is Snap?

Displeased Moo Cow posted:

blokes man JK on track to deliver 2x rugger cups and 1x cricket cups

Red_Museum posted:

3News Poll has Winston on 54% in Northland. Looks like he's picked up a few Labour voters.

Slavvy posted:

I had a conversation today that made me think of you guys. The person I was talking to is pretty high on my list of biggest all-time fuckwits I've ever met in my life.

Fuckwit LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO THE FINAL WOO (he literally shouted this at an empty workshop)
Me: ...
I take it from your reaction that you aren't a cricket fan.
it's a stupid sport blah blah
well if you aren't happy that we won cricket, you should be happy for the country
....the country?
yeah man. new zealand is so linked to sports that when one of our teams does good, we all do good!
how do you mean...?
well the economy gets better, everyone gets more productive, people just have more enthusiasm and stuff! you know?
I don't know what you mean. I don't feel more productive?
well I'd say about 70% of the country do!
so...what....you think people are going to work overtime and poo poo because we won a cricket match? don't you think new zealanders should be concerned about more important poo poo than sport?
slavvy I think you just don't understand that kiwis need a certain work-leisure balance and sports are what helps people with that

He's now at the top of the list.

Vagabundo posted:

Confirmation in picture form.

bobbilljim posted:

not sure why he didn't chow down on those vegetables skin and all though??

Vagabundo posted:

Edit: related



https://twitter.com/MatthewHootonNZ/status/580878210969153536

quote:

Sabin clock keeps ticking for Key

Of course, National might still win.

Year after year, John Carter’s Northland electorate won internal party plaudits for its huge membership. For this weekend’s by-election, no less than the economic development, regulatory reform, science and innovation, tertiary education, skills and employment and associate finance minister took full personal control of the campaign. Pretty much the whole cabinet was whisked in by ministerial limo.

The Public Finance Act was assaulted with election bribes. John Key cut short his state visit to Japan to hit the mean streets of Moerewa. Dark stories were told about the risk to Tim Groser’s free-trade agreement with Korea if National were to need the support of UnitedFuture’s Peter Dunne.

Luckily for National, the Labour candidate’s name remains on the ballot paper. Maybe there’s some methodological flaw in Wednesday’s TV3 Reid Research poll that gave the edge to Winston Peters.

Sigh of relief
At the time of writing, National had also been spared the full story becoming public about the resignation of former MP Mike Sabin. Those close to Mr Peters suggested he would return to Wellington before the by-election to reveal all under parliamentary privilege. Instead, the NZ First leader elected to stay in Northland talking about his proposal to expand the port at Marsden Point, a referendum on cannabis and his forthcoming bill to remove name suppression from alleged paedophiles if victims say they don’t want it and to launch a register for parents to check there are no sex offenders in their neighbourhood.

No doubt there was a sigh of relief at National Party Headquarters. But that may be short-sighted.

Arguably it would be better for National had the full Sabin story become known well before by-election day.

Fragments are on the public record: that Mr Sabin has been under police investigation since August, that Mr Key was “happy” for him to remain chairman of the law and order select committee overseeing the police budget while that investigation was under way, and that Mr Sabin resigned “due to personal issues … best dealt with outside Parliament.”

Mr Sabin himself is no longer that important: the police and any other relevant arms of government will now deal with him as they see fit.

But Mr Key’s government stands accused of somehow covering up after Mr Sabin, with Labour leader Andrew Little going so far as to say he believes Mr Key is lying.

That is not entirely implausible. Although NBR has been unable to substantiate allegations the National Party top brass knew all about Mr Sabin as far back as before the 2011 election, police commissioner Mike Bush has made clear that he and his officers did not “drop the ball” when it came to informing the Beehive about the Sabin investigation in August.

Mr Bush has not commented further.

The Beehive line is that Mr Bush told police minister Anne Tolley about the investigation in August – and her successor Michael Woodhouse after the election – but didn’t name the MP concerned. Nor, we are meant to believe, did Ms Tolley or Mr Woodhouse ask.

The Beehive will not answer questions about whether or not either passed this information to Mr Key or his office. Answering such questions, according to chief of staff Wayne Eagleson, would violate the privacy of natural persons.

Public duties
If the Beehive’s account of the Sabin matter is true, then Mr Key’s government has become deeply dysfunctional. Reflect on the type of conversation we are being asked to believe happened, just weeks before a general election:

“Minister,” says Mr Bush, “you need to know that we’re investigating an MP for assault.”

“Cheers,” says Ms Tolley. “Thanks for letting me know.”

Given the proximity to the election, Ms Tolley in fact had a public duty to ask the commissioner who was involved. Was it Mr Key or David Cunliffe, the candidates for prime minister? Was it Bill English, David Parker or Russel Norman, the candidates for finance minister? Or Murray McCully, David Shearer or Mr Peters, the candidates for foreign minister? Maybe Judith Collins or Mr Little, the candidates for justice minister?

Even if Ms Tolley neglected her duties to the public, is it plausible her political duty to the prime minister didn’t lead her to inquire? “Please god, let it be Cunliffe!” she would surely have thought.

Mr Woodhouse’s story is just as odd. When briefed by Mr Bush after the election, we’re told he too ignored his public and political duties to inquire further.

Perhaps even more incredible is Mr Eagleson’s claim that, when he was contacted on November 26 by Labour’s chief of staff Matt McCarten about the Sabin situation – which he says he already knew about from others – he waited until the following week to mention it to the prime minister, who remained, he claims, utterly ignorant until December 1.

“Prime Minister,” the Beehive says Mr Eagleson or his underlings never said, “we have a problem. We’ve just been called by the opposition, which has some serious dirt on Sabin, and it’s all around town because we’ve heard about it from others a while ago. You might be asked questions about it as soon as today.”

Are such calls from the opposition really so routine they don’t get escalated?

The risk for Mr Key is that if the full Sabin story becomes known in a week, a month, six months or a year, it will look as if his government covered it up not just through a general election campaign but then again through the by-election as well. The clock keeps ticking.

Displeased Moo Cow posted:

Exclamation Marx posted:

No retrial for Teina Pora

Exclamation Marx posted:

Displeased Moo Cow posted:

Well he got you two talking

dusty posted:

I think you meant to write "greatest living New Zealander"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSr93HMUKCk