National should move on from racism

If there was ever an argument to be made that National are an outdated dinosaur of a Party, their leader Judith Collins and her blue “team” have been making a pretty good fist of it over the last few months.

From murdering the word 'woke' to Collins being lampooned in Parliament as a Karen and the more recent Government is funding meth and the Demand The Debate debacles, which totally backfired, the National Party and its leader are just lurching from one electioneering disaster to the next. It’s almost as if they don’t actually want to be in Government at all.

Not only was their unpopular leader once again undermined by another leak last Monday when she was caught red handed being briefed by long-time ACT Party member and well known racist Don Brash, his advice to play the race card has clearly impinged upon Collins’ credibility and claim of being racially tolerant.

Crusher can therefore no longer speak with any authority on many important indigenous issues, not least of all on how the Government is going about creating a more inclusive and equitable Aotearoa by hopefully upholding our previously signed international agreements.

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

Email says Judith Collins asked Don Brash to raise $300,000 for billboards on 'Treaty of Waitangi' issues

Brash, who ran a similar campaign against alleged separatism in 2004, wrote that while his primary allegiance is now to the ACT Party, he shared Collins’ concern enough to donate $15,000 for the campaign and encouraged others to do the same.

“I share Judith’s deep concern about the implications of the He Puapua report and have agreed to try to raise these funds. I also recognise, as I'm sure you do, that there is little prospect of a centre-right government after the next election if National does not attract back many of the voters who were seduced by the Prime Minister at the last election,” Brash wrote.

Seduced by the PM? God these old kooks are creepy! I’d be very interested to know whether Brash’s email recipients included members of the Exclusive Brethren? Let’s hope the right-wing doesn't go down that broken campaign trail again.

Government ministers have rejected the notion that they are not consulting on their policies or taking them through a democratic process. The Prime Minister has stressed that He Puapua is not Government policy, but instead a working group report responding to a UN Declaration signed up to by the last National Government. 

He Puapua clearly isn’t the lightning rod issue National believes it to be, particularly because what is essentially a discussion document was a result of John Key’s National Government signing New Zealand up to the UN Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous People.

Essentially Collins is trying to criticize the Prime Minister for the actions of a previous National led Government. Talk about ridiculous!

You’ve got to therefore wonder if Brash’s advice was intentionally designed to undermine National, who in my opinion should be trying to gain the middle ground, or whether he and Collins are just so out of touch as to actually believe that a rehash of their failed Iwi verses Kiwi campaign would work. Perhaps they're both losing their faculties?

In today’s age of mass media and instant information, continually playing the racist card is a highly conceited approach to politics, an approach that is failing miserably if National’s polling numbers are anything to go by. After all, the white supremacists already have a far right party to support, well most of them anyway.

Of course this type of divisive race-based politicking is nothing new in New Zealand, and was even on display at National’s Northern Regional Conference earlier this year when their MP for Port Waikato, Andrew Bayly, decided to make fun of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta.

On Tuesday, the NZ Herald reported:

Judith Collins' leadership is 1 year old and it's time her party grows up

"Nanna, manna, nan, um, nanny, manny, man, oh dear, whatever".

He then joked "There's no media here, is there?"

Making fun of someone because of their name or skin colour is an age-old practice of racists the world over who are looking to belittle and demoralize indigenous people.

But if that wasn’t evidence enough of National’s underlying and inherent problem, then there is the more recent campaign against the Government for funding a gang run meth rehabilitation program, which is evidently based on a successful program that the National Party had previously funded.

To try and make a point, the National Party even breached NZ copyright laws by stealing Trade Me’s well-known graphics to use in a spoof advert, which just goes to show that Collins isn’t at all concerned about doing the right thing when it comes to her race-based approach to politics.

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Trade Me accuse National of breaching its intellectual property with 'Meth Rehab' image

Trade Me today accused the National Party of breaching its intellectual property after it uploaded a tweet in the likeness of the online marketplace, but instead it listed 'Meth Rehab' as the product for sale.  

Earlier today, National's Twitter account uploaded an image captioned, "Nothing to see here", as a satirical take on the $2.75 million in funding allocated to a Mongrel Mob-led meth rehabilitation programme.

On the fake 'Meth Rehab' listing image, it had the seller as 'gangs@gangHQ.com', with other listings shown as marijuana, 'misc pills' and an image of a bong - a device used to smoke marijuana.

Trade Me's Millie Silvester told 1 NEWS the company was not consulted about the image by National and believed it breached their intellectual property. 

"We don't want anyone messing with our brand, something we've built with pride over 22 years," Silvester said. 

It’s no wonder Brash and his associates don’t want their names or the ACT Party to be associated with National’s disastrous race-based electioneering. I mean it’s one thing to make an arse of yourself by prejudicially opposing a Government funding program that is trying to rehabilitate meth addicted gang members, but it’s quite something else to make billboards that criticise reports that were formed because of what your own party had previously done while in power.

Whatever the National Party hopes to achieve from such foolish and divisive electioneering, it's patently clear that New Zealand as a nation has grown up and moved on from such racially prejudiced campaigns. It's a pity that Judith Collins and her cabal cannot do the same.

Billionaire circle jerk

What is it about older men who reach a certain age and feel they need to prove something? Often referred to as a midlife crisis, the men this blog post is about are in fact well advanced in years and are a prime example that age doesn’t always equal wisdom.

I am of course talking about Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. These three billionaires have been acting like children and wasting millions of dollars on their flights of fancy, and what have they actually achieved? There isn't even a small advancement in space exploration just as there is no scientific merit to what these billionaires are doing. It is an utter waste of resources, resources that could be better utilised elsewhere in the world.

Yesterday, CNN reported:

Richard Branson's disappointing space jaunt

First, there's the environmental cost of space travel. Virgin Galactic claims that the carbon footprint for passengers of its suborbital space flight is comparable to that of a business class ticket on a transatlantic flight (which is about 0.2 kilograms per kilometer or 0.44 pounds per .62 miles -- amounting to a massive 2,220 kilo output per passenger over a typical 11,100-kilometer flight or 2.45 tons over a 6,897-mile flight).

But space flights are longer than transatlantic ones, and carry far fewer passengers. Per passenger, per kilometer, Branson's 11,260-kilometer (6,996-mile) journey to the edge of space cost 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of CO2. The company says that emissions will be offset -- but it's still an enormous price to pay for the sake of a few minutes in zero gravity.

Despite the world being in the grips of one of the worst pandemics ever, and the effects of climate change running rampant in numerous countries, these idiots are busy stroking their egos in lower orbit, and for what? So Branson can take some weightless selfies at 60 kilometres above the Earth in vainglorious self-promotion! No wonder there are petitions for these guys to not come back home.

For all Branson's enthusing over imagination, his trip into space was effectively a much-diluted, far posher version of a feat already achieved more than 60 years ago by Yuri Gagarin's groundbreaking flight in Vostok 1. Gagarin, a Soviet carpenter's son who survived the Nazi occupation of Russia, actually accomplished something far greater, by orbiting for 108 minutes before returning to Earth. With reserved tickets for future Virgin Galactic flights priced between $200,000 and $250,000, the only barrier Branson has broken is that between the super-rich and their ability to spend a few minutes floating just within the sub-orbital zone which allows passengers to experience weightlessness.

Instead of realising that they’re making complete dicks of themselves by going where a Russian astronaut already went six decades ago, these billionaires are busy trying to sell a dream to the common man, a dream no common man can actually afford.

Branson in particular is terribly deluded about what he’s realistically achieved. Not only did he only manage to get up in low orbit for four short minutes, he arguably hasn’t furthered real space travel in the slightest by blowing a load of rocket fuel all over the Stratosphere and Mesosphere.

It would therefore be good if the mainstream media weren’t falling over themselves to promote Branson's rampant immodesty. Clearly such a bad use of the world’s resources shouldn't be reported as some sort of worthwhile endeavour. In fact the only thing these billionaires have thus far proven is that a persons wealth doesn’t really equate to their intelligence in the slightest.

NZ should stick to COVID-19 elimination strategy

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that right-winger’s will always put profits ahead of people’s safety. In fact not a week has gone by since our first lockdowns began without at least one right-wing propagandist arguing that New Zealand's border restrictions must be lifted, usually for purely economic reasons and not a lot else.

However if you take a good look at the evidence, it categorically demonstrates that an elimination strategy is the best and only way to go to safeguard both a countries population and economy. Even if some of our closest trading partners have decided to just give up, the NZ Government would be ill-advised to follow suit and allow the virus to run rampant in gods own.

Take for instance a recent study out of Germany showing that most people who survive Covid-19 are still suffering symptoms even twelve months on from when they first contracted the disease.

Last week, Oxford Academic reported:

Persistent symptoms in adult patients one year after COVID-19: a prospective cohort study

At month 12, only 22.9% of patients were completely free of symptoms and the most frequent symptoms were reduced exercise capacity (56.3%), fatigue (53.1%), dyspnoea (37.5%), concentration problems (39.6%), problems finding words (32.3%), and sleeping problems (26.0%). Females showed significantly more neurocognitive symptoms than males.

There are serious economic implications to this as well, especially when you also consider that many vaccines aren't the silver bullet we first hoped they might be. Even Pfizer's BioNTech vaccine is now showing limited long-term effectiveness against Covid-19 and its variants.

On Friday, Newshub reported:

COVID-19: Pfizer reveals immunity waning from vaccine, developing new booster

Pfizer chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten said the recently reported dip in the vaccine's effectiveness in Israel was mostly due to infections in people who had been vaccinated in January or February. The country's health ministry said vaccine effectiveness in preventing both infection and symptomatic disease fell to 64 percent in June.

"The Pfizer vaccine is highly active against the Delta variant," Dolsten said in an interview. But after six months, he said, "there likely is the risk of reinfection as antibodies, as predicted, wane."

Despite the evidence clearly showing that an elimination strategy is an appropriate response to this deadly pandemic, many right wing hacks are continuing to bleat on about opening up our borders.

One in particular long-time Labour critic called Heather du Plessis-Allan even believes that keeping Covid-19 out of New Zealand will all end in tears.

On Thursday, Newstalk ZB reported:

Govt keeping the borders shut will end in tears

I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that we are drawing ever closer to some sort of crunch point with a worker shortage in this country.  

ASB this week warned that labour turnover has surged in the last three months, suggesting bosses are just desperately poaching staff off each other.

...

I think it’s also becoming more and more obvious that Covid isn’t the only reason workers can’t get in.

As immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont said to Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, this is deliberate. The government is cutting off the foreign worker supply to try to force up wages.

It’s not going to work; it’s going to end in tears.

Despite what this doom merchant is saying, an end to our low-waged economy is actually a good thing. Heather du Plessis-Allan then goes on to provide an example from 1964, whereby Mexicans were apparently stopped from working in the US, but wages stayed the same.

There's little relevance to the current situation here and now in New Zealand, especially because wages have seen significant growth over the last twelve months while the country has been keeping Covid-19 out through a successful elimination program.

Of course Newstalk ZB aren't the only ones arguing for an opening up of our borders. Tracey Martin over at Stuff also draws a strange parallel to try and bolster the Open Our Borders movement; this time between Muldoon’s megalomania, Rogernomics and the current Covid-19 economic situation.

Yesterday, Stuff reported:

Covid-19: We need a plan to open Fortress NZ

When, a few years later, the Muldoon Government was swept out of power and along with it some of its extreme interventionist measures like wage, price and interest rate controls, we went from one of the world’s most closed economies, to one of the most open.

There were of course many problems with both Muldoon’s and David Lange’s economic management, particularly when Roger Douglas' economic mismanagement pushed wages down by causing mass unemployment, which rose from 3.6% to 11%. But, like du Plessis-Allan's argument, this has little relevance to the current situation.

We have become fearful of the world beyond our borders and most of us would rather things stayed the way they are for the foreseeable future.

I’m not sure that a valid fear of dying from Covid-19 is something to argue against. Personally I would rather things did stay the same meaning no community spread of Covid-19 in New Zealand. I would also prefer that other countries also got their response to the deadly virus right as well, but that’s not what’s happening.

As the world starts to open up, New Zealand is both blessed, but perhaps also blinkered, by our phenomenal success keeping Covid out.

Actually, much of the world is going back into lockdown as the Delta variant causes a third wave. Some countries that predominantly have right wing government's are however opening up their economies, despite them not having the virus under control. Thankfully this isn't a strategy that New Zealand should or needs to follow.

But the Government has not responded in kind; we have seen few signs of fresh thinking about the challenges that we are going to face us as an economy, or of a roadmap for navigating a world where Covid, and its variants, will be around for the foreseeable future.

Except the NZ economy under lockdown has been doing pretty well really. This has a lot to do with the Government acting quickly to protect people’s jobs. It also has a bit to do with our export driven economy being able to quickly adjust to meet the needs of countries still struggling under the pandemic. We can also trade amongst ourselves without much fear of catching Covid-19, which is a pretty big bonus if you ask me.

‘We must live with the virus’ is the catch phrase the right wing protagonists often use to try and convince the public and politicians to open up our borders. However what this really means is that people should simply accept their friends and family members dying, or becoming seriously unwell, from a virus that has claimed over four million lives worldwide so far.

With a mortality rate estimated at 3.4% and only 22.9% of victims fully recovering, the consequences to both a countries workforce and economy clearly outweigh any short-term financial benefits certain sectors might see from lowering our guard against Covid-19.

In fact if you think the skills shortage is bad now, just wait to see what happens in places like England, where the Tories have done exactly what du Plessis-Allan and other right-wing idiots have been advocating for here in New Zealand.

Perhaps, instead of complaining about no longer having cheap labor or being able to fly off on holiday every month, the elimination strategy neigh-sayers might like to contribute some new ideas on how New Zealand best lives without the virus, by keeping our borders closed and therefore our population safe. Because without a healthy workforce, there simply isn't going to be an economy worth arguing about.

Crusher’s fear-based leadership is unpopular

Not that long ago, in what many considered a poignant moment, Judith Collins once said; “if you can't be loved, best be feared". Of course she stole this saying from Niccolò Machiavelli, which is apt being that a Machiavellian is someone who is cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.

Perhaps there’s no more befitting description of Judith Collins, who seems to exemplify the nasty side of the National Party, a cutthroat side that the public doesn’t always get to hear about.

The kind of fear-based leadership that Crusher revels in doesn’t however always command loyalty from those not directly under her control, namely most voters. They simply don’t have the same fear-based response as people within her direct vicinity. The general public instead has everything to lose and nothing to gain by supporting the current National Party under Judith Collins, who is a far right politician that believes in austerity and governing with an iron boot to the throat of our hard won civil liberties.

Often modelling herself on Margaret Thatcher, but looking more like Piggy Muldoon every day, Collins is the take no prisoners kind of politician. The type of pistol-wielding, car-crushing politician you cross the street to avoid. Of course Crusher’s combative style is something that your average Joe Blogs might not even notice. However it’s a ruthless feature of Collins’ authoritarianism that former and present National Party MPs know all too well.

Last week, the NZ Herald reported:

National Party leaking: Ex MP Chris Finlayson says Todd Muller 'ritual disembowelling' a lesson to others

Asked about Judith Collins' move to force Todd Muller to resign after he was dobbed in for making unflattering comments about Harete Hipango to Newsroom, Finlayson told the NZ Herald that MPs had to learn "to stop sniping about your colleagues".

"There needs to be a bit of discipline brought to the show and if there needs to be a ritual disembowelling from time to time, then that's the way it goes.

Actually, Muller was right to inform the public about one of his colleges using the Parliamentary expense account to furnish her own houses. The only reason Muller got the chop instead of Hipango is because she’s within Collins’ inner cabal. What this shows is that if you’re loyal to Collins, then you'll get away with just about anything, including theft.

"Of course everyone talks to journalists, but if you're going to have a gripe about your colleagues say it to their faces."

"How many times do the National Party and its caucus need to be told to stop the leaking?

"Why are they so stupid that after a cataclysmic defeat in 2020, they haven't got that basic message?"

He pointed to the cases of former Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon and Upper Harbour candidate Jake Bezzant, both of whom were accused of inappropriate use of social media or texting.

If you were to critique those cases then you would have to conclude that Collins handled them very poorly. Not only must she have known that a Police investigation was being conducted into Falloon for his inappropriate behaviour, the former Minister of Police must have also been aware of Bezzant’s strange sexual proclivities prior to him being ousted.

Besides, it’s the fact that Collins still has faith in those who were embroiled in the Dirty Politics debacle, the very same people who selected numerous inappropriate candidates, that puts into question her ability to lead the National Party into the next election.

If there was ever a television program made of Crusher’s life in Parliament, perhaps it should be called knives at noon or pistols at dawn, because when Judith Collins is around, politics becomes a blood sport. In fact a litany of destroyed careers now lies in her wake, which is one of the reasons there are so many internal leaks looking to undermine her regime. National MPs are simply trying to get rid of her to save their own skins, and perhaps their party in the process.

This disunity has clearly taken a toll on National’s support base as well, so much so that Collins has now fallen behind ACT Party leader David Seymour in the most preferred Prime Minister stakes. 

Unfortunately for Collins, it’s not just her venomous nature that’s turning people away either. Her proclivity to support extreme viewpoints is also a problem, and couldn’t have been better exposed when Collins recently came out in support of a well-known TERF called Rachel Stewart. She's an outspoken bigot that rightfully had her guns confiscated by the Police for making numerous death threats online.

This may have become a career defining misstep for Collins if any mainstream media outlets had actually reported on it properly, however I suspect that they also fear the consequences of telling the truth about National's current leader. Many have certainly been scrubbing their websites clean of any incriminating articles that paint Collins in an unfavourable light.

Therefore perhaps the saying, “if you can't be loved, best be feared" should be Judith Collins’ political epitaph. Because without compassion or any new policy ideas, fear really is the only thing Crusher has going for her.

ACT's leader is right, Lee Williams is an idiot!

Today's events in the life of a white supremacist are pretty funny. First the racist white guy confronts a far right politician about being sacked because of his blatant racism. He then gets all upset because the politician doesn’t sympathise with him enough, because the far right politician apparently believes in personal responsibility, even for racists.

The white supremacist then gets even more irate because the politician isn’t racist enough by his terribly racist standards. He even accuses the far right politician of helping Maori, who he believes will own 50% of New Zealand by 2040. Talk about some mental gymnastics.

It’s almost like a skit out of a Monty Python movie or something.

It also doesn’t portend well for the right wing when those they’re targeting for votes with their free speech dogma start turning against them. Lee Williams isn’t alone in his extreme racist beliefs. In fact in many ways he typifies the white supremacist movement in New Zealand.

Today, 1 News reported:

ACT's David Seymour confronted by angry man in Ashburton

ACT's leader David Seymour was confronted last night by a man who recently lost his job after being accused of spreading extreme white supremacist material online.

In a video posted to social media, Lee Williams, who was recently fired by the dairy company Synlait for his behaviour online, accused Seymour of not standing up for freedom at an ACT party event in Ashburton.

Here’s the video:

Haha Lee Williams. He thought he had an ally in Seymour but doesn't 😂 See, 'freedom' is complicated and not free of consequence. https://t.co/y8pkwS1neP

— Rata Campbell (@RataCampbell) July 8, 2021

"You're saying it's OK if 10,000 people sign a petition to get a man sacked from his job and destroyed and cancelled - you're saying that's okay?" Williams asked.

 

Lee Williams was sacked because he’s a fool who cannot accept responsibility for his own actions.

A petition was launched two months ago urging Synlait to review Williams’ contract. Williams regularly attacked Māori politicians on social media, with YouTube recently banning him from their platform.

Seymour responded that Williams should ask himself, "why they've done that?"

"People make choices, you've made choices," Seymour said.

"It has consequences, and now you’re suffering the consequences of your actions."

Williams then called Seymour a fake and shouted at the meeting that, "Māori will own 50 per cent of the country by 2040".

Seymour told 1 NEWS today that Williams "stormed out after I told him he was an idiot and several people in the crowd called him a d**khead".

You cannot really argue with the ACT leader here. Lee Williams is evidently a complete idiot!

 

Seymour says it's very hard to sack someone in New Zealand and if Williams believes he was wrongly fired by Synlait he should take a case against them.

Of course such a case would fail because Synlait clearly had reasonable grounds. As well as being a bad employee, Williams was damaging the brand with his campaign of race-based hatred. It’s also a pity that Seymour doesn’t connect the dots between the ACT Party accepting donations from white supremacists and white supremacists wanting to bend his ear.

Even if their leader doesn’t realise it, racists such as Lee Williams are exactly the type of people the ACT Party currently stands for. I mean whom exactly did Seymour think he was speaking for when he was caught telling porkies about teachers forcing primary students to make speeches that acknowledged their white privilege? Whom exactly did David Seymour think he was appealing to when he requested that the Human Rights Commissioner resign for giving a $200 koha, which is customary at Maori gatherings?

These are but two examples of David Seymour using race based disinformation against a Government that is working towards equality in New Zealand. There are many many more.

Despite the obvious contradiction in David Seymour's mind between who and what the ACT Party actually stands for, I’m hopeful that the Lee Williams meltdown will be a lesson that the new leader of the opposition actually learns from. Because if you openly encourage racists and embolden them through numerous divisive political campaigns, you shouldn’t be surprised when a mangy mutt or two turns up at your door looking for some scraps and attention.

Tony Mair - Arsehole of the Week

What is it about environmentalists that make some people go crazy? They’re just normal human beings who want our natural world to be protected. It’s not like they’re terrorists or anything, just your bulk standard Kiwis who care a bit more about protecting nature than most folks.

So when environmentalists get set upon by a bunch of thugs in hi-vis jackets, and they use intimidation and violence to try to deter a peaceful protest, then you would expect the Police to intervene and do their job.

However that hasn’t been the case recently on Waiheke Island, where people who are just trying to protect Little Blue Penguins and their habitats were threatened and then assaulted by arseholes who work for an unethical developer called Tony Mair.

Yesterday, RNZ reported:

Waiheke Island marina: Video appears to show protester kicked in face

A video of an incident at the controversial marina development on Waiheke Island appears to show a protester being kicked in the face.

Protect Pūtiki has been occupying the site for 120 days, which they say endangers a nearby kororā (little blue penguin) colony. The developer rejects those claims.

Recent clashes between protesters and security guards for the development by Kennedy Point Boat Harbour Ltd have triggered police investigations.

In a video posted to Facebook, a protester on a pontoon is manhandled into the water by a man wearing a high-vis jacket.

While the protester is in the water, the man takes a step and kicks the person in the water in the head.

The video that has made the news is conclusive. The male security guard first throws the female protester in the water and while they’re trying to recover, he then kicks her directly in the face.

Unfortunately this isn’t the only case of excessive and potentially deadly force being used by these security guards either. If you watch the entire video, which is available on the Protect Pūtiki Facebook page, other security guards use kayak paddles they’ve stolen to assault protesters. At one stage a protester is strangled while they lay prone on the floating pontoon, another is held under the water in what could be considered attempted murder. One security guard even appears to use a can of pepper spray against a female protester, which is also against the law.

Obviously at least one security guard should be charged with assault here. There is no question about it. But other security guards should also be charged with possessing and using a prohibited weapon. Only the Police (and some corrections officers) are allowed to carry and use pepper spray in New Zealand, so unless they want to also look like a bunch thugs for hire, the Police must act to ensure charges are laid and the spray and other weapons are confiscated from these balaclava wearing goons. They must also ensure that all the items taken from these peaceful protesters are returned undamaged.

There is a hell of a lot wrong with this development. Firstly the gifting of public land to a private developer is highly questionable, but especially so because local iwi weren't properly consulted. The Auckland Council also giving the go ahead for such a large project on top of a Little Blue Penguin colony is suspect, and points to a secret deal being done at the old boys club.

Then there’s the work itself that’s not adhering to the consent. Penguins are clearly being endangered, which is reason enough to shut down the project. Then there are the multiple assaults on peaceful protesters, which categorically shows that the developer and his workers are a bunch of cutthroat bastards who are highly deserving of an Arsehole Award. Let's hope their pay packets are also docked when this environmentally damaging project gets closed down.