JFC, these people are intent on killing us all.

Sent in my submission on Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Published it on Wordpress sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/01/06/s... and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/pulse/submis... Drew on my research to flag, amongst other worrying things, a *causal link* between Bill, & rapid rise of racism online.

Who is 'the money behind the money?' As the Guardian announces the 'sale' of the 233-year-old Observer to Tortoise Media, I wave hello to my new bosses (hi!) with an investigation of their finances.

Whoah!
This piece on the Observer newspaper's capture by global oil interests is explosive!
Written by investigative journo & Observer insider Carole Cadwalladr, it paints an incredibly gloomy picture of the future of independent newspapers.
Gulp!
broligarchy.substack.com/p/who-is-the...

When I spend money on my health, I just ignore the benefits because they’re intangible.

I also love to partner with private investors add extensions to my house, then I charge myself a toll when I use the new room.

Yall just don’t understand true household economics.

Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity Willis says she’ll double-down on spending cuts to get back to surplus earlier than Treasury forecast in HYEFU; Councils, doctors, nurses, builders blame austerity for unnecessary & extended recession

Treasury just called bullshit on Nicola Willis' austerity strategy. So she's doubling down on cutting spending. Trouble is households & businesses can't step forward to replace the Govt as it pulls back. They can't take on much more debt to replace Govt debt. 1/2 thekaka.substack.com/p/blaming-tr...

The Minister of Finance and the Treasury released its Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update today, and with it – its ‘plan’ for the Budget in 2025 in the Budget Policy Statement. The indicators show very clearly that it’s not working for anyone. A long thread (apologies) #nzpol

When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP Treasury expected to downgrade GDP growth & tax forecasts as Government's spending cuts & building freezes hit the economy; Willis expected to delay surplus & lift borrowing forecast by $6 billion

And exactly what the conventional wisdom now from IMF/OECD/World Bank studies shows happens when you tighten the Govt's belt in a recession (or most times in reality): austerity doesn't actually work. It actually makes things worse. 3/3 open.substack.com/pub/thekaka/...

This is a perfect example of how these ghouls are failing the country. Disgraceful.

Health NZ's IT cutbacks: Faults could 'snowball', report warns Hospitals face a greater risk of many more cyber attacks due to the mass layoff of IT staff, according to a Health NZ document.

Staggeringly predicable (especially given this is literally about a report predicting issues).

Massively cutting IT staff for a highly technology-dependent organisation with thousands of staff deployed around the country is definitely not going to be a great choice.

The govt has announced it intends to repeal the 4 well-beings in local govt’s purpose and return to the previous local public services formula. I’ve written about this before, concluding that legally it makes no material difference to local govt’s powers.

openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/jou...

Firstly: boo fuckn hoo developers who would rather not be told our 3W infrastructure is poop, thanks. Then the facts: only 2.3% of developer enquiries since the infrastructure constraint map was released by WC have been declined. Borderline propaganda for the RE industry, this..

Cartoon depicts seven sinking ships torpedoed by a submarine labelled 'NAF' ( National, Act, NZFirst parties ). In the conning tower Nicola Willis: "We're saving so much money!" Captain Chris Luxon: "Full steam ahead and damn the cost of torpedoes." Sunk ships labelled: Irex Hybrid Ferries, Hopspitals, Public Service, 3 waters low cost water scheme, light rail,public housing, hospitals. Title: 'Sunk Cost Fools At Sea'. ( Rhyming with 'sunk cost fallacy' which does not apply to the above. ) Refers to coalition government cancelling successful projects mid way through, wasting billions of dollars.

Government waste #cartoon #nzpol #repost

Florida prosecutor seeks to clear records of people charged with buying police-made crack in 1980s A Florida prosecutor says he will seek to vacate as many as 2,600 convictions of people who bought crack cocaine manufactured by the Broward County Sheriff's Office for sting operations between 1988 a...

How insane is the War on Drugs? In Fort Lauderdale cops made the crack themselves, then set up fake dealers and arrested addicted people for buying from them.

Now, over 30 years AFTER the Florida Supreme Court declared the practice illegal, the Broward DA is working to exonerate all the entrapped.

Fictional problem vs Reality: "Van Velden said recent examples of partial strikes causing disruption included hospital-based MRI technicians limiting the number of scans per day in August, leading to cancer treatment delays and larger waiting lists."

..political editor takes deceptive and/or dull-witted equivalency b/w unions and a shifty propagandist for tobacco and RW arseholes for a spin: "There was little union-to-union solidarity from Taxpayers’ Union [git] Jordan Williams who said his organisation was being penalised because of Renney."

#NZpol

It's almost like the guy who oversees complex transport decisions across the nation and so-called "champion" of local people advocating local solutions that work for them doesn't actually know what either of these concepts actually mean in reality and is just a spineless, vindictive prick...

The Government's entire strategy is built on the idea that spending cuts and Government debt reduction work to improve economic growth and reduce public indebtedness (debt-to-gdp). The trouble is the actual evidence from the IMF, OECD & World Bank shows that doesn't work. 1/3

The trouble for the Government here is that achieving Government debt reduction again would require a similar-sized increase in household debt. That would have been possible without LVR and DTI limits. Not any more.

It's a real fking puzzle to be fair #NZPol. I mean what is keeping people on the benefits they need to stay alive and feed their kids? Have they no pride? Have they tried begging harder for a job?

..looking at you too NZ.

Epic fail at RNZ A stinging report from NZ's Society of Authors on RNZ's failure to uphold its charter obligation to support local writing

"Interviews with NZ writers are rare anywhere on RNZ, especially emerging writers and children’s writers, including those on awards shortlists"
WTF Radio New Zealand! Support NZ writers. Open up your closed shop. newsroom.co.nz/2024/12/02/e...

The Return of Pa’ashi: Colonial Unknowing and California’s Tulare Lake The early morning sun shone off the water. I parked at the “Flooding Ahead” sign and walked past deep gouges in the ground. The teeth marks of a bulldozer’s blade were still visible where it had du…

"I love the fact that it came back for us. I love the fact that it took over the land that was taken from us. I love the fact that it’s resilient and it still keeps returning, even through the destruction...The lake is just like us." openrivers.lib.umn.edu/article/the-...

Recrudescence. Yep. That about sums it up.

I finally got a chance to watch the PM on Q+A. Interesting...

For New Zealanders - this from Peter Dunne is critical and I can not stress it enough- #ToituTeTiriti #nzpol

Nope not signing any petition asking for our kara to be turned into an emoji and I'm disappointed that legal and IP experts are supporting that petition - A petition which has occurred without talking to the Kaitiaki of the kara, thereby disrespecting our own IP tikanga, and could also undermine the copyright protections being undertaken by Te Tuhi Mareikura Trust. Putting our kara in the hands of Big Tech (Apple, Samsung, Meta etc) who also take out their own copyright protections over emojis in their systems, all bc you want to flash up your social media posts is rorirori. And unnecessary ❤️🤍🖤

Nope, no thankyou.

Get a foot in the door by dividing workers, then rachet down the threshold to screw them all. It's a smart strategy. If you're thinking 'well they do earn a lot', you're falling for it. #NZPol.

How a housing market with bits tacked on ‘works’ as an economy.

Key report on New Zealand's Covid-19 pandemic response now out with supporting documentation: Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned (Phase 1) www.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/reports-less... Will be studying this over the next couple of days. Disinfo community already on it.