Posts by Tom Semmens
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All the talk of Chinese spies in the National caucus and the way the Chinese are appointing every ex-Nat MP they can to Chinese companies, over friendly relationships with construction companies etc etc points to how important frequent elections and rotations of government are to our democracy with its relatively weak constitutional safeguards. The change of government will be a breath of fresh air against National's creeping corruption, at the very least.
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Hard News: Media Take: The selling of…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Tbh, it seems crazy tense out there in the public square. I hope the weather’s good this weekend.
I was thinking about this last night. The insurgent left is increasingly on the march across the Angoshpere, and one of its defining characteristics is its rejection of third way centrism and along with that a rejection of even bothering to seek accommodations with the snake oil salesmen of neoliberalism in the establishment.
Be it Corbynistas or the Young Turks talking up Bernie Saunders, the new left is far, far more willing to be confrontational and seek victory over, rather than compromise with, the current status quo.
In other words, politics is back.
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Hard News: Media Take: The selling of…, in reply to Glenn Jameson,
Ad hominem doesn't qualify as an argument either, Tom — but at least you have the balls to put your name to your unsubstantiated slur.
I was merely observing that one can't count on an idiot engaging in rational behaviour.
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Hard News: Media Take: The selling of…, in reply to Russell Brown,
But Jenna Raeburn's presentation as some sort of commentator when she was literally part of the National campaign has been absurd.
TheSpinoff did much the same thing with this piece on irrigation.
Duncan Grieve needs to make up his mind. Either theSpinoff wants to be taken seriously for it's journalism, or it wants to be just another pay-to-publish advertorial fluff site where you can't believe a word it says until you've spent 20 minutes doing the background checks, because at the moment TheSpinoff is trying to have a have a bob both ways, and it is very damaging to the former.
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Hard News: Media Take: The selling of…, in reply to Glenn Jameson,
Cowards troll from anonymity, Kumara Republic.
Stupid cowards however can be relied upon to be stupid cowards, and therefore unlikely to heed such advice.
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Speaking of Facebook, Jacinda has kept up this sort of excellent social media since the election. She is of a generation that instinctively understands the requirements of social fil as a medium; I hope her and Labour keep this sort of every day post going. It is very powerful.
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Hard News: The Day After Tomorrow, in reply to linger,
Eh, some considerable frustration at this stage is understandable.
Call me hard nosed, but being treated to the sight of Te Ururoa Flavell blubbing like a big child on TV and then being invited by Patrick Gower to feel sorry for him just made want to slap him. If you want the definition of political entitlement, it is Flavell crying because someone dare take his seat off him.
Flavell should have saved his tears for all the poor Maori who lose their jobs every day, while for nine years he was being a two faced apologist for National. Then he might even still be in parliament.
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Hard News: The Day After Tomorrow, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
I was wondering Russell if you still hold this opinion after Marama Fox’s rather despicable attack on her electorate the other night.
Smug, shrill and self serving comment from someone clearly with a chip on her shoulder. The perfect epithet for the smug, shrill and self-serving Maori Party founded by someone with a big chip on her shoulder.
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Legal Beagle: Election 2017: the Special…, in reply to Barry97,
I have nothing against the others, but I would really like to see Golriz Ghahraman in parliament.
I wouldn't, but only because such a talent would be largely wasted twiddling her thumbs in the Greens and she needs to be snaffled by Labour and given a high list place next time.
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People always vote on emotion. People don’t say “I will vote for Labour because after a cost benefit analysis I think they’ll do best to improve social mobility” They say “I am OUTRAGED at child poverty!”
Case study from just this Wednesday evening on the Western Line:
I overheard some narrow minded woman on the train complaining to her friend that all the poor people from nearby state housing congregate under the eves of the Henderson library to access the free wifi. She railed against the freeloaders and beneficiaries in general (“nothing else to do all day but steal the internet”) and said she was thinking about ringing the library to let them know so they could at least turn it off at night. I really couldn’t grasp the mind-numbingly hideousness of her reasoning. The library has no data cap. It is a public, free wifi service. She had no idea what they were using it for. Why would she want them to not have access to a public wifi account? Because presumably if they were getting for free (by standing outside on a cold night night) what she had to pay for she was somehow missing out or being put upon? WTF is wrong with people who think like that?
I also gleaned she worked at a low paid role at a gym (when asked if she had voted Labour, her answer was a scornful “no, I’ve got a job!”). This woman would be far better off voting for Labour. Yet there she sat, voting National for bigoted reasons, an angry blue collar Tory. As I got off the train I said “I’d guarantee I earn four times your salary, and I voted Labour. National is for low paid idiots”. A cheap shot predicated on a hasty escape, but I was furious at having to listen to the stupid cow for ten minutes, and I felt better afterwards.
I guess as a Labour supporter, what I took away was how thoroughly indoctrinated she was, and if such people are even salvageable.