Hayley

Exactly 😡

Wait, do we have to pay more for power after this ridiculous deal?
This year I’ll have to move into/heat one room of my house during winter to afford power bills - what will this do to the thousands of New Zealanders at or below the poverty line? (I know they don’t care but media should be asking.)

US LNG export dominance to be tested as sellers look beyond Europe A potent mix of American ingenuity and full-throated political backing has propelled the U.S. to the top of global LNG exporter rankings, and promoted a narrative that shipments of "freedom gas" will ...

The US is looking for new markets for its liquified natural gas. Fancy that. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

Labour cosying up to the Greens makes them look desperate - Heather du Plessis-Allan

I know this is about the press conference that Labour held, but also funny to read this with the firm belief that Labour being more progressive instead of centrist at best will be the only thing that wins them the election - and the hint of fear in the headline may indicate others believe that, too.

In an era when empathy is demonized, my love for America has come to feel like defiance. Powerful operatives want to destroy this country, and they want ordinary Americans to think it was their own idea. They smear states with stereotypes and preach partition. They push us to shrug off the plights of the marginalized. They bank on us not having enough compassion for our countrymen to see what all corners of America are like. They want us to stay in our places, literally and figuratively. From The Last American Roadtrip, by Sarah Kendzior

I have started reading The Last American Road Trip by Sarah Kendzior, and am struck by the parallels to New Zealand politics. Different history and different contexts, but the same blueprint - and the same destination.

Changes to electoral law will disenfranchise thousands – and may not save any time The government does not want to spend the time and resources to fully modernise the law and processes surrounding our electoral rolls – so who are the real dropkicks in this story?

“In terms of why this is bad policy, we need to understand the general principle on which New Zealand elections operate. Voting generally is considered to be “A Good Thing” which ought to be made as easy and accessible as possible.”

Not anymore🫠
Revisiting this Electoral Amendment Bill explainer👇

Peter Thiel thinks democracy has failed & women/the poor shouldn’t vote - funnily enough echoed in the NZ government’s current term spent undermining democracy & disenfranchising voters, particularly Māori, Asian & Pacific people, young people, renters & low income voters (disproportionately women).

Breaking: water is wet

i've said it before and i'll say it again: rates rising are a result of underfunding and limited revenue streams for councils, not overspending and bureaucratic fat. a rates cap is worse than solving nothing - it legitimately is the worst thing they could do

"A rigid cap would leave us choosing between service cuts, pushing more costs onto users, and creating more reliance on cars. None of these are acceptable choices for community wellbeing, economic health, or climate sustainability."

The rates cap will force decisions that will take NZ backwards.

Rates capping risks undermining regional services | Greater Wellington

“The delivery of critical services and infrastructure - like public transport and flood protection - will be compromised in the Wellington Region unless the Government reconsiders its proposed rates capping model, Greater Wellington says.”

We need much more reporting on these guaranteed impacts.

😂 Second the motion

Global credit agencies warn against council rates cap 'Be careful what you wish for': rates cap could increase council costs, the opposite effect to what's intended. Jonathan Milne reports.

“The world’s two biggest credit rating agencies have both put big New Zealand councils on notice: they say the Government’s proposed rates cap could impact on the local authorities’ finances and drive up their interest rates.”

Seeing very little media interrogation of this proposal. From Newsroom👇

1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.

Stuff, you can report on the racism without showing the screenshot on your front page FFS.

Even the most famous victims are silenced From the Epstein files to Amber Heard, we obsess over victims while denying their own right to speak.

I wrote about how the women Epstein and co victimized have been minimized and ignored as individuals even in popular discourse about the very abuse they endured—and how the legal system has punished them and other women, not helped them, for daring to come forward.
spitfirenews.com/p/even-the-m...

Another way to say "not all men". Because in a society that collectively oppresses women with lower pay, sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence, etc, the real sexism is when people make men feel bad.
Nb4 anyone comes in to say men can be victims of those crimes. Yeah. Mostly caused by other men.

Someone uploaded a full video on IG (hat tip @toddfishernz) of Chappell Roan talking about feeling happy to see Pride stuff in AoNZ and the shit going down in the US. #thehorrors adjacent.

100% - it’s vile 🤢

So the COC has completely defunded health & Brown is sending a stern letter to Health NZ to meet waiting list targets because it's unacceptable. Could the media please ask him if they are going to fund health properly and let hospitals hire? Nope just going to let him blame hospitals instead. OMG

Interesting!! I mean whatever it is they’re doing it’s definitely orchestrated and definitely not anything resembling accountability, so will be interesting/horrifying to see what happens in the coming months 😬

I’m especially furious at the cultural norm of treating women and girls like objects this week because someone I love is navigating her daughter being assaulted by a boy at school.
We have to change the narrative from “boys will be boys” to “boys and men will be held accountable for their actions.”

'"Well you only have to look at New Zealand as a success story. Even the poorest people in New Zealand today are living like kings and queens compared with most places and most times in history,”' (David Seymour, Atlas Foundation numpty, 2026)

Let's analyse that, shall we?

NZ Citizen Peter Thiel, everybody.

Seems the desire to punish the poor and oppress and abuse women goes hand in hand with other antisocial behaviour. Who woulda thought.

This is also what the slow release of the files does:
Everyone is waiting for a conclusion that will never come, for something so outrageous that it will finally mean accountability - meanwhile they’re actively shifting the window on what accountability is, and how outrageous an act they can commit.

Reflecting on why no one is being held accountable despite files, sworn testimony etc, and on the two separate articles I read last week portraying Lolita as being about “seducing” a 12 year old girl without noting in either that Lolita is about child rape, & remembered normalisation erodes outrage.

It is really infuriating to see how misogyny really does unite men across the sociop[atholog]ical spectrum.

It is really infuriating to see how misogyny really does unite men across the sociopolitical spectrum. And, in so far as the Epstein files go, they sort women into two categories: fuckable or irrelevant. When they near a hint of accountability they complain about not being able to make women prey.

NZ media: we simply won't interrogate this 🥰👍