But wait! There's more!! #nzpol

Why yes, I am extremely online and this is very funny.

Bit late to it but if you want to know the chain of events that led to us importing gas (and charging electricity users to pay for it!!), I did this deep dive for RNZ last year www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

You know, last night I was watching Julie K. Brown being interviewed on Fast Politics, and she said at the end that she and the Miami Herald had "a lot of stories lined up", having mentioned Palm Beach police. And here she is.

we’re never going public because our goal is to build cities on mars *record scratch* okay so quick update, team

Policy uncertainty seems to be hallmark of this government.

Australia: let’s roll out so much rooftop solar you can have free power during the day NZ: businesses are closing down because they can’t afford power so we’re building a one billion dollar fossil fuel terminal so we can keep not having free power

The Epstein Files claim another high profile person outside America. Norwegian police are now investigating diplomat Mona Juul the day after she resigned as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.

Govt to pay up to $180m/year or $2.7b over 15 years to lease LNG re-gasification plant, paid for by $15-$30 'levy' per household per year. That $2.7b would build four Benmore Dams worth of electricity #nzpol open.substack.com/pub/thekaka/...

Absolutely disgusting from NSW police. #nzpol

Sensible decision from the Crown, I think. Had a decent chance of winning on appeal (the judge in the High Court clearly signaled things had only just got over the line), but an unhelpful precedent for government is MUCH more of an issue when it comes from the Court of Appeal than the High Court.

Post a banger not in English www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2PQ...

So the last Splore is coming up and our Listening Lounge talk programme on the Saturday morning is all about Splore. To that end, we're inviting you to tell your Splore stories to share, anonymously if desired. There are small prizes! See here: www.splore.net/listening-lo...

Bad Bunny's halftime show was cool, and I can see why the usual suspects got triggered by it. It wasn't explicitly political so much as political by the sheer fact of its existence.

Oh, so just caught up with the news - new taxes can just disappear by calling them levies. Sweet. That wealth levy of ours should now be supported by everyone. Labour can go bolder with its CGL

Put solar panels on state houses. You could probably do the lot for $1.5b, would reduce energy costs for those least able to afford it, increase our grid resilience and save about the same amount in energy costs overall. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...

If you are talking about increasing the cost of electricity, and not investing in distributed, resilient solar and battery capacity, nor electrification of transport in multi modes, you don’t understand the problem and should not be anywhere near power (pun absofuckinglutely intended)

An energy security asset would be, now let's see, ah yes the Lake Onslow pumped hydro project which would genuinely have secured energy for the country and not be reliant on the dying field of gas markets.

I built the NZ landslide fatality dataset, - most fatalities from landslides happen in ones and twos, every other month or year. When I began, there were ~400 fatalities in the dataset. I built it up to ~1800 events of which ~1600 were landslide fatalities. theconversation.com/landslides-a...

Excellent article from Andrea Vance today - few quotes "There is a weak argument (usually put forward by white men, those least likely to suffer abuse online) that staying on X somehow moderates the awful. You can’t dilute a cesspool." 1/5

So, the DOJ released and then removed a highly-redacted 2019 SDNY protection document titled Investigation into Potential Co-Conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein. www.meidasplus.com/p/doj-delete...

How can any prosecutor worth his salt suggest in light of evidence like this Epstein did not run a sex-trafficking ring? Todd Blanche needs to step down. And Patel. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

I've written about the overarching post story, causes, underlying pattern. But the failure of Lewis or Bezos to even show up, literally or figuratively, on a day of devastating cuts epitomizes the profound lack of character and accountability that is so common place today within the American elite.

Watergate, but if someone was killed.

Today I am announcing my campaign for the Dunedin City Council byelection. I’m standing to offer leadership that's ready to go on day one; that's willing & able to challenge the government’s reforms; & that's prepared to make decisions in the best long-term interests of the city. aaronhawkins.nz

Howard Lutnick went to Jeffrey Epstein's island 5 days before Lutnick and Epstein went into business together. 12/23/2012 — Lutnick goes to Epstein's island. 12/28/2012 — Lutnick and Epstein sign a stock purchase agreement.

The Guardian has a rough outline of what the Tulsi whistleblower complaint is about: NSA found someone close to Trump in contact with foreign intelligence, and rather than doing something about that, Tulsi brought the report to Susie Wiles. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This is just sad.

IT'S FEBRUARY 2026. THE RAIL ENABLED HYUNDAI FERRIES FOR I REX WERE MEANT TO ARRIVE BY NOW. Instead we have no rail enabled ferries, the two we have are clunky as fuck, and there will be no replacement ferries until 2029 at the earliest.

A guide for Aucklanders keeping watch for yellow-legged hornets: 1. “Hmm, is this stripy waspy thing a hornet?” = not a hornet 2. “JESUS EFFING C what the F is that MONSTER, that’s he biggest wasp I’ve ever SEEN, NO Jaden KEEP AWAY, shit I think it has yellow legs” = hornet

I'm so glad I held on to my CDs. I've landed at the very budget end of audiophile home hi-fi and my Chinese CD player sounds *awesome* playing well-mastered CDs. (You also really notice the badly-mastered ones.)

Documents show RFK Jr lied to Congress about his agenda in Samoa—he did indeed go to spread anti-scientific doubts about vaccines. He was ultimately successful in getting an outbreak going there that killed 83 people, mostly babies and young children.

New Zealand citizen Peter Thiel.

Here is the video of Hakeem Jeffries saying "fuck Donald Trump" for posting that racist video of the Obamas. (originally from his official Instagram account) www.instagram.com/reel/DUbeoy5...

Over 8 billion dollars of taxpayer money just gifted to someone who is already a billionaire. If you're wondering why Bezos goes to bat for Trump so often, this is it. He only cares about money. And Trump is giving him absurd amounts of it. Our government is entirely corrupt and illegitimate.

this is the question.

I keep looking at this screenshot from video Trump posted & saying 'it cannot be for real'. But it is. I took this screenshot myself. So we're here now, are we? The US President posting images of Barack & Michelle Obama as monkeys? You support this pig? You ARE a filthy racist. Yes it's that simple.

Musk is going to take a business that's doing well (because he doesn't actually run it) and shackle it to one that's breathtakingly exposed to market collapse. Let's see how that goes.

It beggars belief that the Reserve Bank is on the verge of tightening policy again and the Government is keeping policy tight. 'We now have nearly 1 in 7 adults on a working age benefit.' Full employment? Yeah...nah.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

For those who don't know, Luttig was once considered the intellectual heir to Scalia. He was about as conservative a judge as you could find...

2022: "Continuing with Veolia as the current operator on an improved performance basis, presented the lowest risk with the ability to achieve the aspirational goals." Oh well

Quelle surprise, Veolia - in it for the profit - fails the to do the basics. “An independent report released today has found the French-owned multinational Veolia failed to carry out basic asset management, including regular maintenance.” #nzpol They join CompassNZ on the DO NOT USE LIST.

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff. Democracy dies in oligarchy.

Geese from the cheap seats at Laneway. I liked them.

Geese playing to the swans. Quite agreeable.

Today, the Court of Appeal has given clarity and confidence to medical professionals in Aotearoa to continue prescribing GnRH agonists/reversible pubertal suppression. You can read PATHA’s statement at patha.nz/news

Wait for it. youtube.com/shorts/7KhEk...

🚨 Breaking: ICE can now arrest anyone for virtually any reason. This is effectively a COVID‑style ICE lockdown. Who will even dare go outside if you can be detained just for a look they don’t like? #USALockdown #COVID #ICELockdown #Trumpocalypse www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u....