Oh joy - just what's needed, a political party consisting of  CT'ers & an American style preacher, focused on fleecing his followers.


The McBishop has been awfully quiet just lately; I did wonder whether perhaps he might be ready to pronounce on who's to blame for those inconvenient Auckland floods since he was so very quick to point the finger at CHCH for the quakes - apparently all the fault of 'those wicked sinning gays' if his nibs is to be believed. But no - other things on his mind apparently.

Like political power.



https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/4898...om%20Party.


https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brian-tama...JXGYLYP7E/

My Lenovo G2 laptop has Mint 21.1, and Windows 10 Pro on it.
Today I tried to do a clean install of the Windows 10 as it was getting a bit unstable. I used the same USB/Rufus stick that I installed it with before. It could not see the drive. I tried again with Windows 11, same problem, and again with Windows 10 Ultralight, no luck. I have a Macrium back up so used that.
    Why should this happen? The computer works perfectly.

P.S. Just tried again with the latest Windows 10, same result. Secure boot is disabled. CSM not in BIOS. UEFI only.

I'm not a fan of his at all & disagree with his political views, but credit where its due; he got this one absolutely right. Its probably the best way to deal with those who've
well & truly gone down the rabbit hole.

Well done, David Seymour!

Words I never thought I'd say.....

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3008762...ascinating

The events in Whangarei this week were utterly tragic to say the least.
I still dont understand how that trip was even allowed to proceed, given the severe weather and even with one parent pulling their kid out of the trip beforehand.
That should have been enough to raise the alarm to those responsible.

It brings back the memories of the Mangatepopo Canyon disaster which was something you would have thought would have resonated with any school across NZ.
Caves and rain are a bad mix, look what happened to the kids in Thailand in 2018
The moral of the story is use common sense, something that sadly seems to be lacking these days.
I know we did black water rafting on a school trip about 23 years ago, we were having heavy rain and the trip still went ahead, the difference here was that the team actually had been through the cave prior, looked at the water levels and rates of rise, they told us we had to do it a day early as it would be impossible to do if we left it to the next day what was scheduled. These were experienced cavers who know the place and the weather conditions well.
Was still quite a scary experience though, we had the water level less than a foot of roof space between the water and the roof of the cave!
Would be interesting if they would allow this to go ahead in todays circumstances with H&S but was quite a thrilling experience, there was a ton of water going through that cave.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65567132


[b]"Thousands of migrants have been rushing to the US-Mexico border just hours before a Trump-era policy that allowed for their swift removal is set to expire.[/b]

As the policy - known as Title 42 - nears its end, about 10,000 migrants have been crossing the nearly 2,000 mile (3,218km) border each day - record numbers nearly double the average seen just two months ago.
Ahead of the deadline, an uneasy calm has descended on the border town of El Paso, Texas, where makeshift migrant camps on the city's streets have largely been removed.
Still, local authorities and humanitarian organisations are bracing for what some fear may be a difficult-to-manage influx of migrants.


"We're stocking up and food and supplies as much as possible," said Nicole Reulet, marketing director of Rescue Mission El Paso, a local shelter that houses migrants. "Nobody really knows what to expect, or what the numbers will look like. It makes it hard for us to prepare."


To reduce overflow, officials were releasing migrants and telling them to report to an immigration office within 60 days.
Several migrants in El Paso told the BBC that they hurried to the border ahead of the policy change, unsure what the change would mean and confused by rumours and disinformation.
Among them were Jon Uzcategui and his girlfriend Esmaily, both 24 and from Venezuela, who said they were frustrated after multiple attempts to book an asylum appointment using a Customs and Border Patrol-run app - CBP One - failed.


Many, however, will face legal challenges. Those crossing illegally will be deported to their home country or Mexico, barred from re-entering the US for at least five years, and be "presumed ineligible for asylum", according to Customs and Border Protection.
Under Title 42, there were no such consequences.
"It's going to be a very large challenge for us," said Susan Goodell, the chief executive of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, which has been feeding hundreds of migrants each day on the city's streets.
"We're preparing, to the best of our ability, to find the food that we need to feed people living on the street or in shelters," she said. "With the lifting of Title 42, we think it'll be a    

short time before we start seeing a large number of migrants coming into the community again."

Both the Nats & Labour are down in the polls  - not that polls always count for much, & this one is from the right wing Taxpayers union - but sadly ACT has benefited from it.

That really would be just about the very last thing we need now; the ignorance of ACT is mind bogglingly stunning, their leader having said previously he'd like to lower benefits so that he clearly has no clue just how difficult things are already for those on benefits. That, or he knows & doesn't care.
And Luxon doesn't seem to be going down well with voters.


https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/late...-form-govt



"The latest political poll has National nudging past Labour and able to form a government with the Act Party.
But voters still donÔÇÖt appear to be resonating with National leader Christopher Luxon who is at his lowest favourability rating since becoming leader in November 2021.
The latest TaxpayersÔÇÖ Union-Curia poll was released today, revealing Labour had dropped just over three points in the past month to 33.8% of the party vote, falling behind National which dropped by just under one point to 35.6%.




The big winner was Act, bumping up 3.2 points to 12.7%. The results would mean National at 46 seats and Act on 16 could form a government with 62 out of the 120 seats.
The Green Party was relatively stable at 7% (up 0.3 points since April). Te P─üti M─üori was on 3.7%, up 0.8 points.





Those results for ParliamentÔÇÖs current left-wing parties would see Labour get 44 seats, the Green Party nine seats and Te P─üti M─üori five seats.


While the centre-right would be in a position to form a government, Prime Minister and Labour leader Chris Hipkins continues to prove far more popular than NationalÔÇÖs Luxon.

HipkinsÔÇÖ net favourability score was positive 22% - six points lower than last month and down 11 points on his March peak of positive 33%.

Luxon meanwhile was at negative 7%, meaning more people gave him an unfavourable rating than favourable."

Intriguing & slightly scary but this can help those who have this  problem.


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65538866


"A baby has been born using three people's DNA for the first time in the UK, the fertility regulator has confirmed
Most of their DNA comes from their two parents and around 0.1% from a third, donor woman.



The pioneering technique is an attempt to prevent children being born with devastating mitochondrial diseases.

Fewer than five such babies have been born, but no further details have been released
Mitochondrial diseases are incurable and can be fatal within days or even hours of birth. Some families have lost multiple children and this technique is seen as the only option for them to have a healthy child of their own.

Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into useable energy."

Fewer than five such babies have been born, but no further details have been released.
Mitochondrial diseases are incurable and can be fatal within days or even hours of birth. Some families have lost multiple children and this technique is seen as the only option for them to have a healthy child of their own.
Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into useable energy.

Defective mitochondria fail to fuel the body and lead to brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure and blindness."

After 40 odd years of uncaring, greed based Neo Liberalism, its astounding that there are still 90 odd people with a social conscience. Well done them. 

It would an excellent thing if the govt would take heed & do this.



https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/05/11/90-we...-more-tax/


"In an open letter, titled Sharing wealth through paying more tax, 90 of the country's richest addressed "the public and the politicians of Aotearoa New Zealand," and asked that they be made to pay higher tax rates.
The letter bluntly asked politicians to "back a tax system that asks more from those who can most afford it".
"We write as people who are frustrated with how much tax we pay. We want to pay more," the letter opens.


"As people leading financially comfortable lives, we might be expected to be anti-tax. But we recognise tax as a shared contribution to our collective success. It funds everything from the teachers who give our children a great start, to the DOC rangers who look after our environment, through to the health care professionals on whom we all rely."







https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/group-of-r...QDNFHHF7I/


"A group of 96 wealthy New Zealanders are calling on the Government to tax them more.
The group, inspired by the initiative Millionaires for Humanity, says the current tax system contributes towards the gap between poor and the wealthy.
Signatory and Ecostore Founder Malcolm Rands says he doesnÔÇÖt mind if itÔÇÖs done through increased income tax, a wealth tax or a capital gains tax.





But he says increases should only apply to the wealthy.

The group wrote an open letter to the public and politicians of Aotearoa explaining how frustrated they are at the amount of tax they pay, and they wish to pay more.
The tax they pay funds everything from teachers to DoC rangers, through to healthcare professionals.

Lot of fun yesterday. Our Napier retirement village organised an outing and 38 of us boarded a bus for a mystery tour at 8.30am. We went to a medieval museum in the Ashley Clinton area of Central Hawkes Bay.

Private Hawke's Bay museum features medieval weapons, hunting trophies - NZ Herald

What a great outing. A lot of the weapons were fired and it was great noisy fun. Honestly, the bloke is living the boys dream!!

Then we stopped for lunch at the Sawyers Arms Hotel at Tikokino before coming home.

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Interesting article here.
Seems their privacy laws can protect the offender.
Would hate to see the same thing happen here.
We have tons of careless drivers in this country.

https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/...rd-cameras