Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I had an extremely difficult personal relationship with Willie for some time, because of my criticism of that ghastly radio interview (from which I don’t resile a bit) but he’s a complex character and it does feel a bit like some of his most vocal critics this week only know the one thing about him. But other people perceive a different person.
Sure, Russell. I don't find it at all difficult to believe Alison Mau that the man she shares a studio with five days a week has never treated her with anything but the utmost civility and respect.
But let's also remember that "one thing" Louise Nicholas knows about Willie Jackson is that on Radio Waatea he gave Clint Rickards an hour of clear airtime to call her a mentally unstable liar. An interview that got widely picked-up by mainstream media, and was far from the only time Jackson attacked her credibility and character. Nobody should tell her to just GTFO it and move on from that.
These things are not mutually exclusive. The world is full of bullies and abusers who can put the mask of decency on when it suits them. They'll cry and promise that this time they've changed. And sometimes, it's true. But it isn't often enough, that nobody should be surprised that some are meeting Jackson's promise he's going to clean up his act with some scepticism.
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Perhaps Small really is as down with the various subspecies of Maori voter as his confidence would indicate.
I doubt it, the only urban Maori his organ has any consistent interest in are rugby players, corpses or referred to as "the defendant."
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to Tom Semmens,
This article in the Havard Business Review is the most accurate assesment of the mood of Americans I know that I have read, and it offers suggestions for the way forward for the left that are, in the light of Poto Williams calculated attempt to undermine her leader and sabotage Labour’s attempts to widen it’s appeal in the name of discredited liberal identity politics, particularly pertinent.
Yeah, funny how the only working class worthy of consideration around Harvard Yard is the white one. I guess the only brown people who work in Trump's America are those Schrodinger's Immigrants who someone manage to steal white people's jobs while simultaneously sitting around on welfare.
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As Jonathan Freedland notes in another column in the same paper, it ironically falls now to liberals to do what used to be the job of conservatives: to defend order.
As I’ve said to you many many times, Russell, I haven’t considered the GOP (or most of their supporters) anything but right-wing radicals for many many years. Conservatives conserve, Trumpets don’t even have a firm grasp on what they’re trying to burn to the ground.
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to John Farrell,
“United States President Donald Trump has dangled the possibility of a one-on-one trade deal, but a likely 30-day “out clause” if we “misbehave” is one reason the Government is cool on the idea.”
Trump doesn't even pretend he doesn't view the rest of the planet as six billion contractors he can stiff at will whenever he feels like it. You do you, Donald, but why should anyone sign shit with the United States when, in the end, one party isn't coming to the table in good faith and the end result isn't worth the paper it's written on?
The faithful will blame the liberal media even harder, but the truth is, it’s going to be a shitshow in the media because it’s a shitshow inside the tent, from well before day one.
Indeed, Russell. But nobody should be even a little bit surprised because this is what happen when you give looters the key to your house and a box of matches. Spoiler: When you hand Government to people whose only political idea is that "Government is Evil and Must Be Destroyed" they're not invested in making it work. They just want to figure out what they can sell before burning the shell down for the insurance.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to Russell Brown,
Stop him immediately qualifying his answers in interviews is the main one, I reckon.
Not only that, but I'd say a couple of unforced errors from Little has been fudging details, timelines and costings for the sake of a snappy soundbite.... then getting pissy at journalists who read the fine print and asked questions about it. If nothing else, Labour should remember when "explaining is losing" worked very well for them. I'm pretty sure Don Brash does. Fairly or not, "flip-flopper" is a political stain that's really hard to get out.
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Hard News: Taking the stage in Mount Albert, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think Labour knows that, but they see a way forward in how Roskill went – which is traditional, door-knocking campaigning.
Sure, and practically this is a perfect time and place to be doing some stress testing on a general election ground game. Turn Mount Albert into a giant focus ground, and at least get some bang for your time and effort.
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Hard News: The next four years, in reply to Russell Brown,
Big difference: the countries on Russia’s border are asking for NATO protection. They’re terrified by Russia moving nuclear-capable missiles into Kalingrad.
I’d also point out a non-trivial number of these countries have already had Russian troops on their streets in living memory and didn’t much like the experience.
Sorry for being harsh here, but there’s some serious False Equivalence Bingo being played from the other side of the world. It really has to stop.
Russia has experienced multiple invasions
Seriously, when the does Russia stop getting to use Operation Barbarossa as a free pass for being everyone’s neighbour from Hell? It’s been seventy-five years.
I'm kind of missing the good old days, when winter was enlivened by the annual ritual of Putin's cronies at Gazprom threatening to cut off the natural gas supply of whoever in Europe was pissing off Putin the most at the time.
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They know this is aid money for an ongoing development project and they know quite well they’re constructing fake news
They should also know that successive New Zealand Governments have been done this in partnership with non-governmental organisations for decades – and many which weren’t even close to being as thoroughly audited and scrutinised as the Clinton Health Access Initiative. But yeah, dudes, don’t let your Hillary Derangement Syndrome – and let’s be blunt that’s all this is – get in the way of a good story. Or actually save lives, even if they’re black people you don’t really give a shit about.
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to Dennis Frank,
A Hillary voter who admits to creating propaganda designed to discredit Hillary, but in order to infiltrate the fake news subculture. This guy evokes the old double-agent scenario that prevailed during the Cold War and was recycled from the 19th century.
Or Jestin Coler could simply be lying about who he voted for, because that makes better copy (and gets him a lot more attention) than "Oh, I’m just another opportunistic scum-bucket who has made an awful lot of easy money.”