The Bull Ring

More than a third of New Zealanders think Jacinda Ardern is too overseas-focused As the Prime Minister prepares to jet off to Bangkok for the East Asia Summit, she's fired a parting shot at Simon Bridges, calling him "desperate" over his "part-time PM" comments. Bridges, leader of the National Party, labelled Jacinda Ardern a "part-time Prime Minister" in July when she travelled to Tokelau during the Ihumātao protests. Finance Minister Grant Robertson  described the remarks  at the time as "disrespectful" and "sexist". "I'm very conscious of my engagement overseas and I've reflected on past Prime Ministers and what they've done," Ardern told Newshub. She says it's about the same as other New Zealand Prime Ministers. But Bridges thinks she's too focused overseas and not on the issues at home. The latest Newshub-Reid Research Poll asked New Zealanders: "Is the Prime Minister too focus

Morrison also testified that the memorandum of the call released by the White House is accurate to his recollection and he does not know the WB's identity. Story soon. — Arden Farhi (@ArdenFarhi) October 31, 2019

US House of Representatives votes to proceed with Trump impeachment inquiry Democrats pushed a package of ground rules for their impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump through a sharply divided House Thursday (overnight NZT), the chamber's first formal vote in a fight that could stretch into the 2020 election year. The tally was 232-196, with all Republicans who voted opposing the resolution. Just two Democratic defectors joined them: freshman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and 15-term veteran Collin Peterson of Minnesota, one of his party's most conservative members. Both represent GOP-leaning districts. Though the vote was technically over the rules that will govern the process, each side used it to accuse the other of having already decided whether Congress should wrench Trump from office. It also underscored how — for now — lawmakers on each side are comfortable with their approaches to next year's presidential and congressional elections.

No one cares about Phil Twyford's problems except National and Right wing nut jobs No one cares about Phil Twyford's memory lapses and public battles with officials except the National Party, says Labour MP Willie Jackson. Twyford, who's already lost the housing portfolio after struggling to get KiwiBuild off the ground, has been under fire in his ongoing role as Transport Minister. In recent weeks he's had to correct the record over claims he made regarding the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) board, and disputed evidence that suggests he was wrong to say NZTA didn't fully assess a proposal from the Super Fund to build Auckland's light rail system.  But Jackson told The AM Show on Friday Aucklanders "don't care about who said what, where, when and whatever - they just want the roads decongested". "Auckland is a total mess, so he's going out of his way to get a lovely little setup called light rail, going to the airport, a

Gun Buyback and Other Police Matters Hon. Stuart Nash speaking at the Police Association Annual Conference 2019. Ladies and gentlemen; Good morning and thank you for inviting me to speak today. It is my pleasure to open this, the 2019 Police Association Annual Conference. Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. A year when I think the police have really shone. It started with the Tasman fires – and Police helped out in a way that exceeded the community’s expectations – but reinforced the diverse role that Police now play in our communities. Then of course we had March 15th and our world changed forever.   Police around the country stepped up and heeded the call in a way that truly was exceptional.  The way that Police acted with bravery, humility, compassion, professionalism really spoke volumes about the culture of the Service in 2019. Then we outlawed guns designed purely to kill people and asked police to design the legislation and come up w

Who Is Charli?  Dan Bongino who has been on top of this coup from the start has had a question from the evidence he has collected, it was “Who Is Charli?” Who IS Charli? Sara Carter published a piece after she had obtained text messages between a former special FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his lover FBI Attorney Lisa Page that reveal an attempt by the FBI to allegedly plant a spy in Trumps circle after inauguration.  The Texts A few weeks after the presidential election, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page discussed the logistics for the briefing. Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page said the following: Strzok: Talking with Bill. Do we want Joe to go with Evanina instead of  Charli  for a variety of reasons? (Strzok is referring to former FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence division Bill Priestap. ‘Joe is referencing FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka, who interviewed former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn in January, 2017. And Evanina is in reference to William Evanina,

With the increasing lies from the scum Stoner Twitford , how long before the gutless , spineless , lying part time PM is forced to sack that bastard , here are just a few of his resent lies that  have been said in parliament , a sackable offence for a minister to mislead the house Denied NZTA board members wished to stay on, when they did Denied he had received any correspondence from Julie Anne Genter about transport in Wellington when he had Denied discussing the NZTA board with photographer and blogger Patrick Reynolds despite having dinner with Reynolds shortly before appointing him Denied  NZTA had completed an assessment of the NZSF proposal, when they had

Time for the 2020 candidates to go after Trump on his supposed strength: the failing economy Among many outcomes and observations following last week’s ABC News/Univision presidential debate, there were only two candidates who were willing to attack Donald Trump and the trolls who surround him: Sen. Kamala Harris and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke. That’s not to say the others didn’t mention President Trump at all. It's just that Harris and O’Rourke stood out in terms of their unflinching and aggressive attacks against Trump (Harris) and the Republican Party’s destructive fealty to the gun lobby (O’Rourke). There’s a noticeable pee-shyness among the Democrats, too often quivering like Shaggy and Scooby over being seen as too anti-Trump or too anti-gun in the face of the elusive white-male diner crowd, despite the reality that Trump’s approvals are stuck in the 40 percent range, give or take. Likewise, support for a new assault weapons ban and an expansion of federal background ch

Trump’s Economy Is Failing Weakness in manufacturing in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan could doom the president’s re-election chances. When shockingly  poor data on U.S. manufacturing  was released Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump was ready with his usual response to any bad economic news: He blamed Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell. Increasingly, however, it is getting harder for the president to avoid responsibility for regional weaknesses in the economy — and the effects on his chances for re-election could be devastating. As I predicted, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve have allowed the Dollar to get so strong, especially relative to ALL other currencies, that our manufacturers are being negatively affected. Fed Rate too high. They are their own worst enemies, they don’t have a clue. Pathetic! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019 The current economy is tracking  dangerously close  to the one that derailed Hillary Clinton’s candidacy in