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| Gerry Mapeparae and medals... |
Did ex-PM John Key reward this wee chap [Jerry Mateparae] because of his behaviour over the untimely deaths of Afghan civilians during operation Burnham?
Because it would seem his career was super boosted from that time on...he was suddenly moved from being Chief of the Defence Force, to become the boss of the GCSB which had only just been filled three months before by, Keys old school chum [Ian Fletcher] by bypassing the standard processes... and then wee Jerry quickly became the Governor General...beat that for a rapid rise over an extremely short period.
Then he suddenly became NZ's High Commissioner in the UK...beat that for rapid progress in this day and age. It is thought that possibly he sent the instruction from the PM Key to the SAS in Aghanistan to carry out the raid on the village which resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of civilians...For some reason or other the then minister of defence [Wayne knap] who was in Afghanistan and Iraq and stated publicly that he spoke to the PM about the possible raid and sought the consent of the PM to give the go ahead for the raid... but the PM can't remember the event, his mind was most likely on 'Pony Tails' and the pulling of around that time...
Ever since the book Hit and Run was published, the Defence Force have been under various degrees of pressure over whether Afghan civilians were killed in a New Zealand operation, and whether the NZDF were involved in covering that up. Over the course of this week, that scrutiny will be intense, with current and former top brass taking the stand in the inquiry into Operation Burnham.
So far, one day of evidence has shown at the very least that there were significant mistakes and bungles from the NZDF, reports the NZ Herald's Boris Jančić. In fact, that has come from the NZDF itself, including for example former defence minister Jonathan Coleman being given incomplete information, because a key document confirming possible civilian deaths had been locked away in a safe for years. But the NZDF maintain that incidents like that were a result of errors and miscommunications, rather than any attempt at a cover-up.
So who read that report? That's the crux of this story from Stuff's Thomas Manch, which outlines how the report somehow made it from Afghanistan, to the safe in New Zealand, and was never properly noticed along the way. It had also been "marked in a way which showed it had been read" according to lawyer for the inquiry Kristy McDonald, QC. The inquiry will run throughout this week, and it will be worth keeping an eye on.
The investigation was sparked by the 2017 book Hit & Run, in which journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson alleged six civilians were killed and 15 others wounded during the NZSAS-led raid in August, 2010.
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| Key pretends to be a soldier...yeah right. |
So while the investigation continues into the behaviour of the military and its connection to the political fiqures of the day...all who seemed to have knighted or rewarded in some way or other the rest of us have to attempt to make scence out of our local body elections for which we will shortly receive our voting papers via the mail, lets hope that more than 40% bother to vote...many of us have reached the conclusion that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen, because obviously many of our sixteen olds have more common sence than say, the US President Donald Trump, or the leader of our so-called opposition party leader Simon Bridges and his Chinese friends...or business mates in the milk powder industry...
2.
With a salary of 40.000 plus these days [and that's for Councillors] chairpersons receive more as do deputy Mayors and Mayors in these days of unequal pay...contract staff dont even receive a liveable wage just as some staff also fail to receive.
Its not hard to see why some long standing councillors never seen to want to depart the scene. Three terms should be the limit. We have Councillors here in Palmerston North that have spent half their working lives on Council.
They have never really achieved any of the promises they have made each three years such as keeping rates down, and other verbal financial claptrap. But hey that's the rub these days: Of course there are councillors that really do have aims and goals to achieve for the communities in which they live.But one female Councillor repeats the same message each election in regard to financial management yet fails each year to successfully achieve her goals. Now is the time to remove those Councillors who have served for so long that even the cobwebs show each time they appear in front of the public.
Mayoral candidates
Councillor candidates
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| From left, Baty, Dianu, Naylor, Dingwall, Barrett, Johnson, Butt and Te Papa. Eight of 14 Candidates at last nights meeting organised by MPR, you can read about each candidate by clicking on their name below... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | . |
* Sitting member
** Over three terms, maybe time to depart
*** Over four terms, and not recommended
Recommendations: 5 only: Note you don't have to vote for 15, I suggest you only vote for those whom you really want to be Councillors
No 1 and 2 Barrett, Dingwall,
No 3 Asquith,
No 4 and 5 Johnson, Butt.
Horizons Palmerston Ward:
Cris Teo-Sherrel Jack Dowds Rachel Keedwell* and Fiona Gordon, the following Wiremu Te Awe Awe* Jono Naylor* Darryl Cleland * are not recommended. Sitting member indicated by an * Recommendations: Teo Sherrell, Rachel Keedwell, Fiona Gordon and Jack Dowds
I have only covered the Palmerston North Ward in regard toi recommendations but
If you want to know more about the various / other ward candidates simply go to:
https://www.horizons.govt.nz/about-our-region-and-council/elections. Note that Horizons still uses the out-dated FPP system...Still they are not as bad as the West Coast RC which still believes that women don't exist.
How did the candidates in both the PN and Horizons councils score in the Climate pledge put out for each to answer...check it out and see how your councillors voted or if they lacked the guts to even reply...so much for transparency!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/115897643/green-mayoral-candidate-not-quite-perfect-on-climatechange-response
The Scorecard was sent to all PNCC & Horizons Regional Council candidates
and to mayoral candidates in the District councils covered by the Horizons
Climate Response MoU. Given the number of questions I have been extremely
pleased with the overall response rate for the scorecard of 66% of candidates.
Candidates full responses will be published nationally by Generation Zero. So just type Generation Zero and check out the results.
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| Two failing dictators kiss each others bottoms. |
3.
After last weeks highly read W/C on Israel and its Apartheid type treatment of its Palestinian prisioners and concentration camp captives
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-israel-election-2019-maybe-just-maybe-the-age-of-netanyahu-has-come-to-an-end-1.7857484
Analysis
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9
Israel Election 2019: Maybe, Just Maybe, the Age of Netanyahu Has Come to an End
If Israeli election exit polls are right, the prime minister
failed to achieve an overall majority and Likud came up short. If Gantz
ends up forming a new government, Netanyahu will have to fend off
revolution
The Israeli ambassador may have to skip the country carrying his stolen passports in his back pocket so that Netanyahu can use them to skip out of Israel...
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Israel-elections-results-based-on-counted-ballots-12-am-602045 : Two smiling dictators who kiss each others backsides...a couple of dangerous street kids on the lose...
