Notices by Bob LeFridge :tinoflag: (boblefridge@mastodon.nz)

I guess an American would say that. Trump's atrocities are being carried out in your name, my friend.

@feld

I, too, preferred a quieter world.

Unfortunately Trump is acting in America's name using the world's most powerful military. Having lost the war he started in Iran, Trump needs a win before the mid-terms.

While most of the world despises Trump, history will record that 'America' invaded Venezuela, underwrote Netanyahu's foul genocide, laid waste to swathes of Iran and publicly declared its intention to take over both Greenland and Cuba.

When US missiles are raining down on your country, few people would stop and think, "Oh well, thank God there are still some good Americans."

@feld

A US oil company connected to Trump has landed drilling equipment in Greenland. They don't have permission to land the equipment, let alone to drill two test wells within a conservation area.

Climate-aware Greenland stopped issuing drilling licenses in 2021, but the USians intend to piggyback on an existing license. Emboldened by Trump's international aggression, their motto appears to be "Who's gonna stop us?"

This action will produce headaches that Nato members don't need right now.

The Americans really have become the world's most obnoxious arseholes, haven't they.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/08/greenland-iwarning-trump-linked-oil-firm-prepares-drill

#Trump #Greenland #Oil

Four headlines in today's Guardian. Spot the odd one out.

#ClimateChange

From the section on bird flu.

"In stark contrast to New Zealand’s world-leading Covid response, its current government “has no worst-case modelling for the impact a major bird flu outbreak could have on New Zealand’s food supply or economy..."

No modelling.

When it comes to major threats to public health, I prefer my country to be world-leading in its response. Hoggard is asleep at the wheel.

@pezmico @violetblue

In Sam Neill's 2023 memoir, he ripped into his old Christchurch alma mater Christ's College and elite education in general. He said many of the students at the boarding house were the “product of generations of inbreeding”.

“Canterbury farming families, for some reason, like to marry among their own. The gene pool is very small. You would think that a cursory examination of how they bred their Corriedale sheep would’ve been helpful in this regard. Sadly, no.”

Sam lived by his convictions. While he could have afforded any level of private schooling, his daughter was in my son's class at Queenstown Primary.

We've lost a damned fine man.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361005947/school-sam-neill-once-said-was-full-inbreds-pays-tribute-distinguished-old-boy

#SamNeill #NZ #Education

But wait! An Aussie company reckons it can save the day with a massive urea plant in Southland. They intend to turn coal into gas into urea.

"The company says it could deliver 1.5 million tonnes a year of urea fertiliser, making New Zealand's agricultural sector fully self sufficient."

Naturally they'll be seeking a super-cheap power deal like their mates building the crypto farm and Rio Tinto get, and they'll use fast-track because it bypasses all those annoying environmental regulations.

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/3-billion-fertiliser-plant-proposed-southland-rnz

#Urea #Southland

@airshipper @ArrestJK @phil_stevens

The Ministry of Social Development has released a 'Tactical Plan for Rough Sleepers' to brief regional managers.

The document refers to 'dispelling myths', claims it's a "narrative" that hundreds of New Zealanders live without shelter and that there is "no evidence" to validate that.

The report's author is not named, but while MSD is back-pedalling fast, this is an indication of the level of ignorance affecting officials under the Luxon government.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/592368/msd-document-says-there-s-no-evidence-hundreds-of-new-zealanders-are-without-shelter

#MSD #Homelessness #NZ

When National embarked on their deliberate destruction of NZ's health service, they promised that no front-line jobs would be affected. Yeah, right.

National lied.

Take Southland Hospital. After management pushed through a controversial 'night roster' despite knowing there weren't enough staff to fill the roles, several nurses left.

Both senior urologists left, killing prostate and bladder surgery coverage for Southland and Queenstown.

A whistleblower claims operating theatres have been temporarily shut down.

‘‘The few remaining theatre staff with any experience have burnt out and management are rapidly trying to replace them with junior and graduate nurses with no supervision.’’

National has extracted billions from NZ's health system and given it to Luxon and his fellow landlords. This is National's bright new future -- where only the wealthy will be healthy.

It's cruel and it's greedy, but hey... they're National's core values.

https://archive.ph/ux66P

#NZPol #Health #NationalNotFitToGovern

Remember that time Judith supplied Cactus Kate (via Slater) with a civil servant's address and other personal details to enable an alleged hit?

She got away with that.

And remember the noise when she diverted government vehicles in China to do some PR on the side for hubby's business associates?

She got away with that.

And how about the time when her hubby's kauri extraction business severed the jet fuel pipeline feeding Auckland airport costing the country hundreds of millions? How we laughed when John Key put Judith in charge of the enquiry which never identified the digger driver, who was working for Judith's hubby. That was cynicism personified.

But she got away with that, too.

Judith has been up to her ears in slime throughout her political career, devaluing our democracy in the process. One day she will rot in hell. I'm in the camp which says that day can't come soon enough.

@zl2tod

#NZPol #JudithCollins

Following the Bondi terrorism attack and in a misjudged attempt to please Zionists, the Adelaide Writers' Festival "disinvited" Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Because she's Palestinian.

In the resulting kerfuffle, three board members and the Festival chairperson have resigned, a major sponsor has withdrawn and more than fifty contributors have pulled out of the festival. The latest to cancel is Dame Jacinda Ardern.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-12/future-of-adelaide-writers-week-hangs-in-balance/106219462

#Adelaide #WritersFestival #Ardern

You can't beat a well-executed bank heist and this example from Gelsenkirchen (near Essen) in Germany was nicely planned.

Using the Christmas break, the thieves gave themselves four days to clean out the bank's vault. Drilling through a car park wall straight into the vault, they cracked 95% of the 3,000 deposit boxes worth at least €30m then escaped cleanly in a stolen car.

Professionals make things look easy.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-gelsenkirchen-bank-heist-30-million/a-75344406

#Heist #BankRobbery #Germany

A critical part of the Luxon government's plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions over the next five years has gone belly up.

Todd Energy's proposed Kapuni project to capture & store CO2 is not viable and doesn't stack up commercially. It ain't gonna happen.

While the govt has quietly removed Kapuni from its climate calculations, it was originally expected to account for *one third* of the carbon savings needed to meet NZ's legal obligations to cut emissions from 2025-2030.

This is what happens when a government which doesn't understand science tries to balance the books using unicorn technologies which are unaffordable at scale.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/580084/cancelled-kapuni-carbon-storage-scheme-scrapped-from-national-emissions-plan

#NZPol #CarbonCapture

RE: https://mastodon.nz/@ArrestJK/115535068839802743

NZ PSA: this is important.

If you have any coloured sand branded either "Educational Colours" or "Creatistics", please read this urgently. They may contain asbestos.

Here are some Kiwi sheep looking quietly magnificent in the mist.

#DyddDefaidodon / #DefaidodonDay

Here's a working sand battery in Finland. Heated to 500°C, it'll store heat for up to three months. This one heats all the town's municipal buildings, uses no chemicals, it doesn’t degrade and won’t catch on fire.

Seriously cool tech!

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/08/30/finnish-city-inaugurates-1-mw-100-mwh-sand-battery/

#SandBattery #GreenEnergy

Over 100,000 people took advantage of late voting last election. The problem for Nact is that they're almost all left voters.

This from the Herald.

Act justice spokesman Todd Stephenson welcomed the reforms, saying it was “outrageous” that someone “completely disengaged and lazy can rock up to the voting booth, get registered there and then, and then vote to tax other people’s money away”.

I'd argue that anyone who turns up to vote is hardly disengaged or lazy.

Politicians who use AI to read submissions or draft laws, or who allow powerful lobby groups to actually write legislation for them. Now that *is* disengaged and lazy.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/major-electoral-law-overhaul-includes-ending-same-day-enrolment-clarity-on-treats-for-voters/6MR5XYITBJF5ZJIGY3DGKCK2IM/

#NZPol #Electoral

In Glasgow 64 year old Sean Clerkin has been charged under the Terrorism Act for holding a placard reading "Genocide in Palestine, Time to Take Action".

He's effectively banned from the city centre until his court date.

UK courts are slowly filling with groups of these elderly, peaceful "terrorists", making a mockery of the law.

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/25325826.man-banned-glasgow-city-centre-palestine-protest/

#UKPol #Genocide

Heh! Back in the early 80s my ex and I did some randomised driving across France and ended up in Condom.

We took a 35mm photo of the two of us with our yellow VW in front of the 'Condom' sign at the edge of the village. Sent them as postcards to friends with the caption "Playing safe in France."

Memories!

@kaia

America has The Onion, Canada has The Beaverton. This is a helpful travel piece: "Canadians travelling to the US advised to not fucking do that".

“Canadians are welcome in California. It’s perfectly safe to visit,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Just so long as you take a few basic travel precautions, like travelling on a valid passport, teleporting over the border, moving undetected in the shadows in the dead of night, getting the telephone number of an immigration attorney tattooed to your upper thigh, saying a heartfelt goodbye to your pets and the people who love you, and appointing someone to water your plants just in case you disappear into a labyrinthian nightmare of an extrajudicial immigration enforcement system that no longer answers to judge nor common mercy.”

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2025/06/canadians-travelling-to-the-us-advised-to-not-fucking-do-that/

#Beaverton #Canada #Satire