10 June 2024
I would like to start this issue of the newsletter with an apology. In the last newsletter in my brief editorial I mistakenly attributed the proposed Bathroom Bill to David Seymour's political party, ACT, but of course it's been proposed by another coalition partner, Winston Peter's New Zealand First party. Thank you to the readers who were quick to point out my mistake!
16 October 2023
By now most of us will know that we're facing a change in government in the near future, given that the National Party has likely secured enough seats with the help of ACT in order to form a majority. But, how close did we come to having our country run by conspiracy theorists who would have removed us from the UN and made other daft-sounding decisions that Al Blenney documented for us in the newsletter a few weeks ago?
10 July 2023
Dan Ryan wrote an article a few weeks ago about our visit to a Freedoms NZ event, where Brian and Hannah Tamaki, Sue Grey and others extolled the virtues of their new umbrella political party. Currently Freedoms NZ consists of the member parties Vision NZ (Destiny Church's political wing), Rock the Vote, New Nation, Yes Aotearoa and almost the Outdoors and Freedoms Party (Sue just hasn't signed on the dotted line yet).
19 June 2023
A group of skeptical friends (Bronwyn Rideout, Mark Honeychurch and Tim Atkin) invited me to attend a political event, the “_Take Back Your Power Roadshow_”, last week. Freedom NZ, a new fringe political party that serves as an umbrella for five other parties, organised the event. The constituent parties are the New Nation Party, Vision New Zealand, the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party, Yes Aotearoa, and Rock the Vote. They have been travelling around New Zealand spreading their message, asking for votes and donations.
12 June 2023
We've ragged on “apostle” Brian Tamaki many times in the past, but this week has seen a new crusade emerge.
29 August 2022
On Tuesday, Freedoms and Rights Coalition members converged on Wellington for another protest about our “freedoms”, and of course I was there to see what was going on.
4 April 2022
I've previously revealed that I keep an eye on Voices for Freedom by subscribing to their email newsletter, where they send out communications to their flock. I don't pretend that they're not aware they have “moles” who subscribe - and so it's likely that their newsletter only contains the most sanitised versions of their thoughts. I don't have the personal free time or inclination to subscribe to their Telegram channels to see what's really being discussed behind the scenes.
23 June 2021
US Senator Louie Gohmert, from Texas, has recently asked the country's Forestry Service if they can look into a thought he's had about how to combat climate change:
19 April 2021
After chatting with Graeme Hill on Magic Talk recently about Sue Grey, co-leader of the conspiracy minded Outdoors Party, and her threat to sue the government, I found out that Sue was planning to give a talk on the steps of parliament the next day. So, during my lunch break, I wandered up to the Beehive to see more about why Sue thinks the government's rollout of the COVID vaccine needs to be stopped.
22 February 2021
Or, at the very least he's apparently quit politics. This one was a bit of a surprise to me, as the conspiracy minded Billy had only just announced that he was re-naming his Public Party to the Freedom Party. Maybe he quit because he realised that there had already been a Freedom Party in NZ, and that all of the most obvious domain names had already been taken? Alternatively, it might be that recent accusations of financial mis-management and fraud are making life in the limelight a little too uncomfortable for Billy at the moment.
6 August 2017
Vinny Eastwood has suggested that the new head of the Labour Party is in league with the Freemasons:
1 August 2017
Steffan Browning will leave his role as an MP next year, which is a great opportunity for the Green Party to ditch their anti-science baggage.
16 July 2017
The group responsible for bringing Vaxxed, an anti-vaccine movie, to Australia and New Zealand is still causing issues in our country. There are more screenings of Vaxxed coming up, including one in Wellington that I will try to attend:
1 November 1996
A skeptical look at the Natural Law Party provided to journalists in preparation for the election.