I'm finding the news coming out of America this morning pretty disgusting. The absolute disrespect shown to President Zelensky. Personally I feel like this is my final straw. I want to actively respond in some way. I've never contacted my local MP before, I'm going to work out how to do so. I want to Actively boycott America, but I don't think I really buy American products.

Any ideas on more ways to respond?

I have to do something.

Update 8 hours after original post:

Thanks everyone for all of your support, I never expected this post to blow up the way it has.

If you want to do more too, here are some things that lots of you have recommended, some of them are easier than others, like for me, I'm broke as, so I don't have to worry about not buying a Tesla 👍

-Remember, all Americans aren't bad, it's just the loud stupid ones that managed to get in charge.

-USA as a country cannot currently be trusted.

-r/boycottunitedstates

-Check out where your Kiwisaver money is, (mines in Pathfinder.)

-Think about where our purchases come from and Buy Local. If things aren't local, see if Canada makes them, they're cool and need our support.

-Repair/Reuse where possible

-Don't buy from Amazon, and delete your Amazon Accounts.

-Delete Netflix etc AND replace them with local alternatives

-leave and delete all your Meta platforms and accounts.

-When you need new Tech, do some research and shop around, yes nothing is 100% good, but just do your best.

-@gatkramp had a great post about writing to your local MP https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/s/LiFsC7DXO7

-Keep an eye out for local protests that you can attend.

-And a tough one, do your best to limit and avoid Google, but before you do, google 'companies that actively support Russia and Israel'. Lots of them are american. Think about them while you're shopping.

Remember, it's not all or nothing. Don't overwhelm yourself. Even a small action is better than no action at all, if we all do at least a few of them, it'll add up. (Then maybe do another one tomorrow)

Yes, seriously.

If you forgot to enrol or never got around to it, go and vote anyway! You can cast a special vote, and it will be counted as a disallowed vote.

If the number of disallowed votes sharply increases from the previous election, it will show that Luxons voters suppression plan has worked, and show just how big a problem it really is. If they want to remove your right to engage with politics last-minute, then go out and get that impact reflected in the final statistics!

Whats so bad about the tax policy, if anything were all better off? Especially people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Edit: turns out most people dont understand how tax works. Edit2: no you're not going to be getting 160k, and people who are getting above that amount, I assure you can afford the pay cut. But turns out some of you care more about personal greed than anything elae

Edit3: I understand, we need a wider tax bracket for the upper 160k to accommodate certain group of people, especially couples. Im slowly going through comments. There's a lot

I have always voted National, not just because my parents (and their parents before them) did, but because I fundamentally bought the conservative pitch.

I won't be voting for them this year.

Here are my main reasons why:

First: I've changed my mind on taxing property profits, despite my family doing very well out of the NZ residential property market over the last 70 years or so.

They still would've done well if they'd paid tax on the money it made them.

There is no way that buying residential property that could and should be occupied by people who can't afford to buy their own home should be used as a way to grow wealth.

If you have extra money to put away, put it in an ETF, put it in your KiwiSaver, put it in any number of other investment vehicles.

This comes with the added bonus of more liquidity and not having to deal with problem tenants.

You can still build wealth, you can still get a return on your money, and you can do it without buying up housing stock.

Crash the fucking housing market, I no longer give a fuck. It is time.

Put. It. Over. A. Cliff.

Housing is a human right. It is the government's responsibility to create an environment where that right is fulfilled.

Not sure how to do it?

Look at Finland, look at Singapore, look at Vienna, look at the Netherlands. Look at all the other first-world places that do it so much better.

Second: Luxon ruling out TOP while still being prepared to work with Two Wongs Winston is fucking offensive. He's apparently more afraid of new taxes than he is of overt racism.

He also hates small business.

This is a nation of migrants who run small businesses.

Go fuck yourself, mate.

I am not prepared to look my mixed-race, overseas-born daughter in the face and explain why it is that I voted for someone who felt that remaining in power mattered more than refusing to form a government with someone who hates her.

Fuck you, fuck your mates, and fuck your desire to not be a one-term PM.

Third: Convincing a pack of untaxed private landlords that you're the right party to vote for because beneficiaries are the problem is fucking putrid.

All the while not having the balls to address the pension problem.

Either means test the pension, or implement a UBI. As the population ages, you're basically going to end up with one anyway.

Either everybody should be getting paid by the government without condition, or nobody should; you can't have it both ways.

When you've got people who can't keep their houses warm while you're paying hundreds of dollars a week to the people they're paying rent to, something is fucking wrong.

There are many other things too, and I don't necessarily think the other side will do any better, but these are the main reasons that, in our triennial box-ticking exercise, for the first time in my life, I won't be ticking any blue ones.

Edited because the indents on the numbering were screwed up.

Finally, some good slander, not just spray can penises and curse words

Besides the fact that it's anathema to National.

Rent-free tax-free grocery stores that pass savings into customers.

Do our city mayors have powers like this, or would it be better as a national government initiative?

Most people were in support of drug testing beneficiaries, and financially punishing them if they test positive. Ignoring the known negative effects this sort of stress has on mental health and addiction remission, why do kiwis think it’s acceptable and even desirable to cut people off benefits for the recognised medical condition that is addiction when addicts already make up so many of our homeless, impoverished, medically-needy population? I’m genuinely baffled about the logic. Someone ELI5.

Ironically he

It makes sense, no?

National has fucked everything up since they joined. Employment rate has been high time low. Prices for everything has gone up…

Smear ad immediately following an ad for the local National MP. Don’t we have rules around this bs? Not that this govt cares….

Has anyone else noticed an issue with the overseas voting paper when using Adobe Reader, the recommended application for electronically completing voting papers?

Adobe's "Fill & Sign" feature automatically tries to detect the editable fields. The blue circles I can "click to tick", but I can't "click to tick" the white circles.

There are of course workarounds. I can manually stamp a tick onto the voting paper with Adobe, or of course, print it out. I appreciate this is likely an unintentional technical issue. However, given that this is an official voting document, shouldn't it be equally straightforward to mark a vote for every party?

EDIT: By some of these comments you’d assume I just told everyone that I’m going to harm their family if they don’t vote for the greens or labour. This post is to urge others to think and feel for the less fortunate, I know that you’re going to vote for who you want regardless, but before you do take a look around at those struggling.

With election time being just around the corner now, it's easy to look at the parties making promises and selling dreams that apparently will leave you better off. If you're doing well right now, I assume you look toward parties like National or ACT that are promising tax cuts or personal financial relief. But before you vote, I'm asking you to take a moment to look past your reality and think about the people who make up the rest of this country.

The single parent paying $400 for groceries that somehow still runs out before their next payday, trying to figure out how to keep the power on, keep a roof over their kids heads while serving the last of the noodles for dinner.

The student working two jobs between studying, still living in their childhood bedroom because renting is completely out of reach for them, yet somehow still falling further behind and still not being able to save.

The person sleeping rough on the streets, entirely forgotten by the system and society, being told to “move on” in the early hours as if their existence is a complete inconvenience to everyone else.

A whole generation of young people who have given up on the dream of owning a home, wondering if bringing children into this world is even a fair choice anymore.

The job seekers applying for every job they can, tailoring cover letter and CV’s and still being met with “Thank you for your interest but unfortunately….”, all while the current gov insists they’re just lazy and sitting on the couch doing nothing.

The disabled community struggling to survive while the gov continues to ignore their needs.

You may be thinking "That's not my problem" or "'I’ll never end up there" But you never know. None of us are immune. We are all just one bad day away from that being our reality too. If you want a future where everyone has a chance, please consider voting for the Greens or at second best Labour this election.

Vote for everyone, not just you.

....how is that legal?

It seems to be way way outside the legal framework for ads here, even political ads.

How are they getting away with it?

It doesn't look perfectly like Hipkins but its close enough and the voice-over says "Chris Hipkins" several times.

NACT obviously endorsed this too. I think lots of Nat's ads with obvious lies about taxes also cross a line.

But this one seems so far beyond its unreal. Also it cost only $200 to make apparently.

Is this legal? Can Labour do anything?