Open mike 29/12/2024

18 comments on “Open mike 29/12/2024 ”

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1. Jenny 1

   29 December 2024 at 6:58 am

   From Tunisia to Egypt, from Egypt to Syria, from Syria to Palestine, from Palestine to Ukraine, two left commentators have consistently taken the side of the people.

   Mehdi Hasan and Owen Jones, arguably the two most astute left commentators in the world today. get together to ask us,;

   Did the Left Fail Syria?

   Reply
2. joe90 2

   29 December 2024 at 10:34 am

   Kabuki to distract the base?

   

   Reply
   • joe90 2.1

     29 December 2024 at 7:41 pm

     Kabuki to distract the base?

     Perhaps not.

     

     https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5o6k7jvowuyaquloafzn3cfw/post/3lefh7b2o3c2c?

     Reply
3. georgecom 3

   29 December 2024 at 12:07 pm

   I wonder how the people behind the John Key morphing into Chris Luxon billboard are feeling about the return on their investment, probably very underwhelmed atm. Key wasn't a visionary thinker, charasmatic or a great leader but he did what he was put in place to do, get National elected. he did that 3 times and might have done it a 4th had be not bailed and left Bill "Jack Marshall" English to fail a second time to become PM.

   Luxon clearly isn't a second Key and may not even win 2 elections given current polls, and that most of all is what the money was to achieve. Even Mathew Hooten is panicking. Sure, the 1%ers have had their personal and landlord tax cuts but that's obligatory in exchange for their money. They have had to endure Winston Peters. Willis has crashed the economy so dividends and profits are down, and so far NO mention of any asset sales. Every National government is expected to turn over some state assets into their hands, so far Nada. Not even any state houses up for sale, Chris Bishop was set up perfectly to do that, but no. There is little money to be made building and running houses for the poor, far more lucrative to buy the houses.

   Reply
4. joe90 4

   29 December 2024 at 12:13 pm

   Christmas story of the year.

   .

   Deputies said as he approached the altar, he dropped an onion in the aisle, disturbing the peace of others attending.

   A witness followed Von Goetz as he exited the church to make sure he was leaving and saw him then assault another person by throwing tangerines.

   Later that night, during midnight mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Von Goetz allegedly disrupted the service by pouring whiskey into the holy water and threatening to harm parishioners.

   https://www.wsaz.com/2024/12/27/man-arrested-disrupting-christmas-church-services-pouring-whiskey-into-holy-water-deputies-say/?

   Reply
5. Bearded Git 5

   29 December 2024 at 12:30 pm

   More than 240,000 at the first 3 days of the Melbourne test.

   Test match cricket is dead?

   Reply
   • joe90 5.1

     29 December 2024 at 1:02 pm

     Ticket prices.

     >£100 a day in the UK, >$30 here and in Australia.

     https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/132771/how-new-zealand-flipped-the-script-with-test-crowds

     Reply
     • Bearded Git 5.1.1

       29 December 2024 at 1:34 pm

       Yes, getting greedy in England.

       In fact 255,000 in first 3 days at Melbourne I just heard

       Reply
       • alwyn 5.1.1.1

         29 December 2024 at 5:28 pm

         Melbournians are probably the greatest sporting enthusiasts in the world, providing Australians are playing of course.

         In 1997, while I lived there, the All Blacks played a test at the MCG. The crowd was just over 90,000. The majority of the populace had no knowledge of the game but they went anyway. A couple of people I was working with went to see the game. They didn't realise that Rugby League was a different game to Rugby Union but they went. Of course for them, and everybody else in the city, the AFL matches were what really matteres. When it was the VFL (only Melbourne teams) a couple of the Grand Finals were close to 120,000. The ground is smaller these days and the crowd is a full capacity one of 100,000 for the Grand Final. Even club games will get over 80,000 people there.

         Reply
         • Obtrectator 5.1.1.1.1

           29 December 2024 at 7:07 pm

           So in other words, the MCG turns the number of pennies it does through not being dedicated to only one game or code – unlike Lord's or so many other cricket grounds in England.

           Reply
           • alwyn 5.1.1.1.1.1

             29 December 2024 at 7:42 pm

             The main game is the AFL. That is where the money is. There are a minimum of 45 club games there each year and there are a number (probably at least 5) of the finals series. The minimum crowd would probably be about 45,000 and it could go up to about 90,000 for a game like Collingwood vs Carlton. A full MCG was quite an experience to attend.

             All the other sports were carried by the enormous draw that was the AFL.

             I don't whether it still exists, or what it costs, but they had a great scheme to encourage youngsters to follow the game. In the mid nineties you could buy a ticket for kids under 16 that cost 24 dollars and let them go, at no additional cost, to a game a week for the 24 week season. A dollar a game.

             Reply
6. joe90 6

   29 December 2024 at 2:18 pm

   Video/online gaming, podcasts and internet pron. Who needs drugs?

   .

   A new study has experts beaming with hope as it shows teen drug use at a record low, but they admit confusion as to why the trend is happening and how to ensure it continues.

   The annual national Monitoring the Future survey found the use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and e-cigarettes among high schoolers is at its lowest level since the study began. Two-thirds of 12th graders in the survey, which included 24,000 students in total, said they haven’t used any of those substances in the last 30 days, and 90 percent of eighth graders and 80 percent of 10th graders said the same.

   https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5051213-teen-drug-use-vaping-marijuana-alcohol/

   Reply
7. SPC 7

   29 December 2024 at 2:27 pm

   Chapter zero to three degrees.

   Question posed

   https://www.chapterzero.nz/news-and-insights/a-tipping-point-is-imminent-and-its-time-for-our-boardrooms-to-get-uncomfortable

   Answered

   Atlantic current.

   https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=AStlantic+current+goes+down+what+happens

   Reply
   • kejo 7.1

     29 December 2024 at 3:37 pm

     Years behind the times arent they? Sounds to me like The Chapter Zero Steering Committee should put far more effort to getting themselves clued up.

     Reply
8. Subliminal 8

   29 December 2024 at 3:25 pm

   In a foretaste of what is in store for NZ when the Regulatory Standards Bill is passed, Mexico has just lost its dispute involving the ISDS of its FTA with the US. They now have no sovereign ability to determine the health and cultural outcomes associated with their use of corn.

   Mexico has lost the dispute settlement panel brought by the US and Canada over its attempt to ban imports of genetically modified corn for direct human consumption. On Friday (December 20), the arbitration panel ruled in favour of the United States, asserting that Mexico’s 2023 decree banning the use of genetically modified (GM) white corn for human consumption violated the terms of the trade agreement.

   Th ruling says that there are no reasons to reject GMO corn even as Mexico supplied hundreds of peer reviewed studies to back up their claims and

   This, of course, will be news to all the 165,000 people who have filed lawsuits against Bayer for cancers caused by glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide whose use goes hand-in-hand with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GMO corn. Bayer has already set aside a whopping $16 billion to cover the costs of litigation, and there are still many more lawsuits pending.

   Not to mention glyphosphate being banned in 18 countries and the consumption of corn in Mexico on average, 10 times higher per person than the US.

   https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/12/with-help-of-usmca-biden-administration-strikes-decisive-blow-against-mexican-food-sovereignty-health-and-global-biodiversity.html

   This is only one aspect of what we will face. NZ will become the first country in the world to embed ISDS mechanisms into legislation and the aim of this Bill is for it and the minster in charge to take complete control over the direction our future takes.

   Paired with the limitations this Bill will impose on TeTiriti our government of any stripe will become a post colonial rubber stamp for resource extraction and the bleeding of our wealth and labor back to the empire.

   Te Tiriti has at least as much value to Pakeha as to Maori. It is the only thing that gives legitimacy to our life here and prevents us from becoming colonial overlords. The partnership that we have been offered should be treasured for the Taonga that it is. It is something worth fighting for.

   Reply
   • Drowsy M. Kram 8.1

     29 December 2024 at 5:42 pm

     Te Tiriti has at least as much value to Pakeha as to Maori.

     Magnates are 'prepping' for polycrises by bending sovereignty to their will

     Let’s not play into Seymour’s hands [20 Nov 2024]
     The message against the coalition Treaty Principles Bill should be simple: the Treaty protects all New Zealanders from corporate exploitation

     The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar [15 Dec 2024]
     New Zealand stands at a pivotal moment in its constitutional development. Not one but two key bills, both driven by the Act Party, signify a profound new direction for the country…

     Written submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill close on January 7, with consultation on the Regulatory Standards Bill ending on January 13. No special expertise is required to make a submission on either bill.

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/28/we-need-dramatic-social-and-technological-changes-is-societal-collapse-inevitable

     https://scitechdaily.com/ai-exposes-accelerated-climate-change-3c-temperature-rise-imminent/

     Reply
   • Obtrectator 8.2

     29 December 2024 at 7:19 pm

     Once allowed to become entrenched here, foreign-owned businesses will basically be able to do what they like, whether or not their activities are facilitated by local legislation and/or FTAs. Precedents go all the way back through Hawai'i in 1893 to "British" India in the 18th century.

     Reply
     • Subliminal 8.2.1

       29 December 2024 at 7:49 pm

       The Treaty since 1970 has slowly but surely had its principles enshrined into NZ law. It means that the Crown is no longer free to dispose of assets on any and every whim without first consulting Maori who have become the sole guardians and protectors of the NZ commons.

       Most recently was when the Key govt sold 49% of NZ power companies. The courts upheld Maori concerns but allowed the sale since 51% ownership is still a controlling share but the implication is that anything over 49% sale is contestable.

       Drowsy above supplies this outline from the spinoff of the many ways that Te Tiriti has become a major handbrake on asset sales.

       https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/30-09-2024/the-real-reason-behind-acts-push-to-redefine-the-treaty-principles

       It is not so much foreign owned business as such that is the problem but rather, the govt ability to regulate and determine, what they can do with regard to public health and the environment, and the incorporation into law of inviolable private property rights that have privileges above personal, social and environmental health and well being.

       Unmitigated and unregulated rape and pillage of the environment will become the norm.

       Reply

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