Daily review 02/09/2021
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5:30 pm, September 2nd, 2021 - 31 comments
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...6 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
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- Thank You
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All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...3 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...4 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...4 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...6 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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How hard would it be for The Standard to generate Zoom meetings in which the participants were anonymised?
Oh god no.
If I wanted to talk to people, I would go and actually talk to people instead of coming here.
snort, lol.
Interesting question/proposal, Ad.
Always good to come up with novel ideas. And really I am just a commenter, so this is just a personal opnion.
My experience of Zoom calls is people often talk over each other (although maybe some clever people know how to set it up so this doesn't happen) I also think writing comments gives you time to think, edit and find links…..
But I imagine it would really suit some
There was a virtual meeting of Standardisti some eight years ago. We met at the Back Benchers' Tavern in Wellington. It was a little fraught…
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04082013/#comment-674390
If you right-click the timestamp of your comment it will give you a direct link. (#comment-674390)
You sure have a colourful imagination. 🙂
Depends on the logging-in process for a start.
Even if an IT wonk can't find additional metadata about members of a meeting, it's still dependent on the diligence and backdoors of a third-party provider. If someone like juco became minister for security services, how easily could they dox a zoom user for the lols?
An org I know can't store confidential data on any cloud outside NZ, because countries like Aus have a legally-required backdoor process to retrieve "secure" data if the security services want it.
Does New Zealand have something similar?
And that is a genuine question, not stirring.
If its going over the pacific cable I am certain the NSA is listening in.
yeah, but if the service is as secure as the label says, the traffic will be encrypted to a high level. At least it'll take time for the NSA to actually read it.
Possibly. Didn't the Australian PM (Turnbull) suggest that they could limit the effective encryption level so their services could keep up, e.g that everybody should be vulnerable unless what your hiding was worth breaking regulations to hide.
dunno. Sounds like the sort of stupidity someone might propose, though.
Not actually sure on that one – I don't think they even looked into it, given it was NZgovt-owned data in the first place. The aus thing just came up as tearoom conversation after they discovered it looking for a new data storage service – I suspect more than one or two people gettng a cuppa quietly checked their own data storage when they went back to work 😉
One can certainly make a good case for backdoor access (giggle), usually terrorism and child porn. The downside is the use of state intelligence services to provide a data advantage to the state and its companies, rather than just detecting that level of wrongdoing.
I would kinda hope chasing suspected tax evasion would also be grounds for opening that back door.
true
Anyone who is into large scale tax evasion, can also afford the level of computer skills required to get around the spooks.
You cannot anonymise someone's face…..
No?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/124196400/us-lawyers-zoom-cat-filter-fail-im-here-live–im-not-a-cat
Sure, you can: face mask, tinfoil hat, beer goggles, head phones.
cap, shirt, bata bullets
Oops, I did forget the MAGA cap 🙁
Possibly but tricky for people that aren't zoom savvy. And it would be pseudonymous not anonymous in the sense that some kind of name would need to be used.
You can join a meeting with video off and use a pseudonym, but it's not always easy to do that if you have previously used zoom with video on and your RL name, because the application will sometimes open with previous settings in place.
Not sure that the Zoom host would have access to any more data than Mods/Admin do in the back end on TS.
"Possibly but tricky for people that aren't zoom savvy."
Whew! At least we wouldn't get Judith on here ranting! /s
Really bad news for women in the US.
https://twitter.com/The_Law_Boy/status/1433283557368213504
It's just horrendous. This is the shit mitch mcconnell was after. Lost the executive, lost the legislature, but has stacked the judicial.
Chris Hedges did a very good talk on how corporate America infiltrated the churches and seminaries and created the Christian Right. It is very, very far from the Gospel. The Anti abortion movement was a rallying cry fairly recently invented (around the 70s maybe?); before that the churches were really into the social gospel and loving thy neighbour stuff. Now they are subjected to flag waving mania and the prosperity heresy.
When Government is misled about misleading the public
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/126242692/genuine-error-led-to-incorrect-information-in-covid19-vaccine-ad-government-says
Good news among bad news.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126223967/covid19-84-of-community-cases-were-unvaccinated-12-had-one-dose
Go Kiwis – the team of 5 million has vaccinated like with wind during much of lockdown and should edge ahead of Australia soon, although the real ‘race’ is against COVID-19.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=NZL~AUS
Angela Merkel is stepping down.