Daily review 07/08/2020

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, August 7th, 2020 - 31 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

31 comments on “Daily review 07/08/2020 ”

  1. McFlock 1

    League tables usually suck, but the nice thing about being at the top of one is that you don't have to cross the paywall to find NZ's placing 🙂

  2. Dennis Frank 2

    The leader of The Opportunities Party (TOP) says rival political parties are making spending promises "without rhyme or reason”. https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/122377920/top-leader-warns-of-rivals-spending-spree

    A terrible state of affairs, eh? Bad enough that they aren't giving reasons for the promises but failure to put them into rhyme is the ultimate in bad taste.

    I think TOP provides a better alternative.

    That Geoff believes this was come as a great surprise to many – particularly those who expected the TOP leader to tell everyone his party is the top choice.

    “Sadly, this election has become a spending spree. National is trying to buy some votes, Labour is trying to buy votes, everyone is trying to buy votes. It’s quite sickening."

    Particularly as the founder's money is no longer available, I presume.

    Simmons said although he was a fan of regional investment, the Provincial Growth Fund had been a “spending spree without rhyme or reason”.

    I'm fairly sure that Shane's largesse was due to the overwhelming reason of getting NZF up there in the polls. But his failure to put it into rhyme for the folk in the regions could be why their poll rating has subsided instead. Geoff could be onto something that political pundits have missed.

  3. observer 3

    Here to give Gerry Brownlee free advice:

    75% of 2017 National voters trust the Ministry of Health on Covid-19.

    So keep doing what you're doing, Gerry. The other 25% will cheer you on, and that's enough to get National into double figures in 2020.

  4. Gabby 4

    The more I hear The Brown One, the less I like him.

  5. weka 5

    Whose been following the TikTok/45 thing? Is the transaction ban financial transactions? i.e. it's aimed at the owners to force a sale. Or does transaction mean what the users do?

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tiktok-trump/trump-issues-order-to-ban-transactions-with-tiktoks-chinese-owner-idUSKCN25304R?il=0

    • Macro 5.1

      It is essentially a ban on TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US if they are not sold to a US company within 45 days of the order.

      On Monday, Trump set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer. Failing to do so, he said, would lead him to shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration, Trump also said any deal would have to include a "substantial amount of money" coming to the US Treasury.

      He is doing this by the following financial stand-over tactic. The executive orders threaten penalties on any U.S. resident or company that conducts transactions with TikTok, WeChat or their owners after the orders take effect.:

      The order regarding TikTok prohibits after 45 days "any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.," the Chinese company that owns the social media platform.

      For WeChat, which allows its users to transfer funds to each other, the order states it will ban financial transactions with Tencent. The order states "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order."

      https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/trump-executive-order-tiktok/index.html

      • weka 5.1.1

        not sure that quite answers my question. Is a transaction anytime someone uses the app? I assume it is, because otherwise people could keep using it so long as it was based outside the US?

        • Macro 5.1.1.1

          Is a transaction anytime someone uses the app? I assume it is, because otherwise people could keep using it so long as it was based outside the US?

          Actually no one really knows. From my reading of it, it appears that what constitutes a transaction is yet to be fully defined. As I understand it, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will be responsible for defining what constitutes a transaction as the Order specifically relates to financial transations.

          Microsoft pledged to conclude discussions by September 15th, a date that has been echoed by President Trump. Trump’s new order is set to take effect 45 days after its release or September 20th — just after the deadline set for negotiations in the Microsoft deal.

          In both orders, the president names the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as authority for the move, as well as the National Emergencies Act — effectively naming TikTok’s continued operation within the United States as a national emergency. Such a move is highly unusual, and will likely be subject to a legal challenge.

          The executive branch has the power to levy sanctions against individuals and corporations by placing them on the “entity list,” as the US did against Huawei and ZTE last year. But such sanctions are typically put in place by the Commerce Department rather than the White House, and subject to a specific rule-making procedure that seems to have been short-circuited by the surprise executive order.

          The president also has the power to force the divestiture of US companies from foreign ownership through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (or CFIUS). But doing so also requires a specific process that seems to have been discarded in favor of a broader executive order.

          It’s unclear how the order will affect TikTok’s ability to operate in the short term. Unlike Huawei and ZTE, the company does not require licenses to operate its network, and nothing in the order seems to require app stores to cease hosting the app. However, it explicitly covers subsidiaries of ByteDance — specifically the US-based TikTok division — and will apply to any and all financial transfers to and from those subsidiaries. As a result, TikTok is likely to seek a stay of the order in court, or be forced to abruptly discontinue services as it takes effect.

          (my bold)

          https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21358093/trump-tik-tok-ban-bytedance-transactions-executive-order

        • Macro 5.1.1.2

          Sarah Cooper says it best. 😸

      • Sabine 5.1.2

        he also would like to receive a nice cut should the transaction go ahead.

        https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/05/tech/tiktok-trump-treasury-microsoft/index.html

        Trump said he would seek a "very large percentage" of any deal, which could be a substantial amount given TikTok's estimated valuation of $50 billion by some investors.

        Not sure if you can call it a 'sale' but hey, Microsoft may or may not want to buy it for use in America or buy it globally …who cares.

        https://www.ft.com/content/45d739f5-37cc-4957-874d-a310c2ac8e07

  6. adam 7

    Rio Tinto are the very definition of corporate scum. But blah blah they have jobs, blah blah blah they help the economy. I'm over the liberal economic shit we keep getting feed, but then again when the left is dominated by labour what else is there but platitudes – I know, I know the tories are truly vicious scum of epic shit fuckery, but please rio tinto – quietly bugger off – as were taking back the land.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-07/rio-tinto-had-options-to-save-juukan-gorge-rock-shelters/12534092

  7. observer 8

    So many headlines, so much drama in NZ politics, and the voters …

    Are unmoved, new poll, no real change.

    This is worse for the opposition than "rogue polls", ups and downs. It's increasingly evident that a lot of minds are made up. See the confidence rating.

    • I Feel Love 8.1

      Ouch!

      The more ppl see & hear any Nat (Brownlee, Collins, Key, Hosking, DPA, Paula on the radio, 30,000 houses wasshername, Ben Thomas, Hooton, Price) the less ppl like?

      • Chris T 8.1.1

        Apparently Bennett is covering for Peter Williams talk back spot next week, so you might want to avoid listening to it with such sensitivity to different opinions.

        TBF she will probably be better than that twat John Banks who was doing it this week.

        • Draco T Bastard 8.1.1.1

          Bennett doesn't have a different opinion – it'll be exactly the same as any other Nat fanboi. And, as her guest will be another Nat, all its really going to be is an echo chamber of delusional wishes.

          • Chris T 8.1.1.1.1

            Which you will no doubt avoid.

            Think it will be quite humorous, purely for novelty factor.

            It is a stupid radio show with idiots ringing in. If that scares you then you might want to see someone

            • Gabby 8.1.1.1.1.1

              On the odd occasion I hear talkback (On Other People's Radios), I can feel brain cells dying.

      • gsays 8.1.2

        The Greens were prescient in giving the nats their questions.

        Follow the Hippies!

    • swordfish 8.2

      https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1291690603206463488

      RM usually poll over a uniquely extended period of 3-4 weeks. Fieldwork for this one began while Muller was still leader & probably ended not too long after the Falloon & ILG stories broke.

    • Fireblade 8.3

      Another Rouge Poll.

  8. Tricledrown 9

    Those rogue polls are at it again looks like a trend.

    • Muttonbird 9.1

      I hate the trend that is ACT over 5% but it is an unfortunate side effect of a weak National Party.

      Still, it will be entertaining watch Rimmer try to contain the gun nuts he's brought in to prop up his far right party.

      • woodart 9.1.1

        agree muttonbird, act will be very entertaining. they will revert to type and pull apart explosively. they always attract such diverse single issue zealots, that making them spend time together is hilarious.

      • Tricledrown 9.1.2

        Funded by the NRA.

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