Daily review 15/08/2023

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, August 15th, 2023 - 24 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 …

24 comments on “Daily review 15/08/2023 ”

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  1. Ad 1
    15 August 2023 at 6:54 pm

    Even if Trump now wins the US 2024 presidential election, this Georgia racketeering and witness tampering case is going to take a couple of years of appeals; it cripples him no matter what.

    Also Georgia courtrooms are often televised. Each piece of evidence debated in the media. That would start to break the spell and start the healing for some at least.

    • Dennis Frank 1.1
      15 August 2023 at 7:23 pm

      John Dean sees it as "much bigger than Watergate". I guess he's right inasmuch as there's a whiff of subverting the constitution.

      https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/08/15/john-dean-trump-indictment-georgia-nixon-vpx.cnn

      • Ad 1.1.1
        15 August 2023 at 8:50 pm

        So just a reminder, to see if you think there's some comparison to Nixon.

        For the first 234 years of United States history, no US president has been indicted for anything. Until Trump.

        There's the successful civil trial proving Trump is a rapist.

        There's the Georgia election interference case with 18 co-defendants, all of whom have been charged with racketeering. Also witness tampering.

        There's the 'hush money' case in which he faces 34 counts.

        There's the stolen documents case in which he faces 40 federal charges including under the Espionage Act.

        There's the four felony counts on efforts to overcome the 2020 election results.

        Then there's those around him, most recently the other 18 defendants in Georgia.

        Ah but wait, there's more. 34 individuals and 3 Russian businesses indicted and usually jailed for colluding with Russia.

        Trump's former campaign chair is still in jail.

        And then those he incited to riot in 2020: over 1,000 charged with Federal crimes. About 70% went to jail.

        This is a mission to save the US version of democracy itself through the courts.

        And if he gets back in, whether the DoJ and FBI survive will be a close run thing, since he will fire most of them, install his own anti-democratic lackeys, and pardon himself and all his co-conspirators, and go after all the prosecutors.

        This is nothing like Watergate.

        • Dennis Frank 1.1.1.1
          16 August 2023 at 8:46 am

          A good summation. I like the epic dimension of the thing: Trump vs Deep State is the popular scenario amongst cognoscenti but it's just as much Don Quixote, not to mention Trump the narcissist trying to prove that he's not just an apprentice.

          Court as melodrama: will they televise it? Be crazy not to. Then you get accessory primadonnas taking their place on a global stage but performing only to a US audience. Legal experts will be all over the show, each trying to secure market advantage for his/her firm by asserting incisive appraisals of each situation.

          Then there's the serious side which you raise as a spectre in conclusion. This end-game of Trump's depends on power-sharing and he's not got a good track record with delegation. Guiliani seems a flake. One would expect principled conservatives in the judiciary and law industry to be sharing opinions constantly henceforth so the wisdom of the crowd will come into play. A testing time for the Republican party to re-establish credibility on common ground…

    • joe90 1.2
      15 August 2023 at 9:48 pm

      There's a long way to go.

      On Friday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a bill that gives Republicans the power to effectively meddle in state investigations should they dislike the prosecutor leading them.

      Senate Bill 92 establishes an oversight board, appointed by the governor and other state officials, that will have the power to remove or hamper the work of prosecutors the panel deems incapable of doing the job they want these prosecutors to do.

      In a press release, Georgia’s governor claimed the bill is actually meant to target “rogue or incompetent prosecutors who refuse to uphold the law.” And he claimed the new board will hold "prosecutors driven by out-of-touch politics" accountable.

      The question is, "out of touch" with whom?

      The board will effectively have the power to recall elected district attorneys or solicitors-general even if it goes against voters’ will.

      That said, the move is consistent with efforts by conservative lawmakers, at both the federal and state level, to hamper prosecutors — largely, Black prosecutors — who target people Republicans don’t want to target. This nationwide, right-wing crusade against law enforcement is in sync with former President Donald Trump’s attacks on prosecutors who’ve opened investigations into him, including prosecutors in New York, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

      https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/georgia-prosecutors-oversight-board-rcna83403

  2. gsays 2
    15 August 2023 at 7:25 pm

    Also on an American theme.

    A buddy sent me this link to an Oliver Anthony song.

    Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond – YouTube

    From the heart, and from reading the comments, it's struck a nerve.

    A common thread in the comments is frustration, borderline despair. 11m views in 6 days too.

    • joe90 2.1
      15 August 2023 at 9:00 pm

      A ginger from the sticks whining into his high end AV kit about the good old days, Epstein, welfare queens, fat people and taxes.

      Nope, not an astroturf campaign willed into existence by the Daily Wire freaks.

      • gsays 2.1.1
        15 August 2023 at 10:01 pm

        Good music is good music regardless of not passing your purity test.

        He is doing something right.

        • joe90 2.1.1.1
          15 August 2023 at 10:07 pm

          Whining about welfare queens, fat people and taxes is doing something right?

          • gsays 2.1.1.1.1
            26 August 2023 at 6:51 pm

            For your elucidation.

            I know it isn't on Twitter but the horse's mouth will have to do.

            "“I do understand there may be some people who misunderstood my words in Rich Men North of Richmond. But I’ve got to be clear that my message … references the inefficiencies of the government because of the politicians within it that are engulfed in bribes and extortion."

            "

            that adolescent kids in Richmond [Virginia] are missing meals … because their parents can’t afford to feed them and they’re not in school.

            “And meanwhile, I think like 30% or 40% of the food bought with welfare EBT money is … like, snack food and soda. I think 10% spent on soda. And I want to say like 20% or 30% spent on junk food.

            “And that’s not the fault of those people. Welfare only makes up a small percentage of our budget. You know, we can fuel a proxy war in a foreign land” – seemingly a reference to aid to Ukraine – “but we can’t take care of our own. That’s all the song’s trying to say. It’s just saying that the government takes people who are needy and dependent and makes them needy and dependent.”"

            https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/25/rich-men-north-of-richmond-oliver-anthony-republicans

            Yr welcome.

        • Francesca 2.1.1.2
          16 August 2023 at 11:55 am

          He's certainly tapping into an undeniable feeling amongst the poorer working class(is there still such a thing with the deindustrialisation of America)

          The unions have been smashed and they've lost their political voice.There's a rage and despair.Apologies if its the wrong kind of rage and despair, and if right wing elements choose to weaponise it.

          To try and brush it off as a despicable right wing conspiracy is just another way of shutting people up

          • gsays 2.1.1.2.1
            16 August 2023 at 12:29 pm

            As is the way in lots of things, we are behind the U.S. by a couple of generations.

            There the democrats pivoted away from the worker in favour of the, generally speaking, university indoctrinated PMC, liberal types.

            I see the same here. My mother often refers to the Labour party as being the party of the working man. That was certainly the case, pre Roger Douglas. Nowadays it's Labour in name only.

            I hear too many blue collar folk attracted to the likes of Seymour as he is saying stuff that resonates with them.

            • Francesca 2.1.1.2.1.1
              16 August 2023 at 12:46 pm

              I know., and it's a mistake to just trash those people and call them dumb, moronic, alt right .They'll turn to Seymour because they think he's hearing their frustrations.They won't turn to Labour /Greens because they have the sense L/G is not there for them , rather for middleclass academics.

              The way to combat this is to actually get serious about inequities in this country.We could perhaps go a little more radical than taking GST off fruit and veg, and consider the advice of OECD tax specialists; bring in a CGT for a starter

              • gsays …
                16 August 2023 at 4:58 pm

                Yr right, Seymour will appeal to a lot of working class, thinking he is hearing them.

                This election will be an example of a government losing rather than an opposition winning.

                Maybe with a bit of time on the opposition benches Labour will rethink the incrementalism approach,

            • Muttonbird 2.1.1.2.1.2
              16 August 2023 at 1:37 pm

              Labour introduced and maintains Working for Families. Recently increased paid parental leave for workers. Abolished zero hour contracts and introduced FPAs for workers. Doubled minimum sick leave for workers. Union reps cannot be barred from the workplace. Aggressively increase minimum wage for workers. Introduced healthy homes standards. Banned foreign buyers of NZ residential property, etc.

              These and many more are directly to the benefit of the "working man" so I really don't know what you are talking about.

              The people that engineered and funded that crappy country singer's social media campaign to spread it to a captive alt-right, gun toting, incel crowd of self-absorbed American men do not give a shit about the working man.

              They work for fossil fuel companies what are complaining about the closing of coal mines. They work for wealthy individuals who seek nothing other than exploiting low income people. They seek to set the lower middle class against the tier of people directly below them, the disenfranchised, the compromised and the unemployed. See David Seymour here.

              And anyway, why shouldn't NZ Labour promote tertiary education? I thought one of the most important things NZ can do as a country is increase productivity and knowledge. They’ve actually stripped universities of real funding!

              Stop with the low expectations crap and be a bit more optimistic, please.

              • Francesca …
                16 August 2023 at 3:39 pm

                You're easily pleased .You must be doing all right

              • gsays …
                16 August 2023 at 4:47 pm

                As to yr first paragraph. Welfare for working people, Just say it out loud and see if it sounds right. Zero hour contracts may be gone in principle but still exist in the form of the gig economy- teens with the ink barely dry on their licence delivering food as 'sub-contractors'. Not paying tax nor insurance, often racking up debt to do so. Those union reps are hardly run off their feet with such low membership numbers. Considering minimum wage increases, ok if you are down with WFF. Healthy homes are a great initiative but leaving the tenants to enforce or report them still maintains a power imbalance.

                That working man you cite, is increasingly treading water or actually going backwards. Doubly so in the States, that's why Anthony's ire is directed at The Rich Men North of Richmond. Similarly here, Hipkins appears bereft of vision beyond getting re-elected.

                40 Indian migrants housed in a 3 bedroom house, jobless. surviving on food handouts. This mob is presiding over human trafficking. The Immigration minister acknowledges this.

                I am sincerely glad that you can take such a positive view of things. I think you would agree with me that adhering to neo-liberalism is only serving few of the population. It is hurting most of us, that includes rednecks in the U.S.

                "Stop with the low expectations crap and be a bit more optimistic, please."

                Raise your expectations and expect more of a majority Labour government.

    • aj 2.2
      15 August 2023 at 10:17 pm

      James McMurtry

    • Muttonbird 2.3
      16 August 2023 at 7:29 am

      Sorry gsays, you've been duped by a very well funded hard right-wing campaign.

      And, the song is dreadful.

      • gsays 2.3.1
        16 August 2023 at 12:23 pm

        Well it's clearly good art, as it has provoked responses.

      • gsays 2.3.2
        26 August 2023 at 6:46 pm

        It would seem you and Joe 'twitter says so, it must be true' 90 are the ones supping the Kool Aid.

        "It was hard, Anthony said, to “get a message out about your political ideology or your belief about the world in three minutes and some change. But I do hate to see that song being weaponized, like I see. I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own. And I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation. That’s got to stop.”

        https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/25/rich-men-north-of-richmond-oliver-anthony-republicans

        • Muttonbird 2.3.2.1
          26 August 2023 at 9:56 pm

          Well, he allowed himself to be prostituted by the alt right, perhaps naively.

          Now he knows what that means.

          Also, his song is crap and bigoted.

  3. joe90 3
    15 August 2023 at 10:09 pm

    Happy 111th birthday to this gem.

    COAL CONSUMPTION AFFECTING CLIMATE.

    Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 14 August 1912, Page 7

    https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ROTWKG19120814.2.56.5