Daily review 19/08/2020

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, August 19th, 2020 - 56 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 …

56 comments on “Daily review 19/08/2020 ”

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  1. I Feel Love 1
    19 August 2020 at 5:44 pm

    On YouTube there are a series of excellent documentaries by Anne Sneddon called Bad News, it's a Spinoff & RNZ thing. 4 episodes so far, she's abrasive, smart, funny, fearless & asks some very good questions. Sex trade, TERFS, Church & Charity & Equity in Healthcare. Thoroughly recommend & very keen to see what she does next.

    • Rosemary McDonald 1.1
      19 August 2020 at 8:19 pm

      I have a problem with a woman who refers to other women as 'bitches'. There's more than enough misogyny around without women joining the pile on.

      Watched that particular wee piece this morning, and if that's the best RNZ can do then I might be breaking a half century long habit.

      No comments allowed on Youtube, but someone whose reading on the issue is sparse might like to read the comments here….https://www.facebook.com/RadioNewZealand/videos/2712068612406992/

      (The comments that the moderators have allowed of course.)

      • I Feel Love 1.1.1
        19 August 2020 at 8:44 pm

        Fair enough Rosemary, I disagree, there's more than just someone calling women 'bitches', she swears at everyone, but appreciate your POV.

        • Mika 1.1.1.1
          19 August 2020 at 11:23 pm

          I find the term "TERF" quite problematic. It is often used as a term of abuse towards women, and frequently accompanied by threats of violence (not saying that's how you have used it above). I've never found that using such terminology has expanded anyone's understanding of the issues that women and girls face in patriarchal society.

          • Compass Rose 1.1.1.1.1
            20 August 2020 at 12:07 am

            I am deliberately not watching anything of Sneddons’ due to the use of the term ‘TERF’. The reek of misogyny permeates from the headline and that’s as close as I’m willing to go.

    • Incognito 2.1
      19 August 2020 at 6:06 pm

      It’s a shambles, I say! We need more accountability and transparency and somebody’s head should roll to send a signal to all those nameless and faceless bureaucrats that incompetency is not tolerated in this country! \sarc

    • RedBaronCV 2.2
      19 August 2020 at 11:27 pm

      Won at law and lost on the facts aha.

      And anyone who complains too bitterly should be promptly reminded that their other lawful option was death.

  3. Paaparakauta 3
    19 August 2020 at 6:20 pm

    Scott Robinson on Australian lockdown

    "I have been waiting for the experience of isolation under lockdown to articulate itself, as though someone would telepathically read my thoughts and, crucially, resolve them in a piece of writing. Yet all our lockdowns are different versions of the same restrictions, from flats ringed with police to suburban houses and beyond. We’re trapped with each other without the possibility of solitude. As the online world takes over many of our social rituals, we are also lonely without privacy.

    Our loneliness is one of observed isolation; we float in the aquarium of our screens. We are seen without seeing and, waiting for the virus to disappear, acted upon without acting. There is a peculiar temporality to the lockdown as well. News is urgent, the consequences are punitive or deadly, but there persists the sense that there is nothing we can do but wait and be watched. We are being told constantly to stay in place, giving the repeated message and the monotony of our surroundings a daily sense of déjà vu."

    https://overland.org.au/2020/08/loneliness-without-privacy-on-isolation-under-lockdown/

  4. Muttonbird 4
    19 August 2020 at 6:24 pm

    Heather Duplicity-Allan was toothless tonight on the radio. Jack Tame had her eating out of his hand.

    Back to the drawing board, National.

  5. ScottGN 5
    19 August 2020 at 6:31 pm

    Still no sign of National’s Border Protection Policy?

    • Muttonbird 5.1
      19 August 2020 at 6:46 pm

      Here's NZF's though. I really hope this spanner gets thrown out on October 17. He wants to build permanent prefabs to house returnees at Waiouru, Ohakea, and Burnham. Perhaps they shall diet on gristle and mung beans? Do a bit of boot-camp and rifle training at the same time?

      Rimmer meanwhile suddenly wants huge government, presumably with precise access to every and all movements of citizens. Could be useful for separating the ‘useless’ weak from the herd, I suppose…

      We are so poorly served by our political parties on the right.

      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/new-zealand-first-wants-quarantine-shifted-to-military-facilities-long-term-alternative-to-lockdowns.html

      • RedBaronCV 5.1.1
        19 August 2020 at 11:42 pm

        Am I missing something here? I see some sense in moving quarantine out of our major cities to save lockdown ( not necessarily to an army base) so why does it seem to be immediately conflated and criticised on the grounds that it would be some cross between a boot camp and a prison?

        At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere.

        • Pat 5.1.1.1
          20 August 2020 at 3:05 am

          "At half a billion a week for locking down Auckland we could build a gold plated motor camp somewhere out of town – give people more facilities and space – and then relocate it at some later stage, when no longer needed, to be granny flats. Must be a spare golf course around somewhere."

          and the PM could cut the ribbon when it was ready…sometime in 2023

          • RedBaronCV 5.1.1.1.1
            20 August 2020 at 2:28 pm

            Factory prefab and above ground hook up of services would be faster. And give us a re useable asset.

            Leaving people to cook and clean for themselves during quarantine would reduce the needed workforce. Don't know if they are UV'ing the rooms after people leave – that would then leave security and health staff.

            But I am not suggesting the army training ground – just somewhere away from the largest cities in the country – to try to reduce the pass through of infection if it arrives. There are parts of NZ outside Auckland .

            Or we could cut our spaces to a number like the 4000 Australia has for a larger population.

        • Muttonbird 5.1.1.2
          20 August 2020 at 9:14 am

          For that camp you'd have to have another camp for workers and their families.

    • Incognito 5.2
      19 August 2020 at 6:54 pm

      Be patient, Shane can’t do everything all at once.

    • ianmac 5.3
      19 August 2020 at 9:55 pm

      The National Protection Policy is coming out tomorrow Thursday. I think they will claim extreme means of protection which they can do without having to action anything the say.

  6. Byd0nz 6
    19 August 2020 at 6:35 pm

    The Nats (with hindsight benefit) will roll out a border policy tomorrow. Whatever it may be, it wont be the one they would have had if they were the Government, because we all know how they wanted an open border with plenty of rich kid students coming in, prepare for some hypocrisy.

    • Muttonbird 6.1
      19 August 2020 at 6:52 pm

      Whatever it may be, it wont be the one they would have had if they were the Government.

      I won't even be the one they, themselves had yesterday. And that would have differed from the one they had the day before, different too from the day before that.

  7. Anker 7
    19 August 2020 at 6:45 pm
    • Scott you were saying on open mic today that the covid 19 situation is a shambles.
    • definition of a shambles total lack of control. I think you are incorrect when you describe it as a shambles. Much almost all the response really tight. Contract tracing and testing short of incredible. Great genome testing and working with patients with covid to get them to quarantine seems to be going well. Local level three good call, level two for the rest of us…… new returnees getting regular tests. Security stepped up and appears to be stopping absconders. Wage subsidy extended for business effected……
    • rest homes promptly put into lockdown
    • it appears maintenance guys not wearing ppc. So govt responding promptly. Still don’t know why the tests at border not rolled out quicker.
    • but it looks like a well oiled machine that was set up in emergency situations. And of course things will hick up. But it gets fixed quickly.
    • so I call bullshit on “shambles”
    • ScottGN 7.1
      19 August 2020 at 7:01 pm

      Gee have you been stewing on that all afternoon anker?

      • anker 7.1.1
        19 August 2020 at 8:14 pm

        No Scott, not stewing. Busy work day, but did want to reply as I thought it was inaccurate to call it a shambles, when so much this Govt has done has gone well and they always correct mistakes………..So jumped back onto the Standard when I had a chance………

        A shambles describes US and UK's response to the virus………that's IMHO

    • Ffloyd 7.2
      19 August 2020 at 10:10 pm

      It's on the way. Chequebook Gerry!

  8. Anne 8
    19 August 2020 at 6:59 pm

    Excellent article on the presidential race with a powerful message at the end:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12357680

    “Three huge danger signs for Donald Trump from day one of Democratic convention.”

    • Andre 8.1
      19 August 2020 at 7:24 pm

      They've got an awesome line-up of speakers sorted for the Repugnant National Convention.

      https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/patricia-mark-mccloskey-rnc-st-louis-couple-guns-protesters/index.html

      • Macro 8.1.1
        19 August 2020 at 9:06 pm

        Some very fine people on both sides.

        devil

        • Anne 8.1.1.1
          19 August 2020 at 9:14 pm

          laugh

          I've given up trying to understand American politics. They're all mad. Well, most of them anyway.

          • Gabby 8.1.1.1.1
            19 August 2020 at 10:57 pm

            They seem to have decided that rich people obviously know best so leave running the place to them.

        • Andre 8.1.1.2
          19 August 2020 at 9:15 pm

          Very fine people indeed. Kindred spirits of the Fraud from Fifth Avenue, even. It's easy to see why they'd get a speaking slot.

          https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/506916-st-louis-couple-who-pointed-guns-at-protesters-have-a-history-of-suing

          • Macro 8.1.1.2.1
            19 August 2020 at 9:30 pm

            I thought as soon as I saw that announcement – "Well that figures!" . Obviously a sop to his base support, but I fail to see how it will grow his popularity. Certainly a turn off for many Black Americans.

            • Andre 8.1.1.2.1.1
              19 August 2020 at 9:37 pm

              Well, that whole "stand and defend your ground" idea has a lot of support, including in some areas and demographics that would seem surprising looking from here. But given the last few years, and the last few months in particular, it's hard to imagine that anyone who might possibly be influenced by that hasn't already firmly made up their mind.

              • Ad …
                19 August 2020 at 9:53 pm

                Andre you forgot to mention today that the Bipartisan Senate Report on Russian election interference in 2016 is out, and of course backs up what Mueller said in his own report.

                https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-russia-collusion_n_5f3c44b2c5b61551404e7071

                Of course, the Committee gets to see the unredacted versions of near everything, so Committee vice chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said with good reason that investigators found “a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives” and that he hoped Americans will read the report for themselves.

                • Andre …
                  19 August 2020 at 9:57 pm

                  That seemed to me a little more appropriate to leave until someone posts yet another lengthy video from some random internet kook babbling about how Russiagate is a hoax because of … some minute detail they've spotted somewhere that somehow invalidates the entire big picture..

                • Macro …
                  19 August 2020 at 10:29 pm

                  Yes Ad that Report is pretty damning.

              • Macro …
                19 August 2020 at 10:16 pm

                That's pretty much how I see it too. The country has changed a lot in recent years. As you say there are those who support the "stand and defend your ground" ideology but there is a growing well spring of support for the other, and more just ideology, of fairness for all.

                There is no denying the continual solid support for T of around 40%, but the undecided vote is not nearly as large as it was at this time in 2016. I can't find the reference on 538, but I recall reading an Article there just the other day, that reported a poll where a large percentage of likely voters were reported as having already made up their mind, and it was pretty much 53 – 43 in favour of Biden. A popularity for Biden which has been averaging around those figures for some months now.

                The inclusion of both Sanders and Kasich in the DNC convention shows that the DNC are after a variety of voters. A broad church. The T church is pretty much the Fundamental Right Wing moral conservative – of which there a many loyal parishioners – but even some amongst them are beginning to doubt.

  9. Paaparakauta 9
    19 August 2020 at 7:05 pm

    There are reserve legal powers I don't think most people would wish to use, but if Australia is a precedent we could see the royal prerogative, state necessity, and possibly Martial Law invoked – until a magic bullet vaccine.

    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/04/guest_post_is_martial_law_next.html https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/00DBHOH_BILL7791_1/armed-forces-law-reform-bill

    http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TurEpit-t1-g1-t1-g1-t3-g1-t27-g1-t2.html

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1
      20 August 2020 at 1:31 am

      Just sounds like Kiwiblog hyper-ventilating for no apparent reason.

      In other words, perfectly normal practice for the bunch of unhinged conspiracy theorists that frequent that particular cesspool.

  10. I Feel Love 10
    19 August 2020 at 7:15 pm

    Jacinda is wanting to take our 'personal sheep' !!!! (very funny thread)

    https://twitter.com/grahamsurrey/status/1295908010338873344

  12. gsays 12
    19 August 2020 at 7:36 pm

    An update in regards trying to lower speed limit on Railway Road in Palmy.

    The Bunnythorpe Community Group met last night and roading – speed and the new transport hub were on the agenda.

    Usually there would be up to a dozen attending, last night the classroom was chocked to the gunnels. Local MPs were invited. To his credit Ian McKelvie showed.

    A few passionate presentations from affected parties and a couple of PNCC representatives. The conclusion appeared to be for an emergency maximum speed can be posted for up to 12 months. As to the proposed rail hub, a sticking point is where the ring road goes in respect to Bunnythorpe.

    My thoughts are to do a knitting bomb, and get 60km speed signs knitted up and slip them over the existing road signs. No-one can hate knitting….

    • Rosemary McDonald 12.1
      19 August 2020 at 9:07 pm

      My thoughts are to do a knitting bomb, and get 60km speed signs knitted up and slip them over the existing road signs.

      yes

    • Ad 12.2
      19 August 2020 at 9:15 pm

      Seriously, get to NZTA. That's where the money and the power for transport is.

      Also you have an election on. Call your candidates and let them know you will be sending their reactions to the local papers and local Facebook groups.

      No one hates knitting, but also at 100k's no one can see it either.

  13. Paaparakauta 13
    19 August 2020 at 7:54 pm

    and then there is Christmas Island …

    "Australian Border Force has announced plans to reopen Australia’s immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, citing capacity issues in the onshore detention system. Global COVID-19 measures such as reduced flights and border closures, the ABF says, have delayed numerous deportations; this has placed Australia’s onshore immigration detention network under increased pressure and necessitated the reopening of the Christmas Island facility.

    Crowding is certainly an issue within the detention system, and urgent action is needed to reduce the threat of a COVID-19 outbreak. Reopening the Christmas Island detention facility, however, is not the solution. Safer, more humane and more fiscally responsible alternatives exist."

    https://overland.org.au/2020/08/the-true-cost-of-reopening-the-christmas-island-detention-centre/

    • Ad 13.1
      19 August 2020 at 9:17 pm

      We're building a decent runway on the Chatham Islands.

      Better Paua than Rydges, just sayin'.

    • Draco T Bastard 13.2
      20 August 2020 at 1:38 am

      Safer, more humane and more fiscally responsible alternatives exist.

      They probably don't.

      It's not really the detention centre that's the issue – its how its run and the necessary processes being in place to prevent abuse.

  14. Peter 14
    19 August 2020 at 8:22 pm

    A few more Americans would have heard of New Zealand I guess:

  15. mauī 15
    19 August 2020 at 8:49 pm

    Another interesting discussion with retired firefighter Mark Taylor. It touches on Trump being used by God among other things.



    • Andre 15.1
      19 August 2020 at 9:27 pm

      God used Trump, and now God is testing him. Job was a low energy loser compared to how Trump is being tested, but Trump is greater than anyone in the Bible, people are saying he's even greater than God …

    • Macro 15.2
      19 August 2020 at 9:46 pm

      Here is Miles Taylor (a Republican) Trump's Former Dept of Homeland Security Chief of Staff, declaring his support for Joe Biden and describing Trump's presidency as "terrifying" and "actively doing damage to our security."

      Why is he and many other Republicans coming out against Trump?

      Here is what Miles Taylor who worked for 2 1/2 years in the Trump Administration has to say about why he is opposed to any further continuation of this regime:

      Taylor alleged that Trump sought to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from sending wildfire relief funds to California because “he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him, and that politically it wasn’t a base for him.”

      • Taylor also claimed that Trump wanted to restart the “zero tolerance” policy that led to family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, and wanted to go even further by having a “deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents” in order to deter illegal immigration.

      What he’s saying: “What we saw week in and week out, and for me after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue: A cyberattack, terrorism threat. He wasn’t interested in those things.”

      • “The president wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda.”
      • “A lot of times the things he wanted to do not only were impossible but in many cases illegal. He didn’t want us to tell him it was illegal anymore because he knew, and these were his words, he knew that he had ‘magical authorities.’ He was one of the most unfocused and undisciplined senior executives I’ve ever encountered.”
      • “I came away completely convinced based on firsthand experience that the president was ill-equipped, wouldn’t become equipped to do his job effectively and what’s worse, was actively doing damage to our security.”

      The bottom line: “Even though I’m not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I’m confident that Joe Biden will protect the country, and I’m confident he won’t make the same mistakes as this president,” Taylor said.

      https://twitter.com/RVAT2020/status/1295428130170195968

  16. McFlock 16
    19 August 2020 at 10:59 pm

    So Hamish Walker has raised his head again to blame "bad advice". Because he needed advice on whether emailing patient records to journalists was a stupid, outrageous, and gratuitous abuse of his parliamentary position.

    This dickhead should never again be in a position to handle confidential information. He can't be trusted.