Open mike 01/11/2020
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https://twitter.com/publicaddress/status/1322666211499405314
Sounds good. Little needs to put an upward inflection on his statements where possible!
That'd be excellent.
Labour have cleaned up in Queensland last night. More good news for the (centre) Left.
Yes. An increased majority for Labor and the Greens did well, too despite the weird electoral system in Oz. Annastacia rewarded for consistently listening to her Bloomfield equivalent on Covid – Jeannette Young. Most states here have basically adopted an elimination strategy without actually using the 'e' word – only the federal govt and NSW talking about suppression. Labor in Qld did well despite the full might of Newscorp (just about all Qld media), ScoMo, federal ministers and NS govt trying to tip the election the LNP's way. Apart from the Covid response though, there is little to be joyful about with Qld Labor though – even more centrist and timid than NZ Labour and dreadful on tackling CC and the entrenched coal industry.
Polls underestimated the scale of Labor’s victory in Qld too. Palaszczuk held the Townsville seats that were considered vulnerable and made good gains into LNP territory across SEQ. Queensland Greens did very well in urban liberal seats in Brisbane where they unseated the ex-Labor Treasurer and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad.
But best of all Pauline Hanson’s One Nation saw its vote almost completely collapse and Clive Palmer wasted all his bloody money.
Hansen Australias Donald Trump looks like her divisiveness has had its day thanks to cooperative action around covid.
edit
USA dropped nuclear bombs on Marshall island land. The Islanders had shut their borders to avoid entry of Covid-19 which could overwhelm them. Lately it had allowed Islanders in who had been in 14 days managed isolation and tested negative.
Now despite their limited medical resources it has sent amongst others, two Covid-19 cases who had been in quarantine in Hawaii but only for 5-7 days, not the full 14 that the Marshall Islanders have adopted as correct practice. The USA has opened a facility which looks like a big Nissen hut to keep the infected Americans in. How good will that isolation be? And what is staying in a tent like in a hot climate?
Confirmation earlier in the week of two positive Covid "border" cases at the Kwajalein missile range put residents and political leaders in the Marshall Islands on edge.
Both Americans who tested positive, a 35-year-old female and a 46-year-old male, are in managed quarantine at the Army base.
Ten months into the Covid-19 pandemic, these two cases end the Marshall Islands tenure as one of a handful of nations with no Covid cases.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/429580/covid-at-kwajalein-army-base-sparks-worry-protocol-changes
What is most important to the USA is their army base and their Kwajalein missile range. That shows that country in its true colours as heartless and lacks integrity.
Some Island people who were due to fly back cannot now do so because of this American infection while others have been allowed in. The system that the Islanders set has been perverted by the USA and there is much confusion and anger about what to do and what should be the approaches. The USA has said that it will follow the right procedures, but they are no longer trustworthy. Small nations are not going to get principled behaviour from that corner of the world. From the other corners?
No honor, no principles, no care. Bullies, braggards, utter scum.
Mmmmm. We have to be wary of that and yet still deal with them. A recent newspaper editorial commented on the way that Trump has brought us up in his comments, like something that leaves a bad taste.
NZ pawns in a polarised game, Nelson Mail Friday 30 Oct.
Right-wing Laura Ingraham on Fox News looked at the second video clip from right-wing Brit Suzanne Evans commenting on NZ and our quarantine system and compared it to the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China. Then the Mail editorial comments further –
A successful Covid-19 response and a rejection of right-wing populism and conspiratorial thinking were seen to go hand in hand.
These criticisms of New Zealand aren't really about us. They're about a straw man projection of New Zealand as a nightmare vision of what the US might look like under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Quarantines and lockdowns are presented as a dystopia of oppression and tyranny to viewers wearing red hats in red states.
It's enough to make most New Zealanders wish that the only time Americans thought of us was when they watched 'Flight of the Conchords' and 'Lord of the Rings'.
Too early to speculate on Cabinet positions?
Aysha Verrall min for Covid health response
Hipkins min of Health (because she needs to have someone NZders trust
Jan Tinetti Min of Education
Kelvin D deputy PM unless he doesn’t want it then maybe Hipkins who would be great
hey but what would I know
Sepaloni will be back in MSD. Because she's just so empathetic and genuinely caring. Not.
Hiya Kay. Whilst driving visiting whanau into Kaitaia from further North the other day I was explaining to them why I didn't vote Labour and why I truly believe that they will never fully implement the key recommendations of the WEAG. Spoke about those on the SLP (which was their beloved relative and my partner before he graduated to the respectable and more generous Super) and reminded them how we struggled for all those years.
When I got to Sepuloni and was describing what wonderful job she'd done with both MSD and (for our sins) ODI (not) my voice literally broke. Cracked it did, and I was unable to continue at much more than a croak for some time.
I didn't vote for them either. I like some of what they stand for, but the implementation has been left wanting.
MSD is a beast, but I think the most we can expect from Labour is a frowning face + a comment along the lines of, "it's complex".
Take child poverty for example. On the surface it's being handled, but behind the scenes the same children are being penalised. Are we all meant to believe that the government honestly doesn't understand how benefits are calculated? No, it's very insidious indeed.
Still doing the barbeques, so yes, too early.
In Hamilton, costs and practicality and desire to hold onto present structures or give them up for a promised one is coming to a head. The old Founders Theatre has to have much spent on it to strengthen and update. There is an image of it now or in the future with a large swimming pool sized water pool with fountain.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/429593/last-chance-to-have-say-on-hamilton-s-founders-theatre
Now practically, if the fountain was removed, would it be deep enough for use in fire fighting with helicopters and water buckets (as was so useful with the Pigeon Valley blaze)? Then, can toddlers drown in it as the image doesn't show any fencing? If there was fencing would that make it hard for the fire fighting bucket-filling? The money has been spent, the pipes are there, would keeping a useful scenic reservoir there be of value?
This is the sort of thinking we need to consider when planning and spending. Holistic-style for getting the best use long-term for our public and private spending.
These are the options the public has been presented with. Input due in now.
The 58-year old building was closed four years ago due to safety concerns.
Three options are on the table, with two involving the demolition of the theatre and turning the site into a park.
The third option is for any group wanting to use part of the building for community purposes to come up with a business plan and a long-term funding proposal that doesn't include council money.
Public submissions close on Tuesday.
A new theatre is planned for the city's Victoria Street.
Apparently the Council isn't prepared to fund the work to the present building if it is to be used for community purposes. Have they plenty of buildings available to the community? What are they planning in rather right-wing Hamilton, for the young adults who are unable to go from school into jobs, many of which are not full-time and often seasonal. Can they support their DHB's mental health service needs – we know that the stresses and hypocricy so often presenting, is causing us mental pain? And of course the arts, and the creative expression they require can lead to better, quieter mental processes and satisfying activity in shared community activity and new skills.
It seems a meagre choice from Council, and when is the new theatre to be built, and will the Council be trying to do a PPP on it, with all the problems that arise there?
Some questions that Hamiltonians need to consider.
Happy 10th Anniversary, Darling ….
… started commenting here 10 years ago (give or take a few days) … with a particularly dreary & longwinded series of comments (so what's new ?) on the Mana By-Election. https://thestandard.org.nz/mana-campaign-heating-up/#comment-263918 …
Key's New Zealand, Key's Ba-Ludy New Zealand.
Hunting for compliments swordfish. You aren't dreary! So don't stop commenting will you.
I'll be taking the notoriously dim computer that runs the site, along with its encrypted backup systems, uninterruptible power supplies & associated software on a series of romantic dates over the next few days to celebrate our eternal love. Might trot out that old line I used when I first set eyes on the The Standard's server 10 long years ago … "That's a smashing blouse you've got on".
You're a bit of a romantic enigmatic devil swordfish. We wait in
pregnantanticipation.Don’t get jiggy wit it.
Hi Swordfish. your comments on stats and trends are read with relish. You comments on the lack of support and management of difficult neighbours read with concern. Please keep it up for the next ten.
Thanks, Patricia,
Just in case you didn't see my reply to your kind query back in August … I'll post it here … https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-08-2020/#comment-1745738 … took me a couple of days to reply so you might have missed it.
Good grief an acquaintance today admitted they voted no for cannabis reform because of the "tax grabbing government". So obviously they are cool with their money going to gangs but not ok with paying tax. I'm going to facepalm myself so hard I'll knock myself out!
Aren't gangs the epitome of free enterprise liberalism?
Small state, no tax, self policing, self-regulating entrepreneurs……
Your man should love them.
Good grief you're right!
Perhaps this guy should hand his wage subsidies back, sell his business and join the gang himself.
Well, they thought moving from London to Portland Oregon would be entry into deep leftie wonderland. After all this is where you get more kinds of Yoga on a Saturday than my cat has whiskers.
Why did they feel compelled to return?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/oct/31/we-left-the-uk-for-portland-expecting-a-liberal-dream-that-wasnt-the-reality
Greece and Turkey – while we have been upset over the election and those of the good 'ole USA, they have been devastated by an earthquake in their area. Now we have had our Christchurch quake we have a small inkling of what the Turks and Greeks have been experiencing in recent decades.
In January [2020] more than 30 people were killed and more than 1,600 injured when an earthquake struck Sivrice in Turkey's eastern Elazig province.
In July 2019, the Greek capital Athens was hit by a tremor that knocked out power to large parts of the city.
A powerful quake that struck the Turkish city of Izmit, near Istanbul, in 1999 killed about 17,000 people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54749509 (This is a very good report from the BBC with images and a map. The epicentre of the 'quake is right across the Aegean Sea from Athens.)
Also CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/31/europe/earthquake-turkey-greece-aegean-sea-rescue-scli-intl/index.html
And https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/31/death-toll-reaches-26-in-quake-that-hit-turkey-greece
https://reliefweb.int/report/turkey/red-crescent-and-red-cross-provide-urgent-assistance-following-powerful-earthquake
UN News – news.un.org/en/news/topic/humanitarian-aid UN ‘stands ready to assist’ in Aegean Sea earthquake tragedy – Guterres
Greece has been under an enforced EU austerity and the recipient to African refugees from tragedies there. But is combining with Turkey. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54759443 Turkey-Greece quake: Search for survivors under rubble
Oct.30/20 https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/eu-nato-offer-assistance-to-quake-hit-turkey-greece-159605 (Turkish media)
Sarc comment from Mar/20 – https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/03/greece-turkey-border-syria-refugees-european-union-erdogan Europe Finally Sends Aid to Greece (But Only for Kicking Out Refugees)