Open Mike 02/12/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 2nd, 2016 - 70 comments
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70 comments on “Open Mike 02/12/2016 ”

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    • Leftie 1.1
      2 December 2016 at 6:39 am

      That makes me feel physically sick. Foreigners buying up what they can now in anticipation that National may not get re-elected next year? Time to change the sell out National government, before there is nothing left in NZ’s hands anymore.

    • tc 1.2
      2 December 2016 at 10:11 am

      Flogging state houses should be collated with an OIA request about how much property soe’s and govt departments have flogged such as police houses in the regions etc

  2. gsays 2
    2 December 2016 at 8:20 am

    So I hear on the tranny the over sight of fishing boats is to be further eroded.
    The crux of this is lobbyists.

    When (if) a new regime comes into power, the lobbyists remain.
    Like a cancer, their hold gets stronger, the longer, they remain uninterrupted.

    To the best of my knowledge, lobbyists only serve their masters.

    How refreshing it would be to hear a leader of a major party, pledge to rid the lobbyists access to MPs, at least to the level that individuals have.

  3. James 3
    2 December 2016 at 8:35 am

    I personally think he is having a bit of fun and stirring – but if it was true I wonder who national would target from labour ??

    http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/national-poaching-labour-mps-2016120113

    • BM 3.1
      2 December 2016 at 8:44 am

      Stuart Nash and David Shearer.
      The National party is a much better fit.

      • Muttonbird 3.1.1
        2 December 2016 at 8:46 am

        But James says Nash is sexist and comments inappropriately about women.

        Oh wait, National is a much better fit.

    • Muttonbird 3.2
      2 December 2016 at 8:44 am

      Key says they take all comers, and proof off that is in the position Misa Fia Turner finds herself in.

      Odd that National can’t find decent candidates on their own though. Perhaps the end is near?

      • BM 3.2.1
        2 December 2016 at 8:54 am

        She must have been the choice of the local members.

        Unlike Labour where head office overrides the local members and decides who runs in an electorate.

        National the democratic party.

        • Muttonbird 3.2.1.1
          2 December 2016 at 8:57 am

          Misa Fia Turner is representing the National Party. Next you’ll be saying it’s out of their hands who gets selected.

        • lprent 3.2.1.2
          2 December 2016 at 9:11 am

          Ah. I can just see that happening in Mt Roskill.

          The good National party members picked someone who lives in and who has just set up her office in a East Auckland.yeah she is a great local candidate for a West Auckland seat.

          Whereas the Labour party head office overrode the local Labour party members to appoint a candidate who I was working with as beiing crucial to the campaign in Mt Roskill in the 2005 election, and who was living there then. And he was an old hand in Roskill then.

          /sarc

          FFS it would been nice if you actually thought about reality more. The losing national candidate in Roskill with her faux concern about local issues is losing to the local preferred by the Mt Roskill Labour members.

          • BM 3.2.1.2.1
            2 December 2016 at 9:24 am

            Do you think it will be close or do you expect Wood to win by a mile like Phil Goff?

            It was 10,000 to 18,000 in 2014 be interesting to see how much of that 8000 vote difference was due to Goff.

            • Muttonbird 3.2.1.2.1.1
              2 December 2016 at 10:00 am

              Are you claiming anything lower than an 8000 margin of victory for Wood is a win for National?

              You don’t seriously believe the turnout will be as high as 2014, do you?

          • alwyn 3.2.1.2.2
            2 December 2016 at 9:53 am

            Does Mr Wood really live in Mt Roskill and is to be voted for because he is a “local candidate”.
            It will make a change, both for him and for the electorate then, won’t it?

            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Botany?
            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Epsom?
            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Pakuranga?
            Or wherever else he has tried to get a nomination.

            Is he the parliamentary equivalent of Shadbolt? “I don’t care where as long as I’m Mayor”. Mind you he will be a lucky man if he lasts as long as Tim has.
            Just promise them “Bullshit and Jellybeans”.

            Did Phil Goff, or you for that matter, suggest people not vote for him because he lived as far away from Mt Roskill as he could and yet still be in the general Auckland area for the 35 years he spent in Parliament? If not why not?

            • chris73 3.2.1.2.2.1
              2 December 2016 at 10:34 am

              Just promise them “Bullshit and Jellybeans”.

              Or penis lollies 🙂

            • Leftie 3.2.1.2.2.2
              2 December 2016 at 6:28 pm

              “Wood: I’m standing in the right electorate because Mt Roskill is my home, and it has been for the past 13 years. I’ve served in the community, been on the local board for the past six years.”

              <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1611/S00261/the-nation-michael-wood-and-parmjeet-parmar.htm

              • alwyn …
                2 December 2016 at 8:16 pm

                Very good. And yes I was aware of his current claim.
                However what did he say to the residents of Botany when he stood there?
                What did he say to the residents of Epsom when he stood there?
                What did he say to the residents of Pakuranga when he stood there?
                Did he tell them he was a carpetbagger, which he NOW seems to think is a valid objection to someone who doesn’t live in an electorate they choose to stand in?

                Does he tell them how privileged they are to have someone who lives there rather than a person like their previous MP who lived an hours drive away?

                Like hell he does, even though it is all true.
                Now personally I don’t see why an MP should live within the actual boundary of the electorate. Wood however seems to think he can complain about his opponent doing exactly what he did so many times.

                I wonder how he will explain these views to his leader? After all Little left New Plymouth when he was a teenager but still, in his 50s I suppose, tried to get elected there.

                • Leftie …
                  3 December 2016 at 12:35 am

                  He doesn’t need to explain, and he certainly doesn’t need to explain YOUR VIEWS to his leader. Did you read the transcript?

                  Your question was “Does Mr Wood really live in Mt Roskill and is to be voted for because he is a “local candidate”

                  The answer to your questions is yes and yes and I have provided the information in the link.

          • Ad 3.2.1.2.3
            2 December 2016 at 11:02 am

            Hey Lyn, life would be a whole bunch easier for Labour activists if Labour’s leaders stopped trying to parachute in unpopular carpet-baggers into electorates with strong LEC’s.

            I’m sure everyone’s got their own war stories of have a strong local candidate, well supported and known, only to have some numpty pop up and truck busloads of otherwise unknown union delegates into the selection meeting, or the Selection Committee gets stacked for some dork, and Hey Presto the local choice gets steamrollered flat.
            And then they wonder why fresh talent doesn’t find Labour candidacy attractive, and caucus looks stale.

            And then as a result most of the LEC ups and leaves or is totally pissed off. Sure, these things need to be renewed, and in reality what difference does and LEC do but form a fawning little glee club to plump up the MP’s ego, and actually don’t always a huge amount of difference to actual vote turnout.

            But, people are not meant to be burnt off needlessly in life or in politics. It doesn’t need to happen.

            The Labour Party should support its own renewal, without parachuting.

        • Macro 3.2.1.3
          2 December 2016 at 11:18 am

          Unlike Labour where head office overrides the local members and decides who runs in an electorate.
          LOL
          yeah – like Scott Simpson for Coromandel!
          Just one example – but I could list dozens.
          Ever heard of John Key for Helensville?

          • Wayne 3.2.1.3.1
            2 December 2016 at 11:43 am

            Macro,
            You clearly do not how local selections in National work. I can assure you that if the local party (membership above the qualifying threshold) has control they well and truly exercise it.

            In fact being pushed too heavily by the leadership is likely to backfire.

            The people you have to convince are the local delegates. If you can’t you won’t get selected.

            • Macro 3.2.1.3.1.1
              2 December 2016 at 1:26 pm

              Yes I’m sure the local delegates were convinced Wayne. 🙂 So convenient how the then incumbent, resigned at the time.

            • DoublePlusGood 3.2.1.3.1.2
              2 December 2016 at 2:18 pm

              Clutha-Southland must have some pretty gullible National party members then. (Though, arguably no more gullible than the rest of the locals, given the vote counts)

            • KJT 3.2.1.3.1.3
              2 December 2016 at 9:17 pm

              So. What happened in Northland? Wayne.

          • chris73 3.2.1.3.2
            2 December 2016 at 12:01 pm

            Ask David Kirk about it

      • Lev Davidovich 3.2.2
        2 December 2016 at 9:05 pm

        Yep. 23% shows they are finished for sure

  4. John up North 4
    2 December 2016 at 8:50 am

    Soooo……… after the big test period where gear was checked so as to being up to the job and the net result is the independent company which produces footage of all sorts of illegal activity loses out to the company which is balls deep in corrupt practices of self interest.

    Then…….. you remove the human observers and replace with surveillance equipment supplied by said corrupt company.

    And 3 months later it turns out up to 80% of the gear is not up to the job and there has been very little if any actually monitoring of an industry which officials have previously admitted would fold if forced to follow the rules.

    WTF?? So are we actually going to pay these compromised cowboys for a shite job?

    What happened to proving the equipment was up to task prior to deployment (shades of Novapay here)?

    Are we really surprised the corrupt fishing industry cant monitor its own practices?

    Typical Nats solution to a looming problem, mouth appropriate verbiage, slide a sycophantic, self interested body into management, control the media —> what problem? we’re on it, all solved.

    Meanwhile our declining moana gets pillaged even moar………….SNAFU

    • Pat 4.1
      2 December 2016 at 8:54 am

      you forgot that even if there is illegal activity captured on these cameras (blind spots known and reliability dubious) it is of insufficient quality as evidence……it is a Claytons monitoring regime and by design.

      • Macro 4.1.1
        2 December 2016 at 11:27 am

        Nah! The cameras are working fine now – they only seem to stop recording when there is fish dumping to be done.
        It’s all good!
        /sarc

  5. marty mars 5
    2 December 2016 at 9:05 am

    red face – indigenous rights activists continually fight against the ridicule and misappropriation of indigenous knowledge, imagery and artifacts. This happens all over the globe – and is especially poignant for Native Americans – so much of their culture has been mythologized, demonized, misappropriated and just stolen – including traditional costumes, headdress and so on.

    It is not good enough to say – tough cheese. We know black face is not right and red face is not right too.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redface
    http://apihtawikosisan.com/hall-of-shame/an-open-letter-to-non-natives-in-headdresses/

    So my message to the santa parade in christchurch (just think about that mashing up of myths, consumerism and exploitation in that sentence – whew!!!) is STOP! You do not have the right to steal other cultures items and (for whatever reason) say you are honoring them or respecting them – you aren’t. You are being colonisers of the mind and of the body. You are continuing the unthinking arrogant and obnoxious traits of racists and previous colonisers. STOP it.

    “Organisers of the Santa Parade in Christchurch will not pull a float featuring children dressed as First Nations and Native Americans this weekend, despite a complaint it is “essentially red face” and is “highly inappropriate and culturally insensitive”.

    The float has been part of the Santa Parade for many years and features local children dressed as people of the Ojibwe tribe, complete with face paint and headdresses.”

    “”But Santa Parade manager Pam Morris said she was “offended” by the request. If she had a good look at that float, some of it belongs to a tribe that I went to the reservation of in Buffalo. They know about this float and they gave me some headgear to use on this float.

    “We have the blessing of that tribe.”

    BULLSHIT

    because

    “Professor of Maori and indigenous studies at Massey University, Rawiri Taonui, said the costumes were only offensive if they mocked First Nations people.

    “It is OK if they are dressing up in costume as a way of learning about that culture in a respectful way.

    “If that is the intent we should support it. It depends on the intent.”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/87072747/santa-parade-defiant-over-red-face-claims

    Is that what they are doing? NO – it is simple entertainment.

    • Robert Guyton 5.1
      2 December 2016 at 10:16 am

      In our town two people dress up as golliwogs for the Santa parade. Nothing’s said.

      • marty mars 5.1.1
        2 December 2016 at 10:23 am

        I wonder how they’d feel if someone went out of their way to find their tender spots and dressed up to poke those spots – probably laugh – after it is is just jolly fun eh.

        It could be done easily too – pity I’m not down to Waikawa till early next year…

      • chris73 5.1.2
        2 December 2016 at 11:51 am

        Jeepers, even i think golliwogs are a bit much

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2
      2 December 2016 at 10:45 am

      “We have the blessing of that tribe.”

      BULLSHIT

      Have you contacted that tribe and asked them?

      • marty mars 5.2.1
        2 December 2016 at 10:48 am

        read up about this subject before you start – it may help you – may.

      • marty mars 5.2.2
        2 December 2016 at 11:10 am

        I have sent an email with links to a respected senior person I know within the tribe – may take a day or so for an answer – and I know in my gut, and as a person who fights this often, what the answer will be – I’ll let you know draco seeing as how you appear to be interested 🙂

  7. millsy 7
    2 December 2016 at 9:23 am

    If the Right get their way and charter schools are allowed to grow like weeds in South Auckland we will get more Misa Fia Turners. For LGBT people, setting foot in South Auck would be like setting foot in Moscow. Day after day, thousands of schoolkids will have it drilled into them that magic created the earth and homosexuals are vermin to be exterminated by laypreachers like Tamaki.

  8. Muttonbird 8
    2 December 2016 at 9:41 am

    Looks like the ninth floor had a word with police…

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11759041

  9. James Thrace 9
    2 December 2016 at 10:02 am

    Posted this yesterday, but interested in further comments on it.

    At present, we are seeing the long con strategy being utilised by National. Merkel’s Germany has been doing it to good effect.

    How to do the long con.

    1) Soften up the electorate as much as you can whilst retaining as many of the core policy settings that enable society to function (even while cutting funding left right and centre). This means temporarily swallow the dead rats.

    2) Make the same soothing noises each time so as not to spook the horses.

    3) Utilise the lack of MMP understanding to your advantage knowing that by and large, most voters don’t really care about the ins and outs. It suits National for voters to just know the ‘high level’ overview which is “vote for this party, and vote for that person”.

    4) Incrementally, and surely, keep hammering home the same message of being “sound economic managers” and portraying the opposition as a bunch of inept muppets.

    5) Constantly belittle any brainfart or policy ideas that erupt from those quarters.

    6) Make any issues that crop up during your governing period anyone else’s fault but your own. Blame your support parties. Sheet home all responsibility to them (RMA delays = blame Maori party, Party Drug/Marijuana issues = blame Peter Dunne)

    Once achieved, and the same message has sunk in, it’s odds on proof that the electorate is softened up and all the ducks are in a row, so now you can go hard.

    Sell one message, and one message only.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Play to peoples wallets because 9 years of constant tax rises means people are poorer. Everyone is sick of hearing the same things – housing crisis, unclean water, mass sell offs of land etc.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts tax cuts.

    The majority do not care. The majority want more money to continue to obtain the things to buy to make their struggling, and probably miserable existence somewhat better. Consumerism has taught us all “feel down, buy junk, feel better.”

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The majority listen, their ears perk up. More money say they! More money indeed say National.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    9 years in power with constrained control under MMP, in order to keep selling yourself as the “long term” government is nothing. All people hear now are tax cuts. No one hears anything else. All talk of “30 new taxes since 2008” is ignored.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Overwhelmingly, the majority will vote for what’s good for their wallets. 9 long years of constantly struggling to get by and seeing more of your pay disappear each week means tax cuts will be a boon..

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The opposition decries, “no, we can’t afford”. Shut up say the proletariat ‘You’re not the government, how do you know what we can afford. That John Key is such a nice guy’

    tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The masses hunger. They want these tax cuts. Nothing will stop them now from getting them. The party offering the message, simply, must. WIN!

    Election day looms near. The repeated mantra of ‘tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts’ has assumed a soothing quality to the soma’d masses. No one wants to be a Delta, or an Epsilon. We all want to be Betas. Only the best can be Alphas. Being a Gamma wouldn’t be too bad, but a Beta is better.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Election day itself

    Party vote “tax cuts” say the masses. The dutiful tick goes to the party with the right message.

    After 9 long years of softening up the hoi polloi, the governing party is returned with an outright majority. Too late, the people awaken. The look of horror is abject. The next three years is a selloff. Too late, the damage is done, the plan is to be carried out. The bankers and merchant men took over the country.

    New Zealand. The greatest experimental country for neo-liberalism to mass transfer and consolidate wealth to the few, since, well, ever.

    • YNWA 9.1
      2 December 2016 at 4:26 pm

      This post deserves an article on mass hypnosis, great stuff James T!

    • Ad 9.2
      2 December 2016 at 4:56 pm

      All you are saying is that ‘tax cuts’ are superior political tactics to anything the left has produced.

      What news is that? No news.

      The left don’t seem to want to take notice of how they win elections getting fresh money into people’s pockets. They should. If they did they would be more likely to win elections.

      • James Thrace 9.2.1
        2 December 2016 at 7:08 pm

        It’s no news, but it’s the news that makes people take notice.

        Unless labour can counter it with an effective appeal, it’s a vote winner.

        Big issue policies won’t win over the hearts and minds of the undefined “centre”.

        Hip pocket stuff wins the day.

        My pick would be to counter the tax cuts mantra with something equally as powerful. $1500 tax refund within 100 days.

        Then, when the inevitable bashing starts just say that it’s cheaper than Nationals tax cuts and people will get that $1500 right away instead of over 18 months under National.

        Fight a lack of policy costings with just the same vigor. “We will show you our figures when National does”. Easy. Drives home the fact National have no plan.

        How to pay for it? Easy. A new tax bracket for 500k+ of 45%. Sure as eggs are eggs, labour will win then.

      • reason 9.2.2
        2 December 2016 at 7:40 pm

        ….. or target those with the most who are cheating the rest of us ……

        Its a worldwide problem

        “All over the world governments are struggling to provide decent public services. Ordinary people pay ever-increasing taxes but get worse public services. Rather than paying their fair share of taxes, major corporations and wealthy individuals escape their social obligations by locating in offshore tax havens. Companies such as Enron, Newscorp, Elan, Exxon, Northern & Shell Group, Portland Investment, Microsoft, General Motors and others have used tax havens to shave their tax bills.

        By plugging the leakage of tax revenues to tax havens, the UK government could raise up to £85 billion extra in tax revenues, large enough to fund schools, hospitals, pensions, public transport and social infrastructure.” http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/No_accounting_for_tax_havens_FEB-02.pdf

        “A significant fraction of global private financial wealth — by our estimates, at least $21 to $32 trillion as of 2010 — has been invested virtually tax-free through the world’s still expanding black hole of more than 80 “offshore”secrecy jurisdictions. We believe this range to be conservative, for reasons discussed below. Remember: this is just financial wealth. A big share of the real estate, yachts, racehorses, gold bricks — and many other things that count as non-financial wealth –are also owned via offshore structures where it is impossible to identify the owners. These are outside the scope of this report. http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/The_Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_Presser_120722.pdf

        And a who’s who ………. http://ctj.org/pdf/offshoreshellgames2016.pdf

        Bank of America Corp. Number of Tax Haven Subsidiaries: 109

        Location of Tax Haven Subsidiaries : Bahamas (2), Bermuda (4), Cayman Islands (18), Channel Islands (13), Costa Rica (1), Gibraltar (4), Hong Kong (3), Ireland (8), Luxembourg (13), Mauritius (6), Netherlands (25), Netherlands Antilles (1), Singapore (8), Switzerland (3

  10. save nz 10
    2 December 2016 at 10:11 am

    Good idea – The Community Fridge: Reducing food waste and feeding those in need

    https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/the-community-fridge-reducing-food-waste-and-feeding-the-hungry/

  11. save nz 11
    2 December 2016 at 10:12 am

    Through the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School’s Energy and Environment Reporting Project and the Guardian has revealed.

    This unprecedented backing of oil, coal and gas projects is an unexpected footnote to Obama’s own climate change legacy. The president has called global warming “terrifying” and helped broker the world’s first proper agreement to tackle it, yet his administration has poured money into developments that will push the planet even closer to climate disaster.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/01/obama-fossil-fuels-us-export-import-bank-energy-projects

  12. Morrissey 12
    2 December 2016 at 10:14 am

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT.
    No. 1: Pippa Wetzell grovels and simpers before a slimeball….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbTCAbWTN2E

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT is an occasional series highlighting some of the worst moments in our pretty shameful history of broadcasting mediocrity and downright failure.

  13. Draco T Bastard 13
    2 December 2016 at 10:30 am

    Women of Harry Potter: Evil in Authority

    Dolores Umbridge has surely never thought of herself as evil. Evil people never do. They think of themselves as working for the betterment of the world they live in. Dolores Umbridge lives in a world that is populated by all sorts of people—werewolves and merpeople and muggles and wizards.

    And she knows in her heart that it would be a better world if some of those people—the lesser people, the less important people—served people like her. Or died. Either one will do. Either way, they must be broken.

    It would be a better world, she tells herself, for everyone.

    Sounds remarkably like the National Party as they bash down beneficiaries and the poor while helping the rich exploit the rest of society.

  14. marty mars 14
    2 December 2016 at 10:38 am

    Feeling a bit disillusioned.

    firstly John Michael Greer – I have been an avid fan of his for years – I cannot agree with his trump analysis – I think he is wrong to suppose that trump will do anything. Feel sad about JMG’s opinion on all that – makes me want to not read him anymore – but his analysis on other topics is insightful so will probably keep reading him, but it isn’t the same now 🙁

    http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/the-end-of-american-century.html

    and Mana and The Māori Party – I’ve really tried but nah. Too far Hone, you have lost mana and don’t have the same pulling power mate. The Internet-Mana and dotcom stuff burnt too much political capital – we trusted you and we were let down. You can’t ask us to do it again – I’m not going to – I don’t trust The Māori Party – they have done too much against our people and they have supported the gnats too much.

    As a Māori indigenous rights left activist I am NOT supporting the Mana Movement joining with The Māori Party – and I am NOT supporting Hone Harawira. I want NEW leadership, I want a commitment to the kaupapa we originally signed up for not this additional new direction. Nah – I’m not compromising my values and what I believe about fighting inequality and fighting for indigenous rights and fighting for the underpriviledged, the forgotten, and discarded in our society (whose ranks are well overcrowded with Māori). Nah – this proposed marrigae is NOT the way – I’m NOT putting my patu down yet.

    A poem from a few years ago

    Beneath Te Papa

    My knee clicked loudly like an out of time fingersnapper
    as I entered Te Papa. A museum, as am I, both hoarding
    treasures deep on this day of my birth.

    I am 50 today as I descend below Te Papa, the oversized
    lift looming around us like an atrium, my socks slip
    on the floor. A slow motion ritual fall to our past.

    The doors weep quietly aside and I find them along walls.
    Taiaha stacked supine, appearing settled yet expectant,
    as poised as hungry white herons staring at faint flickers of fish.

    They watch as years slide by. Discarded weapons now relics,
    longing for a warm hand, the lightest touch of emotion, we were
    forged for our time, as useful as a steady pay packet, or an edge.

    A weapon-less warrior watching warrior-less weapons.
    Te Papa and I are the cave mouth open everyday, and they enter
    to see, to touch, to feel – the museum, but not the man.

    • Karen 14.1
      2 December 2016 at 12:22 pm

      Kia kaha, Marty.

      The future certainly looks very bleak but it is the continuing activism by people like you that still gives me some hope.

    • Rosemary McDonald 14.2
      2 December 2016 at 5:09 pm

      “Taiaha stacked supine, appearing settled yet expectant,
      as poised as hungry white herons staring at faint flickers of fish.

      They watch as years slide by. Discarded weapons now relics,
      longing for a warm hand, the lightest touch of emotion,…”

      The tide MUST turn soon, it must.

  16. The Other Mike 16
    2 December 2016 at 12:41 pm

    JK played golf with logical person! “President Obama Says Marijuana Should Be Treated Like Alcohol

    In a just published “exit interview” with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Barack Obama opined that marijuana use should be treated as a public-health issue, not a criminal matter, and called the current patchwork of state and federal laws regarding the drug “untenable.”

    “Look, I’ve been very clear about my belief that we should try to discourage substance abuse,” Obama said. “And I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea. But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”

    He added, “It is untenable over the long term for the Justice Department or the DEA to be enforcing a patchwork of laws, where something that’s legal in one state could get you a 20-year prison sentence in another. So this is a debate that is now ripe, much in the same way that we ended up making progress on same-sex marriage.”

    Rolling Stone interview, which is excellent read:
    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/obama-on-his-legacy-trumps-win-and-the-path-forward-w452527

  17. b waghorn 17
    2 December 2016 at 6:03 pm

    something up with my email just seeing if the standard still knows this is my address.

  18. greywarshark 18
    2 December 2016 at 7:44 pm

    This from Avaaz about the Syrian people and their self help group The White Helmets. Perhaps Buzz Aldrin would go and visit on a Peace Mission there and bring out a whole lot of the wounded and their families for the same price as getting out of Antarctica.

    73,530 lives in fact. That’s how many people they have saved, rushing to the scene of bombings to pull people from the rubble and carry them to safety.