Open mike 04/09/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 4th, 2024 - 69 comments
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69 comments on “Open mike 04/09/2024 ”

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  1. gsays 1
    4 September 2024 at 7:12 am

    Gender Equality, the role of media in group think, Men's Rights Activists, confronting one's own bias.

    Cassie Jaye, the producer of The Red Pill movie in a 15 minute Ted Talk.

    “We have to stop expecting to be offended”.

    • SPC 1.1
      4 September 2024 at 7:48 am

      Reviews of the Red Pill.

      1.

      The term THE RED PILL has been adopted by the men's rights movement (MRM) from the Matrix movie to signal the choice we have between seeing the world as it really is — in this vision, a hotbed of discrimination against men — or taking the blue pill, which supposedly offers the blissful but false view that ignores terrible prejudice causing men's widespread suffering.

      In Cassie Jaye's documentary about the MRM, the advocates and leaders she interviews give moving examples of real-life individual instances of unfairness visited on good men. Friendly, warm, and polite, they cite statistics showing that men die younger than women, visit the doctor less frequently, become addicted more often, and are arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and executed more often. Their sentences are longer than convicted women's sentences, too. Plus, men now attend college less often than women, and those who attend graduate even less often than that. Jaye's response to most of this is a renunciation of her previous status as a "feminist."

      2.

      This documentary tries to masquerade as a serious and fair look at the men's rights movement, but it doesn't give all the necessary facts. The information that documentarian Cassie Jaye omits here speaks volumes. She seems to accept everything her men's rights advocates say in The Red Pill but doesn't question what they write when her camera isn't trained on them.

      While the men's rights interviewees are polite and soft-spoken, Jaye offers rabid "feminists" spewing venomous curse words in contrast. Jaye also fails to note that most of the MRM complaints are basically economic in nature and based on policies set by corporations run by men (95 percent of all CEOs) and legislative America (80 percent of all U.S. Congress members). She could easily have noted that published studies say that in 15 developed countries, men have died younger for two centuries, but, notably, since the 1970s — when feminist ideas first began to take hold — the gender gap in life expectancy has actually narrowed.

      https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-red-pill

    • SPC 1.2
      4 September 2024 at 8:02 am

      You should link the video to the TDB site. It's in sync with his anti-feminist narrative.

      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/09/04/new-roy-morgan-poll-all-gravy-for-national-as-men-run-screaming-from-the-left/

      • gsays 1.2.1
        4 September 2024 at 10:21 am

        One of the more important points made, and obviously missed, is that it is possible to advocate for one group without being anti another.

        • SPC 1.2.1.1
          4 September 2024 at 10:35 am

          Meh, she decided to no longer identify as a feminist.

          Her rejection of being called, feminist, because men describe it as anti-male is inept logic.

          None of the below is evidence of any discrimination against men

          they cite statistics showing that men die younger than women, visit the doctor less frequently, become addicted more often, and are arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and executed more often. Their sentences are longer than convicted women's sentences, too. Plus, men now attend college less often than women, and those who attend graduate even less often than that.

          Jaye's response to most of this is a renunciation of her previous status as a "feminist."

          • gsays 1.2.1.1.1
            4 September 2024 at 10:40 am

            I can see why Bomber wrote what he did.

            If you can hand wave these issues away then it's no surprise that the 'left' is failing to resonate with males.

            • SPC 1.2.1.1.1.1
              4 September 2024 at 10:54 am

              They are narratives created by the right and perpetuated on TDB.

              And left wing men influenced by it think they have to abandon solidarity with women to win back male voters – who next the poor?

              • gsays …
                4 September 2024 at 12:11 pm

                Awesome! So condescending.

                Is it still mansplaining when talking to a bloke?

                It is a very weak argument that because it's a right wing narrative, it's ti be dismissed even when it resonates with lived experience.

                • SPC …
                  4 September 2024 at 12:18 pm

                  Whose lived experience?

                  they cite statistics showing that men die younger than women, visit the doctor less frequently, become addicted more often, and are arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and executed more often. Their sentences are longer than convicted women's sentences, too. Plus, men now attend college less often than women, and those who attend graduate even less often than that.

                  This is all nonsense. None of it is caused by discrimination against men.

                  • Mountain Tui …
                    4 September 2024 at 12:49 pm

                    Can someone give me the background on this "Bomber" person please?

                  • gsays …
                    4 September 2024 at 1:24 pm

                    You've lived a charmed or sheltered life if it is untouched by male suicide, family break ups or male premature death.

                    • SPC …
                      4 September 2024 at 1:38 pm

                      You have no idea.

                      That said – no male suicides, family break-ups or premature male death (unless that includes both parents dying below the statistical norm via cancer).

                      And was any of it based on discrimination against men?

                      Jaye also fails to note that most of the MRM complaints are basically economic in nature and based on policies set by corporations run by men (95 percent of all CEOs) and legislative America (80 percent of all U.S. Congress members)

                      Living up to the traditional provider role model in the age of two incomes, inter-generational middle class decline is not of a discrimination against men, but Atlas Network Randian – Laffer curve, Chicago school libertarianism.

  2. Ngungukai 2
    4 September 2024 at 7:45 am

    Primary Care breaking down in NZ who is to blame National or Labour, this does not just happen over night ???

    • koina 2.1
      4 September 2024 at 8:21 am

      So many questions. So little real research So few answers.

      Too much political bias and blaming preventing fair analysis.

      Are there less medical staff /facilities available if so why and what to do about it.?

      Are peolpe less healthy than before, if so why and what to do about it?

      How did Covid impact on society? Did we become more health concious?

      Did we believe all health services would be free to all?

      Are peolple taking all their social and economic issues to the hospital hoping for free miracle cures .

      Is it time to have a conversation about private health insurance?

      I dont know the facts but I believe the issues are many, deep and complex and almost certainly not all medical related.

      • Ad 2.1.1
        4 September 2024 at 8:31 am

        Go on then Koina, do yourself a favour, stretch your legs and start an answer to one of those questoins.

        • koina 2.1.1.1
          4 September 2024 at 9:48 am

          In reply to Ad.

          Compare the reasons for hospital / out patience admissions and all DR appointments in the year 2000 to the same sample base for the year 2024.

          That would be very informative.

          I would be delighted if you could Ad more suggestions

      • bwaghorn 2.1.2
        4 September 2024 at 9:03 am

        Are peolpe less healthy than before, if so why and what to do about it?

        Yes , poor food choices and sedentary lifestyles,

        Convince people to stop eating shit, and exercise.

        Move away from the concept of retirement, there's to types of old people , active and healthy , sedentary and in the Dr's every other week .

        • SPC 2.1.2.1
          4 September 2024 at 9:38 am

          All fine sentiments until they are fact checked.

          There is nothing more sedentary than sitting at a desk or a drivers seat.

          Many retirees exercise more than they did when working.

          Many have no doctor. Those who do, cannot see them for weeks.

      • joe90 2.1.3
        4 September 2024 at 12:13 pm

        Or it could be a lack of political will to face the realities of an ageing population because roads.

        /

        @medzihorsky

        Slovakia's oldest GP retires at 97. The average age of a GP is 57, 41% of them are 63+. The health ministry estimates that the system is 400 GPs short, in a country of 5.5 mil.

        @medzihorsky

        ·

        The aging populations of Slovakia, Czechia, and Hungary according to the new projections by the UN WPP. The changing priorities of aging societies are likely to affect electoral politics as well, among other things. Western Europe (UN region) for comparison.

        https://x.com/medzihorsky/status/1826957098963313003

        https://x.com/medzihorsky/status/1830519409711980905

    • tc 2.2
      4 September 2024 at 9:38 am

      One side funds the clear gap left after the other side in power cuts funding and looks to privatise.

      Covid was an accelerant as like Oz we don't have enough GP's especially rurally.

      So here we are with a new govt and it's idealogical plays on the health system on top of stiffing the primary care sector it's promised % rise, extra GP's etc etc.

      Levy's likely to have triggered many resignations, so no "this does not just happen over night…" it's a work in progress.

      Oz looks very attractive to a medical professional.

    • Mountain Tui 2.3
      4 September 2024 at 10:05 am

      In this article someone plotted spend by government – their graph & commentary as follows:

      "Together ACT and National have committed to 30 years of defunding our health system. Apart from the drop in funding in 1984 that was the result of the (National-created) economic crisis, the graph below fairly clearly shows how periods of National-ACT Governments (1990-99, 2008-17, and not on the graph but almost certainly levelling out or dropping, 2023-present coincide with drops the rate of health spending increases) have held back our health spending for decades.

      The above graph shows us why Labour’s money “sunk” into health didn’t do enough — because of NACT’s lack of investment, the first several billion dollars only bring us up to where funding should be, not where it needs to be. Labour have been pulling the weight for both parties, and then being punished in elections for their perceived “fiscal irresponsibility”.

      Someone’s being fiscally irresponsible here, but it’s not Labour-Greens."

    • Jimmy 2.4
      4 September 2024 at 10:43 am

      On this website the blame will be put on National. The other night Muttonbird was even blaming Luxon and Willis for an 8 year old boy being killed in Hamilton with a hammer.

  3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3
    4 September 2024 at 7:46 am

    NACT1 flicks txts regarding NO to Korean Ship Builders. Huh?

    New Zealand officials notified their Korean counterparts they were scrapping the Interislander ferry project via text message less than an hour before the public announcement.

    This despite….

    "Careful and deliberate communications with the Korean Government would be required in advance of any public announcement," the Ministry said in an 8 December memo.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/526974/korea-ferry-cancellation-talks-were-two-texts-sent-within-an-hour-of-announcement

    And further to that….

    Interislander: Ministers warned 'careful' talks with Korea needed over ferry cancellations

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/522144/interislander-ministers-warned-careful-talks-with-korea-needed-over-ferry-cancellations

    I have never fallen for the "They are hapless, incompetent, etc,etc". Anyone still thinking that..needs to wake up ! The arrogance of these NACT1 creeps knows no bounds.They are fully aware of what they are doing. And who, and what the enablers (Atlas network, TPU,et al) are pushing.

    NZ needs to get Motivated and Activated..before its too late : (

    I put up “some” Positive Action groups etc yesterday..

    https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03-09-2024/#comment-2010003

    • dv 3.1
      4 September 2024 at 8:26 am

      WOULD ANY ship builder now go into a new contract with this NZ govt.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1.1
        4 September 2024 at 8:32 am

        I was mind boggled…fark knows what Ferry Builders would think. Could well be that was the message?

        Its going to take a LOT of rebuilding NZ when NACT1 go….

      • James Simpson 3.1.2
        4 September 2024 at 2:53 pm

        Yes.

        Generally there is a provision within a contract that addresses what happens if there is a termination. The parties provide for and negotiate a remedy for that scenario within the terms of the contract itself.

        If a party simply repudiates a contract, i.e, walks away when they have no right to terminate, then the other party will be entitled to make a claim for damages, or be compensated for their loss.

        Commercial contracts are often terminated for a multitude of reasons. Its a component of commerce. The ship yard here is being paid out for that termination.

        Its a bad result for New Zealand, but the Ship Builders won't be suffering a loss here (unless they negotiated a very bad contract).

        • Cricklewood 3.1.2.1
          4 September 2024 at 5:45 pm

          If anything theyll be calling it a win, they had two ships to build at a comparativly low price no doubt low margin.

          Now they get compo for the cancellation and space freed up for what are no doubt more lucrative builds.

          If the Nats werent so ham fisted there was probably a deal to be done that saw the ships built and onsold perhaps or a renegotiated contract to build smaller ships. Instead a we get a couple of very very very expensive text messages.

          • mpledger 3.1.2.1.1
            4 September 2024 at 10:36 pm

            You just can't schedule a new boat to be built at the flick of a switch. There is a ton of design, procurement etc etc to do beforehand. This has most like put a lot of Koreans out of work.

  4. SPC 4
    4 September 2024 at 8:54 am

    The latest Roy Morgan poll shows little change from the last election.

    That means the male/female vote imbalance continues.

    On an overall basis, men heavily favour the National/ ACT/ NZ First coalition government on 63.5% more than twice as popular as the opposition Labour/ Greens/ Maori Party on only 31% – a gap of 32.5% points.

    https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9663-nz-national-voting-intention-august-2024

    This is part of the class war – which oppresses women.

    First selling aspiration and reward to middle class men and then selling resentment among working class men about feminism and Maori rights.

    Most middle class men have no regard for the working class – could not care If they have Fair Pay Agreements or a rising MW or affordable rentals. They care about mortgages, their management/professional career or their business.

    Randolph Churchill called this, "Whig class of men", those who would abandon challenge to landed gentry privilege as soon as the working class was allowed to vote.

    Thus now we witness the landlord class rising above them as the working class is laid low (and returns to lack of home ownership) – consequence of the 1984-1990 and 1990-1999 neo-liberalism.

    The great society of the 20th C Cold War egalitarianism is being dismantled to restore the 19th C class order. Without fear of socialism, the "Atlas Network" restoration of capitalist supremacy is returning society to its "natural order" of rank and privilege.

    And middle class men want in. Working class men are managed by their race and or gender to be part of the "patriarchy".

    Such is the way of supremacism. Even at the lowest ranks.

    (Not publised at TDB).

  5. SPC 5
    4 September 2024 at 9:27 am

    The Gaza end game has emerged.

    BN and Cabinet have declared an intent to control the Gaza-Egypt border permanently and this and the existing corridors created by the IDF would encircle civilians into controlled sectors.

    All to

    1.intensify the pressure on the Palestinians to leave and for Western countries to accept the Gazan refugees (as per Syrians).

    or

    2.coerce terms – inspire an alternative plan from the PA and the Arab League (requiring the end of Hamas).

    The internal dynamic is this.

    Second, the cabinet resolution to stay on the Philadephi route is a public slap in the face to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi, who recommended a temporary withdrawal from the strategic route in order to get back 20-30 hostages, including all the nine women captives. At Monday's press conference, Netanyahu trampled Gallant, presented him as Hamas' agent in the cabinet, and ridiculed the security chiefs who, according to him, were wrong in their assessment and are also wrong now.

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-03/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-just-mapped-out-how-israel-would-rule-gaza-forever/00000191-b88e-d9c6-a997-baaeb9a20000

    Netanyahu is the inevitable manifestation in government once the state commits to running an apartheid regime on the West Bank (here defined as ruling over the territory on behalf of a settler minority with Palestinians ruled over like a "Bantustan" without contiguous borders).

    The state of Israel needs to be saved from itself, a POTUS who requires the end of voting rights to those permanently residing on the WB, or US economic aid ends (the money placed into a fund and given to Israel when it complies).

    It is a moral cause – taking away the right wing fascist support base from BN.

    And it shows the path to peace, when a million Palestinian passport holding refugees live and work in Israel, then a million Jews in the WB can return to voting in Israeli elections while living in a Palestinian state.

    • Subliminal 5.1
      4 September 2024 at 12:45 pm

      The US has just delivered last week the 500th heavy airlift weapons transfer to Israel. This is in excess of 50,000 tonnes not including anything delivered by sea.

      Multiple top Israeli military and intelligence officials continue to announce the obvious. Israel cannot sustain the intensity of their genocide for more than a few weeks without US unconditional support.

      The US has supplied an additional US$14 billion on top of their annual US$3billion in military aid.

      Only a fool could look at these actions and still believe in the US as some kind of benevolent shining light that seeks an end to the genocide.

      • SPC 5.1.1
        4 September 2024 at 1:18 pm

        The annual "foreign aid" to Israel is matched by an amount to Egypt and Jordan.

        It was supposedly part of being a broker in the peace process.

        Yes Israel gets military aid whenever it is engaged in war.

        Multiple top Israeli military and intelligence officials continue to announce the obvious.

        Yes they cannot continue the war without that support.

        Only a fool could look at these actions and

        The USA does what it does because it claims to be a friend/ally.

        It is a pity that the UK was not the friend that the US needed when it went on the PNAC path in the ME.

        • Subliminal 5.1.1.1
          4 September 2024 at 4:10 pm

          Some people say that the amount of support that Israel recieves from the US makes it the 51st state. This is incorrect. Israel is the prime state of the US since it's debt is guaranteed by the US. No state of the US has this priviledge.

          From this, it is a small step to understand that Israel does what the US requires and desires. The US demands control of oil in the ME to prevent any independent national development. Israel is reinforcing the message of Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan. The message is we don't care how much you suffer. Submit, or this will happen to you.

          Israel is the US mad dog. It is off the leash at present and there is no attempt to put it back on.

          • SPC 5.1.1.1.1
            4 September 2024 at 4:27 pm

            If the USA finances Israel's wars, it does not have a problem as per debt (that is the underlying meaning). It cannot be defeated financially by war cost.

            It is not the US dependent on the ME oil, but their partners in the US navy protected "western" organised world economy.

            The Americans can withdraw from that world order and go isolationist, but there are two constraints – commitment to the post WW2 collective security order and that includes Israel and a concept of the USA as a special nation under God (which for some includes belief in end time prophecy, of which they see the state of Israel as a sign – fundamentalists, evangelicals, pentecostals and they have significant influence in the GOP).

            • Subliminal 5.1.1.1.1.1
              4 September 2024 at 5:04 pm

              Please don't be so naieve. The US doesn't "need" oil. It needs control of oil. It cannot be the hegemon without it.

              It would suit the US fine for the ME to be consmed by flames. As you say. It doesn't "need" oil. It could the n look to Venezuela and the newly discovered and very large Guyana field. These would be far easier for them to control.

              The US doesn't care about collective security. They only care about control. This is what it means to be hegemon

              • SPC …
                4 September 2024 at 5:42 pm

                Who the naive one is, is a matter of perspective. Sometimes the word it and the word is, have to used carefully to inform those out of the oval ball loop with understanding of the great game.

                Why does the USA see a role for itself as hegemon – is it the consequence of being dragged into two wars? And if so, for what purpose?

                Some see Project 2025 as an attempt to portray the USA, as a Christian nation, a defender of western civilisation (a great tragedy could emerge, given Trump is no Christian and inclined to promotion of both authoritarianism and a selfish isolationism).

                All an irony given it was founded as a constitutional republic, free of religious authority in government – albeit with a somewhat Christian faith society in the states.

  6. tsmithfield 6
    4 September 2024 at 11:03 am

    I am thinking the government may have caught a wave with the economy.

    Inflation and interest rates are coming down, and I expect by the time of the next election the economy will be cranking again. Of course, National will likely claim the credit for all this, as governments tend to do. But, in reality, I see it as just being in the right place at the right time, more than anything else. The same would likely be the case if there hadn't been a change in government.

    If this pans out as I expect, it will be a problem for an alternative government trying to argue that the current government has stuffed things up, economically, anyway.

    • Kay 6.1
      4 September 2024 at 11:48 am

      I will never understand why the 'economy' trumps everything else. Why to so many voters think that lower interest rates and inflation cancel out all the deliberate and sadistic societal damage being done?

      Clearly, it's not just the politicians who are self-centred and sociopathic, and completely devoid of empathy.

      • Michael Scott 6.1.1
        4 September 2024 at 5:11 pm

        The economy is critical because when businesses are doing well we collect more tax.

        Tax pays for benefits, health, education.

        One of the big jobs for our government is to create the conditions for new businesses to start and grow.

    • Bearded Git 6.2
      4 September 2024 at 12:47 pm

      I think that they have left it a bit late for the economy to be "cranking". The tiny interest rate cut has been seized upon by commentators as a saviour, the definitive turning point, but the economy is still flat lining and house prices still falling.

      Labour should run on a policy of a Wealth Tax or a Land Tax where EVERY CENT raised is to be spent on the health service.

      • tsmithfield 6.2.1
        4 September 2024 at 2:00 pm

        A couple of years is time enough for the economy to have well and truly turned. As I said, not necessarily because of anything the government has or hasn't done. But, just the phase it is in the cycle.

        A key indicator for me is my wife's soap business. She makes fancy soap and sells it at local markets. She is definitely on the discrecionay spending end of the market and has noticed things have really slowed down for her as the economy has slowed down.

        So, if she notices a major uptick in business, then probably the economy as a whole is going ok lol.

    • SPC 6.3
      4 September 2024 at 2:08 pm

      Maybe, but not one of these

      https://www.tiktok.com/@nicvonrupp/video/7394360946199743777

      To misquote James Carville, it’s the “size of the wave” (economy) stupid.

    • tWig 6.4
      4 September 2024 at 2:20 pm

      Highest number of business failures (700) in the last quarter since 2016, as cited on 1News. National, the party of business.

      “Hospitality liquidations were up 27% and were 2.2 times more likely to be liquidated than businesses as a whole.

      Transport liquidations were up 35% and construction 9%.

      Retail NZ’s recent Retail Radar quarterly survey which showed that 71% of members failed to meet sales targets last quarter and 42% of retailers were uncertain whether they could survive the next 12 months.”

      • Bearded Git 6.4.1
        4 September 2024 at 4:23 pm

        Exactly tWig….the economy has a long way to go to look buoyant.

        Luxon has misread this, along with just about everything else.

    • Muttonbird 6.5
      4 September 2024 at 8:31 pm

      As far as I can tell, the only concrete thing which may be attributed to the government, apart from having a lot of people fired in both public and private sectors, becoming a laughing stock in the eyes of Korean industry, is the official cash rate cut by 0.25%

      • Incognito 6.5.1
        4 September 2024 at 9:04 pm

        The OCR is not set by Government but by RBNZ, which is independent.

        • Muttonbird 6.5.1.1
          4 September 2024 at 9:36 pm

          Well,the RBNZ is statutorialy independent but the reality is murkier. See the tacit pressure brought upon them by politicians and their media industry expert proxies.

          The RBNZ had to respond to the idiocies of the CoC which just sacked 6-7% of the public workforce, in turn encouraging and necessitating the same or similar happen in the private sector.

          There’s been multiple daily calls for interest rate relief by RW media on behalf of their preferred politicians. The RBNZ is not independent of government and government publicists in that respect.