Open mike 05/01/2025
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6:00 am, January 5th, 2025 - 29 comments
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- What Trump’s second inauguration means for us
Last night I spoke about the second inauguration of Donald Trump with in a ‘pop-up’ Hoon live video chat on the Substack app on phones.Here’s the summary of the lightly edited video above:Trump's actions signify a shift away from international law.The imposition of tariffs could lead to increased inflation ...2 hours ago - Growing Auckland
An interesting article in Stuff a few weeks ago asked a couple of interesting questions in it’s headline, “How big can Auckland get? And how big is too big?“. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t really answer those questions, instead focusing on current growth projections, but there were a few aspects to ...2 hours ago - “That would never happen here!”
Today is Donald J Trump’s second inauguration ceremony.I try not to follow too much US news, and yet these developments are noteworthy and somehow relevant to us here.Only hours in, parts of their Project 2025 ‘think/junk tank’ policies — long planned and signalled — are already live:And Elon Musk, who ...11 hours ago - Finally
Back in March, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier resigned after hitting the age limit for his office. And now, almost a year later, parliament has finally gotten around to appointing a replacement: John Richard Allen is likely to take over the role of chief ombudsman from Peter Boshier, who still ...18 hours ago - Close To The Edge.
California Burning: The veteran firefighters of California and Los Angeles called it “a perfect storm”. The hillsides and canyons were full of “fuel”. The LA Fire Department was underfunded, below-strength, and inadequately-equipped. A key reservoir was empty, leaving fire-hydrants without the water pressure needed for fire hoses. The power companies had ...19 hours ago - Sabotaging te Tiriti
The Waitangi Tribunal has been one of the most effective critics of the government, pointing out repeatedly that its racist, colonialist policies breach te Tiriti o Waitangi. While it has no powers beyond those of recommendation, its truth-telling has clearly gotten under the government's skin. They had already begun to ...20 hours ago
- National Hugging Day
I don't mind where you come fromAs long as you come to meBut I don't like illusionsI can't see them clearlyI don't care, no I wouldn't dareTo fix the twist in youYou've shown me eventually what you'll doSong: Shimon Moore, Emma Anzai, Antonina Armato, and Tim James.National Hugging Day.Today, January ...22 hours ago - Rwanda’s Kagame: from Saviour to Tyrant?
Is Rwanda turning into a country that seeks regional dominance and exterminates its rivals? This is a contention examined by Dr Michela Wrong, and Dr Maria Armoudian. Dr Wrong is a journalist who has written best-selling books on Africa. Her latest, Do Not Disturb. The story of a political murder ...22 hours ago - NZ now frozen, listless, mean & hopeless
The economy isn’t cooperating with the Government’s bet that lower interest rates will solve everything, with most metrics indicating per-capita GDP is still contracting faster and further than at any time since the 1990-96 series of government spending and welfare cuts. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short in ...23 hours ago - Welcome to American Hell
Hi,Today is the day sexual assaulter and alleged rapist Donald Trump officially became president (again).I was in a meeting for three hours this morning, so I am going to summarise what happened by sharing my friend’s text messages:So there you go.Welcome to American hell — which includes all of America’s ...1 day ago - Moving away from high-end emissions scenarios
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink I have a new paper out today in the journal Dialogues on Climate Change exploring both the range of end-of-century climate outcomes in the literature under current policies and the broader move away from high-end emissions scenarios. Current policies are defined broadly as policies in ...1 day ago - A silver lining for cycling?
Long story short: I chatted last night with ’s on the substack app about the appointment of Chris Bishop to replace Simeon Brown as Transport Minister. We talked through their different approaches and whether there’s much room for Bishop to reverse many of the anti-cycling measures Brown adopted.Our chat ...1 day ago
- Will swapping Shane Reti for Simeon Brown make any difference?
Last night I chatted with Northland emergency doctor on the substack app for subscribers about whether the appointment of Simeon Brown to replace Shane Reti as Health Minister. We discussed whether the new minister can turn around decades of under-funding in real and per-capita terms. Our chat followed his ...1 day ago
- The cabinet metastasises
Christopher Luxon is every dismal boss who ever made you wince, or roll your eyes, or think to yourself I have absolutely got to get the hell out of this place.Get a load of what he shared with us at his cabinet reshuffle, trying to be all sensitive and gracious.Dr ...2 days ago - Puberty blockers
The text of my submission to the Ministry of Health's unnecessary and politicised review of the use of puberty blockers for young trans and nonbinary people in Aotearoa. ...2 days ago - Why the TikTok Ban Was Just a Stunt
Hi,Last night one of the world’s biggest social media platforms, TikTok, became inaccessible in the United States.Then, today, it came back online.Why should we care about a social network that deals in dance trends and cute babies? Well — TikTok represents a lot more than that.And its ban and subsequent ...2 days ago - Arrange and Rearrange
Sometimes I wake in the middle of the nightAnd rub my achin' old eyesIs that a voice from inside-a my headOr does it come down from the skies?"There's a time to laugh butThere's a time to weepAnd a time to make a big change"Wake-up you-bum-the-time has-comeTo arrange and re-arrange and ...2 days ago - Luxon flicks Reti’s hospital pass to Brown
Former Health Minister Shane Reti was the main target of Luxon’s reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short to start the year in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate: Christopher Luxon fired Shane Reti as Health Minister and replaced him with Simeon Brown, who Luxon sees ...2 days ago - Can we have a normal Minister of Transport now?
Yesterday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a cabinet reshuffle, which saw Simeon Brown picking up the Health portfolio as it’s been taken off Dr Shane Reti, and Transport has been given to Chris Bishop. Additionally, Simeon’s energy and local government portfolios now sit with Simon Watts. This is very good ...2 days ago
- Signs of panic
The sacking of Health Minister Shane Reti yesterday had an air of panic about it. A media advisory inviting journalists to a Sunday afternoon press conference at Premier House went out on Saturday night. Caucus members did not learn that even that was happening until yesterday morning. Reti’s fate was ...2 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Rise Of Simeon Brown
Yesterday’s demotion of Shane Reti was inevitable. Reti’s attempt at a re-assuring bedside manner always did have a limited shelf life, and he would have been a poor and apologetic salesman on the campaign trail next year. As a trained doctor, he had every reason to be looking embarrassed about ...2 days ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #03
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 12, 2025 thru Sat, January 18, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...3 days ago
- The ‘Martin With Thirty-One Queens’ Chess Challenge
After another substantial hiatus from online Chess, I’ve been taking it up again. I am genuinely terrible at five-minute Blitz, what with the tight time constraints, though I periodically con myself into thinking that I have been improving. But seeing as my past foray into Chess led to me having ...3 days ago - Don’t You Know Who I Am?
Rise up o children wont you dance with meRise up little children come and set me freeRise little ones riseNo shame no fearDon't you know who I amSongwriter: Rebecca Laurel FountainI’m sure you know the go with this format. Some memories, some questions, letsss go…2015A decade ago, I made the ...3 days ago - In Defence of Golriz Ghahraman
In 2017, when Ghahraman was elected to Parliament as a Green MP, she recounted both the highlights and challenges of her role -There was love, support, and encouragement.And on the flipside, there was intense, visceral and unchecked hate.That came with violent threats - many of them. More on that later.People ...3 days ago - Too tiny to matter; enough to change everything
It gives me the biggest kick to learn that something I’ve enthused about has been enough to make you say Go on then, I'm going to do it. The e-bikes, the hearing aids, the prostate health, the cheese puffs. And now the solar power. Yes! Happy to share the details.We ...3 days ago - Fact brief – Can CO2 be ignored because it’s just a trace gas?
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- Bastards Abound
The old bastard left his ties and his suitA brown box, mothballs and bowling shoesAnd his opinion so you'd never have to choosePretty soon, you'll be an old bastard tooYou get smaller as the world gets bigThe more you know you know you don't know shit"The whiz man" will never ...4 days ago - Latest Poll- Nats in a slo-mo death spiral?
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The state of the current economy may be similar to when National left office in 2017.In December, a couple of days after the Treasury released its 2024 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HEYFU24), Statistics New Zealand reported its estimate for volume GDP for the previous September 24 quarter. Instead ...5 days ago - Handbags and Gladrags
So what becomes of you, my love?When they have finally stripped you ofThe handbags and the gladragsThat your poor old granddadHad to sweat to buy you, babySongwriter: Mike D'aboIn yesterday’s newsletter, I expressed sadness at seeing Golriz Ghahraman back on the front pages for shoplifting. As someone who is no ...5 days ago - Weekly Roundup 17-January-2025
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Open access notables Long-term trends in heat wave gaps for the New York City metropolitan area, Lin & Colle, Urban Climate: Heat waves occurring in close succession to one another are hazardous because of the prolonged stress on the human body and energy demand. A heat wave gap metric, the ...6 days ago
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The final Atlas Network playbook puzzle piece is here, and it slipped in to Aotearoa New Zealand with little fan fare or attention. The implications are stark.Today, writes Dr Bex, the submission for the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill closes: 11:59pm January 16, 2025.As usual, the language of the ...6 days ago - Not getting any younger
Excitement in the seaside village! Look what might be coming! 400 million dollars worth of investment! In the very beating heart of the village! Are we excited and eager to see this happen, what with every last bank branch gone and shops sitting forlornly quiet awaiting a customer?Yes please, apply ...6 days ago - Political societies and economic preferences.
Much discussion has been held over the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB), the latest in a series of rightwing attempts to enshrine into law pro-market precepts such as the primacy of private property ownership. Underneath the good governance and economic efficiency gobbledegook language of the Bill is an interest to strip ...6 days ago - Submission on Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill
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Hit the road Jack and don't you come backNo more, no more, no more, no moreHit the road Jack and don't you come back no moreWhat you say?Songwriters: Percy MayfieldMorena,I keep many of my posts, like this one, paywall-free so that everyone can read them.However, please consider supporting me as ...7 days ago - Review: The Narnia books, by C.S. Lewis (1950-1956) – Part One
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, I was not planning on writing anything about them… but as A Phuulish Fellow ...1 week ago - Sabin 33 #11 – Is solar energy more expensive than energy from fossil fuels?
On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...1 week ago
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Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...1 week ago
- No one could save me but you
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...1 week ago - The disinformation grift in NZ.
A while back I was engaged in an unpleasant exchange with a leader of the most well-known NZ anti-vax group and several like-minded trolls. I had responded to a racist meme on social media in which a rightwing podcaster in the US interviewed one of the leaders of the Proud ...1 week ago
- Anna Wilding, Bullshit Master
Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...1 week ago - Summertime in Aotearoa
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...1 week ago - 2024 sets some new road safety records
Last year, 292 people died unnecessarily on our roads. That is the lowest result in over a decade and only the fourth time in the last 70 years we’ve seen fewer than 300 deaths in a calendar year. Yet, while it is 292 people too many, with each death being ...1 week ago
- The role of climate change in the catastrophic 2025 Los Angeles fires
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a building at Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire had destroyed thousands of structures and ...1 week ago
- Submission on Regulatory Standards Bill
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Regulatory Standards Bill, as I understand it, seeks to bind parliament to a specific range of law-making.For example, it seems to ensure primacy of individual rights over that of community, environment, te Tiriti ...1 week ago - There’s a solution in there, there really is
Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...1 week ago - Hamilton Central Station: Britomart 2.0
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...1 week ago
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For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...1 week ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #02
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...1 week ago
- Gordon Campbell On The History Of Doo Wop Music
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...1 week ago
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The future teaches you to be aloneThe present to be afraid and coldSo if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists…And if you tolerate thisThen your children will be nextSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Do you remember at school, studying the rise ...1 week ago - Elon Musk Adores Chris Luxon
When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...1 week ago - American Carnage
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...1 week ago
- Careless Memories
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...2 weeks ago - A Bully of Billionaires
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...2 weeks ago - Weekly Roundup 10-January-2025
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...2 weeks ago
- L.A. Burns
2 weeks ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #2 2025
Open access notables Large emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications: Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...2 weeks ago
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- 300,000!
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...2 weeks ago
- Who’s Getting Annexed?
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...2 weeks ago - Exploring the drivers of modern global warming
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink Global surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time. These include CO2, which is the primary ...2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
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Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...2 weeks ago
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2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...2 weeks ago
- Pumpkin Day
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...22 hours ago - Release: Cabinet reshuffle a futile exercise from failing government
National's Cabinet reshuffle is a futile attempt to turn around a failing government. ...1 day ago - Greens welcome Gaza ceasefire, but say more work to do
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour mourns passing of Dame Tariana Turia
Ka kohukohu te awa o Whanganui!Ka tau te kākahu taratara ki runga I te maunga o Whānau Ora!Ka tangi hotuhotu tō iwi Māori! ...1 week ago
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Labour expresses its shock and sadness at the death of widely respected Police Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming. ...1 week ago
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The Green Party welcomes the extension of the deadline for Treaty Principles Bill submissions but continues to call on the Government to abandon the Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party acknowledges the enormous life, contribution and passing of Dame Tariana (Kahurangi) Turia, the co-founder of Te Pāti Māori. ...3 weeks ago
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Complaints about disruptive behaviour now handled in around 13 days (down from around 60 days a year ago) 553 Section 55A notices issued by Kāinga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period in the previous year. Of that 553, first notices made up around 83 ...2 weeks ago - 80% reduction in building determination wait times
The time it takes to process building determinations has improved significantly over the last year which means fewer delays in homes being built, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has a persistent shortage of houses. Making it easier and quicker for new homes to be built will ...2 weeks ago
- Top baby names for 2024
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is pleased to announce the annual list of New Zealand’s most popular baby names for 2024. “For the second consecutive year, Noah has claimed the top spot for boys with 250 babies sharing the name, while Isla has returned to the most popular ...2 weeks ago
- Enabling works to begin on Westgate Bus Station
Work is set to get underway on a new bus station at Westgate this week. A contract has been awarded to HEB Construction to start a package of enabling works to get the site ready in advance of main construction beginning in mid-2025, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“A new Westgate ...2 weeks ago
- A nationwide shift towards acting together to stop family and sexual violence
Minister for Children and for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is encouraging people to use the resources available to them to get help, and to report instances of family and sexual violence amongst their friends, families, and loved ones who are in need. “The death of a ...2 weeks ago
- He poroporoaki ki a Kahurangi Tariana Turia
Uia te pō, rangahaua te pō, whakamāramatia mai he aha tō tango, he aha tō kāwhaki? Whitirere ki te ao, tirotiro kau au, kei hea taku rātā whakamarumaru i te au o te pakanga mo te mana motuhake? Au te pō, ngū te pō, ue hā! E te kahurangi māreikura, ...3 weeks ago
- New qualification a step forward for diabetes care
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says people with diabetes and other painful conditions will benefit from a significant new qualification to boost training in foot care. “It sounds simple, but quality and regular foot and nail care is vital in preventing potentially serious complications from diabetes, like blisters or sores, which can take a long time to heal ...3 weeks ago
- Buyers have more power in ‘deep’ property downturn, new figures show
REINZ stats show sales down 27.4 percent in December compared to November and up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. ...1 hour ago - It’s science, not fiction: high-tech drones may soon be fighting bushfires in Australia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marta Yebra, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Australian National University Picture this. It’s a summer evening in Australia. A dry lightning storm is about to sweep across remote, tinder-dry bushland. The next day is forecast to be hot and windy. A lightning strike ...1 hour ago - ‘Should I let my kid play Roblox?’ New safety features reduce risks – but more are needed
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher, Digital Literacy and Digital Wellbeing, Western Sydney University Wachiwit/Shutterstock Roblox isn’t just another video game – it’s a massive virtual universe where nearly 90 million people from around the world create, play and socialise. This includes some 34 ...1 hour ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University Dragana Gordic/Shutterstock Anecdotal reports from some professionals have prompted concerns about young people using prescription benzodiazepines such as Xanax for recreational use. Border force detections of ...1 hour ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Lundy, Lecturer in Management, Edith Cowan University Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock It’s been a significant day for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the United States. Such initiatives are about providing equality of opportunity and a sense of being valued ...1 hour ago
- What challenges does 2025 have in store for the local screen industry?
Filmmaker Ahmed Osman reflects on the many challenges the screen industry is facing this year – and what needs to change. I grew up in front of the TV. For me, it was more than just background noise: it was connection. Shows like bro’Town, Street Legal, and Outrageous Fortune weren’t ...1 hour ago - New Zealand Government Moves To Scrap Regulations That Constrain Corporate Profit
The government last year created a new Ministry for Regulation, with ACT leader David Seymour in charge, to review regulations and, in Seymour’s words, “to look for red tape to cut.” ...2 hours ago - History under the floorboards: decoding the diets of institutionalised women in 19th century Sydney
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kimberley Connor, Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks photographed in 1871, when the building served as a women’s immigration depot and asylum. City of Sydney Archives. Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks was built between 1817 and ...2 hours ago
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Finance Minister Nicola Willis was recently given the new responsibility of economic growth minister. ...2 hours ago
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The time may be coming to lock in a longer rate, here's how you can spot it. ...2 hours ago
- NZ’s climate policies are no longer enough to keep warming at 1.5°C – here’s what needs to ha...
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It's hard to escape the conclusion that Trump intends to crash the US economy (and, as the saying goes, when the US sneezes, the world catches cold) and the world economy, for selfish reasons of his and his billionaire backers!
His pick for head of the IRS seems to back up this conclusion! 19 mins long.
What we (us bottom feeders) should be doing is talking about ways we can somehow weather the coming storm!
"Trump intends to crash the US economy".
Why on earth do you think that this is Trump's intention and how do you expect him to gain by doing so?
There was no evidence from his first term of any such intention and certainly no evidence of it happening. After all, until the advent of Covid 19 which hit in the second quarter of 2020, the US economy was going along very nicely. The unemployment rate, which had been declining steadily since 2010, continued to drop from about 4.7% in January 2016 to about 3.6% in January 2020. It then rose with the advent of Covid. For three years however it had dropped steadily. If Trump didn't crash the economy in his first term why should he do it now? It is hard to see how he could possibly gain by such a move.
https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm
The
It will be particularly annoying if Trump actually does a good job.
In just 48 hours we'll start to find out.
If anyone can do a good job with that selection of nominees to Cabinet …
It's basically a rejection of the need for a CV to demonstrate suitability for the job.
48 hours?
No it won't. For the sake of all Americans (poor, rich, old, young, workers, artists) I hope he does a great job. And peace doe Ukraine.
What happens in 48 hours? He doesn't become President until 20th January.
I'm not greatly concerned by whatever might happen to the economy. That said I expect that Trump will be in it to make sure that he gets to be very, very rich. Why should Musk be so much richer than Trump? That is a problem for the people of the US though, even if it won't change things for most of them. After all, even if Trump ends up with a couple of hundred billion It isn't really that much in an economy as large as that of the US.
What scares me about him is that he might pull out of NATO, or the WHO or OPEC. I really don't want to think about what Putin might do in the Eastern states of NATO or in Ukraine if Trump decides that Putin can do anything he likes as far as the US is concerned.
USA is not part of OPEC, nor OPEC+.
Sorry. Fat fingers. I meant APEC not OPEC.
Please get a QWERTY keyboard ASAP.
Actually I am using an AZERTY keyboard at the moment. It suits my current needs better.
Right you are alwyn. My general sentiments too. What I find so ironic is that the section of the population that is likely to be the big losers voted for him. On that basis that get what they deserve.
Billionaires and multi-millionaires with ready cash do very well out of a crash! John Paul Getty spent the 30th October 1929 buying stock on Wall Street!
Trump only cares about himself and his billionaire backers!
But . . . time will tell!
He wouldn't have been a very happy man if that was the case and he hung on to the shares you suggest he bought,
The Dow-Jones average in November 1929 was 238.95. It bottomed out in June 1932 when it was at 42.84. If he had bought shares that matched the index he would have lost 82% of his money.
That is, the shares he spent a dollar on on 30 October 1929 would have dropped to 18 cents in June 1932. Would you say that was doing very well out of a crash?
Ah, a literal mind!
Getty bought up big in oil and transport stocks during the 1929 crash – maybe just not the day after!
The point remains – even if you refuse to see it – cashed up people do well in a crash!
The 'Trump Train'?
Seems to me, more like a Clown Car
Clowns role are to distract the audience when things go wrong so clown school is about to commence.
How to despoil the environment and get away with it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360518645/fines-environmental-offending-never-get-paid
"Some $24 million in fines for environmental offences have been dished out over the past 10 years, but an unknown chunk of that will never be paid because court staff have decided to remit it.
The fines were imposed for a variety of relatively minor to major environmental offending, following 566 prosecutions by 16 regional councils or territorial authorities under the Resource Management Act."
When I worked with Environmental Law I had access to the regular digest of Environment Court decisions and I was amazed at the frequency of prosecutions of farming companies for repeated breaches of the regulations relating to pollution of land and water. Prosecution was the last resort – not the first, and these offences were repeated several times.
Like wage theft – the Limited Liability Company legislation allows exploiters and polluters the ability to get away with criminality – and others (in these cases the Ratepayers) meet the costs.
The ICC has issued warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant – for crimes against humanity and war crimes (there has been no determination of genocide).
The position of nation states on this matter.
New Zealand is seen as compliance alone. Australia as non- committal.
https://www.justsecurity.org/105064/mapping-state-reactions-icc/
The US will either threaten the ICC or ignore it, because it doesn't accord with the rules based order.
They didn't get much done about Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah either as far as I can see.
A question for the sailors. Would the ferries the previous government had on order, cope with the current Cook Strait weather?
Short answer, yes, just like the current all previous Cook Strait ferries.
Ferry sailings that are cancelled due to the weather will be mainly due to comfort and safety of the passengers. The most hazardous part of the journey is the entrance to Tory channel, which can be bypassed by Queen Charlotte sound should the weather conditions be too bad. Unless you really are a seasoned sailor, the Cook Strait is very unpleasant in the weather we have in Wellington today.
Were the new ferries not to be larger and more stable. Thus capable of coping with bigger seas?
Okay I do understand where you’re coming from. Yes a much larger ship with the latest stabilisation technology will be more comfortable for passengers than the current ships, but only when sailing into the sea. Sailing from Wellington harbour to Tory channel, ships are beam on to the sea. Depending on wind direction, speed, tides and differing weather systems in the Pacific Ocean and Tasman sea, the passage across the Cook Strait is pretty tricky due to the very rough and unpredictable swells. Ships can handle the conditions, up to a point, but the comfort and safety passengers will be a priority.
Ships are like planes. Larger planes can handle poor weather better. Eg in crosswind landings the threshold of wind speed is higher for large planes than smaller.
Thanks for that.
So, short of ocean going craft, there will always be issues.
Not quite, irrespective of how large or modern the ship is sailing beam on to the sea is uncomfortable at best. Ocean going ships will change their course to sail into the sea. This is not an option when crossing cook strait.
The other issue with cook strait is the unpredictable undersea currents, along with tides and winds. The weather conditions today makes for unpredictable seas, usually in rough seas you get a feel for the conditions and can see changes in the waves and can spot the larger wave, and sailing into the sea it’s not really a problem. In the cook strait you are sailing beam on to the sea, and can get hit by unexpected waves, if the conditions are bad enough ships can get swamped by the waves.
The next problem is the entrance to Tory channel, it’s very narrow and does require fairly precise navigation. Considering today’s weather, I’d happily take landing at Wellington airport, before taking a ferry crossing.
The near run-up to the Tory channel is not such a problem, in my experience
Much less affected by southerly swells than Wellington Harbour entrance by a long shot.
If a wider beam ferry lifts the tolerable average swell height with a beam-on sea running by only a metre, that's going to reduce the number of cancellations a lot.
Meantime – check out what Willis and the CoC has deprived us of . . . .
KiwiRail's new Interislander ferry explained. 21 Jun, 2023 05:00 AM
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/video/kiwirails-new-interislander-ferry-explained/FJPTEV5KNIOUAK3W6CWQXCJTP4/
Not just here, folks:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/05/eyewatering-100m-spent-on-repairs-in-scotlands-ferry-fiasco-over-past-decade