Open mike 05/07/2022

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 5th, 2022 - 53 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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53 comments on “Open mike 05/07/2022 ”

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  1. Adrian Thornton 1
    5 July 2022 at 8:17 am

    For anyone who is actually interested in the possible wider geo-political ramifications of the conflict in the Ukraine, or might be under the false impression that the USA care even one tiny bit about the Ukraine (outside of its geographical position) or the lives of Ukrainians, might want to take the time to watch one of the current insane neo-con engines behind the US stance in maintaining its world economic and military hegemony going forward….its probably worth taking note that if Trump gets back into power this madman will no doubt be right next to the levers of US power yet again.

    That being said, there are plenty of neo-con crazies in the Democratic party right now anyway…ultra-aggressive US world economic and military hegemony is something they can all agree on it seems…

    Since the madness of Russiagate, plenty of Liberal (imperialists) have proved they are quite OK with jumping into bed and cuddling up with the worst and most vile aspects of US power…so I assume that getting onto bed with Pompeo will pose no problems for them.

    • Ad 1.1
      5 July 2022 at 12:10 pm

      It's not comfortable viewing but most of what Pompeo says is pretty accurate for New Zealand's reliance on fossil fuels and hence our reaction to the invasion.

      If I ever have the time I will do a side-by-side comparison of Pompeo's speech with Ardern's to Chatham House.

    • Stuart Munro 1.2
      5 July 2022 at 12:37 pm

      Since the madness of Russiagate

      I think events have shown unequivocally that malicious interventions by Russia were and are very much a thing. The madness of Russiagate was that of the Putin dupes, who were determined to deny it.

      • Nic the NZer 1.2.1
        5 July 2022 at 1:10 pm

        Stuart, it will be a massive public service if you can release your evidence for the claim that Trump is a puppet of Vladimir Putin. Looks like he will run again so this is highly pertinent. The American people will thank you for your service as will I (in advance).

      • Adrian Thornton 1.2.2
        5 July 2022 at 1:13 pm

        You do understand that Liberals like you who still cling to the fantasy of Russia helping Trump become POTUS, thereby effectively calling the 2016 election a stolen election put you squarely and absolutely in the same camp as the Right Wing nut jobs who call the last election a stolen election right?…you are both one of the same…how does that feel?

        [How does it feel when you stop taking pot shots at others and stop flaming here? This is your only warning – Incognito]

        • Incognito 1.2.2.1
          5 July 2022 at 1:36 pm

          Mod note

        • Ad 1.2.2.2
          5 July 2022 at 4:56 pm

          1) George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, was arrested in July 2017 and pleaded guilty in October 2017 to making false statements to the FBI. He got a 14-day sentence.

          2) Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, was indicted on a total of 25 different counts by Mueller’s team, related mainly to his past work for Russia-backed Ukrainian politicians and their finances. He had two trials scheduled, and the first ended in a conviction on eight counts of financial crimes. To avert the second trial, Manafort struck a plea deal with Mueller in September 2018 (though Mueller’s team said in November that he breached that agreement by lying to them). He was sentenced to a combined seven and a half years in prison.

          3) Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and Manafort’s longtime junior business partner, was indicted on similar charges to Manafort. But in February 2018 he agreed to a plea deal with Mueller’s team, pleading guilty to just one false statements charge and one conspiracy charge. He was sentenced to 45 days in prison and 3 years of probation.

          4) Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements to the FBI. Failed to disclose massive engagement with Russian public clients.

          5-20) 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy charges, with some also being accused of identity theft. The charges related to a Russian propaganda effort designed to interfere with the 2016 campaign. The companies involved are the Internet Research Agency, often described as a “Russian troll farm,” and two other companies that helped finance it. The Russian nationals indicted include 12 of the agency’s employees and its alleged financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

          21) Richard Pinedo: This California man pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in connection with the Russian indictments, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 6 months of home detention in October 2018.

          22) Alex van der Zwaan: This London lawyer pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates and another unnamed person who was well know to be Russia-backed based in Ukraine. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and has completed his sentence.

          23) Konstantin Kilimnik: This longtime business associate of Manafort and Gates, who’s currently based in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in Manafort’s pending case last year.

          24-35) 12 Russian GRU officers: These officers of Russia’s military intelligence service were charged with crimes related to the hacking and leaking of leading Democrats’ emails in 2016.

          36) Michael Cohen: In August 2018, Trump’s former lawyer pleaded guilty to 8 counts — tax and bank charges, related to his finances and taxi business, and campaign finance violations — related to hush money payments to women who alleged affairs with Donald Trump, as part of a separate investigation in New York (that Mueller had handed off). But in November, he made a plea deal with Mueller too, for lying to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

          37) Roger Stone: In January 2019, Mueller indicted longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone on 7 counts. He accused Stone of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts to get in touch with WikiLeaks during the campaign, and tampering with a witness who could have debunked his story. He was convicted on all counts after a November 2019 trial.

          He's the guy who got his stuff from the Russian intelligence community, as detailed extensively in the Mueller Report.

          Finally, there is one other person Mueller initially investigated, but handed over to others in the Justice Department to charge: Sam Patten. This Republican operative and lobbyist pleaded guilty to not registering as a foreign agent with his work for Ukrainian political bigwigs, and agreed to cooperate with the government.

          38). Lev Parnas

          Up to his eyeballs in Russian money to enable Trump, funnelling through Stone the uber-bundler. Indicted. 20 months jail.

          Giuliani associate Lev Parnas is sentenced to 20 months in prison : NPR

          List of those indicted for crimes within the 2016 election:

          11 Trump associates have now been charged with crimes. 11! – CNNPolitics

        • Stuart Munro 1.2.2.3
          5 July 2022 at 5:22 pm

          the fantasy of Russia helping Trump become POTUS

          It seems to be the case that, following a request from Trump, Russia hacked Hilary's emails & put them on Wikileaks, where they became source material for FBI Director James Comey to announce investigations that were prejudicial to her election chances, against well-established protocol, and ultimately without sufficient substance to progress to prosecution.

          It is clear then that Russia did help Trump become POTUS – fantasy would be to suggest that they did not.

  2. Ed 2
    5 July 2022 at 8:30 am

    Excellent Adrian.

    Did you read Malcom Evan’s recent article on the Daily Blog?

    • Adrian Thornton 2.1
      5 July 2022 at 9:39 am

      I will have a read, thanks Ed.

      • Jenny how to get there 2.1.1
        5 July 2022 at 2:47 pm

        Hey Adrrian, I think you should read this too.

        https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/04/world/europe/russia-putin-arrests.html

        Here in New Zealand you are able to speak freely expressing a pro-invasion pro-Putin position. But in Russia, anyone who dares speak out against Putin or the war in Ukraine faces arrest.

        In Putin’s Russia, the Arrests Are Spreading Quickly and Widely

        One by one, Russians deemed insufficiently patriotic are being snatched up by security forces as the Kremlin tightens the noose.

        ….It appears to be a manifestation of President Putin’s declaration in the early weeks of his war in Ukraine that Russia needed to cleanse itself of pro-Western “scum and traitors,” and it is creating an unmistakable chill.

        …..None of the targets of the recent crackdown was an outspoken Kremlin critic; many of the loudest Putin opponents who chose to stay in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, like the politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, were already in jail…..

        I hope you do read this Adrian, it might make you consider what sort of regime you are supporting. It also might make you realise the why of the people of Ukraine who will never stop fighting for their independence from Russia, > If Russia can treat their own people like this, how much worse will they treat the people of Ukraine?

    • Sanctuary 2.2
      5 July 2022 at 1:19 pm

      You mean the regurgitated RT rubbish he spouts, complete with a bizarre cartoon the suggests NATO has somehow invaded Russia and is about to suffer the same fate as Napoleon and Hitler? That piece on blowhard Bradbury's site?

      Jeez you would have to have the memory of a goldfish and the judgement of Mike Tyson after his 20th tequila shot to get taken in by that sort of bullshit.

      • mikesh 2.2.1
        5 July 2022 at 4:35 pm

        Thwarting NATO's attempt to get itself up to the Russian border, via Ukraine, probably amounts to the same thing. Russia should perhaps issue its own 'Munro doctrine' to clarify.

        • Populuxe1 2.2.1.1
          5 July 2022 at 9:04 pm

          Um, Russia already shares borders with NATO – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and the US. And Turkey is only separated from Russia by Georgia – a tiny wafer thin after dinner mint of a country that Russia has already taken a bite of. As for 'Monroe Doctrine', is that some backhanded way of trying to justify the invasion of Ukraine?
          Anyway kinda effed that up by scaring Finland enough to join NATO, eh?

  3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3
    5 July 2022 at 9:25 am

    Mr Samuel told one worker he would arrange someone to cut off the man’s limbs and harm his family; a second was told to "prepare for his parents’ funeral in Sri Lanka".

    The ERA found the three employees had been grossly underpaid and Mr Samuel was ordered to pay wage arrears and penalties within a month.

    While Mr Samuel claimed his actions were "inadvertent and unintentional", ERA chief Andrew Dallas said that was overwhelmingly disproved by the evidence.

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/businessman-forced-sell-house-pay-abused-staff

    P.O.S . Slaver employers NZ. Great to see some consequence for this particular scumbag.! There are more out there. Fight back ! Kia Kaha

    • Adrian Thornton 3.1
      5 July 2022 at 9:57 am

      Yeah, it has been interesting and quite amusing to watch the local HB growers (nearly all corporates now…sadly), scramble for workers post covid and somehow all of a sudden find that, actually they can afford to pay probably the most physically hard working members of our community something close to what they are worth…these same growers have been grossly under paying and exploiting local pickers, thinners and packers for the past twenty years while cynically exploiting our Pacific brothers and Sisters to suppress wages…all under the watchful eye of both Labour and National…for as I mentioned, over twenty long years.

      Its shameful to say the least, but then what else should we really expect from these Free Market Ideologues in both Labour and National?

    • Stuart Munro 3.2
      5 July 2022 at 12:41 pm

      It's good of course that he's been convicted – but until these slavers, who should never have been allowed into NZ, lose their residency and are sent home in disgrace, these practices, often in a strange collusion with exploitable workers that could not ordinarily qualify for residence, will continue.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.2.1
        5 July 2022 at 12:52 pm

        Hi Stuart, yes its a sad indictment how they also prey on their OWN People. Quite sure its because, like predators, they smell fear, "weakness" and desperation .

        And indeed kick them out…and if the exploited and abused are allgood..replace these scum's residency with theirs.

        I have met all types in my life…..luckily the Good outweigh the bad.

        Cheers

      • Craig H 3.2.2
        5 July 2022 at 1:11 pm

        In theory deportation is an option if they haven't obtained citizenship or been a resident for 10 years. If that's the case here, hopefully it gets pushed along that track. In the meantime though, loss of a house and most of the money from the sale is a powerful message.

      • Adrian Thornton 3.2.3
        5 July 2022 at 6:01 pm

        Those "slavers" are actually the low hanging fruit IMO, but I guess they are brown with little to no power in NZ so easy to pick off with no danger of any local industry blowback…however the bigger picture is exactly that industry that had been openly exploiting tens of thousands of NZ workers from one end of NZ to the other for two decades..where was your outrage over that?

        • Stuart Munro 3.2.3.1
          5 July 2022 at 6:24 pm

          Most of my outrage was of course reserved for the slave ship operators, and the subhuman filth in both major parties who supported (and still support!) that practice.

          The wage thieves are indeed low-hanging fruit – and conspicuously remain unplucked by the surviving colleagues of Roger Douglas. Labour have a long hard road back from rank hypocrisy – and their Gnat colleagues have had a free ride since the 90s. But working people are not deceived, nor are they amused.

  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    5 July 2022 at 9:37 am

    Nine people who risked their lives in acts of great bravery during the Christchurch terror attacks will be recognised at a special ceremony in the city today.

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/heroes-mosque-attacks-be-honoured-today

    Brave Indeed. Gives me a feeling of pride…that NZ is recognising these Individuals…and posthumously for some. Much Respect !

  5. Gosman 5
    5 July 2022 at 10:12 am

    Thje Matthew Tukaki situation is getting more bizarre by the minute. I was unaware that he had left the National Maori Council under a cloud AND that he is not only refusing to return hardware but also won't reliquish the control of the Website. He also misrepresented his role at the Council which was one of 7 elected board and did not have the authority to speak on behalf the entire council. How he got high profile government roles based on his behavious is astounding.

    • Peter 5.1
      5 July 2022 at 11:25 am

      So many questions about his qualifications, qualities and actions eh? He got to where he got regardless.

      Imagine if he'd been living in a country of 330 million how high he could have risen.

    • joe90 5.2
      5 July 2022 at 11:45 am

      No apologies for Tukaki and his dodgy AF CV, but can you name anyone else stood up on national TV for being ill-qualified for the position they were appointed to?

      And speaking of un-returned hardware, surely it's just a coding error..

    • DavidJ 5.3
      5 July 2022 at 3:01 pm

      Yes it's bizarre, and all very unfortunate. But so was TV1's breathless leading of this on their 6pm news as if they'd uncovered who really shot JFK.

      Martyn Bradbury wrote this piece that is both humorous and on point.

      • Belladonna 5.3.1
        5 July 2022 at 7:36 pm

        Link not working – I think this is the correct one – please correct, if I'm wrong.

        https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/07/04/mediawatch-tvnzs-weird-character-assasination-of-matthew-tukaki/

      • Belladonna 5.3.2
        5 July 2022 at 7:44 pm

        Very unfortunate comparison –

        "This TVNZ newsroom have already destroyed the career of Kamahl Santamaria,"

        It seems apparent (from the reported complaints) that Santamaria had a long history of making sexually explicit comments to junior female co-workers – and it didn't stop when he arrived in NZ. To imply that his firing was a hatchet job cooked up by envious co-workers is a bridge too far. Time that Bradbury recognized that that kind of behaviour is not appropriate in the 21st centry – whatever may have been the situation when he cut his teeth as a baby reporter in the 80s.

        And, a really unfortunate juxtaposition – as it immediately makes me (and possibly others) wonder what else is going on with Tukaki.

        • Populuxe1 5.3.2.1
          5 July 2022 at 9:15 pm

          Did you expect the misogynist swamp of the Daily Blog to be anything other than a HeMan Woman-Haters Club of brocialist dinosaurs? You amaze me.

        • DavidJ 5.3.2.2
          6 July 2022 at 10:55 am

          I see your point about Kamahl Santamaria. I had actually read that comment by Martyn Bradbury to be a criticism of TVNZ's recruitment process rather than a defence of Kamahl Santamaria. My bad.

          "as it immediately makes me (and possibly others) wonder what else is going on with Tukaki."

          That's a fair comment. My remarks we based on the face of what I saw in the TVNZ piece. It felt, as Martyn Bradbury claimed, 'personal'. It will be interesting to see if TVNZ have any more.

  6. Anker 6
    5 July 2022 at 10:15 am

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/114832270/jeff-bell-cartoons

    geoff Bells cartoon sums up the sentiments that many health professionals are expressing

  7. Poission 7
    5 July 2022 at 3:45 pm

    Treasury released the updated financial statement for 11 months ending may.

    Take home points are

    Gross debt at $117.8 billion (33.1% of GDP), was $3.0 billion higher than forecast. This is owing to the issuance of $1.4 billion in euro-commercial paper, derivative liabilities being greater than forecast by $0.9 billion and treasury bills being $0.4 billion higher than forecast.

    Total borrowings were $202.6 billion, $8.6 billion higher than forecast. The increase is largely owing to the variance in gross debt mentioned above, an increase in the value of derivatives in loss held outside of the core Crown ($2.5 billion), Kāinga Ora borrowing being $1.0 billiongreater than forecast and the higher level of settlement deposits held with the Reserve Bank($2.8 billion).

    There was a 4b$ hit on investments from NZS and ACC (more to come when June included) Underexpenditure is in Health (due to cancelled ops due to covid),and delays in capital expenditure.

    Interest rate increase will start to occur as debt is renewed at higher rates and the holding of 19b$ in inflation bonds are correctly marked up.

    https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/2207/FSG_11_months_2022.pdf

  8. Poission 8
    5 July 2022 at 4:06 pm

    Transpower low residual generation warning 5-7 pm tonight,( around 20% risk)

    https://www.transpower.co.nz/sites/default/files/interfaces/can/CAN%20Low%20Residual%20Situation%204389766275.pdf

    • Ad 8.1
      5 July 2022 at 5:46 pm

      Is it correct that following the blackout and review late last year, that Transpower is getting better at managing the tight moments across the grid?

      20% risk of whatever doesn't sound inordinate.

      • Poission 8.1.1
        5 July 2022 at 6:02 pm

        They are more responsive to communicating risk,(there is substantive risk in wind forecast +/- 50mw) and it also allows for idled generation to come onstream.

        It was a national warning (some hydro unavailable) and at 5pm the South Island only had 15mw of fast reserve.SI thermal from idled dairy etc,fired up and reserves came back up to 45mw.

        The generation risk is for a generator or transmission pathway tripping (even for a short period) when the network cascade commences.

        The NI gas peaker started,as well as an increase in wind of around( 50mw) so SI (north)transmission declined 150mw for SI peak.

        • Ad 8.1.1.1
          5 July 2022 at 6:50 pm

          That's beginning to sound like yes.

          Are there consumer price signals to go with this risk? Or is that solely between Generators and Transpower?

          • Poission 8.1.1.1.1
            5 July 2022 at 7:07 pm

            The main fast reserves already are paid to be on stand by (whether operating or not) and where the ungenerated cost is already priced in.Larger users can also dial down demand,by adjusting heating levels etc.

            The spot market only moved by around 45$mw,and the full spot pricing was around 200-250 $ mw less then OZ at comparative times.The demand risk constraints is a three way movement between major users,generators,and Transpower.