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6:00 am, August 7th, 2024 - 44 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
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Step up to the mike …
At 17.53 BST, The Guardian reports live, 'of a list that has circulated widely on social media over the last 48 hours, which consists of the purported names and locations of various offices relating to immigration and asylum services around the country.'
The message from Starmer is of throttling down ‘thugs’, while Elon Musk is twittering about ‘2-tier Keir’, a Farage catch-phrase that implies arrested ‘thugs’ are being treated worse by the law than other protesters, and asylum seekers.
The world now knows that Musk is seeking the political protection of right wing government for corporate monopoly power and in return is organising mob violence against the (secular left) society order – this explains his investment in Twitter.
The new Murdoch.
Great news from te US of A.
Tim Walz gets Harris nod for VP
In a blow for the pro-Zionist lobby, previous front runner,, Genocide Josh misses out on his bid for the role.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4813631-minnesota-governor-tim-walz-2024-campaign/
So who is Tim Walz?
Can't think of a better clip than this:
Tim Walz being hugged by the kids when signing the bill for free breakfast and lunch at schools
https://x.com/ErickFernandez/status/1820693595076075719
So who is Kamala Harris?
Can't think of a better clip than this:
Kamala Harris VP of the USA explaining to everyone what her government is going to do to fix the inflation problem.
Sorry, but I don't feed trolls.
But chew away on this:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/inflation-rate
How has the two-tier policing myth become widespread?
The Labour/Green/Te Pati Maori coalition needs to come out and state that if any % of Kiwibank is sold, it will be renationlised without compensation.
And then make a firm commitment to investing to the point where it starts to hurt the big 3.
…. and make it the government's banker instead of "Pestwhack".
+100 as a loyal customer
+100 as a Foundation Customer![cheeky cheeky](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/tongue_smile.png)
Way to go, Labour.
Far more effective if everyone closed their Kiwibank accounts causing a run on the bank and rendering it worthless.
Put this down in the "things that will never happen" category.
And in any event what does Kiwibank give consumers that other banks don't. Its hardly a stand out performer:
https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/who-can-you-bank-on-consumer-nz-reveals-2024-s-best-and-worst-banks
If only it was a 'proper' publicly owned bank rather than another bank just like all the others, existing to make a monetary profit.
At least we're the shareholders I suppose. But it could and should be so much more.
Bizarrely, Musk sues companies for boycotting X. You MUST buy my product, how does that even make sense?
It will be an interesting one. Collusion among a group of companies to disadvantage another would be a breach of US anti-trust laws, especially if it also disadvantages the colluding companies' own shareholders, but good luck trying to prove that in court.
[Please fix the typo in your email address, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
Musks a very useful tool in stoking the culture wars and generating headlines with his entitled behaviour.
I expect the Mexican government is equally bewildered. (Search on keywords "Odyssey" "Marine" and "Mexican" – so many articles to choose from.) Are they a sovereign nation or not? Maybe only when a US firm wants them to be.
Did you even read the article your own link points too?
How about this for the Democrats' campaign song? (Listen to the words.)
(Tried to embed the actual video, as several people here seem able to, but can’t seem to find the trick for doing it.)
Shoutout to Waltz as being a guy fully committed to labour rights, including standing on the picket line with auto workers in Plymouth Minnesota. He also signed a very pro-worker labour-supportive bill with a wish list that other US workers envy including paid sick days, bans non-compete agreements, boosts funding for safety inspectors, stronger protection for nursing home workers and Amazon warehouses, and meatpackers, construction sites, hospitals, and public schools.
Also he's an x teacher so he's engaged in depth with young people and their families.
I think the last time the progressive wing of the Democrats had a proper champion was before Bill Clinton's corporate donor team scorched them away.
It's encouraging.
And he has done more than that! Just a few of his progressive wins:
Walz signed a law ensuring 20 weeks of paid family and medical leave; signed a law protecting abortion rights in Minnesota after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade; signed a pair of “shield” laws protecting people who travel to Minnesota to receive gender affirming care and abortions from prosecution; legalized recreational marijuana; restored voting rights for 55,000 felons on probation; pushed aggressive targets on climate change and renewable energy; made Minnesota one of six states that provides universal free school lunches; proposed an expansion of the child tax credit; and created a prescription drug affordability board.
This Harris Walz ticket heralds a new direction in the politics of the US, and diametrically opposed to Trump Vance. A real choice.
A good choice with Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in mind.
The essential space.
And maybe for worker rights in the south – Virginia, Carolina’s and Georgia.
The nice to have some spare room, margin of victory.
We last had a left wing government in 1974.
Just an observation – the current ethnic riots in the UK and the furore over Imane Khelif are linked. Both are the result of a hallucinatory reaction based on false inferences about someone's identity, stoked by manevolent online actors.
And its the malevolent online actors they need to hunt down and toss into gaol.
I agree about the UK riots being about people's beliefs that are unfounded in reality and some malevolent actors inflaming it..
The furore about Imane Khelif is not about identity – it's totally different. It's about the material, biological reality of natal sex and the material reality of male advantages in most sports and the physical damage they can do to women in some sports. It's about the need for an adequate and humane protocol for sex testing.
A simple cheek swab gives you the DNA sample needed for sex testing. No fumbling around underwear required.
Combat sportspeople have to pass weight tests, many sportspeople are subject to random drug tests, adding a sex based test to determine eligibility in a sex based division of sports is common sense.
We now have the technology to establish DNA very easily and in a dignified manner. It should be routinely utilised.
The cheek swab is the best screening test and will settle it for the vast majority of people.
Blood tests maybe required as a follow up for DSD people. That should be supported by adequate counselling. The tests shouldn't wait til medals are in contention, but should be done in early teens, when many DSD conditions become evident because puberty doesn't take the expected course.
Yep. The results of sex tests for competition eligibility aren't "hallucinatory inferences," they're just facts.
Listening to the radio this morning there has been a focus on the Curia poll regards the Tana Saga and The Greens.
Does anyone know who commissioned and paid for the poll?
All I've read is that Curia released it exclusively to RNZ.
Highly unlikely Farrar has suddenly become benevolent towards The Greens..
Hmm . A new dirty tricks brigade in action?
There's a slippery slope from kaupapa to kupapa.
Sure Labour are a bit lost but at least they're quiet about it. The Greens are just a shambles.
Paul the Other One says Curia's poll was the only one predicting ACT at 9% in the elections.
If you check the actual polling results – you can see that this is demonstratively not true.
ACT polling in the month before the 2023 election: 1News 9%, NewsHub 8.8%, RoyMorgan 11.5%, Guardian 7.9%, Curia 9.1%, TalbotMills 9%
Actual result: 8.64%
Which puts all of the poll results (except, possibly, RM) within the margin of error.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2023_New_Zealand_general_election
Assuming a standard margin of error of around 2.5 to 3.0 percent. (because I don't know what the margin of errors were for these polls) then Newshub is the only one within the margin of error.
You are wrong and clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
The ODT reports 'A Dunedin nurse who spread vaccine misinformation and launched an "out-and-out attack" on the transgender community has been accused of professional misconduct.'
The Nursing Council's council making its case to the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal said:
"Based on Ms Scott’s statements regarding transgender people, and her tendency to accost members of the public, it is clear it would be extremely unsafe for her to be practising as a nurse in an area where it is highly likely she would be required to provide care to members of a community which she has relentlessly targeted …"
Ms Scott stopped practising as a nurse when she refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19.’
Aaron Smale writes in The Listener A whakapapa of trauma reading this at the library, so it's this week's issue, sorry, no link.
After a media tour of the "youth justice facility" in PN used for the pilot:
"It was meant to be a cheery photo-op. But it is essentially a jail. A well-appointed jail…for children… Seymour and Chhour marvelled at the cells…the new uniforms..in shades if beige and khaki…at the sturdy army boots with sturdy laces.
… the locked cells at the [now derelict site of abuse] Kohiteri Boys' Training Centre were very similar in dimensions."
Very good article, worth a read.
Look this is really good content but please my brother in the name of all things readable, you gotta change this damn typeface. Please. Read about digital legibility. You’ve chosen a Title only typeface for your entire website. Please. Help yourself, help all Aotearoa, pick a damn sensible humanist san serif for web. JFc.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
are you on the mobile version?