Open mike 07/05/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 7th, 2025 - 34 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 …

34 comments on “Open mike 07/05/2025 ”

  1. Adrian 1

    The good old Herald ehh! The headline banner on the motorbike tragedy links to a redirection entitled “ Opps, looks like a Dead End “ go back to homepage.
    Beyond words, welcome to A.I people.

  2. gsays 2

    Oh for the sake of a couple of examples.

    After listening to this opportunity for an alternative framing I was left frustrated.

    The negotiator for the workers didn't give good examples of pay disparity. Articulated disappointment (absolutely devastated!) and injustice but nothing to counter the bullshit teacher aid/lawyer, ECE/air traffic controller spin.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018986077/ema-on-changes-to-pay-equity

  3. Ad 3

    With the massive anti-worker moves from this government this week, it's sure easy to see why New Zealand’s people are leaving in the tens of thousands.

    Albanese looks locked in until at least 2031.

    We are rapidly accelerating away from each other.

    Australia is what we could have been and won't be.

    • SPC 3.1

      2040 is going to be disturbing. One Voice referenda level.

      If we want New Zealand to be a social democracy, will we have to become a state of Australia?

      A one people as the coalition wants it, but a social democracy at least (on our current path a failed first world state, riven by a class divide).

  4. joe90 4

    Please make this less than a one term govt. Pricks.

    .

    The Luxon Government has just introduced a bill into the House that would make it legal to kill protected wildlife. Greenpeace understands the Bill is being rushed through all stages under urgency tonight, without public consultation or proper scrutiny.

    The amendment to the Wildlife Act, New Zealand’s foundational wildlife protection law, would allow the Director-General of Conservation to grant companies permission to kill native animals if they get in the way of projects like roads, mines or dams.

    https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/press-release/luxon-government-to-pass-law-tonight-that-legalises-killing-kiwi/

    • Hunter Thompson II 4.1

      Get real – you can't stop progress and you gotta have growth (well that's what the pollies would have us believe).

      If our wildlife and the environment that supports it get in the way of development, both must be sacrificed. That's why the Ruataniwha dam scheme in Hawkes Bay is being resurrected.

  5. Kay 5

    The news is making us sick. What to do for the obsessive news junkies amongst us?

    Our brains are hardwired to process stress relating to trauma by entering what is known as “fight, flight, freeze” mode before returning to a restful state. However, constant exposure to trauma can derail our ability to cope healthily and hinder our ability to return to a relaxed state.

    Every time we experience or hear about a traumatic event, we go into stress mode. We might go numb or have an overactive fear response to the perceived threat. Our physiology is triggered to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

    I would also include politics as a traumatic event.

    Chronic levels of stress can have myriad physical manifestations such as headaches, muscle tension or pain, stomach problems, anxiety and sleep issues.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/01/health/bad-news-bad-health/index.html

  6. joe90 6

    A war between two nuclear powers has teed off.

    The Spectator Index

    @spectatorindex
    Nuclear warheads

    🇮🇳 India: 172
    🇵🇰 Pakistan: 170

    (SIPRI)

    8:50 AM · May 7, 2025
    ·
    https://x.com/spectatorindex/status/1919857237159497858

    https://edition.cnn.com/webview/world/live-news/india-pakistan-attack-kashmir-tourists-intl-hnk

    • Kay 6.1

      The news story that initiated my post @5

      Concert programme is very soothing.

      • joe90 6.1.1

        The good news.

        .

        The chemical equator term and concept was coined in 2008 when researchers from University of York discovered a distinct divide between the polluted air and haze over Indonesia from the largely uncontaminated atmosphere over Australia. This divide is distinguishable by a rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon monoxide and other pollutants from the Tropical Warm Pool region northward.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_equator

  7. joe90 9

    764,000 more willing victims of the tRump family's crime spree.

    .

    About 764,000 wallets that purchased President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin have lost money on the investment, according to fresh data shared with CNBC by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

    Most of the wallets that lost money held smaller amounts of the token, according to the firm’s on-chain analysis. Crypto wallets are accounts that store the keys you need to access and use your cryptocurrency holdings.

    Chainalysis said that while around 2 million wallets have bought into the token, 58 wallets made more than $10 million apiece, totaling roughly $1.1 billion in gains.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/58-crypto-wallets-made-millions-trumps-meme-coin-764000-lost-money-dat-rcna205237

  8. joe90 10

    I wondered what use a popemobile would be in providing medical care in Gaza and then the penny dropped that they were built specifically to resist terror attacks so yeah, it'll probably be useful.

    Before he died, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile health unit to serve the children of Gaza, officials said Monday.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/world/pope-francis/pope-francis-donated-popemobile-serve-mobile-health-unit-gaza-children-rcna205043

  9. Incognito 11

    Rob Campbell backs David Seymour’s Ministry for Regulation but not really.

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/05/05/why-im-backing-a-ministry-for-regulation/

    He makes an excellent point that a regulatory agency must have a degree of autonomy and separation from undue political interference to free it from short-termism and partisan bias. This would rule out a Ministry, in my opinion. In addition, such agency should be broadminded, constructive, and inclusive. However, the current version is an elite group of highly paid professional managers with a narrow-minded scope and an agenda of slash & burn, water down, and repeal & reject destruction of existing regulations and common law, i.e., the Coalition’s Pest Control Bureau.

    • Ad 11.1

      Regulatory review is already a part of legislative drafting between Ministries and Agencies and Crown Law and sometimes DPMC. And done fine.

      If they need a separate unt they should attach it to Parliamentary Counsel's Office where the drafts are hammered out.

      • Incognito 11.1.1

        And done fine.

        Bold claim, but nothing to support it.

        I’m not aware that the PCO reviews existing legislation as a matter of course. However, legislation is only a part of the overall regulatory framework, albeit an important part, undoubtedly.

  10. SPC 12

    More New Zealanders see going to an offshore university as the best way to get ahead.

    Partly because they can afford to (some by scholarships, sport etc).

    The report also showed 12% of 2023 school-leavers with international school qualifications and 10% of leavers from private schools went abroad.

    https://archive.li/gNXNR#selection-3999.1-3999.95

    • Spa 12.1

      I have a child who has just begun her studies at an Australian university. Her main motivations were that the standard would be higher and the job opportunities upon graduation would be better. I have another child studying at a New Zealand institution and in the particular field they are studying the standard is definitely higher in Australia.

  11. SPC 13

    What is in a name?

    The family Drumpf became the Trumpites who signalled the way of the end of the constitutional republic, with an ostentatious display of fake wealth and open venal corruption and favour to the privileged.

    A gulf in class between American and Mexican, between the Arabian and Persian.

    Such is the way of brand marketing. Or as Kermit said, put lipstick on it before kissing.

    But once youth is gone, remember there is still only one planet, however much Elon Musk aka Jules-Pierre Mao and Droidshell1 distracts us from that to extract money out of NASA and the Pentagon for himself.

  12. Dennis Frank 14

    Latest poll suggests wokeism is working for the Greens: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/05/07/latest-roy-morgan-poll-right-and-left-stall/

    Bomber's framing is that left and right have both stalled. Nothing new there, but at least he's realistic about it. Both sides of the establishment know intelligent thinking about the state of the world must continue to be avoided lest it spooks the horses of the economy.

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