Open mike 07/09/2024

48 comments on “Open mike 07/09/2024 ”

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1. Jenny 1

   7 September 2024 at 6:14 am

   ‘
   Meet the genocide denier streamers

   "At a time when Israel is killing Palestinians at unprecedented rates.

   At a time when Israel is bombing hospitals, ambulances, refugee camps deliberately, targeting journalists, and their entire families.

   At a time when Israel has flattened most of Gaza, rendering it uninhabiatble, there's a select group of individuals, we call them liberals, that aren't quite focused on that. they're more focused on making sure people don't call this genocide….."

   Lower than the liberal genocide denier streamers, are the liberal genocide ignorer bloggers.

   "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

   Martin Luther King Jr.
2. koina 2

   7 September 2024 at 7:50 am

   Yet the same deniers/ignorers of the genocide in Gaza strongly condem the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Choosing to support or condemn based on skewed Racial/Religious/Polititical bias is madness. But not new.
   • Jenny 2.1

     7 September 2024 at 10:51 am

     koina @2

     7 September 2024 at 7:50 am

     Yet the same deniers/ignorers of the genocide in Gaza strongly condem the Russian invasion of the Ukraine……

     Indeed they did, and with bells on.

     The Hipkins administration intervened in the court case brought by Ukraine agains Russia paying over $1million NZ, to fly a high powered team of top New Zealand lawyers to the Netherlands, to prepare and deliver oral sufbmissions, in person, before the International Court of Justice in the ICJ courtroom in the Hague, in support of the case, brought by Ukraine against Russia, under the genocide convention.

     The Hipkins administration took a number of other measures:

     • Intervening as a third party in Ukraine’s International Court of Justice case against Russia under the Genocide Convention. See New Zealand’s Declaration of Intervention here: Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine (icj-cij.org)
     • Joined 40 other countries, in referring the Ukraine situation to the International Criminal Court, enabling the Chief Prosecutor to expedite its investigation into war crimes occurring in Ukraine.
     • Provided $2.615 million to the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor and Trust Fund for Victims and seconded a senior NZDF military officer to the ICC to support the Chief Prosecutor’s work.
     • Provided $1 million to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to support monitoring and accountability for human rights violations being perpetrated in Ukraine.
     • New Zealand took swift action in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, aligned with the actions of the international community.

     https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/countries-and-regions/europe/ukraine/russian-invasion-of-ukraine

     The Luxon administration has renewed the Hipkins administrations intervention at the ICJ in the case Ukraine vs Russia by committing to the merits stage of the hearing.

     Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation)

     Latest Developments

     Press release 2024/59

     6 August 2024

     ….• SUPPLEMENT TO THE DECLARATION OF INTERVENTION SUBMITTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 63 OF THE STATUTE OF THE COURT ON 28 JULY 2022

     To the Registrar, International Court of Justice.

     The undersigned being duly authorized by the Government of New Zealand.

     INTRODUCTION 1.

     On behalf of the Government of New Zealand, I have the honour to submit a supplement to New Zealand's Declaration of Intervention, which was submitted on 28 July 2022 pursuant to the right to intervene as a non-party set out in Article 63(2) of the Statute of the Court, in the case of Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide {Ukraine v. Russian Federation: 32 States Intervening)…..

     ……31. On the basis of the information set out above, New Zealand confirms that it maintains its Declaration of Intervention at the merits stage of these proceedings pursuant to the right in Article 63(2) of the Statute of the Court. New Zealand reserves its right to further supplement or amend its Declaration, and any associated Written Observations submitted with respect to it, as it considers necessary in response to any further developments in the proceedings.

     Respectfully, Susannah Gordon Ambassador of New Zealand to The Netherlands Co-Agent of the Government of New Zealand

     https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/182/182-20240730-int-01-00-en.pdf

     The luxon administration has not taken similar action in the Interantional Court of Justice case South Africa vs. Israel.

     South Africa vs Israel: 13 other countries intend to join the ICJ case

     New Zealand is not one of them.

     The Chris Hipkins opposition Labour Party in parliament, including Chris Hipkins himself, have not taken the Luxon administration to task over this double standard.

     The Luxon administration has even sent the New Zealand arned forces to train beside the Israeli armed forces engaged in committing genocide in Gaza.

     https://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2024/07/nzdf-does-no-check-legality-of-training-with-israel/#:~:text=250%20soldiers%20and%20sailors%20of,one%20of%20the%20participating%20countries.

     Liberal ignoring of the ongoing genocide in Gaza does not give me confidence to think that a liberal Hipkins led administration would have acted similarly to the genocide in Gaza exactly as the Luxon administration has.
     • SPC 2.1.1

       7 September 2024 at 12:29 pm

       The case against both Israel and Russia is one of war crimes, rather than genocide.
       • koina 2.1.1.1

         7 September 2024 at 12:52 pm

         There is no "war" in Gaza.

         Palestine hs no Army. Navy or Air force.

         Israel is backed by the most powerful military on Planet earth.

         Same in this country. There was no "War" between Maori and Pakeha.

         Because by 1855 Pakeha out numbered Maori by 250,000 to 40,000.

         The Pakeha had the British Empire to call upon to replace losses and supply.

         Maori had no one to relace losses and no possibility of re supply.

         Since the Gaza Israeli “invasion” began Israelis have killed more than 50,000 Palestine,injured 100,000 and displaced 2 million and levelled Cities into rubble.
         Since the Israeli “invasion” began Israel has been virtually untouched.
         The Russian/Ukraine comflict is a “war” because both sides are evenly matched. If the West supported the Palestinians against the Israelis like they are supporting the Ukranians only then could it be called a war
         To call the unopposed Israeli invasion of Gaza a war is pure madness.
         • SPC 2.1.1.1.1

           7 September 2024 at 1:08 pm

           Gaza is a war zone.

           Heard of the War of Independence? The American Civil War?

           The English Civil War.

           The Thirty Years War in Germany.

           The Maori Land wars

           https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars

           So

           1.you never believed the boasts of Hamas about their resistance to the IDF invasion.
           2.know little about the north of Israel and Hezbollah rocket attacks.
           3.have not heard about Iran arms supplies to Hamas and Hezbollah, nor of the Houthi.

           It’s an interesting argument that if a weaker opponent (with an underground network) provokes a fight by firing rockets or invading and capturing hostages, than what follows is not an action of war – involving removing a regime that began the aggression policing of via military.but just policing – to arrest perps.
           • Tily 2.1.1.1.1.1

             7 September 2024 at 2:54 pm

             Gaza is an occupied territory undergoing a genocide. People under occupation have the right to resist.

             It is not a war, or a civil war. It is a genocide.

             It is pretty simple.
             • SPC …

               7 September 2024 at 4:12 pm

               No area of Gaza was occupied on October 7 2023.

               Germany and Japan were occupied after a war. It is common for nations starting a war to have their regime removed.

               Genocide is occurring in Sudan now, but not on your radar obviously.
               • koina …

                 7 September 2024 at 5:56 pm

                 Britain stole the lands we now know as Palestine as a trophy of war in 1919. The Jews started this conflict when they invaded these lands backed by Britain in 1948. Since 1950 the USA has provisded the Jews with the weapons to dominate 400 million Muslims. In 2003 the USA invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction and did not find any. At the very same time the USA was actually supplying the Jews with weapons of mass destruction. Israel illegally invaded Palestine and remains illegally occupying Palestine. The United Nations has declared that Palestine has the legal right to claim her lands back if need be by military force. Unfortunately Palestine has no Army no Navy and no Airforce. Just a few sky rockets and bows and arrows. The terrorists are and always have been the illegal Jewish invaders and their American backers. If you support Ukraines fight against the Russian invasion you must also support the Palestine fight agains the Jewish Invasion.
                 • SPC …

                   7 September 2024 at 6:05 pm

                   Is there any fact in any of that (apart from the USA lies about WMD)?

                   1.The League of Nations awarded the British a mandate in Palestine – after Ottoman empire lost their Arab "lands".

                   2.The UN settled the mandate issue with their 1947 decision – two territorial states. Arab nations opposed the UN decision. And said they would war on Israel if it founded.

                   3.5 Arab armies attacked Israel after May 1948. In the war Israel won extra territory (ending the Gaza – West Bank connection).

                   4.Egypt and Jordan occupied Gaza and West Bank 1948-1967 but did not form a Palestinian state.

                   5.Israel took this land in 1967 and agreed to allow a PA to form in Palestine (Oslo Accords 1993) and negotiate a two state peace.*

                   The United Nations has declared that Palestine has the legal right to claim her lands back if need be by military force.

                   Citation?

                   *BN does not want a two state peace.
                   • koina …

                     7 September 2024 at 6:45 pm

                     The League of Nations was in practice just Britain and France. After the end of WW1 Britain and France carved up Europe, imposed huge punishment to Germany and stole German territories as trophies of war. NZ stole or received the "mandate" for Samoa. Britain stole Palestine simple as that there was no "mandate". Britain and France had spent the previous 300 years going around the world invading (mandating") continental North and South America, all of Africa, Asia, Australia Oceania and Europe iteslf even Russia. In the process stealing millions of acres of land enslaving hundeds of millions and raping countries of their resources. This is what the White European Empire powers had been doing for generations let alone stealing 10 million Africans and shipping them to the Americas as slaves. So stealing Palestine was just what the White Europeans had been doing for 300 years.
             • Mikey …

               8 September 2024 at 12:53 pm

               It would help the people of Gaza greatly if Israel can rid them of genocidal Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah once and for all. They might even get to have another election.
         • joe90 2.1.1.1.2

           7 September 2024 at 1:23 pm

           Because by 1855 Pakeha out numbered Maori by 250,000 to 40,000.

           By 1855 there were an estimated 59,500 Māori and 37,192 non-Māori.

           https://web.archive.org/web/20080305185447/http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/064BFF54-5B31-4470-975D-7913BEC5EB1C/0/A_1_1Total_Population.xls
       • Subliminal 2.1.1.2

         7 September 2024 at 4:01 pm

         No. The ICC cases are always about war crimes. The ICJ case against Israel is specificly in regard to sufficient evidence supplied by South Africa that allegations of genocide against Israel in Gaza are plausible, and therefore must be answered.

         Further, it is incumbent on all nations to actively take measures against supporting Israeli war crimes that otherwise make nations complicit in the genocide that is plausibly occurring.

         Obviously, you prefer word games and manipulation to support Israel to control the media narrative but the people here that you are trying to tie in knots have watched enough of the horrific atrocities committed by Israel,to know in their gut that though the case may not yet come to a hearing for a number of years, genocide is the appropriate word.

         You can explain away your craven support but we all have eyes to see and ears to hear and understand the sanctity of human life and will not support bullet holes through head and hearts of prepubescent children described by doctors in hopitals, while they existed, as a daily occurrence.

         It may bring you joy to defend these barbaric snipers of the IDF, along similar lines as the Two Nice Jewish Boys podcast but its not hard for most of us to be devastated that such acts can occur, driven by the anger and hatred of the old testament god. From the beginning Netanyahu was referencing Amalek where this self same god exhorted Israel to kill the woman and children and all the old people of their enemies. This is the god that the kahanist Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich follow. They live and breathe anhilation of Palestinians and have photos of the terrorist that massacred Palestinian boys in a mosque during morning prayers, displyed in the lounge of their house
         • SPC 2.1.1.2.1

           7 September 2024 at 4:10 pm

           Yes, the ICC cases are about war crimes. And the ICJ case is about accusations of genocide.

           The case for war crimes against both Israel and Russia is fairly obvious.

           The claims of genocide not so. Incitement and hampering aid were the ones the Israeli justice noted had to be addressed – because if not then war crimes can go to the next level.

           The rest is just a nasty and dishonest personal attack – you make as a projection and transference against any who do not conform to your singular narrative.
           • Subliminal 2.1.1.2.1.1

             7 September 2024 at 4:56 pm

             We should take your reckons on what is obvious. I think not.
             • SPC …

               7 September 2024 at 5:02 pm

               You do not think the case for war crimes against both Israel and Russia is obvious?

               Why do you identify yourself as spokesperson for the “we” people …
               • Subliminal …

                 7 September 2024 at 5:50 pm

                 The most obvious case is the genocide being perpetrated by Israel. I understand that because of how obvious this is to any person with a functioning empathetic system, you need to sidetrack and obfuscate with wordplay in an attempt to redirect attention elsewhere.

                 However this is not possible and the west as a centre of human rights is now dead. It cannot be recovered unless immediate action to name the genocide as such is taken and the subsequent obligations by all states to end it and support Palestinians is made.

                 Many people wonder how it was possible that the holocaust was allowed to unfold. Well, we have even less reason to refuse support to the victims. We can see the genocide progressing in real time. Yet we allow people like yourself to obfuscate and misdirect. We are far more to blame and have nowhere to hide.
                 • SPC …

                   7 September 2024 at 6:26 pm

                   Ah empathy – do they know its Christmas …

                   It's happening again in Sudan, the Tigray war before that, famine in Yemen in the Trump era. We all know the loss of life in Syria and where Islamic State conquered.

                   I was visited by Wellington police (in essence) for opposition to the Iraq regime change …. (politely asking if I knew Dick Medhurst)

                   you need to sidetrack and obfuscate with wordplay in an attempt to redirect attention elsewhere.

                   No, I do not. But sure those who merely want amplification rather than discussion would see it that way.

                   I posted this – hardly obscufication.

                   https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04-09-2024/#comment-2010097

                   You were dismissive that anything would be done.

                   It cannot be recovered unless immediate action to name the genocide as such is taken and the subsequent obligations by all states to end it and support Palestinians is made.

                   Good luck, using your approach.
       • Jenny 2.1.1.3

         7 September 2024 at 10:54 pm

         SPC @2.1.1

         7 September 2024 at 12:29 pm

         The case against both Israel and Russia is one of war crimes, rather than genocide.

         Wrong on both counts.

         But, when have facts ever bothered appologists for genocide.

         South Africa's case against Israel is most definitly one alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

         https://apnews.com/article/world-court-israel-genocide-gaza-south-africa-774ab3c3d57fd7bcc627602eaf47fd98

         Ukraine's case against Russia, is a little more complicated, but is also not about war crimes. (Even though Russia has definitely committed them)

         Ukraine took Russia to the International Court of Justice, not for committing war crimes, but for abusing the genocide convention by making false accusations of genocide.

         President Putin of the Russian Federation had falsely claimed that the people of Ukraine had been committing genocide against Russian speakers. and ethnic Russians. And used this as his excuse for ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

         https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/9/smells-of-genocide-how-putin-justifies-russias-war-in-ukraine

         Lawyers for Ukraine, and 32 other countries, including New Zealand, argued befor the court that Russia must present their evidence for this alleged genocide against Russian speakers and ethnic Russians, to the court. or be found guilty of breaching the genocide convention for making false claims.

         Lawyers for the Russian Federation argued up hill and down dale across two days in the International Court of Justice, that Russia should not have to present their evidence of this alleged genocide.

         Weird, right?

         If Russia had evidence of genocide committed by Ukraine you would think that they would want to present it to the world. Apparently not.

         24 February 2024

         The Curious Fate of the False Claim of Genocide

         ….This is the first case involving a false claim of genocide that is brought before the ICJ, in which the applicant state seeks a declaratory judgment that there was no credible evidence to support Russia’s allegations of genocide. Ukraine’s non-violation (reverse compliance) claim was closely intertwined with its primary argument that Russia’s false claim of genocide amounted to an abusive bad faith interpretation of the Genocide Convention and therefore violated the duty to prevent and punish genocide. Ukraine’s creative legal argument resonated with 33 other states that chose to intervene in the proceedings invoking Article 63 of the ICJ Statute.,,,,

         https://verfassungsblog.de/the-curious-fate-of-the-false-claim-of-genocide/

         Unlike Russia, which has refused to present their evidence alleging genocide commited by Ukraine to the ICJ, South Africa has presented the ICJ with 84 pages of documentary evidence of genocide committed by Israel
         • SPC 2.1.1.3.1

           7 September 2024 at 11:22 pm

           I have said said that there is a reasonable case for claiming that Israel and Russia have committed war crimes.

           But not so on the matter of genocide.

           The ICJ ruling did not determine this. It did not even make the claim that the war crimes that had occurred could become (over time) genocide. Which I would see as a risk.

           Specifically

           In January, the ICJ delivered an interim judgement – and one key paragraph from the ruling drew the most attention: “In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances… are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible.”

           This was interpreted by many, including some legal commentators, to mean that the court had concluded that the claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was “plausible”.

           In April, however, Joan Donoghue, the president of the ICJ at the time of that ruling, said in a BBC interview that this was not what the court had ruled.

           Rather, she said, the purpose of the ruling was to declare that South Africa had a right to bring its case against Israel and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide” – rights which were at a real risk of irreparable damage.

           The judges had stressed they did not need to say for now whether a genocide had occurred but concluded that some of the acts South Africa complained about, if they were proven, could fall under the United Nations’ Convention on Genocide.

           In April, some 600 British lawyers including four former Supreme Court justices, signed a letter to the UK Prime Minister, asking him to stop arms sales to Israel and referring to “a plausible risk of genocide”.

           The words of the International Court of Justice have been under intense scrutiny since the case began

           That triggered a counter-letter from UK Lawyers For Israel (UKLFI). The 1,300-strong group said the ICJ had only ruled that Gaza Palestinians had a plausible right to be protected from genocide – in other words, that it had been dealing with a complex and somewhat abstract legal argument.

           Joan Donoghue – now retired from the ICJ – appeared on the BBC’s HARDtalk programme and explicitly tried to end the debate by setting out what the court had done.

           “It did not decide – and this is something where I'm correcting what's often said in the media… that the claim of genocide was plausible,” said the judge.

           “It did emphasise in the order that there was a risk of irreparable harm to the Palestinian right to be protected from genocide. But the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided.”

           Whether there is any evidence of such terrible harm is a question the court is far from deciding.

           https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3g9g63jl17o

           But, when have facts ever bothered apologists for genocide.

           Can you back up this claim with any evidence?

           Or will you play the Russian card.
   • SPC 2.2

     7 September 2024 at 12:24 pm

     And what of Trump and others of the GOP that support Israel whatever (with military funding) and yet blocked this to Ukraine …
     • Jenny 2.2.1

       8 September 2024 at 8:49 am

       SPC @2.2

       7 September 2024 at 12:24 pm

       And what of Trump and others of the GOP that support Israel whatever (with military funding) and yet blocked this to Ukraine …

       Good question,

       Ukraine is not at the centre of US foreign policy concerns, the Middle East is.

       It only natural that the venal centre-right and the fanatic far-right in the US would want to abandon Ukraine to better help support America's unsinkable battle ship in the oil rich Middle East.

       After all it was the previous Trump administration that began the process of cementing US domination of the Middle East, with the Abraham Accords.
       And achieved this despite moving the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem, defacto recognised Israel's illegal by internation law annexation of the occupied territories.
       A previous bottom line for Moslem and Arab countries throughout the region.

       America's wet dream of uniting the pro-US Islamo-fascist dictatorships, with the proto-fascist apartheid state of Israel, was well on track, before October 7 happened.

       A Trump administration will dump Ukraine in a flash. To pour all that money and military aid into crushing the rebellion in Gaza and the West Bank, and possibly will be needed for war with Iran as well, for which Trump will need all the money and arms the US can muster. According to Trump, Russia's invasion of Ukraine can be left up to Europe to sort out.
       • SPC 2.2.1.1

         8 September 2024 at 1:15 pm

         The PNAC view of the world was to continue to remove left wing regimes after the end of the Cold War – Iraq, Libya and Syria were secular and socialist. Also the oil sector sanctions on Venezuela.

         The conservative right in the USA see the EU as a liberal secular regime.

         We cannot overlook the Trump administration recognising the Israeli (ring wing nationalist) annexation of the Golan Heights (not walked back by Biden) after Russia annexed Crimea.

         This quid pro quo followed after the earlier ones, Abkhazia and South Ossetia off Georgia quid pro quo for changes in Yugoslavia/Serbia).

         So we can see the way of Trump operates (abandoning the women of Afghanistan), he operates in a world of strongman conservative nationalism.

         In such a world, nations become more dependent on their arms supply – South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Oz and NATO. The MIC as a profit centre.
3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3

   7 September 2024 at 8:26 am

   NACT1 Infighting…(unsurprising given the loons in it), but with a divergence on NZ's Grocery Duopoly.

   ACT pledges pushback on supermarket crackdown

   Regulation Minister and ACT leader David Seymour has rubbished calls for tougher regulation of the grocery sector, putting him at odds with both the commerce minister and the supermarket tsar.

   Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden on Wednesday published a scathing assessment of an industry he said had made "little meaningful improvement" in competition.

   He said he would launch a further targeted inquiry into the major retailers' wholesale offerings, with the intent of unlocking new powers to rein in the duopoly.

   Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly was quick to gave his backing, telling RNZ: "we want to make sure that that happens, and I support [the commissioner] in his approach."

   ACT Primo Dave opines…

   "It's pretty clear what ACT's position is: we need less regulation and more competition."

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/focusonpolitics/527289/act-pledges-pushback-on-supermarket-crackdown

   Riiight. So how has that worked with NZ's Electricity market ? Does he seriously expect us to believe that the Grocery Duopolists will give any of their $Billions freely?

   Supermarkets on notice: Overcharge and customer gets item for free – commissioner

   This has been going on for so long, I would find it hard to believe its going to change. Reduced products quite often dont scan as such, and others arent updated…

   Consumer NZ's head of research and advocacy Gemma Rasmussen said the commission should be monitoring pricing errors – and she agreed there should be more pressure on the supermarkets themselves to put them right.

   Last year, shoppers provided Consumer with a huge body of evidence demonstrating the scale of problematic pricing practices at the major supermarkets, she said.

   In 2023, it collected 600 examples of pricing errors which were provided to the Grocery Commission and these were being investigated.

   Rasmussen said Consumer was concerned van Heerden had failed to address the systemic issues with major supermarkets' pricing discrepancies.

   "This is not a pricing error here and there; we have done nationally representative research that has found that 65 percent of shoppers had noticed pricing inaccuracies at the supermarket and 12 percent are spotting them rather frequently."

   "It's a basic requirement that businesses display accurate prices. Shoppers are entitled to expect this at a bare minimum."

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/525324/supermarkets-on-notice-overcharge-and-customer-gets-item-for-free-commissioner

   In reality we would be better served by Consumer NZ having much more involvement !
   • Ngungukai 3.1

     7 September 2024 at 6:44 pm

     Nothing will happen with the regulation of Supermarkets, the problem has been around 30-40 years and it has not and never will be addressed.
4. bwaghorn 4

   7 September 2024 at 8:47 am

   : we need less regulation and more competition

   Little dave is to blinded by ideology to see that you need regulation to create a competitive playing feild!
   • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.1

     7 September 2024 at 8:55 am

     Yep. As we know NZ's Electricity competition shows that. Thankfully we have Consumer NZ battling for us : )
   • tc 4.2

     7 September 2024 at 11:23 am

     Seymour singing for his supper by parroting meaningless lines.

     You cant have proper competition without these behemoths giving up the real estate they hold in key locations to a competitor.

     This only gets sorted with a level of bipartisan political buy in that exists in dreams.

     David wants no regulations plunder of the people, the ACT way.
     • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.2.1

       7 September 2024 at 1:54 pm

       Little public trust left for Foodstuffs North Island after fine, grocery advocate says

       Grocery Action Group chair Suzanne Chetwin told Morning Report t the practice effectively prevented competitors from being able to set up in small towns and cities around the North Island.

       "This is where Foodstuffs would buy up land that could potentially be used by a competitor and they would put covenants on this land that would prevent them being able to be used as supermarkets.

       "Some of those covenants were of 99-year duration."

       And Sue Chetwin, Grocery Action Group nails it..

       Chetwin said the fine was high in terms of the law, but was only a drop in the ocean for Foodstuffs.

       "This is a $25 billion industry.

       "In terms of them saying they no longer do it. Well of course they no longer do it, because it's illegal for them to do it now," she said.

       "They haven't willingly come to this party."

       https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/524615/little-public-trust-left-for-foodstuffs-north-island-after-fine-grocery-advocate-says

       Also there was this. Facial Recognition by Big Brother..Grocer.

       Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said the trial was important because the company hoped to establish whether facial recognition would keep staff and customers safe without compromising their privacy.

       Yea, no chance of misuse there. And also, what about your Store staffing levels ? And pay rates are pretty low for same Staff !

       Anyway, the Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster

       thinks the technology is something all New Zealanders should be concerned about because of its privacy implications and he fears it is not a proven tool to reduce harmful behaviour including violence in supermarkets.

       "New Zealanders deserve to shop for their milk and bread without having their faces scanned unless it's really justified.

       "We wouldn't accept being fingerprinted and checked at the door before shopping for groceries – that sounds ludicrous – but FRT is a similar biometric process that is faster, machine-run, happens in a nanosecond, and creates a template to compare your face to, now and in the future," he said.

       He is also worried about what it means for Māori, Pasifika, Indian and Asian shoppers since the software is not trained on the New Zealand population.

       "I don't want to see people incorrectly banned from their local supermarket and falsely accused," Webster said.

       Foodstuffs legal eagle reckons…

       'Honest customers have nothing to be concerned about' – Foodstuffs North Island general counsel Julian Benefield

       https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/508613/privacy-commissioner-keeps-close-eye-on-supermarkets-facial-recognition-trial

       Fuck off. I recall a kinda similar line from sir John Key ?
     • Ngungukai 4.2.2

       7 September 2024 at 6:44 pm

       Seymour is basically a prostitute.
5. joe90 5

   7 September 2024 at 2:05 pm

   NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger on attacks on press freedom globally and the new model of press suppression in Brazil and India. Wonder why it's in the WaPo?

   These new would-be strongmen have developed a style more subtle than their counterparts in totalitarian states such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, who systematically censor, jail or kill journalists. For those trying to undercut independent journalism in democracies, the attacks typically exploit banal — and often nominally legal — weaknesses in a nation’s systems of governance. This playbook generally has five parts.

   • Create a climate hospitable to crackdowns on the media by sowing public distrust in independent journalism and normalizing the harassment of the people who produce it.
   • Manipulate legal and regulatory authority — such as taxation, immigration enforcement and privacy protections — to punish offending journalists and news organizations.
   • Exploit the courts, most often through civil litigation, to effectively impose additional logistical and financial penalties on disfavored journalism, even in cases without legal merit.
   • Increase the scale of attacks on journalists and their employers by encouraging powerful supporters in other parts of the public and private sector to adopt versions of these tactics.
   • Use the levers of power not just to punish independent journalists but also to reward those who demonstrate fealty to their leadership. This includes helping supporters of the ruling party gain control of news organizations financially weakened by all the aforementioned efforts.

   https://archive.li/ijdLf (wapo)
   • tWig 5.1

     7 September 2024 at 3:41 pm

     Just be careful in putting Brasil in the same category as the others. There, it is the corporatised judiciary who are <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/under-attack-so-many-quarters-press-freedom-brazil-now-threatened-some-judges-too&quot; rel="nofollow ugc">shutting down journalists who report on their legal rulings</a>, not the government.
     • joe90 5.1.1

       7 September 2024 at 4:15 pm

       Could do better.

       https://rsf.org/en/country/brazil

       https://rsf.org/en/index
6. joe90 6

   7 September 2024 at 3:46 pm

   I'd forgotten just how good the Alex Jones' rants as an indie folk song is.

   I'm angry
   I've had enough of these people
   They're a bunch of Christian-murdering scum that run giant death factories
   Keeping babies alive and selling their body parts
   What more do you need to know about these people?
   I go out and face these scum
   They literally crawl out from under rocks
   They have green-looking skin
   And they run around screaming "We love Satan, we want to eat babies."
   I have them on video

   https://genius.com/Nick-lutsko-alex-jones-as-an-indie-folk-song-lyrics
7. Ad 7

   7 September 2024 at 5:06 pm

   With the Harris vote now stagnating, feels like the delay of Trump's sentencing to after the election is the loss of her last chance.

   Prepare people, for Trump 2.
   • SPC 7.1

     7 September 2024 at 5:18 pm

     There are a lot of marginal states.

     Harris holds the national lead demonstrating a likely win, as per Clinton, then Biden.

     Trump won marginals in 2016, Biden in 2020.

     https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/

     https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-harris
     • Ad 7.1.1

       7 September 2024 at 6:09 pm

       She's in a much weaker position than Biden was.

       Trump only needs Georgia. Harris needs all the industrial states and Pennsylvania for her shot.

       I say Doom! Doom!
       • SPC 7.1.1.1

         7 September 2024 at 7:26 pm

         Biden never had North Carolina in play.

         Harris has Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia in a line up.

         Once in a blue moon, Seven Society (Jefferson and Madison) of the rotunda, Chapel Hill well and castle and the Greek Village are in accord.
       • SPC 7.1.1.2

         8 September 2024 at 2:42 pm

         Trump only needs Georgia

         Governor Kemp is asking the state AG whether he can remove the state election board (taken over by Trump loyalists).
         • Ad 7.1.1.2.1

           8 September 2024 at 3:35 pm

           The ending to this election is going to be far worse than Trump's 2020 loss because it will be so close: whichever side loses is going to tie up the courts for months contesting legitimacy.

           My favourite though is still LBJ's 1948 Senate nomination contest by LBJ against Coke Stevenson. By one vote. If you ever get hands on a copy, check out Rise to Power by Anthony Caro. Total nasty political thriller.
   • gsays 7.2

     8 September 2024 at 1:26 pm

     As a very casual observer of US politics, and since I've seen Kamala Harris speak a few times, I can't see the election going any other way than towards Trump.

     As a commenter here said (sorry, I forget who) in Harris: Democrats, rather than getting a female Barack Obama they are getting a black Hilary Clinton.

     Just a step too far for the electorate.
8. joe90 8

   7 September 2024 at 8:21 pm

   arseholes

   //

   @TaxpayersUnion

   Metlink spends more than $1.3 million on seven toilets The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can report through an Official Information Act that Metlink has paid $1,300,245 dollars (inc. GST) for a project to install seven toilets in Wellington, exclusively for the use of bus drivers. The locations of the toilets include Houghton Bay, Darlington Road, Wilton, Mairangi, Lyall Bay, Highbury and Karori.

   “This latest waste story is another example of government failing to deliver on the basics. Spending a penny is one thing, but spending 130 million pennies for just seven toilets takes the biscuit.

   “At an average cost of over $185,000 per toilet, it makes you wonder – are the seats made of gold? While looking after bus drivers is important, that money could have surely gone further if spent better.

   “Through only a quick Google search, Metlink could have bought seven high end portable toilets that would have cost below $2,000 each. Not only that, with the money left over, they could have hired another twenty full-time drivers. Surely that would have helped with the constant bus delays more than installing seven loos?

   “Metlink needs to start thinking about where they get their money from. Ratepayers are paying their rates with the expectation that they are paying for busses that will be on time, not on frankly ludicrous toilet spending. To waste a million dollars of ratepayers’ hard-earned money in a time when Kiwis are facing a cost-of-living crisis shows how out of touch they are with the people they are supposed to serve.”

   https://xcancel.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1831868403327627583
   • Incognito 8.1

     7 September 2024 at 8:57 pm

     Yup, they probably consider even a plastic bottle to urinate in as too much money spent.

     https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/24/delivery-drivers-sue-amazon-for-being-forced-to-pee-in-bottles/
     • Joe90 8.1.1

       7 September 2024 at 9:41 pm

       Closer to home.

       https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126151544/bus-driver-sacked-for-covering-cameras-so-he-could-urinate-wins-his-job-back-plus-damages
9. Joe90 9

   7 September 2024 at 9:47 pm

   Wonderful thread from Scott Hamilton.

   @SikotiHamiltonR

   1/4 Tuheitia has taken his place on Taupiri, the maunga that seems to float on the Waikato like a great ship of the dead. Taupiri is a sacred place for Tainui, & also for some Pakeha. In October 1933 a leader died here & an alliance was born.

   https://xcancel.com/SikotiHamiltonR/status/1831604834698711115
   • koina 9.1

     7 September 2024 at 10:05 pm

     In 1863 the White Pakeha armies illegally invaded the Waikato just like the murdering Jews illegally invaded Palestine in 1948
     • Belladonna 9.1.1

       8 September 2024 at 10:59 am

       I hope your NZ history is more reliable than your Middle Eastern.
       In 1948, the surrounding Arab armies invaded the newly declared (by UN mandate) state of Israel.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestine_war

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