Open mike 10/01/2020

25 comments on “Open mike 10/01/2020 ”

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1. Sanctuary 1

   10 January 2020 at 7:45 am

   My thoughts on Harry and Megan…

   Brexit Great Britain is an increasingly diminished place, full of deluded empire fantasists who condescendingly still profess a shocked surprise when they discover Asia's dynamism and its cities, as if the idea that somewhere else might be more culturally and economically more dynamic than them is shocking to even consider. The British like to think they still count because the UK has nuclear weapons, the media is obsessed by that – every candidate for high office is anxiously questioned on if they'll "push the button" – largely because the idea Britain can still annihilate billions reassures them they are still a "world power" and it makes them feel important, that their parades of men in admirals and generals uniforms are somehow different from the those of some African potentate.

   Their civil discourse is poisoned by the spite and racism and misogyny of Murdoch's out of control Fascist press, a disgusting alchemy that revels in tearing down what it built up in a cycle of bullying and abuse. Harry and Megan have noticed how absurd the UK is, and how small and pathetic the place has become. So they are going leave and build a life somewhere else. And by showing how easy it is to ignore that sad, exhausted and declining country they've punctured the egos of the self-important blowhards of the UK media and revealed the whole grandiloquent edifice of the royal family and the British establishment to be nothing more than an increasingly grotesque charade, a nonsensical, tinsel clad, mausoleum honouring a distant, past, and very foreign land.

   Good on them for going. And let's take their explicit exposure of how ridiculous the UK has become as the signal we need to ditch the whole house of Windsor and our links to that increasingly shitty place and go our own way as a republic. We don't need to be tied to the imperial cadaver any more than Harry and Megan do.
2. Tony Veitch (not etc) 2

   10 January 2020 at 8:19 am

   Before Sanctuary's comment is reposted on the dedicated post:

   Hear hear!!!
3. Stunned Mullet 3

   10 January 2020 at 9:11 am

   In other surprising news Micky thinks the current NZ government is outstanding and John Key is the antichrist.

   [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.]
   
4. soddenleaf 4

   10 January 2020 at 10:34 am

   China sanction need to stay on, and increased. Next President needs to disconnect the west from the Chinese economy. There is a Chinese finger puzzle, the harder you pull your fingers out the tighter they are held. China is building a giant surveillance system, a system that at some point the Han Chinese try to extricate themselves from will tighten and tighten, so much that eventually a human error will cause more and more harmed by it. We should get as far away for their desire for control as possible. Forget hacking, forget spying, forget all the illegal stuff they get up to, it's the momentum and direction of their legal state infrastructure that is the greatest threat.
5. adam 5

   10 January 2020 at 11:35 am

   Fox news are scum!

   This video comes with a warning it's full of vile propaganda from a network hell bent on war. 13 minutes long.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L10pTtSW-mY&feature=em-uploademail&ab_channel=SecularTalk
   • ianmac 5.1

     10 January 2020 at 12:17 pm

     So those Americans who get their news exclusively from Fox get a slanted view of the world. Mmmmm?
     • adam 5.1.1

       10 January 2020 at 1:01 pm

       My real problem is the amount of kiwis who watch fox news.
   • Nic the NZer 5.2

     10 January 2020 at 6:04 pm

     Purportedly Tucker Carlsen was trying to talk Trump down on the night of the US attack. It doesn't appear to be only one way traffic at Fox news.
6. Dennis Frank 6

   10 January 2020 at 12:40 pm

   Gordon Campbell has been an accomplished political commentator in Aotearoa since the 1970s. Back then, he was even worth reading!

   "At this point in time, the best elements in the US and global media – including RNZ – remain trapped in the role of spreading lies and disinformation on their news bulletins." http://werewolf.co.nz/2020/01/gordon-campbell-on-the-iran-aftermath/

   Unfortunately Gordon failed to address the two obvious questions raised by his observation: a) Who trapped them? b) Why did they fall into the trap?

   His lengthy attempt to persuade the reader that the Iranians are the good guys and Trump the bad guy seems a waste of time. "Even when announcing the missile firings, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that this ineffectual action “concluded” the Iranian response to the murder of its most popular and capable leader."

   Well, I mean really! Gordon's a leftist, he ought to know that being ineffectual is standard leftist political praxis, so ought to applaud their solidarity instead. Slapping Trump with that wet bus ticket was classic. And he failed to acknowledge or even mention the 80 American terrorists killed (according to Iran's official statement). https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/iranian-state-tv-says-80-american-terrorists-killed-in-iran-missile-strikes/ar-BBYJK4U

   What if the Iranians are actually lying to their people about that?? Gordon makes a big deal about someone counting lies coming out of the White House at the rate of 15 per day. Yet organised lying has been part of geopolitics for as long as anyone can remember. Unwise for Gordon to be presenting as a partisan toad so late in life.
   • OnceWasTim 6.1

     10 January 2020 at 5:18 pm

     Well gawsh! I mean really! How very dare he.. It's just not right. If I had my way, I'd put him in the army and show him some discipline.

     And to think he probably prances around the place with all those other political leftists and their praxis – and worse still he's probably prancing around the place on a bloody Gold Card at the tax payer's expense.

     Someone should tell him to get a real job eh? That might bring him into line.

     Like you @ Dennis, I was utterly horrified when I read all that and didn't come to the same very sensible conclusion as you have. But then you just have to consider his taste in music to know something isn't quite right.
     • Cinder 6.1.1

       10 January 2020 at 6:14 pm

       Now now…

       DF has worked in newsrooms don't you know. Give him half a chance and he will tell you again.

       [Changed your user name to the one you used before here]
       • OnceWasTim 6.1.1.1

         10 January 2020 at 7:28 pm

         Thank you @Cinder. I'll consider myself suitably chastised since I realise DF is considerably, considerably more Left than I am.

         I'll refrain from further comment and get back to darning a few socks as I watch with awe as the conversation develops.
   • Gabby 6.2

     10 January 2020 at 9:42 pm

     Praxis fraxis?
7. Dennis Frank 7

   10 January 2020 at 3:28 pm

   Who to target? Great Satan or real demon? CNN identifies the latter: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/09/politics/pompeo-trump-iran-soleimani/index.html

   "According to multiple sources close to Pompeo, the secretary of state has believed throughout his career that Iran is at the root of all the Middle East's problems and has focused on Soleimani, Iran's "shadow commander," as the mastermind behind the country's state sponsored terrorism throughout the region. "We took a bad guy off the battlefield," Pompeo told CNN on January 5. "We made the right decision." The same day, Pompeo told ABC that killing Soleimani was important "because this was a fella who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against the United States of America, putting American lives at risk.""

   ""Pompeo provided the warrant for why Soleimani is a bad guy," the source said. "It's not personal because he was a terrorist and the mastermind." The source also said taking out Soleimani had been Pompeo's mission for a decade. The secretary of state has been so fixated on the Iranian general that he even sought to get a visa to Iran in 2016 when he was a congressman from Kansas. While he said it was to monitor elections, he also suggested to confidants that he wanted to try to confront Soleimani when he was there. He never got the visa."

   "Pompeo, a West Point graduate who still has many friends in the military serving in the Middle East, also believed Solemani had the blood of hundreds of US soldiers on his hands."

   So eliminate the terrorist mastermind was the rationale. All those fixated on Trump being a cowboy ought to reframe on the geopolitical context created by Bush Jr & Blair: the bipartisan war on terror. Remember how Obama campaigned on closing the US torture center then didn't when he became president? It's a left/right collusion thing, this war on terrorists.
   • Incognito 7.1

     10 January 2020 at 3:37 pm

     One cannot strike two birds with one stone.
   • aom 7.2

     10 January 2020 at 4:00 pm

     DF (not 'dumb fuck' but …..) why quote Pompeo, he is a self admitted liar.(https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/mike-pompeo-says-we-lied-we-cheated-we-stole-in-cia/vi-AAEKX7U)
     • Dennis Frank 7.2.1

       10 January 2020 at 6:28 pm

       Actually, I made the point in another comment here today – that lying is traditional in geopolitics. It is routine in normal politics. Books have been published explaining why lying is part of human nature too. Pompeo points out that the military school advises against it whereas the CIA trains recruits to do it well. Context-driven behaviour. It's why morality is selective.
       • Gabby 7.2.1.1

         10 January 2020 at 9:45 pm

         Pompoopoo must know his god takes a dim view of liars though fraxie. Do you reckon he thinks he has a dispensation?
       • Brigid 7.2.1.2

         10 January 2020 at 9:52 pm

         I'm just wondering. Are you providing evidence that most that the Americans spout is lies, to prove that Iranians lie?
   • Gabby 7.3

     10 January 2020 at 9:44 pm

     Obama left fraxie? Come ON.
8. Sabine 8

   10 January 2020 at 5:54 pm

   this is something i suggest people watch.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Szk3m9w-4&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3YQDiaZoJaemTJZy3mzDk4-rOneQ86-vO4AzSLm5oTZeOkjNdL5NrcPw4

   a honest australian review of the fires
   • Nic the NZer 8.1

     10 January 2020 at 6:10 pm

     There is a look at the economic policy towards the fire fighting here. The main suggestion being that underfunding of both firefighters and the hightened fire season itself was significantly responsible.

     http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=44048
     • Sabine 8.1.1

       10 January 2020 at 6:29 pm

       It was.

       Even sending in the troops earlier would have done a world of good. But sending guys out – volunteers – with substandard gear, with no leadership, with nary a fucking care that in my book is criminal.

       Not paying the guys that have been fighting these fires now since Sept/Oct cause' volunteers' is in my book equally criminal and undermines any labour and osh law we have on the books, but that is ok, cause they are volunteers and only volunteer for the beers, the barbies and a laugh, so its allright to abuse them and their families. .

       There is/was so much wrong in the whole handling of this disaster by the OZ government that the question Why do we have a government in the first place is actually the only one to ask. IF they don't want the job then they should fuck off.

       I personally have come to the believe that the Scot Morrison type want the disasters. Once everything is dead and gone, lets go fucking mine mine mine, drill baby drill cause there is no tomorrow.

       Whats wrong with lefties? We are to fucking polite with these guys. The young fellow at the end with his song has got it right.
       • A 8.1.1.1

         10 January 2020 at 10:26 pm

         The politeness annoys me too. It took a massive effort to ignore repeated requests for funding, or even pleas for funding not to be cut further. Over several years ffs.
         YES the climate is changing but where was the strategy to mitigate this disaster even a couple of months ago when it was clear these fires would be significantly worse than usual?

         Protests calling for ScoMo firing. Can the PM be fired?
9. Incognito 9

   10 January 2020 at 11:58 pm

   Yes, Jenny, because you have not given a satisfactory response to the Moderation note.

   Is it lack of understanding or unwillingness? The result is more or less the same.

   I have tried to get your attention before (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-01-2020/#comment-1677706) but you seem to have missed it (as did Ross when I gave him a similar hint).

   You’ll stay in Moderation until you get there [sorry for the pun].

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