Open mike 10/02/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 10th, 2024 - 80 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:


Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

80 comments on “Open mike 10/02/2024 ”

  1. Janice 1

    Must be newspaper ratings time again. I have just received an offer from the NZ Herald for 4 weeks free home delivery 7 days, plus full access to premium for the same period.

    • Visubversa 1.1

      They used to send me letters – offering up to 6 weeks free delivery.

      I had a lot of fun 'returning to sender" with things written on the envelope like "I have all the cat box liners I need' or "If I want National Party pressers I can get them from the website" and "I would not buy your Tory buttkissing rag if it was the last paper on the planet".

      It took about 2 years for them to stop sending them to me.

  2. Robert Guyton 2

    Winston Peters tries to kill the "Dr Ciga-Reti" meme, by renaming him, "Jones".

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350174489/thank-you-dr-shane-jones-winston-peters-laughs-he-cannot-get-past-misnaming

    • Tony Veitch 2.1

      Oh oh, Winnie going the same was a Joe Biden? Cognitive decline?

    • mac1 2.2

      Could be 'lethologica', that well-known affliction of the more senior. Not necessarily "you know, what's its name", "starts with a 'd'" -yeah, dementia, that's it.

      https://healthnewshub.org/is-forgetting-words-and-names-a-sign-of-dementia/

      The prefix ‘Lethe’- a river in Hades whose waters cause drinkers to forget their past.

      Cheers!

      • Anker 2.2.1

        Can't access your link Mac 1.

        There is a very simple test for dementia called the mini mental state.

        What year is this?

        What place is this ?

        Who is the PM?

        Subject by 7 back from 100.

        Peters could be in the beginning of dementia, but not being able to recall names would not be enough to conclude he is. Watch the speech. The occassional slip he makes is more a sign of age related decline. He is perfectly orientated to place and time. He manages to ad lib with great wit at times.

    • Incognito 2.3

      As long as Winston can tie his tie in a double Windsor, tie his shoelaces, and pull up his zipper (or does he use buttons?) he’ll be fine and this is just him throwing a dead cat on the table and let the media & pundits do the bouncing.

  3. KS 3

    Just watched the Tucker Carlson interview with Vladimir Putin. So hidden away by NZ msm.

    It provides a good explanation of why the USA (+European West) are on the wrong side of history.

    Isnt it odd how many on the left hate Tucker Carlson, yet he is staunchly anti war!

    very much worth a watch, particularly the historical context

    enjoy peeps

    https://x.com/tuckercarlson/status/1755734526678925682?s=46&t=Mb3vWtlQ9iVITzFN3xvWAQ

    • Barfly 3.1

      For those who wish to support Ukraine resist the Russian invasion

      https://u24.gov.ua/

      Thankyou

    • Peter 3.2

      It wasn't hidden away on my NZ msm. It wasn't the lead story on my radio and tv but why would it be? Anyone following the news would know about it. And could follow up if interested.

      Deep and meaningful discussion and analysis from it with that US media entertainment man? Maybe there'll be more attention on such an event of it not seeming to be a self-aggrandising stunt.

      • Brigid 3.2.1

        Well you wouldn't know would you, having not watched it. Carlson was a minor actor as Putin directed.

    • joe90 3.3

      So hidden away by NZ msm.

      Liar.

      • Incognito 3.3.1

        It should be easy enough to demonstrate your rather bold accusation, shouldn’t it?

        • joe90 3.3.1.1

          Happy?

          Russia says former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has interviewed Vladimir Putin

          […]

          8 Feb, 2024 10:43 AM

          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/russia-says-former-fox-news-host-tucker-carlson-has-interviewed-vladimir-putin/ZAG5CPOPVZF7JAJM5C7IMEYARA/

          • Incognito 3.3.1.1.1

            Ta

            Ball is in KS’s court now and I hope he’s as happy.

            • KS 3.3.1.1.1.1

              Peter,

              you said

              “It wasn't hidden away on my NZ msm. It wasn't the lead story on my radio and tv but why would it be? Anyone following the news would know about it. And could follow up if interested.”

              Thanks, I feel you have explained my point perfectly “hidden”

              Why wouldn’t it be the lead story…I mean it’s only about the destruction of Ukraine via a proxy war engineered by the USA, the slow reduction in power of the green back, the death of 500k Ukrainians (via NEOCONs), the loss of trade due to formation of BRICs, the selling off of public Ukrainian assets (allegedly Blackrock, Vanguard are very interested etc), the blowing of Nordstrom’s pipeline with suddenly sales of LNG from USA to Europe at about 4x the price, the absolute hate of NECONs for Russians….etc etc

              We could probably save NZ government a s$&t ton of money and sack all of NZs diplomatic core replacing with an AI muppet that repeats the words “whatever Biden says”

              • SPC

                You're the one claiming Biden made Putin do it.

                One person claims he has dementia, another he is powerful jedi master.

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.4

      It's been all over the MSM.

      As well as reporting it, RNZ has debunked the worst of Putin's garbage here.

      Putin is an uninformed fool, only listened to by the gullible. But he isn't short of malice,

      • KS 3.4.1

        Yoo

        UncookedSelachimorpha (Impressive name by the way 😁)

        If I know RNZ, it’s there usual lazy arsed reporting whereby they default to outside organisations such as AP or BBC (bullshit buys compliance) and pick the narrative of the NEOCONs.

        you said

        “RNZ has debunked the worst of Putin's garbage”

        The issue is that RNZ reporting is myopic and focuses in this particular world issue only on one side (can’t even use it’s own reporters). It is not allowed to provide nuance.

        It would be great to see RNZ and MSM do more of the reporting that provides both sides of the argument. Thank god for alternative media such as the following, whereby you can actually see different perspectives. These two sources for example do have different opinions . Give them a go. The “joy” is to see that things are a little more complex than our friends in MSM and RNZ would like you to believe… they hate nuance

        The Duran https://rumble.com/v4cfde8-tucker-carlson-interviews-vladimir-putin.html

        Triggonometry: https://www.youtube.com/live/_wyvERQjvkE?si=6QI4-pAY_Yk8R2Ie

        • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.4.1.1

          You complain about the quality of the media, express a desire for 'both sides of the argument'….and provide a link to youtube.

          Anything critical of the russian government on youtube is banned in russia, as are VPNs.

          Twitter, Facebook – blocked.

          Putin's regime murders and imprisons journalists, imprisons people for any protest (including 7 years jail for anti-war messages on shop pricetags) and there is no free media permitted in the country whatsoever.

          Apologies for using wikipedia links – these are also all banned and cannot be seen by russians. The only political information not banned in russia is state-approved propaganda – some of which has leaked into your information sources.

          • KS 3.4.1.1.1

            UncookedSelachimorpha, thanks for taking the time to reply, I get your point of view. However you mentioned Wikipedia.

            If you have not seen this interview with Glenn Greenwald and the founder of Wikipedia about its fall from grace into a CIA / FBI controlled spin machine, then I suggest you do.

            We the West are meant to be the good guys, beyond such manipulative tactics.

            The girls and boys down on the farm (CIA) really know how to work the Stockholm syndrome. The public end up defending their nefarious bs (perpetuated via CNN, Fox etc)

            As Lyndsey Graham insinuated… We will defend Ukraine until the last Ukrainian, we will fight them over there, as we won’t have to fight them here, this is good value for money.

            500,000 dead Ukrainians for what exactly? So companies like Blackrock can invest?

            https://rumble.com/v33wemb-wikipedia-co-founder-condemns-it-most-biased-encyclopedia-in-history-system.html

            Crazy world

            • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.4.1.1.1.1

              "500,000 dead Ukrainians for what exactly?"

              Dead because russia invaded its neighbour without cause. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be even more dead Ukrainians.

              (the 500k is a russia propaganda lie, btw. Ukrainian military losses, while much lower than that, are still awful).

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 3.5

      …and a small indication that Putin is full of shit, is his assertion in that insane interview that Poland forced Hitler to invade Poland. If you believe that, I've a Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to sell you.

  4. joe90 4

    Brown indulging in vindictive culture war claptrap.

    From April 1, EV and plug-in hybrid drivers will have to pay road user charges (RUCs), joining other drivers in having to cover the costs of using the road.

    But, in what looks like a bad April Fool’s joke, the Green Party has discovered drivers of EVs and plug-in hybrids will be paying more to use the road than people driving fossil fuel cars.

    Someone driving a battery EV on a return trip between Wellington and Auckland (presumably with lots of charging stops) will pay $98.80 in RUC and a driver of a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius would pay $94.78, comprised of $72.80 in RUC and $21.98 in petrol taxes.

    These figures are more than double what a driver of a Toyota Prius, non-plug-in conventional hybrid would pay for that journey, which would be just $42.92 in petrol taxes

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/greens-say-ev-drivers-being-ripped-off-as-data-reveals-they-will-pay-double-some-petrol-vehicles/MNRVCRBYYBA6JIRQCPCBE4SQHQ/

    There will be no spending on any infrastructure to allow cycling across the Auckland harbour under the coalition Government, and no light rail line, either.

    Transport and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown outlined the plans for a second harbour crossing today in a speech to the Committee for Auckland, an organisation of business and civic leaders.

    Instead, the focus, he said, is now on “providing extra lanes for traffic” and “enhancing the existing busway”.

    Previous statements by Brown have pointed in this direction, but this is the first time he has made the position clear. The minister did not say if he preferred tunnel or bridge options.

    […]

    He told her he had campaigned against a pedestrian crossing with a raised speed table on Pakuranga Rd in his electorate. “I did that because it constantly slowed things down and made the network less efficient.”

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/government-plans-for-auckland-harbour-crossings-transport-minister-simeon-brown-on-more-car-lanes-nothing-for-bikes/3EDI2BOEBRHEXD4JGKKBL5QB3E/

  5. joe90 5

    Lefties: Yemeni Houthi, make us proud! Turn another ship around!.

    Meanwhile, Houthi court: death to homos!

    /

    https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1367225/13-sentenced-to-death-for-homosexuality-in-yemen-source.html

    • Francesca 5.1

      Oh well then that changes everything

      Bomb Yemen!bomb the women! bomb the children!somehow avoid bombing the gays!

  6. joe90 6

    Better thrown off the ballot than out the window, I guess.

    /

    Russia's election commission has rejected anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin as a candidate in next month's presidential vote.

    Mr Nadezhdin has been relatively critical of Vladimir Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine when few dissenting voices have been tolerated in Russia.

    Election authorities claimed more than 15% of the signatures he submitted with his candidate application were flawed.

    He had tried to challenge this, but the commission rejected his bid.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68237791

  7. joe90 7

    Oh, so it was an insurrection.

    Acyn

    @Acyn

    Trump: I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.

    https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1755647384128790591

  8. Kat 8

    Can you believe it……….I am VERY skeptical….. who were they polling…..

    A new political poll conducted by Curia Market Research shows a big boost for ACT as they return to double digits support.

    Compared with the last Curia poll, also commissioned by New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, in November 2023, ACT has jumped up 5.6 points to 13.7%.

    National was up 2.6 points to 39.6% while Labour had dropped 0.4 points to 27.9%, according to the poll.

    NZ First has dropped 1 point to 5%, and the Green Party has dropped 4.8 points to 9%.

    Te Pāti Māori has dropped 1.1 points to 2.3% (-1.1% points).

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350174914/national-and-act-latest-political-poll

    • Robert Guyton 8.1

      Yes, Kat.

      How many Māori, I wonder, were polled? 🙂

    • Muttonbird 8.2

      Yeah, Farrar's polling I'd trust the least. It's because alongside being a pollster he's a heavily partisan political activist associated with the National Party, with ACT party, and with the Taxdodger's Union which, we hear, is itself sponsored by the shadowy Atlas Network.

      If you think there's no political marketing element to the way Farrar presents his polling to the media and therefore to the public on behalf of his stakeholders then you're either one of those stakeholders and lying, or you are incredibly naive.

      Just saying it would be very, very useful to the anti-Maori people if some numbers came out right now showing positive support for ACT, whether those numbers are true or not.

      The problem with the polling industry in NZ is that there is no way of knowing the level of corruption within certain companies. No-one even asks the question…

    • SPC 8.3

      The lack of detail as to sample size and period …

      Here it mentions the first week of February.

      The significant detail is 39 to 35% approval of the government so far (25% neutral/no opine).

      The rise towards ACT (13%) and decline of Green (9%) seems to be related to focus on the issue of Waitangi, rather than inequality.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/poll-shows-act-leader-david-seymour-and-party-gaining-support-after-waitangi-events/3FQWSZB3TBFCJDDRF26VTWVFIU/

    • Cricklewood 8.4

      Not that suprising, he's been in or on the news almost daily for the last few weeks… essentially his soap box now has a megaphone attached and like it or not there are a plenty of NZrs who like what hes got to say about the treaty etc.

      I reckon hes decided on a stratergy of noise and disagrement wuth the Nats etc in a bid to keep Act in the news and avoid getting swallowed up / decimated next election. Seymour is alot of things but hes not stupid.

      • Robert Guyton 8.4.1

        Interested to hear your descriptions of those "a lot of things" 🙂

        • Cricklewood 8.4.1.1

          Well, speaking from personal experience hes a very effective electorate mp… I think because he has wanted to secure his Epsom seat and make it immposible for the Nats to sink him. I reckon hes acheived that.

          I'd also call him very determined to acheive his political goals and cunning enough to manipulate issues to his advantage. On one hand he worked with all parties and politicians in parliment to get the End of Life choice bill across the line on the other he is happy to manipulate very devisive issues and court various single issue groups to help build a power base. Think Groundswell and Guns.

          Make no mistake hes not to be under estimated and hes been groomed for power for a long time and now hes got some he means to do something with it.

  9. Robert Guyton 9

    Pablo again – this is rapier-sharp genius-thinking, imo:

    "It is that unity that David Seymour’s racist attacks on the Treaty are aimed at. Foreign influenced and funded by well-monied rightwing outlets with international reach, Seymour’s is a type of white supremacist revanchism designed to roll back social gains made by traditionally subordinate groups under the guise of promoting “individualism” and freedom of choice. But what it really is, is an attempt to reassert white capitalist cultural, economic, political and social supremacy on everyone else, and to do that it must destroy NZ’s foundational myth by attacking and dismantling the Treaty using the argument that rather than a cooptation device designed to secure intergenerational social peace, it has created a race-based hierarchy in which Maori are granted privileges unavailable to everyone else. It is an odious project at its core, odious because it is hateful in intent and therefore hate-worthy as an approach to social issues."

    https://www.kiwipolitico.com/2024/02/a-nz-identity-crisis/

    • Anne 9.1

      I think the first part of the next paragraph is needed to round off the intention of Pablo's analysis. I rate him one of the best – if not the best – political analyst in the country:

      Seymour is aided in his project by political opportunists in National and NZ First who cater to what used to be the fringes of NZ society–anti-vaccination groups, conspiracy theorists and, most central of all, racists. He is abetted by a clickbait-focused media that, unlike the veteran that interviewed me, ignores or chooses not to explore the deeper background behind the ACT Party manoeuvres, including its funding and logistical ties to various rightwing astroturf organisations.

      And I love this bit later in the post:

      “… this questioning of Kiwi identity may be a good thing because, if a referendum is held and the proposal to review the Treaty is resoundingly rejected, it could serve to marginalise the likes of Seymour and his band of racist pimply-faced incels…” 🙂

      • SPC 9.1.1

        National and ACT are playing the look here game (populist settler nativism) while they deliver for the landlord class (and placing water costs on ratepayers until they are squeezed into privatisation moves).

        Their real play is limiting the scope of the Waitangi Tribunal to assist them in changing OIO rules, allowing fast track consents and mining on conservation land.

      • Muttonbird 9.1.2

        Really high risk for the identity of this country if it gets to referendum because huge amounts of money will be poured into the Maori-phobic campaign.

        Seymour's white supremacist ideology must be addressed before then.

  10. SPC 10

    It appears that the impact on inflation of the Red Sea piracy is minimal when compared to the pandemic disruption to container shipping.

    On Monday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that if freight costs remained high, consumer price inflation across its 38 member countries could rise by 0.4 percentage points after about a year.

    This not uncommon sanguine outlook is partly down to huge growth in the size of the global shipping fleet last year, according to MacAdam at Capital Economics, a trend he expects to continue over 2024. Carriers, unable to keep up with demand during the pandemic, have placed "massive orders" for new vessels, he said.

    This has kept a lid on freight costs. "The increase in offered (shipping) capacity in the market continues to put pressure on the rates," Maersk said Thursday.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/analysis-how-the-red-sea-crisis-is-turning-global-trade-upside-down-with-extra-costs-weeks-of-delays.html

  11. SPC 11

    Biden should do the evaluation, if Trump does the same.

    And he should challenge Trump to a 100 metre race, a car race around a race track, a bike race, a swimming race, an IQ test and a knowledge of government "competence to be on Capitol Hill" test.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/doctors-call-on-joe-biden-to-take-cognitive-tests-after-string-of-recent-blunders.html

    • joe90 11.1

      And lend credence to the witterings of a partisan hack?

      Nah.

      @MuellerSheWrote

      BREAKING: Robert Hur was instrumental in the rush to fire Andy McCabe minutes before he retired to prevent him from getting his pension. Andy and I discuss on this Sunday's episode of Jack. Subscribe for free:

      https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1756086679138619484

      • SPC 11.1.1

        Why would anyone confident in their capacity to perform have a problem with an evaluation? The GOP is counting on him not doing it and this is the only way to end that narrative.

        And extending that into a dig at Trump’s representation of the worst of America, fat/unfit and stupid and loud about it creates a new direction to the story.

    • Cricklewood 11.2

      Id be quite happy for the pair of them to be disqualified. Neither are fit for the role.

  12. adam 12

    If China did this it be on the news 24/7. Cultural genocide on Gaza's educational and cultural institutions.

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