Open Mike 10/07/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 10th, 2018 - 75 comments
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75 comments on “Open Mike 10/07/2018 ”

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  1. AsleepWhileWalking 1
    10 July 2018 at 7:25 am

    Eight miracles!

    Let’s pray for five more.

    • Ffloyd 1.1
      10 July 2018 at 7:42 am

      Amen to that AWW.

      • DH 1.1.1
        10 July 2018 at 11:10 am

        They’ve done an amazing job, must have really thought everything through and worked out a solution to every conceivable obstacle.

        Diving in low vis is bloody scary if you’re even slightly claustrophobic, I don’t know how cave divers do it.

      • halfcrown 1.1.2
        10 July 2018 at 12:30 pm

        +100%

        • Ankerrawshark 1.1.2.1
          10 July 2018 at 1:06 pm

          Yes hopes and prayers (even though I am not religious). The governor running the show has been hugely impressive as has everyone involved. The governor has recently been moved sideways as it sounds like he was assertively calling out corruption

  2. AsleepWhileWalking 2
    10 July 2018 at 7:30 am

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/361462/pressure-mounts-for-government-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy

    In a statement, the Human Rights Commission said there were no specific laws prohibiting conversion therapy in New Zealand.

    Well that’s debatable especially if someone is paying for a service

    *Fair trading act, false and misleading claims

    *Human rights act, financial exploitation

    *Got to be something in the Health Practitioners Act or Health and Disabilities Act

  3. cleangreen 3
    10 July 2018 at 7:46 am

    The ‘NZ Human Rights Comission’ has been a puppet for big bussiness and global corporations for years and years.

    Now this new Government needs to ‘remove all these “stool pidgeons”‘ and really act for the interests of those of us all with out any power to change the system stacked against us by the powerful lobbyists who run government policy now.

    The corporaste lobbyists, are keeping this phoney agency in NZ afloat with all “their double speak, diversions, and lies”.

    As a disabled person I have first hand experience & knowledge of concerted actions of collussion used to keep this agency from representing the ‘human rights of the disabled’ -from obtaining their rights given under the global UN agreement made by the NZ Government in the last nine years under the last national Government.

  4. Jenny 4
    10 July 2018 at 8:19 am

    In December, in a podcasted interview with reporters, Jason Beattie and Alison Philips, British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, “urged” the people of Britain and the UK to “protest in force” against any visit by Donald Trump.

    “Jeremy Corbyn urges British public to protest in force when Donald Trump visits the UK”

    The Mirror – December 22, 2017

    The Trump, Alt-Right, Assad, Axis.

    Why Donald Trump should never have been allowed to enter Britain.

    Remember Jo Cox

    Assassinated British Labour MP Jo Cox is attacked posthumously by Assad apologist, and genocide denier, Professor Paul Dixon, Honorary Visiting Fellow, Birkbeck College, London.

    “The most notable aspect of Jo Cox’s tragically short parliamentary career was her outspoken stance for escalating war in support of the so-called ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria”

    Paul Dixon – June 29, 2017

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-dix/jo-cox-mp-compassionate-road-to-war

    Jo Cox’s neo-fascist assassin yelled “Britain First” as he shot her at close range and then finished her off with a knife.

    Britain First
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Britain First is a British fascist political organisation formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party (BNP). A part of the far-right, the group was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion and far-right campaigner. The organisation’s leader is former BNP councillor Paul Golding, and its deputy leader is Jayda Fransen.

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

    Britain First is the British based neo-fascist group that Donald Trump scrolled through to select false white supremacist propaganda to retweet.

    Thomas Mair, who murdered the Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox one week before the EU referendum in 2016, shouted “Britain first!” when he fired his gun. Cox’s widower, Brendan, said on Wednesday that Trump “should be ashamed of himself”.

    He accused Trump of spreading hatred and trying to legitimise the far right in Britain.

    Brendan Cox@MrBrendanCox
    Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.

    10:06 PM – Nov 29, 2017
    74.2K
    31.9K people are talking about this

    ….Trump has often used his Twitter account to promote dubious figures. Earlier this week, he highlighted a website called MagaPill which promotes avariety of conspiracies.He has also used his account toretweet a Mussolini quote, toshare a postfrom the account @whitegenocidetm and to circulatefalse and racially inflammatorycrime statistics.

    When asked in 2015, he said that he consideredretweets endorsements.“You know, I retweet, I retweet for a reason.”

  5. R.P Mcmurphy 5
    10 July 2018 at 9:04 am

    I get really fed up with the current cohort of whiners employed by the mass media in New Zealand to conduct their swingeing attacks on the left. I nealry puked when slimy gluon espiner presumed to tell MInister Twyford hwow to behave. Who are these no talents who infest the public discourse with their dreary blabber. They come from nowhere and all of a sudden they are let loose to whine over the whole country in a double whammy. First their voices are so horrible that you want to turn them off asap and second after that you miss out on what the real people have to say. ungggggh!

  6. R.P Mcmurphy 6
    10 July 2018 at 9:17 am

    Brief on RNZ tv page says Ron Mark urged not to put missiles and bombs on the new P8’s. talk about making a boxer get in the ring with BOTH hands tied behind his back. Dumbstuff.

  7. Gabby 7
    10 July 2018 at 9:22 am

    They’re recruited by The Combine murph. Keep it under your pillow.

  8. corodale 8
    10 July 2018 at 9:27 am

    Turkey getting interesting, with big internal security measures in Public Sector. International media also talking of increasing Turkish influence on the eastern side of Jesus-town down in the Holy-land.

    “Erdogan previously said that there will not be any members or parliamentarians of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the new cabinet, hinting that it will be made up of ex-politicians and bureaucrats.
    The AK Party took 42.5 percent in the parliamentary polls, also conducted on June 24, while its ally, the far-right National Movement Party (MHP), got 11.1 percent, enabling the two parties’ bloc to secure a majority in parliament.” aljazeera.com

    The Kurd party did get 12%, but the 11.1% Nationalist party is in coalition with the Turkish President.

    Actually Erdogan is talking about restoring full and strengthened democracy.

    But who’s keen for a peace tour to Gallipoli anyway? Mid September suits me. Visit the local AK Party Office and talk synergy on Social Credit policy. Should make it to their local news papers.

    • Kevin 9.1
      10 July 2018 at 10:36 am

      Why?

      European coaching methods are at the forefront of the game internationally. Guardiola, Klopp, Conte etc. Just look at the final four at the World Cup. (Although I would not put Gareth Southgate in that esteemed company of coaches just yet!).

      Taking into account the ‘Kiwi way’, I would say he is probably 100% correct.

      • marty mars 9.1.1
        10 July 2018 at 10:45 am

        You’d be wrong.

        The euro style may not slot into the south seas here and his particular style and personality definitely don’t as evidenced by most saying they wouldn’t play for him.

        • Kevin 9.1.1.1
          10 July 2018 at 11:03 am

          Ahhh, the old ‘kiwi’s are different’ theme that runs through practically everything in this country.

          Its simple, if the current team is too precious to learn, then get players who are. Players who expect to be treated and paid as professionals need to learn that they will not be mollycoddled or treated like family members.

          I doubt very much that the current coach got the job by default.

          • mauī 9.1.1.1.1
            10 July 2018 at 12:45 pm

            Many of the current team play for some of the best club teams around the world. They are professionals.

            I thought the whole idea of coaching was to get the best out of your players. If your players think you’re a total asshole then that will never happen.

          • marty mars 9.1.1.1.2
            10 July 2018 at 3:39 pm

            Lol shhh hey kev, kiwis ARE different. Remember the long plane ride…

      • Gabby 9.1.2
        10 July 2018 at 12:13 pm

        Or, he’s a dick with an inflated opinion of himself pandered to by cargo cultist foreigner worship. Kev.

      • You_Fool 9.1.3
        10 July 2018 at 1:35 pm

        The football ferns top players play in europe, I am sure they are used to the european style, so if they complain about a coach, it is not because of his european style.

        Also the Football Ferns are a decent team on the world stage, 20th at the moment (out of 177) so better positioned than the mens team (120th of 206), and fully capable of holding their own against the likes of Japan (6th) despite what Mr know-nothing thinks…

  11. adam 11
    10 July 2018 at 11:19 am

    Drain the swamp, Scott Pruitt Resigns From EPA.

  12. James 12
    10 July 2018 at 11:41 am

    Could the UK end up with PM Boris ?

    Here is hoping.

    Boris for PM !!!!!

    • Gabby 12.1
      10 July 2018 at 12:14 pm

      Blobby Jobby on a zipwire jimbo!

    • bwaghorn 12.2
      10 July 2018 at 12:20 pm

      Is that the clown that was pro Brexit till the vote came in and he realised his lies fucked the UK up properly.

      • james 12.2.1
        10 July 2018 at 2:06 pm

        Remember the clowns who were anti TPPA until they got in government and realised their position would fuck up NZ properly.

        • McFlock 12.2.1.1
          10 July 2018 at 2:11 pm

          what, the ones who had five bottom lines, realised the us-free treaty didn’t violate any of those bottom lines, so signed the deal?

    • adam 12.3
      10 July 2018 at 3:26 pm

      To paraphrase Sean Lock

      “Boris, he’s too blond even for the Nazi’s”

    • Draco T Bastard 13.1
      10 July 2018 at 4:17 pm

      “Why we can’t afford the rich” by Andrew Sayer, Richard Wilkinson

      “Of course finance has a vital role to play as a servant to the economy, in oiling the wheels of business, in arranging credit and dealing with risk, but it can easily become the master and make the rest of the economy its servant. The occupational hazard of finance is that in seeking to make money out of money through lending, value-skimming and speculating, it focuses on wealth extraction and loses sight of the necessity of wealth creation in goods and services. In the bubble that preceded the crisis, bank lending to productive businesses declined from 30% to 10% as lending to other financial institutions and the property market grew. The financial sector’s control of financial assets – ultimately, claims on the labour and products of others – means that, unless it is strongly regulated it can dominate governments to serve its interests. Mainstream economics, with its obsession with idealised models of markets and its evasion of the difference between earned and unearned income, is complicit in this.”

      My bold.

  14. adam 14
    10 July 2018 at 12:24 pm

    Best protest Ad ever – some bad language – if that offends please avoid.

  15. adam 15
    10 July 2018 at 12:33 pm

    One more, cause a laugh always helps. This time slagging off the AUstralian government.

  16. halfcrown 16
    10 July 2018 at 1:01 pm

    Just seen this quote by David Attenborough. Well worth repeating here.

    “Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist.”………………………………..David Attenborough

  17. joe90 17
    10 July 2018 at 1:32 pm

    A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it Pooh.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhiktirVAAAFp5z.jpg

  18. Ad 18
    10 July 2018 at 1:54 pm

    Steve Bannon: Australia Is On the Front Line With China

    https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/australia-on-the-front-line-of-clash-with-china-says-steve-bannon-20180709-p4zqfi.html

    “If we continue on this path we’re down, China will control all of the countries of South East Asia and they will control Australia,” argues Bannon, the chief executive of Trump’s victorious election campaign and the man credited with the creation of “Trumpism”.

    He says that China’s advances in Australia persuaded him that the US had to act to defend itself against Beijing’s economic advances.

    And Trump took the first decisive action on this agenda on Friday night after months of threats and bluster. The President had promised to impose punitive US tariffs on imports from China unless Beijing made dramatic changes to its rules on trade and investment.

    So how could Australia be what Bannon describes as “the canary in the mineshaft”? Because, he says, the struggle is not about trade in itself but about domination by the Chinese Communist Party.
    “Australia is an object lesson in what to avoid. People [in Australia] played by the rules. It came up gradually, and then it was there.”

    Chinese investment went into “natural resources, tech, then you have overseas Chinese putting money into politics and now you finally wake up”, a reference to the bills now passed by the Parliament to curb foreign interference.

    “And you wake up and you say, ‘hold on – who controls our economic base’, because doesn’t politics ultimately come off who controls the economic base?”

    “Because of Australia’s example, it will not happen here in the US,” says Bannon. “It will not be allowed to happen. People are woke.”

    “You,” he tells me, meaning Australia, “are the San Andreas fault between China and the West. These are the two great systems that have built up over 2000 years. You are the representative of Athens and the democratic Western tradition, and China is a Confucian totalitarian system.

    “The South China Sea is very quickly going to become the front line. The South China Sea will be the focus of an intense global crisis.”

    Chilling when the anti-globalist right, intelligence community, defence community, and the anti-trade hard left sound near-identical. And you can replace “Australia” with “New Zealand” in most of the sentences.

    • RedLogix 18.1
      10 July 2018 at 2:07 pm

      Yes. The Australian media isn’t ignoring it the way NZ’s is.

      China is promoting itself on the world stage as a modern, responsible state, capable of taking the leadership on global trade and climate change but many China experts say those ambitions cannot sit with an inward looking, brutal, autocratic regime.

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-05/china-npc-moves-xi-jinping-towards-dictatorship/9504680

      Or a longer piece here:

      https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/china-xi-jinping-president/554795/

    • Exkiwiforces 18.2
      10 July 2018 at 2:22 pm

      Yes Ad,

      If China does have a crack at closing or restrict access to the SCS the ramifications of that will be felt across the whole Asia- Pacific Region and all the way back to little old NZ because of our major trading partners in Asia which generate our wealth. It’s the indirect threats not the directs (not including climate change) that we are facing in our Foreign Affairs, Trade, Defence, Aid and Climate Change polices.

      If and whenever China makes it move on Taiwan then the ramifications of the whole Asia- Pacific would be huge and would turn the whole International Base Rules Principles/ System on it’s head and again the effects to NZ would be huge which ever way NZ chooses.

      Pablo over at kiwipolitico did a post http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2018/06/pick-your-poison/ on it mean if China or the US makes it move.

      ATM the indirect threat is NZ is the most likely and most dangerous threat to NZ than a direct the threat to NZ.

      • Ad 18.2.1
        10 July 2018 at 3:17 pm

        The scenarios in the Kiwipolitico blog are a lot of fun.

        I think if we were really threatened in any form we would be calling Australia fast – as we usually do. And I think they would expect the same of us, insofar as that matters. We’re right in the middle of rehearsing together in the Pacific with the US as we speak.

        Hence Redlogix’s throwaway line yesterday about military interoperability being the most likely reason we would ally politically with Australia.

    • Gabby 18.3
      10 July 2018 at 5:21 pm

      It’s just conceivable that Bannon is full of selfserving crap up to his lying eyeballs.

  19. joe90 19
    10 July 2018 at 2:10 pm

    so, tRump’s SCOTUS nominee reckons U.S. Presidents should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.

    • alwyn 19.1
      10 July 2018 at 2:52 pm

      He (Kavanaugh) actually published that opinion after observing what happened when Bill Clinton was being investigated. He served on Kenneth Starr’s team that carried out a seemingly never ending investigation.
      That went on and on and on, continually changing the focus away from the purpose for which it was originally set up. I lasted for more than four years in fact, mostly wandering from trivia to trivia and finally about all they settled on was that Clinton hadn’t admitted to being guilty of adultery with Monica Lewinsky.

      Kavanaugh doesn’t claim that Presidents should be immune from investigation. He says that that is the purpose of the impeachment process.
      I wonder if Trump, or his staff were aware of this? It was published in 2009 in what is probably a little read journal.
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-supreme-court-prospect-has-argued-presidents-should-not-be-distracted-by-investigations-and-lawsuits/2018/06/29/2dd9c1cc-7baa-11e8-80be-6d32e182a3bc_story.html?utm_term=.bbe5e60a68de

      • Sabine 19.1.1
        10 July 2018 at 3:14 pm

        its ok when you are a Republican.

        • alwyn 19.1.1.1
          10 July 2018 at 3:44 pm

          Can I remind you that Bill Clinton was a Democrat?
          Kavanaugh, who is presumably a Republican, wrote in that article that Clinton should not have been investigated in the way that he was.
          The article cannot possibly be talking about Trump can it? It was written in 2009, long before anyone sane could possibly have envisaged that Trump would become President.
          The Starr investigation of Clinton was a total travesty. It was basically a die-hard Republican way of getting revenge for the Watergate investigation that was driven by a Democratically controlled Congress against a Republican President.

      • joe90 19.1.2
        10 July 2018 at 4:44 pm

        I wonder if Trump, or his staff were aware of this?

        The fuckers have spent years looking to stack the court and saving tRump from any prosecution means they’ll likely get to appoint more of their ilk.

        So IMO, yes, Kavanaugh’s scholarship would be front and centre of the Xtian extremist’s advice to nominate him.

        .

        When President Donald Trump nominates a justice to the Supreme Court on Monday night, he will be carrying out the agenda of a small, secretive network of extremely conservative Catholic activists already responsible for placing three justices (Alito, Roberts, and Gorsuch) on the high court.

        And yet few people know who they are—until now.

        At the center of the network is Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, the association of legal professionals that has been the pipeline for nearly all of Trump’s judicial nominees. (Leo is on leave from the Federalist Society to personally assist Trump in picking a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.) His formal title is executive vice president, but that role belies Leo’s influence.

        […]

        “Leonard Leo was a visionary,” said Tom Carter, who served as Leo’s media relations director when he was chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast. “He figured out twenty years ago that conservatives had lost the culture war. Abortion, gay rights, contraception—conservatives didn’t have a chance if public opinion prevailed. So they needed to stack the courts.”

        Amazingly, said Carter, Leo has succeeded in this mission with few people taking notice.

        “The Christian right has been written about a lot, but hardly anyone talks about the Catholic right,” Carter said. “Four Supreme Court justices—they’re more successful than anybody: the NRA, the Israel lobby, Big Pharma, no one else has had that kind of impact.

        https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of-leonard-leo-the-man-behind-trumps-supreme-court-pick

      • joe90 19.1.3
        10 July 2018 at 7:43 pm

        All class.

        Brett Kavanaugh wanted to ask Bill Clinton, under oath, about the specific places he ejaculated onto pic.twitter.com/V87Cj9OKED— Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt) July 6, 2018

  20. James 20
    10 July 2018 at 2:52 pm

    Not in the slightest.

    I’ve said using terms like chubby, bitch, cock sucker, wanker and cunt reflect poorly on the people using them on this blog. You don’t need to be an elected official.

    [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.]

    • Robert Guyton 20.1
      10 July 2018 at 2:58 pm

      I don’t need to be, but I am 🙂
      Elected representatives have different obligations when they speak publicly, than unelected individuals, yes, James?

      • james 20.1.1
        10 July 2018 at 3:20 pm

        Not really when its just in the context of bad language and insults.

        Both reflect on the person – poorly.

        and the people who are happy to accept others being insulted.

        In short (I have no idea if you are married or have kids) – but lets assume that someone called your wife a chubby cock sucking cunt – just because they disagreed with her (or your) views. I doubt you would just think – oh they are not an elected official – so thats OK?

        It would not be unsurprising if you thought badly of that person.

        • Robert Guyton 20.1.1.1
          10 July 2018 at 3:25 pm

          James; again and again on this blog you delight in repeating offensive words, under the pretext that you didn’t say them, “someone else did”. Your habit is creepy. Please stop doing it. You make my skin creep.

  22. Puckish Rogue 22
    10 July 2018 at 3:19 pm

    This is the nice one:

    [Link deleted – BLiP]

    the rest are just plain nasty

    [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.]

    • Robert Guyton 22.1
      10 July 2018 at 3:31 pm

      LoL(ita)

      • Puckish Rogue 22.1.1
        10 July 2018 at 4:06 pm

        I feel it should be pointed out that she was enrolled at university when the pic was taken however she is one of the lucky people to have an ageless nay even ethereal beauty that transcends all known standards of cultural norms of hotness (not that her considerable attractiveness should detract from her immense intellect)

        • Robert Guyton 22.1.1.1
          10 July 2018 at 4:32 pm

          “off topic and or irrelevant”
          Pucky. Let her go (she’s no longer 16).

  23. timeforacupoftea 23
    10 July 2018 at 3:28 pm

    Angry Andrew is about to redact prisoners on drug charges shortly, should save a few thousand beds by doing so.

    [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.]

  24. Penny Bright 24
    10 July 2018 at 3:39 pm

    I have a proven track record in defence of freedom of expression (particularly under former Auckland City Council at Town Hall and the former Ak City Council Building).

    I don’t accept Mayor Phil Goff has the lawful right to decide who has access to Ak Council venues.

    Which section of which Act gives Mayor Phil Goff that LAWFUL authority.

    I support the Judicial Review into Mayor Phil Goff’s decision.

    #WhosNext ?

    Penny Bright

  25. OnceWasTim 25
    10 July 2018 at 5:11 pm

    Just a thought…
    Has RNZ now so underfunded that they’re reliant on audio and other technical staff who’re fresh out of broadcasting school?
    The case of the missing ‘sting’
    The case of fluctuating audio volume levels
    The case of the complicated buttons on a panel

    Or maybe it’s that panel operators are preoccupied with their cell phone messages

    Can someone give me another explanation for RNZ ‘gremlins’?

  26. patricia bremner 26
    10 July 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Watching an art programme on tv, during which it was stated Albert Namatjira was at his most successful and applied for a permit to buy a cattle run. He was turned down.

    He then applied to build a home on his land in Alice Springs. You guessed. He was turned down. They did make him the first Aboriginal Australian. How about that?

    After such awful treatment of that outstanding individual, and his jailing for sharing alcohol with family, it should come as no surprise that they treat Kiwis badly.

  27. Sumsuch 27
    11 July 2018 at 12:11 am

    Quite amazed at no one picking up the most exciting to me event since David Cunliffe said he would contest the leadership of the Labour Party after the 2014 election. The nurses strike. What do you do when you get another soft Left-wing govt that won’t even spend the money economists say is fine for it to spend? Do you wait, as we’ve waited since 84. Or do you initiate another, different sort of Winter of Discontent, on the streets. To remind the rich that the other 90 % are equal partners, which they’ve forgotten since 84, since 35.

    You coffee club conversationalists.

  28. eco maori 28
    11 July 2018 at 6:41 pm

    Good Evening Newshub there you go trump neigbours at one of his golf course in Scotland lets us know exactly how he behaves he had power and water cut to the Neigbour that his golf course surrounds I can see his bulling behavior in every bone in his body its all about him winning .
    Tova that’s exactly how it is in Aotearoas reality a flightless bird against a te Red Dragon enough said .
    Thats is always a stupid move to stop training our Mokopunas in the trade sectors you know whos bright idea that was educating the mokopunas is what will help lift Aotearoas productivity .
    Yes a sugar tax is a need for this modern times I bet there are much more bottle stores in common tangata area we must use the law to protect the innocent tangata
    Ka kite ano

  29. eco maori 29
    11 July 2018 at 7:20 pm

    The Crowd Goes Wild Wairangi and James they take there Football seriously its is one Game that most of Papatuanuku plays hot crossed heads see.
    So long as Te Warriors rank better than last year than that’s positive after all Papatuanuku was not built in a day .
    State of Origin Rugby Leauge has been Exciting this year ka pai
    That was good ball skills guys were Kronfeild .
    Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori backs Joe to be the best in his trade