Open mike 12/08/2022
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6:00 am, August 12th, 2022 - 31 comments
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- This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...1 hour ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
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The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...19 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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If you're sent a message privately, and you then post it publicly, you've pretty much destroyed any pretence at good faith dialogue with anybody:
Dr Sharma throws gasoline on the bridges he obviously wants to burn.
Mind you, this line from the reporter is quite funny:
Sharma has only been an MP since the 2020 election. This timeframe would mean he began complaining to the Prime Minister's Office about half a year after entering Parliament.
It's also not anything he raised an issue over or mentioned in an interview in Feb this year https://www.indiannews.co.nz/allstories/dr-gaurav-sharma-a-man-of-conviction
Sounds like he is a guy obsessed with slights real and imagined and who conflates them all into a generic accusation of "bullying" – his maiden speech was full of talk about it.
If the report on NatRad is correct it is the result of a staff dispute between him and parliamentary services where he is very unhappy about the process being followed.
According to Guyon Espiner on RNZ this morning his voicemail message says he is now overseas, so he's had a spray and flounce.
Probably a person completely unsuited to the parliamentary environment.
We seem to have a whole generation of people in various occupations who cannot tolerate any disagreement, or debate, around issues – and immediately accuse the other person of bullying. Snowflakes.
I usually critique the Labour Caucus and its adherence to monetarism and a neo liberal state rather than individual MPs who in the main try and do their best. And a number achieve good results too in their electorate and committee work.
I have known many MPs over the decades from different parties and it is not a role that too many can actually handle well.
But I admit Mr Sharma got to me with his naivety and preciousness. Does he think he’s the first to stumble upon the arcane rituals, conventions, hierarchy’s and structures of the NZ Parliament?
Not destined for a long political career this one. He will likely sooner rather than later enjoy the tender mercies of a Hamilton Labour LEC…
So we don’t take his claim of bullying seriously then because is just a young naive winger. Love the double standards on display.
No Jack, because it involves staff in his office it is probably not bullying, and more likely a staff complaint, and he is taking the view as stated, "I am not the bully". That requires a negotiated settlement which he perhaps is not happy with? imo.
We should definitely take claims of bullying seriously.
There's a reason Sharma wrote his column without informing any colleagues, and a reason he has avoided all media queries since. The story turns out to be rather different …
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/parliament-bullying-claims-labour-mp-gaurav-sharmas-ex-staffer-speaks-out-after-being-left-in-tears/6Y6DUYVDRNWS6DPEVT7B4JT24Q/
.
Yep … astonishing double-standards …
…partly the usual lack of principle you find in all partisan echo-chambers (as George Orwell brilliantly dissected way back in the 30s) … but also, for Woke dogmatists, Sharma's probably the wrong identity group … not quite "marginalised" enough (in contrast to, say, an affluent Pakeha woman Labour MP from a boarding-school background or a male Maori MP from a comfortable managerial-class milieu ……. their accusations of bullying would engender immediate & quite ostentatious expressions of sympathy from the Woke ideologue segment of readers here).
Wokedom's "morality" & "ethics", its "caring & sharing" are nothing if not highly, highly, highly selective.
"Think about it for a moment. Labour has a caucus of 65 MPs. Most of them, like Sharma himself, highly qualified professionals. How, then, is it possible that all but two of these intelligent and (presumably) principled men and women (the exceptions being Louisa Wall and, now, Sharma) have never even once spoken out of turn or (God forbid!) expressed a viewpoint on any major – or even minor – issue that was not in 100 percent conformity with the official party line? What does it take to inspire and maintain that sort of collective discipline?"
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2022/08/parting-shots.html
I dont imagine Sharma lacks intellect
Trotter should imagine less, and investigate more.
Reports out today paint a very different picture. See Herald link above.
Have you read the Trotter piece?
Yes, hence my reply.
Again: he wrote it before today's news, which puts a very different complexion on things. Unfortunately, one of the features of the pundit class (including Trotter) is that they churn out their reckons before facts are known, and then they are unwilling to revise their reckons. Happens all too often.
The 'facts' printed in the Herald piece dont change anything he has written….they do however beg the question why this remains unresolved after 12 months of 'engagement' by both the Whips and Parliamentary services.
A new Wellington candidate for mayor, full of ideas:
Now if only someone would come up with light rail under the city, that would be truly visionary!
Lol. Methinks Hastie is too hasty, and not really on board with the realities of the climate crisis.
how safe will that be in the case of an earthquake.
Merrick Garland is going to get that Trump search warrant unsealed.
Put the popcorn on this is going to get buttered.
The MAGAs have gone nuts.
I could say..why am I not surprised ? Oh I did. Yep.
When a (yet another) country goes broke…
"Brandishing a rifle and threatening to douse himself with petrol, Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, entered the Federal Bank branch about noon on Thursday and insisted on withdrawing part of his frozen savings of $210,000 (£172,000) to help pay for his father’s hospital bill.
Like nearly all Lebanese, the hostage taker’s funds have been off limits for more than two years. Banks, stricken by an economic crisis, have allowed depositors only token withdrawals of dollars each month that are insufficient to meet the most basic of needs."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/11/gunman-takes-hostages-at-beirut-bank-to-try-to-free-his-trapped-savings
it's almost like male and non-male bodied people have different physiology and thus different capacities, as well as different experiences of life and the world.
https://twitter.com/Cathemerality/status/1557805081181016064
Molloy cottons on to what most already knew:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-mayoralty-new-poll-shows-efeso-collins-first-wayne-brown-second-leo-molloy-support-falls/4YNZVVHQNXMCFPAUBWQXSO6YBI/
As we suspected.
Now it’s a drag race between Efeso Collins and Viv Beck.
The others hopefully will just split the right vote.
The next MP for Tauranga ?.
Looks to me like Collins needs both Brown and Beck to stay in the race – and to work some unexpected magic on turnout in his strongholds.
The Rosenbergs were necked for this sort shit.
https://twitter.com/OlufemiOTaiwo/status/1557884604614381570
Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence on Monday, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands.
The people who described some of the material that agents were seeking spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. They did not offer additional details about what type of information the agents were seeking, including whether it involved weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation. Nor did they say if such documents were recovered as part of the search. A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/ (freebie)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mass-dolphin-stranding-on-aucklands-waiheke-island/SKAPTMTC4KGSSJHZNQKCFZW7VU/
So sad Whakanewha Regional Park, Waiheke is a bit of a hidden gem, as can be seen very tidal. Thoughts go out to the rangers and those locals assisting- this will be deeply emotional for all. Take care
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mass-dolphin-stranding-on-aucklands-waiheke-island/SKAPTMTC4KGSSJHZNQKCFZW7VU/