Open mike 12/08/2022

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 12th, 2022 - 31 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step up to the mike …

31 comments on “Open mike 12/08/2022 ”

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  1. observer 1
    12 August 2022 at 6:25 am

    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.

    • left for dead 1.1
      12 August 2022 at 6:30 am

      yes. I was thinking the same,and sadly will undermine what really needs attending too here.

    • Rapunzel 1.2
      12 August 2022 at 7:11 am

      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

    • Sanctuary 1.3
      12 August 2022 at 8:08 am

      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.

      • RosieLee 1.3.1
        12 August 2022 at 8:24 am

        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.

      • Tiger Mountain 1.3.2
        12 August 2022 at 8:46 am

        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…

      • Jack 1.3.3
        12 August 2022 at 11:13 am

        So we don’t take his claim of bullying seriously then because is just a young naive winger. Love the double standards on display.

        • Patricia Bremner 1.3.3.1
          12 August 2022 at 5:08 pm

          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.

        • observer 1.3.3.2
          12 August 2022 at 5:18 pm

          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/

        • swordfish 1.3.3.3
          12 August 2022 at 8:37 pm

          .

          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.

    • pat 1.4
      12 August 2022 at 5:34 pm

      "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

      • observer 1.4.1
        12 August 2022 at 5:38 pm

        Trotter should imagine less, and investigate more.

        Reports out today paint a very different picture. See Herald link above.

        • pat 1.4.1.1
          12 August 2022 at 5:55 pm

          Have you read the Trotter piece?

          • observer 1.4.1.1.1
            12 August 2022 at 6:48 pm

            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.

            • pat 1.4.1.1.1.1
              12 August 2022 at 7:09 pm

              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.

  2. Ad 2
    12 August 2022 at 7:36 am

    A new Wellington candidate for mayor, full of ideas:

    ' “What we need now is unity,” says Hastie,

    Hastie proposes a six lane bypass tunnel under the city with two dedicated public transport lanes from the Terrace tunnels linking into the existing State Highway network at Kilbirnie. The tunnel bypass will utilise carbon-capture technology to lower emissions, moving Wellington towards a zero emissions economy.

    He also proposes to scrap ‘Let’s Get Wellington Moving’ and replace it with the ‘Wellington Urban Development Authority’. “If we can get traffic moving under the city, then we can literally redesign the city from scratch – currently Wellington’s traffic woes cut our city and communities in half.” '

    Wellington.Scoop » Now there are eight: Predator-free founder joins contest for Wellington mayoralty

    He may well be mad but he's not mad enough to support light rail.

  3. Ad 3
    12 August 2022 at 7:51 am

    Merrick Garland is going to get that Trump search warrant unsealed.

    Put the popcorn on this is going to get buttered.

  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    12 August 2022 at 8:39 am

    Dunedin rugby mates defend disgraced Uffindell

    "The guy is passionate about wanting to make NZ a better place," he said.

    Another former rugby teammate spoke in glowing terms.

    "I knew him pretty well," he said. "He was a good dude. Just a student living the student life . . . I never saw the other side that’s been mentioned."

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dunedin-rugby-mates-defend-disgraced-uffindell

    I could say..why am I not surprised ? Oh I did. Yep.

  5. pat 5
    12 August 2022 at 9:08 am

    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

  6. weka 6
    12 August 2022 at 10:54 am

    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

  7. arkie 7
    12 August 2022 at 11:41 am

    Molloy cottons on to what most already knew:

    Leo Molloy has quit the race to become Auckland’s next mayor, conceding: “I cannot win”.

    The Herald revealed he has announced his withdrawal today – on the same day a new poll had him dropping to third.

    “I cannot win,” Molloy told the Herald today.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-mayoralty-new-poll-shows-efeso-collins-first-wayne-brown-second-leo-molloy-support-falls/4YNZVVHQNXMCFPAUBWQXSO6YBI/

    • Stephen D 7.1
      12 August 2022 at 11:49 am

      As we suspected.
      Now it’s a drag race between Efeso Collins and Viv Beck.
      The others hopefully will just split the right vote.

    • psych nurse 7.2
      12 August 2022 at 12:19 pm

      The next MP for Tauranga ?.

    • AB 7.3
      12 August 2022 at 2:10 pm

      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.

  8. joe90 8
    12 August 2022 at 2:25 pm

    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)

  10. Herodotus 10
    12 August 2022 at 3:38 pm

    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/