Open mike 12/08/2024
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6:00 am, August 12th, 2024 - 38 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
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...10 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...13 hours ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
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Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...18 hours ago - Thursday 21 November 2024
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 ...18 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...21 hours ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
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- Young Maori take over
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- National’s support base is wobbling
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7 days ago - More lawlessness from National
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The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
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- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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Congratulations to all our athletes who participated in the Olympics.
Just wondering about 2 ideas:
1 With 10 golds and lying 11th on the table of nations, NZ has punched well above its testosterone level (as Winnie might say!); how much of this success is due to funding of High Performance NZ by Grant Robertson?
2 Did we send any male athletes? /s
8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze vs 2 gold, 3 silver – a team effort.
It's been a great display of the equal importance of women's sport. The IOC ensures events and medals for women and men are of identical value. There's no promotion of one gender over another and it's equal pay, none, as far as the IOC is concerned. New Zealand women have carried the load for the country's success.
Yet here we are demonising a small group for not appearing female enough. What a shame.
As for Olympic sport funding in New Zealand, HPSNZ chief executive Raelene Castle (a woman), has already pushed open the door for corporate funding and by definition reduced government funding:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/490450/corporate-dollars-needed-to-help-prop-up-olympic-sports
Reduced government funding is a given with this CoC.
After all, they have to find the dollars for landlords somewhere!
I also wonder if Bishop and Luxon, looking at the medal table, feel NZ has no right to be there.
We are sitting just outside the top 10 which includes the US, 3 Asian mega-economies, 5 European powerhouses, and Australia. Our team is even ahead of G7 nation, Canada, a highly developed economy with 7 times the population and 8.6 times the GDP of NZ.
Therefore, according to business management theory, our athletes are being over funded.
Plenty of money for Chris Bishop to have his Paris holiday! Saw him interviewed from there: First sentence, paraphrasing, began "In this time of straightened fiscal conditions…"
Expect that the gold plated Minister Bishop will proudly claim ownership of the successes. Nothing to do with Robertson or Labour.
Luxon will say, "These medals are are our example of what happens when we have high expectations of outcomes and get rid of riff-raff losers, and any sign of Wokeness. Our Goverment blah blah blah salad…."
KPI's
😉
I think any politician that takes credit for the Olympic success, or any person that gives them credit, is off the planet.
Central government funding plays a part in allowing our elite athletes to compete at the highest level. But that its one of those things that is bi partisan with both blue and red governments handing out the cash. Grant didn't wake up one morning and start something new.
Lets give credit to the athletes and their coaches (and not suits sitting in Wellington). They are the ones that have spent hours upon hours training away from home to get to where they are today.
Police Association urging Luxon to sack Nicole McKee!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524842/police-association-urges-pm-to-strip-gun-reform-portfolio-off-nicole-mckee
There's not a hope in hell of that happening – Seymour won't allow it!
Talk about the tail (8%) wagging the dog! My Labrador couldn't do a better job!
It's never wise to have the fox guard the hen house!
Your Labrador is no doubt way more attractive than the mongrel ACT party which shits lobbiest excrement out everywhere it goes.
Mind you some gun club members would deny automatic guns and be happy to see them banned."
The Labrador has to be registered too, so it can be traced should it bite a farmer's sheep.
The gun owning farmers however are fighting tooth and nail to not have to register their guns, least they be held liable when they turn up in a criminal's possession
Yes, a good point. Our Labrador is also chipped – perhaps that needs to be done for gun owners as well! /s
Downright appalling that the government agency which has the most expertise and experience when it comes to gun control issues is left out of the consulting phase. I also agree, Luxon won't have the guts to stand up to the mealy mouthed little fascist, Seymour.
In this case it appears to be a government that "gets things done" by excluding from consultation any stakeholders it doesn't like. The political parties that are the self-proclaimed champions of individual freedom turn out to be a bunch of authoritarians – no surprises there.
There's strong evidence ACT and National are making it easier for terrorists to access dangerous weapons, and to move through society undetected and unreported.
Collins has decided to close the government response to the Christchurch terror attacks, washing their hands of any further responsibility. One of the recommendations they are refusing to adopt is:
What if members of the Dunedin gun club where the Australian mass murderer practiced were able to alert authorities "easily and safely", without going directly to an underfunded Police force? Not saying they definitely would have because most there would probably share his views on muslims and the great replacement theory, but a system like this might have helped, and might stop a similar event happening in the future.
There's two reasons NACT won't make it harder for terrorists. Cost, and scrutiny of the dangerous views of their support base.
' "The police union boss says gun-lobbyist turned politician Nicole McKee played a leading role in stopping law changes [urged by Police in 2016] which could have meant the March 15 terror attacks had “a much different outcome”.' Stuff yesterday.
So the left/right differential in males is now running at 18%: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/08/12/can-the-nz-left-win-back-male-voters/
There's a whiff of sour grapes in Bomber's critique though. He doesn't give Labour and the Greens explicit credit for their solidarity in working hard during the past decade to produce this outcome. Men have been put thoroughly in their place and left-wing politicos deserve full credit for their relentless campaign to make it happen.
Obviously Hipkins will point out that this is a classic leftist master plan. It lulls the right into a false sense of assurance that the game is stacked in their favour for the forseeable future. Labour strategists deem it a suitable handicap to motivate the troops, right?
Yep, older Pakeha men are having a real cry in their Ford Rangers that younger generations are scrutinising their privilege and how they managed to gain it.
We can probably do an entire range of competitive framing on this topic. I mean, it's not as if there's an actual credible role model on the political right.
My preference currently is for scarcity theory: when the best role model is conspicuous by its absence, that psychological vacuum operates like a black hole in outer space (sucking everything into it – a force of gravity that's invisible).
Market theory says guys want competence, so the market supplies pretenders instead. Adam Smith, up in heaven's room for delusional economists, sighs, rolls his eyes, changes channels…
The song "Young Man's Blues" probably never was more true than now in New Zealand.
I generally agree with bomber on this one – we need much more focus on class injustice. And good outcomes for heterosexual men should be considered to be a great thing, when not at the expense of others.
Bomber has yet to assimilate the reality that older white men are privileged because they acquired assets in their youth, they now have little in common with the working class.
This is a problem because of the size of the boomer demographic, it is enabling an opportunity to neo-liberals to create a precariat society behind a "majoritarian populist front of one law for all to diminish protection for the indigenous minority.
Because of their own struggles with males of the boomer generation older feminists are more aware of class injustice and its impact on younger women.
Good news for capitalists (people who live in the capital), the city seems set to get better: https://thespinoff.co.nz/wellington/12-08-2024/windbag-the-shadowy-conspiracy-aligned-group-targeting-wellington-city-council
Takes time. A policy pillar is something rather substantial: lots of text, but with words strung together to make sense. Not just that, but also likely to get others to agree readily, and even become motivated and passionate supporters.
This is an immense task for anyone with a right-wing brain, and that's just 1! Having to do it on 6 different topics would have the average right-winger reach desperately for random thoughts such as hunting, fishing, using a power tool, etc.
Maybe he has, but I have not seen any praise for our Olympic medalists from Luxon. Could be waiting until they return to NZ and he can be photographed with them and do his shoulder grabbing and back slapping and "look at me" too.
Recently I have noticed more letters to the Post and articles more than a little critical of decisions being made by the government. So divisive and negative.
Presume it's Luxon/the government you're referring to at the end?
Every day, another reason to want the lot of them to rot in hell. Beneficiaries are such an easy target for governments, and this kind of action is simply throwing red meat to their base.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524919/watch-government-further-increases-sanctions-for-beneficiaries
The part about putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons is more terrifying (done as part of the coalition deal between ACT and National). I'm having trouble working out if that will only be done as a sanction, or if the intention is to eventually do it to all of us. Big brother is not only watching, but controlling how you can spend your pittance.
I really, really hope that people who were stupid enough to vote for them- because, Covid- and are now losing their jobs and will have to deal with this patronising and controlling system will seriously regret what they did.
ACT- the party of small government and individual rights, except for those who need to be receipt of a benefit, no matter the reason.
I don't see much wrong with it. Having to re-apply six monthly is not that much of a hardship if you are to be given money. I assume the "putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons" is to ensure essentials like food have to be purchased with it.
How many extra staff will be required for this extra bureaucracy? How is it going to be done without putting extra costs on the beneficiary? Even getting an appointment with WINZ is often difficult, you can't just turn up at the office. Extra phone costs, extra transit costs, extra staff costs.
If they are lucky, often once rent and power and media (phone/broadband) transport to W and I cost is met, then food comes from food banks and family.
Have any journos asked Seymour what happens to beneficiaries whose rents take more than half their income? Haven't seen that question asked yet.
He was on the news telling us it's about what the govt and taxpayers are expected to pay for, like an old-time Nazi bothered by "unnützer Esser" (ie do these Untermenschen expect proper citizens to just fund their degeneracy without consequence? That cannot stand). The idea that "the govt and taxpayers" are part of a society and that society has obligations to all its members is lost on him
Maybe the Govt could also put half of super receivers funds on an essential card also, see how quick the outcry would take?
Leave them poor super annuitants alone, some can’t even pay their power bills in winter. And it’s not their fault that they’re over 65.
Despite giving $80pm to superannuitants automatically to top up winter energy payments?
You missed a keyword: “poor”.
You also missed this: “can’t”.
How much is going to people who actually need it?
I may not have illustrated clearly in my comment that the outcry from well off super receivers at being forced to only purchase what someone else seems essential would be swift and no govt would dare implement such a sub human policy on the "I've worked or been lucky with real estate class" hopefully that corrects my stance 🙂