Open mike 13/04/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 13th, 2024 - 26 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 …

26 comments on “Open mike 13/04/2024 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Dolomedes III 1
    13 April 2024 at 9:18 am

    Scotland's Hate Crime legislation is proving a great success (sarc):

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/08/police-scotland-fail-to-tackle-traditional-crimes/

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/07/police-spammed-with-complaints-by-neo-nazis-under-new-scottish-hate-law

    Predictably, the Grauniad and Hamza Yusuf blame the backfire on "far-right" groups and "neo-Nazis".

    I only recently learned that the NZ Police also keep records on "hate-motivated" crime, despite our (fortunate) lack of hate-crime legislation:

    https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publication/hate-motivated-crimes-official-information-proactive-public-releases-february

    There are some surprises in the results – surprises that would have the likes of Kate Hannah and Marama Davidson choking on their kombucha. But I think these stats are worthless, in that they're all about subjective "perceptions". This a waste of police time.

    • Visubversa 1.1
      13 April 2024 at 9:29 am

      Well known wastes of Police time.

      https://www.faircop.org.uk/case-studies/harry-miller/

      “PC Gul described it as a limerick. It wasn’t but that is beside the point. My retweeting of a gender critical verse had apparently so enraged someone from ‘down South’ that they felt it their civil duty to act as Offended-in-Chief on behalf of my employees ‘up North.’ Not that anyone from my firm of around 90 staff had complained, of course, but again… that’s beside the point. PC Gul rang my work, spoke to my MD, then spent 32 minutes lecturing me on hurt feelings and in-vitro body parts accidentally growing from a lady brain as I sat with my shopping at Tesco. Sarcasm, satire and talk of synthetic breasts was sufficient to prompt the most urgent of police intervention. That PC Gul didn’t appear in Tesco car park with his blues and twos blaring, I suppose, is a small mercy.

      ‘Were any of the tweets criminal?’ I ask.

      ‘No,’ says PC Gul.

      ‘Then why are you ringing me?’

      ‘I need to check your thinking,’ says PC Gul.

      I point out that 1984 is a dystopian novel and not a how-to manual but the reference is lost on PC Gul. He’s been on a course. Just not a very literary one.

      The following week, the assistant chief constable threw the full weight of his bulging ACPO lapel behind his constable, sternly warning about escalation and proportionate action whilst publicly labelling me a transphobe. Just in case I hadn’t got the message (I had – I ignored it) Inspector Wilson called, urging me to disengage with public political debate. I reminded him of my Article 10 Rights. His response was, ‘If you don’t like it, sue.’

      Watch this space.”

      • AB 1.1.1
        13 April 2024 at 11:09 am

        You criticise the Guardian ("Grauniad") for bias while including a link that is based on a story from the Telegraph – known by some as the "Torygraph" because of its bias.

        But that's a minor matter. I do agree that you can't legislate to stop people from just intrinsically being vicious dickheads. You have to wait till that innate dickheadery expresses itself in actual harm or a demonstrable incitement to do harm. This of course doesn't mean that they aren't vicious dickheads, or that we can't name them as such. There may even be a moral obligation to do so.

        • Dolomedes III 1.1.1.1
          13 April 2024 at 11:37 am

          No doubt both the Guardian and the Telegraph have their biases. But would you care to identify the biases in this particular article in the Telegraph? And are there any factual errors?

          And conversely, do you think the Guardian has done a good job of reporting this particular issue? Are "neo-Nazis" and "far-right groups" really to blame for the backfire of this legislation?

        • Traveller 1.1.1.2
          13 April 2024 at 12:55 pm

          Your 'dickheadery' can be someone else's reasonable free expression. For example, do you think a prominent MP tweeting “So ready to fight Nazis” on her way to a woman's rights rally was dickheadery? Or what about another equally prominent MP saying on camera that “I know who causes violence in the world, and it’s white cis men”? Dickheadery? Or reasonable free expression?

    • Obtrectator 1.2
      13 April 2024 at 2:05 pm

      I'm starting to think the real problem is not the understandable anger of the people to whom "hate speech" is allegedly directed, but the rent-a-minders who are only too eager to get angry on their behalf, and who believe they're doing something righteous, to the extent that violence in the cause is entirely justified. That includes these dickhead cops, always on the look-out for "soft" targets to help keep their numbers up, but who are less keen to take on real crims who can and do fight back.

    • SPC 1.3
      13 April 2024 at 3:04 pm

      While we have no hate speech legislation (apart from race – but this has such a high threshold, it is rarely prosecuted), hate crime is another matter – there it is related to incitement, or crime motivated by discrimination.

  2. joe90 2
    13 April 2024 at 10:44 am

    Loons going full bronze age.

    /

    @ME_Observer_

    Temple Mount organizations officially submit a request to the #Israeli police to allow the introduction of an altar and knives to slaughter red cows in Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 22, 2024.

    https://twitter.com/ME_Observer_/status/1778404900138828081

    They have come from halfway across the world and are kept under tight security and raised according to the strictest rules.

    They are five pure red heifers without blemish who have never worked, given birth, been milked or worn a yoke.

    These red heifers and the archaic ritual they were brought to Israel for stand at the heart of a convoluted effort by a segment of ultranationalist Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam that has stood on a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem for more than 1,000 years, and replace it with a “Third Temple”.

    This minority ultranationalist push flies in the face of Jewish scholarship, which rules that a “Third Temple” can only be constructed after the coming of the awaited Messiah to usher in the “Kingdom of God” – not to bring about the return of the Messiah to Earth.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/9/what-do-texan-red-heifers-have-to-do-with-al-aqsa-and-a-jewish-temple

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

  3. tWig 3
    13 April 2024 at 11:17 am

    https://www.facebook.com/DebunkingConspiraciesAotearoa/posts/pfbid0VFbjcdyx2LMTRgnscsqFGmPBBCUS8Boqf4nLYUM7jeSuZ2Q4ehRzJZM9dCWvGRxFl

    "Media Insider: Top Rupert Murdoch TV exec meets PM Christopher Luxon amid media turmoil"

    "Paul Whittaker…chief executive of Sky News Australia, the 24-hour rolling news channel, infamous for its heavy menu of conservative commentary amongst coverage of breaking news and deeper issues," breakfasted in Wellington last week with The Australian foreign editor Greg Sheridan. Both are part of Murdoch right-wing media in Oz. Whittaker met with Melissa Lee last week.

    In comments below this FBk post, "Sky News is now run by comcast, and comcast has none other than John Key as its advisor. Sounds like a conflict of interest is happening between current and ex national party members, also is it any surprise that Jessica Mutch Mckay, who was pretty much cheerleading for Luxon before the election also used to work at sky news"

  4. tWig 4
    13 April 2024 at 11:22 am

    RNZ interview with makers of The Lost Boys of Dilworth, to be screened on TVNZ tomorrow.

    Actual victims of institutional paedopholia in our own country, which I find 100 times more newsworthy and more relevant than the tearing down Scottish hate speech legislation.

  5. adam 5
    13 April 2024 at 12:13 pm

    Good piece from the ABC on wind farms. The ultimate nimby?

  6. adam 6
    13 April 2024 at 12:19 pm

    I've had a bloody good laugh at some of my friends, because they voted Tory on the grounds that the "left" are Godless and will destroy Christendom.

    When it's the Tory idiots who are doing such a good job of it.

    The Auckland Mayor is a total ideological hustler.

  7. joe90 7
    13 April 2024 at 12:26 pm

    The Minister has something to hide?

    In a rare move, the Waitangi Tribunal has summonsed a sitting minister to explain why she wants to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act.

    But Crown lawyers are objecting and have said if she is summonsed, they will seek a judical review by the High Court to stop it.

    Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has been summonsed to explain to the tribunal why she takes issue with 7AA of the act, and why repealing makes more sense than amending, among other questions.

    https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/04/12/crown-lawyers-expected-to-ask-high-court-to-overturn-waitangi-tribunal-summons-of-childrens-minister/

  8. Robert Glennie 8
    13 April 2024 at 2:06 pm

    Max Rashbrooke says that the Coalition of Chaos have managed to tank the E.V. market.

    I am not sure why they thought this would be a good idea – E.V.'s are, for all their environmental short comings (e-waste and so forth) a horse that has long since fled the stable. People want alternatives to gas guzzlers that don't help their bank accounts or the environment. As supposedly pro-market parties who say that Government should respect consumer desires, this move by the Coalition seems to be a determined slap in the face of consumers wanting to be more responsible.

    • Phillip ure 8.1
      13 April 2024 at 2:38 pm

      Hold yr breath for awhile..

      The Chinese car industry are in the process of turning both the European and the American car industries into rust-belts..

      Byd have just dropped a new ev…that they are selling in China for ten grand u.s..

      And behind byd are a posse of yet unknown in the west car companies on the same track…competing to flood the bottom of the new car market with cheap as chips e.v"s..

      At prices the European/American manufacturers can in no way match..

      And at the other end of the market Tesla has similar problems…as there are top-end Chinese makers putting out models that out-spec Tesla…and that sell for half the price…

      The smart companies will join with the Chinese..

      Mercedes-Benz and byd have announced a joint-venture car that will out-spec the top-range Porsche Panamera..

      Every which way they are fucked ..like rotten apples waiting to drop to the ground .

      The Americans are panicking ..calling on gummint to ban the import of Chinese e.v's..to protect their market..(a rear-guard action..at best..)

      This will only delay the inevitable..

      And interesting to think that only ten years ago the Chinese e.v.'s/car manufacturers were a bit of a joke..

      Cheap Chinese made e.v.s will soon enough become the new norm..

      Our modern day model t is nearly here..

      • kejo 8.1.1
        13 April 2024 at 2:51 pm

        As reported on Novara Media this morning. (Last night in the UK)

        • Phillip ure 8.1.1.1
          13 April 2024 at 3:26 pm

          And reported in many other forums.. recently..

          I am not breaking news…i am just joining (already reported) dots…

      • SPC 8.1.2
        13 April 2024 at 3:38 pm

        So the Chinese EV cheaper than anything we can/will subsidise from elsewhere.

        $15,000 is $25,000 local.

        Nearly down to half the price of new new carbon/petrol vehicle and hybrids (and near new second hand).

        But still more expensive than older second hand vehicles.

        It will raise questions for our "service stations" (reduced distance off the aging battery and shorter vehicle life span) and power generation (uptick in demand).

        Some might want a Chinese entry in the hybrid market first.

        • Phillip ure 8.1.2.1
          13 April 2024 at 3:55 pm

          Re batteries..

          Byd have just announced a new battery that has 1,000 km range…

          So an urbanite just going about their business will only have to charge once a month..

          • SPC 8.1.2.1.1
            13 April 2024 at 4:06 pm

            That then leaves the duration of life of vehicle issue (are new batteries installed or come with a new vehicle)?

            • Phillip ure 8.1.2.1.1.1
              13 April 2024 at 4:19 pm

              Unsure what your concerns are..reviews of the u.s. ten grand car cite the quality of build..

              And this is a new development in battery tech they have developed..

              So..I would assume both the options U cite are probably..

              ..and this is early days…

              ..the first move in a chess game ..

              I don't think China wants to go to war with anyone…they just want to sell them cars..