Open mike 17/05/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 17th, 2024 - 38 comments
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For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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38 comments on “Open mike 17/05/2024 ”

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  1. Phillip ure 1
    17 May 2024 at 8:12 am

    Aarrgghh..!!!

    A nasty flashback..!

    No..no..not from the drugs ..

    From once again hearing that faux-concern voice that Shipley uses…on rnz…

    This time about the need for reform of the Waitangi tribunal..

    I couldn't give a flying about what she thinks about anything..

    I just wanted her to be asked:'where is all that money..?..y'know..!..from that court case..'

    Which tory re-tread are they going to wheel out next..?

    ..strewth Richardson..?

    ..spare us..!

  2. Phillip ure 2
    17 May 2024 at 8:44 am

    They should all be banished to a mountain top monastery..and ordered to practise self-flagellation..

    ..to atone (albeit in a small way)..for getting us to where we are now..

    • Kay 2.1
      17 May 2024 at 9:12 am

      We know they're sadists, Phillip, especially those of us who were on the harsh receiving end of their policies. But you must consider there might also be a degree of masochism to them, so they might, in fact, enjoy said self-flagellation.

  3. Phillip ure 3
    17 May 2024 at 9:13 am

    Just read trotters piece (in sidebar..)

    It is worth the time/effort…he defines the intellectual deficit in this coalition of ideologues/opportunists..(you know which is which)…

    Trotter also hearkens back to the last days of Muldoon..and shows how muldoonist this crowd are..

    (I was actually thinking about this last nite..asking myself which previous gummints they are most like..

    And I came up with Muldoon. .in both their irrational use of power/ideology..this overturning any reason ..)

    They are a coalition of demagogues…

    • Traveller 3.1
      17 May 2024 at 9:23 am

      “COD’s”?smiley

    • AB 3.2
      17 May 2024 at 11:29 am

      Not sure I share Chris's faith in the electorate wanting to see credible evidence for any given Government policy. It would be nice if there was such a reasonable moderating force at work somewhere , perhaps it will show up soon.

      In any case, the extremism of this government mostly comes from the dark places they had to go to in order to beat Labour – and that they went there so willingly and with obvious glee.

  4. Ad 4
    17 May 2024 at 11:11 am

    Good to see the Israeli defence establishment positioning carefully against Netanyahu and his sadistic cabinet.

    Absence of a governance plan after 6 months is sick.

    Can't wait to see that floating Wharf delivering aid into Gaza.

    • SPC 4.1
      17 May 2024 at 11:29 am

      It is sort of obvious why, Gallant as southern commander of the IDF was part of applying the dahiya doctrine in Gaza and now is again as Defence Minister.

      Neither was Gallant's message to the Israeli public this week particularly new. Over two months ago, someone leaked to the media that the defense minister presented the cabinet with a comprehensive plan for the gradual deployment in Gaza of a local Palestinian security force, aligned with the Palestinian Authority – only for Netanyahu to veto the plan.

      When Gallant said on Wednesday night that "the day after Hamas will only be achieved through the rule of Palestinian elements that form an alternative to Hamas" and that "unfortunately, no such plan has been brought for debate, and worse yet, no alternative has been presented in its place," the only new detail was that he was finally doing so in public.

      The current government is the most right wing in their history and the Hamas Oct 7 attack was in response to BN telling his Likud caucus how he had successfully manipulated Hamas to discredit a Palestinian state – Hamas was trying to do the same to the BN government (which opposes the peace process and a two state outcome).

      https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-05-16/ty-article/.premium/why-israels-defense-minister-just-broke-his-silence-about-netanyahus-gaza-war-paralysis/0000018f-81fb-d720-a79f-abfbebf10000

    • Subliminal 4.2
      17 May 2024 at 12:48 pm

      Anyone who thinks that the Gaza Pier will be any sort of "gamechanger" hasn't been paying attention to the excruciating pain and suffering deliberately inflicted on Palestinians by Israel with the unconditional support of the Biden administration.

      Before Oct 7, 500 trucks of aid crossed into Gaza every day. This was when water flowed out of taps and before 70% of the housing in the strip was deliberately destroyed. It was before the hospitals were systematically put under siege and destroyed and people inside executed and buried in mass graves. It was before doctors and medics were rounded up and taken away to die in the horrendous conditions that are Israeli detention camps. It was also before the desperate conditions of famine and disease that now exist in Gaza.

      Specifically with regard to the Gaza aid pier:

      So let me get this straight. The US wound up building its “floating pier” a few miles off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, but nobody will be able to ship the aid directly to the pier to get it to Gaza. Instead, the aid will be delivered to Cyprus via air or sea, and then from Cyprus the aid will be shipped 200 miles to the pier. From there the pallets of aid will be loaded onto smaller US army boats, which will then carry the aid from the pier to a long causeway on Gaza’s actual coast. Those pallets will then be carried from the boats to the shore via the causeway — possibly by British troops or possibly by Israeli troops depending on what source you’re reading — and taken into Gaza by IDF troops after careful examination and approval of their contents. All to deliver some 90 to 150 truckloads worth of aid per day, which is far short of the 500 truckloads the UN says Gaza needs

      The US and Israel are responsible for this genocide. In what world does justice mean that they get to supply aid at a level that is less than a third the minimum amount recommended by the UN?

      In case you are unaware, there are literally thousands of aid trucks waiting at the Rafah crossing and they have been waiting for weeks. There is zero reason for these trucks to be denied entry except as part of a planned genocide by Israel with the full support of the US.

      https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-bizarre-gymnastics-of-the-gaza?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

      • Ad 4.2.1
        17 May 2024 at 7:57 pm

        Substantial impvemeny on now.

        • Subliminal 4.2.1.1
          18 May 2024 at 8:33 am

          The fact that the perpetrator of the genocide and its two main arms and financial backers can collude in the elaborate charade of the Gaza pier, to land aid in the Netzarim corridor that has been bulldozed across the east west axis of Gaza, shows that it is these same genocidal maniacs that prevent the thousands of trucks entering by road. It is intended to produce famine and "encourage" people to leave or starve while still holding up the figleaf of tiny amounts of aid entering and distribution controled by the sadists in the IDF.

  5. Adrian 5
    17 May 2024 at 11:22 am

    I vented my spleen last night on Daily Review on what I thought of this Government, particly its incompetence on so many levels. It felt good.
    Thinking about it over night I have come to a conclusion of sorts that there seems to be 3 Governments running the country as they are constantly contradicting one another. No phones in schools- Bring your phones to our schools. Shane Jones breaking every anti-corruption rule ..and nothing done about it. Peter’s seems to be making Foriegn Affairs decisions on the hoof with out any other input hence the delays on the Aukus question, he may well be defying Luxon who seemed very hawkish only a week or so ago.

    And the conclusion I have come to…Luxon has completely lost control of the Coalition Government, there is no censuring, unless they are to quote “” fucking useless Nat’s “ but his other Ministers from allied parties are running rampant. It is obvious that they consider themselves unanswerable to their Prime Minister. This cannot hold, it must collapse and surprisingly quickly. Can’t wait.

  6. Mike the Lefty 6
    17 May 2024 at 12:25 pm

    Remember how National bombarded us with images and innuendo about how The Alliance and Labour working together (in the 90s) would be a case of "the tail wagging the dog"?

    Have you ever seen a better example of the tail wagging the dog than the present coalition government?

    Even right wing strategists and pundits are looking and sounding increasingly uncomfortable at how things are proceeding.

    Seymour is the REAL prime minister of New Zealand, as I predicted before the election would happen, and Luxon is merely the acting chairman of a board that he has lost control of, if indeed he ever had any control in the first place.

    There will be a plethora of budget small package "feel good" measures, like the $63 million to surf lifesaving, to try and deflect attention away from the carnage that Seymour plans and make it look like a caring government.

    With the attention span of the sheeple of NZ, such diversions will probably be successful.

    • Maurice 6.1
      17 May 2024 at 1:19 pm

      Is it all about Seymour and Jones playing to their present supporters and hoping to strip like minds from National to increase their vote share next time around?

      Both ACT and NZFirst must increase their vote to have even MORE say. Neither will collapse the rocky boat till they have convinced themselves of 1) remaining in power
      2) increasing their vote OR 3)someone makes a giant mistake and National walks away from the coalition.

  7. Reality 7
    17 May 2024 at 2:10 pm

    The Talbot Mills poll out today on The Post is not good news for the government. Luxon not proving popular. How sad!

  8. SPC 8
    17 May 2024 at 3:13 pm

    In the why the 50,000 citizens who left in the past year, will be matched by another 50,000 in the next year, category.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/17/jack-tame-record-numbers-are-leaving-nz-who-could-blame-them/

  9. SPC 9
    17 May 2024 at 4:22 pm

    Fonterra plan to sell milk to those who use it to supply it to market as a consumer brand product (by selling off its consumer brand business).

    They want to realise the value of the brands – over $3B, to reduce debt, over $4B.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2024/05/on-the-block-fonterra-looks-to-sell-off-well-known-consumer-brands-like-anchor-and-mainland.html

    Synlait is seeking to sell its consumer division Dairyworks (while losing suppliers to Fonterra).

    https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/opinion/where-does-synlaits-future-lie/

    The industry context is here.

    https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/127749/keith-woodford-reveals-rather-remarkable-transition-underway-where-a2-beta-casein

    • Mike the Lefty 9.1
      17 May 2024 at 4:34 pm

      When you are the sixth biggest dairy company in the world and the Southern hemisphere's largest – according to Wikipedia – you should be acquiring more assets, not selling them off, shouldn't you?

      Is Fonterra run by ACT Party cronies?

    • Obtrectator 9.2
      17 May 2024 at 5:53 pm

      Well I say, enjoy buying 'em while you still can, and while the quality is still at current levels. Anyone remember Creamoata? Flogged off to the Aussies, local factory closed, oats no longer necessarily grown here, and pffft! Gone. Watties has appeared at times to be headed the same way, since its acquisition by Heinz & Co. Edmonds pastry "no longer commercially viable" (i.e. not making enough boodle for its overseas investors). One could go on, but it's too depressing.

      • Phillip ure 9.2.1
        18 May 2024 at 8:05 pm

        W.t.f. has happened to vita-brits..?

        One of the very few sorta healthy breakfast cereals…and it has vanished from supermarket shelves…

        And I am a bit of a sugar nazi/ingredient label obsessive..and I hit a new record yesterday…

        ..in a new world supermarket..a bulk bin toasted muesli…had per 100 GM's…378 grams of sugar ..

        Raisins and stuff in there that would account for some of it..

        ..but still…378 grams of sugar per 100 grams of muesli..!..about 13 ounces ..

        ..that'd set yr teeth on edge/have you stuck to the sugar-high ceiling…

  10. Dolomedes III 10
    17 May 2024 at 5:12 pm

    Stuff claims the Waitangi Tribunal's report on the planned Maaori ward reversal is "damning". Doesn't sound like neutral reporting to me.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350281311/waitangi-tribunal-releases-damning-report-maori-ward-reversal

    • Incognito 10.1
      17 May 2024 at 6:00 pm

      You may be pretending to be sucked in by the headline, which offers you a nice straw man to take a shot at the messenger. On the other hand, you could read the Report (https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_213683858/Maori%20Wards%20W.pdf), in which case you’d find that the Stuff article is fair and accurate. However, if the full Report is too much for you, then you could tackle the much shorter Report Summary (https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/WT/reports/reportSummary.html?reportId=wt_DOC_213683858), which is a more manageable 500 words and of a tone that should only upset the most thin-skinned and biased among us.

      • Dolomedes III 10.1.1
        18 May 2024 at 7:57 pm

        What gives you such confidence that anyone reading the report would share your opinion of it? The report leans heavily on fictitious "treaty principles", for example claiming that requiring referenda on Maaori wards is "a breach of the treaty principle of options".

        "Options" a treaty principle?

        Maaori don't need special racial wards to get onto local councils. Have you not noticed that the mayors of Wellington and Rotorua are both Maaori? They didn't need Maaori wards to get there. Tapsell got the job because the voters of Rotorua regarded her as sensible and competent. Whanau got the job because Wellington is packed with white progressives.

        As for Stuff's reporting, the adjective "damning" is tendentious. The report rests on certain assumptions that are not shared by a significant fraction of the public. I for one think the report damns not the government, but the tribunal. The media is supposed report accurately and dispassionately on what is happening in the world, not to attempt to poison public opinion against the current government.

        • Incognito 10.1.1.1
          19 May 2024 at 5:04 pm

          What gives you such confidence that anyone reading the report would share your opinion of it?

          Hmmm, the only opinion I offered, which was on the Report Summary actually, is that it “should only upset the most thin-skinned and biased among us”. I’d hate to be presumptuous, but with the exception of RWNJs frothing at the mouth at just about anything indigenous, I stand by my statement.

          Calling something fictitious "treaty principles" [those aren’t scare quotes, are they?] shows your strong and engrained bias and calling into question the principle of options shows your ignorance as well. For example: https://teara.govt.nz/en/principles-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-nga-matapono-o-te-tiriti-o-waitangi/print#:~:text=The%20principle%20of%20options%20means,'walk%20in%20two%20worlds', which has been embedded in NZ laws for years.

          One would think that advocates of free market neo-liberalism and personal freedoms would strongly support the Treaty principle of options or perhaps this is presumptuous of me or you happen to be one of those freedom-faking neo-authoritarians who seem to think that one person’s freedom inevitably means another person’s loss of freedom in some weird perverted zero-sum kind of thinking – I cannot really fathom this.

          As per your MO, you raise all sorts of straw men.

          Calling the adjective in the Stuff headline tendentious is a nice rhetorical trick, one that’s followed, in a poor attempt to muster support, by an unsubstantiated assertion. The Stuff piece is a report rather than an opinion; it’s factual, accurate, and dispassionate with regards to the Tribunal Report, which is indeed highly critical of the Government’s plans.

          The only poisoned opinion here appears to be yours and you’re hissing like a poisonous spider at everybody who doesn’t see it your way. Please go back to your pond.

          • Dolomedes III 10.1.1.1.1
            19 May 2024 at 5:47 pm

            Well that contributes nothing new. And I'm not sure how I've given you grounds for believing I'm an advocate of free-market neoliberalism – I'm not.

            • Incognito 10.1.1.1.1.1
              19 May 2024 at 8:15 pm

              It’s blatantly obvious that you cannot read properly. Comment after comment, you’re outing yourself as a disingenuous troll.

    • Mike the Lefty 10.2
      19 May 2024 at 1:21 pm

      Every report is "damning" these days, that word has become just another journalistic cliché.

  11. Drowsy M. Kram 11
    19 May 2024 at 9:59 pm

    Billionaire politicians have become ‘shockingly common’ around the world, new study finds
    The study said the rich and affluent are generally “more likely to embrace fiscal conservativism and oppose social spending programs, prize efficiency over equality of outcomes, view economic inequality as a result of individual choices and characteristics rather than structural factors, and compete over social status.”

    'It's just the beginning': PM unapologetic about 'moving at pace' [19 May 2024]
    "We're not here to manage the status quo. We do not care about the pundits and commentators and what people say out there."

    Hmm, our National party MPs don't care what people say… especially bottom feeders.

    Lacking Incentives, Not Information. Why Politicians tend to be Less Responsive to Lower-Income Citizens [19 Feb 2024]
    The principle that democracies give all citizens an equal voice is challenged by scholarly work showing that policies tend to be biased in favor of the more wealthy citizenry.

    Govt policies tailored for the wealthy, not the people – Greens [19 May 2024]
    Swarbrick urged the public not to leave politics to the politicians. "We've already got some receipts on this government's values."

    People need to be loud and protest in the streets for what they believe, and dire predictions for the climate and society were not inevitable, if firm action is taken, she said.

    "As hard as it feels right now, in our communities, it is our country and our world that is shaped by those who realise their power and turn up.

    "We together have a choice – whether we want to change everyone's lives by changing the irrational and exhausting economic system that is putting our planet and communities under immense pressure, or treat the trickle-down economics rule book as if it's some natural law of the world."

    https://www.greens.org.nz/ending_poverty_together