Open mike 17/08/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 17th, 2024 - 44 comments
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44 comments on “Open mike 17/08/2024 ”

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  1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1
    17 August 2024 at 8:32 am

    'Lord have mercy' – Blind man asked for driver's licence for identification

    A legally blind New Plymouth man who is gutted about plans to carve up Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People, and shift some of its responsibility to the Ministry of Social Development told Checkpoint: "Lord have mercy on the disabled community".

    Despite carrying a 1.3 metre walking stick, a hi-viz vest and black fitover glasses, the MSD employee asked him for a driver's licence for identification.

    The incredulous msd drone then proceeded to grudgingly accept his Gold card photo ID ..

    msd belatedly says..sorry.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/525389/lord-have-mercy-blind-man-asked-for-driver-s-licence-for-identification

    Lord have mercy ? There will be no mercy from Landlord luxury Luxon..or any of the NACT1 cancerous creeps.

    • Kay 1.1
      17 August 2024 at 10:26 am

      I am not batting an eyelid. This ID situation actually goes beyond the morons at Winz, and goes to the issue of formal identification.

      As someone without a licence, I've encountered many occasions where someone wants to see my licence, and the incredulous looks when I say I don't have one. To the point of being told I'll just have to get one, at which point I stop being civil and they hear all about it.

      There's many people in NZ- usually in lower socioeconomic groups- who have neither a licence or valid passport, or gun licence. The only 3 things deemed acceptable by a lot of companies, and also needed should you wish to obtain your credit report, or for businesses to undertake a credit check when you apply for finance etc. I was unable to take advantage of a very good telco offer because I didn't have the required ID for them, so I'm stuck with pre-pay.

      For many years, our only option was the 18+ card, designed as proof of age for buying alcohol and smokes. Very embarrassing to be carrying around when you're 40+ But it was (meant to be) accepted by government agencies, and for the most, WINZ did accept it.

      In more recent times, the Kiwi Access card has appeared, I suspect the government finally clicked on that there were an awful lot of people without 'official' ID. While this one is way more practical and it's meant to be accepted by all businesses, there still seems to be private businesses around who won't accept it.

      The KA card application is almost on a par with applying for a passport, except the photo doesn't have all the strict rules. Proof of who you are is required, either via ID like a passport, or a declaration from someone who knows you.

      For many years I've wanted to see a voluntary national ID card as an option. Wallet size, with Name, DoB and legal status, ie NZ citizen, Permanent resident. It could be issued through Internal Affairs/passport office, at a much cheaper price, and 10 yr validity. And it has to be accepted as formal ID from every agency and business in NZ.

      For some reason, a ID card still doesn't seem to go down well with some people (big brother?), but since licences are now a default ID, there's really no problem for a voluntary card.

      • dv 1.1.1
        17 August 2024 at 10:59 am

        Thank you Kay, that is a useful addition.

      • Descendant Of Smith 1.1.2
        17 August 2024 at 11:02 am

        As a non-licensed person myself I refused to get an 18+ card as a grown adult for ID. It is beyond me how governments have not come up with a suitable identification card for grown-up's.

        Didn't know about the Kiwi access card. Will have to check that out. Can see why shops places don't accept it – sounds like a marketing gimmick.

        Ahh it’s the 18+ card by another name. So yeah hospitality industry gimmick. Useless successive governments still have zilch.

      • Visubversa 1.1.3
        17 August 2024 at 11:26 am

        As a (now retired) Justice of the Peace, I was pleased to see the Kiwi Access card come in. The 18+ card used to be the cheapest form of identification you could get – and there is also a Statutory Declaration of identity you can do. I used to do quite a lot of those as, with or without a photograph' they were accepted by many Government agencies, including as ID for visiting prisons.

        I used to do a stint at the District Court JP Service Desk and had a lot of people asking about how to get an ID, or looking for a temporary one. We had a lot of copies of the Statutory Declaration forms!

      • Psycho Milt 1.1.4
        17 August 2024 at 12:44 pm

        It's truly insane to rely on driver's licences for ID, but the moment anyone raises the possibility of creating a govt-issued ID card so people who don't/can't drive have a means of identifying themselves, the loons are out there going on about barcodes tattooed on foreheads and One World Government. As you say, a voluntary ID card available to those who request it has none of those issues, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

        • gsays 1.1.4.1
          17 August 2024 at 5:23 pm

          I identify as one of those loons.

          What the anti-barcode brigade stand against is compulsion.

          As pointed out there are a few options for ya, just without the authoritarianism.

        • Ad 1.1.4.2
          17 August 2024 at 5:36 pm

          It's a remarkably small step from a full functioning nationwide QR code to enter a shop – which corresponds to your NZ Health number – and getting an ID card that is separate to a drivers license.

          There's so much legal data sharing about NZers as soon as they get any kind of welfare or any kind of crime that privacy is really, really hard to defend anyway.

          And for those who are hard core activist on the hard right or left and oppose id cards, trust me the SIS has a file on you already.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 1.1.5
        18 August 2024 at 8:17 am

        Ok I was actually highlighting the guys case, as the potential for added MSD nastiness is clear, and I have previously linked earlier nastiness ..

        https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/09/07/work-and-income-msd-slammed-for-humiliating-treatment-of-kiwis-in-need/

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/516616/msd-receives-almost-5000-complaints-about-staff-in-two-years

        Anyway thanks for your input and useful Link !

    • David 1.2
      17 August 2024 at 11:00 am

      This really highlights the need for an official government issued photo identification card.

      Previous governments have introduced regulations requiring tighter identification requirements, without providing an official identification document accessible to all citizens.

      For example banking regulations require government issued photo ID, NZ Passport, NZ drivers license or NZ firearms license.

    • SPC 1.3
      18 August 2024 at 5:51 am

      This is how to get Gold Card photo ID, it does not come with a photo on it.

      https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00043756

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 1.3.1
        18 August 2024 at 8:21 am

        Oh cheers for the Link (I'm fortunate enough to be Aware, I feel bad for those notso, and will also help same to my utmost )

        Also…CAB are great ! Good advice and if cant help there and then..they try to point in right direction : )

  2. tsmithfield 2
    17 August 2024 at 10:09 am

    Ukraine continues to expand its occupation of the Kursk region. It seems that they are in the process of cutting the only three bridges across the Seym river in the region. The effect of destroying these bridges will be to cut off Russian forces in the region from effective resupply. Hence, there is a strong likelyhood that Ukraine could capture and hold a lot more Russian territory yet.

    So, the question for the hand wringers who were arguing Ukraine should give up Ukrainian territory for the sake of peace, should Russia be doing the same? Apples for apples of course.

    • Bearded Git 2.1
      17 August 2024 at 10:17 am

      Ukraine has conquered 100km2 of Russia in this attack….that is 0.0006% of Russia. I'm sure Putin is quaking in his boots.

      Meanwhile precious resources have been used for the attack that could have been used to defend Ukraine from Russian advances that have been successful over a wide front in the last 6 months.

      But the MSM slavishly reports this as some kind of triumph.

      • bwaghorn 2.1.1
        17 August 2024 at 10:39 am

        One hopes the Ukraine 🇺🇦 has a cunning plan!

        • tsmithfield 2.1.1.1
          17 August 2024 at 11:39 am

          Part of the cunning plan is to grab as much Russian territory as possible as a bargaining chip when it comes to negotiations. Plus to stretch Russian forces as much as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a amphibious landing on Crimea next, which would really throw a pigeon amongst the cats.

        • Scud 2.1.1.2
          17 August 2024 at 8:11 pm

          I believe they have a few Options open if the Ukraine Armed Forces can keep the Combine Arms Maneuver Warfare fluid as the Russians couldn't organise a piss up at the Baggies Bar let alone the Corpies Club when it comes to Combine Arms Maneuver Warfare.

          The Ukraine Main Effort/ Decisive Point (Schwerpunkt) I believe is yet come & still shaping the Battlefield as they realise that Russia has no Mobile Strategic Reserve in the Ukraine Theatre.

          So the Russians have to pull troops from other Areas of the Ukraine Theatre or wherever they can from Greater Russia, but given the Russian Military is still Rail Based for its Logistics! The Russian Rail System is at the verge of collapse or is already happening given what I've read/ seen already, they will struggle to plug & stall the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk Oblast.

          The Russian's are still advancing but at a very slow rate in certain sectors of the Ukraine Theatre with their mass Infantry attacks. But if their Logistics Collapses & they can't replace their losses as their Logistics degrades because the of Ukrainian Long Ranges fires, Cyber hacks & the Kursk Sector crumbles. Then things will get very interesting for Russian's and old Mate Tsar Poots.

      • tsmithfield 2.1.2
        17 August 2024 at 10:43 am

        Depends who you listen to. According to the Ukrainians they now control 1000 square kilometres. That is a lot more significant. And, no reason to think it will slow, especially if the remaining bridges are cut.

        Then, it becomes very difficult for the Russians to bring in reinforcements or supplies unless they do it by boat or pontoon bridges both of which would be great targets for Ukrainian drones. Plus, the volume that can come across by these methods is a lot less.

        Given that most of the defending Russians are conscripts who are surrendering in mass, likely because they had little expectation or desire to be actually involved in a fight, the chances of the Russians keeping territory on the Ukrainian side of the Seym doesn't look too good.

        • tsmithfield 2.1.2.2
          17 August 2024 at 10:48 am

          Also, the Russians seem to expect they will lose a lot of territory because they are building new trench lines around 40km back from the deepest point the Ukrainians have got to so far.

          “Satellite imagery collected by Maxar from the last two days shows a trench dug across the countryside near the city of Lgov in Russia’s Kursk region.

          Lgov is about 40km from what is thought to be the deepest penetration of Ukrainian troops.

          The Russian trench appears to have been dug close to a main highway and rail line.”

        • Bearded Git 2.1.2.3
          17 August 2024 at 12:21 pm

          Oops you are right it is a thousand sorry….so 0.006% then.

          Not sure if it makes any difference though….Francesca nails it below

          • tWig 2.1.2.3.1
            17 August 2024 at 12:52 pm

            Gwynne Dyer is a Canadian journo who writes very effective political backgrounders that tend to more of a neutral setting politically. The Manawatu Standard paper (Stuff) today (can't find an online link, sorry) published his commentary on the Kursk incursion.

            Dyer says the most obvious reason for this move is for upcoming population swaps, ie, this is creation of a civilian hostage enclave, not a land grab. It is positioning for an eventual ceasefire (or an abrupt one, if Trump gets voted in).

            We know from previous Russian policy that the existing Ukraine population in Russian-annexed Ukraine will probably be carted off somewhere poverty-stricken in Russia, as happened after the recent Crimean annexation (and as happened to my grandparents and parents in the Second World War, courtesy of Stalin). You don't leave a resentful population in place.

            • Psycho Milt 2.1.2.3.1.1
              17 August 2024 at 1:08 pm

              Ooh, I'd assumed the obvious, ie embarrass and undermine Putin, try and get them to pull forces from the areas where they're currently winning, but this is much more interesting. They'd have to hold onto the areas they capture though, and that won't be easy.

      • francesca 2.1.3
        17 August 2024 at 12:05 pm

        Meanwhile the Russians are advancing faster than ever .They are gaining territory in the east that is far more valuable than the sparsely populated territory in the border regions of Kursk.

        And to not even make it to the Kursk NPP!!

        A nuisance for sure , but a bargaining chip??

        We will see.But it does look like Nato is getting more and more reckless.

        • Psycho Milt 2.1.3.1
          17 August 2024 at 12:33 pm

          Lol, "reckless." Come back when it's become so reckless as to mount a full-scale land invasion of a large European country.

        • Cricklewood 2.1.3.2
          17 August 2024 at 10:07 pm

          Yet at the end of the day its Russia that sent there tanks into Ukraine. Its now a quagmire for them your support of the aggressor says it all.

    • joe90 2.2
      17 August 2024 at 10:44 am

      Grandma explains why Russia will lose.

      @IvanSemenovych

      ·

      Aug 13

      This is the most truthful & funniest video to come out from a senior citizen from Ufa. Babushkas know best!!

      https://x.com/IvanSemenovych/status/1823229309349134729

    • tWig 2.3
      17 August 2024 at 12:11 pm

      Going back to MSM and the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline at the start of the war, have to change my belief (and strenuous conjecture in the West Press) that it was a Russian initiative. A a Ukraine man disappeared out of Poland and into Ukraine to avoid a German arrest warrant regarding the explosion.

      I can very much see that the Ukraine govt would have kept it under wraps at the war start, as it led to considerable economic disadvantage initially to Western Europe. Not a good look, but probably a sound decision under the circumstances. And it is an infrastructure attack, of course, although not one to harm Russian civilians directly.

    • AB 2.4
      17 August 2024 at 1:08 pm

      I wish the Ukrainians success and hope they can expel the Russians from their territory or force them out diplomatically through this counter-attack. But I get a bit tired of bombastic, chest-beating armchair warriors who run here to make grand pronouncements based on no particular knowledge of anything and to gloat about dead, young Russians every time Ukraine makes an advance, while remaining eerily silent when the Russians advance. Maybe they could dig up some of the war comics they used to read as kids and be happy re-reading them – and leave this tragic inhuman mess to the grown-ups.

      • Bearded Git 2.4.1
        17 August 2024 at 4:31 pm

        AB-In terms of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I've seen intelligent and insightful comments on the Standard and plenty of pro-west bombast and propaganda in the MSM.

        The people of Ukraine will have to concede some territory if they want peace. The Western Allies clearly aren't prepared to provide sufficient hardware or (any) troops to win the war.

        • Ad 2.4.1.1
          17 August 2024 at 5:45 pm

          That will certainly be true if Trump wins the US election.

          Harris will continue Biden's very cautious approach.

          There's no easy exit for either party and no shape at all to an armistice mechanism.

          The US, EU and UK seem content to supply the knives to slowly bleed both Ukraine and Russia dry. Enabling Russia to weaken itself irreparably is for those interests a once-a-century very dark gift.

        • Scud 2.4.1.2
          17 August 2024 at 7:30 pm

          Yes the last time Ukraine did that! The Russian's/ Bolsheviks came back for their Hat and fully occupied Ukraine until 91!

          Thence why Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol & Budapest memorandum in exchange Russia's guarantees, because they knew from history that the Bastards will be back for their Hat again!

      • gsays 2.4.2
        17 August 2024 at 5:29 pm

        Well said AB.

        A wee while ago there was gloating about sponsored drones visiting carnage in the war.

        The left has lost it's way whenever the pom poms come out over a war. It’s always the poor that contribute to the head count.

  3. joe90 3
    17 August 2024 at 11:36 am

    Early signs Harris will be better than Biden on the ME and Gaza.

    @DavidKlion

    A better metric for evaluating Harris on Israel at this stage is "does she make the worst people mad" rather than "is she the same kind of anti-Zionist I am." Judged by that metric, picking Walz over Shapiro and relying on Ilan Goldenberg and Phil Gordon makes them all very mad.

    https://x.com/DavidKlion/status/1823134071561855101

    Vice President and presumed Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s Jewish community liaison is a fierce advocate of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran nuclear deal, a harsh critic of Israeli settlement activity and the US Jerusalem embassy move, and a defender of the Palestinian Authority against efforts to defund it over financial support for terrorism.

    Ilan Goldenberg, first reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday to be Harris’s Jewish community liaison, has extensively detailed his Middle East positions and policies in a catalog of opinion articles, think tank reports, and interviews dating back years.

    https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-814964

    With the specter of a broad Mideast war hanging over this presidential election—and potential U.S. involvement growing as the Pentagon dispatches carriers, destroyers, and missile-defense capable cruisers to the region—the answers to all of these questions are far more urgent than they typically would be for American voters. The problem is that Vice President Harris has largely been a back-bencher on foreign policy, unlike some of her predecessors, including her boss Joe Biden.

    Which is why a man named Philip Gordon—who has served as Harris’s foreign policy adviser since she ran for the White House in 2020 and has worked in every Democratic administration since Bill Clinton’s—has become the focus of tremendous scrutiny in Washington over the past few weeks.

    Republicans believe that through Gordon they have the outlines of a Harris foreign policy agenda. And they’re already crafting their political attacks around it. “Democrats want to put him in charge of the White House’s entire foreign policy,” Republican senator Ted Cruz told The Free Press. “It would be unspeakably catastrophic.”

    https://www.thefp.com/p/philip-gordon-kamala-harris-foreign-adviser

  4. tWig 4
    17 August 2024 at 12:26 pm

    Some good TikTok advice from Jordan Rivers on interacting with politicians online who peddle mis- and disinformation.

    "some of the most popular forms of political marketing are rage-farming and cringe-core, and this is especially favoured by right-wing politicians"

    Interacting on their websites feeds algorithms, which are blind to political nuance, amplifying the bad actor's reach. Comment on the issue at political websites with a more truthful viewpoint instead.

    Of course I may be teaching grandmothers to suck eggs.

  5. Tracy Bee 5
    17 August 2024 at 6:33 pm

    When I was getting an accommodation supplement MSD got very irate over my bank account being in a different name to my birth certificate. They started demanding I change my bank accounts back to my maiden name. It was as if they'd never encountered a newly divorced woman before.

    They also demanded a birth certificate for a two day old baby and couldn't wrap their heads around the fact they're not issued immediately at birth.

    They told me midwivery notes weren't enough and suggested I could have borrowed a baby.

    It was an excruciatingly depressing situation having to maintain calm and be polite to them.

    • Cricklewood 5.1
      17 August 2024 at 9:13 pm

      Ive been into a Winz office once in my life, I was 27 and was looking for a job any job foolishly thinking that WINZ might have something. The experience to be frank was miserable and have never been back and I never will.

  6. SPC 6
    18 August 2024 at 6:05 am

    Our new Human Rights Commissioners include one Stephen "Rainbow" infamous for this comment about a former FM

    "the malevolent [Murray] McCully with his odious anti-Israeli antics” (UN Resolution Dec 2016).

    Indicative of a long held position in favour of Israel

    “Israel can not afford a client state of Iran, intent on its destruction, on its borders, and this is what Hamas have shown will happen if a Palestinian state were to be created.”

    “NZ must stand firmly behind Israel and oppose unequivocally the chaos Iran is intent on creating throughout the Middle East.”

    Despite the following

    Asked if some people might feel excluded from the aim of the commission because of what he’d posted online, Rainbow said he was “open to talking to anybody … about any issue”.

    “I think one of the things that is desperately needed in New Zealand at the moment is more honest dialogue about the issues we’re facing.”

    In a free society, we had to accept there was “no one set of correct views”, but a range of views, and we were privileged to be free to express and debate those views with others who might not share them “in order to reach the truth”, he said.

    “That’s the whole basis of our free society, and I’m going to be absolutely committed to upholding that … clearly I’m not going to disavow the views that I formed over 60 years, but I am utterly committed to honest, open dialogue about the key challenges that we face.”

    It is fortunate he is not appointed an arbiter of free speech on foreign policy matters.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-chief-human-rights-commissioner-stephen-rainbows-pro-israel-facebook-posts-transphobia-accusations/LOFB5ENRDVFHNEWBWWK4MKNJUE/