Open mike 18/01/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 18th, 2025 - 22 comments
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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 …

22 comments on “Open mike 18/01/2025 ”

  1. Jenny 1

    Houthi leader, says they will enforce the ceasefire against any Israeli breaches.

    "We will watch the implementation of the agreement, and if there are any Israeli breaches, massacres or attacks on Gaza, we will be ready to supply military support to the Palestinian people" Sheikh Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi

    Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi is the current leader of the Houthi political, religious and militant movement.

  2. Jenny 2

    Who said young people can't do politics?

    Jemima Tito, 16, awoke at 3am on November 19, 2024, to join the group marching 15km of dark motorway and road around Wellington harbour from Petone to Waitangi Park in the city.

    “There were about 2000 of us walking,” she said to Stuff about her experience as part of the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti that swamped Parliament last year. “I was expecting there would be about 30 of us ‒ ‘no one’s getting up this early in the morning’ ‒ but apparently they are. We’ve got some keen beans in the Hutt.”

    Jemima (Te Āti Awa) said seeing others in the hīkoi united against the Treaty Principles Bill strengthened her resolve to make a submission.

    She got some inspiration from a submission guide offered by Te Pāti Māori, she said. “But I also just talked to the people around me about what they were writing so we could have a cohesive message.”

    Globally, young people were seeing the impact they can have when they work together with resolve, she said.

    “We have some really valid stuff to complain about, actually. When you’re going out of your way to destroy the environment and our rights and our future, and you want us to sit back and relax and enjoy the ride, it’s like, ‘What?’”

    …..

    “Climate, expensive housing, really expensive rent, loads of underinvestment ‒ the bills are now falling due and it’s our young people who will have to pay for it.” [Massey Professor Richard Shaw]

    Jamin Fountain, 15, says he knew from day one he would be making a submission on the bill.

    Asked why, he replies: “It's simple, really. The bill violates the Treaty of Waitangi, it erodes the rights of Māori as tangata whenua and increases the potential for racial disharmony and violence within Aotearoa.

    “It threatens the progress which we've seen in New Zealanders’ understanding of history and increased use of valuing te reo, and it removes vital protections against exploitation and privatisation.”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360548790/kids-charge-did-under-20s-spearhead-record-number-submissions-treaty-bill

    How much longer will these young people remain disenfranchised?

  3. Jenny 3

    When it comes to making government policy, 'All Politics is Pressure'

    The Left are generally understood to represent working people and those on fixed and low incomes. The Left don't have money, but the Left sometimes apply political pressure to influence policy with our numbers.

    The Right generally represent the business and the Well Off. The Right don't have the numbers, the Right always apply political pressure to influence policy with their money.

    As a popululist politician, Trump understands the importance of numbers and always talks up the numbers at his rallies, and most notoriously at his last inauguration claiming, against all evidence that it was the biggest ever.

    This time, because of bad weather, Trump has dispensed with an open air inauguration, to move the ceremony indoors, invitation only.

    In effect the Trump administration has begun a fire sale of government policies, for invited guests.

    The bidding has started at a quarter of a billion dollars.

    Breaking All Records, Trump’s Inauguration Set to Bring in $250M from Billionaires & Corporations

    Democracy Now, January 17, 2025

    The ultra-rich have donated a record-shattering amount of funds to the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, with contributions from major corporations like Apple, Chevron, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Google, Pfizer, Microsoft and the pharmaceutical lobby…..

    "…..all of whom — just about all of whom — want something from the Trump administration,”

    [transcript beginning @3:37 minutes]

    CRAIG HOLMAN:

    "…..we’re taking a look at cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency industry just came out of the woodwork. I mean, they hardly ever contributed to politics at all, until 2020. And now they’re pumping millions and millions and millions into the inauguration."

    AMY GOODMAN:

    "And Trump says he’s going to issue an executive order on cryptocurrency on day one."

    CRAIG HOLMAN:

    "That’s absolutely right. I mean, when you talk about what does this buy, I mean, you’ve got Ripple, Coinbase, MoonPay, all these cryptocurrency businesses investing heavily in the inauguration, and Trump just recently announced that he’s going to issue an executive order giving priority consideration to cryptocurrency…."

    AMY GOODMAN: So, maybe I don’t have a big enough imagination, but how do you spend $250 million on a party? I mean, what are the rules and regulations? And where does this money go? It’s not going to all go into Inauguration Day. Who gets it?…..

    • Mike the Lefty 3.1

      The inauguration of Trump is costing several million dollars, more like the cost of a king's coronation than a democratically elected leader taking the oath.

      Now I know why it is costing so much.

      Security.

      All those rich pricks together on the same stage at the same time.

      What a tempting target for a modern day Robin Hood.

    • Incognito 3.2

      When it comes to making government policy, ‘All Politics is Pressure’

      That’s just oversimplified and dogmatic and seems to be one of your favourite slogans – do you have bumper sticker stating this or a T-shirt?

      For example, it excludes negotiation, persuasion, and compromise in the policy-making process, to name just a few important aspects that you’ve ignored. Also, politics is much more than policy making.

      • Jenny 3.2.1

        "……it ['pressure'] excludes negotiation, persuasion, and compromise in the policy-making process, to name just a few important aspects that you’ve ignored. Also, politics is much more than policy making."

        'Pressure doesn't exclude, negotiation, persuasion, and compromise. I certainly don't exclude them, And I have used all of these tactics alongside the application of political pressure.

        I would even add one more to your list, that I have had on occasion to use.

        When I don't have anything concrete to back up my persuasion and negotiating position, there is always bluff.

        But it is a tactic to use rarely and judiciously.

        • Incognito 3.2.1.1

          Good to know that you and I are in agreement on this. BTW, they’re not ‘tactics’.

          Bluffing (e.g. fake it until you make it) is a ploy to win a game, not for good faith negotiations in government policy making.

          Activities that raise awareness and elicit support are not pressure per se either.

  4. tWig 4

    The Guardian reports that Chrysta Freeland, Trudeau's deputy, is running for Liberal leadership. She's got the smarts, for sure.

    ' “Being strong means being clear with our American neighbours: we love our country just as much as you love yours. If you hit us, we will hit back. We will not escalate, but we will never back down,” she said, adding the Canadian response to tariffs would be “precisely and painfully” targeted…“Canada is America’s largest export market – bigger than China, Japan, the UK, and France combined. If pushed, our response will be the single largest trade blow the US economy has ever endured.” '

  5. joe90 5

    Guy's an astronomer so he'll know his stuff.

    @plutokiller.com‬

    Just had a sample of the Eaton Fire ash that is in my driveway run on the department XRF. Is there titanium (new house paint)? Yup. Lead (old house paint)? You betcha. Heavy metals? Check. Treat that ash like it's toxic folks (because it is)

    […]

    @plutokiller.com‬

    ·

    4h

    note I really need to go back and dig ~6 inches down and take a control sample. Possibly I've been bathing in this stuff the whole time.

    https://bsky.app/profile/plutokiller.com/post/3lfxkvhkypc2u

  6. Drowsy M. Kram 6

    Wildfires drive record leap in global level of climate-heating CO2
    [17 Jan 2025]
    Data for 2024 shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather

    Who pays the price for climate destruction around the globe? Not the fossil fuel industry pocketing profits and taxpayer subsidies as their products wreak havoc,” he said. “Every day people suffer: with their lives and livelihoods; with higher insurance premiums, volatile energy bills, and higher food prices.

    Today, governments around the globe spend nine times more making fossil fuels cheaper than they do on making clean energy more affordable for consumers,” blocking climate action, Guterres said. “We must tear down these walls.

    President Trunp, "tear down this wall!" If only…

    Climate misinformation is rife on social media – and poised to get worse
    [18 Jan 2025]

  7. joe90 7

    Like some sort of internal column….that should have a number..

    //

    .

    An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting.

    As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency girds for battle against “wasteful” spending, it is preparing to dispatch individuals with ties to its co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to agencies across the federal government.

    […]

    The representatives will largely be stationed inside federal agencies. After some consideration by top officials, DOGE itself is now unlikely to incorporate as an organized outside entity or nonprofit. Instead, it is likely to exist as more of a brand for an interlinked group of aspirational leaders who are on joint group chats and share a loyalty to Mr. Musk or Mr. Ramaswamy.

    https://archive.li/79iJK

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-government-trump.html

    • joe90 7.1

      the fix is in to take billions

      https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff/113846620492941793

      In elections and political influence

      After his inauguration, Trump is likely to quickly release an executive order designating crypto as a national priority.11 This would not be the first crypto-related executive order — Biden had his own — but the focus on consumer protection and financial risks in Biden’s order is likely to be completely absent in Trump’s. Instead, Trump’s will most likely formalize the signal — already being received loud and clear in Washington, as I outline in a moment — that the crypto industry is a friend to Trump and needs to be treated accordingly. The order will also likely establish a crypto advisory council, though this is not any big surprise given that Trump has already announced that such a council will exist when he announced it would be led by Bo Hines (for some mystifying reason that I would still quite like to learn more about) [I72]

      https://archive.li/BpB1C#selection-769.0-791.2

      https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-74/

    • tWig 7.2

      Of course, closer to home, the Regulation Bill and ACT's over-funded Ministry of Red Tape are well on their way.

    • joe90 7.3

      Buy the author a drink.

      .

      I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers

      Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s desperation to be cool as they suck up to Donald Trump is so cringe it makes my skin crawl

      […]

      Climate crises keep coming, genocides continue, women keep getting murdered, art is being strangled to death by AI, bigotry is on the rise, social progress is being rolled back … AND these men insist on being cringe? It’s a rotten cherry on top. This combination of evil and embarrassment is a unique horror, one that science fiction has failed to prepare us for. The second-hand embarrassment we have to endure gets even more potent when combined with other modern influences on young men, like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate.

      Peterson is a big voice in men’s rights – well, a small Kermit’s voice in men’s rights – and he’s also an embarrassment. So much so that he has his own Know Your Meme page, which covers that time he reportedly retweeted an image from a fetish film, apparently believing it was a Chinese communist “sperm extraction” facility. He deleted it shortly afterwards.

      Tate is facing human trafficking charges but rose to fame as a voice for young men, a misogynist in bad outfits who does really cool things like smoking cigars, wearing sunnies inside and trying to drag human rights back 100 years.

      Living your life to impress other men by hating women is one of the most embarrassing things I can imagine. Looking up to any of these men for how to live your life is even sadder.

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/16/i-knew-one-day-id-have-to-watch-powerful-men-burn-the-world-down-i-just-didnt-expect-them-to-be-such-losers

  8. SPC 8

    Realism.

    Gaza was the urgent issue. The downside – a renewal of the the Trump Netanyahu "axis".

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/17/trumps-role-in-gaza-ceasefire-fuels-arab-american-anger-with-biden

  9. tWig 9

    Tech bros who want to break up nation states. Quinn Slobodian backgrounds the tech right.

    '… Silicon Valley figures who will share the podium with Trump have long professed a basic antagonism towards the state as such. Some in their circle… have even laid out detailed blueprints for “exiting” the nation state, including the creation of new private polities or “network states”….In 2009, Thiel fantasised about cracking up the world map into thousands of new nations.'

    What would a post-state world look like? Like Haiti for a good few decades, I imagine. Nation states are infinitely more productive because daily interactions are codified, and often policed. Otherwise, each trade/negotiation must start from scratch.

  10. Jenny 10

    "Why aren't you in the Hague?"

    The logic of genocidal maniacs

    Bibi I know you are killing thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza.

    Yes I admit it, but Joe, you killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Dresden.

    Oh very well then. Carry on, here are some more bombs and missiles so you can keep killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

    But Bibi that is because the Germans and Japanese killed tens of thousands of innocent civ

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