Open mike 18/02/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 18th, 2023 - 44 comments
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44 comments on “Open mike 18/02/2023 ”

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  1. SPC 1
    18 February 2023 at 8:31 am

    Long term Republicans leaving the party.

    • Visubversa 2.1
      18 February 2023 at 9:42 am

      You beat me to it Weka. Kathleen Stock was hounded out of her University position for daring to say that sex is real and has consequences for women.

      • weka 2.1.1
        18 February 2023 at 10:24 am

        Just finished reading that. Stock is absolutely on fire. Extraordinary given Stock is relatively evenhanded in her approach to gender politics. She's not holding back here, but speaking truth to power and the emperor with no clothes.

        Partly thanks to Knox and the high levels of literacy he encouraged in schoolchildren for Bible-reading purposes, Scottish culture has a long and justly famed tradition of valuing independent thinking. There is a rejection of closed hierarchies of power, and a habit of nose-thumbing authority figures. Outward appearances of prestige are supposed to mean little, and the lowliest and poorest member of society is thought equal to the most powerful and well-connected. “A man’s a man for a’ that,” Robert Burns famously told us. “Trans women are women,” piped the incongruent refrain from Sturgeon. To prove it, she put violent, unstable murderers and paedophiles into close living arrangements with impoverished, abused females. And then she left them to get on with it.

        • weka 2.1.1.1
          18 February 2023 at 10:31 am

          Meanwhile, a trans activist is arguing that trans people have the right to decide for themselves who they are in the eyes of the law. I assume this means one day they can be male and the next female (yes, this does happen), and the law has to bend to that.

          Read the tweet in the context of Stock's piece. This is the power she is talking about that Sturgeon enabled. A closed loop between government funding a gender ideology lobby group to tell the government how to write trans identified law. Law that impacted on women and girls (and lesbians and gays, and actually everyone), but where women were excluded from that loop, not just by intentional omission as in NZ, but also by hate politics that Sturgeon no doubt has experienced herself but that she endorsed on her own female MPs.

          tl;dr trans activists get to write law, women are ostracised, abused and bullied when they try and retain existing laws that protect women.

            • weka 2.1.1.1.1.1
              18 February 2023 at 2:47 pm

              lawsuit payout or AGP. Or both.

              Canada fulling supporting the butchering of language as well.

              Both uniformed and plainclothes police do regular welfare checks at Lemieux’s apartment after they recieved death threats, according to a law enforcement source.

              • Visubversa …
                18 February 2023 at 4:26 pm

                Yes, once you add that (means what I say it means and not necessarily what I said yesterday) – "Gender Expression" – to the things you may not discriminate against, he can do what he likes at the school that employs him and nobody can do anything about it.

            • Sabine 2.1.1.1.1.2
              18 February 2023 at 5:50 pm

              I read somewhere that some of the kids in school think he puts on a game to get fired or reprimanded so that he can sue for a pay out.
              Considering that this is Canada where the only people still having rights are people such as this dude, and the fact that the school is bending over back wards to accomodate this person i can imagine that.

      • Ghostwhowalksnz 2.1.2
        18 February 2023 at 4:56 pm

        What Scottish university was Stock employed at ?

        Thats right she was raised in Scotland but worked at a minor English university and is obsessed with womens 'safety' and uses the terminology of the segregationists and the anti Semites and maintaining ‘purity’ of womens spaces

        • Visubversa 2.1.2.1
          18 February 2023 at 5:34 pm

          Yeah – these spaces are important.

          "Six first-class counties are demanding urgent answers from the England and Wales Cricket Board as to why a middle-aged player who transitioned from a man to a woman is being allowed to compete against girls as young as 12".

          https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2023/02/17/parents-demands-answers-ecb-trans-woman-competing-against-girls/

          And you got done over here yesterday for your "transperbole".

          [paywall free link added https://archive.is/jIQJz%5D

          • Muttonbird 2.1.2.1.1
            18 February 2023 at 8:03 pm

            Impossible to know what you are talking about because it's behind a paywall.

            To be a rich and angry Telegraph subscriber…

            • Visubversa 2.1.2.1.1.1
              18 February 2023 at 8:09 pm

              It was not when I posted it. I got it from an archive post. And you can stuff your "rich and angry". A middle aged man identifying as a woman and playing cricket against young women and girls.

              • Muttonbird …
                18 February 2023 at 8:13 pm

                Well, you posted a paywalled article and that's that. No-one can read it so your point, whatever it is, is lost.

                • weka …
                  18 February 2023 at 8:18 pm

                  you couldn't read it and now you can. You can also stop being a troll.

                  https://archive.is/jIQJz

                  • Muttonbird …
                    18 February 2023 at 8:23 pm

                    It's really annoying when people post inaccessible articles. Should be a rule about it in the policy.

                    Not up to me to find the free version, which indeed is the theft of property, by the way. I won’t read it because it is stolen.

                    Also, adults and kids aged 13 regularly play together in adult comps in NZ. Example, this happens in North Harbour hockey which has no youth grade so once kids leave Y8 there, they play in division hockey with adults who are very supportive.

                    • weka …
                      18 February 2023 at 10:26 pm

                      We're a political blog. It doesn't make sense to cut ourselves off from a sizeably chunk of MSM, given how much is paywalled now. Interestingly the only MSM that I can't access via archive.is is NZ. Not sure what that is about. Press Reader is available for library members but it's clunky.

                      This is a very well constructed tweet that manages the paywall well,

                      .https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-02-2023/#comment-1935743

                      Ianmac writes his opnion, asks a question, gives enough of a quote to work with without going overboad, and links for those that can access (who can then also quote other bits).

            • Sabine 2.1.2.1.1.2
              21 February 2023 at 9:31 am

              oh to be a lazy person. I don't subscribe to the Telegraph, but like many other outlets they let guests read a few stories per month for free. But here, let me help you as clearly you seem to have issues accessing free content on the internet.

              From the link posted above these are the first three paragraphs.

              Six first-class counties are demanding urgent answers from the England and Wales Cricket Board as to why a middle-aged player who transitioned from a man to a woman is being allowed to compete against girls as young as 12.

              Telegraph Sport has seen multiple letters from coaches and parents whose daughters have faced the player, whose case has not previously appeared in the media, in club cricket matches. All express alarm at the safety implications of an adult carrying the residual physical advantages of male puberty playing in the same league as girls. One letter from a coach claims the player “hits the ball harder than any other I have seen in the league”.

              It is understood that the player has previously caused injuries, although inadvertently, including one to an umpire and another to an opponent at county trials who was left unable to play for months. Some parents, disturbed at the significant inequalities of power between young girls and an adult who was born male, have threatened to remove their daughters from their league in response. One characterised the situation as “unacceptable, uncomfortable and dangerous”.

              I removed the shit that has no importance by strike through.

              A middle aged male plays with girls and women (the biological ones not the self id'd ones), managed to injure two people, one who took month to recover and return to play and people are somewhat reluctant to chant 'tranwoman are women' cause in reality all transwomen are men. You know that too.

              But then dignity, safety and respect is for males, females needn't apply.

        • Sabine 2.1.2.2
          18 February 2023 at 5:48 pm

          Can you believe the audacity of females demanding spaces away from males.

          Don't these things know that when males declare themselves female in order to gain access to female spaces that females have to obey? What do these females think, that they live in a world were they have a right to dignity, safety and respect.

          Such silly things, females ey? You tell em.

          • weka 2.1.2.2.1
            18 February 2023 at 7:59 pm

            the audacity of a woman in a minor English university having an opinion about women's rights! Or safety!!

  3. Red Blooded One 3
    18 February 2023 at 9:25 am

    Don't expect gold-plated Cyclone Gabrielle roading fixes – Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/484412/don-t-expect-gold-plated-cyclone-gabrielle-roading-fixes-te-tai-tokerau-mp-kelvin-davis

    Good on Kelvin Davis for being realistic and not being afraid to say it.

    • Visubversa 3.1
      18 February 2023 at 11:16 am

      Yes.

      Engineers – "Give us a shedload of $$$$$ and we will build you a road here."

      Mother Nature – "Hold my glass of organic dandelion wine".

    • Sabine 3.2
      18 February 2023 at 3:14 pm

      Well fwiw, they are used to their single lane metal roads anyways. Can't expect better. That building back better is slogans only.

  4. Muttonbird 4
    18 February 2023 at 10:22 am

    Arnold Rimmer has his "backing the rapists and murderers" moment and I'm surprised more hasn't been made if this dreadfully tasteless politicking while people suffer and lives have been lost:

    ACT is criticising the government over its approach to Cyclone Gabrielle and has opposed the adjournment of Parliament, saying Labour "loves disaster politics".

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/484228/act-criticises-cyclone-response-parliament-hiatus

    I do fear this stain on humanity will achieve some sort of power at a point in the future. Particular worrying if paired with a weak coalition leader like Luxton.

    • dvT 4.1
      18 February 2023 at 10:45 am

      I thought it was Rimmer playing disaster politics!!

      • Muttonbird 4.1.1
        18 February 2023 at 10:55 am

        Was browsing another forum and one of the resident nut jobs claimed, "Labour loves a good disaster".

        He was rightly roundly and harshly criticised and I am left wondering why Seymour hasn't received the same backlash.

  5. adam 5
    18 February 2023 at 12:42 pm

    So 2 to 3 degrees warming of the earth is probably myth making at this point. 2 to 3 degrees warming would be a total disaster, but no we let the fossil fuel companies and the worlds military run amuck, so we now looking down the barrel of a 10 degrees heat increase.

    This means a few humans in Antarctica scratching out a living, if we are lucky. As things are going, we are totally screwed.

    And there is the real kicker, as things are going. We are beyond reform, we need to act on the advise of the leading scientists and be radical now.

    The worlds governments can't act in any other way except slow reform which will mean death, we have to act.

    Start by pulling your money out of the banking and finance systems. These are the filth who are keeping this slow heat induced death going.

    https://www.marinebio.org/james-hansen-speaks-out-about-global-climate-change/

    • Drowsy M. Kram 5.1
      18 February 2023 at 2:25 pm

      Thank you for the link to that March 2012 TED talk – are we paying attention now?

      James Hansen speaks out about global climate change

      This [energy] imbalance, if we want to stabilize climate, means that we must reduce CO2 from 391 ppm, parts per million, back to 350 ppm. That is the change needed to restore energy balance and prevent further warming.
      …
      The important point is that we will have started a process that is out of humanity’s control.
      …
      So now you know what I know that is moving me to sound this alarm. Clearly, I haven’t gotten this message across. The science is clear. I need your help to communicate the gravity and the urgency of this situation and its solutions more effectively. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

      Thank you.

      CO2 is now 417 ppm – we’re seemingly powerless to reverse this anthropogenic trend.

      The global average carbon dioxide set a new record high in 2021: 414.72 parts per million.

      As a result, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in 2022 reached a record 417.2 parts per million (ppm) averaged over the year.

      Civilisation continues to do a great job of hyper-energising spaceship Earth sad

  7. Muttonbird 7
    18 February 2023 at 3:27 pm

    One right-wing crank to another:

    An editor at new media start-up The Platform says she was yelled and sworn at by founder Sean Plunket, before he “punched a desk” standing just a metre in front of her.

    But while Plunket largely accepts what he describes as “appalling” behaviour, he rejects a personal grievance claim lodged by digital engagement editor Ani O’Brien, who says she feels the workplace is too unsafe to return to and lacks sound dispute resolution processes.

    Oh, for safe workplaces!

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/employee-alleges-broadcaster-sean-plunket-yelled-at-her-punched-desk/FWES6UEFSVCELMXHOTUCCXYETY/

  8. weka 8
    18 February 2023 at 8:21 pm

    Can anyone familiar with Hawkes Bay explain where all the silt came from?

    In the bush when it floods, you get a lot of silt much of which then gets dumped in the bush, this is part of the fertility cycle. But this is an incredible amount of silt which makes me thinks there's been a lot of erosion in the top of the catchment in addition to what the the storm caused. And not enough trees.

    https://twitter.com/MichaelMorrah/status/1625771552196415489

    • Muttonbird 8.1
      18 February 2023 at 8:36 pm

      It is the price of unregulated growth in unsuitable areas. Might get away with it for 10 years or 50, but not 100.

    • Graeme 8.2
      18 February 2023 at 8:46 pm

      Multiple occurrences like the Tarndale Slip. It's best of Gisborne, but the same geology occurs right down the East Coast. The whole place is quite soft rock and eroding rapidly so huge amounts of silt come down in the slightest flood. Makes for some of the best horticultural land in the country, but more arrives on each good flood.

      Really the best land use for the eroding hill country is to get it back into permanent forest somehow. We tried with pines on runs that had been abandoned / bought out by Crown in 70's but somewhere along the the track someone thought there was a margin in harvesting the things. Then it rains and the hill and the remains of the forest was down and trash the plains, and everything between.

      • weka 8.2.1
        18 February 2023 at 8:57 pm

        impressive slip. Pine forest is also fire prone. Native and/or mix forest that doesn't burn is urgently needed in many places.

        What are the hills used for currently? Sheep? Wine?

        • Graeme 8.2.1.1
          18 February 2023 at 9:57 pm

          What's not semi abandoned and reverting to bush would be sheep or cattle country. The cattle might be making money, sheep probably not, both would really classify as lifestyle uses.

          Hopefully a lot will be that munted that insurance will be a total loss, and Government buys / takes over the land and reverts it to bush. Been a few signals from ministers that land uses will change.

          Of course there will be wails from farming groups that communities will be threatened and lifestyles destroyed, but really strong wool farming is a lifestyle occupation, most are loosing money and it can cost more to shear the sheep than the wool returns.

          In the 70's I was an engineering cadet for the old Forest Service roading abandoned stations on the East Coast so the pines could be planted. One station had been abandoned, the owners had just walked off and left a lot of effects in the house we lived in. In a cupboard were 30 years of farm records, interesting reading, the place hadn't made a profit for most of that 30 years and just got further in debt. The neighbour said the owners lost the plot and disappeared.

          • weka 8.2.1.1.1
            18 February 2023 at 10:29 pm

            that's sad. It says a lot about NZ that we leave family farming to the market to sort out.

            We should be paying farmers to stay on the land and plant forests. Not plantations, but permanent forest. Could do agroforestry and food forestry in appropriate places as well.

            • weka 8.2.1.1.1.1
              18 February 2023 at 10:29 pm

              I should go look it up, but from memory the Greens' original tree planting by the millions plan was geared towards this. Then NZF got hold of it and messed it up.

              • Graeme …
                19 February 2023 at 7:39 am

                There's a cultural disconnect there.

                The culture of farming is to develop the land and make it more productive, so clear the bush, sow grass and run stock. To then turn around and let it go back to bush is totally counter to generations of financial and emotional investment.

                Also the timeframes of farming are annual, season to season, whereas in forestry or regeneration the timeframes are often multi generational, or at least a generation. It's quite a mental leap to go from farming to forestry, the other way a lot easier.

                Agriculture is very communal and co-operative, neighbours / communities co-operate together big tasks done and there can be very strong communities helping each other every year over many generations. The social, community and sporting institutions of agricultural districts all come from, and foster that co-operative society. They see their world very much from a 'we' perspective, but it's a quite exclusive 'we'.

                When that annual seasonal interaction breaks down with the loss of agricultural activity the community starts to go to pieces.

                Forestry has bigger, but less frequent tasks which are done by contractors, or large work gangs, much larger than shearing and there's no stock to move so the owners having little input.

                The tree becomes an existential threat to the farmer's being.

  9. joe90 9
    18 February 2023 at 9:13 pm

    Walking the talk.

    Last year Brazilian presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—known to most as Lula—promised, during his campaign, to protect the Amazon rainforest. In his first month in office, Lula demonstrated that he intends to deliver on that promise.

    According to an analysis of satellite data by Reuters, deforestation rates in Brazil fell by 61% in January compared to the year before.

    Lula’s environmental protection policies will have global consequences. The Amazon rainforest stores an estimated 150 to 200 billion metric tons of carbon. To put that in context, all countries around the world emit about 35 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

    https://www.distilled.earth/p/deforestation-in-brazil-falls-by

    https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/deforestation-brazils-amazon-falls-first-month-under-lula-2023-02-10/

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