Open mike 18/03/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, March 18th, 2019 - 125 comments
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125 comments on “Open mike 18/03/2019 ”

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  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    18 March 2019 at 7:31 am

    Demis Roussos – Rain and Tears – YouTube

  2. Stuart Munro. 2
    18 March 2019 at 7:32 am

    One of the possible consequences of global warming is a need to develop a different kind of agriculture; one more locally based and focused. Obliged to make such changes by changing political fortunes, Cuba provides some examples that might be of value.

    • Molly 2.1
      18 March 2019 at 8:01 am

      A longer watch – but one with more Cubans in it: How Cuba survived Peak Oil.

      Really interesting to see the education of a large number of Cubans over a short period of time regarding organic gardening and food production.

      • Stuart Munro. 2.1.1
        18 March 2019 at 8:08 am

        Thanks for that. The rapidity with which governments can recognize and adapt to changing conditions, or not do so, is as much a factor of evolving crisies of this kind as the changing conditions themselves. Jared Diamond’s Collapse leaves one quietly skeptical of the presumption that timely changes of policy will materialize to address changing circumstances.

        • Molly 2.1.1.1
          18 March 2019 at 8:24 am

          I guess I currently regard myself now as an “Occasionally Quiet Skeptic”.

          As you can imagine, makes me very popular at family gatherings and social occasions…

        • greywarshark 2.1.1.2
          18 March 2019 at 11:04 am

          I make the point that we should all remember to go on Sunday to How to get there post. Don’t treat it as of occasional interest. It is a solid attempt to gather ourselves together environmentally and in a mentally healthy way. Every day we will need to be wiser and stronger, going in the future. This is your chance to arise from the chattering class and go to the panel of practical thinkers. Just a reminder; it is there every week. Use it, be part of the change as the saying goes.

          Good, constant, committed minds are needed in NZ, as well as the rest of the world of course, but we live here and need to think about our patch and those around us, and make change ourselves all the time.
          Good and practical change that is.

          • Molly 2.1.1.2.1
            18 March 2019 at 2:04 pm

            Good advice, grey. I meant that I am only “occasionally quiet” rather than only occasionally interested. I enjoy reading the Sunday HTGT, even if I don’t contribute.

    • Sabine 2.2
      18 March 2019 at 8:34 am

      we do however here in NZ have a challenge – cold weather and winter.

      other then that, there are a lot of people that already grow their backyard farms, quietly and confidently without anyone knowing.

      • Robert Guyton 2.2.1
        18 March 2019 at 8:43 am

        “we do however here in NZ have a challenge – cold weather and winter.”
        For the moment.

        • Poission 2.2.1.1
          18 March 2019 at 11:13 am

          You know how we can move earth closer to the sun in austral winter?

          • Robert Guyton 2.2.1.1.1
            18 March 2019 at 11:15 am

            Yep.

            • Poission 2.2.1.1.1.1
              18 March 2019 at 11:15 am

              how?

              • Robert Guyton …
                18 March 2019 at 11:22 am

                By”yep”, I meant “nope”.
                I can however, make my garden warmer, and have.

                • Sabine …
                  18 March 2019 at 1:37 pm

                  please elaborate.

                  • Robert Guyton …
                    18 March 2019 at 2:34 pm

                    On the south coast of the South Island where the winds blow from the Antarctic, trees that shelter gardens serve to warm them, by countering the wind chill factor. Dark soils built slowly over time through the use of sheet-mulching practices, warm up when shone upon. Moisture in such humus-rich soils improve the heat-retaining properties of soil, where pale-coloured, dry soils do little to store the warmth of the sun. Stone too, heats up as the day progresses then radiates the heat back out into the surroundings once the sun’s gone down. I have chunks of slate that served as hearths for fireplaces in some old homes before they were demolished and have laid them out at the base of figs to provide a little extra encouragement for them to set fruit.

                    • McFlock …
                      18 March 2019 at 2:36 pm

                      Apparently Victorian stately homes used to put earth over large piles of manure just before winter and put wee greenhouses on top. The warmth from the composting manure and the greenhouses enabled them to grow strawberries in the middle of winter, or other out of season delicacies.

                    • Robert Guyton …
                      18 March 2019 at 2:40 pm

                      That’s right, McFlock and I think they were known as “hotbeds”.
                      Perhaps the term, “hotbed of intrigue” refers to those steaming piles of manure. I made a hotbed once, photographed it and wrote a story for the NZ Gardener magazine. That was many years ago. I think I planted pumpkin seeds in the topsoil.

                    • McFlock …
                      18 March 2019 at 2:44 pm

                      lol interesting – so a “hotbed of intrigue” might most sensibly be regarded as a “steaming pile of sh!*”

                    • Grant …
                      18 March 2019 at 2:50 pm

                      The documentary about the restoration of Heligan Garden in Cornwall covered ‘hotbeds’. They grew pineapples in winter apparently..

          • Bewildered 2.2.1.1.2
            18 March 2019 at 2:54 pm

            For clarity sake and I know this site loves correctors it’s not the distance from the sun that causes winter and summer in the southern and northern hemisphere but the angle of the earth on its axis, Meaning the further away from the equator the less sunnlight you get per sqm as the earth rotates around the sun, the distance has little effect as is minuscule in the scheme of things

            • In Vino 2.2.1.1.2.1
              18 March 2019 at 5:30 pm

              There always has to be some iconoclastic rat who spoils an interesting thread…

            • Dennis Frank 2.2.1.1.2.2
              18 March 2019 at 8:30 pm

              Physics is good, but metaphysics is even better. We get it from Aristotle, apparently. So, applying analogy, it’s not your distance from someone that’s important, it’s your attitude to them. 😎

            • Robert Guyton 2.2.1.1.2.3
              18 March 2019 at 10:22 pm

              Those at the distal end of the tilt must be further from the sun, surely?

            • Poission 2.2.1.1.2.4
              19 March 2019 at 12:58 am

              obliquity changes the amount of available solar radiation falling on a surface.

              In december for example the antarctic receives more sunlight then the equator ( scott base gets 28.8 Mj/m2 compared to whangarei at around 20.4)

              The external forcing in the sun/earthsystem ie aphelion/perihelion is substantive

              The LASP instrument on SORCE shows the TSI (all spectrum irradiance) around aphelion 9/7/2018 was 13166.4 at the TOA AND 1047.3 on the 3/1/2019
              The difference of 90.87 wm^2 then we divide by 4 to get the surface measurement of 22.71 wm^2 then divide by 2 to get 11.35 wm^2 that is not trivial.

      • soddenleaf 2.2.2
        18 March 2019 at 10:12 am

        Buy a carrot, just the one, every month or so, see how long it lasts before going off. Cuba they don’t have capitalism so aren’t selling inedible food. When the supermarkets start selling fresh carrots, parsnips, Swedes, I continue avoiding them. I can’t fathom how they make money, maybe in subliments to provide thevitamins lost when they precook the fresh veggies.

        • Skunk Weed 2.2.2.1
          18 March 2019 at 11:59 am

          Organic food and one of the best Health Care Systems in the World and that is a FACT

        • gsays 2.2.2.2
          18 March 2019 at 4:47 pm

          As to how the supermarkets make money, one of the ways is to screw down their Vege suppliers.
          My family grew yams, near the end of their time supplying supermarkets, the contract had a start date, finish date and a fixed price.

          They were unable to sell at the farmers market nor were they able to put recipe suggestions and photos on the bag tags. The reason is the company would not tolerate another company advertising under the supermarket roof.

          • soddenleaf 2.2.2.2.1
            19 March 2019 at 11:22 am

            Supermarkets, ha, chlorine wash causes kidney problems, forcing consumer to give up alcohol. Brilliant how their short term profit grabbing destroys their own shareholder value. not that their wine is any good.

    • cleangreen 2.3
      18 March 2019 at 9:49 am

      Thanks for keeping the spotlight on the “climate change issues as we should.

      Here I wrote on TDB about this.

      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/03/18/waatea-news-why-im-taking-my-daughter-out-of-school-today/#comment-455642

      No reason to stop fighting for our collective “global village” future together is there? Don’t let a single shooter win here. We owe our allegiance to save our children’s future.

      The oil companies must feel that God is on their side now – as the Christchurch killings has sucked all the oxygen out of the ‘climate emissions debate’ it seems by looking at the “corporate media now.

      Keep up the fight to save our planet please people.

      https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-melting-ice-antarctica-greenland-arctic-global-warming-gulf-stream-amoc-a8766521.html

      ‘Climate chaos’: Melting ice sheets will trigger extreme weather across the world, warn scientists
      ‘This unpredictability is going to prove extremely disruptive for all of us’
      • Josh GabbatissScience Correspondent @josh_gabbatiss
      • Wednesday 6 February 2019 19:27

      The Independent
      Collapsing ice sheets at the poles are powerful symbols of a warming world, but new research suggests they may also be ramping up the global impact of climate change.
      As the icy cliffs of Greenland and Antarctica thaw, scientists think the influx of water will trigger extreme weather and disrupt ocean currents across the globe.

  3. Doogs 3
    18 March 2019 at 8:21 am

    With reference to the recent tragedy in Christchurch, I highly recommend the following article by Paul Brislen.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/03/17/492557/how-to-make-big-tech-do-the-right-thing

    These people are the real ogres by standing passively by and ‘allowing’ the free flow of inappropriate communications – incitement under the guise of free speech.

    I also heard, quite appallingly, someone say that right wing extremists are made by the left. Not sure who or where I heard it, but what a unfortunate excuse for their actions. It seems that in the roiling turmoil following this tragedy a lot of bottom feeders have emerged from the mud and are hanging their vile excuses on the thinnest of pretexts.

    • WeTheBleeple 3.1
      18 March 2019 at 8:36 am

      White supremacy is front and center of current American politics, and media.

      We should stop taking cues from them, immediately.

      Samantha Bee on Tucker Carlson:

      On those emergent bottom feeders: kick ass and take names, introduce them to the appropriate authorities.

      • AB 3.1.1
        18 March 2019 at 10:56 am

        Yep – but will calling them out deepen their false sense of victimhood and make them more dangerous?
        Who knows – I feel mentally tired and disgusted with humanity.

        • greywarshark 3.1.1.1
          18 March 2019 at 11:14 am

          I think that it would be best to say unequivocally that they are wrong and their bad opinions will cause heartache for others, and they should stop fomenting trouble. When they reply to that with demanding questions and examples, say that they say they want the truth but can’t handle the truth. And that they must examine their own malicious behaviour and change themselves, as they refuse to listen or learn from anyone else.

          They must know that others strongly disagree. But want to play at discussing the matter which merely gives them more fuel. All of these haters are IEDs inside their mind, and as we know from examples here, all attempts to respond with reason just fuel the fevered minds and flame up.

        • WeTheBleeple 3.1.1.2
          18 March 2019 at 11:20 am

          Yeah, I get you. I can’t be on tenterhooks with scumbags, some can change and will when truth is applied, some are just psycho’s who’ll adopt any crap ideology/cause to justify their own extreme bullshit. And the fact they take others with them (literally or figuratively) is why I have no tolerance.

          We can’t stop racism without standing against it. Tolerance of low level racism emboldens the deranged of view. So called free speech vs hate speech in the hands of double speak.

          Where racist mongrels tell you that saying mongrel is offensive, while their views are merely controversial.

          As I’ve stated previously, the internet’s social media algorithms point extreme views towards others with extreme views till, you may be the worst fruitcake on the planet, but find yourself surrounded by ‘friends’. This is the headquarters of the insane. The sociopaths, as Tarrant has demonstrated, hide in plain sight, camouflaged by a background of institutionalised racism and turning a blind eye.

          They use the word ‘controversial’ instead of repugnant to push low level nastiness – like some American media today described Fraser Anning’s statements as controversial.

          Let’s not follow their failed and gutless model.

          A racist is a racist.

          • Gabby 3.1.1.2.1
            18 March 2019 at 12:35 pm

            It doesn’t seem as if Shatpant was even hiding. Frigger Analling would be a lefty in yankistan.

  4. Tom Pained 4
    18 March 2019 at 9:28 am

    There is a strong argument of removing ethnospecific cultural and religious references within ‘Christchurch’ in favour of Ōtautahi – its indigenous name – for all levels of government, as well as legal and official documentation.

    It would be consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and involve minimal change.

    ‘Christchurch’ currently references locations in England, Wales, and the USA, educational institutions in Virginia and Chennai, and cathedrals in Tanzania, Britain, Aotearoa, Ireland, Falkland Islands, Canada, Australia, Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachsetts, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin as well as a diverse range of other places .. not to mention an album by the Dubliners.

    It would let people heal and release youthful energies from medieval constraints.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_mosque_shootings
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_(disambiguation)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_(disambiguation)#Educational_institutions
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church#Churches_elsewhere
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dubliner%27s_Dublin

    • greywarshark 4.1
      18 March 2019 at 11:29 am

      A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, or fetid. Leave the official, internationally known name, use Otautahi more locally, and provide things for under-employed men to do with ethnicities mixing. An All-Colours football team, basketball, netball, etc.

      These sad white guys need to come out of their huddle, they look pale and insipid – the ones that have stayed in my mind (like the one with Jordan Peterson, the creep). They should be given a way to excel and stop looking and feeling like that.

      I know Victoria University has decided it would like to change its name. That is different – they umbrella a lot of research, want to be recognised amongst world universities, and want to be recognised as NZ when people are seeking a university of renown in the world. The university is one entity that is an education enterprise and now a business as NZ limits educational funding.

      The city Christchurch is an entity in its own right, a place, a people, an airport, and is not limited by its name, people are interested first in the country, and I don’t want to see New Zealand changed to Aotearoa either. Again I think we should use that locally, and affectionately. It is our name for the place we love, the other is an identifier (and not a bad one either – a bit more New Zeal would grow us exponentially from a place to exist in for some to a place of happy satisfied people. Let it be so!)

    • Gabby 4.2
      18 March 2019 at 12:36 pm

      I doubt if you’ll even get your way over crusaders tommy, let alone that degree of cultural extirpation.

  5. Mark 5
    18 March 2019 at 9:51 am

    Cunts like Winston Peters encouraged the alt right with a wink and a nod,

    From an article linked in the nz herald today;

    Firstly, a group calling itself the Auckland University European Students Association appeared on campus at Orientation Week. Although it quickly disbanded amid accusations of racism and threats to its (unidentified) founders, the group gained national media coverage, including reaction from Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy.

    Secondly, a week later, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters visited Victoria University in Wellington. During his speech to students he questioned the media’s role in causing the “European” group to shut down. He accused journalists of suppressing dissenting voices, and on his way out, unashamedly signed a cartoon of a frog named Pepe – the most popular symbol of the alt-right.

    Peters’ actions set the New Zealand 4Chan boards alight.

    “Guess who just got my vote!!” one user wrote. “Winston is based”. (Based, loosely, means good).

    “Absolutely BASED,” said another. “Winnie has my undying respect.”

    “Winston is /ourguy/, right?” another asked. “I want someone to get rid of the Indians and Chinese, those f****** are stealing our country right out from under us.”

    That’s so fucking dog whistling it really isn’t, he may as well have got out the megaphone

    • greywarshark 5.1
      18 March 2019 at 11:42 am

      I think Winston is getting old. He has been practising skateboarding for long zooming down and up and turning tricks in the air, and won prizes for it. But age has blunted his political sensibilities and he can’t hang five or whatever like he used to.

      I agree that he has made a bad mistake over the ‘European’ university group. He might have thought that he was just being a bit radical and controversial. But if so, he is losing his touch. He once said he thought he was part Chinese, and had connections with Taiwan. And got some publicity for that.

      He now as a Deputy Prime Minister has gone to the USA and garnered publicity for going into a huddle with them, apparently because of growing Chinese influence
      in the South Pacific. Trying to hang five again. I think he won’t get any accolades for this from judges, and the publicity of being a maverick won’t win him brownie or whitie points.

      It’s not statesman stuff, and I think the wheelchair is his next Seat out of Parliament. He can make a mint being the poster boy for the new form of wheelchair driven by body movements, not relying on the hands pushing the wheels.. So there you are Winnie, your future value lies away from politics.

  6. gsays: 6
    18 March 2019 at 9:52 am

    Speaking as a rugby fan here, the reasons offered by the Canterbury franchise for their name are pretty weak.
    The crusading spirit of settlers is at odds with sword waving, hooded, horseback riding men wearing chainmail.

    C’mon Canterbury rugby officials, your achievements on the field transcend any hiccups, politics or kickback from your sponsors, fans and wider rugby community.

    • solkta 6.1
      18 March 2019 at 9:56 am

      The crusading spirit of settlers

      That sounds even more offensive given our history.

    • mauī 6.2
      18 March 2019 at 1:16 pm

      +1.

      Huge test for Canterbury this issue. Any use of that word associated with that place seems entirely inappropriate now.

  7. cleangreen 7
    18 March 2019 at 9:56 am

    Just on Friday we were out on the street on the “Climate strike” campaign among over 100 school children beaming chanting “we will save of planet”, at the bottom of Gladstone street (main Street) in Gisborne, holding our placards and full of pride that our young among us are so concerned about the planet dying, that they all like so many folks around the world, were on strike together to show all world governments to hurry up and change the way we live, and use less energy to help reverse the catastrophic melting down of our polar regions causing sea level rise, and increased global temperatures, fires, floods, earthquakes.

    We later drove back to the 7 acres hobby farm so alleviated and, then ‘BANG’ -as the TV showed us the ChCh carnage, and from that time our hearts sunk in sadness and horror as the press has had nothing to mention that that day was the global climate change demonstration children of the world had staged, around the world.

    Then for three days there has been a complete blackout about everything else going on around the planet except for the ChCh event, – and it was as if the climate strike global event never happened.

    So we are so deeply disappointed that the event in ChCh eclipsed another so serious as the demise of the whole global population is not as worthy also to be mentioned that will potentially destroy every living being and thing else around our planet.

    No reason to stop fighting for our collective “global village” future together is there? Don’t let a single shooter win here. We owe our allegiance to save our children’s future.

    • greywarshark 7.1
      18 March 2019 at 11:44 am

      I agree. All the more reason to keep agitating for the environment and a better attitude for the future cleangreen.

  8. soddenleaf 8
    18 March 2019 at 10:19 am

    Send him back! Sorry if there was ever a case for not sending him back, he’d be it. Having him closer to his family, his culture of extremists… ..who thought that one up.
    And who is buying guns, they haven’t buried them yet, and there is some rush. really.

    • Molly 8.1
      18 March 2019 at 2:09 pm

      We owe it to the families of those killed and injured, and the wider Muslim community to take responsibility for the prosecution, and following sentencing for the perpetrator.

      Keeping him within our own justice system means we have control over his sentence and conditions. Anything else would be handing over authority and responsibility to another agency, and would be disrespectful.

  9. Brutus Iscariot 9
    18 March 2019 at 10:21 am

    The Police can’t help but once again use a tragedy to indulge their natural hard-on for authoritarianism.

    Now threatening people with jail time for even viewing the video. Will the same apply for 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination footage?

    We now have an undebated internet censorship regime too.

    • Peter Christchurh nz 9.1
      18 March 2019 at 10:51 am

      Those events did not happen in NZ though, and this video is hugely different to the 9/11 footage as it is up close and personal, with the people related to others in our community.

      And no, they did not threaten jail time for viewing, but rather for sharing the video (distributing).

      I am.in two minds about the censorship. Watching it sure brings home the craziness of his actions.

    • greywarshark 9.2
      18 March 2019 at 11:46 am

      BI
      Don’t conflate everything. The police are trying to act appropriately on this occasion. Don’t make it worse by getting angry at everybody. Just hold your fire will you.

    • Sabine 9.3
      18 March 2019 at 1:48 pm

      then they will have to put a lot of people in prison, especially white people overseas.

      • Peter Christchurch NZ 9.3.1
        18 March 2019 at 2:40 pm

        ?? You think only white people watch this? Ridiculous and racist comment Sabine.

        • Sabine 9.3.1.1
          18 March 2019 at 3:10 pm

          where did i say ‘only white people’.

          oh yeah, i did not.

          take your concern and bin it.

          bye now

  10. cleangreen 10
    18 March 2019 at 10:34 am

    We may well have been targeted for actions now as we have historically been against oil, nuclear, coal, and other energy sources so perhaps this right wing radical shooter was setup to derail our climate change actions on that day and made our PM Ardern a scapegoat for saying “this is our generations nuclear moment” As the forces of evil rise against our climate change actions, we hope our Prime Minister Ardern and her cabinet has the guts to stand firm as Winston Churchill did during another war on our world.

    Sweden has nailed it completely.

    Worth a look at this site.

    We are looking at ‘anti Climate change’ terrorism as a weapon now against us all.

    https://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/tme/news/Pages/Climate-change-denial-strongly-linked-to-right-wing-nationalism.aspx

    Quote;
    ‘Climate change denial strongly linked to right-wing nationalism
    With Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, as a hub, the world’s first global research network into climate change denial has now been established. Building on a brand-new research publication showing the links between conservatism, xenophobia and climate change denial, the network will study how the growth of right-wing nationalism in Europe has contributed to an increase in climate change denial.
    Scientific awareness of the greenhouse effect, and human influence on the climate has existed for over three decades. During the 1980s, there was a strong environmental movement and a political consensus on the issue, but in recent years, climate change denial – denying that changes to the climate are due to human influence on the environment – has increased.’

    ”Two strong groups have joined forces on this issue – the extractive industry, and right-wing nationalists. The combination has taken the current debate to a much more dramatic level than previously, at the same time as our window of opportunity is disappearing.”

    • Peter Christchurh nz 10.1
      18 March 2019 at 10:54 am

      I wondered how long it would be before the conspiracy theorists and apologists came out of the woodwork.

      No. He did what he did for sick ideological reasons, and because as he says himself in his manifesto, doing this in NZ results in maximum worldwide impact. And probably a lot easier in NZ due to our more relaxed security attitufea.

  11. Saintarnuad 11
    18 March 2019 at 11:05 am

    I think that was about the same time we got to vote on whether Kiwis wanted to have a Multicultural society….which by all accounts was a major part of the manefesto used by the alleged terrorist in Christchurch last Friday.

    Ah that’s right, we didn’t vote on either, but as you correctly stated was determined by politicians.

    So it appears we agree after all, unless of course you are being elitist !

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]

  12. KJT 12
    18 March 2019 at 11:15 am

    Meanwhile the USA’s destruction and soon to be attempted mass murder, in Venezuala continues.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1902/S00124/venezuela-oil-neoliberalism-and-white-supremacy.htm

    “Any way it is spun, such political and military intervention by the US will make the situation many times worse for the people of Venezuela which should be the paramount concern. Why is this happening? It’s pretty simple: oil (the biggest remaining reserves globally are in Venezuela) and ideology (an ideological quest to replace socialism, indigenous peoples’ rights and independence with white supremacy and subjugation in Latin America)”.

    • WeTheBleeple 12.1
      18 March 2019 at 11:42 am

      And though they know they’re barely fooling anyone anymore they carry on regardless with a patsy media spitting out their nonsense.

      Instability is their aim, not their concern.

  13. WILD KATIPO 13
    18 March 2019 at 12:29 pm

    Well,… I guess its time for a little David Bowie in the interim, then,…

    David Bowie – Sound and Vision – YouTube

  14. Brutus Iscariot 14
    18 March 2019 at 1:03 pm

    Police have made the first arrest of someone for sharing the video.

  15. mikesh 15
    18 March 2019 at 2:15 pm

    My wife and I have just seen the movie, Hotel Mumbai, about the Muslim terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai in 2008. It was probably not the most appropriate movie to see in the circumstances, and I’m surprised showings have not been cancelled, and perhaps deferred until a later date, given Friday’s events. However I would not be surprised if I heard that Tarrant had timed the atrocities to coincide with the release of that film.

  16. ianmac 16
    18 March 2019 at 3:09 pm

    Before or after prison Term?

    “Australian Govt willing to discuss transfer of Tarrant if convicted of murder

    Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the Australian Government is willing to talk to New Zealand about taking Brenton Tarrant back should he be convicted here, media are reporting.

    The Australian has reported that Payne told reporters Australia would work “very constructively” with New Zealand if it decided to deport Tarrant.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is seeking advice on potentially deporting Tarrant, the alleged Christchurch mosques shooter.

    She has not said whether that included before any sentence or after serving a prison term here, but she was clear that he would face justice in this country.

    The reaction to Payne’s comments from Australian Twitter users was swift.”
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12213551

  17. ianmac 17
    18 March 2019 at 4:14 pm

    Remember a few years ago when Heather Heather du Plessis-Allan bought a gun online with a dodgy license? Maybe for once in her life she had a point.

  18. RedLogix 18
    18 March 2019 at 4:53 pm

    Just before I take my afternoon nap, I found this interesting:

    Prolonged lack of sleep is turning many of us into zombies and the global phenomenon is tipping people further toward irrational and imbalanced behaviour, a Brisbane sleep researcher is warning.

    Behaviour in many societies is increasingly unbalanced due to prolonged sleep deprivation, Dr van Swinderen said REM or dream sleep is essential for our brains to function normally, but researchers don’t yet fully know why.

    Shift work, screen exposure and lifestyles are the main culprits and sleeping tablets and anti-depressants make matters worse, Queensland Brain Institute evolutionary biologist Dr Bruno van Swinderen said most people felt they were not getting enough sleep, owing to stress, work hours, light exposure and other lifestyle factors.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-18/long-term-lack-of-sleep-making-us-zombies-researcher-warns/10904654

    • One Two 18.1
      18 March 2019 at 5:46 pm

      Long existing problem, RL..

      Thanks for highlighting it…

      Without adequate REM sleep, the body is unable to detox and heal itself appropriately…

      Inflammation, illness and disease are certain outcomes…

      That is not including the effects that poor nutrition, technology related oxidative stress, poisons and toxins which are inhaled, injected and ingested…

      No surprise then, our species is currently experiencing declines in life expectancy along with greater numbers living with poor and declining health profiles…

      • The Al1en 18.1.1
        18 March 2019 at 6:03 pm

        “No surprise then, our species is currently experiencing declines in life expectancy”

        I think that’s incorrect. Do you have any links to back that up?

        Wikipedia shows life expectancy to still be on an upward curve.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#/media/File:LifeExpectancy.png

        • Grant 18.1.1.1
          18 March 2019 at 6:24 pm

          I don’t know enough to produce an argument one way or the other but I would question whether those charted projections through to 2050 take into account the obesity epidemic or lifestyle changes which see a much larger percentage of the population getting much less exercise and less appropriate nutrition. I see my parents generation reaching the end of their lives now in the mid to late eighties many of them and I see my generation as much heavier, more stressed, less healthy and more likely to peg out sooner. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we die on average younger than our parents.

          • The Al1en 18.1.1.1.1
            18 March 2019 at 7:22 pm

            Yeah, projections could be off, but current data should be available to show where we’re at. I’d like to see some.

        • KJT 18.1.1.2
          18 March 2019 at 9:42 pm

          I’ve read elsewhere, probably new scientist or Nature, that millennials, in the West, may be the first generation in recent history, to have shorter lifespans than their parents.

          More stressed lives, longer working hours, obesity and diet were mentioned, along with sleep deprivation.

          I’ll try and dig it out, though prob. Paywalled.

          New sleep research is interesting. Apparently certain deep sleep stages are when the brain flushes out waste products. Which, they reckon, is why we need it. Sleeping drugs and other interruptions to natural sleep may prevent these stages.
          Gives “full of shit”, a whole new meaning.

          The other factoid, from the article, is dolphins rest their brain, one hemisphere at a time.

        • One Two 18.1.1.3
          18 March 2019 at 11:50 pm

          TA…

          Learn to use internet search text more efficiently…and be more discerning with wikiP , certainly on any subject linked to ‘health’…

          And you will find that there have been recent drops in life expectancy in western nations…

          L.E is a weak example of a reference point to use in this discussion simply because human health profiles are in decline across all age groups…especially noticeable in the youngest age brackets…with a clear picture of overall declining human health…degrade the environment is to degrade ourselves…

          All very elementary..

          So while many folk look to stats or science to advise them what our ancient and more recent ancestors innately understood…

          Those who are building a relationship with their own self, relieving it of the burdons of modern life…no more than was ever required by our spieces to thrive…is necessary…

          Clean Air, clean water, clean food, good shelter, social….and of course…sleep

          Nothing new on that list…no scientific method or science should be required to accept those ‘home truths’…

          Built into our biology…ignore at our own peril…

      • RedLogix 18.1.2
        18 March 2019 at 7:43 pm

        That makes a lot of sense to me One Two; it expands on the article nicely.

        I often think back to life before the internet and wonder what we have lost. The net is of course an astonishing thing and we will never undo it, but we have to learn a better relationship with it.

        • One Two 18.1.2.1
          18 March 2019 at 11:07 pm

          No worries, RL

          Observing even the most basic version of evolutionary human biology, it is under 50 years since our species has had ‘modern world’ technological interference with our biology…

          Really, the ‘digital age’ of the last 20 years is the creating environments for home/work which will be causing epidemic of human fatigue and related illness…

          So fundamental is the requirement for sleep to our species (in this context) that military extensively researched methods to enable ‘sleepless/deprived’ function … research which spans many decades…

          Our bodies developed in harmony with the resonance of planet earth…the rhythms and cycles over 0000 of millennia…

          And in the blink of an eye…our spieces is literally unravelling with illness and disease directly attributable to a lack of sleep…the deep healing variety…

          The sleep you wake up from feeling like a proverbial ‘million dollars’..

          Combined with the toxic and carcinogenic pollutants surrounding each of us every moment of every day …

          When I read or hear folks seeking to minimize or deny links between sleep and health while advocating for allopathic medicine and greater deployments of untested technology…

          Any ‘better relationship’ by the ‘mass consumers’…is likely to ensure that the tech…will drive humanity back into the star dust from whence we formed…

  19. Dennis Frank 19
    18 March 2019 at 5:40 pm

    Two judges of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales have found someone not guilty of “racial discrimination on the grounds that Islam is not a race”, according to a web report: http://www.ozpolitic.com/.

    Last time I made that point here a bunch of leftists moaned & bitched in response, so I appreciate the legislative endorsement. Consulting a dictionary seems to be increasingly difficult for many people.

    • solkta 19.1
      18 March 2019 at 8:19 pm

      ‘Races’ are not ‘races’ either so i would have thought this is an in the eye of the beholder thing.

      • WeTheBleeple 19.1.1
        18 March 2019 at 9:03 pm

        It’s a nasty white men thing. Get the judges to back up their horseshit. Trump loves this playbook.

      • marty mars 19.1.2
        18 March 2019 at 9:21 pm

        Yep the term ‘race’ is outdated and used for discrimination, on so called lesser races, in the past – ethnicity is used nowdays for most people except you know…

        • solkta 19.1.2.1
          18 March 2019 at 9:30 pm

          I think it is a huge mistake that we continue with having a “Race (sic) Relations Commissioner”. Every time this person makes a public statement it reinforces for the Nazis their false belief that yes ‘races’ are a real thing. Just fucking stupid it is.

  20. McFlock 20
    18 March 2019 at 9:17 pm

    If anyone wants a trip up the arsehole of humanity here is a twitter thread giving backgrounds on some of the thugs who mobbed eggboi and others who attended this Aussie senator’s event.

    Not nice people at all.

    • Muttonbird 20.1
      18 March 2019 at 9:26 pm

      Australia at default level is a racist country. Racism defines their post-colonial history, something which they still haven’t addressed.

      So for there to exist a subset of people even more redneck and intolerant on top of an already redneck and intolerant base is alarming.

      It’s a bit like the ACT party and their supporters in New Zealand.

    • Gabby 20.2
      19 March 2019 at 10:07 am

      Very interesting bit of research by that guy. I’m guessing the company Analling keeps won’t be coming up for discussion in their parlyment.

  21. greywarshark 21
    18 March 2019 at 9:28 pm

    Little kids have to go to preschool so Mother can go and earn an inadequate amount doing similar work for pay that she would do at home. Hardly getting people out of the cycle of unemployment and poverty that the system is vaunted to be about.

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/john-campbell-investigates-christchurch-high-court-clears-way-class-action-lawsuit-against-post-earthquake-advocacy-service

    Professor Richie Poulton, director of The Dunedin Study, which has been running health and education assessments for over 40 years, said that the early years of a child’s life were critical.

    “The early years matter tremendously for how a person’s whole life turns out. It’s when all the brain connections are being made. Poverty and its consequences are obviously one of the threats to ideal brain development.

    “A child is very malleable or very open to experiences, and if they are bad experiences, they become embedded in a child’s physiology, as well as in their emotions and their thoughts… and that hangs around forever.”

    The charity said it needs $30 a month to roll the programme out across the regions. People can donate at KidsCan.

    • KJT 21.1
      20 March 2019 at 3:09 pm

      Oh, but “childcare adds to GDP”.
      An adult carer, staying home with their own pre schoolers, doesn’t.

      Which leads to the strange idea that we will subsidize Mother’s of pre schoolers, with childcare, so they are available as cheap labour. But we won’t do the same, so a parent can stay home with them.

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