Open Mike 18/05/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 18th, 2018 - 85 comments
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85 comments on “Open Mike 18/05/2018 ”

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  1. Ed 1
    18 May 2018 at 6:46 am

    Barely a ripple, then, in the NZ media about a massacre bigger than Sharpeville, a mass killing larger than Soweto, a crime as obscene as My Lai.

    Our media by its silence is complicit in Israel’s crime.

    Here is some detail of the horrific event.

    “Laila Anwar al-Ghandour, an eight-month-old baby girl, died of tear-gas inhalation at dawn, Gaza’s Ministry of Health says, highlighting international outrage over the killings by Israeli soldiers of 60 Palestinians who joined in a massive protest against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

    Laila was the youngest fatality of the demonstrations on Monday, which were held in the run up to the 70th anniversary on Tuesday of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes…..

    The Israeli military has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, cutting the Palestinian territory off from the outside world and leaving many of its residents impoverished, including the al-Ghandour family.

    For the past seven weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting as part of a campaign demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

    Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 108 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded about 12,000 people.”

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/laila-anwar-al-ghandour-face-gaza-carnage-180515063150518.html

    Gaza is the new Soweto.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/gaza-israel-soweto-180516123628499.html

    • Stunned Mullet 1.1
      18 May 2018 at 7:06 am

      I thought you didn’t partake of the Msm and preferred to inhabit more fringe type news sources.

      Regardless your accusation is incorrect as the item in question has been in the Msm here and overseas on numerous occasions.

    • humma 1.3
      18 May 2018 at 11:20 am

      who brings a baby to a riot? That is irresponsible parenting.
      As for the terrorists killed, good riddance. Unfortunately about 10 civilians were caught in the crossfires.

      • Draco T Bastard 1.3.1
        18 May 2018 at 11:36 am

        More lies from a supporter of Israel’s war crimes.

      • One Two 1.3.2
        18 May 2018 at 11:50 am

        That’s ugly stuff…

        Very ugly…

      • greywarshark 1.3.3
        18 May 2018 at 12:53 pm

        humma
        That is a good question. And can’t be answered with sweeping condemnation. For sure there will be poverty and control in the various threads of the answer.

      • Baba Yaga 1.3.4
        18 May 2018 at 1:59 pm

        Have you seen the video of the allegedly dead Palestinian scratching themselves under the white cover? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPaq_TNEYwY.

      • Venezia 1.3.5
        18 May 2018 at 9:54 pm

        Humma & Babayoga. The massacre of more than 60 unarmed protesters this week was covered by many cameras for all the world to see. In addition, 2700 people were injured. These figures have been validated by MSF ( doctors without borders).
        IDF troops were firing into Gaza from the buffer zone. A fence (not a border) separated protesters, who were fired on from fortified sniper positions and tanks. While some young men approached the fence, most were at least 50 metres away. The baby who died from inhaling teargas was a long way from the action in a tent used by medics & media.
        You can minimise or obfuscate this brutality all you like. The cameras of the world showed the truth. More Israeli war crimes.

      • reason 1.3.6
        19 May 2018 at 8:39 am

        the root of the problem …. stolen land … territory not terrorism

        Occupation and apartheid

        The truth … 21 mins

        Inspiration … 27.30

        Terrorism 43 mins

  2. cleangreen 2
    18 May 2018 at 7:20 am

    Mycoplasma bovis is here.

    https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/environment/mycoplasma-bovis-is-in-new-zealand-it-s-what-comes-next-that-s-important/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LISTENER_newsletter_17-05-2018&utm_content=Final&utm_term=list_nzlistener_newsletter

    Mycoplasma bovis is here. It’s what comes next that’s important
    by The Listener / 17 May, 2018
    SHARE
    At a time when the link between town and country is weak, our reaction to cow disease Mycoplasma bovis will be a revealing test of national solidarity.
    It almost seems like the stuff of science fiction: a debilitating epidemic spreads unseen and stays several steps ahead of efforts to contain it. But the cow disease Mycoplasma bovis is not part of a far-fetched plot in a Hollywood film. For the rural sector, it has become a real-life horror story. Agriculture minister Damien O’Connor bluntly describes it as a disaster.
    It’s a crisis with heartbreaking personal consequences as well as serious economic dimensions. Good farmers care deeply for their livestock, and few people would not have been moved by the sight of a Canterbury farmer almost in tears as he talked of his infected herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, having to be slaughtered. This was the human face of an industry often pilloried for greed and environmental vandalism.

    • Muttonbird 2.1
      18 May 2018 at 7:33 am

      The fault for this lies squarely at the feet of Nathan Guy and his National government.

      Now the taxpayer will have to pick up the cost for something farmers should have been insured for.

      Dark times for New Zealand.

      • greywarshark 2.1.1
        18 May 2018 at 1:46 pm

        This thing MB is not strange and unknown. They have had it in Australia to the extent that they manage it apparently. The uncaring NZ RW governments who want foreign money and goods to come into the country for their benefit are uncaring about protecting and conserving our natural resources, one being that we have been free of many nasties. They make a show of having controls but then the guardians have limited budgets, probably inspect sample numbers, do their virtual kaitiaki from their computers.

        A good coverage of the mycoplasma bovis problem from an experienced scientist Keith Woodford comes with a warning that we have to ramp up our controls over health. In 2018 Labour is set to see that NAIT is brought up to speed:

        Given the lack of evidence for semen being the source, other possibilities need to be considered.

        The normal transmission method for Mycoplasma bovis is from animal to animal. That raises the possibility that the original source is a live import. However, the oral advice from MPI (yet to be confirmed in writing) is that there have been no live cattle imported into New Zealand for the last three years.

        Regardless of when animals were last imported into New Zealand, the importer was not the van Leeuwens, and the van Leeuwens have never received live imports on their farms. So once again, if a live import is the source, then the van Leeuwens have been exceedingly unlucky to the recipients of the disease. And what was the path by which it got there?…

        If Mycoplasma is found to be endemic in New Zealand, then it will not be the death knell of the industry. But it will be a big nuisance. And we will undoubtedly need to implement some of the dairy hygiene measures that are typically seen overseas but which are largely ignored in New Zealand. In particular, farmers will need to think carefully about sending their young stock off-farm for grazing with young stock from other farms. Feeding raw (non-pasteurised) milk to calves will also need to be eliminated. Purchased bulls are another potential source of disease transfer.
        https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/90786/keith-woodford-says%C2%A0we-should-not-be-confident-we-have-mycoplasma-bovis-contained

        Stuff and NZ Farmer covered it in August 2017 reporting on the experience of a Kiwi in Australia.
        While the prevalence of the disease in Australian herds was relatively low – about 3.5 per cent – it was spreading, and once a herd was infected, it remained infected at a subclinical level. The key was to be vigilant and quickly isolate any animal suspected of having the disease.

        Goold estimated there might be about up to a dozen cases in the state of Victoria, the centre of the Australian dairy industry. Across the Tasman Mycoplasma has a very low profile; he had been farming for 10 years before hearing about it.

        (I note the mention of up to a dozen cases in Victoria. We seem to have that number already.)

        Then in November 2017 the farming business, the van Leeuwen Dairy Group which reported it initially was featured in Farmers Weekly.

        In July one of the group’s farms was identified with the notifiable disease Mycoplasma bovis that initiated a full Ministry for Primary Industries biosecurity response.
        While pretty much the rest of the world already had it, it was a first for NZ….
        the van Leeuwens harbour much disappointment over how the response was managed.
        “It has been horrendous on us, our staff and our contract and sharemilkers.
        “The impact has been devastating on all our people and for many it will mean the end forever – their businesses and their reputations have been destroyed.”
        The near 90 staff had just had enough and being associated with a group farm had tainted them for the future, van Leeuwen said.
        https://farmersweekly.co.nz/#

        The van Leeuwens noted that after they notified government about the disease, MPI was very slow to respond.
        “It took them five days to find out where our farms were and 10 days to put their feet on the first infected farm.
        “We had the cows well sorted and separated by then – thank God this was not foot and mouth,” he said.

    • Muttonbird 2.2
      18 May 2018 at 7:58 am

      Absolutely savage takedown of Nathan Guy here.

      Back in 2017 Guy dithered when the disease was found in a farm owned by rich-listers. I suspect it was all kept secret and quick and decisive action held up while compensation was being negotiated. It is interesting to see how compensation seems to be the only issue over the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak that has taxed the mind of Guy last year when he was minister, and now in Opposition.

      http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/mitch-mccann-a-tale-of-two-portfolios.html

      As always, Guy and his mates in the National party look out, and cover up, for rich listers. Everyone else pays.

      Just how much damage did the John Key government do? I think we are only just beginning to find out…

      • Sanctuary 2.2.1
        18 May 2018 at 8:27 am

        “…Just how much damage did the John Key government do? I think we are only just beginning to find out…”

        The fact remains that National’s 2009-11 tax cuts were by far the most ideologically driven piece of economic mismanagement of the countries economy so far this century. They were completely unaffordble, and made worse by a promise to return to surplus. These facts were papered over by the Key/English government by borrowing and the fetishisation of cutting government expenditure to the point huge swaths of civil society were trashed and huge areas of the civic governance of the country were defunded to the point of ineffectiveness.

        The whole economic story of the Key/English era is basically one of reckless, ideologically driven tax cuts and a promise to return to surplus driving a policy obsession with the impossible task (of their own making) of squaring the resultant economic circle.

        The result was the abandonment of governance of large areas of public policy in favour of an unregulated and increasingly corrupt form of crony capitalism and at the same time the running into the ground of the public sector.

        • cleangreen 2.2.1.1
          18 May 2018 at 10:40 am

          Yes thanks Muttonbird and Sanctuary

          yesterday 17/5/18 we presented our NGO teleconference submission to the Select panel on TPP 11 or what it is called now.

          We spoke about the environmental issues we felt would be further damaged by entering this restrictive “trade agreement” as it would make it easy for foreign corporations to sue NZ Government or anyone else who attempted to tighten up environmental regulations.

          I must say that the chair (National’s Simon O’connor was very receptive and very patient with our verbal submission and he is a pleasant man.

          we gave him our full submission and to (Edward Siebert) the Clark of the committee requesting that he also supply it to all other members of the committee receiving all submissions against the trade agreement as it stands today.

          So we hope they take note after we warned that any loosening of our environmental regulations now will ultimately destroy NZ if more spread of these imported diseases spread to our farming and destroy our exports.

          here is a part of our submission;

          Public COMMUNITY SUBMISSION TO; – the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”

          17th May 2018

          Our response following a review of the agreement and media coverage by Government and other parties.

          Our teleconference at 10am to 10.15am 17th May 2018 with the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”

          Our speech will be as follows;

          Our concerns with the final draft of “The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”

          Pros: – Free trade is a good thing in the right situations.

          Any of you who’ve taken introductory level Macroeconomics will likely already know this.

          But trade between nations allow each country to specialise on producing what they have the comparative advantage in.

          By removing barriers to trade such as tariffs and quotas.

          The TPP agreement would allow global businesses to trade profitably in markets they are currently unable to do so in.

          For example, Japan has very high tariffs on pork products in order to protect their own pork industry.

          If TPP is used with Japan as a member, these tariffs would be done away with and U.S. companies could then compete in Japan on a level playing field.

          TPP installs new intellectual property laws in an attempt to protect the original rights holders.

          This is obviously a hotly debated topic, and there are costs and benefits on both sides of the issue.

          Cons: –

          TPP could possibly be very detrimental to the environment.

          Under the TPP Environmental chapter, corporations could sue governments should they enact environmental legislation that would hurt their business.

          Essentially, TPP asserts to the world that business’s profits are more important than the health of Earth.

          This partnership would allow companies to sue countries.

          Let that sink in for a moment; – instead of working in the best interest of their people, governments of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.

          Environment, public health, zoning codes – all are potential vulnerabilities under TPP depending on the wording of the final draft.

          Intellectual property law would once again be strengthened.

          While some protections are a good thing and help to ensure creators are properly rewarded for their time and effort, if taken too far such legislation can prove detrimental to creativity and innovation.

          While the supporters of the TPP believe the provisions contained within are a good thing, the opposition to the TPP believes in the other side of the coin.

          Local business will be damaged;

          Our business CER Ltd Est’ 2002 is solely involved with monitoring the environment to protect the health and wellbeing of the communities we represent in NZ and will under this TPP agreement be subject to legal threats upon our business instead of working in the best interest of their people, as we are continually working alongside our local and central NZ government to make our environment, and transport systems operate in a safer place to live and encourage our government to introduce new legislation to protect our environment and people.

          So Governments such as ours under TPP 11 will become a member with other nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.

          Environmental NGO’s will be damaged;

          Under CEAC a publicly funded Environmental Advocacy NGO would also become legally threatened, instead of working in the best interest of their people, as these Governments in TPP 11 of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.

          This will damage our environment and our health under the current rules in this trade agreement.

          Our resolution;

          We request the NZ Government make changes before finally signing up to this restrictive trade agreement.
          • To protect all NZ legislation and environmental regulations.
          • Protect both current and future introduced new environmental legislation.
          • Allow free flowing of all environmental submissions and discussions between all NZ communities, environmental business interests, and their local & Central Government.
          • Protect the local & Central Government abilities to freely promote such environmental legislation to protect the environment and the communities they represent in NZ.
          • Protect all Government agencies such as ‘The parliamentary commissioner of the Environment’ (see attached “HB Expressway noise & air quality issues”, as one case still under advisory status) and all other similar such environmental agencies advising Government of environmental issues.

        • Well said. Whole heartily agree. Reckless at best! 2.2.1.2
          19 May 2018 at 11:50 am

          Agree whole heartedly. It was reckless at best!

    • Brigid 2.3
      18 May 2018 at 10:45 am

      I’ve lived a good bit of my life in farming communities; farmers who care about their animals is an anomaly. Each animal is a unit, with value; that’s the sum total of their caring.
      It’s ridiculous to suggest a farmer cares about every one of his 1500 cows or 4000 sheep.

      The consequence of greed and environmental vandalism is Mycoplasma bovis.

      The farmer whose herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, which now has to be slaughtered is justifiably saddened, but not because he cares about the animals, but because his life’s work is in ruins.

      If he and others like him had put pressure on his fellow farmers to farm with some sort of integrity, he’d still have his herd.

      • cleangreen 2.3.1
        18 May 2018 at 11:48 am

        Hi Brigid,
        Yes my mini farm is alongside a cattle and sheep farmer who said to me once “dont worry about animals they live and then they die”

        My Family came to Wairoa from the Canvas town/Havelock uper south island area after WW1 after one of my grandfathers brothers got injured and disabled in the Western front with “shell shock”.

        So Frank was awarded a 300 acre farm in Clyde and was the first farm that produced milk for the Wairoa dairy factory in HB.

        I am a survivor of a workplace chemical poisoning accident to and came here in the Gisborne hills to recover from my injuries too.

        Today’s farmers do not use their own initiative to clean up their stockyards and use contractors to take the stock to other farms and bring other stock to their farms so any disease can easily be transmitted now by this method.

        When rail transported all stock the local farmer had their own truck to transport their stock to market, and had the ability to keep their trucks free of contamination as they didn’t carry other stock all the time as tjey do now so this is why.

        We now have a easily transmitted system of contamination now so we are reaping the rewards of lazy multi use of transport sources.

        • greywarshark 2.3.1.1
          19 May 2018 at 1:54 pm

          cleangreen
          The way that farmers use others to do the transporting of animals over distance, with the likelihood of cross contamination, seems the same as what was reported from the UK as the reason for the spread of their awful disease back a few decades. But efficiency wins over effectiveness when it is neo lib economics and free unregulated markets and PROFIT AND COMPETITION ie a race to cut out all competition until a suitable cartel remains.

          Bovine spongiform encephalopathy – Wikipedia
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy

          A cow with BSE: Infected animals lose the ability to stand. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that may be passed to humans who have eaten infected flesh.

          The epidemic in cattle in Britain reached incredible proportions; by 1993 more than 1,000 cases per week were being reported. More than 160,000 infected cows have now been identified, involving more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK. Protein supplements containing sheep and cattle offal were banned in the UK in 1988, but it was not until 1991-1992 that the ban was strictly enforced. Given the long incubation of BSE, the epidemic curve (number of new cases reported per week) didn’t start downward until late 1993. It is now down to about 250 cases per week..
          http://mad-cow.org/~tom/vet_interview.html

          https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/25/mad-cow-disease-british-crisis
          Mad cow disease – a very British response to an international crisis
          It may have started with the death of a cow on a farm in Pitsham, West Sussex, England, in 1984 – two years before “mad cow disease” was officially identified. It ended by changing the way the UK approaches farming, prepares food, conducts surgery and gives blood.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.4
      18 May 2018 at 11:38 am

      This was the human face of an industry often pilloried for greed and environmental vandalism.

      That probably has something to do with their greed and environmental vandalism.

      It’s hard to feel sorry for people who have consistently been destroying our environment for their own enrichment.

      • OnceWasTim 2.4.1
        18 May 2018 at 12:41 pm

        “It’s hard to feel sorry for people who have consistently been destroying our environment for their own enrichment.”

        Bloody hard! even as there are some who are desperately trying to give them a break (up against the corporates’ intent on corrupting their co-operative with promises of treats and trinkets, the banks, and others).
        What’s worse is that they’ve not only shat on the environment, but also their fellows in the farming community – I often wonder how the hell @ Countryboy puts up with the egg rolls who’re stuck with their selfish blinkers on and their ideology (supposedly gNatsi’s are the farmer’s friend), and we’ll fucking well do what we like……we’re the backbone of the country…..and the city folk just don’t understand how tough it all is. Think of the children!!!
        These arsholes are responsible for shitting on every farmer that is trying to do the right thing, and New Zealand. And they’re also riding on the reputation of those that ARE actually making an effort.

        • savenz 2.4.1.1
          18 May 2018 at 7:36 pm

          Oh you mean like these people taking out 2 acres of shellfish from environmental pollution and all the polluted beaches this year, so they can build multimillion dollar developments with the rest of Auckland having to pick up the infrastructure costs…

  3. Adrian Thornton 3
    18 May 2018 at 8:52 am

    Israel the New Apartheid Goliath.

    19 medics shot with live ammunition by IDF snipers in Gaza…

    ‘Meet Tarek Loubani, the Canadian Doctor Shot by Israeli Forces Monday While Treating Gaza’s Wounded’
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stml-pTYZak

    Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians Have the Right to Break Free of the “Unlivable” Cage That Is Gaza

    • mauī 3.1
      18 May 2018 at 10:01 am

      Wow, that Canadian doctor interview. That would make headlines around the world in a sane world.

  4. AsleepWhileWalking 4
    18 May 2018 at 9:19 am

    Tight squeeze at the Beehive

    11 people trapped in a lift with maximum capacity for 8. Trapped group consisted of mainly of lobbyists, reporters, and political advisors. Fresh air had to be pumped in.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12053862

    • Psych nurse 4.1
      18 May 2018 at 9:43 am

      No loss then.

    • Puckish Rogue 4.2
      18 May 2018 at 9:51 am

      “Fresh air had to be pumped in.”

      Actually went and checked the link to see if that was real or humour as it works both ways

    • mpledger 4.3
      18 May 2018 at 10:41 am

      From memory those lifts are really tiny. I’m surprised that they managed to get 11 in. I kinda remember finding it awkward being in there with 6 people.

    • Sacha 4.4
      18 May 2018 at 10:53 am

      “1 people trapped in a lift with maximum capacity for 8”

      The rules do not apply to us ..

      • Philg 4.4.1
        19 May 2018 at 11:56 am

        11 occupants can’t read and breach a safety regulation. Says a lot about the folk concerned.

    • millsy 4.5
      18 May 2018 at 11:31 am

      Which is why I always take the stairs if possible. I have a very real fear of getting stuck in a lift.

      • mary_a 4.5.2
        18 May 2018 at 7:57 pm

        millsy (4.5) … I got stuck in a lift in Australia with 6 others. It wasn’t so much the lift being stuck that I found frightening, but the reaction of a couple of women, who were (understandably I guess) out of control, screaming, banging, pushing and grabbing those of us who were trying our best to keep calm and reassure them, not wanting to add to the problem!

        Fortunately we weren’t stuck long. However that experience of other people’s panicky reactions has given me good reason to avoid lifts, preferring to use stairs whenever possible now.

    • One Two 4.6
      18 May 2018 at 6:44 pm

      11

      There is that number again…

      It would not have been 11 in the lift…that’s a made up number…

    • mary_a 4.7
      18 May 2018 at 7:42 pm

      @ AsleepWhileWalking (4) … for a moment there I thought that maybe Gerry had stepped into the lift. He would have taken up the space of three!

  5. Ad 5
    18 May 2018 at 9:22 am

    I quite liked the text of this speech from Marama Davison of the Greens.
    Somehow I think she has a pretty organised speechwriter.

    https://www.greens.org.nz/news/speech/what-real-government-looks

    Nothing like intelligent passionate dignified rage when you are in government and actually delivering stuff.

    • Rosemary McDonald 5.1
      18 May 2018 at 10:06 am

      Hmmm…a change from her gauntlet throwing from the weekend….

      https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13-05-2018/#comment-1483373

      “Green co-leader Marama Davidson told TV3’s The Hui “there is no Government that the Greens could be part of that would allow this to continue…”

      The statement was made in reference to Housing NZ’s refusal to allow a disabled tenant to install a solar power starter package that was going to be provided and installed for free.”

      I did watch the clip and can confirm this is what Davidson said.

      Perhaps experience will teach her about consistent messaging.

  8. Herodotus 8
    18 May 2018 at 10:44 am

    https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/together/pages/329/attachments/original/1526583055/CTU-Report-on-Budget-2018.pdf?1526583055
    From the CTU
    I have just been playing with a few numbers here.
    Wages from 2018-2021 are forecast to increase by 9%, adding 3.2%,2.7% & 3.1%
    yet min wage that is currently $16.50 is set to increase to $20 by 2021 that is 21%.
    From these then are we to see that those at the bottom end receive the increase and many e.g. teachers, nurses, police, trades etc are expected to be below the 9% , and great for those at the bottom end But there are many others also struggling just above this min threshold, and this comment on slow wage growth flies in the face of what demands we see from the unions and their deserving members.
    “Treasury also forecasts continued relatively slow wage growth with the average hourly wage rising 2.8 percent in the year to June 2019, though rising slightly faster in subsequent years.
    The continued rise in immigration and higher Working for Families payments are likely to put downward pressure on wages unless improved employment laws can counter that.”

  9. Brigid 9
    18 May 2018 at 10:54 am

    The terrorists out, the government in: All kinds of repair and maintenance workshops enter the town of #Harbnafseh in #Hama Province to repair the electricity, the water, the roads, the schools and everything damaged by the terrorists
    https://twitter.com/ahmadalissa/status/997133076974227456

  11. Ad 11
    18 May 2018 at 11:31 am

    The EU is going to kickstart a law put in place in 1996 prohibiting European companies from complying with US sanctions on Iran:

    http://www.dw.com/en/eu-to-reactivate-blocking-statute-against-us-sanctions-on-iran-for-european-firms/a-43826992

    This is the first EU-initiated break with U.S. foreign policy in quite some time.
    It also make sit more likely that the EU will more assiduously court China as a preferred trading partner with Iran.

    With the US now self-excluded from major trade relationships, the isolation from Trump will in time hurt the future growth of the US economy.

    Thank God the EU still has the strength to stand up to the US.

  12. OnceWasTim 12
    18 May 2018 at 1:39 pm

    Point of Order. I seek your indulgence Mr Speaker. Given the rules and conditions of entry to this interweb site, I wonder whether there might not be some way that I might pay for a motel room, or some other venue where the contributor @ Stunned Mullet, and his or prey @ Ed could get together and either make love or war, or at least resolve the issue of one’s obsession with the other.
    Mr Speaker, I understand that WINZ has control over most of the available motel rooms in the region, but I suggest, in light of comments as annotated by heading level 1 and below, a VERY, VERY special case could be made to allow @Stunned Mullet and @Ed to resolve the former’s obsession which is now in danger of affecting the entire @TS community.
    Mr Speaker, if there is some way this could be achieved, I’ll get back to teaching woodwork hopeful that counselling services and/or a bloody good root will ensure the TS community is no longer burdened with their fluff and flutter.

    • Brigid 12.1
      18 May 2018 at 2:04 pm

      Question:
      Does @Ed place posts on this blog specifically for the enlightenment of @Stunned Mullet?
      If not, why does @Stunned Mullet find it necessary to respond to all of @Ed’s posts?

      • OnceWasTim 12.1.1
        18 May 2018 at 2:24 pm

        to the honourable member @Brigid,
        That is exactly my concern (going forward).
        All the evidence so far, and as the parliamentary record will show, @Stunned Mullet does seem to see it necessary to respond to the most innocuous of @ Ed’s comments that others might simply ignore if it wasn’t of concern. I’m merely trying to assist in the proceedings by proposing that the frustrations that might be apparent could be alleviated by a bloody good root based on the stereotypical idea that a Stunned Mullet is most likely bloke with a brain it considers to be of above average intelligence, or maybe that substantial wanking is at play.
        And for more selfish reasons, the scroll down mechanisms on my primitive technology are wearing out (and of course because I’m utterly gorgeous and better than anybody else – which is why I get my jingles from looking at few others on this site.)

  13. greywarshark 13
    18 May 2018 at 2:02 pm

    While looking up M. bovis I found another nasty that we
    have to watch out for – in humans – Mycobacterium ulcerans.

    https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/208/7/tackling-worsening-epidemic-buruli-ulcer-australia-information-void-time-urgent
    published 16 April 2018

    Mycobacterium ulcerans causes an infectious disease known internationally as Buruli ulcer, and also as Bairnsdale ulcer or Daintree ulcer in Australia. It causes severe destructive lesions of skin and soft tissue, resulting in significant morbidity, in attributable mortality and often in long term disability and cosmetic deformity.

    All age groups, including young children, are affected, and the emotional and psychological impact on patients and their carers is substantial (Box 1). Although treatment effectiveness has improved in recent years, with cure rates approaching 100% using combination antibiotic regimens such as rifampicin and clarithromycin, these antibiotics are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for this condition and are, therefore, expensive to patients.

    Moreover, these antibiotics have severe side effects in up to one-quarter of patients,1 and many people also require reparative plastic surgery, sometimes with prolonged hospital
    admissions.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-22/buruli-ulcer-how-to-avoid-flesh-eating-bacteria-infection/8975080

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/16/tissue-destroying-ulcer-frequently-found-in-africa-spreading-rapidly-in-australia

    • Exkiwiforces 13.1
      18 May 2018 at 5:23 pm

      Welcome to Globalisation, lax border control and selfish tourists who can’t be bothered to clean equipment etc that don’t give shit about their or the host country’s environment.

      • Incognito 13.1.1
        18 May 2018 at 10:16 pm

        Must be the same selfish tourists that caused the closure of the forested areas of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park to protect against kauri dieback disease. Selfish bastards!

        • Exkiwiforces 13.1.1.1
          18 May 2018 at 11:38 pm

          Probably wouldn’t surprise me or a lazy local that clean his or her’s kit after a overseas trip. I’ve come across a few lazy tourists over the last few years.

          • DB Brown 13.1.1.1.1
            19 May 2018 at 7:23 am

            That’s some pretty ignorant stuff there.

            We’ve found Phytopthora agathadicida has been here for at least hundreds of years, probably part of the landscape. So no, it’s not tourists that is the issue, but whatever has changed since man arrived.

            How about massive deforestation, loss of biodiversity, air soil and water pollution…

            If it has been here all along my guess is it has a counterpart in nature. A controlling agent which I suspect will be a fungal-pathogenic fungi.

            If you want to be angry over this issue by all means be my guest. I’m very angry, they have no plan, I wrote a plan. They asked me about doing a Doctorate I said yes I’ve waited nearly 18 months now for NOTHING.

            The only feedback I got on a plan I spent months poring over was from an individual scientist I contacted myself – who said it was a good plan and they want me on board the Kauri Dieback Team. I said OK lets try, heard nothing back since January.

            One supervisor wont work with me cos I told him off for handing out advice that led to poisoning of large numbers of mushroom pickers in Taranaki in the 80’s.

            Another dropped me immediately after I mentioned one of his colleagues tried to creep on me when I asked for advice – and I left study for a year due to that predator.

            Can’t lump em all in the same basket many are amazing hard working people. But….

            Fucking disgraceful. Don’t blame the tourists.

            • Incognito 13.1.1.1.1.1
              19 May 2018 at 11:21 am

              Fucking disgraceful. Don’t blame the tourists.

              That was kinda the point I was trying to make but in a slightly more subtle way 😉

              In any case, the most pressing problem is slowing/preventing the spread of the disease; it’s here to stay, as you say.

              I wish you good luck with sorting out your doctoral research project. In the long term, a scientific approach/solution is the only option. I do find it odd that “they” asked you to do a doctorate and then nothing happened … Has the funding been sorted? A word of advice: don’t let personal ‘politics’ or ‘beliefs’ get in the way of a good science proposal 😉

          • greywarshark 13.1.1.1.2
            19 May 2018 at 11:39 am

            I am sure that you are right Exkiwiforces, for some of the spread of organisms etc, but they seem to be coming from everywhere.

  14. Cinny 14
    18 May 2018 at 5:02 pm

    This pisses me off….. an anti-abortion group are attempting to collect 12,000 pairs of booties to place outside of parliament, not to highlight how many women have gone through the trauma of an abortion, but rather to shame them for not being godfearing enough to not terminate.

    Disgusting.

    Having a termination is traumatic enough with out strangers heaping guilt upon ones shoulders due to their religious beliefs. I had a termination in my early 20’s, it was not an easy decision, but the lone male elderly anti-abortion protester at the clinic made a horrid day ten times worse for me.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/104022670/michelle-duff-in-a-dystopian-present-women-are-shamed-for-incorrect-womb-use

    • Barfly 14.1
      18 May 2018 at 5:58 pm

      I was happy to give some mandarins a couple of months ago to the counter protesters I saw opposite the termination clinic in Dominion Road Mount Eden – women’s bodies = women’s rights IMO.

    • James 14.2
      18 May 2018 at 6:13 pm

      It’s such a hard emotive and serious subject with strong views on both sides and for good reasons.

      This is not something that should be protested about. Every situation is different and complicated.

      I am sorry that one sad assed bloke made a traumatic day even worse.

      This is not a subject one “side” should be protesting.

      I think it’s disgusting that they are.

      As for my views – on this subject I really don’t know and try never to comment – but this protest pisses me off more than most.

      • Cinny 14.2.1
        19 May 2018 at 9:00 am

        James…. well said… “This is not something that should be protested about. Every situation is different and complicated.”

        I think what really pisses me off is when people use religion in an attempt to control others views etc.

  15. eco maori 15
    19 May 2018 at 10:16 am

    Newshub Nation Simon Maori are benefiting from the reforms of the Coalition government.Grant Robertson is a excellent finance minister he learned his trade from the best Michael Cullen . The is no need to waste billions on jails we need to reach and teach people before they get into the system show them there are better choices out there than crime.
    The state is run by old white men with a culture of cover there m8 ass at any cost and never admit to being wrong they set there m8 up with all the top jobs to strengthen there hold on the systems. P.S I new crime was dropping it was just a waiting game for the facts to be published Ka kite ano Yes Barnard The Green have received great wins the billion regions fund to plant more trees 1 wealth fare 2 carbon neutral targets

  16. eco maori 16
    19 May 2018 at 6:48 pm

    Good evening Newshub Eco Maori gives condolences to the Cuban people who lost whano members in that plane crash .
    Every bone in trumps body is raciest I can see every move he makes is to dump on every one that is not ———.
    Kate yes I say that Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody will be a awsome move .
    It was a good weekend of sports for Eco Maori .
    That volcano in Hawaii is still going hard its cold and wet in Rotorua at the minute.
    Ka kite ano P.S Aoteroa is such a beautiful country thanks to my Tipunas

    • eco maori 16.1
      19 May 2018 at 7:05 pm

      I new start away when Lisa Owen was not on this morning where she would be all the best to the Harry and Megan .Ka kite ano

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