Open mike 21/04/2024
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6:00 am, April 21st, 2024 - 27 comments
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- Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...2 hours ago - Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
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Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...3 hours ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...3 hours ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...4 hours ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...5 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...14 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...18 hours ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...18 hours ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...22 hours ago - Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...23 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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- ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori
Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...1 day ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
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- Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy
Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...1 day ago
- The end of policing by consent
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- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
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- Young Maori take over
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Day One of the Treaty Principles Bill…and everyone got what they wanted, and did what they liked. Heated words were exchanged. Culturally appropriate acts of outrage were performed. David Seymour got to play the victim card. Willie Jackson got kicked out of class. A comically red-faced Mr Speaker bellowed “Order, ...1 week ago
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The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...1 week ago
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Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...1 week ago - Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights
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The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
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Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
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...1 week ago
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Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
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- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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Starting the lettuce countdown on US Speaker Johnson now the Ukraine package has a successful vote.
The truss tomato had a chance against the lettuce, the market is sometimes for turning, but the 112 who voted against the legislation may not be.
I think that mocking him by comparing his actions to those of Truss are terribly mistaken.
He is willing to give up the role of Speaker in order to do something that he believes to be right. If he loses the Speaker's job then so what?
If only we had more politicians like him.
Oh you propose Mike Johnson for nobility?
Mike Johnson of Louisiana has bragged that he doesn't believe in the climate crisis – even though his home state has been ravaged by it.
He is comprehensively against abortion in fact calling it "An American Holocaust".
He has repeatedly voted against aid to Ukraine. Apart from today,
He stridently opposes LGBTQ rights believing that gay rights would enable people to marry their pets.
He was also one of the architects to overturn the 2020 election. That means that the official second in line to the presidency “violated his oath to the constitution and tried to disenfranchise four states”, as the writer Marcy Wheeler neatly put it. He helped lead a legal effort to reverse the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Johnson is bottom-feeding scum and his career should die n a ditch.
He has repeatedly voted against aid to Ukraine. …
You mean public aid for the armaments industry, the only people to derive any benefit from this proxy war. You seem to be on the same wavelength as Senator Lindsey Graham, who declared in January last year: "I like the path we're on. With American weapons and money, Ukraine will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian."
https://twitter.com/colonelhomsi/status/1609642934244200448?lang=en
Russia's army has killed over 20,000 Ukrainians, 1,200 of whom were children. Russia's army has also captured a further 28,000 Ukrainians. Those deaths were caused by Russian armaments through the Russian armed attack on Ukraine.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1293492/ukraine-war-casualties
The only thing holding Russia back from conquering the entire of Ukraine is US and EU armament deliveries. And yes that requires the US and EU to pay armaments manufacturers.
There's New Zealand and Australian funding and armaments that go into that as well. Good use of my taxpayer dollar as well.
But there’s no need to take my word for it, when you can hear Zelynsky’s appreciation:
“We appreciate every manifestation of support for our state and our independence, our people and our lives, which Russia wants to bury in ruins.”
“Certainly, we will use American support to strengthen both our nations and bring a just end to this war – a war that Putin must lose.”
He added that the U.S. had “showed its leadership from the first days of the war.”
https://kyivindependent.com/breaking-u-s-house-passes-61-billion-ukraine-aid-bill/
The only thing NATO armaments can and have achieved is to put Ukraine in a demographic death spiral. Prolonging the fighting has gradually lost territory for at best a delayed settlement.
It's unfortunate NATO misscalculated and Russia reacted of course but at that point there is only so much to do which won't risk nuclear conflict. A sane super power (like the Kennedy administration) would have sought a truce by now.
May you never be asked to defend yourself.
If you do ever piss off David Tua don't try to settle it in the ring.
Which nations have lost territory since the UN has formed – providing collective security (includes border integrity)?
A UN rule since 1949 has been to not recognise territory gain made by war. This is based on the law of contract – no forced consent. Thus Russia could only gain Ukraine territory by their consent without any prior use of force or occupation.
A policy designed to deter military aggression.
That a UNSC member is engaged in this action should be seen as ground for expulsion from that body.
The Russian action is of the 1930's scale – Italy in Ethiopia and Japan in China etc. That broke the League of Nations.
It's unfortunate but UN procedures have little impact on super powers (even Russia). I'm perfectly ok with sanctions being applied to Russia beyond the end of the conflict, but at present the US is just mandating the sacrifice of Ukrainian's in it's supposed US geo-political interests.
The main reason I give for Zelensky still carrying on is he will likely be assassinated domestically if he tries to settle things. It's probably only the US which can broker a deal here, and they should repatriate him at that time.
It's unfortunate that Russia is ruled by a psychopath who cares not a jot for the suffering he causes in his quest to bring back the Soviet Union.
Johnson appears to have had his Road to Damascus moment.
His current actions certainly seem to show a change in at least some of his beliefs don't they?
From the Guardian we have the following
"“I am going to allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will,” he said, adding: “I’m willing to take a personal risk for that, because we have to do the right thing. And history will judge us.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/20/republicans-ukraine-aid-package-congress
Can anyone point me to a decent, and preferably non partisan, analysis of what's changed politically, diplomatically or militarily to bring about Johnson's, and the House Republican's change on Ukraine.
The GOP members of the House voted 112-101 against the aid package.
Johnson has changed his mind and while he is Speaker that allows it to come to a vote.
There has always been enough votes for the aid, if it came to a vote.
He became Speaker after a prolonged uncertainty about agreement on the appointment, thus was averse to place the party or nation through that again by acting without GOP caucus united behind him – lest he had to resign and the party renew that process all over again.
A small minority will now call for a replacement – which might wake up Trump and have him leave a court room and put something on Truth Social.
Yeah, but what changed to make Johnson change his mind and force it to a vote.
Did some of the 101 that voted for it quietly threaten him with a vacate motion if he didn't? Just like MTG is threatening because he did.
Or has something fundamentally changed in American attitudes toward Ukraine, and / or Russia?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/us/politics/mike-johnson-turnaround.html
Jon Stewart considers the past 100 years in the ME
https://youtube.com/shorts/qM69_2lt0bw?si=ZPX3QikkdNRoKghn
Sparrows. Lately the usually prolific sparrows have disappeared. Bread tossed on the lawn stays until it rots. Has anyone else lost their sparrows. If they have died out then that would be a serious warning about food chains etc.
Could be a salmonella outbreak tends to run through a flock from time to time.
Scuddys are very prone to salmonella with their ground feeding, will wipe out the local population until others come in fill the gap.
But also they could have gone where the feeding was better. They could be off feeding off a farmer's seed paddock and will be back in a few weeks, rather plump, and wanting to know where their bread is.
Job sharing MP's.
It would make the hours workable for mothers and work life balance parenting fathers.
The two intend to work week on and week off – presumably this would be at the federal parliament and involve them using the same housing there (that requires the other to read up on matters before Select Committees while working as electorate MP – no caucus is involved in their case as "Independent").
An alternative would be to divide the job between MP in the electorate and MP in parliament.
A male claims one person doing all the work makes them the more committed candidate for the job (glass ceiling protection argument).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/514844/bronwen-bock-and-lucy-bradlow-want-to-become-australia-s-first-job-sharing-mps
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/04/21/who-helps-with-the-emotional-toll-of-being-an-mp/
Because Republicans always stand up for the rights of ethnic minorities, right?
.
U.S. Congresswoman Suspected of Having “Russian Handlers” After Transcarpathia Amendment
[…]
Greene’s amendment included the following language: “No funding shall be made available to Ukraine unless restrictions on ethnic minorities’, including Hungarians in Transcarpathia, right to use their native languages in schools are lifted.”
Political pundit ‘Jay in Kyiv’ responded: “The amendment that Marjorie Taylor Greene just proposed to sabotage the Ukraine bill is something that is such a nuanced Russian disinfo narrative that it could have only come directly from her Russian handlers.
https://2paragraphs.com/2024/04/u-s-congresswoman-suspected-of-having-russian-handlers-after-transcarpathia-amendment/
In reply to Ianmac at 3.
Check the number of cats in your neighbourhood. As much as I love them, they are killing machines. Especially for small birds.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/04/calls-for-national-cat-act-after-entire-population-of-robins-wiped-out.html
Thanks Stephen. We have no cats but a couple stroll through as though they own the place. However, the sparrows who usually fly by or squat on nearby roofs are absent. I went on a 19 km bike ride today and watched out and saw but one. (I live in Blenheim by the way.)
I'd suspect they have been sidetracked by some farmer's seed crop that's just been harvested. Marlborough has a significant seed crop production, and the extent and verity of it can vary from year to year. They are most likely out of town feeding up.
Unfortunately there's also some rather unpleasant methods employed to keep birds off these crops before they are harvested.
Down here (Whakatipu) most of our birds are quite seasonal, heading off to better feed at various times of year.