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Open mike 21/06/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 21st, 2025 - 33 comments
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33 comments on “Open mike 21/06/2025 ”

  1. Todays Posts 1
    21 June 2025 at 6:00 am

    Today's Posts (updated through the day):

    Reply
  2. Dennis Frank 2
    21 June 2025 at 6:28 am

    To grasp why Musk did the insider/outsider switch, the story to follow is not the elephant in the room; it's the snake: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/musk-labels-key-trump-aide-a-snake-white-house-feud-simmers

    You can see him here – just another conservative dork: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/06/trump-musk-feud-nasa-white-house-aide

    So just because Big Ears gave a donation to the Democrats, Trump agreed with the snake that he ought not to be made head of NASA. Big Ears was Musk's choice, so Musk got real pissed off. Space X has to work with NASA. T must find another conservative dork to replace the female acting-head and seems to think the snake is real cool, so I guess that'll be the snake's choice…

    Reply
  3. bwaghorn 3
    21 June 2025 at 8:29 am

    From time to time I see comments here and there , attacking farmers for being greedy, as people think food should be cheaper in this land of plenty.

    So I'm going to recount an interesting conversation I had with a butcher shop owner from the far north as I chased a @$%&^@ white ball around yesterday.

    He buys in a processed lamb carcass' ready for cutting up at a cost of $400 this season for a 17kg lamb (carcass weight)

    It is a great year price wise but the farmer, who does most of the work financially and physically to produce said lamb will be getting somewhere around $160 for that lamb,

    I went through a works a few years back and they said it costs $6 dollars to processe a lamb but with cartagena and inflation an a bit of profit I'm going to all $30 for the the works ,

    So there 100% mark up from the leaving the works to getting to the butcher, who will need to make a profit on top of that,

    It ain't the farmers people it's the ticket clippers in the middle.

    Reply
    • Kay 3.1
      21 June 2025 at 9:44 am

      That still doesn't explain why said lamb can be bought for cheaper in London than here. Surely there would be more ticket clippers involved with exporting/importing?

      Reply
    • Res Publica 3.2
      21 June 2025 at 9:46 am

      I think you've (maybe unintentionally) hit on the much broader issue here.

      You're right: the farmer isn’t necessarily the one walking away with the lion’s share of the profit. At least in the meat and fiber sector. Dairy? They're minting it right now.

      But that raises a deeper question: why does the agricultural sector still expect to be treated as if it's made up of small, struggling, salt-of-the-earth family farms, when the reality is increasingly an industrialized, consolidated model?

      The structure you're describing reflects a supply chain that benefits the middle, while pushing financial risk and hard labour onto the producer. But it’s also a system that relies heavily on implicit public subsidies, tax concessions, regulatory carve-outs, and environmental exemptions that other sectors would never get away with.

      And yet, whenever there's criticism of agriculture: whether about water use, emissions, land degradation, or fairness; we’re told we need to keep quiet for the sake of the 'hard-working farmer.'

      Meanwhile, land ownership is concentrating in fewer and fewer hands, operations are scaling up, and foreign capital is often involved.

      So yes, it's probably not fair to pin this all on individual farmers. But the bigger problem is that agriculture wants to be seen as both a protected heritage industry and a competitive modern business, depending on which is more convenient at the time.

      And too often, the rest of the country pays the price for maintaining that illusion.

      Reply
      • bwaghorn 3.2.1
        21 June 2025 at 9:36 pm

        while pushing financial risk and hard labour onto the producer.

        The financial strain and the labour is always pushed to the the bottom,

        Is it possible that the ledt and the right just play different sides of the bottom off against each other for their rotating turn in charge!

        Reply
    • gsays 3.3
      21 June 2025 at 9:57 am

      Not gonna argue with yr main premise.

      The other reason for high food prices is this bullshit theory about a 'global food price'. If the middle class Chinese ( for example) take a liking to our butter, then we pay more.

      This doesn't take into account the subsidized infrastructure we all pay for to enable them milk solids to be sold. Eg the damage to roads that the milk tankers cause.

      Reply
      • tc 3.3.1
        21 June 2025 at 11:18 am

        Also the environmental damage to waterways via repeal of existing protections.

        Reply
      • KJT 3.3.2
        21 June 2025 at 1:14 pm

        It also ignores the export costs, transport, marketing and duties/taxes paid to sell to another country.

        If we pay the same prices as, say, the UK, the sellers are making more profit from us than they are if it is exported.

        Reply
        • Phillip ure 3.3.2.1
          21 June 2025 at 3:41 pm

          And of course everyone ignores the suffering of/cruelties done to animals by the flesh-peddlers at the behest of the flesh-eaters..

          Let's just fret about butter prices..eh..?

          The flesh-peddlers are the apex predator/destroyers of habitats/extinction of species…

          But it's a Tina for those addicted to eating the flesh of other species..eh..?…no matter the damage…

          Would you like some (cancer-causing) bacon with that..?

          Reply
          • Phillip ure 3.3.2.1.1
            21 June 2025 at 3:57 pm

            And a heads-up to any feminists out there…who eat animals…

            Have you noted how the animals that suffer the worst are female..?

            Surely that must stick in the throat..?

            From cows serially impregnated until they are flogged out..

            And pigs..chooks etc etc..

            Institutional cruelties done to animals..is a feminist issue..

            How about fronting up to it..?

            And how about stopping being part of the problem..

            As an enabler/financial supporter of these cruelties done to female animals…

            Reply
      • kejo 3.3.3
        21 June 2025 at 5:28 pm

        High food prices/the prrice of butter: This IS end stage capitalism. The more ticket clippers we have the better the Economy looks. At end stage capitalism the only thing left to exploit is Capitalism itsself. Ask yourself who pays. Regards Keith

        Reply
        • Muttonbird 3.3.3.1
          21 June 2025 at 5:41 pm

          Olive oil prices skyrocketed a couple of years ago and don't seem to have moved from those record highs. I suspect they never will.

          Reply
  4. Obtrectator 4
    21 June 2025 at 10:12 am

    Only loosely related to Wag's post above, but might strike a jarring chord with many NZers:

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/19/you-be-the-judge-should-my-colleague-stop-bringing-cakes-into-the-office

    Not a scenario we're likely to encounter here now. At the rate butter prices are rocketing up (and they won't rocket down again, you can be sure), traditional-style domestic baking could soon become an activity affordable only in wealthy households. Obtrectatrix and I are already using substitutes for butter wherever possible.

    Reply
  5. SPC 5
    21 June 2025 at 1:56 pm

    USA. Trump banning migration from some (black/Moslem) nations. Trump expelling "illegals". Trump banning those pro Palestinian from entering the USA. Trump deporting foreign students who are pro Palestinian. Trump banning those of Chinese communist party families. Trump ending DEI hire. Trump ending …

    Christian dominionism. Modernism HUAC, USA as bible and flag cult.

    When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.

    It is all so inspiring to the primitive pentecostal fundamentalist mind

    So we have Brian Tamaki marching down Queen Street against those of any religion not Christian, against there being any religion here not Christian.

    It's called faith, flag and family.

    Ff f sake. Not all of us can afford to breed by multiple women like Elon Musk – all white pride … like voting for AFD.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/destiny-churchs-brian-tamaki-protests-foreign-religions-in-auckland/OQXMFSTJPJBBBKFWEMAATEISJQ/

    This is what happens when Maori get foreign religion, whether God or mammon. Christianity or Atlas Network – combined version prosperity religion, and mine the environment for short term profit.

    Brian, David and Shane get a room and it aint New Zealand first.

    Reply
    • SPC 5.1
      21 June 2025 at 2:13 pm

      “It’s time to take aim and launch a full assault – exposing Islam, the UN, and every foreign religion and ideology hijacking our country,” Tamaki claimed earlier in a press release.

      The foreign ideology part is interesting. This infers that the message is not religious, but political.

      Socialism, social democracy, equal citizenship human rights (regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, political creed, sex, sexuality etc) all being problematic for a one group order obedience cult that does not challenge capitalism or privilege but stays in its lane.

      Thus of a cultural origin, white race imperial Christian patriarchy hegemony in each and every nation. Catholic and or Christian king throne supremacy. England and Italian/Spanish Pentecostal Americana.

      Brian loves Ron DeSantis and the orange faced homeland of Anita Bryant.

      Reply
      • SPC 5.1.1
        21 June 2025 at 2:18 pm

        AI

        Anita Bryant's "orange-faced homeland" refers to Florida, where she became famous as a spokesperson for Florida orange juice, famously saying, "a breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." However, she was actually born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma

        Tulsi Gabbard was named after Tulsa, a city of Oklahoma.

        Gabbard says ‘I agree’ with Trump after ‘she’s wrong’ comment over Iran nuclear programme

        https://www.tickaroo.com/e/FZHx3PyJQD6LC7CQ

        Reply
    • SPC 5.2
      21 June 2025 at 2:28 pm

      David Seymour

      but I learned something about New Zealand from how the events in Oxford were reported at home.

      What a depressing little country we can be.

      reacting to the way his role in a debate at Oxford was reported here.

      Apparently he feels that the way the story was reported reflected on the country.

      Some champion of free speech. Not.

      https://archive.li/7a8Pa#selection-4229.197-4233.43

      Reply
      • Muttonbird 5.2.1
        21 June 2025 at 5:36 pm

        Yep, SO desperate to control the narrative he has to write an opinion piece to sympathetic publishers, the Herald.

        Really cringy Seymour criticising two publications for the way they reported and praising another for coverage he found more pleasing.

        Also he's desperate to advise readers he wasn't debating alone, it was a team effort.

        And then he immediately blames his teammates for the loss, disparaging their credentials, insisting it was a team loss not a personal one (despite him clearly being the senior member).

        He really is a thin-skinned paranoid. The second thin-skinned paranoid deputy PM in a row we have been forced to suffer.

        Curious that Oxford adjudicators didn’t buy his bullshit.

        Reply
        • Muttonbird 5.2.1.1
          21 June 2025 at 8:00 pm

          And Farrar is having a huge blub about this too. Attacking media for having an opinion, attempting to doxx a journalist, accusing the Oxford voting of being biased, and blaming Seymour's team mates for the humiliating loss.

          Very poor losers. Lol.

          Reply
      • bwaghorn 5.2.2
        21 June 2025 at 9:39 pm

        Anyone that doesn't agree with seymour is an idiot in seymours world, I expect his mother taught him this at an early age

        Reply
    • SPC 5.3
      21 June 2025 at 2:32 pm

      Cameron Slater is a Shane Jones fanboy.

      Qui est surpris

      https://goodoil.news/shane-jones-vows-to-resurrect-oil-and-gas-a-middle-finger-to-arderns-economic-sabotage/

      Why is it that some men do not understand that a dry basin is a dry basin.

      Why do they think man/men with drilling equipment is the answer?

      Harpoon to a drill, so little progress.

      What is this Captain Ahab like obsession for the earths resources within one generation of time?

      They seem to lack understanding of the habitat in which they live.

      Reply
    • Kay 5.4
      21 June 2025 at 2:35 pm

      So we have Brian Tamaki marching down Queen Street against those of any religion not Christian, against there being any religion here not Christian.

      There are 2 very obvious cults in NZ- Gloriavale and Destiny, both hiding behind the freedom of religion/speech clauses. And officialdom seems to be too frightened of being insensitive to their 'religious' beliefs to stop them, or they take a very long time to do it.

      Maybe his gullible and vulnerable followers are sincere in their faith, but Tamaki is an extremely rich total fraud, and certainly not a Christian in the true sense of the faith.

      We've already started seeing acts of violence from some of his followers, and I doubt they even have any idea what they're being violent/abusive about, but have been brainwashed. Of course, the fear is the violence will escalate, and it's only going to take one very brainwashed follower to cause a lot of grief.

      Reply
      • tc 5.4.1
        21 June 2025 at 3:10 pm

        We live in times where lines get drawn, they then get crossed with no consequences on those who crossed them. This inaction sends the wrong message.

        Isn't it only a matter of time after seeing the scary behaviour displayed by his followers recently out west in AKL.

        BT has no control over the outrage he's manufacturing and business is booming in the land of intolerance.

        Reply
      • KJT 5.4.2
        21 June 2025 at 4:14 pm

        Those two at least are out in the open. There are more extreme and even scarier cults under the radar.

        The "Upper room"?

        Reply
        • gsays 5.4.2.1
          21 June 2025 at 6:10 pm

          The most wide spread and damaging cult is neo-liberalism. Worshippers believe in trickle down. Commonly expressed in the form of tax cuts for landlords in the belief rents will drop.

          Adherents think a 'market' is the best means by which to run a society and care for an environment. They also think nothing of public money going to for profit providors because of their belief in 'efficiency'.

          Reply
        • SPC 5.4.2.2
          21 June 2025 at 9:23 pm

          Typical of the pentecostal church type, their prosperity religion gospel would appeal to the rich and sorted types (guilt free approach to serving the well to do National Party member).

          ScoMo was Assembly of God.

          The belief in end times is the real worry.

          One does not want that sort in charge of major world impacting decisions (end time Ayatollahs, some Zionists influenced by Ambassador Huckabee for example).

          Reply
  6. Phillip ure 6
    21 June 2025 at 6:46 pm

    I saw some analysis of Trump's big bill that detailed how it took sixteen hundred dollars off the poorest….and gave $12,500 to the richest…

    Now this is a double obscenity…first for taking from the poorest…but also because the richest don't need that extra money…it is chump change to them…

    So that formula needs to be turned on its head..

    Seeing as it is chump change for those richest…let's treble it ..in tax take from them..

    ..and redistribute that to the poor ..

    ..and guess what that will do..?

    ..it will kickstart the economy..

    ..'cos ask any economist…the most effective economic stimulant comes from providing financial relief to the poorest…

    ..'cos large parts of it will churn straight back into the economy..

    Reply
    • Drowsy M. Kram 6.1
      21 June 2025 at 7:04 pm

      ..and redistribute that to the poor ..

      yes Wealth redistribution would improve societal resilience.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level_(Wilkinson_and_Pickett_book)

      A[t]las, the CoC's self-serving mantra is 'Sorted First' – Aotearoa NZ is on a NAct track.

      Wealth inequality risks triggering 'societal collapse' within next decade, report finds [26 Jan 2025]
      Inequality Knocks

      Reform or ruin [2 June 2025]
      Quantitative history to the rescue

      In structural demographic theory the idea is that your society goes through a cycle of increasing pressure, which gets released at some point and then the cycle starts anew. This goes through several steps:

      • Your society is growing, there are enough resources for everyone, everything is quite stable.
      • Your growth starts to slow down, because you hit some limits (e.g. there is no more territory to conquer). Elites start to amass more and more of the remaining wealth and the general populace starts to get poorer.
      • As the elite’s number keeps growing at the cost of everybody else, they too run into limits, as there are only so many prestigious positions to go around. This leads to competition within the elites.
      • The state starts to run out of resources, as the high number of competing elites takes an ever greater share of the available wealth for themselves.
      • The pressure of a poor and unhappy general populace, infighting elites, and fiscally stressed states results in a disruption which resolves the pressure. This can be anything from major reform to a civil war.
      Reply
    • Bearded Git 6.2
      22 June 2025 at 8:12 am

      Yes…Labour should rename the Wealth Tax as a Social Investment Levy (SIL) and make it part of their 2026 campaign.

      A Capital Gains Tax raises sod-all in the early years and uncertain amounts later. An SIL is much more reliable in terms of the amount of income raised.

      Reply
      • Phillip ure 6.2.1
        22 June 2025 at 9:04 am

        I favour the s.t.r…

        (The soak the rich bill)

        Abbreviating makes it more innocuous…and somehow more urgent..

        'the s.t.r. will be fast-tracked.!'.)

        The t.f.r.i.o. also works ..
        (The free ride is over..)

        Reply
  7. Phillip ure 7
    21 June 2025 at 6:56 pm

    I watched some trump on letterman in the 80's…

    ..and he was saying the same shit then..about how every other country is ripping America off ..

    ..his main villain then was Japan….

    ..and yes..he is as slippery as you would expect ..

    ..but slightly more lucid than he is now…

    Reply
  8. SPC 8
    21 June 2025 at 9:13 pm

    Some of the social media reports about the Iran-Israel conflict are about as real as pravda@POTUS 47…

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k78715enxo

    Reply

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