Open mike 21/07/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 21st, 2024 - 25 comments
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25 comments on “Open mike 21/07/2024 ”

  1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1

    USA : a Nation of/with ..gun nuts ?

    AR-15 style rifles rose to iconic status in US via marketing, militarisation

    The AR platform of rifle – used in several of the most notorious and deadly mass shootings in American history in the past two decades – is in the spotlight again because a would-be assassin used one on Saturday to shoot former President Donald Trump, grazing him on the ear.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/522674/ar-15-style-rifles-rose-to-iconic-status-in-us-via-marketing-militarisation

    And Trump with his red badge of fake "courage" aint going to change a thing. IMO if the dangerous moron gets elected..there will be blood.

    Trump will protect gun rights despite assassination attempt, adviser says

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/522341/trump-will-protect-gun-rights-despite-assassination-attempt-adviser-says

    Gun ownership by ….. ( there are maybe other statistics)

    Percentage of population in the United States owning at least one gun in 2022, by political party affiliation

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/249775/percentage-of-population-in-the-us-owning-a-gun-by-party-affiliation/

    I would also think more Republicans….esp with likes of.

    Just seems…odd. And not in a mildly eccentric way : (

    GOP legislators seek to make AR-15 Michigan’s official state rifle

    https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/gop-legislators-seek-to-make-ar-15-michigans-official-state-rifle/

    And of course, some Trump fan gun nuts…..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Boebert#Firearms

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Vance#Political_positions

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene#Political_positions

    Many more….sadly

  2. joe90 2

    lol

    .

    @stealthygeek

    15k RNC attendees who spent the last 4 days holed up in their private compound like the Baghdad Green Zone are stuck downtown because of flight cancelations. The cops all left, the barricades came down, and they look like Stasi when the Berlin Wall fell.

    It's fuckin' hilarious.

    […]

    @stealthygeek

    Hid their lanyards, nobody's wearing a MAGA hat. They're trying to melt into the background now that the truce is over.

    https://x.com/stealthygeek/status/1814422520793313642

  3. Mac1 3

    This site displays an article on the demographics of gun ownership in the US. Factors include gender, age, education, family history of ownership, race, location, rurality.

    https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/

    Self protection is given as the biggest reason for gun ownership by two thirds; most cite more than one reason for ownership.

    44% of Republicans versus 20% of Democrats own guns.

    Overall three in ten American adults own guns, and another 11% live in a gun-owning household.

    That's a lot of fear, and a lot of guns, especially when two thirds of owners possess more than one gun.

    Some stats on NZ gun ownership are here. https://www.guncontrol.nz

    The demographics and reasons for ownership in NZ I have not yet found. I hope there will be differences.

    • bwaghorn 3.1

      I'd guess admitting you own a gun in nz for self defense would almost gaurentee a loss of license, !

    • Obtrectator 3.2

      I’m pretty sure there are some, not entirely unconnected with the present government, who'd rather you didn't know that stuff.

  4. Mike the Lefty 4

    Good to see that Tauranga people finally have woken up to how badly run their city has been run over the last few decades by a succession of National Party and NZ First political hacks and elected a new mayor and largely new council.

    Even if the turnout was, as usual, pathetically bad.

    • Ad 4.1

      If there are any Tauranga commenters or readers on this site I'd be keen to hear from them.

      Our 5th largest city is now one of the most soulless, least friendly, most car dependent, most hostile to civic improvement, one of the worst public transport or cycling networks in the country, and with one of the strongest racist underbellies in NZ.

      If a new mayor can change any of that I'd be most impressed.

      • Mike the Lefty 4.1.1

        I think Nanaia Mahuta actually made a good decision to sack the previous council. They were useless and did little except fight each other for personal glory.

        I don't know anything about Mahe Drysdale apart from his sporting achievements but he can't be worse than the idiots before.

        • Kay 4.1.1.1

          They were useless and did little except fight each other for personal glory.

          Just like the Wellington City Council?

          • Mike the Lefty 4.1.1.1.1

            Wellington city council was a left-right battle.

            Tauranga was just a battle between the various elements of the right, the left barely exists there.

            • Kay 4.1.1.1.1.1

              I don't see how a dysfunctional council is a left/right issue. They're either competent or they're not. And it's pretty common knowledge that they're incompetent, except in the minds of said councillors.

      • AB 4.1.2

        Impressed and shocked. Because the whole purpose of provincial Mayors in NZ is to protect the business interests whose profits are secured by perpetuating the defects you describe.

  5. adam 5

    Any chance the environment could be thought about from the thugs from the IDF?

    Just kidding, they are always right, and screw anyone who says otherwise. /sarc

  6. joe90 6

    Ani and co are losing their shit over part of a health statistics data collection tool that they've convinced themselves is some sore of treatment priority list…or something…

    Idiots.

    https://x.com/VJMPub/status/1814214991320694884

    https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/data-and-statistics/nz-health-statistics/data-references/code-tables/common-code-tables/

    • Incognito 6.1

      First you convince yourself, then you convince others – people see what they believe.

      • weka 6.1.1

        how would lay people know what that chart was for? I can't tell from the tweet, nor your or Joe's comments.

        • Incognito 6.1.1.1

          From the chart alone it’s a quite a jump (leap of faith) to go from ‘Ethnic Group priority’ to ‘Racial importance rankings’, which is the tweet is so misleading to lay people, assuming they’re akin an average 12-yr old.

          There’s no link in the tweet, as far as I can see, and even joe90’s link to the NZ Health webpage is not all that helpful – many VJM Publishing followers would probably take the comment above the chart at face value.

          A slightly more sceptical and critical lay person might wonder about the alleged ‘importance ranks’ and then shrug it off and move on.

          Very few lay people would come to realise that the numbers in the chart are simply and purely for data collection only. The priority numbers help to put the data in the right place, like sorting buttons: a blue square button goes into the box ‘blue’ or in the box ‘square’ depending on the respective priorities.

          HTH

    • Caitlin Spice 6.2

      Those first seven words sum up their lives very succinctly.

  7. Stephen D 7

    Damian Grant in today’s Stuff. The man has a sense of humanity after all.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350348395/shock-grief-and-incomprehension-when-your-child-becomes-infamous

    OPINION: Recent events in the United States caused me to remember the statement given by President Bush after the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Standing on the podium Bush spoke about the tragedy, and those who suffered loss, “remembering those who grieve, including Timothy McVeigh’s mother and father and sister”.

    It was a rare acknowledgement of an unspoken and unacknowledged grief; that of a parent whose child has acted in a profoundly abhorrent manner. Beyond a point you cannot differentiate between types of suffering, but it is difficult to imagine any form of human misery more profound.”

    • Kay 7.1

      Given the absolute vile that crosses his keyboard at times, I'm not prepared to say he is capable of humanity based on one article.

  8. SPC 8

    Vance and his people and the liberal redneck.

  9. Rosielee 9

    This "new" mayor and council will be just the same as the last lot. Pale, male, stale men in suits – and that includes Drysdale. In it for their business mates and opportunities. The more things change the more they stay the same.

  10. Stephen D 11

    Now here’s a thought!

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/jul/20/labour-makes-working-class-children-key-to-schools-reform?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    ”She said it was working-class children “who most need a brilliant education” from the state, because their parents cannot afford to send them to private schools or buy them expensive tuition outside their state schools.

    Phillipson reiterated Labour’s pledge to remove tax breaks for private schools, so that it could pay for new teachers in the state sector.”

    Totally the opposite to our neo liberal trained Minister of Ed.

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