Open mike 24/09/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 24th, 2023 - 60 comments
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60 comments on “Open mike 24/09/2023 ”

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  1. Mike the Lefty 1
    24 September 2023 at 8:09 am

    I suppose it is because nearly all of us have smartphones and computers that automatically adjust the time but do you notice that there is almost no publicity now about the changeover dates for Daylight Saving Time?

    I woke up this morning thinking I had slept late and only discovered it was DST hours when looking at a Mitre 10 website and saw a reference to their new trading hours.

    Some things creep up on you unaware.

    Must be getting old, but surely the phone companies could send you a message the night before!

    • bwaghorn 1.1
      24 September 2023 at 2:04 pm

      That'll be why I didn't wake up to 730 am, didn't realize till I read your comment, love ds personally

  2. Ad 2
    24 September 2023 at 8:46 am

    Good to see my candidate Ethan Reille get an interview on Stuff.

    Maybe he could have something more to say other than that he is young.

  3. PsyclingLeft.Always 3
    24 September 2023 at 9:00 am

    Election 2023: Winston Peters in Epsom, David Seymour’s hood, raising potential headaches for Christopher Luxon

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-winston-peters-in-epsom-david-seymours-hood-raising-potential-headaches-for-christopher-luxon/UIGDWSHEDREHTOYKZZONN52LHM/

    Article is paywalled..but some of the tone can be gathered from the link video…. Winston massaging his target audience with what they want to hear.

    The Happy Clappers : )

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1
      24 September 2023 at 9:10 am

      Well this article is not paywalled..and IMO gives a good account of W Peters in full hyperbolic flight.

      Also carries his ACT attack into Seymour heartland…in more than one way : )

      And so it was on Friday, deep inside Act leader David Seymour’s territory at the Remuera Club in Auckland, the NZ First leader took his place at the matinee session pulpit and preached to his choir.

      https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-country-for-old-men

      Lol that header .."A Country for old men" …

      And…keep up the infight guys. Onya !

  4. Dennis Frank 4
    24 September 2023 at 9:06 am

    Nice retrospective on one of them Motueka communes I kept hearing about but was too busy to check out at the time: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018908219/olive-jones-anarchy-and-idealism-at-the-graham-downs-commune

    The anarchy/idealism/practicality nexus was explored by Kim & Olive with suitable reference to key points – nuanced, and excellent cultural analysis.

    I have to admire anyone who could hack it for a decade. My effort up at Reef Point only lasted three weeks in the late summer of '72. Human nature needs constraints – whether rules or laws – bounds are part of nature. Conventions & guidelines often don't suffice when politics plays out in local communities. When powerful folk compete, the group needs a referee to call time out when necessary. A method to control the dark side of human nature also must be incorporated for communal resilience…

  5. Francesca 5
    24 September 2023 at 9:26 am

    Yes, my experience was mixed .Wonderful times, generosity, working together on big projects, child rearing not so isolating, mutual support amongst the women , true friendships.

    But, invariably one person would emerge, without exception a man with a giant insane prophet complex ,who would rule the roost and try and conduct soviet style (or kangaroo…take your pick)purity trials .I recognise the same thing today, gone mainstream , very USSR.

    Pain in the arse.

    But I know of other communes still operating very happily and functionally today, who have opted for pragmatism over nutty ideology

    • Dennis Frank 5.1
      24 September 2023 at 9:33 am

      Yeah pragmatism was my eventual stance too. I was ever so peace love & harmony at first. Did you know that there's an excellent survey of all the kiwi communes in print?

      I read it as a library book maybe 10-15 years back, forget the title but it was two women I vaguely recall wrote it…

  6. Dennis Frank 6
    24 September 2023 at 10:05 am

    Damien Grant's subtle put-down of animal cunning:

    National is little better. They are promising a “Back Pocket Boost” by cutting taxes for locals, who can vote, by taking cash off foreigners, who cannot. It isn’t exactly a thousand points of light; is it?

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300975763/can-we-believe-political-slogans

    Slogan that work impress people though, and political operators who make voters see a way to take money off wealthy visiting foreigners and sell it as altruism are cunning. Reagan called Bush Snr a wimp so his thousand points of light, though it got him the US presidency, was probably hallucinated by a staffer on LSD.

  7. fisiani 7
    24 September 2023 at 10:35 am

    TV1 poll on Wednesday will be interesting. Predictions? How low can Labour drop to?

    [stop trolling or expect a ban – weka]

    [I’ve checked the mod notes now and see you have a few, including one that was a final warning. Banned until the end of the year to get well clear of the post-election period – weka]

    [permanent ban for trying to use an alias to get around a current ban, wasting moderator time, and continuing to troll – weka]

  8. adam 8
    24 September 2023 at 10:47 am

    God Bless the UAW!

    Some wins, but the strike spreads because the companies keep rejecting the deal.

  9. Dennis Frank 9
    24 September 2023 at 11:04 am

    When the process of capitalism stutters sufficiently that it seems likely to lurch into degrowth, pretend it isn't happening. Denial of reality works on the basis that nobody can prove it's real:

    First, everyone was resigning greatly, and now the ones left are quitting quietly. This trend, in which employees do the minimum and refuse to go above and beyond for their jobs, probably describes over half of the U.S. workforce, according to research from Gallup.

    The decline in engagement is related to a marked decline in several areas: clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn, feeling cared about, and having a connection to the organization’s purpose.

    Gallup has also found that disengagement is especially significant among younger workers and managers. It is easy to see quiet quitting as another manifestation of worker discontent in the wake of the pandemic, employment market chaos, and the trend toward remote work and virtualization. However, framing it this way places responsibility on individual employees rather than the organization. Casting blame on individuals or bemoaning a perceived lack of work ethic in a younger generation does not solve the problem.

    Fixing it requires taking a hard look at what organizations are offering their workers and considering whether it is sufficient. In many cases, it is not. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disengagement-crisis-quiet-quitting-tacit-122400666.html

    When global media report such bad news, other global media ignore it if they don't like it. Manufacturing consent keeps the system going, so ignore the victims. Voters provide consent, so campaigners promise more of the same shit.

    • AB 9.1
      24 September 2023 at 11:29 am

      The story from Yahoo Finance jumps from one bogus explanation – that worker disengagement is a result of the pandemic and working at home – to a different one – that organisations are doing enough to meet workers' expectations. Both these fictions carefully skirt the truth – that many people hate being employed by anyone and that the indignities of the one-sided employer-employee power relationship might be tolerable most of the time, but they are are intrinsically demoralising and offensive. Expect significant fightback from business to discipline labour – clearly the Nats plan to crank up immigration even higher both directly and through selling residency in the guise of education (foreign students) – is designed to increase employee precarity.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 9.1.1
        24 September 2023 at 11:38 am

        clearly the Nats plan to crank up immigration even higher both directly and through selling residency in the guise of education (foreign students) – is designed to increase employee precarity.

        And also the Housing Crisis? What crisis. Nats solution : They can live in a van..or car. Summer is coming…warmer weather . Tents maybe ?

      • Belladonna 9.1.2
        24 September 2023 at 1:52 pm

        Hmm. I don't know about "hate being employed by anyone". Most people know they have to work to keep food on the table (and the table in the rented accommodation). However, they feel (and are entitled to feel) that their relationship with their employer doesn't involve them giving the employer 'freebies' (out of hours work, overtime, etc.)

        Covid and the post-Covid world, where employers are desperate for workers (rather than the other way around) – has meant that employees no longer feel forced into making these sacrifices just to keep their job.

        Quiet quitting – is just not making a song and dance about your refusal to do more than you're paid for.

        And, in my personal, worked, experience – public service was the absolute *worst* employer for this kind of expectation. I can remember being told that I had to attend a site blessing at dawn, and then being forbidden to take the afternoon off (since I'd started work at 5am); being expected to attend evening PR events and weekend management workshops. Not to mention a regular 10 hour day (since it wasn't actually possible to do everything I was responsible for in 8 hours, role creep and unfilled vacancies)

        None of that happens in my current role in a business. If I work extra hours, I'm paid for them; if my job requires out-of-hours tasks, they're negotiated with me (and I'm compensated). If I want to take time off in lieu, or juggle my work day to accommodate family needs – not a problem. If my job changes (because I'm taking on a different area of responsibility in the company), I come to my boss with a salary request/negotiation, and reach a satisfactory agreement.

        None of this is new with this company (i.e. it's not post Covid). It's a smart strategy from the business to get and retain the best staff in a highly competitive environment (not many in NZ with this qualification set, those and in high demand)

        Of course, if you're talking about McDonalds level of employees – it's a different ballgame. But even there, front-line fast-food retail is struggling to retain workers.

        • AB 9.1.2.1
          24 September 2023 at 7:54 pm

          Yes, where employees hold power due to a perception that they have skills, then the employee-employer relationship can be a much more comfortable one. But not always, in some businesses it draws a target on the employee's back for cost reduction through outsourcing/offshoring. Where power is asymmetric, it can be a very unpleasant experience. But yes, I exaggerated.

    • bwaghorn 9.2
      24 September 2023 at 12:20 pm

      This quiet quitting is it really bad?

      Where I work there is a definite vibe that I'm a slacker because I only work 730, to 5 with an hour for lunch,(I set my hours) yet I get everything needed done and meet my targets,

      Waking up fresh each day surely gets you better outputs than running on e all the time.

      • Dennis Frank 9.2.1
        24 September 2023 at 1:13 pm

        My take is that it must be rather bad if Yahoo Finance are reporting it. Capitalists reporting bad news about capitalism doesn't usually happen. Yanks maybe in some kind of existential crisis? Just look at the Hollywood strike, for instance.

        Dunno about here tho. Perhaps somewhat, but everyone does a cost/benefit analysis intuitively to weigh how badly they need that job they're in. Pragmatism.

        • Belladonna 9.2.1.1
          24 September 2023 at 1:56 pm

          Over the last year or so – almost anyone with any level of qualification/experience has had the freedom to look around for a role with better pay/better conditions.

          Quiet quitting is more around no longer giving the employer anything they don't pay for, including role expansion without extra pay, and not agreeing to additional hours (unless the employee wants the cash).

          • bwaghorn 9.2.1.1.1
            24 September 2023 at 2:11 pm

            Most sheep n beef employees are salary, the culture on some is massive hours when busy , with times where you take it easy in return, funny thing is the give back bit really happens.

            Although the law bought in that means you can't work a salary earner more hours than what would put the employee under minimum hourly wage did help, .

            • weka 9.2.1.1.1.1
              24 September 2023 at 7:03 pm

              Although the law bought in that means you can't work a salary earner more hours than what would put the employee under minimum hourly wage did help, .

              is that per week? How many hours is it?

              • bwaghorn …
                24 September 2023 at 10:21 pm

                I pretty sure the law is on a per week basis, so you can't legally be worked past the point where you would be earning less than minimum wage, so I guess the higher the wage the more hours they can legally get out of you, unless ypu practices a bit of quit quitting 😉

                • weka …
                  25 September 2023 at 9:13 am

                  crickey. So if someone was on $100,000/year, that's say $2,000/wk, which means they could technically be expected up to work 88 hours a week 😬

                  I hope even NZ isn't that bad.

  10. joe90 10
    24 September 2023 at 11:18 am

    Half a million Tutsi were hacked to death with the machetes supplied by people like Kayondo.

    .

    Pierre Kayondo, a former Rwandan prefect suspected of having participated in the 1994 genocide in the country, has been indicted in Paris and imprisoned, AFP learned on Saturday.

    Kayondo was the subject of an investigation in France from the end of 2021 after a complaint from a collective of victims.

    […]

    The Rwandan former politician was the target of a complaint raised by the Collective of Civil Parties of Rwanda (CPCR) filed in September 2021, which gave rise to the rapid opening of a judicial investigation.

    In its complaint, the CPCR affirmed that Kayondo, "former prefect of Kibuye and former deputy" in Gitarama prefecture, had "actively participated in the organisation of the exterminations in Ruhango and Tambwe in Gitarama prefecture by allowing the constitution of Interahamwe militia groups, by providing weapons and participating in meetings".

    https://uk.news.yahoo.com/genocide-rwanda-former-prefect-indicted-100900418.html

    https://theafricancriminologyjournal.wordpress.com/2022/04/20/inside-the-hunt-for-one-of-the-worlds-most-wanted-men/

  11. SPC 11
    24 September 2023 at 11:44 am

    Interesting that one of the few columnists not paywalled on Stuff is Damien Grant, a libertarian with no progressive/egalitarian word on any topic.

    Talk about preparing us “common folk/proletariat/precariat/renters” for the ethos of a NACT regime where the most protected species of haves in the OECD are catered to (35/36 have a CGT 24/36 have an estate tax, many have stamp duties and land banking rules etc).

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300975763/can-we-believe-political-slogans

    • bwaghorn 11.1
      24 September 2023 at 12:15 pm

      Atleast the guys honest, surly if his beliefs are spotlighted they'll hurt act, the whole tax is theft ideology from a their defies belief!!

  12. SPC 12
    24 September 2023 at 11:57 am

    How many floods in one year before voters get it, that raiding a fund for response to action on climate change events for tax cuts is gross incompetence.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/09/weather-bay-of-plenty-to-be-drenched-but-reprieve-from-wild-weather-on-the-way-for-new-zealand.html

    • AB 12.1
      24 September 2023 at 12:37 pm

      Voters won't get it until their insurance company walks away from them, then they become homeless and broke in the next extreme event, then they are corralled into trailer parks that are essentially permanent, internal refugee camps, then they lose their jobs because local businesses can't survive, then they decamp to the cities to live in crappy, overcrowded rentals paying huge amounts to Luxon-style landlords while they compete for jobs with foreign students who have recently completed low-quality one-year diplomas in order to buy a pathway to citizenship. Then they'll be so shell-shocked and frightened that they'll vote for ACT or Vision NZ or some other far-right crackpot.

      • bwaghorn 12.1.1
        24 September 2023 at 1:05 pm

        Does kinda feel like we're circling the plug hole, one hopes a plug worth having turns up,but suspects that like a p addict well have to hit bottom first.

      • SPC 12.1.2
        24 September 2023 at 1:26 pm

        QFT territory and explains the wrong choices taken by our governments on so many occasions – not having state super in the 70's, the most unbalanced tax policy in the OECD since 1984-1991, and our reliance on migration for growth is indicative of acceptance of continuing low productivity and incomes. Which means declining infrastructure and inability to cope with

        1. water infrastructure costs (safe drinking water/wastewater) in the provinces.
        2. the costs of climate change on habitation in flood areas.
        3. an aging populations health needs and care.
        4. the growing numbers unable to work who cannot afford to pay market rents – the sick and the old (which will over-run state housing capacity).
        5. less ability to assist people into home ownership and raising a family.

        By the time we have finally have wealth taxation and means testing of super – the 2030's, it will be treading water/TINA time and the minimum required to remain some sort of also ran first world nation (second tier in terms of infrastructure and GDP per capita).

    • Drowsy M. Kram 12.2
      24 September 2023 at 5:25 pm

      yes

      “It means we are damned fools,” Hansen said of humanity’s ponderous response to the climate crisis. “We have to taste it to believe it.”

      Dim bulb-Brownlee was incandescent with rage about 'nanny state' energy-efficient lighting. The well-being of spaceship Earth – our only home – isn't a NAct priority.

      National vows to go back to drawing board on policy [3 May 2023]
      “I am here to get things done, I am sick of inactions, and I make no apology for that,” Luxon said.

      “It’s a case of slower to go faster. We have more coming out [on the ETS]. It’s a watch this space.”

      Real Solutions for the Environment and the Climate
      ACT will introduce a no-nonsense climate change plan which ties our carbon price to that of our trading partners.

      ACT was the only party to oppose the Zero Carbon Act.

      "It’s a case of slower to go faster." Sounds ponderous – back to the drawing board?

  13. Anne 13
    24 September 2023 at 1:05 pm

    You paint a grim picture AB but its probably true. Watching Q&A this morning was an eye opener. At one point Jack Tame produced some polling figures which included the result of a question along the lines "are you prepared to pay a bit more in tax in order to combat climate change?" A healthy majority said "No". Yet climate change is considered in most polls as the top serious problem facing the country.

    So based on that result it would seem the voters want certain things to happen but are not prepared to pay for it. A bit schizophrenic imo.

    Edit: Someone may recall the actual wording of that question.

    • psych nurse 14.1
      24 September 2023 at 2:01 pm

      At least Kiwi's will be on the winning team, All Black rejects in Aki and Lowe.

      • bwaghorn 14.1.1
        24 September 2023 at 2:15 pm

        Aki had a ripper, the amount of try line pressure Ireland soaked up at times without conceding penalties shows a team in top form.

    • Hunter Thompson II 14.2
      24 September 2023 at 2:15 pm

      They'd be a good bet for sure, along with SA (their scrum was dominant) and England.

      It may come down to the bounce of the ball, or the ref doing a Wayne Barnes and not seeing a forward pass.

      I don't rate the ABs given their performance vs France.

  15. Catherine Bindon aka Rosie 15
    24 September 2023 at 3:59 pm

    Kia ora

    Interested to know if any left women here at The Standard who have been pushed off social media due to intense misogynistic trolling during the election cycle we are in. This has mainly been occuring on the Labour Party page, Green Party page and even our council page any time there is any discussion of te reo Maori. Feels not just RW but RW/conspiracy theorist hybrid troll types.

    Would be interested to know of any sites where women can safely speak, that is not terfy/transphobic. I have had to shut down my FB page and with that, my animal welfare page. Sucks.

    • SPC 15.1
      24 September 2023 at 4:31 pm

      Look at the Feeds here and at No Right Turn.

      • SPC 15.1.1
        25 September 2023 at 2:07 pm

        Wider afield.

        And moving forward Mastodon (in development as an alternative to X).

        One of the most important differences is that Mastodon is a completely decentralized network, where thousands of servers are linked together to create content. The best part, each user can have their own server, which gives them a power they didn't have before.

        Or BlueSky (also in development as an alternative to X)

        Otherwise Discord.

        • Catherine Bindon aka Rosie 15.1.1.1
          25 September 2023 at 4:30 pm

          Thanks again. It was only the faceblabblabblab I was on but I know of folks who have moved over to Mastodon, who were formerly on X.

          Sounds interesting and thank you for being helpful. I'll have a look at Discord.

    • Visubversa 15.2
      24 September 2023 at 10:37 pm

      So – only "free speech" that you approve of then? If a woman cannot say what a woman is – then where do we have women's rights at all?

      • Catherine Bindon aka Rosie 15.2.1
        25 September 2023 at 1:43 pm

        Thank you SPC.

      • Catherine Bindon aka Rosie 15.2.2
        25 September 2023 at 1:48 pm

        Not sure what you mean. I have been attacked for being a woman. What I was saying is I am not interested in the new faux feminism which is simply transphobia, and seems to be totally consumed by some invisible threat of public toilets. Think of groups like Let Women Speak. They simply promote hatred. That is not for me.

  16. AB 16
    24 September 2023 at 4:20 pm

    Who knew that Donald Trump is a radical proponent of 'transgender ideology'? Surprising it may be, but now a political PAC supporting Ron Desantis makes the case with this hilarious, bonkers ad. What fun. The bedfellows get odder and odder.

  17. joe90 17
    24 September 2023 at 8:59 pm

    Musk does Mengele with allegations of potential securities fraud, misleading comments about the primate deaths and focally tattered macaques.

    /

    For example, in an experimental surgery that took place in December 2019, performed to determine the “survivability” of an implant, an internal part of the device “broke off” while being implanted. Overnight, researchers observed the monkey, identified only as “Animal 20” by UC Davis, scratching at the surgical site, which emitted a bloody discharge, and yanking on a connector that eventually dislodged part of the device. A surgery to repair the issue was carried out the following day, yet fungal and bacterial infections took root. Vet records note that neither infection was likely to be cleared, in part because the implant was covering the infected area. The monkey was euthanized on January 6, 2020.

    Additional veterinary reports show the condition of a female monkey called “Animal 15” during the months leading up to her death in March 2019. Days after her implant surgery, she began to press her head against the floor for no apparent reason; a symptom of pain or infection, the records say. Staff observed that though she was uncomfortable, picking and pulling at her implant until it bled, she would often lie at the foot of her cage and spend time holding hands with her roommate.

    Animal 15 began to lose coordination, and staff observed that she would shake uncontrollably when she saw lab workers. Her condition deteriorated for months until the staff finally euthanized her. A necropsy report indicates that she had bleeding in her brain and that the Neuralink implants left parts of her cerebral cortex “focally tattered.”

    https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/