Open mike 25/04/2021
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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 ...6 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 ...7 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 ...8 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 ...8 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 ...10 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 ...19 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 ...22 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 ...23 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...1 day ago
- 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
National has appointed a new police commissioner. And he explicitly rejects policing by consent: Asked if he subscribed to policing by consent, he said he did not. “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have ...2 days ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill: A Who’s Who
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- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
One in four Kiwi children live in households where food runs out often or sometimes. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, November 20: The lead: The official annual Health Survey found sharp ...2 days ago - Transport modelling is an illusion
This guest post by Tim Adriaansen, an advocate for accessibility and sustainable transport, originally published on LinkedIn and cross posted here with permission. People prefer cars, right? Probably not. Here’s why. Granted, most people in English-speaking countries use a car to get around. This simple reality underpins our transport ...2 days ago
- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...2 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath
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Mr David Seymour crawling up to the ceilingThe sun don't shine the sun don't shine the sun don't shine at allMamma Pappa say you should go to school, I don't know what forNow that I've grown up and seen the world and all its liesSong: Southside of Bombay"Ake, ake, ake" ...3 days ago - Submit to defend te Tiriti!
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Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...3 days ago
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7 days ago - More lawlessness from National
On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...7 days ago
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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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Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...1 day ago
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National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...1 day ago
- Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing
When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...1 day ago
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The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...1 day ago
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The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...2 days ago
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- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...2 days 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
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
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The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks 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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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
- 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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Good news with a ruling in favor of the bus drivers, declaring the lockout illegal.
I couldn't do their job. Too much abuse, too much sitting. I think it's a higher risk of injury (from members of the public) than most people believe. Had the lockout been upheld I think they would have had trouble filling the roles leaving Wellington in disarray. Plenty of opportunities with better pay in Australia.
Plus one here Ksays.
It would be interesting to know what the bus companies real end game is. Other than being nasty b……ds I cant see what they hoped to achieve
It did seem like a pointless show of power. Someone stressed and overreacting in the background.
ANZAC BAG PIPES IN AOTEAROA
I hear the Bag Pipes calling,
Sending shivers along my spine,
The tunes,are from my culture,
Yet, this land is not mine.
So why, are they used in ceremony here,
Is it to represent the Imperialists part,
The same English Imperialism,
That tore out my Ancestors heart.
Is it not a slight on us both,
Natives of Aotearoa and Scotland,
Who's people were used as fodder,
In wars on anothers land.
That Imperialism still exists,
Still lord's it over us all,
The chains of the five eyes,
Demands us dance to their call.
That third stanza needs some work there Bydonz. "Whose" rather than "who's" for a start. Also linking; "and Scotland" to "another's land", feels jarringly off balance – unless that's what you were going for.
Otherwise I like where you are going with it. My personal experience of bagpipes today was the NZ anthem. The final cadence being made dissonant by the drones. Irish pipes are sweeter though less overpowering.
Thanks for your critique, of which I'll take on board.
Ah, courts' decisions.
"There have been three court orders demanding Bhumika Kohli pays up, but despite mounting penalties, she has refused to even negotiate a discounted settlement."
If the victims in this case/these cases suggested they were going to going round and have 'meaningful discussions' with the implicated mongrels, the cops would be there in full force to stop them.
How a cleaning boss has dodged a $120,000 wages bill for three years
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124704427/cant-pay-or-wont-pay-how-a-cleaning-boss-has-dodged-a-120000-wages-bill-for-three-years
Cancel their citizenship and deport them.
Before they are deported, do to them what they did to their employees. Cold and calculated and both have had the opportunity to pay the workers wages owed and compensation.
Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist
I looked at it as being slave labour and exploited due to the workers situation and not torture. Torture, I agree that a person needs to be above that. Carl Jung has not published anything in years, is he still alive? The same has been said about those who have been sexually abused, that they can sexually abuse. I find this to be victim blaming.
I was holding up a mirror to all the kind Lefties
Jung died in 1961.
My all time favourite was Freud, his psychoanalysis and transference and counter transference are still current today.
I liked Wilhelm Reich, love is the answer:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/17/wilhelm-reich-the-strange-prescient-sexologist-who-sought-to-set-us-free
Maybe it was a Freudian slip 4.1.1
Yeah, could be that
I find Jungian psychology fascinating and its influence in art and modern culture goes far and deep.
As this unpleasant business seems like a nasty and predictable downstream effect of the growth in our private tertiary education sector – the person we should be going after is the architect of that industry: Steven Joyce
Had Covid not have occurred, more in private tertiary education could have been exploited. Restructuring is required for the future.
Unbelievable. I wonder if it was money owed to the IRD it would have been collected by now. They should have a debt collector visit them.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018792909/morris-pearl-the-patriotic-millionaires-movement
Morris Pearl is chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of hundreds of high-net-worth people who want millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
Patriotic Millionaires calls for a living wage for US workers and believes that inequality is bad for society and bad for business.
Someone called Morris Pearl. I have noted that surname as being connected with good intentions – what a nice name to have. Don't know about the group's name – 'Patriotic' attitudes seem to accompany unpleasant behaviour often.
Good to see the reclamation of an abused adjective.
This bloke Morris Pearl abuses the term as much as anyone else does. He’s no moral leader; I lost count of the number of times he said there was "nothing wrong" with people being extremely rich.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." —Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
Moaning Minnie Morrissey – Accept your good things where you find them. If he likes being rich we can't stop him. But if he likes the idea of giving more back through taxes etc. we won't stop him will we. That would be cutting off your nose to spite your face, an unpleasant image.
Try finding something to praise each day. Be a little Pollyanna!
The Pollyanna principle (also called Pollyannaism or positivity bias) is the tendency for people to remember pleasant items more accurately than unpleasant ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna_principle
Yes, he's certainly an improvement on millionaires like Donald Trump. Unlike Trump, he's a good speaker who can string a few coherent sentences together.
I like the sentences that say – wealthy people can pay their taxes and invest in businesses that provide jobs for a sustainable future. That's what I like. Make it so!!
I know this is going to controversial, but for a short while, during about the middle of Trumps presidency, I watched a few of his speeches from beginning to end, and I have to admit he was actually pretty funny sometimes and there was something else at play that doesn’t get mentioned often, I don’t think he ever used a script..so there was something really spontaneous about him that I think is completely absent from any other politician in the US, and I guess if you were at all swayed by him, that must have been extremely appealing.
I liked this bit from the Radionz item on Morris Pearl above.
He said the wealthy have much more influence over government than the less well off, in part because US politicians, for example, are required to raise huge amounts of money for their own and their party's campaigns.
"They [politicians] spend so much time with the rich people they think they're the only people they have to care about."
Pearl said that is why his group supports laws seeking to change the system of political funding. In New York, where he lives, if a person collects a donation of $100 it can be matched eight-fold by a campaign finance organisation, if they're interested in running for mayor or other local body positions. This has opened up political races to anybody instead of just the relatives of rich people.
Hard to believe that name is not an anagram for something else. Sounds like a good man.
I have just looked at the daily mail Australia. Two articles, in India 3 – 4 to a bed sharing oxygen, crematoriums melting due to over capacity, people suffocating, pregnant women dying, young babies sick with Covid. There is no escape from Covid – 19 in India until it peaks. The other article is about the army in China and the Wuhan lab looking for viruses in animals.
Did not link as my links usually fail.
How come your links usually fail?
Copy the link address (also known as URL, which usually starts with “https:// “ and paste it in your comment. That’s all you need to know and do unless you want get more ‘fancy’ with links.
They fail because I make an error doing long hand.
With your cursor, highlight the whole link address (i.e. URL), copy (Ctrl+C), paste (Ctrl+V) in the text/comment editor. Done.
Highlighting might work by clicking once on the URL although I think sometimes you may have to double-click.
Thank you for trying to help me do links.
You’re welcome. We all benefit from you learning how to link 😉
If my suggestions don’t work or make no sense, perhaps you could ask somebody whom you trust to show you how to do it.
Anyone else find this outbreak a bit suss given the ongoing conflict with C'na? They were doing really well handing out Vit D etc + Ivermectin packs, and suddenly it spikes massively out of control. It's had nearly a year in India so I guess it's possible the reporting was massively out.
I did consider the Indian defence force being immobilised due to being required to manage Covid.
A lot of transmission has occurred due to festivals and the size of the population.
A look at the timeline suggests they might have declared victory too early. Bugger.
Not sure what part the B.1.617 India strain has played. Any mutation seems to bring on another wave.
Good news. Let's have some real talks honouring the principles of good faith bargaining.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441186/bus-travel-disruption-over-for-wellington-passengers
Bus commuters in Wellington should see their routes running a normal schedule today, after the Employment Court ordered an end to the bus driver lockout.
I think it's surprising how many of our unaddressed issues stem from this rightwing veto.
Everyone should have housing as of right – but somehow mass immigration, running downing housing NZ, and no organized building were allowed to happen. Couldn't be helped – the dodgy accounting was needed by Treasury for some reason.
We couldn't have boots on the ground pest control – cost too much, in spite of the need for more jobs. So aerial topdressing of poisons and collateral kills it is.
Kind of need to turn this stuff on its head – government should be working to make things better, not to preserve the entitlements of a sociopathic minority.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Is Susan Edmunds about to be inundated with email from outraged PI's and their associations? Hopefully they have moved on to more productive persuits like building houses and brushing up on the RPA rather than shouting their outrage and threats of rental retaliation via the media.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300284756/landlords-missed-a-chance-to-change-nzs-mind
Indeed.
Landlords are not entitled to take the extention of the bright line test and not being able to claim tax on interest from bank loans out on a tenant. The changes have not yet been fazed in.
Are landlords getting it that tenants cannot afford unrealistic rent increases?