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Open mike 25/06/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 25th, 2025 - 37 comments
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37 comments on “Open mike 25/06/2025 ”

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

    Today's Posts (updated through the day):

    Conduct unbecoming

    Weasel Winston’s FiveEyes fudge

    Reply
  2. thinker 2
    25 June 2025 at 7:31 am

    Live: Furious Donald Trump rebukes Israel, Iran over ceasefire violations https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/565047/live-furious-donald-trump-rebukes-israel-iran-over-ceasefire-violations

    The Definition of Irony…

    Reply
    • Kay 2.1
      25 June 2025 at 8:38 am

      I'm finding it incredibly amusing how his 'unforgivable' language in public seems to be the lead story around the world. Much as I loathe the man, 'fuck' in the current context is perfectly reasonable. I'd say that most of the planet has been expressing the situation with much stronger language.

      Methinks it's only the media- and his hypersensitive evangelical base- who are clutching their pearls.

      Reply
      • Dennis Frank 2.1.1
        25 June 2025 at 11:19 am

        Yeah, likewise. A pattern of compliance does seem to be emerging though. Swearing in that context is likely to normalise him somewhat. Dropping c words & f words in public may no longer be a lower-class thing in the public mind.

        So we had corporations conforming, then nations conforming. If Trump was merely a clown that wouldn't happen. The US Supreme Court ruled against Newsom the other day so the establishment seems solidly behind Trump. The US as world policeman is an oldie but goodie, everyone seems to be reminding themselves.

        Putin & Xi, on the sidelines, will see the global hegemon model still works in the mass mind, and will draw the obvious conclusion. Be careful.

        Reply
      • Visubversa 2.1.2
        25 June 2025 at 1:32 pm

        Imagine what would have happened had Obama or Biden made that remark

        Reply
  3. thinker 3
    25 June 2025 at 7:40 am

    https://youtu.be/8NdmSm6qcr4?si=0ZwiYEhB3sookCe3

    New Global advertising campaign launched at Cannes "NZ the best place in the world to have Herpes".

    Bet you don't see Luxon jumping in front of the parade on this one…

    Reply
  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    25 June 2025 at 8:05 am

    Thousands of over-65s earn more than $200,000 – should they get NZ Super?

    NO !

    More than 9000 people aged over 65 earn more than $200,000 a year, and another 33,000 earn between $100,000 and $200,000 – and the Retirement Commissioner says it's fair to question whether they should be able to claim NZ Super as well.

    Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson is opposed to putting the age of eligibility for NZ Super.

    The 1% vs….. us.

    The median income for people aged over 65 is $26,600.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565049/thousands-of-over-65s-earn-more-than-200-000-should-they-get-nz-super

    I, like a lot of other physical workers….have worked fucking hard in my life.Do not put up the age to get Super (there are a lot of physical workers who die..before 65, let alone older ! )

    Those 1%ers who have already got it all and getting $200K (IMO to a man and woman mostly RW voting )….do not need it.

    Many more NZers actually are desperate….

    Number of pensioners needing rent help nears 50,000

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/543756/number-of-pensioners-needing-rent-help-nears-50-000

    This POS (herself responsible for so much NZ agony! ) spiels…

    Former finance minister Ruth Richardson has called for an increase in the retirement age, warning New Zealand faces a balance sheet crisis without urgent action.

    The newly appointed chairperson of the Taxpayers' Union, a right-wing political lobby group, told Q+A that government debt needed addressing.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/15/ruth-richardson-calls-for-super-age-hike-warns-of-fiscal-crisis/

    Fuck off !

    Reply
    • Kay 4.1
      25 June 2025 at 9:02 am

      I guess the whole Super debate is subject to where you stand with your personal circumstances. Edmunds raises:

      University of Auckland associate professor Susan St John earlier outlined a plan to treat NZ Super as a tax-free basic income grant and put recipients on a higher tax rate.

      She said it would be a better option that the age of eligibility or the amount paid. It would create a situation where there was a break-even point beyond which people would be better off, on a net basis, not claiming NZ Super and instead being taxed at standard rates.

      It's fairness that most of us want, and this suggestion goes a long way towards it.

      But also this:

      The government has introduced parental income tests for young people receiving the JobSeeker benefit and will restrict access to the member tax credit in KiwiSaver to those who earn more than $180,000. St John said the reason that similar moves weren't made on NZ Super might reflect historical attitudes towards the "deserving and undeserving".

      That last sentence sums it up, really, we're a very nasty and punitive society. If I can last another 10 years, then Super is a pay rise for me. My attitude has been for many years that over-65s who are earning a lot from full-time work do not, and should not, receive Super. And those who still take it "I'm entitled" and just greedy and selfish. Read: one Winston Peters.

      I'm furious that people who definitely don't need Super, can get a card that will get them into so many places with a discount, and free public transport. Yet long term disabled beneficiaries get no discounts for nearly everything and currently 1/2 price local transport. No doubt because we're not allowed to have any pleasure in our lives. Perhaps the Gold card is denied to those earning over a certain income?

      I'm very aware how complicated means testing can get, but it also boil down to a lot of selfish over-65s out there, who are ruining it for everyone else.

      Reply
      • Phillip ure 4.1.1
        25 June 2025 at 10:24 am

        One way to approach it could be to keep any adjustments within that age bracket..

        As in stop the farcical situation where people earning over $100,00 also get super ..

        Stop paying them…and redistribute the saved monies amongst those old people doing it really hard…

        That would keep it nice and simple…and would be much easier to sell to the electorate…

        And a word in defence of many of those over 65 still working…many of them have to to keep the wolf from the door…

        And of course those rich who claim super(remember..!..you have to apply for it)..they are just greedy bastards…

        Reply
        • Kay 4.1.1.1
          25 June 2025 at 11:08 am

          And a word in defence of many of those over 65 still working…many of them have to to keep the wolf from the door…

          Completely agree, especially those in private rentals. I know a lady in her 80s who does a regular babysitting gig to survive. Under the table naturally, but needs must. If multi-millionaire are allowed to avoid taxes, then it's only fair that those really struggling do that. It shouldn't be a necessity for anyone, but it is. But there is a massive difference between a few hundred a week, vs a few thousand.

          Reply
          • gsays 4.1.1.1.1
            25 June 2025 at 12:06 pm

            I don't disagree with most of what you say.

            To put a human face on it, my father-in-law has retired in to town after a life of horticulture.

            A 40 hour week never entered his consciousness.

            He, and his children worked extremely hard for decades. He would mention the times in the '80s when subsidies were removed and VERY high tax rates.

            My hunch is that he feels he has paid more than his share.

            The unchecked inequality that is rampant in this country is a deliberate political situation.

            Reply
      • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.1.2
        25 June 2025 at 6:22 pm

        Thanks to all who replied/showed interest. I am not going on about this just for myself, as any raising of retirement age will be future someone elses problem….but knowing what I know..and how I got to here, I actually care for others.

        I dont know any on the $200 K plus Super, (hell I dont know any $100 K, let alone $200 K workers !)

        But I do know some who are on the low end of it all (bottom feeders to Luxury Luxon)…and that just continues.

        Sad…what future?

        Life on a no-frills budget still getting tougher for pensioners

        Surviving on mince and sausages, and wearing second-hand clothes – that's the plight some pensioners face as the cost of living crisis continues.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541484/life-on-a-no-frills-budget-still-getting-tougher-for-pensioners

        Private rental sector unlikely to keep up with pensioner demand – retirement commission

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/524224/private-rental-sector-unlikely-to-keep-up-with-pensioner-demand-retirement-commission

        Reply
    • AB 4.2
      25 June 2025 at 10:46 am

      Keep superannuation universal at 65. Treat all income from all sources (superannuation, work, capital gain, investments, inheritance) in the same way and tax it at a more steeply progressive rate as we used to do in the past. Administratively it's probably the simplest option, and it's the fairest both in the present and intergenerationally. In other words, we treat very high incomes and very low incomes as aberrations produced by the intrinsic perversity of markets.

      Reply
      • Phillip ure 4.2.1
        25 June 2025 at 10:57 am

        That would also work…

        Reply
        • Phillip ure 4.2.1.1
          25 June 2025 at 12:43 pm

          And don't expect any retired MP's/ministers to comment on this…

          Given the very generous super scheme they voted for themselves…they are 'sorted'..and won't want to upend their barrows…

          Reply
      • Phillip ure 4.2.2
        25 June 2025 at 6:08 pm

        @ab..

        Susan St John on rnz has just proposed something similar to what you say…and she made perfect sense…

        In that what I proposed would not raise enough…and would do nothing to address the rampant inequality..

        Her plan…like yours…proposes leaving super universal…and taxing all incomes earned by supers at a higher rate than now..

        And using those monies to address intergenerational poverty..

        All of which I like..

        So I will concede the floor…

        Reply
        • Phillip ure 4.2.2.1
          25 June 2025 at 6:23 pm

          And I would urge the management/policy-makers in lab/grn/tpm to have a hard look at St Johns proposal…

          It is a tidy policy package ..and wouldn't it be good if the three opposition parties could be unified on this ..going into the election..

          Reply
    • Stephen D 4.3
      25 June 2025 at 2:47 pm

      We don't need it, at the moment. I'm 73, wife 66, but its handy. Currently she works 3 days a week, and I can do anything between 1-5 days depending on demand. However when we do decide to finally fully retire that fortnightly income will be more that handy.

      However if we're means tested out of it because of some passive income, I'd happily wear that to keep the age at 65.

      Reply
  5. gsays 5
    25 June 2025 at 8:50 am

    Excuse me while I chamber atop two hobby horses.

    "The ministry defended its approach, calling it "international best practice"."

    It would appear that best practice is to let capitalists run amok, ignore guidelines in the pursuit of short term profit while impacting long term reputational harm.

    These people are the ones who are eager to let the GMO genie out of the bottle. A decision that will make Kahleesi virus, the release of possums and introduction of gorse look like a walk in the park.

    This is what peak neo liberalism and late stage capitalism look like in unholy wedlock.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565064/no-fines-or-recalls-for-food-with-illegal-levels-of-potentially-harmful-agrichemicals-in-last-five-years

    Reply
    • Dennis Frank 5.1
      25 June 2025 at 11:24 am

      They're catering for Nat/Lab voters. Simulation works as well with them as authenticity, and is a hell of a lot cheaper! The entire point of being a bureaucrat is to shuffle paper so as to seem busy doing the right thing. Getting actual results in the real world seems like a hippie dream to the suit-wearers.

      Reply
  6. Stephen D 6
    25 June 2025 at 2:30 pm

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/24/iran-strikes-nuclear-sites-report

    And the winners are:

    The American Industrial-Military Complex.

    As always.

    There wouldn't be a state in America that doesn't have a manufacturer allied to the military in some way. No senator or congressman will ever vote against it. It is in the whole countries best interest to keep some war going somewhere/anywhere.

    Reply
    • joe90 6.1
      25 June 2025 at 3:45 pm

      Military Keynesianism.

      These arguments will come from the very people who denied that the economic recovery plan created any jobs. We have a very odd economic philosophy in Washington: It’s called weaponized Keynesianism. It is the view that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat, that is of course economic salvation.

      Barney Frank

      Reply
  7. Ad 7
    25 June 2025 at 3:23 pm

    Just a big shoutout to the Hunter Civil team and the team at Chathams Islands Electricity for their construction of the 3 wind turbines at the Point Durham site.

    That's a whole lot of perfect logistical and programme planning that ensured not a single nut was lost that needed to be then boated in from Christchurch, costing months.

    The net result will be a replacement of about 65% diesel generation.

    The only downside is that those turbines will only last tops 25 years, so opefully planning is already underway for a larger set of turbines that can replace even more of that diesel generation, and reduce its need in time to backup only.

    A very small community doing very cool sustainability&resilience things.

    Reply
  8. Dennis Frank 8
    25 June 2025 at 3:48 pm

    Seymour doing his dork impressions is merely politics as usual. Conduct unbecoming is trendy right now, which is why the Maori Party made a spectacle out of doing it in parliament. We have a tradition of public authority figures doing conduct unbecoming.

    Here's an excellent kiwi role model as a classic example of that: https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/06/25/a-man-in-uniform/

    The surgeon had found and removed what he described as a ‘third testicle’. A third testicle that he thought likely to have been the source of the pain. This then led to speculation that the ‘third testicle’ might instead have been an ovary, a part formed ovary or some deformity resulting from the biological processes that determine sexuality during gestation.

    Whatever it was, following removal of this ‘third testicle’, the pain stopped, and so also did something else. After recovering from the surgery, for the first time in my life, I did something I realised I had never really experienced during my life. I suddenly took a real interest in my appearance as a male.

    Good ole Bob looks real cool in that photo at the bottom of the newsroom page..

    [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.]

    Reply
  9. aj 9
    25 June 2025 at 5:26 pm

    New York mayoral primary: Mamdani on brink of stunning win.

    USA: What a country of contrasts. Well done NY.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/565125/new-york-mayoral-primary-mamdani-on-brink-of-stunning-win

    Reply
    • Phillip ure 9.1
      25 June 2025 at 8:09 pm

      This is good news…

      And there are two takeaways from this…

      One is that he argued his democratic socialist policies long before the election..read them…!

      And he convinced the electorate how sound his revolutionary policy ideas are..free public transport etc..etc..

      Let's hope lab/grns/tpm take this powerful lesson onboard..eh..?

      The other takeaway is demographic..

      In the oz election for the first time the number of voters not boomers was in the majority…

      And we must be close to that..

      ..so.. proposed major policy changes need to be aired/debated as long before the election as possible…

      And as the New York upset shows..online airing of those policies create a momentum of their own..

      The conditions for a serious rejig are alive and present…

      Reply
  10. bwaghorn 10
    25 June 2025 at 5:36 pm

    Hi mods I'm just getting a blank screen on the post about weasel seymour

    Working now

    Reply
    • Phillip ure 11.1
      25 June 2025 at 7:09 pm

      That is a heavy unfounded allegation against people whose only 'sin' is to have Jones as an uncle..eh..?

      Maybe you need to withdraw and apologize…eh..?

      Reply

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