Open Mike 25/12/2017
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6:00 am, December 25th, 2017 - 30 comments
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- Property Rights and the Treaty Principles Bill
Property rights – which enable decisions over tangible and intangible assets – are critical to an economy as Why Nations Fail pointed out. Not just private property rights for, as we shall see, they are more complicated than that. Neoliberals argue that private property rights lead to the maximum economic ...13 hours ago - The Hoon around the week to November 22
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Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, election loser Jair Bolsonaro tried to do a Trump, attempting a coup to overturn the election. It failed. But unlike his American friend, he hasn't been allowed to get away with it: The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest ...15 hours ago - 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 ...21 hours ago
- Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
It’s another Friday and we’re inching closer to the end of the year. Here’s some of the stories that have caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and ...22 hours ago - Beyond Question?
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 ...23 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 ...23 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 ...24 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day 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 ...2 days ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
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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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days 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: ...2 days ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
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- Throwback Thursday: Will “Auckland Transport” Survive?
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- I Love My Leather Jacket
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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 ...2 days ago
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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 ...3 days ago
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David Horatio Waterbed SeymourFringe politician and dweeb transformed successfully by ThinkTank money into a well-oiled soundbite robot.Currently programmed to say: Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Was previously programmed to say:I am a proud libertarian andI am a ...3 days ago - Kinleith mill closure shows need for industrial strategy
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- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
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- Young Maori take over
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4 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers
Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...4 days ago
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4 days ago - Kaamos: Accepted
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- National’s support base is wobbling
If ACT leader David Seymour intended the Treaty Principles Bill to drive a wedge into National’s support base, he may well already be succeeding. By midnight on Thursday after the Maori Party haka in Parliament, National MPs were being deluged with emails and messages from their members calling them out ...5 days ago
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I cannot stop grabbing people by the lapels, or shoulders, or similar, and raving at them about the tiny miracles in my ears.I can hear again! There could not be a more satisfied customer in all the world.In a noisy cafe I am even catching words that Karren cannot, she ...6 days ago - Unintended Consequences
Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...7 days ago - Thank you, driver!
Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...7 days ago
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Hi,If I was to accurately sum up my mental state over the week, I’d just say that I got a huge fright from my own shadow.I’d nipped out for an 11pm neighborhood stroll, just to calm down after a day of stress and screens. The Cure and Fazerdaze’s new record ...7 days ago - We Are Not Listening
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1 week 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, ...1 week 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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As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...1 week ago - Thursday 14 November 2024
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. ...2 days 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. ...2 days 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. ...2 days 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. ...2 days ago
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- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...3 days ago
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National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...3 days ago
- 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. ...3 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. ...4 days ago
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- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
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Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...2 weeks ago
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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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The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
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Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
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The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
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Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
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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Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Kia ora and good morning everyone. Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now. I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy ...17 hours ago
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Merry Christmas one and all. Everything seems a lot brighter this year.
Condolences to our Philippines cousins who have had Storms batter there country this is climate change in reality I no you people are industrious so you will bounce back PS I put a big post on yesterday open Mike I think it’s a good read its the last post. Ka kite ano
Have a great New Year, Lorde!
Merry Christmas y’all
A.
All the best from the 90 household, peoples.
Merry Christmas all, and thank Christ (and whoever your God is) for diversity.
And if you can’t be merry, try and be happy.
Happy holidays from RT!
lol.
Great decision by Lorde. Now I have to buy her album! I imagine she will be furious at her management team tho.
Yes now all she needs to do is withdraw from her planned Russian concert as a protest about the way Russia treats the Chechens and as a protest against its annexation of the Crimea. Oh wait, not hip enough cause.
The Crimeans voted to become independent, and then to join Russia. A bit different.
By all means do the actual mahi of starting and sustaining a boycott movement around the issue you care about (do you actually care about Chechens or were you just using them to make a point?). Then artists like Lorde can make decisions about whether to support you or not based on values and effectiveness.
Merry Christmas Standardistas! All the best to you and yours.
The list grows.
edit:
Many of the women who spoke with BuzzFeed News said that the youngest, least experienced women — those with the fewest professional connections — were generally the primary targets of Hazen’s harassment
In one incident, a woman said that Hazen told her he had seen a picture of a woman who “looked just like her” — then showed her a photo of a naked porn star. She told at least 5 coworkers about the incident at the time or since, they confirmed
One woman had meetings with Hazen every few months at his request, she said. She called them her “mandatory sexual harassment meetings”
She said Hazen would hug and kiss her — despite her going for a handshake — and ask personal, explicit questions
Part of what was galling, the women said, was that Hazen had once fundraised for AlterNet on the strength of its women writers
“He went to funders and got grants intended for websites that promote gender equality”
After BuzzFeed News asked Hazen and the board of the Independent Media Institute, AlterNet’s non-profit parent, for comment, the board said Hazen was placed on “indefinite leave” as a result of the accusations.
“I deny most of [the] allegations,” Hazan said in a statement.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/943933845283442689.html
Wishing you all the very best – Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope.
However!
Shock! Horror!
WINZ forces 900 year old obese man into red suit and world wide parcel delivery!
Merry Christmas one and all! A good day to reflect and be grateful.
Vodka!
Brandy! (don’t set your eyebrows on fire!)
A cocktail of peach schnapps and white bubbly, with a splash of pomegranate juice. I can’t remember what it is called, but it is nice, festive and very pretty.
Wow, that sounds great.
Brandy here too!
@TomEMoffatt
Why are there only 25 letters in the alphabet at Christmas time?
Noel.
#Jokes4Kids #ChristmasJokes
https://twitter.com/TomEMoffatt/status/945041141103321088
I’ve heard there are actually 27 letters to start with though:
Bush’s friend – u and double u.
Might have come from a similar Christmas cracker…
Merry Christmas, Standard users. The first time in 10 years with a Labour government in.
@ millsy (15) … a wonderful, warming fact that gives us hope to carry on.
Have a good one 🙂
Well that was all very anti-climatic. Supposedly I’m supposed to have been getting more and more excited leading up to today… for about 3 months if the advertising is anything to go by! But now it’s today and it’s just another day. Having said that, happy for those who finally get some time off work, who get to catch up with family/friends, and strongly sympathising with a significant minority who just try and ride it all out.
Really enjoying being able to listen to a commercial radio station I usually stay clear of due to the advertising- long may that 3.5 day/year ban stay!
I don’t have expectations of Christmas. If the weather’s good like today in Auckland, I do something I enjoy – climbed up 2 mini-mountains today with great views of the harbours.
It’s a day for families, and especially excitement for children…. well, if their parents can afford it.
I don’t buy prezzies, just give something to the City Mission, for providing a Christmas for children who would otherwise go without.
thats a great idea carolyn…nice one
We got the cooking going well not me my wife daughter and son in law. I was watching the mokos carrying around my blue eyes. We fead the mokos and ourselves it was a 8 out of 10 meal they are good cooks fancy cheese cake real nice. Took some pictures of all my mokos that were present there were 2 missing.
We had a chilled no stress day all the mokos are playing outside.
I wish you all a very happy positive prosperous future with a safe environment. Ka kite ano
I should not have mentioned that the muppets took last Easter and Christmas off they were playing with themselves again introducing a new player but eco read this person just as fast as the other players its not hard for eco to notice this. One lot don’t even realise that they have a player planted in there organisation lol but ECO spotted him quite quickly if it smells like one looks like one acts like one and doesn’t cut the mustard than it’s a muppets.
Ana to kai