Open mike 28/01/2025

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, January 28th, 2025 - 101 comments
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101 comments on “Open mike 28/01/2025 ”

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  1. Dennis Frank 1
    28 January 2025 at 7:49 am

    Sir Geoffrey takes a sceptical view:

    It needs to be remembered that the United States was never designed as a democracy. In 1777 when the Constitution was drafted there were no democratic constitutions at all. There are questions about whether it is one now… Many would argue the United States political system is dysfunctional and cannot be fixed. https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/27/geoffrey-palmer-democracy-falls-out-of-favour/

    The first Trump administration appeared to many other countries to be a bad joke. Now it has morphed into a new and dangerous reality… It is almost as if democracy has become a partisan political issue in the United States.

    That's been evidently so for quite a while, but Sir G travels at the leisurely mental pace of academics.

    The New York Times, has an Editorial Board comprising a group of opinion journalists separate from the newsroom whose views are informed by their expertise, research and debate and certain longstanding values.

    Elites are ever so cool.

    Here is part of what its members said in an editorial headed “Standing up to Donald Trump’s fear tactics” on January 17, 2025: Trump is using fear not only with Congress but also with other essential independent institutions such as courts, business, higher education and the news media. The goal is broadly the same: to deter elected officials, judges, executives and others from exercising their duties in ways that challenge him or hold him accountable. He wants to make dissent so painful as to be intolerable.

    Having read a bunch of insider accounts of the Trump family ecosystem, I see this as merely a powerful need to do one's thing despite the social constraints of normalcy. Youthful rebellion can embed as a life-long stance, and guys who want to play hero as rebel get locked in easily. Transcendence is the escape technique, but hedonists aren't subtle enough to value that. His dad's KKK march in 1927, that got him arrested but not charged, indicates a fascist propensity and dimension of character that made him a role model for Donald's opinions – though dominating New York's real estate market did so more. Plus his middle name was Christ!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Trump

    • SPC 1.1
      28 January 2025 at 8:38 am

      The USA set up their system to emulate that of the British.

      Only men who owned property could vote.

      POTUS was constrained from exercise of power as per their monarch – Bill of Rights formulated by its parliament.

      Aaron Burr was one of the few who wanted the later progressive development – Jacksonian democracy (and went further in women’s rights). The UK Chartists followed after them (but the extension of the male franchise was gradual and not universal till WW1).

      Christ was the surname of Fred Trump's mother (he and his son Donald claimed they had Swedish ancestry into the 1980's – 2 of his grandparents were born in Bavaria, the other 2 in Scotland).

    • weka 1.2
      28 January 2025 at 10:44 am

      just reading now, but as an aside, that is mind blowing that Wyoming only has a population of 584,000

      • SPC 1.2.1
        28 January 2025 at 11:13 am

        The Senate was designed to be like Lords, a check on the Commons majority.

        Thus small New England colonies would not be dominated by New York.

      • Macro 1.2.2
        28 January 2025 at 11:14 am

        Yet Wyoming has 2 Senators, as does California, with a pollution of around 39.4 million. How democratic is that!?

        Senators get to appoint people such as Judges to the Supreme Court, and Secretaries of State. The votes of ordinary people are influenced by which State in which you happen to reside. The vote of a Californian resident is worth a tiny fraction of someone in Wyoming.

        • Matiri 1.2.2.1
          28 January 2025 at 3:22 pm

          Wyoming has just one representative in the house of Representatives, California has 52.

          Each state has 2 senators.

          • Macro 1.2.2.1.1
            28 January 2025 at 4:08 pm

            That is true. But even though the House of Representatives proposes legislation it must also pass though the Senate. As of today there are over 800 bills passed by the House that lie under the table of the Senate. The leader of the Senate decides which Bill will be considered. Because smaller States are predominantly Republican the Senate is skewed towards the Right. Bills of a progressive nature seldom get to see the light of day. Even under the last Senate – when the Democrates had a supposed majority – that was not really the case as two Senators Manchin and Sinema were DINOsaurs Democrates In Name Only – more Republican than Democrate.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2
    28 January 2025 at 7:54 am

    It is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Nazi death camp by Soviet troops.
    King Charles made a speech, and 90 year old plus survivors were in attendance. Charles noted that the industrial scale killing facilities showed the depths to which humanity can sink.

    “Never Again” is the refrain–that never should mean never, has escaped the Israeli butchers. Starved and brutalised Palestinians from Gaza and West Bank in 2025 could easily be from the WWII Warsaw Ghetto or a death camp.

    Keep up the BDS and solidarity movements–Palestinians certainly need support when the gutless EU, UK and US turns their back on them, and the yanks supply “2000lb” bombs so the IDF can keep up their bloody work.

  3. weston 3
    28 January 2025 at 8:04 am

    This is pretty chilling and invigorating at the same time .this video is about a protest in that "Green and pleasant land " on the 25 th of this month .How many lawyers do you know aged 91 that look and can speak like this woman .?



    • weston 3.1
      28 January 2025 at 8:35 am

      The crazy thing is if you watch this vid on you tube a banner will automaticly come up underneath informing the watcher of the facts about THE HOLOCAUST but not a mention of course of the fact of those same group of people carrying out one of there own right now across the middle east .

      • Tiger Mountain 3.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 9:11 am

        “Final Solution” should be used judiciously, but what other term is sufficient when the US President wants to move a whole population from their land. The Israeli Knesset has members that have admitted they want to erase Gaza from the face of the earth in their own words…
        https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-gaza-genocide

        • SPC 3.1.1.1
          28 January 2025 at 9:19 am

          If only Germans had expelled Jews from Europe as homeless refugees.

          Accurate language is important, forced displacement (temporary) and ethnic cleansing (permanent exile).

          (Methods including war crimes and crimes against humanity).

    • SPC 3.2
      28 January 2025 at 9:17 am

      The stuff about the Turks and Kurds (and the related UK action) speaks to the issue of a cartel of nations whose security axis allows suppression of dissent to enable continued oppression by those in their group.

      The next step is more general top down rule over people – as per Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill.

    • Tom Hunter 3.3
      30 January 2025 at 12:00 am

      Fascinating:

      … it's what he colonial settlers are doing everywhere in the world and have done, going back as far as getting into North and South America and stealing indigenous people's lands that's the way that the zionists operate…

      I wonder if she realises that she's echoing every Storm Front person who ever talked about the fearful ZOG.

  4. Dennis Frank 4
    28 January 2025 at 8:09 am

    Regional fire economy fuels private enterprise:

    Sicily endured more than 8,000 fires in 2021 as temperatures spiked to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. They were so severe, the regional Anti-Mafia Commission conducted an investigation into the potential criminal causes behind them. It found perfect fire weather combined with inaccessible forested terrain helped set the stage for fast, uncontrollable fires. But criminal activities “constitute the most dangerous factor,” its report said.

    These criminal activities are not just a Mafia business, said Laura Biffi, who works for the environmental non-profit Legambiente, which has been documenting the Mafia’s ecological crimes for decades. Experts say there is a “fire industry” in southern Italy, she told CNN, because there are so many people involved. Fires are set by seasonal workers eager to prolong firefighting contracts, farmers who want to clear forest for grazing, protestors or people with vendettas.

    So that's 4 sectors of the populace motivated to ignite fires, plus the 5th – nature.

    In 2023, more than half of Italy’s nearly 3,700 fires occurred in Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Campania, regions where southern Italy’s four major historical Mafias have their roots, said Vincenzo Linarello, the founder of GOEL, a network of farmers fighting Mafia influence. Repeated fires in those areas are “either an attack on mafias or they are the perpetrators. It’s a matter of simple logic,” said Sergio Nazzaro, a journalist and former spokesman for the president of the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission.

    The Mafia’s use of fires tends to have two main aims: power and profit. Fire is money, Nazzaro told CNN. It creates an emergency that has to be solved and profits for the companies that step in. There are contracts for firefighting, clean-up operations and rebuilding. The Mafia is a multilayered criminal enterprise, he said, that goes “from the labor force that sets the fire to the concession to build on burned land.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/climate/mafia-wildfire-italy/index.html

    An alternate control system operating alongside regional governments in those 4 regions drives their regional economies. Public life thereby features random fire outbreaks as signs of industrious economic enterprise.

  5. Ad 5
    28 January 2025 at 8:53 am

    Hope no one here has Kiwisaver accounts exposed to AI stocks.

    Bloodbath

    • SPC 5.1
      28 January 2025 at 9:00 am

      Deep Seek a lower cost AI download.

      And for the tech companies this AI requires less computing power (thus impact on the stockmarket – as per demand for advanced chips).

      https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cjr85l2e4l4t

      • Ad 5.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 9:27 am

        … and as an industry, well due for a full unwind.

        But will anyone hold Trump accountable for his announcement last week of US$800 billion to support this industry?

        Top work tech bros.

        $800 b would be better as a tax break to those on minimum wage.

        • SPC 5.1.1.1
          28 January 2025 at 9:31 am

          Free download and open source.

          The worst nightmare for the USA plan for another tech monopoly (AI) in the imperial economy across borders.

          The biggest takedown since The Machine vs Samaritan (TV series – Person of Interest – interface between advanced tech surveillance state and government GOP tyranny vs the democratic people of New York).

        • Res Publica 5.1.1.2
          28 January 2025 at 10:19 am

          AI and Data Engineer here:

          There’s no denying the impressive performance of DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 compared to ChatGPT, along with the appeal of their pricing model. However, I’m highly skeptical of some of the claims DeepSeek has been making:

          1. Questionable Hardware Claims: Founder Liang Wenfeng has suggested that they stockpiled around 10,000 Nvidia A100 chips, either before or in contravention of the U.S. export ban. That’s a staggering amount of computing power.

            While it’s theoretically possible they trained their model on Nvidia’s downgraded H800 chips (designed for the Chinese market), achieving their reported results with those would require an almost unbelievable leap in training efficiency.

            Given the lack of transparency and the near-impossibility for external verification, I find it far more likely they relied on A100s and are obfuscating the issue to avoid potential U.S. sanctions.

          2. Censorship and Bias: DeepSeek’s models exhibit clear biases when asked about sensitive topics like the Tiananmen Square protests, Xi Jinping, Communism, or human rights issues in China. This raises questions about how much influence Chinese government regulations or oversight might have on their technology.
          3. CCP Oversight: While there’s no direct evidence linking DeepSeek to the CCP, it’s hard to believe the company operates without some level of state oversight or regulation, given China’s stringent control over key technologies. This raises significant concerns about the privacy and security of customer data.

          While DeepSeek represents an exciting development in the AI space, I’d caution against hopping on the hype train too soon or prematurely declaring it a “ChatGPT killer.” Much of the market reaction appears to be driven by investors who lack a deep understanding of the underlying technology or the experience to question DeepSeek’s claims.

          This is yet another sign of the hype bubble AI currently exists in, and it’s worth approaching with a healthy dose of skepticism.

          • SPC 5.1.1.2.1
            28 January 2025 at 10:42 am

            Obviously their AI is Chinese user governance compliant.

            Developed using A100 chips, able to operate on H800 ones in China?

            • Res Publica 5.1.1.2.1.1
              28 January 2025 at 10:59 am

              That's possible, sure.

              But that would undermine their main claim to fame: allegedly being able to train their models at a fraction of the cost and time of it's competitors using much less powerful hardware.

              • Dennis Frank …
                28 January 2025 at 11:24 am

                Do you participate in a tech forum where you can assess user feedback? Should only take 2/3 months for a sense of confidence to establish in the group mind of users if the product works well. If not, disquiet will become contagious & drive the market away. Tech gurus able to test the thing for themselves will suss it out even faster I expect.

                • Res Publica …
                  28 January 2025 at 12:24 pm

                  The key challenge here isn't so much about user confidence or functionality—on the surface, DeepSeek doesn't offer much to differentiate itself from its competitors for the average consumer.

                  For most users, it appears to be a cheaper alternative to the various GPT products already on the market. These models generally have comparable capabilities, operate in similar ways, and are optimized for slightly different use cases.

                  What really sets DeepSeek apart—and is driving the buzz—is their claim to train models faster and at dramatically lower costs, even on less powerful hardware. If true, that would be a significant innovation.

                  However, as of now, these claims haven’t been independently verified, which raises some uncertainty. Until there’s independent validation of their training and data efficiency, it’s hard to gauge whether DeepSeek can deliver on its promises or stand out in a meaningful way.

                  • Dennis Frank …
                    28 January 2025 at 1:14 pm

                    Dramatic price undercutting does spook competitors but this report suggests the software design is significant too: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/what-chinese-ai-startup-deepseek

                    DeepSeek wrote in a paper last month that it trained its DeepSeek-V3 model with less than $6 million worth of computing power from what it says are 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips to achieve a level of performance on par with the most advanced models from OpenAI and Meta.

                    Those chips are less advanced than the most cutting edge chips on the market, which are subject to export controls, though DeepSeek claims it overcomes that disadvantage with innovative AI training techniques. DeepSeek's AI assistant, which is powered by the DeepSeek-V3 model, surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT as the top-rated free application in the Apple App Store in the U.S.

                    So Apple users are rating it top free app merely due to price advantage?? I would have thought a view of product user-friendliness deriving from experience would have more influence on rating. So-called wisdom of the crowd.

                    The DeepSeek-R1 model was released last week and is 20 to 50 times cheaper to use than OpenAI's o1 model, depending on the task, according to a post on the company's official WeChat account. The R1 model is also open source and available to users for free, while OpenAI's ChatGPT Pro Plan costs $200 per month.

                    Almost like the Chinese are teaching the Californians how to do competitive capitalism… surprise enlightened

                    • Res Publica …
                      28 January 2025 at 1:55 pm

                      The app itself isn’t the core issue. It’s the training methods, data quality, and the underlying model that determine the long-term value of an AI product.

                      Competition in AI is only fair and sustainable when it’s legal, equal, and held to the same standards of privacy, data security, and transparency.

                      DeepSeek’s alleged use of less advanced hardware with innovative training techniques could represent a massive breakthrough for AI accessibility, potentially disrupting the market. However, we must approach these claims with caution, carefully assessing both the viability of its approach and the veracity of its statements.

                      For example, OpenAI, despite being significantly further along in terms of maturity, partnerships, and infrastructure, reported a $5 billion loss in 2024 on $3.7 billion in revenue. This highlights the immense difficulty of building a profitable, scalable AI business, even with substantial resources.

                      Ultimately, while ratings and downloads might indicate short-term popularity, the true measure of success lies in long-term trust, compliance, and responsible innovation.

                      Without equal standards, I'd be reluctant to define this as genuine competition.

          • Ad 5.1.1.2.2
            28 January 2025 at 11:31 am

            Is CCP AI access really any different to 5 Eyes or CIA harvesting?

            Speaking as someone too paranoid for a Woolworths card.

            • Res Publica 5.1.1.2.2.1
              28 January 2025 at 12:29 pm

              When it comes to Western tech, I worry less about the CIA stealing my data and more about it being sold to companies like Amazon, Facebook, or Palantir.

              The key difference is that, in most Western countries, there’s at least an expectation of a fundamental right to privacy. Organizations handling private information are generally expected to respect that right.

              In a Chinese context, such rights don’t exist in the same way. Moreover, many Chinese companies are less inclined to adhere to Western standards of transparency, security, and privacy protection.

    • Hunter Thompson II 5.3
      28 January 2025 at 10:30 am

      So the Chinese invented a better mousetrap? That's free market competition in action.

      The Wall Street honchos have no right to complain.

      • tWig 5.3.1
        28 January 2025 at 4:33 pm

        The Guardian has whipped up a quick editorial discussing the geopolitical ramifications of open source via locked AI, and the various polities rushing to develop it.

        "The contradiction is clear: open-source AI democratises technology and fuels progress, but it also enables exploitation by malefactors. Resolving this tension between innovation and security demands an international framework to prevent misuse."

        "Geoffrey Hinton, the AI pioneer and Nobel laureate… warns that the breakneck pace of progress shortens the odds of catastrophe. In the race to dominate this technology, the greatest risk isn’t falling behind. It’s losing control entirely."

    • Muttonbird 5.4
      28 January 2025 at 8:11 pm

      How do we find this out?

      I’m fairly sure my KiwiSaver is not invested in AI tech stocks because it's been doing fuck all recently while autistic Nazis in Silicon Valley have each been making millions per day.

      I think I’m safe, lol.

  6. Dennis Frank 6
    28 January 2025 at 9:26 am

    Sir GP sets out the evidence of loss of faith in democracy:

    A rigorous 2020 report produced by the Centre for the Future of Democracy at the University of Cambridge concluded: “We found that dissatisfaction with democracy has risen over time, and is reaching an all-time global high, in particular in developed democracies. Across the globe democracy is in a state of malaise. Dissatisfaction has risen sharply since 2005.”

    The report states there exists an especially acute crisis of democratic faith in the Anglo-Saxon democracies, where dissatisfaction has doubled.

    A report by human rights NGO Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2020-Dropping the Democratic Façade, and its most recent annual report, found that the decline of democracy was alarming, with more countries moving toward authoritarian rule. Recently the organisation has said three-quarters of people who live on earth live in countries where freedom is declining. The decline has been going on for 15 years at least.

    This means the constitutional rot and decay of democracy are well established worldwide and expanding. https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/27/geoffrey-palmer-democracy-falls-out-of-favour/

    The lesson to learn here is that believers in democracy are out of touch with the zeitgeist – increasingly they will seem delusional to switched-on, tuned-in folk.

    • Ad 6.1
      28 January 2025 at 9:28 am

      … unless governments deliver for citizens.

    • SPC 6.2
      28 January 2025 at 9:48 am

      The lesson to learn here is that believers in democracy are out of touch with the zeitgeist – increasingly they will seem delusional to switched-on, tuned-in folk.

      Some curmudgeons return to their Brexit youth, some return to their white race assimilation culture.

      Others return to one of intellectual condescension and counter-culture opt out of engagement with democratic solidarity with others – unless it is part of some sectarian change movement. But once that is gone, back to their roots.

      What a weird hybrid of nihilism and psuedo high brow sentiency, are youth supposed to find a guru in old men?

    • satty 6.3
      28 January 2025 at 9:48 am

      My theory is: In the "Western World" the people impacted by the hardship and horrors of the 2nd World War are disappearing. My parents now in their 80s still have some old, vague memories of the early years after the world war and the related hardship. They also experienced the big, incredible improvements in living standards in their lifetime.

      Not only do we take the today's living standards for granted, we are extremely dissatisfied if they don't improve significantly anymore. Maybe, we reached some saturation point.

      Is there some form of "reset" is coming? Another devastating war closely involving the "Western World"? How would we deal with the hardship most Europeans had to go through over the world wars and the early rebuilding period?

      • Hunter Thompson II 6.3.1
        28 January 2025 at 10:35 am

        I think another war may be brewing.

        There is a good chance it will be over competition for scarce natural resources, as our standard of living is based on consuming them as if there were no tomorrow.

      • Dennis Frank 6.3.2
        28 January 2025 at 11:16 am

        Is there some form of "reset" is coming?

        I suspect so. Could be via war, but I'm inclined to be more optimistic. Muddle through the middle is more prevalent as a political stance. Macho is more often posturing than serious, even in the Donald, but he's got a more serious mandate than in his first term and will proceed confidently as a result.

        MAGA has the potential to trend towards political substance now – whereas previously it was mere resonant sloganeering. The thing to watch is non-conformist Republicans in congress. A 3 person defection, he loses control…

  7. tWig 7
    28 January 2025 at 9:35 am

    The Guardian background this issue well. The US AI companies thought if they sequestered hi-tech chips away from China, it would stifle AI competition there. Instead, in best entrepreneurial fashion, the opposite occurred.

    Instead DeepSeek, the open-source workaround China developed, claims to deliver AI systems at a 100th of the expected cost of US AI models, without much need for fancy chips. The 50% drop in Nvidia chip company stock is due to rapid realisation of the implications by the stock market. Plus the AI giants will have their beards trimmed.

    • Res Publica 7.1
      28 January 2025 at 10:21 am

      Instead DeepSeek, the open-source workaround China developed, claims to deliver AI systems at a 100th of the expected cost of US AI models, without much need for fancy chips.

      The operative word in that sentence is claims. Thus far DeepSeek has not been able to satsifactorily explain how they acheived such a massive increase in the efficiency of their training process, or let external parties verify these claims.

      • Obtrectator 7.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 10:48 am

        An even more operative word would reproducibility – the key criterion in assessing any claim of major scientific or technological advance.

  8. Subliminal 8
    28 January 2025 at 9:52 am

    Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada has been taken from his Swiss cell in handcuffs and in the back of a police van to the airport and loaded onto a flight to Istanbul.

    He was invited by Swiss citizenry to speak at a Palestine justice conference.

    This in the same few days that Herzog, the Israeli president flew in to speak to the Davos crowd along with al Jolani of ISIS leadership fame.

    As well, Netanyahu, originally Polish himself, flew to Poland for Auschwitz liberation celebrations. An ICC arrest warrant not executed of course.

    This is the proud state of Western democracy.

    https://x.com/AliAbunimah/status/1883973368069906853

    • SPC 8.2
      28 January 2025 at 10:37 am

      While this was obviously orchestrated for Jan 27. And based on marginalising those opposed to a Jewish state of Israel – such as a unitary state advocacy.

      The real premise is a transition in the international rules based order to one where a cartel of nations form common cause in suppression of dissent (as per a new Cold War regime).

      Thus the action in the UK against Kurds to appease Turkey.

      This follows a defamatory article published in a local newspaper, baselessly accusing him of radical islamism and antisemitism, accompanied by a request by cantonal police to prohibit him from entering the territory, supposedly based on the media accusations.

      His arrest was announced first by Electronic Intifada in a statement released on Saturday. The outlet stated, “Abunimah’s arrest appears to be part of a growing backlash from Western governments against expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people…Speaking out against injustice in Palestine is not a crime. Journalism is not a crime.”

      In October, the home of Abunimah’s colleague, Asa Winstanley, was raided and electronic devices seized by United Kingdom authorities, but was not charged with any crime.

      “I share the shock and urge for a prompt investigation into this matter,” said United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca K. Albanese in response to Abunimah’s arrest. “The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned.”

      https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/01/27/global-outcry-following-detention-of-palestinian-journalist-ali-abunimah/

      There are Jews of the state of Israel who support a unitary state too.

      The unitary state cause is consistent with Arab opposition to the existence of the state of Israel in 1947-48 (why some might proscribe their advocacy), yet also with the UN's own position on right of return.

      For mine they should focus on the later as a cause mover, and operate via a legitimate pathway process.

      1.A UN Palestinian passport for all refugees (1948 and 1967).

      2.67 border states.

      3.compensation for loss of property for each family of refugees and otherwise a right to seek work and residency in Israel for descendants of refugees.

      4.support an economic union and mutual residency rights.

      5.advocacy for full political union on both sides of the border.

    • Ad 8.3
      28 January 2025 at 11:34 am

      Best for your blood pressure if you stop expecting fairness.

    • Tom Hunter 8.4
      30 January 2025 at 12:07 am

      Given the history how could people think a Polish government would arrest an Israeli PM?

  9. Muttonbird 9
    28 January 2025 at 10:16 am

    – An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. AP

    The mood was joyous, even though many knew their homes had been destroyed in Israeli offensives against Hamas that levelled large parts of Gaza City and the surrounding north.

    The important thing was to go back, they said, to prevent what many had feared would be a permanent expulsion from their homes.

    “By returning, we are victorious,” said Rania Miqdad, who was heading back to Gaza City with her family.

    Seems fairly important to these people to return home, rather than the Sinai Desert.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360561544/watch-drone-footage-shows-tens-thousands-palestinians-trekking-along-coast-return-gaza-ruins

    • Subliminal 9.1
      28 January 2025 at 10:56 am

      Absolutely Muttonbird. Heading north to their homes, not south to Egypt. Who wants to be a refugee let alone in a Trump world.

      Palestinians are the ultimate in steadfastness in support of their rights

      • Mike the Lefty 9.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 12:52 pm

        Trump's "suggestion" that Jordan and Egypt should take displaced Palestinians is laughable because neither wants to take them, for various reasons.

        Trump would have to make a serious offer for them to change their minds, he wouldn't be able to bully them like the Colombians.

  10. Incognito 10
    28 January 2025 at 11:31 am

    Ever wondered what workers worry about?

    https://union.org.nz/mood-of-the-workforce-2025-results/

    https://union.org.nz/something-is-very-wrong-in-our-society-and-economy-nzctu-workforce-survey-shows-people-fear-for-future/

    Should contain some fodder (aka food for thought and even a policy idea or two) for the Opposition.

  11. Incognito 11
    28 January 2025 at 11:57 am

    David Seymour is a master of doublespeak and uses classic socialist rhetoric to turn their own values against oppressed people. Anybody who still thinks that the Coalition is not fighting a class war with weapons of mass destruction such as the Treaty Principles Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill should make an urgent appointment with a specialist and stop immediately with commenting on-line.

    “Once you have an idea that relates to emancipating people and freeing them from systems that oppress them, by giving some privilege to one group at the expense of another, which the partnership principle most certainly does, then eventually the tide for human freedom, the tide that people will want to join… that idea will eventually succeed.

    https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/politics/360560301/david-seymour-says-treaty-principles-movement-will-succeed-eventually

  12. SPC 12
    28 January 2025 at 12:02 pm

    Luxon has ruled out wholesale assets sales this term. So is planning assets sales.

    He says there would be a mandate for wholesale assets sales, once the government is re-elected.

    Listening to the master of double speak on RNZ mid-day news.

  13. SPC 13
    28 January 2025 at 12:06 pm

    Meanwhile.

    IDF soldiers tend to holiday abroad after they complete their conscription (males 3 year and females 2 year conscription) – this is their OE (most then do their tertiary degree/or via their military "apprenticeship" into civilian jobs).

    When they do so, they are ex IDF.

    The reservists go back to civilian/family life.

    The permanent/careerist IDF would be older than the OE type – but the age of others who served in the IDF years back.

    How does one identify someone?

    This is a campaign to harrass tourists to force the government to visa check.

    But few would be found by government because it is not those still serving in the IDF who do OE etc.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jewish-groups-slam-hotline-for-reporting-israeli-soldiers-holidaying-in-new-zealand/EZPNFCSH6BHQPB66JQ7PFPHSVA/

    • Tiger Mountain 13.1
      28 January 2025 at 2:13 pm

      Not about still serving, but have served at all. Like ex SS that turned up in various countries after WWII including one in NZ in South Island.
      https://northandsouth.co.nz/2021/06/17/willi-huber-mt-hutt-nazi/

      • SPC 13.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 2:22 pm

        So you want all Israelis who have served in the IDF to be banned from New Zealand?

        Did we ban all those who served in the German army or Japanese army?

        • Sanctuary 13.1.1.1
          28 January 2025 at 2:57 pm

          I'd dob in an IDF soldier on holiday in a heartbeat.

          We should make it a visa requirement entry for Israelis and make service in the IDF in the last 18 months in either Gaza or the West Bank grounds for automatic rejection.

          It is interesting how the pro-Israel lobby is trying to twist this as anti-semitism. It is very disturbing how readily paticipants in a genocide are protected by the smear of anti-semitism. The so-called "uptick" in anti-semitism can entirely be put down to Israel conducting a genocide in plain sight where they've deliberately blurred the boundary between the state of Israel and being Jewish and weaponised that blurring to divert and suppress criticism of their mass slaughter of Palestinian women and children. In other words, if people are drawing less favourable opinions of Jews and their Israeli apologist spokespeople like Juliet Moses then Israelis can only blame the mirror for it.

          …Did we ban all those who served in the German army or Japanese army?…"

          We we kinda perma banned heaps of them on account of killing them. Do you propose we wage war on Israel and then decide if we want their defeated soldiers to come here on holiday once we won?

          • SPC 13.1.1.1.1
            28 January 2025 at 3:48 pm

            I'd dob in an IDF soldier on holiday in a heartbeat.

            How would you know?

            We should make it a visa requirement entry for Israelis and make service in the IDF in the last 18 months in either Gaza or the West Bank grounds for automatic rejection.

            That is it at least possible.

            Are you proposing the same for Russians who served in Ukraine?

            • Subliminal 13.1.1.1.1.1
              28 January 2025 at 4:25 pm

              Luckily theres an easy way to get the war criminal IDF and hold them to account. The Hind Rajab Foundation has collected all the uploaded videos of self flagellating IDF and have distributed them around the world using block chain protection.

              You may remember Hind. Shes the little 6 yr old girl that was trapped in a car while her patents and relations were picked off one by one.

              The Palestinian Red Crescent recorded her as they sent two paramedics to save her but of course the IDF shot the medics and Hind.

              Cases for all these psychos are being prepared and lists made of those to track. Exactly as for the SS.

              So far an IDF soldier holidaying in Cyprus and one in Brazil have needed emergency evacuation flights supplied by the Israeli Government.

              Its a great story and they onlly accept personal donations.

              Ali and Nora for Electronic Intifada interviewed Dyab Abou Jahjah, a founder of the foundation just before Ali’s trip to Switzerland.

              https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AwQFvkbPFXM&t=5s&pp=2AEFkAIB

              https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/

              • Tiger Mountain …
                28 January 2025 at 4:42 pm

                yes

                • Subliminal …
                  28 January 2025 at 5:32 pm

                  The latest tweet from the Hind Rajab Foundation:

                  There is now confirmation that Israeli minister Amichai Chikli canceled his planned visit to Belgium because of the risk of arrest linked to our legal action. Israeli Kan News reported that Israel asked Belgium whether Chikli would have immunity, and Belgium responded that he would not. By refusing to grant immunity, Belgium has upheld international law, making it clear that arrest remains a possibility. This development is a victory for accountability and a warning to those who believe they can act with impunity.

                  https://x.com/HindRFoundation/status/1883983762083676437

              • SPC …
                28 January 2025 at 4:51 pm

                We have existing sanctions against Russian individuals as per Ukraine (and can add to it).

                Cases for all these psychos are being prepared and lists made of those to track.

                If it has has verified evidence, it does the work for nation states.

            • Muttonbird 13.1.1.1.1.2
              28 January 2025 at 7:50 pm

              How would you know?

              By speaking with them.

              It’s an issue if what you say is true that young IDF conscript soldiers do a gap year in places like NZ. Probably not many of them are guilty of war crimes like Subliminal outlined @ 13.1.1.1.1.1, but they are complicit in a military apparatus which does carry out those war crimes.

              They are complicit by Israeli law (compulsory conscription) so every single Israeli person must own that because they are the people who keep voting the ethnic cleansers and murderers into power.

              • SPC …
                28 January 2025 at 9:09 pm

                It is not a full conscription, only Druze of the Arab population are conscripted (and only their men).

                It does not apply to those who migrate over age 22 and until 2024 Haredi Jews were exempt. They also exempt those in various sports and cultural activities. Thus in 2019 59% of Jewish women (there being an exemption for religious Jewish women who civil national service) and 69% of Jewish men were being drafted.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Israel

        • Tiger Mountain 13.1.1.2
          28 January 2025 at 4:44 pm

          Not about what I want, but what is some little form of justice for the slaughtered we might achieve from this distance. Sanctuary’s idea of a time window has merit.

  14. Dennis Frank 14
    28 January 2025 at 1:24 pm

    Billionaire take-down list: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/27/deepseek-billionaire-rout-nvidias-huang-and-oracles-ellison-lose-combined-48-billion/

    10 Biggest Billionaire Losers Monday

    1. Oracle chairman Larry Ellison (net worth down $27.6 billion)
    2. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ($20.8 billion)
    3. Dell CEO Michael Dell ($12.4 billion)
    4. Google cofounder Larry Page ($6.3 billion)
    5. Google cofounder Sergey Brin ($5.9 billion)
    6. Early Google investor Andreas von Bechtolsheim ($5.4 billion)
    7. Tesla CEO Elon Musk ($5.3 billion)
    8. Interactive Brokers chairman Thomas Peterffy ($4.1 billion)
    9. Broadcom chairman Henry Samueli ($3.7 billion)
    10. Broadcom cofounder Henry Nicholas III ($2.8 billion)

    Altogether now in unison – Boo Hoo!

    • Mac1 14.1
      28 January 2025 at 1:36 pm

      "Billionaires of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your gains!"

      “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!” The final three sentences of the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848,

      177 years after the Manifesto was published….has anything changed?

      • Tiger Mountain 14.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 4:42 pm

        Great first line.

        The Manifesto essence still stands despite massive change since 1848.

        This digital world may have been a shock to Marx and Engels–though they would likely have quickly pegged concentrated private ownership and the ascendency of Finance Capital (Monopoly, Bitcoin etc.).

  15. joe90 15
    28 January 2025 at 3:00 pm

    Seymour and co are using the same tactic.

    .

    @InnuendoStudios

    what are the steps you would only take if push came to shove? and what constitutes a "shove"? and how many shoves have you already gone through without noticing? the final Alt-Right Playbook is now live. it's called The South Bank of the Rubicon.

    https://xcancel.com/InnuendoStudios/status/1883878937052455382

    • joe90 15.1
      28 January 2025 at 3:27 pm

      And it's not about tRump/rimmer, it's about restoring the perceived dog-given right to be an arsehole.

      The Cruel Kids’ Table

      Among the young, confident, and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on America.

      […]

      “Six months into Biden being president, I was like, I can’t fucking do this anymore,” says a 19-year-old New Yorker who once quite literally had blue hair and attends Marymount Manhattan, which he describes as “75 percent women and 23 percent trannies.” He had supported Biden, but “I hate watching the things I say. I took a much farther horseshoe around this time.” Later, a former Bernie supporter (who looked like the most Bernie-supporting person one could imagine with long, curly hair and a plaid shirt) told me the same: He wanted the freedom to say “faggot” and “retarded.”

      “Conservatives used to be uptight, but the left has become the funless, sexless party. Not that the right is the party of sex, necessarily. We have fun,” says a 31-year-old influencer, Arynne Wexler. “What does a conservative even look like anymore?”

      https://archive.li/yGCKI (nymag)

      • tWig 15.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 6:06 pm

        Somehow those rights to be rude are not commutative. The same people must therefore be free to be openly abused in return in equivalent fashion without taking umbrage.

  16. Dennis Frank 16
    28 January 2025 at 3:21 pm

    Good question from Bomber here: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/01/28/if-trump-threatens-tariffs-if-nz-doesnt-allow-a-nuclear-ship-to-dock-in-auckland-would-luxon-fold/

    Looking at how he has been played by Winston and Seymour, you would think Luxon might fold within minutes, but then again, cometh the moment cometh the man, Luxon could shock everyone and refuse to agree.

    Like Holyoake's refusal to send our army to Vietnam, eh? Believers in the notion that left/right = good/evil always evade such subtle dimensions of our world.

    My guess is that the analogy of which way a stack of jellies eventually topples is the key to predicting Lux's spinal shifts. Essentially indeterminate, yet the inherent mutability seems strangely decisive when the topple happens. "Folks," he'll declare, "this randomly-selected trajectory is the right one for us. God's will be praised!"

    • David 16.1
      28 January 2025 at 5:31 pm

      The US Navy has nuclear powered submarines, along with the nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Neither of which are likely to visit our shores. That leaves destroyers, frigates and cruisers all of which are now conveniently powered and don’t carry nuclear weapons. Currently we are too far away from the world’s hotspots, so I doubt the issue will arise anytime soon

      • Dennis Frank 16.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 7:33 pm

        A sensible view. Trump does have a track record of doing the opposite of sensible though. He could get a thing in his head about fence-sitter nations. Binary people see the world as divided into friends & enemies and any suggestion that a tertiary category exists (neutral) rolls off lefters & righters like water off a duck's back. So if he issues an exec order to the US Navy to send a nuke-powered vessel to NZ it's odds-on that Lux's spine would collapse towards the US.

        I suppose it's remotely plausible that Lux gets good advice first, and secures an agreement with coalition partners to take the issue to a referendum. He could tell the US ambassador that unfortunately they only agreed if it was held with the next election, so it would get a proper mandate. Or not.

  17. Hunter Thompson II 17
    28 January 2025 at 4:05 pm

    Dept of Conservation is consulting on 2 proposals:

    "Modernising" the system of managing conservation lands seems to be heavily weighted towards allowing development by business (we have recently heard the PM’s speech about economic growth as the focus).

    The second document refers to the Ruataniwha case, which saw a dam on a prime Hawkes Bay trout river blocked because DoC wanted to swap conservation land for other land. DoC claimed there would be a net conservation benefit, but the Supreme Court held the deal was illegal.

    The document states (p 58):

    “The Fast-track Approvals Bill … intends to provide for land exchanges of [public conservation land] to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits. However, there is scope to consider whether the Government should have greater flexibility for exchanges and disposals more generally, beyond the scope of the Fast-track Approvals Bill.”

    This means dams and irrigation schemes can go ahead if a minister decides there is economic benefit. No need to worry about the environmental costs.

    Deadline for public submissions is 5pm, 28 Feb.

  18. Muttonbird 18
    28 January 2025 at 4:39 pm

    Breaking: Police find person with shopping trolley in Onehunga.

    More to come.

    Backstory.

    • tWig 18.1
      28 January 2025 at 6:10 pm

      ' “Since when did being ‘tough on crime’ start with shopping trolleys at the top of the shopping list of governmental priorities,” said Waititi.'

      • Muttonbird 18.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 7:07 pm

        It's broken windows policing, innit. There's more than a whiff that the homeless people using shopping trollies in Rotorua for support have recently been evicted from emergency and social housing by Uncle Tom Potaka and 'renter's advocate' Chris Bishop.

        • gsays 18.1.1.1
          28 January 2025 at 8:14 pm

          There has to be a more accurate term for this policy than broken window. Something that implies mean, spiteful, appealing to cold hearted people.

          After all the state is seeking to take property (albeit stolen) from those that have nothing, The trolleys are a shelter, a place to sleep with a nod to security.

          • Muttonbird 18.1.1.1.1
            28 January 2025 at 8:19 pm

            This is the new commissioners policy, formed in consultation with and awareness of the eviction policy set by pakeha strongman, Chris Bishop, and porch Maori, Tama Potaka.

            That they are targeting the vulnerable in Rotorua/Southern BOP having recently thrown them on the street is disgraceful.

        • Visubversa 18.1.1.2
          28 January 2025 at 9:26 pm

          The various conspiracy nutters and losers up the road from us always have a bunch of supermarket trollies outside their "affordable" accommodation. The Police are there quite regularly and the trolley recovery people on a similar schedule.

          • Muttonbird 18.1.1.2.1
            28 January 2025 at 9:32 pm

            When you, as a society, make the means of carrying the goods required for basic living out of reach of the most vulnerable then they are going to use a shopping trolly. Suck it up.

    • Muttonbird 18.2
      28 January 2025 at 7:31 pm

      Update. Not a shopping trolly but "mismatched plates" caused the multiple suburb, several car and helicopter police chase this afternoon.

      This is what the pigs are doing instead of responding to mental health and domestic violence emergencies.

      The new Police commissioner is obviously a fan of Grand Theft Auto.

  19. Populuxe 19
    28 January 2025 at 5:03 pm

    Can someone please hold my hair while I have a wee vomit.
    Mike Hosking comes out as a Trump fan. I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised a few days ago, but with everything happening it seems a strange point in the meltdown to nail your colours to that particular mast.
    Is he going to start doing the salute as well?

  20. SPC 20
    28 January 2025 at 5:18 pm

    The GOP Project 2025 turning point agenda (and here) is premised on utilising information overload to diminish reaction and resistance to revolutionary reform.

    1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" – using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual – it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.

    2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.

    3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.

    The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.

    https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219951124

  21. ianmac 21
    28 January 2025 at 5:39 pm

    So our Coalition is using the same Klein Doctrine. Sort of like a conman switching cups so quickly you get easily bluffed. It is no wonder Seymour is so confident as he swamps us so fully.

    • tWig 21.1
      28 January 2025 at 6:22 pm

      Klein merely identified it, didn't use it. As said, Goebbels was the one who cynically used it as a tool to establish and maintain the Nazi State.

      • ianmac 21.1.1
        28 January 2025 at 8:43 pm

        Thanks but the principle is the same. Pour a tirade of "stuff" over the voters so that we are unable to concert a rejection because there are so many targets.