Open mike 29/09/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 29th, 2024 - 81 comments
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81 comments on “Open mike 29/09/2024 ”

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  1. SPC 1
    29 September 2024 at 6:38 am

    Meh, little wonder they require the on-line public to have WIFI modems in the home.

    Next they will reveal they can sound surveillance the homes as well (and not just via Alexa when selected for research).

    In a recently published paper, the researchers expanded on the study of employing WiFi signals to map human movement, especially in low-light situations that make using other technologies less than desirable. They write:

    By reducing the need for the advanced—and expensive—technology, the Carnegie Mellon researchers say they can make human tracking more available.

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a42575068/scientists-use-wifi-to-see-through-walls/

  2. SPC 2
    29 September 2024 at 7:47 am

    Israeli strategy

    1.Defeat Hamas.

    2.Move to the use of Hezbollah to justify the WB occupation – based on it being an non state actor armed by Iran (which is basically out to eliminate the state of Israel).

    The war against Hezbollah

    As we just reported, both the Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza have recommitted their support for the Lebanese group in the wake of Hassan Nasrallah’s death. An alliance of Iraqi Shia militias known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) has meanwhile claimed that it carried out several new drone attacks on Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

    All three are part of a wide network of Iran-backed armed groups operating in countries across the Middle East. They are opposed to Israel and the US, and sometimes refer to themselves as the “Axis of Resistance”, though the extent of Iran’s influence over them is not clear.

    The US says co-ordination is overseen by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its overseas arm, the Quds Force.

    The meeting in south Beirut

    Iranian officials report that Abbas Nilforushan, the deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) operations, was killed in yesterday's attack in Beirut.

    Iraq

    The office of Iraq's prime minister has announced three days of mourning and said Israel has crossed "all red lines" through the killing of Nasrallah.

    Iran

    Iran's leader, far from indicating a formal Iranian response, says Hezbollah cannot be defeated by Israel

    Israeli “criminals must know that they are far too small to cause any significant damage on the strongholds of Hezbollah in Lebanon," Khamenei said adding: "All the Resistance forces in the region support and stand alongside Hezbollah."

    Lebanon

    But also, not everyone in the country is mourning the loss of Hasan Nasrallah and there’s increasing worry of provocations within the society pitting pro-Hezbollah and anti Hezbollah groups against each other.

    This fear seems to be widely shared as almost all political figures in the country have urged for national unity and warned against frictions.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c981g8mrl8lt

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-28/ty-article/senior-iran-guards-general-died-in-israeli-strike-that-killed-hezbollah-leader/00000192-390c-d93a-a5b6-3d6e58fa0000

  3. Tiger Mountain 3
    29 September 2024 at 8:44 am

    The Israeli butchers are the interlopers in the Mid East region–the created state being set up on the basis of ethnic cleansing of certain areas in 1948.

    If regional solidarity ensues to finally slap down the IDF and Zionists in the Knesset, much of the world will cheer it on. Israel is a vastly failed state in human terms and will not recover from the slaughter and destruction they have inflicted.

    • SPC 3.1
      29 September 2024 at 9:00 am

      It is a pity, no Palestinian state was established in 1948 in the WB and Gaza after they were ethnically cleared of all Jews. But the occupying nations, Jordan and Egypt, did not set one up and then leave.

    • Mikey 3.2
      29 September 2024 at 9:15 am

      Hopefully though, they will help to free Lebanon from its Hezbollah cancer.

      • koina 3.2.1
        29 September 2024 at 10:34 am

        The facts.

        Britain stole Palestine in 1919 as a trophy of war.

        The Jews illegally invaded Palestine in 1948 backed by Britain and France.

        The legitimate Palestinians were removed in a brutal wave of ethnic cleansing.

        The USA then built a massive military base in the land illegally occupied by the

        Jews to dominate 400 million Muslims.

        There is actually no war in Gaza.

        The Jewish American military is carrying out massive invasion + ethnic cleansing

        and theft of land on the false premise that they are fighting a war.

        But The Palestinians have no army no airforce and no navy.

        The terrorists in Palestine will always be the British , Jews and the Americans

        Same thing happened with the invasion of the Waikato and Taranaki .

        Whites carried out ethnic cleansing and the theft of millions acres of land

        under the false premise that they were fighting a war.

        But the reality was the Whites simply invaded because Maori would not sell.

        When is the White court going to retrospectively prosecute George Grey

        and General Duncan Cameron for ordering and carrying out the illegal invasion

        and murder of the rightful Maori owners,

        Probably the same time that the Jews are kicked out of the middle East

        and go live with their mates in North Dakota.

        White, Western Christian ignorance prejudice and power knows no bounds.

        • Ngungukai 3.2.1.1
          29 September 2024 at 11:16 am

          Like +100%

        • Stephen D 3.2.1.2
          29 September 2024 at 11:26 am

          Denying 3000 years of history. Interesting.

          • Visubversa 3.2.1.2.1
            29 September 2024 at 11:56 am

            They seem to forget everything they were taught in Sunday School about the "Crusades", the supposed "reclaiming" of the "Holy Lands" from the "Infidels".

            The lands of Palestine were among many which were captured by the Rashidun Caliphate which was at its greatest extent circa 654CE. These were Arab peoples.

            The Crusades were largely a failure.

            • Belladonna 3.2.1.2.1.1
              29 September 2024 at 2:31 pm

              If you think that the Rashidun Caliphate or any of the succeeding ones up until the Ottoman caliphate were Palestinian Arabs, you are seriously mistaken.

              • SPC …
                29 September 2024 at 6:47 pm

                Those in Palestine were not Arabs until they spoke Arabic. They then were Jewish Arabs, Christian Arabs and Moslem Arabs.

                Generally those in Palestine were northern Semites, and Arab culture was southern. Some former Hamitic language and Berber also became Arabs, as did those of Syria (Aramean and “European”) and Mesopotamia (“western” semites and others).

                Some groups kept apart a little, such as Copts in Egypt and Kurds by retaining a separate language.

                But of course “Arabians” did inter-marry with others.

              • Visubversa …
                29 September 2024 at 9:53 pm

                Well, they certainly were not Jews.

  4. tWig 4
    29 September 2024 at 8:45 am

    How many more of these migrant scams are there out there?

    Nail salons are the dodgiest of businesses, clearly many are migrant mills. I wondered how they ever made money, now I know.

    • SPC 4.1
      29 September 2024 at 9:02 am

      A classic case, selling (5 year visa jobs) and then the company – presumably without the knowledge of those it was sold to.

      • tWig 4.1.1
        29 September 2024 at 9:41 am

        How could 'nail technician' ever be a job classification for migrant importation?

        • SPC 4.1.1.1
          29 September 2024 at 9:50 am

          They received five-year work visas and contracts with Thapar’s business Diva Hair and Beauty promising full-time work paid at $29.70 an hour.

          Apparently it happened. And more, their partners had visas attached to them.

          Their husbands (who are on visas attached to their wives’ visas) have subsequently found work, but the women say that for the first few months they struggled to feed their families – they have six children between them – and had to take out further loans.

          If their visas are challenged, what happens to their partners visas?

        • koina 4.1.1.2
          29 September 2024 at 11:12 am

          So did the million Whites who invaded these lands from 1840 have work visas?

          No they did not.

          So that makes all the White descendents of the original invasion

          illegal over tayers.?

          Maybe send the Whites back to pommie land.

          Won't miss them

          • Belladonna 4.1.1.2.1
            29 September 2024 at 2:35 pm

            Gosh, did the Maori invading Aotearoa have work visas? Perhaps we'd better send them back to their point of origin as well.

            \sarc\

            • Ngungukai 4.1.1.2.1.1
              29 September 2024 at 2:41 pm

              Don't think Maaori's had a Custom's and Immigration Department in the 1840's.

              • Belladonna …
                29 September 2024 at 3:02 pm

                Neither did the government of NZ (when it was actually part of the British Empire) in the 19th century.
                Most countries didn't even have passports until the 20th century. Britain didn’t until 1915. And even then many people didn’t need one (not for travelling within the Empire)

                Trying to equate immigration across hundreds of years is an entirely futile exercise. The economic and technological environments are totally different.

                • adam …
                  29 September 2024 at 9:26 pm

                  Passports are just there to shit on working people.

                  Didn't do bugger all to stop Saudi Nationals from preforming 911 either.

                  So Belladona my question is, do you think working people should enter the country and should they be protected? And if so, do you agree we could do it with strong unions and no passports?

                  • Belladonna …
                    30 September 2024 at 9:18 am

                    Passports exist to control the movement of population. No (comparatively) wealthy country wants to be flooded with low-wage migrants. I doubt that you can point to a single first world country which doesn't require passports for legal entry.

                    The Left in NZ has been vehement on the need to restrict migrants to protect jobs and wages (and indeed housing).

                    Unions can do nothing about preventing people legally in NZ acquiring jobs. Doesn't matter how 'strong' they are. All that could happen is an illegal economy, with the migrants being exploited.

                    So, do I think that people with minimal qualifications should be automatically be entitled to migrate to NZ? Absolutely not.

                    Do I think that people with qualifications which are badly needed in NZ (and who are not political nutcases – since you brought up 9/11) – should gain residency and eventually citizenship? Absolutely.

            • koina 4.1.1.2.1.2
              29 September 2024 at 7:53 pm

              These lands were empty so Maori had every right to live here.

              Its like saying the Americans needed visas to go to the moon.

              Typical racist White garbage comment

              • mpledger …
                29 September 2024 at 11:37 pm

                It's "white" laws that make it "lawful" for Māori to have the "right" to live here because it was empty when they arrived here. Do you get the irony?

                Your ideas (and spelling) seem to come from a very European mindset.

        • Ngungukai 4.1.1.3
          29 September 2024 at 11:25 am

          How does a Stay at Home Mum become Minister of Finance ???

          • Belladonna 4.1.1.3.1
            29 September 2024 at 2:36 pm

            No idea who you're referring to. Perhaps you could clarify.

            • Ngungukai 4.1.1.3.1.1
              29 September 2024 at 2:42 pm

              Check Minister of Finance National Party

              • Belladonna …
                29 September 2024 at 2:50 pm

                Nicola Willis:

                After graduation, she worked as a research and policy advisor for Bill English and as a senior advisor to John Key in 2008. In 2012, Willis joined dairy co-operative Fonterra in a lobbyist role. She was later a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand.

                Willis was a director of the New Zealand Initiative, a pro-free-market public-policy Atlas Network linked think tank, from May 2016 until February 2017.

                She entered parliament in 2018.

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

                Not that I think there is anything wrong with being a SAHM – but you don't seem to have your facts correct in this case.

                • mikesh …
                  29 September 2024 at 3:48 pm

                  Not that I think there is anything wrong with being a SAHM – but you don't seem to have your facts correct in this case.

                  Quite right. But what about this:

                  New Zealand Initiative, a pro-free-market public-policy Atlas Network linked think tank,

                  I don't think that would be appropriate for a progeessive finance minister.

                • Ngungukai …
                  30 September 2024 at 6:38 am

                  Another Atlas Network Disciple. Looks like the Atlas Network and Hobson's Pledge are well entrenched in this NACT1st Government.

  5. Bearded Git 5
    29 September 2024 at 9:52 am

    Interesting that the NZ Herald today gives little or no coverage to the massive demo in Dunedin yesterday.

    This is a seriously out-of-touch government, and its backers are seriously out-of-touch too.

    I wonder if Winston will read the runes and pull the plug when Seymour becomes deputy PM, citing the ferries, Dunedin hospital etc etc?

    • Tiger Mountain 5.1
      29 September 2024 at 10:07 am

      The mid term Deputy PM handover to Act always seemed a pinch point for CoC.

      The Māori world has a degree of unity not seen for years, and the wider community is starting to get its act together as the magnificent Dunedin turnout showed. I am wondering about the planned Whangārei hospital, approved on then Labour MP Emily Henderson’s watch being compromised or ditched also–with Dr Cigaretti being the local MP.

      Even lower paid tories, of which there are many including the boomer bubble on pensions, need public health care and the option to viably travel inter Island.

    • AB 5.2
      29 September 2024 at 11:33 am

      I doubt that Peters would blow up the coalition that early. His talent is for reading the public mood and swimming with the tide in order to remain almost permanently on the governing side. It is only from Government that he gets the rewards he wants (see Sanctuary at 6 below). He will be watching the polls, hearing what people are saying and keeping his powder dry for the right moment. And if that moment doesn't arrive, he'll stay right where he is.

      Polling shows that this government has not increased or decreased in popularity since the election – at some point I'd expect it to start moving one way or the other. Peters will be watching for that movement and his usually superb political instinct will kick in.

      • Belladonna 5.2.1
        29 September 2024 at 2:46 pm

        I dislike Peters and his thoroughly self-serving politics – however, I think you are absolutely right about his unmatched political survival instincts.

      • Bearded Git 5.3.1
        29 September 2024 at 10:46 pm

        Bella-I went to the Herald site today, about 10 am this morning, and could see nothing in the headlines or further down the page in relation to the massive protest in Dunedin…that is my point.

        I'm sure if you were willing to spend some time looking for it you would have found it.

        My point is that it should have been top of the list of headlines screaming something like "Huge demonstration in Dunedin against National U-turn on hospital development".

        A demonstration of this size, brought together in a couple of days, is amazing.

        I went to the demo in Wanaka which was organised in one day and 300 people attended. This is unheard of in Wanaka.

    • Jilly Bee 5.4
      29 September 2024 at 4:50 pm

      Of course they wouldn't BG – at the other end of the country, out of sight, out of mind to them. They did have a very snarky, vindictive (par for the course) op ed by their fav Heather du Plessis-Allan about the Commissioner of Police's early retirement. Completely predictable from her, she is obviously a great fan of 'Mercinary Mark Mitchell', who in her words will do the right thing and make sure a 'suitable' successor to Andrew Coster is appointed. It's a thoroughly pathetic piece of writing, which is behind the Herald's paywall. There are today 260 comments on the article and fortunately, not all of them are singing from the same hymn sheet, which is a refreshing change from the same old, same old NACT accolytes who regularly sing the praises of this Government, while, of course deriding everything the last Government did.

    • Ngungukai 5.5
      29 September 2024 at 5:40 pm

      NZ Herald is Right Wing Tory Rag they are not going to publish anything which will upset their paying subscribers.

  6. Sanctuary 6
    29 September 2024 at 10:16 am

    The problem for Winston is if he pulls the plug, where does that leave him and NZ First? His entire political project is about the treasures and pleasures that accrue from power and being wooed by interest groups and industry suitors.

    Labour's path back to government, at least as long as Peter's remains in politics, is through NZ First and the Greens. The only way Peter's and Labour can conceivably contrive a credible rapprochement would be for Labour to first get a new leader who can pretend they had nothing big to do with the Ardern era and is way more popular than Hipkins.

    • koina 6.1
      29 September 2024 at 11:03 am

      For the past 75 years NZ has had a very predictable voting pattern .

      Governments are voted out by voters believing the incumbent Government

      has lost the plot and the opposition have all the answers.

      Stupid yes but that's just how it is,

      National has got 9 years minimum and Labour a mix of 3 years (twice) 6 years

      (twice ) and 9 years once,

      I believe that pattern will change slightly with National getting just 6 years this time.

      So Labour will win back power in a landslide in 2029.

      NZ First wont' be needed and will probably be defunct by then any way.

      Room for another right wing nutter party to fill the void

      maybe born again Christians or a disenfranchised White male hunting rifle party.

      So what to do in opposition for another five years?

      The Maori hate and minority bashing will remain but have less impact.

      Gradually shift the blame for all problems onto the coalition.

      Promise easy quick painless solutions for every thing.

      People never ask for details they just see the goodies.

      So the way I see it Labour walks to victory in 2029 and reverses

      all of Nationals evil policies.

      So between now and then just sit back grab a beer/wine and watch the

      coalition slowly and inexorably self destruct.

      Hell yeah

      • Cricklewood 6.1.1
        29 September 2024 at 11:43 am

        Wouldnt hold your breath on Labour reversing anything.

      • Ngungukai 6.1.2
        29 September 2024 at 11:49 am

        Can't see Labour making any changes until 2029, they appear to be rudderless at present.

      • Belladonna 6.1.3
        29 September 2024 at 2:38 pm

        Dear me, do you see TPM as entirely pointless? They seem to have no place in your political analysis.

        • Ngungukai 6.1.3.1
          29 September 2024 at 5:44 pm

          TMP need to focus on the broader General Public and get their message across that they are a Party for all New Zealanders not just Left Wing Radical Maaori's which the NZ Press portray them as, some good well educated people within TMP.

          • Cricklewood 6.1.3.1.1
            29 September 2024 at 8:57 pm

            Tbh of late based on their mps comments theyre more or less a seperatist party. I dont feel that they offer a way foward for all the people who now call NZ home. Understandable on one hand depressing on the other.

            The left used to unite us now it feels like it it focuses more on our differences than what we have in common

        • koina 6.1.3.2
          29 September 2024 at 7:43 pm

          National ACT NZF Labour Greens are entirely pointless. Full of racist whites

          • Ngungukai 6.1.3.2.1
            29 September 2024 at 7:46 pm

            TPM the only party for Non Racist New Zealander's white, brown, black, yellow, pink and all the different shades in between ???

    • Ngungukai 6.2
      29 September 2024 at 11:18 am

      I don't think the School Boy Sausage Roll Salesman is cutting the mustard.

    • Ngungukai 6.3
      29 September 2024 at 11:24 am

      Winston and NZ1st need to get their act's together otherwise NZ is stuffed, Winston despite being part Maaori needs to back off on his racist anti-Maaori agenda. He is still bitter over the NZF Maaori Tight Five who abandoned him in 1990's, which caused the collapse of the National/NZF Coalition Government. Maaori supported NZF in the First MMP Election however have since abandoned him with his racist anti-Maaori agenda.

      • Belladonna 6.3.1
        29 September 2024 at 2:41 pm

        "part Maori" Really? Shall we start the stupid blood quantum argument again?

        You don't get to deny someone's ancestry simply because you disagree with their politics.

        • koina 6.3.1.1
          29 September 2024 at 7:46 pm

          Peters is a white ar## licker and can not speak a word of Te Reo

          Im Maori speak Maori and grew up with Maoritanga.

          Are you a fluent maori speaker?

          • Cricklewood 6.3.1.1.1
            29 September 2024 at 9:01 pm

            Given the generation he grew up and went to school in I wouldnt hold it against him.

          • Belladonna 6.3.1.1.2
            30 September 2024 at 9:04 am

            Oh, well then, if the only people who are allowed to be 'Maori' are those who speak Maori, grew up with Maoritanga, and vote the way you want them to – the numbers of 'Maori' in NZ are about to take a serious dive.

        • Ngungukai 6.3.1.2
          29 September 2024 at 8:16 pm

          Winston is the one who frequently uses the word "blood quantum's" I believe.

    • Ngungukai 6.4
      29 September 2024 at 2:39 pm

      Winston and NZ1st will be history if he pulls the plug too early, he needs to position himself as a moderate David Seymore to attract the Right White Vote & the anti Covid Vaccine Nutter's, his traditional main support base over 70's are mostly pushing up the daisies.

    • Belladonna 6.5
      29 September 2024 at 2:44 pm

      Labour to first get a new leader who can pretend they had nothing big to do with the Ardern era and is way more popular than Hipkins.

      Which is likely to happen, regardless of whatever political situation NZF find themselves in. So long as the new leader isn't part of the senior leadership team from the Ardern years, everyone can forget they were part of the government (just as they did with Clark being part of the Lange/Douglas cabinet)

  7. Hunter Thompson II 7
    29 September 2024 at 2:26 pm

    The government has just announced plans to reform NZ's "cumbersome" system of building consents. One suggestion is to reduce the number of building consent authorities around the country.

    I can see the sense in consolidating the structure if that leads to consistency of decision-making and better enforcement of required standards. However, everything depends on how the system is administered (remote inspections being one area that could give problems).

    The question of liability for defective work will also be looked at.

    • Ngungukai 7.1
      29 September 2024 at 2:35 pm

      Anyone remember the Leaky Homes Saga ??? What an organized Cock Up that was, hopefully we don't have a repeat ???

  8. Bruce 8
    29 September 2024 at 2:56 pm

    Leaky buildings have never gone away there is Merchant Quarter " Full extent of defects in New Lynn’s high-rise Merchant Quarter (built 2014): Building is leaky, has structural defects, corroded steel work, a "significant" crack on a pre-cast floor unit, issues with the roof and decks, deterioration on fixtures holding exterior panels and fire protection defects " https://www.reddit.com/r/auckland/comments/1e481hs/full_extent_of_defects_in_new_lynns_highrise/?rdt=42770

    The council still gives code of compliance to silicone flashings. And decks level with inside floors

    • Ngungukai 8.1
      29 September 2024 at 3:05 pm

      Obviously our Building Industry is not learning anything from our previous mistakes OMG, we really are going down a slippery slope.

    • Belladonna 8.2
      29 September 2024 at 3:13 pm

      Another reason why people are justifiably cautious about buying into apartment developments.

      • Bruce 8.2.1
        29 September 2024 at 4:15 pm

        Yes and information is hard to find, real estate advertising is a reward not to be jeopardised. Although the use of "Award Winning" is a pretty reliable red flag.

        • Cricklewood 8.2.1.1
          29 September 2024 at 9:07 pm

          Yep I got stung by hidden info basically non minuted commitee meetings and luckily got out early enough that it wasnt completely fatal. 5 years later theres still plastic up and costs went from around 50k to 150k per unit. Cant touch the people who hid the issues as the bc committee is an unpaid roll so very limited if any liability. When I sold I gave the agent everything I had to cover my arse down the line.

    • Hunter Thompson II 8.3
      29 September 2024 at 6:00 pm

      We need a national register of potentially leaky buildings, maybe? That will never happen, of course, so it's buyer be very wary indeed.

      The fire safety aspect is also an issue. One media report suggests apartments built from 1995 to 2005 never complied with regulations at all: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/major-apartment-fire-hazards-revealed/2H7XZPALXD4QKCLD3VMLUCU6G4/

      • Belladonna 8.3.1
        30 September 2024 at 9:40 am

        We need a national register of potentially leaky buildings, maybe?

        Not saying this is a bad idea. But, given the outrage over the Councils recording climate change risks on LIMs, and the fuss there has been over the EQ downgrades in Wellington – it would be a major political fight.

        The way that developers just wind up the development company after the project is completed – removing all possibility of them being held accountable, is a really, really bad idea in the construction industry.

        I'd like to see mandatory build insurance – as they have in Switzerland. The development company and/or builders are required to take out insurance against poor quality building practices. Given the legendary hard-headedness of insurance companies, developers/builders who are poor risks, can't get insurance, and go out of business. Gets rid of a whole lot of fly-by-night developers, putting up crap buildings as cheaply as possible, in order to pocket the maximum profit.

        If I were in the buying game (which I'm not), I'd only consider apartments from a very few, highly reputable developers. Of course, everyone else does the same – so these apartments are much higher priced.

  9. Hunter Thompson II 9
    29 September 2024 at 7:12 pm

    A fine of $305,900 has been imposed after a Waikato farming company and its officers were convicted of dumping dairy effluent in a waterway.

    That sort of behaviour kind of destroys the warm, environmentally friendly image Country Calendar tries to create, doesn't it?