Open mike 31/07/2024

63 comments on “Open mike 31/07/2024 ”

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1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1

   31 July 2024 at 8:50 am

   Willis the gambler. IMO gambling with our future….but anyway..those tax cuts just have to be paid for.

   Nicola Willis backs online gambling tax numbers 'estimates of the black market are good'

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/496986/nicola-willis-backs-online-gambling-tax-numbers-estimates-of-the-black-market-are-good

   Must. give.tax.cuts. Wont someone think of the landlords?

   Willis vows to press on with tax cuts as government books worsen

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/505168/willis-vows-to-press-on-with-tax-cuts-as-government-books-worsen

   Uh oh…

   IRD predicts government's casino tax plan will bring in less money than forecast

   Inland Revenue predicts the government's plans to raise money from online casinos will bring in much less money than National had costed for in the campaign.

   It leaves National's costings more than half a billion dollars off what IRD is predicting.

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/511740/ird-predicts-government-s-casino-tax-plan-will-bring-in-less-money-than-forecast

   So lets auction it. Or something….

   Government to auction off licences for online casinos

   https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/523613/government-to-auction-off-licences-for-online-casinos

   Do Willis and CoC crew know what they are doing? (there isnt a single answer to this : )
2. Mac1 2

   31 July 2024 at 9:21 am

   A Facebook post today from a friend who is a former National party electorate chairman. He quite rightly sarcastically posted a photo of a packet of bread buns that instead of costing $2 was reduced to clear at $1.99!

   Doing the sums on this I found that this saving at 0.005% is the same that a superannuation couple receives as a $4.30 tax break on a current weekly payment of $799.

   0.005% Massive generosity from this government.
   • Macro 2.1

     31 July 2024 at 9:34 am

     Well that's a cup of tea a fortnight! What more do you want? 😉
     • Mac1A 2.1.1

       31 July 2024 at 9:53 am

       Please, sir, a biscuit?

       🙂
       • weka 2.1.1.1

         31 July 2024 at 12:13 pm

         please fix username on next comment.
     • Mac1 2.1.2

       31 July 2024 at 9:54 am

       Please, sir, a biscuit?

       🙂
       • Macro 2.1.2.1

         31 July 2024 at 11:15 am

         You'll have to wait another week to save up for that! Those shortbread don't grow on trees you know.
   • Drowsy M. Kram 2.2

     31 July 2024 at 10:16 am

     0.005% or 0.5% saving? Either way, our CoC govt is ripping the guts out of NZ, and hamstringing Kiwis to bolster the revenue streams of NAct party donors. NZ is a cash cow to be milked dry – no mess, no fuss, no future – it's all going according to plan.

     Why New Zealand political donations have more than tripled [29 July 2024]
     Now we know
     The truth is, political parties probably aren't getting a whole lot more in donations than they have in the past. It's just that they're now required to tell us much more about what's coming in.
     …
     Overall, National, ACT and NZ First – the parties that formed a coalition government – received twice the amount of total donation cash as Labour, Te Pāti Māori and the Greens combined.
     …
     One of the recommendations in an independent review of the electoral system published in November is to put a cap on the amount a person can donate to any single party. The recommendation was to impose a $30,000 limit over the three-year electoral cycle.

     This is a higher limit than Canada or Ireland, which restrict donations to $2000 and $4400, respectively.

     Limiting what wealthy donors can give would incentivise parties to fundraise in a different way, Rashbrooke says. Instead of courting a small number of wealthy individuals, parties would need to reach a broad swathe of New Zealanders. "I think a well-run political finance system is based around large numbers of people giving small amounts of money."

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_polarization#Pernicious_polarization
     • Bearded Git 2.2.1

       31 July 2024 at 10:25 am

       There should definitely be a limit on donations.

       A $5k limit per annum per political party would be OK, so long as this was declared for all to see. If it came from a trust then the beneficiaries must be named.

       There are not that many generous people in the top 5% so this would level the playing field between Left and Right to a large extent.
     • Mac1 2.2.2

       31 July 2024 at 10:31 am

       You are right. Forgot to multiply by a hundred! 1 divided by 200 multiplied by 100 gives 0.05%. $4.30 divided by $799 multiplied by a hundred gives 0.53%

       You're right about small donations. I've given a small regular donation since 1981. Then, the sum of $200 pa was equivalent to that now of $700. I'll have to alter that or else the donation is equivalent to less than the $4.30 that Luxon/Willis have given us superannuitants so generously….
       • Drowsy M. Kram 2.2.2.1

         31 July 2024 at 10:54 am

         Self-serving Luxon/Willis et al. are expediting 'generosity' austerity – stay well.
         • Mac1 2.2.2.1.1

           31 July 2024 at 11:39 am

           Thanks for the health wishes. I am coincidentally in day three of covid ……..
3. gsays 3

   31 July 2024 at 10:30 am

   The Wobblies were an international worker's union.

   Early 20th century.

   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World

   There is also this movie, sorry it’s on FB, I couldn’t find another free source.

   https://www.facebook.com/MyLaborTalk/videos/the-wobblies/375331150736625/

   With the rise and rise of globalism, us paying a global price for our milk and dairy products, it's time for a global union and a global wage.

   Funny how the 'globalists' leave a world wage out of the narrative.
   • Ad 3.1

     31 July 2024 at 10:52 am

     The best way New Zealand can stop the accelerated public sector brain drain to Australia is to have labour laws and strengthened unions that enable very similar conditions between the two countries.

     Australian worker benefits+protections are a massive competitive advantage against us.

     And it is fully within the power of any current or future government to fix.
     • gsays 3.1.1

       31 July 2024 at 11:49 am

       "And it is fully within the power of any current or future government to fix."

       How? Beyond compulsory unionism?

       Every migrant and seasonal worker should be in the union, at their employer's expense.
       • Ad 3.1.1.1

         31 July 2024 at 2:04 pm

         Multiple Employer Agreements, to start with.
     • roblogic 3.1.2

       31 July 2024 at 2:03 pm

       Hello from BrizVegas. The vibe here is way better than depressing NZ, as is the weather. The government and the people want to actually build stuff for the future. Housing is more affordable. Public transport is going down to 50c per trip tomorrow!

       Lots more jobs around too. Fingers crossed that I can nab one soon. I was going backwards in Auckland
       • James Simpson 3.1.2.1

         31 July 2024 at 4:43 pm

         Although I don't doubt your personal experience, the general differences between Brisbane and Auckland are not profound.

         You tend to win some and lose some depending on what cost line you are looking at.

         https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/interactives/costofliving/compare/auckland-vs-brisbane/
         • roblogic 3.1.2.1.1

           31 July 2024 at 7:14 pm

           The economic outlook for NZ is custard. QLD is on a growth trajectory.
     • Psycho Milt 3.1.3

       31 July 2024 at 6:21 pm

       So true, and you will never, ever see employer organisations or the mainstream media phrase it that way. Nor will you ever see their response: "Sure, but as long as we can import skilled workers from India or the Philippines, why should we care?"
4. Ad 4

   31 July 2024 at 10:49 am

   I'm having Portia Woodman withdrawals already
   • SPC 4.1

     31 July 2024 at 2:29 pm

     There is the World Cup 15's in 2025 and 7's in 2026. Olympics again 2028.

     They'll raid one or two 15's wingers for 2026-2028.

     One wonders if any of the loose forwards can replace Hirini?
5. Champaign Sociialist 5

   31 July 2024 at 11:44 am

   Anyone follow UK politics? – astonishing to hear new Labour UK Finance Minister sounding almost identical to our right wing NZ government.
   Unfunded spending commitments, hidden budget overspends, inherited financial disaster etc all blamed on the previous government.

   And what is the remedy? – can you guess? Freezing or abandoning significant infrastructure projects including hospital upgrades, spending cuts across departments and, of course, the old chestnut – getting the unemployed back to work.

   It's sounds so much like the current NZ government as to almost be the same script – that just seems odd. WTF is going on? What happened to Keynesian economics? Why do governments pretend they are beholden to the bond market in order enact austerity that isn't necessary?
   • weka 5.1

     31 July 2024 at 12:12 pm

     please fix your username on next comment
   • Bearded Git 5.2

     31 July 2024 at 12:16 pm

     Starmer is no socialist. Owen Jones, one of his fiercer critics, is brilliant as ever in the Guardian today.

     https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/30/labour-gaza-voters-party-muslim
     • Mike the Lefty 5.2.1

       31 July 2024 at 12:39 pm

       Starmer rightly described the horror of innocent children being pointlessly and savagely attacked and murdered in a Southport creche.

       The same thing happens everyday in Gaza, but seldom rates a mention.
       • Bearded Git 5.2.1.1

         31 July 2024 at 2:22 pm

         Exactly Mike….+100
   • roblogic 5.3

     31 July 2024 at 2:05 pm

     Starmer is a totally bought neoliberal, that's the only reason the oligarchs let him take power
6. joe90 6

   31 July 2024 at 12:15 pm

   War criminal William Calley is dead.

   https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/us/william-calley-dead.html

   https://archive.li/3yJmb

   Some GIs, however, didn't hesitate to use their bayonets.
   Nineteen-year-old Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tuyet told a reporter
   that she watched a baby trying to open her slain mother's
   blouse to nurse. A soldier shot the infant while' it was struggling
   with the blouse, and then slashed at it with his bayonet. Tuyet
   also says she saw another baby hacked to death by GIs wielding
   their bayonets.
   le Tong, a rice farmer, reported seeing one woman raped
   after GIs killed her children, Nguyen Khoa, a peasant, told of a
   thirteen-year-old girl who was raped before being killed, GIs
   then attacked Khoa's wife, he said, tearing off her clothes. Be-
   ,fore they could rape her, however, Khoa said, their six-year-old
   son, riddled with bullets, fell and saturated her with blood. The
   GIs left her alone.

   • Seymour Hirsch, May 1970 https://t.co/wa2l3F2491 (pdf)
   • aj 6.1

     31 July 2024 at 3:40 pm

     Some things don't change with the ages.

     Harrowing.

     Winter Soldier

     This landmark documentary chronicles a 1971 meeting during which more than 100 American veterans spoke publicly at a Detroit motel about the inhumanity and brutality of the Vietnam War. Attempting to add context to the recently uncovered My Lai Massacre of 1968, the soldiers, a group that includes future Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry, recall witnessing atrocities committed against Vietnamese soldiers, unarmed civilians, children and prisoners of war.
   • Psycho Milt 6.2

     31 July 2024 at 6:25 pm

     When you see Useful Idiots claiming there's no proof Hamas raped anyone during Al Aqsa Flood, keep the above testimony in your mind. Men who casually murder people are also likely to rape their female victims (sometimes even the male ones), it's a given.
     • lprent 6.2.1

       31 July 2024 at 10:37 pm

       Sure. For exactly the same reason that the IDF doesn't allow any unsupervised outside observers in either Gaza or the West Bank. Poorly disciplined troops like Hamas brigades or Islamic Jihad or most of the Israeli Defence Force are well known for it if poorly supervised.

       They don't want evidence of war crimes or rapist wet dick syndrome.

       If we assume that it is proportional to the numbers of civilians killed then there are probably at least a 30 fold number of rapists in this conflict in the IDF compared to the Hamas and other groups that went over the border.

       So PM – are you a useful idiot for the Israelis? Because that is exactly what it sounds like to me. Because I believe based just on what we can see that, that the ethics of IDF soldiers shooting children from cover probably directly translates to them being rapists. One type of crime is symptomatic of another happening.

       I'd point out that there is extremely little evidence that the IDF rear echelon has much control over their soldiers. They have 'orders' and absolutely no significiant evidence of any discipline going on to enforce compliance. The only discipline shows up when they kill aid workers on media cameras, after the fact and with what amounts to a slap on the wrist. Same for the mounting evidence about torture in detention by Israeli troops.

       But I'd expect that you will just go on your hypocritical way completely ignoring the evidence of routine atrocities being committed in both Gaza and the West Bank against civilians by the IDF and armed Israeli settlers. From what I can see of your ethics, they mirror that of the piss-poor ethics of the ill-disciplined IDF.

       Not to mention the strong evidence of rapist guards and soldiers in the military detention prisons over decades. Somehow no-one ever either investigates or prosecutes any of those.

       FFS PM – you really are the master of the double standard or selective blindness.
       • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.1

         1 August 2024 at 8:48 am

         All armies include rapists, in that they're mostly made up of men. I don't recall claiming any special exemption from that for the IDF. I do argue that Hamas terrorists' glee at hunting down and killing unarmed civilians in cold blood suggests they're unlikely to have any qualms about raping their victims, but that says nothing about the IDF.
         • weka 6.2.1.1.1

           1 August 2024 at 9:26 am

           All armies include rapists, in that they're mostly made up of men.

           Yes, but the issue here is which armies are raping with impunity. Seems reasonable to say that both Hamas and IDF are doing this, and the culpability is with both the soldiers and their command.

           Also seems reasonable to say that supports on both sides have levels of denial that their own side does this, to the point that women are thrown under the bus thrice over.
           • lprent 6.2.1.1.1.1

             1 August 2024 at 10:53 am

             Also seems reasonable to say that supports on both sides have levels of denial that their own side does this, to the point that women are thrown under the bus thrice over.

             I agree. But there are important differences.

             There almost appears to have been a deliberate use of rape allegations as manufactured propaganda by the Israelis in particular alleging use of deliberate rape as a weapon of war. None of that particular allegation appears to have been substantiated.

             There was definitely rape on October 7th in Israel. However many of the allegations are simply deliberate bullshit and have been belatedly acknowledged as such, and in effect taint the actual instances of rape. Most appears to have been opportunistic.

             A number of allegations appear to have been deliberately fabricated – especially by members of ZAKA when they were first on the scene with victims.

             Most potential rapes were forensically poorly documented. Many amount to simple supposition based on state of dress, wounds, and bleeding. Speaking as a ex-army medic, there is this thing about getting violently killed – people wind up bleeding out in unexpected ways.

             There were also a number of confessions by captives – which have been strongly tainted by evidence and allegations of forced confession via torture. Again tainting all such evidence.

             The Israeli government propaganda responses about rape at October 7th should be regarded as a crime in themselves because of the way that they were handled. In effect they spun allegations of systematic rape as a weapon of war themselves. In particular their attempts to close down attempts by Israeli family members to point out the discrepancies.

             But there are also reasonably extensive allegations of rape on October 7th that have been reasonably substantiated. (see my link at the bottom). The real problem for me is that the use of false propaganda about rapes by the Israelis makes it difficult to identify which are valid and which are not. Most of it appears to be opportunistic, which doesn’t excuse it.

             //—-

             The released hostages have instances of rape recorded, and the evidence collected. Again it appears to be less systematic than opportunistic.

             //—-

             The IDF and Israeli government don't exactly cover themselves with credibility about rape. They have deliberately blocked all attempts over decades in occupied areas to have outside observers investigate rape, torture and other allegations against their troops and jailers in the areas where they exert occupational and operational control

             There have been few if any investigations against IDF soldiers for almost anything, no court martial's that I am aware of for rape – which is in itself suspicious, and no ability to take civil suits. The few lawyers defending people in or taken into custody are routinely denied any information even about the details of their clients alleged acts because of 'security' considerations. Prisoners may be held almost indefinitely without ever going in front of a trial or finding out what they are alleged to have done.

             In essence the behaviour of the IDF and Israeli government is furtive, secretive, protective and seems to have been deliberately designed to avoid any consequences to their soldiers for their behaviour against a captive population.

             Even the current allegations about rape against a number of soldiers against a prisoner in detention during obvious torture looks bloody suspicious. One incident suddenly gets highly publicised and the IDF takes strong action? I just wonder what propaganda merchant decided that the IDF needed a face lift.

             The IDF is probably the most hypocritical and unethical military that I have ever looked at. Because when you look at the difference between how they want to be seen and what they appear to be doing, the stench of extreme systematic coverup wafts strong.

             Because of that I expect that they have a very large institutionalised rape based culture towards the people that they hold captive. It fits the pattern of a deliberate usage of rape, torture, and indefinite imprisonment as a tool of occupation. I’d expect that its use as tool of war is also happening.

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_and_gender-based_violence_in_the_2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israel

             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_and_gender-based_violence_against_Palestinians_during_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war
           • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.1.1.2

             1 August 2024 at 7:06 pm

             Yes, but the issue here is which armies are raping with impunity.

             I think they all are. It's rare for soldiers to face punishment for rape during conflicts.

             What prompted me to post in response to joe90 was the many social-media examples I've seen of outrage by western leftists at the idea Hamas terrorists raped women during Al Aqsa Flood. The fact that these men joyfully hunted down and murdered in cold blood Jews or their "collaborators" while shouting "God is great" and videoing the murders and/or subsequent corpse mutilation for posterity doesn't strike them as a problem, but gods forbid you should suggest the men involved were also guilty of rape. It's a mindset I can't understand, and no amount of blather about the IDF is relevant to it.
         • lprent 6.2.1.1.2

           1 August 2024 at 9:58 am

           I do argue that Hamas terrorists' glee at hunting down and killing unarmed civilians in cold blood..

           So deliberately dropping unguided or semi-guided 2000lb Mk84 bombs on whole apartment blocks after 'giving warning' to civilians over non-existent cell networks is better and less cold-blooded? The crater at about 50 metres, blast and debris effect effect goes out for lethally for about 400 metres.

           The US shipped about 14,000 of those to enhance the IDF's existing stockpile after Oct 7th. From the complaining from Israel to the US, it sounds like they used most of them up on Gaza.

           Or doing artillery or rocket strikes in a heavily built up area with high density is less cold-blooded murder? Or the documented sniper attacks on chilren and the elderly trying to evacuate or to scrounge for food is less cold-blooded.

           The documented deaths in Gaza exceed 39,000 and wounded of greater than 83,000. But that is certainly an under-count. I'd anticipate that when the death counts are done post war, while pulling bodies out of rubble, will be more than 100 thousand.

           You'll notice that the IDF doesn't provide any estimates of casualties. That is because they appear to be doing a cold-blooded genocide. It operates exactly like the Warsaw ghetto in 1942 by the SS. Bomb and shell the shit out of mainly civilians while hunting for 'terrorists'. Starve the entire population with a blockade. Destroy all public health.

           The end-game send the shattered remainder off to death camps. Which I wouldn't put past the butchers in the Knesset.

           Frankly the "Hamas terrorists' glee at hunting down and killing unarmed civilians in cold blood…" – well that sounds way less cold-blooded than the mass destruction attacks that the IDF and Israeli barbarians have been performing in their mass-murders of civilians.

           I don't recall claiming any special exemption from that for the IDF.

           Nah, you only mentioned the actions of one side in the conflict. That is exactly what blatant hypocrites do. So how much murder does it take to rouse your conscience? Will you still be silent when the Israeli death camps start operating?
           • Drowsy M. Kram 6.2.1.1.2.1

             1 August 2024 at 11:46 am

             So deliberately dropping unguided or semi-guided 2000lb Mk84 bombs on whole apartment blocks after 'giving warning' to civilians over non-existent cell networks is better and less cold-blooded?

             Characterising those who drop bombs as war heros (as long as they're on 'our' side), and 'suicide bombers' as cowards, always seemed superficial and not-so-oddly self-serving to me. Maybe if the cowardly nations had military–industrial complexes capable of manufacturing and delivering unguided/semi-guided 2000lb Mk84 bombs, then their soldiers could be heros too.

             I am, however, glad most ‘cowardly custard’ nations don't have ‘advanced’ MICs (keeps them in their places) – just imagine if the 'playing field' was level.
           • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.1.2.2

             1 August 2024 at 7:17 pm

             So deliberately dropping unguided or semi-guided 2000lb Mk84 bombs on whole apartment blocks after 'giving warning' to civilians over non-existent cell networks is better and less cold-blooded? The crater at about 50 metres, blast and debris effect effect goes out for lethally for about 400 metres.

             You bet I'm saying that. I also don't have any problem stating publicly that what the Einsatzgruppen did to the Jews of Latvia was morally worse than what the British did to the people of Caen, and it's beyond me that anyone might fail to discern a difference.

             I do concede the analogy doesn't quite hold up, in that, unlike members of the Al Qassam brigades, the members of the Einsatzgruppen generally didn't like the job they'd been given and their government certainly didn't want to publicise it.
             • lprent …

               1 August 2024 at 11:54 pm

               Explains a lot about your extremely limited level of ethics. Clearly you don't actually value human life. Sounds like you'd be a good candidate for the IDF if you were younger.

               The deaths and injuries are exactly the same on the ground regardless of of how they are made. Victims seldom differentiate between being shot or bombed of shelled. Ask anyone who has ever been on the ground. Or just go to the war memorial museum libraries and do some reading.

               ..the members of the Einsatzgruppen generally didn't like the job they'd been given..

               Well I wasn't talking about Einsatzgruppen. However your knowledge appears to be as shallow as your standards of ethics. But I'll bite – with easy links.

               Not apparent from either their recruitment, what journals were used in evidence or from the evidence collected later. The Einsatzgruppen were a largely non-military (they were SD) and selected for their extremist racist beliefs. In any population you can find pyschopaths, sociopaths, and xenophobes if you'd willing to dig enough. Often from prisons or racist groups.

               As a group they were given nominal military status so that they could compel support from military units. There were always limited number of them available from German and Austrian sources. So they tended to selectively recruit similarly minded disturbed people, often from prisons in the areas that they went into before leaving.

               Latvia was pretty standard. The Einsatzgruppen as group were only there for a short period before moving into Russian territory. They left behind local organisations that did most of the dirty work for them under the control of a few officers.

               So far Israel and the IDF haven't descended to that level – yet. However there is a noticeable grouping of people with the required mental diseases growing from some of the settler enclaves.

               Also the Netzah Yehuda Battalion self-selected from the settler areas which has been acting more like brigade of brownshirt thugs than soldiers. They haven't quite been sanctioned. Apparently IDF commanders want to disband them because they are ineffectual in combat. But the current dickhead running security in the cabinet seems to require them as a personal force.

               Warsaw ghetto

               However for Gaza, IDF and Hamas, I was specifically referencing the Waffen SS who did the attack on the ghetto in Warsaw.

               The Germans locked up the jews and others in the ghetto and then proceeded to try to starve them of food and resources while using them as a workforce. Just like Israel did with their blockade. Smuggling both ways ensued, just like Gaza. They made the ghetto largely self-governing – just like Israel did with Hamas in Gaza.

               That was triggered by an insurgent group inside the ghetto who attacked police rounding up people to send out to death. Hamas attacked quite specifically to ensure that Israel could not form the alliances with Arab nations that would allow Israel to close off any hope of a Palestinian state, and their effective continued enslavement by the IDF, both in Gaza and the West Bank.

               I suspect that even a ignorant fool like you will know about the brutality of the apartheid state that the IDF runs in the West Bank. But just looking at the most recent episode of John Oliver Last Week Tonight gives an accurate up to date view.

               The Waffen SS, not Einsatzgruppen, then proceeded to do exactly what the IDF has been doing in Gaza. I guess that is where the IDF got their battle plan from.

               All that remains to follow almost the Warsw ghetto plan is to use the IDF or the Israeli equivalent Einsatzgruppen to eliminate the rest of the population. All they need is death camp or a dumping ground. I can't see any of the arseholes in the Israeli cabinet preventing it. Some elements of the IDF probably will.

               That appears to be what the Egyptians are expecting to happen based on their new fortifications.
               • Psycho Milt …

                 2 August 2024 at 1:55 pm

                 I'm quite happy with my sense of ethics telling me that rounding up civilians and executing them is ethically worse than carrying out urban warfare. Also with my sense of ethics telling me that people disagreeing with me doesn't make them "ignorant fools."
                 • lprent …

                   2 August 2024 at 2:39 pm

                   I'm quite happy with my sense of ethics telling me that rounding up civilians and executing them is ethically worse than carrying out urban warfare.

                   I don't like that either and yes I think it is an atrocity. But as usual you are simply avoiding saying anything about about the Israeli responsibilities and poor ethics. In fact your ‘ethics’ appear to be completely flexible and are just there to justify a position that has nothing to do with ‘ethics’.

                   So what would be your ethical position about some of these things?

                   • The IDF rounding up civilians in Gaza, detaining them without any cause apart from being male and of military age. Then torturing them, providing inadequate food and clothing, poor medical attention, poor shelter and frequently returning them to Gaza dead or maimed.
                   • Of Israeli snipers deliberately picking off civilian children.
                   • The IDF having 'safe' routes declared for civilian evacuations, then firing on civilians on those routes within the specified evacuation times.
                   • The IDF declaring evacuations of areas of civilians. But starting military operations with mass destruction weapons at the same time that the declarations happen and killing civilians by dropping buildings on them.
                   • Repeatably shooting clearly unarmed civilians surrendering, shirtless, waving a white shirt, and at leats 100 metres away

                   I'd be happy to provide links. But I want your view on the ethics based just on those descriptions.

                   That is because so far you've been a hypocrite about defining what your ethics actually are when it comes to warfare.

                   You appear to be justifying any level of atrocity against civilians based purely on that fact that they happen to be in the same area as insurrectionists in a occupied zone.

                   You appear to be justifying lethal group punishment of civilians by a military because of the actions of a few in that population.

                   None of those specific situations are part of any recognised form of 'urban warfare'. They would all constitute systematic war crimes under international laws..

                   However I suspect that your ethics are that killing any innocents is justified by previous events.

                   In which case why are Israeli civilians not also responsible for the actions of the small group in government who have been running a unlawful blockade and effective military occupation of Gaza? That occupation and blockade has been killing Gazans for decades by direct military attacks and deprivation. It is in effect exactly the situation that your ethics should abhor, but you don’t seem to ‘see’.

                   It could also be that you just have the ethics of simple racist.

                   Or that you don't even recognise the double standards that you clearly have in your head.
                   • Psycho Milt …

                     2 August 2024 at 4:08 pm

                     …you are simply avoiding saying anything about about the Israeli responsibilities and poor ethics.

                     If I'm talking about the crimes of fascists, I don't feel any need to "both-sides" my comments by raising things the people fighting the fascists are alleged to have done. The fascists aren't owed that courtesy.

                     Your bullet points are all crimes if they occurred as described. I don't know that they did, but I do know the crimes of Al Aqsa Flood occurred, not least because the fascists involved were so proud of them they recorded and publicised them.
                   • lprent …

                     2 August 2024 at 4:45 pm

                     So you're just selective in the media you're looking at. Sound like most Israelis who seem to have a nice closed media presentation that never reports anything about Palestinians.

                     All of those have happened in this conflict and been reported repeatably. They all have happened, been documented

                     Many of these incidents and probably most get reported in the Israeli press, at least in Haaretz which is where I have been reading them when I have a subscription (moving on to super has meant that I have dropped it for now). They are seldom mentioned in any other Israeli press unless IDF soldiers manage to shoot escaped Israeli hostages trying to surrender – that was the "unarmed civilians surrendering, shirtless, waving a white shirt, and at leats 100 metres away"

                     I also see the incidents described in detail in in The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post all of which I have subscribed to during this conflict.

                     You seldom see much reporting in the NZ press because of the poor state of it., But the abc.com.au, http://www.bbc.com/news/world, Guardian, etc all report them and they are all free to access. So is aljazeera.com.

                     But really the most significiant factor that you should be looking at is that Israel doesn't allow external journalists or any external observers to enter Gaza. Indeed it appears to have a deliberate policy of killing locals reporting from there. Like the targeted assignation of the journalists in Gaza two days ago by the IDF. No military does that without having a shit-load of systematic atrocities to hide.

                     If you haven't seen these kinds of reports, then I would say that is because you are wilfully and probably deliberately are not looking.

                     Yet you seem to have strong opinions about the ethics of one side in this conflict clearly without looking at the other side at all.

                     You can probably see why I find your opinions about the conflict and the ethical strands completely hypocritical.
7. Descendant Of Smith 7

   31 July 2024 at 12:21 pm

   India like other countries, including New Zealand, failing to plan for and struggling with an aging population. In a New Zealand sense the tax cuts are an extra layer of stupidity when we know an aging population will need much more hospitalisation and care let alone the cost of NZS.

   But you know we can just bring in migrants as cheap care giver labour while the migrants parents are left to die on the streets in whatever country they come from.

   "It has been about two years since then and Phooljale has not heard anything from his sons. He doesn’t even have a photograph of them. He wonders if they think he is dead.

   “I nurtured them from the time they were small,” he says. “Isn’t it their duty to take care of me?”

   He clutches the side of his head and sobs as he speaks."

   and

   He used to make clay pots. He and his brother shared a home with their respective wives. His wife died, then his brother. Then, his sister-in-law forced him out.

   “This house is not yours,” he says she told him.

   https://uat.apnews.com/as-india-grows-older-a-secret-shame-emerges-elders-abandoned-by-their-childrenfinal-00000190ff34d5cea5d2fff67fc90000
   • gsays 7.1

     31 July 2024 at 3:50 pm

     There is a rather ironic circular logic.

     Imagine if we structured society here so a family and mortgage could be kept on one wage allowing for children and the elderly to be cared for under the same roof.

     Radical I know, but sub-contracting our love is just so '80's.
8. AB 8

   31 July 2024 at 1:03 pm

   Wednesday is baking morning here – better than buying inferior packaged stuff. Inspired, we made a base 5 layer cake. We counted out the required layers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. One more would’ve been 20, which seemed excessive. We dressed in brown cardigans under suit jackets and ate in morose, depressing silence.
9. lprent 9

   31 July 2024 at 1:39 pm

   I finally managed to clear out the undergrowth of most of the obsolete and unsupported plugins that couldn't do the jump from PHP 7.4.x to PHP 8.3.9

   You'll note new tabs on the RHS columns.

   The only thing that I am aware of that got newly broken was the search control. I'll fix that sometime today.

   PHP 7.4 was end of life. PHP 8.3 is way way faster. Around 2x and possibly 2.5x faster according to my estimates. Much less cpu on the cores.

   Next up is to fix the remaining warnings. Then replace the RSS feeder with brand new c++/linux service which will get rid of the the plugin that does the backend job
   • Bearded Git 9.1

     31 July 2024 at 2:24 pm

     Site is wonderful lprent…keep up the good work
     • lprent 9.1.1

       1 August 2024 at 8:55 am

       Nah, it is old and crusty. Time to clean out some of the undergrowth of old and often obsolete and unsupported plugins and theme that was written 14 years ago.

       Fortunately, between the government being only competent at raising the unemployment rate and destroying any hope of economic growth for the next few years to pay back their donors I have the time. The effect of stopping most new development in the export IT sector, and my starting on superannuation with a boost from kiwisaver – I have the time to do something about it.

       After I have done that, then I'll look at writing some open source, ramping up my coding skills again, but also having time to actually enhance my political writing skills.

       Not sure that I want another job at this point. I came out of the last one with 6 weeks of accumulated holiday leave after only working there for 2.5 years.
       • Bearded Git 9.1.1.1

         1 August 2024 at 2:32 pm

         In its current form it works for me.

         I just hope Labour and the Greens have somebody dedicated to checking the comments on TS every day. They could learn a lot.
   • roblogic 9.2

     31 July 2024 at 7:18 pm

     Looking forward to a cool new site design!
     • lprent 9.2.1

       31 July 2024 at 10:58 pm

       Eventually. Just tracking down warning at present to see if anything is crucial.
10. tWig 10

    31 July 2024 at 2:17 pm

    Big Hairy News (from 6 min) interview Sunita Torrence, who is suing Brian Tamaki for $2mi in defamation and destruction of her business reading in libraries.
    • roblogic 10.1

      31 July 2024 at 6:52 pm

      A pair of hypocritical trolls made for each other.
11. SPC 11

    31 July 2024 at 2:55 pm

    The "landlord" class reducing a nation to an empty shell of a first world nation.

    The land as a place to mjne, farm or profit from rising property values.

    A land of volcanoes, earthquakes and coastal erosion – rising sea levels, changing weather patterns – whose next?

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/523729/dozens-of-jobs-look-set-to-be-cut-at-gns-science
    • Kay 11.1

      31 July 2024 at 3:29 pm

      Don't worry, if there's no one around to research and report on natural hazards, then clearly said hazards will no longer exist. EQs etc. are very irritating for governments, it messes with their budgets.
12. SPC 12

    31 July 2024 at 3:22 pm

    Trump's campaign disavows connection to Project 2025

    Sort of reminds one of all those appointees to SCOTUS who said that no one was above the law and then ruled that a POTUS could exercise executive power as a tyrant.

    Trump has already promised to change America so that Christians (who pray kingdom come) do not have to vote after 2024, if he wins.

    Roberts has faced criticism in recent weeks after he said on an episode of former Trump aide Steve Bannon's “War Room” podcast that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be”.

    Earlier this month, in an interview before beginning a prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, Bannon mentioned Roberts as the type of leader who could land a top job in a Trump White House.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/07/31/project-2025-shakes-up-leadership-after-criticism-from-democrats-trump/
13. Dennis Frank 13

    31 July 2024 at 3:27 pm

    Interesting view from Chris Trotter here: http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2024/07/wooing-masses-green-fairy-tale.html

    SWARBRICK has embarked on a brave, but almost certainly doomed, political experiment. She has set out to build a mass movement on the foundations of a political party that rejects majoritarian decision-making, and which, by elevating the particular above the universal, makes the social solidarity that fuels mass action impossibly difficult to achieve.

    Aspirations don't necessarily doom, it's just an experiment to see how shared they are. She has a way to go before they resonate as an alternative vision of the GP future. I do agree, however, that reverting from banal sectarianism & heading back in the general direction of adaptive use of collective intelligence is the right thing to do.

    The Greens insistence on consensus-based decision-making, or, failing that, requiring the support of 75 percent of those responsible for making decisions, is driven by a profoundly elitist approach to politics.

    You bet! Anyone who still hasn't learnt that consensus is the key to democracy is beyond hope, and that means most voters. We never intended to represent people that inadequate – we aimed to represent those who realised there's a better way forward than normalcy.

    any Green politician demonstrating an ability to enthuse, galvanise, and (most alarmingly) mobilise large numbers of people is bound to attract the suspicion, even the outright enmity, of those whose interests would be compromised by an influx of members advancing policies believed to represent the greatest good for the greatest number.

    The left has always been famous for promoting the politics of envy but that was to support the many relative to the rich, not party insiders. Identarians, however, are born splitters and will always militate against common interests. However the leadership could always send them to re-education camps – a traditionally leftist ploy.

    Buried in her challenge to the Green AGM is a perplexing reference to “a country of citizens equipped with the understanding and the time and the resources to actively participate in our democracy”. Nowhere does Swarbrick explain how such a country could possibly come into being prior to the revolutionary changes she is seeking. Only after the revolution is it possible to envisage citizens with “the understanding and the time” to make eco-socialism work.

    Dunno if she would agree with your revolutionary framing, Chris, but I agree some kind of plan of that transformation is required. The dummy must be spat first. Steadfast refusal to articulate Green economic policy to the media is that dummy…
    • SPC 13.1

      31 July 2024 at 4:35 pm

      SWARBRICK has embarked on a brave, but almost certainly doomed, political experiment. She has set out to build a mass movement on the foundations of a political party that rejects majoritarian decision-making, and which, by elevating the particular above the universal, makes the social solidarity that fuels mass action impossibly difficult to achieve.

      It does not reject majoritarian decision-making (unless that is FPP). Nor does it elevate the particular above the universal (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights right to housing, health, income etc is part of their sustainable society concept) but includes as equal – which is in accord with the HRA (1993).

      And none of this is problematic to realising "social solidarity for mass action".

      The obstacle to working class action has nothing to do with the Green Party.

      Unless he is blaming them to attack Labour, for losing an election for being seen as too pro Maori. Does he use universal the way David Seymour does?
14. Mike the Lefty 14

    31 July 2024 at 4:51 pm

    A couple of days ago, on my Facebook page there was a "suggested friend" by the name of Cameron Slater!!!! Yes, it WAS him!

    With friends like him, who needs enemies?
    • roblogic 14.1

      31 July 2024 at 6:51 pm

      Yikes. If you have mutual "friends" it might be time for a cull.
    • bwaghorn 14.2

      31 July 2024 at 7:57 pm

      Could mean he's been snooping around your profile

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