Open Mike 05/09/2016

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 90 comments
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90 comments on “Open Mike 05/09/2016”

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  2. 2

    Fighting mainstream media effective censorship.

    FYI.
    ______________________________

    FREE!

    Screening of the film of the recent play “Bright – beyond belief” , together with a live interview of Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright.

    WHEN: Thursday 8 September 2016.

    TIME: 7pm

    WHERE: Tiny Theatre, Garnet Station Cafe,
    85 Garnet Rd, Westmere.

    Places will be confirmed for the first 34 people who book
    for this FREE event 🙂

    Here’s where you book:

    http://garnetstation.com/

    “Ballot papers for the local body elections will be in the mail between 16-21st Sept so this is an opportunity to get more informed about who to vote for, and why.

    Bright Beyond Belief, a Tiny Theatre Production written and performed by Lisa Prager & Verity George to a sold out season last month, will be screened prior to Ms. Anne Speir interviewing Mayoral Candidate Penny Bright”

    FYI – here is a review of “Bright – beyond belief”

    http://www.gayexpress.co.nz/2016/08/review-bright-beyond-belief/

    Arts & Culture
    REVIEW: BRIGHT BEYOND BELIEF

    Cheers!

    Penny Bright
    2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

    ‘Her Warship’ 😉

    ‘Activists – get things done’.

  3. 3

    I heard an American say on Morning Report that he couldn’t understand why 35<40% were for Trump as he knows little or nothing about o'seas matters.
    I guess he forgot that a large proportion of Americans simply do not know there is anything outside the USA.

    1. 3.1

      Leading American climate scientist welcomes formal commitment by the American and Chinese governments to the Paris accord but questions whether there’s sufficient political consensus in the US to make it a reality.

      Hence the scathing criticism of Trump and his ignorance … and the disbelief that so many Americans are voting for Trump.

      http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201814841/china-and-us-formally-commit-to-the-paris-climate-accord

      He says a Trump presidency would be disastrous because he would undo all the good work the current administration is trying to achieve and his gross ignorance of all things international is not something to look forward to… A bit of an understatement there.

    2. 4.2

      Trump is fully still in the running.

      He will probably beat her in the standup of the debates.

      But she will beat him in the ground-and-pound of getting the votes to polls.

      1. 4.2.1

        An unwillingness to connect with voters, so they have some idea of which binary choice they will choose, is indicative not only in the US but here. Sending a MP down to S.Auckland to feel the pain of over night car sleepers aint cinnecting the housing crisis to midle NZ. Trump connects, Clinton does not. Key connects, or did, and the left have the opportunity to say, working stiffs aren’t getting ahead, are paying more for less, are being hurt by an absent govt. But kicking up a issue aint skill the left have, only the right are allowed to.

  6. 6

    Merkel’s CDU falls third, behind the anti-immigrant AfD party in her home state elections, according to exit polls.

    More than 20% of voters voted AfD according to the exit poll.

    1. 6.1

      As with France and the UK, if a large section of the electorate is filing mass immigration under DO NOT WANT and the major parties pretend that actually mass immigration is wonderful and you lot are just racists, large numbers of voters start looking for a party that doesn’t sneer at them.

      1. 6.1.1

        ” large numbers of voters start looking for a party that doesn’t sneer at them.”

        Sneering and accusing people of racism is what the nats are doing to anyone who suggests we tai ho on immigration

          1. 6.1.2.1.1

            Whether to provide succour to hundreds of thousands of hungry and defenceless people who are in fear of their lives isn’t a matter of opinion.

            It’s a matter of how history judges us.

            2. 6.1.2.1.1.2

              Germany’s already at well over 200 people per sq km and the number of people in the world who could do with a nicer place to live is in the hundreds of millions. Many German voters unsurprisingly fail to see their country as the solution to this problem. History will most likely see it the same way.

              1. 6.1.2.1.1.2.1

                Reducing the refugee crisis to people looking for a “nicer place to live” is classic minimisation. These people are looking for relative safety from a particularly brutal war zone or internment camps in Turkey which aren’t much better.

                Germany alone has a population of 82 million. Half a million more isn’t the cause of their hardships. Frankly, history will most likely judge Europe, Australia, and even NZ in a similar light to the countries that turned away ships full of Jewish refugees and sent them back to Germany just before the war. Only on a bigger scale.

                1. 6.1.2.1.1.2.1.1

                  People looking for relative safety take it where they can get it. People who must make it to Germany or the UK at any cost are looking for a nice place to live.

                  You personally may feel that it’s fine to bung into an already-crowded country an extra half mil people (and the rest) who in many cases have no idea of how to live in western society and no great interest in learning how, but the citizens of said country are entitled to take a different view.

                  Future historians will probably note that Germany, the UK and various Middle Eastern countries took heaps of refugees from Syria while a lot of other developed countries (NZ included) refused. The fact that Germany experienced a voter backlash over the numbers involved and the long-term social problems that will inevitably result from it won’t either surprise or offend those historians.

                  1. 6.1.2.1.1.2.1.1.1

                    You personally may feel that it’s fine to bung into an already-crowded country an extra half mil people (and the rest) who in many cases have no idea of how to live in western society and no great interest in learning how, but the citizens of said country are entitled to take a different view.

                    Personally, I feel that if Germany or any country had taken so many refugees that it was causing problems beyond escalating xenophobia in already marginialised communities (whose problems have nothing to do with immigration and much to do with the prevailing socioeconomic structure of the country post-reunification), you wouldn’t have to rely on false-framing in order to make your point.

                    1. 6.1.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.1

                      Your confidence that mass immigration isn’t causing any problems in Germany and only a few xenophobes are concerned about it is very reassuring. Perhaps you could let the SPD and CDU know? They seem concerned about their falling vote share.

                    2. 6.1.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.2

                      Reply button definitely a bit loopy…

                      Your confidence that mass immigration isn’t causing any problems in Germany and only a few xenophobes are concerned about it is very reassuring.

                      Again, that’s not even close to what I said. Never said “only a few”. You’re also welcome to point out how Merkel’s home region has been unduly affected by swarms of refugees being settled there.

                      In the meantime, here’s an interesting wee map. It’s in the northeast of germany, good old GDR territory.

            3. 6.1.2.1.1.3

              History will see that the so called powers failed completely to stop the mess that is the middle east in the first place , attacking every day europeans because they voted for a bit of self preservation is pointless.
              We need to start laying failures at the feet of those who deserve it .

              1. 6.1.2.1.1.3.1

                meh.

                At the risk of being a fucking hippy, I’m more holistic about the entire blame thing. We each are responsible for our portion, each time we acted rashly or failed to act.

                So yeah, Sykes and Picoult have their share, Bush/Obama/Putin have theirs, Merkel has hers, and we have ours. There’s no reason we couldn’t each do more to, say, lobby Key to half the low skilled immigration and take in 30,000 more refugees this year.

  7. 7

    Its official there will not be an early election because John Key thinks that we dont want one.
    Nice of him to ask me, i didnot know he had, i must have missed the phone call.
    The election is on schedule for the latter part of next year when we might be ready for one.
    One year to go….at this stage.

      1. 7.1.1

        At the tail end of what will be a very hard winter for a lot of Kiwis?

        Don’t think so.

        The current issues around housing affordability, homelessness, HNZ waiting lists, poor housing quality, and high power prices will have deteriorated and winter is when the people affected will be at their most discontent.

          1. 7.1.1.1.1

            But if those people could be motivated a winter election is a real risk for the current government.

            As Spring breaks even those most deeply affected by Key’s poverty and class-splitting agenda tend to forget the worst of it.

            I’m just suggesting the disenfranchised are at their most angry during winter and the media is at its most vocal on such topics.

      2. 7.1.2

        Early August CV ? i wonder what excuse he will use for not going full term through to November ?
        Someone might pull the plug and force his hand..interesting still a lot of water with campylobacter in it to go under the bridge just yet.

  8. 8

    Real or Manufactured tensions???

    Barack Obama ‘deliberately snubbed’ by Chinese in chaotic arrival at G20
    The US president was denied the usual red carpet welcome and forced to ‘go out of the ass’ of Air Force One, observers say

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/04/barack-obama-deliberately-snubbed-by-chinese-in-chaotic-arrival-at-g20?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=188879&subid=13842748&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

    1. 8.1

      It’s extraordinary not to have VIP air stairs on hand to meet Air Force One.

      Just as extraordinary was Chinese officials yelling at and jostling White House senior staff.

      This is about as blunt and public a diplomatic message as the Chinese have ever sent.

      Especially contrasting with the 5 star red carpet treatment they afforded Putin shortly thereafter.

      The Americans will be pissed.

    2. 8.2

      The regime leaning South China Morning Post tries to put the fire out.

      Speculation has been flying about whether China was deliberately snubbing Obama since media reports on Saturday showed the US leader exiting the Air Force One through the small stairway.

      But this was not the case, according to the Chinese official involved in the diplomatic arrangements.

      “China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the US side complained that the driver doesn’t speak English and can’t understand security instructions from the United States; so China proposed that we could assign a translator to sit beside the driver, but the US side turned down the proposal and insisted that they didn’t need the staircase provided by the airport,” the official told the South China Morning Post on Sunday.

      http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2014484/staircase-snub-obama-was-united-states-decision-reveals

      1. 8.2.1

        The good news is Obama went to China. Maybe they don’t get along culturally, but diplomacy is a lot better for everyone than war.

        When it comes to human rights they have more in common that they think.

  9. 9

    This quote from Winston Peters, in reference to Chester Burrows, succinctly captures a couple of points about the neoliberal right, “…common sense people with a bit of experience and an academic background and practical approach to life are not popular in the new age neo-liberal National party.” http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83870392/winston-peters-targeting-whangarei-and-whanganui-seats-in-2017-election

    While they have to put up with competence in some fields if they are to function, like IT for instance, neo-liberals seem overall to privilege ambitious mediocrity over ability, perhaps because there is a risk that a capable person might start thinking independently, or give rise to the idea that usefulness has value. The “new age” reference in the quote is pertinent as well. If you listen to the words they use, and the way they frame things, many neo-libs seem to subscribe to some sort of positive thinking cult, and a belief that association with negative things (like homelessness) poses a risk to one’s confidence. Take the word “learnings” for instance – a “lesson” is imposed on me, whereas I myself take “learnings”, and thus manage to avoid negative association in the face of my failures. It is amazing that this cocktail of ambition and silliness has gained such a strong hold on public discourse.

    1. 9.1

      Interesting comments.

      I’m impressed Winston used the word ‘neoliberal’. Not a word used that much by mainstream politicians – despite describing our whole system of politics and society right now.

    1. 12.1

      An utterly despicable statement from Key.

      Vulnerable people are struggling – so the solution from Key is to blame them and also to make it even worse, by flooding the labour / housing market with more struggling people. How about allowing the market to act to increase wages instead?? Or better still – intervene and increase wages?

      1. 12.1.1

        @ uncooked Agreed-I didn’t think Key could reach new depths..but he has.

        There was a text on Morning Report in response to the Key interview saying roughly “surely it is easier to get unemployed people in NZ to move to where there is work in NZ rather than bringing people in from the other side of the world.”

        1. 12.1.1.1

          I wonder what’s going to happen when the penny drops with a lot of the lower income immigrants when they discover that they’re actually going backwards working for minimum wage in New Zealand. And they’ve done what savings they had buying their way here.

          1. 12.1.1.1.1

            You underestimate the forces that have driven them here. I worked in the Middle East with Indian colleagues who were being paid US $100 per month. Accommodation, meals and transport to and from work were provided, but as you can imagine none of those approached a level we’d be willing to put up with. The Bangladeshi cleaners were paid a fraction of that, and the provided “meal” was a bag of rice they had to spread over the week. We westerners used to go over to the mess hall to get take-out meals even though we’d brought our own food, so we could feed the cleaners. Despite all of that, every one of these workers lived in fear of being sent back where they came from – that really did my head in.

      2. 12.1.2

        “But go and ask the employers, and they will say some [New Zealand workers] won’t pass a drug test, some of these people won’t turn up for work, some of these people will claim they have health issues later on. So it’s not to say there aren’t great people who transition from Work and Income to work, they do, but it’s equally true that they’re also living in the wrong place, or they just can’t muster what is required to actually work.” – John Key

        If you go ask the employers, that’s often the answer that you will get – and there is some truth to it. Only takes one failed drug or alcohol test these days to get you kicked off site, and very difficult to hire again once word gets around about you.

        A good government would work really, really hard to bring those people out of drug and welfare dependency and into work, with the hard, hard social work that entails.

        Instead, he uses a punitive social welfare system to suppress many of the poor back into the black economy, and use mass immigration as a tool to essentially dilute the negative drag of existing underclass.

        1. 12.1.2.1

          Nothing to do with drug dependency,certain people especially younger guys rate smoking weed more important than having a job.

          If they can’t smoke dope they’d rather pass on work, dole life can’t be that bad if you can take that option.

          1. 12.1.2.1.1

            Of course it’s dependency , if those same kids had never run into weed or what ever it is that’s holding them back their life would have been entirely different,
            What is it with kiwis who can’t make the link between a society and parents that fail to protect the young ones ,resulting in lost kids.
            Then to make it worse they turn around and pin that failure onto the kids who have been let down.

            think a little deeper ffs

            1. 12.1.2.1.1.1

              In not a dependency you fucking idiot, it’s a life style choice.

              Christ, do you think they’d be legalizing marijuana all over the US if that was the case.

              If people can’t stop smoking weed once they’ve started, there’s no why in hell it should become legal and main stream.

              1. 12.1.2.1.1.1.1

                You’re either full of it or have lived in a bubble , weed is at least as addictive as drink , i’ve seen people grovel in ash trays for slobberstained roachs and smoke the grotty tar they have removed from the stem of their pipes. some fucking lifestyle choice ah.
                Legalization for me is about getting the crooks out of the game , but it would be stupid to have it as widely available as booze.

        2. 12.1.2.2

          “A good government would work really, really hard to bring those people out of drug and welfare dependency and into work, with the hard, hard social work that entails.”

          Exactly. Making things better for the poorer end of society will reduce these problems. Instead Key seems to think that making it worse will somehow fix the problem?

      3. 12.1.3

        Its not surprising that kiwis don’t want to take orchard work that isn’t on an hourly rate and where there’s the chance you won’t earn the min wage.

        1. 12.1.3.1

          Agree. Seasonal work is suited to travellers, students, young people, and temporary immigrants. It’s not an industry for resident communities to be based upon because the employers just don’t want you for 9 months of the year.

          But here Key is using this industry to attack HB Maori and as a defence for providing cheap offshore labour to employers in a bid to keep costs down. He his also then projecting this onto the wider labour market.

          It’s disgraceful.

          1. 12.1.3.1.1

            We could have the same system as in Holland where if you are a seasonal worker ie work 9 months of the year full time, you can then get the dole for the 3 months that you do not have work. So you work for the orchadist for x months and are entitled to welfare for the remaining 12-x months in the year.
            That would be better than the current system I think.

            1. 12.1.3.1.1.1

              If the made it so jumping on and off the benefit was just a phone call to winz. i bet more people would take casual work when its available.

    2. 12.2

      Labour could run a mini-campaign along the lines of “This is what he thinks of you” (and station someone with a taser next to Mumblefuck in case he feels the compulsion to renew his attacks on the poor and vulnerable).

  13. 13

    I’m having some really weird issues.

    The ‘Reply’ button has been playing up and breaking the page so that the Comments, Replies, Opinions tabs disappear and the Reply window doesn’t show. Working ATM though.

    The Gravatar image up in the top right hand corner isn’t my one. In fact, it keeps changing.

    I’d say some sort of caching issue but I couldn’t say where. Either my machine (deleted cache and cookies though), my ISP (2 Degrees) or the site itself.

    1. 13.1

      To whomever ‘controls’ these things….All day I’ve had issues with the Standard taking an extraordinary length of time to load. Everything else is fine, and other sites are loading as per usual….and being a Luddite i have no idea what the issue is.

      2. 13.1.2

        @Siobhan same here-The Standard very very slow to load today. Not a criticism, just for info. I would miss my Standard fix terribly if it wasn’t around.

      3. 13.1.3

        There’s a problem Siobhan. I’m the same. lprent is ‘away seeing his parents’ but he said the other day he will work on it when he retrurns.

  14. 14

    Good article from Mike Lee, bit late in the debate really… or maybe the right wing coup was persuading the lefties that somehow the unitary plan was going to deliver something to them…. even though all those human rights, environmental and social standard bits were removed by the government appointed process…

    GUEST BLOG: Mike Lee – The Unitary Plan – it’s about profits for the big developers not decent housing for all Aucklanders

    http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/09/05/guest-blog-mike-lee-the-unitary-plan-its-about-profits-for-the-big-developers-not-decent-housing-for-all-aucklanders/

    1. 16.1

      A family member under 40 just went through breast cancer treatment over the past year. She’s fine now and awaiting reconstructive surgery, but it takes a hell of a toll.

      Best wishes to Nikki Kaye for the journey ahead.

  18. 18

    I also have slow pick up but that’s okay I realise the site is under going work on it. My problem is the search engine tool has disappeared from the leader page and hasn’t been there for well over two weeks. Does anybody else have this problem, when I want to search for different replies to different posts I am no longer able to do it. Would appreciate comments from others if they have experienced this.

  19. 19

    Why are these daily threads called “Open Mike”?

    Last time i checked, you use a Microphone, not a Mike-rophone.

    1. 21.1

      Gower’s glee thinking he’d caught out Peters on 3 News was a sight to behold. The stupid eruption of his long standing hatred of Peters is journalism at it’s most childish level.

  23. 23

    Reply button might be a bit loopy…

    Your confidence that mass immigration isn’t causing any problems in Germany and only a few xenophobes are concerned about it is very reassuring.

    Again, that’s not even close to what I said. Never said “only a few”. You’re also welcome to point out how Merkel’s home region has been unduly affected by swarms of refugees being settled there.

    In the meantime, here’s an interesting wee map. It’s in the northeast of germany, good old GDR territory.

  26. 26

    “The right for Spy’s to break the law, bill.”

    Noticed the post, you can’t even access it?

    Is that just me or……

    http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-37232329

    In pictures: The Prisoner at 50

    He said that the “the village” was both an external and interior concept, reflecting the individual’s lack of freedom on many levels. He told author Alain Carraze: “We are all prisoners of this or that, many things, each in his own ‘Village'”.

    F them

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