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6:00 am, January 6th, 2026 - 41 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
I want to acknowledge the volunteer mahi that has gone in to putting on AdVenture in Wellys, the lower North Island and Upper South Island.
There are 600 Australian Venturers (the group above the Scouts age 14.1/2 to 18 yr olds) in Aotearoa, joining 400 local youth. It's their Jamboree.
I've been fortunate to be involved in the Race Crew Expedition held here in the 'Tu. Supervising a camp kitchen while the youth do the cooking.
60 youth and 15 adults, converting a Falcon, Demio, Lexus and a Swift into Paddock racers. Removing the glass, back seats, fabricating roll cages and bumpers then hooning round a paddock having a ball.
There is a lot of focus written on a few drop-kick youth that hog the headlines, stimulate the click bait and keep ad revenue up. Not a lot gets said about these kids. Wonderful examples, all of them. Hard working, courteous, helpful and a joy to be around.
Good news on the mental health front, with implications for politicos:
Humans can't defeat stigma. Too susceptible. A clever machine can get the result via design expertise. Machine diagnosis of mental health should then be applied to aspiring politicos, to filter out the delusional. Leftists and rightists will see the writing on the wall sometime soon! Stigma has hitherto not featured in leftist political ideology but AI will do a big-time switcheroo on that. Here's why:
So we can expect digital intervention, as the wave of the future, to warp politics toward mental health for all participants. A massive sea-change in political culture will ensue.
Why would folks learn this lesson? Trump. Democracy authorised him. Democracy with AI incorporated would have filtered him out. About as elementary as it gets!
For those who are still minimising the effect of ramped up sanctions on Venezuela Trumps move to throttle Venezuela
https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/us-sanctions-venezuela-chile/
If anyone is in doubt about what UCMs(unilateral coercive measures ) are intended for , and their effects
Here's a UN expert's take
https://progressive.international/wire/2021-10-18-un-expert-releases-full-report-on-impact-of-us-led-sanctions-against-venezuela/en/
Cuba has become dependent on refining oil from Venezuela.
It's own oil is heavy.
The intended target is Cuba (they should have got solar investment from China).
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9vg0w9w28o
Maduro tells court he's still the president:
A reality-check reveals competition in that arena:
Having 2 presidents concurrently is a major constitutional innovation and we ought to congratulate the Venezuelans for being clever enough to think of it and audacious enough to use it as a geopolitical ploy. Way to go!
Would it help to call her an acting President ?
She would be most affronted by any such attempt to demean her status, I suspect. However, if the regime declares that status officially, I would go with it…
Read the thread you are responding to – a quick check with the reference given would demonstrate that she was appointed interim President. New Zealand has a system of appointing an acting-Prime Minister when the actual PM is physically absent – has an unwillingness to criticise Trump resulted in silence from either our PM or acting-PM?
The term for Rodriguez is interim president.
In their constitution the executive vice president does not see out the term (Maduro elected in 2024 to serve from Jan 2025-31) if they cannot continue.
The maximum period in office would be 18 months. It could be a short as 6 months depending on their Supreme Court.
I am very pleased to see the NZ Labour Party condemning the US attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of its president, according to Phil Twyford on X – that is Twyford's official account, isn't it?
https://x.com/PhilTwyford/status/2007960200947650859
The print notice attached to the post doesn't have the Labour Party's official logo, and there's no matching statement from Chris Hipkins or on the Labour Party's website.
Yea…kinda wondering where Labour is? There was this from Greens Marama ( Who I like and respect greatly : )
Poor Lux, being publicly called upon to show leadership traits that he does not possess by Marama. If I was his political advisor, I would encourage him to simulate, since near enough is often good enough: "I agree with Marama. I too would like me to show those traits, so here goes with a simulation of that scenario. I tip my hat to the Don for being a competent gardener: noxious weeds must be pulled out! I ask Marama to declare her position on noxious weeds, since Green ecopurity mandates tolerance of all plants in an ecosystem. How pure is she?"
Having tossed this red meat at the ravening hordes of journos, Lux could then move on to the next bit of staged melodrama. No chance of such adept reframing…
you call that adept framing ?
Keep to the hobbies
Nah, reframing. Contextually different to framing: a player sometimes responds to the intiative of others, other times takes the initiative themselves. Lux being advised to target the ethics achilles heel of the leftist is a winning play but Hooten or whichever acolyte has the job currently seems incapable of sophisticated play tactics, or strategy, or anything else…
He appears to have posted in a private capacity, but I'm sure he would have run it past his senior colleagues. Bearing in mind the time of the year it is likely most MPs and their Beehive assistants are away having a well deserved break with their families.
I know Phil Twyford and as a founding executive of Oxfam who also had a close working relationship with the UN, he is well suited to the role of associated foreign affairs spokesperson. As a personal friend of Jacinda's, he was targeted by the Nats following their defeat in 2017 and they succeeded in bringing about his downfall with the help of the populist media outlets.
I agree with everything he says.
Thanks for the important background.
The statement attached to his post begins with the sentence also in his post:
So it must be more than just his personal view.
Labour will be running a focus group on the thing, n'est ce pas? You may be right that they've already decided though, and are just keeping it quiet in case Trump notices their opposition. So I tried a reality check and asked Google "has Hipkins opposed Trump's kidnapping of Maduro?". Sadly, Hipkins did not show up on their answer page of sites it considered most relevant.
So at a guess, Hipkins is still hiding out in the hills he took off for when his police commissioner gave him the verbal cue on prime-time tv news a while back. It would be churlish to suggest cowardice – judicious evasion of threat suffices. He could ride back into town toting his six-gun anytime, so Trump better look out.
What a load of bullshit DF. I am in no doubt both Luxon and Hipkins have approved their spokesperson's statements, so we can assume they are representative of their respective views.
After the above
https://thestandard.nz/open-mike-06-01-2026/#comment-2053787
X.
https://x.com/PhilTwyford/status/2007960200947650859
date
12:39 pm 5 Jan 2026
the post
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G921Gi4aUAADlOo?format=jpg&name=900×900
some of the appropriate words are mendacious and supercilious.
More trumpian, than man is Confucius
Yeah, it looks official, eh? I'm inclined to believe Twyford on this. So Hipkins must be hiding behind him. No point demonstrating a personal moral stand if there's a danger folks will mistake him for a real leader…
She's right, and others have made the point by specific reference to the principle involved. This here international law prof totes a triad at the situation: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/583333/trump-s-intervention-in-venezuela-the-three-warnings-for-the-world
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360920618/zelenskyy-hints-next-us-target-after-maduros-arrest
Ukraine’s dictator should think about who might be in Russia's sights if dictators were kidnappable.
Who is that ?
One signature move of dictators is to remove opposition .
https://www.politico.eu/article/dark-side-zelenskyy-rule-ukraine/
Ah, so you both actually mean Dictator Putin. Riiight
Thanks for that mikesh, we can now understand your geo-political views, about might as right, in their proper context.
An respected senior relative of mine had the need to speak to Healthline, non emergency as he hung up.
He is in his '80s and carries a lot of those casual intolerances from the 50s and 60s, essentially a fundamentalist christian (by that I mean old testament) and is prone to hyperbole when he gets going. He was still cranky a day or so later at the amount of Maori he had 'rammed down his throat' in the automated greeting.
Yes, this is about racism, intolerance, genenerational change, inclusivity etc.
What I would like to group source is what does scripture say about this sort of thing?
What would Jesus say? I would sincerely like to ease his tension, and help him have a chance of accepting change thereby taking some of the emotion out of his life.
Thanks in advance.
Well, the gospel according to Google illuminates the situation:
Clearly "all who believe" includes Maori believers. Any resemblance of the image to European castle design is a tip of the hat to the patriarchy by the AI, so a fundamentalist christian will probably deem it appropriate…
Just seen the movie "Not Only Fred Dagg but also John Clarke”, which I can recommend.
I had no knowledge of his early life, so this filled in many gaps. Clearly, he was not a man destined for the accountancy profession.
A great pity he is not still alive. He would have satirised today's NZ beautifully: the virtue-signalling judges and academics, the self-seeking politicians and the cultural commissars – they would all have been targets for his dry wit.
Based on the trailer alone, I will certainly take up your recommendation. Hopefully it will turn up on streaming and/or available for rental online not too far away (Cinemas don't agree with me). Dagg was one of the first characters I can clearly remember, being primary school age in the 70s.
I think it's time the nations of South America got together and presented a united defence, rather than allow themselves to be picked off one by one by Mad Dog Trump.
They would likely have the UN Secretary General on their side.
This is Helen Clarke's summary of the UNSG's speech to the UN in the last day:
1/2. UNSG on #Venezuela: “In situations as confused & complex as the one we now face, it’s important to stick to principles. – Respect for UN Charter and all other applicable legal frameworks to safeguard peace & security.
2. UNSG Venezuela statement continues: – Respect for the principles of sovereignty, political independence & territorial integrity of states. – The prohibition of the threat or use of force. – Respect for UN Charter & all other applicable legal frameworks to safeguard peace & security.
3. UNSG on #Venezuela cont: – Respect for the principles of sovereignty, political independence & territorial integrity of states. – The prohibition of the threat or use of force. – The power of the law must prevail. – International law contains tools to address issues such as illicit traffic in narcotics, disputes about resources and human rights concerns. – This is the route we need to take.”
UN website: "Secretary-General's remarks to the Security Council – on Venezuela"
Other comments I've seen today include ones where someone in the US govt, I think, said the ICC was not made for the US or Israel.
Meanwhile apparently China's comments, publicly and/or to the UN focus on respecting international law and their to focus on pursuing legal contractual trade/commercial/financial agreements China has with various countries including Venezuela countries.
So while the US & Israel are using military force, China seems to be going to counter that with legal arguments & requirements.
It would be nice if Latin America could prevent the USA operating its Roosevelt Doctrine, yes. But the above has two problems:
1. It's like saying "It's time the mice got together and put a bell on the cat." As per Aesop, "Who will put the bell on the cat?"
2. Who in Latin America apart from diehard Stalinist loons would subject themselves to any kind of risk or effort for the sake of Nicolas Fucking Maduro? He'll well deserve whatever the US does with him.
Monroe Doctrine. McKinley's protege Theodore (the rough riding Teddy bear, the American cossack) personally conquered the Spanish territories in the Americas, as the enforcement of the earlier doctrine.
He became POTUS 26 on the death of McKinley (start of his second term).
Someone once shot him while he was making a stump speech in 1912, he continued then went to hospital. They did not get the bullet out. He did not win the GOP nomination, so he founded the Bull Moose Party (conservation guy), split the vote and so the democratic Party candidate Wilson won – he brought in the Fed Res and income tax.
What has happened to your, might is right, position?
I have never adopted such a position.
So much for the notion of our common interests…
The concept of broadcasting presumes everyone wants to know what's going on, so any org can simulate providing that info. The ratio of sheeple who believe mass media to those who know better has shrunk this century. Kinda sad tho. I always thought consensus reality was worthy of a good simulation every now & then. Supercool folk will argue that its such an obvious sham nowadays when users create their customised newsfeed source options. Fair enough, but doesn't mean common ground evaporates.
3 months to go.
Provincial associations should be chasing up their clubs.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/583302/fears-many-sport-clubs-don-t-realise-they-re-about-to-be-dissolved