Open mike 13/10/2022

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 34 comments
Categories: open mike


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 …

34 comments on “Open mike 13/10/2022”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

    1. 1.1

      Lost me really with the avowed support for Trump, who is actually not the President.

      The most sensible person in the interview, Admiral Mullen, has had his words & thoughts mangled and jangled by these two commentators. A view that Biden was at the top of the language scale and Mullen's words about getting people around the table were zoomed over by Dore/Metzger in their 'woe, woe poor Trump if this had happened to him'. Refs to diaper wearing……

      I have all the time in the world for those with a critique about the response of any Government but on the basis of how the/an opposition party would handle it. Trump is a failed politician/idiot but I am sure that the Republicans generally or a Rep Foreign Affairs shadow person will have some sort of view.

      Noting also he slips into the 'the Ukraine' a couple of times. A bit too shouty for me.

      Admiral Mullen looks to be someone worth watching though.

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

      Ostensibly he is a comedian working often in a satirical manner. As Churchill is reputed to have said ‘The US and the UK two great countries divided by a common language’ We add Comedy to this as well. I’ve always had a lesser regard for US slapstick than US satire but this is not slapstick and neither is it satire nor adroit political commentary to me.

      1. 1.1.1

        I’ve always had a lesser regard for US slapstick than US satire but this is not slapstick and neither is it satire nor adroit political commentary to me.

        Doh UK satire…..sorry.

        1. 1.1.2.1

          Karl, I've tidied up your comment so that it's clear what is a quote and what are your words.

          When linking to a tweet, don't link to the person's twitter account, as the tweet will disappear in short time. Instead, click on the date/time stamp (bottom of every tweet), then copy the URL from the address bar and paste it into the TS comment box. This will embed the exact tweet in your comment here.

        2. 1.1.2.2

          I am afraid Karl I am of the view that if Trump is the answer then the question must have been truly weird.

          I think many in the West would take Noam Chomsky's view that Trump is a man of stature from the West with a choking grain of salt. .

          Though going by the interview earlier if someone had said Admiral Mullen is/has the answer then I'd be happy to explore things further.

          Not being complacent, Admiral Mullen was correct about the temperature of the words going up, the West had this too during the Bay of Pigs episode, when Kennedy, had to use end of scale words and manoeuvres.

          I also have an opinion that it is about time we gave up on encouraging the US to be the world's policeman.

          Probably all rather naive and mired in 1980s anti Americanism.

          1. 1.1.2.2.1

            Chomsky is employing the "stopped clock" parable. Even awful people sometimes say sensible things. Dumb ad-hominem opposition won't save us from a nuclear winter. Lesser of two evils, you might say.

          2. 1.1.2.2.2

            Hi again Shanregh,

            You said “I am of the view that if Trump is the answer then the question must have been truly weird.”

            Could not agree more with your comment.

            Is down the new up? or is up the new down? Or is it all just a swirling mass of obfuscation designed for defying gravity with the same old agendas being pushed.

            Both republican and democratic parties support this war. I wonder why…. could it be the massive geopolitical and economic gains? or are they all just “good guys”?

            Just one example below you won’t see TVNZ or RNZ chattering about in there news feeds

            https://countercurrents.org/2022/04/ukraine-and-the-profits-of-war/

            The Pentagon Gold Mine

            For U.S. arms makers, however, the greatest benefits of the war in Ukraine won’t be immediate weapons sales, large as they are, but the changing nature of the ongoing debate over Pentagon spending itself.

        3. 1.1.2.3

          The opportunities for a negotiated solution are diminishing – because there is no imaginable territorial compromise that both sides will agree to after sacrificing so much blood, and in Putin's case, political capital.

          With Ukraine likely to win – even the wisdom of a negotiated solution is in doubt, given the message it would send about rewarding blatant aggression. It is only the nuclear threat that might push the world towards negotiation – but the temptation is to give aggressors the bloodiest nose you can and push the risk to its limit. Let's hope someone, somewhere can reliably detect exactly when the risk is too great, but such a person probably doesn't exist.

          These I think are the brute facts – and there is no separate Left or Right interpretation of them.

    1. 2.1

      Yes agree and what a mess he has made, looking at the aerial photographs.

      Just need the Sov citizen movement to get alongside him and we will have nutters running in all directions.

  3. 3

    Interesting to see the Minister of Police supporting the Police to take pictures of people, after the practise was considered illegal.

    Parliament may change law after report deemed police photographs, fingerprints of young people 'illegal' – Police Minister | Stuff.co.nz

    The usual suspects in the Maori Party and Green Party cry racism and mental health and every other bullshit, despite young people rapidly destroying any public concept of privacy on TikTok and every other social platform, and check out all the 80 year olds doing ram raids.

      1. 3.1.1

        Last week of School Holidays. Next week, things will be better when the dilettantes are back in the classroom and again studying hard for their final exams.

        1. 3.1.1.1

          Seriously Incognito? You think they kids who will be studying hard to their exams are out doing the midnight burgleries?

          On a related theme, I wonder how Jan Tinetti's adds to get kids back to school are working?

          1. 3.1.1.1.1

            laugh

            Nah, after a few minutes of hard study whilst constantly checking their various SM they all go online for hours of hardcore gaming through the nite. That is, only the ones with a room of their own (aka privacy) and a good device. Serious gamers don’t bother with crimes & violence in the real world because virtual is so much more rewarding to the limbic brain.

        3. 3.1.1.3

          Yes, those dastardly youths. However, the reality is less outrageous:

          Last week The New Zealand Herald carried a headline that might have come as a surprise to its regular readers.

          'Despite ram-raid rhetoric, youth crime is dropping year on year'.

          Ric Stevens, a journalist for the publicly funded Open Justice Project, pointed to statistics showing 1300 young people aged 10 to 17 had charges finalised against them in court in the year to June 30, compared to 1500 the previous year.

          Over the longer term, the trend is even more stark.

          About 5000 young people went before the courts in 2007, before those numbers went into long-term decline.

          One of many recent headlines citing a 'crime wave.' Photo: RNZ Mediawatch

          These figures appear to contradict other headlines from the Herald about a 'youth crime spike' or an 'Auckland youth crime wave'.

          https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018860663/hard-stats-and-new-voices-enter-the-youth-crime-spike-coverage

          1. 3.1.1.3.1

            You’re absolutely 100% spot on!

            I just love the one-dimensional minds of some people (i.e. often but not limited to RWs) and their simplistic reckons seemingly without any understanding of what they’re yapping on about. Throw a few buzzwords into the talk-back kennel and they immediately start drooling and humping their favourite bed-legs.

          2. 3.1.1.3.2

            The problem is the second sentence in the article provided.

            "New statistics out today reveal just over 1300 young people aged 10 to 17 had charges finalised in court in the year to June 30, compared with 1500 in the previous year."

            Too many are not getting to court. That is the problem. Ram raids have increased by 400%, but only 37% result in enforcement action.

            https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/471379/400-percent-increase-in-ram-raids-few-prosecutions-police-data

            If you genuinely believe there is less youth crime in 2022, I have a bridge to sell you. Ask any liquor store or dairy owner.

    2. 3.2

      How about you put you money where you mouth is, use your real name and use a picture of yourself when you comment here.

      Hope that works out well for you…

        1. 3.2.1.1

          Ha ha Incognito.

          Is ya mate on the right anyone we should know? wink

          I think I will just settle for self identifying as Judith Collins' Slovakian model.

          1. 3.2.1.2.1

            Testosterone patches at night on your upper lip or on either side of your philtrum for 2 weeks and you will get a lush bush cheeky

  4. 4

    Homelessness is a result of bigotry? Or could it be something else?

    A satirical look at some of the arguments used to justify a pre-determined solution:

    https://excelpope.net/2021/08/03/easy-way-in/

    Obviously there’s a solution here. If everyone just left their doors unlocked at night then anybody in the area without a home could just let themselves in and crash out on the sofa. One of our major social problems could be solved at a stroke, and for no cost at all.

    I’m not naïve, I can see that some people from the privileged class (those with a home) might object, but these legitimate concerns are really just punching down against a marginalised community (the homeless).

  5. 5

    Very interesting satire Molly. I guess the one thing they left out is if you are worried about a homeless person having free and easy access to your house and you want to complain about this new approach, then we will offer you counselling (Penn university changing room scenario anyone?) but do shut up or you will be called a bigot.

Comments are closed.