The Standard

Open Mike 27/07/25

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 27th, 2025 - 12 comments
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12 comments on “Open Mike 27/07/25 ”

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  1. Todays Posts 1
    27 July 2025 at 6:00 am

    Today's Posts (updated through the day):

    Give Young People The Vote

  2. Dennis Frank 2
    27 July 2025 at 8:20 am

    Patman reminds everyone what's wrong at the interface of international law and geopolitics: dysfunctionalism.

    the founders of the UN in 1945 conferred the right of veto on five great powers of that time to ensure they remained in the organisation and helped solve the world’s problems… The biggest offenders in this regard have been Russia, the US and China, three states imbued with a strong sense of national exceptionalism, that have not hesitated to cast a veto or act unilaterally to protect their perceived national concerns even if it undermines international law. https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/27/why-nz-must-resist-the-trashing-of-international-law/

    So internationalism remains captured by nationalism, producing dysfunctionalism as the ongoing consequence of the design. Leftists have historically been superb at generating isms so they naturally feel at home in this status quo. Leftism equated with the tetrad of Leninism, Trotskyism, Stalinism and Maoism in the 1960s, and then leftists stunned everyone by going for Thatcherism and Reaganism in the 1980s, so as to copy the right.

    What next? Well, I suggest survivalism, pragmatism and reformism as a likely triad for activists into the future, and we could spice it up with a dash of surrealism to appeal to fringe-dwellers, plus an infusion of holism for big-picture viewers.

    • Dennis Frank 2.1
      27 July 2025 at 11:08 am

      Okay, I ought to concede that the left remain stuck on multiculturalism. I pondered this and had the random idea that Google's AI ought to be up to speed on isms so I asked it for a list of the most influential. It promptly decided it was insufficiently programmed to answer, so it defaulted to the website list as per normal. Top site had this gem:

      academicism doctrine that nothing can be known

      The heartland of education chalks up an immense victory here! Plato would love it! English recycles this oldie but goodie:

      antidisestablishmentarianism doctrine opposed to removing Church of England's official religion status

      Casual players in the game of life tend to use opportunism, but they have this option:

      casualism the belief that chance governs all things

      https://phrontistery.info/isms.html

    • Francesca 2.2
      27 July 2025 at 1:47 pm

      Since 1970, the US has used the veto far more than any other permanent member, most frequently to block decisions that it regards as detrimental to the interests of Israel.

      https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/un-security-council-working-methods/the-veto.php

  3. Dennis Frank 3
    27 July 2025 at 10:45 am

    Corruption in Ukraine seems to have reached up to the top: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-anti-corruption-chief-says-his-agency-faces-dirty-information-campaign-2025-07-25/

    "Everyone united around the idea of ruining our independence," Kryvonos told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv, referring to parliament passing the controversial measures. "This was a shock for me – how much demand had built up to destroy us." He spoke a day after Zelenskiy sought to defuse tensions by submitting legislation restoring the independence of NABU and its sister agency, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO)… Stamping out corruption is both critical to Kyiv's bid to join the EU and its effort to erase a legacy of autocracy and Russian rule.

    NABU and SAPO, launched with Western support after a 2014 revolution toppled a pro-Russian president, have levelled charges against lawmakers and senior government officials.

    So vested interests there have sufficient power to destabilise the state. Doing things properly is a competitive alternative – it ain't necessarily a winner…

  4. Stephen D 4
    27 July 2025 at 1:42 pm

    Winston Peters: ‘Careless’ immigration ‘transforming cities’, Nigel Farage’s Reform ‘compelling’

    https://archive.li/Cx7Mp

    ”Peters has told the Herald he is “friends” with Farage and that they communicate. He was “entertained” by the Reform leader last time he was in the UK.

    “I think that there are things to do with that party and New Zealand First which are so similar. That is why we’ve got confidence going into the future.”

    Those similarities were “true grit, determination and principles”.

    Asked whether he looked at Reform and its targeting of immigration, Peters responded: “Yes, I do. It’s very compelling, but that they had to come to that is a serious worry”.”

    Winnie really is loosing the plot.

    • bwaghorn 4.1
      27 July 2025 at 5:25 pm

      With a bit of luck winston will be a one man leave campaign and just fuck off

  5. Drowsy M. Kram 5
    27 July 2025 at 4:42 pm

    Luxon in no mood to answer any frickin’ questions about regressive anti-democratic ban.

    ‘I do not care’: Christopher Luxon responds to concerns about prisoner voting ban.

    The Secret Diary of the .. Coldplay affair scandal [26 July 2025]
    Extremely important people take a position on the kiss-cam scandal

    Christopher Luxon from David Seymour’s government
    Look, what I will say to you is that I’m in no mood to answer any frickin’ questions about homelessness or anything else that is part of some media-generated beat-up campaign to discredit the government and the real gains we are making in inflation, in education, in health, and in boot camps, above all in boot camps, you should see them for yourselves, frightened children from bad houses are learning to make their beds and get yelled at if they don’t, I’d like to see what Chris frickin’ Hipkins thinks is a better idea, he landed us all in this mess in the first place, but all anyone wants to talk about is the widespread perception that I am some sort of frickin’ weakling led around by his nose and that I have manifestly failed to inspire confidence in my leadership, so look let’s all just change the subject and talk about the Astronomer affair scandal and how they more or less got busted frickin’.

    Got busted frickin’ laugh

  6. SPC 6
    27 July 2025 at 5:19 pm

    A middle class women talks about the issue of having children.

    … Freezing the eggs so the choice can be delayed till perimenopause …

    … Need a wealthy man or doing it without a man (owning a home first and being on the DPB during menopause, so one has time to use washable nappies) …

    Meanwhile working class people just breed and receive WFF tax credits and AS and accept they will not (may not) be homeowners.

    As they did before they got the vote (removal of the property ownership test).

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/27/yes-im-another-selfish-childless-millennial-or-am-i-just-a-realist/

  7. SPC 7
    27 July 2025 at 7:12 pm

    Taking the knee in protest, as the post code lottery in health care continues.

    https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/27/postcode-lottery-persists-three-years-after-creation-of-health-nz/

  8. Joe90 8
    27 July 2025 at 10:03 pm

    Charming.

    /

    @Tatarigami_UA

    The situation with Russians killing a toddler with a drone is especially despicable when you realize this wasn’t a stray artillery shell that landed 50 meters off, or a Shahed drone that hit a tall building, but an FPV drone, guided in real time by an operator watching it live

    https://x.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1943119671592652959

    The Russian city of Perm has announced plans to open drone training hubs within selected kindergartens. The initiative aims to introduce children to the basics of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operation through interactive lessons and guided practice using educational drones.

    Starting later this year, six kindergartens—Constructor of Success, Eureka, IT‑World, Galaxy, Art‑Grad, and Kindergarten No. 67—will set up dedicated learning zones. Coordinated by the “Vzlyot” kindergarten team, these spaces will help preschoolers explore basic drone control, develop digital skills, and foster early engineering thinking.

    https://united24media.com/latest-news/russia-expands-uav-programs-nationwide-with-new-kindergarten-drone-hubs-10168

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/22/russia-using-children-design-test-military-drones-investigation-finds