I have no words

Man's inhumanity to man.

Read it and weep: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/10/worst-thing-happening-texas-prison-conditions.html

 

15 October 2024

The War on Drugs is Insane

There's a level of stupidity we are unable to overcome

New Zealand has a drug problem, according to both Captain Obvious and Stuff: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350439724/uber-eats-drugs-teens-getting-more-scrolling-fix-online

Let me assure you, this ain't news - it's been going on for well over a decade and you can trace the roots back to the dawn of social media, when Bebo was the first port of call for teens to source drugs online.

I've said this a thousand times and I'm going to say it again, backed by huge numbers of health professionals who work with drugs: If you want to reduce drug harm - and defund gangs - legalise the fucking drugs!

And don't go half measures - they need to be free from your local doctor. Want free P? Go see your doctor. The doctor will give you a prescription and also help you seek help when you're ready to get some. Clean, safe drugs, provided free. Addicts would have no reason to pay to dealers, massively reducing the insane sums of money spent on busting dealers and thereby taking away gangs' primary source of income. NZ Police are involved in 100,000 cases of crimes against the Misuse of Drugs Act every year. Let's be generous and say the average time spent on each case is 10 hours. Given some cases will involve thousands of hours, I think that's unquestionably an under-estimate, but we'll use it anyway. That is one million hours of police time every year - the equivalent of 250 extra police.

That also doesn't count the enormous amount of time police spend on crimes committed by people wanting money for drugs.

It's an absolute no-brainer, which is probably why even the most-liberal north European countries don't do it. The average voter is way too ignorant to see the facts and still believes Nixon's War on Drugs is helping.

Not only is it not helping, it's counter-productive. Prison populations would be reduced by 10-15% straight away, gangs would be unable to fund their purchase of shiny Harleys to attract young idiots, and overdoses would fall dramatically.

I expect no changes to be made.

We Don't Know How Lucky We Are!

19 September 2024

Just look back two posts and you'll see I'm not all that positive about this country, but we need to remember that while things here could be better, they could be a lot worse.

Darfur? Where selling your organs in hope of getting enough money to escape is a real thing.

Lebanon, Syria, Gaza... where Israel is openly praciticing genocide, with only a very few countries like South Africa trying to stop them.

Myanmar, where even children of muslims are fair targets

There are so many disgraceful things happening, it's impossible to list them all, so next time you're worried about having money to pay the mortgage, remember how lucky you are to hove one in the first place.

Fred Dagg said it best all those years ago: https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/dont-know-how-lucky-we-are-1998

 

12 September 2024 - Kamala Harris

What a revelation!

After watching the not-so-slow demise of Joe Biden daily, it's been a revelation to see a vibrant and articulate person trying to win the White House.

She seems to be the best candidate America has had since Obama, and by a country mile. Her opponent is a sick, nasty man who should never be allowed anywhere near the seat of power. The fact that he was actually president is a stain that America will take decades to remove. Trump is a toxic human with no brains, no morals, and no business sense. His entire persona was built up by reality TV with no substance whatsoever. Trump and his MAGA/Republican pals are misogynist, homophobic and stupid and Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are going to sweep them from the board.

Good fucking job

"We'll all be rooned!" said Hanrahan.

That was a poem we did in English in the 6th form, in 1975.*

The point of the poem is that messages of doom usually don't come true, and humans muddle through one disaster after another.

Today, I'm not so sure. New Zealand is in the shit, and I'm not convinced it's a situation we can come back from.

Our best and brightest are leaving the country in unprecedented numbers, and who can blame them when our economy is in such appalling shape. If almost half of small business owners are under-paying themselves to stay afloat, things are very grim. Admittedly, we have no idea as to the accuracy of this survey, being conducted by a company with vested interests in seeing results like that, and including a sales pitch in their data, but there's no doubt many small businesses are struggling, and it's 100% factual that company insolvencies are up by almost 50% year on year.

One thing that gets very little mention is New Zealand's crumbling infrastructure. Road workers are in short supply, which is hardly a surprise given the daily abuse and threats made against our workers, and our roads are truly awful. Potholes spring up from shoddy jobs and we can't even remotely keep pace with the damage as we struggle to fix the damage from the weather.

I've been looking for people lately to move to Aussie to work in a factory as machine operators. The very top earnings of machine operators in NZ is about $75,000 pa. In Aussie, you can start on $A103,000, with incentives and overtime to add on, in a city where house prices are half that of NZ. Why the hell wouldn't you move? The number of people applying was eye-opening, and I have no doubt many of them will move to Australia asap.

We don't have sufficient doctors, and the only reason teachers are almost keeping up is because a quarter of our kids don't go to school most of the time.

We rate at the bottom of the pile for productivity and make up for it by working longer hours - something which makes no sense whatsoever. Our banks and many of our large businesses are owned overseas and profits are sucked out of the country faster than we can make them. Ironically, it's against this backdrop that the Greemunists and morons want to destroy farming, our one shining light in a sea of mediocrity.

I'm not even going to mention crime; it's almost a red herring against the other problems, but you can guarantee a failing economy is only going to create more desperation, more gang membership, and more crime overall.

I'd like to say "Let's all pull together and fix the place. Get some bloody Number 8 wire, tie the loose bits back on and let's kick her in the guts!", except the few people able to understand that sentence would probably be overrun by the twin stupidity of Greenmunism and conspiracists.

.Enjoy it while you can, buy heavy locks and hunker down - it's going to be a bumpy ride.

 

The Biggest Problem Facing Humans is Apathy

But nobody cares.

I'll take a wild guess and say that 99% of humans, finding their house on fire, would gtfo, ensuring their kids did the same.

Yet, our home is on fire and very few people are doing jack shit about it.

The papers were full of how New Zealand was now firmly on side with climate change after the floods & cyclone. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that even though there had been billions of dollars of damage done, and lives lost, at least we'd finally sold the story of catastrophic climate change.

So, what have we done about that?

 

 

 

 

1 March 2023

Two letters you're going to hear a lot: AI

Artificial Intelligence

If you haven\t heard about ChatGPT, you've probably been living under a rock for the past couple of months. It's a cross between a chatbot and Google and can write essays, design solutions to problems, and be your electronic friend.

It's the thin edge of the wedge of the coming AI revolution, something already described as "as big as the Industrial Revolution". Unlike steam engines and mass-production, the AI revolution will mostly creep under people's radar. When you consider that the first Industrial Revolution is directly responsible for the potentially cataclysmic climate change being unleashed on us, it's not hard to see that this time we are really out of our depth.

Stephen Hawking described AI as a threat to the human species. And note that he made those comments almost a decade ago, and AI has advanced a long way since then.

We already have superb evidence of how AI can generate algorithms that fuck with us - Brexit and the Trump presidency were engineered by the evil genius of Robert Mercer and Cambridge Analytica, so it's not like we need a guide to recognise the potential harm that can come from too much computing power. The potential for harm seems to outweigh the potential for good, and as far as I can tell, that potential good is limited to the rich making more money by having fewer staff. Twitter and Facebook may already doing this, with massive reductions in staff.

As usual, we'll see the danger too late.

Ho hum

31 October 2022

All Hallow's Eve, or as stupid Americans re-named it, Hallowe'en.

Who needs made up monsters when we've created a monstrous fuck up like the one we have right now?

Let's start with this comment today, from the Chief Executive of BusinessNZ: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130310582/businessnz-chief-says-workforce-burnt-out-warns-people-will-die-if-immigration-system-remains-clogged

You know when big business is worried about worker deaths things are ugly. Of course, they're only worried about the impact on their business, but it really does ram home how desperate things are. I know for an outright fact that unskilled labour is virtually impossible to find, and that's the first time that's happened in my 40 years in business. And if you need highly skilled people, either be prepared to pay or wait.

But lack of migration is to blame? I call bullshit.

We already suck the best a brightest from nations who can least afford it, how about we do what actual humans do all over the world, and learn to live within our means? You know, if you're too busy to take on that new order - don't take it on. The reason unemployment no longer exists is because those same employers who are crying about the danger of staff burnout are the very people putting them in that position! If your company has lost 10% of its workforce, don't push that onto the remaining staff, reduce your output by 10%. God knows it might mean you make a little less money, but in the long run, you'll prosper, as will the entire country.

Getting an influx of migrants will only serve to push up rents and house prices, and since there's already upwards pressure on rents, we're only making matters worse.

The government is spending one million dollars every day on "emergency housing", which is a euphemism for "paying dodgy motels excessive rates for housing our most vulnerable people". (Also housing dirt bags whose record means no sane landlord would allow them near their property) And if you didn't see this marvellous expose from the TVNZ Sunday team, you should bloody well watch it: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/sunday/clips/golden-mile

I used to live in Rotorua and have stayed at many of those motels over the years and what's going on is an outrage, and it's not going to be helped by thousands of migrants from even shittier countries coming here and doing jobs.

I'm reminded of David Lange's Cup of Tea moment. He was right, but got harpooned for it. Well, if ever there was a time the entire country could do with a sit down and a nice cup of tea, it's right now.

We need to stop, re-set, focus on keeping every person in the country safe and well, and live within our resources. (See, I didn't even mention the utter shit-sandwich of Christchurch and the wider ram-raid crap)

27 July 2022

This is some really shocking news - rock pools no longer have life in them, because some people come and clean them out of all life forms: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/26/keep-starfish-off-the-barbecue-new-zealanders-call-for-rockpool-protections

It's now over 20 years ago that my oldest son and I took a day trip to Rangitoto and other islands in the gulf. We moored at a beach on the ocean side of Rangitoto and enjoyed a picnic lunch as we watched a boat of Asians arrive at the beach. Armed with buckets, they stripped every living thing from the rocks at the beach. Crabs as small a match head, limpets, snails and anything alive went into the buckets, then the people left, no doubt to go and strip another beach.

And here, all those years later, people are only just noticing?

Where the hell have you been? This has been going on for many years and it's insanity.

25 July 2022

1980s Take over the 2020s!

You might not have noticed, but the paucity of musical talent in the 202s  - with the notable exception of Muse - has led to a new Chart Invasion: the 1980s.

Whether it's Kate Bush, finding a new audience for her superb Running Up That Hill thanks to some Netflix series, or Tears for Fears suddenly making the charts in the 2020s, the Time Invasion won't stop as long as old acts like Psychedelic Furs keep making music like the unbelievably good Wrong Train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Bu7ctVR8c

The title of this entry could equally be Old Bastards Kick Millennials to Touch!

7 July 2022

What the fuck are we becoming?

No, really. What the hell are we doing?

A woman turned up to a foodbank because the family had no money for food.

The worker, charged with helping families survive, and sensibly giving helpful tips on budgeting, quite rightly suggested that if you're struggling to feed your children, maybe you shouldn't have two dogs.

Fuck no!

You can't do that - it disrespects their something.

No, it doesn't disrespect anything, it's helpful advice. The world does not owe you a living, and foodbanks are there for people who don't piss money away on luxuries like dogs. The fact they have two dogs is even more damning and should be a signal that the people refuse to deal with reality.

In the immortal words of Ronnie Johns, Harden the Fuck Up!

Recession! Inflation! Skills Crisis! Brain Drain! 27 June 2022

The news is all bad. Or is it really?

New Zealand has suffered from one of the lowest productivity rates in any developed country, and if take care to work on our productivity, we can buffer ourselves from a lot of the negative fallout from all of these crises. We can use these challenges to make our businesses stronger and more profitable.

Work smarter, not harder. Be a gardener rather than a farmer.

Take time to work on the business rather than in the business. You may feel that taking a week out of your schedule will be disastrous, but it might actually be the best thing you can do. Step back, and cast an objective eye over every aspect of your business. Be ruthless in culling dead wood and be generous in nurturing the strong shoots.

And if you need help prioritising what to do, give me a call, or send a message - you might be surprised how easy it is.

2 June 2022

A Sense of Humour...

Is essential.

I'm pleased to see the Chinese Communist Party has one, with this announcement from the China-Russia summit taking place at the moment: "China Says it Will Work With Russia to Promote Real Democracy"

No comedian would even go there - a statement so absurd as to be mind-boggling. George Orwell is surely smiling in his grave this morning.
______________________________

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the outrageous actions of the banks continues to disgust. Along with poking their filthy noses into people's personal lives, charging Kiwis more than Australians and sucking billions of dollars out of the economy every year, they also make it extremely difficult for law-abiding citizens to do business.

Hope Never Dies

31 May 2022

Despite the setbacks, the wars, the screaming children dying from hunger and preventable disease, despite the people living in cars, or families sending only one child to school in the one uniform, I can't let go of hope.

Even the crushing of hope you worked and paid for in the guise of a Labour Prime Minister failing to address needs and instead propping up the housing market with cheap mortgages and unlimited migration can't completely extinguish the flame of hope in me.

In the dark world we inhabit, some people keep that little spark of hope alive. Whether it's Alexandria Ocasio Cortez standing up to the hypocrites of her own party, Mario Ovsyannikova (see below) standing up to Putin at the cost of her freedom, or Aitzaz Hussein, the 15-year-old boy who gave his life to save many others, there are always people who show that not only does hope live, it's all we have.

There have been a few glimmers lately, and the potential for hope to realised grows stronger with every victory.

Australia not just kicking Morrison's government out, but actually savaging them in WA, blew the spark of hope a little brighter. Even America is fanning the spark, as the Democrats overwhelmingly reject the Pelosi doctrine for newcomers with social conscience in their primaries.

I'm not going to even go as far as Churchill's famous "This isn't the beginning of the end, but it's the end of the beginning" because the spark is still so faint in a world of pain, where food crises grow worse at the exact time supply chains are breaking. What it is, is a sign to the world that unshackled capitalism and the revolting Friedman Doctrine aren't taken as gospel any longer. It's going to take decades, maybe even generations, but neither Mohandas Gandhi nor Martin Luther King Jr believed the fight would be over quickly, and nor do I.

The changes may be forced on humanity as Gaia herself revolts at the damage we've done to the planet as the climate bites the moneyed, with their beachfront views and endless property portfolios, who are walking in gumboots through their ill-gotten gains, but it will come. The irony that change could be driven by the ultimate capitalists, insurance companies, is karmic.

A Hero for our Times

15 March 2022

This is what a hero looks like, and she can take her place of honour alongside the other heroes of the Ukraine War - Maria Ovsyannikova.

Maria is a TV editot who is disgusted by the reality of the atrocities Putin is perpetrating on Ukraine.

Faced with her own news program telling lies, she decided to act and took a banner live on air, letting the people know they're being lied to. Her action will probably result in a prison sentence of more than ten years. Think about that for a second - conditions in Russian prisons aren't that flash, and here's a small woman risking that in the name of truth.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300541224/russian-editor-storms-into-her-own-live-tv-broadcast-with-antiwar-banner

Maria Ovsyannikova, I salute you!

 

10 March 2022

Excuse while I ROFL, then LMAO and finally start to calm down to just LOLing...

The worst and dumbest Labour Government in NZ's history has today announced the merger of Radio NZ and TVNZ.

They were one organisation for the entire history of TV, up until 1975, when they were split up by the Labour Government of Bill Rowling. It's like time travel, but with the laughs of Back to the Future. They're going to become a greater digital force is the official line, and that would be great.

If it were the 1990s.

The government here aren't just trying to turn back the clock, they're charging the flashy new corporation with an impossible task. Utter stupidity of the highest order.

9 March 2022 - Yes, I am outraged!

Outraged enough that I'll bother commenting on it.

No, not Ukraine - that's simple, Putin is a piece of shit who's just shown the world who's really the boss as the toothless west imposes meaningless sanctions while still buying his gas.

Not covid - that's been and almost gone.

Supermarket prices? A joke. If you think supermarket prices are too high (and they are) then try buying your meals through one of the ready-made meal companies; their prices are 2 or 3 times what the same item will cost you in a supermarket.

But it's not outrageous.

What's outrageous is banks making six billion dollars in profits.

That is so unconscionable it makes me very angry indeed. The New Zealand economy is being treated as a cash cow by Australian banks, and if you don't think that's true, then look at the fact that the bank profits per person is much higher in New Zealand and Australia.

A big thing is being made about supermarkets making a million bucks a day in profit, yet our feeble crowd of clowns that make up our goverment don't call for a Commerce Commission inquiry for banking.

Could that possibly be because they own one of the banks - the much-vaunted Kiwibank. The government refuses to invest money in it, and it's money they'd have repaid exponentially, because banks make profits! (There's no irony in one of the biggest banks, BNZ being one that was sold by the government...) Grant Robertson is a gutless twat - he picks on easy targets and pats himself on the back for doing fuck all. The supermarket final paper does nothing to alleviate that duopoly, and he's done nothing at all to try to break the cartel of Australian banks raping New Zealand.

At least supermarkets contribute to the wider economy - tens or hundreds of thousands of people are employed in supplying supermarkets. What does banking prop up?

Real estate agents - a bunch of over-paid wankers whose delicious self-regulation has been exposed time after time as a hypocritical slapper of wrists with wet bus tickets.

 

16 August 2021

 

5 August 2021. Time for some facts to whack the scum who are out there promoting antivax messages.

Only old and sick people are dying, or having serious trouble with Covid.

1 - A man in his 40s, described by his sister as the healthiest and fittest guy she knows...

Or knew, since he's now dead of the harmless little 'flu: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/uk/125973772/he-was-the-fittest-healthiest-person-i-know-uk-fitness-enthusiast-who-rejected-covid19-vaccine-dies-at-42

2 - the woman in her 30s in Aussie who died of Covid this week: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/447675/young-people-warned-after-covid-19-death-of-sydney-woman-in-her-30s

In the words of Nobel winning infectious disease expert, Peter Doherty:

"It's very sad that a young woman should die from Covid, or from anything for that matter," Doherty said.

"But I think it highlights that particularly this Delta variant that's circulating now is really quite problematic in younger people.

"The message is that young people are at considerable risk and at higher risk than with the earlier variants of Covid.

"Young people shouldn't think they're at no risk or even minimal risks. Because it's going to kill."

Yes, the numbers of people dying are low, but along with those dying, between 10 and 30% of Covid infections will cause long-term, and sometimes life-threatening complications.

Get your vaccine, and shun those who don't.

___________________________________________

Whether it's idiot theists demanding their right to not wear masks, crazy Taliban who think vaccines are part of a plot to stop their insanity, to Billy Te Kahika and his pod of morons who somehow think radio waves have anything to do with viruses or vaccines, we seem to be trying to turn the clock back several hundred years.

We live in a complex and occasionally scary world, where we went from flying around the world as we wished, to a deadly pandemic in the space of mere weeks.

An American philosopher names Steven Pinker wrote a book a few years back where he counted up some numbers and said that the world was the safest it's ever been, with the fewest wars and war deaths.

At that point in time, he might have even been right, but since then we have moved on, with the largest number of refugees in human history, and wars in every corner of the planet. From Syria to Chad to Ethiopia to Nigeria and Zimbabwe, Africa is the most dangerous it's been in decades, while in South & Central America we have Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico in the grip of man-made disasters. Even countries not at war are riven by politics to a degree unseen in the past. History has no analogy for Bolsonaro, Trump and Modi - elected populists who manage to fuck everything up and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

We live at a time where a virus is politicised, a bloody virus! Viruses have no politics, they just do what they do, and the fact that most of the world missed the bus on Covid is a guide that things are not as rosy as old Pinky would have us believe.

I'll be adding to this page, but in the meantime, have a look around the extensive archives.