The Daily Blog Open Mic – 17th May 2025

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The Daily Blog
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Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog,  3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.

All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird Bullshit about the UN taking over the world  and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/561234/unitedhealth-one-of-america-s-biggest-companies-is-imploding>>>>>>>>>>>&gt;!!<<<<<<<<<<<<<

    I am sure there is something to be learned from this by those who are receptive and wish to avoid such contretemps. If you don't know what contretemps means don't bother. No doubt few will here in NZAO as the know-alls who need to know have ensured they as part of the PTB, are full in the pocket and of themselves (see David S and friends et Al and Co.)
    UnitedHealth Group, one of the US’s biggest corporations and a member of the exclusive Dow Jones Industrial Average, is suddenly unravelling.

    The crisis engulfing UnitedHealth hit a crescendo this week when chief executive Andrew Witty stepped down abruptly for “personal reasons”.
    UnitedHealth also swiftly abandoned its financial guidance, blaming skyrocketing medical costs.
    And then The Wall Street Journal dropped the hammer, revealing that UnitedHealth is under federal criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud.

    The developments have stunned investors, triggering a dramatic loss of confidence. UnitedHealth’s (UNH) stock has lost half its value – a staggering US$288 billion (NZ$490b) – in the span of a month. Its share price plunged on Thursday (US time) to its lowest level since April 2020, during the height of the pandemic.

    It’s a spectacular reversal of fortunes for one of America’s most powerful companies and the nation’s largest health insurer.
    The trouble at UnitedHealth comes almost exactly six months after the killing of Brian Thompson, one of its top executives. The brazen shooting of Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan, captured international attention and surfaced deep public resentment toward the healthcare industry…

    ‘They’ would say that the shooting was to do with positions about healthcare. It is just as likely to be from some personal reasons at home or from other financial interests colliding. The corruption spreads far out. It in general fits with C. Wright Mills term for our present atmosphere within our goldfish bowl: ‘Higher Immorality’. I’ll drop mentions of this from his book The Power Elite 1956! Like poisoned baits as I creep through the underground hunting weasels!

  3. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2505/S00030/unprecedented-times.htm
    It’s often said, “It is impossible to say where we stand in relation to our own crisis. Perhaps the worst is yet to come; perhaps we’ve already sailed through.”
    However that’s mistaken, and deeply misleading. It attests to the fact that avoidance and denial still rule in the mainstream media and academia.

    People who are aware of the world as it is see the way things are, and the way things are going. They also see that without radical change within and without, humankind will continue in the same direction.
    Why are intellectuals the last to grasp that during unprecedented times, history can provide little or no guide? Is it because they are so invested in accumulated knowledge over direct perception, in idea over insight, in “perspectives” over truth and actuality?…
    Opinion: Martin LeFevre – Meditations

  4. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/561260/measles-case-78-in-quarantine-as-hundreds-of-close-contacts-identified
    Hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars spent on chasing this up. People being bothered in their already busy lives because of possible transmission. Why don’t we make it easy and attractive, to be vaccinated, give people the opportunity to visit a health camp nearby for an outdoor fun weekend with the family if vaccinated? Do something positive!!
    I hope we don’t get polio back again! We are retreating back along the food chain here. I think the pollies have got slack, cut their and their advisors’ salaries by 10% every time there is a glitch in their allocated system. Give them a glitch in their backsides when there are three! Let’s give more new younger people a go at ruining, er running, the country!

  5. Here is a piece relating to various philosophers and thinkers’ writings during the 1930’s and Orwell’s perceptions of them. It’s interesting, his opinion on how some come to connect with Communism. As we need to find some belief style that is adequate to cope with our post-post whatever where we are trying to hold onto bits of philosophy that crumble under our hand like decaying plastic bags.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Whale

  6. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/561287/10-000-new-zealanders-may-have-lost-vision-due-to-toxoplasmosis
    This is the first I have heard about this thing causing bad vision and blindness. How come? Eye people say there isn’t enough info about macular degeneration either. Our basic health stuff is not being attended to.

    Heart and Cancer have got lot of promotion. Mens prostrate and breast cancer and the invasive information relating to period needs taking the privacy of the poor female away – we hear lots about those but this eye thing is not new and should be up front as we try and control feral cats, this being an important negative to add to their demerits.

    And not very expensive funding request has been turned down.
    …The good news is Professor Russell has identified some promising compounds for new treatments – but he cannot get funding to develop them in New Zealand.
    His latest application for a research grant – made with Dr March de Ribot and other top researchers – has just been rejected by the Marsden Fund.
    They were asking for $900,000 over three years.
    “We had a library of such drugs, that had already been part of a $420 million Novartis [Swiss-based multinational pharmaceutical company] target discovery programme that I was involved in, in Singapore. I try to sell this to people here, but I don’t know, it doesn’t seem to get through.”…

    The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, reproduces in cat guts and is spread through eggs in their faeces. Cat poo in soil and freshwater can infect birds and mammals, including humans, with toxoplasmosis for up to two years, while the eggs survive in sea water for six months.
    For unborn babies and those with weakened immune systems, toxoplasmosis can cause blindness, brain damage and even death – but for most people, it is no worse than a cold.
    However, the parasite can live dormant within cysts inside the body, and make people sick when it “reactivates”….
    Although toxoplasmosis is not a notifiable disease in New Zealand, 142 cases were reported between 2007-2016, including 15 cases of congenital toxoplasmosis (in babies infected in the womb).
    It was not just a problem for people, Russell said.
    “Toxoplasmosis is a killer of some of our precious native wildlife, including birds like kiwi and kākā, and our unique Hector’s and Māui dolphins. It also causes big problems for sheep farmers, leading to the loss of lambs.”

    Doctors advise people who are pregnant or have a weakened immune system should not eat raw, undercooked or cured meats or products made from unpasteurised milk, wear gloves when emptying cat litter trays, cover children’s sandpits, wear gloves to garden and wash their hands before preparing food and eating…

  8. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/561268/woolworths-says-nz-groceries-cheaper-than-uk-australia-if-you-take-off-gst
    Why would women want little dolls to wear on their handbags? The fact that it is a nitty promotion (I hope) doesn’t change that often women do dress or adopt fashions that are silly, but because ‘everyone else they know is’!
    Remember Hilary Barry:
    https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-opinion/seven-sharp-host-hilary-barry-and-real-issue-wardrobe-critic-ken

  9. Martyn and co. have probably covered this but it is a fine piece of BS.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/560641/ministers-continue-to-make-decisions-on-fast-track-projects-after-parties-take-donations-linked-to-applicants
    Ministers Shane Jones and Chris Bishop continued to make decisions about several fast-track projects despite their respective parties receiving donations linked to the applicants.
    One political scientist says such donations could be perceived as a conflict of interest and erode public trust in government.
    However, both ministers said that donations to parties were not considered to be a conflict….

    The Minimum of Probity denizens find no conflict to worry them, thought probity had something to do with teeth and dentists. It’s an aching thought at the drool from such a lack of firm bite.

  10. There was a time in this county when one fulltime income could pay off the house and support the family

    It was about as good as it will ever be and should be the goal to strive for going forward.

    Not according to Labour.

    In Chris Hipkins speech (at the party’s Auckland regional conference today) he stated: “We won’t govern by nostalgia or try to turn the clock back to some fictional golden age. The world is changing too fast for that.
    New Zealanders don’t need fairy tales. They need leadership that looks forward, not backward”

    • But philosophy shows us that we do whatever we believe, and if we want to go back to fairy tale land, where most people could work, and live and love, in a house and be happy ever after if they had a mind to – then we can work toward making it happen again. Not the same indeed, as the Greeks* said about the river, but the concept is good, (say that 10 times with feeling) and we will get better. That’s if Labour don’t poop on their beginnings again, and the arrogant sons and daughters of the socially ambitious amongst the workers adopt upper class disdain and go weak at the knees, (high in the instep they called it in Regency days says Georgette Heyer). So Hipkiss go on follow the UK lead and put me in jail for saying something that leads to anxiety – you are a false profitt!!

      * “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”, which has its roots in Ancient Greek philosophy (predating Socrates), and has inspired people throughout the ages to reflect on how things change, and how we change along with them.4 Dec 2022
      This Quote Means: ‘You don’t step into the same river twice’
      The Indian Express https://indianexpress.com › Explained

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