The Daily Blog Open Mic – 20th March 2023
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.
EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, 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.
This is the sort of thing that is going to kill this government:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/lobbying/486312/lobbying-firms-earning-hundreds-of-thousands-from-contracts-with-government-agencies
Listen to the audio too with Guyon Espiner providing extra context:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018882465/new-rnz-investigation-looking-into-lobbying-firms
Wrong on so many levels, not the least of which is the duplication with in-house spin doctors, but also the manipulation of the 4th Estate, and delving into private lives.
Pigs at the trough, the revolving door, etc.
Joe Public doesn’t really like seeing public money pissed up the wall, especially when they’re doing it tough.
And then you can be sure gNactoids will be taking advantage of it.
Covid is not being presented as part of the font pag4e news but is still there with the work of Farah Hancock making a good job of presentation.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/450874/covid-19-data-visualisations-nz-in-numbers
Figures 20 March –
1217 cases registered today – 43% are reinfections Up 203 from yesterday’s
Weekly summary – 262 in hospital 10 in ICU 21 dead from Covid
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/486376/cyclone-takes-out-thousands-of-beehives-fears-for-bee-health
…Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Koss said it has been working to quantify the extent of the damage but it was clear there has been significant destruction.
“We’re still working with beekeepers to get a sense of the damage but our early estimates at this stage is that between 5000 and 6000 hives have been lost or damaged in the flooding.
“But there’s probably at least the same amount if not more hives cut off from road access so people can’t get them to see if they’re ok.”
Koss said that was concerning as keepers could not monitor bee health and treat hives for diseases like varroa mite and American foulbrood disease….
Hawke’s Bay Bee Club represents about 80 hobbyist beekeepers in the region.
President Graham Heaven lost 100 of his 120 hives.
“They were mostly on the flats in orchards so I knew it would be bad before I even went to check on them, but it was worse. Most of them were completely washed away.
“Some beekeepers have lost everything, lots of hives were full of silt so they either need to be cleaned out or thrown out…
Heaven said because the flooding happened at night the bees would have been inside their hives so likely did not survive.
“That’s going to have massive flow-on effects in spring because there won’t be enough bees to pollinate all the crops in Hawke’s Bay like the kiwifruit and apples.”
We are Ethelred the Unready when it comes to the escalating mishaps and disasters facing us. Yet we still battle on with this unreal system that is our politics. We are doomed if we can’t change it for something better than Gloriavale. People join that because they feel weak and cling together. We need people with reliable skills and goodwill coming together in unity, not belonging to separatist religions or a divisive coterie.