Open Mike 18/09/25
Open Mike 18/09/25
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6:00 am, September 18th, 2025 - 75 comments
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Today's Posts (updated through the day):
Very sorry for the loss to this family of this cherished Ford Cortina collection, but I think we will look back and visit New Zealand's combustion car collections the same way as we visit old whaling stations.
‘There’s an emotional cost’: Canterbury fire destroys late brother’s cherished car collection | Stuff
Combustion car collection lost in fire lol
Few quirkier people than car collectors. Some keep them so no one else can have them, others love working on them to a high standard. But time always runs out.
Have known a good few mainly US collectors over the years being a car fan myself-Galaxies, Fairlanes etc in younger days, one mint Falcon BA XR left, rarely driven, family vehicle is an Ioniq 5 EV.
Condolences, can’t see new gens getting into it.
I also know a Ford specialist collector, and he is all quirk.
The car museum in Wanaka is one of our strongest attractions. Wheels On Wanaka this year was essentially gridlock it was so strong.
Maybe Otago isn't just where old British cars go to die, but where our entire remaining British culture finally finds its cemetery.
What anthropologists call "material culture" (old cars, old bones or "the sweepings of a street") maybe, but immaterial culture (what's in our heads and the shape of our institutions) will take a while longer.
Those final echoes of allegiance to the Royal Family you can still hear in the 85year+ people I engage with in Dunedin and Wanaka. Empire. Tiaras. Debutante balls in private schools. The King.
All rapidly fainter.
I was in London when tens of thousands of poms marched through the streets with flags alongside neofascist Tommy Robinson protesting immigration and lord knows what other issues. I have vaguely followed the shooting of Charlie Kirk and the cluster fuck of issues he was immersed in whilst not feeling the need to shed any tears for his death. I have been seeing snippets from the Winston First party and pastor Brian Tamaki complaining about transgender matters. Reflecting on it all four things come to mind.
The first, strip everything back and a primary matter is who holds and commands the wealth, power and privilege in a political economy. That is the starting place, or a key starting place, to explain much of what is going on around us. not everything maybe, but much. The more you work up from there the greater the nuances and shades of grey, but to make things as simple to understand as possible start with the basics of wealth, power and privilege.
The second, I don't really care if you choose to wear a dress and have a beard. I may not understand why you choose to, but pretty much I don't really care. If someone gets on in their life dressing like that, so what. I also don't care too much what country you have come from when you arrive on my shores. If you are coming to make a difference and contribute to my society, add to it, come on in. If you are coming to be a burden and to make things worse, don't come, don't want you. Culture wars and transphobia wars, yeah nah, not interested. More important to me what contribution you make to society.
The third, time for a bit of honesty in politics, especially from the right but also from the left. If you want to implement tariffs, ok, explain why and be honest about the pro's and con's. Don't lie, don't say China will pay when you know full well domestic consumers will. If you want to debate matters of race, ok. But base it on contribution to society, not were someone comes from or colour of their skin. If you want to debate "Maori privilege" be honest enough to admit that a good chunk, a disproportionate %, of the nations wealth is held by a small minority of white older and predominantly males. Lets start from there and see where we get to.
Finally, and maybe coming back round to the wealth issue again. It's time for, at least, a capital gains tax. It just makes sense. The state needs that income and simply why should some income be exempt from tax when others are not. A CGT is not a magic panacea for everything, and there can be a bit of complex devil in the detail, yet it's time we implemented it. Why do I pay tax on my wages/salary, why does my neighbur pay tax on the profit their small business makes, yet Chris Luxon pays no tax when he sells investment houses for a profit. A $ earned is a $ earned and should be taxed. I don't mind Luxon making a profit, I don't mind Luxon being wealthy. It’s not some BS ‘envy’ or ‘rich bashing’ as the likes of ACT try to frame it. I just want Cluxon to pay taxes on all of his profit.
Congratulations on your vivid description of male privilege.
You don't care if a man who says he is a woman is in a gym changing room with your 14yo daughter or your 35yo wife?
You don't care if your older daughter loses her place on a competitive sports team because the boy who played on the boy's team last year now calls himself "Lia" is using the advantages of his post-puberty male body to take the place and support she would have had?
You don't care if your younger daughter goes on a "Girl Guides" or similar group camping trip and one of the "leaders" and 2 of the participants are males who say they are females?
You don't care that your Lesbian cousin and her friends are back meeting in secret like they did in the 1970's because the Government says that they cannot have any meetings or functions for lesbians without admitting any man who says he identifies as a "transbian"?
You don't care about convicted male rapists in women's prisons?
You don't care about the safety and dignity of women and girls?
It was an anti-immigration march.
Women favouring left-leaning parties is one of the stronger recent demographic voting patterns. CoC strategists will naturally be trying to change that, possibly by any means necessary – short of more women MPs, of course.
If we're lucky (and how lucky we still are), then divide-and-conquer groups that foster regressive misogynistic views such as those advocated by Kirk will fail to thrive in Aotearoa NZ. But perhaps it will take more than luck – time will tell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kirk#Relationships_and_%22sexual_anarchy%22
I saw one guy wearing an Irish flag heading to it. Who know
Here is the thing. Lets have a mature conversation about sort of stuff and find something that satisfies most people and is workable. Lets put it in the proper context. Can't be bother with people who want to turn it into some massive culture war nor politicising it to chase votes. Bigger and more important things needed to be focused on. Who holds the wealth, power and privilege in our society, what sort of economy do we want benefiting who. That's it really. Start at first principals not people running off on tangents or going down rabbit holes. Winston First is doing that.
I'm sure you can understand that women might have different priorities.
@georgecom,
Agree with your point about pathological inability of politicians to be honest about tradeoffs. That sits with both sides.
As to property investment, the trouble is we cant be clear about what it is.
Personally, if you own a business, you get to claim reasonable costs against revenue and pay CGT on asset realisation if you make a profit. Why do we not apply the same logic to investment properties.
OK, lets debate the edge cases on say you renting out your bach over easter, but if you buy a property and call it an investment, then you should be able to claim costs and pay CGT on realisation.
This event and the timing of recent Australian marches would be no coincidence. The first few minutes of this Novara Media clip show outsiders like our own Tamaki and Elon Musk performing to the crowd. Musk calling for dissolution of parliament, and for the right to 'fight back or die', this is scary stuff. Things are unraveling fast. Musk is becoming one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
https://youtu.be/4APEnJkou-M?si=EjbV5Hxl36JTC0TI
Consequences Culture strikes again, Jimmy Kimmel suspended indefinitely for Charlie Kirk comments
Lovin' it
please provide a link and explanation or expect to be moderated. This isn't FB.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/sep/18/jimmy-kimmel-live-suspended-indefinitely-after-hosts-charlie-kirk-comments
The consequences of his comments have to led to his indefinite suspension
you're in favour of modern day McCarthyism? You surprise me.
Actually no I'm not.
However the pendulum has swung far to far to the left and needs to come back to the center.
And on a personal note I am so fucking passed what the left has to culture thar yeah I want some revenge.
Off the top of my head here are some properties that got infected by wokeness and now suck:
Star Wars, James Bond, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones, Dr Who, Willow, The Witcher, The Last of Us, Terminator, Predator, Aliens, Equaliser, Watchmen, Snow White, Lord of the Rings, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Halo, Ghostbusters, Cowboy BeBop
The left killed these properties all for the sake of diversity
How about a black queen of England, a black viking leader (woman of course), Cleopatra was black apparently
You may not care about entertainment but how about rewriting history?
TV, movies, video games all this and more
Yeah I want some payback BUT only until the pendulum swings back to the center where it needs to be
Not a fan of Craig's Bond?
I do care about entertainment. We're not in the 1970s anymore, so I expect filmmakers to not entertain us with sexist tropes and instead update their characters and storylines. I read a lot of Fleming's novels in my 20s, and grew up on Bond films. The Casino Royale remake was an improvement, and I don't really see how it could be seen as woke. Bond is more brutal than some of the later preceding films.
I'm not a fan of the race bending genre because of the sense of dissociation and because I think film and tv are good ways to bring history to people who aren't going to read history, but then I also had a problem with the Xena series because of its fucking with history and story. I don't remember an outcry then.
Cleopatra probably wasn't black, but not exactly white either. Nor Jesus. Also don't remember a fuss about that back in the day.
The problem with that is it leads to civil war. Is that where you really want NZ to go?
My biggest concern is about whether we can prevent NZ from sliding into the kind of authoritarianism the US is doing (and possibly the UK). Do you want to live in that kind of country?
I'm off to walk my dog, ill go through your post and respond later
Not a fan of Craig's Bond?
I do care about entertainment. We're not in the 1970s anymore, so I expect filmmakers to not entertain us with sexist tropes and instead update their characters and storylines. I read a lot of Fleming's novels in my 20s, and grew up on Bond films. The Casino Royale remake was an improvement, and I don't really see how it could be seen as woke. Bond is more brutal than some of the later preceding films.
– I agree that Casino Royale was good, very good actually. Unfortunately it was followed by A Quantom of Solace which was, imho, a mess I did not care for.
– Skyfall wasn't bad, Judi Dench was a good M but then you had No Time To Die, a film so woke and bad they basically had to film it twice.
– Bond is an archtype that appeals to the male fantasy. In control, sexually active, killing the bad guys, a lone wolf amongst sheep and in the movie they made for the post metoo age:
https://boundingintocomics.com/movies/no-time-to-die-director-cary-fukunaga-admits-film-is-woke-while-attempting-to-denying-it/
I'm not a fan of the race bending genre because of the sense of dissociation and because I think film and tv are good ways to bring history to people who aren't going to read history, but then I also had a problem with the Xena series because of its fucking with history and story. I don't remember an outcry then.
– I'm not sure if you're aware but Xena was not based on a real life person, she is fictional but a character being a woman doesn't make it woke.
Cleopatra probably wasn't black, but not exactly white either. Nor Jesus. Also don't remember a fuss about that back in the day.
The problem with that is it leads to civil war. Is that where you really want NZ to go?
– I'm talking entertainment
My biggest concern is about whether we can prevent NZ from sliding into the kind of authoritarianism the US is doing (and possibly the UK). Do you want to live in that kind of country?
– If I had to choose between the authoritarianism happening right now or the authoritarianism you think MIGHT happen under Trump, I know which one I'll take
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07p7v2nn8mo
Graham Linehan arrested at Heathrow over his X posts
lol, yes I knew, but the whole series was based on taking historical myths and mashing them up and basically teaching a whole generation of people a bunch of nonsense. Mythology matters as well as history, it's part of our history.
I'm one of the few people that liked Quantum. Die was ok, they had to find a way to kill of Craig. Thought they botched the Nomi character, but otherwise what as the problem?
The main problem is that Bond wasn't Bond.
Wheres the swaggering, drinking, womanising male fantasy figure?
Bond giving up and dying?
Bond taking a back seat to woman?
This is a masculine character that is supposed to act in a certain way.
We, the fans, don't want a Bond for the post mee too era.
We want to live, for a little while, vicariously through Bond.
Instead we get watered down, insipid Bond played by an actor that didn't like playing him.
That's not authoritarianism. The UK still has a separation of state and police. The police have a major issue with two tier policing, and parliament is responsible for a bunch of stupid things like non hate crime incidents. But those are fixable because it's not an authoritarian state.
It's not what might happen under Trump, it already is. Fascism doesn't happen overnight, and they're a decade into it now. If you read about how fascism happens, there are a lot of strategies being used. Very difficult to fix.
By passed I mean pissed 🤪
And just like that hate speech is real, words have consequences, and cancel culture is good.
The right in 2025, whānau.
/
What's funny is the left thinking it would never come back to bite them
After what happened to Gina Carano this is karma but its only the beginning
We've got a long ways to go before it's even close to parity
Thanks for the reminder that you were never actually against cancel culture and that you were only against the cancellation of people you agreed with or liked.
This isn't cancel culture, its consequences culture 🙂
In July tRump said Kimmel was next. Subsequently Kimmel is given the arse after failing to display regime-approved levels of grief over the death of a vile, bigoted, grifter.
So you're right, this isn't cancel culture, it's state repression.
Oh look! Kimmel's employer needs
FCCregime approval for a multi billion dollar merger./
https://www.nexstar.tv/nexstar-media-group-inc-enters-into-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-tegna-inc-for-6-2-billion-in-accretive-transaction/
Of course they weren't, that was always obvious. They made appeals to 'free speech' principles when their opinions were unpopular and marginal. Having used that tactic to get their opinions mainstreamed (in the US at least), they are now in a position to eliminate the free speech of others, i.e. the right are always tactical and never principled
Boots on the other foot now, enjoy the taste and know the left brought it on themselves
Thanks for the confession and the oddly mixed metaphors which carry a vague undertone of something that might almost be violence.
this is a vaccination mandate issue?
There is a disease affecting the left
another one affecting the right.
And?
At the very least we can make entertainment great again
maybe be more specific. Start with MCU, because I know that reasonably well. I have films and TV I like better than others, but I was never a comic reader.
Ok you like the MCU, so do i or at least I did. Right up until this scene:
So are you still watching the series or have you passed on it. Basically anything that Disney touches it ruins it
The MCU, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Willow.
Disney brought them because they needed boy brands, unfortunately Disney then chose to put the boys in the back ground for girl bosses
Movies simply aren't as entertaining today as they were 10-15 years ago
what's wrong with that scene? that it was women?
I'm still watching MCU but sporadically.
I recently rewatched *all the films until Infinity Wars and Captain Marvel. I think I just forgot to keep going.
I'm a fan of the Captain Marvel character, Dr Strange films, and think Thor Ragnarok is excellent (probably thanks to Waititi). Quite partial to Guardians of the Galaxy. Loved Agents of SHIELD, but haven't been able to rewatch it, not sure why.
But I suspect I watch for different reasons than you.
*nearly all.
I could be petty and ask why Iron Heart (Pepper Potts) took her helmet off before the fight when it would make more sense to put it on but it was probably so people could see it was Pepper and not Tony.
But yes it was because it was woman, but not in the way you think.
Apart from Cap Marvel (originally a male character) I don't have an issue with female MCU characters except this wasn't a group of superheroes banding together to help Spider-Man
It was specifically a group of female superheroes and it was cringe af
It was a girl boss and the public is getting very sick of girl bosses (see the box office for movies featuring girl bosses)
Like it or not superheroe movies appeal to men more than women and when you force girl bosses on male viewers you're going to lose box office
In fact I'd go as far to say that the majority of female fans are also sick of girl bosses
Watching a girl boss (how did Rey with no training defeat Kylo Ren who'd been trained by his uncle Luke Skywalker?) in a movie like playing a video game on the easiest setting, damned boring
Also Taika can go suck a fat one after what he did to Thor and his comments towards the fans.
But thanks for reminding about another property Hollywood ruined. Taika did Time Bandits as a series and it sucks giant donkey dick which has put him in directors jail
He needs somebody to reign him and not to give him a big budget
His smaller movies are much, much better
yeah but they still seem to be making a lot of money
https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary
My point was that people watch for different reasons and that's ok. I thought the Endgame ending was a bit cringe, but more because of how they did it than the women. They could easily have fucked it up with the dudes.
I haven't watched enough of the newer Star Wars to have a sense of it. I can't imaging making them now like the originals though.
What did Waititi say to the fans?
Those numbers are not correct. Marvel movies have been bombing for awhile.
Film companies routinely lie about costs but some of the Marvel movies were filmed in the UK where you have state the costs.
From Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2024/05/11/disney-reveals-doctor-strange-2-cost-more-to-make-than-avengers-2/
Then you have to add on advertising for the movie.
Plus the movie theatres take their cut for playing the movie, usually 40-60% in the US, around 75% in China
So a good rule of thumb is a movie has to make double its budget to break even and 2.5 tines to make money.
https://cosmicbook.news/taiki-waititi-responds-thor-love-thunder-complaints
Then he turned Thor into a fat loser who had to find his purpose (again) and turned the movie into a big joke with another girl boss (Jane Foster)
Don't get me wrong he's a good director but he needs reigning in and works better with smaller, more personal movies
I’m not saying people should or shouldn’t like the movies but that yhe movies themselves are shite, because of wokeness
What was the last really funny movie you saw, a funny movie that will last the test of time?
For me Airplane and Blazing Saddles are the funniest movies ever made, I can watch them anytime and I’ll always laugh.
The last one I saw that comes close would be Tropic Thunder which is very good but no Blazing Saddles.
Could you imagine any movie like that being made today?
I used to almost never stop watching a film once I’d started. I think I made it through maybe 30 minutes of Tropic Thunder. I’m ok if films like that don’t get made 😉
Saying something is woke doesn’t mean the film was shite. What does that even mean? Bad acting? Nonsensical plot? Superficial plot? Superfical characterisation? How is your analysis of good/bad different from your likes/dislikes?
The Jane character was good originally, and stupid by the end.
You are correct on that woke doesn't mean shite.
Let's take Disney Star Wars and compare it to a Original Star Wars
Luke gets attacked by Sandwalkers and needs Obi Wans help
Rey gets attacked by scumbags, Finn (a wasted character if ever there was) goes to help but Rey don't need no man and defeats them by herself
Luke doesn't fight Vader in the first movie, loses a hand in the second and doesn't defeat him until the last movie.
Rey (with no training) defeats Kylo Ren (trained by Luke) the first time they meet.
Luke struggles to lift a rock the first time.
Rey moves a landslide.
I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.
There's no hero's journey with girl bosses there, there ls very little setbacks, they basically are already powerful but society is holding them back until they realise how powerful they are (see also Mulan and Captain Marvel)
It makes the movie boring. We know a 100 pound woman can't beat a 200 pound stunt man without some plot contrivance but we have to accept it (see The Last of Us TV series)
Before you ask i have no problem with female action heroes, Ripley is one of my favorite action heroes because I can relate to her (logistics) she is flawed, she is willing to learn and she's a goddamn badass
"Get away from her you bitch!"
We all have different tastes so that's cool.
What's your favourite comedies and what's the last decent comedy you watched?
I have become sceptical about the impossibility of many female action heroes physical skills lately. I think because I've been paying more attention the research showing the differences between male and female bodies, especially when it comes to sports.
It can be done, and done well.
It just takes a little more effort on the writers and directors part.
Kill Bill, Dredd, Aliens, Fury Road etc
Essentially the writers are lazy and think that all woman have to do is act like men in action movies
I've gone right off super hero movies – it seems to be part of the US fantasy world of being saved by super heroes.
I sometimes wonder if US culture is too influenced by fantasy worlds they see on movies and TV, with their heroes (and anti-heroes) being ultimately moral actors saving their world.
Wonder Woman was a disappointment for me. Too glossy and unreal.
I currently quite like Longmire. It's a contemporary western style, rural, crime TV programme. There's some ongoing support and conflicts between sheriff Longmire and people on the local Cheyenne reservation.
And I like some UK and European realism/noir. I'm watching Rebus on TV.
Interestingly enough I liked most of Wonder Woman. Gal Godat is stunningly beautiful but also not a good actress and I think they worked around her limitations quite. Her chemistry with Chris Pine was completely believable and the movie had some great set pieces.
That last quarter sucked and the final showdown was boring.
I liked Longmire too, although I felt that they ruined the relationship between the main two characters. Didn't realise it was still going, I've probably only seen the first few series.
Agree about the whole American thing, it gets a bit tiresome seeing the same mythologies being played out, esp when it's too obvious.
Longmire is just showing the first series on NZ Freeview, on channel 3.
I’m happy to wait for stuff to show up on Freeview TV.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of a rum
Not a supporter of free speech then pucky?
At any time over the last decade or so the left could have ended this but now you reap what you sow
A TV station cutting a show because it's gutless is not the end of the world, tvs dead anyway all us hip lefties stream what we want when we want nowadays!!
I agree its dying and it doesn't help when you alienate over half you audience
Thanks for explaining the mindset of the
principledright.They said that William Clinton did not have the right character to be POTUS, then elected Trump.
Case closed.
What does Musk say?
Give me a minute and I'll call him up
Still on hold
Sure his support of free speech was performance theatre.
He has no comment to make on suppression of dissent by those governments he wants money from.
A .9% GDP contraction in the economy.
We're about the same size economy as we were when COVID hit.
What happens when National guts a country.
And still no plan.
Yep and Nicky no boats will be blaming everyone and everything apart from of course the COC
When has a politician ever taken responsibility for a downturn?
[Please stick to one e-mail address here unless you’d wish to make extra work for the site Moderators, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
The blame of someone else goes international.
Thom Hartman defines the Republican slur – 'far left radical.' All of which I agree with, and so would, I suspect, most NZers, just a few in the Atlas funded ACT party demurring.
A top tax rate under Eisenhower of 90% – wow! <9 minutes long.
You know it’s bad when John "torture memo" Yoo is afraid it’s illegal.
The Trump administration is facing growing calls from former government officials — including some in Republican administrations — to offer a legal justification for President Donald Trump’s two missile strikes this month on boats allegedly piloted by members of a Venezuelan drug cartel.
Those experts say the use of such force outside of war blurs the legal distinction between law enforcement and military actions and comes amid calls on Capitol Hill to curtail Trump’s military powers.
“There has to be a line between crime and war,” said John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush. “We can’t just consider anything that harms the country to be a matter for the military. Because that could potentially include every crime.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/16/trump-gop-officials-strikes-venezuela-00567212
On TVNZ Breakfast today (7.45 a.m.), Chris Bishop repeated the truth twisting and fact omission by Nicola Willis on RNZ 27.08.25.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/breakfast/episodes/s202 5-e158
(Willis had claimed the current government "has built thousands of new public homes". When challenged that these were houses commissioned and funded under Labour, Willis had dismissed this, saying "it's all taxpayers' money").
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019001648/political-panel-with-national-and-labour
Today Bishop commented that Kainga Ora are reviewing stock, retrofitting some and selling expensive houses to invest in new housing.
Kieran McAnulty responded that the government is not building houses, numbers are going backwards, that under the Labour government Kainga Ora were building thousands each year, and "homelessness has grown at unprecedented levels in this country".
Bishop replied it was "not true" and Kainga Ora built 2500 nett new houses last year.
As with Willis, Bishop omitted the fact that this housing was commissioned and paid for under Labour, and that he had earlier acknowledged the government has built only 45 new state houses.
https://www.labour.org.nz/news/release-housing-under-national-goes-from-bad-to-worse/ 13.08.25
“Chris Bishop has finally admitted only 45 social houses have been built by his government,” Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said…
“National bugger housing up every time they come to Government, they’re breaking promises and making everything worse,” Kieran McAnulty said.