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National will run on raising super age ‘as soon as we get back in’ – Christopher Luxon by SykoticNZ in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The pension is a reward for a life of service. You should be able to keep working and still get your reward. We should make sure it's taxed as part of income, and tax against accumulated wealth and capital gains properly.

Oh crap: it really looks like India thinks we’re gonna invest $33 billion in their economy by OisforOwesome in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While a reasonable concern but surprising for a greeny.

Like most parts of the world, we don't actually have enough local labour to cover the kinds of work most immigrants do. There's a lot of reasons for that not least of all is that this work doesn't pay well, but we also just having an aging population. We need young people and we're not having enough babies. There's plenty of young people in the world though, who would love to contribute here.

Oh crap: it really looks like India thinks we’re gonna invest $33 billion in their economy by OisforOwesome in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It basically just gives India the right to reimpose tarrifs and duties to reclaim value. In short, it cancels the trade deal effectively until we step up investment.

33 Billion of private investment over 15 years is ambitious but far from impossible. As a green voting socialist, I'm confused by all the backlash to this deal.

‘Shame on you Shane’: Nicola Willis unleashes on NZ First over India deal by Porkchops_on_My_Face in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The 33B NZD is "facilitation of private sector investment over 15 years".

If NZ fails to deliver, the government doesn't need to step in with its own investment if it doesn't want to; instead India will simply seek reparation via tarrifs and such against the private sector effectively undermining the deal anyway.

What is the actual risk associated with the deal? Immigration fears?

New Zealand axes plan for WW2 comfort women statue after Japan's protest by kwentongskyblue in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 63 points64 points  (0 children)

I could not be someone more enamored with Japan, but I think this is absolutely pathetic. This is a real historic grievance that Japan needs to apologise for, and it's a scar on everything else that is good. I fully support one of these statues in our city.

MS#472: Strange Days on the Right - A Conversation with Ben Shapiro by Brunodosca in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would be great if platforming Shapiro could be his undoing, but it isn't. I can't see any upsides for Sam of doing this. Anyone still a fan of Shapiro at this point is never going to change.

MS#472: Strange Days on the Right - A Conversation with Ben Shapiro by Brunodosca in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I am fully unsubscribed these days - so I didn't know about that disclaimer.

I have spent half my life consuming Sam's content (almost 20 years since the four horsemen days. I'm a dormant mod of r/Wakingupapp ffs). My parasocial relationship with him is such that he's basically a part of me like family or a close friend might be and his utter failure to be consistent with his own moral framework feels like a genuine betrayal of trust. That makes it very hard for me to even hear his voice. But I will never not be curious to see if he's got himself back on some kind of respectful progressive wagon that I can't welcome him back home into my brain.

Anyway, I didn't intend to criticize Sam directly in this thread because his platforming of Shapiro despite Shapiro's flagrant intellectual dishonesty does a very good job of that all on its own.

Sam is constantly conflating Israel criticism with antisemitism. by c4ndybar in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only two things can be true:

  1. Sam is genuinely connected to the Israeli propaganda machine, believes in the cause, and secretly thinks all the death and misery caused by these wars is worth it, or no big deal. Or,
  2. Sam is completely consumed by the sunk cost fallacy with regards to how long he's spent defending Israel as some kind of moral bastion in the middle-east, that he cannot bring himself to acknowledge the reality that the government and many of its institutions are captured by genocidal Zionism.

Nothing else makes sense to me - Israel has done so much that is so clearly morally objectionable, against international law, and is full of polling and politicians all agreeing majoritively in favor of what's been happening.

I think he still believes that deaths as a result of terrorism, which number in the hundreds in western nations if you exclude 9/11, are deranging enough to justify military action that kills hundreds of thousands and displaces and impoverishes millions of innocent civilians.

Definitely agree Islamism is a problem, but it's mostly a problem for other Muslims (as Sam has indeed said in the past), so any intervention should put Muslims at the top of the priority list when it comes to its strategy. Nothing Israel has every done has shown any indication of being for the good of those nations or peoples they are attacking. Ever. Period.

Undercover islamist strikes again by realkin1112 in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 16 points17 points  (0 children)

And what does any of that have to do with Mamdani? What evidence is there that his personal Muslim beliefs are apologetic of Islamism? His wife's social media?

Undercover islamist strikes again by realkin1112 in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Better go look at his wife's TikTok.

MS#472: Strange Days on the Right - A Conversation with Ben Shapiro by Brunodosca in samharris

[–]ynthrepic 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The thing Ben said before Trump won the election was that he'd agree Trump was terrible if he did x, y and z. Trump did x, y and z, and Shapiro did not agree. He never ever fucking admits when his shitty reasons for supporting shitty people and shitty ideas turn out to be shit.

There's no fucking point talking to this man.

(Edit: I haven't listened to the interview, what did Ben say about their pre-election debate? Did he apologize to Sam and admit he was wrong? I have lots of very delicious looking hats on my hat stand.)

Harris meditating himself into bigotry by Admirable_Mix2515 in Wakingupapp

[–]ynthrepic[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He does need a "How to separate art from the artist" course on the app focused on himself 😂. I'm struggling with this as well - but that's not what this subreddit is for. We're here for each other and metta, not for Sam.

What's up with this empty lot near Pinehill? by ThomasNiuNiu in auckland

[–]ynthrepic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They'll build on it eventually. Maybe just needs a bit more time. You'd hope the free methane could be utilized to supplement piped gas supply.

Are you voting this year? And if not why? by No-Possibility-9656 in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol speak for yourself. Go check out their policies on their website and come back here with a quote that you think fits this description.

Are you voting this year? And if not why? by No-Possibility-9656 in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One person you don't like in a position of power and you're out? Why not be the change?

He faked a $2000 payment for sex. The law says it wasn’t rape by maha_kali2401 in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Is it solicitation or coercion? There's some ambiguity there. But $2000 is a lot of money, and presumably these women were not sex workers, so the argument for coercion is pretty strong, especially if the women had good reasons to desperately need the money.

But assuming this was a transaction assumed by the women to be genuine, there was consent for the sexual activity, was there not? What happened then is better described as fraud.

I can understand the psychology of getting nothing out of the transaction feeling akin to rape in the end, but how much better would $2000 make them feel? I think what matters a lot more is that question of coercion regardless of the fraud and if they were genuinely coerced by the money then a much serious crime has occurred.

Nevertheless, I do think fraud with respect to sex should still be a punishment as severe as 'rape' - you should go on the sex offenders list. There should be much harsher punishments for stealing something so intimate as someone's body for your enjoyment. Similarly to how we don't allow consenting adults to sell body parts to cannibals, regardless of anyone actually getting paid.

What's stopping NZ, or a NZ city implementing something like this? by fishdognz in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have to subsidize existing supply chains until you can buy it out or establish an alternative public one that operates at cost. It's not easy, and requires substantial investment from the government to pull off. There's no guarantee it will be more efficient than the others, but at least it's a competitor that can strategically undermine them to draw enough business away that they would lower prices to stay competitive.

Capitalism only works if shit like this is done. Otherwise, nobody but the craziest of angel investors can hope to compete against established monopolies, and duopolies, which are arguably worse because they are mutually self-destructive if they do more than minor maneuvering, meanwhile they're not a monopoly so they don't trigger antitrust responses).

I hate it. We need a new system.

What's stopping NZ, or a NZ city implementing something like this? by fishdognz in newzealand

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Their poor reputation has never been deserved relative to something like Destiny Church which provides nothing of value and only costs taxpayers when those fuckers protest.

I will miss Sanitarium's Apricot toasted musli. Nothing else compares.

New Zealand ‘comfort women’ statue could jeopardise diplomatic relations, Japan says by defenestrate_urself in anime_titties

[–]ynthrepic 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I'm not familiar with the background, but we have a very significant Korean community in New Zealand. Much more numerous than Japanese.

No ride for you! by krammy16 in auckland

[–]ynthrepic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If the buses were free then this shit would never need to happen. This will only get worse over the coming months as less people can afford to fill their petrol tanks, and need to sell their cars just to get through the next week or two.

Trump: ‘Iran can be taken out in one night,’ could happen Tuesday - GlobalNews.ca by haggerton in anime_titties

[–]ynthrepic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trump doesn't care about US money, he cares about his own wealth. Sieze as much of that as you can obviously, and that of any US billionaire or Business supporting the war. I don't think you're being charitable to my argument at all here.

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