General Debate 5 March 2020

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Captain Mainwaring

Fish at a reasonable price has been very hard to come by of late, and when Mrs. Mainwaring came back from Countdown yesterday with a nice-looking big piece of white-fleshed fish for only $10 per Kilo I thought she’d stumbled onto something.
Stumbled is right. The fish which had a name I’d never heard of before turned out to be a catfish from the Mekong River.
So at least the cat is going to be well fed for the next week or so.
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March 5, 2020 8:03am
- Misha Beattie
  
  Countdown is awful IMO. I’ve thrown out fish bought at supermarkets. Never again.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:06am
  - Tall Man
    
    Haven’t bought mussels from a supermarket for a few years for that same reason.
    
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    March 5, 2020 8:27am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      The price of mussels has doubled over the last year or so (even at Pac ‘n Sav). Must be the fuel costs…
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:10am
  - secondcumming
    
    I would never buy any sort of fish from a Supermarket.
    The local Countdown always has a ‘fishy odour’ emanating from that area.
    A friend of ours was telling us he saw an elderly gentleman carrying a white walking stick wander by there recently and say, “Morning ladies”
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:34am
    - Batman
      
      Ahhh, a fellow Afroman fan I see ?
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:42am
  - Nickc2
    
    Same in IMHO. Whilst doing my grocery shopping on Tuesday, I picked up several items at the packaged deli display and I think it was close to half of them had Use By dates that predated Tuesday.
    IMHO, this is not an isolated occurrence at my local Countdown.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:14am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I think we’ve had Basa coming into NZ for about the last 10 years or so.
  (not seen in Gizzy tho’)
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:09am
- G152
  
  Neighbour just bought a tinnie and I’ve now got a few kilo of fillets in the freezer 🙂
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:17am
- Tall Man
  
  Locally we have a Pak n Save that has the best seafood in the area.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:25am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Ours too, including the mussels.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:18am
  - tui47
    
    The Remuera New World has a fantastic supply of fresh fish delivered daily. If you arrive too early in the morning the fish counter is empty because it has not been delivered. There has never been the smell of ammonia at the fish counter. Of course the locals would complain very loudly if the fish was smelly.
    
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    March 5, 2020 1:08pm
- igm
  
  The fish will be called Basa, and you are correct, it is from the Mekong. This is not recommended for swimming, so how can fish be safe?
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:30am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Now the cat doesn’t even like it.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:19am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, and it’s a bottom feeder (human excrement).
    On the plus side, it will have rice included.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:18am
    - igm
      
      Should fit our CoL dietary requirements with ease!
      
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      March 5, 2020 3:44pm
- MCos
  
  I bought some muesli in a supermarket in Bangkok once and the woman behind me at the checkout thought it was pig food.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:02am
- kowtow
  
  HA ha.
  
  Countdown won’t give you a plastic bag for your purchase but will sell you some seriously “unsustainable” ,fucked up product.
  
  “less than two percent of all seafood imported into the US from Vietnam is inspected by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Of this, a proportion has been found to contain potential carcinogens, veterinary drugs and salmonella; the result of farming practises in what has become one of the world’s dirtiest rivers.”
  
  On the positive side , had you eaten said fish you wouldn’t need to take anti biotics for years …….sportsmen should avoid though as they’d never pass a drug test …..
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:44am
  - Fletch
    
    I read an article from the U.S that 33% of fish sold in restaurants and in the supermarket is mislabeled. So quite often, what you buy is not what you think (at least in the US). I guess it can be difficult to tell when you’re just looking at white flesh.
    
    http://www.safebee.com/food/bait-and-switch-why-fish-youre-eating-may-not-be-fish-you-think-youre-eating
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:36am
    - tavita
      
      Apart from issues such as mercury, if you can’t tell the difference but pay twice as much for the name you recognise, don’t be surprised if you get ripped off
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:15pm
Maggy Wassilieff

3rd confirmed Coronavirus case in NZ
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/410974/third-coronavirus-case-confirmed-in-new-zealand

2 Coranovirus deaths confirmed in Australia.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/coronavirus-update-live-australia-records-second-death-as-italy-prepares-to-close-schools-20200305-p546zb.html
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March 5, 2020 8:03am
- Cobolt24
  
  “Bloomfield said the latest positive Covid-19 result was not of the partner of the Auckland woman who tested positive on Tuesday.”
  
  Oh no.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:09am
  - Simon
    
    The real panic will start when the government appoints Phil Twyford Minister responsible for all Food Distribution.
    
    Phil Twyford Minster for Food Distribution.
    Feel the panic.
    
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    March 5, 2020 8:22am
    - Aunty
      
      Breaking News.
      
      Phil Twyford is going to be put in charge of the cornoavirus pandemic response in New Zealand and has reassured the public today that there will be no further cases in New Zealand. When questioned further about this he said there would be absolutely no further cases, none whatsoever becuase the MOH and the hospitals were well prepared with a cunning plan.
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:20am
      - Rich Prick
        
        Actually that’s a smart move, if KiwiBuild is anything to go by, we won’t see any new infections.
        
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        March 5, 2020 9:45am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC5UTUAxgpE
        So they are queuing up to be NZ’s next “comical Ali”
        First it was Shane Jones
        Now Phillis Twitford
        Who’s next?
        
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        March 5, 2020 9:50am
      - NoCash
        
        Like we will have 100,000 cases in ten years…
        
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        March 5, 2020 10:20am
      - alloytoo
        
        If Phil has put in charge of spreading the virus then we are all perfectly safe…….
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:18pm
      - Paulus
        
        So when it all tanks Ardern can blame Twitford for it – as she wants to get rid of him it will be appropriate.
        
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        March 5, 2020 1:26pm
    - kowtow
      
      The real panic is what’s been created by the MSM.
      Yes there is cause for concern but this is being blown out of all proportion by them.
      They’ve created the storm and have the cheek to then tell us not to be racist !
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:47am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        They must have cash stacked away to invest when markets have totally bombed. Then they’ll bring in the good news…
        
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        March 5, 2020 1:26pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Simon, can you imagine Twitford’s Press Conference as Minister for Food Distribution?
      
      And the temptation that his ‘signer’ will be under to just do an ‘I’m a w*nker’ accompaniment?
      
      ‘We have set up a Think Tank to investigate just why it is that the populace needs so much of this ‘food’ and so often. This will be headed by such notable independents as Sir Michael Cullen, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Lynn Prentice (who just may become a Sir if he reports independently along the lines we direct).
      
      Openness and transparency will, of course, be similar keywords that that Think Tank will not operate under, as has been the case with all the other 74126526356236 Think Tanks we have established since Winston appointed us to act as his Government.
      
      Jacinda (hasn’t she been marvellous?) has taken time off from her magazine-editing, front-page-portrait-sitting, and telling Scott Morrison what to do to determine that an emergency food depot or 69 may be needed.
      
      Because most of the Government’s support is Auckland-based oops Because Auckland is the country’s biggest population centre, 68 of those depots will be situated between Whangaparoa and the Bombay Hills.
      
      These will be easily accessible. Just catch one of the every-fifteen-minutes rapid transit vehicles that we have had in place for over a year now.
      
      We did intend to have a depot at Eden Park but we understand that a certain H. Clark has petitioned the Mayor, His Under-SFO-Investigation Phil the Goff, to keep noisy riff-raff away from her nearby street(s).
      
      Winston has directed oops Cabinet will establish a special Whiskey Food Bank be established at a site near to St. Mary’s Bay, but which will not have its location disclosed. ‘Because.’
      
      Special arrangements will be made to ensure that pretty horses will be adequately catered for.
      
      Similarly, a special Pies Depot will be sited within podgy-arms-reach of that colleague of mine who took over the Housing portfolio when it became apparent my stewardship was so stellar that I needed to move onto better and greater challenges.
      
      Some of the 1,000 new police officers our Government has created will doubtless be available to keep law and order.
      
      Oh yes, en route to ‘your’ depot, take time to admire some of the 10,000 new houses erected – and the billion new trees planted – as promised by this Government.’
      
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      March 5, 2020 10:14am
  - NoCash
    
    We will likely get a 4th case later on today from the partner of the 2nd case, after all they went to Italy together.
    
    Btw, asking for a friend… is sex safe from getting covid19 if you don’t kiss…
    
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    March 5, 2020 8:33am
    - Aunty
      
      Lol, No, it’s not.
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:22am
      - Monique Watson
        
        Yeah you’re still breathing on each other unless you’re doin it doggy.
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:03pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        @ monique but what about if one’s not breathing?
        
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        March 5, 2020 4:53pm
- Simon
  
  Yep there is a Chinavirus pandemic sweeping NZ MSM.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:16am
- artemisia
  
  Big jump overnight in cases in India – from 7 t0 28. If that rate keeps up the government would have to look at travel restrictions.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:21am
  - MCos
    
    28 out of how many billion?
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:37am
    - artemisia
      
      Rice. Chessboard.
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:53am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Maggy, maybe we can reduce panic by putting a few more details up about these deaths where the article has them? One of the Ozzies was 95. I can’t see details of the other one.
  
  This virus tends to kill elderly, already sick people. It’s sad, but at 95, especially if already unwell, I would expect to be carried away by something.
  
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  March 5, 2020 1:24pm
Tony Stuart

A tip I saw on Facebook; if you get stuck in a queue anywhere, cough, then say loudly “That cough’s got worse since I got home from China” 😀
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March 5, 2020 8:03am
- Simon
  
  Perhaps not:
  
  Panic-buyer ‘pulls knife’ on another shopper in row about toilet roll
  
  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11094967/coronavirus-horror-woman-knife-fight-toilet-paper-supermarkets/
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:18am
  - Tall Man
    
    Now I’m supposed to be doing the shopping shortly. Now let’s see, shotgun or .243 or I could take my boning knife …..
    
    What a fucked up world we have. Fighting over toilet paper.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:04am
    - GoVege
      
      Oh for goodness sake!
      After mum kicked dad outa the house, all we used was scrunched up newspaper for years. 🙂
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:23pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        But I can’t use the online news … Who buys actual newspaper anymore?
        
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        March 5, 2020 1:30pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Doesn’t that leave black streaks or were you too scared to look?
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:22pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      If Bernie wins twice, that’s what Americans can look forward to, but it won’t be a knife.
      
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      March 5, 2020 3:39pm
- NoCash
  
  Nah, more effective now to say just coming back from Italy or Iran, and soon to be the US.
  
  The US is finally waking up to provide test for free to all, instead of charging up to USD3k per test. Number of cases will likely shoot up as a result.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:38am
Captain Mainwaring

When is somebody going to tell the smarmy git Twitford that light rail is not ‘rapid transit’.
It’s anything but.
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March 5, 2020 8:04am
- hullkiwi
  
  Captain he repeats what he is told by JAG and her mates from the Greater Auckland blog site. Not one one of these ideologues know anything about transport systems let alone Light Rail schemes.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:09am
- peterwn
  
  I will soon find out the hard way how long light rail takes. I am tight so I plan to take a 400 bus from Sydney airport to Kingsford Junior then light rail to Circular Quay (if the Kingsford leg is open by then otherwise change Randwick). It was snails pace when the Randwick leg opened last year.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:11am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Stick with a cab.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:10am
    - peterwn
      
      Train is door to door but a bit steep. I do not want a cab driver saying ‘Where are you going, mate – to Kings Bloody Cross???’
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:17am
  - Nickc2
    
    On that route, you could forward order a Pizza at each stop and you would still be hungry at the end of your trip.
    That route is timed using a calendar.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:29am
- G152
  
  Remember trams?
  Slow, took up most of the street, were a traffic hazard and councils were happy to see them go, ripped up the tracks and took down the overhead.
  Light rail !
  Bah Humbug
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:20am
  - Fletch
    
    Actually, my aunt used to work around Auckland, and praised the trams. She said there was always one going by and you could hop on one and go from one end of the city to the other with no problem. A bit before my time though.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:41am
    - Paulus
      
      But I suggest that in your Aunt’s time there were considerably less people in Auckland, or say Wellington when I arrived over 50 years ago.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:30pm
    - Classic Liberal
      
      No way the ‘hop on and off’ trams we see in old movies would be permitted now – much too dangerous.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:32pm
- Simon
  
  “somebody going to tell the smarmy git Twitford that light rail is not ‘rapid transit’”
  
  To much money at stake for any honesty around Twyford Rail.
  
  Phil Twyford is writing cheques for billions who is going to say no to him? Twyford like the rest of government – they wont speak to people outside of government unless they are paying them. This government pays alot to others to repeat back what they want to hear.
  
  You just saw Mini Mike crash and burn $700 million. All his advisers made millions. Same deal with Twyford & this government but on steroids.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:31am
cmm

Hey Mods

The comments policy page needs updating to show that Stephieboy and Mikenmild are both currently on strike 7 as of a few weeks ago.

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/comments_policy
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March 5, 2020 8:04am
- hullkiwi
  
  ….and deal with Stephie having yet another reincarnation as SB 2.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:10am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, I mentioned that issue yesterday.
    
    According to comments policy: “If you try to get around a suspension, by setting up a second account, then that may result in a permanent ban. Writing styles tend to be quite distinctive, and it is often easy to spot if someone has set up a second account.”
    
    Hopefully the may is acted on. It is hard to believe that SB will every straighten up. May as well kick him out now rather than take another 2 years of his filth to work his way through the remaining strikes.
    
    But, hey, DPF’s shop, DPF’s rules.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:10am
    - Batman
      
      CMM and Hull, as was pointed out when SB2 appeared last week, the previous account name had been banned for a week and returned after around ten days. All perfectly legit.
      
      If a user wants to change their name, they’re entitled to do that. It’s the same account just a different display name.
      
      And while some may like that account banned, we are not going to break due process and start kicking people out willy nilly. That’s a road that DPF is not going to go down.
      
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      March 5, 2020 10:30am
      - cmm
        
        I missed that.
        
        So you say he was banned for a week, rather than copped his 7th strike?
        
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        March 5, 2020 11:06am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Yep,
        
        it looks like the moderators are operating a system that differs from the one used here previously.
        
        Mikenmildagain was given a two-week stand-down.
        
        The word Strike isn’t being used by the mods as far as I can see.
        
        For my own sake now, I just assume that the enforcement of the rules on this blog is unpredictable/random.
        
        I can’t figure out why some abuse/smears/lies have been allowed.
        It’s about as clear as Trevor Mallard’s rulings on Points of Order.
        
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        March 5, 2020 11:19am
      - cmm
        
        Maggy
        
        Yup, looks like a new rule there… but DPF’s choice.
        
        Perhaps he sees a 7th strike as cruel and unusual punishment?
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:31pm
- mjw
  
  Well I looked at that page, and found I had no strikes at all. Damn. Must. Try. Harder.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:40am
  - Tall Man
    
    I can help!
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:59am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Just suggest “assassinating” a politician. Or not shedding tears if one is, I can’t remember the details. I got a strike and “The Standard” traffic here skyrocketed over night. Was also told I would cop a ban if I used a certain phrase for the third time. I won’t push my luck, but I think I started : “Is it now Ok to…….” Oh for the days when this blog was about “Fomenting Happy Mischief”…..
    
    [ Mod : “Is it now Ok to…” is fine if you address it explicitly to DPF. Otherwise it will send messages to the hole ]
    
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    March 5, 2020 4:59pm
Pete George

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
This seems like a contradiction on the National Party stance on firearms – they are talking tough on gangs with guns, but want to make it easier for people with “violent and extremist tendencies” to own guns?

Newsroom: Extremists able to own guns under National’s proposals

The National Party wants to water down a proposal to restrict extremists from obtaining a firearms license.

In a Supplementary Order Paper submitted on the Government’s Arms Legislation Bill, National’s Police spokesperson Brett Hudson proposes that a test for violent and extremist tendencies should only be applied to people who have been “convicted of an offence under the Human Rights Act 1993 or the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 relating to violent, hateful, or extremist speech or behaviour”.

However, Gun Control NZ’s Nik Green says this would allow many extremists to obtain a firearms license, pointing to the fact that no one in New Zealand has been convicted of such an offense under the Human Rights Act.

Police Minister Stuart Nash said Hudson’s SOP was “very concerning. I do not know why the Nats are not supporting this because it takes guns off gangs and it’s much tougher penalties for gun crime.”

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/03/1066194/extremists-able-to-own-guns-under-national-sop

Actually in practice (in my experience two years ago) a test for “violent and extremist tendencies” was already being used in firearm license renewal interviews (as well as checking for gang affiliations).

So this SOP would looks like it could weaken that, which would be bizarre inconsistency from National.
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March 5, 2020 8:04am
- Tall Man
  
  Please define “extremist”. Is it anyone who holds a view that is different than the one held by arder, “what’s in it for wynston”, brian tamaki, Mar Richardson, David Farrar ……? Does being a communist make you and extremist?
  
  You say it is already in place in Australia yet out police have already proven they can’t adequately apply the current laws so why should we assume they’ll get better at it.
  
  Remember it was ardern that signed of the removal of over 200 experienced arms officers to be replaced with 36 ish office based computer operators. These changes allowed tarrant to obtain the equipment he had.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:20am
  - Tall Man
    
    Fast fingers, slow brain. I really need to pause before I push enter.
    
    I blame steffy for the lowering of my standards 🙂
    
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    March 5, 2020 8:43am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    According to them I am probably a Right Wing Extremist….
    
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    March 5, 2020 5:00pm
- cmm
  
  Why do you believe things after they have been filtered though the MSM?
  
  Just going back to the old thresholds would be good. Crim record: no license.
  
  Unfortunately the “extremism” label is thrown around far too liberally and has no meaning any more. Is someone with an American flag (or worse a Confederate flag) an “extremist”?
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:22am
  - Batman
    
    I think they are if they go and shoot up somewhere based on beliefs about replacement / religion / race wars, just as a starting point…
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:34am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      So your answer is ‘no’ then. Someone is *not* an extremist for having the flag.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:41pm
      - Batman
        
        You are the person suggesting it. I don’t see anyone saying that.
        
        What people do see is a link between posing with Confederate flags and generally being a redneck with iffy views about brown and black people…
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:31pm
      - Jack5
        
        I guess having a “Stars and Bars” Confederate flag is no worse than those at the opposite end of the spectrum flaunting T-shirts and posters of the murderous Marxist Che Guevera.
        
        I wonder if TradeMe has banned Guevera’s image as it has the Confederate flag.
        
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        March 5, 2020 3:50pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    I’ve got a Confederate Flag. Bought one off Trade me in case they banned them. Try buying one on ebay these days, and they talk about freedom of speech….
    
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    March 5, 2020 5:02pm
    - rightoverlabour
      
      No confederate flags on trade me. Pussies. But its available
      
      https://nz.dhgate.com/confederate-rebel-flags-new-zealand.html#seo=WAP
      
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      March 5, 2020 5:08pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Don’t believe all you hear or read in election year–the disinformation campaign is already well underway.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:27am
  - Pete George
    
    Proposed bill 24A
    (1) For the purposes of this Act, a member of the Police may find an applicant is not a fit and proper person to be in possession of a firearm or an airgun if the member of the Police is satisfied that 1 or more of the following circumstances exist:
    
    (i) the applicant is a member of, or has close affiliations with, a gang or an organised criminal group:
    (j) the applicant has shown patterns of behaviour demonstrating a tendency to exhibit, encourage, or promote violence, hatred, or extremism:
    SOP 446:
    
    Brett Hudson, in Committee, to move the following amendment:
    Clause 36
    In clause 36, new section 24A(1), replace paragraph (j) (page 46, lines 13 and 14)
    with:
    (j) the applicant has been convicted of an offence under the Human Rights Act 1993 or the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 relating to violent, hateful, or extremist speech or behaviour:
    
    Explanatory note
    
    This Supplementary Order Paper amends clause 36 of the Arms Legislation Bill. It
    makes a change to the “fit and proper person” test to hold a firearms licence by replacing new section 24A(1)(j) with a new provision that would stop an applicant from having a licence approved if they had been convicted of an offence under the
    Human Rights Act 1993 or the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 relating to violent, hateful, or extremist speech or behaviour. This provides certainty and clarity in the way Police would be assessing patterns of behaviour of people, and bring these assessments in line with current legislation in New Zealand.
    
    But no similar SOP for ‘certainty and clarity’ if “the applicant is a member of, or has close affiliations with, a gang or an organised criminal group:”
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:09am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      Define “hatred.”
      
      Has the new meaning of the word “hatred” become “heresy”?
      
      Note: “Heresy” is a word much loved by members of cults and totalitarian political systems.
      
      Cultural note: In Japanese, the word commonly used for “that’s different” also means “that’s wrong.”
      Perhaps we are turning Japanese?
      
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      March 5, 2020 9:17am
- Local Miller
  
  A question during an interview asking about violent behavior is very different to a “test for violent and extremist tendencies”.
  The firearms owner interviews are aimed at aimed at ensuring people who have a tendency to be generally violent, fighting with neighbors, spouse, etc. and is not very invasive. A “test” for the same would be much more intrusive, and can’t be justified without evidence of a history of violence.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:30am
- RoboRob
  
  Simple, becuase the ‘Human Rights Act 1993 or the Harmful Digital Communications act’ will potentially allow people to be convicted for pretty minor things, or even simply distateful messages. If I post on facebook someone is a ‘A lying, dog-faced pony soldier’ I potentially could get convicted under the above acts. This would then bar me from owning a firearm. Pretty over the top right?
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:45am
  - Batman
    
    No, you won’t. The bar for that is pretty high, and the examples to date have been for things like threats of physical violence, death threats, revenge porn, extortion and blackmail etc.
    
    Just calling someone a mean (read, mean as opposed to vicious or racist etc) name is unlikely to get any action even if the person complained to police.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:37am
Captain Mainwaring

Why do we need to give the vote to people who are stupid enough not to register before election day?
Oh, I know.
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March 5, 2020 8:05am
- Misha Beattie
  
  I’d also get rid of advance voting. Get out of bed on the day and go to a polling station.
  
  And I know DPF is a fan of online voting but it would be a very bad move.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:11am
  - MCos
    
    I think you’re wrong on the advanced voting count.
    There’s no reason I can think of why voting should be confined to one day, but plenty of reasons why not. Chiefly centered around impossibility in some case mainly relating to travel, work, inaccessibility to a polling booth in general.
    This year if the Covid-19 scare drags on there will be people in isolation.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:19am
    - Batman
      
      Yup, how will people be able to vote if they happen to have had a holiday booked?
      
      Or having surgery?
      
      Or on a military mission?
      
      Or you’re John Key and attending a Board meeting overseas?
      
      Plenty of reasons to have good advance voting!
      
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      March 5, 2020 10:39am
  - Sacha
    
    Let’s have a referendum!
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:29am
- mjw
  
  So maybe the vote should be restricted to property owning men with the right accent?
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:41am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Might be a good start! 😉
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:05am
  - Misha Beattie
    
    No just to people who can register.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:12am
  - MCos
    
    And anyone who turns up at a polling booth on a bicycle banned.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:21am
    - Ed Snack
      
      I’d restrict that to only those wearing lycra being banned.
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:45am
  - kloyd0306
    
    Have always believed that voting be restricted to NZ born property owners and tax payers over the age of 25 with an IQ of at least 90.
    
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    March 5, 2020 12:46pm
- RoboRob
  
  I don’t understand the point of early voting. If you are in the country go and vote on the day (if you cant get to a station do a special vote). People out of the country can vote early by post as always.
  
  Allowing people to vote in advance breaks a whole heap of election rules (like no advertising on the voting day). As you say, if you cant be bothered voting on the day why would we chase you, oh I know, becuase you are a left wing voter.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:48am
- Fletch
  
  In the U.S it’s even worse. Their ‘Early Voting’ is so early that people have already voted for Buttigieg and Klobuchar and now both have pulled out. Those people have wasted their vote and are now saying they want a do-over.
  
  One commentator was saying that when we was younger, the only voting day was election day, and if you happened to be out of State or out of the country there was a special vote which had to be given under threat of perjury.
  
  It’s all too liberal, now.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:47am
  - Batman
    
    Maybe strike a compromise and have elections on days that aren’t working days?
    
    America seems determined to shoot its own democracy in the foot.
    
    Aided and abetted by the GOP, who closed 250 polling places in Texas as part of their general move to restrict voting.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:57am
    - kloyd0306
      
      Next to Alaska, Texas is the biggest state, geographically. The GOP are not the reason for closures (you who is always too quick to point the finger). No, it is because of smaller numbers of rural voters who can now vote by post.
      Nice try though………
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:50pm
      - Batman
        
        Aaaaand what’s the real reason behind that excuse?
        
        Ding ding ding! We have a winner, it’s voter supression and attempting to prevent black and Latino voters from participating
        
        https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-has-closed-more-polling-places-than-any-14429443.php
        
        https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/02/texas-polling-sites-closures-voting
        
        https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-voting-lines-super-tuesday-worse-in-november-2020-3
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:26pm
    - MCos
      
      I saw these messages on Twitter this morning
      
      ‘ The last voter at Texas Southern University has walked out of the voting booth. It took Hervis Rogers nearly 7 hours to vote tonight.’
      Ed lavandera
      
      ‘ After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting 4ights Act recently, Republican Secretaries of State cut the number of polling places by as much as 90% in some Democratic districts, and left Republican districts untouched.
      
      This is voter suppression.’
      Monty Hamilton’s Battery Boa
      
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      March 5, 2020 2:26pm
      - Batman
        
        Yup, it’s not rocket science.
        
        I’m not saying the GOP is racist, but it’ll do literally anything to win, including opening themselves up to allegations of racial targeting…
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:39pm
- GoVege
  
  Its not necessarily stupidity, Captain, a lot of people are struggling just to survive.
  Registering to vote is not top of their to-do list.
  
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  March 5, 2020 1:27pm
  - Nickc2
    
    What a stupid statement. Such people manage to register for welfare ok.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:18pm
Monique Watson

Typical lefties always on the wrong side of the debate. It’s called taking precautions not moral panic.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/the-detail/120020934/the-detail-moral-panic-is-worse-than-coronavirus-says-scientist

Yes the flu has killed more to date but I’d be stockpiling and staying away from crowds if I was compromised or elderly.
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March 5, 2020 8:06am
- Jules99
  
  From the article:
  
  “People don’t worry about dying from flu or heart disease because they are part of the every-day fabric of how they expect the world to be.”
  
  Actually people DO worry about them and take what measures they can to reduce their risk. Honestly, these academics have no idea how real people think.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:38am
Yvette

Yesterday a Magic Talk host said a PM’s office staffer’s comment in a Koru Club indicated initial news of New Zealand first confirmed Coronavirus case was delayed as long as possible because they wanted the news impact of Ardern boldly confronting the Australian PM (“masterful performance”, “Ardern berates”, “Jacinda Ardern blasts Scott Morrison”) to run further in top news items.

And a couple of days back, Jessica Mutch McKay, 1 News Political Editor, reported –
One of the business owners says he was told by an official, the Government [Provincial Growth Fund] overspent in Northland, so needed to ‘even things out’ in Southland.
Mr Hitchen withdrew his application but says officials tried to get him to rush it through, filled out the form for him and told him to ask for more money because they’d pumped too much into Northland. [1]

Winston Peters has already denied any truth in the second issue, meaning Jessica Mutch McKay is lying, or Southland businessman, Colin Hitchen, owner of Lochiel Engineering, is making stuff up – but after offering to send the controllers, remote and ownership paperwork to the person who stole his brand new hydraulic trailer [2] Hitchen doesn’t seem a man to bugger around telling lies.

It would be nice if the media could check out both stories, which if true, would suggest a certain level of corruption and contempt that voters should be aware of.

[1] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/southland-businesses-accuse-government-playing-favourites-provincial-growth-fund
[2] https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/88426474/southland-man-offers-to-send-remote-to-hydraulic-trailer-thief-in-tongueincheek-newspaper-ad
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March 5, 2020 8:09am
- G152
  
  I see the reporter who has a face for radio was crawling all over Bernie Sanders giving us some idea as to the neutrality TV fake news professes….
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:23am
- MrTips
  
  OIA, “What day and time did the PM’s office, or the Minister of Health, or any Govt Minister receive notification of the first confirmed positive COVID-19 case in NZ? Please provide details of any communications that confirm this.”
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:59am
- kloyd0306
  
  ……in this silly age of “wokeness”, how can the PTPM’s berating of Scomo be “masterful”?
  
  Surely, that is sexist?
  
  I’d like to see the PTPM’s screwed up “ew” face when the Auzzies make it compulsory for NZers to apply for a visa to get into their country.
  
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  March 5, 2020 12:54pm
- MCos
  
  Kory Club gossip is the NZ equivalent of Jacob Wahl eavesdropping in a hipster cafe
  
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  March 5, 2020 2:34pm
Swifty

On Sunday I got an email from a mate. In it he asked this question:

“How do you feel about civilisation these days? Where are you on a continuum where 10 is “dazzling progress lies ahead leading to sunlit uplands” and 1 is “a disaster that returns us to the pre-agricultural age can’t come quick enough”? After many years where I put much effort into convincing myself to be a 9, these days I’m quite happy to oscillate around the middle.”

Interested in the thoughts of others.
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March 5, 2020 8:09am
- Misha Beattie
  
  Well if we end up beyond 7, it will be be despite the actions of most politicians.
  
  I’d say that in the last 25 years I have been mostly optimistic about the future of New Zealand. Now I would say I’m tending to pessimistic.
  
  So for the future of the world I’d say a 7. For New Zealand a 4.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:18am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Things are pretty good in short term. Technology moving ahead in leaps and bounds – energy revolution happening, smart robotics revolution happening, genomic medicine revolution starting (will eventually end most disease and probably extend life a lot), agri and aqua culture tech improving – making food even cheaper. Even flying ‘cars’ in next decade.
  Dark clouds:
  -machine learning surveillance technology makes 1984 dystopia almost inevitable.
  -jobs for thickos being automated – how do you manage vast unemployment?
  -super-intelligent AI, inevitable in next 20-50 years, has large chance of wiping humans out.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:35am
- cmm
  
  So, to rephrase, have we become too civilised?
  
  Perhaps yes.
  
  In general we expect too much and are thankful about too little. No longer do we see WW2 cripples and think of what they went through in service to us all. No longer do we appreciate nursing staff working in hospitals on Christmas day. That’s just their job, right?
  
  We have become insular and lost the ability to negotiate and work together. Since the shift from record players, board games and TVs in the lounge to walkmans and personal electronics we now no longer have to negotiate with other people as to what we listen to, etc. but shrink away into our own private bubbles.
  
  On the medical front we can now keep people alive too easily. In the past our technology was the limiting factor. Now the bigger issue to determine when to pull the plug.
  
  Food? We’re disconnected from our food supply. We no longer see farms and fishermen. Now we just get processed whatever from supermarkets.
  
  Dating and social interaction now takes a second place to facebook or whatever. Watch two young people on a date: more time spent on their phones than actually interacting with eachother.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:39am
  - SB 2
    
    cmm, so happy to swap a colour HD TV with an analogue black and white one?
    
    Or an old Bedford with the latest Isuzu Truck?
    
    etc, etc
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:15am
    - cmm
      
      Poor little challenged sausage. I’m not sure how you read what I wrote and got to where you got to.
      
      Improvements in our products are often beneficial but many products and services also have social downsides.
      
      Cheap food means we no longer have millions starving to death, but we now have to deal with obesity instead.
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:13am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      Or you for someone with intelligence….
      
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      March 5, 2020 5:12pm
- Wangas Feral
  
  I would put Western Civilization at about a 3.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:40am
- mjw
  
  In my view we are more repressed than ever. That’s why we yell at each so much, and pick fights, and blame others. I am not picking on any particular part of the political spectrum in these comments.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:43am
Scott

Well knock me down with a feather! Sleepy Joe wins 10 states to Sanders 4 and now leads in pledged delegates 553 to 488. This is probably the most amazing turnaround since Lazarus!

What happened was that Biden got momentum in South Carolina with a big endorsement from Jim Clyburn and won a massive victory there and took the momentum into super Tuesday with massive support from black voters.

I do hope Biden wins the nomination rather than Sanders. Bernie is an old-style Communist who loves Cuba and Venezuela and would like to take America there. His socialist policies would be as disastrous for America as socialism was when tried in every country throughout history. You always end up poor and starving.

Joe Biden on the other hand is probably the weakest front runner one can imagine. Often he cannot remember what state he is in, he cannot remember the word “God” in the declaration of Independence, he cannot remember the name of the person who is interviewing him and just yesterday he mixed up his sister and his wife.

This shows that he is an old gentleman who really should be sitting quietly in his lounge wearing his slippers and with a cup of cocoa.
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March 5, 2020 8:15am
- tf78
  
  Joe is a case of “Lest he forget” – don’t worry he will never be POTUS.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:13am
- backster
  
  So was Biden’s corruption as Vice President which enriched all his family an associates deliberate , or simply clever henchmen exploiting a weak and senile old man. …The mainstream media insisted on Trump having a cognition examination before his inauguration. Will they do the same should creepy Joe win office.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:29am
  - Scott
    
    Good points backster. If Biden wins the nomination I think that Pres Trump will not hesitate to use the names “Hunter Biden” and “Burisma” in the presidential debates as often as possible.
    
    I do see one upside with a president Joe Biden regarding employment. At least we can be sure that Hunter Biden will have a well paying job. 🙂
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:26am
    - Batman
      
      Of course Trump will do that. Because he believes the crap he’s been fed and he has nothing else to debate with except flinging shit.
      
      It’ll be just like Hillary with the “I know you are but what am I” childish nonsense.
      
      I’m looking forward to them potentially having that behind the bike she’d punch up! Haha
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:04pm
      - kloyd0306
        
        Would that be bat shit, you know, the stuff you fling about?
        
        Biden is on film admitting to a Quid Pro Quo yet you think that his own words are crap?
        
        Spare me!
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:59pm
      - Batman
        
        Spare the me “on tape admitting a quid pro quo” bullshit mate. I know it’s a convenient argument but it’s also entirely untrue when you look at the context of the situation then versus Trump seeking to damage a potential opponent.
        
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        March 5, 2020 1:13pm
- Fletch
  
  Yeh, the problem with Joe is that other people will be running the show from behind the scenes, I reckon, and Joe will only be a figurehead.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:51am
- curry4me
  
  Scott: A President Sanders would be stymied by the Senate, and a SCOTUS. However, President Sanders would become head of the Democratic Party. He’d replace establishment people with Bernie bros. People; especially independant voters would think the Dems had gone nuts. Going into 2024, the Bernie bros would still control the party. That’s why the establishment Dems are pushing Joe Biden.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:30am
  - Batman
    
    Sounds like the GOP in March 2016 haha
    
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    March 5, 2020 12:02pm
- Batman
  
  Lol, that’s what happens when you live in a Trump echo chamber Scott ?
  
  It was clear that the moderate grouping would do much better when they coalesced around a single person.
  
  Perhaps now you’ll be careful when making bold predictions about elections? Or maybe not…
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:31am
  - Scott
    
    Batman – I don’t exclusively live in a trump echo chamber. For example I’m here and I get to read your comments and even have the pleasure of being moderated by you.
    
    But you have to admit that Biden’s comeback is one for the ages. Everything has fallen his way.
    
    And fundamentally he is still a very very weak candidate who often cannot string two sentences together. But he is up against an elderly raving Communist and that seems to counts for a lot.
    
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    March 5, 2020 12:37pm
    - Batman
      
      I can say that I don’t ever recall actually moderating one of your comments. We might disagree but you don’t break the rules!
      
      I don’t know about it being one for the ages, I see it as inevitable given name recognition and the consolidation of the centrists.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:45pm
  - kloyd0306
    
    I’ll bet you predicted a Hillary win, remain re Brexit and that the ALP would win the 2019 Oz election.
    
    You know batshit about predictions.
    
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    March 5, 2020 1:03pm
    - Batman
      
      Haha no way, I don’t make predictions as a rule. Working in politics teaches you that.
      
      I didn’t rate Clinton but as has been demonstrated, Trump is demonstrably worse for NZ in terms of trade.
      
      I did think Britain would opt to leave, and I’m happy they did.
      
      I also suspected that Australia’s Corbyn would lose, and so it came to pass.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:11pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    So far, Styx has generally been correct, and he is no Republican partisan. He’s usually got his finger on the pulse. He thinks Trump will probably win against Biden:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9zTA1kxI2Q
    
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    March 5, 2020 1:57pm
    - Batman
      
      It’ll come down to less then 100,000 votes in swing states as per usual, unless something dramatic happens such as Biden dying in October, or Covid destroying Trump’s chances.
      
      It’s a brave person to make a solid prediction.
      
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      March 5, 2020 2:36pm
hullkiwi

Impertinent questions of the day.

What do vegans want to do with all farm livestock and remaining a final products after we all turn to veganism?

Because we’ll all be furiously growing crops etc, there will be no land a available for pasture, so nothing to feed the livestock (who are also in the main vegetarians), means we will need to kill the livestock (ie wipe out entire species) and what do we do with the resultant meat?
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March 5, 2020 8:15am
- Random T Person
  
  Ons gaan nou BRAAI!
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:14am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    No its ” Nou gaan ons Braai, Die Enlgelsman is honger”
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdQuj9UUIQ
    
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    March 5, 2020 5:17pm
- tf78
  
  Easier to get rid of the vegans me thinks.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:14am
- Gravelroad
  
  Well, the cows will take to roaming the urban streets looking for food as they do in India. But, ours won’t be sacred obviously.
  Bedda get the guns ready so that the unmanaged livestock can be killed quick by the lovely Green Party activists. Oops, guns…………no.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:27am
- Than
  
  It wouldn’t happen that suddenly.
  
  Even if the current trend towards vegetarianism/veganism picks up speed, it’s still going to be years before most people swear off meat. As demand for meat drops farmers could reduce stock numbers gradually by attrition, breeding less animals each season and converting the land freed up to some other use.
  
  Still, the end result would be the same – there would be no “animal cruelty”, but only because the vast-majority of the animals wouldn’t exist. Whether they should be considered better off in this case seems a debatable point.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:16am
  - hullkiwi
    
    …and extinction of species will follow…..
    
    Do you see any irony there?
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:00am
    - Nickc2
      
      Exactly, mankind weren’t designed to be herbivores.
      If Vegans wish to be herbivore and get really sick in doing so or even dying, that’s fine by me.
      FOOTNOTE: why hasn’t the Government legislated against herbivorism? Oh, in the case of Labour, they get votes from them as they do vapers.
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:56pm
- cmm
  
  While I agree with some of your sentiments, the numbers don’t work for feedlot raised animals.
  
  Land good enough for growing alfalfa (lucerne) hay can also grow lentils or beans. The yield of lentils/beans would be way higher than beef fed on alfalfa.
  
  Where grazing animals do make sense is in land that cannot be put to the plough.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:21am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    We have about 12 Million ha of land in NZ being used for Agriculture & horticulture.
    
    http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/environment/environmental-reporting-series/environmental-indicators/Home/Land/land-use.aspx
    
    At the most, one third of our productive land – 4M ha, could be used for grain cropping, vege production and orchards.
    (that’s all the dairy land – 3M ha, and hort. production land – c.1Mha)
    
    The remaining 8M ha of rolling and steep hill country wouldn’t be economical for edible tree crops
    such as pine-nuts, walnuts.
    
    So if we were all to go vegan, 8 Million ha of sustainable (animal) protein-producing land would be under-utilised/wasted.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:57am
Bobba Fret

Did anyone see the TV3 news last night. Paddy Gower was camped outside Bernie Sanders’ house when Bernie appeared out on his walk. Gower was almost wetting himself with excitement thinking he could interview him but it was hilarious to see Bernie snub him and just say see you tonight and keep walking. Paddy must have been gutted as he kept saying to him you know Jacinda from NZ. it was worth watching very funny.
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March 5, 2020 8:15am
- John Warren
  
  I was about to mention it myself. As much as I dislike Sanders, I wanted to reach into the screen and strangle the odious Gower on his behalf.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:10am
  - Batman
    
    Talk about making us look bad. It was cringe central!
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:30am
    - John Warren
      
      “We’ve come a very long way, Mr Sanders!”
      
      “Fuck off Paddy.”
      
      Even my teenage son said “What a fucking mong!” I let the obscenity pass. His mother was out of the room.
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:59am
      - Batman
        
        Hahaha, indeed. If Paddy is going to do that until election day I’ll be firmly avoiding TV3
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:17pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        Let the obscenity pass? Should have bought him a beer.
        
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        March 5, 2020 5:25pm
    - tui47
      
      Agreed. Very embarrassing. Gower made us sound like hick town fools As a country. Gower suffers from the belief that everybody loves New Zealand cringe factor.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:47pm
- lifesgood
  
  And extremely embarrassing. We’ve had the PM making an utter fool of herself in Oz and now this unfortunate idiot doing the same in the US. We will be getting a reputation around the world as being country bumpkins from Hicksville. The world’s laughing stock. It’s humiliating.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:17am
  - tui47
    
    Sorry I made my comment before I read yours. Your comment is a much better description!
    
    3 0
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    March 5, 2020 1:48pm
- sooty
  
  Did you see how long it took paddy to get over the snow to poke his microphone in his face?
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:24am
  - John Warren
    
    I thought he was stumbling in the snow, but actually he was tripping over his own ego.
    
    9 0
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    March 5, 2020 2:12pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    What’s snow? I though global warming had seen the end of snow?
    
    5 0
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    March 5, 2020 5:26pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Put him back on radio so we don’t have to see him on our screens.
  
  16 0
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  March 5, 2020 9:56am
  - John Warren
    
    He has the perfect face for radio. And the perfect voice for print.
    
    12 1
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    March 5, 2020 12:00pm
Prince

So a third Coronavirus case has been found. Despite repeated questioning, the Director General of Health refused to release details such as where in NZ, saying an announcement will be made this afternoon.
Why are they withholding this ? Could it be that Ardern has insisted she front all announcements, and wont be available until after lunch ? If this is the case it is an appalling situation. People need to know if they have been at risk as soon as possible.
There are some things more important that a PM using a pandemic to grandstand.
If Ardern makes this announcement, it demonstrates she places her own ambitions above the safety of Kiwis.
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March 5, 2020 8:22am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  It is a puzzle why the location of the 3rd person is not being publicised early.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:31am
- SGA
  
  So a third Coronavirus case has been found. Despite repeated questioning, the Director General of Health refused to release details such as where in NZ, saying an announcement will be made this afternoon.
  
  What should they be telling us? The city? The suburb? The street address? If they had said immediately that it was in Auckland, say, would it make Aucklanders any more or less safe than telling us this afternoon?
  
  That said, I do wonder why they seem to need to get their ducks completely in a row before making an announcement (rather than feed the information piecemeal). Perhaps they think that it is less likely to cause panic behaviours? Don’t know.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:00am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    It’s so Jacinda can front the news..
    
    Medical practitioners, chemists, etc need to know as soon as possible that the virus is in their district.
    
    13 0
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    March 5, 2020 12:07pm
    - SGA
      
      Medical practitioners should be operating on the idea that it might already be in their district, tbh. To be practical, I doubt that there are significant changes for people in Auckland if this person in in Auckland, or for people in Wellington if it is there, say.
      
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      March 5, 2020 12:50pm
    - rightoverlabour
      
      I’d argue that schools need to know as well. They are probably the biggest risk in causing an outbreak.
      
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      March 5, 2020 5:29pm
burt

Well well well, what have we got here.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/119950354/cop-sexually-assaulted-fellow-officer-as-she-slept-court-hears

The Crown claims the defendant put his hands down the alleged victim’s shorts and sexually assaulted her.

This guy needs to rapidly join the Labour Party so he can get permanent name suppression and all these charges acquitted.
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March 5, 2020 8:27am
- Wangas Feral
  
  A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.
  
  13 0
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  March 5, 2020 8:41am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Taking one consideration with another…..
    
    6 0
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    March 5, 2020 9:41am
- igm
  
  He would become Labour’s next top cop . . . has all the attributes!
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:42am
  - burt
    
    He could be a Labour youth camp leader and get employed on the 9th floor.
    
    18 0
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    March 5, 2020 9:20am
- Chuck Bird
  
  He was drunk. Maybe he could get Judge Collins.
  
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  March 5, 2020 8:56am
  - burt
    
    Just being drunk is not enough, he may need to prove he’s related to a senior Labour Party member.
    
    21 0
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    March 5, 2020 9:51am
    - igm
      
      Might even be a Cabinet Minister!
      
      14 0
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      March 5, 2020 10:37am
- septic skeptic
  
  Sounds like simple hi-jinks to me.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:03am
  - Batman
    
    Simple hi-jinks should not involve male on female hands in pants.
    
    I can’t believe someone has to point this out.
    
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    March 5, 2020 11:34am
    - septic skeptic
      
      Oh dear, do keep up. The Labour camp groper’s lawyer defended his hands being down the pants of four people as “hi-jinks”. An argument the court seemed to accept.
      
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      March 5, 2020 6:23pm
      - Batman
        
        I don’t accept that answer either…
        
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        March 5, 2020 10:35pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Nah, put him on all future rape cases. Has experience….
  
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  March 5, 2020 5:30pm
Shut the hell up you Fascist!

@ Swifty

The Apocalypse will not be televised.
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March 5, 2020 8:27am
Maggie Pie

We both had a day off yesterday, so stayed in the sack till lunchtime and listened on & off to Peter Williams MagicTalk. Needless to say, most of his show revolved around the overdue changes to the Abortion law. I had no idea PW was such a strong ‘Pro-life’ advocate, although on a number of occasions he mentioned his wife was Samoan, so that may go some way to explaining his stance. The thing we found really interesting, was that 99% of callers to the program, who were in total agreement with his views, were very obviously all older males. You could tell just by listening to them, they were the same sick shaggy arse no-hopers that would be out waving their coreflute ‘Abortion is murder’ signs at every opportunity they got. I would doubt most of them would ever have been with a woman in their sad lives. Even my partner, a firm believer in a Woman’s Right to Choose, reckoned from the way they spoke, you could tell they suffered from some sort of ‘intellectual disability’ ….(my words, not his)

Just saying 🙁
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March 5, 2020 8:33am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Maggie, do you support late term abotions on demand?
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:08am
  - MeNotYou
    
    Show me examples of where that has occurred in NZ.
    
    Late term abortions rarely if ever happen. And if they do are pretty much always to do with health reasons. Normally to protect the mother’s life.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:29am
    - Batman
      
      Chuck’s not looking for facts, just disingenuous hits on people who disagree with their wordview.
      
      5 15
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      March 5, 2020 11:35am
    - Critical Thinker
      
      Abortion on demand right up until birth is what this new bill originally called for. With many politicians and members on the select committee proudly backing it ??
      
      10 2
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      March 5, 2020 11:36am
    - Jules99
      
      The issue is, until now late-term abortions were only carried out to save the mother. Some proposed changes to the law would mean that the mother could choose at any stage right up to birth. I have not seen any clarity on what would have to the fetus if it was born alive. These questions don’t seem to be answered. Saying it ‘probably’ wouldn’t happen in not enough.
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:45am
    - Ed Snack
      
      You don’t need an abortion though, for a late term pregnancy unless you wish to kill the child. You may wish to do that if it is going to be severely disabled or worse, but for any pregnancy past say 24 weeks a live child can be delivered and usually will survive.
      
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      March 5, 2020 11:51am
      - Batman
        
        What about a child that will not survive outside the womb and may present major complications to the life of the woman?
        
        You breezily say “can be delivered and usually will survive” which makes me think that you know fuck all about the risks that can crop up.
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:00pm
- lifesgood
  
  Yes, I agree, a woman has the right to choose, that is not to have sex without protection. Nobody has the right to kill. Really? You actually believe a baby can be killed because it is inconvenient? And, no, I am not an elderly white man. I am University educated and have no mental disability.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:23am
  - MeNotYou
    
    Do you believe you have the right to tell someone else what they can and can’t do with their own body?
    
    I don’t.
    
    You don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one. You don’t want your partner/wife to have an abortion. Persuade her not to.
    
    It’s very simple – it’s about choice.
    
    Lastly – not your womb, not your business.
    
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    March 5, 2020 9:31am
    - Batman
      
      Hear, hear!
      
      11 17
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      March 5, 2020 9:59am
    - lifesgood
      
      I find it hard to believe that so called intelligent people think a growing baby is a woman’s body.
      MeNotYou: Somebody has to stand up for defenceless human beings.
      
      17 7
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      March 5, 2020 10:12am
      - Batman
        
        Start an orphanage.
        
        5 14
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        March 5, 2020 11:36am
    - mandk
      
      Just a stream of worn out facile arguments, MNY.
      
      The pre-born baby also has a body. What gives anyone the right to kill that body?
      
      Does anyone ask the pre-born baby if it wants to be aborted?
      
      And although it’s not my womb, and I don’t have one at all, it is still my business. The baby is a living being who can’t stand up for its rights, so I’m going to do it instead.
      
      11 3
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      March 5, 2020 11:03am
      - Batman
        
        So you’re a massive busybody?
        
        Get out of other people’s bodies.
        
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        March 5, 2020 11:54am
      - mandk
        
        Thanks Batman,
        
        I’ll wear your denigration of me as a badge of pride.
        
        Busybodies have achieved great things in the past.
        
        Like the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the developed world.
        
        Like child labour.
        
        Like the denial of the franchise to all adults.
        
        And it’s busybodies who are working to end other evils like FGM.
        
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        March 5, 2020 12:54pm
      - Batman
        
        You’ve just named things that the living and formed human is forced to do against their will.
        
        So why are you pushing for forced and dangerous pregnancies and births?
        
        5 9
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        March 5, 2020 1:16pm
      - mandk
        
        If you think it will be confined to dangerous pregnancies and births, you must be from the planet Pollyanna.
        
        9 3
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        March 5, 2020 2:00pm
      - lifesgood
        
        It is a curious thing that Batman is so full of hatred for a pre birth baby. I wonder why?
        
        7 3
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        March 5, 2020 4:11pm
      - Batman
        
        Not at all, just no time for people who seek to apply their simplistic moralising onto others.
        
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        March 5, 2020 4:41pm
    - Critical Thinker
      
      But with that convoluted argument to be consistent you’d have to say that the babies body is their own, and it is not the pregnant persons choice to terminate them ?
      
      6 4
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      March 5, 2020 11:33am
    - Ed Snack
      
      So you are quite clear, unborn children have zero rights ? When do they gain those rights, on birth, or some other point ?
      
      8 3
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      March 5, 2020 11:53am
      - Critical Thinker
        
        People only gain their basic indisputable human rights when they have passed through The Magical Birth Canal of course! ????
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNgwsT295G8
        
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        March 5, 2020 1:10pm
    - rightoverlabour
      
      Its all about choice, except the baby has no choice….
      
      I don’t give a fuck what you do with your womb, but I do care about not killing babies. Ones in your womb, or not.
      
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      March 5, 2020 5:34pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    @lifesgood
    
    You never went to a Catholic Boarding School then? 😛
    
    8 6
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    March 5, 2020 9:53am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      A question for those who support abortion, but believe in religion. Just what will a mother say to her aborted children on entering heaven?
      
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      March 5, 2020 5:37pm
  - Misha Beattie
    
    A 12 week fetus is not a “baby”. As for ‘late term’ abortions, it would be extraordinary for a woman to request one. Can you provide any examples?
    
    Women have been seeking abortions for thousands of years. You can’t force a woman to be pregnant and have a baby. That is essentially what you are proposing.
    
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    March 5, 2020 10:53am
    - Critical Thinker
      
      Around 57 babies per year are terminated when they’re 20 weeks in the womb.
      https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20190808_20190808_12
      
      You can’t just murder someone if they’re going to be an involuntary hindrance to your health ??
      
      Probably the most drastic thing the state could legally do, is do its best to safely remove them from the womb of the pregnant person and provide them care. In the hope that they will live and grow to meet their potential. As every human has the indisputable right to.
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:32pm
      - Batman
        
        So both of them should die instead?
        
        Great policy.
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:33pm
      - Critical Thinker
        
        @Batman
        
        No I just said that the state should protect the human rights of both of them. Do their best to keep both of them alive. Defend both of their choices. And protect both of their body autonomy.
        
        Removing a viable baby from the womb would be a last resort. As killing a viable baby is an incredibly extreme and inhumane position to take.
        
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        March 5, 2020 2:41pm
      - curry4me
        
        Critical Thinker: Nailed it.
        
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        March 5, 2020 7:53pm
    - GoVege
      
      But they’ll do their darndest to force ’em, Misa.
      Thats why the #1 cause of death for teenage girls used to be from illegal abortions.
      Probably still is in sexist countries.
      
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      March 5, 2020 7:51pm
  - John Warren
    
    Be careful – these days a University education and a mental disability amount to much the same thing.
    
    6 1
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    March 5, 2020 2:14pm
- kowtow
  
  And Sean Plonker , the self aggrandizer champion of free speech invited wimmin to phone in on said issue and told his male audience not to as they had no say in the matter !
  
  What a hypocrite.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:31am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Hmm so men don’t have a say on who lives and dies? Idiot.
    
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    March 5, 2020 5:38pm
- MCos
  
  “stayed in the sack till lunchtime and listened on & off to Peter Williams MagicTalk”
  
  What sort of magic does this Williams chap conjure up?
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:33am
  - John Warren
    
    Back in my day if we spent a morning in the sack Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream would provide the soundtrack. Peter Williams, not so much.
    
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    March 5, 2020 2:15pm
- Misha Beattie
  
  I have quite lot of time for PW. But he came across as a dick yesterday and dozens of dicks phoned in. I turned it off after 15 mins.
  
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  March 5, 2020 10:54am
- Fletch
  
  Maggie, whether you believe a woman has a right to or not, it’s still the killing of a baby. There’s no way around that. There seems to be this mentality that if it’s small enough and only alive a certain number of weeks then it doesn’t matter and it’s OK to end its life. No woman goes to get an abortion unless she is pregnant eg, knowing she is going to have a baby and wants to stop that happening. It isn’t a preventative. She is pregnant already before she goes.
  
  We ALL were that age in the womb once. Every person who has ever lived was that small and that age, and if we’d been aborted we wouldn’t exist now.
  
  Maybe the older generation of callers has not been brainwashed and not grown up in an age where abortion is the norm. Or maybe the young don’t listen to talkback or are in school. There were plenty of young people at the March for Life in the weekend.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:30am
  - GoVege
    
    We sure were (that age in the womb once).
    Some of us were lucky enough to have one or both parents who loved and wanted us.
    Others were not so lucky and had pretty miserable lives as a result.
    The right to abortion is to prevent girls and women being forced to bear children in unhappy/ violent/ deprived situations.
    Not “inconvenient” ones, as anti-abortion bigots like to pretend.
    
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    March 5, 2020 8:00pm
Vallager

Imagine if the coronavirus is really bad here in NZ come September, and we are all in isolation.

What would happen to the election?
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March 5, 2020 8:36am
- NoCash
  
  Postponement is the only fair option, or setup drive through voting.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:18am
- burt
  
  Like all the other elections for the last 20 years, Winston will pick the winner.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:21am
- DeepBlue
  
  We can always fall back to computer voting. Census style!
  
  6 1
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  March 5, 2020 9:23am
  - hullkiwi
    
    That worked really well didn’t it?
    
    5 0
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    March 5, 2020 11:03am
    - DeepBlue
      
      I thought that was obvious to all, and didn’t need to /s
      
      1 0
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      March 5, 2020 12:40pm
    - sooty
      
      Why don’t we have an early one?
      
      1 0
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      March 5, 2020 12:56pm
- Batman
  
  You can request a mail ballot from the Electoral Commission!
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:37am
Yvette

Shane Jones denies he is being racist –

“I am not going to have any migrant tell me as a mokopuna of Tai Tokerau, when my people have been here 1000 years, I’m not going to have an activist tell me I’m racist. Ever,” he told reporters.
“I am a Māori, I am entitled to talk about these things. I have no influence over immigration policy.” [1]

– where “migrant” does not refer here to the Race Relations Commissioner, who has just condemned Shane’s recent speech as “Racist, ignorant and harmful”, but rather this stated entitlement alludes to comments Shane made last October …

Immigration New Zealand recently adopted a tougher policy on the partnership visa category. To be eligible, couples must have lived together, making it hard for those with arranged marriages to bring their spouses to New Zealand.

Jones defended Immigration NZ last month, telling RNZ: “You have no legitimate expectations in my view to bring your whole village to New Zealand, and if you don’t like it and you’re threatening to go home, then catch the next flight home.”

Last week, Mandeep Singh Bela, coordinator of the Union Network of Migrants and the Indian Workers Association, told Newshub he was fearful the rhetoric could stoke hate crimes against the Indian community.

“To ‘take the next flight home’ is quite racist and discriminatory towards the Indian community. The last thing we want to see is what happened in Christchurch.”

Jones, a New Zealand First MP and Cabinet minister, told Newshub on Tuesday that was a “Bollywood overreaction”. [2]

1 – Given Shane Jones’ continuing racist offending and the suggestion from some Indian community representatives that serious consequences would arise if he didn’t apologise (that was to the “catch the next flight home” remarks, and sorry, I can’t find a link to the threat), are the security agencies carefully considering “opposition” Shane may be accruing?

2 – Given Shane’s failure to apologise for any comments, and Winston Peters’ support particularly in the current case (Winston was prepared to name statistics on Magic Talk demonstrating Indian problems), are these two top New Zealand First people causing Andrew Little to delay his proposed “hate speech” laws, because any presentation of those at the moment might precipitate criticism of Jones and Peters that would put Andrew himself and Ardern in an intolerable position and could collapse the Coalition?
( God willing! )

[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12282530
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/bollywood-overreaction-jones-digs-in-after-angering-indian-community/ar-AAJQR7h
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March 5, 2020 8:44am
- alex Masterley
  
  So he’s Dalmatian only when it suits then.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:16am
  - John Warren
    
    But objectionable blowhard all the time.
    
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    March 5, 2020 2:17pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      I can only give you one uptick.
      
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      March 5, 2020 4:45pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  ““I am not going to have any migrant tell me as a mokopuna of Tai Tokerau, when my people have been here 1000 years, I’m not going to have an activist tell me I’m racist. Ever,” he told reporters.”
  
  By the same logic, many of the peoples of India have lived there for well over 3,000 years, so how could India be a racist country?
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:20am
- G152
  
  Actually Shane we have evidence, you know, that funny stuff used to ‘prove’ stuff that Maori have been here for 800 years.
  Ever heard of DNA?
  Or 14C?
  So, you told another lie…. 1000 years
  ROTFL
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:32am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Shane correct to the nearest 1000.
    
    12 0
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    March 5, 2020 10:18am
    - fernglas
      
      I didn’t realise that having ancestry in a country going back a millenium shielded one from allegations of racism. Ask Adolph.
      
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      March 5, 2020 10:33am
    - GT Build
      
      Just like his trees
      
      6 0
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      March 5, 2020 10:35am
- GoVege
  
  At the last election, Shane is gonna get all the cuzzies off the couch.
  In the new election year, Shane is picking on the immigrants.
  Even though they work way harder than the cuzzies, and only have 2 kids and educate them to tertiary level.
  
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  March 5, 2020 2:26pm
NoCash

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3053060/cathay-pacific-parks-half-its-fleet-and-slashes-nearly

I wonder how many airlines will not survive from the covid19 pandemic.
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March 5, 2020 8:54am
- Swifty
  
  Or NZ tourism operators or restaurant owners……
  
  16 0
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  March 5, 2020 9:18am
- burt
  
  We’re very lucky Air NZ is state owned otherwise tax payers wouldn’t need to be bailing it out.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:54am
  - hullkiwi
    
    burt have you forgotten the debacle of how Air NZ became publicly owned again?
    
    Thank you inept decion makers, financiers and Ansett Australia.
    
    7 0
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    March 5, 2020 11:07am
KH

The USA yesterday offeted to supply Turkey with “ammunition”
That’s because Turkey has shipped a lot across the border so Al Qaeda militants can shoot back at Syrian Government soldiers who are tryimg to eliminate them.
Given Al Qaeda killed 3000 americans in the twin towers you would think the USA would be supplying the Syrians.
Go figure.
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March 5, 2020 8:55am
- mark15
  
  Arming both sides since forever.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:23am
- Ed Snack
  
  Yes indeed, US policy over Syria is totally FU. They are directly supporting ISIS and Al Qaeda fighters in order to prevent Assad from taking control of Syria again. And supporting what looks like an attempt by Syria to annex parts of Syrian territory.
  
  I reckon that they need to acknowledge that the Obama era policy of “regime change” has utterly failed (and was a stupid, wrong-headed policy to begin with) and should seek a reconciliation with the Assad government in an attempt to modifytheir behaviour.
  
  Certainly, as bad as Assad has been at times in the treatment of his population, his rule is very much preferable to that of ISIS, and the local response to the expulsion of the “rebels” demonstrates that.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:47am
Happychappy

Winston Peter’s should stood down and have nothing to do with what is happening with Provincial NZ Racing land especially after the revelation of donations to NZ First Foundation from the paternity.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/horse-racing-clubs-under-threat-land-may-sold-off-save-dying-industry
Many people are sick of what is thought to be blatant corruption as allegedly many in the political scene so the NZ First Leader should not be voicing his desire to sell up clubs and land that is not needed for others to profit .
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March 5, 2020 9:06am
- Prince
  
  Agree. He is repaying his donors that we are just learning about. First item for the new National Govt must be to review all spending and legislation by Jones and Peters in the light of the NZ First Foundation discoveries, and take whatever action is needed to recover funds used to repay his donors.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:59am
JimBobJoe

Hmmmm

https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/120018510/chle-swarbrick-submitting-new-bill-to-force-government-funds-to-sell-fossil-fuel-assets

If the Greens want to screw around with Asset distribution in important funds like Kiwisaver, ACC, Super Fund they should convince 50 plus percent of the electorate to support them…. this flea on the tail, trying to wag the dog stuff is out of control.
The Greens have no mandate for anything at 6.2% of the party vote so can just eff off.
These government funds should be invested in vital areas of the world economy to make solid returns… ban fossil fuel areas for investment is plain stupidity.
Sit down Chloe…adults are talking and you are a child with no world experience doing anything remotely productive.
I really think 35 should be the age requirement to run for elected office. Too many elected governance positions are going to people with no real world experience who decide at 16 to be a politician… its worrying the lack of wisdom and commonsense on display…
27 0
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March 5, 2020 9:15am
- MeNotYou
  
  And here is one of a myriad of problems with MMP.
  
  NZF – people voting for them like Winston. Besides the fact he can’t win an electorate. Problem is we get the dross who come with him.
  
  Greens – people think ooh they’re about the environment so tick Green. And we get idiots like Chloe and JAG who are so agenda driven it’s unbelievable.
  
  I honestly believe MMP to be the worst electoral system in the world. 6.2% making policy for the other 93.8% who didn’t vote for them. Same with 7% choosing to be in government and have a Deputy PM when 93% rejected him/them.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:35am
pb

The safest place to visit in our new Plague ridden world may be China, as they have everyone on lockdown. Can you see weak kneed western governments doing the same? Civil rights, equality, feminism, diversity, you bigots! I can go where I want, infect who I want, I’m oppressed. One suspects it is going to be bad in the West, as we infect each other in the name of globalism. The magic cure fairytales only exist in Hollywood. Home school, learn how to hunt, growing your own taters, get out of debt, get out of your cubicle? Or not. I wouldn’t want to work in the medical profession. Sitting ducks right now. You’d better have made up with your father and forgiven your mother. Have faith.
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March 5, 2020 9:25am
- kowtow
  
  Don’t panic. It’ll be all over soon and the media can get back to some other fear mongering , like global warming, racism , Trumpism , Brexit or some other such white ,stale male bashing.
  
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  March 5, 2020 9:51am
Two fish and a scoop thanks Cindy

And mini Mike is out….
7 1
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March 5, 2020 9:34am
- Ed Snack
  
  As is rather unkindly said – he came up short !
  
  7 1
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  March 5, 2020 11:55am
ronsegal

Fifth World Holocaust Forum – New Zealand Non Attendance – Reporting back on OIA enquiry

“At the invitation of the President of the State of Israel, some 50 members of royalty, presidents, prime ministers and parliamentary leaders from Europe, North America and Australia attended the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, entitled “Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism” on 23 January 2020.” ( https://www.yadvashem.org/events/24-january-2020.html )

New Zealand was invited but notably did not attend. Subsequently I sent an OAI enquiry to MFAT asking what advice was provided to members of Government including when an how the decision was made not to attend.

MFAT provided a response yesterday, after a 10 days extension of time, to which they are entitled.

Key paras from the response:

“A decision was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in September 2019 to prioritise other travel recommendations for the Governor-General based on previous New Zealand representation at this Forum, the visit by the Governor-General to Israel in 2017 and other travel priorities. No advice was developed by the Ministry for the Governor-General, Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs at this stage of the process. The Ministry has apologised for not informing the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time the invitation was received to ensure that they were aware of how the Ministry proposed to handle it. The Ministry has acknowledged that it should have done so.”

So MFAT apparently took it upon themselves to decide that no Government representative should attend.

Further:

“There are several emails related to the possibility of the Ambassador’s or the Speaker’s participation in the event that fall within the scope of your request. However given the nature of some of the information, these would need to be extensively redacted in order to avoid prejudicing: … ”
– International relations and security,
– free and frank expression of opinions by departments,
– confidential information from another country.
(Summary of full text that also quoted Acts)

Summary of the summary of emails:
These communications were between MFAT, NZ Embassy in Ankara Turkey (also the location of NZ Israel embassy!!!), the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s office – between 15 – 21 January 2020.
Discussing possibilities for attendance.
Essentially far too late to accept the invitation of September 2019, in time for Israel to make adequate changes to security and other arrangements.

So we don’t get to see those emails, whether MFAT were in any way reprimanded for taking it upon themselves to decide not to send the Governor-General and failing to inform Government until it was too late.

Make up your own minds. No doubt in mine where MFAT stands on all of this. Clearly a complete absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. PMs lack of awareness of event until Jan seems unlikely.

Also see:
https://aijac.org.au/australia-israel-review/air-new-zealand-poignancy-and-controversy-in-holocaust-commemorations/

Suddenly the PM is aware of the event, wearing normal clothes, looking uncomfortable (closed fig leaf pose) in a photo shot.

From the above article:

“National Party leader Simon Bridges asked whether antisemitism was behind New Zealand’s absence.”

Seems like a fair question.
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March 5, 2020 10:15am
- JimBobJoe
  
  It seems that MFAT are full of Pro Palestinian managers and protocol advisors… not surprising given most of them went through Uni in the 70s and 80s onwards when the Left started to dominate the Arts and anti Israel sentiment started to build….
  
  I wont go as far as saying they are Anti-Semites but one does wonder about motivations… and I’m sure MFAT would have known about the event quite a bit before an official invite was received… diplomatic circles lunch, drink and party on their taxpayers constantly and are told what’s what constantly and given heads up on what is being planned. so no excuses…. OR does MFAT shun Israel even on the party circuit?
  
  But given McCullys stance on Israel you cant expect better from MFAT if National had the reins of power
  
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  March 5, 2020 1:32pm
  - Jack5
    
    At least one better known ex-MFAT bloke converted to Islam.
    
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    March 5, 2020 3:44pm
- Michael NZ
  
  Ronsegal
  Than ks for following this.
  I suspect the Answer for MFAT would be probably, for the PM and her cabinet, yes.
  
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  March 5, 2020 5:29pm
freemark

If Islamaphobia is a thing, and apparently up there with other ###phobias and ###isms (apparently deemed the greatest threat to society after CO2) and subject to hate speech (& thought) laws etc, how is Christianaphobia not a thing as well? One sees far more hate against god-believers than the other protected groups.
Serious question.
17 1
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March 5, 2020 10:28am
- Batman
  
  Well deranged people don’t seem to be throwing birth control at Catholic churches or spray painting Stars on David on the fences…
  
  If someone advocated burning down churches and deporting Christians on this blog they would certainly get short shrift from some of our more religious moderators.
  
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  March 5, 2020 11:44am
  - Jack5
    
    There would probably be less unease about growing numbers of Muslims in New Zealand if:
    
    1. NZ did not depend on initial refugee selection of UN agencies and UN agencies weren’t discriminating against displaced Christians in the Middle East. Without this, we would have a higher proportion of refugees who were Christian.
    
    2. If the Melon Green party, nominally environmentalist, didn’t want a greater intake of refugees.
    
    Discrimination against Christian refugees (by a journalist with Middle East experience):
    
    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/iraqs-christian-refugees-face-double-discrimination-3748
    
    5 1
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    March 5, 2020 1:14pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “If someone advocated burning down churches and deporting Christians on this blog”
    
    I thought we were already doing that … unless they’re drug dealers as well 😉
    
    8 1
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    March 5, 2020 2:17pm
- cmm
  
  A phobia is an irrational fear of something.
  Islamaphobia is an irrational fear of Islam.
  
  While some fears of Islam are irrational, some are very very rational.
  
  For example having a fear of a society where Sharia law was normalised is pretty rational.
  
  So is a fear for what is going on in Al Noor mosque which has had far too many people linked to terrorism.
  
  And for the slow of wit, I am in no way saying that ALL Muslims or ALL attendees of Al Noor are terrorists. Not saying that at all.
  
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  March 5, 2020 12:03pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Phobia is not necessarily irrational.
    
    7 1
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    March 5, 2020 1:16pm
    - Jack5
      
      Here’s the etymological derivation of the world “phobia”, Kevin, and it pretty much looks as though the standard meaning is something like “panic fear”. I guess it’s not irrational if panic can be justified.
      
      https://www.etymonline.com/word/phobia
      
      Derivation of “panic”:
      
      https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=panic
      
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      March 5, 2020 1:26pm
- Critical Thinker
  
  “Islamophobia. A word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.”
  
  The current official definition of Islamophobia:
  “Is the fear of the Islamic religion, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or the source of terrorism.”
  
  Of course this means that the vast majority of people on this planet are Islamophobes. Including the majority of Muslims ??
  
  4 1
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  March 5, 2020 1:41pm
- GoVege
  
  Because Christians are supposed to turn the other cheek??
  Not issue a fatwa etc…
  
  5 1
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  March 5, 2020 2:19pm
  - Jack5
    
    GoVege, you ain’t talking about these Christians: the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Teutonic Knights.
    
    4 0
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    March 5, 2020 4:01pm
Yvette

A third case of coronavirus has been confirmed in New Zealand, Health Minister Dr David Clark revealed to The AM Show.
He had no information about the location of the individual, but said contact tracing had begun to find those who may have come in contact with them – Newshub

It will be interesting to see how it is explained that the Minister is not told the location of this third case. How the hell can that happen?
As in the quintessential Goon Show, Eccles, quote: “Everybody’s got to be somewhere!”
Surely the person who advised the Minister must know.
Or, again scientifically, as with the “Droste effect” (like the ever-diminishing Bonzo Dog Food label in The Mouse and His Child), the person who advised the Minister’s advisor must know.

“Where was the patient tested?” “In the mouth with a swab, nasal passages, and some blood” would be just as helpful

It is this sort of crap that erodes any confidence in what we are being told.
Like in the first confirmed case – claimed to be “textbook” by Ardern – but four full days later not everyone sitting even within two rows of the passenger (ignoring air-circulation of airliners) had been spoken to.
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March 5, 2020 10:29am
- cmm
  
  So awesome to have a real Doctor in charge of a medical emergency. I feel safe in his hands.
  
  12 0
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  March 5, 2020 11:41am
  - sooty
    
    Why don’t we have an early one?
    
    4 0
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    March 5, 2020 1:01pm
- Nickc2
  
  Shouldn’t we be putting location tracking devices on these people who are self isolating? Maybe not, they don’t work for prisoners on home detention do they?
  As for Ardern, we should all know by now not to believe a word she says.
  
  12 1
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  March 5, 2020 11:42am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vel0R_UCv8
Stop Press!!!!!!!!!! Bloomberg takes American Samoa!!!!!!!!!
7 1
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March 5, 2020 11:05am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekiKdplqjlo
Not Saint Greta.
4 1
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March 5, 2020 11:06am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50JU3m2nI-M
Here’s how leftists exploit Saint Greta.
5 1
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March 5, 2020 11:06am
JibberJabber

Trump, President for life…….?
https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1235311101086240770
6 1
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March 5, 2020 11:10am
- curry4me
  
  Jibber Jabber: Priceless.
  
  1 1
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  March 5, 2020 8:01pm
rangitoto

Manatū Hauora wrote:

“We made an error with the Auckland to Palmerston Flight number. It should read:
2 March – NZ5103 Auckland to Palmerston North”

Have they told the Ministry of Health?
10 0
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March 5, 2020 11:27am
cmm

It seems now that displaying a New Zealand flag is evidence of hate speech/white nationalism/whatever.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/120027717/teen-arrested-after-al-noor-mosque-threat-a-member-of-white-nationalist-group
12 1
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March 5, 2020 11:55am
- Jack5
  
  The police aren’t enthusiastic about fighting New Zealand’s armed gangs, but there are a few flag-waving oddballs they can nab easily.
  
  What concerns me is this comes while Andrew Little, the rather totalitarian Minister of Justice (and Minister in charge of the GCSB – cyber security) seems hell bent on restricting our freedom of speech.
  
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  March 5, 2020 1:05pm
NoCash

I was reading a coronavirus related article on the Stuff app and a funeral home ad popped up.

Does Google know something I don’t, should I be worried…
7 0
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March 5, 2020 12:31pm
Cobolt24

It appears the third case was caught by a family member who traveled to Iran. That eases my prior concern somewhat.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/120025480/coronavirus-third-confirmed-case-for-new-zealand
6 1
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March 5, 2020 1:14pm
Critical Thinker

The term “Woman” has become Hate Speech: ?‍♀️
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd2zN8Ylc0E
3 1
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March 5, 2020 1:49pm
wreck1080

Kids high school school must have told by government to stop asking for donations.

Now, they are asking us to pay for textbooks and learning material.

Doesn’t seem legal to me, as these are required for learning. Replacing a voluntary donation with a mandatory payment.

Of course, government doesn’t front up why schools are having to ask for money in the first place.
7 0
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March 5, 2020 1:50pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If the textbooks are needed for delivery of the curriculum, then they can’t be charged to you.
  Here’s a list of what schools can expect you to cough up for.
  https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/donations/MOE-Donations-Scheme-Opt-Out-A3-FA-2-DEC.PDF
  
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  March 5, 2020 3:09pm
  - Tall Man
    
    I don’t have a problem with school camps being an additional expense but the school should organise the “camps” to suit the local budget.
    
    A mate’s grandson’s school has organised a trip to Thailand for this year, $4500 per kid. A fucking business class trip there is less that $4000 but I guess the teachers want to travel up the front and stay in nice hotels not billet the kids out.
    
    A mate brings out a group from Thailand each year to NZ and they get billeted with a local family and attend a local school for 3 weeks as well as a little trip around and it costs nowhere near that $4500.
    
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    March 5, 2020 6:54pm
Tall Man

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-chris-lynch/audio/gen-toop-greenpeace-activists-target-ravensdown-office-with-gunge/

Charge them for littering. As far as I am concerned these twats need their benefits removed.
8 1
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March 5, 2020 2:25pm
Tall Man

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/barry-soper-reading-between-the-lines-of-jacinda-arderns-answers/

Time this totally biased person was relegated to the retirement home.
12 2
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March 5, 2020 2:44pm
- Inandout
  
  TM, Soper is a regular on Jacinda’s many overseas jaunts and he won’t retire while she remains on the throne. I guess compared to Sanders and Biden he is a youngster.
  
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  March 5, 2020 3:47pm
  - sooty
    
    He’s there to spy on the Comrade for his boss!
    
    1 0
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    March 5, 2020 6:12pm
wreck1080

Another lovely kiwi likely to be deported from Australia…

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12314171

A Kiwi personal trainer who beat up an elderly Uber driver before punching a female taxi driver in the face during a drunken rampage on Australia Day has avoided jail.

Why is drunkeness an acceptable mitigating factor? Aussie judges are just as bad as ours, although, the judge probably has inside knowledge about any deportation plans.
9 0
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March 5, 2020 3:32pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Non Ministerial Green MPs spending up large on Flights.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/non-ministerial-green-mps-average-flight-spending-trumps-other-backbenchers.html

As these folks are List MPs, they don’t have to fly anywhere.
15 0
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March 5, 2020 4:47pm
- niggly
  
  David Seymour is quoted as saying: “ACT Party leader David Seymour, MP for Epsom, told Newshub: “The Green Party has always specialised in air travel and hypocrisy – in that order.”
  
  Well said that man!
  
  As for the Greens and their hypocritically excessive air travel, I guess when a number of KB posters regularly write that they see the Green MP’s hanging out in the Koru Lounge (rather than with the “people” in the domestic terminal) I can only conclude they were not kidding!
  
  (We need a new term for these do-what-I-say-not-what-I-do troughers … The Plastic Greens perhaps)? 😉
  
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  March 5, 2020 5:19pm
  - sooty
    
    Junkets for everyone!
    
    2 0
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    March 5, 2020 6:09pm
    - sooty
      
      31/2 hrs to get released? Really!
      
      4 0
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      March 5, 2020 9:27pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Green vomit!
    
    2 1
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    March 5, 2020 6:47pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggy, I have seen better looking females in the local public bar.
  
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  March 5, 2020 5:47pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  A friend texted me that two Green MPs were in the Koru Lounge :
  Quote ” Not only Flying but sucking at the pigs trough!”
  
  Hypocrites – next time you see a Green MP ask them why the tacitly support Jones’ racism?
  
  4 0
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  March 5, 2020 5:48pm
- Tall Man
  
  Fucking obscene.
  
  They’re as bad and as hypocritical as greta.
  
  https://climatechangedispatch.com/greta-tesla-plastic-garbage/
  
  2 1
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  March 5, 2020 6:46pm
Colin Carpenter

Attn all Mods.

I have politely requested DPF delete me from this blog via email twice now.

To date, I have had no acknowledgement of receipt of my emails and and I know my request has not been met as I am still able to log in.

Perhaps DPF has been too busy to check his emails or his spam filter has caught the requests?

I respectfully request a follow up on this matter.

I have included a link below describing how one can be removed as a contributor from a WordPress blog if that helps.

I look forward to a resolution.

https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-allow-users-to-delete-their-wordpress-accounts/

[ Mod : Done ]
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March 5, 2020 8:11pm
- Tall Man
  
  Argo fuck yourself.
  
  5 1
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  March 5, 2020 9:12pm

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