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July 4, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 04 July 2020

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General Debate

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krazykiwi

May have already been posted, but this story amused me: Russia not amused at Red Army statue re-invented as Superman and friends.

There was Superman in red leather boots, Ronald McDonald clutching a bottle of beer, and Santa Claus about to look through a pair of binoculars.

A benign if motley bunch, you may think. But they were enough to provoke an international diplomatic rebuke, it emerged on Wednesday, after they featured in an impudent make-over of a Soviet war memorial. Members of Russia’s government were said to be seething.

An unidentified street artist struck last weekend, daubing paint on a high-relief statue in Sofia, Bulgaria, to transform the monument’s Red Army soldiers into a tableau of storybook characters. The artist’s caption spray-painted on the statue read: “In step with the times.”

It’s vandalism, of course and we’re unlikely to see Russian police ‘taking the knee’.
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July 4, 2020 8:00am
- krazykiwi
  
  Sorry, link broken. Try
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/22/russia-red-army-memorial-painted
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:06am
- Te Rauparaha
  
  The lockdown has taught many ordinary people that the police in NZ are the gang’s friends and the public’s enemy.
  
  I will NEVER forgive the North Shore cops for patrolling Takapuna Beach to enforce ‘social distancing’ while cozying up to P-dealing gangs and allowing Bullshit Lives Matter.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:12am
  - Ruahine
    
    I totally agree.
    ‘Team’ of 5 million. Utter rubbish.
    
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    July 4, 2020 8:29am
    - SB2
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Ruhahine , it would be fair to substract 0.00001 % from the total representative of those who do not include themselves. like you , in the total
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:48am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Does the Labour Party pay you to post such obvious nonsense SB ? More fair to say that 0.00001% actually support such bullshit and the rest are simply cynical of the overt political ploy.
        
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        July 4, 2020 11:31am
      - Kiwi Dave
        
        An uptick from me, SB2.
        
        In the overheated rhetoric of blog comments, it is uncommon to encounter demonstrated, literal mathematical truths about society but since 0.00001% of five million = 0.5 people and adding Ruahine to Te Rauparaha equals one, then your claim is obviously true.
        
        Only a nitpicking pedant, noticing TR’s upticks, would disagree.
        
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        July 4, 2020 12:29pm
      - rouppe
        
        The “team of five million” line is pure left wing propaganda.
        
        It is intended to produce an “us or them” mentality, or worse, “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”. It is intended to isolate, marginalise and ostracise anyone who might disagree with the Labour Politburo methods, outcomes and activities.
        
        And it was all done by “executive order” type methods. It’s done, then the “team of 5 million” propaganda, then the attacks of dissenters
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:00pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      I am no part of Arderns imputed team.
      
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      July 4, 2020 3:02pm
    - Two bob
      
      team of 5million is just a stealth way of refering to us as comrades.
      
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      July 4, 2020 4:48pm
    - Kiwi_in_Paris
      
      I am presently reading Huxley’s, Brave New World.
      
      That is so from the book. Everyone needs everyone else….except of course some animals are more equal than others….
      
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      July 5, 2020 12:02am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Comments of a troll using the name of a warrior, you must be a frightened wee thing.
    
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    July 4, 2020 8:43am
    - Komata
      
      BM@0843
      
      Oh you brave SJW you!!
      
      Evidently it’s only YOUR opinion that matters – the one that is ABOVE that of everyone else on this site.
      
      No dialogue, no opinions that are different from yours; no variance from the ‘Party Line’; that you promote and that only YOU know the rules-of…
      
      In some parts of the world, you’d be called a snowflake…
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:00am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        I don’t mind opinions, but using the name Te Rauparaha anonymously is cowardly. And don’t get confused about the ‘party line’ sweetheart I walk my own line.
        
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        July 4, 2020 9:38am
      - All_on_Red
        
        “but using the name Te Rauparaha anonymously is cowardly. ”
        Why?
        What triggers you about that?
        Lots of non de plumes are used here
        
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        July 4, 2020 10:36am
    - Te Rauparaha
      
      @Brian MacDonald
      
      Tewwified.
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:04am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Obviously.
        
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        July 4, 2020 9:31am
    - kowtow
      
      Warrior?
      
      Genocidaire. The man , not the poster.
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:14am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        A man? Choosing the name of a person whose relations still live and does so anonymously?
        
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        July 4, 2020 9:41am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Choosing the name of a person whose relations still live and does so anonymously
        
        Perhaps that is the point you should have made first.
        
        (p.s. are you a descendant of the Kapiti-Coast/Marlborough Sounds McDonalds?)
        
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        July 4, 2020 9:53am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        I maybe Maggie, one grandfather has proved very elusive. Reported as leaving NZ after WW1, but his time in NZ not at all clear.
        
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        July 4, 2020 10:47am
      - sooty
        
        More likely of the CBD Clan of McDonalds!
        
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        July 4, 2020 12:31pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1m2/mcdonald-agnes
        
        Quite a few Maori McDonalds still on the Kapiti Coast…and a few were in Picton when I was working in the Sounds….came in handy that I shared the same surname when wanting access across Maori Land in Endeavour Inlet.
        
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        July 4, 2020 1:51pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Murderer and slave owner with statue to imortalise his deeds. Taking the knee meant a snack between breakfast and lunch.
      
      Pleased to have cleared that up for you.
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:19am
    - 3-coil
      
      BM @ 8.43am – yes Te Rauparaha was the “name of a warrior”, a blood-thirsty warrior who would feast on the corpses of his vanquished. That just makes the real TR a warrior, but also the “C-word”. You may walk your own line Brian, but get educated before you gob off. You probably don’t appreciate TR’s legacy victims, generations of still suffering whanau living throughout NZ, but your virtue-signalling ignorance is still offensive. Don’t get on the wrong side of history with this one Brian – Te Rauparaha was totally sadistically evil, and no amount of guilt-tripped revisionist post-colonial white-wash can hide that. Sorry bro, it happened.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:26am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Show me a single word I said in “revising” TR’s past’. Objecting to a troll using his name is not revision.
        
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        July 4, 2020 2:18pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        TR was typical of High ranking Chiefs of his time and place. Polynesian land rights are based on conquest–that’s still being tried on at Ihumatao.
        
        We cannot criticise the past, we did not partake in it. Other people’s societies too are best left well alone. We are all unique in our time and place. We need to co-exist with others. That does not require us to adopt each other’s cultural practices but to respect their sovereignty over their patch whether bigger or smaller than ours. The alternative is war. We may have to hold our nose and swallow our words against what we see. That does not mean our acceptance, we remain free to take up our best practice as we see fit. To insult others will very seldom change them. We can introduce them to what we do in a considered way and they may adopt our ways eventually.
        
        Some societies like the Han have been around thousands of years and they will have left a genetic legacy embedded in their conduct. Polynesians, including our Maori, likely have some of that legacy. They are warrior people with the Spirit of Maui. The West knows “caveat emptor”: that needs to be a hundredfold in dealing with smiling tricksters. (Who got the best of NZ in the Waitangi claims?)
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:25pm
- Raphael
  
  It’s vandalism, of course and we’re unlikely to see Russian police ‘taking the knee’
  
  the Russian police will probably take a knee. Just a question of whether or not it’s the vandals left knee or right knee.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:54pm
Tony Stuart

Gutter journalism from both Stuff and the NZ Herald. Both had headlines about the sentencing of a scumbag in Whanganui who had murdered his partner. The man is the estranged brother of Labour List MP Kiri Allan.

I’m no fan of Labour or Ms Allan, but using her name as clickbait to drive traffic is disgusting and unnecessary. Few things unite the Left and Right on Twitter, but this has. Is it any wonder that the mainstream media is viewed with such contempt?
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July 4, 2020 8:10am
- jp_1983
  
  At least they are sticking to the same standard when they went after N Kaye with her brother
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:15am
- Te Rauparaha
  
  The Main Stream Media have the same goal as Bullshit Lives Matter – the destruction of civil society for their personal amusement.
  
  How many laughs have they got from the infamous dildo throwing at a National minister affair and it’s re-runs for example?
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:15am
  - kowtow
    
    Every reference in the media to the “murder” of G Floyd by a white police officer is also designed to inflame racial tensions and promote a Marxist agenda.
    
    The writers and editors who pass that know full well there are rules on reporting crime and that charged people are entitled to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
    
    Due process has been thrown out the window by the Marxist race baiting Media party.
    
    Very dangerous times.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:05am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      I like your paranoia this morning Kowtow. You might need a cup of tea.
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:42am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        You are not paranoid if they really are out to get you.
        
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        July 4, 2020 9:54am
      - kowtow
        
        Tea ? At this time of day , coffee, and listening to my favourite Scottish tune , The Campbells are Coming.
        
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        July 4, 2020 10:38am
    - Brian Marshall
      
      The official autopsy came back and stated that the death did not show signs of construction of the wind pipe. Floyd had taken drugs and I think I saw Fentanyl mentioned in his blood stream. If that is right, Fentanyl has been known to stop breathing and part of the reason why the deaths from this drug are so bad. The police may not have caused his death directly, but by not getting him medical care fast enough. Watch the riots begin when the police are convicted on much lower charges than murder.
      
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      July 4, 2020 9:53am
      - fernglas
        
        It’s positional asphyxia, which is a reduced oxygen level in the blood which comes from restraint which inhibits the amount of air the victim can breathe, coupled with an increased oxygen demand because of activity or high levels of stress.
        
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        July 4, 2020 10:43am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        The man said he couldn’t breath, it doesn’t matter what drugs he may have taken.
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:21pm
- Swifty
  
  I totally agree KS – it’s gutter stuff.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:21am
Yvette

National’s “RACIST”
“Calling me a racist is Labour’s default tactic when they are unable to defend their blatant failures. It’s not about race,” Walker said on Thursday. “This is about the live cases in NZ and what countries they come from.” He said the 11,000 person figure had come from a source who had also said the arrivals would be coming from those three countries. [1]

And who was sucked in –
National leader Todd Muller told reporters on Friday he spoke to Walker and expressed his “disappointment” – but he stopped short of describing the remarks as racist.
“I expressed my disappointment and certainly don’t condone what he said. I’ve had the conversation with Hamish [and] expressed my concern.” [2]
He repeated this line at least three times in one interview, as does the Prime Minister when something particularly irks her – a sort of fairy book “Be gone, thrice”

And another sucked in, she herself, – or a willing follow-up –
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she found the MP’s comments “inappropriate”.
“We need to make sure that we are welcoming the return of our permanent residents and our Kiwi citizens. The response we’ve had from a number of those centres that have been hosting is that they see this as the return of their people in their community and we should treat it as such.” [2]

But Queenstown Lakes District Councillor Dr Valerie Miller, who is also a senior GP at the Wakatipu Medical Centre, said Walker was just doing his job by trying to keep the community safe.
“I don’t think that’s a racist thing. He wasn’t talking about people – he was talking about countries that have a high incidence of COVID… He was thinking of the welfare of the community,” Dr Miller told Magic Talk. [2]

What is obvious here, unless I am utterly wrong, is that neither the New Zealand Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition understand very well what racism is, while an unknown National MP and Queenstown Lakes District Councillor Dr Valerie Miller do understand.

But to help the entire nation, as indeed his job requires him to do, I ask Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon, to explain who in this incidence is racist or not, and who may be diminishing the principle of respecting race (and therefore is being racist) to score political points because they have no other reasonable explanation.

Aside – Taupo hospital, last time I was a patient, acted as a clearing helicopter pad for services at Rotorua Hospital, and I gather Queensland hospital facilities are not a great deal different, so can any medical agency explain why locating a cover-19 isolation facility in Queenstown is a particularly wise idea?

[1] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122029198/national-leader-todd-muller-reprimands-hamish-walker-over-racist-press-statement
[2] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/national-mp-hamish-walker-s-racist-remarks-earn-rebukes-from-todd-muller-and-jacinda-ardern.html
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July 4, 2020 8:17am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  I wonder if Walkers Maori wife thinks he’s a racist.
  
  As for Muller, his wokeness will guarantee their 35% and lower in the polls.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:29am
  - Toko
    
    Nats could end up in the 20s. The decision to roll Bridges and Bennett was a big error. Since then Muller and Kaye have failed to make any impact except piss off existing Nat supporters with their PC rubbish and pot plant personalities. Jacinda must be looking forward to the TV debates with Todd where he agrees with everything she says and makes her look authoritative and knowledgeable.
    
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    July 4, 2020 10:12am
  - septic skeptic
    
    I don’t think Walker’s remarks are racist. But your point about his Maori wife is very weak. You can be married to a Maori and still be racist against Indians, Africans or Asians. Racism works in all directions between all races. Don’t buy into the narrow definition that racism is something white people inflict on those of a darker complexion. Racism is much more widespread than that.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:56am
- herb1
  
  Ardern is hardly the one to talk about racism. After all she refused to sanction one of her Ministers, Shane Jones, for very racist comments.
  She promoted the man who gave us “chinese sounding names” to a senior cabinet role.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:33am
  - kowtow
    
    Savage Must Fall.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:46am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Nope, as you know very well, it’s different when they do it.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:35am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Ha! Nice try, but you will not get a clear explanation as to what is, and especially not what isn’t, racist from anybody in authority.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:39am
  - MH
    
    the buf-foon is still erasing the word niggga and its variants from all dictionaries in public incl school libraries.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:51am
- Ruawai
  
  Agree Yvette, I do not know why Muller threw Walker under the bus, he almost sounded like he was the Labour party leader. Walker asked why kiwis returning from 3 countries would be sent to quarantine in Queenstown. Other than calling them kiwis I don’t think he mentioned their race and sounds like he was repeating factual information from a source that these are the 3 countries Queenstown will be receiving people from.
  
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  July 4, 2020 8:45am
  - kowtow
    
    Muller is woke. Very disappointing.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:23am
    - coge
      
      The obvious issue here is Muller appears to consistently swallow Labour’s bait.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:25am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Todd knows which side his votes are buttered on.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:44am
    - pentwig
      
      BMc
      No he doesn’t.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:17am
    - pdm
      
      Actuall BM I don’t think he does.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:30am
  - MH
    
    its the way he formed his lips
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:53am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      He’s looking for the middle vote, but judging by some comments he could be donating votes to ACT.
      
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      July 4, 2020 3:23pm
- MCos
  
  According to Maggie Pie Dr Miller told Magic that all twenty two confirmed cases of COVID-19 were from India & Pakistan.
  According to the Ministry of Health there have been 24 cases since June-17 and 9 were from elsewhere, Australia (6) & America (3). They don’t mention Pakistan. However they indicate where the plane came from. All but one the Indian cases came here on an Indian airline, the rest AirNZ. So the Indian plane might have originated in Pakistan. I don’t know.
  I’m wondering if Dr Miller is MP Walker’s source for 11,000 Asians that are supposedly going into managed isolation in Queenstown?
  If so I wonder where she or whoever it was got there information from.
  
  Queenstown survives on international tourism. If they want a resumption of the business that keeps the town alive they need to accept some responsibility and help out rather than leave it all up to others.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:21am
  - MH
    
    how many can you cram in a gondola ? and time the movement to 14 days
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:36am
  - HeatherW
    
    The MOH current cases only lists the last country before NZ. The Covid Karens are listed as coming from Australia (London/Doha/Brisbane/Auckland). The person in Rotorua MIQ who tested positive after the bus trip was from Peru (and listed as positive case in South Canterbury DHB which was when they changed to listing MIQ separately from DHBs) Another positive was from Kenya (via Doha and Brisbane).
    
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    July 4, 2020 2:40pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Will there be white supererists roadblocks from the airport to the community?
  
  Check points set up to protect the families in Queenstown with the aim of advising those attempting to pass of the dangers of travelling in a pandemic.
  
  Will the police step in to assist in such a public spirited endeavour make sure that the highways are not blocked by an illegal gathering, will they assist the roadblocks by standing there chatting and joking with the road blockers, sorry, self appointed public spirited community wardens, to provide some sort or legal authority for the road block / checkpoint advice centre.
  
  My pick, everything will all be removed by force before morning tea.
  
  Asking for a friend who thought he understood what equality under the law meant but is confused by the messages sent by this failed government and politicised police force.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:30am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Yes there will be white supremist roadblocks at the airports and the only Maori roadblocks will be in the area of isolated communities. You’ll work it out soon.
    
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    July 4, 2020 10:30am
    - herb1
      
      Clearly your chances of working it out Brian are rather limited
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:40am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        How clever of you.
        
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        July 4, 2020 2:26pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  This attributing racist to everything which displeases some small minded persons needs to cease.
  What is race? It’s not colour nor is it genetic. I know I am a hybrid, Scot, Irish, German and Cockney with the Irish Brian Boru gene traceable genetically back to the 6th century. All my gt. grandparents have provided identifiable characteristics. What then is my race?
  
  My colour is sort of pinky-white with brown spots. Optically I fit in Zone 6 of the Ansel Adams scale, reflecting about 1/16 of the light of a white surface. If I go under a veranda my reflectance drops to Zone 3, the equivalent of dark brown wet wood or black. My colour remains unchanged as does my personality.
  
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  July 4, 2020 3:59pm
Happychappy

Has Jacinda promised Winston a free run in a seat for election yet or is Winston ready to again shit on NZer’s and get the Ihumatoa Land Deal over the line with his visit to Tainui this weekend.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/waikato-tainui-meet-winston-peters-hoping-get-ihum-tao-resolved-before-election
There has to be something in it for Winston and this is not his love for Jacinda or Labour.
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July 4, 2020 8:29am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Tainui want their own national statehood recognised.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:00pm
Te Rauparaha

National Party in an utter mess. Sad.
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July 4, 2020 8:36am
- Two bob
  
  national party are fine, its the leadership thats a mess.
  backed woodhouse but threw walker under a bus for stating facts wtf.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:27am
  - Inandout
    
    Twobob, I keep saying it is not too late to change. Better to drag those Nat votes back than throw them away with a bad leader. If a vapid like Ardern can do it anyone can, remembering fairy dust is so fleeting.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:54am
    - Two bob
      
      yup, paula shoulda twisted simons arm to contest leadership again before she threw in the towel.
      A few hangovers will be starting to be felt for those that voted for muller.
      
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      July 4, 2020 11:43am
- KevO'Brien
  
  An you believe that the fairy princess has the ability to design blunderbusses.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:02pm
Swifty

I commend to you all the Hoover Institution’s YT channel – full of great stuff, and now with Condi Rice, Niall Ferguson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali among others.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HooverInstitution/videos

Here’s a great one hot off the press. Tom Sowell, who turned 90 this week and recorded this week about his new book on charter schools:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9boQrCPwMws&t=1s

I know he speaks on US education in the US context and with US statistics – but I’m sure many of the same issues exist in New Zealand. Just like I’m certain Labour and Chris Hipkins’ crushing of charter schools in New Zealand dashed the life hopes of many disadvantaged New Zealanders and was done purely to satisfy the demands of the education unions who will crush any innovation that threatens their power and privileged position.

It is sickening when you think about it.

If of interest, please do watch the video – it’s a real eye-opener.
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July 4, 2020 8:37am
- Ruawai
  
  I don’t know why the Maori population can’t see how good charter schools are to help raise children out of poverty.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:51am
  - Inandout
    
    Ruawai, the woke teaching culture pervading under Hipkins won’t see a return of charter schools.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:56am
  - Swifty
    
    Many did; they sent their kids and that’s the tragedy.
    
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    July 4, 2020 10:00am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    If you dig into it a bit, the results seem to be a bit mixed. Some folk claim that they cost rather more per student that state schools and some claim they are similar. Some have pretty good achievement stats and some are decidedly average.
    
    The partnership school thing was a bone for ACT. There were never very many of them – if they had been so obviously great, there would presumably have been more of them …..
    
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    July 4, 2020 10:03am
    - Cassandra
      
      Well, you’d think so, but a major obstacle was the opposition of the teacher unions which would not have a bar of charter schools. Totally ideologically based but implacable. Same with bulk funding which was also a good idea. Kids not important to teacher unions, ideology is.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:15am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Generally the teaching profession has been pretty negative about bulk funding. National didn’t introduce it either – as I recall there were a few attempts but they came to nothing. I think Labour had tried before that with the same results.
        
        So that would be no surprise.
        
        Other things like PS teachers not needing formal qualifications are a bit of an obstacle too. And the syllabus can be a locally developed thing …
        
        I’m not a qualified teacher ….
        
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        July 4, 2020 10:47am
      - Swifty
        
        “Generally the teaching profession has been pretty negative about bulk funding. National didn’t introduce it either – as I recall there were a few attempts but they came to nothing. I think Labour had tried before that with the same results.
        
        So that would be no surprise.”
        
        Just who is in control here? The parents? The children?
        
        The government? The Ministry?
        
        Or the union of some of the people who work in the industry and who have their own and different interests of the parents and students?
        
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        July 4, 2020 12:15pm
      - Paulus
        
        Isn’t the Education Ministers mother a Unionist Teacher ?
        
        11 0
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        July 4, 2020 1:43pm
    - Swifty
      
      Gotta admit though, with Labour vowing to crush them when next in power, how many would want to take the chance? Only the brave ones and look what happened to them.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:19am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Not quite crushed – I think most of them took the “special character school” option.
        
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        July 4, 2020 11:02am
      - Swifty
        
        Crushed as charter schools.
        
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        July 4, 2020 12:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

367 people left isolation without being tested? The covid numbers are being fucked with. JA is concerned that the 367 need to contact Ministry of Health but won’t.
Read between the lines. No testing means no new cases. The JA can tell the World again that she single handed has beaten covid twice.
The bullshit is thick
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July 4, 2020 8:51am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Missing the point again Steve, any cases released from isolation were not showing symptoms of Covid 19, not a high enough standard I’d agree. Community testing is still going the highest amount just under 4,000 in one day last week according to Ashley Bloomfield.
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Brian, Jacinda does not want to know the numbers, she wants zero. She is an A grade bullshitter
    
    23 2
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    July 4, 2020 11:08am
    - Batman
      
      Sounds like you’re projecting from you know who, of “very soon we’ll be down to zero cases” fame.
      
      2 3
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      July 4, 2020 12:31pm
    - Te Rauparaha
      
      Mmmmmmnnnnn.
      
      “A” grade, Steve? CRAWLER!!!
      
      6 1
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      July 4, 2020 12:38pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Sort of sounds like some sort of accomplishment that she does not deserve
        
        3 1
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        July 4, 2020 2:55pm
MarkF

@Yvette Can anyone “explain why locating a covid-19 isolation facility in Queenstown is a particularly wise idea?”
In two words “It’s not”.
Queenstown is 2.30hrs from Kew (Invercargill), 3.30hrs from Dunedin and 6hrs from Christchurch (by road) and at this time of the year road closures on the Kawarau Gorge, the Crown Range and the Lindis Pass could be problematical.
Not a smart idea, so therefore knowing this lot of numpties it will be top of the list. Just saying.
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July 4, 2020 8:58am
- Inandout
  
  Mark, nothing this government does is ‘smart’ but with NZ being a small country all distance is minimal.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:11am
  - MarkF
    
    “All distance is minimal” – until you can’t cross the river!
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:42am
- Brian McDonald
  
  You’ve actually given reasons why it would be a good place for isolation – its isolation. Easier to contain there safely than in one of the cities. On another thread, Wayne Mapp has spoken about the variations of isolation as proper testing before leaving the country of origin and the status of Covid 19 in that country.
  We probably need qualifiers on the 2 types of isolation the 1st being returning nationals etc, the 2nd being tourist isolation or semi-isolation. It could be managed to a high standard and get money back into such areas.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:24am
  - MarkF
    
    @BM Joined up thinking. “You’ve actually given reasons why it would be a good place for isolation – its isolation.”
    In that one aspect you could be right, but I think you would find that Lakes District Hospital would become overwhelmed very easily if there was any sort of an outbreak. I would be surprised if there were any real ICU facilities at Lakes.
    That’s when the issues start, if the roads are closed and Queenstown is clagged in, what happens then. It is the planning for the “what ifs” that makes the difference.
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:41am
    - igm
      
      There seems to be a lot of trouble and costs associated with giving many dual pssport holders lives of Riley at the expense of NZ taxpayers . . . once again!
      The pastures of welfare are really green here compared to their countries of origin where they are no longer needed after having milked us initially, now they are back for another course.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:05am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      I agree about the ‘what ifs’ MarkF. On the other hand selection of those going to somewhere such as Queenstown would alleviate that risk. NZ can and will do isolation a lot better than currently, although arguably the situation is improving. We do have helicopters, but ultimately looking to make general risk the first priority before nominating who could go there – again pre-checks and the original departure points.
      As well as immunity shots I hope they are also working on less invasive testing.
      
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      July 4, 2020 10:41am
      - All_on_Red
        
        “Queenstown is clagged in”
        Helicopters can’t fly when it’s like that.
        You really do talk a lot of rubbish
        
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        July 4, 2020 11:22am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Didn’t know you were a helicopter pilot as well wee reddy. But sure know you’d chicken out real quick.
        
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        July 4, 2020 2:42pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Used to be Brian
        Amateur only but did close to 300 hours.
        Not like one of my friends with over 10,000
        I knew you would say that.
        Dumb people are pretty predictable
        
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        July 4, 2020 2:58pm
  - Paulus
    
    Would you go on holiday there with your family if you knew it was being used as an isolation town ?
    I do not think I would.
    
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    July 4, 2020 1:46pm
    - Brian McDonald
      
      I think you are overlooking the word isolation there Paulus, there are people in isolation in Auckland right now it doesn’t mean free-roaming and wouldn’t in Queenstown.
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:56pm
    - softail 1450
      
      Paulus ,you can be sure there will be very few muslim returnees in a hurry to go to “Queens Town”
      
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      July 5, 2020 7:15am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s impossibly stupid if you want tourists back in the South Island. Travel agents will not take the risk of booking them. Such agents may become liable for massive claims if a booking get infected.
    
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    July 4, 2020 4:06pm
- Brian Marshall
  
  They want to keep the hotels in business when we have no international tourism. Only makes sense if they’re low risk returnees, but they’re coming in from India and Pakistan where numbers reported are much lower than reality.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:43am
- Ruawai
  
  Only because there are lots of empty hotels there and the hotel owners are probably asking for them to come to fill their rooms.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:52am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    I believe the hotel owners will be acting responsibly and looking for plans for safe arrangements to be provided.
    
    1 18
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    July 4, 2020 10:42am
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘Believe’
      So , no facts and talking rubbish again.
      You do that a lot eh.
      
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      July 4, 2020 3:01pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        So you don’t believe the business owners would act responsibly given the chance? That’s right you claim to be on the Government tit don’t you?
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:32pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Oh making shit up about what I think now
        How about proving what you said first
        You’re just telling lies again
        
        ‘You claim to be on the Government tit don’t you’
        
        No
        No I don’t
        Prove me wrong liar
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:47pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Gives Queenstown hotels occupancy?
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:11am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Coming to a place near you soon. If Labour win in Sept, NZ will be like Venezuela in 5 to 8 years.
https://bongino.com/oil-rich-venezuela-now-only-has-one-active-oil-rig/?fbclid=IwAR2M8w0ZbgTu3NP_lBg8ttZCCCK8sew2eqgPTGt-Kr_buXl_i0DQA2advFg
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July 4, 2020 9:18am
- MCos
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I thought we were already supposed to be worse than Venezuela? Or was it East Germany?
  I forget, you doomsday preachers can never get it right.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:27am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You should pay more attention if you forget
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:49am
    - calendar girl
      
      Or write it down …………
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:50pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Yer, make a list, then make a list of the lists. Spend all day making lists. Repeat next morning when fuck all got done
        
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        July 4, 2020 4:59pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not so long ago there were only 2 currencies worth more that the Venezuelan Bolivar. Tell me what went wrong? From 120 oil rigs to the current 1 only.
    Give us some facts, not opinions like Mike does
    
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    July 4, 2020 9:55am
- Nickc2
  
  You are being far too generous with your time frame Steve. The rot has started already by giving Comrade Hipkins an additional portfolio to stuff up by adding extra public servants to an already bloated government entity. Look what he he’s done with the Education portfolio, where additional paper empires have been created to serve a unionist elite.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:56am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yer, he is another snake in the grass – not to be trusted
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:10am
Nutta

So, there is a leak of all Wuhan Flu cases in NZ leaked from MoH, reported today. May explain DC’s resignation finally? Cindy didn’t want to actually have to fire him?
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July 4, 2020 9:20am
Bobba Fret

Muller and Kaye have not done anything that says to me vote National (I have always done two ticks blue in the past), but they have actually done the complete opposite. As I’ve stated previously, I live in a National strong hold so Simon O’Connor will get my vote, but I am seriously thinking of party voting Act.
Seymour has done well this year and I really hope they get close to 5% of the party vote and are able to bring a few more MP’s in. Seymour seems to be a better leader of the opposition than Muller IMO.
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July 4, 2020 9:21am
- Ruawai
  
  I predict Act will get well over 5%, nearly everyone I have spoken to recently that previously only ever voted National are seriously thinking of voting Act.
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:54am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I hope you are right about the over 5%. I think Seymour has had a good year and probably got them up to 3%, and as you say, people like me being turned off National could be another 2% or 3%.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:38pm
- cmm
  
  Where’s the down side in party voting ACT?
  
  1) At lest it give National a kick in the nuts and makes them remember their support base.
  2) If you continue support National in their Great Leftward Drift then you will just get more of it. They will continue drifting left until they start losing votes.
  3) The top few candidates on the ACT list are many times better than those at number 50 on the National list. It is better to get some quality MPs in.
  
  So where’s the down side?
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:26am
  - DeepBlue
    
    I would really appreciate someone answering your question. Why is it better to have 3 more National bottom placed list candidates in the house rather than the 3 top Act candidates?
    
    If Act don’t grow they will be out as soon as David Seymour decides to move on from politics. One has to think of the 2023 election too.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:56am
  - lifesgood
    
    Oh dear, here we go again, voting another party to keep National honest or give it a kick in the nuts. Look what happened last time when clowns did this…we got Winston.
    
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    July 4, 2020 12:36pm
    - septic skeptic
      
      Voting for “what’s in it for Winston” was a dumb idea. Voting for Seymour and ACT is not. ACT have never gone with Labour.
      
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      July 4, 2020 1:04pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      It says something when moderate, Centre-right voters are still looking for something, someone, to vote for. The people voting for Winston 1st last time “to keep National honest” didn’t know it would turn out so badly.
      But, has the National Party taken any notice?
      No, don’t think so. The Nats are even more left-leaning in their pursuit of the the undecided, swing or “woke” voter.
      I have little confidence in the National Party. They run with the hares and hunt with the hounds.
      I agree with those saying that more people are intending to party vote ACT. That is what I see also – a lot of people still as disappointed with the National Party now as they were pre the 2017 election.
      
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      July 4, 2020 1:40pm
    - cmm
      
      There are tens of thousands of people who are aligned with Act but think with fear.
      
      In the last election many Act-inclined voters would have voted for National because Bill English was a firm hand on the tiller. With the Great Lurch Left: Bridges and now even further with Muller, that goodwill is eroding.
      
      If you want to vote National, vote National, but all I am saying is that there is no valid reason to rather vote National than Act to vote against Labour.
      
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      July 4, 2020 7:11pm
      - SB2
        
        cmm, such is your febrile and out of touch imagination!
        
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        July 4, 2020 7:14pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    More Ardern.
    KB has a lot of Ardern’s mob trolling too, pretending to be National. They are attempting a repeat of what they did with Simon Bridges.
    $50M has gone a long way in buying silence for Ardern about National.
    
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    July 4, 2020 4:11pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I can’t see any downside.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:40pm
Jack5

The biggest monkey on the back of Stuff Ltd when it comes to getting its head above finance water is its entrenched Woke position. Stuff’s so Woke it hasn’t slept since Murdoch sold the newspaper chain.

Grant Shimmin, who describes himself as News Director, Opinion, of Stuff, exemplifies this with his piece in Stuff today which is about … what?

In an I-I-I ramble, Shimmin talks white-guilt, bend-the-knee crap.

Shimmin has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Rhodes University of Eastern Cape, South Africa. Yes, Rhodes University, founded in 1904.

The colonialist Rhodes whom the Woke are trying to erase the memory of in Oxford.

Shimmin me timbers! A white Rhodes man Woke for ever.

On checking, it’s not clear from his self job description whether Shimmins is “news director, opinion” for the whole of Stuff, or for Stuff, Canterbury and West Coast.
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July 4, 2020 9:23am
- kowtow
  
  From a Rhodes scholar in the ODT this week . I shit you not . In summary , I’ll take his money but not the packaging. Hypocrites of the highest order.
  
  “As Rebecca Richards, the first Indigenous Australian Rhodes Scholar puts it, “I see the statue as different from the scholarship as the statue is largely a recognition of an individual, with his imperialist actions and reactionary views as well as his legacy, while the scholarship is an evolving and contemporary legacy that is about its contribution to people and society today.”
  That being said, I would welcome a change in name for the scholarship, and I look forward to witnessing and participating in the ways Rhodes Trust will challenge and review the scholarship’s history, present, and future……
  
  …….Let us not continue to unreservedly and uncritically glorify symbols of white supremacy and colonial violence. Statues of racists, violent colonialists, and slave-traders normalise the past, and render the injustices perpetrated by their subjects more palatable and easier to defend. Opinions may differ as to what we do with these statues, but it is clear we cannot leave them as they stand.
  
  – Jean Balchin, a former English student at the University of Otago, is studying at Oxford University after being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.”
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/cannot-leave-statues-they-stand
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:27am
  - Jack5
    
    Balchin should show her integrity by giving back the Rhodes scholarship money. So should any other Rhodes scholar at Oxford who favours removing the Rhodes statue.
    
    Balchin’s out of touch, too, though Rhodes scholars aren’t the intellectual elite they once were – or were they ever that?
    
    Balchin mentions the felled Dzerzhinsky statute, but ignores that Putin renamed a Russian elite police unit the “Dzerzhinsky Division”, and that the Russian city of Kirov unveiled a new statue of Dzerzhinsky three years ago. Dzerzhinsky was an appalling human being, but the Kirov folk have the right to honour whomever they wish.
    
    Other Communist icons restored include the huge statue of Karl Marx recently built in Marx’s birthplace, Trier, Germany by China.
    
    Meanwhile, the trash who decapitated the statue of Columbus in Boston would never dare interfere with the 110 metre-high Columbus statue erected in Puerto Rico just four years ago. They might end up decapitated themselves.
    
    Nor would they dare attack New York’s Statue of Liberty, which marks the United States Declaration of Independence – a declaration made by white men, some of them slave owners.
    
    Views of people memorialised are never final. But the statue-felling mania is a just that, a passing manic storm. In 70 years, who will know what Black Lives Matter was?
    
    Historical interest and artistic quality remain. Who would destroy the Colosseum where slave-gladiators fought?
    
    Who couldn’t appreciate the great “iron horseman” statue of Peter the Great in St Petersburg, though that famous leader had a brutal side.
    
    What Mongolian or visiting tourist would want to rip down the 40 metre statue of Genghis Khan built near Ulan Bator 12 years ago, though the man honoured ranks as one of the most genocidal invaders in history?
    
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    July 4, 2020 12:12pm
    - alwyn
      
      I am waiting for the BLM enthusiasts in the United States to stick some gelignite under the Washington Monument in Washington DC. After all the fellow owned around 300 slaves.
      It is just along the Mall from the White House so Trump will get a good view of the event.
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:50pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Just for you rabid lefties with serious TDS.
4 more years! Yuge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgyYugpk4hk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3N7ZV-SSHlgxDGI0thV4NoEncr4WVBUxjszgtdrmLbULlWetS9VpvAsak
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July 4, 2020 9:51am
UkiWop

Team of 5 million my arse, I’m not a team member of the numties that adore Ardern and her cohort
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July 4, 2020 9:52am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It’s about time she updated the team list. Thousands have asked to unsubscribe
  
  36 2
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  July 4, 2020 9:58am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Most of us have not subscribed or ever would.
    
    4 1
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    July 4, 2020 4:13pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Um, it is automatic unless you choose to opt out. That way they don’t need your permission, just a small hidden hint and you are in.
      Socialism – vote in EASY, vote out means a fight against tyranny.
      
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      July 4, 2020 5:03pm
SB2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
In the wake of Drieu Godefridi’s book The Green Reich ( much lauded by KB posters most of whom haven’t even bothered to read it ) I decided to explore further. A good place to begin is his own face book page where you will see his spiels and dross regarding the usual alt-right and far right fears and hates eg. George Soros the pervasive and nefarious manipulator and orchestrator of all that is evil in the world. Jew as well?

He waxes quite indignant about the defacing of King Leopold II Statue and memorial . His highness responsible for t Colonial Genocide in the Congo.

Unsurprisingly included is some of his quite interesting” treatments” for Covid 19.

https://www.facebook.com/drieu.philippe

Of course, climate change denialism and enviomentalism is another with his silly and stupid associations and connections with totalitarian ideology . Sure there is the lunatic fringe element but to taint everyone connected to Climate change is just silly flat earth stuff,

https://blog.friendsofscience.org/tag/drieu-godefridi/

The facts are that Drieu Godefridi is himself guilty of the same kind assertions and claims that the extinction rebellion is guilty of namely a simple minded silliness often seen among many Trump supporters ( of which he appears to be an avid one)

What I’m not sure of is he French or Belgian. I think the later,
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July 4, 2020 9:52am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  He’s Belgian.
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:16am
- RightNow
  
  So you read the book?
  
  10 0
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  July 4, 2020 10:18am
  - SB2
    
    No. Unlike possibly you?
    
    Correct?
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:43am
    - RightNow
      
      I haven’t read it, the first I heard of it was on here a few days ago.
      I just wanted to confirm my own suspicion about you though. The book itself means nothing to me at the moment.
      
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      July 4, 2020 3:52pm
- David George
  
  What utter nonsense, calling something “silly” doesn’t make it so. I’ve read the book. Twice.
  Everyone of his claims are backed up with direct quotes or scientific and media references. Each page has a re-searchable reference and further clarification if needed – no need to flick to the back. Some of what he says initially sounds hyperbolic but there is no doubt whatsoever that they are based on verifiable facts. You can order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Reich-Drieu-Godefridi/dp/2930650249
  I’d be happy to lend you my copy but you’d probably burn it.
  
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  July 4, 2020 1:22pm
  - Jack5
    
    Careful David George, “SB2” mightn’t damage the book, but could he vouch for the person who would read it to him?
    
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    July 4, 2020 1:44pm
  - SB2
    
    His facebook page is enough to see what a tosser and fraud he is!!
    
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    July 4, 2020 7:04pm
RJ

Oh look, another leak under this government, this is serious

An investigation will be launched over a leak of information involving New Zealand’s active COVID-19 patients.

State Services Minister and newly-appointed Health Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed to Newshub personal details have been given out – which he says is totally unacceptable.

He said the Ministry of Health cannot yet confirm beyond doubt if it was a deliberate leak or simply human error.

Newshub
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July 4, 2020 9:56am
- kowtow
  
  So many leaks , so many “unacceptables”.
  
  Happens with frightening regularity.
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:29am
- Ruawai
  
  How many leaks from ministries is that now in Labours term?
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:49am
- cmm
  
  What’s the difference between transparency and leaking?
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:57am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Different jockey, but it’s the same old horse. Labour need to be put out to pasture.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:00pm
- Jimmy White
  
  When you have Sh*t for brains leaks happen.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:37pm
Yvette

The Guardian, UK, account of David Clark’s demise is interesting –
New Zealand’s handling of coronavirus was besmirched by health minister’s blunders, so a pre-election salvage operation was needed

The health minister had flouted lockdown rules, angering the general public who by and large were adhering to the strict guidelines to stay at home and only take exercise locally.
The prime minister chastised Clark and demoted him, but stopped short of stripping him of his portfolio, saying she didn’t want to rock the boat during the crisis.

Then – #WATCH: The brutal moment Health Minister David Clark threw Dr Ashley Bloomfield under the bus while standing right next to him #Newshub

The backlash against Clark was immediate, with political commentators calling his conduct “brutal”, and saying he had thrown Bloomfield under a bus.
His tenure then began to be seen as a major liability for Ardern’s re-election chances in September, as well as her global credibility as one of the first countries to eliminate the virus.

So the question would seem to be : Has David Clark lost his position as Health Minister, because he was useless as health minister or now because he besmirches Ardern’s election image?
If he admits becoming a “distraction”, and Ardern confirms he is a “distraction”, what indeed is he a distraction to, or from?

The Guardian headline : David Clark’s resignation ‘inevitable’ as Ardern seeks to restore trust.
No – since Clark had to finally fire himself, trust in Ardern is not restored, but actually lessened.
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July 4, 2020 10:01am
- Philview
  
  Is the Guardian still operating after recent publicity that it owes its existence to a Trust fund established from funds sourced from slavery. The left are selective in their targets.
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:48am
- lifesgood
  
  Isn’t it strange that Clark gets fired and then there is a massive leak? Just saying. And if anyone believes he chose to resign they are dumber than a sack of hammers.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:40pm
  - Durden
    
    What was the real order of these events — the leak coming to light, the “serious and open” discussion Jacinda had with David Clark, and the decision by David Clark to resign (or to paint it as such) !
    
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    July 4, 2020 1:20pm
    - DeepBlue
      
      It is a all very odd how the govn had their defence about the leak ready on a Saturday morning as soon as this broke.
      
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      July 4, 2020 1:44pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Clark it seemed bothered the PM when he criticised her sycophant MOH. Bloomfield seems to have given orders agreeable to Ardern which were only his to give.
  Even worse is to come: The govt is going to have to explain in Court why they did not put Bloomfield’s orders to Parliament as required within 7 days. They wriggled out of it using a 56 year old ruling.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:21pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Dear,

Labour plays the racist card, and a day later it begins to backfire on some of its own:

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/labour-sacks-candidate-who-praised-racist-wogistan-column.html
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July 4, 2020 10:09am
- Cassandra
  
  The Labour candidate didn’t endorse Prosser’s statement but said it should debated – “some kernels of truth”. An eminently sensible point of view. That Labour would deselect him because of that confirms my opinion of the Labour Party as a pack of fascists. Back in the good old days Labour allowed common sense and a variety of opinion. No longer.
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:30am
Kiwi Investor

We are being played big time.
The announcement of relaxing border restrictions (e.g. flights to Australia) will be announced in the run up to the election as part of a broader narrative the team of 5 million has done so well and the government is well placed to lead us through the economic recovery – all part of a well thought out plan. Thus, their avoidance of any meaningful discussion currently.
Clark’s involvement in the “discussion” document yesterday is part of the approach so as to rescue the government from their current border policy position and “elimination” policy. Softening us up. We, like the rest of the world, will have to learn to live with covid-19.
This will be a big turnaround on the narrative to date.
In relation to Clark, someone who has only known politics all their lives can only act politically. All actions taken are with a political angle, they know no other way. We see this with the current group of student politicians running our country.
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July 4, 2020 10:11am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  listening to 11am RNZ news bulletin and we now find out that Ardern is working toward a relaxation of our border with Australia by September.
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:15am
  - SB2
    
    It was proposed back in May,
    
    “Australia-New Zealand travel bubble could be in place by September, expert group says”
    
    New Zealand PM says both countries are working ‘as quickly as we can’ on scheme which allows travel but guards against coronavirus risk,
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/27/australia-new-zealand-travel-bubble-jacinda-ardern-says-plan-will-be-presented-in-june-coronavirus
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:54am
    - Jack5
      
      Change of shift at ?Stephiestani Trolls Ltd.
      
      Today’s rostered-on “SB2” is the one who still has difficulty with English punctuation.
      
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      July 4, 2020 1:42pm
    - Kiwi Investor
      
      Okay, when does it no longer become dangerous to “discuss”, have a conversation, about opening the borders, three weeks before the election?
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/30/jacinda-ardern-decries-dangerous-calls-to-reopen-new-zealand-borders-coronavirus
      
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      July 4, 2020 1:56pm
      - alwyn
        
        IT will probably be open up to a select group in August. Anyone who can tell Immigration the name of anyone one killed in Christchurch last March will be welcomed with open arms. The PM will no doubt arrange for the people to travel here at taxpayers expense and they will all be welcomed at a function in Parliament. Then they will all be given New Zealand Citizenship.
        Just to bad if Covid 19 is still rampaging in the countries where they live. They must be brought here to worship at the feet of St Cindy.
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/newsroom-co-nz/300049280/exemptions-for-christchurch-terror-victims-within-days
        
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        July 4, 2020 3:02pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Up to Australia, do we want it to only be one way?
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:28am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The Australian borders are Australia’s property and rights. The Aussie State Premiers are exerting their control too and denying other States entry.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:25pm
Swifty

Does this story stack up?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12342839

Are we being told the truth? Is this boy really his ‘mother’s’ son?
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July 4, 2020 10:13am
- Jules99
  
  “I then discovered that immigration officers were conspiring with the Chinese Consulate to have him issued a Chinese travel document, so that he could be deported as well.”
  
  Conspiring with the Chinese Consulate might concern me.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:00pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Turaiki John Delamere was one of Winston Peters’ “tight five” from 1996. He’s not someone whose word immediate inspires confidence IMHO.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:06pm
- Swifty
  
  Boy is 17, mother is 65, so she had him at 48.
  
  Really? Let’s see the DNA results…..
  
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  July 4, 2020 1:11pm
cmm

Apparently us boomers (1962 makes me just in the boomer generation) aren’t as frightened as we should be.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12345465

Well maybe because we’re better at detecting bullshit in numbers.

I put some of that down to growing up in an age without calculators, but instead slide rules, times tables, pounds, shillings and pence and pounds and ounces.

That forced us to have a really good grip on mental arithmetic which gives us a far better appreciation of what numbers mean.

Carrying and working with cash forced us to appreciate numbers more than using the credit card.

Compare that to the modern generation who have to find a calculator to multiply by ten.

When we hear 500 deaths per million we know what a teenie tiny number that is. That’s one in 2000. Hardly anything.

Having grown up in a period without seatbelts and airbags we’re also much more tuned into risk.

I’m certain modern feelz-based schooling is no help either. Opinions and feelings are given weight over facts and numbers.

And perhaps we also accept we’re going to die one day and making a big fuss over CV19 is pointless when there are a whole lot of other diseases that we face.
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July 4, 2020 10:21am
- fernglas
  
  It’s ironic how the young want a disproportionate say in what happens in the future because it affects them the most, but they don’t want to give the old any say in what happens with the Coronavirus, which largely affects them the most.
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:48am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Us boomers also have common sense (not that common anymore)
  Guys at work have some numbers to sort and go for the calculator. I have the answer written down long before they push =. Multiplying 3 figures against 3 figures is not that hard, even at 68.
  I also comprehend if a result is correct or not.
  The difference between a billion and a trillion is only – fuck it, don’t go there
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:57am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, this is how we end up in the position where they think paying off $140bn of debt is easy ($400 per month per household for 25 years) and paying $5 a month for tampons is causing period poverdee.
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:03am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    0.1%
    
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    July 4, 2020 4:27pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes, but the local bunch can’t get past what 2 boxes of beer/wine costs
      
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      July 4, 2020 5:07pm
- SB2
  
  “Carrying and working with cash forced us to appreciate numbers more than using the credit card.”
  
  ???
  Ban credit cards and let’s add the cashless society?
  
  As for the rest,
  
  ????
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:48am
  - cmm
    
    Friggin moron.
    
    Easy credit is causing so much pain for those you claim to care about.
    
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    July 4, 2020 7:12pm
- Jules99
  
  Maybe they should stop treating people like children. Even my leftie mum hates being told what to do – she can decide for herself, and stayed home because she assessed the risk, not because the PM told her to.
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:54am
Benedict Yu

What the hell?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/121934098/coronavirus-st-john-ambulance-to-cut-up-to-100-jobs

The Government has dropped billions of dollars yet St John’s ambulance is making 100 people redundant because of insufficient money. I don’t know how their business model works but the Health Minister should have fixed this months ago. Oh wait a minute… That explains it.. 🙁

These first responders are great people. Maybe St John’s will fall over. The government will declare that it must be nationalised. The government will establish a new government department. There will be a national ambulance service called Kiwi Ambulance. Service levels will collapse and costs will triple. The government will claim success because they spent more money.

6 months ago my little scenario would be a fairy tale. Now it is totally plausible. I know hate is destructive but I think I am moving there.
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July 4, 2020 10:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Call it Kiwi Ambulance and it is bound to be a fuckup if the current clowns have anything to do with it
  
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  July 4, 2020 10:59am
  - cmm
    
    Kiwi Ambulance on a Kiwi Road in front of a Kiwi Hospital
    
    https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2wFS_XZ-DoI/WaQJXhiGhrI/AAAAAAAAAV4/smcNGb1pIwAM4hy-nyLscw9J3LM3QsmOgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5620.JPG
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:07am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    After reading this again I am thinking ‘Kiwicops’
    No no no, oh wait ….
    
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    July 4, 2020 5:09pm
Maggie Pie

‘RODNEY’, the feral cat, gets it’s ‘marching orders’ from the ITM store in Marton. It had become an f–ing nuisance. Inbred talkbalk caller from the town rings 1ZB late night host Bruce Russell to complain. Lays blame on the store owner. Ever since, Bruce Russell has been running a campaign on his show for customers to boycott the store. There have even calls for it be closed down. How pathetic!!
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July 4, 2020 10:42am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Close 1ZB down.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:11pm
- cmm
  
  Was he a “friendly stray” or really feral?
  
  I don’t mind the former too much if they know their place. However I’m not adverse to the latter getting a wee bump on the head.
  
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  July 4, 2020 7:15pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    From what i hear CMM he was a bit of both.
    Apparently it was that nasty ‘Lisa Owen’ on Checkpoint that started the hate campaign on the poor store owner. Listening to the interview, he used to sit on the counter all day licking his bum, then at night would creep around the store setting off the alarm.
    
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    July 4, 2020 7:51pm
Brian McDonald

Not for Trump tragics but NZ gets a couple of good mentions. Warning do not read if you love Trump.

https://eand.co/america-cant-take-another-four-years-of-this-lethal-idiot-db511affbc29
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July 4, 2020 10:44am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Umair Haque has something wrong with his head and should get it fixed.
  Don’t worry, I am not triggered. The stupid is strong for him though
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:05am
  - Batman
    
    Hahahaha definitely triggered.
    
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    July 4, 2020 12:34pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      If you say so Batman
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:58pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Thanks, Brian, an excellent read. This, however, is the article that bothered me: https://eand.co/yes-trump-really-is-going-to-try-to-steal-the-election-1fd964314978.
  
  Four weeks ago, on Saturday 6 June, at General Debate, Gravelroad said, inter alia, “I hope the US police have a plan in place in the event of Trump winning the election.”
  
  I responded by saying, “I hope the Secret Service has a plan in place in the event Trump loses the election. Actually removing Individual 1 from the White House on 20 January, is almost certainly going to be problematic.”
  
  Ed Snack said, “Don’t be stupid.” theoldbloke said, “Steve, change your weed mate. Its giving you delusions boardering on mental instability[.]”
  
  Chris R, having not read my comment properly, asked, “‘Problematic’ for who?? State worshipping morons and bludgers?” Had I bothered to reply to him, my answer would have been, “the Secret Service, obviously.”
  
  Trump is a demagogue in the making. It is quite possible that we are all like the frog in the pot, not realising the temperature is increasing, eventually to a point where we will be “boiled alive”.
  
  This upcoming presidential election will be like no other. Whatever the outcome, Trump will not go quietly. And I say that, firmly convinced that he will be “swept in the Electoral College”, to use virtualmark’s expression.
  
  Whatever happens, the actual, forceable, removal of Trump from the White House on 20 January, is a distinct (although I admit, at this stage), improbable, possibility.
  
  The truth is, no-one knows how this election, and its immediate aftermath, will play out. The only certainty is, it will be great fun to watch, even if what we see unfolding before us is truly horrific, as, either way – whether the gargoyle has won or lost – it almost certainly will be.
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:16pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Nikki Hager attempts to untangle Shelly Bay’s web

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/the-long-sorry-saga-of-shelly-bay
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July 4, 2020 10:51am
Maggie Pie

A 15 meter long ‘Fatberg’ has been discovered living in the sewers of Gizzie!
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July 4, 2020 11:11am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  I ‘m off down the hill to retrieve a few towels.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122035133/gisborne-workers-spend-seven-hours-breaking-15metre-long-fatberg
  
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  July 4, 2020 11:21am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    LOL!!
    
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    July 4, 2020 11:59am
Kiwi

A breath of sanity.
“The Right to Hate” – Chris McGlade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjgukn8qXpo
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July 4, 2020 11:29am
niggly

If your gender pronoun is something that never matters to you or that you rarely think about, then you may have pronoun privilege. It is a privilege to not have to worry about which pronoun someone is going to use for you based on how they perceive your gender.”

Steve Elers’ latest article looks at the “normalisation” of gender pronouns – oh how we “mocked” Justin Trudeau when he attacked his own citizens for not using the correct gender pronouns a few years ago – well looks like this next “fascist groupthink” anti-society platform is coming to us and there are plans by Govt Ministries to embed this into our lives.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/300047913/the-bewildering-politics-of-gender-pronouns

By the way $1uff (cheers CMM) must be so “terrified” of receiving a backlash from activists that Elers articles are no longer appearing on the Stuff or Manawatu Standard Stuff homepages – they are conveniently tucked away in the MS Opinion page https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion

So here is Elers’ article from last week, regarding the falsity of the BLM inspired anti-Police beatups because they are supposedly “racist”. As Elers’, a former cop points out, Police are acting as they are trained to do and are (in the most) largely colour blind.

Some research quoted from an academic finds there is no underlying systemic racism when it came to US Police shootings – an “interesting” aspect about this is that the academic is an African-American!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/300042513/george-floyds-death-not-simply-the-result-of-racist-police-force

Why are $1uff scared of the truth? Probably because that’s what happens when organisations bow down to handfuls of noisy Twitter activists …
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July 4, 2020 11:52am
- Ruawai
  
  Steve Elders has a bob each way!
  
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  July 4, 2020 3:39pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Forcing a change of pronouns will completely kill free speech. I have “gender fluid” family member to contend with who has chosen “they”/”them” instead of “he”.
  My speech patterns are well set so only the name is now used. If ze wantz zat mayb zay vil getit.
  Puka–there once was English as a common language.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:35pm
Ed Snack

I see that the Ford Medical centre has released the results of its full tests on the use of HCQ in treating COVID-19 patients. This is apparently a full double blinded study with patients matched for age etc.

Result, deaths were lower by 51% in the group treated with HCQ.

So all those who so fervently opposed its use – and mostly because Trump mentioned it, have caused thousands of deaths on their own politically bloodied hands. Because they simply could not acknowledge that Trump actually understood the issue and likely had seen the work with HCQ as a treatment for SARS and MERS and wasn’t the ignorant stupid buffoon that lives in their heads, basically made sure that thousands MORE people died than necessary.

Congratulations to all those people In that anti-HCQ group, including those KB posters, hope you feel satisfied with yourselves. Your proposition helped restrict the use of HCQ, and people died as a result. But you sure pwned Trump.
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July 4, 2020 11:58am
- Pharmachick
  
  Study is compromised by lack of baseline matching for age > or 65 is a risk factor this is a problem. The simple head-to-head analysis presented of raw mortality (26% on no drug vs. 13.5% on HCQ) is compromised by lack of baseline age matching. The relative risk should be calculated after statistically adjusting for age effect, not in a head-to-head comparison.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:39pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30534-8/fulltext
    
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    July 4, 2020 12:43pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    Let me re-type that with correct grammar and info:
    
    Study is compromised by lack of baseline matching for age > or < 65 in the no drug arm. All treatment/drug arms were 50:50 younger or older, the no drug arm had 65% of patients aged over 65, which is an independent risk factor. See table 1.
    
    The simple head-to-head analysis presented of raw mortality (26% on no drug vs. 13.5% on HCQ) is compromised by this lack of baseline age matching.
    
    The relative risk with and without the drug should be calculated after statistically adjusting for the known age effect.
    
    This is the 5th RCT I've read and evaluated this week, and had I been peer reviewing that I would have asked for the statistics to be adjusted.
    
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    July 4, 2020 12:49pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Fair enough comment, I understood, incorrectly, from the initial report I read that they had age matched. Given the disparity in death rates, it is obviously important.
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:54pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        Yes, the study is not (and has not been) discounted… there are valuable data/information in there, but in the rush to publish (and please note that its published in a respectable, but not top tier journal), the authors have found something “exciting” but bypassed the strictest of standards. I totally get it, and have absolutely been guilty of this when I was (mostly) younger.
        
        I also want to address your comment about “Trump”. I know that many people exhibit TDS… its a thing. I would like to advance the idea that regardless of POTUS comments, a large majority of the medical community were sceptical based on medicine and pharmacology and science.
        
        Finally, you’re correct in another point: there was no evidence of tornadoes des pointes (they report it as TDP) which is the commonly fatal bit when HCQ effect heart disease. But what they didn’t report (and I was surprised about this) is ECG results from the Q-T window… usually people have an electrical Q-T window of 80-100 milli seconds. This drug is known to extend that, and extend that until ti causes TdP. But on only a 28 day window, I’m to sure that TdP was a good endpoint, and perhaps they might have reported Q-T extension as a marker of [potential] harm. All that being said, the lack of safety signals around heart, is a moderate-strongresult from this trial.
        
        Cheers
        
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        July 4, 2020 4:00pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      I appreciate your knowledge.
      
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      July 4, 2020 4:38pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        Thank you.
        
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        July 4, 2020 5:33pm
- Fletch
  
  Yep, even CNN had to acknowledge it.
  
  A team at Henry Ford Health System in southeast Michigan said Thursday their study of 2,541 hospitalized patients found that those given hydroxychloroquine were much less likely to die.
  Dr. Marcus Zervos, division head of infectious disease for Henry Ford Health System, said 26% of those not given hydroxychloroquine died, compared to 13% of those who got the drug. The team looked back at everyone treated in the hospital system since the first patient in March.
  “Overall crude mortality rates were 18.1% in the entire cohort, 13.5% in the hydroxychloroquine alone group, 20.1% among those receiving hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin, 22.4% among the azithromycin alone group, and 26.4% for neither drug,” the team wrote in a report published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
  
  https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/health/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-detroit-study/index.html
  
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  July 4, 2020 1:12pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Some initial reports that ivermectin is having a useful life-saving impact (more testing required)
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:33pm
Wayne Mapp

Who are the returning New Zealanders?

Under present rules anyone who is a citizen or permanent resident can return to New Zealand provided they do 14 days quarantine. It seems to be about 3,000 people per week.

So who are they likely to be?

They won’t now be those who were caught short in March on a short term overseas holiday. They returned in April and May. It is not likely they will be New Zealanders who have well established themselves overseas with secure jobs, and who quite possibly who have acquired houses and investments. They can’t easily move back, as much as anything because their property is too hard to sell.

Most likely it is younger New Zealanders on the big OE who no longer have jobs. They have few ties to keep them in the UK or elsewhere. It will also be New Zealanders in lower skilled jobs in Australia, who have lost their jobs and who also probably don’t own property. Just about all of these returning New Zealanders will be going onto the dole.

There also seem to be quite a few new New Zealanders with PR who were visiting family in India and the countries in the subcontinent. They are returning. However, many of them do have jobs to return to. They had to have good skills to get a PR in the first place.

Anecdotally, going by what I have been told about who are actually seen in the quarantine hotels around Auckland, this seem to be the pattern.

Over the next few months there could be 100,000 returning citizens and permanent residents. I reckon 60% or more will go straight on the dole. They have lost their overseas job and will struggle to get work here in the short term.

This will be a big challenge for the the incoming government.
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July 4, 2020 12:08pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘This will be a big challenge for the the incoming government.’
  
  100,000 NZers want a job . 300,000 non NZers on work visas.
  
  Send 100,000 temp visa holders home.
  
  Where’s the challenge?
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:20pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    There will be a skill matching problem.
    
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    July 4, 2020 1:58pm
    - Jack5
      
      What are the predominant skills of those on temporary visas?
      
      An acquaintance who taught IT in a private college told me that 95 per cent of the overseas students had no intention of pursuing IT careers. Real estate and other sales jobs were the most common ambition.
      
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      July 4, 2020 2:57pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        The comment was about those on work visas, not student visas. Those on the latter are the ones you see in petrol stations and bottle shops.
        
        Those on work visas are folk like truck drivers, builders, plumbers etc etc. There is no way that New Zealand could operate without overseas truck drivers. The unemployed either do not want to or cannot drive trucks due to drugs.
        
        Most long term beneficiaries do not have any kind of drivers licence – the point is you are not going to magically turn all the unemployed into workers we need. Although I do agree that many of the returning New Zealanders will displace work visa holders over time. Too early to tell – some of these people will stay a long time – others will be back off overseas as soon as this thing is over.
        
        If you take a long term view, New Zealand will need more immigrants, not less. That is because we are about to become much poorer in relation to countries such as Australia – this is a certainty if Labour is returned. If we become poorer, capable New Zealanders will flee in droves.
        
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        July 4, 2020 5:50pm
      - Jack5
        
        A problem, Benedict, is that population growth is causing New Zealand’s GDP per capita to dive. NZ is down to 48th in the world, compared with,for example, Australia 29th, and the UK 39th.
        
        Too fast population growth is the cause of us falling so far behind Australia.
        
        When population growth outraces economic growth per capita, it is like an alcoholic stemming off personal collapse by sipping whisky.
        
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        July 4, 2020 8:20pm
    - Ruawai
      
      They are all human beings so can do most unskilled jobs.
      
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      July 4, 2020 3:41pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        It is not like that any longer. The number of truly “unskilled” jobs is tiny. You still need to be able to take direction, read instructions… Pre COVID the long-term unemployed were just that – unemployable. – drugs and/or can’t read and/or unfit (so can’t pick fruit etc)…
        
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        July 4, 2020 5:52pm
      - cmm
        
        Can do and prepared to do are very different.
        
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        July 4, 2020 7:18pm
    - Two bob
      
      and a will to work problem.
      
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      July 4, 2020 5:17pm
- godruelf
  
  Another Group could be the likes of this Dan Hooker character who I am assuming went to Vegas for a fight and then returned to NZ. Link has a big sob story that he has to go into isolation and can only see his daughter through the fence. I’m not particularly worried he has gone to the States and back. But it really pisses me off if the Taxpayer is picking up the tab for his Quarantine Bill
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:29pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Yes I would agree with that assessment.
  
  My partner’s son (late 20s) had lived in Australia for 10 years, always working in hospitality. No formal qualifications but a hard worker who presents well.
  
  He lost his job at the start of the Australian lockdown and decided to come back to New Zealand. He was able to withdraw some of his Australian superannuation, so he could buy a car when he got here, get a flat and reestablish himself.
  
  To his great credit, he started knocking on doors looking for work as soon as he got out of his 14 day quarantine. He has just been offered a building apprenticeship, despite having zero relevant experience. I was totally impressed with his attitude. 🙂
  
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  July 4, 2020 2:01pm
  - Swifty
    
    I just love stories like that.
    
    I hope he does well.
    
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    July 4, 2020 2:22pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Thanks – yes very impressive – this is a kid who left school at 15. In the last 3 months before he got the building apprenticeship he was working casual for a household removalist in Wellington lugging furniture and boxes up Wellington hills. That is one bloody hard job – all for minimum wage. Respect 🙂
      
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      July 4, 2020 5:57pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Wayne Mapp: Didn’t you know that the ‘kind’ Government decreed that you’re not allowed to call it the dole any more?
  
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  July 4, 2020 2:29pm
  - cmm
    
    Kindness koha?
    Love money?
    
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    July 4, 2020 7:20pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  IS Cindy bringing them back as voters?
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:39pm
Tony Stuart

Labour’s campaign slogan for the election will be Let’s keep moving.

Is this a reference to David Clark? Maybe it’s a statement about light rail down Dominion Road, or Kiwibuild. Or perhaps it’s a reminder about DPF’s Covid Cost Counter, which is moving along pretty quickly, and is now up to $26.5 billion.

Whichever, I’m sure that those who are far wittier than me will have a field day with the slogan. I’ve already had a mate suggest that it sounds like a byline for a laxative manufacturer!
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July 4, 2020 12:13pm
- RJ
  
  Great slogan.
  
  Nothing to see here, let’s keep moving
  
  No abuse at the labour youth camp, nothing to see here, let’s keep moving
  
  Do what you are told, we own you, we control you, let’s keep moving . No stopping in the line or you will be shot, let’s keep moving
  
  That slogan just takes my mind straight to the Nazis moving jews into the concentration camps. It is a terrible slogan.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:19pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    We are moving in a direction that is horrible. No thanks 🙁
    
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    July 4, 2020 2:05pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    On to trains first – to a new life
    
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    July 4, 2020 3:00pm
- Akarak
  
  Reminds me of a bowel motion. Very appropriate for a party that has successfully dumped a whole country into deep sh*t and has no cure for its continuing constipation forewarned by ‘Let’s Do This’. Did we ever find out what ‘this’ was?
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:55pm
- rouppe
  
  Similarly, I was thinking it was a case of “Let’s keep moving, so we can leave behind on NZ’s road to recovery all the trash that we collected up until now”.
  
  * Sexual abuse in Labour youth camps
  * Physical violence in MP’s offices
  * Dishonesty from the broadcasting minister Clare Curran
  * Complete failure of Kiwibuild
  * Complete failure of the city rail link
  * Complete failure of the EV car subsidy
  * Failure of 1 billion trees that had about 3 interpretations of what it meant in as many months, isn’t being regularly reported, and resulted in the destruction of seedlings due to incompetence.
  * Failure over CGT
  * Removal of targets and reporting in the health sector resulting in poorer health outcomes for everybody
  * Increased child poverty
  * Increased homelessness
  * Increased social housing waiting lists
  * Haphazard, make-it-up-as-you-go response to Covid-19.
  * Saying “we have plenty of PPE” when every day there were people in hospitals, rest homes and clinics saying they had none
  * Insisting “we have plenty of PPE” even as private individuals chartered private deliveries of millions of PPE because the evidence was clear there wasn’t enough
  * Saying “our border is closed” and then letting people walk right through it
  * Saying people are only released on compassionate grounds if they are safe when they weren’t even testing them
  * Turning law abiding citizens into criminals, when in fact it wasn’t the problem. Evidence being the poor vetting of Tarrant for his licence application, and the killing of Constable Hunt with AK47’s and MP5’s neither of which were ever available from NZ firearms dealers
  * Law change to allow entry into private homes for having “too many people” present
  
  Crikey I’d have to register as an electoral advertiser to get a billboard big enough to list all these
  
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  July 4, 2020 1:22pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Nice summary. I would add
    
    “failure to add 1800 new police”,
    
    What about “most transparent government”?
    
    Damaged economy before Covid-19 then finishing it off with over the over-the top lock-down.
    
    Prematurely emptying the hospitals so there would be room for all the Covid-19 patients that didn’t materialize causing pain and death of untold numbers of innocent Kiwis.
    
    Anyone else got some more?
    
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    July 4, 2020 5:05pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      New Zealand suicides in 2018-19 highest since records began
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12262081
      
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      July 4, 2020 8:12pm
- hilaryt
  
  …we’re heading to a ‘Kiwicrush election.
  
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  July 4, 2020 3:56pm
Yvette

Waikato Tainui have met with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in a bid to get the stalled Ihumātao deal over the line before the election.

The Fletcher-owned land was meant for a housing development but has been occupied by protestors for nearly a year.
A Government buyout is on the table but Mr Peters is understood to have concerns about whether or not any sort of housing will be built, given housing, not treaty legislation, would be used to settle the dispute – RNZ

The Government may have had recourse via Heritage New Zealand to purchase land of major importance, being the supposed cradle of early Maori settlement in New Zealand, just as they own the Kate Sheppard House as a historic home in Clyde Road in the Christchurch suburb of Ilam.

So why is Winston pursuing some housing deal to settle Ihumatao? It is the land, not housing, that is requested to be preserved.

Also, was the land not re-zoned for housing, before Fletchers bought it for $19 million, so it was already a price that recognised the potential it held as housing land. Is it not Auckland Council that has boosted its value to more than $30 million, although Fletchers of course have invested a considerable amount in design and development beyond what they paid for it, before Ardern ordered construction be halted (the legality of which, should still be examined)
So in what capacity is Peters even involved?
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July 4, 2020 12:21pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  This is nothing more than a tactic to get Peters reelected. He knows that if he allows Ihumatao to be given back to the mana whenua on a Treaty basis, he will get annihilated at the polls. So he is going to try and find a loophole that will allow him to ride in on his white horse, and save the day.
  
  Sorry Winston, but that’s not going to happen. He may have forgotten that Fletcher’s were going to build 400 houses at Ihumatao, some of which were especially for the tribal elders. But the public hasn’t forgotten.
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:30pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Ardern’s intervention at Ihumatao is unlawful. It is also in my view a bad breach of her Oath of Loyalty to HM Queen Elizabeth II. Surely HM does not approve of her Prime Minister subverting the laws of the Realm? The land was and still is the lawful property of Fletchers or their nominees.
  
  The Police have ceased their duties in respect of it and must now be considered as Keystone Cops, not law enforcement officers in New Zealand. How can they enforce any other law if they cannot enforce all? How many classes of citizens do we have that the Police can pick and choose among them? The PM cannot interfere with their duties. She is a much greater disgrace than any of the other Ministers of the Crown. This amateur government as I have frequently called them must go. Although I do fear that $50 million dollars of taxpayer money gifted to the media may silence opposition to her re-election.
  
  Her and the Ministers are a fraud presenting as capable but proving they cannot do basic administration. In a commercial situation they would be fired and possibly prosecuted. MMP is no excuse for lousy governance.
  ☑️☑️Queen Ardern must go☑️☑️
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:09pm
Maggie Pie

This from ‘The Times of Nigeria’:

An elderly man’s body has been found in a palatial property on the outskirts of Lagos. It is believed to be that of the retired Director of Nigeria’s once largest Bank.
Police report having found over $190 million US Dollars hidden under the floorboards of the house.
https://i.imgflip.com/476wsc.jpg
Neighbors spoken to by reporters, described him “…as a bit of a recluse, whose main concern was that people had stopped replying to his emails about ten years ago”.
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July 4, 2020 12:24pm
- Two bob
  
  if thats not satire then maybe all those emails we get from the lovely nigerian chap wanting to give away his money were real?
  dang all I had to do was email my bank details and I could had some of that 190mil…
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:22pm
Batman

Enjoy your Saturday everyone!

https://twitter.com/Politics_Polls/status/1279140227353841667?s=19
#National @MonmouthPoll, By Age

18-34:
Biden 54% (+19)
Trump 35%
.
35-49:
Biden 54% (+14)
Trump 40%
.
50-64:
Biden 49% (+5)
Trump 44%
.
65+:
Biden 59% (+21)
Trump 38%
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July 4, 2020 12:36pm
- All_on_Red
  
  This the sample from your Poll of only 733 (lol) Registered Voters
  29% Republican 38% Independent 33% Democrat
  
  In 2016 the Election was 33R 32 D and 35 I
  But thanks Batty.
  It’s always enjoyable having a laugh at you?
  Give you marks for consistency though
  Hahahahahahahahaha
  
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  July 4, 2020 12:49pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Have not seen Trump this far behind since he won in 2016
    
    19 3
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    July 4, 2020 12:55pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Boring.
      
      Things are a lot different this time, Steve. For example, the voters now know he is unsuitable for, and is not up to, the job.
      
      Trump is history.
      
      3 12
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      July 4, 2020 2:05pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Come tell me Nov 3rd. Last time was just a trial run
        
        5 2
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        July 4, 2020 3:02pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Great speech by Trump at Mt Rushmore
        https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-in-fiery-mount-rushmore-address-decries-rise-of-far-left-fascism-calls-on-americans-to-rise-up
        
        You should listen to it Steve Todd
        
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        July 4, 2020 4:38pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Red,
        
        Fox cut away from Trump’s Rushmore speech. Not surprising – it was pretty terrible. Sweaty, stumbling, old material. He’s reached the point where he can’t pronounce most words with 3 or more syllables. He’s in mental decline.
        
        And I can’t see how anything he said or did tonight will win the middle voters. The base are a cult who will follow him off the cliff. But the swing voters aren’t buying his message anymore.
        
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        July 4, 2020 4:58pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Thanks, AoR, I will. Before I do, though, I would point out that just because someone can deliver a great speech, doesn’t mean they’re actually any good.
        
        I know Kiwibloggers would agree; they would nod and point to President Obama as the classic example.
        
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        July 4, 2020 5:11pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Touché Steve!
        But this speech does belie the narrative Trump doesn’t give good speeches.
        I also think that objectively Trump has done a good job and kept his promises.
        I certainly cringe at some of his behaviour (understatement!!!) but he’s better than the alternative
        The Democrats are, frankly, corrupt.
        
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        July 4, 2020 6:00pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        VM
        ‘Fox cut away from Trump’s Rushmore speech.’
        
        The video in the link is the full speech, some 42 minutes long.
        You didn’t watch it did you.
        What do you lie so much?
        #TDS
        
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        July 4, 2020 6:09pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        You should listen to it Steve Todd[.]
        
        Okay, AoR, watched it – all 41 minutes. A pretty standard speech, aimed firmly at the base.
        
        Although virtualmark did not realise the cut-away was very brief, and he was wrong that Trump was stumbling, and that the speech was based on/contained “old material”, I can’t help but agree with his second paragraph.
        
        Should Trump somehow manage to find himself still in the White House on the evening of 20 January, it won’t be because of this speech. Quite frankly, I don’t quite understand why you drew my attention to it. I was hardly going to think to myself, “Oh my god, I’ve been wrong all along. Trump is going to win easily.”
        
        I also think that objectively Trump has done a good job and kept his promises.
        
        Kept his promises? Maybe, maybe not: apparently, they’re still building the wall.
        
        But, under his presidency, the pace of the United States’ decline as a (respected) world power, is increasing, and his handling of the pandemic has been casual, inept, disgraceful, and deadly. He will be dumped.
        
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        July 4, 2020 8:44pm
- cmm
  
  In this age when people get “pranked” and “cancelled”, who in their right mind would give a pro-Trump answer to some random numptie phoning you up at night?
  
  For all these people know they’re being cased for a bunch of “protestors” to peacefully come and set fire to their houses.
  
  It will be interesting to see how polls align with results, but I suspect that polling is getting less reliable as the leftie violence and ease of being attacked goes up.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:34pm
- Two bob
  
  Batman are you confident to bet on the US election then?
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:01pm
greenfinger

Ardern loves her nose in other countries’ politics all the time to keep her profile up for her next job at the UN. Why is she not speaking out about China’s treatment of HK? C’mon, Princess? Say something?? Or are you just gutless when it comes to China??
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July 4, 2020 1:11pm
RJ

[Deceptive – repost as a comment please – not an elongated http link on its own. Mod.]
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July 4, 2020 1:38pm
- RJ
  
  Reposted with better formatting or in the words of nick Smith, “I rise, I withdraw, and I apologize”
  
  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters have joined the global chorus of condemnation against China’s contentious new national security law for Hong Kong.
  
  Beijing passed the legislation on Tuesday, bypassing the city’s local Parliament, which New Zealand politicians have suggested breaks the ‘one country, two systems’ framework Hong Kong has been operating under.
  
  newshub
  
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  July 4, 2020 2:02pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yeah whatever – China will ignore NZ.
    
    I like the fact that Golriz is right for once. Except she refers to the “HK and Chinese community in Aotearoa”.
    
    I can assure her that no Chinese, Hong Kong or Taiwanese expats refer to New Zealand as “Aotearoa”. Most of them would not even know what she was referring to.
    
    I am so much hoping this person does not make it back to Parliament.
    
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    July 4, 2020 2:12pm
  - kowtow
    
    Global chorus.
    
    More countries supported the move by China at the UN than condemned .
    
    Money talks .
    
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    July 4, 2020 2:21pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    NZ Meddling. Hong Kong is plainly Chinese sovereign territory. What would Ardern have done if we had similar riots to Hong Kong in downtown Wellington? The rioters, who may have been outside stoked, went too far. The recent ones in the USA have yet to be dealt with. No nation can tolerate that affront to law and order. To ignore is to invite more. Bullies can only be stopped by a suitable show of counter force. The 1951 waterfront strike was an example of that.
    
    Goodbye trade.
    
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    July 4, 2020 4:49pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      1951. A mere 69 years ago. You could add Massey and his Cossacks during WW1. Why leave out Parihaka? Even Muldoon and the Red Squad a mere 39 years ago.
      
      The past was definitely the place to be when you wanted law and order ……
      
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      July 4, 2020 6:04pm
      - SB2
        
        Ian Boag it was in 1913 that Massy’s”Cossacks “guarded the loading of SS Athenic .
        
        1 2
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        July 4, 2020 7:10pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        I lived through the ’51 strike. It had to be done, Union bullies had to be brought under control.
        
        3 2
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        July 4, 2020 7:12pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Jacinda Ardern won’t carry out “witch hunts”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121874669/covid19-border-botch-not-a-witch-hunt-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-says

but Chris Hipkins won’t leave a stone unturned hunting for “the leaker”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/420494/criminal-charges-possible-if-leak-source-identified-in-covid-19-privacy-breach-investigation
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July 4, 2020 1:42pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  To be fair to Hipkins, that is a serious privacy breach. Most of those breaches in the state sector are accidental. But if this was deliberate the person who did it should be dismissed. At a minimum.
  
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  July 4, 2020 2:08pm
- cmm
  
  Can’t say they didn’t give it a balanced response!
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:28pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I am thinking the stone ‘upturned’ will have a mirror under it.
  He is a SLB silly little boy
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:36pm
Jack5

The tight-rope that the Woke teeter on.

The New York Times has amended its style on capitalising words referring to race.

These words, when referring to ethnicity or race, will now have capital letters in the New York Times: Black, Native, and Indigenous.

These words will not have an initial capital letter: white, brown.

https://www.nytco.com/press/uppercasing-black/?
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July 4, 2020 2:46pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Capitalization. A realy useful tool, but try not to over-use it lest English start to resemble German.
  
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  July 4, 2020 3:56pm
lifesgood

Susanna Wiles is very upset about online bullying towards her, so upset she has had a video made about it. Now I don’t for one moment approve of online bullying, or any bullying in fact, but you have to ask yourself why she dyes her hair shocking pink, why she has given herself a name which reeks of cultural misappropriation, why she mouths off about all and every subject, even things she is unqualified to talk about etc, if she doesn’t want to be noticed. Unfortunately she has made herself a target for the nasties. She should just put her head down and get on with her work and ignore the bullies, oh and it would help if she didn’t constantly sing Jacinda’s praises. As a matter of interest what of value did she add to the covid debate?
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July 4, 2020 3:10pm
- Tall Man
  
  “As a matter of interest what of value did she add to the covid debate?”
  
  Zero.
  
  It was about her own need to be seen.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:26pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She adds no value, other than getting a good job with JA at United Nations. A microbiologist with Jacinda’s endorsement goes a long way in the UN
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:40pm
Swifty

Clare Curran has a whinge and blames National for her failings and incompetence:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12345480

Waaaaaaaah!

This from a person, and a party, who remorselessly attacked National, at times very personally, while in opposition and whooped with delight every time a National MP mis-stepped or mis-spoke.

Suck it up cupcake.

And what now for you Clare? Start your own business will you? Run a company? Invest your cash into some job-creating and risky venture?

Or try to secure some union role or local government position? Or maybe Labour will throw you a bone on a crown entity or NGO to take advantage of your vast talents?

Yeah nah.
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July 4, 2020 3:52pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You can do most of your WINZ stuff online now. Just some ID, like being in Govt.
  Do you know who I am?
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:43pm
Surely Knott

Labour sacks Kurt Taogoga for a 13 year old tweet , that supported a racist article that was written by a NZ First Member. Labour drops the mp who supported the article saying it does not match up with their values, yet they went into coalition and formed a government with the party whose member actually wrote the racist article. Where is the consistency.
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July 4, 2020 3:57pm
- Swifty
  
  Never, ever, look for consistency from Labour is my advice.
  
  You’ll never find it.
  
  They do what they want, when they want even when it is diametrically opposed to what they’ve been saying and doing for ages.
  
  Their specialty is, of course, calling out National for something and then, when they realise its a good idea, set about doing the very same thing themselves.
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:24pm
cmm

I see look at me Souxie is having a cry because people are being mean about her weight and KoolAid hair.

Well if you’re going to have a naff name and dye your hair unnatural colours to draw attention to yourself and make a statement, then don’t be surprised when you don’t just get positive attention.

Weight might be because of your glands, but pink hair isn’t.
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July 4, 2020 4:27pm
- All_on_Red
  
  I’m sure all her cats love her
  
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  July 4, 2020 4:39pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nope, weight is because the input hole is bigger than the output hole – and crawling to the fridge instead of running
  
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  July 4, 2020 5:46pm
  - quarterpack
    
    Steve you last comment gives me flashbacks to my intermediate school play ground….I get you probably disagree with Souxie and perhaps current scientific practice, wouldn’t it be more productive to try express this if you are able to rather than mocking someones weight and body shape?
    
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    July 5, 2020 9:25am
lifesgood

Labour’s new campaign slogan “Lets keep moving” I have always found prunes quite helpful in that area.
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July 4, 2020 4:42pm
- Dougal10
  
  I think it’s a shortened version of lets keep moving into recession or maybe lets keep moving into communism .
  
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  July 4, 2020 9:51pm
Prince

Have we reached peak calamity yet ?
This Govt has existed on a regular diet of catastrophes, from Christchurch through volcano to Covid, with regular diversions to Pike River, colonisation, climate change, earthquake remembrances. The Prime Minister excels in ‘tragedy empathy’, and there has been plenty of that. Today’s children are fearful of death, catastrophe, doom and destruction, and cling to the belief a schoolteacher-style PM with dangly earrings and elastic neck will save them through Facebook.
At some stage Ardern will have to actually manage something positive for this country, some economic growth, a surplus to relay debt, some public service efficiency.
Pouring money we haven’t earned yet into projects that seldom get past stage one won’t do it.
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July 4, 2020 5:06pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Election night loss for Jacinda will be the same as Clark/Cullen. Resign on the spot and fuck NZ.
  Mark my words.
  04.07 20
  
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  July 4, 2020 6:08pm
  - DeepBlue
    
    Here’s hoping.
    
    7 0
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    July 4, 2020 6:28pm
  - SB2
    
    Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    New Zealand love it or leave it!
    
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    July 4, 2020 7:05pm
RJ

A very dirty player in politics pretends to be the victim of national.

Outgoing MP Clare Curran says an image of a National MP posed with a toilet emblazoned with her face on it left her feeling “traumatised” and suffering from “humiliation”.

Curran announced last year she would not re-stand at this year’s election, closing a 12-year career in Parliament.

It came a year after she was removed from Cabinet and stripped of her open government portfolios after not disclosing a meeting with tech entrepreneur Derek Handley, set up using her personal email account.

Herald Article

Spinoff Article
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July 4, 2020 6:25pm
- cmm
  
  “closing a 12-year career in Parliament.”
  
  12 years? So long for so little.
  She cost us the thick end of $6M or so and we got nothing.
  
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  July 4, 2020 7:26pm
  - softail 1450
    
    cmm ,it’ll be another 20 years in local body troughing from here.
    
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    July 5, 2020 6:49am

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