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March 20, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 20 March 2022

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General Debate

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Warren

Ministry of Social Development: Dozens of Sexual Harassment, Bullying, and assault allegations against staff.
This should not be under paywall on any Media site and the Government and our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern should be seen addressing this mater as this is not the first time it has happened in the four years Labour has been the Government.
This is virtually what happen in the first term of this Labour Government and the problem was sweep under the carpet to protect the culprit who was a Senior Labour staffer working out of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Thirty MSD Staff have been accused of assault and Twenty for Sexual Harassment over the last five years so where is the transparency and results of what’s happened to these offenders.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ministry-of-social-development-dozens-of-sexual-harassment-bullying-assault-allegations-against-staff/7VGRTXZCQBRVPRVL2HXFANOB5E/
This has been a problem of Labours and it goes back years and most would remember the young Labour summer camp fiasco that again ended up with the culprit getting slapped with a wet bus ticket and name suppression.
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March 20, 2022 8:00am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Should not be under paywall?
  Why do you think newspapers should be free?
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:39am
  - blue collar
    
    Warren never said newspapers should be free . Go to the back of the class and put your pointy hat on with a large D on it , and learn to read
    They choose a few articles to put behind paywalls , most are free to read .
    The sexual assault scandal in a taxpayer funded govt department should be a free public interest article .
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:20am
    - Mike
      
      He is demanding that specific content should be free. Perhaps he thinks all media should be socialized.
      Perhaps he should trot down to his local public livrary and see if it still buys papers for him to read for free
      
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      March 20, 2022 12:45pm
      - graham
        
        Let’s put it slightly differently, Mike.
        
        Do you think that the general New Zealand public are entitled to be informed about important issues, issues that are extremely pertinent and of public interest?
        
        Or do you think that such information should only be available for the people who can afford to access it?
        
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        March 20, 2022 1:56pm
      - hmmokrightitis
        
        Mike, like most lefties, would rather the labour government and its ministries were allowed to get away with “shit like this” without the public realising the cluster the public service has become.
        
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        March 20, 2022 5:16pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      There is a specific fund for public interest journalism.
      
      This article seems to me to qualify. Does it seem not to qualify to you?
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:13pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      By semantics, you are right blue collar, Warren only said this particular article should be free. Which is nonsense. Mike is quite right, if you want the news, go pay for it. It has nothing to do with public interest. Before the net, you had to buy a subscription to get any newspaper. Why should you not have to do that now?
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:31pm
  - alloytoo
    
    $55Million isn’t free.
    
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    March 20, 2022 11:14am
  - Fishing in the dark
    
    I would never one single tired Dollar for any of these newspapers, because they’re all left screwed and they all write stuff approved by this corrupted government.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:19pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Mike gaslighting trolling in order to get you running around in circles trying to explain yourself in response to his silly straw-man. GF Mike 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2022 5:41pm
- pdm
  
  Goes back way further – remember that fellow Richards belting someone over the head with a megaphone. Not only was he well up in the Labour party but his wife/partner was a Vice President or some other very high ranking official.
  
  No court case as I recall.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:20am
- Albert_Ross
  
  So newspapers should neither charge for their content, nor be funded by the Government, is that what we think?
  
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  March 20, 2022 12:21pm
  - pdm
    
    Definitely should not be funded by the government in any circumstances.
    
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    March 20, 2022 3:48pm
- Ian Boag
  
  Paywall is a commercial decision. Would you start to legislate what people can read for free?
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:17pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “Would you start to legislate what people can read for free?”
    
    What you mean like the clown show’s media bribes, with censorship strings attached?
    
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    March 20, 2022 5:42pm
- Thought Criminal
  
  You know, I thought it had been a while since Labour had covered up a sex scandal. But covering up 50!!! They’re clearly getting better and better at this.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:38pm
mikenmildagain

Joyeux journée internationale de la Francophonie!
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March 20, 2022 8:01am
- oldfella
  
  Sorry, mike, don’t speak Te Franco.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:27am
  - Mike
    
    Franco was Spanish.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:46pm
- Lee C
  
  Murky buckets mon brarve
  
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  March 20, 2022 12:17pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Ne soyez pas un connard prétentieux.
  
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  March 20, 2022 6:30pm
Jim

Stuff reports:
Unvaccinated Kiwi travellers can now enter the country without needing to go into MIQ or self-isolate.
The ability to bypass isolation was previously limited to fully vaccinated travellers, with the unvaccinated required to spend seven days in MIQ and a further three self-isolating at home.
The Government quietly announced the change on Friday, March 18, and it came into effect at 11:59pm that day.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/128108955/covid19-unvaccinated-kiwi-travellers-can-now-skip-miq-and-selfisolation

Hmm why was there no formal declaration?
Vaccine passports and mandates must end now.
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March 20, 2022 8:09am
- artemisia
  
  Shows the government can make an announcement without announcing the announcement.
  
  If they want to.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:37am
  - pdm
    
    arty – more when the polls are against them.
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:21am
- Charmaine Hawke
  
  As good as this sounds now the unvaxed need to find a carrier to bring them into the country. Air NZ and Qantas require you to be fully vaxed to get on the plane or have one of the mythical exemptions. So as it stands if you have not caught covid but are unvaxed you will need to buy a ticket to Singapore, Dubai or Doha and then back to NZ.
  The government need to tell Air NZ they can back down now and stop discriminating.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:46am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Spoken like a travel agent ….. 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:10am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yes indeed, What carrier will take them ?
    
    Again not thinking through the real outcomes.
    
    In my mind Air NZ has been a disaster during the Covid crisis. I guess when they become too political it is always going to happen.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:19pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Emirates. They’re flying to NZ via Australia and Malaysia. Direct Akl / Dubai flights have been pushed back to Dec-22. I have close to 700,000 Qantas points I can’t use due to their evidence free vax policy, and I’m not planning to EVER fly Air New Zealand internationally if there are other options. I told them as much in a survey last week.
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:02pm
      - Jimmy Brown
        
        Singapore Air are also accepting the unclean.
        
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        March 20, 2022 3:15pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    I flew AirNZ to Gissy on Thursday evening. Drive too long for a weekend. Bit the bullet and got a supervised RAT on Wednesday to satisfy AirNZ’s daft, discriminatory policy. It was not requested at check-in.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:06pm
- Geoffs
  
  Fine if you intend staying in NZ. useless if you are visiting and need to return to Australia for example where proof of vaccination is required on entry. Almost an uppercut to self really!
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:15pm
- Jim
  
  I hope kind Jacinda’s government advised those unvaccinated citizens to get a last minute haircut before they came home……this level of blatant state sponsored discrimination totally disgusts me!
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:43pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  The covidiot army would not be impressed? “What you mean no more harassing and humiliating those dumbass unvaccinated! Noooooooooooooooooooo!”
  
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  March 20, 2022 5:49pm
David Garrett

Check out this heart rending story:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300522803/family-with-dying-dad-has-residency-rejected-because-mum-is-too-overweight-for-nz

So, this morbidly obese woman has had eight years to lose some weight. If her self control was so poor that she couldn’t stop stuffing her gob, she could have had a stomach stapling.

Yes, the husband’s terminal diagnosis is an awful blow to this family – but the predicament of the rest of them is solely down to Mum, and her fondest for putting excessive quantities of food in her mouth.
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March 20, 2022 8:17am
- David Garrett
  
  FUCK! typo alert… last sentence should read:
  
  “…down to Mum and her FONDNESS for putting excessive quantities of food…”
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:21am
  - Observer of Life
    
    They all look a wee bit on the “over weight” side. Perhaps they could have gone on a better diet as a family?
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:24am
- Gravelroad
  
  I went to Tonga a few years ago to attend a South Pacific conference.
  Lots of overweight people there.
  They were getting huge shipments of frozen fatty chicken from the US at the time.
  But not being someone who judges people on their appearance or eating habits, I looked for something positive about the Tongan families to understand their circumstances and choices.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:26am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    They also import Lamb Flaps from NZ and look at the Fat Content of Pacific Corned Beef which they import as well.
    
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    March 20, 2022 8:36am
    - David Garrett
      
      fighting: Yes indeed…I had to explain to my wife to be that the “Specially prepared for the people of the Pacific” on the side of the can translated as “fatty shit and scraps off the floor which we can’t sell anywhere else”.
      
      I had a Tongan client whose entire business was importing fatty shit which was largely unsaleable anywhere else – frozen turkey tails from the US was one of his best lines.
      
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      March 20, 2022 9:36am
    - Ra Henare
      
      oh dear. The myth still abounds that eating fat makes you fat!!
      
      Its the QUANTITY of what you eat and the Sugar content.
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:17pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Gravel: Well aren’t you just a saintly chap?
    
    As you probably know, I have some familiarity with Tonga, having married one and lived there for some years. In case you hadn’t noticed, Tonga is a third world country where choices in lots of things are limited though economic and other reasons.
    
    (You may be interested to know that when I first went to Tonga 40 years ago there were far fewer obese people – no-one but the elite few had cars then – and they walked everywhere. In addition, that “frozen fatty chicken” you refer to had not yet sullied the shores of the Kingdom)
    
    This morbidly obese South African woman lives in New Zealand, a first would country (just), where one cannot even buy the turkey tails and mutton flap which make up a large part of your average Tongan’s diet. Her obesity is entirely down to her – and she’s had eight years to do something about it.
    
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    March 20, 2022 8:44am
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      I first went to Tonga in 1974 as 3rd Mate of a USS Co Vessel.
      
      Most of the reefer cargo was mutton flaps apart from the steaks etc for the Dateline Hotel. Also pallets of corned beef.
      
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      March 20, 2022 9:07am
      - David Garrett
        
        fighting: Interesting; as I said above I first went to the Magic Kingdom in 1982. From what you say, mutton flap was obviously on the menu even then.
        
        I guess the big difference was no cars – even fewer in 1974 I’m sure – which meant the common people had to walk or bike everywhere. Nowadays walking is seen as very uncool; if you have to walk it means you don’t have a car.
        
        On Saturdays my ex simply refused to carry a basket of sweet potatoes from the market to our car parked a block away because to be seen walking – especially carrying a basket – was an indicator of low status.
        
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        March 20, 2022 9:41am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Yes David, wife and I spent a wee bit of time in Samoa in the very early 2000’s. We noted that there were virtually no overweight people there. We often saw families walking to dinner with friends whilst carrying food. They would walk between villages which were some miles away and could easily take 1-2 hours! I was had a conversation with a Village Chief’s son, who had been educated in the States. He said that the only really fat people we would see were likely immediate members of Chiefs families.
      
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      March 20, 2022 9:15am
    - Jim
      
      Furthermore (to this sad featured story), even more sad is the reflection of parents poor lifestyle choices on the health and well-being of their children, which is dumbfounding as it’s right before their very eyes.
      
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      March 20, 2022 12:45pm
  - mawm
    
    The thinking had changed since the US dietary recommendations of the 80’s where without evidence fat and cholesterol were determined to be evil. Now they are deemed to be good for you; it’s the sugar that was introduced into fat-free food to improve its taste (eg fat-free yoghurt), as well as dietary indiscretions such as KFC with a 2L Pepsi, that has caused the obesity epidemic.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:57pm
    - Harriet
      
      Spot on.
      
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      March 21, 2022 12:03am
- dubya
  
  In fairness, David, the article says the mother lost 32kg in the past three years.
  
  Whilst the article will obviously put a positive spin on the family, it does sound they’ve had a rough time of it. The NZ immigration system is quite awful at times. Remember the Ukrainian family running La Vista restaurant in St Heliers and how they were treated, apparently not “contributing enough”?
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:27am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Looks like the whole family has a gob-stuffing issue.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:29am
  - kowtow
    
    Wonders how much self inflicted gross obesity contributes long term to all those other health issues , including cancers etc
    
    This gubblement has been telling us, nay commanding us , to take responsibilty by getting an indeterminate number of experimental jabs for not only our own health but the health of society …….is it not time now, logically , to extend that to the obesity epidemic , that for at least the last 50 years has been blighting the developed world. At huge cost to the tax payer.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:20am
    - David Garrett
      
      kowtow: excellent points.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:11am
    - mawm
      
      kowtow – don’t give them any ideas.
      
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      March 20, 2022 2:01pm
    - Jim
      
      Fully agree, however I wager that some obese boosted vaccine zealots will call such a policy discriminatory and a blight on their human rights.
      
      Ohh the irony, a wafer thin mint Sir?
      
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      March 20, 2022 2:33pm
- Opie
  
  Looks like they have all been in a good paddock.
  
  On another note, I am hearing of quite a few people going back to south Africa because of how bad things are here.
  
  You know you have it bad when south Africans head back there.
  
  Coincedentally or covid case rate per million people is higher than south africas.
  
  World class management huh
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:33am
  - kowtow
    
    Anecdotally , I know a few and they’re delighted to be here . A number are skilled and were held in a cruel limbo by this “kind” govt , that’s now being sorted . Finally.
    
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    March 20, 2022 11:09am
- LB
  
  Well it is heart rending, basically demanding that the cardiac muscle pumps for two or three bodies with half clogged pipes to make it interesting
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:53am
- Taieri
  
  So, this morbidly obese woman has had eight years to lose some weight. If her self control was so poor that she couldn’t stop stuffing her gob, she could have had a stomach stapling.
  ————-
  
  It says there that she lost 32 kg in the last 3 years.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:55am
  - Jim
    
    Quarter of the way there.
    
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    March 20, 2022 2:34pm
Maggy Wassilieff

How strange that Our Dear Leader didn’t use this latest ~~backdown~~ bit of opening-up as a televised podium moment.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/government-drops-miq-requirement-for-unvaccinated-kiwi-travellers/C7XR7T65AGXVL25UOGAPZVDLLQ/
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March 20, 2022 8:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Jaspinda is getting desperately desperate by the day for looking good to her team of 499999.
  (I unsubscribed from the team)
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:27am
  - pdm
    
    Steve – mrspdm and I jumped ship from the (so called) team of 5millionin about the first weekof April 2020.
    
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    March 20, 2022 8:35am
  - CJames
    
    I think from your numbers, she only has about 10% support. That sounds right.
    
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    March 20, 2022 8:36am
  - namron
    
    499,998 – me too!
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:08am
    - Jim
      
      Steve, I’m in too so that’s a team of 4,999,997
      
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      March 20, 2022 12:59pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Must be that interfering roving decimal point that Labour uses.
        My mistake for not proof reading!
        
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        March 21, 2022 8:19am
  - bjools
    
    Didn’t need to unsubscribe, I didn’t believe her from the first statement on the subject.
    After all, she had lied about everything before covid. What made you think she wasn’t lying about this?
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:23pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Compulsive. You need to prove you can ‘lie’ before joining the Labour Party
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:43pm
- Matt Long
  
  I guess legal advice was the segregation of unvaccinated New Zealanders at the border was untenable.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:41am
  - Cinematic
    
    Exactly.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:04am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Then it goes without saying that segregation of unvaccinated New Zealanders inside the border is untenable.
    But we’ve known this from the very beginning, apparently Ardern and her experts have a different view which they refuse to share with the rest of us.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:53am
  - Jim
    
    Embarrassing for government, hence no formal announcement. There is clearly zero scientific basis for keeping unvaccinated people out of NZ as the risk they pose to the vaccinated cohort is negligible. They clearly can’t even claim it even protects the health service, as why allow an unvaccinated high risk category citizen back into NZ at peak Omicron?
    
    Q for Ardern and Bloomfield: So why after the border changes at 23:59 on 18 March 22 does vaccine status still apply in domestic NZ, where unvaccinated citizens remain excluded from a restaurant, cafe, swimming pool, library and even hairdressers etc?
    
    Blatantly the vaccine efficacy in preventing virus transmission has been very much exaggerated and/or misrepresented by big pharma, governments and their shill media.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:08pm
- Nickc2
  
  Another mandate gone. What was that protest by the ‘Rivers of Filth’ all about?
  Honestly, since the protest, mandates have had more changes than hooker’s knickers.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:44am
  - Don Beckett
    
    I thought hookers didn’t wear knickers 😆
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:58am
    - Nickc2
      
      Come on Don, you’re shopping down in the basement mate. lift your game.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:46am
      - Don Beckett
        
        C’mon Nick – surely a little throw away humour can’t hurt – we’re all adults you know, but I admit that the comment amounts to a bit of smut – which we see in bucketloads here.
        
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        March 20, 2022 5:01pm
    - gravedodger
      
      Based on research Don, so next question is, how many did you survey. My ignorance here is total.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:46am
      - Don Beckett
        
        No research Grave, just from what some blokes told me many years ago.
        
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        March 20, 2022 5:02pm
    - Jimmy Brown
      
      A friend can confirm.
      
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      March 20, 2022 11:59am
    - bjools
      
      I couldn’t possibly comment.
      
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      March 20, 2022 12:25pm
- Surely Knott
  
  Yes. Unbelievable. MIQ is dropped for unvaccinated. And neither the Government or Media see fit to report on it. If you’re unvaccinated you have to get your news updates from Telegram or Kiwiblog.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:15am
- Trev
  
  I had similar thoughts on reading that this morning. That the small news release was slipped through on a Friday with no fanfare suggests Labour may be finally having a few pangs of remorse over how badly they handled MIQ. More likely however is that their focus groups are telling them that the vast majority of citizens believe what they have been doing is pointless re MIQ stays now we have both Omicron and RATs. Why are they always so behind the eight ball (reactive). And why so little transparency? This is a well established pattern now.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:29am
  - Lee C
    
    I think it’s motivated by a certain pettiness, so Ardern can have one of her ‘schoolmarm’ moments and pompously announce we did that ‘ages ago’, when criticised or interviewed next.
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:03am
    - blue collar
      
      That lee c , and finally I think they hv realised that most of the regular country was never behind the segregation.
      They hv realised 90% vaxxed doesn’t mean you support getting it ( coercion ) or mandates
      This is fallout from the protest and I believe they hv been doing street polls and casual pub club n whatever polls …. the signatories on pro protest was around 70,000 without stuff and herald promotion like the anti one .
      
      They finally see that most of the country think they are tyrannical freaks that trashed our rights and are back pedaling as fast as they can .
      To get votes of course , not that they care
      
      They just can’t admit they got it wrong , thus the quietly sneak it through ruse
      Brenda never admits getting anything wrong . That’s a large part of why anyone can’t warm to her .
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:28am
      - Observer of Life
        
        I heard they e spent a cool $250m on polling the country to see where to next. The way of future governments no doubt. God help us!!
        
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        March 20, 2022 6:27pm
  - The Housekeeper
    
    Three Covid pamphlets were delivered in the mail this week, explaining what to do if you got Covid. Seriously, 2 years too late. Why bother?
    
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    March 20, 2022 11:27am
    - MCōs
      
      You got three?
      I only got one.
      BTW
      Previous to the current outbreak if people were determined to have covid-19 they could expect to be contacted individually by the Health Dept.
      
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      March 20, 2022 4:17pm
- Warren
  
  Jacinda Ardern seems to think she is the only one that cares but I think she must of misjudged the room and many of the 5 million that she says are in her camp .
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-response-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-interview-on-what-government-got-right-and-wrong/PKKLCAAF6DCTUCH3AIRIP4W6TU/
  Read the comments section as the hate for Jacinda Ardern’s policy and her claim that a expert said she saved 5,000
  lives with her lockdown and other policy has pissed even more of the age anti Jacinda brigade off.
  
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  March 20, 2022 12:44pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Think it thru Maggy.
  Let the decision sneek in to the world on a Friday/Saturday for the weened media to gurgitate.
  
  Then see the reaction.
  
  If everyone up in arms. Keep vax passes.
  
  If everyone says no problem then drop mandates and passes.
  
  5 will get you 10 that the Cabinet Monday will scrap mandates and passes.
  They will say that cases have peaked.
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:23pm
cas

I’m reading a fascinating book at the moment called the Amur River between Russia and China by Colin Thubron. He writes about the Treaty of Aigun which ceded a lot of land to Russia and then the Treaty of Peking ( by which China relinquished its dominion east of the Ussuri River) and those two treaties together say over 1 million kilometres of territory lost to Russia.

In this ‘century of humiliation’ where China lost concessions from Britain, France, US, Germany and Japan, only Russia has never contemplated returning the enormous territories it took over.

I can’t help wondering whether China has anything in mind. They say they think long term.

Well worth a read – it is a new book.
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March 20, 2022 8:26am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I’ve read it… what a trooper..
  all that travel with a broken ankle, two fractured ribs, aged 82.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:35am
- Jack5
  
  I’ll have a look out for that book, Cas.
  
  Presumably it will cover the heavy Russia-Japan clashes at Khalkhin Gol, where Zhukov made his name.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:46am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Zhukov, Was’nt he the only man Stalin was afraid off.
    Always spoke his mind and had full support from the military and disposed of Beiri . ? A soldiers soldier.
    
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    March 20, 2022 2:27pm
Captain Mainwaring

The Covid saga has become Michael Baker’s continuing search for attention.
But what’s happened to Shaun Hendy?
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March 20, 2022 8:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe someone found out that Hendy’s math is shit or he has been lying?
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:36am
- Cinematic
  
  Baker today saying now might be a good time to take kids out of school if you don’t want them to get infected. The guy’s a fruit loop. In his world there is only covid.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:43am
  - MCōs
    
    I didn’t hear what Baker said so must assume you are reporting him correctly.
    What you say he said makes perfect sense.
    Did he say if it was a good idea?
    
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    March 20, 2022 4:28pm
- pdm
  
  Capt – Hendy probably gobbled up the $6million and ran.
  
  He was just, but only just, smart enough to recognise a lost cause when he saw one.
  
  52 2
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  March 20, 2022 8:49am
- Chris Morgan
  
  Hendy took up a new role at Metservice ?
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:05am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Not Met service but NIWA.
    
    There corrected for you.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:37pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Cue 10m sea level rises because reasons.
      
      20 2
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      March 20, 2022 1:14pm
    - Matt Long
      
      Has he diversified from covid panic monger to climate panic monger already?
      
      16 0
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      March 20, 2022 1:20pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yep, Swapped graphs plenty of times. Everyone fell for it.
        Follow the science and all that scientificky stuff.
        
        5 0
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        March 20, 2022 2:30pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Well $6M does not last forever – needs another $6M.
        In the trough 24/7
        
        9 1
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        March 20, 2022 2:52pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    How predictable
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:19pm
- Ra Henare
  
  This interesting post
  
  https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2022/03/09/why-do-we-have-experts/
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:25pm
Benedict Yu

I went for a walk yesterday. One of the motels down the road has been converted to emergency housing. It is a real horror show. There were people sitting on broken down couches, smoking, spitting and generally looking terrifying.

The thing is there are neighbouring motels and businesses that will be contaminated by these folk.

What a mess.
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March 20, 2022 8:34am
- alloytoo
  
  The sting in the tail is the refurbishment clauses which will kick in when these people vacate the premises.
  
  That’s just money.
  
  But as the borders reopen these hotel and motel operators will be looking to evict these “Clients” in favour of their traditional clientele.
  
  Government of the day had better have a plan.
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:50am
  - Ian Boag
    
    operators will be looking to evict these “Clients” in favour of their traditional clientele.
    
    On the other hand, these undesirables do generate the full rate with an occupancy of 100%, no payment issues, no commission to booking agents and a refurbishment guarantee. As I understand it, MSD don’t even try to negotiate the price ….
    
    Reverting to a “normal” motel might cut the income in half. Bit of a hard one really – we can understand that if you personally were a motel owner you would be all for halving your income, but other owners might feel differently.
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:21am
    - RightFirstTime
      
      Sorry to disappoint you Ian but MSD actually pay five times the full rate. But what the hell it’s only your money.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:37am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Can you provide some backing for this story? Not what I heard from a motelier I know.
        
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        March 20, 2022 12:57pm
    - alloytoo
      
      That’s what the refurbishment is for, intended to move the motel a little upmarket, improve reputation and reduce stress, staff turnover etc.
      
      If you’re the only owner doing it you are going to enjoy great occupancy at higher rates. Market will follow.
      
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      March 20, 2022 11:23am
  - Jim
    
    Yep the government will surely have a strategic plan as it wouldn’t want to send those (shoeing) voting papers to a wrong address in 2023.
    
    Same as their other loyal pet Labour voters like the 30,000 + strong motorcycle gang members.
    
    Note for context: NZDF 10,000 strong, NZ Police 10,000 strong.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:24pm
- David George
  
  What’s going to happen when the tourists return, there’s no spare housing, still, and no workable (or even unworkable) plan to solve the problem.
  I can’t see Ardern & Co turfing the gangsters and piss soaked deros out onto the streets.
  What’s the bet they start buying up the shithole motels, at twice their value, and turn them into permanent ghettos.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:24am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    They are already buying them up. Rotorua will be finished as a tourist destination. I have only been there once years ago. Mount Tarawera was great but the town itself was gang central. I hear it is now way worse.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:36am
    - Rich Prick
      
      The main tourist strip is a shithole. I was approached by a youngish woman for spare change and decided to ask her where she was from. Turns out she and her family have a home in Murapara but signed up for free accommodation on Fenton Street to be in “the big smoke”, free food too apparently. This is the “homeless” problem we are paying for.
      
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      March 20, 2022 9:51am
    - All_on_Red
      
      There’s only a few places we go to in Rotorua now.
      Skyline MTB, Redwoods and Indian Star Restaurant- and occasionally Patrick’s Pies
      We don’t stay overnight anymore
      
      28 1
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      March 20, 2022 9:56am
    - Ian Boag
      
      They are already buying them up.
      
      Any idea how many they have bought …. ?
      
      3 2
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      March 20, 2022 1:06pm
      - Rich Prick
        
        Quite a few, and the government is paying over the odds.
        
        https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2107/S00166/second-motel-being-purchased-in-rotorua.htm
        
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        March 20, 2022 1:46pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        So that’s two …. ?
        
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        March 20, 2022 8:28pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Why buy them at any cost when they can be confiscated? Such a concept is not new to this Govt considering their plans for 3 Waters Assets and their successes with confiscating Covid RAT kits.
    
    25 1
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    March 20, 2022 9:37am
    - Matt Long
      
      They should just use the RMA, important habitat for indigenous species needs special protection.
      Make the owner pay to maintain habitat and protect the indigenous species.
      
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      March 20, 2022 3:31pm
  - Paulus
    
    Think Rotorua once a Tourist Mecca but now a shambles – walk down Fenton Street and see chaos of those now living there and they cannot be moved as there is nowhere else to go. except perhaps back to the dreg areas of Auckland from whence they came.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:40am
    - MCōs
      
      What dreg area would that be?
      
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      March 20, 2022 4:30pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  That’s our wonderful “kind and caring” PM for you. She was all about fixing poverty and homelessness. Instead she ripped the country apart, oversaw the biggest housing bubble in history and indebted us for decades.
  What a legacy.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:57am
  - Jim
    
    Yep Clan, and soon experience a real world market correction, as many over leveraged home buyers start to feel a financial squeeze the magnitude of which was last last experienced in 1988 (likely before many were born).
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:31pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Courtenay Place in Wellington also. Why not move to Welly with free accommodation provided (Uni students – eat your heart out!).
  
  How is Jacinda going to unwind this?
  
  If it were me, I’d brand it as repurposing the emergency accommodation as for use by students, the lower paid, key workers etc.
  
  You read it here first.
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:24pm
  - pdm
    
    `How is Jacinda going to unwind this?’
    
    Bollocks that is never going to happen.
    
    Jacinda and her `motley cohorts’ would not have a clue where to start let alone howto get a job like that completed.
    
    They will just leave it to the next National/ACT government to sort out – probably at considerable cost to taxpayers.
    
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    March 20, 2022 4:04pm
Simon

Matt King new democracy party. Wrong focus. Should be constitutional party. Protection of individual rights from the cattle who put bozos from National and labour in charge of individuals own personal health decisions
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March 20, 2022 8:35am
- Steve Todd
  
  Wrong focus.
  
  It makes no difference, Simon.
  
  Matt King will not take anywhere near enough votes off the National candidate and Willow-Jean Prime to win the Northland seat next year (see the task ahead, here: https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2020/electorate-details-32.html). Even if there was a three-way split, he would need something like 14,000 votes, to win the seat. Not going to happen.
  
  What about DemocracyNZ getting 5% of the Party votes? In 2020, the 5% Party vote threshold was 144,321 votes (2,886,420 / 20)! Even NZ First (which, admittedly, was heading downwards, and out) only received 75,020 votes. If DemocracyNZ receives 5,000 Party votes, I will be very surprised.
  
  Conclusion: Matt King is wasting his time. Good on him for having a go, but no-one should kid themselves that he will bother the Chief Electoral Officer too much.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:35am
  - David George
    
    Yes Steve, perhaps Matt and his team would be best teaming up with NZF, they seem generally aligned.
    Winston is steaming mad with Ardern and out for UTU, keeping the anti-mandate and anti co-governance vote from being split will be crucial for his party and possibly for the country. Expect him to be making some tempting overtures to Matt & Co, potential leadership even.
    
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    March 20, 2022 11:01am
    - Steve Todd
      
      Hmm, such a merger could work, maybe, but I doubt it.
      
      In my opinion, NZ First is finished. The party’s days in the sun are over, and the People are so over Winston. Surely, he couldn’t con them yet again! He wouldn’t win Northland (at the general election), and, contrary to what the anti-MMP commentators said in 1992/93, the 5% threshold is, in fact (and has proven to be), a very high bar to overcome.
      
      I haven’t said this before, but I am very concerned about the notion of co-governance. It is entirely incompatible with democracy, and no treaty, or fancy words, or complicated legislative provisions, can overcome that basic fact.
      
      I am looking forward to the next 18 months.
      
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      March 20, 2022 11:31am
      - David George
        
        NZF are still good for a couple of percentage points so dragging in some like minded might get them over the 5%. Maybe, with Peters driving from the back seat rather than leader, quite a bit more than that. A conservative, pro freedom, anti separatist, nationalist party has the potential to pull a lot of support, including from types that wouldn’t support National or ACT.
        A useful coalition party that could put some backbone into the worryingly woke tendencies of National sounds good to me.
        
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        March 20, 2022 12:49pm
      - pdm
        
        Sorry DG fat fingers hit report below.
        
        Now a question – do you think Matt King is compatible with Peters, Shane Jones and co.
        
        Personally I doubt it
        
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        March 20, 2022 4:09pm
  - MCōs
    
    Matt King will sink out of trace by the end of the year, let alone the election.
    
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    March 20, 2022 4:35pm
amospicton

Some simple maths for our media to consider. Covid cases are under reported for obvious reasons. Let’s assume that 10% of the population has covid and that of a 5m population 100 die every day in normal circumstances. This means that every day, even if covid had zero effect on their health, 10 people would die with covid (not because of covid). Current deaths are a little less than this. The ridiculous fearmongering needs to stop.
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March 20, 2022 8:35am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The narrative control will continue until Brenda and her spin doctors can come up with the most plausible story to say that nothing bad was her fault and that she saved 80,000 lives making “tough” decisions. This is all she is concerned about right now.
  The very quiet release of the information that unvaccinated New Zealanders can come home without the harassment of MIQ etc was done that way to avoid the embarrassment of trying to explain why unvaccinated citizens are still being discriminated against within the borders.
  Someone will ask the question soon. I’m guessing she’s preparing to drop the vax passes any day now.
  It will be interesting to see what she does with mandates. Passes are relatively simple to drop and can be done with almost no fanfare. Mandates carry implications for the many people who have lost their jobs and had their lives effectively destroyed by a policy that was never going to achieve anything.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:03am
  - kevn
    
    @Clan… The police stood down over their ‘free choice’ being taken away, are still being stood down on full pay. While the bosses figure out what to do next.
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:23am
- Don Beckett
  
  My eldest son developed the Rona on Thursday – felt hangovery on Thursday morning, slight dry cough, marginal sore throat. Basically over it yesterday. Not reporting, not self isolating – life as normal.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:05am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Yup, the whole thing is, it’s a respiratory illness. We have them frequently. It is life as normal. It was Ardern and her psycho “experts” who made this whole thing abnormal.
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:41am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Self Diagnosed or confirmed with RAT test???
    
    6 1
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    March 20, 2022 1:31pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Confirmed with RAT test.
      
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      March 20, 2022 5:06pm
Simon

That Italian full back is quite nippy.
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March 20, 2022 8:36am
G152

I see where the education system is going to accent all things Maori.

Good.
I look forward to an explanation for the attack upon the peaceful people of the Chathams.
The Musket Wars and the current gang wars.
Looking forward to the new sylibus
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March 20, 2022 8:39am
- Unity
  
  The Musket Wars aren’t mentioned and they were the reason for the Treaty!! We will have to teach our own kids the true history as they won’t be learning it at school.
  
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  March 20, 2022 4:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Ardern’s Believe It or Not:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/ardern-conveys-nz-support-for-ukraine-in-call-to-denys-shmyhal/ar-AAVfx9r?
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March 20, 2022 8:40am
- greybeard
  
  When this war started I commented that Ardern had a problem: opposing Russia was the correct thing to do, but contrary to her ideology and history .
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:51am
  - Matt Long
    
    The ANC isn’t even conflicted, they support Russia, remembering the support they received from the dear old USSR, and their shared Marxist roots.
    
    19 1
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    March 20, 2022 9:46am
    - kowtow
      
      What’s India’s excuse ?
      
      16 2
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      March 20, 2022 9:56am
      - fightingtemeraire
        
        Much of their arms are Russian
        
        22 1
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        March 20, 2022 10:09am
      - kowtow
        
        fighting
        
        Spare parts could be a problem then.
        
        9 1
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        March 20, 2022 12:34pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Cheap energy, Oil and gas.
        
        I was wondering the same thing.
        
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        March 20, 2022 2:57pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    In 2009 I saw a video. I remember thinking that if this person ever got into power, it would be a total disaster.
    You know the video I am talking about.
    
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    March 20, 2022 2:55pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Yes, I read the piece last night and laughed at Ardern’s interpretation of her call and reconciling her government’s stance to such legislation as was passed earlier this month. She suffers from the same problems as Putin, a distorted view of reality.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:55am
pdm

I hear a `leader’ on NewstalkZB that Prime Minister Ardern will be interviewed by the station after 9am this morning.

The interviewer will be the former book reviewer for Leighton Smith Francesca Rudkin who I am sure is very much an Ardern supporter.

I assume the return to NewstalkZB is solely due to Labour and Ardern being on a slippery slope in the polls. One can only assume that her next interview there will be with the rabid Labour and Ardern supporter Tim Roxborgh.

Will she return to be interviewed by Mike Hosking? I doubt it because the questions are too penetrating, he knows too much and will eviscerate her just like he did previously before she scuttled off to concentrate on interviews by kindergarten children..
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March 20, 2022 8:45am
- alloytoo
  
  Does anybody listen to Newstalk on the weekends?
  
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  March 20, 2022 8:53am
- David Garrett
  
  pdm: All the above is absolutely true…but she still remains popular, albeit considerably less so than hitherto.
  
  The three waters con job has attracted considerable negative attention, but will the white washed – or more accurately brown washed – NZ history syllabus to be force fed to our children and grandchildren be equally unpopular? Arguably that load of bullshit will have even worse effects on society as a whole, targeted as it is on the young, who are the future.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:14am
  - pdm
    
    DG – you are so right. We have 3 daughters, all aged about 50, who are ardent Ardern supporters.
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:28am
    - Alwynn
      
      So! We have a confession from you. You are to blame for our current Government. If you had brought you children up properly there wouldn’t be all these middle-aged Ardenistas around.
      Until now I had thought it was all my fault. Mine are slightly younger but all infected with the same disease. What did we do wrong?
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:00am
      - kevn
        
        @pdm + Alwynn… It comes down to who they mix with and if they and pals are all unaffected by events of the last 2 years.
        Plus a subliminal ‘I’m alright Jack’ syndrome.
        
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        March 20, 2022 10:26am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        They’ve been quietly indoctrinated over the last 40 years by the education system. Now you’re seeing the new history curriculum rolling out you’re seeing it exposed. They obviously think they’ve got everything in place so they don’t need to be so underhand in how they have gone about things.
        
        20 3
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        March 20, 2022 10:44am
      - kowtow
        
        CmcL
        
        Not just the education system .
        
        An oarful lotta this also comes down to the Media Pardy .
        
        Huge parts of the msm , all arms, have bought into , climate catastrophism . This is now also part of mainstream politics .
        
        For years generations of people have been frightened senseless that the world is coming to an end cos first , global warming , then climate change , now “carbon emissions”.
        
        Every weather event , all completely normal , now becomes an advertisement for politicians who market themselves as “caring about the environment”
        
        Those who don’t are almost literally cast as evil planet / children killers , drowners of small defenceless Pacific Islands and their totally innocent and lovely inhabitants ( Trump , we’re looking at you ).
        
        So they must line up at the modern day equivalent of St Joan d’ Arc , the screeching wild eyed scowling Swedish teen .
        
        Hopeless.
        
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        March 20, 2022 12:30pm
      - pdm
        
        Alwynn – buggered if I know. Mine even openly debate with me on facebook and give no quarter.
        
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        March 20, 2022 4:13pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      @pdm
      “We have 3 daughters, all aged about 50, who are ardent Ardern supporters.”
      Why are they?
      I now don’t know anyone round here who ardently, or even modestly, supports Ardern.
      My own daughter (30’s) can’t stand her because of the lies.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:09am
      - Observer of Life
        
        Gravel: I know at least 6 women who still think Cindy is amaze-balls. Ages range from 52-62. Unbelievable!! My kids – and most of their male friends – early 20’s can’t stand her. Unfortunately, young women in their 20’s still seem to see stars when they talk about the Evil cow.
        
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        March 20, 2022 10:51am
      - Lexicon
        
        When we first moved to our neighbourhood, I was invited to a meet-and-greet. What a viper’s nest of Ardern supporters that turned out to be. I had to tread very carefully at that gathering when they started discussing the PM, but even a very mild remark on my part in relation to Ardern’s pronunciation difficulties has led to the group’s queen bee snubbing me and I think influencing others to do so. This petty-mindedness is more annoying than upsetting, but has illustrated to me the irrational strength of feeling some older women (in this case) have about even a whiff of criticism of their darling.
        
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        March 20, 2022 1:32pm
    - covfefe
      
      I am female, 51y, and I loathe her and did from the first moment she came to my attention. A dreadful shallow limited creature.
      
      58 2
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      March 20, 2022 10:12am
      - Nickc2
        
        Without lies, inuendos, bullshit and teeth, she wouldn’t exist.
        
        9 0
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        March 20, 2022 1:27pm
  - Paulus
    
    Am I right in understanding the within the Three Waters Ngai Tahu take control of the whole of the South Island as they did apparently in 1800 fro when the plan is drawn.
    This will give them total control of all the Lakes and Rivers in the South Island, and with that control of the electricity production for almost all of the Country.
    Clever eh !
    
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    March 20, 2022 9:45am
    - David George
      
      Plenty to be worried about Paulus, I wrote about the potential conflicts of interest: https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2022/03/barrie_saunders_on_the_unnecessary_three_waters_battle.html
      
      The three waters is really urban drinking, storm and waste water. Control of the fourth waters (lakes, rivers and underground) already has significant influence from Ngai Tahu. More to follow no doubt.
      
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      March 20, 2022 11:09am
      - Nickc2
        
        Correct, water from lakes, rivers and underground will become a lifetime revenue source for so-called Maori at their own insistence and without question.
        Standby for more and more rises in the price of water and power. This will probably become a competitive game fought between elders of the various tribes to see who can get away with charging the most.
        IMO, any Political Party who wants or needs to team with Maori will have to sign up to this rort and frankly, I can’t see it ever being overturned. There’s no Political Party currently or on the horizon with the balls to kick this 3 Waters scam into touch once and for all.
        
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        March 20, 2022 11:30am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Bear in mind that the boundaries are tribal. Non Ngai Tahu iwi will be cautious about ceding that much control, since it would make Ngai Tahu disproportionately powerful. Tainui for one won’t want that outcome.
        
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        March 20, 2022 1:32pm
    - DeepBlue
      
      All bar top of the South. They don’t want Tasman’s every increasingly costly Waimea dam.
      
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      March 20, 2022 2:46pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Thanks for the warning. On the other hand I will be tuned in to the same station tomorrow at 10am when Kerre McIvor has Christopher Luxon in studio.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:23am
Hebe123

There is talk that mandates will be dropped in mid April. At that point, those who have complied with the Vax Pass system will just carry on as normal. I imagine a proportion of them will be angry though that they were forced to take the jab, while the unvaxxed held out. Their anger will be at politicians but most of all at the i jabbed.

At the same time, the lives of the unvaxxed won’t return to normal. They won’t be given their jobs back ( teacher friend says she can’t go back even if offered due to the extreme bullying she has faced from colleagues snd students, including while doing her grocery shopping in town.) They won’t get the house back that they sold due to job losses. The 30 year marriage breakup in an unvaxxed couple I know because the pressure got too much to cope with. Perhaps worse of all is trying to live normally again with people who treated them like crap, the state supported ridicule, bullying and humiliation.

The future doesn’t look so great for this divided country.
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March 20, 2022 8:53am
- artemisia
  
  Yes, many out there seriously angry at the impacts on their lives and livelihoods. Suggest when talking to them to put forward the view that the best revenge is to live well.
  
  After being dealt to they have a big incentive to prepare for living well. For starters there are opportunities to build immunity and not just on health – like upskill, pay off debt, teach our children the power of critical thinking, move.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:55am
- ClanMcleod
  
  That is Ardern’s legacy. The worst, most divisive leader in the history of NZ.
  I’ve had one sheepish “friend” say to me, we’re all over it, won’t it be nice when we can all sit down together again and have a drink. I don’t know when (if ever) I’ll actually feel ok about doing that again. There is a very sour taste in my mouth and it is difficult to shift it.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:14am
  - Don Beckett
    
    To err is human – to forgive is divine. 🙂
    
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    March 20, 2022 10:23am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Don – I know. I’m all about forgiveness, particularly for mistakes. The thing is, some of them didn’t know it was wrong what was happening, they fell for the spin and hype. But no doubt some of them did know it was wrong and went along with the circus anyway.
      
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      March 20, 2022 10:31am
      - Don Beckett
        
        That’s true – I have the same in my circle of aquaintences – but I just smile at them and tell them that one day they’ll be normal again, and how I really enjoy being one of the “unclean”. 🙂
        
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        March 20, 2022 10:58am
  - Dougal10
    
    I have had a couple of friends say that as well , I told them it will be no different to now , drinks at their place or mine . I don’t intend on going into businesses that won’t let me in today just because the stupid rules change tomorrow
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:08pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Divided Country is just what Jaspinda wants, to win the next Election
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:06am
- Observer of Life
  
  Hebe: Sadly I have to agree. It’s going to take at least a generation to put it behind us. All hail Cindy of the Pestilence.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:17am
  - Matt Long
    
    All Hail Cindy The Pestilence.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:28pm
- kowtow
  
  Interesting that there’s no coverage in the Labour Pardy Propaganda Dept aka our msm of this vile nastiness to folk who’re quite rightly making a stand for their own health , principle etc
  
  Quite the opposite . The Media pardy have played the role of rabid pich fork wielding lynch mob and the only “nasty” reported, and very widely , is that alleged of the Freedom Folk in Wellington towards all and sundry .
  
  If they can to it to the unvaxxed , they can do it ( and do ) to anyone.
  
  Never forget , never forgive them. They have been the cheer leaders of authoritarianism , not the defenders of freedom.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:24am
- krazykiwi
  
  It’s not enough to remove vaxx mandates. We desperately need well thought out legislative changes to ensure future governments can’t do this to us again.
  
  Listen closely.
  
  Can you hear National promising that level of reform?
  
  No, neither can I.
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:25pm
Tasman devil

The big South African lady has lost 32 kgs over 8 years.

Averaged per week that’s 333 grams per week, or 47 grams a day.

That’s half a piece of bread less per day.

Media wokelets should show some perspective.
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March 20, 2022 9:13am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Looking at the photo they all have a problem. The son says he wants to be a commercial pilot. Fat chance. Obese people won’t pass the pilots medical exam. For a start you need to be able to climb out the cockpit window in an emergency like the plane is on fire and descend using a rope.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:42am
  - Ian Boag
    
    able to climb out the cockpit window in an emergency
    
    Dunno where you got that one.
    
    If he is enrolled for CPL training in a flight school, he has passed the same Class 1 medical as anyone else.
    
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    December 20, 2018 10:27am
    - nathie
      
      Just about anyone can enrol for private CPL training.
      
      BY is looking into the future and to the top jobs, as commercial pilots.
      
      That’ll only be achievable if changes are made (by the lad … as anything is possible if one sets one’s mind to it)!
      
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      March 20, 2022 12:23pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    I was not aware that cockpits normally have a rope as part of the safety gear. Probably need a hammer as well to break the window ….
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:03pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      It seems they do indeed use a rope.
      Amazing
      https://simpleflying.com/aircraft-cockpit-hatch/
      
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      March 20, 2022 1:31pm
      - Lexicon
        
        I must ask my portly pilot relative about this!
        
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        March 20, 2022 2:04pm
    - pdm
      
      That was Lada’s wasn’t it.
      
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      March 20, 2022 4:16pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      Apparently they have a rope and an axe Ian..
      
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      March 20, 2022 6:51pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  32kg in 8 years is just 80 grams a week, 12 grams or 100 calories a day, less than 3-5% of her daily intake in other words SFA
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:48am
- All_on_Red
  
  She lost 32kgs since 2019 so three years.
  They are still too fat though but there is a lot of it about – I could probably lose a few kgs too, bloody Covid fatness.
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:03am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Losing that much weight is less easy than linear mathematics would suggest
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:35pm
Yvette

What will Putin do with a country that his troops have pounded to rubble or a people who can no longer deliver produce as they were doing, likely not enough to even support themselves, so will live as well as they can, despising Putin and working where they are able towards his downfall?

It is reported that Russian soldiers in the conflict, search for unused Ukrainian ammunition, distinguishably larger calibre than what they use, to shoot themselves in a leg, so appearing to be hit by enemy fire, they are shipped back home.
So, without reducing the severity of that, one wonders, considering the entire war, why has Putin “shot himself in the feet”?
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March 20, 2022 9:20am
- All_on_Red
  
  I thought this article was informative how it summed up where things are at and gave an indication of how it might end.
  https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2022/03/19/russias-coming-strategy-in-ukraine-partition-n456553
  I don’t think there’s any doubt that the use of Man Pad’s (NLAWs, Javelins, Stingers)has been decisive in stalling the Russian advance. Putin should have sent twice the troops, but does he have them or even the armaments needed?
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:10am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Putin has signaled his “”problems”” with Ukraine for years (at least 14). Many interviews and press reports cover this.
    
    No Nato and recognition of the Dunbass? etc as seperate regions.
    
    Read up on the Minsk agreement that Ukraine hasnt implemented or addressed
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:42pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      It is not Ukraine that has not implemented the agreements. It is Putin’s world view that is the wrong way around.
      
      Putin’s intentions have been apparent since he first took power in 1999.
      
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      March 20, 2022 2:41pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      And before Ukraine there was Georgia.
      
      Ukraine was the straw that broke the camels back.
      
      Actually surprised more comparisons with Georgia are not made ?
      
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      March 20, 2022 3:05pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Putin is an arrogant authoritarian leader who expected Ukraine to be a walk in the park for his “professional” army, and for the west to lamely accept what he is doing!
  
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  March 20, 2022 2:38pm
Surely Knott

Tracey Tawhiao gets $74,000 from the govt for an artwork in the Wahine Activist Exhibition. Govt though they would talk about colonialism but Tawhiao tackles the modern issues of pfizer, consent and vaccination.

Ironically she can’t go to the exhibit because it’s vax only. Good work this man for standing for freedom. Creative NZ chief executive Stephen Wainwright said. “Art is an important means of expressing opinions, provoking discussion and debate, and can be a tool for protest. Under our governing legislation, Creative New Zealand has a role in upholding the right to artistic freedom.”
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March 20, 2022 9:26am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Well aren’t we lucky that Brenda didn’t put art under her “single source of truth.” This would never have seen the light of day.
  Also interesting, Stuff have an almost balanced piece out today talking about the diversity of the protesters and how they are mainly average New Zealanders. Who would have thought it?
  
  https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/128069637/faces-of-a-protest-who-were-the-250-kiwis-arrested-at-the-parliament-occupation
  
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  March 20, 2022 10:18am
  - Hollyfield
    
    There’s a similar article in the Herald: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-parliament-protesters-speak-about-their-experience/T4T45F7K2FY3X6H2M6KMGBKTTY/
    
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    March 20, 2022 11:30am
Lee C

Excerpt:
“They do not like what you and your friends have done to our country, Chris. They are finding alternatives and work-arounds to problems posed by clueless little twerps in Wellington offices jumped up on power-trips. They are tapping into that Kiwi ingenuity and No.8 wire mentality to solve problems and create new and improved solutions for community initiatives that actually WORK to enhance their lives.

And we will be right there alongside them, Chris.

Digging those home and community gardens, setting up education and employment solutions, playing discrimination-free sport, listening to music, getting haircuts, sharing hobbies and faith, reaching out to those who are isolated and alone, making meals for people in need, and spreading the word of another incredibly rewarding way of living.
A way of living that ejects overbearing parasites from our lives and firmly retains the grip of responsibility for our own health, wellbeing, children and grandchildren, and the way we choose to live in this country we call home.”

Full transcript in link below:
https://voicesforfreedom.co.nz/blog/post/open-letter-chris-hipkins-and-friends
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March 20, 2022 9:26am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  The best way to disenfranchise and alienate large swathes of the country; to make them starkly understand that the existing political system is terminally disfunctional, decrepit and corrupted, and that the representatives do not have the human interests of the represented anywhere near the front of their minds; and to motivate and accelerate the formation of a parallel economy and social milieu, was to behave exactly as politicians of all parties (and many like-minded members of the public) have done for the last 2 years. Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall, and all the kings horses and all the kings men, cannot put Humpty together again.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:37am
Lee C

Update: Pfizer, tdespite having achieved astronomical profits from their ‘safe and effective’ vaccines, but who were recently dropped from the Stock Exchange, recommend a ‘fourth dose’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlDGJ0xoUuQ
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March 20, 2022 9:36am
- artemisia
  
  Pfizer not dropped from the NYSE.
  
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  March 20, 2022 9:59am
  - MCōs
    
    Plus it seems to be listed on about 18 other exchanges.
    I remember watching some Russell Brand stuff a few years ago when he was quite novel, but he seems to have turned into a bit of a conspiracy theorist to generate an income these days.
    As for Pfizer. They can recommend what they like; it still has to be approved by whoever approves these things.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:18pm
    - Jim
      
      Agree, but sadly regulatory approval comes from the big pharma funded FDA. Incredible but factual.
      
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      March 20, 2022 5:01pm
  - Lee C
    
    really? Thought they were.
    I had a look:
    “But the claims are false. The form being shared on social media actually concerns the delisting of a debt security, which is tradeable corporate debt, similar to a bond. The form was filed by the NYSE on March 7.”
    https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-724078608138
    
    My Mistake.
    
    Thank you.
    
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    March 20, 2022 12:24pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    They have apparently applied to be de-registered as a person. If granted this makes them untouchable for civil damage claims.
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:29pm
Jimmy Brown

“Given the media won’t report actual facts, this article is intended to highlight some of the recent hypocritical decisions of the current Govt.
In October 2020, Jacinda Ardern said she would be the most transparent Govt ever and govern for all New Zealanders. Many Kiwis believed this, but in the last 15 months, we’ve seen how very different reality has been. This is the most manipulative, deceitful, arrogant and divisive Govt New Zealand has ever seen.
Despite failing dismally on every self-identified target for their first term in Govt (2017-20), Ardern was able to convince half of voters that she was the best option for 2020-23. Narratives, spin and emotive comms definitely played a part in this. In her own words, 2020 was a COVID election.
Now, it’s time for New Zealand to wake up, stop believing the spin – and start asking questions. Why are we seeing what we are, how much longer is this going to continue for, and how much do we value our democracy?
Poor fiscal management, and a poorly managed COVID response strategy (all spin, no substance) – including an epic failure to build hospital capacity, has resulted in unnecessarily long, expensive and restrictive lockdowns – and left us now totally unprepared for future variants or any indication of properly reopening. The price – nearly $60 billion in additional Govt debt.
Being a small and sparsely populated island nation with no land border (even the North/South Island are separated by water!), we had every opportunity to be ahead of the game.
We have also experienced incredible luck and substantially increased export prices.
However, while the rest of the world is learning to live with COVID, we are still languishing well behind. Infrastructure projects which could have been well on their way with proper Govt management, are still just at the planning stage – and note, huge amounts have been wasted on unrealistic and ridiculous projects that were deemed not feasible early on (SkyPath an example).
Labour can talk and spend, but simply cannot deliver for all New Zealanders.
We have lost thousands of highly skilled and qualified people due to recent draconian legislation, and our immigration policy has meant that we’ve lost – and not welcomed, overseas skilled talent.
The hypocrisy and sheer inconsistency with regulations seen in recent examples – such as Lorde bypassing the MIQ lottery to be available just in time for Jacinda Ardern’s wedding, are blatantly obvious. Or, British DJ Dimension in the community while positive with COVID – who was granted special status exemptions to come to New Zealand three times in the last 18 months to perform – making him far more important to New Zealand apparently than life-saving ICU nurses according to Labour. Perhaps it’s because Ardern was once a DJ, she values the music industry more than the life-saving doctors and nurses needed during a pandemic.
New Zealand as a country has gone backwards instead of into the future.
This is all about a return to the antiquated social policies of the 1970s – which have been abandoned by the modern western world because they simply don’t work in our modern technology-based society, and particularly in a less populated country like New Zealand, where our main employers are SMEs. We are steadily heading back to a society where we will all be encouraged to be mediocre rather than aspirational, where the incentive to work and achieve will be frowned upon – and the average person will have to rely on the state for housing and welfare. Our drop in the world education standards (university rankings) over the last four years is a classic example of this. Ardern and her team are currently running our country based on what looks like a reenactment of a 50-year-old social experiment – that has unfavourable results for society as a whole.
When you aim for a common denominator, it generally ends up being the lowest – Labour is renowned for creating dependency to ensure full and sustained control.
Spin, PR jargon, manipulation and deceit through narratives – that’s probably what Jacinda Ardern and her Govt are best known for. And this is all happening before our eyes with a highly biased media and very few people asking questions. Time to stand up, speak up – and preserve democracy by holding this Govt and the media to account.”
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March 20, 2022 9:36am
- Pavel
  
  When ever I hear the old “most transparent government” line I’ve always thought of “transparent” as “we will all be able to see right through them”. From that angle you have to admit that they are definitely working full steam towards achieving that goal. Come the next election they will be the most “transparent” government we have ever had by a country mile.
  
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  March 20, 2022 12:31pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Transparent.
    
    Transparent is the new Opaque //
    
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    March 20, 2022 3:11pm
Inandout

AOC is quite mad as most of us knew, but she now assumes the ‘Biden Whisper’…creepy.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2022/03/19/let-me-tell-you-a-secret-aoc-whispers-to-her-followers-that-most-people-dont-understand-what-capitalism-is-n2604764
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March 20, 2022 10:24am
oldfella

A weekly roundup of US political humour. Funny stuff…
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/the-week-in-pictures-putin-us-on-edition.php
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March 20, 2022 10:49am
Bob

An excellent summation of the countries present, and likely situation with this government.
NZ is in very serious danger of reverting to the policy mentality of the 1960’s/70’s. Policies that promote and legislate for a lifestyle of ‘existence’; rather than one of opportunities for individual ambition and motivation to succeed.
The proposed changes to the school HISTORY curriculum are nothing but a poorly disguised attempt at indoctrination of gullible minds; the affected children targets, don’t yet have the cognitive development to recognise fact vs fiction; what is credible or plausible.
The education system is already failing children, as demonstrated by the last three decades of comments and media presentations.
Education should be focussing on teaching facts, and how to analyse information; not what to think.
Otherwise we will have a continuation of this rapid slide into economic and social oblivion.
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March 20, 2022 10:56am
- Taieri
  
  Education should be focussing on teaching facts, and how to analyse information; not what to think
  ———–
  
  Facts? Such as “facts” here:
  
  https://health.tki.org.nz/Teaching-in-Heath-and-Physical-Education-HPE/Policy-Guidelines/Relationships-and-Sexuality-Education
  
  Or should they be called obsessions?…
  
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  March 20, 2022 3:42pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Jaspinda is much worse that who you describe
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March 20, 2022 11:12am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  than* ffs
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:46pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Dr Lawrie Knight fact checks Māori Health stats

(A long, but important read)

1. Systemic racism is not the cause of Māori health issues, but without clarity around the actual causes of the problems there can be no targeted solution

2. Funding the Health System without dealing with the Social Determinants of Health will not solve the problem

3. The government can allocate any amount of funding it wishes to Māori health but must also fund other equally medically underprivileged groups with the same per capita amount. Not to do so is in breach of New Zealand and international law and the stated aim of the Pae Ora (Health Futures) Act.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/dr-lawrie-knight-fact-checking-m%C4%81ori-health-claims-that-led-to-the-pae-ora-healthy-futures-bill?postId=55666c28-7e9a-4dd4-99ee-312bd2c03aba&utm_campaign=75611ba2-b3a7-4167-bef3-7bfe9b69d6b9&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=61746ef7-d76f-495d-9c64-113722c0560d&cid=97dcfc5a-d72f-4e9e-8f08-4ade510cfdc2
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March 20, 2022 11:17am
- I remember when
  
  Another ‘All Black’ versus ‘All White’ contest?
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:42am
- artemisia
  
  Three important phrases from the item –
  
  1. Where is the evidence.
  2. Inadequate funding claimed.
  3. Co-morbidities.
  
  Most Maori have more than half non-Maori ancestry. I think it likely that PI folk have more than half PI ancestry, often much more. So where, and what, is the evidence?
  
  (I have worked in the Maori sector, and though eligible to join the Maori roll I have removed myself from eligibility. Refer point 2. above.)
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:57am
billyt

More porkies from the Ministry of half-truths??
I won’t be the only one keeping a track of booster rates which have tanked but something looks abit fishy in the reported numbers.
According to yesterday’s numbers on the MOH website 83% of the population is eligible for the booster but a quick look at double vax rates 3 months ago early to mid-Dec have the rate at 89% A decent difference of 6% or 250,000 people!!
More massaging of the numbers to make it look better than the true number isn’t going to work this time around with too many kiwis slowly waking up!! to the obfuscation, spin and downright lies.
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March 20, 2022 11:27am
- kevn
  
  @billyt… MOH are binning 7 mil worth of Pfizer jabs, out dated apparently.
  
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  March 20, 2022 2:24pm
- DeepBlue
  
  Catch up. The latest spin is all those few hundred thousand people who have Omicron and were not boosted have to wait 3 months until they can get boosted.
  
  I’m fairly certain most of those people having stared the devil down with mild symptoms won’t bother with a booster.
  
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  March 20, 2022 2:57pm
- Jim
  
  I believe many kiwis received the two vaccinations for one of the following reasons:
  1. medically vulnerable cohort (60 with comorbidities). Likely have received the booster too.
  2. medically lower risk cohort but were disproportionately fearful due to the relentless propaganda.
  3. healthy lower risk cohort that needed to remain employed. Likely many have received the booster too, NZDF, NZP, Health Workers etc.
  4. healthy lower risk cohort that wished to remain part of NZ society (e.g. restaurant, cafe, sports clubs and hairdressers).
  
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  March 20, 2022 5:23pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump has no support///

https://rumble.com/vx9snn-were-going-to-take-back-that-beautiful-white-house-trump-rallies-in-south-c.html?
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March 20, 2022 11:31am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  No wonder the parasites and career politicians fear Trump. This is an older clip but a goody. Just look at the commanding body language and dominance he displays over these two puppets of the special interests.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wm-NtMkqz8
  
  As an aside in relation to this clip, it’s amazing how it was apparently so difficult to find the funds to secure America’s border in late 2018, yet so easy to get billions of dollars to Ukraine for that (ostensible) purpose in 2022.
  
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  March 20, 2022 11:52am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Good isn’t it? Trump had complete authority over those two clowns, and Trump is not a Politician.
    Quick with the numbers too!
    
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    March 20, 2022 1:55pm
- bjools
  
  https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/other/FavorabilityRatingsPoliticalLeaders.html
  Real clear politics…is an AVERAGE of current polls.
  
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  March 20, 2022 1:50pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    No wonder the left are discombobulated
    
    7 2
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    March 20, 2022 2:58pm
I remember when

PM says she can ‘see the light’ as NZ deals with ‘wicked perfect storm’ cast of living crisis.
So it’s another ‘fairy tale.’
Let’s just hope the wind is blowing and the sun is shining.
15 1
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March 20, 2022 11:38am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  We haven’t even been touched yet by the flow-on effects as China shuts down and Ukraine-Russia fuel/food prices slam us.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018834447/the-recipe-for-a-cost-of-living-crisis
  
  9 1
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  March 20, 2022 1:30pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    and you believe that RNZ journalist?
    
    8 1
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    March 20, 2022 1:58pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      “Hickey explains why high prices hurt poorer people more than others”
      Bwhahahahahahahaha
      A blinding glimpse of the obvious from the moron Hickey. And then he witter’s on about ‘The Climate CRISIS’. He’s such a joke.
      
      10 1
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      March 20, 2022 3:04pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Bits of his stuff…
      Like the curate’s egg.
      
      8 2
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      March 20, 2022 3:35pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Well it is coming up to low tide in Auckland – wonder if the tide will come back in around 10pm?
  
  7 2
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  March 20, 2022 3:01pm
Maggie Pie

Just back from Mass. Tatiana has just retweeted…..

The sanctions are clearly working. Russians pack Moscow’s biggest stadium, chanting…”We want McDonalds! We want McDonalds!”

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1505146672841732099
16 4
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March 20, 2022 11:42am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Removing all of the decadent Western influence from Russia? That’ll teach them! What will they do without social media and fast food destroying their minds and bodies, and Western propaganda subverting their national identity?
  
  11 4
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  March 20, 2022 11:46am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Does your husband go to mass with you?
  
  3 15
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  March 20, 2022 11:52am
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, is that Moscow’s equivalent of ‘Let’s go, Brandon’?
  
  10 1
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  March 20, 2022 12:34pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Maggie, watching that little gathering in the stadium reminds me of the countless film clips I of political rallies from the 1930s of adoring masses chanting for a previous authoritarian leader. Just goes to show how comparable the Nazis and Soviets are.
  
  Those of you singing praises for Putin, you are supporting a Soviet Neo- Nazi with a deluded sense of his own destiny.
  
  5 1
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  March 20, 2022 4:28pm
I remember when

I can Remember When all that divided us was Cook Strait and Forveaux Strait.
14 2
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March 20, 2022 11:45am
Sean OConnor

A reminder that Luxon will still let the woke brainwash your children in school, advance the cogovernance agenda, keep your guns, and hasn’t committed to cut spending in general.

He’s also made the three most liberal National Party figures – Willis, Bishop and Goldsmith, #’s 2,3 and 5 on the list.
14 4
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March 20, 2022 12:02pm
- mandk
  
  Never mind.
  
  You can always join DemocracyNZ and not put up with woke nonsense.
  
  13 4
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  March 20, 2022 12:52pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    Or, he could join the New Conservative Party* or the New National Party.
    
    * 42,613 Party votes (1.48%) in 2020; the 5% Party vote threshold being 144,321 votes.
    
    One thing’s for certain, the minority right-wing conservative anti-mandate (will that even be a thing in September 2023?), anti-co-governance, anti-woke-National vote will be hopelessly split, further ensuring that none of these parties will make it into parliament.
    
    6 3
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    March 20, 2022 1:47pm
    - Sean OConnor
      
      The voter base is there at this point. All they need is a leader, and we’ll be like the US, Spain, Austria, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and a few others; the genuine right wing party/faction will eat National’s (and ACT’s) lunch.
      
      5 3
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      March 20, 2022 2:01pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        But who is that leader, Sean? Who is that leader?
        
        Not Winston. Even though he shamelessly used the protest at parliament to tease the voters (yet again), he’s finished (and secretly, he knows it).
        
        Certainly not Matt King. Huh? Who’s Matt King?
        
        So who? Who has the mana to bring together three or four disparate groups, into one, and take them to parliament?
        
        I can’t think of anyone.
        
        8 2
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        March 20, 2022 3:06pm
  - Sean OConnor
    
    I looked at their website and was put off by the incredibly vague platitudes.
    I think the various RW/anti mandate parties should replicate the Alliance and run a joint list.
    
    4 4
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    March 20, 2022 2:02pm
    - DeepBlue
      
      It does seem hard to imagine these 3 or 4 minor parties all having suitable candidates.
      
      3 0
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      March 20, 2022 3:00pm
    - Mike
      
      The Alliance? The one that splintered into its component parties.?
      These current collections of whackos have nothing in common with each other except bitterness, belligerence and bullshit.
      
      2 1
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      March 20, 2022 4:06pm
kowtow

I’m really enjoying the flack that Pelosi and Paul Hewson aka Bono are getting over his cringe worthy ‘poem’ that she read out , badly , for Mick’s Day.

If yer want a larf look it up on you tube.
10 3
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March 20, 2022 12:41pm
Maggie Pie

And I thort the girl in the Bread-Shop raised an interesting question this morning…

“Should winners of Women’s Sports have penises?”
18 2
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March 20, 2022 1:05pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  oh dear, oh dear..
  
  where has she been for the last 5 years?
  
  Well, since gender identity is not determined by what kind of genitals someone has, a person with a female gender identity might well have a penis. In other words, yes, some women do have penises.
  
  https://theconversation.com/can-a-woman-have-a-penis-how-to-understand-disagreements-about-gender-recognition-101991
  
  9 2
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  March 20, 2022 1:34pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Must admit I was stuck for words Maggs!
    Even had the American woman with the purple hair standing next to me scratching her balls.
    
    13 3
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    March 20, 2022 1:54pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    No article is too stupid to represent academia on “The Conversation”. However actual criticism will not be tolerated.
    
    12 2
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    March 20, 2022 1:55pm
- All_on_Red
  
  You’ll enjoy this one Mags
  https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2022/03/18/woman-who-wasnt-afraid-to-speak-truth-while-lia-thomas-was-busy-wreaking-havoc-on-womens-sports-is-the-real-mvp-videos/
  
  “I’m not a Vet but I know what a Dog is”
  
  16 2
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  March 20, 2022 1:43pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    LOL!!!
    
    And this…..
    
    “Motorcyclist who identifies as Bicyclist sets Cycling World-Record for 100km Endurance race”.
    
    14 3
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    March 20, 2022 2:00pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  On topic: NZ Rugby has to navigate between the Scylla of inclusiveness vs the Charybdis of rugby being a sport dominated by collisions.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/128052313/who-gets-to-play-how-nz-rugby-is-navigating-transgender-inclusion
  
  9 0
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  March 20, 2022 1:46pm
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Perhaps female athletes should have penises as a form of post-victory reward, but they shouldn’t have them stowed in their outfits during competitions.
  
  3 2
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  March 20, 2022 2:55pm
Alan Wilkinson

Great article on the Maori Health fiasco:
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/dr-lawrie-knight-fact-checking-m%C4%81ori-health-claims-that-led-to-the-pae-ora-healthy-futures-bill
11 1
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March 20, 2022 1:52pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Sorry, missed Maggy’s post above.
  
  7 1
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  March 20, 2022 3:29pm
- surfing
  
  Clearly Lawrie Knight is just a racist.
  
  I jest of course, but, this is what maori will say to anyone they don’t like.
  
  5 2
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  March 20, 2022 6:52pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Friend tested positive on Thursday after feeling a bit lethargic for a couple of days.

Emailed her on Friday to check if she needed anything and she replied that she was very low on a household essential – Toilet paper…… so we dropped some off to her.

Went around this morning with another pack of rolls and a few other items, only to be greeted (at a distance) by recovering friend who said she’s now overloaded with stuff.

Seems Gizzy Health has organised boxes of quality food and essentials to be dropped off to each household where folks are self-isolating….her box had arrived at Friday Lunchtime just after her TP drop-off.

Good to know that this part of the Covid-response system is working well.
18 1
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March 20, 2022 1:58pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I’m staying with a Gissy doctor this weekend. Apparently 1 in 10 people here have the pox. Vaxxed or not, his most ill patients are seriously old and/or fat.
  
  16 3
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  March 20, 2022 2:18pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    If he and his wife & 2 kids have just had the pox, then you are across the road from me.
    
    9 2
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    March 20, 2022 3:46pm
rangitoto

Russian cosmonauts arrive at ISS wearing Ukraine colours. Maybe Vlad the bad isn’t as popular as the Kremlin would like you to believe.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60807043
13 2
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March 20, 2022 2:05pm
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  What to believe? I mean, next to that story on the BBC website is Zelensky standing in front of a green screen pretending to be out in streets of Kiev. He’s still decked out in his “Action Man-of-the-people” khaki outfit mind you, having lost his suits at the dry cleaners (who also lost Macron’s apparently).
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60805271
  
  3 6
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  March 20, 2022 3:04pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Fake news
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisongasparini/2022/03/19/russian-cosmonauts-board-international-space-station-wearing-yellow-and-blue/?sh=54ee774866b2
  
  6 5
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  March 20, 2022 3:19pm
  - Mike
    
    Yeah, they just happened to have lots of yellow material available when they made their suits.
    
    4 4
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    March 20, 2022 3:48pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      And they were paying tribute to their University
      
      3 0
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      March 20, 2022 8:44pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Something to think about on a Sunday afternoon – or is it ‘Fake News?’
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/expert-china-has-built-in-back-door-that-could-completely-take-out-the-u-s-electric-grid/?
6 3
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March 20, 2022 2:48pm
SpencerArnold

With rumours of the PM’s relationship breakup swirling around, is it likely she is holding onto the announcement until election year when she can “absoludely empathise” with the solo mother vote? (Esp. those solo parents on $450K+ salaries)
6 1
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March 20, 2022 2:58pm
TT500

Is it just me?

Or is Chris ‘ Get Boosted / End Mandates Bishop’
the biggest moron currently in NZ politics?
9 2
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March 20, 2022 3:23pm
- KKKKatee
  
  He’s a cockwomble.
  Cockwomble (noun) a person, usually male, prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or inappropriate behaviour while generally having a high opinion of their own wisdom and importance.
  Synonym – fuckwit, shit-for-brains
  
  2 1
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  March 20, 2022 11:03pm
All_on_Red

51 so called ‘intelligence Experts’ refuse to apologise for smearing Hunter Biden story
https://nypost.com/2022/03/18/intelligence-experts-refuse-to-apologize-for-smearing-hunter-biden-story/
52 if we include Batman.
It seems Butt Hunter has been the subject of a Grand Jury and is being indicted for Tax Fraud.
20 3
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March 20, 2022 3:28pm
- Mike
  
  People are saying that the Russians invaded Ukraine to find Butt Hunter and the Buttery Males.
  
  2 6
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  March 20, 2022 3:50pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Which people?
    
    3 0
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    March 20, 2022 8:44pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Funny how nobody saw anything wrong with the Prezzie of the US own son having images of a 14 yo starkers on his laptop 🙁
  
  Wasn’t it Sleepy who said… “Hunter is the smartest guy I know”
  
  LOL!!
  
  16 3
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  March 20, 2022 4:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Joe’s name is ‘Brandon’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e33KyG6JYJg
5 3
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March 20, 2022 3:58pm
Maggie Pie

And I’ll tell you something else that REALLY gets my goat…..
whenever I’m out in the kitchen making something, my partner always has to stick his finger in and lick it 🙁
9 4
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March 20, 2022 5:08pm
- Tauhei Notts
  
  That is because gentlemen want to test things in the production stage, whereas a female will take the job to the end, and once completed she will say;
  “I should have added xyz”. A gentleman will suggest, part way through;
  “Could please consider the possibility of adding xyz.”
  
  5 0
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  March 20, 2022 9:15pm
wilderbeast

Anyone here have a view about whether there are political plants on this site (left / Labour)? Whilst I wouldn’t support any bans etc (we’re smart enough to make up our own minds) it just seems to me that some of the posts I’ve started seeing here appear too calculated to be people who “just turned up”. Part of the reason I ask is that I supported Grounded Kiwis and they had awful trouble with political plants infiltrating their FB group and trying to shift the narrative.
8 2
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March 20, 2022 6:13pm
- RichardX
  
  Many claims, no evidence.
  
  0 1
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  March 20, 2022 9:26pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I do hope there are some political plants on this blog.
  I’d hate to think some of our blog’s wisdom was only being read by true believers.
  
  6 1
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  March 20, 2022 9:33pm
surfing

Government advertising “Road to 0” is an absolute disgraceful waste of tax payer money.

They are acheiving 0 results with the tens of thousands they must be spending on this rubbish.

The money would be better off going into roads .
10 0
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March 20, 2022 6:48pm
- GJM
  
  Part of the bribe for the team of $55m to keep the media afloat. As far as that goes, the ad campaign is working well.
  
  2 1
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  March 20, 2022 9:40pm
Maggie Pie

RACHEL….then TOVA (from 5am Monday @ TodayFM)

https://twitter.com/TodayFM_nz/status/1505291831893921792

Well sounds like that’s Kate & Mike f__ked then. LOL!!!!
8 2
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March 20, 2022 7:02pm
Don Beckett

I’m sure Batman will be fascinated with this article.
https://realclimatescience.com/2022/03/us-batvirus-lab-in-the-ukraine/
5 4
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March 20, 2022 7:24pm
- RichardX
  
  How did you independently verify the claims in your link?
  
  4 2
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  March 20, 2022 8:03pm
billyt

Thanks DeepBlue must try harder keeping up. And agree there are going to plenty like well over 1mil not bothering with the booster.
5 1
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March 20, 2022 8:11pm

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