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March 25, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 25 March 2022

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General Debate

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Warren

Ha ha the media and especially Stuff are having a go at Chris Luxon over his ‘bottom feeder’feding comment on the Kerre Wodham Radio Show a couple of days ago.
So please do tell what is the difference with the way Stuff and most other media outlets were and still are doing in their suck up bottom feeding grovel to be included in the corperate welfare grant of 105 million paid to quieten the medias criticisms of our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
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March 25, 2022 8:04am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They are clutching at one last chance to try and shaft him, if you listen to what he said, he never bloody said the poor were bottom feeders at all, but the desperation of the bottom feeding media, soon to be looking for another avenue to bottom feed is sickening.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:38am
  - curry4me
    
    Yeah, I know. But the Fake News have 55 000,000,000 reasons to lie about him.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:46am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Not quite that much, I hope
      
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      March 25, 2022 9:24pm
- Stellaboxer
  
  Not a particularly wise choice of words but a universe away from the rivers of filth comment made by a serving government minister. The media are just pigs at a trough now and most people can see it
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:42am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Stellaboxer – that’s a very good point. Did ANYONE in the media say anything about a sitting MP coming out with such an obnoxious comment when talking about NZ citizens?
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:30am
    - curry4me
      
      Media people remarked on it. Like Chantellle Baker for instance, and others. Fake news, not so much.
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:48am
    - Ehlana
      
      But, but, that’s different Mcleod. “They” of the river of filth were not “us”, don’t you know. More like the deplorables.
      
      Whereas, Christopher Luxon by definition is not one of “us”, so must be attacking the people who vote for us (of course they’re not actually “us” either, silly, but we need them to think they are).
      
      Clear now?
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:53am
- kowtow
  
  The Gnats need to make sure when they get into power to do a line by line examination of the tax spend .
  
  Top of the list , subsidising the enemy.
  
  And by golly they’ve got the best of excuses . Budget blow outs by commo Labour.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:42am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Oh there will be plenty of criminality to look over, Peters maybe caught out too
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:24am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I can’t recall days of discussion about Trevor Mallard’s “ferals” and “rivers of filth” from all the concerned journos and radio jocks.
  
  Hypocrites.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:01am
  - krazykiwi
    
    There were ‘chinless scarf wearers’ too, as I recall
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:53am
  - Aurelia
    
    Or the ministers who called the covid prorestors ferrals and losers
    
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    March 25, 2022 7:35pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  But it’s fine to call some of the very same people part of the river of filth, oh the desperation is becoming Putin esk
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:50am
CJames

In a desperate attempt to create a good news story in a bad news week, the government has latched on to licensing engineers. No certification so no job. The reason they say is because of CTV building (which was designed in 1986 under different legislation) and Havelock North water contamination (which wasn’t an engineering fault but the council pumping the shallow cased well too hard – read the report). The bureaucracy wants everyone to be licensed, but doesn’t know how to set up the process and structure, let alone the skills requirements. They haven’t even drafted the legislation yet. They haven’t decided how they will assess competency – you need competent assessors but problems like that are of little consequence when one is into grandiose ideas. Announcements are all they need to do and the rest magically happens.
One doesn’t need to be the Brains of Britain to know it will be an expensive failure. Its main effect will be to drive already short supply engineers overseas where they will be welcomed with open arms. So stuff in NZ will either cost a fortune to get designed as engineers recoup their certification costs, or will need to be designed by foreign engineers who will be outside the rules. Just like 230 High Street. That, or nothing gets built – not even cycle bridges or tram lines.
The plan is also to protect the word engineer so only licensed people can use it. There are professions that need this restriction first. The one that springs to mind is Doctor. How about only people with a practicing certificate from an uprated Medical Council could call themselves that or have it in their honorific? That way we could distinguish between GPs and those who got a PhD in basket weaving or the like. But I imagine there would be a lot of pushback from pseudo-academics so it would take a gutsy government to push that one through.
However, the proposed new laws got me to thinking. If people making critical decisions need to demonstrate their competence and be certified, then shouldn’t politicians be at the head of the list of those jobs needing it? I mean we could start with basic stuff like the size of the GDP or what are the three Treaty articles, then move on to the meaty stuff like why you shouldn’t spend money without approval or why legislation shouldn’t break the Bill of Rights or why you shouldn’t retrospectively validate legislative mistakes.
Having to show competency in government would give the voters a lot more confidence in our elected representatives. That would not be a bad thing. But then how many of the current ruling party could pass even a basic test?
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March 25, 2022 8:05am
- k1w1
  
  Software Engineer is common usage. Prohibited under this idea, I wonder?
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:11am
  - cmm
    
    In some countries you are required to have at least a 4 year degree (eg. BSc Hons) to call yourself a software engineer.
    
    Given the importance of software in our environment I am rather surprised it hasn’t all been regulated.
    
    I’m not calling for regulation. It would kill the NZ software industry.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:00am
    - peterwn
      
      Software engineering would not be affected. What is ‘engineering’ for the purposes of licencing is defined in current legislation and in general would be limited to structures, machinery, utilities and suchlike.
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:59am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      The IT industry developed at lightening speed entirely due to the multiple failed attempts of bureaucracies to regulate it. Thank goodness and long may it continue.
      
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      March 25, 2022 12:46pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Also they think they are getting mileage from Manus island refugees, but this was signed off a month ago, why was this not news a month ago, that’s right , protests, and they have been waiting for the noise to die down before attempting to get said mileage, most people understand these fools are illegal queue jumpers, but they will keep the ultra woke were going no where, hope they have that extra $150 a week.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:11am
  - Scott
    
    The Manu Island refugees, of which NZ is going to take 150 a year, is a very bad idea. These people we are taking are not the world’s best. Australia doesn’t want them.
    Why should we take them?
    What’s the benefit to us?
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:48am
    - septic skeptic
      
      I guess it will make John Key happy to know another of his great ideas for a better NZ has come to fruition.
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:07am
    - kowtow
      
      Where they gunna house ’em?
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:13am
    - RichardX
      
      Good to see Scott staying true to his Christian ideals.
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:41am
      - Scott
        
        Good comment RichardX. In reply I would say what is the point in bringing in more needy people when we can’t even look after our own people? We can’t even house our own people at the moment. It is not Christian to take on 150 people from overseas when you are not looking after your own people.
        
        “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
        1 Timothy 5:8
        
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        March 25, 2022 11:29am
      - RichardX
        
        Good response Scott, but nothing to do with your earlier comment.
        
        Your earlier comment made no mention of NZ poor not being looked after.
        
        You specifically asked
        “Why should we take them?
        What’s the benefit to us?”
        
        Great attempt to move the goalposts though.
        
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        March 25, 2022 12:09pm
    - Paulus
      
      Zaoui brought in 18 relatives I understand.
      
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      March 25, 2022 2:39pm
  - ecco
    
    The Muslim vote is one of Ardern’s main voter bases following the Christchurch mosque shooting. Her branding is built around things like that. Remember the head gear photo calls.
    
    I would have preferred to see that allocation go to Ukrainian refugees. There appears to be little action on this. Btw I’ve worked alongside Iraqi refugees in a volunteer organisation. It’s pretty good coming to NZ for them, so much so that there are some who don’t bother to find work as everything is paid for, accomodation, healthcare, unlimited career courses, etc etc. Of course not all of them are like this but I’ve just seen some who choose not to work.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:03am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Muslims in NZ 1.3% of Population.
      How many in Christchurch? Buggar all
      
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      March 25, 2022 1:11pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  I thought I could identify as an engineer, isn’t that how it works these days?
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:17am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Ask Tobbo, he is captain of the lugged !
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:40am
  - TS Child
    
    No.. I think your only options are around sex, relationships and species, including imaginary species and fictional characters. And previous traumas. And possibly age. Definitely not ethnicity unless there’s a plausible blood link. And not career either – yet. But you’ve made me wonder: who is setting the parameters around this stuff? Because someone is, otherwise it’d be a complete free for all …
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:39pm
- Jim
  
  Don’t forget the all important communications degree, where you must learn the importance of ‘monologue over dialogue’ and ‘media control over free press’
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:17am
  - Nickc2
    
    Honours graduates get to do head bobbing, facial contortions, and arm waving to add some semblance of truth to lies.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:40am
- Pavel
  
  I’m blown away engineer’s don’t already have to be licensed. I need a license to lay bricks and pour a concrete foundation. Plumbers and electricians have had to be licenced for decades. How on earth do engineers get away with not being licensed? I’m really surprised they don’t. When the requirement for a LBP (licensed building practitioner) was introduced it was no big deal and actually got rid of alot of cowboys with real tradies being able to finally earn a decent wage. I don’t see how it would be hard to include engineers and good luck to them moving to another country as most first world countries require engineers to be licensed. What’s the big deal? It’s kind of outrageous their not licensed.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:30am
  - CJames
    
    They do have to have the right certification – it is called CPEng. Your council won’t accept a building earthworks permit or retaining wall over 1m high unless its signed off a CPEng Civil Engineer. No elevated buildings unless a CPEng Structural Engineer. Can’t even alter a crane without signoff from a CPEng Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. And the Engineers have to prove their competence and ongoing skill development to peer group assessors to get and retain CPEng – only about 10% of the degreed engineers have their ticket.
    The license is different to that.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:55am
  - cmm
    
    There are different licensing schemes for different engineers, eg. professional engineers.
    https://www.engineeringnz.org/join-us/cpeng/
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:55am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    The Engineer title is given to any Tom, Dick and Harry in IT. Not sure I’d ever want to enter a building, cross a bridge or fly in a plane if they were created with the same rigour that some “engineers” in IT build their systems.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:09am
    - rouppe
      
      You do know that most avionics systems are actually software, right?
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:19am
      - Hard Cheese
        
        No, I did not know that (eyeroll) . “if” and “some”
        
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        March 25, 2022 2:09pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    The regulation of building is exactly why housing is unaffordable.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:48pm
    - gump
      
      And the loosening of regulation of building is exactly why the leaky building fiasco imposed billions of dollars in costs on homeowners and local Governments.
      
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      March 25, 2022 6:43pm
- Tomtoddy
  
  This is the product of two colliding situations. The no faults ACC law means there are limited opportunities to hold someone accountable when there are accidents. The other is bureaucrats with too much time on their hands suggesting new ways to raise revenue, exercise more control and create extra work.
  
  For the good of the economay and for the well being of all of us we need a very smart, strong new government that sets tough targets on removing unnecessary regulation. I do not see one emerging yet.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:35am
- G Man
  
  The CTV building in ChCh survived the first quake damaged but upright, all occupants out safe. In the rush to check and approve or otherwise all the damaged buildings for re occupation only a cursory engineering check could be done, under pressure from owners and tenants. The second quake showed up the danger of allowing these pressures to be put on people in the heat of the moment and the terrible price was paid.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:36am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Almost. There were few if any people in the building during the September 2010 quake, which occurred in the early hours of the morning. But yes, with the benefit of hindsight, future occupation should not have been allowed.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:02am
  - cmm
    
    Quite.
    
    The owners and the tenants etc applied the pressure, but they all run for cover when the shit hits the fan.
    
    Find the guy who signed the bit of paper and throw him under the bus.
    
    Would a license have mattered? I think not.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:03am
  - nathie
    
    There is/was news footage around somewhere, post the 2010 earthquakes (but pre-Feb 2011), in which staff working for CTV were commenting on camera about whenever a heavy truck passed the building, the building’s concrete floors would start “swaying” (might not be the actual word they used but hopefully one gets the drift). The staff were concerned but if the authorities didn’t red sticker the building post Sept & Dec 2010 earthquakes then what could they do?
    
    Seems to a non-expert like me that the CTV building should have been condemned prior to the Feb 2011 earthquake?
    
    I haven’t seen that tv footage since 2010-ish (as the news media haven’t replayed it) but it stuck in my memory, but that footage does exist somewhere (possibly online).
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:03am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  I’m surprised that buildings, bridges, roads, etc. are being designed by unlicensed engineers. Thought that would already have been a requirement.
  
  In the USA both licensed and unlicensed engineers practice their trade but a licensed engineer is required to sign off on designs. Also a license is required to provide professional testimony in a court of law.
  
  To become a professional licensed engineer you must first sit and pass a comprehensive multiple choice test which then enables you to “practice” as an “engineer in training” for a period of (usually four) years. At the end of the training period you are required to sit and pass another daylong comprehensive essay type written test in your chosen specialty.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:45am
  - CJames
    
    Read upthread. They have to have CPEng, what used to be called Registered. Licensing is different.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:07am
- glowworm
  
  Doesn’t IPENZ act as a proxy licensing organisation for engineers? Many Civil engineers are members.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:57am
  - gump
    
    Resigning from IPENZ prevents sanctions and penalties being imposed on former members.
    
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    March 25, 2022 6:44pm
- gravedodger
  
  In the mad rush by the simpletons over the design of the CTV building to find a scape goat, who better than the original design that as you point out CJ was evidently compliant through the checks and balances during the build.
  That structure survived the Charing Cross quake of September 4th, magnitude 7.1 at 04 30 that would have allowed a full building at say 09 30 to safely evacuate. every person there
  Enter the Crats wildest dreams of fame and fortune who removed the “red Sticker” to allow resumption of occupation that resulted in many largely anecdotal instances of concern over noises and other scary predictions of the disaster that came with a magnitude 6.2 the following February 22 at Lunchtime.
  Why there is no attempt to place blame on the System that allowed the reoccupation remains one of the big mysteries of those days of over ten thousand seismic events to this day.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:50am
- thetiedarch
  
  I am a qualified and Chartered (licensed) engineer in NZ.
  
  You already need to be chartered to sign off on almost any engineering work in this country. Most, if not all engineering firms require you to be chartered in order to sign off on work on behalf of the firm.
  
  Registration with Engineering NZ is voluntary – unless you wish to be come licensed (chartered), as they are the body that manages this process.
  
  As far as I can tell this legislation will do nothing other than force every engineer to be registered (lining Engineering NZ’s pockets with cash), as it takes time, skill and effort to attain chartership (not to mention you need to want to be chartered).
  
  NZ, like every other country on this planet allows unlicensed engineers (read: those who are not chartered) to do design work – under the supervision of a chartered engineer. This is normal, and a required process so that unlicensed engineers can gain the experienced required to attain chartership!
  
  The CTV collapse was a failure by the chartered/licensed engineer to supervise and guide his unlicensed engineer. Passing legislation to require that unlicensed engineer to be registered would not have prevented CTV from occurring.
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:20am
  - alloytoo
    
    What you’ve described is the age apprenticeship model which applies to many professions.
    
    The wheel really doesn’t need to be reinvented
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:22am
- GJM
  
  This occupational licensing is not new and MBIE have been playing with it for years.
  
  There is no restriction on who can call themselves an engineer, and in some fields such as fire safety, they do not even need to have an engineering degree, let alone one in the field. Hey, it is only life safety, so no issue really…
  
  The point you have raised about assessment si key. For CPEng these are currently done by voelnteers in a very small field. There is lack of consistancy and I don’t see that changing
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:56am
- peterwn
  
  This has been ‘in the works’ for sometime and has the support of ‘Engineering New Zealand’ the Professional Engineers’ professional body. The original regime was established in 1924 and the current regime in the early 2000’s. The regulatory regimes were seldom ‘tested’ until the Christchurch earthquakes. The particular troublesome issue was whether an engineer facing disciplinary proceedings could halt proceedings by resigning. Interestingly the current regime was very much developed by IPENZ (forerunner to Engineering NZ) and was presented to Parliament by Nick Smith (he has a doctorate of engineering) as a private members bill and gained the support of Helen Clark’s government. This was a major achievement on Nick’s part and generally overlooked by his critics.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:14am
- Ehlana
  
  PhD is a Doctorate, so a better idea might be to stop calling people who don’t have one Doctors. We could go back to calling them physicians. As in “physician, heal thyself”.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:58am
- Joely Doe
  
  “Doctor” is an honorific, at least in medicine, as doctors don’t have a PhD degree.
  Usually a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) – not a PhD.
  Don’t mention that to your local GP though as they REALLY don’t like it!
  
  Mind you, would you want to be confused with an academic from Massey or Waikato uni?
  
  Interestingly, when Drs further train to become specialists (surgeons etc – equiv to PhD) they change their honorific back to Mr.
  
  The US uses the title M.D. to distinguish Medical Doctors from PhD – perhaps useful here too?
  
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  March 25, 2022 12:41pm
G the giant from Dunedin

Happy bottom feeder day 👍🏻
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March 25, 2022 8:08am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  John Dory, Snapper, Blue Moki, Blue cod, Tarakihi, Gurnard – all bottom feeders.
  
  Yum, yum.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:10am
- Matt Long
  
  How does it feel for you G when you’ve accused those of us who are critical of National’s performance and policy of being Labour trolls and along comes Wayne Mapp saying “Yip, yip, that’s what it is we’re Labour in drag.”?
  I do note Wayne tried out to represent Labour in Mt Roskill, perhaps he is the Labour Troll?
  
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  March 25, 2022 12:54pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    That the same Wayne that got pushed out by Key for poor performance, i am not saying Nats are perfect, but i will be f….d if i will help this vulgar government get back in , there is only 2 choices, left or right, sand none of those small parties will get in to parliament
    
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    March 25, 2022 6:36pm
crackle

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2022/01/auckland-council-extends-vaccine-pass-requirement/

Seems Auckland Council hasnt got the memo.
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March 25, 2022 8:08am
- kowtow
  
  Hipkins wason the idiot box talking tough about other orgs carrying on the mandates / requirements , as if to say it’s their fault, not the regime’s.
  
  Sorry mate , you lot started down this road you shudda never gone . It’s all down to you and your mob of fools and control freaks.
  
  Genie outta the bottle and all that.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:48am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Ardern is all about getting others to do her dirty work for her, she only does the “nice” things like ingratiating smiles and hugs. She makes me throw up in my mouth.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:44am
- Charmaine Hawke
  
  But my pass expires 1 June and they extended till the end of the month, wonder how that will work.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:51am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Mine expires sept 2022, Required 2 doses done in April last year ( First of the Line).
    How does that work?
    Rest assured I’m not calling them up about the mistake.
    I see Air NZ are NOW looking at putting vaccine passes on the AirNZ app according to their inflight magazine.
    Bought a grin to my face and reinforces the shear ineptitude of Foran.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe the Council just does not understand//
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:54am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    They haven’t got a clue. They sent me their “risk assessment” information. It was based on an opinion piece in an online forum, The Conversation that claimed unjabbed transmitted the virus 5 x more than unjabbed. I wrote to them with actual scientific information showing the viral load in both group is at best, the same and in fact jabbed may well carry more viral load than unjabbed. Something that seems to be transpiring as numbers around the world are showing vaccinated are catching and spreading the virus at much higher numbers than the unvaccinated.
    No response from the council. I still pay full rates but can’t access any of their facilities.
    
    Incidentally, I had come across the NZ version of “The Conversation” before. It’s a professional looking website with “expert” opinions.
    There were propaganda pieces from Baker and Plank in different weeks. Complete bullshit and comments strictly moderated to prevent any criticism of these clowns.
    I went to find out where “The Conversation” originated from. Guess who’s sticky fingers are all over it? Surprise surprise.
    
    https://theconversation.com/us/partners/the-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation
    
    Mainstream media is totally untrustworthy these days. Totally. Watch it at your peril.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:58am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      Time for legal action I’d say
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:48am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Hes popping up in all sorts of places. I cant help think Melinda has seen through the light in regards to the Foundation.?
      Something going on.
      
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      March 25, 2022 12:12pm
artemisia

In the MSM yesterday news of a letter demanding TradeMe stop advertising rental vacancies that breach the law. Including sad stories from Ethan Te Ora recycling earlier sad stories about how hard it is to find a rental, any rental, in Wellington these days. And those that are available are just so awful, who would live in them anyway. So really there needs to be many more regulations because it’s a human rights crisis.

From the letter –

We are writing to ask for Trade Me to require landlords and property managers to state in their listing whether a property complies with the Residential Tenancies Act and Healthy Homes Standards, and for Trade Me to ban landlords and property managers who repeatedly breach standards and/or are reported to the ‘Community Watch’ team.

One of those interviewed is Victoria Blow, Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association [who] knows all about time wasted viewing unhealthy homes. A six-month flat search has so far seen Blow view Trade Me-listed houses without heating, and others infested with mould.

Anyone looking for a flat in Wellington for 6 months – they’re has to be a reason for lack of success. Since there are hundreds of Wellington rentals advertised any day of the week and they don’t look like dumps. That’s just TradeMe and there are of course other places that advertise vacancies. Not forgetting several hundred Flatmates Wanted ads.

But not offering to her apparently. Landlords are seriously risk averse these days mainly due to new rules from this government ….

Many of those recent regulations have been good for Wellington landlords, fewer rentals, serious capital gains, big rent increases, and every reason to avoid taking on tenants with even a possibility of risk. What’s not to like?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/128141808/trade-me-profiting-from-a-human-rights-crisis-by-not-blocking-Subpar-rentals

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/group-demands-trade-me-acts-on-rental-property-listings/ROMPDVRBSVFSI5RHNOFBVTTN7U/
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March 25, 2022 8:10am
- alex Masterley
  
  Perhaps the answer to why Ms Blow is not having any success with her flat hunting is staring her in the face when she looks in the mirror as she cleans her teeth in the morning.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:09am
- RightNow
  
  I ended up as a renter since my ex got the house (by agreement, it was least disruptive for the kids).
  I recently had to find a new house as my old landlord decided to sell down part of his portfolio.
  After not hearing back about a couple of rentals I applied for I started getting worried, so at the next viewing I had a quiet chat with the property agent and offered to pay more. He agreed and I got the place.
  Seems that’s the way to secure a rental in the current market.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:31am
  - artemisia
    
    Applicant is allowed to offer more, landlord is not allowed to ask for more than advertised. Or less, actually.
    
    Did the previous landlord say why he is selling rentals? He is not the only one, including me.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:14am
Benedict Yu

“But then how many of the current ruling party could pass even a basic test?”

None.
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March 25, 2022 8:11am
Matt Long

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/128082418/carbon-dioxide-shortage-could-add-to-rising-food-prices
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.
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March 25, 2022 8:13am
- westernScientest
  
  the comments on that article….. It is surprising half the population can even put their pants on in the mornings without getting lost in the dresser or something.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:28am
  - Biscuit
    
    wS, ponder for a moment just hows thick the average human being is…
    
    And then cower in fear at the realisation that 50% of the population are even thicker than that!
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:56am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Simply reflects what has happened in the education system over the last 30 odd years. And now basic science will be like history, all about taniwha…..
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:12am
Scott

I want to say thank you to kiwibloggers for keeping us sane. This is one of the few places we can get an alternative view to the covid madness.
It seems that we have been in crazy town for the last 3 years.

Get a jab. This is the only treatment for covid. There is no other treatment. No one is even interested in treatment for covid. Once you have covid that’s it. There is no treatment. No discussion about treatment.
Why don’t we discuss cures? No one cares about ivermectin except to debunk it. It’s crazy! This world wide supposedly killer disease and no one discusses how to treat it?

People I know are over this. But not the media. They want the prime minister to keep the restrictions. “Aren’t you worried prime minister about letting people meet in bigger groups? Isn’t there a risk?”
So the fear goes on. Stoked and stoked by the media.

It’s almost like there is a world wide conspiracy to spread fear and frighten everyone to take shot after shot of the expensive Pfizer vaccines?
Hang on….
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March 25, 2022 8:13am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Kiwiblog is a place where Covid and Vaccines can be debated – then you can think for yourself and make up your own mind. It is a place where the bullshiters and liars are called out, especially those in Govt. We are not treated as 5 year old kiddies here.
  Yep, we are over it, but the Govt won’t let the whole thing go – socialist control rules for them.
  They will get a fucking good lesson come 2023.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:06am
iMP

The Treaty of Why-Tungy was not a partnership of co-governance. It respected various rights based on context, but it was a petition by Maori to become British citizens and gain the over-protection of the Crown. They reallly wanted that because…genocide and ever increasing internecine tribal war. It worked.

Maori men got the vote before European women. We could say Waitangi was about joining a new bigger tribe.
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March 25, 2022 8:14am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  We really have to stop looking backwards and start looking forward.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:21am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Any reference to a partnership is the fact it made two people equally one, not dividing us back to where we were
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:26am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Why would anyone down vote this post, it’s a total fact
    
    20 1
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    March 25, 2022 9:34am
- kowtow
  
  There’s nothing complicated about what is a very simple doucument ,and it doesn’t include any “principles” .
  
  Sovereignty to the crown
  Crown protection , in turn land sales
  Everyone a subject of the crown
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:28am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It’s very simple, I have been tgee read it twice, and I can not remember the words Aoteraroa
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:43am
- Unity
  
  The Crown cannot go into Partnership or Co-Governance with its subjects. So goodness knows where they are managing to find reference to that in the tiny little Treaty which was called a nullity by Chief Justice Prendergast way back in the late 1800’s.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:44am
- MCōs
  
  The first general election was held in 1853. Any male could vote except their was a property requirement and most Maori land was owned communally.
  The property requirement was to ensure Maori weren’t able to vote.
  The Maori seats were instituted in 1867 by the pakeha parliament because it was so blatantly unfair to represent Maori interests.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:47am
  - cmm
    
    You forgot the rest.
    On 19 December 1879 the property requirement was dropped.
    After that this “unfairness” went away and the special Maori vote should have gone away too.
    
    For over 140 years this racist policy has not been tidied up.
    
    38 2
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    March 25, 2022 9:09am
  - kowtow
    
    Rubbish.
    
    The property franchise was applied across the Anglo world . Way more white males were disenfrnchised than non whites .
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:17am
    - Jack5
      
      Kowtow’s correct on MCos’s assertion that: …The property requirement was to ensure Maori weren’t able to vote.
      
      As late as the 1860s there was still a property requirement for voters in Britain.
      
      The colonial government was following practice in the U.K.
      
      The last state of the USA to abolish property ownership as a prerequisite for voting was North Carolina, and the abolition was in 1856.
      
      6 2
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      March 25, 2022 1:41pm
  - Matt Long
    
    https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseofcommons/reformacts/overview/furtherreformacts/
    Similar laws in England at the time were no doubt also aimed at preventing Maori there from voting.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:18am
- Scott
  
  Quite right iMP. The idea that Queen Victoria, on whose empire the sun never set, empress of India, would enter into a partnership as equals with 100,000 illiterate tribes people on the other side of the world is ludicrous.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:51am
  - wilderbeast
    
    Not quite right. My understanding is that by the time the Treaty was signed the British had learned a thing or two about blanket conquests, having stretched resources and faced local uprisings elsewhere in the empire. By the mid 1800s they had realised the value of a more collaborative approach and we’re generally more conservative. For example I think the chiefs of Fiji actually had to ask quite hard to get QV to annexe the islands. That said, I agree that of course she didn’t enter into an agreement that gave way to today’s nonsense…
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:32pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I reckon it is a badly written Real Estate document
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:08am
  - iMP
    
    “Small pacific paradise with unpronouceable name. Needs some TLC but good bones. Up for auction to highest bidder 2023.”
    
    17 1
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    March 25, 2022 9:20am
    - kowtow
      
      haha
      
      Sold by prior arrangement. To our northern comrades with the biggest cheque book.
      
      11 1
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      March 25, 2022 10:20am
Master Mariner

The closure of Marsden Point which refined Diesel now puts NZ energy security at risk. We really are at the mercy of Markets now if you think its high now then watch this space.

It will now rely on Imported Diesel by Tankers.
The next issue will be Quality.

I for one are currently in the process of ordering extra filters on my Diesol Ute, Mainly for Water and Fuel Bug. I would advise others to follow.

“Meanwhile, Torbjorn Tornqvist, co-founder and chair of Geneva-headquartered Gunvor Group said that “Europe is short of diesel” but added that “Diesel is not just a European problem; this is a global problem. It really is.”

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Diesel-Crisis-In-Europe-Worsens-As-Austrian-Energy-Giant-Limits-Sales.html
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March 25, 2022 8:15am
- amospicton
  
  We now have to import refined product rather than crude – either way we are vulnerable.
  
  25 0
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  March 25, 2022 9:15am
- Matt Long
  
  That’s a good reminder, do you have a brand of diesel conditioner you recommend?
  
  13 0
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  March 25, 2022 9:49am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Hi Matt, Yes indeed.
    Fuel doctor is the best. ( Green one with measuring amount bottle). Get in super cheap.
    https://www.pbo.co.uk/gear/12-diesel-bug-treatments-tested-43353
    Incidently we steamed our vessel to NZ and got the Bug from shit Bunker fuel ( What NZ will be getting). Currently got 180m3 which we are in the process of treating.
    Welcome to refined fuels from overseas.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:19pm
    - Matt Long
      
      Thank you kind sir.
      
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      March 25, 2022 7:58pm
cjn

Thank you. CJames. Very pertinent. And also thank you for not talking about masks or fever. Give it a rest, the rest.
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March 25, 2022 8:16am
Frank the tank

On Monday I went fuck it and refused to wear a mask in our showroom. I must say a week on and I feel much better. I get to the end of the day and am feeling so much better with more energy. Yes it might marginally increase my risk of getting a 3-day hangover but I’ll take that on the chin.

I’m noticing more and more businesses are taking the same view and my best mate in Brisbane said that is what convinced the governments over there to drop mask mandates.

So my advice to everyone is to ignore the mask rules and if there is mass non-compliance in due course they will have to drop them.

It is time for mass civil disobedience.
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March 25, 2022 8:16am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It’s not even egg n like a hangover, I had a funny voice, and that was it, no runny nose, no mucus, and no sore throat
  
  17 1
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  March 25, 2022 8:46am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Karen will be around for a wee chat with you shortly
  
  24 1
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  March 25, 2022 9:11am
  - Frank the tank
    
    And she’ll be told to go and get F……..
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:39am
Charmaine Hawke

A good perspective on how we found ourselves where we are at today, who knew Phizer only tested for reduction of symptoms. Either the Pm is ignorant of this fact or she lied. https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/john-gibson-how-vaccine-messaging-confused-the-public
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March 25, 2022 8:20am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Well she lies all the time so this is almost certainly another one. No surprises there.
  
  38 3
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  March 25, 2022 8:42am
  - kowtow
    
    Ardernoccio .
    
    I’ll get my coat.
    
    13 1
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    March 25, 2022 10:22am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  She lies , but she is ignorant on most issues including the slightest straight forward common knowledge
  
  31 0
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  March 25, 2022 8:47am
  - kowtow
    
    On her first day on the campaign trail after rolling Little , she was asked about the reserve bank rate meeting , that was that day too . She didn’t know it was on . “I’ll get back to you ” or words to that effect .
    
    Got a huge pass from her adoring Media pardy sychphants.
    
    And for a person who puts such huge store by all things maori , she was ambushed and couldn’t name the articles , till her Puppet Master W jackson prompted her. Embarassing.
    
    She’s no genius.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:40am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      And Jacksons mumblings made her look even more bloody stupid
      
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      March 25, 2022 6:39pm
- Simon
  
  Comirnaty (COVID-19 mRNA vaccine) (Pfizer-BioNTech): 12 years and older
  Concentrate for injection 30 µg/0.3 mL
  Status
  
  Provisional approval renewed under 23(4) of the Medicines Act, with conditions on 28 October 2021, valid until 3 November 2023.
  
  Solution for injection 30 µg/0.3 mL (grey cap, do not dilute)
  Active immunisation to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV2, in individuals 12 years of age and older.
  
  https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/status-of-applications.asp
  
  Approval based on the jaxx preventing infection.
  
  By August 2021 it was clear the jaxx didnt prevent infection.
  
  By time they were injecting the jaxx in NZ on a wide spread basis it had failed for the stated purpose of approval, Alarm bells should have been ringing for anyone with any common sense.
  
  Anyone who had this shit injected into them was a mug. (Unless they were under 18 years old. Or forced early)
  
  You were injecting yourself with shit that some bunch of slimly dishonest politicians were promoting. Nothing to do with science.
  
  24 1
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  March 25, 2022 8:51am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “How Vaccine Messaging Confused the Public” is way above her comprehension level, so the odds are she lied her way out of it
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:16am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  One of the key points that some folks in NZ haven’t quite got their heads around.
  
  Currently, most Covid-19 cases in New Zealand are post-vaccination. And despite almost everyone being vaccinated, and most boosted, the rate of new confirmed Covid-19 cases is one of the highest in the world.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:18am
  - Opie
    
    And it also looks like our omicron wave is wider than many other countries. South Africa was over it in under 4 with a sharp peak.
    
    I think it’s now obvious our actions have made this worse not better
    
    21 1
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    March 25, 2022 9:58am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Hiding under the bed, turning most people into germaphobes was an insane policy. Complete madness. Normal pandemic preparedness involves isolating the sick and symptomatic, protecting the most vulnerable and the rest getting on with their lives. This coordinated, worldwide response is either an experiment that failed badly, or a deliberate policy to usher in the “Great Reset”. It’s not a conspiracy, their publications and videos are everywhere. If you haven’t seen the Schwab video where he openly states how he has Canada’s government in his pocket then here it is. Listen to him and remember, Ardern is one of his students.
      
      https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1488472558425063430?s=20&t=Rcfu2YDmePwVl-t5mUAY1Q
      
      Then there is this stunning document showing how NZ is apparently supporting Agenda 2030 and fully supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I don’t remember Ardern campaigning on this? I don’t remember Ardern holding a referendum on this?
      
      “As an active member across international
      institutions, New Zealand is committed to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
      
      “HE WAKA EKE NOA
      TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE, TOGETHER
      NEW ZEALAND’S PROGRESS TOWARDS THE SDGs – 2019”
      
      https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/23333New_Zealand_Voluntary_National_Review_2019_Final.pdf
      
      Read that and be afraid, be very afraid. The “conspiracy theory” that covid is being used to implement some massive structural changes to how we are governed is looking more and more plausible. There is certainly no logical reason for the insane reactions of our government and others. So it’s either the most colossal fuck up by multiple governments in history, or it’s part of an alternative strategy that the rest of us weren’t told about. Either way, this government need to go asap.
      
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      March 25, 2022 10:30am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, it is all part of a wider plan. There is an agenda here, and that is the WEF agenda, which has been hiding in the open since at least 2015.
        
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        March 25, 2022 12:50pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        You’ll never see her not support even the most idiotic UN plan….bad look on the CV
        
        7 1
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        March 25, 2022 2:30pm
      - Clownworld
        
        The problem is WEF proudly shout they penetrated every govt with their “agents” of change. NZ has them in Ardern and Luxon. Win-win for WEF whoever is handed next election.
        
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        March 26, 2022 12:31pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Yet Auckland Council have just extended their apartheid system through to the end of June, they did this even with the knowledge that Ardern announced the vax passes are going in a week and half the mandates are being dropped.
    
    https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2022/01/auckland-council-extends-vaccine-pass-requirement/
    
    It’s unbelievable that these morons are able to make decisions that impact us.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:12am
  - Ehlana
    
    Most of the rest of the world has a lot of people who got (and in some cases, died from or with) the earlier, more virulent forms of Covid. As omicron is the first form to actually spread widely through the New Zealand community, it seems logical that we would have a high rate of infection.
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:29pm
- Master Mariner
  
  I thought it was common knowledge and was to mask the symptons.
  Well thats what 2 years of not following NZ news does, Absolute propaganda and misinformation.
  Definately not a vaccine.
  
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  March 25, 2022 12:23pm
Maggy Wassilieff

A clear exposition of why matauranga Maori should not be “enabled” in our Research Institutions.

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/professors-warn-of-constitutional-change-by-stealth-and-of-the-dangers-of-protecting-maori-knowledge-against-refutation/
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March 25, 2022 8:22am
- Simon
  
  Is climate change part of NZ’s “Research Institutions” If so then it doesnt matter about maori knowledge etc. Because NZ doesnt have any “Research Institutions” They are simply propaganda units for pre determined State agenda.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:39am
- Swifty
  
  I like this quote from the green paper:
  
  “We need to strengthen the ways in which our system enables and protects mātauranga Māori… creating better pathways whereby mātauranga Māori can obtain funding and support from the research system, as other knowledge systems do.”
  
  Sums it all up perfectly for me. This is not about more or better science in NZ, no, this is all about more money and control to some Maori and at the expense of us all.
  
  Maori woo woo is in the ascendancy and I don’t see it turning around any time soon.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:52am
  - Master Mariner
    
    mātauranga Māori… creating better pathways whereby mātauranga Māori can obtain funding and support from the research system, as other knowledge systems do.”
    
    Why not offer free trips to Antartica with tribal knowledge and wisdom to all Government ministers as a Last “Hoorah” for keeping us safe.
    
    As always “The proof is in the Pudding”
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:29pm
- Jack5
  
  The article Maggy links to is excellent.
  
  From it, I especially like:
  
  “Either New Zealand strengthens its commitment to science’s universalism or it continues down the destructive path of cultural ideology.”
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:49pm
tknorriss

Yes!!!

The Ukrainians have just destroyed a Russian ship in port, damaged another, and caused huge damage to infrastructure at the port.

This was in the port town of Berdyansk that was captured by the Russians early on in the conflict. It sends a nice message to the Russians that they aren’t safe anywhere.

A couple of nice videos below from different angles:

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-russian-landing-ship-destroyed-as-red-cross-chief-warns-of-complex-frontline-and-people-trapped-12573958

https://youtu.be/xHVXD3k5Xnw
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March 25, 2022 8:24am
- Simon
  
  lol – for cattle only.
  
  The US is badly losing the Ukraine war. Its China & Russia who are winning.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:30am
  - tknorriss
    
    \
    
    Keep up with the news.
    
    A big part of the Ukranian strategy that is causing the Russians huge problems is targeting of logistics. So hitting this ship is consistent with this strategy. Plus, you will see that the warship leaving port had smoke coming from its front.
    
    Also, there was huge damage done to the port itself. The Russians use this port for refueling their warships etc, so putting this out of action is a big deal
    
    The Russians basically can’t keep their troops fed, there fuel supplies to their troops are constantly being hit. Intercepted radio shows about half the Russian troops have frost-bite due to not being prepared for the conditions. The Russians have taken huge amounts of casualties and have lost a massive amount of equipment.
    
    Ukrainians are taking back territory with counter- offensives.
    
    With all the sanctions in place now, it is just a matter of time before the Russians are unable to fund this war. So, the Ukrainians can outlast Russia in this.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:49am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      It’s in near stalemate at the moment, and Russians are digging in to create defensive positions on territory taken, but momentum could move to Ukrainians or Russians depending on what Putin does. Eg russians could use more destructive weapons (nukes), tactics or even threat of greater escalation to force ukrainian surrender, or ukrainians could slowly start to repulse russians using western supplied weaponry – if Putin is not willing/able to escalate.
      
      Detailed daily analysis:
      https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-23
      
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      March 25, 2022 9:10am
      - tknorriss
        
        I am not sure the threat of WMD is really on the table from the Russians.
        
        NATO has made it very clear that doing anything like that will result in severe consequences, not ruling out the possibility of drawing NATO into the conflict as that sort of action could be viewed as a danger to NATO as a whole.
        
        Russia doesn’t really want a conflict with NATO as they are way outgunned, in a conventional sense anyway, and I don’t think Putin is suicidal, given the way he sits at that huge table to avoid Covid and assassination.
        
        Also, Russia needs to think about their strategic relationship with China. China has been trying to keep to a neutral path, but might not be able to hold their nose if WMDs are used.
        
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        March 25, 2022 9:44am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Glad to see so many military experts here, who have a direct channel to Putins war room.
        
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        March 25, 2022 1:28pm
- Taieri
  
  It sends a nice message to the Russians that they aren’t safe anywhere.
  
  A couple of nice videos below from different angles:
  ————–
  
  I’m not sure that anything to do with a war and/or killing people can or should be described as “nice”…
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:46am
  - tknorriss
    
    Neither is leveling Mariupol and killing thousands of innocent civilians “nice”.
    
    So, anything that reduces the capacity of the Russians to undertake that sort of atrocity has got to be applauded.
    
    15 5
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    March 25, 2022 9:08am
    - Nukuleka
      
      tknorriss: Noone said or wrote that ‘leveling Mariupol and killing thousands of innocent civilians’ is ‘nice’. The only person describing horrifying videos of war and destruction as ‘nice’ is you. You use the word, you own it.
      
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      March 25, 2022 9:34am
      - tknorriss
        
        You are being much to fussy with the word “nice”. It wasn’t meant to mean “enjoyable”, rather “informative”. You are sounding like a wokester.
        
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        March 25, 2022 9:46am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Do you have a source for your claims of “thousands of civilians dead”? The only source I could find was an official Ukrainian one which also claimed they had wiped out one third of the Russian army. I seriously doubt that. But maybe it’s true…….
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:07am
      - tknorriss
        
        Don’t know if you were asking me, but the other day there was an accidental publishing on a Russian publication that gave the Russian deaths at 10k and about 16k injured. It was taken down fairly quickly.
        
        But, you should be able to find plenty of sources for that if you search google.
        
        That tallies with Ukranian estimates of around 15k and US of at least 7k KIA.
        
        So, the Russian losses are very high.
        
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        March 25, 2022 11:24am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      tknoriss – was sure I had posted this earlier, maybe not. But talking of atrocities, I’m presuming you’ll be condemning the Ukrainian Doctor who is telling his people to castrate Russian POWs because they are “cockroaches”?
      
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10636597/Ukrainian-doctor-tells-TV-interviewer-ordered-staff-CASTRATE-Russian-soldiers.html
      
      No conspiracy, on Ukrainian television.
      
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      March 25, 2022 6:39pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That was yesterday
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:48am
- tknorriss
  
  Here is another video about it:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwImGVZ9leg
  
  It looks like it was carrying ammunition hence the size of the explosions. So, that has to be good for the Ukranians.
  
  According to this video, the Russians had put out a propaganda video showing that the ship was in port, which is speculated that is how the Ukranians knew to target it.
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:18am
Frank the tank

I see there was another “you hate Jacinda cos she is a young girl” dribble by a feckless in the Ferald yesterday (since removed LOL).

The feckless are either dumb or deluded. The real reason we can stand her is either:

1). We think she is fucking useless; or
2). She has run rough shot over democracy in the last 2 years; or
3). like me, a combination of both.

Get used to this – this will be a staple for the next 2-3 months before she hits the ejector button. Following which it will be homophobia that replaces sexism………
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March 25, 2022 8:24am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Of all the people that dislike her that I know including myself, it’s nothing about her gender, it’s her total failure and her patronising ways, looks like media scum realise it’s time up. Hence the bottom feeder pile on
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:50am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They are trying to hang on to the only demographic they have left, the woman under 50, snd that sector has drunk drastically
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:53am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Freudian slip?
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:36am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The thermonuclear meltdown is getting closer. Tantrum like we have never seen. I have a neighbour who deals with staff who have personally been on the sharp end of her stick when there are no cameras or mic
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:25am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It’s okay for her to bully, but if it’s make public even though we have been told before, you would be picking on her cause young woman, even if you didn’t call her a silly little girl
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:38am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Do tell!
    
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    March 25, 2022 2:37pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  That was quite a funny article (written by John McDonald)
  
  He provided a long list of reasons why folks could feel very aggrieved from the actions (and inactions) of Jacinda Ardern’s Government….and never addresses the fact that at one stage she was wildly popular with the masses…. Now she isn’t.
  
  What changed? It can’t be the fact that some folks don’t like young female prime ministers, because they would have had that view 5 years ago.
  
  It’s the fact that folks now consider our PM to be useless, devious/dishonest and divisive.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:28am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Toxicity has gone through the roof !
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:39am
  - Swifty
    
    Exactly Maggy.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:15am
  - nathie
    
    May I appropriate some of that?
    
    Jacinda Ardevious v Jacinda Ardishonest v Jacinda Ardivisive?
    
    Hmmm, Ardevious sounds about right and sums her up perfectly!
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:17am
  - gravedodger
    
    McDonald made valiant efforts yesterday on his Newstalk nine to noon for ChCh, to explain the way her treatment is unfolding, your assessment is a far better opposite view to any that made it to air Maggy, his effort sounded rushed and off the cuff as if a directive had descended from on high to buttress the millions on offer
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:29pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Yes. Is McDonald a deliberate manipulator or just an idiot?
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:59pm
- kowtow
  
  The Media Pardy are such hypocrites.
  
  When the woman is a conservative , by golly they get very very nasty and in a profession (!) now dominatrixed by wimmin , what then is that called ,missmisogyny?
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:22am
John Pakes

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
In todays news, from the IMF and regarding NZ:
“Transitioning from relatively high corporate income tax to other sources such as Capital Gains and possibly Land Taxes, would improve efficiency without reducing aggregate revenues”
Why have successive Governments not done this in NZ. It seems strange to me to tax to the hilt something that employs people and makes things, while giving a landlord who sits on his arse and does nothing a tax free ride.
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March 25, 2022 8:24am
- Simon
  
  NZ is a massive debtor nation. The IMF works for NZ’s overseas creditors. With falling economic out put and rising interest rates NZ”s creditors will look to other ways to fleece NZ.
  
  Only cattle go along with whatever the IMF are spewing out.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:35am
- westernScientest
  
  Or we could just tax everyone less and stop wasting money on dumb sh*t.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:36am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That would be common sense, which is not that common anymore
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:27am
- washo
  
  One word – rates.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:37am
- Swifty
  
  Some good points John.
  
  Such a pity then that the NZ Labour Party so completely cocked up the discussion over CGT and now we are left with a PM who has ruled it out while she remains PM.
  
  But that’s what you get when you elect people so woefully incompetent in the role.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:42am
- CJames
  
  John
  The current government is currently doing something about not giving landlords a tax free ride. The protection and house quality requirements that tenants now get have increased landlords significantly – equivalent to a cost as it is a reduction of income. And what has been the consequence? Rents have gone up and the number of houses in the private market rental stock. One could incorrectly say it is the law of unintended consequences, but it isn’t that. Anyone with any nous predicted this would happen when the rules were first mooted. But the Government knew best and bulldozed on regardless. Then guess what – the critics were right. But I’m certain the Key Government will be to blame for the stuffup.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:47am
  - Swifty
    
    Labour don’t follow the ‘cause and effect’ school of thought, no, they prefer ‘hit and hope’.
    
    Mugs.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:16am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  To go so may see owners empty their houses, it happened when they put costs on rental owners last year, every knee jerk reaction has consequences.
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:55am
- GBC
  
  Hi John. You could argue that landlords pay both income tax (more now interest is becoming non deductible) and rates. If they sell within the brightline period they will get hit with their marginal tax rate on any gain they make. If I own a company I will of course pay tax on any profits but not on any capital gain at the time I sell.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:12am
  - westernScientest
    
    Clearly you should not be able to sell your company. It should be seized by the State to ensure it is run ‘equitably’ for all ‘stakeholders’, and you should put in the gulags for doing something which benefits society.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:40am
- Frank the tank
  
  Because you the majority of New Zimbabwe’s middle class wealth is in landed assets and it’s an automatic election loss making venture.
  
  Coupled with the there wouldn’t be a consummate reduction in personal taxation rates and will be seen for what it is a tax grab.
  
  Rather than focusing on income – we in New Zimbabwe need to focus on costs and the wastage there if you are looking for true efficiencies and not gas lighting.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:44am
- Ian Boag
  
  sits on his arse and does nothing a tax free ride.
  
  That’s a bit emotive. I prefer to look at it as “a buck is a buck is a buck”. We tax consumption and (something narrowly defined as) income. We don’t tax capital in any form. Most other countries do. Nasty commie places like the US, Canada and the UK …..
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:07am
  - alloytoo
    
    We tax payroll and consumption because they represent the best bang for the collection buck and the collection burden rests with relatively few.
    
    It’s neither fair nor equitable but it’s efficient.
    
    the IMF can sod off.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:37am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Land taxes are a great idea, cheap to administer and tend to promote efficient economic use of land (and punish ‘land bankers’) like encouraging retired people to move out of expensive properties close to CBD freeing them up for workers and reducing pressure on roading in cities as people don’t have to commute so far.
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:37am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I look forward to Labour explaining that to Maori and to conservationists.
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:03pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    A good socialist reply. What happened to freedom of choice, enjoying the fruits of your labours???
    Nope central command at work. Sort of reminds me of the Covid Fiasco.
    Old people. Get the jab. Old people move out of your house!!!
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:35pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      How is it socialist? Govt needs to raise tax revenues, preferably in a manner that promotes the most efficient uses of capital, encouraging growth, and limiting expansion of rentier activities that have so tragically screwed our country in the last 30 years.
      
      We want people to be (like Israel, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan etc) focused on activities and enterprises that create economic growth – growing businesses and enterprises to compete globally, lifting standards of living and wealth through productivity and innovation, able to take entrepreneurial risks without unsustainable mortgage debts hanging over them and absorbing every scrap of disposable income (and ability to gamble on the new), and certainly not just focusing on squatting on tax-advantaged natural monopolies created by limited urban land ownership that have absorbing all surplus created by our society for a generation and that have lead to the steady decline in nz’s relative wealth (and terrible future prospects).
      
      If you meet a Boomer from Auckland and they are not rich they are an idiot (or have had some very bad luck), If you meet a Millennial Aucklander with a house you know it is family money. When you birth date determines your likely financial success the economic system is very bad indeed.
      
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      March 25, 2022 5:56pm
glowworm

I found this an interesting opinion on the illusion of evidence based medicine. I think it provides some insight into the behaviour of our institutions.

https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o702
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March 25, 2022 8:26am
Frank the tank

So when the first Manus island fakeugees arrive later this year what is the bet within 3 months they have new jobs, enrolled in good schools and get generous mental health entitlements/benefits.

Remember these fakeugees have passed up residency in the Pacific Islands and US in most cases.
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March 25, 2022 8:28am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  What do you mean? They will be given state houses and jump the queue over NZers waiting for months, they will automatically get the dole, a job will be found immediately, they will be driving cars from day one, and they we be signed up members of the rotten Lsbour party.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:00am
- Pavel
  
  The day the attend their citizenship ceremony they will have a taxi waiting outside to take them straight down to the airport and off to Australia they will go.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:27am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I bet that has been tidied up, they possibly won’t be able to go to Aussie, I wonder if they may have 501 order on them as well, I can’t see why not.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:41am
    - Nickc2
      
      I wonder if they may have 501 orders on them as well.
      I can’t see why they shouldn’t have some sort of order slapped on them. Let’s face it, they were illegal immigrants (or attempted) to Aust.
      To repeat what I said yesterday, John Key probably invited them here knowing full well that Aust wouldn’t go along with the deal due to the fact that they could eventually end up back in Aust as an NZ Citizen.
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:18am
fightingtemeraire

Hasn’t Jacinda done well.

Emergency Housing costs from $6 million pa to $119 million in just 4 years.
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March 25, 2022 8:32am
- Matt Long
  
  Our Government after 9 years of neglect has lifted spending on emergency accommodation from only $6 million to $119 million,, ours is a government that cares for the needy. //s
  
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  March 25, 2022 8:48am
- lemuzz
  
  Rotorua will have more hotels used for relocating the homeless than for the tourists after covid.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:06am
  - stewmar
    
    Rotorua will have more hotels used for relocating the homeless than for the tourists after covid.
    
    What tourists? There aren’t any. Even NZrs are keeping clear of Rottenrua
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:03am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Time for Tania Tapsell Rotarua councilor to head to Tauranga and get into parliament and call the left pout for what she thinks of them
      
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      March 25, 2022 6:43pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Why would tourists want to go there anyway? News of the place being a shit-hole travels very quickly in Tourism circles.
    Monitor Travel Agencies and see when Brochures advertising Rotorua disappear. They wouldn’t want to recommend the place to anyone knowing what it’s currently like.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:25am
    - Hometruth
      
      Yes was looking for somewhere to stay on a trip back from Aucland. Though it was my first choice I bypassed Rotorua due to all the bad publicity and trouble the homeless are causing. Feel sorry for the Rotorua bussinesses but its time they ramped up their anger against the goverment for destroying their tourismn industry.
      
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      March 25, 2022 1:09pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That is hot just 3 months, those costs are per quarter, and that had the cheek to call out Nats when that cost got yo 1 million a year
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:10am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  She tries to cover her mess by saying it’s better than living outside or in cars, but everyone knows those numbers have taken off as well.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:42am
Yvette

The Referendum which Act proposes could be run in two ways –

1 – Decided by a majority vote with all citizens of New Zealand having the same political rights and duties, and one vote each, or –

2 – Maori, being roughly 16.5 percent of the population, having 3 votes each to give a total voting power co-governance value of 50 percent, and
non-Maori having 60 percent of one vote each so their total voting power co-governance value is also 50 percent
So, instead of all citizens of New Zealand having the same political rights and duties, as agreed to in Article 3 of the Treaty, Maori should have 5 times the votes compared to a non-Maori 1 vote

Disclaimer – The figures might need a little re-calculation regarding voting ages, and a definition (more precise than that for “hate speech”) to decide who is “Maori”, but the theory is there.

Nga mihi
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March 25, 2022 8:33am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That’s brown privilege!
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:11am
  - Yvette
    
    G the giant from Dunedin – That’s brown privilege! 
    No – it is “brown equity” or co-governance! :o)
    
    The entire Maori – non-Maori relations in New Zealand revolves around two basic kindergarten sand-pit considerations –
    
    1 – I was here first, this is all mine
    2 – we have decided this, and there is more of us than you guys
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:35am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Getting 5 votes to one is equality ? Did you mean (sarc)?
      
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      March 25, 2022 9:43am
      - Yvette
        
        Giant, if you have co-governance – Maori equal to non-Maori – because Maori are such a much lesser portion now of the population, to arrange their situation to be a co-governance, it does seem to be that a vote for each Maori would need to be worth 5 times the 1 vote that a non-Maori would have – unless my maths fail me, which is quite possible.
        
        So you should work out what equivalent voting power Maori need to make their current 16.5 percent portion of population equal to 50 percent of all votes – that’s 50/50 co-governance.
        
        I am definitely not being sarcastic. I am attempting to explain what would need to happen, to make a fraction, a minority, of the population equal to half the population
        
        Some change has to be made to accomodate the argument that, if there is co-governance, something must happen to general voting rights to accomodate that. Is that not so?
        
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        March 25, 2022 10:57am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Oh no….
    Most of the brown people in NZ – Indian, Chinese, Middle-Eastern, African, Pacific Islander, Central American, South American, African (and any combination therein) won’t have any special status at all…
    They are not Tangata whenua… (even if they are 5-6th generation NZers)
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:37am
I remember when

Two-month-old baby with no underlying health conditions dies from COVID in Australia: Newshub:
“The coroner has determined the virus caused the death.
It was the Omicron variant and they died at the end of last year.”
And, this really explains the difficulty with being rational about covid.
Once they know that Omicron has killed the baby, what action can parents take to protect their children.
Is becoming more fearful of any use.
Does getting into a panic help.
Or, do we help by suggesting actions that limit contact situations and use of commonsense.
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March 25, 2022 8:37am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  When a baby is born does it not have a hole in its heart? A joke these heals with time , it’s possible their was an undetected weakness, I had a mate that had a heart problem years later, they told him it was that hole he was born with not healing properly, it took 40 years to show up, it needed a simple correction to fix it.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:14am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    My Mum was told about a year before she died in her 90’s that she had a Hole in the Heart!!!
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:41am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, you can develop a hole in the heart, but i am pretty sure people are born with one, and it heals over but some do not
      
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      March 25, 2022 6:45pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  More stupid fear porn. Australia, nearing end of Omicron, has had just 6 deaths in 3 million under 10 years olds. Yes this kid got tragically unlucky, but babies with no underlying health conditions remain about 1000x more likely to die of something other than omicron in their first year (about 1 in 160 babies die in their first year). Almost everyone is more likely to die in a car accident this year than of Omicron.
  
  It is unlikely that Omicron will result in any excess deaths as evidenced by UK that has seen below average deaths during it’s omicron wave. Those dying with Omicron would mostly have died of something else around the same time.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:33am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    20000 under 10’s die in Australia every year. Omicron killed 6, so about 1 out of 3000 normal deaths in that age group.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:25pm
I remember when

In article covering soaring vegetable prices:
Government administrative restrictions were compounding the the challenges of rising inputs.
It took 11 years to get a new building permit approved for an irrigation water storage dam.
This meant that the build price , about $300,000
10 years ago, is now $1 million.
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March 25, 2022 8:43am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Water storage is evil as far as Marxists are concerned, even though it creates work, progress and ultimately higher revenue leading to higher tax take.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:20am
Matt Long

https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-the-marshall-plan-rebuilt-germanys-economy-after-wwii/?fbclid=IwAR31hxEtkX-dZhSelox01dJju4MfaKkwgZx0Vhkv26Cu9NPheoC5IeKX_QI
Apparently it was sound government policy rather than the Marshall Plan that fueled Germany’s economic growth post war, while Britain stagnated.
What a shame no one has done an experiment like splitting a country in two and applying sound governance to one side and socialist principals to the other, oh they did, Germany? And socialism was the clear winner? No they must’ve done it wrong then. Wish Jacinda was their Prime Minister, then it would’ve worked.
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March 25, 2022 8:43am
- I remember when
  
  I’m certain it would work while she was telling us about it.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:02am
- westernScientest
  
  also worth a watch if you havnt already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKIJUzu5oGM
  goes though a bit of similar stuff re post war Germany from memory, although its been a year since I watched it.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:18am
- alloytoo
  
  I can distill this down to two words
  
  Trabant
  
  Porsche
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:42am
- Tom Hunter
  
  I took a look at this a couple of years ago with
  A different economic starter motor:
  
  The Freiburg approach was not laissez-faire: government was to be active in promoting competition and protecting free markets from monopoly, public or private. It also allowed for a small degree of wealth redistribution through graduated income taxation and social welfare programs, but it was insistent on keeping tax rates low enough to prevent economic disincentives to productive effort.
  …
  So not the cut-throat ruthlessness with which opposition to Keynesians and Central Big Government is always cast. Somewhat to their own surprise the Freiburg school won and although they had a lot of intellectual grunt it seems just as likely that the SDR side lost because the German people were psychologically scarred by the idea of printing money and creating credit. They didn’t need an economics degree and they knew it less intellectually than in their gut.
  
  They were dealing with a supply shock (war destroys things), not a demand shock for which Keynesianism can work. You can read the summary points of their plan at the link: note the idea of not taxing overtime income.!
  
  Industrial output increased 50 percent within the year, and national income, which had fallen 20% below that of 1936, was restored to that level in just over a year and continued to climb fast. Unemployment did climb and peaked at 10.4% by 1950, but steadily dropped for the rest of the decade.
  
  Morever, this approach beat the publicised plans of the proponents of central planning. Their “Long Term Plan of 1948 predicted that by 1952-53 the industrial production would reach 110 percent of the 1936 level and agriculture 100%. Another study done in 1950 by four German research institutes – which supposedly already took account of things like the Marshall Plan, the Korean War and the success of the Freiburg plan to that date – said that five years would be needed by government planners to hit their goals – and needed another $1.5 billion in US aid beyond the Marshall Plan.
  
  Under the Freiburg plan all those targets were met and exceeded
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:51am
  - Matt Long
    
    Those are useful ideas for a post Ardern recovery if any political party was interested in improving New Zealand’s future. What’s that Christopher? Not interested? Ok, mate.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:34pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Interesting discussion of Hunter’s laptop and the crimes and corruption detailed in it. It’s about to all be released to public in searchable form – distributed to all law enforcement in USA (to work around political control of FBI who are ignoring it) to allow state authorities to prosecute, and is likely to blow up as a story in coming weeks. Of particular note is evidence of Biden being in pay of China: https://rumble.com/vy220n-mary-grace-is-live-the-laptop-from-hell-special-report-with-retied-senior-c.html
At 1:12:00 he discusses VP Biden and Hunter going to China in 2013 in response to Chinese building military bases in south China sea. China completed the bases and (quelle surprise) bagman Hunter came home with $1.5 Billion in Chinese funding for a bullshit venture.
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March 25, 2022 8:52am
Tony Stuart

Very sad to hear this morning of the death of Kenny McFadden, the “Chancellor of the Exchequer”. Kenny WAS basketball in NZ in the 1980’s; his Exchequer Saints team dominated the local league, and he brought a new level of excitement to the game.

After his playing career he took up coaching. Steven Adams, his most famous protege, has described him as a “father figure”, working with troubled youth and giving their lives structure. McFadden was there with Adams when he was first drafted into the NBA.

I found this story the morning, and it captures the essence of the man:

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/nba/thunder/2018/07/29/meet-kenny-mcfadden-the-man-who-shaped-steven-adams-and-new-zealand-basketball/60510891007/

Rest peacefully Kenny, and thanks for the memories!
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March 25, 2022 8:54am
- Biscuit
  
  Sad indeed, TS…
  
  I was never much of a Basketball fanatic – I prefer Sports where you an say ‘THAT was the game-wining moment’ – but because I worked quite close to where the Saints played home games I used to toddle along to four or five games a season.
  
  Always loud affairs, ha, but great food at the courtside dining tables…
  
  61 is way too young an age to exit this planet…
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:02am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    This Sunday piece on McFadden has footage of that moment in 1985 which WAS a game-winning moment, on prime-time NZ television on a Saturday night:
    
    https://youtu.be/TC_cQkSaUak
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:09am
- westernScientest
  
  -1
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:16am
Rusty

Is this war in Ukraine proving that Russia is not a super power anymore?

If madman Putin is considering nuclear missile strikes on Ukraine cities wouldn’t that also mean thousands of Russian soldiers will die with the Ukraine’s as well?

This war could lead to Putin’s demise and China becoming an enemy of Russia.

Time will tell.
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March 25, 2022 8:55am
- Biscuit
  
  I thought that too, Rusty – that Russia is in the B Category of nuclear states.
  
  Looking at their poor equipment, poor systems and naive tactics – a convoy of tanks going along a public road in a dead straight line, come ON – you’d not be surprised if they hadn’t been making regular checks to make sure their biggest weapons are still operational.
  
  We can but hope that Putin is so losing favour with his lackeys that one of them might [yeah, yeah, mod, I know you don’t condone violence…]
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:10am
  - Rusty
    
    Biscuit — cant disagree with you. Russia/old Soviet union have bluffed the west ever since the end of ww2 that they are a super power.
    
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    March 25, 2022 3:35pm
- Andrei
  
  Where do you get your information from – comic books?
  
  China, Russia and India have never been closer
  
  Since 2014 Ukraine has been a failed state which the corrupt American political class has been using to launder money
  
  In case you hadn’t noticed in Europe major industries are shutting down due to rising fuel costs and the inability to source raw materials
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:14am
  - virtualmark
    
    Don’t be a muppet.
    
    China & Russia have mutually suspicious of each other (rightly so). They have nothing like the close relationship of NATO, let alone say the UK-USA special relationship.
    
    China & India fought a border dispute as recently as May 2020, and that’s still simmering. Each views the other as a major military and economic threat.
    
    India & Russia have grown distant as India re-aligns itself, especially militarily, with the US. India is tired of buying crap military equipment from Russia and has turned to buying Western.
    
    So all three legs of your China, Russia & India triangle are broken.
    
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    March 25, 2022 10:57am
    - kowtow
      
      UK-USA special relationship.
      
      Yes but I’d never over state that and there’s always been a tension there.
      
      In WW2 the Yanks as a people just weren’t interested in a euro war not of their business. It took the half American Churchill a huge amount of effort with Roosevelt to get them , for domestic politics reasons remotely interested in a European war .
      
      The State dept at the time Britain stood alone recognised Vichy as the lawful govt of France .
      
      As recently as the Falklands war again the state dept wanted to side with the Argies , part of their American continents priority , over any Eurppean “friends ” .
      
      Obama binning the bust .And he was at pains to distance himself from said special relationship.
      
      Biden , I don’t want anything Orange etc
      
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      March 25, 2022 11:34am
  - Master Mariner
    
    I’m with you on this Andrei, While everyone focused on Ukraine the economic war is unleashed.
    Supply Chains
    Inflation
    Energy security.
    
    I cant help thinking Putin is playing chess while Biden thinks hes playing checkers.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:44pm
  - Rusty
    
    Andrei – are their comic books published on the Russia/Ukraine war??
    
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    March 25, 2022 3:38pm
- virtualmark
  
  Russia is a super-power because it has a big arsenal of nukes.
  
  Absent that, Russia has only won wars with foreign powers when it’s had the support of the then-dominant global power. They defeated Napoleon with the UK’s help. They defeated Hitler with the American’s help. Russia tends to be willing to throw men into the meat-grinder, but it needs someone else to support it with equipment and materiel. Russia’s problem in 2022 is that the global powers are supporting Russia’s opponent with materiel, not Russia.
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:52am
  - kowtow
    
    Winter defeated Napoleon in Russia , as did his own poor planning and execution.
    Wellington , whom I admire greatly , defeated N only with Prussian help ( and other Allies). A near run thing.
    And N wasn’t himself at Waterloo , had he been it’s debatable would the Allies have won there.And again the weather favoured the Irishman Wellesley that day too.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:40am
    - Mike
      
      Don’t know where you get such odd notions.
      Napoleon was indeed at Waterloo.
      As for Wellington, born in Dublin, I belive he once said that being born in a stable didn’t make one a horse. Probably a fake quote, but quite accurately illustrates the attitude of the protestant ascendancy.
      
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      March 25, 2022 12:53pm
    - Jack5
      
      On Waterloo, don’t forget Gebhard Leberecht’s Prussians arriving on the French’s right flank at a critical stage of the battle.
      
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      March 25, 2022 1:59pm
  - Rusty
    
    virtualmark — the Russian 1980-89 war in Afghanistan bankrupted the Russian army which contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.
    
    History could be repeating itself.
    
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    March 25, 2022 3:42pm
  - Local Miller
    
    Winter also beat Hitler on his Eastern Front with Russia. The closer Hitler’s troops got to Leningrad, the longer the supply lines. Then when winter set in the supply lines got bogged down in the snow as they had the wrong transport. The net result was the soldiers on the front didn’t have winter clothing or provisions. It was inevitable that the Russians would beat them.
    
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    March 25, 2022 3:57pm
DRHILL

Worrying News from the Sydney Morning Herald today (no mention in the NZ Media so far)

China set to sign first security deal in the Pacific on Australia’s doorstep

The deal with Solomon Islands would give Beijing a base for its navy less than 2000 kilometres from Australia’s coast.
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March 25, 2022 8:59am
- westernScientest
  
  i am so glad we live in a benign strategic environment….
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/300549709/china-to-sign-first-pacific-security-deal-which-will-give-them-warships-on-australias-doorstep
  
  As an aside, does anyone know what happened to the deal that was being worked on a few years ago to let Singapore have some F16s at Ohakea for training exercises?
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:59am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Think you will find that Singapore has military “”bases”” in Australia that they regularly exercise from and train their pilots
    
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    March 25, 2022 2:10pm
- Inandout
  
  DR, when China moves in this will cease because they have ‘ways and means’ when dealing with crime.
  
  Solomon Islands – Travel advice for NZers.
  
  ‘Crime
  Criminal activity, such as theft, robbery and burglary, and some acts of violence do occur, especially around Honiara. Such activity is usually related to alcohol consumption, domestic disputes and land issues. There have been incidents of abduction and assault on public buses and at bus stops’.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:19am
I remember when

Is saying “I hate living in emergency housing motel accommodation” – hate speech?
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March 25, 2022 8:59am
Bloody Dago

No-one gives a flying proverbial Chloe as you promote Green ban it culture. Just go away and run some Auckland beach clean-ups..
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/nicki-jackson-alcohol-healthwatch-executive-director-on-chloe-swarbrick-winning-the-backing-of-council-to-remove-alcohol-advertising-from-elite-sport/
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March 25, 2022 9:08am
surfing

Cops don’t have enough time to arrest a known motorcycle thief, who continues to steal motorcycles while police watch on, accepting stolen motorbike reports, but doing nothing to get the guy doing this.

This indicates to me that police are either poorly run or we don’t have the numbers to enforce the law. Either way, NZ is turning into the wild west, the gangsters rule.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300549012/auckland-excop-frustrated-over-lack-of-police-action-after-motorbike-stolen
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March 25, 2022 9:23am
- kowtow
  
  Today’s Ferald has a story about a guy who was really dangerous and had his guns returned to him , but later was shot and killed in “suicide by cop”
  Yesterday there was a story about a gun sourced from a licensed firearms holder gang associate who the Ferald say gave a gun to the guy who shot Constable Mathew Hunt.
  
  Sounds pretty f@3ked up.
  
  Are we feeling safer .
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:45am
- MCōs
  
  The guy admitted he was a mug letting the bloke ride away on his bike.
  I wonder if he collected any insurance?
  How did you lose your bike?
  Well, I gave the keys to this stranger who rode away and I never saw the bike again.
  Claim denied.
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:08pm
Surely Knott

NZHerald morning headline “Mandate Muddle” is an article about the legality of NZ’s Mandates and the impact for employers, yet extraordinarily it fails to mention that there has been a court case and the government lost. There is no detail given on the grounds which the government lost or the words “illegal and unjustified in a democratic country” or any details on this legal outcome. Or that their is another mandate court case with a pending decision. The rapid about-face from the government reinstating jobs in this article is because of the governments wisdom in face of the new variant no mention of the high court demanding it.

Instead they quote the PM, “Mandates were undoubtedly required to get 95 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated, to achieve the near elimination of Delta over summer,” she said.

(That’s right the vaccination isn’t a failure. It wasn’t Omicron that eliminated Delta it was
Ardern’s vaccination programme. )

“Ardern said although the mandates would be dropped next month, they were still needed in some circumstances – and it’s up to employers to decide.”

(Is it up to employers to decide or is it up to the courts? Given the government just lost in court because of their illegal mandates, is Ardern in a position to give legal advice around the legality of mandates to employers. )

(Looking forward to the outcome of the teachers court case)

(This is another Herald misinformation article from the NZ Herald Weasel Burrow. ).
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March 25, 2022 9:26am
- krazykiwi
  
  There is another legal action planned. A big one, as I understand it.
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:59am
  - Hebe123
    
    do tell!
    I’m angry. People think the mandates are all gone but not for those that may choose to keep them:
    – government departments
    – private businesses
    – council facilities (Auckland, not heard re CHCH yet)
    – Universities (UC and Waikato I have heard are retaining them)
    I bet this encompasses more people than teachers, defence and police.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:27pm
Philview

I thought I had a reasonable handle on how statistics work but the MOH’s claim that Maori have the highest rate of Covid with 35 out 1000 cases leaves me scratching my head. So the other 965 out 1000 cases are who?
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March 25, 2022 9:28am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The left are useless with numbers, always will be
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:41am
- Ehlana
  
  And here I thought 16% of 1000 cases would be 160. It would appear that Maori are grossly underrepresented in Covid cases, which may be something to do with high rates of vaccination among their elderly when compared to non-Maori, non-Pacific people.
  
  So if Maori are grossly underrepresented, someone else must be overrepresented. Who? And what is the government doing about it?
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:12pm
cas

I haven’t seen major obituaries for Dame Miriam Dell who passed away the other day. Now she was a pioneer for women and deserves much praise but I suppose the MSM are too busy with Covid and other distractions.

By the way if outdoor venues can have whoever they like and indoor ones 200, when is the wedding?
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March 25, 2022 9:30am
Maggie Pie

I know Ma likes a tipple with her dinner, but she sounded really furious last night when she called.
She’d only just seen the news about the Manus Island refugees.
Said she blames Golriz and that overstayer Bouchani for trying to destroy this country.

https://twitter.com/1NewsNZ/status/1506880465688535041

I tried calling her earlier but the phone went to message.
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March 25, 2022 9:30am
- Frank the tank
  
  Our South African office lady was irate. Said this is how the rot started in her home country 30 years ago when they started letting in fakeugees from Nigeria!!
  
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  March 25, 2022 9:50am
Tony Stuart

Last week it was thousands of MMR vaccines being destroyed; this week it’s $800,000 worth of AstraZeneca Covid vaccines.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/128155338/covid19-76000-astrazeneca-doses-will-be-dumped-on-april-2

Is this the most wasteful government New Zealand has ever seen?
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March 25, 2022 9:42am
- virtualmark
  
  Remember that we ordered *four* vaccines, not just Pfizer. And enough of each vaccine to cover the whole population. So we’ll end up with a lot of wasted vaccines.
  
  Not sure why they’d be destroyed though, rather than being donated to Covax. But it’s possible Covax has enough vaccine supply and the limits its facing are more about logistics and on-the-ground stuff.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:00am
kevn

@Tony… They just can’t do sums. No matter what the application, hopeless.
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March 25, 2022 9:52am
Jim

It should be noted that the government has updated its advice to businesses as follows:
———————————————————————————————
My Vaccine Pass
From 11:59pm on 4 April 2022, there will be no requirement to use My Vaccine Pass. Until 4 April, where My Vaccine Passes are not used, the current restrictions remain — but after this time, the new capacity limits will apply to everyone.

After 4 April, businesses will still be able to use the system if they would like to.
———————————————————————————————

Surely the last sentence demonstrates either a lack professional leadership or potential malfeasance by our DG of Health or Public Health, as surely the vaccine pass is either:
1. An essential (scientifically defensible) requirement to maintain public health; or,
2. It’s now a discretionary form of state sponsored discrimination.

For any business owners considering this vital point about the future operation of their business from 4 April onwards, I suggest considering the following questions:
1. What happens to vaccine pass validity dates after 01 Jun 22?
2. What is the government definition of the term ‘fully vaccinated’ mean? (2,3 or even potentially 4 jabs)
3. What potential impact will unknown answers to Q1 and Q2 have on the profitability, sustainability and reputation of my business?

From a customer’s perspective, I know where I would prefer to spend my cash.
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March 25, 2022 9:54am
- Matt Long
  
  It would be great to have a list of businesses that use vaccine passes where the law no longer requires them.
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:37am
  - Cinematic
    
    It will be a very very short list.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:10am
    - Jim
      
      You would certainly hope so Cinematic!
      
      Once again, with such flaky advice the government’s health and medical leaders (who only knows what salaries these people are on) are abrogating their responsibility to offer the public definitive directions which is scientifically based and legally defensible.
      
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      March 25, 2022 1:50pm
- Jim
  
  Here the hyperlink to the government site:
  
  https://covid19.govt.nz/traffic-lights/changes-to-the-traffic-light-system?utm_source=Bus.Govt_EssentialComms&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPF_Update_24Mar2022&utm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fcovid19.govt.nz%2Ftraffic-lights%2Fchanges-to-the-traffic-light-system
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:45pm
I remember when

It was interesting to hear Jacinda use the figure of 5000 deaths recently.
This would suggest they are using Danish research.
Denmark has 83% One Dose, 81.2% Two Doses and 61.9% Booster.
It also has an infection rate of 49.5% from some of the best covid research available.
Denmark Covid Totals:
2020: 163,479 Cases, 1312 Deaths, .8%
2021: 623,892 Cases, 1955 Deaths, .32%
2022: 2,091,460 Cases, 2219 Deaths, .11%
Total: 2,878,831 Cases, 5486 Deaths, .19%

They have also removed restrictions, except some mask wearing in hospitals, care homes and when required by airline for travel.
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March 25, 2022 9:55am
Maggy Wassilieff

.
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March 25, 2022 10:07am
- westernScientest
  
  that apears to be the current advice
  
  When you can end your self-isolation
  The last day of your self-isolation is either 7 days after your symptoms started, or 7 days after you got a positive test result (whichever came first).
  
  The day you can continue your normal activities, including work, is called Day 8. You may get a text message confirming your self-isolation has ended. You do not need to wait for an official message to leave self-isolation.
  
  You are not required to provide evidence of a negative test to return to work or school.
  
  https://covid19.health.nz/advice/positive/self-isolation
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:14am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  .
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:15am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Friend is still testing positive after 8 days of Covid-19. Her workplace says she can come back to work tomorrow as she feels ok now (had a rough couple of nights, last week).
  
  Is this common practice?
  
  (This was meant to go above western scientists’s reply)
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:16am
  - Inandout
    
    Maggy, feed a cold, starve a fever. Now back to work.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:39am
  - MCōs
    
    There seems to be a number of different reactions to covid-19.
    My granddaughter picked it up at school, was slightly unwell for a day or so. Her father, who works from home became infected and is still not right a couple of weeks later. Didn’t help that he tried to keep working, which he couldn’t sustain for more a few hours a day, rather than rest for a couple of days.
    At my son’s school half the staff & a lot of kids were away at one time. Now they have pretty much full attendance. Unfortunately one of the kids has long covid and is too fatigued to get through a day, with no sign of recovery in sight.
    
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    March 25, 2022 12:05pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

It was Winston Peters who said… “Two Wongs don’t make a right”

Being a man of principle, now that the Solomon Islands have thrown their lot in with the Chinese, will Winston return the Nguzu Nguzu and tell them to stik it up their ass ?

https://rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/391250/nz-renews-aid-agreement-with-solomon-islands
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March 25, 2022 10:21am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He said 2 Wong’s dont make a White, not a right
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:36pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Our lousy education system is failing our kids.

https://tinyurl.com/ycyta4pc
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March 25, 2022 10:41am
Tony Stuart

Remember 2017? Jacinda Ardern had just been elected Labour Party leader, and her first promise was that light rail would be built from the Wynyard Quarter to Mt Roskill by 2021.

Of course it’s now 2022, and not a single sod has been turned, nor has a single shovel gone into the ground. And guess what; a final investment decision is not going to be made until 2024 at the earliest:

https://twitter.com/businessdesk_nz/status/1507062531185004563

Is it any wonder that this government is becoming known as the Announcement Government, the Do-Nothing Government or the All-Hui-No-Doey Government? And just imagine how much the cost is going to increase in another two years. If ever there was a project that needs to be shelved today, it’s this one.
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March 25, 2022 11:14am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Oh Tony, just so misogynistic.
  
  The government hasn’t been allowed to do a single progressive thing because COVID…
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:37am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our law schools will now teach Tikanga Maori.

Thomas also believes there will come a time when Māori lore will be a core aspect of New Zealand society.

“Not only within the courts but in all aspects in Aotearoa, Tikanga Māori becomes established as law.”

So with tikanga Māori being included in the curriculum, the next stop is the wide inclusion of tikanga within the judicial system of New Zealand.

https://www.teaomaori.news/tikanga-maori-be-taught-law-degree-courses
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March 25, 2022 11:19am
- cmm
  
  Even engineering and science students do not escape this.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:28am
  - Inandout
    
    cmm, our education system is in tatters already and this will further increase our exodus to Oz. Imagine the Oz law society asking an applicant from NZ for proof of law studies when this shit is given over.
    
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    March 25, 2022 11:37am
- GJM
  
  Does Maori justice involve a stone club and revenge on the other family members? It may simultaneously cut reoffending and the Maori population in NZ…
  
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  March 25, 2022 7:25pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Did Our Dear PM really save anyone?

Our mortality rate has skyrocketed recently.

After holding steady at about five per million from early 2020 until late last year, it jumped to about 10 per million for several months – until February 2022.

Since then, it has gone rapidly up to reach close to 40 deaths per million.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463975/measuring-and-reporting-covid-19-deaths-what-you-need-to-know
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March 25, 2022 11:23am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  When you have 90% of the population going through a week of covid infection then 0.9 x 7 x 90 per day normal death rate people are going to die with covid. That’s a bit over 550, and with just 150 dead with Omicron and a substantial proportion of NZ population having now had it, it appears that Omicron is not actually increasing normal death rates at all. It’s a huge nothing.
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:43am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  We won’t know till it’s over and excess death rates can be compared for the whole period.
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:10pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    That’s true. But it’s very likely – eg in UK the excess deaths during peak of recorded Omicron deaths have actually been below average.
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:16pm
wilderbeast

Ashley Bloomfield reported in the Canterbury Star as follows:

“Bloomfield warned of the potential for devastating flu outbreaks and other infectious diseases come winter, along with new variants of Covid.

“Based on international experience New Zealand could expect up to 5000 daily cases for several more weeks and a baseline of about 1000 for months.

“Hospitalisations due to Covid-19 were expected to sit around 200 to 300 a day.

“This all meant “we need to keep our wits about ourselves”. Bloomfield said.

“Covid isn’t done with the world yet.”

Anyone else done with the “dog and pony show” as John Key put it? Ashley Bloomfield’d advice needs to be put alongside all the other relevant advice where it belongs, not presented as the irrefutable science that will lead us to the holy land. If nothing else I hope this whole episode teaches us that centralised thinking makes our whole country single point sensitive and massively vulnerable. The unders and overs of a decentralised, market economy a whole lot better than a “we know best” power tripping government and bureaucracy.
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March 25, 2022 11:31am
Maggie Pie

Actually, I meant to bring this up earlier….

Happened to catch Tova’s interview with Chris Finlayson this a.m.
She asked him what he thought about New Zealand agreeing to bring in the Manus refugees? He said he was right behind it.
Then went on to say….’ that Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was one of the most ‘odious Australians’ he had ever meet’.

Well that might be HIS opinion of course.
Everybody we know, says they’d rather have Dutton over Faafoi any day of the week.
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March 25, 2022 11:39am
- Mike
  
  Is ‘having’ someone ‘over’ someone else a regular occurrence at the Otahuhu tennis club?
  
  3 7
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  March 25, 2022 12:30pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    No upticks or downticks from 12.30 on this post Mike?
    Why?
    Are your public not supporting you?
    Sad boy
    
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    March 25, 2022 4:07pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Personally I love Dutts he is right up there with the Mad Monk (Abbott) as my all time fav Aussie Pollie.
  
  Not a touch on their US counterparts like Rand Paul, Ron DeSantis, the delectable Kristi Noem or the Trumpsta but serviceable.
  
  Perhaps Trev was right when he called Finlayson ‘tinkerbell’. Strange but I thought Trev was never right………..
  
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  March 25, 2022 12:50pm
  - Matt Long
    
    Now how could you leave BKatter Jr off your list. Using nuclear energy to blast a hole through the Great dividing range and irrigate central Oz is a legendary idea.
    
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    March 25, 2022 9:27pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LKM2rzZpRw

Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain, Episode 20 “Please Explain Presidential Politics”

Labor leader Antony Albanese is faced with a dilemma. How does someone win an election without any policies or vision? Luckily for Albo he just has to look to the campaign of American president Joe Biden for inspiration and guidance.
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March 25, 2022 11:41am
curry4me

https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2022/03/24/ron-desantis-wins-again-as-poll-of-florida-dems-on-parental-rights-bill-shatters-fake-narratives-n540233

Ron DeSantis Wins Again as Poll of Florida Dems on Parental Rights Bill Shatters Fake Narratives

As we’ve previously reported, the mainstream media and the “progressive” left have been braying like mules for the last several weeks over the Florida parental rights legislation that critics have falsely labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
To his credit, Gov. Ron DeSantis has responded accordingly to the outcry and various fake narratives surrounding the bill, noting that it does not in fact “ban” saying “gay” in public school classrooms and that in actuality, what it does is prevents age-inappropriate lesson plans on sexual orientation and gender ideology in K-3 classrooms, and enshrines parental rights when it comes to discussions of such sensitive subject matters with children.
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March 25, 2022 11:42am
- Frank the tank
  
  DeSantis is good, very good. He has repeatedly pushed back against all the false narratives and misinformation thrown his way. In fact a certain individual on this site was pushing the killer narrative as he stood alone against mandates and masks during the height of the Plandemic.
  
  Ironically now Florida is way down on this list, has kept his economy in tact and otherwise is free of restrictions.
  
  What was a toss-up gubernatorial contest in 2020 is now a solid Republican state for 2022.
  
  We need his close for New Zimbabwe
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:57pm
  - curry4me
    
    Ye, he has done an excellent job. I hope he becomes President in 2028.
    
    1 1
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    March 25, 2022 7:05pm
curry4me

https://thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/599672-arizona-legislature-passes-15-week-abortion-ban?amp=&amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16481590200466&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fstate-watch%2F599672-arizona-legislature-passes-15-week-abortion-ban

Arizona legislature passes 15-week abortion ban
The Arizona legislature on Thursday passed a controversial bill banning abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The state House passed the measure, which resembles a Mississippi law now being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court, along party lines, The Associated Press reported.
The Arizona senate passed the legislation last month, also along party lines.
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March 25, 2022 11:45am
bythesea

Latest cartoon for the “Please Explain” series on Ozy politics, and just as funny as the first. Could be the last one – that’s the 20 episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LKM2rzZpRw

featuring Joe Biden in the basement.
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March 25, 2022 12:54pm
- curry4me
  
  My favorite was #6, where Scotty was forced to tell the truth for a day.
  
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  March 25, 2022 7:06pm
Don Beckett

Here is the latest from Michael Matt at The Remnant TV from Minesota USA. He gives an objective & different perspective look at the war in Ukraine, Putin, Zelinsky & how we are propagandised – he does this through a Catholic perspective, but the real interesting parts are his analysis & facts he presents.

https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/5899-putin-s-war-biden-soros-and-the-ghost-of-john-mccain
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March 25, 2022 1:07pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Thanks to – I presume a Mod. – for correcting the link. 🙂
  
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  March 25, 2022 4:39pm
Nickc2

Cindy’s BFF (the PM of Canada) gets called out by the European Parliament and there’s nothing he can do about it.
Oh, the irony!
https://twitter.com/AndersonAfDMdEP/status/1506905594623574020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1506905594623574020%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.michaelsmithnews.com%2F
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March 25, 2022 1:08pm
surfing

So, a while back, Ashley Bloomfield said they would change the covid death reporting as follows…

Deaths are now reported in three categories:
Where Covid-19 is the clear cause of death
Where a person is found to have had Covid-19 when they died but it was not the cause of death
When a person is known to have had Covid-19 when they died but their cause of death is not known

This sounds OK, but, why they are not doing it! And, it has been sometime since this announcement!
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March 25, 2022 1:12pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Blofeld is a liar.
  Good boy Surfing for exposing this
  
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  March 25, 2022 4:11pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Our Government has a plan to improve maths and literacy leaning and teaching in our schools.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463977/govt-sets-out-plan-to-lift-children-s-maths-literacy-performance

Great!

But I looked at the strategy….and just saw a wish list of what should be done.

Seems to remind me of the stuff I’ve been seeing for the last 30 years…
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March 25, 2022 1:15pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Here’s the strategy:
  
  https://assets.education.govt.nz/public/Documents/Ministry/Changes-in-education/ELS-0778-Maths-and-Literacy-Strategies-Doc_web.pdf
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:17pm
  - cmm
    
    They do at least identify a few issues – like there being a lack of specialised maths teachers.
    
    However they seem clueless about how to address the issue. Perhaps potential maths teachers are skilled enough to get careers outside teaching and do so when their frustration limits are reached. The education system spends far too much time worrying about nonsense that does not improve educational outcomes.
    
    It is somewhat worrying that there’s a deep Maori theme running through this. Maori culture has no mathematics and brings nothing to the table.
    
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    March 25, 2022 1:30pm
    - Yabster
      
      theres always a maori theme- its ingrained in anything this shit government does- not to mention the Ministries like MoE.
      
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      March 25, 2022 2:30pm
    - BeaB
      
      Imagine if this was a medical improvement that would immediately save lives. Would we have to wait years and years until doctors were trained, diversity issues were addressed and everyone decided exactly how they were going to do it?
      
      The problems are simple and easily fixed. Make teacher training more school-based with lots of practical classroom experience. Give every primary teacher a text book to follow for English, maths and science.
      Evaluate their results and pay bonuses.
      High schools know from their testing exactly what is and is not taught thoroughly in their contributing primary schools. It’s not hard.
      No child should leave 8 years of primary schooling unable to do the basics.
      Primary school shove accountability down the line to high schools. Make primary principals ‘ pay partly dependent on results.
      We need far more stick and less woolly waffle.
      Teachers could even start with 100% attendance themselves to set a good example instead of countless teacher-only days and union meetings in school time.
      Make schools 8-5 and expect teachers in school during kids’ holidays. Prep and marking could then be built into the school day to give teachers free time at home and in the weekends.
      But nothing will be done and our kids will continue to slide down the international achievement ladders. Labour are owned by the teaching unions and won’t upset them.
      
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      March 25, 2022 2:48pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Specialised maths teachers FFS. To teach high school maths all you need to know (up until year 13 perhaps) is… high school maths.
      
      The problem is that the vast hordes (almost exclusively women) getting into teaching were almost universally uninterested and poorly achieving in high school maths, preferring non-STEM waffling non-rigorous subjects at school and finding after that (and perhaps a humanities degree), that they had no financially rewarding employment options, and so fell back on lazy low-attainment teaching ‘profession’ (yes this is a generalisation, but it is true of so so many, particularly in low-standard low-decile schools).
      
      I would be surprised if average IQ of new teachers in last 10 years was above 95
      
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      March 25, 2022 5:34pm
- Nickc2
  
  Same old, same old!
  Platitudes for four years and no action indicates to me that the expected outcome is too difficult given the caliber of our current School Teachers and their union.
  
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  March 25, 2022 1:19pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING…

After spending more than a week camping it up on the Parliamentary grass, bestie Gilda carries on the fight from home 😀

Here she is now hoeing into that odious Michael Woodhouse MP for Mt Roskill.

https://twitter.com/Strange_G/status/1507129140541259780

>>>Replies are a hoot as well!!
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March 25, 2022 1:22pm
- Yabster
  
  Michael Wood aka “river of filth”, Woodhouse is a National MP -thought you would be better with your Woods Maggie? lol
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:33pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  *CORRECTION: Michael WOOD
  
  (and did you know that b4 entering Parliament he was a ‘Christmas Tree’ salesman?)
  
  LOL!!
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:39pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, exploiting little children for personal gain. Now he’s a Labour Politician, he’s exploiting NZers for everything he can.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:23pm
  - tf78
    
    I think he was a fairly ineffectual “tie” salesman.
    
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    March 25, 2022 8:31pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

49 years of greatness and 81 million fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP3k42LGfqg
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March 25, 2022 1:44pm
- curry4me
  
  Thanks for that YT Brandon item.
  
  1 1
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  March 25, 2022 7:18pm
Don Beckett

Rita Panahi of Sky News Oz. shafts the US news media over the Hunter Biden lap top exposee.

“Amid Russian Invasion, Ukranian boy receives the Eucharist With Great Love and Raises Prayers to God.”

Batman will be along shortly to pour cold water on the story, claiming it all grew out of the Jan.6th Revolution when supporters of Trump………..
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March 25, 2022 2:13pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Whoops – dunno what happened there.
  IGNORE 🙁
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:23pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

People not happy with Trudeau – I wonder why?
https://rumble.com/vycsed-eu-politician-eviscerates-dictator-trudeau-you-are-a-disgrace.html?
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March 25, 2022 2:14pm
Maggie Pie

And wanna see a total Train Wreck?

https://twitter.com/ZeitgeistPOL/status/1507092388925227024
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March 25, 2022 2:20pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, the Labour internal polling must be shifting by the hour. I had a boss like Wood once and he was in a state of continual confusion and if employed in private enterprise would be gone by lunchtime. I don’t think the state sector has changed.
  
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  March 25, 2022 2:51pm
Philview

Matthew Tukaki is calling for a boycott of Xero. I wonder how many Xero users are supportive of Co- Governance.
20 2
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March 25, 2022 2:29pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Then we find out Drury is part Maori, how bloody pathetic is Tutaki, and he is a government bureaucrat, and this plonker wants to be a Labour mp, well, he is rotten to the core, he would fit in well
  
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  March 25, 2022 11:39pm
kevn

@Maggie… m.wood is a shocker. What a load of rubbish he speaks. Put it on TV1/3 news for the dumbos who support clowns like him.
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March 25, 2022 3:10pm
Surely Knott

Stuff’s article endangers children, disrespects and falsely blames women and appears to have hidden the true history of an offender who appears to have changed their identity but not their criminal behaviour.

Stuff’s article on Laken Maree Rose headline describes her as “New Zealand’s most prolific female child sex offender”.

The Detective Sergeant described the crimes as almost unprecedented. The article is stomach churning in its depravity. But interestingly, the article uses the word female 20 times and repeatedly refers to her as Ms Rose as they describe how unusual female sex crimes of this type are. He noted that her female gender “put people at ease” and is what allowed her and her partner, Andrew Alan Williams, to draw in the girls and offend.

But a quick google and it turns out that another nz paedophile shares the same name – Laken. Transgender man Rory Francis was convicted of multiple paedophile charges and in jail transitioned to Laken Mckay of Auckland. Laken has HIV and HEP C. Another detail the Stuff article seems to have overlooked.

The detective said “over his four decades in the police, he had encountered females who had been convicted of ‘party to sex offending “but none like this.” “She in most cases created the opportunity for Mr Williams to offend”

Ms Rose’s evidence presented her as a victim of female domestic violence…..in “every case her offending was in response to threats or actual physical violence ..” which the judge did not find credible.

“The rarity of female sex offenders is also made clear in ministry of justice data on sex offences…” The article tells us.

However” a female can only be convicted of rape as a party to an offence committed by a male.” “But Rose broke that mold” “Rose was a principal offender so she was not only grooming these children she was participating in their violation.” So a female can’t usually be committed of rape, but rose was violating them.

I think it’s grossly irresponsible to not tell the full history of Laken and the person’s offending and identity for the safety of NZ. And I leave you with the final message stuff leaves us with from psychology lecturer Dr Jacinta Cording ..”The low numbers (of female sex offenders) is sometimes taken as proof of overlooking and underreporting these kind of offences by women..”.”people found child sex offending more jarring from a female perpetrator as it clashed with the notion females are more trusting and caring.” “Females can be deviant” she said.

The takeaway message is clear. Females are sexually dangerous. This record offending will no doubt be recorded as female sex crimes.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/128064031/theyre-young-theyll-get-over-it–how-laken-maree-rose-became-one-of-new-zealands-most-prolific-female-child-sex-offenders

Laken changes name and gender:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/96139172/paroled-paedophile-changes-name-and-gender-behind-bars
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March 25, 2022 3:16pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That is …. astonishing
  
  It’s almost as if none of the judiciary, the police or the media ever read ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’
  
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  March 25, 2022 10:43pm
graham

People commenting on blogs in 2021: “The Covid death stats we’re being fed are nonsensical … the way they’re being reported makes it appear that more people have died from Covid-19 than the true number of deaths actually caused by Covid-19.”

General population: “Boo, hiss, you’re all crazy … we prefer to listen to the experts, thank you very much.”

.
.
.

NZ Herald, March 2022:

University of Otago epidemiologist professor Michael Baker says it is worth considering how valid some of the cases listed as deaths are.

“A problem with assessing Covid-19 deaths is whether a person died of their acute Covid-19 infection or an underlying illness,” Baker says.

Having someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and died in the next 28 days is a “pretty broad definition”.

Baker says it’s worth having a “healthy suspicion for every bit of data” – and making sure your data is valid when analysing rates and measurements.

General population (nodding sagely): “Hmm, yes, this expert obviously knows what he’s talking about. Very wise.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-measuring-and-reporting-deaths-what-you-need-to-know/FVONSEWGQARULD6OSB664UUQPQ/
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March 25, 2022 3:27pm
Maggie Pie

And here’s something ‘milkey’ will relate to 😛

Gay couple Steve & Mike have adopted a so-called ‘gay dog’ after it was abandoned by its previous owners over perceived homosexual behaviour…. all because they caught him humping another male pooch.

They have renamed him ‘Oscar’, after the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde – who was also gay.

And it looks like ‘Oscar’ will have company. The couple already have another furry-friend named
Harry.
They expect the boys will get along just fine.

https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/1506745178715004928
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March 25, 2022 4:30pm
- Mike
  
  My dog only humps dogs which identify as a couch.
  
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  March 25, 2022 4:45pm
- Mike
  
  Love to chat more, Maggie, but Kiwiblog closes down at 6 pm.
  
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  March 25, 2022 6:01pm
Maggie Pie

This bloody government eh 🙁

How must the flood-effected residents of Gizzie be feeling?

We just saw that Kiri Allen on the news announcing….. a contribution of $175,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund.

She’s part of the same Cabinet that approved $2.75 MILLION to her mates in the ‘Mighty-Mongrel-Mob’

SHEESH!!!
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March 25, 2022 6:26pm

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