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January 14, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 14 January 2023

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General Debate

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Yvette

“… And te Ao Māori”

Hate speech legislation is simply an alternative way for the state to say that truth and consequently freedom begins and ends here. It is a necessary step in the development of a civil religion to reinforce the cult of “Diversity and Inclusion”.
– Bruce Logan [1]

However, from just back inMarch 2019 – Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki has slammed the Muslim call to prayer which will take place at 1.30pm today. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the prayer would take place to recognise the lives lost in the Christchurch terrorist attacks last Friday.
Ardern said the prayer would be followed by two minutes of silence at 1.32pm.
"Two minutes of silence is okay but the Islamic prayer will sound? It contains this line 'there is no God but Allah', well I disagree," Tamaki wrote on Twitter. "Jesus Christ is the only true God … this is not us!" [2]

Obviously what religion means to one person, means something ultimately and utterly different to another person, and so should not be forced by the State on anyone – a fact backed by the Bill of Rights.

But there now is – Three Waters Reform, Water Services Entities Bill – Frequently Asked Questions
How does this Bill uphold iwi / Maori interests?
This Bill contains robust mechanisms to provide for, and promote, iwi / Māori rights and interests. The board of an entity must have expertise in the Treaty of Waitangi and te ao Māori, and must ensure that the entity has the capability and capacity to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Entities are also required to give effect to Te Mana o te Wai, and mana whenua whose rohe or takiwā is in the entity’s area can make a Te Mana o te Wai statement setting out how, in their view, an entity should do this. [3]

And to not make this comment longer than needed, with examples here –
■ How many times recently have you seen mot just “the Treaty”, but with “and te ao Māori” added after it?

Although convention requires Government to be secular, in the absence now of Jesus Christ in the Opening Prayer or Karakia, does “te Ao Maori” appear in legislation as often as I get the impression it occurs?

And what does Brian think of that?

☂
[1] “Compulsory Hypocrisy” on hate speech inclusion of religion, Bassett, Brash & Hide https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/bruce-logan-compulsory-hypocrisy
[2] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/this-is-not-us-destiny-churchs-brian-tamaki-slams-muslim-call-to-prayer/ZU7CE4LMN44TGSQ6VJD2X2E3CA/
[3] https://www.dia.govt.nz/three-waters-reform-programme-frequently-asked-questions
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January 14, 2023 8:01am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Nice use of bold, italics and square brackets. These touches make your contributions a visual feast to scroll through.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:20am
  - Luke Piewalker
    
    [Unnecessary so early in the day. Ignore. mod.]
    
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    January 14, 2023 8:39am
    - Cassandra
      
      Better to talk about Harry, Luke. I’m told he’s close to finishing his second book, just one more page to colour in.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:22am
  - Yvette
    
    Miikenmildagain thank you
    Usually bold type in the first sentence is to immediately inform a reader what the comment is about, and while some apparently suffer the whole thing. use of bold typeface thereafter allow others at a glance to still see the essence of the remark as they pass on by.
    Although this morning I did not intend the whole Destiny Church paragraph to be bold – twas a cock-up due to the cataracts.
    
    But it is now gratifying to know that the whole rave offers a visual pleasure as you scroll gently gently down the screen.
    
    But I do admire you in turn, Miikenmildagain, as I have yet to write anything as impactful as you have, to be downticked into obliteration, as your remark just above and that just below will likely shortly be – as is often your achievement :o)
    
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    January 14, 2023 8:51am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Yes Yvette, I do understand that many commenters are artists, playing for the audience reaction.
      I play to entertain myself, so the audience reaction is irrelevant.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:23am
      - pdm
        
        `I play to entertain myself, so the audience reaction is irrelevant.’
        
        Small thingsamuse small minds Mikey.
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:07am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “I play to entertain myself, so the audience reaction is irrelevant.”
        
        You know you’ll go blind if you do that too often? 😝
        
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        January 14, 2023 3:29pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @ Yvette
      
      I find your bold layout is very useful if I want to go back and check some information you posted days/weeks previously.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:25am
    - Andrew S
      
      Don’t listen to Mike Yvette because he brings nothing to the table. You on the other hand put out things/articles/ facts etc that even Mike couldn’t comprehend least of all articulate.
      
      Having said that, Mike is OK and it’s great to have Mike showing his true colours as a leftist apologist. Fair play to Mike. It’s just a pity that Mike has no substance and prefers playing the man/woman and not the ball.
      
      I appreciate your input
      
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      January 14, 2023 3:49pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Actually, Brian Tamaki is wrong. The title “Allah” in Arabic means ‘The Lord’, and was used in Arabic countries by Arabic Christians 500 years before Islam was invented by Mohamed, and Arabic Christians still use the title to this day. You may recall an objection by Muslim Jihadis a couple of years ago claiming that Christians cannot us that title because it is an Islamic title, but as usual, they are wrong & follow a false religion. Slalman Rushdie was right with his book, ‘The Satanic Verses’.
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:19am
  - Mike
    
    Interesting. In your opinion, which of the very mamy strands of religion that worship the old testament ‘god’ and revere Jesus are ‘false’?
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:25am
  - Swifty
    
    You do realise Don that approximately one third of the Quran is lifted straight from Jewish texts?
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:45am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      And that Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same god?
      
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      January 14, 2023 12:37pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Jews & Christians, yes. Muslims, questionable.
        
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        January 14, 2023 12:57pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “And that Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same god?”
        
        Definitely not, according to the fine print in each of those religions.
        
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        January 14, 2023 3:30pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        NZer.
        Considering that Christianity arose out of Judaism, they do worship the same God – but you are sort of right in that Christianty worship a Trinitarian God, whereas the Jews still consider there only to be God the Father – it is the understanding of God that differs.
        
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        January 14, 2023 3:57pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        As I currently understand it, scholars in Judaism pretty much unanimously assert that Jesus did not fulfill the criteria to be the Jewish Messiah (the Christian “second coming” doctrine for the Messiah not being found in the Jewish texts, for starters). Christianity’s texts state that there is only one way to salvation and that is through believing in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to obtain forgiveness for sins (with some discussion about whether through faith alone and/or good works).
        
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        January 14, 2023 4:18pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Charlie Hebron has it sorted
      
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      January 14, 2023 12:41pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      @ Swifty.
      Actually no its not – there is nothing that is taken directly from the Old Testament. Mohamed travelled widely in his early years, and gained an imperfect knowledge of Judaism & Christianity, and he used some of the Old Testament stories – changed to suit his narrative, and likewise the New Testament. e.g. He only quoted 7 plagues in Egypt when the pharoah would not release the Jews, rather than ten in the biblical story. They recognise Jesus (Isa) but only as a prophet foreshadowing the advent of Mohamed in the same way John the Baptist heralded the coming of Christ. They also recognise & have great devotion to the Virgin Mary & believe the virgin birth of Christ. There are other stories, but distorted to suit his narrative.
      
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      January 14, 2023 12:55pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        To the 2 (at this stage) ones who disagree with me, I would like to hear your take on this. Perhaps one is a Muslim, & would be pleased to hear his side.
        
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        January 14, 2023 1:37pm
      - Swifty
        
        I’m sorry Don, I don’t have time to discuss this in detail with you right now but, please, there are literally hundreds of (mythical) people, places, events, stories etc in the Quran which are also present in Jewish texts.
        
        There can be only two explanations for this. Either it was all a complete, utter and totally fantastic coincidence or these things were copied from that which came earlier.
        
        I know where my money is on.
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:07pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Swifty. You may misunderstand my response. Yes, there are many stories in the Koran which are taken from & approximate the OT – but they are not exact or close copies. That is why I said that Mohamed studied to OT & the NT – even Greek mythology – but his knowledge gained was ‘imperfect’, so he got a distorted view of the events.
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:47pm
      - Swifty
        
        Oh yes Don, I quite agree with you you.
        
        Mohammed and those around him and those who came after him plagiarised earlier texts on a grand scale but then constructed the great lie, the absolute and complete deceit, that the Quranic text was dictated to Mohamed by the angel Gibril (Gabriel, another Jewish creation) then orally recited by Mohamed to others and written down word for word perfect.
        
        Deception on the grandest of scales.
        
        The greatest of lies.
        
        Lies that to this day some people use to justify their evil and barbaric deeds towards others.
        
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        January 14, 2023 3:20pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Swifty
        It just happens that scholars are able to track Old Testament stories into the Koran, or the Book of Mormon, etc and so show how these works are invented. But similar scholarly work that shows the same process at work through revisions of those same stories many, many centuries before fails to convince those who, for reasons of faith, prefer to consider their favorites versions as ‘truth’.
        
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        January 14, 2023 3:33pm
- An Old Kiwi
  
  My guess is that like many NZers he hasn’t noticed those extra few words “te ao Māori”, & again like many of us had no idea what they mean. (I had to Google it just now.)
  
  Thank you Yvette for pointing this out to us.
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:24pm
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Happy World Logic Day!
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January 14, 2023 8:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Doesn’t seem to be working.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:53am
  - Mike
    
    Logic is very often conspicuously absent fron Kiwiblog comments threads, Steve.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:27am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Like proof reading? Yes I am guilty.
      Absent from*
      
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      January 14, 2023 2:07pm
- Its only I
  
  It’s all sorts of day.
  
  https://nationaltoday.com/what-is-today/
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:57am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    National Pothole Day.
    https://nationaltoday.com/national-pothole-day/
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:24am
- NZer In Exile
  
  I believe there are some excellent beginners courses online Milky!
  
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  January 14, 2023 3:31pm
Benedict Yu

Shout out to the staff at the Central police station in Christchurch. My partner phoned them yesterday explaining that her father had died. She asked whether his long career as a police officer could be recognised at his funeral. She was told that someone would call back.

Someone called back within an hour. Asked for his full details so they could look him up. Two hours later a police officer delivered to the funeral home a police cap that matched the style used when Les began his police service. Along with a police flag, to be placed on the casket.
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January 14, 2023 8:01am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Sorry to hear of your partner’s loss. But a heart warming story among the many negative ones.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:06am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I second both sentiments.
    
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    January 14, 2023 8:20am
    - Observer of Life
      
      Third.. very touching. And sorry for the loss.
      
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      January 14, 2023 3:48pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  My condolences to you and your partner Benedict. And kudos to the police there. That is a great recognition for one of their former colleagues.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:33am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Thanks. He told some great stories about policing in the 60s through the 80s. His duties extended to picking up any troublemakers from the local cinema on Saturday afternoons. He kicked them in the bum and dragged them home by the ear. 😅
    
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    January 14, 2023 8:50am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      BY – that could have been me! Though I didn’t live in NZ then to be fair. 😁
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:17am
    - Cassandra
      
      There was a lot of that in those days. Very effective. But also some retribution for older crims. It’s a difficult line to draw. My father worked closely with Police for many years in the 40s to 60s. You assaulted a cop at your peril then. My son became a copper in the 90s. You assaulted a crim at your peril then and now. I prefer the old days.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:27am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        You must be writing about the period before the power was taken off of law enforcement officers and given to the criminals along with an explanation of why their criminality wasn’t their fault but the fault of others including the now toothless police. Thank you Labour for 30 years of exchanging what worked for what feels good.
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:14am
      - ISeeRed
        
        Not to pull a milky, but Labour has been in power since 1993?
        
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        January 15, 2023 9:50am
    - Prince
      
      Couldn’t happen here today. I caught the tail end of a story on TV News last night, featuring Police capturing some (alleged !) thieves who were running away from having burgled some property or shop. Lots of shouting, ‘Get on Ya Belly’, ‘come out of there or the dog goes in’, etc etc. Not a lot of wrap around support being shown.
      I thought ‘that’s a change of attitude, about time’.
      Then the caption came up and turns out it was in Australia.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:53am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Way to go Les!!!!
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:27am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Beware doxxing freaks of the loony left. There is a certain govt dept staffed by certified abusive bigots who might like to piece together your identity and your connections for future malfeasance.
  
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  January 14, 2023 3:34pm
Than

I see the climate cultists are still on their crusade to vilify air travel – The Case for Banning Some of NZ’s Shortest Flights. I made a General Debate post on why this is misguided a year or two ago. Sadly I couldn’t find that post, so I had to redo the research and run the numbers again. But it wasn’t exactly difficult.

The critical point is this – if you want to minimize emissions, occupancy rate is far more important than mode of travel. An aircraft full of passengers is more climate friendly than an almost empty bus or train. This can pretty quickly be demonstrated by running some rough back-of-the-envelop numbers.

A turboprop aircraft like the ATR-72 Air New Zealand uses for most regional flights might use around 600 L of fuel for a 1-hour hop (obviously this can vary a lot, but this is a realistic number). The aircraft has 68 seats and Air NZ has a strong profit-motive to fill as many seats as it can. So let’s say 50-60 passengers per flight. Dividing out, air travel is using around 10-12 L of fuel per person for the trip.

Same journey done by car. If we assume something like a 4-6 hour drive in a typical family car, that might use something like 20-25 L of fuel. And now it just comes down to how many people are in the car. If it’s a single individual, it would use less fuel for them to fly. With two people it’s basically a tie. With three or more people the car is more efficient. Like I said, occupancy is what matters.

You can run similar numbers for larger aircraft (like the A320s or 737s used for many short-medium haul flights) or for buses and trains. The number of people on the vehicle is always going to be what dictates how efficient it is in terms of fuel-use per person.
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January 14, 2023 8:05am
- CJames
  
  I think the shortest flight is Wellington to Blenheim. Somehow, I can’t see doing that by car or even bus/ train as an alternative.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:15am
- kowtow
  
  There’s no point being rational or logical debutting their demands on the basis of what’s fuel efficient or otherwise .
  
  They don’t care , they just want to attack our freedoms and way of life , they are using “the planet” merely as an excuse for their Marxism.
  
  The answer when they demand , don’t use planes for short haul is ‘Fuck off , I’ll do what I want”
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:36am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    Kowtow The Black flag is what should be shown to these wreckers
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:09pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  You can’t use logic or reason with these people. A while back I ran the numbers on the diesel Hamilton to Auckland train burning diesel with 15 passengers on board. The emissions are horrendous.
  
  They have banned short flights in France. Which is stupid, but they have frequent high-speed trains and motorways.
  
  Take Christchurch to Queenstown. It is a relatively short flight or a quite demanding 6 hour drive plus stops.
  
  Anyway they should FO about “banning” things and let people make their their own decisions. JET A1 for domestic flights is covered by the ETS. If there are less domestic flights, Air New Zealand will purchase less units in the scheme. Those units will be purchased by another emitter. Impact on New Zealand emissions is NIL.
  
  Goodluck trying to explain any of this to an activist New Zealand journalist.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:40am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Airlines cancelling short hop flights in Europe makes sense. To get from the centre of Paris to the centre of Berlin by train is usually quicker/ more convenient than by plane. Motorways are an alternative.
    
    The logic just doesn’t work in NZ.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:23am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      My reply to Mike on World Logic Day.
      Doesn’t seem to be working.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:33am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    BY – I did similar exercise and the numbers show it would be lower emissions if all passengers on the train just drove Utes. But the Climate extremists would argue that would change if the train was full. So that will be their justification for taxing cars off the roads.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:49am
- JackRabbit
  
  If the Climate Cultists were genuine they would be picketing airports all over the world, taping themselves to the runway to prevent all those jets leaving for Davos.
  
  And they would have done the same for 4,400 private jets that went to GOP27.
  
  But I forgot, those that attend Davos, WEF, and GOP27 control the Climate Cultists.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:07am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    I’ll take the climate hysterics seriously when they say there is a climate emergency when they start behaving in there own lives as if there were one.
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:14pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      Precisely.
      
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      January 14, 2023 3:36pm
- Cassandra
  
  Read Prof Ian Plimer. Of course mike will comment on “coal shill” but facts, not flawed models, should determine climate policy.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:29am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Cassandra – here’s a “nuclear shill” for mike to go after too.
    
    Net Zero Will Lead to the End of Modern Civilisation, Says Top Scientist
    
    A damning indictment of the Net Zero political project has been made by one of the world’s leading nuclear physicists. In a recently published science paper, Dr. Wallace Manheimer said it would be the end of modern civilisation. Writing about wind and solar power he argued it would be especially tragic “when not only will this new infrastructure fail, but will cost trillions, trash large portions of the environment, and be entirely unnecessary”. The stakes, he added, “are enormous”.
    
    Dr. Manheimer holds a physics PhD from MIT and has had a 50-year career in nuclear research, including work at the Plasma Physics Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He has published over 150 science papers. In his view, there is “certainly no scientific basis” for expecting a climate crisis from too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the next century or so. He argues that there is no reason why civilisation cannot advance using both fossil fuel power and nuclear power, gradually shifting to more nuclear power.
    
    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/10/net-zero-will-lead-to-the-end-of-modern-civilisation-says-top-scientist/
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:12am
    - I remember when
      
      If the wind strength changes because of ‘climate change’ does reducing CO2 lessen the amount of power produced by wind turbines?
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:44am
- peterwn
  
  But this only applies to ‘other people’. Politicians and activists are too important and busy to be bothered taking alternative transport.
  Also Europe has far higher population densities – sufficient to support frequent and high speed train services. So in many cases using a train is a no brainer even between London and Paris.
  Even when NZ had various long distance passenger train services, they only operated daily on most routes and were impracticable for many users. There is no way that NZ could support hourly or so passenger train frequencies which is the norm for UK and Europe.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:30am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    peterwn – it will be interesting to count the number of private jets flying to Davos for the WEF meeting coming up on Monday.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:09am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      We already know that there’ll be 100s of very short, private-jet flights to Davos.
      
      https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/57867/hundreds-of-ultra-short-private-jet-flights-to-davos-world-economic-forum/
      
      Just as there was at Cairo for COP 27 – the talkfest of the UN Climate Change Conference
      https://www.bbc.com/news/63544995
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:31am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Than – you have put much effort into that data analysis, but as with the branch covidians, it is impossible to talk to these ideological climate loons. They do not listen to reason.
  
  It is becoming more and more obvious it is nonsensical and this insane race to “zero carbon” is going to cause unimaginable devastation to most people.
  
  Global Warming Trend Slumps After Pausing for 20 of the Last 24 Years
  
  Twenty years of pausing global temperatures since 1998 are casting increasing doubt on the suggestion that human-produced carbon dioxide is causing a climate emergency and leading to runaway heating. Such doubt, of course, kicks away any justification for installing a Net Zero regime that is set to cause massive societal and economic dislocation. Needless to say, these concerns are nowhere to be seen in the end of year reporting of temperature trends that highlight increasingly improbable rises partly based on non-climate corruptions such as from nearby airport runways. All of this cherry-picking is taken from surface datasets that have removed a 1998-2012 standstill using retrospective upward adjustments.
  
  https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/13/global-warming-trend-slumps-after-pausing-for-20-of-the-last-24-years/
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:36am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Even if they do listen to reason, it is impossible for them to process it.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:37am
- NothingLeft
  
  Once you are travelling at above 200km/hr it is cheaper and more efficient to be in the air as aero drag dominates power consumption. That drag reduces greatly with altitude.
  
  Also rail costs escalate (high speed rails need to be very precisely maintained and held flat to very high tolerances to prevent damage), and need carefully aligned rail routs that have only very gentle curves and inclines. The capital and maintenance costs of high speed rail are extreme, and are only justified by very high usage routes.
  
  Heavily govt subsidized UK rail system currently costs a huge $0.75/pax/km to operate. That would be NZ $750 cost for 1000km Auckland-Chch distance. Unsubsidized commercial flights on competitive routes cost $.05-0.2/km (depending on distance, shorter more expensive) that is just 7-25% of rail cost.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:25am
Tomtoddy

Dear Niwa

Just a tad concerned about your prediction of more droughts for the North Island. There were going to be more, they were going to be longer and more severe. You said climate change was driving this very certain prediction. Just wondering whether you are planning to revisit your forecasts??
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January 14, 2023 8:07am
- kowtow
  
  They know full well it’s not “climate change” , it’s ENSO .
  
  And it’s no longer a forecast or “prediction” , it’s a party political broadcast on behalf of the Marxist Party.
  
  Agenda driven loons that they’ve become.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:42am
  - Jimbob
    
    It’s very sad that professional weather and climate experts have to peddle these lies, just to get paid.
    It is so obvious that carbon dioxide has nothing to do with climate, the general population must be incredibly thick.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:37am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, & TV1 & 3 breathlessly announcing that 2022 was – wait for it – THE HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD.
      What a huge load of bullshit. Sure, the night temps were generally not so cold, but the days were certainly not very hot because it was such a wet year, and of course, La Nina had a big impact.
      And whe did their records begin ? Probably in 1972 when they started getting satelite information. I will bet that the 1930’s were still the hottest years world-wide that we have had in the last 200 years.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:34am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        But just across the Ditch it wasn’t Australia’s hottest year … only 22nd = warmest
        
        http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/aus/
        
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        January 14, 2023 11:04am
      - PeeJay
        
        @Maggy – apologies. Reported by accident – fat finger (well actually cat jumped on me but same end result!). Sorry!
        
        [Would posters please stop making posts like this – no one knows, no one cares, and it’s wasting our time. mod.]
        
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        January 14, 2023 11:34am
      - I remember when
        
        Perhaps it was the result of all the heat pumps being used, resulting in warm air being necessary to reduce the imbalance.
        
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        January 14, 2023 11:58am
      - oldfella
        
        Don, the other night Wendy on TV1 said: ‘2022 Was The Hottest Year EVAH!’
        Which could only mean the hottest year… ever.
        As in from the time some bloke flung his hook and fished us out of the ocean.
        Later they quietly added that it was the hottest since records began, which contradicted their breathless headline.
        Dishonest idiots!
        
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        January 14, 2023 12:03pm
      - Philview
        
        The media slipped up today when they reported that the global potato shortage has been caused by a very cold winter.
        
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        January 14, 2023 12:50pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Coming out of an ice age (as in the interglacial period we are currently in) temperatures rise. Sooo, it’s likely that each successive year since the end of the last ice age will be hotter (with fluctuations along the way caused by various natural cycles and phenomena). This carries on until the next ice age. Ice ages last about 100,000 years. Interglacials about 10,000 or so years.
        
        Oh, and the current blip of temp rises started at the end of the “little ice age” (LIA). That blip started before human Co2 could have had ANY influence.
        
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        January 14, 2023 4:25pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I remember when the Central Hawkes Bay in summer was a silver-gold sun drenched paradise. Not these days.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:24am
- Matt Long
  
  I wonder if perhaps we killed too many cows in the past five years and that is causing the unseasonably wet conditions. Someone needs to do aa statistical analysis to see the correct number of cows for New Zealand to kill to get the weather right.
  Or maybe in being killed for Allah we aren’t getting the right god. Perhaps we need a bevy of slaughter person’s that cover off all the various weather deities à la Benny in The Mummy or maybe we need to propitiate the local gods, te ao Maori etc.
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:29am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    If we are slaughtering cows, then it might be better to not mention any religious deities or practices.
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_in_religion_and_mythology#In_Hinduism
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:36am
    - Matt Long
      
      Agreed Maggie, if we could encourage some of our climate activists to travel to some of the more militant hindu states and kill a brahmin cow they would never have to worry about climate again.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:55am
      - Matt Long
        
        Sorry Maggy.
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:57am
    - Swifty
      
      I’ve turned on my Hindu flattie to the glories of good beef to the point now that he hunts down only the best Scotch fillet he can get his hands on in Auckland and carefully prepares it only medium-rare, on a purpose-bought cast iron pan, as I’ve shown him.
      
      He has taken recently to filming and photographing his beefy endeavours to send back to his mates in Bihar and Delhi to get them to do similar.
      
      He has seen the light.
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:05am
      - Swifty
        
        I could add we’ve recently been buying whole rumps from our butcher and asking him to hang them in his chiller for a good month.
        
        We just put them on a rack, uncovered, in the fridge and slice off and trim a steak when we feel like one. He just can’t get enough of it. Every now and again I’ll whip us up a Bernaise to go with it.
        
        I say to him “Now you REALLY ARE a cow worshipper!”
        
        🤣
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:52pm
CJames

It would be interesting to know which if any NZ news organisations were part of the Trusted News Initiative. Some of their behaviours indicate they could have been.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/courtroom-battle-over-the-bbcs-fake-news/
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January 14, 2023 8:12am
- Sofia
  
  ‘Trusted News Initiative’
  Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson is defending the mega public media merger, saying it is needed because the public does not trust the media.
  Jackson has been repeatedly questioned at Parliament this week by the National Party over the proposal to fold TVNZ and RNZ into one entity.
  He defended the shake-up yesterday, saying it was necessary because the public’s view of the media had changed.
  “The reality is we want TVNZ to work in tandem with us – and they’re doing that – because New Zealand has changed. We have no longer a trust in national media – no longer is there a trust in what’s happening at a national media level,” he said.
  “We need a trusted public broadcaster because national identity is incredibly important and no longer do people trust New Zealand television or New Zealand radio.”
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/475707/broadcasting-minister-willie-jackson-cites-no-trust-in-defence-of-public-media-entity
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:23am
  - Gravelroad
    
    If it is true that New Zealanders no longer have trust in the media, then I suggest the responsibility for this sad state of affairs lies almost entirely at the feet of Ms Ardern and her government.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:14am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    It’s unclear from Willie’s statement how merging two untrusted media outlets into one media outlet will increase the public’s trust in the combined outlet.
    
    Which, to be fair, shows consistency from Willie, as he has not explained how Three Waters will improve water quality.
    
    Willie J – talking crap since forever.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:27am
    - Don Beckett
      
      But – a double negative makes a positive. 😆
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:37am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Not when you add them…
        
        negative number + negative number = bigger negative number.
        
        -5 + (-8) = -13
        
        Bit like:
        mess + mess = big mess
        
        or Failure + Failure = disaster.
        
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        January 14, 2023 11:14am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Mathematically, yes. In speech, no.
        
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        January 14, 2023 1:39pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Willie is part of the Elite Maori. 3 Waters and Co-Governance are a front for a Coup.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:42am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/08/04/the-coup-by-the-maori-tribal-elite/
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:49am
  - Nickc2
    
    Jackson’s full of shit! As many already know, he wants to have a Maori-centric propaganda entity to spread mis/disinformation along the same lines as that of the CCP.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:46am
    - Swifty
      
      He thinks we’re stupid and will swallow any old guff.
      
      I say again, Labour MPs are openly lying to us. They regard us with naked contempt.
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:10am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The TNI partnered up with GoogleNews/Yahoo…
  
  In NZ, The Google News Initiative funded Stuff, Maori TV and Pacific Media Network.
  
  https://newzealand.googleblog.com/2021/03/furthering-our-long-term-support-of-news-in-NZ.html
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:38am
  - tavita
    
    Maggy Google say they are “committed to supporting the promotion of accurate and critical information and longer term, we’ll continue to partner, along with many others, to support a strong future for journalism in New Zealand”. I seem to remember seeing that they are also supporting the combatting of misinformation relating to climate change. Of course apologists for vaccine mandates and climate alarmists will see this as philanthropy. I suspect something far more sinister.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:06am
- pussycat
  
  Some of the news organisations mentioned get funding from the Bill Gates foundation including the BBC and the Guardian
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:58pm
  - pussycat
    
    Media organisation receiving funding from Bill Gates.
    
    https://thegrayzone.com/2021/11/21/bill-gates-million-media-outlets-global-agenda/
    
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    January 14, 2023 3:56pm
Jack5

NZ blocks an American Covid refugee.

She wasted her time applying.

That’s not how to work the Woke refugee appeal system in NZ.

You crash in. You grow a family. It helps if you become a Muslim. It helps if you commit some moderate offences you can “reform” from.

A Westerner? No convictions? Here without crashing in?

No chance at all.
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January 14, 2023 8:13am
- Inandout
  
  Jack5, I recall that Zhouie guy said he had flushed his passport down the aircraft toilet to claim ‘refugee’ status. I thought all aircraft toilets emptied into a container at the airport and, like drugs, the passport could be reclaimed. Yes, he was a Muslim.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:27am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    They invariably rip all the pages out and flush it in batches. Good luck sifting your way through that.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:08am
- MCōs
  
  Was that the woman who applied for refugee status on the basis she wouldn’t get vaccinated and felt vulnerable to covid back in America?
  
  I don’t think she thought that through.
  Hardly surprising they told her to bugger off.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:48am
  - Nickc2
    
    Was her Surname Biden?
    
    7 6
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    January 14, 2023 9:53am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I see she married a ‘Kiwi boy’ in 2018, but from the reported timeline it seems likely she’s a bit long in the tooth to deliver the required progeny.
  
  Which, of course, is soooooo sexist.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:30am
Tony Stuart

An excellent performance by the Blackcaps overnight to chase down 280, and win their first ODI series in the sub-continent for fifteen years.

A special mention to Glenn Phillips, who despite having a stomach bug hit 63 not out from 44 balls to finish the match with almost two overs to spare.
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January 14, 2023 8:24am
- Prince
  
  Watched the first and last hour. Some odd things:
  Babar walks past a Bracewell delivery and is stumped. Made little attempt to play the delivery or get back.
  Twice Pakistani fieldsmen made no attempt to stop a boundary, despite being in close range.
  Some of the Pakistani bowling at the death (wides, no ball…) very average. And the field placements ‘ allowing easy singles and two’s.
  Just saying, I probably shouldn’t, but I did wonder…
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:02am
  - Matt Long
    
    Ask the bookies who was supposed to win.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:46am
  - Swifty
    
    I find myself never fully trusting them after all their shenanigans over the years.
    
    My flattie reckons it’s cultural and compounded by the fact that Pakistani players are paid fuck all especially in comparison to their Indian counterparts.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:13am
    - oldfella
      
      Swifty, and Pakistani players can’t be selected for the Indian Premier League, which is where other top players make a bundle of dosh.
      I think they’re the only nationality banned from that competition.
      Maybe someone needs to yell, RACIST? //
      
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      January 14, 2023 12:10pm
      - Colville
        
        or maybe its because their armies spend quite a lot of time shooting at each other?
        
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        January 14, 2023 12:55pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Yes, very surprised after the dismissal failure in the first one dayer.
  
  This will see NZ retain number one one day country, they said Pakistan would have gone to one if they had won the series
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:49pm
Paulus

I expect that Ardern will host the APEC Conference in Auckland in February in Te Ao or whatever it is called.
Such an International showpiece, dictated in and by Maori, will make sure that she is the one and only person that matters, after all it is the start of the Election year.
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January 14, 2023 8:32am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  I noticed the finalists in the women’s tennis last weekend applauded the waiata/haka delivered to them before the match – was that appropriate tikanga?
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:53am
  - david
    
    It was called a powhiri at today’s mens final.
    But then who cares.
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:00pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The 2023 APEC conference is in SanFrancisco in November.
  Jacinda Ardern may be a distant memory by then.
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:55am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I don’t think any regular Kiwiblog commenter will forget her in a hurry.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:15am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Uptick from me, Mikey.
      
      One hopes that Jacinda Ardern will remain a cautionary tale for many years to come.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:32am
      - Colville
        
        I was reasonably vocal in ’17 saying it was a good thing for Jacinda to win so they would burn out by ’20 and be gone for 9 years.
        New Zealand was in a good space, there was money around and I figured she couldnt do too much damage (and National needed to do a bit of soul searching IMHO)…
        Bridges was smashing her all over the park in ’19 and early ’20 THEN… the Chinese Pox came along and gave her a free 3 years!
        and look at us now.
        A text book lesson in being careful what you (I !!) wish for.
        
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        January 14, 2023 1:00pm
    - Cassandra
      
      Indeed, mike, gone but not forgotten. A stake through the heart might do the trick.
      
      25 2
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      January 14, 2023 9:35am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      Careful mike – you could be heading for a yellow here. She’s not going to be forgotten by anyone in a hurry!
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:59am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Uptick Mike. New Zealanders alive now will never forgive Jaspinda for what she has done to our lovely Country. Single handedly turned NZ into a 3rd World socialist non-paradise. F you Ardern.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:56am
- Dr John
  
  And talking about our PM, haven’t heard or read of her for a while. Unsually silent! But then, the annual WEF at Davos is starting right now.
  A coincidence?
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:14am
  - Ghost
    
    You rarely hear from a PM or politicians during the Christmas break.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:42am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      I’ve been back from “the Christmas break” for a week.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:10am
  - pdm
    
    Dr John – she is only 2 thirds of the way through her 8 weeks holiday..
    
    Having said that isn’t she going to announce a Cabinet reshuffle in January.
    
    A Lucky Dip probably.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:17am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    All of her scriptwriters are on holiday. Off the cuff stuff is just word soup waffle.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:59am
- mikenmildagain
  
  The United States is host for the APEC meeting this year. You might be thinking of the APEC business advisory council (ABAC), an NGO associated with APEC, which will meet four times in 2023, with the first meeting to be held in Auckland.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:14am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Nope, she and her hypocrisy will see her not utter a word of Te Reo, she might do one greet at the start
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:50pm
artemisia

Max Rashbrooke in Stuff today, is it time for a radical rethink to fix –

“… our long-standing deficiencies: elevated levels of poverty and inequality; poor productivity and low investment in R&D; underfunded public services; polluted rivers and lakes; extremely high greenhouse-gas emissions; appallingly expensive, cold and mouldy homes; and a ranking as just about the worst developed country in which to raise a child”

Mostly motherhood and apple pie. But four words –

Show us the money

http://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130965752/max-rashbrooke-is-the-electorate-in-the-mood-for-radical-changes
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January 14, 2023 8:39am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Has Max ever described how communism could be implemented properly?
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:55am
- artemisia
  
  Also in the same Max Rashbrooke article, Matthew Hooton is quoted as saying “Auckland polling reveals an “incredibly angry” electorate”.
  
  Harsh words – are they true?
  
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  January 14, 2023 8:56am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Last time a poll of any significance to cities came out, it said Nats were well in front of Labour, infact I thought ACT may have been second
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:51pm
  - Colville
    
    I just spent a week with a couple of Aucklanders who despite being lefties were VERY angry with Jacinda…
    
    They will of course just vote Green.
    
    (They also REALLY did not like me arguing that company tax should be dropped to 20% !!! )
    
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    January 14, 2023 1:03pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Jacinda promised to fix those things in 2017. Instead she made them worse.
  
  Does New Zealand have high emissions? We have 90 percent renewable electricity. We have little heavy industry. Yes we have cows and sheep. We could kill them all I guess. China, Brazil and Australia would simply fill the gap. We drive relatively old cars. Countries have fleets that are affordable. As Jacinda has made the country poorer relative to other countries, we drive the cars we can afford.
  
  New Zealand greenhouse emissions will come down over time as technology and markets deliver solutions. Beyond a light handed ETS, interfering politicians we will simply wreck the country.
  
  Anyway ask this journalist how to reduce New Zealand emissions and you will just get word soup, Jacinda style.
  
  How about this? Choose policies that will maximise GDP per capita. Go for economic growth as a lens to judge every policy.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:04am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    NZ’s economic policies since the 1970s have had a high degree of bipartisan consensus and the country has seen its wealth (GDP/capita) decline consistently when measured against other ‘developed’ countries.
    
    9 24
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    January 14, 2023 9:19am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      You are simply restating the problem. I was not suggesting that the National Party is going to reverse the decline. Wayne Mapp reminds me every time he comments on here.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:48am
      - Swifty
        
        He specialises in putting words in other people’s mouths.
        
        It’s completely dishonest of him.
        
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        January 14, 2023 11:15am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        WM’s comments have certainly been an eye opener lately. Holy Moly!!! Definitely voting ACT!!!! Thanks Wayne.
        
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        January 14, 2023 4:31pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Not sure your statement about declining is actually true mike. For instance, GDP per person employed in NZ went up raw 18% between 1998 and 2017. Australia went up 18%. GDP per capita NZ 1996 – 2021 up 53% raw, Australia 44%. https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=PDB_LV
      What time period are you looking at?
      
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      January 14, 2023 5:37pm
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Benedict – she will fix things in 2023. Trust her and vote for her. She will deliver (another baby).
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:23am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Isn’t she getting a bit old for the baby thing?
      
      7 3
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      January 14, 2023 10:10am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        She will be 43 in July. Not out of the question but unlikely.
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:49am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Middle aged adjacent
        
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        January 14, 2023 5:41pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      No one is listening anymore, including life time Labour voters
      
      6 2
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      January 14, 2023 12:52pm
  - MCōs
    
    “Go for economic growth as a lens to judge every policy”
    
    Those people on the East Coast whose lives are periodically ruined by the logging companies putting economic growth at the forefront of their modus operandi probably don’t agree.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:25am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      False analogy. Any industrial business could increase its profit by ignoring externalities. It’s a legitimate role of government to ensure that law is appropriately framed to minimise externalities.
      
      In the case of East Coast forestry, the forest owners were pinged with fines the last time this happened. Clearly the fines aren’t high enough. This time round I hope they are taken to the cleaners.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:38am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Fining the companies was of bugger-all use, as the companies did not seem to be compelled to clean up every bit of their operations.
        
        The first time I viewed the cleared forestry land behind Tolaga Bay was in 2014 when we shifted to Gisborne. At first I couldn’t comprehend/process what I was looking at.
        It looked like the hills and valleys had been struck by a nuclear Bomb. (I’ve seen forest clearance sites throughout NZ over the last 50 years). It was a mess… and though I wasn’t surprised at events that followed in the 2018 storms, I was staggered at the volume and size of the slash that came down the waterways.
        
        There’s no shortage of Forestry and Soil Science experts in NZ (and in this region)… and it’s not rocket science how to harvest Radiata Pine from steep sites. We have adequate regulations in NZ.
        
        Gisborne District Council was negligent in enforcing these regulations. The Forest Owners knew they could get away with poor practice….
        
        Even now they think that with a bit of luck, they can harvest and replant between storms!
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:19am
      - MCōs
        
        So those dudes do their sums and figure out their equivalent of ‘smash and grab’ is best for them because however stringent the regulations are they won’t be adequately enforced for whatever reason.
        
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        January 14, 2023 10:50am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      That is a ridiculous conclusion.
      
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      January 14, 2023 10:50am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        What was ridiculous was Benedict’s blanket exhortation to ‘choose policies that will maximise GDP per capita’.
        Given the vast flaws inherent in measuring GDP (it doesn’t measure economic activity very well), let alone ignoring any other measures of whether a country is doing well, MCos only had to provide one very simple example of the poverty of the assertion.
        
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        January 14, 2023 12:46pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Bullshit. All negative externalities should be paid by those who cause them. Economic growth will not be sustainable if the environment is wrecked. I am sure that the forestry companies are breaking the law. So enforce it. Why is it not being enforced? Sack the local authority if necessary.
        
        Which countries care about the environment and have strict laws that prevent environmental destruction? Rich countries. Have you travelled throughout India? I have. Polluted rivers, toxic soil, hundreds of billions of plastic bottles littering the ground.
        
        As New Zealand is misgoverned it will become poorer and its institutions will be undermined. That will not help the environment. Quite the reverse.
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:54pm
      - Mike
        
        Now Benedict starts to put forward important qualifications absent from the original assertion. Well done!
        
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        January 14, 2023 4:03pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      East cape has a very high proportion of welfare parasites who moan about everything and contribute nothing. The region is nothing but a sink for taxpayer dollars.
      
      It’s really a postcard from the future for NZ.
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:37am
      - I remember when
        
        Is it difficult to adequately police forestry when you have to release effluent whenever there is high rainfall.
        
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        January 14, 2023 1:31pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Which people are they MCos? Don’t recall logging companies ruining anyone’s lives. People generally ruin their own lives.
      
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      January 14, 2023 5:39pm
- peterwn
  
  The previous National Government was taking steps towards these objectives, but Labour did not like that and unwound most of them.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:42am
  - PeeJay
    
    That was the depressing part of the 2017 election – so much good policy ditched because it was implemented by the blue side!
    
    Winston first supporters have a lot to answer for in my book – I believe the English / Joyce government would have been truly transformational, and not just as a bloody soundbite to mask every metric since 2017 turning to shit! We’ll never know for sure but as they navigated the GFC with relative ease, I’m pretty sure they would have done quite well through the covid pandemic – heck they even had a pandemic plan ready!
    
    They had so many good policies underway that could have made a real difference – and not just to ‘rich pricks’ but to those on the bottom of society, and that is what is so disappointing. English’s policies on data driven early interventions would have been a complete game changer for intergenerational dependency and most of the best infrastructure coming online now is directly as a result of Joyce’s vision. All of that progress, ditched in a fit of pique, and it’s been full speed in reverse on most metrics ever since!
    
    I can only hope that later this year, those who voted for the great charlatan remember that by voting for him, they helped foist Ardern and perhaps the worst government in NZ history on us. Perhaps this time they’ll not fall for his ‘honest broker’ bullshit.
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:02pm
    - Mark Hanley
      
      Absolutely bang on. English’s practical social solutions coupled with Joyce’s outstanding business acumen would have lead NZ through the pandemic whilst making us all wealthier (NZ’s pandemic plan advocated the successful Balanced Swedish approach).
      
      Anyone who thought Peters and Adern could successfully lead NZ surely has their answer now! A shame those voters didn’t put a few seconds thought into their vote before wrecking our country
      
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      January 15, 2023 5:47am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yet Ardern tells the feral Labour has changed nothing to be seen as soft on crime, and she expects to be believed, well Cindy has a short memory of three strikes and canning that
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:55pm
peterwn

Why 16 year olds should not get the vote.
“Eighteen-year-olds are adolescents. They don’t always make rational decisions.” says a defence lawyer. 16 year olds would be worse. See:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/130965357/teenager-unleashed-hail-of-punches-before-delivering-devastating-blow-to-rugby-player-in-drunken-pub-brawl
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January 14, 2023 8:57am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Many 18 years old should arguably not be allowed to vote.
  But it’s almost as if we set different ages for different types of permissions and responsibilities.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:25am
  - peterwn
    
    Society does already. It tries to raise the age for criminal accountability while at the same trying to reduce the age for contractural and political capacity.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:33am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I agree, Mikey. Based on what’s regularly published about brain development & what I see in my kids & their friends, I’d say a voting age of 25 would be appropriate.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:40am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      And judging by the quality of general political discourse, I’d suggest people are excluded from voting after age 60.
      
      4 9
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      January 14, 2023 12:48pm
      - peterwn
        
        A former Pope did something like that. He made a new rule that only Cardinals under 80 years old could vote in Papal elections.
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:49pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        I think socialists should be banned from voting mike. After all, a political ideology that has murdered 100’s of millions surely should be a terrorist organisation and any discussion of their ideology a hate crime?
        
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        January 14, 2023 5:41pm
      - Alan Matt
        
        60 is usually OK. 85 usually not OK.
        But using ‘usually’ isn’t really fair is it?
        
        So, a test needs to passed to get the right to vote. At any age.
        First qualification is the ability to understand English properly. IELTS 5.5 in listening and reading as a minimum
        
        Then some sort of logic test to try to weed out absolute nutters, and those who can not connect dots.
        
        Also photo ID voting.
        
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        January 15, 2023 7:47am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    That’s because different responsibilities carry different consequences.
    There is no doubt, age may not be the best measure of competency for ANYTHING, but we have to have some way of doing things. 18 is a reasonably fair age to give someone the vote imo.
    But this is why we debate and discuss things, and we NEVER accept a “single source of truth.” EVER.
    That was possibly the dumbest thing Ardern ever said, though there are plenty of contenders.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:45am
  - All_on_Red
    
    #Makeit25
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:51am
- coge
  
  Clearly if 16 year olds are mature enough to vote, the drinking age should be also reduced to 16. In order for consistency.
  
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  January 14, 2023 4:56pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Is anyone surprised that Labour looks after middle and upper-class folk?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tertiary-education-fees-free-policy-students-from-wealthier-backgrounds-benefit-most-after-four-years-of-scheme/LGRQV45E3BARDCFDFEL6MXTWRI/
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January 14, 2023 9:02am
- peterwn
  
  Labour does not care about the socio-economic backgrounds of students as long as they are going to vote Labour or Green.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:35am
- Mike H S
  
  I was pleased to see the herald achieving some good investigative journalism. Not before time.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:37am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Well, spank my arse & call me Charlie!
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:41am
  - Biscuit
    
    Erm, NMTB, in light of a recent ‘Tell All’ book, surely that should be ‘Well, spank my arse and call me HARRY!’?
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:45am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What ?
    
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    January 14, 2023 12:57pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Sarcasm, G?
      
      Or have the more-salacious details from the biggest-selling book on the planet this year not made it to Dunedin bookshops as yet?
      
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      January 14, 2023 2:07pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Haha, I know that, I was playing the game
        
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        January 15, 2023 12:20am
- Colville
  
  This Labour government has done more to widen the wealth gap than any other. Middle to Upper are far better off with the poor paying the price.
  I include the economy of New Zealand in the poor as its really paid the price of this government’s foolishness.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:42am
  - Don Beckett
    
    One simple example is the EV rebate, and the surcharge on utes. Crazy.
    
    10 3
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    January 14, 2023 10:47am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    I get that Labour are bad for poor people, but don’t agree that middle NZ is better off. Upper NZ in some sectors — Elite Maori, PR firms, Media, boat builders, swimming pool companies etc — did well out of the Covid corporate welfare, but that has mostly finished now and NZ is in a recessionary cycle.
    
    From my perspective they have made us all poorer. This will bite the poorest the hardest but it will not impact on the majority of people in same way. Future generations of NZers may never be as well off as what we have been.
    
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    January 14, 2023 3:36pm
- Swifty
  
  It wasn’t intended to work, it was intended to buy votes.
  
  As with the majority of Labour Party policies.
  
  If their policies worked then over time we’d have no need for Labour – and they are hardly in the business of doing themselves out of a job.
  
  Labour knows that all they have to do is APPEAR to be doing the right thing and enough mugs will vote for them – the actual results won’t and don’t matter.
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:04am
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

Good morning folks. My Labour spies tell me Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern had a nice summer break and relaxed well. She will be returning soon to work with lots of ideas to improve the lives of kiwis and tackle cost of living crisis. So please feel excited folks.
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January 14, 2023 9:10am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Yeah right, hidden in the flood ravaged Gisborne area, and she will not be seen till Feb, isn’t it funny , Key used to have already read his state of the nation by now
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:59pm
- I remember when
  
  Are your Labour spies like the talent scouts in ‘Moneyball.’
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:37pm
Scott

Well Joe Biden has been found to have classified documents stored in his garage. These were from the time he was vice president, six years ago. I see a special counsel has been appointed to look into it.

We can note the following –
These documents are from six years ago when Joe Biden was vice president of the United States.

A vice president has no power to declassify documents. Unlike Pres Trump who did have the power to declassify documents.

There is no suggestion of any FBI raid on Joe Biden’s house. Why not? Surely there may be more classified documents stored who knows where?

My first thought was the special counsel will quietly work away and the story will die out and eventually there will be a “never mind”. It’s always different when Democrats do it.

However Tucker Carlson has a different view. He notes that the appointment of a special Counsel is very serious for a president because they always look for things way beyond the purview of the investigation. And Tucker Carlson believes this is the beginning of the end for Joe Biden.

Why would the Democrats allow this to happen? Because, according to Tucker, when Joe Biden announced that he was going to run again for President, this was against the wishes of the Democrat party who want Joe to step aside for someone like Gavin Newsom to run for president. So now the knives are out for Joe Biden.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-beginning-end-biden

That’s such an interesting theory. Time will tell whether it’s true?
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January 14, 2023 9:26am
- Nickc2
  
  I note the AG has appointed a Republican as Special Counsel to investigate Bumbling Biden. That should prove interesting.
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:22am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  At least Biden admitted he doesn’t know what is in the documents.
  
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/01/10/biden-i-dont-know-contents-of-classified-documents-found-in-private-office/?sh=70342c5a37d0
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:23am
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    To be fair to Joe, he only read them a few days ago.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:04am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Documents in Dr Jill’s pantie drawer?
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:20am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Apparently they found more classified documents after Joe’s recent colonoscopy…….
  
  https://babylonbee.com/news/fourth-stash-of-classified-documents-discovered-during-bidens-colonoscopy
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:45am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    It is the dog. The dog always stole my homework.
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:37pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Why did they know of this Nov 2 and not mention it before the election? I reckon they are getting this out of the way because investigations against Trump may have seen this surface
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:02pm
mogg

Living with Covid.
Some 900 million people in China – 64% of the population – have caught Covid since 11 January, according to Peking University.
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January 14, 2023 9:40am
- Colville
  
  Jan of which year?
  
  4 0
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  January 14, 2023 4:24pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    2023. Panic panic panic panic.
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:38pm
    - Colville
      
      900 million people caught covid in 3 days.?
      Even for someone gullible as you that must stretch credibility.
      
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      January 14, 2023 9:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

McCarthy first interview.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6318484604112
14 min.
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January 14, 2023 9:55am
- Nickc2
  
  A polished performance eh?
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:24am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Vaccine Mandate rescinded for US military and National Guard.
https://thepatriotchronicles.com/news-for-you/mccarthy-scores-a-huge-victory-for-us-service-members/
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January 14, 2023 10:00am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Great to see this and they have pushed for all employee records to be cleansed of any disciplinary issues relating to vaccines.
  
  It will be good to see if they start driving more investigation into Fauci and the systems that led to the pandemania.
  
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  January 14, 2023 9:09pm
rouppe

Oh. Lisa Marie Presley has died. A sudden heart attack at 52
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January 14, 2023 10:04am
- kowtow
  
  Hollyweird types have spent their lives on crap that blows your brain and many other organs.
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:30am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Indeed. This was posted the other day, very apt.
    
    Experts Say They Don’t Know What Thing Is Causing Everyone To Suddenly Collapse, But It’s Definitely Not That One Thing
    
    “It’s too early to say what could be causing this, but it’s never too early to say what isn’t causing this,” said local expert, Dr. Scott Rufflinger. “This could be caused by anything. But the one thing we know for certain is that it’s definitely not what we’re all thinking that’s behind this — if you know what I mean. We can go ahead and rule that thing out right now because Science just called us on the phone and told us not to discuss it. We always follow Science.”
    
    According to sources, experts have been working tirelessly around the clock to try and get to the bottom of why so many seemingly perfectly healthy, athletic people are falling over suddenly. “I wish I could point to something in the past year or two that large groups of people were exposed to, or forced into, but nothing comes to mind,” added Dr. Rufflinger. “If only there was one thing all these patients had in common.”
    
    At publishing time, experts said they had narrowed down the list of what most likely was causing these sudden health issues down to: climate change, racism, Christian Nationalism, standing up too quickly, standing up too slowly, and not eating enough bugs.
    
    https://babylonbee.com/news/experts-say-they-dont-know-what-thing-is-causing-everyone-to-suddenly-collapse-but-its-definitely-not-that-one-thing
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:13am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Of course it will not have anything to do with her huge addiction
    
    8 0
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    January 14, 2023 1:03pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      G – it might well do, who knows? They rarely check for anything else. In the cases where they have, the numbers have been damning.
      Assuming there is no chance that it is jab related is as stupid as claiming that it definitely is.
      The negative numbers are off the scale, but there is no serious investigation being done. Until there is there will be constant speculation.
      
      Though the evidence is becoming impossible to ignore, authorities continue to do so. But they can’t keep suppressing it and the tipping point is coming.
      
      i sense that the tipping point is coming and just as all the folks once lauding lockdown and ramming it down your throat as civic duty all flipped, changed jerseys, and can no longer be found, even the more midwitted rats are starting to see that the USS pfizer-modernicus is looking worryingly unseaworthy and that perhaps it’s time to familiarize oneself with the location of the lifeboats.
      
      it will not be long before it’s time to declare pfraud and throw these pharma cos under the bus while loudly proclaiming “we wuz lied to!” and “how could we have known!?!” amidst much tearing of hair and rending of garments.
      
      it’s just simple self interest. the politicians are not going down with this ship. but someone is. so they will happily pivot to “we’re the victims here!” and lead the righteous indignation pitchfork parade to save their own hides.
      
      https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-evidence-on-pfizer-pfunnybusiness
      
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      January 14, 2023 1:39pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Heroine can weaken the heart
        
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        January 15, 2023 12:22am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Either that or climate change…..//
      
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      January 14, 2023 2:12pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  54
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:02pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    10 54
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:50pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Democrats heading for the hills before 2024.
What does that mean?
https://patriotunitednews.com/democrats-freaking-out-they-are-all-going-to-retire/
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January 14, 2023 10:05am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/we-reached-our-target-of-25k-thank-you-to-all-your-generous-kiwis/
Booklet coming.
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January 14, 2023 10:18am
Jack5

Ardern’s energy disasters …

Carbon dioxide gas, a big industrial raw material, up as much as 600 per cent because of a Kapuni shutdown and the closing of the Marsden Point oil refinery.

Some brewers may have to close because they can’t get CO2, the Brewers Guild warns.

Ardern shut down development of our natural gas, and her Government slept while foreign (well foreign and Australian) oil companies shut down Marsden Point.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/482383/co2-gas-prices-skyrocket-by-600-percent-amid-shutdown
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January 14, 2023 10:26am
- slightlyrighty
  
  The fact is, they didn’t just shut down Marsden Point. They sabotaged it to make it more difficult to get going again.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:00am
  - Inandout
    
    slight, much like the Huntly coal mine where the tunnel entrances are concreted.
    
    12 3
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    January 14, 2023 11:13am
    - Colville
      
      Gimme 100kg of ANFO and stand well back!
      
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      January 14, 2023 4:29pm
- MCōs
  
  The people that owned the refinery, which hasn’t been the government for forty years, probably don’t give a toss about the CO2 shortage.
  I don’t know how these things work, but I’d have thought the people who need CO2 should’ve seen a red flag and organized an alternate source in case the remaining source went off line.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:51am
  - Colville
    
    The sick thing is that if a bunch of people got together to organize a supply commerce commission probably would have prosecuted them for cartel/anti competitive behavior
    
    Exactly what happened to the big real estate companies when they went away from trademe.
    
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    January 14, 2023 9:52pm
- Ian Boag
  
  I thought it was Todds who shut the Kapuni CO2 plant for some delayed maintenance. The CO2 is scrubbed out of Kapuni gas which is about 50% CO2 which is very high by world standards.
  
  The government sold off its stake in the refinery 30-plus years ago. No government in the interim wanted to buy it back. The oil companies (who owned it) decided that the arithmetic of running an old and small refinery didn’t work any more. So they shut it down.
  
  So what should the government have done? Nationalised it? Provided an operating subsidy?
  
  How much money should have been available to plow into either of these solutions – or any others?
  
  I would guess that the CO2 market is a tiny % of the total petroleum cash flow.
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:02pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They said yesterday it was closed for it’s dangerous state, I got the impression it was forced on them
    
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    January 14, 2023 1:06pm
  - Taieri
    
    So what should the government have done? Nationalised it? Provided an operating subsidy?
    ————–
    
    Why was this refinery built there in the first place? Any ideas?
    
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    January 14, 2023 2:34pm
    - Jack5
      
      Taieri’s Why was this refinery built there in the first place?
      
      Marsden Point’s the best natural deep-water port in New Zealand, and tankers are big ships.
      
      Also it’s handy to the big market for refined product: the top half of the North Island.
      
      The reason why it was built in New Zealand at all would have been strategic more than commercial.
      
      The company established to run the refinery, the New Zealand Refining Company Ltd, changed its name to Channel Infrastructure NZ Ltd in April, 2022.
      
      Mobil, Z Energy (Ampol), and BP together hold 36 per cent of its shares, and the other 64 per cent is now reasonably widely held.
      
      The last year as a refinery was 2021. For the final yea net operational cash inflow was $34.7 million, but reported a net loss off $118.86 million.
      
      Those interested can read the 2021 financial statements here:
      
      https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/service/services/documents/1221B8361AD54F22126A12B41443D84F
      
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      January 14, 2023 5:27pm
      - Taieri
        
        I was asking Ian Boag.
        
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        January 14, 2023 6:45pm
      - Jack5
        
        You should have addressed your question to Ian Boag, but when a blog is an open forum anyone is usually free to answer a question.
        
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        January 14, 2023 8:35pm
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    Ian – It isn’t without precedent to nationalise assets of strategic interest eg Air NZ, Kiwirail
    
    At the very least you would expect a rational review of the options, which could be explained the Citizenry. Are you aware of anything of this nature?
    
    Given our supply chain is do dependent on shipping lines, one option to consider would be a shareholding in a shipping line.
    
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    January 14, 2023 3:19pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      A few of the privatizations had such disastrous effects that the government had to step in to prevent the collapse of crucial transport connections. I don’t think the same case could be made for the oil refinery, aluminum smelter, a shipping line, etc.
      Governments have a mixed record developing and running business operations or subsidizing them directly or indirectly.
      
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      January 14, 2023 5:45pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Let’s see what “disastrous effects” look like when the fuel supply chain suffers some disruption.
        
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        January 14, 2023 9:16pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Note ownership in a strategic asset ie shipping line isn’t about the government propping it up. It is about having the clout to put NZs interests first if prioritisation is ever required eg in a supply shortage.
        
        It is why so many inefficient farming nations subsidise their farmers. Securing a food supply is a strategic need.
        
        I would have thought security of fuel would be equivalent to our nation.
        
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        January 14, 2023 9:20pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        I agree that an Aluminium smelter is not a strategic asset. But if diesel runs dry that is a bigger issue than the railways falling over.
        
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        January 14, 2023 9:21pm
kevn

@Jack5… Who wooda thort?
They didn’t in spite of being warned about the many repercussions of closing Marsden Point.
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January 14, 2023 10:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  As usual, no forward thinking, because they just can’t.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:23am
  - MCōs
    
    Who?
    
    5 2
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    January 14, 2023 11:52am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Ardern and her Govt.
      Jack5 at 10.26
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:56am
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERINENT QUESTION….

Who in their right mind would want to be a CENSUS COLLECTOR?

(NZH reporter Ben Leahy spills the beans on what to expect in 2023)

https://nzherald.co.nz/author/ben-leahy/
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January 14, 2023 10:40am
- Benedict Yu
  
  People who need a job?
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:54am
- MCōs
  
  I wonder how many aggressive malcontents are out there who would physically attack those people?
  More likely to get a flea in the ear from someone who thinks the census collector can make a difference.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:04am
  - Ghost
    
    Well we know how Maggie treats trick or treaters so it might be safer for census collectors to avoid her house
    
    7 2
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    January 14, 2023 11:08am
    - MCōs
      
      Maggie Pie has always struck me as an upstanding citizen who wouldn’t make fun of these people for cheap thrills.
      
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      January 14, 2023 11:55am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    YIP…never forget reading where Banksie said if a census-collector tried climing over his gates to get in, he’d set ‘Muldoon’ on them. (Muldoon was his Alsatian. LOL!!)
    
    9 4
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    January 14, 2023 11:34am
    - Mike
      
      Whatever happened to “Banksie’.He went very quiet after losing that court case.
      
      5 5
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      January 14, 2023 1:24pm
      - Nickc2
        
        FYI, he won the court case on appeal.
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/john-banks-saga-ends-but-at-high-price/QA5X4AXUKW43633GJMXSAX7ZEI/
        IMO, the whole fiasco was a Labour stitch up.
        
        12 2
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        January 14, 2023 1:52pm
      - Mike
        
        No, the paternity case.
        
        2 7
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        January 14, 2023 2:32pm
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        He was busy doing artwork in the Ukraine recently.
        
        4 3
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        January 14, 2023 3:13pm
- kowtow
  
  That’s the front page of today’s Whoreald .
  
  Bigly scary headline screams ” Census panic stations”.
  
  In essence it is a prominently placed piece of regime covid panic porn.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:10am
- Its only I
  
  We have to give papers out to our guests staying at the camp during that night both kiwis and “others”.
  
  Wonder who does the DoC camps and vanpacker sites?
  
  What the tourist put in those sealed envelopes is up to them…
  
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  January 14, 2023 12:50pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gang-members-block-christchurch-hospital-parking-intimidate-public/6MGBPCDRGRFDTCJKDBXWZI7HKM/

The gangs have taken over when they can behave like this without fear of police.

Cuddles coster should have sent in the police to arrest every single mobster on hospital grounds.
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January 14, 2023 10:44am
- kowtow
  
  But , but ,but , there were no complaints .
  
  So that’s ok , innit.
  
  The rule of law is well and truly fucked here and it won’t be getting any better in a hurry.
  
  Why not just chuck another few mil in their direction………or send some Plods to assist them in their “traffic management” endevours , there’s precedent after all.
  
  When a criminal enterprise can literally and at will openly take over and run a hospital car park in a major city then you know you’re in a third world country .
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:16am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Sinaloa in Mexico comes to mind.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:36am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    It smacks of corruption – politicians that are usually sooo protective of their brands have pandered to the gangs. Why would they? They are acutely aware it is damaging them in the polls.
    
    So what power could the gangs have over Jacinda Ardern and team?
    
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    January 14, 2023 3:11pm
- Ruawai
  
  This is the police response to the question asking how many times they had attended incidents regarding gangs at Christchurch Hospital, I think they are speaking 1984 Newspeak from the Ministry of Truth:
  “Our data would not necessarily capture this detail… Each response is proportionate to the information received at the time,” a spokesperson said.
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:17pm
I remember when

Gang members block Christchurch Hospital parking. intimidate public: RNZ.
Te Whatu Ora Waitaha has confirmed gang members blocked off public carparks at Christchurch Hospital in the lead-up to Christmas.
One day the gangs had cones in all the carparks closest to ED so the public couldn’t use them.
Te Whatu Ora Waitaha confirmed on one occasion in December many carparks at Christchurch Hospital were being used by members of a gang.

Not sure what is worse about the story.
Whether it was the gang’s behaviour or the fact that, apart from an apparently associated incident,
it took a month for the media to report it.
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January 14, 2023 10:47am
- kowtow
  
  Te Whatu Ora Waitaha
  
  Translation please.
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:17am
  - Swifty
    
    The Farty Odour – Christchurch.
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:21am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Get used to it….
    
    https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:33am
    - kowtow
      
      Pure tokenism and as such is actually racist .
      
      Exhibit 1 . headline and title in Maori , the rest , the actual contents in English .
      
      Meaningless, virtue signalling which will only help to worsen health “outcomes” for everyone .
      
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      January 14, 2023 12:18pm
  - Nickc2
    
    The Canterbury Life Network
    Isn’t it great to know such creative and innovative ancient savages had words for ‘Canterbury’ and ‘Network’ eh? //
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:47am
ClanMcleod

Cardiologist Dr Asseem Malhotra manages to get onto the BBC and brings up the mammoth in the room regarding increased heart issues like myocarditis and pericarditis. The interviewer is talking to him about statins. You will note the shock in her response when he brings up the dangerous mRNA jabs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkBt25XZ0NU

I don’t think that was meant to be part of the script!
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January 14, 2023 11:30am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Definitely not….
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/13/bbc-cardiologist-aseem-malhotra-links-covid-jabs-to-heart-disease-deaths
  
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  January 14, 2023 11:32am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Maggy – inconvenient truth slips into the mainstream.
    
    BBC criticised for letting cardiologist ‘hijack’ interview with false Covid jab claim
    
    Except his claims are provenly true. Even the manufacturers admit that the vaccines can cause myocarditis/pericarditis. So does Medsafe in NZ.
    
    Table 1: List of important risks and
    missing information
    
    Important identified risks Anaphylaxis
    Myocarditis and pericarditis
    
    https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/Comirnaty-RMP.pdf
    
    It is The Guardian blatantly pushing lies and misinformation and getting away with it. Why is this permitted?
    Dr Malhotra’s reply to The Guardian was measured and rational, unlike the comments in the article criticising him.
    
    Malhotra told the Guardian: “Medical science is ever-evolving – discussing new developments openly is hard because the complicit media wants to only frame mRNA as right or wrong, to conflate mRNA vaccine debate as an entire attack on all vaccines, and to politicise views as left or right.
    
    “I’ve promoted vaccines my entire career, including Covid vaccines on Good Morning Britain in early 2021. Labelling individuals who flag mRNA vaccine concerns as anti-vaxxers – pursuing personal attacks rather than analysing the latest data (with now overwhelming evidence of serious and common cardiac harms) and who funds it – sows public distrust and leads to a dangerous fall in safe vaccine uptake.”
    
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    January 14, 2023 11:57am
    - Allan
      
      Guy Hatchard’s posting this matter is an interesting read. Link is https://hatchardreport.com/a-week-of-extraordinary-revelations-studies-confirm-serious-adverse-effects-after-covid-vaccination/
      With more and more evidence being revealed daily I wonder when those in authority will begin to take notice and halt the program. I am certainly not holding my breath waiting however this should be publicised so people are well informed as to the risks involved with the MRNA experimental jab.
      
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      January 14, 2023 1:29pm
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Indeed, the evidence is becoming impossible to ignore. Except by “experts” in NZ.
        
        FDA Vaccine Committee Member Calls For End to Mass Covid Vaccination
        
        https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/13/fda-vaccine-committee-member-calls-for-end-to-mass-covid-vaccination/
        
        Japan’s Experts Baffled by High ‘Covid’ Deaths From Heart Problems Despite High Vaccination Rate
        
        https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/13/japans-experts-baffled-by-high-covid-deaths-from-heart-problems-despite-high-vaccination-rate/
        
        Covid Vaccines Are “Obviously Dangerous” and Should Be Halted Immediately, Say Senior Swedish Doctors
        
        https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/13/covid-vaccines-are-obviously-dangerous-and-should-be-halted-immediately-say-senior-swedish-doctors/
        
        the evidence on pfizer pfunnybusiness continues to mount
        
        https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-evidence-on-pfizer-pfunnybusiness
        
        It’s becoming a torrent. It’s only a matter of time.
        
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        January 14, 2023 2:20pm
ClanMcleod

How ironic.

Kate Hannah from the government funded “Disinformation Project” is caught red handed lying and helping censor opinion.

There is a detailed article here that explains how the story unfolded. Basically a witch hunt by one of the idiots at $tuffed and fully supported by The Ministry of Truth at the Disinformation Project.

https://21stcenturywire.com/2023/01/11/stuff-disinformation-project-caught-spreading-lie-to-ban-magazine-in-new-zealand/

Worth reading in full, but Kate Hannah lied when she stated in the $tuffed hit piece:

She said some of the commentary in New Dawn was borderline in legality, because it described the content of livestreamed video of the Christchurch shootings, as well as where it had been published, which could encourage people to seek it out.

This was repeated by other media outlets, obviously without bothering to check for accuracy.

Mainstream Kiwi outlets like Bay of Plenty Times and News Talk ZB then ran with the Stuff’s fabrication, “Magazine sold in Whitcoulls could get readers in legal trouble,” and claimed that the article contained details about where to view the video of the mass shooting

Except this is a lie.

This last point was in fact a lie, as no such details appear in the article.

This begs the question: did Cann or Hannah actually read the article? If they had, then they should have concluded that, “The Strange Story of Brenton Tarrant,” by T.J. Coles (PDF below) does not contain any details about where to find the location of the livestream of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attack.

There is a link to the PDF of the offending article in the post. As Henningsen says in his article on 21st Century Wire:

If this is how the state and the media are going to operate, then we have arrived at Fahrenheit 451, the 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was meant to be a warning, not a handbook.
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January 14, 2023 12:42pm
- NothingLeft
  
  “disinformation project” pronounced p-r-o-p-a-g-a-n-d-i-s-t-s
  
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  January 14, 2023 1:55pm
- Surely Knott
  
  I hope they seek compensation for defamations and loss of sales in the courts.
  Otherwise they just keep lying without consequence.
  
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  January 14, 2023 4:24pm
ClanMcleod

FDA Vaccine Committee Member Calls For End to Mass Covid Vaccination

One of the staunchest supporters of the covid jab looks like he’s in the process of “changing jerseys.”

Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the U.S. FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, has written in the New England Journal of Medicine, the world’s top medical journal, calling for an end to the mass vaccination of anyone at low risk from the virus. In an op-ed titled “Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccines – A Cautionary Tale”, Dr. Offit writes that Covid boosters are “probably best reserved for the people most likely to need protection against severe disease”.

“I believe we should stop trying to prevent all symptomatic infections in healthy, young people by boosting them with vaccines containing mRNA from strains that might disappear a few months later,” he writes.
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January 14, 2023 1:27pm
Pineapple Lumps

Random Theory on SADS (Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome)

This condition affects around 500 people per annum in the UK. It can’t be diagnosed as after cardiac arrest no electrical signals are present.

Arrhythmia can be caused by myocarditis, pericarditis, athletic activity and cocaine use. Obviously, we know that myocarditis and pericarditis are acknowledged adverse reactions from the COVID vaccine.

After the Hong Kong study showed that these adverse reactions were much higher in young men, commenters on KB postulated that perhaps they were more prone to the vaccine being administered into a vein and therefore mRNA directly sent to the heart rather than being contained mostly in the arm muscle. I think this is a good laypersons theory.

It appears being vaccinated combined with other causes of arrhythmia may create an adverse synergy for SADS.

My theory is that previous cocaine use and the vaccine should not be mixed. The power combo to avoid is these two factors and peak athletic exertion.

Just a theory but given the rapid increase in SADS I am sure the medical experts are researching this to get a greater understanding.

Definition of SADS
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/conditions/sads

Article on the impacts of cocaine use on the cardiovascular system
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/circulationaha.110.940569
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January 14, 2023 1:40pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Pineapple Lumps – which really proves the point, all of the available data should be released immediately and serious and completely unbiased investigation needs to be undertaken.
  
  In the meanwhile the vaccine programme needs to be suspended.
  
  As you may know, a year ago, The FDA was fighting to suspend releasing the Pfizer data for 75 years.
  
  https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-75-years-release-pfizer-vaccine-documents/
  
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  January 14, 2023 2:31pm
- Inandout
  
  PL, many famous people are supposedly vaccinated and are known users of cocaine, so SAD?
  
  6 4
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  January 14, 2023 2:39pm
- Scooter
  
  And this on stroke link…
  
  https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-says-pfizers-bivalent-covid-shot-may-be-linked-stroke-older-adults-2023-01-13/
  
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  January 14, 2023 7:45pm
Swifty

Stiff’s headline:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/130938785/wellington-couple-stuck-with-20000-rent-bill-after-moving-out

“Couple stuck with $20,000 rent bill after moving out.”

How about:

“Couple held to agreement they willingly and freely made.”

Or,

“Couple learns there are two sides to every agreement.”

Or,

“Couple tries to weasel out of agreement but other party holds firm.”

Or,

“Landlord praises the sanctity of contracts when reneging couple try to welch on deal.”
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January 14, 2023 1:44pm
- Taieri
  
  How about the Government passing the law, which requires blood-sucking leeches-landlords to pay tenants for agreeing to live in rental properties?
  Comes the Revolution…
  
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  January 14, 2023 2:13pm
  - Swifty
    
    I’m sorry Taieri, you’ve lost me there.
    
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    January 14, 2023 2:28pm
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    I get the sarc Taieri, might have needed the // – other similar Labour Party ideas are:
    1. Banks to provide services without fees
    2. Supermarkets to sell food at cost
    3. Petrol stations to sell fuel at cost
    4. Farmers to sell produce below international prices
    Meanwhile, doing everything in their power to make the cost of doing business go up.
    
    14 1
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    January 14, 2023 2:58pm
    - Swifty
      
      Thanks.
      
      I get it now.
      
      7 0
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      January 14, 2023 3:26pm
    - Taieri
      
      might have needed the //
      —————
      
      Why?
      
      2 1
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      January 14, 2023 3:46pm
  - artemisia
    
    Funnily enough there’s a lot of that about. It’s called social housing. It’s the blood sucking taxpayer picking up the tab though.
    
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    January 14, 2023 3:34pm
- Swifty
  
  So here is the scenario:
  
  I’ve gone to Stuff for advertising for my business, the ads run and they bill me $10,000.
  
  I then say “Oh, I’ve changed my mind and I don’t want to pay you.”
  
  What would Stuff’s headline be?
  
  “Swifty saddled with $10,000 bill even after changing his mind.”
  
  Or,
  
  “Swifty tries a shifty but Stuff stands firm on legitimate debt.”
  
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  January 14, 2023 2:35pm
- Colville
  
  Swifty.
  
  I read that and was amazed that a bank gave them a mortgage without having the rental situation sorted as it would have been a significant drain on income.
  
  Why didnt they sublet it?
  
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  January 14, 2023 4:33pm
  - Swifty
    
    Good points Colville.
    
    I don’t know if they tried and failed to sublet, or to find new tenants – either way they remain on the hook.
    
    They made an agreement, because it suited them to and subsequently wanted to be let off their responsibilities.
    
    Whaddya reckon their reaction would have been if their landlord came along part way through their fixed-term tenancy and tried to boot them out?
    
    99.9% they would have said “No, we have an agreement…….”
    
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    January 14, 2023 5:17pm
  - artemisia
    
    Subletting is not straightforward. The tenancy agreement may not allow it but even if it does the landlord has to agree. And the original tenant remains responsible anyway.
    
    The original tenant could assign the tenancy to someone else, but there are quite a lot of rules around it, mainly designed to protect the tenant, but the landlord can decline under some circs.
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:02pm
surfing

Absolutely incorrect application of the law …

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/neighbours-distraught-luxury-doggy-daycare-pets-pats-wont-be-evicted-from-manor-like-property/SKACPHPWABHBXCOFS7TTMT5VJI/

No way this business should operate in a residential suburb! This is the problem with the shit NZ lawyer fraternity — they write shit law and innocents end up being penalised for incompetent government lawyers.
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January 14, 2023 2:12pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Sooner or later, the Bidens are going down, or are they like the Clintons?
https://leadpatriot.com/cnn-uses-dem-rep-cover-for-the-biden-crime-familys-pre-midterm-secret/20770/
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January 14, 2023 2:12pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Walls don’t work. Really?
https://thepatriotjournal.com/joe-biden-summer-home-border-crisis/
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January 14, 2023 3:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Coming to a place near you soon.
No?
https://gopnewsfeed.com/country-tries-to-go-green-now-they-are-in-total-collapse-2/
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January 14, 2023 3:39pm
Maggie Pie

My partner was saying there’ll be lots of people in the more affluent suburbs, pleased they never rushed out last year and bought a TESLA.
Elon has just announced they’ll be slashing prices by 20% !!

With the government subsidy, they’ll now be in the reach of most Westies 😀
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January 14, 2023 4:39pm
- Ghost
  
  He needs to promote better, free tesla with every Twitter blue tick purchase
  
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  January 14, 2023 4:41pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Tesla have been doubling production ever 2 years, currently at 1.4 million and want to grown another 10-15x. They have 30% profit margin on their cars at the moment and enough spare production capacity to double without building more factories. They aim to keep growing fast with this price drop. Will piss recent customers off, but probably help to bolster sales growth over next 2 years, particularly given recession coming.
  
  Also doubling production generally drops costs by 20% – their costs are likely to drop further and claw back some of profit drop.
  
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  January 14, 2023 5:18pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Westies will just bang a 350 cu in Chev in it.
  
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  January 14, 2023 5:59pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING >>> ‘INSIDE EDITION’

Why haven’t we seen this before?

Jill Biden’s EX-HUSBAND speaks out…..

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1614027701731446784
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January 14, 2023 5:16pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, the guns are out for Joe, he has been excommunicated from the Dem Party. Almost daily another story surfaces, death by a thousand cuts.
  
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  January 14, 2023 5:36pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Guns out for Joe? Does he know this? Does he think it is just Fake News?
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:03pm
Jack5

More concern about gangs under Ardern’s Labour …

In the run-up to Christmas Mongrel Mob gang members blocked Christchurch Hospital parking – already restricted, and intimated the public, says the Radio NZ web site.

It reports this response from Te Whatu Ora Waitaha ( if you go to the web site, you find this means Health NZ Canterbury – thank goodness for the Internet):

Te Whatu Ora Waitaha confirmed on one occasion in December many of the carparks at Christchurch Hospital were being used by members of a gang.

A spokesperson said this only lasted for two hours and a hospital security team dealt with it without incident.

Te Whatu Ora was also not aware of any public complaints made about the gang presence.

Do they give a rat’s arse about the plebs?

The RNZ report:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/482407/gang-members-block-christchurch-hospital-parking-intimidate-public

Footnote: an online Maori dictionary says “whatu” can mean “a stone invested by the tohunga with powers for rendering a rahui effective.”

It defines a rahui as temporary ritual prohibition.

It’s hard to find a kosher Maori language equivalent for “hospital” or “health department”.
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January 14, 2023 5:48pm
- Jack5
  
  Whoops! I meant to type gangs allegedly intimidated the public, not intimated them.
  
  Sorry!
  
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  January 14, 2023 7:05pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

For no particularly good reason, NZTA decides that the long, flat stretches of open road between Masterton & Featherstone need to be dropped to 80 kmph.

I would prefer that they did the job that road users pay them to do & fix the road surface so that 100 kmph limit continues to safely apply.

Morons.

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/01/waka-kotahi-drops-speed-limit-between-masterton-and-featherston-to-80km-h.html
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January 14, 2023 5:58pm
- septic skeptic
  
  This could be an election issue.
  1. Want to ride a bike, catch a bus or walk – vote red or green.
  2. Want to get from A to B – vote yellow or blue.
  
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  January 14, 2023 6:17pm
  - Taieri
    
    There used to be an old suspension bridge over the Taieri River at Sutton, which was destroyed by flood in 2017.
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/suspension-bridge-destroyed
    
    This bridge was replaced with a modern one lane bridge. Nothing unusual about it as there’s just a gravel road connecting to one or two farms and used by a very small number of vehicles. Apart from one thing – the new bridge has a cycle lane, which takes about one third of the bridge width.
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/4m-replacement-bridge-officially-opened
    
    Who will ever use this cycle lane I can’t fathom as there’s nowhere to cycle there. May be cows or sheep will learn to use a bike in the future?
    
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    January 14, 2023 6:56pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

More bike lane bollocks in Wellington. Those cyclists don’t care about anyone else except themselves.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/130952533/fears-new-wellington-cycleway-will-cause-commuter-chaos-and-kill-local-business
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January 14, 2023 6:07pm
Alan Wilkinson

I see Stuff is running an article suggesting the capital be moved to Hamilton. Seems to me Wellington is full of idiots. Put a fence around it and don’t let them out is a much better plan.
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January 14, 2023 6:18pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Because politicians and public servants really want to move to Hamilton, right?
  
  Frankly, Hamilton should be careful of what some local booster wishes for.
  
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  January 14, 2023 6:46pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Along with the people that want to move the Auckland Port, they have no idea of what is involved. They just think that you can pack up the office on Friday night and start up in Hamilton on Monday.
  
  The office has to be built and outfitted; you have to have accommodation for the staff to move from Wellington to Hamilton and help with the cost.
  You have to build new schools, hospital(s) and other infrastructure to cope with the new influx.
  
  As people are moving out of Wellington you have to bring in new industry etc to fill the gap. As the cost of Wellington houses will drop then the Ministry staff will have to be compensated.
  
  To move the Capital from Wellington to Hamilton would be a project that would take 20-30 years and I would say cost 2 billion p.a.
  
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  January 14, 2023 6:57pm
  - Jack5
    
    It would quickly be followed by changing the name of Hamilton to Kirikiriroa.
    
    Hamilton has already changed Von Tempsky Street, named originally after the colonials’ war hero Gustavus von Tempsky, to Puutikitiki Street, and Dawson Park to Te Wehenga Park.
    
    For two years pharmacist Ian McMichael has been lobbying to change Hamilton signs commemorating colonial militia.
    
    I wonder what Maori word they could use instead of “street”.
    
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    January 14, 2023 8:28pm
- greybeard
  
  I moved to Wellington from Auckland in 1971.
  Best thing I have ever done.
  I respectfully suggest from your comments that you have never been to Wellington: which is a pity for you but a benefit for Wellington !
  
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  January 14, 2023 7:19pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Actually I was born in Wellington but my parents escaped when WW2 ended. I just remember my mother complaining about the nightmare of a pram with Wellingtons hills and steps.
    
    But you don’t need to live there to read about the imbecilic councils they elect and their daft politics.
    
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    January 14, 2023 10:51pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I blame Roger Douglas. And the Labour backlash.
      
      Pre 1984, Wellington had its share of subsidised industries, plus the public sector. With the removal of subsidies & deregulation, the former disappeared. Labour Return then boosted the number of public servants, throwing the ratio of those directly dependent on govt largesse well out of whack.
      
      On the upside, weirdos who are unemployable in the private sector drain their way to Wellington in search of a public sector sinecure. This removed these people from your town. Wellington, doing the heavy lifting since 1984.
      
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      January 15, 2023 7:34am
Ghost

Another teen killer

An 18-year-old man has been charged with murder after a woman was found dead in the early hours of this morning following an incident in Wakari, Dunedin.

The man is due to appear in the Dunedin District Court on January 16.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/homicide-investigation-man-in-custody-in-dunedin-after-woman-found-dead/7V6FW2ARFZDKDALDWWZUZANAVA/
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January 14, 2023 6:49pm
Jack5

From Melbourne, a report about miniature cattle and miniature sheep being bred for pets on hobby farms.

They’re selling typically from $Aust2000 to 5000 each.

A farmer-follower of Kiwiblog may tell us whether these differ from the Dexter small cattle (second link below).

Aussie pet cattle, sheep:

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-cavoodles-of-the-cow-word-miniature-cattle-and-babydoll-sheep-making-popular-paddock-pets-20230108-p5cb55.html

And NZ Dexter (small) cattle:

https://www.winnfarms.co.nz/dexter-miniature-cattle
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January 14, 2023 6:59pm
Maggie Pie

It’s a worrying trend.
No matter where you look these days….we’re definitely seeing a pattern forming 🙁

https://twitter.com/UltraDane/status/1613947367610552320
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January 14, 2023 7:08pm
Doc Holliday

CO2 controls Earth’s energy balance and hence temperature. Other non-condensible GHGs like methane and nitrous oxide contribute too – not water vapour.

Standard physics – no scientific debate.

[Mod – you can comment without that] won’t escape the disruption. Which has already started. Haven’t you noticed?
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January 14, 2023 7:22pm
- rouppe
  
  Not everyone got that memo
  
  https://www.space.com/tonga-eruption-water-vapor-warm-earth
  
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  January 14, 2023 10:44pm
Vory v zakone

Nup. Not happening…

https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/1613891749210124295?t=e7FO7gQV-TH3dm41TsLGCw&s=19
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January 14, 2023 8:35pm
graham

Dear One News

Please put Daniel Faitaua on as frequently as possible. It’s such a pleasure listening to the news when we can understand it.

Sincerely

Every English speaking person in New Zealand
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January 14, 2023 9:36pm

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