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January 5, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 05 January 2024

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General Debate

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mikenmildagain

It’s the special day for devotees of Catholic demi-god Saint Symeon the Stylite, who achieved notability by living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo.
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January 5, 2024 8:01am
- Scott
  
  That’s pretty astonishing. That’s an uptick from me Mikey. 😊
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:08am
  - Matt Long
    
    Now it’s Mike who’s up the pole.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:10am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Placed himself above everybody else, expected them to feed him and listen to his preaching – and shat on them. Yup, I can see that he’d have many devotees even today
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:31am
- Tarquin North
  
  I thought he was a National cabinet minister .
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:35am
- Jack5
  
  😁A bit like a troll, eh? Squatting up there alone, shitting on the masses below.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:23am
- JackRabbit
  
  Was he the original inventor of the long drop?
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:02am
  - kowtow
    
    why oh why do you all respond to the troll.
    
    you’re just encouraging it.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:25am
- TripeWryter
  
  Yes. Poor deluded man. Thought it brought him closer to God.
  Was able to look down on everybody else and judge them and tell them how sinful they were.
  Perhaps he was an inspiration to the modern sin-inventors in the Green and woke and that type of thing ranks.
  PS: I’m surprised by all the down ticks to your post.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:39am
  - peterwn
    
    The Eastern Orthodox Christian monks at Meteora in Greece lived at much more lofty heights. Some of the monasteries were only accessible by rope and basket. Some of the groups are quite reclusive which makes Saint Symeon look like a showman.
    
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    January 5, 2024 5:47pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  He’s venerated by the Orthodox churches too, as well as Catholics.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:47am
- NothingLeft
  
  I dimly recall a trend along these lines in the 1970’s.
  
  Human psychology is warped by evolution to make many of us inclined toward self-punishing/intentional-suffering ascetic behaviour to help us hoard resources and better survive times of deprivation. But a sad side effect is that it makes many people perpetually unhappy.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:55am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The top floor at the Marist Seminary at what is now the Mission was known as St Simon’s in his honour.
  
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  January 5, 2024 4:29pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Somehow the message to care for our planet didn’t filter down to these ~~spoilt shits~~ fine young folk.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/01/gisborne-locals-furious-after-attendees-leave-kilometre-long-trail-of-rubbish-at-rhythm-and-vines.html
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January 5, 2024 8:06am
- artemisia
  
  Yes, poor behaviour for sure. But was there enough rubbish collection available on site?
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:15am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Despite the downticks, it’s a good question.
    
    What organizers need to understand is that in any large group, there will always be three types of people.
    
    There will be some who will do the right thing no matter how difficult and inconvenient it is – in this case, they’ll take their rubbish home with them.
    
    There will be others who are irredeemable and cannot be got by any means to do the right thing – in this case, they’ll drop their rubbish where they stand.
    
    And there’s a third group, often the majority, who will do the right thing if it’s not too difficult or inconvenient. In this case, they’ll put their rubbish in a bin – if there is one nearby, and it is not already overflowing.
    
    No doubt some will be smugly thinking, well I’m in the first group. Good for you and yes, absolutely, of course we all totally agree that it would be better if everyone was in the first group.
    
    But if the outcome matters to you, it’s idiotic to organise on the assumption that everybody is.
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:46am
  - cmm
    
    I agree. One might hope that people would look after their mess, but they are there to party and are generally stoned or drunk. Managing their litter is generally not top priority.
    
    I knew the guy running the rubbish collections out past Darfield. He contracted to do the rubbish collection for quite a few concerts and other events around Canterbury.
    
    He dropped off two covered skips as well as a bunch of rubbish bins, recycling bins etc and had a crew who visited the site and emptied all the rubbish bins 3 times a day.
    
    At the end, people were dumping piles of stuff they didn’t want to take home – tents, sleeping bags, clothing,… filled a a whole skip.
    
    It’s a lot of work to do it right, but if you don’t it turns into a disaster zone.
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:26pm
- thirteenstars
  
  On the bright side, Hamas didn’t gatecrash the festival.
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:23am
  - nathie
    
    Indeed, the Greens and far-left probably would have ramped up pro-Palestine protests and donned brand new designer keffiyeh’s whilst ignoring the victims!
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:04am
- Inandout
  
  Maggy, what will these young folk do when by Green Decree all that plastic is replaced by soggy cardboard?
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:55am
  - Paulus
    
    Tell them that anything and everything Plastic comes from OIL !
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:18pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Plastic can be made from many materials, including potatoes. Its just that oil is easier and cheaper than anything else.
      
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      January 5, 2024 5:08pm
- Michael Johnston
  
  I suspect the ‘consciousness’ of hipsters is much more focused on ‘just stopping oil’ and other unrealistic and ruinous goals, than on the small things they could do personally to improve the natural environment.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:30am
- mawm
  
  I suspect that they are probably all believers in the climate crisis but when it comes to personal responsibility to not foul our earth/gaia not so much.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:17am
- imalwaysright
  
  They haven’t been programmed to clean up after themselves.
  
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  January 5, 2024 1:38pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Mummy always did it – and there is the problem!
    Maggie says spoilt shits and that is correct.
    To not spoil them is against the Geneva Convention, or whatever rights the little shits can make up.
    No respect for others.
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:32pm
mikenmildagain

Here’s a neat way for well-off crooks to avoid too much publicity about their crimes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/133226670/the-doctor-the-architect-and-the-senior-manager-how-to-get-your-drinkdriving-sentencing-moved
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January 5, 2024 8:13am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Sounds like they are getting more publicity than any drink driver who is not well off is likely to get.
  
  A reading of 90 when the criminal threshold is 80 and the person was not driving dangerously in any way, is the lowest level of criminality imaginable. People (many of whom are not well off) are getting diversion or discharge without conviction for worse than that every week.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:22am
- I remember when
  
  I guess there is more publicity if you are a doctor, etc, rather than a labourer.
  Presumably the penalty is still the same and there is considerable added financial cost.
  Perhaps they don’t get any reduction for a difficult family upbringing, problems with behaviour at school and physical abuse.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:37am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I think you will find that the wealthier you are the more likely you are to get lenient sentencing.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:15am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      And the fact Māori murderers are sitting on bail awaiting trial? Don’t spout that tripe
      
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      January 5, 2024 2:26pm
    - I remember when
      
      The wealthier you are, the more you have to pay for supposedly more lenient sentencing.
      
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      January 5, 2024 2:29pm
  - mawm
    
    I remember when – doctors also face a second trial – that by the Medical Council who can suspend their licence, or restrict it, even in the event of not being censured by the courts.
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:22am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Maw,
      They take away a doctors license if they disagree with an experimental drug.
      Everything else is seemingly permissible .
      
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      January 5, 2024 12:02pm
      - Keith White
        
        Damn right.
        
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        January 6, 2024 1:13am
Unity

What an utter disgrace these litterbugs are. Surely you don’t need to be educated on such things. If everyone took their rubbish home, like you would assume normal people would, there wouldn’t have been much to tidy up. People are so ‘entitled’ these days – “someone else will pick up my rubbish” – or do they even think that far?!! Words fail me.
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January 5, 2024 8:14am
- MCōs
  
  Those festivals have always been the same
  Woodstock, which was 55yrs ago was just as bad
  We went to the cricket yesterday. Rubbish everywhere
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:53am
  - Colville
    
    and Splore festival which is run in a DOC reserve and has 20,000 people a day will be left pristine , every piece of glitter vacuumed out of the grass (BS I know) but seriously they have people standing beside the bins telling you which on to put the rubbish in. EVERY cup or food container is compostable.
    
    Its an event management failure…human nature is what it is.
    
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    January 5, 2024 6:53pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  It is lovely, but sadly misguided and stupidly counterproductive, to assume that normal people will take their litter home with them. Some will, and every respect and gratitude to them. Some will drop litter where they stand even if there’s a clearly visible bin three paces away, and there’s little that can be done about them, some people just are awful. Most will use a bin if it’s conveniently placed and has adequate capacity. As an event organizer you can work on the basis of realistic assumptions or you can fondly imagine that everybody’s as conscientious as you are. Wonder which category the organizers of this event fall into?
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:53am
Swifty

Sandra Coney is well off the mark in her latest scribble:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/sandra-coney-theres-a-link-between-the-new-government-and-the-anti-maori-spiel/YCROSIUGO5FGJKHGJJXNDKQ3JY/

Full of wild claims and evidence-free assertions. Must do better.
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January 5, 2024 8:16am
- Im Right
  
  Trouble is Swifty, that’s all the left have….speculations/assumptions/reckons and opinions, this is whipping up a whole myriad of trouble from the far left especially with alot of anti-maori rubbish.
  The uneducated (or no wish to look for themselves) are being swept up in the false rhetoric, and the left are loving it.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:36am
- backster
  
  Coney and her crap paper are trying to whip up hatred and disorder between maori and the rest of us.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:58am
- Surely Knott
  
  Sandra Coney is a hypocrite and virtue signaller. But what actually happened to the vandalism at Waikumete cemetery? The council itself said they didn’t believe it was racist as other graves were affected. There are cameras at the cemetery , why haven’t the cops caught anyone or released any cctv. In fact why haven’t the cops or media announced arrests for vandalising waikumete, or the 12 people who broke into te papa and vandalised the treaty exhibition, or the person who deliberately rammed people at the bus stop, or the people who vandalised the Israeli embassy multiple times, or the people who vandalised the Auckland museum when the Israeli colours were displayed, or the break in and theft of shaneel Lal’s apartment , or who shot Jack Brazil?
  
  With the cemetery incident, is it the case that it was just the usual vandalism, perhaps some kids on dirt bikes tore through the cemetery or a junky or a relative with a mix of grief and rage … who knows. Where are the police. Meh we don’t need facts in 2024 in media. We need the merest sniff of an event that can be framed as racist in one of the heralds many opinion pieces.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:22pm
Bridgenag

Critical Thinking Is THE Answer
The benefits available to Critical Thinkers are simply STUPENDOUS

“Literally every day we are bombarded by non-sensical words and actions by many of our representatives, our government agencies, the news media, organizations, businesses, celebrities, etc., as well as family and friends! Is it possible that all these people have the same disease? YES, it’s not only possible, it was 100% predictable.

They all have Adult Critical Thinking Deficiency (ACTD), which is infectious (then known as groupthink). So far the FDA, CDC, AMA, Dr. Fauci, Pfizer, etc. have not promoted a vaccine. As with many medical ailments, the optimal solution is not to get it in the first place. To assure that, there is a K-12 education system preventative…”

https://open.substack.com/pub/criticallythinking/p/critical-thinking-is-the-answer?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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January 5, 2024 8:23am
- Michael Johnston
  
  Critical thinking is indeed a fine thing, and an antidote to group think.
  
  The author quotes Einstein: “Education is not the Learning of Facts, but Training of the Mind to Think.”
  
  Far be it from me to criticise Einstein but unless one knows a fair number if facts, critical thinking is empty. There’s no such thing as critical thinking in the abstract. It relies on knowledge.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:40am
  - Sacha
    
    – I was taught that critical thinking required an argument to support it.
    Critical thinkers debate . . . . . .
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:23am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  At a certain tertiary educational institution that I’m very familiar with, staff are attending courses in “Critical Theory”, which is intended to suppress critical thinking – about certain issues at least. Not compulsory, but staff are told that attending will be good for their careers.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:50am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Critical Theory is the Marx inspired font from which most toxic left wing wrongheadedness doth flow.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:58am
- Tom Hunter
  
  The only thing about Critical Theory that I’ve ever found funny is that it doesn’t teach or encourage critical thinking about itself.
  
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  January 5, 2024 12:12pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Sadly many KB commentators seem to lack Critical Thinking and just lead with their emotions.
  
  Yes, sometimes I have an emotional response.
  Daang, I must be human after all.
  
  But I am a firm believer in critical thinking
  
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  January 5, 2024 5:13pm
Nukuleka

Pointless pearl- clutching from a journalist with nothing much to report- really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. You’re also pretty partial to clutching your pearls, aren’t you Mike! Such outrage over these ‘crooks’. Get a bloody life.
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January 5, 2024 8:29am
- mikenmildagain
  
  You don’t think they are crooks?
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:42am
  - Dave
    
    A very interesting question, Mike.
    
    I don’t usually think of drunk-drivers as crooks, yet their actions are potentially far more devastating to victims than many crimes against property.
    
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    January 5, 2024 9:34am
    - Paulus
      
      (Ex) Cabinet Ministers cannot be crooks or drunk drivers can they ?
      
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      January 5, 2024 2:22pm
- greybeard
  
  I can’t believe that I am really saying this but in this case I agree with mma.
  And I suspect that had it been someone other than mma raising this issue that you, Nukuleka, would also have agreed with them.
  These 3 Dunedin professionals have used wealth and connections to their advantage and, in the case of the unnamed doctor, to the disadvantage of his future patients .
  Basically they are slimeballs.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:23am
  - Burtland
    
    wealth and connection are bad
    but
    race & poverty are good
    
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    January 5, 2024 9:57am
- Ghost
  
  Of course they are crooks, have you never seen the damage that drunk drivers do?
  
  Are you someone that likes to drive drunk? Seems Mike touched you in a delicate place
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:39am
Chuck Bird

Coney is supposed to be a feminist. Has anyone heard her speak out against the gang rape of women and girls in Israel?

Sandra Coney: There’s a link between the new Government and the anti-Māori spiel

Sandra Coney is a long time local-body politician, writer, feminist, historian, and women’s health campaigner.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/sandra-coney-theres-a-link-between-the-new-government-and-the-anti-maori-spiel/YCROSIUGO5FGJKHGJJXNDKQ3JY/
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January 5, 2024 8:38am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I’d expect there are quite a few outrages on which she has been silent. Has she condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Rapists like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew or Donald Trump? Chinese genocide against the Uighurs?
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:45am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    “Rapists like Bill Clinton”
    
    As far as I know, he has not been convicted of rape.
    
    You could get our host and yourself in trouble for defamation.
    
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    January 5, 2024 8:54am
    - MCōs
      
      Might get President Clinton into trouble too if he opened that can of worms
      
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      January 5, 2024 9:01am
      - Jack5
        
        This is part of Coney’s rave about the Government Coalition, created by by voters’ choice:
        
        “After decades of action, supported by all governments, to revive te reo, they are trying to stamp out any official mention.
        
        Stamp out any official mention? Is Coney mad, or just stupid?
        
        It’s interesting that the NZ Herald provides a platform for such nonsense. Its share price has fallen a shade under 12 per cent over the last 12 months. The market isn’t backing the Herald’s Wokeness.
        
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        January 5, 2024 9:19am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Sorry, change that to ‘problematic conduct’ for Clinton and Prince Andrew. After all, only Trump of the three has a court verdict confirming his status as a sexual predator.
      
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      January 5, 2024 9:14am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “After all, only Trump of the three has a court verdict confirming his status as a sexual predator.”
        
        Source please.
        
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        January 5, 2024 9:17am
      - Lenticular
        
        Yeah, in a civil trial in a cobalt blue state.
        
        You liberals used to understand things like judicial bias and the need for proof (not balance of evidence) before tarring people as predators.
        In the wrong court, milky, you are a child rapist, after all.
        
        But as usual, “But Trump” justifies adopting every evil thing you ever claimed to stand against.
        
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        January 5, 2024 9:27am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Witch Hunt. The crazy E Jean Carroll. Political bullshit.
        Grab em by the pussy.
        
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        January 5, 2024 10:36am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Here is Carroll saying the incident wasn’t sexual.
        She also says that “most people think of rape as being sexy” “think of it being a fantasy”
        Strange lady
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qD0P3FFJ7k
        That said, I don’t doubt Trump has done many sleazy things over the years but this looks like a fake complaint.
        
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        January 5, 2024 11:30am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        AoR @ 11.30.
        The elevator don’t go to the top floor for her.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:10pm
      - Paulus
        
        Are they not just two of the some 20o so far named.
        Many have been known to buy out any contention that they may have been involved, but that is allright if you are a rich American – are there not many other top men around the world particularly in Europe who are involved.
        This appears to be a media scam as well,
        Sell -the media remember, with Prince Andrews name.
        It was suggested at the time that when Clinton was in New Zealand he had a drink with a well know lady paramour, by advanced arrangement.
        
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        January 5, 2024 2:28pm
    - Swifty
      
      Many women have alleged Bill Clinton sexually assaulted them – and of course Hilary led the charge in besmirching their characters and claiming that not one of them should be believed: that every single one of them was lying.
      
      Interestingly though a number of them could accurately describe his curiously-curved member.
      
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      January 5, 2024 9:25am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        IIRC he settled out of court with Paula Jones for several hundred thousand dollars. There is credible evidence that he engaged in very bad behaviour. Hilary knew all this.
        
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        January 5, 2024 9:36am
      - Gulag1917
        
        Hilary into status is one reason why.
        
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        January 5, 2024 11:46am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Is Billy left handed or right handed?
        Asking for his friends.
        
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        January 5, 2024 2:39pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Chuck,
      Clinton is a rapist and anyone is free to say so.
      Christopher Hitchens was one of the first to call him a rapist in his book No one left to Lie To.
      Clinton did nothing because there were plenty of victims, denied their justice, who would have given evidence in a civil case.
      The Great One, Donald Trump for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, even had some of the women Clinton raped in the audience of his debate against the rapists wife, Crooked Hillary.
      Hillary’s treatment of her husband’s victims was also despicable and is a story in itself.
      
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      January 5, 2024 10:21am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It always amuses me that folks can readily believe Clinton is a rapist but deny that plain truth when applied to Donald Trump.
        
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        January 5, 2024 10:43am
      - Gulag1917
        
        Even some of the local state police would not do policing duties when Bill stayed at motels and hotels because of his immorality.
        
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        January 5, 2024 11:53am
      - Paulus
        
        I would contend that Clinton was not a Rapist, but many women were happy to satisfy him.
        
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        January 5, 2024 2:31pm
  - Inandout
    
    m&m, sorry to deflate your rape crisis thoughts but it appears Trump doesn’t feature as a Love Island frequent flyer. Old Bill though..36 times.
    
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    January 5, 2024 9:00am
    - Lenticular
      
      In fact, every reference to Trump in those documents appears to be:
      
      Prosecutor: Did you ever see / have sex with Donald Trump?
      Witness: No.
      
      With the exception of Epstein saying he would get in touch with Trump and arrange to stay in his hotel in the 1990s.
      
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      January 5, 2024 9:29am
  - crikey
    
    mma: Perhaps you should take your own hint and exercise some silence. I’m pretty sure the three people you name have not been convicted of rape, or even accused of rape. Freedom of speech does not give you the freedom to libel.
    
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    January 5, 2024 9:31am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I frankly doubt that any of those three gentlemen would sue for libel someone calling them a rapist.
      
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      January 5, 2024 9:43am
      - Dave
        
        Yes. One doubts that Prince Andrew (or was it his mum?) gave Virginia Giuffre £10m and £2m to her favoured charity out of the superlative goodness of his heart.
        
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        January 5, 2024 10:06am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Freedom of speech MAY lead to a libel case, which needs to be proved under law and by the Court System.
      
      So feel free to say what you want but IF someone believes you libeled them then there MAY be consequences.
      
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      January 5, 2024 5:18pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    How many millions were donated by the NZ govt to the Clinton foundation?
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:59am
    - mawm
      
      More than enough to pay for Chelsea’s wedding many times over.
      
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      January 5, 2024 11:30am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      None, but you might be thinking of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
      
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      January 5, 2024 11:32am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        That was the Clinton Foundation’s Aid programme.
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/government-no-longer-to-fund-the-clinton-foundations-flagship-aid-programme/EJEEVA5KE4TNPXGXDYMBFLLBOM/
        
        We gave $10.4 million to them.
        
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        January 5, 2024 11:53am
    - Graeme Hall
      
      From memory (because it struck me as incongruous) Key’s Govt gave the Clinton Foundation $13m of taxpayer money. Maybe it helped get him on the golf course with his Hawaiian bud Barry.
      
      9 5
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      January 5, 2024 12:09pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Lol Graeme, Key was already playing golf with Obama a good deal before the tranches of money were given to the Clinton Foundation (for agricultural initiatives in Ethiopia iirc) by MFAT via NZ Overseas Aid. But hey-ho, never let a good chronology get in the way of a snide jab.
        
        6 3
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        January 5, 2024 2:20pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Trump is mention because he banned him from Maralagoo in 2001 when he found out what he was up too, only Clinton has been to the kid fiddle plane to no where
    
    9 2
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    January 5, 2024 2:31pm
- Tricati
  
  CB, the MSM are just starting early with their hit pieces on the new government with the article by Sandra Cooney.
  Having being diagnosed with cancer 2 weeks before Christmas (took the shine off), and consultant saying we need to get to surgery urgently to prevent spreading, but unfortunately there is a shortage of theatre support staff and it can’t be planned until late January or mid-February. Then consultant asked if I was of Māori decent, if so, we can get it accelerated – I was absolutely incensed.
  I have had to break a term deposit to pay for the surgery privately to give my health the best chance, and if the National lead government are saying, ALL should be treated equally, then that’s not racist Ms Cooney, its just fair, based on need.
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:48am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Sorry to hear you have cancer.
    
    36 0
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    January 5, 2024 9:42am
- rockape
  
  I wonder if she is as proud of Maori child abuse rates, crime rates, incarceration rates, spousal abuse rates or doesn’t these matter as much as their sporting achievements ?
  
  49 2
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  January 5, 2024 8:50am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, but but but Colonialism.
    
    8 1
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    January 5, 2024 2:21pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Don’t forget Rocky, her ilk think it’s racism that caused all the points you mentioned
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:33pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “This is the frightening legacy of a government intent on winding back race relations. They will undo generations of good work by Māori themselves and people of goodwill.”
  
  This government has no “legacy”, frightening or otherwise, because it has only been in place for about six weeks 🙄
  
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  January 5, 2024 8:50am
- Damocles11
  
  Crazed Leftist Sandra Coney rants and raves about a government which is aiming to curb a dangerous and divisive separatist movement. No-one has an issue with the maori language, but plenty of people have an issue with an agenda of the maori language being co-opted as a tool to aid ‘decolonisation’ and separatism – which will only splinter New Zealand along racial lines. The Left are the ultimate gaslighters, accusing and condemning others for what they themselves are actually doing.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:04am
  - Piniwi
    
    We should give the natives what they want and leave the stone age language to be “for Maori and paid for by Maori instead of being another financial millstone for generations of taxpayers. Imagine if all those billions had been used to enable infrastructure to keep pace with the countries growth. There would have been more benefit even for Maori with the safer roads that could have provided and even pooless beaches to gather shellfish.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:04am
- Scott
  
  People need to understand that the electorate voted for this new government’s policies on race relations. We don’t want one race elevated over another race. We want one nation and one rule of law for all. Which is all anyone can reasonably expect.
  What this government is doing is unwinding decades of racist neo-Marxist rhetoric which portrays “the evils of colonialism”, as if there were no benefits to colonialism.
  
  Colonialism actually brought in – a land that was free from war and that was governed by laws.
  Great advances in medicine so that the Maori life expectancy was advanced many many years from the 30 years of Captain Cook’s day.
  Education in English which was what the Maori elders wanted.
  The writing down of the Maori language which was done by English people.
  Modern construction methods that enabled the building of the Maori meeting houses that we see today.
  
  Today we have one nation with one rule of law for all which is all anyone can reasonably expect.
  It is the neo-Marxist rhetoric of the radicals and their wish to restore tribalism which represents the great leap backward.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:04am
  - Dave
    
    An interesting speech (via nominister) by US presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the issue of how we address historical injustice, how we address the future. If only our politicians were as articulate! [Perhaps, Mod, you can clean up the link.]. [Mod – done]
    
    X Post
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:34am
    - Dave
      
      Thanks, Mod.
      
      11 0
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      January 5, 2024 12:06pm
    - Raphael
      
      I liked his reply to a journalist’s question about if he would condemns White Supremacy.
      https://twitter.com/vivekgramaswamy/status/1742623280786207039
      
      6 0
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      January 5, 2024 3:01pm
  - Paulus
    
    Problem with that is that already Maori and all its myths, has taken over a large number of School children from a very young age – whether they will remember any if it if none at all.
    This Maori indoctrination remains to be seen – but the damage had been done already.
    The Media are heavily ensuring it that this Government, and the voters are wrong, and the the Media Party are right.
    In TVNZ, RNZ, TV3 the name New Zealand has been eliminated and expunged already heavily this year.
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:39pm
    - Damocles11
      
      Defunding the rabid Leftist media must be a key objective for the new government in 2024.
      
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      January 5, 2024 3:37pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        This time for sure!
        
        0 0
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        January 6, 2024 2:23pm
- I remember when
  
  I wonder if Sandra has noticed the link between numerous protests and the new Government.
  
  The pou attacks in the Manawatu started some time before there was a new Government.
  Said Manawatu attacks seem to have more to do with offence at appendage than political views.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:23am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  God what a rant. No surprise to see that a radical feminist can’t think straight about other issues besides sex/gender.
  
  25 3
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  January 5, 2024 10:57am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Being a bit beyond her use-by date, I’m surprised Sandra hasn’t been terfed out.
    
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    January 5, 2024 4:39pm
rouppe

Number of ED incidents drops dramatically since Shane Reti puts extra security into Ed rooms.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/01/middlemore-ed-says-violent-incidents-have-almost-halved-since-number-of-security-guards-increased.html

Nurses union complains it should be spent on increasing the hospital capacity. Which is true, though it was equally true under Labour, and they did nothing about the increased violence, and the nurses union said nothing
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January 5, 2024 8:38am
- Burtland
  
  all Labour delivered on Health was a pay rise for its Union Members
  – the underfunded mess brings new meaning to hospital pass
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:15am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes, it is a good first step to ensuring our nurses (and other hospital staff) have a safe working environment.
  
  Is it really too much for a unionist to recognize that it is difficult recruiting folk to work in a place where staff are frequently threatened and abused?
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:46am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The only concern of the union is the union.
    
    13 2
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    January 5, 2024 12:15pm
    - Paulus
      
      Do not Union staff get paid according to what they get for their members, and after every settlement they get a huge% rise and set off again for more.
      
      8 1
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      January 5, 2024 2:41pm
- Nickc2
  
  IMO, Shane found the problem relatively easy to solve.
  All he did was swap their Gang-related Patches for Hospital Security Patches and put said thugs on the Govt Pay Scheme, complete with associated benefits.
  
  3 16
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  January 5, 2024 11:30am
- kowtow
  
  The situation must be really bad if the presence of around the clock “security” guards only halves the number of incidents.
  
  This points to a literal breakdown in societal norms.
  
  wtf is going on.
  
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  January 5, 2024 12:21pm
Surely Knott

18 yr old arrested for beating someone in myers park. Why aren’t they named? How can people feel safe or protect themselves if they don’t know who is committing the crime?
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January 5, 2024 8:54am
- Chuck Bird
  
  You mean who is accused of commiting a crime.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:55am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Yes who is arrested for committing a crime. Waiting till after the court case is a flimsy excuse because it is extremely rare that the articles are followed up and we are not later told who did it. It just doesn’t happen unless it supports a narrative.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:29pm
- Burtland
  
  they cant be named because of colonialism
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:18am
CJames

I don’t know if others are getting it as well but there are a lot of ads I am seeing when on Kiwiblog for a Maori cultural training organisation – seemingly a Google placement. I wouldn’t think Kiwiblog readers would be their target audience and I rarely use Google for searches. Wasted money or a deeper explanation?
23 2
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January 5, 2024 8:55am
- Blackbob
  
  Those adds are usually targeted to a personal profile and not the website/blog itself.
  
  9 2
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  January 5, 2024 9:05am
- Grizz
  
  Adds are usually targeted towards the user’s electronic footprint. This add reflects sites and articles you have been reading.
  
  12 1
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  January 5, 2024 9:14am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Articles someone in your house, and thus same IP Address, has been reading.
    
    Or even talking about within ear shot of your/their phone, or discussing on said phone.
    
    12 0
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    January 5, 2024 10:17am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s probably an algorithm picking up Kiwibloggers’ obsession with Māori.
  
  6 36
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  January 5, 2024 9:15am
  - Jack5
    
    A remarkably easy algorithm to create would be one that trolled like Milky.
    
    So easy that it would satirize the “intelligence” part of Artificial Intelligence. 🚀
    
    16 4
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    January 5, 2024 9:28am
  - Damocles11
    
    The Left are obsessed with Maori.
    
    5 1
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    January 5, 2024 4:13pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      As are commenters on KB.. 🙂
      
      1 5
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      January 5, 2024 5:42pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  What ads?
  
  Adblock Plus.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:22am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Adblock Plus is good (and free). With it turned on I only see the Cherrytree ad which I guess must be hard wired. It even blocks the Curia one 🙂
    
    13 2
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    January 5, 2024 9:28am
    - Ghost
      
      Try to remember those ads help to pay for the blog you are freeloading on.
      
      7 11
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      January 5, 2024 9:41am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I don’t buy things just because of an ad.
        Besides that sometimes the ad blocks part of the blog text. Dam annoying.
        
        10 3
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        January 5, 2024 10:54am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Besides that sometimes the ad blocks part of the blog text. Dam annoying.”
        
        Just install an ad and pop-up blocker.
        
        8 1
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        January 5, 2024 11:02am
      - Che Guava
        
        Imagine if someone started a blog but then none of us “freeloaders” showed up to provide content in the form of comments and debate.
        
        16 1
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        January 5, 2024 11:20am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        BY, that is what Adblock Plus does.
        
        5 3
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        January 5, 2024 12:12pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Using the Brave browser and Duck Duck go search engine. (Brave/Duck Duck go is a package)
        No adverts
        Often better search results
        
        5 0
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        January 5, 2024 5:43pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I regard ads as a torrent of insanely annoying and invasive garbage. We have an insanely large global industry dedicated to using increasingly underhand and sophisticated methods of tracking and profiling people to target them with the said mental torment spewing from every corner of one’s existence 24/7.
        
        Charge a reasonable price for your service (if it’s any good) and I will pay for it. Spam me with ads and I will do everything in my power to block the said garbage/noise/cancer. Failing that I will simply block/avoid your service altogether.
        
        The password manager Bitwarden has a business model of charging “enterprise” users $6 per month per user. For personal/home users it’s $10 a year for their premium version (free for a basic version). This seems like a sensible and sustainable ad-free business model to me. Some blogs and online radio stations etc are trying to charge people 10s of dollars a month. There are only so many services charging that much that (non wealthy) people can afford each month.
        
        Using GrapheneOS and an ad blocking VPN on my mobile the only ads I ever get are from certain podcasts that have software embedded in them to guess my country and serve me ad filled interruptions. Those podcasts usually get dropped.
        
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        January 5, 2024 8:45pm
    - Piniwi
      
      Interesting NK as sometimes when Kiwiblog loads a black panel appears at the bottom of the page and is removed by clicking “reload”. Perhaps it will be sorted with the next update of Adblock plus.
      
      9 1
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      January 5, 2024 10:15am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        AdBlock Plus Premium. I think I may have paid a one off US$20 fee for that, not sure now.
        
        3 0
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        January 5, 2024 2:53pm
- Piniwi
  
  Come on CJ surely you must be aware that anything with the words “Maori or native culture” in it have a limitless budget. Never have so few cost the taxpayer so much and it will take awhile to stop that money wheel rolling even though they never imagined the concept they like their big wheeled gravy train.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:11am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  For some unknown reason, (shiftily looks away), all I get are adverts featuring shapely young women in tight clothing.
  
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  January 5, 2024 4:42pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Hillary Clinton Seen At Bass Pro Shops Buying New Sniper Rifle.

https://babylonbee.com/news/hillary-clinton-seen-at-bass-pro-shops-buying-new-sniper-rifle
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January 5, 2024 9:05am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://babylonbee.com/news/epstein-list-hangs-itself-moments-before-release

The list has now been cremated.
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January 5, 2024 9:12am
- Che Guava
  
  You know the power elite is desperate for a distraction when they release documents incriminating so many of them. Then again, the visitors to Epstein Island are more likely those who are controlled by said power elite by blackmail, rather than the power elite themselves.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    A distraction to take the heat off Joe.
    Keep an eye on him.
    
    7 4
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    January 5, 2024 12:14pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      The worlds largest and most successful honeypot operation run by the Israeli government.
      That might explain the unquestioning support they have been receiving .
      
      6 6
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      January 5, 2024 12:23pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Yeah, exactly. Who’s on the list (let’s face it, is it a surprise that there are so many elite scumbags?) is much less relevant than why a suspected Mossad operative was going to such trouble to compromise and control these people in the first place.
        
        5 3
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        January 5, 2024 12:42pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Check this out. Weinstein is particularly interesting on his assessment of Epsteins character and potential motivation .
        
        https://youtu.be/DME_3KSWNUM?si=ZNMn3QZRV6en1z0x
        
        5 2
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        January 5, 2024 12:49pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        So, I just watched that interview you linked and its dynamite stuff. Douglas Murray is proving to be a good interviewer, Alan Dershowitz is still in damage control mode, he denies Epstein was and intelligence asset but later has to admit it’s a possibility. The real star is Eric Winestein,
        “Harvard is an extension of the US government in an unacknowledged capacity.”
        Winestein is really willing to name names. One name he dropped in was “Craig Spence”. He asked us to look him up, so I did.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_J._Spence
        he wasn’t in the Epstein story but was a sort of precedent to it. Power, politics prostitution blackmail probable CIA and found dead alone in his Ritz hotel room in 1989.
        This sort of stuff has been going on for decades and yet there are some who say that “The Deep State” is a conspiracy theory and a myth.
        Epstein was a psychopathic sex offender, who went from a high school maths teacher to a confidant and advisor to billionaires, presidents, princes and elite professors around the world. Even before his highly dubious death, no one can say exactly how he did it.
        If that isn’t a corrupt conspiracy at the highest level of government, then what is it?
        Democracy?
        
        5 1
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        January 5, 2024 4:42pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Jake,
        Also surprising that Stephen Hawking was a skirt chaser.
        Then again , as he proved in 2018, he’s only human.
        
        4 1
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        January 5, 2024 7:10pm
    - Che Guava
      
      “Joe” is a distraction himself. He’s a figure head.
      
      8 3
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      January 5, 2024 12:39pm
  - mawm
    
    It’s the “redacted” names from that list I ‘m interested in. We’ve known about most of the names so far released.
    
    8 2
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    January 5, 2024 12:37pm
Southern Raider

Scrolling through X since the election and it seems someone is controlling the narrative of the left trolls.

Seems more than a coincidence that each day there can be dozens of X accounts with variations of exactly the same attack message on Luxon, Seymour, the Coalition etc. Next day will be a different theme or meme but then all these accounts repeating it and they aren’t just sharing someone else’s post
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January 5, 2024 9:13am
- Damocles11
  
  The CTU and it’s parliamentary wing control the uniformity of the messaging coming from their employees and activists. Remember ‘Shonkey’, ‘National’s huge debt’, ‘9 years of neglect’, ‘the flag referendum bankrupted us’ from National’s last time in government.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:52am
- NothingLeft
  
  Social media will be absolutely swamped by AI bots this year, especially due to US election. It’ll likely soon be unusable unless using it starts costing money (or some other means of establishing that posters are human).
  
  12 3
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  January 5, 2024 11:05am
Rusty

Cindy and Clark are finally going to get married. If anyone really cares.

btw- has Cindy picked up her dame gong yet even though she is anti-monarchy and pro-republic?
24 3
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January 5, 2024 9:21am
- Blog-aholic
  
  She is only anti-monarchy and pro-republic when it suits her purpose.
  
  21 3
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  January 5, 2024 9:41am
- mikenmildagain
  
  You cared enough to post a comment.
  
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  January 5, 2024 9:45am
Gulag1917

‘BEHEADED BABIES’ – HOW UK MEDIA REPORTED ISRAEL’S FAKE NEWS AS FACT
https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-reported-israels-fake-news-as-fact/
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January 5, 2024 9:22am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

BREAKING NEWS!

Donald Trump indicted for NOT being on Epstein’s Client list.
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January 5, 2024 9:24am
- Che Guava
  
  You Boomers with your “Babylon Bee” takes. Let’s Go Brandon probably just shat himself too.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:28am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That one came from The United Spot on Facebook 🙂
    
    6 3
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    January 5, 2024 12:16pm
    - Che Guava
      
      Oh, I apologise. The United Spot on Facebook, where tales of the Demoncrats, Killary and mocking Bud Light advertising campaigns abound, no doubt.
      
      3 5
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      January 5, 2024 12:48pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I do not know your Facebook name – care to share it?
        
        1 1
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        January 5, 2024 6:23pm
  - Raphael
    
    to be fair Let’s Go Brandon does that as part of his normal ablutions.
    
    1 1
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    January 5, 2024 3:04pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Don’t you dare go there, they have humour and satire…..
    
    1 2
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    January 5, 2024 3:12pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Going by the news he was on the list, but they stressed that some on the list are mentioned because of witnesses, we all know about Trump banning Epstein from Maralagoo years ago
  
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  January 5, 2024 2:45pm
Paul Marsden

“Holiday travel turns tragic when flight attendant dies in front of passengers moments before takeoff
This is the 2nd crew member death British Airways has suffered amid busy holiday travel”

I know this was reported a day or two ago, but like any article that allows feedback from readers, it is the feedback from readers that is always the most informative and interesting part of any story (shame the MSM in NZ can’t grasp this concept as they might not be going broke).

So the common trend from commentators commenting on stories like this, is about 60:40 claiming it was the jab and the other group claiming that there is no proof and that people aren’t qualified to opine either way, as they are not ‘doctors’. But here’s the thing, unless the threat of deregistration of physicians is lifted for many around the world for those that dare discuss the subject matter, then this subject is never going to be discussed openly amongst peers and so ‘was it the jab, or wasn’t it the jab’which caused death’, will continue unbated and ad nauseam. The same goes for pathologists who are unable to accurately determine ’cause of death’ as the literature on the subject matter is constrained.

For those that have had people close to them see lives changed (or lossed) because of the jab, it is particularly distressing and nauseating. The end to this insane nonsense can’t come soon enough and the sooner it does, then the sooner medical science can advance it’s knowledge and hopefully, lives can be saved. It will be too bad about the law suits that are undoubtedly going to follow in the future.
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January 5, 2024 9:41am
- Benedict Yu
  
  This is not evidence that the COVID vaccines are killing people. Look at it this way. There are about 40 million commercial passenger flights annually. Let’s say the average number of flight attendants is 6 per flight. Of course flight attendants are going to die in flight.
  
  Indeed, if you search you can find reports of flight attendants dying on planes before the COVID vaccines existed.
  
  https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/hawaiian-airlines-flight-attendant-death-new-york-emile-griffith-a8749976.html
  
  The question is has the rate of flight attendants dying in flight significantly increased?
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:18am
  - kevn
    
    BY… We can safely assume, yes, considering the pilot deaths pattern. Two seperate articles, 18 months apart.
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/authorities-in-denial-over-vaccine-link-to-soaring-pilot-deaths-2/
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/what-is-the-truth-about-surge-in-pilot-deaths-after-vaccine-rollout/
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:25am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      OK I have read both those articles and I am none the wiser, as usual.
      
      What was the rate of sudden death per 1,000 in commercial airline pilots in the five years before 2021? Was it stable?
      
      What has been that death rate in 2021, 2022, and 2023? Are any differences statistically significant?
      
      Neither article gives me that information. It is just a jumble of anecdotal information.
      
      I am not trying to be a smart arse. I am always willing to be convinced by high quality, peer reviewed data. I am not seeing that.
      
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      January 5, 2024 10:50am
      - mawm
        
        Did you anecdotally hear of one of the most highly medically monitored occupations having deaths in the cockpit before? Is it that suddenly it is now newsworthy especially as the media are trying to steer away from “died suddenly” or “unknown cause” deaths.?
        
        Until such time as our governments are open about deaths and their causes and why there is an increase, especially in certain categories, then each and every death of a previously healthy person will be labelled as a result of the vaccine. Instead they’ll throw whistle-blowers in gaol and erect a wall of silence. Nothing to see here!
        
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        January 5, 2024 3:45pm
      - Ghost
        
        Did you anecdotally hear of one of the most highly medically monitored occupations having deaths in the cockpit before?
        
        Yes, and a few years ago the audio was released when a copilot died during the approach to the airport.
        
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        January 5, 2024 3:55pm
      - Ghost
        
        Can’t find the YouTube for it but here is the article
        
        https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-airlines-pilot-dies-william-mike-grubbs/
        
        And here is the audio of another pilot dying
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAoxoOcySJo
        
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        January 5, 2024 4:07pm
      - mawm
        
        Ghost – it’s all about frequency of the event. I read a pilots association report on increased incidents sometime ago. I do not have a link.
        
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        January 5, 2024 5:52pm
      - Ghost
        
        Oh it’s about the frequency now, because before it was Did you anecdotally hear of one of the most highly medically monitored occupations having deaths in the cockpit before. Also now it’s you read but don’t have a link. Perhaps this will help you
        
        https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/12/fact-check-pilot-deaths-are-not-up-1700-percent-after-vax-mandates.html
        
        Dear god, please tell me this isn’t what you are talking about, Hal turner, the dickwad that claimed during the trump loss that Chinese aircraft were attacking the USA.
        
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        January 5, 2024 6:12pm
      - rouppe
        
        I have no opinion on the cause of deaths.
        
        But I do know that pilots have to go through stringent medical examinations before becoming a pilot, and during their career.
        
        So it is not a valid comparison to compare unexplained deaths among the general population who are not required to undergo regular examinations, and pilots who are. You’d expect underlying problems to be identified earlier in the later group.
        
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        January 5, 2024 8:18pm
      - Ghost
        
        And yet they don’t get identified earlier. From 2002
        
        Method: A comprehensive review was performed of all cardiovascular abnormalities detected during autopsies conducted on pilots involved in fatal fixed-wing general aviation aircraft accidents in the U.S. from 1996-1999. Data was obtained from the database maintained at Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City.
        
        Results: An analysis of 534 autopsy reports revealed presence of cardiovascular abnormalities in 234 pilots (prevalence rate 43.82%). Coronary artery stenosis had a prevalence rate of 37.64%. There were 41 pilots who had evidence of severe atherosclerosis of the left coronary artery. This was significantly associated with stenosis of the right coronary and circumflex arteries. There was a statistically significant relation between coronary atherosclerosis and advancing age.
        
        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12398267/
        
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        January 5, 2024 8:34pm
      - rouppe
        
        And a review of 534 autopsies of auto deaths? Bus drivers? As a baseline set.
        
        Having said that it would appear the annual medical checks for pilots are pretty useless if they miss those cardio vascular problems.
        
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        January 5, 2024 10:08pm
      - Ghost
        
        Perhaps for everyone else here you can point out where it says auto deaths.
        
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        January 5, 2024 10:49pm
      - rouppe
        
        Getting tetchy, Ghost?
        
        What I’m suggesting is that a review of 534 pilot deaths tells us nothing other than circa 50% of pilot deaths are from undiagnosed heart disease.
        
        Further, to get more context, I wondered what a similar examination of deaths in auto crashes might reveal. More than 50%? Less? The same?
        
        Then you can start drawing some conclusions of the state of pilots versus the general population. And asking questions about the efficacy of the pilot medical checks.
        
        That’s all .
        
        Lighten up. I’m on holiday.
        
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        January 6, 2024 12:47am
      - Ghost
        
        Y9re suggesting nothing. This is what you do. Lie. You’ve claimed it was auto, it wasn’t, it was pilots. Now your lie is caught out you try to change what you meant.
        
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        January 6, 2024 7:37am
      - rouppe
        
        Ghost. Listen carefully.
        
        On this you are wrong.
        
        You also are suggesting I routinely lie. That is taking things way too far.
        
        Get over yourself. Or go back to your doctor to get your meds checked. You are not King Dick around here. You are not always right. Your shit does stink.
        
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        January 7, 2024 3:20am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    It’s similar to the morons blaming cardiac arrest in athlete on the vaccine.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:25am
  - virtualmark
    
    Benedict, don’t introduce logic into an emotional argument …
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:27am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    BY – what I understand is the main thrust of Paul’s comment isnt that the 60% are correct but that there is not a good environment for critical evaluation around the mRNA treatments and that creates a vacuum for tribalist arguments.
    
    We know that the treatments were unable to be approved by Medsafe as they did not meet the safety evaluation threshold. Subsequently they were signed off for use by a special—and secret—committee.
    
    Yesterday, there was another article posted about the Florida Surgeon General revoking authorisation due to insufficient testing of DNA integration.
    
    As Paul states a number of professional medical bodies have censored their members from critiquing the treatments, on threat of loss of their professional registration.
    
    The pharma-industrial complex has become very powerful. Exerting great influence in our centres of learning and science. Our public health regulators have become compromised as shareholders in the wealth created from pharmaceutical products. The 4th estate is largely owned by shareholders with vested interests in the pharma industry. Public health appears to have become an insane quest for the elixir of life.
    
    So in the meantime, a vacuum is created, where questions are raised, but there is a massive amount of control being exerted for those questions not to be raised by professionals. One can only assume the same
    pressure is being applied privately to prevent true analysis of the mRNA treatments being conducted. Understandably, this censorship and control creates an environment of mistrust and frustration.
    
    Good luck finding someone in officialdom prepared to want to investigate your question on whether there are more flight attendants dying in flight.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:50am
    - Paul Marsden
      
      Thank you. You stated it far better than I did. Further more, the world rarely if ever, gets to learn the cause of death amongst those who die suddenly, and physicians are none the wiser to discuss further with their peers. A casue of much frustation amongst many.
      
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      January 5, 2024 12:11pm
      - mawm
        
        There also seemingly seems to be push to do autopsies with appropriate tissue staining that would either condemn or clear the mRNA vaccines as the cause. What happened to the science where new medical problems were properly investigated and treatments sought?
        
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        January 5, 2024 3:50pm
    - Paul Marsden
      
      I also just cited this, which is probably referring to a similar article you mentioned…
      
      “Florida Surgeon General Warns Against Using mRNA COVID Vaccines Over Possible Cancer Risk
      Tyler Durden’s Photo
      BY TYLER DURDEN
      FRIDAY, JAN 05, 2024 – 04:00 PM
      Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times
      
      “Florida’s Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, is warning against any use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines citing cancer concerns”
      
      The article goes on to say…..
      
      “The report also discusses the risk of how this integration of DNA in vaccines can lead to issues with the heart, brain, blood, kidney, liver, bone marrow, lung, ovaries, and testes, draining lymph nodes, spleen, and the vaccine’s administration and injection site”
      
      Since the jab almost took the life of my niece (and may yet still) and the doctor’s have no idea why she was so ill, although they have since diagnosed her with an autoimmune disease, they have no idea why. You wouldn’t believe some of the bizarre diagnosis they have made in an effort to avoid discussing the elephant in the room. They call her ‘the mystery woman’ . Bullshit she is.
      
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      January 5, 2024 5:57pm
  - MCōs
    
    Prior to the various covid vaccines coming along there have always been some people who have died suddenly due to natural causes (as opposed to accidental or by design)
    https://www.jems.com/patient-care/five-common-causes-sudden-unexpected-dea/
    Personally I’ve known nobody to become crook as a direct result of this or any other vaccine, let alone die
    I’ve known plenty of people to get crook from tainted food
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:38pm
  - Keith White
    
    Yes it has, and it also has for pilots – who were mandated the mRNA vaccines. No need to take my word for it; the pilots themselves are reporting the significantly increased death rate of their peers.
    
    Even more tellingly, as most of the deaths are sudden cardiac events, the FAA has literally redefined modified the decades’-long rule about how an EKG is deemed normal or not… as in “The FAA in October 2022 changed its guidelines regarding PR interval, raising the upper threshold to “less than” 300ms, from 200ms.”
    
    But hey, totally coincidental and insignificant amirite?
    
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    January 6, 2024 1:28am
Chuck Bird

This premium. However, for those who do subscribe it is worth commenting as they have published mine below.

Laura Gemmell: Climate resolutions — how you can change the world

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/laura-gemmell-climate-resolutions-how-you-can-change-the-world/5DN456XEF5AQXCBBLS5XWAGWXM/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Laura suggests making an effort to do your research. Many of us have and come to a different conclusion. Laura is selective in following suggestion of COP18. They recommended tripling nuclear power generation. It makes little sense promoting EVs that are charged at Huntly which is powered by dirty imported coal trucked from Tauranga to Huntly.
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January 5, 2024 9:47am
Ghost

Dear snowflakes please don’t watch any movies

A film season that includes two James Bond films has come with trigger warnings due to “outdated” language and stereotypes. One year after Ian Fleming’s 007 books were revised to omit offensive references, cautions are being made about two Bond outings as part of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) retrospective John Barry: Soundtracking Bond and Beyond, which places the spotlight on the features the composer scored.
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January 5, 2024 9:50am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Even a Guardian columnist thinks it’s over the top:
  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/04/james-bond-trigger-warnings-really-for-audiences-benefit
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:18am
cas

The latest rhetoric from the Maori Party leaders makes me wonder why they don’t walk the talk instead of talk the talk. Rawiri is from the Eastern Bay of Plenty where there are lots of problems – gangs, drugs homeless etc. He might be operating undercover actually doing something but according to friends, he is not visible solving things in his home area.
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January 5, 2024 9:57am
Gulag1917

[Mod – stop spamming the blog with the same post]
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January 5, 2024 9:58am
- Gulag1917
  
  I thought there was a technical problem and that is why I tried again to post.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:10am
kevn

I miss the Maggie Pie offerings…
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January 5, 2024 9:58am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I don’t.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:19am
  - Nukuleka
    
    A bit ungracious towards Maggie on your part, Ben. I can’t recall people celebrating your temporary absence from Kiwiblog after your frequently injudicious posts about the tall red- head friend and her Kaianga Ora exploits. A touch of generous chivalry towards Maggie wouldn’t go amiss. In the spirit of New Year and all that.
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:26am
    - Colville
      
      I am with Bene.
      
      adds nothing but noise, if I wanted to watch crap on Twitter I would be on it.
      
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      January 5, 2024 6:58pm
    - Ghost
      
      ungracious towards Maggie? Perhaps you have never seen the abuse she throws at him constantly. He’s more than likely enjoying not having to put up with that
      
      2 1
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      January 5, 2024 7:19pm
  - artemisia
    
    You are aware, BY, that Maggie Pie has for years been constructing the lead character for her great NZ novel? With major input from KB and X of course.
    
    Ok, I made that up, but am I wrong!
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:59am
- Sacha
  
  No Maggie? Where’s she gone?
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:37am
  - Ghost
    
    Freedom camping in Ōtara for her holidays?
    
    12 2
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    January 5, 2024 10:40am
  - Sacha
    
    I’ve just realised – it’s tennis week in Auckland. That’s where she’ll be!
    
    13 3
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    January 5, 2024 10:42am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Lots of casual work available at that time.
      
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      January 5, 2024 11:34am
  - Albie
    
    Her partner has probably suggested she give KB a break while she’s on holiday?
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:42am
Master Mariner

Air NZ , Lift your game.
After reading about Japan Airlines crash a few thoughts confirmed my thinking.
1. Well trained professional crew that followed procedures and training.
2. Obedient passengers following clear and consise instructions.
So were does this leave Air NZ and there woke saftey briefings ?
Ideology meets reality in a crisis pretty quickly.

Great effort by JAL.
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January 5, 2024 9:59am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  MM – the quality of the safety video is not a reflection on the air crews ability to evacuate an aircraft in an emergency. Air crew are required to do frequent — 6 monthly — evacuation training and drills. The training aircraft is highly visible at the Auckland airport. Drills involve on land and water based evacuations. While we think of them as in-air hospo staff, it is the emergency evacuation requirements that dictate the crew numbers and training requirements. We would see a completely different side to our Air NZ crew in an emergency.
  
  Nevertheless, the JAL staff did a phenomenal job getting everyone off that plane safely.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:14am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yep its not the aircrew I hold in disdain.
    Its the nonsensicle pre flight safety briefings respnsibility.
    Maybe could of worded it a bit better all the same, However i still stand by my statement.
    
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    January 5, 2024 10:48am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I can’t stand the safety briefings. However I do not doubt the training of Air New Zealand cabin crew. If I was on an Air New Zealand plane being evacuated, I would be far more worried about the behavior of the passengers than the flight crew. Would the all the passengers leave their cabin luggage behind?
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:25am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If my carryon included a $3000 drone I would not leave it behind.
    
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    January 5, 2024 11:11am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      And you would be happy to wait patiently in a burning aircraft while everyone else opened the lockers to get their valuables?
      
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      January 5, 2024 11:35am
      - Che Guava
        
        Knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.
        
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        January 5, 2024 11:39am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @Che,
        I was thinking more of recordings on SD cards that had not been uploaded. Some things you just can’t do again, such as moose in the wild in Alaska.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:18pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Exactly.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:49pm
    - Ghost
      
      your urn would read
      
      “Here died and idiot”
      
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      January 5, 2024 11:45am
      - Cassandra
        
        Not if the stonemason understood English.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:05pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I know the limits Ghost. Fight or flight thing.
        If the arse of your pants is on fire, time to hightail it.
        But a bit of smoke and no flames means you have time to be sensible.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:20pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Cassandra
        Quite so: few know this, but “Here died and idiot” is not a grammatically correct construction…I think when Ghost posted his or her comment, he or she actually meant to say “Here died an idiot.”
        
        But then, would this even be an appropriate inscription upon an urn containing one’s ashes?….presumably, in this hypothetical, Steve would have died on the downed aircraft, not in the location of his ashes at any particular time, in the sense that the words “here died…” would suggest.
        
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        January 5, 2024 12:59pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Che,
        You are sounding like Benny
        
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        January 5, 2024 3:35pm
    - Terry Dalee
      
      So you’ve identified the risk.. mitigate it by removing the SD card and uploading prior to flight or keep only the SD card in your pocket.
      
      We have 90 seconds under regulations to evacuate the aircraft in the event the Captain says “Evacuate, Evacuate”. Fires double on average every 30 seconds.
      And your sitting on 12-15 tonne of kero if your on a Tras-Tasman, over 100 tonne of kero if your on a long haul USA flight.
      
      Its not you holding up the queue by getting your drone thats the only problem. Its you ripping the slide and rendering it unusable when the drone case or carry on rips a hole into the slide, deflating it. Thats why the commands shouted are “UNFASTEN SEATBELTS, HIGH HEELS OFF, LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND…”
      
      And its not one person on the slide at a time, its everyone on the slide one after the other, not waiting for the next person to reach the bottom. Its a train of people moving down the slide on average 2-3 people per second per slide.
      Its estimated that once an evac is called for, you will injure approximately 10% of your passengers.
      
      So you getting your drone, faffing around for approximately 20-30 seconds, potentially holds up the evacuation for 60-70 people behind you, if not more if you rip the slide with your gear on the way down.
      You really want that on your conscious of the sake of a drone and its SD card? You can always take another trip and refly to recapture the footage.
      
      (Disclaimer, don’t listen to me, I have 7000 hrs as an airline captain on a narrow body aircraft and am a current air safety investigator)
      
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      January 5, 2024 2:43pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        So Pilot? OK.
        So how do you upload 6 SD cards in the Alaskan interior (almost) Fairbanks with mostly satellite internet?
        Put it in your pocket? Well of course millions of people do that don’t they?
        [Mod – stop the abuse], the drone and batteries and accessories are in a bag. No ripping the slide. Who teaches you this sort of shit?
        As I said above – fight or flight. Time to leave is time to leave if your pants are on fire.
        So yes, I won’t listen to you. You next job should be with Health and Safety shutting down small businesses.
        Bye, that is the end of this debate.
        
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        January 5, 2024 3:23pm
      - Terry Dalee
        
        Take the SD cards you. No need to grab them in case of a evac. Keep them on you.
        
        If you’re on board an aircraft, you legally have to follow the commands of the pilot in command. It’s in the Civil Aviation Act 1990.
        
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        January 5, 2024 4:02pm
    - Colville
      
      Well Steve I would throat punch you to get you out of the way of the humans…
      
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      January 5, 2024 6:59pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        No need. As I said above there is time to be sensible, and a time to move.
        
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        January 6, 2024 8:14am
- M.Solvent
  
  The JAL accident and others like it got me thinking about safety videos. The instruction to leave your belongings in event of an emergency must be one of the most important pieces of safety information for passengers. It should be emphasised much more in safety videos, and explained as potentially the difference between life and death after an accident. Instead Air NZ is focussed on bullshit marketing in its safety videos.
  
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  January 5, 2024 12:54pm
  - Inthe09
    
    If/when Air NZ do have another fatal accident their marketing / safety videos will no doubt receive a lot of scrutiny. I’m sure their legal people have everything signed off but for me at least they play like a long TV ad with various woke messages and so I tune out. If the intention is to educate they do a very poor job. Compare Air NZs briefing to Japan Airlines one – short, factual, no marketing ‘story’.
    
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    January 5, 2024 7:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/maori-activist-propaganda-videos-paid-for-by-the-tax-payer/

Link inside.
Also a list of the 2024 Treaty Truth Tour. More details to come. Private Meetings will not be publicly advertised (security)
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January 5, 2024 10:17am
I remember when

The growth of dissension, racial discord and protest has been caused by the new government’s stated policy changes.
Not, of course, by the people who are doing the protesting and vandalism.
All of a sudden all of the protestors are right – and the new government mistaken.
A remarkable change that seemed to occur as soon as the election results became apparent.
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January 5, 2024 10:20am
Pineapple Lumps

I have been wondering why the numbers of shark sightings at NZ beaches has increased in recent times? Lots being reported in the last 2-3 years. Is it because of:

1. More sharks? Yet we keep being told their numbers are decreasing globally.
2. Less oxygen in the water? Apparently the sharks are attracted to breakwater with its higher oxygen content.
3. More sensationalist news media?
4. New technology giving greater visibility? ie drones becoming more common.
5. Pressure on food stocks in deeper waters?
6. Greater numbers of people at beaches?
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January 5, 2024 10:21am
- Master Mariner
  
  This time of year sharks will come into beaches ( Every summer).
  Some for the fresher water at river mouths for cleansing and others such as Bronze Whalers, threshers etc chase the likes of close Kawhai schools.
  Some hunt in packs, ie bronze whalers while some remain solitary.
  This time of year its normal.
  
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  January 5, 2024 10:56am
- Damocles11
  
  ‘More sensationalist news media’ is the correct answer, enabled by the prevalence of drones which now can spot sharks nobody would have known were there. The NZ Leftist Herald reported on a drone-spotted shark that ‘seemed to be stalking swimmers’. In truth, the shark attacked nobody and was harmlessly swimming around in an area off a beach. Since the human population continues to explode and humans can be found anywhere there is a patch of sand adjoining the ocean, which is where sharks live, this is just desperate tabloid-style junk journalism.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  *Female sharks move inshore during summer to deliver their young.
  
  *Folks are more likely to post info about a shark sighting at a beach on social media nowadays than in former decades.
  
  *Our MSM are starved for news during summer months (skeleton reporter crews) and seem to be in the habit of repeating as many alarmist stories as possible.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:09am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  More sightings because of more people at the beaches, and the bloody sensationalist media.
  Chasing school fish as well. Remember, it is their domain, you are a visitor.
  
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  January 5, 2024 11:16am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I thought it was because more people were buying icecreams!
    
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    January 5, 2024 4:53pm
Master Mariner

The last Hoorah for Oil and Gas.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/heavy-lifting-in-tasman-bay/GQ3UJFDFOIPRXAFFHP6KKIRMYA/
This was my NY’s and now departing NZ shores.
With our departure, It leaves NZ without any Ocean going salvage capabilty.
Wishing everyone a happy new year.
Stay safe and most importantly enjoy yourselves.
MM.
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January 5, 2024 10:34am
- rjay
  
  MM would this now cause a problem if say we had another Rena type emergency or do we still have capability for that case?
  
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  January 5, 2024 12:12pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    In a nutshell , Zero capability in Salvage.
    Rena or Ferry as Fightingtemeraire stated below.
    
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    January 5, 2024 1:01pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  So with a ferry broken down in the Cook Strait and on a lee shore who will help rescues the pax???
  
  Wahine x 3 comes to mind.
  
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  January 5, 2024 12:12pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  In the 1970’s and 80’s. Whangarie had two Salvage Tugs to berth the tankers at Marsden Point. They were sold off late 80’s early 90’s.
  
  The Harbour tugs in NZ were generally suitable for rescue work as seen with Wahine. But not salvage work.
  
  What we need are TWO tugs suitable for the Cook St, one in Welly and one in Picton. They can be obtained by the local ports with a subsidy from the Govt.
  
  We have had TWO major incidents in the CS.
  
  1 the Wahine.
  
  2 Mikhail Lermontov. That was in calm waters and a major disaster was prevented by the Master of the Tarahiko ignoring VHF calls that “all was ok” from the ML and going to the rescue.
  
  The ferries were able to transfer pax to the ferries boats and use the boast as a “lift”.
  
  If the ML had occurred in the Strait in dad weather we would have had a Wahine Mk 2.
  
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  January 5, 2024 1:56pm
  - Jack5
    
    Was it settled who was to blame for the Mikhail Lermontov sinking?
    
    Was it the captain or the NZ pilot?
    
    Richard Prebble was Minister of Transport, and there were rumours he ruled out any compensation for Russian crew? Was there any substance to this?
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/eyewitness/audio/2018664344/the-experience-of-a-lifetime-sinking-of-mikhail-lermontov
    
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    January 5, 2024 2:49pm
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      Report carried out by Capt Steve Ponsford who was a friend of the Pilot Jameson..
      
      Report embargoed by Prebble for 50 years.
      
      6 0
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      January 5, 2024 8:18pm
  - Taieri
    
    It is highly unlikely that the presence of ocean going salvage tugs would have changed much in either case as the damage was done before any tug could have reacted. As for the rescue of passengers, in case of Mikhail Lermontov, no salvage tug was required, as any vessel capable of uplifting people from sea would do, i.e. Tarahiko, Arahura and all sorts of smaller vessels. In case of Wahine, the conditions at the time were so difficult that the presence of a specialized salvage tug would not make much of a difference.
    
    This should not distract from the fact that there’s only a very few harbour tugs left in NZ that are capable of over-the-stern towing. And none that are capable of handling a bit of a weather. With the demise of the offshore industry a situation such as that in which MV Shiling found herself last year could easily turn into a great disaster.
    
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    January 5, 2024 3:13pm
    - kevn
      
      Taieri… I wonder what ‘head of steam’ the lovely new electric tugboat in Akld can muster? For how long?
      
      6 1
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      January 5, 2024 3:35pm
      - Taieri
        
        For how long?
        ———–
        
        About 40 minutes or so I was told.
        
        4 1
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        January 5, 2024 3:54pm
- Taieri
  
  With our departure, It leaves NZ without any Ocean going salvage capabilty.
  ———–
  
  MMA Vision is still here.
  
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  January 5, 2024 2:14pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Not too far removed from a Harbour tug in capabilities too be honest but like you say its here.
    
    The real question is why should the New Zealand Government rely on Oil/Gas /AHTS vessels to do what they should.( Anchor Handling/Towage and Salvage).
    
    It really is a numbers game, With the Kaitaki lucky to hold ground with both anchors out. It was very very lucky for all onboard.
    I cant really commentate further.
    
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    January 5, 2024 7:01pm
    - Taieri
      
      Old 704’s used to tow semisubs without any problems with less engine power than Vision. Worked on them with the Ocean Bounty, Ocean Epoch and a few other rigs. Tandem towed (2×704’s) the largest self launching barge in the world at the time, with 17000 ton jacket on the top from Batam to WA. Towed Castoro Otto and DB 30 many times from Singapore to Oz and back. All on 704’s.
      
      You just got spoiled on all those 16000+BHP AHTSV’s 😉
      
      But to answer your question…no, relying on the offshore support vessels to provide an emergency support is not a right solution. But I doubt very much that NZ government(s) know that. Or care for that matter.
      
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      January 5, 2024 8:11pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        704 , great boats in there day and worked a few.
        I used to work Castoro Sei in North Sea.
        Lost count i have worked DB30.
        I think its in Saudi now.
        I would love to sit down and have a beer with you.
        Great input too.
        Incidently spent a lot of time on Salvage standby , mostly Singapore and on the emergency response team ready too fly worldwide at a drop of a hat.
        🤫
        
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        January 5, 2024 9:07pm
Gulag1917

Talking to a French lady recently and she suggested the reason Britain has less trouble with Muslims than France is because the former handles the situation better.
4 7
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January 5, 2024 10:48am
- kowtow
  
  It’s possibly simply a question of percentages.
  
  10 1
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  January 5, 2024 12:07pm
- cmm
  
  I would put it to you that not all Muslims are equally problematic.
  
  France has a lot more problematic Muslims in their colonial past. They also had a different colonial structure making it much easier for people from French colonies to travel to, and live, in France. This means that the French ended up opening their doors to the worst that Islam can offer.
  
  6 2
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  January 5, 2024 2:31pm
  - Jack5
    
    Wasn’t the big early wave of Muslims to France of colonial allies – soldiers, police, etc and their families – as France withdrew North Africa?
    
    5 0
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    January 5, 2024 3:10pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hSYixFjZWM
Australia, After America || Peter Zeihan.
The Australians are one of the few countries that will stay under the United States’ wing as the Order collapses, but they have a few things to figure out first. [6:58]
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January 5, 2024 11:01am
- Colville
  
  You are dreaming if you think USA is going anywhere.,
  
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  January 5, 2024 7:05pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LApE0EPvys
Trump Wants to Flip Deep Blue States.
In a new bold move, Donald Trump claims that he is going to try and put Democrat strongholds such as New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and more in play in 2024 (but that he is not disregarding the usual swing states). Can Trump flip these deep blue states? I analyze. [13:34]
8 3
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January 5, 2024 11:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It is quite possible the Democrats will not pay as much attention to their strongholds, and concentrate the cheating in States that Trump should have won in 2020.
  The rallies are fun to watch, on and off the water. The support base is now stronger than it ever was. Joe is just giving the Presidency away.
  Would you play poker/chess with Trump? I wouldn’t.
  
  7 8
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  January 5, 2024 11:30am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, that could be the case. NY is not very pleased with the recent influx of migrants courtesy of Brandon.
    
    1 2
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    January 5, 2024 9:24pm
- NothingLeft
  
  When you look at polling the election is still very tight, with Trump only marginally in the lead. Trump has huge negative sentiment in electorate – there is a clear majority of USAians who dislike him and won’t vote for him.
  
  Democrats need to lose. But USA and world would be better off in Trump pulled out and let DeSantis or Ramaswamy or perhaps Haley win
  
  5 9
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  January 5, 2024 1:50pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    Agree, but when you see things like this photo from the official Teamsters XTwitter account….:
    
    Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien met privately with President Donald Trump on Wednesday for an in-depth and productive discussion on worker issues most important to the Teamsters Union.
    
    Holy moly. No wonder the Biden sycophants were having a meltdown about it online. What it means is that O’Brien is reading the room and seeing that much, perhaps most, of his union movement is going to vote Trump and that the latter may beat Biden.
    
    7 3
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    January 5, 2024 2:38pm
    - Inandout
      
      TH, surely not Jimmy Hoffa’s lot?
      
      4 1
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      January 5, 2024 3:29pm
      - sungsamning
        
        Yes, indeed. Plenty of teamsters still getting a good deal from the pension fund.
        
        1 2
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        January 5, 2024 9:26pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Not when you look at break downs, Trump has created huge support from Dem sectors, young are moving over to Trump in masses, there is a 20 point swing in polls, also Latino numbers more than 20% swing towards Trump
    
    7 3
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    January 5, 2024 2:56pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      So are forever voting Black Americans.
      They are leaving the Plantation because Candace Owens and others woke them up.
      The Dems want them poor and welfare dependent, with promises of free shit!
      
      8 2
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      January 5, 2024 3:40pm
    - AitchW
      
      Good grief, what a choice. If my memory serves me, South Park described the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as choosing between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Trump/Biden (again) is far, far worse.
      
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      January 5, 2024 10:08pm
Chuck Bird

A little under 60 minutes. It is very interesting.

Artificial Intelligence | 60 Minutes Full Episodes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ5EsdnpLMI
2 2
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January 5, 2024 11:22am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

They are Losing Their Minds over this Client List.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k33QEROGVE
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January 5, 2024 11:46am
Tom Hunter

For all the talk about Israel aiding Hamas it seems the USA has also been doing stupid stuff with lethal enemies, in their case providing funding, training and equipment to Lebanon’s counter-intelligence groups. I’d read this story a couple of months ago in some obscure website I then lost track of, but this one is more recent anyway, Your Tax Dollars Helped Hamas Hide Their October 7 Planning From Israel’s Intelligence Services:

It started, as most foreign policy misadventures seem to, with an overabundance of hubris in George W. Bush’s State Department. In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a nasty little war. Even though Lebanon was a virtual Iranian satrapy under the de facto control of Hezbollah, the Diplomatic SmartSet® reasoned that we needed to try to retain some influence. As a result, we began a program of providing training and equipment to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and their Internal Security Forces (ISF). It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out what would happen. Still, the logical and foreseeable consequences of training the ISF when Iran politically dominated the country were beyond the grasp of a Harvard Kennedy School grad.

The training and equipment paid immediate dividends to Hezbollah as the ISF began trading Israeli agents and sources to Hezbollah in return for survival.

It started with Bush 43 and grew larger under Obama, then Trump, where it was running at $242 million per year, and now with Biden. In fact when Lebanon hit a rough financial patch in 2022 where they couldn’t pay their people in the LAF and ISF, the Biden administration stepped in and paid them!

That article references several cases where Israeli spy networks were rolled up, and when secret meetings were held in Lebanon between various commanders of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, planning future operations, the ISF never said a dickybird to the Yanks about it. What a farce.

It’s also a good indicator of how little any President actually controls the US government. The bureaucracies just go their own way because they’re smarter than the average bear. I’d like to think that Congress or the next President would put a stop to this after the October 7 attacks but looking at the history a common-sense move like that might not actually happen.
======
Ah, here’s the original article and I see it’s from Caroline Glick.
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January 5, 2024 2:28pm
cmm

Stuff: “Houthis defy warning from New Zealand and allies on Red Sea attacks”

A warning from NZ? What a friggin joke!

NZ struggles to get a C130 to Fiji. If I were a Houthi I doubt I’d be losing sleep over what NZ is saying.
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January 5, 2024 2:35pm
- Jack5
  
  You’re right, CMM.
  
  Meanwhile, the first of NZ’s new C130J “Super Hercules” has been painted in America.
  
  The first C130 made its maiden flight 68 years ago.
  
  https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/media-centre/story-collections/introducing-the-c130j/
  
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  January 5, 2024 3:14pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    One of those old NZ C130’s flew around over our boat in Beverage reef East of Niue using only two engines almost 30 years ago. We didn’t know they were Kiwi’s until later.
    
    Thought they might be in trouble looking for a place to ditch. The wife and I hoped we would have enough room on our boat for all the crew.
    
    Their rescue zone in the S. Pacific is huge.
    
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    January 5, 2024 4:43pm
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      Beveridge Reef actually.
      
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      January 5, 2024 8:14pm
- Ra Henare
  
  I think you will find that the Journo at NZHerald, was trying(pathetically) to try and make NZ input to the US folly relevant.
  
  Large chuckles when I read the article. Should change the journos title to spin doctor.
  
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  January 5, 2024 6:55pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

These are brand new right? First brand new aircraft for NZ, including passenger planes? I just don’t know. Hope new C130s will be quieter, they do make some noise taking off when loaded up.
I live within the drone no fly zone from Whenuapai.
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January 5, 2024 3:52pm
Swifty

How Claudine Gay cancelled Harvard’s best black professor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8xWOlk3WIw

Mini-doco.
8 1
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January 5, 2024 4:08pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Just evil. Professor working to improve schooling for African Americans cancelled by race-hustling Harvard leadership (Gay et al) for not backing the grievance bullshit industry. Highly recommend.
  
  8 2
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  January 5, 2024 5:36pm
- greybeard
  
  Talking about cancellations: the world, especially NZ, is much better off without this creep:
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/301035969/the-game-drops-new-zealand-performance-for-the-ninth-time-hours-before-concert-begins
  
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  January 5, 2024 6:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Seriously, when are Newshub going to get their hand off it?
“Thunderstorms, low risk of tornadoes this weekend, but sunshine for some. Who are the some Doyle?

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/thunderstorms-low-risk-of-tornadoes-this-weekend-but-sunshine-for-some/ar-AA1muuOL?

Some boaties will be even scared to go to the boat ramp with this shit.
Jesus the media in NZ is wholesale rubbish.
The ‘settled’ weather is just starting shit for brains. Boaties know this, you don’t!
6 2
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January 5, 2024 6:12pm
- hullkiwi
  
  The problem is the media are trying to run stories on behalf of NIWA that dig them out of a hole over their forecasts about the potential extreme impacts of El Nino, this summer. Their problem is that everything they have forecast has failed to materialise. Indeed, this morning, Newshub ran as it’s lead story Federated Farmers confirming that there has been limited impact on crop production because El Nino has failed to materialise. Making NIWA and their imported forecasters look the jokes they are.
  
  Consequently, this afternoon NIWA in an effort to justify themselves, put out as news stories warnings about what weather we can expect this weekend.
  
  NIWA are an expensive joke, and need to be subjected to Ministerial Review jus t like Kaianga Ora.
  
  5 1
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  January 5, 2024 8:05pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I wonder if NIWA is paying for the free advertising it seems to be getting from TV One at the moment…
    
    or is TV One so bereft of News that it is filling up its Newshour with NIWA propaganda?
    
    3 2
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    January 5, 2024 9:12pm
    - Mike
      
      ‘propaganda’
      
      2 1
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      January 5, 2024 10:10pm
Swifty

Not the only thing they’re wrong about:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/matauranga-maori-article-pulled-down-in-technical-glitch-not-due-to-racist-backlash-tvnz/ZUGXQNA4ORBM3LZJONAEUHUCMM/

Let’s all just parade our wrongness shall we?
6 1
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January 5, 2024 6:38pm
- artemisia
  
  In that article Hoterene claims the problem stems from the current Government’s anti-Māori policies and a lack of education in schools about Māori history and culture.
  
  Her problem appears to be folk “putting down our Māori worldview”. My, the new government is mighty powerful if it can achieve that in so few weeks. Unless of course that same new government has read the room and democracy prevailed.
  
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  January 5, 2024 6:51pm
NothingLeft

Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself: Evidence for murder and state sanctioned extra-judicial murder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUMX18F-ERI
4 2
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January 5, 2024 6:42pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Touyube tends to meddle with videos, ratings and comments to fit it’s far left propaganda objectives.
  
  Here’s the same video direct from Tucker’s website:
  https://tuckercarlson.com/mark-epstein/
  
  3 2
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  January 5, 2024 8:58pm

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