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January 18, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 18 January 2024

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Warren

Waikato-Tainui seek legal redress New Zealand Government Policies -Tukoroioirangi Morgan.
This is the same Tuku Morgan of the silk underwear saga that used Tax Payers money to pay for them whilst a MP for New Zealand First many years ago.
This is the the same Tuku Morgan that thinks the minority should rule over the Majority in New Zealand Politics.
This is the same Tuku Morgan that believes Maori are hard done by in New Zealand in our Prisons and by our Police but does nothing to stop his people from filling their grocery trolleys with food and walking out of Supermarkets without paying on a regular basis, it’s a one way street for Tuku Morgan it’s all take with no give and he won’t stop until he achieves Maori ruling Pakeha in New Zealand because our Last Government set them on the path of hope without the approval of the majority of New Zealander’s.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/tukoroirangi-morgan-we-will-not-allow-government-to-roll-maori-back-to-the-dark-ages/4PA56DURO5BZ3FTZFCOTNW4PEM/
Whether People like it or not the National Government never created this problem it was the a former Labour Prime Minister and the Labour Party that thought they would Govern New Zealand for ever if Maori were given equal rights even though they were a minority in numbers.
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January 18, 2024 8:00am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Since 1840 Maori as a collective have had the same rights as everyone in NZ. Nothing has changed nor will it.
  
  Morgan only thinks he speaks for maori. Maori are not an homogenous collective and the disparity between tribes is still quite real.
  
  The last Labour regime created and curated this division for what purpose I have never fathomed but divided we now stand with Jackson et al making statements thay maori will go to war…..
  
  If it is war it will not be maori vs state it will be collectives against a majority which ends badly for all involved…..
  
  Thanks to the 2017-2023 Labour regimented tyranny of division……
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:11am
  - Grunter
    
    There is no doubt in my mind that things are about to get “very messy” to say the least. And confusion will reign, who is arguing/fighting who?
    
    The tribal elites continue to claim they represent “Maori”. But how do they know who is a Maori and who isn’t? If you are on a tribal list then tick, but what about all the others that claim some Maori blood?
    
    And what’s stopping me from claiming “I’m a Maori” despite having no known Maori blood? Blood tests for everyone maybe?
    
    Historically most race wars were fought on a clear-cut ethnic basis. But we don’t have that here in NZ. We are all mixtures of some sort.
    
    It’s going to be difficult to identify the correct target without some ‘friendly fire’.
    
    It almost has a Monty Python ring to it!
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:51am
    - Close Hen Counters
      
      Sorry grunts – I meant to give you a huge uptick not downtick 😢
      
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      January 18, 2024 12:38pm
  - muzled
    
    And if anyone thinks that disparity between tribes isn’t still real, take a few mins to watch Tuku and his mob tell Ngati Whatua that Tainui actually owns the land in Auckland.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws20VErIyOU&ab_channel=TeAowithMoana
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:58am
    - Grumpy Silver Top
      
      I watched and saved the clip. It is a superb example of Maori “negotiation” ie nothing is resolved. This is the essence of why there is such strong opposition to co-governance. The earlier settlers than the British et al know only one outcome of a disagreement: one party destroys the other.
      
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      January 18, 2024 11:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Same rights yeah?
    Can someone please tell Morgan? He is discombobulated severely.
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:45pm
- Warren
  
  Ken Mair joins the witchhunt as David Seymour rejects Iwi leaders claims the Government is trying to destroy Maori.
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/01/act-s-david-seymour-rejects-iwi-leader-s-claim-government-trying-to-destroy-m-ori.html
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:14am
  - pdm
    
    Warren I would back David Seymour against Ken Mair all day, every day.
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:19am
    - Jack5
      
      Mair’s not worth giving air to. Leave him forgotten on Woke Newshub.
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:29am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    Ask Ken Mair to put his teeth back in when he speaks otherwise it all spit and grisle.
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:30pm
- kiwikidsnz
  
  National are equally responsible for the current situation: it follows 50 years of elite appeasement and blatantly racist policies enacted by Trojan horses such as Finlayson, retention & expansion of racist electorate representation despite the introduction of MMP & the Royal Commission recommendation to do away with Maori seats…etc etc
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:25am
  - Unity
    
    So many people have absolutely no idea that the Treaty was NOT our founding document.
    
    Everyone should read the following because it has been meticulously researched, MPs have been informed but no-one wants to know the truth and they keep on pushing the obsolete little nullity of a Treaty.
    The Tiriti o Waitangi was only 1 of 6 Documents that made New Zealand into a British Colony with a Governor and Constitution that set up New Zealand’s political, legal and justice systems under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed. Governments have completely ignored the other 5 documents that have allowed the Tiriti o Waitangi to be manipulated and mis-interpreted never intended by those who signed it in 1840. The Six Documents are,
    
    1. Letter from the 13 Ngāpuhi Chiefs – 1831. The government ignores the letter the 13 Ngāpuhi chiefs wrote to the King of England asking him to be their guardian and protector. This letter shows Maori were in trouble and needed British protection, not only from themselves, but they were afraid New Zealand was about to be annexed to France.
    
    2. Declaration of Independence – 1835. The government ignores the Declaration of Independence that was a complete failure as the chiefs could not form a united body to claim sovereignty over New Zealand. A fact ruled by Chief Justice, Sir James Prendergast in1877, “No political body existed capable of making cession of sovereignty.
    
    3. Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter – 1839. The government ignores Queen Victoria’s 1839 Royal Charter/Letters Patent that placed New Zealand under the dependency of New South Wales. Britain could not have placed New Zealand under the dependency of New South Wales if Maori had sovereignty over New Zealand.
    
    4. Tiriti o Waitangi – 1840. The government ignores the fact, the Tiriti o Waitangi only asked the Maori chiefs to give up their governments (Tribal control) to Queen Victoria in Article 1. Article 2 guaranteed both Maori and Pakeha the rights to their lands, settlements and property, and Maori could only sell their lands to the Crown at an agreed price. Article 3 made Maori British Subjects with the same rights as the people of England. No more, no less, no Partnership, and definitely no Co-governance, but since the Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, its Maori words have been continually mis-translated to give Maori special rights over all other New Zealand Citizens. As Attorney General, Sir Geofrey Palmer stated on the ABC in 1990, “It is, now, a document that is so vague and unclear, that is its primary problem”.
    
    5. Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter – 1840. The government ignores Queen Victoria’s 1840 Royal Charter/Letters Patent that separated New Zealand from New South Wales dependency and made New Zealand into a British Colony with a Governor and Constitution that created New Zealand’s Legislative and Executive Councils and granted authority to Governor Hobson to make laws. Without Queen Victoria’s 1840 Royal Charter/Letters Patent, New Zealand would have remained under the dependency and laws of New South Wales.
    
    6. First Sitting of the Legislative Council – 1841. The government ignores the First Sitting of the Legislative Council in 1841 that set up New Zealand’s political, legal and justice systems under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed.
    
    Until we force governments to recognize these 6 Documents that made New Zealand into a British Colony under one flag and one law, irrespective of race, colour or creed, the Tiriti o Waitangi and the history surrounding it will continue to be rewritten giving Maori special rights and privileges never intended by those who signed it at Waitangi on 6 February 1840 with the words, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people”, before being taken around the country and signed by over 500 chiefs.
    
    There is no other document in New Zealand’s history that comes anywhere near to a true Founding Document and first Constitution than Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated 16 November 1840, but we must not ignore the other 5 documents that made this possible.
    
    For copies of these 6 documents, log onto: http://www.onenzfoundation.co.nz.
    
    Researched by: The One New Zealand Foundation Inc. Est: 1988. (Copyright) 3 January 2024.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:24am
    - Grumpy Silver Top
      
      Unity, I recognise the value of your comment but can you please clarify to whom or what you are referring by ‘the government? The British government of the time, subsequent NZ or British governments, the current NZ government?
      Section 1: which government?
      Section2: ditto
      Section 3: ditto
      etc etc.
      
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      January 18, 2024 11:42am
      - Unity
        
        Our current Government. Politicians seemed to be too cowardly to acknowledge the truth. They seem to adopt the opinion that the Treaty has become so embedded that there would be war in the streets if it was put back where it should have long gone. It was only a very simple little document and Chief Justice Prendergast called it a ‘simple nullity’ way back in the mid 1880’s. Today Politicians seem to be okay about pushing a great big lie in spite of all the true facts being placed before them. I don’t know how they sleep at night. In fact what they are doing could be described as treason.
        
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        January 18, 2024 12:49pm
      - Unity
        
        Sorry but I still didn’t explain ‘Government’ properly. I’m referring to all the successive Governments since at least 1975.
        
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        January 18, 2024 1:11pm
      - gravedodger
        
        NZ became a colony of UK when the unelected chiefs signed their assumed authority over to Hobson as agent for the UK government in Westminster under the sovereign, Queen Victoria.
        Self government came in 1853
        
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        January 19, 2024 12:38pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Unity: that history accords with what I was taught in Public Law at Canterbury law school 30 years ago. Professor Philip Joseph – the pre-eminent authority on New Zealand’s constitutional law – said in a lecture on the treaty in 1987 “If the treaty was anything, it was a treaty of cession”
      
      When I last met him a couple of years ago, Joseph’s position had changed somewhat – largely because of the Court of Appeal’s ruling in Maori Council v. Attorney General 1987, and subsequent court cases.
      
      Joseph says now that the treaty has increased in status because of those cases. According to the rules of international law however, it remains no more valid today that it was when Chief Justice Prendergast called it a “legal nullity” in 1877.
      
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      January 18, 2024 12:46pm
      - Unity
        
        Thank you David. I typed my response before I read your one about the Treaty being a ‘simple nullity’. In my view it’s still very wrong to give the Treaty the status and reinterpretation that was never intended when it was signed. The Maori Chiefs reconfirmed their understanding of the Treaty at the Kohimarama Conference held 20 years later in 1860. So what we have to day is very very wrong and a great big lie. Treason?!! The longer the truth is ignored the harder it is going to be to clean up the mess, but clean it up we must. The truth MUST prevail.
        
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        January 18, 2024 12:55pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Unity: To be clear, the “simple nullity” comment was regarding its then legal status, and in my view that still remains the case – in strictly legal terms. Without giving a law lecture, to be recognised as such, international treaties need to satisfy some 10 criteria IIRC; the “treaty” satisfied and still satisfies NONE of those criteria.
        
        What Prof. Joseph is saying – I think – is that the treaty has now achieved such legal and political recognition and status that the strict legal criteria have been superceded by political reality.
        
        And despite MSM lies to the contrary, the present government has no intention of “cancelling” or walking away from the treaty; all they are seeking to do is establish once and for all what the nebulous “principles” of the damn thing are – no more, no less. But then who expected the MSM to tell the truth about this government’s intentions??
        
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        January 18, 2024 3:49pm
    - julesnzuk
      
      I agree with most of this, Unity. But – and I stand to be corrected if wrong – I don’t believe there is any mention of the word “pakeha”. It’s “British subjects”, presumably evolved to “New Zealand citizens” upon New Zealand’s adoption of the Statute of Westminster. Frankly I’d much rather be known as a “British subject” (being of British heritage like most NZ Europeans) than a “pakeha” (horrible word that should be consigned to the bin).
      
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      January 19, 2024 2:29am
- Grunter
  
  Well said Warren – totaly agree 100%
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:01am
- Cassandra
  
  Morgan bought the silk underpants while working for TV, not as an MP. He got a huge clothing allowance and spent it on luxury items. Taxpayers money of course.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:49am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    But the scandal broke when he was an MP… 1997… Or am I remembering incorrectly?
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:10am
    - sungsamning
      
      Best political fun I ever had. ACT had just got in. There were 17 NZ First MPs, Most had expected them to go with Labour. Then came the idea for a ‘Cabinet Palace’. ACT produced a petition, and it got the required signatures in record time. I spent three days outside Ballantynes with a National leaning friend collecting signatures. The petition was a big FU to NZ First.
      
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      January 18, 2024 4:34pm
  - Warren
    
    I am happy to be corrected, thanks.
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:00pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Tuku’s silk undies saga occurred when he was chief of Maori TV, IIRC. As money ringfenced for Maori broadcasting it gave him the dubious honour of thieving both from taxpayers in general, and his own people particular.
  
  Tuku is one of the most odious, disgusting individuals in the country.
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:09am
  - David Garrett
    
    John: Watching him speaking, it appears Ol’ Tuku has no top teeth…I guess the present gig must pay considerably less that when the taxpayer employed him.
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:48pm
- Paulus
  
  Still do not know what the % minority is – we keep getting the many years 16% but believe in fact that it is very much less due to low birth rate and immigration over recent years.
  Tuku what is your figure for Maori please.
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:58am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I agree.
    
    It is a scandal that current policies are based on projections from a census result from 2013 (when it is estimated only 88.5% of Maori responded).
    
    The 2018 census was nonsense ….(response from Maori estimated at 68%)
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/what-went-wrong-with-the-census/V5ADGOSASB2MIHJEETEEKFVWNI/
    
    https://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/Item/nz.govt.stats/5b6313fc-3ce3-434e-8ee7-6bac79305e53?_ga=2.106928387.169284461.1705539850-1917716231.1704855152
    
    With the last decade of immigration from Pacific, S. American, African, European and Asian countries, the % of Maori could now be considerably less than 16% of the population.
    
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    January 18, 2024 2:06pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Not to mention Maoris departing for Australia & points north
      
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      January 18, 2024 5:10pm
- Burtland
  
  Shane Jones summarized it well on RNZ …
  
  he dismissed “the fanciful rhetorical claims, godzilla Tuku is tossing about in the High Court”
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018922322/new-zealand-first-responds-to-waikato-tainui-court-claim
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:56am
  - sungsamning
    
    Shane Jones 1 Moaning Report 0.
    
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    January 18, 2024 4:45pm
- crikey
  
  Warren: Of course, the dark ages for Maori was before the nasty colonists arrived and lifted them out of poverty and deprivation into the civilised world. Morgan and his activist ilk must know how much better Maori are off, it just doesn’t suit their narrative to publicly acknowledge it.
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:09pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Thanks for that, it’s interesting and important stuff.
  there is a real tension going on here, not between Māori and Pakeha (which I think is actually very small), but between various sections of the Professional Managerial Caste(PMC), some of whom are Māori. Tukoroirangi Morgan is expressing his position in the language and philosophy of leftist progressivism, the cult of the PMC. That’s a very uneasy match with Māori culture which is traditional and tribal. For a progressive narrative to work, Maori must be seen as victims of oppression, the more pitiful the better. But the obvious gigantic progress that Māori have made in the last 200 years can never be spoken of .
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:35pm
Yvette

‘It’s a deliberate strategy to erase us’ – Whanganui iwi prepare for national hui
… [Te Korowai o Wainuiārua chairperson Aiden Gilbert] said the iwi collective’s main concerns were the dialling back of Resource Management Act reforms in which Māori seemed to have “more say”, and impacts on freshwater policy Te Mana o Te Wai. …
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/506869/it-s-a-deliberate-strategy-to-erase-us-whanganui-iwi-prepare-for-national-hui

• Why should Maori be represented in law as having greater affinity toward water than anyone else?
Why should Maori only be able to issue Mana o te Wai Statements, particularly with no definition as to content?

Environment Minister David Parker has brushed aside a suggestion from the Waitangi Tribunal that the Government move to put co-governance measures into the replacement for the Resource Management Act.
Legislation on the reforms is due in October, and Parker said the Government’s plan was not to include co-governance requirements in the bill.
“The Government is not proposing 50-50 co-governance. Regional planning committees will have a legal minimum of 2 Māori representatives. Local councils and Māori in a region can then agree on whether they want more,” Parker said.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/no-co-governance-in-rma-reforms-environment-minister-david-parker/LNOQLO6F3AYU6EQWV4PBO6QAJ4/

• Is the Resource Management Act not already dialled back?
• And does the 72 hui response to He Puapua still languish on a Labour “resuscitate post-Election, but only if Labour pulls through” shelf somewhere awaiting an OIA request?

More details have emerged about yesterday’s private meeting between the Prime Minister and the Māori King.
… “For us, we will speak te reo Māori and we will kōrero our reo, no matter what the decision or direction of any Government.
“And the Prime Minister was very supportive of that.”
… “What we’re looking for now is how Māori can lead the entire nation. We believe mana motuhake (self-determination) will enable success for everybody and won’t be a style of leadership that will be detrimental to other people who live in New Zealand.
“We consistently gave that message to the Prime Minister yesterday.”
[Private secretary to Kiingi Tuuheitia, Ngira Simmonds] said the Prime Minister did not offer any assurances but was open to continuing discussions.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/16/more-details-emerge-from-luxons-meeting-with-maori-king/

■ Māori own the water because this country was settled by consent, not conquest, under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Article 1 gave the Crown custodianship, not ownership.
Article 2, for the avoidance of all doubt, retained, for Māori, absolute control of our waters, our land, and all domains.
Article 3 asserted the right that we would have equality of opportunity with white New Zealanders.
Those three undertakings by all New Zealand governments have been constantly breached.
– John Tamihere
https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/who-owns-the-water/

ACT would promote the Treaty as it was actually signed, not the divisive version invented by judges and academics.”
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/graham-adams-treaty-principles-debate-takes-off
… or the bastardised version John Tamihere promotes.

RESET, BACK ON TRACK to the actual Treaty of 1840, even although it is a bloody near-two-century’s old real-estate and protection agreement. What about the tangata – the other roughly 83 percent non-Maori tangata? Where are they in the Treaty – is “British subjects” (Article 3) where they receive mention – but only by implication?
Negotiate an actual written Constitution.

“They are attempting to undermine, basically destroy what we’ve tried to put in place over the last 40 years,” said Mair.
Naah! – it’s your Mum calling you
“40 years” already – and what exactly was put in place?
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January 18, 2024 8:02am
- Waipuk
  
  Erase present and future revenue streams.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:48am
iMP

I am a bit iffy about Golriz using mental illness in the way she has, to make herself a ‘victim’ and somewhat offset her bad behaviour. This stigmatises “mental health.” Many millions with problems don’t behave as this privileged person has done. Stop trying to blame an ‘illness’ and own your selfish greedy behaviour. It didn’t ‘make’ you do this.

Why didn’t mental illness ‘make’ you volunteer at a food bank or help the needy? No, she wanted glitzy clothes to enhance her celebrity and make her ‘feel’ powerful. Entitlement? arrogance?
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January 18, 2024 8:10am
- Yvette
  
  In these circumstances, a vital factor may be: Did Golriz have Chōe with her, at least when the cctv coverage Ian Wishart has, was recorded
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:21am
  - pdm
    
    Yvette – what we do know is that someone returned stolen goods to Scotties.
    
    Was it Chloe?
    Was it another Green Party MP?
    Was it a Green Party staff member?
    
    All in all it looks like and smells like there are more Greens than just Golriz donkey deep in this matter.
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:22am
    - Grunter
      
      Maybe Chloe returned her Xmas presents that Golriz gave her to Scotties whilst Golriz was hiding (on holiday) in Singapore?
      
      Chloe must have been helping Golriz pick her presents back in December, which is why she is in the CCTV pic.
      
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      January 18, 2024 9:57am
      - Steve Todd
        
        The theft allegedly occurred on Sat 23 Dec 23. The police were notified that day. The items were returned that same day. Ghahraman flew out of the country on Thu 28 Dec, the day after the Green Party leadership became aware of the allegation of shoplifting against her. Therefore, the items were not returned, by Chlöe Swarbrick or anyone else, while Ghahraman was in Singapore. The identity of the person who did return the items on Sat 23 Dec remains a mystery (at least to the peasantry).
        
        There is nothing to suggest the woman in the CCTV pic is Swarbrick. I, for one, don’t think it is her. In this regard, Ghost is adamant that the woman is not Swarbrick. Also, I agree with Ghost that the photo of the named Green Party staffer, Georgia Griggs, looks nothing like the other woman.
        
        It is quite possible that the other woman is a completely innocent member of the public who just happened to be in the same part of the shop as Ghahraman, at the relevant time (and who had no idea the woman nearby was Ghahraman).
        
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        January 18, 2024 1:07pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      The pic of her with the brown pants under her arm is also the same brown pants that has appeared with her protesting at the Gaza protest
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:07am
    - riffer
      
      Some of these comments are sailing pretty close to defamation. I am surprised DPF hasn’t cracked down on them.
      
      It might be a good idea to put up or shut up on these before Kiwiblog ends up in court.
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:16am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I think it is fair enough for many of us to say that our trust in anything the Green Leadership says has been shattered.
        
        It was the Green leadership that stated when Ghahraman was stood down from herspokesperson roles:
        
        let us be clear that no other Green Party MPs were involved in the alleged incident, we have had no contact with the police, and it would not be appropriate for us to comment on their investigation in any way.”
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/506569/green-party-co-leaders-break-silence-over-shoplifting-allegations-against-golriz-ghahraman
        
        As there had been no previous public mention that any other Green MP was involved, one can only wonder what the Green Leadership knew about matters.
        
        For subsequently the Green Leadership has told us that they couldn’t do anything until they had talked to Ghahraman and found out what was going on…..i.e. they were NOT clear about anything.
        
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        January 18, 2024 10:52am
      - David Garrett
        
        riffer: Another bush lawyer….It has nothing to do with “defamation”; for a start, because of the precedent set in Lange v. Atkinson 35 years ago, people can say pretty much whatever they like about current or former politicians without being liable to a defamation suit. Trust, me I have taken the best advice there is on this after outrageous and totally untrue comments were made about me.
        
        Their may be however a danger of making careless comments on a matter that is now sub judice, i.e “now before the court”. The moment Gharahaman was charged her status changed from an ex poli about whom anyone could say just about anything with impunity, to a person entitled to a fair trial with all that that entails.
        
        There’s about $400 worth of legal advice for free!
        
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        January 18, 2024 12:57pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I note someone said here yesterday it wasn’t her cause tattoo was not on forearm, I looked, and the pic that definitely looks like her, the arm is facing away from the tattoo
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:01am
    - cmm
      
      Yes, that is true., the angle is wrong for most of the video to see it. Her tattoo is also small with thin lines meaning it does not stand out well.
      However if you step the video frame by frame there are two frames showing a curved line in the right place and the right shape to match the tattoo.
      So from what I see, there could be ink in the right place. It isn’t the best video, so that could potentially just be a digitization artifact.
      Chloe has also changed shape a bit over the years mak8ng it hard to identify features from online pics.
      Still not calling it one way or the other though.
      
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      January 18, 2024 6:01pm
  - Paulus
    
    Understand that Chloe was not with her but a named person from the Green Party.
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:09am
- MCōs
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Well, it’s a funny thing, but from my observation it seems the pro gun people blame all those mass shootings in America on mental problems, but it couldn’t possibly be the case when it someone one doesn’t like . . .
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:31am
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘all those mass shootings in America on mental problems’
    This is not true. The vast majority of mass shootings in the US are Gang related.
    
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    January 18, 2024 8:41am
    - kowtow
      
      A silent epidemic cos te media refuse to discuss it.
      
      ‘According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,821 Black women and girls were murdered in 2020 in the United States. Black femicide affects Black women and girls across all age groups: from children attending schools to senior citizens. Firearm violence has driven the homicide rates even further, with three quarters of homicide victims dying of gunshot wounds.’
      
      And it ain’t the Minneapolis Cops doin’ the killing.
      
      https://www.connecticutchildrens.org/advancing-kids/black-femicide-silent-public-health-crisis
      
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      January 18, 2024 8:58am
    - MCōs
      
      Here’s some examples of that which I was referring to
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/
      https://youtu.be/G4h7TpJhp-4?si=q1dS9YVQFBn_sG3d
      https://www.businessinsider.com/nra-statement-backing-trump-el-paso-dayton-shootings-mental-illness-2019-8
      And so forth
      
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      January 18, 2024 9:16am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Sigh
        He is referring to a specific event. And yes, some shootings could be traced to issues with mental illness. Trans activists for example are starting to be represented in recent shootings- and there is also overuse of drugs but NOT “all the mass shootings” are being blamed on mental illness as you claim.
        Ironically your (wrong) assumptions fit the topic in the Research Paper you attach…
        
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        January 18, 2024 9:32am
    - Mike
      
      Wow, why does the US have so much more worse gangs than other developed countries?
      
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      January 18, 2024 9:20am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Democrat policies?
        No doubt some moron will be along to say, ‘but but but they happen in GOP states’, ignoring that the cities the worst happens in are Democrat controlled cities.
        
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        January 18, 2024 9:33am
      - sirknz
        
        Lefty policies promoting fatherless homes is a good start.
        
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        January 18, 2024 9:34am
      - JimBobJoe
        
        Gangs in inner city America: Lack of fathers in stable homes Michael. Due to policies put in place by LBJ and reinforced by Democrat politicians since the 1960s.
        
        You want to debate it, I suggest you try debating Thomas Sowell on the topic. He is in his 90’s but I think he would blow your attempt at proving him wrong out of the water in 5 seconds.
        
        No fathers and single parent households produce disproportionate negative outcomes for children raised in those circumstances, as per all the stats re education, prison, life expectancy….
        
        No one on the Left wants to acknowledge that because:
        
        1 – it upsets the feminist arm of the movement
        2 – it is in the Lefts political best interests to spawn bad outcomes for which they claim to have answers (but they dont, they make it worse), all as part of a long term strategy to achieve a one party state
        
        Slowly, slowly Fabianism is just Communism delivered in a small drip feed like a poisoning that builds up to a lethal dose: not noticed at first but equally as fatal as a bullet to the brain.
        
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        January 18, 2024 10:20am
      - Paulus
        
        Guns and acute poverty !
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:09am
      - Mike
        
        Only Paulus got close: it’s the guns.
        
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        January 18, 2024 1:28pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Oh look at that. Nicking shit turns into a gun debate.
    Nice diversion
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:34pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I see Tova O’Brien is doing her bit to help Gloriz. When Todd Muller had his issues, I cant remember him going out shop lifting, or driving drunk for that matter. Perhaps you have to be justice minister to do those sorts of things.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350149859/we-need-be-careful-about-how-we-talk-about-mental-health-and-politics
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:10am
  - Tricati
    
    O’Brien is part of the problem of stressing MP’s – You only have to recall her obnoxious interview with Jamie Lee-Ross during his melt down to see what a nasty piece of work she is.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5a2Cc5KtI
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:02am
    - David Garrett
      
      Tricati: she also can’t be bothered proof reading her worth – she refers to a person suffering “immense emotional effects” when I’m sure she meant to write “Intense”
      
      I quite agree she is a nasty piece of (biased) work.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:17pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        ‘Worth’ – whoops!
        
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        January 18, 2024 5:12pm
  - riffer
    
    Or perhaps people are different.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:17am
    - JimBobJoe
      
      or perhaps Golriz is being protected by her political friends and allies…
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:20am
  - PurplePen
    
    So who in the Green Party is sane. That’s a question not a rhetorical.
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:03am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      🤔
      
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      January 20, 2024 7:52pm
- Grizz
  
  This is all nonsense. It is insulting that I have to hear that the excuse for committing crimes and stealing is all down to mental health, misogyny and other forms of bullying.
  
  The real issue here is that GG could not manage a personal budget. Like a lot of adults we have not been taught the necessary life skills to manage a budget.
  
  I have no idea abot GG’s earnings prior to entering parliament. Like many of us, probably grew up frugally dreaming of having nice things. I am not sure if by entering parliament she had to take a pay cut or parliament was a big step up to what she was earning prior. Nevertheless she had access to a good salary. I would surmise she liked to splurge on nice things. Expensive things as it turned out. The reality is that an MP’s salary is finite. If you are not careful, even high earners can run out of money.
  
  I would guess that GG was spending more than she was earning. She probably fell into a debt trap and accumulated considerable consumer debt. The repayments became overwhelming. To maintain the lifestyle she became accustomed to, she started shoplifting. Especially for the more expensive items she liked that she realised she could not afford. This incident is likely to dent her career prospects and earnings. Bankruptcy may be a real prospect for her.
  
  If people and the media were honest, the real issue here is that GG was not good with money. Unfortunately she was in the frame of mind to commit crimes rather than to check her lifestyle.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:46am
  - Ghost
    
    A lot of guessing there
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:55am
    - Grizz
      
      Its a pattern that has been seen before and will be repeated over and over again. Financial stress can become overwhelming. If the mental health excuse is going to be used, it is in response to financial stress, not all the other nonsense put out by the snowflake media and the Green Party.
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:42am
      - Paulus
        
        On an MP’s $160.000 pa salary with long idle holidays too !
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:11am
      - Grizz
        
        Lets break down that MP’s Salary
        You say she had 160,000. I believe it is more like 180,000 – but I will stand to be corrected.
        A salary of 180,000 would attract an income tax of 50,320.
        I understand Green MPs are tithed. Thats another 18,000
        Very soon that $180,000 becomes $112,000 per year give or take. If you like buying expensive consumer items, then this money is going to go very quickly.
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:45am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “If you like buying expensive consumer items, then this money is going to go very quickly.”
        
        And if you live reasonably sensibly, you’ll live the life of Riley compared to most NZers.
        
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        January 20, 2024 7:54pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Grizz: “I understand Green MPs are tithed.”
        
        OK so like a cult then. Not at all surprising.
        
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        January 20, 2024 7:58pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    She was doing it because she’s an entitled narcissist who thinks she should be queen and so is owed all that she desires. Social media exacerbates these tendencies badly
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:13am
  - John Loveridge
    
    Too much guesswork on your part there. There’s no evidence at all that GG has had any sort of financial problems, and indeed her shoplifting is clearly driven by quite different factors. I don’t buy the mental health excuse though.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:15am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    ” the real issue here is that GG was not good with money. ”
    
    No Green is good with money.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:16am
    - RalphT
      
      Correction, no Green is good with their own money. They are excellent at managing other people’s money.
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:26am
      - Grizz
        
        Satire please. When have they been excellent at managing other people’s money?
        
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        January 18, 2024 10:43am
      - PurplePen
        
        Correction … No Green Party member is good with other people’s (taxpayer) money.
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:05am
      - John Loveridge
        
        They are good at SPENDING other people’s money, not managing it.
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:08am
    - Paulus
      
      Sorry, any Green is good with other people’s money !
      
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      January 18, 2024 11:12am
  - riffer
    
    If I had a dollar for every time someone here speculated on left-leaners motives, I’d have enough money to buy Christopher Luxon.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:19am
  - Conservatarian
    
    According to the official donor returns filed with the Electoral Commission, GG donates to the Greens in fortnightly instalments. She donated $ 17,956.28 in in the 2022 calendar year and $18,588.48 in the 2021 calendar year. In 2021 she also made a one-off donation of $350 on 14 May 2021. Many Green MPs seem to “tithe” earnings to their party (perhaps 10-15% of their gross salary).
    
    https://elections.nz/assets/Annual-Returns/2022/Green-Party-Annual-Return-2022.pdf
    https://elections.nz/assets/2021-annual-returns-/Green-Party-Annual-Return-2021.pdf
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:59am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      It’s Green Party policy; the idea being that MPs owe their jobs to the Party.
      
      It could be seen as a form of extortion – “nice little place on the List you got there. Shame if anything happened to it”.
      
      However, it would be interesting if an MP, thinking that this will be their last term, decided to cease donating to the Party. I doubt there’d be any legal come back.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:18pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Many Green MPs seem to “tithe” earnings to their party (perhaps 10-15% of their gross salary).
      
      As I understand it, this tithing is NOT voluntary – if you want to be a Green MP you must pay tithes. I could wrong, and thus stand to be corrected.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:26pm
      - alwyn.a
        
        The tithing is not voluntary.
        It is specified in the Green Party Constitution on page 20 in section 8.12.2.
        “Pay to the Party an annual contribution of at least 10% of their gross salary (excluding allowances) (“MP Base Salary”), plus such higher percentage of additional parliamentary income above the MP Base Salary that may be specified in an agreement between the Party and its Members of Parliament that includes obligations and accountability of the parties.”
        https://elections.nz/assets/party-files/Constitution-of-the-Green-Party-of-Aotearoa-New-Zealand-June-2022.pdf
        
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        January 18, 2024 2:25pm
      - Grizz
        
        If my theory of financial difficulty proves correct then you could argue that the Green party themselves with their need to tithe drove her to crime.
        
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        January 18, 2024 6:10pm
- mogg
  
  What we are seeing is another example of ‘progressive morals’. Just like Jacinda’s ‘two tier society ‘. Who in their right mind would demonstrate wearing the tea towel and joining anti- Semitic chants which are really a call for Jihad, then claim to be fighting for human rights.
  At the big pro Palestine demo outside parliament, after the ‘From the river etc… a few of them were chanting ‘kill the Jews in a much lower tone. The Greens supported that demo.
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:44am
- Paulus
  
  GG has the support of the media in her quest for a dropped action as she is a Green woman.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:00am
Pope Punctilious II

More pearls of wisdom from Tova this morning.
Apparently we can’t possibly understand Golriz’s actions unless we’re “women of colour” who came to NZ as refugees.

Golriz herself sometimes played the “as a woman of colour” card. If she’s a woman of colour, then so are many Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Bulgarians etc. So there you are – if you have any southern European ancestry in your pedigree, you can play the “person of colour” card when you get into trouble.
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January 18, 2024 8:17am
- imalwaysright
  
  Thin Lizzy.
  You can choose your colour.
  
  I’ve ordered a tin of Tangelo Trump, I think that’s the one St Golriz uses.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:23am
- Grizz
  
  Sorry Tova, we all can understand her actions.
  We all have to live within our means and budget our lifestyles accordingly. Rather than checking her lifestyle – decisions we all make, GG chose the dishonest path.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:49am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Don’t forget the white happens to be a colour too.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:55am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    However, black is not a colour.
    
    Are Black & White Colors?
    
    The answer to the question – “Are black and white colors?” – is one of the most debated issues about color. Ask a scientist and you’ll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you’ll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.”
    
    https://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/are-black-and-white-colors
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:22am
- John Loveridge
  
  Bollocks, Tova. So it’s OK for brown women to thieve stuff?
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:10am
- gravedodger
  
  Kurd or Persian, they are both considered “ARYAN”?
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:59pm
- alex Masterley
  
  We have what Tova would call a “woman of colour” on our staff.
  That person just laughed as she was describing Tova’s “opinion” piece as utter rubbish.
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:38pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    It’s an low-blow insult to all those women-of-colour who don’t thieve under a bit of stress.
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:55pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  We are all multi-coloured. What to do?
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:37pm
Rusty

Last night 3Newshub started their coverage on Donald Trump not on his decisive win in Iowa but a new rape allegation.

The Trump derangement syndrome is still alive and well with the MSM.
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January 18, 2024 8:19am
- Mike
  
  It’s not a new allegation. Its a proven one. Trump is back in court as he persists in defaming his victim.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:22am
  - thirteenstars
    
    You’re a liar. Trump was never convicted of rape.
    
    If you’ve got proof of the criminal verdict, post it.
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:55am
    - virtualmark
      
      It was a civil case, not a criminal one (in part because the statute of limitations had run out).
      
      Trump was found guilty of rape by a jury of his peers, based on the preponderance of evidence.
      
      Trump’s lawyers provided almost no defence beyond “I never met her” (shown to be false, by multiple photographs) and “not my type” (badly weakened when Trump mistook Carroll for Marla Maples in his deposition).
      
      Personally I think it’s a stretch to call Trump a rapist based on that finding, but it seems fair to at least call him a sex offender.
      
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      January 18, 2024 12:58pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Correction/clarification. From Wikipedia:
        
        “Considering the preponderance of evidence the jury delivered a verdict that first stated that Carroll had not proven that Trump raped her, and next stated that Carroll did prove that Trump had sexually abused her, and also stated that Trump defamed Carroll with false statements made with in the October 2022 Truth Social post.”
        
        Really the jury found that he defamed her, but that was based on also deciding he had sexually assaulted her.
        
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        January 18, 2024 1:41pm
  - What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
    
    E. Jean “Rape is Sexy” Carroll?
    
    8 2
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    January 18, 2024 10:23am
  - NothingLeft
    
    With no evidence other than her literally fantastic claims that appear to be (genuinely!) based on an episode of Law And Order SVU. That Trump raped her (then 52 years old) in an upmarket clothing store dressing room with salespeople outside and that she can’t remember the exact date and that she told no-one about any of it for 24 years.
    
    But bring a civil case in a stridently democrat jurisdiction against the republican ogre and you are guaranteed a win. It’s almost beyond parody.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:26am
    - Paulus
      
      It is all about money particularly her Lawyers, who get up to 40% of the so called winnings.
      That’s the USA ~
      
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      January 18, 2024 11:02am
    - virtualmark
      
      Carroll told at least 2 of her friends in the few days after Trump attacked her. They testified to that, under oath.
      
      Multiple other women also testified to Trump attacking/mauling them in a similar way, which established a pattern of behaviour.
      
      The jury clearly found that to be convincing.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:02pm
      - mawm
        
        I have a bridge to sell you.
        
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        January 18, 2024 7:41pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Not new allegations, it’s that woman that reckons he groped her in the changing rooms, remember he called her a whack job snd he never even knew who she was
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:16am
  - virtualmark
    
    Kind of new allegations. They all link back to the same underlying event but Trump can’t help himself from continuing to defame her, and so she keeps filing new defamation charges against him.
    
    It’s some combination of:
    1. Trump has poor/no impulse control, and/or
    2. Trump doesn’t care because the schmucks who donate to him are ultimately the ones paying the costs and damages, and/or
    3. Trump thinks this is good branding/fundraising.
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:08pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  I don’t know about just “somebody” but I’m starting to think that Trump could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue, shoot [E Jean] Carroll, and gain a lot of voters.
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:37pm
Maggie Pie

Had to larf. Just read where the PM had a secret meeting with the Maori King.
According to the article, the King has his own ‘Private Secretary’.
Who knew?

https://1news.co.nz/2024/01/16/more-details-emerge-from-luxons-meeting-with-maori-king/

My partner was saying in the old days, the title of Private Secretary would have been known as…. ‘The Groom Of The Stool’

LOL!!
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January 18, 2024 8:23am
- Taieri
  
  According to the article, the King has his own ‘Private Secretary’
  ———-
  
  Of course. How would His Majesty and the Court function without the Private Secretary? Or the Grand Chancellor? The Royal Food Tester? And many other Royal Offices and Officers…
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:29am
- nathie
  
  “What we’re looking for now is how Māori can lead the entire nation. We believe mana motuhake (self-determination) will enable success for everybody and won’t be a style of leadership that will be detrimental to other people who live in New Zealand.
  
  “… won’t be a style of leadership that will be detrimental to other people who live in New Zealand.”
  
  At first glance (but without knowing the detail) that sounds reasonable I suppose?
  
  “What we’re looking for now is how Māori can lead the entire nation. ”
  
  What on earth does that mean? At first glance (but without knowing the detail) that sounds totally unreasonable I suppose!
  
  So why on earth didn’t the reporter ask what that meant? Why can’t reporters do their jobs?
  
  Imagine if another occupation didn’t seek clarification on something sounding controversial that was said to them and there were repercussions as a result? Suggest they wouldn’t be in a job anymore for failing their basic role!
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:04am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Because the reporter (read:activist) is sympathetic to the co-governance ideology.
    
    It’s pretty simple when you understand that simple fact. Don’t attribute to stupidity what is clearly complicity.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:21am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  It was a very sought after position actually!!!!
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:07am
- Damocles11
  
  The Kingite movement is just cultural appropriation.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:22am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I consider it to be a cult.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:19am
  - Paulus
    
    Kingi is Tainui Iwi only, as such as Ngāpuhi cannot stand them, along with many other tribes.
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:17am
  - KH
    
    The king movement were rebels against the legitimate government established and agreed by some treaty.
    Killed a few people as well.
    These days, just a laugh, and with pricey underpants.
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:39pm
- David Garrett
  
  Maggie: Allow me to correct your language…one does not have a meeting with a King or Queen, but rather an audience
  
  As I understand it, the former truck driver from Huntly surrounds himself with even more pomp and circumstances than King Charles or the King of Tonga – both of whom are real kings, acknowledged as such by their people.
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:31pm
- Beach Haven expat
  
  Was it his private secretary who went into full “this is literally genocide” mode when Goff stupidly made his “no one here has been to a coronation” comments last year?
  Goff was guilty of being an ignorant fool (not new) and not thinking about who he was talking to but it was one of the King’s royal staff who had wail about this proof of racism while His Maj sat there and put on his best hurty face.
  
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  January 18, 2024 7:29pm
James

Well said iMP
That statement was made up of excuses and was in no way an apology.
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January 18, 2024 8:24am
Taieri

The World keeps boiling…

http://tinyurl.com/226vjdyx
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January 18, 2024 8:24am
Swifty

Of all the things you could truthfully say about Ardern, one thing you could not say is:

“They had a goal. You knew what they believed in and where everyone was going. And really, that’s all you need as PM. You need to have a destination, and take us with you.”

Good grief. In the dying days of her run if you’d lined up 100 New Zealanders and asked them what Labour stood for and where they were taking us you’d get 100 conflicting answers but with the majority being “Haven’t a clue, I don’t think they know either, they’re just making it up as they go along.”

Does Stuff actually pay for this garbage?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350149124/government-managers-not-ceos

They should ask for a refund.
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January 18, 2024 8:27am
- pdm
  
  Stuff seems to have completely taken away the ability to critique their opinion pieces.
  
  Plus when I last looked an hour ago their one worthwhile contribution to readers each day, the `Quik Quiz’ had gone to0.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:34am
- John Loveridge
  
  Swifty, it’s Verity Johnson. She wouldn’t know a dollar from a donut.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:24am
  - Burtland
    
    from her LinkedIn profile – narcissist influencer
    
    “So if you’re a solo-preneur, start up wizard or have dreams about becoming a thought leader in your field then we’re a match made in heaven. I help people with big dreams and bigger ideas become recognised as industry experts. I specialise in helping you find your personal brand, build your media profile and get recognised for the amazing work you do.”
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:21pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      She also runs a Burlesque club on K road. Which probably brings in more dosh that the influencing.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:42pm
      - John Loveridge
        
        Dear God.
        
        https://womanmagazine.co.nz/risque-business-journalist-verity-johnson-shares-her-passion-for-burlesque/
        
        8 0
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        January 18, 2024 2:00pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I’m pretty sure Verity knows all about doughnuts. You can see them for yourself, if you pony up for entry into her club.
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:23pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  Verity Johnson, the journalist with the most inappropriate name ever – this is high quality, premium grade, industrial strength historical revisionism. The only goals Ardern’s government had were own goals.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:45am
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep. That originated from one of her esteemed Harvard addresses.
  Read it in its entirety and too be honest , Shes not right in the head.
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:10pm
kowtow

Funny ole world .

The more Big Business talk about their virtues ( carbon being the current fad) the less they actually do.

‘Executives using corporate jets for personal travel has soared 50% since the pandemic — a free perk that has cost their companies millions of dollars.’

https://nypost.com/2024/01/16/business/personal-use-of-corporate-jets-has-soared-50-costs-companies-65m/
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January 18, 2024 8:36am
Swifty

Judge Judy comes out for Nikki Haley:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12974235/JUDGE-JUDY-verdict-president-endorses-nikki-haley.html

😀
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January 18, 2024 8:37am
Swifty

Greenpeace Aotearoa wants us out of the fertiliser business:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/17/taranaki-hapu-appeals-to-un-over-fast-tracked-giant-turbines/
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January 18, 2024 8:58am
- Grunter
  
  That went well in Sri Lanka!
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:30am
- rouppe
  
  The UN challenge comes with Māori poised to converge on Tūrangawaewae this weekend to answer Kīngi Tūheitia’s call for a united, independent response to the new Government’s blitz on established iwi and hapū rights.
  
  Established rights? Three or four years of unequal rights by stealth is not “established” rights. They’re new, undemocratic rights.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:50am
- Sarkozygroupie
  
  So the hapū, via Mere Brooks, are rejecting colonialism but are filing legal claims through a Western legal structure.
  
  Ok.
  
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  January 19, 2024 6:59am
I remember when

Department of Conservation:
The National Wild Goat Competition Wraps Up:
“Nearly 700 hunters entered and a total of 10,134 wild goats were shot for the competition.
Wild goat is a versatile protein well suited to the coal grill, slow braises and even charcuterie.”
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January 18, 2024 9:02am
- Grunter
  
  Makes a great slow cooked curry as well.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:31am
  - Sarkozygroupie
    
    South African goat curry with apricots, onions and buttermilk is delicious!
    
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    January 19, 2024 7:00am
- Gertie
  
  I have some pity for the goats. Many of those ‘hunters’ would not be experienced and will leave wounded left right and centre. Its an ugly business keeping goat numbers down. I have a mob on the farm that regularly has to be culled. They can produce 4 kids a year. Generally kidding in November and again in May. The billies are sods….the poor nannies can be ‘chased’ by large mobs till they are exhausted. Its hard to watch. A lot of ‘would be ‘ hunters cut their teeth on goats so to speak. I have seen the results. Pretty awful. We spent a couple of years catching them back in the day when they were worth money. So easy to domesticate. The kids are absolutely delightful, and make wonderful pets for children. Sadly I havnt kept a pet one for many years. We have lots of Rhododendruns. Nothing worse than listening to a goat that has a belly ache from eating rhodos.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:08am
I remember when

Maori seem to be sure that the Treaty ensured that they would have co-governance.
Strangely Queen Victoria, or any monarch since, did not show any desire for such an arrangement in their own affairs.
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January 18, 2024 9:10am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/the-more-we-know-about-the-maori-king-the-more-laughable-it-gets/
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January 18, 2024 9:11am
Matt Long

John Kerry doesn’t like stupid questions about his own personal, equal to a small country, carbon footprint when it’s clear he’s on a mission from Gaia to save the planet from deplorables.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-climate-czar-john-kerry-snaps-confronted-about-carbon-footprint
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January 18, 2024 9:13am
Grunter

I was surprised to read that Argentia’s new President, Milei, was attending WEF at Davos. But it sounds like he has sirred up the globalist central planners!

Introduced by no one other than Klaus Schwab, Milei warned about collectivism to a room full of collectivists:

“The main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world. Rather, they are the root cause.”

Yes!!! I do hope they don’t shoot him thou…..

Meanwhile, the rest of the horrible at WEF are spewing out the usual bollocks. Censorship being their big theme this year.

They want global rules on “free speech”!!!!!! That is, you are entitled to free speech so long as you parrot what we say. Under their rules, all us KB’ers would be silenced.
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January 18, 2024 9:15am
- Bridgenag
  
  Disease X and the Corrupt Lancet
  The globalists launch their new weapon to take over the world
  
  “This is the face of the enemy.
  
  This particular embodiment of enemy comes in the form of the WEF and the WHO. They now control the buttons for the main stream media, the fact checkers, academic institutions, the publishers of the scientific journals and heads of state. The list of who they own or have bought off is almost endless.
  
  The fight in front of us is vast. Now is not the time to give up.”
  
  https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/disease-x-and-the-corrupt-lancet?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:57am
  - mawm
    
    Do not believe anything they tell you.
    Do not comply.
    Become ungovernable.
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:23pm
- kiwi_chileno
  
  Actually, Milei flamed the WEF: he said that he was attending the WEF to “plant the idea of freedom in a forum contaminated by the 2030 socialist agenda”.
  
  Here’s Milei’s speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DYQQf1KjYo
  
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  January 18, 2024 7:40pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh heck,….Help needed.

I’m struggling, folks, to get my head around Green politics.

I thought Green Hydrogen was a meant to be good thing….and same with wind energy
https://www.greenhydrogennz.com/

but not if your view of a mountain/maunga is impeded, it appears.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/te-ao-maori/350150065/giant-windmills-blow-hapu-un

Do cultural rights trump environmental rights?
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January 18, 2024 9:16am
- Mike
  
  Sometimes, yes.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:24am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    So when Rawiri and Debbie are giving their joint election victory speech, and they say they will be governing for all New Zealanders, at least we know that will be a bare faced lie?
    
    25 1
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    January 18, 2024 9:50am
    - riffer
      
      By your own logic then, the current coalition does not govern for all New Zealanders either.
      
      2 24
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      January 18, 2024 10:22am
      - mawm
        
        You really are stretching any form of logic when you conflate a government elected under our MMP rules through a majority and 2 who are not representative of the majority of New Zealanders.
        
        9 1
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        January 18, 2024 12:27pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Riffer you’ve failed to understand the logic in Suze Wainwright’s comment. I think what the racial party mean, wink wink, is they simply want to govern all NZers. Not really govern FOR *all* NZers.
        
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        January 18, 2024 2:43pm
    - OlderChas
      
      In my observations, neither of the two you mention ate bare faced Suze!
      
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      January 18, 2024 11:44am
  - Im Right
    
    No Mike…the maori champion themselves as being ‘guardians of NZ’ but it seems they are just NIMBYs in reality.
    Want the green deal, but in someone else’s back yard.
    They can’t have it both ways….but most likely they will.
    
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    January 18, 2024 10:36am
- wsk12345
  
  I thought Kapuni was out near the coast? Might be quite hard to find a place on land where the turbines there impede views of the mountain???
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:29pm
- JohnRidd
  
  Green Hydrogen is not a good thing.
  
  It is an insanely expensive way of storing energy.
  
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  January 18, 2024 3:26pm
- soothsayer99
  
  From Greenpeace perspective their goal is not to protect the environment but protect their funding. So they pile on with green hydrogen will mean more green grass and more poo into water ways.
  In a nit shell Poo is more visable than co2.
  
  The Māori objection looks to be sight lines or affecting the mauri life force. Just plain nimby, dressed up with cultural elements that can’t be measured or understood by others.
  
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  January 18, 2024 5:22pm
- thirteenstars
  
  NIMBY
  
  Not in My Maori Backyard.
  
  Welcome to co-governance, folks. You want your race-based rights recognised, guess where you have to go? The UN.
  
  Or just good old violence.
  
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  January 18, 2024 6:52pm
Matt Long

The Jews, oops Zionists, continue to stir up trouble in the Middle East, somehow forcing the peace loving Ayatollahs to bomb Iraq, Syria and Pakistan.
Open your eyes folks, it’s all written in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and fictitious excerpts from the Talmud on white supremacist websites.
(This is sarcasm)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/middleeast/iran-missile-attack-pakistan-intl-hnk/index.html
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January 18, 2024 9:22am
- Beach Haven expat
  
  You forgot the conspiracy to bring down Golriz too. Their fingers are in everything. Everything I tell you.
  //s
  
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  January 18, 2024 7:38pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Baluchistan is another hot spot that’s only likely to get hotter. I haven’t heard of Jaish al-Adl, but it’s likely that there are militant groups in the borderland raiding into Iran and it’s likely that there are international actors supporting them. I don’t think it’s likely that the Pakistani government id supporting them, I don’t see the benefit but if another nation strikes into your territory you have to make an official complaint.
  You may wish to dismiss out of hand Zionist support for terrorist groups as some sort of joke or antisemitic trope, but it’s happened before, it’s how the game is played.
  One player that is just one step away, but hasn’t shown it’s hand publicly yet is China. They have real incentives to step in and shut down Baluchi militants, as they have had their projects bombed and men killed in Pakistan. My guess is that Beijing will make some very mild statements publicly and continue to support Tehran and Pakistan financially, and militarily but subtlety and covertly. Openly flying their flag in that area is a step too far, at least for now.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:06pm
Yvette

MACRON TO BE REPLACED
As in Tūrangawaewae seems now to be Tuurangawaewae
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/506964/national-expected-to-instill-need-for-discipline-at-caucus-retreat
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January 18, 2024 9:45am
- John Loveridge
  
  Apparently Tainui prefer double vowels to macrons.
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:08pm
  - Beach Haven expat
    
    Taaiinuuii then?
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:39pm
Waipuk

This is why I worry Co-Governance, the woke BS and the like will win.

https://youtube.com/shorts/M8j1xWbyfjI?si=L_cSJV-fUTgPU1gG

The lazy ill and uninformed majority.
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January 18, 2024 9:45am
lifesgood

The police finally moved. I guess they had to now everything was out in public otherwise, maybe, it would have been left to die a natural death. Did anyone else notice that the police came out of GG’s house with a full paper bag. Evidence perhaps? I’m sure the shop concerned provided an inventory of missing stock but one wonders why she didn’t get rid. Maybe she has so much she’s forgotten what she’d bought and what she hadn’t. And the stuff she nicked, allegedly, on the 2nd occasion was returned so…..?
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January 18, 2024 9:46am
- Yvette
  
  lifesgood – And the stuff she nicked, allegedly, on the 2nd occasion was returned so…..?
  And so how was it returned without Golriz’ involvement in that return?
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:59am
  - lifesgood
    
    …so what was in the brown paper bag?
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:09am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Probably mung bean muffins.
      
      7 1
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      January 18, 2024 1:20pm
- thirteenstars
  
  The powers that be, including police and media, are now piling on. Why? Because they’re running interference for the Greens.
  
  Now that Ghahraman has resigned she can safely be sacrificed to the greater cause, that being the political survival of the Greens.
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:28am
  - Sacha
    
    What about the old saying: judge people by the company they keep. ?
    Still works for me.
    
    8 1
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    January 18, 2024 12:55pm
    - Ghost
      
      Will you post that same message when the Prominent political figure is in court this year for sexually abusing boys? Does it apply to those around Andrew Falloon who was sending dick pics to girls? Surely you have to judge national by that standard too
      
      Truth is most people are unaware of their work colleagues, friends, and even family committing crimes.
      
      Judge a person on their actions, don’t assume others knew or were involved.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:18pm
- Ghost
  
  Out of interest which should the police pritoise in their overloaded work. Murder? Rape? Assault? Gang violence? Ram raids? Family violence? Shoplifting? Police work damn hard for the little thanks they get.you should try their job. Especially when they have to knock on your door and tell them your lived one is dead.
  
  Last year a person down the road from us died. Police went and got his wife food and were checking on her daily until after the funeral. before Christmas one neighbour was raped in her house. Police still check in on her
  
  Thankless job
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:17pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    I really think there needs to be an audit on the last govt’s apparent derelection of duty re policing crime. I think there is enough anecdotal evidence that so many victims of serious crime were thrown under the bus. This can’t happen again.
    
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    January 18, 2024 2:50pm
- Scooter
  
  I don’t think it would have occurred to her that they would know what items were stolen and to actually remove them.
  
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  January 18, 2024 8:43pm
Yvette

Tūrangawaewae – a place to stand
When this new Government removes the exclusive te Puna (chaired by Tipa Mahuta), the Maori Advisory Council to Taumata Arowai, the Water Regulator, their job may be done.

Although they could confirm the New Zealand Government is secular, and the roughly 3,599 people, who in the 2018 Census identified themselves as believing “Maori religion”, can practice that in whatever manner they wish, but not determine Government functions or policy with te Ao Maori (the Maori religious worldview).
Such views may be privately held of course as are those of Prime Minister Luxon without them being applied for example, to water services.

All New Zealanders know pure water is vital – the essence – to life, but beyond it falling from the clouds is no concern of Government. Any other supposed knowledge should not set any ethnicity above all others.
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January 18, 2024 9:52am
Matt Long

Was there a glitch in the matrix? First I saw a cmm comment referencing rumours that Iran paid SA multi millions to take the genocide case against Israel, and that a SA Iran Brix axis could work to tie up trade in both the Suez and around the Cape, then it was gone.
My answer anyway;
Iran will be giving Biden all the support they can, otherwise the high stakes gamble by the Ayatollahs may backfire spectacularly.
There’s strong opposition at home, and they’re upsetting pretty much all their neighbours.
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January 18, 2024 9:53am
- cmm
  
  I posted it, now it is gone. I didn’t delete it.
  
  There has been rather credible speculation that the ANC was paid to perform this service. A month ago they were is dire straights financially – couldn’t pay their workers etc.
  A few weeks after a senior ANC member visiting Iran and a week after taking Israel to court, the ANC is now apparently flush with hundreds of millions of dollars to tackle the South African elections.
  
  Iran is now also in the BRICS bloc. With their Houthi lackeys bunging up the Suez route and potentially using the South Africa as a base to block the Cape sea routes that would cut traffic between the Atlantic/Med and Indian ocean. No more European/Asian sea traffic.
  
  When you free up “humanitarian” money for Iran then don’t expect it to frow through to the people. Rather expect it to go towards the elite Iranians’ ideological goals: getting rid of Israel and the West.
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:28am
  - Grunter
    
    System glitch? Maybe the WEF have zapped us??!
    
    5 1
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    January 18, 2024 10:54am
  - Master Mariner
    
    And I see German SW Africa ( Namibia) is condemning Germany for backing Israel .
    Gee not hard too join the dots is it.
    //
    
    6 1
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    January 18, 2024 1:26pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    All of that sounds like pretty wild speculation to me, particularly the Cape of good Hope stuff.
    I don’t see how hundreds of millions of dollars can just be dropped into a government’s accounts without it being clear where it came from, and I see no reason why Iran wants to go to war with the world’s shipping or why South Africa would help them do it.
    However, I can see how it’s possible and useful to spread bullshit stories on the internet.
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:15pm
- Paulus
  
  Genocide claims coming from South Africa is a laugh in itself.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:24am
  - mawm
    
    “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer”
    
    And just to illustrate that this is not only the EFF’s Julius Malema stirring up the crowd, the below video is of St Nelson singing in Xhosa about killing the amaBhulu (Boers/whites).
    
    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=284865785408663
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:41pm
Maggie Pie

Just been drying my hair and happened to catch a talkback caller ask a pertinent question…..

Since when did Parliament become a ‘Sheltered Workshop’ for those on the left with mental issues?

Reeled off about ten names from over the last 6 years. LOL!!
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January 18, 2024 10:04am
- MCōs
  
  Seeing as you don’t list the tingtong ten here are some contenders
  Jamie-Lee Ross, Andrew Falloon, Aaron Gilmore . . . .
  
  2 22
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  January 18, 2024 10:44am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Honestly Cossie…. i’m sorry to say but you need to get a grip 🙁
    None of those you mention were ‘on the left’…. nor were they there in the last 6 years!
    
    24 2
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    January 18, 2024 11:23am
    - MCōs
      
      Maybe they weren’t in the last six years and you’re correct they’re all right wing . . . . .
      
      2 8
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      January 18, 2024 12:36pm
- Yvette
  
  Why not have all political burn-outs appear in Court on one day?
  It could be called Labour Coalition Immolation Day
  
  Okay, may be Garrick Tremain’s Tuesday cartoon was lots funnier
  https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/tremain-tuesday-s-cartoon
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:47am
  - Biscuit
    
    Tremain is a treasure!
    
    10 2
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    January 18, 2024 11:14am
Chuck Bird

Two letters to the editor in today’s Herald supporting Golriz Ghahraman’s claim about mental health being a reason.

Try to get a letter in saying their is no climate emergency.
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January 18, 2024 10:29am
- Damocles11
  
  The failing NZ Herald continues to treat existing and potential customers like dirt; unless you are a Leftist spouting Leftist perspectives they don’t want to know you.
  
  29 1
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  January 18, 2024 10:34am
  - MCōs
    
    If the Herald ’fails’ who is going to air the opinions of Mike Hosking, Stephen Joyce, Richard Prebble, Matthew Hooten, Paula Bennett?
    
    3 13
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    January 18, 2024 11:49am
    - Damocles11
      
      A new media entity presumably. Competition is a good thing.
      
      11 1
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      January 18, 2024 1:17pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You are, oh wait a mo
      
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      January 18, 2024 3:59pm
- Ghost
  
  We don’t know what is behind it, it could be mental health, we don’t know.
  
  6 15
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  January 18, 2024 10:36am
  - lifesgood
    
    Lack of any sort of morality is behind it. Don’t be sucked in by the leftist crap.
    
    28 2
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    January 18, 2024 10:49am
    - Ghost
      
      There are plenty of articles online for you to read that there is a connection between mental health and shoplifting. We do not know what is behind her shoplifting, it would be arrogant to assume otherwise.
      
      Despite these limitations, the NESARC constitutes the first nationally representative survey to date to include information on shoplifting. Our results suggest that shoplifting is a relatively common behavior and it is associated with substantial rates of psychiatric disorders and psychosocial impairment. High rates of mental health service use were identified in this population.
      
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4104590/
      
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      January 18, 2024 10:59am
      - cmm
        
        There is a clear correlation between mental health and all criminality.
        
        But that does not stop GG from being a criminal.
        
        Mental health covers a very wide range of conditions with different levels of impairment and different consequences.
        
        Just saying “mental health” is meaningless on its own.
        
        If the mental health does not impair a person’s ability to know right from wrong then they really have no excuse.
        
        Some medications etc do suppress inhibitions (as does alcohol)and impulse control, but all that does is allow your true self out.
        eg. if you are by nature violent, but suppress it, then booze will let that inner you out.
        
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        January 18, 2024 11:31am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Don’t a lot of lunatic legacy media outright ban anything that questions the climate emergency cult?
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:54pm
PeeJay

For anyone who wonders why construction costs are so high.

Took my dog for her morning walk yesterday.

Walked past some drainage upgrade works. 1 guy digging a hole with a small excavator, 3 other guys standing around and pointing now and again (in between chatting and smoking). 2 traffic controllers at either end of the stretch of road (bored senseless), 1 guy sitting in the traffic management truck sound asleep – no joking, could actually hear him snoring! Reckon for the sleeping driver the local council is probably being charged $150/hr for the truck and $70/hr for the driver.

All this will inevitably be charged on to the local ratepayers.

Flicked a photo onto a mate at the local council – he spoke with the contractor (he was actually pretty pissed off) and couldn’t believe the crap the contractor came back with – health & safety requirements and the driver was actually reading emails! My mate at the council tried to escalate this internally but was told to move along, not worth it, they have a good relationship / partnership with the contractor, sure it’s all fine etc.

And this is part of the reason construction costs are so high and projects take so bloody long!
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January 18, 2024 10:42am
- John Loveridge
  
  Rinse and repeat for just about every road repair job. Anytime I drive past one there are lots of hi-viz clad people standing around doing nothing. Nice work if you can get it.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:33am
- alex Masterley
  
  I drove past some works at the intersection of Bond and New North Road in Auckland over the weekend.
  Lots of traffic managment minding cones but not a worker for what ever was happening in sight.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:56am
- cmm
  
  ” $70/hr for the driver.”
  You’re stuck in the 1900s.
  A driver is a skilled occupation. They’ll be charging him out at $100/hr at least.
  $70 will get you one of the stop/go people. Maybe.
  
  As John says, this is not an isolated incident. You can see it at each and every road construction site.
  
  Councils don’t care because it isn’t their money. If they did care they would be doing audits to look for wastage etc.
  
  Indeed spending more money is a better deal for the council workers than less money. What looks more impressive on your CV?
  * I was the manager for $25M of contracts.
  * I was the manager for $75M of contracts.
  
  Now where’s the motivation to get good value for the ratepayer/taxpayer?
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:58am
  - PeeJay
    
    Good points. Problem is there seems to be absolutely no accountability or consequences for cost blow outs or massive delays.
    
    The same contractors and consultants keep getting the council / government projects, regardless of cost / time / quality performance. The same goes for the council / government staff – no consequences for poor project performance.
    
    And they all give each other the usual virtual ‘high fives’ on LinkedIn etc. “celebrating” the latest milestone (usually a much delayed milestone at that!). The fact the project is a complete failure in financial and schedule terms never seems to get a mention!
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:16pm
    - wsk12345
      
      Interestingly, a number of the big construction companies are barely profitable. I suspect the traffic management guy was asleep because he’s bored shitless but regulation requires a body in that chair.
      
      My road had a major (MAJOR) pothole recently. So big they sent about 12 guys out with traffic management on a wet wet day to repair it. Took till mid afternoon. Next day there is a massive crack right across the repair, say 3m long and 6 inches wide, at least a few inches deep. Day after, the roading crew is back and does a repair involving patching a much larger area (didn’t see this as I was away). And this week, all week, they have dug up the other lane along side, to repair… well we are not sure what.
      
      The whole road is stuffed since the quakes. It is one of the dozen steepest streets in chch port hills and is just one pothole or sunken area after another. Sold my last car as the suspension was destroyed in a few years driving up it. We have massive water pipe leaks at least monthly for which someone comes out and patches up the bit of road the water is coming out. How bad does it need to be to get priority? It has hourly buses up and down ffs, though as they are always empty maybe that isn’t an issue.
      
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      January 18, 2024 2:42pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      Every time I look at LinkedIn my guts collapse in a great seizure of cringe.
      
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      January 18, 2024 2:44pm
- artemisia
  
  I was just reading an announcement from the NZ infrastructure company Infratil. Has just signed new customer contracts for its data centres (existing and under construction). Seems to be able to get big complex construction projects up and running and make a healthy profit for shareholders. I doubt there will be any employees leaning on shovels.
  
  Maybe it’s time to change the infrastructure delivery model.
  
  announcements.nzx.com/detail/424962
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:38pm
  - PeeJay
    
    Interesting.
    
    I understand from a former colleague that some years ago, possibly even under the last National government but it may well have been Labour, a scenario was tested for a large-scale infrastructure project – can’t recall but suspect it would have been a road or bridge. Anyway, from what I hear, the scenario tested was awarding the job to a big East Asian construction firm (suspect Chinese but can’t be sure).
    
    The issues with the scenario they ran, other then the all-but-guaranteed total meltdown and epic dummy spitting that would happen from the local construction sector, was the lack of the multiplier effect from the workers spending their money locally – this is often a key aspect of the business cases supporting the infrastructure project.
    
    As I understand it, and I’ve read a fair bit about the big Chinese firms who work overseas, these firms tend to ship in everything – workers, materials, accommodation and even food – think rice packets through to steel and everything in between. There is very little local spending from the workers they bring in – usually they never even get to venture outside the work camps.
    
    From what I understand about the scenario that was tested was that bringing in a big East Asian firm to do the project would result in extremely fast and very low-cost infrastructure being built – there just wouldn’t be any of the secondary benefits associated from local workers stimulating the local economy. The lack of this spin off spending and the likelihood of intensive lobbying by the local construction sector to kill the idea meant it never went beyond a theoretical exercise.
    
    Would have been interesting if they had done a trial project though.
    
    Again – heard this through a former colleague so can’t confirm if this was just chat or was an actual planning exercise.
    
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    January 18, 2024 2:52pm
    - artemisia
      
      Thing about Infratil is they have exceptional very experienced management. However, they generally manage their own projects, so they have control including over scope and resourcing. Any private company dealing with government or local government clients can be on a hiding to nothing if client governance / scope management is lacking. Which would be common enough going by the issues with delivery, cost and at least sometimes quality.
      
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      January 18, 2024 4:23pm
    - Drone
      
      Not only the lack of multiplier effect but the ongoing revenue as the project stretched out into the next decade with no completion in sight. As an example “Transmission Gully” still not completed.
      
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      January 18, 2024 5:30pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      That’s pretty much what I’ve heard about Chinese construction projects too. They are vertically integrated, as you said from the rice and beans to the re-bar and cement. Try to cut off a slice for your local firms could result in longer construction time and higher costs. They would be doing everything in Chinese so good luck having your plumbers and carpenters working getting instructions from their architects and foremen.
      There would be a better chance of getting lucrative sub-contracts for your guys if it was a large scale project going over many years, railways across the nation for example.
      Another interesting thing to note is that China has been doing this for decades now. The first Chinese built railway in Africa was in the 1970s and now the Belt and Road project is coming with scholarships in Chinese universities for students from participating countries. Those kids will be the Chinese speaking middle managers for the next generation.
      
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      January 18, 2024 9:30pm
    - rouppe
      
      Then after the job is finished, and some time has passed, we discover the steel is substandard and won’t hold the loads expected of it, and the construction company is now nowhere to be seen.
      
      We then end up shouldering the much more expensive task of remediation
      
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      January 19, 2024 2:29am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You missed a few others.
  The road cone placers (5)
  The road cone distance inspectors.
  The road cone guards (in case the public move them into laying down for a rest position)
  The senior rode cone manager.
  The 5 sub-managers.
  The cones. The road cone photographers, to prove how many hundred got placed!
  The flattened road cone removers with high side trailer.
  
  Never stops!!!!!
  
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  January 18, 2024 4:08pm
Chuck Bird

Looking forward to our Micheal Venus and Jamie Murrey playing doubles this afternoon.
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January 18, 2024 10:43am
Chuck Bird

I see on Sky News a reporter is Israel pointed out that if the Oz Foreign Minister Panny Wong visited Gaze she would be thrown off a tall building.
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January 18, 2024 11:00am
- Yvette
  
  Wouldn’t she have diplomatic protection?
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:14am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Diplomatic protection? In Gaza?
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:34am
  - Keith White
    
    Gravity don’t care about diplomacy.
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:39am
- MCōs
  
  Ridiculous statement
  There’s no tall buildings left
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:00pm
  - cmm
    
    Tall enough to make a splat.
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:05pm
  - Keith White
    
    Iran hangs people from cranes.
    
    Mod: link is to an article on how Iran govt uses construction cranes to kill.
    
    https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/cruel-and-inhuman-executions-and-other-barbarities-irans-judicial-system#:~:text=In%20many%20of%20these%20cases,being%20thrown%20from%20a%20height.
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:06pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    There are cranes, and not the bird ones.
    
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    January 18, 2024 4:10pm
  - Homas
    
    I hear they have paragliders.
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:49pm
- Ghost
  
  Who would she be gazing at when she visits gaze?
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:08pm
thirteenstars

ACT MP Cameron Luxton has lodged a private members bill to amend Easter shop trading laws:

https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/350149128/old-fashioned-easter-trading-restrictions-need-end-act

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2401/S00029/easter-shop-trading-hours.htm
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January 18, 2024 11:09am
- Nukuleka
  
  If he were really true to his principles he would be calling for the amendment to apply to Christmas Day and ANZAC day morning. Why isn’t he? Is he a hypocrite?
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:39am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Or those that support the closing of shops during Easter are hypocrites for not demanding the same restrictions for Labour Weekend, King’s Birthday, Matariki, Waitangi, and others.
    
    You support forcing shops to close then? You surely must or be likewise accused.
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:55am
    - MCōs
      
      Easter and Christmas shop closures are quaint hangovers from the times when we fancied ourselves as a Christian country
      Anzac Day half day gives shop workers a chance to join in commemorations of those who gave their lives serving the country
      
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      January 18, 2024 12:29pm
      - Inandout
        
        MC, and that Maori stars day?
        
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        January 18, 2024 3:03pm
BeaB

Stuff always quotes the PM and other Nats saying ‘gonna’, ‘you know’, ‘I think’. They were never so scrupulous with Jacinda. Never a ‘somethink’ or ‘jeoprardy’.
Fascinating that she spoke so perfectly and correctly while the Nats are all so colloquial and sloppy.
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January 18, 2024 11:11am
- greybeard
  
  What gets my goat these days is the NewstalkZB ad for Wellington Water, the one which exhorts Wellingtonians to observe water use restrictions ( which in itself is a joke, given the 40%+ wastage).
  The female doing the speaking pronounces it “Wellington Warder” , every time. Bloody annoying.
  Perhaps she was taught English in Jacinda’s class.
  Anyway, Wellington Water is not getting value for money in my opinion.
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:55pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Wellinton Warder is restricting water – from he people not getting water!
    
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    January 18, 2024 4:13pm
Jack5

Again in Stuff, rubbish that Golriz Ghahrama being victimised on racial grounds.

Tova O’Brien prefaces her defence of Ghahraman with: “Unless you’re a woman of colour …”

Go to Teheran and tell Iranians they are “people of colour,” Tova.

Some activist Iranian expatriates in the West agree with you notably in America, where the US Census in its questionnaires lists Iranians as “white”. Since America and Iran have been at political loggerheads, some expatriate Iranian activists have tried to line up with racial minorities.

But the people of Iran, whose name in Persia derives from “land of the Aryans,” aren’t clearly defined as “non-white.”

Iranians are accused of persecuting their non-white “minorities” (plus the Kurdish minority, which tends, at least by language, to be of the same origin as Persian-Iranians).

Iranians are a good example of the futility of trying to classify people by race. It’s a flaky concept.

I don’t recall Tova O’Brien claiming Maori ancestry. However, even if she had no non-Europeans genes and had skin as white as pure alabaster, she would be a woman of colour.

By wave-length of light, white is the combination of all colours. White is a colour.

Put it under your byline, Tova: “proud woman of colour”.
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January 18, 2024 11:11am
- Inandout
  
  Jack, Chris Lynch sums up media bias.
  https://www.chrislynchmedia.com/news-items/shoplifting-scandal-exposes-media-bias-covering-golriz-ghahraman
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:43am
  - kowtow
    
    Karl du Fresne also with a visit on same.
    
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    January 18, 2024 2:59pm
- Jack5
  
  Edit: Tova O’Brien ~~preferences~~ prefaces her defence of Ghahraman …
  
  Sorry!
  
  [Fixed. mod.]
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:55am
- Spring Bank Westie
  
  Colour?
  
  I think the correct phrase is “white adjacent”.
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:29pm
Biscuit

18 days into the New Year and life continues to move along satisfactorily:

* A Lotto ticket purchased on my behalf won me $102 last night!

* Labour’s political polling numbers, under Chippie, continue to fall through the floor
The latest numbers, pre-GG’s shananigans, give National 51 seats, ACT 10 seats, and NZ First 7 seats. 68 seats in a Parliamentary chamber with 61 as the magic number to govern. Labour would have 36 seats, the Greens would have 12, and Te Pāti Māori would have 6. So 54 seats for the opposition…

* Labour, under Chippie, say they have ‘no idea’ why figures like that should be the case

* Liverpool continue to lead the Premier League standings

* Despite my worst fears, none of the ‘Scotties’-like valuable merchandise (my Liverpool FC red boxer shorts included) I had strung up on my clothesline were pilfered
(Twenty quid a pair, Maggy Wassilieff and pdm please note, and def not purchased at any nite markets as, sniff, you implied the other day! And, nope, ‘perping a GG’ didn’t feature either!)
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January 18, 2024 11:19am
- virtualmark
  
  I’m sure Scottie’s would charge way more than 20 quid for a pair of underwear.
  
  Fools. money. Etc.
  
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  January 18, 2024 1:19pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  and def not purchased at any nite markets as, sniff, you implied the other day!
  
  I believe you…… my apologies for treading on your sensitivities.
  
  (Unless I learn that you are a Green Party member)
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:29pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Ah, fear not for my sensitivities, Maggy!
    
    Though if you really think I would give the Green Party the light of day I just may be so mentally depressed I’ll go shoplift from a few local stores…
    
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    January 18, 2024 2:46pm
- Skippytony
  
  Seems that Labour are having extended Christmas holidays….
  
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  January 18, 2024 3:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  So your red pants are missing?
  This is important, has a “working group” been started?
  See what happens when Jaspinda leaves us?
  
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  January 18, 2024 6:08pm
BeaB

So many questions about Golriz and the Greens. And the media are asking none of them.
When did they become so limp, lazy and partisan?
Should we blame Covid?
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January 18, 2024 11:35am
- mandk
  
  Nah mate.
  
  It was the vaxx.
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:23pm
  - David Garrett
    
    mandk: The vax! Of course!! That explains the “previously unrecognised trauma” which she claims is what caused her to act in a way so “out of character”.
    
    Sorry I don’t buy any of it – particularly the “unrecognised trauma” which had supposedly remained unrecognised for the thirty odd years she has been in Godzone.
    
    I diagnose “Entitled little madam” syndrome instead…which can develop at any time, but usually in one’s teens.
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:02pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Teens? Yep, not so long ago//
      
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      January 18, 2024 6:10pm
Maggie Pie

Tell you what grinds my gears… people with ‘Personalised Plates’.

Got stuck behind a Drainlayer’s van yesterday. Know what his was….
[ BIGPOO ]

Honestly, would you want them at your place?
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January 18, 2024 11:43am
- thirteenstars
  
  There are rules about not being too offensive, as with company names.
  
  BIGPOO is possibly borderline. Perhaps POONUI?
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:59am
  - MCōs
    
    The much more acceptable BIGSHIT is too long
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:19pm
    - thirteenstars
      
      BIGSHT would convey the meaning.
      
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      January 18, 2024 6:58pm
  - Scooter
    
    Or PooDunnit?
    
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    January 19, 2024 1:26am
- Biscuit
  
  Maggie, you know me, I never complain but yesterday I treated the planet to a ‘Oh, for expletive-deleted’s sake’…
  
  Middle of the supermarket.
  
  Milk aisle, in case the detail interests you!
  
  And a fellow dairy purchaser, 40-something, had her phone ring.
  
  With the ‘Lone Ranger’ jingle.
  
  I had no idea folk still USED jingles as ring tones.
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:05pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Mine is a bit of a ‘head turner’ when I’m out as well Bikkie.
    About 3 years ago I download the “Daddy Calling” ringtone.
    Honestly, people just crackup when they hear it 😀
    I just casually fish it out of my handbag like it’s quite normal.
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:34pm
  - fernglas
    
    It used to be, Biscuit, that the definition of highbrow was someone who could hear the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:32pm
- MCōs
  
  One plate I’ve never seen is HUMBLE
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:10pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That is in storage, like “Not Me”
    
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    January 18, 2024 6:14pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  In Victoria Aus, there are personalised plates and then there are special wannabe-VIP plonker plates which make basically Joe Blogs type people look like they are in “special” govt cars. I guess there is money in milking the narcissism that is now endemic!
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:58pm
- Ford Prefect
  
  I remember a little red Fiat 500 used to drive around with the number plate “BUSPOO”. Always amused me
  
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  January 18, 2024 3:12pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Well you want the shit off your front lawn and flowing into the pool I guess.
  Then there are the neighbours – smell that coming from over there….
  
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  January 18, 2024 6:13pm
- Rich Prick
  
  A while back SEEUNT (as in see you later Northern Territory) was still available.
  
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  January 18, 2024 9:07pm
Warren

It seems the odious David Parker andLabour want to have their say on what’s happening in Gaza obviously missing the limelight of being the voice of Government. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/133541646/labour-calls-for-government-to-support-icj-hearing-into-israel-genocide-claim
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January 18, 2024 11:56am
- MCōs
  
  Anyone is entitled to an opinion on the Gaza/Israel fracas
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:16pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Well, now that GG has removed herself as a commentator on said fracas, maybe David thinks he can take her place!
    
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    January 18, 2024 12:33pm
    - Warren
      
      My comment underneath is not to you Biscuit.
      
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      January 18, 2024 1:43pm
  - Warren
    
    The expert on everything but master of none.
    
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    January 18, 2024 1:35pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Noted, Warren!
      
      But your comment IS applicable to me, often, says the woman I share a cot with.
      
      Forty-odd years together and STILL she can’t see that I am perfection personified!
      
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      January 18, 2024 2:51pm
Jack5

The multi-billion, no-tax rorts by registered charities discussed by Michael Gousmett on the Platform.

Watching this is a few minutes well spent.

https://youtu.be/dZW6wqXXEiQ?si=lLiJ09wDhftMEBef
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January 18, 2024 12:17pm
- Jack5
  
  If you like the Gousmett interview, the Yvonne van Dongen article mentioned is here:
  
  https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/the-charity-industrial-complex
  
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  January 18, 2024 12:27pm
cmm

It is astounding that people are building up student debts over $100k in NZ. Sure, I can understand it in USA, but in NZ over two thirds of tuition costs are picked up by the taxpayer.

It is further astounding that 18% still have not repaid their loans 20 years after they have finished studying.

Clearly far too many people are studying rubbish degrees with zero career building potential and, thus, zero benefit to the taxpayers funding this mess.

If you can’t pay your student loan back within 10 years you’re doing something very wrong.

To rack up $100k, even getting a masters degree, means $20k per year.

When I was a student students lived like students. Being frugal was an art form. A $15 (today’s money) sack of spuds and other cheap food are nutritious. Transport was walking, buses or a second hand bike. Cars were a complete luxury. Drinking was in student pubs (or homebrew), no fancy bars.

The students of today seem to be living it up. Flash everything. No wonder they end up in debt.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/money/350149314/student-loans-sticking-around-its-down-five-figures
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January 18, 2024 2:26pm
- cas
  
  I agree. For me it was a 15 minute walk to and from the Hutt Valley trains, a walk to the cable car up to Vic and back and only enough money to have a Coke or Fanta in cafe swotting time in the university cafeteria. Bought sandwiches from home. No debt and only a miniscule student allowance.
  
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  January 18, 2024 2:38pm
  - Mike
    
    Aye. There were thirty of us, living in shoebox in middle of t’ road.
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:56pm
    - greybeard
      
      Don’t be an arsehole.
      
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      January 18, 2024 7:42pm
  - kevn
    
    cas… When was that?
    
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    January 18, 2024 6:12pm
Maggie Pie

OMG! I had hi hopes for what Celica Wade-Brown might bring to the Greens.
Now I hear on talkback that she lives in a… ‘Tiny Home’.

Is she insane?
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January 18, 2024 2:46pm
waripori

She lives in a small house plenty big enough for two people off the grid on a bush block. Living the Green dream.
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January 18, 2024 2:50pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Please don’t tell me she’s got one of those ‘composting toilets’?
  
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  January 18, 2024 3:02pm
  - Inandout
    
    Maggie, perhaps wading through the brown?
    
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    January 18, 2024 3:09pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The nightcart man comes.
    20 liter buckets.
    
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    January 18, 2024 6:17pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  If she’s living the Green Dream then why is she bailing on it?
  
  Perhaps she sees herself cast in lead of a ‘Mr Smith Goes To Washington’ remake?
  
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  January 18, 2024 7:34pm
Chuck Bird

50 Minutes is worth watching. I remember meeting Dr Carson at a Family First function.

Common Sense with Dr Ben Carson

The implications of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine are far-reaching. The rise of radical Islamist groups like Hamas and the continued support for their anti-Israel agenda poses a threat not only to Israel but also to the stability of the entire Middle East. Dr. Carson welcomes national security analyst Brigitte Gabriel to the show to discuss her personal experiences growing up during the Lebanon Civil War and living in Israel. Her latest bestseller is “Rise: In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values and Freedom.” With her unique perspective, Gabriel shed light on the complexities of the Middle East and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Her powerful story serves as a reminder of the importance of understanding the history and current dynamics of the region. Together, they delve into the key themes discussed in the interview, providing an in-depth exploration of each topic and analyzing their implications and potential impact. It is crucial for individuals to educate themselves about the complexities of the region as the war continues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBafhuhV-FU
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January 18, 2024 2:57pm
PeeJay

One of the increasingly few reasons I ever venture onto the Stuff website is to do the morning and afternoon quizzes – lord knows it’s not for the ‘quality’ journalism on offer!

Up until this afternoon, you could still do the quiz without registering – the previous attempts to encourage you to register was irritating, but it was still optional. It would seem that from this afternoon, registration is now mandatory.

I wonder if the rumours are true and they are in so much trouble that a paywall is coming?
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January 18, 2024 3:33pm
David Garrett

Check this out:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350150020/nz-politics-live-pm-chris-luxon-implores-mps-stay-focused-national-party-caucus

Luxon is a soft cock who appears to buy into GG’s “mental illness'”previously unrecognised trauma” bullshit holus-bolus.
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January 18, 2024 3:53pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Does Chris not see where the last 6 years of this ‘Be Kind’ bullsh!t has gotten us?
  Thank-the-Lord that Winnie and David are there to throw out the anchor. Otherwise you can see where the next 3 are likely to head 🙁
  
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  January 18, 2024 4:23pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  Meanwhile, Labour attacked and tried to destroy Tim Van de Molen’s career last year over nothing when he’d had a couple of very bad years on a personal level.
  
  National – let’s be careful of the mental health of that person that’s using mental health as a shield for their bad behavior.
  Labour – let’s destroy that person who’s in a bad mental space to cover for our own MPs that have done bad things.
  
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  January 18, 2024 4:27pm
- Gussy Fink-Nottle
  
  I don’t disagree with your sentiments DG.
  However, he’s addressing a series of inane and partisan questions, mostly from female journalists.
  I’ll charitably assess that he’s taking the middle path, and aiming get out of there intact (which I think he did, notwithstanding a relatively mediocre performance).
  He didn’t get caught out, and he didn’t fuck up.
  Steady as she goes, and get the real work done.
  
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  January 18, 2024 4:29pm
- Grunter
  
  “People of Colour” – you know, the vulnerable people that need help from the central planners….
  
  “People of Colour” – isn’t that kind of racist? (Yes)
  
  Female MP’s need additional support from mental illness – isn’t that kind of sexist?
  
  A very woke & wet start to the year by Luxon.
  
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  January 18, 2024 4:30pm
  - julesnzuk
    
    I think Luxon was just making the point that womenMPs get even worse abuse than men (rape threats etc), which is true – but it doesn’t make them “mentally ill” and it is certainly no excuse for thieving.
    
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    January 19, 2024 10:19am
- greybeard
  
  I sent Mr. Luxon this email today.
  
  ” Just tell your MPs to behave themselves, to not speak out of turn, to not do anything stupid. Or else….
  We who voted you in simply expect you to fix the country: remove all the crap ministries, stop the appalling waste, tell the woke and the left and the MSM to bugger-off.
  Please , just run New Zealand as if it was a really big airline.
  And finally, resume calling the country “New Zealand” and its inhabitants “New Zealanders”.
  Why must we be “Kiwis” all the time ? What is wrong with “New Zealander” ?
  Is that an embarrassing name ? Too redolent of our white colonial past ? “
  
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  January 18, 2024 7:39pm
  - cmm
    
    Didn’t Luxon introduce wokism to Aotearoavlot? If so, asking h8m to run NZ like a big airline might give him the wrong idea.
    
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    January 18, 2024 9:27pm
    - David Garrett
      
      cmm: Yes…I seem to recall him saying that one of his greatest achievements as CEO of Air NZ was increasing the number of gays on the staff…What a load of woke bullshit that is.
      
      I much prefer the older female flight attendants who just get the job done to the guy who minced up and down the aisle doing a “Mr Humphries” impersonation – complete with the limp wrist – when I flew back to Tonga last week
      
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      January 19, 2024 8:14am
  - julesnzuk
    
    Well done, agreed 100%. “Kiwi” is lazy, infantile, cringeworthy and I for one am growing to hate it. Does “New Zealander” have too many syllables for these idiots. You’ve inspired me, I’m tempted to write to him as well!
    
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    January 19, 2024 10:25am
Chuck Bird

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says gendered abuse worse for women in politics, delivers first speech of year to National MPs

Maureen Pugh by Luxon

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-mps-arrive-in-christchurch-for-first-caucus-of-2024/RCJSRI2MHVC4FCNUPB5OG3LLMA/
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January 18, 2024 3:57pm
- MCōs
  
  Not just politics
  
  3 1
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  January 18, 2024 6:32pm
  - Homas
    
    Yes, apparently sitting there in your glasshouse slinging bricks will attract incoming fire in all walks of life.
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:19pm
Rumblestrip

“women of colour”

Ugh please. Let’s not import that convoluted and ugly American euphemism. If we want to say “ethnic minorities have it harder” then fair enough, but let’s just say it directly without the horribly awkward language.

What colour was he exactly?
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January 18, 2024 4:18pm
- Jake Dee
  
  You know how these terms get used, it’s not an objective scientific definition it’s a subjective political one.
  Do Jews and Chinese get classified as ethnic minorities?
  Only if it’s profitable.
  
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  January 19, 2024 12:39am
  - julesnzuk
    
    In New Zealand yes, of course Jews and Chinese are ethnic minorities. They just don’t tend to moan about it or use it to leverage a victimhood status.
    
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    January 19, 2024 10:22am
Rumblestrip

And isn’t it astounding how quickly the focus has shifted from GG’s clear criminality to “oh, don’t female MPs have such a difficult time!?”
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January 18, 2024 4:46pm
Maggie Pie

Having a chat with a couple of besties from tennis earlier.
It dawned upon us, that out of all he families we’ve known for years who live in the Hood, (and it’s in the hundreds), nearly none of them have had more than 2 children. Three the absolute tops due to Eileen’s triplets.

What does that tell you?
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January 18, 2024 5:09pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  It tells me that if the average number of children couples have is under 2.1 then the population will drop unless we have immigration.
  
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  January 18, 2024 5:14pm
  - nova
    
    Low birth rates are mainly a concern in the affluent hoods. In the other hoods, the modern welfare state helps supports high birth rates and a lower generation time. The resulting problem is sometimes known as dysgenics. William Shockley got cancelled for his extreme views around this. He was long dead by this point, but there is some irony in that his cancellation by the new generation may have being the result of the problem he was concerned about.
    
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    January 18, 2024 5:53pm
- MCōs
  
  Whenever I hear of triplets my mind goes back to the expat Kiwis who lost their triplets in a fire in a mall in a daycare in Doha almost fourteen years ago.
  
  When I was a kid there were some very big families with ten or more not uncommon. My mate Russell had about fifteen siblings.
  Any mate came from a family of six kids. Their auntie died of cancer leaving another six kids who came to live with them.
  A lot of these families didn’t have a lot of money, but Timaru was quite prosperous and wharfies and freezing workers earned good money so they got by until the unions were stymied.
  Contraception came along and the Catholic Church lost its hold and families suddenly became a lot smaller
  
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  January 18, 2024 5:57pm
  - kevn
    
    mcos… The introduction of TV to NZ might have played a part as well.
    
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    January 18, 2024 6:17pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And each of those large Catholic families seemed to have at least one son /daughter/auntie/uncle who had taken holy orders.
    
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    January 18, 2024 6:51pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    When I was a kid in the UK in the 50’s the Catholic nations, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, France, Italy all had large families.
    
    Then along came the pill, the womenfolk tod the Catholic Church to go away and now the families are less than 2.
    
    There were v large convents etc as there was little or no work in many of these countries and if you went into the church, you were looked after for life.
    
    I had a FRench friend and stayed with him on holiday in Britanny in a nunnery. Now closed.
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:23pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  3 nookies instead of two?
  I am not a scientist.
  
  6 4
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  January 18, 2024 6:19pm
- cmm
  
  “What does that tell you?”
  Extinction looms for your bloodline.
  
  In the families on our street almost all are one or two offspring. The only outlier is one family of 4. Yes, Catholic.
  
  But one street over are some KO baby factories….
  
  Note that it isn’t just the number of children that matters but how soon you get onto it. If women are waiting until their 30s until they have one or two kids, that thins out the population dramatically.
  
  In Africa the average age of a mother having her first child is 18. That’s AVERAGE. So they can pack in 5 generations (of average 6 kids each) in the same time we output 3 generations of 1.5 kids.
  
  Guess where that maths takes you! If you missed school, then look up compound interest.
  
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  January 18, 2024 6:48pm
  - tf78
    
    Or just look at your rates bill over the last 15 years.
    
    4 0
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    January 18, 2024 7:11pm
  - Jack5
    
    Relevant? Jordan Peterson commenting: “50% Of Women: Single & Childless by 2030.”
    
    https://youtu.be/BoqjKqt__tI?si=PXENh5Tq2qMpJkFQ
    
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    January 18, 2024 7:39pm
  - MCōs
    
    Is that your less than subtle way of saying we’re going to overrun by Africans?
    When I was young everyone was either fearful or hoping the country would be overrun by papists depending on whether you were a Catholic or not
    Never happened
    My neighbours on one side are two white South Africans and five kids who never seem to go to school, or anywhere else for that matter
    
    3 3
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    January 18, 2024 8:54pm
    - cmm
      
      China us losing population as is almost all of Asia. Indian is pretty flat. Europe is losing population too.
      The only population that is increasing dramatically is Africa. The rates in Pacific are high too, but the population is so low that these have no impact.
      Africa is full. The only thing that can happen on this trajectory is overflowing into Europe and replacing the waning European population.
      Of course it is theoretically possible that Afr8cans stop breeding at 18 and wait until their 40s and only have one or two kids, but that is unlikely.
      
      I can’t speak for your SA neighbours, but maybe they homeschool to avoid the crashing NZ school system.
      
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      January 18, 2024 9:24pm
  - Rumblestrip
    
    Foolish humans, your concerns about “race” are petty and irrelevant.
    
    Within a few decades your species will be entirely supplanted by artificial digital organisms. Your extinction looms!
    
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    January 18, 2024 11:09pm
Albie

Interesting observation tonight on public transport tonight. I was discharged from Middlemore hospital at 5pm and waited outside in the sun for my wife to pick me up at 5:40.
In that time, I saw 3 x six carriage trains and around 6 AT buses roll by. All were virtually empty.
And yet we continue to spend literally billions on public transport.
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January 18, 2024 7:18pm
Swifty

I wonder if I did a line of these urinals with the faces of prominent NZ Labour and Green women MPs, how it would go down?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/gGRTwAeDq8Zfxjsy/?mibextid=GGtJg3

I wonder how the press would cover it?
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January 18, 2024 8:54pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  We know what happened when Jacinda’s picture was attached to a toilet seat (with a perfectly reasonable explanation) — mindless outrage and demands for an apology.
  
  Read about it. (Only in the second half of the article do they explain the toilet seat is a 30-year-old debate trophy, and the debate was about NZ PMs.)
  
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  January 18, 2024 10:56pm
- julesnzuk
  
  It wouldn’t go down well – and as much as I think NZ has a massive problem with useless left wing females (no one despises them more than me) I think you are crossing a line and just giving them and their supporters ammunition.
  
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  January 19, 2024 10:34am
Gravelroad

Did anyone see the Maiki Sherman take down of the National Party on Te News this evening?
It was a most inappropriate airing of personal grievance and display of bias.
Relating to National’s terrible treatment of Maori and how dare they have a meeting with reps from Ngai Tahu.
Do the editors and management at TV1 have any oversight of these reporters at all?
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January 18, 2024 9:00pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  Silver lining: the more openly biased reporters are, the more people are just turning off.
  
  15 0
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  January 18, 2024 9:16pm
- Rich Prick
  
  For a Party that has been in Government for 3 months they have achieved so much. Imagine the destruction to the gravy train they could cause after three years, maybe six, or even nine. We will have wiped the Maori out by then. Hey, it’s their stupid narrative.
  
  Disclaimer: No stupid leftie was harmed in the production of this comment. Such is the shame.
  
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  January 18, 2024 11:27pm
David Garrett

cmm: Yes…I seem to recall him saying that one of his greatest achievements as CEO of Air NZ was increasing the number of gays on the staff…What a load of woke bullshit that is.

I much prefer the older female flight attendants who just get the job done to the guy who minced up and down the aisle doing a “Mr Humphries” impersonation – complete with the limp wrist – when I flew back to Tonga last week
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January 19, 2024 8:16am

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