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March 24, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 March 2024

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Bridgenag

“Let Moscow burn, let all of Moscow burn”: On the unbridled delight certain pro-war German social media commentators are wont to take in the deaths of Russian civilians

EUGYPPIUS
https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/let-moscow-burn-let-all-of-moscow?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 24, 2024 8:11am
- Paulus
  
  It has taken longer than expected for the ex USSR States being Muslim (Which is why the USSR broke up ) to take on Russia.
  It is said that such as Chechnya and Afghanistan and others, have a Russian Cross to bear, and it would in time that they will all rebel against what Russia did to them.
  Ukraine has not helped Putin’s Russia either.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:21am
- kowtow
  
  You have to be fair to the Germans though .
  They’re jealous that the Frogs did get to Moscow while they never managed to……..
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:41am
  - Jack5
    
    The Germans in WW2 got so close to Moscow some claimed to see its church domes. Then the Russian Siberian Army arrived, fresh, combat tested, winter equipped. It drove them back.
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:01pm
- rangitoto
  
  Those Russian civilians are quite happy to applaud the attacks on Ukrainian civilians. So meh.
  
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  March 24, 2024 11:37am
  - Che Guava
    
    That’s a pretty significant unevidenced assertion.
    
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    March 24, 2024 1:05pm
    - rangitoto
      
      They overwhelmingly voted for Putler.
      
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      March 24, 2024 1:18pm
      - Che Guava
        
        So? What’s the connection between voting for Putler (which you don’t know if they did) and applauding attacks on Ukrainian civilians (which you also don’t know if they did)?
        
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        March 24, 2024 1:26pm
  - Nukuleka
    
    Nasty and unnecessary, rangitoto. You express a sentiment worthy of the most miserable, narrow- minded, judgemental and unhappy leftie. Bugger off to The Standard where you’ll find plenty of like- minded, holier- than thou cretins.
    
    Whew, it was fun getting that off my chest lol.
    
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    March 24, 2024 2:18pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Who can sympathize with Russians that have supported or acquiesced to a Regime that has tortured, raped murdered and kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainians (more than 100k documented war crimes) – lots of mass graves uncovered after Russia lost much of Luhansk in 2022. Russia have also killed more than 100 thousand Ukrainians in this war.
  
  So fuck them. They are deserving of every misery visited upon them.
  
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  March 24, 2024 4:55pm
G152

Russia might now have some idea as to how arab terrorists might not be the ideal immigrants.
And their attacks in the UN against Israel suffering the invasion, murder and capturing of their people might ease off somewhat as they now know what those evil people are capable of
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March 24, 2024 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  The crazies in the Kremlin will learn nothing.
  As always with the deluded , they’ll blame anyone convenient to their cause to blame. Already it’s Ukraine’s and the West’s fault.
  
  The sooner the Russian mothers and widows rise up and get rid of the Kremlin Kleptocrats the better.
  
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  March 24, 2024 9:45am
  - Che Guava
    
    “The crazies in the Kremlin will learn nothing.
    As always with the deluded , they’ll blame anyone convenient to their cause to blame. Already it’s Ukraine’s and the West’s fault.”
    
    Don’t you think that some of the best comments are the completely non-self-aware ones?
    
    The Kremlin certainly isn’t alone in blaming everyone but themselves for the predictable blowback of their actions. I can think of at least one very prominent such case that has been widely discussed for the last few months.
    
    No doubt you won’t see the obvious parallels though.
    
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    March 24, 2024 1:11pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Damien Grant’s panegyric of Grant Robertson

We live in an age where intentions matter, and performance does not.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350222404/how-do-we-judge-6-years-grant-robertsons-ascendancy
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March 24, 2024 8:13am
- Rich Prick
  
  Try running any business by that thinking.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:29am
  - imalwaysright
    
    He did.
    That’s the problem.
    Where were all the economic commentators speaking out while this butchery was taking place.
    
    “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
    
    (There were many silent friends in NZ in the last half decade… it was deafening)
    
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    March 24, 2024 8:45am
  - Inandout
    
    RP, like most academics he has never run a business.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:09am
    - Paulus
      
      That appears to apply to almost all the current Labour MPs as usual !
      
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      March 24, 2024 10:01am
    - Burtland
      
      Robertson an academic – such a compliment
      
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      March 24, 2024 10:32am
      - R
        
        an insult to the few competent academics in the country!…… there must be a few surly?
        
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        March 24, 2024 11:55am
      - bjools
        
        Academic must mean something different these days.
        
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        March 24, 2024 12:05pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Academic = far left loon.
        
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        March 24, 2024 4:57pm
- Swifty
  
  If a National Finance Minister had delivered identical outcomes to those of Robertson – they would be lambasting and excoriating him or her from pillar to post.
  
  They would be pointing to the lack of movement (and backwards slippage in many cases) on vital measures, the massive spending for little to no gain, the recession announcement, the massive jump in debt and the snowballing business downturn with increasing staff layoffs.
  
  But no, the most quoted line I’ve seen by Lefty commentators is that “he will be remembered as one of NZ’s finest finance ministers.”
  
  The left have become a joke. They are not serious people.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:33am
  - kowtow
    
    And you can include te legacy media paahti in that ;”they are not serious people” , they’re part of the left machine.And a bigly part of the problem.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:49am
- Swifty
  
  I’d add too, that raising benefit levels or even the minimum wage ‘fixes’ absolutely nothing, especially child poverty.
  
  All it does is hide the problem – while leaving the fundamentals (state dependency etc) unchanged.
  
  It is a Clayton’s fix. The fix you use when you haven’t got a fix.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:36am
  - amospicton
    
    It’s an admission of failure. A perfectly functioning economy would have very little need for welfare payments – just those genuinely incapable of supporting themselves.
    
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    March 24, 2024 10:24am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Show me a “perfectly functioning” economy anywhere in the world.
      
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      March 24, 2024 1:12pm
- jkt
  
  Even water services criticism is based on emotion.
  I have worked in the industry since 2000 and the sum of water and wastewater services supplied in this country has improved. The “water” quality now is no worse than what it was in 2000.
  
  There is now less pollution of waters that receive discharges of untreated wastewater, sewage overflows, we are just more aware of these issues. You should not have swum in polluted water then and you should avoid swimming in it now.
  
  Many ratepayers paid for the installation of flow meters that allow councils to improve demand management. Those councils that did not do this now expect those ratepayer who have already paid for this to assist other ratepayers to do the same. Same goes for the renewal of public water services.
  
  Consent conditions that were considered adequate is now no longer adequate. Another Covid Crisis? We better watch out for Covid Crisis creep. It is like a thief in the dark.
  
  Feelings, Optics and talky-talky score more points than actual outputs created.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:37am
- Cassandra
  
  More of an evisceration. Damien Grant nails it. It amazes me that, for example, the late Rod Oram, widely praised for his sagacity (but not by me) never spotted Robertson’s ineptness. The whole tribe – Tova, Tame etc – not a word. I suppose that when you’re glib but pig ignorant it’s a bit difficult.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:38am
  - kowtow
    
    But it wasn’t and isn’t “ignorance” . They’re part of his tribe .
    It’s complicity .
    Look at how they all ooohed and aaahed over “well being budget” .To name but one instance.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:52am
- Grunter
  
  Damien Grants point on Gross Debt and Robertsons contrived Net Debt is important.
  
  Robertson is a swindler by referring to Net Debt.
  
  Net Debt takes into account the Cullen Fund, which of course is to fund future retirement costs. But it is only proper accounting to count that asset if you also count the future liability. The unrealised future liabilities of our aging population balloon over the next 3 decades. A massive deficit is looming according to Treasuries own numbers. Their projections out to 2060 make your eyes water. We will literally go bankrupt under a status quo scenario. (even a Nats/ACT govt will take us there unless they soon announce a major change to how we tax and grow debt).
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:45am
  - rouppe
    
    Please help me understand.
    
    The “looming liability” has long been blamed on baby boomers. But the oldest of the baby boomers are now approaching 80. They are starting to die. In the next ten to 15 years that mortality will grow rapidly as the peak of baby boomers hit 85+.
    
    I was born in 1962, the end of the boomers period, and I’d be 91 in 30 years. In other words, dead. So where is the ballooning ageing population coming from in 30 years?
    
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    March 24, 2024 10:19am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      The issue is not so much the absolute number of older people as the proportion they make up of the population as a whole. The boomers didn’t have as many children as their parents did, and their children had even fewer, and of those they did have, substantial numbers left for Australia and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, people are living longer.
      
      Put all this together and what you get is a projection of fewer and fewer working-age people per pensioner. When NZSuper started, there were four. We’re now heading towards two.
      
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      March 24, 2024 10:40am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Yes exactly. The demographics in 30 years will be a disaster without policy change.
        
        Just to make it worse, politicians think they can achieve “net zero” in 2050 while maintaining pensions for all 65 plus. 😳
        
        Net zero emissions and universal pensions for 65 year olds will go the way of kiwibuild and the moa.
        
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        March 24, 2024 10:57am
      - Swifty
        
        Thanks Dudley, yes, that’s how I understand it.
        
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        March 24, 2024 2:00pm
      - Swifty
        
        Please don’t quote me on the numbers, but I’ve read that in the 50s we had (something like) 8 or 9 taxpayers for every beneficiary – fast forward to today and it’s something like 3:2.
        
        How the hell welfare state supporters think the is is a sustainable trajectory is beyond me.
        
        I suspect they just don’t know about this – they’ve little to no understanding of our history – haven’t bothered to enquire and wouldn’t care anyway.
        
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        March 24, 2024 2:05pm
      - rouppe
        
        So, of the boomers are dying, and the 20-40 year old are emigrating, and we have a rising population, does that mean we are allowing high numbers of 40-50 year old to immigrate?
        
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        March 24, 2024 3:21pm
    - Grunter
      
      I agree with the responses above – it’s the ratio of retired to taxpayers that is the growing problem. Along with the associated health costs.
      
      I can’t find the link, but if you Google The Treasury and click around a bit they have a paper somewhere on their website. All a bit dry but interesting all the same.
      
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      March 24, 2024 11:32am
    - Paulus
      
      I was born in 1940 in London, so I remain part of the problem – but not probably for much longer so keep calm and breath slowly, as I still do ?
      
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      March 24, 2024 1:50pm
- Philview
  
  Dr Bryce Wilkinson has been puzzled by a $52 billion hole in the finances that no one has been interested in looking into. He suggests that someone lent NZ $52 billion but it wasn’t recorded as such. Come on NZ media this needs looking into even if that means a black mark for your beloved Grant Robertson.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:56am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    Not all of the current deficit has to be borrowed. For instance profits of NZ companies which are owned by offshore parties that are remitted overseas. By and large these profits will be backed by actual cash in the relevant companies balance sheets. This will be the source of the funds remitted overseas. The NZ company ( perhaps an Aussie bank) doesn’t have to borrow in order to remit the profit overseas.
    With a freely tradeable currency, the risk settles on the exchange rate. In part this is offset by NZ interest rates being higher than many other OECD countries.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:47am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Perhaps bonds purchased when the treasury printed money. More important is who the bonds were purchased by.
    
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    March 24, 2024 1:43pm
    - Jack5
      
      Treasury issued the bonds, the Reserve Bank bought them.
      
      Writing a cheque to yourself.
      
      Social Credit.
      
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      March 24, 2024 9:34pm
- rouppe
  
  Robert Muldoon has long been considered the worst prime Minister in our history.
  
  At least he delivered infrastructure via Think Big, much of which is still in operation.
  
  Surely Jacinda Ardern and Robertson should now be considered the worst government in our history.
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:08am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It is debatable if that is so, surely Rowling was worse. He took over from the very popular Kirk, but they were a one term government
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:55am
- PurplePen
  
  Maggie, I had to look that one up, pamyg … panig .. panegyric. Expanding my mind. Ta
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:19am
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Ditto!
    
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    March 24, 2024 12:36pm
Paulus

I think it may be that last day upon which the SailGP will happen in New Zealand – sorry, no longer called that in all aspects of the media and communication.
So maybe in another named country without Dolphins, or inability to provide for what is required which is spectators.
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March 24, 2024 8:24am
- Ghost
  
  Sailgp’s protocol is to not race when wildlife is on or near the race, this is also why a race was cancelled in San Francisco. This is nothing special to NZ, it’s their own rules.
  
  On the final day of racing, both fleet races saw big crashes, while the grand final was called off and postponed mid-race due to a whale on the course.
  
  Article
  
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  March 24, 2024 9:33am
  - G152
    
    So what really was their poipose
    
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    March 24, 2024 10:49am
  - Jack5
    
    Coutts blames “iwi power” for the Lyttleton problems.
    
    “I find it astonishing the amount of influence iwi have over the authorities here in New Zealand,” he wrote, saying that DoC would not allow SailGP racing in Lyttlelton “without approval from the iwi.”
    
    Not sure about the severity of controls to protect the 15,000 or so Hector’s dolphins around NZ.
    
    A decade or two ago, dolphin protection hit a lot of inshore fishing around the deep south coast.
    
    From NZ rig (shark) supplying much of the fish in fish and chips eaten in Victoria and NSW as well as NZ, eastern Aussie and NZ went to imports of farmed fish from Vietnam. Or so fishermen told me when I was involved.
    
    Maybe Hector’s dolphins do need this level of protection. Or maybe it’s a sign of extreme conservationists who would like to return the whole NZ archipelago to its state of 2,000 or 3,000 years ago.
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/512544/sir-russell-coutts-slams-extreme-dolphin-policy-after-sailgp-races-canned
    
    AND
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/512507/sailgp-s-first-day-cancelled-after-dolphins-spotted-on-course
    
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    March 24, 2024 8:51pm
Tasman devil

Agreed. We see this over the interest deductibility for rental property issue the plebs brought in when last in gummint.

The idea was to stop property speculation and look caring to the non contributors to our society.

Both aspects failed miserably as people still buy houses and rent went up.

Several of our rentals are paid for by WINZ. We are putting the rents up $20 to $25 a week.
We just thought those would be nice round numbers. We had no basis for the figures other than they sounded nice.

Our property manager’s comment when we asked whether that would be acceptable: “The taxpayer has no choice but to pay you more.”

As a result we will will better quality wine and lobsters in Bordeaux in July. Thanks Robbo and Cindy. Loving you still.
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March 24, 2024 8:26am
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  This is part of the reason amateur landlords and their agents need to be regulated into the sea.
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:37am
  - artemisia
    
    What are the other parts of the reason?
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:13am
  - Grunter
    
    Yep that will teach them! //
    
    Then what happens Muttonbird? State controlled houses only? They do such a good job of everything they touch.
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:35am
    - Swifty
      
      Muttonbird is one of those people that think that with the right institutions, the right mix of laws, the right and sufficient regulations, the right policies (theirs of course) and enough taxpayer money and enough time nirvana; utopia, can be achieved on earth.
      
      It’s clearly a delusion on their part of course, but try telling them that!
      
      Ask them to point you to some successful examples and they can’t. They never can.
      
      But here’s the key to it all. Ask them to describe capitalism and free enterprise and they will always describe them IN PRACTICE – will all the supposed flaws, shortfalls, ‘injustices’ and inequities all front and centre. Ask them to describe the socialism they yearn for however and they’ll always describe it IN THEORY – “Oh under socialism everyone will be happy, have a job they love, have their own house, their kids will get the best education, everyone elderly or sick will have the worlds best care, no one will go hungry, the streets will be safe, the sky will have rainbows every day and it will all be totally affordable under our financial plans.”
      
      This is their great deceit.
      
      It’s their dirty little secret.
      
      Any comparison of socialism versus free enterprise in practice and free enterprise win hands down. The entire history of the 20th Century tells us that – screams to us that there has been no better system for enabling freedom and prosperity than our system of free enterprise.
      
      Mutton however would rather see us shackled and impoverished rather than admit he’s wrong – that his worldview is delusional.
      
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      March 24, 2024 2:29pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    F….regulations, this country is tied up far too bloody right now, people and countries are staring clear of nz because of ease of access, we need to ease regulations that make us attractive to invest in this country and possibilities again.
    
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    March 24, 2024 12:31pm
- The Housekeeper
  
  Now that interest deductibility has been restored it’s time to ditch the odious accommodation supplement payments. Taxpayers are funding mortgage subsidies for landlords, keeping rents and market values higher than they would naturally be. Get rid of the subsidies and a lot of landlords will be looking to sell. Isn’t that what we want?
  
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  March 24, 2024 12:35pm
- Paulus
  
  Too late as the many small time rental owners have sold up, and will not be back.
  It still probably is not totally financially viable as rents are too low, and sales values are in a pregnant pause, for quite some time !
  
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  March 24, 2024 1:54pm
tknorriss

We must be an international laughing stock. The yachting called off yesterday because some eagle-eye spotted a dolphin somewhere in the vicinity.

For goodness sake, dolphins are negotiating shipping and boating in the harbour all the time. In fact, they quite like it. They would probably have enjoyed the yachts.

More wokeness gone mad.
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March 24, 2024 8:36am
- jkt
  
  Many will applaud these “conservation” initiatives.
  We may well have saved a dolphin.
  
  Shit dolphins are not stupid. But Optics rule! The “We know better than you know how to live your life crowd” won the day!
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:46am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The last time they had the races there were no damaged sea life of any type.
    
    Aren’t all fish vulnerable?
    Dolphins make up a tiny fraction of sea life, therefore we should see evidence of harm to many other fish before we see an injured dolphin .
    
    If we had dead fish floating around in the boats wakes after every race then I would see their point.
    But that is not the case.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:44am
- Scott
  
  Tknorris, totally agree. How many dolphins in the harbour have been damaged by yachts or ships ever? Perhaps they are attracted by the yachts and come into the harbour to swim with them?
  
  It’s amazing to me that thousands of people can come to see an amazing sport and its all cancelled because of dolphins? People are more important than dolphins. There I’ve said it.
  
  Unfortunately for some people the dolphins and the environment are like a religion. Environmental activists ruin everything for everyone.
  
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  March 24, 2024 8:54am
  - Ghost
    
    Sailgp’s protocol stops racing when wildlife is on or near the race. This decision is sailgp’s.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:25am
    - Simon
      
      “This decision is sailgp’s.”
      
      Is it? https://sailgp.com/about/partners/overview/
      
      Sponsor is Rolex which has strong connections with WEF see
      
      “What’s really powerful in non-profits is that they don’t and do not try to create profits,” says Chris McKenna, a business historian at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and a staunch proponent of the non-profit business model.
      
      This kind of corporate structure is more common than many people realize. There are a number of highly successful, multinational corporations that are owned by “industrial foundations”, such as Carlsberg, Heineken, Ikea and Rolex.
      
      https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/big-tech-must-go-nonprofit-to-save-the-world/
      
      This took about 1 minute using even fake search engine google. It might be much worse using a real search engine. But these things are in the open.
      
      Would just question if the decision is really sailgps and not their sponsor. As part of the sponsor deal. Rotten ESG corporate Rolex. Who knows who controls Rolex.
      
      Point being question everything, especially official.
      
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      March 24, 2024 9:48am
    - cmm
      
      Sure, but they had to put all these clauses into their protocols to get the thumbs up from activists.
      
      No business is going to voluntarily put such strict conditions on themselves.
      
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      March 24, 2024 10:21am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Funny, it’s only ever been an issue here and at the woke bent San Fransisco venues
      
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      March 24, 2024 12:33pm
- Ghost
  
  Perhaps you should go read the protocol for the racing, when wildlife is on or near the race it is sailgp’s protocol to stop until it is gone. Happened in San Francisco when a whale was near the boats.
  
  Also consider what happens to a boat up on foils racing at 60mph when it hits something in the water.
  
  Nothing woke about it, it’s is sailgp’s own protocol that stopped this. As it was their protocol in San Francisco that stopped it.
  
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  March 24, 2024 9:23am
  - pdm
    
    Ghost does that mean they would stop if a seagull flew past or there was a pied shag sitting on a post?
    
    My understanding is that Dolphins are very intelligent – probably more so than those making the rules.
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:33am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Speed is a problem. A foiling boat can travel sat 40 to 50 knots. Dolphins are not that fast.
      Overall I do think is was a kneejerk reaction by the ‘what if’ people.
      
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      March 24, 2024 9:45am
      - pdm
        
        Steve I am not and never have been a boatie.
        
        But, don’t these boats just skim the water surface at top speed?
        
        If so Dolphins would not have to dive very deep to avoid them.
        
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        March 24, 2024 9:53am
      - R
        
        dolphins can sense the approach of a predator – boat- long before it is a dabber to them.
        How many dolphins have been killed swimming about the inter-island ferries; when the ferries actually run!
        
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        March 24, 2024 10:02am
      - bennerg
        
        May I posit that Dolphins, along with other sea living creatures, have senses to detect sounds emitted by the boats motion through the water (I know whales are thought to be able to detect noises thousands of km away ) and take the necessary avoidance action.
        Are there any documented cases of a foiling boat hitting a large mammal such as a dolphin, seal or whale?
        I can understand that a large whale could be an issue, somewhat similar to a floating log or even a submerged wreck – it takes a while to move. But a dolphin moves quickly, is extremely alert, and can move not only laterally, but vertically as well to avoid any oncoming traffic.
        
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        March 24, 2024 10:04am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        The foils are in the water, not skimming the surface. It is a horizontal blade if you like.
        Dolphins are fast but not 40+ knots fast. I have had them riding the bow wave of my 17ft boat in the Hauraki Gulf. Amazing that the sailgp boats can go over 50 knots. I do 40 knots and I have 140HP.
        
        12 2
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        March 24, 2024 10:23am
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        This what happened last year
        “An independent decision-maker was in place with the ability to halt racing if dolphins got too close.
        It was revealed at last year’s final race, two dolphins crossed the boundary into the race zone as vessels approached the final marker.
        On that occasion, the race director didn’t stop proceedings.”
        https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/23/sailgp-races-called-off-due-to-dolphin-activity-on-course/
        Suspect a point that is being missed here is that a collision between a foiling boat travelling @ ~60 kt and a solid lump in the water could have quite spectacular results for both the boat and the unrestrained passengers aboard – full flight comes to mind. Hitting water at that speed once you come down is like hitting concrete …
        
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        March 24, 2024 10:45am
      - imalwaysright
        
        S.o
        Sound travels very quickly in seawater, about 5 times faster than in air.
        The dolphins would be aware of anything unusual in their vicinity, plus they have sonar.
        
        Put it this way, if they used the Sailgp boats to hunt dolphins I don’t think they would get any.
        
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        March 24, 2024 11:20am
      - Ghost
        
        And yet accidents do happen. A foil ferry in Japan hit a whale, injuring people on boat. A foil surfer hit a whale on camera in Australia. In San Fransisco racing was stopped because of a whale on the track. Dragon boat racing has been stopped overseas while killer whales are in the race area. Final leg of the ocean race last year two yachts were attacked by whales. This happens, it’s nothing new or unique to NZ. Sailing is a sport where racing is never guaranteed to go ahead. Sail gp have people on boats to try and clear the area when wildlife is in the area, they weren’t able to yesterday.
        
        I believe it was Peter Montgomery who would often say in the very long delays in the americas cup, we hurry up and wait.
        
        5 1
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        March 24, 2024 11:33am
      - JackRabbit
        
        No true. Dolphins can swim at 50+ knots near the surface, and make very quick turns and movements.
        
        Better than that, they are equipped with built in under water radar with both range and discernment that tech geeks would cream their jeans over. They can sense a boat a long way off and get out of its way.
        
        How do you think they manage to avoid sharks?
        
        We should not judge the humble yet intelligent dolphins by our own limitations.
        
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        March 24, 2024 1:50pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @70andstilllearning
        
        It was revealed at last year’s final race, two dolphins crossed the boundary into the race zone as vessels approached the final marker.
        
        The dolphins should have won?
        
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        March 24, 2024 1:53pm
    - R
      
      Dolphins are very intelligent….
      a lot more so than some of the deluded commentators on KB today
      
      14 2
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      March 24, 2024 9:59am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Exactly, more chance of hitting a whale
        
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        March 24, 2024 12:35pm
  - rockape
    
    A good old thunder flash thrown in the water would move the dolphins on PDQ.
    
    17 0
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    March 24, 2024 9:50am
  - Simon
    
    “sailgp’s own protocol that stopped this.”
    
    Its it not at least possible some ESG save the planet WEF corporate shrill insisted sailgp accept this as part of a sponsorship deal?
    
    Or just accept the official line without question?
    
    “Also consider what happens to a boat up on foils racing” lol- the boat. Was the racing stopped because of concerns about the boat or the animals.
    
    What external pressures were bought against the Sailgp because supposed harm to animals? Prosecution by a govt dept due to harm to protected animals?
    
    Questions.
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:53am
    - Ghost
      
      Sailgp have their own environmental aims without the sponsors adding to it
      
      https://sailgp.com/general/purpose/better-planet/
      
      3 0
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      March 24, 2024 12:03pm
- MCōs
  
  “We must be an international laughing stock”
  I doubt it
  There’s upheaval in Gaza, to put it mildly
  There’s war in Ukraine
  Terrorists have killed 133 people in Moscow
  Kate Middleton’s cancer is dominating the media
  I don’t really think there will be a lot of people even aware of this regatta at this time
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:04am
KH

A interesting take on the Moscow murderers.
https://www.southfront.press/captured-terrorists-are-giving-first-testimony-in-russia-videos-18/
10 6
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March 24, 2024 8:48am
- All_on_Red
  
  Cool propaganda Bruh
  
  10 6
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  March 24, 2024 9:46am
  - KH
    
    Always Red. The Ukraine angle is probably crap. But that the murderers are out of the Stans is consistent with past atrocities. (and recently in Syria?)
    That murderer (132 dead at a rock concert. Jeez) who now has no eyelid is probably thinking he made a bad decision. And it’s going to get worse for him from here.
    
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    March 24, 2024 10:51am
    - All_on_Red
      
      https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/03/23/despite-putins-claims-isis-provides-photographic-evidence-it-carried-out-the-moscow-attack-n2171804
      ‘ISIS has now released an additional Statement in which they claim Responsibility for the Terrorist Attack last night against the Crocus Concert Hall in the Russian Capital of Moscow; while also Posting a Picture of the Attackers only minutes before the Shooting began, in which you can clearly see the same Outfits on several of the Terrorists that were Arrested by Russian Security Forces in the Bryansk Region earlier today.’
      
      3 2
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      March 24, 2024 2:14pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        Here is an important point which is worth considering. How would you determine if a statement was from ISIS or another agent PRETENDING to be to be ISIS?
        ISIS is an internationally illegal, proscribed and underground group, you can’t just check on the companies register, then roll up to their head office and ask for a sworn and notarized affidavit from their CEO.
        Other more specific points, your “Red State” mentions an ISIS propaganda outlet “Amaq News Agency”. What do you know about this “Amaq News Agency”?
        I have heard from other sources that this purported ISIS statement was released on a template and format that hasn’t been used for more than 10 years. Is this accurate?
        Details are important.
        Also, one final point. Why did the attackers flee and were captured alive? This is not the usual style of the Islamic Jihadist terrorist. Stay and fight to the end for all those virgins in paradise.
        In short, the only way any of us are going to avoid become a sap, a chump or a patsy in this ongoing info-war is to cooly and carefully co-relate multiple sources from multiple directions.
        Reality isn’t an All on Red vs an All on Black sort of a game.
        
        2 1
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        March 24, 2024 6:41pm
- Paulus
  
  Well somebody is on Russian TV giving some testimony, by arrangement, as it is called, the fact that they are called the Terrorists.
  So we now have to believe anything Russia says.
  Did not the US warn Russia a few weeks ago about a pending terrorists attack (assuming they had information) but Russia would ignore it anyway as they always know best, ?
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:12am
  - KH
    
    They didn’t ignore it. Big lists of arrests on this issue for some weeks now.
    
    7 2
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    March 24, 2024 10:42am
- Grunter
  
  Anyone that claims “this is what happened” or “it was XYZ” is suspect. Both sides had their PR teams ready and waiting.
  
  3 1
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  March 24, 2024 11:40am
- rangitoto
  
  The Daesh have released video footage of the attack. They are clearly involved but given the slow response of the Russian security there is obvious collusion with the FSB.
  
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  March 24, 2024 11:44am
greenfinger

The economy is tanking big time. Orr screwed up big time by printing too much money. He was just as bad a forecaster when he was at Westpac. He is so out of touch and still pumping the brakes on the average kiwi battler. Need tax cut urgently!
26 0
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March 24, 2024 8:59am
- MCōs
  
  From what I can make out the proposed tax cuts aren’t going to effect ‘the average kiwi battler’ if there is such a person
  Tax changes under coalition agreement
  https://www.dentons.co.nz/en/insights/articles/2023/december/8/taxes-under-the-new-coalition-government
  Current income tax rates
  https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/tax-codes-and-tax-rates-for-individuals/tax-codes-for-individuals
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:17am
  - Cassandra
    
    But they will affect us all, effectively.
    
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    March 24, 2024 10:22am
  - Taieri
    
    proposed tax cuts
    ————-
    
    They are threshold adjustments, not tax cuts.
    
    For example
    Charging 10.5% up to NZ$15,600 (as proposed) is a threshold adjustment.
    
    Change from 10.5% up to NZ$14000
    to say 8% up to NZ$14000 would be a tax cut.
    
    12 2
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    March 24, 2024 10:37am
    - Matt Long
      
      More accurately they are inflation adjustments to tax brackets
      The government loves to tax on inflation, whether they call it capital gains, or as in this case tax bracket creep.
      
      12 1
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      March 24, 2024 11:10am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly, and until later in the 80s under Rogernomics thresholds we’re changed annually when you did your tax returns
      
      4 0
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      March 24, 2024 12:38pm
    - Taieri
      
      I don’t usually comment on down ticks. I’ll make an exception in this case though; I’m really sorry for you if you don’t understand the difference between the tax cuts and tax bracket adjustments.
      
      2 0
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      March 24, 2024 5:46pm
imalwaysright

More kids getting tortured in New Zealand

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lower-hutt-children-hospitalised-horrific-injuries-discovered-police-seek-help-from-public/5EJDE2PM3NG4HGAIQVFI3TIKZ4/
30 2
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March 24, 2024 9:06am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  More SOCKs and nothing will be done.
  
  21 1
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  March 24, 2024 9:38am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Someone knew these kids were being tortured and they did nothing. They are equally guilty.
    We need capital punishment for these scumbags and their enablers
    
    Lets realise that there are many more New Zealand children being tortured right now.
    Some of them will die, that’s when they may make the news if there’s nothing more interesting happening like a fucking fictitious dolphin dodging a boat.
    
    Kiwi kids are mammals too.
    
    25 1
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    March 24, 2024 10:14am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      How do the dolphins fare on Auckland’s Anniversary Day Regatta?
      Thousands of boats, and yes further out in the gulf the dolphins are there.
      
      15 1
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      March 24, 2024 10:28am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Yes, and Sydney to Hobart, I think they say 1 million boats are on the water that day, it’s a huge number, not sure if true but never heard of one dolphin being kilked
        
        9 0
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        March 24, 2024 12:41pm
- cmm
  
  Baby Ru’s murderers are still thumbing their noses at cops.
  
  It’s a complete joke -except not a very funny one.
  
  37 0
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  March 24, 2024 10:23am
  - PurplePen
    
    Do you think a petition via the parliament website to govt to give police and justice more power to deal with immediate family, or the new vernacular whanau. It’s an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. But at the moment there’s no consequence for silence, or some sort of encouragement for dobbing in whanau. KFC?
    
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    March 24, 2024 1:06pm
    - Paulus
      
      Like much of New Zealand – No Consequences !
      
      4 0
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      March 24, 2024 1:59pm
    - tavita
      
      Much as i hate the blatant attempt to introduce maori words into the english language, I am happy with the use of the word whanau for the maori concept of an extended family -just as long as ‘family’ is used to refer to the immediate family.
      
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      March 25, 2024 2:54am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Why don’t the Police simply arrest the three people who are the suspects and charge them all with a conspiracy to defeat the course of justice. The manner in which incriminating evidence was removed from the home after Ru was taken to hospital/died would certainly suggest there was a determined attempt to avoid suspicion.
    
    Lock them up, and one of them will crack, to try and save their own skin…
    
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    March 24, 2024 2:13pm
Maggy Wassilieff

The end of the Anthropocene…

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68632086
12 0
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March 24, 2024 9:14am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Just home from Mass and checking you’re OK Maggz?
  One of the guys I was sitting next to was telling me there was a YUGE gang brawl in Gizzie last night, leaving more than a hunded people dead and wounded in the streets…. and the hospital is now in lock down with armed Police everywhere!
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:16am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gisborne-incident-at-least-one-dead-armed-police-guarding-hospital/QMWPUAGMSZGLRFMWNHZMZHG72M/
    
    2 dead, 3 critically injured, 100 involved….
    
    Accuracy is imortant when lobbing in information MP, as an gal from tennis should know
    
    12 0
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    March 24, 2024 10:44am
    - Matt Long
      
      One wonders why one would conflate words like accuracy and the NZ Herald?
      
      12 0
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      March 24, 2024 11:12am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Chers, txs..
    I’ve been out in the garden and just caught up with the news.
    
    I’m in Kaiti…. Mongrel Mob territory.
    The confrontation/killings were in Elgin… Black Power land.
    
    and next weekend is Easter when all the bros roll in from Hawkes Bay and BofP.
    
    I’ll await our local chiefs/chiefesses to tell their whanau to grow up.
    
    24 0
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    March 24, 2024 11:29am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Do you have an active ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ like us?
      
      9 1
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      March 24, 2024 11:35am
      - MCōs
        
        Didn’t do Pauline Hanna much good
        
        1 1
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        March 24, 2024 3:44pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Your just trying to be provocative with a silly comment like that cossie!
        
        The ‘Neighborhood Watch’ group only surveils strangers that cross the border….not residents in their OWN homes. Get a grip man!!
        
        5 1
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        March 24, 2024 4:17pm
  - lifesgood
    
    What a shame only 2 killed. Be better for the country if they were all killed.
    
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    March 24, 2024 5:09pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Yay. A brief moment of sanity in a world where people we’re meant to take seriously claim the oceans are boiling.
  
  6 0
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  March 24, 2024 1:44pm
  - Taieri
    
    A brief moment of sanity in a world where people we’re meant to take seriously claim the oceans are boiling
    ————
    
    They could be though. According to one DCC councillor the world is not just boiling but burning now.
    
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    March 24, 2024 5:48pm
Rusty

If Donald Trump does become president in November I’m going to feel sorry for these people who have come after him.

They will be finished.
11 3
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March 24, 2024 9:54am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yup, so I said yesterday. The are going to be some sorry arses who will be punished.
  Oh, and Trump will win in a landslide. Unstoppable unless he is assassinated.
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:32am
Tony Stuart

Two dead, three critically injured and armed Police are guarding the local hospital. Is it fair to surmise this wasn’t a philosophical disagreement between the local Rotary and Lions clubs?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gisborne-incident-at-least-one-dead-armed-police-guarding-hospital/QMWPUAGMSZGLRFMWNHZMZHG72M/#
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March 24, 2024 10:06am
- MCōs
  
  Probably wasn’t a brawl instigated by Muslim immigrants either
  Or the Catholics and the Protestants as has happened in the past in Timaru
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:21am
  - cmm
    
    I think you have a solid point MC.
    
    Let’s trade them. For every Gazan refugee we get, we send them one gang member.
    
    19 0
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    March 24, 2024 10:25am
    - Matt Long
      
      A gang member and two greens.
      
      26 1
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      March 24, 2024 11:14am
      - greybeard
        
        I’ll raise you one Green…..
        
        8 0
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        March 24, 2024 2:13pm
  - Cassandra
    
    It’ll come, one day nutters will emerge, particularly if we’re silly enough to bring in a lot of Gaza Arabs.
    
    25 0
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    March 24, 2024 10:26am
    - rouppe
      
      It’s already happening.
      
      The Muslim community in Kilbirnie want to broadcast the call the prayer over loudspeakers.
      
      15 0
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      March 24, 2024 1:17pm
      - cmm
        
        Having lived for 8 years in Cape Town where the Muslims have load speakers going for it at 5 am, I would still trade that for gang scum any day.
        
        4 2
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        March 24, 2024 5:20pm
- kowtow
  
  It’s all euphemisms and bullshit though , isn’t it .
  
  A murderous affray is a “party gone wrong”.
  The cops say they’ll increase presence over the next few days , OK and then what , the communidy for whom the mayor and police hold in their thoughts and prayers will be on their own again after a few days!
  
  This isn’t a simple law and order issue , it’s a literal breakdown in societal norms and civilised behaviour .
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:37am
  - mogg
    
    Inconvenient facts, under prepared interviewer with Douglas Murray on Gaza: https://youtu.be/4bPDYVYFkXw?si=Ct6vJV1P3DZo98k4.
    
    5 2
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    March 24, 2024 1:19pm
  - cmm
    
    “A murderous affray is a “party gone wrong”.”
    
    Yup, it’s a bit like “the car left the road”.
    
    Nothing to do with the people (the gang scum or the drivers). It just could have happened to anyone…
    
    3 1
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    March 24, 2024 5:21pm
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Things are really going well under the coalition of chaos, eh?
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:40am
  - Ghost
    
    Perhaps if the lefties weren’t so soft on crime and gang friendly this sort of behaviour wouldn’t still be going on.
    
    32 2
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    March 24, 2024 10:48am
    - Muttonbird
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      No, no. Mitchell was going to fix this, that’s what he was elected for, but things have got worse.
      
      Epic fail.
      
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      March 24, 2024 11:47am
      - Ghost
        
        Yes an epic fail on your part. How long has the government been in power? Nowhere near long enough to fix the damage that labour did to the country, especially with what they did to police, courts and justice. Be sure to reminds us everything Ardern promised that she accomplished because she left the country in a huge fucken mess, not a single thing she touched is better than when she formed government.
        
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        March 24, 2024 11:58am
      - rouppe
        
        What I’d like to see out of this:
        1. If any of them are in a state house, evict them. Their neighbors don’t deserve this.
        2. Examine each one for assets that don’t fit their declared income and seize it.
        3. If any are on any form of sickness benefit, cancel it and tell them to apply for job seeker, since they are clearly able bodied.
        
        17 0
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        March 24, 2024 1:22pm
      - Muttonbird
        
        @ Ghost. It wasn’t a social issue National campaigned on, it was Law and Order which according to them was pretty simple to fix by getting tough on crime.
        
        Like I say, epic fail.
        
        0 17
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        March 24, 2024 2:03pm
      - Swifty
        
        Ghost, he’s trolling for a reaction.
        
        Sometimes he makes a good point – this is not one of those times.
        
        He knows full well things like this don’t get turned around overnight.
        
        Again, this is just a pathetic troll attempt – to provoke a reaction.
        
        Just imagine if we did the same and labelled their govt an ‘epic fail’ in some area not 6 months after Labour’s 2017 election selection by Winston – Mutton would be here in a flash mocking the idea and claiming you can’t fix things overnight after ‘nine years of neglect’.
        
        I said the other day that Mutton used to post some good stuff, especially during the ‘Martin Williams’ period – but now he’s just lost it. Day after day it’s just this low level trolling – holding others to standards he doesn’t hold his own side to.
        
        It’s just pathetic really. It’s like he’s lost his mojo.
        
        Just like Labour. Snigger.
        
        6 0
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        March 24, 2024 3:22pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Mutton: “It wasn’t a social issue National campaigned on, it was Law and Order which according to them was pretty simple to fix by getting tough on crime.”
        
        Got a link to back that up? Or is this claim just made up? I’m pretty sure they DID NOT say it was “pretty simple” to fix. Obviously the huge mess that the delusional far left fwits have left behind (again) is going to take considerable resource and time to clean up.
        
        2 1
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        March 24, 2024 4:58pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Did you thi k crime would stop dead in its tracks ffs
    
    11 0
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    March 24, 2024 12:43pm
    - Swifty
      
      No of course he doesn’t.
      
      This is just a troll.
      
      6 0
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      March 24, 2024 3:24pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Lol Bird….. flies in shits everywhere, sqwarks it wasnt me or my leftie mates and flaps away.
    
    30 years in the making is this problem, as you know Mutt, vastly exacerbated by the worst sequence of Mininsters of Police NZhave ever known under the Ardern/Robertson/Hipkins clusterf%ck of a government…
    
    And Mutt wants it sorted in a few months. Short of a Central American style solution of a mass round up and concentration camps for gangsters nothing will change quickly. As you well know Mutt
    
    The Eft – agents of chaos like 2 year olds… always with the two year answer of it wasnt me and demanding someone else fix their cock ups and destruction
    
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    March 25, 2024 8:13am
- David Garrett
  
  Tony S: Indeed. I am quite serious when I say the injured scum should have been left where they lay. If that meant they would be finished off by the rival scum, so be it. They are outlaws and proud of it. Why on earth should the society they hold in contempt look after them?
  
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  March 24, 2024 10:51am
  - David Garrett
    
    I’ll go further…when called to a gang brawl all the cops should do is remove any firearms from the combatants to protect the public from being injured by a stray bullet, and then just leave to get on with it.
    
    Why should the police risk their lives and safety separating one pack of scum from the other? After a few such instances resulting in several scum from both sides being left to bleed out, how often would such encounters keep happening?
    
    There is no bad answer: either such brawls would become much rarer, or they would continue, with the numbers of dead gang members climbing, and thus reducing their numbers. Either way, the society the scum despise so much would be the winner.
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:28am
    - Paulus
      
      Police should stand back and watch Darwin’s Laws take place – the survival of the fittest.
      
      8 0
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      March 24, 2024 2:03pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqPkcXLakQ8
Chinese Spies | Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain.
This week, the question on everyone’s lips is, “Who is the traitor?”
However, considering how these politicians have sold Australia out, the question you should be asking is, “Who isn’t a traitor?”
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March 24, 2024 10:32am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyQo8BSDRmw
Fico Cancels EU’s Favorite Office.
In Slovakia, the political landscape is marked by escalating tensions and public demonstrations against Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, with a significant protest occurring last Friday. Adding to the complexity, President Zuzana Čaputová, a vocal critic of Fico, has decided not to seek re-election in the upcoming presidential race scheduled for this Saturday.
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March 24, 2024 10:32am
greybeard

Compare the Hurricanes this year, with a new coach, and the Crusaders this year, with a new coach.
Both teams have lots of regular players absent, lots of newbies.

One team has won all its games so far, the other has lost all of its games.

I have always believed that selection was more important than coaching but I must admit that the Hurricanes’ coach Laidlaw seems to have something which is lacking in Crusaders’ coach Penney.

Here is an idea: Laidlaw and Penney swap teams for the rest of the competition and see what happens !
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March 24, 2024 10:38am
- MCōs
  
  I heard a commentator say that only one of the Crusaders from last year’s semifinal was playing yesterday
  They’ve lost all their ABs except old man Moody, Havili and Reece. No wonder they can’t win a trick
  
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  March 24, 2024 3:26pm
Maggie Pie

Heading home from Mass earlier and thinking to myself – what was that Hamas supporter Steve Abel doing prior to the last election?

Honestly, just look at the guy……

https://steveabel.nz/politics

Imagine the orgasm he must have experienced when he found himself entering Parliament at #9 on the Greens list. Suddenly going from total obscurity to pulling $200k a year off every hard-working taxpayer.

Even more to the point….what does he actually do now for the good of NZ??
The whole thing is an absolute farce. He’s right up there with the Member-for-Tijuana 🙁
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March 24, 2024 10:48am
- David Garrett
  
  Maggie P: Off topic, but this is GD. A couple of weeks ago I attended a requiem mass in Tonga – the first time I had been inside a Catholic church in 40 years.
  
  Because everything was in Tongan, I found myself musing on things Catholic. I understand confession has been replaced by something called “reconciliation” – I think. How does that work?
  
  As an aside to an aside, one thing I remember from confession at school was if you pretended to need help with the ritual, the very first thing the priests always asked was “Have you done anything rude or impure?”
  
  Given what we now know, it doesn’t bear thinking about what the Rev. Fr. was doing on the other side of the screen. Aside of course from communing with the Almighty to decide what your penance should be.
  
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  March 24, 2024 11:22am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    If you are a non-Catholic DG you cannot of course receive Absolution.
    Confession and Penance is still a thing.
    
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    March 24, 2024 11:32am
    - David Garrett
      
      MP: I just remembered that it wasn’t 40 years since I’d been in a Catholic church. I had a meeting outside the cathedral in town a couple of years ago, and being early – as I always am for anything – I spent the time having a look inside.
      
      I remember seeing the confessionals full of junk, so it’s obvious that if “confession is still a thing” it’s not done as it used to be. So be a dear, and share your knowledge with a thoroughly lapsed Catholic.
      
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      March 24, 2024 12:48pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        The sacrament of Reconciliation, as it is now called, usually takes place face-to-face in a meeting room, or sometimes in open church (whispered to ensure secrecy). Confessional booths are well & truly out of fashion but do, as you noticed, make useful ad hoc storerooms.
        
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        March 24, 2024 9:13pm
    - rouppe
      
      My recollection of the confession experience at school (integrated Catholic boys school) was kneeling at the pews waiting my turn and thinking “what have I done that I have to confess to?”
      
      The answer was “nothing” so usually I made something up about being horrible to my sister or something similar.
      
      But the nut of it was that I rode 10km to school on my bicycle along a state highway, spent all day at school, ride home, did my homework, had dinner and went to bed to start all over again the next day. Weekends were spent as a home laborer either mowing lawns or assisting my father in the garden. It was ⅓acre, lots to mow or weed or dig or turn compost. Didn’t have time for shenanigans.
      
      This led me to drift away from religion once I left home, since i couldn’t see the point in that.
      
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      March 24, 2024 12:52pm
  - PurplePen
    
    About the right age I started saying I’d had impure thoughts, but it never went any further than that, and being gay I wasn’t going to go into any details about my impure thoughts.
    
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    March 24, 2024 1:10pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I think the ‘Penance’ is a crypto currency like Bitcoin.
    Not sure, I am not a man of faith.
    
    2 2
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    March 24, 2024 5:00pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  How many Hail Mary’s did you get this week after confession?
  
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  March 24, 2024 5:01pm
Sparrow

Having read Damian Grants excellent article it raised a question in my mind. How are Ministers of Finance chosen in our political system ?. No large private company would ever think of employing a CFO without the requisite financial qualifications. This seems not to apply in the political arena. Yes many government Ministers hold portfolios they are ill equipped to handle but surely this should not apply to the finances of our country. We all know the previous incumbent had a BA in political studies with a thesis on student politics. In my naivety I thought that our new Ministet who was highly praised by the new government held the requisite qualifications. How wrong a BA in English Lit and Journalism. In no way am I suggesting she can’t do the job its too early. Is it simply that political parties can not attract those with a financial background as the private sector has more to offer. ?
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March 24, 2024 10:52am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Suspect that the theory was that you had the requisite “specialists” in support orgs such as Treasury, RBNZ etc. Also suspect that the theory has moved beyond “use by date” …….
  
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  March 24, 2024 11:31am
- MCōs
  
  Rob Muldoon was an accountant
  That worked out well
  
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  March 24, 2024 3:12pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That is the first time I have known of a leftie who admits that!
    
    3 1
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    March 24, 2024 5:01pm
  - Jack5
    
    Muldoon was a management accountant, or as they called it in his day, a cost accountant.
    
    In contrast with public accountants, who work on the “books” for customers, cost accountants worked on production and management costs within a firm.
    
    Accounting types who follow Kiwiblog might tell us what happened with experiments a couple of decades ago to introduce accrual accounting to the Government books.
    
    This would produce Government accounts as near as possible to the way a company or similar organisation would draw up its accounting.
    
    Was parallel accrual accounting for the State’s books scrapped?
    
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    March 24, 2024 9:25pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

TOW Comic Part 26.
“When one collates all the evidence, there can only be one conclusion. What’s that? That the chiefs fully understood the Treaty they signed.”
Today the activists say the Chiefs did not understand – they did.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/analysis-treaty-of-waitangi-comic-for-high-school-students-has-been-quietly-brainwashing-away-since-2018-part-26/
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March 24, 2024 10:58am
Maggie Pie

THIS JUST IN 🙁

According to RT, they’re saying Russian soldiers have apprehended at least 11 Terrorists responsible for the Moscow massacre, all of whom had been trying to escape across the Ukraine border.

When one of the detainees was told he could expect no mercy, he reportedly responded…. “I’m hearing ya”

https://twitter.com/JackStr42679640/status/1771673192941207951
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March 24, 2024 12:16pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  One of the individuals involved in the Moscow massacre was apprehended in a forest while attempting to flee to Ukraine. Allegedly, a Russian soldier detained him and reportedly forced him to ingest his severed ear.
  
  I bet the arsehole at the UN will not say anything like he does about Israel.
  
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  March 24, 2024 4:44pm
Ghost

I saw this article a few days ago, as it is sponsored by kidscan I am a bit cautious about it

Few things, why is a security company hiring a 16 year old boy as a security guard?
Why are farmers hiring primary school children to pick fruit when they should be at school?

Or is this just creative in its writing?

Some days 16-year-old Junior Lotolahi is late for school – but not because he’s ‘playing truant.’ By the time the school bell rings, he’s already done an early shift at work. The Auckland student got a part-time job to help his mother, after seeing her stress levels spike as she struggled to feed their family.

Article

Sorry people, it it is your job to raise your children, feed them, send them to school, not their job to finance you.
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March 24, 2024 12:23pm
- Paulus
  
  What6 has concerned me for a very long time is the question in many many cases
  “Where is the Father” on the assumption that there has been one at some time – although some still believe in immaculate conception, and why do we hear all the time about Solo mothers desperately wanting homes for x number of children, urgently as they are heavily pregnant.
  
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  March 24, 2024 2:10pm
  - MCōs
    
    Last time I changed my car I sold the previous one to a solo Tongan mother with about fourteen kids and no father around because he was dead
    There’s all sorts of reasons why people are solo parents
    
    2 2
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    March 24, 2024 2:53pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      All very well cossie….but how many sorts of reasons are there
      they have 14 kids?
      
      FFS!!
      
      9 1
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      March 24, 2024 3:17pm
      - MCōs
        
        You’re a stringent Catholic who goes to Mass every Sunday and you would know that the clergy can put the fear of God into any mother to have as many children as He gives them.
        Why do you think Joan Bolger had nine wonderful children?
        
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        March 24, 2024 4:20pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Yes but cossie, I don’t recall we had to pay for Joan’s kids to have lunch at school. Nor did we have to Work-For-Her-Family either
        
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        March 24, 2024 4:43pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        14 kids means someone likes something other that Taxpayer money.
        
        1 3
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        March 24, 2024 5:09pm
      - kowtow
        
        ‘ the clergy can put the fear of God into any mother ‘
        
        Rubbish . And has been for many decades.
        
        Calvinists were possibly worse.
        
        2 1
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        March 24, 2024 7:08pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      fathers*
      Fixed it for you.
      
      3 2
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      March 24, 2024 5:07pm
- MCōs
  
  That kid would have been conceived around 2007; in a different time before house prices and rents started to rocket upwards; before even the global economic crisis had much of an effect in our neck of the woods
  Didn’t we have a rock star economy back in those days?
  
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  March 24, 2024 2:33pm
kevn

hipkins giving his first major speech today… yawn.
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March 24, 2024 1:28pm
- mandk
  
  I expect he’ll be asking forgiveness for being part of the most ineffective government ever and, in particular, for his many failures as a Minister.
  
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  March 24, 2024 1:39pm
- pdm
  
  kev – I have just browsed it over at stuff.
  
  The man? (questionable but he has sired two children I believe so I give him the benefit of the doubt) is in denial.
  
  Tried to say Labour was not soft on crime.
  By inference wants to introduce a Capital Gains Tax and probably other taxes.
  Accepts no blame for anything.
  At least half of the speech focused on what the Coalition government has done to date and how bad it is.
  
  Look out Chippy and Carmel here comes McAnulty and Anderson or McAnulty and Edmonds
  
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  March 24, 2024 1:54pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Labour can state they are not soft on crime.
    It is all a question of what they define a crime!
    
    5 1
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    March 24, 2024 2:01pm
  - kevn
    
    pdm… Taking one for the team, well done.
    I didn’t bother.
    It has taken hipkins some 4-5 months to generate something and I knew he would disappoint.
    He is a lost cause.
    
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    March 24, 2024 2:26pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Apparently he has criticised National saying that slave labour and child labour should be left in the past.
  
  I’m not aware of any National policies promoting slave labour, but I know a Green MP is currently being investigated for migrant exploitation. Hipkins should maybe slag off the Greens instead…
  
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  March 24, 2024 2:18pm
  - Ghost
    
    Hmmm, child labour. Is that like when have teenagers campaigning for you for free and then you abuse them for you not winning?
    
    14 1
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    March 24, 2024 2:23pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Don’t yawn. Labour will get back in 6 or 9 years. I have no expectation that the replacements for Ardern Hipkins and Robbo will be any better. Notwithstanding the current hiatus, I reckon NZ is stuffed. I just can’t see the current coalition doing enough to rebuild the country to a point where it could survive the next Labour led government.
  
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  March 24, 2024 3:37pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The woke leader needs to get un=woke real quick.
    So woke he don’t know what ‘woke’ is.
    
    5 1
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    March 24, 2024 5:13pm
Chuck Bird

Did anyone see the Business Show on Sky after the Outsiders? It shows how well Ontario has done using nuclear power generation.

Will any of the climate change alarmists including Luxon support nuclear power to save the planet?
12 2
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March 24, 2024 1:52pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Government unveils ‘roadmap’ for several new nuclear power plants
  
  https://news.sky.com/story/government-unveils-roadmap-for-several-new-nuclear-power-plants-13045516
  
  3 0
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  March 24, 2024 2:32pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  We need it ASAP.
  Waiting just means more future money.
  Oi! Can someone stop that Green idiot on the floor, making silly noises and having anxiety attacks when I mention “NUCLEAR NUCLEAR NUCLEAR” ?
  
  2 2
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  March 24, 2024 5:16pm
Maggie Pie

Always had a lot of time for Rach ever since she was caught on hot-mike calling the female Labor MP’s “heifers and lard arses” 😀

She also deserves a ‘Journalism Award’ for this piece….

https://twitter.com/Rachel_Smalley/status/1771260148654506375
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March 24, 2024 2:16pm
- kevn
  
  Maggie… Can’t beat this headline though.
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-03-23/british-princess-cunt-has-cancer-i-dont-care-and-corporate-media-cant-make-me-care
  
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  March 24, 2024 5:22pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Goodness. And that guy ‘Johnny Rotten’ looked like a nasty peice of work as well kev 🙁
    
    4 1
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    March 24, 2024 6:43pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    He is one seriously f*cked up dude
    
    2 0
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    March 24, 2024 9:18pm
  - julesnzuk
    
    Yuck – which part of the internet cesspool were you lurking in to even find that revolting nonsense?
    
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    March 25, 2024 4:16am
- Jack5
  
  Smalley’s …. Pharmac could use its strong negotiating powers …
  
  Buyer for a country with 5.2 million people against the international pharmaceutical industry – strong negotiating powers?
  
  1 1
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  March 24, 2024 9:30pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    Yes, it could be a very strong position if NZ plays its cards right.
    5.2m + Sovreign power > 5.2 million.
    Money notwithstanding, the King of Tonga can do all sorts of things that the Mayor of New York City can’t do.
    The trick would be to not only negotiate with the major Western Pharma companies but with other national systems such as China and India as well.
    
    1 1
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    March 24, 2024 10:12pm
    - Jack5
      
      Negotiation with India and China …
      
      I wonder how much of Pharmac’s bill is for generic drugs, or specifically for authorised generic drugs, which are those licensed by patent-holders.
      
      There have been generic-drugs problems, at least with those from India:
      
      https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Special-Reports/India-pharma-quality-lapses-force-U.S.-to-look-to-China-for-vital-drugs
      
      AND:
      
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/04/big-pharma-india-s-drug-industry-needs-a-major-overhaul/82e12a36-d31e-11ed-ac8b-cd7da05168e9_story.html
      
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      March 24, 2024 10:31pm
- Muttonbird
  
  Cost sharing with patients: If you’re wealthy Seymour will help you with your cancer battle. If you’re not wealthy, he’ll let you die…
  
  Lovely, lovely people.
  
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  March 25, 2024 6:54am
kevn

horrid getting it wrong… PIJF working for ‘them’ not NZ.
https://www.downtoearth.kiwi/post/nz-herald-gets-it-economics-wrong-again-the-new-coalition-is-not-doing-austerity-it-is-seeking-to?
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March 24, 2024 2:30pm
Maggie Pie

Someone we know with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was saying she was in doubt Russia will launch a MASSIVE air-attack
against Ukraine within the next few hours, in retaliation for the Moscow massacre.
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March 24, 2024 2:41pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  s/be “in NO doubt…”
  
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  March 24, 2024 3:11pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    Such things are carefully calculated, not spur of the moment.
    Getting the men, planes and gear together to knock out specific targets at certain times, avoid missile defense, correcting for weather and terrain etc. etc.
    If the Russians are making air attacks because of these terrorist attacks, then they are making a serious error.
    This maybe an important part of making such attacks. We can all understand the utility of shooting a Major General or a Prime Minister, but what is the advantage of murdering a bunch of random people out for an evening show a concert hall?
    None, unless you consider that the terror and confusion is itself the major objective.
    Make people afraid, angry and crazy. Then they will act stupid.
    
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    March 24, 2024 7:44pm
Jack5

The Coalition’s Simeon Brown stood up well against Jack Tame on TVNZ today discussing roading policy.

Tame was in his old front-on style: “My question is …?”; “my question is …? “; “did you campaign on this …?”

When Tame interviews someone from the Centre or Right he seems often to lapse into verbal combat rather than concentrate on getting information for viewers.

You can contrast his style against Brown (first link below), with that when interviewing American anti-car transport advocate Janette Sadikh Khan (second link below).

Khan was New York City Transport Commissioner from 2007-2013. (For anyone curious about her name: her father was an Afghan Tatar.)

Simeon Brown and Tame:
https://youtu.be/p3UdtWrrgnU?si=iytKNWuuvcji1oqX

Tame and American believer in bikes, walking and public transport:
https://youtu.be/uxT3l5SDwHg?si=wm7X3cdlsKH_nzOI
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March 24, 2024 3:44pm
Jack5

A background article on ISIS-K, the Afghanistan-based Muslim terrorist group that committed the attack in Moscow (the death toll has risen to 133.)

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/why-did-isis-k-attack-moscow-theater-2024-03-23/
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March 24, 2024 4:33pm
- kevn
  
  Jack… There is some doubt.
  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-vows-revenge-bloodbath-moscow-attack-points-finger-help-ukraine-11-terrorists
  
  1 4
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  March 24, 2024 5:16pm
Swifty

Hipkins admitting Labour fallibility:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3ioT2rUP0&pp=QAFIAQ%3D%3D

Well I’ll be a monkey’s cock!

What have you got to say about this Mutton?
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March 24, 2024 6:27pm
- Jack5
  
  🐒Is Mutton an authority on monkey tally-whackers?
  
  1 0
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  March 24, 2024 10:41pm
Chris Nisbet

Newshub headline: “Conversationists, harbourmaster, iwi respond to SailGP accusations after dolphins halt racing”.

Spot the glaring error. Nobody can accuse them of wasting money proofreading their work.
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March 25, 2024 5:23am

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