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May 24, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 May 2024

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

There’s a lot of self-pity at the Public Service Commission. Where was this care and concern for the taxpayer as these people oversaw the expansion of the public sector?
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The “brutal” change proposal left many in tears, angry, and feeling like they had been “sold down the river”.
Some of those affected were “in pieces”, the staffer said. “The [staff] response has been quite extreme.
“There’s a high level of distress.”
To add insult to injury, the commission had taken a long time to come up with a proposal, with other ministries making cuts far earlier. That meant any jobs that were around in other areas of the public service had already been snapped up, they said.
————————————————————-
The good news is that 3 of 7 tier 2 roles are going, along with 7 of 28 tier 3 roles. The bad news is that of the 37 roles going, 13 are being offered voluntary redundancy.

Idly wondering which roles will get the payout.

And if you want to know the ‘who’ of the tier 2s, link is below. Heather Baggott and her deputies Rebecca Kitteridge, and Gaye Searancke are wielding the axe, we’re told. Not looking good for the men, I’d say.

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/05/budget-2024-public-service-commission-looks-to-reduce-staff-by-20-percent.html

https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/about-te-kawa-mataaho/our-leaders
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May 24, 2024 8:01am
- Benedict Yu
  
  In the preceding six years, these senior public servants were gorging on a fire hose of money. At the minimum they had a duty to warn new hires that they should plan on a new government ending the party.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:02am
  - RoboRob
    
    Anyone with a brain could have seen that coming, no need for a warning. Thats why Wellington always votes left, they know their jobs depend on it.
    
    I strongly suspect the 3 waters hires taken on in the 3mths leading up to the election had nice ‘parachute’ clauses written in. An investigation into those and similar last minute hires should take place. There is the possibility that these ‘hires’ were mates bought on at the last minute to earn some bucks and do no work.
    
    The writing was well and truely on the wall, 3 waters was definately going to be canned and the right was highly likely to win the election.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:32am
    - artemisia
      
      There was a flurry of new public sector hires in the last half of 2023.Be interesting to know how many were contractors. I know of 3. Two accepted (for now), one declined. That one was at a university.
      
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      May 24, 2024 9:48am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        One of my kids was looking for a role in the second half of last year. Quite a few roles listed, but no call backs received. Makes me wonder whether agencies created roles that they had no intention of filling; their virtue-signalling purpose being to be low hanging fruit that could be painlessly axed.
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:23pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I (politely) had that conversation with a couple of public servants. I saw no recognition that this would happen.
      
      To be fair, I recall Wayne Mapp commenting here that a future government would simply impose a “recruitment freeze” rather than engage in large scale redundancies. (I am sure that he will be along to correct me if I am misrepresenting him. 🙂)
      
      I suspect that many public servants in fact did not anticipate redundancies.
      
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      May 24, 2024 9:52am
      - thirteenstars
        
        “large scale redundancies”
        
        Still waiting for them. The current trimming of the public sector barely makes a dent in the orgy of new hires in 2023, that orgy being preceded by a bacchanal of several years.
        
        It’s as if Labour knew the most National would do is tinker with the numbers, so they padded them.
        
        Three steps back, half a stagger forward.
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        OK I was meaning that the scale is large relative to what Wayne was predicting , a recruitment freeze.
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:21am
- Paulus
  
  Remember that the head of the Public Service Commission Peter Hughes (a male) resigned very soon after the election presumably, as it appears, many of the decision he would have made were not done and the Commission changed its coat over the last three year or so, and we now see who run the Departments they appointed.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:42am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Changed its coat?
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:22am
- Countrygirl
  
  As soon as I read she/her and he/him I switch off.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:44am
Loddenthinks

The coalition government campaigned in 2023 on social investment, including into Mike King’s Iamhope charity, which also delivers Gumboot Friday, and which was repeatedly spurned by Labour.

An independent study showed that every $1 invested into the charity returned a social benefit of $5.70, and the government has now invested $24m to help them achieve this.

The Labour government gave the Mongrel Mob $2.75m to run a programme supposedly getting their customers of meth addiction, and the MSM reported it like this (NZ Herald, 15 July 2021):

“One of the National Party’s current lines of attack against Labour is an accusation that the governing party has funded the Mongrel Mob to the tune of $2.75 million.”

Now the MSM is attacking the government for giving money to a charity that actually does fantastic work in helping young people with their mental health, and will doubtless save lives and help hundreds if not thousands of others recover and go on to live fulfilling lives. It’s almost as if the MSM let their hatred of the centre right over-ride any common decency. But that can’t be right, can it?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350288339/govt-accepts-charity-commissioned-report-its-own-worth-face-value-prime-minister
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May 24, 2024 8:01am
- G152
  
  But as we all know its different when the left do it what ever it is
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:18am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  We have yet to see the results of the $2.75M that Jaspinda gave to Harry. Did he trouser most of it? The media will not ask “what improvements to meth addiction have been made? How many? Visible proof…”
  If there is nothing, it just proves it was all a vote buying scam at our expense.
  No wonder she ran.
  Loddenthinks, if it was for getting their customers off meth addiction then what was Harry selling to his “customers” besides meth?
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:19am
  - sirknz
    
    A free Section 27 report for your 6th appearance.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:52am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I’m not understanding that, sorry.
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:25am
      - rouppe
        
        Harry Tam had a nice side hustle where he wrote cultural reports for Maori offenders coming up for sentencing.
        
        Paid for by the taxpayer
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:52am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @rouppe,
        Now I’ve got it. Something I did not know.
        Thanks for bringing is up sirknz.
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:12pm
  - pdm
    
    Steve I thought it went to the Thug Sonny Charlton Smith and his family in Waipawa.
    
    We haven’t been to that part of Waipawa recently because Sister in Law, who lived round the corner from Sonny has moved to Taupo. So cannot say if the gardens have been landscaped yet.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:54am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Maybe I got Harry from the many media reports praising Jaspinda and the Monkey Mob.
      
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      May 24, 2024 9:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Has anyone discovered whether the $1.9Billion Andrew Little poured into Mental Health helped anyone but the groups that received the $$$$$?
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018918734/what-ever-happened-to-the-dollar2-billion-that-was-poured-into-mental-healthcare
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:35am
  - cmm
    
    “helped anyone but the groups that received the $$$$$?”
    
    Were they meant to?
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:49am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The ‘Health System’ got a huge hunk of the pie. What is “Access and Choice”?
    Then there is facilities upgrades, then DHB funding. I thought DHB was funded directly and not from Mental Health handouts?
    There is not much the “Health System” can show for their $1.1M. The is one thousand, one hundred MILLION! That is enough for one thousand, one hundred houses that could be used for Mental Health.
    Handouts and no results, while the Govt borrows $75million a day to service the debt.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:32am
  - Paulus
    
    It is unaccounted so we will never see to who and where it went – but we can guess.
    Lets see some figures re Mental Health exponential Growth.
    Some hope !
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:45am
    - AitchW
      
      Probably five hundred and fifty houses if KO were to build them.
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:15am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Media bias is definitely a thing. But the remedy for it is not “media should be just as uncritically accepting of National’s claims as they are of Labour’s”.
  
  It’s the other way round. In order to not be biased, the media should be as assiduous in independently investigating Labour’s claims, as they are with regard to National’s.
  
  Independent assessment of whether government money is really being as well spent as the recipient of that money says it is, is a good thing. It absolutely should have been done in the case of the gang meth programme. It was egregiously wrong of the Labour government not to do it, and egregiously wrong of the media not to challenge them for it.
  
  But rather than using that as an excuse for National to be just as bad – Don’t we want the National government to be better than that? If you think this charity is doing fantastic work, then you have nothing to fear and everything to welcome from a genuinely independent check.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:41am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I take your point, but neither national nor the coalition have been “bad” in regard to this. The study was done independently, yet the MSM are turning that around and accusing Luxon of accepting the charity’s word of the social benefit.
    
    They’ve deliberately ignored the fact that the study was carried out by a professional organisation qualified to do exactly that, and tried to make it into a puerile “well they would say that, wouldn’t they?” gotcha. Which it isn’t.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:12am
NeverMindTheBollocks

I don’t like Shane Jones much, but I am looking forward to him bulldozing his way through the Greenies.

New Zealanders leave NZ every year for the better prospects in Australia. The prospects are better there because they dig up their minerals and sell them.

If those Greenies want to see their children and grandchildren grow up in this country then they should really rethink their views.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/517675/government-s-mining-proposal-an-attack-on-nz-environment-forest-and-bird
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May 24, 2024 8:02am
- RoboRob
  
  Cant stand Winston or Jones, but for me they have been the highlight of this government so far. Their, ‘we dont care what you think attitude’, is strangely what we need to push through required change. They are not letting the media bully them.
  
  Seymour needs to take this on board and start closing government agencies. Whatu Ora, might be a good starting point.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    It is good that they will not let the media bully them.
    Do it Trump style, “You are Fake News” Then ignore their questions.
    They will spew and stamp their feet!
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:34am
  - leoj
    
    True, but Luxon is the one that is severely lacking in spine, too scared about what the media or opposition might think.
    
    I wish Winston well but he and Seymour need to help Luxon find his spine. The woke, weak Nats cannot pass legislation without them and Luxon needs to be constantly reminded of that.
    
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    May 24, 2024 7:26pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Have the Green Party ever set out how they do think it would be appropriate for New Zealand to raise the money that they want to spend in such profligate amounts?
  
  Farming? No. Forestry? No. Tourism? No. Mining? No. Fishing? No.
  
  Which revenue-generating activities do they not think the Government should be actively intervening to prevent?
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:52am
  - Damocles11
    
    Borrowing money.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:54am
  - RoboRob
    
    Green inovation and technology is their response. Of course every other country is trying that too and most are finding its an expense rather then an industry.
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:38am
  - Local Miller
    
    Growing and selling pot!
    
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    May 24, 2024 4:13pm
- rouppe
  
  Oh, on the Greens….
  
  In Porirua we have a problem (it seems) with cross connection of stormwater into the sewage system. Every time it rains heavily, the sewage system can’t cope with volumes, and it overflows into Titahi Bay, which is horrible.
  
  What they’re trying to do to remediate that is to install a 7 million litre tank into which a bunch of the sewage flows and is pumped away to the treatment plant. Normally it is pretty empty, but in heavy rain it can fill up and regulate the volume going to the plant. All well and good.
  
  Until they discovered that there were northern grass skinks living in the area of works.
  
  So what they did was spend 2 months collecting as many as they could, and rehoming them. They relocated 60 skinks.
  
  Bit of an eye roll but, hey…
  
  Until you discover that this 2 month exercise caused a six month delay to the project, increasing the cost by $10,000,000.
  
  Ten. Million. Dollars. For 60 skinks. $166,666 per skink.
  
  The worst bit? They’re not even endangered.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:08am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Great post
    
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    May 24, 2024 7:58pm
Kiwiguy

Heard a concerning story from one of my employees today about the covid vaccine program.
We all knew that Labour were incentivising certain communities with cash gifts to get the jab.
But my employee witnessed people of this community actually negotiating with the jabbers for more money.
“I won’t get the jab unless you pay me $XXX amount” was a comment he was hearing in the community hall.
And it worked, because apparently some people were walking out with $200-$500 for getting jabbed.
Just sickening.
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May 24, 2024 8:02am
- kowtow
  
  If true , that’s third world corruption stuff .
  
  But of course it didn’t happen because te media paahti obsessed about all things covid , but didn’t report this as happening…..
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:10am
- kevn
  
  Kiwi… I had heard of various types food vouchers being offered to certain communities but cash? FFS
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:23am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The less cash the community jabbers give away, the more they can trouser.
  The whole vaccine thing is corrupt! Safe and effective – and don’t you ever forget it, geeze.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:38am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    It was a terrible slogan. No medicine is “safe”. It is just a question of whether the benefits outweigh the risks. For example I take a medicine that reduces the ability of my blood to clot. It is definitely not “safe” but I choose to take it anyway.
    
    However what still angers me is jacinda imposing mandates which relied entirely on the premise that the vaccine stopped transmission. By that time, the evidence was clear that the vaccine did not do that.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:01am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      No proof, but I thing Pfizer paid Ardern handsomely to keep repeating “Safe and Effective” to the media and the public. She just would not shut up.
      Handsomely! But the google machine has been scrubbed. It was there for sure.
      All I get is ‘this page does not exist’ shit.
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:39am
- Philview
  
  I recall the stories of people getting jabbed 10 times and a nice payday. I wonder if the actual vaccine went in the arm or a bit of a set up.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:04am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Saline?
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:39am
    - alloytoo
      
      Well it wasn’t truth serum.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:40pm
- kowtow
  
  How many came back for multiples of what would have been thousands of $.
  
  Enough to give ya major heart palpitations , the $ that is!
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:40am
- rouppe
  
  If it were me, I’d say “don’t then, next please”. Plus record the names, so there’s no blow back later.
  
  No skin of anyone nose but theirs.
  
  Reminds me of the time i was lying in a hospital bed. The mattress are awful because they’re lined with plastic, which made me sweat something awful. I couldn’t get around because i still had 2 lines going into each arm, and it was only some 2 weeks on from a collapsed lung and broken ribs.
  
  So the nurses found me a fan to try keep me cool. It rattled a bit. New guy comes into the room.
  
  Just mouths off about the noise from this thing. I suggested at night he put in ear plugs, which is what I’d been doing because of the general noise on the ward. Off he went. “Why should i put in ear plugs because of the noise of your fucking fan! ”
  I pointed out that if the noise of the fan was a problem, the noise on the ward from rounds, trolleys, people crying etc would also be a problem, and in any case he snores something awful and i didn’t complain about it.
  
  Well… He shouts at the nurses that he demands to be moved or else he’ll discharge himself.
  
  I said “let him, he’s bluffing, nothing but hot air”. More shouting and he threatens to come over and smash me.
  
  He was moved in the end, but gosh. Why do we kowtow to pillocks?
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:47pm
- wsk12345
  
  My number at which I said I would “consider the jab”;was $2 million.
  
  These guys consider their life very cheap!
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:51pm
Grunter

Unbelievable and very sad. A 16 year old stabbed to death right outside the Dunedin Police Station.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/police-warned-over-bus-hub-safety-deadly-assault
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May 24, 2024 8:04am
- bartybart
  
  because the police are in nice warm highway patrol wagons taxing hard workers doing 11km/h over the limit. what is this country coming too
  Mark Mitchell has changed fk all with this soft diversity policing if you ask me
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:00am
  - Ghost
    
    Why attack the police for this?
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:32am
    - bartybart
      
      Because Police don’t put an emphasis on controlling trouble spots like this one, right outside their main station. They barely turn up at supermarket shoplifting and don’t charge the perps if citizen arrests like Todd Scotts happen.
      in 30mins driving out of Wellington today there’s been 4 hway patrols on duty on a brand new safe highway. Comprende?
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:38am
      - Ghost
        
        What a load of crap.
        
        The bus stops and busses are the councils responsibilty, they’ve had increased secruity guards around them.
        
        The police are not the issue. 6 years of people getting away with crap because of labour weakening the justice system is part of the issue. Social media and fame from fight videos is part of the issue. Kids having a lack of anger management and control is part of the issue. The decay of society is part of the issue. Bullying is part of the issue. Kids knowing there are no consequences are part of the issue. Parents not making sure their kids go to school is part of the issue.
        
        The police roading teams are part of the police, they are teams that’s job is roading. They aren’t taken off police duties. They are the dedicated roading officers.
        
        The person responsible for this stabbing is a 13 year old boy, not the police. Also the bus hub is down the road from the police station, not right out the front. No wonder kids lack self responsibility when people like you blame the police for a child killing someone
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:59am
      - Ghost
        
        Security was working at the bus hub when the stabbing occurred and quickly intervened when they saw the altercation.
        
        “We do have patrols actively walking around that area,” he said, which included youth teams, response teams and police leadership.
        
        “Unfortunately, on this occasion, we weren’t there at that time, but we were there that day.”
        
        Article
        
        But there will be those who a tragedy like this to pump up their police hatred
        
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        May 24, 2024 4:28pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        A couple of points.
        
        The police can’t guard the bus interchange 24/7.
        
        I am not a fan of speed traps on motorways. However there remain many shocking drivers on the roads. It would be nice to get them off the road..
        
        The police do not make tradeoffs between patrolling the roads and catching bad people. That is because road policing is entirely funded by the NZTA via petrol excise and road user charges. The police are contracted to agreed outputs. The budget is ring fenced.
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:32am
      - Taieri
        
        What a load of crap.
        
        The bus stops and busses are the councils responsibilty
        —————-
        
        What a load of crap.
        
        Is the police responsible for anything anymore? Even for what happens right outside their main station?
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:37am
      - Ghost
        
        Police aren’t responsible for the secruity of the bus stops. Do you want a cop at every bus stop,? The responsibilty is the councils for the secruity and safety on the busses and bus stops
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:41am
      - MCōs
        
        A couple of years ago at the height of the ram raiding epidemic a shop directly over the road from a police station was raided twice almost certainly because of its location
        As it happened the station is closed overnight as a cost cutting measure dating back to the Key administration, although that is not obvious to a hyped up young kid
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:20pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    What can the police do? Sounds like there is a cohort of school children who are feral and causing chaos.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:08am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      11 to whatever age try hard gangsters.
      In other words ‘little arseholes.’
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:46am
  - wsk12345
    
    I’ve been breath tested at 2 pm twice in the last few months. I live in a nice area where apparently there are lots of mums having liquid lunches!
    
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    May 24, 2024 1:55pm
  - leoj
    
    Mitchell lost credibility when he revealed that he and Coster exchanged Christmas cards.
    
    Coster should have been hounded out of his position on day one of the new govt.
    
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    May 24, 2024 7:30pm
  - AitchW
    
    Maybe we should be looking at the parents of the 13yo. They allowed him to carry a knife. Or they inspired him to carry a knife. Or they were so unaware of what he was doing that they had no idea that he was carrying a knife. Don’t blame the cops. Blame the boy who had the knife and the parents who spawned him .
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:16pm
    - Ghost
      
      When I was in high school my friends and I used to go for walks or go and play soccer, tag, etc after midnight. One night I didn’t wake up when they came to get me. Found out the next day one of my friends, who was from a very religious family was questioned by the police as he was walking around with a large knife. His parents never knew, his brother didn’t know.
      
      I also wouldn’t blame the parents, yet. Wait to see information come forward. I’ve seen cases in the states where the kid has come from a loving family, but still killed. Something has gone wrong here, and we don’t know what. It could be mental health, it could be bullying, it could be a gang wannabe, it could be a crap family, we don’t know.
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:34pm
- Taieri
  
  A 16 year old stabbed to death right
  ———
  
  By a 13 years old, which is even sadder…
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:11am
  - Nobby2
    
    Being 16 and getting stabbed and dying is way more sadder than being a 13 year old stabber. A victim of any crime is way more important than the perpetrator of a crime. A victim of a crime deserves much respect, the criminal deserves nothing.
    
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    May 24, 2024 5:31pm
- JimBobJoe
  
  Not unbelievable at all.
  
  It is increasing common for stupid kids to carry a knife or screwdriver constantly in certain areas of the country.
  
  And public transport hubs are places that seem to attract problems.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:40am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I suspect that it is now a major barrier to using public transport.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:09am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The 13 year old in Court will get something like ‘supervision.’
  The whole Justice System needs to be changed and very stiff penalties for a murder like this. No more soft cocks.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:43am
  - Mike
    
    I’d be tempted to agree with you if you were also advocating for 13 year olds to have the legal right to leave school, drink, smoke, drive, sign contracts and vote.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:56am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That would be plain stupid Mike. Just not me.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:15pm
    - rouppe
      
      Where’s the connection between being allowed to vote and real consequences for stabbing someone to death?
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:53pm
      - Mike
        
        If you wish to impose adult responsibilities on children you might wish to consider granting them some adult privileges as well.
        
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        May 24, 2024 3:15pm
      - AitchW
        
        Mike, regardless of the rights conferred upon a 13 year old, you’d have to concede that stabbing someone to death is a pretty adult action. Privileges like obtaining a drivers license are granted not an automatic right.
        There is no right to kill another person, however society tends to frown upon it and expects it to be punished appropriately. A jolly good telling off and half an hour on the naughty step is just not enough.
        If you’re going to carry out grown up crimes there comes a point where grown up punishments are appropriate.
        
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        May 24, 2024 5:26pm
  - MCōs
    
    A thirteen year old can be convicted of murder or manslaughter in NZ
    The penalty for murder, which this person has been charged with, is life.
    A thirteen year old must not be unsupervised, which is interesting because I see plenty of younger kids going to the primary school down the road unsupervised. In fact I walked to school when I was five supervised by my six year old sister.
    
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    May 24, 2024 2:48pm
    - Ghost
      
      Bailey Junior Kurariki Was 12 years old
      
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      May 24, 2024 2:53pm
artemisia

A lot of mayors have written to the government saying the proposal to reinstate polls to create Maori wards is racist because this does not apply to other new wards. They may have a point.

There is an obvious solution – democracy. All new wards go to a poll of local voters. I’m sure those mayors and chairs will agree immediately.
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May 24, 2024 8:05am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Any Maori wards that were created through a ratepayer referendum don’t need another referendum.
  
  Any Maori wards that were created without a ratepayer referendum should be subject to a referendum.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:08am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Political rights should not depend on who your ancestors were. By taking the weasel approach of condoning this, but only if enough people vote for it, National has created a situation where it will become impossible to be both sensible and logically consistent. Therefore, accusations of inconsistency will be hard to avoid.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:13am
  - Gravelroad
    
    A few years back a farmer stood for election in one of the wards of a local Council – and, much to the consternation of the urban majority, was elected.
    On the first day at the office, the new councillor was told in no uncertain terms that he was not there to “represent” farmers, producers or landowners, or even the interests of all ratepayers in his ward. He was warned not to ever come to a Council meeting wearing any branded clothing or carrying document bags with a logo on it.
    The mantra was that even as an elected ward Councillor, he was part of a decision making group for all residents and ratepayers – not just a selection of some.
    Not sure if this is the expectation communicated to electeds from “special interest” wards these days?
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:35am
    - RoboRob
      
      The Maori party could do with a dose of that logic too.
      
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      May 24, 2024 9:39am
    - rouppe
      
      “…or even the interests of all ratepayers in his ward.”
      
      I’d of thought that is precisely why he was there
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:59pm
- kiwikidsnz
  
  AFAIK none of other wards are racist selection. They represent eg farmers in rural regions.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:15am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Over 50 Mayors don’t want you voting against racist Maori Wards.
  No surprise that Auckland’s Wayne Brown isn’t amongst them.
  Just the usual suspects, Tory Whanau, Wayne Guppy, etc etc…..
  
  Is YOUR Mayor on the list?
  
  https://x.com/winstonpeters/status/1793395087378104626
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:16am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Sooner or later you will find Maori Councilors will not be voted in, they will be appointed – with the power of Veto on anything.
    Am I wrong?
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:27am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Many local councils already have Maori representation appointed (through their iwi) onto decision making committees.
      They are paid to attend the meetings.
      
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      May 24, 2024 8:39am
      - RoboRob
        
        Some also have the power of Veto.
        
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        May 24, 2024 9:40am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Do they have the power of Veto?
        By that I mean if their Iwi don’t want the Council to vote on something, they can just stop it in it’s tracks?
        
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        May 24, 2024 9:50am
      - RoboRob
        
        @Steve Otto
        
        I thought the the maori on Environment Cnaterbury did but apparanty they just have normal voting rights. I wouldn’t be surprised if things that mana-whenua were strongly against didn’t get progressed however.
        
        https://www.ecan.govt.nz/about/your-council/our-team/mana-whenua-representation/
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:46am
    - MCōs
      
      Yes
      
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      May 24, 2024 8:42am
      - graham
        
        Why?
        
        3 2
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        May 24, 2024 8:49am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I’m wrong? Please elaborate.
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:52am
    - kowtow
      
      Already happening .
      
      Dunedin has two unelected Maori reps on several committees and they have voting rights.
      
      This was decided by council , not the electotrate.
      
      Totally against the principles of democracy.
      
      https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/maori-place-committee-tables
      
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      May 24, 2024 8:46am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Like cancer, slowly the Coup creeps in.
        
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        May 24, 2024 9:51am
    - thirteenstars
      
      The way this is going, perhaps if the coalition gets a second term and really starts to push back, is first the Supreme Court will become actively hostile to the government and sympathetic to anti-government petitioners. The Court has already made opinions that Tikanga Maori is a valid basis upon which to make its decisions.
      
      Then I’d expect the Governor General to become an active participant in the revolution, refusing assent to laws because they were incompatible with the Treaty. If you think that sounds far fetched, perhaps a look around at the state of our culture will convince.
      
      Cindy Kiro’s tenure expires at the end of 2026, about the time of the next election, which is a small win. That said, I have no confidence Luxon, who has sole power to appoint the GG, will not score an own goal by choosing a moderate, which these days means an activist.
      
      I wouldn’t be surprised if Kiro refused assent to a Treaty Principles law. In the current context it can’t be ruled out when a few short years ago it would have been unthinkable.
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:07am
  - PurplePen
    
    Yeah, I was surprised Waitaki Mayor Kircher was on the list. Mind you, he generally plays both sides all the time, which possibly accounts for his length of tenure.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:24am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Like cancer, slowly the Coup advances.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:23am
- CJames
  
  With a few exceptions, local body politicians are either leftwing activists with little sense of reality or aspiring Labour/ Green politicians. One only has to look at the quality of their decisionmaking to realise many would be near unemployable in any management role outside their happy place.
  Though they are all elected, one cannot totally blame the voters for the representatives. Anyone who is competent would be put off by the reported behaviour of Councils. The choice is often the best of a bad bunch. The low voter turnout supports the lack of quality available.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:27am
  - Jack5
    
    MMP voting needs to take some of the blame for Lefties and their fellow activists taking over so much local government.
    
    Under first-past-the-post voting, many people on the Right would become known by getting on local bodies such as councils, and even lesser voted bodies such as the catchment boards of long ago.
    
    Now, if they are young and ambitious, the career path seems to be working as a volunteer “intern” – unpaid, full or part time, for a Right wing party.
    This leaves a political hole in local government.
    
    Pay-free “internship” may be creating even wider problems for the country:
    
    https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/15-05-2024/thousands-of-new-zealand-students-have-to-work-for-free-each-year-is-that-fair
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:55am
- I remember when
  
  How many councillors, that indentify as Maori, are there in New Zealand?
  Are they there because of a Maori ward?
  But I guess the real question is, why can’t Maori who represent a general ward, present a Maori view?
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:22am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    They can and they do. This push is coming from local IWI members who work inside the Territorial authorities to get their patrons in the local iwi organisations more power in the local area.
    
    The Council members and Mayors are often Left leaning and their parties want Iwi co-governance, so they happy to go a long with the council staff agenda
    
    In the Hutt CC instance, this definitely seems the case..
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:34am
  - Flossie
    
    Why do we presume there is a “Maori view”? We would argue that non Maori do not have a collective view.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:48am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That would be the Democratic way. Maori do things by appointment, not vote.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:54am
- Libertarians are right
  
  No. That is not appropriate at all. It is dangerous because it specifically allows the majority to discriminate against the minority.
  
  Special wards exist so that ratepayers that have special geographic needs have those needs met. Generally speaking, it’s a reduction in rates because they don’t have access to a large percentage of Council services (like non-metered water, footpaths, street lighting etc). Without special wards, they might be used to fund lower rates for everyone else.
  
  Note that none of these reasons exist for Maori Wards. Maori wards exist explicitly to push a Maori cultural agenda. That is not a core service of Councils so should not be protected.
  
  Note that Stuff had an article last week about how Palmerston North City Council was trying to increase rates on Rural Ratepayers to help fund their promises.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:42am
  - artemisia
    
    I know. Was making a point.
    
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    May 24, 2024 12:58pm
  - rouppe
    
    I just received an email from the managers of a forestry block I am a partner in, saying the council wants to increase the rate for roading around forests 8000%
    
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    May 24, 2024 1:06pm
- Paulus
  
  Why can’t Maori goes for election in their own right.
  Look how many Maori MPs there are elected by the populous.
  Remember there are no Maori, only population variations to suit physical acts, over the many years.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:57am
- rouppe
  
  Other new ward are created or amended due to population changes in order to maintain some degree of proportionality of representation.
  
  Maori wards are created and amended because of political reasons, not democratic reasons
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:56pm
Tomtoddy

Was the man on the Singapore airliner that struck horrific turbulence “killed” by the problem or did he die of a heart attack as a result of the extreme fear he encountered? No difference?? Pedantic?? Maybe, but the media are obsessed with sensationalism above facts and accuracy.
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May 24, 2024 8:19am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Does it matter?
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:24am
  - hmmokrightitis
    
    Absolutely it does. For example, years ago working in the UK for a cable tv company, we had a woman die in a trench that had just been dug. Turns out she had a heart attack and fell in, not the other way around. Media of course had a field day then went quiet when the truth came out.
    
    For example, was he in his seat with belt on? Wandering? With the photos I’ve seen the drop was truly significant and if you hit the ceiling (not uncommon) thats going to trigger damn near anything if you are old – or he could have passed away before it all happened.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:38am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      We may never know. But let’s say we do find out.
      
      Scenario 1. He had his seat belt on and died of shock.
      
      Scenario 2. He hit his head on the ceiling and that triggered a heart attack.
      
      Scenario 3. He had a heart attack prior and was already dead.
      
      ….
      
      Scenario 3 might mean that Singapore Airlines is not liable to pay any compensation to the family but I would be surprised if they go that route. It would be a bad look.
      
      The guy is very sadly dead. IMO the precise mechanism of his death has no bearing on the seriousness of the incident.
      
      We won’t know intil the investigation is complete. However it is probable that the pilots encountered clear air turbulence which could not have been avoided.
      
      Fasten your seat belt. 😕
      
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      May 24, 2024 9:16am
      - MCōs
        
        The guy had a preexisting heart condition, which could mean just about anything.
        I see someone broke their teeth. The thought of that just about puts me off flying
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:12am
      - Paulus
        
        Most travellers like the man who died of a Heart Attack more than likely had some for of Travel Insurance which will financially help the family with costs, and of course SAL will assist.
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:04am
  - peterwn
    
    I think it does matter to his nearest and dearest. I hope that the Thai pathologist who reports on his case has the same sort of insights as the Palmerston North pathologist Cynric Temple-Camp and has something useful to tell his widow (who was badly injured in the incident) and family. My guess is he had an existing possibly undetected heart condition and the incident pushed it over. That would be like the young physically fit sportspeople who suddenly die during a game.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:51am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Maybe too many vax?
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:16am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I have had 6. Maybe I should avoid airplanes.
        
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        May 24, 2024 3:27pm
  - kowtow
    
    What matters is how te legacy media are still blathering on about it.
    
    A 16 year old was stabbed to death literally opposite Plod HQ in Dunedin yesterday.
    
    That matters.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:51am
  - cmm
    
    Yes it does if there are going to be changes in policy made due to this event.
    
    If he whacked into the ceiling and physical trauma contributed to his death then wearing a seat belt would have saved him.
    If it was just fear, then likely not.
    
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    May 24, 2024 8:54am
  - I remember when
    
    Not to the victim!
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:22am
- Damocles11
  
  Was he killed by ‘the problem’? Do you mean did he coincidently die of a heart attack around the same time as the plane hit severe turbulence and then started plummeting, leading some to believe they were facing imminent death?
  
  Clearly the part of the incident that involved the onset of severe turbulence was no picnic.
  
  ‘Australian man Keith Davis said his wife suffered a severe spinal injury on the ill-fated Singapore Airlines flight 321 and was in intensive care in a Bangkok hospital.’
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:59am
  - Paulus
    
    And where a number of people did not have their seat belts on, at all times – and this was during meal serving some of the crew did not have time to belt up either.
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:10am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The pilots must have known there was turbulence ahead and should have told passengers to fasten seat belts. How come so many were hurt?
  One of our trips to Alaska, the Auckland to Honolulu leg the pilot mentioned turbulence ahead, so fasten seat belts and he would go around the worst of it. Was a bit bumpy. The pilot also said we would be landing 4/4 hour late. It was already a 9 1/2 hour trip. Best to be safe. That was Hawaii Airlines. Won’t use Air NZ – too messy, too many pigs.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:05am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Clear Air Turbulence cannot be seen by pilots on weather radar.
    
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clear-air-turbulence-what-causes-forecast/
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:09am
    - Paulus
      
      Was this CAT or was it severe tropical weather turbulence which was around at the time, and is a regular occurrence in that area -have been through that once and we tried to fly around the weather as best – same route as SAL.
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:14am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        We won’t know until the investigation is done. Thunderstorms can be seen on weather radar. AFAIK pilots don’t just fly into them.
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:55pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yep, My understanding is the radar will probably operate on the 6 Khz range, Same as Rain Radars on NZ Coasts. ie Weather systems / Dense clouds / and hence Moisture ( What a cloud is / Hot air rising until it condenses etc).
        
        It seems like in this case, The Radar could never pick it up.
        
        It must of been a hell of a change in air pressure that caused this.
        
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        May 24, 2024 6:24pm
    - peterwn
      
      So the challenge for the aviation industry is coming up with some way of predicting clear air turbulence. There would be a Nobel Prize for this. At present the only way to minimise harm would be for everyone to be strapped in at all times. Perhaps robots could be used to deliver meals and drinks.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:09pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        There already will be satelite data that shows the Horizontal air pressure systems, Similar to ground barometric pressure only at Height, The closer the pressure gradients the more violent ( Depending on direction of travel) it will be.
        Say 12000 ft , -50 deg, and 200 Hpa/mb as an example.
        
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        May 24, 2024 6:30pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I don’t know how the pilot got the info Benedict. All he said was he was going on a detour around it and we would be late.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:18pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        There are different kinds of turbulence. Convective turbulence aka thunderstorms can be seen on the weather radar. So the pilot can detour.
        
        https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/turbulence_stuff/turbulence/turbulence.htm#:~:text=Convective%20currents%20are%20often%20strong,winds%20and%20bumpy%20flying%20conditions.
        
        On the other hand clear air turbulence comes out of the blue. Literally. ☹️
        
        The investigation will figure out what happened in the case of the Singapore Airlines flight.
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:57pm
G152

I wonder what the definition of ‘racism and ‘racist’ is in the alternative dictionary that seems to be the current goto.
Used to be ‘The advancement of one race or peoples over any other races or people’
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May 24, 2024 8:26am
Scooter

Isn’t language and who says it a funny thing, an ex PM (Jacinda) can be caught calling another MP an “arrogant prick” and now a rugby coach calls an interviewer a C***. I guess to say the C word is worse than Prick, but for a PM to use that word seems far worse (PM to be held to higher standards). At least they are being equal where genitalia is concerned.
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May 24, 2024 8:27am
- CJames
  
  I always thought the better term was scrote, learnt from police friends. Used for someone behaving somewhere between a prick and an arsehole.
  There was an article in Spiked lamenting the lack of imagination in abuse.
  https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/16/the-insults-were-better-in-my-day/
  Bring back plonkers
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:23am
  - PurplePen
    
    Another term used predominantly by American cops is Scumbag.
    It’s the little sack at the tip if a condom that collects the goods when the deed is done
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:29am
- RoboRob
  
  Its moral decay. It starts when MPs stop wearing suits adn start wearing cowboy hats. Now we have the left physically threatening people and searing in parliament.
  
  The Greens saying, no big deal we all swear around here is just stupid. I swear, though not as much as I used too, but I would NEVER swear in front of or to a customer. Ethics, integrity and morals are things for other people when you are a lefty.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:45am
  - Ghost
    
    Parliament can get heated at times. It happens. Judith Collins has sworn in committee. Nicola willis has sworn in the house.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:57am
    - RoboRob
      
      Neither of them should have. You can get heated in a professional environment without resorting to swearing. If you normalise swearing, what next?
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I thought Marama Davidson had reclaimed cunt for us all.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TLYDIpBxt8
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:40am
  - AitchW
    
    Wash your mouth out! That’s a dreadful word!
    
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    May 24, 2024 5:31pm
- AitchW
  
  Not to mention the Mexican Green list MP dropping the f bomb in the house the other day. God, the Greens are as feral as TPM.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:22am
  - MCōs
    
    Well fuck me!
    Time for a bit of xenophobia!
    
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    May 24, 2024 6:41pm
    - AitchW
      
      Is he not Mexican? Is he not a Green mp? Did he not utter the f word? Is that acceptable in the house ?
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:20pm
      - Ghost
        
        It’s not the big deal some want to make of it. Others have done it. Nicola Willis was booted out of the house when speaker mallard was standing and she said “for fucks sake”. It happens.
        
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        May 24, 2024 10:40pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Drill baby, drill. Let’s dig some holes.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/jones-attacks-metropolitan-identity-driven-labour-as-he-commits-to-new-mining-projects/ar-BB1mTCsO?
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May 24, 2024 8:29am
- Scott
  
  Yes, it was an excellent presentation by Shane Jones to the people of Blackball yesterday. He is aiming to increase our export earnings from mining to $2B from its current $1B. Many jobs will ensue and much wealth to the people of the West Coast and NZ generally.
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/23/mining-back-in-business-with-plan-to-double-export-value-govt/
  
  What a difference from the previous government. All they wanted to do was kowtow to the environmentalists. This new govt is aiming to increase our prosperity. What a concept! 😎
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:39am
  - CJames
    
    I wonder how many of the protesters in the photo actually came from the West Coast? Noticed there was a lot of plastic evident, so they probably weren’t aware of their own hypocrisy.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:34am
    - I remember when
      
      “how many of the protesters in the photo actually came from the West Coast?”
      The local supporter who asked that question on One News said “I thought not.”
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:01am
      - Jethrod
        
        Seems like the local Pikes mine leader was impressed
        
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        May 24, 2024 11:45am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      Wasn’t really watching to be honest but I am fairly sure there was video on last night’s news of a local confronting the protestors and asking whether any of them actually came from West Coast. The response was embarrassed, shuffling silence.
      
      For TVNZ, the whole item was remarkably balanced, possibly even leaning slightly Government-side. The pro-mining side was represented not only by ministers but also by rough, salt-of-the-earth West Coast types, and an articulate executive type who had facts and figures, while the protestor side was represented by an emotive, barely coherent woman. Most refreshing
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:03am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The rent a mob would have been there.
      Even though Blackball is the birthplace of Labour the Coasters want to get back to work. They are keen, it is a job they know.
      They must do open cast mining, not like Pike River. The Greens won’t like it but just tell them to fuck off. They are partly responsible for the Pike River deaths.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:24pm
- peterwn
  
  The only mining Labour and Greens are interested in is mining the taxpayer’s pocket.
  Another very important aspect is surely NZ has a moral obligation to mine for export a similar amount of minerals (including petroleum products) as it imports. So if NZ imports lots of lithium in EV and other batteries then surely NZ should produce and export a similar amount of lithium. To tolerate this sort of balance is quite hypocritical on the part of mining protesters.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:59am
  - Jake Dee
    
    I don’t see how that could work if elements are distributed unequally around the world which I’m pretty damned sure they are.
    What would NZ do about imports of iron and copper?
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:32am
- Grunter
  
  We should be digging up the massive amount of coal in Otago & Southland. China & India’s demand for coal is growing every year and is predicted to keep growing for decades.
  
  11 2
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  May 24, 2024 9:02am
  - kowtow
    
    And turning it into petrol for cars and transport.
    
    When war comes we’re going to be so isolated we’ll be stuffed bigly.
    
    Prepare now .
    
    7 1
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    May 24, 2024 10:38am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Yes that would be a guaranteed path to saving NZ $10 Billion a year in imported petroleum products – which would be a life saver for our out-of control 30 Billion a year current account deficit.
      
      And it would grow a lot of engineering industry capacity that would have network cost benefits for other industries, generally making NZ a more competitive and productive place to do business
      
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      May 24, 2024 3:30pm
- imalwaysright
  
  The [Mod – use his name] ex green MP who runs Greenpeace, Rustle Norman, was on tv1 this morning dishing out dirt on the ministers who will administer the mining rights.
  It was pathetic, and not helped by him being dressed as a 12year old.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:44am
  - PurplePen
    
    I see some of his posts on X from time to time. He seems to be ever more negative and with a chip on his shoulder ever growing. Not inspiring at all
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:14am
    - Jethrod
      
      It’s because he never got his flag back
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:47am
softail 1450

Brook Howard Smith <—— I’ve no idea who this guy is but he just announced on TV3’s breakfast program that “ during the next 36 months 4 million New Zealanders will have to be retained in new fields as AI will make them redundant”
FFS the main topic was our inability to train school teachers on basic maths and this fool reckons it’ll be no problem to retrain 4 million of us in 3 years . LMFAO, good grief we’re surrounded by clowns.
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May 24, 2024 8:36am
- Yabster
  
  The working population is only about 3 Million- so what a dumbass… maybe re shld be retrained in statistics…
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:23am
- Blog-aholic
  
  If he/she/it, works at TV3 they/them/zit, will probably be retraining soon enough…….
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:42am
- lifesgood
  
  Is it just me but wouldn’t any male named Brook have an axe to grind?
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:27pm
- AitchW
  
  The truly frightening thing is that many of our children are being educated by those very same clowns.
  Given the appalling decline in standards of behaviour among some MPs in parliament and the equally appalling willingness of some sectors of society to rest to crime, violence and theft when it suits them I fear deeply for the future of our society.
  I’ve lived in NZ since 1974 and I can’t remember a time when the outlook was so bleak.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:39pm
Maggie Pie

$tuff asks…

‘Is TVNZ making the most of John Campbell?’

I’d say if that lefty moron never appeared on screen
again would be too soon for most people.
———————————————————————————

Karl du Fresne writes…..

“Campbell clearly decided on October 14 that New Zealand had made a grevious mistake in electing a right-wing government and set himself the task of leading the Resistance.
Someone in authority should have told him then that this was not his function as a journalist. If he refused to accept that he should have been told to pack his bags”

There’s something about John Campbell that creeps me out 🙁
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May 24, 2024 8:38am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, John’s creepy interview with Mayor Brown set his standard and I have never watched him since.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:57am
- imalwaysright
  
  John considers himself our superior and can barely hide his frustration that we haven’t yet realised it.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:06am
- pdm
  
  MP – my comment on Stuff apparently used language that may not be acceptable – or words to that effect.
  
  I said along the lines that mrspdm and I considered Campbell unpalatable, smug and patronising and when he came on our screen we changed channels.
  
  An honest critique I thought.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:11am
  - Flossie
    
    You and mrspdm are absolutely 💯 correct!
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:34am
  - RoboRob
    
    Its the faux compassion that really rubs me up the wrong way.
    
    That said haven’t seen or read anything from him since just before JA got elected. At that stage he was on a campaign to save the homeless from sleeping in cars. That issue magically resolved itself once his team got into power.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:49am
  - AitchW
    
    I’d suggest that you and Mrs pdm understated Campbell’s oleaginousness. (I hope that’s a word!)
    Smug, self righteous, patronising and superior. And those are his good qualities!
    
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    May 24, 2024 5:43pm
- artemisia
  
  I mentioned to someone that John Campbell comes across as faux. That person taught him as a tertiary student and disagreed with me, saying he has always been like that. True story.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:18am
  - RoboRob
    
    Lol, just complained about him being faux above and then read your comment.
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:49am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Is faux code for sanctimonious tw#t?
    
    Asking for a friend.
    
    8 1
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    May 24, 2024 11:55am
- PurplePen
  
  The last time i watched him he was interviewing someone, possibly after the CHCH earthquakes, i forget, and you could feel the excitement in him as he brought the interviewee to tears .. never watched him since. Disgusting.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:18am
  - Ian Boag
    
    The old Paul Holmes trick. Find someone who has been seriously injured, jam the mike in his face and ask if “it hurts” ….
    
    12 1
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    May 24, 2024 10:40am
    - Mike
      
      Paul Holmes should have stuck to comedy.
      
      2 4
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      May 24, 2024 11:04am
      - Red
        
        Cheeky Prollie.
        
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        May 25, 2024 12:09am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Holmes was a real piece of shit, worst sort of tabloid journo who didn’t care who he fucked in order to bolster his viewership.
      
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      May 24, 2024 3:33pm
Bridgenag

Wrongdoing and Illegal Activity by Dr. Fauci’s Senior Scientific Advisor
Latest from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic

“When the novel coronavirus emerged from the same city in China with a high security lab specializing in coronaviruses, Daszak’s collaboration with the lab and with University of North Carolina gain-of-function coronavirologist Ralph Baric came under scrutiny — including from non-virologists like Wenstrup.
Morens, Fauci and Daszak all went into action. ”

“In addition, Morens wrote an email about the possibility of a “kickback” for helping to restore EcoHealth’s NIAID funding. He wrote profane emails that referred to binge drinking and sex, and made a remark about former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky wearing a skirt, raising concerns about his lack of professionalism and attitudes toward women.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/wrongdoing-and-illegal-activity-by?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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May 24, 2024 8:48am
- cmm
  
  “When the novel coronavirus emerged from the same city in China with a high security lab specializing in coronaviruses”
  
  Not just the same city, but a few hundred metres away.
  
  There are maybe 10,000 wet markets in China. Just a massive coincidence that it was the one 200 metres down the road from the lab… Coincidence – yeah right!
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:57am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

In the mornings the speaker of the house insists on watching “Breakfast.”
Idiot Campbell is on this morning and he won’t shut up. It’s all about him interviewing himself.
‘Is TVNZ making the most of John Campbell?’ Yes – flogging a dead horse.
Anyway ‘Breakfast’ is much better with that blonde bimbo Anna gone. She is always looking for that “gotcha’ moment when presenting and interviewing. Sickening.
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May 24, 2024 8:52am
- RoboRob
  
  Cant watch it at all. Sad that the AM show is going, guess I will be watching infomercials now.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:51am
  - Flossie
    
    The AM show was rubbish after Ryan was replaced. Gave up watching any breakfast TV.
    
    8 1
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    May 24, 2024 10:21am
    - RoboRob
      
      Ryans replacement is rubbish, correct. I like some basic news, weather and a clock in the morning 🙂
      
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      May 24, 2024 11:50am
  - kowtow
    
    Turn on The Platform.
    
    Sure Plunkett is annoying and talks over his guests but he covers the issues te legacy media won’t and has good guests.
    
    4 4
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    May 24, 2024 10:36am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Put some music on instead and go to Aussie Sky news. With Kiwi blog you will have all you need
      
      3 2
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      May 24, 2024 11:27am
      - Bridgenag
        
        Grieved for the loss of the old RNZ with the great plays at 3 am and great discussions. All gone. Move on.
        
        2 1
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        May 24, 2024 11:29am
    - Chris Nisbet
      
      Sean has this habit (not sure if it’s intentional) of asking a question, pausing just long enough for the guest to start answering, then interrupting with another addition to the question.
      If it was me, I’d never know when it was safe to respond, and I’d probably wind up wanting to poke him in the eye.
      Sean is also quite adept at just talking right over the top of someone for as long as needed until the other party gives up. He’ll talk as loud as needed to ensure we can’t hear a fricken word the other party is saying.
      Sometimes I get it – there are times when the person he’s talking to simply will _not_ ask the question that was asked (I’m sure politicians get lessons on how to do this), and Sean isn’t interested in letting them continue.
      Other times, sheesh.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:21pm
      - Chris Nisbet
        
        should have been “will not _answer_…”
        
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        May 24, 2024 12:32pm
    - PurplePen
      
      Actually I’ve started switching to Plunkett in the mornings sometimes from Hosking .. some mornings with Hosking of late you’ll get an inordinate amount of banter, the news headlines repeated and a multitude of ads and that’s it. As someone else said tho with Plunkett you have to put up with the strident chip-on-the-shoulder voice and he does like to hear himself speak and not let the interviewee answer the question .. a bit like Kim Hill.
      
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      May 24, 2024 1:23pm
    - Miritu
      
      Turn on Reality Check Radio, much better
      https://realitycheck.radio/
      respectful discussions, no talking over
      
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      May 24, 2024 2:25pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The Daniel dude is good to watch. No nonsense, and not a smartarse.
    
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    May 24, 2024 12:25pm
- AitchW
  
  In my opinion Campbell hit the bottom of the barrel and kept digging was at the memorial service shortly after the mosque murders in Christchurch. His obsequious interview of the Imam was truly nauseating.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Guess what The Don gave to Roseanne Barr?

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/donald-trump-gives-roseanne-barr-a-gun/ss-BB1mW9NT?
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May 24, 2024 8:55am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350288586/person-falls-wellington-harbour-ferry-search-under-way
Apparently they are looking for “a pakeha male”.
It never bloody stops ! Anyone from overseas reading this would not know what that means.
What is wrong with “a European male” ?
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May 24, 2024 8:57am
- Frank the tank
  
  “What is wrong with “a European male” ?”
  
  Or white male……..
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:03am
  - julesnzuk
    
    Because “white” is an Americanism and we have imported enough American crap. If his ethnicity is European then European is the correct word.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:40am
- pdm
  
  How about a New Zealand male?
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:13am
  - julesnzuk
    
    Because “New Zealand” in that context is an adjective describing the country someone’s from – and not remotely helpful (or even necessarily accurate) in this situation.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:39am
- CJames
  
  As there are a lot of blue-eyed ginger Maori, how do they know what his ethnic origins are?
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:26am
  - I remember when
    
    Manuel Jose’
    
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    May 24, 2024 9:39am
  - Flossie
    
    How do they know which of the many genders he/she/they identifies with.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:40am
- JimBobJoe
  
  So that could be an Asian, South American Indian, Innuit, European
  
  What a poor descriptor – Stuff is irredeemable, total fixated on pushing the Maori viewpoint.
  
  I wonder who is funding the operation because it isnt Sinead of the one dollar purchase…
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:27am
- MCōs
  
  Re pakeha
  “Anyone from overseas reading this would not know what that means.”
  I can just imagine someone in some far flung country scratching their head with concern about the ethnicity of someone lost in Port Nicholson, particularly if they’re not familiar with te reo Māori
  Here in NZ everyone knows what that means
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:32am
  - Muttonbird
    
    The could always Google it and after doing so will have learned something new.
    
    Te reo Māori – increasing knowledge the world over.
    
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    May 24, 2024 10:44am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I am sure the ‘world over’ want to learn te reo muttonhead.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:30pm
    - PurplePen
      
      If your objective is to communicate with as many people as possible, why would you write in code or write something in two languages simultaneously and then expect the reader to Google the language they don’t know. lunacy.
      
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      May 24, 2024 1:26pm
    - julesnzuk
      
      Yeah they can Google it – and then they can learn how many people hate it and therefore, assuming they have manners, they’ll refrain from using it. Win win.
      
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      May 25, 2024 1:45am
  - julesnzuk
    
    Completely and utterly missing the point. People are sick to the back teeth of having a made up label, in a language that isn’t their own, foisted on them. There’s no such ethnicity as “pakeha”. If Stuff want to continue doing their sloppy thing of mangling languages then they should use the Maori word for “European” (which isn’t “pakeha”).
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:43am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I don’t think that is controversial. “pakeha male” would be understood even by most migrants.
  
  “Searching for a missing tane in Te Whanganui a Tara”… That is when the problem kicks in. 😕
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:40am
  - julesnzuk
    
    It absolutely is controversial. There’s no such thing as a “pakeha” male. What gives anyone the right to attribute a made up label to anyone? It’s reductive and offensive.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:36am
- Spring Bank Westie
  
  Thanks for the clarification, (I just found an Asian male in the harbour, and threw him back.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:16pm
- julesnzuk
  
  100%, Greybeard. The word “pakeha” is hideous and reductive – and I for one refuse to be labelled with a made up word in a language that isn’t my own. I’ve noticed there is a pushback against its use which is pleasing.
  
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  May 25, 2024 1:34am
JimBobJoe

Anyone have news aggregates you recommend?
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May 24, 2024 9:01am
- artemisia
  
  I use TheOldReader, free version. Very good and includes blogs though maybe not all, IDK. Useful function allows a level of breakdown eg Herald Politics. There is a pay version.
  
  The name refers to the sadly defunct Google Reader.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:37am
Maggie Pie

O.M.G…. This is such a KOOL post!

No wonder my partner’s mum said she fell hard for Winston back then 😀

https://x.com/2ETEKA/status/1793724615292010841
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May 24, 2024 9:04am
- cmm
  
  “When the State controls more than half of our earnings, how many of our citizens can say that we really are free?…We have a society in which bureaucracy continues to overburden the citizen and we must see that what is happening is the direct result of Government control….”
  
  … and still the prick jumped in the sack with Cindy.
  
  Old Winnie will say whatever is expedient at the time. Winston First.
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:10am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    “Still our greatest and most handsome Statesman”
    
    – Eva (my partner’s mother)
    
    6 4
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    May 24, 2024 9:16am
    - cmm
      
      Show a girl a gold card and her knees turn to jelly?
      
      5 1
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      May 24, 2024 12:53pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Not anymore cmm… if it’s not BLACK turn your back 😎
        
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        May 24, 2024 1:12pm
  - AitchW
    
    Yeah, Peters has never seen a hot button he didn’t hit!
    
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    May 24, 2024 5:50pm
- softail 1450
  
  MP “Winston” nah it’s a historical fact that Mr Peters preferred “ Luigi” 55/60 years ago when he was at University, in fact Luigi Peters is a relatively new born again Māori.😅
  
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  May 24, 2024 9:54am
- PurplePen
  
  What an inspiring speech.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:25am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Comes from good farming stock. Something I did not know.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:34pm
  - AitchW
    
    Dad was a dairy father, mum was a Scottish immigrant. Brother Dave drove a grader for the local council.
    
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    May 24, 2024 5:52pm
cmm

Those rifles dug up in Wellington are interesting. AK74s.
It’s not exactly the last firearm I would have expected, but close.

AK74 ammo (5.45×39) is relatively hard to get. If you wanted a secret arms cache for the end of the world, then I’d say a far better bet would be something that eats a more common cartridge: .223 (eg AR15-style rifle), 7.62×39 (ie. AK47 ammo, such as an AK47 or SKS) or a good old .22, 12 gauge or .308.
And I’d expect more ammo.

That they were AK74s suggests to me this is either:
* a small cache for immediate use, and there’s another cache close by with more ammo.
* a small cache for gang use that was intended for one or two hits.
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May 24, 2024 9:06am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The guns were wrapped in Newspapers from 1993 and tree roots had grown over/around the cache.
  
  They’d been forgotten.
  
  The area where they were found.. Pine trees above Russel Terrace was just a block away from the Satan Slaves headquarters in Luxford Street…and near to Black Power houses in Newtown.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:17am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Forgotten or the owner who buried them was shot.
    
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    May 24, 2024 12:36pm
    - AitchW
      
      Or serving at Her Majesties pleasure.
      
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      May 24, 2024 5:53pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        His Majesty, dear chap
        
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        May 24, 2024 8:19pm
      - AitchW
        
        NMTB Her Majesty when he was incarcerated old boy.
        
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        May 24, 2024 8:28pm
  - cmm
    
    1993 newspapers don’t necessarily mean this was done in 1993, but still it is likely that it was.
    
    I doubt someone would forget burying 2 rifles. That makes me think that Steve Otto’s closer to the mark.
    
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    May 24, 2024 12:55pm
- Red
  
  Or an aquaintance, who lived in Island Bay and owned some of these at the time, may have panicked and buried them. He went from childhood Star Trek obsession and graduated at 18 straight into semi-automatic rifles. He was later caught with Machine Guns in Mannequins and lost his job with the Police.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:18am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The story of Raiana Boy’s suicide. This was a while back but Chris Luxon responds.
The girl was being bullied by school kids I guess, but not much is being mentioned of the elephant in the room, the rainbow people. Mentally ill people getting into the head of a mentally ill 13 year old girl.
Can nothing be done to stop this mind manipulation?

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/prime-minister-responds-to-open-letter-from-family-of-teen-who-died-suddenly/ar-BB1mVKmx?
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May 24, 2024 9:10am
I remember when

Reality:
More than half of all new solar power in the world last year was installed in China.
For wind power, the share was even larger.
China was responsible for 60% of all new global capacity.

Last year, China got more additional power from coal than solar and wind.
Did India exceed the other 40%?
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May 24, 2024 9:32am
I remember when

Transformation or trouble? Research into MDMA plagued with allegations of misconduct: NPR.
The FDA is expected to decide whether MDMA can be used for PTSD.
Clinical trials have inspired optimism.
However new and troubling questions about the research are threatening to upset the path to market.
“Substantial concerns about the validity of the results.”
FDA plans to hold a public advisory committee meeting on MDMAQ-assisted therapy on June 4.

Was this outcome the result of rethinking because of the ‘covid conspiracy theory’ protests.
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May 24, 2024 9:55am
Maggie Pie

Actually, I ment to post this yesterday afternoon sorry.

Tuned into ZB just before 4PM ready to hear what HDPA had to say. And just appened to catch the last part of that pair of bores doing their ‘sex and a song’ segment.
Who did they have on…. none other than that Labour nasty Kieran McAnulty 🙁
The final question they asked him was…. “If you could invite any famous person in the world over for dinner, who would it be?”
Do you know what he said, “Dame Jacinda”

If that’s not a mark of the man – what is? SHEEESH!
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May 24, 2024 10:04am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, I listened to that on my garage radio and Kieran spoke of his Labour upbringing in a farming district. The dynamic duo hosts were creaming and hanging on every word Kieran spoke. I must have been grinding when the good Dame was mentioned.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:57am
- imalwaysright
  
  He strikes me as the type who has gloves in his glovebox.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:58am
- Paulus
  
  And remember he is fighting for Party Leadership along with our Ginny Anderson who recons as she has it all locked up any way, with Kieran can crawl along outside – he has inside knowledge having recently married Chippy’s PA.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:23am
  - wsk12345
    
    He married that trans thing?
    
    4 2
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    May 24, 2024 2:23pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  He must understand word soup waffle. Come to think of it he does waffle.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:37pm
- Graeme Hall
  
  Heard Keiran McAnulty chatting away on that segment. If you hadn’t recalled how he treated wife number one, by taking her inheritance to campaign on & then divorcing her, then anyone listening might think he is a good bloke. Doesn’t want the leadership of Labour but would rather be a good father to the kids he has yet to have. Keiran is a sure cure for constipation.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:43pm
- Scooter
  
  I always thought he had the hotz for Cindy.
  
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  May 25, 2024 5:34am
I remember when

Thirty years after the end of apartheid, equality eludes South Africa: Reuters.
The World Bank reported in 2022 that South Africa was the most unequal country in the world.
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May 24, 2024 10:05am
- kowtow
  
  That is a well known trouble spot , has been long time.
  
  There have been a number of well publicised criminal incidents recently .
  
  Any police “service” worth its salt could /should anticipate trouble and act accordingly.
  
  Oddly enough both council and police seem to have some inkling of this and councils have gone to the bother of funding private security for the bus hub.
  
  But in our system it is surely up to the police to actually police the streets and the known trouble spots , not private security.
  That’s why we pay taxes .
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/police-warned-over-bus-hub-safety-deadly-assault
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:10pm
  - kowtow
    
    Oops
    
    That was in relation to the Dunedin stabbing.
    
    Not SA .
    
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    May 24, 2024 4:21pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Where are we on a scale of 1 to 10?
  
  1 2
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  May 24, 2024 12:38pm
- cmm
  
  Why would you expect equality in a country with a very non-equal population?
  
  While there are some brilliant people in SA, there are also some of the dimmest. South Africa has one of the lowest average IQs of any country in the world (around 72), meaning at least 30% have IQs down in the 60s.
  
  Clearly people of even average IQ (100) are going to outperform and out earn people with lower IQs. Clearly people with skills (doctors, engineers and such) with IQs of 120+ are going to far outstrip the 30% or so of people with an IQ in the 60s.
  
  Nothing was ever going to fix that.
  
  However, the destruction of the industrial and mining base of South Africa has killed off lower end jobs (all the majority are capable of).
  
  Now unemployment is over 30% and youth unemployment is around 50% with something like 40% of the youth never having had a job in their whole life.
  
  Sure, they might now have a vote. But try eating that. Indeed a large % don’t care to vote.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:08pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Democrats are getting desperate. Making shit up because they have nothing else to go on to attack Trump. Restrict contraceptives? Look at this shit:
Oh btw, has anyone heard about the Democrat’s Policies if Biden wins? Thought not.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/trump-backtracks-on-his-latest-concerning-comments/ss-BB1mV2pT?
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May 24, 2024 10:11am
- Mike
  
  Here’s a wild Idea: Biden’s policies will be the same as what he has implemented sonce 2021.
  
  4 9
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  May 24, 2024 10:24am
  - Inandout
    
    Mike, if only Joe could remember what he did an hour ago.
    
    6 3
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    May 24, 2024 10:59am
  - Bridgenag
    
    Is that really you Mike? Sensible stuff?
    
    3 2
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    May 24, 2024 11:37am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      He can be sensible when he wants to be. Good knowledge base in his head.
      
      1 2
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      May 24, 2024 12:40pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    But what are the Policies? Can Joe tell us?
    
    1 3
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    May 24, 2024 12:39pm
    - Mike
      
      It’s not much use me repeating what Biden has said and done when you will just read the opposite on your favorite MAGA webshites.
      
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      May 24, 2024 12:48pm
Benedict Yu

This video clip has been viewed 16 million times. An employer explains what goes through her mind when she receives a job application from someone with “pronouns”. 😀

https://youtube.com/shorts/JZ0YZvC6u-Y?si=3TvkhsALLh6GquJG
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May 24, 2024 10:21am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Well that was a quik about-face.
  Yesterday you were rooting for gheys 🙁
  
  5 5
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  May 24, 2024 10:40am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I was not rooting for gays. I was objecting to you demonising them.
    
    “Pronouns” have nothing to do with sexuality. A gay man is a man.
    
    11 3
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    May 24, 2024 11:24am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      FGS Bene…. stop being such a big Drama-Queen!
      
      (Ever stopped to consider where you’d be if your parents had been ghey?)
      
      3 5
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      May 24, 2024 11:30am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Now that’s a curve ball LOL!
        
        2 4
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        May 24, 2024 12:43pm
      - graham
        
        Seems like you’re the one getting triggered and being a drama queen, Maggie.
        
        Just saying …
        
        5 3
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        May 24, 2024 1:21pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Only one pronoun and it starts with “F”
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:44pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Maiden speech from our newest MP – FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ (Green)

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20240523_20240523_40
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May 24, 2024 10:28am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Another useless Green scum list MP. Another drain on the NZ taxpayer.
  
  Frightening thing is, his pic reminds us of JK taken at ‘The Big Ghey Out’
  
  https://critic.co.nz/news/article/3529/interview-francisco-hernandez
  
  Maybe he could even be PM one day 🙁
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:59am
- PurplePen
  
  I gave it a down tick as I don’t want to read the speech and ruin my day.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:28pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/new-omokoroa-schools-construction-paused-again/L7D3JFTWJFDTRNQI3LZORCLQSM/

This is the type of thing where National start to disappoint their core supporters….

Omokoroa, near Tauranga, has gone through significant growth in the last few years.

There are or will be 1100 students that travel up to hour and a half to get to school in Tauranga, because there are no schools in Omokoroa. The hour and a half to travel 20km to Tauranga is because roading infrastructure has also been severely neglected in the area. Multiple failures by multiple government departments compounds the issue for school kids.

National say this situation is acceptable and have cancelled the new schools … along with a bunch of double speak to say they have not cancelled the schools.

New schools required due to population growth should not be one of the areas that National are cutting costs. Stuffing around with core education needs should not be debated.
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May 24, 2024 10:29am
- Muttonbird
  
  It’s an appalling start to their one term in office. All to pay for huge tax cuts for landlords.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:39am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    How much does it pay to be a clickbaitist?
    
    8 2
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    May 24, 2024 11:02am
  - Taieri
    
    All to pay for huge tax cuts for landlords
    ————–
    
    What are these “huge tax cuts” for landlords? Care to enlighten me?
    I’m not a landlord nut it could be useful to know.
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:46am
  - Swifty
    
    It really must suck to have your team get unceremoniously booted out of office for non-performance having only won one election (in 2017 they were selected by Winston).
    
    It really does sum up Labour’s uselessness doesn’t it Mutton?
    
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    May 24, 2024 11:50am
  - surfing
    
    Your attitude is appalling. National are doing quite well so far. But, that does not let them off the hook where they fall short, like the cancellation of schools.
    
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    May 24, 2024 1:30pm
  - Yabster
    
    ahh the willful ignorance is very strong in the Mutts comment- I am a landlord- have three homes – I am also a trained Financial accountant- so old Mutton can you enlighten me on these huge tax cuts I am about to get? If its interest deductibility you will have to include all businesses in NZ- surely its not that? (I am mortgage free so don’t claim any- not thats an issue if I did)- so please enlighten us with regard to you taxation knowledge…….. or as I suspect your lack of…
    
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    May 24, 2024 1:36pm
  - AitchW
    
    Why should landlords not be able to claim interest on their investment as a business expense when every other business owner can do that?
    Removal of that tax deductibility was a vindictive and spiteful action by a Labour government hostile to private landlords and envious of property owners.
    
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    May 24, 2024 6:06pm
- Paulus
  
  Not far away in Otumoetai a new Kura has been opened built effectively unmentioned in the local media either, in secret estimated $45 million plus trimmings, some 300 metres from the empty old one.
  Built we are told in Maori style – black and white tiled three story large Units until plus Round Hall for Kapa.
  Built for 700 but only 300 hundred mostly Immigrants and Refugee children with no increase hope of more as not there.
  Head, a Maori Lady of course.
  Karakia to start every day to children who do not speak English anyway.
  Huge Staff car parks and designed and planted grounds.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:30am
- Local Miller
  
  BS that it takes “hour and a half to get to school in Tauranga”. Closer to 25 minutes during peak traffic to get into Tauranga by 9:00 AM. An hour MAX by bus.
  
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  May 24, 2024 4:44pm
- Ghost
  
  My bus ride in primary school was 1 1/2 hours each way plus a 30 minute drive to the bus stop, 30 minutes home.
  
  Intermediate and high-school were over an hour walk each way.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:09pm
  - MCōs
    
    That’s in bare feet with snow up to your knees too
    
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    May 24, 2024 6:59pm
Handyman

The CEO of the teachers Council blames poor teacher performance/ability on decades of underinvestment so we shouldn’t blame teachers for being academic laggards or not being able to teach. It is the “system”, apparently.

The reporting shows there is a clear distinction between teachers trained at universities vs other organisations. So, universities select/permit teacher trainees with poor academic performance who are then taught by former teachers to graduate with BEd degrees.
It turns out getting a BEd is not the same as being trained to be an actual teacher.
Other training organisations concentrate on producing functioning teachers and (I’m speculating here) filter out unsuitable candidates while concentrating on the practice of teaching.
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May 24, 2024 10:48am
- imalwaysright
  
  Why do teachers stop working when the kids are on holiday?
  
  Shouldn’t they be using that time to increase their skills?
  It is not difficult to learn secondary level maths and science.
  
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  May 24, 2024 11:28am
  - lifesgood
    
    What other outfit has a minimum of 12 weeks annual holidays. It’s a disgrace that an ignoramus should be so lucky.
    
    8 2
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    May 24, 2024 12:23pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They are not screaming at you yet, must be busy Teaching.
    13 weeks plus holidays a year, shit when I started work I got 3 weeks.
    
    3 3
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    May 24, 2024 12:46pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      13 weeks plus holidays a year
      
      When I gave up teaching and returned to the Public Service (with only 4 weeks holidays), I didn’t miss those extra 8-9 weeks “holidays” one little bit.
      
      Admittedly my kiddie-winkles were independent units when I left teaching and didn’t need to be catered for every minute of the day.
      
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      May 24, 2024 1:02pm
      - cmm
        
        Maggy, I’ll go out on a limb that you are not exactly a typical teacher.
        
        I would expect that most teachers enjoy their extra “me time”.
        
        5 0
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        May 24, 2024 1:14pm
    - Flossie
      
      You were lucky with 3 weeks. When I started working in 1969 I think it was only two weeks annual leave
      
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      May 24, 2024 2:49pm
Chuck Bird

I voted Act in 2023 mainly due to their policy on the climate. I just read the NZF policy.

Shane Jones: Less Climate Change Commission puffery, more economic realism

https://www.nzfirst.nz/sj-less-ccc-puffery-more-economic-realism

It is dated but very good. I would like to see all parties position on nuclear in the future after Oz goes nuclear.

Nuclear has zero emissions and is safer than hydro.
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May 24, 2024 10:54am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  They are getting subs that are nuclear, but that is causing protests from flakes like my brother in Coffs, LOL!
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:50pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    The majority of the public in Oz support nuclear power.
    
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    May 24, 2024 1:27pm
Handyman

One letter completely changes the meaning of this headline.
“Elated to have this man of the street’: Charges laid after Auckland motel shooting”.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/elated-to-have-this-man-of-the-street-charges-laid-after-auckland-motel-shooting/ar-BB1mU4ji?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=1468d890e28b49edb6f6ccdcb9500fab&ei=22
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May 24, 2024 11:05am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I am just as bad, but I am not a journalist.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:51pm
Maggy Wassilieff

It’s not only Government Departments that are needing to lay off staff.

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/05/23/more-than-half-of-jobs-to-go-at-te-runanga-a-iwi-o-ngapuhi/
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May 24, 2024 11:16am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Sounds like the ‘Gravy Train’ has just come to a shuddering halt 😀
  
  8 2
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  May 24, 2024 11:25am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Can’t run a gravy train without coal.
    
    4 1
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    May 24, 2024 11:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not yet, but we will know when the Gravy Train screeches to a halt. It will not have ever been seen in New Zealand before.
    
    2 3
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    May 24, 2024 12:55pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      It will not have ever been seen in New Zealand before.
      
      Have you forgotten the “reforms” of the 4th Labour Government under Douglas, Prebble, Caygill, Geoffrey Palmer, Helen Clarke and co……?
      
      approximately 76,000 manufacturing jobs were lost between 1987 and 1992.[37] The new state-owned enterprises created from 1 April 1987 began to shed thousands of jobs adding to unemployment: Electricity Corporation 3,000; Coal Corporation 4,000; Forestry Corporation 5,000; New Zealand Post 8,000.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogernomics
      
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      May 24, 2024 1:11pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Maggy, seen what happens in the US?
        Keep eyes and ears open. NZ could become a nasty place very quick.
        
        1 2
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        May 24, 2024 7:14pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Only one of those organisations still exist, & it’s not looking too crash-hot.
        
        Food for thought.
        
        1 1
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        May 24, 2024 8:29pm
- Red
  
  It looks more and more like the Gold Medal for Maori Wealth Creation will go to Ngāi Tahu.
  Still waiting for the Maori Rich List………..
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:56am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Potaka, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Coup, and The National Party’s Loss Of Control (part 5)

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/potaka-the-waitangi-tribunal-the-coup-and-the-national-partys-loss-of-control-part-5/
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May 24, 2024 11:30am
Bridgenag

I miss Krazikiwi Anyone know where he is?
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May 24, 2024 11:35am
- imalwaysright
  
  Che?
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:17pm
MCōs

Once upon a time the Ranfurly Shield was the biggest thing in NZ rugby other than the ABs
Now my old team South Canterbury can’t afford to fly up to Napier for a challenge
Tim-Wgn-Nap must be horrendously expensive for thirty odd people, to get thrashed in front of a few spectators
In the meantime NZR is in the process of falling apart if the provincial unions don’t adjust to the new realities of a hard nosed world
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May 24, 2024 11:37am
- CJames
  
  It would be easiest bus to ChCh then take that flight to Napier, but those planes are normally fairly full. To take a whole team in one flight would probably be easiest as a charter.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:38pm
- Mike
  
  I think the rule that the Heartland winner gets a shield challenge needs revision. South Canterbury had a nice trip to Lower Hutt last year, and it’s obviously better for the minor unions for these games to be shared around.
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:54pm
- greybeard
  
  Just play the game using “Zoom”.
  
  1 1
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  May 24, 2024 3:58pm
Maggy Wassilieff

It pays to have contacts in high places….

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350287308/te-puni-kokiri-fell-short-hiring-disgraced-teacher

but folks in high places should watch their contacts.
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May 24, 2024 12:12pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That article is hilarious. Stuff spends a very long time criticising TPK for how it appointed Toerapa, and right in the very last line it admitted that Stuff had also appointed him “before the revelations about his misconduct were made public”.
  
  Hypocrites!
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:18pm
- Ghost
  
  I was surprised reading the article stuff didn’t admit they feel short hiring him…
  
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  May 24, 2024 12:44pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Bad EV drivers!

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/EVs-Twice-As-Likely-To-Hit-Pedestrians-As-Gasoline-Vehicles.html
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May 24, 2024 12:28pm
- cmm
  
  The same article goes on to say that driverlesss cars are safer than driven cars. Not so.
  
  Based on a direct look at the statistics, yes, driverless cars are involved in less accidents, but:
  * Driverless modes will often only be engaged in easy-to-drive situations (eg. freeway driving) which are far less complex and where crashes are unlikely.
  * In many of the crashes involving driverless-capable cars, the driverless mode disengaged shortly before the crash.
  
  Thus driverless operation is used in very different situations and it is not informative to try to make comparisons.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:28pm
- PurplePen
  
  The cause won’t be the EVs directly. I’m sure there’s a paper out there showing that it’s because of Climate Change.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:32pm
Swifty

Yessiree, Labour ratchets up the minimum wage to obscenely high levels and it is the young, unskilled and brown who suffer the most through being priced out of the market.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350288178/newsable-why-young-people-get-hardest-hit-job-losses

Meh. They are merely cannon fodder; collateral damage; expendable – in Labour’s corrupt pursuit of political advantage and electoral success.
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May 24, 2024 1:01pm
- cmm
  
  Of course lowest skilled people people are hit hardest. They have the least value to offer the market.
  
  The minimum wage creates a disconnect between price and value.
  
  A person with a high value skill set might be creating 20x the value, but, due to the minimum wage, they will likely only be getting 3x the minimum wage.
  
  As things tighten up, the value to price ration is no longer there for the minimum wage worker, so their job goes first.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:47pm
Ghost

Must be time to create fear

Experts urge change in mask use ahead of Covid-19 wave, bird flu threat

Expert warns NZ must prepare for bird flu as Australia confirms first human case
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May 24, 2024 1:02pm
- Inandout
  
  Ghost, Pfizer by way of radio is featuring a ‘know my risk’ ad. Pushing their fear-fest as best they know.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:34pm
  - greybeard
    
    They have had that ad on for months, and only refer to “Pfizer” very quietly and quickly right at the end.
    Just emotive fearmongering.
    
    4 1
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    May 24, 2024 3:56pm
- Red
  
  Fear is here with BAKER leading the pack to get a law in place mandating respirator masks for all Public workers. Despicible man, maybe our Fauci.
  
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  May 25, 2024 1:01am
Maggie Pie

*Bill To Protect New Zealander’s Rights To Free Speech*

https://x.com/winstonpeters/status/1793812795852775468

Tonnes of people we know are saying…… “This would never of happened had it not been for Winston. Lets hope it is extended to give New Zealander’s the right to protect their home and family with the introduction of the ‘Castle Doctrine’ similar to that of America”.
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May 24, 2024 1:33pm
- cmm
  
  The devil is in the details.
  
  We got “3 strikes” back and look what a soggy mess that is.
  
  I’m not sure how you join the dots between free speech and the Castle Doctrine. Maybe yelling at a home invader will make the crim upset and he will run away?
  
  I would support Castle Doctrine for sure, but that’s a different battle I think.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:51pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  What do home invasions have to do with free speech?
  
  I agree in principle that if someone is breaking down your front door, then lethal force is justified. However where this works in the USA, eg Florida and New Mexico, folk without criminal records have wide access to hand guns. That is never happening in New Zealand.
  
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  May 24, 2024 1:57pm
Philview

I noticed a story in The Daily Mail today about Joe Biden which I hadn’t heard before but I am sure known to readers on here. It seems Joe Biden’s daughter has admitted that extracts from her diary circulating online are actually true. I couldn’t quite figure out how the media claimed the story was fake but a lady has gone to jail for stealing it. The lady in jail claims she found it. Particular references in the diary relate to Biden having inappropriate showers with his daughter. The first I have heard anything about this, has this story been flying under the radar for some time.
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May 24, 2024 1:33pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  Biden got his DOJ to raid the Project Veritas offices to get the “fake” diary back.
  
  3 2
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  May 24, 2024 3:13pm
  - Mike
    
    Project Veritas. Is that scam artist still at it with his fake scoops, etc?
    
    1 3
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    May 24, 2024 3:18pm
- kowtow
  
  The shower story has been around for a while .
  
  The fact you haven’t heard it shows how te msm protect their own .
  
  Imagine if it were Orange Man Bad!
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:54pm
cmm

If the Taiwanese keep behaving like this then maybe the Chinese won’t want them back.

I bet there were more than a few f-bombs there…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfYlL_r5xKk
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May 24, 2024 1:41pm
Jack5

Is The Platform video news becoming part of the Establishment, rather than an entertaining and informative media rebel?

I ask after hearing Martin Devlin, a sports commentator, on The Platform grilling Colin Mansbridge, CEO of the Crusaders.

Devlin in effect defended Thomas Mead, the TVNZ upstart who interrogated and insulted the Crusaders coach Rob Penney on TV on Wednesday night.

Penney was heard in an aside after the interview asking about Mead: “he’s a disgrace, who’s that c—?”

After watching the interview it’s hard to disagree with Penney’s assessment.

Devlin (verbally) tackled Mansbridge over Penney’s stunned reaction to Mead! He was attacking Penney!

The Platform has brought interesting non-Establishment views forward. Devlin’s piece did not fit this strategy.

C’mon Platform! You’re too valuable to fall into line with the Mainstream Media.
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May 24, 2024 1:51pm
- Miritu
  
  RCR better than Platform
  https://realitycheck.radio/
  
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  May 24, 2024 2:33pm
  - Inandout
    
    Miri, I somewhat agree. Watching Sean scratch his head, slurp water and eat bars can be distracting. Laws being on close up is easier to watch.
    
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    May 24, 2024 3:05pm
  - julesnzuk
    
    Peter Williams is good (remember when NZ had actual professional broadcasters?!) but too much anti-vax nuttery, unfortunately.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:57am
- julesnzuk
  
  Colin Mansbridge is the drip who oversaw the “rebranding” of the Crusaders including, disgracefully, the removal of the references to the region’s British heritage on the website. God forbid we should be proud of our heritage and that that pride should be allowed to manifest in the branding of the local rugby team. He’s a disgrace.
  
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  May 25, 2024 1:56am
Benedict Yu

I can’t believe it. Michael Baker wants to bring back mask mandates. ☹️

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/winter-illnesses-are-we-prepared-for-influenza-bird-flu-and-another-covid-19-wave-the-front-page/7XFJRTVAZVG33LRMXEWXOSIJGQ/
10 1
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May 24, 2024 1:52pm
- Flossie
  
  Well I can believe it. Michael Baker will be excited there’s potentially a new “pandemic ” for him to pontificate about. He might be pushed to get most people to fall in to line this time around.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:44pm
  - Vory v zakone
    
    Just like St Cindy, he will eventually be heard sobbing ‘I was only following orders’
    #thebestisyettocome
    
    6 2
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    May 24, 2024 4:43pm
Chuck Bird

I wonder if this will be subsidized by this government. If it is meant to replace fossil fuel it will only supply power less than half the time. Have they taken into account how much CO2 is emit in mining, construction and transport and how long before they need to be replaced?

Offshore wind farm company BlueFloat Energy keen to hear from Whanganui companies

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/offshore-wind-farm-company-bluefloat-energy-keen-to-hear-from-whanganui-companies/22F65MWTNNHQZM7TMB2225MMPQ/

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/27/1221639019/offshore-wind-in-the-u-s-hit-headwinds-in-2023-heres-what-you-need-to-know
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May 24, 2024 1:55pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  You don’t need to wonder. The government does not subsidise wind farms, except in the sense that coal and gas fired generators need to purchase New Zealand Units. But those developing wind farms do not receive subsidy payments.
  
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  May 24, 2024 2:22pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “The government does not subsidise wind farms.”
    
    Almost everywhere in the world the unreliables industry is a giant grift fuelled by tax-payer-rorted subsidies based on the ridiculous green/red lies that they are “the cheapest form of power”. I’d be very very surprised if they are truly operating on a “sink or swim” private money in NZ.
    
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    May 24, 2024 3:38pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Well I guess you can be surprised. Wind farms are not subsidised in New Zealand.
      
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      May 25, 2024 4:24am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Wanganui? The Council will stump up for a share.
  
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  May 24, 2024 8:35pm
Notsofast

Another excellent Decouple Media on offshore wind East USA

https://youtu.be/jvECgxAKI24?si=qy8Q9wTZ98uWBNpF
1 2
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May 24, 2024 2:03pm
Jack5

Are the Russians using poison gas?

The “Wall Street Journal” today reports Ukrainian troops reporting Russian drones dropping gas containers on a Ukrainian position.

It says a volunteer medic identified the gas as chloropicrin, a banned chemical irritant.

The “WSJ” says U.S. and Ukrainian officials, as well as medics, soldiers and international researchers, say Russian use of toxic gases on the battlefield is increasing.
3 1
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May 24, 2024 2:05pm
- Miritu
  
  “WSJ says…”
  must be true then
  
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  May 24, 2024 2:34pm
  - Jack5
    
    Miritu, then have a look at the BBC and the New York Times (the latter behind a paywall, so no link). They’re reporting US State Department accusation Russians are using chloropacin.
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68941220
    
    Reuters reporting it, too:
    
    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-breached-global-chemical-weapons-ban-ukraine-war-us-says-2024-05-01/
    
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    May 24, 2024 3:17pm
  - MCōs
    
    Maybe, maybe not, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest
    I would suggest that the WSJ is a little more trustworthy than some of the sources that get quoted on this forum
    
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    May 24, 2024 3:20pm
    - Mike
      
      WSJ is not the paper it once was. Their online opinion pieces especially are of variable quality.
      
      1 1
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      May 24, 2024 3:23pm
      - Jack5
        
        If you subscribed to the Wall Street Journal, which is paywalled, you would then be able to read the print edition online, for no extra cost.
        
        Mike/Milky, you are bullshitting when you imply “online opinion pieces” are inferior to the newspaper’s print articles.
        
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        May 25, 2024 12:14am
- NZer In Exile
  
  According to the CDC: “Chloropicrin (PS) is an irritant with characteristics of a tear gas.”
  
  I know from glass-house growers that it’s used as a soil fumigant. It was described to me many years ago by one as literally “tear gas”.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:45pm
- Jake Dee
  
  I’m not saying that they didn’t, but I would put the odds of Russia have done so at a “very unlikely” 5%.
  from the Russian point of view what’s the advantage? Winkling troops out of dug outs maybe, but any time you use a “special” weapon like poison gas there is a whole extra bunch of logistics to train up and keep safe your own guys. The “blow back” of gas is quite literal. Then there is the huge political cost of breaking the chemical weapons taboo. What’s the advantage for Russia here when they have better, more effective conventional weapons?
  One “special” weapon that we absolutely know has been deployed in Ukraine is disinformation. Specific events have specific times, places and names attached to them, hopefully some physical evidence too.
  I am seeing none of that here.
  
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  May 25, 2024 2:29am
Maggie Pie

TIKTOK TRENDING…..

WOW! Didn’t know this till a bestie just shared.
Kiri has gone from being Justice Minister to a ‘social media influencer’.
And reckons this face creme makes her look 10 years younger 😛

https://www.tiktok.com/@kiriallan/video/7370456256164728072
6 2
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May 24, 2024 2:13pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, some creams contain alcohol.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:07pm
- greybeard
  
  Is there such a thing as “whiteface”?
  
  4 1
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  May 24, 2024 3:53pm
Tom Hunter

The Democrats must be panicking if one of their comedy shows is willing to do this to Kamala Harris:

“It’s a process I call speaking without thinking. It’s not about the destination of the thought, it’s about the journey and how many words you use to describe the journey.”

Dahlia Rose Hibiscus, Holistic Thought Advisor to Kamala Harris.
6 2
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May 24, 2024 3:05pm
- Mike
  
  I feel sorry for Tom, thinking that actors, artists and authors must always have a partisan political purpose.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:21pm
  - fernglas
    
    Yes, I’ve always wondered why anyone listens to the opinions of someone who makes a living out of pretending to be someone else
    
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    May 24, 2024 4:58pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/kawerau-poverty-worst-in-60-years-says-school-principal-ripeka-lessels/TW6O5LMJJFE7PGBW5P3LXIU3VA/

Worst poverty just after labour has been in for 6 years? How could it be?
8 1
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May 24, 2024 3:21pm
- peterwn
  
  Wrong! It has taken only 6 months for the current round of poverty to happen. Before that everything was honky-dory.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:37pm
- kevn
  
  surfing… Plenty of money in Kawerau for pi*s and drugs though.
  
  2 1
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  May 24, 2024 5:41pm
NZer In Exile

Are there some analytics that can detect sock puppet accounts? Perhaps they can be used to put all Milky’s ones under the one nick of say, “Milky Sock Puppet”?
5 2
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May 24, 2024 3:32pm
Chuck Bird

Bryan Leyland is very well qualified but the MSM will not publish him.

BRYAN LEYLAND: The electricity crisis: what caused it and options for fixing it

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/bryan-leyland-the-electricity-crisis-what-caused-it-and-options-for-fixing-it
3 2
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May 24, 2024 3:44pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  The red/green clowns running Victoria Aus are also running the state on a knife edge of blackouts. Only a matter of time before bums get bitten.
  
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  May 24, 2024 3:48pm
- peterwn
  
  The electricity industry has worked very well for the last 25 years or so. The Leyland solution would require serious Government intervention and underwriting to work and this is not going to do anything for efficiency. The industry was reformed because both Governments were no longer prepared to fully invest and underwrite the industry and needed to spread the sources of investment and to unload the risk the Government was required to carry.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:47pm
Maggie Pie

‘X’ TRENDING

And further to my earlier GD post regarding that little Creep….

https://x.com/nzpoliticsgroup/status/1793745498328953049

LOL!!
4 3
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May 24, 2024 3:45pm
NZer In Exile

Meanwhile Larry Fink (billionaire of Blackrock and self style global god-king) has announced wind and solar won’t cut it for the coming AI server farms needed for the surveillance state he and his mates want to force on us lowly human “cockroaches”. So base-load nuclear for the self-styled global god-kings and their entourage of snivelling grifters, and blackouts, freezing and bankruptcy for the billions of human “cockroaches” below them.
4 2
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May 24, 2024 3:57pm
- kevn
  
  NZer… The thing(s) to remember about fink and his ilk, is that they eat, sh*t and eventually die like everyone else.
  Even though they suffer from the god complex.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:39pm
PeeJay

Reason number 7000+ why the school system is completely buggered and the MOE should be burned to the ground.

My 10 year old grandson was threatened at school today (at school, not outside) with being stabbed by an older student (or learner as they now seem to be called ffs). This is an ok school in an ok area.

Teachers’ response is the usual PR waffle – apparently, some “learners said some hurtful and silly things”. Threatened to stab him……like not even 24 hours after that poor bloody kid in Dunedin was stabbed to death. But the teacher says this was some ‘hurtful and silly things’. Apparently, once pushed by his mom (who was bloody furious), there will now be some consequences including a very serious talk and one of the ‘learners’ might even be stood down for a week.

His mom has complained to the principal, the MOE and even the police about the bullying he is subjected to when it got very serious late last year and other than everyone saying they totally understood and were taking things very seriously, nothing was ever done, other than people saying how seriously they took things and how they completely ’empathised’ with her situation. No actions mind – nothing whatsoever, but empathy and concern and the right look on their face to show they really, really cared? You know the one Ardern perfected, concerned frown on the face with the head tilted slightly nodding up and down to show how much she really cared? Feelz? Yep. Actions, not really their thing.

I honestly despair of this country sometimes. Why the fuck would anyone want to stay in this country? No wonder we are losing so many people.
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May 24, 2024 3:57pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Destabilise so everyone is divided and nothing can be trusted, then communist takeover. Same playbook, different country.
  
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  May 24, 2024 4:15pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Thought and prayers apparently work better than actions now…….schools really will not take action because they are scared of the outcome for them personally by getting it wrong. It is easier to let you child suffer than put themselves in the line of fire. Cowards one and all.
  
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  May 24, 2024 4:55pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Get a lawyer involved..
  Schools have a duty of care to keep pupils and staff safe.
  
  https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/test/health-safety-and-wellbeing/laws-about-your-wellbeing-at-school/
  
  Tell the Principal and Board of Trustees they are failing in their duty to safeguard your grandson…and
  see where things go then.
  
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  May 24, 2024 5:29pm
- julesnzuk
  
  Peejay – “Mom”??? And you complain about the importing of American crap?
  
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  May 25, 2024 2:00am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350289016/nz-must-be-prepared-bird-flu-experts-say-australia-confirms-first-human-case
Are the Roosters and Sea Eagles at greater risk than anyone else ?
Or those who live near the River Swan in W.A ? Or in Birdsville?
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May 24, 2024 4:39pm
Maggie Pie

“I can smell the colonialism on your breath”

– Willie Jackson (Oxford Union Debate)

HOW CRINGE 🙁 🙁 🙁
17 2
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May 24, 2024 4:52pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  And lazy.
  
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  May 24, 2024 4:56pm
- Ghost
  
  I just thought he could smell the shit in his own breath from a life time of constipation
  
  6 1
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  May 24, 2024 4:56pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Is hacking/clubbing people to bits and eating them for their territory colonialism? Just wondering.
  
  8 2
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  May 24, 2024 4:59pm
  - Mike
    
    Is a New Zealander in exile still a New Zealander?
    
    0 5
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    May 24, 2024 6:21pm
    - AitchW
      
      Is a wombat in a New York zoo still a wombat?
      
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      May 24, 2024 10:25pm
- AitchW
  
  Everyone can smell the rascism on Jackson’s breath. And the hatred.
  
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  May 24, 2024 10:22pm
Scooter

A must listen interview of Dr Muriel Newman on the Leighton Smith podcast, it’s also on Newstalk zb. It’s about changes to the Foreshore and Seabed Act and how there are now around 600 claims for the coastline all because the judge found in favour for the first claim, not needing to prove continuous customary title. Unless this govt does something Iwi will be given rights to the Foreshore and Seabed right round NZ.

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-leighton-smith-podcast-dr-muriel.html?m=1
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May 24, 2024 6:31pm
Ghost

Love this video. 10 year old girl kicked off the school bus for the second time, she was bullying another student. Perfect father, well done

https://youtube.com/shorts/LDDTgtC4lNI?si=GLxH7398t8PFSAdG
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May 24, 2024 9:01pm

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