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May 25, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 25 May 2024

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Bingo!

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/05/south-auckland-woman-living-in-car-with-two-kids-gets-emergency-accommodation-from-ministry-of-social-development.html
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May 25, 2024 8:01am
- Close Hen Counters
  
  Can’t afford anything so lives in car but can pop over to Aussie – and the next story on the news last night was Willie Jackson and his colonisation Oxford speech … lucky telly survived not getting something thrown at it
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:56am
  - Damocles11
    
    Her brother was crook and a friend shouted the trip. No, I don’t believe it either.
    
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    May 25, 2024 7:42pm
- RightFirstTime
  
  If MSD were not paying three to four times the market rate for the motel accommodation then Bishop would have more money available to spend on social housing. I have made Tama Potaka, as Associate Minister of Housing responsible for Emergency Housing, aware of this fact but, fair to say, he was not the least bit interested. So much for the government doing all they can to reduce wasteful spending. What a joke!
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:56am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    I don’t know about three times, but it’s not at all surprising that motel owners would need higher than market-rate compensation for the additional risk they take on with KO tenants.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:42pm
    - igm
      
      When one is furnished with reasons for homelessness of many of these people, it is a wonder any motelier would allow them on the premises, their behavior abysmal.
      Rent defaults, wilful damage, abuse, etc., etc.
      Not even wanted by family . . . wonder why!
      
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      May 25, 2024 4:04pm
  - Colville
    
    RFT
    So what is your suggestion?
    Tents?
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:53pm
- Bevan
  
  Came here to post the same thing. Isn’t it amazing how $55 million ‘solved’ the homeless crisis for 6 years.
  
  And again, another article of Newshubs on Facebook they don’t want anyone commenting on…. Wonder why?
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:29pm
  - Stellaboxer
    
    Solved the dirty rivers as well Bevan
    
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    May 25, 2024 4:31pm
- EverlastingFire
  
  I’m getting sick of these sob stories that make no mention of the father and/or child support.
  
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  May 25, 2024 7:38pm
Benedict Yu

This is an example of how a respected institution can risk disrepute by overreaching.

The Law of the Sea is a branch of international law concerned with public order at sea. It establishes the rules around territorial limits and exclusive economic zones, and the rules around the right of passage in international waters. It covers many other matters including obligations on member states to safeguard territorial waters from pollution. So quite important.

The Convention was negotiated in the 1970s and 1980s and finally came into effect in 1994.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-of-the-Sea

In a remarkable ruling, the UN Tribunal that deals with disputes about the convention, has now ruled that carbon dioxide is “marine pollution”. It concludes that:

“… states have a specific obligation to assist developing countries – particularly those vulnerable to the effects of climate change – in their efforts to address marine pollution from emissions.”

It goes on…

“… even if a State meets its obligations under the Paris Agreement, this doesn’t mean it has satisfied its legal obligations under the [Law of the Sea]. ”

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/05/21/international-ocean-tribunal-delivers-historic-legal-victory-for-small-island-nations

So the part of the convention that imposes obligations on nations to, for example, manage oil spills, has suddenly been extended to require developed countries to compensate small island nations for the effects of climate change. 😳🙄

This is the worse kind of judicial activism. The Law of the Sea has never been about climate change. For obvious reasons. 😕 Or at least reasons that seemed obvious until last week. ☹️

In practice, most countries will ignore this ruling. However this may pose a danger that countries will be emboldened to ignore other aspects of the convention that really matter, and which have operated successfully for the last 30 years.
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May 25, 2024 8:02am
- G152
  
  In a number of years and some time in the future it will be realised that the Earth has seasons and ages.
  There will be no apology, there will just be a silence until the next ‘We’re all going to die’ scare.
  Oh and oceans do warm……. all the way down to the thermocline and sea shores wear away, that one is called erosion.
  Sea ice melting? Every summer and as its already in the ocean/sea/lake/milk shake the levels do NOT change
  
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  May 25, 2024 8:21am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I wonder how this will affect Maori if they manage through the Waitangi Tribunal to claim ownership of the NZ Ocean from the high water mark to 12 nautical miles out to sea? That is over twice the distance to the horizon, around all of NZ.
  If Maori own it then they must be responsible for any climate change issues.
  
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  May 25, 2024 8:44am
  - pdm
    
    SO – they will accept responsibility for nothing like that.
    
    It will be the fault of colonisation.
    
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    May 25, 2024 8:59am
  - Scott
    
    Maori would not be responsible for any climate change issues. The consultation with iwi seems to be about pakeha virtue signalling more than anything else.
    
    But I’m hoping that Maori won’t be given any more rights to the sea and the foreshore. I’d hope they’d have the same rights as everyone else.
    
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    May 25, 2024 9:01am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You best go here Scott:
      http://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi
      Click the ‘Blog’ tab.
      It is all in there.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:34am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    No worries Steve-Oh. They’re aren’t any climate change issues!
    
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    May 25, 2024 9:05am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      There will be if we have offshore oil drilling and have a spill.
      
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      May 25, 2024 10:06am
      - Inandout
        
        SO, and the sky could fall in.
        
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        May 25, 2024 10:14am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        The sky could fall in? It already has, by the way some of the nutbars are acting!
        
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        May 25, 2024 11:03am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        That would be an environmental issue, not a climate issue.
        
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        May 25, 2024 8:04pm
  - Chris Nisbet
    
    The rest of us have a Treaty obligation to pay this compensation.
    Please try to keep up.
    /s
    
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    May 25, 2024 9:12am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      No sarc, it is true. Just ask the Waitangi Tribunal.
      
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      May 25, 2024 10:07am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The last government established the “Maori Climate Platform”.
    
    “The devastating impacts of climate change threaten the wellbeing of Māori identity and will disproportionately impact future generations.
    
    For Māori these impacts include loss of:
    
    – culturally significant structures and places.
    
    – access to equitable resources (forestry, primary sectors, seafood).
    
    – cultural practises.
    
    – native taonga species.
    
    Climate change also impacts the ability to pass down mātauranga Māori to future generations and enact cultural processes such as manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and kaitiakitanga.”
    
    https://environment.govt.nz/what-government-is-doing/areas-of-work/climate-change/maori-climate-platform/#:~:text=The%20devastating%20impacts%20of%20climate,%2C%20primary%20sectors%2C%20seafood).
    
    The government even funds “Te Ao Maori” climate analysis. 😐
    
    https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/news/release-of-te-ao-maori-climate-change-report/
    
    So disclosure. I didn’t know any of this. I found it in 5 minutes using Google. If I kept going I am sure that I would find more Maori specific climate institutions funded by the government.
    
    Let’s face it. All this could be abolished without anyone noticing. And I say this as someone who does not dismiss climate change as a problem that requires policy responses.
    
    This example circles back to my comments on the need for a committee of senior ministers, serviced by the Treasury to seriously look at the hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands of programmes that could be abolished without causing the government any political capital.
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:33am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Thousands could be abolished?
      Quangos is a term used in the past.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:11am
  - Ghost
    
    They cannot claim ownership, the tribunal can only make recommendations.
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:42am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That is how it is supposed to work Ghost, but it seems the Tribunal now is so strong the Govt just does as the Tribunal says, not recommends.
      This is why the Waitangi Tribunal needs to be shut down. It is way past it’s use by date.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:14am
    - Nobby2
      
      And that’s the way it must stay until the tribunal is made redundant/disbanded.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:43am
  - rouppe
    
    Oh come on. They own them, but the colonists have caused the problem, which requires compensation to be paid.
    
    Maori will never be responsible for anything. Not their slavery. Not their invasions of each others territories. Certainly not CO² “pollution” of “their” seawater
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:30am
  - Red
    
    Steve, the Horizon depends on height above sea level.
    
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    May 25, 2024 12:59pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That would be about 5 foot 7 inches – from the ground to my eyes. Gonna have to be up in a high rise 100 floor building to see past the standard 4.7km.
      
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      May 26, 2024 8:04am
  - Scooter
    
    This interview with Dr Muriel Newman lays it out pretty clearly,
    
    “The Leighton Smith Podcast: Dr Muriel Newman on the danger to the governance of NZ, the Marine & Coastal Area Act”
    
    https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-leighton-smith-podcast-dr-muriel.html?m=1
    
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    May 25, 2024 5:02pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Another problem is that wealthy nations could be made to pay and pay and pay, but the impoverished citizens of small island nations will remain impoverished… because where does the money go?
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:00am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Trousered.
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:07am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I am reminded of when PNG hosted APEC heads of government. Other APEC countries chipped in funding so the PNG government decided to buy 40 Maseratis and a bunch of Bentleys to transport the visiting heads of government.
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/24/papua-new-guinea-has-sold-just-two-of-the-43-luxury-cars-imported-for-apec
    
    They are no doubt now rotting abandoned.
    
    IIRC Donald Trump decided to skip that APEC meeting in PNG. 😂
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:19am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Maseratis and Bentleys.
      Now you know why Trump gave it a miss. Does not like to see waste. Did he pull the plug on funding?
      I think Pence went.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:44am
    - peterwn
      
      NZ Government sold its only Rolls Royce some years ago. The late Mr Giltrip put in the highest bid then shipped it to London to sell at a tidy profit. Last time Her Majesty was in NZ I think the Government borrowed a Rolls Royce (or Bentley?) from Southward Car Museum.
      
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      May 25, 2024 2:18pm
      - MCōs
        
        That would have been in 2002
        She only ever came here ten times in all those years
        
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        May 25, 2024 6:16pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Just when you thought the well of their incompetence could reach no deeper …. hold my water!

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/517723/wellington-water-admits-overlooking-51-million-budget-error
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May 25, 2024 8:05am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Hold my water” I like that, well done.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:13am
- greybeard
  
  This is what happens when lifetime ratepayer-funded troughers run things.
  https://our.nelson.govt.nz/media-releases-2/its-been-a-privilege-nelson-city-council-chief-executive-will-not-apply-for-next-five-year-term/
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:08am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The Mayor mentions “three waters.” That was meant to be dead. Chris Luxon says 3 waters has been “repealed.” Nelson Mayor Reese is going against that?
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:20am
    - RalphT
      
      Steve, I note that this article is nearly two years old, so I guess when the mayor was speaking Three Waters was very much alive.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:52am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I missed the date so you are correct Ralph.
        
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        May 26, 2024 8:07am
    - pdm
      
      Isn’t Nick Smith Mayor of Nelson.
      
      Apologies hit report by mistake.
      
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      May 25, 2024 3:13pm
  - peterwn
    
    NZ Government sold its only Rolls Royce some years ago. The late Mr Giltrip put in the highest bid then shipped it to London to sell at a tidy profit. Last time Her Majesty was in NZ I think the Government borrowed a Rolls Royce (or Bentley?) from Southward Car Museum.
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:20pm
  - peterwn
    
    Council CEO is not a lifetime job. Councils can only appoint a CEO for a 5 year term and then must run a recruitment process for the next 5 year term. It would be fairly clear to a CEO whether to bother applying for another 5 year term.
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:25pm
- rouppe
  
  “With a view to rebuilding trust, the board was commissioning an independent review…”
  
  Using consultants…? Costing…?
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:35am
slightlyrighty

http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2024/05/paranoia-on-left.html

Chris Trotter continues to publish well thought and reasoned critiques of the failings of the progressive left from within the tent.
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May 25, 2024 8:13am
- Michael Johnston
  
  I think he’s been thrown out of the tent.
  
  He’s very insightful, despite his banging on about ‘neoliberalism.’
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:20am
Tomtoddy

Dairy farmers will be rubbing their hands in anticipation of some hefty non-taxable capital payouts from the sale of Fonterra’s brands. What many will not stop and consider is that it was their money that was withheld from them earlier, in payouts, that built what value the brands have currently.

The announcement of the brand sale – some of which have been in Fonterra’s ownership for decades – was a surprise to many farmers because for years they have been told that added value, downstream product development and having strong, well known brands was the only way for the farmer coop to go and that rewards would be handsome for them as suppliers and the country as a whole. It is difficult to think of a better known brand than ‘Anchor’.

It will not be a fire sale but Fonterra will find it hard going to locate buyers who will meet their expectations and allow a partial recouping of the millions invested in the brands over the years. The stark reality for Fonterra is that it has destroyed a massive amount of balance sheet value over many years in multiple, poorly considered ventures. The China and Beingmate jaunts are all too typical examples. Their ineptitude at board room level has been a factor in New Zealand’s poor productivity/growth performance over many years because of the amount of capital tied up in what is one of our largest companies.

It raises questions about the role and value of farmer cooperatives in the marketing space. Farmer coops are a defensive or protective mechanism. In their most basic form they are the vehicle for amalgamating product to protect individuals against an imbalance of market power. However, the attitude and culture that emerges is often the very opposite of what is required in a robust and often vicious market place.

One may ask why are the other dairy companies not doing better if Fonterra is such a poor performer. The simple answer is they don’t have to try. They can get the milk they need by simply matching, or nearly matching, Fonterra because they can offer a better deal on shares and have a better client attitude. Some are doing extraordinarily better paying a great deal more. Others pocket the profits.

It would have much better for Fonterra to put their brands into a second entity and float it, retaining a shareholding. Their present course of action opens them to being exploited in what is a thin market.
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May 25, 2024 8:22am
- Swifty
  
  All good points.
  
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  May 25, 2024 8:36am
- peterwn
  
  Interesting comparison can be made between dairy and electricity industries. The consolidation of the dairy industry into Fonterra was supposedly to encourage a more efficient and effective system but this has failed. In the electricity industry the split up of the monolithic generation system into four companies was to provide competition and drive efficiencies. In my opinion the current setup is pretty efficient – far more than the old setup. I accept that there will be those that disagree. So the idea of trying to return electricity generation to a monolithic organisation (the dream of left wing politicians) based on the Fonterra experience would be doomed to failure.
  
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  May 25, 2024 8:37am
  - Skippytony
    
    First, Fonterra is a licensed monopolistic cartel. It is totally a slave to its owners. Their basic business model is fucking over their consumers. Expecting them to be efficient or particularly good at anything is naive.
    
    So they don’t like the yield they get from their too small, insular hobby farms, many of which should never have been dairy conversions in the first place.
    
    As a consultant, I would have happily charged them squillions to tell them the money is in controlling more of the value chain. Synergies.Don’t worry that you know fuck all about marketing or distribution. Extending your value chain de-risks your business model and removes volatility.
    
    Of course, five maybe ten years later I would come back and charge them heaps to tell them they need to focus on their main competency and not be distracted by those non core activities where, surprisingly, it’s a lot harder than you thought to create value.
    
    More time and money gets wasted chasing the illusion of synergistic benefits than almost any other business fad.
    
    We are so shit at business that even with a monopoly we can’t make money……
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:05pm
    - peterwn
      
      Fonterra like any company exists to make money for its shareholders. If the customers take their business elsewhere then the shareholders suffer. Trouble is, through its inefficiency and ineffectiveness, Fonterra has not been making the money for its shareholders as it should be able to do.
      
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      May 25, 2024 5:19pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Tom,
  Very good opinion.
  I like the idea of a second entity, if they are making money then why not retain a share.
  
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  May 25, 2024 8:44am
- pdm
  
  TT I am not too much up to speed with what has been or is happening at Fonterra but I have heard suggestions that the Theo Spierings tenure set the Company back in a big way and they are still recovering from his time in charge..
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:06am
- I remember when
  
  The reality is that the farmers co-operative should simply have been a milk selling operation.
  To allow them to ensure maximum price for the sale of the production.
  Then the other dairy companies would have to compete with each other for access.
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:28am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Frontera Brands is the company providing products to the NZ domestic market. It is not a big enough market to drive a value add strategy. I understand 98% of Dairy Product is exported. The company that has done the best job of value add is Tatua but this is mainly focussed on exports not the NZ domestic market.
  
  If Fonterra are to become truely value add then they need to be developing brands recognisable internationally at a retail level. Selling off FB NZ isn’t losing the Crown Jewels but it won’t translate directly into a better performance internationally.
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:41am
- thirteenstars
  
  “Farmer coops are a defensive or protective mechanism.”
  
  Which is just fine, and rational, if done within the context of a free market. But that’s not how Fonterra came into being, the meddling hand of government facilitating the whole merger with a statutory body the, NZ Dairy Board. If you’re going to dine with the Devil, you better bring a long spoon.
  
  That aside, just how much to farmers stand to make out of these sales?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:11am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Its a fire sale.
  
  Its also a giant FU to the people of NZ who let Fonterra avoid the Commerce Act and be formed.
  
  Fonterra promised that if they got special treatment to become a monopoly they would become a $30bn a year consumer goods business within a decade.
  
  It must be true, because Andrew Grant from Mckinseys told them that.
  
  So now they are ditching their only hope to stay a consumer brand to concentrate on being a price taking ingredients supplier at the bottom end of the value chain.
  
  Still winning, after all these years eh?
  
  Bwuhahahaha!
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:27am
  - Tomtoddy
    
    Excellent points ‘deity’. They have always been too big and too dominant over the National party to be required to live without special help.
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:12pm
  - Quail
    
    Anyone notice what happened to the NZ wool trade?
    The chain to market was too long for a commodity like wool!
    Fonterra would be unwise to follow that shining example!
    
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    May 25, 2024 4:47pm
- Damocles11
  
  Fonterra with it’s ‘back to basics’ ‘strategy’ is really just engaging in an exercise in ‘balance sheet recovery’ after it messed up it’s balance sheet with ill-considered forays into China. Because Hurrell is selling off parts of the business to do it, he’s being hailed for it. Building something up is hard, selling things off is easy: no genius required.
  The message shouted back to me when I previously commented on this situation was “we cannot do value add!”, which is very interesting considering Fonterra’s global network and reach. Minister McClay thinks these brands and ‘value add’ represent a ‘tremendous opportunity’. Why they couldn’t be a tremendous opportunity for Fonterra was not mentioned.
  BY posted figures suggesting we are selling more cheese and other dairy products than ever before. At the end of the day, bulk milk powder is the guts of the operation & an increasing number of countries are getting into it. What will differentiate us? I guess this is all in line with the ‘back to basics’ guff. I only hope that the increasingly narrow focus doesn’t end up putting us totally at the mercy of China.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:27pm
peterwn

In a BBC item on the UK Post Office scandal:
“The law [just passed that cancels convictions of Subpostmasters accused of fraud etc] has been controversial with judges because for centuries it has been the job of the courts to address unsafe convictions, not Parliament.
But the government argues the exceptional scale and circumstances of the scandal mean it will not set a precedent.”
But perhaps judges were part of the problem and anyway the courts system because of resources and attitudes was in no position to deal with all the cases in a timely and appropriate manner.
Suppose the alleged offending by PO SPM’s increased 20 times with the dud ‘Horizons’ computer system compared with pre ‘Horizons’ days. This implies that one in 20 really ‘guilty’ SPM’s would be wrongly let off the hook. However in the circumstances far better than the other 19 innocent SPM’s have their convictions quashed as soon as possible in the interests of overall justice. For judges to suggest otherwise just shows that they have their heads firmly embedded up their backsides.
There is another aspect – did Paula Vennells (CEO) or other key managers ever think to question why so many SPM’s appeared to be committing fraud and theft compared with in the past? Pondering that issue may well have shown that the issue was with ‘Horizons’ not ordinary human beings.
In NZ we must all be on a lookout for this sort of problem. For example if a speed camera is catching far more people speeding than expected, then the circumstances – signage, road layout etc should be investigated.
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May 25, 2024 8:27am
- Close Hen Counters
  
  That made a fabulous but sad mini series
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:38am
  - peterwn
    
    And that mini-series is now part of the whole sorry saga and has been influential on the Government and even Mr Bates (in a way he could never have imagined).
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:29pm
- hullkiwi
  
  @peterwn, the statute will be given Royal Ascent in the coming days. The statute was forced through Parliament yesterday, because the House is now adjourned for the British General Election. The statute applies to all the countries of the UK except Scotland, because the Scottish Parliament is passing its own legislation.
  
  The statute was needed, because there were some 900 SPO’s were prosecuted wrongly by the Post Office on either theft or false accounting charges. Legislation governing the PO enabled the PO to bring prosecutions against the SPOs directly in court without recourse to the police or the Crown Prosecution Service. Because the SPOs were often bankrupted, left with ruined reputations and lives they were not able to adequately defend themselves against the well resourced PO. There was one case where the PO spent GBP350k, for alleged theft of GBP30k.
  
  It is now accepted that the Horizon system was flawed, and there were also issues with the system management by Fujitsu being able to access and amend branch accounts with the knowledge of the SPOs. It is now being reported that the predecessor system to Horizon may also have been flawed and could also have been the source of wrongful prosecutions in the 1990s.
  
  It was recognized the statute was needed because the UK courts are so clogged that the SPOs were unlikely to cleared of their false convictions and therefore any chance ofany compensation for having their lives turned on their heads.
  
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  May 25, 2024 6:22pm
  - OlderChas
    
    “Fujitsu being able to access and amend branch accounts without the knowledge of the SPOs.”
    There – fixed it for you.
    
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    May 26, 2024 8:53am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Russia has removed 24 of 50 Narva River buoys delineating its border with Estonia. Apparently, they don’t like their location.

This action coincides with a plan by Russia to revise its Baltic marine border.

No doubt the usual KB apologists will be along shortly to blame Ukrainian aggression.

Face it, chums: V. Putin is on an expansionist mission to restore the Russian Empire (because, Russia & its falling population needs living room, or some such).

What an arsehole!

http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c899844ypj2o
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May 25, 2024 8:29am
- imalwaysright
  
  Before the current conflict Putin said to Nato that, if they guarantee that they won’t give Ukraine membership, he would not invade.
  Nato commander brags that he turned him down.
  Now we have hundreds of thousands of dead Ukrainians and many very rich westerners.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:11am
  - Geri Sjovik
    
    God try but total BS.
    
    Please refrain from spewing Russian lies.
    
    9 3
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    May 25, 2024 11:44am
  - Damocles11
    
    The truth is, Germany and France had previously blocked Ukraines admission to NATO and Macron had told Putin that that status quo would be maintained, and that was exactly what Putin had been waiting to hear. Ukraine was invaded precisely because it *wasn’t* going to be joining NATO, not because it was.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:16pm
- Jake Dee
  
  It’s difficult to know at what level of sarcasm you are operating at here, but even you note the inherent contradiction in your argument.
  The argument is that Putin is an imperialist neo-Tsar, and that Russia (a nation with the largest territory in the world and a huge wilderness interior) is now engaging on a war of expansion to gain more territory to accommodate its FALLING. population.
  Other common ideas are, that Putin is very cunning but also very stupid and that Russia is very strong but also very weak. So, this weak strong clever idiot is the greatest threat the world faces today.
  All contradictions and all are current western USA/EU arguments, not Moscow ones.
  All of these are indications to me that the western elites just can’t think straight. They only have about 4 historical characters in their collective imaginations and two of them are Hitler. I guess the other two are Stalin and Mao.
  
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  May 25, 2024 5:30pm
  - Damocles11
    
    You are asking and then answering the wrong questions, it’s straw man stuff. Ukraine has vast oil, natural gas, and coal resources, the bulk of them undeveloped. Where were they? In the Donbas, Crimea, and in the Black Sea off Southern Ukraine. Had Ukraine joined the EU as the Ukrainian people wanted then they would have been a prime competitor vying with Russia for the lucrative Europe market, and obviously European investment dollars would pour into Ukraine. Russias actions were to thwart the Ukrainian people in regards to joining the EU, his interventions were to keep Ukraine in Russias orbit and therefore under Russias control. I don’t understand your guff about a falling population. He’s not trying to take a wasteland. Take Ukraine and you add a lot more natural resources, grain, and population to your budding Empire.
    
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    May 25, 2024 7:52pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      Launching a massive war to take a heavily populated are whilst you have undeveloped area full of resources is paying $5 to get $2 whilst there is $2 just lying on the ground.
      You are also admitting that the EU was trying to get Ukraine into its orbit. That wasn’t just by free market economics, that was also political and military.
      
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      May 25, 2024 8:39pm
softail 1450

The people of NZ should be ecstatic that Stuff are going to be handling the 6pm news on a daily basis, they are without doubt the most efficient unbiased and truthful news organisation in our country and here’s an example , “ this past week there have been 6000 new cases of covid which is nearly double the number of cases the week before of 4000” , what can you say about such blatantly stupid journalists ? oh yeah that’s right let them loose on a national TV network to lie and misinform 100s of thousands of people on a daily basis.
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May 25, 2024 8:43am
- John Loveridge
  
  If they weren’t journalists they’d be my daughter’s high school teachers. Maybe we’re better off with them where they are, I dunno.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:04pm
- Damocles11
  
  I think their nightly news programmes will be an amateurish shambles. It took hundreds of people to put on the Newshub nightly news, whereas the experts here said you just need a talking head and a video camera. Can you imagine the ‘talking head and video camera’ going up against the production values of 1News? You need editors, lighting people, sound people, international content, sport, weather, regional news. Stuff will get a fee for taking all the risk and Warners will get the ad revenue, which is will the real money in this is. It’s just crazy.
  I reckon it’ll be a shambles, an embarrassment…and then they will all turn around and blame the government.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:36pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Garage TV, with all the quality of Wayne’s World.
    
    Party on, Sinead!
    
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    May 25, 2024 7:31pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Woman charged with burning down Parnell eyesore.

By the way, has anyone heard from Maggie?

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/05/woman-charged-with-arson-after-parnell-lodge-fire-in-auckland.html
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May 25, 2024 8:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yeah, but…
  The woman charged with arson is 34 years old.
  
  Do you really think Maggie Pie would have garnered all her wordly wisdom in just 34 years?
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:33am
  - lifesgood
    
    And is Maggie actually a woman?
    
    7 0
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    May 25, 2024 12:43pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      How dare you!
      
      2 0
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      May 25, 2024 1:33pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      How on earth could we know?
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnSB5uT65aM
      
      1 0
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      May 25, 2024 2:27pm
      - Keith White
        
        Biology is destiny…
        
        3 0
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        May 25, 2024 4:41pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Megyn Kelly, Dan Bongino, on Hunter Biden.

“corruption allegations ‘baked into the cake’ for Biden.”

https://patriotpulse.net/megyn-kelly-was-stunned-to-hear-this-reality-check-about-hunter-bidens-trial/?
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May 25, 2024 8:51am
septic skeptic

I see Newshub have resumed stories of people living in cars. CNN and Fox have nothing on our MSM when it comes to overt bias.
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May 25, 2024 8:56am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Welcome back John! How was your holiday?

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/25/john-campbell-my-pre-budget-roadie-to-northland-was-an-eye-opener/
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May 25, 2024 9:00am
- Inandout
  
  NM, a roadie for a toadie.
  
  15 1
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  May 25, 2024 10:17am
- EverlastingFire
  
  Did he really go to the far north and ask poor people what they want out of the budget?
  
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  May 25, 2024 1:03pm
Maggy Wassilieff

From the mouths of babe…(teenager actually)

For the “new education system,” she acknowledges there won’t be enough time but she want schools to go back to basics, with limited devices used in classrooms and students returning to pen and paper.

“Since we’ve brought in devices at school, our success rates have dropped.

“You see kids who are still struggling to do basic English but then you also have really advanced kids who can do university work in year 11 and that’s a really big gap, so to close in that gap just teach the basics properly,”

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2024/05/25/budget-2024-what-do-rangatahi-want/
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May 25, 2024 9:02am
- JackRabbit
  
  You see kids who are still struggling to do basic English…
  
  Nor surprising when there is an agenda to replace English and colonisation, with Te Reo and tribalism. Devices for learning is not the issue, it is what is being taught that is the problem.
  
  And the article is part of the problem by reinforcing tribalism.
  
  “Youth Voices Action’s Shareya Mcleod-Schmidt (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngati Toa Rangatira)”
  
  What do her clan affiliations/tribal family tree have to do with her statements?
  
  “Fred Smith (Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club Timaru, Temuka Branch of the Smith Family) says NZR should bring back steam trains and the old NZR cafes with their 3 day old pies. He said rail service has gone to the dogs ever since they introduced diesel locomotives.”
  
  “The year 12 Tauranga student also wants New Zealand history to be taught properly without ~~bias~~ reference to the truth.
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:27am
  - Jake Dee
    
    “What do her clan affiliations/tribal family tree have to do with her statements?”
    
    It’s a very good question and one that everyone should consider.
    To me the answer is clear, they are loyalty badges, just like pronouns in your bio.
    
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    May 25, 2024 5:43pm
- cmm
  
  OK, I’ll bite.
  
  Why the need to close the gap?
  
  There will always be people of various abilities. If you try to get equal outcomes it can only end in one way: everyone is crap.
  
  Some kids destined to be engineers etc should have their capabilities developed. We do them, and society, a disservice when we fail to develop their gifts.
  
  My kids (homeschooled) finished the NCEA maths curiculum (including calculus etc) when they were 15. Of course we could have kept them back to “normal” speed, but thata would not have helped anyone.
  
  It seems very weird insisting on equality of outcomes in schools in a sports-mad nation. Imagine if someone insisted that all sports teams should have equal outcomes. Naah, sorry All Blacks. Stop training because you’re beating the Fijians.
  
  That said, yes, schools should focus on everyone getting the basics and then provide the best education possible for each individual.
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:37am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I think most kiwis at this point would just be happy if their kid was under the bell curve!
    
    3 2
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    May 25, 2024 11:50am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Agreed.
    Also, the easiest way to “close the gaps” is to let the top sink down, not to push the bottom up.
    
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    May 25, 2024 5:45pm
kowtow

Weekend Herald editorial on what they’re calling Rob Penny’s “unfortunate outburst” at press conference .

It wasn’t an “outburst” it was a post conference question to a colleague , caught on mic and camera.
In another time that would never have made it to publication.

There’s been a disproportionate amount of comment and coverage targetting Penny and not the hack , who’s behaviour was appalling.

But compare and contrast how little commentary te legacy media have made about the brutal treatment meted out to a former colleague a woman in her 60’s at the hands of the Auckland police. Liz Gunn and cameraman.

The fourth estate is about holding power to account . And that arrest and those charges were a gross abuse .

If it can happen to her it can happen to anyone.

Where is the outrage.
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May 25, 2024 9:04am
- Jack5
  
  It’s outrageous that Penney had to apologise for what he thought was a private aside.
  
  He was spot on in his description of the upstart, obnoxious TV hack.
  
  Crusaders management looked weak in the face of the Woke mob’s annoyance. And where was it when the supposed interview became an interrogation?
  
  A quiet intervention, “we’ll on move to the next question” would have been appropriate.
  
  I can understand the attitude of the Herald, whose many and diverse owners care only about the profit and loss account. It couldn’t be more Woke if staff started every day on meth. I was surprised the video news “Platform” took the Woke line on this.
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:01am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Is the reason Joe Biden now wants to debate Donald Trump desperation?
So far June 27th. Just the two of them, no RFK jr, no audience!
Poor Joe is getting clobbered, he needs to do something.
Short vid – Joe talking big.

https://patriotpulse.net/jesse-watters-revealed-the-real-reason-why-joe-biden-finally-agreed-to-debate-donald-trump/?
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May 25, 2024 9:05am
- Southtop2
  
  Maybe it has something to do with this Steve https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13448411/joe-biden-daughter-ashley-showers-dad-molested-truth.html – where are the questions?
  
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  May 25, 2024 9:15am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The man is a creep.
    
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    May 26, 2024 8:08am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Did you see the masses of people who turned up to see Sleepy Joe give speeches at the previous election?
  Me neither.
  
  16 3
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  May 25, 2024 9:17am
  - MCōs
    
    Or anyone turn up at election rallies in NZ except maybe Brian Tamaki
    
    4 7
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    May 25, 2024 10:20am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Winston had plenty of full houses.
      
      5 1
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      May 25, 2024 11:51am
      - MCōs
        
        Two or three hundred at retirement village fight clubs
        
        1 1
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        May 25, 2024 6:21pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Filled quite a few school classrooms.
    
    3 3
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    May 25, 2024 11:52am
Bridgenag

Great Word salad video

Friday Funnies: Word Salad
Its whats’s for dinner.

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-word-salad?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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May 25, 2024 9:08am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Jesus Christ, now I got a sore head.
  She is far better than Ardern!
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:05pm
Muttonbird

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Turns out an important part of Israel’s war propaganda campaign claiming sexual abuse on October 7 is based on false testimony. Unbelievably, the claim there was widespread sexual abuse is dependent on amateur volunteers in the disaster response organisation, ZAKA. Little to no forensic analysis was done at all!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350289485/how-2-debunked-accounts-sexual-violence-fuelled-global-dispute-over-october-7
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May 25, 2024 9:08am
- thirteenstars
  
  Oy vey! What a bunch of schmucks we are. In reality Hamas came bearing chocolates and flowers, sweet-talking those Jewish maidens with urbane charm and wit.
  
  It must have worked because so many accompanied their suitors back to the cosy confines of subterranean Gaza.
  
  Nothing to see here. These aren’t the rape victims you’re looking for. Move along. Move along.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:19am
- AitchW
  
  Sure. And the holocaust never happened either.//
  
  18 2
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  May 25, 2024 10:22am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Really? This report by Israel NGOs tells a different story.
  
  https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/news/arcci-submits-first-report-to-un-21-feb-2024/en/English_Swords_of_Iron_DOCUMENTS_Sexual%20violence%20crimes%20on%20Ocober%207-Feb.%202024.pdf
  
  Warning for readers. This report contains detailed forensic and eyewitness evidence of multiple incidents of rape, torture and murder.
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That is very disturbing. Page 26 onwards.
    Something has to be done to stop this. Stopped permanent. Trouble is, collateral damage.
    As I said, disturbing.
    
    8 2
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    May 25, 2024 12:16pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘The IDF has succeeded in evacuating around 950,000 Palestinian civilians in only two weeks since May 6, the military revealed on Monday.
      
      In addition, around 30-40% of Rafah is now under IDF control, not merely a small portion of the eastern sector, and about 60-70% of Rafah has been completely evacuated.
      
      The remaining Rafah civilians, estimated at around 300,000-400,000, are almost all near the Gaza coast Tel al-Sultan area.’
      
      https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-801903
      
      4 2
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      May 25, 2024 1:28pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      I agree, something must be done to stop this, but which war are you going to fight in, the IDF/Hamas war or the Truth/Lies war?
      I know which one I think is the most dangerous.
      The worst a man can do to you is to rape and murder you, lies can do much, much worse. They can make YOU the rapist and the murderer.
      
      “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
      Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
      Mark 8:36-38 KJV
      
      That’s MY war.
      
      1 1
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      May 25, 2024 6:18pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Thought about this overnight, then watched again. Those poor girls are past the point of ‘fear.’ They seem to be standing up to the antagonists hoping they will be killed to just end it all. Past the point of fear, they have just had enough and the only way out is their own death.
      What a bunch of miserable bastards to do that to girls – and they are not the only ones. As I said – disturbing.
      
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      May 26, 2024 8:15am
  - Jake Dee
    
    So the ARCCI report (Association of Rape crisis centers in Israel) quotes the evidence of Chaim Otmazgin (p16).
    The Stuff article relays a Reuters interview with Chaim Otmazgin, which says his claims have been debunked and that he has acknowledge his accounts were wrong.
    There is a massive problem here and it’s bigger than Hamas or the IDF, it’s even bigger the Islamism or Zionism.
    It’s difficult to know exactly what to call it but “disinformation” “lies” “mendacity” and “delusions” would seem to be in the right neighborhood.
    
    2 2
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    May 25, 2024 6:10pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yet you are on record here quoting and believing what Sex offender Scott Ritter has said.
      I think we all see you for what you are.
      Thanks- good to know.
      
      1 3
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      May 25, 2024 6:50pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        You THINK you know what I think. That’s in your head not mine.
        IIRC my comments about Scot Ritter were that his comments about what ballistic missiles can and can’t do seem to be correct. Sex offender conviction doesn’t alter the nature of ballistic missiles (if he had been convicted twice would his statements about weapon systems have become half as accurate, or if four times only a quarter as accurate?)
        I guess this is going to be another point that I will have to make on this blog until the day I die, but as people are slow to learn it, I will just have to continue teaching it, so here we go again.
        The truth of a statement is a function of its relation to reality and not a function of the speaker’s affiliation to any political faction.
        There is a clear contradiction between Chaim Otmazgin’s statements in the Stuff/Reuters reports and the ARCCI report. They can’t both be correct.
        Zionists are not entitled to a free pass from truth and logic, nobody is.
        
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        May 25, 2024 7:14pm
I remember when

Morgan Spurlock, documentary filmmaker of “Super Size Me”, whop ate only McDonalds for a month has died at 53.
The same week a six-times ‘hotdog eating’ champion has retired for health reasons.

A sign from on high?
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May 25, 2024 9:16am
- cmm
  
  I am in no ways a Macca fan, but Morgan Spurlock was a bloody fraud.
  
  At the time he made Super Size Me, he was a raging alcoholic although he denied that to the doctors doing the blood work and other health assessments.
  
  Subsequent attempts to replicate Super SIze Me have failed.
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:41am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Unfortunately, this seems to be correct. Morgan Spurlock was a heavy drinker before he made “Supersize Me” at the age of 34. I remember the scene in which his doctor notes his liver damage. Spurlock has happy to give the impression that it was a result of his McDs diet.
    Still, that doco did have legitimate points about the fast-food industry and the modern lifestyle.
    
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    May 25, 2024 6:28pm
- thirteenstars
  
  A sign? If so the sign is, don’t try to use Michael-Moore style self-serving reportage-cum-activism to present a twisted view of reality.
  
  Other than that, RIP.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:51pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Tom Naughton made a rebuttal doco to Super Size Me, Fat Head:
  
  While most people saw the documentary Super Size Me as an expose of the fast food industry, comedian and former health writer Tom Naughton saw it as a dare: He’d show that you could lose weight on a diet of burgers and fries. In addition to chronicling Naughton’s weight drop, the film provides interviews with doctors, nutritionists and others to drive home his thesis that most of what we know about “healthy eating” is wrong.
  
  Very much worth a look if you’ve ever wondered why obesity is a problem (NZ is a heavyweight performer) when so many people follow the advice of health experts. Free on YouTube:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:58pm
artemisia

Jason Walls: Opposition plays man, not the ball in section 7AA debate – may be paywalled at NewstalkZB. The gist of it is that the attacks on Karen Chhour in the House were seriously nasty. And racist.

But check this out – The Regulatory Impact Statement from the Children’s Ministry examined in detail the feasibility of the proposed bill.It was brutal. It was worse than brutal. Very rarely does a Ministry so comprehensively and thoroughly pick apart a bill the way the Ministry of Children did to Section 7aa.

In the RIS the Ministry cites no empirical evidence but blames staff for botched decisions. Honestly? Did the bosses try to get that evidence? Obviously not, but they did blame the government for not giving them enough time to gather evidence. Wasn’t that their day job?

The RIS is here – Regulatory Impact Statement: Repeal of s e c t i o n 7AA
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May 25, 2024 9:19am
- pdm
  
  arty – your link does not seem to work.
  
  1 1
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  May 25, 2024 9:31am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Try this
    
    https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2024-05/ris-ot-rosaa-mar24.pdf
    
    5 0
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    May 25, 2024 9:42am
    - artemisia
      
      Thanks Maggy. Did my link work for you? Still works for me.
      
      [Mod – your link works but I have just made it so people can click it instead of copy and paste]
      
      4 0
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      May 25, 2024 9:57am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        No. your link didn’t work for me…
        I looked elsewhere.
        
        1 0
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        May 25, 2024 11:37am
- Cantabrian
  
  What else would you expect the department to say? They don’t agree with their Minister so they are unlikely to support her Bill. Like so many other modern Public Service components, if the bureaucrats disagree with the political direction, they will protest roundly and do all they can to show that they, the ‘public servants’, know best. In their eyes, politicians are an unnecessary and bothersome side-show!
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:03am
  - peterwn
    
    Was it not the late Norm Kirk who won the 1972 election for Labour who effectively told his Ministers not to take any nonsense from the Public Service. Since National had been in power for 20 of the previous 23 years, he presumed the Public Service was too centre-right aligned. Then National ended governing for 29 out of 35 years until Marilyn Waring called Rob Muldoon’s bluff.
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:45am
  - artemisia
    
    What I expect Ministries to say – OK boss, but we will need a truckload more funding.
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:34am
    - peterwn
      
      If you feel you cannot run the Ministry within the Government’s parameters you can always resign.
      
      6 1
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      May 25, 2024 12:16pm
- AitchW
  
  Yet another piece of orchestrated Public Service sabotage. It’s going to be a long, long three years for the government.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:25am
  - peterwn
    
    Hell hath no fury as a woman’s scorn especially when she is the Minister of Finance. Kiwirail copped her first shot (an armour piercing shell capable of sinking ships not yet built). Departments may have fooled Robbo but they are not going to full Nicola.
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:38pm
Jack5

A laugh to start the day – about Woke pronouns,

https://youtube.com/shorts/Rro3RbvGlDw?si=1SHcZ4WQNwz5Lmyy
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May 25, 2024 9:20am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  These and their offspring are going to rule the World.
  Fuck! Good thing I am 72 soon and won’t have to put up with a lifetime of that shit!
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:22pm
  - OlderChas
    
    I often comment to Mrs OlderChas that I am so thankful that I have not got much longer to watch this world deteriorate further!
    
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    May 26, 2024 9:38am
Scott

The recent newsletter from the Act party gives a useful summary of what the coalition has done to sort out the issue of race relations.
– “Three Waters, with its overlay of co-governance, is gone, with assets returned to councils. It now seems like a strange other world where people got seats at the table governing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater based on their ancestry.
– The Māori Health Authority embodied the Treaty as a partnership. That is now gone, we are back to Health New Zealand (AKA Te Whatu Ora), delivering healthcare for all New Zealanders.
– Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act required Oranga Tamariki (still called that because it’s in a Parliamentary law) to have regard to the Treaty in all it did. Karen Chhour has introduced legislation to Parliament that will remove 7AA, and children’s needs will be put before their race.
– legislation will very soon be introduced to restore referendums for Māori wards.
– Race-based entry to medical school will be reviewed.
– The Aotearoa Histories curriculum says ‘Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of New Zealand’. It will now be rebalanced under ACT’s coalition agreement.
– Work is underway to stop racial preference in Government procurement. For example, ring fencing Government contracts for Māori businesses will be gone. And a Cabinet Circular telling the entire public service to focus on need before race is underway.
– The Treaty Principles Bill will be introduced this year, and it will define the Principles of the Treaty as being what the Treaty says in its three short articles: The Government has the right to govern. We all have the right to self-determine and own our property. We all have the ‘same rights and duties’.”
That’s a pretty impressive list! Don’t forget this govt inherited a racial quagmire, a woke electorate and a hostile press. They’re doing really well. And Chris Luxon may be more soft spoken than some might like. But under his leadership real change, changes to the law , are happening at a remarkable rate.
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May 25, 2024 9:24am
- Cassandra
  
  But not remarkable enough. There should be no Maori wards or any other racial segregation including the appalling appointments at universities of Deputy VCs who have to be Maori. And stop using Maori words in English articles unless they are translated.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:38am
  - Ghost
    
    Putting it back to the councils to hold a referendum is the correct way to do it. Let the voters decide
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:46am
    - Quail
      
      Guess this should go much further than Councils ,most of whom struggle to get 40% voter turn out.
      This is the same councils who are driving inflation with continued rate increases substantially higher than nominal inflation.
      Can they be trusted?
      Any referendum should be national and not party based!
      Even then there is a struggle to get it right— see MMP.
      Does NZ want race based voting?
      No never!
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:31am
      - Ian Boag
        
        most of whom struggle to get 40% voter turn out.
        
        and this is the council’s fault?
        
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        May 26, 2024 7:59am
  - Scott
    
    Cassandra – although I agree with you regarding the outcome, I think the coalition is doing all it can. Remember much of the electorate is very woke. The media is uniformly hostile.
    
    Given the coalition has only been in power 180 days I would suggest their achievements have been remarkable.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:03pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The government cannot direct media to stop mixing Maori and English words. As much as it annoys me, I would not want the government to have that power.
    
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    May 25, 2024 3:08pm
- peterwn
  
  “Race-based entry to medical school will be reviewed” just as ACT remembers that the highest academic achievers who get into Medical School do not necessarily make the best doctors. Shane Reti will sort ACT out an this particular point in due course.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:48am
  - Mike
    
    It’s always been bullshit that medical school is seen as the peak academic path.
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:18am
  - Cassandra
    
    Peter: I think you are confusing two quite different aspects of medical training.
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:56am
    - Scott
      
      Apparently DEI is having a devastating effect on the quality of trainee doctors. This from UCLA medical school –
      “One professor said that a student in the operating room could not identify a major artery when asked, then berated the professor for putting her on the spot. Another said that students at the end of their clinical rotations don’t know basic lab tests and, in some cases, are unable to present patients.
      
      “I don’t know how some of these students are going to be junior doctors,” the professor said. “Faculty are seeing a shocking decline in knowledge of medical students.“
      
      https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/05/dei-can-get-you-killed.php
      
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      May 25, 2024 1:45pm
      - peterwn
        
        Not sure what strictures the University of California has to work under. If they were being forced to accept C- students I could quite understand that there could be a problem. In the NZ situation it is about accepting some B to B+ students instead of all A to A+ students. If there were 4th to 6th year medical students who did not know their basic anatomy when in the operating theatre we would have heard of it by now. Perhaps the biggest worry is students lacking in common sense such as the one who lent her boyfriend her security card and scrubs so he could sneak into the operating theatre where she was. She was banned from the teaching hospital meaning her training ground to a halt.
        
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        May 25, 2024 5:35pm
    - peterwn
      
      I do not understand.
      
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      May 25, 2024 2:41pm
  - EverlastingFire
    
    The theory for the quota is that it’ll see more doctors serving those communities. The reason for the review is to see if the people that become doctors through the quota actually do that.
    
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    May 25, 2024 12:57pm
    - peterwn
      
      They probably will. When Australian medical placements were announced some years ago the ABC commented that a selected student from a small town was keen to return to her home town after her studies and serve the community by practicing there.
      
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      May 25, 2024 2:45pm
      - EverlastingFire
        
        I very much doubt that’ll be the case, but lets see what the review says.
        
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        May 25, 2024 4:51pm
  - Phronesis
    
    You miss the point completely peterwn. It’s got nothing to do with academic standards, it’s the actual racism of discriminating for and against people on the basis of who their great grandparents were.
    
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    May 25, 2024 2:23pm
    - peterwn
      
      And in the circumstances the ‘discrimination’ is totally justified. If a Maori person wants to see a Maori GP the person should have that choice. It is all about customer choice, not about the hurty feelings of Pakeha prospective students who fail medical school selection.
      
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      May 25, 2024 2:49pm
      - Scott
        
        peterwn – I couldn’t disagree more. A Maori patient has no right to see a Maori doctor. In the same way the media would explode if a white patient said he would only see a white doctor.
        
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        May 25, 2024 6:58pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yes they do have a right to pick who they want as their gp, just as you and I have a right to pick who we want as a gp.
        
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        May 25, 2024 7:09pm
      - Scott
        
        Ghost – no they don’t have that right. A white person cannot say that he will only be seen by a white doctor. A Maori person should not be allowed to say, I will only be examined by a Maori doctor.
        If it’s wrong for the white patient then it’s also wrong for the Maori patient.
        
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        May 25, 2024 11:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        Actually you can.
        
        Just as some females will pick a female gp, and some males will pick a male gp. It’s up to you who you pick to register with for a gp.
        
        A Māori person should be allowed to pick who ever they want as a gp, just as anyone else can.
        
        I picked my gp because he had a great reputation in the town I moved to
        
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        May 26, 2024 12:05am
      - wsk12345
        
        Do they get to make sure it’s the right kind of Maori too?
        
        My blond freckled mate claims 1/256 Maori blood. Should she get preference over me (I at least have dark hair and olive skin despite no Maori ancestors).
        
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        May 26, 2024 7:53am
  - wsk12345
    
    So how should we choose who gets in? I agree that people who do well on exams are not always the same people who make good doctors. But “people who do poorly in exams but have brown skin” are IM O an even worse bet. Over 30s who enter med school get an interview and review of past experience/degree- but that’s not an objective measure and will no doubt bias left.
    
    Exams are about what we have. Perhaps lower the database to exam results over 85% together with a lottery?
    
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    May 26, 2024 7:49am
- EverlastingFire
  
  Not a bad list given the amount of time they’ve had. I would like to see them go harder in the public sector, education and health.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:58pm
- pdm
  
  re 3 Waters.
  
  Will someone with the ear of ACT ask why Taumata Arowai remains in place. My understanding it is a cornerstone of 3 Waters and the Mahuta dynasties
  
  I have asked several times, including Messrs Luxon and Seymour without any response.
  
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  May 25, 2024 3:41pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Elise Stejanik Trump’s VP?

She’s having a go at Judge Merchan. He refuses to recuse himself.
“As Judge Merchan has declined to do so, I request that you investigate his conduct and impose whatever discipline is required.”

https://quicknewsupdates.com/rep-elise-stefanik-makes-her-move-will-this-make-her-vp/?
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May 25, 2024 9:25am
- peterwn
  
  How can parents be responsible for their allegedly wayward children?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:50am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    American Politics. The way Trump is being treated is nothing more than Election interference by Democrats. Getting at the Judges daughter is just turning the other cheek – tit for tat.
    
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    May 25, 2024 12:28pm
Ghost

No idea if this is real or not, I tend to doubt it at the moment. But a threat against trump and his supporters if real

https://x.com/IslanderReports/status/1793659595426328581
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May 25, 2024 9:49am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I see it as bullshit. Trump pulling funding to NATO is not murder, but the deranged think it is. Trump is for America first. They are not babysitters of the World.
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:32pm
I remember when

Countries fail to agree on how to prepare for the next pandemic: NY Times.
The negotiating body plans to ask for more time to continue discussions, which aim to lessen the disparity in access to vaccines and treatments between wealthy and poor nations.
A major sticking point has been a proposed requirement that countries share genetic sequences and samples of emerging pathogens.

WHAT they want to reduce the drug companies profits – just to save lives.
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May 25, 2024 9:57am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump rally. Claim of 25,000. More like 8 to 10,000.
Meanwhile Biden nearly managed to fill a school classroom!//

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/aerial-shot-of-trump-s-rally-in-the-bronx-reveals-true-size-of-crowd/ar-BB1n0l0i?
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May 25, 2024 9:59am
- virtualmark
  
  Steve,
  
  The media reports yesterday said the crowd at Trump’s rally was about 2,500 people. To my eyes that seems in line with the photo in that article. Hard to say how many other people were there for Trump … it’s a park in a big city, there’ll be lots of people milling around just walking, exercising etc.
  
  But … Trump got about 80,000 votes from the Bronx in 2020, and well over a million votes from NY’s five boroughs, so there is a level of support for him there. Yet he still lost NY state by double-digit percentages.
  
  More relevant question … in the last week Trump has held rallies in New Jersey and New York. He has no realistic chance of winning either state in November. So why hold rallies there? Why not go to the battleground states like Arizona and Georgia?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:21am
  - All_on_Red
    
    The photo was taken at the start of the Rally
    They continued to let more in. 20,000 registered to attend
    ‘ Former President Donald Trump’s Bronx rally drew about 8,000 to 10,000 attendees, law enforcement sources told The Post on Friday.’
    ‘The Thursday night rally was held in Crotona Park, which had a permit allowance of 3,500 people. Thousands of Trump supporters were lined up by the security gates for hours hoping to catch a glimpse of the 45th president making his first New York City rally appearance since 2016.
    
    Attendees were being let in to the event until the very last moments of Trump’s speech.’
    https://nypost.com/2024/05/24/us-news/trump-bronx-rally-draws-8000-to-10000-attendees-law-enforcement-sources/
    
    Still wont win there though.
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:33am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    There would have been more people later, but yes, for Trump to win there probably won’t happen. The place is infested with TDS Dems.
    
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    May 25, 2024 12:35pm
- MCōs
  
  So
  What’s your point?
  Here’s some ideas for you
  https://x.com/elmunc/status/1793469448097304643?s=46&t=XZLqGbhN-xeYzprhTaktsg
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:23am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Well that is full on. I have a few signs in the back window of my Prado, but not that coarse. I don’t want my wagon keyed! 🙂
    Add – If I had a shitbox I might go hard out!
    
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    May 25, 2024 12:39pm
    - peterwn
      
      Go to Singapore. If anyone ‘keys’ cars there they have their bums ‘keyed’ by a martial arts expert.
      
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      May 25, 2024 2:52pm
I remember when

“this past week their have been 6000 new cases of covid…”

Remarkably, most people have completely ignored this fact and gone on with their lives.
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May 25, 2024 10:26am
- AitchW
  
  Gosh, those lockdowns worked well didn’t they?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:36am
  - MCōs
    
    At the time of the lockdowns the strain of COVID-19 was killing people in large numbers elsewhere in the world
    Whatever is around now is far milder, obviously
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:52am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The amazing thing is nobody died from the flu, or cancer.
      Me ex sister died with covid, not from. She had been fighting throat cancer for 12+ years.
      
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      May 25, 2024 12:43pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        sister in law ffs!
        
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        May 26, 2024 8:18am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I think that you mean “high” numbers rather than “large”.
      
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      May 25, 2024 3:04pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Does Jaspinda know about this? Where the hell is she with her “Safe and effective” chants?
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:41pm
Cassandra

From Radio NZ: “With that mātauranga Māori he said there were plenty of tohu throughout the year, including Matariki, to show what is happening with the taiao.” What on earth does this mean? The Government might have changed but we still have gibberish as an official language.
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May 25, 2024 10:33am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I wonder what would happen if Belgium Public Radio broadcast programmes in a mixture of French and Flemish? The response would be riots in Brussels. 😂
  
  The reason this keeps going is because New Zealanders put up with it.
  
  The only propose of language is communication.
  
  Surely in the past, Radio New Zealand or its predecessors must have run programmes in the Maori language and language in English? What happened?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:48am
  - MCōs
    
    When I was young it was common for the smarty pants types to mix French words and phrases into their conversation; particularly when talking to others of a superior inclination from the well to do suburbs of Chichester.
    I had an aunty who lived in Fendalton who put on a high class English accent to answer the phone and switched to her normal one if it was Dad on the line
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:30am
    - MCōs
      
      That was meant to be *Chch*
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:45am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Exactly..
      
      The use of specialist jargon and foreign phrases in everyday conversation is to :
      (1) show off
      (2) Act as gate-keeper
      (3) intimidate.
      
      Best response to such is to ask politely “what do you mean?”
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:52am
      - MCōs
        
        My early passports until 1995 were dual language French/English and after a break Māori/English
        
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        May 25, 2024 7:16pm
    - Mike
      
      There’s a certain je ne c’est pas about that.
      
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      May 25, 2024 12:19pm
      - AitchW
        
        I believe that what you meant to say was “Je ne sais quoi”, translates to “I don’t know what”.
        What you wrote is, if you’ll excuse my bluntness, gibberish. Unless, of course, you forgot the sarcasm slashes.
        
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        May 25, 2024 1:55pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Posh accent – when saying “yes” simply say “ears.”
      
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      May 25, 2024 12:45pm
    - lifesgood
      
      Lol, my aunty used to do an amazing Mrs Bucket imitation on the phone…not how she usually spoke.
      
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      May 25, 2024 1:01pm
    - pdm
      
      Mrs Bucket is really your Aunt mcos?
      
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      May 25, 2024 3:45pm
- MCōs
  
  Chiefs fans probably thought the official laws of rugby were gibberish last night, but there you are
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:50am
- rouppe
  
  Is on radio now as well.
  
  This ad ran, with someone who sounded like Billy T James doing one of his skits, saying something i never got the point of.
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:54am
I remember when

Only 9% of Indians have air-conditioning units at present, a figure expected to increase ninefold by 2050.

GHG problem?
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May 25, 2024 10:33am
- MCōs
  
  Does that mean 72% of Indians are going to die of heatstroke in the interim?
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:53am
- peterwn
  
  When I was in India years ago a seat in an air conditioned carriage cost EIGHT times the cost of a second class seat.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:54am
  - MCōs
    
    So $8 as opposed to $1
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:10am
- kowtow
  
  Punkha wallah employment crisis!
  
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  May 25, 2024 1:09pm
  - Sparrow
    
    This has brought back a great memory. In the early 1960’s I transfered from a ship in Bombay (Mumbai) to Calcutta(Kolkata). No air flight for an lowly apprentice sent by train. Was put in fan class no ac class for me. Tight fisted ship owner. Mind you better than hard bench class or the roof. A great experience numerous stoppages for food, delicious. Colourful fascinating much better than flying.
    
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    May 25, 2024 5:17pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Potaka, the Waitangi Tribunal, the Coup, and The National Party’s Loss Of Control (Part 6)
Potaka – “The Crown’s obligations do not stop when a settlement arrangement is concluded. Actually they continue over time, and that’s the promise of Te Tiriti O Waitangi” Really? Where does he get that from? These ideas are certainly not in the Treaty.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/potaka-the-waitangi-tribunal-the-coup-and-the-national-partys-loss-of-control-part-6/
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May 25, 2024 10:43am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Potaka is an activist, like it or not.
  Another Govt Dept infiltrated, Parliament!
  
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  May 25, 2024 12:46pm
trout

A quote from Justice Clarence Thomas as the US Supreme Court winds back the DEI discriminatory practices that became the vogue in Universities and US Corporations:
“Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments,” he said. “What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything — good or bad — that happens in their lives.”
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May 25, 2024 10:43am
- Mike
  
  Also Clarence Thomas: “the worth of an individual is the sum of gifts from rich friends”
  
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  May 25, 2024 11:22am
  - All_on_Red
    
    I think it was Joe Biden who said that.
    Looks like Hunter will be going to Jail for that Gun charge
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:33pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Any charge of disposing of the gun into a dumpster?
      
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      May 26, 2024 8:22am
Chuck Bird

Does anyone believe that Robin did it?

The House of Bain – Part One: They’re All Dead
May 23, 2024 • 69 min

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1049-a-moment-in-crime-49194262/
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May 25, 2024 10:43am
- Ghost
  
  Murderers seem to always think they’re innocent. David did it. Lundy did it. OJ did it.
  
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  May 25, 2024 10:51am
  - peterwn
    
    Re Lundy. The defence had new ‘evidence’ to put before the Privy Council. A pathologist told Crown Counsel that the new evidence was ‘bullshit’ (it was the Manawatu after all). He was told that they could not tell the Law Lords that, and they needed to think of another way of putting it.
    
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    May 25, 2024 10:59am
    - fernglas
      
      Rubbish. Was this the same pathologist who gave evidence at the first trial about time of death who was jettisoned by the prosecution at the second?
      
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      May 25, 2024 3:39pm
  - MCōs
    
    Plenty in the police were convinced Arthur Thomas did it
    I friend who is a defence lawyer told me at times guilty parties get off because of police/prosecution incompetence
    
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    May 25, 2024 11:07am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      My post was not about Bain and not Thomas.
      
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      May 25, 2024 11:19am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Incompetence? Like not planting enough .22 shells?
      
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      May 25, 2024 12:48pm
      - Damocles11
        
        So if .22 shell/s were planted, does that mean he couldn’t have done? Not in my book. If no-one has been convicted of that crime, how can you rule anyone out, including the bloke originally arrested? Funnily enough the same bloke was up on sex charges decades later. But I’m sure he’s a saint. Occams razor, occams razor.
        
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        May 25, 2024 7:58pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Damocles11, it was a tiny bit of satire! 🙂
        
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        May 26, 2024 8:25am
    - rouppe
      
      friend who is a defence lawyer told me at times guilty parties get off because of police/prosecution incompetence
      
      That is true. Though sometimes it is because of unintentional errors.
      
      The thing about the adversarial system is that defense lawyers can posit the biggest pile of bullshit imaginable – in the form of a question – and get away with it.
      
      The slightest item off point from the Prosecution and the case is sunk.
      
      But certainly some of the shit done in the AAT matter and some others was outright disgraceful.
      
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      May 25, 2024 4:16pm
  - Notsofast
    
    OJ did it.
    Lundy and D Bain didn’t.
    
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    May 25, 2024 1:01pm
    - Colville
      
      Pretty tricky to get your wife’s brains on your shirt…
      
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      May 25, 2024 3:04pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        The test was made up by Miller using an experiment in his kitchen with a frozen chicken and a teatowel. I’ll concede that it sort of made sense, but it was never “mainstream science”. Had never been used before and has never been used since.
        
        I was always a bit confused about just about all the evidence so sincerely put up in trial #1 was binned in trial #2. No record breaking round trip Welly-Palmy – forget the old lady who saw a big man with a wig running through the street – forget James Pang’s evidence about how long Maccas last in the stomach.
        
        Go figure.
        
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        May 26, 2024 8:14am
    - Damocles11
      
      The evidence overwhelming pointed to one person doing one of those crimes. But the whole country got sidetracked by one piece of hearsay, and that is a recurring trait of this country.
      
      1 1
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      May 25, 2024 8:01pm
- Mike
  
  I think it’s been a long time since there was a Bain or Bain debate on Kiwiblog.
  
  5 2
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  May 25, 2024 11:24am
  - Red
    
    Marmite or Strawberry Jam?
    Please keep us informed, your meanderings are so interesting.
    
    3 2
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    May 25, 2024 1:47pm
    - AitchW
      
      Vegemite. Can’t stand Marmite.
      
      1 0
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      May 25, 2024 5:02pm
  - peterwn
    
    The chance of any new compelling evidence turning up would be about zilch.
    
    1 0
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    May 25, 2024 6:41pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Am I to assume that the down tickers mean that those down tickers believe that Robin did the murders?
  
  4 2
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  May 25, 2024 11:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not really, it is just Downticking derangement syndrome.
    
    3 5
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    May 25, 2024 12:50pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    All it means Chuck…. there’s a few losers here that hate your guts.
    Same with me 😀
    
    7 3
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    May 25, 2024 1:32pm
    - AitchW
      
      I, too, have a couple of dedicated downtickers. It pleases me to think that they’re so exercised about my opinions which are obviously diametrically opposed to their own that they feel compelled to downtick my every utterance. I’ve never before
      lived rent free in someone’s head, it’s a slightly surreal experience.
      
      1 1
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      May 25, 2024 3:33pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      I believe a certain little lefty grub hates the fact that Kiwiblog gets such traction and is here to try to piss people off.
      
      2 0
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      May 25, 2024 8:22pm
  - greybeard
    
    I believe( and always have done ) that Robin shot his family, David came home, discovered what had happened, shot his father then called the police.
    
    2 6
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    May 25, 2024 2:30pm
    - Chuck Bird
      
      What about the forensic evidence?
      
      5 2
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      May 25, 2024 3:05pm
    - peterwn
      
      In the second trial I very much doubt that the jury wondered whether it was Robin. He was acquitted because of Police incompetence and other reasons. The Police learned alot from this and technology advances helped such as being able to use any smart phone to take an overview of the scene before starting investigations. Police started investigations on the basis that Robin had murdered family members then took his own life, but when they investigated further that just did not stack up.
      
      3 0
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      May 25, 2024 6:58pm
- cmm
  
  I just hope that Robin doesn’t offend again.
  
  8 3
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  May 25, 2024 11:47am
- Swifty
  
  Newcomers to KB will not be aware of the Bain threads of years back which ran on and on and on and on…..
  
  Careful Chuck, you might awaken the Bainiacs.
  
  6 1
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  May 25, 2024 12:26pm
- lifesgood
  
  I’m convinced David did it. Bleeding hearts secured his not guilty verdict and big pay out. He’s now living the life of riley in OZ, they’re welcome to him. Disgraceful in my opinion.
  
  8 2
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  May 25, 2024 1:04pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I believe he is now in NZ.
    
    2 1
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    May 25, 2024 5:26pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      I completely agree with lifesgood’s comment.
      
      On what basis do you “believe he is now in NZ”? Please provide a link to your source.
      
      2 1
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      May 25, 2024 5:38pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  I remember people saying how scared Joe Karam became when David told him
  he was starting to see him as a ‘father figure’
  
  10 2
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  May 25, 2024 1:27pm
- AitchW
  
  David did it. An able defence lawyer and a gullible jury saved him.
  
  7 1
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  May 25, 2024 1:59pm
- Jake Dee
  
  Nope.
  David is as guilty as the devil himself.
  I don’t really feel like spending today picking over old bits of evidence such as the length of the rifle or the position of the spectacles like in an Agatha Christie whodunit, but time does give us some distance and perspective.
  Family annihilation murders, although horrific do have some history.
  What’s more likely, that a man kills his wife, his son, two daughters AND himself but also decides that one son must survive and leaves a note saying that, OR that a young man decides to wipe out his entire family but NOT himself?
  And why leave a note on the computer, where it could not be checked for handwriting or fingerprints? Did Robin usually do that sort of thing?
  “I’m sorry you are the only one who deserved to live”, was David talking to himself and the police, not Robin talking to David from beyond.
  
  3 1
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  May 25, 2024 6:46pm
CJames

The Miracle has happened. The Standard post writer “Advantage” admits Shane Jones is right about we need more mining.
https://thestandard.org.nz/is-shane-jones-right-about-mining/
Lucky he is under a pseudonym. A verbal lynching will follow.
13 1
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May 25, 2024 11:27am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It is the only way to get out of the shit Labour created.
  Drill baby drill. Dig baby dig!
  
  6 4
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  May 25, 2024 12:52pm
- AitchW
  
  Surely the left would support mining? More mines = more jobs for relatively low skilled workers. More blue collar jobs = more Labour voters, more union members and more money in Labours coffers.
  Or has Labour become a reverse watermelon, red on the outside and green inside.
  Or does the left hate mine owners making money so much that they’d rather consign their voters to the scrap heap?
  
  5 2
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  May 25, 2024 2:05pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Labour is the now party of the non working classes.
    
    Once you understand that, everything falls into place.
    
    2 0
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    May 25, 2024 7:40pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes, the Labour Party of yesteryear is gone. Now we just have Marxists and commies (aren’t they the same?)
      
      0 0
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      May 26, 2024 8:30am
- OlderChas
  
  IMHO – the best words ever uttered in NZ Parliament. Something like “If it means that a blind and deaf frog has to die to mine – then bye bye Freddy!”
  
  0 0
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  May 26, 2024 10:34am
All_on_Red

‘The International Court of Justice in the Hague ordered Israel to halt its military operation against Hamas in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip on Friday,’
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-802556

But to no avail.
The decision has been overturned by Judge Judy
//
HT Iowahawk
8 3
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May 25, 2024 11:46am
Damocles11

The Marxist NZ Herald posted a story to their Facebook feed 25 minutes ago, then closed comments. Here’s the header. Can you see the horrific spin?

‘When a teen who rarely had three meals a day decided to rob a multimillion-dollar jewellery store, the victims were women who were simply trying to do their jobs when they were caught in the crossfire of two vastly different worlds.’

I am furious that people still subscribe to this outfit and advertise with it. They just get worse and worse.
11 1
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May 25, 2024 12:41pm
- rouppe
  
  At least they correctly identified who the victims were.
  
  1 1
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  May 25, 2024 4:04pm
All_on_Red

Lithium Battery fire still burning after 4 days. Its consumed 5 million Gallons of water
Estimated to take another 10 days to put out and another 20 million Gallons of water
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/05/24/the-lithium-ion-battery-energy-storage-facility-blaze-you-hadnt-heard-aboutis-still-burning-n3788991
7 1
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May 25, 2024 12:42pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Never mind, there is plenty of water. Sea levels rising you know.
  
  4 1
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  May 25, 2024 12:53pm
- AitchW
  
  Good grief. I wonder if they would be best simply to contain the fire and let it burn itself out. What state is the water they’ve poured on it, what contaminants is it now carrying into the surrounding ground?
  
  6 0
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  May 25, 2024 2:14pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt_mofk1AmY
Political Hit Jobs | Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain.
Since I was first elected in 1996 the political establishment has tried every trick in the book to take me out.
Nearly 30 years later I’m still here, One Nation is still here, you are standing with us and we are stronger than ever.
6 2
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May 25, 2024 12:49pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YKumpLVH30
Huge Update. Trump Was Right All Along.

The Georgia election committee audit reveals that 380,761 election day ballot images have gone missing. Either they were wiped to hiding something or they never existed. Also, 17,000 ballot images from the recount have gone missing. Why?
8 2
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May 25, 2024 12:49pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  Wait til the hundreds of ballots that went missing in Philadelphia PA are revealed. And the reason why Giuliani held that press conference at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping… 😲😉
  
  #thebestisyettocome
  
  2 2
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  May 25, 2024 4:30pm
  - sungsamning
    
    You, it just might be Dem skullduggery.
    
    0 0
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    May 25, 2024 10:08pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Thankyou for that Mr Curry. Well now we know they can’t cheat the same way, but they will cheat any way they can.
  MAGA, TRUMP 2024.
  
  0 0
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  May 26, 2024 9:09am
lifesgood

An earlier comment mentioned that CYS was renamed Oranga Tamariki by an act of parliament and therefore can’t be given a sensible name that everyone understands. What, why, how and can’t another act of parliament change it back?
7 2
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May 25, 2024 1:07pm
- fernglas
  
  Given that nearly 70% of those in OT care are Maori or Maori/Pacific, perhaps a Maori name for the organisation is more appropriate than some English acronym?
  
  3 1
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  May 25, 2024 3:45pm
Maggie Pie

We’re off to a client party tonite, so went shopping for a new outfit this morn.

Anyway, have only just read this terrible story in $tuffed and it got me thinking……no matter how much alcohol WE consume, (and it’s not unusual for us to enjoy a few aperitifs along with a bottle of wine each, particulary at a restaurant offering say a 15 course Degustation Menu) we always leave happy. The last thing on our minds, is we’d want to get in the car and run people over 🙁

There’s no doubt of course, alcohol affects different sorts of people differently, as in the case here. The real question now is, what should happen next?

https://stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350287382/parents-fight-keep-edgeware-rd-double-murderer-behind-bars
5 2
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May 25, 2024 1:19pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Deport him to Samoa ASAP.
  
  The NZ taxpayer has paid enough for this man.
  
  8 1
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  May 25, 2024 2:23pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    It is more likely that he will be in prison for at least a few more years. Article does not say if he is a New Zealand citizen. If he is, we are stuck with him. 😠
    
    3 0
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    May 25, 2024 2:53pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I guess we have more chance of seeing people like this deported
    now that Labour has gone. Lets hope so anyway.
    And you can only imagine how those poor parents must feel
    every time they see a Samoan on the streets 🙁
    
    5 3
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    May 25, 2024 3:22pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “The last thing on our minds, is we’d want to get in the car and run people over.”
  
  After drinking that much I hope that you don’t get in a car at all. Not to drive it I mean.
  
  3 1
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  May 25, 2024 2:51pm
  - kevn
    
    BY… Akld is alive with Uber (and other) rides.
    
    4 2
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    May 25, 2024 3:08pm
Inandout

Some leaders understand that public servants are a real problem.
https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-02/president-javier-milei-fires-24000-government-workers-in-argentina-no-one-knows-who-will-be-next.html
6 2
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May 25, 2024 1:20pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Crows can count up to four. Sign them up as primary teachers!

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01482-x
3 1
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May 25, 2024 1:52pm
Chuck Bird

Will any alarmist scientists or politicians debate her? I doubt it.

The FULL Judith Curry Interview: Climate Scientist Says World Won’t End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0PQ1cOlCJI
4 3
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May 25, 2024 1:57pm
rouppe

Tens of thousands of pensioners still paying off student loans, government figures show.

When i read that headline, i thought “bullshit”. I went through university from school in the 80’s and am about to turn 62. The student loan scheme didn’t exist then.

So i thought there no way that could be true.

Then I read a bit between the lines, and what’s happening is people are going to university (or more likely poly tech) in their 40’s or 50’s, and the student loan is pushing out to over 65.

One example:

[Sarah] initially completed a bachelor’s degree in sociology and geography and has an event management qualification, too. She graduated with about $40,000 in debt.
She has since paid that down to $5000 but is now facing the prospect of adding to it again so she can retrain as a teacher.

This highlights a problem that hasn’t been addressed since I was at university: Who is advising these people on what degree they choose to do? What are the employment prospects for a sociology or geography degree? How much does it pay? The same can be asked of many of the degrees from the Schools of Arts.

So now they find it isn’t helping them, and they’re having to retrain. That same question now becomes doubly important: what are my prospects after investing in this retraining? I doubt she asked herself that question.

My nephew cast around a bit after school. Started a motor mechanic apprenticeship. Looked around the shop and saw all the older ones with broken backs. So he went to Auckland and did an electrical engineering degree. He’s now knocking on the door of a $200,000 income.

My son’s in his first year engineering degree. Probably civil or similar. He’ll do just fine.

But at 40, with $5k still on your original student loan, you want to be darn sure adding to it is going to pay off.
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May 25, 2024 3:48pm
- Surely Knott
  
  I also thought bullshit. And did some research.
  
  First the article is about pensioners not paying back their loans but the example is not a pensioner at all. It is a woman in her 40’s who has multiple degrees and a small loan of $5k she could easily pay off.
  
  So what’s really going on? Why the misleading example.
  
  I think the issue might be this:
  
  From IRD : Let us know if someone has died.
  “If they had a student loan we will write this off.”
  
  So IRD will write off your loan. So for example, if you are retired at 54. You can study a uni subject of interest, and you only start to pay back the loan if you earn $24k or over, and you’re retired, so you don’t pay it back or only a small amount. And then if you die they write it off.
  
  So from my reading, (and i’m not an expert, just from reading what the IRD wrote) if you were looking for something to do in retirement (as long as you started the degree and loan at 54) could you work it so you never have to pay it off?
  
  And what about if you lost your job at 50 and are finding it hard to find another. Would you be better off getting the student loan and student living and accommodation allowances or going on the dole?
  
  IRD page link below.
  https://www.ird.govt.nz/situations/im-looking-after-the-affairs-of-someone-who-has-died/let-us-know-someone-has-died
  
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  May 25, 2024 7:42pm
Maggie Pie

ONLY JUST IN FROM THE UK…

We need to do exactly the same with our Police here before it’s too late.
When will our own NZ born politicians who actually care about the future direction
of this country wake up?

https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1794208113765314812
4 2
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May 25, 2024 3:52pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Assault charges here in NZ. The bastards have rights ffs!
  
  0 0
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  May 26, 2024 9:23am
Master Mariner

Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel before a Major disaster unfolds due too absolute Negligence.

Paywalled.
Mayday calls and cancelled ferries: Government considers emergency towing options

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mayday-calls-and-cancelled-ferries-government-considers-emergency-towing-options/UVMLW7FSONHJRBIVFRI5SFNLRU/
2 1
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May 25, 2024 4:43pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I hope they have work lined up in the Cook Strait area such as hydrographic surveying, research etc. If weather gets bad they just stop work and go on stand by otherwise it becomes a retirement home for the seamen’s union like the Holmdale on the Chatham Is run.
  
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  May 25, 2024 7:21pm

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