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July 20, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 20 July 2024

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General Debate

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Scott

Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza? Yes they are, according to the dozen or so muppets that wave the Gaza flag in the streets of Masterton every Sunday morning (when they’d be way better off in church).

Well if Israel is committing genocide they’re doing a pretty poor job of it!

Here are the facts. They’re setting up a field hospital for children in Gaza. They’re also replacing the pier the Americans built to allow aid to Gaza.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-set-up-port-facility-to-replace-us-pier-build-field-hospital-for-gaza-kids/

The IDF is repairing Gaza’s sewage system. They are also repairing power lines to Gaza.

https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/rywenhsu0

Please share these articles, especially if you know anyone protesting the “genocide” in Gaza. The truth needs to get out.
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July 20, 2024 8:01am
- Ra Henare
  
  Interesting.
  Israel now in full on PR mode to offset all the bad press they have had over the last 7? months.
  
  Of course your comment is non sequitur.
  
  Genocide and doing some rebuilds are not related When IDF continue to bomb whole buildings(with resultant mass fatalities) on the basis they have intel that a Hamas fighter may be inside.
  
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  July 20, 2024 3:47pm
peterwn

A couple has been sent to prison for 3 years each for serious prolonged tax evasion.
This sentence is quite conventional and meets the usual Sentencing Act particularly denunciation and deterrence. However the couple did not commit physical violence as such nor are likely to do so in the future. I acknowledge that such white collar cases are mental and moral violence against victims of fraud etc including the long suffering taxpayer and society where IRD is defrauded.
However I question whether physical imprisonment is the most appropriate penalty for such white collar crime. It costs money to keep them locked up and the white collar criminal runs the risk of suffering physical violence even though he would be a non-violent person.
I think there should be very strict ‘community detention’ for such offenders instead of prison and they should not expect to enjoy conventional human rights. Detention conditions would include no vote, overseas travel prohibited, strict control of finances, limitations on home and car ownership etc (ie no Porches etc). The offender facing such conditions may prefer to go to prison!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/housing-construction-couple-jailed-for-800k-tax-evasion-after-splashing-out-on-jewellery-beauty-salon-visits/PVVAFXLTW5HSFEYSHZ3HIPITPQ/ (not paywalled)
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July 20, 2024 8:03am
- Colville
  
  Given the choice of forfeiture of assets or three years inside I would be handing over the house in a heartbeat.
  
  I can earn more money, I cant unrape my arsehole.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:24am
  - peterwn
    
    IRD was still out of pocket by $800k. The odds are IRD/ Police will strip them financially naked.
    
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    July 20, 2024 1:58pm
- Mike
  
  Violent offenders are less scared of prison than white collar crininals. White collar criminals tend to have had krss troubling backgrounds as a mitigating factor.
  Sens more fraudsters to jail.
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:11pm
  - jkt
    
    A real three strikes approach will work very well for fraudsters.
    But it must be real and we can base it on the Green Party fraudsters like Golriz G. I will be generous and give her strike one.
    
    The same approach should be adopted for other categories of crime.
    
    First assault. Strike one…..
    Second theft. Strike two…..
    Third murder. Strike three…..
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:46pm
    - PurplePen
      
      I agree. A wealthy person and a poor person are both fined equally for many transgression such as parking, speeding etc. The wealthy essentially can ignore the fine, it’s small change. But change it so it’s two days in a cell to they’ll sit up and take notice.
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:12pm
      - jkt
        
        Make them work for a couple of weeks in the kitchen, wearing prison garb.
        Those who can teach should be made to teach classes in prison garb for a couple of weeks.
        For their effort we can support them with a roof over their heads for few weeks.
        
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        July 20, 2024 6:56pm
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: It’s a Slippery Slope
All the world’s a stage, and Enshittification continues to progress

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-its-a-slippery-slope?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 20, 2024 8:06am
- lastmanstanding
  
  We didnt have computer systems failures or cyber attacks 50 years ago. Thats when I was first involved with IT. I can recall discussions over the years that the greater the centralisation of data the bigger the problem. Im waiting for a cyber attacker to hold a large bank to ransom threatening to either clean out the accounts or wipe the data. It can only be a matter of time. So is the benefit worth the cost. The young ones who know nothing different will say yes because they never experienced anything else. Us old codgers can compare and contrast. Sure stuff got done slower in the good old days but it got done.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:08am
  - kowtow
    
    LMS
    
    Good to hearan opinion from within the industry.
    
    Couldn’t agree more .
    
    Govts want “digital currencies” instead of cash. Madness.
    
    That alone ,never mind the global mishandling of the China virus , proves conclusively how utterly useless our leaders and ‘experts’ are .
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:17am
    - ISeeRed
      
      It’s not “madness” if you want to control people’s spending and detect untaxed income.
      
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      July 20, 2024 1:18pm
      - kowtow
        
        Exactly . But in their quest to control us they fail to recognise the huge downside to even their own interests ie worse players than them ie axis of evil states , proxies and agents will be well ahead in any strategy to undermine and compromise these digital “initiatives” at a time of their chosing ie war.
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:24pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    Hang on a minute, lastman- surely it is the new coalition government’s fault that this cyber attack and computer systems failure have occurred?
    Removal of funding – or something?
    Not enough adherence to Te Treaty?
    Will wait for follow up article calling for an enquiry into this colonist government’s biased treatment of certain people’s internet opportunities.
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:18am
    - Colville
      
      Its obviously a Treaty issue.. this never happened back in 1840!
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:25am
    - PurplePen
      
      No no no! .. it’s global warming that’s cause the outage. Its obvious!
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:14pm
  - peterwn
    
    Systems failures have been around a long time. Perhaps main difference was there was no internet 50 years ago, indeed there was little if anything in the way of networks. The banks (via Databank) had a network of data centres located within courier distance of each branch – raw information being sent to data centres after closing and printouts sent to branches before opening the next day. The only ‘networking’ between the data centres was a daily exchange of magtapes also by courier.
    In one case salary increases were loaded into a computer ready for the payroll run which crashed. The issue was the CEO’s annual salary now exceeded $10,000 but the software assumed a maximum salary of $9,9999.
    A fundamental issue with modern systems as I see it is all the backups are within the scope of the whole system which means if the ‘current’ part of the system is hacked, the hackers can reach out to all the backups and delete or compromise them. This puts real teeth into a ransom attempt. If some backups are kept right out of reach of the system, then reloading software and data to a compromised system is relatively easier with only the most recent data lost.
    Perhaps the same goes for the recent issue.
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:39am
    - cmm
      
      Yes, systems of all types fail all the time. The main differences here are:
      1) The vast international scale of systems relying on a single point of failure. In this case Microsoft operating systems.
      2) That systems are generally so reliable that nobody uses back up systems.
      
      When we lived out of town we’d lose power often. We kept a gas stove ready to go. If we lost power half way through cooking a meal we’d be back in action within 2 minutes.
      
      Most people are so reliant on power that they don’t have any back up systems and cannot cope with system failure.
      
      If computer systems crashed every month then we’d have back up systems ready to go all the time: cash in our pockets, paper tickets, etc etc.
      
      That’s one of the big flip sides to highly reliable systems – people become complacent.
      
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      July 20, 2024 9:59am
      - rangitoto
        
        Not MS operating systems as such. The issue was a faulty update issued by CrowdStrike. We don’t use that particular Vendor ourselves and had no issues but many of our customers did. Crowdstrike also support Linux and Mac and I notice there is a least one previous report on the Red Hat bugzilla about Crowdstrike’s product causing a kernel panic.
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:06am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        On the other hand, who here does not remember queueing at the bank at 4.30pm on a Friday to get some cash for the weekend (or writing a cheque with a mate), or queueing at the PO to pay bills?
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:17pm
      - kowtow
        
        NMTB
        
        Queuing was a very minor inconvenience compared to what could and does happen these days .
        
        Besides “we’ve” also lost a huge part of our Anglo Saxon culture ; the ability to patiently form a queue and get our business done in a civilised and polite face to face manner.
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:29pm
  - G152
    
    I notice that its all Windows systems that are down… Thank goodness for Linnux
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:41am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Windows was not down, if so mine was not
      
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      July 20, 2024 11:52am
    - peterwn
      
      No, only Windows systems that use CloudStrike for protection and where the buggy patch was installed.
      Corporates use it to protect their systems, but the reverse happened in this case.
      Linux systems would have been OK since the buggy patch was not applicable to them. However the CrowdStrike version for Linux could be just as vulnerable. Linux users probably do not need CloudStrike but managements and security consultants probably insist on it.
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:26pm
      - rangitoto
        
        There is a Redhat Bugzilla report of a previous botched CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor update for their Linux version that caused a kernel panic (Linux equivalent to the Windows BSOD). So they have some history with this kind of stuff. The solution is to do staged updates to detect these kind of issues before installing on critical production but there seems to be a push from auditors to do security updates as soon as they are released.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:38pm
      - nova
        
        CrowdStrike and its ilk are in some ways similar to the road cones that plague the streets. Mandated by people who are worried about their posteriors in case something bad happens. And there is in fact immense waste caused by poorly written security software, a lot of CPU cycles are wasted, and a lot of human productivity lost as well. In this case it looks like an incompetence by CrowdStrike, but if this can slip out so easily, a malicious actor working for CrowdStrike could likely push out something that doesn’t cause crashes, but does something more nefarious.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:44pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    All sorted for my cash for the pub
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:51am
artemisia

Absurdity in the asylum – Nick Clark channels Wonko the Sane from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” as he ponders a council requirement to fence a pool on the remote island of Motukawaiti in Northland. Well naturally pools have to be fenced, who could argue with that? MBIE agrees a fence is required.

Slight problem, the pool is a few steps away from the Pacific Ocean. Mr Clark’s suggestion – Why stop at the pool when we could fence the Pacific Ocean itself? The Far North District Council will of course be investigating the costs as we speak.

Minister Seymour – any room on your little list?.

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/absurdity-in-the-asylum/
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July 20, 2024 8:11am
- NothingLeft
  
  “thou shalt not use common sense” – 1st commandment of rules and regulations enforcers everywhere.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:13am
  - AitchW
    
    Worksafe goes a long, long way past that commandment. Their inspectors are giddy with power and have the mentality of toddlers pulling the wings off of a butterfly.
    Make no mistake, if these people decide to get you, you’re doomed.
    The number of independent site certifiers is falling rapidly, they are quitting the industry due largely to harassment by Worksafe.
    The government’s overhaul of H&S legislation can’t come soon enough.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:09am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ratepayers pay for this stupidity.
  You know what to do about it – vote the bastards out!
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:12am
  - Colville
    
    Incorrect.
    Its a salaried council officer who has made this call, if you want to affect them you need to go thru the CEO.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:28am
    - peterwn
      
      And the CEO will say he/she has to enforce the law and has no discretion, no if’s, no but’s. If the law is an ass, it is a matter for Parliament.
      It is not about a CEO yielding excessive power or thumbing his nose at councillors, it is the CEO fulfilling his or her duty as laid down by the various pieces of legislation governing the Council, its duties and its responsibilities. Councillors and citizens need to respect this. Any Councillor who does not appreciate this aspect of governance should not be there. To give a gross example, a Council would be in deep, deep trouble if the CEO sacked the building inspectors and decreed that building permits were no longer needed.
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:06pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Vote the ones who support this and support the CEO out. They will soon apply some pressure.
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:22pm
      - peterwn
        
        Se my other comment. If the Council puts the CEO in an impossible position, the CEO would probably resign and claim for constructive dismissal. Also the CEO like any other citizen can refer the matter to the Local Government Minister who can appoint a monitor or a commissioner. The Minister or staffer would probably ‘read the riot act’ to Mayor and Council and give them a chance to pull their heads in before taking more drastic action.
        There was a problem in a Council years ago where there was an issue between the Chief Building Inspector and the Office Solicitor over deficient flats owned by the Office Solicitor in his private capacity. The Building Inspector could hardly ask the Office Solicitor to prosecute himself and quite rightly sought advice from the CEO who effectively washed his hands of the matter. The CEO should have thrown the Office Solicitor under a bus but was too much a ‘nice guy’. The Council was reorganising and most probably because of the incident sought a fresh CEO rather than re-confirm the appointment of the existing CEO.
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:16pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  What’s our conclusion? Are we proposing that regulations on swimming pool safety should simply say “use your common sense”?
  
  Whose “common sense”? The government? Worksafe? The council? The pool owners? Parents? Whoever happens to be passing by at the time and notices a toddler near the pool? Kiwibloggers? Stuff journalists?
  
  What if they don’t agree, take incompatible actions and a child dies? Children do die in swimming pools, the fact that none had died at that particular pool does not mean that none ever will. Now you have everybody looking to blame everybody else and a judge, or other authority, attempting to decide, with the benefit of hindsight, between different people’s versions of “common sense”.
  
  Is this more, or less, likely to lead to effective, consistent and fair regulation than a single, clear requirement which inevitably entails acceptance that in a few instances the implications are a bit weird?
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:21am
- Terry Dalee
  
  If a child drowns in the swimming pool on the island, it’s the home owners fault if said pool isn’t deemed up to standards.
  That’s how I think the courts would see it. Comply or else.
  
  Perfectly fine if child drowns in the Pacific Ocean, it’s no longer the homeowners fault. Liability will ultimately end up on parents/caregiver not supervising their child.
  
  I’d fence the pool off and remove all doubt around liability and insurance as stupid as the situation you find yourself in is…
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:05am
  - Bridgenag
    
    One of the blokes at Bowls knows a wealthy farmer who has nothing around his pool built 40 years ago
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:56pm
- pdm
  
  NL – that is a variation of the:
  
  Give a man a white coat`’ philosophy.
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:57am
- PurplePen
  
  We wanted to build an earth dam pool on a rural block and was advised by the building inspector to call it a pond that way none of the pool rules would apply. Makes sense as you can’t expect drinking ponds for stock to be fenced. So just change the name of it.
  
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  July 20, 2024 2:20pm
  - Sacha
    
    We had dams on our farm. The bloke with the bulldozer came along and scooped out a shallow valley, made an overflow on one side, and we waited for the rain to fill it.
    Nobody inspected it.
    
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    July 20, 2024 5:16pm
Anthony Melchett

81 million votes huh…

For a guy so bewildered he can’t even work out where he is or which one is his wife.

I would feel sad for him if people hadn’t defended him for 4 years while he caused enormous harm to America

https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/presidential-election/2024/07/19/669a4d32268e3e076b8b459a.html
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July 20, 2024 8:12am
- I remember when
  
  “I guess to him (Joe Biden), all black people look the same.”
  
  Well certainly their names look the same.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:29am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    If a black person is voting for Trump they aren’t black, that came from Biden mouth to a guy who said he was voting Trump in 2020 and it was live on tv
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:57am
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      As the first black president, also a Biden statement about himself, he has some authority on the matter.
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:41pm
Matt Long

Immigrants are great for America, we should have open borders. There’s no danger from criminals.
What, no Juan can’t stay at my home for 3 months. Mi casa? No, no, no.
White liberal hypocrisy in funny YouTube short.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Vu2nxTuDpr4?si=ZquETda7hLrDC1Q-
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July 20, 2024 8:13am
- jkt
  
  The borders are not open and have not been open for a very long time.
  
  The Trump wall is 50 km long.
  Another 1,400km needs to be built if one needs a wall along the Mexican border.
  
  The length of the border between Mexico and America is 3,500 km!!
  
  Border control is a complex issue where 1+1 does not follow algebraic certainty.
  
  I was in charge of the military security detail that patrolled a section of the Kaftan-E border section between South Africa and Ximbabwe for a few months in 1985.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:32am
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘Before Biden stopped new construction on the wall, the Trump administration had built 458 miles of what it dubbed “border wall system,” according to final figures compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and provided to U.S. News.
    
    The wall consists mostly of 18- to 30-foot steel bollards anchored in concrete. The barriers also feature sensors, lights, cameras and parallel roads in some places.
    The vast majority of the 458 miles were constructed in places where some kind of barrier already existed, but most of the preexisting structures were far less imposing than the new wall and included fencing and rudimentary tehttps://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-02-07/how-much-of-president-donald-trumps-border-wall-was-builtchnical barriers.’
    
    A lot of the Border contains natural barriers so its doesnt need a wall.
    And to say it is closed is nonsense.
    https://homeland.house.gov/2024/07/15/chairman-green-on-june-border-numbers-another-month-another-devastating-number-of-inadmissible-aliens-entering-and-being-released/
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:44am
    - jkt
      
      You are dead wrong!😑
      Look up a reliable source and you will find that what you think is true, is misinformation.
      
      400 miles of wall existed before Trump entered the Whitehouse.
      In 2021 the wall measured 480 miles, and Mexico did not pay for any of it!!
      
      Nonsense!? Try Facts!! Facts are not hard to find but those who choose to be blind to facts will stay ignorant.
      
      If you read my comment with an open mind you will find that our analyses are pretty much the same. Yours does appear to show a definite bias ……
      
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      July 20, 2024 1:01pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        You didn’t read the links did you
        Sure there was a fence for some of it but it was really only a post and rail type arrangement.
        Not a wall.
        As this part of my citation says ‘most of the preexisting structures were far less imposing than the new wall and included fencing and rudimentary technical barriers’
        The source for that information is US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
        I think they would know. Looks like I am right
        You seem to have a comprehension problem
        https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-02-07/how-much-of-president-donald-trumps-border-wall-was-built
        
        THESE ARE FACTS
        Yet you supply no citation for your assertions
        Put up a link to prove this statement “The Trump wall is 50 km long.”
        Back up what you are claiming
        Looks like you are the ignorant one
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:43pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Here you go gullible one
        Look at picture 6
        That shows what the barrier looked like before Trump built his big beautiful wall
        https://www.nbcnews.com/slideshow/u-s-mexico-border-now-n685936
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:50pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Dont you love it where you get strong debate.
        
        In this case
        some Border Patrol Facts.
        verses an NBC Hit piece.
        
        Loving it.
        Bring it on.
        
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        July 20, 2024 3:57pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        You mean US Customs and Border Patrol facts from me as well as pictures of the Border fences from NBC?
        You call pictures a hit piece? NBC is hardly a Trump fan
        I thought you were the “show me pictures of the slaughtered rape victims or it didn’t happen” bigot?
        And we’re still waiting for ‘facts’ from jkt
        He’s a Citation Free zone
        
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        July 20, 2024 4:32pm
      - jkt
        
        AllRed
        BBC report backed up by Wikipedia search, my own memory, a recent YouTube report, the “Government Accountability Office”, ABC fact check and practical experience are adequate for me thank you.
        
        The gullible will believe what they choose to believe.
        
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        July 20, 2024 5:33pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        So you have no Citations to back up any of your claims
        I have provided Citations from the US Customs Service and Border Patrol which prove you are wrong and that you dont know what you are talking about-aka making shit up.
        You call others ignorant and wrong but you have been shown up to be the wrong and ignorant person
        What a joke you are.
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:19pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The wall is longer than 50 ks, so that’s bullshit, you are right much of the wall is still to be built, when Trump was in the dems blocked funding through one side of government because they hate Trump, the way things are going the Rep will win all three sides, and let’s not forget a large amount of wall was left unfinished by the dems, even some states built parts by themselves.
    
    We would have had these open borders here to if Ardern remained, she was spouting at the in we are a borderless world, what a dangerous bitch she was
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:01pm
    - jkt
      
      I can’t help it if you cannot do math.
      
      Of course the border wall is longer. Trump was not the first wall builder. They have been building border walls for a very long time.
      
      Try and read my comment……
      
      The total length of the wall in 2021 is 480 miles, before Trump the wall was 400 miles long and Trump claims to have build 400 miles.
      
      We know Trump is a liar 🤥. That is an undisputed fact. Maybe he is also algebra challenged.
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:55pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Well doing the math right there says it grew 80 miles, not 60 as you said.
        
        You have forgotten the fencing and equipment that was still in place building where the pathetic dems simply left it lying in the ground
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:34pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Citation needed
        Where are the links to prove what you are saying is right?
        And it has been proved to you that it wasn’t a wall there previously but a fence.
        You even got a picture!
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:59pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        And the total length of the wall in 2021 is ‘Now, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in its 6 October 2021 status report, the southern border has 669 miles of “primary barrier” – the first structure people heading from Mexico to the US will encounter’
        
        Not “480 miles” Wrong again jkt
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:12pm
      - jkt
        
        G the Giant and AllRed
        
        My comment is about being algebraically challenged people and how people favour their own bias. My argument is that one should be careful to trust anything you hear from such people and people who are known liars.
        
        Thanks for confirming my theory.
        
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        July 20, 2024 5:43pm
      - jkt
        
        AllRed and G
        
        Nitpicking.
        
        AllRed: I provided you with the sources that I viewed. Your own “evidence” matches my numbers .. broadly speaking.
        
        The border is not unsupervised (“open”).Even the report that you link, a political statement by a Republican Congressman, acknowledges that. The Trump administration did not build 400 miles of Mexican border and the Mexican Government did not fund for the wall.
        
        I know many Civil Engineers who calculate to the 4th decimal when using safety factors approaching X10.
        
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        July 20, 2024 7:24pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Sources?
        You have provided nothing
        And what is this red herring about Mexico?
        You said Trump only built 50 miles
        Its wrong and a complete lie.
        Its so funny to watch you wriggle and make a complete ass of yourself because you cant back up your bullshit
        You accuse others of bias but your TDS has made a fool of you
        hahahahahahahaahaha
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:23pm
      - jkt
        
        Allred
        You are most generous with your comments.
        It is great to spar with you ………. Or wait….
        I knew what you were going to say all along …🤔
        
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        July 21, 2024 10:52am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Typical Democrats. Open the Border. No you can’t stay at my place.
  But wait, Democrats need your vote, please stay.
  Republicans are trying to stop some sort of bill that gives illegal aliens a vote!
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:35am
  - jkt
    
    Steve:
    Border control is not actually a blue and red issue.
    
    It is just a story to show how tough the Republicans are and how soft the Democrats are. And the gullible picks a side.
    
    I was in control of a section of a border for a period of three months, once…
    
    Our job was to pick up carcasses of things that were electrocuted, inspect the line to identify crossings, respond to alarms, sweep the road on our side of the border so that one can identify fresh foot marks, alert the police forces to follow up on people who illegally entered South Africa ….
    
    If we found armed infiltrators we had orders to shoot them if they threatened us otherwise we reported infiltrations to the infantry units and the SAPS who took joint responsibility to follow up.
    
    2 5
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    July 20, 2024 1:18pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      How come crossings reduced to almost nothing under Trump and exploded under Biden?
      What was the difference?
      
      PS- I know but I dont think you do…
      
      6 4
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      July 20, 2024 2:01pm
      - jkt
        
        Covid!!
        Remember.
        
        Need a source?
        
        0 3
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        July 20, 2024 5:44pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Yes- Citation needed
        Read the link about how the crossings are still continuing where you said the “Border was closed”
        WRONG
        You have no facts. You cant prove anything
        What an ignorant fool
        
        0 0
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        July 20, 2024 11:25pm
      - jkt
        
        AllRed
        
        So you were not around in early 2020!
        Where were you …….
        
        Think for yourself and stop relying on selective sources of biased information.
        
        You could even consult your own comments, if you can actually do it without bias and see the trees from the wood, if you choose to do that.
        
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        July 21, 2024 10:54am
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350332750/worksafes-whakaari-investigator-said-chopper-companies-shouldnt-be-charged

This is a lengthy article which includes some amazing (alleged) spin from “authorities” out to scapegoat a rescue helicopter company.

“When we got charged I was like ‘I can smell there’s something going on here’,” he said.
He believed the decision to lay charges was politically motivated, and pre-determined.
“It can’t be anything else. You can’t get to the end of eight months and millions of dollars on an investigation and find that there was nothing there,” he said.
35 2
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July 20, 2024 8:26am
- ChrisB
  
  You are not saying the That Woman told WS to carry on with charges, are you?
  No, surely not, that would never happen here in Pure New Zealand!
  
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  July 20, 2024 8:55am
- Quail
  
  Gravel,
  This needs a full investigation by the office of the auditor general or whoever is the appropriate office.
  The individual courage shown by the pilots rescuing the victims was incredible .They deserve approbation not punitive action by authorities.
  And as worrying is the way the investigators reports have been changed to fit the official version.
  That is rank corruption!
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:03am
  - Gravelroad
    
    From the article:
    Paul Patterson quoted here was the WorkSafe investigating inspector on this case.
    “Eleven days after filing his final report he (Mr Patterson) received an email from West (manager). Attached to the email was a revised version of his report. It was 26 pages long – half the size of the report he filed. At its foot was Patterson’s electronic signature.
    “When I opened the attached document, it was immediately clear to me that my report had been significantly altered from the version I had submitted to Mr West,” Patterson said in his affidavit.
    Much of the information and analysis had been removed, including the positive information about VASL “meaning the altered version lacked fairness and balance”.
    
    So the outcome was (politically) predetermined and the facts manipulated to suit a narrative.
    PS- I have no skin in this game at all. Just a reader.
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:57am
- NothingLeft
  
  track down whoever made the decision to prosecute and get them out of the civil service. They are evil.
  
  26 0
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  July 20, 2024 9:15am
  - gravedodger
    
    Then two of those charged were given bravery awards from Gov Gen were they not.
    
    17 0
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    July 20, 2024 9:51am
    - AitchW
      
      Deservedly so. WS’s persecution (ending in prosecution and convictions) was a travesty.
      As with IRD, if they put you in their crosshairs these bastards will always win.
      
      15 0
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      July 20, 2024 10:29am
- CJames
  
  That story is indicative of how Worksafe see themselves as above the law. The South Island quarry is another example as to the organisation being arrogant shits.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/473349/worksafe-decision-to-prosecute-quarry-after-15-minute-inspection-negligent-court-rules
  As the White Island case showed, they get the high conviction rate because they effectively bankrupted the other party – our own version of Democrat’s lawfare.
  They are certainly an organisation that the Minister needs to trim.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:16am
  - pdm
    
    CJ – hopefully Worksafe comes under Brooke van Veldon’s ambit and that she will be on their case after she finishes with the Holidays Act review.
    
    I rate Brooke and Simeon Brown as the two most effective Cabinet Ministers although Seymour is starting to chase the two of them hard now with his work on Pharmac..
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:47am
    - Colville
      
      Seymour gets a significant downgrade due to his bending over on the pathetic new Three Strikes legislation.
      
      My vote goes to Bishop. He will actually change the way New Zealand builds houses and we all will be better for it.
      
      11 2
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      July 20, 2024 10:33am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        One thing that has pissed me off all my adult life is the slow nature of progress.
        
        One thing I note on here is a lot of people hate Bishop, the usual suspects, but he has come out very hard on RMA, on rules holding up progress, why the suspects hate him is beyond me
        
        7 0
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        July 20, 2024 12:13pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Amazingly I think Jones is doing well, also looks like the minister for benefits is doing well too, she is under estimated I think
      
      7 0
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      July 20, 2024 12:18pm
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  That is sickening and an indictment on the process. Kudos to Patterson for making this public. A reminder to us all that it is possible to password protect files so they can be opened but not altered.
  
  15 0
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  July 20, 2024 10:20am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Besides Worksafe decisions stinking to high hell, on the day of the eruptions and rescues, who gave the order to stop the boats and helicopters?
  For the helicopters nobody knows the limits of the machine more than the pilots. It should have been their choice, not some fucking pen pusher.
  
  18 2
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  July 20, 2024 10:48am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Same would apply to Secret Service Anti Sniper team not allowed on the roof as …..slope was dangerous.
    
    A Pen pusher for sure. Not a decision made by the Anti sniper team, thats for sure
    
    2 0
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    July 20, 2024 4:03pm
    - Ghost
      
      Police sniper team were in the building. The secret service counter-sniper team were the two people on the roof behind trump.
      
      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/snipers-were-inside-building-used-trump-failed-assassin-reported-him-using-range-finder
      
      2 0
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      July 20, 2024 4:08pm
- Terry Dalee
  
  Worksafe are out of control.
  
  The issue here is not the day of the eruption and the subsequent decisions to effect a rescue.
  
  The issue is that all those organisations as a PCBU undertook all the requirements that WorkSafe required of them to operate to White Island prior to the eruption. They all complied.
  
  Yes there is always a risk of a major eruption on the island but the only mitigation was to limit how long on the island you spent. That’s as far as reasonably practicable.
  
  So you comply, something bad happens and you get prosecuted in retrospect with hindsight? Talk about hindsight bias. This is a miscarriage of justice.
  Don’t forget, prior to the eruption, WorkSafe were happy with these companies to operate.
  
  So who is going to prosecute WorkSafe for their lapses in allowing this “tragedy” to occur?
  Where is WorkSafe’s culpability in allowing these companies to operate with their apparent approval?
  
  Even better,
  If a volcano erupts in Auckland, a river floods or a earthquake occurs, why aren’t WorkSafe prosecuting the Iwi that claims it?
  Where do we stop?
  
  16 1
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  July 20, 2024 11:25am
  - pdm
    
    TD – worksafe will not prosecute Iwi for those sorts of things as long as my bum hole points to the ground.
    
    Iwi outfits are the favoured ones.
    
    9 1
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    July 20, 2024 12:02pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    When will Worksafe prosecute Auckland Council for permitting the construction of houses on a volcanic plateau?
    
    Because we all know that there will be another eruption in Auckland, it’s just a matter of when.
    
    Ditto Wellington & its fault line.
    
    I’d say the Worksafe CEO is derelict in his/ her duty.
    
    7 0
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    July 20, 2024 12:23pm
- plc
  
  Interestingly, WorkSafe visited the island two weeks before the eruption.
  
  The purpose of the trip was to check the cultural competency of the tour companies.
  
  No issues as to the safety or not of Worksafe staff were raised at the time, however once the eruption their recent visit was conveniently forgotten.
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:38pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    CULTURAL safety!? Really?
    
    0 0
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    July 20, 2024 6:37pm
  - greybeard
    
    Now that is very interesting, as you say.
    Is there any way to get more info on this trip ?
    
    1 0
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    July 20, 2024 6:51pm
Chuck Bird

We are not alone evidence builds for alien life outside our solar system. What do you think?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-listener/business/we-are-not-alone-evidence-builds-for-alien-life-outside-our-solar-system/NG7BACMWONCJ3DLFAYUOB4OT4Q/#
9 3
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July 20, 2024 8:27am
- Mike
  
  Given the scale of the universe, it is highly improbable that life has only evolved on one planet.
  
  15 4
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  July 20, 2024 8:41am
  - cmm
    
    Certainly “life” is quite likely. But “life” elsewhere is unlikely to be similar to ours.
    
    Technically, any self-replicating chemical system is “life”. There are many ways in which this can happen. For example something akin to slime mold but silicon rather than carbon based would constitute “life”.
    
    8 1
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    July 20, 2024 10:05am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      So you think that other life forms in the universe are likely to be only akin to slime? Why?
      
      3 4
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      July 20, 2024 10:34am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Certainly “life” is quite likely. But “life” elsewhere is unlikely to be similar to ours.
      
      What we currently know is that there are over a billion solar systems in this galaxy and over a billion galaxies, yet having only sampled one habitable planet, you are convinced that on the balance of probabilities that “life” elsewhere is unlikely to be similar to ours.
      
      To extrapolate a “balance or probabilities” we require more than one sample.
      
      And indeed, one of the biggest (publicly unspoken) motivations to go to Mars, is that Mars was indeed inhabited by humanoid life in the past.
      
      Specifically human life, and the unanswered question that did some of that human life arrive and settled here among the indigenous populations? Ruling out genetic modification, there is no way that say Norwegians evolved from the Australian aborigines or pygmies, or many other theories.
      
      The origin of one of the explanations for different blood types goes back to which humanoid species arrived here at different times and locations.
      
      The Mars research started decades ago after the discovery of signs of a previous humanoid civilisation on Mars.
      
      1 7
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      July 20, 2024 12:40pm
      - PurplePen
        
        Its quite possible there was more than one primordial soup and that different amoeba crawled out of it and turned into different human forms. I’ve always thought this and that there isn’t just one single source for all of humanity on the planet. There’s actually different humanoid species.
        
        1 5
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        July 20, 2024 2:27pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        “. . the discovery of signs of a previous humanoid civilisation on Mars.”
        SMH.
        
        2 0
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        July 20, 2024 4:36pm
      - John Loveridge
        
        You do know that science fiction is fiction, don’t you JR?
        
        0 0
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        July 20, 2024 6:41pm
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    The Universe is indeed of vast scale when viewed through our puny human eyes. However, neither the vastness of scale nor the depths of time give credence to the faith of evolution. It clearly points to the hand of the intelligent designer and builder. Paul wrote this far more clearly than me in his letter Romans 1:20…
    
    For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
    
    9 8
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    July 20, 2024 10:18am
    - Grumpy Silver Top
      
      I can only assume that you are exercising your irony muscle.
      
      6 2
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      July 20, 2024 10:21am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        My position is sincerely shared without a hint of irony.
        
        6 2
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        July 20, 2024 11:38am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Ah, no. ☹️
      
      You could start with this fine book, but there are others.
      
      https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Greatest-Show-on-Earth-The-Evidence-for-Evolution
      
      5 2
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      July 20, 2024 10:41am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Ah, no. 😀 indeed!
        
        But all genuine seekers of truth will find it.
        
        Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.
        
        5 4
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        July 20, 2024 11:36am
    - JackRabbit
      
      @Pineapple Lumps
      
      The case for intelligent design…
      
      Gods/Caretakers/Terraformers/Enlightened Beings…
      
      1 3
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      July 20, 2024 12:26pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      So who built the intelligent builder? And if he was so intelligent, what excuse does he give for the execrable design of the human spine?
      
      0 0
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      July 20, 2024 6:45pm
- All_on_Red
  
  “But where is everybody?”
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
  
  10 0
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  July 20, 2024 8:42am
  - Mike
    
    It’s possible that interstellar communication between life forms, let alone travel, is a practical impossibility. Perhaps the best we can hope for is detecting other life.
    
    6 9
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    July 20, 2024 8:50am
    - JackRabbit
      
      It’s possible that interstellar communication between life forms, and travel, is a practical impossibility.
      
      1 1
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      July 20, 2024 12:24pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      Look up the Drake Equation, Mike.
      
      0 0
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      July 20, 2024 6:48pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    They’ve had a look & given us the flick as there’s no sign of intelligent life here.
    
    12 0
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    July 20, 2024 8:56am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    The difference now as opposed to just a few years ago is we know much more about planets around other stars.
    
    7 1
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    July 20, 2024 8:58am
  - Joely Doe
    
    If you lived in a galaxy, far, far away; would you come here?
    
    10 0
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    July 20, 2024 8:59am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Well, it is unlikely that is possible, even for other intelligent life forms. The distances involved are difficult to comprehend.
      
      For example IIRC the nearest detected “earth like” planet is about 4 light years away. In astronomical terms, that is a close neighbour. Using our known space travel technology, like the vehicles used to reach the moon, it would take 100,000 years to travel there.
      
      Now let’s assume that a more advanced civilisation had technology 1000 times better. It would still take 100 years for them to travel to earth. And that is just for the ‘next door neighbour’.
      
      10 2
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      July 20, 2024 10:48am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Seward Alaska has some funny things happen. I have only seen it on TV so animated except for poor phone videos. I have been to Seward twice. I knew about this back then, but the strange thing is none of the locals really want to talk about it.
        Makes me wonder if some locals are aliens.
        
        5 4
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        July 20, 2024 10:58am
      - lifesgood
        
        Ah, yes, but how do you know they are not already well on the way? 🙂
        
        5 0
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        July 20, 2024 11:07am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Well. it’s a good thing then that nuclear reactions release a million times the energy that chemical reactions do, because that means spacecraft using true nuclear propulsion should be able to reach velocities 1000 times greater than spacecraft using chemical propulsion.
        
        3 1
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        July 20, 2024 11:18am
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Andrew Worth
        
        And figuring out how to overcome the resistance to objects that prevents FTL speeds and your 1000 figure can become 1,000,000.
        
        2 2
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        July 20, 2024 12:16pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Benedict,
        
        Again ever your statement is limited by your / our knowledge on the fastest speed possible. Why should we presume that another civilisation had technology 1000 times better? Any speed of 1000 times faster would kill all occupants unless you can eliminate G forces.
        
        If you understand the technology to eliminate G forces, technically you have removed all speed restrictions. And it is well recorded on many accounts that said UFOs exceed speeds and turns that would be impossible given G forces.
        
        A very good account of this phenomenon is given in the data and book about the Kaikoura UFOs.
        
        1 2
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        July 20, 2024 12:23pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        JackRabbit:
        “Any speed of 1000 times faster would kill all occupants unless you can eliminate G forces.”
        
        Go back and do your high school physics.
        Velocity ≠acceleration.
        
        3 2
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        July 20, 2024 12:35pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Andrew Worth
        
        If you contemplate traveling at speeds 1,000 times or 1,000,000 times faster than a Saturn 5 rocket, you have to deal with gravity, as a sustained rate of acceleration must be below that which man can sustain.
        
        Meaning that it would take so long to speed up and slow down that the trip would still take forever.
        
        And even a slight course correct at 25 million miles or even 25 billion miles an hours is going to introduce G forces unsustainable to the human body. Ask Richard Hammond what a minor course correction at few hundred miles and hour does.
        
        Besides, having read factual accounts from pilots, factual accounts from radar operators, and personally seen UFOs traveling way way faster than a Saturn 5 rocket and performing 90° turns in a fraction of a second, I have no doubt that the issue of G forces has been overcome, not necessarily by humans. But if we have any faith in the work on T T Brown, 70 years ago, humans also have overcome G forces.
        
        2 3
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        July 20, 2024 12:49pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        JackRabbit
        At 1 gravity of continuous acceleration it would take 312 days to reach 270,000km/s (0.9C).
        
        3 0
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        July 20, 2024 1:00pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I have exhausted my physics knowledge. I’m off to buy a duck 🦆. 🙂
        
        6 1
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        July 20, 2024 1:08pm
      - Ghost
        
        Here is an Alaska one for you Steve
        
        FAA’s John Callahan and USAF’s Maj. George Filer on UFO radar data
        
        2 1
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        July 20, 2024 2:10pm
      - PurplePen
        
        Get an engine that can fold space.
        
        1 1
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        July 20, 2024 2:31pm
    - G152
      
      Thanks to the distances it is currently impossible for a human to travel to any star other than the Sun.
      We dont live long enough and couldnt carry sufficient food to even reach Alpha Centuri
      
      6 1
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      July 20, 2024 10:48am
      - JackRabbit
        
        With OUR current level of technology.
        
        With increased understanding of the material universe, and technology evolution, traveling to other solar systems will be like a Sunday drive.
        
        Talk to anyone that has seen a UFO(s) defy the laws of gravity and speed of light and/or exceed to speed limit currently set by slow rockets, and your perspective will change.
        
        3 3
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        July 20, 2024 12:13pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        The limits to space travel are not technological. Remember Einstein and the theory of special relativity? As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass approaches infinity. So does the energy required to move it. So you can’t travel faster than the speed of light.
        
        https://www.space.com/36273-theory-special-relativity.html
        
        So even at the speed of light we would take 4 years to get to the nearest star. And 2.5 million years to travel to just the nearest galaxy.
        
        So no I don’t agree with your analogy. 😂
        
        7 1
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        July 20, 2024 2:41pm
      - John Loveridge
        
        It’s impossible for a human to travel to the Sun. It’s way too hot!
        
        1 0
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        July 20, 2024 6:54pm
    - Blog-aholic
      
      Aliens:
      Humans we have killed your leaders, destroyed your economy and are here to take over your government!
      
      Humans:
      Oh, thank fucking God!
      
      Aliens:
      What? What?
      
      7 1
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      July 20, 2024 11:46am
      - PurplePen
        
        Is that what’s happened to Green party MPs .. they seem very alien or out of place with the rest of humanity.
        
        1 1
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        July 20, 2024 2:32pm
  - jkt
    
    And GHG is an existential threat to the planet if one gets the concentration wrong.😑
    
    I see and hear from people who are clearly from other planets often, even often from other universes, all the time.
    
    One does not even have to change blogs to get a definitive answer.
    
    8 2
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    July 20, 2024 9:02am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You too?
      
      5 2
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      July 20, 2024 11:00am
      - jkt
        
        Yes, South Island.
        
        2 1
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        July 20, 2024 1:22pm
  - Andrew Worth
    
    Either there’s no one, or they’re so far beyond us discussion with us is pointless.
    Either way, given the age of our galaxy, the differences in terms of evolution and technology would likely be many millions of years.
    
    5 0
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    July 20, 2024 10:09am
    - greybeard
      
      Is that millions of our years or millions of their years ?
      
      5 0
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      July 20, 2024 11:29am
- Andrew Worth
  
  There’s been no significant change in evidence for alien life for decades.
  Extrasolar planets were expected, if anything, the surprise is that, with over 5000 extrasolar planets discovered, we still haven’t found a likely Earth twin orbiting a G class star in its goldilocks zone.
  
  9 1
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  July 20, 2024 9:05am
  - jkt
    
    If the “Big Bang” theory is correct then it is very unlikely that there are no other life forms in the universe or in other universes outside our own universe.
    
    I am reading a book “On the origin in time” and “……. Stephen’s (Hawkins) final theory offers a powerful kernel of hope…..”
    
    6 1
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    July 20, 2024 9:15am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Jkt
      
      Doesnt the fact that we exist say that the chance of life in the universe is 100% ?
      I don’t think that most people appreciate how big the observable universe is.
      
      3 0
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      July 20, 2024 12:33pm
      - jkt
        
        Universes!?
        Like they said in the Bible, sand on a beach….. can only ever be seen a ps a parable.
        
        2 2
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        July 20, 2024 1:25pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    it is extremely difficult to spot a goldilocks planet around a G star due to very small gravitational perturbation and long period on star motion. Doesn’t mean they are not there.
    
    8 0
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    July 20, 2024 9:17am
    - Andrew Worth
      
      I’ve no doubt there are plenty there, it’s just disappointing we haven’t any confirmed. Without confirmation and spectroscopic evidence, nothing has changed in terms of the probability of alien life.
      
      5 0
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      July 20, 2024 9:57am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    But what about those lizards who dress themselves in human skins? I saw them on TV sometime – the News, I think. Aren’t they aliens?
    
    8 0
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    July 20, 2024 9:33am
    - Blog-aholic
      
      They are Silurians and only come to the surface on special days.
      
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      July 20, 2024 11:48am
    - PurplePen
      
      Green party MPs.
      
      3 1
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      July 20, 2024 2:34pm
    - Sacha
      
      – and what about lichens? Aren’t they a ‘life form’?
      They could hitch a ride on any old space vehicle.
      
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      July 20, 2024 5:57pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Someone had to make the first biological cell.
  It certainly didn’t evolve by itself.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:06am
  - Andrew Worth
    
    “It certainly didn’t evolve by itself.”
    
    That’s a religious assertion.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:03am
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      Other faith based beliefs include the theories referred to as scientific theories of evolution and the Big Bang.
      
      These like all origin explaining stories require a belief in the unknown.
      
      As the covid experience has shown, humans are very good at spouting information , misinformation and disinformation to support their faith/political position.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:28am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        My issue is with the word “certainly”
        The big bang isn’t claimed as a “certainly”, just that which best fits the evidence available.
        Claiming the first cell “certainly” didn’t evolved by itself is a faith based assertion.
        
        6 2
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        July 20, 2024 10:54am
      - Don Beckett
        
        No, its a scientifically based assertion.
        Law of Physics: – Matter cannot create itself.
        Law of Thermodynamics: – Energy cannot create itself.
        So, logic then asserts that there must be a ‘Prime Mover’ which was uncreated but existed.
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:23am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Don Beckett.
        The laws of physics apply to our universe in the form that it exists since the big bang, the big bang is described as a singularity, which by definition means we don’t know, can’t know, what natural laws existed within that singularity.
        “I Don’t Know” is a valid answer in physics and in a court of law.
        “I know, because the Bible tells me so” is a valid answer in church.
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:37am
      - jkt
        
        Andrew:
        Until we realise that the singularity was part of a plurality all along?
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:44pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      No, that’s an evidence based assertion.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:56am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      In all of the paintings of Adam and Eve, they all have belly buttons…..
      
      6 3
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      July 20, 2024 11:02am
      - imalwaysright
        
        I feel a conspiracy theory coming on! Give me five minutes Steve…
        
        5 1
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        July 20, 2024 11:48am
      - jkt
        
        That proves it for me, thanks Steve.
        
        3 1
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        July 20, 2024 1:45pm
    - kowtow
      
      How is it a religious assertion.
      
      1 3
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      July 20, 2024 12:58pm
    - jkt
      
      Andrew:
      Do you have a better explanation.
      Of course, Big Bang ‼️.
      Now we all know. Thanks.
      
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      July 20, 2024 5:49pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      It does kind of seem plausible that there hasn’t been enough time for random mutations to form the kind of incredible complexity and organisation within complex organisms. I don’t see that as evidence for the existence of this or that particular deity though. Oh, and then there’s the matter of consciousnesses. Hard to believe consciousness resides within and is a product of our “meat circuit boards”. If anything these are simply more mysteries, for now.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:04pm
  - AitchW
    
    An interesting assertion. However, it begs the obvious question, who created the creator?
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:16am
    - Scott
      
      AitchW – that’s an interesting question? In the end something must have come first. In other words something must be eternal.
      So in evolution matter must be eternal?
      
      In theism and more specifically Christianity there must be an eternal God who has always existed. Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
      
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      July 20, 2024 11:35am
      - jkt
        
        We still struggle to answer the chicken and egg thing.
        Let’s focus and solve that one first, it is closer to earth, so to speak.
        
        3 2
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        July 20, 2024 1:47pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Or it’s simply beyond our comprehension, for now. We just don’t know and are possibly not meant to know.
        
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        July 20, 2024 10:10pm
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      AitchW – we are mortals but the creator is eternal. God who was, who is and is yet to be. It is good to question but some answers are beyond our capacity to truely understand.
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:24pm
      - AitchW
        
        No, they’re not. In my experience whenever Christians are asked to explain the existence of their god they revert to either “magic” or “it’s beyond our ability to understand”. How about you try to explain to us poor ignorant athiests?
        
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        July 20, 2024 5:08pm
    - PurplePen
      
      It might be the way we perceive and interact or can’t interact with time that makes us think that there must be a beginning and an end and then there must therefore also be something or someone outside that. The best analogy I can come up with is it would be trying to get a being of two dimensions living in a two dimensional universe couldn’t actually understand fully how a three or four dimensional universe would work. And that might be our problem. We can’t understand how the universe works as we’re in it and can only perceive and understand dimensions and time as it exists to us.
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:44pm
  - rangitoto
    
    It’s so easy for gods to spontaneously pop into existence.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:13am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Only in your mind. 🙂
      
      3 4
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      July 20, 2024 12:13pm
      - rangitoto
        
        Well Human’s have invented thousands of them.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:42pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I think we’d be plunged into lockdowns for decades if an alien came visiting.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:27am
  - jkt
    
    It would be the prudent thing to do, right?
    
    In the good old days we would just have destroyed the “new-comer”.
    
    2 2
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    July 20, 2024 1:49pm
- MCōs
  
  The whole ‘aliens from outer space’ shtick is a bit like religion. An explanation for something we can’t figure with existing knowledge.
  An extension of that is the conspiracy theory.
  How much money has been made from books, movies, speaking tours, religions filling in vacuums
  How did life begin? Who killed the Crewes? What really happened on 9/11?
  Aliens from outer space, of course!
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:57am
- Ghost
  
  Dr Steven Greer has put all his interviews with military personal and pilots, etc online free for
  
  https://www.dpiarchive.com
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:10am
  - Mike
    
    Crank alert:
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/817102/Alien-free-energy-suppression-cover-up-Dr-Steven-Greer-UFO-disclosure-conspiracy-theory
    
    2 6
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    July 20, 2024 10:31am
    - Ghost
      
      So you want to call all those military personal, pilots, politicians cranks? Instead of googling to find something you should go watch their video testimony
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:44am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Eye witnesses are notoriously unreliable. No one should take their claims (often made in good faith) as gospel.
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:22am
      - MCōs
        
        My father had a friend who was an actuary
        His friend told Dad if someone told an actuary that sheep over there was white he’d say
        Yes. But what about the other side?
        Eye witnesses are unreliable
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:33am
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Andrew Worth.
        
        Eye witnesses are notoriously unreliable. No one should take their claims (often made in good faith) as gospel.
        
        If you apply that standard of thought, then the Bible, the moon landings, the “Maori” being the first to arrive in NZ, all eyewitnesses to a murder, etc etc are all false. Is that what you are saying?
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:02pm
      - Ghost
        
        Here are some of those unreliable people
        
        Gordon Cooper
        Brigadier General Stephen Lovekin
        Lt. Col. Brown
        Lieutenant Fox
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:03pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        JackRabbit.
        “When I say “Gospel”, I’m saying taken as being truth without question.
        The Bible certainly exists, I’ve seen several copies.
        The weight of evidence for the Moon landings is overwhelming, if you choose to investigate. The evidence to the contrary easily disproven to a high level of confidence.
        Ditto the Maori being the first to arrive here.
        In a court of law the evidence is examined, eyewitness accounts may be dismissed as unreliable depending on the weight of other evidence.
        The Earth is an oblate spheroid, you can choose to believe it’s a pancake, but hundreds of years of exploration and millions of people today would have to be in on the super conspiracy.
        The Earth and the universe may have been created out of nothing last Tuesday at 3 in the morning, with all the memories, geology, fossil records being part of Tuesday’s creation, by I’ll again stick with the weight of evidence that it’s far older. Even though I can’t disprove the theory that Earth and the universe are only a few days old.
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:27pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Andrew Worth
        
        Yet despite all that, you are willing to dismiss all eyewitness accounts as being notoriously unreliable.
        
        Your lack of faith, and indeed lack of trust, in your fellow man is very disturbing. Without faith and trust I struggle to see how you would even get out of bed in the morning.
        
        You distrust the word of a pilot when he says he saw a UFO, but you trust him implicitly enough when he says “we are going to have a safe flight”.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:05pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Mcos
        
        Eyewitnesses are reliable or unreliable to the degree that you, or the interviewer, has or does not have the necessary skills and understanding of the scientific process, in order to separate truth from fiction.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:08pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        JackRabbit
        “Your lack of faith,”
        Why, thank you.
        
        I’m optimistic I’ve never flown on an aircraft piloted by someone who is certain that they’ve seen alien spacecraft.
        
        Oh, UFO≠alien spacecraft, UFO just means the witness hasn’t identified an object that is apparently flying, lots of people have experienced not being able to identify something moving through the air.
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:25pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Stephen Lovekin his military record appears to be in doubt:
        
        https://redstarfilms.blogspot.com/2006/01/who-is-stephen-lovekin.html?m=1
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:03pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      Crank Alert:
      
      Poster named Mike on kiwiblog keeps tagging news items that might contain some truth as conspiracy theories, so that people do not read or watch or make up their own mind.
      
      6 3
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      July 20, 2024 12:06pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  There’s enough time and space available to make it improbable to the point of impossibility that two (or more) civilisations will reach levels of development close enough in time and space to establish meaningful contact. Our civilisation has developed the technology to be able to eliminate itself well ahead of developing the collective socio-political wisdom to be able to avoid actually doing so, and it’s possible that other civilisations, also facing the necessity of conflict driven by resource scarcity, have followed and will follow similar paths, so they miss each other like flickers in the vast night
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:30am
  - ISeeRed
    
    I think that’s the clincher. A planet like Earth only partially covered in water with very active plate tectonics and orbiting a stable star is very rare. Ignoring ice or gaseous planets, planets are either as dry as a rock with a thick rigid crust or “water worlds” with globe-spanning oceans dozens or hundreds of km deep. I hypothesise the vast majority of life-bearing planets are water worlds, some protected by a thick upper crust of ice. Any intelligent species that have evolved in these endless seas will never be able to use fire, produce electricity or smelt metal. Ascending their gravity well and reaching escape velocity is an impossibility for these doomed intelligent aliens.
    
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    July 20, 2024 2:15pm
    - Mike
      
      “So long and thanks for all the fish”
      
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      July 20, 2024 5:08pm
- Colville
  
  Earth is 13 Bil years old?
  Its had “life” for 4 bil?
  But homo sapiens have been here for 200,000 years?
  So “intelligent” life (ha!) has been here for 2/40,000th of that time?
  is that 1/200th of 1% ??
  Just the blink of an eye.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:40am
  - Dave
    
    A slip of the keyboard I think. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old, the earth about 4.54b.
    
    But yes, Homo sapiens has been around for the blink of an eye.
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:50pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Come on guys. Have you never watched Parliament General Debate/Question Time?
  Alien life is here!
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:50am
  - PurplePen
    
    As I keep saying .. Green Party MPs. Look no further.
    
    3 2
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    July 20, 2024 2:49pm
Philview

With Cloudstrike featuring prominently in the News today I recall another time they have been in the News. The murky relations of Ukraine and Russia and a former US vice president years before the invasion started.
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July 20, 2024 8:38am
- rangitoto
  
  They sponsor the Mercedes F1 team. Must be nefarious.
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:15am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Hitler had a Merc !
    Just saying…
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:50am
kowtow

Houthi drone (Iran ) strikes Tel Aviv .One dead others injured.
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July 20, 2024 8:46am
- AitchW
  
  Reports on X of hundreds of rockets fired into Israel overnight.
  Also reports of Muslim riots in Leeds, burning vehicles and general lawlessness.
  Nothing from our media. Perhaps neither fits the left wing narrative?
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:20am
  - Colville
    
    There was a photo on Stuffed yesterday of a crowd watching a police car burned…I grabbed the pic and blew it up. Every single person had the same colour skin and a beard and was from the same culture/religion…. I thought…I wouldnt walk thru there at night!
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:19am
    - AitchW
      
      I wouldn’t walk through there in broad daylight. Yet another Muslim enclave where infidels are not welcome and even the cops are hesitant to enter.
      
      6 2
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      July 20, 2024 12:13pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Enough Brits voted for that. Or weren’t paying attention. Or were too afraid. Just like voters here. And everywhere. Doesn’t take a majority to have shit politicians implement shit policies that turn a country to shit.
        
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        July 20, 2024 2:20pm
  - kowtow
    
    The family at the centre of the riots are said to be Roma.
    
    The rest of it just looks like slummy summer shit heads looking for trouble.
    
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    July 20, 2024 1:13pm
- Burtland
  
  how long is the west going to allow Iran to terrorize their cities through their proxies?
  
  has the UN become an Iranian proxy?
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:36am
NK

For those amongst us who opposed the mandates, lockdowns and the money printing BS, the interview between Jack Tame and the Vivace owner is confirmation that Ardern, Robertson and the rest who went along with it, have completely screwed this country. It’s in the abyss and I fear there’s no way out.

And for the National and Act people here who think their parties wouldn’t have got us into this mess, you are liars. National broadly supported everything, and Act made little noise, but at least Seymour visited Auckland during this lockdowns, something Ardern never did.
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July 20, 2024 8:59am
- jkt
  
  There was a place for vaccines in our response. Even experimental ones.
  
  Yes we did not get our response right. The Secret Service did not get their protection of Donald Trump right.
  
  The question is why …. and how can we improve our response in future.
  
  Let’s have a look at what can go wrong if we get our response to a challenge wrong. Ukraine, Palestine, Europe, Brexit, Climate Change, Gender fluidity, God…….. starvation …..
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:12am
  - JackRabbit
    
    There was a place for vaccines in our response. Even experimental ones.
    
    Agreed. The problem is that the mRNA is not a vaccine. A vaccine is a sample of dead material of a complete pathogen, which they have still not isolated, as a whole organism viral or bacterial.
    
    The only thing they have ever isolated are molecular fragments, many of which also belong to other pathogens.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:58am
    - jkt
      
      I guess that is why it is called a mRNA vaccine……..
      
      Why did they pick this one over a covid vaccine…. Are you suggesting that the manufacturers made an offer to those in power that they just could not refuse..?
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:00pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Peters visited the protest at Parliament.
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:16am
  - Quail
    
    I think Seymour also met with protest leaders off site.
    Correct me if needed.
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:20am
    - kevn
      
      Quail… I recall he met them at a pub down the road from the gathering.
      
      6 1
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      July 20, 2024 10:08am
      - Matt Long
        
        Some non representative leaders according to various accounts.
        
        1 5
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        July 20, 2024 10:27am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        And what would have made them “representative”?
        
        5 1
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        July 20, 2024 10:31am
      - Colville
        
        kevn.
        Pubs are great for meetings they have tables and seats and …beer!
        
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        July 20, 2024 10:42am
  - kowtow
    
    Yes but he had the luxury of not being an MP at the time. All sitting MP’s were scared shitless of te media .
    Peters , as always ,had the ability to find an “angry crowd” and be seen to agree with them. ( I side with that crowd btw , but not with Peters’ cynical use of people through 25+ years of being Winston First)
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:21am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Kow
      All of the opposition signed a promise to adern that they wouldn’t talk to the brave protesters.
      A disgraceful dereliction of duty and a middle finger to democracy.
      
      The trend of signing up to aderns diktats started when the gutless media promised to only report what she told them to about the proposed Tarrant trial.
      Then the gutless media signed up to the antidemocratic terms and conditions of the PJIF….
      
      A sickening episode that continues
      
      18 2
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      July 20, 2024 10:05am
    - MCōs
      
      Which faction of the crowd did you agree with?
      Anti mandates, anti vax, MAGA, Groundswell, brick throwers, playground burners, etc
      Btw
      Andy Foster was there too, but he’s not the sort of politician that people remember. He was the mayor.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:12am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        Mcos just keep dividing those factions until you get to the base unit of that crowd – the individual people. At that level, every person who was there to push back against the tyranny of mandates and the trampling of human rights had my support.
        
        The people at parliament grounds were supported broadly by NZ far and wide. Just look at the people who got out and showed their support for the convoy. Donated money to support the occupation etc. Polls showed levels of support for that protest that were beyond the current levels of support for the PM. Most at the protest had families and friends at home supporting them, so you could multiply the occupation 100fold to get a sense of the scale on NZers opposition to being trampled down by the government.
        
        The crowd had to go to Wellington because Ardern and the media did not come to the people. Then instead of seeing the anger of the victims for what it was they narcissistically made it all about them ie these people hate me, these are bad people, no one is to talk to these people. If that crowd had been truely bad it would have revolted and overpowered the police on day one. The crowd came to engage in a civil manner and got vilified and lampooned and diminished.
        
        The pandemic times showed us that many fellow kiwis would sacrifice anybody and anything in their quest to feel safe. People were prepared to sacrifice their own children and grandchildren to a vaccine which clearly for young people offered no net benefits only risk.
        
        People went along with getting passports of inclusion and exclusion – rather than having any principles. Very few of our sitting members of parliament put up any opposition to the Ardern tyranny. In fact many in the opposition used it for political gain or became the loudest chairleaders. We will go around to their homes and force them to get vaccinated- don’t speak to the protestors – get boosted etc etc
        
        NZ was badly broken through this time. It is why the trust in media has tanked. Trust in schools, police, medical institutions etc has been broken. Relationships within families, communities, organisations irreparably damaged.
        
        Who stood up to the tyranny in positions of leadership? There was Brian Tamaki, Vooces for freedom, University academics in Option B etc. I guess the dumping of Simon Bridges showed what would become of anyone trying to oppose the mass insanity but our politicians showed they are not leaders.
        
        This is the legacy of the tyrant Ardern. But will we ever heal our brokenness?
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:05am
      - MCōs
        
        Here’s a poll
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/exclusive-poll-covid-19-omicron-what-kiwis-think-about-vaccination-mandates-and-the-parliament-protests/UZUCGRBPWSISKXLKO6LPI7RYCU/
        
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        July 20, 2024 11:42am
      - graham
        
        Ah, polls. They are indisputably the most accurate way of truly gauging public opinion …
        
        … except when they aren’t.
        
        https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/2021/03/02/what-2020s-election-poll-errors-tell-us-about-the-accuracy-of-issue-polling/
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:27pm
      - MCōs
        
        Usually better than reckons
        
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        July 20, 2024 12:36pm
      - kowtow
        
        Which part ?
        
        Certainly not with the Peelers who literally attcked the crowd in the early days , while they peacefully and lawfully occupied the lawn .
        Who assaulted and unlawfully detained many , whose charges were dropped and certainly not with the media who cheerled the Speakers illegal actions .
        A Speaker whose own arrest at that location and charges dimissed led to at least the establishment of some of the rights to be there …….
        
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        July 20, 2024 1:23pm
  - kevn
    
    Chuck… and mallard tried to trespass Winnie from parliament. Not that long ago.
    
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    July 20, 2024 9:39am
  - Colville
    
    Peters and NZF were sitting at circa 1% popularity in early 2022. he had nothing to lose by chasing that opportunity.
    
    Luxon had everything to lose by being painted as anti vax/nazi/racist etc etc by our ever loving lefty scum media.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:33am
    - JackRabbit
      
      … he had nothing to lose by chasing that opportunity….
      
      A very callous attitude Colville.
      
      Given that I know of lots of people that have confirmed vaccine injuries, and many that dropped their clogs within hours or days of the job, I surmised that at Peter’s age, he would also know / know of heaps that met the same fate.
      
      And he has stated that publicly, except that our news media has never published that.
      
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      July 20, 2024 11:52am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Remember what they called you if you questioned the insane decisions they were making?
  They really were not our friends.
  I find it very difficult not to be a little bit bitter and twisted about what they’ve done to the country. Our current troubles did not come out of a clear blue sky. It wasn’t the virus, it was how they responded to it.
  (Chris takes a few deep breaths and heads off for a calming cup of tea).
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:29am
  - NK
    
    IRD numbers a few weeks ago confirm corporate tax debt has grown from $2.3Bn in 2020 to $4.6Bn today. That’s $4.6Bn we don’t have for teachers, nurses, police officers etc. Most of that 4.6 billion dollars won’t be recovered.
    
    Fuck I’m angry at where this country is at, and importantly where it is going.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:21am
    - Colville
      
      I would opine that Govt and IRD are between rock and hard place on that debt.
      Squeeze too hard and they will break a bunch of companies that are suffering big time, break them and they wont be there in a few years earning taxes for the country.
      and you know…blood out of a stone has always been a problem??
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:46am
    - I remember when
      
      We don’t need to worry about the Government getting the money – they have already spent it!
      
      6 1
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      July 20, 2024 10:49am
      - AitchW
        
        To be fair the last mob spent it years ago.
        
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        July 20, 2024 5:14pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      Not absolving them 100%, but they’re still paying GST and employing people wages that pay PAYE, correct? You should be angrier the tax take has NEVER been higher, yet we are still running out of money and deep in debt…somehow? What could be the real cause, the real problem and the real solution?
      
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      July 20, 2024 2:28pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      Would it actually go towards doctors, nurses and police officers, or would it go down the same toilet that countless other billions have?
      
      1 0
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      July 20, 2024 7:37pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Nah. Keeping up with the increasing cost of the pension and giving the landlords their refund … 🙂
        
        1 1
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        July 20, 2024 7:53pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Hey NK. For those of us who can’t find the interview could you perhaps do a post on it? Thanks.
  
  8 2
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  July 20, 2024 9:36am
- Damocles11
  
  So ‘National and ACT’ are also part of the problem aye, but they you admit that Seymour did visit Auckland.
  Winston visited the protestors.
  Winston also formed a coalition government with Jacinda Ardern, so that she held the reins of power when Covid hit. David Seymour never did that.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:08am
  - pdm
    
    Dam11 – especially `David Seymour never did that.’
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:10pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Bill English would not have pushed the NZer so harshly, yes they may have locked parts of the community down once, and he would have let building roading the primary sector function, they would have had the wage subsidy, they probably not have completely lock the border down, wage subsidy cost 25 billion, where did the other 25 billion go?
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:27pm
  - AitchW
    
    Nobody knows.
    
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    July 20, 2024 8:38pm
- ISeeRed
  
  Yep. Some true believers here think Luxon is simply amazeballs and National is really turning the country around! Little better than the Jacinda fangirls and Labour luvvies.
  
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  July 20, 2024 2:24pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

More media panic. Don’t they love making mountains out of molehills.

If you’ve not caught up with news:

No impact on Unix or Macs
Windows is impacted (but it’s not Microsoft’s fault)
Virtually no impact on home PCs (CrowdStrike is not sold as a retail product)
To fix, follow your IT dept’s instructions

Incidentally, it offers a good insight into CrowdStrike’s client list.
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July 20, 2024 9:06am
- Colville
  
  follow your IT dept’s instructions
  
  So when that helpful chap from Nigeria calls back I should definitely let him have my bank PIN?
  
  🙂
  
  12 0
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  July 20, 2024 10:48am
- JackRabbit
  
  Incidentally, it offers a good insight into CrowdStrike’s client list.
  
  And shareholders…
  
  4 2
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  July 20, 2024 11:46am
Waipuk

Crowdstrike.

Who else got caught up in the “glitch” last night.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/522618/crowdstrike-glitch-live-retailers-anxious-as-stores-reopen-after-outage

And the reserve bank wants to go cashless.

I always have at least $500 at home in cash. $5s, $10s plus coin.
19 1
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July 20, 2024 9:11am
- MCōs
  
  It could probably pay your rates for a year when you put in down the back of the coach.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:18am
- NK
  
  The reserve bank has actually argued for cash to remain as a form of payment.
  
  4 1
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  July 20, 2024 10:30am
  - Colville
    
    Cashless wont happen in my lifetime.
    Too many poor/rural types who rely on a bit of folding.
    I keep a couple of hundy in the ute for fuel just in case as I have pulled up to a station to be told their eftpos was out and unless I had a chq I couldnt have fuel.
    I asked what the fuck is a cheque?? 🙂
    
    ( left them with my drivers licence and my address and paid them online the next day)
    
    30 years ago when I worked the graveyard shift at a BP..we had a zip zap machine for credit cards.. why dont they do that now? or dont banks process the paper any more? Havent seen one in years!
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:03am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  I’m hoping they have written off my mortgage!
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:06am
- PurplePen
  
  What’s your address Waipuk? …
  
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  July 20, 2024 2:53pm
kowtow

Te Media really are in a panty twist over the fate of the “hospo” industry .So much angst and ink.

Where was that support for the backbone of this country , the farming and rural community.
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July 20, 2024 9:23am
- AitchW
  
  The difference is that there’s mileage in being seen at the right restaurant for media hacks. (Remember Felicity Ferret?) Not much mana to being seen in a paddock with dirty, polluting cows. (The animals that is, not the reporters…)
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:54am
- NK
  
  Fuck The Media party. They condoned all of it during the lockdowns. They supported businesses having no income for months and months. They are complicit.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:32am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  No mention of Ardern over the top min wage hikes though, that right there is what pushed a light lunch at a cafe from about $20 to mid 30s band pushing lunch out of reach for many nzers
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:31pm
- PurplePen
  
  This hospo demise was always going to happen post COVID, it’s taken longer than I thought. Its the effect of no business but govt supplemented business catching up.
  
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  July 20, 2024 2:56pm
artemisia

Business commentator Bruce Cotterill in the Herald today on political sticks, stones and words (paywalled):

In this country it is the political left, those social activists who grew up shouting into their megaphones at civil demonstrations, who have taken their use of language to a level that we would be better off without…. This weaponisation of language has been a feature in the behaviour of both our Green Party and Te Pāti Māori…. we are seeing language that is more and more provocative, intentionally delivered in a manner designed to be divisive.

Intentionally divisive? I think so.
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July 20, 2024 9:24am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Christchurch man complains about women-only swimming sessions. I thought this comment struck to the heart of the matter:

“He (the complainant) said removing the male gender … implied that males at the given days and times of women’s sessions were “deemed to be creating an unsafe and indecent space” for these women.
“This is not correct and not acceptable,” he said”

He’s right. Essentially, this policy says that all men are rapists.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350346970/council-defends-womens-only-swim-sessions-after-equality-complaint
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July 20, 2024 9:30am
- gravedodger
  
  Apparently Trans males are not included or are they there is a real question? Eh
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:56am
  - wsk12345
    
    “ Transgender women, and people who identify as a woman, were welcome; which aligns with Ministry of Women policy, Cox said.”
    
    So the men pretending to be women are allowed in. So we are only discriminating against men who are not living a delusion. Door is wide open for male perverts to get access by pretending to be a woman.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:06am
- kevn
  
  Never… Maybe some of the women are a bit shy?
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:10am
  - PurplePen
    
    Males and I’ll add to that, gay males can be shy as well. Its not something that’s exclusive to females.
    
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    July 20, 2024 3:15pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Presumably the complainant isn’t married otherwise he might appreciate some quiet time if his wife goes for a bit of a swim and a natter with the girls. Seriously though, as a regular pool goer, I suspect it’s not all around religious modesty but that a lot of older woman particularly do feel uncomfortable in a swim suit in public and enjoy having the space to themselves to enjoy swimming or exercise. As opposed to a lot of young women who wouldn’t use the women only time because that defeats the whole purpose of buying the new bikini.
  
  I personally don’t have any issues with women having their own time. I think the problem is the language attached to the policy particularly about safety which does tend to be interpreted as all men are seething bags of sexual desire getting off on watching women in the local county swimming pool. There is probably a lot of different language that could be used that would help describe the policy better.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:26am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    There seems to be a different mindset at different pools.
    
    I never saw large women or many over the age of 40 regularly lane swimming in the Wellington public pools.
    
    But here in Gisborne there seems to be a wider variety of shapes and ages who use the pools…although I suspect my swimming buddy at 83 is the oldest female regularly pounding out a 1km session.
    
    I wouldn’t be interested in attending an all-woman pool session
    (1) I’d probably have to wait ages for a shower at the end of the session
    (2) If the women were lane swimming, most would be too slow for me.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:29am
  - Don Beckett
    
    “…… all men are seething bags of sexual desire ……”
    Well – aren’t they ? 😆 😆
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:31am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Those were the days, Don!
      
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      July 20, 2024 12:31pm
    - Hugh Jarse
      
      I remember it fondly !
      
      3 0
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      July 20, 2024 1:22pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Probably put on steroids courtesy of “the sexual revolution” and porn. Not leading to much happiness ultimately it would appear.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:16pm
  - pdm
    
    mrspdm (age 73) goes swimming a couple of mornings most weeks and has tried to get me to go along but, not my thing.
    
    Obviously a mixed group but I think about 2 thirds to 3 quarters women in the group.
    
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    July 20, 2024 2:01pm
- Ghost
  
  I used to go swimming before school in the late 80s, back then the public pool had men’s time, woman and kids time for the early morning swimmers. There was a cross over of 30 minutes when it was divided into male/female/kids lanes
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:40am
- Burtland
  
  “the white cis male is the source of all violence”
  
  same narrative – same DEI propaganda
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:43am
- I remember when
  
  The Christchurch call
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:09am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  It does not say that all men are rapists. At worst it says that some men are rapists, some are voyeurs, some are perverts, some are completely harmless and innocent of any such thing; and that it is not possible reliably to know in advance which is which.
  
  That being the case, they all have to be treated the same way, ie either as if they are all rapists or as if none of them are. Let no men in, and innocent and harmless men suffer undeserved inconvenience. Let them all in, and girls and women suffer embarrassment, disrespect and the risk of, if not actual, violence.
  
  Why do you prefer the latter?
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:11am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Transgender women, and people who identify as a woman, were welcome; which aligns with Ministry of Women policy, Cox said.”
  So it is not “women only” if the transistors are welcome.
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:25am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Prior to the trans um, stuff, of the last 10 or so years I distinctly recall feminist cultists preaching to me that “gender is a social construct”.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:18pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Could we imagine a time in the not too distant future when women will be told that they MUST restrict their swimming/pool activities to Women-only times or Women-only pools?
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:46pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Ask the Iranian Ayotala or supreme leader.
    
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    July 20, 2024 3:17pm
- PurplePen
  
  He’s absolutely right. It is unlawful to exclude anyone from a public place on the basis of their sex.
  
  From the Act:
  
  Discrimination in access to places, vehicles, and facilities
  42 Access by the public to places, vehicles, and facilities
  
  (1)
  
  It shall be unlawful for any person—
  (a)
  
  to refuse to allow any other person access to or use of any place or vehicle which members of the public are entitled or allowed to enter or use; or
  (b)
  
  to refuse any other person the use of any facilities in that place or vehicle which are available to members of the public;
  
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  July 20, 2024 3:00pm
- PurplePen
  
  And then there’s this nugget from the Act – below. For their action to be lawful Council would need to be able to show that the female sex in their community needs assistance or advancement in swimming to achieve an equal place in swimming ability with males in the community. I wonder how they know this is the case.
  
  FROM THE ACT
  73 Measures to ensure equality
  
  (1)
  
  Anything done or omitted which would otherwise constitute a breach of any of the provisions of this Part shall not constitute such a breach if—
  (a)
  
  it is done or omitted in good faith for the purpose of assisting or advancing persons or groups of persons, being in each case persons against whom discrimination is unlawful by virtue of this Part; and
  (b)
  
  those persons or groups need or may reasonably be supposed to need assistance or advancement in order to achieve an equal place with other members of the community.
  
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  July 20, 2024 3:13pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Moa footprints revealed.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/522632/extremely-rare-moa-footprints-discovered-near-auckland-s-south-head
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July 20, 2024 9:35am
- Taieri
  
  A few years ago they also discovered moa foot prints in the Maniototo, Central Otago:
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/mysterious-maniototo-moa-prints-36m-years-old
  
  May be someone can explain how these things came to be preserved in such an amazing condition in the bottom of the river?
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:46am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Explained here……wind-blown dust and dirt layers on the banks of a river.
    
    Youngson et al. (Citation1998) inferred the fine-grained massive beds in the formation are loess deposits; wind-blown sediments that accumulated on the river braid plain. We infer that moa walked across the poorly compacted, fine sediments on the ground as they navigated the river braid bars and banks of the braid complex, leaving deep, clear pedal impressions. Further aeolian deposition rapidly buried the tracks, preserving them in high detail.
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03036758.2023.2264789
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:06am
    - Taieri
      
      Thanks Maggy.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:35am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    For the same treason you can find seashell concretion stones in the Wanganui River at Taumarunui. I have found some right near the bridge over to Sunshine.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:30am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Treason?? Reason ffs. I went past that twice and did not see the mistake.
      
      1 1
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      July 20, 2024 5:02pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I was not aware that Moas had been around for so long. A staggering length of time.
    
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    July 20, 2024 12:33pm
- AitchW
  
  How long till there’s a treaty claim lodged on these relics? Must be good for a few million at least….
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:49am
  - Taieri
    
    The moa relics found in Kyeburn River are now in the custody of the Otago Museum. Haven’t heard of any claims as to any potential change of ownership.
    Some moa bones found in the Ngarua Caves up the Takaka Hill in the South Island were/are accessible to the public about 15 years ago, when I was there for the last time. I have a photo, taken in the cave, of my partner holding a big moa bone in her hand.
    
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    July 20, 2024 11:50am
  - PurplePen
    
    I’m surprised there’s not big piles of moa bones somewhere as its said before Maori there were around 3 million of them roaming the land. Then, being the excellent conservators that they are, Maori wiped them out. Iwi across the country surely must have a yuge pile of skeletons in their closets.
    
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    July 20, 2024 3:21pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      There were piles and piles of moa bones extracted from swamps and dunelands around Wanganui..
      
      and there’s still tonnes there if you know where to look..
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/amateur-fossil-hunter-finds-more-than-100-moa-bones-on-whanganui-beach/VNRWAO6SPFDG7D4GMUPGQ7ECW4/
      
      von Haast extracted over 4 wagon-cart loads of Moa bones from Glenmark swamp in 1866.
      
      Here’s a pic of a swag of moa bones taken from the Clevedon swamp in 1912
      
      https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Moa-bones-from-the-Clevedon-site-Undated-photograph-of-articulated-skeletons-and-loose_fig1_273321608
      
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      July 20, 2024 4:57pm
      - PurplePen
        
        thanks
        
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        July 20, 2024 7:59pm
- Colville
  
  There are some in rock on the bank of the Takaka river.
  I swam there as a kid.
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:08am
Jack5

Trump’s running mate and the always contentious issue of abortion…

J.D. Vance’s adult conversion to Roman Catholicism:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/j-d-vance-becomes-catholic/
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July 20, 2024 9:38am
- Matt Long
  
  So does he take mass with Joe and Nancy?
  It seems a politician’s proclaimed religious affiliations don’t mean much.
  
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  July 20, 2024 6:34pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Vance seems a lot more socially conservative than Trump.
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:21pm
dcrane

Crowdstrike played a central role in the Clinton/Obama/NeverTrump-GOP Russiagate scam.
If there were justice in the world, some of them would probably be in jail rather than put into a position to emplant software on so many global computer systems in a Trump election year.

Gonna make sure I have plenty of cash around, for the possible planned “Russia hack” that takes down the internet in October.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/30/crowdstrike-one-of-russiagates-biggest-culprits-ex-house-investigator/
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July 20, 2024 9:42am
- AitchW
  
  Where’s Ardern when you need her?
  
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  July 20, 2024 9:50am
Rusty

Covid in 2020 in the year of US elections another worldwide crisis on the way in 2024 in the year of the US elections?
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July 20, 2024 9:43am
NothingLeft

Megyn Kelly on who they replace Biden with. Previous front runners no longer keen as it is a poisoned chalice:
https://youtu.be/h-M5LSPF8vQ?t=291
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July 20, 2024 9:52am
- MCōs
  
  Politics doesn’t work that way.
  They all think they can jump in at the last minute and save the sinking ship.
  Worked for Jacinda Ardern and didn’t for Judith Collins.
  Furthermore
  Megyn Kelly makes a living these days putting the boot into the democrats. She’s brushed off the obnoxious remarks Trump made about her years ago
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:30am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Never worked for Ardern at all, let’s not forget how Nats polled 45% on election night, Labour only 36% hatred of Bill English was the problem.
    
    If Peter’s had gone with Nats, English would still be pm now
    
    8 1
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    July 20, 2024 12:39pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      More to the point with Ardern: Greens self destructed over Material Turei’s admission of benefit fraud 6-8 weeks pre election that exactly coincided with Ardern being made leader. IIRC 7% Green vote went back to Labour and there was only a 2% shift right to left, and that wasn’t surprising given how off-putting Little had been.
      
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      July 20, 2024 4:42pm
kevn

Nothing.. I wonder how many disillusioned Demo supporters will vote RFK rather than not vote at all?
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July 20, 2024 10:12am
Damocles11

Thomas Cranmer reports that the Pharmac director Dr Anthony Jordan who theatrically quit ‘over the government’s Treaty directive’ is the life partner of Labour MP Shanan Halbert.
😳

https://x.com/CranmerWrites/status/1814219036483621111
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July 20, 2024 10:12am
- Burtland
  
  Labour LBGT infiltration of Pharmac – and they say Pharmac should be non-political
  
  is there any end to Labours DEI deception – NZ is stuffed
  
  16 0
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  July 20, 2024 10:53am
- AitchW
  
  Wasn’t Halbert the snowflake “threatened” by Tim van de Molen?
  It appears that his partner is equally fragile….
  
  15 0
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  July 20, 2024 10:54am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Yes Halbert was the person. It would be incorrect grammar for me to refer to Halbert as a man.
    Van de Molen is one of the most inoffensive gentlemen I have met. When the Privileges Committee rubbished him they did more damage to themselves than they did to Van de Molen.
    
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    July 20, 2024 3:03pm
- Close Hen Counters
  
  The comments on X are vicious but clearly the way the country is feeling 🤪
  
  8 1
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  July 20, 2024 11:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hahahaha, so a complete set up, they want to make a big deal about the connection, why do the benders partners all have jobs under labour?
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:41pm
- Matt Long
  
  Is Cramner the only journalist in NZ that actually asks questions?
  
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  July 20, 2024 6:37pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    One of a couple of handfuls it would appear. The rest just grifters or true believer lefty activists.
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:22pm
Pope Punctilious II

A couple of weeks ago I applied for a permit to carry out research on DOC land. Yesterday the DOC permissions team emailed me to say:

“Please note the current processing times on our website https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/apply-for-permits/how-long-it-takes-to-process-an-application/, which is currently between 4-7 months for up to 80% of new research/collection applications, which might not allow enough time before your listed term start date of November 2024.

Please let us know if you would like to continue with your application as is, make changes to the term dates, or withdraw your application at this time?”

The research I want to do is very low-impact (taking a few soil samples, plus identifying and measuring trees on a few plots), at a single site. How on earth could DOC justify taking 4-7 months to approve such a simple proposal?

This is a chronic problem – four years ago I lodged a formal complaint when 10 months after applying I still had no permit. My complaint got results – my permit was approved 3 weeks later. But the fact that DOC is still glacially slow at processing permits leads me to the conclusion that they are trying to discourage scientists from working on DOC land. Part of the problem is the “treaty partnership” philosophy that DOC adheres to – they’re required to negotiate with iwi who have “interests” in the proposed study area(s), and they offer iwi very flexible time-frames for responding. But in my present case I know the local iwi is very supportive of my proposal, so if there’s a long delay this time it’s unlikely to be the fault of the iwi.
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July 20, 2024 10:12am
- Don Beckett
  
  Why don’t you get the local iwi who are happy with your research to accompany you to get the samples so you can do your research anyway? I’m sure they wouldn’t buck the local iwi.
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:09am
- JackRabbit
  
  How on earth could DOC justify taking 4-7 months to approve such a simple proposal?
  
  Hmmm. “Ahem, it takes 4-7 months, because the iwi concerned do not drive fancy cars, have internet, mobile phone, pens, paper, courier services, not even the wheel. No Sireee, in the spirit of getting back to taking nothing from the white man, they only use smoke signals.
  
  But that only usually takes a couple of hours, but it takes about 4 hours to start a fire by rubbing sticks. The other 4-7 months is to teach them an alphabet / morse code so that they can use said smoke signals.
  
  If however you were to grease their palms with greenstone or even better yet ancient $100 dollar bills, it could get done by Saturday. You do know that Maori were the first to invent the NZ dollar right?
  
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  July 20, 2024 11:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Well DOC is a Government Department, the Public Sector.
  4 to 7 months means someone will not get the sack for 4 to 7 months (more than likely 10 months)
  
  6 1
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  July 20, 2024 11:49am
- pdm
  
  Pope – send your request direct to Shane Jones.
  
  At best the process will be sped up.
  At worst you will get some publicity – wanted or not.
  
  5 0
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  July 20, 2024 2:09pm
Maggie Pie

Remember I warned on GD back in April, about the state of some of the employees
who operate the Rides at the Easter Show?

Turns out I wasn’t far off the mark….

https://x.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1814420004579705277

Best just stik to the Claw-Cranes and Candyfloss.
8 1
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July 20, 2024 10:22am
I remember when

Labour says the Govt have gone too far, too fast, on job cuts: Stuff.

A nice counter to their previous articles that Labour were going too far, too fast, with their employment policies.
20 0
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July 20, 2024 10:32am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Funny there were no media reports three years ago that “the government was going too far, too fast” on the expansion of the public service.
  
  Crazy governments are good at creating unsustainable market bubbles. The last government created a (criminal) housing bubble and a government worker bubble. Now that it is (slowly) deflating, they scream?
  
  The funniest bubble was the “EV sales” bubble. I recall clearly setting out my reasoning on its insanity. I was countered by a regular commenter who explained to me why it was a fine idea. 🤔
  
  19 1
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  July 20, 2024 11:00am
  - MCōs
    
    When you say ‘created a (criminal) housing bubble’ can you be more specific?
    Back in the Roger Nomic days the share market in NZ went wild and your average Joe Blow was attempting to get in on the action by borrowing money to invest or using their redundancy payouts when deleted from the public service.
    Suddenly the bottom dropped out of previously high flying trendy public companies and a ton of people were burned.
    Instead people put their money into property and house prices have climbed steeply ever since
    
    1 2
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    July 20, 2024 6:36pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      And now it has hit a bit of a wall. Gross rental yields of about 4% make 7% borrowings look a bit sick by the time you add in rates insurance and maintenance on top of the loan costs.
      
      Rents are pretty much limited by what people are able to pay (if not they would be higher). So you end up with an “investment” with significant weekly costs.
      
      And being such a bad proposition, the capital value stagnates (or worse) ….. but increases in the capital value are why you went into it in the first place.
      
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      July 20, 2024 7:46pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        People will pay super high rents to avoid the shame of homelessness, until their life falls apart.
        
        0 0
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        July 20, 2024 10:24pm
- Burtland
  
  18,000 additional staff – 85k each – $1.5B a year
  
  Robertson was a genius – NZ is stuffed
  
  11 0
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  July 20, 2024 11:31am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Not just that, office space, transport and some may even have staff on top
    
    8 0
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    July 20, 2024 12:44pm
I remember when

“A new study shows that Maoris have poorer oral health than other due to “colonialism and racism.”

Being advised how much my annual dental treatment will cost I can think of a number of reasons other than “colonialism and racism.”

Another inflation source!
12 0
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July 20, 2024 10:58am
- Taieri
  
  Being advised how much my annual dental treatment
  ————
  
  A 360deg dental CT examination costs at my dentist a cool $650. This includes the cost of a visit.
  In India, they charge anything from about USD30 to about USD150 for the same examination.
  For implants the cost difference is even greater. About $6000 for a molar implant in NZ, against about $1000 for the same job in India.
  What’s in the price difference? The cost of technology should be all that different, so may be it’s all the associated costs, such as labour, cost of running dental clinic and so on.
  
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  July 20, 2024 12:03pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    I needed to replace a cracked dental bridge. Was quoted $7,500 for the replacement and $17,000 if I wanted an implant instead.
    
    8 0
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    July 20, 2024 12:35pm
  - kevn
    
    Tai… We had a Thai neighbour. Her and the Kiwi hubby head back to Thailand yearly for their dental work. Local knowledge would play a big part of where to go I imagine.
    
    7 0
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    July 20, 2024 1:15pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    One of the girls from tennis went to Turkiye for a full set of veneers.
    Less than half the cost to what she was quoted here.
    TBH, they’re sooo white she looks absolutely ridiculous… we call her “Gobbler” 😀
    (As in Turkey)
    
    7 2
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    July 20, 2024 1:18pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      NOT my bestie… but will give you some idea
      
      https://www.tiktok.com/@ab51gar/video/7127300438679932165
      
      4 1
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      July 20, 2024 1:36pm
      - greybeard
        
        Dear God………………….
        
        2 0
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        July 20, 2024 6:44pm
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      I think it is terribly rude to refer to a woman, with a lovely mouth, as “Gobbler”.
      
      5 0
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      July 20, 2024 3:15pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Yep, then there’s the cosmetic fish lips and the new trend of ultra wide eye brows (vertically). How women sporting these things don’t realise that most men see these things as ridiculous (if not sad/hideous) is a mystery. Straight white teeth look good generally but glowing in the dark white might be overkill.
      
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      July 20, 2024 10:30pm
kevn

Just a reminder of the msm status… globally.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-07-19/media-has-finally-once-and-all-lost-all-credibility
12 1
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July 20, 2024 10:58am
Burtland

Leftard Colin Peacock was advocating increased government spending on RNZ this morning – Liam Dann pointed out that NZs gross debt was over $800B, half of which is mortgages, with government debt $173B – Colin seemed surprised

$160k/kiwi

most of the leftard media are financially illiterate – been reading too much marx

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018947641/liam-dann-are-interest-rates-falling-fast-enough
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July 20, 2024 12:12pm
- kowtow
  
  Marx, for the most part is actually a hard read .
  
  Most Marxists will simply accept whatever their respective Kommissar tells them .
  
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  July 20, 2024 2:53pm
Burtland

another leftard Clark DEI plant – this time Air New Zealand

NZ is stuffed

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/air-new-zealands-kiri-hannifin-i-live-in-my-own-skin-its-pretty-much-all-ive-got/E4WLBJAS2NBEHPBWKEKSBA3IQ4/
9 1
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July 20, 2024 12:26pm
70andstilllearning

First lot of good rain! – so much for all those months of detours that would solve the Brynderwyn’s having to be closed 🙂

https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/regions/northland/traffic-updates/473759
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July 20, 2024 12:54pm
Jack5

Musk and California …

Hadn’t noticed mention of the transgender issue between parents and schools as a possible trigger for Elon Musk relocating the headquarters from California to Texas of his companies SpaceX and X Corp (formerly Twitter).

Musk has denounced Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, for signing legislation that aims to prevent schools from informing a family if their child identifies as transgender.

The “Wall Street Journal” says that Musk had been coming to terms with a child who identified as transgender.

Earlier, in the wake of Covid disruption, Musk moved the headquarters of his car manufacturer, Tesla, from California to Texas.
4 1
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July 20, 2024 1:37pm
- Jack5
  
  Whoops! I was out of date in the post about Musk’s transgender child.
  
  The link that follow is to a BBC item two years ago.
  
  Regardless, the point is: Musk’s not a man to cross.
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61880709
  
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  July 20, 2024 7:01pm
Damocles11

Hmmmm….🤔

‘marae vote rigging enquiry has gone really quiet. What’s happening? Luxon hasn’t even released terms of reference that he promised 3 weeks ago. Are National trying to sweep it under the carpet?‘

https://x.com/RobertA21324401/status/1813852549294022672
11 3
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July 20, 2024 1:39pm
- Ghost
  
  https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/assets/DirectoryFile/Terms-of-Reference-Inquiry-into-how-government-agencies-protected-personal-information-provided-for-the-2023-Census-and-COVID-19-vaccination-purposes.pdf
  
  3 0
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  July 20, 2024 3:33pm
- AitchW
  
  Or perhaps the process is underway and no one can comment until it’s finished.
  
  2 0
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  July 20, 2024 5:24pm
  - Ghost
    
    Terms of reference were released. You won’t hear about the results of the inquiry until it’s finished and the reports presented.
    
    1 1
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    July 20, 2024 6:09pm
Damocles11

‘Local Iwi have placed a rahui on any future IT outages affecting Tamariki. Yesterdays outage disproportionately affected Maaori and Pasifika, and Iwi are seeking redress from the Crown via the Waitangi Tribunal. More on Stuff/Three News at 6pm.’
13 1
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July 20, 2024 1:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Jesus!
Went out for a while to the mall to get some food and stuff. Briscoes is chocka with the half price sale. 4 on deck and nobody on the floor. Crowd almost out the door.
Whitcoulls closed, as are some Banks. Paper plus open. What gives? A worldwide computer problem and everyone has gone into ZOMBIE mode. Same down at Bunnings. Two tills operating when they have 6 altogether. Banks want us to go cashless – piss off noddies.
Apparently it is just something in the System 32 that needs renaming to stop it working. Computer or server needs to be stated in safe mode. F8 or F12 or F whatever.
Honestly I am baffled about the number of people can push a button to stat a computer, password it and that is the extent of their computer knowledge!
4 3
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July 20, 2024 2:52pm
- greybeard
  
  Translation: over the weekend some shops are open and some are closed.
  
  There was a computer problem, but really not many people were adversely affected, unless you count the ones who for some reason have to buy their weekly crap from Bunnings, Warehouse, Kmart etc.
  
  A brief technical problem occurred. It has now been fixed. Get over it.
  
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  July 20, 2024 6:42pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  After the second largest mobile operator in Aus went down for nearly a whole day I’ve made an effort to always have a decent amount of cash on me. With the ESG/DEI cult infesting many corporations, expect more catastrophic system outages and human caused disasters. I guess at some point we’ll get merit based hiring back after a lot of pain has been experienced. I’m looking at keeping an emergency stash of small denomination gold coins as well (just for fun, of course).
  
  0 0
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  July 20, 2024 10:37pm
  - Ghost
    
    I don’t think we will ever know what went wrong yesterday with crowdstrike…..
    
    https://www.crowdstrike.com/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/
    
    1 0
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    July 20, 2024 10:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

All the kids are going “Joe has the “Rona.” He can’t smell us!”
6 2
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July 20, 2024 3:03pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

What to expect at a pride event:

https://rumble.com/v57azq2-lol-woman-at-pride-event-makes-major-admission-without-realizing-it.html?
5 1
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July 20, 2024 3:08pm
Maggie Pie

JUST IN…

I don’t know whether Pres Biden writes his own Tweets or has an intern do it for him? Either way, people are saying how embarassing it all is.
And there’s been over 10M views in the last couple of hours!

https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1814452459248800005
3 2
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July 20, 2024 3:11pm
- Ghost
  
  Just to support Joe. Trump used a lot of words, many big boy words. It’s not surprising Joe couldn’t understand him, I doubt he can understand himself. But Joe is a good boy, he did well, Jill told us.
  
  5 0
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  July 20, 2024 3:36pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Word on the interwebs is Joe will be handing over the reigns this weekend.
    
    0 0
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    July 20, 2024 10:40pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The one and only AOC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZtWaY6ygcQ
2 2
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July 20, 2024 3:20pm
Jethrod

Further on from the talk about space and the like.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 and are now 12,745,000,000 MILES from Earth .
So that is 47 years to travel that far.
That is 271 million miles per year.
It takes 22 hours 40 minutes to make contact with them .
The nearest star where there could perhaps be a planet with intelligent beings is 4.5 light years.
So my maths now runs out, but the time to travel at that speed will take forever plus 2 days.
Until man or other intelligent beings can travel even somewhere near the speed of light, just forget about making contact.
voyager. jpl.nasa.gov
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July 20, 2024 3:36pm
- NothingLeft
  
  We could build spaceships now that could get to about 10% of light speed with a trillion dollar budget, it’s just a matter of scale. Fusion gets easier the bigger you make it.
  
  But there is probably no point given how rapidly technology is improving. If humans survive the next few decades with the coming of Artificial super intelligence then the technology level available might halve or quarter the time it takes to travel to other star systems, and would likely also make it orders of magnitude cheaper – eg by sending AIs that can build up technology and raise human and other animal embryos in a new star system.
  
  Humans will almost certainly never travel to other stars but Trans-humans (technologically enhanced human, immortal, perhaps part AI and able to upload into different bodies or even able to transmit their software encoded ‘brain’ via radio etc) might.
  
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  July 20, 2024 4:53pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    I guess some very early born galaxies (billions of years older than us) could have life so advanced that it can travel to us in some way vastly beyond our current comprehension. Perhaps they could visit and give us that technology at some point (or see us as dangerous backward screwups and just exit shortly after arrival).
    
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    July 20, 2024 10:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Sore ear but alive.
Representative Corey Mills (R-FL) served as a U.S. Army sniper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Slowly bits more info come out, and more info will come out as the cover up continues.

https://patriotpulse.net/an-army-sniper-stunned-cnn-into-silence-with-this-shocking-revelation/?
3 2
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July 20, 2024 4:22pm
NothingLeft

Latest Biden scuttlebutt (pinch of salt etc):
* plans to announce withdrawal from nomination as early as this weekend, with Sunday most likely
* Jon Meacham polishing up remarks
* Biden will NOT resign the presidency
* Biden will NOT endorse Harris
* open convention with Harris and about 3 others
* super delegates will not be allowed to vote on 1st ballot
* Harris is vetting at least four possible running mates, including Andy Beshear and possibly Josh Shapiro
4 2
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July 20, 2024 4:57pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Bwing on Kamala!
  
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  July 20, 2024 10:40pm
kevn

Latest best update on the assassination attempt…
https://thetruthaboutcancerofficial.substack.com/p/illuminating-inconsistencies-and?
4 0
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July 20, 2024 5:38pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  What do you reckon kev…… should we have a minits silence for all the brain-dead people who always believe the official story?
  
  5 1
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  July 20, 2024 7:20pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  4.76 degree slope is very dangerous you know.
  
  0 0
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  July 21, 2024 9:13am
Maggie Pie

What about all the Maori LEFTARD wokesters complaining the National Anthem
sung by Marla Kavanaugh at the Rugby…. “was the worst they’ve ever heard!”
Is it because she’s white?

I didn’t watch it, but my partner wound the sound right up right thru the house
when it started…. I and him both thort it was absolutely FAB.

Anyonne else hear it??
5 1
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July 20, 2024 6:36pm
hookerphil

My wife didn’t like it but I was too busy looking at her red plastic tiki hanging from around her neck – does that not remove the whiteness?
3 0
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July 20, 2024 9:07pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Works for Debbie 😀 😀 😀
  
  3 0
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  July 20, 2024 9:56pm
  - kevn
    
    Maggie… She also has the dark toned contacts to reinforce the image, add the barcode to be sure.
    
    1 0
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    July 21, 2024 7:45am

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