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August 24, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 August 2024

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

There was skepticism from a couple of KBers a day or two ago when I suggested that EVs parked in apartment building basement carparks represent a hostage to fortune.

Turns out, I was right to be concerned. In the wake of just such a fire, Seoul authorities are set to ban EVs from charging in underground carparks.

And for those skeptics – it’s not just the likelihood of EVs catching fire, it’s also the intensity of a runaway lithium fire, and the consequences for a building full of sleeping people.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/350389555/korea-set-ban-charged-evs-parking-garages-after-huge-fire
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August 24, 2024 8:00am
- Ipanema69
  
  NMTB,
  
  Already happenning in NZ. The insurers of the newly built LaQuinta Hotel and residential apartments in Parnell will not permit EVs in the garage.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:30am
  - Conservatarian
    
    Superb. The EV subsidy was enthusiastically taken up by businesses and rich people wanting a government freebie. The practical effects of EV ownership are now starting to hurt the owners. Many will not buy another (perhaps ever, perhaps not for years). It will end up as yet another Ardern “feels based” boondoggle which backfires.
    
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    August 24, 2024 1:01pm
  - chwaga
    
    EV’s are the flavour of the month. A guy from the ports of Auckland said on the Mike Hosking’s show that they have not had an EV home across the port in the past 3 months.
    
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    August 24, 2024 2:47pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      EV’s not worth. Hybrid good.
      
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      August 24, 2024 4:04pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      Hosking is flapping his arms wildly in the face of inevitability. What happens in the NZ car market is a measure of nothing. One in three cars in the world is sold in China and 55% of cars sold in China are now EV’s or plug in hybrids, and that percentage has been rising rapidly.
      
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      August 24, 2024 5:25pm
Chuck Bird

On the TVNZ news last night, they were singing the praise of Comrade Harris, a Marxist.

After the news I switched to Sky News Australia, they supported Trump with sound reasons. My subscription is money well spent.
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August 24, 2024 8:05am
- Philview
  
  It was stomach churning from a down to earth Kiwi perspective to see all the Celebs dancing the night away like it was a giant pop concert. Do voters in the US actually get swayed by that stuff?
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:42am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Gosh, a “Marxist’. Sounds scary. How is Harris a Marxist?
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:46am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Think “Ardern” Mike.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:12am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Her father was a Marxist Economist.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:28am
    - Mike
      
      I didn’t realize Marxism was a heritable trait.
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:52am
      - Simon
        
        Not Marxism but something else which will never get past moderation.
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:21am
      - sherp
        
        So free market capitalist impose price controls?
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:33am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      and Helen Clark’s parents were National Voters.
      
      In any case, Harris was raised by her Mother after her Parents split.
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:00am
      - Conservatarian
        
        In the leafy streets of Berkeley, California, and then in an upscale Montreal townhouse, hanging out with the college professor set. That’s why she appeals to upper class white progressive women and why she has to take lessons from campaign experts to held her to adopt a “Black” affectation in front of certain audiences.
        
        She does effectively mimic one particular Black person: Dr Hibbert, the black doctor from “The Simpsons”, for whom the gag was laughing at highly inappropriate moments.
        
        “I’m afraid you’ve got cancer” *laughs awkwardly*
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:15pm
  - bjools
    
    All the BS about “Equity”.
    Equal outcomes regardless of ability or effort.
    Every Marxist talking point met during her entire career.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:05am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      She did talk about equality of opportunity, not equality of Outcome. I don’t know if much can be read into that.
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:02am
      - Phronesis
        
        It’s a trick. Obviously black kids are just as smart as white kids so if the outcome is different there was clearly a difference in opportunity. Black kids need more opportunities.
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:10am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Harris has made statements about people ending up in the same place – i.e. equality of outcomes. They are on the web, go have a look.
    
    Equality of Outcome is impossible without large scale intervention in the economic system by the State. That is definitely Far Left, and can be labelled Marxist
    
    Marxism is in fact scary Michael – we have demonstrations of Marxism as a core political philosophy in multiple countries for a hundred plus years.
    Yes there is an accompanying administration philosophy (Leninism, Maoism…) but in all cases the outcome at country scale is not only scary but horrific and catastrophic
    
    So your sarcastic response is easily rebutted by the simple exercise of reason and memory.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:22am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Here’s the Platform with Candace Owen talking about Jacinda & the similarity with Kamalba. (5 m.)
      
      https://youtu.be/9m4Krj2mnZg?si=Mp-a6oK1gh9r1vfp
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:54am
    - Taieri
      
      Equality of Outcome is impossible without large scale intervention in the economic system by the State.
      ————-
      
      Equality of Outcome is impossible with or without intervention by the State. We all have different abilities, different expectations and differing approaches to life. So, unless we all become clones of each other…
      
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      August 24, 2024 1:58pm
  - Lance
    
    Only Merica is truly free.
    The rest of the world has communist health care with DEATH PANELS.. death panels I say.. not to mention death panels.
    //
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:56am
    - Mike
      
      Is it the death panels that allow abortion after birth?
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:54am
      - Surely Knott
        
        No that’s our infanticide laws.
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:24pm
    - sirknz
      
      Medically induced suicides are something like the third biggest cause of death for Canadians, this is just something I saw in passing some time back.
      
      They just keep expanding the program to include more and more terminal conditions such as depression, homelessness, having to wait for life improving hardware to be installed into your home, you know the really terminal things that impact your real quality of life.
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:39pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Her policies are the same as Ardern or worse
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:00pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      Not surprising since they probably have same ‘mentors’ and are playing from the same songsheet.
      
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      August 24, 2024 2:22pm
- RoboRob
  
  I was stunned when one ‘news’ listed her policies as reducing tax and securing the border.
  
  I mean wtf, blatant lying and misinformation. Most people watching probably don’t follow American politics and actually think those are her policies.
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:55am
  - Nukuleka
    
    The Dems are blaming Trump for all of the Biden/ Harris failed policies of the last 3 and a half years whilst dancing in the aisles amidst the glitter, balloons and tinsel. And so many Americans are falling for the lies.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:15am
    - AitchW
      
      In exactly the same way that Labour is blaming National for the shitstorm it inherited from Hipkins, Ardern and Robertson.
      Last night on HDPA’s show Kieran McAnulty was blaming National for the unholy mess that is the local councils. Apparently it (National) had the opportunity to fix all the problems with the rating system but didn’t. The fact that his government had 6 years to fix it escaped him.
      As an aside, he sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant little man with small man’s syndrome!
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:35am
      - Paulus
        
        [Mod – use correct names] tipped as next Leader – great, bring it on !
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:39am
      - AitchW
        
        Paulus, McAnulty running Labour would be worth at least 10% to National in the next general election. Please let it happen!
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:54am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        Arderns Lavrentiy Beria had things turned out how her masters hoped.
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:41am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Those very murmurings are what makes Labiur unelectable,.
        
        And as for Hipkins apologising for Luxon telling councils to get back to core business, how bloody out of touch is he? I mean I received my rates yesterday up $600 a 20% increase, does Hipkins think rate payers want Hipkins to apologise for the council waste, don’t think so.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:08pm
      - AitchW
        
        G, considering that Hipkins apologised for being a man is it any wonder he’s apologising for another matter beyond his control?
        He looks more out of touch with every plaintive utterance.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:23pm
      - pdm
        
        Assuming McAnulty sticks his knife in Hipkins back before Christmas who will be his deputy?
        
        My first thought was Barbara Edmonds but the fact that she too is from the lower NI and Willis eviscerates her every QT probably rule her out.
        
        Here is my longshot – Aroha Williams from Auckland and ticks all of the diversity boxes apart from having a wooden leg.
        
        You read it here first.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:01pm
      - Bridgenag
        
        vertically challenged please
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:11pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Hipkins did not apologise for being a man, that was Cunliffe
        
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        August 24, 2024 2:15pm
      - AitchW
        
        G, you’re quite right. My memory occasionally trips me up!
        
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        August 24, 2024 4:31pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    https://www.bsa.govt.nz/complaints/make-a-complaint
    I think it is about time TV1 news pulled it’s horns in.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:22am
    - Mike
      
      Have you made a complaint, Steve?
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:53am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Thinking about it. Are you?
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:01pm
      - Mike
        
        I don’t get as upset about TV programmes as some people do.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:33pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Its lies on the news Mike, not a fiction TV program.
        Oh wait, fiction? Could be.
        
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        August 24, 2024 3:20pm
Matt Long

Good breakdancing is impressive, unlike, say, the wokelympics.
https://youtube.com/shorts/intOlRnkYaY?si=gY9ExT03kGfrkRT3
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August 24, 2024 8:05am
- Master Mariner
  
  Nah Matt, I think the Oz Olympics version is more entertaining.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:50am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yeah – you can give them a good mocking.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:16am
Souvlaki

A must read article for National MPs , opposed to allowing ACTs referendum.
Instead of the usual boring tuesday interviews on ZB, if Hosking zoned in on this once ,it would be entertaining!

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/08/gary-judd-kc-treaty-is-bald-agreement.html?m=1
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August 24, 2024 8:05am
- Scott
  
  Well Winston Peters is also saying there are no principles in the Treaty and we should therefore take out references to the Treaty in all legislation. I think that’s a good approach.
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:13am
  - Michael Sommerville
    
    And that stance would also remove the lawyers.
    
    The problem with Winston is that he might have a view but will his position be acted on. Perhaps he could come to an agreement with David Seymour, as the Minister for Regulation, that removal of any reference to the Treaty is his prime focus.
    
    That would satisfy both parties. Now to get Luxon on board.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:21am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘The problem with Winston is’ Winston.
      
      He talks a lot and achieves , well , very negative results .
      he put Ardern in power , the party of “co governance”.
      
      Peters has made a career out of taking the piss .
      
      Talk is cheap , let’s see some results before blowing his trumpet.
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:49am
    - H. Upmann
      
      “Now to get Luxon on board”.
      Never going to happen.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:17am
      - Ghost
        
        Ummm, the nz first coalition agreement with national.
        
        Equal Citizenship
        The Coalition Government will defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law, with the same rights and obligations, and with the guarantee of the privileges and responsibilities of equal citizenship in New Zealand.
        
        The Coalition Government will work to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders, and will not advance policies that seek to ascribe different rights and responsibilities to New Zealanders on the basis of their race or ancestry.
        
        The Coalition Government will honour the undertakings made by the Crown through past Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
        
        The Coalition Government will reverse measures taken in recent years which have eroded the principle of equal citizenship, specifically we will:
        
        Remove co-oovernance from the delivery of public services.
        
        As a matter of urgency, issue a Cabinet Office circular to all central government organisations that it is the Government’s expectation that public services should be prioritised on the basis of need, not race.
        
        Restore the right to local referendum on the establishment or ongoing use of Maori wards, including requiring a referendum on any wards established without referendum at the next Local Body elections.
        
        Stop all work on He Puapua
        
        Confirm that the Coalition Government does not recognise the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as having any binding legal effect on New Zealand.
        
        Amend section 58 of the Marine and Coastal Area Act to make clear Parliament’s original intent, in light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Whakatohea Kotahitanga Waka
        (Edwards) & Ors v Te Kahui and Whakatohea Maori Trust Board & Ors [2023] NZCA 504.
        
        Amend the Waitangi Tribunal legislation to refocus the scope, purpose, and nature of its inquiries back to the original intent of that legislation.
        
        Conduct a comprehensive review of all legislation (except when it is related to, or substantive to, existing full and final Treaty settlements) that includes “The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” and replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty, or repeal the references.
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:28am
  - Ghost
    
    And that Scott is part of the agreement they signed with national, to remove them.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:27am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Winston is correct. There are no principles IN the Treaty. There are 3 Articles, 3 very simple to understand Articles.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:29am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Correct, there are no principles.
      It is an agreement to comply with the terms of the three articles.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:14am
    - AitchW
      
      Are these principles actually documented anywhere credible? Are they written in black letter law? If not they’re worthless, the subject of opinion and conjecture. How can the Crown honour ephemeral principles open to interpretation?
      How can TPM and its fellow travellers pontificate ad nauseum about non existent principles.
      We may as well have government sanctioned witch smellers…
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:00am
  - Damocles11
    
    If there are no ‘Principles’, wouldn’t it be logical to take all references to ‘Principles’ out of legislation?
    Talking is not ‘an approach’; Peters is doing absolutely nothing to get the ‘Principles’ out of legislation, let me know when he does.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:05am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    All this focus on the treaty is misdirected. Countries with no such treaty have loads of examples of racial preferences. Our universities, health system, education system, and so on would do the same with or without treaty ‘principles’.
    
    What we actually need is laws that prohibit treating people differently based on race.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:24am
  - Paulus
    
    As it appears that the Waitangi Tribunal have a copy of the proposed legislation, when may we see it ?
    I am not against the Treaty itself and I have also seen it, but not the way it is being purloined by modern money grabbing Maori Iwi.
    Surely is it not about time that this body be wound up as it would appear to costing us a fortune.
    A local Tauranga Iwi has sent a “case” to this unofficial body about what they consider was in the Treaty, which it never was, namely the language used by modern Maori.
    It has cost them $100,000 and they want the Tribunal to fund them.
    Where can I find how much this body is costing us taxpayers ?
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:46am
  - mandk
    
    Didn’t Māori King Tuheitia also say that there are no principles, just the Treaty?
    
    Maori should reject the notion of principles. They are a pakeha construct.
    
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    August 24, 2024 11:13am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Heard Peter’s referring to this on HDA, he suggested they are working through every law, and and principle will be taken out
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:11pm
- Philview
  
  Unfortunately the people of New Zealand will not get to hear a fair and reasonable discussion on this topic given the political orientation of much of the media. There appears to be some discussion from journalists that Seymour will collapse the Coalition if he doesn’t get his way. I don’t know if they are making that up or has he actually said he will do that?
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:35am
  - AitchW
    
    I don’t believe he will collapse the coalition. No doubt there will be passionate debate behind closed doors, but the members of the media putting this opinion as fact are simply projecting their fervent wishes.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:15am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Well let him try and collapse the coalition, not sticking to the agreement would see him lose more support
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:15pm
  - pdm
    
    phil – 99% of all New Zealand journalists want the Coalition to collapse.
    
    It is their aim to achieve that.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:17am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      The [Mod – just call them by their name]Hipkins suggested the coalition is in trouble at question time to Peters, Peter’s said compared to the previous coalition with Labour then this coalition is tight
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:18pm
  - Ghost
    
    What will he collapse it for? He signed an agreement to take it to the first reading. That is being done. Meanwhile Winston and national signed an agreement to remove the Principles from legislation. Winston got the better deal
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:22am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “Meanwhile Winston and national signed an agreement to remove the Principles from legislation. Winston got the better deal..”
      
      Can you explain what the impact of such a change will be?
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:31am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly, so why is Seymour acting like a loose cannon, this part of the coalition is his signing, remembering of course I stated from day one that Seymour blew this because he could not explain himself to the people, just remember their support dropped from 18% in one poll to 8% just like that, words matter
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:20pm
  - Paulus
    
    Load of rubbish Phil.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:49am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The media tried to say he would suggest this, but how idiotic would that be of Seymour ? The coalition agreement says till first reading, what is he protesting about? I mean the bill is not even written yet ffs
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:13pm
- Steve
  
  “The treaty itself contains no principles which can usefully guide government or courts.” So many do not know this. They think the TOW and the Principles are one and the same, a misconception.
  Then we have the activists – saying David Seymour is trying to re-write the Treaty. Pure scaremongering and they know it, or at least the elite do. Also the media do not help, they just make news by deliberately mixing it up.
  I do wish I knew why Luxon and Peters will not support the Principles Bill beyond it’s first reading. Are they both activists?
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:49am
  - pdm
    
    Steve we all know Peters is an opportunist.
    
    Luxon we are still not sure about. Twice this week he showed some guts but mostly to date he has tried to be all things to all people – so looks wet and weak.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:19am
  - Scott
    
    Umm because Peters says there are no principles in the Treaty and so there is no need for a treaty principles bill.
    I think we should think about it? Not go on about weak and woke or something. Peters has a good point. Why not cut to the chase and remove the references to the Treaty of Waitangi out of the legislation?
    It’s worth seriously considering.
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:24am
    - Ghost
      
      It’s part of the NZ first and national coliation agreement to remove them
      
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      August 24, 2024 9:30am
      - Scott
        
        Ghost – thanks for posting the relevant part of the coalition agreement on race relations. I think it looks very good. 👍
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:31am
    - Damocles11
      
      Remove all references to ‘the Treaty’, or all references to ‘Principles’? They stuck this word ‘Principles’ into The Treaty of Waitangi Act in 1975 and we’ve been in this mess ever since.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:07am
      - Scott
        
        Damocles – here is the relevant portion of the coalition agreement between National and NZ First :
        
        Conduct a comprehensive review of all legislation (except when it is related to, or substantive to, existing full and final Treaty settlements) that includes “The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” and replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty, or repeal the references.
        
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        August 24, 2024 10:46am
      - Damocles11
        
        Cool Scott, when do they commence the review?
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:07am
      - Scott
        
        Damocles – not sure when they will commence the review?
        Unfortunately Winston and the rest of the coalition govt don’t appear to be consulting me on this particular issue. 😎
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:47am
      - Damocles11
        
        Cheers Scott, I would have thought removing the Principles would be a very, very high priority. If the Principles are gone then logically there will be no need for Seymours bill supplanting the existing ‘3 P’s’ with the ones he has devised.
        
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        August 24, 2024 2:07pm
  - Paulus
    
    Both will lose considerable votes if they continue their opinions.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:50am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Well it looks like they realise there are no principles, Peters definitely, and Luxon agreed that Ngata was correct 102 years ago
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:22pm
artemisia

Claire Trevett on the Local Government NZ conference – the Herald today (paywalled) –
Some … railed that having the Government decide what councils could spend money on was a step too far. The Green Party described it as imposing “austerity” on the councils, saying it was “an assault on local democracy”.

Apart from plenty of actual ratepayers surely hoping there would be a spot of council austerity, I think those railing missed the point. Councils can still spend up but the taxpayer money tree is not going to shake loose so much coin from now on.

Not only but also, as they say – The added incentive for councils to stop spending on things Brown considered fripperies came in the form of the regional deals the Government is proposing: longer-term deals between Government and councils to fund infrastructure and development. Those, Brown told them, would only be offered to councils which were focusing on “the basics.”

Looking at you, Wellington City Council, says a ratepayer who has just paid a whole lot more rates than last year. Gotta pay for the shiny new conference centre loss since its business case did not deliver.
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August 24, 2024 8:07am
- rouppe
  
  And Porirua.
  
  My rates are now $6,500 for a standard 3 bedroom weatherboard home
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:20am
  - pdm
    
    On a quarter acre rouppe?
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:20am
    - rouppe
      
      No. Not sure the area but maybe 700 m²?
      
      8 1
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      August 24, 2024 10:37am
      - John Loveridge
        
        Jesus, really? I thought Christchurch had got bad.
        
        4 1
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        August 24, 2024 12:00pm
      - rouppe
        
        0.0635 ha so 635 m². $6,442.39 to be exact.
        
        4 0
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        August 24, 2024 1:02pm
- kowtow
  
  The councils never railed against the constitutional coup that was 3 5 7 waters or the disgracefully anti democratic maori seats on councils.
  
  They just railroaded the long suffering rate payer .
  
  Can’t wait for the referendum results which will put most of them in their place . But they’ll continue to find new ways to undermine democracy at every chance they get ………”equity” you see , neo Marxists that they are.
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:34am
- John Loveridge
  
  I’m one of those ratepayers who would like to see a degree of austerity.
  
  The reaction of councils to Luxon’s speech illustrates how contemptuous of their ratepayers they are, and how reckless they are with our money.
  
  24 2
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  August 24, 2024 8:46am
- Paulus
  
  My huge Rates increase in Tauranga comes up on Friday !
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:51am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Brace yourself, Paulus
    
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    August 24, 2024 6:34pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It’s s as right though, that weakling Hipkins took to the stage and apologised for Luxon telling councils to get back to core business, and that deluded nut bar wants to return as pm
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:25pm
Matt Long

National plans a resumption of covering New Zealand in radiata pines and flattening the economy for the climate scam.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/525762/forestry-groups-welcome-emissions-trading-scheme-reset
18 2
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August 24, 2024 8:10am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  In a country where pine invasions of native vegetation are already a serious problem.
  
  12 2
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  August 24, 2024 8:22am
  - AitchW
    
    Perhaps there is a potential pot of gold for a New Zealand horticulturalist to develop a sterile Pinus radiata. Now that generic engineering is permitted it may be quite lucrative.
    
    5 2
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    August 24, 2024 11:04am
    - sherp
      
      And watch as leftist have a bitch fit because the pine becomes unnatural….
      
      4 2
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      August 24, 2024 11:36am
- rouppe
  
  My understanding of the carbon market is that none have been sold despite the low price.
  
  How will halving the volume and doubling the price change that?
  
  7 1
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  August 24, 2024 8:24am
- Chuck Bird
  
  I would like an alarmist to explain how planting pine trees removes CO2 permanently. It just removes it till the trees are burned, rot or turned into paper.
  
  15 3
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  August 24, 2024 8:55am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I think you should ask a scientist rather than an alarmist.
    
    4 2
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    August 24, 2024 9:35am
    - sirknz
      
      The alarmist would be more entertaining.
      
      11 1
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      August 24, 2024 10:17am
    - NothingLeft
      
      They are mostly the same thing in this hyper-politicised era of scientific Lyshenkoism
      
      4 1
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      August 24, 2024 11:20am
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    If you ship the trees overseas, which a lot are, the CO2 gets removed from New Zealand. If the wood is used for construction the CO2 can get locked up for many years.
    
    If you grow trees that absorb CO2 then burn them you will release CO2 but not more than what the trees have already absorbed.
    
    5 2
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    August 24, 2024 9:44am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      What you say is correct. However, what I said is also. The CO2 will be locked for many years but not centuries. What would lock up CO2 for centuries is to plant native trees.
      
      4 4
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      August 24, 2024 10:40am
      - JackRabbit
        
        Actually it is not just CO2. There is also a lot of O2 locked up in trees.
        
        1 1
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        August 24, 2024 2:39pm
    - sherp
      
      Weird how carbon isn’t calculated to be absorbed and locked away in the tons of animal products NZ produces…. all that meet, wool, milk somehow contains carbon but the greenies keep insisting animal agriculture adds carbon to the atmosphere.
      
      10 2
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      August 24, 2024 11:39am
      - Bridgenag
        
        All the greenies I know are off overseas polluting with planes etc
        
        4 1
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        August 24, 2024 1:21pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      They need to be landfilled to be useful stores of carbon.
      
      I remember telling greens this decades ago and being met with shocked rage and dismissal. They don’t like being confronted with reality.
      
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      August 24, 2024 1:19pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    And chuck,
    
    Trees remove a lot less CO2 than the grass they replace. 100sqm of full canopy trees removes less than 20% of 100sqm of grassland. And it is not hard to verify that.
    
    Moss, especially sphagnum moss removes even more CO2 than grass.
    
    1 1
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    August 24, 2024 2:35pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “We need the carbon price to encourage businesses and individuals to reduce their emissions to meet our climate targets.”.
  
  Well at least the Minister is being honest. He is admitting the obvious. The Zero Carbon Act will require a relentless increase in energy prices. We have not seen anything yet.
  
  11 2
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  August 24, 2024 9:04am
  - Burtland
    
    forget global warming, the The Zero Carbon Act is the existential threat for NZ
    
    when will Carr walk away from his mess, James Shaw and the Greens have
    
    11 2
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    August 24, 2024 9:16am
- newview
  
  A sweeping inaccurate statement Matt. Yes they are going to continue to plant trees but their policy is quite different than Labours. Planting pines for the environment is only part of their policy. How is the economy going to be flattened.?
  
  4 3
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  August 24, 2024 9:23am
  - Matt Long
    
    The economy will be flattened by removing agricultural production and driving up the cost of production for all things by increasing the price of energy.
    Flattened as in the top taken off, not like steamrolled.
    
    9 2
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    August 24, 2024 10:43am
    - newview
      
      Matt If you read their policy they will not allow good agricultural land to be used for forestry and will be selective where they let it happen. Not like Labour. I can’t see how they will increase the price of energy anymore than any other industry.
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:38am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        They are going to ban foreigners who off set planting with flying private jets which is utterly pathetic, Nats are happy to see farmers plant on marginal parts of their land, I have seen some of the farms we service at work do this, and it does not drop stock numbers, it’s common sense to use the marginal land for a one off revenue stream
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:33pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Pretty sure Nats are going to ban foreigners from buying productive farm land to plant toxic pines that help these rich foreigners to fly private jets. Don’t come back saying they agreed to let farms get sold to foreigners last month, the farms mentioned were already sold two years ago, 2 farms down this way, and 2 in the Gisborne area were all sold two years ago, what it takes that long for OIO is beyond me.
  
  The planting that Nats are still interested in are on marginal lands which farmers with any brains has always done
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:30pm
Steve

Oprah gave DNC attendees a gift.

https://babylonbee.com/news/oprah-surprises-dnc-attendees-with-free-gift-under-each-seat-their-own-illegal-immigrant
22 3
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August 24, 2024 8:11am
- Burtland
  
  😂
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:27am
Chuck Bird

The Law Commission, a taxpayer-funded body appears to think the rights of transgender people trump not only the rights of women but the safety as well.

A review of the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics

https://ia-tangata.lawcom.govt.nz/online-submission
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August 24, 2024 8:15am
- BarryB
  
  I think I can confidently predict that in the not too distant future there will be an inquiry into “the abuse of transgender people by the state (and possibly others)”
  Already in the UK and the USA legal claims are lining up at the courts whereby people are claiming that the medical and phycological treatment they were given by the state was harmful and damaged them for the rest of their life.
  These unfortunate people have come face to face with biological reality. Filling their system full of all sorts of chemicals in an effort to turn a male or female into the opposite gender, and telling them that they will be better when their gender is changed is actually a load of bullshit – and they want to blame someone – the State – for both allowing it and carrying it out.
  
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  August 24, 2024 8:29am
  - sherp
    
    Yea but in NZ this crap will continue a lot longer than other countries as basically everywhere else in the world a person harmed by medical malpractice can sue the crap out of doctors who have mutilated and sterilized them.. but thanks to NZs wonderful ACC system its going to be us tax payer who are left with the cost of such liability.
    
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    August 24, 2024 11:43am
- Souvlaki
  
  Indeed…and in Australia there is ‘Giggle Vs Tickle ‘ case🧐
  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07ev1v7r4po
  
  11 2
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  August 24, 2024 8:38am
  - Jake Dee
    
    That the Radical Lesbians are being beaten in court by the Trans Lunatics is on some important level deeply hilarious, but I must (reluctantly) side with lesbians on this one, if only for tactical culture war reasons.
    The feminists, progressives and liberals are being eaten by the tiger they rode in on, but that still means that there is a tiger in the garden eating people, and it has to be stopped.
    
    17 2
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    August 24, 2024 8:56am
    - Burtland
      
      the tiger is marxism – alive, well and state sponsored
      
      16 2
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      August 24, 2024 9:35am
    - Paulus
      
      Am I correct that the breakdown of Lesbians marriages completely exceeds that of so called Gay men’s ones ?
      
      7 1
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      August 24, 2024 10:54am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Radical Lesbians vs Trans Lunatics
      -whoever wins we lose.
      
      11 1
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      August 24, 2024 11:22am
emmess

Douglas Murray reviews the DNC Oscars
https://nypost.com/2024/08/22/opinion/these-are-the-dems-who-deserve-an-oscar-for-the-fake-all-an-act-convention/
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August 24, 2024 8:17am
Dudley Quaffquaff

I love this from Chris Bishop, responding to a hErItAgE fan moaning about “crappy apartments”

You don’t want to live in a small apartment without a balcony – then fine, don’t.

But it’s not for you to make that decision for other people.

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/08/23/crappy-apartments-are-better-than-homeless-families-bishop/
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August 24, 2024 8:22am
- AitchW
  
  Well said Mr Bishop! The heritage luvvies saying “let them eat cake” to first home buyers from their Grey Lynn refurbished villas are finally getting some government push back. And they don’t like it! No doubt this morning there will be tears over the soy lattes at the thought of all those apartments without balconies bringing down inner city values….
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:45am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I would have thought it worked the other way around, you go to an apartment and then look over too the villa, you get two choices, remembering of course villas have been removed to
    Put apartments in place cutting the number down and pushing the price up I would have thought
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:39pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That’s what gets me with the weak gutless left, they are so used to being dictated to they think these things are compulsory, nothing these building shake ups that is compulsory, they are used to Marxism for 6 years
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:37pm
- Damocles11
  
  Look at the biased headline from Newsroom talking of ‘crappy’ apartments. Crappy is an entirely subjective word: if you’ve been living in a van or a garage or a room at someones house then your own apartment – your own personal space with kitchen facilities, a bed, a toilet, a shower etc – may be an absolute palace. What a disgrace to dismiss someone elses home as ‘crappy’.
  
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  August 24, 2024 2:19pm
Steve

Will Trump give Musk a job?
How about EVs, but made in America?

https://politicalactionalerts.com/trump-considers-elon-musk-for-cabinet-if-elected-again/?
6 3
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August 24, 2024 8:27am
- Paulus
  
  Am I right that we no longer import any EVs any more as there are so many waiting for buyers ?
  
  5 1
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  August 24, 2024 10:55am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Seems the possible buyers have got cold feet because they can’t freeload on no RUCs anymore. They are now on a par with diesels.
    
    5 2
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    August 24, 2024 11:25am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      And dropping of subsidies, people new RUC’s were coming, this is what gets me with lefties, subsidies would have run out on April 1 if Labour had got back in, no where in their polices at the election did they say they would extend the subsidy or not paying RUC’s
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:43pm
SPC

This shows that New Zealand’s power cost was not that high in 2023, it is the lack of reserve supply if it is a dry and calm year.

https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/

Wind turbines off the Taranaki coast and more solar panels on home and business roofs – and battery storage should ensure this continues.

Those businesses wary of the dry and calm year market price should consider the example of NZ Steel and Contact.

https://contact.co.nz/aboutus/our-story/our-projects/glenbrook-battery

Such battery systems are going to lower the cost of power in areas using renewable energy.
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August 24, 2024 8:30am
- Taieri
  
  Such battery systems are going to lower the cost of power in areas using renewable energy.
  ———–
  
  No, they will not.
  
  Residential electricity prices in Europe:
  
  https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/29/energy-crisis-in-europe-which-countries-have-the-cheapest-and-most-expensive-electricity-a
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:23am
  - NothingLeft
    
    But they will enable the stable connection of more unreliable renewables to the grid.
    
    There’s a new techonology; iron batteries, that are about 1/10th the cost of lithium iron with really low charge and discharge rates, making them good for dealing with cloudy or windy days. A few $thousand for a couple of weeks home storage will likely make off-grid rooftop solar viable for most homes in NZ.
    https://formenergy.com/technology/
    
    3 1
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    August 24, 2024 11:27am
    - CJames
      
      All these new battery designs are regularly reported as the answer to all existing problems. Remember flow batteries, Sodium sulphur? The latest scientific research is breathlessly reported, but they never seem to go further, even into just kWh sized production type models. Did you ever wonder why that is? No doubt it is an evil cabal lead by Elon Musk (he’s the current bogeyman, isn’t he?) who has bought up the rights so they can kill it.
      
      7 2
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      August 24, 2024 11:52am
      - NothingLeft
        
        I tend to skepticism on batteries too (being professionally involved in developing products that use them).
        
        But these guys have built a production factory and are building an 8.5GWh battery which points to it being real:
        
        https://formenergy.com/form-factory-1/
        
        https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/long-duration-energy-storage/form-energy-set-to-build-worlds-biggest-battery-in-maine#new_tab
        
        2 1
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        August 24, 2024 12:58pm
      - marcw
        
        Oh dear, such a ‘sure fire’ investment it requires
        
        From DOE ..$147 million from the tranche, which was earmarked in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go toward an enormous, unconventional battery project intended to help one of the most congested parts of the New England grid.
        
        I think I will keep my investment dollars for such things as “cold fusion” and cars that run on tap water.
        
        3 1
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        August 24, 2024 2:58pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        lithium iron. The connection between brain and fingers is an interesting thing – I often see my subconscious brain has made homophonic substitutions when proof reading my typing .
        
        2 1
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        August 24, 2024 3:15pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      …iron batteries, that are about 1/10th the cost of lithium iron…
      
      Lithium Iron?
      
      Lithium Ion or Lithium Iron Phosphate?
      
      1 1
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      August 24, 2024 2:47pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        iron air, very slow charge and discharge rates, but super cheap to build – making them useful for longer term storage
        
        1 1
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        August 24, 2024 3:12pm
  - SPC
    
    They will. They make the existing renewable energy from solar and wind more reliable – that lowers cost.
    
    1 3
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    August 24, 2024 1:41pm
- Burtland
  
  “The Government has confirmed that it will co-fund the project to the tune of $140m, while NZ Steel will invest $160m”
  
  says it all really – CarbonZero requires a fxxking big taxpayer subsidy 😵‍💫
  
  and its only cut half their emissions – more subsidies to come
  and theyre Aussies
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/nz-steels-300m-electric-arc-furnace-gets-green/VBO2J777Q5HOBP7PJVR2E4ZKRE/
  
  8 1
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  August 24, 2024 10:39am
  - SPC
    
    Both parts of the agreement have economic viability and utility.
    
    1 2
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    August 24, 2024 1:43pm
- CJames
  
  SPC
  Stop your tiresome repeating the progressive memes as it shows you have absolutely no understanding of the situation and are a mindless parrot. No doubt no understanding of either engineering or economics. If you had any science education at all, it is likely that ynly went to SC Physics to eat you lunch no doubt.
  It has been covered in numerous GDs, including yesterday’s, why the current situation exists. All traced back to the Captains Call.
  Batteries increase the cost of power to the consumer. What they can do is reduce the extra cost if you can defer line upgrades to cover increased load. For NZ Steel, they are increasing their electricity consumption with the subsidised furnace. Without changes, they could be up for major transmission line upgrade. Before the new furnace, Transpower wrote this in their planning report “The Glenbrook clean bus is supplied by a single 220/33 kV, 140 MVA109 transformer, resulting in n security. Peak load at Glenbrook clean bus is within the continuous rating of the single supply transformer for the forecast period even with no contribution from the approximately 96 MW of cogeneration at the site” Historic peak load was 110MW. Added load would overrate the system without batteries to peak shave.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:14am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Physics ? No wonder Hipkins mother wants physics and biology out of science.😊 how deluded is that stupid woman
    
    6 1
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    August 24, 2024 12:46pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It is not households, it’s business, and man there are some deluded lefties winning that they power bill has gone up 10 fold
  
  2 0
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  August 24, 2024 12:44pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

More poor reporting, this time from RNZ. This sickness beneficiary & her three kids have $125 per week to live on after rent, all funded by you & me. No mention of the kid’s father(s), let alone contributions from her family or his.

And while we’re there:

“[Her disability is due to] a collagen production disorder, so it affects every single system in my body. Name a system, and I can tell you at least two things that are going wrong with it.”

Despite these multiple failures, she’s managed to produce three kids. Looks like her reproductive organs are working just fine.

Given her dependence on complete strangers to fund her life, you’d have thought she might stop at one or two kids.

No hard questions from RNZ on these points. Not that I’m surprised.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/526014/traffic-light-system-creating-atmosphere-of-fear-and-stress-disabilities-advocate
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August 24, 2024 8:31am
- peterwn
  
  Then there was this other woman with hurty feelings because it appeared a MSD staffer blundered by asking her to prepare a CV when she claimed to be totally incapable of work because of sickness. MSD backed down and apologised. That was wrong, a more appropriate response would have been that the woman should have politely asked the case officer if there had been some mistake.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:40am
  - rouppe
    
    Half of her disability was emotional/mental.
    
    I’d have thought going public with your problems or reasons for not working is more stressful than getting up and going to work.
    
    5 0
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    August 24, 2024 10:53am
    - peterwn
      
      There was a WW2 story from Pearl Harbor after the Japs had bomber hell out of the place including sinking USS Arizona. The wife of a senior military officer had been bedridden for some time with various illnesses. She had a telephone beside her bed. In the aftermath of the bombing someone was required to receive and pass on messages. Since she had a bedside phone they asked her if she could do this and she agreed. She became so engrossed in this work that she forgot that she was ill, because she had realized her self-worth and how she could be useful. She got up and resumed a normal life.
      MSD should have stuck to its guns and told that woman to write the CV or at least to write a list of the things she felt she could do even if sick.
      
      3 1
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      August 24, 2024 12:09pm
  - AitchW
    
    We live in an age of entitled outrage. MSD made a mistake, then corrected it and apologised.
    A reasonable grown up would have shrugged it off, this woman chose instead her 15 minutes of fame.
    The problem with the endless procession of disgruntled clients of government departments means that when there is a case which is genuinely worthy of outrage it does not get the attention it deserves. Too many cries of ‘wolf’.
    
    7 1
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    August 24, 2024 11:11am
- Benedict Yu
  
  RNZ should not give these folk air time. I am not suggesting that life on a benefit is easy. However to turn your “traffic light” red you need to set out to do so.
  
  14 1
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  August 24, 2024 9:45am
  - Paulus
    
    Every thing we see and hear on our so called Media is guided by the move to denigrate any and everything the elected Coalition Government want and do as they said before the election.
    It is becoming totally boring pushy Ladies.
    I do not believe there are any men left in the so called Media.
    
    11 0
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    August 24, 2024 10:59am
    - AitchW
      
      We have media implacably opposed to the government fed a steady supply of ammunition to fire at the government by a hostile and petulant public service.
      Had the last government suffered the same contestant barrage it wouldn’t have lasted a single term given its demonstrable incompetence.
      
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      August 24, 2024 11:14am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Well, masculine men, anyway. Those left are emasculated.
      
      6 1
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      August 24, 2024 11:31am
      - AitchW
        
        Or men without a uterus….
        
        6 1
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        August 24, 2024 11:36am
- artemisia
  
  That report of income looks wrong. Suggest RNZ did not ask about other household income – from WINZ, Accommodation Supplement, TAS, others living in the house with income…. Or debts.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:47am
  - Paulus
    
    Don’t confuse the situation !
    Lies and innuendos are the thing now from the media.
    
    8 0
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    August 24, 2024 11:01am
- Ghost
  
  If her GP doesn’t believe she can work then that should be respected. You don’t know her story. Is she suffering chronic pain, frequent joint dislocation s, joint pain. She hasn’t made up her illness.
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:01am
  - AitchW
    
    There are compliant GPs who sign sick notes for the price of a consultation….
    
    11 3
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    August 24, 2024 11:37am
    - Ghost
      
      And you can prove this ladies GP has done that? No. She hasn’t made her illness up. Joint pain and dislocations are common with her illness, which can cause arthritis. Also the risk of her uterus and intestines rupturing, ruptures of major blood vessels.
      
      https://ehlers-danlos.org.nz/eds-info/
      
      3 3
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      August 24, 2024 11:50am
      - AitchW
        
        No I can’t. I was simply offering an observation that there are GPs who are more compliant than others.
        I’m not suggesting that she ‘made her illness up’.
        It’s worth remembering too that internet descriptions of illnesses often report the most extreme symptoms, even when exceptionally rare.
        I live with a condition which if one were to experience all the possible symptoms would be totally debilitating. It can involve every organ of the body. So far, for the last 30 years or so it has only involved my lungs and I am fortunate to live a perfectly and boringly normal life. I’m sure that an ambitious reporter could exaggerate the seriousness of my condition in a story if it so suited him.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:05pm
      - Ghost
        
        Her doctor has deemed she is not able to work. That should be enough. You do not know what her symptoms are, you do not know what she lives with. You want to pretend the doctor has just signed her certificate because some doctors do that. But the weetbix doctors in kiwiblog have deemed she should be working, she has not made up her illness.
        
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        August 24, 2024 2:07pm
      - Taieri
        
        Joint pain and dislocations are common with her illness, which can cause arthritis
        ———
        
        I’ve been suffering from aggravated arthritis for a number of years now. Hasn’t stopped me from working in a job, which, for most of the time is quite physical. 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. Hasn’t stopped me from riding the bike or going fishing. Bugger all I can do about it, but it’s not going to stop me from enjoying my life.
        
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        August 24, 2024 2:09pm
      - Ghost
        
        She’d prolly be really happy if all she had was arthritis.
        
        1 1
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        August 24, 2024 2:30pm
  - peterwn
    
    I do not think that a GP is really qualified to determine id someone can or cannot work. Therefore their word should not be taken as the final word on the subject. If the sickness beneficiary is sufficiently mobile she should be required to visit MSD occasionally, at least out of respect to the long suffering taxpayer.
    
    7 2
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    August 24, 2024 12:14pm
    - Ghost
      
      Right so a GP doesn’t know if a patient of theirs is capable of working or not, that rather stupid. They are the ones that know their patients better than anyone.
      
      2 4
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      August 24, 2024 12:18pm
- sherp
  
  Wow… don’t care after cindy destroyed thousands of people willing to work hard and make a living for themselves by mandating them out of work. Those are people i have sympathy for not breeder leaches
  
  7 3
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  August 24, 2024 11:50am
- John Loveridge
  
  None of these people conceive that they are entirely dependent on the labour and largesse of the functioning members of society. I have a real problem with their attitude.
  
  7 3
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  August 24, 2024 12:05pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Let the Marxist media keep it up, Nats have opened up the beneficiary fraud of the left, the more they report bullshittery, the more voters will say bugger this crap
  
  4 2
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  August 24, 2024 12:48pm
Chuck Bird

I wonder if this affects the polls and betting odds.

RFK Jr. endorses Trump as he suspends presidential campaign

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/dnc-harris-trump-campaign-news-08-23-24/index.html
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August 24, 2024 8:41am
- Mike
  
  Trump now locks in the coveted votes of those affected by brain worms.
  
  8 28
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  August 24, 2024 8:49am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Only amongst anti vaccine lunatics.
  
  8 20
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  August 24, 2024 9:09am
  - freemark
    
    “Anti vaccine lunatics” lol.
    Do you mean those that being not taken in by the Covipropaganda decided to cast a critical eye over the whole Pharma & vax industry and decided (based on overwhelming evidence) that it is largely a scam – but a very profitable one for many?
    
    18 4
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    August 24, 2024 9:17am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      No I don’t mean that.
      
      The lunatic RFK bought into the lunacy that MMR vaccines cause autism. It is apparent that some commenters here have also bought into this lunacy.
      
      It should be unlawful for parents to withhold childhood vaccines from their children. If the parents will not comply, the state should be permitted to remove the children and have them vaccinated.
      
      4 13
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      August 24, 2024 9:51am
      - Ghost
        
        No, people shouldn’t remove the children because the parents don’t want to vaccinate their child. The gp should help educate the parent, but at the end of the day the decision should remain with the parent.
        
        11 2
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        August 24, 2024 9:56am
      - Notsofast
        
        Herd immunity does not require 100% vaccination, so a few outliers is OK.
        
        8 2
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        August 24, 2024 10:04am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “but at the end of the day the decision should remain with the parent.”
        
        Why? We do not allow parents to neglect their children by not feeding them or leaving them unattended.
        
        3 10
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        August 24, 2024 10:07am
      - Burtland
        
        yep get OT to remove the kids and vax the little buggers – what could go wrong?
        
        5 3
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        August 24, 2024 10:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “yep get OT to remove the kids and vax the little buggers – what could go wrong?”
        
        Nothing could go wrong. The children could be returned the same day.
        
        After making examples out of a few parents, the vaccination rate would increase remarkably.
        
        89 countries have mandatory childhood vaccinations.
        
        https://ourworldindata.org/childhood-vaccination-policies
        
        New Zealand’s policy is absurd.
        
        3 7
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        August 24, 2024 10:58am
      - Ghost
        
        No, it would lead to a court case for breaching the bill of rights.
        
        5 2
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        August 24, 2024 11:02am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Today’s generation have not seen the reasons for some vaccinations.
        Polio. I had a math teacher at intermediate school who got hit by polio. He had crutches and steel legs. Clicked knee pins to sit down.
        Wouldn’t a polio outbreak be just great? Limbs not working, amputations. Iron lung machines. Yeah, just great!
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:52am
      - wsk12345
        
        I wouldn’t have a problem with polio vax – but we do t have that anymore. We have chicken pox and measles and others which for almost every child are not that nasty. By all means make it mandatory for people living 13 to a house but leave the rest of us alone.
        
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        August 24, 2024 7:36pm
      - freemark
        
        All those studies, all those peer reviews, all those articles poo-pooing the doubters. Almost overwhelmingly you will find with a small bit of “doing your own research” that the giant hand of Pharma funding is behind it. Funding of our Med Schools, our research institutes, via Fund Managers ownership of MSM. This is not any conspiracy theory, this is raw fact. To have seen the Covijab fiasco and not acknowledge the deep corruption involved is IMHO to place yourself in the “unknowing citizens of the village of Auchwitz” category. Or an admission that years of highly sophisticated propaganda via all Media was very effective against even highly intelligent people.
        
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        August 24, 2024 8:01pm
    - Inandout
      
      free, I await absolute evidence that 100% of our politicians at the time of covid were vaccinated. Until such time I will remain skeptical.
      
      4 2
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      August 24, 2024 12:09pm
  - sherp
    
    How man times has fauci got the jab and contracted coof 19
    
    4 2
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    August 24, 2024 11:51am
- slightlyrighty
  
  The Kennedy Family has come out with a statement.
  
  “We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz.
  
  Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It’s a sad ending to a sad story.”
  
  Kathleen Kennedy Townsend,
  Courtney Kennedy,
  Chris Kennedy,
  Rory Kennedy,
  Kerry Kennedy
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:08am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Glad I’m not a Kennedy – Shona Laing, 1985.
    
    The Kennedy statement is a political ad.
    
    6 2
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    August 24, 2024 11:55am
- slightlyrighty
  
  There is no way to predict where his 4-5% share of the vote might end up.
  
  Prior to Biden’s withdrawl, Kennedy was polling as high as 17%
  
  The same polling company saw that margin drop to just 9% when Biden dropped out, and recent polling has seen Kennedy drop to about 3%
  
  The question is, where did that support come from? Given the huge swing away from Kennedy when Biden dropped out, and the swing back to Harris in the National Polls, the Dems change at the top of the ticket could have won back disaffected Democrats. Given there is no similar change at the top of the ticket for the GOP, one can only wonder what might happen.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:21am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He started his campaign because of the the anger at the squad and green bullshit
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:49pm
Jake Dee

Breaking News that I’m sure you are aware of by now,
“Robert F Kennedy Jr has said he is suspending his independent run for the US presidency and will back Donald Trump’s campaign.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy5ekxlwzgo

My personal opinion is that it’s probably the correct move although I would have liked him to have stuck in a bit longer to make the debate more interesting.
Also, this piece is just dirty and low,

“The decision effectively brings to an end a campaign fuelled by Mr Kennedy’s anti-vax views, and coloured by stories of dead bears and brain worms.”

RFK Jr. was fringe, but he had important things to say that should be listened to. Basing you campaign on health and welling being should not be a fringe position
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August 24, 2024 8:48am
- Benedict Yu
  
  No he has nothing important to say. His expressed views on vaccines should exclude him from any public office.
  
  7 27
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  August 24, 2024 9:12am
  - Jake Dee
    
    Well, there we have it, the end of democracy, a candidate may be excluded from office by the technocratic clerisy for expressing opinions contrary to the received wisdom of The Science.
    When the old school priests persecuted a heretic, they at least had the decency to state that they were the ordained priests and the mouthpiece of the true received wisdom.
    The modern atheist clerisy absolutely refuses to accept what they truly are.
    All of which I suppose is my way of saying that The Science is NOT The Word of God and that there are just as many quacks, charlatans, horse-feather salesmen and woo-woo artists in The Science as there are in any other business that is trying to sell you something.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:39am
  - Inandout
    
    BY, using your logic then Kamala should be excluded from office by allowing untold millions of illegal immigrants to swamp much of the US. These illegals have caused untold problems with the criminals and pedos they bring with them. Much of the damage has been hidden from view by the MSM. As an analogy can you imagine say 50,000 Oz 501s landing on our shores?
    
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    August 24, 2024 9:42am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “… then Kamala should be excluded from office by allowing untold millions of illegal immigrants to swamp much of the US.”
      
      Yes.
      
      9 7
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      August 24, 2024 10:10am
      - Hollyfield
        
        I disagree. It is not for one person to decide who should or should not be eligible to stand for public office, based on their own personal views. One person having that power is a dictatorship.
        
        Neither should be excluded from office. If they can convince enough people of the soundness of their policies and of their ability to implement those policies, they deserve to win. Although I do despair at times of the stupidity of so many people who base their voting decisions on gender, race or celebrity status.
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:34am
    - newview
      
      No you can’t say that Inandout. All the 501’s are criminals and have caused trouble in Aus. Not counting the illegal entry some of the immigrants are criminals and some are not. Trump would have you believe they all are and thats BS. Many of these people just want a better life. Like many of us.
      
      5 2
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      August 24, 2024 10:17am
      - Paulus
        
        Under Australian Law you cannot even enter Australia if you have a criminal conviction, so it follows that any 501′ s committed numerous crimes in Australia and not New Zealand.
        
        3 2
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        August 24, 2024 11:05am
    - Conservatarian
      
      100% of illegal immigrants are criminals. The clue is in the name.
      
      7 2
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      August 24, 2024 11:11am
      - newview
        
        I said “apart from the illegal entry. Learn to read C
        
        1 0
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        August 25, 2024 9:32am
  - AitchW
    
    Slippery slope there BY. What next? Exclude people from office because they are accused of ‘transphobia’?
    Perhaps a little Voltaire might not go astray? (I disagree with what you say but will defend to my death your right to say it). Otherwise we go down the cancellation road, and we all know where that ends up!
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:01am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I don’t mean “exclude by law”. My point is that the vaccine views of RFK should lead him to being ruled out by Trump for any high office in a Trump administration.
      
      Of course RFK should be free to campaign against vaccines.
      
      1 8
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      August 24, 2024 11:01am
      - Jake Dee
        
        But RFK Jr wasn’t campaigning against vaccines, that is the way his position has been framed by his opponents.
        Take some time to read his “bowing out” speech
        
        https://www.malone.news/p/rfk-jr-full-speech-also-as-text
        
        and then tell us what you think of it.
        Personally, although I find its style rather preachy and heart-on-your-sleeve liberal, the substance was very reasonable even brave.
        If you are going to make an assessment of someone’s position, then it should be based on their entire position and what they themselves have said, not on the edited version of what someone else has said they have said.
        Relying on the secondhand Cliffs Notes version is not only sloppy thinking it is a good way to get fooled.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:02pm
  - Mike
    
    Also:
    Chemicals in the water are turning kids transgender!
    Antidepressants cause school shootings!
    The CIA assassinated my uncle!
    etc
    Perfect fit for another Trump administration.
    
    3 15
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    August 24, 2024 10:09am
    - Swifty
      
      No more outlandish than believing that Labour can successfully run the country, that TPM are a force for good, that Willie Jackson hasn’t personally profited from Whanau Ora (the scheme he himself established with Tamihere and Turia) or that Phil Twyford would make an excellent immigration minister.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:44am
      - Mike
        
        “But what about that idiot in a different country”?
        
        2 6
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        August 24, 2024 12:02pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        A change to Labour would have to see Greens and TPM in cabinet, that right there should scare the shit out of any level headed voters
        
        5 1
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        August 24, 2024 12:55pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      None of which he actually said.
      Using invented quotes to critique someone’s position is a very weak move.
      
      3 2
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      August 24, 2024 12:05pm
    - wsk12345
      
      Well it’s proven that SSRIs cause psychotic episodes – a stated side effect – so hardly far fetched to believe this contributes to school shootings. Esp when most of the school shooters have been on SSRIs. Perhaps it’s not causation but a bit dumb to rule it out.
      
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      August 24, 2024 7:41pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    So Ben – if you are wrong on one thing then that is it? Really?
    
    Are you that sure of your own views on all things you are willing to live by that standard???
    
    8 2
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    August 24, 2024 10:29am
    - Mike
      
      RFK Jr is catastrophically wrong on a whole host of things.
      
      2 7
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      August 24, 2024 10:53am
      - Jake Dee
        
        For example?
        
        1 1
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        August 24, 2024 12:06pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      It is not just anything. Someone who thinks that vaccines cause autism has seriously faulty thinking.
      
      Some views are show stoppers. Another example is Jacinda banning gas exploration and locking New Zealanders out of the country. Those actions should totally wreck her credibility forever. Anti vaccination views are in the same category.
      
      2 8
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      August 24, 2024 11:06am
      - Jake Dee
        
        Read what he actually says about autism. You are misrepresenting his position.
        Relying on secondary information (media reports about his position) when primary evidence is available (his stated position) is disordered thinking.
        
        5 2
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        August 24, 2024 12:11pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    What about belief in the supernatural? You want to exclude on that basis too? Theism (in some variants) is a the root for a ridiculous amount of harm in the world.
    
    You shouldn’t exclude anyone for wonky beliefs in a democracy, that is for voters to decide.
    
    4 1
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    August 24, 2024 11:35am
- ChristopherW2
  
  I haven’t read or watched a great deal of what Mr Kennedy has to say, but I’ve seen some. So I can’t be sure I understand his position on vaccines perfectly, but I did watch a large chunk of his interview with Joe Rogan, particularly the part about vaccines.
  
  I don’t recall it in detail, and I remember that I didn’t agree with every point he made, but I did agree with much of it, which I recall being an argument around transparency and consent; I also remember that his argument overall was logical, defensible and based on reasonable assumptions. He certainly didn’t declare a blanket opposition to all vaccinations.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:47am
Tomtoddy

Penn State Prof. Michael Mann, an activist scientist with the United Nations IPCC scientist, warned that 2017 hurricanes would signal a “new normal” in Hurricanes due to man-made climate change. he was wrong. The year 2020 had an extra few but since then barely any.

In April this year he predicted 33 major hurricanes. Wrong again despite the huge publicity he got with his prediction. There has been one major hurricane so far and the season is well through.

Mann will get just as much publicity for next year’s claims and few outlets will publish his errors.
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August 24, 2024 8:56am
- John Loveridge
  
  We also have a geophysicist claiming, without any supporting evidence or argument, that coal mining may have caused the earthquake that shook parts of NSW yesterday.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:20am
  - CJames
    
    Underground coal mining do cause earth tremors when the workings collape. They will register as shallow earthquakes as that is what they are. Just like quarrying and mining blasts. East Huntly township had this problem. The power station hostel had to be abandoned because of subsidence from the ground movements.
    There is a possibility the geophysicist was referring to that effect
    
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    August 24, 2024 11:44am
    - John Loveridge
      
      Unless someone can tell me otherwise, from what I’ve seen the coal mining in NSW is all open cast. And the quake was 10 kms deep. I’d just like this geophysicist to put some meat under his taties and explain his statement. So far the media is silent on the “how”.
      
      2 2
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      August 24, 2024 12:13pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        No, most coal mining in NSW is underground. I lived in Wollongong for 10 years, and all the mines there – about 5 of them from memory – are all underground. Also the Newcastle mine in underground, and actually goes out from the coast under the sea. There are other mines in the Newcastle area that are underground. The open cut mines are inland NSW, Queensland, WA etc.
        
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        August 24, 2024 4:23pm
    - Taieri
      
      Underground coal mining do cause earth tremors when the workings collape. They will register as shallow earthquakes as that is what they are.
      ————-
      
      Quite common in certain parts of Europe, such as Ruhr region in western Germany or in Silesia region in southern Poland, when coal mining was still practiced on a big scale. In many places this led to a widespread damage or even collapse of buildings and other infrastructure to the point where some settlements had to be abandoned.
      
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      August 24, 2024 2:17pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Heartland Institute do a YT podcast every Sat morning about climate insanity etc.
  Today they had a guy from NOAA on to talk about this topic. He does say that this season is still looking like being a bigger season than usual for hurricanes, citing reasons (not “Climate Change!” btw), and points out that most big storms happen later in the season, so still too early to call the prediction wrong.
  Mann gets a special mention for his idiotic predictions.
  He’s 100% confident that if a big storm hits the mainland it will be blamed on CC.
  Link to this morning’s show…
  https://www.youtube.com/live/WKPirnji-e4?si=ReJIE4MnVileDRA9
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:23am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    You refer to “climate insanity” in the opening of your comment. It is therefore pointless to continue reading.
    
    4 21
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    August 24, 2024 9:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  There is no question that climate change will cause more intensive hurricanes in coming decades.
  
  https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/
  
  What is stupid is to predict the numbers and intensity of hurricanes from year to year.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:24am
  - Chris Nisbet
    
    Climate change doesn’t _cause_ anything. It is an outcome.
    
    8 2
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    August 24, 2024 10:42am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes it does. It causes more intense hurricanes.
      
      2 12
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      August 24, 2024 11:07am
  - NothingLeft
    
    There is a lot of question actually. Climate models have next to no skill in predicting long term climate even in a stochastic sense because they can’t (and never will be able to given computational limitations) model the dominant water phase changes, ocean waves, convection and clouds with any realism.
    
    In effect all they are is sophisticated (in old greek sense of word) over-fitting of crude empirical models, and concept of parsimony would say they should be thrown out in favor of far simpler empirical models.
    
    Endless predictions of worse hurricanes over last 4 decades have turned out out dead wrong:
    https://climatlas.com/tropical/global_running_ace.png
    
    9 1
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    August 24, 2024 11:39am
    - Chris Nisbet
      
      From the link that BY provided, this is about the best I could find that came close to claiming there is ‘no question’ hurricanes will become more intense…
      “Although we cannot say at present whether more or fewer hurricanes will occur in the future with global warming, the hurricanes that do occur near the end of the 21st century are expected to be stronger and have significantly more intense rainfall than under present day climate conditions”.
      Hardly definitive.
      If there was ‘no question’ they wouldn’t be called projections/predictions, would they?
      
      7 0
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      August 24, 2024 1:01pm
  - ChristopherW2
    
    A couple of points:
    
    Whether natural or man-made, warming has affected the North Pole more than the temperate zones or tropics; thus, the energy exchange between the North Pole and tropics is reduced, so an argument can be (and has been) made that warming should reduce storm intensity. (The South Pole remains resolutely deeply frozen and by some accounts is getting colder).
    
    Having said that, even according to the fairly alarmist IPCC, there is no statistical evidence for an effect on hurricanes or other storms either way. So an increase in hurricanes is by no means a safe bet.
    
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    August 24, 2024 11:59am
- Master Mariner
  
  I believe it was actually Dr J Curry that wrote the first review aligning Climate change and more / extreme Huricanes.
  This is where all that nonsense originated unfortunately and nothing in the media when that was debunked.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:35am
- Michael Sommerville
  
  I watched our own situation with interest this summer past. There was not a single tropical cyclone in the southwest Pacific Ocean that developed into anything significant.
  
  But no one will tell you about that.
  
  14 2
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  August 24, 2024 9:37am
- Simon
  
  What about Luxon? When will NZ get the comprehensive case from Wellington on climate fraud. Continual references to some bunch of monkey’s at the UN not cutting it.
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:29am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I think you mean “monkeys”, and that you are referring to the UNFCCC. Over the last 33 years, many of these monkeys have been New Zealanders.
    
    New Zealand is not going to withdraw from the UNFCCC. It is a fantasy.
    
    I see an emerging correlation. The same people who think that New Zealand should withdraw from the UNFCCC also think that Trump is a Messiah. Then they stubbornly refuse to have their COVID vaccine booster shots. If you see one of those traits in a person, most likely you will find the other two.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:50am
    - wsk12345
      
      [Mod – don’t make it personal]
      
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      August 24, 2024 7:45pm
  - ChristopherW2
    
    Mr Luxon is smart; you must choose your battles, and sometimes it’s better just to wait for a house of cards to collapse all on its own.
    
    3 0
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    August 24, 2024 12:01pm
    - Chris Nisbet
      
      The trouble with that approach is that we’re all paying for it through things like expensive electricity.
      
      3 0
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      August 24, 2024 1:04pm
- Burtland
  
  looks like they are about to fiddle with the measure
  
  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/02/hurricanes-becoming-strong-new-category-6-needed/
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:57am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Strange things happening with my account. My display name changed.
I was messing about with my profile but I’m sure I did not change anything.
Maybe I did.
I still have comments ubder moderation and nobody will tell me why. It all started with a WordPress problem not accepting a password.
Maybe hacked?

[ Mod – you haven’t been hacked, you played with your account]
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August 24, 2024 8:59am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Seems I did. I clicked a menu arrow to put it back. My fault.
  Still don’t know why I am moderated. Very hard to go with the debate flow.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:54am
  - MCōs
    
    Get a grip
    
    4 1
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    August 24, 2024 4:35pm
Grunter

Dunedin City Councillor continues to battle ALL his fellow councillors as they try to make it compulsory to learn a bunch of weird Māori rituals and prayers to some invisible ancient Gods.

https://leevandervis.com/

Quite rightly Vandervis is using The Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, freedom of religion etc). But Councillor O’Malley wants him cancelled and striped from his Chairmanship of the Finance committee!! Unbelievable anti-democratic Marxism on display under our noses.

To Mayor Radich, and the slightly more sensible side of the Council (Weatherall etc) – why are you supporting this nonsense?
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August 24, 2024 8:59am
- Clyde
  
  Lee Van der Vis is the only Councillor on that Council that has the balls to stand up to the current virtual crap. The rest are hard-left lunatics led by Watermelon Party activist Marie Laufiso. They, and the Otago Regional Council need to be replaced by Commissioners.
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:11am
  - Paulus
    
    Am told that Shortland Street Hospital has been told to cancel all its Maori names by its owners –
    Might even watch the shit fight !
    
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    August 24, 2024 11:09am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Vanderbilt has been a ringing screeching fool for 20 years in council, he whinges at the left, the greens and the right, it would not matter what the issue he would create havoc
    
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    August 24, 2024 1:00pm
  - Taieri
    
    They, and the Otago Regional Council need to be replaced by Commissioners
    ——–
    
    Not a chance of that happening.
    
    Read today’s editorial in the ODT, where they lament the lack of funds available for the southern councils to cover the essentials. This is at the time when Otago Regional Council is spending well over $50 million for its new palace. Hard to decide whether it is a peak of hypocrisy or a peak of stupidity.
    
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    August 24, 2024 2:25pm
- Mike
  
  Which part of ‘Marxism’ prioritizes religion? Asking for a friend.
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:14am
  - Clyde
    
    Why doesn’t a person who you profess to be a “friend” ask the question themselves? Sorry, should have said “comrade”.
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:37am
  - rouppe
    
    Marxism is all about control of others. Whether it’s property, actions or beliefs, doesn’t matter to them
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:43am
    - Mike
      
      There was I thinking it was a theory about history being driven by class conflict.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:56am
      - Grunter
        
        Nah Mike – and you know you’re wrong. We see what you’re doing…….
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:17pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Why are they burning energy and ratepayer money in this nonsense? Why aren’t they fixing roads and pipes?
  
  This is a small but pointed example of how councils have got entirely off track.
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:16pm
  - Grunter
    
    Might not be that small. The Leftards on the Council are losing their siht and stirring each other up. This could blow up as they try and out do each other with who can be the wokest idiot
    
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    August 24, 2024 1:20pm
Jack5

The space port venture of Ngai Tahu backed by Labour’s $29.4 million cash investment, seems to be on an uphill path after the Government refused additional funding.

The latest announcement about the space port centres on the “high flying plane” being developed in Christchurch seems a long shot, despite the Stuff headline of: “American company announced deal to fly to space from Canterbury.

Dawn Aerospace, an international venture based in Christchurch, has a an entry in Wikipedia outlining its plans for suborbital planes, and its present work for satellites. The second link below is to an NBR article about its money raising plans.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350389824/american-company-announces-deal-fly-space-canterbury

Dawn Aerospace’s capital raising:

https://www.nbr.co.nz/investment/why-you-would-raise-30m-when-you-dont-really-need-it/
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August 24, 2024 9:18am
- Paulus
  
  Tauranga Main Road upheaval Stage 2 has been told there is no more money for the Cameron Road and continuation of Cycle ways with no Parking
  Yet millions are currently being spent against any ratepayer intention, for Kultural Centre/Museum – some Council Offices along with the new Leased Multi million one nearly finished, and New Library – the intention is that you cannot park anywhere near it.
  Will Council staff returning to the new offices still get free Bus travel as parking will be only for the elite staff.
  I hear that with the new space per person that the new offices will not be large enough, and many Council staff are happy in the fringes where they are currently.
  New Mahe Drysdale Mayor will sort it all out, I am sure as they run rings round him.
  Remember only the CEO is the Employer not any elected Councillors or Mayor.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:19am
Benedict Yu

All emitters need to hold units. Emitters cannot choose to not buy units to account for their emissions, no matter what the price unless they shut down production.
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August 24, 2024 9:20am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350389992/taliban-bans-women-looking-men-they-dont-know-speaking-loudly-inside-their
Words fail me: what a nightmare of a place.
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August 24, 2024 9:38am
- Inandout
  
  grey, while the women in their homes are being regularly beaten I would now expect them to weep in silence.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:48am
- Mod88
  
  A very well armed nightmare of a place thanks to Joe Biden’s $80 Billion dollar weapons gift in his ill-conceived & executed withdrawal never mind the lost US Servicemen/women and countless thousands of allied Afghan civilians abandoned as well.
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:51am
- David Garrett
  
  Grey: I’ll bet some of the “moderate” Muslims we have foolishly allowed into our fair land look forward to the day when they can treat their female chattels in a manner which would be approved by the Taliban
  
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  August 24, 2024 9:59am
  - newview
    
    Shit David. You talk sense most of the time but that is just a rubbish statement. You know how they think do you?
    
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    August 24, 2024 10:40am
    - David Garrett
      
      New view : You understand the meaning of the words “I’ll bet” do you? Put another way, i could say more verbosely “I suspect I’m right, but cannot be sure”
      
      In just the same way as you BET on the outcome of a horse race: you back what may well turn out to be a winner, but you cant be sure
      
      Do i also need to enlarge on the meaning of “some” ?
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:56am
      - newview
        
        David I’m assuming then by using the word Moderate, you really mean radical otherwise you don’t think much of Muslims in general. If you really meant radical, I didn’t know we had let many such people into NZ. Maybe I’m a bit naive.
        
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        August 24, 2024 11:24am
      - David Garrett
        
        New view: As I have said here many times, I am quite prepared to believe that we at least try our best to allow only “moderate” Muslims into NZ. I am also prepared to say that many if not most of them are probably no threat.
        
        But it is not the refugees themselves who pose the greatest risk: it is their children. Nobody can predict how they will turn out. And the scary thing is they are NZ citizens by birth; they can’t be deported anywhere after they have raped an “immodest” woman, or cut someone’s head off.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:15pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        It’s true of everybody that we can’t be sure how their children are going to turn out.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:29pm
    - Mike
      
      He’s yet to say how a test of religious beliefs would work at the border.
      
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      August 24, 2024 10:57am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I know that your question is not to me but I will respond anyway.
      
      When surveyed even “moderate” Muslims seem to hold views that are not compatible with western values, eg a majority in the UK think that homosexuality should be illegal.
      
      Also “moderate” Muslims seem to be reluctant to condemn the actions of “extreme” Muslims. For example, after the October 7 attack on Israel, Jewish graves in Christchurch were vandalised. Response from New Zealand Muslim associations. Silence.
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:01pm
      - newview
        
        I take your point Ben, however there are plenty of homosexual haters here who aren’t Muslim. I do agree that like in Gaza not much condemnation of Hamas even from those Muslims who weren’t involved. I still believe Davids comments were too generalised and tend to tar all Muslims with the same brush.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:14pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Bene: Also “moderate” Muslims seem to be reluctant to condemn the actions of “extreme” Muslims.
        
        We see exactly the same reluctance to condemn among Maori leaders when another poor brown baby is bashed to death by its latest “Uncle” – the most recent occupant of its mother’s bed.
        
        When have you ever heard prominent Maori come out and publicly say “This is outrageous, and the people who are covering for the killer of baby Moko need to go straight to the police and say what they know”. Never happens.
        
        Labour once had a token Muslim MP, one Ashraf Choudry. Mr Choudry NEVER spoke in the House, and resigned not longa after a TV interview in which he twisted and turned about the Koran’s condemning of homosexuality, saying something like “Of course the Koran is correctly reflecting the teachings of the prophet – peace be upon him – but those teachings don’t apply in New Zealand.”
        
        Even the wokest idiot wouldn’t fall for that one.
        
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        August 24, 2024 12:36pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        D.G
        Not too much outrage from the NZ Muslim community when there were the Sri Lankan Easter bombings of Christian churches killing over 300 people as revenge for the Christchurch murders.
        
        The Muslim communities around the western world, and other groups that resist integration, have a moral duty to self police.
        They know who their bad guys are. We don’t . Therefore they shouldn’t complain when we treat them as a single entity and give them all a share of the blame.
        
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        August 24, 2024 4:47pm
      - Ghost
        
        Ummm
        
        NZ MUSLIMS CONDEMN EASTER WEEKEND BOMBING IN SRI LANKA
        
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        August 24, 2024 5:16pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Read the post. “Not too much outrage from the NZ Muslim community….”
        https://nzma.kiwi.nz/nz-muslims-condemn-easter-weekend-bombing-in-sri-lanka/
        
        Interesting that there was no mention of the murderers, that they are muslims, or their motives.
        
        Don’t know why he bothered.
        
        Thanks for proving my point.
        
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        August 24, 2024 5:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        The condemned it, they came out in support of Sri Lanka. What more do you want them to do?
        
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        August 24, 2024 5:42pm
  - ChristopherW2
    
    New Zealand’s refugee and immigration systems are well run; and are actually very strict. We accept those fleeing the Taliban, but no Taliban would be accepted here. The problems one can see on the nightly news, from countries which have large numbers of un-vetted border-crossers, can’t happen here, at least not with the immigration laws we currently enjoy.
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:22pm
    - Swifty
      
      Anjem Choudary is British-born as were many of the Islamic terrorists who have killed and maimed other Brits in recent years.
      
      https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3geqp8vx08o.amp
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:54pm
    - kowtow
      
      You left out the sarc symbols.
      
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      August 24, 2024 1:10pm
- Swifty
  
  More evidence, as if we need it, that cultures are not all equally good.
  
  Ours, for example, is one of the best ever known to humankind – irrespective of what our some of our learned academics and the race-grifters in the Maori Party would have people believe.
  
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  August 24, 2024 10:36am
Scooter

The boat sinking off the coast of Sicily is interesting, not least because the captain is a Kiwi. Of the 22 on board (passengers &crew) it seems all the crew of 10 survived except for the chef who was found first and 7 passengers died, 6 survived. Besides the investigation into why it sunk, there must be questions as to why the crew and captain were able to escape but weren’t able to rescue the passengers, isn’t their job to look after them? In any case what is certain is Italy is very good at charging anyone in these type of cases so if I was the captain I’d be brushing up on my Italian.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13773147/Manslaughter-probe-Bayesian-superyacht.html
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August 24, 2024 10:45am
- Burtland
  
  the passengers were probably all drunk – it was a gin palace – the staff less so
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:06am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  The crew were all on deck and the pax below asleep.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:21am
- Paulus
  
  I suspect that the Owner who died had Life Insurers who will want somebody else to pay, so the Captain is the obvious first port of call.
  It appears that the Italian Boat Builder has already pulled away, and blamed the Captain for the weather conditions.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:24am
  - rouppe
    
    He had not blamed the captain for the weather conditions.
    
    He’s blamed the captain for not adequately preparing for a storm that everyone else seemed to know about. Specifically not closing all hatches to prevent water ingress and potentially not having the keel fully extended. Other boats had also started their engine to help maintain their mooring.
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:57pm
Yvette

Further to NeverMindTheBollocks’ 8:00am comments on –
EVs parked in apartment building basement carparks

Ferry companies grapple with rising threat of EV fires
Royal Institution of Naval Architects – RINA
https://rina.org.uk › publications › the-naval-architect
15 Nov 2023 — The Danish Maritime Authority responded by temporarily banning charging for EVs on vessels. Today some companies have gone further.

Norwegian shipping company bans electric cars on board … CTIF
https://ctif.org › news › norwegian-shipping-company-b…
7 Feb 2023 — The Norwegian shipping company Havila Kystruten will no longer allow electric cars on board its ships

Reddit · r/electricvehicles
180+ comments · 3 months ago
Greek ferries no longer transport fully charged EVs: For safety reasons, the batteries of electric cars may only have a maximum charge level of …

railfreight.co.nz › interislander-cv › ca…
We cannot accept electric vehicles or alternative fueled vehicles if they have been damaged or modified. Any electric vehicles should not have been fully …
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August 24, 2024 11:31am
AitchW

Watching the pre Louis Vitton regatta on 3 Now.
Can anyone knowledgeable about such matters tell me why the aerial shots are taken from helicopters rather than drones?
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August 24, 2024 11:40am
- Drone
  
  Possibly flight times and speed. The boats travel at speeds that surpass commercial drones and most drones have approx 30ish mins flight time. Getting quality ie 4k video back from a drone is also an issue..
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:26pm
  - AitchW
    
    Thanks Drone. I guess technology will inevitably make drones faster and more resilient.
    Your name adds credibility to your advice!
    I see that the downticker is about, I wonder what your post said that was so offensive to him/her/them etc.
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:56pm
Conservatarian

https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/data-and-statistics/covid-vaccine-data/

As of 18 Aug 2024, according to the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR) regarding the so-called “vaccine” against the $100b sniffle some refer to as Covid-19, the following amount of doses have been administered:

Primary Course Doses (for ages 12+) 8,021,693
Booster 1 2,781,001
Booster 2 1,086,778
Booster 3+ (the 3rd and all succeeding courses) 1,084,194 .

Booster 3+ refers to a hard core of deluded fools who continue to smash the experimental gene therapy into their arms for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th….23rd, 24th time hoping that ***THIS TIME*** being jabbed is finally going to prevent them from catching an endemic sniffle.

This might be 250,000 people or less (a max. of 5% of the entire population) assuming these people have had a 6 x “Booster” jabs.

Despite this, the total number of these “3rd+” doses administered [since late 2021 / early 2022] is only soon going to surpass the total number of 2nd doses administered.

This looks like a case of people “waking up” consistently over time to the view that this fraud is, in fact, a fraud.

WE.ARE.ALL.”ANTI-VAX”.NOW.
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August 24, 2024 11:42am
- Benedict Yu
  
  A “sniffle” that killed millions. Of course it would have been millions more without the vaccines.
  
  You do realise that covid vaccination is correlated with lower mortality rates?
  
  People are not “waking up”,. They have simply been deluded by misinformation.
  
  I have had a “fourth booster” so 6 shots in total. I expect to receive a booster each autumn, for at least the next 20 years while the COVID virus is endemic.
  
  I do not expect to contract covid. However if I do, I can be reassured that I will be protected from the worst effects of the virus, including adverse cardiac events.
  
  BTW the fact that you refer to these vaccines as “gene therapy” is a bright red flag about your succumbing to misinformation.
  
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  August 24, 2024 11:56am
  - Conservatarian
    
    “A “sniffle” that killed millions.” Ah yes, I recall all the healthy under 60s people killed.
    
    “They have simply been deluded by misinformation.” What they did was sent the chief propagandist packing such that she had to leave the country.
    
    Your Covid jab takes are amazingly bad, when I genuinely enjoy almost everything else you write here.
    
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    August 24, 2024 1:27pm
  - kevn
    
    BY… That must explain why the 11,000 (eleven thousand) MOH employees got jab exemptions.
    Maybe they knew something you didn’t and don’t?
    Insider information/data via MOH and ACC jab injury claims.
    Think about it.
    
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    August 24, 2024 4:44pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Benedict,
    
    You are one of the few people whose blog entries I read and almost always agree with.
    
    I am a person who decided not to take the Covid “vaccine” because I felt it was dangerous for billions of people to inject themselves with an unproven, rushed to market, “vaccine”.
    
    You must by now surely be aware that the Covid “vaccine” is not actually a vaccine in that it does not prevent you from catching the covid virus nor prevents you from transmitting the covid virus to others.
    
    There is some evidence that taking the vaccine actually increases your chance of coming down with the virus.
    
    Perhaps that’s “fake news” but my personal experience is that my twice vaccinated wife came down with covid and shared it with me. Her virus journey lasted two and a half weeks and required bed rest. My virus journey lasted a few days and continued to allow me to work normally.
    
    I respect your decision to take more covid vaccines. Our family all agreed to not do so based on our personal experience.
    
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    August 24, 2024 7:04pm
- AitchW
  
  I’m pro vax. I caught Covid in late May and it laid me low for 2 weeks. Typical cold symptoms plus almost no energy, loss of appetite. I’d get up in the morning, empty the dishwasher, make a cup of tea then need a lie down. I went back to work and was still suffering loss of energy but no other symptoms. I’d had the first two injections but no other boosters.
  I will absolutely have the booster in December, 6 months after catching Covid.
  I suffered no ill effects from either jab, and I expect none from the booster.
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:05pm
  - Inandout
    
    Aitch, you may recall the pre covid times when office workers got what was called the ‘3 week flu’, with symptoms you describe. The majority went back to work after a few days and boxed on. Have we become ‘flu obsessed’?
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:32pm
    - AitchW
      
      Perhaps we (some of us) were guilty in the past of returning to work while still infectious thereby making our coworkers sick. There used to be a paradigm that you went to work as long as you could get out of bed. That’s changing now especially among the younger generations. We boomers were probably stupid!
      
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      August 24, 2024 12:51pm
      - Conservatarian
        
        No, you boomers were just fit, healthy, not obese, socially cohesive, aware of the effects of totalitarianism, and were not living in a feminised “safety at any costs” culture dominated by low testosterone men and stroppy feminists.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:23pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    The covid MRNA ‘vax’ comes with some serious potential dangers and offers little protection from harms unless you have serious co-morbidities. Covid infection fatality rate was always tiny outside of the very old and sick – and basically zero for children. By some peer reviewed published analyses of excess deaths (no longer covid) over last few years the vax has killed up to 20 million. Perhaps more than covid did.
    
    Covid, since omicron on has become an annoying and debilitating but relatively low mortality risk disease in it’s high-transmissibility variants.
    
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    August 24, 2024 1:11pm
- Inandout
  
  Cons, relatives of ours have dutifully received their first 2, followed by 2 boosters, followed then by a flu injection every year. They are onto their 4th bout of ‘covid’. My wife and I have since 2021 had just the 2 Pfizer ones and have turned down boosters and the annual flu jab. We have yet to experience even a cold and some will put this down to natural resistance, not madness.
  
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  August 24, 2024 12:29pm
  - AitchW
    
    We, too, had no coughs, colds or Covid prior to May this year. We too took only the first 2 jabs. When we did catch Covid it was a doozy.
    In hindsight we should have been boosted.
    
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    August 24, 2024 12:41pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      read up on dangers of repeated boosting – ‘original antigenic sin’. Basically boosters deform and debilitate your immune system to only fight one particular pattern of disease, even when variants come along that are no longer vulnerable to that particular immune system response. It can lead to a higher likelihood of repeated infection rather than less. Highly boosted people can end up getting more reinfections than unboosted
      
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      August 24, 2024 1:15pm
      - AitchW
        
        My understanding is that, like the flu, Covid changes. You remain immunised against the 3 variants in this year’s jab, but then need protection against new variants next year.
        
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        August 24, 2024 2:56pm
      - Anthony Melchett
        
        And the issue is they can’t predict the yearly changes, so this year you get the shit for last year’s variant which is no longer relevant.
        
        At best you get one this winter for what the northern hemisphere just had but based on how many people got influenza this year, somethings not working
        
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        August 24, 2024 8:45pm
    - Bridgenag
      
      Yeah Right Really safe and effective
      
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      August 24, 2024 1:24pm
      - AitchW
        
        [Mod – user her actual name], what’s your point? We caught Covid, a disease which, like the flu, changes constantly necessitating boosters, 2 years after our last booster.
        We suffered no ill effects from our 2 original vaccinations.
        
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        August 24, 2024 1:56pm
    - wsk12345
      
      Seriously. I had no jabs and close on no symptoms. I knew I had it for first time as I had hugged and kissed someone who tested positive a day later and did a test when I got a sore throat (lasted 12 hours). Worked as normal, walked the dogs an hour a day in the hills etc.
      Have subsequently had twice – a mild cold one time, less than mild the other. Tested as my dad had a positive test while in hospital with something else. Strangely despite being late 80s and unvaxxed, my folks had no symptoms. Carried on as normal.
      
      Anecdotes as you know are just that, both in your case and ours- but why on earth would you get a terrible dose when the omicron is really mild and go for a booster!??? Madness.
      
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      August 24, 2024 8:05pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Conservatarian.
  Good post.
  
  I’m now a big fan of experimental flu vaccines.
  I made my own using chemicals supplied by Beefeater and Schweppes and took it orally once a day.
  
  It was 100% effective.
  No mask, no jab, no cold.
  
  Not bad for a beginner!!!
  
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  August 24, 2024 5:13pm
  - Conservatarian
    
    Good man. A better outcome than the “experts” told you would happen.
    
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    August 24, 2024 5:40pm
rouppe

Taranaki mayor Neil Holdom has a whine:

“If they [ministers] want to put a cap on rates, what do we do when insurance costs increase by 70% over three years? What do you do when your interest rates increase by 60% over three years?”

You do what everyone else has to do you useless prick:
* change your insurance for a higher excess or other adjustment to make it cheaper
* cancel non essential expenses. For a household that might be cancel Netflix, or wind back the mobile plan. For a council that might be not fund some community groups or not spent $200,000 each on raised crossings because they’re “pedestrian friendly”
* stop discretionary activities. For a household that might be restaurant meals, cinema tickets, beervana or gintopia events. For council that might be not paying for catering for staff, not allowing private use of council vehicles, not having funded leaving parties for an outgoing ceo as well as for the incoming one.

Just whining about how your costs have gone up is pathetic.
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August 24, 2024 12:48pm
- Prince
  
  Top marks Rouppe.
  
  Our Rates have increased 21% this year, 52% in the last 3 years (Wellington).
  Our insurance (State) 60% this year (I kid you not, despite no claims in 20 years), 90% in the last two years.
  Our response – tendering for new insurance, vote against any sitting councillor next year, no eating out or concerts, no events, cancelled Netflix, PaknSav not New World.
  
  One final comment from the execrable State Insurance, included in their invoice which is a 60% increase on last year, despite no claims for 20 years…
  ‘With more data at our fingertips, we are able to provide you with a personalised price to suit your individual needs and circumstances. This means we are removing Multi-Policy and Years of Insurance discounts, and instead will give you a simple, great price upfront.’
  
  ‘
  
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  August 24, 2024 2:10pm
  - rouppe
    
    With more data at our fingertips, we are able to provide you with a personalised price to suit your individual needs and circumstances.
    
    That’s dangerous. That means you should be able to demand specific and personalized information as to how they have assessed the risk, and what risks are more expensive than others.
    
    When they say that they can’t hide behind collective spreading of risk anymore
    
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    August 24, 2024 3:11pm
- AitchW
  
  More pathetic whining from another out of touch lefty mayor.
  Luxon told local councils what ratepayers have been saying for years. Stop trips to sister cities, stop virtue signalling (I’m looking at you Auckland with your rain gardens on bus stop shelter rooves) stop spending tens of thousands on pointless and ineffective traffic calming devices(Leamington’s $75000 judder bars radiating from a major roundabout which just weeks after installation are disintegrating), the list goes on and on and on. Start collecting rubbish on time, fix the water infrastructure, fix the pavements, fill the potholes and bring back the car parks taken for unused cycle lanes.
  Rein in pointless spending on vanity projects, concentrate on your core responsibilities and keep rate rises to or under the rate of inflation.
  Sadly the lefty mayors and councils are too busy on rainbow ideology, too concerned with saving the planet, too influenced by the Labour and
  Green parties to pay any attention .
  
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  August 24, 2024 2:52pm
NothingLeft

Why is a council buying insurance? They have a huge diversified portfolio and ability to borrow money at lowest rates, as well as a proverbial money tree in the form of rates.
7 0
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August 24, 2024 1:04pm
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: Lipstick on a Pig
The Enthronement of Queen Kamala

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-lipstick-on-a-pig?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
15 6
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August 24, 2024 1:07pm
- greybeard
  
  Great.
  Almost as funny is the fact that apparently 3 readers of this site have downticked your post !
  They must be sad people, or fake people, or paid people !
  
  7 4
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  August 24, 2024 3:13pm
  - AitchW
    
    The left don’t like it up them…
    And they have no sense of humour.
    
    7 3
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    August 24, 2024 3:39pm
- NothingLeft
  
  We have an employee that we hired 3.5 years ago. She hasn’t followed through with anything she said she would.
  Now, due to somewhat of a default situation, she may be eligible for a promotion in November.
  
  During her review she said, if she gets promoted, she will do all the things she promised she would.
  
  She seems to have no interest in doing the things she has promised now but appears to be holding out on them in order to get promoted.
  
  What should we do?
  
  5 2
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  August 24, 2024 4:21pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Surprised she’s still there. Join the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) and get free legal assistance to rid yourself of this employee with minimal risk.
    
    3 0
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    August 24, 2024 6:03pm
  - greybeard
    
    Who in your organisation interviewed, approved then employed her ?
    Who signed-off on her employment conditions ?
    Someone in your company apparently thought she was right for the job: maybe you ought to get rid of them first, for obviously not doing THEIR job.
    
    7 1
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    August 24, 2024 6:25pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plzeBB_DzwI
RFK At Trump Rally.
Dems are slightly concerned as he suspends his campaign. Liberal tears and schadenfreude incoming.
7 2
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August 24, 2024 1:50pm
- Gravelroad
  
  And then they had some Democratic leader mocking Mr Kennedy for his speech impediment.
  That’s not very kind, is it?
  Just had days of Ms Harris telling everyone that the dems stand for inclusiveness and not judging people.
  What a bunch of hypocrites.
  
  9 2
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  August 24, 2024 5:54pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump will demand resignations for the Afghan disaster.
And so he should. Some of the culprits should be in jail.
82 billion dollars of military equipment abandoned? Who was behind this? because I doubt it was Biden.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/trump-why-i-will-demand-resignations-for-the-afghanistan-disaster/ss-AA1pjt0K?
10 3
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August 24, 2024 4:11pm
- AitchW
  
  The buck stops at Biden. Surely the ultimate decision was his.
  
  6 1
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  August 24, 2024 4:34pm
  - greybeard
    
    Jesus mate ! Biden can scarcely remember who he is or what time of the day it may be !
    
    6 2
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    August 24, 2024 6:01pm
SmokerGuy

I see Hipkins took a stab at the PM because of his money today. The problem with this drop kick is that he is always on the wrong side. He supports criminals over victims, council over ratepayers, Maori over democracy, tax increases rather than tax relief. Good luck to him taking this approach and winning the election because the majority are sick of his (and his pathetic excuse for a party) BS!
15 0
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August 24, 2024 4:57pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350390203/watch-council-staff-explain-what-caused-waikato-river-turn-orange
Possibly chemicals stored in drums which have been released into the system.
0 2
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August 24, 2024 6:19pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Na,
  Just Ferric Iron- rich water and muds
  
  https://www.cleanriverstrust.co.uk/mining-pigment-and-ochre-waters/
  
  3 0
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  August 24, 2024 7:25pm

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