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December 22, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 22 December 2024

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General Debate

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Luke Piewalker

Anyone noticed Tova O’Brien isn’t around …

Nope. Didn’t think so.
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December 22, 2024 8:00am
- Paulus
  
  Thought she was Mummyising !
  
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  December 22, 2024 10:27am
- pdm
  
  Good isn’t it.
  
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  December 22, 2024 11:03am
- Stellaboxer
  
  Not something I would notice one way or the other.
  
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  December 22, 2024 1:11pm
Anthony Melchett

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/rotorua-emergency-housing-motels-contracts-to-end-at-apollo-motel-and-one-other/ARZTW6WJ5BBE7FWUP7ITDEE4WI/

9 motels in rotorua no longer used for emergency housing. 2 more to finish up. Only 5 left.

I know we want the coalition to be more than “less shit than the last lot’ but stuff like this is really important to help rebuild from the immense damage labour did.

Besides the inflated cost they were paying, it seems over a third of people in emergency accomodation in rotorua weren’t even from there. They just shipped low life’s, gang members and druggies in and paid for them to be there.

But but where will all these people go? That’s really not my problem.
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December 22, 2024 8:02am
- artemisia
  
  Supportive family that call out ‘Love you bro’ will be more than happy to take in their much loved relatives from emergency motels.
  
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  December 22, 2024 9:43am
- AitchW
  
  Although according to Labour and most of the media earlier this year the minister in charge should know where every ex emergency housing recipient went.
  
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  December 22, 2024 1:00pm
peterwn

Two opinion items have caught my attention.
Marc Daalder (never heard of him until now) at Newsroom considers that ‘Luxon’s reason for skipping Waitangi challenges the sniff test’. Whose sniff test? Could be better phrased as ‘…challenges Marc Daalder’s sniff test’. Another journo trying to tell Chris Luxon how to do his job. Presumably he thinks that Chris Luxon should go to Waitangi to be trashed so Marc and other journos can have something to write about.
Then Fran O’Sullivan of the Herald (paywalled) writes about ‘How to put the country’s balance sheet back in order’. I quickly read the article for the punchline and there was none I could find (or it is too early in the morning). The article seemed just a word salad jumping all over the place but failing to live up to its intended purpose (of how to fix the balance sheet). I grudgingly have a sub to the Herald electronic version, but felt in this case I felt that I did not receive my money’s worth.
I expect journalists to report REAL news, not try and ram their opinions down readers’ throats.

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/12/20/luxons-reason-for-skipping-waitangi-doesnt-pass-sniff-test/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/how-to-put-the-countrys-balance-sheet-back-in-order-fran-osullivan/DXDJQPJ3WNFIFEVPU25IBAYOBY/
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December 22, 2024 8:02am
- artemisia
  
  Also on the same subject, and from the Herald (yesterday, paywalled) the always worth reading Bruce Cotterill.
  
  To go hard on government cost reduction will bring agonising hardship to many people. But the reality is we have more than twice as many government departments as similar-sized countries elsewhere, and appalling productivity. We can no longer afford the current approach.
  
  More than twice as many government departments ….
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:20am
  - Taieri
    
    More than twice as many government departments
    ————-
    
    About 70+ ministerial portfolios alone…
    
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    December 22, 2024 8:31am
    - PurplePen
      
      teara.govt.nz says: In 2010 there were 2,606 Crown entities, 41 government departments, 19 state-owned enterprises.
      
      Surely 2,606 can’t be right!?
      
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      December 22, 2024 10:38am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        It might be including school Board of Trustees….. of which there are 2,416.
        
        Here’s the full list of all Crown Entities (and other Public Service entities) …(and there’s lots, when you click on all the links)
        
        https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/system/central-government-organisations#Crown-entities
        
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        December 22, 2024 11:25am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Congratulations to
        Rebecca Keoghan, Chair of Fire and Emergency NZ.
        
        for not putting a Maori Name in the Department’s Title.
        
        PS. Sorry, But I am obviously not a Willy Jackson (ergo Real) Maori.
        A failure. I don’t read Maori!
        
        I have been to Maori Language classes, but not reading.
        
        But for 75 years happily reading English.
        
        Thanks for the list Maggie
        
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        December 22, 2024 5:00pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Time for a Melei approach and get the chainsaw out //
      Seriously though, There is too many people sending emails to each other for zero productivity and I for one are sick and tired bouncing around at sea to pay large amounts of tax for it to be squandered.
      
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      December 22, 2024 2:37pm
  - sirknz
    
    Daalder is an American import who has brought his American lefty bullshit with him. I can’t recommend his posts on X at all as they are generally full of logical inconsistencies, fallacies, and half truths.
    
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    December 22, 2024 9:55am
    - Conservatarian
      
      Well, his display name on the X site is, believe or not:
      
      Marc Daalder 😷 Wear a Mask
      
      His description is Senior Political Reporter @NewsroomNZ covering climate change, health, violent extremism & misinfo, tech and energy | DM for Signal | #WearAMask | He/him ✡️
      
      If the graphic (between his name and his directive to wear to mask) didn’t work, it’s an emoji with a mask on it. He also has a purple Star of David, which presumably distinguishes him from having, say, an Israeli flag.
      
      https://x.com/marcdaalder
      
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      December 22, 2024 10:42am
      - Don Beckett
        
        He’s really up with the times, isn’t he? – not.
        Wear a mask – FFS.
        
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        December 22, 2024 11:01am
  - Damocles11
    
    Again, paywalled. Again, another person funding the NZ Herald. For every one column by a person ostensibly from the right there are 100 anti-governments articles. 🤦🏻‍♂️
    
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    December 22, 2024 11:02am
  - andrewo
    
    NZ has the population and GDP of Greater Manchester, and they only get a town council to run it all.
    
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    December 22, 2024 11:59am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Perspective Andrewo. Perspective.
      they are covered by the UK..
      
      The Government of the United Kingdom is divided into departments that each have responsibility, according to the government, for putting government policy into practice.[1] There are currently 24 ministerial departments, 20 non-ministerial departments, and 422 agencies and other public bodies, for a total of 465 departments.[2]
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departments_of_the_Government_of_the_United_Kingdom
      
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      December 22, 2024 5:04pm
  - GJM
    
    It started with Rob Muldoon, who controlled the Caucus by increasing the number of ministries (and hence ministers) to ensure the Cabinet was a majority. Holding his enemies closer and urinating in tents kind of thing.
    Of course Labour, and Labour Lite have expanded on it and the Public Service generally.
    The Commissioner of Children has 35 full time staff! What do they do all day? It was set up as a sop for Petter Dunne (remember him) and should have been goneburger once he had served his usefullness.
    Even worse, it now has 6 (well paid) commissioners, since June 2023. Thanks Cindy.
    
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    December 22, 2024 5:38pm
- pdm
  
  Interesting re Fran O’Sullivan’s article if it is as you say because for years she has been one of The Heralds best political commentators and economic writers.
  
  Fran is always worth listening to when interviewed on NewstalkZB.
  
  Has the `hard word’ to move left been put on her instead of remaining considered and objective?
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:23am
- kowtow
  
  O’Sullivan talks about “transgender women” , that’s not just word salad , that’s straight up irrational. She’s entitled to her opinion but she’s trying to “normalise” crazy .
  ‘nuf said.
  
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  December 22, 2024 9:01am
  - Notsofast
    
    Fran moves the subject of men in women’s elite sport from being undiscussable to being a brave initiative by NZ First.
    My guess is she would herald the next brave initiative when all men are out of women’s sport forever.
    You never know..
    
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    December 22, 2024 9:42am
- Damocles11
  
  If you read Fran’s paywalled article and couldn’t make head nor tail of it as it was ‘word salad’, then two things have happened:
  1/ You’ve happily paid money to the NZ Herald i.e. you are happy to directly fund the left wing MSM that are out to destroy New Zealand, and happy to be part of the subscriber base that the Herald will shop to advertisers to get revenue from ads.
  2/ You received nothing of any value for your purchase, as you read nonsensical word salad.
  I do wish people like you would take one tiny step in the right direction and stop supporting the MSM. Our opponents are motivated enough to march in the streets, whereas many of us cannot do something as basic as quitting the MSM.
  
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  December 22, 2024 11:01am
  - peterwn
    
    I have had a DomPost print sub for many years. The last straw was when they threw their support behind a dud candidate who became Mayor of Wellington. I cancelled it. However I continued to need access to some NZ news source and considered the Herald electronic version to be the best of a bad lot (at about 25% of the cost of a DomPost print sub). So here I am. That I have the sub is not any endorsement of the Herald. Messers Wilson and Horton must be turning in their graves such is the state that the Herald is in.
    
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    December 22, 2024 2:48pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Daalder has been suggested for some time as a likely future Green MP so it’s no surprise about his “sniff test”.
  
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  December 22, 2024 12:43pm
artemisia

Magdeburg Christmas Market Attack –
Eugyppius has posted a lengthy take on the psychiatrist arrested and alleged motives. They seem confused and confusing.

“Physician, heal thyself” may not have been relevant for quite some time.

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/magdeburg-christmas-market-attack
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December 22, 2024 8:04am
- kowtow
  
  What better way to avoid extradition to SA than by claiming to be an ‘apostate’.
  And the legacy media go along with the deception uncritically.
  The UK has had a few very high profile cases recently of the usual claims to family life or fear of persecution from foreign criminals facing deportation ,these are serious criminals , major drug traffickers who wreck lives , and get to stay , due to “human rights”, it’s perverse .
  
  Politicians need to learn that they have a duty to their own citizens and te media need to learn that politicians who side with the citizenry are not “far right”.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:25am
  - rouppe
    
    Although this guy apparently has a long history of criticism of Saudi Arabia and Islam.
    
    Didn’t just start last week to avoid deportation this week.
    
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    December 22, 2024 10:56am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Saudi Authorities warned the German Government prior , About his “Tendencies”.
      
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      December 22, 2024 2:52pm
    - kowtow
      
      He’s been wanted by the Saudis since 2006ish.
      
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      December 22, 2024 3:17pm
- Philview
  
  The authorities and media are very quick to jump to conclusions in this case.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:42am
  - sirknz
    
    Conclusions?
    
    More like keep the narrative going at any cost.
    
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    December 22, 2024 9:58am
- Scott
  
  To me it shows the danger of mass immigration from countries, like Saudi Arabia, that don’t share your values and have as a general ethos, marked hostility to the West.
  Why import these people in the first place?
  And if you do import these people don’t ignore the warning signs. At the first sign of trouble deport them.
  
  Why take a chance?
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:46am
  - Master Mariner
    
    “Why import these people in the first place?”.
    Simply to Divide and Conquer the Population.
    
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    December 22, 2024 2:54pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      A contrarian view may be to
      a) replace the declining birthrate (1.58 ie not replacemnt 2.1) and maintain, gently increase population levels as the boomers die off.
      
      b) Bring in low-cost labour to do the menial jobs that the locals dont want to do.
      
      Just a thort, when nothing else to do.
      
      https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/09/total-fertility-rate-rises-first-time-decade-england-wales
      
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      December 22, 2024 5:10pm
- Matt Long
  
  This terrorist may have been mentally ill, however in Tweets he refers to lying about converting to Christianity as a strategy to get asylum, about converting from Shia to Wahabism, about wanting Hamas to return to the land and threatening to send Hamas to someone’s door.
  The response of Islamists to Al Jazeera’s story on the terrorist attack is the same kind of euphoria as shown around other terrorist attacks such as 9/11 and the Nova Music festival attack.
  https://x.com/AvivaKlompas/status/1870274502833078489
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:52am
- imalwaysright
  
  Last year Sean Plunket’s heart surgeon posted online that Plunket was a “filthy, lying, Zionist scumbag”
  Pretty sure the guy was a Muslim.
  It seems that education is no antidote to extremism.
  
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w8LfHDcHsmI
  
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  December 22, 2024 9:07am
- thirteenstars
  
  Last night I walked by a TV with state news on it to hear the TVNZ reporter say that there seems to be no obvious motive for the murder.
  
  I guffawed and the dog jumped. The murderer is from Saudi Arabia and he drove through a Christmas market! No bloody motive, my ass. He’s a Muslim and wanted to kill Christians.
  
  It’s happened in Germany before. More than once as I recall.
  
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  December 22, 2024 11:20am
  - Ghost
    
    Article
    
    The suspect in the German car-ramming attack that killed five and injured more than 200 on Friday has been identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a self-described member of the “liberal opposition” to Saudi Arabia who has voiced strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views.
    
    Al-Abdulmohsen’s bio on his X account, verified by NBC News, says, “Germany wants to Islamize Europe.”
    
    In December, he retweeted an X event titled “Islam — a worldwide problem,” and in November, he retweeted a post claiming “Islam is not a religion.” The same month, he also retweeted Alice Weidel, co-chairwoman of the far-right Alternative for Germany, who accused former Chancellor Angela Merkel of causing “serious damage” to Germany, blaming her for “uncontrolled mass immigration.”
    
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    December 22, 2024 12:07pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      It is permissable is Islam to lie with the motive of furtherance of Islam.
      Why didn’t he drive his car into a gathering of Muslims, of which there are many, rather than Christians ?
      
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      December 22, 2024 12:46pm
      - Ghost
        
        The Magdeburg Christmas Market is a cultural and community event, not a Christian event.
        
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        December 22, 2024 1:05pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Ghost. Perhaps you should check out the history & start of the Christmas tree tradition.
        
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        December 22, 2024 2:06pm
      - Ghost
        
        Does not change the fact that the market is a cultural and community event, it’s not a Christian event. Also doesn’t change the fact that 46% of Germans have no religion. It also doesn’t change what is being reported about this man, but I guess that doesn’t fit your agenda of wanting him to be a Muslim killing Christian’s, instead of what the media and the German Interior Minister have said.
        
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        December 22, 2024 2:17pm
    - thirteenstars
      
      You must be making an ironic point because you can’t possibly hold the view that a critic of Islam who warns of the dangers of the Islamification of Germany decides the best way to further his efforts is to plow his car into a crowd of Germans at Christmas.
      
      No doubt the 9/11 hijackers loved the USA and expressed their affection by killing 3,000 people.
      
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      December 22, 2024 1:03pm
      - Ghost
        
        All im doing is showing what is being reported. If you don’t want to read that, thats your decision. But surely you want to know the reason behind his actions instead of thinking you know the reasons and ignoring anything else that comes out about the case that doesn’t fit what you want it to be.
        
        The German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Saturday described the man as “an Islamophobe.” She gave few other details and said that the investigation was at the very beginning, with security authorities looking into the background of the attack. The authorities have not yet released any information about a motive.
        
        Article
        
        5% of the population of Magdeburg are Muslim, you do not know the ethnic make up of the victims. Don’t ignore what officials and media are saying just because it doesn’t fit what you want it to be.
        
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        December 22, 2024 1:21pm
      - Ghost
        
        More information from the German media, but alas it doesn’t paint the picture some here want it to paint.
        
        What we know about the Magdeburg attack suspect
        
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        December 22, 2024 1:55pm
- andrewo
  
  I’m thinking the Magdeburg attack (and other less violent incidents what weren’t reported) will be enough to topple the current wobbly German coalition, force an election and put the AfD in the driving seat.
  
  Best not to mess with the German Weihnachten because it’s a cultural icon!
  
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  December 22, 2024 12:04pm
Chuck Bird

Another far left doctor. He is a bloody disgrace.

Haka, hīkoi and the empowerment of the Kōhanga generation

Ian Powell is the editor of blog ‘Otaihanga Second Opinion.’ He is also a columnist for New Zealand Doctor and was Executive Director of Association of Salaried Medical Specialists

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/haka-hikoi-and-the-empowerment-of-the-kohanga-generation/G436COQ7EZCWPNICTKYYW6JRXY/
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December 22, 2024 8:12am
- Tricati
  
  Best view Powell just as a left leaning unionist, then you can see where he is coming from.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:20am
- G152
  
  So totally unbiased then ………………
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:20am
- Paulus
  
  Both he and his wife, also well known, have made from their Union Leadership very wealthy and have a great Avocado business in or Northland in his retirement.
  Whenever they get more money for their Members so their share increases proportionately.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:23am
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    She has single handily destroyed the junior doctor scenario in NZ – the junior’s rosters are almost unworkable as the petals need rostered days off, 30 days sick leave, free meals at the hospitals they work in – the fact many are left leaning doesn’t hit the radar … we barely see them working
    
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    December 22, 2024 9:21am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Odd that hospitals are overrun with administrators and understaffed with doctors.
      
      Do the administrators know what is the purpose of a hospital ?
      
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      December 22, 2024 11:51am
  - MCōs
    
    Northland is a long way from where he lives in Otaihanga
    
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    December 22, 2024 10:05am
- kevn
  
  Chuck… I read that as ‘koha generation’. Cash is always behind the motivations.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:28am
  - Scott
    
    kevn, I agree it’s about money. But equally it’s about status and power. The Maori elite can run the show now. They’re in charge. It’s their world and we are just living in it.
    
    That’s what they want.
    
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    December 22, 2024 8:48am
- wisteria
  
  Why has the leader of TPM got a hedgehog on his head? has he run out of cowboy hats.
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:50am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  As far as I am aware, Ian Powell is NOT and has never been a medical doctor.
  
  He has been a professional unionist all (most) of his working life.
  
  https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/about/
  
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  December 22, 2024 8:55am
  - kowtow
    
    The NZME publish this Marxist but have cancelled and deplatformed Michael Bassett.
    
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    December 22, 2024 9:25am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Powell writes insufferably woke columns on The Daily Blog.
    
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    December 22, 2024 10:10am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Looks like you’re always taking one for the team – cheers. 🙂
      
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      December 22, 2024 11:02am
    - kowtow
      
      He and the Herald sub editors ( are there any left) need to check their facts ……..otherwise , amongst the rest of the sh*te they publish they risk bringing themselves further into disrepute .
      
      ‘since the current Government took office after the 2024 election’
      
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      December 22, 2024 11:04am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  More like the koha generation.
  
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  December 22, 2024 9:07am
  - kowtow
    
    The idiot makes a bigly play about this being some sort of generational revolution.
    
    Bollocks.
    
    It’s a Maori Party deceit , payed for by big players pulling the strings behind the scenes.
    
    Every unbiased observer , and the whole Media Pardy knows this .
    
    But they’re actively dis/misinforming the public in an effort to shape the narrative .
    
    This is Pravda level propaganda and outright lies.
    
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    December 22, 2024 11:15am
- goNZ1
  
  my dad’s said don’t trust anyone with a beard,cos they are hiding something .
  Powell has a very bushy one
  
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  December 22, 2024 12:43pm
  - MCōs
    
    Was that his excuse for you never getting any presents at Christmas?
    
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    December 22, 2024 2:30pm
sungsamning

https://redstate.com/beckynoble/2024/12/20/more-tales-from-the-swamp-sitting-tx-congresswoman-found-living-at-assisted-living-home-n2183465
More Tales From the Swamp – Here’s Where a Missing Congresswoman Was Found.
The current state of the United States Congress is nowhere near what the Founding Fathers had in mind. The idea was that people would go to Washington, D.C. to represent the people of their district or state for a term or two. Then they returned home to give someone else a chance to serve who may have fresh ideas, and also so those returning would now be forced to live under the laws they enacted. That is clearly not what is happening today. In Texas, one Congresswoman went missing; the place where she turned up will make you despise the swamp even more.
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December 22, 2024 8:20am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUlkOvHtWMQ
All it took was just Trump’s trolling to end Trudeau’s political career.
A political storm brews in Canada as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces the biggest challenge of his career. With Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland’s resignation and internal dissent growing within the Liberal Party, the crisis is spiraling. Adding fuel to the fire, former US President Donald Trump’s trolling and tariff threats have intensified the pressure. Can Trudeau survive this turbulent phase, or is his political career nearing its end? [Let’s hope so.]
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December 22, 2024 8:21am
Grunter

I see the Houthi desert rats have once again fired a hypersonic missile into downtown Tel Aviv. The myth of the Iron Dome now apparent. (One lone missile got through for the second time in a week).

As Musk has often commented, future wars will be fought with extremely fast missiles and drones. Manned aircraft and large aircraft carriers are now redundant.

IMO this also makes it even more difficult to completely invade and takeover a country if they have a half decent drone defence capability. Maybe instead of $100m survey ships NZ just buys $100m of drones?
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December 22, 2024 8:37am
- All_on_Red
  
  Another Citation free post from you. It would be useful if you got your facts right. The missile was intercepted and parts of it fell into the playground- unfortunately including the warhead
  But it was intercepted.
  ‘The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a missile was fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory and that it was partially intercepted.
  Shrapnel fell in central Israel, including the missile warhead which directly hit a school in the Ramat Efal neighbourhood of Ramat Gan, it added. No injuries were reported.’
  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6zxy55pyro
  As for ‘manned aircraft now being redundant’- tell that to all the Houti who then got smashed and all the Syrian Military assets which Israel went on to destroy.
  And of course what happened to Hezbollah who also got so wiped out they are no longer a factor for Israel to worry about.
  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx921zreweo
  Iran is doing nothing as Israel destroyed all its air defences. They sent 80 planes and not one was lost.
  Still waiting for your promise that Saudi Arabia and Egypt will go to war against Isael cause they are ‘tewwibly angwy’ against Israel despite both Countries actually being Allies of Israel.
  You really are ignorant. You write complete nonsense.
  
  20 3
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  December 22, 2024 10:27am
  - All_on_Red
    
    To add. I see comments about Carriers being ‘floating coffins’.
    What happens with Military Technology is that it gets developed and improved.
    Israel now has in the field the first version of the ‘directed-energy weapon air defense system’ called Iron Beam.
    ‘The main benefits of using a directed energy weapon over conventional missile interceptors are lower costs per shot, unlimited number of firings, lower operational costs, and less manpower.’
    
    The US navy is already testing versions of it for their Ships. Nuclear Powered ships have the ability to generate the power it needs.
    ‘In May 2023, Rafael unveiled the Naval Iron Beam meant for installation on ships. The system is designed to emit 100 kW out to “several kilometers” to protect vessels against drone swarms and anti-ship missiles. The naval version maintains the same turret external dimensions and can be configured to be integrated onto ship superstructures or in containerized modules to be embarked when needed. The Naval Iron Beam is planned to be operational within four to five years and first be fitted to the Israeli Navy’s Reshef-class corvette.[27][28]’
    So, yes, threats like drones and hypersonic missiles evolve but so do the defences against them.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Beam
    
    10 2
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    December 22, 2024 11:12am
    - info@cruzpro.com
      
      The ability to shoot down incoming missiles, drones, etc. has been around for many years.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS
      
      I worked on Phalanx more than 35 years ago and saw one on a NZ Navy frigate in Auckland.
      
      A tank mounted version to defend ground troops also exists.
      
      Phalanx demonstrated the ability to hit a bullet with a bullet.
      
      7 1
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      December 22, 2024 12:59pm
      - Grunter
        
        It will never hit a hypersonic going Mach 5 or more. And the Iranian Farah is reportedly going at Mach 15 with manoeuvring ability.
        
        Some of the latest US hypersonics apparently hit speeds of Mach 20.
        
        The Phalanx wouldn’t come close.
        
        1 2
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        December 22, 2024 3:36pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘Reportedly’
        On Southfront or The Duran?
        Snigger
        Lol
        
        1 2
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        December 22, 2024 4:29pm
  - Grunter
    
    As reported by the BBC……😂😂🤡🤡
    
    Keep up the MIC propaganda machine! You’ve taken it hook line and sinker!
    
    Your mate Boris Johnson still babbling “We are going to win!” In Ukraine.
    
    5 3
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    December 22, 2024 12:13pm
- Paulus
  
  I see now ithe Manawanui is costed at $145 million.
  I belive that at least another $145 will be need over the next years or so.
  Would be quicker by a long way, but not cheaper, to let a real Salvage Company – say Smits to do the job.
  
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  December 22, 2024 10:35am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Why not just leave it there?
    
    3 0
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    December 22, 2024 12:57pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Exactly.
      Offer to pay the Samoans the salvage cost as reparations and give them the fuel.
      
      3 0
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      December 22, 2024 1:36pm
    - Paulus
      
      Cos the Samoan Government cannot let it remain as it is an International Agreement there to get rid of it. It has to be removed as a Hazard legally.
      And the International Greens will continue to scream at it.
      And there may be some money in it for some people in Samoa whilst it is there.
      
      4 0
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      December 22, 2024 2:16pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Smitt , Boskalis and or Hereema.
    
    When you say Salvage, It is really going to be removal of Wreck.
    NZ Tax payers are really in for 100’s Millions dollars for Wreck Removal.
    What is the total Defence Forces Budget again ?
    
    4 0
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    December 22, 2024 3:08pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Yep just take the fuel away and leave it as a dive site.
    Many dollars for tourists wanting a snorkel or SCUBA dive.
    Make a movie – or is that just going to embarrass NZ even more about why the crash happened?
    
    0 1
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    December 22, 2024 5:29pm
- MCōs
  
  As things stand there seems little point in NZ preparing for an aerial attack from anyone by missile or drone.
  Of more concern is the ongoing ‘attack’ by drug merchants, which we are losing. Banning gang patches is just a distraction if those guys are the main perpetrators at our end
  I bet Dr P never met a guy in a patch.
  
  3 2
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  December 22, 2024 10:39am
  - imalwaysright
    
    NZ is a sitting duck. That won’t change.
    
    6 1
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    December 22, 2024 11:55am
    - MCōs
      
      In theory, yes. That’s why Thomas Bracken asked God to defend New Zealand because ain’t nothing else going help if we get attacked.
      
      7 0
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      December 22, 2024 12:32pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        I see Australia has completed receipt of 72 F-35 jets.
        
        Meanwhile our airforce are outperformed by Air Chathams.
        https://www.19fortyfive.com/2024/12/australia-now-has-a-full-fleet-of-72-f-35-stealth-fighters/
        
        7 0
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        December 22, 2024 12:48pm
- cmm
  
  There is no such thing as “the Iron Dome”.
  
  Iron dome is not a single system. Iron dome is the name for a kind of defence battery. There are many iron dome systems and they move around.
  
  Irom Dome certainly is not infallible. It has never been claimed to be. Instead, it plays the percentage game and is highly effective – having a very high success rate of well into the high 90%s.
  
  The new hypersonic missiles do make things a lot harder, but they are the minority of missiles mainly because they are very expensive. Most missiles fired at Israel are well within the capability of Iron Dome.
  
  Threats change with time and so will the response. Iron Dome etc will evolve with time too.
  
  Musk knows fuck all about the military and ran away from his conscription service in South Africa. He has a sci-fi view of the world. While hypersonic missiles do indeed make a new threat, especially for large, slow moving, high value, assets like ships, they do not completely change warfare.
  
  For the forseeable future, there is nothing that will replace the backbone of the military – the infantry: putting boots on the ground.
  
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  December 22, 2024 12:10pm
Pope Punctilious II

Spare a thought for the commentators over at The Standard, who are beside themselves about this “hard-right, racist” government. Mountain Tui’s horror at Seymour’s Regulatory Standards Bill is totally understandable, as the bill is intended to shut down the kind of judicial activism that’s done some much to advance the Maori ethnostate agenda in recent decades. Predictably, long-time activist academic Jane Kelsey joins in the chorus of stern disapproval.
25 1
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December 22, 2024 9:05am
- Swifty
  
  It’s called democracy – of course the Left are going to be against it.
  
  Go Seymour!
  
  20 0
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  December 22, 2024 9:59am
Close Hen Counters

Front page herald, Miss Cribb sipping wine and caption to friends about seeing her in the same newspaper … that doesn’t feel like remorse to me
17 0
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December 22, 2024 9:23am
- Burtland
  
  should have been locked up
  – dudge Paul Murray duped
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/helena-cribb-sentenced-to-home-detention-for-drunken-hit-and-run-death-flaunts-ankle-bracelet-and-drink-in-private-social-media-posts/TC6ZI5NRNRCHFJXV36FWI6NBHU/
  
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  December 22, 2024 9:57am
  - AitchW
    
    I would have thought that a sentence of home detention would include a condition forbidding social media posts.
    Perhaps even a total ban on social media.
    Do judges not appreciate the implications of unfettered social media access?
    
    11 0
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    December 22, 2024 10:14am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The photo was posted before she was sentenced… but she told the Court that she had not drunk alcohol since she had had her drunken hit & run accident.
      
      Seems the Judge believed her evidence-free statement.
      
      13 0
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      December 22, 2024 11:46am
      - AitchW
        
        The photo with the ankle bracelet was after sentencing.
        
        6 0
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        December 22, 2024 1:06pm
- kowtow
  
  Amazing how the Herald can be such a stalwart upholder of law and order, part of the pitch forks and burning faggotts , lock ’em up and throw the key away brigade , when it suits …….
  
  6 2
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  December 22, 2024 10:58am
Yvette

Maori Party
It seems the Maori Party have sent [a] letter to all companies who have applied for fast track consideration.
If true, they have shown what extremist economic morons they are and how little they value the future of our country.
They have threatened these private companies with economic sabotage and condemning New Zealand to a bankrupt future – all because of their delusional and separatist views.
This is a party who wants to be in cabinet deciding your future. – Winston Peters
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1122176172613672&set=a.479676073530355

A Commentor –
Lol any party that openly says they will partner with TMP will not get in. All parties will be asked this question many times over so they know they have no mandate to include them. And how could they join a coalition anyway if they do not recognise the authority of parliament lol Goofies.
20 0
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December 22, 2024 9:41am
- Burtland
  
  come year three of the current cycle, they will become the good guys
  – the media are currently working on it
  
  10 0
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  December 22, 2024 10:03am
  - AitchW
    
    Only to those who have sympathy for their apartheid aspirations.
    Most thinking voters would be horrified by their elitist and separatist intentions.
    
    10 0
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    December 22, 2024 10:17am
    - Burtland
      
      weve seen that social media can comfortably sell apartheid
      – the media are currently normalising the narrative
      
      welfare payments to media by the SM giants will promote the narrative
      – will the government sponsor this link?
      
      5 0
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      December 22, 2024 11:16am
- kowtow
  
  One would hope those companies heads will be calling in their DEI “managers” and saying “righto all that ‘te reo’ advertising and virtue signalling is gone , now”
  
  “We went down this road to secure Ardern/Robertson funding and contracts and all we get in return is mafia style intimidation , oh and make a list of all those DEI hires we took on , fire them too and when you’re finished I expect your resignation too.”
  
  10 1
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  December 22, 2024 11:27am
  - Paulus
    
    Will that include TVNZ who now refer to everything a some non New Zealand name, not even together.
    And the Weather still starts with the new name for the cities.
    
    5 0
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    December 22, 2024 2:20pm
- goNZ1
  
  a few TMP members of parliament are total wankers,closely followed by Aysha Verrall and the Mexican
  
  7 0
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  December 22, 2024 12:51pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Why does the Mexican always look like he’s about to be arrested.
    
    10 1
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    December 22, 2024 1:39pm
  - Paulus
    
    Ayesha Verrall, being an avowed lesbian, was in a programme on TV2 last evening where we were told say that Shortland Street, from the beginning, ensured that it extended the programme to the practice of homosexuality, in all its variations, and that the emphasis was dedicated towards Aotearoa, and all aspects of it.
    Must say I was going to turn off but watched surprised with these blatant revelations for tyhe people of New Zealand, as not a Shortland Street regular watcher.
    Writers in all variations were queer minded as that is what the emphasis they were told to write, and probably still Labour or Green Party members.
    
    9 1
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    December 22, 2024 2:29pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Short of talent street.
      
      2 2
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      December 22, 2024 5:32pm
Chuck Bird

This is interesting at this time of year.

Why Belief in God Is Disappearing in the West | David Voas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6TEaHyXrsg
0 4
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December 22, 2024 10:34am
- Don Beckett
  
  Mmmm. Nothing new there.
  A general apostacy has been predicted/prophsied in Scripture as a sign of the End Times. Atheism was known in the times of the Greek Philosophers BC. ‘Atheos’ was the term for those who did not believe in the gods. If we look at the sixth to the eighth centuries AD there was a fair bit going on then. St.Irinaeus of Lyon wrote about heresies & similar things in 180 AD with his ‘Contra Haereses’.
  The recent version grew out of the so call Enlightenment in the 17th. century & has been growing legs since then.
  Like all things human, they have their rises and falls – this is an expression of the same phenomenon in our times. Science is a human discipline to understand and explain our physical world, so claims that science disproves the existence of God is fatuous.
  This too will pass.
  
  6 1
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  December 22, 2024 1:03pm
Tom Barker

We are indeed fortunate on this blog to have frequent commentary from many first-generation migrants from southern Africa. Their enthusiastic and insightful views on the Treaty Principles Bill are especially telling, since they reflect the centuries-long history of wise, humane and fundamentally decent race relations in their homeland.
6 3
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December 22, 2024 11:19am
- imalwaysright
  
  Tom,
  Your post sounds a bit sarcastic, is that intentional?
  
  3 1
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  December 22, 2024 12:54pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Possibly, but I upticked because what he says is correct apart from the centuries long. The singular would be more appropriate. 🙂
    
    3 2
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    December 22, 2024 1:59pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Tom, Clarity of Insights are generally from the outside “Looking in”.
  
  3 0
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  December 22, 2024 3:15pm
Jack5

Too significant to be overlooked in the Christmas rush ….

The Ardern-Labour relic, the Sport Integrity Commission, going after Yachting NZ.

Does this have the makings of a Woke witch-hunt?

Posted late yesterday in General Debate (about five posts up from bottom)…

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2024/12/general_debate_21_december_2024.html/comment-page-1#comment-3659239

[Mod – changed link to go direct to post]
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December 22, 2024 11:30am
- Ghost
  
  It will be interesting to see what these complaints are. I see that they don’t involve any current athletes. It’s strange because when I look at yachting NZ I don’t see any cultural issues.
  
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  December 22, 2024 12:26pm
  - Paulus
    
    Though it was to be all about not enough Lady Sailors are being sought.
    
    4 0
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    December 22, 2024 2:31pm
cmm

The “shark” tagger has been putting up more of his “artwork” in Christchurch – defacing signs, safety barriers, bus stops and electrical boxes. It is all over the place from Sumner and Lyttleton to the airport and maybe even wider.

While I cannot condone his criminal activity, I do acknowledge the effort he has put in.

If he put that that amount of energy into something productive (eg. a Jim’s Mowing franchise) he’s be well on his way to becoming a millionaire.
12 0
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December 22, 2024 11:31am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?
  
  2 0
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  December 22, 2024 1:00pm
cmm

All crime stems from entitlement.
A criminal feels entitled to put their wants (be that possession of a stolen item, power over an individual or whatever) ahead of those of another.

Such entitlement is made much worse when the criminals feel they have been cheated or are envious. This is not being helped at all by a system that tells Maori in particular that colonialism and rich prick robbed them and racists deny them access to the good things in life.

The road we are heading down can only increase entitlement and this feeling of being justified in committing crimes of any sort.

On the flip side, the seriousness of crime is being downplayed. Recently a dudge let off a dole bludger for art theft, saying that the thief did not have to pay for what he had stolen. The reason: the gallery was insured – so essentially a victimless crime.

Of insurance does not make crimes victimless. Insurance just spreads the cost to everyone and makes crime seem OK – reducing the guilt that criminals should feel.
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December 22, 2024 11:57am
Ghost

Whoever at corrections thought this was a good idea needs to be fired

A plan to house 10 child sex offenders in a building near multiple Auckland schools and daycares has been dropped after a strong community outcry.

Despite allegedly originally telling those opposed to the plan that it was not up for consultation, Corrections has scrapped the proposal just weeks out after receiving “feedback”.

Article
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December 22, 2024 12:33pm
- Eastlander
  
  Are there no millstones? Are there no seas?
  
  0 0
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  December 22, 2024 5:21pm
Pope Punctilious II

MSM continues to hammer ethnic and gender disparities. Here’s a woke CEO claiming that Maori and Pasifika face job “barriers”. Ms. Bills reports some very important FEELS: “…15% [of Maori & Pasifika] FEEL undervalued in their organisations while 19% BELIEVE they do not receive equal pay for equal work. Would it be too much to check to see if Maori and Pasifika ARE actually paid less for equal work?
12 2
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December 22, 2024 1:22pm
- greybeard
  
  The first thing to do is to define “maori” and define “pasifika”.
  – same as defining the principles of the ToW.
  
  9 1
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  December 22, 2024 1:51pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Perhaps that woke CEO could investigate his own organisation – perhaps that’s where he got his info from.
  
  8 2
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  December 22, 2024 2:02pm
- MCōs
  
  I wonder how many ambitious female members of Religious Orders feel undervalued in your organization, Pope?
  Not only are they forbidden from ever sitting at the top table, but they must wait for some male to make the big decisions relating to their Order.
  
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  December 22, 2024 3:59pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Punctilious II is not a real pope, is he ? //
    
    In the case of the real Pope, whether or not they can make their own big decisions is purely dependent on the rules of their Religious Order.
    
    1 2
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    December 22, 2024 5:28pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Hitler phones Biden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNcmsvGDCFI
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December 22, 2024 3:09pm
Steve Otto N Shore

See why Govt waste needs sorting in the US? Ice skating drag queens? Gotta be kidding! Protect a non-US Border? Yep. Hamsters on steroids? Yep.
We need a DOGE in NZ.

https://patriotpulse.net/elon-musk-was-raising-hell-after-he-was-handed-a-report-on-taxpayer-funded-magic/?
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December 22, 2024 4:35pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Oh noes. Two downticks – two Govt employees want to keep their useless jobs? LOL!
  
  1 2
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  December 22, 2024 5:35pm
MCōs

Scotland #1
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD2YVDlN239/?igsh=NHlpdmQ0dnhsbHh1
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December 22, 2024 5:18pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360523657/nz-town-being-eaten-sea-locals-are-unbothered-its-just-weather

Early this morning I posted a comment on this article: I queried the assumption that sea levels were rising at Granity, and if this was the case then why weren’t sea levels rising all around NZ at the same time ?
( The article explicitly refers to rising sea levels as a cause of Granity’s problems ).
e.g.

”Granity’s coastal area is at risk of inundation and subsequent erosion in high seas – not sinking,” he said.”

“The sea may be rising, but so are Granity’s house prices
Even though the sea is rising, so are Granity’s house prices.”

“Stuff” did their normal thing and banned my comment !
They simply cannot abide any opposition to their ideological views: pathetic.
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December 22, 2024 6:45pm

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