General Debate 10 February 2025

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Plymouth Argyle 1, Liverpool 0

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

PDM, on behalf of the blog, can I ask you to check in on Biscuit? I’m worried about the impact this result will have on him.
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February 10, 2025 8:02am
- James Stephenson
  
  The magic of the FA Cup, isn’t it hmm?
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:38am
- Biscuit
  
  So the Quadruple is dead, Long live, eh?, the Treble…
  
  Your concern is fetching, NMTB!
  
  But the cat assures me the sun will still come up tomorrow … and, knowing them she will be pawing my duvet (impatiently and hungrily) at half an hour before sunrise!
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:11am
- pdm
  
  Bollocks I am in Hastings and he is in Upper Hutt so a bit far. Besides he has a `good lady’ and a cat at home – both of whom apparently idolise him.
  
  If you are still worried – grab one of the many bikes in The Terrace stand that you report on and you whip out and make sure he is ok.
  
  ps what sort of cretins (2) would downtick your caring post.
  
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  February 10, 2025 12:17pm
Steve Otto N Shore

NZ media linked to USAID funds global media network promoting state propaganda.

https://centrist.nz/usaid-funds-global-media-network-promoting-state-propaganda/?
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February 10, 2025 8:03am
- Frank the tank
  
  Nobody should be surprised by this.
  
  It would appear the establishment is in open panic now and lawsuits from their ‘pets’ in blue states are abounding. One can only hope the Supreme Court backs democracy over cronyism.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:28am
  - sungsamning
    
    Any more panic in DC, and the sewer system will back up.
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:12pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      I thought the DC sewers had been blocked for decades!
      
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      February 10, 2025 4:02pm
- NK
  
  If anyone doubted the Deep State existed, I trust they no longer doubt it.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:31am
  - kowtow
    
    Funnily enough ,Bryce Edwards on the Platform , launching “Integrity Project” talking about the likes of Ardern getting the teaching job at Harvard said there’s no doubt there’s a “professional managerial class” out there .
    
    Yep ,it’s international , it’s well funded and it’s very lefty ( undermining liberal democracy imho)
    ( and no it’s not Freemasonry or a Jewish conspiracy)
    
    That professional managerial class is a big component of that ‘Deep State’.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:52am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      “Integrity Project”
      
      Now why does that title shout “doublespeak” to me?
      
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      February 10, 2025 10:58am
    - Phronesis
      
      The problem with “professional managerial class” is it implies that these people have some skills or talent that might be useful to others. The reality is that they possess neither and are essentially con artists.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:09am
  - Ghost
    
    This really isn’t the deep state. The deep state is safe for now.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:32pm
- NK
  
  Actor Ben Stiller received $4M and Angeline Jolie $20M from USAID to do propaganda pieces for Zelensky.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:32am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    So corrupt it’s not funny.
    Drain that swamp.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:53am
  - Matt Long
    
    Stiller denies that, I suspect it’s not true.
    Unfortunately while social media gives good access to current events, it also encourages people to make up outrageous things to get traffic and monetisation.
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:15am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      You might be right Matt. But Oprah Winfrey denied being paid by the Harris campaign. Of course Winfrey was correct, they paid her production company, who in turn undoubtedly paid Winfrey a salary and some dividends.
      
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      February 10, 2025 9:30am
      - rouppe
        
        Oprah “if trump wins, it’s quite possible we will never be able to vote again” Winfrey?
        
        Unconscionable behavior
        
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        February 10, 2025 11:37am
    - Phronesis
      
      There’s a plausible theory that such false stories are deliberately seeded by the blob to try and undermine the truth of all the actual corruption being reported. In other words the so-called misinformation / disinformation machine is exactly that. Experts at manipulation.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:13am
- rjay
  
  Explains 1. Where Stuff is funded from and 2. Why Luxon cosies up to media
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:48am
  - Ghost
    
    Cozy up? Strange, most people talk about how hostile the media are to him.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:25pm
- sungsamning
  
  Move along folks. Nothing to see here. CNN, the Democratic Party, and ‘One News’ told me so. //
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:01am
- Grunter
  
  Yep, and USAID is just the tip of the iceberg.
  
  The biggest scam these corrupt crooks have been peddling has been driven by the Military Industrial Complex. Their latest chapters are still running, although surely the BS surrounding Zelensky and Project Ukraine is now obvious to all?
  
  Right from the start when they plotted to get a Netflix comedian to take on Russia it was obvious this was a crazy deadly joke.
  https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80119382
  
  The ‘Putins Bad’ gang must now be feeling more than a little silly…..?
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:13am
  - Lance
    
    So Putin didn’t violently and murderously invade another country. Glad you cleared that up for me.
    //
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:50am
    - Grunter
      
      Lance – you need to dig a lot deeper than the BBC headline repeated on 1News.
      
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      February 10, 2025 10:13am
      - imalwaysright
        
        I remember watching the BBC hack covering the last Russian election.
        He was outside a massive stadium where Putin was too speak.
        Standing room only, happy looking crowd, but the hack whispered to the camera that the nearly 100,000 people were there for the only reason that they feared what would happen to them if they didn’t attend!
        
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        February 10, 2025 11:29am
      - Lance
        
        I have indeed spent a lot of time looking into the claims and counter claims.
        I have come to the scientific conclusion that Putin is full of shit. Him and his minions peddle lies and bribe their way around.
        For instance: I was surprised with Nigel Farage called out Ukraine as Nazi’s. Upon investigation I found out Farage was paid millions by Putin to shill for him and is actually odious and corrupt (look into his lavish undisclosed “gifts”). Follow the money I guess.
        Russia claims Ukraine has been using chemical weapons against its forces. This has proven to be bullshit (bit of a joke considering Putin’s penchant for Novachock assassination).
        Putin and his media (cough cough) keep saying that Ukrainians are Nazi’s, repeating this unfounded bullshit ad nauseum. The only spec of truth that is being exploited is that during WW2 the Ukrainians had been murdered by the millions by the evil sack of shit Stalin and wanted some revenge. So unwisely collaborated with the Germans. This was stupid in hindsight, but it was a long time ago.
        The idea that Ukrainians today are Nazi’s has been scoffed at by the Anti-defamation League, the U.S. Holocaust memorial Museum and dozens of scholars of Nazi history and actions.
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:49pm
      - Grunter
        
        Lance
        The swastikas kinda give it away though – don’t you think?
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:42pm
      - Lance
        
        @Grunter
        So a regiment of about 900 (probably a lot less now) are the embodiment of all of the Ukraine and its values?
        
        Get a grip
        
        Of course there are NO far right lunies in Russia, of course not. Russians are perfect in words and deeds and Putin is perfection and peacefulness incarnate.
        //
        
        Also you do realise Russia has a long history of mass murder and invasion that tends to piss off many peoples at the receiving end of this constant brutality and genocide. You know like the Chechens, Ukrainians etc.
        
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        February 10, 2025 4:02pm
  - Allan
    
    Not at all.
    
    Your take is so twisted you could fit right in on the View.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:16am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Who is your comment directed at ?
      
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      February 10, 2025 10:48am
      - pdm
        
        DB – I took Allan’s comment to be aimed at Grunter,
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:22pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        OK thanks.
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:29pm
      - Grunter
        
        Thanks, Allan. And here I was thinking that the Mods had tightened up on personal attacks in 2025….? Maybe there were the usual “Putin-Fanboy” calls that were deleted?
        
        Anyways, water off a duck’s back to me. Keep it coming, it proves my point that my comment got zero serious arguments back and your naming calling.
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:53pm
  - rouppe
    
    They said similar about Ronald Reagan.
    
    Swartzenegger was an effective governor regardless of whether you agreed with his politics.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:41am
- cmm
  
  Yes, USA has a massive swamp to drain. It is probably getting to the stage where they realise they have a problem.
  
  I am a bit more concerned about our swamp here. Will we ever see the problems and address them?
  
  I suspect that people have to feel pain – a lot of it – before they are motivated to make any changes.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:18am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Our swamp is a protected wetland that falls under the Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori as defined by the RMA.
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:18pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Not to forget the taniwha.
      
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      February 10, 2025 6:50pm
- igm
  
  George Soros was also given funding to oversee the propoganda in western MSM outlets.
  
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  February 10, 2025 12:12pm
- Jake Dee
  
  So I’m clicking through those links and I’m seeing “Covid-19”, “Climate change”, “Combating disinformation”, “Gender issues”, “Media integrity” but nowhere am I seeing anything that says this is being funded by the US Government.
  This is a gigantic scandal, it’s world wide and its been going on for decades. There is no way we can expect the media to report on this accurately and impartially. It is a gross violation of media ethics to report on a story that you have a financial or professional interest in, certainly not without clearly disclosing that interest right at the beginning.
  
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  February 10, 2025 7:38pm
Tomtoddy

Was thinking recently about those parents and an assorted lot of whining, politically motivated hangers-on criticising the school lunch changes. I happened at the time to be paying a substantial five figure provisional tax amount and it hurt. Over a third of what I had worked hard and cleverly for, going towards a programme because a bunch of lazy, uncaring individuals who can’t or won’t give their kids a lunch, was a hard call.

Having taxpayers pay for a lunch for your kid is a privilege and don’t forget it. Mostly it’s a rort. It’s a very simple and low-cost option to make a lunch. It should take precedence over your widescreen tv’s, vaping, KFC, iphones, etc. At least you could shut up the moaning and carping and show a bit of gratitude instead of the tiresome entitlement.

I know of a Christchurch school several years ago that decided to arrange a breakfast for a couple of hard done kids and within days it had to provide a dozen. ”Free” is enticing, particularly if you can’t be bothered.
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February 10, 2025 8:04am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  For anything to be “Free” it was taken from someone else.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:09am
  - cmm
    
    For anything to be “free” it needs a layer of extra management and troughing which ends up making the cost much, much higher.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:11am
    - pdm
      
      Yep 5 staff for 4 hours a day at one school to distribute and clean up.
      
      When I was at school kids called `Lunch Monitors’ distributed lunches.
      
      Kids on detention could do the cleaning up after.
      
      $100 a week available for learning at the school.
      
      Alternatively you could have parent volunteers.
      
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      February 10, 2025 8:22am
      - cmm
        
        “Alternatively you could have parent volunteers.”
        
        They know their rights. They won’t be volunteering any time soon. If they had any give-a-shit in them then they would be making their kids’ sandwiches at home.
        
        $100 a week? Nope.
        5 staff, 4 hours per day = 5 staff 20 hours per week = 100 hours. More like $2500 a week = $100k a year.
        
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        February 10, 2025 8:38am
      - igm
        
        Was it also not a perk get a milk monitor position at some schools.
        Maybe the little petals are too valuable to indulge in this menial task these days.
        It is not taxpayers’ responsibility to feed children of others, time for a overhaul of parenting, and child abuse.
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:17pm
    - pdm
      
      Yep cmm – big mental block there.
      
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      February 10, 2025 8:45am
- pdm
  
  I know of a Christchurch school several years ago that decided to arrange a breakfast for a couple of hard done kids and within days it had to provide a dozen.’
  
  The same happened with Mayfair Primary School in Hastings about 20 years ago. Breakfast organised for a couple of kids snowballed very quickly.
  
  How do I know – one of our neighbours was on the School Board Of Trustees.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:12am
  - cmm
    
    It is exactly the same as the City Mission free Christmas lunch in Auckland. At first that started out as a charitable act for people who really can’t afford anything – now it is just a free meal with someone else cooking and washing the dishes. You’d be stupid to walk past that.
    
    I think the problem is cultural. Traditional Western concepts around charity are based on the idea that you accept charity if you really need it, but don’t just take it if you do not need it. Hence some stigma around accepting charity.
    
    Traditional charity also has a high level of contact between the people giving and the people receiving. The receivers are exposed to the generosity of the givers.
    
    A couple of generations of welfare state later and people start looking for their “entitlements” and taking. Everything goes through the state, so the takers just see it as “their stuff” given to them by the state. They do not see the givers.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:20am
    - pdm
      
      In Hastings there is `Nourish for Nil’.
      
      You should see the BMW’s and other `flash cars’ with well dressed drivers/passengers pulling up for the handouts.
      
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      February 10, 2025 8:24am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Yep, I have read about that happening for the Auckland City Mission free Christmas lunch. The gall of some people!
        
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        February 10, 2025 8:58am
      - I remember when
        
        ‘Nourish for Nil’ and ‘Zilch’ in Palmerston North are distribution centres for food that would otherwise go to waste.
        Although they are provide cheap food for the ‘poor’ this is secondary to the prevention of food waste.
        
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        February 10, 2025 9:28am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Same in Rotorua – my mate who helped out there almost gave up helping, but then thought about the people that they did it for, so tolerated the wealthy bludgers.
        
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        February 10, 2025 10:53am
      - Fender
        
        To be fair if you talk to them , they openly advertise and email schools etc regularly because they have so much food and perishable they want someone, anyone to take it,
        You are doing them a favour to show up
        Its stupid but thats the way it is
        Weird but true
        
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        February 10, 2025 10:56am
      - pdm
        
        Not cheap irw.
        
        It is given away at Nourish for nil..
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:24pm
      - AitchW
        
        The people in the flash cars and expensive clothing quite possibly have so much shit on credit cards, shop cards and hire purchase that they have no cash left for frivolities like food, power and rent so need charity.
        
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        February 10, 2025 8:02pm
    - kowtow
      
      Talking of cultures ……
      
      ……anyone remember a few years ago that tourists turned up for the scoff one year .
      
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      February 10, 2025 8:35am
    - rouppe
      
      You’d be stupid to walk past that.
      
      Or have some self respect.
      
      Which is why, not being quite eligible for national super, I haven’t signed up for the dole, even though I could probably get away with it.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:47am
- Yabster
  
  it also double dipping as those families will get the family tax credit- so why are we doing school lunches at all?
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:32am
- Gravelroad
  
  A while back there was some controversy and discussion about students bringing their cell phones to school and what times they could use them and so on.
  If a student, or someone in their family, can fund a cell phone and remember to bring it to school every day, then why can’t they fund a lunch and bring that?
  It is very convenient to have meals prepared for you by someone else. And even better when you don’t have to pay for them.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:42am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  So you don’t think of your donation as love then, Tom?
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:05am
  - Allan
    
    A donation is given volunterily from the generosity of the giver.
    
    Taxation is robbery.
    
    Theft by the state accompanied by threats of violence.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:20am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      How are we going to fund hospitals, police, defence forces, roads etc without this “robbery”?
      
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      February 10, 2025 1:20pm
  - Tomtoddy
    
    Paying it only encourages the bast….s
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:57pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    I dont donate to organisations.
    I give to individuals I see in need.
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:07pm
- Anthony Melchett
  
  The parents complaining about lunches online probably don’t even have kids that receive them.
  
  It’s just political attacks – none of it is actually real
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:06am
- imalwaysright
  
  Not sure why they are giving them curries and mac n cheese etc.
  Why not a government issue cheese sandwich. That’s it, take it or leave it.
  Hunger broadens the appetite.
  Freeze the sarnies and pass them out in the morning.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:11am
- lifesgood
  
  Tomtoddy, add tattoos to that list. Anyone with tattoos, smoking, dogs, iphones, fast food large TVs etc should not be elligible for free lunches for their kids. Their first priority should be feeding their kids. So many these days are covered in expensive tattoos, they can find the money for them, can’t they? These lunches are just like the emergency accommodation rort in Rotorua. Offer it and they will come. How did kids survive before free lunches. If they have to have something just offer a meusli bar and a piece of fruit.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:27am
  - Geoff1
    
    And who fed them over the holidays?
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:22am
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    How dare you. Those tattoos are part of their culture and way more important that their kids eating.
    
    Just like smoking weed.
    
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    February 10, 2025 12:52pm
  - Taieri
    
    Anyone with tattoos, smoking, dogs, iphones, fast food large TVs etc should not be elligible for free lunches for their kids.
    ———–
    
    Indeed.
    But how do you prove that they have tattoos, iphones, buy fast foods and have dogs or large TV sets?
    Would a statutory declaration be enough?
    Or, perhaps, a Community Watch should be set up to carry out periodical checks?
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:23pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Indeed Tom. And there’s a fair chance these people have already received working for families credits and child credits that were supposed to pay for their kids lunches. But here we are, the taxpayer getting double dipped. Again.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:33am
- fredonas
  
  “And the inedible school lunches motivated the parents to do better and they made tasty, nutritious lunches for their children to enjoy. The end.”
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:14am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Most of the kids could do with missing a few meals.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:33am
- Nobby2
  
  There is no such thing as “free”. It just means you don’t have to pay for it, someone else pays for it !!
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:43am
- Handyman
  
  Did you see the hundreds of emaciated kids turning up to school last week because they had no school lunches since before Christmas?
  Me neither.
  
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  February 10, 2025 1:51pm
- PurplePen
  
  The whole free lunch thing was a good idea until thy decided to make it for every kid, to avoid those that needed it being stigmatised by the awful kids at school. They can’t cater for all the kids that can’t eat all sorts of foods and they seem to be many. Plus, they tried to make it nutritious etc. A hungry kid is going to be fine with a bag of chips and a fanta as they’ll burn it off, especially if they’re not being fed by their parents.
  
  Instead of the sledgehammer a simple approach would have just been to make those milk-based breakfast in a juice box, and a couple of biscuits available to anyone and everyone that wanted it, and they can take two or three of they want. No clean up, easy distribution, provides some calories and fibre. No stigma as you might have your lunch from home with you and still take up the freebie.
  
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  February 10, 2025 1:55pm
Kiwiguy

A well-written letter to Iwi from another Maori, titled “Where Is the Iwi? Asking for a Struggling Māori”

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18cuc69aHm/
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February 10, 2025 8:06am
- I remember when
  
  Was talking to a Maori lady about the $1000+ MSD decision for food for the tangi.
  She said what about ‘koha’, that is the way it has always been done.
  Where was her local Maori iwi?
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:35am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Yes, if the aggrieved are not flush then you bring a plate and a few drinks.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:52am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Correct. I have been to a number of tangis for relatives who have died. It is always done with koha. One of my cousins who died in 1990, there would have been over 120 people in the whare kai, all just gave what they could – it was an excellent feed.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:58am
Steve Otto N Shore

Gee, page loading is very slow this morning. Just over 60 second to get GD up on the screen.
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February 10, 2025 8:06am
- cmm
  
  It seems that the Kiwiblog site has changed to “live loading” the frame on the right hand side and refreshing it occasionally.
  
  I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that this could be contributing to increased traffic and a slower way to load pages.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:01am
Bridgenag

Sunday Strip: DOGEing the Dems
When you find out who is funding the government

Nice little Charlie Chaplin clip

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/sunday-strip-dogeing-the-dems?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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February 10, 2025 8:08am
- Jethrod
  
  They really resonate don’t they.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:45am
Bridgenag

sunday vibe check
because “yes” memes yes

“I just heard that Musk has bought 5 30-second Super Bowl ads exposing waste and fraud found by DOGE!!! “ [ 30 million cost]

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/sunday-vibe-check?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

and

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/sunday-government-pool-d99?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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February 10, 2025 8:08am
Cassandra

À propos the Cooks imbroglio, there’s a largely unread comment yesterday by Gin&Sonic which we all should read. A brief summary – S/he’s a medical worker of some sort, does a lot in the Pacific and thinks that those who aren’t crooks are incompetent. At our cost.DPF should commission a post. Must read.
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February 10, 2025 8:14am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  In the 1970’s I was serving in a SCONZ vessel on the Akl/Cook Is run and we used to go up with a full cargo and return with a full cargo of canned Raro Juice.
  
  Few years later after serving in other vessels I returned to the run as a more senior officer. Was told no S bound cargo. I asked where the Raro Juice was.
  
  Apparently the orange trees were getting to the end of their lives and new ones needed to be planted between the old trees to allow for continuation of production.
  
  No one was interested, the trees died and that was that.
  
  I was told that Raro could be the “Market Garden” for Akl for tropical veges but no one interested.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:23am
  - Matt Long
    
    I recently saw the same statement about Torres Strait Islands, with the quote from an Islander being that once welfare came in nobody wanted to do the work.
    And who would want to work if you get your money for nothing and your chicks for free?
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:34am
    - Taieri
      
      I’ve spent some time on the Thursday Island. There’re three taxi companies at the time. Their main job was to collect the Islanders from the pub in the evening. And just about every shop in the main street had a “Staff wanted” sign in the window…
      
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      February 10, 2025 1:26pm
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    You reap what you sow:
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/cargo-cult
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:38am
  - Jack5
    
    If the Cook Islands switch allegiance to China, might be time to look at insurance coverage in the islands.
    
    Thinking of the Tongan riots of 2006, which centred on burning Chinese shops and ended destruction of 80 per cent of the central business district of Nuku’alofa.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:39am
  - Ian Boag
    
    I recall it a bit different.
    
    NZ gov planted the trees in the 40’s as aid. The oranges that grew on them didn’t have a lot of market penetration in NZ as they were truly ugly.
    
    So there was a bright idea to juice them. As I recall there wasn’t a lot of orange juice on the market at the time. Then we started importing cheaper stuff and Raro fell by the wayside. Free market and all that …
    
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    February 10, 2025 4:02pm
- kowtow
  
  Yes , excellent post .
  
  Only disagree with the “aghast at Trump’s USAID” thing.
  
  I see how the int’l media have screaming headlines over the starving millions , but the true issue is waste on things like LGBT+ plays , cement factories for Hamas , funding left wing media etc
  
  Any of that in the msm headlines?
  
  I’ve noted too the almost total lack of coverage in our media of the 2nd head of govt , Japan PM , to visit the WH . That’s a bigly Indo Pacific and trade story , ignored by our TDS media.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:40am
pdm

Only just after 8am and already two more contenders for Quote Of The Year:

Mike Hosking speaking of Margie Apa standing down – where she said a new leadership style was needed. Mikes response – that leadership style is competency.

Over at The Good Oil in comments on Face of the day – by whathever. Will this “new” investment offset Luxon’s “investment” in climate change?
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February 10, 2025 8:15am
pdm

Plymouth Argyll 1
Liverpool 0

Anyone here interested in that result?
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February 10, 2025 8:17am
- NoFax
  
  Sorry, I accidentally reported you when scrolling on my phone. I’ve done that a couple of times now – I hope isn’t an issue.
  Not a soccer man but I’m sure many here are.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:21am
- plc
  
  Yep…..players rested for Merseyside derby on Thursday morning (infinitely more important).
  
  Plymouth played with real heart and deserved the win.
  
  Liverpool not too fussed as potentially 4 less games in an already crowded season.
  
  If a loss can be overall positive then this was one.
  
  The big potential losers were Arsenal
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:34am
- NK
  
  Yes. Couldn’t quite believe it. Plymouth Argyle bottom of the Championship, conceded 2.5 goals a game on average this season, with only 5 wins, beat potentially the best team in Europe. Astounding. I would have thought even Liverpool’s second-string team would win comfortably.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:35am
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    I suspect the same guy that bet on nz beating India in a test series will have also profited from this result…
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:07am
kowtow

DEI ?

The first visually impaired Senator , appointed to the upper house in the Irish parliament , has just resigned following his arrest .

Apparently he was found in the early hours in public in the city centre , crawling on all fours , being a nuisance and was ………blind drunk!
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February 10, 2025 8:18am
- Matt Long
  
  (Read this in an Irish accent)
  And what was it he resigned from parliament for then?
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:37am
- imalwaysright
  
  “Visually impaired”. “Blind drunk”.
  There’s an idea for some minority funding!
  “On all fours” increases the scope exponentially…
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:02am
- Morgan H
  
  An Irishman drunk?
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:48am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Exactly MH, leave it to the kiwis and let the Irish concentrate on the $USD94,000 gdp per capita.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:00pm
- PurplePen
  
  I find it odd that the green party who wallow in DEI don’t have anyone in parliament that is deaf, dumb or blind or physically disabled. There was a hearing impaired MP for a short while. But that’s it. Not very DEI of them, is it.
  
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  February 10, 2025 2:01pm
  - kowtow
    
    Stoned .
    
    Puts them in multiple disabled categories .Particularly mental accuity.
    
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    February 10, 2025 5:00pm
Steve Otto N Shore

The Treaty Principles debate.
“A Curia poll commissioned by ACT showed 2-to-1 support for the bill, with even stronger backing among National and New Zealand First voters.”
Stronger backing among National and NZF voters. When is Luxon going to change his mind, or be rolled?

https://centrist.nz/geoff-neal-of-the-facts-delivers-data-showing-public-division-over-the-treaty-debate/?
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February 10, 2025 8:19am
- Tricati
  
  I watched Geal Neal’s submission and it should be compulsory watching for Luxon, Willis and Goldsmith.
  They really are not reading the room, and the amount of disquiet out amongst long term National supporters is growing – Many are feeling betrayed over Nationals now silence stance on co-governance and the continuation of the He pua pua agenda started under Ardern.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:41am
  - bennerg
    
    Tricati, why do you assume that they want to “read the room”.
    
    While they sit in he “House of Representatives”, supposedly representing the wishes of the people who elected them, I have come to realise that:
    
    1. They serve other masters
    
    2. The MP’s role is not to “represent” us in Parliament, but to act as salesmen to the public for the policies they wish to impose on us.
    
    If you observe the actions of MP’s, they do get “out and about”, and give the appearance of listening, especially to the smaller things, but for the most they are there disseminating what their party is and why you should vote for them.
    
    Now I’m sure they also do their own polling, but do the results change the policy, or just how they market “their” policy.
    
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    February 10, 2025 12:06pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Again, everyone knew before the election crystal clear that Nats and NZF would not support the TPB, anyone suggesting they didn’t know is thick
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:01pm
- kowtow
  
  You’d wonder what his focus group sessions are telling him , or is it the faceless ,vested interest ,backroom boys who actually run the Nats .
  
  This just doesn’t pass the sniff test .
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:54am
  - wsk12345
    
    Was it here i read yesterday that Nicola Willis said that their research showed it was only over 50s who oppose the TPM (and the assumption therefore that we dont matter)
    
    They have the oldies vote “locked in” they think so are targeting the young and woke vote.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:19am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Correct Wsk, it seems that some demographics matter less than other demographics.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:37am
    - kowtow
      
      I’ve heard that too , but it’s the over 45’s allegedly .
      
      Could be her “deplorables” moment.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:55am
    - Souvlaki
      
      Yes….and Willis is clearly overlooking the fact that the very demographic she & Luxon are choosing to crap upon…has a very high interest in voting……..
      
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      February 10, 2025 12:08pm
      - zombie
        
        Yes Souvlaki and it makes a big difference. Hearing that quote yesterday I moseyed over to the 2023 Election Stats page and crunched the numbers for an hour.
        
        Once you work out the numbers that actually voted under the Age 0f 45 and those above you find that that motivation to get out and vote makes all the difference.
        
        Over 45s cast 60% of the votes in 2023 with 40% (obviously) cast by 44 and under. Which makes Willis/ Luxon’s current strategy really stupid.
        But there again, my thoughts on both of them since their names came up a few years prior to the election has always been that they are both fairly unintelligent. Luxon quite obviously and Willis presents as over confidence in her own ignorant ideologies.
        
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        February 10, 2025 5:32pm
    - kowtow
      
      wsk
      
      Found it , maybe it was focus group type stuff.
      
      ‘What about Nicola Willis’s recently revealed jibe that “Nationals polling showed it’s only the over 45-year-olds who are opposed to co-governance.”’
      
      https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/john-porter-national-and-co-governance.html
      
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      February 10, 2025 12:26pm
      - Ghost
        
        Is there actually a link to her saying that? Only a couple of search results bring that comment up but all link back to that article with no evidence of where it came from.
        
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        February 10, 2025 12:34pm
      - Jules99
        
        That was quoted on an X thread and she replied denying that she had said it.
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:29pm
      - kowtow
        
        ghost
        
        It’s in quotation marks in Porter’s post , ask him.
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:47pm
      - Ghost
        
        Jules has said that Willis denied it, so it’s just more that has been made up. Not surprising, isn’t the first think made up on breaking views.
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:58pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      The last poll we seen in this it was 50%
      
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      February 10, 2025 1:03pm
- Souvlaki
  
  Personally, I would have thought a dignified explanation, encompassing a change of mind “in view of the overwhelming evidence presented during submissions, and the clear objective evidence of public opinion, we feel a change of heart is warranted, and accordingly, we have decided to allow a referendum on this issue at the next election”.
  This would at least, partially ameliorate the decimation headed Nationals way if they continue to choose to give the two fingered salute to their former supporters.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:16am
  - Grunter
    
    I hoped that would happen too……then I read Luxon’s Waitangi Day speech! He’s moved further left into the “The Treaty is a Partnership” mode.
    
    He’s entrenching himself further, as he is with the “Global Boiling” hoax and, of course, his $17 billion deficit because “austerity isn’t the answer” BS.
    
    So that means next year’s election either swings towards ACT big time, or we have an ongoing path towards a socialist apartheid state.
    
    2026 is our last chance to have a peaceful(ish) correction.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:32am
Fender

As I was late to the thread the other day and with moderation taking hours I would like to briefly return to the council fluoride debate. Apart from CMM as usual separating it into 3 issues alot of the comments were no better than a Facebook post. Surely we don’t have to stoop to calling people Anti-fluoride nutters.
Ghost shared a personal experience. I often disagree strongly with Ghost but to just belittle his experiences with no proof is beyond the pale really.He is obviously an honest and intelligent no nonsense person and we are not all genetic clones.
If people can die from a peanut then yes its possible that fluoride can cause weird symptoms.
I worked with a person who for years drove weekly 50km to collect clean water because it caused him arthritis, he was an intelligent hard working tradie and without proof I have no reason to doubt his claims and experiences were real.
That being, let those that want it take pills instead of mass medication to many like elderly that don’t need it.
Hastings and Napier sister cities spent 15-20 odd years with one fluoride and one not, a perfect scientific test bed and yet results never mentioned!, strange that. Hastings actually worse despite the fluoride because of lower soc economics really.
Those that claim the science is settled, yes and “more doctors smoked Camels” my Dads playboys told me.
Have not the recent exposure of USAID not given you pause for thought on alot of issues. There’s no denying where the fluoride came from and it certainly wasn’t mined specifically for the purpose of medication.
Havelock North killed people with ineptitude of their water supply and you trust them to accurately dose Flouride to the so called correct safe level?
Perhaps we could play the ball and not the person, we are not politicians and don’t need to copy their pathetic games in the house of debate.
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February 10, 2025 8:22am
- wsk12345
  
  I agree. I had a male friend in his 30s that suffered debilitating chronic fatigue. I have no doubt it was genuine despite hearing of many BS diagnoses of CF. He did everything that research suggested to help himself, working with a physiologist on a stationary bike etc. after several years he came upon a research paper linking fluoride to CF. He immediately removed all fluoride from his diet. Got water from the acquirer, made their own bread with it, stopped buying any drinks produced in areas with fluoride in the water. In 3 weeks he was normal and I bumped into him recently (15 years later) and he is on the same highly inconvenient diet which he has to to be healthy.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:26am
  - Jules99
    
    I think fluoride can affect thyroid function, so I can see how it would lead to chronic fatigue.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:34pm
- Jack5
  
  Fender’s … Hastings and Napier sister cities spent 15-20 odd years with one fluoride and one not, a perfect scientific test bed and yet results never mentioned! …
  
  When Christchurch had two councils — Christchurch City and Waimairi — the latter fluoridated water, Christchurch did not.
  
  Dentists found kids from fluoridated-water Waimairi had far, far better teeth than from the unfluoridated city. I heard that from four Christchurch dentists.
  
  Fluoride compounds are in the exhaust gases from aluminium smelters like the one at Tiwai Point. If it had been a serious health problem there , the robust folk of Bluff, across the harbour, would have shut the smelter down.
  
  Anti-fluoride folk will struggle for media “space” with Covid and vaccination debates raging on.
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:19am
  - Fender
    
    as already explained take it (pills) if you want
    What are the demographics of those two because there are 10 good reasons over it just being fluoride every time
    Diet being one
    Weird comparison of exhaust fases and ingested
    Just a poor rebutal
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:56pm
  - wsk12345
    
    Few OW points gets put down to them being Southlanders or similar. This is the peoblem – it’s not a Ute exposure causing a heart attack but accumulation of ingested neurotoxin exposure
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:05pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Looks like maths is a total mess in NZ.
I blame the teachers not being smart enough to even teach it! Maths can only be taught as fast as the slowest kid in the class, so the smart kids are held back.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/541366/new-maths-curriculum-begins-in-primary-schools?
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February 10, 2025 8:24am
- cmm
  
  Yup, streaming is really important. Schools seem to think the problem is people failing to keep up. No, the bigger problem is more capable kids being held back by the slower kids.
  
  Less than 5% of the population are capable of becoming engineers, doctors and such. They are a very limited resource and need to be given the best possible development.
  
  Society rests unevenly on the shoulders of a few. The abilities of those few needs to be maximised.
  
  The best maths teacher I have ever had had a very interesting way of working.
  He had at least 3 different ways of teaching each concept. He would teach all three methods, then if someone still didn’t understand, he would get one of the smarter kids to work through the problem with the struggling kid. He would sit there, silently, watching and making notes.
  The next year he would have 4 ways to teach the concept.
  
  I fear he was a once-off teacher. I doubt that even 1% of teachers are as good as that.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:47am
  - Kiwiguy
    
    What a great teacher.
    I used to loathe the “one method’ teachers – if I couldn’t understand the way they were teaching me, I’d work out my own method – then get it marked wrong if I didn’t use ‘their’ method even when I got the right answers.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:53am
    - cmm
      
      I was very lucky to be very good at maths at school and enjoyed it immensely. My maths would still have been excellent without this teacher, but he still helped make it more enjoyable and probably helped a bit.
      
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      February 10, 2025 8:29pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    I see it as Labour keeping NZ dumbed down, and that way welfare dependent, and Labour voters of course.
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:07am
    - cmm
      
      It is part of the “Be Kind” bullshit. We can’t stream kids because that might make the slower kids feel bad. It is much easier to ignore the needs of the bright kids.
      
      We can’t point out that kids are massively obese because that is fat shaming. Instead we silently sit by while they develop type 2 diabetes.
      
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      February 10, 2025 9:14am
  - Spam
    
    I remember my high school, where they streamed everything, until as some kind of weird experiment, they decided NOT to stream 6th form english. I remember an example in this class quite vividly: it was a class exercise where each student had to read some passages from Hamlet. Some kids couldn’t read very well, and when you combined that with Shakespeare’s writing, it was embarrassing for them. However, it was also embarrassing for those that COULD read well, because of the contrast between abilities.
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:34am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I was a very average maths student and I have little memory of my arithmetic/maths teachers except for my 6th and 7th form teachers (yr 12, yr 13).
    
    My 6th teacher must have been very close to retirement or had been brought back from retirement. She would start each lesson with a clear exposition on the blackboard, and then set us problems…. after a few minutes she would walk up and down the desk aisles checking how each student was going. If she could see you were coping well, she’d walk by; if she saw you had made a minor mistake, she’d point to your working and say “mistake line 2”. If you weren’t coping, she’d remain with you and work with you line by line through the calculation.
    
    That was my best year of maths… I enjoyed every lesson and felt confident in what I was doing.
    
    The 7th form teacher had a contrasting style…He’d introduce the new topic on the blackboard, set us some problems and NEVER move away from the blackboard. As soon as the class started on the problems, he did too, on the blackboard, silently.
    
    So if we were bamboozled about what to do, we could copy his working and answers…and sometimes I “got it”, but other times I was still confused.
    
    On more than one occasion a recent arrival to our class – a Malaysian Chinese , would point out to the teacher a mistake he’d made on the board.
    
    I wasn’t surprised to learn that my 7th teacher went on to the Education Dept to help design the “new Maths” curriculum. He may have been “clever” but he was a useless teacher.
    
    At Uni I only passed a basic 1st year maths paper because I’d got hold of the material that was sent to extramural students. The extramural notes were good, the lecturers were unmemorable .
    
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    February 10, 2025 9:43am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Interesting Maggy. However, I will recount my experience. From form 3 to 5 I had the same maths teacher. I was in a top stream and was supposed to be OK at maths. Whilst I got high marks, our teacher would set a pass at 90% for instance. I would get 75% and be in the bottom quarter. Most of the time, I did it by rote rather than actually understanding the maths. He was a very, very good maths teacher for the majority of the class (most of whom obliterated maths). In the 6th form, I got a different maths teacher. And it was like having a lightbulb go on in my head. I just got his style of teaching. Maths was seriously easy with the new teacher. I guess I am saying that unless the majority of the class is struggling, then it does not entirely correlate to the teacher being a dud.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:08am
    - Jack5
      
      Australian star maths teacher Eddie Woo is worth bringing into the debate on maths teaching, and how he gets kids to like, even love, maths:
      https://youtu.be/SjIHB8WzJek?si=uss0_6YOLclBlS2g
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:26am
  - Dougal10
    
    Our local state boys school doesn’t even offer 6th subject options anymore as it makes other kids feel dumb for not doing it . This is a school of about 500 boys so no doctors , engineers or scientists coming out of there anymore.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:23am
  - Conservatarian
    
    Don’t forget that your average bright 10 year old maths student is probably already better at maths than his or her teacher.
    
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    February 10, 2025 3:55pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  The teachers don’t set the curriculum – I’m more inclined to lay the blame with the likes of Rosemary Hipkins in the Ministry of Ed. But thankfully things are changing under the current government, even if they still have a lot of work ahead of them. But if we do want better teachers, maybe we’ll have to pay them more.
  
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  February 10, 2025 8:54am
  - wsk12345
    
    I have a friend who is a maths teacher in a rural area. She has an undergrad degree and 15 years experience. She is head of dept (her plus two other teachers) and is paid $118k pa. Found that out last week. Surely that’s enough with 10 weeks holidays as well???? It’s maths not rocket science.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:30am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      What do entry level teachers get paid? And what’s your plan for improving teacher quality?
      
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      February 10, 2025 10:53am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Entry level trained secondary school teachers with a 3 year degree start on $63, 187.
        
        https://www.education.govt.nz/news/new-secondary-teacher-offer-puts-top-teachers-100000-salary-end-2024
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:51pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Teaching is a pretty damn good lark for some..
      
      It’s not as if Maths teachers have to organise labs or field trips….
      
      However, in their defence, it must be as frustrating as hell trying to teach maths to secondary school pupils who can’t subtract double digit numbers and haven’t learnt their times tables.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:07am
      - cmm
        
        Good maths teachers (eg. mine that I wrote about above) spend a lot of their time improving their teaching style.
        
        Unfortunately I expect that most are not good.
        
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        February 10, 2025 11:28am
  - cmm
    
    Curriculum is only a tiny part of teaching.
    
    If you have a very solid understanding of the basics then adding, say, calculus, is a doddle.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:26am
- bennerg
  
  Sadly in the name of equity or whatever, the school systems these days seem to be driven by the needs of the lower achievers, rather than the over achievers – the one’s that will go on and make a real difference to society.
  
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  February 10, 2025 1:08pm
- kowtow
  
  Collapsed in the US too.
  
  Louisiana an outlier.
  
  “The Pelican State was the rare bright spot on the NAEP results, jumping from 49th place nationwide to 32nd in overall scores.
  
  Louisiana was the only state to recover its pre-pandemic scores in reading, actually improving 6 points above its 2019 results.
  
  How did they do it, and can other states do it too?”
  
  https://nypost.com/2025/02/09/opinion/one-state-is-getting-education-right-going-back-to-basics/
  
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  February 10, 2025 1:54pm
Bridgenag

Deep State Deconstruction: DOGE and Treasury
This is a game changer, and it’s scalable worldwide!

Very interesting videos

https://www.malone.news/p/deep-state-deconstruction-doge-and?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
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February 10, 2025 8:25am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  The second video was super interesting. Deep State will lose.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:22am
NoFax

So Luxon is going back to the old faithful of “attracting high wealth investors”. The problem of course is what is attractive about NZ now? We are like that cute girl in high school, party hard in university, a few regrettable tattoos, heavy smoker and drinker until got knocked up with the first of 3 kids from 2 dads and now at 45 she is ready single and ready to meet the “one”. Weak and pathetic.
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February 10, 2025 8:26am
- Swifty
  
  Hahahahaha!
  
  Indeed.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:42am
- imalwaysright
  
  Luxon and the rest of the fiddlers forget that the rest of the world have the internet and they can see NZ exactly as we see it.
  There is nowhere to hide. Trying to sell NZ as some sort of opportunity might work with some retirees, but the startups and the bigger companies will go elsewhere.
  Who would put $10m into NZ with the offchance that the local iwi declare your property theirs, or decide to impede consents.
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:14am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Ain’t that the grim truth. NZ needs constitutional clarity if we’re to achieve sustainable prosperity. Which means sorting out the “Maori sovereignty” issue once and for all. This Key-style attempt to attract rich foreigners at any price looks desperate and low-brow.
    
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    February 10, 2025 4:39pm
- Morgan H
  
  Exactly, we need to invest in ourselves instead of desperately hoping others invest. We can be the envy of the world instead of relying on someone else to save us.
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:40am
  - Quail
    
    Luxon is at it again.
    From his own comments about likely investments for the off shore wealthy!
    Some of the people / corporates he is vigorously promoting are the Maori corporations.
    You know ,the ones that don’t pay tax and got their wealth and resources off the taxpayers in the first place and the ones that get regular compensatory top ups.
    Luxon is a corporate puppet!
    He has gone too far.Every New Zealander expects a just Government where the tax is taken and spent for the benefit of “All “ New Zealanders. not just the Government created oligarchs.
    Luxon must go
    
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    February 10, 2025 6:28pm
- Ra Henare
  
  I attended a presentation some years ago(10ish?) by the special unit in Inland Revenue tasked with getting overseas people in to the Investor Visa Program.
  
  My question with all that data.
  What difference do these high net worth investors bring to NZ GDP/employment that a few hundred thousand tourists bring.
  
  aside. I was surprised by country of origin of these Investor Visa applicants. Germany topped the list!! Like most at the time I had assumed it would be Chinese (by memory they were about 4th on the list)
  
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  February 10, 2025 2:28pm
Dr John

I have just finished reading a very interesting book “Moving Beyond the Covid-19 Lies” by American chiropractor Dr Bryan Ardis [listed in Amazon but they wouldn’t sent it to my address!].
I will shrink the 300 pages to one paragraph:
covid had nothing to do with bats. But a huge link with the venom of a couple of Chinese snakes and marine snails. And the virus spike protein attaches to ‘receptors’ in the body cells that are known as nicotine receptors. Research has linked smoking [which takes precedence to the virus / vaccine in attaching to the cells] or chewing nicotine gum or using nicotine patches as an effective way to avoid covid or end the long- covid illness.
Fascinating!
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February 10, 2025 8:47am
- wsk12345
  
  We know that smokers were way less likely to die of covid despite it being a respiratory disease. There were several journal articles on this in good journals a couple years ago.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:32am
- Jack5
  
  Covid’s … huge link with the venom of a couple of Chinese snakes and marine snails …
  
  Are bats off the hook?
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:32am
  - kowtow
    
    Year of the Snake ,so that might make snake oil promotion de rigeur , or something.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:58pm
- Jethrod
  
  Sounds like a plot from a Hans Christian Andersen book or Aesop’s fables.
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:38am
- MCōs
  
  Written by a chiropractor you say?
  
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  February 10, 2025 12:47pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Dr Bryan Ardis
    Charlatan in my view.
    Using the Dr title to push all sorts of health views to help his wallet get larger.
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:33pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svZwJKOsLwg
China Abandons North Korea to Its Fate: The End of a Strategic Alliance?
Explore the intricate dynamics between China and North Korea in this in-depth analysis of geopolitical tensions in the Pacific. Discover how historical alliances, economic interests, and military strategies shape the region’s delicate balance. From missile launches to diplomatic confrontations, learn about the power struggles that define the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship and its implications on global stability. Don’t miss out on this revealing exploration of one of the world’s most complex partnerships. Subscribe, like, and stay tuned for more geopolitical insights!
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February 10, 2025 8:58am
sungsamning

https://nypost.com/2025/02/08/opinion/democrats-fight-doge-with-lawsuits-since-losing-the-election/
DOGE Must Keep Moving Fast — Despite Democrats’ Sound, Fury and Lawsuits.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has Democrats furious and the Washington establishment a-boil — desperately trying to mire DOGE’s “break things and move fast” in lawfare and other counterpunching.
But the drive to uncover government waste and projects directly opposed by the public must not stop.
President Trump and his minion Musk need to keep the disruption growing, shining sunlight into dark fiscal corners. [Democrats haven’t been this angry since yesterday. Are they afraid of something? //]
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February 10, 2025 8:59am
goNZ1

a US armed Coastguard vessel has arrived in Port Wellington a few hours ago.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:7869757
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February 10, 2025 9:23am
- NoFax
  
  Good to see the Americans in town even if it’s Coastguard. Maybe one day we will give up our stupid “nuclear free” policy.
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:45am
  - Inandout
    
    NF, how true. I recall US sailors in uniform walking the streets of Auckland with full wallets ready to spend.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:11am
    - Cassandra
      
      Your nom de plume is – ahem – interesting.
      
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      February 10, 2025 10:40am
      - Jack5
        
        It would be more interesting if, rather than the CGC Midgett, one of America’s two nuclear-powered icebreakers had docked in Wellington.
        US icebreakers were once regular visitors to Dunedin.
        
        American nuclear-powered ships are safe. Russian nuclear-powered vessels are probably also safe by now, too.
        
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        February 10, 2025 11:48am
      - pdm
        
        Cass if you are inferring what I think you are inferring then – how about this one.
        
        What do you call a man with a very short penis?
        Justin.
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:15pm
      - kowtow
        
        Lol!
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:59pm
    - NoFax
      
      I saw recently an Aircraft Carrier turned up in Pattaya – the US military made it the town it is today. But that is 5000 sailors ready to spend their cash. I think they probably spend more in the bars that a cruise ship!
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:47am
      - kowtow
        
        US ships are “dry” , that’s why they go a bit lala in the bars when they get into port .
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:00pm
- Matt Long
  
  Which coast are they guarding??
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:42am
- Blog-aholic
  
  I feel sorry for the sailors, the ‘ship girls’ are likely not to be actual girls………
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:05am
- sungsamning
  
  Hope it comes to Lyttelton.
  
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  February 10, 2025 2:30pm
- Ra Henare
  
  ALL US Coastguard seagoing vessels are armed.
  
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  February 10, 2025 2:34pm
Matt Long

“MAHA tip of the day:

I can’t say this enough!

Eat more beef!
Eat more eggs!
Drop the carbs!
Eliminate processed foods!
Cook with butter!
Cut the sugar!
Drink plenty of water!
20 minutes of sunlight daily!

Check back with me in 30 days!

Your body will thank you!

MAHA!”

This is RFK, and not only is it working well for me – no allergies, no colds since upping my meat, lowering bread and dropping oats, it’s great for New Zealand’s economy if it takes off.
People concentrate on RFK being “antivax” but actually transforming a sick obese population to a healthy one is more central to his goals.
https://x.com/RobertKennedyJc/status/1888382387035222263
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February 10, 2025 9:25am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  A notable omission: “Eat more veges” – and no, “fries” don’t count ;).
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:33am
  - Matt Long
    
    My family diet was heavily influenced by a 7th Day Adventist aunt, so I’ve been down that road. Actually veges may be making you sick, especially ones with high levels of oxalates.
    It was drummed into us that vegetable skins contained the highest levels of nutrients, but the skin of a vegetable is it’s only defense against pests like insects, so contain the highest concentration of toxins.
    I can kick of an allergic reaction just by eating an unpeeled raw carrot.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:54am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Veges making people sick? Obviously the Italians, Spanish, Greeks and other practitioners of the Mediterranean diet didn’t get the memo. Oh and they’re really into “seed oil” too (olive oil). Plus East Asians love their veges. Check out their healthy life expectancy stats. RFK’s anticarbs stance is well supported by evidence, but overall he comes across as a fruitcake.
      
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      February 10, 2025 12:50pm
      - wsk12345
        
        Olives have a stone not a pip or seed.
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:10pm
      - RdM
        
        Olives are fruits, technically a stone fruit.
        Olive and coconut oils perhaps the best for you, and palm oil, despite it being demonised…
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:22pm
      - Matt Long
        
        High oxalate vegetables can cause a screed of problems including kidney stones, mineral imbalances, Gastrointestinal discomfort:
        Some people may experience digestive issues like stomach upset or nausea after eating high oxalate foods.
        High oxalate vegetables include, spinach, kale, beets, potato skins…
        People with some chronic illnesses can go on the carnivore diet and gradually introduce other foods to see which is making them sick.
        
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        February 10, 2025 2:57pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Pedantry / Nerd alert:
        
        Olive oil is made from the fleshy pulp (the pericarp) of the Olive fruit (a drupe). The seed of an Olive is a pyrena… known as a “pit” or a “stone”.
        
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        February 10, 2025 4:34pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Depends on what the potatoes are fried in.
    
    Its not the spuds. Its what they are fried in!!!
    
    My breakfast fries are pan fried in low temperature(ie not smoking) Virgin Olive oil. Delicious.
    
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    February 10, 2025 2:37pm
- Lance
  
  So like the Atkins diet?
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:57am
- Inandout
  
  ML, NZ grown oats like Harraways are not like US processed types.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:14am
  - Matt Long
    
    I’m saying what has worked for me, I’ve replaced cereal for breakfast with streak or mince patties cooked in lard, which is both cheaper and gives better results than butter for me.
    I was eating Harroway organic oats with homemade yoghurt and fruit salad.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:46am
- newview
  
  why no oats and cook with butter
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:30am
  - artemisia
    
    Oats are basically complex carbs, some fibre. Carbs turn into sugar in the bloodstream, some fast, some slower. Oats and other complex carbs slower but it still happens, though they are usually higher nutrition.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:15pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Carbs also rot our teeth, as amylases in our saliva start turning the starch into sugar.
      
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      February 10, 2025 1:24pm
    - newview
      
      Oats are low heat compared with wheat. Anti inflammatory on your gut. I know I Suffer from Colitis Irritable bowel syndrome don’t try talking me out of consuming oats
      
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      February 10, 2025 4:30pm
Ruahine

This is something that should be read by all citizens of the world. Corruption at its best.

https://eko.substack.com/p/override
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February 10, 2025 9:28am
- Bridgenag
  
  Amazing. Someone should be writing the book for a movie. A great exciting read, thank you.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:14am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    This was a video in a substack link you posted at 8.25am, Bridgenag
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:54pm
- Jethrod
  
  Is this the draining of the swamp finally starting?
  
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  February 10, 2025 11:55am
- Ra Henare
  
  Just a small point to correct mis information.
  
  In 1961, USAID was created by an E.O. issued by President John F. Kennedy (E.O. 10973), based in part on authority provided in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
  
  But a later act of Congress (The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, 22 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) established USAID as its own agency.
  
  In a section titled “Status of AID” (22 U.S.C. 6563) it states:
  
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  February 10, 2025 2:45pm
goNZ1

Cheque book diplomacy is alive and well in the South Pacific. Cook Is PM is in Beijing this week signing up to a comprehensive aid package with China, W Peters aint happy either. Cooks , only 3 hours north of us by air are NZ Citizens,we give them millions of dollars in aid every year and this is their response!
On top of that Kiribati are cosying up to China in the same way,even dissing W Peters when he wanted to visit there recently.
NZ is powerless economically to do anything – worse, with Trumps America-First foreign policy I dont like the direction of travel of all this.
China are pursuing a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere just as WW2 Japan did
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February 10, 2025 9:32am
- NoFax
  
  We are so weak on this. I think we annex the Cooks back and stop pretending that a country with 13k people (and more than 80k citizens here) can be a real country. The people of the Cooks have spoken with their feet – that are all here!
  
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  February 10, 2025 9:49am
  - Cassandra
    
    And get more Labour voters? No thanks.
    
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    February 10, 2025 10:42am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Na, the folks in the Cooks keep voting for the CIP..
    
    Let them go fully independent.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:14am
  - cmm
    
    ” I think we annex the Cooks”
    
    I think we treat them as grown ups. Kick them out of the basement and let them figure out life for themselves.
    
    We’re helicopter parenting Cooks. We provide them hand outs. We provide them administration. We let them live in our basement forever and run around cleaning up after them, paying their Xbox bills and taking their car for a warrant.
    
    Bullshit. They’re grown ups. Let them be and let them learn from their mistakes and develop as people.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:19am
    - Grunter
      
      Well said cmm. I like the analogy.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:43am
    - NoFax
      
      And then prepared to have a People’s Liberation Army Navy base there. That’s what will happen if we don’t take action.
      
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      February 10, 2025 11:50am
      - cmm
        
        If you think we can stop a PLAN base happening by giving Cooks a few babbles and trinkets then I think you are naive.
        
        Cooks are maybe trying to play this game. Flirt with the Chinese to see if NZ gives them better hand outs, but I doubt it.
        
        NZ is has very little strategic value. Nobody wants to invade us. There really is no reason for anyone to expend military resources on attacking NZ. Therefore we are really under no threat either. Any PLAN base in Cooks will be focused on bottling up access to the South China Sea and putting the threat on Hawaii and, potentially, Australia. Sydney and Hawaii are both within IRBM range of Cooks (5000-odd km).
        
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        February 10, 2025 1:08pm
      - NoFax
        
        CMM. I didn’t say give some baubles I said annex i.e. take it back and it’s just NZ territory, no different than any area in New Zealand – the Cooks will have a mayor. The issue isn’t invasion of NZ per se but rather the fishing fleet from China that will take everything and other deep sea mining etc with no environmental concerns at all. Further, a naval base gives the CCP a place to deny access to us and our allies including shipping our goods overseas.
        
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        February 10, 2025 4:23pm
      - cmm
        
        No fax. If we annex them it would just be colonial bullshit all over again.
        
        What could we possibly gain by annexing Cooks and absorbing them into NZ? We’d be adding another few thousand dysfunctional people and it could only cost us more in hand outs.
        
        We have enough low-competence people in NZ. Let’s focus on trying to build competence.
        
        It seems you want to keep helicopter parenting them to protect them from themselves. This is “happy little Sambo” talk.
        
        If Cooks get into bed with China and end up getting their resources looted and chlamydia from servicing all the Chinese sailors then what is that to do with us?
        
        Stop babying them and protecting them from themselves. Let them be grown ups responsible for their own outcomes and accept the consequences.
        
        Same with all the Polynesia Islands.
        
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        February 10, 2025 8:37pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Niue has approx. 2k living there.
    
    In the late 60’s I was at Akl Naur School doing Mates FG and there was a Niuean on the course. No special deals there, same pass mark to get as everyone else, 70%!!!
    
    He said it would be cheaper for NZ to fly the Niuean’s down to NZ, buy them all houses in Remmers and pay them the dole than keep giving them aid.
    
    Use Niue as a base for the NZDF.
    
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    February 10, 2025 12:19pm
  - AitchW
    
    So let’s stop pouring money into a (most likely) corrupt Cook Is administration and China and the expats sponsor the place. What benefit do we get from propping the place up?
    OR, given that they’re part of the Commonwealth perhaps their king might like to kick a few million in.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:29pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘China are pursuing a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere just as WW2 Japan did’
  
  I’m no Sun Tsu but it would be obvious to Blind Freddy that we’re seeing the Japanese prewar tactic of island bases .
  
  We see the building/developing a network of potential and actual island bases in a series of arcs around and out from the Mainland , encompassing Taiwan and excluding the potential for easy or unobstructed naval /aerial intervention from Hawaii , the Pines ,SE Asia or from Down Under , including us.
  
  The game’s afoot and no one’s at the wheel in the rest of the west , except Trump , perhaps Japan now .
  
  “We” are too busy ensuring DEI in the “defence” forces .
  
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  February 10, 2025 12:05pm
  - cmm
    
    “we’re seeing the Japanese prewar tactic of island bases .”
    
    Warfare is so extremely different that I would be careful what parallels you draw.
    
    Certainly, having bases is useful, but you do not need anywhere near the density of bases that were needed for WW2-era tactics and weaponry.
    
    Now even intermediate range missiles can travel over 5000km. I would think that the major interest that Cooks provides is a base within missile strike range of Hawaii.
    
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    February 10, 2025 1:11pm
    - kowtow
      
      Agreed .
      
      ‘According to Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” the concept of “don’t make parallels” is essentially about avoiding predictable patterns or strategies that your enemy can easily anticipate and counter’
      
      However I will restate what I said . They are building up the shittiest tiniest reefs across the S China sea into militarised bases and across the Pacific lines in arcs of potential deep water harbours/bases .
      I read recently they are even stirring things up in Okinawa of all places , which only became “japanese ” in the late 1800’s!
      
      This is not about trade , development or selling Girl Guide biscuits to the natives.
      
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      February 10, 2025 2:06pm
      - cmm
        
        With modern weapons and tactics (ie using missiles etc) you don’t need the massive fleets and harbours of WW2.
        
        Smaller harbours are far more useful. Having more than one helps – especially in the Pacific where a hurricane can wipe an island out.
        
        Get onto Google Maps and draw a 5500km radius from Hainan China. That reaches all the way down to Cairns and almost to Perth and covers the whole of India, Japan and PNG.
        From Cooks they can cover Canberra and Sydney and Melbourne with a tail wind. More importantly though, they cover Hawaii.
        
        Cooks gives them an overlapping IRBM arc with Hainan.
        
        Then add Kiribati to the mix and they are within IRBM range of San Diego.
        
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        February 10, 2025 8:57pm
    - NoFax
      
      It’s called dispersal – small units scattered across an area that has the ability to use immediate missiles etc. The US are doing the same to deter a CCP threat.
      
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      February 10, 2025 4:25pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    “we’re seeing the Japanese prewar tactic of island bases ”
    That is some amazing historically ignorant stuff right there. This stuff hasn’t just been going on for centuries, this has been going on since FOREVER.
    Do you know how the Americans got Hawaii?
    that’s a bit of history worth exploring.
    
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    February 10, 2025 8:04pm
- cmm
  
  “W Peters aint happy either”
  
  I would be ecstatic.
  
  Cooks have found a new sugar daddy. We don’t have to provide sugar any more.
  
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  February 10, 2025 12:59pm
- Grunter
  
  Maybe they are baiting Trump…. ‘American Cook Islands’ to sit alongside American Samoa.
  
  Trump’s still saying (today) – “Yes I’m seriously saying that Canada should become the 51st State – no I’m not joking”
  
  So, he may as well add the Cook Islands to his shopping list….. Gaza, Panama, Greenland, Canada, ……..
  …….come on, what about Noo Zeeland – great Golf Courses! Sir Bob Charles for Govnor!
  
  That would sort out all the woke lefties…..”No more Maori hand outs”
  
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  February 10, 2025 4:14pm
kevn

Great comment on NZ politics…
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/professor-robert-macculloch-why-arent.html
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February 10, 2025 9:36am
Chuck Bird

Donald Trump says Elon Musk will help uncover ‘hundreds of billions’ in US govt fraud

Chuck B

Considering the list of things pointed out by Trump’s Press Secretary, Musk is doing a good job. The Taxpayer’s Union here that highlights wasteful and wrongful spending here does a similar job. We should not be funding UNRWA which is supportive of Hamas. One of the hostages released was held in a UNRWA home.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/donald-trump-says-elon-musk-will-help-uncover-hundreds-of-billions-in-us-govt-fraud/OHPD2AKPCVCDBCES23RKAT4C5A/
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February 10, 2025 10:09am
Pope Punctilious II

Rob McCulloch asks why the coalition isn’t “light years” ahead of the opposition, considering how disastrous the Ardern-Hipkins government was. His answer: Nats and ACT are too libertarian: https://www.downtoearth.kiwi/post/given-the-mess-labour-left-why-aren-t-national-act-light-years-ahead-in-the-polls-its-the-religi?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
While I have some sympathy with this viewpoint, I doubt it’s the main reason for the government’s underwhelming poll results. A sizeable chunk of the electorate still laments the demise of the Ardern-Hipkins government, and polls show this is especially true of young voters and women. They’re going to hate this government irrespective of whether the predominant ideological flavour is conservative, libertarian, neoliberal or whatever. And that’s down to several decades of progressive control of our education system and other key institutions. This government has done some good work in cleaning the radicals out of the Waitangi Tribunal, and must take every opportunity to do the same with the Ministry of Ed. It’s a long battle ahead.
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February 10, 2025 10:09am
- BananaLlama
  
  It’s the Economy, no really it is, voters are deeply unhappy with the lack of economic prospects and would rather go back to the money printing we had under Labour.
  
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  February 10, 2025 10:49am
  - cmm
    
    It always astounds me that young people vote for hand outs.
    
    Don’t they realise that they are the poeple who will end up paying it back?
    
    Perhaps they have no faith that the system will be there in 40 years so they just want to grab what they can while they can.
    
    Perhaps after 12 years of what passes for schooling they feel guilted into it.
    
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    February 10, 2025 11:14am
    - Paulus
      
      No, question is
      – do the younger people care when then have seen Utopia with Ardern.
      They have a lot of hard lessons to learn but they would not accept that if you said it.
      
      7 0
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      February 10, 2025 2:30pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Yes the state of the economy is hurting the government, as are Luxon’s average communication skills and lack of charisma. But how can the state of the economy explain the Rainbow Party soaring to 16% in the latest Taxpayers Union poll? (See link further down). People think the Greens are going to fix the economy? It’s not just the economy.
    
    4 0
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    February 10, 2025 4:33pm
    - pdm
      
      pp Greens are on 13.2% which is staggering enough but the 16 is seats in the house.
      
      4 0
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      February 10, 2025 6:39pm
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Ah, sorry if I misread that. Yes, staggering and frightening – we’re not dealing with grown-ups here.
        
        3 0
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        February 10, 2025 6:53pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      13%
      
      1 1
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      February 10, 2025 7:28pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Funny that as I said the centre would go back left, I note Act down again
    
    0 2
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    February 10, 2025 7:27pm
- kowtow
  
  The Nats are nothing like libertarians .
  
  6 0
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  February 10, 2025 2:36pm
- Grunter
  
  I agree with most of what Rob McCulloch says. But saying the Nats are Libertarian? Where did that come from? They are no where near Libertarians at all.
  
  The most interesting part of the article, to me, was;
  
  “….Finance Minister Willis is lost, with no answers for the nation’s stagnation. It is why she has no plan. It is why she ran to Business NZ last week asking them what to do. It is why she runs to the NZ Initiative asking them what to do. It is why the PM runs to his Economic Adviser Burgess asking what to do and gets no answers.”
  
  So the current plan is to loudly chant “Go for Growth!”……. and that’s it.
  
  9 0
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  February 10, 2025 3:04pm
  - NoFax
    
    The answer is very simple and it works everytime everywhere. Cut taxes and regulations. The only way to grow the economy is for NZers take risks. National Libertarian? What a joke – perhaps see what Javier Milei is up to.
    
    10 0
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    February 10, 2025 4:29pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Simple answers are rarely the solution to complex problems.
      
      0 0
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      February 11, 2025 8:01am
I remember when

Roger Childs: Are Maori statistics pointless:
Breaking Views.

Is this an area that needs much more attention as Maori statistics (or supposed Maori statistics) are so often used to justify health, education, employment and political decisions?
What percentage of Maori ethnicity is the target group?
How many people are there in the Maori population used to produce the statistic?
Where do these Maori live, is it in Ruatoria or upper Northland or are they city dwellers?
What is the average family income for the Maori statistic?
The problems presented by the ‘who is a Maori’ question would seem to be very important when used in statistics.
17 1
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February 10, 2025 11:08am
- Paulus
  
  I entirely agree – for some years we are being bamboozled by the non participating census of Maori, so we get figures made up by the Statistics Department, and Maori themselves to suit themselves.
  
  8 0
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  February 10, 2025 2:34pm
- Colville
  
  I Remember..
  
  This is the group of people who NZ Stats paid the Manurewa Marae to connect with.
  
  When will we hear more about that I wonder…?
  
  8 0
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  February 10, 2025 3:00pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Soon I hope, sooooooon!
    
    2 0
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    February 10, 2025 6:46pm
sirknz

Stabber still on the run.

Police are still looking for the man and the vehicle he drove off in.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360575107/offender-still-run-six-days-after-north-shore-stabbing

Be nice if there was perhaps a description of the perp, the vehicle they were in, and the direction they were last headed in so that the public could maybe assist in the einvestigation.

Let’s face it, the lack of a description already tells us what their ethnicity is.
20 1
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February 10, 2025 11:08am
Steve Otto N Shore

Trump orders security access stripped from new list of enemies: ‘Bad guy. Take away his passes’
Well he did say he would be coming after them. I would not like to be someone who crossed his path.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/trump-orders-security-access-stripped-from-new-list-of-enemies-bad-guy-take-away-his-passes/ar-AA1yFYuk?
6 4
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February 10, 2025 11:59am
- Northshoredoc
  
  What a daft way to run a country. Hopefully he can put aside his ego and try to improve the lot of those who voted for him ….. and those that didn’t.
  
  1 3
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  February 10, 2025 5:26pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Come on Doc, if someone crosses my path I deal with it. Win some, lose some.
    Accident Compensation was one – I won against the big guys!
    If there is no challenge they just do it again – not in my world.
    
    5 1
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    February 10, 2025 6:55pm
Bridgenag

The Hidden Dangers of Antidepressants and Why They’re So Hard To Stop Taking
Unveiling the Depression Industry

“Much of the medical industry’s appalling conduct makes sense once its actions are viewed through a business lens that seeks to maximize sales. This for instance, is why the SSRIs, rather than being outlawed, were able to become some of the most successful drugs in history (e.g., in 2027, they are projected to be an 18.27 billion dollar global market) and why almost all of their appalling side effects have been hidden from the public. ”

https://open.substack.com/pub/amidwesterndoctor/p/the-hidden-dangers-of-antidepressants?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
4 2
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February 10, 2025 12:34pm
- MCōs
  
  That diatribe could be rewritten with the subject changed to any of a hundred and one ‘indispensable’ industries including the righteous outrage industry as personified by whoever wrote that diatribe
  
  4 3
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  February 10, 2025 2:39pm
  - RdM
    
    I suspect that you didn’t read through the whole article, let alone any of its links.
    
    0 0
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    February 10, 2025 10:09pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360575500/napier-man-allegedly-swings-machete-officer
To me this is a clear-cut case for the police to use their firearms with deadly intent. Anyone presenting a lethal weapon to a police officer or emergency responder or hospital staff member etc. should be treated so.
7 1
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February 10, 2025 1:13pm
- H. Upmann
  
  How many Taser failures have we seen? Triple that for all of the unreported incidents and there is reality.
  Taser seems to be a slight upgrade of a kids toy and probably less reliable.
  
  4 1
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  February 10, 2025 1:41pm
  - kowtow
    
    As you note ,no way is a taser suitable in that scenario.
    
    If society were serious about ‘protecting’ our police then only a pistol on the hip ( immediately ready for use) is the correct answer in this case.
    
    6 1
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    February 10, 2025 2:40pm
- GJM
  
  There is a YouTube channel called “donut operator” that does police shooting breakdowns using body am and cctv footage. Quite entertaining sometimes , and the NZ media would go nuts with some of them. “Why didn’t they shoot him in the leg”, as they open up and several police officers mag dump some crim who thought going gangsta on the police was a good idea.
  Another one is called “ASP” and is similar but more serious, showing how quickly things develop and what happened and what should or should not have been done.
  
  4 1
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  February 10, 2025 2:28pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    I follow both those channels and I agree. Donut Operator is a former cop, he’s jokey and maybe a bit too goofy but the videos are all very real. John Correa from ASP is more sensible, he’s actually a former preacher.
    The widespread use of badgecams has really changed the public perception of these lethal force incidents. Now we can really see what its like for a police officer to be literally a fraction of a second away from death.
    
    2 0
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    February 10, 2025 8:18pm
  - AitchW
    
    Cops are trained to shoot to incapacitate. Not to choose whether to shoot in the leg or to kill, simply to incapacitate. The most effective way to do that is to shoot for the biggest mass, ie the body. As luck would have it we keep most of our important organs in the body.
    So, if you provoke cops sufficiently for them to shoot at you then you’re VERY likely to die.
    
    1 0
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    February 10, 2025 8:37pm
Jack5

Trump says he’s going to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all aluminium imported by the US.

How will that affect NZ’s aluminium smelter, which exports close to 90 per cent of its output?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trump-says-he-will-announce-25-steel-aluminum-tariffs-monday-2025-02-09/
5 1
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February 10, 2025 2:18pm
- waripori
  
  Last year US took 38 million NZ of Aluminium from us out of total exports of 949 million. I thought it would be more but Trump put tarrifs on Aluminium last time around and then took them off nearly everyone except us. We probably not competitive there. Not sure if this round is another 25% on top of what is already there. canadians are the big suppliers. They may not like this much.
  
  We also ship them 50 million of steel products also already with tarriffs in place. Not sure what our total steel exports are . Maybe similar to Aluminium?
  
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  February 10, 2025 4:44pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  The vast amount of it goes to Japan.
  
  1 0
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  February 10, 2025 5:24pm
Chris Nisbet

There’s a new curia poll out apparently…
https://x.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1888776060952551877?t=yxh-8g-aF59uW23e9FMFqg&s=19

On this polling, a bunch of incompetent, racist commies could govern the country.
Are we thick, or just have bad memories, or maybe both? Are most of us actually incompetent, racist commies?
What are people thinking, that the coalition haven’t turned the destruction wrought upon us around fast enough, so let’s give the wreckers another go?

Sigh.
19 2
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February 10, 2025 3:35pm
- Grunter
  
  Maybe (I hope!!) there was a stack of “Undecided” that inflated the left somehow?
  
  If a bunch of National voters are in a stunned-mullet zone they may be saying “I don’t know” at this point of the electoral cycle.
  
  Or, the real economy is even more pharked than what we think and this is ‘the people’ panicking??
  
  7 2
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  February 10, 2025 4:03pm
  - Damocles11
    
    If you are panicking, do you throw yourselves to the rabid wolves? Because that’s what any idiot voting for Labour / TPM / Greens would be doing. This country is a lunatic asylum.
    
    5 0
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    February 10, 2025 6:23pm
- Tom Barker
  
  I don’t think you should attach too much weight to this one result, Chris, because this pollster may not be very reliable. In fact, I understand he’s had to withdraw from his professional association. So you can maybe take some reassurance from that.
  
  5 4
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  February 10, 2025 4:43pm
  - pdm
    
    Confirmed by TVNZ Verian poll.
    
    What is more Luxon is on a slippery slope as preferred PM. The trend is downhill all the way.
    
    6 2
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    February 10, 2025 6:42pm
- SmokerGuy
  
  It’s way too early to panic! NZ is rooted at the moment, we will grow again before the next election and do you seriously think the general public will turf out a government after 1 term for Labour/Greens/TPM one if we are growing? It is so rare, I just cannot see it happening. Any growth will be seen very positively by people considering how long we have been in the state we are. The government mustn’t panic and must keep doing as much reform as possible to get that growth going. There’s a huge amount of water to go under the bridge yet.
  
  6 1
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  February 10, 2025 4:43pm
  - Damocles11
    
    Yes, some investors who can’t speak English will show up and save us before the next election. That’s the ‘big plan’.
    
    3 2
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    February 10, 2025 6:24pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Baaaaaaa!
      
      4 1
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      February 10, 2025 6:40pm
    - SmokerGuy
      
      As opposed to the left? Labour are going up because Hipkins is not in the news. People will remember how much of an asshole he is when the attention goes on him again. And how will he answer about TPM/Greens nutty policies? Like I said it’s not panic stations, the economy will improve and their polling will too. We should be welcoming foreign investment ffs!
      
      3 1
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      February 10, 2025 6:51pm
      - Ghost
        
        Hipkins has been in the news a lot, including ruling out having a Māori commissioner with veto rights, but not ruling out having one, just ruling out veto rights
        
        3 0
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        February 10, 2025 8:25pm
  - pdm
    
    Smoker – I think it is more National and Luxon in particular not doing what they said they would.
    
    Even so it is unbelievable they are losing votes to Labour and the Greens. ACT is the party that should be benefitting and it is hard to understand why they are not.
    
    10 1
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    February 10, 2025 6:46pm
    - SmokerGuy
      
      What are they not doing they said they would? They only half way through the term btw. This is not to say I am completely happy with them, they should be more bold but overall I think they’ve done an ok job and much more than John Key did.
      
      2 1
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      February 10, 2025 6:52pm
      - cmm
        
        ” They only half way through the term btw. ”
        Yes, and only now having that first coffee of the day and thinking about what they should do.
        
        They should have had plans in place to act on day one. There is no excuse for still being in a dither after 15 months.
        
        5 0
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        February 10, 2025 9:04pm
    - greybeard
      
      Because you believe the polls !
      Ignore them.
      
      3 1
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      February 10, 2025 6:53pm
- pdm
  
  TV1 Poll tonight.
  
  Watch out for Maiki being incoherent if it tells the same story..
  
  10 3
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  February 10, 2025 4:51pm
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    I expected TV1s Maiki to behave like a crushing fangirl presenting tonights poll results…& she didn’t disappoint
    
    What I didn’t expect was New Venture Capitals Alex Roy interviewed & praising Nationals latest attempt to attract foreign investors – apparently they didn’t know about his 8 Cannonball run records !
    
    2 0
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    February 10, 2025 6:31pm
  - SmokerGuy
    
    That’s the mistake you are making, why even watch it????? Don’t give those a’holes one news the satisfaction of getting ratings. I switched off a long time ago and don’t regret it at all.
    
    6 1
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    February 10, 2025 6:55pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Perhaps it’s time for Luxon to pull his finger out and actually do something? His audience is getting bored and drifting away.
  
  11 1
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  February 10, 2025 5:04pm
- Damocles11
  
  Just about every poll since the election it’s been ‘ACTs support has dropped!’ yet there they are still on a healthy 10%. The uniparty establishment want ACT gone, that much is obvious. I recommend people tune out the polls, it’s all propaganda.
  
  8 2
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  February 10, 2025 6:20pm
  - MCōs
    
    If Act starts to slip all Seymour has to do is drive a Landrover up parliament steps or pick a fight with the PM
    
    3 9
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    February 10, 2025 6:45pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That’s what happens when you scare the centre back to the left, they will never comeback now, an improving economy will not make any difference
  
  1 2
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  February 10, 2025 7:31pm
- cmm
  
  I know….
  
  Let’s perch more firmly on the fence!
  
  That won’t offend anyone…. right?
  
  3 0
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  February 10, 2025 9:02pm
Maggy Wassilieff

What the **** is wrong with “Stuff””?

I’ve just read an item on Stuff about yesterday’s death of a pupil at Rotorua Boys’ High hostel.

That’s about all the info there is in the article.

Fair enough, it’s a very recent occurrence, but “stuff” attaches this to the end of the article:

Quick question… Did this story inform, educate or inspire you? Please support us.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360575945/student-dies-rotorua-boys-high-school-hostel

SICK! SICK! SICK!!!
12 0
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February 10, 2025 4:12pm
- Ghost
  
  Todays death. Reading it this morning on nz herald it sounded like suicide, but they’ve now altered the story.
  
  Herald had on the article if you know more to email them. Vultures. Journalists are scum. My hate is how they swarm over accidents and post images as quickly as they can without any thought of the friends and relatives of the victims.
  
  15 0
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  February 10, 2025 4:21pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Todays death.
    
    Woops…. I’m losing track of time on this retirement lag.
    
    6 0
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    February 10, 2025 4:38pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Could always email them fake news Ghost.
    I doubt they fact check much.
    
    5 1
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    February 10, 2025 6:42pm
Steve Otto N Shore

DEI – Trump – Musk.
How Republicans won the DEI fight. The left are going apeshit.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/how-republicans-won-the-dei-fight-there-s-this-sort-of-white-male-grievance-they-re-catering-to/ar-AA1yHTAj?
5 5
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February 10, 2025 4:58pm
John Loveridge

Why does the Herald expect me to pay for a large amount of “premium” content that they’ve simply recycled from the Telegraph? I already have a subscription to the Telegraph. The Herald is clearly a little short of “premium” material of its own.
9 2
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February 10, 2025 5:01pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  No reporters for the Horrid, just repeaters.
  
  6 1
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  February 10, 2025 6:43pm
- Damocles11
  
  I despair for this country.
  
  2 0
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  February 10, 2025 6:58pm
MCōs

Israeli tourists being a nuisance in Pai
https://aseannow.com/topic/1351250-rising-anti-israel-sentiments-in-pai-following-tourists-misconduct/
1 1
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February 10, 2025 5:33pm
- kowtow
  
  Wow !That’s such a “news” story !
  
  Young male tourists acting badly .
  
  Oi vey!
  
  Now do one on the cessationists down south .
  
  4 4
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  February 10, 2025 6:01pm
  - MCōs
    
    If an NZ cafe put a sign up indicating Israelis were unwelcome (or any other group of people) hackles would be raised
    I thought that it should happen in Thailand fairly noteworthy
    
    1 1
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    February 10, 2025 8:12pm
  - MCōs
    
    More news from Bangkok re maintaining educational standards
    https://x.com/thaienquirer/status/1888854999503143305?s=46&t=XZLqGbhN-xeYzprhTaktsgToday
    
    0 1
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    February 10, 2025 8:52pm
Sparrow

Oh dear. Luxon is not the problem but his coalition partners. Winston has been invisible except of late with the Cooks. The problem is Kiwiblogs favourite Seymour. He is far to divisive for a lot of Kiwis pushing the Treaty stuff then privatisation. He is seen by many as a smug opportunist. Then today worrying about a person such as Polkington, you have to be joking. He will bring down the coalition. Many of us who voted for a change at the last election will be doing the same next year or more likely not voting.
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February 10, 2025 5:59pm
- SmokerGuy
  
  “ Many of us who voted for a change at the last election will be doing the same next year” to TPM??? Are you having a laugh? They are the most despicable political party NZ has ever seen. Calling people white supremesists and saying the government is committing genocide. These the kind of people you wanna vote for “change”?
  
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  February 10, 2025 6:47pm
- Damocles11
  
  If you don’t vote then that’s the same as a vote for Labour.
  Instead of lashing out at other people you may consider the daily media hit pieces attacking Seymour, and that the establishment want him gone which may explain the negative poll spin for a party still above 10%.
  Wanting equality for all New Zealanders is not ‘divisive’, although you seem to have been brainwashed into thinking it is.
  
  10 0
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  February 10, 2025 7:03pm
Swifty

RNZAF Skyhawks versus the Yanks:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gmHj9Jfqy3A
1 0
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February 10, 2025 6:23pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Shut down should have happened ages ago…..
Yep it is Musk and Trump, and the left are screaming!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/us-humanitarian-aid-agency-inches-towards-takeover-amid-musk-s-claims-of-shutdown/ar-AA1ymio0?
1 2
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February 10, 2025 7:11pm
Swifty

Tom Sowell on social justice fallacies, interviewed by Ben Shapiro:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f7gh68Weimg
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February 10, 2025 7:17pm

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