General Debate 29 March 2025

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CJames

There is an interesting video here – Bret Baier interviewing Musk and other leaders of DOGE
https://youtu.be/l7kQNwJ4H_w
One wonders why none of the other news media organisations didn’t do similar stories. Another proof of their bias?
The people fronting in the interview are patriotic American business leaders, many of them billionaires from Silicon Valley. The stories they tell are shocking, even for someone jaded by government ineptitude. There was no financial control. None would pass the regular audits and financial recordkeeping that all companies have to meet. The fraud was astounding – near half the Social Security communications. The myriad computer systems are antiquated, cost a fortune to maintain and can’t cross-communicate. There was twice as many employee credit cards as employees. They were regularly losing billions. I don’t they had an idea as to just how bad it was. As they point out, the people who complain the loudest are likely tied up with those who were fraudulently benefitting the most.
One is left the belief that the corruption in their bureaucratic system is endemic. Congress was aware of it, yet did nothing. How many of their members have become very rich since getting into office? How did that happen? 10% for the Big Guy?
It made me wonder how many NZ government organisations would survive analysis by company accountants.
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March 29, 2025 8:00am
- surfing
  
  I do agree that updating IT systems is a good thing.
  
  Maybe some budgets for this will start being approved? It is a very expensive exercise.
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:19am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    Those who think the Labour hierarchy weren’t finding creative methods to enrich themselves with the tax money they weren’t spending on our roads….
    
    RNZ FEB 2024 “The Health Ministry has admitted failings in its handling of contracts awarded to the company Tātou, a consultancy with close ties to former cabinet minister Peeni Henare.
    
    A review has found the ministry failed to raise any concerns about any conflicts of interest when it awarded seven contracts to Tātou between 2021 and 2022 when its chief executive was Henare’s partner Skye Kimura.”
    
    Now…. who owns the consultancy companies hired by the Labour hierarchy in droves and where do the profits end up?
    
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    March 29, 2025 9:59am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Mahutacorp.
      
      Be interesting to know how the income for that family has changed since change in govt.
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:35am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Yes. And where did the money, the Maori Kings family were paid, end up?
        
        There is a very real chance that while they distracted the outraged populace with Maori favoritism, the axis of evil were lining their pockets / foundations with kohas.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:45pm
    - artemisia
      
      Tauranga long-standing charity Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust has now gone into liquidation.
      
      Last year taxpayer millions per year – contracts from MSD, Corrections, Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development – terminated. This followed a review in early 2024 though serious issues were not new.
      
      Cover up? By? Surely public servants monitoring large contracts were aware. If not, hmmm.
      
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      March 29, 2025 1:09pm
- kowtow
  
  Another one you won’t read about from our te meedia paahti is the billions in corrupt dollars the Dems shovelled their mates in the so called Inflation Reduction Act.
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:23am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  I’ve seen this argument before, that “those who complain are the ones who were benefiting fraudulently” but that doesn’t make sense. Why would you expect somebody in genuine need and dependent on a benefit to which they were legitimately entitled and which they’d gone through all the necessary processes to obtain – to stay meek and silent when it was suddenly taken away? And if the fraudsters and the corruption are so obvious, why haven’t there been any charges?
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:40am
  - Colville
    
    It’s the people skimming a margin before it gets to the people with the genuine need that are the issue.
    
    No different to aid going to Africa… And the skimmed margin is near 100%.
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:06am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      And why would you expect people who’ve been doing that, to be the loudest in complaint? If they’ve been committing actual fraud, which that would certainly be, why would you expect them to be trying to draw attention to themselves?
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:21am
      - artemisia
        
        Panic.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:10pm
      - AitchW
        
        Hubris. They’ve been able to skim with impunity for years and have come to believe it is an entitlement.
        
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        March 29, 2025 3:35pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        And yet, despite the fraud and corruption being so prevalent and the perpetrators so willing to attract attention to their crimes – nobody’s been charged.
        
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        March 29, 2025 4:50pm
  - Lance
    
    I didn’t realise to recently that what these people were complaining about, was them not receiving their own money that they had put into, like Kiwi Saver.
    Then some total tool of a billionaire comes on and gives the example of his mother not complaining about her money not turning up a month or two, so if anyone does complain they are clearly fraudsters.
    
    FFS, a billionaire’s mother doesn’t complain about not getting her money????
    Let me guess, she is not starving or being thrown out of her apartment due to not affording rent because she is not poor.
    
    Obscene gaslighting
    
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    March 29, 2025 4:21pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I would be very surprised if there was corrupt activity of the type described within major NZ public sector agencies. More credit cards than employees? In my (limited) experience, there are few agency credit cards.
  
  However, one does wonder about some of the organisations in receipt of grants from some of those agencies. I do think a thorough audit of grants over $10k across the 2017-2023 government would shock many.
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:51am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘I would be very surprised if there was corrupt activity of the type described within major NZ public sector agencies.’
    
    Yes but there are many ways to skin a cat , or in the NZ context , to pacify the taniwha , or bloat an already very bloated public “service” with what the English call “jobsworths”.
    
    But then if you include our major charities , as “public sector agencies” which is effectively what they are heavily subsidised by taxpayer contributions as they are , I’d say the potential for outright corruption is huge.
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:40am
    - imalwaysright
      
      The easiest way to scam the public is by certain companies and organisations having their invoices fast tracked and not verified.
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:59am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  I mean, the only concrete, objective fact in any of this is that the department’s computer systems are old and inefficient. That will not have been news to anybody at the department, or the Government Accountability Office, or the relevant Congressional oversight committees, or indeed anybody who works for or with any Government anywhere in the world.
  
  It is not fraud or corruption in itself. It is, however, expensive to address.
  That’s something that these oh-so-patriotic Silicon Valley billionaires could provide actual help with. Don’t tell me – they were ever so willing to accept a lucrative Government contract to do so?
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:08am
  - Interested Party
    
    I suspect most of any IT contracts would go to the more traditional IT firms – IBM and the likes
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:50am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      And the cost would be chump change to Elon.
      
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      March 29, 2025 12:06pm
  - CJames
    
    No Dudley – you don’t wonder why they have millions over 115 years old with active Social Security numbers? Who is claiming their benefits? What about the $6B for submarines they lost? Not the least curiosity? You could be perfect for Maori Party auditing.
    
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    March 29, 2025 12:09pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      This one was explained almost as soon as it was excitedly announced by DOGE as if it were some startling new discovery, which it wasn’t. There are indeed people on the database who look as if they’re 200, but the fact that they all have the exact same birthdate should have been a bit of an indication that those weren’t actual dates. It is an artifact of the aforementioned creaky old computer system which Congress has consistently been too parsimonious to get overhauled. That system used a default birth date when the actual date was unavailable or was incomplete, and that date was deliberately made really old so that it would be understood that it wasn’t real.
      
      No case has been identified of any such person actually receiving any money.
      
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      March 29, 2025 4:10pm
      - Lance
        
        No Dudley, facts that don’t enforce MAGA lies are evil.
        
        //
        
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        March 29, 2025 4:24pm
- pb
  
  40% of calls to social security are scammers!
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:13am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Your evidence, please. And if that’s true, that’s an argument for providing more resources and better IT to make such calls easier to spot and deal with, not for cutting staff and budgets
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:25am
- Graeme Hall
  
  For example, 5 million people aged 120-129 yrs receiving social security benefits when the oldest living American is 114yrs.
  
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  March 29, 2025 2:17pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Clearly there are not 5 million people aged 120-129 years old. One explanation is that there are 5 million people defrauding the system. Another explanation is that their ages or birthdays are incorrectly recorded in the system, and those 5 million people are perfectly entitled to the benefits they’re receiving. Don’t let your political prejudices draw you to the wrong conclusion.
    
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    March 29, 2025 3:32pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    No case of any such person actually receiving any money has been identified.
    
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    March 29, 2025 4:13pm
  - Lance
    
    Debunked again and again and again.
    Sigh
    
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    March 29, 2025 4:26pm
Matt Long

Meanwhile Britain continues to destroy itself, with the last Chinese owned vestiges of its steel industry now closing down.
https://x.com/stillgray/status/1905475595905143137
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March 29, 2025 8:19am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Britain is now the ONLY G7 country that cannot make new steel.
  
  They can only melt scrap metal.
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:31am
- kowtow
  
  Yep , Britain home of the industrial revolution ( that idiot Boris Johnson apologised for) is now the only G7 country unable to produce its own steel .
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:32am
  - Keith White
    
    France is busy playing catch-up – new proposal urges “French citizens (to) invest their personal savings of a minimum €500 for at least 5 years, to mitigate dwindling public support for military over social spending” – France’s Minister Pour Notre Crappy Economie just announced.
    
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    March 29, 2025 9:59am
    - kowtow
      
      France isn’t totally stupide .
      
      It still manages to turn a blind eye to the thousands of illegals setting off to England .
      
      Britian , whose Elite who won’t defend the country and that has a huge welfare bill as literally millions refuse to work , cos the beneftis are so good!
      
      Meanwhile its immigration “justice” system does everything in its power not to deport criminals , pedophiles , terrorists , drug pushers etc
      
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      March 29, 2025 10:19am
    - Quail
      
      KW,
      And inflation will ensure investors will be lucky to get 50% of the original value of their investment .
      back!
      “ Any government that can do everything for you can also take everything off you”.
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:01am
    - kowtow
      
      It really is nonsense .
      
      Downing Street , in fear of Trumpian geostrategic demands pretends it will rearm .
      
      At the same time as they destroy native industry in the name of Gaia I suppose .
      
      What will they build the warships and planes with . The forests are gone .
      
      Even the Northern Irish flax mills that provided so much materials for the WWI fighters and planes are gone.
      
      ‘By 1916 all the linen yarn from the mill went to fulfil government orders. Most of it was used to make the fabric that covered fighter planes.’
      
      https://www.lisburnmuseum.com/news/the-war-was-won-on-ulster-linen-wings-how-aerolinen-and-andrews-mill-in-comber-aided-the-war-effort/
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:44am
      - Jack5
        
        Kowtow’s …Even the Northern Irish flax mills … are gone…
        
        New Zealand grew linen flax in Canterbury and Marlbourough during WW2 at Britain’s request, such was the fabric’s importance.
        
        Belgian linen seems to be the best now, but China’s the biggest grower.
        
        Pure linen fabric is still popular round the world, particularly in hot countires. It “breathes”. It creases, but most wearers will tell you the more it is worn and washed, the less it creases.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:58pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    So how are they going to build the tanks,ships and guns that Starmer has pledged to fight Russia with? PATHETIC, the home of the industrial revolution has surrendered
    
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    March 29, 2025 12:09pm
- Raphael
  
  but don’t worry Starmer is banning ninja swords
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:13am
  - Keith White
    
    When ninja swords are outlawed, only mutant turtles will have them…
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:00am
    - Colville
      
      Raphael https://g.co/kgs/q7sAoo9
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:11am
  - Colville
    
    What exactly is a “ninja sword”?
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:12am
    - NothingLeft
      
      swords are apparently used for 1 or 2 percent of violent stabby type crimes in UK. kitchen knives well north of 50%
      
      So vacuous Starmer govt who ideologically can’t do anything to address the actual cause of increasing knife attacks (non-integrating cultural imports) flails around trying to be seen to be doing something. “Ninja swords” will be part of their political epitaph.
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:41am
Philview

A Jacinda Ardern advert for her book just popped up on this site. Someone in advertising is trolling!
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March 29, 2025 8:21am
- imalwaysright
  
  The title bastardises the language:
  ” Mum’s Busy Work”
  She’s a halfwit.
  
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  March 29, 2025 12:02pm
Handyman

Great news!
After years of uncertainty, the Auckland Council has had a meeting and decided that the rest of New Zealand should pay $200 million to upgrade their Eden Park.
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March 29, 2025 8:48am
- Colville
  
  I will happily contribute just because Helen dosent want it to happen.
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:15am
- MCōs
  
  Auckland’s make up about about a third of ‘the rest’
  Taxpayers are contributing a similar amount, $200mil, towards the construction of the Chch stadium
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:34am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    I’d be happy if they kept the $200m, packed the lot up and took the monstrosity up to Auckland or dumped it somewhere on the Desert Road. Major roads in the CBD have been jammed for years while they fart around building this altar to Rugby.
    
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    March 29, 2025 2:25pm
    - MCōs
      
      Neither venue is an ‘alter to rugby’
      Far more revenue is made at these stadiums from concerts and after all that’s what it’s all about.
      Take a look at the annual reports for these places.
      The MCG made far more money for Taylor Swift that all the cricket matches combined for that particular year.
      
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      March 29, 2025 7:42pm
      - Michael Sommerville
        
        I did a conducted tour of Eden Park and they confirmed that. Concerts bring in six times the revenue of rugby matches.
        
        The new CEO has got the vast majority of the local residents are on side and Helen is severely outnumbered.
        
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        March 29, 2025 9:19pm
      - Jethrod
        
        And pray tell, where did all the money from the Swifty concert go?
        
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        March 29, 2025 9:25pm
- GJM
  
  So why Eden Park? What about Mt Smart, which doesn’t have residential neighbors?
  
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  March 30, 2025 2:29pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said.

“You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.
———————————————-
Sounds self-serving to me.

Perhaps the US could start by doing a better job for the people of Porto Rico.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360633352/its-cold-st-here-jd-vance-and-wife-tour-us-base-greenland-amid-diplomatic-spat-over-uninvited-visit
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March 29, 2025 8:58am
- David Garrett
  
  Nevermind: Forget about self serving mate…Trump’s statement that he will take over Greenland “one way or another” is truly frightening. If that is not a threat to the people of Denmark and Greenland i don’t know what is.
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:52am
  - Yvette
    
    David – Trump’s statement that he will take over Greenland “one way or another” is truly frightening.
    
    I haven’t seen Trump’s statement, but an immediate obvious reaction could be “… and this guy is dealing with Putin regards the invasion of Ukraine?”
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:21am
    - Jack5
      
      Here we go again – Thanks Trumpy …
      
      The German parliament’s Upper House, the Bundesrat, yesterday sealed a vast defence spend-up: the equivalent in NZ dollars of 1.895 trillion (thousand billions).
      
      The bill, which needed two-thirds support, has sent up yields on German bonds, and the Wall Street says this will likely reduce European investment in American bonds.
      
      The legislation exempted defence spending from Germany’s strict rules on government debt.
      
      Friedrich Merz, the man behind these plans and who is expected to soon be confirmed as Germany’s new chancellor, told the Lower House, the Bundestag, earlier in the week that the country had “felt a false sense of security” for the past decade.
      
      “The decision we are taking today… can be nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defence community,” he said, adding that it includes countries that are “not members of the European Union”.
      
      Speaking at a press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, she said the vote “sends a very clear message to Europe that Germany is determined to invest massively in defence”.
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:19am
      - Colville
        
        Amazing isn’t it.. Trump says a few “odd” things then shit starts to happen.
        
        Maybe those odd statements aren’t that odd!
        
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        March 29, 2025 11:48am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        Very little of which will be seen by US manufacturers.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:05pm
      - kowtow
        
        Did the Danes demand their province that the Prussians seized in one of their wars of unification.
        
        Or is it only the Evil Orange Man Bad who can’t talk territoriality.
        
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        March 29, 2025 1:15pm
      - Paulus
        
        I will believe it when I see this German massive increase even start !
        
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        March 29, 2025 4:22pm
    - Jack5
      
      On President Trump’s call for Canada to become another state of the USA …
      
      The Toronto Star reports today (NZ time) on a phone talk between Canadian Prime Minister Carney and President Trump:
      
      “No mention of the Prime Minister as a ‘governor.’ No mention of Canada as a 51st state.
      
      “The first phone conversation between Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump ended Friday without taunting by Trump — with an agreement to start comprehensive trade talks after the Canadian election, and a clear hint Trump sees Carney as the future Prime Minister.
      
      “It also ended with a clear notification from Ottawa that Canada will respond to Trump’s tariffs with more retaliatory tariffs, despite Trump’s warnings of escalating his penalties on Canada.
      
      “The tone change is striking.”
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:45am
      - Jack5
        
        Meanwhile Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has run into a personal snag in his re-election campaign.
        
        He’s accused of plagiarism in his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Oxford in the 1990s.
        
        The Telegraph of London reports the thesis appears to include “verbatim quotes, paragraphs or lightly amended excerpts from previous works without proper attribution”.
        
        Carney is accused of presenting sentences from the economist Michael E. Porter as his own. The newspapers says Carney cites Porter’s 1990 book The Competitive Advantage of Nations at different points, but is accused of failing to do so in others.
        
        The essence of the criticism is thus proper attribution. Pff!
        
        Given the torrent of PhD’s being created in NZ, mostly in “social science” and indigenous-culture subjects, a doctorate is deteriorating to be the new B.A. (bugger all).
        
        Carney knowledge? To an old guy, the words trigger memories of acquaintances who faced or feared a common court charge half a century or more ago: unlawful carnal knowledge. That related to boys, typically 16 to 18, having unlawful sex with a girl under 16. The shame! Today’s young folk wouldn’t understand.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:17pm
      - kowtow
        
        No one ever considers the context of Trump’s , granted rude and probably trolling comments ;
        
        Trudeau went to Mar a Lago to ask Trump not to tarriff Canada , he told Trump that the Canadian economy would collapse .
        
        That and the fact the Canadians have been happy to bludge and for the US to spend on their defence gave Trump the idea that Canada would be better off as a state , as economically ( and militarily) it might as well be one , de facto as it were .
        
        Personally I consider Trump’s approach to be rude , undiplomatic and un necessary ……but he does have a point about their economy and military . But yes the sovereignty thing is a stretch.
        
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        March 29, 2025 1:24pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Agreed kowtow.
        I think Trump is unnecessarily rude. He needs to back off & discuss rather joint arrangements, but he is wrong to demand ownership.
        
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        March 29, 2025 1:59pm
  - Dougal10
    
    The way the usa is set up how could they actually take over anything, unless it becomes it own state or part of washington dc which means it would be an autonomous territory type deal ,which is like they have now with denmark without the ocean in between .
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:35am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    “nice country you have here, it’d be a shame if anything happened to it”
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:49am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Agree it’s a stupid way to say it. But reality; 50k Greenlanders. Trump could just offer $1million cash to each Greenlander if they organize a majority vote to become part of USA. That would be super-easy and agreeable way to get it done.
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:44am
  - GazzaW
    
    Trump is becoming almost Hitlerian with his territorial demands from his adjoining neighbours.
    
    Lebensraum anyone?
    
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    March 29, 2025 2:21pm
    - Lance
      
      Has been the Fascist play book since the Roman Republic was replaced by the Dictators / Emperors.
      Modern versions started with Mussolini and Hitler, but there have been many others.
      They also all used oligarchs to get them into power, all told monstrous lies, such that the general populace couldn’t tell fact from fiction, then supressed the free speech, nullified the judicial system, then found convenient minority groups to blame for everyone’s woes and then oppressed said minority groups and then started invading other countries to expand their resource base.
      
      Every single time this is how it has been done.
      
      If you don’t believe me, try a little Googling and ….. reading of history
      
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      March 29, 2025 4:38pm
- Keith White
  
  The US taxpayers fund Porto Rico at US$10 billion a year, and have an extra $3 billion after the disaster. Perhaps the PR Govt could try not stealing the $3 billion a year lost to corruption each and every year – who do they think they are, an iwi affiliate?
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:05am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Puerto Rico is an American colony, as is Hawaii, Guam and others.
    
    Consider France and its overseas territories. France is regularly called out for being a colonialist, yet their situation is not so different from the US.
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:43am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Except, of course, Hawaii is a state.
      
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      March 29, 2025 12:50pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Oh – so 3 people think Hawaii is not a state of the USA?
        It became the 50th state in 1959.
        
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        March 29, 2025 2:00pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        France provides representation from French Polynesia in its parliament, and there is a level of local self determination.
        
        As I say, not so different.
        
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        March 29, 2025 7:35pm
- Jack5
  
  The official name is Puerto Rico.
  
  The CIA World Factbook explains the political position:
  
  In plebiscites held in 1967, 1993, and 1998, voters chose not to alter the existing status of Puerto Rico with the United States, but a 2012 vote left open the possibility of American statehood. A referendum held in late 2020 showed a narrow preference for statehood.
  
  The Factbook says the population is 3,019,450 — White 75.8%, Black/African American 12.4%, other 8.5%, mixed 3.3%. They are United States citizens.
  
  In GDP per capita, and taking Puerto Rico as a nation, it is ranked 55th in the world (NZ is 44th).
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:49am
  - Keith White
    
    Puerto Ricans don’t have to pay US / federal income tax. But when there’s a natural disaster or financial problems, Uncle Sam bails them out.
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:53am
    - Dougal10
      
      So like us and a few of the pacific islands to the north .
      
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      March 29, 2025 11:13am
- CJames
  
  Never Mind – there has been a lot of corruption in US grants to Pueto Rico – links back to the first GD post.
  https://www.npr.org/2022/05/12/1098585366/in-puerto-rico-the-arrests-of-elected-officials-worsen-trust-in-government
  https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/one-of-the-most-corrupt-places-on-earth-colonialism-anti-corruption-and-the-puerto-rican-summer-of-2019
  As they have a corrupt government there led by Democrats, why should Trump give them aid?
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:28am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Even if true, that is none of his fucking business.
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:32am
- Hard Cheese
  
  It’s absolutely none of that fat headed fool’s business. On one hand he doesn’t want the US to be the world police protecting European shipping from the Houtis, now he rocks up in Greenland uninvited sticking his nose in and acting oh-so-concerned about their security architecture. Good job the Greenland people have basically told him to fuck off.
  
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  March 29, 2025 1:38pm
bennerg

On the topic of Charities and tax, my major beef is where they own businesses that compete in the everyday realm of commerce – like making breakfast cereal, or running a contracting business, tourism, forestry, fisheries etc.

The easiest way to counter this is that to qualify to be a Charity, you must have or own no such business activity, and if you do, you must divest them to another non-charitable entity (company or trust) to run the business, but it must pay tax on it’s profit. Then a maximum of say $20k per year only to be eligible for any tax free donation from that entity. Any further donation must come out of tax paid profit.

The big question then is what is a charity, and why do we give them tax free status?

Ask a friendly AI tool and you get this:

In New Zealand, a charity is an organisation registered with Charities Services (Department of Internal Affairs) that has charitable purposes and provides a public benefit, and is not operated for private gain.

Then the next question is what are “charitable purposes”, what is a “public benefit”, and what is “private gain”?

Charitable purposes
We understand that churches and other other such organisations that actually do work to advocate for the betterment for mankind fit that original definition. But what about Greenpeace who advocate for betterment through political means? (Just askin’ here).

Public benefit
Again my friendly AI tool says “Public benefit” refers to a benefit that accrues to the public at large, rather than to a specific individual, small group, or private enterprise.

So this implies that a trust helping one ethnic group to employ young persons who have difficulty getting employment by running a contracting business does not fit this definition.

Private Gain
Where the organisation ostensibly operates “charitably”, but then pays it’s management above grade wages, to the extent that it’s top level get paid more than the Prime Minister, then does this not indicate that the organisation is in some manner operating for private gain?

I can see that in New Zealand we have many organisations rorting the system, and that this needs to change.

Returning the definition of “charities” to a very select group, with the prime and real purpose of helping their fellow man, with strict rules as to how they operate – ie to only provide a service, not to own and/or operate an income generating business.
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March 29, 2025 9:01am
- wsk12345
  
  I think you are wrong regarding public benefit. An anima welfare charity for instance might focus on cats rather than dogs. That doesn’t stop it being a charity. Or a charity might focus on children or mentally ill people or some other subset of the community – also ok. Public benefit doesn’t mean it accrues to everyone but rather to what general public would consider beneficial to society.
  
  Does that include racist charities? If they actually do their job and they are bringing that race up to the standard of everyone else then probably yes.
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:51am
  - bennerg
    
    Good point WSK, but I guess there is a question that could be asked, and that is does the benefit gained by that group also benefit the overall society, or does it just benefit that small group? That is what “public benefit” is all about, and what charities are meant to be about.
    
    As to racist charities, that becomes a question of quite a different nature. Personally I believe that you do not change the fundamental principles of your society to fulfil a particular issue of concern, rather you address the issue directly. In New Zealand I believe reparations through the Waitangi Tribunal has been the way to go. Extending it beyond that to other mechasims just becomes an out of control rort. We do not have very many preminently Maori citizens any more, as they now have a majority of European, Chinese, Indian and other genetic makeup, with the advantages that come with that. The bigger issue is what has been done with the billions already paid in reparations, and why has that not been reflected in the lower end of Maori society? eg. compared to say the Tamihere and Mahuta families at the other end of the spectrum. But that’s another topic for another day.
    
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    March 29, 2025 6:55pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      the billions already paid in reparations, and why has that not been reflected in the lower end of Maori society
      
      Just to put this into perspective – the Treaty settlements are $4bn overall – which sounds like a lot until you see that the health, education and the pension are each about $20bn – per year.
      
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      March 29, 2025 8:07pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Should Maori Be Respected?

Video 26.42.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAcmcG_9gU0
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March 29, 2025 9:12am
- David Garrett
  
  Steve O: I commend Mr Bachelor for his courage…IMO he is literally risking his life by being as blunt as he is
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:41am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    He knows the dangers. He put up with them on his tour of NZ holding meetings. I have mentioned it to him. He certainly doesn’t beat about the bush, just straight up.
    I was also at the Orewa meeting. Very intimidating.
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:34am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Kudos to the police who were being filmed. despite the abuse and continual baiting they remained calm and polite.
  
  A credit to their unit.
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:07am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    No video of the four committing the robbery, wonder why not?
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:36am
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: The Wormy Woke Apple
Nobody wants to buy rotten goods.

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-the-wormy-woke-apple?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 29, 2025 9:13am
Bridgenag

Covid mRNA vaccine DNA contamination goes mainstream with Joe Rogan
REBEKAH BARNETT

“On a jaw-dropping episode of the Joe Rogan podcast this week, guest Dr Suzanne Humphries, a medically trained doctor and former nephrologist (kidney specialist) and author of the book Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History, lobbed a series of hand grenades about vaccine safety and effectiveness.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rebekahbarnett/p/covid-mrna-vaccine-dna-contamination?r=5aqwv0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 29, 2025 9:15am
- imalwaysright
  
  Good vid.
  I like it when they ask the simple questions like “where is the study that shows the jab is safe for pregnant women?”
  Maybe Ashley can answer that next time he has a friendly chat with Gower.
  
  They are still recommending it.
  https://healthify.nz/medicines-a-z/c/covid-19-vaccination-and-pregnancy
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:20am
pdm

I have not watched the video but there are a large number of Maori friends and others that I have the highest respect for.

Kiri te Kanawa for one, Howard Morrison is another. A first cousin of the recently deceased Maori King is a third one plus most of the Maori boys and girls I went through both primary and High School with.
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March 29, 2025 9:17am
- David Garrett
  
  Pdm: I strongly suggest you watch the vid. Bachelor shares your view regarding individual Maori…and of course I agree with both of you.
  But respect for Maori culture is another matter entirely. I also largely agree with Mr Bachelor in that there is very little to admire about Maori culture…their method of dealing with death and the dead is, for me, one exception.
  
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  March 29, 2025 9:46am
  - David Garrett
    
    So the resident idiot formerly with many names has arrived.
    
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    March 29, 2025 9:54am
    - David Garrett
      
      …and again…
      
      12 4
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      March 29, 2025 10:15am
      - David Garrett
        
        I cant imagine what it would be like to have a life so barren that the highlight of one’s day is being the person who downticks (almost) every comment on KB. – more often than not the single downtick that person’s comment receives.
        
        I wonder if the satisfaction is like that enjoyed by a person who makes annoying phone calls during which the caller just breathes loudly…
        
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        March 29, 2025 10:53am
      - Gravelroad
        
        I recall that quite a few years ago, Mike or mikenmild and mikeinmildagain etc claimed here that he routinely down ticked comments in order to keep a record of same. In other words, so he didn’t miss anything contributed.
        You might be one of his faves. Did you think of that?
        
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        March 29, 2025 11:56am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Obviously Labour pays by the click, so it’s a proof of productivity thing
        
        4 0
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        March 29, 2025 12:14pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      Yes, we lost Benedict Yu and regained Mike.
      
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      March 29, 2025 12:02pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yeah – we really got the rough end of the deal.
        
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        March 29, 2025 12:51pm
Greenheart

So America will take over Greenland by whatever means and Putin has given his endorsement. Presumably Trump has agreed that Putin should take over Ukraine in a quid pro quo. The end game seems to be that Europe and the Arctic will be
divided between America and Russia with the other countries involved given no say. Maybe in future similar agreements may be reached over Asia and the Pacific between America and China if the Trump regime lasts that long.
The end result three dictatorships ruling the World.
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March 29, 2025 9:18am
- Lance
  
  For fascist regimes to survive, they must take over other countries.
  That is what history teaches us.
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:14am
  - NothingLeft
    
    fascist/communist are just slightly different brands of the same repressive despotic authoritarian shit. It doesn’t require spreading to endure for at least a century in a country. No signs of Chinese or Korean regimes failing any time soon
    
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    March 29, 2025 12:01pm
  - peterwn
    
    Witness Argentina wanting to get its hands on the Falklands, they need the distraction to keep the people happy. And while the UN generally favours colonies becoming independent they have not criticised Argentina for its stance. A referendum in Falklands indicates a majority staying with UK (the Falklands is too small to become a completely independent nation). Surely the UN should support the wishes of the Falkland Islanders but, no, there are other international politics at play.
    
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    March 29, 2025 1:01pm
- peterwn
  
  Trump has only three and something years to achieve his objective re Greenland. He will then be out of the White House (he is not eligible for re-election having served two terms). It would seem any successor is not going to keep that project on.
  
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  March 29, 2025 12:56pm
Bridgenag

My War Room Talk with Steve Bannon
OK, my proposed War Room talk with Steve Bannon

“The single biggest fear of Marxists and Progressives is to have Critically Thinking citizens. To pull off their ideological nonsense they are entirely dependent on citizens being compliant — i.e., that they defer to authority, accept what’s politically correct, follow consensus, buy into computer projections, etc.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/criticallythinking/p/my-war-room-talk-with-steve-bannon?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 29, 2025 9:25am
Keith White

UK & France officially send troops to Ukraine.

I’m so old I remember MAC(V)SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Special Operations Group). The big war some people want can’t really get going until you get MAC(U) boots on the ground, hey, Starmer, Macron & Co.?
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March 29, 2025 9:48am
- Keith White
  
  So, I’m guessing the downtickers have never fought in a war or they would be not so keen on amplifying one.
  
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  March 29, 2025 3:59pm
Tomtoddy

Is National keeping on digging the Treaty Principles Bill hole? Not even looking at submissions?
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March 29, 2025 10:19am
- imalwaysright
  
  Apparently there are many handwritten submissions from schoolchildren.
  Presumably all done after school of their own volition.
  I had no idea how politically aware our children are….
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:25am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Excellent comment without actually commenting.
    
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    March 29, 2025 10:46am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Big Sister is watching….
    
    7 2
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    March 29, 2025 12:02pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Big Mother more than likely. You know who I mean.
      
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      March 29, 2025 1:45pm
- Yvette
  
  Tomtoddy, do you think that looking at thousands of further submissions will make any difference to the outcome of the Committee, presumably a report back, which will be some summation of individual impressions
  that will be no more accurate than Willie Jackson receiving filtered feedback from dozens of hui on co-governance and He Puapua with selected Maori elite, then filtering that himself by telling those summarising the material to go back and try again (which means a version different to what impressions they did submit in the first place) to make it acceptable to Cabinet colleagues, before they shape it for release to the public?
  
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  March 29, 2025 10:39am
- Burtland
  
  will Duncan Webb even provide a for-and-against count?
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:14am
  - pdm
    
    According to the `boffin’ in the Justice area that James Meager got to reply to my January email to him they will give that breakdown at the end of the Select Committee process in May. As follows here:
    
    `As the chairperson has noted, final number of submissions, including the number of submissions to be returned, is yet to be determined as submissions are still being processed.
    Information about the number of submissions in favour or opposed to a bill is usually released when the select committee makes its final report to Parliament. The reporting deadline for this bill is 14 May 2025.
    I can confirm that the hearings will be live-streamed and available at this link: Watch public meetings of the Justice Committee’
    Ngāi mihi
    
    Gabor
    Gabor Hellyer
    Principal Clerk of Committee
    Justice Committee (Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill)
    
    Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives
    
    Te Tari o te Manahautū o te Whare Māngai
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:59am
  - kowtow
    
    I noticed in Hansard recently when Webb was spaeking in the House that a number of govt MP’s heckled him along the lines of “bully” , “school yard bully”.
    
    Does he have some sort of reputation?
    
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    March 29, 2025 3:11pm
Ghost

There seems to be an opportunity here

Is it a bad brew at Tauranga City Council or a fair staff perk?

It’s been revealed the council’s got a five-year contract for coffee machines and coffee supplies at the cost of $470,000, about $94,000 a year.

The council had over 1000 staff so the coffee worked out to be about 65 cents a cup, compared with 35 cents using instant, Drysdale said.

Article

How about the council charge staff a few dollars per coffee. What’s next, providing them with lunch and dinner? Also how about council cars are used for council business and not for driving the kids to sports in the weekend or going grocery shopping.
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March 29, 2025 10:34am
- Don Beckett
  
  Nah, that’s OK. The rates are only going up 12% this year instead of the 20% for the past 4 years.
  Aren’t we lucky //
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:01am
- Cassandra
  
  Providing tea and coffee is pretty normal in work places. In this case they also should have a cafe onsite, run commercially. Drysdale is a political novice and it shows. Totally unqualified for the job and that also shows. His election demonstrates the stupidity of voters – name recognition is the major factor which is why Tammy Paul says stupid things. Some voters remember the name and forget the stupidity.
  
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  March 29, 2025 11:06am
  - peterwn
    
    The tea and coffee situation in work places is rather funny. About 50 years ago in the Public Service, while the employers frequently hired part time tea ladies but staff had to pay ‘tea money’ for the ingredients with some poor hapless soul collecting tea money. hey tried to get me to collect it but I responded the Assistant General Manager would not be very happy with me doing it (and I think I read the tea leaves correctly on this). Anyway the PSA then started wanting the employers to pay for the ingredients and the State Services Commission (as it then was) resisted and that went on for quite a while until they relented. While the PSA gained a small victory, they failed to see the big picture. Much of their resources were going into dealing with a trifling matter with small financial benefit to staff, which meant that they were distracted from negotiating the big stuff with a much larger potential payoff for employees. How hilarious!!
    
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    March 29, 2025 11:28am
- Colville
  
  Ghost
  IMHO a total beat up.
  Worked out at 50 cents per staff member a day.
  
  The time cost lost by people wandering out to grab a flat white from a cafe would be a couple orders of magnitude greater.
  
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  March 29, 2025 12:00pm
  - nova
    
    It’s 50 cents a day if all 1,000 staff are able to use it. But likely quite a few staff work outside of the main council buildings, so it’s probably a few dollars benefit for some, and nothing for others.
    In the scheme of things it is small fry. The bigger question is why personnel expenses went from $106 million in 2023 to $125 million in 2024. And overall expenditure went from $421 million to $515 million.
    
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    March 29, 2025 12:34pm
  - cmm
    
    Yup, focus on the real waste. Like having 1000 staff!!
    
    It isn’t the 50 cents per day on coffee that is the problem. It’s the hundreds of dollars a day in salaries and other expenses.
    
    But it would seem Christchurch is no better.
    
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    March 29, 2025 1:24pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      I did a couple of small jobs for the Tauranga Council back in 1998. Then they had 400 staff, & I thought they were overstaffed.
      But it’s OK – OPM & socialism in local politics.
      
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      March 29, 2025 2:07pm
      - Paulus
        
        But Tauranga had Mahuta appointed Commissioners for some years and the staff number grew exponntially, as did the Ardern rate salaries to huge heights.
        But remember the only employer is the CEO – and ex Policeman I understand.
        
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        March 29, 2025 4:30pm
Suze Wainwright

One wonders why Te Pati Maori doesn’t have a fully committed Rainbow policy. Is it likely to be a source of concern in future coalition negotiations with the Green Party of Aotearoa/New Zealand?

Latest GPANZ MP Benjamin Doyle definitely supports TPM. Them certainly knows how to deliver a tear-provoking karakia at all the right places. And Ricardo Menendez March has publicly stated that he stands behind Te Pati Maori on everything.

Would it be too much for GPANZ to expect TPM to stand firmly with them over the Rainbow? I guess Debbie Ngawera-Packer might be of some support.
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March 29, 2025 10:57am
- cmm
  
  It is bloody obvious. You get a rainbow when you split up white light.
  
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  March 29, 2025 1:25pm
Ghost

Damage from yesterdays earthquake looks bad

MCōs might want to come home

The death toll from the Myanmar earthquake could easily surpass 10,000, according to modelling by the United States Geological Survey.

The huge earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds, with dozens trapped in collapsed buildings.

The shallow 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon, and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock.

Article
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March 29, 2025 10:58am
- MCōs
  
  As it happened we were about 100km of Bangkok having fun and didn’t feel a thing
  On the way home the motorway passed the site of the collapsed building under construction
  Earthquakes are pretty much unheard of here
  The epicenter was maybe a thousand ks away
  
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  March 29, 2025 12:56pm
  - cmm
    
    Bangkok is about 1000km from the epicentre (near Mandalay), so it isn’t that surprising you felt little.
    
    That is about the same distance as Cape Reinga to Christchurch. Did anyone in Cape Reinga feel the Darfield EQ?
    
    Of course there’s more to it that just the magnitude. Many factors tie in to what is felt and damage etc.
    
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    March 29, 2025 1:13pm
    - Ghost
      
      in Bangkok there are 10 dead, 101 missing and 16 injured
      
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      March 29, 2025 2:16pm
      - JimBobJoe
        
        The building that collapsed was under construction by a Chinese company.
        
        It pancaked in like 5 seconds – the videos of the collapse are horrible…
        
        Tofu Dreg is a common phrase used by some to describe Chinese firms building standards…..
        
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        March 29, 2025 7:57pm
  - Ghost
    
    Any news of the people in the building, hard to believe anyone could survive that.
    
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    March 29, 2025 1:35pm
I remember when

‘Sharktopus’: Watch a Maori octopus – the largest in the Southern Hemisphere – hitch a lift on top of a Shark. NY Times.

Treaty Claimant?
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March 29, 2025 12:18pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Trump Signs Executive Order That Could Block Millions From Voting.

At the signing, Trump stated, “Election fraud. You’ve heard the term. We’re going to end it, hopefully. At least this will go a long way toward ending it.”
Dems screaming “unlawful” and it could reduce voter turnout. Do they mean the voter turnout of non-citizens who the Dems rely on to cheat?
This has been a long time coming. Trump 2016 to 2020 was his apprenticeship. There is a new sheriff in town now, a no nonsense sheriff. Suck it up lefties, your cheating has finished.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/trump-signs-executive-order-that-could-block-millions-from-voting/ar-AA1BPzUu?
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March 29, 2025 1:55pm
- MCōs
  
  To register to vote a person must now produce an acceptable document
  “Acceptable documents include:
  A U.S. passport
  A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID
  A military ID card
  Other government-issued photo ID that meets federal standards”
  
  In NZ term a driver’s license would be unacceptable and about 30% of Kiwis don’t have a passport
  The other two would cover very few people
  Apart from that permanent residents can vote in NZ
  Personally I think everyone over a certain age should be able to vote as long as you live here legally for a prescribed period of time so they can’t be ignored by the politicians.
  In that respect our system is pretty good
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:17pm
surfing

I was listening to a podcast on the doge firing. NPR money did a bit of a comparion of a similar effort made in the past… it’s actually a really interesting podcast, kind of in favour of doge but not necessarily with the carelessness .

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/12/1237991516/planet-money-doge-government-size-rego

They crunch the numbers, and doge isn’t really going to make much difference (although some is better than none). The real spending is in areas like social welfare and other entitlements. That is where the government will really save money, cutting pensions etc.
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March 29, 2025 2:12pm
Keith White

What is wrong with NZ judges, Episode 5,322.

“Taking the meth supply as the lead offence, Poa’s role as the leader and the quantity involved, Justice Osborne adopted a starting point of 17 years’ imprisonment. That was uplifted by two years for the charge of supplying cocaine.

“Justice Osborne then applied a 60% credit to account for Poa’s guilty pleas and mitigating factors. ‘I regard your remorse as genuine, you do have insight into the harm you caused, and you have a real interest in genuine rehabilitation.’

“He was sentenced to seven years and seven months’ imprisonment.

Should be in jail for 30-to-life. Meth kills, ruins lives, ruins families, costs NZ billions a year, and the only reason this feral scum is remorseful is he got caught.

“According to a summary of facts, the 33-year-old was legally unemployed but lived an affluent lifestyle. Poa travelled to Thailand and Indonesia, where he stayed in luxury accommodation. He lived in Thailand for several months and gang associates and family members took regular trips to visit him, funded by Poa despite him having no legitimate source of income. He owned or used several high-value vehicles, including a $65,000 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a $149,000 2021 Mercedes-Benz and a $159,500 2021 BMW X5 SUV.

So he made money off killing and addicting people, but is now remorseful and “he had used his time in custody relatively wisely” – he had engaged in training and education which showed he was serious about rehabilitation and moving away from “the lifestyle which has been so much a part of this offending”.

Bollox. He got caught and wants off lightly. He’ll be out in a few years living high off the money he made with his evil trade.

The Judge is a Clown.
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March 29, 2025 3:56pm
- kowtow
  
  What’s the point of the media even running an article like that when it doesn’t mention whether he had a record or not .Surely that too would be relevant.
  He has had a lifetime involvement in organised crime though , so very very likely.
  
  ‘You were exposed to gangs from a young age, you were involved with Killer Bees at 13, you were a full member of the Killer Bees at age 16.”
  
  But yes our judiciary are disgusting as they refuse to protect the NZ public from organised crime .’
  
  If our media spent as much time holding our own judiciary to account as they do the Trump Administration , we might get some sense out of judges.
  
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  March 29, 2025 5:34pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Poa is not remorseful, has no insight, and isn’t interested in rehabilitation. He is a bit sorry he got caught, though.
  
  Meanwhile the next few years in prison (out in what, four or so?) will be spent networking and figuring out how to get back in the high life again.
  
  Scrotes like this should be locked up until they’re long past capable of resuming their previous lifestyle.
  
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  March 29, 2025 6:12pm
- AitchW
  
  The new sentencing rules allow for a maximum discount of 40%.
  That’s a start.
  
  3 1
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  March 29, 2025 7:44pm
John Loveridge

Is this how you say, without saying it, that the Maoris ate them?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/556570/elephant-seals-lived-from-cape-reinga-to-bluff-before-humans-arrived-study
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March 29, 2025 6:08pm
- Ghost
  
  https://teara.govt.nz/en/sealing/page-1
  
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  March 29, 2025 6:15pm
- JimBobJoe
  
  European Sealing and Whaling was extreme in NZ…. Maori didn’t have the numbers to wipe out Elephant seals… Europeans did as it was an industry and heavily financed..
  
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  March 29, 2025 8:00pm

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