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April 6, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 06 April 2025

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General Debate

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Scott

Trump’s tariffs are already having an effect. Leaders of countries like Vietnam are coming to the table and negotiating. Reciprocal, fair trade deals. We should do that too. Winston should be on the phone to Trump and sort this matter out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIB6EfVuxki/?igsh=ZzR0ZGl0Mm80M2Vx

The thing we need to know about tariffs is that America has been very generous since World War 2 under the Marshall plan which allowed Germany and Japan to rebuild their economies. They could tariff America but America wouldn’t tariff them back.
Watch the first 5 minutes of this video to get a great explanation –

https://youtu.be/82HsrrTExqY?si=Nv76uaBDAGsDyK2v

Basically the situation is still the same. GM or Ford can’t sell their cars to Japan or Germany, they get 100% tariff! America doesn’t charge 100% tariff on Japanese or German cars.
This is the genius of Trump. World War 2 ended in 1945. Why should America put up with this trade imbalance 80 years later?!

Billionaire hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, who knows a lot about the stock market, has a cautiously optimistic view of Trump’s tariffs –

“If the President makes continued progress on tariff deals, uncertainty will be reduced, and the market will begin to recover.

As more countries come to the table, those that have held out or have reciprocated with higher tariffs will have growing concerns about being left behind. This should cause more countries to negotiate deals until we reach a tipping point where it is clear that the strategy will succeed. When this occurs, stocks will soar.

Trump’s strategy is not without risk, but I wouldn’t bet against him.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/04/another-view-of-the-tariffs.php
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April 6, 2025 8:02am
- MCōs
  
  American manufactured cars are not imported into Japan because nobody wants to buy them.
  
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  April 6, 2025 1:31pm
  - Paulus
    
    Neither would I in New Zealand buy a pure US manufactured car.
    Load of crap most of them anyway.
    
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    April 6, 2025 2:24pm
    - MCōs
      
      There’s plenty of foreign badged cars in Thailand, but they’re all made there. Japanese, American, Chinese, South Korean, European, but there’re all manufactured to Thai conditions so not imported.
      Luxury cars like Lamborghini, Ferrari are individually imported, but there’s an astronomical duty. (Unless the right people are slipped a few bob, so I understand)
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:44pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    As part of my last job an internal Company started making Lotus Seven kit cars – a Fraser Seven. I made the jig for the spaced frame chassis.
    Anyway it had a Cortina/Escort diff (because of the many ratios available), Celica gearbox, and a bored out Toyota 4 AGE DOHC engine.
    For Japan it was a 4 cylinder 2 liter engine but it had to have a Lotus DOHC
    aftermarket head from England. Some 60 went to Japan, paid for when the car landed on Auckland wharf.
    So Japanese love non-Japanese cars meaning also non-Asian cars. But maybe Ladas??
    
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    April 6, 2025 2:57pm
  - Scott
    
    Well lots of NZers drive Ford Rangers? Now you might say they’re made in Thailand or South Africa. But is a Ford Ranger no good if it’s made in Michigan?
    
    The problem is the 100% tariff on American cars.
    
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    April 6, 2025 3:58pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Thank you for responding on behalf of nobody in Japan
    
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    April 6, 2025 5:26pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  What are these tariffs intended to achieve? We’ve heard that they are an international negotiating tool, that they will bring manufacturing back to the US and that they are a revenue raiser. But they cannot do all three. It’s even possible that they can only do one, at the expense of the others.
  
  If the purpose is to make other countries change their trade rules, then the tariffs have to be changeable in response to what other countries do. But if they’re liable to be changed, then they can’t be relied on by companies thinking to shift manufacturing into the US.
  
  If they’re intended to be a signal to bring manufacturing to the US, permanent then they’ll have to be guaranteed as a permanent feature of the US business environment. But then there’s nothing for other countries to negotiate for.
  
  Or are they supposed to raise money to help balance the budget? But they’ll only do that if they are actually paid, which requires imports to keep coming in and consumers to keep buying them at the increased prices which will enable the importer to cover the cost of the tariff. But if consumers keep buying at the increased prices, then exporting countries won’t lose anything and have no reason to negotiate. If tariffs are to have an impact on other countries they’ll have to prevent consumer purchase and hence reduce importation. But then no tariffs are paid and no money is raised.
  
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  April 6, 2025 2:16pm
  - Scott
    
    Well all 3 options look pretty good. Tariffs, which are a traditional source of revenue for countries that precede income tax, reportedly could raise $800B.
    
    Tariffs are a great negotiation tool and just about every country is on the phone to Trump at the moment.
    
    Thirdly they could well bring manufacturing back to America given the announcements by companies like Honda. Honda cars made in America will attract no tariffs.
    
    So it all looks good.
    Trump is changing our outdated thinking on trade. As he has done on immigration and endless wars.
    
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    April 6, 2025 4:03pm
Cassandra

Now here’s some food for thought: Sweden, a nation long synonymous with neutrality, is embarking on record military spending for defence and supporting Ukraine.

The moves reflect wider European concerns that Pax Americana is over. Without an American cop patrolling the Europe beat, ancient fissures suddenly resurface. Catholic Poland arms to defend against Orthodox Russia. France and Germany manoeuvre for continental leadership. And Sweden, which fought 36 wars against Tsarist Russia or its predecessor state, Novgorod, is arming for an age-old aim: Western control over the Baltic. Or perhaps, like Finland, fear of a Russian invasion. Russia wants the Baltic too.

“We have a completely new security situation… and uncertainties will remain for a long time,” Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, warned his nation recently. He announced $30 billion in spending that is to be Sweden’s “biggest rearmament since the Cold War.”
Over the next five years, Sweden is to hike defense spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product from the current 2.4 percent.
Makes Luxon’s “As close to 2% as possible” look a bit puny.

BTW: according to the NY Sun “Finland announced on Tuesday that it will quit a global convention banning anti-personnel mines. The mines would be stockpiled for placement along Finland’s 830-mile border with Russia. This is half of NATO’s total land border with Russia. Last week, four other “front line” countries — Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia — announced that they will withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning landmines.” And Estonia is building 600 concrete bunkers along its 250 km border with Russia. The times they are a changin’.
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April 6, 2025 8:02am
- Mike
  
  Putin fans might want to reconsider their worship of a geostrategic genius whose assault on Ukraine has unified Europe against Russian aggression.
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:09am
  - Paulus
    
    Putin does not care one fag for what people think – be is a megalomanic nutter.
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:19am
    - Simon
      
      “Megalomaniac nutter”. Goodness you should take yourself off to Ukraine to serve in some capacity. Take Phil Goff with you.
      
      Big words no action. Wellington blowhards.
      
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      April 6, 2025 8:35am
    - Mike
      
      Yes, but he still has his worshippers. Not all of his Kiwiblog supporters can be Russian trolls; some of them genuinely believe Putin to be the savior of Christian civilization, battling heroically against the aggression of decadent western Europe.
      
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      April 6, 2025 9:23am
      - PurplePen
        
        There was never anything stopping Russia becoming an economic, industrial and innovative, rich powerhouse except Putin. Decades of wasted opportunity, the worst impact being on the people of Russia.
        
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        April 6, 2025 10:58am
      - NothingLeft
        
        Well the climate/weather is shit, and when people have a choice (ie wealth) they tend to migrate to nicer climates.
        
        Catch 22 for Russia: If they were a well run happy country people would leave, for them to grow actually requires regressive authoritarianism that keeps the population in poverty.
        
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        April 6, 2025 11:56am
      - Taieri
        
        If they were a well run happy country people would leave
        ——–
        
        Happy people seldom leave. They have no reason to.
        
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        April 6, 2025 12:04pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        look at the drift in population center of mass towards the equator in basically all western countries since the industrial revolution. Dunedin and Christchurch each had higher populations that Auckland in the 1880’s
        
        https://www.rent.com/research/center-of-population-shift-2020/
        
        USA rust belt has had ~40% population decline since 1970’s, while US population has gone up about 50% in same time.
        
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        April 6, 2025 5:53pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      By all observations i.e. actions, unwillingness to negotiate, being rude to those who were helping, a drug user, inability to communicate clearly, having mixed communication, getting rich off the war, and using the Ukraine war as a proxy money laundering operation for the US deep state and democrats, Zelenskyy is 100 times more deserving of the title “megalomanic nutter” than Putin.
      
      Putin is a bad arse. Which pretty much makes Zelenskyy Satin’s little bitch.
      
      If Russia parked warships off the USA coast, and invaded Mexico, I doubt that even Trump would show the same restraint as Putin.
      
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      April 6, 2025 9:57am
      - imalwaysright
        
        And lets not forget that Russian media output has largely been censored by western governments.
        As they say, the first casualty is the truth, but that doesn’t seem to stop most of the armchair warriors from pretending they know what’s going on.
        Putin has been very restrained, this could have been much worse without him.
        
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        April 6, 2025 12:44pm
  - Simon
    
    “Putin fans might want to reconsider their worship of a geostrategic genius”
    
    Not a Putin fan, but Russia is now in partnership with China. Causing the Wellington Clown Show to melt down here against NZs biggest export market
    
    GAE is in decline. Look at all the Wellington Clowns in denial.
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:33am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Russian scorpion in partnership with 10x bigger Chinese snake. We all know which will make a meal of which.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:59am
      - JackRabbit
        
        Both countries are mostly focused on economic strength and growth. They no longer present a threat of “Reds under the Bed.”
        
        The Reds are already in our beds, the beds of our children indoctrinating them, our schools, our govt departments, our media, our govt – the Greens, the Maori party, etc.
        
        The barbarians are not at the gate. They are inside the gate.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:16pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      GAE is in decline
      
      Genicular Artery Embolization?
      
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      April 6, 2025 1:49pm
    - Paulus
      
      When Putin goes who will follow him – possibly somebody far worse, if that is possible – but it is Russia.
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:26pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    NATO and Democrat fans may want to ponder on the stupidity of continually poking the bear for over a decade in order to create a war, to devastate the Ukraine so that the usual suspects move into the Ukraine to mine the precious minerals at a massive profit to keep fueling EV and military production.
    
    And also reflect on why anyone would install a 3rd rate comedy group of actors as leaders of a corrupt nation.
    
    Mike, I don’t think anyone worships Putin, anymore than anyone worships Trump. I think they just detest the alternative.
    
    Personally, Trump is far from perfect, but is a better choice than having the USA continually controlled by Obama’s lot, using Biden and Harris as glove puppets.
    
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    April 6, 2025 9:49am
    - Cassandra
      
      Poking the bear? When was Russia last invaded by Finland, Estonia, Poland? NATO is a defence pact.
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:33am
      - JackRabbit
        
        If you believe NATO is purely a Defense Pact, you probably also believe WEF is a self improvement org, and that Fauci truly did save humanity, and the vaccines really did stop Covid. NATO, the UN, WHO, etc were all hijacked along time ago.
        
        The Soviet Union WAS a threat. Until communism fell. Russia represents an economic threat more than a war threat. As the vice president J D Vance said, the biggest threats and enemies are not external, they are internal.
        
        This is not a Brer rabbit moment.
        
        “Oh we own and control, Big Pharma, WHO, Big Tech, Big Media, the Democrats, and we have penetrated every govt of the world. We helped fund Hitler’s rise to power, and we have been funneling billions through the Ukraine laundromat.
        
        But our impeccable ethics prevent us from ever influencing NATO. No siree, when it comes to NATO defense pacts, we are as pure as the driven snow.”
        
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        April 6, 2025 12:37pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        “NATO is a defence pact.”
        How does this fit in with sending warships into the South China Sea and Bombing Libya, Amongst others.??
        Libya is and interesting one, Gaddafi is on record stating that if you get rid of me, Then Europe will be awash with refugees. Pretty prophetic don’t you think ?
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:38pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        How does this fit in with sending warships into the South China Sea and Bombing Libya, Amongst others.??
        
        It doesn’t. NATO was originally back in the day a defense pact formed after WW2 to put down potential aggressors. Now it is an offensive pact.
        
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        April 6, 2025 5:43pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Exactly correct.
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:47pm
    - G152
      
      Putin invaded the Ukraine
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:49pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        All is not what it seems, so stop reading Mainstream Media.
        
        If Putin had wanted to take over the Ukraine he would have done it long before now.
        
        All Putin ever wanted was for NATO to stay off Russians doorstep. Those infractions by a US/NATO proxy encounter close to the Russian border was poking the bear.
        
        That and bio-weapons labs very close to the Russia border, with a game plan setup similar to the “wet market” bats in China.
        
        Do some research.
        
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        April 6, 2025 5:57pm
- An Old Kiwi
  
  Yeah, but military spending isn’t just about buying eqpt. It is also about manpower (- or is that person-power?) How will Sweden deal with the fact that a significant proportion of their population (and thus possible soldiers) are now recent immigrants (or descendants of immigrants) and are openly antagonistic towards traditional Swedish societal values?
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:25am
- kowtow
  
  Odd though how it’s OK to talk about one bogey man but not the other .
  
  The unmentionable bogeyman being the actual real ,ongoing ,invasion , from the ‘Global South’ , along with de industrialisation for Giaism their new religion , de population and forced wokism .
  
  Putin won’t need to invade NATO . Nato is “hollowing ” itself out ( to use one of the terms the sinking report related to the RNZN).
  
  There is one western head of govt making a bigly stand against this and yet all the “progressives” are falling over themselves, constantly to attack him!
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:01am
- lastmanstanding
  
  It would be interesting to see the household spending of those who apparently cant provide their kids with school lunches.
  I suspect the spending would include Sky TV drugs such as meth ciggies lots of takeaways etc etc.
  I consider not providing food for children as child abuse and as such the child should be removed and placed in a safe environment. For the State to not do so is for the State to be knowingly complict in the child abuse.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:28am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Theoretically, for every child at school without a lunch there will be two parents who won’t have lunch either…
    
    Is that a fair assumption, or am I dreaming ?
    
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    April 6, 2025 9:50am
    - Max Mansplain
      
      Dreaming…. That assumes all these families have 1 child and 2 parents… Some don’t have 2 parents and if there are 2 children they would need 4 parents…
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:31am
      - imalwaysright
        
        The number of children is irrelevant. Each has two parents.
        
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        April 6, 2025 12:20pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Booze and gambling as well
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:21am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Sweden has always had a high defence budget as they were neutral but armed to the teeth.
  
  They were the dominant military power in that part of the world in the 16th and 17th centuries.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:53am
  - pdm
    
    I am not sure where they came from exactly but The Vikings over ran the Isle Of Lewis, The Isle of Harris ( Lewis and Harris are actually one Island) and presumably other Hebridean Islands prior to the 12th Century.
    
    I have a book, purchased in Stornoway in 1977 that says that anyone descending from the Isle Of Lewis now has ancestry back to the then Viking ruler Alexander, of the 12th century.
    
    They were aggressive, not passive back in those days obviously.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:39am
    - Paulus
      
      No, cannot be as it is before the Great Treaty of 1840 !
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:28pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Viking invaders had sex with a lot of women in the British isles in 8-10th centuries. Particularly in north and east (The Dane Danelaw and scottish coast). They installed new aristocracies all over the place that gradually permeated their genes through the populations.
      
      The proportion of Scandinavian patrilineal (Y-chromosome) ancestry is highest in Iceland (75%), is somewhat lower in Shetland (44.5%) and Orkney (31%), declines further in the Western Isles and Skye (22.5%) and is lowest along the N&W coastline of Scotland (15%)
      
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      April 6, 2025 6:04pm
- Rusty
  
  @Cassandra,
  
  Interesting theory. I don’t think Sweden with a pop of 10 million and Finland with the same pop of NZ is going to scare Russia with their military.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:59am
  - sirknz
    
    Read up on the Fins and what hey did to the Russians during WW2.
    
    I believe one of the stories told was about a guy who took the equivalent of 30 days of meth in one go and then went on an ‘adventure’, including skiing through the middle of a Russian camp and surviving 2 booby traps in an abandoned camp. The Fins are not to be trifled with.
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:26am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yep a fascinating story, I think he took a months worth in one go.
      In addition the greatest sniper ever was a Fin, Something like 500+ Kills.
      The Fins have a Great History against the Russians and I am sure they would rather go against other armies than the Fins.
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:32pm
  - Cassandra
    
    No, Rusty, they won’t scare Russia but, with allies, they might deter Russia from invading or dominating the Baltic.
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:56am
- pb
  
  The only national capable of rearming Europe is Germany. They haven’t thought this through.
  
  AFD heading the poles. Time for some free world prison time for them: Georgescu and Le Penn, make room. Free.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:32am
- MCōs
  
  Sweden is half a inch from potential mortal danger
  New Zealand shits it’s pants over some popgun Chinese boat off the coast of Australia
  
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  April 6, 2025 2:58pm
Chuck Bird

Seymour does an excellent job.

David Seymour systematically DISMANTLES arguments against the Treaty Principles Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQuyJQD2V9I
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April 6, 2025 8:02am
- AitchW
  
  Seymour’s biggest obstacle is that he applies reason to argue against racism, brainwashing, ignorance, and hatred.
  And the silenced majority are wary of speaking up to support him because they don’t want to be abused and/or labelled racist etc. Or doxxed.
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:10am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  He didn’t do much of a job selling his arguments to the public.
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:10am
  - Cassandra
    
    But not through want of trying. If the media had been other than a Labour/Green/Maori echo chamber then we might have seen a change. It’s interesting that in my community almost everyone is anti Maori privilege. The general consensus is that we all get opportunities but only some take them. I might add that none of my neighbours are rich; the dominant background is working class. Out of 19 families there are only two uni degrees. Lots of tradies.
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:21am
    - Paulus
      
      We need a referendum and then we would get a real answer, except many would not accept the result and the Judges would agree with them.
      I always thought that Parliament was Paramount, but no longer it seems.
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:31pm
  - AitchW
    
    No Mike he did a very good job. A very vocal, very angry, and very small group of activists made a whole lot of noise. A small number of influential gravy train passengers mobilised their activist base out of fear of losing their free ride.
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:25am
    - pdm
      
      `A very vocal, very angry, and very small group of activists made a whole lot of noise.’
      
      And that was only the journalists at the Press Conference.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:32am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    Evidence for your assertion? The Hikoi was the sound & fury of people without any democratic argument, twice as many people voted for ACT. The compromised public submissions on the TPB are not a vote.
    
    A referendum could prove you right – I dare you
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:28am
    - Mike
      
      I think you should try a CIR.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:10am
    - pdm
      
      Most of those in the Hikoi had no idea what they were driving long distances and walking short distances for.
      
      Nor that they were being manipulated by John Tamihere and his Maori Party cohorts.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:34am
  - Tomtoddy
    
    I waded through quite a few of the opposing submissions and a very common occurrence was statements and claims that had little to do with the Bill. Claims like “this destroys the Treaty”, “The Treaty needs honouring”, “ACT wants to dismantle the Treaty” etc. It diminishes the claim that there was such widespread opposition.
    
    Mush of the debate focuses down on whether there is a constitutional partnership established in the Treaty. To claim that you have to believe that you could spend a couple of days discussing and signing a treaty that set up a unique, never been tried before or since, constitutional partnership arrangement without ever mentioning it.
    
    That, among other arguments, just does not make sense. It isn’t credible.
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:36am
  - Souvlaki
    
    Au contraire…he did an EXCELLENT job, and his lucidity left his detractors in.the dust, intellectually. He has exposed our PM as being little more than a ‘ drone’ and as a result drawn approbium from a few die- hard Nat supporters….but not those with a ‘ brain’.
    The ‘ creamatorium’ remarks by Potaka on Friday makes one suspicious National haven’t realised they have been successfully infiltrated by TPM
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:37am
    - Quail
      
      Agreed Souvlaki,
      The courage of Seymour can only be admired.
      This was not about him or his party , it was about what is good for New Zealand and it’s people. Great to see!
      National would romp in next election if they agreed to this much needed referendum.
      After all they would only be supporting Democracy by enabling every New Zealander to have their say!
      Who could object to that?
      
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      April 6, 2025 9:26am
    - pb
      
      Which other culture used cannabaloriums as a threat?
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:34am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        What are these cannabaloriums of which you speak?
        
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        April 6, 2025 6:51pm
  - G152
    
    Doesnt have to. At some future election that bill will decide who is government….
    
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    April 6, 2025 8:47am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      Nailed it…. Luxon has a 9 year change program to manage.
      
      Rejection of race baced policies has been covered in the coalition agreement.
      
      The TOWP referendum will and must happen before the end of the 9 years…. as with every item on the Luxon lead coalition’s enormous change program, timing will be carefully considered by Luxon and his cabinet (which includes Seymour) to provide the most benefit.
      
      In the mean time, it is of huge benefit for ACT to have a popular cause to keep trumpeting, it will counter the historical ‘minor coalition partners’ popularity demise.
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:58am
      - pdm
        
        `Rejection of race baced policies has been covered in the coalition agreement.’
        
        Most punters (voters) want action well within 9 years – Luxon will have scarpered well before then.
        
        Only ACT is setting the standard and pace on getting race changes through Parliament. Two things show that:
        1. The Treaty Principles Bill.
        2. New RMA legislation driven by Simon Court and Chris Bishop and I am wary of Bishop in this area – he is likely to bend to pressure like a tree in the wind..
        
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        April 6, 2025 11:40am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Pdm. I always encourage kbers to read my posts before criticizing…. “Rejection of race baced policies has been covered in the coalition agreement.”
        
        That doesn’t of course mean
        – ignoring 16% of voters,
        – ignoring disproportionate Maori representation in most negative societal stats,
        – ignoring there are Maori lead organisations doing great things worthy of government support (Mike King springs to mind),
        – discounting many Maori cultural customs which are great for NZ (go overseas and you’ll find most people know about the Maori haka),
        – or ignoring Maori history is a mainstay of NZS tourism industry (its no coincidence the heavily maorified rotorua district is NZs premiere tourist destination).
        
        I think I’ll change my KB moniker to ….
        BALANCED AND REASONABLE!
        
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        April 6, 2025 11:58am
      - Quail
        
        MH .
        Some of us don’t have 9 years to wait.Neither has New Zealand.
        The pace of World change is such that the only certainty is that all of the world will be different.
        NZ needs change now .Change based on building and strengthening a strong society— like equality under law and not creating any ethnic or racial superiority .
        One nation ,one law and one people.
        Without this strong base it is impossible to redevelop NZ into the successful country we once were !
        
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        April 6, 2025 12:15pm
      - pdm
        
        So MH you are parroting Prime Minister Luxon in saying that The Treaty is a Partnership.
        
        Presumably you also agree with him when he says Maori ceded Sovereignty?
        
        Those two stances are incompatible.
        
        You and PM Luxon cannot have it both ways and that is where New Zealands problem lies – with him wanting to appease everyone by doing nothing.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:10pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Quail….Whilst I totally agree with you, I always encourage people to read my posts properly before responding….
        
        You don’t have to wait any longer…. try reading the coalition agreements signed by all 3 leaders (yes including Seymour) and you will see the end of race based policies signed and sealed.
        
        Why didn’t Seymour make the TOWP referendum a bottom line?
        
        The answer is obvious… unlike the vocal, unbalanced, everything Maori & Luxon is bad brigade, the part Maori Semour understands there are 9 years to get his TOWP bill through, his TOWP advocacy will save him from the Fate of most minor coalition partners’ falling popularity, and the TOWP bill will be a great vehicle for securing an unprecedented 4th term.
        
        Politics is complex and nuanced. People who don’t understand tje complexity fail in politics….. e.g. Don Brash.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:14pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        PDM. Once again I encourage you to actually read my posts before you respond… it could actually make the conversation useful.
        
        Maori definitely ceded sovereignty and knew so… that is why there are records of some Maori Chiefs arguing against signing the treaty because they didn’t want to cede sovereignty.
        
        And here is where you contradict yourself again. You can’t claim Maori ceded sovereignty then claim there is a partnership.
        
        I have obviously never stated there is a partnership and neither has the PM outside the context of partnering with Maori on specific projects, like the crown does with non Maori organisations.
        
        The two concepts are mutually exclusive.
        
        It almost appears as if in your quest to say Luxon is wrong about everything… you’re willing to make up any old nonsense.
        
        You should apply for a job with the NZ media…. you’d be a shoe in.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:30pm
      - Paulus
        
        If he does nothing he will be a gonner soon.
        
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        April 6, 2025 2:33pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Paulus, that’s no way to talk about Seymour.
        
        Admittedly he leads a minor party which espouses economic solutions proven to transfer significant wealth from the middle class to the wealthy….
        
        But his special intereat projects are admirable.
        
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        April 6, 2025 2:37pm
      - pdm
        
        MH – using the word Partnership 8 times in his Waitangi Day speech implies that PM Luxon is far more deeply immersed in The Treaty is a Partnership mantra than he has confided to you.
        
        That is not compatible with Maori ceding Sovereignty so he needs to make his mind up
        
        I cannot say it more simply for you.
        
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        April 6, 2025 4:01pm
      - AitchW
        
        MH, I think you mean shoo in.
        https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/pardon-the-expression/shoo-in-vs-shoe-in/
        
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        April 6, 2025 4:40pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Thx Aitch… love to learn.
        
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        April 6, 2025 8:13pm
- pdm
  
  Chuck – Winston excepted, mainly from past performances and Winston has a belligerent approach to the press these days so he is not as good as he used to be.
  
  There is no one who handles a Press Conference better than Seymour who is very well prepared, answers questions and does not suffer journalistic fools.
  
  He sure as hell is not the problem with the Treaty Principles Bill.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:14am
NK

You weren’t listening anyway.
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April 6, 2025 8:29am
Scooter

That Benjamin Doyle has hidden from the public has shown that he is either a weakling or guilty of some very sick behaviour (probably both). The Green Party leaders are also weak and or guilty as they are allowing this. This alone should bring down the Greens, yet after Golriz and Tana they are still polling around 10%.
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April 6, 2025 8:30am
- Philview
  
  Shane Jones’s wife per reports was assaulted at an Airport today. The Herald draws a parallel to death threats made to Doyle. It irks that the media is hiding the context in the comparison.
  
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  April 6, 2025 12:18pm
  - CJames
    
    According to the Herald, he might be back at Parliament this week, but it is all those “death threats” they are worried about. Playing very much the victim card.
    Have the threats been reported to the police? If not, why not?
    
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    April 6, 2025 4:56pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  The media have gone very quiet on this. Is he being investigated?
  
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  April 6, 2025 11:20pm
Gravelroad

Is there any update on the situation regarding Benjamin Doyle MP?
Or is the “nothing to see here” mantra all under full Green Party and msm control now?
A great example of ignore, deflect, blame someone else, keep your head down and it will all go away.
Will expect to see Doyle back in parliament shortly with a new hat, handbag and gloves ensemble like my grandma used to wear.
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April 6, 2025 8:32am
- Simon
  
  Having the weirdo Gweens around suits Neo libs Nat / Labo very well. National especially are very happy for sundry sickos which comprises the Gweens to hide behind
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:39am
- CJames
  
  Over at the X Post of the man who did all the research, there appears nothing new, but from the cryptic comments he made in his interview to Sean, I suspect there will be more bombshells soon.
  Still seems to be silence from the rest of the media – only reporting what was too big to ignore?
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:42am
- David Garrett
  
  Gravel: My very smart and politically aware daughter picked me up from the airport on Friday. While she is quite up with the play regarding Seymour’s treaty principles Bill, she had never heard of Doyle. So the MSM have done a very good job of “nothing to see here”.
  
  As a former right wing MP their label – who has been prey for the jackals, as this saga has unfolded I have thought about how much worse my experience would have been if a photo had emerged showing me with a teenage girl on my lap and the caption “fresh pussy”, or “pussy galore”.
  
  They would be camped up at the end of the driveway right now, and the phone would ring incessantly every time I turned it on.
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:43am
  - Prince
    
    I’m sure that if your leader had pronounced it all as a joke we ‘CIS white males’ just don’t get, all would have been forgiven.
    The media in 2025 – does it get any worse ?
    
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    April 6, 2025 9:47am
    - David Garrett
      
      Prince: Does it get any worse? FFS man don’t tempt them!
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:31am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It appears Peter’s and others appear to have gone silent as well, am I right in thinking the police may have been investigating?
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:29am
- kowtow
  
  Radio Hauraki producer called Rooda has done a very amusing song called “B is for Bussy”
  
  Searchable on facebook .
  
  A lot of that crowd will now be in the picture.
  
  Much and al as the msm want this to go away ,it won’t .
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:05am
- Philview
  
  He could be the Minister for Children after the next election.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:07am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What’s more worrying is Hipkins is stupid enough to give it too him. He doesn’t even know what a woman is, his the he’ll would he know what a bussy is. Hahahaha
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:54am
    - Paulus
      
      Goff will be the next Labour Leader soon as he has sweet fa to do, except get his Parliamentary pension and Ambassadorial perks.
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:35pm
- Handyman
  
  If there is any whiff of a story for a government MP he or she is automatically labelled as “the controversial” MP in all future media reports.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:19am
  - David Garrett
    
    Handy: I got labeled “controversial” well before the passport scandal broke! It probably began when I was the only MP who didn’t stand up when Clark’s UN job was announced in the House.
    
    I was later accused of “stunting”, but that wasn’t it at all. Partly due to my inexperience, I had no idea what was about to go down. When the front bench of the Nats stood up, I realised that the rest would, and I had about 20 seconds to decide if I should join them. I have to say I was disappointed that my bench mates joined the rest on their feet.
    
    I regarded – and still do regard – Clark as a dreadful social engineer who did great harm to our society – albeit not so much as Cindy did later. So my concience didn’t allow me to stand up with the rest, it’s as simple as that. And with that, I later realised I had painted a target on my back.
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:39am
- pdm
  
  Gravel – if you have not heard it already go to Centrix (link follows) and listen to Holyhekatuiteka’s full interview with Sean Plunket.
  
  There is more to come, maybe even a lot more and Chloe Swarbrick is donkey deep in the misinformation.
  https://centrist.nz/more-controvussy-burnett-foundations-own-words-sink-doyle-defenders/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5-4-2025&_kx=TQPbQmH8HY2G5mOgWGRBC72yjNQJoEDhB4PntHsLeWo.VYfxNg
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:21am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Ok. So far, my take home message from the Greens and the media is that Doyle is the maligned victim here.
    All so unfair………I would suggest to them though, that if and when they reappear on TV in Parliament as an official representative of the people, that they don’t wear the white ankle socks with the skirt. Or the checked shawl.
    My grandma was a very stylish woman. She would never have worn white ankle socks with a skirt.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:19am
    - David Garrett
      
      Gravel: Ah yes…but your grandmother was an old woman…schoolgirls used to, and maybe still do, wear white ankle socks.
      
      But re an earlier comment that this freak could end up as Minister for Children; 40 years ago he would be have in a mental hospital; now he’s and MP and a possible cabinet minister.
      
      And the village idiot thinks that it would be quite OK for Doyle to be a minister. No doubt some others think the same…but then KB is not an echo chamber
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:10am
      - Quail
        
        None of this rubbish would be happening if it was not enabled by MMP.
        The list members have no accountability to the electorate .
        So they do as they like.
        
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        April 6, 2025 11:46am
      - David Garrett
        
        Quail: Oh dear…after 30 years oif MMP people like you still don’t understand aspects of it. So here’s a primer:
        
        1. List MP’s are on the List because their party thinks they are qualified, and can do a good job…or “add value” if you like;
        
        2. If List MP’s resign for whatever reason, they are replaced by the next on the List below them.
        
        and finally
        
        3. If a List MP loses the confidence of their party, they can be forced to resign, as was the case with Meteria Turei and Darleen Tana late last year
        
        So, List MP’s are not accountable to a single electorate, but they are accountable to the party that put them there.
        
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        April 6, 2025 2:29pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        David, I think you miss Quail’s point. List MPs are answerable primarily to the Party; it’s the Party that is answerable to the electorate.
        
        The Greens could run Jack the Ripper on the list & as long as his placing was above the Party’s cut off percentage, he’d be in.
        
        Which explains the migrant exploiter, the shoplifter and now the pervert.
        
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        April 6, 2025 3:48pm
  - CJames
    
    That interview was very enlightening. The person had dotted all their “i”s and crossed their “t”s. He also knew a lot more than has been reveled so far.
    One thing I picked up was they caught Saint Chloe out for lying. One could imagine if that had been a government MP, let alone party leader. We would never hear the end of it. Like DG has pointed out, the media is very selective. Why they don’t have credibility.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:41am
    - Quail
      
      To NMTB,
      Agreed .
      Thanks
      
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      April 6, 2025 9:05pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Ms Swarbrick seems to hold herself up as an expert on the Gay community, and, as such, finds nothing wrong with Benjamin Doyle posting images on a public site of his child in sexualised poses with sexual comments.
    
    Now, I’m not part of the Gay community, but like Benjamin Doyle, and unlike Chloe Swarbrick, I am a parent and I’ve been involved with teaching children, and I found his Biblebashing Bussy website to be disturbing, unprofessional and creepy.
    
    In my 72 years, I’ve never encountered a parent who has made such “irreverent” comments about their child’s bum.
    
    I wonder if the other Green MP parents (Celia Wade-Brown, Julie-Anne Genter) are as supportive of Benjamin Doyle’s behaviour as Chloe and Marama Davidson appear to be.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:42am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Ha. I read the associated guff on social media re the use of feaces as a sexual tool.
      I wouldn’t want to repeat it here.
      It was crass, disgusting and disturbing.
      This person Doyle needs to clean up his act if he ever wants to be taken seriously as a genuine and worthwhile Member of Parliament.
      Over to you Green Party. You might get a few kicks out of treating the electorate with the contempt you display, but your credibility and respectability are now at rock bottom (so to speak).
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:55am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I guess the many disturbing sagas do highlight to all and sundry just how far outside the bell curve of generally accepted behaviour the Greens actually are.
        
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        April 6, 2025 7:00pm
    - pdm
      
      Maggy – if he rides a push bike he will be okay as far as Celia and Julie-Anne are concerned.
      
      If he doesn’t then he could be in deep trouble.
      
      Is it compulsory for Green MP’s to have a pushbike as their main means of travel?
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:47am
      - kowtow
        
        ‘Is it compulsory for Green MP’s to have a pushbike as their main means of travel?’
        
        Only for the photo ops.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:03pm
      - PurplePen
        
        Better phrased as being in deep doo doo.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:38pm
      - pdm
        
        Pp – Given what has been exposed about him I opted for trouble.
        
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        April 6, 2025 5:32pm
- imalwaysright
  
  G
  Unfortunately the outrage, even on KB, seems to have diminished.
  
  The social conditioning that has occurred as a result of this issue is the collateral damage of this evil, and that may be deliberate on the part of the perpetrators.
  Next time we won’t be as shocked nor outraged, that’s a serious threat to our children as we, their protectors, fail to properly assess potential danger.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:02am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Level headed voters where the voting change happens will be out raged, it hasn’t gone away, this weasel will not be in the house this week either I bet
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:56am
- Toes on the nose
  
  Is he on full pay while absent?. Must be filling in his days being a very busy bussy.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:41am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Hahahaha, if you nose is in it, ya toes are in it
    
    5 2
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    April 6, 2025 11:57am
    - pdm
      
      G it goes:
      
      Nose to nose and toes in
      Toes to toes and nose in
      
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      April 6, 2025 7:42pm
NK

Go and check out activist “journalist” Mihi Forbes behaviour harassing David Seymour around Parliament this week. It’s on Act’s Facebook page. She’s the reason most of her colleagues are losing their jobs.
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April 6, 2025 8:37am
- David Garrett
  
  NK: Do you remember how back in 2011 Forbes destroyed the career of Alistair Thompson of the Employers Federation after he commented on the reality that some women have debilitating periods requiring time off?
  
  Twenty plus years later, we now have women who experience such “sick problems” as Thompson termed them, demanding that their monthly difficulties be accommodated. I also notice ads for female underwear designed to cope with leakages suffered by some of these unfortunate individuals.
  
  All too late for the hapless Mr Thompson.
  
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  April 6, 2025 8:50am
  - David Garrett
    
    My arithmetic isn’t very good in the morning…Thompson was sacked in 2011, 14 years ago not 20.
    
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    April 6, 2025 9:14am
- kowtow
  
  Amazing how certain activist “journalist” take up certain causes .
  
  And yet here’s a Green MP who has passed himself off as Maori , Irish and disabled ( among many other identitarian markers)
  
  And all that virtue signalling is allowed to pass unremarked .There’s got to be a hashtag or two in there somewhere.
  
  He’s a fraud on so many levels.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:10am
  - pdm
    
    kowtow I hold the view that any man with a moustache and wearing a dress is not to be trusted.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:44am
    - alwyn.a
      
      I used to think that until I met Rob Moodie back in the 70’s. He was, at the time, National Secretary of the Police Association and wore, regularly, a kaftan and high heels.
      He also had, at least at that time, a most impressive moustache.
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:01pm
      - AitchW
        
        Except Rob Moodie was heterosexual was he not? There is no way the cops would elect a gay man into that position, in fact they were probably excluded from joining the force.
        
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        April 6, 2025 4:46pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      pdm: “kowtow I hold the view that any man with a moustache and wearing a dress is not to be trusted.”
      
      Frank Zappa?
      
      Ok he was weird. Made some interesting music though.
      
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      April 6, 2025 7:02pm
- pdm
  
  NK – I wondered who the reporter in the video was.
  
  Thanks for clarifying.
  
  I enjoyed the way he put her in her place.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:24am
- Paulus
  
  By chnaging her name from European Joanna Forbes has made more money pretending to be Maori, albeit is she not Married to one who calls himself Maori, as there are none of course.
  
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  April 6, 2025 2:40pm
Yvette

Water
“There is a view being promoted by some of the councillors around the country that this is a Māori grab for power, that we are interested in owning these water assets,” he said.
“It’s absolute nonsense. We have always said, that we’re not interested in owning the water assets. What we’re interested in is the proprietor rights[1] over water, and that is a discussion to be had with the Crown, not with councils.”
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/09/claims-maori-will-own-nzs-water-infrastructure-dismissed/

Teaty Prinicples Bill supposedly cremated.
“3 Waters” is largely sunk, except perhaps for the key-positioned Maori Advisory Council to the Water Regulator.
And Tukoroirangi Morgan is probably waiting at the moment to see where Ngai Tahu gets with their water court case which ended last week.

How much of the Waikato do Aucklanders use each day?

[1] Proprietary rights, also termed property rights, are the rights that accompany legal ownership of tangible or intangible property; rights over or in respect of property.
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April 6, 2025 9:02am
- pdm
  
  `Proprietary rights’?
  
  To me translates as dosh, dosh and more dosh from unsuspecting ratepayers and taxpayers to Iwi interests.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:47am
  - Yvette
    
    The Waikato being now a legally living being of which Auckland customers are consuming an arm if not a leg, it may as you say, pdm, translate into costing an arm and a leg, there being a taniwha at every bend (turn).
    
    As of April 2025, Auckland’s water utility, Watercare, does not pay a specific fee for the water it draws from the Waikato River. Instead, it incurs costs related to the treatment and delivery of this water to Auckland residents. Watercare charges customers based on the volume of water used and wastewater services provided. For instance, from 1 July 2024, the price for 1,000 litres of water is $1.998, and for wastewater, it’s $3.476 per 1,000 litres.
    In 2020, the Waikato River Authority proposed that Watercare contribute financially to the restoration and protection of the river, suggesting a fee of up to 10 cents per litre. This would have amounted to approximately $20 million per day.However, this proposal was not implemented, and as of now, such charges have not been applied.
    Therefore, Aucklanders do not bear an additional annual cost specifically for the use of Waikato River water beyond the standard charges for water and wastewater services
    – yet
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:45am
Bridgenag

Scott Atlas: Restoring Trust in Health Care
Keynote Speech, Independent Medical Alliance conference, Atlanta, April 5-7, 2025

“Ideological gatekeeping in public discourse has no place in free societies, especially in science and health.

Here’s the point – the solution to misinformation is more information. No one should be trusted to be the arbiter of truth.
Ultimately, most solutions come from individuals, and ultimately, it is individuals, not institutions, who will save freedom.
I fear we still have a disastrous void in courage in our society today.

never forget what GK Chesterton said:

“Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong about it.”

“https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/scott-atlas-restoring-trust-in-health?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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April 6, 2025 9:07am
- Philview
  
  We no longer operate as a normal society. A careless comment could have consequences for our children.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:14am
- pb
  
  Apparently medical authorities lifted the minimum harm threshold for pregnant mums getting scans in the 90’s, by 800%. Ultrasounds have a long list of bad side effects. Hey, you get a cute irradiated picture of your kid? There’s a an army of skeletons in the closet yet.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:39am
  - CJames
    
    Ultrasound is not radiation.
    
    5 0
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    April 6, 2025 11:49am
    - pb
      
      No peanuts.
      
      https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/us-peanut-allergy-epidemic-sprang-experts-exactly-wrong-guidance
      
      Dive into the rabbit hole before it looks into you.
      
      3 3
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      April 6, 2025 1:32pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Ultrasound is quite good for loosening things off surfaces. EG cleaning jewellery/teeth or smashing kidney stones into small bits so the kidneys can expel them.. I’m pretty sure ultrasound used for imaging is WAY weaker than the stuff used for the aforementioned purposes. What pray tell are these side effects?
    
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    April 6, 2025 7:08pm
Sparrow

Forget the discussions ref the Treaty Bill there is a greater matter of concern that is the Royal New Zealand Navy. As ex Merchant Navy I continue to take an interest in maritime matters. So have started to read the full 120 page report on the sinking of the naval vessel at Samoa. Firstly the Naval enquiry should be congratulated on their thoroughness and no holds barred or cover up. Frankly it’s mind boggling the sheer incompetency from top to bottom. It’s a scandal there is no other word for it. Yes people on the ship were responsible for the sinking but it goes deeper than that. Lack of training, lack of qualified staff. The whole system was a time bomb waiting to go off. This should be headline news but is not as we have an ignorant and incompetent media and naturally the report was released on a Friday by a Minister completely out of her depth ( no pun intended). To not know how to turn off an auto pilot is beyond my comprehension. Our Allies must be laughing their heads off and others realising there is nothing to stop them coming ashore in NZ. The report should be compulsory reading for all politicians, media and frankly the general public. Congratulations to the authors of the report.
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April 6, 2025 9:18am
- Mike
  
  Well summarized. It’s surprising no other RNZN vessels have been lost.
  
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  April 6, 2025 11:13am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Agree
  
  Get TAIC or whoever to do a report in NZ and it takes Years.
  
  Initial report out in 6 weeks approx, full report, no holds barred, out in 6 months.
  
  Now will the Courts Martial stop with the C/O or will the people who let the ship proceed to sea with an unqualified C/O, insufficient trained staff etc etc be held to account????
  
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  April 6, 2025 11:41am
  - Taieri
    
    full report, no holds barred, out in 6 months.
    ———
    
    Disappointingly, much of it has been redacted.
    
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    April 6, 2025 12:18pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yep, And VDR tells no lies.
      VDR = Voyage Data recorder.
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:50pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    So far they have thrown the “Surveyor” under the Bus along with the Crew.
    This is a systemic Problem from the Top.
    The Top being who appointed and allowed the Crew to sail.
    By all accounts this would be a “Un seaworthy” vessel and NOT covered by any insurance in the commercial sector and the company would have it Operating certificate suspended on all vessels and crew pronto.
    I was not impressed with the press release and the diffusion taking place.
    I hope Defense Minister, J Collins has a rethink about her initial comments after the event, In the press release she appeared very disappointed.
    My sympathies lie with the ratings and ordinary crew.
    
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    April 6, 2025 12:47pm
    - Sparrow
      
      This so reminds me of the Erebus Inquiry an excellent report from the judge who then got crucified by the likes of the Air NZ boss and all blame put on the pilots. This time its a “Litany of Incompetency”. Will be interesting to see if those who made the decisions to send a poorly trained and non qualified crew on this mission will be put in the dock. Its my understanding that this was the only RNZN ship with an auto pilot. It was built for commercial owners.
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:15pm
      - Jack5
        
        “The ship’s captain did not have the requisite knowledge to safely operate the vessel; she was missing that training …”
        
        That’s a conclusion of internet shipping guru Sal Mercogliano in a 29-minute video review of the Manawanui report. About 420,000 people subscribe on YouTube to the videos of the former merchant navy sailor, academic, and historian.
        
        Sal Mercogliano’s particularly helpful for us landlubbers in describing the working and effects of the thruster controls that the Manawanui had rather than a conventional rudder system.
        
        Some snippets the video notes in the report:
        
        A voice to the captain around crunch time :”It was in auto, I didn’t realise, ma’am.”
        
        And her advice soon after of “all personnel are to try to get to the loo before they get in the liferafts.”
        
        Sal Mercogliano notes the ship’s commander was not platform-endorsed for the vessel … “I’ve got to wonder who assigned this commanding officer to the vessel if she was not prepared to take command of it.”
        
        He explains how, under autopilot, thruster speed could be increased but direction could not.
        
        The two on the bridge trying to turn the locked thruster direction merely increased the vessel’s speed into the reef.
        
        https://youtu.be/qwkGsfPJX20?si=EqMsoDHP3tx_yR7g
        
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        April 6, 2025 4:20pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Underfunded because the general economy is too small. The root cause of most of NZ’s issues.
  
  Why the economy is too small is because of 50 years of neo-marxist infiltration and general NIMBY attitudes (fueled by the luxury beliefs of the significant minority who are doing OK on their various gravy trains).
  
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  April 6, 2025 6:25pm
Master Mariner

Final Report on Loss of HMNZS Manawanui | Timeline of Grounding, Abandonment and Sinking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkGsfPJX20

I have read the final report however heavily redacted.
In all honesty, There could be no other conclusion other than sheer incompetency.
A couple of points, Were was the risk analysis and scope of work in the report.
It appears to be controlled from up forward as opposed to aft control station which would be normal.
The next issue is Wreck removal, This is going to cost a fortune.
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April 6, 2025 9:23am
- pb
  
  The military men and women represent those whom might be willing to take up arms against our own perfidious government.
  
  https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/DocumentLibrary/MAN-COI-ROP-FINAL-31-Mar-25_Redacted-v2.pdf
  
  redacted. to implicate all DEI incompetents.
  
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  April 6, 2025 7:12pm
sirknz

A few years ago, the townsfolk of Warkworth were screaming out for massive amounts of work to be done through the Hill Street intersection. It turns out, that work is not really needed now that travellers heading north or south can now bypass what was the blister on the arse of SH1.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360630364/very-hard-survive-new-road-leaves-warkworth-businesses-struggling

Of course, if you told the good people that the issues with Hill Street would become a lot less pressing once the bypass went in, they would just react negatively.

Look out Wellsford, you’re next…
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April 6, 2025 9:25am
Tauhei Notts

One of New Zealand’s biggest exports to the USA is beef.
I have been listening to RNZ National tell us how bad the USA’s tariffs are. It is almost as if it is the end of civilisation as we know it.
Then how come the expert beef traders bid up beef prices to unheard of prices at the Morrinsville sale two days ago. The demand for young white faced animals was astounding.
Am I the only one who thinks RNZ National specialise in misleading comments.
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April 6, 2025 9:25am
- Swifty
  
  RNZ are a disgrace.
  
  On this morning’s 9am news bulletin they lead with an anti -Trump piece about ‘his dismantling of the US federal government’. They then played a piece from a screeching Democrat politician attacking Trump for his attacks on Medicare and Medicaid – something Trump, and Musk, swore over and over both before and after the election, that he will not do.
  
  Did RNZ see fit to mention that Trump has sworn not to touch Medicare and Medicaid?
  
  Not on your nellie.
  
  Did RNZ make even the slightest mention of WHY Trump is having a go at federal budgets and organisations?
  
  Heh, pull the other one.
  
  It was just a straight out hit piece – and a highly misleading one at that.
  
  My only question is whether this from RNZ constitutes misinformation, or is it actually disinformation?
  
  An accident? Or deliberately lying?
  
  I suspect I know the answer.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:47am
  - Don Beckett
    
    [Mod – debate topic]
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:55am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  As one of the lower-tariffed countries, the impact on New Zealand exporters will be less bad than on higher-tariffed economies such as the EU, Canada and China. Our exports are now more expensive for US consumers than they were before, but not by as much as other countries’ are.
  
  What then do we do? Do we want to be the kid who looks the other way while other kids are being bullied, or the kid who actively helps the bully for a share of the victims’ lunch money, or the kid who joins with the victims in resisting the bully?
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:04am
  - Master Mariner
    
    “What then do we do?”
    Keep Calm and Carry on.
    
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    April 6, 2025 12:51pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      Look the other way while others are victimized, then. Pragmatic, but not exactly heroic
      
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      April 6, 2025 5:08pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Pick your fights, or get a severe toweling. Work smart.
        
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        April 6, 2025 6:28pm
  - artemisia
    
    How about making a personal statement and boycotting their stuff. Call it BDS. If enough New Zealanders had the courage of their convictions the US might sit up and take notice. Or not.
    
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    April 6, 2025 2:52pm
- AitchW
  
  Lot of lifestyle blocks round Morrinsville. I remember a stock agent telling me 20+ years ago that lifestylers were pushing up the price of 3 days old calves to the point that calf rearers couldn’t make any money on them.
  That was in Pukekohe, might it be the same in Morrinsville today?
  
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  April 6, 2025 4:52pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    My stock agent mates tell me the life stylers had minimal impact on the market. It was the bigger highly tuned traders that were buying up big. Those fellows live on their wits and because of their judgment have huge income tax bills year after year.
    After the tax man takes his 39% a significant portion of what is left over goes on grog, slow racehorses and fast women.
    
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    April 6, 2025 5:44pm
- westernScientist
  
  In the short to medium term, NZ will probably benefit from the US tariffs. We do about 4B in beef to the states, followed by about 500 odd mill in wine (from memory, the numbers might be off, but thats the ballpark), beef is by far our biggest export to them. We largely sell lean meat to be blended with their fatty factory farmed meat for processing (think burgers). The US is currently rebuilding their herd after a droughts so are short of supply generally as are the brazilians who also export to the states but have higher tariff rates, and tend to produce beef more similar to the amaricans than us and the ausies. The US cant easily swap production to leaner meat – really it has to be free range grass feed where most of their supply chain is organised around factory farming. The demand for NZ beef in the US will only go down due to the reduction in overall consumer demand from the increase in price with both local beef being in short supply so expensive, and all imported beef now having tariff rates. Our only real competitor for the beef we sell into the states is the Ausies, which have the same tariff rate.
  
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  April 6, 2025 5:32pm
Cassandra

An economist regarding the coming recession: “It is that sense of the US gone mad which is likely to do the most damage, assuming Mr Trump doesn’t quickly back off.”

The realisation among political and business leaders that they are no longer dealing with a rational force, or one that stays within the limits of accepted behaviour, is going to do real harm to investment intentions, never mind the impact on disposable incomes in the US from higher prices.
The haphazard way the tariffs have been put together indicates that they are just an extension of Trump’s gut feeling 40 years ago that America was being ripped off. Let’s hope a second phase, by an adult, makes enough corrections to avoid catastrophe.
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April 6, 2025 9:32am
- NK
  
  The US was heading into recession well before Trump became POTUS.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:53am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Indeed. Kinda of like blaming the ambulance for your injuries because it took 15 minutes to arrive, instead of the maniac that pushed your car over the edge of the cliff.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:02am
  - Cassandra
    
    And the tariffs will stop that, do you think? Some think so and others – most – think not. But the US has to do something. Quite what is the big question. Getting Europe and others to pay their fair share for defence, including NZ, will help. (NZ only a little bit, admittedly).
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:02am
    - AitchW
      
      America over the years has appointed itself the world’s policeman.
      The cost must be eye watering.
      Now Trump is walking that back. I’d have thought that the left/green bloc would have applauded that.
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:12am
      - sungsamning
        
        No, they hate Trump more than they hate the team America World Police thing.
        
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        April 6, 2025 3:08pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Which economic indicators lead you to that conclusion?
    
    Growth in GDP? 3.2%, the highest in the G7, in 2023, and 2.7% despite falling inflation in 2024
    
    Labour productivity? Up by 2.3% in 2024
    
    Inflation? Fell from 7.2% in 2022 to 2.4% in 2024
    
    Unemployment? 4.1% in December 2024, having been below 4.3% for over two years
    
    https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-biden-administration-handed-over-a-strong-economy/
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:35am
    - Tom Hunter
      
      Even the Democrat-supporting Axios doesn’t buy that any longer and has – to their credit – done a piece just a few days ago explaining to their angry readers, why the Biden Stronk Economy was bullshit, The signs of weakness we see now from the end of Biden’s era.
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:11pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        That article concludes that the economy left by Biden was:
        
        solid by some of the most important measures, but had meaningful pockets of weakness that are becoming more apparent as economic warning signs mount
        
        … which comes nowhere near justifying the term “bullshit” or the conclusion that the US was heading for recession anyway.
        
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        April 6, 2025 2:26pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        Well if Axios is not good enough for you how about Jason Furman writing in Foreign Affairs, The Post-Neoliberal Delusion.
        
        Key points he makes:
        
        – Inflation was a self-inflicted wound, not imported.
        
        – That outpaced wage gains, meaning that even with low unemployment, Americans were struggling to afford basic necessities.
        
        – The ‘manufacturing renaissance’ never happened.
        
        – Infrastructure spending failed to deliver.
        
        On that last it was sad/hilarious seeing another Democrat supporter, Ezra Klein, recently explaining to Jon Stewart why the Internet connection thing was such a failure. They actually wrote into the infrastructure act the very process that killed so much of it.
        
        Back to Furman:
        In polling shortly before the election, more than 60 percent of voters in swing states agreed with the idea that the economy was on the wrong track, and even higher numbers registered concern about the cost of living. In exit polls, 75 percent of voters agreed that inflation was a “hardship.”
        These views may seem surprising given various economic indicators at the time of the election. After all, unemployment was low, inflation had come down, GDP growth was strong, and wages were rising faster than prices. But these figures largely missed the lasting effects that dramatic price increases had on many Americans, which made it harder for them to pay for groceries, pay off credit cards, and buy homes. Not entirely unreasonably, they blamed that squarely on the Biden administration.
        
        I can’t locate it right now but there was a screen capture of some US MSM source that pushed the same lines in 2024 that you’re doing here – contrasted with their recent headline about how the Democrats didn’t understand how badly people were hurting amidst all the boasting about GDP, unemployment %, etc.
        
        As another reviewer said:
        Democrats, however, seem unwilling to acknowledge the failure. Instead of reckoning with the consequences of Biden’s economic mismanagement, some on the left continue to argue that voters simply didn’t “appreciate” Biden’s achievements. Furman dismisses this excuse, making clear that the administration’s policies directly fueled voter discontent.
        
        BTW, Furman is a longtime economist for the Democrat Party, which is why he was hired as an economic advisor to Obama.
        
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        April 6, 2025 4:48pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Cassandra, there are things I like about Trumps attack on all things woke, and the eye watering fraud and theft of trillions of dollars by the democrats and deep state.
  
  Tariffs, in general help no-one long term. No-one wins. And I disagree with him introducing them.
  
  However I am not in his position, and I believe that Trump is trying to plug the leaks in the ‘good ole ship’ USA, that is listing and headed to the same watery grave as the Manawanui.
  
  I don’t think any one person can fully comprehend and deal with the fact that the USA is in a terrible state. That Trump is trying to save the USA, is far better than the alternative.
  
  We can all be armchair critics. But faced with what he is facing, the wars, the riots, the violence, DEI, woke, the trillions being illegally siphoned out of the economy by deep state, who also attacks him day and night in the media, courts, and with rifles and threats to his life, – how long would critics last in that role?
  
  Most people / companies / organisations / countries can endure attacks on a very limited number of battlefronts. Trump is enduing attacks of dozens of Battlefronts.
  
  If you took a hundred critics and threw them into that role, and made to confront everything, none would last a day, most would be gone before breakfast, and those that stayed past breakfast would either end up in a mental hospital or commit suicide.
  
  My opinion that to confront the sheer magnitude requires people like Trump and Musk. We should not be so critical of handling of situations that we as critics would not have a snowball’s chance in hell of confronting.
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:25am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    The fraud and theft is not just the democrats and deep state. The RINOs have been playing the game for decades too.
    That is why they are squealing now. You don’t become a multi-millionaire on a politician’s salary unless you are crooked.
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:58am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Beware the nasty Democrats. They do lie about some Republicans being RINOs when they are not.
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:04pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        I note that it was a Republican leaning organisation, White Coat Waste (WCW), that had been exposing Fauci and US funding in the Wuhan lab, years before Covid.
        
        This includes regular purchases dating back as far as 2003, of animals from the Wuhan wet market to conduct sick and barbaric experiments on, in their quest to produce viruses, including the one that got deliberately released in Oct 2019 at the accommodation quarters of World Military Games in Wuhan. A virus that we now know as Covid-19.
        
        Obama renewed funding for Wuhan and Fauci in 2015 to continue perfecting the virus. April 2020, the 17th if I recall, armed with copious amount of information from WCW, Trump shut down funding for Wuhan. Which is pretty much when the deep states went all out to discredit him.
        
        When Biden took power, one of his very first actions was to restore funding.
        
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        April 6, 2025 2:05pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      And yet nobody’s been charged with either fraud or theft
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:15pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        I wonder why Dudley?
        Too many on the game so too big to fail?
        “If I go down I will take half of DC with me.” Who said that Dudley?
        
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        April 6, 2025 3:03pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        The words have been attributed to Hillary Clinton, but there’s no evidence that she actually said them
        
        https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/no-evidence-clinton-said-shed-take-half-of-dc-with-her-if-indicted-idUSL1N38D2HC/
        
        In any case though, Hillary now has no power. Neither does Biden, nor Kamala Harris, nor the Democratic party as a whole. Trump’s Cabinet and Congress will do anything Trump asks of them, and Trump’s support base can see no wrong in anything he does.
        
        So who is it that is still able to make Musk and Trump hesitate to prosecute for the trillions in massive fraud and illegal diversion of funds that’s been taking place?
        
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        April 6, 2025 5:46pm
David Garrett

Tauhei: Well, I might agree with you if I listened to Red Radio any more…It’s available on shortwave up in Tonga, but I have better things to do.
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April 6, 2025 9:32am
Bridgenag

One of the Blokes at Bowls went to the Auckland Football Club match last night and said the atmosphere was amazing. It was a real family event apparently with lots for them to do if they got bored and a good time for the match at 5.00pm. Only been going for 14months and top of the league!
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April 6, 2025 9:32am
- Prince
  
  How’s the EPL keeper going ? Does he realise he’s still in NZ yet ?
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:41am
  - greybeard
    
    Are you some sort of a reincarnation ?
    
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    April 6, 2025 5:59pm
- NK
  
  Full house. Meanwhile at Eden Park for the Blues game, less than 10,000. Super Rugby is a dying brand.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:54am
  - pdm
    
    I watched some of the Blues/Hurricanes game on TV .
    
    Very average I thought.
    
    I preferred the cricket.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:10am
    - alex Masterley
      
      I was there.
      Watching qualifying on my phone was far better than the spectacle in front of me, although the last ten was squeaky bum time as Sir Alex Ferguson would say. Very tense.
      An ugly win.
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:44am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      I watched some of the cricket.
      The lights went out, or was that just a studio system error?
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:52am
  - AitchW
    
    Rugby is way past saturation level now. Rugby from February till November.
    Super, Women’s Opiki, tests, 7s tours, NPC etc.
    I used to watch some super, not any more.
    I watch tests against Aussie, SA and maybe England and the Lions.
    Life’s too short to watch all the rest!
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:15am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      My interest in rugby union is a bit different. I note that the Malta-Israel test match will be played at Paola, Malta. Imagine the RNZ National people going apeshit if the Israeli team were to play in N.Z.
      And the Bosnia & Herzegovina-Kosovo test match will be played at Zenica, 70 km north of Sarajevo. I thought there was severe animosity between Kosovo and Bosnia.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:34am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        One Israeli tennis player is enough to sent the freaks off the deep end, along with rent a mob.
        
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        April 6, 2025 3:06pm
    - pdm
      
      Yep autchw.
      
      I watch selectively as far as Super Rugby goes.
      
      Never watch womens games – rugby (or league) is not a sport for women. In my view there will almost certainly be serious health related problems down the track.
      
      I do maintain my interest in the All Blacks and will watch most if not all All Black games. No getting up at 3am though – the ability to record and watch later is great.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:54am
    - OlderChas
      
      Used to watch rugby avidly. Went off lower grade matches, then provincial grade. Now can’t be bothered with any of it unless the Chiefs are playing. Oh – and all is well with the world – Damo has signed for the Chiefs for at least the next 4 years!
      
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      April 6, 2025 12:29pm
      - pdm
        
        Over the last 3 years we have gone regularly to the Mathews Domain, Tikokino to watch and support a grandson in Colts rugby. At 17 he was team co-captain.
        
        Now at 19 he is being chased to play Premier rugby but, is inclined to stay with his mates in Senior seconds.
        
        Missed his first club game this season (baby sitting
        2 great grand children) but, guess we will be on the job next weekend.
        
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        April 6, 2025 1:22pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Not a haka to be seen!
  
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  April 6, 2025 11:21am
  - Prince
    
    How are the Hurricane Ladies going ?
    I don’t mean the rugby – they’ve lost every game.
    
    I mean the all-important Haka. Has anyone bothered to interpret their haka yet ?
    
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    April 6, 2025 11:32am
    - pdm
      
      Prince – maybe no sponsorship and no support as a result of their actions last year. That is reflected in poor results.
      
      Karma.
      
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      April 6, 2025 11:55am
Cassandra

Newspaper headline: “Labour MP arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences.”
Note to Chippy – relax, it’s the UK Telegraph.
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April 6, 2025 9:35am
- Prince
  
  If it was NZ the headline would be ‘National call cops on fun-loving Labour MP. ‘
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:40am
  - sirknz
    
    It would be NZ First and The Greens in NZ…
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:46am
Bridgenag

Anyone else hate it when the size goes down and the price is the same or more. Jimbo cat food my example from just under 1kg to 930 to 800gms. Rice biscuits, Rye Vita etc etc all shrinking and getting thinner. In the ole’ days……..
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April 6, 2025 9:37am
- pdm
  
  Once a fortnight I buy a sultana scone at New World Greenmeadows for my lunch. They are roughly two thirds the size today that they were 6 months ago and the same price.
  
  I may have to boycott them.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:51am
  - Cassandra
    
    Foodstuffs share price just plummeted, pdm.
    
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    April 6, 2025 10:04am
    - pdm
      
      I continually underestimate my influence cass. lol.
      
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      April 6, 2025 10:12am
    - Paulus
      
      With share markets crashing now is the time to buy major shares as thet will recover as history has told us again and now is the time to become rich.!
      
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      April 6, 2025 2:46pm
      - Jack5
        
        Cassandra jokes about Foodstuffs shares.
        
        Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island are co-operatives of supermarket owners.
        
        Amusing that the two co-operatives are trying to amalgamate when the Government is talking about increasing supermarket competition.
        
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        April 6, 2025 8:16pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Blame Robbo and Cindy, and the inflation they caused by printing money.
  
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  April 6, 2025 9:59am
  - R
    
    by printing money,…….and irresponsibly raising the minimum wage and benefits without any increase in productivity.
    
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    April 6, 2025 2:03pm
- imalwaysright
  
  And why are packets three times the size of the product inside?
  
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  April 6, 2025 10:07am
  - MCōs
    
    About fifteen years ago I wrote to a muesli manufacturer in the States asking why the boxes were so much bigger than they needed to be.
    A short time later I received a reply saying they were reducing the box sizes.
    Incredibly that’s exactly what happened
    I’d like to say it was because of my complaint, but I think it was a coincidence
    
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    April 6, 2025 1:10pm
Prince

We’ve got 3.5 more years of this crap (maybe more !).
Honestly, someone needs to call an intervention on Stuff. They need serious psychological help.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360642521/trump-told-harris-she-was-great-and-tough-cookie-bizarre-post-election-phone-call

The ‘bizarre’ call on election night saying she was great and a tough cookie.
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April 6, 2025 9:38am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Greatest troll on the planet, and with a sense of humour.
  Kamala doesn’t know that, never did and never will.
  
  13 6
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  April 6, 2025 10:46am
sungsamning

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2025/04/04/jobs-crush-expectations-228000-added-in-march-as-trump-economy-defies-critics/

Jobs Crush Expectations: 228,000 Added In March as Trump Economy Defies Critics.
Economists had been expecting just 140,000 jobs would be added in March. The climb in the unemployment rate was expected.
The private sector’s hiring was much stronger than expected. Economists had forecast 115,000 jobs. Businesses added 209,000 jobs.
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April 6, 2025 9:59am
- Hard Cheese
  
  Pay no attention to the stock market collapse behind the curtain
  
  7 4
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  April 6, 2025 11:01am
  - kowtow
    
    It is not a “collapse” .
    
    It is a buying opportunity.
    
    9 3
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    April 6, 2025 1:04pm
    - Inandout
      
      kow, those of us who know how shares work see this as an opportunity because as sure as God made little apples they will rise, as they did after the covid crash.
      
      7 2
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      April 6, 2025 2:45pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  What say the “fake news” brigade?
  What say the “economists”?
  You have downticks. That means they are here right now.
  Anyone want to say they got it wrong, same as they did after 2016?
  
  6 5
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  April 6, 2025 11:50am
- pb
  
  Trump telling stockmarket, F-u. The latest is a move to revive mainstreet. The people dont have stock portfolios. They and the lions need to screw highstreet. Stockportfolios need a hard cull.
  
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  April 6, 2025 7:18pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP0ykui_lCA
Westpac CEO Grilled on net zero, banking red tape.
ACT MP Mark Cameron questions Westpac CEO Catherine McGrath about the effect of the capital requirements and the bank’s membership of the Net Zero Banking Alliance.
Since this committee hearing the Reserve Bank has announced a review of its banking requirements, something ACT has been pushing for to ease financial pressure on firms, farms and families.
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April 6, 2025 10:00am
- Master Mariner
  
  Any banks with common sense are leaving Net Zero Banking alliance in droves.
  
  10 2
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  April 6, 2025 1:17pm
- Paulus
  
  And am told woe betide anyody who crosses Westpac’s McGrath.
  She is known to be very sharp with anything she does not like.
  
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  April 6, 2025 2:49pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Came by email last evening.
Now We Know The Real Reason Why Te Pati Maori Are Giving The Discipline Committee The One Finger (Part 2)
I am starting to wonder why people would vote Nation after the ways they continue to appease Maori.
Maori Lore rules as far as Te Pati Maori are concerned.

Video 34 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPi5NNgvtL4
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April 6, 2025 11:02am
Jack5

New Zealand’s soft-touch on entry displayed in the case of a sex offender who assaulted a 16-year-old girl.

The sex offender can’t be deported because NZ accepted him from South America as a refugee.

Non-refugee migrant criminals can be deported only if they are sentenced to more than five years’ imprisonment.

The offender in this case has psychosis and from drug use and is a schizophrenic.

How did NZ select this man from Colombia into the country when the UN says there are eight million asylum seekers and 43 million refugees in the world?

Could NZ have just accepted a recommendation from UNHCR — the UN High Commissioner for Refugees?

This is the outfit, the Israelis allege, from which at least 12 employees took part in the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel by HAMAS terrorists.

Colombia the source of the refugee offender in this case, has millions of refugees from Venezuela.

Sources:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/sexual-assault-victim-says-delays-in-christchurch-case-took-a-toll-as-offenders-needs-were-prioritised/JG6N7FJVZVDNVHUW2YNRDWWPTE/

UNHCR and HAMAS attacks:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/un-workers-played-direct-role-oct-7-hamas-attack-israeli-intelligence-rcna136201

[Mod – fixed]
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April 6, 2025 12:55pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Family member had refugees from Colombia moved in next door.
  They were treated like absolute royalty. Everything they could ever want laid on for free.
  All secretive though. Family member was never told who they were or where they were from – just mind your own business and keep away.
  They didn’t like it where they were placed though and were moved somewhere else eventually.
  
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  April 6, 2025 1:31pm
  - AitchW
    
    I sat on a jury a few years back where a Colombian “refugee” was convicted of sexual assault on his very elderly neighbour.
    He looked like a senior member of a drug cartel, and I imagine he’s out now.
    He should have been deported on the spot in my opinion.
    
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    April 6, 2025 5:00pm
David Garrett

I bought “An inconvenient truth” on DVD today from an Op Shop…I am looking forward to watching it, and see just how many of Gore’s dire predictions have not to pass at the times he said they would. I shall report back in a guest post.

Meanwhile, as I understand it, Gore continues to live in a huge mansion with a massive carbon footprint. Somebody might like to confirm that.
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April 6, 2025 3:53pm
Cassandra

Confirmed, DG. 10,000 sq ft, roundly criticized for using 20 times the power of an average house. Actually it’s only 12 times.
5 2
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April 6, 2025 4:46pm
Keith White

Cannot fault this logic:

International lawfare is about the last remaining tool in the “Globalist” kit-bag for “color revolution,” which means regime change by underhanded means, election interference being the favorite device.

The poster child, of course, was the US CIA / DOD State Department regime change operation in Ukraine, 2014, that ousted Russian-leaning elected President Viktor Yanukovych, eventually leading to the installation of coke-head Volodymyr Zelensky, and ultimately to the Ukraine War that has killed over a million people.

These days, astroturf (i.e., fake) street revolution (e.g., Maidan in Kiev 2014) is out; lawfare is in.
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April 6, 2025 5:01pm
Ghost

It will be one hell of a blood bath. This isn’t going to end well for the usa and trump

Republican senators like Rand Paul and even the normally Trump-loyal Ted Cruz are warning about an electoral catastrophe. “If we go into a recession – particularly a bad recession – 2026 in all likelihood politically would be a bloodbath,” Cruz said Friday on his podcast. History suggests they have a point; most of the GOP’s worst elections since the Civil War came after the party instituted large tariffs.

Article
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April 6, 2025 5:13pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360642770/auckland-warned-brace-possible-thunder-lightning-heavy-rain
Good God: I lived in Auckland for several years in the late 1960s: I distinctly remember rain, wind & storms in that period. Every year.
Have I missed something ?
6 2
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April 6, 2025 5:57pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Just be damn glad you’re not in England at the moment….being blasted by a heat wave of 20C !!!!
  
  https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/2034458/weather-maps-england-mini-heatwave
  
  https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/2035746/weather-maps-turn-orange-20c
  
  (25C at 1pm, here on Kaiti Hill)
  
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  April 6, 2025 6:54pm
  - Ghost
    
    You’d be crying if you were. Farmers are on strike and not supplying wheat to the mills. Fights over flour in the supermarkets.
    
    1 0
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    April 6, 2025 7:00pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Benjamin Doyle in hiding?????

The House is sitting for the last of a three-week block before breaking until early May, but the Greens did not want to to publicise Doyle’s whereabouts days in advance,

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360642693/unclear-when-green-mp-benjamin-doyle-will-return-parliament

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360642693/unclear-when-green-mp-benjamin-doyle-will-return-parliament
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April 6, 2025 7:02pm
pb

The cargo cult has eliminated mining degrees from New Zealand since about 1986. For forty years New Zealand has been on the “import from China” trajectory. Bitter menopausal hags have steered this ship of state into the Auckland island cliffs. The main mast has snapped and deeps await.

https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/38710/auckland-island-from-disappointment-island
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April 6, 2025 8:19pm
Jack5

Matt cartoon in the Telegraph …

Man in armchair watching TV news. It begins:

“Good evening, and welcome to ‘What’s Trump Done Now?'”
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April 6, 2025 9:23pm

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