General Debate 20 April 2020

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PhilBest

Yep, it’s coming. The Herald’s “science” reporter today is asking why “we” aren’t as urgent about acting on global warming as “we” are on COVID-19.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325704

The headline in the print edition is “Virus Impels Us To Act, Why Not Warming”?

Well maybe, you “science reporter” twat, people can now see what “acting” means, and maybe there will be a sorely needed, long overdue “taking notice” of the validity and the sincerity of the pretexts by which we are expected to take these “great leaps backwards”. If lockdown conditions forever are what is implied, this means not just “1930’s redux” it means civilizational apocalypse.
If the sheeple won’t wake up, the only option for the wise is to go “full prepper”.
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April 20, 2020 8:00am
- PhilBest
  
  I always said the cunning old Winston would win back his disappointed supporters before the next election, by grandstanding on some issue where he could look principled and “hold his coalition government to account” or even yank his support and force an election.
  
  But an issue of this magnitude is a Lotto-scale slice of good fortune for Winston.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325916
  
  “…Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says there is “no value” in trying to save people who have coronavirus if it means greater social damage is caused.
  
  We need to save our economy as fast as we can before further damage is caused, Peters told Newstalk ZB’s The Weekend Collective…”
  
  He’s back in the game, the Machiavellian old sod. I hope this time round he uses the “balance of power” to force spineless National to do some brave and principled things, rather than betray his supporters AGAIN and once more pose as a “partial brake” on an incompetent and malevolent coalition of the other lot.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:04am
  - jaysper
    
    Winston is an awful awful human being in my eyes and he is only doing this, as you say, to ensure his political survival.
    However, even a stopped clock is right twice a day (analogue not digital of course!) and in this case he is 100% correct.
    We should NEVER have gone into lock down as it will cause far more death and misery than the virus would have otherwise.
    Furthermore, trying to eradicate the virus is just more the our PriNZcess virtue signalling as it will take but one missed case and we will be back to square one.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:30am
    - PhilBest
      
      Absolutely, you nail it, nothing I said was meant to infer anything different to what you are saying!
      
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      April 20, 2020 8:57am
    - Sacha
      
      There will always be someone who is vulnerable enough to become sick.
      Our society is sick in itself. It has embraced the media hysteria.
      In past years we would have been told (if anyone had noticed) that lots of people were getting nasty colds with a temp and dry cough, and that they were being advised to stay at home and rest up if they didn’t feel too good.
      Then we would have been told that a few, mostly older people, had been admitted to hospital with ‘complications’, & that some of them, mostly those who were pretty sick already, had died.
      There would have been a few ‘outbreaks’ which caused a bit of a flurry, but the health system would be holding up . . . . . . .
      and so on.
      Keep calm and carry on, right?
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:50am
    - igm
      
      His solid supporters who have defected will never return . . . I sincerely hope.
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:21am
      - curry4me
        
        igm: The pro-life ones in my family will when I remind them who put Labour in, with their abortion up until birth law. That’s all of them.
        
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        April 20, 2020 1:06pm
  - Ipanema69
    
    Phil I like your posts, they are always careful and well though out.
    
    However Winston is part of the government (he is the deputy PM). The coming economic impacts of the COVID 19 shutdown are going to be utterly and completely owned by this government. There is not going to be anything that Winston can say or do that avoids this mud sticking
    
    In all probability we will transition to Level 3 in the next week or so, come out of L4 at some stage in the next week or so. This will be followed by a transition to level 2 in 2-3 weeks.
    
    At this point I believe we will have a resurgence of cases (elimination was always a pipe dream the most conservative estimate of undetected cases is twice those detected) and we will have the equivalent of a particularly bad flu season.
    
    No government is going to get re-elected with both the economy tanking and what will be seen as a poor health outcome.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:57am
    - theoldbloke
      
      Of course numbers of cases is a bogeyman.
      If we had 100,000 cases that resulted in 100 people in hospital and 10 ascribed deaths, that would be way better for the population(Think herd immunity)
      
      Than 2,000 cases with 20 in hospital and 10 deaths.
      
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      April 20, 2020 3:15pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Numbers from the bogeyman 🙂
        
        Most cases silent – not a health problem – leave subject immune. 1 death per 10k cases. Herd immunity is something like 90 % of the population.
        
        So 4.5m (90% of NZ) divided by 10k is 450 deaths for herd immunity if the 1 death per 10k cases holds.
        
        Think of it as 90 deaths per million. Sweden has a ways to go as they are only at 50 …..
        
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        April 20, 2020 3:34pm
  - tavita
    
    Why hasn’t Winston used his leverage in the coalition like he has in the past? Maybe Labour have studied the polls and realised that NZF is not going to make it in the next election and hasn’t got enough support to risk precipitating an election now. So JA is ignoring Peters. I agree Peters is attacking them to try to establish his independent credibility. Dangerous times.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:01am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Peters has been completely frozen out by the PM since the lockdown began. I think he erred by basing himself at his bach at Whananaki rather than his home in St Mary’s Bay, where he would have been far more accessible to the media. After all, he is totally dependent on the media giving him oxygen.
      
      I personally believe that Peters has already started his 2020 election campaign, but also do not believe he can sustain a campaign for another five months. The doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility means he cannot disassociate himself from decisions made by the Government, and his only option to do that is to collapse the coalition. Time will tell if he is desperate enough to do that.
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:16am
      - trout
        
        Peters probably feels safer at Whananaki; his age and physical condition (shortness of breath and possible early emphysema) make him a person of high risk of serious Covid19 infection.
        
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        April 20, 2020 10:34am
      - PhilBest
        
        I suspect he thought the media would beat a path to him where he was, which would have more drama. But they didn’t.
        
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        April 20, 2020 1:05pm
  - Ian Hawthorn
    
    I hope that this time around there are no people stupid enough to believe this narrative of using Winston to “keep National honest” which was heavily promoted on a certain blog in the last election. If you want to keep National honest vote ACT.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:44am
  - curry4me
    
    PhilBest: He is a charlatan, and can never be trusted, period.
    
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    April 20, 2020 1:03pm
  - greenfinger
    
    Wouldn’t touch Winnie with a barge pole. He and Jac is totally in cahoots with his latest posturing. He wins the center right votes by saying we should relax the lockdown and save the economy while she continues to charm those that thinks she can do no wrong. Too easy!
    
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    April 20, 2020 1:29pm
- G152
  
  Because ‘climate change’ is always going on.
  Short term name is weather and only the side effects can kill.
  Viruses however do kill on contact
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:14am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    Viruses however do kill on contact
    
    Far more often they don’t.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:37am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Yup. In the few minutes it’s taken me to read down the thread I will have breathed in a veritable soup of pathogens, many dangerous enough to have killed me 200 years ago.
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:31am
- JibberJabber
  
  Given we are not getting taxed (notwithstanding losing ur job is the ultimate Tax) to make Covid go away, why are we being taxed to make the Planet colder?
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:21am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Don’t understand this comment. Certainly there isn’t a formal covid-tax, but we are making huge economic sacrifices in the name of resisting the virus, and there is more to come, including increased taxation in one form or another as sure as night follows day.
    
    Similar economic sacrifice, possibly but not necessarily including an explicit climate tax, may be necessary to address climate change. The extent of economic damage envisaged by the Greens isn’t necessary, there are more effective and efficient means available than those they want, but some cost is inevitable if we want to tackle climate change.
    
    At the moment much of the population seems to be accepting the necessity of economic pain to resist the virus – not here on Kiwiblog, perhaps, but certainly out there. It will indeed be interesting to see whether having done it once for one cause, makes people more or less prepared to do it again for another.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:54am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Climate change is bullshit.
      Parts of the northern hemisphere have had the coldest winter on record.
      So much for ‘Warming’
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:44am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Still getting snow in NW USA
        
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        April 20, 2020 10:31am
      - Ian Hawthorn
        
        There has been, as I half expected, absolutely no effect from the shutdown on measured CO2 levels.
        
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        April 20, 2020 11:46am
    - kloyd0306
      
      ….still waiting to learn why “Global Warming” was replaced with “Climate Change”………
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:43am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Narrative dear boy…narrative.
        “global warming” can be disproved by anyone with a thermometer and a good multi decade memory/ experience.
        “Climate change” has been happening for 6 billion years and cannot be disproved.
        But it is easy for them to misrepresent “evidence”.
        eg (Not literal) I saw a report where the study was quoted between 1996- 2003…and the average temps showed an overall warming.
        BUT if you took the results over a decade 1995-2005 it showed a flat line.
        I looked into it because the start and finish dates, along with time period, seemed odd. A 7 year test?
        
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        April 20, 2020 10:53am
- surfing
  
  Why can’t people have civilised debate and respect the right for others to have a say?
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:03am
- projectman
  
  The Herald’s “science” reporter today is asking why “we” aren’t as urgent about acting on global warming as “we” are on COVID-19.
  
  Perhaps because the modelling re global warming is crap and, even if not, there aren’t any immediate and significant health implications.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:59am
- Immigrant
  
  I think Winston has resigned himself to the fact that he and his party are toast and will be history after the election. He is hoping for a miracle. But even if the miracle happens and he does get back into parliament, there is not much to look forward to. No kingmaker role this time, no power.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:06am
- Durden
  
  We will not act on warming, because the Virus proved that experts and their models are bullshit and scientific consensus is a figment of PR. If they can’t model the much simpler virus/pandemic system with some degree of consensus, after we have had many many past real-life observable examples, they have zero chances of modelling the much more complex and longer time-horizon forecasting of climate change.
  
  And the Virus has proved that we could destroy economies listening to expert bullshit. The impact of this proves that what is being proposed for climate change on spurious/flaky grounds will, if accepted without proof, is a recommendation of suicide by mankind.
  
  Unless some one provides corroboration using real life data, I would simply do the equivalent of what we did for the virus of social distancing, hand washing, protect the vulnerable more.
  
  In climate change terms I translate the equivalent to — in your personal life avoid waste and pollution, at a societal and economic level keep innovating and implementing solutions that reduce wasteful consumption and environmental degradation AND are economically sound. Keep an eye on low lying areas/people and protect them, or be ready to protect them.
  
  Then await actual real life observations (data) that provides incontrovertible confirmation of global warming and sea level rise.
  
  Anyone proposing nostrums based on unprovable beliefs should be ridiculed, ignored and cast out. e.g. Shamubeel Eaqub who yesterday suggested a recovery from the virus with a Green reset. Or the current crop of Greens who think the virus is justification to create a white elephant railway system and wider footpaths and cycleways. And those who say the current lockdown is utopia, without thinking about the $2B per day, that we don’t have, being pumped in to the economy by the government.
  
  I think for the push back to happen we need many alternate voices in all modes of main stream media. And leaders with balls to question the doomsayers and force them to be accountable.
  
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  April 20, 2020 2:54pm
- theoldbloke
  
  I see the Herald is still propagating
  Infectious disease expert Dr Siouxsie Wiles
  
  Also interesting that her wikipedia entry has added
  Infectious disease expert…
  tosh, bollocks and spin.
  
  How does one edit a Wikipedia article?
  
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  April 20, 2020 3:00pm
nasska

Arise Sir Kishan Naran.
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April 20, 2020 8:00am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Disgusting leftist propaganda.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:15am
- JibberJabber
  
  Isn`t it amazing the how the Left loathe everything to do with Conservatism and Traditionalism, yet envy and grasp its baubles every chance they get, eh Mr Sir Michael ?
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:26am
MT_Tinman

Covid Diary, April 20

April 20

Woke up as usual this morning just after 07:00. Sleeping that extra 2 hours has become a habit.

Cursed at the scumbag c*%t dictator polluting the country.

Got up and had breakfast while perusing the local news media: Still full of badly written, no sense sycophantic bullshit about the c*%t.

NZ desperately needs Parliament and democracy back.

Remembered even Kiwiblog has succumbed to this. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it was written by, and for, adults. It isn’t.

Cursed again at the scumbag c*%t dictator!

Read the overseas news. They hate Trump too.

Sat down to figure out which of my vehicles needs a run. Will “go to supermarket” later.

Turned to the blogs.

TBC
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April 20, 2020 8:03am
- Scott
  
  Quite right Tinman. Our Prime Minister and our government generally appear very comfortable running all areas of our life. They have placed the whole country under virtual house arrest with the only exception being a daily walk in the exercise yard of your neighbourhood and a trip to the supermarket.
  
  Now some people really believe in the Prime Minister and this government and say that it’s only for an emergency and normal transmission will be resumed as soon as possible.
  
  Let’s look at the government’s record so far shall we? The Prime Minister unilaterally stopped all future oil and gas exploration thereby crippling regional economies that rely on energy such as Taranaki.
  The government rammed through abortion legislation which legalises abortion up until birth. They did this while people were distracted with the virus problem. They did this after excluding 90% of the submissions to the select committee, which were not heard.
  The government has also banned protest outside abortion clinics. Therefore people will not even be able to congregate outside to quietly pray.
  
  This is not a Prime Minister or a government that values freedom. Banning protest outside abortion clinics is the “tell”. They don’t believe in freedom of expression. They don’t believe in freedom at all.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:29am
  - GoVege
    
    Scott: That’s because young women about to have their pregnancy terminated have enough to deal with, without having to walk past a line of self righteous Christians giving them the evil eye.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:53am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Well they will need to deal with it. The “protest free zones” were voted out in the final reading of the Bill.
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:33am
    - Sacha
      
      @ GoVege: They can avoid it by not getting pregnant. It’s a simple matter of choice and pre-planning.
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:56am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        Many medical conditions can be avoided through better decision-making. Should assistance be denied for all of them?
        
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        April 20, 2020 10:22am
      - GoVege
        
        You make it sound so simple, Sacha.
        If only real life was like that….
        
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        April 20, 2020 11:22am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Actually, the ‘protest-free safe zone’ was voted out in an amendment moved by David Seymour. It seems the amendment was passed in a voting mix up.
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12315875
    
    Note that a number of National MPs also supported the protest ban, led by Nikki Kaye.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:03am
- emmess
  
  How is Hungary doing anything than much worse than what our government is doing?
  
  https://www.politico.eu/article/what-should-the-eu-do-about-hungary-coronavirus-viktor-orban/
  
  The Hungarian Prime Minister gets called dictatorial by the global elites.
  
  I am condoning what Victor Orban has done, but where is the consistency? Why do they not say the same about Jacinda?
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:38am
  - Scott
    
    emmess – it’s very simple really. The Hungarian Prime Minister occupies the centre-right. He is a nationalist, he is also a Christian, he is a white man. Therefore he is a terrible person by definition.
    
    Our Prime Minister on the other hand is of the centre-left, she is a woman, speaks in warm reasonable tones and the mainstream media adore her. Therefore everything she does is right and good and should never be questioned.
    
    Also if you get confused please remember the one cardinal rule of today’s mainstream media – “orange man bad”. The Hungarian Prime Minister is probably a supporter of Pres Trump and therefore nothing he can do will be correct.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:57am
  - PhilBest
    
    That article is sickeningly biased, indeed! Their main problem with Orban is that he is not “leaving policy on pandemics to the glorious transnational organizations” such as the EU and the UN who are actually part of the problem. He’s acting in the interests of his own people who would be sold out without a qualm by those transnational aparatchiks. His position reminds me a little of Taiwan’s position. Trust the transnationalists who are in the pockets of your enemies anyway, and you’re dead.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:02am
- Belinda
  
  My almost 100 year old cousin was admitted to hospital a few days ago, they thought she was having a heart attack, turns out she had been watching and reading so much about the virus was utterly terrified.
  They might need a new category soon, for those who simply died of fear of the virus.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:49am
Loddenthinks

Well, today’s going to be interesting, isn’t it? While I hope for a move to level 3 from Midnight Wednesday I rather fear Jacinda will opt to extend lock-down until after ANZAC Day observance – so that means next Tuesday.

There’s no justification for it, and it will be the final nail in the coffin of hundreds of small businesses, and no doubt a few not-so-small ones too.
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April 20, 2020 8:04am
- GoVege
  
  Not to mention people going nuts and getting shot dead by the police in South Auckland ….
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:07am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    If you approach Police with a weapon Go Vege, there’s only ever going to be one outcome, and it won’t be pleasant. The man shot by the Police early this morning was the author of his own misfortune.
    
    My sympathies are with the man’s family, but also with the Police officers involved, who will now face a “Spanish Inquisition” into their conduct, when all they were doing what what they had sworn to do, i.e. keeping the community safe.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:22am
    - GoVege
      
      I agree with you entirely, Tony.
      The last thing any policeman wants is to have to shoot someone.
      (In NZ anyway.)
      But putting virtually the entire nation under house arrest for weeks is sure to lead to increased stress and violence.
      There should have been a lot more safety valves permitted, IMO.
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:38am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Socialist controllers will not relinquish their power easily
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:13am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    Certainly not until New Zealanders stand up for themselves and demand they do so.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:21am
    - kloyd0306
      
      I wonder, what is the ratio of police to citizens????
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:48am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        They took your guns for a reason
        
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        April 20, 2020 2:41pm
- PhilBest
  
  Winston is making rumblings though…..he has always had the power to bring down this government any time……
  
  Not that I trust him for political salvation, no way. He might ride this issue to electoral comeback but promptly shaft everyone again once the voting results are in.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:25am
  - peterwn
    
    Winston will be fighting for political relevance. The only ‘power’ he has would be to force the delay of the General Election to November. Simon has ruled out working with NZ First and is unlikely to backtrack. Jacinda would not rule out working with NZ First but would hope that she could govern without Winston’s assistance. Her issue is whether to help NZ First win an electorate seat. My guess is she would be sufficiently confident of an absolute majority so would not need NZ First’s support but would give a few crumbs to the Greens to keep them on side for three years down the track. Like Winston she would be confident that the Greens would never do a deal with National and hence treat the Greens accordingly.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:11am
  - Unity
    
    Please!! Don’t anyone get sucked in by Winston. He will say whatever he thinks you want but once in power he will suffer from amnesia. He is totally untrustworthy.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:20am
- freethinker
  
  If those who lose their jobs etc reward ardern in the time honoured way it may be worth the cost.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:27am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    She is going to suffer big time. I will be out there reminding people at the polling booth
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:43am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      No campaigning is allowed at polling booths.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:10am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Can’t stop me on my own property. And yes, no campaigning at polling booths. I am famous for removing red rosettes from so called scrutineers. They warn me and put it back on, but they get a loud and clear message
        
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        April 20, 2020 11:40am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        By law Steve, party scrutineers are allowed to wear rosettes in their party colour at a polling booth. You are treading on very dangerous ground if you demand someone remove them, or attempt to forcibly remove one.
        
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        April 20, 2020 1:31pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I know they can by Law Tony. That don’t stop me making a huge noise about it. Yet to be arrested for taking one off.
      Btw, if I wear a “blue” armband, they make a noise
      
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      April 20, 2020 2:44pm
- Simon
  
  They might move to level 5. That would really show the virus. It’s just good science.
  
  Level 5 if you are on the streets without the proper papers you are just shot. It’s all about preventing Wuhan virus deaths.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:29am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I can see a possible level 5. This crowd of clowns are famous for resetting targets (moving the goalposts)
    Not to be trusted
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:46am
- peterwn
  
  The meaning of Level 3 has been tweaked in the last week or so so it would effectively be Level 3.5 . So it would probably 90% of benefit of Level 4 while freeing up some things. I suspect NZ will move to that. Transition to Level 2 would be difficult, so either things will need to be progressively eased under Level 3, or Level 2 requirements made stricter.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:37am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Yes I’m hoping we go to level 3, but I too fear she will go for the “we don’t want to risk losing the huge gains we have made” line and extend the lock down by either a week or two.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:37am
- DeepBlue
  
  Even with Level 3 on Wednesday, all the responsibility for safe operations is going to fall on business owners. They will take a couple of days to get in supplies etc. So the natural start for most will be following Tuesday anyway.
  
  I say it will be Wednesday but couriers/ freight will be overwhelmed, so a rolling start-up will happen over the next week.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:44am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I have a friend who is a builder (10 guys on the tools). He said they will be set to go at 0700 the day they are allowed to.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:35am
    - Colville
      
      Only one bloke in a room at a time.
      Cant buy materials other than over the phone to be delivered by driver.
      
      They wont be doing much.
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:46am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Wonderful. I hope they get a chance to start this Thursday. As they are organised and ready there is no community health reason why they should be forced to wait until Tuesday.
      
      Each employer/ employee knows what they have to do to protect themselves and their families.
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:50am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      and I was talking to one of my customers (we are both essential businesses) who said “about 7 of his friends, who have been in lock down, handed their keys back to the landlord last week. Taking about 8 jobs each, with them.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:11am
    - Paulus
      
      One large house builder in Tauranga said that he will have his builders live on site and will put them up on site within their own bubble. His workers appear to be happy with that asap, as some houses are deteriorating as left open when stopped.
      He has hundreds of houses on the go and ready to start.
      He is not the only one locally.
      
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      April 20, 2020 2:00pm
  - Ian Hawthorn
    
    I’ve been watching with awe as an entire store full of vegetables rots on the shelves through the window of my local greengrocer during my infrequent walks. It is going to take the poor guy more than a day to clean all that up and I wonder if he’ll ever succeed in getting rid of the smell. You can catch a whiff of it near the door; it must be absolutely overpowering inside. I’ll do my best to support him with my business when/if he reopens, but I sadly suspect he is going to go under. Who wants to buy vegetables from a place that smells of rot.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:57am
- redeye
  
  I imagine they will look at the expert opinion and then decide.
  
  Of course the expert opinion will be coming from their spin doctors & their campaign management team. And the decision will be based purely on the political advantage or hit they are likely achieve.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:02am
- Paulus
  
  I am so excited – I cannot wait to watch her at 4 pm.
  I will be sitting quietly with a strong cup of tea whilst the Dictator tells us how we will live under her regime – and do not forget it.
  Nasty little woman !
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:50am
  - marcw
    
    An adult leader would make a press statement after the Cabinet meeting had finished – job done. Not this leader. Let’s organise a podium public performance, get all the news media in front of her and go for the Academy award. Her subjects will be in awe of her greatness and the wonderful gesture made to let them go about their rightful business.
    
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    April 20, 2020 10:01am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      If it’s good enough for Trump to quietly issue press statements instead of holding press conferences, why can’t Ardern do the same?
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:12am
      - marcw
        
        Hoist by your own strawman what-about-ism petard.
        
        7 2
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        April 20, 2020 11:52am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0YbYECU7A
      Start at 1:00min.
      
      2 1
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      April 20, 2020 11:15am
    - Nickc2
      
      It takes time for her minders to prepare questions for the media and distribute them to their chosen mouth pieces from the Press Gallery.
      
      8 1
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      April 20, 2020 11:23am
      - Nickc2
        
        Plus Monday is a long lunch day for the Press Gallery. They haven’t seen each other since drinks on Friday evening.
        
        4 1
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        April 20, 2020 11:58am
    - Paulus
      
      Who will lead the singing afterwards “How Great Though Art” ?
      Don’t we know how lucky we are ?
      
      1 1
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      April 20, 2020 2:02pm
  - kloyd0306
    
    Any announcement should be from a sitting of parliament.
    
    These news conferences are simply media-compliant love-fests.
    
    16 2
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    April 20, 2020 10:53am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    4pm I will be half pissed. Just did a test. According to the wowsers I am drinking 4 times what I should be
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:49am
- Ruahine
  
  There is no justification for banning ANZAC Day whatsoever.
  There was no justification for banning it last year either.
  It does show that organisations that receive taxpayer money can be easily bullied by a gov’t that is quite practiced at bullying. Many of them being ex- union officials.
  I am just wondering what excuse Labour and the Greens will come up with next year to ban it.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:03am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    No one has ‘banned’ Anzac Day. It’s not Oliver Cromwell forbiding Christmas, you know.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:13am
mikenmildagain

20 April. 4/20. 420.
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April 20, 2020 8:06am
- Swifty
  
  Be safe.
  
  https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=YsaS_1587215430
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:34am
Happychappy

How can our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have any credibility when for weeks ever since testing for the Coronavirus started people were turned away from doctors and testing stations because the people in charge said there was no need and our Prime Minister agreed but now is advocating if some with the slightest sore throat or even a sniffle get tested.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/if-you-even-have-sniffle-slightest-sore-throat-get-tested-covid-19-pm-urge
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April 20, 2020 8:06am
- freethinker
  
  ardern has never had credibility with those with a fully functioning brain and some real life experience so nothing has changed. The job at the Morrinville chip shop ardern hope to fill when she gets the arse card sept19 is now unavailable due to failure of the business.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:30am
- PhilBest
  
  My explanation for this is that even Jacinda can see the reality that stuff-all deaths to date means there weren’t going to be any more than stuff-all deaths even without the lockdown. Because (patience, patience, some people need this explaining over and over again) COVID-19 takes 3 to 8 weeks to kill people.
  
  She’s now in desperation mode looking for statistics to justify her colossal sabotage of the country’s future. Actually around 95% of tests so far have been negative, so if anything test kits are already being wasted and the medical people are right to triage test applicants and screen out the hypochondriacs etc.
  
  It remains to be seen whether NZ winter environmental conditions are conducive to spread and deadliness of this virus, but our January to April (so far) conditions in tandem with our low urban density, predominant housing type, demographics, etc obviously make us the world’s luckiest country. We are, however, the world’s unluckiest regarding the politicians and “experts” in charge.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:32am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Do you think a negative test result means a test kit has been wasted?
    
    7 13
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    April 20, 2020 8:56am
  - JackRabbit
    
    “Actually around 95% of tests so far have been negative…”
    
    As they will be because those tested would have been asymptomatic and had long enough to overcome the virus, thus testing negative. A test for anti-bodies would probably have revealed a different outcome. There is no validity in raiding a house looking for stolen meat pies long after they have been consumed. You would need to search the garbage for wrappers i.e. evidence they once existed.
    
    Delayed testing was always going to produce negative results. Note that she resisted random testing from the outset because it would produce too many “false positives”. Delaying time testing on anything that is time sensitive will always skew the results.
    
    Skewed Results: 1432 infected, 12 dead. Mortality rate is .83%. Therefore if 1 million were infected, there would have been over 8000 deaths, therefore Jacinda is our god.
    
    With immediate random testing, and followup anti-body testing the results would have been:
    
    15,000 infected, 1432, symptomatic, 12 dead, mortality rate: 0.08%.
    
    Covid-19 was always time sensitive. Random testing after the asymptomatic/symptomatic recovery period was over, and cases dropped off, was always going to have mostly negative results. Only anti-body testing would show the true picture.
    
    This is not just junk science, but fraudulent science.
    
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    April 20, 2020 10:11am
    - PhilBest
      
      Absolutely agree that antibodies tests would provide helpful information. Note we’re patting ourselves on the back now that we’ve finally got enough testing reagent to test for the virus; meanwhile real first world countries are doing antibodies tests already.
      
      4 2
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      April 20, 2020 1:11pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        A relevant link:
        
        https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/antibody-tests-may-hold-clues-covid-19-exposure-immunity-its-complicated
        
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        April 20, 2020 2:48pm
- Nickc2
  
  Because she told lies and would not admit there was insufficient test kits. Now there are test kits.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:42am
  - Tricati
    
    Same with PPE and Flu vaccines – seems the next lie will be we have a ‘gold standard’ tracing system but just have to wait 2 weeks to put the finishing touches to it
    
    29 1
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    April 20, 2020 8:58am
    - Nickc2
      
      Yes, and it looks like she has put her trust in Google to be her ‘Gold Standard Tracing System’. Spying on her peasants in the name of COVID-19. Be very careful with the privileges we afford this Marxist dictator.
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:31am
  - notreadyet
    
    Same with PPE
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:02am
Poppa

The big decision today will mean for many businesses the difference between surviving & going down the sink

I am picking that Cindy is loving this so much she will be pushing for more of the same & she will be copping plenty if she does

Even Peters has sounded sensible by comparison
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April 20, 2020 8:08am
- Bobba Fret
  
  I think a lot of people are expecting to go to level 3 in two days time. If they decide to extend level 4, I think there will be a lot more people breaking the rules as I believe given the results of the testing and the low death rate it’s going to be a hard sell to the public.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:44am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Although I just heard Duncan Gardner announce a poll on whether we should go to level 3 and I cannot believe that 58% said we should stay at level 4!
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:01am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Same on talkback yesterday. the wrinklies and beneficiaries think that it would be sensible to stay on Home D for an other week. After all, it makes no bloody difference to them.
      
      All the tradies and small business owners were screaming to be allowed to salvage what’s left of their businesses – but they are outnumbered by the sort of people who have time to listen to talkback and answer silly polls!
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:21am
      - DeepBlue
        
        Turkeys and Christmas…
        
        At the moment there is no requirement for work readiness training or appointments at MSD, foodbank is a social place and far less stigma, it’s a legitimate role to stay on the couch, no immediate risk of eviction from rental.
        
        But Level 3 does mean KFC opens.
        
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        April 20, 2020 10:57am
      - Okahu
        
        Wrinklies and beneficiaries is a pretty good description of this readership. Most one and the same I would have thought.
        
        2 3
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        April 20, 2020 12:48pm
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Who the Hell is Duncan GarDner?
      
      11 6
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      April 20, 2020 9:34am
      - Bobba Fret
        
        sorry…typo
        
        8 0
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        April 20, 2020 10:13am
    - tavita
      
      58% are the people at home but on full pay from their government jobs or who are working on home delivery of “essential” items and actually benefitting from all this.
      
      27 3
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      April 20, 2020 9:45am
    - mark15
      
      58% of how many (cheerleaders)?
      
      12 1
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      April 20, 2020 9:56am
    - Tall Man
      
      Shows just how many actually work for a living.
      
      8 1
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      April 20, 2020 11:28am
- Cinematic
  
  Poppa, I think you’re right. No doubt Jacinda and her posse are drunk on the power; who among them could have imagined student politics would one day lead to ultimate control?
  
  They won’t admit it to one another but fear will also play a major part in their decision making today. They’ve stolen the cookies from the cookie jar, it’s still mostly a secret, but as soon as the pantry door opens…
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:45am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Folks, you all have to remember that the coming weekend is a long weekend. So, ghd police will want everybody locked down to avoid people thinking they have any semblance of freedom.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:22am
Ford Prefect

Hypothetical question:

In the current climate. If a citizen of this country was to share a video of our beloved leader addressing a room full of young socialist comrades, should they expect a visit from the local constabulary to help realign their thinking?
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April 20, 2020 8:08am
- PhilBest
  
  It will come to that if we let it.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:33am
- Observer of Life
  
  Ford Prefect 8.08: Go for it .. so far I haven’t been, but I guess it is early days.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:57am
- oldfella
  
  Haven’t seen Glorious Leader addressing her fawning young socialists. Link?
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:55am
  - marcw
    
    Then you must watch at 4pm today.
    
    7 2
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    April 20, 2020 11:03am
  - Crisplion
    
    Here you go comrade:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rsxFaq6Ig
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:34am
    - oldfella
      
      Thank you, Comrade.
      
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      April 20, 2020 1:39pm
Bill felt

I spent last night reading the comments section of “Guest Post: Jacinda Ardern: The Master of a Crisis”. There were a lot of comments (two pages) and many comments were long and well thought out. Many had more than 20 up ticks.

I am heartened by this as it shows the community here is capable of critical analysis, is able to see that we are in extraordinary circumstances and we have a very weak Government, led my a leader who sees it as important to say things, but not actually do things. A leader whose bumper sticker slogans are distinct from reality. Almost every comment mirrored my thoughts as to how weak Ardern is.

Anyway thanks all for contributing. You made my day. Let’s keep the critical analysis up and change this Government in Sept. BF
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April 20, 2020 8:09am
- PhilBest
  
  I’m almost a lone contrarian on that posting. I say it has to be a piss-take of MSM sycophancy. Maybe the writer (a known ACT associate) offered it to the MSM by way of a “sting”, but even they wouldn’t bite. Hence it being a bit dated.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:36am
  - Gravelroad
    
    I just thought the whole episode was inappropriate at this time – even the guest poster confirmed that his fan club column was written some two weeks prior.
    So, then – what was the point?
    It had an element of “playing” the participants here that I found questionable.
    Many people in the real world are anxious and really hurting. They are past seeing the need to constantly praise and idolise Ms Ardern and her government.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:09am
- Swifty
  
  Good on you Bill.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:38am
- Evadne
  
  I’ve just seen it now, and got half way through.
  
  Is it satire?
  
  Or a high school project to write propaganda in the style of Stalinist Russia or North Korea?
  
  Surely no thinking, rational person could write that tripe in all seriousness, while using so many classic propaganda techniques, deliberate misrepresentation of facts, and emotive imagery. It’s a textbook example.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:45am
  - Evadne
    
    In fact, reading it to the end convinces me it was written as a joke, and DPF and the author (whoever’s he/she is) are having fun.
    
    Take the following phrase, for example:
    “Her absolute and unconditional will to..”. That sort of language is used when talking about deities, not people.
    
    27 2
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    April 20, 2020 9:03am
    - PhilBest
      
      That’s what I think too. Possibly it was submitted to mainstream dailies as part of an ACT experiment to expose their sycophancy but even they didn’t fall for it.
      
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      April 20, 2020 1:13pm
  - projectman
    
    It’s just what the MSM does all the time.
    
    I don’t think we can take anything at all from the fact that the OP worked for David Seymour at some point.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:13am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://babylonbee.com/news/vicious-tyrant-trump-wants-to-let-people-leave-their-homes?fbclid=IwAR0WxNmV_nQ3NBz9ebDOctrRW3Q4RVrCihmrjRTAAt2dslDCKcV4syD4Ww8&utm_content=buffer7c62d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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April 20, 2020 8:12am
- PhilBest
  
  The disjointedness of political categorization today is remarkable. Depending who the politician is, and the point in time, the MSM will categorize them as a “fascist” one moment and then “a reckless endangerer of public safety” the next. On the other hand if the politician is a progressive icon, there will never be any suggestion they acted too late, on the one hand, or that they acted too dictatorially, on the other.
  
  I really admire the retort Boris gave journalists who were harassing him about being too slow to lockdown – he asked, have you thought it through just how extreme and damaging lockdown itself is? Not just on the economy, but on people’s lives? Why would you want politicians to be keen to impose it?
  
  That’s a politician I can trust with those kind of powers. Someone who is reluctant rather than keen, to exercise them. And someone who can weigh up wicked moral dilemmas and make the “lesser evil” choice rather than the “soft heart here and now” one.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:43am
  - GoVege
    
    That’s what leaders have to do: make difficult decisions that affect people’s lives.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:17am
JibberJabber

Oh dear, can`t wait `til the the woke get hold of this cringe inducing clip…

https://twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/1251966032576684033
…did I mention Cultural appropriation? LoL.
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April 20, 2020 8:15am
- Swifty
  
  Dear god.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:37am
- kowtow
  
  Given the ,ahem , lack of petiteness , of quite a few of those, is it any surprise that the bug is hitting “healthy” health workers .
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:05am
- Ruahine
  
  That is revolting. Mind you most of them were not over weight.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:08am
cmm

DPF: A few days ago you posted on everyone knowing you don’t treat a virus with antibiotics.

You might find this 2009 paper on treating H1N1 flu in the USA interesting.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0906695

The vast majority of the cases, 79%, received antibiotics. Of those that had pneumonia like x-ray symptoms, 97% were treated with antibiotics.
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April 20, 2020 8:15am
jv

Hipkins/Ministry of Education
has provided the key stuff up for today’s Cabinet decision, “BUT it is important that schools and early learning centres are physically open for those PARENTS who need them”. That need, along with associated stress, mental health, child care, relationship problems, is of Government’s making and it is not an education issue for teachers to have to deal with.
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April 20, 2020 8:16am
- kowtow
  
  More “partners” probably caught the bash during Level 4 lock down than caught the bug.
  
  Cook da man some fucking eggs.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:09am
- GazzaW
  
  Hear hear JV. I’m surprised that the teachers unions have not made teachers’ views very clear. The majority will not physically return to their classrooms until the community spread has proven to be diminished. Many teachers are 60+ and many share their personal bubbles with vulnerable family members. Has Hipkins has done a back room deal with the unions to get them to toe the party line?
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:03am
MrTips

Random question for the day:

how much more is the Ministry of Health going to have to pay for the completion of Grey Base Hospital now that Grant Robertson intervened in legal wranglings?

and how much PPE could that buy?
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April 20, 2020 8:18am
- freethinker
  
  Do tell us more please.
  
  12 1
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  April 20, 2020 8:35am
  - MrTips
    
    I would encourage DPF, Hamish Price or Matthew Hooton to OIA regarding it.
    
    12 1
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    April 20, 2020 9:01am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I suspect MrTips, that you’re following the age-old political practice of not asking a question you already know the answer to 😉
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:29am
Luke Piewalker

Cindy PR working overtime with the message ‘how Cindy saved NZ’

Sadly the reality of her absolute incompetence … two businesses I know of laying off 90% of their staff this week

You don’t have a fn clue do you Cindy
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April 20, 2020 8:19am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  The Atlantic Weekly have published a beautiful piece on Our Leader of the Light…
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:32am
- Bobba Fret
  
  But Cindy’s PR people will find an expert who will produce a model that calculates how many thousand lives she has saved.
  And she will sell the line “lives are more important than the economy”
  Sad about the two businesses you mention and the workers.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:05am
Cunningham

I’m picking Level 3 on Tuesday next week. People astonishingly in website polls (which can be taken with a grain of salt) want level 4 extended! I don’t think most people comprehend yet the massive economic catastrophe that is coming (I hope I’m wrong but I don’t think so) and when it hits, this government is gonna be under extreme pressure. Based on their first term of government, they are going to struggle big time. National will be quietly confident they can present themselves as the party to get us out of the shit we will find us in.
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April 20, 2020 8:20am
- PhilBest
  
  It’s not just the economic ignorance that depresses me. It’s the fact that there is a lack of the simple logic that as COVID-19 takes 3 to 8 weeks to actually kill someone, the deaths we’ve had so far are “the deaths we would have had anyway”, not some “reduced number thanks to lockdown”.
  
  I suspect that even Jacinda herself gets this and gets it that she is vulnerable should effective opposition politicians actually make this point so the public understands it – hence her anxiety now to get people flocking to get tested.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:47am
- kowtow
  
  ‘National will be quietly confident they can present themselves as the party to get us out of the shit we will find us in.’
  
  With our Media so sewn up by the left how can any party , perceived by the media as of the right, get any cut through at all
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:12am
  - Cunningham
    
    You wait until the shit really hits the fan with our economy and then they will get some cut through!
    
    17 1
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    April 20, 2020 9:26am
  - PhilBest
    
    How did Trump cut through?
    
    1 2
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    April 20, 2020 1:15pm
    - Batman
      
      He has a propaganda network unmatched by any other station around the world, with the except of the KCNA
      
      2 3
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      April 20, 2020 1:23pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “I don’t think most people comprehend yet the massive economic catastrophe that is coming”
  
  Totally agree. Chatting to a friend last week. She has a friend who recently borrowed $700,000, secured by her home, to purchase a Flight Centre franchise. She specialises in long haul high end package tours. Apparantly she thinks everything is going to get back to normal and she will be fine. Sad.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:41am
  - mark15
    
    Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.
    I hope I’m wrong,but does she think Cindy (PBUH) will save her?
    
    13 1
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    April 20, 2020 10:00am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Very sad. Borders being closed everywhere would make this business very hard. Nothing to do with level 4, 3 or 2 …..
    
    13 4
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    April 20, 2020 10:20am
Cinematic

To dangle a relaxing of restrictions and then not carry through would be particularly bad management. Which is what I’ve come to expect from this government.
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April 20, 2020 8:25am
Chuck Bird

Simon Bridges will be interviewed by Peter Williams on Radio Magic at about 9:45. I hope he will be calling for Level 3 on Thursday.
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April 20, 2020 8:29am
- Scott
  
  Chuck Bird – I hope so too! What I’ve noticed about Simon Bridges is that he posts lots of pictures of his family on Instagram. Well that’s all nice. I feel confident that he is a good family man so well done there.
  
  However I would also like to hear something of the leader of the opposition’s actual policies?? Call me strange but I would like to know what he would do if given command of the Treasury benches in November?
  I believe he has called for businesses to be able to go back to work. I hope he sticks to this. What we are facing at the moment is potential economic calamity. Another week or two in lockdown will see more and more businesses go to the wall. The leader of the opposition needs to speak out and offer alternative solutions to what is coming out of the Prime Minister’s mouth.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:34am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Scott, you will not have long to wait.
    
    11 0
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    April 20, 2020 8:43am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Scott – National MP’s and branches were told to suspend campaigning around a month ago. I suspect that decision will be reviewed shortly.
    
    In the meantime, National has a large number of policy discussion documents on its website which you can give your opinion on. They will form the basis of the policies the party will campaign on in September or whenever. The actual policies would probably have started to emerge by now, but there is still five months before we go to the polls. There’s plenty of time for them to be released, although given the economic situation we are going to be facing, they’ll also need considerable revision.
    
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    April 20, 2020 8:51am
    - Sacha
      
      @ Tony Stuart – and then there’s that old saying ‘give them enough rope . . . . . . . . . . ‘
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:14am
  - Komata
    
    Scottg@0834
    
    Re: ‘but I would like to know what he would do if given command of the Treasury benches in November’
    
    And ther-in lies the problem; exactly WHAT do the nats have to offer that differentiates them from the CoL.
    
    I’ve done a lot of searching to try and find this out but so far, all I get are ‘aspirations’ not ‘set in stone’ Policy/ ‘Mission Statement-type information.
    
    And as for Simon?
    
    Where and WHO is he?
    
    No one seems to know any more…
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:54am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Nation built a “rock star” economy (not our own opinion of this, this was an outside observer)
      from the ruins of the
      Clark Govt.
      GFC
      An earthquake that knocked down a whole city
      an earthquake that knocked out a major economic link to 1/4 of the country
      If anyone can rebuild the economy, it’s National/Act
      Labour halved our economic growth
      and damaged our economy BEFORE Covid 19.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:56am
      - Nickc2
        
        and don’t forget, they have been doing their damnedest to destroy traditional relationships we have with what is/were our closest allies (Australia and the US).
        
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        April 20, 2020 12:07pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    posts lots of pictures of his family on Instagram
    
    He’d better be careful then. If Ardern does the same, Kiwibloggers accuse her of exploiting her baby for political gain.
    
    2 13
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    April 20, 2020 11:18am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Peter is now talking about families not able to see their loved ones at funeral homes.
  
  Surely our kind PM must support Level 3.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:32am
Suze Wainwright

Drove through my rural town to the supermarket in weekend – some shops on the street have already emptied out…
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April 20, 2020 8:29am
Tauhei Notts

Comment from a friend in Berlin.
“Restrictions in Berlin are less strict than in Mecklenburg but I really think nobody in Berlin would follow any rules if they got any stricter.”
I read that and thought; maybe the memories of the NSDAP and the Stasi are seared in their collective minds, whereas New Zealanders have never experienced such dreadful authoritarian behaviour, until now.
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April 20, 2020 8:30am
- MCos
  
  East Germans lived under some form of dictatorship for around sixty years with the threat of disappearance, secret trials, torture, for speaking out against the government plus the requirement for approval to leave the country.
  To compare the last four weeks in NZ to life under those brutal regimes is an insult to the people who were really downtrodden.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:09am
  - mark15
    
    How do you think it started?
    
    10 1
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    April 20, 2020 10:05am
    - MCos
      
      Draconian peace terms at the end of WWI.
      Then one thing led to another . . . .
      
      2 4
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      April 20, 2020 10:53am
    - Ruahine
      
      The privilege of being ‘liberated’ by the Soviet Union.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:32am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Agreed. And an insult to New Zealanders who fought against actual fascists and communists.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:20am
    - Nutta
      
      Like the insult of those that would go on to be high level Labour Minister spitting on those same New Zealanders who fought against actual fascists and communists?
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:26pm
- tui47
  
  New Zealanders have ever experienced anything that bad ever. Even though we lost young soldiers in the wars, the fighting and horrors were never close to home soil and the home population remained mostly unaware if the atrocities taking place. We have never experienced the issues brought by on mass population and violence caused by racial and religious disharmony. I think this is why New Zealanders mostly behave themselves and why the left criticise our country so much. The left have nothing to compare it to.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:17am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I have read extensively about life in East Germany under the Stasi. New Zealand now is really not the same.
  
  10 1
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  April 20, 2020 9:43am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Have you read Stasiland?
    
    3 4
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    April 20, 2020 11:21am
Tony Stuart

Public Service Announcement – Paul Henry returns to the small screen (or big screen, depending on the size of your telly!) tonight at 9.30pm on TV3. I’d hate you to miss out!
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April 20, 2020 8:30am
- Colville
  
  A television program with ads?
  
  No thanks.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:43am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    That’s where MySky is handy. I can start watching at around 9.40pm, and fast forward through the inevitable ad breaks, and the show will still finish on time!
    
    15 1
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    April 20, 2020 8:52am
    - Biscuit
      
      Indeed, Tony!
      
      It’s useful, too, in reducing the hour-long ONE News to 14 minutes!
      
      My Fast Forward button gets a lot of use…
      
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      April 20, 2020 9:39am
      - alwyn
        
        You’re lucky.
        The fast forward button on mine has stopped working properly. Overuse I’m afraid.
        When you can get it to fast forward at all you can’t stop it. That’s a real pain when you are watching a recorded movie and you miss the first 20 or 30 seconds after an ad break because you have to jab at the button 3 or 4 times to get it to go back to normal speed.
        Still better than watching the ads but.
        
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        April 20, 2020 11:14am
      - curry4me
        
        Biscuit: Don’t you mean 1.4 minutes? The rest is fluff.
        
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        April 20, 2020 1:38pm
oldpark

A moment of truth today for the self serving Peters selected NZs PM the woman known as ms/Ardern .
She refused to accept any type of advice on shutting down NZs borders ahead of the proposed Sobfest in Christchurch on 15th March.
After being shown up by the Australians she finally did close the borders and quarantine arrivals .
Sadly in a panic she also shut down the whole Nation and instead of following the lead of Professional Politicians in Australia with them keeping at least 42% of businesses still operating ms/ Ardern shut down virtually all of the 97% of small business in NZ. What a clusterfuck and a disaster as many of the shut down businesses will never return .
It is time ms/Ardern stopped trying to be the Pied Piper of NZ attempting to make NZ a virus -free bubble and let the Medical profession work on that one.
Ardern can fool all of the people some of the time,
and some of the people all of the time, but she cannot fool all of the people all of the time .
Now her moment of truth has arrived today , For ******** get it right ms/Ardern even though if you do, it will be the first time you got anything right since the maverick Peters installed you and you’re bunch of nohopers three years ago to be in charge of NZ . What a bloody indictment of Amateur Politicians carrying out Socialistic Idealogy. Of course let none of us forget watching a chain of events being carried out by small time Politicians that Power is the ultimate Aphrodisiac.Just saying.
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April 20, 2020 8:32am
- emmess
  
  If Ardern reduces the level, she will not be getting it right.
  She will be only correcting the worst of her previous error.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:54am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The French dealt with rulers who claimed excessive power.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:41am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    By worshipping the memory of Napoleon…
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:22am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Pre Napoleon?
      
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      April 20, 2020 12:31pm
cmm

Goff has crap wifi so he has to drive over 80km a day.

If it really is crap wifi then that can be fixed by a $50 access point.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/121113148/poor-wifi-means-auckland-mayor-phil-goff-must-keep-up-86km-office-commute-in-lockdown
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April 20, 2020 8:33am
- MrTips
  
  TBH, I’m not that bothered by it. Goff does have to run NZs largest city, and if he keeps to his bubble like Bridges does, then whats the big deal? WiFi vs ISP – same problem really = crap connection.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:42am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    No issues with it either – but notice Goff gets a nice fluffy Stuff piece with a virtue signalling picture of him recharging his council-provided EV, and Bridges gets the third degree asking why he needs to commute and that travelling because of a poor internet connection is a poor excuse (which was not even true)
    
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    April 20, 2020 2:32pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Am I understanding things correctly, that Goff will now give the public the choice of a 3.5% or a 2.5% rates rise?
  So it’s no choice really. Auckland rates should be frozen at last years level ie. a 0% rise – but thats not an option?
  Like being given the choice of having either your head cut off or just an arm!
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:11am
  - herb1
    
    unfortunately Goff has no options. Because of his and the previous Labour Mayors incompetence, they are answerable to their lenders and close to insolvency
    
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    April 20, 2020 10:28am
    - GazzaW
      
      Auckland City will have no dividends this year or the next from its 20% shareholding in Auckland Airport. They would be foolish to sell that shareholding at todays depressed price. There’s little point in fiddling while Rome burns with reduced salaries or closing down Ateed and what we need is a totally independent audit and a complete restructure of the functions of the council.
      
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      April 20, 2020 10:51am
- Colville
  
  a line of sight dish setup would be off the shelf and take a day to set up to a motivated contractor.
  
  But as its Auckland Council the paperwork will take a couple of months…then the guys will turn up at the wrong address.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:16am
- Libertarians are right
  
  No issue with this. I do wonder if he’s actually doing his job though?
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:18am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Can’t complain about this but support Bridges’s commute from Tauranga.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:25am
Simon

Police shot another person dead. We do have the death penalty in NZ. Criminals are routinely killed by the State.

Left wing justice attitudes see crims who should be locked up released or not in prison in the first place.

Crims often duly executed in time.
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April 20, 2020 8:34am
- JibberJabber
  
  How many dead Police Officers or Citizens would assuage your selective morality?
  People who are killed in the commission of a crime self-select, hardly
  
  routinely killed by the State
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121121474/machetewielding-man-dies-after-being-shot-by-police-in-papatoetoe-south-auckland
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:55am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Am I understanding things correctly, that Goff will now give the public the choice of a 3.5% or a 2.5% rates rise?
  So it’s no choice really. Auckland rates should be frozen at last years level ie. a 0% rise – but thats not an option?
  Like being given the choice of having either your head cut off or just an arm!
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:13am
- Bobba Fret
  
  The guy was carrying a machete and damaging property and would not put it down when told to.
  Very scary……..
  If I was the policeman and he advanced on me with the machete, I would of shot him as well.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:21am
- JamesP
  
  Totally self inflicted. Behaved dangerously thus giving Police the justification to arm themselves. Then undoubtedly will have defied instructions to give up thus giving Police the justification to shoot him. More than likely he will turn out to be mentally ill.
  
  So questions will be:
  1) Did he plan to die or was he totally delusional?
  2) Did lockdown prevent him accessing help that might otherwise have prevented this?
  
  Sympathies to the officer involved who undoubtedly just wanted to get through a quiet Sunday nightshift unscathed. Instead they are now the subject of a homicide investigation, IPCA etc. which will take months to resolve.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:43am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Put the weapon down”
  Nope.
  Bang.
  Note, the Police do not shoot at me; why is that?
  Maybe coz I’m not an arsehole
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Now maybe the guy had a mental illness, mabe drunk, maybe a meth head or maybe he just snapped, but at the end of the day what are the Police to do? Run away and let him continue?
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:28am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump just completely played the rogue Democrat Governors.
Trump “It’s completely up to me when we re-open the Country”
Dem Governors “You’re acting is like a King, it’s not up to you, it’s up to us”
Trump “OK, it’s up to you, you’re responsible”
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April 20, 2020 8:35am
- PhilBest
  
  The corollary to that is that they were responsible in the first place, for coping with Pandemics. We Kiwis little understand the ongoing balancing act between State and Federal in the USA. One side expects the trend to constantly be towards Federal concentration of power – as long as it is one of their people in the Presidency. Trump actually is instinctively opposed to this, unlike a lot of RINOs. I think you’re right about his tactical “playing” of his opponents.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Kiwis do have little understanding. Before 2015 I knew nothing of American Politics, and did not care. Then I went to Hawaii and Alaska (twice now)My eyes opened, so did my brain.
    I have learned so much, but I know I am not even scratching the surface
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:16am
    - PhilBest
      
      Daniel Hannan’s book “The New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America” is a very interesting read. He points out that local politics in America is far more empowering than pretty much anywhere else. They get to elect people that elsewhere, are just hired on contract – like Chief Executives, leaving the elected Councillors just a bunch of figureheads signing off on what the bureaucrats tell them.
      
      Americans get to elect the local Sherriff and District Attorney. In some places even the Dog Catcher is an elected office.
      
      Hannan points out that a lot of Americans are happy enough with the way their neighbourhood is run thanks to such democratic control and accountability, that Federal elections and the Presidency doesn’t matter a lot to them unless the issues become really pressing.
      
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      April 20, 2020 1:22pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Quite different from NZ isn’t it?
        
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        April 20, 2020 2:47pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Trump actually is instinctively opposed to this
    
    Trump has a long record of claiming ever increasing authority for the presidency. Most recently, threatening to unilaterally adjourn congress because the won’t appoint some more judge fast enough.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:32am
    - Nickc2
      
      Ever increasing authority eh? Courtesy Google:
      The Constitution explicitly assigns the president the power to sign or veto legislation, command the armed forces, ask for the written opinion of their Cabinet, convene or adjourn Congress, grant reprieves and pardons, and receive ambassadors.
      He’s always had the authority FFS. It’s just the left wing media and Democrats who can’t accept it.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:45am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Would add
        The states are effectively countries to be run by the governors.
        The President can override this if.
        There is a dispute between states
        A Governor not doing his job
        If there is an overarching importance to the whole country (war, illegal immigrants etc) that may impact all or most of the states.
        
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        April 20, 2020 12:14pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s an emergency power never before claimed, let alone exercised, simply to appoint a few more unqualified judges.
        
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        April 20, 2020 12:40pm
      - Ian Hawthorn
        
        Congress is abusing the rules by claiming to still be in session when nobody is there. They are doing it purely in order to block the president from using his constitutional power to make recess appointments. If they are going to push the rules to the limits to block the president then they can’t complain when he pushes back in the same fashion. At least the president is using a power explicitly granted to him in the constitution to do it. Congresses invention of “sessions” with nobody present on the other hand clearly violates the spirit of the founding document.
        
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        April 20, 2020 2:48pm
RightNow

March 20: media reports teachers angry that schools haven’t been closed. Lockdown level 4 announced that day.
April 20: been reading in media that teachers are angry schools could be reopened.
Well… I would predict that we won’t come out of level 4 yet but a family member in the know told me last week that a move to level 3 will be announced today.
I’m hedging my bets and picking an announcement that we’re going to level 3.5 and schools will be able to decide themselves whether to open.
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April 20, 2020 8:35am
Loddenthinks

A surprising, interesting and honest article from an academic (Senior Lecturer at Massey University), who is also a Maori, on the topic of the Government’s special response package of $56.5 m targeted to Maori.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121061020/special-coronavirus-response-afor-mori-baseless-and-unhelpful

Well worth a read, in my opinion.
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April 20, 2020 8:36am
- Ruahine
  
  It does prove that money solves all problems. Not a single person who has died has been reported to have claimed to be a Maori. But how did they know that money was the answer to the virus.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:11am
JibberJabber

Classic Leftism and their very short memories, cognitive dissonance and ascribing their own behaviours to others…
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2020/04/18/bestselling-author-says-be-prepared-for-riots-and-violence-in-the-streets-when-president-trump-loses-in-2020/
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April 20, 2020 8:39am
Chris Peace

Just two and a half years ago Jacinda did not know what GDP was. She fervently believed Kiwi build was going to be a winner. Her only real prior business experience was serving fish ‘n chips.
Today she is handing out billions of dollars and deciding the fate of the Nation.
From zero to hero. New Zealand needs a miracle.
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April 20, 2020 8:43am
- MCos
  
  Two and a half month ago I couldn’t even spell intermologist, now I practically is one.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:21am
- Tony Stuart
  
  It doesn’t take much to go from hero to zero; just sayin’
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:31am
- Paulus
  
  She is the Miracle !
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:03am
David George

Here’s a very direct accusation on Chinese culpability for the Pandemic. I see USA, UK and the Aussies in particular now raising some very concerning allegations.
Steve Bannon lays it on the line:
https://youtu.be/uvCZiuqt5f4
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April 20, 2020 8:43am
- rangitoto
  
  I was suspicious about the Chinese media denying lab escape as a possibility back in January before anyone had thought of it.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:59am
  - emmess
    
    Yeah, where the proof of the official wet market story?
    The global media just took that as given.
    
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    April 20, 2020 9:11am
    - Ed Snack
      
      There’s no good evidence it did originate from the Lab, It’s just circumstantial.
      
      The researcher in charge of the BCV research at the lab claims that the viruses actually under investigation at the lab were in fact genetically distinct from that now in the wild. Not sure how much faith to place in that declaration, and also how much we know about all the research going on. It is indeed possible that this is correct but other programs into other lineages of BCV’s were being conducted. We do know that in 2018 the biosecurity at the lab was criticised by visitors from the US State department there to evaluate the security.
      
      Interestingly enough this program referred to above was in part funded by the USA and was researching exactly what happened – could a mutated BCV cause a pandemic.
      
      And unless the Chinese change their policy, we’re not going to know either.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:43am
      - emmess
        
        I agree it is not definitive that it originated in the lab, yet. The point I was making is that, it is also not definitive that it originated in the wet market, yet that is currently taken as a given.
        
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        April 20, 2020 2:14pm
- emmess
  
  I recommend Bannon’s podcast, War Room Pandemic. He has been way ahead of the curve on this, since January.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:08am
- NoCash
  
  I know everyone is suffering one way or another, however, if we take a step back and think about it rationally, logically, and honestly, would govts in the West have acted much differently when it comes to trying to protect the economy by delaying admitting human to human transmission. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that it’s OK to delay but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I don’t think the Chinese govt acted on purpose to bring harm and suffering to the world, more likely they employed the wait and see strategy initially, just like most countries have done in this crisis, a big mistake indeed but IMHO not a deliberate act.
  
  Also remember the Chinese govt didn’t know as much about the virus as the world knows now, like the R0, ability to transmit asymptomatically, fatality rate, etc.
  
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  April 20, 2020 2:09pm
Happychappy

Well what a surprise the Government can’t do anything on peoples complaints of price gouging as obviously there is no law that says they have.
Poor Jacinda went for the whistle blower affect to galvanize her support and found out she couldn’t Sweet Fanny Adam’s about it after thousands marked on Supermarkets for price gouging.
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/price-gouging-concerns-find-little-support-law-consumers-advised
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April 20, 2020 8:43am
- Benedict Yu
  
  So long as they do not engage in unlawful behavour like collusion, supermarkets can charge whatever they want. I estimate the price of meat has gone up by about 15 – 20 percent. Why should that be a surprise with butchers shut?
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:47am
- Ruahine
  
  Labour is not going to dump on their new found friends the duopoly that controls the food supply. Control the food supply. Control the populace. From the Communist rule book. 101.
  How many Ukrainians did Stalin starve to death?. How many did Mao starve to death?
  Try Wikipedia.
  A new first for Labour. Making people queue for food.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:20am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes. In the land of plenty, there are government orchestrated and controlled food ques. That would make a good headline in the London Times. Damn, I don’t now anybody working there. I could have sent them a picture of my local supermarket last Saturday morning.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:30am
Suze Wainwright

Heh, this morning’s Conversation (Aus) has led with an article saying that up to a quarter of the Australian workforce could be out of a job in the current situation.

But it’s okay for them to highlight that possibility over there because The Conversation is very heavily ABC-sympathetic and – of course – ScoMo is in charge there…
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April 20, 2020 8:44am
JibberJabber

Denmark,

Denmark extended the duration of its aid programs to businesses and workers and added some new measures to increase spending by about 100 billion kroner ($15 billion).

The government agreed with all parties in parliament to keep aid measures available until July 8, a month longer than previously planned, according to a statement on Saturday. Companies will now be able to get back some value added tax (VAT) payments they made last year as zero-interest loans.

The government also said that companies which pay out dividends, buy back own shares or are registered in tax havens won’t be eligible for any of the aid programs , which now amount to a total of 400 billion kroner, when including loans and guarantees.

Denmark is among the first countries in Europe to slowly end its lockdown. On Wednesday schools reopened for the youngest students and on Monday small businesses like hairdressers and dentists will be able to open for customers again.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-18/denmark-extends-business-aid-to-increase-spending-by-15-billion
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April 20, 2020 8:49am
Prince

This is what real media does…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/414624/boris-johnson-under-fire-for-missing-early-crisis-meetings-on-covid-19
No comparison with our sycophants.
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April 20, 2020 8:51am
- alwyn
  
  I wonder if we had any crisis meetings at all prior to the hugfest in Christchurch being cancelled?
  I suspect not. It would have been just like there was no attempt, prior to mid March, to arrange any testing kits or PPE gear.
  Cover your eyes, cover your ears and go “nah nah nah nah”.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:22am
MrTips

Sweden

Everyone’s talking about it. But its actually sorting wheat from the chaff with regards to motivations and comprehension.

Current COVID19 death rate in locked-down Finland = 13/M
Current COVID19 death rate in not so locked-down Sweden = 130/M

Sounds bad eh?

Until you realise that the annualised death rate (ADR) in Sweden is 9400/M. Even if the COVID19 death rate of Sweden increased to a total of 600/M from over the rest of the year, you get 10000/M vs 9400/M, a 6% rise.*

For comparison, the ADR in Finland is 9900/M.

So, the real question is, given we are not hearing that Sweden’s health system is overloaded like Spain or Italy: is 6%, or even 10%, rise in ADR something to wreck the economy over?

* and this is possibly an over-estimate due to the decrease in ADR that even minor lockdowns will achieve due to inhibited risk activities less non-COVID19 transmittable diseases but not at the expense of treating serious non-communicable disease like heart attack, stoke, cancer etc.
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April 20, 2020 8:53am
- Cinematic
  
  “given we are not hearing that Sweden’s health system is overloaded”.
  
  We’re not hearing it because it isn’t. Not even close. The virus is being managed so well they’re about to relax some restrictions in Sweden.
  
  I just read an absurd article claiming that with 10,000 cases the Japanese hospital system was ‘overwhelmed’. It’s pea brain stuff.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:30am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Actually for whatever reason, Japan has remarkably few ICU beds, and always has. They have about 15-20% of the number they have in the USA for example, and about 50% of what the UK has.
    
    So their ICU facilities could be filled to capacity a lot more easily than most other first world places by a surge in serious COVID-19 cases.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:35am
Happychappy

cmm but it was a abuse of the system when Simon Bridges did it and the media went viral on him, so what difference apart less kms with also Goffs was 5days a week. The media are hypocrites and politically corrupt looking only at the need Labour with the Coalition help to stave off insolvency, hence the support.
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April 20, 2020 8:54am
- MCos
  
  Phil Goff at least live in Auckland around half an hour from work.
  Plenty of people in this sprawling city wouldn’t mind a relatively short commute like that.
  From my experience, however, it’s mighty lonesome going to work in an empty office. Politicians must find it especially tough when they can’t throw their weight around and bark out orders.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:42am
cas

If we are going to eliminate Covid 19, will it take as long as eliminating Mycoplasma bovis which I don’t think we’ve managed to do yet, or is elimination just another slogan like go hard go early, let’s do this etc?
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April 20, 2020 8:54am
rangitoto

I see that North Korea, Yemen and South Sudan are SARS-COV-2 free areas. What are they like for a vacation at this time of year. Anyone know of good travel deals?
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April 20, 2020 8:57am
- hullkiwi
  
  Yemen reported 1 case last week
  Do you really believe North Korea has no cases, given the influence of Cjina in propping up Pyongyang?
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:34am
lifesgood

A friend has just got out of hospital after a short stay with pneumonia. He was in the covid19 ward..it was practically empty. He didn’t have covid. He said there were heaps of staff with nothing to do. He’s never had better treatment.
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April 20, 2020 8:59am
- rangitoto
  
  My main concern is that a lot of other important treatments have been put on hold unnecessarily. This is going to cause major problems down the track.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:10am
- cmm
  
  At the time I’m typing this I should have been getting a Cardiology Echo test in Chch hospital.
  
  Cancelled.
  
  It is far more serious for cancer patients etc who are not getting the tests they need.
  
  Christchurch has had zero covid-19 patents most of the time, yet the whole hospital has been shut down (other than emergencies) to focus on CV-19 because that is what Level 4 says.
  
  That’s the big problem with this whole Level system – it lacks flexibility.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:10am
HalfFull

“As I said” will become “I was told”
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April 20, 2020 9:00am
Prince

Local Rugby ‘backgrounders’ on TV are usually cringe-worthy panel programs dominated by talking heads from yesteryear.
I’ve been surprised by the very good ‘Isolation Nation’, on Sky Sport.
Kirsty Stanaway is very, very good as a presenter – much more at home in this format. Israel Dagg is also good, but the real stars are the players demonstrating a range of talents. Richie Mounga, Dane Coles, Sam Cane, Jordie Barrett, Angus Ta’avao have been revelations.
But for me the absolute standouts have been Michaela Blyde and Niall Williams (last night) from the Silver Ferns.
Gives me a lot more confidence in our future with young people like this around.
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April 20, 2020 9:07am
Yvette

Newshub’s Duncan Garner in an Opinion piece, “If Ardern gets this decision right, we all win. If she gets it wrong, we all lose”, seems to emphasise Ardern alone makes the decision.

And one thing the media seem not to do, is correct the lies others in the media tell us.

But an interesting irony is that Labour has little to offer other than Ardern, so should the Garnered perception that she is acting single-handedly and does get it slightly wrong – and a virus resurgence decimates elderly Maori (with the pre-existing ill health we have so often been told of) – Ardern will be toast, undone by sycophantasy.

Perhaps Garner could better serve us, by going through who actually does make the decision.
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April 20, 2020 9:09am
- Chuck Bird
  
  It could be Peters
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:40am
- krazykiwi
  
  Garner taking bullshit again. Whatever ‘Jacinda decides’, we are screwed. It is because of ‘what she previously decided’ that we are facing the largest crisis in the history of New Zealand.
  
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  April 20, 2020 12:06pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Duncan Garner is just another self opiniated talking head struggling for relevancy. The MSM is full of them.
    
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    April 20, 2020 12:33pm
- greenfinger
  
  In English, please??
  
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  April 20, 2020 3:11pm
Centrist

There was a thing on tv last night with Joanna Lumley in Cuba – a potentially lovely country destroyed by corruption and communism and now extremely impoverished. Is this a vision of NZ in 50 years with Jacinda and co. modern-day Gueverras and Castros?
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April 20, 2020 9:22am
- MCos
  
  I don’t think the US is likely to impose sanctions on NZ.
  
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  April 20, 2020 9:46am
  - lifesgood
    
    You never know.
    
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    April 20, 2020 10:02am
  - Ed Snack
    
    But the real cause behind the impoverishment in Cuba isn’t US sanctions (though they won’t help) is the policies adopted and enforced by Fidel Castro and his ruling clique. Primarily, near absolute bans on all types of market activity.
    
    Cuba is an excellent example of how you can reduce a society to near universal material poverty by banning the freedom to trade with others for mutual benefit.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:48am
    - Nickc2
      
      NZ to be the Cuba of the South Pacific eh? That will make Donna Awatere happy.
      
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      April 20, 2020 12:02pm
  - Prince
    
    Did the US ever lift the tariff on steel for NZ ? I know they did for Australia but, despite our Govt telling us it was ‘work in progress’ a year ago, I don’t believe they ever lifted it.
    
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    April 20, 2020 12:00pm
- cmm
  
  Part of the reason Venezuela is in such a hole is that it was giving Cuba free (or at least highly subsidised) oil to help them pretend that communism works.
  
  If Cuba had paid for that oil, Cuba would be even worse off and Venezuela might have been a bit better.
  
  I say might, because no doubt the Venezuelan corrupt elite would have just looted the coffers anyway.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:05am
  - Ruahine
    
    Cuba was doing alright until the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
    I have noticed that all of these socialist paradise countries have to have theirs hands in someone else’s back pocket.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:27am
    - Ed Snack
      
      They were doing better than now as they had a deal with the Soviets to purchase their Sugar at above world prices – as a sort of disguised subsidy. That stopped in 1990 or thereabouts.
      
      It was also in return for Cuba acting as a Soviet proxy in supplying significant numbers of troops in for example Angola, supporting Soviet aims.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:51am
    - cmm
      
      Cuba was never “doing alright” any more than a person on the benefit is “doing alright”.
      
      We’re also doing the same thing to pretend Cook Islands etc are “doing alright”.
      
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      April 20, 2020 11:57am
- Komata
  
  Centrist@0922
  
  ‘…In 50 years…
  
  You don’t need 50 years Komrade, just give Our Glorious Leader Jacinda 50 DAYS and all will be accomplished.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:09am
- mark15
  
  No,the women are better better looking.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:40am
  - Colville
    
    the diving is fantastic too.
    
    and the rum…. 🙂
    
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    April 20, 2020 10:51am
Tasman Terror

We need to go early and go hard and use the gold standard of crayons in the recovery room. We are all in this together.
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April 20, 2020 9:28am
KevO'Brien

A look at the medical works of the virus:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/04/19/wuhan-coronavirus-and-covid-19-rumination-5/
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April 20, 2020 9:44am
KevO'Brien

Job losses and the virus:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/04/18/whats-causing-job-loss/
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April 20, 2020 9:45am
- krazykiwi
  
  From that post:
  
  We have to assume that the new unemployment claims won’t be back to pre-lunacy levels any time soon. During the week ending two weeks ago (2020-04-04 in Figure 4) there were Six. Million. New. Unemployment. Claims.
  
  And there were another six million the week before that. For that two weeks, the US was losing jobs at a rate of almost a million more unemployed EVERY DAY!
  
  So perhaps ten million still in the pipeline, 15 million filed claims already. That’s 25 million unemployed …
  
  The human carnage in that number, twenty-five million, the wrecked dreams, the failed businesses, the broken relationships, the stress on marriages, the increase in suicides and domestic violence …
  
  There are about 130 million people working full-time in the US. As of two weeks ago, governmental action had thrown more than ten percent of them out of work, with more since then.
  
  All because some guy, with a 13-year old software model, un-documented, not-peer reviewed, failed after last use when actual deaths were a tiny fraction of the predicted …. all because national leaders listed to him, shat themselves and then killed each of their economies.
  
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  April 20, 2020 12:03pm
david

Most popular headline on STUFF.
“Coronavirus: Decision day dawns for PM Jacinda Ardern over Covid-19 lockdown”
Unless I am much mistaken that could be replaced with: “Sun came up this morning.”

And we are meant to be concerned about the possible demise of MSM in this country? What bulldust.
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April 20, 2020 10:00am
cmm

Man charged with attempting to infect cops.

He will surely have to be infectious for this charge to stick.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325972
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April 20, 2020 10:02am
- fernglas
  
  You’re right. You can’t attempt to do that which you know to be impossible.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:17am
  - JamesP
    
    You can be charged with attempting something that is physically impossible. Refer S72 Crimes Act
    
    “ Every one who, having an intent to commit an offence, does or omits an act for the purpose of accomplishing his or her object, is guilty of an attempt to commit the offence intended, whether in the circumstances it was possible to commit the offence or not.”
    
    Since it takes days to obtain a test result and you can be asymptomatically infectious the offender cannot have known they were not infectious at the time of the act.
    
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    April 20, 2020 11:39am
- Tricati
  
  What a same Justice Select Committee hadn’t worked on, and progressed, assault on first responders, rather than giving prisoners right to vote – This arse could have been facing a rather significant increase in charges.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:18am
- old skool reactionary
  
  Maybe it is the equivalent of waving a replica gun in a cop’s face and screaming “I”m going to blow your brains out, too bad for your wife and kids!”.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:34am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Wonder if this works.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/donaldtrump4president2016/permalink/3828165537210001/
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April 20, 2020 10:03am
Komata

SteveO@1003

Very good, now if only the crows could remember to say TRrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuump before a truck runs over them, the Dems would have an idea excuse for to demand a Crow-extermination package…

Somehow though, I can’t see it happening.
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April 20, 2020 10:18am
Tasman Terror

Stuff has got the begging bowl out asking for readers to donate to pay for them to do their journalism.Oh dear how sad!Maybe their advertising revenue might go up if they stopped running luvvie articles on Jacinda hiding the almonds at Easter and other rubbish. Centre right voters are approximately half the country so if you want to minimize your market keep writing stories about the First Bloke, the First Baby, etc. I don’t read Stuff. A leftie mate told me about the begging request by Stuff. I’m an atheist but maybe their is a God?
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April 20, 2020 10:28am
- old skool reactionary
  
  Yes watching Globalist propaganda operations and “journalists”being destroyed by the virus fallout is heartwarming.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:38am
- Mobile Michael
  
  This Government has killed the (non-Governmental) media with the lockdown. Time for the Government to accept responsibility for undermining journalism not under its control.
  
  A financial rescue package would be counterproductive as well, it will look like a bribe with a don’t bite the hand that feeds condition attached.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:04am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You would have thought that a journalist with a clue or two would have figured out by now that if folks gave up subscribing to their news some years back, they are most unlikely to have had a change of mind after reading the dross they continue to churn out.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:09am
- greybeard
  
  Their removal of the ability to comment on articles has not done them any good.
  You disagree with what they write? Too bad.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:33am
- GoVege
  
  Damn good idea too!
  What are we….a nation of bludgers?
  If we read it, we should pay something towards their costs.
  Otherwise we are just freeloading.
  
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  April 20, 2020 5:27pm
herb1

There are people , including on this blog. who won’t hear any debate on a balance between economic cost and benefit. They expect Ardern to do whatever is needed regardless of cost and destruction of the economy, to save every life.
Those same people might quickly forget their principles when told they can never ever drive their cars again. No one can.
but that is the same corollary as saving every covid life regardless of cost.
During lockdown with most cars off the road we have virtually no deaths.
Allowing them back on the roads will kill 350 plus lives a year, yet people unwittingly accept the trade off of cost vs benefit.
We need to apply the same reasoning to covid
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April 20, 2020 10:32am
- Tall Man
  
  “Reasoning” “covid” ….. Oxymoron.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:44am
- old skool reactionary
  
  Comparing co vid cases to stats like car fatalities, cancer or drownings is wrong. Those other stats are relatively stable, this virus growth is EXPONENTIAL.
  
  This virus is looking more and more insidious. Research is showing a second pathway to infection – it is attacking T cells, like HIV does. Also there is multiple organ damage, it is not just a lung infection.
  
  This is definitely not just the flu bro.
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:59am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Have you got a source for any of that?
    
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    April 20, 2020 3:26pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Those same people think the economic cost, and all costs should be paid for by the Govt. Too dumb to understand the Govt has no money other than Taxpayer’s money from the PRIVATE sector.
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:06am
- Ian Boag
  
  The damage to the economy was done as soon as the borders closed and killed tourism, foreign students, guest workers and Air New Zealand etc etc.
  
  Lockdown is not helping, but to blame all the economic damage on lockdown is simply not true.
  
  And I think the general KB sentiment is that borders should have been closed earlier …..
  
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  April 20, 2020 11:44am
Swifty

And now for something completely different……

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL6QNLBRXCA
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April 20, 2020 10:45am
barnacle bill

I hope that all the good people here on Kiwi Blog have, or will consider supporting the Orana Wildlife Park in Chch.
As they are not getting the normal paying visitors through the gates to the park the revenue has come to a stop.
But the animals must be feed and that comes as a huge cost.

A Give a Little page has been set up so we can donate as many people already have.
A fantastic cause I reckon.
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April 20, 2020 10:49am
Surely Knott

Council Library using their facebook page for regular political promotions.

1. 20 April,
” Our leader Jacinda.
Supporting our communities and sharing her time, energy and experitise (sic) to make sure that we are heard and cared for. Kia kaha New Zealand. Stay safe. Stay home. Be kind. ” (Image of Jacinda with children in Kapa Haka Group)
2. 18 April ,
“This is a book review.
This is our leader.
I will definetly (sic) by (sic) putting this on my ‘to read’ list.”
(Image of bookcover and link to Jacinda’s book )
3. March 25. “Self isolated connection.
We have got you covered. How about hanging with some recognisable Kiwis?
Join Jacinda and a whole bunch of buoyant story tellers for some cute and quirky bed time tales.”
(Cute image of Jacinda with goodnight kiwi)
4. March 24. Retro stylised image of Jacinda in wartime garb wearing a prominent labor party badge and a stay home message. https://www.facebook.com/GlenEdenLibrary/photos/a.500521686721909/2814790521961669/?type=3&theater
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April 20, 2020 10:49am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  How can this be? Public Libraries are bastions of free speech… (and NO censorship!)
  
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  April 20, 2020 10:56am
Ruahine

Rejoice people of Aotearoa. We are so lucky to have such wonderful leaders running our Country.
Jacinda , the Mother of the nation has just saved 80,000 of her subjects from dying from that nasty buggywuggy and Winston every body’s favourite Uncle, will now save your jobs and your liveihood if you are in small business because he loves you all so much and he is very kind.
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April 20, 2020 10:49am
Fletch

At the moment, a poll on the 1 News Facebook page is indicating 74% of respondents want to stay at Level 4, and 26% say we should go to level 3.
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April 20, 2020 11:00am
- Prisoner of Comrade Jacinda
  
  After pre-conditioning them with lurid fake headlines…
  
  16 2
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  April 20, 2020 11:32am
- Ruahine
  
  Most of them are likely to be school children 14 years and over who do not want to go back to school. Rumour has it that Hipkins is going to give all pupils studying NCEA Achieved passes.
  
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  April 20, 2020 1:31pm
oldfella

Last night TV3 interviewed someone from an alternate group of medical experts who claimed that NZ media had censored their opinions. Which did not agree with those being put forth by the bubble of experts surrounding our Glorious Leader. Interesting, the TV3 story failed to expand on exactly what the alternate thinking consisted of, and what opinions were being censored. And, of course, TV1 ignored it.
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April 20, 2020 11:02am
- Tall Man
  
  Censored or moderated?
  
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  April 20, 2020 4:23pm
oldfella

A NZ businessman called Alex Davis posted a story last week on BFD called ‘Where Is The Sense Of Proportion?’. This story was also discussed on KB. Anyone know who this guy is and where he could be reached?
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April 20, 2020 11:05am
- Evadne
  
  See his profile at his blog: https://theemperorsrobes.blogspot.com/?m=1
  
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  April 21, 2020 6:32pm
Maggie Pie

My partners mum txts….

Who the hell is ‘Janice’ ?
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April 20, 2020 11:11am
- Ceepar
  
  Karen’s sister?
  
  6 1
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  April 20, 2020 12:12pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I just rang Ma. She was saying ‘Janice’ is advertising on the wireless “….to come and help the elderly de-clutter their homes” – whatever that means?
    I told her I’d do it for her. It’s just that she’s got a fab display-cabinet full of early Meissen which i wouldn’t mind getting my hands on first.
    
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    April 20, 2020 12:37pm
    - kiwiracer
      
      Funnily enough, I do know Janice.
      
      4 1
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      April 20, 2020 2:40pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Intimately?
        
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        April 20, 2020 3:12pm
I remember when

Does the reaction to coronavirus demonstrate a more cautious approach by society in general and how does that impact on our behavior?
Are we becoming less adventurous and what impact is that having on the human race going forward?
Less likely to take chances and are we starting to think this is as far as we want to advance as a race?
Will we stagnate?
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April 20, 2020 11:25am
- Libertarians are right
  
  We definitely will in this country. Robertson has admitted publicly that he intends to take the opportunity and address inequality in his attempt to rebuild our economy. The thing that these economic illiterates don’t understand is that poor people and minimum wage earners don’t drive growth. The more wealth you artifically move to them from those that drive growth, the less growth you have and you basically just grow inflation meaning the poor are no better off (probably worse) and the rich are much poorer.
  
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  April 20, 2020 12:07pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The delights of the Socialist Mind. Is their base proposition “how do I ruin the world”?
    
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    April 20, 2020 12:37pm
Fletch

The newest picture taken by Hubble of the famed Pillars of Creation, a mere 5,700 light years from Earth.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/eagle-nebula-s-pillars-of-creation-in-infrared

Not sure, but I think I might like the original more –

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pillars_of_creation.jpg
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April 20, 2020 11:25am
greenfinger

I can’t see how Ash and Jac can justify moving a millimetre from L4 before “eradicating” this virus given we haven’t had at least one day of no new cases. It is laughable to even attempt to test the water by suggesting schools of any level should reopen before “eradication”. How smug is Ardern to think we are going to march over the hill simply on her proclamation delivered through that a cheesy smile? How stupid do you think we are?

The walk back will be like “Expect more cases at a reduce rate. Eradication was a goal but not at any cost”. I am certain there will be more spin that a washing machine at 4pm today from the both of them. Even if Jac walks back on ”eradication”, she and her sidekick Ash has unfortunately scared everyone witless about breaking the two metre bubble that it is now the gold standard for everyone’s excuse not wanting to go to work. Health and Safety will have an absolute field day!
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April 20, 2020 11:34am
- Surely Knott
  
  Agree. The goal for NZ less than 4 weeks ago, trumpeted all over the world and international papers is we were going to eradicate it. Did eradication ever mean eradication, was it even scientifically possible, or did that just mean manage it to low levels of less than 10 per day and try and stay on top of it?
  
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  April 20, 2020 1:26pm
I remember when

Perhaps North Korea have found a way to exterminate coronavirus. Might be more hazardous to have covid-19 there!
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April 20, 2020 11:41am
Maggie Pie

My partner just got back home from a quick shopping trip to the city. He was saying never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine he’d go into a bank wearing a mask and ask the teller for money.
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April 20, 2020 11:52am
MrTips

So, Shaun Hendy is urging another two weeks as he thinks we can eridicate the virus. I love it when physicists think they can play biologist.

His model was shown to be hysterically wrong. Now he thinks we can eradicate SARS-COV-2.
Words fail me.
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April 20, 2020 11:56am
hullkiwi

And now for something completely different….

During Saturday, Chinese police/military supported Hong Kong police to implement the instructions of the new China appointed Leader of Hong Kong. Senior leaders of the democracy movement and protest movement were arrested. This included Martin Lee, the lawyer who wrote the HK constitution, and also arrested were democratic members of the legislature. It has also been reported that the new administrator of HK wants to submit back to the legislature the same statutes that sparked off the protests last year.

All this was done by the Chinese/HK authorities while the rest of the world were looking the other way, thanks to an inept MSM. For example, did anybody hear this story on TV1 or TV3 or hear ot on RNZ or Newshub?

Then we get the appalling reporting about COVID-19, and the impact in Africa. Sorry, but like Italy, Africa has been colonized by China. The big issue for sub-Saharan Africa is how poor their medical systems are, so it is only when Western NGOs (eg Medicin sans Frontier) point out a situation do we learn of it. Indeed COVID is rampant in Africa, but as the MSM are not there, we’ll rely on the WHO telling us.

All I can say is, we are living in very dark times, with all factors pointing to Beijing/China!
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April 20, 2020 12:01pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  There’s a few locusts in situ too.
  
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  April 20, 2020 12:40pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Saw that story, but mainly get TV news from Al Jazeera, which has excellent breadth and depth of coverage.
  
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  April 20, 2020 2:51pm
oldfella

A friend sent me this email. He has a good business background, and back in the day ran a string of successful national retail outlets. He wrote:
***
Perhaps you and I should promote Saint JA for Sainthood in her own lifetime. Now that would be a first. What would be the proofs needed for her early beatification?
1. Bugs Bunny impersonations
2. Dressing badly (to show obvious humility)
3. The ability to use extensive, if hackneyed socialist jargon
4. The use of unwarranted superlatives (cunningly borrowed from the Donald – but improved upon)
5. The ability to smile sweetly at the same time as looking concerned and serious
6. Obsessive head nodding to accompany 3 and 5 above
7. Bold decision making, based on modeling and incorrect or minimal real data
8. Amazing ability to persuade an entire population to unitedly work for the economic ruin of our country.
9. Amazing ability to persuade an entire population to give away it’s personal liberties, despite there being few facts to justify such a move.
10. Ability to control the movements of an entire country while maintaining lax controls on the country’s borders.
11. THE CLINCHER. Reducing my fuel bill to almost zero.

All hail Saint Jacinda of the Beehive. We lift our prayers of gratefulness and joy to you. Thank you for the gift of social isolation. It gives us time and space to contemplate our navels. Thank you for your swift and decisive moves to bring economic ruin on our land. It teaches us that things are of no consequence – particularly when you no longer have them. Blessed are the poor (forget the next bit). Although dear Saint Jacinda, we are all feeling a bit down in the mouth. We beseech you to bestow a few well chosen socialist phrases upon us, while smiling sweetly, but looking serious and concerned, while nodding your head at the same time. This will lift our spirits and point us to the barren land that is our future – the socialist Paradise.

See. Now you know I am a true believer!
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April 20, 2020 12:01pm
- hullkiwi
  
  I know someone who lives in the district who could have written that. and he was a manager for a NZ retail chain in days gone by.
  
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  April 20, 2020 8:17pm
Critical Thinker

Graph show how New Zealand is doing in regards to deaths per million from the CCP-Cornoavirus, compared to the rest of the world:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-daily-deaths-trajectory-per-million?time=2020-03-03..2020-04-19&country=AUS+BEL+CAN+FRA+DEU+ITA+MYS+NZL+KOR+ESP+SWE+GBR+USA
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April 20, 2020 12:21pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsJ7FNw8djQ
Chinese vulture capitalists want to buy UK assets. Some MPs
are against this. Dominic Raab has agreed to not politicize the CCP virus.
So, it’s not certain if the UK government will
Act to stop such exploitation.
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April 20, 2020 12:24pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKkcsFc7cg
Naomi Seibt on the CCP pandemic and its’ problems.
Good value as usual.
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April 20, 2020 12:25pm
curry4me

If you want to say nuts to Made in China, here is something that might help
if you live in the USA.
https://clark.com/shopping-retail/american-made-in-the-usa/
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April 20, 2020 12:26pm
oldfella

German’s biggest newspaper slams China. Wonder if this will catch on with other EU countries?
https://www.bild.de/politik/international/bild-international/home-44225950.bild.html
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April 20, 2020 12:28pm
I remember when

Is there/ will there even be a EU at the end of pandemic? Italy and Spain are basket cases economically. What will happen to the UK from Spain fruit and vegetables supply? French farmers are already stirring.
How will this affect our trade hopes?
Lack of money, not wanting to become too dependent on imports, food miles. Where does it stop?
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April 20, 2020 12:46pm
jv

Ever felt like you were being “played” in a daily tv game?
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April 20, 2020 1:01pm
Southtop2

Hmmm – is this real? Are they serious? https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121119788/stuff-supporter-programme-your-contribution-helps-power-local-journalism
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April 20, 2020 1:01pm
surfing

With the cost of a barrel of oil next to nothing, why is the petrol pump price so high?

Crude oil is currently around $38, but, the pump price is the same as Sep 2017 when crude oil was @ $67.

Maybe sales volumes are so low that this is a floor where they barely covered fixed costs?
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April 20, 2020 1:14pm
coolas

Oh no!

Atlantic Magazine is saying Jacinda Ardern ‘maybe the most effective leader on the planet.’

Ouch! that’s going to torment some bile.
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April 20, 2020 1:18pm
- old skool reactionary
  
  Princess Cindy*TM is perfect for the role of a Globalist leader in the dying days of this decaying international order.
  
  Much like a Nero, Caligula or Tiberius.
  
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  April 20, 2020 1:45pm
  - coolas
    
    More imagination please old fella … you should compare our beloved leader to the great Marxist beasts …. Pol Pot, Stalin, Chavez, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Min … there fixed for you.
    
    Long Live Princess Cindy!
    
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    April 20, 2020 2:39pm
- MrTips
  
  Nah. She got nuttin on KimJongUn. Only couple cases in NK but now all gone !
  
  6 1
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  April 20, 2020 1:51pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Anti aircraft gun or antibiotics?
    
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    April 20, 2020 4:10pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Oh indeed!
  It was heartwarming that Helen Clark was able to provide such a fantastic reference and some choice quotes in support of Cindy too, don’t you think coolas?
  
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  April 20, 2020 2:30pm
  - coolas
    
    Yes indeed Suze, good old Aunty Helen, Mother of the Nation, in to bat for her protege. Love the solidarity between strong Marxist women.
    
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    April 20, 2020 2:46pm
I remember when

I lot of things that we are discussing are fine while the epidemic is with us. However, unless Asia is part of a second round of coronavirus, it is going to be difficult to make a serious case for lower density housing.
Is Hong Kong really 4 deaths?
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April 20, 2020 1:52pm
- cmm
  
  Perhaps they account properly: died from, not died with.
  
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  April 20, 2020 3:42pm
  - RichardX
    
    How many people have died from AIDS by your reckoning?
    
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    April 20, 2020 3:52pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Perhaps their leader has different issues she needs to lie about and getting re elected is not high priority for her.
    
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    April 20, 2020 4:09pm
Suze Wainwright

Well blow me down – had a virtual work meeting this morning with 10 people who to all intent and purposes are/were in the Jacinda support base. Overwhelming feeling was that they were actually getting sick of her and her inane, bloody news conferences.
Somewhat surprised…
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April 20, 2020 2:08pm
- Poppa
  
  I think she has over egged the pudding now
  
  All that head bobbing & finger pointing is getting too much for people.
  
  I survive quite happily by not watching her
  
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  April 20, 2020 2:31pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yeah, can’t stand her or her lies. I am so bored I am watching an Asian melodrama. Sth Korean actors, but made in Taiwan. Corny as fuck, but dam good actors.
    “My Lucky Star” Yoo Ha na and Jimmy Li (race car driver in real life)
    
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    April 20, 2020 2:53pm
Cunningham

OMG how long do we have to keep reading this sort of shit:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325989

It’s getting very tedious. We will only see what kind of leader she truly is when the economy is crumbling because of her governments decisions.
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April 20, 2020 2:49pm
dave_c_

I see “Stuff” begging for donations !
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April 20, 2020 2:59pm
- cmm
  
  “Quality journalism, blaah blaah blaah…”
  
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  April 20, 2020 3:20pm
Jack5

? The Telegraph, behind its paywall, says that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, more people than usual are having what it calls “hyper real” dreams – i.e. vivid dreams.

One of the explanations offered is that because of lockdowns, people are getting more REM sleep than usual, and it is in REM sleep that dreams occur. REM stands for rapid eye movement, and REM sleep typically begins about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The first occurrence of REM lasts about 10 minutes, but it recurs in increasingly longer bursts.

My REM-sleep dream might be about unenduringly long waits in the Kiwiblog moderation queue while Left-wingers run rampant.

Or maybe a Jehovah’s Witness door-knocker whose teeth and face are uncanningly like Jacinderella’s, is giving me a hard-sell on salvation and just will not shut up and fuck off. Meanwhile,
the Crusaders’ match has just begun on TV.
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April 20, 2020 3:04pm
cmm

Hey MMA:

Remember telling us about the stupid Trump supporter that died from drinking fish pond cleaner?

Actually a Democrat supporter!

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/woman-who-ingested-fish-tank-cleaner-was-prolific-donor-to-democratic-causes/

https://nationalfile.com/nevada-woman-who-drank-fish-tank-cleaner-tried-to-divorce-husband-suffers-from-mental-illness/

This whole thing does not pass the sniff test.

Her husband that died? She was trying to divorce him and she had suggested they drink it. It seems she drank far less than he did.

So much for being a dumb Magahat wearer…
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April 20, 2020 3:07pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It was also a phosphate not a sulphate.
  My MAGA hat is fine, fuck knows where the speaker of the house is. Looking for lawnmower petrol and anything that ends in ‘sulphate’
  Better go check my spa chemicals
  
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  April 20, 2020 3:25pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  What did it matter whether he was a Democrat or a Republican, apart from you being happy in the former case?
  
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  April 20, 2020 4:11pm
Michael NZ

Remember who the enemy is, as you next buy from The Warehouse or Huawei.

I wasn’t aware of the Marriott Hotel phone and web interference in 2018, but that’s what bully’s and thugs do.

https://outline.com/JyMnhc
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April 20, 2020 3:29pm
cmm

She really is a living saint. Halo and all:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/MD47tu0o4Y7-XNClo7QwXUQ1Cug=/150×183/smart/filters:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-syd-prod-nzme.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HGHKHXO2LZG47I7RAGRTJD4MUA.jpg
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April 20, 2020 3:39pm
coolas

At last, conversion, cmm sees the light!

Our beloved leader has melted his hard heart with her boundless compassion, empathy, and kindness.

Long Live Princess Cindy!
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April 20, 2020 4:03pm
Northshoredoc

Gawd just watching her on TV – she just waffles and waffles and waffles – shut up and just say what’s happening.
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April 20, 2020 4:06pm
RW Capitalist

Well..another week at level 4 and on the 27th they will REVIEW it again.
But,according to the Parliament TV, submissions of “votes for criminals” will close on the 24th….convenient?
Time for my unashamed gloat…TOLD YA SO
Right at the start of “lock down level 4” They said 4 weeks, withing days they took the “4 weeks” away.
Now it will be 5 weeks( possibly).
Another 1-2000 more small businesses gone
Multinationals reviewing their place in the NZ economy.
3rd world, we are coming to join you.
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April 20, 2020 4:13pm
Okahu

So, post 4 pm…(and to paraphrase)
This is not the end.
This is not even the beginning of the end…
Through our collective effort, and with luck, we can now see the end of this beginning.
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April 20, 2020 4:17pm
Swifty

BTO, Not Fragile, Full Album, 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTAVb1bdOBgCQr3yqX37Zd6WXNsa7dS4

To be played LOUD.
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April 20, 2020 5:28pm
Swifty

Thunderbirds, Full Episode, “Trapped in the Sky” – and featuring our very own Rodney Hide as “The Hood”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytM7GFKbVEc
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April 20, 2020 5:36pm
Poppa

It seems the court was not convinced by Peters

Case dismissed….

Well if you do it yourself Peters this is what happens
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April 20, 2020 6:07pm
Nookin

Oh dear. The High Court tells Mr Peters “he’s dreamin’”
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April 20, 2020 6:09pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Could/Didn’t show that Ann Tolley and Paula Bennet were behind the leak…..
  HAHAHAHAHA
  Peters just a blow hard, trying to distract from his own incompetence and dishonest appointing of JA
  
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  April 20, 2020 6:32pm
- Colville
  
  Now what about costs for the defendants?
  
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  April 20, 2020 6:33pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  He will claim a victory, as his details were leaked, but it could not be shown who had leaked them…
  
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  April 20, 2020 6:56pm
Swifty

Especially for those who didn’t know he was still going – here is Mungo Jerry in lockdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfLoyTaJpb4

“Have a drink, have a drive and got out and see what you can find….”
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April 20, 2020 7:59pm
Jack5

Paul Henry back on TV tonight … and like a rodeo horse that needs to be rarked up a bit, and with, in place of a teleprompter , a blotter with notes scribbled on the back.

Then Henry brought on …. Paul Spoonley, Massey University’s Mr Multiculturism! Now Spoonley’s praising the passivity of New Zealanders. Jesus! Even Goebbels didn’t praise the German people for being sheep.

If we didn’t have such tough firearms laws, TV sets would have been blown across living rooms around New Zealand tonight.

C’mon MediaWorks, stir up Henry before you turn him loose, and take off the fucking handcuffs. We need the old Henry back.
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April 20, 2020 10:12pm

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