General Debate 14 May 2020

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krazykiwi

I don’t have much time for the hyper-woke Human Rights Commission, but when even they are concerned about the imposition of a Police State we should take notice

This is a great failure of our democratic process. The new legislation, if passed in its current state, will result in sweeping police powers unseen in this country for many years.
::
In times of national emergency sweeping powers are granted. There is a risk of overreach. Mistakes are made and later regretted.

Papers please! Papers!

Welcome to your newly minted Police State, New Zealand.
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May 14, 2020 8:01am
- JackRabbit
  
  You are right. The Human Rights Commission has its own power mongering frailties, resulting in miscarriages of justice through woke agendas. So if even they are concerned, as you say, we should be very concerned.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:52am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    If stopped I shall just say, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
    
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    May 14, 2020 7:53pm
- alloytoo
  
  Well the question that should be asked, if this wasn’t needed during the lockdown, why do we need it now?
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:29am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Bingo.
    
    This is what Kiwis get for being good little group-thinkers. Do what you’re told–and they did–and Nanny rewards you with a beating.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:01am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    The technical reason is that the Police were (eventually, but then again maybe not) granted the powers to enforce Levels 4 and 3 by one of two means – the Civil Defence Emergency Act, and/or the Medical Office of Health notice.
    
    Under Alert Level 2, neither of those means is valid to enforce adherence to the new lower restrictions, so in order for the Police to have the legal means necessary to stop people flouting the restrictions, new legislation was required.
    
    That’s the technical reason, and on its face it is valid and necessary. However the way they have rushed it through is neither valid (in a democracy) nor necessary, as it gives the Police licence to behave in an extreme way. While I believe most serving officers will be wary of over-reach, not all will fall into that category. Whether any egregious behavior by the Police occurs or not, the fact we’re in this position is an affront to civil liberties and makes a mockery of our Parliamentary democracy.
    
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    May 14, 2020 2:11pm
- Belinda
  
  Felt like a police state this morning, saw two groups of police checking shops in the mall.
  Well done guys, is this what you signed up for?
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:55am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Well said.
    
    And we’re to rely upon the good conscience of individual officers. There are no other protections. It’s only the novelty that will act as any restraint upon officials. But soon that novelty will vanish and it will become the new normal. Power corrupts.
    
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    May 14, 2020 7:15pm
- theoldbloke
  
  Every Time I hear the lie from the Government
  We went hard and we went early.
  I want to puke.
  
  This legislation falls in to the we
  Sat on our hands until we paniced and did something.
  
  Many say that if we did nothing then their would have been bodies in the streets.
  So we have been saved by jacinda.
  Then they compare NZ to Sweden….
  See they have thousands dying.
  
  In my view a better comparison should be made to Slovakia. (5.5 mill pop)
  A lovely country I had the opportunity of visiting 12 years ago.
  
  They went early, they reacted with a proportionate response.
  They locked down for 7 days.
  
  They are opening up their country quicker than NZ.
  
  Look at their timeline.
  First confirmed case in Slovakia was on March 6, 2020.
  28 February 2020 – Temperature screening of passengers for all passengers arriving in Slovakia by air[4]
  7 March 2020 – Deep sanitization of public transport vehicles in Bratislava[5]
  8 March 2020 – Secondary schools closed in Bratislava region[6]
  9 March 2020 – Primary schools closed in Bratislava, secondary schools in Trnava and Košice region[7]
  10 March 2020 – Events suspended[8]
  12 March 2020 – Emergency declared,[9] all event venues closed[10]
  13 March 2020 – Compulsory 14-day quarantine upon returning from abroad,[11] restarting border controls, international passenger transportation halted[citation needed]
  15 March 2020 – Emergency declared in health care,[12] face masks compulsory in public transport and shops[13]
  16 March 2020 – Non-essential stores closed[14]
  25 March 2020 – Compulsory face masks[15]
  starting 8 April 2020 – Ban on freedom of movement (with exceptions like business activities, necessary shopping, individual sport activities in nature within district and others)[16]
  14 April 2020 – End of the ban of movement [17]
  21 April 2020 – Tentative four-phase programme for lifting certain quarantine requirements announced[18]
  22 April 2020 – First stage of lifting quarantine measurements started. Allowed activities: shops under 300m2, long-term accommodation, outdoor non-contact sports, , open air markets. [19]
  Etc Etc
  
  And remember they are a land locked country without a large moat to protect themselves.
  
  Go hard go early is a slogan that is patently BULLSHIT!!
  
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  May 14, 2020 4:26pm
mikenmildagain

Best wishes to New Zealand rugby on its 150th anniversary!
Looking forward to seeing footie back in a few weeks.
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May 14, 2020 8:01am
- MCos
  
  Plunket Society founded this day 114 years ago.
  I remember my original wife taking our new born kids along. A great help and a good place to meet other young mums.
  ‘Don’t worry a lot of babies have socialist tendencies at one week old, they grow out of it’
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:13am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Original wife lol
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:16pm
Manolo

The complicity of the Chinese dictatorship and WHO in hiding the virus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv4t6MymEaQ
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May 14, 2020 8:02am
-D

Is it too obvious to suggest that Jacinda’s daily COVID media conference be continued for now, but with emphasis instead on the economy…to include updates on job-seeker applications, unemployment benefit levels, etc… as well as various initiatives to help dig our way out?

“We’re all in this together?”
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May 14, 2020 8:07am
- JackRabbit
  
  It’s her election pulpit. Why would she give it up.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:52am
- SmokerGuy
  
  That’s a great idea but I don’t believe this government would want to answer hard questions on the economy. Shutting down an economy is going to be much easier than reviving it.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:08am
  - Bykmad
    
    Other than Hosking, who is asking “the hard questions”.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:46am
    - projectman
      
      Simon Bridges is, but he doesn’t have the daily pulpit that Mike Hosking does.
      
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      May 14, 2020 12:22pm
- pdm
  
  -D
  It will be announced during the budget today that Arderns last 1pm press conference will be on Friday 18 September. Until then they will continue daily.
  
  Thus confirming her statement yesterday that the election could not be further from her thoughts.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:09am
Brian McDonald

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
I hope I won’t be first as the anonymous posters jockey for #1 post. How fretful it must be for them at 8am.
My point is that I think those who received the wage subsidy, of which I am one, and appreciative on behalf of myself and workers, should be willing to pay it back even as little as $5 a week from wages or from employment subsidy for that may have lost or could lose their jobs – hopefully temporarily.
If a non-political point comes out of Covid 19 it is that it has been a generous and welcome relief for businesses and workers to have the wage subsidy – I feel there would be bugger all that would be against it.
I hope if not before, it becomes an election issue. Being given a hand is great but it probably greater to give a hand back when the country needs it.
On rough figures that would be 2m a week heading back from where it came. 400,000 from memory x $5 min.
Cheers.
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May 14, 2020 8:12am
- rangitoto
  
  There is nothing to stop you doing it.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:17am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “should be willing to pay it back even as little as $5 a week from wages or from employment subsidy for that may have lost or could lose their jobs – hopefully temporarily.”
  
  That makes no sense grammatically. Are you simply proposing that employers deduct money from wages to pay the Government back? Would that not simply reduce aggregate demand and deepen the recession?
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:18am
- mikenmildagain
  
  An interesting idea. Do you realise that you can make voluntary payment to the government over and above any tax liability?
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:20am
  - burt
    
    I’m assuming that since you believe a more equal society is a better society that you donate everything you earn over and above what a beneficiary would earn to walk the walk on your strongly held beliefs?
    
    All Labour activists also do this right?
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:49am
  - amospicton
    
    A point I’ve often made to those advocating higher taxes. feel free to write a cheque to the government. I don’t believe anyone has ever done so.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:10am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      I don’t think Brian realises that his masterplan would end up costing the country more.
      
      Great way to help eh?
      
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      May 14, 2020 9:32am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    I really hope our Brian doesn’t have a job that involves complicated thing like multiplication and/or division.
    
    A village is missing an idiot somewhere.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:22am
  - MCos
    
    Over in the UK a lot of people donated money to the NHS by way of the appeal by Captain Tom.
    Whereas I full of admiration for the sentiment behind his appeal, I’m puzzled by why the public should be expected to fill a gap created by years of underfunding.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:58am
    - Batman
      
      It’s the NHS charities, not the actual NHS.
      
      The NHS has received continual funding increases.
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:09am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Many NZ health and social services are augmented by charitable donations: hospices care, women’s refuges, foodbanks to mention just a few.
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:35am
- Stuart
  
  While I understand the sentiment, the best thing people can do is to spend (ideally locally). Saving and paying back debt has its time and place, but if that money is spent in the local economy it keeps people in employment.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:23am
  - Random T Person
    
    Sorry Stuart, but spend local is a well-worn economic fallacy. Ever popular, though, because like socialism it SOUNDS like such a great idea.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:32am
- Mobile Michael
  
  I don’t think repayment is necessary – your employer was forced into drastically reduced income by the Government for the benefit of all New Zealand, so New Zealand should have to pay the cost.
  
  The four week lockdown worked – time for New Zealand to get back to work.
  
  For instance, the last Covid case in Wellington (incl Hutt Valley, Kapiti and Wairarapa) was diagnosed over a month ago and there are no active cases. There should be no restrictions on working or movement within the region. If there was good contact monitoring in place it would be easy to prevent potential spread into the region.
  
  I understand it is the same in Taranaki, Wanganui, West Coast, and Gisborne/East Cape.
  
  These regions should be free of all restrictions, but because the Government can’t replicate the contact tracing that overseas Governments have done (with larger, denser populations) we’re stuck at a 50% economy.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:26am
- Lee C
  
  Yes Brian. I too feel for those who will be unemployed and frankly suicidal come Christmas.
  
  We should be grateful for a government who loves to spend other peoples’ money like a drunken sailor, and make it sound like they are doing us a favour!?
  
  How about this – not kicking the stool out from under the economy thus negating the need to create a massive for of emotional blackmail with which to promote ones’ tax tax tax ideologies?
  
  It’s like having someone burgle your house, then offering to pay you limited compensation so you can buy a smaller television to replace the one they stole.
  
  In the meantime, all that altruism and handwringing that certain people will engage in – will be a pantomime performance to camouflage the fact that deep down, they know it is all their fault.
  
  They all were cheerleading Saint Jacinda of the Chip-Vats and callously exploiting the pandemic as a trojan horse for electioneering purposes.
  
  What? Not one of them didn’t see this as a fantastic opportunity for Jacinda to ‘win’ the next election?
  
  Really?
  
  And here come the unemployed, the mentally ill, the suicidal and the poverty-stricken – a mountain of woe upon which a beaming Jacinda Ardern stands ‘victorious’.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:28am
  - burt
    
    I wish I could up-tick this more.
    Well said.
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:52am
- cmm
  
  First off, good on you for wanting to do the right thing.
  
  At $5 per week the cost of administration would be higher than that and any enforcement would be counter productive. At that sort of level it would have to be voluntary to make sense.
  
  If you voluntarily find a way to pay it back then it is going to end up being spent by the state on $4000 bags of compost.
  
  Personally I think it would be a better deal all around if you found some local charity that fits with your values that gives back to society at large. eg. maybe St John ambulance.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:29am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s far to early to consider any repayment. Spend now to encourage local businesses. Many of those will be borderline.
    Worse may yet be revealed this afternoon. The COL function through pretence but don’t know when they are deceived by amateur experts kindling favour. These next 6 months will be very critical.
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:57am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    115 years (assuming 0% interest and no running costs)
    
    Words fail me…
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:23am
  - Ruawai
    
    Or give it directly to a family you know who needs financial help.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:58am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Your good intentions do you so much credit.
  
  But giving money to the Government is one of the least efficient ways imaginable of doing good for the country.
  
  If you are able to afford extra money, over and above the costs of keeping your business going, give it to charity, or spend it on something on a normal commercial basis. Whoever you buy from will be glad of the business.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:46am
- JackRabbit
  
  You must know some other human beings.
  
  Stockpile it for later in the year, and use it to buy food parcels for those who can’t pay their mortgage AND feed their family, as a result of losing their job or business.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:04am
- WaveyDavey
  
  $2m a week for $12bn. Right-oh.
  
  So 6,000 weeks to pay it back then – 115 years
  
  Maths clearly not your strong point Brian.
  
  $2m a week will barely cover (a) the costs of such a ridiculous idea or (b) the interest repayments
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:19am
- Lee C
  
  https://youtu.be/ZBdnyrzq96s
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:56am
- kloyd0306
  
  The subsidy is $585 per week.
  First 12 weeks then another 8 in today’s budget.
  20 weeks @ $585: $11700
  $5 per week pay back: 2340 weeks
  2340 weeks is: 45 years
  Go ahead Brian. Make your self feel good while doing stuff all.
  
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  May 15, 2020 12:04am
niggly

So there we go. The poll-driven Labour govt have backed down over funeral attendee numbers.

Just goes to show how fickle Labour are when there is a public outcry (which may affect their internal polling)!

So perhaps good ol’ “middle NZ” needs to take a leaf out of the Labour/Left-Wing handbook by stop being “sheep” and starting resisting!

Yes, RESIST the Labour governmant and Jacinda’s PR lies!

Just like Labour would be agitating their minions against (if this was) a National Govt!

So RESIST comrades RESIST! Mind you “we” are not hypocrites nor dirty politics operatives like Labour so should “we” resort to their despicable tactics? Hmm, food for thought perhaps.
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May 14, 2020 8:14am
- cmm
  
  They will try it on with compliant people.
  
  Gangs, Maori and a few others don’t comply, so the government caves in for them.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:19am
  - Ruawai
    
    Gangs can have large funeral gatherings and police watch on it seems, it will only be the good who get punished.
    
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    May 14, 2020 12:00pm
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  The fact that they backed down and raised the limit to 50 shows us that the 10 person limit was not based on anything objective, but was pulled out of thin air. Either 10 people is the correct number or it isn’t, based on some sort of data and analysis thereof. Clearly 10 just felt right.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:50am
- MCos
  
  ‘The poll-driven Labour govt have backed down over funeral attendee numbers.’
  An interesting point you raise.
  Should a party always stick to it’s guns when it takes an unpopular position especially when the grounds for the original position are highly debatable?
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:25am
  - Alacrity
    
    I dont think that’s the point. The point is that if the 10 person limit was chosen for a reason, then that reason shouldnt be ditched for expediency. Clearly the number was arbitrary, and just as arbitrarily it was changed.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:57pm
- Ruawai
  
  JA will spin it that she listens to the people.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:59am
  - MCos
    
    You got a problem with that?
    
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    May 14, 2020 1:07pm
Lee C

What three things will The National Party need to impress on the electorate if it is to stand a chance of toppling the current infatuation with Ardern?

Here are mine:

Use snappy memorable sound-bytes keep it simple.

Talk over the head of the press to real people.

Point out the current CoL’s lack of delivery.
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May 14, 2020 8:16am
- ex-golfer
  
  Your third point is the most important.
  This Government has failed on EVERY flagship policy they were elected on. Now they will spin COVID-19 as the convenient excuse.
  
  National needs to remind NZ that Labour had failed to deliver on its promises well before COVID. List them – loud and frequently.
  And stop letting bad news announcements be buried (like yesterdays Auckland Light Rail).
  
  As for speaking over the media – this is a tricky one – as the use of Social Media is so tribal and appears to be dominated by the left (particularly the feral left).
  
  National also needs to stop being nice about Ardern and really attack her failures. Alternatively they could pick off each of the underlings as they have all failed in one way or another.
  
  Finally – attack NZF and the Greens and make the battle a two-party race.
  
  Its time to use that substantial war-chest and financial backing and get the message out!
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:25am
  - amospicton
    
    Exactly – they don’t need to criticise Ardern’s handling of the crisis – make it all about who do voters trust to rebuild. The KiwiBuild rabble or those who did it successfully post GFC and Earthquakes? Remember, Churchill lost the election after WWII.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:14am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Not sure about the attacking Ardern as it always seems to backfire as picking on a woman, politicising etc. etc.
    Ardern is their one Ace in the pack…she is extremely popular with the press and especially young voters.
    I think they need to highlight the calibre of the people she has surrounded herself with.
    ie. Kelvin Davis, David Clark, Phil Twyford, Stuart Nash, Ian Lees-Galloway, Poto Williams, Clare Curran, Meka Whaitiri just to name a few.
    Lets be honest……would anyone on here employ one of these people in their business?
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:34am
    - krazykiwi
      
      I agree.
      
      Which team has the skills and experience to get New Zealand working again?
      
      Team Ardern or Team Bridges?
      
      National need to play to their team strength, their team track record because on those dimensions Labour is a utterly and obviously useless
      
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      May 14, 2020 11:16am
    - Nickc2
      
      …..and keep reminding people of Winston’s devious dealings and make frequent mention of the SFO and the fact that he still hasn’t repaid the NZ Taxpayer money he stole during the Helen Clark election funding debarcle. Also, make frequent reference to the $3bn slush fund used by Shange Jones to buy votes.
      Majority effort must be put into keeping Winston 1st’s corrupt mob out of Parliament. Secondary effort should be to lessening the Green vote and there is plenty of instances of hypocrisy that can be thrown back at them and their support of Arab terrorist groups.
      Labour should be attacked on its financial failures and there are plenty of instances of that, Kiwibuild being just one.
      I think National will be on a hiding to nothing if they attack Labour on financial aspects of the COVID-19 fiasco. They should however vehemently attack Labour on the legality of Lockdowns, Maori Militia roadblocks, lack of flu vaccine, lack of PPE and throwing taxpayer’s money at the MSM in order to buy favourable comment during the election campaign.
      Whilst I like Simon Bridges, I also think a change of National Party leader leading into the election may not be a bad idea. IMHO, Simon lacks the mongrel required to win this election. Any new leader they choose must be free of baggage which the likes of Stewart Nash, Andrew Little and Willy Jackson will exploit during the election.
      
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      May 14, 2020 2:20pm
  - bruceavon
    
    No. I disagree. Lack of delivery will barely matter at all. This election will be a one issue only – covid 19 and the recovery. No ones going to care about kiwibuild etc. this virus has affected peoples lives completely. It is all that matters. National need to hammer home they can guide the recovery better. And pick up the inevitable stuff ups in the recovery. This election will be decided by what happens in the next few months, not the preceding years.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:27am
    - gorse
      
      You may well be right. This afternoon I expect to see vote buying money being sprayed about. I also expect not to see any real plan of a way forwards. I expect National to start it’s election campaign today, with their opposition budget and a detailed plan of their way forwards. If not they will be in opposition for three more years.
      
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      May 14, 2020 2:05pm
      - Rachael Membery
        
        And we can’t afford that.
        
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        May 14, 2020 8:51pm
- JibberJabber
  
  Absolutely, sidestep the Lying ? Press.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:26am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Treat the media Trump style. If they are rude and interrupt (just being arseholes) walk away. No more shit
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:40am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Could you explain a bit further what “talking over the head of the press to real people” means? Specifically, what channels of communication can be used, and how likely are your “real people” to be paying attention to those channels?
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:30am
  - Tall Man
    
    People only need to take a peek at social media pages that National frequent.
    
    The instant abuse from lefty trolls is amazing as they attempt to shut down any serious and relevant comment.
    
    Look at the “bot” situation recently.
    
    It will make it very hard unless Simon Bridges can engage a bit more with some senior members of the media.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:00am
  - Lee C
    
    I think I visualise not playing the ‘nicey-nicey’ game with the press, Albert.
    
    The press are seagulls. They will report what is newsworthy. Their general paucity of critical engagement is glaringly evident.
    
    Currently being nice to them in the hope they will be ‘positive’ in return is just not worth reporting on so they don’t. Largely they ignore Simon Bridges. Ardern is just ‘sexier’.
    
    It would be better to provide the press with words they can’t fail to report – the ‘Muldoon with slogans’ was a good one.
    
    The National Party team should be doing this as a team, issuing a coordinated and consistent message indicating solidarity and reliability of views.
    
    They should be meeting and deciding team strategy weekly and putting it out and staying on message – weekly – at least.
    
    This would provide a concerted and controlled message which the press cannot ignore and would be obliged to report – and thus would speak over the heads of the press and to ‘the people’.
    
    The ‘the people’ can be informed that we don’t live in a single-party state ruled by a smiling but cynical demagogue.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:12am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      The press
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4BNbHBcnDI
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:46am
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Can anyone explain for me what ‘Obamagate’ means? I have tried to research this, but have found only gibberish and ranting on the interwebs.
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May 14, 2020 8:16am
- Albert_Ross
  
  According to Quora, it refers to ex-President Obama’s attempt to work with the Russians to overthrow President Trump. No evidence for this has been put forward, as far as I can make out.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:49am
- Simon
  
  Obamagate:
  
  Abuse of office ie. use of government agencies like FBI to spy on and harass political opponents.
  
  You might want to check this guy out. Seems somewhat neutral i.e not GOP / MAGA or Dem.
  
  https://twitter.com/adamhousley
  
  Obama spying / abuse of office has been going for a long time certainly pre dates Trump and has included people like Bernie Saunders.
  
  Nothing will happen to Zero.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:52am
  - Simon
    
    Obama defense has always been Gee Whiz I didnt know that was going on. It must have been some rouge subordinates.
    
    See IRS scandal, Fast & furious & spying on AP.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:00am
    - Lee C
      
      ‘rogue’
      but ‘rouge’ is nice too…
      
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      May 14, 2020 9:44am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        Probably not at all embarrassed.
        
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        May 14, 2020 9:17pm
- RightNow
  
  I can’t explain it to you but I agree the Google search results all seem to be links to gibberish click bait sites
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:52am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Can’t you leave the growns up alone for the day. NZ’s going to be robbed this afternoon and we have to get ready to remove the PM and associates for incompetence and fraudulent representations.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:00am
  - MCos
    
    Translation
    
    Don’t know either.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:25am
    - Batman
      
      Well it’s a pretty convoluted and confused theory, so he can be forgiven for not seeing how it all apparently connects.
      
      That’s what happens when you try to turn your own side’s crimes into the crimes of the other side.
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:45am
- Critical Thinker
  
  https://youtu.be/xsrN7LLtZ3A
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:06am
- Inandout
  
  m&m, It means the entrance to Obama’s beach front mansion.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:28am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    At last, an answer that make sense!
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:37am
- Goon
  
  Its a nothing burger. An attempt to distract from Trump’s complicity in sending Covid positive patents to rest homes on NY and Pennsylvania and other general mis-management of the ongoing health crisis. The Guardian and Politico say so, so you can rest easy:
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/13/trump-obsession-obama-attempt-distract-failures
  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/12/trump-obamagate-distraction-253139
  
  An outgoing administration absolutely has free reign to use the security services to actively undermine the replacement if they so wish. However, we know for an absolute fact that in late 2016/early 2017 there was nothing improper in regards the conduct of the FBI with regards the incoming National Security advisor. Totally by the book (that’s an actual quote):
  
  https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-02-08%20CEG%20LG%20to%20Rice%20(Russia%20Investigation%20Email).pdf
  
  And of course, Barry, as befitting his demi-god status, would never lower himself to such a level, while sleepy, dopey, gropey, pokie Joe had no idea what the pony soldiers at the Jan 2016 meetings were on about (‘Unmask?….I thought you said you wanted to put a push-up competition on the gramophone’).
  
  https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/13/declassified-list-of-obama-officials-who-unmasked-michael-flynn-includes-james-clapper-john-brennan-and-joe-biden/
  
  So, obviously it is entirely coincidental that Barry the Great recently emerged from his seaside mansion to express concern about the ineptness of Trump’s handling of WuFlu and how the US Judicial system is being corrupted by Bill Barr and Durham applying actual laws. Like he has all the other times in response to Trumps unsuitability for, and incompetence in performing, high office.
  
  So just like the Burisma hoo-ha, nothing at all to it. Oh wait…what?
  
  https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/impeachment-boomerang-contacts-exposed-between-us
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:49am
  - Blackface Twin Reverb
    
    Sorry, Accidental down tick.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:13am
  - Batman
    
    “we know for an absolute fact that in late 2016/early 2017 there was nothing improper in regards the conduct of the FBI with regards the incoming National Security advisor.”
    
    Haaaaahhaaaaaaahaaaaa!!!
    
    He pled guilty twice! And was complicit in efforts to have someone kidnapped from the USA to be sent to Turkey and murdered. Oh and paid by the main Russian propaganda TV station.
    
    This & exactly this is what the unmasking list shows:
    
    1) That senior US officials across the govt were so concerned about conversations b/w foreigners & some US person that they sought & got approval to understand who that person was.
    
    2) That, repeatedly, that person was Flynn.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:48am
- Critical Thinker
  
  The Obamagate controversy refers to several scandals during President Barack Obama tenure, notably the misuse of government agencies, media manipulation, illegal wiretaping, and domestic spying on American citizens to harass political opponents and critics. By the election year of 2016, Obama officials vastly expanded the use of the foreign intelligence gathering apparatus as a weapon against domestic political opponents. In 2013, there were 9,600 FISA search queries involving 195 Americans. But in 2016, there are 30,355 searches of 5,288 Americans.
  
  With the release of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s first installment report, it became abundantly clear the Obama intelligence community attempted to whitewash crimes Hillary Clinton was accused of and to meddle in the outcome of America’s democratic processes.
  
  Some have drawn parallels between Obamagate and the Watergate scandal of the 1970s; the FISA courts were created as a post-Watergate reform. Had the Watergate burglars been granted outside contractor access to the FISA database, it would make a closer comparison. In Watergate, Nixon turned to outside contractors, the Plumbers unit, after the FBI refused Nixon’s request to spy on political opponents; in Obamagate the FBI colluded with outside contractors, FusionGPS, to spy on Obama and DNC opponents. In Watergate, the CIA declined Nixon’s request to help cover up the crime by deceiving FBI investigators; in Obamagate, the CIA director masterminded the crime in collusion with the FBI and Department of Justice.
  
  The Obama administration’s used government agencies to spy on its political opposition — namely Donald Trump, his aides, and then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, who was the Attorney General of the United States during the first half of Trump’s elected four-year-term.
  
  https://www.conservapedia.com/Obamagate
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:06am
  - Batman
    
    Fantasyland. As proven by your link at the end.
    
    All the fevered Obama truthers are going to hate it when reality comes back to bite and absolutely nothing happens with this deranged theory.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:12am
    - Critical Thinker
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw-eVmK09Vg
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:17am
      - Batman
        
        A random loser in his lounge with bad hair and a sword flag?
        
        Shit I’m sold, sign me up!
        
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        May 14, 2020 10:37am
    - RightNow
      
      Well those backing the Trump Russia conspiracy theories would certainly know about reality biting them in the arse.
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:28am
      - Batman
        
        Would they? The contacts between the Trump campaign and various Russian citizens are well documented and have resulted in multiple criminal charges. That’s before you get to the charges laid against the members of the GRU (obviously those ones will never come to trial in the US)
        
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        May 14, 2020 10:32am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s okay, chaps, I found the answer on Twitter:
        
        I refuse to discuss Obamagate because 83,491 have died since March and also Obamagate doesn’t exist
        
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        May 14, 2020 10:39am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Batman:
        NO…..The contacts between the Trump campaign and various Russian citizens are well documented
        Only a few business transactions from more than 10 years ago.
        NO……..have resulted in multiple criminal charges
        Of Russians not associated with Trump.
        It is the Dems who tried and failed to link the two, with faked documents, that turned out to have originated in Russia.
        
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        May 14, 2020 10:43am
      - Batman
        
        RW, maybe some facts will help you out.
        
        Flynn sat at Putin’s table at a dinner in December 2015.
        
        Carter page travelled to Moscow as recently as July 2016. Russian intelligence tried to recruit Carter Page, though Page wasn’t necessarily even aware that happened.
        
        Roger stone communicated directly with Guccifer2.0 via Twitter DMs in July/August 2016.
        
        The campaign had multiple contacts with Kislyak, who is known to have overseen Russian intelligence operations in the United States.
        
        In Dec 2016 Jared Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, head of a Kremlin controlled bank under US sanctions and tied to Russian intelligence.
        
        Some Trump advisors failed to disclose or lied about Russian contacts on security clearance applications. See, Jeff Sessions, which then led to his recusal after he lied to Congress.
        
        And just for fun, let’s look at some survivability for Russian officials:
        – election day 2016: an officer in the NY consulate was found dead. First explanation was that he fell off a roof. Then they said he died of a heart attack (which neatly aligns with other people who have died thanks to Russian poisoning).
        – 26 Dec 2016: former KGB agent thought to have helped compile the Trump dossier is found dead in his car in Moscow.
        – 20 Feb 2017: Russian ambassador to the UN suddenly dies from….. wait for it, a heart attack.
        – Russian authorities have also arrested a cyber security expert and two intelligence officials and accused them of spying for the US.
        
        And just got completeness, here is the DOJs own report and the 12 related court cases.
        https://www.justice.gov/sco
        
        Enjoy!
        
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        May 14, 2020 11:13am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Those guys were all murdered by the Clintons to make Putin look bad.
        
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        May 14, 2020 11:19am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Everything you say here is wrong.
        Manafort and Cohen were prosecuted for Tax and Bank Fraud. Not connections to Russia. Manafort connection were with Ukraine, not Russia. He got done for Tax evasion on $60 million.
        Cohen said in a Congressional hearing under Oath he knew of no information about Trump or Trump staff trying to deal with Russia.
        Brennan has been caught withholding high level intel that actually the Russians wanted Clinton to win. Not Trump.
        https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/05/12/fox-news-john-brennan-russia-hillary-clinton/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
        The recent declassified Testimony of 53 witnesses is full of them all saying that there was no evidence of Trump colluding with the Russians.
        Look at the current article in the WSJ for actual quotes from many Obama execs.
        4 days after the Trump Tower meeting the FBI took a Statement from the translator. He swore under oath that no discussion occurred about getting dirt on Russia. The guy was an ex State dept employee who worked for Clinton. He didn’t like Trump.
        That Transcript is also available.
        As for the so called Russian hackers, they actually did have their lawyers front up to Court.
        And what a disaster that was for Muellers prosecutors.
        No evidence was produced proving anything and the charges were WITHDRAWN.
        Recently, again from released Congressional Testimony the CEO of Crowdstrike admitted that they had no concrete evidence that any information from the DNC servers was removed. I showed you a link to the actual Transcript of this the other day.
        Obamagate actually refers to the unmasking of US citizens.
        Obama, Biden and others knew. Grenell has just declassified all of that. They were illegally spying on US citizens. The FISA abuse is well documented and again available to view.
        https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2020-05-13%20ODNI%20to%20CEG%20RHJ%20(Unmasking).pdf
        They know what Flynn and Kisyliak said because they recorded it.
        The FBI and DOJ actually cleared Flynn- because they had a Transcript and knew he said nothing wrong.
        This is why Strozyk and Page had to keep the case open by claiming a breach of the Logan Act
        Then they went on to falsify the 302’s and try to trap Flynn and then coerce him by threatening his son. They withheld evidence that actually proved he said nothing wrong.
        I hope this clears a few things up for you.
        This information is all out there. But probably not in the NYT- mainly because their staff were used to leak info which helped the narrative of those spying on Trump and others
        
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        May 14, 2020 11:21am
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘And just for fun, let’s look at some survivability for Russian officials:
        – election day 2016: an officer in the NY consulate was found dead. Etc’
        
        Seriously dude. You need to stay off the shrooms.
        And you call others conspiracy theorists…
        
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        May 14, 2020 3:01pm
      - chiz
        
        All_on_red:
        
        Cohen said in a Congressional hearing under Oath he knew of no information about Trump or Trump staff trying to deal with Russia.
        
        Cohen lied under oath, so I’m not sure what your point here is.
        
        Brennan has been caught withholding high level intel that actually the Russians wanted Clinton to win. Not Trump.
        
        Nope. Following your links it turns out that one person, Fred Fleitz, who appears to be quite partisan, has supposedly heard a rumour about this. No one else knows about this. It never made it into the House or Senate reports.
        
        The recent declassified Testimony of 53 witnesses is full of them all saying that there was no evidence of Trump colluding with the Russians.
        
        Nope. What they said is that there was no direct on concrete evidence, but that’s not the same thing as saying that there is no evidence. Here’s a quote from Clapper for example: “I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election. That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence. … But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.”
        
        4 days after the Trump Tower meeting the FBI took a Statement from the translator. He swore under oath that no discussion occurred about getting dirt on Russia. The guy was an ex State dept employee who worked for Clinton. He didn’t like Trump.
        
        It was Trump Jr that Samochornov didn’t like. Samochornov never worked for Clinton. His account of the Trump Tower meeting slightly contradicts other accounts on one detail but this might just be him misremembering things.
        
        As for the so called Russian hackers, they actually did have their lawyers front up to Court.
        And what a disaster that was for Muellers prosecutors.
        No evidence was produced proving anything and the charges were WITHDRAWN.
        
        I can’t find anything about the charged against the GRU hackers being withdrawn. You appear to be getting confused with the case against Concord Management and Consulting, and Concord Catering. In this case the charges were withdrawn because the DOJ didn’t want to disclose classified intelligence gathering methods to the defendants, especially given their prior behaviour, and because no meaningful punishment was likely to be available against them since they had no american presence. Details here. The charges were certainly not withdrawn because of a lack of evidence .
        
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        May 14, 2020 4:07pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  With a bit more research, I found a chart that explains it all quite simply:
  https://imgur.com/gallery/ITedYrL/comment/1452658021
  
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  May 14, 2020 4:56pm
Im Right

“If a non-political point comes out of Covid 19 it is that it has been a generous and welcome relief for businesses and workers to have the wage subsidy – I feel there would be bugger all that would be against it.”, every western country has done this, if NZ didn’t do it there would be rioting in the streets, NZ followed what others were doing, not some benevolent kindness Govt that led the way and others followed!
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May 14, 2020 8:17am
- burt
  
  We did some things others didn’t do like close down all small business to benefit the big corporate supermarkets.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:57am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Does anyone know how much the Aussie wage subsidy was? $750??? (or the UK one?) As I remember Grant and Jacinda announcing ours ($585.80) as one of the most generous in the world.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:39am
Centrist

How does one change a house into a marae? Asking for a friend.
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May 14, 2020 8:18am
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  “…a Marae is a complex of buildings and open space, with facilities to cater for and accommodate a community and its visitors.”
  
  I have all of that and so have now decreed my modest location a marae in accordance with these hallowed principles. So mote it be.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:39am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    There are three houses down the driveway where I live, with land in between. As a bonus, we back on to land owned by a Maori trust.
    
    I’ll talk to my neighbours tonight, and we should have the Ngāti Pākehā Marae sign up at the street by the weekend 😀
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:29am
    - burt
      
      You could call it Ngāti Tax Payer Marae.
      
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      May 14, 2020 9:49am
- burt
  
  I think all you need to do is say it is. I’m not sure there is a formal definition for a marae, others might know better?
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:53am
- JackRabbit
  
  Whatever you feel it is on the day. Accommodation identity crisis.
  
  Today I am a house, tomorrow a marae. However some will object to that, so get your Mrs to sew you up some patches for your denim jacket.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:07am
Maggie Pie

As my partner just opined over breakfast, after nine years of a National government, we didn’t have Police secretly trialing facial recognition technology, or being given the power to enter and search your home without a warrant. This is a massive shit in policing in New Zealand.
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May 14, 2020 8:20am
- alex Masterley
  
  As far as I am concerned the Police are now simply the Stasi.
  They will have a long way to go to regain my trust and co-operation.
  Also what really aggravates me is we have heard nothing from the Human Rights activists who would ordinarily be screaming the roof down. Hypocrites the lot of them.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:25am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    “…we have heard nothing from the Human Rights activists…”
    
    Dear, me. I’ll have to explain it.
    What part of “It’s OK when the Left does it” don’t you understand?
    
    //
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:09am
  - Komata
    
    AlexM@0825
    
    Re: ‘… Human Rights activists who would ordinarily be screaming the roof down. Hypocrites the lot of them’.
    
    By their (‘Deafening’) silence shall ye know them; proof positive that (despite their vehement protestations to the contrary) the ‘activists’ were simply the ‘lefties’ that many of us knew them to be.
    
    It will be interesting to see how long it takes before the ‘crowing’ starts….
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:58am
- kowtow
  
  Abuses widespread.
  
  ‘Dunedin barrister Marie Taylor-Cyphers said in many cases the supporting evidential paperwork claimed the tests were taken roadside, though officers would later concede on the stand that was not the case.
  
  She was concerned police were taking advantage of a naive public to catch them out.
  
  “The breath testing very commonly occurs in private residences, in people’s homes, most commonly in their lounges – this happens all the time,” she said.’
  
  And yes the public is too trusting. Martin Niemoller and all that. And now the govt gives them more power.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/394734/police-breath-testing-inside-people-s-homes-dunedin-lawyer-says
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:28am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Dishonest Police should be revealed at every incident.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:02am
- Maggie Pie
  
  …..’shift’…..
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:40am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Isn’t it interesting how a misspelt word conveys your message so well.
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:52am
  - Tall Man
    
    I think you got it right first time.
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:56am
- Tony Stuart
  
  A massive “shit” Maggie?
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:43am
- projectman
  
  Agree, particularly with what I guess is a typo in the last sentence :-))
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:55am
- Surely Knott
  
  *We have eliminated it * It is a pandemic.
  *Pandemic – Unprecedented Emergency Powers must be granted to police. The urgency of the pandemic requires that the bill must pass without input or scrutiny.
  *Eliminated – We are moving to level 2 because there is no community transmission.
  * Pandemic – Business will be required to enforce social distancing or police can enter premises without warrant
  * Eliminated – Ministry of Health will not be putting on extra school buses for social distancing for school kids.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:51am
Centrist

I rang my local library yesterday to see what time they are opening. The answer: “Some time next week”. They still don’t know.
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May 14, 2020 8:22am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Same…and no Swimming Pool!
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:53am
  - burt
    
    <sarcasm>That’s lucky, I’ve heard all the chlorine makes the place a hot bed for infection. </sarcasm>
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:00am
    - cmm
      
      Yup, that is why they were so worried about surfers.
      
      Salt is half chlorine and half sodium. Have you seen how terrible sodium burns are? Than god you’ve got PriNZess looking after you.
      
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      May 14, 2020 9:22am
  - Lee C
    
    Don’t you mean ‘swimming-poo’?
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:59am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Easing off and opening back up must mirrored on fuel coming back down when the price drops to giving it away.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:05am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Got a full list of facilities and reopening times from our council.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:02pm
Poppa

I have to be honest & say I don’t have much interest in the budget today. I fully expect it be be a lolly scramble aimed at votes not fixing problems.

Of more interest to me is what will I have for lunch at the restaurant we have booked
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May 14, 2020 8:24am
- Jules99
  
  Yeah, I’m feeling the same. Probably tax increases and lollies for non-productive sectors of society, i.e. Labour voters.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:26am
Justitia

The Levels 2/1 legislation passed last evening is such draconian and bad law it deserves to be disobeyed. Perhaps the main religions could lead a campaign of civil disobedience by allowing congregations of up to one hundred people, just like bars are permitted? Scenes of Police raiding and closing down churches, mosques and temples would make excellent family viewing on State TV.
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May 14, 2020 8:28am
- JackRabbit
  
  Or subduing you in your own home and injecting the mandatory “vaccine” and Borg “tracking chip”.
  
  If you resist you will be putting the lives of 80,000 at risk and therefore an enemy of the state, and sent off to work a “shovel”.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:00am
oldpark

NZs done like a dinner again . Leading the charge was the master of obfuscation and confusion . The renegade Peters and his Party . This time joined by the paragons for Human Rights and Civil Liberties . Yes the Green Party . Both NZ First and Green Party against the wishes of the Labour Party selected Human rights commissioner Mr Hunt, enjoined with the Commie led Labour Party in a vote of 63-57 against National Party opposition agreeing to allow Police to charge into the home of NZs without a warrant . That type of action is being used against the so called Coronavirus Law being broken by households . Go figure that one .
Interesting when the votes were called for the by Greens and NZ First the sham of looking after NZs Human Rights and Civil Liberties were ignored .Why would that be . Lets see . an Income of circa $200,000 to start with . Not having to do anything to get that type of coin especially the sicko creepy NZ First and Green Party’s those paragons of human rights . As for the party of “Auntie Cindy ” they shut down the Nation of NZ illegally for at least ten days when Level Four kicked in . Yes against the alleged advice of the Crown Law Office.To make it even worse the Three time Electoral seat Loser David Parker now a so called list MP refused to divulge the facts Question must be what are the “Auntie Cindy” commie led Labour Party hiding . NZs should be afraid very afraid for the future when the Coronavirus is been used to water down the way of life and well being of NZ . Politics is Power right or Wrong .
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May 14, 2020 8:28am
Paulus

I do not believe that Cindy will ever let the country got to Level 1.
With Level 2 she has lost a great deal of control, but if she went to Level 1 she would lose almost total control.
As a Control Freak for her that would be a disaster.
She must hold on to Level 2 at least until the election.
She would go back if she could to Level 3.
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May 14, 2020 8:30am
- niggly
  
  What’s the bet when Labour and Jacinda let the country go to level 1 – there will still be restrictions.
  
  Like there is with this level 2 – it’s not the same as level 2 before the Govt closed the country and economy down (it’s more like level 3 lite)!
  
  So beware of the smiling Jacinda when she announces one day that Kiwi’s will be moving to level 1 (it’ll probably be like level 2 lite eg funeral attendees go from 50 to 100, or outside gatherings are still restricted to 100 or 150, effectively killing off the live entertainment & events industries, airlines probably still have to social spacing effectively killing them off as well)!
  
  How wrong of Lefties when they claimed John Key was the “Smiling Assassin” … clearly that mantle deservedly belongs to its true owner Jacinda Ardern!
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:52am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  She will announce a move to Level One just in time for the September Election…
  just around the time when flights to Oz and Pacific Islands commence.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:57am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    The only things transparent about the CoL is
    1. Their dishonesty
    2. Their corruption
    3. Their desperation to be re elected
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:00am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    which will be July 1, a dozen flights Syd/Auk you can book now.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:10am
    - MCos
      
      Flights to Oz are dependent on what Oz will allow.
      
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      May 14, 2020 9:36am
  - cmm
    
    Maggy, September is when Vit D levels are the lowest and the peak of flu season.
    
    I’m quite expecting we’ll be back at Level 3/4 by then… if the punters will accept it.
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:24am
- RW Capitalist
  
  With Level 2 she has lost a great deal of control
  and passed it on to her personal police force, by act of parliament.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:58am
- Kevin Herlihy
  
  It all depends on how L2 goes, whether the rates of community transmission spike or not.
  Social distancing will still be important during L2 as well has basic health precautions such as personal hygiene, washing of hands etc.
  It’s all in the hands of New Zealanders now, if we all work together to minimise community transmission then the sooner we can move to L1.
  I would expect L2 to remain in place till the end of June or July.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:36am
- Critical Thinker
  
  Saint Cinders and Pope Bloomfield still have tyrannical police state powers if/when we eventually go into Level 1.
  
  As the new “COVID-19 Public Health Response Law” is in effect during ALL levels.
  
  Brown shirt vigilante “Enforcement Officers” currently being recruited will have the power to:
  
  – Enter land, buildings, crafts, vehicles, places, or… “things”… with no warrant.
  – Order people to do as directed.
  – Close roads and public places.
  – Stop vehicles.
  – Demand identification of anyone. Which includes: full name, full address, date of birth, occupation, and telephone number, or any of those particulars that the enforcement officer or other person acting with authority may specify.
  – Demand closure of any businesses and “undertakings”.
  
  If you fail to comply with the enforcement officers you can be thrown in jail for up to 6 months.
  
  https://vimeo.com/417897561
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:31am
Captain Mainwaring

Did I hear that the stupid Auckland light rail plan has been canned?
If so, this on top of the Kiwibuild debacle makes 2 out of 2 total failures for Twitford.
Has any Minister in all of history been so completely useless?
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May 14, 2020 8:40am
- Poppa
  
  NO…..
  
  Mind you that Clark is a very close second
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:47am
- Tony Stuart
  
  This is one failure we should all be grateful for. We all know the final cost would have been at least double what was budgeted.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:51am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I was absolutely chuffed to read that report.
    Twyford is building up an impressive body of complete failures. (I was going to say body of work but there hasn’t been any.)
    
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    May 14, 2020 8:56am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Good, now Wellington.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:06am
- bruceavon
  
  It should be canned. All of the roading and transport projects should be looked at in the light of the mess we are in. Especially in Auckland. A huge amount of friends, colleagues and clients are reappraising their businesses and how they work. As a result many are going to keep working from home. I have one business that is not going to renew its lease in July and another thats going to move out of its premises in Ponsonby. So the roads here are going to have less cars on them. And even a 5% drop in traffic can make the appalling road system work better. A lot of people aren’t going to go back to how they used to work.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:12am
- cmm
  
  Dunners want a light rail there. Maybe they will just shift the Auckland plans to Dunners.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:25am
RW Capitalist

EMail from Simon Bridges.
Moving into Level 2 restrictions tomorrow comes at a critical time for our country’s future.

It’s a critical time for Kiwis who kept the faith to stamp out COVID-19, and it’s a critical time for the employers and small businesses who are keen to get on and rebuild New Zealand.

Tomorrow is also Budget Day.

COVID-19 has caused huge economic problems around the world. The three questions I have for New Zealanders are:

How do we avoid making the economic disaster worse than it needs to be?
How can we get back on track?
And who has the most experienced team to actually deliver?
The economic statistics our country is faced with are incredibly sobering:

1,000 people a day going on JobSeeker support
Debt forecast to rise by $100 billion
Reserve Bank forecasting 150,000 job losses in the next 6 months
GDP forecast to fall by more than 20% this quarter
Business confidence at rock bottom, with retail card spending down by 50%
Only National can get New Zealand working again through a credible economic plan:

Keep opening up the economy safely, to get New Zealand working again.
Save jobs by getting cash to small businesses most in need and deliver an effective stimulus to a stalled economy.
Bring common-sense to the 2-metre world to keep us productive.
Unleash private sector investment to drive growth.
Invest in quality infrastructure so New Zealand succeeds in the post-Covid world.
National has a track record of managing the economy in a crisis. We borrowed $50 billion to get us through the global financial crisis and Canterbury earthquakes. In short order we got on top of it, got back to surplus with a strongly growing, confident country and economy. And we have the team to do it again.
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May 14, 2020 8:45am
Tony Stuart

Did anyone else see Golriz Gharaman on the news last night, complaining loudly (and with some justification, I might add) about the Police’s secret trial of facial recognition software?

With all the effort One News went to in order to contact her, it’s a shame they didn’t ask her why James. Marama, Julie Anne, Jan, Eugenie, Gareth, Chloe and herself allowed the Government to pass legislation allowing the Police to forcibly enter private dwellings without a warrant. Without the eight Green votes, even if they had abstained, and not voted against the Bill, it would not have passed.

The new law is so draconian, that even Labour’s hand-picked, uber-woke Human Rights Commissioner is up in arms about it. But once again, politics triumphed over principle. Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons would be turning in their graves.
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May 14, 2020 8:48am
- niggly
  
  I must say the term “Despicable Greens” seems rather a rather apt description of them (hypocrites)!
  
  Also good interview with HRC Commissioner Paul Hunt by Sean Plunket yesterday on MagicTalk (hopefully they have posted the interview). Hunt may be a “woke leftie” but his concerns and criticism are 100% spot on – good man!
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:55am
- alex Masterley
  
  Tony, the only human rights the Greens support are those they agree with.
  
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  May 14, 2020 8:56am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Or those that will enrich them 😉
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:36am
- pdm
  
  They could also have asked her where that Manus Island joker is hiding.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:15am
- Libertarians are right
  
  Was her friend in the background while she was talking by any chance?
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:15am
- MCos
  
  Under certain circumstances the police already have that right
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:40am
Yvette

If the new measures for Police, just being enacted by Government ‘for Level 2”, are warranted now, why were they not enacted for the two higher Levels 3 and 4?

Do the current measures indicate how illegally officials, Police and Government, may have acted in some Level 3 and 4 matters – mainly threats without legal back-up?
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May 14, 2020 8:51am
all true

yes, this upcoming election the Nationals should be absolute a-holes with the media and absolute a-holes with the opposition just like a Trump style.
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May 14, 2020 8:52am
- chaos
  
  Yeah, if National do that to the media National will lose.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:24am
  - thirteenstars
    
    Oh, my, you think National has a chance of winning, is that it?
    
    Cold morning here and that belly laugh warmed me up a bit. Thanks.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:06am
I remember when

Welcome back to Level 2.
What does it mean? How much advice have we been given about the virus? Do we really know any more about how to behave than we did when the Levels system started?
Be kind but don’t forget to report your neighbours if they look like they might be breaking the law. Well it might be breaking the rules but we wont know until the official advice is released – sometime after their use has finished.
Still at least we got some meaningful debate in parliament which was a change, and some faces we don’t usually see making it.
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May 14, 2020 8:59am
Yvette

Kiwibuild, now Auckland light rail?
The Government’s flagship infrastructure project has been put “on hold” while it fights the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are some doubts it will ever get going again.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford said decisions on Auckland’s light rail project “are on hold while the Government’s full focus is on fighting Covid-19”.

During the election campaign, Labour had promised to have the first stage of the Auckland light rail scheme built by 2021.

But after a long and protracted process, the Government has yet to decide who will build the scheme, let alone begin construction.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300011411/government-puts-light-rail-on-hold

Will this free up Phil Twyford to destroy something else?
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May 14, 2020 9:05am
- septic skeptic
  
  Rumour has it that they shelved light rail to allow Twyford to run their election campaign.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:16am
All_on_Red

Two Congress seats just flipped to the GOP.
Democrat incumbents lost in California and Wisconsin.
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May 14, 2020 9:09am
- cmm
  
  Dems lost in California???
  
  Ouch!
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:28am
Steve James

Have the COL bought back the assets yet?
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May 14, 2020 9:10am
Michael NZ

Now National should be shouting from the rooftops just who took away our rights.

Methinks, A full page ad in the newspapers with photographs of all who voted for the draconian law.

With appropriate headings of course in large type.
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May 14, 2020 9:12am
- Tony Stuart
  
  What a waste of money. No one reads newspapers anymore, and fewer and fewer advertisers are using them because of the exorbitant cost.
  
  Instead, for the cost of one full page advertisement in a provincial daily, they could bankroll a social media campaign that would reach ten times the number of people, and deliver way better bang for their buck.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:39am
- MCos
  
  I don’t believe political parties are allowed to advertise in that way this far out from an election.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:46am
  - marcw
    
    I don’t think that is correct – there are restrictions and accountabilities when the election campaign has begun. What you suggest would be incredibly dictatorial.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:29am
    - MCos
      
      The rule is
      Election programmes can only be broadcast on radio and television from writ day to the day before election day.
      So any other medium can be used at any time, which would cover newspapers.
      So I’m wrong, but to be effective newspapers are no longer a goer.
      
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      May 14, 2020 12:56pm
      - marcw
        
        I thought that was how it worked, and also, the electorate candidates have to account for their income and spending.
        
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        May 14, 2020 1:16pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Stuff can’t help itself…

Headline is that Simon Bridges loses showdown (over legal advice)

No headline that Simon Bridges won stoush over funeral numbers.
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May 14, 2020 9:12am
- kowtow
  
  No but a really heavy dose of classical Marxist dialectic.
  
  ‘New Zealand was uniting to fight Covid-19, we were told. In reality, there were two versions of lockdown: while the working class kept the country safe and tidy, white-collar Kiwis eased into their home offices’
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300011189/coronavirus-there-were-two-quite-different-covid19-lockdowns-in-new-zealand
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:05am
- BananaLlama
  
  Most headlines are misleading like the following.
  
  ‘Madness’: National votes against Government’s alert level 2 enforcement Bill
  
  I don’t see why my taxes have to pay for this shit.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:16am
WaveyDavey

Okay then, those of you so keen yesterday to lockdown until a vaccine is found/forever.

‘This virus may never go away’ – WHO warns Covid-19 may be here to stay as new clusters emerge

Still think living in permanent isolation is the answer?

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/virus-may-never-go-away-warns-covid-19-here-stay-new-clusters-emerge
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May 14, 2020 9:13am
- Jules99
  
  Yep, welcome the new annual Covid vaccine you take every year alongside your flu jab. Kerching.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:27am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  The influenza doesn’t go away, it just reivents itself every year, we spend millions on injections that give around 30% protection.
  Fact: Influenza deaths are running at four times that of Covid in Australia 2020.
  If you are of the believe you can eliminate covid and it will disappear, you are just plain stupid and illogical. The world reponse to covid are varied, these results will be in over the coming months, those going for total elimination will be seen to what they are, disillusioned idiots.
  You can supress it, but it is how much money you have to throw at it.
  Why don’t we close down for the flu each year and have daily reports??
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:40am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Questions that need to be asked and answered.
    
    Q1. Are you happy to keep our borders closed to extend a single life?
    Q2. If the answer to Q1 is no, then how many deaths is a reasonable trade-off?
    Q3. Are you willing to keep our borders closed until a vaccine is found?
    Q4. How long are you prepared to stay in lockdown before giving up on a vaccine?
    Q5. Do you really believe that total elimination made more sense than flattening the curve and avoiding swamping the health system?
    Q6. If there was a reliable treatment for C19 with some deaths would you open the borders?
    Q7. How many deaths are acceptable to you in that case?
    
    Difficult and adult answers are needed and it’s a debate that we are going to have to have at some stage.
    
    FYI NZ’s death rate is 7 per 1,000 – that’s 35,000 a year or around 100 a day. Sweden, which hasn’t locked down, is seeing an extra 10 deaths a day on a population twice that of NZ so 5% – although some of those people would have been expected to die soon anyway.
    
    Base your answers on what excess deaths you’d be prepared to live with given that over time the level of deaths will plateau as C19 generally takes the vulnerable and closer to death.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:03am
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      Davey – Y’all may wish to look at the end results further down the track. Evidence is clarifying in other countries that the total death rate is increasing simply because of the lockdown – even if the so far and quite early covid death rate is allegedly lower.
      
      Just as in voting, it doesn’t matter how people vote, it matters who counts the votes. With this pandemic, it doesn’t matter what people die of, what counts – if you’ll pardon the pun – is what they are said to have died of. As defined by health and other bureaucrats. who have a major vested interest in not looking stupid, foolish, evil and impulsive.
      
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      May 14, 2020 11:17am
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Which is precisely why I said excess deaths.
        
        Look, if someone has a week to live and they die from C19 today that’s a Covid death rather than being seen in context.
        
        Whatever we do we don’t “save lives” life is a zero sum game and we don’t get out alive.
        
        It’s the same way that smoking abolitionists misuse words and date.
        
        We don’t “save” we extend and I don’t believe even the soppiest of the soppy that pop up here really believe in trashing the live of 5m NZers to extend a 99yo’s life by a day.
        
        Though to hear them talk they do seem to have the potential for that stupidity.
        
        To draw an analogy, you would never, ever go to war if your main aim was to avoid ALL deaths. You minimise where possible but the ultimate and only aim is to defeat the enemy.
        
        Our leftish brethren in this place are basically following the principles of appeasement and defeatism because they’re too scared or too childish to have a rational and logical discussion.
        
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        May 14, 2020 1:58pm
- Lee C
  
  https://youtu.be/QcUAG6t5aN8
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:45am
- RightNow
  
  It’s only permanent isolation if you let it be.
  I’m quite prepared to take 4 week holidays to tropical destinations and then self quarantine for 2 weeks on my return. Now working from home is the new normal it won’t stop me working.
  In fact I could even work remotely from say Bali.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:34am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Not the “new normal” for the overwhelming majority though.
    
    I’m like you, I can head offshore any time and manage my interests remotely. My liquid capital is already long gone from NZ (and more recently in the case of the recent business subsidy).
    
    But most people won’t be happy to lose their entire holiday entitlement in one go – 2 weeks somewhere followed by sitting in a cell for 14 days.
    
    We have a 0.7% annual morbidity rate which when C19 is factored in “might” grow to 0.77% – 110 deaths a day instead of 100 (more likely 105). And most of those excess deaths will be of people already at the end of their lives. Should we close off from the world for that?
    
    Do we penalise 5 million people at the expense of at worst 3,000 who are already at death’s door?
    
    That’s 99.94% of kiwis suffering to save 0.06% of the population.
    
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    May 14, 2020 2:22pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    BTW with you on Bali
    
    We’ve rented a very nice villa on the beach at Sanur.
    
    Just that the medical facilities seem to be a little iffy. Vietnam seems a better bet on that front.
    
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    May 14, 2020 2:39pm
lifesgood

Churches are still not allowed to hold services. How about calling every service a memorial for the dead, that should get around it. Pray tell, how do you limit funerals to 50. Does it have to be by invitation only? What a load of crap!
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May 14, 2020 9:13am
- Tony Stuart
  
  No problem; as long as we take communion at every service, we can seat 100 at church, and feed them bread and wine 😀
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:26am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    1 Corinthians 11:24, 25 😛
    
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    May 14, 2020 9:54am
  - kowtow
    
    Anglican communion would be 100 present , but for the Left Footers it would be 101 .
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:07am
- nasska
  
  Small wonder that churches remain shut. Their clientèle are mainly elderly & are prone to have underlying medical conditions such as mass delusions coupled with a belief in absurdity & superstitions.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:35am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    And a fondness for the drunken dwarf.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:17am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Shows how deluded and out of touch you are nasska. The clientele of the church I attend are far from elderly. But then if you are keen to parade your bigotry and ignorance good on you.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:49am
  - graham
    
    “Mainly elderly”?
    
    You really haven’t got a clue, have you?
    
    I might have a little more respect for you if you could come out with something other than just the same tired old simplistic stereotypes.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:09am
I remember when

Another bill passed by a group of Parliamentarians who didn’t even contest a seat.
Selected, and elected, by groups of people who have not even given us the rational for their choice.
Was it gender quota, racial quota, age based quota, long and tireless duty to the party, region based, or ability.
David Parker hasn’t won anything since the 2002 election and even finished third in a vote for party leader, after getting third in Epsom at his last Electorate bid. Winston often stood seldom elected in the last few election. Andrew Little has never won a seat.
Representative.
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May 14, 2020 9:14am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our PM and her Cabinet clearly demonstrated that they have zilch understanding of Maori tikanga, let alone any real experience of dealing with the death of a loved one.

How on earth did the myth arise that she and her Government embody and radiate empathy?
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May 14, 2020 9:20am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Female. Young. Head-tilt. The Great Communicador. Fresh face. Womens’ mags. Supplicant media. Easy answers. Empathy.
  
  “9 long years”
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:26am
- RW Capitalist
  
  How on earth did the myth arise that she and her Government embody and radiate empathy?
  With help of a compliant media.
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:39am
  - kowtow
    
    Activist media.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:09am
- cmm
  
  “How on earth did the myth arise”
  
  Well she told us herself.
  
  That is how we also know she does not lie, has great intuition, etc etc.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:00am
Maggie Pie

A gf tweets…

‘Opportunistic Chinese immigrants rush to exploit plunging house prices caused by the Wuhan pandemic, leaving our own young home buyers out in the cold (pictures)’

https://twitter.com/AmberX994874/status/1260381976483131392
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May 14, 2020 9:33am
- burt
  
  When those of us who can are selling up to move to a country where we’re not just a cash machine for rampant socialism – do you think we will care about the Chinese sounding names that are buying up the houses we are trying to sell?
  
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  May 14, 2020 9:37am
All_on_Red

1
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May 14, 2020 9:41am
burt

Simple question:

When those of us who can start selling up and moving to other countries where we are not just a cash machine for doomed to fail socialism – do you think we’ll be concerned that all the houses we are trying to sell are being purchased by people with Chinese sounding names?
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May 14, 2020 9:41am
cmm

CV19 has really been a huge ego-buzz for bureaucrats – giving them a chance to flex their muscle and swing the power of yes/no over people.

What struck me during a conference call this morning is that it is also a huge buzz for all the middle management in larger corporations.

Over the years, middle management has been squeezed harder and harder as they have had less and less to do. They have been having a hard time justifying their existence.

With CV19 they’re all rushing around and have something to do. They make their presence felt. Everything is dressed up as employee safety so it is very difficult to counter anything they say.
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May 14, 2020 9:58am
Bat Man

Hello I am looking for ….

Bat Woman

She used to work in a lab on Bat Virus in Wuhan
she was expert she was very good

She has gone missing – why is that

Her real name is Shi Zhengli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengli

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/

Maybe Comrade Jacinda who sign
Belt Road agreement can travel down
the Belt Road and look for her for us

For World peace and solidarity

We must Find BAT WOMAN

She is our only HOPE
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May 14, 2020 10:01am
- Batman
  
  Probably jailed for criticising the local authorities hushing the death toll up.
  
  Btw, a cease and desist for infringing on my username IP is in the post lol
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:07am
- kowtow
  
  Recently there were photos of her in the UK media along with a story of her and team members doing work with bugger all PPE on .
  
  Velly sloppy for such a vaunted scientist and then people poo poo the notion that the thing could have escaped the lab.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:15am
- chaos
  
  Belt road was something that both labour and national when in govt were interested in
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:16am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Analysis of cell phone traffic has revealed that the area around the Wuhan virology lab went into lock-down with no cell phone use for a week in early October 2019. Obviously just a coincidence though.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:23am
  - Batman
    
    What analysis?
    
    Don’t say stuff to sound cool unless you’ve got proof.
    
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    May 14, 2020 10:34am
    - Jack5
      
      I think UrbanNeocolonialist is referring to this:
      
      https://nypost.com/2020/05/09/cellphone-data-could-indicate-october-shutdown-at-wuhan-lab/
      
      and another source:
      
      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/report-says-cellphone-data-suggests-october-shutdown-wuhan-lab-experts-n1202716
      
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      May 14, 2020 10:59am
    - chaos
      
      Private by the look of it
      
      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/report-says-cellphone-data-suggests-october-shutdown-wuhan-lab-experts-n1202716
      
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      May 14, 2020 11:01am
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      Can’t you do your own research buckwheat B’man? It took 40 seconds to verify this with reputable online sources.
      
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      May 14, 2020 11:14am
      - WaveyDavey
        
        It’s batman – he runs interference
        
        5 2
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        May 14, 2020 11:24am
      - Batman
        
        For China? Hah! Now that’s funny.
        
        I’ve dealt with the CCP professionally and you won’t find me agreeing with just about anything that comes out of their mouths.
        
        I don’t trust them but I also don’t trust random theories from the internet either.
        
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        May 14, 2020 11:35am
      - Batman
        
        It got the desired result. It’s not up to others to do the digging. Onus is on the poster, Humper.
        
        3 6
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        May 14, 2020 11:33am
      - WaveyDavey
        
        @Batman
        
        “…I’ve dealt with the CCP…”
        
        “Don’t say stuff to sound cool unless you’ve got proof.”
        
        Proof and evidence please, the onus is on you to provide it or I’ll just assume you’re talking shite
        
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        May 14, 2020 2:01pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        But no for the Labour party and the left in general.
        
        You’re a blinkered tribalist who confronts those who don’t follow your line and I’ve yet to see you critique the falsehoods from that side.
        
        You’ve also, before now, accused me of being a racist with zero evidence besides your own “reckons” and threatened me when I pointed out your lies if you remember.
        
        And before you dismiss me with “Nats troll” or “right wing” allegations I’ve never voted anything but Labour in my entire life.
        
        If anything I’m a utilitarian
        
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        May 14, 2020 2:07pm
    - BananaLlama
      
      What an unfortunate username lmao.
      
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      May 14, 2020 11:20am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Must be time for a Pacific holiday. Escort Daddy to Tokelau?
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May 14, 2020 10:05am
- Jack5
  
  And announce Tokelau having new form of independence – free, but supported by NZ taxpayers and defended by NZ.
  
  This is from 2009:
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/38907/Tokelau-looks-to-independence
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:00am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I doubt Tokelau would ever seek full independence. Not even Niue or the Cook Islands are ever likely to give up their free-association status.
    NZ grabbed them 120 years ago – kind of a “you broke it, you own it” approach.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:40am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And this is from a couple of days ago:
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/416328/concern-as-veteran-leader-pushes-for-poll-on-tokelau-independence
    
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    May 14, 2020 1:18pm
JibberJabber

I`ve almost got a grudging respect for the way Ardern front foots her …er..untruths, the way she dealt with Garner by flatly denying her gag order was pretty good, even tho` it came from her office, she knew she probably knew (was advised by her PR team) that he wouldn`t have been quick enough to ask why her staff were sending out emails without her approval.
She knows we know she is not telling the truth, she knows we know we can`t prove it, even though the evidence is plain to see.
And she knows $50 mill has bought most of the medias’ silence.
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May 14, 2020 10:11am
igm

Good Lord, the muslim community are dissatisfied with the number of attendees allowed at their mosques.
Best they have a look at the number of cars in and unobtrusively parked around the mosque in Palmerston North . . . or maybe they cannot count when convenient.
If they are not satisfied maybe they can find another more acceptable country in which to reside.
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May 14, 2020 10:17am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I hope you can see the mosque from your bedsit window, igm, so you can let us know when anything suspicious might be happening.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:30am
  - burt
    
    There is a lot of suspicious things going on, there is segregation of males and females and the progressive left find that offensive. Females are being told what to wear and the progressive left find that offensive. But, the progressive left have just worked out that most of these males who subjugate these woman are not white so they turn a blind eye and say they are us.
    
    Guess they are just demonstrating that they care about equality of gender and are against racism.
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:45am
  - igm
    
    Milkwimp: Bedsit . . . what a fucking left-wing envious loser you must be. I have not, and never will, live in a hovel such as obviously you do.
    Bedsits are the residence of lesser successful (their own choosing) members of society, which I can assure you is not a domain I, nor my family are, and never have been, accustomed to.
    This seems to be your narrative in an attempt to bring someone else down to your level, which must be really low!
    
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    May 14, 2020 1:18pm
Lance

The nanny state lecturing at us from Arden et al, like we are some sort of imbeciles is becoming nauseating.
“Now if you don’t behave, we will be back at Level 4”
“Now practice driving in a quiet area before you venture out, you might have forgotten”
“This is not an excuse to run riot”
“Our measures in fighting Covid19 are the best in world”
etc etc
Patronizing public servants and school teachers the lot of them.
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May 14, 2020 10:21am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Mummy has let us out, provided we behave like grown ups.
  News
  How would this SLG know what adult behaviour is?
  I have been a grown up for about 40yrs, looking after myself and taking care/ responsibility for my own social interactions.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:40pm
Cassandra

“A drunken sailor, a spendthrift and a Labour MP went into a bar and ordered herself a cosmopolitan”: news item.
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May 14, 2020 10:25am
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  Kind of unfair to the sailor. I was in the Army not the Navy, but when we were drunk on leave and had spent all our money, we didn’t go around borrowing or extorting more from others… We just went back to base…!
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:11am
Bat Man

I must Warn you about what appears to be a Special Strain of the “Bat Poo Flu” in Communist Countries like NZ, China and Russia.

there may be others?

It like many things is yet to be scientifically determined but in communist countries it appears
the Bat Poo Flu makes people fly away? or worse
try and fly out of Windows.
Yes very serious but true?

https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/three-doctors-jump-from-windows-as-covid-pressure-mounts-in-russia-c-1020804
?
Three doctors jump from windows as COVID pressure mounts in Russia.
?
Please do not do that at Home in
Communist Lockdown

Do not Do that at Home
Do not play Bat Man
Do not pay Bat Woman

Do not go Batty
Do not go BAT CRAZY

In communist countries is their “Bat Poo Flu”?
causing metamorphosis into a Bat?
Without Scientific Analysis of the Bodies
we can not determine anything?

You must take everything the Authorities
tell you to do and think seriously.
Very Seriously?

Question Nothing.

Questioning the
Communist Bat Poo Flu
has very Serious Side effects.

Could all the BIG MEMBERS of the
NZ parliament of which there are many
please talk to their
Chinese Communist Friends and help us

Especially the one who trained spies
and is not a spy

HELP US

FIND

BAT WOMAN

Praise Be Comrade Jacina
Praise Be Comrade Xi Jinping

Praise Be Comrade Jacina
Praise Be Comrade Xi Jinping

Thank you for Keeping us Safe

Praise Be
The Naturalist Socialist NZ sheep Farmer
Comrade Rewi Alley

Who paved the Belt Socialist Road
Future for Aotearoa NZ

Thank you Comrades

Where is BAT WOMAN

Where is the Other BAT MAN? where did he fly to

Are they studying Bats in NZ like they did AUS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TYqGtrewoA
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May 14, 2020 10:30am
- kowtow
  
  Bats in the belfry.
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:57am
- chaos
  
  Hmmm, didn’t you get banned under you pr other user names?
  
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  May 14, 2020 10:59am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Seem a familiar rant. What was his last user name?
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:28am
    - chaos
      
      Brownsnake
      
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      May 14, 2020 2:30pm
- Jack5
  
  I see we have posting on Kiwiblog ? Batman (who also sometimes is a moderator), and now also ?Bat Man.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:03am
  - niggly
    
    I wonder, can Keas transform into Bats?
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:31am
    - Jack5
      
      If ?Bat Man, as opposed to ?Batman, were our entertaining but exiled stirrer Kea, then it would be re-appearance in drag.
      
      If Kea reappeared on Kiwiblog as a poster from the flying mammal order, Chiroptera, the new Kea would be more appropriately named ?Batwoman, though “Battie” might be a good fit.
      
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      May 14, 2020 1:02pm
Komata

The following two links may be of interest, especially given Komrade Cindy’s known associations with advocates of the NWO and the inclination of such individuals towards using all and any means to achieve their ends.

Whether-or-not the first video is a fake will no doubt be debated, so I am merely presenting it as seeming to confirm the Obama ‘globalist’ agenda. Make of it as you will…

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?view=detail&mid=2C3DD66B77867F5AFCC52C3DD66B77867F5AFCC5&shtp=Facebook&shid=1b426f61-3359-440c-91f2-4ab93600b84f&shtk=Ik9yZGluYXJ5IG1lbiBhbmQgd29tZW4gYXJlIHRvbyBTbWFsbC1taW5kZWQgdG8gZ292ZXJuIHRoZWlyIG93biBhZmZhaXJzLi4uV2VsY29tZSB0byB0aGUgTldP&shdk=WUVTIFRPVEFMTFkgdGFrZW4gb3V0IG9mIGNvbnRleHQgZnJvbSBhIHNwZWVjaCByZWdhcmRpbmcgUnVzc2lhICggSSB0aGluayApIGJ1dCBwb3NzaWJseSB0aGUgYmVzdCBzb3VuZCBiaXQgRVZFUi4gZm9yIHRoZSAiYXdha2UgbiBhd2FyZSIgdGhhdCB1bmRlcnN0YW5kIHRoZSBsZWZ0IHJpZ2h0IHBhcmFkaWdtIGlzIG5vdGhpbmcgbW9yZSB0aGFuICJpbGx1c2lvbiBvZiBjaG9pY2UiIEhpc3Rvcnkgd2VsbCBrZWVwIHJlcGVhdGluZyB1bnRpbCAib3JkaW5hcnkgbWVuIGFuZCB3b21lbiAiIGNob29zZSBpdCBub3QgdG9vLiAiIEFuZCBmb3IgdGhlIEludGVybmF0aW9uYWwgb3JkZXIgdGhhdCB3ZSBoYXZlIC4uLg%3D%3D&shhk=NFaiKR0Pj2TKjSuO9GVH41OUfEBmF7odXW9RxdzZAJU%3D&form=VDSHFB&shth=OSH.ZuHCRRc4dn8rqAPOf%252Bc%252BQQ&fbclid=IwAR0oSDk8zMiWcklBOL8NmdIaggZYTty7nsI7dN67dkElDu6sJapa3a0ijMI

Given Bill Gates’ vaccine record in India and other third world states, this might also be of interest. It would seem to have relevancy to New Zealand…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILA4ROyw0qg&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1EG6DqQ6j97ENdgrf6N2cXMh8-jB74JzQ5R4QbTlxP-CDt-h4Kg9RkouY

Thank you.
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May 14, 2020 10:44am
Cassandra

A medical student named Espiner has written on Newshub her opinion regarding extra funding for Maori because of their poor health. To disagree with her is racist, she says. I have grandchildren with Maori ancestry through my daughter in law: they are university educated, in well paid professions and lovely, contributing members of society. I also have grandchildren of European ancestry who are not well educated, do not have well paid jobs (one has no job) and therefore are struggling. According to the future (at the end of this year) Dr Espiner the tax payer should provide extra funds for the medical care of my grandchildren with Maori ancestry and for their grandfather to disagree is racist. I’d actually like some extra funding but I’d like it to go towards those of my grandchildren with needs who just happen to be European. Which of Dr Espiner and Cassandra is the racist?
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May 14, 2020 10:48am
- Jack5
  
  NZ racist in health? If so, that will include for Maori like Dr Espiner ( is this Emma, wife of radio journalist Guyon?) priority entry in year one of medical school studies.
  
  New Zealand’s intent in Maori health is fair and just. It’s a challenge when health problems of various races are exacerbated, sometimes even caused, by life styles – diet, smoking, exercise – and general poverty.
  
  One race aspect that is ignored however, is organ donation. Is this equivalent over all races and religions? If not, should there be race-religion based allocation of the organs?
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:54am
RW Capitalist

Q. Treasury claim, maybe 150 000 extra unemployed. The tourism claim that half of their current staff (400 000) in the industry will loose their jobs.
Who’s right, a govt. dept. linked to these liars, or a whole industry with actual “skin in the game”?
I tourism industry is right, will my prediction of
500 000 unemployed (total) be closer to the mark?
My breakdown
Before Covid 19…………………116 000
Tourism……………………………200 000
20% small bus. lose 1 job ea..100 000
Rest of the economy…………..86 000
TOTAL…………………………….500 000
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May 14, 2020 10:55am
Engelbert Humperdink

“(Crawlers) of New Zealand’s $46 billion primary export sector have written to the Prime Minister underlining the “critical” importance of trade with China and urging the Government not to allow the relationship with our biggest export market to deteriorate.”

Say what? we have to keep greasing up to EXACTLY the people who poisoned and crippled our world and who will have killed many tens of millions by the time this thing is done if it ever is – all the while knowing EXACTLY what they were doing when they sent 5 million ambassadors of death abroad while buying up the world’s PPE stocks and buying off the WHO boss to be their lying sock puppet…

You’re not leaders of the industry, you’re cowards in the industry. Firstly China is desperate for food, so stop grovelling and stand your ground. simultaneously, look for other markets. India for example, not everybody there doesn’t eat cows… America, running a major meat shortage at the moment.

To the Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell, Sealord, Meat Industry Association, Zespri chairman Bruce Cameron, Export NZ, Beef Lamb, the Food and Grocery Council: Grow a pair FFS.
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May 14, 2020 11:07am
- mikenmildagain
  
  NZ’s economic dependence on the China market is vastly overstated, especially by our two main political parties who would struggle for fund without generous CCP-linked donations.
  New Zealand;s primary produce exports are to a world market, in which China is a major, but by no means the only, player. If China bought less protein from New Zealand, she would have to purchase elsewhere on the world market, and we would sell elsewhere.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:25am
  - cmm
    
    But that is not how world markets work.
    
    Look at dairy for instance. Most countries produce almost all their needs with a small deficit or a small surplus and it is only that small deficit/surplus that trades on the world market.
    
    The two biggest exceptions are: NZ which has a monster surplus (95% or so of our production goes to world markets) and China which always (or almost always) has a large deficit. China’s deficit is not that large % wise, but it is large because there are so many people.
    
    China can’t go buy milk from, say, India, because the Indians consume their own production. If they do have some to sell it is not much.
    
    Our actual production in terms of litres is not huge, but our surplus is.
    
    That means the biggest international sellers (us) tend to end up selling to the biggest international buyers (China).
    
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    May 14, 2020 11:53am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Not quite. You seem to be suggesting China has to buy its milk from NZ. There are other sources, and other markets – that’s just how the world economy works.
      We are not particularly vulnerable to decisions by the Chinese government to reduce purchases form NZ, because what we produce are mainly easily tradeable commodities.
      
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      May 14, 2020 12:55pm
- fernglas
  
  Just to note that the world didn’t stop sucking up to the US after the 1918 pandemic.
  
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  May 14, 2020 11:32am
  - Komata
    
    Fernglass@11:32
    
    Actually no. The USA only entered WW I as a direct result of the ‘Lusitania’ episode. It had absolutely no intention of participating in what it saw as a ‘European’ war. After the end of WW I, and with the spoils from the Treaty of Versailles in it’s pocket, the US retired behind it’s borders and pursued a deliberate policy of ‘Isolationism’, and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with European politics. It only became involved in WW II in Europe as a result of Hitler’s foolish Declaration of War on it in 1941, an action taken in support of his Japanese allies. Prevailing American sentiment of the time was that the US did not want to get involved in yet another European war, especially as it was having problems with the Japanese and would have preferred to have dealt with them and their expansion in the Far East by itself , and left Europe to its own devices.
    
    On the basis of the above therefore, to assert as you did that ‘Everybody was sucking up to the US after the 1918 pandemic’ is verifiably incorrect and historically- unsupportable.
    
    If however you care to provide chapter and verse in respect of references to support your claim, we would of course be very interested to see what you present.
    
    Thank you.
    
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    May 14, 2020 2:05pm
- theoldbloke
  
  Thank you for showing your ignorance of NZs trade with the world.
  Maaybe you forget that while China might be “desperate” for food. There are literally dozens of countries who can replace NZs exports to China.
  
  These same countries and more are desperately trying to sell to India and USA.
  (The USA meat shortage is temporary).
  So it will be no walk in the park to replace exports to China.
  
  So stop exports to China, add to the unemployment que, yep. Great Strategy NOT.
  
  Suggest you sit and have a quiet sip of a hot beverage and calm down.
  Your emotions are out of control.
  Give your rational mind a chance to be heard.
  
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  May 14, 2020 2:15pm
Lee C

Lots of commentary about Trump will emerge in the trollosphere over the next month to distract the feeble of attentiveness from discussing Ardern –

Discuss.
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May 14, 2020 11:41am
- Philview
  
  Interested to read that Republican Mike Garcia has just won a congressional seat in California and the first time the Republicans have “picked up” a Californian seat in 22 years.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:20pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  It’s a trick. To distract from really important geopolitical issue like the NZ general election, some commenters will feign interest in the US presidential election. Washington is 14,000 km form Wellington, so whoever occupies the White House cannot possibly influence life here.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:52pm
graham

A DHB member, local councillor, and Chair of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, says Māori will never allow themselves to be dictated to by the Government again. They will determine their own response, especially for cultural practices such as tangihanga.

MĀORI WON’T BE DICTATED TO AGAIN

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is in a unique position to see how Māori communities are being impacted by Covid-19 from many angles. She is a Lakes District Health Board member, Rotorua Lakes councillor and the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency Chair.

She’s clear, when a pandemic or crisis event happens again Māori will never allow themselves to be dictated to by the Government again. They will determine their own response especially for cultural practices such as tangihanga.

“We could have put the distancing in place. We’re not stupid. We’ve done it, we’ve supported the government. But next time, for Māori, we can do it better.”

Sounds like a great idea. Any group that happens to think “We know better than the Government, we know what works for Maori/Pakeha/Pasifika/Chinese/the West Coast/etc.” should just go ahead and take the initiative. We’ll have all sorts of little communities making up their own mind about what should and shouldn’t be allowed.

We know from what we saw with the roadblocks that they won’t get arrested; in fact police will stand alongside them and work with them to enforce their initiative.

We’ll have dozens, if not hundreds of self-interest groups, all deciding what works best for “our people”, turning their backs on the Government edicts and just doing whatever the hell they think is best.

What could possibly go wrong?
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May 14, 2020 12:14pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Free Market
  
  “If you destroy a free market you create a black market.”
  
  —House of Commons, 3 February 1949
  
  Churchill added: “If you make ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.”
  
  He was arguing against the stifling regulations of industry and commerce by the postwar Labour Government (1945-51). Not a lot new under the sun.
  From
  https://richardlangworth.com/regulations
  
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  May 14, 2020 1:08pm
- Komata
  
  Graham@1214
  
  They will of course, continue to be first in line for any Government handouts they can screw out of said government together with all and any benefits which might be theirs ‘As of right (‘cos of the Treaty), and will scream loudly (espsecially to the NZMSM) should said government decide to call their bluff.
  
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  May 14, 2020 2:13pm
Bat Man

Kia Ora Comrades

Is it illegal yet under Hate Speech Laws in NZ
to say COVID 19 Pandemic which ….
originated in Wuhan China?

Originated in Wuhan China?

it should be that is discriminatory and inflammatory

One Particular Theory despite there being
2 labs there and much Batty Bat Virus Research
and (some I expect already know)

What happened you will find
most likely is….
is the Bat Flew…..
The Bat Flew ….
and then….

Did a “Poo”
in someone’s Soup

Simple accident

I can see no other plausible explanation and I have to say despite in spite of a Top US Scientist
being arrested and charged along with his
Student Spies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Lieber

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/us/charles-lieber-harvard.html

and despite in spite of very soft articles on him

He had nothing to do with it
only very rarely do Bio Samples get smuggled illegally like his students did apparently?

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/14/806128410/harvard-professors-arrest-raises-questions-about-scientific-openness

just because someone lies openly brazenly, continually like for example most “politicians” and takes large sums of money illegally from the Chinese Communist party and the People’s Liberations army?

Does not mean you can not believe and trust
everything they say and do like their
Supporters

Remember

We are all in this Together

We are all in this Bat Poo Flu together

We will all get through this together
forever wherever

Kumbaya

We are the World
We are The Children

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw

It is true we make a better day just you and me
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May 14, 2020 12:21pm
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  I really don’t agree we should call it the Bat Flu.
  
  One of these is more appropriate…
  Xivirus
  ChiComPox
  WuFlu
  
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  May 14, 2020 1:32pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Wuhan Lab Flu is the official name.
    
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    May 14, 2020 1:51pm
Captain Mainwaring

On a sporting note, I see we’re now going to be subjected to “Super Rugby Aotearoa”. What a load of bullshit. If that’s what it’s going to be called I will avoid watching it.
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May 14, 2020 12:30pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I’ll post the scores here to keep you up to date, Cap’n.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:46pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Many historians suspect that the indication of the death of the Roman Empire was heralded by the distraction of the Colosseum games.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:50pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Did they have a jacinda as well?
    
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    May 14, 2020 3:29pm
  - Jack5
    
    However, RW C, the Roman Empire lingered on for centuries and the real action for the plebs became the suicide harness racing by teams from the famous factions – the Blues and the Greens.
    
    Peters is doing his best to keep these sorts of games going in NZ.
    
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    May 14, 2020 3:47pm
- MCos
  
  Suit yourself
  
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  May 14, 2020 1:00pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  Have you seen the grandstands? Nobody’s watching it anyway.
  
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  May 14, 2020 3:24pm
RW Capitalist

I have had to drive past Pomare Train Station, a couple of times a week, under lock down (essential business).
Pomare car park and surrounds…..about 200 parks
Usual under level 4……….0-2 cars
Usual under level 3 ………3-6 cars
Today under level 2………15 cars
This car park is usually full under non covid!!!
Everyone back to work, huh Jacinda???
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May 14, 2020 12:44pm
- fernglas
  
  That’s because the PM and her henchman Bloomfield have scared the bejesus out of people so much that they are scared to take the train and will drive instead. My personal check on productivity will be to get up on the roof and see how many office lights are blazing in the CBD.
  
  Sorry, forget that last remark. I just contacted by eleven OSH inspectors and told I would need a scaffold.
  
  7 0
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  May 14, 2020 1:25pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX8Lr54bKFg
#Obamagate is a useful political tool for President Trump.
Don’t expect to see him locked up any time soon.
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May 14, 2020 12:53pm
- Batman
  
  He needed his base to look the other way from the death toll, and Bill Barr has provided that distraction.
  
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  May 14, 2020 12:59pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Why would Trump need that?
    The states are in control of their own response.
    75% of deaths (of covid19) are in Dem controlled states.
    55% of the population are in Rep. states.
    
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    May 14, 2020 3:16pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qCKpQ7hFJY
Chynahs diplomatic offensive is more offensive than diplomatic.
People aren’t buying it.
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May 14, 2020 12:53pm
Bat Man

On a Sporting Note

The Next Hot War in the Pacific

Kind of Already Started with the Siege or Marawi
that was a warm up if the Phillipines had not nipped that in the bud it would have got interesting?

But the real Kick off is going to plan.

My Prior Estimations were decade of 2025-2035.

I think that reasoning is sounder than before.

China 1 child policy relaxed 2014-2015
fast forward 20 years and that is when they need
replacement Cannon Fodder.

The Global GPS system with a Focus on
Treasure Island Australia will be increased and completed and expanded in that time frame.

USA has to be economically damaged in that time.

Happening as we speak.

You do not have to be Nostradamus to figure this out.

Australia and NZ already being infiltrated and controlled or sold.

1000 Chinese Communist spies confirmed
operating on australian soil as we speak.

All Going to plan.

The Speed and Ferocity of the next Pacific War
will be like the difference between WW1 and WW2
it will be a Marine Blitzkrieg.

The 7 Aircraft Carriers the Chinese are going to have is nothing compared to what is coming.

NZ and Aus are undefended and undefendable.

Australia only keeps 1 months fuel reserves
and the ADF has been infiltrated by leftists communists and traitors imho.

So Kick off is sometime between

2025-2035

There is no need for a TT
Trump Tanty

Because this time

America is not coming

I have my plan in place.

They have theirs.

Best of Luck.

You have no Air Force.
You are disarmed.

They will soon control your productive land
and may do what the communists did in the Ukraine.

The American Navy who saved you last time
do not visit your Ports.

You have the Mass Murderer and Communist
Psychopath Chairman Maos

Feather Cloak in Tepapa

All Going to plan

Toodles

You scorned the Sacrifice of Good Americans
who gave their lives for the Freedom of your Country you sold out the Region to Communists
Socialist and leftists.

You will in the Future.

Reap what you sow.

This Disaster is nothing compared
to what is coming and what has been
planned all along.

If you do not believe me study
Socialism and Communism.

Good Bye Suckers.

Reap what you Sow
3 8
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May 14, 2020 12:55pm
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  I have just disassembled and checked my semiauto Nerf gun. Bring it on…
  
  2 0
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  May 14, 2020 1:33pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Well, at least one of us if heeding the prophet’s warning.
    
    2 2
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    May 14, 2020 2:14pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Well, a least one of us is heeding the prophet’s warning.
  
  1 1
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  May 14, 2020 2:13pm
- cmm
  
  Batman
  
  Wrong bottle.
  
  You took two M&Ms by mistake.
  
  3 0
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  May 14, 2020 2:21pm
mandk

National’s slogan for the election:
“Let’s sort this mess”
13 0
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May 14, 2020 1:08pm
JibberJabber

An absolute Pearler from David Clark, he may have just redeemed himself, in the eyes of some,

https://twitter.com/Tim_Batt/status/1260467992275623937

Are we sure he`s not Australian?
6 2
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May 14, 2020 1:12pm
- alex Masterley
  
  That is a stunner.
  
  6 2
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  May 14, 2020 1:53pm
- krazykiwi
  
  A cunning stunt there.
  
  5 1
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  May 14, 2020 2:08pm
- chaos
  
  Nope, you can listen to the actual video here where it does not say that
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300011508/coronavirus-funeral-and-tangi-attendance-cap-raised-to-50
  
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  May 14, 2020 2:36pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Question.
Are we being quarantined until there are no germs are left in the World, or just until the Election is over?
14 3
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May 14, 2020 1:43pm
Bat Man

China’s armed forces must “prepare for a comprehensive military struggle from a new starting point”, he said. “Preparation for war and combat must be deepened to ensure an efficient response in times of emergency.”

President Xi JinPing

Has made similar statements repeated and regular.

HE MEANS BUSINESS

But

Not the Business….
the fools, clowns, liars, fraudsters
traitors, cowards, total incompetents, technophobes, retards, socialist scumbags
and communist cockroaches of the
South Pacific
think.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-30/us-marines-cancel-2020-rotation-to-nt-due-to-coronavirus/12103768

Who you gonna call?
Ghost Busters?

Communists have a term to describe
New Zealanders

“Useful Idiots”

That sit back lecturing America and Trump
who their pathetic freedom depends on while
they promote the most vile disgusting
political system gloabally.

With their
condescending,
patronising,
sanctimonious….

Commie Crap.

The Country is failed state a joke a farce
a vassal state of Communist China.

It’s main purpose now apart from the Casinos
and sex tours for Communist Elites is their quasi spy base to prepare for the invasion of Australia.

The East Timorese told the Chinese to F off.

NZ has largely bent over.

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/chinese-bid-to-set-up-east-timor-spy-base-20110509-1efwo.html

Why did they bother with Timor
they have NZ
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May 14, 2020 1:48pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  More detail, please.
  
  [Mod: for goodness sake mikenmild, don’t encourage him]
  
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  May 14, 2020 2:15pm
I remember when

Radiate empathy:
Is that a new type of global warming?
Do motor vehicle owners cause an increase in CO2 by radiating empathy.
Would dairy farmers being kind to their cows increase emissions by causing cows to radiate empathy?
In times of crisis does NZ suffer from temperature increase because of the radiation of empathy?
3 2
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May 14, 2020 1:49pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Radiate has 2 meanings
  
  I employed the word to mean spreading out from a central point (The PM).
  
  I didn’t mean irradiate – to emit emr.
  
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  May 14, 2020 2:15pm
RW Capitalist

$280 mill extra over 4 yrs to catch up elective surgery.
At about $10000 per opp that’s
28000 surgeries
lost over 7 weeks
were they conducting 4000 elective opp’s per week before this lock down disaster.
Answer….NO.
They promising I(again) something they couldn’t deliver without covid 19
7 3
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May 14, 2020 2:07pm
cmm

So Maori leaders think they can do better without government interference. Good.

Does that mean they won’t need to put their hands in the lolly jar next time there’s a crisis?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300006025/coronavirus-five-mori-leaders-on-what-covid19-has-changed
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May 14, 2020 2:19pm
RW Capitalist

Well well
The budget is out.
I always thought the budget was PLAN of how we were going to spend money to achieve a better out come.
This a bull shit bullet point list of objectives (bribes)
8000 houses…..they build 350 out of 25000
1.2b to rail……how much is already earmarked to the Auckland tunnel glory project
etc etc
Where is the plan?
Where is the start point
where is the direction
where is the monitoring of progress
where is the process of guidance to ensure you are going in the right direct
where is the goal (specific)
This is, as Paul Goldsmith says, a SLUSH FUND, that they will decide later where the money will be spent and on what. Saving a decent chunk for election bribes.
No specifics, no estimates of progressive achievement.
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May 14, 2020 3:11pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Almost like all the children put their hand up and went ‘me, me, me’ Teacher selected the best ideas.
  And this is pre school children. What time does Mummy pick me up? I want to go for a drive – are we there yet?
  
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  May 14, 2020 3:37pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Lefties, don’t watch this, it is beyond you. And Jacinda, get a 13 year old to translate it for you. That’s if you can pay attention and stop talking about yourself.
Liz Wheeler, OAN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9cZTz-H-Q
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May 14, 2020 3:29pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Oooh, downtickers so fast?
  Fauci is your God?
  Sicko socialists
  
  6 3
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  May 14, 2020 3:43pm
Jack5

Sick of the sea of propaganda from the Woke – the Identitarians – on Identity Politics, and sick of the Woke’s calls for impossible Statistical Parity?

The article linked to below is a good read then. It’s online in the Claremont Review of Books looking at three titles by Wide Awoke folk. A taste:

…the fundamental contradiction of identity politics: it speaks of love, but fans the flames of hatred. And hatred, once it takes hold of the soul, does not readily give way to forgiveness and reconciliation—especially not outside the context of Christian theology.

The Claremont Review of Books is an offshoot of the Right wing think tank, the Claremont Institute.

The article:

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-social-justice-endgame/
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May 14, 2020 3:40pm
Bat Man

Communist China is a … place that technically still practices Cannibalism?

They harvest the body parts of political dissidents while still alive? Nice.

Anyone with a brain opposes them – morons support them Covid is one end result.
It is their finest achievement to date but more is coming – much more.

What did you think was going to happen?

When the leaders of this region put that Regime above the best interests of NZ?…?

Did you think you all had a Bright Bright future with years and years of Socialist prosperity ahead of you?

Are you disappointed with the budget?

Sorry to (excuse the pun) Burst your Bubble.

NZ is a failed State. You were saved by America in WW2 you put China in charge what you are now experiencing is the result of that.

Technically speaking for all practical purposes you might as well have someone who is part of the Chinese Communist Party in Charge.

Covid 19 is nothing to what is coming.

New Zealanders and Australians have 3 enemies the NZ Government the Australian Government
and the Chinese Communist Government.

Best Prepare for more misery.

My God do you people actually take the NZ labour Party Seriously?

Sorry I have no sympathy for you and just laugh at you.

So do the Communists to them you are just “Useful Idiots” that is their term “for you”
and I have to say you wear it well.

You know what Commies do to “Useful Idiots” when they have served their purpose?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Bezmenov

NZ is a Nation of USEFUL IDIOTS in Global Politics NZ is just “THE USEFUL IDIOT”.

To help spread Communism and in so doing destabilise the globe.
NZ has done nothing for real world peace Nuclear Free woopey? Whining Sheep Lovers.

This is your Future hear it from the Horses Mouth

You and your Country are a joke to them and so are your Leader(s)

Yuri Bezmenov has some excellent youtube interviews.

Most of what is shuvved down your throats 24/7 is just Commie Crap and you eat it up without question just like… The Spoon fed dribblers you are.

Please do not mistake me for someone who cares about you and your pathetic country, you have sold out (what once was) you will get what is coming to you and you will reap what you sow.

I suggest you either do something about your situation or just SHUT UP and GET USED TO IT.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8458974-t-he-useful-idiots-the-leftists-who-are-idealistically-believing-in

“[T]he useful idiots, the leftists who are idealistically believing in the beauty of the Soviet socialist or Communist or whatever system, when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies. That’s why my KGB instructors specifically made the point: never bother with leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. […] They serve a purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in the United States: all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders. They are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed any more. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninists come to power—obviously they get offended—they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.”
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May 14, 2020 4:21pm
- Jack5
  
  And here, fellow students of life, we have an example of the diagnosis “bat-shit crazy”.
  
  Or perhaps Covid-19 has jumped the barrier into parrots. If so, fear for the survival of (other) keas.
  
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  May 14, 2020 4:54pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  More details, please.
  
  3 2
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  May 14, 2020 4:59pm
  - Bat Man
    
    Work hard for your Communist overlords
    
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    May 14, 2020 6:30pm
- chaos
  
  And brown snake or what ever name you are using today, don’t for one moment think anyone cares what you think
  
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  May 14, 2020 5:10pm
  - Bat Man
    
    Here is a New New New – New Zealand anthem
    for you New New NEw New Zealand Flag
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRRYAzgKPTs
    
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    May 14, 2020 6:25pm
krazykiwi

More on the hopeless state of the media:

The brave, hard-hitting journalists over at CNN are hosting a town hall Thursday evening on Coronavirus: Facts and Fears. Our First Amendment warriors are only bringing viewers the best of experts, such as former CDC Director Richard Besser, former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and … teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

You literally cannot make this stuff up. This would be a masterful parody. It could have been one of the Babylon Bee’s finest works. Yet no, this is actually the reality of CNN in 2020.

To be fair she knows nothing about climate science, so she”ll be equally out of her depth in respect of Covid-19. I wonder who will be running the teleprompter for her? Perhaps her dad will look after tweeting under her account too.
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May 14, 2020 4:22pm
- cmm
  
  She knows all about it.
  
  Both are fearmongering propped up by shonky mathematical models.
  
  What? You’re not frightened by 23 mm sea level rize by 2100? Ok, how about 2 metres by 2037? Are you frightened now?
  
  What? You’re not frightened by 100 people dead from Cv19? Ok, how about 80,000 dead? Ya frightened now?
  
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  May 14, 2020 4:49pm
- chaos
  
  What, dr Jacinda Ardern wasn’t invited?
  
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  May 14, 2020 5:08pm
Bat Man

What is so Fantastic about Jacinda is this..

She does a Service to the Region she really does…

Every time that condescending, arrogant, ignorant
sanctimonious Socialist opens her mouth in Australia usually to go into bat
for low life Kiwi Criminal scum of the earth..

The type that would only vote for socialist scum bags and communist cock roaches

The Average Aussie goes Jesus Christ thank christ
almighty hard labour are not in again they did their time they really did

They had the ole let’s bury our head up China’s bum so deep we do not know if we are China or Australia with ole KRudd or Crud

Wow K Rudd he is like a Bad Benny Hill Cartoon

I mean what a Farce China first NZ last
and that Scum Bag Peters telling AUs to change
their flag – what a cringe

Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber

The Chance of Labour getting in
in Australia is pretty slim now so

Keep it coming Retards
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May 14, 2020 6:13pm
Bat Man

Do you people have the TT

The “Tump Tantrum”

have you experienced it let me describe it

That is when a left wing low life
has a Tantrum about Trump a “TT”

I hate trump he is too left wing and is just a Zionist puppet but what I love about him is how…

Everyone whines about him like
You would think he started the Corona Virus
the way all the left wing low life socialist clueless
scum of the world are whining about him

Non Stop

Hello ? wakey wakey take it to Wuhan retards?

It has not been this good since he got elected
to hear them all bleating like the grade A BS artists
they all are

A REMINDER

Trump is the elected president of America

NZ has

Prince Charles to look forward to or
Prince Andrew or some other tragic inbred.

Put it in writing wrap it on a toilet roll
if any are left and

Send it to them
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May 14, 2020 6:23pm
- chaos
  
  Do your people have any signs of intelligence brown snake? I guess not
  
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  May 14, 2020 7:21pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121511317/coronavirus-no-charges-after-biker-gang-flouts-covid19-mass-gathering-rules-at-funeral

Gangs: 1
NZ Law / Police / Populace / Govt / etc: 0
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May 14, 2020 6:47pm
- chaos
  
  1? You joke. Let’s see, gang leader an essentials service under lock down. Gang members on the road barriers. Gangs have won.
  
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  May 14, 2020 7:20pm
  - Bat Man
    
    Which Gang Supports Which party now ? wasn’t it Black Power for National and Mongrel mob for Labour back in the Day
    
    Plenty of other gangs to choose from now
    they out number the NZ army
    
    All going to plan
    
    2 3
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    May 14, 2020 8:44pm

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