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August 7, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 07 August 2020

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General Debate

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PhilBest

“Aerosols” – airborne viruses – in indoors superspreader environments have always been the main problem with the spread of COVID-19. The establishment’s denial of this has gone beyond incompetence, to obvious bad faith and agendas.

This guy has been right since late March.

https://www.maurice.nl/category/covid-19-english/

Essential reading: articles near the top:

“When Will the Government Come to its Senses”

“The Aerosol Deniers”
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August 7, 2020 8:02am
- PhilBest
  
  Another important read from Maurice De Hond, explaining the whole issue of analysis of the spread of COVID-19 from the beginning:
  
  https://www.maurice.nl/2020/07/19/the-carpenters-of-the-who/
  
  It is called “The Carpenters of the WHO” – because their only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail…..
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:05am
  - PhilBest
    
    The downtickers represent the true “granny murderers” – all the while accusing people on the other side of politics of being that. As Maurice De Hond says:
    
    “…because the WHO (and other official bodies) have chosen the line that “Covid-19 spreads (almost) only through “direct contact” and that they have not fundamentally changed that position on the basis of advancing insight, they are responsible for the increases in the number of victims worldwide. But also that politicians have introduced indiscriminate measures such as social distancing, which cause great damage to the economy, society (and public health).
    
    Plus, thanks to those carpenters, we don’t focus on what can minimize the outbreaks in our region next fall and winter. e.g. ensuring that ventilation is in order in all enclosed spaces…”
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:51am
- cmm
  
  A virus is a very tiny thing. Very, very tiny. Somewhere around 100 nanometres for a reasonably large one.
  
  That means 1cc (1 millilitre) can contain about a million billion of the little buggers.
  
  Take 200,000 viruses from every person in the planet (or virii if you’re feeling clever) and they will fit in a quarter of a teaspoon.
  
  Water droplets have surface tension. Most people would have seen an ant stuck in a raindrop and not being able to break through the surface tension. And an ant is a huge (billions of times bigger than a virus).
  
  So basically a virus does not have freedom of movement. It is stuck in whatever water droplet it is in. And they are tiny enough for thousands to fit in the very smallest of water droplets.
  
  Droplets below 5um (5 thousandths of a millimetre) are termed aerosols. About 100,000 viruses can fit in one aerosol droplet.
  
  Breath out and that moist breath is all aerosols. Tens of thousands of them in one breath.
  
  So each breath out, without even coughing, can potentially eject billions of viruses.
  
  A normal mask will stop the larger droplets (eg. coughing), but not aerosols.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:10am
  - Dave Mann
    
    Geez cmm that was a sulerb well written explanation of aerosols. You really know your stuff. Thanks ?
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:39am
    - surfing
      
      From google though.
      
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      August 7, 2020 11:36am
  - fernglas
    
    For an insightful look at what a scam the whole Covid thing is, read this:
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/never-has-a-virus-been-so-oversold
    One gem in it is that a survey taken in the UK and US showed a belief that on average 10% of the population had died from Covid, which would be 7 million in the UK.
    Not only is the whole thing a media driven rort, but our Labour party is using it as an excuse to fail to provide any policy for the next three years, including anything about how they will repair the damage caused by swallowing this garbage. People are pretty stupid.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:40am
    - krazykiwi
      
      That’s a good article. It is AMAZING the success the government-funded fear porn has had bludgeoning the unthinking into submission.
      
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      August 7, 2020 9:52am
      - cmm
        
        Make people frightened and they unplug their brains.
        
        This has been well understood for a long time.
        
        The “Panic Pit” has been researched well since the 1950s when it really started out trying to understand why divers were dying in incidents where something fairly trivial escalated into a disaster.
        
        Basically: when people panic their problem solving shuts down. It is all really part of the “fight or flight” mechanism – stop thinking, just react.
        
        The same gets found in many areas. For example the Air France AF447 crash in 2009. Three pilots on the flight deck and they all panicked and flew a perfectly airworthy plane from 30,000 ft to zero ft in a perfect stall – even with the plane yelling “stall, stall, stall” at them the whole way down.
        
        Here we’re seeing another variant of the same basic problem.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_pit
        
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        August 7, 2020 10:16am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Is Ardern still following Ferguson, the “expert” who spaghetti codes in Fortran and boldly has an affair during his own lockdown?
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:24am
      - PhilBest
        
        You sure distilled this debacle down to the most basic element – the answer is yes. Via NZ’s follower of Ferguson, a charlatan modeler of our own named Hendy. Absolutely none of the debunking of this garbage has made any impact on the media cycle driven popularity of Jacinda et al and the COVID bedwetting that goes along with it
        
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        August 7, 2020 12:49pm
      - Overworked
        
        Phil, wash your mouth out. Hendy is Jacinda’s twitter and fb bestie, he must be the best in his chosen field of ‘epidemiology’.
        
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        August 7, 2020 5:32pm
  - lemuzz
    
    Yes the droplets can easily pass through the fabric of a mask. All the air we breath when wearing even a good quality surgical mask must exit through the fabric and or around the mask Just touching a used mask and mask removal will transfer from mask to hands to eyes or mouth to supermarket trolleys, eftpos keypads etc etc etc. They are a waste of time to stop the transmission of virus from an infected person
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:59pm
    - Batman
      
      No they don’t. They reduce transmission by up to 75% and more if you crack 90% wear rates.
      
      Asian societies haven’t been doing it for decades because of fashion….
      
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      August 7, 2020 1:02pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        To be fair about this, one does need to examine what evidence there is for the use of masks to prevent viral transmission.
        
        As best I can determine, they’re at best marginally effective if used correctly and changed often. The N95 masks are better, but I don’t think that any public use mandates for masks demands that standard.
        
        So I think we have the evidence, and masks are (sadly) ineffective. Just FWIW, the Dutch medical council Just recently issued an opinion that recommended against making masks use required in public because it was not effective.
        
        I too used to think that using masks was a smart move to at least assist to prevent spread, but having carefully followed the debate and examined the evidence, I can no longer hold that point of view.
        
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        August 7, 2020 1:22pm
      - covfefe
        
        No good data on this – do a pubmed search. It is all guess work.
        
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        August 7, 2020 1:28pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Ahh, not “virii”, the word isn’t properly pluralised like that. And BTW, nor is it “octopi”, if one follows the Greek plural rules it is octopodes. In Latin one often pluralizes a word ending in -us by making it an “I”, but only for Latin words !
    
    End of boring grammar exposition.
    
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    August 7, 2020 1:18pm
    - slijmbal
      
      Vira for virus as it is neuter latin if being a true grammar nerd I believe
      
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      August 7, 2020 5:40pm
    - calendar girl
      
      Thank you, Ed. Interesting and informative – not at all boring.
      
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      August 7, 2020 8:59pm
  - covfefe
    
    Not sure how accurate this is. The classification of droplet vs aerosol is a bit grey – some of it based on experimental data, some based on epidemiological data of how people become infected after a specific exposure. And some to do with how well an organism can survive drying out – i.e. something like TB that doesn’t mind being dried out able to survive desiccation needed for droplet to turn into aerosol. However, no one in Infection Prevention and Control, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases professions thinks that breath in and out is ‘all aerosols’.
    
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    August 7, 2020 1:27pm
- Sacha
  
  All those lovely ‘warm dry homes’ that we hear so much about, with controlled temperatures and closed windows will make super breeding grounds for naughty viruses.
  Maybe a few draughts with open windows aren’t so bad after all?
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:57am
  - PhilBest
    
    Exactly! I think it is plausible to argue that an airborne indoors virus has been rendered more likely to turn into a pandemic, by the modern fad for “energy efficient” HVAC systems that recycle and recycle and recycle, indoors air. Because heating or cooling outdoors air as it comes in would be “raping the planet”.
    
    In fact the very top item on Maurice De Hond’s website right now, is a example of this:
    
    https://www.maurice.nl/2020/08/05/strong-evidence-of-the-effect-of-ventilation-on-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-nursing-home/
    
    The ward in the nursing home where “the outbreak” was, is the one with a new state-of-the-art HVAC system that recirculates indoors air almost ALL the time…..
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:52pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/122366232/public-feedback-sought-after-wellingtons-plans-to-house-74000-more-people-revealed

First of all, thank you Diane Calvert and Nicola Young for opposing this plan.

Building high-rise housing in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone cities , on reclaimed land and close to fault lines must be the ultimate in stupidity.

The degree of support by the remainder of the councillors suggests to me some sort of vested interest: either directly as landowners or as facilitators for “friendly” developers.

And we all know that “public feedback” or “consultation” are euphemisms for “whatever the objections and suggestions we will do what we want anyway”.
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August 7, 2020 8:03am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I have no confidence in Wellington Council to get anything right.
  
  However you can build perfectly safe tall buildings in areas with high seismic risk. They just need to be built appropriately. Look at Taipei.
  
  The most dangerous residential areas in Wellington are Petone and Lyall Bay. In the next magnitude 8 quake all of the houses in those suburbs will be destroyed by lateral spreading and liquefaction or tsunami or all three.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:39am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yes, but Taiwan is a first world country these days, and it respects engineers.
    
    (probably isnt trying to rename STEM, STEAM to let more girls in either, nor will it adjust standards to ensure “equality of outcomes” (cf Waikato university debate from yesterday – thank God Waikato doesn’t aspire to a faculty of engineering, or medicine, or anything that matters in the real world)
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:34am
    - IC5000
      
      Always amazed at the capacity of some people to talk about a subject they know nothing about when all it takes is literally minutes of Internet research to save them from being shown up as utterly ignorant.
      
      https://www.waikato.ac.nz/study/qualifications/bachelor-of-engineering-with-honours
      
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      August 7, 2020 3:25pm
- Durden
  
  You know what ? I would totally support these buildings if ONLY bonafide Labour and Green supporters are able to buy these houses.
  
  And then it is only a question of waiting for the next earthquake when they all get thrown out on to the street for their building having damage to, and needing replacement of a “sacrificial structural member”. Or even when, because the next door building suffers a damage, the engineers decide your own building is too risky to live in 🙂
  
  I would love to stand and laugh at the blind and dumb urbanistas who want follow foreign trends unthinkingly in a EQ prone country like NZ. If they say, we can trust our structural engineers and builders to build earthquake proof buildings I would cackle even more loudly.
  
  Screw them.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:41am
  - sooty
    
    Buy them, I would give them for free to house labour and the greens all in one spot!
    Imagine what that would be like a Canberra or that South American city.
    You would need a fence to stop them escaping!
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:04am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Paging Mr Plissken, your scene Sir!
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:36am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The city was full in the 1950’s. It was poorly sited in the first place. The CBD started out on floating boats as the hills barely gave walking space along the sea shore. It was intended to land at Petone but wind and Maori made that difficult. The Maori occupying Te Aro were much more friendly. It all became a can of worms when an earthquake lifted the land to what is now the Basin Reserve.
  
  The high rise now is nearly all on land reclaimed from the copious harbour. Increasing transport access through that developed area is impossible. The roads can’t be widened. Going underground would mean tunnelling below sea level.
  The work around has been the Terrace Tunnel through the inland hills. That empties into a pocket of flat land that forms the peoples’ heart of the city. There has to be space for work. Pockets of flat land are scarce. Access takes you from one hill valley to another.
  
  The decision to limit Wellington City proper’s growth needs to be made. These arguments about traffic flow through the city have been going on for at least 70 years. Leave the delightful, charming place intact and plan for rebuilding and extended growth elsewhere. Look at the topography before action. Building a city on the spindly arms of an extended mountain range where it meets the sea is likely to be a problem for anyone except Twyford or Jones.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:55am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    No Petone was settled… but Thorndon/CBD was more desirable. Go read EJ Wakefield…he was there and states the reasons for landing at Petone and then a biggish chunk of original settlers moving to what is now Wellington….
    
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    August 7, 2020 8:59am
  - PhilBest
    
    Wellington absolutely should have “sprawled” where the flat, easily buildable land is – Kapiti and Wairarapa. Urban intensification on the limited, rugged, earthquake prone geography is just a doubling down on an already bad series of historical accidents. Some of the greatest ignorance concerns employment and commuting – CBD’s now on average contain less than 15% of an urban area’s employment; employment spreads out “as it is allowed to” just as housing spreads out “as it is allowed to”.
    
    It is a typical Watermelon lie that sprawl causes longer commuting time; there is no such relationship at all in any data set. Employment spreads out at a similar rate to housing – if the market is not obstructed by planners. And people are not stupid; they will make manageable co-location decisions for housing and employment and amenities – if they can afford it. And here is the crowning unintended consequence of current planning fads: housing prices are always driven up, and this forces more people into inefficient co-location choices. There are plenty of illustrators of this in any data set; every dense city has unaffordable housing AND LONG commute times. Every city with affordable housing, is affordable because it has been allowed to sprawl, and none of them have unusually high commute times, not like London or Hong Kong.
    
    Just a few days ago I saw a new paper analysing NZ:
    
    “Measuring commute patterns over time: Using administrative data to identify where employees live and work”. By Richard Fabling & Dave Maré
    
    Commuting distances in NZ have been rising since 2009, after having been falling or static. Obviously the planning fads have been having exactly the opposite effect to that intended, just as I predicted all along. People weren’t commuting to Dorkland from Thames and Paparoa back when houses in Dorkland itself were less unaffordable. And the above study doesn’t analyse TIMES, it analyses distance. Commuting “times” will show even worse outcomes.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:04am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Kapiti would have been unknown and unreachable except by sea. It was also the area under the control of Te Rauparaha who took rather than ceded land.
      
      A problem Wellington has is getting the region confused with the tiny city proper at the sea end of the Island. Getting into the city by the motorway is a trek along a seaside seismic fault line with a view of frolicking orca. It is possible to sneak in the backdoor via Johnsonville, Ngaio, Wadestown, Kelburn but you still land up in hills with narrow cuttings.
      
      Part of Wellington’s fun as a child was the wild ride from the top of Wadestown on the double-decker tram, the mad descent to the city, cross town through the tram tunnel and out to Hataitai for the return.
      The roads through the centre were barely passable then and we stood in the centre between passing trams.
      
      Wellington city proper needs to be regarded as legacy zone. It can’t be economically modified much. Other outlying neighbourhood regions should be considered for public service and commercial expansion.
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:41am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Kapiti and Wairarapa?
      The reason these places didn’t take off in the early days – no sheltered harbour.
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:44am
      - PhilBest
        
        I’m not talking about the early days, I am talking about post 1950, which is what Kev was talking about. By 1950 we had Ngauranga Gorge as a highway and we had a survey for Transmission Gulley. There was also a known easy route for a road tunnel through to Featherston; up a gentle gradient on each side and a short tunnel punched through just below the summit.
        
        Not that it is necessary for commuting to all come that way; my point is that Wellington region should be a “system of cities” and the big growth should be where it is cheap to do; in housing and employment. I agree with Kev’s new point that Wellington itself might as well be a “legacy zone” and growth should be expedited elsewhere in the region. That was my point.
        
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        August 7, 2020 12:57pm
  - Brian Marshall
    
    Petone or more accurately ‘Britannia’ was abandoned as the main site of the new settlement due to repeated flooding of the Hutt River. Plans had been drawn up in London for the settlement with a pretty Hutt River flowing straight through like an antipodean Thames. The reality differed from the image. Port Nicholson was better suited for sailing ships, so that is where the settlement was set up. Shipping was the main way to get around the country in the 19th century. The land routes were very rough and often not even mapped.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:08am
MT_Tinman

Why would anyone be an employer in New Zealand?

Labour looks set to announce an extension to sick leave provisions, and Newshub can reveal exclusive poll numbers show most New Zealanders agree five days of sick leave is not enough.
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August 7, 2020 8:05am
- Aunty
  
  The Dear Leader of the Committee of the Progressive Socialist Worker demands 50 days! Freedom for the people! Be Kind! Tax is Love!
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:39am
  - Jimmy White
    
    Labours Goals:
    104 days for Weekends
    15 days Public Holidays
    49 whanau days
    100 days Sick leave
    100 days Stat. Holidays
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:24am
    - septic skeptic
      
      I think that is the best way to revitalize our tourism sector. With such a huge amount of holidays available people are sure to travel around the country. Our economic woes will disappear and we will be the envy of every other country in the world.
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:55am
    - calendar girl
      
      Labour are clever enough to be able to cram three more days into each calendar year.
      
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      August 7, 2020 11:47am
    - chukar
      
      Yep that’s the year!
      What about work?
      Oops a 4 letter word,
      Probably be banned for that
      
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      August 7, 2020 6:28pm
- BullyHayes
  
  yeah if this goes through itll impose a pretty significant increase in wages costs onto employers
  
  and theyre also talking about the suggestion of an additional public holiday
  
  expect some price rises to cover these extra costs!
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:46am
  - sooty
    
    there goes the pay rise for a few years.
    Some one has to pay for it and it’s you!
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:08am
  - septic skeptic
    
    More sick leave. The whole idea is sick! You can’t plan properly for it, they just text half an hour after they were supposed to start. Best you can do is roster on a few more staff every Monday in the weeks just after their entitlement kicks in.
    Not everyone obviously. But most diligent employees don’t need even 5 days.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:02am
- Frank the tank
  
  As I said yesterday Boxer the horse (i.e. businesses) dies mid-2021.
  
  Great policy though for the ‘Denial Isles’
  
  Quick stock up on the those masks for the second wave………
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:20am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Why not have ten days of sick leave with any unused portion paid out in cash every year at time and a half?
  So says the Captain, who used about three days of sick leave during a 47 year working life.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:22am
  - rockape
    
    In hospitals its accumulative for nurses, part of their MECA agreement/ My wife doesnt get sick and has accumulated 75 days sick leave. Saving it up for when she is too old to nurse!
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:26am
- MCos
  
  Over in Australia some people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have continued to go to work because it’s that or not get paid.
  Five days isn’t enough time to get over something like that or some other contagious diseases that can race around the workplace.
  BTW
  Thailand has 30 days sick leave, 9 days AL & a ton of public holidays.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:54am
  - Bullion
    
    Yeah, studies show that more sick leave ends with less overall hours lost to illness because sick people can stay at home and not infect others.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:12am
Tony Stuart

Why is the Herald deliberately publishing a misleading story, supporting the Yes vote in the upcoming Cannabis referendum?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12353866

It’s great that Ms Thomas’ son is being helped by medicinal cannabis, but that’s not what the referendum is about. I suspect this is another story seeded by the Drug Foundation, who have already been accused of providing misleading information.
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August 7, 2020 8:05am
- pdm
  
  Mike Hosking gave the Herald (his employers) a serve on this just before 8am.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:09am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Yes, I heard that. He even gave the news people at Newstalk ZB a serve for running the story on news bulletins.
    
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    August 7, 2020 8:11am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Well he will be on the dole queue from Monday. Bye bye Mike bro.
    
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    August 7, 2020 8:49am
    - lifesgood
      
      LOL! SCK. He draws far too many listeners for them to sack him.
      
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      August 7, 2020 9:50am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Indeed, and listeners translate to advertising revenue. NZME will NEVER get rid of their most productive cash cow.
        
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        August 7, 2020 2:55pm
- Simon
  
  “Why is the Herald deliberately publishing”
  
  Medical cannabis = trojan horse for the wide spread introduction of mental illness.
  
  Payoffs. The money to made is immense. Both for the private sector and government.
  
  Billions of dollars are at stake in a chicken shit economy that is slowly seeing general living standards fall.
  
  This is NZ where people are fucked by the greedy & stupid, like the Hearld, pushing mental illness and ruined families for dollars.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:21am
  - igm
    
    When are MSM publishing details of a Chinese scientist who has escaped to US?
    His account of Covid being the result of a defence lab is very interesting, but does not suit the narrtive of our $50-million taxpayer-funded media currently.
    
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    August 7, 2020 8:54am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Another tax grab.
    
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    August 7, 2020 8:56am
  - Jimmy White
    
    The money must come from somewhere else in the economy, not alcohol, not gambling and not smoking. It comes from the dinner plates of the whanau.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:29am
- Inandout
  
  TS, the radio ad I heard this morning says ‘we grow some of the best medicinal cannabis in the world in the beautiful Hawkes Bay’.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:42am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Who needs it with the massive taxes to be imposed? CBD does not rank in the scientific papers for therapeutic effectiveness. There are other essential oils freely available that do.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:04am
    - Tall Man
      
      Kev I lost your web page for the business. I wanted to pass it on to a mate. If the mods permit can you pop it in here for me? Thanks
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:35am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        rubiton.co.nz
        My book is off to the printers too and that and the ebook available next week.
        
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        August 7, 2020 5:53pm
  - mark15
    
    Inao I think the word ‘medicinal’ is redundant in that sentence
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:27am
- Raphael
  
  Because the narrative the Yes Vote (which includes Govt agencies) is trying to spin is that we need to vote yes so people can get the medical stuff.
  
  A lot of fence sitters on the issue have no problem with medical cannabis and even most of us No Voters have no problem with medical cannabis (I even agree that it should be cheaper to access, but should be treated like any other strong prescription medication).
  
  But they’re trying to make out that this is the only for suffering people to get the treatment they need. Which as you noted is flat out false.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:51am
  - sooty
    
    Medical maryjane has long gone out the window.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:10am
  - Paulus
    
    The result is non obligatory so the inc0ming Labour Government – A. Little can enact it anyway.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:03am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Medicinal cannabis laws have already been enacted in 2019. The referendum is only about recreational use.
    
    But the government didn’t want the word ‘recreational’ in the referendum, because apparently everyone would already know this.
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:32pm
- graham
  
  Yes, I have someone on Facebook trying to push the line that voting “yes” will make medicinal cannabis products more readily available, and that the current process is too difficult and expensive.
  
  Okay, here’s a radical idea – if the current process for medicinal cannabis is broken, let’s fix that.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:51am
- Nickc2
  
  Why the eF aren’t the Electoral Commission or similar outfit prosecuting the bastards? Labour and the Greens are complacent in this IMO and if I am correct, they should also front court. It will be too late after the election to bring charges etc in order to reverse a YES vote and I’m picking Labour and the Greens know this.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:49am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Because it’s how they roll.
  
  The “journalists” are all wet behind the ears, there are no editors anymore, and a lovely heartwarming story turned up all ready to add your name to and hit your publishing quota.
  
  The fact that is is totally irrelevant to the referendum, which is explicitly only about recreational use of cannabis…….. meh!
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:41am
- Ruawai
  
  I thought medical cannabis was already legal on prescription.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:56am
Simon

Biden looks finished. Poor bastard clearly senile. Unless he is replaced Trump will piss in.

One problem is that the fake polls had Biden 12 pts ahead of Trump which will make replacing him somewhat harder.

(remember all the National Party TDS types falling hard for the fake polls – good times)

Lesser problem the DNC rigged their primaries to have Biden installed.

Interesting stuff.
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August 7, 2020 8:08am
- DeepBlue
  
  Can you link to specific recent examples of Biden’s demise, please?
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:47am
  - Jimmy White
    
    https://youtu.be/z_wlQZ5N_2k
    
    9 1
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    August 7, 2020 9:32am
  - Critical Thinker
    
    “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly diverse attitudes about different things.”
    – Joe “You ain’t Black if you vote Trump” Biden ?
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL8zKfEb61g
    
    14 1
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    August 7, 2020 9:52am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Is he still hanging with Cornpop, or letting little girls play with his leg hairs?
      
      Creepy sleazy uncle Joe. How much did his deadbeat son scam off Ukrainian and Chinese companies again in exchange for Biden’s patronage as Veep?
      
      He’s been hiding in his basement for months, the last social media interview I watched showed him get lost in his script and wander off.
      
      Its getting painful to watch, it is simply cruel, even to someone as corrupt as Biden to be forced to watch his cognitive decline. Someone wheel out Michelle and put us out of his misery!
      
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      August 7, 2020 10:44am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Michelle is depressed.
        https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/06/899785192/michelle-obama-says-shes-dealing-with-low-grade-depression-amid-quarantine
        
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        August 7, 2020 11:08am
- Inandout
  
  Simon, I heard an interesting take on this by a guy on YouTube. He has worked in Hollywood where if you openly support Trump your career is over, but he has seen friends on TV who he knows vote Republican but would never announce it. In fact Republicans tend to stay quiet over their politics but make their choice at the ballot box.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:48am
  - lifesgood
    
    Same as National voters her, Inandout. You are only admitted to the “in crowd” if you are anti National and pro Labour so most National supporters keep their mouths shut. It’s not worth the grief. No one can do nasty quite like a lefty.
    
    30 1
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    August 7, 2020 9:53am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    “shy republican syndrome” ™
    
    This is how they got so surprised last time – they hadn’t cheated quite enough. Which is why the Democrats are so keen on mail in ballots for the coming election.
    
    Vote early, Vote often, it is the Machine Democrat way.
    
    10 1
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    August 7, 2020 10:46am
    - alloytoo
      
      Just like Grandpa has since he died.
      
      8 0
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      August 7, 2020 11:33am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Why Biden is finished? All he has to do is follow Cindy and do nudding. Sleepwalk to victory like Cindy is doing.
  
  17 4
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  August 7, 2020 8:50am
  - cmm
    
    Well he’s been hugging young girls for a long time. Doesn’t seem to be helping him.
    
    19 1
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    August 7, 2020 9:14am
    - Jimmy White
      
      Fake News… All he does is sniff their hair and rub the back of their training bra’s
      
      18 1
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      August 7, 2020 9:33am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Biden can’t even sleep walk without falling into a dog-puddle.
    
    11 1
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    August 7, 2020 10:47am
- JSelway
  
  Yeah because Trump never makes gaffes…
  
  Trump mangles the English language on a daily basis.
  The “oranges” of the investigation anyone?
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:18am
- Fletch
  
  As Mark Levin said yesterday on his show, Biden “sits there like a flounder, flopping around from time to time with his awkward laughs and his bigoted statements […] staying in his aquarium like a goldfish. Joe Biden is basically an invalid. I look at this guy and I think, how is he going to meet with world leaders? What do you think all these world leaders are thinking? ”
  
  If Biden wins, the US is finished.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:51am
  - theoldbloke
    
    Pay attention…its all about who is VP. Who then becomes an unelected presedent!
    
    2 1
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    August 7, 2020 12:46pm
Simon

The gubermint gearing up the plebs for lockdown fuckup level 4. ( God bless you Ardern you are going to save us all again. )

Surely after 3 or 4 months they must have a better plan than home detention level 4?

Where is fucking National on this bollocks? Where is the better plan?
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August 7, 2020 8:12am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  National has no plan except to announce digging tunnels. Instead they can dig their own grave as Cindy is going to walk all over them on election night. Wait for announcement on August 21st that the wage subsidy scheme will be extended until December 31st. Labour will get 70% on election night.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:52am
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    So why do you bother? Why not go and sit on top of No Tree Hill and commune with the voices there 🙂
    
    15 0
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    August 7, 2020 9:27am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    If they do it that way it’s simply fraud. Voting does not allow “the ends justify the means”.
    
    The delight of Ardern getting back will be tolerating the despair which she will emote. Her ability does not meet needs and this could well be the roughest 3 years coming that any govt has had to deal with. NZ is not on its’s own and our economic concerns give no sway elsewhere. Be prepared for a very wild ride like Muldoon’s 1970’s.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:56am
    - septic skeptic
      
      If Ardern goes three terms we will be in the shit far deeper than we were after Muldoon. Even if there is another Roger Douglas around to bring radical reform, MMP is too big a handbrake to allow it.
      
      13 0
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      August 7, 2020 11:37am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Muldoon saved: Robbo spends.
        
        3 0
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        August 7, 2020 1:48pm
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    Sir Cullen bro, Comrade Ardern on track to beat Putin’s 76.7%
    
    1 1
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    August 7, 2020 1:21pm
- alloytoo
  
  What I don’t understand is why?
  
  It undermines their saintly savour narrative, unless theres a big lie about to be exposed?
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:35am
oldpark

Seems according to NZs sycophantic Mainstream Media on the coming General Election on 19 09 2020 in conjunction with their puppet masters the Labour/ Green Party’s with control freak Commie/ Socialist Ardern leading the charge . They are sleeping walking to victory . All they have to do is turn up on the day.
Maybe they have ignored the meme.
“Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a Dunghill” . Yes especially that type of description describes the mentioned gaggle of fake news merchants and control freaks.
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August 7, 2020 8:15am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Pfffffft.. Cindy can start sleeping today until the night of election and still win 70% on election night. Nothing can be done about it. This election is a forgone conclusion. We are now just going through the motion of having the election.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:53am
  - Sacha
    
    You are at risk of becoming a bore, Sir. Even if you are joking.
    
    22 0
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    August 7, 2020 10:12am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Sacha Baron Cohen – I have lost hope bro…Truth always hurts and is always boring.
      
      7 9
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      August 7, 2020 11:00am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Old SCS is an excellent troll account, giving amusement to KB for some time !
      
      1 3
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      August 7, 2020 1:32pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    In common with the rest of her govt she just sits on her backside and pays $50M media bribes.
    That will be remembered.
    ☑️☑️Restorative☑️☑️
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:59am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Sheeple don’t have brain to remember anything.
      
      10 2
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      August 7, 2020 11:00am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        It’s not the sheep who be coming after this COL for their failure and profligacy in High Office. There has to be accounting. This cannot be repeated.
        
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        August 7, 2020 1:51pm
Naths

NZH Premium article headlined “Matthew Hooton: Unemployment figures another disaster for National”

What’s this about? Looks like Hooten is back to his old tricks of undermining National!

Gee with that sort of “loyalty” one wonders what sort of advice he was giving National (when working inside the party since the May “coup”), makes one wonder whether he was issuing dud advice that saw National lose momentum and the ensuing media embarrassment???!!!
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August 7, 2020 8:20am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Good to see Hooten back to his old tricks. Nobody noticed him before and nobody will notice him again.
  
  28 2
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  August 7, 2020 8:54am
- DeepBlue
  
  Didn’t take him long to get back into the $50m playground and clickbate his way into supporting Jacinda. To avoid any doubt that he has been running with the hounds and the hares, this is his sign off:
  
  “Matthew Hooton is an Auckland-based public relations consultant. He was speechwriter for former National Leader Todd Muller and assisted in the transition to new Leader Judith Collins.”
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:11am
  - Prince
    
    Hooton is forever linked to Muller, and therefore failure.
    But you have to wonder why there is a succession of people who have happily lived off the National Party (Hooton, Ross, Kaye) who are now doing their best to bring it down.
    
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    August 7, 2020 3:53pm
- Raphael
  
  It’s Herald Premium content. He’s gotta get his slice of the $50m somehow.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:25am
- Eh?
  
  Hooton ends his article with the seemingly throwaway line, “Alternatively, Collins will need to hope for some type of miracle — say, a minister or two being arrested for fraud or something”.
  
  Hooton is too good a writer to have just randomly picked this as an example. I assume he is talking about the SFO investigation into the NZ First Foundation – or is there some other looming scandal to which I have not previously been privy?
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:27am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Congratulations on reading to the end of the article.
    
    An NZFirst scandal will just give more votes to Labour, so it has to be Labour people to have any effect.
    
    I am still waiting for the real reason ILG had to leave Parliament to come out.
    
    4 0
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    August 7, 2020 12:40pm
- lifesgood
  
  I always said that he runs with the hares and hunts with the hounds. He is an absolute disgrace. I’m surprised he wasn’t made to sign a non disclosure statement when he was kicked out by Judith. Surely no one believes he left of his own accord.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:56am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Some of these so called National blue through and through people seem to do more damage than good for National. eg. Hooten and Boag.
  I wish they would disappear and stop trying to “help”National.
  
  25 0
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  August 7, 2020 10:01am
  - septic skeptic
    
    With friends like these who needs enemies.
    
    15 0
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    August 7, 2020 11:42am
- Frank the tank
  
  Hooten has always been more miss than hit – like is piss puddle port up North.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

The CoL has ended…
I can’t seem to recall any of its positive achievements.
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August 7, 2020 8:24am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  HOW DARE YOU!
  
  Saved 80,000 . . .
  
  35 1
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  August 7, 2020 8:33am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Was that mice or worms?
    
    18 0
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    August 7, 2020 9:04am
    - sooty
      
      Labour voters!
      
      17 0
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      August 7, 2020 9:12am
- Naths
  
  Well the CoL appears to be proud of the $600K playground built for their toddlers – and it was actually finished within three years! So no failure (apart from fleecing the taxpayer)! So surely for them they regard that as a “positive achievement”??!!!
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:44am
  - sooty
    
    Mallards crowning glory!
    A CCP Virus spreader and alot more germs!
    
    20 0
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    August 7, 2020 9:14am
- mandk
  
  There was a review of the CoL’s achievements on Stuff today.
  
  All the positives merely involved spending other people’s money.
  
  All the negatives involved not achieving any worthwhile outputs or outcomes.
  
  Any idiot could do what the CoL has done.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:30am
  - septic skeptic
    
    If you are running a household you don’t measure your success by how much more you spent on groceries and medical bills this week.
    
    16 0
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    August 7, 2020 11:46am
- Prince
  
  Stuff has an article by Henry Cooke outlining their ‘successes’ in terms of the$B’s they have spent.
  Not much detail on outcomes of course, but then measurable outcomes and goals are so 2017.
  
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  August 7, 2020 3:55pm
Simon

Students at
@AucklandUni
Philosophy Department course, “Critical Thinking”, have been warned not to discuss issues that are controversial for the CCP government, because of a risk of danger from “Chinese governmental agents”.

https://twitter.com/Anne_MarieBrady/status/1290886847288111104

NZ circa 2020.

Little New Zealanders all across the country who sell out NZ to the vile CCP for some trade dollars or baubles of office.
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August 7, 2020 8:24am
Maggie Pie

WHAT is going on in Melbourne?
A friend in lockdown tweets…..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeuIQonUEAEkPZ0?format=jpg&name=medium
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August 7, 2020 8:26am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Did you get the news that Sir Ron’s case has been put back to Sept 17th?
  https://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=316424
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:33am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes, saw the Daivid Fisher piece in the Herald this morn.
    Police have found heaps more child porn stuff that they’re pawing thru. Sir Ron looked a bit decrepit in the video. My partner was surprised he’s not locked up.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:02am
    - sooty
      
      Money talks!
      
      9 3
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      August 7, 2020 9:15am
      - Maggie Pie
        
        ….and Sir Ron walks!
        
        LOL!!
        
        8 1
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        August 7, 2020 9:27am
      - MT_Tinman
        
        I hope he does (walk that is).
        
        Sir Ron has done more good than those trying and judging him combined.
        
        The poor bastard is damned near dead, let him finish his life in peace.
        
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        August 7, 2020 1:15pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        My partner sez…. “Nah, stuff him. Dirty old perv”
        
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        August 7, 2020 2:04pm
- sooty
  
  Maggie. Sister in Melbourne knew nothing.
  But she said rumor that Billy Gates has moved to NZ and Hillary Clinton was here over lockdown.
  
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  August 7, 2020 2:46pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Interesting that the Tullamarine Freeway security cams just happened to ‘malfunction’ last night…..
    
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeuL6NJUwAAIem6?format=jpg&name=small
    
    Did yor sis no about that??
    
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    August 7, 2020 4:05pm
Nukuleka

Christchurch is awash with Labour billboards but comparatively few National ones. Is this part of National Party policy?
19 1
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August 7, 2020 8:26am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  National knows they will get only 10% of the vote in Christchurch. So why waste money?
  
  9 5
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  August 7, 2020 9:16am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The Red Jaws are prominent.
  The Blue ones are actually active.
  Taking the Opposition for granted is a common fatal mistake.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:03am
Ford Prefect

We have a vaccine of sorts for the yearly strain of influenza. Most employers offer it for free to their employees so theres no excuse not to get jabbed.

According to the News a few days ago over 500 people die of influenza every year in this country.

500!!

Surely we should lock down every flu season and stop all snotty tourists at the border.

And of course, the vaccine should be compulsory
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August 7, 2020 8:27am
- Frank the tank
  
  Shhhh the covid police will be onto you.
  
  Imagine if we worried about cancer as much as covid-19 – how many lives we could save……
  
  Remember 85,000 lives saved……..
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:22pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122359920/uproar-after-man-who-masturbated-in-front-of-child-at-pool-escapes-conviction

So here’s this 25 year old guy, described as “young” in the mitigation, who takes the opportunity to perform an act of personal sexual gratification as a result of seeing a young boy undressing in a pool changing room.
No problem to the judiciary – no problem at all.
Excuses for this behaviour are:
The accused is “young” and pleaded guilty.
He had recently returned from the Phillipines – a country noted for its record of child exploitation.
He had jet lag.
He had changed epilepsy meds.
Might have been treated badly in early life.
He had received training in early childhood care ffs.
Verdict: discharged without conviction and with name suppression.
Result! No consequences. Did he break a law or not?
OK- let’s fast forward 20 years.
A young man is in court charged with offences – maybe drugs, alcohol related.
His lawyer says offending due to mental health issues because of unresolved incident of a sexual nature in his childhood .
Children are such easy prey………..
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August 7, 2020 8:27am
Justitia

So what actually is the point of quarantine when service and security staff are free to come and go among the quarantinees without adequate PPE or regular testing? (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300075002/leaked-covid19-report-warns-border-isolation-and-quarantine-staff-carry-the-highest-risk-of-causing-an-outbreak).
Of course there will be another community outbreak and it will originate from the shambles at the border, just as it did in Victoria where State Premier Kim Jong Dan has imposed a savage lockdown. Coming your way soon, just in time for the election. Only St Cindy of the Pestilence can save us!?
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August 7, 2020 8:36am
oldfella

According to a new survey, the American public holds media in contempt. (Who’da thunk?)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/the-american-public-holds-media-in-contempt-the-public-is-right
I suspect the NZ public will soon be headed down the same road, especially if they read Stuffed, or the Herald Pravda.
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August 7, 2020 8:40am
- Southtop2
  
  a couple of nights ago I got a call on my landline (still have one due to older relatives) wanting me to subscribe to the Press.
  “Sorry not interested”
  “we have a great deal, its half price”
  “will think about it if you change your editorial policies, might consider advertising again”
  they hung up!
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:14am
- graham
  
  They didn’t need to do a NEW survey to find that out, surveys for the past decade or more have shown that!
  
  In the Gallup poll, newspaper reporters have consistently scored low. Their honesty and ethical standards were rated as high/very high at just 21% in 2004, 22% in 2007, 22% in 2010, 21% in 2013, 25% in 2017.
  
  And TV reporters have also consistently scored low. 23% in 2004, 23% in 2007, 23% in 2010, 20% in 2013, 23% in 2017.
  
  Despite what some would have us believe, the media have NOT suffered at the hands of Trump – reporters have been mistrusted for years before Trump came on the scene!
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:18am
- Bullion
  
  What media should they read?
  
  3 1
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  August 7, 2020 11:18am
Iamright

Parliament is done. The campaign starts. So where is the SFO investigation with Winston First at??
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August 7, 2020 8:41am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Tick, tick, tick…
  
  The SFO will detonate its device at a time that will be most uncomfortable for the NZF leader and his party.
  
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  August 7, 2020 8:54am
  - Ipanema69
    
    Yes Tony, yes I would like to see the back of WRP as well. However the resulting publicity of any charges being laid is likely to give oxygen to Winston’s campaign. It appears to me that at the moment NZF is just not getting any cut through. Much in all as I would like to see charges laid I’m mindful of the old saying be careful what you wish for you might get it.
    
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    August 7, 2020 9:39am
  - Dave Mann
    
    @Tony re your Tick Tick comment: No it won’t do anything of the sort. Like every government agency and department, the SFO is probably firmly in Arden’s pocket and Peters will get his pay-off for services rendered.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:20am
    - Flossie
      
      I do note how he did a u turn on how well the CoL did. Initially he was rubbishing them all as “inexperienced”, and now singing Jacinda’s praises.
      
      12 0
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      August 7, 2020 10:46am
      - septic skeptic
        
        And voted through all that anti-landlord stuff at the 11th hour. I reckon a deal has been done to keep the SFO investigation quiet during the campaign.
        
        10 0
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        August 7, 2020 11:58am
      - Batman
        
        SFO is due back later this month.
        
        6 1
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        August 7, 2020 12:54pm
- The Boss
  
  Richard Harman (Politik) writes that SFO have confirmed they will make announcement before the election. Also that Winston will probably try to block it through urgent legal action.
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:24am
- Libertarians are right
  
  The campaign started when we first entered lockdown. Where have you been?
  
  12 0
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  August 7, 2020 10:45am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    Hogwash!
    
    The campaign started three minutes after Winston announced his choice.
    
    It has continued apace, at tax-payers’ expense.
    
    8 0
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    August 7, 2020 1:23pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Stuff wrote yesterday that Jamie-Lee Ross had received “leaked” documents from the SFO

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300076106/serious-fraud-office-accidentally-leaked-document-to-jamilee-ross

RNZ reports that SFO “inadvertently” sent the documents

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/422918/high-court-blocks-jami-lee-ross-from-publishing-sensitive-documents

But when you read these 2 articles it is clear that the SFO did not “leak” the documents, but carried out usual proceedings as part of a prosecution.

The material was disclosed during the course of the agency’s compliance with its normal disclosure obligations.

Is the media trying to skew the case before it is held?
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August 7, 2020 8:49am
- peterwn
  
  It is as well to remember that in the aftermath of the Arthur Allen Thomas case, an obligation was placed on prosecutors to disclose to the accused all the evidence the police had for a case going to trial (there are a few special exceptions such as evidence related to alibis). This was because the police/ prosecutor ‘cherry picked’ the evidence to be presented. The police asked four pediatricians to assess how long a baby had been left alone, called the pediatrician whose evidence best suited the prosecution case but did not disclose the evidence from the other three to the defence.
  Until now, I have not heard of any case where an accused person has wanted to publicise such evidence, it would be generally to their detriment. Normally the accused’s lawyer would receive and review the evidence and the lawyer would presumably advise the client not to disclose it. Indeed disclosing it is probably contempt of court (more so when there is a possibility of it being a jury trial).
  So this must be the first case where an accused person who is provided with such evidence required by law seems to want to use it for political purposes, possibly with disregard to any adverse consequences with respect to a trial (he probably could not care less). Hence the SFO’s lawyer acted rightly and properly to stop disclosure especially given the additional sensitivities that the country is currently in pre-election mode.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:23am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Txs
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:22am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Much more that JLR is prepping his battlespace.
  
  22 year old “journalists” know nothing of Court procedures and are too thick to ask.
  
  So, JLR knew that they would simply cut and paste his pre-prepared story, particularly if it looked like there might be a hint of bureacratic scandal.
  
  Next story? JLR reveals that someone was mean to him at school once and this turned him into a narcissistic weasel? Asking for a friend.
  
  How about “plug head. My tragedy with premature baldness, and how it is proof I was a lifelong sufferer from excess testosterone syndrome.” that will be more for Womans Day.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:52am
Clyde

Two major stories on Moaning Report both coming, I suspect, from the politically charged Board and management of what was once a proud broadcaster.

One, a rabble of locals declaring that they are “breaking the law” and occupying a reserve to prevent a person exercising his right of going through a process to extend his boat yard. Despite the Waitangi Tribunal and the local Council saying that the rabble had no case.

Second, this ongoing demand by East Polynesians that CYFS (now known as something else) needs to relinquish its protection of East Polynesian children so they can look after them themselves. Just like they looked after the Kahui twins, Nia Glassie ad infinitum.

No balanced reporting on Moaning Report – just a continuation of the racially charged nonsense we are getting used to.
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August 7, 2020 8:50am
- MCos
  
  Clyde, mate, when you refer to Māori as East Polynesians and Oranga Tamariki as CYFS, I can see your comment, whatever it is, is hardly going to be unbiased.
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:12am
  - Clyde
    
    MCos, sounds like you are one of the 1% of the population that believes in changing the name of an entity from something that everyone understands to one which hardly anyone understands. Are you aware that there are now “guidelines” from Government that require even local bodies to “re-sign” simple things like meeting rooms and facilities such as libraries to have the East Polynesian name ABOVE the “anglicised” name. Think for a moment – East Polynesians didn’t have libraries, museums, public toilets, town halls etc etc and didn’t have a word for them so now “consultation” has to take place within each community to find an agreed word for library etc (think troughing consultation for months) until a word is found which is then displayed more prominently than a word that 100% of the population understands. And this nonsense is going on all around the country.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:57am
    - Nickc2
      
      The so called East Polynesians didn’t have a written language either. It really pisses me off when we have government dictates that push a radical group’s PC wish list. Enough already! Come on Judith, say your Government will not kowtow to such stand over tactics FFS.
      
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      August 7, 2020 1:13pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    I can agree on the East Polynesian point. But the bastardization of English into this hybrid English/Maori pidgin is unacceptable to many of us. I won’t learn Maori in order to speak NZ pidgin and will continue to use the English words. I don’t care if LTNZ rebrands as “shared canoe” or whatever. I still call them LTNZ.
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:06pm
    - Batman
      
      They haven’t been LTNZ since at least 2008, so you’re two steps back.
      
      Then again, they still get called Tranzit, and the department of transport or the Highways Board crica the 1970s lol.
      
      If you can’t handle some very simple integration of our second language then I suggest you also stop using all foreign language words in English sentences. No more sushi, schadenfreude, milieu, tagliatelle, or croissant.
      
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      August 7, 2020 2:13pm
      - Nickc2
        
        The foreign words you are quoting are as used in the English language as is without modification. They have not to the best of my knowledge been reinvented for use in English as something totally different whereas Te Reo invents another word(s) to sound like Maori ones eh bro?
        
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        August 7, 2020 2:37pm
      - Jack5
        
        ?Batman, “sushi”, “schadenfreude” and the other words you mention are used in English because they are new objects or concepts.
        
        Using Maori words within English is fine if there are no suitable native English words. However, I take it that Septic Sceptic is talking about changing English language terms to Maori for political purposes – attempting to raise use of Maori language.
        
        “Mana” and “taniwha” may be legitimate adopted words in English, but mostly, Maori words are being used by State TV, State Radio, and PC print for woke reasons. This has the potential to create a New Zealand Pidgin version of English.
        
        English is a great language, and world dominant in trade, business, diplomacy, science, and popular culture. In English, use English vocabulary unless there is no suitable English word.
        
        As for an East Polynesian language: that classifies Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian and other tongues of the region are dialects, not languages. I wonder how ethnic Pacific people in Auckland feel about that.
        
        It’s comparable to grouping as Indo-European speakers, people whose native tongues are as various as Hindu, Pushto, Urdu, Punjabi, Farsi, Kurdish, German, Russian, Spanish, French, Welsh, and English.
        
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        August 7, 2020 2:56pm
      - Batman
        
        Increasing the usage of Te Reo in everyday life is only a political issue for a small section of the country.
        
        The pidgin argument is fairly facile and frankly sounds like some latent sunburnt neck syndrome by those scared of losing the supremacy of a white language.
        
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        August 7, 2020 3:51pm
      - Jack5
        
        That’s patronising, Batman, classifying those you disagree with as “red necks”. Some would even say it was racist, since “red neck” has derogatory, racist connotations.
        
        Who is worried about English losing what you call its “supremacy”? English is the dominant world language. It’s laughable to suggest it’s threatened by Maori language.
        
        How can what you call the “pidgin argument” be facile (superficial)?
        
        It builds on the point that State TV and State Radio, and to a lesser extent the two main print companies, (NZME and Stuff Ltd), increasingly lace New Zealand English with Maori.
        
        At the extreme this could create an NZ Pidgin language.
        
        Concise definition of pidgin language: a language made up of elements of two or more other languages.
        
        The word “pidgin” itself may derive from Chinese pronunciation of the English word “business”.
        
        The State media and the two print-based media chains may be harming growth, or even survival, of Maori language. They divert effort from increasing use of Maori language in New Zealand as a distinct language, parallel to English.
        
        I agree with you, Batman, on one point: Maori for everyday use is a political issue only for one section of NZ: but for the politically correct, Woke mob.
        
        Most of the rest of us wish Maori language well as a language: in parallel with English, but distinct from it.
        
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        August 7, 2020 5:22pm
Durden

Anyone who trusts Hendy and his lack of expertise should not be in government?

“The final version would be available online early next week. He stood by the report’s assessment that frontline staff carry the greatest risk of causing an outbreak.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300075002/leaked-covid19-report-warns-border-isolation-and-quarantine-staff-carry-the-highest-risk-of-causing-an-outbreak

So they are only now modelling and thinking of Covid being spread by front line staff working in managed isolation/quarantine hotels ? And still only talking about testing.

Why did it take them so long? Is simply “reacting” slowly called “planning” and “risk management” in the lefty world ?
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August 7, 2020 8:51am
- cmm
  
  Hendy, the 80-000 guy, has no credibility.
  
  But he says the right things for Cindy, so he’s awesome. I expect the Centre For Excellence have their funding squared away for the next 50 years.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:20am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    When does pink haired loon turn up to tell us that Cindy is magnificent and marvelous again? Is that being saved for the Sunday papers?
    
    So we now know that;
    
    nurses have been pulling shifts in quarantine facilities, then back to work in their regular jobs.
    
    quarantine staff are not being adequately tested
    
    quarantine “customers” have been mingling
    
    aircrew aren’t quarantined
    
    people from NZ are mysteriously turning up overseas with Covid, but not showing it here.
    
    … and of course St Cindy has saved us all
    
    Hmmmm
    
    And I wonder why this year’s winter snuffle has taken so long to clear? Asking for a friend.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:57am
- Kabull
  
  I noticed a report in the Daily Mail today that thousands of corona virus deaths will be wiped from the government’s official count, because of a ‘statistical flaw’.
  Apparently Public Health England’s methods count victims as anyone who died after ever testing positive for Covid-19 — even if they were hit by a bus after beating the disease months later. This could see in the order of 4000 deaths being removed from the virus count.
  The same ‘rort’ has been found in some US states. I wonder about here in NZ?
  
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8599213/Thousands-Covid-19-deaths-wiped-governments-official-toll-counting-fiasco.html
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:31am
  - cmm
    
    The real issue here is that people rarely die of one single cause. Get lung cancer, emphysema or such and quite likely you end up dying with pneumonia.
    
    Note: I said “with” not “from” pneumonia.
    
    And quite likely other factors (such as obesity and/or diabetes) played a role. So perhaps rather than just saying “Cause of death: pneumonia” they should say:
    Obesity: 30%
    Cancer: 50%
    Diabetes:15%
    Pneumonia:5%
    
    If CV19 bowls you over then you were likely already severely compromised and likely to die within a few months anyway. If we did a breakdown like above then most times CV19 would probably show up as single-digit %.
    
    CV19 is hardly deadly in its own right. Nothing like, say, the Asian Flu which killed mainly people in the age group 10-30.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:27am
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    anyone want to take a guess in the influx of covid deaths in lebanon?
    
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    August 7, 2020 6:24pm
- freemark
  
  I heard Baker on the wireless yesterday talking about much greater risk of indoor vs outdoor transmission.
  Although anyone with any brains knows we are being Covid scammed, what’s the bet they’ll again try to keep us off the beaches at next electioneering lockup.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:21am
I remember when

Perhaps Covid-19 is just too hard.
Maybe we should see what we can do with nuclear to save the planet!
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August 7, 2020 8:56am
Maggie Pie

Shot out to the Tai Ping Supermarket in Botany yesterday. Got a few more packets of the fab ‘LOBO’ Roast Duck Seasoning Mix. It’s so amazing rubbed on duck, chicken or pork. Has my personal recommendation.
What i did want to say, was that I never saw one billboard out there for Jame-Lee Ross. Wouldn’t mind betting he decides to withdraw.
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August 7, 2020 9:10am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Jame knows he is jam on toast.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:18am
- Weinerpoop
  
  Thanks for tip regarding the duck seasoning, I will give that a go
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:37am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    If you like THAI flavor you’ll luv it 😛
    It’s amazing and makes the skin sooo crispy! Just rub it on the bird and leave for about 30mins b4 putting it in to roast.
    
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    August 7, 2020 10:11am
- Swifty
  
  Next time you are BBQing some pork belly or shoulder kebabs try the Mamacita Barbeque Marinade Mix – just rub it on an hour or two before bbqing.
  
  Tai Ping have it.
  
  My next door neighbour in Mt Albert for years was an old Thai dear who ran the Mt Albert Thai restaurant; she put me on to Lobo years ago and swore by the brand. I’ve been using it for the last 15-20 years or so and love it. Their Tom Kha mix is especially good.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:48am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    ‘Mama Sita’ sounds fab as well Swifty!
    A few reviews saying it needs to have brown sugar added.
    How say you?
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:43pm
    - Swifty
      
      I don’t and wouldn’t – too easy to subsequently burn your pork when bbq’ing (I only use charcoal, not gas, so am constantly on the lookout for burning/blackening)
      
      What you could do is brush on a brown sugar and soy glaze right at the end of cooking if, out of the packet, you think it needs sweetening.
      
      (NB: I could have sworn the brand was with a ‘C’ but I see now that I’ve looked it up it is with an ‘S’ and two words not one. Thanks for the correction. Cheers)
      
      The local Filipinos swear by it. Not too bad.
      
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      August 7, 2020 1:08pm
- trout
  
  JLR never expected to get elected. He formed a party (goodness knows where he found 500 supplicants); made himself leader and got the pay rise. He will now cease to be re-elected and as such is able to stay on the taxpayers tit for 3 months after the election. A la John Kirk (if you were around then).
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:00pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Pretty sure i read somewhere he managed to get the 500 supplicants when he teamed up with Billy T James.
    
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    August 7, 2020 1:19pm
- cmm
  
  MPie: Did you grab the LOBO social influencer job?
  
  What happened to the Krispy Kreme social influencer gig? Did they shank you? or you shank them? or good girls don’t say?
  
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  August 7, 2020 1:42pm
I remember when

No matter what you think about the risks of having had Jian Yang in Parliament his Valedictory Speech should be compulsory reading/watching.
A great explanation of the difficulties Chinese citizens born in China experience. The way that circumstances can make an action look suspicious.
This is a problem that needs to be solved so that we have the benefits of their skills without them being treated like spies.
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August 7, 2020 9:11am
Maggie Pie

He’s on now. It’s BANKSY’s last day on MagicTalk.
Runs rings around anyone i’ve ever hard on radio.
Could listen to him all day 😛
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August 7, 2020 9:23am
- Dave Mann
  
  I broadly agree with a lot of Banks’ points….. but I find his whining petulant tone extremely irritating and I switched off after half an hour on Monday.
  
  Glad this is his last day. Hope Peter Williams is back next week!
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:35am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Banksy’s humor is very highbrow and over a lot of peoples heads.
    I do quite like when Peter Williams is on….i can get out and do the shopping 😀
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:11am
Maggie Pie

And it’s amazing to see ‘Insta Bestie’ Mills back in town!
Shes currently holed up in Isolation but looking ABFAB 😛

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDfvXV7Jj-b/

[Mod. Shudder … please give us a heads up!]
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August 7, 2020 10:02am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Wot r ya? 😀
  
  https://i.imgflip.com/45mg4i.jpg
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:41am
- Garbageman
  
  When i look at gang bikes i prefer Triumphs or Harleys
  
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  August 7, 2020 10:51am
  - fernglas
    
    Millie is an influencer, which means she does and has nothing other than a presence on the internet, where she persuades others who do and have nothing to emulate her.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:14am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Very droll, but very true.
    
    With all the Aussie 501s here now, she should have no problem getting all Hoe’d up.
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:01pm
  - wimpston peeeders
    
    id still give it a test ride tho.
    
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    August 7, 2020 6:30pm
- graham
  
  ‘Looking ABFAB’
  
  How can you tell, under all that crap?
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:21am
- lifesgood
  
  Mod, I agree. Repulsive is too kind a word.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:43am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Such a credit to her family. Why not just scribble it in all over and get it done.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:00pm
- RJ
  
  Mod in all fairness you should know to never get Maggie wet, never feed Maggie after midnight and never under any circumstances click on her links.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:24pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Full body tattoos do absolutely nothing for me.
  
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  August 7, 2020 1:21pm
  - Batman
    
    If only people would keep their views to themselves in a more subtle fashion!
    
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    August 7, 2020 2:39pm
krazykiwi

Seen of FB:

America is not divided by race, color, gender or sexual orientation.

America is divided into wise people and fools.

And fools divide themselves by race, color, gender or sexual orientation.
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August 7, 2020 10:14am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  just america???
  
  [Mod. Serious Warning to the new poster:
  
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/comments_policy
  
  Particularly this – ”If you try to get around a suspension, by setting up a second account, then that may result in a permanent ban.”
  
  You have now been warned.]
  
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  August 7, 2020 6:31pm
Critical Thinker

Their scamdemic is gradually falling apart around the world:

UK: “Thousands of coronavirus deaths ‘will be wiped off the government’s official toll”

– Public Health England was miscounting coronavirus death, official review found.

– Counted victims if they died from any cause months later after beating disease.

“It is currently impossible to know how many of the deaths announced by the Department of Health were not actually caused directly by Covid-19.

Separate figures — released on Tuesday — revealed overall deaths in England and Wales are still BELOW the number usually expected at this time of year, based on an average from the previous five years.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8599213/Thousands-Covid-19-deaths-wiped-governments-official-toll-counting-fiasco.html

Reconcile.
?
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August 7, 2020 10:20am
- fernglas
  
  It’s easy to reconcile. Previously, excess deaths were higher than usual because of the consequences of Covid-19. Now they are lower because the people who would normally be dying now pegged out a few months early. It’s basically the Grim Reaper doing a two-for-one offer in the first half of the year, then running out of stock in the second.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:18am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Its going to be a bit egg on face to have to front up to that.
    
    “Sorry chaps, destroyed the economy, beggared your grandkids, and let granny die scared and alone…better safe than sorry, can’t make omelets without breaking the odd egg…. well, must dash, toodle pip!
    
    Oh, and remember to keep letting the government track your every move and keystroke….Greater good and all that. Hugs!”
    
    So, best we change the subject?
    
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    August 7, 2020 12:06pm
BAM

The whole party needs to be restructured, this is hopeless.
Far too much local level fuckwittry.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/legal-threats-over-nats-auckland-central-selection
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August 7, 2020 10:21am
- Tony Stuart
  
  There’s nothing wrong with the structure of the party BAM, just a few people who put themselves ahead of the good of the party.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:33am
- bruceavon
  
  Yeah. I do wonder whether the central party and minders need more control. This debacle doesn’t help anyone. National need someone high profile and immediately recognisable in this seat. The first thing we need to happen to beat Labour is for the Greens to fail to get 5%. The odds are massively against Swarbrick winning but we can’t leave it to chance. And there is not long to go. I would like to see a poll of Auckland Central.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:31pm
Surely Knott

An idea for Newshub’s next push poll. Was it farmers or jacinda who fed us and kept the export dollars rolling in during covid? Who was the saviour of nz?
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August 7, 2020 10:24am
- RJ
  
  It was the great saviour, lord Jacinda Christ , she turned water in Coca Cola, bread into hamburgers, and people we lined up for miles to experience it.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:16pm
surfing

So, Tauranga council, who just increased my rates by 15%.

What have they been up to… for a start , pissing away $45.5 million dollars with nothing to show (apologies for language but this is agitating)….

Ratepayers’ $5.5m bill to fight council over apartment defects
Tauranga City Council will pay $21 million for its portion of an out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit over defects in Mount Maunganui’s Cayman Apartments building.

And, the second waste of money….

Tauranga City Council abandons completion of Harington Street Transport Hub
As unpalatable as it is to abandon a project which has already cost $19 million, our expert advice makes it clear that the completion options available to us would simply be sending good money after bad,”

They are blowing away serious money, Tauranga does not have a large ratepayer population.

People here don’t even complain, they just take it, then vote in mostly the same bunch that causes these problems!!
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August 7, 2020 10:45am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Long past time that occupants were responsible for rates rather than owners
  
  Either that or voting is restricted to those paying rates
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:20am
- septic skeptic
  
  Same almost everywhere. The local government model is irreparably broken. Even if you elected a decent Mayor and council they would have a hard time reigning in the career trougher employees.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:16pm
  - chukar
    
    SS
    You are so so right.
    
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    August 7, 2020 7:31pm
- Tall Man
  
  Just driven through tauranga. You’re not getting value regarding your roads.
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:38pm
Tony Stuart

Members of Parliament who are defeated at an election do not get the opportunity to make a Valedictory Statement, as those who are leaving voluntarily do.

So in case Winston Peters is beaten at the election, his speech in the Adjournment Debate yesterday was a de facto Valedictory. It’s not a speech that will be remembered fondly – it came with lashings of bitterness, abuse, and even a touch of misogyny. However, in many ways, it was very much an epitaph for Winston Raymond Peters.

For those who missed it, here it is: https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=215323

PS – the silence from Green and Labour female MP’s about Peters’ “Botox” jibe at Judith Collins has been deafening. Can you imagine the hue and cry had a male National MP made a similar comment about Jacinda Ardern? The hypocrisy is, as ever, strong.
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August 7, 2020 10:51am
- bruceavon
  
  Yes. Shocker. I notice a lot of Labour members not laughing much. Watched a lot of valedictory speeches and some of the last speeches in parliament lately. Some very good ones. Kaye, Adams and Dowie were excellent. But some good stuff on the other side too. James Shaw’s final speech yesterday was surprisingly funny. Especially the digs at NZF. Lee’s Galloway’s one I respected because it was very honest and took responsibility for his actions. The same can’t be said for Claire Curran’s, the worst one to my mind. Apparently almost everyone else is to blame for her fall. Parliament, the press etc. Even took a swipe at RNZ for not doing their job and holding people to account like the press should. What? The press did hold people to account. Her. I watched her unravelling and it was a result of great relentless reporting from particularly Stacy Kirk in Stuff and also excellent work by Melissa Lee in parliament. Curran just crumbled. Now it’s everyone else’s problem! So horribly entitled and she doesn’t even know it.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:02am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Paula Bennett and David Carter also delivered excellent Valedictories. Carter got very emotional when he remembered 22 February 2011, getting news that a friend had been killed by falling masonry.
    
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    August 7, 2020 11:11am
    - lifesgood
      
      Jacinda couldn’t face Judith’s speech. She had her head down buried in her lap the whole time. Too good for you, eh, Jacinda. Please make that scary lady go away. LOL.
      
      29 0
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      August 7, 2020 11:46am
- Swifty
  
  You mean that ‘zip it sweetie’ was a capital crime, but references by a man to ‘botox’ is nothing to see here?
  
  Why am I not surprised?
  
  26 0
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  August 7, 2020 11:33am
- RJ
  
  Perhaps the green MPs eve busy googling Botox and seeing if it was too late to help them.
  
  8 0
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  August 7, 2020 12:14pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They probably think it is for removing mustaches, male and female
    
    3 0
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    August 7, 2020 5:40pm
- Ruawai
  
  Winston is like a school yard bully.
  
  16 0
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  August 7, 2020 12:26pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s a COL property.
    
    5 0
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    August 7, 2020 2:00pm
WaveyDavey

Anyone else seen the Henry Cooke piece on Labour’s successes?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300076205/election-2020-what-the-goverment-got-done-and-what-it-didnt

Such thin pickings that he’s claiming things that didn’t or haven’t yet happened as successes

“In welfare there have been many boosts, although not as many as those recommended by the Government’s own working group…

In health, overall funding was increased… although actual funding for acute care has not gone up proportionately, despite a recommendation to do so.

Education also saw an overall funding boost… Fees-free study was introduced… but does not look set to be extended as it did not bring in as many new students as hoped

Just this week the Government overhauled tenancy laws… although neither of these changes have gone into effect

A gigantic number of state houses have been built, but the waitlist has also more than doubled.

Transport has been one of the more controversial areas… the public transport spend never made it there, thanks to the mess surrounding Auckland light rail.

On climate change, the Government eventually passed its Zero Carbon Bill… …ban of new offshore oil and gas exploration. But emissions have not dropped.”

Bear in mind that these are the touted success stories.

With successes like that who needs failures.
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August 7, 2020 11:06am
- Swifty
  
  We must remember that if a new technology or procedure acme along which had the effect of reducing costs while bettering outcomes – this would be seen by many people including the Labour and Green parties as a policy failure as would have the consequential effect of bringing health spending down.
  
  If National did it – they, and all their union mates, would be screaming “Health CUTS!!!!”
  
  Forgive my language; but this is the fucked up world we live in. This is the sort of thing Curran was talking about when she wrote that paper on ‘controlling the narrative’ – which is a euphemism for misleading or outright lying to the NZ public.
  
  She knows it. We know it.
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:30am
- krazykiwi
  
  Lol to the desperate claim that A gigantic number of state houses have been built
  
  17 0
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  August 7, 2020 11:44am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Weren’t half of that number contracted and started under National?
    Also note that most of these “houses” seems to be closer to one bedroom sheds (not that there’s actually anything wrong with that).
    
    10 0
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    August 7, 2020 12:04pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Thanks that passed me by, being buried under all the other drivel.
    
    5 0
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    August 7, 2020 12:22pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    And a gigantic number of new houses cancelled as a result of government action (480 at ihumatao)
    
    13 0
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    August 7, 2020 12:50pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      What’s become of that unlawful occupation? perhaps we should send in independent team to recover it for Fletchers. The Police seem covered in COVID.
      
      5 1
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      August 7, 2020 1:58pm
- cmm
  
  Cindy will be wanting her $50M back…
  
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  August 7, 2020 11:50am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  So pretty much nil achievement, but much crap and damage.
  
  When even the cheerleaders can’t find anything to count as an achievement, its a bit of a worry.
  
  Fortunately another lockdown, and frowny tilty head will pull us over the line?
  
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  August 7, 2020 12:10pm
  - cmm
    
    Cindy is the Bridget Jones politician.
    
    Part of the Bridget Jones enchantment is that the most basic accomplishments are beyond her grasp. Her failings and changes are part of her charm.
    
    They know this.
    
    Hence we get splashed with crap about wonky birthday cakes.
    
    10 1
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    August 7, 2020 1:55pm
Flossie

I am very concerned about this proposal for more paid sick days for employees. My partner still works and therefore could do okay out of this (if he ever is sick….one day in the last 20 years). What does worry me is his company has already retrenched quite a few staff, obviously to cut costs. How many more will have to go to make the books balance now? There are some he works with who make sure they use the whole 5 days every year now, and I know people (even family I’m embarassed to say) who have no shame in saying oh well I want to go to whatever and if I can’t get a day off I’ll just take a sickie.
I do think it would be a better idea to have sick days (5 annually) accumulate then if a serious illness crops up it could well require more than 5 days to recover. There would have to be some pretty strict requirement for proof of illness.
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August 7, 2020 11:16am
- lifesgood
  
  I was disgusted by the number of teachers in the high school where I worked who worked out how many sick days they had each year and used them up, crowing about taking a “mental health” day. Of course they were nothing of the sort, simply skiving off days. I always wondered how they would be placed if they really needed a lot of sick days.
  
  21 3
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  August 7, 2020 11:49am
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    We have people at work that use every sick day and every annual leave day to a tee every year. When they actually get sick or need to go back to Samoa they come to my office with a big sob story….and Im the one who is the a-hole when I cant do anything to help them
    
    8 0
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    August 7, 2020 2:19pm
- Ed Snack
  
  Interestingly, some companies include untaken sick leave in redundancies, which might be a good idea as it would at least deter some from using their sick leaved unnecessarily.
  
  5 0
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  August 7, 2020 1:53pm
I remember when

Doctors Without Borders: A nurse in Southern Sudan.
“On my first day we had over 500 presentations to the emergency room. We were faced with rapidly changing health needs: the malaria season was followed by watery diarrhoea, then rabies, then hepatitis E. On top of this, there were high rates of TB, HIV and malnutrition, as well as poor mental health from the insecurity and violence.”
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August 7, 2020 11:16am
Surely Knott

Why is it that when Oranga Tamariki agency is reported as doing a poor job, their is no picture of the Prime Minister or any govt. minister’s photo or name.
But when the govt health agency achieves a goal of no community transmission it is directly attributable to the Prime Minister .

Second the schizophrenic messaging – the herald are pumping up the achievement for 100 days of elimination – the herald say we “got rid of the virus” – but at the same time telling us to race out and get masks for our family and keeping the fear and terror current so that we still believe that the virus is not eliminated and this is still the top issue of the day dominating the news cycle.
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August 7, 2020 11:35am
- Flossie
  
  I wondered that too. The Herald item trumpeting about getting rid of it and at the same time we’re being told to make sure we have masks on hand and be prepared for another round of it.
  
  14 0
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  August 7, 2020 11:54am
  - cmm
    
    Deliberately causing confusion causes stress. Stress causes panic. Panic causes people to stop thinking and become fearful. Unthinking, fearful people are easily lead.
    
    Hence put on a mask, no take it off!
    
    11 1
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    August 7, 2020 1:58pm
Maggie Pie

I like to help people find things by pointing out that it’s got to be around here somewhere.
12 0
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August 7, 2020 12:49pm
- Ed Snack
  
  And when you do find it, it’s always in the last place you look !
  
  6 0
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  August 7, 2020 1:55pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Usually a ‘hiding place’ But when you find it, the hiding place is now just a ‘place’
    
    2 0
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    August 7, 2020 5:44pm
Steve Todd

Great to see that the Hamilton City Council has decided to enter the 21st century.

Yesterday, the council adopted the STV voting system for the 2022 and 2025 local elections. Hopefully, all 12 councillors will be elected city-wide (like they are in Dunedin (14) and Palmerston North (15)), but if the two 6-seat wards are retained, I could live with that.
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August 7, 2020 1:01pm
Maggie Pie

And i hear MagicTalk discussing that a 24yo man, an early education teacher, was discharged without conviction and given perm name suppression, after being arrested for… Masturbating in front of children at a swimming pool.

Talk about going soft on crime.
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August 7, 2020 1:01pm
- RJ
  
  Well next week you have someone called Paula Bennett hosting the morning show for a week, so I’m sure she will keep you entertained
  
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  August 7, 2020 1:16pm
RJ

Dear labour, please don’t try to speed things up because of COVID

The Transport Agency has identified problems with two new bridges being built on the Auckland Northern Corridor highway project.

That’s partly due to efforts to speed up construction after a five-week Covid-19 shutdown of the $700 million job.

The Agency is reviewing the design of the Rosedale Busway bridge after changes to an abutment to speed up work put the bridge out of alignment.
A peer review due this month would “identify solutions for issues identified with aspects of the bridge design,” the agency told RNZ.

One news
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August 7, 2020 1:22pm
Tony Stuart

All those explosions being heard around New Zealand now are lefties’ heads blowing up at the news that Paula Bennett will be doing the 9am to midday spot on Magic Talk Radio next week!
17 0
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August 7, 2020 1:23pm
- RJ
  
  And the sad part for them is they can’t demand equal broadcasting for a labour MP because she’s gone and not part of the campaign
  
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  August 7, 2020 1:26pm
Durden

Cactus Kate’s article has a link to the evil witch in our midst, the past-pm Clark, asserting that the vaccine is at least 2 years away devastating the global economy.
https://asianinvasion2019.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-end-of-days-comes-when-germans-are.html

She will of course say it only in the international media to help her profile as the WHO saviour.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12092112/coronavirus-vaccine-two-years-helen-clark-who/

Clark sticks her beak into the Labour government business all the time advising them directly, and presumably via H2 . Her “husband” Peter Byard Davis pontificates on various platforms using his Auckland DHB Board and AUT positions regularly.

Why have these backroom manipulators not told Ardern / Hipkins / Woods et al openly and PUBLICLY their views against what is being perpetrated on the NZ people and the economy ?

Why don’t they advice that NZ should be looking at getting its act sorted out and do a carefully controlled opening the borders and the economy?

Of course they won’t do it. Because above all they crave power. And the influence and the money that it brings to their dodgy trusts/foundations/research centres.

And right now the way to power in NZ is to keep the country cowering and scared. Hence Bloomfield/Hipkins/Woods and Ardern saying that the resurgence of the “eliminated” virus is imminent.

These un-worthies are typical examples of gutter politicians, troughers and other no-skin-in-the-game functionaries (like Cullen and the WHO) that exhort other countries to follow their advice without feeling the slightest amount of shame that they don’t follow it themselves closer to home.

They have no shame.

The media who write their “opinion” have no balls. And the people who vote for them have no brains or don’t want to use them.
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August 7, 2020 1:31pm
Swifty

1,000 pipers – Saluting the Chieftan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUIOtA8LPec
6 1
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August 7, 2020 1:40pm
RJ

Damn, it struck high-voltage power lines

Viral footages on wechat, Apartment striked by lightening in Shenyang

Youtube
4 1
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August 7, 2020 1:50pm
RJ

Any security guards in your street, perhaps you have a house under managed isolation…..

Two people who recently returned from overseas are in managed isolation at their own house in a suburb in South Auckland.

The Herald has confirmed the pair were granted a special exemption on medical grounds. Both have returned negative tests for Covid-19 on day three.

NZ Herald
6 2
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August 7, 2020 2:12pm
Maggie Pie

Is it just me…..
or does Chris Luxton look a bit like Todd Muller?
6 2
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August 7, 2020 2:13pm
- RJ
  
  They all remind me of someone
  
  4 2
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  August 7, 2020 2:22pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Do you mean Chris Luxon?
  
  4 2
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  August 7, 2020 2:56pm
Libertarians are right

Conspiracy Theory Time:

Labour have spent the last few years diminishing our relationship with Australia (Jacinda attacking them over Climate Change + Manus Island + NZ crims in Aussie, Hipkins interferring with their politics, letting Behrouz stay here despite him being an excluded person), massively increasing the odds that the Aussies may remove our easy access to their country.

Both the Greens and the PSA have come out recently pushing aggressively for wealth taxes.

Is it just a coincidence that at a time our ability to escape the country is being put at risk by the Left, the Left are trying to increase their ability to steal our wealth?
10 1
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August 7, 2020 3:03pm
Prince

Must be election coming up. Andrew Little is dragging out the grieving families from Pike River for one more run around the media. Poor bastards.
I see he is now preparing the groundwork for an end to the gravy train but still talking about the possibility of a body being found.
And he lays the blame at the feet of ‘corporate management’ and the department of labour. Nothing about the union boss who ok’d the mine of course.
How does he sleep at night ?
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August 7, 2020 4:00pm
- cmm
  
  ” How does he sleep at night ?”
  
  In a quarter of a million dollar a year bed we provide him with.
  
  9 1
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  August 7, 2020 5:01pm
- greybeard
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122380610/one-chance-at-recovering-human-remains-in-pike-river-drift-says-minister
  Is there NOTHING this piece of shit will not do to get voted in again ?
  
  5 0
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  August 7, 2020 6:12pm
RJ

Government starts bribing councils

South Canterbury district councils have been offered multi-million dollar sweeteners to sign up to the early stages of the Government’s proposed reforms of water supplies.
3 0
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August 7, 2020 6:00pm
surfing

Hey, all you Trump fanbois.

I suppose you must now pronounce Thailand as Thigh-land.

The great leader could not be wrong of course. Trump is a genuine accidental Shakespeare.
1 3
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August 7, 2020 8:19pm
- RJ
  
  Oh no someone didn’t pronounce a word correctly quick call the nazis that get so excited about this. Seriously who gives a fuck. People here make a deal about how Jacinda pronounces things, people bitched about Simon Bridges, some people need to get a life and get over themselves.
  
  Oh and I couldn’t give a stuff about trump.
  
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  August 7, 2020 9:04pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Fustrading
    
    1 0
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    August 8, 2020 8:51am

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