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January 20, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 20 January 2021

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General Debate

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Tony Stuart

Audrey Young puts the journalistic boot into Chris Hipkins this morning (from behind the paywall). But this bit is interesting:

But Hipkins, the usually plain-speaking minister, has become beige in his descriptions of what is going on.

He is clearly trying to avoid getting into specifics, or setting targets or expectations that might not be met in volatile international conditions.

Hipkins’ halo slipped at the end of last year when he withheld an important and damning report into the Covid response until the week before Christmas.

It’s in danger of slipping further. So far Hipkins has got away with the lack of urgency because there has been no recent incursion of Covid into the community despite the more contagious strains presenting. But that could change in a flash.

National has read the public right on vaccines. There is disquiet about the virulent strains escaping into the community.

And Hipkins has been slow to recognise it and explain what is going on, what is realistic in terms of early delivery of vaccines and what is unreasonable.

The Government is highly sensitive to accusations of non-delivery.

Jacinda Ardern began 2019 proclaiming it to be the Year of Delivery and then spent most of it defending the Government’s record on non-delivery on some big items.

She won’t make that mistake when the Labour ministers and MPs meet today in Nelson for the first time this year.

But nor should the Government dismiss concerns over vaccine supply simply because it is the Opposition raising them.

Singapore got its first vaccines on December 21. New Zealand’s are due to arrive at an indeterminant time in the first quarter of 2021 for a roll-out starting in April.

An explanation is required.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/audrey-young-is-chris-hipkins-halo-slipping/6F2AZ7EP5GXOELC4KORSCU24QE/

Hipkins does indeed need to explain why we’ve gone from being at “the front of the queue” to wondering where the queue actually is.
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December 20, 2020 8:05am
- mandk
  
  Hipkins is just another government minister who talks a lot, without really saying anything meaningful, and who achieves nothing.
  
  And just to think he’s one of Ardern’s top performers.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:16am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It has been explained Tony, don’t know why you and Audrey don’t understand that being at the front of the queue doesn’t simply mean selecting the first vaccine available, nor does it overlook there are scores of other countries wanting to be at the front of the queue, in fact, some countries happy to give some vaccine’s emergency approval.
  Hipkins is not the only source of information, just as you are not.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:24am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Front of the queue LOL.
    
    It’s likely we are somewhere between Bolivia and Nigeria with the muppets running our country.
    
    I’m convinced we fucked up the supply agreements and squealer and St Ash know this and are hiding behind Medsafe.
    
    Of course the MSM won’t look into this – they are too lazy and feckless cut and pasting Princess bride lookalike stories and running Jaws scare porn on a couple of Bronze Whalers.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:33am
    - virtualmark
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Oh Frank New Zealand would have been so much better with you leading the negotiations with Pfizer. You could have driven your tank to the meeting, thumped the table many times, ranted and frothed … and then have Pfizer calmly explain that they have to prioritise deliveries by clinical need (triaging) and that means New Zealand isn’t expected to get deliveries until March.
      
      Australia will be slightly ahead of us because at the time these scheduling decisions were being made Victoria was in hard lockdown.
      
      And if you were to try to drive your tank to a renegotiation with Pfizer this week I fear they would be more likely to delay our deliveries – given things in the rest of the world have got worse – than accelerate them.
      
      The only plus side of being further down the delivery priorities is that MedSafe have the time to do a proper review rather than an emergency authorisation.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:07am
      - Frank the tank
        
        I’ve learnt over time when people’s counter argument gets personal that they are losing. This what is appearing in your comments.
        
        The converted in (little) Aotearoa like being treated like mushrooms. Kept in dark and fed shit. If it is as you say let’s see the proof – for the life of me I can’t see what commercial sensitivities there are for mass produced drugs that the whole world is getting.
        
        Funny how none of the details of the agreements (price, terms etc) are being supplied. What are they hiding? And yes that goes for the rest of the world as well.
        
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        January 20, 2021 10:32am
      - giltee
        
        I think you missed your mark virtualmark. 50 million vaccine doses will be manufactured in Australia in monthly batches. CSL will manufacture these doses on behalf of AstraZeneca. NZ is relying on importing the vaccine from overseas. The Australian government, (unlike the NZ Labour government), is proactive instead of leeching off others and has invested hugely in providing the vaccine as fast as they can to protect their people. Other than waiting to see what vaccine is best you have to question Aderns reasoning for her 3rd world timing of NZ’s Covid vaccination. Perhaps once the vaccines been rolled out she’ll no longer have the same control over the sheeple who put her there or perhaps she’s only good at talking and the organisation of the rollout is beyond her capability.
        
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        January 20, 2021 10:33am
      - Aunty
        
        Pfizer does not like Pharmac. There is history there. Pharmac has not always operated in the best interests of New Zealand Inc, clinically or otherwise. Many of its decisions are exasperating, inexplicable, and perverse. Pfizer doesn’t owe us any favours. It’s a business. It has other more pressing priorities and important customers than NZ’s socialist Government to deal with. Join some dots why don’t you?
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:45am
      - virtualmark
        
        What I can say is that New Zealand had very little influence over the timing of when vaccines will arrive here.
        
        Frank, I do agree with you that the Government could be more open about the vaccine arrangements and what is driving them.
        
        giltee, I know CSL well. Yes, they are gearing up to manufacture the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. AFAIK they are still in low rate manufacturing for certification. I believe CSL is interested in the medium to long-term opportunity to add the Covid vaccine into the annual flu vaccine (which they are our main source of).
        
        The Aussie govt has done basically exactly the same as the NZ govt – so I don’t understand the reason you think Aussie has done better, beyond that you may have a grudge against the NZ govt. On the one hand Aussie is fortunate to have CSL Behring located there, but on the other that local manufacturing won’t be the first to market, and there are better vaccines than the AstraZeneca one.
        
        I have not seen any evidence that Jacinda or Labour are trying to control the NZ population via Covid – that’s just frothingly crazy.
        
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        January 20, 2021 2:58pm
    - kevn
      
      @FRank… The msm will be busying ‘reporting’ on biden. A distraction that will last for days. Gives the clown circus and holidaying cindy (what prison riot?) a breather.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:32am
    - edhunter
      
      I’m as happy as most on here to put the boot into Cindy & Co, but surely the northern hemisphere currently going through their winter and record numbers of infections will take priority over NZ happily isolated at the arse end of the world without any large outbreaks.
      Should Cindy & Co be held to account for saying we’re at the head of the line and knowing we’re not? Definitely.
      Should the MSM have called them out on it straight away? Yes indeed, after all it’s not exactly rocket science to work out where the need is greatest and therefore where the vaccines will be first rolled out. On the upside at least we wont be the 1st guinea pigs getting dosed.
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:51am
      - redflagged
        
        Cindy & Co taking responsibility and being accountable for their actions, or lack of?
        
        That would be a first. It’s always someone else fault with that lot, the thing is, they don’t care.
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:39am
    - tf78
      
      Frank – maybe our credit is no good.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:46am
      - calendar girl
        
        What would lead you to question NZ’s credit in relation to such expenditure?
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:23pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Nonsense Brian. Hipkins made a boast as recently as 16th November that “Without going into detail I think we’re in a very good place to ensure that as vaccines start to come to market New Zealand will be at the front of the queue to be getting vaccines,”.
    
    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/new-zealand-front-queue-chris-hipkins-says-nation-well-placed-covid-19-vaccine-roll
    
    He hasn’t delivered in his promise/boast, and he needs to be held account to that, especially should any front-line border of MIQ personnel contract one of the new strains of Covid-19.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:36am
    - Simon
      
      Yes but but other sources of information like “we are in this together” & “be kind” . And we are just so lucky to have Jacinda.
      
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      January 20, 2021 8:40am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Believe what you want, I ride my own horse – just.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:01am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Brian, looking at your posts
        “Believe what you want, I ride my own horse – just.”
        More like,
        You are the butt end of the pantomime pony, in the position to best kiss Hipkins ass.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:30am
      - Crisplion
        
        “I ride my own horse”
        
        The trouble is Brian, you’re supposed to face forwards and not backwards. You’ll see more of what’s coming that way.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:40am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      You are totally incorrect. New Zealand and Australia are global outliers on vaccination. Apart from Brazil but that is not surprising.
      
      https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
      
      However it will come as no surprise that Australia has a very comprehensive plan once it hits the go button. Three weeks from now.
      
      https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/01/australia-s-covid-19-vaccine-national-roll-out-strategy.pdf
      
      So once Australia races ahead, New Zealand will be a global outlier, and in fact the last country in the OECD to get its shit together.
      
      Why do you defend this?
      
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      January 20, 2021 8:52am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        I’m not sure if you’re talking to me Benedict, but I’m not defending anything. You’ll see that later I called it hyperbole. It would be Dreamtime for anyone to think that NZ could get to the front of the queue anyway. Just because Tony believed it doesn’t mean I did.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:04am
      - virtualmark
        
        Australia has had a number of “very comprehensive plans” about Covid. Unfortunately they’ve struck problems with many of those plans. So I’d be cautious about Australia racing ahead. I wish them luck, but pragmatic me says they haven’t earned my confidence yet.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:10am
      - cmm
        
        Brian: You’re misrepresenting what Tony said.
        
        Tony isn’t saying NZ could be at the front of the queue.
        Tony isn’t saying that NZ should be at the front of the queue.
        
        He’s calling out Hipkins for saying that NZ is at the front of the queue, then later changing his tune and then trying to repaint this failure as a virtue.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:33am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Check your calender it’s January now Tony, there was information out about this last week. I commented about it and Maggie W posted the link. Try to keep up.
      You of all people should understand political hyperbole, your claims about internal polling last year were memorable.
      I prefer the cautious approach and as the DGOH said recently we have a small advantage in that we are not under siege as much from C19 compared to many other countries.
      
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      January 20, 2021 8:59am
      - lifesgood
        
        Talking rot as usual, Brian. A radio report this morning stated that 191 countries already have the vaccine. Hard and early, eh? No, it’s just a case of now we have got the country terrified and controlled we don’t want to let go.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:05am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Try to keep up.”
        
        A mark of smug rudeness that makes me never read anything someone posts ever again.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:11am
      - redflagged
        
        Let’s Keep Moving Backwards should of been Labour’s election slogan.
        
        Worse delivery since Tom Hanks Fedex parcel in Castaway.
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:44am
    - cmm
      
      Fool me once – shame on you; fool me untold many times – shame on me.
      
      They’ve been lying from day one, so who really expects them to stop now?
      
      Remember all the lies about testing availability? Meanwhile GPs couldn’t get people tested.
      
      Remember the lies about flu vaccine being plentiful? Yet GPs couldn’t get vaccines and were bumping patients down the queue.
      
      Remember the lies that they were bringing in the military? Yet the military had already been involved for over a month.
      
      So why would anyone think they’ve got it together this time?
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:16am
      - kevn
        
        @cmm… Also, add the PEP distribution debacle.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:34am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        AMShow this morning
        Asked Bloomfield
        Are we in position to fight this new strain (or words to that effect.
        He never answered the question, just waffled about PPE and QR codes.
        The only way to be better prepared, would have been to increase ICU beds by 50%.
        After all, the world over, it ICU’s that are being swamped.
        If they haven’t increased ICU capacity, they are NOT prepared, at all.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:48am
      - redflagged
        
        Come on now, don’t let facts get in the way of the spin!
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:46am
      - tf78
        
        cmm – Lockdown coming in 3,2,1 ! Reset, reset, reset.
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:50am
    - cmm
      
      Tony, if you read what Hipkins said then you can immediately tell it was designed to deceive.
      
      “Without going into detail” translation “I’m making this up on the hoof”.
      
      “I think we’re in a very good place”. Why the need for “I think”? If we have solid orders in place etc then ” we’re in a very good place” would have been enough.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:29am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        I see the rhetoric has changed in just one day.
        Yesterday, the vaccination program was just a few weeks away, now in the News I see it is months away.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:34am
      - sooty
        
        They are having trouble remembering the lies they told!
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:34am
      - Bob
        
        Thinking logically is not part of Hipkins skill set; nor any others in this govt for that matter.
        
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        January 20, 2021 12:03pm
      - cmm
        
        sooty: They don’t have to remember anything because the MSM (“the eyes and ears of the nation” – hah!) never call them out for lying.
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:55pm
  - Simon
    
    “being at the front of the queue doesn’t simply mean selecting the first vaccine available”
    
    Lol – there is Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen, University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and Novavax. Also there is a chinese vaccine.
    
    Right now you can fly to Dubai and get a vaccine. Two choices of vaccine. Or other places. Vaccine being rolled out all through the world. Israel notable for eg. Many others.
    
    But “we are in this together” incompetent shit prevails.
    
    As noted lets hope Covid19 doesnt start killing people in the community because Labour fucked up the vaccine roll out like they have fucked up every other roll out of anything they have promised.
    
    Well this is kiwiblog so can be honest they have already fucked up the roll out.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:59am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      You f’ed up for believing it. One born every minute.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:15am
      - Tall Man
        
        Pot Kettle here methinks.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:21am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Last year, they said, they had “secured” a couple of vaccines in large enough numbers.
      Now it’s provided they pass “our” testing procedures.
      So…weasel words again
      implying “secured” means ordered and bought.
      BUT NO.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:37am
    - Close Hen Counters
      
      Gawd I hope we don’t end up with the Chinese version of the vaccine
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:47am
      - curry4me
        
        Close Hen Counters: Yes indeed. I’d rather stay hwere indefinitely than use a Chinese vaccine.
        
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        January 20, 2021 7:39pm
    - redflagged
      
      Yip 49 countries (25% of countries worldwide) have already started vaccinations. Including Samoa who we promised to give vaccines to in a wet presser to win hearts and minds of the worlds woke and virtue signaling MSM.
      
      We won’t start until April, and that’s best case scenario.
      So much for “Front of the Queue”.
      
      Perhaps Hipkins and Labour are a bunch of lying bastards? Either that or inept and incapable of delivering any positive policy they promise.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:53am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I see. So what you’re saying is, we really are at the front of the queue – it’s just the wrong queue.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:40pm
- pdm
  
  `She won’t make that mistake when the Labour ministers and MPs meet today in Nelson for the first time this year.’
  
  I for one do not believe that – same inept Ministers same weak Part Time Prime Minister.
  
  Is it correct (as stated be Andrew Dickens Newstalk ZB on Monday) that she will not be back in her office in Wellington until after Waitangi?
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:25am
  - Paulus
    
    Who voted for them – I surely did not !
    
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    January 20, 2021 2:10pm
- Frank the tank
  
  “But Hipkins, the usually plain-speaking minister”
  
  ‘Squealer’ is a lot of things, plain speaking is not one of them.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:27am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    To speak plainly, you must
    Have a knowledge of your subject
    Have an IQ above 90
    Be honest in character
    Believe what you are saying
    Where have you seen ANY Labour member (not just minister) have these qualities?
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:52am
    - redflagged
      
      Kelvin Davis, Phil Twyford and Willie Jackson combined?
      
      Because I think they genuinely believe the nonsense they say/promote.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:59am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        IQ of 30…each?
        I can believe that
        Honest in character……………?????????????????
        Knowledge of subject???????????
        genuinely believe the nonsense they say/promote.
        So does a parakeet.
        
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        January 20, 2021 2:59pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Hard to believe that Hipkins is now in the position as he is one of their top performers!!!! It was all too hard for ex health minister David Clark, and their new health minister is staying well clear of anything Covid.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:44am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Actually very easy to believe based on the evidence we have seen over the past 3.5 years.
      
      What is hard to believe is how they aren’t being held to account at all by anyone other than Hosking and (occasionally) by Soper/HDPA when they can be arsed.
      
      Hosking should get a knighthood for the heroic one-man against (little) Aotearoa fight he is putting up. Every other feckless journalist appears to be sitting on their fist.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:38am
- yossarian
  
  Look I don’t mind waiting for the vaccine, as I can clearly see that other countries that aren’t blessed with the same geography as us are struggling with mounting deaths and ongoing transmission. What I can’t stand is the lies. “We’ll be at the head of the queue” was absolute rubbish. So why did they say it then? Perhaps because they’ve gotten away with being incompetent for so long and never held to account for it, why change now?
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:12am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    What I can’t stand is the lies.
    Went hard and early
    Keep it out (a recent one I heard)…only a years too late.
    Read the “Influenza Pandemic Response Plan c2017”
    on MoH web site.
    Then tick of all the things they did not do, or did not do on time.
    Their response was slow and a joke.
    A joke for which we will pay with our
    Way of life
    Freedom
    Jobs
    economy
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:56am
- redeye
  
  Fan girl Audrey Young again ensures Ardern misses any criticism. All negative publicity must be directed at the minions.
  Young even slips her a subtle compliment with
  “She won’t make that mistake when the Labour ministers and MPs … “.
  Ardern will stay hidden from any COVID stories until the vaccines are available. Then she’ll be the one front and center for the photo op that the first injection presents.
  It’s all politics with these guys and it about time someone started writing about that.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:24am
  - sooty
    
    While throwing chippie under the bus!
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:36am
  - Bob
    
    The media have been paid $150 mill or so to only write ‘puff stories’ about the princesses imagined successes.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:06pm
- Greg Ettridge
  
  They are setting up in a hospital in Melbourne that will start Whu HU vaccinating in mid February, not sure which vaccine but this seems to be a good source reporting this. Assume it is Astra Zeneca.
  New Zealand and Australia use the same processes for approving new drugs, or am I wrong in assuming this.
  There are 7 drugs approved two more very close.
  It looks like a rich mans vaccine, all of Africa except Egypt have ordered vaccines for 5% of populations coverage, whilst Canada has ordered 303%, UK 302%, Australia 230%, NZ 247%.
  Israel has 30% vaccinated. Ordered 138% of pop.
  I am happy to wait at the back of list, while the world goes beserk with vaccinations, it will bring out some very telling statistics.
  Waiting maybe a very wise choice, don’t want to be dribbling in my soup in a nursing home or meeting my maker over a bad jab choice.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:42am
  - giltee
    
    Australia has entered into 4 separate agreements for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, if they are proved to be safe and effective so they’ve covered themselves for the supply of vaccines.
    The Australian Government has invested $363 million to support research and development, to contribute to the global effort to find successful vaccines and treatments to stop the spread of COVID-19.
    They have invested more than $3.3 billion through these 4 agreements, which will strengthen Australia’s position to access safe and effective vaccines when they become available. They will be producing 50 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine themselves.
    What has the Adern government done?
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:53am
    - Bob
      
      Been on Holiday!!
      
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      January 20, 2021 12:07pm
      - Engelbert Humperdink
        
        To be fair they went on holiday early, hard and long.
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:04pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Interesting thing in my mind is: What was the purchase and supply agreement and what did it entail?
  
  https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/37000-front-line-workers-in-aviation-maritime-sectors-expected-to-get-covid-19-vaccine
  
  You have the same with Indonesia and most of SE Asia already vaccinating Key workers.
  
  There’s a lot more to this than on the surface thats for sure.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:45am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    On Newstalk on Monday, Hosking raised the possibility that New Zealand negotiated a fixed price, but has been outbid by countries like Singapore, Indonesia etc, and because of the low price, we have been relegated down to the bottom of the queue.
    
    The only positive in that is that if the ARE side effects to the vaccine that are not yet apparent, they may emerge before any doses are administered in New Zealand. But there’s an element of clutching at straws in that statement!
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:00am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Hi Tony, There seems to a lot of variables in pricing.
      I personally think they are not prepared still to handle -70 degrees vaccines ( Pfeizer) and logistics of rolling it out.
      Alarm bells rung when they showed new Freezers coming of cargo vessel on front page.
      It takes a hell of a lot of power and energy to keep anything frozen -70.
      Hope they are not relying in batteries or windmills during the supply process during roll out.
      Also of interest is did they waiver any litigation issues with drug companies in case of adverse dside effects.
      I’m sure some countries have to some degree.
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:30am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    Indonesia has vaccinated 21 people, ordered for 50% of population, Bali should be safe in a couple of decades, if the world is ruled by a vaccine passport.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:15am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Talking to Second Officer onboard and he says they have already started roll out for essential workers.
      This confirms that.
      https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-vaccine-health-workers-sinovac-13958126
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:35am
- Master Mariner
  
  An interesting article.
  
  https://www.who.int/news/item/24-08-2020-172-countries-and-multiple-candidate-vaccines-engaged-in-covid-19-vaccine-global-access-facility
  
  Herein lays the issue I’m guessing.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:47am
- GT Build
  
  We are in the Far-Queue
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:41pm
  - Nickc2
    
    What would you expect? We had Cindy bad-mouthing the POTUS and Pfiza being an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation is probably loyal to their POTUS.
    
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    January 20, 2021 2:29pm
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    Guess Cindy can just tell us to Far-Cough.
    
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    January 20, 2021 3:05pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Chippie won Rimutaka with a wider margin than last election. So he is doing everything right. National is irrelevant.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:56pm
Happychappy

This is the result of voting for a Leader in a popularity contest because she kind and caring with no understanding of how to fix this Country’s urgent policies.
Those waiting for public housing has risen to 22,409 and this is a jump of 1,000 from the end of September last year and come as both rents and house prices are surging in a red hot property market.

The waitlist has increased by about8,000 in the last year and more than since quadrupled since a Labour-led Government was elected in 2017.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300209428/public-housing-waitlist-grows-by-1000-in-two-months-to-new-record-high-as-high-rents-hit-the-poor
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January 20, 2021 8:00am
- artemisia
  
  High rents? Maybe, and much of that increase is due to government policies – more cost, more compliance, more risk, more tax, many more rules.
  
  Still and all, just on Trademe today there are 10,900 rentals advertised, 21,363 for sale and 3,612 ads for flatmates. The for sale includes retirement sector, which by the way is going gangbusters with new builds, thus freeing up other homes.
  
  Does that sound like a shortage? Why are these not options for those in motels, cheaper for the taxpayer to help with rent than pay hundreds of dollars a week for rent for unsuitable motels?
  
  Could it be that landlords won’t take them on? Well who would have thought it?
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:36am
- Simon
  
  Labour’s money printing means all their rich mates – millionaire public sector employees- are laughing all the way to the bank.
  
  Many other labour voters, the working poor – suck it up and get down to the food bank.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:37am
Maggie Pie

Personally, I wont be watching Biden’s inauguration tomorrow.
I’ve had it up to here with fake news.
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January 20, 2021 8:02am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Watch it Maggie, it will be a reality check.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:26am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    The thing is Bri, you can say what you like about Trumpys inauguration.
    At least he had more citizens than soldiers there.
    
    Just saying.
    
    73 12
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    January 20, 2021 8:36am
    - Lance
      
      That’s because the Pres before Trump was civilized and his most ardent followers weren’t nutters.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:06am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Pres before Trump
        They were the ones burning down cities, last year.
        
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        January 20, 2021 10:00am
      - Lance
        
        Yes RW Capitalist
        They were evil doers and Trump is righteous and perfect, indeed, the perfect man.
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:27am
      - amospicton
        
        The reason the world was blessed with a Trump presidency is the 8 long years of Obama.
        
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        January 20, 2021 12:16pm
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Thanks, M, I will say what I like. The reason there will be more troops there than citizens is that Trump incited insurrection and the danger remains.
      He was a silly Donald at the end. The thing which it appears a lot of people appreciated was that he apparently had no political background, ultimately that sunk him. He ignored polls (the 2 major drops in popularity mentioned yesterday) and thought he was bigger than the Republican Party with all its experience. He also didn’t notice an epidemic happening under his watch, called it names, and thought it would go away.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:24am
      - alloytoo
        
        Now they are worried that the troops might be Donald supporters and do something rash.
        
        In my experience the perpetually paranoid are usually afraid that someone else would do what they would do in any given situation.
        
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        January 20, 2021 10:31am
      - amospicton
        
        There’s a lot of truth in this Brian but a large part of the reason he got elected was that he was not a politician. The voters had had enough of Obama and the Clintons and blue collar America wanted something different. They certainly got it. I don’t quite understand though why there is surprise that Trump did things differently. Often in a very flawed manner for sure but why the surprise?
        
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        January 20, 2021 12:19pm
      - tf78
        
        Brian – it’s about time you opened your eyes to what is going on in the world before it’s too late. You dislike Trump, but I guarantee you will dislike Harris a whole lot more.
        
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        January 20, 2021 6:11pm
    - SB2
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      MP, do Trump’s unhinged supporters have anything to do with it?
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:40am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Therein begins the beginning of the 4 years of neglect argument. All of the world’s ills will be blamed on Trump.
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:44am
- kowtow
  
  If you don’t watch it you can’t be cured …..
  
  The Ferald tells us Obama was about hope , but this administration ( Harris) brings “healing”.
  
  Oh ye of little faith .
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:35am
  - Inandout
    
    kowtow, Harris is no healer, and as a NZ polly once said, ‘some doctors make you sick, others make you better’. The smiler is no healer.
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:18am
    - oldfella
      
      Harris is not a healer, alth0ugh she has many skills (a few minutes ago I posted a comment here alluding to one of those skills, but got bumped, eh, Mod?).
      I suspect we will all have to be much more polite on KB now that evil Donald Trump is leaving the White House. He was fair game for all manner of hate and vitriol but it seems as if Slow Joe and Harris are now a protected species.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:38am
      - Engelbert Humperdink
        
        Yes, apparently Kamala Harris is Telfon-coated vis-a-vis moderation. The resident troll staff say whatever about DJT, Key, etc. and so forth, but the Harris halo must be resolutely burnished.
        
        [No, we have some standards, which rise out of the gutter talk some posters here seem to think is acceptable. Use it in your own home (and you know who I am speaking to). Mod]
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:07pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        So our Mod does not want the fact that Kamala Harris got to where she is on her back. Shame on Mod.
        
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        January 20, 2021 5:07pm
  - lastmanstanding
    
    My prediction is that if the Trump action proceeds and he is excluded from running for office the violence will turn into something much worse even to a civil war.
    He got nearly 50% of the vote not 5% so there are many many Trump supporters out there.
    
    I also predict Biden/Harris will face threats from China North Korea Iran and Russia testing their resolve.
    
    Already we have has the flow of people from South America hoping Biden will be a soft touch unlike Trump.
    The US economy will tank under the weight of the printing presses.
    
    I note China economy is back to pre Covid levels. Interesting because the same cant be said for US UK EU economies.
    So was Wuhan Flu just an accident or something more?
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:52am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      I think there will be a lot of “buyer remorse” in a year.
      When they find out what Biden/Harris, really stand for.
      The mid terms could be interesting, the peoples next opportunity to hit back.
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:04am
    - oldfella
      
      I wonder if Biden will spring to China’s defense over this ‘slur’ on his good buddies?
      ++
      Pompeo declares China’s policies on Muslims amount to ‘genocide’.
      On his way out the door, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out anew at China on Tuesday, local time, by declaring that its policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang region constitute “crimes against humanity” and a “genocide.”
      The rarely used designation is sure to provoke an angry response from Beijing.
      https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/pompeo-declares-china-s-policies-on-muslims-amount-to-genocide-20210120-p56vey.html
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:52am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Hardly a slur. However, the fact that Pompeo goes public in his penultimate day as Sec of State with condemnation says more about the lack of any moral compass regarding foreign policy under the Trump administration.
        
        What I also find frightening is comment that Trump may seek another chance in 2024, and Pompeo may also seek to run for the Republicans.
        
        Do these fools have no perspective as to how toxic they are?
        
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        January 20, 2021 2:56pm
  - amospicton
    
    Everything the Dems have said and done post election is about carving division wider. Yet they talk healing and the supine media regurgitate it. Amazing.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:21pm
  - tf78
    
    kowtow, I hope she gets well soon as she appears very ill.
    
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    January 20, 2021 6:12pm
- BeeJay
  
  Who cares? Find something sensible to comment on! “Just saying”
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:46am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    When was the last time one of your comments achieved ‘Gold’ status?
    
    Just saying. LOL!!!!
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:18am
    - Biscuit
      
      Just ticked you up to 10, Maggie.
      
      What ‘gold’, by the way?
      
      The shading Kiwiblog uses looks like Pale Yellow to me!
      
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      January 20, 2021 12:20pm
    - BeeJay
      
      Wow! You must be so proud! It obviously doesn’t take much?
      
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      January 20, 2021 12:37pm
      - Biscuit
        
        Creful, BeeJay, heh heh.
        
        There’s RULES in KiwiBlog.
        
        No badmouthing Maggie.
        [Mod: we know you’re joking but let’s not even get onto that slippery slope]
        No supporting of any roundball team that isn’t called Liverpool
        
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        January 20, 2021 1:03pm
      - IC5000
        
        > Wow! You must be so proud!
        
        Some people rely on the external validation provided by social media likes to determine their own inner self worth. It’s a rational choice if you are intrinsically empty as a human being. As Shakespeare once said nothing comes from nothing.
        
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        January 20, 2021 7:23pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Sooooooo, you think you’re being “sensible” when you label a comment “non sensical”…….. Asking for a friend.
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:19am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, when I heard a CNN twat asking when AT&T will be approached to block Republicans using their fibre I was aghast. This is Nazi Germany stuff and must be stopped. CNN are terrified they can’t as yet close their new competitors like Newsmax and Parler because they are aware with Trump gone their company will die, along with late night hosts.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:55am
  - Raphael
    
    CNN, you mean those wonderful people who were calling for “peaceful” protestors to “burn it all down” and are now wringing their hands because people they disagree with did the same as their “peaceful” protestors
    
    (it is peaceful even if they are burning down police stations and trying to burn down federal buildings if they are Antifa/BLM)
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:32am
- Simon
  
  Yep the Dems & MSM promoted violence all year with BLM & Anteefa. Now they have their very own green zone behind a wall.
  
  God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
  
  Galatians 6:7
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:25am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Trump, was impeached because he incited violence not by any direct call for violence in his speech or final tweets (because their were none) but incitement through repeated claims that an election was stolen when legal processes had failed and had determined that it wasn’t.
    
    So is this incitement? Clinton and Pelosi have suggested in a podcast that Trump “might have” been on the phone to Putin the day of the riots. (Ah any evidence of that?) “Putin wants to undermine democracy” of America and with Mr Trump “all roads lead to Putin”.
    
    Wasn’t the Russia/ Trumps claims fully investigated by the state in extensive public interrogations and found no evidence of collusion between trump and Putin. They are also making unfounded accusations against the man after his right of public reply has been removed.
    
    Will this result in impeachment and bans from social media for Clinton and Pelosi? Yeah nah.
    
    https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-phone-putin-capitol-riots-pelosi-clinton-b1789218.html%3famp
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:47am
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, while you’re watching, keep in mind what Obama said about Beijing Biden last year:
  “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up.”
  Fills you with confidence, eh?
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:42am
  - tf78
    
    Joe, along with Pelosi will both be gone soon so it will be Harris and the Gang. God help up all.
    
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    January 20, 2021 6:16pm
- curry4me
  
  Maggie Pie: I won’t be watching President GaGa, Camel, and ‘Dr Jill’ either.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:45pm
Ruahine

I do not believe that labour actually want a Vaccine program at all. I believe they quite enjoy dicking us ordinary citizens around. In fact I get the clear impression that Labour would like a new community case so that they can call it a new variant and then shut down the whole damn country again for the only reason is that they can. We got the power see. I also think they are on such a high that they do not want to allow people to resume their ordinary free lives. Stuff, Labour’s propaganda outlet is also in on the game of bossing people about with ra ra ing compulsory tracking of law abiding citizens.
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January 20, 2021 8:15am
- Inandout
  
  Rua, the boffins are already asking NZ to be ready for another level 4 lockdown. We think they are on holiday but the buggers are planning because the country is in deep financial shit.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:57am
  - virtualmark
    
    How does that make sense?
    
    By what measure are we in “deep financial shit”?
    
    And how would a further level 4 lockdown get us out of that “deep financial shit”?
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:12am
    - Inandout
      
      virtual, socialist thinking, keep the team of 5 million in their homes and wait for a miracle. Labour haven’t a clue how to rebuild NZ.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:59am
      - virtualmark
        
        That’s idiotic. It’s about as idiotic a conspiracy theory as Qanon and the storm.
        
        No government wants to see NZ under lockdown, or cut off from free travel and trade from the rest of the world. If you believe they do then you have lost all sensible perspective.
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:02pm
    - Crisplion
      
      We’re in deep financial shit because the last lockdown cost the country tens of billions of dollars: We’re running on a vast amount of borrowed money and there will be a heavy reckoning for that. Ardern will do all she can to stave off that reckoning until she has a sinecure in the UN. However, you’re perfectly correct in your implication that another lockdown would make the situation worse and not better.
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:22am
      - virtualmark
        
        Yes, we are printing money. And we have incurred debt.
        
        The debt is a Keynesian response to the recent crisis. Government debt has two valid roles – funding the construction of long-life assets, and smoothing out the economic cycle. 2020’s debt is all about that smoothing out the economic cycle. Qu: Do you think it would have been better for NZ to have had no Government salary or business support in 2020, but to have lots of stories about how low our debt levels are??? What option do you really think would deliver the best national economic performance from 2020 to 2030???
        
        The printing money is largely about maintaining our exchange rate at a level our exporters can survive at. The NZD has strengthened against the USD by 20% since our first lockdown started. That’s *with* the RBNZ printing money (devaluing our currency). Without that QE process the Kiwi would prob be somewhere around US$0.80. How do you think Fonterra (to use one example) would cope with that???
        
        If you can’t understand those simple economics then you are muppets.
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:07pm
      - Crisplion
        
        “If you can’t understand those simple economics then you are muppets.”
        
        You’re a rude piece of work, aren’t you? Up until you said that I was labouring under the illusion that you might be worth engaging with.
        
        For what it may be worth I understand the Keynesian theory perfectly well. But “smoothing out the economic cycle” doesn’t usually involve trebling the national debt and, justified or not in theory, there will be consequences for that. For example, money that we would otherwise have been able to spend on hospitals and life-saving drugs, must now be spent on servicing and, ultimately, replaying the lockdown debt. With that in mind we might wonder whether, in the long-run, the lockdown will turn out to have cost more lives than it saved.
        
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        January 20, 2021 9:41pm
    - Frank the tank
      
      LOL. We are printing money like Zimbabwe to keep the lights on and pumping up the property bubble to bursting. In addition relying on a belligerent bully for the majority of our export dollars.
      
      The ignored household to GDP debt level was already 150% before the dynamic duo of Beetroot and Grunter got involved. As a comparison Aust 125%; UK 95%; US 85%.
      
      Our ‘economic’ strategy to date is the equivalent of giving an alcoholic more alcohol so they drink themselves sober.
      
      Not that our feckless media care to investigate.
      
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      January 20, 2021 12:20pm
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      Far more money going out than coming in = Deep Financial Doodoo.
      
      Of course no-one expects Labour voters to understand that fact o’ life.
      
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      January 20, 2021 3:09pm
    - Tall Man
      
      “By what measure are we in “deep financial shit”?”
      
      Seriously?
      
      By what measure are we “not” in financial shit?
      
      The 100 billion quantative easing should be enmough of a clue for anyone who is not clueless.
      
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      January 20, 2021 4:05pm
- The Proper Ghandi
  
  I thought masks are effective, though?
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:58am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    They are, hiding the sheeples identities and making them conform.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:19am
- tf78
  
  Ruahine, I think they’re just biding time until the CCP take over completely.
  
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  January 20, 2021 6:17pm
Tall Man

The above comment on housing got me thinking.

Like many, we watch a few home improvement shows and are envious of the amount of value people overseas seem to get for their dollar in renovations. I think our monopolies are definitely having an impact on the cost of building.

I am also surprised when I see just how much many of these homes in popular locations cost, way above the cost of housing in NZ. There are many locations around the world where a home in a desirable loacation is well over the million dollar cost here. So, are we overpriced?

The other number that interested me was the amount of home ownership in NZ. From memory it was approx 69% at last count. Now when we factor in the other number, people dependant on the state, of 45% would one deduce that as a country we are doing quite well when almost 25% of people who get the bulk of their income from the state actually still own a home!

Now that 45% is conservative and includes those who are on all forms of government assistance from outright welfare through to zero tax payers on WFF.

Those numbers would lead one to assume that economically we are well fucked up 🙂
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January 20, 2021 8:22am
- lifesgood
  
  I’ve seen those programmes and it’s depressing. It is astonishing to me that Americans, with a budget of around $300,000 to $400,000 can buy a large and beautiful 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with big section and swimming pool in a desirable area.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:10am
  - Tall Man
    
    Yes but only in the smaller towns/cities.
    
    Look at San Francisco $US 1.7 million, Los Angeles $US 700,000, $US650,000 and New York $US 730,000.
    
    These major cities equate in NZ to Auckland and Wellington but if you choose to live in Westport ………
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:01pm
    - rangitoto
      
      Dallas has a population similar to Auckland but you can buy a mansion for US$400K.
      
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      January 20, 2021 3:08pm
      - Tall Man
        
        But in the scale of the US Dallas is less than Hamilton.
        
        “Housing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is unaffordable for the average wage earner, with no signs of improvement, as home price increases outpace growth in people’s paychecks, according a new report.”
        
        https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2019/12/19/dallas-fort-worth-median-home-prices-unaffordable.html
        
        Different strokes for different folks.
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:08pm
      - lifesgood
        
        And they really are what we would call mansions…no Keith Hay cheapos for them.
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:10pm
softail 1450

I See Cindy is blaming the huge increase in food parcels being handed out on those bloody landlords, Obviously someone forgot to remind her that “you can blame anything on covid”.
Theres going to be a lot of blaming going on this year and you can bet your house none of it will be headed in the princesses direction.
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January 20, 2021 8:22am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Year of Delivery to the Year of Blame via the Year of Failure in one foul swoop of a pandemic, how clever is that!
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:34am
  - oldfella
    
    Paulus, I think we’re back to another Year of Delivery… of food parcels.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:53am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Many current and former Labour MPs own rental properties. Helen Clark reportedly had a portfolio of at least six. Will they be charging their tenants market rents, or doing the kind thing and freezing their rents?
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:05am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Cindy can blame it on the pope and still win the 2023 election. That is her star power folks.
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:00pm
Simon

What are our values and principles?
In the Labour Party, our principles and values define what we do. They are codified by the Labour Party Constitution:

• All people should have equal access to all social, economic, cultural, political and legal spheres, regardless of wealth or social position, and continuing participation in the democratic process.

https://www.labour.org.nz/party_info

The RBNZ this year cut interest rates to record lows, eased mortgage lending curbs and pumped NZ$100 billion ($70.4 billion) into a quantitative easing programme to boost the economy.

The moves fueled an unprecedented housing market boom, Median house prices have risen by double digits in the last few months, following a 90% hike in the past decade.

https://www.reuters.com/article/newzealand-economy-housing/nz-central-bank-says-monetary-policy-not-best-way-to-cool-housing-market-idUSKBN28K3EH

All that fake Labour shit about equality and fairness goes right out the window with the massive money printing resulting from Labour’s ruinous economic response to Covid19.

Money printing of course isn’t dished out in an equitable manner. Money printing goes to the banks who lend it out to those with property already and with good sustainable incomes. Those with property compound their wealth. Renters further removed from the property ladder as property value soars and inequality in society further entrenched.

Money printing indulged by Labour is the polar opposite of equality and Labour’s so called principles.

Lol – equal access. Define what we do. Cindy with a Thomas Piketty book in her hand wanking on about inequality. Labour & Cindy are fraudulent garbage.
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January 20, 2021 8:26am
Biscuit

Fabulous Cricket game at The Gabba yesterday!

Listening to Australian commentators calling an Australian loss is delicious…
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January 20, 2021 8:30am
- SGA
  
  My son had it streaming onto the TV, and I stopped to have a look how it was going. It was so absorbing that I ended up watching the final hour. Great game – all four results (win, loss, draw, and tie) were possible (although the India win become more likely as the hour progressed), and so was the outcome of the series similarly up in the air.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:03am
- MCos
  
  According to Warney & his mates the Aussie had the best attack ever seen on a cricket pitch.
  It seemed to me they have Cummings plus some other ogres who have seen better day, particularly Mitchell Starc.
  Apart from one jaw dropping innings in Adelaide, India outplayed Australia throughout the series.
  The Australian batting was poor to average and the captain fell to pieces in Sydney. Yesterday he missed a vital stumping after dropping several catches in Sydney. Warner was a passenger. Green, the next boy wonder according to the commentators, took no wickets.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:25am
  - Biscuit
    
    MCos, and India’s stars in this Test were all Y-O-U-N-G boys.
    
    Australia, by contrast, is chocka with old (or aging) men…
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:59am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Playing against an India ‘B’ team
    How embarrassing.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:07am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Especially after New Zealand beat India’s first team, complete with Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Shami. Ishant Sharma, Ravi Ashwin and co 2-zip last season in Wellington and Christchurch. Interesting to note too that Kyle Jamieson’s first two test wickets were Pujara and Kohli, caught by Watling and Taylor respectively. It’s hard to imagine a better start to a test career in the first session of a match!
      
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      January 20, 2021 2:06pm
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Kyle Jameson
        6 matches
        36 wickets
        2.38 Economy
        13.3 average
        Pat Cummins (best test bowler in the world?)
        36 matches
        164 wickets
        2.79 Economy
        21.59 Average
        Do ya recon Kyle can keep it up?
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:21pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    I watched large sections of the test.
    I support 2 teams, NZ and anyone who plays Australia.
    As usual I was screaming at the screen…”Make them bowl at you and for a long time.”
    ALL Aussie bowlers are arrogant, if they don’t get a certain No. of wickets in a prescribed time, they get frustrated and angry and wayward.
    Then they get tired…and wayward.
    By the end, the bowlers were so tired that the new ball near the end of the game, was totally ineffectual.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:03pm
- pdm
  
  Hell Biscuit – the Aussie commentators only called a loss as that last four crossed the boundary.
  
  Indian batting was very good – Aussie bowling was generally poor too short and too wide. I got the impression Starc in particular was head hunting and he paid the price in the end. I also noticed the Aussie umpires did not intervene or call any wides on the balls that went well over the batsmens heads.
  
  Strange that – or consistent?
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:51am
  - Biscuit
    
    I could detect a ‘we’re gonna get WHUMPED’ resignation the further things got on, pdm!
    
    Yep, too many callable extras went by – blame Covid for non-neutral umps.
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:10am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    As they used to say about Wales and rugby, you never beat Wales, you only score more points.
    
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    January 20, 2021 2:08pm
- oldfella
  
  I’d drop Mitchell Starc – who had a bad game – and replace him with Nick Kyrgios who’s a master at the Aussie art of sledging.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:58am
  - Biscuit
    
    I truly do wish the umpires – when they are neutrals again – clamp down on sledging.
    
    A few ‘Scorer: Five bonus runs to the batting side’ will quickly rein in even the loudest-mouthed Aussie…
    
    (Not that all sledgers are Aussie, mind…)
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:18pm
    - oldfella
      
      Also clamp down on bowling dangerous, short pitched deliveries at obviously tail-end batsmen. Which the Aussies did a lot of this series.
      I hope it won’t take another Phil Hughes-type tragedy to make them see sense.
      
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      January 20, 2021 2:47pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  And the Aussie captain said “Cant wait to get you to the GABBA”.
  That comment will come back and haunt him!
  More pain for Paine.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:13am
Maggie Pie

TWITTER TRENDING….. (how spooky is this?)

“A plague shall fall upon the world. After, a feeble man shall rule the Western World with a jezebel. The people will be damaged and subjugated by a fool ruler. The great eagle shall suffer and fall”
– NOSTRADAMUS
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January 20, 2021 8:31am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  That’s not a very nice thing to say about Kamala Harris.
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:40am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Biden describes her as ‘a black woman of asian descent’ so Jezebel as a ‘bloodstained yet strong-willed, politically astute, and courageous woman who is a Phoenician princess who worships Baal, the pagan god of fertility’ ain’t so bad really
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:49am
- Biscuit
  
  Speaking of Twitter…
  Dumping The Donald caused a minor fall in Twitter’s NYSE share price…
  But…
  
  ‘Expect shares to climb back above the $50 per share price level. And beyond. How so?
  First, the political issues may be making news yet again. But, in the coming years, this may be less of a factor. Namely due to the prospect of Twitter better policing its platform. This not only could get Congress off its back. With a less toxic platform, it may be able to improve its reputation among advertisers.
  Second, issues over its financial performance may be in the rearview mirror as well. As seen from its recent earnings release, the company is handily beating expectations. The novel coronavirus’ negative impact on the ad market is starting to fade.
  Put both factors together, and it’s clear there’s more runway ahead for this stock, which has recovered well during these challenging times.’
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:42am
  - cmm
    
    Of course some shares will rise.
    
    I expect to be making more money under Biden. Why? Well some of my income is tied to the military industrial complex.
    
    I’m expecting that Biden is going to turn on the taps and spend like a drunken sailor. I will benefit out of that.
    
    But, of course, I am not an American who is going to be plunged much deeper in debt.
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:07am
    - Mike
      
      Yes, now that the Democrats are in power, it will be time for the Republicans to become deficit hawks again and resume worrying about the national debt.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:42am
    - Biscuit
      
      cmm, The Donald tried to take as much credit as he could be the big rise in the Dow that occurred under his watch.
      
      But, post the Global Financial Crisis, shares were ALWAYS gonna rise, right?
      
      Hell, even in New Zealand under Jacinda’s mismanagement the NZSE has risen fro 7000 to just under 13000!
      
      Interest rates remain (ridiculously) low in most Western countries so shares are, for the forseeeable future, the way to go…
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:54am
      - cmm
        
        “But, post the Global Financial Crisis, shares were ALWAYS gonna rise, right?”
        
        Nope.
        
        Shares are going to rise depending on the perception of the company being profitable in the near future.
        
        I say perception because that is what matters – not reality.
        
        Profitability depends on many factors but depends on the market the company plays in.
        
        Low interest rates help some, not all; war mongering helps some, not all….
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:02am
  - alloytoo
    
    “improve its reputation among advertisers.”
    
    Advertisers want eyeballs, twitter has vowed to exclude 50% of those eyeballs.
    
    Just saying….
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:36am
  - tf78
    
    Biscuit, not sure I entirely agree. Now the twats and their comrades have deplatform ed all the deplorables, they will have no purpose and start eating each other until there is no one left.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:13pm
- fernglas
  
  I thought you’d had it with fake news Maggie. This was never said by Nostradamus. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nostradamus-predict-feeble-man/
  
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  January 20, 2021 8:47am
  - Tall Man
    
    So what?
    
    You really come to a blog and expect every utterance to be totally accurate?
    
    I think you have to head to “stuff” for that to happen ………
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:17am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      What happened to the podium of truth?
      
      $1.00 reserve on TM?
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:37am
      - Tall Man
        
        Heh heh heh, you’re a funny guy 😉
        
        4 3
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        January 20, 2021 11:55am
    - fernglas
      
      I thought that repeating nonsense without bothering to check it was more the province of Twitter and Facebook, but obviously you think it’s fine on this blog too, TallPerson.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:01am
      - Tall Man
        
        Well we tolerate yours without comment most of the time.
        
        Live and let live I say.
        
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        January 20, 2021 11:54am
  - Inandout
    
    fern, good old snopes comes to the rescue.
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:21am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    SNOPES?? Like my partner says ferny, you can swallow what they say with a grain of salt!
    All that site is set up for is to give liberals the benefit of the doubt, while they love to hammer the sh*t out of conservative opinion.
    Case in point….
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:44am
    - Inandout
      
      Maggie, snopes’ owners are woke to the core.
      
      17 5
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      January 20, 2021 10:01am
    - fernglas
      
      Perhaps, Maggie Pie, you could resolve the dispute by posting a link to Nostradamus’ prophecies where this particular one is reproduced.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:07am
      - Engelbert Humperdink
        
        I read it on Nostradamus’ own blog, so there 🙂
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:11pm
- Lance
  
  This is the same prophet that said we were all buggered sideways at the year 1999 and 7 months?
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:09am
  - Biscuit
    
    Lance, I am sure that if you sat down for a day with Mr N’s ‘prophecies’ you would find one to cope with just about ANYTHING that has happened since he wrote them…
    
    ‘And in the second month of the year, a great wailing will cross the land. Biscuit’s cat has lost patience with it not being fed yet and has lashed out with sharp claws…’
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:57am
tavita

Yesterday the herald /MoI was running a piece about how happy all the landlords are about the new legislation that takes away their rights, and how someone who spoke out against it deserved to be shamed and punished. Not pay walled of course. Orwell strikes again.
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January 20, 2021 8:34am
- artemisia
  
  Plenty of landlords are happy with the new rules. Values are rising, rents are rising, tenants are paying for upgrades even if they don’t want them, queues of applicants so no need at all to take on risky ones. And are getting on with termination notices for existing tenants before 11 February if there is even a sniff of risk. What’s not to like?
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:07am
Fletch

And so it begins… Biden picks a ~~man~~ transgender woman as assistant health secretary.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/biden-picks-transgender-woman-assistant-health-secretary

It’s only going to get more woke. Come back Donald, all is forgiven!!
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January 20, 2021 8:34am
- Mike
  
  Poor Fletch, it’s gonna be a terrifying few years for him.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:44am
- Ruahine
  
  Biden may be on to something. A lot of the Western world and certainly the US is a bit queer.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:58am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    One guy I met years ago (an expat American) said
    California is full of fruits and nuts, and even the weather is a little queer.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:07pm
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      …and flakes. Don’t forget the flakes.
      
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      January 20, 2021 3:12pm
    - lifesgood
      
      Do people who are weird move to California to be with the like minded or is their something inherently sick about the state that makes anyone living there a fruit and nut?
      
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      January 20, 2021 3:41pm
rjay

I see the Ministry of Education is asking for people to design history resources for schools. What would you like to see in a resource which meets this requirement:
We want to see materials that reflect the understanding that Māori history is the foundational history of Aotearoa New Zealand, that are inclusive, and that support belonging and well-being.
https://www.gets.govt.nz//MEDU/ExternalTenderDetails.htm?id=23860180
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January 20, 2021 8:38am
- cmm
  
  Unfortunately there is no real Maori history – just mythology.
  
  “that support belonging and well-being” Ummmm, history is supposed to be about what happened, not making up some stories to make every feel better.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:09am
  - Mike
    
    Well, there are several sources of Maori history. Mythology is one – historical in the same way some view biblical stories. But there is also archeology, oral traditions and the writings of the early European explorers.
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:48am
    - cmm
      
      Oral tradition is not history – it is mythology.
      
      Certainly archeology plays a part but it is a long way from real history.
      
      Early European explorers only cover a small portion of Maori history, only had very limited time to make notes – and only from a very limited perspective.
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:07am
      - lifesgood
        
        Indeed, oral history says Maui fished up the north island and taniwhas will move for a highway if the payment is big enough. We are being taken for fools and are too gutless for the push back.
        
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        January 20, 2021 3:42pm
  - SB2
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Nonsesne ,
    
    “Unfortunately there is no real Greek history – just mythology.”
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:56am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You seem to have a very strange concept of evidence.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ancient_Greek_archaeological_sites_in_Greece
      
      https://www.bl.uk/greek-manuscripts
      
      https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/argk/hd_argk.htm
      
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      January 20, 2021 10:27am
      - Tall Man
        
        Some free advice Maggy, steffy is like an irritating child, ignore them and they will fade away rather quickly.
        
        13 1
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        January 20, 2021 11:52am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        <
        
        5 0
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        January 20, 2021 1:04pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        ignore them and they will fade away rather quickly.
        
        SB2/stephieboy has been trolling away on Kiwiblog long before I even knew the blog existed.
        
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        January 20, 2021 1:07pm
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Candidate for the dumbest thing you have ever said
      
      9 1
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      January 20, 2021 12:26pm
      - Tall Man
        
        So far 😉
        
        7 1
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        January 20, 2021 1:06pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yes I agree. I have read professional papers written within Government that state that New Zealand was fished up out of the sea by a mythical creature. Or something. That is not history and, frankly, if I had a child at school being taught that I’d be unhappy. Because it is nonsense.
    
    I’ve said it before. If you can afford it send your kids to a good private school. It is shocking that it has come to that. Taiwan’s public school system is one of the best in the world. I don’t have time to look it up but I would guess that the per student cost of the system is the same as, or perhaps less than, New Zealand’s school system.
    
    That’s the thing that is wrecking the country. People don’t talk about our huge problems – the education system, housing, productivity.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:52pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    The Chinese will be happy
    Their whispers are to be used as factual references.
    
    4 1
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    January 20, 2021 3:11pm
- Close Hen Counters
  
  Tell the truth not woke bullshit that appeases the snowflakes
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:33am
- oldfella
  
  rjay: the always perceptive Dr Muriel Newman on Apartheid New Zealand, and the very slippery slope this country is now on.
  +++
  In the 1980s, many New Zealanders stood proudly against apartheid – the South African system of government which enabled a race-based minority to impose its rule over the majority of the population.
  It is therefore ironic that many of these same people now support a separatist minority to impose its culture and political will over the majority of New Zealanders.https://www.nzcpr.com/apartheid-new-zealand/
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:03am
- RW Capitalist
  
  ” that are inclusive”
  Does that mean…including
  me
  other white folks
  other Polynesian folks
  Chinese folks
  Black African folks
  ……….?
  
  7 1
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  January 20, 2021 12:29pm
SB2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Anyone care to calcualte Rudy’s total legal bill for Trump at $20,000 a day?

An enormous legal fee that naturally Trump refuses to pay. Such is mateship where the later breaks all the rules,

https://globalnews.ca/news/7576017/donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-legal-fees-refusal/
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January 20, 2021 8:38am
- Mike
  
  Arguably, Trump will only be paying what Rudy is worth.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:49am
Fletch

A worker in Washington DC walks you around what is now a police state, with military humvees, armed soldiers, barricades, etc…

https://seed177.bitchute.com/Whuei2DGmgBn/cyQo2Gv1jUtJ.mp4

And the Dems accused Trump of being authoritarian? Of being a fascist? Just imagine the outcry if Trump had done this before being sworn in again. The media would have been blue in the face about what a dictator he is, about stormtroopers, etc.

You know it’s true
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January 20, 2021 8:38am
- Mike
  
  Just imagine if Trump’s inauguration had been faced with credible threats of (another) mob assault on democratic institutions.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:51am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    It was, there was violence all over DC, at Trumps inauguration.
    
    18 3
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    January 20, 2021 10:28am
    - Fletch
      
      Yep, the police needed stun grenades, pepper spray, riot shields etc to hold the rioters back. Cars were set ablaze, store windows smashed, etc
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCu2gxVZ4E8
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr0i6piW_ak
      
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      January 20, 2021 11:58am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Fletch,
  
  Yes, it is as if January 6 never happened, and the Dems suddenly had the crazy idea of mobilising the troops.
  
  How crazy is that. The stuff of dictators!
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:47am
  - Fletch
    
    C’mon. It was a small group, mostly organized and egged on by left wing protesters like John Sullivan. If the whole MAGA rally had wanted to storm Washington, they could have. The whole thing smells of left wing involvement.
    
    11 6
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    January 20, 2021 12:01pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Left wing involvement or not it was a tiny element when compared to the thousands that actually attended the rally.
      
      Had the Police held the line and enforced the barricades I doubt many would have taken it as far as they did however, once the gates are open it is often hard to close them again.
      
      11 4
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      January 20, 2021 1:40pm
      - Batman
        
        As the cop who was shadowing the doofuses in the Senate chamber said “one, two, three, four, five, on one”
        
        They knew they couldn’t fully repel them and we’re essentially corralling them and managing them in order to let the Members and staff escape unharmed.
        
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        January 20, 2021 2:14pm
Fletch

Remember our beloved Auckland Santa that we were told was going to be transported to a “toy museum” in Wanaka? Well, it’s been filmed, in pieces, showing its been dumped in a quarry.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/creepy-auckland-santa-seen-in-wanaka-pit/D4EYHTAW3APGACUKHLNXYBSGBM/

Dumped by the leaders in Auckland who sneer at history and like everything to be glass and steel in their modernized city. Who can’t stand to have it there, like parents who would throw out a handmade drawing by their kid because it messes with the aesthetic of their kitchen.
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January 20, 2021 8:44am
- cmm
  
  Rumour has it that Goff is flying down to spit on it.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:11am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Still a few troops at Whenuapai and Ardmore for him to practice his spitting technique on.
    
    I have seen the boys and their toys at Ardmore so I suggest he head out to Whenuapai . . .
    
    I suggest he just fargoff (thank you David L of Wellington for that)
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:43am
Maggie Pie

Reminder to the gang…

BANKSIE now on Magic 9 till noon.

702 AM 😀
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January 20, 2021 9:09am
Rusty

Good riddance to that creepy Santa. Is he going to be buried in this pit in Wanaka?

How many kids ever went to the city to see him at Christmas time and how many liked him anyway?

Seems to me, a certain generation of Aucklanders wanted Santa kept for nostalgic reasons of there childhood but don’t think the kids today care much.
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January 20, 2021 9:17am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  That is true.
  
  Once the little buggers realise that there is no Santa but their haul is not affected, they don’t care so much, creepy or not.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:45am
- oldfella
  
  Thanks, Rusty-Grinch. Not!
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:06am
- cmm
  
  Nostalgia isn’t as good as it used to be.
  
  What’s wrong with a bit of nostalgia? It provides inter-generational connections between people (a bit like nationalism) as well as providing a sense of continuity in a rapidly changing world.
  
  Of course, like nationalism, nostalgia can be taken too far but holding on to creepy Santa isn’t really going that far.
  
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  January 20, 2021 12:31pm
- lifesgood
  
  Absolute rubbish. Kids loved it and NEVER saw the winking eye or beckoning finger as creepy, that was just the dirty minds of adults who see filth in everything.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:47pm
Libertarians are right

Conspiracy theory time:

The Democrats and the media are making such a big thing about the possibility of extremists doing something during the inauguration and the preparations for it that when nothing happens they can still claim it would have happened had they not been so prepared and then use that “fact” to justify any choices they make going forward because “the need to protect the inauguration is evidence that those people (75 million Trump voters) can’t be trusted”.

This is also backed by the fact they call the occupy protest (which seems to only be ok if it’s Leftys occupying private property) at the Capitol Building an “insurrection” despite there being zero evidence that the “insurrectionist” were armed in such a way as to be any kind of threat to the armed officers and secret service agents in the building.

Before you call me crazy, note that this is exactly what happened here with going Level 4. It was clearly over the top but because it worked and there is no actual evidence of what would have happened under Level 3, they claim success and that the damage they did was necessary.
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January 20, 2021 9:24am
- RichardX
  
  That is an unfalsifiable proposition.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:42am
stewmar

I expect to be making more money under Jacinda.

Because Jacinda has put all sorts of additional burdens on landlords of which I am one (with my 20 properties all mortgage free) as I’m putting all my rents up so that my poor tenants will have to get more food parcels to make ends meet. Go figure.
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January 20, 2021 9:33am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Well, if house prices weren’t rocketing away in Gizzy, I’d be heading for the food parcel queue after watching deposit rates plunge through the floor.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:32am
  - fernglas
    
    Look at some of the managed funds, Maggy. Mine has returned as much as the housing market after tax over the last 3 years, and I don’t have to worry about tenants.
    
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    January 20, 2021 10:55am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Av. House price in Gisborne has gone up $120,000 in last year
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/housing-affordability-crisis-by-the-numbers
    
    (7 years ago when we first arrived in Gisborne, you could pick up a solid 3br doer-upper on a quarter acre section for that price).
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:04am
  - Tall Man
    
    Maggy how do rocketing house prices help you unless you are selling (exiting the market) or entering into a reverse annuity mortgage?
    
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    January 20, 2021 1:35pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I’ll be exiting this earthly plane sooner than later.
      
      Means I can leave more to the Homes for Bewildered Cats’ Society.
      
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      January 20, 2021 2:30pm
      - Tall Man
        
        But it won’t exactly help you though will it, unless you can get your “good karma” before you die 🙂
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:11pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Seriously,
        if we have to move from here (which we don’t plan to do), it would be because we are no longer able to look after ourselves.
        Our kids are under strict instructions to dump us in the cheapest hovel, pay themselves a very large service fee for looking after our affairs, and bugger off with all our worldly goods.
        
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        January 20, 2021 7:31pm
- quarterpack
  
  stewmar…Knowingly pushing people to the margins (when you dont seem to really need to) will ultimately lead to the government taking even more drastic action against your interests. Rather not have a wealth tax myself, but we are living in a democracy were disparity in all aspects in life is increasing…make things too difficult for the majority and there will be consequences
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:47am
  - Tall Man
    
    “disparity in all aspects in life is increasing”
    
    However, is opportunity still available to all?
    
    If you are too lazy to pick apples from a tree right in front of you then why should some of my apples be taken and given to you?
    
    Gintys were a large contracting firm in Wellington when I first arrived and Ginty was an Irish immigrant who could neither read nor write but he knew how to work hard.
    
    Why do some recent immigrants with poor English and little money manage to survive and prosper with very little “help” from foodbanks and welfare agencies?
    
    As far as I am aware NZ is already tilting the tables away from being a fair and egalitarian society and it sure as hell ain’t working to the benefit of the majority.
    
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    January 20, 2021 1:33pm
    - quarterpack
      
      My guess is Ginty was an immigrant seeking to escape his homeland, were wealth and property largely only changed hands by inheritance alone. Perhaps this is a situation we are recreating. But my speculation is irrelevant because, unless we disenfranchise the unlanded majority
      , (like the good old days) they still get to vote and you will get your wealth tax and capital gains tax
      
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      January 20, 2021 2:50pm
      - Tall Man
        
        “The unlanded majority” ……
        
        According to recent figures they are only 35% so unless you do ardern’s counting for her you have your numbers wrong.
        
        “The report shows that the proportion of households that live in their own home declined only slightly between 2013 and 2018, to 65 per cent.”
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/property-prices-home-ownership-in-new-zealand-drops-to-lowest-level-since-1951/KWMXQN2LGCC4SLIDFVF56KIZRE/
        
        There are other factors in play as well and many more have “investments” than previously and some are happy to rent and watch their asset base grow in other areas.
        
        Being at the pointy end of house buying at times I can assure you that the type of owner is no different today than 30 years ago from overpaid public servants to underpaid supermarket workers, it just takes application and the abilities to save and compromise on expectations.
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:18pm
virtualmark

Michael Cohen on Twitter just now:

“Within three (3) Scaramucci’s…#trump and family will be indicted and/or charged on a multitude of various crimes by #NYAG or #NYDA”

Cohen has been cooperating with the NYAG, so I figure he would know.

A Scaramucci is 11 days.
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January 20, 2021 9:34am
- Mike
  
  Most persecuted president ever…
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:54am
- Fletch
  
  Bullshit
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:42am
  - virtualmark
    
    (shrug) Fletch, I’m just passing on what someone on the inside has said.
    
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    January 20, 2021 3:26pm
MCos

Just in case you feel you’re hard done by because someone might have block you on Twitter, or whatever, a Thai woman has been jailed for 43 years for criticising the monarchy.
She reposted something someone else wrote. The original author got two years a while ago and is out already.
Pro tip
If you intend to visit Thailand keep your opinions to yourself or you too could end up in prison. Being a foreigner is no safeguard.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/434812/thai-woman-jailed-for-record-43-years-for-criticising-monarchy
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January 20, 2021 9:42am
- Mike
  
  I see the starting sentence was 90 years, brought down very generously to 43 years for her guilty plea…
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:44am
- lifesgood
  
  Won’t be long before the same sentence is imposed for criticising the demented geriatric in the white house, or even our very own part time PM.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:53pm
Happychappy

The Spinoff trying to influence the Government Policy early in the Political year.
The Ten Political Stories that will dominate New Zealand Headlines this year.
1. Climate Change a wake up call for NZ
2. Housing a unaffordable place to live.
3. The RMA changing how we plan and build.
4. Managed Retreat pulling back from sometimes angry nature.
5. Making the State more equitable for Maori.
6. DHB blowing up the Healthcare system.
7. Getting better Local Government.
8. Water the Beehive taking back the pipes.
9. Curtailing Hate Speech in NZ.
10.The biggest elephant in the Pacific: China.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-01-2021/the-10-political-stories-that-will-dominate-nz-headlines-this-year/
The media really want to dominate this Government don’t they and Labour and Jacinda Ardern will just play along as they have no decent Policies themselves.
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January 20, 2021 9:44am
- fernglas
  
  Isn’t the management of Covid a political story?
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:58am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    It is the smoke screen they will hide behind
    It is the whipping boy that will take the blame for all of their reckless and incompetent action over the coming yrs.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:33pm
Tony Stuart

From Stuff:

Police have quietly shelved their annual cannabis eradication operation in a major change that has blind sided frontline staff and the police minister.

For more than 20 years, officers have taken to the skies with the New Zealand Defence Force as part of a national operation to find back country cannabis plots.

However, Stuff can reveal top brass at Police National Headquarters, which provides more than $700,000 a year to fund hundreds of hours of flight time for helicopters and planes used in the operation, have decided to scrap it.

One of the reasons the operation has been grounded is a lack of appetite from the leaders of the 12 police districts.

That’s despite the operation netting tens of thousands of plants every year, and police previously saying it prevented hundreds of millions of dollars worth of socio-economic harm.

No official announcement about the change had been made to frontline staff before Stuff began asking questions about it on Tuesday.

However, police confirmed the move in a statement on Tuesday evening.

Did the Minister of Police play any part in this decision, or was her office advised of it before the Police’s media announcement last night?

Despite the best attempts of the “Yes” lobby, New Zealand voted against legalising cannabis last year. Large-scale cultivation of cannabis is largely gang-controlled, funding serious anti-social behaviour. Cannabis plantations are routinely booby-trapped, and often patrolled by heavily armed gang members. The cultivation of cannbis remains a serious criminal offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act (Section 9), with a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

So why have the Police suddenly decided to give gangs and criminals free reign to grow cannabis, harvest it and sell it? We need to be reassured that no MP has given the Commissioner of Police and his senior staff a nod and a wink to turn a blind eye to cultivation.
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January 20, 2021 9:53am
- Mike
  
  Perhaps it will mean lower cannabis prices, as the growers will save on security costs and crop losses.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:57am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Yeah, and I have a bridge for sale…
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:05pm
    - Mike
      
      Or, the increased profitability from cannabis cultivation will increase criminal activity in that sector and so reduce other crime.
      
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      January 20, 2021 1:29pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  It’s all part of the plan to reduce the number of prison inmates.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:12am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The cops probably realise that the main drug dealers in their district are not peddling Cannabis.
  
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  January 20, 2021 10:37am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Irrespective of that, this is a major departure from policy from the Police.
    
    I presume Ministers’ offices in this government still operate under the No Surprises policy, so either Poto Williams has been economical with the truth, or the Police are deliberately keeping her out of the loop. Neither option bodes well for a succesful tenure of the role.
    
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    January 20, 2021 12:08pm
- Ian Boag
  
  With chopper time at $4-5k/hour, $700k was never going to go far ..,.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:19am
  - cmm
    
    A chopper covers a lot of ground quickly – far cheaper than walking in. And they have a pretty good idea where to look – they don’t scan the whole country from end to end.
    
    Anyway, being Air Force they write it off as “training” – just like when PriNZess takes a $250k flight to the islands.
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:28am
    - sooty
      
      Why spend the money, when labour are going to legalize it!
      
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      January 20, 2021 12:10pm
      - cmm
        
        Nope.
        
        They were going to legalise commercial operations paying taxes and obeying regulations.
        They were going to legalise private people growing up to 4 plants in their back yard.
        
        They were never going to legalise massive growing operations for the black market.
        
        Yes vote or no vote these dope plantations would be illegal.
        
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        January 20, 2021 4:58pm
  - Tall Man
    
    The military helicopter’s running costs are way way above that level..
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:48am
    - Ian Boag
      
      True. I was thinking about R44/Squirrel numbers. As you correctly point out an NH90 costs a lot more than that …. here’s a OIA from a few years back that may help …
      https://fyi.org.nz/request/3727/response/13138/attach/4/OIA%202016%202461%20Sutherland%20signed%20response.pdf
      
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      January 20, 2021 3:35pm
- cmm
  
  Mzzz Swarbrick is being disingenuous (surprise, surprise).
  
  Regardless of whether the Yes lobby won or not, the type of operation the cops/Air Force are looking for in these operations would still be illegal.
  
  They don’t send choppers looking for people with 5 weed plants instead of 4 in their back garden. They’re looking for huge illegal operations that would still be illegal if Yes got their way.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:26am
- redflagged
  
  Police of late aren’t proactive.
  
  Stopping this, don’t chase cars, pander to gangs.
  
  Easier to reduce crime stats if you don’t look or act to stop it.
  
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  January 20, 2021 2:55pm
  - cmm
    
    “Police of late aren’t proactive.”
    
    Well they are proactively getting guitar lessons so they’re ready for the next land occupation.
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:00pm
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  Because there are too many gang members with illegal guns to shoot at the helis – because Bush and Coster were/are much more interested in grabbing guns off law-abiding citizens than from the hard yakka of grabbing them from nasty well-armed gang members showing their firearms off in public and boasting about them.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:16pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Quick answer to that Tony,
  Basically lost control at the borders with more harmful substances / Narcotics coming through.
  By the container loads.
  Too be honest i agree as long as they “beef” up the borders to reduce importation.
  However i would’nt hold my breath.
  Better to have bush weed available than synthetic chemicals sold as weed. Not too mention Meth.
  This is how this Government thinks and for once I agree.
  
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  January 20, 2021 6:35pm
fernglas

The PM has come back from holiday and tells us some things we might want to hear.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/123997822/jacinda-ardern-answers-questions-about-covid19-and-quarantine-in-online-video
1) We have dropped down the queue for vaccines because other countries need it more.(Although she doesn’t say whether that was with the Government’s agreement or at the behest of the Pharma’s)

2) Borders will not reopen until a suitable percentage (probably 70%) are vaccinated AND they are satisfied that the vaccinated cannot communicate the virus.

As to the latter, there is currently no evidence that immunisation prevents transmission. As to the former, I would be interested to see a survey of how many would accept the vaccine(s).

I don’t see this country re-opening its borders until well into next year or until the pandemic and its associated hysteria die down.
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January 20, 2021 10:52am
- mandk
  
  Yes, but we’re still at the front of the queue for hugs if we are sad, and frowns if we are naughty.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:14am
- BeaB
  
  I cannot understand why we are not vaccinating now while we have this lull.
  It is beyond belief that we will escape the new strains of the virus and we should be going hard and fast now.
  Where is Jacinda?
  Where is our one source of truth now we know Hipkins has been telling us lies about being at the front of the queue?
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:25am
  - fernglas
    
    This country is actually more vulnerable than most others. Not only does it have one of the highest obesity rates in the world, but Polynesians seem to be disproportionately susceptible to serious outcomes from the virus. Furthermore, there is no community infection so there is no part of the population that has developed an immunity. If it gets out again, which I believe it will, and we have dropped down the queue or are waiting for approval, the consequences could be catastrophic. I think there is a real risk that this country will have to stay closed down long after others are open for business, with all the economic consequences that follow.
    
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    January 20, 2021 11:57am
    - Tall Man
      
      There are 2 words in your post that give the clue to the problem, obesity and Polynesians.
      
      “adults of Māori and other Polynesian descent had a much higher rate of obesity than white New Zealanders.[1] The rate for the Pacific peoples were nearly triple the white average, while Māori reported nearly double the white rate. As of 2017, 50% of Māori adults, 18% of Māori children, 69% of Polynesian adults, and 29% of Polynesian children are obese.”
      
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      January 20, 2021 1:25pm
      - cmm
        
        Is this why NZ is buying twice as many vaccine doses than the population requires?
        
        Do fat bastards need double doses?
        
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        January 20, 2021 5:02pm
  - cmm
    
    “I cannot understand why we are not vaccinating now while we have this lull.”
    
    Not much point jumping the gun if the vaccine does not work for the new strains (still being debated) and if they don’t last too long (also a big unknown).
    
    If it was a long lasting, stable and broad spectrum vaccine like smallpox I’d agree with you 100%, but this is not.
    
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    January 20, 2021 1:06pm
- MCos
  
  According to an item I heard on the radio this morning 25% of the population are currently hesitant about being vaccinated.
  The opening of the borders is going to depend on the people coming here being effectively vaccinated.
  It’s going to be a long time before, for example, prospective tourists will all be able to achieve that particularly if the vaccine(s) wear off like the flu jab.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:38am
  - cmm
    
    25% are hesitant and another 25% or so should not be vaccinated.
    
    The vaccines have not been advised for people under 16 or for people over 80 (though that number will likely come down due to the oldies dying in Norway).
    
    That leaves approx 2.5 million people who are wanting to get vaccinated. Yet we’ve signed up for buying 18 million doses (enough for 9 million people).
    
    Labour and sums…
    
    Oh well, just taxpayer money.
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:11pm
- Tall Man
  
  I realise that we are populated by a lot of sheep but I very much doubt such an extended period of isolation will be tolerated other than those really stupid ardernists.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:41am
  - cmm
    
    It only applies to the muggles.
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:12pm
- Bob
  
  and its associated hysteria die down…….; or after the next election, should we be so lucky as to have one.
  There u are Fernglas I completed the sentence for you.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:25pm
Maggie Pie

Just speaking with one of the girls from tennis who has knowledge of this. She was telling me that she heard America Majik will be forced to withraw from the AC regatta. There will be a lot of people sorry to hear that.
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January 20, 2021 10:56am
- Bobba Fret
  
  If true, that will be a shame for all.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:18am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/123982621/health-authorities-checking-miq-ventilation-systems-over-possible-covid19-spread-link

“The Ministry of Health is checking ventilation systems in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities as it looks into the potential role they may play in the transmission of Covid-19.”
Now I am not too bright, but I would have thought that this would have been investigated about March last year at the latest. Especially when the ventilation systems on the cruise ships was known to be a major factor in spreading the virus ( the “floating petri dish” idea ).
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January 20, 2021 11:01am
- cmm
  
  “I would have thought that this would have been investigated”
  
  Really? Why?
  
  Based on the track record for everything else I would have been surprised if they’d done anything.
  
  I still maintain that some sort of open air accommodation (tents or cheaply constructed cabins in a holiday park) would have been 10x better. Lots of fresh air rather than the canned air in a hotel.
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:02pm
JibberJabber

https://www.collective-evolution.com/2021/01/10/three-eminent-epidemiologists-explain-why-they-strongly-oppose-lockdown-for-covid-19/

Censorship of information by Big-Tech, all of whom have strong connections to Department of Defense agencies and big politics, is at an all time high. Not only has a sitting president had his social media accounts completely wiped out, but thousands of doctors, scientists, journalists and people have had the same thing happen to them. Regardless of your views and what you believe, whether you are “left” or “right”, this is quite concerning. This type of censorship comes under the guise of good will, claiming that freedom of speech is causing harm, but this, in many cases, simply isn’t true. We’ve see academic thought, opinion, evidence and research removed from social media, especially when it comes to Covid. Any information that opposes the narrative that’s constantly beamed out by mainstream media or government health authorities seems to come under a watchful eye. A political scientist like Dr. Anthony Fauci is given free reign, instant virality and air time yet other renowned experts in the field have their voice silenced and never get a chance to speak to the masses. This has many people questioning what’s really going on here? Open scientific discussion is being stifled.
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January 20, 2021 11:02am
- Tall Man
  
  What doesn’t suit the narrative must be eliminated at all costs.
  
  Where are the media in all this …… complicit.
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:38am
I remember when

Just wondering how the WHO probe into the source of the coronavirus is going?
Will the report say the probe has been more difficult than they expected?
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January 20, 2021 11:05am
- H. Upmann
  
  Here is a link regarding this from Matt Ridley –
  
  http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/a-real-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid/
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:40am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Revealing stuff.
    
    Taiwan and HongKong took action quickly in Dec 2019-Jan 2020 to stem the spread of Covid-19 into their communities.
    
    Their epidemiologists knew they couldn’t trust the B.S. coming out of China or the WHO.
    
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    January 20, 2021 1:18pm
- Nostradamus
  
  There are two World Health Organisation investigations. I have concerns about the other expert-led investigation:
  
  The 10 visiting members in the WHO team include zoologists, respiratory experts and infectious diseases specialists.
  
  But there is likely be little fanfare after their arrival in the country. They will head straight to hotel quarantine for two weeks. During that time, they’ll be continuing their work, holding more of the video calls with Chinese counterparts that they’ve already been doing from abroad.
  
  The team then has roughly two weeks in Wuhan to visit hospitals, labs, wet markets and other relevant places before the trip is expected to wrap up ahead of Chinese New Year. It’s a tight deadline and already those involved in the investigation are playing down expectations.
  
  So two weeks stuck in hotel quarantine.
  And then two weeks of site visits – no doubt carefully “facilitated” by Chinese government representatives.
  
  [China] repeatedly put off the WHO’s requests for visits last year and even further delayed this month’s arrival of the 10-member expert team by a week.
  
  As for the investigation itself, it is Chinese scientists doing the on-the-ground fieldwork in Wuhan, with the 10 visiting experts primarily analysing and evaluating it.
  
  That last fact, in bold, was news to me.
  
  As the article goes on to note: “[T]he probe itself could be portrayed as the responsible actions of a great power collaborating with international organisations for the common good”. That’s how China will try to portray it. I think the record shows that China hasn’t behaved like a great power, and hasn’t collaborated with international organisations, but rather has frustrated a scientific investigation into a global pandemic for political reasons.
  
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  January 20, 2021 12:06pm
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    China has behaved like Typhoid Mary, complete with denial and deliberate transmission of infection.
    
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    January 20, 2021 3:18pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    14 months is a little too late.
    Dont you think?
    Look at Ebola, Mers and Sars response.
    What the hell do they expect to find now is any ones guess?
    
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    January 20, 2021 6:48pm
I remember when

Does the shelving of the Cannabis Programme mean the New Zealand Defence Forces will need another $1 million in funding each year.
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January 20, 2021 11:09am
I remember when

Hope failing to be the first country to create a covid free travel bubble doesn’t mean our run of world firsts has come to an end.
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January 20, 2021 11:13am
- fernglas
  
  Did it ever come to a beginning?
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:59am
oldfella

Greta will not be amused.
++
Biden Cannot Legally Get Us Back Into the Paris Climate Accords; Here’s Why
“Joe Biden has made no secret of his intention to get us back into the Paris climate accords. It’s high up there on his laundry list of things to do upon taking office—even though the United States leads the world in reducing carbon emissions, despite not being a part of it anymore.
But the truth is, the United States was never actually legally a part of the Paris climate accords.”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/01/19/biden-cannot-legally-get-us-back-into-the-paris-climate-accords-heres-why-n1393996
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January 20, 2021 11:18am
oldfella

Germany To Hold Quarantine Breakers In Refugee Camps And “Detention Centers” (as long as they don’t call them concentration camps…)
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2021/01/18/germany-hold-quarantine-breakers-refugee-camps-detention-centers/

I think Kiwis would much prefer their 5 Star hotels.
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January 20, 2021 11:19am
- Tall Man
  
  Kiwis?
  
  You sure about that?
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:09pm
  - oldfella
    
    Kiwis and all the others who want to flee to our shores.
    
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    January 20, 2021 2:50pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Shores? Welfare methinks.
      
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      January 20, 2021 4:19pm
- JibberJabber
  
  Yeah, we all know how that ended last time..
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:09pm
BeaB

The best thing about Biden is that a blessed peace will fall upon the US as it has in NZ. The media will gaze besottedly at him and keep telling us how wonderful he is compared to that awful Trump, the demonstrations and protests will end and there will be nothing for anyone to complain about any more. God knows what CNN will talk about.
I love it in NZ with the media busy with parish pump trivia and recycled stuff from overseas because they can never bring themselves to utter a word of criticism of Jacinda. And I think we accept it because we all get sick of hearing about homelessness, poverty, house prices etc and the politicians never doing anything about any of it. So we may as well have a smiley face plastered over the cracks and enjoy.
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January 20, 2021 11:21am
- SB2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  BeaB, one thing we can agree on Jacinda certainly knows how to eelctorally demolish National and completely annihilate Winston and NZ First .
  
  All Joe needs to do is follow her winning ways.
  
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  January 20, 2021 12:44pm
  - niggly
    
    Her winning ways?
    
    Do you mean like Women’s Weekly photo ops, not knowing what GDP is, ignoring Covid in NZ until MoH forced the govt to act?
    
    Or do you mean like monopolising the daily media with 1pm press conferences for months on end, initially not wanting to delay the election despite covid lockdowns in place, her staff threatening media if they dared run a negative story about her and protecting her public image by ignoring the law when things got tough (Ihumātao, illegal Iwi checkpoints, when her friend Paris Geobbels organised BLM marches during lockdown)?
    
    Joe Biden may be many things to many people, but being totally out of his depth and an appeaser like Ardern? I don’t think so!
    
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    January 20, 2021 2:01pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You spelt ‘whining’ wrong
    
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    January 20, 2021 4:06pm
MCos

In the British system worthy people get rewarded with a knighthood or some other honour.
In the American system crooks get rewarded with a pardon.
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January 20, 2021 11:52am
SB2

Breaking Donald’s farewell speech featuring his selective amnesia and bragging about his “memorable “moments in office,

https://www.ktvu.com/video/891568

His nieces suggests he will set up Trump TV making use of his refusal to pay his old pal Rudy’s legal fees as seed funding.

LOL
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January 20, 2021 12:40pm
BeaB

On CNN just a few minutes ago they described the lights shooting out from the Lincoln Memorial as Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.
Pass the sick bags. We are going to need them.
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January 20, 2021 12:44pm
- Nickc2
  
  Agree. America does Bull Shit well. Just look at Hollywood FFS.
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:56pm
- JibberJabber
  
  It’ll be interesting to watch tomorrow just to see how many Democrats bring their kids/grandkids to the inauguration and how close they them get to Groper in Chief Joe if they do.
  
  Jeff Sessions knew,
  https://www.reddit.com/r/redacted/comments/7d68mo/jeff_sessions_swats_creepy_joe_bidens_hand_away/
  
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  January 20, 2021 2:46pm
BeaB

And like Prince Harry and his trading off his mother’s death, Joe Biden never fails to talk about the tragedies in his life and wipe away a tear from his Botoxed face.
When even lowly Kiwis know all the Biden family stories, perhaps it’s time to find some new ones.
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January 20, 2021 12:46pm
Libertarians are right

Biden announcing a transgender woman as assistant health secretary doesn’t worry me – it’s par for the course. The issue with this announcement is actually her current role: She is the face of the Covid response in Pensylvania – yes, the same Pensylvania who’s supreme court made an end run around legal process and developed its own electoral laws based on Covid issues. Many Republicans took issue (and rightly so) with this and it’s not unreasonable to assume that she may have been involved to some extent.

It may be all above board etc, but in Politics it’s about perception and giving a massive promotion to someone who’s in any way linked to alleged non-constitutional election interference by a court is not a good look. That’s not how you heal. On the other hand, they’ll probably just call hatred/bigotry etc if she’s called out for any potential role she played in it.
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January 20, 2021 1:03pm
- JibberJabber
  
  Like everything to do with Leftist politics, incompetence and corruption gets rewarded.
  
  Over 2/3rds of Pennsylvania’s covid deaths were in nursing homes. Rachel Levine’s Health Department forced them to accept covid patients after removing her mother from a personal care home.
  
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  January 20, 2021 2:52pm
Maggie Pie

I find it it incredible! Trumpy just spent the best part of his 25 min farewell speech detailing the amazing achievements of his administration.

Needless to say, CNN never even showed it.

You can watch it here if you want…..
fb.watch/373ZxGZNcG/
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January 20, 2021 1:15pm
- mandk
  
  Of course CNN wouldn’t show it.
  
  They would never want it to be noted that he started no foreign conflicts, reduced the US presence that Obama escalated in Afghanistan and Iraq, and help to broker the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and a number of Arab states.
  
  Give that man a Nobel Peace prize! After all, Obama got one solely for the colour of his skin.
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:29pm
- WaynelSexton
  
  The best is yet to come when he transfers power to his “new administration”
  
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  January 20, 2021 1:55pm
- SB2
  
  CNN never showed it? But they did and the choice moments without ever mentioning Joe Biden ,
  
  https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/19/donald-trump-farewell-message-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:37pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I’m trying to remember that old saying my granma used to use.
    Something about …..” better to keep your mouth shut and just let people THINK you’re an idiot”
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:02pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_9QcigeUrs

Treasurer Frydenberg rejects Chinese takeover bid of major Australian building contractor.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has rejected a $300 million bid by China to acquire a major Australian building contractor. China State Construction Engineering Corporation has now formally withdrawn its offer to takeover local construction giant Probuild. Probuild’s South African parent company confirmed the deal was taken off the table in a statement, saying the offer was withdrawn “following advice that it’s application would be rejected by the Federal Government on the grounds of national security.”
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January 20, 2021 1:52pm
- Nickc2
  
  Well done Josh Frydenberg. If a similar situation was to manifest itself in NZ, our Govt. would be out there with begging bowls immediately the purchase was signed, if not before.
  
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  January 20, 2021 2:23pm
Maggy Wassilieff

This looks like a pretty white-washed view of why the Rātana politico-fest has been called off this year.

But when it became clear it could be overshadowed by protest, the church made the decision to pull the pin and avoid any potential embarrassment.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/why-ratana-uninvited-politicians

I seriously doubt any protest would have been coming from the Church hierarchy… it would be from their Maori Party members.
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January 20, 2021 2:00pm
Maggie Pie

My partner’s mum retweets…..’If there WAS going to be a military coup, it would look just like this’

https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1351689397767458819
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January 20, 2021 2:10pm
- WaynelSexton
  
  90,000 active soldiers deployed nation wide, stationed at every state capital.
  Just your everyday riot control….
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:34pm
  - RichardX
    
    WaynelSexton
    The best is yet to come when he transfers power to his “new administration”
    
    JANUARY 20, 2021 1:55PM
    
    WaynelSexton
    90,000 active soldiers deployed nation wide, stationed at every state capital.
    Just your everyday riot control….
    
    JANUARY 20, 2021 3:34PM
    
    How long after Biden’s inauguration will it be before you will acknowledge your fantasy of some form of military takeover by Trump or other forces is wrong?
    
    Will 24 hours be enough? 48 hours?
    A week , a month?
    Are you capable of admitting you were wrong?
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:35pm
    - Batman
      
      Don’t worry, he will be reminded ?
      
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      January 20, 2021 6:32pm
    - WaynelSexton
      
      48 hours.
      If I’m wrong, I’m wrong and you can join Batman in reminding me.
      
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      January 20, 2021 7:19pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Police state.
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:41pm
- SB2
  
  MP, courtesy of Sputnik Russian State affiliated media
  
  Sigh!
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:44pm
- emmess
  
  Looks like Crimea circa 2014
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:57pm
Jack5

The British Government will make it tougher for Labour-dominated local bodies to pull down statues of Britain’s traditional heroes.

The Conservative Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick, will change the law so that historic statues, plaques, memorials or monuments cannot be removed without going through a formal planning process.

Jenrick is also looking at ways to stop Left-wing councils from unilaterally replacing street names linked to the British Empire.

Jenrick wrote in the Telegraph that it is wrong that statues, often erected by public subscription, are being removed “at the hands of the flash mob, or by the decree of a cultural committee of town hall militants and woke worthies”.

He added local people should have the chance to be consulted whether a monument should stand or not.

There’s a vote-winning message in this for the National Party to stand up to the Wokies in New Zealand who are working on changing names of towns and cities and street.

They want anything White or “colonial” out.

Also in the Woke Wars: British Conservative MP Olumkemi (Kemi) Badenoch, English born to Nigerian parents, has attacked revisionist history teaching and critical race theory.

She criticised the “teaching of contested political ideas as if they are accepted fact.”

She adds: “ We don’t do this with communism, we don’t do this socialisim, we don’t do it with capitalism.”

In the video linked to below Badenoch in the House of Commons attacks critical race theory, describing it as an ideology, that uses “my blackness as victimhood, and their whiteness as oppression.”

https://youtu.be/3vf7yX9ESRc

Start about 1:25 into the video.
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January 20, 2021 2:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Shelly Bay Occupation of private land and buildings beginning to ramp up…

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/124000725/ceaseanddesist-issued-to-shelly-bay-occupiers-in-wellington
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January 20, 2021 2:43pm
- mandk
  
  This is sadly predictable, and a direct consequence of Ardern’s stupid and reckless decision to intervene in the Ihumatao dispute.
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:04pm
  - Inandout
    
    man, who is this Ardern you speak of?
    
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    January 20, 2021 4:07pm
- SB2
  
  MW, not without full just financial compensation for owners of private land,
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/396176/little-rules-out-law-change-to-allow-return-of-privately-owned-land-to-maori
  
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  January 20, 2021 3:45pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  Call them insurrectionists and have them arrested for trying to take over the country. That’s the new rule right?
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:49pm
- artemisia
  
  Not before time. Smart wrapping it up as a health and safety issue in part. So far the cease and desist notice relates to privately owned property, while the occupation is mostly on the Council owned part. The Council has agreed to sell / lease this to the developers but in the meantime seems OK to have occupiers on it.
  
  Wonder what happens when work starts and Worksafe is requested to assess H&S. Probably require the developers to issue the occupiers with hi vis and ear protectors.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:03pm
cmm

Tests positive after 24 days?? Hmm something tells me they might not have been doing proper isolation.

Isolation 101:
A) Keep cohorts isolated from each other – preferably in different buildings, but at least on different floors etc. Do not allow fraternisation/mixing otherwise the isolation is pretty pointless.
B) Make sure they are on separate air supplies. No ventilation from one floor to another.
C) Anyone breaking quarantine rules in any way goes back to day zero (or gets kicked out of the country).
D) That includes cricketers.

But, hey, the main goal is to be seen to be doing something – so just carry on.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-six-new-cases-in-managed-isolation-traveller-from-s-africa-tests-positive-on-day-24/ZIHYTYCWOBSRS47FXN5PLQHWT4/
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January 20, 2021 2:51pm
RW Capitalist

DPF…can you run another counter
No not trees planted or houses built
People vaccinated
Start NZ counter on March 31
Start US one tomorrow.
Biden recons he will vaccinate (I assume not personally) 100 million in his first 100Days.
Trump said they “could” have the vaccine before Xmas…he was right.
They have not poo pooed Biden as they did Trump.
I think Biden knows less about logistical roll out than Trump knew about R&D and drug development.
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January 20, 2021 3:05pm
- MCos
  
  Back about six weeks ago
  “Pence said the government expects to have 20 million Americans vaccinated by the end of this month, another 50 million in January and 100 million in February.”
  https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/politics/vp-mike-pence-promises-vaccine-approval-in-days-shots-routine-by-april-during-visit-to/article_fea28958-3a6e-11eb-ba41-a3e5b4649c17.html
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:01pm
- Stu2
  
  The US can do 3 million flu vaccinations in a day at peak, so that target is doable. Some commentators think it will be exceeded
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:02pm
Yvette

Fernglas, above, said – I would be interested to see a survey of how many would accept the vaccine.

A Massey University survey of 1000 people in August found one in four people did not intend to get the vaccine. [1]

“Kaumātua, kōroua, kuia and other Māori aged over 50 are potentially at risk of COVID-19 and have not been identified as one of the high risk groups and we haven’t seen any evidence in the vaccination strategy that they’re included as an at risk group… the Government should be entering discussions with Māori to bring the vaccination strategy into line with their obligations to safe guard us.” …
Smith [The National Iwi Chairs Forum] said the government’s vaccination strategy fell short of its obligations to Te Tīriti o Waitangi as did not demonstrate protection, partnership and equality. [2]

What obligation is the Government under, particularly in terms of the so-called principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, to protect Maori as an at-risk group as specified above if 25% of the general population refuse to be vaccinated.
And what is Smith’s The National Iwi Chairs Forum recommendation if members of the Maori population refuse to be vaccinated?

Is the treaty really a living document that is the foundation of the nation? – or is it indeed just a fucking badly written real estate agreement?

[1] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300209926/covid19-how-the-government-can-convince-doubters-to-get-a-vaccine
[2] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/01/coronavirus-m-ori-group-calls-for-cuts-to-border-arrivals-kaum-tua-to-have-vaccine-priority.html
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January 20, 2021 3:37pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The National Māori Pandemic group has said the protection of Māori will be at the centre of planning for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/434846/covid-19-maori-to-be-prioritised-for-vaccination
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:58pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Yvette: Question?
  Not being legally minded but surely it must fall under the “spirit” that it was signed.
  ie its Original intentions at that time and place of which all parties agreed and hence signed.
  Binding contract of sorts.
  Is this correct?
  i’d very much like to hear your views?
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:05pm
oldfella

NBC Poll: Trump Retains Overwhelming Republican Support, Overall Job Approval Steady Since Election.
The media has bombarded us with headlines that President Trump will leave office with his lowest approval rating (the number most often cited is Pew’s 29%). An interesting thing happens, however, when pollsters poll registered voters instead of whoever answers a phone.
Rasmussen, a polling outfit that polls likely—not just registered—voters, has Trump’s approval at 48%.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/01/nbc-poll-trump-retains-overwhelming-republican-support-overall-job-approval-steady-since-election/
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January 20, 2021 3:54pm
- Batman
  
  Rasmussen is a fluffer poll.
  
  The rest look like this…
  
  “Last Trump Job Approval 34%; Average Is Record-Low 41%” https://news.gallup.com/poll/328637/last-trump-job-approval-average-record-low.aspx
  
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  January 20, 2021 6:16pm
lifesgood

This naive and incompetent government is making preflight testing mandatory for every but a few countries. Australia is trustworthy and the pacific islands are mainly covid free so I’m OK with them being given a free pass but do they really think that every country will be honest about their preflight testing, really? If they do they are more stupid than I already thought they were.
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January 20, 2021 4:09pm
Fletch

Wow. Just… wow.

On Jan 6th, Trump supporters appealed to Capitol Police to do something. To call for backup, etc but they just stood around and let it happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lQVW_ERmg4

Something is not right about the whole damn thing.
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January 20, 2021 4:23pm
- RichardX
  
  Fletch
  Wow. Just… wow.
  
  On Jan 6th, Trump supporters appealed to Capitol Police to do something. To call for backup, etc but they just stood around and let it happen.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lQVW_ERmg4
  
  Something is not right about the whole damn thing.
  
  JANUARY 20, 2021 4:23PM
  
  I don’t believe that one MAGA individual telling the Capitol Police that “These people want blood” with a background of non violent protest shows what you think it shows.
  
  There is nothing to indicate when this 59 seconds of footage was shot in relation to the events of the day.
  
  It is like saying one non MAGA individual who has been arrested for their role in the riots is more responsible than the 100+ MAGA supporters who had also been arrested as of 2 days ago.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:07pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

TDS sufferers will not like this, but I don’t give a continental fuck what they like or don’t like. You know the story – get the basement keys off your Mummy and go hide for a while, so you don’t blow a gasket.
https://rumble.com/vd14z7-trump-delivers-farewell-address-to-the-nation.html?
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January 20, 2021 4:36pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  And Steve…FOX took it live as you would expect.
  
  CNN……they were too busy showing re-runs of the Jan 6 ‘riot’ inside the Capitol, with the same two peeople wearing red MAGA caps dubbed repeatedly into the footage.
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:48pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Would not trust Fox with a 40 foot barge pole now – infiltrated with Dem Admin.
    CNN did a horizontal flip on one of those, but skipped the frontal MAGA hats.
    New World where the media controls.
    Ever seen ‘
    “Max Headroom”?
    
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    January 20, 2021 5:09pm
    - curry4me
      
      Strve Otto(North Shore) There are redundancies coming at Fox. Couldn’t happen to a nicer company. They’ve lost a lot of eyeballs. They’re dead to me.
      
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      January 20, 2021 8:22pm
      - Batman
        
        They’re doubling down on the delusional in order to please you lot who are constantly chasing the dragon, so to speak.
        
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        January 20, 2021 10:01pm
- emmess
  
  Ooooohhhh, I bet there were subliminal messages in it to overthrow the government.
  Quick, cancel everything
  
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  January 20, 2021 4:55pm
Fletch

According to the Washington Post,

“Self-styled militia members planned on storming the U.S. Capitol days in advance of Jan. 6 attack, court documents say”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/conspiracy-oath-keeper-arrest-capitol-riot/2021/01/19/fb84877a-5a4f-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html

In other words, it was nothing Trump said or did…
So yeh – the impeachment is for nothing.
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January 20, 2021 4:40pm
- Mike
  
  You’ll have to try explaining that logic a bit more for me, Fletch…
  
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  January 20, 2021 6:27pm
  - Fletch
    
    I shall speak slowly. The whole premise of Trump’s impeachment is that he got up to the microphone, spoke, got everyone into a lather and incited them all by what he said.
    
    When the truth is that the whole thing was planned in advance (of course it was – the small group of rioters were carrying shields and gas masks, goggles, and bottles of milk to protect them from teargas). It wasn’t down to anything Trump said or did.
    
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    January 20, 2021 7:19pm
    - Mike
      
      Doesn’t matter. The legal test for incitement takes no account of the preparation for, or willingness to act, of the offenders. Making it simple: if you met an arsonist with a can of petrol who told you he was going to set fire to a house, and you said “go for it”, that’s still incitement.
      
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      January 20, 2021 9:36pm
- Inandout
  
  Fletch, has been described as another ‘drive by impeachment’ by a guy on Gutfeld panel. Meaningless, and a Pelosi brain fart.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:33pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

200,000 flags place in the restricted area for Biden. Watch the fake news media spin this to 200,000 Biden supporters placed them there.
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January 20, 2021 4:46pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Michelle Malkin has been given the arse from Facebook. She should sue, just like Candace Owens is.
If you don’t know who she is, go back your Mum’s basement.
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January 20, 2021 4:50pm
- Mike
  
  Suing, for what?
  
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  January 20, 2021 5:11pm
  - Batman
    
    Discrimination against National Socialists ???
    
    1 4
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    January 20, 2021 10:02pm
Don Beckett

Farewell, for now, Address by Trump.
My friend in Illinois has this to say about Trump’s term – a view held by many millions of Americans:

“Trump accomplished more in one term than most presidents accomplish in two, and in the teeth of media hostility the like of which I have never seen, a Democrat Party that went to war against him from his election day in 2016, the machinations of the Tech Lords, the undying enmity of the Deep State and hostility within the Republican party. A bravura performance Mr. President. It took massive fraud and a world wide pandemic to take him out, and I wouldn’t bet against him being back as President in 2024. The best President since Reagan flew West into the sunset. A dangerous man for the status quo, as he has blazed a path for other populists to follow. Rude, Crude and Right is my shorthand assessment of the man. The Democrats will now do their worst to make us miss him.
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January 20, 2021 4:59pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Don, the ‘Don’ did say this is just the beginning.
  You can vote Socialism in, but you have to fight/shoot your way out.
  Clearly the 40 year old kids of today need a crash course in HISTORY
  
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  January 20, 2021 5:28pm
- Surely Knott
  
  Hmmm who’s right?
  
  The Herald says “ Outgoing President Donald Trump delivered another snub by forcing Biden to charter his own plane instead of authorising his use of an Air Force jet, the Daily Mail reports.”
  
  But Fox News says, that the New York Times editor, Lauren Wolfe had some tweeting controversy. After seeing Biden’s plane landing she tweeted it “gave her chills” “ She then knocked the Trump administration for apparently not providing a military plane to ferry Biden from Delaware.
  
  “The pettiness of the Trump admin not sending a military plane to bring him to D.C. as is tradition is mortifying,” wrote Wolfe, who added, “Childish.””
  
  “ Wolfe later deleted her tweet knocking the Trump administration after she was fact-checked by critics who cited reports that the Biden team was offered a military plane but chose to fly private. ”
  
  “Following the mockery, the Times editor deactivated her Twitter account. “!!!
  
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  January 20, 2021 5:33pm
- Littletramp
  
  Not to mention the Republican Congress, Senate holders and state departments admin staff who threw shade at him for four years.
  An outstanding president from an achievements perspective.
  Let’s see where the world goes from here.
  
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  January 20, 2021 9:31pm
Engelbert Humperdink

[Mod: both untrue and gross offence. Keep jokes like that on the sewer ysb where they belong.]
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January 20, 2021 5:21pm
Maggie Pie

Have you seen that amazing promo on FOX where Red Indians built the Empire State Building in under 2 years……and no scaffolding!
Tallest building in the world at the time.
Only lost 5 lives during construction.
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January 20, 2021 5:30pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  and I believe only one fell down a lift well.
  Others included being hit by a truck.
  amazing safety record.
  
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  January 20, 2021 5:39pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Another inconvenient news release about the lousy Labour Government on the eve of a Major News distraction.

An annual monitoring report on mental health services is two years behind its normal schedule, with no report on the Labour Government’s time in office yet delivered.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300210298/health-minister-concerned-as-mental-health-annual-reports-are-two-years-behind-normal-schedule
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January 20, 2021 5:44pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Here is a silly, dangerous Democrat; a racist. One of many.
https://rumble.com/vd0rsf-crazy-squad-member-trump-wont-be-convicted-by-senate-because-of-white-privi.html?
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January 20, 2021 5:48pm
[email protected]

The government is trying to figure out how to get the 25% of people that would resist getting a covid-19 vaccine shot to agree to get one.

This would be much less of a problem if people trusted what the government says.

Unfortunately, this government has a proven track record of lying to its citizens, hiding the truth and screwing up badly.

You reap what you sow!
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January 20, 2021 6:13pm
greybeard

An overseas traveller takes an obligatory CV-19 test 36 hours before boarding a flight to NZ.
This test luckily ( and hopefully ) returns a negative result.
After the test the traveller can do anything he/she wants: go anywhere, mix with anyone they like.
They then get on the plane to NZ.
Tell me: how has this pre-flight test proved anything?
In the day and a half between the negative test and getting on the plane these people could have associated with / slept with / done anything with other people who could be CV-19 carriers.
( or syphilitic / HIV positive / riddled with cholera / suffering from German measles etc etc ).
SO: what is the point of pre-flight CV-19 checks ?
Presumably they still have to undergo the 14-day quarantine period on arrival in NZ.
If so, why test them before boarding ?
Is there anyone in this so-called “government” who can think clearly, ignore the obligatory PR crap and actually do a decent job ?
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January 20, 2021 6:42pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Prof Michael Baker has been trying to tell them how to do it properly for the last year…
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2021/01/epidemiologist-michael-baker-warns-pre-departure-testing-isn-t-enough-to-keep-covid-19-out.html
  
  Someone will twig to his advice in a few weeks or so.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:04pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300210501/drunkenness-and-dare-behind-felling-of-auckland-phutukawa
This guy’s name is published.
If he had had a maori name I bet his name would have been suppressed.
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January 20, 2021 6:46pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  He was also on intensive supervision when he cut down the tress.(sic)
  
  Someone was asleep on the job.
  
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  January 20, 2021 6:57pm
  - sooty
    
    Professor, more than likely a leftie. Not excepted by leftie labour. Wonder why?
    
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    January 20, 2021 9:54pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING…..

Joe Exotic’s lawyer STILL sitting outside the jail waiting for word on ‘The Tiger Kings’ pardon…….

https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1351743940135849987
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January 20, 2021 6:48pm
- SB2
  
  Apparently, he missed out.
  
  “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,”
  
  https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/01/20/tiger-king-joe-exotic-not-white-house-list-pardons/
  
  Out with the theatrical tears kits.
  
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  January 20, 2021 7:51pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    According to one of my US based twitter bezzies, he only pardoned a whole bunch of blacks and jews.
    
    Just saying.
    
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    January 20, 2021 8:34pm
    - SB2
      
      “..he only pardoned a whole bunch of blacks and jews.”
      
      Expand on that, please?
      
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      January 20, 2021 8:52pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Well for a start, you must admit it was pleasing to see Lil’ Wayne and Kodak Black get pardons.
        
        4 2
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        January 20, 2021 9:41pm
Monique Watson

That old Cocksmoker. Who didn’t he pardon out of the insane, the criminal and the criminally insane?
He must want a whole bunch of new buddies to invite over to replace his old buddies ie Graham and McConnell and pretty much everyone else he stiffed.
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January 20, 2021 8:15pm
Prince

Car travels 10km wrong way down the highway.
Collides with another car travelling the right way.
According to Stuff, and Police,…
“The cause of the crash remains unknown, with police inquiries still ongoing.”

Jesus wept. The state of our media and Police !

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124006683/husband-searching-for-missing-wife-comes-across-her-car-at-wrongway-wellington-motorway-crash-scene
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January 20, 2021 8:31pm
- Stu2
  
  Probably doing post mortem drug and alcohol tests – seems difficult to travel that far on the wrong side of the road without figuring it out
  
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  January 20, 2021 11:30pm
- Doc Holliday
  
  Misquote. The article is not quoting the police.
  
  What is not understood is how drivers, in view of all the signs warning “Wrong Way”, enter the motorway incorrectly. And of course keep driving instead of pulling onto the shoulder.
  
  But of course kiwibloggers compete with each other to establish their credentials as right-wing nut-jobs.
  
  Almost to a man and absolutely to a woman, they are going against the flow on climate science – the consensus now 99.9% scientists publishing in the field – so it’s hilarious their pointing the finger at other morons.
  
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  January 21, 2021 12:23am
Batman

Drain the swamp!

One of the biggest swindles in political history, as a lot of us knew it would be…

“Trump just revoked the executive order that banned administration officials from becoming lobbyists within five years of leaving government”

https://t.co/H4GboXs8il
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January 20, 2021 10:04pm
- Doc Holliday
  
  Ian McEwan, the British novelist, observed in the Guardian [2016]: “Charles Darwin could not believe that a kindly God would create a parasitic wasp that injects its eggs into the body of a caterpillar so that the larva may consume the host alive … We may share his bewilderment as we contemplate the American body politic and what vile thing now squats within it, waiting to be hatched and begin its meal.”
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/donald-trump-reality-tv-presidency-dark-legacy
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/12/ian-mcewan-only-hope-is-that-trump-was-lying-all-along
  
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  January 21, 2021 12:30am
lazza

Hey there “Fletch”

You said quote:

” The whole premise of Trump’s impeachment is that he got up to the microphone, spoke, got everyone into a lather and incited them all by what he said …”

So here’s the thing:

Yes he did!

“I” and many others no doubt! … were in “no doubt” about the message … not very well disguised by Trump … in his 6 Jan AM broadcast exhorting his supporters to … “fight” & “March on the Capitol”.

A clearer case of inciting a riot “I” … and many others were in no difficulty from understanding “The Message” … Ehh?

Why then can you … Not? … read the clear message … DOHH!

I’ll bet the impeachment interrogators will “get it”.
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January 21, 2021 4:26am

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