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March 17, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 March 2021

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General Debate

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Maggie Pie

Robbo is sooo out of his depth!

Heather tears him a new one 😀

https://twitter.com/NewstalkZB/status/1371647445034102786
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March 17, 2021 8:08am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  He’s looking well-fed, that’s for sure.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:11am
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    Oh, got it. Listened to the interview: it’s all the waffle.
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:21am
    - Paulus
      
      So what is new – remember New Zealander do not understand big words, only more money please.
      
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      March 17, 2021 1:04pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  He too “refutes that”…”that” being anything they have failed at
  What am I saying…”that” is everything.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:14am
  - Thought Criminal
    
    Remember “you have you story and I have mine”?
    
    Well Jacindelivery doesn’t need to worry about that any more as she ran away from the hard interview.
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:52am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Yes rob
      Mine is a list of facts and is a historical reference.
      Yours however, is a fairy tale.
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:40am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    I like a logical argument presented, even if I disagree.
    HDPA….slaughtered him with logic and with a train of thought that was backed up by facts and consequences of THEIR actions.
    Robertson…..I disagree…..no argument.
    It could have been a discussion between a mother and her 2 year old.
    Mother: Tidy up your mess
    2yo….NO
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:12am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, if Heather and Barry end up cancelled then Grant may as well work from his basement.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:30am
- David Garrett
  
  Maggie (or some other kind person): Do you have a link to the audio? I don’t “do” Twitter…and what I can see there tells us very little.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:30am
  - Ruawai
    
    Click through twitter link and takes you to interview.
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:35am
    - David Garrett
      
      I have clicked on various icons on that link…none of them get me to the interview…Help!
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:26am
      - Fuzzysnuggleduck
        
        Deleted.
        Swifty has already provided.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:13pm
  - Swifty
    
    DG – click on Maggie’s link and then on the blue text that says this:
    
    http://bit.ly/30MvvDv
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:36am
    - David Garrett
      
      Swifty: Thank you Sir…I finally got there.
      
      Jesus…that fat….is in charge of the country’s finances…God help us all.
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:41am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Fat shaming now? What’s next: short arses?
        
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        March 17, 2021 9:57am
      - Bobba Fret
        
        Grant’s dad had more financial nous than Grant, as he was an accountant. However, I don’t think that worked out too well for him either.
        
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        March 17, 2021 10:25am
      - SB2
        
        DG, Gerry the useful role model?
        
        LOL
        
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        March 17, 2021 10:48am
      - David Garrett
        
        LOL “fat shaming”…what are you Milky, 14?
        
        I have been overweight myself, several times. On each occasion it was due to my choices …and on each occasion I did something about it.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:11pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    You don’t do Twitter!?? Wot are ya?
    
    Just clik on the link in the tweet and it will take you there anyway 😀
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:40am
    - pdm
      
      `You don’t do Twitter!?? Wot are ya?’
      
      Please tell because I don’t do twitter either and want to know what I am.
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:47am
      - dave_c_
        
        Neither do I
        
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        March 17, 2021 11:04am
      - Inandout
        
        pdm, sane? Twitter is a swamp.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:24pm
      - Local Miller
        
        Nor I
        
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        March 17, 2021 1:04pm
  - Tall Man
    
    https://www.iheart.com/podcast/211-heather-du-plessis-allan-24837940/episode/grant-robertson-defends-government-after-poll-79697522/#
    
    Don’t you call me “kind” …… 😉
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:40am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Here ya go..
    
    https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/grant-robertson-defends-government-after-poll-results-travel-bubble-drama/
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:42am
    - SB2
      
      Meanwhile National and Judie poll into oblivion.
      
      David Seymour stalls into obliteration.
      
      And Christopher Luxon ???
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:51am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        The Bogeyman is coming for Cinders and Pooh Bah. The Reserve Bank will send them the bill in due course.
        
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        March 17, 2021 1:24pm
      - kloyd0306
        
        [Deleted – OTT abuse. mod.]
        
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        March 17, 2021 1:33pm
- Maxx
  
  How many holes does Grant have in him now? Should we start referring to him as a colander?
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:39am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Rob too is a scholar of Jacinda’s mentor
  Never to admit a fault or wrong; never to accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time; blame that enemy for everything that goes wrong; take advantage of every opportunity to raise a political whirlwind.
  -Joseph Goebbels
  “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”
  ― Joseph Goebbels
  
  Think of the press as a great keyboard
  on which the government can play.”
  ― Joseph Goebbels
  “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
  — Joseph Goebbels
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:53am
- Justitia
  
  The guy is an absolute plonker with no qualifications for the role.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:20am
- Frank Thomas
  
  Wow, just wow……HDPA would just not let him get away with his spin despite all his protestations.
  Robbo kinda reminded me of the Iraqi spokesman “Comical Ali” trying to say that they were winning the war against the US, despite US tanks rolling towards Baghdad in the background. He definitely came off looking pretty silly.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:30am
  - pdm
    
    HDPA has done the same to Hipkins a couple of times over the last two of weeks.
    
    Keep it up you good thing HDPA.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:50am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Must be willie jackson’s twin.
    
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    March 17, 2021 12:27pm
mikenmildagain

Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Time to celebrate your Irish roots by downing a a few pints of Guinness, starting a fight and marrying your cousin.
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March 17, 2021 8:13am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  Typical leftwing prejudiced bigot.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:49am
  - Batman
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Which would make you a humourless nativist.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:13am
    - Apropos of the Wet Snow
      
      Oh, I’m a nativist, but my humour levels are global in magnitude.
      
      You may have appreciated the comment more if you were aware of mike’s ongoing crusade against bigots and prejudice towards foreigners.
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:19am
    - Tall Man
      
      Pretty sure the “cousin marrying” thing is already in play here relative to your nativist comment….. And it ain’t Irish 😉
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:22am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Sure, the Irish are notorious for their fecundity, and not limited exclusively to cousins.
        
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        March 17, 2021 9:58am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Yes, I don’t get the “Cousin marrying” reference with respect to the Irish, unless of course there are differing “traditions” about the Irish around, which maybe there are.
        
        The common semi-incestual allegations about marriage that I recall are directed at “hillbillys” in the Appalachian areas of the US – areas where cousin marriage used to be relatively common; and more recent and well attested references to people in or fromthe general Pakistan/Afghanistan area. In the UK the incidence of genetic abnormalities traceable to marriage between close family members is hugely higher in the community derived from such areas. A cultural issue where families typically sought marriage partners amongst a clan/tribe; and when in the UK, the selection is often so restricted that first cousin or closer marriage became commonplace.
        
        But the Irish, they were so fecund and numerous that in-family marriage was unnecessary, and the Church would almost certainly oppose – Catholics are relatively strict on such matters though the strictness has varied. First cousins are generally prohibited though not by law in NZ; though I think that for inherited genetic issues, marrying a second cousin can be just as bad or worse.
        
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        March 17, 2021 10:53am
- Jade Warrior
  
  I think I’ll just listen to Clannad instead.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:57am
- Libertarians are right
  
  Say the same on Waitangi day or Matariki, I dare you!
  Racist.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:12am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Oh, I’m sure the Irish take full advantage of those holidays as well to drink, fight and copulate.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:02am
    - Apropos of the Wet Snow
      
      Gee mike. What did the Irish ever do to you to instill such blind and irrational hatred of our Gaelic friends? That’s five or six such comments today. Did you find James Joyce a difficult read, what with all of his idiosyncratic turns of phrase? Did a redheaded, milky-skinned beauty named Niamh break your heart? This animosity has left you an empty, angry, husk of a man.
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:50am
      - Inandout
        
        Apro, it sounds almost like m&m’s mother ran off with Paddy, or some such misfortune.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:29pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  What is the definition of an Irishman?
  
  A way to convert Guinness into piss.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:12am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Why are Irish jokes so stupid?
    
    So the English can understand them.
    
    Full disclosure here. I am half a pom and I still think it is funny . . .
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:14am
  - David Garrett
    
    Paulus: Since ethnic jokes are in vogue today…
    
    What is a Jewish dilemma?
    
    Free pork.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:05am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Now go to Limerick and say that…
  or Cork, or Dublin or Belfast………
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:21am
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    You’d be fine in those places. But you couldn’t insult the Prophet these days.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:50am
    - SB2
      
      Pat Buchanan ?
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:58am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        Ask, and you shall receive stephie. He’s one of my favourite Paddies. Did you know his was essentially a Trumpian, America First platform? Hobbled by the likes of the neo-con Bushes though. Shame.
        
        https://buchanan.org/blog/the-emerging-existential-crisis-at-the-border-142855
        
        https://buchanan.org/blog/who-and-what-killed-george-floyd-142867
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:02pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Always worth reading. Note that.
        
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        March 17, 2021 1:32pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    From the great G. K. Chesterton:
    “The Gaelic men of Ireland are the ones that God made mad:
    For their wars are always happy, and their songs are always sad.”
    
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    March 17, 2021 11:16am
    - Inandout
      
      Don, I noticed that also. The Irish revelled in the Belfast Troubles but their songs are like Adelle’s, melancholic. They also make good emigrants and worked like navvies to build businesses, such as our Green&McCahill. The NY police dept was at one time almost all Irish.
      
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      March 17, 2021 12:36pm
- oldfella
  
  Mike, marry your cousin? Like Nania Mahuta did? Does that make her part Irish as well as part Maori? 😉
  “Mahuta is married to William Gannin Ormsby, her first cousin.”
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaia_Mahuta#:~:text=Mahuta%20was%20born%20in%20Auckland,Sir)%20Robert%20Te%20Kotahitanga%20Mahuta.&text=Mahuta%20is%20married%20to%20William%20Gannin%20Ormsby%2C%20her%20first%20cousin.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:33am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    William Gannin Ormsby?
    Gannin is an Irish name, so there ya go, mystery solved.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:00am
  - Phronesis
    
    Ormsby is indeed Irish, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2o8/ormsby-john
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:01am
- David Garrett
  
  Milky: fuck me dead (no please don’t)…I think that’s the THIRD time I have given you an uptick…I won’t ask if you have ever returned the favour…
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:42am
- Frank the tank
  
  Would you make a similar flippant comment with regards to Matariki or say a Pacific Islands’ national day?
  
  “Methinksnot”
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:51am
  - David Garrett
    
    Frank: Oh you betcha mate! I will continue to rubbish and mock the newly invented “Maori New Year” even after they make mocking and rubbishing said invention “hate speech”.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:19am
    - SB2
      
      “..the newly invented “Maori New Year” ”
      
      ??”
      
      Wrong,
      
      http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2020/09/
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:00am
- Saks
  
  Mike
  
  Right – so you have a go at someone earlier because they called Robbo fat – which he is (morbidly obese would be a more correct term), but you are ok to make broad sweeping negative remarks about a whole country of people (the Irish)?
  
  That would be called racism, which from what I can tell of late is the worst thing ever.
  
  Or is it ok because you are making fun of a “white” race?
  
  Would the same level of comment be allowed of it was against the Chinese? Or God forbid a Muslim country?
  
  Mods?
  Batman?
  Anyone?
  
  I’m sick of these keyboard warrior hypocrites, supported by a nation of apologists who have lost all sense of reality
  
  Look forward to your reply Mike …
  
  What will it be? More racist spin, or a personal attack on me?
  
  Or will batman run interference for you?
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:56am
  - kloyd0306
    
    When I raise Batman’s dual roles, my post is deleted.
    
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    March 17, 2021 2:59pm
- igm
  
  Irish are Christians, unlike your esteemed Muslims, they abhor incestual relationships.
  
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  March 17, 2021 12:41pm
  - alwyn
    
    When you look at the Troubles in Northern Ireland you would have to say.
    The Irish had the most dedicated Protestants in the world.
    The Irish had the most dedicated Catholics in the world.
    AND
    The Irish had the worst Christians the world has ever seen.
    
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    March 17, 2021 7:09pm
rouppe

Julie Ann Genter says that equity shouldn’t be used to buy additional houses.

According to the list of pecuniary interests this minister owns two properties in Wellington, a house in Berhampore and an apartment in Mt Victoria.

Interestingly she also has what is called a Roth retirement investment. These are usa vehicles where you pay in with tax paid money, but all withdrawing are tax free. This type of investment is described in investopedia as “best when you think your taxes will be higher in retirement than they are right now.”

So she wants other people to not be able to leverage equity when she surely must have, and also she wants tax free capital gains when calling for others to lose theirs.

Another case of do as I say, not do as I do?
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March 17, 2021 8:15am
- Ehlana
  
  Hmmm, perhaps the job should come with restrictions. For example, permitted to retain ownership of family home and an apartment in Wellington for non-resident MPs. All other property (real and investment) to be sold and put in a blind trust which tracks the NZ stock market. Investment will be returned on leaving Parliament.
  Maybe their Parliamentary superannuation contributions should go in there too.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:11am
  - alwyn
    
    It is a minor, and rather technical, point but if you know your money is in a trust that tracks the NZ stock market you know where the money is invested and it is therefore not a “blind trust”.
    
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    March 17, 2021 7:14pm
- Tall Man
  
  Free market at play so I have no issues with what she does with her money but the hypocrisy is sickening.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:44am
  - sooty
    
    Wonder if she used the equity in the first property to buy the second one rather than buy with cash/savings?
    
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    March 17, 2021 1:47pm
hullkiwi

New variant of covid found in France (BBC Tues 16/03/21) that is almost undetectable, and so calls into further question the efficacy of the vaccine programmes. This on top of the recently reported issues with the Astra Zenica vaccine. Plus as Europe is entering Spring/Summer, Germany, France and Italy are faced with new lockdowns.

So, where does this say about the world’s ability to get out of this want of politicians to continue pedalling Covid fear and maintaining locked borders?
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March 17, 2021 8:17am
- RockyJ
  
  If it is undetectable what is the problem?
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:49am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  What about all of the South American economic migrants at the US southern border? Is 72 hours before release into the country (never to be seen again) an effective Covid-prevention measure? (No, of course not, but it exposes the scam yet again). Biden will have to go from 2 to 3 masks now.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:59am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “recently reported issues with the Astra Zenica vaccine”
  
  If you mean the alleged thrombosis issues, they are non-issues. The EU is making a muck up of the roll out.
  
  The Astra Zenica vaccine is safe and effective.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:07am
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    The Netherlands has ceased vaccinations due to the issues it is evidently causing, joining several other European nations in so doing.
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-international/more-countries-suspend-astrazeneca-vaccine-rollout
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:27am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    The EU is simply throwing a tantrum (honestly – I think that’s all they’re good at) because Astra Zenica wouldn’t steal all the English vaccines for them.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:31am
cmm

I find it interesting comparing the way some people think about CV19 vaccines vs hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).

The same people who were rabidly against HCQ for being unproven and thought it would kill you (even though HCQ is one of the best understood drugs on the planet with over 50 years of use and many billions of doses given) are perfectly happy accepting of vaccines with very limited testing and zero track record.

Human logic, well leftie logic anyway, is fascinating.
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March 17, 2021 8:18am
- Tall Man
  
  “leftie logic”……. Oxymoron 🙂
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:25am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  And following that logic, the vaccine is obviously not about treating Covid or it’s prevention. They’ve already admitted that it may not even prevent infection. It’s about something else, at very best making a select few even more insanely wealthy, at worst something else quite sinister. Otherwise, why are we all being herded into that and only that, rather than any other treatment?
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:26am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    No the vaccines are about treating COVID. It will end the pandemic cold stone dead. At least that’s what the evidence shows. Overwhelmingly.
    
    Stay away from conspiracy theories.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:03am
    - Apropos of the Wet Snow
      
      Oh, the “conspiracy theories” free-debate killer. May I ask: do you have a vested interest here? You seem very invested in playing whack-a-mole with any commenter who disagrees. Show me this “overwhelming” evidence you have access to.
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:29am
    - Ed Snack
      
      I think it would be more accurate to say that the ostensible reason for vaccines is to kill the pandemic – however other external reasons may exist.
      
      Those who already have had the virus – and there are many who did symptom free, should NOT be given the vaccine as they already have immunity, and probably superior immunity at that.
      
      One problem is that the “experts” have so thoroughly screwed the pooch in the course of this pandemic. We’ve been so consistently lied to and no “expert” has been held to task or even admitted that they were wrong; can you blame people for being thoroughly sceptical now ?
      
      A quick summary would strongly suggest the following facts need to be admitted – masks don’t work, lockdowns don’t work, and there are treatments available that make COVID infections at worst no more dangerous except to a small class of elderly, obese, and already ill people. Yet so far the “experts” aver that the opposites of those three statements are true. So when they say that the vaccines are safe, are they in the same lying mode or not ?
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:04am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  I think The Donald was in favour of Hydroxychloroquine, so that makes it terrible in the eyes of the glitterati.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:37am
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    I suppose that means we also shouldn’t admire Slovenian supermodels, then.
    
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    March 17, 2021 8:55am
  - Batman
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Though when it came down to it, Donald didn’t have hydroxy because it doesn’t actually work except for very specific trial circumstances. He got the cocktail that wasn’t available, and then got the Moderna vaccine (the one funded by the Obama administration originally) but won’t release a photo to show folks such as yourselves that it is fine.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:19am
    - crikey
      
      What on earth do you mean by “ …the Moderna vaccine (the one funded by the Obama administration originally)…”
      
      Are you saying Moderna was developing a Covid-19 vaccine some years before the virus was discovered? How presient they must have been – yeah right.
      
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      March 17, 2021 9:25am
      - Batman
        
        Crikey, the DARPA funding approved by the Obama admin for an MRA vaccine went to a little company by the name of Moderna.
        
        The ability of Moderna to create the vaccine was funded by the previous administration. This is one of those funny things about government, it transcends administrations.
        
        So yes, the roots of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine goes back to a funding decision in 2013, with a view to being prepared for such a need in the future.
        
        Evidence: https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/darpa-awards-moderna-therapeutics-grant-25-million-develop
        
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        December 17, 2020 10:23am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        He keeps his history notes on cards, one for each year.
        He appears to have dropped them, and mixed a few up.
        
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        March 17, 2021 9:45am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      I’ve never seen a post where every word is Bull shit, just spelled differently.
      
      16 3
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      March 17, 2021 9:32am
    - oldfella
      
      Batman: the Obama administration funded the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine? really?
      Wow, Barry must have been president for longer than I remember.
      Or did we have Covid-19 (the clue is in the name) before 2016 and Obama hid it from the people? Hmmm.
      
      17 2
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      March 17, 2021 9:40am
      - Batman
        
        RW and Oldfella, please see my reply to Crikey just above.
        
        Here’s the relevant link
        
        https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/darpa-awards-moderna-therapeutics-grant-25-million-develop
        
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        March 17, 2021 10:27am
      - crikey
        
        As Batman himself makes clear, it wasn’t for a Covid vaccine (as he says it was) but rather for vaccine research for vaccine development generally.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:50pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Balls Batman, you’re as ignorant as they come. The only reason you oppose the use of HCQ is political, which makes you complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands or more.
      
      Peer reviewed studies have shown that HCQ works for most people. It cannot be prescribed for everyone as, for example, heart arrhythmias are a disqualifying factor. Ivermectin also works, and both are helped by the simultaneous use of supplementary Zinc, and often antibiotics to attack opportunistic infections and anti-clotting treatment to treat micro-clotting issues.
      
      Note that either HCQ nor Ivermectin are actually cures as such, what they appear to do is restrict viral production and hence reduce viral load; allowing the body’s immune system to overcome the infection with a significant reduction in the need for hospitalisation or emergency treatment. Zinc has the same effect, it is involved in the process whereby the virus gains entry to human cells such that a deficiency of Zinc enhances the viral entry, so supplementary Zinc makes that harder for the virus to achieve.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:12am
    - Inandout
      
      Bat, I wonder, does Joe’s Nurse Jill know about or use this drug?
      
      ‘The two most commonly prescribed medicines for dementia are cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine (Namenda). Doctors use them mainly to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common kind of dementia. They prescribe them for other kinds of dementia as well’.
      
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      March 17, 2021 12:43pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  A French doctor had a theory about HCQ, but because Trump mentioned it…it was vilified.
  It has a proven safe record, what was wrong with…Give it a go, if it works great, if not, we have lost nothing?…Carry on pursuing a vaccine.
  After all, we RWers can walk and chew gum at the same time.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:29am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    It does not work. At all. Evidence.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:04am
    - Batman
      
      Benedict you’ll never convince them otherwise, it would clash with their narrative of Donald the victim of media and deep state persecution.
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:28am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Benedict, you are flat out wrong, there are peer reviewed studies including a recent Texas one with 4000 patients. Combination therapy (matched for participants qualifying needs) found an 85% reduction in the need for hospitalisation and a concomitant reduction in the severity of symptoms.
      
      I suggest you check out the evidence before lying.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:15am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      What evidence?
      They NEVER studied it, they just refuted it.
      Others have actually used it and found it to take the edge off the worst symptoms, Maybe saving a few lives in the process.
      Upshot
      It should have been tried, maybe would have saved some lives, not stopped them from getting it, but SAVED THEIR LIVES.
      
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      March 17, 2021 12:16pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Show us the evidence.
      
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      March 17, 2021 1:38pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  There is NO evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective at treating COVID. Quite the opposite.
  
  There is overwhelming evidence that the vaccines are highly effective.
  
  So there is that difference.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:08am
  - NoFax
    
    This website https://c19study.com/ lists all the studies into HCQ for treating Covid – nearly 200 peer reviewed. The consensus is that if the right does early then it is effective. Most of the negative studies are trying to treat late Covid. Big difference.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:34am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Again Benedict, you are ill informed, and should stop spreading misinformation.
    
    The major study used to “prove” that HCQ does not work was withdrawn after the authors refused to release any raw data – almost certainly because the data was made up in the first place (it looked highly artificial).
    
    It is apparently true that HCQ is not very useful if only used to treat those who have developed serious symptoms. It is a prophylactic treatment to be used early when it’s action in restricting viral reproduction is most useful. Ivermectin is very similar. Used early on first diagnosis both HCQ and Ivermectin are highly effective.
    
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    March 17, 2021 11:20am
- cmm
  
  Whether it actually worked or not is a side issue.
  
  What I am talking about is the SAFETY.
  
  Sure, some will argue that this would be an off label use of HCQ – ie that HCQ had not been approved for this use. So what?
  
  Off-label use of drugs is very common. For example, in Australia 60% of drugs used in paediatric hospitals are off label and here in NZ 72% of quetiapine is used for off-label purposes.
  
  For the record, I am generally reluctant to stuff drugs into my body unless there’s a damn good reason to do so (eg, the heart and thyroid meds I take daily).
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:44am
- SB2
  
  cmm, hydroxychloroquine the crank science the Covid19 denial way.
  
  https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hydroxychloroquine-doesnt-benefit-hospitalized-covid-19-patients
  
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  March 17, 2021 11:07am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    ” 479 of the expected 510 patients.”
    How under whelming a study is that?
    At what stage of illness?
    Co factors?
    Location?
    Larger studies were done via anecdotal evidence from private doctors across Texas and found if dosed early enough in the infection, patients show massively reduced symptoms.
    It is the latter symptoms that kill you.
    
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    March 17, 2021 12:22pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    You’re a fine one to be talking about “crank science” Stephie; just sayin’…
    
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    March 17, 2021 1:14pm
  - cmm
    
    You wouldn’t know what science is if it jumped up and bit you on the cock.
    
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    March 17, 2021 3:53pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Making the rather heroic assumption that you are serious SB2, I can address what you claim.
    
    HCQ, Ivermectin, Zinc, plus specific antibiotics and anti- clotting agents are not intended nor claimed to be specifically useful for patients who have been hospitalised. They are, as I have tried to point out before, prophylactic treatments intended for use once a person has been identified as having the virus, and presumably before they have a need for emergency treatment. Such people can be prescribed a two week course of combinations of these therapies – as noted above HCQ is NOT recommended if the patient has a known heart irregularity as it can exacerbate that, Ivermectin is more widely usable, but combinations work best.
    
    The effect of that regime has been demonstrated through double blind peer reviewed studies to reduce the need for hospitalisation by 85% and also reduces the severity of non-hospital treated symptoms like loss of smell and taste. As such this should absolutely be the standard of care for those diagnosed with a COVID infection presuming it has been picked up prior to the symptoms progressing to need hospital care.
    
    Once a patient needs ICU treatment and ventilation, the actual problem is not by then the viral infection itself, but the damage that the virus has caused primarily to lung tissue – and associated bacterial infections. The virus can cause massive damage to the lung cells with significant clotting problems and seriously reduced oxygen uptake capacity. What the ICU treatment is needed for is to support the patients vital processes like breathing and to cope with the clotting and fluid release and retention issues – basically the patients develop a very serious case of pneumonia.
    
    So the study you cite was on the use of HCQ as a treatment for this late stage was pointless, or at least testing HCQ for an effect that it was never claimed to have.
    
    Actually, for these severely ill patients, not much is available. They are given antibiotics for the opportunistic infections in the lung tissue, anti-clotting agents, and other treatments dealing with the after effects of the viral infection. The new drug much touted as a possible lifesaver – Remdesvir, is also useless at this point. Recovered patient antibodies may work for some, but basically your not dealing with a direct virus problem but with the age done already at that point.
    
    So to summarise, the claim that is very well supported is that HCQ and Ivermectin in combination with Zinc supplements and some specific antibiotics and clotting protective agents is very effective at reducing viral replication and viral load in patients, with the result that the severity of the disease is enormously reduced and the drain on hospital resources is much much lower. With this treatment COVID is especially for younger people less serious than influenza in general. It is still more serious for the elderly, especially the obese elderly with other underlying conditions such as diabetes and heart issues.
    
    My concern is that although this prophylactic treatment is scientifically well established, neither NZ nor most other Western countries are applying it to reduce the impact of the pandemic. Instead failed and ineffective policies like mask mandates and “social distancing” are insisted upon despite the evidence that these are ineffective.
    
    So do you understand the distinction, and this applies to Benedict Yu, you may be correct that HCQ (for example) has little effect when used as treatment for already seriously ill patients, that is not the claimed beneficial use. It IS demonstrated to be a very valuable prophylactic treatment to reduce symptoms and hospitalisation.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:59pm
I remember when

Now that the environment and climate change is getting increased media coverage.
About that ever increasing dairy farm encroachment and ever increasing dairy cow numbers.
The real problem with the argument is, that neither the number of cows or the total dairy farm hectares have increased since the 2015/16 season.
In fact, there has been a small decrease most seasons.
2015/16 4,997,811 cows 1,751,704 hectares
2019/20 4,921,548 cows 1,730,374 hectares
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March 17, 2021 8:18am
- hullkiwi
  
  You are misunderstanding the dialogue. Wokism is all about perceptions/myths spun in the media, until they become the “truth”
  
  Reality and what is actually the case of a situation are irrelevant and must be ignored.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:07am
  - oldfella
    
    HK, tired of the Nazi left, and the way their woke storm-troopers browbeat everyone who doesn’t agree with them? Then read this.
    ++
    How Many Times Must We Tell You to Never Apologize to These Scumbags?
    For those of you who have not been paying attention, it’s not about “racism” or “sexism” or whatever -ism or -phobia these tools are pretending to be upset about this week. The left actively supports racism and sexism – leftists are affirmatively in favor of those things, so it’s not like their performative pouting is a good faith critique of their victim’s words.
    It’s about power, the power to force others to comply by guaranteeing a tsunami of hate toward anyone deviating from the ordained narrative.
    https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2021/03/15/how-many-times-must-we-tell-you-to-never-apologize-to-these-scumbags-n2586224
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:41am
    - SB2
      
      “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
      
      ― Aldous Huxley,
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:11am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        Fun fact: Did you know that both Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis died on the same day that Kennedy was assassinated?
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:05pm
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Don’t tell me….tell Grant Robertson
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:23pm
- Tomtoddy
  
  And methane levels are falling too.
  
  Carr’s Commission are recommending farmers subsidise the fossil fuel users by setting targets higher for methane emissions than Paris set.
  
  Foresters get subsidies for using CO2. Farmers use CO2 and get penalised. Go figure.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:12am
artemisia

Govt Tried To Hide Ihumātao Link To Treaty Settlements

This was discussed a little yesterday in General Debate but needs to be kept in the spotlight. ACT at the below link did a good job in disclosing text redacted but cleverly displayed by using a different format.

(Oops. Suspect a few holders and senders of redacted Word documents will be fishing these out to check.)

Random impertinent questions. Have we been lied to by Minister Robertson? When will the Auditor-General begin investigating? Will the MSM mention it?

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2103/S00110/govt-tried-to-hide-ihumatao-link-to-treaty-settlements.htm
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March 17, 2021 8:20am
- marcw
  
  The facts of the Ihumatao Treaty Settlements links are bad enough, but what I am most outraged about is the attempt to block the information being revealed.
  
  Lets look at this more closely – a legitimate Official Information Act request by the ACT Party had relevant and important facts redacted by the government. I’ll say it again, REDACTED. Important FACTS REDACTED. This is appalling and should be being called out loud and clear by the media. Yet … crickets.
  
  The fact that it was only discovered by ‘accident’ just makes it worse. If it was National then Red Radio would be all over it.
  
  There needs to be much more loud objection to the way this government is lying and deceiving the public, and also with the complicity of the useless and sycophantic paid-for media.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:16am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    red radio are govt owned propagandists. Stop expecting any sort of balance from them and you won’t be disappointed.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:11am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    My understanding is that this is actually illegal. Redactions are only allowed for specific things and covering up a lie is most definitely not one of them.
    
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    March 17, 2021 12:44pm
Yvette

Government accused of trying to ‘hide’ Treaty of Waitangi implications of Ihumātao deal.

Now – Another hidden section of the Cabinet paper shows there is a chance the land at Ihumātao won’t be used for housing despite assurances from the Government it will be.
A redacted section of the Cabinet paper says: “Funds received from the sale of the land for housing or support for housing, or any other uses which are deemed to be more suitable than housing, will be returned to the Crown.”

But for any funds to be “returned to the Crown”, as stated above, won’t it require yet another buyer or agency to acquire the land for a purpose other than housing – to provide those funds to be returned?

Can anyone explain in plain English (or Māori) what the hell this most honestly transparent Government is doing?
Perhaps Ardern can clarify it for the Team of Five Million, or Pania Newton?
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March 17, 2021 8:22am
- Tony Stuart
  
  If you were expecting TVNZ’s news to cover this story last night, you would have been disappointed. The 6pm news had obviously been set up as a celebration of retaining the America’s Cup, but when Race 10 was scuttled by the wind change, there was no Plan B.
  
  It was telling though that they did manage to slot in a follow-up story to Monday night’s poll, pushing speculation on National’s leadership, and featuring a brief interview with Christopher Luxon.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:54am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Tony, you’re being too kind to TVNZ, they are never going to run a story that shows the govt in a poor light are they?
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:11am
  - Batman
    
    The live coverage of the team returning to base on match point was the giveaway, plus the half dozen reporters they had scattered around the viaduct.
    
    I suspect they all drew straws for it and then decided they all wanted to be live at 6pm anyway ?
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:21am
  - Apropos of the Wet Snow
    
    Ah, the America’s Cup. Living on the vapours of a late 20th century wave of popularity. Does anyone care? I mean, in a world full of irrelevancies, that is right up there with the best in the world. At least, certainly the most irrelevant thing in the Southern Hemisphere.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:27am
    - Batman
      
      Is it hard to be so dark and negative about absolutely everything?
      
      7 17
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      March 17, 2021 10:41am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        No. But it depends how my comments are interpreted. There’s usually a deep sense of irony pervading my comments, a glint in he eye, and a nudge and a wink. The astute readers get me. That said, get me started on degeneracy and third world immigration, and its gloves off, put-the-buggers-on-the-next-boat-to-nowhere fire and brimstone!!
        
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        March 17, 2021 10:54am
      - Tall Man
        
        Whoosh Batman.
        
        // ain’t always in the post 😉
        
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        March 17, 2021 11:51am
    - SB2
      
      Blowing out someone else’s candle doesn’t make yours shine any brighter!
      
      3 16
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      March 17, 2021 11:18am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        That’s just perverse.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:06pm
      - Inandout
        
        SB2, I think Old Bill Clinton discovered that with Lewinsky in the corridor.
        
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        March 17, 2021 12:48pm
      - SB2
        
        It is no so such thing. Merely a variation on tall poppy syndrome
        
        Try this,
        
        Achievement can sometimes cost you
        
        2 6
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        March 17, 2021 2:06pm
  - Biscuit
    
    That was bizarre, wasn’t it, Tony?
    
    ‘Oh sh*t, we haven’t won it today after all. After all our planning, too. How can we pad a non-win into 60 minutes (less ads) of prime cutting-edge news’…
    
    The only thing I was surprised at was that Jass and the First Family weren’t there for the Seven Sharp interviewers:
    
    ‘And what did you think of it all, Neve?’
    
    Fawn, fawn…
    
    Maybe today, eh?
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:28am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Have we any land title law left?
  The occupation to convert Fletchers’s lawful title seems to have worked. This may be novel and unlawful but it puts all registered land titles at risk.
  In NZ title to land subsists almost always in the entry in the Land Register. Even the time of entry on the Register is recorded as first in has prior rights. There is a diligent process for formal transfer unlike the UK where parties have had to hunt for documents. Bashing over the head is not recognised any longer as a grounds for title change.
  
  This govt’s usurpation of ownership rights is a clear breach of their duty to uphold the law and not subvert it. Even the Police were kept out while the criminal act was underway. No govt can rule in NZ like that. The may not swear an Oath to uphold the laws of the Realm but the Cabinet at least have sworn an Oath of Loyalty as Members of HM Queen Elizabeth Executive Council. HM cannot tolerate this subversion by her Ministers.
  
  Title is not in possession. That was an older Maori practice following slaying of the former owner. Is the govt going to bring back utu as well?
  Has COVID made them crazy and unfit to govern or were they naturally like that?
  
  Ardern’s govt must now resign forthwith. This is a breach of duty beyond repair.
  Provisions for enforcement are now imperative.
  
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  March 17, 2021 2:05pm
  - david
    
    So ? What. Are you going to do about it??? Sue me??
    Na Na Nana Na …….. can’t touch me ! With kindness, love Cindy.
    
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    March 17, 2021 2:44pm
    - artemisia
      
      A complaint (at least one) has been made to the Auditor-General.
      
      What developer is going to touch with a bargepole any land that might have had a Maori owner or two in the 19th century.
      
      Meanwhile – Shelly Bay 3 – Enterprise Miramar – 0.
      
      Next?
      
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      March 17, 2021 6:10pm
G152

The trouble with hydroxychloroquine is that Trump mentioned it.
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March 17, 2021 8:23am
- Benedict Yu
  
  No the problem is that it is I effective as a treatment for covid.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:16am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Meant to be “it is ineffective…..”
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:05am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      https://c19early.com/
      Hydroxychloroquine is effective if taken early or prophylactically, not if taken once already sick. But there are many better options available now, some of which appear to reduce Covid danger to less than that of normal flu.
      
      But seemingly little interest in studies on non-patentable treatments in west and a million extra have died unnecessarily as a result. Oh well – medical establishment is obviously great at doing their job.
      
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      March 17, 2021 10:18am
    - amospicton
      
      I remembering reading that whilst it didn’t cure covid itself, it was effective against the symptoms if administered early enough?
      
      4 0
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      March 17, 2021 2:20pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    It hasn’t been shown to be effective, either as a treatment or a prophylactic, in clinical trials. It could even worsen Covid symptoms as an immunosuppressant.
    
    4 22
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    March 17, 2021 10:09am
    - NoFax
      
      Which clinical trial are you referring to out of the several hundred on that website?
      
      13 1
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      March 17, 2021 10:40am
    - Fletch
      
      A team at Henry Ford Health System in southeast Michigan said Thursday their study of 2,541 hospitalized patients found that those given hydroxychloroquine were much less likely to die.
      
      Dr. Marcus Zervos, division head of infectious disease for Henry Ford Health System, said 26% of those not given hydroxychloroquine died, compared to 13% of those who got the drug.
      
      https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/health/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-detroit-study/index.html
      
      I would say that being “much less likely to die” is a good thing as is the halving of the mortality rate….
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:22am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Why are you so wedded to misinformation Mikey ? Want to see more people die ?
      
      14 0
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      March 17, 2021 11:23am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Where did you do your clinical training?
      
      4 2
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      March 17, 2021 2:07pm
I remember when

NZ Farmers Weekly: March 15:
‘Firearm Licence Processing Jam.
Simeon Brown has revealed 9000 applications for licences are waiting to be processed, of which 3500 are renewals.
It’s clear the police are struggling to deal with the workload.
The Govt needs to be resourcing police properly so the public recieve the level of service they expect.
Act MP Nicole McKee says reports licence applications are taking up to a year to process indicate a system ‘totally out of control’.
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March 17, 2021 8:24am
- mandk
  
  The police should be able to manage. After all, Stuart Nash increased their numbers by 1,800.
  
  No, wait …
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:53am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Too busy navel gazing doing woke reviews on culture and bias.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:53am
G152

Stupidly turned radio on at some prehistoric hour last night/this morning.
Talkback radio
And there it was in all its ignorance fancy frontman with finger on button.
Dare if they will but nothing anti Cindy or fake news shall pass without a five minute dissertation from He who wont shut the F— up and let the audience have a say.
In fact the bit I heard had very few phone in and those appeared to be pets…
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March 17, 2021 8:25am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  I drove 550 km north from Wellington, leaving Wellington at 10.30 p.m., a couple of years ago.
  Thank the Lord for the Concert Programme. The two talk back hosts were terrible, and Red Radio; say no more.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:45am
  - Inandout
    
    Tauhei, you could have rung in to keep the Lush in a job. He is always begging for callers.
    
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    March 17, 2021 3:22pm
Maggie Pie

So, yet another strain of the ‘Covid19 virus’ has been discovered.

Well what I’d like to know then…..how was it detected ?

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1371856224329871361
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March 17, 2021 8:29am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, this covid has been a godsend for governments which love to keep citizens in fear, but human nature being what it is the plebs will eventually buck the system.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:33am
- Tall Man
  
  Another twist in the con.
  
  18 2
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  March 17, 2021 8:34am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  They’ll keep inventing “new strains” which will necessitate ongoing restrictions and more and more treatments. This is the New Normal. Better for everyone to accept this now, and to act accordingly.
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:46am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    As I have commented previously, I am more optimistic. The vaccines will effectively end the pandemic and they will become more sophisticated over time. We all get a flu vaccination every year. This will just be another one.
    
    For those who are vaccinated, even if they still catch covid it will be a minor annoyance.
    
    And when it is all over jacinda will not be able to hide behind it.
    
    17 3
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    March 17, 2021 9:14am
    - Dougal10
      
      We all don’t get a flue vaccine every year.
      
      16 0
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      March 17, 2021 10:22am
      - Apropos of the Wet Snow
        
        I’ve never had a flu vaccine and I’ve also never had the flu.
        
        16 2
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        March 17, 2021 10:36am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Apropos, some people don’t, you lucky bastard. Some by sheer luck, and some because their immune system is especially effective against flu.
        
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        March 17, 2021 11:25am
    - JimBobJoe
      
      No we dont all get a Flu vaccine every year Benedict.
      
      We have lived with Coronavirsus variants forever. We dont need a general population vacvine to combat the current strains.
      
      Get healthy.. Exercise, Eat well and get healthy doses of fresh air and sunshine. Your body will cope with civid
      
      The big clue this not a significant disease is in the numbers… Global deaths/Global population. The death rate is almost a rounding error…
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:29am
RockyJ

Great example of “Double speak”.
Investigation launched into unconscious bias against Maori in the police to be led by Sir Kim Workman. Sir Kim declares “As a critic of the criminal justice system on the issue of bias for the last twenty years I welcome this project as a watershed moment”.
Anyone think he won’t be biased?
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March 17, 2021 8:32am
- Nickc2
  
  If you want a specific answer to a problem, employ the person who’s going to provide the answer you want. In saying that, I’m well aware Sir Kim Workman is of Maori descent (Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitaane) and as such, I seriously doubt his report will be anything but favourable to the Govt’s wishes. I’m in no doubt whatsoever his report will contain a massive diatribe pertaining to the assumed rights of Maori in NZ post colonialization.
  ANOTHER GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD FOR THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:53am
Nickc2

I detect a deliberate switch by Cindy’s mob to Covid-19 and bubbles in order to distract attention from their Ihumato stuff up. IMO this stuff up is going to have ramifications for NZers for many years to come and any action to mitigate its impact will require a major shift in racial relations in NZ.
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March 17, 2021 8:44am
Tony Stuart

Check out this video from Chris Bishop via Twitter of Hon Peeni Henare interjecting against National MP Erica Stanford during Question Time yesterday:

https://twitter.com/cjsbishop/status/1371657514698248193

Remember the fuss when Trevor Mallard claimed to have heard a still-unidentified National MP call Jacinda Ardern a “silly little girl”? I guess it’s not misogyny when a Labour MP and Minister implies that an Opposition MP is being catty…
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March 17, 2021 9:01am
- Swifty
  
  As an aside, I see David Clark in that piece. Sitting in our Parliament and drawing a big fat salary.
  
  Quite how he expects to be taken seriously as an MP is quite beyond me.
  
  He was weighed, measured and found wanting….
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:17am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Yes, but Clark will never get another job that pays this well so he will hang on as long as possible.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:43am
Maggie Pie

When this just popped up in the Daily Mail, my partner said “HE would”

Honestly, there are times I wish I’d listened to my mother 🙁

https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/1371906634004463616
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March 17, 2021 9:01am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  Don’t Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions only serve to perpetuate the objectification and oppression of women? I guess not.
  
  11 2
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  March 17, 2021 9:09am
- Libertarians are right
  
  Only behind the “evil” Hugh Hefner by 40 years (30 years for the repeat when Tula Cossey had been outed).
  
  8 1
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  March 17, 2021 9:32am
- Fletch
  
  Not if the model was (or “used to be”) a man. Don’t mess with Mr Inbetween as the song used to go.
  
  12 1
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  March 17, 2021 11:26am
Benedict Yu

Yesterday a client asked me to rework part of a report I had written.

I told him I disagreed with just about everything he had said. Then I delivered the final blow. “I refute that”.

He said “Oh sorry Benedict. I’ll pay you a half million.”
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March 17, 2021 9:07am
Paulus Gnome

Time to wax the moustache as well perhaps Maggie?

Suggesting for a friend . . .
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March 17, 2021 9:23am
Maggie Pie

Andrew Becroft calling out Australia for deporting the 15yo boy back here.

No wonder Peter Dutton has such a worried look on his face.
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March 17, 2021 9:27am
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… The boy who wanted to come back who has family in NZ? He didn’t come back on ConAir just a commercial flight. Maybe a chance for him to escape a dysfunctional family in Oz?
  We will never know…
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:38am
  - Frank the tank
    
    As usual our feckless media gets a 10th of the whole story and adds 1 + 1 and gets 34. I’m also guessing Mahuta had 100% of the story and was too lazy to inform the media.
    
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    March 17, 2021 9:57am
Brian McDonald

Didn’t listen to Robertson’s interview but Alexander Gordienkon at an international steel conference said that the global economy outperformed expectations in 2020 and only contracted by 3.5 percent year on year reflecting stronger-than-expected momentum in the 2nd half of the year.
Amongst other things, he said that the European construction sector took a big hit in 2020 with the worst performing countries being the UK and France. However, the sector is expected to return to pre-covid levels by the end of 2021.
Steel output fell by 1% but if China is taken out of the equation fell by 8%. He said the expected huge slump had not materialised.
12 months after Grant Roberston spoke of V-shaped recovery in NZ. Gordienko in his unrelated presentation said that a V-shaped recovery is expected everywhere but that it will depend on government policies.
Of interest scrap steel exports continued throughout the Covid restrictions when men and women working in the steelyards, transport, and on the wharves and got called sheeple and scared by Kiwi Bloggers hiding under their beds. The exports have slowed this year because of shipping problems but it was announced yesterday that an international shipper Minsk? will be taking empty containers from the north to the South Island so some relief may be in sight and possibly some industrial conflict as a result.
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March 17, 2021 9:29am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  Outstanding analysis. Now, what’s the global outlook in the clapped-out beer fridge market? Should we be holding on or looking to trade-up?
  
  17 1
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  March 17, 2021 9:38am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Hold onto yours and the kerosene stove things are not looking too good for the bewildered.
    
    2 19
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    March 17, 2021 10:15am
- Tony Stuart
  
  The shelves at the local Countdown still have massive gaps, with signs accompanying the gaps attributed shortages to shipping issues. I suspect moving containers between the South and North Islands is unlikely to be anything more than a drop in the bucket.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:56am
  - kevn
    
    @Tony… Try Aussie Bunnings. Lots of stock gaps in the most commonly used nail/screw types and sizes. Plus other random stuff.
    Builders walk in and out empty handed.
    
    22 0
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    March 17, 2021 10:02am
    - Tall Man
      
      Got a family member starting a build there in the next few weeks, there are shortages in Oz as well.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:12am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Tony, the empty containers are going to the South Island to cover the shortage for exporters. It has been a bit of a stretch because there is some sort of embargo on foreign shippers moving containers to protect the local workforce. The details were online yesterday. Some boats have left NZ waters without unloading because Auckland hasn’t been able to turn them around quickly enough. Surely you’ve heard about the shortage of straddle crane operators.
    
    3 20
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    March 17, 2021 10:20am
    - Paulus
      
      Understand vacancies for Straddles have been held but with no suitable candidates.
      The Whanau have been in charge, and getting better does not control the activities of the Council owned Auckland Wharves.
      
      6 0
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      March 17, 2021 1:23pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Excellent our economy will be saved by scrap metal exports.
  
  Thanks for the scoop champ.
  
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  March 17, 2021 10:01am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Better than sitting on your arse moaning all day chump. Try doing a little work, maybe picking up ali cans from the waste baskets outside dairies.
    
    2 31
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    March 17, 2021 10:23am
oldfella

The best news you’ll hear today! ?
Had enough Zoom meetings? Can’t bear another soul-numbing day of sitting on video calls, the only distraction your rapidly aging face, pinned in one corner of the screen like a dying bug? Well, if so, then boy do we have the app for you. Meet Zoom Escaper: a free web widget that lets you add an array of fake audio effects to your next Zoom Call, gifting you with numerous reasons to end the meeting and escape, while you still can.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/15/22331744/zoom-escaper-sabotage-meetings-fake-audio-problems
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March 17, 2021 9:35am
cas

No Jacinda in Parliament yesterday. Robbo answering questions and standing as mnder behind Nanaia when she was being interviewed by the media. Was she in Auckland waiting to prepare to have a hand in the presentation of the America’s Cup?
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March 17, 2021 9:44am
- alex Masterley
  
  Dollars to donuts she is floating around Auckland looking for a photo opportunity.
  Given the RNZYS will go dark, i.e members only, phones off and email off for the race/s today she wouldnt be allowed in anyway.
  So I am guessing that she will be in the viaduct for th the moet monment.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:54am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    So true, the like the 3 hand, handshake John made at Eden Park.
    Not getting ahead of myself but I hope she is there.
    
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    March 17, 2021 10:26am
    - Tall Man
      
      She’s possibly hoping you’re not.
      
      12 2
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      March 17, 2021 11:04am
    - Biscuit
      
      Brian, I’m no Jacinda fan – until she actually begins delivering on a few of her promises – but I have no problems with her being there today.
      
      The America’s Cup is a pretty big thing … and she IS our elected leader.
      
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      March 17, 2021 12:49pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Internet off, phones off, seal any cracks under the Squadron doors. Don’t want any chance of Bertie the Bounder delivering a challenge before the RYS. He might even try a drone dropping a challenge doc on Imagine.
    
    6 0
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    March 17, 2021 11:09am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  Let’s hope she won’t have a sledgehammer stuffed down her trousers.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:54am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Is Nanaia Mahuta in trouble for breaching the “no surprises” policy and not telling the PM about the 15yo deportee? Ministers have been sacked for less, and making the PM look uninformed is almost without exception career-limiting.
  
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  March 17, 2021 9:58am
  - Tall Man
    
    Trouble is ardern is normally uninformed.
    
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    March 17, 2021 11:05am
  - greybeard
    
    Who says that Mahuta never told the PM?
    
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    March 17, 2021 1:18pm
  - Local Miller
    
    Not in the Liebour party they haven’t
    
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    March 17, 2021 3:35pm
Captain Mainwaring

Given that I’m Cindy’s employer, I think it reasonable that she should provide me with a reason for her failure to turn up for work yesterday.
39 3
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March 17, 2021 9:45am
- mikenmildagain
  
  You will get a say in the three-yearly performance review.
  
  10 14
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  March 17, 2021 10:18am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Elections: The only employment review in the world where the employee’s dependents get a say on their performance.
    
    5 0
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    March 17, 2021 2:00pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    That review time has now expired with the Ihumatao conversion.
    
    5 1
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    March 17, 2021 2:12pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If I pull a sickie, I don’t get a 3 year delay to be reprimanded ……
    
    8 1
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    March 17, 2021 3:21pm
- tui47
  
  Unusual for Cindy to be missing on a Tuesday without explanation. Are things getting too tough?
  
  13 1
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  March 17, 2021 12:38pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    And now it’s Wednesday and she’s still missing in action.
    Somebody must have the answer but I suspect tui47 is right.
    
    7 1
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    March 17, 2021 2:11pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I think a meltdown is happening, not that I like this to happen to anyone, including myself
    
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    March 17, 2021 5:10pm
Maggie Pie

Have you noticed the retards who drive around in their car wearing a face mask, that it’s usually an old jap import?

You know how they voted as well.

Just saying.
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March 17, 2021 9:56am
- Frank the tank
  
  (Little) Aotearoans still in their post lockdown orgasm.
  
  23 2
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  March 17, 2021 10:03am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  What knuckle-draggers. Don’t they know that Science recommends a minimum of two masks when travelling alone in a vehicle, four if you pick up a hitchhiker?
  
  23 3
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  March 17, 2021 10:11am
- Brian McDonald
  
  You’d probably look quite catching wearing a Herman Munster mask Maggie, especially with the arms and armpits to go with it.
  
  3 25
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  March 17, 2021 10:29am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I certainly wouldn’t want you to recognise me standing anywhere Ronald 🙁
    
    20 3
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    March 17, 2021 10:47am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    That actually made me laugh out loud.
    Brian, you kill me.
    …but please don’t kill me.
    
    I do appreciate a well crafted put down, and even posts I disagree with are worth upticks.
    
    Mike for instance has quoted the great sage Homer Simpson on occasion, and his ‘3 year performance review’ comment on Cindy {above} ; nice.
    
    It is good to have a bit of tension between the characters in this drama, and a bit of humour in a riposte.
    Some of the downtick collectors actually do liven this place up.
    
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    March 17, 2021 1:13pm
- zulumonster
  
  The only good reason to drive around in a car on your own with a mask on is if you stole it …
  
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  March 17, 2021 11:55am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, and the elderly who take great pride in logging onto the codes at shop doorways. They are of course, and we are told long, that sector which will die soonest of the dreaded fear factor. Then of course if you have little else to do but comply and are rarely in a hurry, well. I have observed much C19 behaviour at malls around the country and more Maori people by far just walk on into the shops. Perhaps they just hate conformity.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:35pm
Akitio

I see St Ashley has taken heed of his puppeteers examples and decided to “work from home today”, a head cold will prevent him appearing in person at a select committee hearing.
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March 17, 2021 10:42am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh damn!
  Didn’t he get a freebie to some prime viewing spot?
  
  19 1
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  March 17, 2021 11:40am
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep, Like to see PCR test result just to confirm hes in the “team”.?
  
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  March 17, 2021 5:38pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like our Government will be washing its hands of any blame with the Ihumatao deal.

Now the future of any housing on that land is in the hands of a few Waikato elites aka “Kingitanga” – aka Labour Party Lackeys

Government ministers have no role in deciding who those representatives should be – although Cabinet Minister Peeni Henare is one of the 12 advisors that make up Tekaumarua, which counsels King Tūheitia.

A number of other senior Labour members, including Foreign Affairs Minister and Waikato-Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta, are closely connected to the movement.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ihumatao-no-done-deal-anytime-soon
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March 17, 2021 10:46am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The Minister of Justice is directly in the firing line. Somebody has to be responsible for the govt of the day not following the laws of the Ream.
  The PM and her Cabinet, Members of the Executive Council, are all collectively responsible.
  
  These amateurs cannot disclaim liability, they have been paid to perform the duties of Government. They have no rights to remake law without the process of Parliament.
  
  The fact that they do not know even the basics of public administration and their rights and duties renders them unfit to continue in Office.
  
  They have also to date showed little ability to actually make executive decisions. They talk but do not act. That’s a formula for going backwards as a nation.
  
  We need a mechanism to remove a dud govt.
  
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  March 17, 2021 2:23pm
Batman

Oh dear, some more bad news for the Hunter Biden truthers, it turns out that the laptop story was the obvious explanation, planted by the Ruskies with Rudi colludy.

Patrick Tucker from DefenseOne reports:
“In case you’re still wondering if the Hunter Biden laptop story came from the Kremlin, ODNI’s new unclassified report says yes.”

(ODNI link: https://t.co/1iM6hMmTm4 )

https://t.co/mNtPvHqe4d
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March 17, 2021 10:48am
- Tall Man
  
  Maybe it’s time to move on with the shit stirring.
  
  9 2
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  March 17, 2021 11:02am
  - Batman
    
    I’m not intending to stir, the reactions of others is their issue.
    
    Given that multiple people here spent months spreading the lies planted in US conservative media by Russian intelligence, the record does need to be corrected lest anyone continue believing that Hunter Biden flew from LA to Delaware because he needed his laptop fixed specifically by a legally blind repair man.
    
    Perhaps my opening sentence was a little close to the bone though ?
    
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    March 17, 2021 11:58am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Your proof?
      
      7 1
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      March 17, 2021 2:24pm
    - Local Miller
      
      If the Russians planted it then why didn’t they plant it closer to his home? Really, I’m sure they would have done a better job than that.
      
      5 1
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      March 17, 2021 3:45pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      More lies from the Batty man. The DNI review does not mention the laptop at all. It makes the unsubstantiated claim that the Russians attempted to assist the GOP and Trump, and entirely ignores the extant evidence that both the Iranians and the Chinese overtly supported the Democrats.
      
      You may note that some Twitter users who made the claim that the laptop was confirmed “disinformation” have had to retract those claims once they read the actual document, I suggest you do the same.
      
      What did happen was that some perfectly valid if incriminating evidence on Biden was deliberately suppressed by the MSM and the intelligence apparatus connived in that process. The laptop is Hunter Biden’s, his lawyer tried to get it returned, and neither Joe nor Hunter nor anyone connected with them has ever explicitly stated or claimed that the laptop was NOT Hunters.
      
      It is, and the incriminating evidence has now disappeared into the highly political and biased FBI as so will never see the light of day. So Joe’s history of corruption will continue to be covered up – until he is no longer useful to them. Joe’s used Hunter as his bagman for nigh on 30 years, Hunter gets sinecures, contracts, or “investment opportunities”, and Joe collects 50%. In return Joe provides political cover for corruption, nice job if you can get away with it, but I do find it hard to believe that so many actively support such corruption in their favoured politicians.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:11pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  And things aren’t looking good for NY Gov. ‘Andrew Cuomo’either. Seven women have already come forward to accuse the serial sex-pest of inappropriate behaviour.
  
  Then this……
  
  https://twitter.com/RealMattCouch/status/1371707503633969152
  
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  March 17, 2021 11:07am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Sleazy bastard – looks like he’ll be gone soon.
    
    11 1
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    March 17, 2021 11:26am
    - Batman
      
      He’s incredibly stubborn, and a massive prick by all accounts it turns out.
      
      No legacy fourth term for him it seems!
      
      11 1
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      March 17, 2021 12:06pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        I must have missed that.
        Where did you hear about his prick, Batz?
        
        13 4
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        March 17, 2021 12:27pm
      - Batman
        
        Maggie, how did I know you’d respond to that? ??9
        
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        March 17, 2021 1:05pm
      - oldfella
        
        I laughed at the massive prick comment, Bats.
        Similar to Apropos’s comment earlier about the PM having a sledgehammer down her trousers, but not sure he meant it the way I took it.
        
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        March 17, 2021 3:36pm
- Ed Snack
  
  Nope, genuine laptop. Can’t see how the Ruskies planted those naked HB photos, the half naked underage relative pics, the crack pipe photos; nor how they arranged for HB’s lawyer to ask for the machine back.
  
  You fall for the fake news intelligence ops all the time Batman.
  
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  March 17, 2021 11:31am
  - Batman
    
    Yes the supposed pictures which were all mixed together in a little cocktail designed to trigger the targets to engage and share it.
    
    It’s quite possible they got the pics of him, then mixed in the other incriminating material, none of which seems verified aside from “it’s online somewhere” type claims.
    
    You seem to be confusing your fake news intelligence operations with the actual foreign Intel disinformation that you’ve swallowed as true. This isn’t surprising at least, given you in particular pushed all of that rubbish throughout last year.
    
    4 14
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    March 17, 2021 12:22pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Oh sure Batman, the Russians have such excellent penetration techniques that they have highly personal and compromising photos of Hunter Biden just lying around. You would have thought that Hunter might have noticed the bevy of Russians in his house taking all these pictures, and obtaining all his emails.
      
      Since you believe that, then surely you are interested in this bridge I have for sale, one careful Russian owner, hardly used.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:15pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Very suspect, BM. The FBI had the laptop at the end of 2019 and did nothing (weaponised FBI in favour of Jockstrap Joe).
  If it was fake, they would have released a report before the election.
  
  13 2
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  March 17, 2021 11:43am
  - Batman
    
    Hmmmm so can’t you demonstrate that the FBI held it, via a statement or FBI official confirming it?
    
    Otherwise it’s just like the Pelosi laptop where they seized it from the seditionist theif, much to the excitement of MAGA world, and then gave it back because there was zero evidence of anything on it.
    
    Or maybe the FBI simply wasn’t caught hook, line and sinker by disinformation.
    
    Why wasn’t it released before the election? Well, that would have been awfully inconvenient for the Trump administration and Fox News wouldn’t it? And DNI Ratcliffe had a role of pushing it so would hardly declassify the evidence that he was lying.
    
    As usual, the seemingly obvious answers are the true ones, rather than fevered conspiracy.
    
    3 12
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    March 17, 2021 12:27pm
    - Paulus
      
      Why would anybody support anything that the FBI does or fixes ?
      They are not the most incorrupt organisation in the World.
      
      5 3
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      March 17, 2021 1:28pm
- Fletch
  
  What a lot of rubbish. The emails contained in the laptop have been corroborated by the other parties being mailed, and the photos of Hunter smoking his crack pipe and engaging in lewd sexual acts are certainly not faked. Neither is the receipt from the repair shop signed by Hunter himself or the email from Hunter’s lawyer asking for the laptop back.
  And funny how, apart from generic blanket denials by Joe poo-pooing the story, no one in the media has asked Joe Biden point blank – yes or no – whether the laptop was Hunter’s. Everyone knows damn well it is.
  
  To add to that, two material witnesses – business partners of Hunter’s who also corroborate the content, have correspondence of their own, including emails, texts, snapchats, etc. In fact, one of the witnesses, former Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski, has two or three cellphones worth.
  
  But all that is fake, too, right? It stretches credulity to say the Russians did it.
  Gimme a break. Face it. The Biden crime family is as crooked as it gets. And now this crook is installed in the White House doing who knows what.
  
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  March 17, 2021 12:08pm
  - Batman
    
    Awww Fletch, you are always so triggered by this topic.
    
    You have swallowed the disinformation so well that you can’t back out now.
    
    None of what you’ve suggested comes from outside the faux news industry which pushes and launders this material from Rusky stooges, to Trump stooge Rudi, to Breitbart and Co, then to Fox and The Washington Times etc.
    
    Citing the flawed material with its lack of actual evidence trails is not going to get you out of the hole you’ve dug.
    
    3 18
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    March 17, 2021 12:31pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      He’s just waiting for 20 March, the latest QAnon date for the Trump reinstatement.
      
      3 7
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      March 17, 2021 2:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nice that you are hoping for this too, Mike
        
        6 2
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        March 17, 2021 4:33pm
      - Mike
        
        Just let me know Q’s next predicted date for the great reckoning.
        
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        March 17, 2021 4:40pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Trouble is Batman, Fletch has cited specific evidence, signed receipt, request by lawyer for return, and the corroborated emails of third parties.
      
      Whereas you just babble on about “Rusky Stooges”.
      
      The hole you talk about is what you are standing in. You have nothing, the DNI report does not mention the laptop at all. Instead, by bureaucratic stealth, the problem will simply be buried and craven stooges like you will trot out the narrative.
      
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      March 17, 2021 11:21pm
- Inandout
  
  Bat, I previously made comment that Biden has probably sent the FBI home on the Hunter Biden case so he could tell China they have been naughty boys.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:40pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The Democrats planted it and all of the World know that – except lefties.
  
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  March 17, 2021 4:01pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

Has the morale of Police & Correction Officers ever been lower?
15 4
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March 17, 2021 11:49am
- Master Mariner
  
  I’m guessing yes and for a long time.
  
  Unfortunately that is what happens when you politicise any department.
  
  Morale will be accross the board, Hospitals, Police, Armed services
  
  Im guessing Air NZ has taken a hit in the morale department as well.
  
  This is the result when you are taught how to think,
  
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  March 17, 2021 2:25pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Did you mean moral? It’s currently quite different to what I grew up experiencing.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:14pm
- Frank the tank
  
  No.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:23pm
Fletch

People who walk slowly are more likely to die of the virus? Luckily, I like to use ground-eating strides when I’m Truckin’.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/slow-walkers-are-four-times-more-likely-to-die-of-covid-19-study/ar-BB1eDfWr

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/03/coronavirus-slow-walkers-more-likely-to-catch-severe-covid-19-and-die-study.html
9 2
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March 17, 2021 12:34pm
- I remember when
  
  The study mentions the possibility of bias due to self reporting of walking pace.
  Presuming that more would over estimate their walking speed, the findings may be better for faster walkers than indicated.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:28pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  That would kill off a lot of 17-25 year olds if that were the case.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:57pm
Maggie Pie

My partner decided not to go out and watch the Cup racing today.
Reckoned it’s like an accident waiting to happen. There would have been well over a thousand boats of one sort or another out there yesterday.
He was saying if everybody had to Register and get a WOF for their boat, three-quarters of them would never be allowed on the road.
12 4
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March 17, 2021 1:06pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  So partner predicting it is a foregone conclusion and doesn’t want his “pride & joy” anywhere near the 90% who have no idea of the “rules of the road” ??
  
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  March 17, 2021 1:58pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Maggie
  
  90% of boat owners shouldnt be allowed on the water full stop,
  
  I have seen 12’Parker Craft anchored on the leads coming in from A buoy and they were fishing and shook their fists at us as we went past. We were 10k tonne vessel.
  
  Had the rum racers trying to cross our bow off the end of Ferguson Wharf as we were manoeuvering to turn and shout that sail had the right of way. We were 30k tonnes!!!
  
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  March 17, 2021 2:57pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Genuinely my sympathies. CG, yacht club rescue boat skip, amateur sailors are the worst.
    
    8 1
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    March 17, 2021 4:05pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I hate boats anyway. Give me the Tindall’s bach any day.
    My partner keeps his ‘Princess 55’ at Westhaven. He’s even had people walk past and shake their fists at him when they’ve been having drinks on the Marina.
    It never used to be like that.
    
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    March 17, 2021 4:47pm
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      Called the envy culture Maggie. As the better half said just before, this took 3 years of grind and hard work . It wasn’t a weekend Waka Ama. And it isn’t Aotearoa’s cup again – it’s NZ’s cup again – despite what TV1 commentators want to say.
      
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      March 17, 2021 6:40pm
- rangitoto
  
  Dunno if they will race today. Looks like marginal conditions.
  
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  March 17, 2021 3:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The instant fine wanks will be at the major ramps like Westhaven and Okahu. Seen them do it, even trailers with lightboards stored in the vehicle. Failing to display Reg and WOF.
  Council (AT) will make a lot of money from that today
  
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  March 17, 2021 4:20pm
mandk

Further evidence that the decision to grant 126 places in MIQ to the Lion King production was wrong:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/300253860/covid19-rival-production-devastated-after-lion-king-show-granted-126-miq-spots
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March 17, 2021 1:30pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Could get mod’ed here but “Jersey Boys” doesn’t have “Mummy” appeal. Bit like the Aus lot currently in isolation!
  
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  March 17, 2021 2:22pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Another economist slams the Climate Commission and its secret model

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2103/S00118/pausing-climate-commissions-work-more-urgent.htm
18 2
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March 17, 2021 2:26pm
SB2

Let Dr. Antony Fauci have the final say ( much maligned by Trump and his supporters ),

Dr. Fauci says all the ‘valid’ scientific data shows
hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective in treating coronavirus

KEY POINTS
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that all the “valid” scientific data shows hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective in treating Covid-19.

Fauci said that the public has “got to follow the science,” adding, “if a study that’s good comes out and shows efficacy and safety for hydroxychloroquine or any other drug that we do … you accept the scientific data.”

The comment by Fauci came a day after Trump said he still thinks hydroxychloroquine works against Covid-19.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/dr-fauci-says-all-the-valid-scientific-data-shows-hydroxychloroquine-isnt-effective-in-treating-coronavirus.html
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March 17, 2021 2:27pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  He was running back for support from Trump after his lies got called out. I think Trump told him to go fuck himself.
  Fauci is a flip flopper and a liar
  
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  March 17, 2021 4:15pm
Jack5

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation puts the boot into NZ’s Canterbury over dairy-herd pollution and water quality.

Al Jazeera and ABC correspondent (and journalism prize winner) Yaara Bou Melhem talks to, among others, Environment Canterbury councillor Lan Pham.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-16/new-zealand-rivers-pollution-100-per-cent-pure/13236174
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March 17, 2021 2:30pm
Fletch

Have your say on Auckland’s “10 year budget plan”…
https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/hub-page/10-year-budget-2021-2031
4 0
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March 17, 2021 2:45pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Did that. I let them know I think they need to cease rates increases, cease borrowing and start living within their means. You know, work out how much money they have and then prioritize expenditure on essential services. As opposed to come up with a wishlist and then ask the ratepayers to choose the lesser of evils.
  
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  March 17, 2021 5:48pm
I remember when

Sex offenders to be added back on to a register after urgent law change.
Urgent, retrospective law change this afternoon to make sure hundreds of sex offenders are put back onto the national register.
Now that’s the ‘kind’ we think we should be.
10 1
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March 17, 2021 3:10pm
Maggie Pie

Just caught a bit of JAG telling ‘The House’ that even her own brother is having trouble saving 2ok a year from his income to get a deposit together for a first home.

I thought to myself…….wait a minute, if someone can’t even save 20k a year for a deposit, how the f – – are they ever going to afford 350 A WEEK in Rates?
13 4
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March 17, 2021 3:31pm
70andstilllearning

Two wind maps:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/atlas/#Wind
Which do you believe?
3 1
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March 17, 2021 3:45pm
BeeJay

This is worth the read! The likes of Gideon Tait and his actions to deal with gangs are exactly what’s needed in New Zealand today and is long overdue! Interesting to note that it was another bleeding heart liberal Labour Government that took the weak approach and caused the strong Police approach to these gang criminals to be weakened!
http://www.laworderreferendum.org.nz/Tait.htm
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March 17, 2021 3:53pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Americas Cup about to start. For those of you that hate this, how about going away and thinking aboaut why you keep supporting the constant lies From Jaspinda, Grunt, Chippie, Woods, and the rest of the corrupt lying crooks?
Better still, tell me when it will stop ….. No rush, but do try to think
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March 17, 2021 4:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Live streaming of Americas Cup on Youtube shows Prada having two port entries, but the second one is greyed out.
Do they know that one race and it is over? No need for a second?
BTW, not much wind. My American flag is wrapped around the pole, and showing slight NE breeze.
Dunno what is happening between Taka and Rangi
5 3
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March 17, 2021 4:12pm
sooty

Jersey Boys stage production wanted to bring in one person through MIQ. Turned down weren’t they, even though they we’re going to hire a heap of locals for it, including lighting, sound, makeup. Which the wiggles and lion king don’t as they bring their own.
The reason for no MIQ spot for that one person, was because it’s not a childs entertainment and the PMs child can’t go! Prove that I’m wrong!
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March 17, 2021 4:25pm
Maggie Pie

I was just sitting here listening to ZB and thinking to myself….. that if I were to ever consider batting for both sides, it would be because of HDPA.

😛
10 3
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March 17, 2021 4:34pm
- Tall Man
  
  Nah Maggy, I don’t think you could bring yourself to do that, too many vote labour ……
  
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  March 17, 2021 8:09pm
Wired-one

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/simon-bridges-kicked-out-of-house-again-after-row-with-speaker-trevor-mallard-over-sexism/TVNNZ3R6XK36V6BZ7KDVWGU3MU/

Mallard is the worst speaker in our history.
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March 17, 2021 4:50pm
70andstilllearning

This is called humiliation.

COR played it right thru off the course and are now getting their just deserts.
2 1
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March 17, 2021 5:04pm
70andstilllearning

TNZ WIN
6 2
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March 17, 2021 5:11pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300255256/auckland-police-seize-assets-worth-10-million-in-money-laundering-investigation
Asian crooks using NZ to launder money.
Why on earth do we put up with it ?
9 1
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March 17, 2021 6:13pm

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