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May 24, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 May 2021

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Happychappy

Gang Violence: Fatal shootings and violent brawls as survey reveals gang fears, one person is dead and at least two others seriously injured after a shooting in gang- related brawls in different parts of the Country over the weekend.
So you have to ask yourself where was Labour when all of this took part hopefully not out there being kind and nice to these arsoles that they don’t want to see in our prisons, because our population do not need threats to their safety on our streets.
Meantime a survey published yesterday, found 60% of respondents said a increase of people with alcohol and drug problems contributed to more New Zealander’s being assaulted or feeling unsafe, other reasons included the housing situation and rough sleepers ,
Mental health issues with legal issues and penalties not being a sufficient deterrent for criminals.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gang-violence-fatal-shooting-and-violent-brawl-as-survey-reveals-gang-fears/YJGFJTS5ZDLEZDJG5OID66BPKU/
The police should be a deterrent for gangs and violent criminals but Labour have tied their hands with stupid and ridiculous nonsense that will end up killing those paid to uphold the law and many innocent New Zealander’s with this be kind to all message that our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is peddling.
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May 24, 2021 8:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  But weren’t we told by the Gang expert that Gangs were changing?
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/359335/gangs-are-changing-we-should-too
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:14am
  - Tall Man
    
    I think I’ve learned to ignore what I’m “told” these days and look for myself.
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:26am
- Prince
  
  Gangs’ basic funding is through benefits to members and partners. This is hugely supplemented through their various illegal activities, mostly drugs, theft and extortion.
  Labour has just given then a huge funding boost.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:26am
  - artemisia
    
    Back in the day (2014) MSD published some research on gangs and their costs to the community and taxpayer, including some wrt welfare assistance received. Very sobering, and probably similar or worse now.
    
    http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/research/research-on-gangs-and-their-cost/index.html
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:23pm
- all true
  
  Just round-up these shady characters and lock them up and throw the keys away.
  there is always a big cry out if something bad happens with gangs involved, but the clownery in Wellington nor the police don’t do anything about it just generate hot air.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:12am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    That’s not how this government rolls. They are not only stupid and full of hypocrisy, their cognitive dissonance knows no bounds.
    
    On the one hand, you have a fairly dramatic increase in gang member numbers, partly due to the 501s being exported from Australia, plus more (and more violent) gang activity – the shooting in a CBD hotel (Sofitel) is one, the attack and brawls in a city street mentioned above another.
    
    On the other hand, you have a completely soft-on-crime approach, designed to address the “inequity” in outcomes for Maori, completely ignoring the fact that people in jails are bad buggers. as David Garrett has pointed out more than once, the average number of convictions required before someone is sent to jail is 42!
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:57am
    - Keith White
      
      This government rolled exactly that way with the 12-armed-squaddies dinnertime assault on Mr de Boer and his family…
      
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      May 24, 2021 12:35pm
CJames

Today is Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday. Thats more interesting in the ones mike posts.
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May 24, 2021 8:00am
- RW Capitalist
  
  That’s more interesting in than anything mike posts.
  Fixed it for ya.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:02am
- mandk
  
  Crikey, 80 years old!
  He’ll be down in his easy chair.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:17am
  - sooty
    
    No, his rocker!
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:09am
- Fidel Cashflow
  
  Not being able to delete a post and so simply editing it to say “.” is more interesting than that guy/lady.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:51am
CJames

Van Morrison has a new album out – Latest Record Project, Vol. 1 . A couple of the songs are anti-lockdown like Where have all the Rebels gone? https://youtu.be/zfWl3ijpmrQ
He previously released three singles which were explicitly anti-lockdown: “As I Walked Out,” “Born to be Free,” and “No More Lockdowns.” He also wrote “Stand and Deliver” for Clapton.
On the album there is a track “They own the Media”, though this song could also be against the government supported media here:
They tell us that ignorance is bliss
I guess by those that control the media, it is
They own the media, they control the stories we are told
If you ever try to go against them, you will be ignored…
They control the narrative, they perpetuate the myth
Keep on telling you lies, tell you ignorance is bliss
Believe it all and you’ll never get, never get wise
To the truth, ‘cause they control everything you do
The album, particularly the above track, is causing the music critics’ heads to explode. The press (including the LA Times (After riling fans with anti-lockdown songs, Van Morrison now accused of anti-Semitism (msn.com) ) are calling it anti-Jewish but can’t actually identify what it is they are taking offence at – left to implying “they” is a codeword for Jewish. It’s called projection. Of course, the critics in a different context support the Palestinian cause like near all the Progressives do. I don’t think any of the media barons left in Britain are Jewish – Maxwell is the only one I can think of from the past. Murdoch isn’t but he is officially a US citizen.
The British Isles is where Morrison lives and works, evidently reads the Telegraph and Spectator, and it is what he often writes about. Sir Van the Man has said “they” refers to Boris Johnson’s government and it matches what he said and wrote during the lockdown. But mere facts don’t deter the lynch mob. In the best bit of over the top hyperbole, one critic wrote “now we know what the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” would sound like with saxophone accompaniment” Really? And you want to be taken seriously as a critic?
It seems both van Morrison and Clapton have had the Covid vaccine, so they aren’t anti-vaxxers, though Clapton has written that he had a bad reaction to it.
I have already got the album and it is good – BBC2 of all media organisations promoted it to album of the week. However, I would have got it even if it wasn’t good, just to annoy the ever so trendy critics who without self-awareness, praise the misogynistic and anti-Jewish crap put out by rappers.
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May 24, 2021 8:01am
- Charmaine Hawke
  
  Funny thing is I listened to the song and immediately thought of Pharma owning the media, which in the case of the USA is actually true.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:12am
  - Pharmachick
    
    I categorically do not own the media 😉
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:34am
- Fidel Cashflow
  
  Morrison saying that “Jews control the media” isn’t saying that if you are Jewish, then you control the media. It simply says that the people who own the 5 major media conglomerates (at least in the US) are predominantly Jewish. Doesn’t the reaction kind of vindicate him? If he’d claimed that Catholics control the media, he’d have been fine.
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:00am
  - CJames
    
    Thing is he never said it – or anything like it. It was the critics looking for a cudgel to beat him with over being anti-lockdown, that they read hidden meaning into the words and then extrapolate from there.
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:01pm
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      We know what he meant but he is now saying he was talking about Johnson because that would be an acceptable thing to say. This tells us you can criticise the government but not Jews. Doesn’t the fact that you and many others here can’t see this further support Morrison?
      
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      May 24, 2021 12:20pm
      - CJames
        
        Do you wear your tinfoil hat outside? There is no evidence for what you assert. It is just conspiracy theory writ large. Are you certain he hasn’t got devil music recorded backwards on his songs?
        
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        May 24, 2021 2:18pm
      - CJames
        
        This is what he wrote about the government six months before the album.
        ““I’m not telling people what to do or think, the government is doing a great job of that already. It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.” ”
        https://www.vanmorrison.com/news/2020/van-morrison-announces-three-protest-songs-against-lockdown
        It might be hard to understand by people like you Fidel, but there is a world outside the US. Those other countries and their inhabitants often use terminology that has totally different meanings (think Yorkshire faggots) to the Americans , which some people think is a universal language. It isn’t
        
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        May 24, 2021 2:30pm
      - Fidel Cashflow
        
        Oh yes, “tin foil hats.” Good one. No evidence? This entire episode is evidence if you care to open your eyes for a second. Moreover, what goes on in America is usually directly or indirectly relevant to most of the world.
        
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        May 24, 2021 3:14pm
      - Fidel Cashflow
        
        “People like you”? That sounds like a dog whistle against trans-national/post-national/Caribbean-style socialist Cuban financiers to me.
        
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        May 24, 2021 3:29pm
skyblue

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the HMS Hood by the German Battleship Bismarck in the Battle of the Denmark Straight between Greenland and Iceland.
Only 3 men survived, 1415 men went down with her.
3 day later Bismarck was sunk.
May all that sailed in her continue to rest in peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait
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May 24, 2021 8:02am
- Gulag1917
  
  When a submarine goes missing or presumed sunk, that is never mentioned. The submarine is forever on patrol.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:20am
- Prince
  
  One of the classics:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecIdlEAKhU
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:28am
Maggy Wassilieff

Rodney Hide discovers racist statistics

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/racist-stats?postId=5de147c4-83aa-488e-b8f5-25702d5e31f7
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May 24, 2021 8:07am
- artemisia
  
  From Mr Hide
  
  Twenty-nine percent of Maori adults smoke. Ten percent of adult Europeans smoke.
  
  and
  
  Forty-eight percent of adult Maori are obese.
  
  and finally
  
  Her [Press Gallery journalist Rukuwai Tīpene-Allen] answer to her made-up racism is actual racism.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:23am
- Yvette
  
  Rodney Hide discusses numbers being racist, referring of course to differences or disparity in social statistics –
  For the record, disparities are a statistical observation: they don’t think or act. They can’t themselves be racist. They are a fact.
  
  Rodney comments about Press Gallery journalist Rukuwai Tīpene-Allen –
  She is saying the disparities themselves are racist. […]
  
  Her specific examples are health disparities which demand “more money and energy put into Māori health… [and] … a health system created and managed by Māori”.
  
  Her answer to her made-up racism is actual racism. Who gets what, and who gets treated by which health system, should be determined by their race.
  
  It’s easy to despair when daily such incendiary nonsense is dished up by news reporters.
  
  But we should take comfort in another racist disparity: Maori women are more likely to be married or partnered to a non-Maori than a Maori. The same is true for Maori men. We are not just brothers and sisters but husbands and wives raising children together, living together, working together.
  
  The government and the media are running a separatist agenda. It appears they are making a good play as they make up the daily news. But they are not. That’s because the rest of us are just getting on with our lives. Together. – same link as Maggy Wassilieff provides
  ________
  
  My take –
  Rodney Hide raises a very interesting point – Not only do Maori women have nearly twice as many babies as European women – but they are more likely to be married or partnered to a non-Maori than a Maori. The same is true for Maori men – which surely has considerable implications for a separate Maori Health Authority, or any other racist entity structured on disparities.
  
  Will He Puapua eventually self-destruct?
  Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi
  With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive
  So how long before a separate Maori Health Authority becomes an over-loaded basket-case?
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:53am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    So how long before a separate Maori Health Authority becomes an over-loaded basket-case?
    
    I give it 15-25 years…the usual time for advocates to suck all the $$$$$ out of the system before they completely stuff it up.
    
    (think NCEA, Current Midwifery system, DoC, etc)
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:20am
  - oldfella
    
    If what Rodney says is true about the high rate of racial intermarriage, how on earth is a Maori Health Authority going to work with Maori bloodlines being seriously diluted year after year?
    Who’s going to decide if someone is ‘Maori’ enough?
    What a minefield.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:47am
- JackRabbit
  
  Is not Rukuwai Tīpene-Allen’s statement “The very existence of disparities is racist.”, 180° at odds with the concept of random natural diversity?
  
  Those who claim racism or lack of diversity, deep down don’t actually believe or live by their own crap. Racism or lack of diversity, are just arguments to justify stances or actions to get what they want, commonly called socialism; to have the outside world shaped into how they want it. Those that protest things as being racist are the true racists.
  
  Racism and diversity arguments are just convenient knee-jerk reactions to avoid having to look in the mirror; to avoid questioning their own reactions and lack of logical considered responses to any communication. After all it is not “their” fault, since they see themselves as “perfect”, so it has to be someone else’s fault. If they react badly to something, rather than looking inward, it is always someone else’s fault.
  
  When someone reacts to a statistic that a particular sector of society is doing poorly or over represented in poverty or crime stats, the question should never be “what is society doing to this group?”. It should be “what is this group doing, or not doing, to not achieve the outcomes other groups are achieving?”
  
  Instead of complainants blaming “societal racism” for the over representation of Maoris in crime stats, sugar diabetes, and lung cancer, said complainants should be telling their race to stop stealing from and bashing others, stop eating junk food, and stop smoking. It is projection on a group basis to blame society for what do with your own anger, your own hands, what food you stuff in your mouth, and what you inject or inhale into your body.
  
  And instead of being ungrateful for what colonisation supposedly hasn’t done, perhaps (Tahitian) Maori should be eternally grateful for what it has done. They should be grateful that the colonists did not treat (Tahitian) Maori the way the (Tahitian) Maori treated the indigenous races here before they arrived.
  
  Maori elders who embraced the treaty of Waitangi, and the peace and unity between not just white man and Maori, but also between Maori tribes, would be rolling in their graves at today’s rapid descending back into feudal tribalism and separatism.
  
  In typical emotional Jungian projection fashion, the complainants are usually obsessively guilty of the things they accuse others of. Perhaps it is time to start tagging in the media, social or otherwise, those who indignantly shout “racism”, for the racists and separatists they really are.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:11am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Perhaps Tahitian natives did not have a taste for long pork or indulge in utu as NZ Maori did?
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:16am
    - JackRabbit
      
      The Tahitian natives were the cannibals!
      
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      May 24, 2021 2:19pm
  - Mike
    
    What’s with the ‘Tahitian’ thing and the ‘indigenous races’ nonsense?
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:59am
  - Keith White
    
    Google Dr Wil Harrison (the self proclaimed “First Maori Cardiologist”) and read his racist rant in the New Zealand Medical Journal. This is our future… in a nutshell, all non-Maori doctors are guilty of racism now and forever because reasons and colonization; and while it’s perfectly acceptable for all Maori to generalize thusly after one or two examples of bad pale medicos’ behavior, it is absolutely Verboten! Achtung! Donnerwetter! for anyone to generalize on the basis of any bad brown behavior.
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:41pm
- Todd123
  
  Statistics are the next woke cause, specifically ‘Maori Data Sovereignty’ – which is why this narrative is being pushed now.: https://www.temanararaunga.maori.nz/ Not sure how the goals of this ‘organisation’ would be achieved but the goal seems to be expressed as “Māori Data Sovereignty recognises that Māori data should be subject to Māori governance.”
  
  Presumably the narrative which will be developed is that Maori should ‘own’ statistical information about Maori – no idea of how that would work in practice short of preventing the reporting of statistical information about Maori without Maori input.
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:53am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    What Maori?
    Which genes are subject to data scrutiny?
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:39pm
cmm

$38M for not much more than a few spreadsheets.

Ridiculous.

This is what you get when you measure by spending instead of outcome.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/35m-covid-vaccine-software-overspend-orion-health-ceo-says-ministry-memo-released-under-oia-helps-prove-his-case/NFRL7JHWHISIZPPIX3JVUJSGYI/
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May 24, 2021 8:09am
- surfing
  
  We have some very good software developers in New Zealand.
  
  Me for example, I’ve worked all over the world for foreign companies RFP’s, designing, planning, implementing, supporting.
  
  But, come back to New Zealand and our own government doesn’t want to know you.
  
  It is almost treasonous for the government to disrespect local talent because they have this view that it is inferior.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:20am
  - Keith White
    
    Well, when Govt MPs look in the mirror, all they ever see is incompetent failures…
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:43pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    As a long-time expat [since Jan 2002], can only agree. Time and time again, I’ve seen friends or colleagues (multiple disciplines) move back to NZ only to be seen as somehow lesser. Very strange behaviour. Couple that to TPS and low remuneration economy, and Outer Rower doesn’t seen so great after all.
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:32pm
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      Do they come back with an over-inflated opinion of themselves simply because they’ve been overseas, expecting the locals to worship them, but are then taken aback when the peasants refuse? Kind of like a reverse inferiority complex? Something to ponder.
      
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      May 24, 2021 3:53pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        No.
        
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        May 24, 2021 4:53pm
      - Fidel Cashflow
        
        Oh, well. Add them to the unjustified victimhood register then.
        
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        May 24, 2021 5:08pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  The worst aspect of this, revealed by the CEO of Orion this morning, is that Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins retrospectively signed off an exemption for the MoH to conducting a competitive tender process.
  
  As a result, taxpayers will be in the gun for up to $60 million more for the Salesforce/Deloittes solution than other providers would have charged. Hipkins needs to explain himself.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:35am
  - Paulus
    
    Hipkins never explains himself – he is above all that hoi polloi !
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:48am
  - Maxx
    
    And no doubt as shortcomings start to be seen in the project, or feature bloat starts to enter, more money will be thrown into it – once you’re $60m in the hole backing out is a huge embarrassment and an extra $5m is nothing.
    
    Maybe the second coming of Novopay? Fitting that again it’s Labour entering into a contentious contract snubbing the existing provider and sending the contract offshore.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:05am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Were being done by Deloittes, again?
    We must have hundreds of excellent database programmers in NZ who could use the right toolboxes to create a simple booking system in a week.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:20am
  - Sacha
    
    So the team of 5 million have spent $12 million each on making notes about who has/hasn’t/will be vaccinated?
    I didn’t know I was that rich –
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:49am
Fletch

Hosking on air this morning, saying he would be all in favour of an increase in benefit if the benefit itself was for those genuinely in emergency need after having lost their job and looking for another – one month, maybe two months. But judging by the interviews of beneficiaries on TV the other night talking about what they will do with the extra money (ie, put towards a car to take little Johnny to school) most see it for what it is – a wage increase, for people who have no intention of coming off it any time soon.
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May 24, 2021 8:10am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Maybe the dole on a sliding scale, start out reasonably high, actually shows them what a real wage can offer and end up so one has to work to support ones self.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:31am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Those on higher income levels can already self insure. Smart if you spend most of what you get and can’t sustain the lifestyle otherwise.
    For most the supported income picks up sufficient pieces.
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:43pm
- cas
  
  A guy was saying in the pub last night that he had worked out that people only had to work for 3 days without disturbing their benefits. And there is still gold fruit waiting to be picked and packhouses can’t get enough staff to pack even if kiwifruit is all picked.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:36am
- Frank the tank
  
  Couldn’t they catch the bus – or is that not good enough for little Johnny?
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:06am
adamsmith1922

Yesterday when browsing You Tube I came across the annoying Labour Let’s Do This ad from 2017 which got me thinking

https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2021/05/24/a-case-of-we-did-bugger-all-but-facts-dont-matter-because-jacinda-is-kind/
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May 24, 2021 8:14am
- Steve Todd
  
  Still link-whoring, I see.
  
  (See https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/05/general_debate_22_may_2021.html/comment-page-1#comment-2944301.)
  
  If the Mods aren’t going to strop you up for this practice, the way they previously have Tom Hunter (for example), then, on occasions, I will.
  
  Your blogsite should stand or fall on its own merits. Shouldn’t it?
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:39am
Yabster

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125207126/synlait-investigating-white-supremacist-worker

never read the blogg- and maybe its extreme but this caught my eye- He poo poo – again- public fear or just informing the public the document exists and that it is policy of Labour and Cindy but by stealth.

“More recently he has taken to directly attacking Maori MPs, Rawiri Waititi and honourable Willie Jackson, using blatantly racist rhetoric and is actively and deliberately stoking public fear in response to the He Puapua report,” the petition says.
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May 24, 2021 8:14am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Jackson honourable?
  
  How demeaning of the title.
  
  Cultural appropriation or is it alright when the left and / or maroi do it?
  
  https://dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/the-honourable
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:45am
  - Maxx
    
    I would have thought Willie and all his fellow caucus members who denounce “colonisation” would have rejected the title and any potential titles bestowed upon them by their colonial oppressors.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:33am
    - alex Masterley
      
      Likewise Justice Williams.
      
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      May 24, 2021 2:06pm
- Kiwi Dave
  
  That’s quite an alarming link.
  
  A bunch of would-be totalitarians want to deprive someone of his job and income because he’s guilty of wrong-think, their reasoning being that paying a worker with incorrect thoughts to work for a company is giving money to racism. I suppose that once he’s made unemployed and unemployable, he should also be denied unemployment benefits because that too would be giving money to racism.
  
  I don’t care whether he’s a white- or brown-supremacist – destroy his arguments, not his life.
  
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  May 24, 2021 6:32pm
surfing

“Delian Asparouhov is typical of those who turned California into such a powerhouse: a computer geek who attended the top-ranking Massachusetts Institute of Technology, launched a space start-up, was backed by a billionaire and became a venture capitalist in the state. Yet this month the Bulgarian-born entrepreneur, still ony 27, bought a house in Miami, Florida.

He said: ‘Silicon Valley has a stifling intellectual climate with its mono-culture that only allows one viewpoint to be expressed. It seems to espouse the same socialist values as the Soviet Union.

‘So I am fleeing just like my parents fled a similar system for America when I was a kid.’

Haha, Silicon Valley has become as bad as communist USSR. Woke clowns.
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May 24, 2021 8:16am
Maggie Pie

You can see a pattern emerging here 🙁

>>>Parliamentary Budget Debate 20/5/2021<<<

RICARDO MENENDEZ MARCH – GREEN MP.
"The Green Party will continue working hard to offer support to Labor to enact genuine bold Socialist policy"

DEBORAH RUSSELL – LABOR MP.
"I stand here as a very proud member of the great Socialist Democratic Labor Party"

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/21/archeologists-find-new-pits-at-stalin-era-mass-grave-a73970
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May 24, 2021 8:18am
- Frank the tank
  
  The masks are off. They don’t care and neither do the sheeple it appears…..
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:21am
  - Prince
    
    The people will care when it all turns sour. And there will be a very big swing back.
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:37am
    - Frank the tank
      
      But when? Not for a long time unfortunately…..
      
      Grunter and the RBNZ are deliberately kicking the can down the road and treasury are coming up with the most blue sky budgets and forecasts imagined.
      
      Then you have financial retards like Liam Heir (apparently the Horrid’s go-to economic guru) swallowing this garbage hook, line and sinker.
      
      Economics 101 in (little) Aotearoa
      
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      May 24, 2021 11:10am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What a piece of work that guy is.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:26am
- MCos
  
  Mister March getting the sort of publicity could only dream of from a most unlikely source.
  
  Similarly there’s more gossip written about the PM’s coming wedding on this forum than any of the usual outlets.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:45am
- JibberJabber
  
  LoL @ Russell, the lowest of the low IQ “academics” in the Labour Party.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:50am
- Benedict Yu
  
  That is MMP for you. You get some guy who acts like he has been sniffing glue out the back and there are no consequences.
  
  In, say, Australia, any MP who proclaimed to be a socialist would be unelectable.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:00am
  - Mike
    
    Funnily enough, both major parties in Oz are just as socialist as ours. It just so happens that the slightly right of centre parties in both countries don’t like to use the s-word about their policies.
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:04pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    Benedict, unfortunately that *IS* representative democracy, MMP style; for you. There is a constituency for Mr. March in NZ, and he represents them. I vehemently disagree with about 120% of what he says, but being able to see and hear him reminds us there are others out there that think this way. Also allows for political end runs if you listen closely and strategize well (apparently that’s called “David Seymour” these days).
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:38pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    Exactly why Parliament should be elected by STV in large multimember electoral districts, Benedict.
    
    Green Party supporters in Auckland, realising they had made a mistake by electing Ricardo to parliament, could abandon him in 2023 and replace him with an alternative Green Party candidate, without also abandoning the party in order to do so.
    
    Ah, well. Roll on the next electoral systems referendum.
    
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    May 24, 2021 3:00pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    In, say, Australia, any MP who proclaimed to be a socialist would be unelectable.
    
    That’s because all 151 Australian MPs are elected by preferential voting (single-seat STV; the same as the mayors of Wellington, Dunedin, Porirua, Palmerston North, etc.), whereby they need 50% plus 1 of the votes to be elected, not from party lists.
    
    Their system is essentially FPP; ours is a version of proportional representation. Our system is better, but nowhere near as good as multi-seat STV (but not the Australian Senate version).
    
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    May 24, 2021 3:24pm
- Nickc2
  
  Someone should remind Deborah Russell what democracy/democratic means (given authority by the people). We the people had no say in Maori Wards, Maori Health Agency, He Puapua, Fletcher’s Land Grab by Maori, Prisoners Jail Release, Shelly Bay Land Grab by Maori, Marae Justice or Compulsory use of Tereo in by Govt Depts.
  
  Yes, this Govt was elected by the people, but none of the aforementioned was included in their election manifesto, hence no ‘by the people input’.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:01am
  - jon
    
    Democracy..Cindy is concerned about democracy being allowed to take its course in Samoa following their election..not so keen to follow democratic processes in NZ herself.
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:23am
    - Nickc2
      
      Very true jon.
      
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      May 24, 2021 9:59am
  - Debsta
    
    To clarify…elected by the “sheeple”.
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:29am
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, just as well we don’t have a demented socialist witch like this woman running ayoteearower.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rsxFaq6Ig&ab_channel=TheBFD
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:46am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    That is sooo disturbing!
    
    Have you seen this one, oldz?
    
    https://youtu.be/jGgsv8ycA0I
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:54am
    - oldfella
      
      No, Maggie, hadn’t seen it. BRILLIANT.
      
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      May 24, 2021 12:19pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Scary shit huh? If this is how NZ is portrayed to the world, no wonder tourist numbers are down (forget Covid-19). What’s the idiot masquerading as Tourism Minister (Stuart Nash) got to say about this, even though it’s true? CRICKETS!
        
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        May 24, 2021 1:53pm
- Maxx
  
  Ricardo is disconnected from reality – and why does every socialist believe it’ll be different this time? There are enough fucking examples of this bat shit philosophy failing and not one of it working.
  
  Now, if he is meaning a social democracy we’re already there and saying otherwise is disingenuous, but I wouldn’t expect any less than this uninformed migrant who will have his hand out for the rest of his life. I’m sure if everyone in NZ lived in a carbon neutral ecological friendly mansion with unlimited immediate healthcare and unlimited food in an egalitarian manner (and anything else you could conceivably ever ask for) he’d say the government needed to do more about the rain/hail/sun/wind/calm.
  
  This has got me too worked up for a Monday morning. Can I get a content filter to not see anything from this waste of space – I would be highly surprised if he achieves anything of genuine value or change (apart from criticism of everything) in his life.
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:14pm
- Surely Knott
  
  And another one
  “Shane te Pou
  @PouTepou
  One of many proud socialist standing together and Award winning BBQ guy”
  It sounds so nice. Cause it’s social ya know. Why does Communism get a rebrand and have two words, and Capitalism only one?
  
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  May 24, 2021 3:04pm
adamsmith1922

On something very different, many of us will have been to Brick Lane in London’s Spitalfields. It has a long and fascinating history. The area is now threatened by redevelopment of the Old Truman Brewery, see here https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2021/05/24/stop-the-truman-brewery-shopping-mall-in-londons-brick-lane/ for some thoughts
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May 24, 2021 8:18am
- Steve Todd
  
  If I happen to stumble across your blogsite one day, I might have a look. Otherwise, I won’t bother, thanks.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:47am
- hullkiwi
  
  What? Were will all the Indian restaurants offering cheap curry meals go?
  
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  May 24, 2021 1:57pm
Tall Man

Anyone else notice that the “Sultana Bran” goldfish ad has had the “gayness” of the voiceover toned down?

I wonder why ……… Aren’t fish allowed to be diverse?
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May 24, 2021 8:22am
- Biscuit
  
  Careful, Tall Man, you have come DANGEROUSLY close there to admitting you watch TV advertisements…
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:25am
  - Tall Man
    
    Hard not to these days when even Sky throws them out when you least expect it 🙁
    
    Depressing isn’t it ……
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:23am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Stop it!
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:04am
  - Yabster
    
    speaking of ads- someone claimed the covid ad (by the way is not representative of the population) was offensive as the hongi was betrayed as a casual greeting)- the ad now has that part and the haka taken out of it ffs.
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:37am
doggone7

Some seeing a the sort of implied pattern emerging there should visit every Specsavers, optometrist and ophthalmologist in the country.
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May 24, 2021 8:26am
Benedict Yu

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125220633/wouldbe-burglar-seriously-injured-after-being-confronted-by-homeowner

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this case. The homeowner finds a burglar in his house who is subsequently seriously injured during some kind of altercation.

We don’t know the facts of this case. However if someone breaks into your home while you are there what do you do? If you have access to a firearm and shoot the person are you justified? Personally I think you are. What if you take to him with a baseball bat and he suffers serious injuries. Are you liable to be charged?

Personally I think that if someone breaks into your house in your presence you should be able to shoot them. But I think in New Zealand that is not possible. (BTW I don’t own a firearm.)
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May 24, 2021 8:27am
- [email protected]
  
  If this person is charged he/she should ask for a jury trial by his/her peers. Conviction unlikely.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:22am
  - Colville
    
    From what I have gleamed so far, crim was trying to get away in a car and was shot in the hand.
    
    If aggrieved householder fired a shot at (and hit) a fleeing crim they may well be in deep poo.
    
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    May 24, 2021 4:30pm
    - [email protected]
      
      Could always claim mental stress. Jury still might not vote for conviction and I don’t think you can be tried twice for the same offence.
      
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      May 24, 2021 4:57pm
- kiwikidsnz
  
  David Garrett can probably explain NZ’s self defence laws which as I understand require a proportionate response (don’t bring a knife to a gunfight?).
  
  However, I’ve long argued that NZ needs a “Castle Law” to discourage home invasions.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:24am
  - rangitoto
    
    So you aren’t allowed to use nuclear weapons against a knife wielder. Is a GAU-8 ok?
    
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    May 24, 2021 9:56am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Essentially, you can use force proportionate to your subjective appreciation of the threat you are facing. It’s not a quasi-objective “reasonable person” standard.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:08am
  - cmm
    
    For a proportional response, I think you’d be better off saying “don’t bring a gun to a knife fight”.
    
    It is unrealistic to set a requirement for proportional responses for many reasons.
    
    First, is the defender expected to carry multiple weapons and pull out the one to match the threat?
    
    ie. carry a gun, a long knife, a short knife and a stick. Select weapon according to what the attacker uses.
    
    Secondly, how would you compensate for training/strength etc? Attacker has a small knife, so I pull my small knife. But the attacker is very skilled with a knife, so that means I can up my weapon to match so I switch to the big knife.
    
    Thirdly, there is seldom time to react and make a choice. You generally can’t say “hang on, I’m over armed for this fight. Can we please call time out so I can fetch a smaller weapon?”
    
    Nonsense to that. Someone attacks me, then I use whatever is the best weapon I have available and I use it until the threat is no longer a threat.
    
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    May 24, 2021 5:25pm
- Frank the tank
  
  1). Yes you will be charged;
  2). The criminal is entitled to ACC
  
  This is Wokeplod 101
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:25am
  - Colville
    
    Anyone using a firearm in self defence should be charged.
    
    Police are not judge and jury (as much as they would like to be) all they do is say “this should be looked at” and let a Judge look at it properly while person charge can hire someone competent to defend themselves.
    
    I say this as a gun owner.
    
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    May 24, 2021 4:27pm
    - chukar
      
      Too much faith in the NZ legal system Z ,
      It’s all about$ nothing else matters!
      
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      May 24, 2021 6:35pm
    - Papalazarou
      
      I am a gun owner too. I am no good at boxing or martial arts. If some A hole breaks into my home and attacks me it will be buckshot from the 12 gauge
      
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      May 24, 2021 7:34pm
- Tall Man
  
  The first time I gained my firearms license under the “new” regime I was told by the arms officer that if I ever used a firearm for self defense I would be charged by the police and it would be left to the court to deciide whether my action was appropriate.
  
  That was whether the firearm was discharged or not.
  
  As regards physical “self defense”, I believe it comes down to the level of “defense” utilised.
  
  I have dealt with the police on a number of occasions after defending myself and while they have been a tad aggro about the techniques employed at times I have never been charged.
  
  Now I’m an old fart I doubt it will ever be an issue again however I am told they are a little less inclined to accept the self defense defense these days if you’ve put the assailant down.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:00am
- DeepBlue
  
  This has been tested many times in court. Comes down to: ‘was your life in immediate danger at that moment?’
  
  Shooting the offender in the bum as they run away with your TV isn’t a good idea. Shooting them as they raise an axe over their head and lunge would be contestible. Shooting them as they struck… someone wins, someone loses.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:05am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  So what the policeman told me in Rotorua 25 years ago was not correct, if you are about to be attacked, shoot them then put to two in the roof.
  Defence would be I fired two warning shots and they kept coming.
  That was back in the good old days of every fourth vehicle had a weapon in the boot.
  Wonder what the number is today.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:38am
  - oldfella
    
    Greg, I wonder how many gang vehicles have guns in their boots? Probably higher than every fourth vehicle in those circles.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:37am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  On an emotional level Police hate it when you poach on what they view as their patch – opposing the predations of criminals. But no jury will convict you if it seems reasonable behaviour to them. You are likely to be prosecuted if you keep a gun or weapon at hand in your house for defensive purposes. But if you happen to have a decorative katana or a couple of ice axes hanging on your bedroom wall or a spear gun or camping hatchet in a nearby closet that you grab in the heat of the moment you’ll be just fine.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:42am
- Keith White
  
  The NZ police go after people who have the temerity to defend themselves with ferocity, vigor and zeal.
  
  The State has the monopoly on violence, bro! And those others are not the criminals you are looking for, they can go about their business.
  
  Read what the NZ Law Commission has to say about defending yourselves, and prepare to be depressed.
  
  http://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nzlc/pp/PP41/PP41-3_.html
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:49pm
I remember when

Socialist Democratic (do the two words work in this context) Labour Party.
Helping people to achieve equality without –
(a) Any effort on their part.
(b) Whether they want to or not.
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May 24, 2021 8:28am
JJ56

An interesting piece in Judith Curry’s Climate etc “Collapse of the fake consensus on Covid-19 origins”, https://judithcurry.com/2021/05/23/collapse-of-the-fake-consensus-on-covid-19-origins/ and links to Science letter “Investigate the origins of COVID-19”.

Draws analogies with Climate Science.
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May 24, 2021 8:29am
- Fidel Cashflow
  
  Are the origins even relevant? I suspect the new push to start blaming it on China again are geopolitical and are aimed at fomenting public acceptance for military engagement in the future. It was only a few months ago that blaming a Chinese lab was “dangerous disinformation.” Now it’s becoming the official line? This is why I know they are lying about almost everything covid-related. What is one day “true” becomes “false” the next.
  
  More relevant are the extreme decisions that Ardern and other leaders took. The virus didn’t lock down the countries, they did.
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:13am
  - JJ56
    
    As the Curry post says (usual practice is to read before bursting into print), knowing origins helps you respond.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:30am
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      I just wish they’d make up their minds about this and all of the other Covid claims that they vacillate over from day-to-day. A consistent set of propositions may help negate the credibility issues their confused narrative engenders in the populace.
      
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      May 24, 2021 5:13pm
- Pharmachick
  
  Thank you… it is very nice to see a dissenting view that is well considered, science based and well written. Not sure I buy it 100% but I think these arguments deserve to be discussed.
  
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  May 24, 2021 2:42pm
I remember when

I think Rodney was wrong when he wrote ‘more skilled in indignant outrage than critical thought.’
Their thought seems to be totally ‘critical’.
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May 24, 2021 8:33am
Benedict Yu

Good grief.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443215/no-beneficiaries-sanctioned-for-failing-social-obligations

So not a single beneficiary has ever been sanctioned for not sending their kids to school despite record truancy?

The Minister says..

“I do not like the idea of sanctions that are there purely for some kind of punitive attempt to punish families in some way,” Sepuloni said.

“But at the same time what I do value are some of the whānau-centred wellbeing conversations that need to happen at the frontline – those are things that we need to still continue to do but find out really constructive ways of doing that.”
________
What does the second paragraph mean?
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May 24, 2021 8:35am
- crikey
  
  For those familiar with the saying, it means the monkeys have been at the typewriter again.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:44am
- Ehlana
  
  I get why punitive approaches might not work, especially for people who lack impulse control. But would a life game app approach work? There are apps today which combine 10 minute life lessons (like Noom or Nerd Fitness) and a game approach to everyday tasks. Could one be written that is engaging enough that people would use it (and learn from it) and could it be linked to real life rewards?
  Since many people on benefits already do the right things, would seeing them getting rewarded for it encourage others to lift their game?
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:38am
  - oldfella
    
    Perhaps beneficiaries should be required to attend compulsory life lessons at their local school hall, or similar meeting place.
    They could be taught the basics of social responsibility as well as budgeting, nutrition, fitness, basic health, etc.
    Might not work, but has it ever been tried?
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:08pm
    - artemisia
      
      There was a trial in the north of England a few years back. Those on the dole were required to attend in person for several hours a day in order to continue the dole. Think they were given some help in applying for jobs. Thing was, some did not turn up at all and cancelled their dole payments. Too busy at their under-the-table jobs.
      
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      May 24, 2021 4:07pm
- slernz
  
  The second paragraph means: “She’ll be right.”
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:59am
- Maxx
  
  And that’s where Socialism fails, or more appropriately, when it meets the reality of who it is supposed to support. If they genuinely want to implement a social agenda, then they also need to apply and enforce the accompanying social contract that comes with it, that those that it supports upholds their social obligations, in this example ensuring that their children grow up to be productive members of society by sending them to school.
  
  As to the second paragraph, maybe a touch to much of the taniwha before the interview.
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:21pm
- Keith White
  
  “White laws bad, brown guidance good.”
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:50pm
- Kiwi Dave
  
  What does the second paragraph mean?
  
  I think it means that she thinks it’s good for MSD workers to talk to families about their situations, but so far, though there’s no evidence the conversations have the desired effect, let’s keep having them in case they do have the desired effect.
  
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  May 24, 2021 7:15pm
Gravelroad

Quote on Facebook this morning:
“New Zealanders have never felt more shut down, de-platformed or cancelled than they do today,”
David Seymour
Or would this be spun as just old, white, “racist” New Zealanders by our conceited socialist politicians?
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May 24, 2021 8:36am
- Inandout
  
  Gravel, we live in a socialist paradise, with a benefit for every purpose. Live the dream because the wake up call is getting very close.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:40am
- Swifty
  
  Well, certainly according to Joel Maxwell any objection to, or indeed questioning of, racial separatism is racism at its very worst:
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/125206019/caution-is-the-superfood-of-institutional-racism
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:45am
  - Inandout
    
    Swifty, Joel used to work for a tiny provincial giveaway paper and even then was trying to push the Maori line. Other than looking a bit darker tinged you wouldn’t take him for a ‘person of the land’.
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:00am
  - Yabster
    
    won’t be going to that link- Maxwell is a complete douche- and pushes his agenda all the time- no balance at all. Drags out the b/s racist/racism line all the time-
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:41am
    - oldfella
      
      Yab, I love his closing line. ‘I’m not woke, I’m Maori.’
      Which I translate to mean that idiots come in ALL colours these days.
      
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      May 24, 2021 12:13pm
[email protected]

The potential new unemployment insurance will be another tax. Call it what you want but the net effect will be that anyone working a job will have less income to spend on their family.

Insuring someone 80% of their income if they lose their job is a very bad idea. It isn’t hard to see what that can lead to.

Since there will likely be a cap on the maximum one can draw from this insurance so there will be a transfer of money from well paid employees and self employed people to lower income workers. Just what this government wants – more dependence on the government.
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May 24, 2021 8:41am
- Nickc2
  
  Who is going to collect and administer all this money? IMO. it will probably be the Govt thus another slush fund for this Govt to raid at whim.
  IMO. if we must have such insurance, it should be administered by a completely independent agency and any profits ploughed back into the fund, not Govt coffers. Conversely, throw it open to private enterprise.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:15am
  - Paulus
    
    Government bodies are Independent anyway so they can do it !
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:56am
    - Nickc2
      
      TKS but wasn’t the Reserve Bank (RB) also independent?
      Robertson couldn’t help himself when he started dictating how the RB should operate. Not much independence there.
      
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      May 24, 2021 2:11pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Better still, don’t go there.
    I’m sure Robbo has his eyes on a slush fund particularly as Cinders doesn’t accept Parliament has having any control over her govt spending.
    Borrow and spend all our way to Venezuela.
    Sack ’em now!
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:30am
  - Keith White
    
    Buying more votes requires more money, dontcha know…
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:51pm
- Yabster
  
  plenty of places you can purchase income insurance if you wish- I don’t need nanny state to make decisions for me.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:44am
  - Paulus
    
    Anybody with a Bank Mortgage, under the borrowing contract, you have to retain at all time House Insurance and name the Bank as a first recipient.
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:42pm
- Paulus
  
  Do not expect the employee to pay the Tax -it is the scurrilous employer who will pay a % on the payroll, and revised upwards every year.
  Administered and collected by ACC.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:55am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    How long will they have to wait for the payout? What hoops to go through? Will CHCH be rebuilt be its authorised? Will Robbo have access on the side to it?
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:32am
- Sacha
  
  When I was a kid, I heard stories about blokes at the freezing works chopping off fingers so that they couldn’t work.
  I think they lived on the ‘compo’..
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:02pm
Benedict Yu

A friend of a friend works for a government agency. He told a story over dinner last night.

A colleague was given a brand new car for work purposes. He provides social services of some sort. Anyway the cars are monitored by GPS and his employer gets reports on the whereabouts and speed of the car. Which he was aware of. But that did not stop him driving at 180 kmh on some road in Canterbury.

So the consequence was that he lost the car and was redeployed to a job that did not require the use of a car.

I explained over dinner that if you pulled that stunt in the private sector you would be out on your ear.
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May 24, 2021 8:41am
RockyJ

ACT announce a policy that would enable school principals to reward high performing teachers. I heard on the wireless a teacher union spokesperson say “students would suffer if teachers become too results focussed”. You can’t make this up
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May 24, 2021 8:45am
Swifty

An absolutely terrible tragedy – but has someone lit this fire inside the car I wonder?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125223159/driver-of-a-car-that-caught-fire-on-a-wellington-highway-has-died-in-hospital
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May 24, 2021 8:48am
- sooty
  
  The fire in the photo seems confined to the passenger area. There doesn’t appear to be major damage to car from accident! There are many unanswered questions!
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:32am
hullkiwi

Did anyone see the Sunday programme last night. A sad piece of blackmailing emotional journalism really. Of the cases highlighted (4) , only 2 could be considered to have been valid.

The three families who were wanting to (& did) return to NZ could not be considered valid. They were in safe bubbles in the UK and Abu Dhabi (the family in China were airlifted). Although there was covid in their communities, the families in the UK & UAE were safe.

The big issue are families that are being kept separate by NZ immigration regulations and Immigration NZ’s inability to process the applications of “residents” here with families. Two cases were highlighted of families separated by the “system”, but there is also a vast number of families here with family that are now beyond school, but these children can’t work (invalid visas) or if they wish to go to university etc, they have to pay as though they are foreign students (ie full fees), yet their parents are residents with working visas. Processing applications for these families has ground to a snail’s pace because of Covid. What happened to Jax’s calls to be kind? Are they the wrong cohort of supporters or what?
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May 24, 2021 8:49am
- DeepBlue
  
  Erica Stanford says she would let those 18/19 yo migrant children work. I think that is great. They are already here.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:11am
- Flossie
  
  Did not see the programme but it makes me comment on something from my Saturday morning. I went for a manicure (very rare for me) and a lass from India did the service. We chatted as you do, and she was here in NZ for 4 years plus… came on a partner visa for her bloke who has just completed his studies. So what does he do I inquired? Oh he is an uber eats delivery driver… part time. They are here forever.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:34am
  - MCos
    
    My wife has a niece in Auckland. She had a job as a chef in a Thai restaurant for $12/hr prior to the lockdown.
    She knew it was wrong, but wouldn’t confront the guy. (My wife was once offered $5/hr to wash dishes)
    Her husband is an Uber eats driver.
    They came out to NZ & worked as chefs in Gisborne for ten years or so. Became citizens.
    
    Now. What’s the problem?
    
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    May 24, 2021 4:37pm
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Flossie
    It’s like a caricature isn’t it, but only too real: come here to study for some worthless qualification, become a citizen, eventually bring the entire family over (including sick parents or grandparents who will imminently become a drain on the taxpayer) and ultimately work in a low skill, low pay job that effectively anyone can do. What exactly is the benefit to the country here? Other than perhaps a Polytechnic, the rest of the country would be in a better net position if we didn’t allow this scam in the first place.
    
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    May 24, 2021 5:33pm
- Ehlana
  
  IIRC, we were running at basically full employment before the Covid pandemic hit. I would have thought priority 1 for entry to NZ would be those who had jobs here and their families (since we need them to work).
  Returning NZers will fill some vacancies in the workforce, but surely it would also make sense to use the people who are here already – especially if the reason is that their parents are here working.
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:01pm
- The Housekeeper
  
  I’m keen for the families of truly skilled, net-taxpaying migrants who add to NZ, to bring their immediate families to join them, wherever thay’re from. Obviously, we want them to fit in without any increased financial burden on NZ’ers. If, as an immigrant, you feel you have been poorly treated, separated from your family or NZ is racist you should simply go home. You may have been sold a lie or simply are a victim of a much changed world from a year ago. If so, you should cut your losses and reunite with your families in your home countries. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, but let’s face it, when your local immigration agent told you that a bottle store worker was a skilled migrant category in NZ , didn’t you pinch yourselves? When you were told that the simplest tertiary course would buy you residence, didn’t you wonder how it could be so easy? Did you really think that complete strangers would be happy to provide for you and your extended families while they struggle to pay for their own? Would your own country reciprocate for NZ’ers? NZ can barely afford to pay for it’s own losers, let alone the rest of the world’s.
  
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  May 24, 2021 12:53pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Absolutely spot on!
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:58pm
I remember when

Doesn’t sound very likely.
It’s the world’s biggest iceberg and it hasn’t been caused by global warming.
Iceberg A-76 covering 1668 square miles in the Weddell Sea.
However, NASA’s MODIS has recorded the earth’s hottest ground temperatures, 177.4 degrees Fahrenheit, in the Lut and Sonoran deserts.
Deuce.
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May 24, 2021 8:50am
Maggie Pie

Timaru man nominated for QSM in Queen’s Birthday Honors

https://twitter.com/NZStuff/status/1396300866127159298
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May 24, 2021 8:50am
- Swifty
  
  That’s the good news story of the week.
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:52am
Swifty

More murder and mayhem in little ol’ New Zealand:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/firearms-incident-two-found-dead-at-northland-property/7L5UG2QZJRN6YETEHPQGBWHLFE/
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May 24, 2021 8:51am
- sooty
  
  Just imagine the death toll if cindy had not pinched everybody’s guns! Wasn’t she kind!
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:35am
In Vino Veritas

Firstly, let me say I am no mental health guru. I see Prince Harry has announced that his wife didn’t commit suicide because she didn’t want him to lose another woman in his life.
I have known 4 people who suffer from depression, three, suicidal depression. Two have taken their lives and one has failed 2 times. I discussed this with each of them. And they told me that when they are in the deep, dark pit of making the attempt, there is NOTHING that can drag them out, other than direct intervention at the time. No thoughts of husband, young children, golden friends and good times in the past.
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May 24, 2021 8:54am
- Inandout
  
  IVV, I just wonder if a person in this situation was taken to an area where mobile use was impossible and dark thoughts were kept at bay would we see an improvement?
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:10am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    From my personal experience with these friends, I doubt it would make any difference. But I am no expert.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:36am
  - The Housekeeper
    
    Harry is ripe for scientology
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:59pm
- alloytoo
  
  Some people “attempt” or threaten suicide simply for the attention.
  
  After a while one wants “Educate” them on doing it properly.
  
  (This may appear callous, but the damage these people do to their concerned friends and relatives is equally callous)
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:19am
JibberJabber

This warning about borrowing money coming from the finance minister who has borrowed more money than any finance minister in the country’s history.
This clown lacks self awareness.

https://twitter.com/CraigSDouglas1/status/1396375225885884418

Finance Minister @grantrobertson1 continues to warn New Zealanders who have taken on debt that there’s a possibility interest rates could rise

Well, Duh uh…no shit Sherlock…
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May 24, 2021 8:55am
- JackRabbit
  
  This warning about borrowing money coming from the finance minister who has ~~borrowed~~ printed more money than any finance minister in the country’s history.
  
  He has treated the history of Germany’s rampant printing of money and inflation after WWI not as a warning, but as a “how to” manual. A time in Germany when you needed a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread.
  
  Perhaps that is the meaning of “shovel ready” projects. You may need a shovel to fill your wheelbarrow with cash, in order to buy a loaf of bread.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:18am
  - Tall Man
    
    The only stuff these guys are shovelling is a barrowload of shit everytime they open their mouths.
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:18am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Of course interest rates will rise. Inflation from printing money will see to that. Raising interest rates is the RBNZ’s go to mechanism for inflation control. But same will be happening offshore. So all that lovely debt this Government has raised, will be way more expensive to service. But hey-ho, there will be opportunities galore to make a few bob.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:16am
kevn

@Maggie… Crowdfund his pending legal bills?
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May 24, 2021 9:01am
Benedict Yu

That crash on the Wellington motorway is a nasty business. The woman has since died of her horrific burns. RIP.
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May 24, 2021 9:03am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Who would down tick that? 🙁
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:40am
  - Tall Man
    
    Rhetorical I assume.
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:17am
  - Keith White
    
    “It’s Battown, Benedict.”
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:53pm
Tauhei Notts

Yesterday I heard that some teachers, trying to teach intermediate school children mathematics, were unable to get a pass mark in sixth form (year 12) mathematics themselves. I am talking about year 12; not some university course.
Please tell me what I heard was wrong.
This is devastating.
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May 24, 2021 9:03am
- washo
  
  What you heard is true and has been so for at least 40 years. Many primary and intermediate teachers finished their maths education in Year 10. Remember that the teacher training organisations want the trainees’ fees rather then their knowledge.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:23am
  - Paulus
    
    And Maths is not yet available in Te Reo Maori but soon, then it will be ok.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  No it is not wrong.
  
  Primary and Intermediate school teachers only need NCEA Level One in Numeracy.
  
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  May 24, 2021 9:37am
- I will not surrender
  
  Yes, but they can probably handle maori science. which is the important thing.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:45am
- Frank the tank
  
  Bet you however they know about our colonizing past, white privileged and institutional racism.
  
  This is not devastating this is what happens when the inmates run the asylum and successive National governments were to pussy to bring teaching unions to heel.
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:15am
- KevO'Brien
  
  At that level what “maths” do they do?
  They were still teaching basic GST calculation in Yr 11.
  Intermediate, yrs 7&8. My mother left yr 8 with a School Leaving Certificate!
  What are they using for teachers now?
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:38am
  - Paulus
    
    Social Engineering !
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:45pm
Colville

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/125119152/i-didnt-expect-it-here–familys-violent-welcome-to-new-zealand

Exactly the same thing as happened to me 45 years ago after we moved from very white Golden Bay to very brown Central Wellington.

First day at school (Berhampore) a punch in the face and my lunch taken.
First weekend, chased down beaten up , bike stolen and my shoes!

Learnt fast…never be alone ! served me well when I went to decile 1 Naenae College 🙂
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May 24, 2021 9:10am
- Tall Man
  
  Sounds like most areas in New Zealand. Bullies arise to fill the void and the pc world we are generating is certainly allowing a rise in the bullies.
  
  Teaching your child to defend themselves, not just with violence, should be mandatory.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:16am
  - kowtow
    
    Another aspect of that story that , on the face of it is very concerning.
    
    The victim was robbed by people armed with knife and screw driver , had a bone broken in his face and required surgery and according to the story , this is how Plod are treating it;
    
    ‘A police spokeswoman confirmed police were called about 4pm for a minor assault and were making inquiries.’
    
    Minor assault?
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:04am
    - Tall Man
      
      A good point.
      
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      May 24, 2021 12:32pm
    - Keith White
      
      Minor(ity) Assault i.e. by a Protected Species. FIFY…
      
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      May 24, 2021 4:23pm
- Durden
  
  We never get told who the perpetrators were. Too racist ?
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:49am
Swifty

“New Zealand is as racist as f%&k!” – so said Taika Waititi not too long ago.

And, when you see story after story in our media like this, you might just well agree with him:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/125119152/i-didnt-expect-it-here–familys-violent-welcome-to-new-zealand

But this article today has got me thinking about what was quite likely the hundreds and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of social interactions that occurred, just yesterday alone, in New Zealand where people of different backgrounds, cultures, ‘races’, religions, colours and creeds came together in work, play, shared a queue at the supermarket or had a quick word at the dairy, beach, local park, saleyard or sportsground, on a bus or train, and which were full of goodwill, courtesy, came with a cheery smile and/or kind words – and which we don’t even think about let alone read about on the front pages of our news media.

Millions. Yesterday alone.

I do fear at times we’re not retaining our sense of balance in modern times – as we lurch from one crisis of confidence to another.

And where some people seize upon incidents like the one reported to create some advantage, sell a few more papers, limit our freedoms or ram through some new law is quite wrong.

It’s despicable actually.
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May 24, 2021 9:15am
- JibberJabber
  
  Oddly enough, no description of the attackers, why would that be?
  It’s almost like they don’t want them to be caught, would they not fit the narrative?
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:16am
  - sooty
    
    When there are descriptions,
    just read between the lines!
    Works everytime, reporters are just been kind!
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:41am
  - Durden
    
    Asked the same question above before I noticed your comment. Sorry.
    
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    May 24, 2021 10:50am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Omitting those details speak volumes. Anything that undermines the stated benefits of cultural enrichment is diligently suppressed.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:18am
- lilman
  
  Well you want to come here you idiot.
  We get our shit stolen ,our kids bashed,our freedom curtailed.
  Why should you be any different?Welcome to Kiwi land , bloody muppet.
  
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  May 24, 2021 11:50am
Maggie Pie

One of the gals from tennis lent me a book last week.

‘TO BE FAIR: Confessions of a District Court Dudge’
– by Rosemary Riddell

About half way thru it and quite an interesting read.
My fave extract so far…”You can’t give the fingers to a lane hopping driver or tell someone to fuck off”

LOL!!
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May 24, 2021 9:16am
AJL

So here’s a stuff Article on recent policies from Act:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300314620/act-leader-calls-for-bonus-pay-for-highperforming-teachers

While the 4 year term and select committee stuff sounds good… I’m a bit skeptical on the financial bonus for teachers, especially of it being doled out purely on what the headmaster thinks is a good idea.
Like… this just sounds like a recipe perverse incentive structures (at best), and corruption or coercion (at worst).
If you have a corrupt/selfish headmaster doling out this bonus than ummmm… I don’t really want to think about what they might ask staff to do in order to “earn” said bonus.

Even if you have a perfectly benevolent headmaster, giving them “total discretion” is a great centralization of power. What happens if you have a teacher who does good work, but disagrees with the headmaster’s approach? What if the headmaster is really into Arts, and you have a fabulous teacher who leans more towards Sciences?

Added to that is like…whenever you apply ANY incentive structure, its important to ask what your incentivizing for? For example, if your incentive is “who is the headmaster happy with” this encourages sucking up to the headmaster. If the incentive is a raw “How many students got high grades” this pushing teachers to move to already successful schools. If the incentive is “how did you do relative to your co-workers?” this pushes towards competition between teachers, and encourages undermining or sabotaging the work of other teachers.

And then there’s the question of “do incentives even work in this case?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

I’m particularly sceptical of this, because teachers (for the most part) never went into the field for the money. Most teachers care about teaching. They have already picked a profession that is of value to the community but ISN’T going to make them rich- not to say they don’t deserve good pay, that’s not my point. But it is to say I’m sceptical about the idea of monetary incentives, ESPECIALLY monetary incentives which are coming from the principal “With total discretion”.

It feels like Seymour is making the mistake of assuming teachers are motivated by the same things as CEOs…. and I’m not even convinced this sort of “bonus pay” motivation gives good results in the corporate world either (or at least… the exact reward structure needs to be designed VERY carefully to avoid perverse incentives.)
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May 24, 2021 9:28am
- lifesgood
  
  For goodness sake!!! Every work place is collaborative. Bosses there hand out performance related rises and bonuses. Why on earth do teachers think they are different? There are heaps of ways teachers performance can be judged apart from exam results. Many teachers are caring and many are just down right lazy. I know, I worked in a high school for a number of years. It was easy to see who was committed and who was riding along doing as little as possible while confident in the backing of NZs most powerful union, What petty jealous, small minded people. Also says a lot about how much they trust the managerial ability of their principals.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:12am
  - artemisia
    
    Quite so, lifesgood. Bosses always always see and know a whole lot more than employees think. But they are more likely to nod and smile – until the restructure gets under way.
    
    That restructure might not happen in schools unless the circs are particularly egregious, but a quiet well done goes a very long way towards employees feeling valued. Double that if $$ are passed across as well.
    
    Some principals will get it wrong, or decide to distribute the funds equally. But reckon most will be dead keen to hang on to their best teachers any way they can.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:04am
- Flossie
  
  I just felt when I heard about rewarding teachers for “above and beyond” how on earth anyone could measure this? Maybe a teacher who takes after school sport? But then maybe that disqualifies a teacher who is 110% in the classroom but but has family responsibilities after school? Lucky teacher who gets a bunch of really clever kids who excel in exams….great teacher who takes their class from deadbeats to really keen to participate in society?
  Way too hard to quantify result IMO.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:24am
  - septic skeptic
    
    It might be hard to produce a formula that can be used in a nationwide “fair pay agreement”. But any business owner and I would venture to say virtually any principal other than Kelvin could sort the wheat from the chaff in their own workforce.
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:38pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Actually this really is management 101. Anyone who has run a small team knows that different people can bring different skills. So yes, a principle should be able to get the best out of and reward appropriately both the inspirational academic as well as the diligent teacher that runs the sport teams. Both are easily distinguished from the incompetent coaster.
    It’s only when you unionise and bureaucratise the management and pay system that you have difficulty. Also of course someone has to manage the principals. If they are incentivized to employ a diverse workforce, be guided by Te Tiriti principles and incorporate Te Reo – then YMMV.
    
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    May 24, 2021 2:31pm
- Durden
  
  Its no more perverse than the incentive to coast when all teachers are paid the same salary regardless of performance.
  
  Surely there are good ways to measure misuse and provide checks and balances.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:53am
  - AJL
    
    @Durden-
    
    I agree, there ARE ways to measure misuse and provide checks and balances, but given the quote of “With total discretion” from Seymour, it doesn’t sound like he intends to put these in place.
    
    As for the incentive to coast when all teachers are paid the same… I mean.. maybe? Yes, some people coast, but like… if you are married, you don’t put effort into cooking well for your spouse because you expect them to pay you a $5 tip at the end of the meal. If they did it would sort of undermine the whole thing. That’s an extreme example I know (so don’t take it too seriously), but my point is monetary incentives aren’t the only thing that drive people.
    
    The people who are inclined to coast are STILL going to coast even if there’s a monetary incentive.
    You will get to “recognize” good teachers with money, but is that what they want? Maybe they want smaller classes, or a lesson or two off per week for training purposes or…. something else. I’m just not convinced that David sat down and *really* talked to teachers when formulating this one- it feels weirdly “top down” for an Act policy.
    
    I’m not saying we can’t or shouldn’t have an incentive program, just that there are a million and one ways to stuff such things up, and I’m not convinced that Cash prizes is the best POSSIBLE use of funds if we want to improve education in this country.
    
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    May 24, 2021 1:05pm
- MCos
  
  I may be wrong, but I don’t think the NZ public service pays bonuses.
  If teachers were to get a bonus why not WINZ officers?
  Furthermore there are 60,000 teachers spread across 2500 schools.
  How does one compere a teacher here with one there.
  The answer is you don’t. X dollars are allocated to each school depending on some criteria.
  The criteria must be related to number of teachers on a certain day.
  That’s when the fun begins . . . . .
  
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  May 24, 2021 8:00pm
kevn

@Maggie… but, I gather she is not a fan of the ‘Three Strikes” policy.
Calling DG.
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May 24, 2021 9:51am
Rusty

There was a story in the sunday star times yesterday featuring two professors who seemed baffled on why their is a reluctance from a sizeable number of the educated class in NZ not to get the covid vaccine jab.

The article also quoted John Key who apparently has golfing mates who are also refusing to get the jab whom he thinks are not thinking straight.

There conclusion is that the educated class are being swayed by conspiracy theories or fear of the unknown.

What these two professors never mentioned was the fundamental rights of every NZer to make an educated choice not to get the jab.

In other words the people of this country under the bill of rights and international conventions can choose not to get the jab and they have every right to say no without fear of legal consequences.

I’m not anti-vaccines at all but I’m anti any vaccine that has not been proven and tested over a reasonable amount of time.
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May 24, 2021 9:58am
- DeepBlue
  
  I am interested in what is a ‘reasonable amount of time?. The trials started last year so now up to at least 6 months of population use overseas. Do you wait one year or three?.
  One year means you can have the vaccine later in 2021 and still be within the national rollout programme.
  
  I think Jacinda just wants as many of the Group 3 people vaccinated by Q3, and then nearer Christmas declare we have protected the most vulnerable and the willing, we now open our borders for any vaccinated person.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:21am
- virtualmark
  
  The vaccines have been “proven and tested” in millions of people.
  
  You can bark all you like about the accelerated clinical trials but Phase III clinical trials, for any drug, enrol only a small number of people. Typically in the thousands or tens of thousands.
  
  No Phase III clinical trial could match the real-world experience we now have with the vaccines. And that real-world experience says they are overwhelming safe and effective.
  
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  May 24, 2021 10:50am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Your optimism is misplaced and isn’t backed by anything much at all. They’ve only been administered for 6 or 7 months.
    
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    May 24, 2021 11:22am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    About 5 t0 10 percent of people are absolute anti-vaxxers. You can’t fix them.
    
    As for COVID vaccines maybe another 15 to 20 percent are ‘vaccine hesitant’. The experience of the UK is that most of these people come around. Or at least they will when they realise they want to travel internationally.
    
    I look at this rationally. No medicine or vaccine is ‘safe’. Last year 211 people in the UK died from accidental paracetomol overdose. I am 59 years old. My chances of dying from COVID are 1 in 250. My chances of being seriously ill and taking weeks to recover are about 1 in 50. In contrast the incidence of serious blood clots from the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are 4.1 per million.
    
    https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1005
    
    Critically, the chances of such blood clots from the COVID disease is 39 per million.
    
    So the vaccines carry risks. But those risks are many thousands of times less than the risks of serious illness and death from COVID. It is not a difficult choice.
    
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    May 24, 2021 12:23pm
  - Keith White
    
    “No Phase III clinical trial could match the real-world experience we now have with the vaccines.”
    
    No Phase II trial has ever been conducted and declared successful after only mere months of use in hundreds of millions of people; and with next year’s ‘flu’ still to challenge its efficacy as well as its potential for nasty antibody-dependent enhancement. But hey, you get the vaccine, however — whatever happened to (a) informed consent and (b) ‘my body, my choice’?
    
    4 2
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    May 24, 2021 4:00pm
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      Good point: where are the Pro Choice abortion advocates on this? Probably down at the doctors getting the shot that Twitter has told them they must get.
      
      Ultimately, it is more rational and evidence-based (or rather, lack-of-evidence-based) to not get vaccinated yet, than it is to take the advice of people who don’t have enough evidence to be sure of anything.
      
      2 1
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      May 24, 2021 4:58pm
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      The argument is now reframed; it’s no longer “My body, my choice”. It’s “your body, my choice”. Compulsion will occur courtesy of this government.
      
      1 2
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      May 24, 2021 6:33pm
- JackRabbit
  
  “… I’m anti any vaccine that has not been proven and tested over a reasonable amount of time.”
  
  Which is why there is sizeable portion of baby boomers and medical professionals who hold the same view as you.
  
  9 3
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  May 24, 2021 11:05am
Maggie Pie

Does anyone know if there are strict rules & regulations governing the installation and operation of a CCTV camera in the women’s changing room?

Asking for a friend.
9 2
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May 24, 2021 10:10am
- DeepBlue
  
  There have been Privacy Commision rulings on CCTV use in private areas. Search the web.
  
  5 2
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  May 24, 2021 10:23am
  - sooty
    
    Who cares, just smash them!
    
    5 1
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    May 24, 2021 10:44am
- rangitoto
  
  So what really goes on at the tennis club?
  
  9 2
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  May 24, 2021 10:31am
- JibberJabber
  
  Ask the Navy.
  
  6 2
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  May 24, 2021 10:38am
  - Nickc2
    
    All those in the military just are a cross-section of society (with jobs).
    
    2 1
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    May 24, 2021 1:33pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, a big fat NO.
  
  4 2
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  May 24, 2021 10:42am
- Libertarians are right
  
  If you work high up in a Government department you’ll get away with it?
  
  7 0
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  May 24, 2021 11:04am
  - Inandout
    
    Lib, yes but useless as evidence in a law court.
    
    1 0
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    May 24, 2021 11:47am
  - sooty
    
    As long as you have a magic party card!
    
    1 0
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    May 24, 2021 12:50pm
- virtualmark
  
  https://www.police.govt.nz/faq/what-are-rules-around-taking-photos-or-filming-public-place
  
  1 0
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  May 24, 2021 12:12pm
Greg Ettridge

Watching a documentary on Adolf Eichmann last night, I guess he and many in the German public service would be the biggest mass murderers in the last one hundred years. He went along the line that he was just doing what the government told him to do, but secret tapes revealed he wanted all Jews in Europe neutralised.
Who would have thought the civil servants could go to work each day systematically exterminating 60% of the Jews in Europe, and the press were compliant.
Has there been a greater mass murderer.
14 4
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May 24, 2021 10:49am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Heard of Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung? Over 100 million between them.
  
  16 1
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  May 24, 2021 11:11am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Why so few documentaries on the Bolsheviks?
    
    5 1
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    May 24, 2021 11:30am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Ho Chi Minh? Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the final solution?
    In terms of civil servants, a lot didn’t start that way. Most of the commanders of the einsatzgruppen were lawyers and accountant types, who started as peaceful, family men. As Jordan Peterson says, everyone has Nazi in them.
    
    5 1
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    May 24, 2021 11:48am
- virtualmark
  
  Sadly Greg, Eichmann is only a second-tier mass murderer.
  
  3 0
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  May 24, 2021 12:13pm
- rangitoto
  
  As a percentage of population, Pol Pot would be up there. Timur would be highest on the all time list.
  
  2 0
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  May 24, 2021 12:44pm
JibberJabber

https://twitter.com/sailinjackvip/status/1396575233566511105

Woke in the Streets, oppressed in the Sheets…?
3 0
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May 24, 2021 11:12am
oldfella

It seems that even moderate amounts of TV viewing are associated with worse performances on cognitive tests as people age. And regular TV viewers also experience greater brain atrophy.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-tv-dull-aging-brain.html
Further research is need to ascertain if too much time on KB has the same effect. 😉
1 0
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May 24, 2021 11:29am
Inandout

And our resident lefties relish this guy’s opinion.
https://trends.gab.com/trend-feed/60aad06092fa5748daeadd2a
TDS is surely a mental condition.
3 1
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May 24, 2021 11:46am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

I see where ‘New Scientist’ is reporting that Pigs and Rodents can breathe thru their rectums.

Thort that was worth sharing the group.
8 2
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May 24, 2021 12:08pm
- JibberJabber
  
  Heh, that’s nothing, here in NZ we have an entire Government that talks out of their arse…
  
  14 1
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  May 24, 2021 12:20pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Accidental downtick.
    
    2 0
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    May 24, 2021 1:51pm
- oldfella
  
  Maggie, some of our politicians can TALK through their rectums, so what’s the big deal?
  
  8 0
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  May 24, 2021 12:33pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It would be…. if you ever had to apply CPR
    😀 😀 😀
    
    5 1
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    May 24, 2021 2:21pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “Some” ……… ?
    
    4 0
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    May 24, 2021 2:22pm
Cobolt24

I was reading this yesterday:
http://rrnz.co.nz/downloads/NZ Economic Reforms.pdf
1 0
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May 24, 2021 12:11pm
oldfella

So, Oriini Kaipara, who made history as the first woman with a moko kauae (that’s a chin tattoo) to read a major news bulletin in 2019, has moved to Three with a presenting role on Newshub Live at 4.30pm.
Wonder what that will do for their ratings?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300315073/groundbreaking-mori-presenter-oriini-kaipara-heads-to-three-with-newshub-role#comments
3 0
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May 24, 2021 12:31pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Wonder what that will do for their ratings?
  
  Oh, dear. You nasty, miserable old buggers just can’t handle the fact that our society is changing, in a way you don’t like, and that you are powerless to do anything about it, can you? The 60s, even the 70s, are long gone, oldfella. Get used to it.
  
  Oriini Kaipara is presentable, professional, and very good at her job. I imagine Newshub Live (at 4.30)’s ratings will continue to improve.
  
  Right. Time to settle down and watch the said program. Hopefully, her arrival on the scene is not too far distant.
  
  4 2
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  May 24, 2021 4:29pm
graham71

the police told me if you are going to shoot make sure you kill them and if they aren’t armed grab a knife out of your knife block and put it in there hand.
The good old days
5 1
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May 24, 2021 12:34pm
Captain Mainwaring

So Spindy has announced that as soon as the benefit increases are up and running she’s going to start on Working for Families.
Is it too much to ask that one day we might see incentives for growing businesses and increasing the size of the pie?
19 0
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May 24, 2021 12:53pm
- Tall Man
  
  Well that would be pointless wouldn’t it? They have discovered they no longer need us to employ people or pay taxes as they are now able to print and borrow as much as they like to fill the trough as much as they want.
  
  It’s simple really, dispense with all economic theory, dispense with all Treasury advice and you can built a country where you can rule forever …… What could possibly go wrong?
  
  http://www.trcpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/stockbrokerfall.jpg
  
  https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7g7vq7oz8bE/TShbSwDokHI/AAAAAAAAFJI/xdvL0nrpk_4/s400/great-depression-soup-line.jpg
  
  3 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:06pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  It’s good to see her keeping her election promises so soon after the election.
  
  Wait, you mean she didn’t campaign on these policies? But they’re the most open and transparent Government ever and she never lies, right?
  
  14 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:20pm
- septic skeptic
  
  The assumption is that if you hand out more money for people to spend, then other people will produce stuff for them to buy. Of course the quickest and easiest way to part these people from their newly minted not-so-hard-earned cash will be for landlords to put the rent up.
  
  7 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:28pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Robbo put the print order in yesterday to increase the pie. He doesn’t need business/productivity.
  
  8 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:34pm
Maggie Pie

I had Peter Williams on in the background this morning.
As soon as I heard that plastic modie Danny Watson come on, I rushed over to turn the radio off. But not before I heard the clown saying….”Gangs have the right to exist”

SHEESH!!
14 1
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May 24, 2021 1:23pm
- jon
  
  I hear Magic are running a campaign to get people to switch to their station..ratings have no doubt dived since they removed Sean Plunket. Watson well just YUK!
  
  1 0
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  May 24, 2021 7:06pm
Loddenthinks

Every bad thing that can ever happen is caused by racism or so it seems. An immigrant family from Jordan who settled in Hamilton have discovered that there are thugs everywhere – but are blaming it on raaaacism.

A young fellow was essentially mugged for his bike, which is unfortunate but hardly remarkable, and based on what the victim said, had nothing to do with his skin colour. Thugs be thugs everywhere, mate, and they’re being emboldened by this useless government’s soft-on-crime approach.

It’s ironic, paradoxical, whatever you like to call it, that while this government is labelling everything bad as a racist action, no doubt to bolster their plan to hand over governance to a disaffected bunch of part-maoris, it’s their crim-hugging policies that mean these vicious little thugs can act with impunity.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/125119152/i-didnt-expect-it-here–familys-violent-welcome-to-new-zealand
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May 24, 2021 1:24pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Side note: it’s not a “welcome” – the family’s been here since the beginning of 2020, and what’s more, the kid that got mugged can’t even speak English yet!
  
  Sounds like his parents are the problem.
  
  7 2
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  May 24, 2021 1:25pm
- graham
  
  Yep, been happening forever. I was a skinny white kid who wore glasses in the eighties, so naturally I got picked on. Some people are assholes, and can sniff out weakness a mile away.
  
  My (white) English wife got picked on when she went to school in London – she just wasn’t one of the popular crowd.
  
  Nothing to do with racism, just … assholes are everywhere.
  
  12 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:35pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    But the bullies didn’t say “You’re Indian” so you both still had white privilege.
    
    3 3
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    May 24, 2021 2:16pm
- kowtow
  
  That child was not “mugged” , he was robbed , at the point of weapons and had a bone in his face broken requiring surgery .
  
  As to the “racism” , yer that’s bullshit . And the media need calling on that as they left out who dunnit.
  
  10 0
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  May 24, 2021 1:45pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    It seems odd to debate the right word to describe what happened to this unfortunate young chap, but mugged he most certainly was.
    
    According to Collins English Dictionary, the definition of mugged is “to attack or rob (someone) violently”.
    
    1 0
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    May 24, 2021 3:31pm
kevn

New GG today… any guesses who it might be?
4 0
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May 24, 2021 1:43pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  John Banks would make a fab GG.
  
  One of the gals from tennis is adamant it will be Sian Elias.
  
  5 2
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  May 24, 2021 2:47pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, John Banks would be ok by me but he wouldn’t be considered by this mob. I’m picking Cindy’s dad will get the job. I can’t think of anyone else that would agree with her.
    
    6 2
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    May 24, 2021 2:51pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    How about Helen Clark, or would we run out of spew buckets?
    
    5 3
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    May 24, 2021 2:55pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Might have guessed…a Member of the Brown Table from Massey 😀
  
  9 4
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  May 24, 2021 3:11pm
Pharmachick

Ok, so a tad late to the party here, but can we agree at 10 games ago Pool’s prospects of Champions League were in the toilet, and only the truly faithful (moi aussi) had any real thoughts of Champions League for the 2021/2022 season.

2-0 against Palace will do for me. Watched the whole thing, and nails were bitten.

Biscuit, plc, Calendar Girl, and others … can I get a Hallelujah?

Lastly, *cannot*, *cannot*, *cannot* believe they’re letting Gini go. FSG SUCKS … [but maybe can salvage some good will before July 1?].
4 3
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May 24, 2021 2:09pm
Jethrod

Joe Williams for GG
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May 24, 2021 2:50pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/christchurch-noisy-neighbour-dispute-ended-with-tristan-locke-accused-of-murder/EN3EXSBXUTBEVZ5ACL6HXOQYPA/

Councils are terrible at managing noise complaints, they rarely enforce their own rules…. 21 noise complaints against him (and probably many more unofficial) and this guy still has a stereo?
5 0
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May 24, 2021 2:54pm
Tony Stuart

From QandA:

Finance Minister
@grantrobertson1
continues to warn New Zealanders who have taken on debt that there’s a possibility interest rates could rise. #NZQandA #nzpol

https://twitter.com/NZQandA/status/1396337595840274433

I wonder if Robertson has mentioned this to his mate, Grant Robertson, the Finance Minister of New Zealand. You see, that Grant Robertson is still borrowing about $100,000,000 every day, and if interest rates increase, we’re all going to be in deep schtuck.
11 1
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May 24, 2021 3:05pm
Jethrod

Dame Cindy Kiroe
0 0
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May 24, 2021 3:06pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Kiro without the e.
  
  3 0
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  May 24, 2021 4:18pm
Maggie Pie

Did you hear where Angry Andy has claimed back on the taxpayer an amount of $6.50c for charging his EV?

As my partners mum just said… “What a cheap prick”
13 1
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May 24, 2021 3:31pm
- sooty
  
  Mutiplied by seven days a week?
  Is he rorting it?
  
  1 0
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  May 24, 2021 8:38pm
surfing

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/wellington-councillors-shocked-at-mayor-foste1rs-16percent-rates-rise-proposal/ar-AAKj17z?li=BBqdg4K

Would Wellingtonites prefer Tauranga rate rises? 20% increases for the next 10 years is being considered. On top of my capital gains, I could be looking at 30-60% increase this year alone.

Wellingtonians should be grateful!
0 0
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May 24, 2021 3:35pm
- Inandout
  
  surfing, it is the old story, you get the council some bothered to vote for. The left always packs council voting systems and the others are either too disinterested or too lazy.
  
  1 1
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  May 24, 2021 4:11pm
Captain Mainwaring

So there’s been another arson in a West Auckland supermarket.
There really are some special people out there aren’t there?
6 0
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May 24, 2021 4:15pm
- sooty
  
  Cover for a bit of five finger discount?
  
  0 0
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  May 24, 2021 6:44pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Now there’s been a stabbing on a bus in Henderson.
  What the fuck is wrong with West Aucklanders?
  
  2 0
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  May 24, 2021 8:53pm
Cobolt24

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300307254/mori-have-colonisers-to-blame-for-concept-of-individual-debt
Funny how this says “Debt is a colonial construct” but, the concept of debt dates back thousands of years.
4 1
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May 24, 2021 5:15pm
Maggie Pie

BREAKING….

Man stabbed on BUS in Auckland!

My partner’s not home yet….but I’m not worried.
7 1
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May 24, 2021 5:33pm
- Fidel Cashflow
  
  I hope he was wearing a mask for his own safety.
  
  4 0
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  May 24, 2021 5:36pm
  - sooty
    
    He takes the “”Bus!””
    
    3 0
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    May 24, 2021 6:42pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/125225093/hutt-city-council-moves-ahead-on-21m-petone-wharf-repair-despite-budget-blow-out-worries
Looks like someone on the council is getting some sort of “incentive”.
2 0
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May 24, 2021 6:12pm
[email protected]

Before his death Stephen Hawking predicted that Artificial Intelligence, genetically engineered viruses and extra terrestrial beings amongst other dangers could potentially cause the end of life on earth.

Soon the USA will release a large amount of information about UFOs that the US government has collected. They have kept this potential threat a secret for a long time despite its importance.

How long before governments release what they really know about the Covid19 virus?
0 0
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May 24, 2021 6:33pm
chukar

Cobalt.
Really it is about personal responsibility!
0 0
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May 24, 2021 7:00pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Facebook link may not work, or may be moderated ….
https://fb.watch/5H2xk9aTb1/
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May 24, 2021 7:08pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Coming back and you just fucking know it.
  Arizona is just the beginning.
  Trump 757 is Jet is just the beginning.
  
  1 4
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  May 24, 2021 7:13pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    New paint job on the 757, what will it be?????
    
    1 4
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    May 24, 2021 7:14pm

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