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June 4, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 04 June 2021

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General Debate

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Happychappy

If John Key or Bill English was leading the Government through this pandemic and had made such a mess of our vaccine target after all the bullshit of duping the country into believing we would be one of the first in the queue to receive vaccines the noise would be deafining so really it is good to see we have one Journalist in New Zealand that is prepared to tell and share the truth, stand up Michael Morrah as it’s a sad day in our history when those that have the power to share what’s right turn their back on NZ’s and let this Government lie their arse off with no consequences.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/06/duncan-garner-government-s-latest-struggle-with-truth-exposed.html
Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins and Ashley Bloomfield are the head echelon of this Pandemic and Government so if they can’t tell the truth and give those waiting for a vaccine security who else can. Maybe a new slogan is needed like we went hard and fast but our incompetence let us down.
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June 4, 2021 8:00am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  From Morrah’s article:
  
  “The minister says from next week, a more detailed breakdown showing vaccination progress in the various high-risk groups will start to be provided.”
  
  So the biometricians in MoH & the DPMC need a week to massage the existing data and projections into an acceptable PR format?
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:44am
  - Maxx
    
    Spoke to my GP yesterday to understand whats happening (turns out I have 3 ticks to put me in group 3). The list has been sent to the DHB’s and from there it’s out of his hands. Apparently he’s tried following up for other patients and has been rebuked for doing so. His best guess is sometime in the next 3 months. That the DHB’s can’t even communicate back to the GP’s timeframes is not good enough. It’s a black hole of transparency.
    
    STOP FUCKING LYING LABOUR. STOP PUTTING FORWARD YOUR MOST OPTIMISTIC ESTIMATE THAT BEARS NO SEMBLANCE TO REALITY.
    
    Sorry, a little worked up over this crap. It’s the same lies that we had last year when GP’s were saying they didn’t have PPE with Ardern & Co. denying it on a daily basis. I just don’t understand how 50%+ of the population are still happy with this crap.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:49am
    - pdm
      
      mrspdm and I had our first Covid jabs yesterday. Appointment was made on Friday of last week with the Nurse at our GP’s practice.
      
      Obviously there is no NZ wide system – what happens varies from district to district.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:46am
    - Prince
      
      Because apart from a very few journalists, the media does not choose to tell us.
      Bloomfield was appalling on Morning Report this morning, fudging the numbers and muttering something about ‘some people have had the jab but not been recorded’. Ferguson dropped this subject quickly.
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:07am
    - Bob
      
      50% aren’t still happy; the Polling figures are down in the low 40’s, that’s why there are so many virtue signalling announcements about roading, bridges and WALKWAYS..a total waste of money; look at the empty cysle/walkways we have now. Millions that could have been spent on getting the inoculations into the country.
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:42am
      - chukar
        
        “ look at the empty cycleways/ walkways we have now “
        You are 100% right.
        The likely number of people on the much vaunted SI whale trail could be accommodated by one or two mini vans a day.
        It is easy when it is someone else’s money!
        
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        June 4, 2021 1:03pm
    - Keith White
      
      Because, Maxx, she saved 5 million, doesn’t do mean tweets, and is reversing 150 years of colonization.
      
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      June 4, 2021 3:32pm
    - JohnStanton
      
      Change your fucking GP. I got a manage my health email about a month ago from my GP telling me that I was eligible, that the jab was available and how to make the appointment. It is now all done and I am getting vaccinated, one jab to go.
      So change your fucking GP, get a bit proactive, and get the jab done. We cannot get immunity until you others like you do this
      
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      June 4, 2021 5:24pm
      - Michael Duke
        
        How does that work in Regional NZ where a lot of GP’s are not accepting new patients and appointments for non-urgent stuff are 6 weeks wait.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:36pm
- rouppe
  
  Didn’t Colonel Custer go hard and early?
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:51am
  - fisho
    
    That was Ron Jeremy. Similar facial hair.
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:18pm
- Thought Criminal
  
  If Key and English were leading us though the pandemic the press would also be doing their job and holding the government to account.
  
  53 million buys a lot of bias.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:53am
  - Bob
    
    105 million Thought Criminal, and still counting.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:43am
    - Keith White
      
      I think it must be at least double that by now with all the advertising they paid for with our tax dollars…
      
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      June 4, 2021 3:33pm
peterwn

Man appealed to High Court to be discharged without conviction after pleading guilty to road rage assault (admittedly it was only a punch that did not injure and he was lucky that bystanders intervened). It was his THIRD assault – he got diversion for the first one, discharge without conviction for the second one and now discharge without conviction for this one. So assault (without injuries etc) is now a trivial matter and offenders are unlikely to face the maximum 6 months jail or a $4k fine.
Compare with this woman left wing MP gloating on TV last night that ‘hate speech’ offenders are going to face 3 years jail or $50k fine. And presumably all hell would break loose if a judge discharged without conviction someone accused of the rather nebulous crime of ‘hate speech’.
Now, honestly, which is more serious – physical violence or the utterance of a few words that hurts someone’s feelings.
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June 4, 2021 8:01am
- Tony Stuart
  
  If you wanted a glimpse of the future, go to the Parliament website, and watch the Labour MP’s speeches on the First Reading of the Intelligence and Security (Review) Amendment Bill, which did nothing more than change a date.
  
  If I have a spare hour over the weekend, I will watch them all, and count the number of times the phrase “right-wing extremism” was trotted out.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:18am
  - jon
    
    I m more concerned about the left-wing extremists who sit in our Parliament as MPs than i am about any right-wing extremists!!
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hurting someone’s feelings is offensive //
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:29am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Many offend themselves as without offence they have nothing to fight for so feel bereft.
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:53am
  - oldfella
    
    Steve, but… but… someone is always hurting someone’s feelings on KB. Do we need to be kinder on this site? 😉
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:41am
  - EvoDriver
    
    Whether that’s true or not, merely being offensive should not be a crime.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:56am
    - sooty
      
      Only to some people.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:15am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Steve Hughes on being offended @ about 3.30.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMoDt3nSHs
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:16am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    “It’s now very common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that.’ As if that gives them certain rights. It’s actually nothing more… than a whine. ‘I find that offensive.’ It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. ‘I am offended by that.’ Well, so fucking what.” – Stephen Fry
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:19am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      See Steve Hughes above. Nothing happens when you are offended
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:15am
- Maxx
  
  It seems what the hate speech proponents are wanting is for us to punch them in the face instead of discussing a topic that might hurt there feelings. Sounds fair I guess.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:53am
Benedict Yu

So I’m in Tasmania right now. So great to get away. I can report that it is a moderately stressful experience at the airports in Australia.

I had heard that going back to New Zealand you need to complete a travel declaration. It is difficult to find. Of course they could not resist. The authorities in New Zealand have called it the “Nau Mai Rā web form”.

https://naumaira.covid19.govt.nz/#/

I find it totally arrogant. In what is already a stressful process, it is not a time to be cute with all the forms you need to fill in. There should be ONE portal with SEPARATE sections in English and te reo Maori. Hint: Canada does this with French and English languages..

Anyway now I am here I am visiting my adult son and his Australian wife who moved to Tasmania 3 years ago. I have a beautiful granddaughter who is 2 years old who I have not seen for 18 months. Suddenly New Zealand issues seem far away. ?
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June 4, 2021 8:03am
- graham
  
  I’d be tempted to take them up on their offer to “email your feedback about the web form to [email protected]“
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:37am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    Great idea I have just asked in my native ancestors tongue.
    What language is this and can I fill in the form in my native tongue.
    ᑭᓲᕙ ᐅᖃᐅᓯᖅ
    ᑕᑕᑎᕆᔪᓐᓇᖅᑐᖓ ᐅᖃᐅᓯᕋ ᐊᑐᕐᓗᒍ
    
    Can’t wait for a reply.
    
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    June 4, 2021 12:06pm
    - Dr John
      
      Would that be Inuit syllabics?
      
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      June 4, 2021 8:54pm
- wreck1080
  
  I have always believed that we should have dual signage and documents. One in English, one in Maori.
  
  This pidgin shit is untenable and causes so much confusion.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:57am
yossarian

Poor Ashley is going to need a Jacinda hug after that interview with Hoskings.

How much are we paying him?
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June 4, 2021 8:04am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Hosking!
  Pay attention.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:16am
  - yossarian
    
    My bad. Speiling was never my greatest subject
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:20am
    - lilman
      
      Yawn,spelling and speech.
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:07am
- Benedict Yu
  
  It is Hosking. How hard is it to get a name right?
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:17am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    John Keys. Quite difficult apparently.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:21am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Ask John Keys, whoever he is.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:31am
  - Muttonbird
    
    Triggered!
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:39am
mikenmildagain

Happy International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression!
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June 4, 2021 8:05am
- snowy
  
  Very relevant to aoteroa
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:29am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Absolutely! Onya mike
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:53am
  - Mike
    
    Well, I hope no children are reading Kiwiblog
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:06am
- Simon
  
  An Associated Press investigation has documented more than 200 allegations of sexual abuse, exploitation and other prohibited conduct by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti.
  
  More than 100 UN peacekeepers ran a child sex ring in Haiti. None were ever jailed
  
  https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/04/12/un-peacekeepers-child-sex-ring-left-victims-but-no-arrests.html
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:48am
- Inandout
  
  m&m, I hope creepy Joe takes note around comments aimed at children.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:52am
  - Batman
    
    Your obsession with this lie is definitely very weird.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:42am
- Fletch
  
  I think it’s International Donut Day, no? Krispy Kreme are giving away 10,000 donuts here in NZ (don’t tell Maggie)
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:20am
amospicton

Is it just me or does taking 150 refugees from Australia feel like a virtue signalling luxury we simply can’t afford?
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June 4, 2021 8:07am
- nathie
  
  If it happens, the number should be reduced from 150 to 149, and Golriz Ghahraman should be sent to Manus Island to tell asylum seeker #150 in person to their face that they are missing out because she personally arranged for her BFF Behrouz Boochani to jump the queue.
  
  (If Labour had the smarts they should do this to get one over the Greens and put them in their place so they don’t try a similar stunt in the future … but of course they won’t)!
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:21am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Do they vote Labour? If so, it is OK
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:32am
- Nickc2
  
  These are NOT refugees! They are Illegal Immigrants who were apprehended by Australia’s Border Force on their way to seek riches in Aust.
  We should not be accepting them under any circumstances. To do so is two-fold IMO. One, to rub Australia’s nose in the cesspit known as Political Ideology and two, Virtue Signalling and thus World Acclaim on the part of our PM.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:02am
  - Mike
    
    How did you manage to go through all 150 cases to determine whether they were migrants or refugees?
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:08am
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      The same threshold applies to all of them. A refugee is only such when they reach the first “safe” country after leaving their own. If they leave that country, they are not refugees any longer.
      
      They are in Australia. They have come from elsewhere. At best, they are refugees in Oz. Once they come here, they are immigrants.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:51am
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      FACT: The people intercepted and detained by the Aussies were employing people smugglers, then they were not in a UN programme or a proper queue.
      This is why they were not accepted, and processed where they were. The dregs that have not been accepted by the Aussies should be left there, or sent home.
      People who pay people smugglers and bypass intermediate safe countries have cash resources, and are shopping for their preferred nation.
      Yes Mike, these are not refugees.
      This is why there never was and still isnt clear public support for this, and Labour has done this on the sly (and they seem oddly persistent with wanting these queue jumpers).
      They are economic migrants who have travelled a long way via indirect means, we might call them queue jumpers if we want to be charitable.
      
      We need migrant workers for hospitality and horticulture, international students, even NZ residents, well before we brings in economic migrants.
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:00am
      - Fidel Cashflow
        
        We don’t even need the latter. We have plenty of unemployed New Zealanders.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:22am
      - Fuzzysnuggleduck
        
        Sady Fidel, this is true. But it is also true the NZers dont want those jobs/perhaps any job, and so fruit rots on the ground.
        Better to have temporary workers here, and allow business to continue – cash goes to the islands, they pay into the economy while here, and we have fresh fruit at a better price domestically.
        Perhaps if the unemployment benefit wasn’t open ended, and looking sweeter as time goes on, then NZers might trouble themselves to do that work.
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:57pm
    - rouppe
      
      These ones have either been assessed as not refugees or they have rejected settlement in other places.
      
      They are the worst of the worst people on a par with the 501’s and only slightly better than taking in someone like Mugabe
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:06pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Simple, the Aust Authorities did it for me. It may interest you to know that they have all had access to Aust Courts as well. Here, I rest my case.
      AFIK, all of them were offered free passage home with a fist full of Aussie Dollars but not many of them took it up because they all ditched their papers before they were taken into custody by Aust Border Force. As a refugee, one is required to seek asylum in the first country they arrive at/in after departure from their homeland. These people came via Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. They all stayed in these countries until they could arrange and pay for on-passage via leaky fishing boats to Aust where they were apprehended if inside Aust Territorial waters. Those found outside Aust Territorial Waters were turned around and pointed in the direction of intermediate countries from whence they came.
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:16pm
- Jack5
  
  Australia says that if New Zealand takes them these border crashers can never enter Australia.
  
  The Ardernists say, but they will gain full NZ citizenship, and this implies they will have right to enter Australia.
  
  The logical outcome of this stand-off between Australia and the Ardern socialists is that Australia will close the back door. That is they will end New Zealanders’ privilege of being able to enter Australia visa-free.
  
  Also, in the middle of a housing bubble and the country’s greatest housing crisis, it would be rational to pause intake of refugees.
  
  Not only do they create pressure on housing, but here’s another example of using our resources. We have Canterbury University hosting would-be border crasher Behrouz Boochani as an adjunct fellow. He’s a “Ursula Bethell writer in residence”, and is writing fiction in his dialect of Kurdish.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:43am
TWEEDSE

Have I got a bridge to sell you. It will be paid for by motorists but they can’t use it. Because motorists need to be punished.//

Only upside is it is an announcement. Let’s face it, it will never be built.
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June 4, 2021 8:09am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Let’s hope you’re right. But this Government is capable of only delivering the most useless things.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:17am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Unfair Captain! They are absolute experts in making announcements!
    
    Likewise the Otaki to North of Levin expressway which Robertson is set to announce today. I’ll believe that when I get to drive on it!
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:20am
    - Bob
      
      With the present rash of virtue signalling announcements, I can only assume that their political polling is well down into the low forties
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:57am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Like a Covid free country with an economy in better shape than Aussie’s Captain?
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:04am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      What utter crap.
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:08am
      - Simon
        
        “Covid free country”
        
        Lol- NZ is wracked with fear and superstition over the Ro. Many cant stop sipping the Covid Cult kool aid. Polar opposite of being covid free.
        
        Just not operating in reality. Sad.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:21am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        So you say Captain but both are true much to moaning dismay.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:44am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I think Aussie’s economy is on the up and up.
      
      Covid: Australia economy climbs back to pre-pandemic size
      https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57326054
      
      Ours is getting further into debt.
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:45am
      - rangitoto
        
        Yep, they are full steam ahead digging coal and iron ore and pumping oil and gas.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:26am
      - Jack5
        
        Australia: 30th in the world in GDP per capita.
        New Zealand: 40th in the world in GDP per capita.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:57am
      - Nickc2
        
        rangitoto @1126AM
        Yes, Aust. is receiving record prices for their Coal yet whilst we have plenty, we importing the stuff due to Green/Labour ideology. Who are the suckers then?
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:05pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      FFS. I am in Australia now. Just like last time I was here it is a visibly richer country than New Zealand. And there are no people screeching about the Treaty and inequality and racism all day. There are a few thousand planning and building new LNG terminals. Now tell me again that “New Zealand is doing better”. Have you spent any time travelling around Australia, talking to Australians? You are making fool of self.
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:48pm
    - Frank the tank
      
      Must have been all the extra cans you collected during the year. Grunter will be pleased with you
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:51pm
  - namron
    
    The Govt’s introduction of its “He puapua” programme has had me check the online Maori dictionary to see what the meaning of “he puapua” actually is. There are 7 choices!
    1] wreath 2] a break – of waves 3] vulva
    4] pistil, carpel 5] shield 6] petal 7] clematis
    Shows that care is needed when maori-ising every possible English word as this Govt is obsessed with doing.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:30am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I wonder if the authors of “He puapua” were taking the piss… knowing full well that puapua refers to female reproductive parts – plants and humans.
      
      A new version of The Vagina Monologues
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:04pm
      - rouppe
        
        Well the authors and those that commissioned them are a bunch of … [deleted. mod.]
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:11pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        He puapua means a break. This isn’t tough – it’s on the first page of the document.
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:37pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        Alternatively it was a tactic admission by the authors that they’re really a bunch of c— I’ll stop there so I don’t get (rightly) modded into oblivion.
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:52pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        *tacit admission!
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:52pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Minister Woods is in charge, so nothing will happen – at all.
  Unless this is a machiavellian plot to make an announcement about something expensive and then later downscale to something else more managable. Whatever happens it will upset most people who will see that this government has no sense of fiscal responsiblity at all.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:22am
  - Frank the tank
    
    It’s minister Wood I believe not Woods. I’m surprised you got the 2 mixed up. Wood is the one that looks like a ventriloquist dummy and could quite comfortably sit on Woods’ lap given his relative size to her.
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:29am
    - alex Masterley
      
      My mistake, I was thinking of “pies” for some reason when i was typng my comment.
      Having said that both make alot of noise but deliver nothing.
      
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      June 4, 2021 8:50am
  - Jimbo666
    
    As is happening with the Dunedin Hospital new building. After “9 years of neglect” Clark announced a new super hospital, to be built on reclaimed land, which will be subject to sea level raising sometime in the next 300 years and construction of which would be started in 2020. For timeout he then went for a walk at the beach, much like Lange’s stopping for a cuppa. He was sacked and the grandiose plans haven’t been released although there are reports that it has been scaled back dramatically to a medium sized hospital.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:00am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  It will be as successful as that silly Hui train
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:33am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, if built, its novelty will soon wear off and the screaming loonies (Greens) will be demanding something else. Another Education Center perhaps?
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:16am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      11 years ago it was $16M. 2021 it is $685M. In 5 years it will be over $2B, and still nothing done
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:17am
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes Steve, I believe it’s aspirational, not inspirational. As they say in the Westerns, “all bull and shit”.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:49am
- cmm
  
  “Let’s face it, it will never be built.”
  
  From a luvvie’s point of view, those are the best projects.
  
  All the best troughing is still to be had. All the consulting fees etc will cost us tens of millions of dollars just to make all the cute pictures, do surveys, ask the taniwha what it thinks etc etc.
  
  Min Transport city planner types get to make Power points and have meetings with consultants. Maybe even get to put on a high viz and a hard hat for an hour site visit!
  
  Huge buzz created in the support base, Cindy is awesome.
  
  Nothing actually has to be achieved.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:52am
  - RiP NZ
    
    JAGs husband will be in like Flynn
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:20am
- Nickc2
  
  Another win to Law-Breakers?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:05am
- RockyJ
  
  $685 million + for a new harbour bridge for Auckland. Just for cyclists and pedestrians. Cyclists should be ashamed of themselves. Spoiled brats.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:12am
  - Maxx
    
    I can’t tell if Labour are looking to loose support in Auckland, the rest of country, or both!
    
    Wood also stated that with the bridge being 5 years away that he’d like options for a walking/cycling lane on the bridge now, closing down a lane. Does he realise that their is not the capacity now for the volume of traffic? The only way this could work is a weekend arrangement, but even then you can still face delays.
    
    And how many other essential roading infrastructure projects are still in jeopardy around the country, but they have managed to fund this $800m+ reckless monument to cyclists, who are to be rewarded for breaking through police barriers with a commitment to a temporary solution despite it previously being rejected. Break the law (in the name of advocacy or in a gang) and get what you want – what a woke joke this country has become.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:06am
  - Fletch
    
    When you add $100 million for “land selection” is $785 million….
    
    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-commits-785m-standalone-cycleway-bridge-across-waitemat-harbour
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:27am
- JackRabbit
  
  $165 Million for a luxury cycle / walkway over Auckland Harbour.
  
  Meanwhile the Ashburton bridge which connects the South Island for farming, industry and food, can’t get $30 Million for a second bridge.
  
  The main bridge is damaged, and the weakening will have impacted its stability long term. It is 90 years old, and will become unusable and will have major impact. I’m predicting in the coming year, that long term damage will be found with that bridge. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Anyone who worked in the CTV building after the Sept 2010 earthquake or other buildings the subsequently fell, will tell you the stupidity of a “she’ll be right attitude.”
  
  We all saw what happened when the Rangitata bridge was closed due to flooding in 2019.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/118042531/rangitata-river-flooding-hopes-that-arundel-bridge-will-reopen-today
  
  Getting a second bridge over the Ashburton will be necessary to give an alternative route, and absolutely necessary while the old bridge is replaced. I would have thought that a vital transport link for keeping people fed, and people going to work was far more important than the luxury of lycra indulgences.
  
  $30 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the daily $300 million printing and squandering of money. It pales into insignificance beside the $926 Million assigned to the Deputy Prime Ministers office for managing the “implementation” of projects that are the responsibility of the PM, who is not capable of managing. Why pay the PM $500,000 a year and then another $926 million to do what she was paid $500,000 a year for? What is the point of buying a dog if you have to bark at strangers yourself?
  
  $926 Million for “Implementation” but no money for actually “Doing”.
  
  With that sort of money, you could “Do” a lot for the NZ transport infrastructure, including bridges in the South Island.
  
  This and many other events tell me that Jacinda doesn’t give a monkey’s derriere about the South Island.
  
  She hates farmers, and hates industry, so why bother about farmers when you can “get all the food you need from supermarkets” /sarc, or artificial meat from Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, made under contract in China. Filled with all sorts of ~~nutrients~~ mass medications to mellow out the population and stop hate speech.
  
  If the South Island SH1 link is cut in half, the impact will be huge. You can eat bread and meat, you can’t eat lycra or cycle lanes.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:16am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Typo Amendment: $865 million.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:09am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      $685M*
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:20am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        That number is now changing by the hour
        
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        June 4, 2021 1:56pm
  - nathie
    
    Well said, what a beauty of a comment!
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:18am
  - Bob
    
    105 million Thought Criminal, and still counting.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:49am
  - Bob
    
    The princess knows that she has secured the votes of the country ladies in the Sth Island, so now doesn’t have to do anything for them; much as is the case for Sth and West Auck, Rotorua and similar electorates.
    Mill Rd upgrade in Auck is expendable because the electorates refuse to vote 51% party Vote for Communism.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:52am
- Nick R
  
  Kiwibridge! I wonder if it will connect to the light rail network?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:17am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Nick, don’t laugh. LRT is happening. Currently, people from NZTA and AT (none of whom have experience of LRT projects) are working furiously on Michael Wood’s report to justify that the LRT project should happen.
    
    This given that:
    1. They don’t have a single passenger demand survey to justify it;
    2. They do not have a clue what it will do to the inner Aucklabd fare charging zones (aka eg Melbourne);
    3. They don’t have a route;
    4 They don’t have a clue about cost;
    5 They don’t have a clue about design or what is required;
    6 They have no idea where the electricity will come from;
    7. They have no land for stabling, maintenance or control of the network…
    
    etc, etc, etc…….it is a clown fest, of boys who want expensive toys, with no idea of what to do with it once delivered.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:46am
- amospicton
  
  Another fanciful luxury. $800m which is $160 per head of population. Let’s be generous and say that 5% of the population will use it. That’s $3,200 each. Two questions – is a gift of $3,200 to some of the wealthiest NZers from the others justifiable? And would that 5% pay the $3,200 cost each for the pleasure of crossing a steep, windy bridge once in a while?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:27am
- hullkiwi
  
  Tweedse,
  
  As someone who grew up on the North Shore, and whose family has links with the Shore for over a 100 years.
  
  This vulgar waste of the New Zealand public’s money (because even people in Bluff, Ashburton, Twizel, Ohau and the like) will pay for this vanity project.
  
  Last Sunday, a 1,000 or so people protested at Pt Erin led by an American couple (who now no longer even live in Auckland) about access across the Bridge.
  
  The often used refrain is that this should have been done when the Bridge was built. If, these people knew anything about Auckland or NZ (they don’t because they weren’t even born in this country). In the 1950’s when the Bridge was built, the North Shore (nor for that matter Auckland) was nothing like it is today, so building footpaths and cycle paths would have been a complete waste of money.
  
  But what gets me, is that clowns like Wood (and his advisor friends, many of whom are not even paid transport bureaucrats or specialists in the transport sector) are advising on spending $billions of taxpayer money on wasteful projects like CRL, LRT and now a stupid footpath that will all have to be written off in time (because they will never pay for themselves).
  
  This is veinity and stupity before public need!!!
  
  Like the failed service provided (in 1980-81) by the old Harbour Bridge Authority, any footpath bridge will be an expensive and under used white elephant, which only a few will use, and those responsible will hide their involvement from.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:30am
  - doggone7
    
    Indeed in the 1950’s Auckland and North Shore were nothing like they are today. And some people said that rapid rail around the region was a waste of money and time. How did that work out?
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:06pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      And rapid rail would still be a waste of money. What Auckland has is electric metro styled trains.
      
      Hardly rapid rail, when you can get from the CBD to Henderson quicker by car than train.
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:05pm
- Bob
  
  It will be contracted and signed off with very expensive cancellation clauses, all inserted by this government.
  Remember Adern’s nearly first words after the 2020 election.. we intend to legislate such that a future government cannot change our changes…. or words to that effect.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:55am
  - JackRabbit
    
    “… we intend to legislate such that a future government cannot change our changes…. or words to that effect.”
    
    Translated: “We will put in place a dictatorship that cannot be challenged. We are the Communist Borg. You will be assimilated, mass medicated and enslaved. Resistance is futile.”
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:13am
- KiwiSapper
  
  Am I the only befuddled pondering how many pedestrians will walk across this cyclist / pedestrian white elephant?
  Walkers to the city will have an even longer walk when they reach city side before they encounter any “shops” to enter. Walkers going in the opposite direction will have only a city suburb with no interest and no services to go elsewhere.
  I suspose that the council could waste more ratepayer’s money by having underused bus services at both ends.
  IMHO, it seems the “government” has immediately caved in to the demands of the MAMILS, (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) following their illegal occupation of two lanes of the existing bridge .As these MAMILS will be the only user’s let them pay for it and I suspect it will get as much use as many of the existing and empty cycle lanes already created around the city by stealing road space from the motorists.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:14am
- Lance
  
  So Labour just announced that South Auckland is to be fucked over (cancelling Mill Road) in favour of CBD and environs cyclists…. you can’t make this shit up.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:39am
  - hullkiwi
    
    …and a train spur to Northport!
    
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    June 4, 2021 2:05pm
- lemuzz
  
  $785 Million Phew. I hope Aucklanders dont mind having that cost tacked on their rates bill.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:43am
- edhunter
  
  $685,000,000 FFS. If they placed a toll on it like they did when we built the original bridge lets say $2.00 each way for 30yrs means there would have to be 31,250 separate trips per day. And that just recovers cost no maintenance or collecting fees taken into account.
  I just shake my head.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:59am
jacob

Reserve bank replaces logo with dick pic

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/125332396/reserve-bank-spends-100000-on-rebrand
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June 4, 2021 8:11am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “These include its Nga Pūtake (roots) or governing legislation, Te Tariwai (vascular), which represents the Reserve Bank’s payment and settlement systems, Te Toto (sap) which “speaks to the flow of money”, and Te Pekenga (branches and leaves), representing the system’s regulated entities, such as banks.”..
  
  Good grief. A colleague is a consultant who also runs a small vineyard in Otago. He worked in the Treasury 20 years ago. He has a couple of mates who are still there. We had a beer last week. He says that it lost most of its top economists who fled from the wellbeing and Maori values invasion. I predict the same outcome for the reserve bank.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:24am
  - Simon
    
    On their bull shit logo they missed out a picture of a Grant Roberstson sort of parasite sucking all the Te Toto out while the Te Pekenga slowly dies.
    
    They also lose points because the logo is white.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:15am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    Same thing happened when Chavez nationalized the oil industry in Venezuela in the mid 90’s, all the oil tech staff fled to sunny salaries in other parts of the world. I reckon this is happening in NZ right now so we are on the slide downhill with our smartest and best heading over the ditch. Scomo knows exactly how he’s going to power up the Australian economy!??
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:09am
  - Bloody Dago
    
    The “Minglish” is word perfect, excellent BY??
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:24pm
- Aliog
  
  The rebranding seems an excessive waste of money when the country is in so much debt, but you must have a very twisted mind, jacob, if you see that as a dick pick!
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:27am
- kowtow
  
  All part of New Zealand’s descent into third world status.
  
  New Zealand was proudly secular .
  
  Aotearoa is proudly animist.
  
  I know the Teddy Bear Cultists voted for safety but I’m not so sure they voted for this. But they will live to regret it .
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:31am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Sadly, no they will not. Because sadly, many of those who did vote for it are in the older age group and will not be around in 10 to 20 years to see the consequences….sadly reality will bite!
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:11am
- KevO'Brien
  
  PR dog faeces more like.
  When this commie gobblement has finished remaking NZ fit for taniwha what will it be fit for?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:02am
- Akarak
  
  Looks like a pair of hands shuffling cards.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:11am
- mandk
  
  Why on earth does the Reserve Bank need a brand?
  
  Does it need to attract customers or compete with other Reserve Banks in New Zealand?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:28am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    [deleted for unnecessary homophobia. Grow up. – Mod]
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:58am
    - Fidel Cashflow
      
      [duly noted – Mod]
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:19am
    - Keith White
      
      Please define necessary homophobia for guidance.
      
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      June 4, 2021 3:39pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Now, that’s the type of amusing pedantry we need more of.
        
        1 3
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        June 4, 2021 4:42pm
      - Fidel Cashflow
        
        I asked Keith, but the reply was simply “duly noted.” I guess it’s another “we’ll know it when we see it” definition.
        
        [An acceptable amount is none. The blog rule is that we don’t litigate – Mod]
        
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        June 4, 2021 4:54pm
- oldfella
  
  [Adrian] Orr said the rebrand went beyond the logo.
  “Our updated brand emphasises smart, simple and real language and imagery to reflect the diversity of the people we’re here for,” he said.
  
  Diversity? Really? Where’s the LGBTQXYZ flag?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:49am
- KiwiSapper
  
  Ignoring for the moment the comparison, I am amused to note that the made up Maori words for “The Reserve Bank of New Zealand” do not include that rampant and trite example of woke’ism, “Aotea- wotsit” currently being thrust down our throats as the REAL name for New Zealand.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:56am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Oh dear, now I can’t unsee that.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:08am
Luke Piewalker

Jacinda Ardern you are a truly appalling PrimeMinister.
You are wrecking this beautiful country.

When you are finally booted out – you will have spent all of the money and there will be nothing to show for it, we will have more gang members than police and nothing will have been built. Nothing.

No amount of frowny faces can hide the fact that you are the worst PrimeMinister in NZ history.
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June 4, 2021 8:13am
- Frank the tank
  
  Cmon FakeNewHub reported last night how good financial managers Grunter and the Blairite are.
  
  Do you not believe our trusted 4th estate??
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:31am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Great managers for $105M bribes.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:05am
    - Frank the tank
      
      The irony shouldn’t escape you that they would have done it for free
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:56am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You are far too kind
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:35am
- Yabster
  
  appalling, weak, deluded,communist, liar, cannot debate policy-but can refute anything, cunning, two faced, incompetent- just a few words that come to mind for Cindy and the feckless mob.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:13am
Captain Mainwaring

Three cops in Hawera acquitted. What an excellent outcome.
But why did they have to waste two years of their lives?
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June 4, 2021 8:14am
- alex Masterley
  
  I think the advise that the crown solicitor gave should be carefully looked at and the Taranaki Warrant for Crown Solicitor should be reallocated, if not for the simple reason that having prosecuted some country officers in the region, the crown solicitor will never be trusted by rank and file again.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:19am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Agree wholeheartedly Alex. The photos on Stuff last night of the three officers, one of whom is female, show three people who have suffered hugely for two years. They all carry massive remorse, but it was the system that let them down, in particular the adequacy of their training. Ultimately, that’s a matter for Police National Headquarters, and for the Minister at the time, Stuart Nash.
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300324126/taranaki-officers-overcome-with-emotion-following-acquittal-on-manslaughter-charges
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:24am
    - nathie
      
      This is one deserving situation where compensation should be offered to the three Police Officers, for the mental health toll this trial has taken on them.
      
      Where’s Cindy and her kindness when it comes to mental health issues? Missing in action, again?
      
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      June 4, 2021 8:35am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        I note that the Stuff story reports the Police Association boss as saying it is “not known” if the three officers will return to duty. And that is a travesty.
        
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        June 4, 2021 8:44am
      - Akarak
        
        She’s to busy trying to build a bridge!
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:13am
      - oldfella
        
        Nathie, guess those officers won’t be getting a hug from Cindy any time soon.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:52am
    - alex Masterley
      
      I should add that the death of the bloke who was in custody was a tragedy in itself. I have no doubt the three officers are acutely aware of that. That does not excuse the bone headed decision to prosecute.
      
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      June 4, 2021 8:58am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        I agree about the tragedy alex, but the decision to prosecute would have been well considered on all the facts, including those we don’t know.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:46am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      So you’d leave an unresponsive man lying on concrete for hours without ringing an ambulance even when electronically prompted to do so Tony? Be a major decision for you to ensure he was not in danger?
      
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      June 4, 2021 8:58am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Don’t you think the 2 men and woman might want to decide their own futures Tony?
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:15am
      - Yabster
        
        he was drunk as a skunk- he could have passed out in a bush somewhere and died- he was put in recovery and left to it-what did you do to your victims- no point putting them in the recovery postion now was there- bet you never rang an ambulance- in my opinion you shld not get to have an opinion on anything.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:19am
      - RiP NZ
        
        I’m sure a man of great moral standing such as yourself Brian – would have leapt into action.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:24am
      - doggone7
        
        An unresponsive man lying on concrete for hours without ringing an ambulance and three police officers in hell for a couple of years?
        
        If it were your father or brother on the floor? Empathy is turned on merely for political purposes, the misery of the the cops becomes political fodder.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:44am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        That’s a decision that only those present at the time could make Brian. The officers thought the man was drunk; they weren’t to know he had also taken a lethal dose of drugs.
        
        It’s easy to be wise after the event.
        
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        June 4, 2021 9:58am
      - Pharmachick
        
        This is why Im a proponent of naloxone. Would have prevented this death (alcohol/opioid interaction) and prevents opioid O/D (not meth though), but naloxone has almost zero effects of its own, so they could have been taught (as they do here in Canada) to give him an IM dose “just in case”. Saves lives every day up here, esp. with our opioid crisis.
        
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        June 4, 2021 1:42pm
  - peterwn
    
    There is a Crown Solicitors handbook produced (presumably) by the Solicitor General. As far as I remember it allows prosecutions to proceed where the case is weak but there is a strong ‘perceived’ public interest. Perhaps the rationale is that confidence in the Police would be better maintained if such cases are put to trial despite weak evidence. It is likely that the local Crown Solicitor would have consulted with the Solicitor-General’s office on this.
    Compare with a British case some years ago. London was on edge because of terrorist attacks. Police shot and killed an innocent man because he appeared to have a weapon (it was an innocuous item wrapped in brown paper. Another police force investigated it and passed the file to Crown Prosecution Service who considered there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and passed the file back for further investigation, and even after further investigations the CPS still considered there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution, and this caused significant public dissatisfaction. Just thing how it would have been easier to let the case go to court effectively making the two police officers sacrificial goats on the altar of public opinion.
    So I think the three Hawera Police officers should not have been charged, but I can quite see why the Police chiefs and Crown Law decided to proceed.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:02am
- nathie
  
  The fact that the Crown saw fit to undertake a prosecution is “chilling”.
  
  In essence the Crown somehow expects Police Officers to also be highly trained Medical Professionals (i.e. have the knowledge of medics to assess whether or not the deceased had deliberately overdosed).
  
  I use the (emotive leftie term) “chilling” because could other professions, such as NZ Fire and Emergency staff, normally the first to be called out to all sorts of non-fire related incidents nowadays, could potentially be charged if a similar incident were to happen?
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:31am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Wait until the Crown takes a case against a school teacher or a Principal when a pupil death occurs in a school.
    
    How many teachers or Principals are trained in assessing the (mental) health status of some of their pupils/colleagues?
    
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    June 4, 2021 8:50am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Does it require training to call in the experts when something is seriously wrong Maggie?
      
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      June 4, 2021 9:48am
      - Tauhei Notts
        
        Actually Brian, it does.
        When salted peanut manufacturers must put on their packaging;
        “Caution; contains nuts”
        then we cannot expect a teacher to be an expert in serious head cases.
        
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        June 4, 2021 10:26am
      - Sacha
        
        You have to recognise that there is in fact something seriously wrong. If your experience is with genuinely comatose drunks who wake up sooner or later, why would you treat the latest one any different?
        I don’t know what the procedure was at that time, regarding apparently comatose drunks, but maybe now there would be a call to the on-call GP, or a quick stop at the local A&E. The choice of treatment would then be the GP’s call.
        The cold concrete seems a bit heartless –
        
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        June 4, 2021 10:47am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        When teachers aren’t told that a mentally disturbed &/or violent child is to be placed into their classroom, then unfortunate things can happen…..and it doesn’t help when the senior folks in the school withhold information from the class-room teacher… or worse, blame the teacher for not “controlling” the behaviours.
        
        Been there…seen it all!
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:34am
- Keith White
  
  I see someone recommends Naloxone. FFS. If you’ve never given it to a drugged-up person who comes out of their narcotic stupor and gets really combative very quickly, violently lashes out, and then gets an anaphylactoid reaction which you gave to tree while ducking fists, boots and spit – then you should not be recommending its use so cavalierly, and never outside of a fully-equipped ER.
  
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  June 4, 2021 3:43pm
Yvette

Pike River
Andrew Little rejects Pike River families’ plan to recover more evidence – stuff
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125308161/andrew-little-rejects-pike-river-families-plan-to-recover-more-evidence

Three days ago stuff gave this update. Apart from Scoop reprinting a Socialist Equality Group article “Media Blackout Of Growing Support For Full Investigation Of Pike River Disaster”, there does indeed seem to be a media blackout, and one does start to wonder about the $50 million package “to help the media industry get through the Covid-19 pandemic” – “There is evidence New Zealanders are turning to trusted news sources in record numbers at this time so it is critical the media is supported to keep doing the great job they have been doing” – therefore at a time of greater patronage and attention, but seemingly more likely buying political favour.
So in this greater trusted media coverage –

While the Agency seems tasked with informing the Families Group, when is Little to make any public statement to those taxpayers who have funded this work?

Little needs to also explain what motivated him to make his decision to not assess any entry to the mine workings, when progress was less than one seventh up the distance of the drift, rather than when the roof fall was reached and a proper analysis of that was possible, as proposed by the Families. Little’s seemingly arbitrary decision was made last March, recorded in a Paper to Cabinet and the Families’ formal reaction appended – so they have known (and disapproved of) the decision since March 2020.

Little’s pre-emptive decision seems to be an absolute PR disaster which turns a $48.4 million (so far) recovery operation to bring closure and possible justice, into non-delivery of any loved ones remains, and instead: recriminations and seeming betrayal.
Possible “justice” still rests with Police findings.

But as well as finding a human fault that caused the point of ignition, depending on the location of that ignition. an explanation is surely also needed for an excess of methane in the area concerned. A defence for any charge related to the main ventilation fan would be that the motor was installed in a supposedly methane-free “Non-Restricted” zone.

Also Police wanting to charge anyone may have trouble finding any mine staff responsible for either situation – as the ignition is thought to have been in ventilation equipment, and the accumulation of a massive enough amount of methane is also a ventilation problem – because it appears no one (according to the Royal Commission Report) had overall responsibility for the mine’s ventilation system. May be the Pike River Mine manager should therefore be help responsible, or why not Government safety inspectors, or perhaps the national secretary of the EPMU at the time – the union which should have represented the safety and wellbeing interests of the miners?
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June 4, 2021 8:15am
- KevO'Brien
  
  What source of ignition? With static electricity ever present or created in an instant the search is futile. Why the charade?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:12am
- Yvette
  
  Update
  Pike River families have this morning launched urgent legal action against the Government’s decision to seal the mine.
  The Pike River Recovery Agency is planning to seal the mine this month and hand the site over to the Department of Conservation for inclusion in the Paparoa National Park by November.
  
  Missing: is any estimation of the time the Agency will take to drill the six boreholes required by the Police investigation, their carrying out scanning down those holes and any charges arising from that examination or evidence already gather in the drift.
  
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  June 4, 2021 12:34pm
Happychappy

If this story is correct on Jake Bezzant then the National President must resign as the shambles of his reign is now affecting the credibility of the National Party and those working to see the Party back in Government.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/06/national-party-leadership-wanted-jake-bezzant-gone-but-president-peter-goodfellow-shut-down-concerns.html
It has been just one disaster after another and the buck stops at the President so do the right thing Mr Goodfellow and resign.
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June 4, 2021 8:19am
- Frank the tank
  
  Goodfellow has been an unmitigated failure over the past 4 years. How he has survived in the job over the past 12 months is puzzling.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:33am
  - KiwiSapper
    
    The usual reason. He knows where the bodies are buried.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:32am
- bruceavon
  
  I agree. Hootons article about the party’s recent history is brutal in the Herald today too. I was amazed Goodfellow kept the leadership recently, maybe people who have closer ties with the party can say why. The election of people like Falloon and Bezzant is bad enough and damaging to the party but they seem to have a “nothing to see here” attitude as though nothings wrong. In all these matters Judiths leadership has been faultless the problems are with the party management. Big change is needed.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:42am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    You lost me at “Hooton”. His activism for a leadership change last year was a significant factor in the eventual election result.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:03am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Tony: you would do well to read The Herald piece, then try convincing me that National is a place that represents New Zealand in 2020’s.
      
      I think Judith has been stoic with all this dross happening around her.
      
      Goodfellow. Broom. Fresh start.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:24am
    - Suze Wainwright
      
      I’m afraid I’m in agreement with Bruce and Deepblue, Tony. Hooton isn’t exactly self-congratulatory in his article.
      
      I think Goodfellow can be thanked for his efforts over the years, but now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company…
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:38am
    - bruceavon
      
      Yep Tony know exactly what you mean about Hooton. And the hypocrisy of him handing out advice to National is not lost on me, but I read his articles and he is often bang on. They need a new broom.
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:56am
      - Jack5
        
        Hooton was long Red Radio’s faux Right Wing dummy.
        
        And was he a cheer-leader of the lunatic coup on the eve of the election?
        
        If there’s a ;possibility he’s a saboteur: to the wall!
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:25pm
  - Sacha
    
    Bezzant was ‘selected’, but not elected. (Proof reading before posting is quite a good idea)
    He is clearly a dickhead of minor proportions & this rather seedy episode is being blown up simply to get at the Opposition.
    The media people’s inflated opinions of themselves is enhanced every time someone takes the bait and flings it around the internet.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:59am
    - DeepBlue
      
      We should rember the second tranche of $50M media funding is still out to tender. Best behaviour expected for the next two months.
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:21pm
- nathie
  
  I wonder … would John Key be interested in becoming the next National Party President?
  
  The benefits for National would be instant name recognition and positive public approval.
  
  Especially if he were to front the media periodically.
  
  (I don’t know much about Goodfellow to “judge” him … but one thing I have noticed is that at times he is slow to respond to media questioning and framing, which leaves a void that the MSM fill with negative reporting until he issues a statement to explain or correct the record).
  
  John Key on the other hand is excellent at front-footing issues, plus his presence would be good for when seeking support and donations from the wider public and industry.
  
  Anyhoo, just a random thought!
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:48am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Not a silly idea at all Nathie. I don’t have a lot of time for Goodfellow, and whilst I know that he has been an excellent fundraiser for National, too much crap has gone on during his tenure. It’s time for the party to move forward.
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:11pm
- MCos
  
  There, but for fortune Bezzant could have been a sitting member of parliament and yet another Nat MP & joining the list of those recently obliged to resign under unusual circumstances.
  Jamie-Lee Ross, Andrew Falloon, Hamish Walker, Jian Yang, Nick Smith.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:14am
  - Lance
    
    Yea… because you know, Nationals wrong doers actually resign. Labour just promotes them and smears their victims.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:49am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Raymond Huo, ILG say hi.
    
    Slow Trev, Meka Fightery and Phil the builder wanted to make the list but alas they had no honor nor the Blairite any principles……..
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:00am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Don’t forget David “On Ya Bike” Clark…
      
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      June 4, 2021 1:12pm
- Bob
  
  If this story …..
  Happychappy this story is a VERY LARGE IF.
  there are three or more very relevant Labour party stories that we are waiting to hear the media prosecute!
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:03am
artemisia

Been thinking (yes actually thinking) about the younger members in my family and how to counter the very powerful slogans that they know are the truth, the whole truth etc.

Not planning to fight city hall (literally in Wellington), that’s a no-win game atm, so quietly planning a basic intro to critical thinking closer to home. Thinking – there’s that word again.

Some initiatives so far – questions starting with “Why is that do you suppose?”, “Did you know…?”

There is a potential army of critical thinking advocates out there … If we all quietly take opportunities as they arise there could be a different march through the institutions one day.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to foster a trusted go to with whom to bat ideas around. A good start.
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June 4, 2021 8:22am
- Plue
  
  Still a good idea, however I think you are presuming that information shifts opinion. Mostly not in my experience.
  The slogans you refer to are imbedded feelings which are much harder to shift.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:30am
Rocky Jnr

Its not over for them yet, there is still and IPCA enquiry to be concluded, coroners enquiry, and then the possibility of facing internal charges. For Joe Citizen it would be the end of the matter. I doubt any of these officers will don the uniform again. Sacrificial lambs.
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June 4, 2021 8:27am
Maggie Pie

Behrouz Boochani’s……”Had enough”
Says it’s time to resettle 150 Manus Island refugees.

https://twitter.com/TheFeedSBS/status/1399982333168525315
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June 4, 2021 8:27am
- Frank the tank
  
  Has the Persian Princess’s best mate been accepted as a refugee yet or is he still living illegally in (little) Aotearoa?
  
  If the later, can’t we deport back to to Manus island given there is no death penalty or otherwise threat to his life on this island?
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:36am
Swifty

Rob meets Ronnie and George H. W. back in 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZ24vu-ETE
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June 4, 2021 8:29am
Benedict Yu

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/125343356/new-685-million-cycling-and-walking-bridge-for-aucklands-waitemat-harbour

How utterly stupid. How many people actually want to walk and cycle over the harbour?
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June 4, 2021 8:29am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Probably about half a dozen on a fine weekend in summer.
  Divide the total cost by six and send each of them the bill.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:52am
  - artemisia
    
    Maybe it will be a toll bridge. $10 each way for the next 100 years.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:07am
- nathie
  
  Why does it have to cost that much? That’s an incredible amount of money to spend!
  
  So why doesn’t the Govt (and Goff) get behind National’s plan to build a second harbor bridge sooner and put the ~~$685 million~~ probably $1 billion (in reality) towards the second bridge cost, complete with cycleways etc … as that way the cost for the cycleway will be built-in and not so excessive (on it’s own).
  
  Our various Dear Leaders (Govt and Council) seem be lacking in common sense!
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:04am
- Akarak
  
  Every cyclist in Auckland should be required to buy a special bridge building bond. Priced at approximately $5000 these bonds would allow the approximately 150.000 Auckland cyclists to self fund their own fantasy.
  No bonds. No bridge.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:29am
  - Max Howler
    
    not so much a bridge, but Im thinking a catapult is in order – might even make the toll FREE
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:15pm
- graham
  
  During the summer, I think it’ll be very popular to be honest. Probably not as much during winter but I think you’ll find there would still be a fairly high demand.
  
  If – which is a massive “IF” – it ever gets built, I’ll certainly use it on a regular basis.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:00am
- EvoDriver
  
  As a cyclist I like it, of course. But that’s a lot of money. And nobody’s going to walk over it – it’s too far from the city centre and there’s nothing on the northern side that you’d want to walk to.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:04am
BAM

While National remains a complete trainwreck this government can fuck up and do as they please.

What a depressing state of affairs, you’re seeing your country being ruined and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

They will win again in 2023 sadly, not because they’re any good it’s just that National is now considered a sad pathetic joke by the average voter.

As bad as Labour is, National is worse, that’s the general view I’m hearing, changing that mindset without a complete cleanout will be next to impossible.
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June 4, 2021 8:31am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  I predict that ACT will get more votes than National at the next election.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:54am
  - cmm
    
    I predict an ACT uptick, but not that much.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:11am
  - BAM
    
    Because of their complete incompetence around candidate selection they’ve pretty much lost all the female vote.
    Ross, Falloon, Bezzant, even John Key with the ponytail thing
    
    National the party of sexist deviant creeps, that’s the way they’re seen now, 1/2 the eligible voting pool wouldn’t give you the time of day.
    
    National can never win starting from that position and I have no idea how they’ll get those female voters back, especially with Ardern as Leader.
    
    Like you say, really the only hope rests with ACT becoming the main centre-right party and National moves into the background.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:20am
    - Bob
      
      National the party of sexist deviant creeps…??
      BAM, you clearly don’t study the Labour content of the Labour Benches in parliament.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:10am
      - doggone7
        
        Here’s your big chance. You imply from your study that the Labour benches have ‘sexist deviant creeps.’
        
        Are you prepared to list them? You’re so sure you make the claim. Have you the guts to name them?
        
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        June 4, 2021 3:14pm
  - MCos
    
    ACT is the new NZF. A repository for the disgruntled voters.
    Like Winston, Seymour is turning into the a timeless contrarian. It’s interesting how ACT’s polling has shot up at the same time as Winston has faded away.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:33am
  - rockape
    
    I am hoping, probably in vain, for Nat 31% and ACT 20%. Otherwise the UK or Aus is looking good.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:43am
    - MCos
      
      Away you go . . . .
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:42am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Because of their secret relationship with the gangs’ Captain?
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:49am
- RockyJ
  
  I don’t agree BAM. Judith is doing a good job. She has to be constrained in her attacks on this government. It will take time for the general public to wake up to the lies Labour tell. Kiwis have generally been too trusting. Also the media have been bought off. Wait until election year and you will see National in full fighting mode.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:19am
  - Bob
    
    No point NATIONAL announcing Policy at the moment. Labour have no policies, and are waiting for National to announce their intentions to give Adern and Robertson a clue as to which way the country should head.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:12am
  - surfing
    
    Ha, polls would suggest otherwise.
    
    I think she is pretty good at answering difficult questions , but she doesn’t resonate with people.
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:44pm
- Bob
  
  National is now considered a sad pathetic joke by the average voter.
  Wrong BAM
  National is now REPORTED as a sad pathetic joke by the MEDIA to brainwash the average voter.
  Fixed it for you BAM: easier to understand now isn’t it!
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:08am
- Maxx
  
  Sadly true and equally true outside of a few rising stars, the party is either void of talent or loaded with baggage which gets dragged out with any subject that seems to be resonating with the public at large.
  
  Some people need to take a hard look in the mirror and come to the understanding that they aren’t adding any value.
  
  And try to keep a consistent message. Labour don’t even have to work when National sound more confused about what they stand for.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:22am
Master Mariner

Finally realisation starting to set in with a few home truths.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-industrial-new-zealand-is-in-trouble/
“Anyway, the bad news, sadly, is Marsden Point, who are moving out of processing oil and into importing it. MBIE have, not surprisingly, done a report that shows such a move puts our fuel security at risk. The irony, of course, is this comes at a time when our exposure to goods from the wider world has never been in sharper contrast.

You can’t get cat food, you can’t get a car, ships are an issue, and container costings are through the roof. The more stuff we don’t make, the more vulnerable we are.

Here’s the further danger, despite MBIE’s report pretty much stating the obvious, the Minister, well known petrol and oil expert Megan Woods, says the risks aren’t that high.

That’s despite the report saying exactly the opposite.”

I would of thought “Black swan ” events such as COVID would of produced a serious rethink regarding the Idiocacy of Oil/ Gas Ban and the vulnerability of Fuel security.
Wonder how much longer NZ is going to subsidise Airlines to still fly here and before people start waking up.
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June 4, 2021 8:35am
- fisho
  
  As I understand, the oil RNZ refines to produce our fuel (Petrol, Diesel and Jet) is imported. This is because our own oil doesn’t have the right blend to produce what we need (i.e. the right split, byproducts etc). So while I don’t have a great love for Ms Woods, in this case I agree with her position and do wonder why MBIE see the risk increases if MP becomes an import only terminal. The oil they refine comes from the Middle East, refined product tends to come from South Asia, so a shorter, less risky logistics chain is surely more attractive, as is cheaper refined product being produced by more efficient mega-refineries?
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:12am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yes correct, Mostly if not all from Singapore refineries in Tuas.
    It still does not get away from the fact of upscaling to refine ourselves and yes from our own oil if case came from push to shove.
    We have a MOU with Singapore about storage in times of crisis, I believe it used to be with Japan in 80’s ?
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:36am
- MCos
  
  The Marsden Point Refinery is switching from refining imported oil to importing refined fuel because, I would expect, it’s more economical.
  
  The oil produced in NZ is sent offshore because it’s unsuitable for the local refinery.
  None of these operations are state owned.
  Marsden Point was flogged off by the Lange Government to the New Zealand Refining Company Limited. So I suppose it’s their call.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:51am
  - Sacha
    
    Anyone here remember petrol rationing?
    I thought not.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:06am
    - Nickc2
      
      You can’t ration something you haven’t got Sacha.
      I have been warning for some time on KB about Fuel Security in this country but as for the MSM and their subservient Politicians, you can’t put brains in statues, not even those of fat Wide Mouth Frogs.
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:57am
      - MCos
        
        That comment quickly deteriorated into partisan nonsense.
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:19pm
    - MCos
      
      That was an entirely different issue caused by the crippling rise in the price of oil.
      Carless days were the result.
      Not just this country too.
      Reduced speed limits were brought in in the US, which went down like a lead balloon.
      NZ wasn’t self sufficient in oil then or now because our oil is incompatible with the refinery.
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:17pm
    - Keith White
      
      I do. It screwed getting to and from work for my parents and I.
      
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      June 4, 2021 4:27pm
Yvette

Several people, here and elsewhere, have suggested a bus service be run across of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, using a couple of buses with half the seats removed to accomodate bikes and the remaining seats for their owners. Such a service over a few months would surely establish a more accurate demand for cyclists wanting to cross the harbour before spending $785 million on a specific cycling / walking bridge.

Beyond “more than 1000 cyclists forced two Northland lanes of the Harbour Bridge to close on Sunday”, what other research has Government conducted (considering there is no cycle flow to measure at present) to be able to announce now that they will “commit” $785 million to the project? And will it be toll-free?
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June 4, 2021 8:40am
- greybeard
  
  Good article.
  I suggest you forward it to Hosking, Peter Williams and HDPA to see if they will discuss it with a larger audience.
  Maybe also to Garner.
  
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  June 4, 2021 8:59am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Let them fit paddles to their bikes the they could peddle across.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:17am
  - oldfella
    
    Kev, FWIW, according to a story last night on one of the network news bulletins, shipping delays have caused a shortage of paddles in NZ at the moment.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:00am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Maybe. They could make them out of old cereal box sides coated with expoxy.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:58am
- Yvette
  
  Further
  Obviously Government, in proper stewardship of taxpayer funding, will have a full business plan justifying the proposed $785 million expenditure on a new cyclist / pedestrian Auckland bridge, so why have they not mentioned actual established daily traffic flows of bike and walker traffic to justify the project, and how have they researched those figures?
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:13am
  - Batman
    
    The first business case is here, I guess the updated costs will be released similarly: https://nzta.govt.nz/projects/northern-pathway/
    
    Google is pretty handy ?
    
    2 10
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    June 4, 2021 10:41am
    - Frank Hematuria
      
      That’s a mighty convincing business case Batman, one in which the numbers purporting to quantify the benefits are all withheld. I wonder why that would be?
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:17am
      - Batman
        
        Buggered if I know. Though having dealt with a lot of OIA material in my time I am unbothered by some being withheld.
        
        It would be rather stupid to advertise all of your costings and budgets to the market ahead of you putting out a tender for the work. I’m sure anyone here who is in business would agree.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:21am
      - Cinematic
        
        Pa for the cause for this rabble of subintellectuals posing as a gummint.
        
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        June 4, 2021 11:31am
      - Frank Hematuria
        
        Batman, re your comment below in response to mine – I was referring to BENEFIT numbers being withheld. You know, the numbers that tell you if the thing stacks up economically. Which of course this one cannot possibly do.
        
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        June 4, 2021 12:24pm
    - Frank the tank
      
      Did they get a year 10 student at Onehunga High to write that? Might as well be written in crayon.
      
      No facts, no analysis and I’m surprised the last sentence wasn’t and everyone lived happily ever after.
      
      The only surprise was there wasn’t a Maori name for this ‘project’ yet. Howabout “whaktapapieceofcrap” – I think everyone knows what the English translation is.
      
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      June 4, 2021 1:26pm
  - Ruawai
    
    How much did the Takanini bike bridge cost? Times this by 10 would be a good estimate.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:25am
- Bob
  
  what other research has …..
  one only has to observe the expensive walking/cycle lanes that have proliferated in Auckland to note the high volumes of pedestrian and cycle traffic.
  MP WOOD and Mayor Goff will have noticed this during their cycling to work and airport each week/ day as applicable.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:15am
- Ruawai
  
  This will be busy on the weekend and hardly used midweek, an expensive recreation project.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:24am
Maggie Pie

A FASCINATING WATCH.

Golriz explains why Matariki is… ‘not just another Maori day off”

https://twitter.com/golrizghahraman/status/1399891875419410435
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June 4, 2021 8:58am
- lilman
  
  Is a Maori day off for me.
  
  10 1
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  June 4, 2021 9:09am
  - Maxx
    
    What’s that? A Friday?
    
    3 0
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    June 4, 2021 10:23am
  - tf78
    
    lilman, it’s their day off from doing what?!
    
    3 2
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    June 4, 2021 10:56am
- nathie
  
  Isn’t she meant to be spending her time (generously funded by the taxpayer – what, nearly $200k?) working hard for all NZ’ers, instead of hanging out on social media playing with her phone and looking for things to re-tweet?
  
  What a joke MMP has become!
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:15am
  - Jack5
    
    Golriz does her bit for Iran, from which her parents holidayed in Singapore before flying on to NZ and claiming refugee status successfully.
    
    Iran and Saudi Arabia are in something like a Middle East cold war.
    
    Golriz is prominent in questioning NZ exports to Saudi Arabia and its allies when those exports may have military use, especial in the Saudi Arabia-Iran proxy war in Yemen.
    
    https://sabkatv.com/mfat-ignored-advice-weapons-systems-could-be-used-in-war-torn-yemen/
    
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    June 4, 2021 12:35pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Throw out Maori spirits.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:19am
  - JackRabbit
    
    And kill the local liquor trade. 🙂
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:28am
  - Mike
    
    Only mumbo jumbo approved by Kev should be allowed.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:13am
  - Swifty
    
    Kev’s voodoo is stronger than Maori voodoo.
    
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    June 4, 2021 12:08pm
- graham
  
  “Matariki is more than just a holiday” says Golriz.
  
  Yeah, nah, I think for the vast majority of New Zealanders that’s exactly what it is luv. Just a holiday.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:40am
- alex Masterley
  
  What is this day off business?
  I am self employed.
  I get more done working on the public holiday than I do on a normal working day.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:24am
I remember when

Newshub: ‘What a joke’: Chicken in Wellington Countdown reduced by 12 cents in supermarket ‘special’:
But perhaps the real ‘joke’ is that it takes two reporters to produce a self-explanatory item.
I guess it was one to read Facebook to find the posting and the other to ring Countdown.
Another ‘No News’ day.
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June 4, 2021 8:59am
Stupid nob head.

Interesting read from Matthew Hooten in Granny Herald today. Some days he is the thinking man’s Mike Hosking.
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June 4, 2021 9:00am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  And other days he is just his usual twatish self.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:37am
Raphael

My completely unsubstantiated conspiracy theory (I have no proof of anything of this)

Now that the Media is no longer supressing the information it is looking increasingly likely that the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab in Wuhan (possibly helped by funding from the US NIH). Whether or not is was released deliberately or accidently is debatable <– this part does have evidence.

My wild conspiracy theory (tin foil hat on for this one): Assuming the above is all true. India and China are not on the best of terms (border clashes involving Chinese soldiers using barbed wire wrapped clubs on Indian soldiers tends to foster anger).
Was the Indian strain of Covid-19, which is suddenly running rampantly out of control, a stronger strain released by China into India?
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June 4, 2021 9:03am
- kowtow
  
  “Variants” are just fear porn by the Media Pardy and Control technique for western govts , who should be ashamed of themselves.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:18am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The Wuhan revelations:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9648687/Chinese-virologist-says-Fauci-emails-claim-coronavirus-unrestricted-bioweapon.html
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:25am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, the virus will henceforth be known as Fauci’s Revenge (as waged on Trump).
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:41am
  - Fidel Cashflow
    
    Yes, look over there and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain….
    
    You are missing the point. Both Fauci’s lies and the lies about the Wuhan Institute of Virology are just diversions from the real causes of the world wide disruption (people, not viruses) and who benefitted from lockdowns (politicians and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, to name just three).
    
    What both of these revelations do show is that we are lied to constantly, these lies are promulgated through the media, and that the majority accept those lies on the false assumption that the “official” sources don’t have anything to gain from systematic lies, or that they would never do so. This raises the further question as to what else we are being lied to about. Probably a great deal. These are instances that prove this is done.
    
    Yes, Fauci’s emails confirm that he lied about the efficacy of masks, and he and others dismissed the notion of an engineered virus that subsequently escaped. These instances are now being freely talked about, because they have the function of obscuring the fundamental issue which is who locked down the world and who benefitted from doing so. It’s all a house of mirrors.
    
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    June 4, 2021 2:20pm
- cmm
  
  Here are the following possible levels:
  1) The lab and CV19 are completely unrelated. It is just sheer bad luck that out of the tens or thousands of wet markets in China, the one that throws up a novel virus was 300 metres from a lab.
  2) The virus was being worked with in the lab and escaped due to some biosecurity cock-up.
  3) The virus was man-made.
  4) The virus was man-made and deliberately released.
  
  Of those, my money goes on (2).
  
  I don’t buy that it was a “made in a lab” or that it was deliberately released.
  
  Viruses mutate. RNA viruses especially so because they lack the stable structures that DNA has. That is why there is is a new recipe for the flu vaccine every year.
  
  We expect coronaviruses to mutate. There will likely be more mutations.
  
  The numbers in India only look big due to their massive population. On a more rational per-million scale the numbers are (still) relatively small: 28.4M cases, 338k deaths. That’s 200 deaths per million.
  
  About half the worldwide average. Not high at all.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:42am
  - Raphael
    
    Sorry, to clarify, when I said “created in a lab” I meant it look like it was Gain of Function research being performed on an existing virus.
    And despite Fauci trying to tell Rand Paul he was wrong, in his released emails it looks like Fauci had this information in March 2020 and that some of the NIH funding did end up going towards it.
    
    I like how Rand Paul pretty much has to wait a week or two to be proven right, yet again.
    
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    June 4, 2021 9:52am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Out of interest would be the amount of deaths in India from Co2 in O2 bottles put down as Covid deaths.
    My money would be on a fare few.
    
    Quote
    2) The virus was being worked with in the lab and escaped due to some biosecurity cock-up.” unquote.
    
    Interesting thing in my mind alone was the apparent ” lack” of deaths in China with major outbreak in Italy first. Remembering this was during the start of Chinese New year.
    For this reason alone, My thinking leads to a co-ordinated / targeted release if Lab produced.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:04am
    - NoCash
      
      Have you forgotten the draconian measures China took to lockdown 60 million people in the province Hubei, which was criticised by some in the West as inhumane at that time? Also shutting down the rest of China in some ways and forms in the effort to manage the outbreak. Perhaps all that effort resulted in the lower rates of infection and death?
      
      Or perhaps the actual scale of infection and death was much higher as many in the West suggested?
      
      If it’s the latter, than your argument doesn’t stand, right? If it’s the actual measures China took to control the outbreak, than your argument doesn’t stand neither?
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:30am
    - Nickc2
      
      Product testing in Italy perhaps?
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:53am
    - cmm
      
      I think if it was a deliberate release it would have magically happened in a Uyghur town.
      
      I can see where you’re coming from though. China has not done too badly out of CV19 (other than losing a few oldies who are a liability to the state anyway).
      
      While the rest of the world shut down manufacturing etc for a month or two, the main manufacturing areas of China shut down for three weeks or so and then were in full production again. In many places in the world (including NZ) crops have been left to rot on the fields. The damaged supply lines have hiked prices (especially in electronics) and profitability has increased. First world countries turned on the subsidies and turned down the interest rates – fuelling huge consumer spending.
      
      For China, this has been a boom.
      
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      June 4, 2021 1:00pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    cmm, it does need to be understood that Beta Corona Viruses (BCVs) and Influenza viruses, although both are RNA based, have fundamentally different structures. The flu virus consists of about 6 segments, and these segments can be swapped amongst a flu population to rapidly create viable variants. The most common swaps that affect transmission to humans are the H and N segments, which is why the variants are frequently referred to by those two as in H1 N2, and the latest bird variant found in a human in China, H10N6.
    
    BCVs are a single RNA strand with no segments, so although the mutate relatively easily they cannot create such an array of viable variants so readily as the flu. Any specific point mutation is most likely neutral or bad for the virus.
    
    So although Covid will continue to mutate, it will not do so as readily as the flu with new viable variants every couple of years or so. Variation in the targeted spike protein will not necessarily inactivate existing immunity, that protein is already pretty well adapted to humans.
    
    And my money is in a lab release by accident of a virus modified in the lab as part of specific GOF research; with a subsequent significant coverup by both the lab, the CCO, and the US people responsible for the funding and support for that research. Certainly seems to be the story that is finding support after the release under FOI of Fauci’s emails.
    
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    June 4, 2021 11:36am
  - Fletch
    
    As I understand it, the bio security present at the lab was only Level 2 – which is not much at all. Around the same you’d find in a dentist office…
    
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    June 4, 2021 12:54pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    Oh dear Dog,
    
    thank you for being a voice of reason (along with Benedict & Batman), we might not always see eye-to-eye on other things, but your stance is really valuable and reassuring to me.
    
    I’ve long given up on the tinfoil hats on this blog re: COVID. Been thinking about taking a little break TBH.
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:22pm
- Keith White
  
  When you have a lab that’s successfully produced a nasty bug by gain of function research, and trashed the Western barbarian economies in service of your dynasty in the Kingdom of Heaven, then your scientists know what to do to tweak the WuFlu to make it a GangesGerm.
  
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  June 4, 2021 4:30pm
cmm

Here’s an opinion piece by another believer in infinite money.

Why don’t we have two bridges over the Ashburton river with one being a backup?

All fine, but:
1) There is already a backup route: via Micham’s Rd, Mayfield, Geraldine, rejoining SH1 at Winchester that bypasses Ashburton and only adds an extra 25 km to the trip south.
2) Are we expected to pay for doubling up every bridge in NZ or does Stuff’s editor have a crystal ball? I thought Stuff believed roads are falling out of fashion.
3) If the river raises enough to hit one bridge, then why won’t it hit the other bridge too? A backup with a common failure mode is not really a back up.

What this incident DID show us is how important roads and trucking are compared to rail. When we get roads knocked out we can use alternate routes. No such possibility with rail. Look what happened to the train stuck in Kaikoura – it was stuck there for months. Trucks, on the other hand, could take other routes.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/125332790/when-a-national-lifeline-is-blocked
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June 4, 2021 9:10am
- JackRabbit
  
  cmm, normally I would agree with you, but:
  That route will place stress on the three bridges needing to be crossed, one of which is single lane, and the wear on non state highway roads, and increase the cost of freight. The current bridge is 90 years old.
  
  I’d rather have 22 new bridges for South Island transport as redundancy than one luxury cycle / walkway for the lycra fraternity over Auckland harbour.
  
  Moving people to work, moving food, moving industry output, and stocking supermarkets is way more important than what you do outside of work hours.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:35am
  - cmm
    
    JR: Sure, it is not an ideal route, but it is OK as a back up for a couple of weeks or whatever.
    
    Adding an extra 20-25km to the trip during the time the back up is needed is way lower cost than adding another bridge at Ashburton.
    
    Looking at replacing a 90 year old bridge certainly has merit, but last time I was down there that bridge was still fine (and once they strengthen the pilings it will probably be good for another 50 years).
    
    Having redundancy is key, especially in NZ which is prone to natural disasters like occasional floods and earthquakes.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:15am
    - Bob
      
      disasters like occasional floods and earthquakes…
      and MEDIA promoted Communist governments!
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:18am
    - MCos
      
      “that bridge was still fine”
      
      That’s the mentality that has led to Wellington having such problems with its water infrastructure.
      
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      June 4, 2021 10:53am
  - JackRabbit
    
    NZ ia heavily in debt. Recovery will depend heavily on the farming sector, which requires roads. Even tourism requires roads.
    
    Unless our government is planning or proposing that we all get Borg / Terminator upgrades with stomachs replaced by fuel cells; or cocooned in Matrix gel baths living in virtual reality; or exterminate 95% of the population in preperation for takeover by aliens, there is a constant and ever growing demand for food. The infrastructure is important.
    
    NZTA wakas should be planning for a four lane highway, including bridges, from Christchurch to Dunedin. and Christchurch north. Farming, and the infrastructure to support is our best and quickest means of recovery. Not lycra or rice from China.
    
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    June 4, 2021 10:20am
    - Batman
      
      You’ve just suggested a $30 billion dollar spend. I’m not sure that’ll help the debt mate
      
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      June 4, 2021 11:03am
      - cmm
        
        Spend frugally, spend wisely.
        
        Don’t go piss it away on $800m ($1.5bn by the time it’s done cycle paths).
        
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        June 4, 2021 1:02pm
- MCos
  
  When Todd Muller was briefly Leader of the Opposition he went to Ashburton and promised that the Nats would build a parallel bridge alongside the existing 90 year old structure.
  These bridges don’t last forever.
  Personally I think it should be replaced.
  
  That alternate route was in use the other day resulting in traffic jams several ks long. I think there might be a single lane bridge somewhere.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:03am
  - MCos
    
    Furthermore
    The Nats for some time now have been promising as expressway from Ch’ch to Ashburton.
    This would require doing something about the Rakaia Bridge; the longest road vehicle bridge in NZ at 1.8km length. Five times the Ashburton Bridge.
    I would suggest if that eventuates there won’t be enough cops in NZ to control the hoons in their utes and suvs.
    
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    June 4, 2021 2:18pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    Two words (well one really, hyphenated):
    
    Kopu-Hikuai.
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:26pm
Nickc2

Yes, if built, its novelty will soon wear off and the screaming loonies (Greens) will be demanding something else. Another Education Center perhaps?
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June 4, 2021 9:17am
- Nickc2
  
  Please disregard my posting above. Somehow, it got duplicated.
  
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  June 4, 2021 9:35am
Maggy Wassilieff

Wondering why your gong hasn’t come through yet?

Your wife/hubby/partner forgot to submit your nomination.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018798395/queens-birthday-honours-some-spouses-nominating-partners
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June 4, 2021 9:32am
SB2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Even beating much vaunted Taiwan !

“Coronavirus: New Zealand stands alone as only major economy without community transmission of COVID-19”

New Zealand has regained its number one spot as the best place in the world to be during the COVID-19 era.
Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking looks at how major countries around the world are handling the pandemic, taking into account social and economic disruption, mortality and infection rates, freedom of movement and how the vaccine rollout is going.

Despite the tardy start to our rollout – upheld by the switch to a single supplier, and global demand – New Zealand is back on top, following outbreaks in other countries that until now, were doing just as well.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/05/coronavirus-new-zealand-stands-alone-as-only-major-economy-without-community-transmission-of-covid-19.html

There petty KB-trenchant critics.

” Put that in your pipe and stuff it” as the old saying goes.
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June 4, 2021 9:34am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Another way of looking at it, is that Taiwan (Taipei) is doing a lockdown for the first time- and we have done it three times so far.
  If the transmission rate drops so that it is not replicating, then Taiwan will exit the lock down, just like we did.
  And if we have a community outbreak again, we can expect to return to lock down because vaccination rates are so low.
  The story is not over for either Taiwan or NZ, or anywhere for that matter.
  We are lucky we are an island with a small population/low density and little reliance on public transport. There are many other island nations without Covid outbreaks, it is just that we are calling ourselves here a ‘major economy’, and so deemed unique in the world. The old kiwis-punch-above-their-weight-class circle jerk.
  
  Whatever you are putting in your pipe and smoking it, not really sure why you are full of glee nor how it really changes anything materially for us here in any case.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:34am
  - Jack5
    
    New Zealand is doing well, but Taiwan has done far better at keeping the economy running. It was already more prosperous than NZ, but will emerge from Covid-19 further ahead.
    
    Taiwan still does better than New Zealand in total cases per head of population, but has slipped behind in deaths per head of population.
    
    Latest Covid 19 figures:
    
    Taiwan: 9,974 cases; cases per million of population 418; deaths 166; deaths per million of population 7.
    
    New Zealand: 2,681 cases; cases per million of population 536; deaths 26; deaths per million of population 5.
    
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    June 4, 2021 12:11pm
    - Jack5
      
      Change at Stephiestan Trolls Ltd on its return to General Debate.
      
      One of the newer folk from the old country is on duty. Punctuation has gone to hell, and the duty person also is struggling with the idiom. Evidence:
      
      ” Put that in your pipe and stuff it” as the old saying goes.
      
      A metaphor from Raj days mangled in the madrasas of Stephiestan.
      
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      June 4, 2021 12:17pm
- cmm
  
  NZ has been lucky.
  
  It could have been bad luck – like it was in the Spanish Flu when 9000 people out of 1M died (1% of the population).
  
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  June 4, 2021 1:05pm
- kevn
  
  @sb2… “put that stuff in your smoking pipe”. Is that what you mean?
  
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  June 4, 2021 3:35pm
Swifty

I wonder whether any of the thousands of trained seals who have been applauding Robertson’s ‘reversal of a great wrong’ in the recent budget will ever realise they’ve been taken for fools and played…..

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300323898/did-the-2021-budget-really-reverse-1991s-mother-of-all-budgets-benefit-cuts

“So does the 2021 Budget directly undo the 1991 benefit cuts? Not exactly. By 2020, benefits had already been returned to similar levels, in terms of purchasing power, to what they were before the 1991 cuts. The 2021 Budget closed what small gap remained, and then added some more.

Perhaps such a statement about reversing the “Mother of All Budgets” says more about the politics of budgets than about the economics….”

Well done Stephen Hickson.
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June 4, 2021 9:53am
Maggie Pie

From the ‘Great Minds Think Alike’ files…

AUCKLAND has Phil Goff. DUNEDIN has Aaron Hawkins.

God Help Us All 🙁

https://twitter.com/NZGreens/status/1399878547003510787
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June 4, 2021 9:58am
- Fidel Cashflow
  
  What a wet noodle. Reality must give way to ideology and emotion for these brainless …. oh, god …. sorry …. these brainless twats. And he’s just added another 9.8% to rates next year, some of which is for “equity projects” for Maori.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:38am
- graham
  
  “Our Green Mayor for Dunedin speaking unapologetically about the need for urgent climate action.”
  
  Great. What with that and the Prime Minister declaring a ‘climate emergency’ six months ago, we’re sorted.
  
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  June 4, 2021 12:11pm
- MCos
  
  One thing about Kiwiblog there’s plenty of fear and loathing to go around if you’re a Mayor, city councilor, MP, public servant, rapist or homicidal maniac.
  
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  June 4, 2021 2:27pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Which of those do you aspire to be Cossie?
    
    (At the risk of triggering DG or Bobbsie..,asking for a friend.)
    
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    June 4, 2021 3:28pm
    - MCos
      
      Well, Mags
      
      I sometimes wonder who’d want to be a politician. On the one hand at least 5-10% of the voting population will despise you whatever, merely because of your party and on the other the chances of being in a position of influence is small.
      I read all the criticisms on this forum, some of them brutal, but never do I read someone say
      By Jove, I’m going to stand for parliament, council, local board, whatever and help sort this shit out.
      
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      June 4, 2021 5:23pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        😀
        
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        June 4, 2021 6:38pm
cmm

Oh bugger, running out of other people’s money. What to do now?

Cut the road, but piss it away on harbour cycle bridge that will hardly get any use!

Will the fine citizens of Jaffaland like this?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aucklands-14b-plus-mill-rd-project-changed-in-government-infrastructure-pivot/L3TLGXZC3UCCDEZXLTVSPQ2QHY/
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June 4, 2021 10:05am
- Cinematic
  
  Extraordinarily acknowledged in a Stuff article but quickly followed by ‘Aucklanders big win’ of a 685m pedestrian bridge.
  
  A bridge for Lycra clad latte sipping gentry to add a few more coffee destinations to the weekend ride. Also the huge concrete and steel structure will benefit the planet.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:42am
  - cmm
    
    $785M : $685M for the bridge, $100M to join it to the existing cycle path.
    
    Of course these projects never stick to budget so double that.
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:06pm
- BananaLlama
  
  No they will not they will be incredibly angry but continue to vote for these clowns.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:52am
graham

This was posted last night so many of you might have missed it – I think it’s worth reposting.

Loddenthinks directed our attention to a piece published in the Herald, where former Olympic medallist Lorraine Moller questioned the fairness behind allowing transgender athletes to compete in the women’s categories at the Games. She is quite rightly concerned that a lot of the hard-won gains that women have fought for will be derailed.

“We fought very hard in our time, especially for us women who didn’t have parity in the Olympic events. We were involved in a campaign back then just to have our own events for ourselves, separate from the men’s category,” she said.

“Now we have suddenly this whole issue of men who identify as women wanting to be included in the women’s category, and I find that very concerning and it seems that there’s a possibility of derailing the very thing that we fought for because men have considerable advantage across the board. The top women could never beat the top men and if it had been an open category, I would never have had an Olympic team or stood on the podium.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/tokyo-olympics-kiwi-medallist-lorraine-moller-says-inclusion-of-transgender-athletes-at-games-derails-womens-sport/UJZMLCP56LQILO7JX2SANUEIVE/

The article mentions a petition which is organised by Save Women’s Sport. I strongly urge people to visit their website and sign.

https://www.savewomenssport.com/

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_111568/petition-of-save-womens-sport-australasia-request-sport
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June 4, 2021 10:07am
- kowtow
  
  They reap as they sow .
  
  The so called wimmins’ movement were in the vanguard of the Long March , now it’s biting ’em in the bum.
  
  Embrace ‘diversity’ at your peril.
  
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  June 4, 2021 12:00pm
  - Keith White
    
    Shorter version: woman can’t compete with men, demands ‘equality’ by having their own competition. Fast forward and others demand ‘equality’, now doesn’t like said equality. Shame, not.
    
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    June 4, 2021 4:39pm
    - Batman
      
      Sounds awfully like women should go back to the laundry and not be allowed to vote or open a bank account. I’m sure that’s not what you mean…
      
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      June 4, 2021 4:48pm
cas

Just read an article by Dan Wootton over the pretty vile tweets by Ollie Robinson, Brit fast bowler, made in 2012 that some dreadful person has dredged up, He calls it offence archaeology which I think is a brilliant term.
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June 4, 2021 10:12am
- MCos
  
  Of course if he hadn’t sent out those tweets in the first place, or had the sense to delete them, nobody would have found them.
  Furthermore.
  If whoever it was hadn’t found them someone else would.
  The tabloids love that sort of thing over there.
  
  As for Robinson. He’s already been dropped for the next test.
  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15149415/what-ollie-robinson-say-in-tweet/
  
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  June 4, 2021 5:48pm
Rusty

NZ a small country with 5 million and surrounded by water at the bottom of the world — of course we have a better record than most with covid.

In fact covid doesn’t even exist in this country and only 25 people have died from the virus (all last year who were elderly or sick anyway)

Jacinda, Ashley and the health experts didn’t prevent 40,000-80,000 Kiwis dying of covid because the dangers of the virus were exaggerated in the first place.

Is it no wonder 60% of Kiwis see no urgency to get the jab for something that is less dangerous than the common flu etc, and btw isn’t our road fatalities this year appalling — no public sympathies from Jacinda and Ashley on that right?
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June 4, 2021 10:24am
Maggie Pie

What next…Wheelchair lanes on side of Motorways?

‘What is clear is that we need to address the lack of pathways to residency… for disabled people who continue to be targeted by incredibly discriminatory policy. Pathways to residency should not just be for high income earners’.

– Ricardo Menendez March. MP for Tijuana.
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June 4, 2021 10:44am
- graham
  
  “Wheelchair lanes on side of Motorways?”
  
  For f***’s sake don’t give him ideas Maggie …
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:48am
- Swifty
  
  I would expect people to be evaluated as migrants on their skills and likely contribution – and any disabilities to be ignored, except where those disabilities are likely to be a drain on our own systems and economy. Under those circumstances I would expect our immigration procedures to be highly discrminatory and for such people to be rejected as migrants.
  
  Why do I have this view?
  
  Our resources are limited, we have our own mountains to climb looking after our own people’s needs first and we do not owe the citizens of other countries a living – irrespective of how much the MP for Tijuana bleats otherwise.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:06am
NoCash

$645 million (it will certainly cost more at the end) for a cycling and walking harbour bridge in Auckland… WTF, madness.
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June 4, 2021 10:45am
- NoCash
  
  Why not use the $685m (or $785m depending on which news article) for a second crossing like a tunnel, then convert an existing lane on the bridge for cycling and walking only.
  
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  June 4, 2021 3:30pm
DeepBlue

Ramp up the fear, make the people decide themselves to not travel:

“Britain said Thursday that it is removing Portugal from its list of Covid-safe travel destinations, meaning thousands of UK residents currently on vacation there face the prospect of 10 days’ quarantine on return.” Stuff
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June 4, 2021 10:47am
Brian McDonald

Apparently this is not a joke, a cycle walk way across the harbour for 685 million, but no car lanes?

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-06-2021/live-updates-june-4-new-auckland-harbour-crossing-confirmed-just-for-cycling-and-walking/?fbclid=IwAR34jrDFH0QbMehAhCA1Lrmcz22HzU4zpmNWV7bYixlgAXKwar97D9V_xHc
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June 4, 2021 10:50am
- Ruawai
  
  And to pay for this they take away the Mill Road project which would ease congestion. The Government have said Mill Road will create more carbon but the same cars are still traveling just more spread out with shorter journey times.
  
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  June 4, 2021 10:59am
- SB2
  
  Carbon emissions free Pedestrians and Cyclists rule!
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:20am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    So you don’t fart?
    
    3 1
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    June 4, 2021 1:02pm
  - cmm
    
    Stephie: Let’s run with your logic…
    
    What is the best thing you could do with $1bn of money thrown at cycles (because that’s really what this is)?
    
    Is the best thing to build a bridge which, based on infos reasonable numbers, will cost $100 per crossing?
    
    Or would it be better to spend that $1bn dollars buying every person in Auckland a bike?
    
    I would think that the latter would be more effective for promoting cycling. Even though I think it is still a dumb idea it is still way better than the bridge.
    
    That $1bn (likely more) only comes from one place – taxes. That is pulled out of the pockets of people across NZ who would otherwise use it for what they want to do.
    
    Essentially this is the government asking every family to hand over $1000 and give it to Cindy to spend on a bridge.
    
    Is that really a good deal? Ask around: ask your mates if they would give $1000 out of the family kitty to buy some rich tossers a bridge rather than buy groceries.
    
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    June 4, 2021 1:20pm
- [email protected]
  
  Someone please check my math… If 100,000 people a year for 100 years use this bridge the cost per crossing would be $68.50.
  
  $685,000,000/100000=$6850
  $6850/100=$68.50
  
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  June 4, 2021 12:34pm
  - cmm
    
    Two main points:
    1) It’s maths, not math.
    2) You forgot the $100 extra to link it up to the Cycleway so $78.50.
    
    Of course with the normal overruns and taniwha food etc it will end up being $150.00
    
    It would be cheaper to use helicopters.
    
    8 1
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    June 4, 2021 1:23pm
  - MCos
    
    I’ll tell you you right now.
    It’ll never get built.
    
    100,000 people per year = 137 return trips per day. Seems a bit thin.
    
    There’s about 10,000 cars make a return trip per lane per day at present. Obviously not all at rush hour. If a certain number cycled one less lane wouldn’t be a problem.
    
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    June 4, 2021 2:42pm
    - kevn
      
      @MCos… Be busy on weekends as the lice get out then. Cycling to work suits very few, oh and the weather ?
      
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      June 4, 2021 3:30pm
      - MCos
        
        The lice! That’s a bit nasty, but at least we know where you stand.
        Presumably you want everyone off their bikes and into cars?
        As for the weather!
        I’ve seen real Kiwis, obviously not you, out all day in all sorts of weather building this nation.
        Try cycling into a strong nor wester. 35 deg and the brakes on to stop going backwards. Nothing like that in Auckland.
        
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        June 4, 2021 4:28pm
    - [email protected]
      
      I do not know but am willing to listen and learn. How many bicycle round-trips do you (or anyone else) think will happen if the bicycle/footpath bridge gets built? Does the government have any guesses or realistic statistics?
      
      From what I have read crossing the bridge on a bicycle can be a bit daunting with the steep inclines and potential wind issues.
      
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      June 4, 2021 5:13pm
Swifty

Something for socialists to attempt to explain away, I suppose:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/why-north-korea-is-facing-a-major-food-shortage-that-could-lead-to-the-death-of-millions/HNPVAAL6GQX2SWGAAU4NC2XJBQ/
19 1
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June 4, 2021 10:59am
- SB2
  
  Which brand of “socialists”?
  
  2 29
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  June 4, 2021 11:21am
  - Swifty
    
    How long till you get booted off here again – all because you can’t control yourself and act properly?
    
    Just of interest, how many times have you been booted off? A dozen times? Twenty?
    
    You really should learn to resist your unpleasant urges.
    
    14 4
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    June 4, 2021 12:05pm
    - MCos
      
      So, swiftly.
      Which brand of socialists?
      
      0 6
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      June 4, 2021 4:30pm
      - Swifty
        
        If you can’t even be bothered getting my name right, why should I bother answering your questions?
        
        4 1
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        June 4, 2021 5:11pm
    - Keith White
      
      Nah, BM’s got his back.
      
      1 1
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      June 4, 2021 4:41pm
      - Batman
        
        Don’t bring me into this. I have zero to do with it.
        
        All of them are being inflammatory and childish, frankly.
        
        2 0
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        June 4, 2021 4:51pm
Lance

An industry insider told me that NZ electricity is in deep shit at the moment. Lake levels are very low and one of our major gas fields is unstable (gas is burned to make power when their is shortfall). They desperately need a drilling rig to find out why BUT ALL the rigs have upsticks and left the country as the last govt fucked up their future prospects.
Spot power price is sky high and the industry is scared of brown outs or rolling blackouts. The duplicitous arse-holes in the govt have already criticized them for high power prices and are threatening an investigation.
If it comes to black outs, I am sure the generators will be punished and 9 years of neglect will be wheeled out as an excuse by the govt and the disgrace the MSM has sunk to.
24 2
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June 4, 2021 11:02am
- Cinematic
  
  I can confirm this is correct. But not limited to NZ Steel. Decisions have consequences.
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:36am
- kowtow
  
  Apparently , at the mo we’re burning more evil coal than usual , to keep the lights and heating on.
  
  Excuse me but haven’t we been told we’re in a “climate emergency” .
  
  I reckon we’re in a hypocrisy emergency .
  
  But it might just take brown outs or whatever to bring the Teddy Bear Cultists to their senses .
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:55am
- rangitoto
  
  They have paid Methanex an undisclosed sum to cut methanol production so the gas can be diverted to power generation. Things are dire.
  
  7 1
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  June 4, 2021 1:07pm
- kevn
  
  @Lance… This scenario is criminal.
  Last government as selected by peters. Same ilk as the current government.
  
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  June 4, 2021 3:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Liz wheeler calling out Fauci. 40 minutes but worth skimming through. The most powerful bureaucrat in the World is a liar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohYZrKVXIr4
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June 4, 2021 11:12am
- SB2
  
  Including this kind of drivel Fauci funding the Covid virus?
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYKIuIik9w
  
  2 29
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  June 4, 2021 11:25am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Go away troll
    
    17 3
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    June 4, 2021 11:58am
    - Batman
      
      Steve you can’t just claim troll when someone has a opposing view.
      
      The fact is that there is absolutely nothing in the emails but the loon wing is determined to find something, just like the Podesta emails where they were desperate enough to turn emails about pizza sauce into a deranged conspiracy about child abuse that has resulted in multiple deaths and thousands of broken families.
      
      3 9
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      June 4, 2021 2:52pm
      - Keith White
        
        And yet, BM, claiming trolling and adding ‘loon’ and similar descriptors when someone has a opposing view is a major part of your modus operandi.
        
        6 1
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        June 4, 2021 4:42pm
      - Batman
        
        Yes fair enough I see your point.
        
        I will say that “loon” was directed at the people who came up with pizzagate/Qanon and who are now driving this latest myth. It was not aimed at a KB commenter.
        
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        June 4, 2021 4:47pm
Surely Knott

Massive stabbing crime wave in the UK. Yet I haven’t seen it reported here. Maybe it doesn’t fit in with the bad usa bad guns bad white people narrative. Stabbing victim at tennis court brawl age 18 dies. Machete attacks Hyde park. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9642125/Man-stabbed-Hyde-Park.html

https://nigeriannewsheadlines.com/dozens-of-riot-police-descend-on-brixton-after-shooting-and-stabbing/#.YLlcV_kzbIU
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June 4, 2021 11:12am
- SB2
  
  ” Massive “??
  
  Just as much UK media not reporting our murder, and violent, gang-related crime,
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/05/omanawa-double-homicide-one-brother-confessed-to-taking-part-in-alleged-planned-murder-before-being-shot-dead.html
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:33am
  - rangitoto
    
    That kind of thing is normal here since Cindy has been running country.
    
    7 2
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    June 4, 2021 1:04pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      They also use guns that were not handed in – naughty boys
      
      7 1
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      June 4, 2021 1:58pm
    - SB2
      
      So Gangs and violent crime nonexistent under National?
      
      1 15
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      June 4, 2021 2:09pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Told you to go away troll
        
        8 3
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        June 4, 2021 2:48pm
      - rangitoto
        
        It wasn’t the norm back in those good old days.
        
        6 2
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        June 4, 2021 2:52pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://twitter.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1400584077254676481/photo/1
2 2
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June 4, 2021 11:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  As long as the freeloading cyclists pay
  
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  June 4, 2021 11:34am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Given the current debate here….. was it reasonable for police to arrest a woman who twerked in a Bike Lane during a protest?

https://twitter.com/maxoregonian/status/1400529590179700744

My partner thinks that looking at her it probably was 😀
3 2
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June 4, 2021 11:41am
- Libertarians are right
  
  I love how she complained how they targetted her. She jumped in front of a truck full of cops and wiggled her fat arse at them.
  Her actions alone led to her arrest and the dudge let her off for no good reason.
  
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  June 4, 2021 1:48pm
- Keith White
  
  Dang, so Trigglypuff emigrated from the US to Canada.
  
  2 1
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  June 4, 2021 4:44pm
Surely Knott

Labour Party Northland Conference photo shows their Lunch Time Sessions – which pretty much sums up their philosophy. Let’s not discuss the issues facing all NZer’s – economy, health and mental health, crime, education. Let’s divide everyone up by race, gender, sexual preferences, and union affiliation and silo them into separate rooms.
Pacifica – Rm 2
Women – Rm 4
Rainbow – Rm 5
E Tu – Rm 1
Policy Process – Main Hall
Hub Korero – Rosser House

https://scontent.fakl1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/193070596_10158540804399285_3468740764215838607_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=0-o9proW-0YAX9CbWwz&_nc_ht=scontent.fakl1-2.fna&oh=24931e29e75cfbca15994710cb56b0ae&oe=60DD059A
9 4
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June 4, 2021 11:47am
- DeepBlue
  
  We wouldn’t want anyone other than pale, male and stale at the policy lunch. /s
  
  6 0
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  June 4, 2021 12:54pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  What room do rainbow, Pasifika women go to?
  
  4 1
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  June 4, 2021 1:19pm
- surfing
  
  Business, education, science, the economy… room – Left right out.
  
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  June 4, 2021 1:54pm
Tony Stuart

Simeon Brown has just tweeted an OIA response he received on the visit by Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt to the Mongrel Mob pad a few weeks ago:

https://twitter.com/SimeonBrownMP/status/1400573726433808384

The Commissioner’s safety was guaranteed by the Mob, by negotiation. I wonder what the koha for that guarantee was.
10 1
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June 4, 2021 1:22pm
- kowtow
  
  Sounds like something you’d only hear of in a failed state where the nacro terrorists run free ……….
  
  6 2
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  June 4, 2021 2:33pm
surfing

This maori takeover of the country is getting quite serious now.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/bay-of-plenty-petition-created-by-christina-humphreys-described-as-racist/VLRAAVPWB6MJ7XRAK4BFTH4HJE/

Her petition is saying that democracy should be one person , one vote.

This is being described by at least one maori as being “seditious”.

Maybe, we are getting closer to the day where being against He Pua Pua is could get one charged with sedition? He Pua Pua is supposed to be a proposal, but from what I can see it is being rapidly implemented for some time now.

I note, it is a teachers only day for intermediate/primary schools today. How much white privilege is being forced down teachers throats?
12 2
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June 4, 2021 1:51pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This never happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGS8vIJHsnU
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June 4, 2021 2:07pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Read the link.
https://bongino.com/tucker-slams-fauci-says-emails-reveal-he-lied-under-oath/?
7 4
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June 4, 2021 2:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Batman in 3, 2, 1
  
  9 4
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  June 4, 2021 2:11pm
  - Batman
    
    Lol Steve you want me to read a Bingo-Bongo piece citing fish stick fortune trust fund baby Tucker?
    
    It’s fascinating watching you fall down the faux news conspiracy hole though. This stuff is all made up nonsense parsed from extremely boring emails that line up with what was said publicly at the time.
    
    4 9
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    June 4, 2021 3:05pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You will keep. That is all
      
      4 4
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      June 4, 2021 3:26pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  About 5.30 watch the body language of Trump. I reckon he is thinking “You fucking bastard, one more lie and I will bitch slap you”
  
  2 4
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  June 4, 2021 2:25pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Add. When the enemy is digging a hole, do not stop them
    
    3 4
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    June 4, 2021 2:26pm
Happychappy

Families launch proceedings against Government on Pike River Mine .
So the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Pike River Mine Minister’s gamble to dig the dirt on John Key and smear his credibility has come to a rocky end with the ungrateful families taking the Labour Government to court to forsee them to continue into the shaft of the mine to find evidence for a conviction.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/125332758/pike-river-families-launch-court-action-against-sealing-of-the-mine
The Government need to come clean on this as their politicking and blatant attempt to undermine John Key has already cost the taxpayer more than $50 million without even counting in the settlement the miners families recieved.just to smear a former Prime Minister and his name.
11 1
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June 4, 2021 2:56pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Didn’t Little approve the creation of the closed in mine? That’s the real crime–ignoring sound international engineering principles.
  
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  June 4, 2021 3:50pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I still find it amazing that some morons consider Andrew Little bears any personal responsibility for the Pike River disaster.
    
    1 9
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    June 4, 2021 4:26pm
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      In which case you have been living in an alternative universe.
      The prick should be in jail.
      
      2 2
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      June 4, 2021 8:41pm
      - Mike
        
        Just what criminal actions are you alleging?
        
        2 1
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        June 4, 2021 9:04pm
Batman

https://youtu.be/8pUK04rIf34

For some Friday afternoon fun, everyone can enjoy this twenty minutes of hilarious MSM hypocrisy and sucking up to their paymasters in government!

Quality content ??
2 6
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June 4, 2021 3:07pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That bottom overlay banner – great Batman. Your sources just went down the sewer. Yet you say you are not a leftie? Pull the other leg, it squirts whisky. Jack Daniels, thank you very much.
  Enjoy your last 15 minutes today at work with this 🙂
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL0au17MypY
  
  5 3
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  June 4, 2021 3:34pm
  - Batman
    
    Dude it’s a comedy show. Chiiiillllllll.
    
    Though it does very neatly lay out the stinking hypocrisy of the largest MSM player which pretends it is not the MSM.
    
    The Devil makes three, Tucker, Laura and Sean? It all makes sense now!
    
    2 2
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    June 4, 2021 4:03pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Hope so
      
      4 1
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      June 4, 2021 4:18pm
kiwikidsnz

Chris Trotter asking the right questions again

https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/06/04/who-poses-the-bigger-threat-the-far-right-or-the-far-left/
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June 4, 2021 3:35pm
- Cinematic
  
  I don’t always agree but I always enjoy his writing.
  
  2 0
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  June 4, 2021 6:01pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

10 trillion is peanuts. Fauci needs 3 new arseholes
https://usafeatures.news/2021/06/03/trump-rips-fauci-says-china-should-pay-world-10-trillion-over-covid-pandemic/?
3 4
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June 4, 2021 3:46pm
- Batman
  
  Steve you’re beginning to spam. Your fixation on this non-story is not helpful.
  
  There is no cover up or conspiracy, as much as you’d like dear leader to be resurrected from political oblivion.
  
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/06/03/thats-nonsense-fauci-responds-to-gop-backlash-over-his-emails-on-covid-origin/
  
  3 5
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  June 4, 2021 4:09pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Already told you – you will keep buddy
    
    3 5
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    June 4, 2021 4:19pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Seems vaguely threatening.
      
      2 4
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      June 4, 2021 4:22pm
    - Batman
      
      I didn’t reply last time as I though you were taking it a bit far. But I will this time.
      
      You’re taking it a bit far.
      
      Happy long weekend, hopefully it’s a relaxing one for you and yours.
      
      2 3
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      June 4, 2021 4:29pm
      - Keith White
        
        “This update just in: BM notices heat, leaves kitchen to seek sympathy elsewhere.”
        
        5 3
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        June 4, 2021 5:18pm
      - Batman
        
        Happy Queens birthday Keith.
        
        2 2
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        June 4, 2021 5:58pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Grief..

Someone can’t recognise a suffix of Latin/Old French origin and wants to attach a Maori meaning to -ure.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125348241/double-glazing-companys-moist-ure-ad-amuses-te-reo-mori-speakers
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June 4, 2021 4:24pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

“Fauci will not be suiciding”
Love you, HRC //
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June 4, 2021 4:26pm
Batman

Well this is some very interesting reporting, from that noted lefty publication, The National Review.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/06/maggie-haberman-is-right/

“The scale of Trump’s delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government. ”

“American politicians do not lose their reelection races only to be reinstalled later on, as might the second-place horse in a race whose winner was disqualified. The idea is otherworldly and obscene.”

I suppose we will find out this weekend just how unhinged Trump is on this when he does a speech to the faithful.
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June 4, 2021 4:36pm
- Fletch
  
  So you’re contending that if fraud is found and cheating took place, that, oh well, it is too late and nothing should be done about it?
  
  4 3
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  June 4, 2021 5:02pm
  - Batman
    
    I’m not contending that. It’s a quote from the National Review. Maybe you should read it.
    
    There will be no actual fraud found, just cooked up stories to save face, or genuine claims based on the incompetence of the people doing it.
    
    3 6
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    June 4, 2021 5:52pm
greybeard

“Unite against Covid-19”.
Sounds exactly like the old Communist Party exhortations to “Unite” against free speech, against private ownership, against freedom of association, against freedom of thought and most importantly against the ability to choose who we want to govern.
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June 4, 2021 5:21pm
WaveyDavey

Poor old Wallo… used to be a decent journo but seems to have signed up for the “everything is racist” party

https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/125346602/racist-incidents-are-giving-tauranga-a-bad-name
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June 4, 2021 5:35pm
- Batman
  
  It seems a few dumb racists in Tauranga are indeed making the right look bad. They should be expunged forthwith.
  
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  June 4, 2021 5:54pm
Cinematic

I see that much less talented and, apparently, saintly media lightweights are trying to feed on Martin Devlin.

If they succeed NZ may have just reached a critical mass of broadcasters that can pull together a decent non-woke media company. Please let it be.
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June 4, 2021 5:45pm
Keith White

“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”

(ALLCAPS are in the original motto of The Sole Source of Truth – oops, they called theirs The Ministry of Truth).
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June 4, 2021 5:49pm

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