General Debate 06 July 2021

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Happychappy

Treasury warns Government debt is on unsustainable trajectory ‘, but not because of COVID-19 spending.
The Questions still need to be asked though because this Government has used debt as a slush fund any time a problem has surfaced and large sums of money have been needed, camera’s on our fishing trawlers is one that comes to mind, so hide and decieve has been a major factor in their Governance.
Or is this just another chance for Treasury to get there way on NZ Superannuation after two Prime Ministers John Key and Jacinda Ardern have stated that it will never happen under their watch as Prime Ministers of New Zealand.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300350259/treasury-warns-government-debt-is-on-unsustainable-trajectory-but-not-because-of-covid19-spending
I am sure like myself many New Zealanders dont trust this Government or the Finance Minister Grant Robertson so the distractions from Labour have been pushed to a higher level with this article so why the distractions now after the failure to secure trust on Jacinda Arden’s hate laws.
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July 6, 2021 8:00am
- Happychappy
  
  You would think that if Treasury are as concerned as they have indicated in this article they would have produced believable figures on the cost of climate change and the billions of dollar this will also cost moving forward to the long term, but no Jacinda’s call is already costing billions without the Country being fully aware of what its cost will be to them.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:43am
- Simon
  
  Swings and roundabouts. Get your National Super but in years to come there will not be enough nurses to look after the elderly. The nurses will be overseas as they cant afford the taxes here.
  
  The national super / tax problem cant be solved with the current shower of shit in Wellington or the current political set up. The problem is the big state. If you cut National Super and save taxes they will just piss the money elsewhere. Cut the size of the state. Make the family the center of life in NZ not the state.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:45am
- JamesP
  
  The reporting on this is bs. Money and debt are fungible. You can readily adjust current borrowing but not an ageing population. So to say it’s not the current borrowing that’s the issue but some future known circumstances is facile.
  
  A bit like rolling into the bank at age 60 asking for a big mortgage top-up, telling the banker you’re definitely retiring at 65, but saying it’s all ok because you can meet the payments because you’re working.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:46am
- peterwn
  
  Much Covid19 related expenditure was taxpayer funded electioneering expenditure.
  Presumably until Winston has started his new career (daisy pushing) governments are going to be wary of tinkering with NZ Super.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:05am
- Nickc2
  
  Every time the shit hits the fan, out comes another diversionary headline from the Govt’s bought and paid for media wing. This time they are using the pension scheme to divert attention from the Hate Speech control mechanism and the Maori separatist plan currently referred to as the He Puapua Report.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:09am
- Loddenthinks
  
  What’s your objection to cameras on fishing boats, HC? You’ve mentioned it a few times I believe.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:56am
  - Happychappy
    
    I have mention it about three times I think , I have no objections to Camera’s on our fishing Fleet and condemned Winston Peter’s and Shane Jones for their policy.
    It is the sneaky way David Parker went about paying for this policy weeks after he announced that all fishing trawlers would now have Camera’s and used COVID-19 fund to pay for them.
    I believe this is wrong just like I believe Grant Robertson uses COVID-19 funds as a fund for electioneering.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:18am
    - Happychappy
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/kate-macnamara-does-adding-cameras-to-fishing-boats-really-warrant-emergency-covid-funding/LZPAHMBS22HWHWVRMMT5QZD2JE/
      
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      July 6, 2021 10:26am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Jacinda says she’s in charge of govt spending, not Parliament. Does she have to relearn the lessons from history?
      
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      July 6, 2021 12:45pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      All good – I think cameras on trawlers are an absolute necessity, and believe the fishing companies should be paying for them as a cost of doing business.
      
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      July 6, 2021 12:56pm
      - Happychappy
        
        Couldn’t agree with you more we eat fish every week and if they don’t abide by the rules we won’t get the chance to eat it when we want.
        
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        July 6, 2021 1:41pm
- John Pakes
  
  A complete balls-up of an interpretation of what Treasury said Happychappy. Your first sentence is a mirror of the news item but after that you introduce only your conjectures.
  What the article is saying is that our superannuation problem will not go away and needs to be addressed.
  Thats all, nothing about slush funds etc.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:59am
  - Happychappy
    
    I thought Blogs were all about opinions like your allowed your and if I don’t believe in it you have the right to criticize as long as it is not trolling or abusive . I put up links and the start of whats need to start the conversation, most times it’s what I believe which in my opinion is what I have done, so prove me wrong about the slush fund David Parker used and I will apologize for my comment.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:22am
    - John Pakes
      
      Indeed, and opinions are open to conjecture and should be critiqued whenever.
      It may have been your opinion but I am entitled to disagree, and say so.
      
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      July 6, 2021 1:57pm
- Liberty
  
  A Treasury report written by some lefty academic on a gold plated government salary
  
  Blaming superannuants for the economy heading towards financial ruin.
  It is true superannuants cost the state. But the ones who have had a real job in the private sector have just spent 40 odd years being forced to pay towards it.
  That is not the problem.
  Government servants it is just a drop in salary. They have been burden for 40 years
  Nothing changes.
  
  It is simply the Government spending too much on the wrong things.
  
  Such as Government vanity projects
  Rail, State radio,TV, Arts , Overseas aid, Antarctica,
  Closing of productive land to save snails.
  Pumped power stations.
  Bike bridges
  America cup
  
  The unjustifiable increase in the size of the state workforce.
  There are thousands of drones ( such as Treasury academics) who spend the day producing nothing of substance. Writing reports that no one cares a stuff about. can’t be justified.
  
  Mollycoddling the unemployed
  Paying for bums to spend the day on the couch when there is apples
  to be picked.
  
  Imposing a mythical theory of Global warming
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:43am
- rouppe
  
  Their assertions seem confusing. The “ageing population” always referred to aging baby boomers.
  
  In 2060 the 65 cohort are those born 1985 to 1995 or thereabouts. That is, the Millennials.
  
  I thought this was a significantly smaller cohort to the baby boomers
  
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  July 6, 2021 12:33pm
krazykiwi

As suspected, the Pharma-originated declarations of their vaccine efficiency are starting to wilt in the face of real world observations.

[ In Israel] The vaccine had a 64% efficacy rate from early June until early July, the latest figures show, down from 94% a month earlier.
:::
Over half (55%) of the new infections are in fully vaccinated people, according to recent data. Since the country has fully vaccinated about 60% of the population, this suggests the vaccine is not protecting from infection very much at all (less even than the new stated efficacy figure of 64%).
:::
The pattern of outbreaks in highly vaccinated countries such as Bahrain, Seychelles, Maldives and Chile and the fact that the vaccines don’t produce mucosal IgA antibodies has suggested for a while that their effectiveness against infection may have been exaggerated in studies.

… but not to worry …

The Israeli Government is now discussing the need for a third booster shot, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has said people will “likely” need a third dose within 12 months of getting “fully vaccinated”.
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July 6, 2021 8:00am
- krazykiwi
  
  Mrs kk just suggested that this is vaccine socialism: the medicine doesn’t work as promised, so what’s needed is more medicine.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:10am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Worse still: We are told that Covid-19 is sneaky and can adapt, hence the need for severe lock downs.
    
    The vaccine is an mRNA mechanism which even the inventor doubts is safe.
    https://www.westernjournal.com/inventor-mrna-vaccine-asks-one-inconvenient-question-looks-like-plausible-scenario/
    
    Moderna has stated that the mRNA could reverse engineer DNA if the patient was immune compromised, but stated it was unlikely, but because trials were never carried out ‘unlikely’ has an indeterminate value.
    
    If the vaccine is not taking control of the virus, the virus is taking control of the mRNA vaccine, and compromising the immune systems of the victims.
    
    If the vaccine is failing to create an immune response, the virus can have a field day, but now it is armed with remnants of an mRNA mechanism.
    
    Rather like terrorists gaining control of the nuclear warheads and launch codes. What could possibly go wrong?
    
    “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” All in the pursuit of scandalous profits.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:29am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  “Over half (55%) of the new infections are in fully vaccinated people, …”
  
  Is the PCR “test” amplifying fragments of the mRNA from the vaccine and this is being misinterpreted as evidence of the presence of the coronavirus?
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:13am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  but what is the case fatality rate now? suggestion is that the vaccines drop it to about 3-5% of unvaccinated.
  
  Seems to me that vaccines are probably not a good idea for anyone under 30 given the risks they pose and low risk from covid for younguns, but they make sense for older people – particularly 60+ and anyone with comorbidities.
  
  Oh; and govt are being appallingly negligent in not pushing the cheap safe prophylatic options for reducing risk – Vit D, zinc (even ignoring ivermectin and others), and particularly weight loss + a little exercise (fatties die or otherwise clog up hospitals at much higher rates than non fatties). Educating the public on these basic things would cost almost nothing, and could prevent perhaps half of all covid deaths
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:21am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘Oh; and govt are being appallingly negligent in not pushing the cheap safe prophylatic options for reducing risk ‘
    
    That will come much further down the road , as the cost and ineffectiveness of the vaccines become more apparent.
    
    But at the moment they don’t want anything to compromise their sole strategy out of their stupidly imposed lockdowns , “vaccination”.
    
    Once again Mencken ;
    
    “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
    
    H. L. Mencken
    
    Note they do the same thing with so called global warming . The only answer is carbon , to a very complex issue.
    
    Idiots or fascists , I’m not sure which they are . Maybe both.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:21am
  - John Pakes
    
    “Zinc” !! This will help prevent Covid deaths? Show me the science.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:01am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Sure:
      https://c19zinc.com/zmeta.html
      It’s basically harmless as a supplement, and a lot of people are deficient (same as Vitamin D), having a sufficiency improves your immune system making it better able to fight off pathogens
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:01am
    - cmm
      
      Zinc and Vit D are basic building blocks for the immune system.
      
      If you have a stronger immune system it means you have a better chance of fighting off all infections.
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:17am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Here you go, John
      
      Fill your boots.
      
      You’re welcome.
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:19am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Also …
      
      Zinc and quercetin
      
      Zinc inhibits RNA polymerase activity of coronaviruses and thus blocks virus replication. Quercetin (a plant polyphenol) supports the cellular absorption of zinc and has additional anti-viral properties.
      
      A Spanish study found that low plasma zinc levels (below 50mcg/dl) increased the risk of in-hospital death of covid patients by 130%.
      
      US studies found an 84% decrease/a> in hospitalizations and a 45% decrease in mortality based on risk-stratified early treatment with zinc and HCQ.
      
      A US case study reported a rapid resolution of covid symptoms, such as shortness of breath, based on early outpatient treatment with high-dose zinc.
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:27am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Plant polyphenols are amazing. King Tut had some in his tomb.
        
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        July 6, 2021 12:48pm
  - Ruawai
    
    You can’t fat shame these days, it will be called hate speech.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:13am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Yep, a sign of the times that reporting reality is being criminalised. Wuflu risk graphed against BMI:
      https://els-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/cms/attachment/8d5c762d-0a39-4130-a358-d68838e55273/gr1.jpg
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:07am
- Cinematic
  
  And Boris has finally announced the UK is ready to face reality. Covid is a respiratory illness, like many over thousands of years humankind will learn to live with. Go figure.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:22am
  - kowtow
    
    Only cos the clown is being pushed by the likes of Javid and Sunak .
    
    There’s one for the anti racists who constantly attck the ‘lack of diversity’ in theUK.
    
    Three top ministers are of Indian extraction . Where’s the racism?
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:24am
  - cmm
    
    We learned to live with Spanish Flu which was, arguably about 300x worse.
    
    The pandemic drifted into the background and persists as H1N1 which shows its head from time to time.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:19am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  So we are now at triple jab with permanent booster jabs on the horizon.
  Be interesting to see the status quo when these vaccines are accredited in next few years.
  Talk about gold posts moving.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:47am
  - Weetbix3ways
    
    At least it’s good for Pfizer shareholders, right?!
    
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    July 6, 2021 8:58am
    - RoboRob
      
      Shure hope so.
      
      Disclaimer : Pfizer shareholder
      
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      July 6, 2021 9:08am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    The problem is, it is my gold the bastards are moving!
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:08am
- Simon
  
  Will have to wait about 6 weeks. No doubt some clown will point out deaths and hospital rates are down. But they lag. Sit down you clown.
  
  The Ro vaxxs might not be good or they might not be good against the delta variant. Dont know yet.
  
  With the Ro vaxx people who have problems its usually after the second jab. Third jab will be worse than second. What a train wreck.
  
  Those who want the Ro vaxx get it and those that dont dont. Then open up by December 21.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:51am
  - Frank the tank
    
    LOL. Do you really think the Blairite, St Ash and Squealer will give away the one thing electorally that they can point to a debatable success.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:40am
    - Ruawai
      
      Bet the jabs were always coming on Sunday but the Govt said Tuesday so when jabs came in on Sunday they could say they are ahead of schedule, all part of the smoke and mirrors.
      
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      July 6, 2021 10:15am
- Deane Jessep
  
  Joe Rogan recently gambled against the mainstream by hosting two deplatformed experts on his 11M per episode daily podcast.
  
  The core topic was that treatment protocols with the out of patent (unprofitable) drug Ivermectin are prophylactic, treatments, and a likely cure for Covid-19. It’s also effective on alleviating symptoms of Long Covid, and various post vaccine syndromes.
  https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uVXKgE6eLJKMXkETwcw0D?si=7k9SsF_STyi6aV7EYJXW6w&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1
  
  It is very good, and left me questioning the entire point of the vaccine program.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:49am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Vaccines still appear to be better than prophylactic drugs – dropping risk to about 5%, vs best of the drugs at maybe 10%
    https://c19early.com/
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:09am
tf78

Petition on change.org to the Governor General to have Jacinda Ardern resign as Prime Minister. Over 14,300 signatures so far – get to it folks.
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July 6, 2021 8:02am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  https://www.change.org/p/the-governer-general-of-new-zealand-the-resignation-of-jacinda-ardern-as-new-zealand-s-prime-minister
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:26am
- Tall Man
  
  http://chng.it/xSJBJyHW9K
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:40am
- Thought Criminal
  
  If it gets significant numbers, change will take it down.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:03am
Yvette

He Puapua
Labour’s revision of history to be taught in schools must surely be truely screwed when they can’t get correct something as simple as the history of New Zealand signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Nor can much be said for the media when they confuse the same matter by writing “New Zealand signed up to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010 under the leadership of John Key” without expanding on that at all.

Those blaming National for the origins of He Puapua should read any report of Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples’ speech to the United Nations, signing New Zealand up to the Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
one link is – NZ does U-turn on rights charter
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3599153/NZ-does-U-turn-on-rights-charter

Short version: Pita Sharples said the Declaration was aspirational but New Zealand was sticking with their unique Treaty of Waitangi.

Two of the paragraphs –
8. In moving to support the Declaration, New Zealand both affirms those rights and reaffirms the legal and constitutional frameworks that underpin New Zealand’s legal system. Those existing frameworks, while they will continue to evolve in accordance with New Zealand’s domestic circumstances, define the bounds of New Zealand’s engagement with the aspirational elements of the Declaration.

9. In particular, where the Declaration sets out aspirations for rights to and restitution of traditionally held land and resources, New Zealand has, through its well-established processes for resolving Treaty claims, developed its own distinct approach.

The diversion Labour is promoting is outright dishonest obfuscation – simply just a fucking lie.
It is bizarre that Willie Jackson, to advance an agenda that is so based on ‘history’, will actually pervert history – in a matter that is only 11 years and a couple of months ago.

And, why Judith Collins does not quote Sharples’ UN speech, I do not know.

Jackson, when he announced plans to engage with Māori and then the wider public to develop a roadmap for the UN pact, said He Puapua is not Government policy and is not the plan.
“From a Government perspective we are not advancing that report. Our focus is on this public consultation process now.”
So based on what actual discussion document?
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July 6, 2021 8:03am
- KevO'Brien
  
  All Maori hooey. Plotting behind our backs?
  Who wins? Waikato? Ngai Tahu? Nga Puhi?
  They’re smarter than we are because we are unfamiliar with their culturally approved games.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:24am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    No, we are pretty well up to play on the ‘mug whitey’ game
    
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    July 6, 2021 8:30am
  - kowtow
    
    Not so much who wins , as who loses .
    
    Taxpayers .
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:26am
- krazykiwi
  
  Well sleuthed, Yvette. It’s a shame our media (aka press release re-publishers) don’t include more folks with your investigative skills.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:24am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    You spelled churnalist wrong bro
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:43am
- Tricati
  
  Well said Yvette – Collins is trying to push back on National instigated the direction but she isn’t getting the coverage. It will need some brave soul in the MSM to run a piece quoting Sharples’ UN speech to get real traction.
  The more Joe public gets to hear about the ramifications of Jackson’s/Mahuta’s view of He Puapua, and the subversive way they are implementing aspects (Maori Wards, Water changes, Higher payment for Maori researchers & Contracts offered to Maori based business etc); then people may start taking interest in what Judith and David Seymour are saying.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:34am
  - Happychappy
    
    I went to a National Party meeting last Monday 28th June and Judith Collins was the Speaker, well as I have said before I was not a fan mostly for the dirty washing she carries but I now take that back after her speech.
    Jacinda Ardern owns these policy’s was her reply and just because she has farmed them out to Willie Jackson, and Chris Faafoi when the going has got tough doesn’t mean that it wasn’t her idea to push through these policy’s that will end up deviding New Zealander’s was her call.
    She is now calling for partisanship from the opposition so she can blame everyone except herself if it and the Hate Speech law fails or passes as Jacinda Ardern is all about herself and won’t want New Zealander’s thinking it was her that initiated these Bill’s.
    Judith Collins thinks making Jacinda Ardern own these divisive policy’s is the way to make people see how Jacinda Ardern works.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:30am
  - Nickc2
    
    Agree. The He Puapua Report/Plan is currently being implemented piecemeal as you have outlined. By the time Cindy declares it’s not Labour Policy, it will be too late, it’ll be job done (implemented by stealth).
    Who do we blame then? I would blame National for being too engaged in their internal problems to do due diligence to the interests of the majority of NZers. BTW, I am a National supporter.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:52am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Because National could not possibly have anticipated a future Labour government would use this declaration as a wedge to open the door to all sorts of nonsense that National did not agree too.
  
  We all have the same rights. Therefore just the mention of ‘indigenous rights’ should alert anyone that the whole thing is likely to be dangerous nonsense and keep well away from it. National has to take a share of the blame for opening the door to this.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:58am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The bill of Rights doesn’t allow it. Citizens have equality not diversity unless they have all turned gender fluid.
    
    This lawlessness of govt has to be stopped. These takeover proposals affect the whole nation so they are not properly hidden. They would likely require a change to the bill of Rights to even consider the ideas. What is a common right does not disappear through private talks and plotting. My, my children, my grandchildren and gt grandchildren’s futures are affected. The concept of returning to tikanga with utu is beyond the boundaries. If Maori want that then they can go and live in the Auckland Islands, if the penguins will let them.
    
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    July 6, 2021 1:03pm
    - GJM
      
      Talk of the bill of rights is a waste of time. Unlike the US constitution, it carries no weight and parliament can pass any law they want that ignores it. The courts will happily uphold the law that is against the BoR. This has beenmprven many times. A recent case is the banning of certain types of,ammunition without compensation, firearms owners were expected to hand it into the police without even the measily compensation offered for the confiscated guns. The court ruling was that the law was wrong, but that parliament was sovereign so tough luck. This of course sets a precedent for any other confiscation. Maybe uses will be next.
      
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      July 6, 2021 9:34pm
- John Pakes
  
  But John Key did sign up for it. Our signature is on the page.
  Pita Sharples did showcase our own efforts at the UN, but we did sign the document.
  He did say that we would stick to our own Treaty, as we believe that the Treaty goes a long way to satisfying the aims of the UN Bill.
  He Puapua was commissioned to make sure we can meet the needs of a Bill that John Key signed up to
  It is not Government Policy, it had not been looked at by Cabinet, it was not ready to see the light of day but silly David and Judith dragged it out into the open, obviously for no reason but politics.
  Now all that Judith and David have achieved is to raise the aspirations of Maori beyond the bar of what probably would have been a watered down He Puapua. So we are stuck with this version and any backdown will be met by cries of colonialism.
  Thanks for nothing, Judith and David.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:13am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Exposing these ‘aspirations’ (race-based aims) to daylight was never a mistake.
    The Maori wards, separate Maori health authority with veto of the central health authority, the sovereignty and grievance narrative into children’s education, the re-titling and every government appendage and department as Maori, and now the ‘proposed’ Maori-fied centralisation of water authorities (all set for a future hijacking) and with millions to be spent on promoting that authority are all He Puapua ‘aspirations’ by stealth.
    
    Nania and Willie etc. previously seemed lazy and stupid respectively – but I realise they are actually moving very determinedly behind the scenes, and shrewd.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:14am
  - Yabster
    
    wow thanks for insight into a deluded lefties mind- so its Judith and Davids fault we are in this crap shoot because they made a dishonest party front up to the report they commissioned and hid from the public (because the public would be too dumb to take in the details according to Princess) – keep hammering the Key line – usual lefty wank diversion tactics- ignore the fact that its non binding. You are the very reason why this country is in the crap- well done dumbo.
    
    [Try and contribute more than name calling and insults, or just dial back the rhetoric a bit – Mod]
    
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    July 6, 2021 12:49pm
    - kloyd0306
      
      Batman strikes again.
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:49pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It was dragged out by Nanaia Mahuta on behalf of herself, Waikato and who knows who else.
    
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    July 6, 2021 1:28pm
    - John Pakes
      
      Read Newsroom of May 11. Act and the National Party were given a leaked copy which lead directly to the current conversation that Adern was trying to avoid as it was not Government policy. All that David and Judith achieved was to stoke the conversation when He Puapua had not been considered properly.
      Now we are stuck with it. Thanks again David and Judith.
      
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      July 6, 2021 2:14pm
      - Yabster
        
        Labour commissioned the report ffs. Not Government policy huh- Maori wards, Maori History slant taught in schools, renaming Government departments, Maori Health Board- all in the report, all implemented by coincidence huh -spare me the bs.
        
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        July 6, 2021 3:51pm
      - zulumonster
        
        Yeah – should have left it for the Maori Party and Labour to consider in secret, implement by stealth (was already happening) and then announce as fait accompli to the sleep-walking public …
        Oh National, what have you done???!!!
        
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        July 6, 2021 3:55pm
  - tf78
    
    John Pakes, if Maori sign up to He Paupau don’t they then have to answer to the UN or didn’t they think of that.
    
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    July 6, 2021 4:53pm
  - kloyd0306
    
    Hope your view from Fraser House is nice…..
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:49pm
- oldfella
  
  Yvette, I’m waiting for some enterprising ‘journalist’ to ask Pita Sharples about the current drive to enact He Puapua.
  And his thoughts on the Maori Party, now hijacked by extremists dressed as steam punks.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:53am
  - theoldbloke
    
    https://www.thebigq.org/2018/07/16/was-it-worth-it-pita-sharples-reflects-on-the-un-declaration-of-indigenous-rights/
    
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    July 6, 2021 1:02pm
    - oldfella
      
      oldbloke, that’s a 2018 article. Sharples needs to be asked today for his current thinking.
      
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      July 6, 2021 5:02pm
- Akarak
  
  And just so we don’t forget, a timely reminder from Hobson’s choice:-
  
  ‘Just in case any readers are hazy on what He Puapua is all about, the plan prescribes:
  A fully bicultural sphere of solely Crown governance that includes Parliament, the Beehive, and the civil service, as currently exists, to govern the 4.5 million non-Maori citizens of New Zealand.
  A sphere of solely Maori governance, with the same level of authority and responsibility as shown in the diagram above to govern the half million citizens of Maori descent.
  The two spheres will overlap creating a “co-governance sphere” in which the Crown and Maori share governance in “matters of mutual concern”.
  Progress towards two governments would be monitored by a group named the Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Group, a group created by the Iwi Leaders Group.
  The Crown will be accountable to the United Nations for setting this up.
  The plan would extend the model of the separate Maori health authority, which is currently under construction, to the entire government.’
  Is this the New Zealand we really want?
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:52am
  - rockape
    
    If the UN backs this will they also back the same in the UK? That Asians, West Indians, Polish and other East Europeans should have less rights and benefits as the indigenous people.?
    
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    July 6, 2021 1:41pm
krazykiwi

How the WHO redefined ‘herd immunity’ from

Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.

.. to ..

‘Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.

We modern humans owe our very existence to the active work of natural, original herd immunity. You are I are the genetically strengthened by-product of millions of years of improvements in the programming of our immune systems. Of course this has happed long before big pharma arrived to profit from the propaganda spread by our leaders.
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July 6, 2021 8:07am
- Cinematic
  
  It’s hard to imagine a more arrogant definition of herd immunity than that new one. What a bunch of nutters.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:25am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    That is not a new definition. It is the dictionary definition and has not changed since vaccines were invented. In the 50s.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:22am
    - Phronesis
      
      It’s certainly a change in definition from when I studied post-grad level immunology. It’s also a change from the dictionary definition https://www.dictionary.com/browse/herd-immunity
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:27am
    - krazykiwi
      
      The WHO changed their definition from the first, to the second in March 2020. Any thoughts as to why?
      
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      July 6, 2021 11:44am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I just checked six dictionaries, a nursing textbook, and a vaccine reference guide. The definition has not changed for at least a decade m
        
        “the immunity or resistance to a particular infection that occurs in a group of people or animals when a very high percentage of individuals have been vaccinated or previously exposed to the infection.”
        
        Indeed the concept of herd immunity is central to knowing what percentage of people need to be vaccinated for any disease.
        
        You can debate the efficacy of the covid vaccines but you are barking up wrong tree here. Maybe the who changed definition because ALL herd immunity for all serious viruses is always achieved by vaccines. Since the 1960s we don’t rely on epidemics to do the job.
        
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        July 6, 2021 12:00pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Just an addendum.
        
        Can you name any infectious disease since 1970 where herd immunity is achieved by any means other than vaccination?
        
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        July 6, 2021 12:06pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Can you name any infectious disease since 1970 where herd immunity is achieved by any means other than vaccination?
        
        This year’s common cold. Yes, it will kill some people but the vast majority of sufferers have immune systems that respond as desired .. and without vaccination.
        
        What is significant about 1970?
        
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        July 6, 2021 4:06pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Maybe the who changed definition because ALL herd immunity for all serious viruses is always achieved by vaccines. Since the 1960s we don’t rely on epidemics to do the job
        
        Did you get vaccinated against SARS, or MERS? WHO’s definition of herd immunity included ‘immunity developed through previous infection’ when those epidemics were in full swing. But they changed it just in time for the most corner-cutting, most lucrative vaccine development in history. Why?
        
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        July 6, 2021 4:12pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “This year’s common cold.”
        
        No there is no herd immunity against the common cold!! That is why at any one time thousands of people are infected.
        
        1970 MMR vaccine. Stopped mumps rubella measles.
        
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        July 6, 2021 4:37pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Did you get vaccinated against SARS, or MERS?”
        
        There were no vaccines!
        
        BTW MERS was lethal 30 percent death rate. Good thing it was not very contagious.
        
        I don’t know where this debate is heading. The covid pandemic will be brought under control through vaccines. You can tilt into the wind against that. But it is the only way out.
        
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        July 6, 2021 5:56pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      The present vaccines are not vaccine by the expected definition.
      
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      July 6, 2021 2:56pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Whatever. Horse owners literally demonstrated against cars in 1092 because cars were not transport.
        
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        July 6, 2021 5:58pm
- I remember when
  
  Will vaccinated immunity eventually result in weakness in our immunity systems.
  Does our immune system improve its resistance because of casual contacts as well as by catching diseases.
  Do ‘casual’ contacts result in a form of gradual variant strain immunity.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:34am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Logical questions, to remain unanswered.
    
    14 2
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    July 6, 2021 9:04am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Do you really expect someone on KB knows the answer to these questions?
      
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      December 6, 2020 9:19am
      - Cassandra
        
        You’re here, Ian.
        
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        July 6, 2021 9:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I do. No no and no.
        
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        July 6, 2021 10:18am
  - Tall Man
    
    Just a few random snippets from some articles that I read recently.
    
    I have long believed that the common cold does boost your immune system and a healthy immune system does allow you to fight of many illnesses that would take hold in your body without it.
    
    Most of the comments below are above my paygrade but they have helped me form my opinion that the current covid pandemic efforts are a major overreaction.
    
    “More than 50% of all common colds are caused by human rhinoviruses (HRVs) and coronaviruses (HCoVs).1 2 3”
    
    “However, there are an estimated 200 different cold viruses—and you will rarely face the same one twice.”
    
    “The problem when it comes to the common cold is that each of the different viruses have unique sets of proteins. While it might be possible to make a vaccine to one cold virus, that wouldn’t protect you against the other 199.”
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:13am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, agreed. Our immune system is designed by nature & our genetics to resist invading organisms – viruses, bacteria etc. But to develop that resistance, we first have to be exposed to the ‘invaders’.
      A few days ago, there were a couple of doctors on the news explaining how the cause of an upsurge in respiratory infections in infants, is because they were closed up & not exposed to the organisms last year.
      I have been saying this for over a year – the response to the ‘shamdemic was a major over-reaction, and that we are damaging/weakening our immune systems by not being exposed to the virus or any other bugs that hang around in the ” ‘flu season”..
      
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      July 6, 2021 10:25am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Will vaccinated immunity eventually result in weakness in our immunity systems.
    
    Based on my reading, the answer is ‘Generally, no’ for traditional vaccines.
    
    For mRNA-based treatments which, using a WHO definition, are in fact gene therapies, the answer is less clear. Lots of research being done in this area so I guess we’ll know more soon.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:57am
  - Phronesis
    
    You’re quite right. We frequently interact with a whole range of viruses and we have a level of immunity to most of them such that we don’t notice that we are “sick”. The small variations between old and new are added to the library as it were and life goes on. Only when something really novel (to us) comes along do we get sick, because our immune systems don’t react fast enough, and then may overreact. You might be interested in this blog post by Matt Ridley on some of the likely consequences of messing with the way things have evolved to be over millenia: https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/stresses-and-strains/
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:35am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Only when something really novel (to us) comes along do we get sick
      
      Yup. Try cutting yourself on live coral for a good example!
      
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      July 6, 2021 4:13pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Vaccine’s work by simulating an infection and encouraging our immune systems to respond to “black hat” markers which are firing blanks.
    
    When the real “black hats” arrive our immune systems should in theory recognize them straight away and blast them away before they can get off too much live ammo.
    
    Hence traditional immunization doesn’t (and never has) guarantee 100% immunity, but high immunity and good resistance in the event of infection.
    
    It would appear that the estimates of immunity have been exaggerated, a more important question is whether the vaccines have resulted in better resistance in the most vulnerable of the population?
    
    So to answer the first question vaccines don’t weaken our immune system, they basically add to our immune systems database of pathogens, and an appropriate response.
    
    Lockdowns however will reduce our casual exposure a variety of everyday pathogens and over time weaken our immune reaction.
    
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    July 6, 2021 12:16pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I’m sorry but the “existence” that you have today free of smallpox, dyptheria, polio, tetanus, hepatitis, and about 10 others is ALL down to vaccines.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:17am
  - Tall Man
    
    Opinion or fact?
    
    https://undercurrents723949620.wordpress.com/2021/05/22/how-many-have-died-from-covid-vaccines/
    
    If there was an issue, would you concede?
    
    Cheers
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:58pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Given that view, would you encourage parents to vaccinate their children against the 15 diseases covered by childhood vaccines or would you leave it to their immune systems?
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:51am
  - Tall Man
    
    Ok, I’ll bite.
    
    Comparing covid to the diseases that you have mentioned is just bloody silly. plus children have been proven to have little to fear from covid and will probably develope a natural immunity given normal exposure.
    
    It is patently obvious to most of us that the vaccine does not stop you from getting covid but may reduce the impact therefore in my mind, those at risk from covid induced side effects should be looking to get vaccinated. The rest of us can decide yay or nay based on individual preferences or if it becomes a requirement for something like travel.
    
    So far we have had numerous variants of the killer disease with the media and some governments ramping up the fear yet the actual annual death rate in most of the affected countries seems to be only up a few percenatage points over other “normal” high point years.
    
    So, when covid is as effective at killing babies as diptheria or crippling adults as hepatitus then I will be as strident as you are nagging at people about vaccination. Until then, I will try to ignore the hyperbole and practice my usual influenza avoidance techniques and stay as healthy as I can.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:12am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Yes, I would. I was so vaccinated, and so were our children. The current narrative is that vaccination against Covid-19 is the only way to save humanity, and to allow the return of our stolen civil liberties. This is narrative manifestly fraudulent, and that is the basis of my pushback.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:38am
  - Inandout
    
    BY, show me a C19 victim who lives in an iron lung. I was speaking to a chap who lived through the 1949 polio epidemic and he said the effects were tragic and long running. He said the current flu propaganda is getting out of hand and is scaring the wits out of much of the population. You can learn to live with this virus while other more important diseases await.
    
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    July 6, 2021 12:47pm
    - Tall Man
      
      My aunty lived in one for years until medication upscaled enough to get her out.
      
      Vaccinations are vital when the disease is really really serious … covid is not 😉
      
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      July 6, 2021 9:16pm
KevO'Brien

British Colombia returning to normalcy?
The Plandemic: A Sudden Tyranny Imposed by an Entity that Shall Remain Unnamed
https://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-leading-way-back-normalcy/5749315
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July 6, 2021 8:10am
- kowtow
  
  Normality.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:47am
- Pharmachick
  
  We’re all going back to work after 18 mo at home. No social distancing required and masks recommended inside but not required. I’ll let you know how it works out… Second shot tomorrow so…
  
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  July 6, 2021 12:40pm
KevO'Brien

Meaningless testing as a way of control?
https://www.globalresearch.ca/nucleic-acid-testing-technologies-use-polymerase-chain-reaction-pcr-detection-sars-cov-2/5739959

WHO denies it’s own regime–Where test results do not correspond with the clinical presentation, a new specimen should be taken and retested.
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July 6, 2021 8:15am
KevO'Brien

Hazardous (PM’s face included)
New Zealand Lawyers Sue Government Over Alleged Carbon Budget Miscalculation
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July 6, 2021 8:16am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Add this ref from today’s ODT:
  https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/07/04/new-zealand-lawyers-sue-government-over-alleged-carbon-budget-miscalculation/
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:25am
- Yvette
  
  KevO’Brien, also in Newsroom –
  Overseas expert hits Climate Commission’s accounting
  The Climate Change Commission’s budgets would see New Zealand make shallower cuts to emissions over the next decade than may be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees …
  Joeri Rogelj is a lecturer in climate change at the Imperial College London and was coordinating lead author on the section of the landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that dealt with emission reduction pathways compatible with 1.5 degrees.
  
  The news comes as a non-profit coalition of more than 300 lawyers filed proceedings in the High Court against the commission and Climate Change Minister James Shaw, alleging similar “logical errors” mean the commission’s final advice on emissions budgets and New Zealand’s Paris target are not consistent with 1.5 degrees, the Paris Agreement or the Zero Carbon Act.
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/overseas-expert-hits-climate-commissions-accounting
  
  This comes after the Climate Commission issued “Ināia tonu nei: a low emissions future for Aotearoa” which employs a vast cultural appropriation of te reo Māori to say –
  
  The time is now, Ināia tonu nei, to lead the change we want to see and to remain steadfast to the values that underpin our nationhood—values like whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga. We recognise the power of being connected to each other, having an ethic of care, respect in the way we progress, and taking care of things for ourselves and our mokopuna.
  
  This work is led by science and considers the impact that climate action will have on the people of Aotearoa …
  We have worked in partnership with Iwi/Māori to develop our advice and incorporate te ao Māori into our mahi. It is critical government work with Iwi/Māori to develop and implement plans and policies, especially where impacts on, and opportunities for, Iwi/Māori are likely.
  
  Now that it seems the Commission has made mistakes, how much does their cultural appropriation smear Te Ao Maori ?
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:51am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    ” incorporate te ao Māori into our mahi.”
    
    A sure sign to stop reading further. I have no issues with Maori mythology so long as it is harmless. But the climate commission report should have been based on science and economics. Simple as that. And it failed.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:55am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Te ao Maori? Ow! indeed.
      
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      July 6, 2021 2:59pm
I remember when

“Means nothing different,” PM responds after after jab rollout date wording altered on Govt website.
Nothing to see here.
You haven’t had a jab and you aren’t going to get one yet.
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July 6, 2021 8:22am
- Flossie
  
  If it means nothing different then whose time and energy was wasted changing it?
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:33am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Ha ha. It has totally different meaning. Why can’t journalist say “Hello? And then explain the two meanings?”
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:57am
Simon

It’s Life or Deaf!! so a new range of taxation. No one is surprised.
Build back better = taxation. Labo are useless. Labo couldnt build a sand castle.

Stalin would have had them all shot by now.
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July 6, 2021 8:32am
Maggy Wassilieff

As Yvette has shown above, Labour employs a strategy to always blame somebody or something else when their policies begin to curdle..and our PM works it to a T.

Her first line of defence is the classic Pontius Pilate manoeuvre of shifting responsibility away from herself. If she isn’t identified as the driving force in the push for a law change, it will seem much less like a personal failure if the intense public reaction forces a backdown.

Interviewed last week, she said: “The reason we’re having this debate is because the Royal Commission of Inquiry [into the mosque attacks] said to the New Zealand Government, ‘You need to include religion.’”

It is a sentiment she has repeated in Parliament but the Royal Commission’s report was released publicly on December 8 last year while new hate speech laws were promised within weeks of the mosque attacks in 2019.

As well as trying to shift responsibility to the Royal Commission, Ardern appears to be looking to guarantee a way out for herself by declaring that such a law change requires bipartisan support.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/opinion-jacinda-ardern-knows-shes-in-trouble-over-proposed-hate-speech-laws/KIJLOTPLZCDOCRWHJCY6OZGSNY/
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July 6, 2021 8:32am
- kowtow
  
  And as the excellent Hillary Calvert points out , to paper over everything.
  
  ‘But the Government has a different approach to its lack of any carrying-out-plans function. It is to bury the issue with paperwork.
  
  We now have a never-ending series of reports and proposals and so-called business cases.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/govt-papering-over-its-inability-turn-words-action
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:55am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Time to remind ALL MP’s
  Royal Commissions
  Commissions of any kind
  Working groups
  Treasury
  Govt. departments
  etc
  Can ONLY make recommendations, the final decisions to enact them is the sole RESPONSIBILITY of MP’s.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:02am
- artemisia
  
  Thing is, Ms Ardern has positions and talking points provided to her. She is the figurehead, albeit with ideology, and must be protected at all costs. Because without her Labour are toast.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:33am
- crikey
  
  Ardern has no views of her own, deliberately, so that she can shift the responsibility away from herself.
  
  She is no leader, merely a figurehead which the rest of Labour parliamentarians are happy to go along with as long as she can keep them on the state payroll.
  
  Incidentally, I wonder whether Ardern would be where she is now if she had disclosed her radical intentions prior to being elected as Labour leader – in other words, to what extent do Labour politicians wholeheartedly support where she is taking the country.
  
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  July 6, 2021 4:29pm
  - Nickc2
    
    As intimated crikey, this Labour Govt are followers, not leaders. That’s why their policies are courtesy of the UN.
    
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    July 6, 2021 7:26pm
MCos

About twenty four hours ago there was a huge chemical explosion in a Taiwan owned factory a couple of kilometres from the Bangkok airport.
It was felt up to nine ks away & seventy homes were damaged. Due to the danger of further explosions people within a radius of five ks were told to evacuate. (Good luck with that).
In the meantime last I heard the fire was still out of control with toxic black smoke billowing into the sky heading towards our neighbourhood 5.2km away.
When there is a protest in the street millions is spent on all sorts of water cannon and other crowd control paraphernalia with one of the world’s biggest military as back up.
Apparently this fire is being fought by private companies because the fire service is woeful.
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July 6, 2021 8:37am
- peterwn
  
  You mean Thailand, not Taiwan?
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:13am
  - MCos
    
    No
    The factory is owned by a Taiwan company in Bangkok, Thailand.
    
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    July 6, 2021 11:00am
- MCos
  
  The fire was put out around midnight (5am NZT). An hour later a fourth explosion set it off again.
  The fire was extinguished again at 5am (10am NZT)
  
  There’s a lot of factories, housing plus the airport in that area. Also about 4km down the road a mega shopping centre that stayed open yesterday to nobody’s surprise.
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:18am
Greg Ettridge

Yesterday the EV tax was called a “poxy little
subsidy “ on this blog.
The Japanese auction houses have worked out it is poxy but not little for them.
It’s only a quarter billion being ripped out of tax payers pockets.
Bottom line, The EV buyers in NZ are paying the same they would without subsidy.
This may have been thought up on the back of a fish n chip wrapper.
Bat shit crazy for public, great cash grab for government and the Japanese auction houses.
But eh, think of all that coal that can be burnt from Borneo to save the planet fuelling these toys.
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July 6, 2021 8:39am
- kowtow
  
  Yes , any first year Economics student could have told them that about subsidies .
  
  How the hell these muppets ruling us don’t understand the very basics , and yet their vote is still holding up.
  
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  July 6, 2021 8:57am
  - RoboRob
    
    Yup. It was a Labour govt that finally removed tarrifs and subsidies and eventually NZ realised that we were better off without them. Same with communisim, we can look at history and see it to be a failure.
    
    Unfortunately this current government and many others on the left seem unable to learn from history.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:14am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    A first year Economics student should have told them the ability 0f manufacturers to capture the subsidy depends on how much competition there is among manufacturers and the size of the overall market compared to the number eligible for the subsidy. If we are willing to spend $5000 more but we are only a fraction of the entire market, it is not plausible that the market price will rise by $5000.
    
    However the student should probably also have told them the policy is idiotic for other reasons.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:07am
  - Paulus
    
    Their vote is holding up because they do not have a clue so maintain the status quo, as Cindy will do next election !
    
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    July 6, 2021 2:04pm
- Ruawai
  
  Labour let ideology get in the way of common sense and seeing the unintended consequences of their actions.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:23am
This is not a love story

Yeah, nah. Christ the National Party is starting to move! Nothing quite like selling at the peak except buying at the trough. Except you never quite know the bottom until it’s moving up. Time to pile in again? Meets Buffet’s criteria – small regional business, loyal customers, growth prospects, family owned. Not so sure about the management though. Could be a problem there. Spoke to Finlayson about this and all he said was ‘Fiat Lux’! Hah, let there be soap! I bet he thinks a state house boy doesn’t know any Latin. Well, he might think he is being obscure, but I know there is only one Unilever guy in caucus. Not saying who though, not even thinking it. Better have Chris round to dinner (not saying which one), make sure I’m in the loop early so I can buy at the right time. And Fiat! Hah! Not its not the car, its one in the eye for the blockchainers! Findo’s 3 dimensional chess again, saying three things at once. Effing blockchainers don’t have real money anyway, and I have no regrets about blowing off those pimply programmers. Yeah, nah.
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July 6, 2021 8:44am
- DeepBlue
  
  What are you trying to communicate to readers? Shares, buying low, selling high, inside info etc but the rest….
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:11am
  - This is not a love story
    
    Thanks for asking DeepBlue. It is a satirical channelling of the internal dialogue of a made up character – the ‘Yeah, Nah’ character. The purpose is to laugh at current events, laugh at that character, and to laugh at myself. I think I’ll call it nada dada, to acknowledge Barrie Humphries.
    
    You might think the ‘Yeah, Nah’ character bears a certain resemblance to somebody. I couldn’t possibly comment. But if that person found it funny too, then that would be success.
    
    See below for the internal dialogue of the “Look Gaia is in trouble character” for another example (once it is through moderation).
    
    My fundamental motivation is that the cure to many ills, including the culture wars, is to take ourselves a little bit less seriously …
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:51am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Have you been smoking something?
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:00pm
krazykiwi

If you are a Lord of the Rings junkie, have no idea what ‘Cishetero Amatonormativity’ is, and would like to know what jucy, woke morsels are in store for you in Amazon Prime’s forthcoming Lord of the Rings series, then read this.
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July 6, 2021 8:47am
- oldfella
  
  Yeah, krazy, it will be renamed ‘Lord of the LGBTQCRAP’.
  Unbearable to watch, but definitely woke.
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:05am
- Tom Hunter
  
  Heh! Covered this a few days ago with The Age of Men is over. The Time of The Orc has come, where I also looked at the history around D&D and the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980’s that me and my mates scoffed at.
  
  Oh FFS! What a complete and total load of crap. But it also ties in so well with other such developments, such as the drive to pervert the works of that dreaded Catholic Conservative, J.R.R. Tolkien (from which D&D took much inspiration), with a new Lord Of The Rings spinoff that’s going to employ all that hot and saucy Game of Thrones stuff, no doubt with really cool Elvish sex action among other things.
  
  Although after including a photo of LOTR’s Arwen I may not be so willing to avert my eyes! 🙂
  
  I also included a link back to an imagined conversation in 2003 between Chomsky and Zinn about LOTR, which basically parodied their commentary on the 9/11 attacks.
  
  Sad to see that what could once be taken as parody using LOTR is actually now happening to LOTR. itself.
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:09am
Maggy Wassilieff

Are our Dear Labour MPs so busy/overworked that they failed to submit their property and business interests in a timely fashion?

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/local-council-transparency-bill-highlights-hole-in-mps-disclosure
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July 6, 2021 8:55am
- Happychappy
  
  That not another good look for Jinney Anderson wasn’t she also caught out on Labour rent come donation scandal of money making in her office.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:02pm
RW Capitalist

More weasel words from Hipkins/ the govt.
On the AMShow
See how the removal of ONE word (fully) changes the whole statement.
Everyone will be able to be vaccinated by the end of the year. (not fully vaccinated).
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July 6, 2021 8:55am
lastmanstanding

As the Sheeple will learn in time populist slogans are a poor substitute for good governance.
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July 6, 2021 9:05am
BAM

Key was a short-sighted naive idiot when he signed up for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

There was a reason why Clark wasn’t keen and we’re seeing it now.
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July 6, 2021 9:08am
- kevn
  
  @BAM… Vette’s post at 8.03am seems to have clarity on this issue. Check it out.
  MSM, thanks for nothing.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:33am
Ehlana

Chris Trotter at https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/07/i-understand-why-you-want-to-do-it.html on hate speech laws makes some very good points. First, about what our ancestors fought for in WW2: “the right of every human-being to think, speak and communicate freely”.
Secondly, that we all hear speech we don’t like from others, people so immune to reason (aka our own point of view) that it can only be obstinacy (no-one is that stupid, surely!) and should be ended for the greater good.
That urge is understandable – the obstinacy of others can be extremely frustrating, and heated comments can be hurtful indeed. But it is wrong.

Oddly, he suggests it would be okay to restrict “language intended to incite hatred and/or violence against followers of the Islamic faith”. Language intended to incite violence I thought was already illegal and I’m not sure why you would protect only the Islamic faith from language intended to incite hatred. Or how you would distinguish that language from criticism of Islamic beliefs or practices.
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July 6, 2021 9:12am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  If people were like robots that would do as they are told, then there would be a great need for “hate speech” laws.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:35am
  - Jack5
    
    The comments under Chris Trotter’s fine column are worth a glance.
    
    Especially that from the Woke totalitarian with the pseudonym, The Barron.
    
    Note the self-description of an “old fashioned liberal” and the contrasting ultra-Nazi speech-control views:
    
    “I’m just an old fashioned liberal. I think that the motivation of hatred in causing harm to the vulnerable in society requires state regulation.”
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:41am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Would that be the same Chris Trotter who worked towards realising the current government and its identity politics agenda?
  
  The same Chris Trotter that I argued with some 10 years ago, saying that his agenda wouldn’t end well?
  
  That Chris Trotter?
  
  Poacher turned gamekeeper much?
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:52am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    See also Rachel Stewart
    
    Another feminist identitarian complaining when her own tactics are used against her
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/07/national-leader-judith-collins-speaks-up-for-columnist-rachel-stewart-stripped-of-her-guns-over-threatening-tweet.html
    
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    July 6, 2021 4:19pm
Jack5

The bullshit about Maori discovering Antarctica has reached the New York Times.

It cites a report of the Royal Society of New Zealand. It’s obviously unaware that, shaming its name, copied from the great Royal Society, this NZ group is made up largely of soft-science humanities people and Maori activists.

From the New York Times:

The voyager Hui Te Rangiora, the story goes, had sailed his vessel south in the early seventh century in search of new lands when something alien appeared on the horizon. He saw enormous, barren summits jutting out of the sea and into the sky. He saw unfamiliar shapes in the waves: tresses waving at the surface, animals that dove to great depths and seas of pia, the Polynesian name for the white tuber called arrowroot. Hui Te Rangiora had sailed his vessel from the tropics to Antarctica.

Oral history. Unsubstantiated. Worthless.

The New York Times report goes on to quote one Krushil Watene, “a Maori expert on Indigenous philosophies” at Massey University in Auckland, and Priscilla Wehi, a conservation biologist at the University of Otago.

The newspaper says Watene and Wehi have published papers that “explore the historical and future links between indigenous peoples and Antarctica.”

The headline above the report, by Sabrina Imbler, does says “Maori may have been first to reach Antarctica.”

Some desk journalist wisely used “may”.

What a crock of Maori nonsense.
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July 6, 2021 9:37am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  I wonder if Watene and Wehi have ever sailed in the southern waters?
  
  Say hello to my little friends: the Roaring 40s, Furious 50s and Screaming 60s.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:52am
  - Tarquin North
    
    I hear they found a female weightlifter who used to be a bloke while they were down that way. Embarrassing our country on the world stage appears to be quite fashionable at the moment.
    
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    July 6, 2021 10:05am
    - Jack5
      
      Jacindarella started all the world attention with her hijab and “we are them” or “they is us” or whatever it was.
      
      Then along came Covid.
      
      This politician is brilliant at seizing the PR moment.
      
      However, the Ardern magic PR theme will disappear instantly in a puff if Covid-19 hits hard our vaccine-starved, vaccination chaos country.
      
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      July 6, 2021 10:47am
- Sofia
  
  How, from the surface in your waka, would you see “animals that dove to great depths”
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:25am
  - mandk
    
    And how would you see root vegetables growing in the ocean, or on Antarctica for that matter?
    
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    July 6, 2021 1:51pm
- BananaLlama
  
  It’s a load of bullshit unless they seriously expect me to believe that the Maori who lived in NZ had never seen ice before.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:44am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Given the crappy clothing they had they likely stayed as far as possible away from ice. There were bugger all Maori in the south island (eg Buller and Heaphy estimated about 90 on whole west coast in 1846), and less than 2000 wiped out the moa and burnt off all the forests that once covered the south island
    
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    July 6, 2021 12:11pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  A good example of a larger Polynesian boat that might have gone deep water sailing was in the Fiji Museum. It would have been a disaster in the Southern Oceans. A plank or two may have survived and found land again but a human in water barely above freezing and subject to swells and wind?
  
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  July 6, 2021 3:08pm
- Durden
  
  Are Maori sneakily laying claims to ownership of Antarctica and riches underneath it for the Tangata Whenua ?
  
  Similar processes in action.
  – You can come to Aotearoa. Develop its forestry, fisheries, farms, technology (remember airwaves), and now — “gib me dat”.
  – We support amalgamating three waters into central control, we will keep quiet until the government pays for all the deferred infrastructure improvement, then — “gib me dat”
  – Now that we have seeded a fantasy that Maori went to Antarctica first, we can sit back and wait for the world to find resources underneath Antarctica, and then “gib me dat”
  
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  July 6, 2021 3:08pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Time for you to stop looking at Antarctica through a Colonist lens…
    
    “Recognizing the intrinsic link between the well-being of tangata and whenua, Māori have an intergenerational obligation to ensure that the relationship with Antarctica is reciprocal and sustainable.”
    
    “Looking at future of Antarctic through an Indigenous Māori lens”
    https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/uoo-laf053021.php
    
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    July 6, 2021 3:53pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Academics sure can spout colossal amounts of meaningless wank.
      
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      July 6, 2021 4:51pm
    - Durden
      
      “Human navigation into Antarctic waters dates back to about the 7th century with Hui Te Rangiora. Accounts of a frozen ocean and enormous ice cliffs were passed down through generations.”
      
      Without any scientific proof–drivel.
      
      And the taxpayer pays them for this crap.
      
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      July 6, 2021 10:44pm
rangitoto

If you think the Sun looks a little smaller this morning, then that’s because the Earth is passing through aphelion this morning.
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July 6, 2021 10:07am
- Ehlana
  
  You know things are bad when the Sun is social distancing…
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:57am
- oldfella
  
  I blame Matariki.
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:19am
- Jack5
  
  There you go, Old Fella, you’ve seeded a new Maori holiday.
  
  Tama-nui-te-ra (Tamanuitera) the god of the sun, shrinks for winter.
  
  We’ve already got heaps of Sundays, so it will have to be Tama Time.
  
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  July 6, 2021 1:51pm
Ruawai

A friend has just bought an EV for $79000 and got the $8000 rebate (tax refund) and we plan to buy a new ute in the next 2 years which will cost us $5000 feebate (tax). Basically we are giving our friend $5000 so he can drive save on fuel cost.
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July 6, 2021 10:11am
- WaveyDavey
  
  LOL not even close…
  
  You’re giving your friend even more than that
  
  No RUCs on EVs, subsidised electricity and tax-payer supplied charging points
  
  Oh and if you shop at malls, Mitre10 etc… part of the money you’re handing over is going to pay for the charging points outside their stores
  
  The Feebate is just the tip of the iceberg
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:55am
- Tall Man
  
  I’d like a new motorbike. Care to help me out or are you just a meanie …….
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:00am
- WaveyDavey
  
  As I’ve said previously
  
  Anyone in the market for a new $80k car would be crazy to not choose an EV and have their motoring massively subsidised by the poor
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:10am
103PapPap

A good question for Judith to ask Jacinda: currently every litre of petrol attracts a 70.024 cents surcharge (petrol tax) which is used to fund National Land Transport, used for roads and maintenance. Where is this money coming from when the fleet is all electric? Electric cars need roads too.
This petrol tax is also charged GST (a tax on a tax), so GST revenues will also reduce as we go electric.
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July 6, 2021 10:13am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Eventually the RUC will be charged on EV’s. It’s the EV subsidy that irritates me.
  
  It is the taxpayer that will be sending their tax dollars overseas when the EV sellers realize that they can charge Kiwis more because they get a subsidy.
  
  How stupid was this idea?
  
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  July 6, 2021 6:42pm
  - Sponge
    
    “How stupid was this idea?”
    
    Profoundly. But totally consistent with other ideas this numpty government come up with. They are totally incompetent on a scale that I could never have conceived.
    
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    July 6, 2021 7:13pm
DeepBlue

Ardern and Hipkins say this morning they have checked with DHBs and most over 65s and others who are eligible for Ro vaccine will have been contacted for an appointment. It is now our responsibility for us to check contact details at doctors. Yeah right. Me and spouse are both eligible but no appointment offer, but Drs do have our phone numbers.

Are we the slim minority? What about other Kiwibloggers?
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July 6, 2021 10:17am
- mandk
  
  I doubt you are a slim minority.
  
  I was originally told, via indici, by the GP surgery where I am enrolled that I would hear by the end of May when I would be able to get a jab.
  
  Did this happen? No.
  
  Then I was informed at the end of June that I would be told by the end of July when I would be able to get my jab. But I’m not holding my breath.
  
  This stuff about needing to check our contact details is just bollocks.
  
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  July 6, 2021 11:22am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Definitely bollocks. Hipkins blaming the people again.
    
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    July 6, 2021 2:07pm
- Paulus
  
  Wife, and me with medicals have heard sweet FA re any vaccinations – and we are both over 80.
  Wonder whether we will get as Christmas present – which year though !
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:10pm
- Pharmachick
  
  My parents are both eligible (late 60s, both with underlying cardiovascular)… crickets.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:12pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  MiL in managed elderly care…
  
  *tumbleweed”
  
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  July 6, 2021 4:17pm
- GJM
  
  I got a text, telling je they were going to announce sometime soon when I can get the jab. No date men,must an announcement of an announcement.
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:08pm
This is not a love story

Ok, maybe those who downticked the last one might enjoy this one. I am aspiring to equal opportunity satirical abuse …

Look, Gaia is in trouble. When the very sea boils with fire you know global warming is real. That’s why I have to do something. My parents are so supportive of this. Look at them, rich, successful, beautiful, helpful. I hate them! Except how can you hate such lovely people? So I hate all of you instead. Well, anybody who is older than me, anyway. You might think that this is all about me, but I am just a channel for Gaia. That’s why I have been working on my mouth frown. Four extra millimetres down on one side doubles my social media impressions! But six extra millimetres seems to turn people off. So complicated. But fun, especially in pursuit of a good cause. Because it’s not about me, I’m just a channel. Look, Gaia is in trouble.
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July 6, 2021 10:18am
- Tall Man
  
  I really can imagine ardern in front of the mirror practicing the mouth frown and then convening a working group including her media besties to decide what look to use when.
  
  https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/04/05/more-of-jacindas-kindness-as-mental-health-stats-worsen/
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:59am
Fletch

A new paper in the Vaccines journal has claimed that for every three Covid deaths spared, two die from the jabs. This was obviously very controversial as the magazine has retracted the article/study, but “The authors were notified of the retraction and did not agree.” So, it’s basically politics. Here is what the article basically said –

To compare the risks and benefits, they calculated the number needed to vaccinate (NNTV) to prevent one COVID-19 death. The data came from a large Israeli field study and two adverse drug reactions databases, one with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and one with the Dutch National Register.

To prevent one case of COVID-19 using the mRNA shot by Pfizer, the NNTV is between 200 and 700. The NNTV to prevent one death is between 9,000 and 50,000, with 16,000 as a point estimate.

Meanwhile, the number of people reporting adverse reactions from the shots is 700 per 100,000 vaccinations. For serious side effects, there are 16 reports per 100,000 vaccinations, and the number of fatal side effects is 4.11 per 100,000 vaccinations.

The final calculation suggests that for every three COVID-19 deaths prevented, two die from the shots. “This lack of clear benefit should cause governments to rethink their vaccination policy,” the authors state in conclusion.

https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/vaccines/vaccines-09-00693/article_deploy/vaccines-09-00693.pdf
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July 6, 2021 10:35am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  This government may be saving a number of us by their incompetent covid vaccine roll out.
  
  Since almost no-one is dying due to the Covid19 virus in New Zealand, it provides time for NZ to wait and watch what happens in the countries that are allowing Covid19 virus to do its thing.
  
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  July 6, 2021 6:03pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/michael-hill-jewellery-shop-robbery-police-release-images-of-suspects/5P2UR4QEKBHKRW56XGWKDWOXRQ/

Are they not entitled under the principles of the treaty of waitangi?

Perhaps this pair also belongs to the gang which government has recently started to finance
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July 6, 2021 10:53am
Surely Knott

Prisoner Poulgrain has escaped and has been missing for 6 days considered dangerous do not approach killer beez gang members.

Stuff’s article however resembles parody, as they go to great lengths to tell us what a great guy he is. He moved house as a kid and felt uprooted. “Very loving family.” “Lovely upbringing” “Good kid at heart”

So what’s gone wrong according to the judge. “Disconnected from your culture and you have not participated in cultural activities nor immersed yourself in te reo Māori.”

His surname is Poultrain, is that French? Has he learned French and joined French cultural groups.
Could a lack of connection with his French heritage also be causing him to join gangs and be violent?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300349670/auckland-prisoner-escape-happy-childhood-to-youth-justice-the-life-of-te-ariki-poulgrain
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July 6, 2021 11:07am
Tall Man

You can see from the above that I peaked at the BFD while looking for frowny faced ardern photos.

I saw they have the ability for posters to include a photo. Seemed a nice feature.

Saw some uses for it here maybe or is bandwidth/storage the problem? If so, does that mean Cam has a bigger one that David ……. server I mean 😉
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July 6, 2021 11:25am
oldfella

Israeli doctors develop ‘pig-human’ hybrid organ for transplant
A team of Israeli researchers have developed a hybrid organ – an organ from a pig with “human” blood vessels – that they believe could help alleviate the shortage of transplant organs.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-doctors-develop-pig-human-hybrid-organ-for-transplant-672861
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July 6, 2021 11:26am
- Tall Man
  
  I think China solved the shortage ages ago.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:11pm
- Pharmachick
  
  Yes its true, they’ve been working on it for a long time. Pigs are great models esp. for cardiovascular (including kidney), skin and eyes.
  
  Given that NZ has some of the lowest organ donation rates in the world, and some of the stupidest laws/conventions (e.g. you can say you’re a donor on your license and your niece can object, then the Drs won’t take your organs), I’d take that as a win as long as the human hosts don’t reject the transplants.
  
  Interesting fact: the EU 2019 report (most recent) shows that 9.5M research animals were used in each of 2015, 2016 and 2017 in member nations (which includes UK).
  
  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1581689520921&uri=CELEX:52020DC0016
  
  The US doesn’t report these data.
  
  For contrast: humans kill around 3 BILLION animals EVERY day for food.
  
  https://sentientmedia.org/how-many-animals-are-killed-for-food-every-day/
  
  Just saying…
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:21pm
kevn

@surfing… The 2 perps wearing the same outfit. Easy to remember if you saw the team of two scurrying away..
I see a recent migrant look about them.
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July 6, 2021 11:32am
oldfella

Winston Churchill loved paraprosdokians, figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected:
1. Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.
3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
5. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
6. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
7. They begin the evening news with ‘Good Evening,’ then proceed to tell you why it isn’t.
8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
9. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out, I just wanted pay checks.
10. In filling out an application, where it says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put “DOCTOR.”
11. I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
12. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street…with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
13. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
14. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
15. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
16. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
17. There’s a fine line between cuddling and…holding someone down so they can’t get away.
18. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.
19. You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
20. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
21. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
22. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
23. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
24. I’m supposed to respect my elders, but now it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one.
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July 6, 2021 11:33am
- Bluegrass
  
  And in the same vein…
  
  When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
  The future ain’t what it used to be.
  Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.
  You can observe a lot just by watching.
  We made too many wrong mistakes.
  Eternity is a very long time, particularly towards the end.
  You should always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise, they won’t come to yours.
  It gets late early out there.
  The future gets closer every year.
  It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
  [ Yogi Berra ]
  
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  July 6, 2021 1:35pm
JibberJabber

Still the funniest clip on youtube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Sb-qvfxEY

[Removed sentence. Unnecessary personal attack, please desist – Mod]
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July 6, 2021 11:34am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oejmWLrZk0c

What does Joe Biden want from Latin America?

The relationship between the United States and Latin America has gone through many different stages. The last one, that of Donald Trump, was perhaps one of the most distant of all, the former president showed little interest in this region of the world. Now, however, things have changed: there is a new tenant in the White House. A president with very different ideas and experiences. Joe Biden is expected to play a more active role in the Latin American arena. And so far that is exactly what we have found. In this video we will tell you all the key aspects to Joe Biden’s policy towards Latin America, a policy that has a lot to do with immigration, drug trafficking and also with China. [14:45]
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July 6, 2021 11:44am
- cmm
  
  “What does Joe Biden want from Latin America? ”
  
  Voters.
  
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  July 6, 2021 1:17pm
  - Paulus
    
    Can non US citizens vote in the elections – like illegal immigrants who appear to have done in the last election.
    
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    July 6, 2021 2:14pm
    - cmm
      
      Can they? Yes. Are they legally allowed to? No.
      
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      July 6, 2021 2:53pm
  - Inandout
    
    cmm, does Joe know what he wants, even if written down?
    
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    July 6, 2021 2:33pm
    - cmm
      
      Let me rephrase: Joe’s minders want voters.
      
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      July 6, 2021 2:52pm
  - curry4me
    
    cmm: Good one. And accurate.
    
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    July 6, 2021 9:25pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTXhG2da2Zo

Is It Goodbye Quemala?

Is Kamala Harris less popular than piles, or a migrane? Could Pierre Delecto beat her in 2024? [10:19]
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July 6, 2021 11:44am
oldfella

Crunching 30 years of data to see who’s been consuming NZ’s food exports.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/whoseatingnewzealand/446265/who-s-eating-new-zealand
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July 6, 2021 11:46am
- Inandout
  
  old, the wealthier Chinese don’t trust their polluted farms and tend to source products from South Pacific and Europe. You can understand though why Jacinda is oft described as Xinda.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:38pm
- curry4me
  
  oldfella: Very informative, and well produced. Thanks for posting it.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:35pm
Fletch

R.I.P director Richard Donnor, who directed the first Superman movie in 1978…
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July 6, 2021 11:55am
- Pharmachick
  
  And The Goonies (!)
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:38pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  and the Lethal Weapon films
  and The Omen.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:46pm
TripeWryter

A casualty of expressing an ‘unsuitable’ opinion in ‘Aotearoa’. …
The young man is better off not working for such gutless wonders as SENZ.
I’m surprised Jason Pine is party to this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/300349863/rugby-columnist-sam-caseys-sports-radio-station-contract-terminated-after-controversy
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July 6, 2021 1:04pm
- Tall Man
  
  We don’t know what Pineys views are here but I can guess he saw that his opinion was borderline as well.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:07pm
- Tauhei Notts
  
  A message to the management of SENZ.
  Credibility is like virginity; you only lose it once.
  By your actions over Sam Casey you have deflowered yourselves.
  When it comes to getting advertising dollars you are going to be pushing excrement uphill with a rake.
  I wanted you to do well. I hope I am not being too tough when I tell you a simple situation;
  “Go woke. Go broke.
  
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  July 6, 2021 9:03pm
Maggie Pie

‘Manic Monday’ all morning!
We absolutly wopped the other two clubs asses in the Doubles.
Only just back home. About to take tea & donuts on the Chaise….I’m stuffed!!
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July 6, 2021 1:06pm
I remember when

Collins defends columnist stripped of her guns over ‘threatening’ tweet. Newshub:
Rachel Stewart is a columnist who never leaves you guessing what her opinion is on a subject.
She wears her heart on her sleeve as the saying goes.
Although she has farmed in the Taranaki her columns have seldom been appreciated by dairy farmers.
She calls a spade a spade.
I seldom agree with her columns but doubt her right to have a gun can be questioned.
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July 6, 2021 1:40pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Bad news: In Israel Pfizer vaccine has much worse effectiveness against delta variant infection, only 64% down from 94% previously, and effectiveness at preventing serious symptoms and hospitalisation has dropped from 98% in May (pre Delta) to just 93% now (note spin of headline belies data within article):
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministry-data-said-to-show-pfizer-shot-blocks-majority-of-serious-delta-cases/
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July 6, 2021 1:53pm
- cmm
  
  As a virus “drifts”, the vaccine is likely to become less effective. Biology 101.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:29pm
- Pharmachick
  
  Yep, and NEWS FLASH: look up “lambda (Peru)”…
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:40pm
Fletch

So, we’ve had the original COVID-19 virus. Then the Delta variant. and now the Lambda variant? Which they claim is more dangerous than Delta?

https://www.thedailystar.net/coronavirus-deadly-new-threat/news/more-dangerous-delta-lambda-strain-detected-over-30-countries-says-malaysian-health-ministry-2124385
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July 6, 2021 2:00pm
- Pharmachick
  
  Oops, sorry Fletch didn’t catch this before I posted… hard to tell if its worse, or if South America is just totally overwhelmed.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:41pm
  - Fletch
    
    Yeh. According to The Sun, it could be a “vaccine dodging” variant. Which is not good.
    
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15493742/lambda-variant-could-be-deadlier-than-delta/
    
    https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/global/covid19-uk-strain-more-transmissible-than-delta-hits-uk/news-story/4680c0a91a079cc00143cfdddddb20ba
    
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    July 6, 2021 4:44pm
MrTips

This is, in my humble opinion, I.N.S.A.N.E.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125662926/covid19-nz-government-considers-permanent-miq-facility-dismisses-uks-decision-to-live-with-covid

Karinda and co want to keep us locked down because of “unacceptable deaths”, even after vaccination.

What unacceptable deaths? 1022 COVID ve cases have been through MIQ here in NZ. ONE case, yes ONE, have died. Bugger all have gone to hospital.

Singapore disagrees with you Karinda. So does the UK it seems, and the USA.

I.N.S.A.N.E
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July 6, 2021 2:03pm
- cmm
  
  As I wrote in the other thread, these pandemics do not go on for a long time. Spanish Flu was pretty much over in 2 years (1918/19) with a few pockets into the the next year and by mid 1920 is was no longer pandemic at all. All up it lasted from February 1918 to April 1920 – 2 years and 2 months.
  
  Same deal pretty much for all these pandemics.
  
  So by the time they’ve even decided the Maori name for the MIQ facility, the pandemic will be over – let alone building the sodding thing.
  
  Then what? Make it into a minimum security prison?
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:34pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yes the Spanish flu ended because it literally ran out of people to kill and infect. The world reached herd immunity. Do you think it just ‘went away’?
    
    Btw Jacinda’s announcement is dismaying but unsurprising.
    
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    July 6, 2021 4:58pm
    - fernglas
      
      “Dismaying but unsurprising”. And rather sad, because it condemns New Zealand to a future of isolation and stagnation. However, for many Kiwis, that is exactly what they want. It is about the only thing that the Government is capable of delivering.
      
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      July 6, 2021 5:36pm
cmm

We can afford hundreds of $ of dollars for stock, but can’t splash out $50 for better webcams.

FFS: Why does it always look like these crims already have name suppression and their faces are being pixelated?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/michael-hill-jewellery-shop-robbery-police-release-photos-of-suspects/5P2UR4QEKBHKRW56XGWKDWOXRQ/
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July 6, 2021 2:36pm
- Inandout
  
  Mmm, could be Mid East or local gentry. But..’Most-loved jewellery’ as their ad says.
  
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  July 6, 2021 2:44pm
- Tall Man
  
  The nose knows … 😉
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:15pm
surfing

Reading the latest vaccination stats, we are running 7% ahead of plan…..

Does this mean that Jacinda and co. actually planned on the worst national vaccine rollout on the planet?
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July 6, 2021 2:40pm
- alloytoo
  
  Planning to fail is still failure.
  
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  July 6, 2021 3:03pm
Maggie Pie

The fab Nicola Willis gives Cindy a well deserved serve…..

My partner reckons Nic’s the hottest thing in National since Sarah Dowie called it quits!

https://twitter.com/NiclolaWillisMP/status/1412239901525897221
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July 6, 2021 3:07pm
- Tall Man
  
  Nice to see the labour bots in full flight.
  
  Seriously, does anyone ever look into these accounts and show who they really are?
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:12pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Trouble in the Green Party?

Will the conservationists sell out to the Socialists again?

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/07/green-party-leadership-james-shaw-facing-challenge-as-co-leader.html
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July 6, 2021 4:04pm
- alloytoo
  
  I rather hope he loses, not our of any particular animosity, but at the damage his potential replacements could wreck on their image with the electorate.
  
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  July 6, 2021 4:12pm
- Swifty
  
  Thanks.
  
  I see it appears he wishes the government to take over the production and supply of “food, clothing, housing, transportation and communication….”
  
  https://youtu.be/SfSlCh6gQhA?t=134s
  
  Utter, utter, foolishness, lunacy, childishness, totally ignorant of human development and history and, of course, totally doomed to failure.
  
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  July 6, 2021 6:09pm
- H. Upmann
  
  James Shaw must be terrified!
  Potential challenger James Cockle (surely that is a fake name) has the personality of a door.
  
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  July 6, 2021 6:33pm
alloytoo

So the horrid personal pronouns has raised their head in my corporate environment.

While I would ignore it, I’m on the hunt something snarky but safe to add to my signature.
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July 6, 2021 4:08pm
- alloytoo
  
  And why we’re at it, why do people add Maori sentences to their corporate signatures especially when addressing people who don’t speak the language?
  
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  July 6, 2021 4:09pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Try (beep/bop/boop) – worked for JK Rowling, who was very shortly afterwards red-pilled.
  
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  July 6, 2021 4:40pm
- JerJer
  
  How about Sir/Lordship.
  
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  July 6, 2021 6:53pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Just put drudge…
  It’s gender neutral and non-threatening to your bosses.
  
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  July 6, 2021 7:31pm
- Tall Man
  
  Put your name.
  
  I have been doing business for over 40 years and have never used a pronoun in my address line. I’m not even sure what they both are …..
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:06pm
WaveyDavey

Ah, official confirmation of NZ as a permanent hermit kingdom from Hipkins

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/125662926/covid19-government-considers-permanent-miq-facility-dismisses-uks-decision-to-live-with-covid

Suck it up, you ain’t going on overseas holidays for years, if ever again
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July 6, 2021 4:34pm
- Cinematic
  
  The drain to better opportunities in Oz will become a tsunami if they’re open and we’re not. No matter what our ‘health professionals’ puff up their cheeks and spout.
  
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  July 6, 2021 5:57pm
- Tall Man
  
  Just got back from a month in Oz, not sure what you are talking about ……
  
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  July 6, 2021 10:05pm
Maggie Pie

Just heard Willy on ZB tearing a strip off mild-mannered reporter Jason Walls, for daring to ask if he gave taxpayers ‘Koha’ to his mates in the mob?

Talk about a tanty…..you’d think it was Willy’s OWN money the way he carried on. SHEESH!

My partner’s mum reckons it’s actually even worse than when Shane was exposed for blowing 80 bucks of taxpayers cash in a seedy Motel watching porn movies. At least when he was fingered he had the good grace to repay it.
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July 6, 2021 5:03pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The Greatest Military Joke Ever Told
A U.S. Marine Colonel was about to start the morning briefing to his staff.

While waiting for the coffee machine to finish brewing, the Colonel decided to pose a question to all assembled.

He explained that his wife had been a bit frisky the night before and he failed to get his usual amount of sound sleep.

He posed the question of just how much of sex was considered “work” and how much of it was “fun?”

A Major chimed in with 75%-25% in favor of work.

A Captain said it was 50%-50%.

A Lieutenant responded with 25%-75% in favor of fun, depending upon his state of inebriation at the time.

There being no consensus, the Colonel turned to the Private First Class who was in charge of making the coffee and asked for his opinion.

Without any hesitation, the young Private First Class responded, “Sir, it has to be 100% fun.”

The colonel was surprised and as you might guess, asked “Why?”

“Well, sir, if there was any work involved, the officers would have me doing it for them.”

The room fell silent.
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July 6, 2021 5:36pm