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August 17, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 August 2021

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General Debate

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Happychappy

Political Parties urge Government to support Afghan Nationals.
National, Act and the Greens agree more needs to be done to help those in Afghanistan.
However Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister wants to play politics because National never did it when they were the Government, but it was ok for her to bring a terrorist and her children back to New Zealand because no other Country wanted them.
However Afghan Nationals who helped the New Zealand Defence force in its activities there, and others that have spoken against the Taliban, are also at risk. The Political Parties are calling on the Government to do more to step in.
Ardern said fewer tha 40 people had identified themselves as having worked along side New Zealand Forces but the majority had done so some time ago and were not eligible under the previous Governments ” Interpreter Package.
This just shows you how kind and caring this Government is and what hypocrites they are when they continue to block people who have helped our Defense forces when their lives are in danger because the previous Government didn’t also try to help them , but wasn’t that the same thing and opinion National had over the had on the terrorist family you bought back to New Zealand because she face the same circumstances from ISIS.
https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/fbe7b257-da15-4804-bae6-bce319317b6f
Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister reject everything Nationals comes up with in her quest to play Politics with peoples lives and use stories that create negativity for the National Party in opposition for her own incompetence and help those that were only to happy to put their lives in danger to assist our defense force in dangerous situations.
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August 17, 2021 8:00am
- rouppe
  
  I thought it odd that the guy on the news the other day had worked for the coalition for only 5 months.
  
  We have been pulling out of there for awhile now. Wonder if some people are jumping on the payroll as a kindness-exit strategy
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:20am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    Other than virtue signaling points for politicians, I see no reason at all why we should take in any Afghanis, when we don’t seem to be falling over ourselves to take in White South Africans fleeing the rioting mobs of Blacks and the disintegrating country.
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:32am
    - Nickc2
      
      You make a good point Sede Vacante. However, it must be remembered that our present Govt were university protestors against Apartheid during the time of Mandella and the anti-Springbok Rugby Team riots in NZ and they haven’t grown up since.
      To them, black atrocities against white farmers in South Africa is just Fake News. Mention it and they will put their fingers in their ears, sing La, La, La and pretend it doesn’t happen.
      It should also be noted that they are making every move possible to turn NZ into a reverse Apartheid Nation. The He Puapua Report/Plan currently being implemented is documentary proof with no consultation, debate or mandate.
      
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      August 17, 2021 1:49pm
    - Adroit
      
      Correct. 10 NZ’ers have lost their lives in Afghanistan. Any debt or obligation is long since paid. We owe them nothing.
      
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      August 17, 2021 4:17pm
- Simon
  
  The Taliban will be rounding westerns/ passport holders and they will ransom them. 30 New Zealand passport holders in Afgn. Cindy will pay around $120 million to get them out.
  
  The ransom cost will be described as a “climate change emergency payment” to help Afgh with zero carbon obligations.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:32am
- Paulus
  
  Of course she is right to send an aircraft to somewhere in the middle East as Kabul expects to be shut before takeoff from New Zealand.
  As usual our great Government have come up with the answer again – “Too Little Too Late”.
  Only a fool would not have expected the Taliban not to take the Country – and that was months ago when Biden put his moniker on it.
  The Taliban are ruthless so watch the human rights abuse against women and children – they are professional killers.
  The Afghan Army who saw them coming too and took off their uniforms and joined them, as expected too.
  Where has the billions of dollars gone that have supported Afghanistan ?
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:34am
  - dave_c_
    
    lol – She needs to be very careful about ‘what type of aircraft is sent’ – It may not even get there – Based on the failure rate of our aging equipment !
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:26am
    - coge
      
      A number of aircraft were flying to Kabul, but turned away as there was no ATC to give clear permission to land.
      
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      August 17, 2021 11:48am
  - herb1
    
    Not sure what Ardern hopes to achieve , beyond pretence that she cares and had a plan.
    She has sent 40 soldiers , who will risk their lives to cover for her lack of planning and inability to do the right thing.
    A C130 can carry 90 people , a little more at a stretch.
    How is she proposing to to bring back 40 soldiers, 57 Kiwis and reportedly 37 Afghanis AND their families?
    
    Perhaps ,given she’s recognised World Wide as a saint, she’ll ask the Taliban to hold off on their pledge to stop Afghanis leaving Afghanistan..
    
    The inevitable deaths of those who helped us , will be on Arderns head
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:55am
  - Nickc2
    
    IMO, America’s Billions and probably Trillions of Dollars wasted in Afghanistan served little purpose other than to pump puss into an already festering sore.
    
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    August 17, 2021 1:58pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  As almost always the case, the old Yes Minister series captures it so well with The Four Stage Strategy.
  
  They’re even dealing with foreign policy.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:39am
mister nui

Have the 22 year old girls at the stranded/stuff managed to find a way to pin what’s happening in Afghanistan on John Key yet?
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August 17, 2021 8:00am
- pdm
  
  He is next in line after Trump.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:11am
- coge
  
  Climate change is to blame.
  
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  August 17, 2021 11:49am
Tony Stuart

Jacinda Ardern yesterday urged the Taliban to be kind in the next few weeks.

It’s understood that the Taliban’s first response was “Who is Jacinda Ardern?”, followed closely by “And where the heck is Aotearoa?”.
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August 17, 2021 8:10am
- Frank the tank
  
  LOL. Do she think they will listen to a unmarried women?
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:12am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    That depends was she wearing a full burka at the time?
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:26am
    - sooty
      
      Not a loud to speak even then!
      Has to stand behind her owner!
      
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      August 17, 2021 9:02am
    - Frank the tank
      
      When I saw her on the AM show yesterday I have to say our PM is looking quite disheveled, nervous and ‘handsy’ in her gestures ATM.
      
      That said I’m Comparing her to the NSW Premier who despite being in the crisis of her career always appears, acts and speaks immaculately. Or indeed Kristi Noem/Nikki Haley/Joni Ernst.
      
      Am I being too harsh? A hard marker perhaps? But it is a concern that I never had with Helen Clark who always appeared (and still does) measured, confident and assured in her comments.
      
      Should we as a nation be concerned?
      
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      August 17, 2021 1:59pm
  - Paulus
    
    .
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:35am
- Simon
  
  Taliban in Afghanistan or the Covid Taliban who have over run Australia?
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:16am
- ldypen
  
  What ever she says will not count as being a woman she has no say in anything anyway, but it did sound “nice” and will earn UN brownie points… so ALL GOOD!
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:17am
- Bloody Dago
  
  Courtesy of the BFD:
  Historic Facts:
  1. New Zealand is NOT Aotearoa!
  • Fact:
  New Zealand in Maori; first documented account – ‘Nu Tirani’; 1840 – Treaty of Waitangi.
  Second article of Treaty of Waitangi and I quote just one example of the repeated name throughout the Treaty:
  ‘rights to own property of all the people of New Zealand’ – translated ‘tangata katoa o Nu Tirani’.
  • Question:
  Year 1840:
  If the Treaty of Waitangi (The Maori Translation) had the name of New Zealand wrong, why did none of the 500+ chiefs who signed it object? The only objections raised were concern about giving up mana and sovereignty.
  • Fact:
  It wasn’t until 1890 that the first recorded occurrence of Aotearoa in New Zealand’s history appeared. In 1890, S Percy Smith (an English Colonial Surveyor) wrote a fictitious story on ‘Kupe’, in which he invented ‘Aotearoa’ as a name for New Zealand.
  • Fact:
  Year 2000:
  Ngapuhi leader Graham Rankin was provided both translations of the Treaty of Waitangi – he agreed both translations and their meaning said the same thing; therefore New Zealand is ‘Nu Tirani’.
  If those ignorant fools that want to continue using ‘Aotearoa’ as the imaginary made up name for New Zealand, invented by a British Colonial in 1890, then by all means proceed on the assumption of the following:
  A. That a binding referendum has been held to confirm that a majority of New Zealanders are in favour of using a made-up name.
  B. Royalties have been paid, or permission sought from the S Percy Smith family/estate for the use of that name.
  Otherwise, may I suggest that we stop reinventing history and the Maori language and honour the past, and the Maori ancestors, by teaching the truth.
  Use the TRUE Maori name for New Zealand as its recorded in 1840 in the Maori translation of the Treaty of Waitangi, and signed by 500+ Maori Chiefs – that name being ‘Nu Tirani’, NOT Aotearoa!
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:20am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    What precisely is the issue here?
    
    OK, so you don’t like it when other people use the term Aotearoa. There are people who don’t like it when other people use the term “black”, or “woman”, or “snowflake”. So what?
    
    Is anybody forcing you, personally, to use the term Aotearoa?
    
    Is it your proposition that people who do want to use the term, should be legally prevented from doing so?
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:45am
    - Cobolt24
      
      I have seen a few lefties (mostly ardent Greens voters) who claim the name New Zealand was forced onto them.
      In reality the country had no national identity with no reason to have a national name being isolated from every other country on earth at that time.
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:34am
  - argie bargie
    
    And now under Jacinda Ardern it become “New Tyranny”.
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:54am
  - krazykiwi
    
    You’ve got it all wrong, BD. We’re living in the Feelz Social Epoch™. Facts are, like, soooo doh!
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:59am
  - kowtow
    
    New Tyranny has an ironic ring of truth about it , so would be, ahem , inconvenient usage for the current regime.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:02am
  - mandk
    
    Nu Tirani.
    
    Most apt. We shall soon realise that we are living in New Tyranny.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:07am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    New Tyranny has certainly been affirmed.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:07am
  - Lara
    
    Please can you attempt to write this as a letter to the Dompost?
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:20pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  And then issuing a fatwa because the colonising whitey did not protect the faithful in Christchurch from someone with a deranged and warped ideology that matches theirs . . .
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:22am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Breaking news twyford has been placed in charge of getting our friends in Afghanistan who are in danger out.
  
  There will be an announcement that there will be an announcement with more details after a committee has been set up to look at the situation and come back with a recommendation.
  
  100,000 people are to be relocated to aotearoa.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:23am
  - RoboRob
    
    The plane doesn’t fly out until tomorrow (oh the urgency). At which point I suspect it will fly via Australia and some other countries. 40% chance of it breaking down on the way, if not 80% chance of breaking down on the return.
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:54am
    - Paulus
      
      C130 is old but good but needs to stop to refuel on the way – probably more than one as it will not know where it is to be landing – not Kabul as it will be closed shortly as the US have taken all the flight space and landings.
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:24am
- emmess
  
  The sad thing is that I don’t even know if that is satire or not.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:27am
- Biscuit
  
  ‘But, but, I wore that cute black dress and a hijab after Christchurch and said things like ‘They are us.’ You must have seen the sincerity in my frowny face, lit-from-underneath, natch’.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:32am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Or ask to speak to the man of the family.
  
  When told he is off fishing, with the nanny, offer to find her a real man.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:36am
  - Happychappy
    
    When the world start talking about the atrocities happening in Afghanistan like the abuse and rape of innocent women, how will Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister be able to condemn it , after all she allowed it to happen in her office right under her nose without even letting the Police handle a situation that was swept under the carpet by our very own Leader and Labour Party.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:23am
Albert_Ross

Looking at the fallout from England’s rather embarrassing Test loss to India, I see several comments moaning about how horrid Virat Kohli was, saying nasty things to the England players and upsetting them into playing badly.

Didn’t work on the Black Caps though, did it. Does he not do it to them, or are they better able to cope with it?
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August 17, 2021 8:12am
- Biscuit
  
  What did the English side expect?
  
  Bowled out for 120 after the three previous innings had seen scores of 364 (India), 391 (England) and 298-8 dec (India again)…
  
  1-1 (0.3 overs)
  1-2 (1.4 overs)
  44-3 (15.3 overs)
  67-4 (21.6 overs)
  67-5 (22.3 overs)
  90-6 (38.1 overs)
  90-7 (38.2 overs)
  120-8 (50.5 overs)
  120-9 (51.2 overs)
  120-10 (51.5 overs)
  
  I’m not sure I’d have made many ‘nasty’ comments, mind. If I’d been Indian, I’d have been rolling on the ground in raucous laughter…
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:39am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Yup Biscuit, if Root fails, England fail. Their batting is as brittle as a poppadum. Neither Burns nor Sibley should be anywhere near a test team. Crawley at least looked promising (and actually like a batter!). Bairstow is worth a place as he is talented but just needs to pull back a bit on his aggressive instinct. Buttler batted to high, test cricket is way different to being able to slog bowlers in short form cricket. It won’t be long before Anderson and Broad are gone, and then England will not be able to bowl as well as not be able to bat.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:32pm
- MCos
  
  Wouldn’t work because they’re all mates and they don’t react like they used to when Fleming & Vettori were in charge.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:58am
- Nickc2
  
  They’re (Black Caps) are accustomed to it (sledging) through playing the Aussies.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:12am
  - Raphael
    
    and their ignoring it drives the Aussies mad.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:12pm
JibberJabber

From the Twitter,

If you know that there’s two factions inside the White House, then you know why it’s gone silent.

There’s Team Biden (Klain/Psaki) & there’s Team Harris/Obama. Both teams know: the 1st person to take the podium to talk about Kabul gets the blame.

So they all went on vacation.

Dead government walking…
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August 17, 2021 8:12am
- Inandout
  
  JJ, Hosking via CNN had minutes of Biden spouting about ‘getting our troops home’. Trump wanted this result last year but was pilloried by the media.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:24am
  - Raphael
    
    Trump also want a planned organised withdrawal. Not disappearing in the dead of night without telling the local Afghani commanders that they were leaving.
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57682290
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:14pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Among Bidens blunders (and there were many) was that he didn’t allow contractors to stay. Therefore, the Afghans had no one to fix the American provided military machinery, vehicles, aircraft etc. Apparently they were desperately trying to get advice via zoom calls, showing American mechanics the problems on their computer screens!
      
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      August 17, 2021 12:36pm
Keith White

Rape, murder, and general atrocities are now the fate for many in Afghanistan, but at least their betrayal was not orchestrated by some misogynist who tweeted meanly. So that’s OK then, say all the libfems and feminized lefties.
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August 17, 2021 8:13am
rouppe

I noticed that the vast majority of people swarming the Kabul airport for a ride out were unaccompanied men.

Family first for those guys, huh?
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August 17, 2021 8:15am
- kowtow
  
  If they had put in half the effort fighting for their own rights than they do fleeing this wouldn’t have happened.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:27am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Afghanis; willing to fight to the last drop of (anyone else’s) blood
    
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    August 17, 2021 8:43am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Same with the Syrians in Europe you have to question how genuine these refugees are.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:30am
- Frank Thomas
  
  Yes, i remember seeing the same with all the supposed Syrian refugees fleeing to the EU when civil war erupted in Syria. Mainly single men, no women or children to be seen. I’m not saying that these guys aren’t in genuine fear of the Taliban, but you have to ask the question where the wives and kids are? Will we we see another influx of “Afghan” refugees to europe trying the same?
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:56am
  - Nickc2
    
    Refugees my arse! They’re a sleeping Muslim Army on the move.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:23am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Afghanistan is a tribal nation. The USA has finished its turn and the former Russian leaders have made a peaceful accommodation. The reasons the Americans were there I doubt if it is know even to them. The popular one was the harvestable poppy fields for product for the US market.
  
  Most of us won’t like a vigorous Sunni Islamic State but it’s not our choice. We do not actively seek Muslim influence either. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.
  
  If the Chinese want to fill the customer vacuum how can we intervene and why should we? They are too well established for us to push around. We have grass, hoki, crayfish and orca to care for. (Sheep and cattle are deprecated because of natural functions promoting global warming.)
  
  A few Afghans who have assisted NZ forces may be trapped but it’s a conflagration and for a change I cannot blame the PM–the speed shows this event as well planned and executed. (If only our govt had the same oomph.)
  War does bring casualties even in peace.
  
  The best we can do is to accept the new nation into the comity of nations. That way we can perhaps influence them towards ways we consider more desirable.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:34am
  - Akarak
    
    The government were advised to start removing NZ
    citizens and Afghanistan citizens who had worked as interpreters for NZ Defence Force personnel in MAY!
    
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    August 17, 2021 1:27pm
    - Nickc2
      
      I don’t doubt what you say for one moment, but do you have some proof of this?
      
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      August 17, 2021 2:30pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  If they were working with Americans in any capacity then they are likely to be murdered by the Taliban. Women will be enslaved, men will be murdered.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:50am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Yes, that really takes the biscuit.
  
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  August 17, 2021 11:02am
Frank the tank

The old coot getting a shit kicking even from the normal left wing lovvies such as CNN and WaPo.

Will we see President Harris by the end of September?
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August 17, 2021 8:16am
- Simon
  
  September? In one weeks time Biden will not know what the hell everyone is going on about.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:43am
- RoboRob
  
  Nope. Harris would be a disaster and the Dems know it, whe is hugely unpopular for a VP which is supposed to be an easy ride. Harris as president would proably ensure a Republican president / house for the next 12+ years.
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:58am
  - Frank the tank
    
    That’s how it works unfortunately. You can’t parachute anyone else into the job. It’s Kamila or bust.
    
    I’d also argue after this debacle a GOP-led house is almost inevitable.
    
    As a side note – no sign of me ol’ mate Batty. Is he secretly a Biden aide and hidin’ out at Camp David?
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:24am
    - RoboRob
      
      I agree, although a GOP house was already on the cards. Probably stronger now.
      
      I understand that kamilla was the next candidate. But I think she was picked based on age, sex and colour, to balance out the old white guy.
      
      It was a bad choice as she appears to have a terrible personality. This is what you get when you pick people based on characteristics. I think the Dems know she can’t be their next candidate. It might have been Cuomo but he has fallen.
      
      After Bidens one term, my money is on Kamilla ‘deciding’ not to stand for personal / family reasons.
      
      For what its worth I doubt that Pence would have been the GOP’s next candidate after Trump too.
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:17am
      - Frank the tank
        
        The GOP candidate will likely to be Desantis if Trump doesn’t stand. Other possibilities are Rubio, Haley (not Hawley) and leftfield, Noem.
        
        There’s not much if anything on the left that hasn’t had a bad strain of long TDS and will appeal to suburbia hence why the old Coot was handpicked.
        
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        August 17, 2021 11:32am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Despite most Americans not caring about Afghanistan, taking a ritual humiliation aka Vietnam will not be well accepted by a large percentage of the voting US population. So, I agree the US voters will give the Democrats a kicking next year.
      
      Although there is time between now and the mid term elections, we have to remember:
      1. The USs’ foes (China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan) are already lining themselves up to benefit from the Taliban taking control; and
      2. As we were 20 years ago, Afghanistan will be a safe haven for Islamic terrorists to operate from.
      
      Americans don’t like such humiliations, so the Republicans will benefit.
      
      However, the important question for the US, NATO, and allies, after much hand wringing, what are they going to do, or will they become as impotent as in the period 1976 to 1980?
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:56am
  - curry4me
    
    Roborob: Ah, so there’s be no downside then.
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:40am
  - paulscott
    
    Robo, In January even, some people were suggesting just that scenario. Some big names are pushing but not going too far. I find Rand Paul interesting. Ron Paul’s column is always good to see and hear from.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:34pm
    - RoboRob
      
      As Frank posted above, likely Desantis if not Trump. I really hope trump doesn’t stand again and we could get someone like Desantis who seems like a sensible / moderate republican. More TDS would suck.
      
      I note they Desantis also appears careful to distance himself from Trump to avoid potential smears from the TDS crew..
      
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      August 17, 2021 2:23pm
- Sede Vacante
  
  It’s all fake outrage and it is for a very specific reason. CNN never has a bad word to say about Biden, but now they do? Nope. The guy is overseeing a literal invasion at the southern US border and yet no comment from the media.
  
  What they are doing is setting up a pretext in order to move back in and occupy Afghanistan for the next century, otherwise “muh, Taliban atrocities” and “muh women can’t go to school.” It’s called “atrocity propaganda.” They need this “collapse” in order to justify their continued presence, since Trump had committed to pulling out. The Americans will be back in Afghanistan in significant numbers soon.
  
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  August 17, 2021 11:43am
  - Adroit
    
    Just when you think you’ve seen the last of the Neocon hawks, they show right back up again.
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:20pm
Maggie Pie

God only knows why we got involved with the ‘Stans’ in the first place 🙁

Their circus. Their monkeys.
Leave them to it.

https://twitter.com/shakibnoori/status/1427347524168335361
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August 17, 2021 8:16am
- Biscuit
  
  Indeed, Maggie…
  
  HOW TO BE A MILITARY GENIUS 101
  
  1. No invading Russia in the Winter
  2. No invading Afghanistan EVER
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:43am
  - paulscott
    
    haha Biscuit [ 8.43] . There is something gloriously heroic in that statement .
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:37pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Ta, Paul.
      
      A friend told me that ‘you could add ‘And don’t annoy the Vietnamese EITHER’ to that list.
      
      Ho Chi Minh’s boys did pretty well in getting rid of the French colonialists and then, not long afterwards. the US incursion.
      
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      August 17, 2021 1:11pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Didn’t deal too kindly to the PLA when they tried to invade either.
        
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        August 17, 2021 4:24pm
  - cmm
    
    Don’t fight against guerillas either.
    
    Asymmetric warfare highly favours irregular forces.
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:13pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Back in my distant past we called it the Seagull effect – swoop in, take a dump and swoop off again.
  
  Meanwhile the natives in the trenches did what they always did
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:55am
- RoboRob
  
  Oil
  
  No need to bow down or pray to me 🙂
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:58am
  - Local Miller
    
    Except for all the TDS, the USA was producing more oil than it was using thanks to Trump’s promotion of the local oil industry.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:49am
    - RoboRob
      
      True, it WAS. Of course the US went to Afganistan well before the shale oil boom. At the time of the invasion the teletubbies were blocking an oil pipeline through the country.
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:21am
    - Paulus
      
      Now shut down by Biden.
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:31am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Except that is drivel Rob. Look online, you can see where American oil came from before the shale boom, and none if it was from Afghanistan. You will find that over 30% of Afghanistan’s total imports are fuel.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:43pm
- MCos
  
  Because America wanted us to & John Key said Get Some Guts to Andrew Little who wasn’t keen on sending troops to Iraq.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:08am
  - RoboRob
    
    If Key hadn’t been keen to support the US, Andrew Little would have been telling him to ‘get some guts’.
    
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    August 17, 2021 10:22am
- Clyde
  
  Anyone that googles wars in Afghanistan will soon learn that anyone that has conducted a war there loses. The country is a load of factionalised tribes (sound familiar?) who will never embrace the concept of nationhood. The Taliban is also an import from Pakistan. As a primer, have a look at the British wars in Afghanistan in the 1800’s. An absolute abortion and one which has been repeated ad nauseum ever since.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:21am
- Nickc2
  
  It was revenge for 9/11. Bin Laden was shacked up there and was instrumental in training the Taliban in terrorism.
  However, the CIA trained and equipped Afghans (Mujahadeen) in their struggle against the Russians. Subsequently, the Mujahadeen turned against the US.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:36am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    9/11 was a pretext. We are told the culprits were Saudis, not Afghanis. If Bin Laden (a Saudi) was “shacked up there” they could have sent in a Seal team. The reason the US has been in Afghanistan is not to liberate anyone, but to occupy the place indefinitely at great and lucrative expense, due to where it is located, its near neighbours and who else is in the general vicinity.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:05pm
- Bluegrass
  
  9/11.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:38am
  - RoboRob
    
    Nope, that was the excuse. If it was 9/11 than Saudi Arabia would have been the target as most of the terrorists were Saudis. Instead Saudi got a cozy relationship with the US so it would provide a staging base for the US to launch attacks on its (disliked) neighbours.
    
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    August 17, 2021 10:25am
- Tall Man
  
  No one told them they’re not real, they think they’re courting them 😉
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:11pm
kowtow

Right now Pushtun , Pakistan/Gulf States backed ,thugs are dragging people out of their houses and murdering them out of hand .

They are allowed a twitter account while the former President of the USA is not .

Where’s the outrage ?
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August 17, 2021 8:20am
- Frank the tank
  
  Burn of the year from the Trumpsta:
  
  “Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next?” Trump asked. “Someone should ask him, if they can find him.”
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:39am
Simon

See that bag Helen Clark going on about “womens rights” in Afgh. The same mad cow who was big on trade with the CCP the biggest human rights abusers on the planet.

If the Taliban buy all of NZ’s dairy it will be fine. She is bog standard gubermint garbage.
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August 17, 2021 8:23am
Joe Kerr

Comrade Jacinda: “They are us”.
Taliban: “Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich”.
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August 17, 2021 8:23am
- NoCash
  
  You meant a kebab?
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:56am
G152

Cindy finally came to a decision regarding Afghanistan. Only a month to late and shes sending more of our people into the shit hole…
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August 17, 2021 8:26am
slightlyrighty

It’s now been 13 years since Sue Bradfords Anti-Smacking bill was put into law.

We now have 16 year olds stabbing each other at parties. Parents have been usurped as the disciplinarians in their kids lives, and the worst of these kids are running off the rails.

5 15-16 year olds killed in Timaru.
16 Year olds stabbed at a party, one fatally.

It was foreseen…
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August 17, 2021 8:27am
- kowtow
  
  Violence against teachers at all time high . Very little said. I wonder why not?
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:05am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I think it’s a long bow to conflate the terrible loss of life in Timaru with the anti-smacking legislation. I got smacked/spanked as a kid, and even caned at school, but I still did stupid things in my first car, including regularly driving with a skinfull. I also remember four young blokes being killed one Sunday morning in the early 1970’s when their car crashed into the bridge across the Manawatu River, at speed, so multiple deaths in car accidents is nothing new.
  
  The cars that I drove were too slow to get out of their own way, unlike the lightweight rocketships young people often drive today. If my Vauxhall Victor 101 had hit a power pole, it would have been the pole breaking in two, bot the Vauxhall!
  
  Rather than the anti-smacking law, I believe that things went pear-shaped in the 1970’s when a Christchurch Police constable named Peter Gilfedder took a cheeky young fella around the back of a shopping mall, gave him a kick up the backside and sent him on his way. When the kid got home he told his parents, who instead of asking if he deserved it, took him to the local police station to complain. Gilfedder was eventually prosecuted and dismissed from the Police, and the odds have been in offenders’ favour ever since.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:05am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Re your Vauxhall vs powerpole .. I remember being in a Humber 80 that ran into the back of another Humber 80 at what must have been 20km/h. The occupants of both cars were dazed and whiplashed, but there wasn’t a scratch on either car.
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:12am
  - Nookin
    
    Hi Tony.
    Paul Gilfedder delivered a bit more than a boot up the jacksie. See Law Soc article linked.
    https://docplayer.net/162142917-Lawjournal-the-new-zealand-the-gilfedder-affair-another-perspective-6-november-1973-no-20.html
    
    I agree that it is a long bow to attribute the car crash to anti-smacking legislation. Hoons, boy racers or whatever you want to call them have been around for yonks. The major difference is that their weapons of choice are now much more lethal.
    
    Collins introduced the car crushing legislation not long after the anti smacking legislation. Adolescent discipline did not deteriorate that quickly.
    
    Slightlyrighty’s thesis relies on two premises, both likely to be fallacious. The first is that the parents, caregivers or whomsoever was charged with disciplining the alleged culprit zealously refrained from smacking him thereby allowing him to do whatever his rebellious heart desired.
    The second fallacy is that the alleged culprit, having gone to the party armed with a knife and, about to slice and dice the victims, would have reconsidered because “daddy might smack me”.
    
    It is nonsense to suggest that parents have been usurped as their kids’ disciplinarians. Parents still have the right/responsibility to discipline their kids. They just can’t do that by hitting them.
    Bradfords law followed a jury verdict exonerating a parent who stopped a vehicle on the side of the road and dealt with a lippy teen with a stock whip. The jury thought that was ok in the circumstances. Someone had to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I doubt whether anyone can point to a crim and say that he/she is the product of non-violent discipline.
    
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    August 17, 2021 10:33am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      A pertinent point from that opinion:
      
      “It is clear from the many published accounts of the case that Gilfedder was subjected to considerable provocation by an arrogant, insolent youngster, who, at 14 years of age, had not only acquired a list of conviction3 in the Children’s Court for serious crime, but had also earned the reputation of being almost uncontrollably anti- authority. Gilfedder, on the other hand, had earned the respect and confidence of his colleagues during his 14-year period of service as a police officer, and was regarded as a responsible officer who could be relied upon when the going was tough.”
      
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      August 17, 2021 11:26am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    It may well be a long bow, but 15-16 year olds have been brought up with little respect for following rules or respecting authority.
    
    They take risks because they have not experienced meaningful consequences for their actions.
    
    until it’s too late.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:53pm
  - Biscuit
    
    My younger life seems remarkably similar to your one, Tony, heh heh.
    
    I was ‘a cheeky young fella’ back in the 70’s too but have progressed through life in an almost boring fashion.
    
    (Tip: Burn the bodies as you accumulate them!).
    
    My Mum, Dad and Nan would been most unsupportive if our Mr Plod had put cop boot leather onto my rear end…
    
    I’d be curious to know how that young fella fared – behaviourwise – in later life.
    
    Do you know, perchance?
    
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    August 17, 2021 1:03pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Hmm, he wasn’t the Paul Snowden that had a Karaka property (among other assets) confiscated by the police last year for drug offences? Or that scammed MSD for payments years and years ago? If it was, whatever Gilfedder gave him wasn’t enough, and Snowden’s parents were obviously rat bags as well.
      
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      August 17, 2021 2:43pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Agreed. The anti-discipline legislation was a symptom. The root illness is the state believing they possess a moral right to raise our children.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:07am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Discipline has become more difficult. I suspect schools have abandoned enforcement of expectations. Kids now choose their own school times or days.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:37am
  - curry4me
    
    KevO’Brien: The kids know who is in charge at school. They are.
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:52am
BananaLlama

Joe Biden giving his speech and running from responsibility faster than an Afghani soldier. Always someone else’s fault it’s never the people who are actually in power making decisions.
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August 17, 2021 8:40am
- dcrane
  
  Apparently despite heroic efforts by the US, who did everything anyone could have asked, the Afghans just didn’t want freedom badly enough.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:34am
- Nickc2
  
  He has speechwriters to write what goes on his auto-cue, they aren’t his own words.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:47am
  - Tall Man
    
    I know but .. blah blah blah, mumble mumble muble hairy legs just doesn’t have the same “zing” does it?
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:04pm
- Paulus
  
  Same as here – good left wing socialist, always somebody else’s fault eh Cindy ?
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:34am
Maggie Pie

Obama has shut down his comments on Instagram this morning..
What was he afraid of hearing?
Coward.
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August 17, 2021 8:40am
- Frank the tank
  
  Hasn’t been a great month for Barry Osama. First the Mary Antionette party and now his old sidekick has rooted his foreign policy legacy.
  
  Time for new book and speaking tour….
  
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  August 17, 2021 8:53am
  - cmm
    
    I wonder whether Obama is still endorsing Joe as the greatest statesman ever etc etc.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-s3ANu4eMs
    
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    August 17, 2021 9:39am
    - Frank the tank
      
      “Never underestimate Joe to fuck things up” – Barry Osama
      
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      August 17, 2021 10:06am
- RoboRob
  
  And suddenly the world was a better place.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:01am
WaveyDavey

As ever little old NZ punching above its weight. Makes you proud…

The nine worst responses to Afghanistan’s fall

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-9-worst-responses-to-afghanistan-s-fall
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August 17, 2021 8:42am
- RockyJ
  
  The Spectator. Saying what New Zealand media lack the guts to say- the truth. Except for Mike Hosking.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:16am
  - hullkiwi
    
    The classic is the hypocritical girl Bayliss working for al-Jazzera and is currently reporting from Kabul.
    
    Her classic this morning was:
    ” I feel safer now in Kabul with the Taliban in charge”.
    
    If that is how she feels, she can stay there.
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:44pm
    - kowtow
      
      Al Jazeera is funded by the Qataris .
      
      The Taliban have safe conduct there .
      
      Join the dots.
      
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      August 17, 2021 1:41pm
    - cmm
      
      Well to an extent she’s right.
      
      It is the transitions themselves that are the most bloody and when everyone gets impacted.
      
      Once a tyrannical organisations take control they tend to stop shooting. So long as you are not an enemy and keep your head down you’re reasonably safe.
      
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      August 17, 2021 2:58pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Well, I’ll quote the article;
  
  New Zealand’s Prime Minister has ‘implored’ Taliban leaders to uphold human rights, telling a press conference ‘What we want to see is women and girls being able to access work and education’ which she insightfully noted ‘are things that have traditionally not been available to them where there has been governance by Taliban.’ The Taliban’s response is as yet unknown.
  
  Imagine a girl-child, and a lion stalking her, and the girl-child smiles at the lion and says in a pathetic, little voice, “Here, kitty, kitty.”
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:50am
  - Paulus
    
    Taliban response – Who and where is New Zealand ?
    Foxtrot Oscar !
    
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    August 17, 2021 10:36am
- Tall Man
  
  Except he didn’t say “implored with a tilted head and a hurty face”. These additions will sway the taliban immediately……
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:49pm
JibberJabber

Of course, the question no media or politician will ever ask,

Why is it that Muslims always flee to non Islamic countries?

remains unasked.
Is what’s left of Western democracy, freedom and colonisation not so bad after all?
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August 17, 2021 8:46am
- kowtow
  
  No , but the social welfare is gold plated.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:06am
Master Mariner

Well with the Taliban back in power then the poppy fields will be destroyed.
Interesting side note is Getting oil out of the Caspian Sea in the 90’s.

No relevence today but in the context of Going into Afghanistan might add some context.

https://web.archive.org/web/20020615125843/http://www.newhumanist.com/oil.html

Keep in mind all George Bush’s advisers at the time and Obama ‘s foreign policy continued, the status Quo.

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/pipeline-politics-oil-gas-and-the-us-interest-in-afghanistan/213804
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August 17, 2021 8:46am
- Master Mariner
  
  From Aljazeera,
  https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/8/16/what-went-wrong-in-afghanistan
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:05am
Ultima

Green party now has a leader to replace Churchcill on their walls? I hear the Taliban are very environmentally friendly. they use horse and carriage instead of polluting cars, grows opium with minimal use of fertilisers, and they hate the US.
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August 17, 2021 9:02am
Maggie Pie

Here we go….pics from the streets of Kabul this morning.
T-Ban solve city parking problem overnight.

https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1427225605267918850
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August 17, 2021 9:04am
- MCos
  
  You never see blokes walking round in a civilized country with guns like that, do you?
  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/military-style-semiautomatic-rifles-and-other-guns-increasingly-seen-at-key-vote-counting-centers-11604765511
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:23am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Maybe Jaspinda could ask them to hand their guns in….
    
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    August 17, 2021 10:14am
  - Tall Man
    
    With hands of steel you don’t need guns …..
    
    https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2020-10-14T070721Z_570659424_RC27IJ94MMIA_RTRMADP_3_THAILAND-PROTESTS.jpg?fit=1170%2C806
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:55pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Well, maybe some do 😉
      
      https://www.ctvnews.ca/thailand-shows-weapons-confiscated-from-protesters-1.514929
      
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      August 17, 2021 3:59pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Civilised countries aren’t supposed to have 140,000 dumps of votes 100% for one candidate drop in the middle of the night when there are observers present either.
    
    Just maybe the two are linked ?
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:36pm
    - Batman
      
      Or maybe both are nonsense?
      
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      August 17, 2021 4:42pm
    - doggone7
      
      Civilised countries have good systems to deal with mental health problems. Anyone who thinks voting changes happen in the US through China and Germany and Spain by satellite can get help.
      Anyone who believes in a 140,000 dump of illegal votes in the middle of the night all for one candidate the same.
      
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      August 17, 2021 6:50pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, women in Kabul sent home from their banking jobs because, well, women belong at home and not some uppity employment. Islamic rule will resume.
  
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  August 17, 2021 9:37am
Nukuleka

Good to see an arrest has been made in the Christchurch stabbing.

It seems a number of girls from Avonside Girls’ High attended the party. It’s interesting to read the letter to parents, as quoted on Stuff, that the principal of the school Sue Hume wrote in which she carefully avoids using the words ‘girl’ or ‘daughter’ preferring to use the phrase ‘your young person’. What does it say about this woman that she cannot acknowledge the biological identity of the young women in her care?
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August 17, 2021 9:04am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Some of the girls no doubt have their own personal pronouns so the letter avoid their umbrage.
  Time will dissipate the nonsense.
  
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  August 17, 2021 11:02am
  - paulscott
    
    KevO’B [11.02] Yes, here is a quote from Sancho Panza talking to Don Quixote in the 16th Century.
    “The truth is like oil over water, and no matter how thin, will rise to the top “
    
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    August 17, 2021 12:57pm
Master Mariner

Is NZ too late in getting Interpreters out ?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/16/taliban-says-afghanistan-war-over-as-president-diplomats-flee

Unless they can get to Pakistan which would be doubtfull.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
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August 17, 2021 9:12am
- MCos
  
  “On 22 June 2019, 68 former Afghan interpreters and their families became New Zealand citizens at a very special ceremony at Kirikiriroa Marae, Hamilton.”
  https://www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz/news/former-afghan-interpreters-given-new-zealand-citizenship/
  
  The article doesn’t mention how many others have been relocated to NZ.
  
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  August 17, 2021 12:22pm
Ruawai

Saw an AMP ad last night saying they are not investing in any fossil fuel companies, wonder how they think all other companies they invest in get their goods transported to market?? By fairies flying around? In electric planes and ships?
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August 17, 2021 9:13am
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep, Pretty naieve and disheartening.
  
  A fool and there money are easily lost.
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:09am
- Nukuleka
  
  I commented on this virtue-signaling nonsense emanating from AMP earlier and took the advice of fellow kbloggers, moving my Kiwisaver account to Milford. Very happy to see my investment moving forward and not backwards as it was with AMP. Muppets.
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:13am
  - tf78
    
    Milford have been amazing in the past six months, biggest returns we’ve ever had. I hope it’s not a matter of the higher they go the further they fall.
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:08am
  - paulscott
    
    That’s interesting Nukuleka. I have given up on New Zealand, I will come back if ever my low social score status allows me into MIQ NZ ; I will sell the family home, and then currency is a problem. The four big banks have massive influence in Australia, and not them; so your opinion is helpful here.
    
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    August 17, 2021 1:05pm
- Paulus
  
  Some 20 years ago AMP lost about 30% of my pension savings with their investment push.
  Why any fool is prepared to lose money because of their ideology in their investments I do not know.
  I want the BEST return for my investments I can get so will not have Government backed political adherents tell me where to invest and in what.
  Fools and their ideology are soon parted.
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:43am
- kowtow
  
  Amazing innit ?
  
  Wonder what the greenwashed fools think the process for making the steel in the wind turbines involves or all that cement that goes into the foundations and how it all gets to site …….
  
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  August 17, 2021 12:03pm
- coge
  
  You’d still have to be a complete mug to invest with AMP at the best of times!
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:01pm
- Observer of Life
  
  I hear there’s a bit if a stampede from AMP’s business to more enlightened ones. What’s that saying about sowing and reaping???
  
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  August 17, 2021 5:12pm
RiP NZ

Am I alone in thinking sending an old herc with 40 POB into a, a what? High risk area is a bad idea?
Everyone ok if it costs anyone on board their lives?
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August 17, 2021 9:24am
- DeepBlue
  
  The herc and our troops won’t get anywhere near Afghanistan. They will be a shuttle service from a secure neighbouring airbase to farther afield.
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:32am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Who’s planning it? Twyford?
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:05am
  - tf78
    
    DeepBlue, I think I heard ISIS have moved in already. Too late now I fear.
    
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    August 17, 2021 11:10am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Jacinda is already back tracking. I’d be surprised if the herc even leaves NZ.
      
      Only last week the forces were saying they are not combat ready because MIQ stints have disrupted training. I now wonder if this was a push back in response to Minister Henare asking them to get ready for a mission.
      
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      August 17, 2021 2:01pm
Cassandra

The NY Times showed Biden’s press conference (it wasn’t) live. It showed Biden staring intently at a screen from which he read a statement and then he walked rapidly out of the room followed by the camera and lots of reporters shouting. It was an awful look.
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August 17, 2021 9:55am
thirteenstars

Spiked. Excellent.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/08/16/this-is-worse-that-saigon

This is the truth: America and its Western allies are too consumed by wokeness to be able to pursue a moral or military struggle for their values. The past 20 years of this slow-burning Afghan humiliation have been a modern case of fiddling while Rome burns. An intolerant Islamist army gains in strength and plots its return to power while the American and British armies obsess over how to become more trans-inclusive, which gender pronouns to use (the Royal Air Force’s list includes ‘ze’, ‘per’ and ‘hir’), how to make training exercises more inclusive of ‘snowflakes’, and how to fight wars without offending the enemy. Who can forget when US navymen wrote ‘Hijack this, fags’ on a bomb destined for Afghanistan and all hell broke loose? Such ‘spontaneous acts of penmanship’ are completely unacceptable, said the then US rear admiral. The Taliban was fighting to the death for its theocratic vision – the West was squabbling over offensive words.
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August 17, 2021 9:58am
waripori

This clearly did not work out how Biden expected but he cant be accused of not taking responsibility.

This from his remarks today.

Full text here
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/us/politics/biden-taliban-afghanistan-speech.html

I’m now the fourth American president to preside over war in Afghanistan. Two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth president. I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference. Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here. I am president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me.
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August 17, 2021 10:06am
- Inandout
  
  wari, Joe has spent 47 years as a politician and has read the prepared statement carefully. Pity he didn’t stay around for question time from reporters like all previous Presidents would have happily done.
  
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  August 17, 2021 10:20am
- rangitoto
  
  He said said the buck stops with me and then proceeded to try and blame Trump
  
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  August 17, 2021 12:52pm
CAKE FACE1

The Are Us – the sequel!!!!

Only Cindy can save us from the Taliban!

She can shoot them down with her sad frowny face!
Except she might have to wear a pesky burka….

It doesn’t matter – the film will show the Taliban hearts melting when HUGZZZ!!!
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August 17, 2021 10:19am
ABS4EVA

This issue can not be laid to rest until
This Government and these people are removed
and I would prefer

Criminally investigated
by an unbiased independent crowd funded professional organisation to bring them to Justice

https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/mongrel_mob

I encourage you to look into
the Mongrel Mob in Australia

Is this Jacinda’s only supported export to Australia?

Because let’s be honest as honesty is in very short supply nowadays.

This is who she goes into Bat for when she meets
with Scumo

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/wa-deports-ng-b88767846z

The Australian Government are doing everything to SHUT THEM DOWN

Disrupt them etc etc etc

What do they get from New Zealand Government Agencies?

a Kumbaya Koha Session

https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2021/07/nothing-wrong-with-mongrel-mob-koha–it-s-mori-protocol—willie.html

Saying there is anything “Truly Maori” about
“The Mongrel Mob”

IS A GOD DAMNED INSULT to all
New Zealanders of Maori Descent
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August 17, 2021 10:32am
- paulscott
  
  Two year ago I was told the Sr9ubek tapes may come to light ,but it was just a message in, and I subsequently realised a deal had been made .
  
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  August 17, 2021 1:13pm
JibberJabber

James Woods takes no prisoners ?

Joe Biden is a coward. He’s afraid to answer questions from a press corps who have his picture on their bedroom walls.
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August 17, 2021 10:37am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_OT3ucI39g

Things Aren’t Working As well As They’d Hoped!

What happened on an 6th? Not a lot of people know. [8:15.]
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August 17, 2021 11:26am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB93nWZXWUg

How Kamala Harris Influenced Biden To Betray US Troops & Afghanistan.

Never underestimate Sleepy Joes ability to f— things up. Sometimes he needs help to do it. Like Quemala for instance. Reading a history book might have helped. [4:43]
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August 17, 2021 11:26am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpccUO61Jv4

A China-Russia power struggle has already begun in Afghanistan.

Every time someone leaves Afghanistan, it becomes an even bigger s— hole. Now, Russia, and China have designs over it. It has a lot of minerals. The Taliban might behave well in exchange for aid, and trade. Maybe Sleepy Joe could send them some icecream? Russia has offered aid to Tajikistan to help against the Taliban. [6:08]
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August 17, 2021 11:27am
Fletch

I never thought that I’d agree with Helen Clark on anything, yet this morning in an interview with Hosking on ZB she says –

“I think this needed a long-term approach from international supporters. Look, the U.S has kept troops on the ground, some 50,000 of them, in Korea since the Armistice in 1953; It still has tens of thousands of troops in Germany; it has tens of thousands in the Gulf. And yet it balked at keeping two and a half thousand in Afghanistan. That two and a half thousand with the Army training support which a number of other countries provided kind of enabled the precarious stability and government to go on and girls who wanted to get educated and health to improve and so on. You pull out that brick, the whole thing collapsed unfortunately…”

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/helen-clark-former-prime-minister-predicts-there-could-eventually-be-a-civil-war-in-afghanistan/

As I say – totally agree with her on this one. The U.S still has caretaker/peacekeeper troops in many places around the world, including in Germany since WWII.
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August 17, 2021 11:33am
- Sede Vacante
  
  Which begs the question: why are they in any of those places?
  
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  August 17, 2021 12:16pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Nice to get posted to some of those places.
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:35pm
- waripori
  
  The difference between Germany and South Korea and Afghanistan is there is no practical chance of American troops getting killed in those two countries. No Americans have been killed in Afghanistan for ages because Trump negotiated a cease fire ( during which the Taleban got much stronger and the Government troops got much weaker ). If Biden had decided to stay he would have had to send more troops which would have been directly breaking an election pledge. Leaving 2500 of them would have been pointless once the shooting started again.
  
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  August 17, 2021 12:31pm
  - Jack5
    
    Germany pays to keep US troops in Germany, but not the full cost.
    
    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-spends-millions-of-euros-on-us-military-bases/a-50106376
    
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    August 17, 2021 2:05pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Not with the drones still operating. Scary things those shiny sky dots if you’re a terrorist carrying a bit of ammo for the boys ….
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:37pm
Ehlana

I subscribed to the NZ Govt Covid-19 update e-mails from dpmc.govt.nz. Whenever one is sent out my e-mail system quarantines it under suspicion of phishing, which Wikipedia says is “a fraudulent message designed to trick a human victim into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious software on the victim’s infrastructure like ransomware”.

What should we read into the fact that IT security systems see the NZ Govt as a threat to users?
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August 17, 2021 12:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Play school TV! say Biden cut short his holiday for a press release. He read a teleprompter, then walked away to continue his holiday. Totally useless as is Psaki, who is out of the office for a week. Convenient.
Talk about heading for the hills
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August 17, 2021 12:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Coming to a place near you soon.
We walked in to a restaurant to have dinner last night….
Hello.
Hi, table for two, please.
Sure, and your name.
Bob.
Great. And do you and your guest have your vaccination cards?
We do….Can you tell us who our server will be?
Um, looks like Tom will be your server tonight.
Great. Can you show us Tom’s vaccination card?
Um…
And also, can you provide me with proof that Tom is not a carrier of HIV, Hepatitis A or B, or any other communicable diseases?
Um…
Also, we would prefer not to be served by someone who is on or uses recreational drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, etc, so if you could provide us with Tom’s most recent tox screen, that would be great.
Um… Let me get the manager for you.
That would be great, thanks.
I stole this from a friend but this would be awesome to do!
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August 17, 2021 12:14pm
I remember when

So what did really happen at Tuai power station this week.
Last night I noticed an article talking about 7.14 am when I mentioned 7.20 pm.
A reread of the article suggested it had been up-dated since my first visit but, if anything, was even more confusing.
Excerpts below from article:
“This morning we lost supply of local power services to the Waikaremoana scheme which meant it was tripped at approx. 7.14am and returned at 7.44 am.
“Transpower was alerted to an issue at the Genesis-run Tuai power station, Lake Waikaremoana, at 7.20 pm when it lost full generation.”
“The spokesman said they weren’t aware of any blackouts to customers, however that was down to the local lines distributor in the region who may have opted to reduce hot water charging.”
So was there one, or were there two outages, and did they occur almost exactly twelve hours apart?
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August 17, 2021 1:06pm
I remember when

fernglas asked yesterday how many people in NZ have died from the side effects of the vaccine.
A female TV announcer did say perhaps a week ago that a person had died a day after receiving their second covid injection, bringing the total to eight.
She did say that there was no proof that the covid vaccination was responsible.
Obviously with the delay in coroners publicising their findings any decisions will be long into the future.
She also mentioned what seemed to be a rather higher than I expected number of serious complications, without detailing what the term meant.
Never heard anything in latter news bulletins or since.
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August 17, 2021 1:23pm
I remember when

Ao Tawhiti Unlimited School Sports:
Senior High Jump Result –
1. Tim – 1.47m On Monday
2. Fred 1.46m at home on Tuesday
3=. Tom – 1.46m on Thursday
3= Dick – No measurement taken but he said it was
1.46m.
Junior Athletics Champion:
It was decided that competition was unhealthy so all Year 9 & 10 Students have been declared joint winners.
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August 17, 2021 1:33pm
paulscott

It’s going to be rough Steve [12.14 ] and it is coming to your place soon as you say. One small example Me. It is next to impossible for me to get back to New Zealand to sell the family home. If I do manage that, it will be next to impossible for me to return to Bangkok. Yesterday here in Bangkok I tried to buy Vitamin D [ just our normal prophylactic regime ] You can’t get in any Pharmacy; I tried . The collapse of normal urban society here has to be seen to be believed. Asian people are even more herd like than Westerners, The plague is one of fear, not a biophysical syndrome.
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August 17, 2021 1:33pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Good think my Thai friend left Bangkok 14 years ago and married an Alaska LOL. She worked at a cooking school in Sukhumvit, (BaiPai) wonder how that is doing now?
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:12pm
- Tall Man
  
  We were in Thailand during APEC 2003.
  
  Best holiday ever, the place was deserted as most Thais were convinced there would be terror attacks so had vacated Bangkok. I took a photo of a major intersection, Rama 4 and Sukhumvit I think, without a single car in sight.
  
  It’s more like this normally ….
  
  https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/bangkok-thailand-august-view-traffic-jam-night-rama-iv-road-klong-toey-district-distric-99274880.jpg
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:29pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Sitting here having lunch and watching RT.
They’re rioprting the DC of Congo has requested military help from the US against the ADF Militia.

Are they mad? Don’t they have telly in the Congo??
Look at what their ‘help’ did in the Stans!
Not to mention Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Vietnam….

SHEESH
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August 17, 2021 1:34pm
dave_c_

Ha ! We can always (as in always without fail) depend on our figurehead of a PM to leave the door open for failure ! Without Fail ! And probably thinks this is an appropriate and adequate response – What an abject failure he is.

No ‘guarantees’ for Kiwis (awaiting evacuation, PM says)
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August 17, 2021 2:09pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Another Chief Executive caught out telling porkies to a National MP at a Select Committee hearing.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2108/S00152/kainga-ora-chief-exec-misled-select-committee.htm

No guesses as to where this will go.
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August 17, 2021 2:11pm
- Tall Man
  
  We used to send out letters with the heading
  
  “Pre crumpled for your convenience”
  
  Perhaps this “release” should have been similarly labeled.
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:19pm
wreck1080

COVID reported as being in The community in Auckland…

Hoping not, I have many things on the go.

But , positive thing is I am vaccinated and if the uk is anything to by then I will be fine even if I catch it.
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August 17, 2021 2:46pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  If there is any truth in this, just watch Jaspinda pounce on it. She has been waiting to enforce control
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:14pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Actually she may not know until the 6pm news, there is a lots she does not know – or won’t tell you if she is likely to face blame
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:15pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Quite. She will be soooo excited. She will have done a little dance!
    
    9 2
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    August 17, 2021 3:53pm
- Wired-one
  
  Maybe our luck has finally run out? Ardern and Co will be hoping it hasn’t considering they have utterly failed on the vaccine rollout. Interesting times.
  
  16 1
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  August 17, 2021 3:14pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Luck? A biological certainty has happened. Pathogens will do what pathogens have done for eons.
    
    9 1
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    August 17, 2021 3:55pm
  - cmm
    
    “Maybe our luck has finally run out?” Impossible. She’s been wearing her lucky knickers for months!
    
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    August 17, 2021 5:24pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Cabinet has held a virtual meeting, and the PM and Hipkins are flying back from Auckland to Wellington right about now. Expect a stand-up at 6pm, and if Hipkins’ comments last week are anything to go by, a short, sharp Level Four lockdown.
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:15pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Seems to be a lot of noise at Whenuapai.
    
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    August 17, 2021 3:22pm
  - dave_c_
    
    Short my arse – wait and see !
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:32pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    When are they going to do something useful?
    
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    August 17, 2021 5:59pm
- Peter Lane
  
  I’m vaccinated too. Wondering what the point if they’re just going to lock us all down again.
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:20pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Lockdowns are a blunt instrument for a government that has no idea, and plan. Sound like Ardern’s mob?
    
    14 2
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    August 17, 2021 4:07pm
  - dcrane
    
    If every new case is going to mean Level 4, then it’s beginning to look like anyone who got the jab this year has wasted their time and taken a risk for nothing. Might as well have waited until the day (or the year!) the country opens again for real, if that ever happens. Or at least for a better vaccine and/or better safety data.
    
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    August 17, 2021 5:23pm
- Tomtoddy
  
  Yet another instance of bad management. Why cant they run a decent MIQ – it cant be that hard?
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:42pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Yes, it can be hard. Mankind has never eradicated a respiratory virus. Our foolishness is believing we can now.
    
    10 3
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    August 17, 2021 3:57pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The foolishness is believing those who say they can eradicate it. Team of 5 million and all that shit
      
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      August 17, 2021 4:45pm
- dave_c_
  
  Wreck – How can you be so sure ? Look at Israel – High level of 2 jabs per person, and those people are now expiring !!!! – Do the research for yourself.
  If you have not visited this site, I have found it helpful, in understanding much. Not everything on it is my cup of tea, but there are many articles both ‘for & against’ explaining covid)
  http://www.rense.com
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:39pm
MrTips

So…..

when Hipkins said late last week that one case would lock us down 4-STYLE (which was a completely different reaction to the Wgtn situation of the delta variant guy from Aussie)……

did he know that the MIQ situation was still rubbish and that people could possibly get cross infected, as implied by the story this am?

We shall await and see wot the situation is later and how serious he was last week.
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August 17, 2021 2:58pm
Nickc2

Important Documentary about those involved in the 9/11 attack on America. Definitely worth a viewing.
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2021/08/important-documentary-on-the-mosques-imams-muslim-networks-supporting-funding-facilitating-911-islam.html
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August 17, 2021 3:03pm
Tall Man

Go buy your dunny paper, madness is on the way.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/covid-19-health-officials-investigating-one-new-case-in-the-community.html
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August 17, 2021 3:16pm
- dave_c_
  
  Mmmm. Talk about the cycle of deception and flat out lies by our govt. Softening us up with the anouncement that Lvl 4 would be ‘switft & severe’.
  Two days later, the false event kicks in.
  Pray tell me – How could a virus cross a corridor, exit one door, enter another door, and enter an individual in 2-3 seconds.
  The issue I see, is that we know they lie, they know we know they’re lying, yet they continue to lie !
  Power mongering arseholes, the lot of them.
  Using Covid to also deflect their pathetic response to Afghanistan. Huh !
  
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  August 17, 2021 3:28pm
  - doggone7
    
    You know they’re lying like I know there’ll be hysterical reaction to the case in Auckland. I know there’ll be so much stupid stuff said.
    
    Your snapshot, “How could a virus cross a corridor, exit one door, enter another door, and enter an individual in 2-3 seconds?”
    
    I’m not sure how many were involved in the inquiry or their qualifications, but I’m picking it wasn’t a quick once over from some uniformed clod.
    
    The Afghanistan angle? That’s a good one. I could float the story that they knew about the Covid case last week and, expecting the Afghanistan situation to blow up to whatever extent, sat on it for distraction purposes. What bets someone’s already put that story out.
    
    That’s the gormless, insecure, venomous world we live in.
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:47pm
- alloytoo
  
  Well colour me surprised………not.
  
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  August 17, 2021 7:18pm
Maggie Pie

Les Mills mulls introducing SH’BAM classes to Kabul gym 😀

https://twitter.com/Theshantelhear3/status/1427465406332145668
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August 17, 2021 3:28pm
lifesgood

Is anyone else like me seriously doubting there is a community covid case in Auckland? I mean little Mr squeaky voice has been threatening a lock down for a while now. Seems like he has just been waiting for the right time to announce one. Control, folks, it’s all about control.
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August 17, 2021 3:33pm
JibberJabber

Bad Poll, it gets the Lockdown…
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August 17, 2021 3:39pm
rockape

Time to. Lose the ferries and trans Cook Straight flights. Keep the Auckland pox in NorthIsland.
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August 17, 2021 3:48pm
- Wired-one
  
  Why the down ticks. If there needs to be a lockdown, Rockape is correct, isolate it off from areas like the South Island so we can keep the country a float. People in Gore don’t need to be locked down for one case in Auckland. Surely we have learnt to adapt in the last 18months.
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:19pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Auckland doesn’t need to be locked down for one case in Auckland.
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:34pm
    - Batman
      
      It was one case in Sydney too. Now it’s 470 a day and remind me how many have died?
      
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      August 17, 2021 4:42pm
      - dcrane
        
        And yet it was like 150 cases a day a month ago…actually not much of an exponential increase. It’s not far out of control, in other words. Maybe there is a middle path for places like Sydney. Germany is deploying rapid antigen testing so ppl can find out quickly if they carry the virus, for example.
        
        https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/world/europe/germany-covid-rapid-antigen-tests.html
        
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        August 17, 2021 5:21pm
      - fernglas
        
        Gosh, about 56 with an average age of 87; the most recent a patient in a hospital geriatric ward. Of course, don’t forget the 15 year old who had acute meningitis as well, or the 35 year old who died within seconds a day after returning a negative test. That’s about 1 in 100,000, and the place is locked down with horrific consequences both social and economic. But, as the Aussie doctor said last year, “one death from Covid is one too many”
        
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        August 17, 2021 5:22pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Oh the authoritarianism just gives you a thrill right down your leg, right Batman ?
        
        So a three day lockdown for the South Island is a “rational” response, bunch of fuckwit clowns.
        
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        August 17, 2021 7:11pm
      - Tall Man
        
        “remind me how many have died”
        
        About the same as usually die in New South Wales, you know, about 120 everyday on average.
        
        I know you have bought in to the covid scare unlike many others but I have said repeatedly that until we have a death rate a year or two down the track the real numbers are just unknown.
        
        Most if not all the deaths are with, not from but hey, you’ll enjoy the next few days doing fuckall won’t you while the rest of us try to make a living so we can pay our tax due in a few days which pays your salary.
        
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        August 17, 2021 7:50pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Nope, if we are going into lockdown and be equally miserable, it means ALL. That is the way SOCIALISM works – collective punishment
      
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      August 17, 2021 4:55pm
  - Tall Man
    
    That’s what we did in 2003 and 2008. Isolated the infected sites and lockdown the sources of infection.
    
    Easy peasy.
    
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    August 17, 2021 4:36pm
Flossie

The government will be pleased! A community case so we can do a lockdown! Just what’s needed to turn the polls. I just knew this was going to happen
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August 17, 2021 3:48pm
- rockape
  
  Convenient it’s just a couple of days before the nurses strike!
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:01pm
- septic skeptic
  
  This may not have the same effect on the polls as previous. A lot of people will be nervous due to their un-vaccinated status and will blame Cindy for the pathetically slow roll out.
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:16pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  We know we are being played – try telling a leftie …
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:56pm
- dcrane
  
  If the opposition were more competent, the public would be better-informed by now about how the government’s glacial vaccine rollout and poor border controls have left us needlessly vulnerable.
  
  Someone should have called out the press by now for their ridiculous graphs showing the vaccine progress “3% ahead of target” every single day. As if the target wasn’t outrageously low to begin with.
  
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  August 17, 2021 5:16pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  They can BS as much as they like, but if real it has to be a MIQ failure. No bubble this time like Wellington
  
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  August 17, 2021 5:33pm
Herodotus

I hope that the regular waste water testing did not show up any positive tests last week, before we were warned that any cases of delta strain would result in a level 4 lockdown, and that this is just a coincidence of the timing ?
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August 17, 2021 3:53pm
- dave_c_
  
  Yer right !
  
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  August 17, 2021 4:29pm
Fletch

Looks like we might be about to be hit with another lockdown. PM to hold press conference at 5.30pm
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August 17, 2021 3:54pm
- Prince
  
  State-controlled TV going ballistic. Live reporter in front of Britomart saying Aucklanders are wearing masks, while 50% of passers-by in background clearly aren’t.
  Ardern says she will front the nation at 6pm to feed us the usual bullshit she spouts from the pulpit of lies.
  Those polls must be dire.
  
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  August 17, 2021 5:52pm
krazykiwi

I’m in Auckland about to fly back to Wellington. Have promised my son that I’ve filled my satchel with Delta. Let’s do this 😉
15 1
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August 17, 2021 4:17pm
- Tall Man
  
  Fly?
  
  And here was I thinking you were a dedicated cyclist ……..
  
  8 1
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  August 17, 2021 4:34pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    It’s bit wet. Ruins the lycra 🙂
    
    12 1
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    August 17, 2021 4:45pm
Ra Henare

And they expect the sheeple to believe transmission at Jetpark. To go from one person in a room across the wide hallway in to another persons nose in another room. Because a door was open for a few seconds!
Yep. From a nose with light viral load across 3-4 metres in 3-5 seconds to another nose.
Yep and of course the most transparent government ever…
17 1
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August 17, 2021 4:18pm
- krazykiwi
  
  The door open thing is utter nonsense, designed to allow blame to be attributed to someone.
  
  These rooms pump aerosols between them 24×7. Infection is a byproduct of a fundamentally flawed mechanism.
  
  16 1
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  August 17, 2021 4:43pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Remember the frozen fish packages which transmitted covid….only they didn’t. We are being taken for fools.
    
    11 2
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    August 17, 2021 5:04pm
  - cmm
    
    A virus is tiny. About 100nm across. That’s one ten thousandth of a millimetre. A million viruses for everyone in the whole of NZ (including Aotearoa) would fit in 5 cubic mm (less than half a grain of rice).
    
    The thought that they can’t go under doors or need two doors open at a time to sneak through is beyond absurd.
    
    But the stupid sheep believe this stuff…
    
    12 1
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    August 17, 2021 5:48pm
- Ruawai
  
  I thought everyone at Jetpark had covid??
  
  5 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:15pm
CAKE FACE1

Zero Rona nut jobs love a long lockdown…

The rest of the world (except Oz and us) have finished with this nonsense…

I thought we were meant to have done well with Rona?
18 0
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August 17, 2021 4:19pm
krazykiwi

The CFR for under 70s is 0.05%

The empirical evidence now shows the lockdowns and net detrimental to the welfare of societies. Yet this is what we’re going to be whacked with.
15 1
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August 17, 2021 4:26pm
Maggie Pie

As everyone knows, I’ve been encouraging the group to stock up on toilet paper for the last few weeks. Just checked under our stairs and see we have 6 outers x 72 of Purex unscented. Anyone here caught short can contact me thru DPF to negotiate a price.
17 1
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August 17, 2021 4:35pm
- Tall Man
  
  Forgive me Maggie but there are some that may say you could be a bit light ……..
  
  12 0
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  August 17, 2021 4:38pm
- dave_c_
  
  Sorry – I can’t help the cause – I do not have even 1 mask in my possession. And I have not seen anyone using masks on public transport for several months now.
  
  11 1
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  August 17, 2021 4:42pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Ta Maggie – newsprint screwed up does same thing ? May not have the comfort factor.
  
  8 0
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  August 17, 2021 5:17pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  My caravan out back has a few. 90 – your call or bet again. Quilton is our choice, non scented
  
  8 1
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  August 17, 2021 5:21pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Coffee, Devonshire scones with promise of a round or two of tennis included?
  
  5 0
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  August 17, 2021 5:39pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    As a matter of interest, I got 10 bucks a roll from a few of the girls @tennis last year. Had to limit it to 4 rolls per customer.
    
    5 1
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    August 17, 2021 7:11pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

How long before the 3rd booster? Has NZ even got that far after fucking up from day one?
11 2
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August 17, 2021 5:16pm
cmm

Big Herald Banner “Assume you’ve been exposed: expert” or such.

Fucking Hendy (sorry DPF doesn’t like the word I want to use) is being trotted out by the Herald as an expert again.

Covid-19 modeller Shaun Hendy said Aucklanders “should assume we’ve been exposed” and wear masks immediately.

What an irresponsible thing to say. It is just fear mongering along with his 80,000 will die bullshit.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-case-identified-in-auckland-community-no-link-to-border-or-miq/JQEPSWCF7HZBEYK472MDETKMQE/
26 1
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August 17, 2021 5:19pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hendy is an expert in controlled propaganda – and maybe something else that he does not talk about
  
  19 2
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  August 17, 2021 5:24pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Agreed. The fear factory is working overtime
  
  15 2
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  August 17, 2021 5:36pm
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Stress weakens the body’s immune system, so this fear-mongering is probably contributing to mortality.
    
    14 2
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    August 17, 2021 5:39pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  Hendy is an arse
  
  He took the *massively* flawed Ferguson/Imperial model and decided that we’d suffer twice as badly in NZ than the UK
  
  His reputation should be in tatters
  
  16 0
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  August 17, 2021 6:20pm
  - sooty
    
    So is his underpants! Blown out!
    
    5 0
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    August 17, 2021 7:20pm
- Ed Snack
  
  And even more, masks of the cloth type DO NOT WORK ! Hendry is either utterly ignorant or a baleful malicious liar.
  
  9 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:14pm
  - cmm
    
    Let me help cut those options down for you…
    Seeing he’s a physicist and understands the difference between a nanometre and a millimetre I wouldn’t think he’s utterly ignorant.
    
    6 0
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    August 17, 2021 7:53pm
Maggie Pie

We were just watching Shaun Hendy on TVOne.
My partner wondered what had happened to his right ear…did anyone else notice that?
10 1
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August 17, 2021 5:46pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  WHOOPSIE – my partner said I got the name wrong.
  It was actually the guy with the big specs…. Mike Baker.
  
  6 1
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  August 17, 2021 5:55pm
  - fernglas
    
    Just remember that Baker is the one who gets his shirts from the Salvation Army
    
    8 0
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    August 17, 2021 6:12pm
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Baker is the one with the Audi driver’s (architect) specs
      
      6 0
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      August 17, 2021 8:19pm
- Ruawai
  
  Picture of the ear?
  
  6 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:02pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Available ‘On Demand’
    
    4 1
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    August 17, 2021 7:14pm
buzzler

To add to the misery, Transpower have issued a notice that they may run out of juice between 5 and 7.30 tonight. Icing on the cake.
15 0
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August 17, 2021 5:49pm
wilderbeast

In light of this latest scare I’ve been musing where we stand with Covid as a country. Almost 18 months ago now we were told we were “going hard and early” and the PM pleaded and demanded with face only she can pull that out lockdown sacrifice would be worth it fir the whole “team of 5 million”. We were then told vaccination was our path out of this and we were towards the front of the queue.

Well down the track now our vaccination rates are still woeful, and until TV ads that appeared last week I wouldn’t have had a clue to get near one. We get regularly veiled threats and pre-emptive statements from the PM and Hipkins that we need to accept reduced freedoms as the “new normal”. Throughout there’s been bungles and botch ups and only our natural isolation and small, lightly spread population and a very blunt and costly response from the government has prevented what’s happened overseas.

Fingers crossed this is going to be OK.
14 3
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August 17, 2021 5:51pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://babylonbee.com/news/people-hang-happy-birthday-obama-banners-over-front-door-to-ward-off-covid
8 3
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August 17, 2021 5:54pm
Wired-one

Absolutely ridiculous. One case, the wife tested negative and now we shut the country down. Utter twats. Maybe our vaccine rollout and hopeless border controls will finally be scrutinized?
20 2
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August 17, 2021 6:23pm
- MCos
  
  The NSW ongoing outbreak started from one case, as you may recall.
  The local State Administration waited before taking any meaningful action and even now it’s not a particularly taxing lockdown compared to our Lev 4.
  As a consequence cases numbers are accelerating.
  Last thing most of us want.
  
  3 14
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  August 17, 2021 6:39pm
  - Wired-one
    
    Yeah, let’s just go in to lockdown every time someone sneezes. 18 months after the fact and this is our response still with one case! It’s fucking ridiculous.
    
    15 0
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    August 17, 2021 6:51pm
  - cmm
    
    By the very definition of START, it always starts with one positive test!
    
    I personally hope this catches hold and runs its course. Why? Coz until we’ve been through this we’re going to be quivering under our beds scared of the bogey man.
    
    It’s going to happen some time, so let’s get it over and done with so we can get back to friggin normal.
    
    6 0
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    August 17, 2021 7:58pm
    - Tall Man
      
      But but but the grannies, who’ll think of the grannies ….. especially the really really sick ones and those with dementia or heart disease.
      
      3 0
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      August 17, 2021 9:47pm
- Tall Man
  
  Maybe they needed to open 2 doors to transfer the infection ……..
  
  8 0
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  August 17, 2021 6:41pm
fernglas

One case and the whole country locks down. Wow.
22 1
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August 17, 2021 6:24pm
- Prince
  
  Those polls were dire.
  
  15 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:05pm
  - greybeard
    
    That is also what I think: here is an email I sent HDPA tonight after I heard the news.
    
    “If there is no apparent link to a border or MIQ failure then either (1) he is telling lies about his associations or (2) he has associated with a border / MIQ worker who is telling lies or (3) the whole thing is a lie, there is no Devonport-man with CV-19 and this is just a political stunt to detract everyone from Labour Govt. ineptitude.”
    
    12 0
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    August 17, 2021 7:15pm
In Vino Veritas

Could Ardern ramble on? She clearly just wants to have her mug on TV. I’ve given up after 16 mins and she hasn’t even got to the lock down yet.
24 2
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August 17, 2021 6:26pm
- Prince
  
  At least someone asked about why our vaccination ”plan” was so slow, and did this affect our ability to respond now.
  Apparently not – vaccination does not help with combating an outbreak !!!
  Then on to the next question….
  
  12 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:05pm
Monique Watson

Kid got a positive Covid test back at our High School first day back after Summer. We were informed via a closed email contact tracing system that our two High Schoolers were not considered close contacts (did not spend fifteen minutes or longer in close proximity to patient) and should not take any further action.
Lol no undue panic in these parts.
8 0
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August 17, 2021 6:31pm
- Tall Man
  
  And yet 2 open hotels doors for seconds “guarantees” infection …..
  
  Yeah right.
  
  16 1
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  August 17, 2021 6:38pm
Fletch

It’s probably a device to encourage vaccination. Put the scare into people.
14 2
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August 17, 2021 6:33pm
- MCos
  
  I’m surprised it wasn’t organised to coincide with the Nat conference.
  
  6 6
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  August 17, 2021 6:42pm
Maggie Pie

Why do they need to have a ‘Signer’ guy twice as big as Ashley?

Sooo distracting.
10 4
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August 17, 2021 6:40pm
- Prince
  
  That guy certainly dominates the screen.
  
  9 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:02pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I KNOW! Could hardly hear a word Ashley was saying 🙁
    
    7 1
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    August 17, 2021 7:16pm
- lifesgood
  
  Sub titles would be way better. I’m sorry for deaf people but those signers are an absolute pain.
  
  7 1
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  August 17, 2021 7:27pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It’s ridiculous!
    
    The last Census showed less than 5000 deaf people in New Zealand….so about .001% of the population.
    
    Yet that guy tonite took up about 70% of the screen!!
    
    7 2
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    August 17, 2021 7:47pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Has BirdsNest-Hair woman made a comeback yet?
    
    4 0
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    August 17, 2021 8:22pm
wilderbeast

Is it just me or is this a massive over reach? The guys wife is negative! Feel like I’m in the grip of scarily centralised power….
15 0
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August 17, 2021 6:50pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Stuck with just the hubby for 3 whole days…..

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp.
8 0
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August 17, 2021 6:55pm
- sooty
  
  Just give himm a dose of laxatives!
  He’ll be too busy to worry you!
  
  9 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:16pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Do what I do…leave an open box of Tampax in the ensuite.
  
  4 2
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  August 17, 2021 7:51pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Might have worked 20 years ago….
    
    5 0
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    August 17, 2021 8:29pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Still works….can honestly say your hubby’s never bothered me 😛
      
      3 1
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      August 17, 2021 8:41pm
CAKE FACE1

I feel angry with myself for enabling a bunch of weird socialists to have enormous control over my life…
13 0
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August 17, 2021 6:56pm
- Tall Man
  
  You aren’t totally to blame alone …. or are you 😉
  
  2 0
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  August 17, 2021 9:36pm
Monique Watson

Here’s the audio

https://m.soundcloud.com/metal57/rch-871

Holy cow good job getting everybody on board
3 0
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August 17, 2021 6:57pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Useless Govt as usual. 15 months they’ve had to get it right with MIQ, but still cocking up and still basing in most populous city where leaks and consequences of fuck ups are magnified. Another couple of billion wasted on a lockdown because they wouldn’t invest 10’s of millions in a safer provincial MIQ facility.

How are they going to do vaccinations under lockdown given their demonstrated logistical incompetence at best of times?
15 0
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August 17, 2021 6:58pm
- sooty
  
  Suspended for two days! HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!
  
  8 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:14pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Obviously Government doesn’t have enough PPE gear for the vaccinators.
    
    9 0
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    August 17, 2021 7:32pm
Herodotus

What is happening with our covid defence strategy ?
Just heard from our PM, the last Waste Water testing was on the 11th, and it showed no covid. That was 6 days ago. I thought such testing would be daily and the results follow next day, so we can then be given advance warning and to prepare the next step, should a case be detected. To wait a week is not a defence, it is being told the score after the game has ended. Not much use knowing that for the coach to change the game plan !!
13 0
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August 17, 2021 7:01pm
- sooty
  
  Once a week, that’ll be right!
  
  7 0
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  August 17, 2021 7:13pm
Master Mariner

Picking a Maritime Border failure.
Did you notice how quick she defended that last infected vessel docked in Auckland and not Devonport.
As have always said the Ports are not secure and will never be with current ( in) action taken .
That will be my guess.
Another possibility is the bloke has the flu and also had COVID (unknowingly) in the past and hence a positive test?
15 0
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August 17, 2021 7:06pm
- Tall Man
  
  I think the secondary is quite possible but you and I and the rest of the plebs will never know and our media will never ask.
  
  4 0
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  August 17, 2021 9:32pm
Wired-one

And we may have power blackouts tonight. Third world here we are!
12 0
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August 17, 2021 7:06pm
70andstilllearning

Suppose on tv3 at least Gorman could say it straight. Border failure, just not known how yet – no other logical option.
Pity the the other wan…s like Skegg, Hendy, Baker and the ” saints on the podium” couldn’t be straight forward honest.
Do they really think most people are as thick as them – even UMR are saying that 57% say otherwise now!
12 0
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August 17, 2021 7:08pm
sooty

Do you leave now to go and get the kids from boarding school?
You are allowed 48 hrs to relocate.
Do an overnighter!
8 0
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August 17, 2021 7:12pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  To the Coromandel bach?? 7 day forecast could be worse!
  
  6 0
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  August 17, 2021 8:00pm
MrTips

There’s a lot riding on this lockdown for TeamLoser™️. They’ve fucked up the border, fucked up the vaccinations when it was clear in August last year that vaccines were our only way out, fucked up sorting the health system and it’s needs like ICU.

And we still only have lockdowns as our usable tool.

Well, they’re all tools and have no idea of what to do.
15 0
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August 17, 2021 7:19pm
greybeard

Every single person in NZ found to have CV-19 has been an inveterate traveller, visiting all sorts of locations, usually around Auckland but occasionally further afield.
None of them seem to have had the good grace to catch CV-19 and just stay at home.
Why is that?
9 0
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August 17, 2021 7:26pm
- Tall Man
  
  Because 99% of them aren’t ill and don’t even know if they’ve got it until they are tested.
  
  5 0
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  August 17, 2021 9:30pm

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