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August 23, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 23 August 2021

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General Debate

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Tony Stuart

Justin Giovannetti is the political editor at The Spinoff, which usually leans somewhat to the left. But he raised a really interesting point yesterday about mandatory QR codes:

Justin Giovannetti
@justinCgio
The government has confirmed to The Spinoff that supermarkets and other retail stores are exempt from the new scanning/tracing requirement.

I asked after they were conspicuously absent from the release, which mentioned “cafes, restaurants, bars, casinos, concerts, aged care, healthcare facilities, barbers, exercise facilities, nightclubs, libraries, courts, local and central government agencies, and social services.”

2:38 PM · Aug 22, 2021

https://twitter.com/justinCgio/status/1429272177648410631

So once again, it’s likely to be the exception to the rule that leaves the system open to failure. Why not simply mandate QR scanning everywhere? What makes supermarkets, dairies and retail stores so different, given they attract a huge amount of foot traffic?

It’s like MIQ; who was the Einstein who thought having a public walkway directly adjacent to the exercise area at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the likely source of this outbreak, was a good idea? This government is getting 90% of its Covid decisions right, but it’s the other 10% that leaves us exposed.
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December 23, 2020 8:40am
- cmm
  
  If you remember it’s mostly theatre, much more makes sense.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:57am
- amospicton
  
  I struggle with the theory that the source of the outbreak was the walkway. Remember we had Case A in Coromandel for days, visiting various bars, cafes etc that provide ideal conditions for transmission and no cases have ensued. Just walking past someone out doors seems very unlikely.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:08am
  - Ruawai
    
    Agree, the most likely cause is someone coming form Australia that didn’t go into MIQ.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:18am
    - Joe Kerr
      
      It would seem all our terror comes from people not born in New Zealand.
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:03pm
      - paulscott
        
        No, it comes from the Ministry of truth
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:55pm
    - paulscott
      
      exiles coming in should all have had the testing program [ within 72 hours ] as if entering MIQ, but the PCR test means nothing anyway
      
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      August 23, 2021 5:53pm
  - PhilBest
    
    Amos, this is one of the tragedies of the whole pandemic, people aren’t getting this. “Just walking past someone out doors seems very unlikely”. Bingo! Go to the top of the class.
    
    This Canadian mainstream assessment is far too rare:
    
    https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/06/18/canadas-culture-of-silence-on-airborne-virus-transmission-leaves-many-confused-on-how-to-best-avoid-infection.html
    
    It stinks to high heaven, now in August 2021, that the authorities are still clinging to wrong “orthodoxies” that are the reason this whole thing has been so needlessly destructive – what it stinks of, is that “contact” and “droplets” and “fomites” justify tyranny that they can’t let go of; and “aerosols building up indoors” would be too easily fixed by opening a few windows and turning a few fans on.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:37am
    - paulscott
      
      the dear is with you Phil
      
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      August 23, 2021 5:56pm
  - kowtow
    
    The fact that there hasn’t been a massive outbreak of plague in Coro proves this thing ain’t the super duper , hyper virulent , extracalafragalistic humdinger that they all tell us it is………
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:40am
    - fisho
      
      Or maybe it’s the Electric Puha that’s staving off infection, mother nature’s version of Ivermectin.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:50am
    - PhilBest
      
      The reality is that it always was filtered by climate and weather and environment. I banged on on Kiwiblog day after day after day in April 2020, that NZ was never going to be Bergamo and that Hendy jerk’s computer modeling should have had him jailed for fraud. I also ask repeatedly, WTF do expert epidemiologists spend years studying to get their qualifications, if it leaves them completely ignorant about environmental filters or multipliers of spread and deadliness of infectious diseases? Or perhaps they just don’t want to apply that “101” knowledge, just as official experts don’t want to apply “101” knowledge about things like natural immunity, lymphocytes, etc etc – there is far too rich an opportunity to impose tyranny on sheeple.
      
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      August 23, 2021 2:16pm
  - all true
    
    All what they do busily covering up all their constant lies.
    https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/08/19/arderns-legacy-a-ruined-new-zealand/
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:44am
- virtualmark
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  This is actually a government that doesn’t like mandating requirements on people.
  
  If you look at their decisions they tend to be quite passive and tentative about forcing people to do things. Your example of shying away from a firm requirement for QR codes is a good one. Not having a vaccine mandate is another.
  
  Which is a point somewhat lost on many commenters here who seem convinced this government is part of some grand socialist new world order. And then accuse the rest of the population of being driven by fear …
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:12am
  - Scott
    
    Virtual mark – have to disagree. This is a government that think that they are the smart people and they know best.
    
    I read this morning that they believe they even know best about children getting the vaccine. The advice that has come out for 12 to 15-year-olds is ““as a 12 to 15-year-old, your parent or guardian’s permission is not required if your health care provider is confident you are deemed competent to give consent” and that “if you have a good understanding, you can say yes to getting the vaccine/provide your own informed consent.”
    
    This information courtesy of a family first email. The government wants everyone to have the vaccine, including children, and will insert themselves between the parent and the child. Normally you have to get parental consent to administer any medications to a child or young person. In the case of the vaccines you don’t.
    
    It’s a case of Big Sister knows best.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:55am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      What gets me is that a 12-15 year old can get a jab, but a 16 to 20 year olds can’t, and given that they are in Universities, secondary schools and in a few cases, working part time in Supermarkets, this makes no sense whatsoever!
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:19am
      - oc35
        
        This Govt rarely applies logic or common sense. Must get lost at the committee stage.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:45am
      - alloytoo
        
        All they have to say is that someone in their household is at risk (immuno compromised etc.), they don’t actually have to support that assertion, the assertion is enough to make a booking.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:19pm
      - Ruawai
        
        Have booked all my kids and various ages up to 21
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:36pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Scott, this is a government with a very distinct worldview … lots of woke Aotearoa type stuff. That is very clear in what they *say*.
      
      But at the same time it’s very tentative about what they *do*. Given the size of their mandate from the last election they could be ramming through all kinds of things, but they have been slow/hesitant legislators. Even where there’s a clear rationale for mandates – like QR sign-ins or mask mandates – they’ve dragged their feet.
      
      Big Sister certainly thinks she knows best. But she’s not forceful about ramming that on you.
      
      (Which is a good thing … please don’t think I’m complaining)
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:21am
    - virtualmark
      
      Scott,
      
      To play devils advocate on your vaccine example. The public health argument will be that if there’s a 12-15yo child of anti-vaxxers we are better off collectively if that child is vaccinated, irregardless of what their parents think.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:22am
      - Scott
        
        Virtual mark. Ok let me put it this way. Your child of 13 gets the vaccine without your knowledge or consent. Something goes wrong. Your child has blood clots or some other reaction. You wonder what the hell is going on as you rush your child to the hospital.
        
        I don’t know a single parent that would be happy with that scenario.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:13pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Understood, there’s merit in both sides of the issue.
        
        But, again playing devils advocate, we know the anti-vaxxer group is at least 10% of the population vs the risk of significant side effects is down in the single digits per 100,000 doses. So the probabilities likely push the decision more towards promoting the highest number of vaccinations.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:32pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Virtualmark, the logic is wrong, if it is all about “the fraction of the vaccinations that have side effects”. It should actually be about “the numbers of people killed or incurring suffering” relative to “the numbers of people saved these fates from Covid”.
        
        Those Israeli academics calculated, fairly in my honest opinion, that the vaccines are killing two people for every three Covid deaths they prevent. This is because most of the vulnerable are already dead of Covid; less than 0.1% of those who catch Covid now will actually die of it; and natural immunity is real and applies to a good proportion of the world’s population already, especially in the places where outbreaks always were going to happen earliest and hardest because of environmental factors.
        
        There is no logic in treating everyone with something purely because it has a low rate of deadliness and harm. Should we treat everyone against something that will kill 0.1% of the 50% of the world’s population who are yet to get it, “just because the treatment has a low level of harmful side effects”? Take HIV as an example. The risk factors for Covid are now at least as well known – people have every right to object to undergoing a treatment that does have a slight risk, allegedly to “protect” a tiny minority of vulnerable people for whom we and them know how to minimize their personal risk anyway. If the experts won’t use “the science” to protect these people, the blood is on their heads, not mine. And I do indeed accuse the official experts of deliberately burying the science of first-line risk mitigation, which stinks of conspiracy. If they don’t want conspiracy theories getting going, they should stop acting in such flagrant bad faith.
        
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        August 23, 2021 2:33pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Phil, I’ve been reading everything I can find on adverse reactions to the Pfizer vaccine and so far I’ve not seen any formal review that attributes *a single death* to the Pfizer vaccine.
        
        So if you think “that the vaccines are killing two people for every three Covid deaths they prevent” then you’re going to need to back that up with some real information.
        
        Because otherwise that is just total uninformed misinformation.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:26pm
      - Surely Knott
        
        To play devils advocate. Define anti-vaxxer.
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:37pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Interestingly, the paper that claimed that has been vaporized from the internet now. I can find plenty of “debunkings” of it.
        
        Lawyer Sue Gray claims 70 known, nameable persons in NZ with deceases consistent with predictable vaccine side effects, with their health crisis timing clearly linked with the vaccine. I can believe 70 or more because I personally know of four who I knew by name and sight. There are rumours that Rest Home staff are disturbed by a clear spike in deaths following vaccinations. Ten+ at more than one Rest Home.
        
        Of course this is impossible to get official confirmation for, but that means one of two things. None of this is happening; or there is a deliberate cover-up.
        
        I am not aware that thousands of such deaths in Europe and the USA are “false”.
        
        We are of course told that vaccinating thousands of old people, there will inevitably be “coincidental deaths”. But “coincidental deaths” can also be weeded out of stats for “Covid deaths”; some 92% of those are “coincidental” too. The PCR test is a deeply dishonest tool for determining “cause of death” and this has to be deliberate. It is such a sensitive tool for research purposes, especially at amplification cycles beyond 30, that you could find evidence of any one of dozens of viruses in anyone. You could say we have “a deadly HIV pandemic” by this standard. It is blatantly obvious that the normal background of heart, stroke, cancer, “all respiratory” etc deaths are being subsumed into “Covid” figures.
        
        But when someone dies with blood clots in the lungs within days of the jab, that is screamingly obviously the infamous spike protein completely out of control. Here’s another delightful reality about NZ: in other countries these deaths are recorded as “Covid deaths”, not “vaccine deaths”. We couldn’t do that when we were “Covid free”. Nor could we call outbreaks of RSV in infants as a result of immune deficit, “new mysterious Covid outbreaks killing infants” as is happening overseas.
        
        A covid-free NZ was deeply inconvenient to these frauds, we were a case study potentially equal to Sweden in importance, for counterfactualizing a global narrative.
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:45pm
    - PhilBest
      
      The great Victor Davis Hanson nails this behavior as “the Platonic Noble Lie”.
      
      https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-victor-davis-hanson-on-the-assault-on-meritocracy-politicization-of-the-virus-and-the-platonic-noble-lie_3875843.html
      
      “…what we in classics call the Platonic noble lie. I’m smarter than you, I’m your platonic guardian. I can lie for your own good. You, the deplorables, are ignorant. You’ll benefit from my lie. Just don’t dare suggest I’m lying…
      
      “…they are doing these things, and it’s going to be with them forever. It’s going to be a record of a period in 2020 to ’21 when a small group of very cruel, careerist, selfish people tried to destroy our traditions and make life miserable for people who used to get along with each other.
      
      They’re going to pay a price. I hope so, because they deserve it. I’m going to speak up and people in my family are going to speak up, and you should speak up, and our audience should speak up because we know what happens when we don’t.
      
      When you don’t speak up, you get the Robespierre brothers and the French Revolution. When you don’t speak up, you get the Leninists taking over a movement from Korinsky to have a consensual society in Russia. When you don’t speak up, you get something far worse than the nationalists in China, you get Mao…”
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:45am
    - Flossie
      
      I don’t know that it is true about parental consent being required in order to give a child medication. I know from experience within the family that they can give a 14 year old contraceptives and other “reproductive area” medications without even telling the parents.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:53am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Yep. “I know what’s best for your adolescent children. See, I’ve been trained in the latest SJW ideology. F%^& off parents!”
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:48pm
    - Aurelia
      
      Scott, what the hell did I just read.? You have to give written permission to administrator panadol to a child. Fact.
      This is a step too far and it ain’t about health. Remember this useless gene therepy (as described on Pifzers patent) does not complete human trials for another 2 years. Shrugs, sure it’s safe for kids. Hugz.
      
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      August 24, 2021 5:18pm
  - Bob
    
    This is a government, particularly a PM, that is driven by a MARXIST desire to ‘mandate and compel’. To date the only thing that has prevented more draconian measures from the Podium of Untruths is the poor POLLING results of late and the downward trend of same.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:12am
    - virtualmark
      
      Bob, just what has this “Marxist” PM mandated and compelled? Examples please.
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:11pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Umm, staying in your homes, not associating with neighbors, closed down butchers…
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:38pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Banning further gas and oil exploration, banning plastic bags, pushing he puapua, threatening councils over water reticulation, seizing farmer’s land,,,,,
        
        If you don’t see it you have elective blindness.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:02pm
      - virtualmark
        
        All public health actions, not “socialist woke” actions.
        
        And all mandated actions that the National Party agree with.
        
        So try harder. Tell me what “Marxist” things this Government has mandated and compelled. You guys all froth at the mouth about socialists taking over the country and ruining life as we know it … well front up with some actual examples.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:29pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Tall Man, that’s a better list.
        
        Oil & gas exploration is fair … although I see that as a “branding” exercise more than a “command & control” one. All new governments feel compelled to do something high profile for branding purposes. This was Labour’s version.
        
        Plastic bags was also a mandate … but really, the future of our country doesn’t rest on whether New World is allowed to give me a plastic bag does it?
        
        He Puapua and water reticulation … let’s what and see. Nothing has been mandated or legislated there at all yet. As I said, this is a hesitant and tentative government. I will wager their regular polling is telling them He Puapua is an election loser, and so I think they will find a way to quietly shelve it. They will prioritise retaining access to Crown limos well above parallel Maori governance.
        
        *All* Governments legislate for things. That’s the nature of government. But this Labour government has done nothing to merit the frothing panic I see from commenters on this blog every day.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:49pm
- Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
  
  In breaking news – KiwiTrace has failed https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/covid-19-health-officials-no-longer-sticking-to-80pct-contact-tracing-goal-due-to-sheer-volume-of-locations-of-interest-dr-verrall.html
  So, as per teh MO of thsio socialist mob of incompetance, they remove the targets and hope that no one notices and blame it on something/someone else. Why the F&&K has this govt doen nothign when the data around the UK, Isreal and India is easy to locate and learn how others have dealt with delta???? Oh, maybe that doesnt fit the naaravtive of thsi govt?
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:16am
  - PhilBest
    
    These fools need to follow the Singapore “backwards tracing” method – work out where an infected person was too long in an indoors environment where aerosolized virus can build up – this is where virtually all of the spread is taking place. Nothing has done more damage in the last year and a half, than the WHO taking until April 2021 to admit this, and charlatan national officials in countries like Australia and NZ in August 2021 STILL not having caught up with reality.
    
    Remember the fable about Confucius and the Emperor and the chess board and the grains of rice? This is what “forward tracing” is like. Even if it was the right thing, which it is not, it would be an impossible task.
    
    I now firmly believe that the officials love to cling to the proven-wrong orthodoxy that spread is by one to one contact, droplets and fomites, because this justifies tyranny. But if we were given the facts about indoors buildup of aerosolized virus being the problem, we could fix this with open windows and fans. We would also know that outdoors is perfectly safe, to such an extent that even wearing masks out there is an unjustified imposition, completely FAKE “science” – let alone the imposition that we must stay inside for 23 hours out of 24.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:52am
- Frank the tank
  
  Lol. The [mod deleted] walkway is the next distraction like the frozen chicken wings theory they trotted out last time. There are 2 options:
  
  1) They have no fucking idea who is patient zero; OR
  2) They know but the method of transmission is politically damaging
  
  Yet the feckless swallow the [mod deleted] walkway story hook, line and fucking sinker.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:19am
  - alloytoo
    
    I’m going with 2.
    
    This government persisted with the frozen chicken wings theory even after the company concerned pointed out that nothing had actually been transferred between the two warehouses.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:19am
  - PhilBest
    
    Yep, the method of transmission is “politically damaging” all right. They NEED it to be one to one contact and droplets and fomites, to justify tyranny. If they admit the truth, the science, that it is indoors buildup of aerosolized virus – the WHO finally admitted this in April 2021, a year too late – then we’d know how easily we can fix this. And we’d know that being outside in the fresh air and sunshine for just as long as we freakin’ like, with no mask, is perfectly safe and actually beneficial.
    
    This is the best and most honest mainstream assessment I know of:
    
    https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/06/18/canadas-culture-of-silence-on-airborne-virus-transmission-leaves-many-confused-on-how-to-best-avoid-infection.html
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:57am
    - paulscott
      
      Philbest [10.57] In Bangkok here families crowd together in small spaces. Yes they often have air ventilation continuous due to the nature of the climate, others in condominium blacks are closed off with air conditioning.. Many single members of the family get crook, then get better. It has me bluffed. Of course we need to be released to the outside fresh air. Sometimes now in Bangkok I have half a train to myself.
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:11pm
      - PhilBest
        
        It should have been an orthodoxy long ago, based on the evidence, that internally-recirculated air in buildings was carrying viral infection all over the building. It was observed everywhere this pandemic broke out; Wuhan; NYC; London.
        
        This is what caused most of the escapes of the virus from “Quarantine” facilities including here and in Australia. The slowness of officials in many nations, to follow the science even when the WHO belatedly admitted it had been wrong for a year, is inexcusible.
        
        This story includes the disgraceful dismissal by the WHO, of the concerns of dozens of the right experts going back to early April 2020.
        
        https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/
        
        One of the reasons that this science is being played down, is that the implications are that these arrogant officials are the ones actually responsible for millions of dead people and even greater ongoing collateral damage from absurdly non-targeted lockdown policies. That these officials are still in their positions, is an even greater scandal than all the guilty finance sector execs and their central banking buddies remaining in their positions after 2008.
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:53pm
- ABS4EVA
  
  QR codes are RETARDED
  you need GPS Secure linked to an email
  so you are notified immediately if you have been
  a close contact
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:24am
  - virtualmark
    
    Do you want the Government to have access to a GPS trace of everywhere you’ve been?
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:33am
  - bennerg
    
    If you have a smartphone with a google account, and location history turned on, then just visit:
    
    https://timeline.google.com
    
    And you will see a daily record, overlaid google maps, of your movements going way back. It will also record all the locations where you stopped.
    
    Who needs an app then?
    
    Interested to know just how many people who have this feature enabled but didn’t know.
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:32pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    “QR codes are RETARDED”
    
    They rely on people stopping and fiddling around every time they enter a new site.
    
    From what I’ve seen in Victoria Aus approx 80% of people don’t give a flying F about them!
    
    Taiwan simply commandeered cellphone data and public records to cross match movements. Perhaps the podium of BS could have a chat to the Taiwanese govt and learn how they did that. You know, maybe copy world’s best practice???
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:56pm
  - paulscott
    
    paranoia 4EVA ABS [ 9.24]
    
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    August 23, 2021 6:15pm
- Batman
  
  The logic of it, which I don’t necessarily agree with given you have to queue up for supermarket entry currently, is that those two types of places have such high foot traffic that the impact on small businesses of trying to enforce mandatory scanning would be too great.
  
  I think at the very least it can be made much easier by having plentiful and large codes to scan at entry, and mandatory scanning would be much easier given 95% will scan rather than sign.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:38am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    In Victoria, QR Codes are law in supermarkets as they are almost everywhere. Most people sign by hand as they no longer trust any state government with having full control of their phones. The app in some states can never be removed from your phone. Put in a wrong number, it can never be changed, it is just crazy.
    We were told the information would only be used for health purposes and tracing, this has been proven wrong.
    Like the the masks, it is being perpetrated upon the public for other purposes.
    I have now bought an old mobile that has no QR capabilities, we are learning fast that governments that shoot rubber bullets into their citizens faces, are not to be trusted.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:52am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Greg I see heaps of people in VIC just waltzing into various places still allowed to be open, and neither doing QR nor signing in manually. It appears a majority (or at least a very significant number) fall into this category.
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:17pm
- I remember when
  
  As nobody goes into a supermarket now without buying something, only cash customers lack a means of tracing their movements.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:53am
  - alloytoo
    
    Exactly, your bank is maintaining a record for you.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:20am
    - Paulus
      
      My wife has all her visit information via her credit card system.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:00am
      - riffer
        
        Well, not totally. Hard to establish entry time with a credit card. Of course, hard to establish when you left a store with a QR code too.
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:37pm
      - alloytoo
        
        Riffer “Well, not totally. Hard to establish entry time with a credit card.”
        
        Actually provides more information than a QR code. Includes the value of the groceries allowing an estimate of duration. That and the sex of the shopper (add additional 1/2 hour for the ladies) should allow decent estimate
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:34pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Generally true re eftpos (generally because think of all those oldies at the supermarket rummaging around for coins) but for contract tracers that’s a lot of digging they have to do when the shit hits the fan. With the lack of compliance I see with QR codes and/or signing in manually, I would hazard a guess that contact tracing, at least as it is practiced in NZ and Aus, is a facade as it quickly becomes evident that it’s full of holes once it’s needed in an outbreak. Hence why sledgehammer lockdowns seem to be the first tool they reach for.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:26pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Why not simply mandate QR scanning everywhere?
  
  For me the interesting thing about this question is what prompts it. When people are force-fed a fear narrative they will willingly offer up their civil liberties and allow the state to trace their every move.
  
  I would be VERY unhappy about being mandated to do this.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:20am
  - Paulus
    
    My phone will not do QR – too old but works well as a phone.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:01am
    - sooty
      
      Mine even does txts.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:34am
  - Joe Kerr
    
    Doesn’t matter what they mandate, 100% of people in my house will not get a vaccine, nor scan QR codes or any agree to any other Stasi level privacy intrusion.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:08pm
    - riffer
      
      Totally your choice of course, but as a thought experiment, if you were to get Covid, and require hospitalisation, would you refuse medical attention too, given that is supplied by our communist health system?
      
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      August 23, 2021 5:38pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        non sequitur much?
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:01pm
      - riffer
        
        Well not really. My comment was linking the “Stasi level privacy intrusion” and the refusal to do something that could prevent a hospitalisation.
        
        I dare say if they were to get covid and require hospitalisation, not only would they require a fair amount of intervention by the health system that we all pay for – shared wealth and all that – but the amount of privacy intrusion would be pretty intense.
        
        So no, don’t agree with the non sequitur at all. 🙂
        
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        August 23, 2021 9:53pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        This is great news!
        
        You obviously have access to the crystal ball that shows, in cast iron terms, the long-term future consequences of these vaccines. And based on this knowledge you can assert with absolute confidence that these (experimental) vaccines have a net positive long term impact on the health of anyone who presents their shoulder.
        
        That, or you might consider accepting that individuals don’t have access to your crystal ball (stingy much?) and are forced to access masses of often conflicting data points and, well, look … people may come up with different risk/reward ratios to you.
        
        But no matter, you want to decide who is blessed with future access to health resources based on what you know to be true. Today. With that prescience that you won’t share.
        
        Right. Got it.
        
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        August 23, 2021 10:13pm
    - paulscott
      
      At last, Joe Kerr a champion of and for freedom
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:17pm
- Sede Vacante
  
  Tony, that’s a very disappointing take, but not totally unexpected given that you are representative of the National Party’s out of touch positions.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:35am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I haven’t said that I support mandatory QR scanning, but surely, if you are going to make it mandatory, go the whole hog, and don’t leave gaps in the system. It’s this half-hearted approach with exceptions galore that has landed us in the position we find ourselves today!
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:30pm
- zulumonster
  
  “What makes supermarkets, dairies and retail stores so different, given they attract a huge amount of foot traffic?”
  My local PaknSave is “mandating signin regardless. Even after I pointed out to the poor your chap that supermarkets were exempt. He quickly went from saying it was now law to saying that the supermarket was mandating it. I asked if he was sure that was legal (it may well be) before putting him out of his misery by manually signing in … may have misspelt my name and got a digit wrong on my phone number … but it will be close.
  I have my EFTPOS transaction details to record when I was there – just like every other time I go there.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:36pm
cmm

If you have a look at the MoH stats, it becomes pretty obvious that what is limiting the vaccination comes down to one thing only: lack of vaccines.

We have 11,000 trained vaccinators but are vaccinating at 45,000 a day. Each vaccinator is giving an average of just 4 jabs a day. Of those vaccinators, about half are active so that’s an average of 8 a day for active vaccinators.

As I laid out yesterday, with a well constructed system, a vaccinator can do 1 jab a minute so our active vaccinators are doing 8 minutes of useful work a day. Is that really the text-book definition of “active”?

We have around 300,000 doses in stock. If all our trained vaccinators were deployed in a well constructed system they’d blow through the whole stock in half an hour!

So it is lack of vaccines that is setting the tempo – nothing else. Of course there’s a reason behind that: gross incompetence.

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data
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August 23, 2021 8:00am
- Ruawai
  
  That is the reason the Government didn’t give GP’s full access to vaccines as this would have used too many of the short supply vaccines. They also went slowly so they didn’t have to say they had no vaccines at any one time.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:08am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Control
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:28am
  - Nickc2
    
    If this is true, the lying bastards must be held to account now. We can’t afford to wait until the next scheduled election. Governor General, do something about this.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:42am
    - DeepBlue
      
      They even raided the stock gifted to poor countries to keep up pretences. Like Canada and Australia etc. All been doing it, but it was only Scomo that made the headlines.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:08am
    - Steve Todd
      
      Don’t be silly, Nick. The governor-general is hardly going to do a “Sir-John-Kerr” on the strength of an anonymous Kiwiblogger’s biased interpretation of the current situation.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:54am
      - igm
        
        Whatever it takes, this lying harridan and sycophants must be dispensed to the gutter where they belong. They have totally stuffed the economy and ruined the lives of many business people to appease useless unemployable leeches who will never do a day’s work.
        
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        August 23, 2021 10:23am
      - Nickc2
        
        Wow, it didn’t take long for the swamp monsters to surface eh.
        
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        August 23, 2021 10:34am
      - sooty
        
        cmm. Money for jam. How many are asleep out the back or are on a coffee run?
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:39am
    - Bob
      
      Neither the present, nor the pending GG will do anything to offend and embarrass the Princess.
      They are all part of the same ideology.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:15am
    - Paulus
      
      GG – Can’t as she was nominated by Ardern for the job.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:02am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Oh, dear. Such a basic mistake.
        
        Dame Patsy is about to complete five years as governor-general. Therefore, she was nominated by the Key administration.
        
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        August 23, 2021 1:52pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      And um, who is NZ’s governor general? A quick read doesn’t suggest she’s a standout battler for the people’s democratic rights (I’d love to be proved wrong on that). She may have achieved much career wise (irrelevant really) but I’d be very surprised if she’d upend the cart on the supreme (“strong woman blah blah”) leader.
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:44pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Prior to my original post on this matter, I researched the role of the GG of NZ and found this:
        
        The role of the Governor-General is to be a symbol of national unity and leadership, to maintain the legitimacy and continuity of government, and to provide constitutional, ceremonial, international and community leadership.
        
        I was particularly concerned with this statement included in her role: ‘to maintain the legitimacy and continuity of government’ and it was in that role I suggested she should do something about getting rid of this Govt.
        
        Yes, I’m aware the GG is responsible to HM The Queen for her governorship of NZ and as such, she must obtain HM’s permission to remove the current Govt.
        Therefore, I have called for the GG to honour her responsibility towards maintaining the legitimacy and continuity of government insofar as a shift to socialism was not mandated in either the 2017 or 2020 elections in NZ. Likewise, a radical shift to Maori separatism and ownership of public assets was not mandated in either election.
        In short, the NZ voters have been covertly decieved and without timely intervention, I can only see the current situation deteriorating further.
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:59pm
- westernScientest
  
  It might still be the vaccinators, how many cant work because they have kids stuck at home in L4, how many are now working at testing stations rather than doing vac’s etc? Not saying its not the vac supply, but it seems likely there are multiple failures rather than a single one out of this lot.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:16am
  - cmm
    
    The definition of active vaccinators are those that actually worked on vaccination on a given day. ie. allowance has been made for time off work etc etc.
    
    This is not a new stat. The numbers are pretty much constant for the last month or so.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:19am
    - westernScientest
      
      hmm interesting. I will rephrase and say, they are lieing about lots of things, including the number of vaccines available.
      
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      August 23, 2021 8:48am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    We have a government running from one crisis to the next like a drug addict looking for a fix.
    
    Do we want drug addicts running the country.
    
    Now children don’t forget your face nappies.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:43am
- virtualmark
  
  cmm,
  
  If you want to see the Pfizer delivery schedule in simple diagrammatic form go to https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data and scroll down to the first chart. Look at the light green line, which is the deliveries.
  
  It’s almost like Pfizer said to NZ “We’ll give you a slow rate of deliveries through Q2 2021, then ramp up to a faster rate in Q3 and Q4, and you’ll have everything you’ve ordered by the end of 2021” … (and no, a National government wouldn’t have got a faster rate, and no, there wasn’t an option to pay more to accelerate deliveries).
  
  Not sure what happened with the slight wobble in June – maybe some small glitch in transport.
  
  I do wonder what Chippie has done with the person who told him we were at the front of the queue though. It’s possible that person is now being kept in a cupboard wearing a gimp suit.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:36am
  - artemisia
    
    There are other vaccine options.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:57am
    - virtualmark
      
      Yes, and personally I think that’s one of the stories the media hasn’t pursued … if we’d also been using our Astra-Zeneca vaccines alongside our Pfizer ones then we’d have vaccinated a lot more people by now.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:34am
    - PhilBest
      
      By the way, did you know that the natural remedy “Artemisia” has been banned – and it was prospectively helpful to Covid victims? Just another one to add to the stinkin’ list. They’re coming for N-Acetyl Cysteine now. I wonder if we’ll still be allowed to buy Vitamin D and Zinc in another 12 months.
      
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      August 23, 2021 2:41pm
      - artemisia
        
        A doctor in China received the Nobel prize for her work with an extract from artemisia annua for treating malaria.
        
        It has been banned in NZ by Medsafe.
        
        (No relation LOL.)
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:13pm
      - paulscott
        
        Vitamin D went off the pharmacy shelves in Bangkok two weeks ago. I don’t know why. Thai people would have found Vitamin D very expensive . I ordered it through Lazada [ Internet ] It arrived yesterday at twice the price stated $NZ25 a bottle of 50. That will keep Thai right away from it.
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:24pm
      - PhilBest
        
        It is remarkable how Artemisia and HCQ are both for treating Malaria, and both have efficacy against Covid
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:55pm
  - Albert_Ross
    
    What exactly is “it’s almost like” supposed to prove? How does this demonstrate that National wouldn’t have done any better?
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:03am
    - dcrane
      
      And what did other countries do to get their vaccines so much faster? Israel cut a deal with Pfizer to hand over trial/outcome data I think. Why weren’t we cutting deals? Stopping Level 4 from happening again should have been Job 1, 2, and 3 from the moment we got out of the 1st lockdown
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:26am
      - riffer
        
        I would think the same people who have issues with the sharing of data using QR codes would be apoplectic about the thought of being guinea pig data for Pfizer.
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:42pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Albert, I have some personal insight into the vaccine agreement process. “It’s almost like” = “This is what Pfizer said they would do”.
      
      I know Pfizer wouldn’t have done any different under a National government – they were making decisions based on clinical need not political persuasion.
      
      And I never heard any option to “pay more to accelerate deliveries” and anyone who thinks that was an option wasn’t there. There was no material price constraint on what we paid, and if we could have paid more to get vaccines earlier we would have done so. NZ is spending about $800m on vaccines & related kit (like needles). Do you really think we wouldn’t have paid $850m if that would have made a difference?
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:39am
  - amospicton
    
    There was an option to order months before they did though. That is the problem and it’s a scandal.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:10am
    - virtualmark
      
      Not really no. A few countries secured supplies by stint of basically legislating that any vaccine manufactured in their country had to be used in that country (*cough* USA *cough*). We weren’t one of those countries. We ordered our vaccines at the same time as Australia and Canada (for example).
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:45am
      - dcrane
        
        That’s not what Israel did.
        
        https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-data-for-vaccines-deal-with-pfizer-raises-privacy-concerns/
        
        No doubt there would have been debate over whether New Zealand should cut a data-for-vaccines deal. But it’s an example of thinking outside the box to prevent lockdowns.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:12am
      - amospicton
        
        We ordered 3 months after telling the country during an election that were “at the front of the queue”.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:35am
      - virtualmark
        
        dcrane,
        
        The CEO/Chair of Pfizer is a Jew whose parents only just escaped the Holocaust. So Israel had a personal connection to the key decision maker that got them bumped up the priority list.
        
        If the CEO/Chair of Pfizer had been an expat Kiwi then we would have done the same sort of thing. You leverage every connection you have.
        
        But that is the reason why Israel got vaccines so quickly. “Data sharing” and so on are just optics.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:27pm
      - riffer
        
        When you consider many countries in the world have woeful rates of vaccination it’s likely any country in the OECD can consider themselves at the head of the queue. We may not be the fastest for vaccination, and many reasons for that have been covered here, but on a worldwide basis, we are hardly looking shocking.
        
        According to the latest data I could find, 32.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 24.4% is fully vaccinated.
        4.93 billion doses have been administered globally, and 34.25 million are now administered each day.
        Only 1.4% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
        
        So we are, at worst, average.
        
        Source: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:47pm
    - PhilBest
      
      If there are people in the NZ health system who liked the idea of “wait and see”, some of us actually respect that. This is not a question of knowledge of biological tech, it is a question of knowledge of history and human nature. The experts cannot possibly know what the “establishment” is furiously asserting now with all the good faith of “Pravda”. A doctor being censured for saying he cannot in good conscience recommend these vaccines for children and expectant or breastfeeding mums? The guy is not just a hero, he actually hasn’t gone completely insane.
      
      There is a great meme with one rat saying to another rat, have you had your vaccine yet? And the other rat replies, are you kidding? The human trials haven’t finished yet….
      
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      August 23, 2021 2:47pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “If there are people in the NZ health system who liked the idea of “wait and see”, some of us actually respect that. ”
        
        Then the podium of BS just needs to come out and say that. Simples.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:56pm
      - Bluegrass
        
        There are some things a rat just wouldn’t do…
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:33pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Chippie was too busy “spreading his legs” on behalf of NZ
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:22am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      alloytoo I’m not sure I want to know what that means!
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:26pm
- Albert_Ross
  
  I was solemnly informed this morning that the low vaccination rate is down to decades of underfunding in health, if that’s what the Government’s defenders are reduced to they are truly desperate
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:01am
  - nathie
    
    Yes and lets remember that Grant Robertson borrowed $50 billion for Covid relief (with much spent elsewhere), so the money is/was there to “make things happen” …. which Labour have failed at (and are now making excuses).
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:59am
  - dcrane
    
    Yet we can print billions to stay in Level 4…
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:27am
    - PhilBest
      
      Mischievous question: if printing billions and trillions (globally) is a valid policy option, why do we need to accept fiscal limitations at all for anything? Double the hospitals capacity; fund many more drugs and treatments irrespective of cost; build a second Auckland harbor crossing AND a bicycle bridge; build all the missing highway connections like Petone-Grenada – etc etc
      
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      August 23, 2021 8:59pm
- DeepBlue
  
  Some must be asleep on the job, as my local vax centre has been pumping people through one every minute or two.
  
  A lot of the trained vaccinations (eg pharmacy) were accredited early in the year and have been waiting, waiting, waiting to go. Only starting up this week.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:06am
  - Batman
    
    And corporate vaccination agencies have only been approved recently, so that large cog of our normal vaccination wheel hasn’t been spinning until it was too late
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:45am
- Akarak
  
  The waning effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine has led the CDC in America to introduce the use of a booster shot between 4 – 8 months after the initial 2-step vaccination process.
  The goal is for the first people eligible for a booster dose to be those who were the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccination (those who are most at risk). This includes healthcare providers, residents of long-term care facilities, and other older adults.
  It is my understanding that the New Zealand government has to date not ordered any additional vaccine supply nor has it given any indication of the steps it would put in place for every Pfizer vaccinated citizen to receive the required booster vaccination..
  Further signs of it’s laissez-faire leadership.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:05pm
Luke Piewalker

When Cindy is finally kicked out, NZ will be it’s most divided, broke, racist and broken down in New Zealand’s history.

Yes Cindy, that’s your legacy.
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August 23, 2021 8:00am
- Ruawai
  
  Debbie from the Maori party this morning was saying the government is not helping Maori enough and that compulsory QR is not fair on maori. It appears Debbie thinks Maori are stupid and incompetent which is not true, she needs to give them more credit for being able to watch TV at 1pm ad either download a QR code or fill in a book with their details.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:11am
  - cmm
    
    Free Maori phone coming…
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:20am
    - sooty
      
      Will they put twyford in charge of it?
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:43am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Ruawai. I have noticed that many who are at the top of Maori political movements do so by stating that Maori are less competent, less able and more disadvantaged.
    
    If you are a young Maori and this is all you hear from your so called leaders, what do you think the result would be?
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:21am
    - RockyJ
      
      You believe it. So the cycle of dependency turns.
      
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      August 23, 2021 8:47am
    - cmm
      
      This is exactly why people should not select their role models based on race, gender, religion etc.
      
      It keeps people stuck in a demographic trap.
      
      When I look at role models all I look for is people that succeed in adversity – regardless of their age, race etc etc.
      
      Two people I really look up to in that regard:
      * A 12 year old coloured boy that was living under a bridge when I was a student in Cape Town. Even though he came from a drug dealing family, he had put that behind him. At 12 he was earning enough to feed himself (and his brothers and sisters) and had already saved enough to pay for half a year at university and was going to school – doing very well.
      * A Maori bus driver in Auckland who had put his loser dole bludging family behind him and was driving buses while also studying part time.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:08am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Yep identifying oneself based on a selective history of one’s ancestors is a path for being a whining, dysfunctional, and divisive mess of a person. Encouraging people to become like this through brainwashing in the education system is a recipe for mass insanity and chaos.
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:03pm
  - Nickc2
    
    The old pollie trick eh. Never let a catastrophe pass ya by etc ……..
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:49am
  - artemisia
    
    No problem, just more money required.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:59am
  - Weinerpoop
    
    The Maori party are offensive and insulting to their own people, all of my Maori mates are highly successful guys that run their own businesses, are pilots or successful managers.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:02am
  - Unity
    
    In other words she is saying Maori are ‘special needs’ people. If I was part-Maori I would be so angry at such treatment. Why does she want to put them down like this?
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:30am
  - Aurelia
    
    So Maori can’t pick up a pen and sign in?
    
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    August 24, 2021 8:59pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Piewalker last few days have been to both countdown and pack and slave looking for some meat pies, after queing up and finally getting inside I am met with empty shelves where the pies are supposed to be.
  
  Have a friend who works at a chicken processing Factory, they are having supply problems getting enough chicken to process.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:48am
  - artemisia
    
    Tegel has just put up prices across the board. CPI takes note.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:01am
- RockyJ
  
  When Cindy said back in 2017 after the election “let’s do this” I didn’t realise she really meant “let’s fuck New Zealand up completely”.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:53am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Stupid you.
    
    Now put your face nappy back on.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:16am
  - Joe Kerr
    
    Well you obviously ever watched her famous “comrade” speech where her acolytes joyously cheered when she talked about forcing her liberal agenda on the great unwashed.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:13pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Yep. She was misquoted. She actually said “Let’s screw this”.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:04pm
- doggone7
  
  It’ll be so exciting if her party is re-elected in 2023. Imagine a ‘Jan 6’ type event happening here.
  
  Then again maybe all those who hate hearing Maori words used in Nw Zealand would have scarpered by then to lands where they don’t have to suffer that torment.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:49pm
  - riffer
    
    Very very unlikely. NZers are pretty lazy, politically. We prefer to hang out online, making passive aggressive posts.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:51pm
Happychappy

Instead of playing Politics with peoples lives Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister should have prioritised Vaccinating New Zealander’s to lesson the amount that would likely have been affected.
The Government keeps repeating that they are well ahead in their vaccine targets but really it’s all bluster and bullshit with many of the elderly still waiting for their first jab the World Media are also criticizing now and the lust of many wanting to hold her up as a great leader now having second thoughts.
While I for one use my phone to sign in to wherever I go a believe most would without the threats the Government have relayed you can’t take away the privacy of New Zealander’s and force them to sign in manually without having somewhere to do it and without others looking over your shoulder. So six days into the lockdown and we are no further ahead with 72 cases of Coronavirus confirmed and a Government losses from ideas with our Prime Minister set in her ways of eliminating a virus that the rest of the world has decided to live with and reduce the costs that future Generations will have to pay.
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August 23, 2021 8:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Jaspinda does not want to eliminade the virus, she is relishing the power of control she has regained
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:14am
- G152
  
  Dont have a cell phone.
  Never had one.
  Dont want one.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:26am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Welcome to the dinosaur age.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:56am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    You don’t need one, just a phone case that you can carry and wave near the QR code so they leave you alone.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:48am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    G152 “Dont have a cell phone.Never had one.Dont want one.”
    
    I used to generally consider such people a pain in the ass 🙂
    Now which surveillance capitalism and loony left narrative policing running out of control I can see that as possibly a sensible option. There are Linux phones (painful to use generally, except for extreme linux/phone geeks) and there are also “de-googled” android phones (requires some reading to tweak to avoid most privacy invasion and only available on certain models).
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:13pm
    - riffer
      
      I’m pretty sure you didn’t quite mean what you said there.
      
      Are you not aware that both Android and iOS are essentially Linux Operating Systems with a pretty facade?
      
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      August 23, 2021 5:52pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Riffer re “Are you not aware that both Android and iOS are essentially Linux Operating Systems with a pretty facade?”
        
        Yep. But not really interested in going down the rabbit hole of a technical nomenclature nitpicking and pissing contest. Reddit is a good place for those kinds of petty pissing contests I believe 🙂
        
        You don’t hear generic Google Android being marketed as “Android/Google Linux” or iOS being marketed as Apple Linux! People across the Linux phone thing know exactly what I’m talking about.
        
        “Linux Phones” are recognised as such by the community involved with them. The hardware is mostly offered by Librem (expensive) and Pine (Pinephones can run on a variety of what are widely recognised as “Linux” operating systems such as Mobian, Ubuntu Touch, Manjaro, Fedora, and so on). The main “selling point” being these mobile Linux operating systems are open source OSes which tend to be privacy centric.
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:07pm
      - riffer
        
        Okay, I see where you’re coming from – makes sense.
        
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        August 23, 2021 9:49pm
- Stu2
  
  The DHBs set the targets, and some of them are far lower per capita (Taranaki, Wgtn, Chch) than the norm. They are probably self fulfilling – set a low per capita target, don’t get as much vaccine supply
  
  Stuff has some graphs that show how each is doing compared with the national average (hit the “SEE MORE” button).
  
  DHBs with a higher percentage of the elderly could have gone out to an early lead (West Coast?) but Wgtn and Chch should have aimed higher
  
  https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2020/05/coronavirus-covid-19-new-zealand-latest-data-cases/
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:43am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  “Use my phone to sign in” so basically you take a photo of a sign.
  
  Can I respectfully suggest that you take your face nappy off before you take a selfie.
  
  What happened to living with the virus, like we do with the thousands of other viruses and diseases that can and probably will kill us.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:59am
  - riffer
    
    While we can argue that this virus does tend to kill those that are most likely to shuffle off quick enough anyway, overseas experience is showing us that that long Covid and sorting out those that get sick and don’t die would complete stuff our health system.
    That would suck, especially for me, as I am waiting for a knee replacement. I’m kind of hopeful that this L4 is over and done with quick enough and with the vaccination rates going up now, your wishes become reality.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:56pm
- Albert_Ross
  
  They’re admitting that their target was to have the worst vaccination rate in the OECD?
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:05am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Question to the PM
    
    Prime Minister. When you said we are going hard and early, was the target to be the worst vaccination rate in the OECD?
    
    When you said with Delta we will go fast, with a short sharp lockdown, how short were you talking about?
    
    Do you actually, personally, believe anything that you say?
    
    Do you understand anything you are told to say?
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:21am
    - Paulus
      
      What is this Epsilon variant I have seen mentioned overseas recently ?
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:07am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Some nutjob is advocating the renaming of the All Whites.

That’s problematic for just about every NZ national sports team.
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August 23, 2021 8:05am
- westernScientest
  
  So is All Whites or All Blacks more racist? and what are the silver ferns, ageist?
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:12am
  - Bluegrass
    
    The Rainbows – you heard it here first.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:39pm
- hmmokrightitis
  
  And my first thought on hearing this:
  
  Does that mean the All Blacks will change their name as well?
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:13am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “Everything woke turns to shit” Donald Trump, Alabama yesterday
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:15am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    https://rumble.com/vlijss-trump-makes-rally-erupt-everything-woke-turns-to-st.html
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:30am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Something thing from Peter Dunne that even I read, it has been here before, it is worth reading father than scrolling over.
      
      Trust me, I am not a doctor . . .
      
      http://honpfd.blogspot.com
      
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      August 23, 2021 8:42am
  - emmess
    
    I disagree
    Woke stuff is already shit in the first place
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:35am
    - MCos
      
      Seeing as the term dates back decades I doubt if you even know what it meant in the first place.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:19am
      - sooty
        
        The lilly whites!
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:49am
- G152
  
  Is that coming from the Greens ???
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:27am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Probably from a Red.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:57am
- DeepBlue
  
  The nut job is their national body.
  
  Maybe All Rainbows could be inclusive enough.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:51am
- Nickc2
  
  Don’t get the lunatics started FFS!
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:56am
- New Zealander
  
  So let me get this straight.
  
  All Whites = bad
  All Blacks = good?
  
  It’s funny there are people concerned about the football team being named after the colour they wear, when we have actual race-based sports teams in New Zealand that are promoted as being great for indigenous sport.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:04am
  - Nickc2
    
    Great point!!!!
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:23am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Would the woke genius super-humans allow them to be called “The White Jerseys” I wonder? Or would someone be able to divine white supremacist signalling emanating from the whiteness of the fabric?
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:21pm
- timmy
  
  In the last 3.5 years, they’ve played a whopping SIX games. I can’t blame someone at HQ for being bored.
  
  If you think a name has racist connotations because the team simply wears an all white uniform, then something is going very wrong.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:30am
- riffer
  
  Personally, I think all those names are bloody rubbish.
  
  What’s wrong with New Zealand?
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:58pm
- Joe Kerr
  
  I guess technically the Black Cox where the first victim of racism seekers?
  
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  August 23, 2021 6:36pm
Tony Stuart

Chippie Hipkins is never going to live down his “spread your legs” gaffe from yesterday afternoon’s Sermon from the Podium of Truth. Even St Ashley of Molesworth raised his eyebrows!

So big props to whoever created this meme:

https://twitter.com/TonyStuart55/status/1429356736960364544
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August 23, 2021 8:05am
- rouppe
  
  I want to know to whom Ashley Bloomfield wiggled his eyebrows
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:11am
- Hollyfield
  
  What I thought was even funnier was his acknowledgement of his mistake, as he left the podium he said “you’ll all have fun with me later”, which can easily be interpreted differently to how I assume he intended it.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:12am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If he intended it, what was he diverting from? There will be something getting covered up you bet
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:33am
  - kevn
    
    @Holly… I think hipkins made his gaffe on purpose.
    A pre-meditated action.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:41am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      distracts from the unfolding disaster on their hands.
      
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      August 23, 2021 8:59am
rouppe

Trouble in the meat aisle.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-countdown-staff-bear-brunt-of-customer-annoyance-at-meat-shortages/REQ6XQNFSMRNDLVVPDWTAABIM4/

Yet butchers can’t open. Crazy.
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August 23, 2021 8:06am
- Benedict Yu
  
  They can deliver. Just dropped a $100 order to my butcher.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:22am
  - rouppe
    
    And a striploin that was $23 a kilo a few weeks ago is now $35 a kilo.
    
    Hmmm…
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:50pm
    - rouppe
      
      Oh and Mad Butcher isn’t supplying – at all – in Porirua
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:56pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Get used to it, the land of the long que and empty shelves.
  
  This is what happens in a communist command economy, they hate small businesses with a passion.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:09am
- rockape
  
  Home kill guy is coming tomorrow, an essential service apparently so teardrop the beefie has 20 hours to live.
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:45pm
Critical Thinker

“Everything Woke Turns to Shit” – The Philosopher King
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August 23, 2021 8:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  And the crowd loved it!
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:22am
  - dcrane
    
    Crowd was massive
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:56am
- krazykiwi
  
  Wokeness is weakness, and diversity is where nations go to die
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:32am
- artemisia
  
  Dems are getting worried. If Newsom is recalled in California, Larry Elder is probably the next governor. He is the antithesis of woke.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:11am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes, he’s a straight shooter, no BS. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:40am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Tell me he’s not coming back.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:22am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Might be – by the time the next approval ratings come through ‘hiden’ will be in the late 30s.
    
    It will depend whether he can be bothered making another run at this the presidency. Desantis is still my pick
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:43am
kevn

At a vac session I recently attended, there were lots of ‘no-shows’ for appointments made. Probably 50%.
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August 23, 2021 8:07am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  You would only need to look at a few channels on Telegram for 10 minutes to think twice about being a covid guinea pig.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:04am
- Goon
  
  Yep, potential pro-tip for getting the poke without having to arse around making an appointment.
  
  Ring vax centre later in the day and see if they have space for walk ins (…apparently they have to use vaxs the same day so have spares from no-shows). Did this last Friday, rang random Bargain Chemist at 4:30, jabbed by 6:45 and made appointment for second at the same time. Easy.
  
  …or, if you aren’t into it, don’t. Even easier
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:14am
MrTips

People don’t seem to fully realise what’s going on in NZ right now. Delta is one thing, but the “what-if” fear mongering is now in play, and being promoted by Baker, Wiles and Plank.

The South Island has not reported any covid cases. Neither have regions like Hawkes Bay or Taranaki.
L4 til Wed seems prudent, but the above media seekers are ACTIVELY promoting continuing L4 until later, despite no good reason for doing so, instead relying on “what if”.

The present govt loves this of course because Dear Leader has a massive ego and loves control. But, by Wed there will be enough evidence to say whether regions and the SI can go L3 and restore vital lifelines to businesses and incomes.

But it appears the above academic, comfortably paid lunatics and this govt think they can get away with “what if” now to justify L4.

That’s scary shit. And it’s going right over the head of a compliant, numbed population, of which only a few are waking up to it.
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August 23, 2021 8:13am
- Weinerpoop
  
  People are starting to wake up to this govt’s incompetence, I’m starting to hear from mates that their wives voted for Ardern and are now openly saying they regretted it.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:40am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    I certainly hope this is true and not just wishful thinking on your part. I saying that, I suspect that the fairy princess is much more worried about Seymour than Collins.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:24am
    - PeeJay
      
      For everyone that says Seymour couldn’t squeeze between Labour and National and become PM, remember Macron got in between the right and left in France. It’s extremely unlikely but not impossible.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:50am
      - rockape
        
        But we are not voting for president. His party would have to have the most votes and Seymour’s popularity won’t last. The top two in the party are not bad, the rest should stick to their day jobs.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:11am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I suspect we’ll stay in L4 until next Tuesday night (1 September) at 11.59pm. That would give a full 14 days since the L4 lockdown began, and last year Bloomfield seemed to be working in 14-day cycles.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:50am
  - kowtow
    
    If they “follow the science” and the sewerage testing shows there’s none in the South Island then there can be no justification for keeping it locked down.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Makes you wonder who is running this Country
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:23am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Problem for St Ashes is that Delta can be up to 28 days. Oh dear for the bureaucrat who puts politics of the PM before the welfare of the country.
    
    PS if Shane ever becomes Minister of Health, I hope he will be expecting Bloomfield’s resignation.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:45am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Does this explain it all:
  https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/08/22/could-it-be-a-population-reduction-plot-after-all/
  
  This video is referred to as well:
  https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-dr-simone-gold-truth-about-covid-19-vaccine/5738794?utm_campaign=magnet&utm_source=article_page&utm_medium=related_articles
  
  Some Doctors don’t like the current regime.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:59am
- MCos
  
  The whole response, by definition, is based on the ‘what if’ factor.
  What if some of those students that scattered to homes around the country were infected?
  What if some of those other visitors to Auckland buggered off down the to the Mainland with the bug?
  What if some people got a test because they were close contacts, went shopping on the way home & then got positive results?
  As happened.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:38am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep,
    That was the reason Our Dear PM gave last week for putting the entire country in lockdown (and then forgot to close Auckland’s gate for 2 days).
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:07am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    it is always summed up with
    “Abundance of caution”
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:07am
JibberJabber

“Biden was widely understood to be a lightweight, a fabulist, a plagiarist, an exaggerating braggart, a walking gaffe machine, a purveyor of malarkey who covered his inch-deep grasp of everything”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/joe-biden-is-who-we-said-he-was/

Biden rarely had ideas of his own, and when he did, they were usually the subject of mockery. His capacity for filling airtime at Senate hearings without actually saying anything was legendary. Yet, as Clarence Thomas and others warned, Biden could also be two-faced, reassuring people with promises in private and breaking them in public.

He could handle the Senate because he’d been there since he was 29, and there are lots of places to hide from accountability as one of a hundred. When Obama made the biggest right decision of his career to take out Osama bin Laden, Biden was the guy in the room saying “Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go” because there would be nobody to pass the political buck to if it failed.

It wasn’t just the bin Laden raid. Biden was also known for being wrong on just about every significant foreign-policy issue in Washington for half a century, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. In 1973-75, after the United States had signed the Paris Peace Accords that were supposed to end the Vietnam War without the collapse of South Vietnam, Biden was a loud voice in the Senate for cutting off any further U.S. assistance to prevent the North from overrunning the South. He didn’t care about America’s moral obligations:

“I may be the most immoral son of a gun in this room,” Biden said at a Democratic caucus in early 1975 as he argued against aid to Cambodia. . . . “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about morality, our moral obligation. There’s a point where you are incapable of meeting moral obligations that exist worldwide.”

He didn’t care what happened to the people we abandoned, either:

“I do not believe the United States has an obligation, moral or otherwise, to evacuate foreign nationals. . . . The United States has no obligation to evacuate one, or 100,001, South Vietnamese.”
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August 23, 2021 8:13am
- Stu2
  
  Sad that the US had to vote for Biden or Trump
  
  Who would want either
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:45am
  - Clyde
    
    Out of a population of how many hundreds of million people are Trump and Biden the best they can come up with? BOTH are as bad as each other for different reasons.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:31am
- RiP NZ
  
  Plenty here love the guy though – where are they now…….
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:52am
  - Inandout
    
    RiP, when I back the wrong horse generally I am the first to admit it, but I live in hope. As an aside Hosking gingerly skirted around Joe’s state of mind after playing clips of Trump’s latest rally where the latter said he had received the jab (to Mike this is a message from heaven). I suspect Mike is under tremendous pressure to at least partly agree with ZB’s CNN news feed so he dropped in some hospital stats from the State that Trump was speaking in. We have a President who can barely string a sentence together and then we have Trump who can happily speak for an hour; does make you think.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:37am
  - Frank the tank
    
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president-biden-job-approval-7320.html
    
    For Batty. The ‘crocodile’ has closed it jaws. This was before the Afghanistan debacle. Wait till Nancy’s Marie Antoinette fundraising lunch pictures get out with the elite without masks and the servants (staff) in compliance muzzles.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:49am
    - Batman
      
      Yeah thanks, political gravity is unavoidable for any politician operating in the real world.
      
      Biden has done very well with his approval since coming into office so it was only a matter on time before it hit a pothole.
      
      On the fundraising lunch, that kind of thing doesn’t matter except in angry conservative website circles, and those aren’t convincing anyone new.
      
      You might also take a moment to consider that massive hypocrisy of that given the number of non-masked Republican events which have acted as spread opportunities before vaccines were available, and GOP reps at state and federal level who got it and hid it from colleagues.
      
      Hospo workers should wear masks even if vaccinated, to reduce spread and risk to themselves and others, depending on the setting of the event or business.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:02am
      - Greg Ettridge
        
        How many times does one have to ask you for the scientific data to back your claims.
        The “specialist mask nurses” in hospitals along with the scientific teams have been very forthright.
        Masks are totally useless, face coverings are a just a joke.
        The saying I found here:
        ” you can still smell a fart through underpants.”
        This is the only proof you need that you statement has no credible evidence.
        There are endless peered reviewed papers on what various masks are fit for purpose.
        You are actually giving people false hope they have protection, which with a face covering is zero.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:16am
- Critical Thinker
  
  “Orange man bad” ?
  https://twitter.com/american_ka/status/1428542183309824003
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:20am
- hullkiwi
  
  Other than Biden’s inept handle on foreign policy, what I find perverse is that Biden and his spinmeisters made a virtue of Biden’s Christianity and his beliefs.
  
  Yet from his 50 years of political influence in Washington there is not a single foreign policy decision attributable to Biden, that shows he even remotely has a Christian Moral compass at all. He is an insult to those of us who do have Christian faith.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:59am
  - kowtow
    
    The excellent Douglas Murray in the UK Telegraph makes the point of even now his recent interviews ie Stepanoplous etc are going easy on him.
    
    But this is what ” you get when you have spent a career with a court media asking you about your choice of ice cream and reached the highest office in the land because you weren’t the other guy ……that the man who is now Commander in Chief is not remotely in command of his brief”
    
    As to his Christianity , the man makes a lot of his Catholicism , no doubt as a sop to his Oirish American fund raisers and activists , but the man is not very catholic and certainly less Christian.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:57am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    He’s supposedly a Catholic, yet he supports abortion.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:48am
    - lifesgood
      
      Ergo not a Catholic.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:01pm
- curry4me
  
  Jibberabber: I haven’t read that mag since they became Never Trumpers.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:09pm
- Bluegrass
  
  C’mon, man.
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:44pm
Bobba Fret

With all this Covid stuff going on, we haven’t had a shooting for days.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/person-shot-dead-at-otahuhu-property-south-auckland/HMYKKNXBP44PCG2GKG6UFIALUY/
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August 23, 2021 8:15am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  All those good boys with illegal guns staying home I guess//
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:26am
- Simon
  
  MSM will report the dead guy didnt have the ro vax.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:38am
  - Frank the tank
    
    You jest but let’s not kid ourselves if he had covid that would be the reason for death.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:50am
alex Masterley

Just been doing the weekly shop for the Masterley family at a local supermarket.
Some comments.
The place was busy at 06:45. The lord only knows what it will be like later in the day as there will be a number of supermarkets in Auckland closed for cleaning.
Some stock items very low. Maybe due to new stock not arriving but levels are consistent with what i saw last week. I suspect rice pasta and flour will be popular, again.
There seemed to be a level of underlying tension I didnt see in the last major lock-down which was treated as an additional holiday.
On the way home the roads were closed around the St Lukes testing station. I hope they dont run out of test kits. Or protective clothing.
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August 23, 2021 8:17am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  The stupidly won’t stop until the people stand up and say enough.
  
  The politicians will grab as much power as they can and hold onto it for as long as they can.
  
  Like a drug addict looking for a fix.
  
  Look at what is happening in Australia, police now using rubber bullets.
  
  Soldiers out on the street backing up the police.
  
  During the Christchurch earthquakes Australia sent hundreds of Police to help, will we do the same send police riot squads to help.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:26am
  - Nickc2
    
    She wouldn’t dare send an NZ Police Riot Squad to assist any Aust State. She needs them here to protect her own arse.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:28am
Benedict Yu

Looks like sanity is prevailing. Managed to find one of the prominent fruit and vegetable shops in Christchurch open yesterday. Doing a great trade. Also my Asian “supermarket” has opened selling the wide range of herbs and slices but also fresh and frozen food and vegetables.

Also my local butcher is doing deliveries.

Good to see.
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August 23, 2021 8:18am
- Tricati
  
  Don’t understand why butchers, bakers and vege shops cant operate like dairies and have; 1 in 1 out process.
  Our local butcher also doing home drop offs, so have done order to support him.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:25am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Your local butcher should be open.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:27am
Ruawai

Who are the lucky countries now when you watch the UK and Euro football, British Open squash and New York music concert full of people and mostly not wearing masks while we sit in our houses waiting for enough vaccinations to fly in from Pfizer.

Also I think Scomo is onto something counting the number of people in ICU and deaths rather than the number of cases.
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August 23, 2021 8:18am
- krazykiwi
  
  Yes, rare excellence from ScoMo. I’d go further. Change regulations so that case numbers could not be released other than under an official information request
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:43am
- kowtow
  
  Doen’t matter what Scomo counts , the Media Pardy will still breathlessly report cases .
  
  So much of this panic effect is down to a Media Pardy who have driven the fear factor for all it’s worth .
  
  And they’re doing the same now with the Fall of Kabul .
  
  They elevated Biden to God like status and gave him a free pass on everything.
  
  Yet now they have the gall to come calling for account .
  
  As for the other world leaders bemoaning the American withdrawl , how dare they , they could have stepped in . But they too joined the rush for the door.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:59am
  - Nickc2
    
    The other’s Troops left in an orderly manner as directed by their Govts and took their equipment with them AFIK.
    Those who remained were civilians and embassy staff.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:58am
- WaveyDavey
  
  When the death numbers stopped being scary enough governments moved to reporting cases
  
  Just for context;
  
  – in the UK roughly 1700 people die every day
  – at the Jan Covid peak deaths from (more likely with) C19 were approx 1200 a day
  – currently with similar case number those C19 deaths are about 100 a day
  
  Facts you’ll never get from the NZ media
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:12am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    – bonus fact: 94% of UK residents have Covid antibodies, I wonder what the NZ figure is…
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:18am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      The other 6%
      
      The Team of 6%, just a bad joke.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:30am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Dandemic hasn’t had a China Flu death since December 2020, many regional centres have never had a case, but he has all people imprisoned and locked down.
  10,000 cops is going to be way to little to quell the outrage that is starting to surface.
  Scomo is an emperor with no clothes.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:22am
- MCos
  
  One weekend without sport and the sky falls.
  
  Oh the humanity!
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:29pm
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    The footy went on as normal, surely you all know that elite sports people are totally immune to covid.
    The sky only fell in for Dan, he is finally starting to see the sea of fans are disappearing before his eyes.
    The AFL and NRL can go through borders and play as they please, they are part of “them”.
    Need to give the sheep there weekly dose of footy.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:05pm
I remember when

TV1:Sunday:Delta variant. Ten minutes on young covid.
So what did we get.
Two lots of double security doors opening into a ward that we are told is full of young covid cases.
Zero in on a 7 year-old in hospital who tells us how he had a runny nose, and would have thought he had a cold if he hadn’t been tested.
Mum expressed her horror.
Then an 18 year-old who was seriously affected, although the time line suggested it probably was pre-delta. Still suffering long covid.
Then some covid facts – from a practicing medical professional, revealing that testing of covid victims showed they had suffered loss of up to 7 IQ points.
They don’t know whether, or how, long-term it will be.
Finally, two schoolgirls, from different states, whose school year was being affected by them being in isolation and having to ‘online learn.’
Fear factor heavy, scientific information almost zero.
Timing interesting because of the push to vaccinate 16 plus population.
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August 23, 2021 8:20am
- Frank the tank
  
  Why do you listen to the propaganda? I choose to ignore scare porn like that
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:53am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Pornhub have opened a new category, a friend has told me . . .
    
    MILF is now Masks I’d Like to Face so I am told . . .
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:31am
RockyJ

Jacinda will have to confront a decision sometime in the distant future at the point when we have maxed our vaccinations. This is whether to continue the elimination strategy or to open NZ up and allow Covid in.
Her thinking seems to be that a single death by Covid is justification for trapping us in her hermit kingdom.
The road toll provides a parallel where society accepts a rate of death in exchange for the benefit of road transport. We could, as a society, achieve zero road deaths by closing all roads. This is what the Greens seemed to have sought back in 2017, remember? Instead we accept that an annual traffic accident body count of around 350 deaths is tolerable.
While every death by Covid or traffic accident is a tragedy as grown ups most of us realise that the price of zero deaths by Covid is simply too high.
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August 23, 2021 8:23am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I look for the more simple explanations. She thinks that everyone will be vaccinated. And the vaccines will stop all deaths and if there is a flare up she “can stamp it out like measles”. I honestly think she believes that, incredible as it seems.
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:46am
  - Ehlana
    
    Except everyone never will be vaccinated – some people can’t and some people won’t. Just like every other vaccine we use.
    Vaccines are about reducing severity; I haven’t heard that they are guaranteed to stop all deaths.
    
    Does anyone know if our death toll for Covid includes, for example, deaths due to this RSV(?) that I’ve never heard of before but was hospitalising children in the weeks before delta hit? Or deaths due to delayed diagnosis and treatment caused by lockdown? What is the actual toll from Covid & our response to it, versus our normal pattern of deaths?
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:54am
    - dcrane
      
      I’ve heard as well that this sort of virus will never be driven to extinction, even if we’re all vaccinated with a ‘sterilizing’ vaccine (which this one isn’t, since the vaccinated can still pass on the virus). One reason supposedly is the ability of covid to spread from animal reservoirs.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:03am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “Vaccines are about reducing severity”.
      
      Well no. That’s the confusion we get from jacinda. The measles vaccine does in fact stop measles. Because two doses are 99.8 percent effective at stopping transmission.
      
      The covid vaccine is about 70 effective and falling rapidly. It cannot stop transmission. So no elimination strategy. So jacinda should stop talking about it.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:32am
      - oldfella
        
        Benedict, you’d think St Ashley, or some other medico, would encourage her to drop the spurious measles comparison.
        And why doesn’t (Dr) Shane Reti call her out on it?
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:39am
  - kowtow
    
    Nope , as with all things of this regime , they have an eagle eye on the race factor.
    
    I suspect that’s behind not making QR / sign in at supermarkets mandatory and it’s certainly behind her rejection of vax passports .
    
    It is also behind the reluctance to open up.
    
    They know and are probably also pushed by the Maori caucus , that vax takeup rates will be lower among maori and PIs .
    
    That leaves them ( along with genetics and poor lifestyle choices ) very vulnerable to outbreaks.
    
    The last thing this regime wants to be accused of is of overseeing another race bad stats outcome when we open up. She’ll leave that to another govt . If they win the next GE we’re in trouble for a lot longer with remaining a Hermit Princessdom.
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/health/harsh-truth-maori-health-outcomes-hits-home
    
    BTW the graph shows poorest outcomes for PIs , but the focus is not on them . That’s racist.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:08am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I honestly think she believes that, incredible as it seems.
    
    It is pretty obvious that Our Dear PM isn’t a logical thinker; isn’t well read; has zilch understanding of science, let alone Mathematics and Probability; and has little intention of informing herself about such trivia.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:09am
    - kowtow
      
      On her first day on the campaign trail after Little lost she was asked about the Reserve bank rate meeting that day . She was unaware it was on .
      She was also asked on another occassion what were the 3 articles of the treaty , she didn’t know , for someone pushing said document so hard that is unforgiveable .
      
      As to Wuflu , she has freely admitted she destroyed the economy ( lockdown) based on a panicked phone call from an unknown overseas person .( Where’s follow the science)
      
      We’re now getting the power failures due to their “energy” policies .
      
      Where’s the Media Pardy holding this empty suit to account ?
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:20am
      - Tall Man
        
        During the 2017 election on a “friendly” radio show she was asked to name her favourite National Park.
        
        She was unable to name a single one and had to be coached by giving a few to choose from.
        
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        August 23, 2021 10:55am
    - Tricati
      
      You do need a degree of intellect to inform yourself in such subjects. I don’t think PM has that capacity unfortunately.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:28am
    - Nickc2
      
      No second opinion called for.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:36am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Maggy, Ryan Bridge took great delight this morning in pointing out Jacinda is all spin and has no understanding of statistics (except for purposes of spin of course).
      
      He went all out on her Saturday stand up. The one where she said “Starting with the good news….” and she went on to tell us that
      
      “72% of adults over the age of 40 have either had their first dose of vaccine or are booked to have their first dose of vaccine”.
      
      So simple questions, how many people have actually been fully vaccinated? How many have had their first jab? And what about those below the age of 40?
      
      As a number of us have been saying for a very long time Jacinda is all political spin or she is the modern day Emperor with no clothes (in other words “a con job”).
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:38am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Here’s part of Ryan Bridge’s criticism/mocking of the PM this morning:
        
        https://www.facebook.com/Ben.Simm0ns/videos/1060516671383285
        
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        August 23, 2021 9:50am
      - oldfella
        
        Hull, talking of Ryan, Duncan Garner has suddenly quit the AM show and I think Ryan would be a great choice to replace him, if for no other reason that he asks tough questions.
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/300389009/duncan-garner-quits-three-over-brutal-hours
        And not altogether convinced over Garner’s reasons for quitting. I suspect there’s something else at play here.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:49am
  - Paulus
    
    Why is it I keep hearing on the media that Maori will not have the vaccination ?
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:13am
  - fisho
    
    I’m wondering if her actions are related to the debacle that occurred a while back around measles, where a number of kids died due to NZ effectively exporting it to the islands.
    Maybe she lost her bottle as a result of that, certainly seems to have lost the ability to make sound decisions as a leader (if she ever possessed it in the first place, which is debatable).
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:00pm
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Perhaps make the maximum speed limit on all motorways 40kph, 20kph on any other road to eliminate road deaths.
  Other policies could include only the sale of healthy food and the closure of all fast food outlets etc. and a non negotiable 1 hour exercise per day. This will take away the pressure on the health system due to obesity. Also the messiah can stamp out heart disease and cancers.
  If the Prime Muppet wants to be consistent with her COVID elimination policy then the above needs to be put in place ASAP
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:51am
- Frank the tank
  
  The main problem is we all know it won’t be Margaret from Silverdale or Troy from Rolleston that succumbs from [Covid]. They will have got vaccinated and otherwise live healthy lifestyles. It will be 140kg beneficiary Hemi from Mangere East that carks it. Hence the Blairite’s Waterloo moment – does she sacrifice her rump to save her sides. The problem is the woke messaging going out to Hemi isn’t motivating him and his mates.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:57am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    And that is how it will remain as long as a lamb flap has more appeal than an apple.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:42am
  - Tall Man
    
    The simple truth is that “Hemi” is almost certainly a goner vaccinated or not.
    
    At that level is a “when” not “if” scenario.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:49am
The only red for me is that of Manchester United

There was on GD the other day some comments about the Taliban and the capture of all the American equipment left behind. A few posters had thought that what was left behind would have been made unusable by the Americans.

This video looks at what equipment was left behind. A staggering 700 Humvees. Operational. Helicopters, operational, tanks, operational, Ford Rangers utes. Hundreds, all operational. However it is not until you see the footage of the Taliban posing with all the machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, the rifles and sidearms that you become fully aware of the scale of weaponry that the Taliban now possess of how strong they will be. So much of the new found spoils of war will be sold to terrorist groups, smuggled around the world. The Taliban have more military hardware than New Zealand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSoQOcq837w
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August 23, 2021 8:25am
- Stu2
  
  Not worried about conventional weaponry besides anti aircraft missiles. They probably didn’t get any of those
  
  Biological agents, nerve agents, nuclear waste or nuclear devices could be the basis for a horrific attack
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:56am
- Tony Stuart
  
  The Taliban have more military hardware than New Zealand.
  
  That’s a pretty low bar, to be fair!
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:01am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Not hard to see why, NZ just gave the Taliban 3 mill to help as aid money for there well being.
    
    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/taliban-thanks-nz-financial-aid-afghanistan
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:50am
    - Master Mariner
      
      I’m thinking this may ? be to allow NZ Airforce to land to repatriate NZ’ers and Interpreters.
      
      Bribe possibly ?
      
      Thats my guess.
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:52am
      - kevn
        
        @MM… The C130 Herc has to get there first and get home.
        
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        August 23, 2021 10:20am
      - Master Mariner
        
        I see they have a “spare” engine in its inventory.
        
        Raises a few questions, Namely.
        1. They dont expect it back for a long time.
        2. Its lucky to do the return trip without it.
        
        Maybe soon we will see another “Aid donation” to allow it to fly back.
        There is a lot riding on a “succesfull” mission.
        Any news?
        Where is the Foreign affairs and MOD ministers.
        
        Whats the bet it stays in UAE before returning.
        
        The things that make you go “Hymm” moment.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:29am
      - curry4me
        
        Master Mariner: If the flight crew ‘lose’ their Herc, and ‘acquire’ a newer one from the abandoned US stocks, it’d be a bonus.
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:21pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Think of the benefits to New Zealand when America brings democracy to New Zealand after the Socialist’s Peoples Pardy of Aotearoa is finally displaced, if not sooner
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:45am
    - Nickc2
      
      So long as it’s not the Democrat’s version of democracy.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:31pm
- dcrane
  
  No doubt fits well into CIA plans for other rebel proxies in the region.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:06am
- Nickc2
  
  They have more Black Hawk Helicopters than the Aust Army according to reports. Those left behind most likely had all the latest gear installed and if the Taliban knew what they were looking for, there would most likely have been change out replacement parts to be found complete with installation, set to work and test instructions contained on laptops.
  Thanks Joe!
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:47am
- doggone7
  
  Left behind by the Afghanistan military.
  
  “The US spent about $83 billion over the last two decades on training and equipping the Afghan military. The sum included more than 75,000 vehicles, nearly 600,000 weapons and more than 200 aircraft, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office reviewed by The Hill.
  
  The Taliban overwhelmed the Afghan army as it swept to power and claimed much of its US-supplied military equipment.”
  
  “About a month ago, Afghanistan’s ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul delivered by the United States.
  “They’ll continue to see a steady drumbeat of that kind of support, going forward,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters a few days later at the Pentagon.
  In a matter of weeks, however, the Taliban had seized most of the country, as well as any weapons and equipment left behind by fleeing Afghan forces.”
  
  Some American companies would’ve made a bundle.
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:06pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Plus 10% of all profit for the Big Fella?
    The Bidens won’t miss a trick.
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:12pm
Paulus

Heard two different interviews this morning – the interviewee is a Health something Minister called Aysha Verrall.
First there was the Susi Fergusson paid for one – all prepared and sweetness and like and they are obviously good friends. Pre recorded I suppose. As much waffle and obfuscation as you can find. What a lovely competent Minister – Ahh!
Then there was an unscripted Mike Hosking – was this the same person who would not or really could not answer simple questions when politely asked- obviously little boy Chippy had nor given her any answers because of course he does not know either. Got her set up for this one.
And this is our clever Government in lockdown today and several times again before Christmas.
Chippy and your mate Verral – the natives are getting more annoyed and it will only get worse.
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August 23, 2021 8:31am
- hullkiwi
  
  She was no better with Ryan Bridge. She showed she wasn’t briefed and it was all uhhmms and errors!
  
  She has now had two interviews with Bridge like that.
  
  The gem from her interview was that the contact tracing system is now soooooo overwhelmed that they will not be sending out messages to people.
  
  Sorry, isn’t She the paid for political bint that wrote a report last year saying NZ’s Covid tracing system was gold plated. Another liar then!
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:00am
  - Tricati
    
    That report was only her ticket to get a Labour Party selection as candidate for the last election – It worked.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:18am
- mandk
  
  I heard the interview with Hosking and I thought the MoH must have sent one of their graduate trainees.
  
  Verral talked in her little girl voice and she didn’t have an intelligent answer to any of the questions.
  
  Hopeless, absolutely hopeless.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:38am
Ehlana

So last year a business man suggested the stunningly obvious to our government: that it should set a standard for safe business practice in a Covid environment (physical distancing, contactless delivery, etc.) and that businesses which met the standard should be allowed to operate. You know, to keep their staff employed, supply their customers here and overseas and make profits. So the government can collect PAYE, GST and income tax.

The government were not interested, because, apparently, level 4 wasn’t going to happen again.

That’s what they told Tony Clifford at Pan Pac, as Newsroom explains: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/business-lockdown-plan-fell-on-deaf-ears

They are so far beyond stupid and incompetent I don’t know words for it.
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August 23, 2021 8:34am
- Ruahine
  
  This is an excellent Post Ehlana.
  Everyone should read this Post from Newsroom. It lays bear the pointlessness and stupidity of the Gov’ts Lockdown Elimination ‘strategy’ and lays out sensible real world examples of actions to manage risk which is what all sensible people do throughout their lives making their own decisions to keep themselves safe.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:37am
- Ruawai
  
  If you can make money without causing a risk of spreading covid then this should be allowed, making money does not spread covid.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:39am
hullkiwi

Message to Ryan Bridge from Cam Wallace.

Please come and see me after you finish the show this morning.

Subtext:

“Your outburst at 6.35am attacking the the spinmistress PriNZess in the manner you did is unacceptable. That type of outburst could cost us $millions of handouts. You then went on to show up a government minister as being not on top of her subject matter. We cannot have being seen to be nothing but spinmeisters and clueless in this manner”.

Signed Cam.

For those who want a good laugh, watch the am Show from 6.30am to 7.30am. Ryan Bridge is at least doing a job at trying to question Jacinda and her friends.
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August 23, 2021 8:40am
- Tricati
  
  Makes you wonder where Garner is – hasn’t been around for a while now. Has he stepped on someones toes.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:30am
  - stroker08
    
    Heres your answer….
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2021/08/the-am-show-host-duncan-garner-announces-departure-from-three.html
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:50am
- Happychappy
  
  Probably your comments. might be in jest but has Jacinda Ardern got something to do with Duncan Garner and his resignation from Newshub or is it after 20 years of long service the stress has finally be en enough.
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2021/08/the-am-show-host-duncan-garner-announces-departure-from-three.html
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:51am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Happy, I think it is, despite the press release, it is the fact that it is effective this morning, and they are not finding another home for him.
    
    He disappeared off the screens following going nuclear on Hipkins. Garner was openly, scathing, saying he couldn’t believe the government’s line anymore.
    
    If this is the case, this possibly explains why Bridge was attacking Jacinda the way he was this morning.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:14am
CAKE FACE1

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126125516/adrian-orr-decision-to-hold-ocr-literally-down-to-the-uncertainty-of-the-day

Adrian Orr is without question the worst Governor of the Reserve Bank we have ever had.

He has one main job. Control inflation. He failed.

Instead he babbles incredible nonsense throughout this interview.

An example stinker:

“The best way for us to be thinking about managing it is to assume it’s endemic and there will always be precautions which will be some form of restrictions on the movement of people, and that there will be some short-term severe disruptions from time to time.”

No, he has this wrong. Endemic means learning to live with Covid, so opening borders, and not having lockdowns. The clown has it 100% around the wrong way…

Everything he says is wrong.

We get the worst government in our history, at the same time as we get the worst Governor of the RB that we have ever had.

We’re in all sorts of trouble…
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August 23, 2021 8:46am
- Benedict Yu
  
  ” some short-term severe disruptions from time to time.”
  
  If that happens we will be alone in the world.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:45am
- virtualmark
  
  Think of it this way …
  
  Right now the strategy is “elimination”. The purpose of that strategy is to buy us time for vaccinations and treatments, with the lowest practical number of hospitalisations and deaths.
  
  Once we have some (unclear) threshold of people vaccinated then the strategy will have to turn to “live with it endemic”.
  
  These decisions are all about striking the balance between economic & social costs on the one hand, and health costs on the other. Vaccinations are the major factor that tilts that balance one way or the other.
  
  Orr’s comments today are basically saying “Soon the time is coming when we will need to move to living with endemic Covid, rather than holding it at bay with an elimination strategy”.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:56am
  - CAKE FACE1
    
    No, you are wrong.
    
    The governments policy is Elimination, which they plan to carry on in an endemic world.
    
    To keep the Zero Covid in little Aotearoa, we will:
    
    1. Keep quarantine at the border.
    2. Use lockdowns whenever Covid gets through the border.
    
    The government plans to continue the Zero Covid nut job experiment – potentially forever.
    
    The RB Governor is talking about supporting it.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:49am
    - Colville
      
      Cake Face.
      
      You need to read what he said rather than what you want him to say.
      
      Its endemic, not going anywhere, here to stay, and he needs to calculate his numbers based on that new data.
      
      He also say his language will get him in trouble. Talking about it being endemic as tho Princess Jacinda cant eliminate it from the world with a wave of her wand and do fairy dust.
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:14pm
      - CAKE FACE1
        
        You haven’t understood.
        
        The government says Covid will be endemic overseas, but eliminated here.
        
        In accordance with the government policy of elimination (lockdowns and quarantine continuing forever), the RB Governor is making his calculations.
        
        He is not calculating his numbers on NZ having endemic Covid, because this is not government policy.
        
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        August 23, 2021 1:06pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Well let’s wait and see what happens.
      
      But my take is that the politicians in this Government are smart enough to see that the public will is for the borders to re-open once the public think it is safe to do so.
      
      If you think they will keep strict quarantine at the border plus lockdowns throughout 2022 then you must also think that they will willingly sacrifice the 2023 election. Oh, and I have a bridge you might be interested in …
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:19pm
      - CAKE FACE1
        
        I hope you are correct, but I suspect that you are wrong.
        
        Alas, there are millions of sheep who believe that Cindy has saved their life, and that Delta is worse than the Great Plague.
        
        Many of these people are masochists who love being locked down and enjoy being told what to do. I would guess that you are one of them.
        
        My suspicion is that socialists will happily continue to vote for Cindy again, if she promises to tuck them in at night, and not to let the bed bugs bite them. Remember, socialists are infantile.
        
        Socialists are generally happy to hide under their beds indefinitely. They have no aspirations – only fear can move them.
        
        Cindy will go all in on Fortress NZ. If she can whip up enough fear, its a huge vote winner.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:37pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Waitakere Man wants to go back to having overseas holidays. Denying them that will see Labour lose the 2023 election. So Waitakere Man will get their overseas holidays.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:34pm
  - Trev
    
    Or that is what Orr should have been saying!
    
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    August 23, 2021 1:51pm
- kowtow
  
  He’s the best , because Tane Mahuta.
  
  (sarc)
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:02am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

There is an Election promise that the Greens and Labour will never ever TAX.
Stupidity
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August 23, 2021 8:53am
info@cruzpro.com

In an email yesterday I politely asked our prime minister to be released from the team of five million.

Apparently there was no stock reply to such a request because the response had no bearing to the request.
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August 23, 2021 8:53am
kevn

Where is the C130 Herc? Flight NZ7005.
Made stops in Aussie and was leaving the Coco (Keeling) Island half way to Sri Lanka 2 days ago.
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August 23, 2021 8:54am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe it dropped an inlet manifold//
  
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  August 23, 2021 8:58am
  - kevn
    
    @SteveO… Maybe a cleverer bod than me can do a flight tracker. Seems Flight NZ7005 hasn’t left the Cocos’.
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:28am
    - JibberJabber
      
      Arrived in Dubai a couple of days ago, possibly waiting for confirmation that those they are picking up are accounted for and are at the airport?
      On Flight Radar, there is an almost constant stream of US, UK, Italian, Spanish, Qatari C17s, A400s and C130s heading to and from Kabul with very short turnarounds.
      Lots of KC135 tankers, Blackwolf Bombardier comms aircraft also and the odd AC130 Ghostrider gunship pops up now and then.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:36am
- westernScientest
  
  maybe the crew just decided they were better off somewhere else and didnt return to the prison islands
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:34am
- Benedict Yu
  
  It tracked to the UAE then the flight track ends near Dubai.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:51am
- Master Mariner
  
  Waiting for the ” Well being ” money to arrive before permission to land would be my guess.
  
  https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/taliban-thanks-nz-financial-aid-afghanistan
  
  Expect a “successfull” rescue in coming days.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:56am
  - westernScientest
    
    more depleting of the covid fund?
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:25am
- Nickc2
  
  I believe they picked up PAX transferred from an RAAF C-17 in Dubai.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:59am
  - Nickc2
    
    This has since been broadcast via TV News as correct.
    
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    August 23, 2021 7:48pm
WaynelSexton

Contra the attempts of the media to invert statistical reality, 95.87 percent of the people now dying of Covid are vaccinated.
https://voxday.net/2021/08/22/the-vaccinated-are-dying/

https://gab.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/posts/106799648494547758
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August 23, 2021 8:54am
- dcrane
  
  This is to be expected in a place like Israel where some 70% of the population is vaccinated.
  
  The remaining unvaccinated people are almost entirely the very young, who we know suffer almost zero mortality from covid.
  
  We also know that, while the vaccine reduces the risk of death, it certainly doesn’t eliminate it for the old. So it isn’t suprising to have deaths continuing to occur among the vaxxed. Those deaths across the population will far outnumber the almost-zero deaths from the young/unvaxxed, even if the vaccine substantially reduces the chances of death overall.
  
  Yes it is wrong to simplistically claim that globally most deaths are among the unvaccinated. But in some places, some US states for example, there are still many older unvaccinated people. In such places, the deaths from the unvaccinated may be the most numerous (as well as much more likely on a case by case basis).
  
  What is always needed is comparison of rates of infection and serious illness of vaxxed versus unvaxxed of the same age cohort.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:17am
- cha
  
  Reduced to citing flat earther junkie crims. Sad.
  
  https://www.wdel.com/news/from-mexican-cartel-drug-runner-to-us-senate-hopeful-delawares-lauren-witzke-looks-to-upset/article_1512e7fa-99ed-11ea-9729-dbfd2c71d7d2.html
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:31am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    Putting aside your pathetic and deflecting ad hominem, Lauren Witzke is great. She’s banned from Twitter, which tells you that she speaks the truth.
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:05pm
- Littletramp
  
  Wayne, The problem with statistics is you can make them support any argument you want them to. The vaccinated vs un-vaccinated is a red herring.
  The first people vaccinated were the elderly and the ” vulnerable”. Those people statistically were going to die of something sooner than the rest.
  The issue to focus on is the testing threshold. Did they die because of Covid complications or simply while having a positive test for Covid.
  Media are playing “scary news” games to get clicks and politicians are sucking up to the pharma companies providing the vaccines, for financial campaign support.
  This is the world we live in.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:42am
- Benedict Yu
  
  You are twisting stats. Of course most people in Israel who die are vaccinated. Their vaccination rate is so high.
  
  You seem to be inferring that the vaccines are ineffective. So let’s move to Mississippi. 2,400 people in recent months have died of covid. Only 37 were vaccinated.
  
  The vaccine is highly effective at preventing hospitalisation and death. In the USA right now, deaths and ICU admissions are overwhelmingly in the unvaccinated.
  
  Why? Because unlike Israel the virus has a smorgasbord of unvaccinated people to go nuts over.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:00am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Hey you snivelling Socialists.
THE TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED IN BEER
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100…
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7..
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do..
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20”. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men ? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from every body’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.
And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
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August 23, 2021 8:58am
- westernScientest
  
  They are socialists, they think everyone except them should pay $200, and then they may decide that their special people get some scraps and everyone else staves to death in the gulags.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:19am
- Ian Boag
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Wow. This probably only the sixth time I have seen this one on KB …
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:23am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Scroll wheel broken? Or don’t know how to use it??
    
    27 3
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    August 23, 2021 9:25am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Some stuff is worth repeating….
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:32am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Boag either does not like socialism explained, or he can’t comprehend it
      
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      August 23, 2021 9:38am
  - Tall Man
    
    Maybe it’s time you started remembering you’ve read it before and move on.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:43am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Not a course of action you normally follow 🙂
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:24pm
  - Bluegrass
    
    But you have no other comment.
    
    No surprises here.
    
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    August 23, 2021 6:01pm
Mrs_Right

On health.govt.nz it says that kids aged 12-15 will NOT need a permission from their parents to get the vaccine! I’m not sure how this stacks up with our current law but I’m pissed of to say the least.

This is a away for the state to have more control over our kids than parents!
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August 23, 2021 9:00am
- Mrs_Right
  
  Down the bottom of the page:
  
  https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-getting-vaccine/covid-19-how-book-your-vaccination
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:38am
- Batman
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Sounds more like preventing idiot parents from harming their teenagers through believing things they read online.
  
  Don’t worry, you’ll still have blackmail up your sleeve, at the cost of long term relationship breakdown.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:48am
  - Tall Man
    
    “you’ll still have blackmail up your sleeve”
    
    Is that how you plan to raise your kids?
    
    Some us were quite good at it actually.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:42am
    - Batman
      
      Trying to force teenage kids to make the same personal choices as adults is a futile activity and only leads to lingering resentment. Especially in cases where the adult is obviously fresh out of good sense.
      
      Congrats to you, would you like a medal?
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:04am
      - Tall Man
        
        Most kids do not have the ability to make rational decisions and only a fool assumes they do.
        
        I’ll leave it there.
        
        21 1
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        August 23, 2021 11:10am
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    Have you seen the 10 year safety stats for injecting healthy teenagers every 6 months with a new form of vaccine for you to be so sure of your opinion Batman?
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:47am
    - Batman
      
      Disproving a negative is a silly argument. The 10 year safety stats angle is just you arguing for people to die needlessly.
      
      Its fairly ghoulish, to be honest.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:10am
      - Happychappy
        
        There is only one idiot Batman that is you and i doubt you even have children from the tone of your argument , which I take offence over your comments. I have been encouraging my two girls and their children my grandchildren to get the vaccine and now see that the Government wants to take control of their lives, giving Parents a reason to object but I guess your to busy tapping your head and pulling your pud while fawning over our Prime Minister to realize how dangerous this comment is.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:39am
      - Humble Capitalist
        
        Your argument Batman is to inject healthy young people 2-3 times a year with what is in the long term an experimental medication. Its fairly brainless to be honest.
        
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        August 23, 2021 2:52pm
- WaynelSexton
  
  Homeschooling is the obvious ansewer.
  
  https://www.arkhaven.com/comics/comedy/savage-memes/immunity?numInSeries=1&totalInSeries=6
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:53am
- dcrane
  
  Setting up a precedent to help push through their awful planned gender-conversion rules? (Where parents who try to intervene against their 12-year-old children taking hormone blockers are deemed to be “converting” their kids, in a verbal trick that would make even Orwell smile.)
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:39am
- hullkiwi
  
  Mrs HK saw this also and was incredulous about it too. It trampled the legal requirements on parents and guardians.
  
  It is no different with the bill before parliament about conversion therapy.
  
  Batman, if a child under the age under 16 gets the vaccine, and something goes wrong, who is responsible then?
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:08am
  - Mrs_Right
    
    From my understanding a parent’s consent is needed for kids under 16 to undergo any medial, dental or surgical procedure.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:28am
  - Nickc2
    
    The role of parents is very limited under Cindy’s rule: Father em, give birth to em and hand em over to the state.
    Even when they’re attending Kindy, they’re being indoctrinated and fed by the state.
    This goes on throughout their whole education, thus little Socialists are produced.
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:14pm
- Sede Vacante
  
  There is no clinical reason why people under 20 would need the ro vax. None at all.
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:08pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

NZ News:
A Harley biker is riding by Auckland Zoo when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion’s cage.
Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.
The biker jumps off his Harley, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.
Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents who thank him endlessly.
An NZ reporter has watched the whole event. The reporter addressing the Harley rider says, ‘Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I’ve seen a man
do in my whole life.’
The Harley rider replies, ‘Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt right.’
The reporter says, ‘Well, I’ll make sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist, and tonight your story will head the news…
So, what do you do for a living and who will you vote for in the next election?’
The biker replies, ‘I’m an SAS (Special Air Service) soldier just returned from Afghanistan and a supporter of the Right Wing’
The journalist leaves.
That night the biker turns on the news to see news of his actions, to be greeted by the announcer reading and the screen full of text:
SAS SOLDIER ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH
And that my friends, pretty much sums up the NZ media’s approach to news.
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August 23, 2021 9:00am
- Gravelroad
  
  Aww come on Steve Otto – if you were getting paid by Jacinda to manipulate the news, you would love her too.
  There is no independence of journalistic thought now present in NZ.
  And, to be fair, I think Ms Ardern herself would be surprised at how easy it has been to capture the hearts, minds and wallets of today’s media.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:21am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Get her to slip me $2.75M and things will change drastically
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:27am
  - Biscuit
    
    Gravelroad, you (meaning I, ha) wonder often when watching/reading/listening to our grovelling media and think:
    
    1. All that training, all that eager ‘I’m gonna be a trailblazing journo’ and here you are essentially being simply a Governmental mouthpiece
    2. Do said grovelling media ever wonder just why it is that their ‘industry’ consistently rates even behind politicians whenever the public are polled on the matter?
    
    I will retract the above-listed points only when media types:
    
    1. Begin a ‘Why are we waiting?’ chant on the hour that St Jacinda says she will front for her presser
    
    2. Interrupt her first pronouncement with a ‘Cut the cackle, woman. Lockdown extended? Yes or No?’
    
    I expect neither to happen any time soon.
    
    ‘There’s (more) taxpayer-funded bribes to be received and a Royal Wedding that we might not get invited to if we stir the smelly brown stuff…’
    
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    August 23, 2021 9:32am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Got to have 10 minutes of waffle first, makes her appear important
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:30am
New Zealander

What happens if we peak at 50-60% vaccination? Does the government have a plan if a large minority of people simply refuse the vaccine?
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August 23, 2021 9:01am
- DeepBlue
  
  You will know we’ve reached peak vax when the govn stop talking about how many bookings they have had…. just started announcing this as it is seen as good news.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:26am
  - Paulus
    
    Bookings are not vaccinations.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:20am
- Sede Vacante
  
  The number who refuse vaccines will only increase. I cannot see anyone changing their mind and deciding they will have it, because they already have good evidence to support their refusal. As time goes by, the argument against will be adopted by more and more.
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:14pm
- MCos
  
  “What happens if we peak at 50-60% vaccination?”
  
  We’ll worry about that in the unlikely event it happens.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:40pm
WaveyDavey

Had to laugh when I saw the headline

“Where was ‘go hard and go early’ on vaccines?”

Where was the 4th Estate when the govt was spinning this BS?

was my question
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August 23, 2021 9:09am
- dcrane
  
  And where has the Opposition been all this time.
  
  Yes, the media barely give them air, but that hasn’t been the whole reason.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:20am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Well ACT have been pretty good
    
    Not much air time though
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:04am
    - dcrane
      
      They’ve been the best of the lot, but haven’t seriously challenged the main narrative.
      
      They have been most effective on the free speech front, organizing resistance to the awful planned hate speech laws.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:35pm
Maggie Pie

Bit late logging in this morning.

Took Skippy’s advice 😛
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August 23, 2021 9:13am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Pass the mind bleach please.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:34am
  - Biscuit
    
    10 Upticks, 1 Downtick…
    
    Wonder who that was, Maggie? Some sad sap at just after 9.33 am, maybe?
    
    8 2
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    August 23, 2021 10:16am
  - crikey
    
    A bit like some nude-bathing-only beaches, I think the government needs to create separate spread-your-legs parks for those who choose to exercise in that way.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:30am
- Yabster
  
  ex gymnast?
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:16am
- JibberJabber
  
  Still a bit cold for Perineum Sunning IMHO. ??
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:30pm
- Scooter
  
  Ohhh you are awful but I like you
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:59pm
KevO'Brien

For our climaticians:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/08/22/the-real-cost-of-green-steel/
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August 23, 2021 9:15am
- Joe Kerr
  
  Government now planning to increase petrol, diesel and natural gas tax “ To encourage individuals and businesses to stop burning fossil fuels” (today in vomit stuff), more money to be sucked out of the economy away from sinners for the socialist green crusade.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:48pm
Master Mariner

“We are seeking to appoint at pace a fixed term Senior Analyst whose role will be to actively monitor open source social media channels, to triage across these channels and to case-manage issues.”

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/jobs/it/business-systems-analysts/listing/3231207985?fbclid=IwAR0sEppJjfdTW-ZCQbUckhIT8VMgDeCAqpQLLuZ7BVJ62td_zR-QfPTO2R0

Speaks volumes.
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August 23, 2021 9:17am
- Nickc2
  
  Doesn’t say anything about it being a short-term job.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:14am
- cmm
  
  $100k for knowing how to search social media?
  
  I wonder what budget this is coming out of?
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:32am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh what a fun job….
  does it come with a uniform?
  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-2005-0157%2C_Geheimer_Funkmeldedienst_des_OKW.jpg
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:26am
WaveyDavey

You can lead a horse to water…

You can even take the water to the horse when it’s too feckin’ lazy

But if the horse still won’t drink then it’s racism or something

https://asianinvasion2019.blogspot.com/2021/08/where-bloody-hell-are-you-maori-and-pi.html
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August 23, 2021 9:20am
- Tall Man
  
  “Where The Bloody Hell Are You Maori And PI?”
  
  On the couch I think…….
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:38am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Careful now
    
    When I pointed out that the trick to getting your jab earlier was to book in “certain” areas I was shot down for being racist by a moderator
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:06am
    - Tall Man
      
      You are correct though.
      
      My GP, a personal friend of over 30 years, now works at a maori health provider after moving out of practice ownership some years ago, has been able to vaccinate us for many many weeks now. Over half of the bookings are no shows so plenty for us “white supremacists” 😉
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:47am
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Being correct is no defence now that facts can be racist 😉
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:44pm
103PapPap

Welcome to a government run by ‘student politicians’. They are experts at debate, lobbying, bluster and bullshit, but none of them has ever had a job that involved project plans, goals, targets, quotas, timetables et cetera.
We need to remove ‘political science’ as a subject from all learning institutions.
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August 23, 2021 9:27am
Maggy Wassilieff

Rodney Hide analyses Lockdowns…and in so doing reveals the shallowness of our Government’s thinking.

there has been no responsible analysis from our government or the opposition or the media. It’s been fear and panic. And reason won’t quell panic. Only leadership can do that.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/the-costs-and-benefits-of-lock-down?postId=3079de76-da31-4ccb-a655-a4f589dbeedb
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August 23, 2021 9:27am
- CAKE FACE1
  
  Great analysis by Mr Hide.
  
  I’m increasingly coming to the view that Cindy is leading us towards New Zimbabwe – complete economic collapse and Third World status.
  
  We have institutions such as The Treasury, which are supposed to complete the cost / benefit analyses. Where the hell are they? They are almost as useless as the Reserve Bank.
  
  It is obvious that economic ruin is not a fair price for Zero Covid.
  
  I feel depressed about the systematic failure of our institutions to even comment on government vandalism.
  
  How has it come to this?
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:55am
  - cmm
    
    It is obvious that economic ruin is not a fair price for Zero Covid, even if Zero Covid was ever possible.
    It is obvious that Zero Covid was never possible, just like Zero road deaths. Just a bullshit, unachievable, feelz-based dream.
    It is obvious this was a scam from day one.
    
    But what does Cindy care? It has been an awesome brand building exercise.
    
    #CinD4UN!
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:29am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      She (and the rest of them) will be long gone before the bill comes due
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:07am
Rusty

Cindys got the oldies in a state of constant fear. At the supermarket an oldie was in a real panic state talking to herself “I must sign my name where’s the register?”

Another time I was taking a walk and another oldie was talking out aloud “Your not wearing a mask” to people walking pass her.

I wonder how many of our senior citizens are in this state of fear that the Grim Reaper is coming after them with covid death at any moment?
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August 23, 2021 9:28am
- BAM
  
  Most of the oldies vote Labour now because Cindy looks after them and gives them lots of money.
  
  When you point out that what Labour is doing will destroy the country, the common answer is ” Hahaha I don’t care, I won’t be around, I’ll vote for whoever gives me the most money!”
  
  Silly old self-centred gits.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:04am
  - kevn
    
    @BAM… How wrong you are. Most all seniors I speak to are gutted to see NZ being brought to it’s knees financially. Loss of businesses etc.
    Plus observing the general waste and poor planning by the incumbents,
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:33am
    - lifesgood
      
      Most oldies really care about the future of their grand children.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:17pm
  - crikey
    
    Well, that’s what happens when you rob Peter to pay Paul.
    
    People permanently on handouts and those who won’t live long enough to deal with repayment of the massive debt being incurred will gladly accept what’s offered. What matters to Ardern is not convincing everyone, only sufficient to give her an edge at the ballot box.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:38am
    - BAM
      
      It’s the major weakness of the democratic system.
      Unscrupulous short term thinking politicians who buy off large chunks of the voting population in their pursuit of power.
      
      They know people generally only care about what’s in it for them, which means they vote for people who promise them the largest handouts.
      
      Each election cycle the handouts increase, services decrease, it’s inevitable that we’ll end up broke.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:15am
- Flossie
  
  A lot – most – of us oldies are coping very well thanks. I know 20 and 30-somethings more stressed than us. What age is old to you anyway?
  If such derogatory comments were made about any other group they would not be acceptable.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:09am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She hasn’t got me in a state of fear. As I said yesterday, I would rather get a bug with a high survival rate rather than take an experimental vaccine. Develop natural antibodies. Even at 69 I am fit and will not die. I am more scared of another anaphylaxis episode.
  She can just fuck off and let me go back to work – I enjoy what I do. Stick your socialist control where the global warming sun don’t shine
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:16pm
Critical Thinker

VIDEO: NZ Police ‘EDUCATORS’ “just Doing” their “job” ?

“Echo’s of history, and the flavour of George Orwell’s 1984, real, active and alive in New Zealand.

Police waiting and ready to intercept church goers so they can “educate” them.

Is this not similar to Orwell’s ‘Ministry of truth’ or ‘Ministry of love’ where dissenters need ‘re-educating’?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsN3Jaly5EQ
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August 23, 2021 9:33am
- kevn
  
  @CT… Four very uncomfortable looking police.
  With no sensible answers.
  Looking at their phones, hiding behind masks.
  What a massive waste of police resources.
  She/they rooting NZ.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:51am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Full of their own self importance – good socialist sycophants
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:20pm
I remember when

Ageuk.org.uk. Later Life in UK 2019.
1 in 6 over 80 have dementia, an estimated 850,000 in 2018. The Alzheimer Society said that 225,000 in UK were projected to develop dementia in 2019.
In the over 80 age group about one in six have some form of dementia.
The report stated 70% of people in care homes had dementia or severe memory problems in 2019.
On 2017 about 14 people 65 a day died as the result of injuries sustained in a fall – 5,048.
Effects of Winter Cold:
In 2017/18 an estimated 50,100 (nearly 46,000 or 92% were 65 ) were listed as Excess Winter Deaths. This included 21,000 females 85 .
Proportion of those 85 with multi-morbidities (at least two chronic conditions) is 69%.
In the UK 43% of malnutrition cases, around 1.3 million people, are aged 65 .
Of the people over 65 the report states 40% have a limiting long term illness.
A well timed report which will be useful when researching the impact of covid.
The UK would have performed reasonably well if it had managed its rest and care homes better.
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August 23, 2021 9:34am
ABS4EVA

The ONLY REAL LEADER in Australia

IS…..

Shane Fitzsimmons

He talks to people like they also HAVE A BRAIN

https://www.nsw.gov.au/resilience-nsw

Gets on with it Gets it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Fitzsimmons

THE CLOWNS the LIARS
THE MONKEY’s both NZ and AUS
now ENDURE

The Pandemics have proven
HOW TRULY USELESS
they all are
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August 23, 2021 9:36am
Steve Todd

Cassidy McGillicuddy discusses the increasingly common phenomenon of COVID deniers dying of COVID. An instructive read: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2021/08/21/the-increasing-numbers-of-covid-denialists-dying-of-covid/?

(There’s one sentence in this article that will appeal to many Kiwibloggers. You’ll know it when you come to it.)

This nasty old git has also discovered karma: https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021/08/16/anti-vaxxer-catholic-cardinal-currently-on-ventilator-after-catching-covid/?
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August 23, 2021 9:36am
- Tall Man
  
  Meanwhile back in the real world …
  
  “estimates predict that the overall COVID-19 recovery rate is between 97% and 99.75%.”
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:35am
- Sede Vacante
  
  Such glee Steve. “This nasty old git has also discovered karma.” I think that your anecdata has proven a very different point than you intended. You’re a bad person.
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:19pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    You’re a bad person.
    
    Hardly glee, Sede; just utter disgust.
    
    As you, a recently-arrived commenter, are starting to find out, I despise the Catholic Church — the most foul institution ever inflicted on the human race — and Catholic clergymen like Burke. He’s the bad person, not me.
    
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    August 23, 2021 1:35pm
    - Happychappy
      
      I have to ask this question then Steve Todd without any malicious intent, is that why you hate the National Party .
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:25pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        I’ve never said, or implied, that I hate the National Party, Happychappy, and I don’t.
        
        There are Catholic MPs in both the National and Labour parties. Indeed, you could just as easily have asked, is that why I hate the Labour Party (which I don’t).
        
        I know many good people who are Catholic, both devotees and cultural. It’s not individual adherents of the Catholic faith that I despise, but the institution itself, and ghastly creatures like Cardinal Burke. Surely that was clear from my comments, above.
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:10pm
    - NoFax
      
      What a sad man you must be Steve. I will pray for you.
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:20pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        NoFax: I’m retired, I’m freehold, I’m healthy, I have all my faculties (to a greater or lesser extent), I have my family and friends, I have sufficient income to live comfortably, and, being a secular humanist, I’m free of the nonsense that is religionism. Life is good. In many ways, I’ve never been happier. I’m certainly far from being a sad man.
        
        You may pray for me if you like, but really, there’s no need.
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:35pm
Critical Thinker

Victoria Police shoot, spray and gas UNARMED protesters in the name of health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-hThCBi8GQ
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August 23, 2021 9:40am
- kowtow
  
  But took a knee for BLM , which was also an illegal gathering.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:16am
- Batman
  
  They Australians have a very suitable word for describing these dumbarse protestors.
  
  I won’t sully this blog by using that particular word as it is against the rules here.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:20am
  - Critical Thinker
    
    …Freedom loving patriots whom are following in the ANZAC spirit? ?
    
    https://twitter.com/LukeSha36051450/status/1428951779425734658
    
    https://twitter.com/ATLEASTDIETRYN/status/1428961698166153216
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:32am
    - Batman
      
      They’re a disgrace to the ANZAC spirit. They’re selfish freeloaders who want no responsibility to act as part of a society for the good of their fellow citizens. They only care about themselves.
      
      The ANZACs on the other hand, cared enough about their communities and families that they sacrificed themselves to the meat grinder that is modern warfare.
      
      Those protesters are the opposite of patriots, they’re selfish cowards who won’t make a single sacrifice to save a life.
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:50am
      - Tall Man
        
        Who determines “the good of their fellow citizens” …. You?
        
        I don’t think so sunshine.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:43am
  - dcrane
    
    Might have agreed with you 12+ months ago. But not now, and especially with the vaccines proven not to prevent infection/spread (so no chance of extinction as in smallpox). 200 days means lockdown is not eliminating the virus and for me would be far too great a cost of freedom, let alone the massive secondary costs of lockdowns which are never tallied (good try by Rodney Hide today however) unlike covid-19 “cases” and “deaths”.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:57am
    - Batman
      
      Sorry dc you’re not right on the spread and infection.
      
      The vaccines very clearly reduce infection and spread. They do not prevent it but that is a common misconception about vaccines, as historically vaccination rates have been high enough that heard immunity effectively ensures that and leaves people thinking vaccines totally block a disease.
      
      It may not ever have a smallpox done on it, but covid can be reduced to the point of being a rare disease.
      
      Cheers.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:16am
      - dcrane
        
        I don’t know how you can use the word rare, given the current data on these vaccines, and the rapidity with which the virus is already evolving around them.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:08pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        That is utter bullshit.
        
        The efficacy of “other” vaccines is such that herd immunity IS achieved. Measles is a good example. Two shots provide 99.8 percent protection. The virus simply cannot replicate and fades away.
        
        The COVID vaccines are about 70 percent effective and that seems to fall below 50 percent within 8 months. That means that herd immunity can NEVER be achieved and so the virus will become endemic.
        
        With all the information now available, it is irresponsible for you to be stating that COVID will become a “rare disease.” That would only be possible with a new generation of vaccines, which may, or may not, be developed.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:45pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        With all the information now available, it is irresponsible for you to be stating that COVID will become a “rare disease.”
        
        It’s always a waste of time to engage a shit posting troll. Even more so when they have moderator powers.
        
        I think this guy often does have the information, but he enjoys trolling his particular boogeymen too much to waste time trying to understand it. Easier to just google a few sites or even links to research papers and then drop the list, paywalls and all.
        
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        August 23, 2021 9:19pm
- Critical Thinker
  
  .
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:23am
Batman

Some good news from Israel on booster shots:

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/third-pfizer-dose-86-effective-over-60s-israeli-hmo-says-2021-08-18/
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August 23, 2021 9:40am
- I remember when
  
  Bit soon?
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:43am
- westernScientest
  
  correct me if I am wrong, but isnt that a reduction in claimed effectiveness by 9% from the second dose? As in a booster doesnt get you back to where you started after the first round.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:48am
  - Batman
    
    I don’t think anyone expected it to go back to 95% effectiveness, particularly against a different strain. Against delta it was unsure how well it would work, so this is a good outcome.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:22am
- Critical Thinker
  
  Meanwhile, back in reality. 63% “fully vaccinated” Israel is about to reach the same deaths that India was experiencing back in May ?
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:48am
  - Critical Thinker
    
    Some truly good news from Israel on Ivermectin
    
    Ivermectin, a drug used to fight parasites in third-world countries, could help reduce the length of infection for people who contract coronavirus for less than a $1 a day, according to recent research in Israel.
    
    Ivermectin has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration since 1987. The drug’s discoverers were awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine for its treatment of onchocerciasis, scabies and head lice. Several clinical studies have also started to show its antiviral activity against viruses ranging from HIV and the flu to Zika and West Nile.
    
    Nearly 72% of volunteers treated with ivermectin tested negative for the virus by day six. In contrast, only 50% of those who received the placebo tested negative.
    
    IN ADDITION, the study looked at culture viability, meaning how infectious the patients were, and found that only 13% of ivermectin patients were infectious after six days, compared with 50% of the placebo group – almost four times as many.
    
    “Our study shows first and foremost that ivermectin has antiviral activity,” Schwartz said. “It also shows that there is almost a 100% chance that a person will be noninfectious in four to six days, which could lead to shortening isolation time for these people. This could have a huge economic and social impact.” ??
    
    https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientist-says-covid-19-could-be-treated-for-under-1day-675612
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:23am
    - Ian Boag
      
      It’s not as if it hasn’t been tried …..
      
      https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/ivermectin-covid-19-antiparasitic-political/
      
      peru, brazil, south africa …..
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:47am
      - Surely Knott
        
        The latest is the media is the FDA is warning people not to take ivermectin the veterinary drug. Could be dangerous as it’s not prescribed for you.
        
        Contrast this with the wokes approach to festival drugs where if you bring your Ketamine horse tranquiliser along or heroin, their will be a tent set up to check your drugs and offer advise so you can take it safely. Why should the same not go for people who want to take alternative medications.
        
        https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/stop-it-fda-warns-people-not-take-veterinary-drugs-treat-n1277371
        
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        August 23, 2021 8:58pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Have a look at Africa also.
      Hydroxychloroquine is in regular use by the population and the incidence of COVID-19 is virtually nil.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:02am
      - Ian Boag
        
        virtually nil OK …
        
        Africa summary from WHO
        
        47 countries affected. 5.5m cumulative cases, 130,000 cumulative deaths.
        
        https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19
        
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        August 23, 2021 1:05pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Ian Boag @10:47AM
        Sorry, I reported you by mistake Ian.
        However, IMO the WHO is under contract to the CCP as its Medical Bureau of Propaganda.
        
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        August 23, 2021 1:13pm
  - Batman
    
    Yes, 37% of Israel is still unvaccinated. Time to push on and get the rest done!
    
    In the real world, playing with stats based on population is silly compared to actual deaths. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:27am
    - Critical Thinker
      
      “Yes, 37% of Israel is still unvaccinated. Time to push on and get the rest done!”
      
      That would be incredibly unlikely to happen, even with extreme crimes against humanity coercion ?
      
      “stats based on population is silly compared to actual deaths.”
      
      That’s a strange statement to make. Unless you mean those that actually died FROM covid, which seems to be at very most 10% of those that actually died WITH covid ?
      
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      August 23, 2021 10:59am
  - dcrane
    
    Deaths per million ppl, to be clear.
    
    How long before Israel turns to ivermectin?
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:01am
- cmm
  
  86% effective? For how long? No effectiveness stats are worth a damn until they’ve had had a few months to build up healthy statistics.
  
  Remember it wasn’t many months ago we were being told that 2 jabs were over 95% effective and 1 jab was over 90%.
  
  The wheels soon fell off that bus and now we’re pegging our hopes on a 3rd jab being as good as 80-something % (until, of course, it isn’t).
  
  Pfizer is coining it and it seems the worse the vaccine is, the more they will profit.
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:53am
  - Batman
    
    Yeah stats change over time, it says in the first para that it’s initial results.
    
    It won’t be 86% forever, variants will changes and so will be overall rate of vaccination and how we treat the virus. But 86% is promising news that a third shot can be a decent bump.
    
    You cite the original 90 and 95% stats but leave out that it was for the original variant. To use the same shot against a new variant and get back to 86% from a third shot is good news.
    
    The wheels haven’t fallen off the bus, the bus is having to be upgraded as it drives into unknown territory. Perhaps you just have really high expectations or want to set impossible ones so you can claim it has failed.
    
    Funny that we on the right are now against profit. Yes pharma are douchebags but up until recently many have been totally fine with facilitating that! (Red tape cutting and tax breaks)
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:35am
    - cmm
      
      The Delta excuse is bullshit.
      
      The 90%/95% numbers fell apart long before Delta.
      
      “Funny that we on the right are now against profit”
      No, not opposed to profit, but I’m pretty opposed to collaboration between state and industry – that is in no way “free market”.
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:16pm
- Tall Man
  
  If we assume that covid is never the killer but increases the risk of the existing commorbidities doinmg the job, are you unable to get your head around the simple fact that the high risk people have already died,
  
  What would be of interest would be a detailed analysis of those who contracted covid in the initial wave and recovered and compare them with the current lot who are also recovering to see if some who would have died first time around are now surviving.
  
  Bearing in mind that 96+% of those who contract the illness recover without vaccination I still think you are over reaching on the efficacy of vaccination.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:31am
  - Batman
    
    Ahhh yes, you’re still running your “some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make” strategy? Classy.
    
    I’m not overreaching, I didn’t even make comment beyond posting the link and saying it was good news.
    
    Stop looking in the mirror while pleasuring yourself TM, it develops unhealthy traits ?
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:53am
    - dcrane
      
      We make that “some may die” assessment daily in normal times. 30,000+ die on the roads every year in the US, yet we don’t drop the speeds to 30kph everywhere.
      
      13 1
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      August 23, 2021 11:03am
    - Tall Man
      
      Discussing masturbation in an attempt at an insult … classy.
      
      I can read more than one post and comment on the sum rather than individually. Too complex for you?
      
      I never once mentioned some may die, I said it would interesting to compare real time cases rather than just the numbers.
      
      Almost a 100 people die in NZ every day. Get used to it.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:06am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Remember that time where I said that you regularly “played the man not the ball”?
      
      Well here we are again. What a surprise
      
      15 2
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      August 23, 2021 11:11am
      - Tall Man
        
        Now I hope you’re not conflating the ball playing with the “mirror” thingy …. 😉
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:40am
- krazykiwi
  
  And speaking of Israel:
  
  Natural infection vs vaccination: Which gives more protection?
  
  Nearly 40% of new COVID patients were vaccinated – compared to just 1% who had been infected previously.
  
  Health Ministry data on the wave of COVID outbreaks which began this May show that Israelis with immunity from natural infection were far less likely to become infected again in comparison to Israelis who only had immunity via vaccination.
  
  More than 7,700 new cases of the virus have been detected during the most recent wave starting in May, but just 72 of the confirmed cases were reported in people who were known to have been infected previously – that is, less than 1% of the new cases.
  
  Roughly 40% of new cases – or more than 3,000 patients – involved people who had been infected despite being vaccinated.
  
  With a total of 835,792 Israelis known to have recovered from the virus, the 72 instances of reinfection amount to 0.0086% of people who were already infected with COVID.
  
  By contrast, Israelis who were vaccinated were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection, with over 3,000 of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave.
  
  This is interesting, but medium-grade data. I’m still ferreting out published papers on this topic.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:45am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    There is a well documented affect where an inoculation leaves a person in a state where a subsequent viral attack is enhanced. It need not be the identical virus either.
    
    The trials of population experiments.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:57am
    - dcrane
      
      Yes this is ADE, antibody-dependent enhancement. It has been observed with some previous vaccines. I am reading that there is not yet any clear signal of this in the data, even though many vaxxed people are now encountering covid and other viruses. If that’s not correct I’d love to know.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:06am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    It is hardly surprising that new cases are largely in the vaccinated. After all the great majority of Israelis are vaccinated.
    
    You must surely know by now, given the amount of reading that you do on the vaccines, that the vaccine doesn’t prevent infections, rather it reduces their severity.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:06am
    - dcrane
      
      krazykiwi no doubt knows that. The point in that post is a comparison of vaccine-induced immunity versus natural imunity from earlier infection.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:08am
    - Tall Man
      
      Can you not at least acknowledge that the drop in deaths could be attributable to the fact that the high risk group have already been culled……..
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:38am
      - MCos
        
        “Hi, I haven’t seen you for awhile.
        How’s your Mum & Dad?”
        
        “Oh, they were culled by the pandemic.
        Another cup of tea, vicar?”
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:53pm
    - Sede Vacante
      
      Vaccines prevent infections, Wayne. That’s what they do so that’s the definition. Call it something else if you like, but stop calling it a vaccine.
      
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      August 23, 2021 12:23pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Technically the mRNA-based products are gene-therapies. And because they are being used an an EUA, they are experimental gene-therapies.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:56pm
      - dcrane
        
        Seems fair to call the method a vaccine if it protects ahead of time by inducing a lasting immune response to the antigen (even if it is a gene-therapy based method). It’s a short-term vaccine compared to most that we have, but the same concept.
        
        Presumably infections are still less likely after vaccination (with that reduction fading over time), compared to unvaxxed, due to that enhanced immune response.
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:40pm
I remember when

Report from the United Kingdom.
“I don’t think Boris could have a lockdown now, even if he wanted to.”
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August 23, 2021 9:42am
thirteenstars

Excellent read from Rodney Hide on the actual dollar costs of lockdowns versus the option taken by countries like Sweden:

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/the-costs-and-benefits-of-lock-down

In which, he concludes:

Of course, there has been no responsible analysis from our government or the opposition or the media. It’s been fear and panic. And reason won’t quell panic. Only leadership can do that.

Besides, house prices are booming, we have figured out how to watch netflix all day and get paid, and our stars and starlets keep us amused with their lockdown antics. It’s all good.

It’s left to heartless greedies like me to care about the cost being incurred. And the damage to the national psyche of locking everyone up and cowering them for next to no purpose.
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August 23, 2021 9:43am
- Critical Thinker
  
  Sweden: How no lockdowns led to better mental health, a healthier economy and happier schoolchildren
  
  Sweden’s wasn’t an ‘experiment’. It followed pandemic planning developed over decades for just this eventuality; and all modern experience of dealing with them.
  
  It was the rest of the world that follower a novel, unprecedented Chinese Communist regime experiment.
  
  Millions of people across the world have been confined to their homes, watched businesses go under, and struggled to stay on top of their studies amid wave after wave of restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
  
  But for some 10 million Swedes, the eighteen months since the first local Covid-19 case was registered last February have been largely unremarkable.
  
  And there is broad support for the government’s choices. Just a quarter felt the authorities should have given public health greater priority over the economy. Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist who was the architect of Sweden’s strategy, was last week voted “most important Swede of the year”.
  
  http://www.paktravelnews.com/22-08-2021-the-sweden-experiment-how-no-lockdowns-led-to-better-mental-health-a-healthier-economy-and-happier-schoolchildren.html
  
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  August 23, 2021 9:56am
  - Tall Man
    
    We had our own “Pandemic Plan” that was developed under John Key’s time. Maybe that’s why ardern threw it in the trash.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:25am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep
      Few NZers realise we have a group monitoring influenza rates weekly and we have been through a number of Flu pandemics and epidemics in the last few decades
      
      500 folks hospitalised with Flu in 1999
      600 hospitalised with flu 2003
      20 deaths – “swine flu” H1N1 2009
      
      https://teara.govt.nz/files/27772-enz.pdf
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:37am
      - Ehlana
        
        Thanks Maggy. I assume the difficulty is that we’ve never tested the population for rhinovirus of influenza virus the way we are currently testing for corona virus.
        It would be most useful to know what the comparative rates of at which people actually experience symptoms, hospitalisation or death for the different virus groups.
        I assume the difficulty is that we’ve never tested the population for rhinovirus or influenza virus the way we are currently testing for corona virus.
        
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        August 23, 2021 2:14pm
  - kowtow
    
    Yesterday’s Sunday telegraph ( UK ) ran a story on Swe.
    
    Their policy was very popular with the population .
    
    It did have some 15000 deaths or 1.45o per million , howver that was better than the EU general rate of 1.683 for the EU , and well below the rates in France, Spain , Italy and UK.
    
    Death rates were higher than its other Scandi neighbours.
    
    The govt spent US $ 22 billion or 4.5 % of GDP on wage subsidies and other measures.
    In 2020 it had the second smallest budget deficit in EU after Denmarkand its national debt is almost unscathed.
    
    A UK expert said ” They achieved infection control,they managed to keep infections relatively low and they didn’t have any health care collapse”.
    
    It would be nice to see the fear mongering Media Pardy do more stories on a Wuflu success story ……instead of the usual and constant diet of death ,distress and dire dreadfulness.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:37am
    - Tall Man
      
      https://www.statista.com/statistics/525353/sweden-number-of-deaths/
      
      As I have previously mentioned, Sweden had a benign year of deaths in 2019 with a catchup in 2020.
      
      If you average the deaths between 2019 and 2020 you get about the same numbers with the slight increase from the previous years.
      
      As I have also commented before many first world countries are experiencing rising death numbers due to an aging population whereas many third world countries are experiencing a drop due to the loss of the elderly, a burgeoning younger population and slightly improved health care.
      
      By 2022 I believe we will see the real effect of covid and it will be minimal, no more than a bad flu year exacerbated by a benign 2018 and 2019 depending on which country you look at.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:36am
  - Jack5
    
    Sweden may well prove to be right. Maybe we just have to endure an outbreak.
    
    As of today, however, its record on Covid-19 is:
    
    Total cases: 1,116 ,584.
    Cases per million of population: 109,783.
    Total deaths: 14,629.
    Deaths per million of population: 1,438.
    
    The equivalent toll in New Zealand would be about 7200 deaths.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:50am
    - Batman
      
      Is 7,200 the number of deaths you’ll accept?
      
      How many people that you know, would you be happy to see due? Or, would you happily die to help the rest of us?
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:08am
      - CAKE FACE1
        
        Dear Batman,
        
        As a committed socialist, you are no doubt aware of Chairman Mao’s so-called Great Leap Forward, where 45 million starved to death.
        
        Is 45 million the number of deaths you’ll accept for socialism?*
        
        How many people that you know, would you be happy to see starve to death in similar circumstances, for your ideology?
        
        Or, would you happily die to help the forty five million that starved?
        
        Of course, no doubt you happily accept this famine, as a price worth paying.
        
        * This famine only represents a small proportion of total deaths caused by socialism.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:22am
      - Tall Man
        
        Over 30,000 have died in NZ since the last lockdown.
        
        “Deaths
        For the year ended June 2020:
        
        33,990 deaths were registered in New Zealand, an increase of 250 (0.7 percent) from the June 2019 year.
        Of these, 33,810 were deaths of New Zealand residents, and 180 were deaths of people visiting New Zealand (overseas residents).
        The annual increase continues the gradual trend of more deaths. The trend does not necessarily reflect increasing rates of death, but reflects the growing New Zealand population and an ageing population (more people in the older age groups, where most deaths occur, in both absolute numbers and relative proportions).”
        
        https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/births-and-deaths-year-ended-june-2020
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:26am
      - Jack5
        
        You don’t get to choose, Batty.
        
        It’s not even like a mass game of Russian roulette. But as yet it remains to be seen whether the NZ approach will:
        
        A: Ultimately result in a lower death rate than Sweden’s strategy.
        
        B: Whether its effect on the economy is, or is not, devastating.
        
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        August 23, 2021 11:38am
      - oldfella
        
        Bats, what would you do if you were PM? How would you get this country back on track, and how would you handle a potentially serious outbreak once we opened up to the world?
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:20pm
      - cmm
        
        “Is 7,200 the number of deaths you’ll accept?”
        
        You’re falling for the myth that this is something you can choose and can run through a spreadsheet and you can choose zero if you want.
        
        This is the fantasy thinking that says we should not be happy with 300 people dying on the roads and zero is the only acceptable number.
        
        Completely childish.
        
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        August 23, 2021 12:20pm
      - Liberal Cliche
        
        Batman
        
        You accepted 767 deaths from the flu in NZ in 2015, in fact you never even knew nor cared about it.
        
        So what changed?
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:21pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Around the western world covid killed about 0.2% – for NZ that would be about 10,000, but vaccination drops that to less than .02%, or about 1000, and given that would be almost entirely from amongst the most vulnerable NZers that have already been vaccinated that is probably close to what we could expect to die now if we forget lockdowns and let-er-rip (maybe a few hundred more due to lack of younger people being vaccinated). We are going to pay that price no matter what happens
        
        So really all we are doing now in delaying is saving perhaps a couple of hundred people. Same as our yearly road death toll.
        
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        August 23, 2021 4:27pm
westernScientest

from stuffs live feed:

Health officials are searching for three people who used a public walkway near the Crowne Plaza MIQ facility in Auckland.

The trio was believed to be in the vicinity on August 7, which is when the Sydney case arrived in New Zealand. This is the case that reportedly sparked this cluster, but there is still a missing link to connect it to the community.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday they were working with police to try and locate these people.

It must have been one of those rubbish bin lids jumping out and running around on the foot path.
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August 23, 2021 9:46am
- wilderbeast
  
  Total diversion. Half the questions at the presser were devoted to it. Convenient, seeing as no reasonable person would blame the PM or Bloomfield for something so grass roots. Still no debate on WTF Ardern is up to!!
  
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  August 23, 2021 7:17pm
NoFax

According to the Ministry of Health website there are 302 “locations of interest” dated between 7 and 21 August.

So far there are 72 community cases of Covid which are confirmed or suspected to be the Delta variant.

To me, it does look that contagious – there are more locations of interest than infections and they have not announced how many actual cases.

Again why are we doing this? We wouldn’t do this for any other similar disease.
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August 23, 2021 9:49am
- Cinematic
  
  Yes it is a head scratcher. How does it spread so quickly in Sydney and so slowly in NZ?
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:41am
  - Batman
    
    Population density and now, that we have jumped into a proper lockdown and not the weak-ass excuse for one they tried originally. Now it is out of control there and you can still meet a friend for outdoor exercise in other locales… Hardly helpful.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:59am
  - westernScientest
    
    we are pretty much tracking the NSW numbers on a weekly basis from detection, 8, 110, 172, 314,
    What do you think we will be at on Wednesday? I would has at a guess 110 cases wont be far off.
    
    Further down the track, our lockdown is way harsher than NSW and pretty much everywhere else, so I suspect it will play some role. I know there are a number of people here who cite research about lockdowns not working, but our ones are so ridiculously strict that they may well work at lest to slow down spread a bit.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:09am
  - Nickc2
    
    Population density is primarily the cause IMO. There are far more Apartment Buildings in Sydney than in the whole of NZ I believe. In addition, there is greater use of Public Transport (Trains, Taxi’s and Busses etc) than in NZ. Sydney Siders like Melbournanians are renowned for frequenting Clubs, Pubs, Sports Matches, Restaurants and functions far more frequently than NZers IMO. I lived and worked out of there for 25 years so I can speak from experience and observation, not emotion.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:02pm
- westernScientest
  
  it is pretty bizarre, they are now pushing this an asymptomatic person had it, and it jumped out of MIQ to some people on the foot path, who never got sick enough to get tested, and past it on into the community. Yet there are 300+ places of interest, with 10000s of people potentially exposed to this virus that can jump out of MIQ and infect passes by, they only get a few 10s of cases a day.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:50am
  - Batman
    
    Places of interest casts a much wider net than what could be considered actual exposure. It is perhaps obvious why they would do so.
    
    They build in more time either side of the activity as well, making the contacts list much wider.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:06am
Clownworld

Questions that real jounalists should ask if they were really the fourth estate.

1) Is the lack of clarity such as exemptions for QR code enforcement or small retailers deliberate?

Speculation to why govts would do this could include – increasing uncertainty and fear so that people have to listen more carefully to one source of truth AND/OR
using this to make people complain until the govt puts more draconian controls in place – easy to do when critics of govt already are motivated to challenge anything.

2) Given most world is opening up albeit with less freedom than NZ or Australia, have the UN or other bodies increased pressure on govt to participate in experimental madness of elimination strategy here?

If not why are we pursuing a failed strategy given your govt has started backwalking elimination by stating for delta we may not eliminate it.

3) Why is the govt not doing more to proactively protect the nation’s health and vunerable groups? Name the different natural and other prescribed or available medications the govt think help people build immunity fot any illness or virus? Given 30 % people dying from WuHan happen to be obese, what is NZ’s level of obesity and what is being done to improve this from the govt?

4) When will NZers rights of freedom be returned in full?
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August 23, 2021 9:56am
- kowtow
  
  If “rights” can be withheld willy nilly by this regime ,then they’re not rights , they are priveliges bestowed upon us by whoever controls parliament .
  
  We are nothing but modern serfs beholden to our masters.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:11am
- Ian Boag
  
  There must be a country somewhere whose laid back approach to covid has led to herd immunity. Brazil? Peru? Bolivia?
  
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  August 23, 2021 7:12pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    In late July, Sweden’s 7-day moving average Covid death count hit zero.
    
    Yes zero, zip, zilch, nil.
    
    Don’t know if that’s herd immunity at work, but it works for me.
    
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    August 23, 2021 7:20pm
Captain Mainwaring

Duncan Garner has quit TV3 and the AM show, claiming ‘brutal’ working hours.
Come on Dunc, you knew the hours when you took the job.
I wonder if there’s more to this.
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August 23, 2021 10:01am
- Flossie
  
  I think we’ll know if there’s more to this or not (although I think there is) by the silence or otherwise of the erstwhile co-hosts tomorrow morning.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:14am
- Batman
  
  Culture report is released and one of the old boys of Three resigns…. Not exactly a difficult nut to crack ?
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:39am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Brave
    
    Now put your real name to that allegation
    
    10 1
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    August 23, 2021 11:13am
    - Muttonbird
      
      Brian Atman, isn’t it?
      
      0 6
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      August 23, 2021 2:07pm
      - Northshoredoc
        
        Hello Martin – what’s the job prospects looking like now that Amazon have slung their hobbit hook ?
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:15pm
      - Muttonbird
        
        Thanks for your concern about my ability to provide for my family, doc.
        
        Amazon’s withdrawal doesn’t affect me directly but it does slow the momentum the industry recently enjoyed.
        
        Truth is, the screen sector can’t be made favourites, the right wing opposition sees to that. So we must take our beans like other sectors.
        
        Such is Covid life.
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:16pm
- BAM
  
  You don’t leave effective immediately over ‘brutal’ working hours.
  
  It has very much a Dom Harvey feel to it.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:44am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Garner went off air after going nuclear on Hipkins over border control at Tauranga. He went on to say he no longer believed the govt.
    
    Probably too much for Cam Wallace.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:12am
    - BAM
      
      That would be far worse than a bullying/sex scandal issue.
      It would mean that TV3, our only major private news channel is completely compromised and in the governments back pocket.
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:48am
    - jon
      
      Bring on Sean Plunket as the replacement. Get the ratings up, but then there is the problem with that Cam i guess. Imagine the WOKIE Amanda would up and leave as she wouldnt be able to cope with Plunket. Mark Richardson would be ok with the new host.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:55pm
      - Flossie
        
        That would be a great outcome then.
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:08pm
- The Boss
  
  Can he take Amanda with him, please?
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:04am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Little Miss Nasal
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:23am
- Mrs_Right
  
  I didn’t know he quit! I was actually trying to find out online if he is on leave or something like that. There probably is more to that story, although I think that Ryan guy is doing an outstanding job and is very likable.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:08am
- lifesgood
  
  I’m not fooled. Very likely he has annoyed some one. Now who could that be…hmmmm.
  He has been off on leave for two weeks which is not normal if you are genuinely just resigning. Ryan Bridge did an amazing job today. I hope he doesn’t end up getting the same treatment.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:26pm
surfing

Heading into our 6th day waiting for covid test results. . .

Had to cancel my daughters minor surgery today because of this. I really thought we’d have had results by now, they said the test was being expedited due to being in an Location of interest (told 24-36 hours).

F* Ashley Bloomfield.
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August 23, 2021 10:05am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Land this in Kabul, and the Airport will be cleared.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/toj9lt8b2v8haf8/757%20Kabul.jpg?dl=0
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August 23, 2021 10:08am
krazykiwi

If you are a politician, a Wiggle, a Wallaby or Larry Page getting into our country is no problem.

If you are a New Zealander like this person, it appears to be impossible

I need help. I am in lebanon which is going through the worst financial crises seen since the 1800s. Most of the time we have no electricity, no water, little food. There’s virtually no petrol left in the country. Lebanon lives on 90% of imported necessities. Since the explosion demolished the ports, this is another issue. Lebanon has no government. We live with the constant threat of war, weather with Israel or civil war. I have tickets booked to arrive in NZ on 4th September….. budget wise I cant book a MIQ room and then tickets. I have been trying over a month to get rooms. I have a lump in my groin visible externally and cant afford a doctor here. But even if I could, the country is virtually out of medicine. MIQ keeps dealing my applications for urgent travel, stating too early to book. Thats is wrong in itself. If anyone can offer any help or advise, I need it.
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August 23, 2021 10:24am
- Monique Watson
  
  Oh that is shocking. Once upon a time you could be guaranteed of being able to contact your embassy and putting in a personal request to your ambassador. Why even ten years ago when I first moved here I got our nearest ambassadors email address. (Screw getting on those travel outside NZ notification lists, things change so quickly. Personal contact details are best) Now I wonder if there are any embassies tasked with assisting Kiwis in need and what’s the point on keeping ties to NZ. There’s a 1000% chance the U.S. would airlift me out of trouble out of the country and a 100% chance NZ would point the finger back at me and tell me to get stuffed.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:52am
  - Tall Man
    
    “a 100% chance NZ would point the finger back at me and tell me to get stuffed”
    
    But with “Kindness” Monique … with kindness….
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:23am
Fletch

There seems to be a concerted effort by the media now to highlight single cases of individuals who weren’t vaccinated, caught the virus, and show them languishing in a hospital bed with pipes up their noses saying “oh, I wish I’d got vaccinated now. I was sooo wrong and foolish”. Most from overseas, of course. It seems like propaganda to me.
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August 23, 2021 10:29am
- Batman
  
  Seems like reporting the obvious, that not getting vaccinated can land you on death’s door.
  
  They’re doing us a favour by highlighting these cases, so those who are lazily resisting will get a kick in the pants to do it.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    “not getting vaccinated can land you on death’s door.”
    
    So can obesity and old age. What fool thinks they can cheat death?
    
    “Conclusions: Chronic comorbidities, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, and malignancy are clinical risk factors for a severe or fatal outcome associated with COVID-19, with obesity being the most prevalent and respiratory disease being the most strongly predictive. Knowledge of these risk factors could help clinicians better identify and manage the high-risk populations.”
    
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32721533/
    
    Soooo, no comorbidities, low chance of death. Well I never, that’s just so startling I’ll have to stop “looking in the mirror while pleasuring” myself.
    
    I do find it mildly amusing when people attempt to slur others by referencing their own bad habits on the assumption that because they do it others do as well……
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:20am
  - dcrane
    
    It’s not lazy to not get vaxxed yet, it’s rational, when the government’s stated policy is that Level 4 will occur with any outbreak, and that therefore I have no meaningful chance of catching covid here. Any vaccine I get now will just have to be re-done by the middle of next year.
    
    Announce a date to open the border, and I’ll get in line a few months before that.
    
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    August 23, 2021 1:31pm
- kowtow
  
  It is designed , not to inform , but to solicit at the very least ,an emotional response ; that makes it propaganda.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:07am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    If emotive tactics are being used to convince, then this only confirms that there is little if any rational case available. This principle sums up the entire phenomenon of Covid.
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:37pm
- Sede Vacante
  
  It’s like the babies that were allegedly thrown out of incubators that were used to sway public sentiment in favour of Iraq 1. Later revealed as pure fiction of course, but this type of thing works well on the emotions of the rationally-challenged. Besides, who cares if someone chooses a course of action and then regrets it? Happens every day.
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:34pm
cas

Changing the subject from Covid and Joe Biden, I was reading CK Stead’s latest memoir last night, What you Made of It. He says” the left often embraces a package and expects its supporters to accept and affirm it whole, not in bits> If you make exceptions to your affirmation, you are frowned upon. If you reject too many items, and especially if you are seen to do this publicly, you will be reproached, deplored, ultimately you will be banished from the favoured fold. you will become an apostate.” ( he is a leftie BTW).

He goes on to talk about a 1990s TV programme about the Treaty “” in which half a dozen ‘experts'( his quote marks not mine), all of one opinion, were lined up to confront an audience in which a few people like myself of another or other opinion were scattered around to give a impression of fairness of debate, of catering for a variety of points of view…..It had been promoted as a debate but set up to produce one view at he expense of any other.” He mentions the Chief Govt historian for close on twenty years who “must have known as much about the Treaty as anyone present, but who had been assigned a place in the crowd rather than at the front where he belonged, because his view did not accord perfectly with what was by now the correct, the official , one.”

Interesting that that was 31 years ago.
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August 23, 2021 10:31am
- krazykiwi
  
  I though this was interesting re Harris sniffing around with respect to the 25th: –
  
  “Harris, in her role not just as vice president but president of the Senate, is the deciding vote in that body.
  
  “If she becomes president, then not only do the Democrats lose their control of the upper house, but they also lose their 51st vote to confirm a new vice president, as required by the Constitution.
  
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  August 23, 2021 10:48am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Surely they will just quietly replace Joe’s phones and reb buttons with toys. And let him read a few sentences from the teleprompter as best he can every few weeks. Others will be running the show. No need for the 25th.
    
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    August 23, 2021 10:59am
  - Bluegrass
    
    True. But the Constitution is now just a quaint old document redolent of white supremacy, and thus can now be finessed and subjugated to fit the zeitgeist.
    .
    Black Letter Law has died a death.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:05pm
surfing

Anyone noticed on the govt covid tests information page, they are missing data on testing performance.

The number of days it takes to receive your test results….very important, but completely missing!
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August 23, 2021 10:31am
cas

I have nothing to go to town for but I am annoyed that I can’t.
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August 23, 2021 10:33am
CAKE FACE1

I suppose there must have been many people in say Zimbabwe or Venezuela who experienced years of bad policy and economic declines, and knew they were headed for complete economic collapse, but were powerless to do anything to change the policies.

Now that I’m in a similar position, I can imagine how frustrating it must have been for them…
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August 23, 2021 10:34am
I remember when

A billion children at risk from the effects of climate change, according to a new UNICEF Report.
“at extremely high risk” and “put most children at risk.”
The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis.
Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index.
Globally, approximately 1 billion children (nearly half the world’s children) live in extremely high-risk countries.
Climate/Environment:
Water Scarcity, Riverine Floods, Coastal Floods, Tropical Cyclones, Vector Borne diseases, Heatwaves, Air pollution, Soil and Water Pollution.
Child Vulnerability:
Health and Nutrition, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (Wash), Poverty, Communication assets and Social protection.
You name it – it’s caused by Climate Change.
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August 23, 2021 10:39am
Jack5

Rocket Lab, the space company founddd by New Zealander Peter Beck, renamed Rocket Lab USA Inc, will list its shares on Wednesday (US time), on the American Nasdaq stock exchange.

The launch comes amid sharp swings in the price of the space-rocket company, Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, and floated on Nasdaq in 2019. The Wall Street Journal warned three months ago that interest was waning in space companies.

The market price will establish how rich the flotation makes Rocket Lab’s New Zealand founder, Peter Beck, but he’s very likely to be a billionaire, at least in New Zealand dollars.

Peter Beck is a non-university trained engineer, born into a Southland mechanical engineering family. His father, self-taught, built a large astronomical telescope and housing dome as a secondary-school pupil. He became head of the Southland Museum and the authority on greenstone.

The Becks for generations ran a garage in Invercargill. Peter Beck’s great-great grandfather was a Scots pioneer who settled in Southland to farm in 1863 but switched to mechanical work, and the succeeding generations followed in this.

Peter’s father, Russell Beck, the museum director, told of the family being banned from hammering and making similar noises on Southland’s then-Presbyterian Sundays, but sneaking to a neighbourhood workshop to continue their hobbies.

The Rocket Lab USA Inc transaction, like the Branson one, is being done by a special purpose acquisition company.

Gross proceeds to swell Rocket Lab’s capital from the additional shares issued are expected to be $US777 million (about $NZ1.137 billion). They will comprise a minority of the company’s shares.

In May, the Wall Street Journal speculated that the special purpose float of Space Lab potentially valued the company in total at more than $US4 billion, but warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission was eager to cool the special-purpose listing market.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson was the the first of series of new space investments. Others will follow Rocket Lab.

Virgin Galactic’s share price has been volatile – as low as $US15.50 from $US59.40 in November. The May dip followed news of flight-test delays. The latest price of Virgin Galactic shares is $US24.59.

Branson’s Virgin Investments recently sold $US300 million worth of shares in Virgin Galactic, saying the money would help counter losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in his other businesses. Richard Branson’s interests remain the biggest shareholder, but they are just above the threshold that gives Branson sufficient directors to control the Virgin Galactic board.

Rocket Lab USA will have a second a launch site operating by the end of the year in the American state of Virginia. Its first launch site is on the North Island’s Mahia Peninsula.

[If this is copy and paste please cite your media source – Mod]
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August 23, 2021 10:41am
- Jack5
  
  To Moderator:
  
  This is not copy and paste. I knew Peter Beck’s father, and met his grandfather. The one news source I tapped was the Wall Street Journal, and this is acknowledged. Other information is public through the SEC. As far as I’m aware, no NZ news site has referred to the Space Lab USA listing this week, and I’m not surprised by that.
  
  I would have offered the piece to DPF as a head piece, but I’m still pissed off that one he ran, about the National Library’s ignorant destruction of its book collection, was run without any paragraphing, making it near-unreadable.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:10am
- Tall Man
  
  Directly or through Vector?
  
  Tried Google but could only find the Vector plan.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:14am
  - Jack5
    
    Note sure what you mean, Tall Man.
    
    Vector, as the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), disappears in the listing. Its name is changed to Space Lab USA Inc. This happens this week.
    
    If you want to delve into American official listings, go to Elgar.
    
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    August 23, 2021 11:22am
    - Jack5
      
      Whoops, typo.
      
      Tall Man, go to Edgar.
      
      https://www.sec.gov/filergroup/announcements
      
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      August 23, 2021 11:32am
      - Tall Man
        
        Got it.
        
        Yep, have vector in my portfolio.
        
        Cheers
        
        Also, starting watching Fauda, a programme you mentioned a while ago.
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:15pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Got this tonight.
      
      “We’re getting in touch to let you know that the majority of Vector Acquisition Corporation’s (VACQ) shareholders voted to approve its proposed merger with Rocket Lab USA, Inc. You can read the full details in this announcement. “
      
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      August 23, 2021 7:02pm
Opie

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/ryan-bridge-don-t-be-fooled-by-the-1pm-spin-the-govt-knows-it-cocked-up-the-vaccine-rollout-so-they-re-desperate-to-say-they-haven-t.html

Is the worm turning? I’ve never seen so many articles against this government on the main news sites…

Bridge is one of the better ones, usually stands for logic.

PM refused to come on his show today, I’m guessing that will become a permanent declinature… or he will be cancelled and sent to the gulag
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August 23, 2021 10:49am
- graham
  
  I would imagine that the PM refusing to go on the more popular radio shows is a risky move. I don’t listen to much radio, but usually catch the first half hour of Mike Hosking’s show during the week, and even in that limited time I’ve heard him refer to her refusal to go on his show several times.
  
  Getting the media offside would surely be something that most politicians would go out of their way to avoid. In the last week I’ve heard Hosking, Heather du Plessis Allan and Barry Soper all scathingly refer to the PM’s refusal to come on Hosking’s show, with particular attention paid to her claim that of course she would come on the show for something important or a major event. The latest outbreak and lockdown would surely have to qualify, and yet … crickets. Where is the PM? Why is she not fronting on Hosking’s show? The obvious conclusion, as Hosking, HDPA, and Soper point out, is that her claim of spreading herself around in an effort to be more visible, was complete rubbish, and she has shown that to be undeniable.
  
  She really didn’t like being asked difficult questions – and subsequently being shown to be completely out of her depth – and so she took what appeared to be the easy way out. But if her advisors thought that it would all blow over and be forgotten, they have obviously badly misjudged the ramifications of this decision.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:29am
  - Steve Todd
    
    I think that Hosking’s hectoring interviewing style, combined with his obvious contempt for / hostility towards the prime minister (which he never made any effort to suppress); cutting off / interrupting her answers; talking over the top of her, had more to do with her decision to give him a big miss, than not liking difficult questions. Basically, she finally said to herself, “I don’t need this […].” And fair enough, too. The way he treated her was an abomination.
    
    Also, in my view, after hearing his disgraceful editorial at 6:07AM last Wednesday, the 18th, in which he basically messed his own nest by arrogantly referring to her in the most rude and disrespectful manner possible, I thought, you’ve done it now pal — no way will she come your show ever again.
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:50pm
    - Humble Capitalist
      
      Its frustrating when your questions never get answered
      
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      August 23, 2021 2:55pm
    - lifesgood
      
      That’s ridiculous. She is the PM, it’s a hard job, she’s not up to it…end of. Hosking is right in asking the hard questions and she is completely incapable of asking them. You give your fanboy self away with this sentence “arrogantly referring to her in the most rude and disrespectful manner possible”. Respect has to be earned, she hasn’t earned it.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:32pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        That extract gives away nothing.
        
        Clearly, you didn’t hear Hosking’s editorial last Wednesday morning. Any reasonable person would have been shocked at what he said, and how he said it.
        
        Whether she has earned his respect, or not, is not the point. No radio presenter should be able to get away with treating any guest the way he treated her, repeatedly.
        
        Have you not heard of common decency; of good manners?
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:58pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Sure Steve
        Now lets see you look at how the media handle Opposition MPs
        You are very one eyed.
        But most Bigots are.
        
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        August 23, 2021 5:57pm
      - lifesgood
        
        Steve, ever heard Susie Ferguson interview Judith Collins?
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:27pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Lifesgood: Irrelevant. We’re discussing why the prime minister chooses not to go on Hosking’s show. I’ve merely given my opinion.
        
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        August 23, 2021 6:59pm
westernScientest

forget the gangs, NSW has bigger problems

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/coronavirus/anthony-karam-reportedly-goes-back-on-promise-to-hand-himself-in-after-negotiations-with-nsw-police/news-story/169a8524a5618d1186d32715289fb6dc
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August 23, 2021 10:57am
- Cinematic
  
  Reads like a spoof. In any other time you’d think that was what it is.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:21pm
Maggie Pie

Just a reminder that ‘Prov Tax’ is due again on the 28th.
My partner was saying they’ve just added the ISIS Bride and her Cubs-of-the-Caliphate to the other thousands of families he’s already working for.
Although he’s hoping that might actually stand him in good stead should the Taliban ever come door knocking.
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August 23, 2021 11:09am
hullkiwi

Reports this morning that the Taliban have thanked the NZgovt.

Yes, you read correctly.

The Taliban have thanked the NZ govt for a humanitarian donation of $3mill to the people of Aghanistan.

You read correctly. I can see a Tui ad coming.
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August 23, 2021 11:16am
- surfing
  
  3 million to the gangs, 3 million to the taliban, one would think the government has gone bonkers!
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:25am
- kowtow
  
  That would be a non alcoholic Tui , under the circumstances……..
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:38am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Pallet load in undetermined denominations, plastic wrapped. When it is on the ground in Afghanistan, we can bring our citizens out.
  Taliban being shown as nice, educated and friendly on TV. Leopards do not change their spots – they will kill you
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:41am
  - Bluegrass
    
    Naturally. ‘Talib’ is student in Arabic. ‘Taliban’ is the plural.
    
    All educated and friendly students…
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:49pm
- david
  
  So the Taliban rate a smidge higher in the Government’s estimation than the Mongrel Mob. Interesting.
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:46am
- nathie
  
  Wot, are you saying Cindy’s lot have not only bought off the Mogrel Mob they have now trying to buy off the Taliban?
  
  Then there is the UN (being bought off, by following agendas and policy), the Greens and Greenpeace?
  
  Is there anyone left that Labour aren’t “buying off” with billions and billions of taxpayers funds? (Tradies, Farmers, Ute owners, and now Butchers, Greengrocers, Fishmonger retailers and Health shops excepted of course)?!!!
  
  Labour seems to like playing “dress up” and “theatre” like a bunch of university student thespians, robbing Peter to pay Paul (or is that Paulette) nowadays? 😉
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:53am
  - redeye
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/126152104/witness-describes-surreal-lockdown-gang-brawl
    
    “There was a lot of fighting going on and one of the skinheads was making a stabbing motion with his right hand and saying ‘hit him, hit him, get him’ and then something about a bottle, and then I noticed that there was empty wine bottles, and he was trying to smash the Mongrel Mob guy over the head.”
    One of the Mongrel Mob members jumped into the back seat of his car and barked.
    
    Jacinda trusts them. Why don’t you?
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:15pm
    - dcrane
      
      Ardern is losing control of more than covid:
      
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/group-pulling-gang-signs-allegedly-crashes-into-auckland-couple-s-car-after-attempting-to-smash-windows-rip-doors-open.html
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:49pm
- Nickc2
  
  In any other country, I’d say “ya gotta be jokin Jonsey” but in NZ and given it’s current Govt, anything’s possible. Paying off the enemy?
  No doubt Parents, Wives, Children and Partners of NZDF Past and Serving Members who lost their mates and kin will be well inclined towards the current Govt – NOT!!!
  Who’s the Minister of Defence again? Yea, sez it all!!
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:54pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  You mean we are paying ransom (by any other name) to the Taliban in order to get people we want out? If that is true then very fucking well done to the 6th Muppet govt.
  
  And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
  But we’ve proved it again and again,
  That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
  You never get rid of the Dane.
  
  It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
  For fear they should succumb and go astray;
  So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
  You will find it better policy to say: —
  
  “We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
  No matter how trifling the cost;
  For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
  And the nation that pays it is lost!”
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:16pm
surfing

Who does one believe, the people who design the system, or the people who have to use the system?

Get rid of Bloomfield and get an expert in operations/logistics/process design on the job….this problem needs systems experience, not health experience…..pay them good money to fix this broken system!

“The surgeon puts it all down to poor communication by the Ministry to Health teams on the ground.

Although the Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield says that’s not the case.

“I don’t think staff at quarantine sites are confused, nor anyone in quarantine, nor would I say is any New Zealander,” Bloomfield said.

The surgeon disagrees.

“The current situation is confusing for staff, it’s confusing for people here and it’s caused a lot of distress and I just wish there had been a better line of communication.”
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August 23, 2021 11:24am
Don Beckett

Just got back from an hour’s walk along the beachfront at at Ferguson Park, Otumoetai (Tauranga). Beautiful morning, clear cool NE breeze off the sea giving the purest air in the world.
Yet….many others walking, biking etc. – about 40% had face napkins on – mainly the cheap cotton ones that the medicos tell us are worth about 15 mins., and provide 10% protection.
2 kids, about 10 & 12 were scootering along with – yes, that’s right, face masks. Crazy.
The feat porn/propaganda is working well on our gullible population.
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August 23, 2021 11:49am
- Jack5
  
  What do you want them to wear, Don?
  
  Those glass sheets like divers’ helmets?
  
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  August 23, 2021 11:53am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Nah – just get the rag off their faces and smell the sweet clean air.
    
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    August 23, 2021 12:03pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Masks. 3 million discarded every minute
  
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  August 23, 2021 12:11pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Well at least they are not plastic bags or straws//
    
    7 2
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    August 23, 2021 12:34pm
- Paulus
  
  Me too – I live there, great place for my daily walk – great to see the many children with their invariably fathers at the current time.
  All is well in some parts and this is one.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:29pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Don,
  
  Even surgical masks only last 10-15 minutes.
  
  And they are not 10% effective. After the 10-15 minutes they become mobile petri dishes. So -100% effective. i.e spreaders.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:04pm
wilderbeast

Ardern getting a bit of a thrashing in MSM today. Ryan Bridge’s piece especially good. Perhaps the tide has turned on Queen Canute?
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August 23, 2021 12:34pm
- Muttonbird
  
  Ryan Bridge has always been anti-Ardern. Powerful women scare him.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:03pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Powerful women might scare him (don’t know) but what has that to do with Jacinta?
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:18pm
    - Muttonbird
      
      Jacinda has you locked up. That is power.
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:09pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Pretty sure the Director General of Health calls the shots but your adoration of ardern is just so sweet.
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:05pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Stupid women scare me.
    
    Stupid people who support stupid women are a problem but don’t scare me much.
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:25pm
ABS4EVA

Imagine if you were head of a Corporation

or Financial Institution and you gave

The Mongrel Mob a Back hander

Imagine how quickly the shares would sell
the court cases would start etc etec

Imagine if that was a Superannuation company

which it kind of is

?
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August 23, 2021 1:03pm
- Nickc2
  
  Question for Robbo: How much of the Super Fund has been raided spent/wasted and/or given away in the name of the Covid-19 debacle your mob are managing?
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:28pm
  - artemisia
    
    Jobs for Nature got more than a bill in covid funding. To stimulate the recovery, apparently. Last I saw the jobs have so far cost $200,000 each. Pest control of wallabies more than 3 x per job. Nice work if you can get it.
    
    Meanwhile, vaccines …
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:10pm
ABS4EVA

Imagine if Cindy was working for a Bank
Any Bank

I think they would drop her like a HOT POTATO
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August 23, 2021 1:04pm
- JackRabbit
  
  She IS working for a bank. The cartels that own international banks, drug companies etc. that created the vaccine causing takeover of the planet.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:08pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Foodbank?
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:14pm
Nickc2

If you feel useless, remember:
It took 20 years,
Trillions of Dollars and
Four Presidents
to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

Dr Norman Fienkelstein
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August 23, 2021 1:24pm
- Fletch
  
  And we had relative peace in that country in those 20 years. And we could still have had peace if Biden hadn’t been a lunatic and thrown the whole country into disarray.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:14pm
Tony Stuart

The Taxpayers Union has drawn attention to a job currently going at Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet:

Taxpayers’ Union
@TaxpayersUnion
This is Orwellian: DPMC is hiring dedicated staff to counter ‘disinformation’.

It also gives insight into how the Prime Minister’s department has increased its staff numbers by 31% in just two years.

https://twitter.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1429605990270267392

The advertisement is seeking someone to fill the position of Senior Analyst, Disinformation. Among other things, the appointee will spend time on social media to “triage across these channels and to case-manage issues”. That’s poli-speak for checking up on people saying nasty things about the PM and her mates, or not agreeing with what the Government is doing. Doubtless the appointee will be compiling a list of all those people who aren’t on board with the programme.

Big Brother is going to be watching us, and the worst thing of all; our pockets will be raided to pay the bloody salary!
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August 23, 2021 1:28pm
- Nickc2
  
  Who said Blog Sites weren’t going to be subject to Hate-Speech laws? They’re making this stuff up as they go.
  Stand-by, more stringent laws for Blog Sites! Full Names, Addresses and Phone No’s will be reqd with each post.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:34pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    “Who said Blog Sites weren’t going to be subject to Hate-Speech laws?”
    
    Subject to? They’ll be prime targets.
    
    You simply make the operator of the site liable, that’s how such regulations work and have always worked: you make the business operator responsible and they police their customers.
    
    It has the nasty effect of shielding the full effect of such laws from the average citizen allowing a small group to shoulder the responsibility. And of course the state is there to “educate” and “help” making every operator complicit in the censorship.
    
    In effect, the moderation policy of this blog will change to mimic the new law. You’ll never see the comments made that didn’t get past the new policy, so how will you know what to complain about? What exactly got censored? You won’t be able to find out because if anyone reveals it they will be guilty of violating the law.
    
    It’s cynical and sick, and they know exactly what they’re doing.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:15pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Exactly right
      Here’s an example.
      https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/senate-democrats-introduce-legislation-taking-direct-aim-at-armslist/
      And of course its well known the Bidens WH regularly work with Facebook and others to cancel ‘disinformation posts’.
      
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      August 23, 2021 5:59pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Tony, that is a political position being paid for by the taxpayer. And it shows that Jacinda & the senior civil service have indeed crossed the divide, and cannot differentiate from what is political and what is government administration. It is proof that the notion that NZ has an independent public service is nothing but a fig leaf.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:45pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    And on Eve the fig leaf covered a big **** (I won’t say that word)
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:29pm
- kevn
  
  @Tony… What a treat.
  
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  August 23, 2021 1:56pm
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  I was listening to The Weekend Collective with Tim Roxborogh and Tim Beverage on Saturday.
  
  Tim B would say something stupid and misleading, and Tim R would be there to correct that misinformation.
  
  I think it’ll work something like that.
  
  It’s important to counter right wing conspiracy theories, don’t you think?
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:02pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Well, of course, you would think that, wouldn’t you. God forbid that both sides of the argument were heard. I suppose you’ve already sent your CV in.
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:04pm
    - Muttonbird
      
      Both sides of the argument were being heard. That’s the point.
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:06pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Disinformation like “we’re going into lockdown” 2 days before the 1st lockdown?
    Or that “the virus may have originated in a lab”
    Or that “Covid Passports will be a thing”
    Or that “vaccinations will be effectively compulsory”
    
    The problem is that many “conspiracy theories” are simply early policy releases and this “disinformation” position is actually being created to control the flow of information. Only source of truth and all that.
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:50pm
  - Tall Man
    
    I feel sorry for you.
    
    When the ardern bubble pops, and pop it will, you may start to realise that you have been suckered.
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:23pm
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    Will be useful to counter disinformation such as ‘we will be at the front of the queue for the vaccine’
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:38pm
  - Yabster
    
    along with left wing bullshit that you spout constantly- sure…
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:01pm
  - double d
    
    That’s the problem right there – The Weekend Collective. It is insidious. Collective thought. No room for individuals. It takes a village etc.
    Tom B is a centrist at best and the R version of Tim is a sopping wet lefty who likes the sound of his own voice.
    Mutton bird shows how he believes opinions are misleading and we have a believer in the left lane showing the way
    Pfft
    
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    August 23, 2021 8:38pm
    - Vory v zakone
      
      And how many actually listen to the Timorons?
      
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      August 24, 2021 3:07am
- CAKE FACE1
  
  It’s a propaganda role to fight the increasing criticism of the Zero Covid conspiracy theory. The government and various “expert” nut jobs are having more problems justifying following this nonsense.
  
  I have a routine. I name and shame Zero Covid nut jobs at every opportunity. I throw huge numbers of comments into Stuff. Sometimes they are spat back, with whiny acknowledgment notices. My comments virtually never get published. For some reason, despite my best efforts, I haven’t been banned there yet…
  
  Still, its obvious that the Zero Covid nut jobs are beginning to feel humiliated.
  
  Just look at Baker – I’ve never seen someone with so much foolish pride. Recently, they look rattled…
  
  For some reason, taunting the hacks brings me joy.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:17pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Tony – maybe the hire has been done already?
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-media-stories-as-impactful-as-misinformation/
  
  What amused me most in the article was the “control” source.
  
  “Lastly, the survey sample group was broken into three groups that were each shown material that was either factual, misinformation, or could promote hesitancy.
  
  One piece of misinformation used in the study was a social media post wrongly claiming the vaccine could interfere with genetic material.
  
  An example of “hesitancy” material was a New Zealand Herald article – since removed from the Herald website – detailing a mother’s concern over her son receiving the vaccine.
  
  As a control, the researchers also selected a post from the Government’s “Unite Against Covid-19″ Facebook page, announcing vaccine approval and rollout.”
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:27pm
Critical Thinker

Zero-Covid Fanatics on Verge of Losing Their Last Outposts; Australia and NZ. ??

Scott Morrison writes over the weekend that Australia will change. Morrison’s words (and Chris Hipkins) echo those of Boris Johnson et al, as they bumbled and stumbled their way to the inevitable “living with covid” realisation.

It took many months for UK, Europe and US to back out, because of the fear they had previously created in citizens and their own half-in/half-out language.

So while there’s now hope that Aussie and NZ might finally adopt a Plan B, it might take many more months before they find the courage…
https://www.facebook.com/covidplanb/posts/365625955240067
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August 23, 2021 1:39pm
- Critical Thinker
  
  ‘Not a sustainable way to live’: PM Morrison says Australia must ‘learn to live’ with Covid – video
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/aug/23/pm-scott-morrison-says-australia-must-learn-to-live-with-covid-this-is-not-sustainable-video
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:01pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    I expect Ardern’s focus groups are saying this is inevitable here too, and she’s busy telling her advisors in private what they are expected to advise her in public.
    
    But don’t expect to hear any churnalist ask … “So Prime Minister, does this mean you accept that there will now always be Covid-19 deaths in New Zealand?”.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:03pm
nathie

So 107 covid cases as of today … didn’t Shawn Hendy say a few days ago that he expected no more than 100 to eventuate and things will get back to normal again quickly?

What does that say about his modelling competency … and what does it say about Labour who have him in their strategy expert group?
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August 23, 2021 1:49pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Anyone with half a brain must realize that “modelling” an outbreak with so few data points and so many unknowns amounts to no more than guessing.
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:15pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  He is a physicist
  
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  August 23, 2021 2:16pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Then he should understand the difference between Arithmetic and EXPONENTIAL.
    
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    August 23, 2021 2:30pm
    - Taieri
      
      He used to. Before shifting from physics to Matauranga.
      
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      August 23, 2021 3:02pm
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        POst of the day maybe?
        
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        August 23, 2021 3:52pm
- Stu2
  
  We aren’t learning much :
  – how big are the Auckland school and church clumps?
  – how many more tests are still to go in those environments?
  – how much household to household spread since lockdown?
  And so on
  
  More info from the medical side of this and less propoganda from the PM would be welcome
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:05pm
  - Tall Man
    
    How many are sick? That is the only question that has an answer worth knowing.
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:19pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      C’mon Tall Man, the reason to keep breathlessly publishing the ‘case’ numbers is to keep the unfiltered fear-porn stream running 24×7.
      
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      August 23, 2021 4:05pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep, he did…
  At the time the alert level 4 lockdown was announced on Tuesday evening, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said people should prepare for the number of infected people in the community to be between 50 and 120.
  
  Hendy said it now looked like the number would be significantly less than that, estimating it could be “well below 100 cases”.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/449539/covid-19-outbreak-may-be-smaller-than-first-expected-after-border-link-found
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:32pm
  - cmm
    
    Maybe the random number generator battery is flat.
    
    It is time these charlatans get recognised for what they are.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:50pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Now he is saying the number could go up to 1000, and we should start seeing new numbers beginning to fall mid next week.
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/08/covid-19-disease-modelling-expert-shaun-hendy-warns-nz-outbreak-could-grow-to-1000-cases.html
    
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    August 23, 2021 6:08pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Shameless charlatan. And given cover by a complicit MSM.
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:22pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Imagine having him as your lecturer… or worse, your thesis supervisor.
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:20pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        If hubris can be regarded as a cornerstone of reasonableness, then he’s probably a reasonable chap.
        
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        August 23, 2021 7:26pm
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Put the dartboard that you use for your modelling away again Shawn
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:41pm
- mandk
  
  Speaking as a non-expert, like Hendy, I think we might eventually see as few as 150 cases.
  
  But it could go as high as 15,000.
  
  You can thank me later for this insight.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:57pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Cases, positive test results or false positives?
    
    The only number that matters are those who are ill. That’s it.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:26pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Yes I think he said 100. Oh well probably more accurate than his 80,000 deaths!
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:25pm
rockape

Funniest vid yet. You tube, stay sane and carry on.
How to stop the spread of COVID by changing language.
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August 23, 2021 1:49pm
curry4me

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

China has bitten off more than it can chew in Afghanistan.

The presitator has his beady little eyes on Afghanistan. Now they want US, and other help to get the minerals. It’d be a shame if Islamofascism becomes a problem in China. Will the Taliban really tame the ETIM? [5:43. Let China, and Afghanistan have each other!]
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August 23, 2021 1:55pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1JQuKj9J9U

After the USA’s hasty Afghanistan exit, its all-weather ally is rethinking things.

If the United States could not help Japan in Afghanistan, there is very little which Tokyo can expect out of the Biden administration in the East China Sea against China and in support of either Taiwan or the Senkaku islands. Now, Japan will be focussing on building up indigenous capabilities in order to deal with contingencies of all kinds on its own, without having to look up to other countries for help.
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August 23, 2021 1:56pm
septic skeptic

I notice the MSM government lackeys are running the line that “experts” say NZ is making huge progress in vaccination. 73% of over 40s have either had a jab or are booked for one. What fucking use is “booked for one”? It takes 2/3 weeks to get meaningful protection from the first jab, and that is not great against Delta anyway. Then we have a six week gap between jabs and a further 2/3 weeks for the second dose to kick in. So decent protection is around two months after the first jab actually goes in your arm. Booked! FFS! Our rollout is the worst in the OECD by a big margin.
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August 23, 2021 2:42pm
- kevn
  
  @ss… But, but Ash has had his now. All is well.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:05pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  But this is very pleasing to see:
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/covid-19-delta-outbreak-fortress-nz-strategy-crumbling-world-reacts-to-latest-lockdown-move/
  
  It’s been knocked off the ” latest” link section pretty quickly ( by that I mean now missing out of the sequence) but Cindy’s international shine also looks to be disappearing.
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:12pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Sheesh – they won’t be getting much of the next tranche of emergency funding for the MSM with articles like that!
    
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    August 23, 2021 3:34pm
CAKE FACE1

Here is the CAKE three point plan for the country:

1. Level One – for everyone, from now.

2. Vaccination – First shot finished for the whole country in 2 weeks. Second shot finished in five weeks. Booster later. Finished in five! Other countries have comfortably vaccinated at this rate.

3. Borders – ready to be opened in five weeks.

Let’s do this, as the retard would say…
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August 23, 2021 2:43pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Leave out #2. I would rather get it and let my body defend itself.
  Recent general anisthetic required suxamethonium to get a tube into my lungs. Anisphalaxis. Now have a Medic Alert necklace.
  After being tested for allergies I had a good chat with specialists. Quite eye opening about how far the World has come regarding diseases and vaccinations. They gave me my answer before I asked – Covid will not kill a healthy person. That is why I will not take an UNTESTED Vax
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:44pm
  - CAKE FACE1
    
    Sure, the timelines were for those that want it.
    
    Our government shouldn’t bully citizens to be vaccinated.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:03pm
- cmm
  
  Sorry, no can do on #2…
  
  If we cranked up to the rate needed to vax 2.5million in 2 weeks then we’d need to do approx 180,000 a day (including week ends).
  
  We only have 300k doses in stock. Run out by lunchtime on Wednesday @ 180k per day.
  
  We have enough trained vacinator staff to do the job. With a proper setup, 11,000 could knock that out in less than a day (230 each = 4 hours with a proper system)…. and enough holy water.
  
  PS: Got enough needles? Or does the muppet need to check between his legs again?
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:21pm
Master Mariner

French expert Pitron said: “The Chinese don’t condition their business deals on democratic principles.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/taleban-inherit-untapped-us1-trillion-trove-of-minerals
Well, Who would of thought.
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August 23, 2021 3:14pm
dave_c_

Woohoooo ! Wooohoooo !
Good to finally see other countries leaders indicating that “Ardern is losing her marbles”.
Sustained lockdowns are old school – and some students (read beginners) learn more slowly than others.
Is this the beginning of the end for her – Finally, recognition that the Queen has no clothes on, and that she has been naked for many months already.
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August 23, 2021 3:28pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ‘Marbles?’ There was a hole in the bag 15 years ago
  
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  August 23, 2021 3:45pm
- cmm
  
  “the Queen has no clothes on”
  
  Does that come with free brain bleach?
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:12pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Kabul. What is Joe doing? What is Jaspinda doing? (besides sending a c 130 which could be lost)
UK, France, Germany have other ideas.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42083/germany-sending-special-ops-helicopters-to-kabul-to-rescue-evacuees-outside-the-airport?
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August 23, 2021 3:37pm
- cmm
  
  Jacinda has a special relationship with Taliban. No need for us to send aggressive hurty things.
  
  Perhaps the bub can send some more toys.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:11pm
  - sooty
    
    Might draw them a picture!
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:20pm
septic skeptic

Voters are not like computers. In computerland it’s a sign of madness if you keep expecting a different output from the same input. But in the real world voters won’t keep on boosting Labour’s support every time Jacinta goes on TV with a frowny face to announce a further lockdown. Unlike computers, voters get tired of the same old shit.
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August 23, 2021 3:39pm
- Joe Kerr
  
  Propaganda predates computers though, and remains much the same since Edward Bernays wrote the book.
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:35pm
westernScientest

Banana republic

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300389456/covid19-nz-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-opts-to-suspend-parliament
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August 23, 2021 3:52pm
- krazykiwi
  
  This is today’s biggest story.
  
  Unbelievable.
  
  National and ACT; For God’s sake ignore this and turn up at parliament ready to do your jobs. With any luck Ardern will have the plod intervene and try to arrest you or some such.
  
  I’m very, very angry about this.
  
  Even having the most partisan Speaker in living memory isn’t enough to shield you, Ardern>
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:53pm
  - Nickc2
    
    These bastards are Essential Workers FFS. COWARDS is more like. They expect Police, Nurses and other essential workers to do their jobs but not themselves.
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:58pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Here’s Judith Collins’ response. I trust the moderators will excuse me republishing the whole thing, given the constitutional importance of this issue:
    
    Prime Minister’s suspension of Parliament is wrong
    
    Judith Collins August 23, 2021
    
    The Prime Minister has advised me that she is unilaterally suspending parliament, Leader of the Opposition Judith Collins says.
    
    “I have expressed that a one week suspension of Parliament is all the National Party will support. However, the Prime Minister has indicated that she expects it will continue longer than that.
    
    “At a time when New Zealanders have the harshest lockdown in the world and have lost our freedoms because of the Government’s failure to vaccinate and secure the border, this move by Jacinda Ardern is unfathomable.
    
    “Look around the world and you will see parliaments managing to continue to function despite challenging circumstances. In the UK they operated virtually for almost a year.
    
    “There are important questions that need to be asked as to how Delta got into New Zealand. Suspending Parliament means the Government avoids this scrutiny.
    
    “As Leader of the Opposition I will be reaching out to the ACT and Māori Parties to establish how best we can prevent this shut down of democracy at the very moment we need it the most.
    
    “Additionally, Labour have resisted all calls for the recommencement of the Epidemic Response Committee. Jacinda Ardern clearly thinks that her actions and the actions of her Government should be beyond reproach and is moving to ensure that is the case.
    
    “This is unacceptable and an overreach of power. It leaves New Zealanders with no ability to demand accountability and transparency from the Government.
    
    “Clearly, despite her assurances to govern for all New Zealanders, Jacinda Ardern is unwilling to be accountable to them.
    
    “The National Party will lead the Opposition to demand democracy is retained during this time of crisis. New Zealand cannot and will not become a one-party dictatorship.”
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:32pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Sorry, Tony. I know you’re required to be loyal but supporting suspension of parliament is a performance that would have made Chamberlain blush. Inexcusable.
      
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      August 23, 2021 6:57pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Ardern tries to hide from the virus.
  
  Now she tries to hide from scrutiny.
  
  But she can’t hide from history.
  
  Tyrants, no matter how aspiring or accomplished, all get their comeuppance.
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:05pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  I’m only a simple lay person but where in the hell does the Director General of Health have the mandate to recommend the suspension of this country’s prime administration processes. Does The Covid Response Act actually go that far?
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:24pm
  - wilderbeast
    
    It’s a very good question. Even if it does, or some other statute does, neither could have anticipated the role that Bloomfield has assumed. He is clearly too close to the action. This is a call for the Governor General.
    
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    August 23, 2021 7:30pm
- Taieri
  
  We don’t need Parliament. We have Jacinda, our Beloved Leader.
  Thank you, Jacinda. Thank you because we are joyful. Thank you because we are well. No matter how old we become, we shall never forget your exemplary kindness. Centuries will pass, and the generations still to come will regard us as the happiest of mortals, as the most fortunate of people, because we lived in the century of centuries, because we were privileged to have Jacinda our Inspired Leader, our Guide and our Saviour.
  
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  August 23, 2021 7:52pm
Monique Watson

What’s beyond comprehensible is a public servant they’ve bagged to monitor a public health situation suspending Parliament. This is the day New Zealand became a Banana Republic. It’s a not very transparent measure to keep an unruly populace under control.
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August 23, 2021 3:53pm
- cmm
  
  Green Banana Republic – not even the bananas are worth eating.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:47pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  In fairness to Bloomfield, he hasn’t actually suspended Parliament. He has made a recommendation to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Prime Minister has made a unilateral decision to suspend Parliament.,
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:34pm
  - wilderbeast
    
    He’s compromised and even if you don’t agree with that the role he’s assumed makes these recommending powers untenable for him.
    
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    August 23, 2021 7:31pm
cmm

Yes crims are scum!

Repeat crims are the scum of scum.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-thieves-target-nurses-cars-as-auckland-hospital-staff-work-12-hour-shifts-to-help-the-sick/7CZ7DG6QIWNGRSTIYMKXKULGRQ/
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August 23, 2021 4:10pm
- Liberal Cliche
  
  Been seeing a few shifty cars roaming the street outside at 2-3 in morning lately.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:36pm
Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

Democracy under attack – Adern suspends Parliament. Maybe suspended until next election ? She can only hope……sic semper tyrannis
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August 23, 2021 4:10pm
- Tricati
  
  To suggest the Labour stacked select committees will function to hold the government to account is just insulting to thinking NZer’s.
  They know that even Mallard couldn’t shield them from the latest shit-show, particularly the appalling vaccination rate.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:41pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Once again Seymour is calling her out on the suspension. Collins is just Labour Lite.
    
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    August 23, 2021 5:55pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  Read somewhere that the rules allowing the PM to suspend Parliament from meeting do not extend beyond 30 days.
  
  It will be most interesting to see what happens next.
  
  Australia has thousands of its citizens demonstrating against the loss of their freedoms. Kiwis seem to be more compliant than Australians but I have to wonder how long that will last.
  
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  August 23, 2021 6:47pm
Humble Capitalist

How about that – Commie Ardern spat out the unchanged level news by 4.12pm, must be a record
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August 23, 2021 4:13pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Fucking amazing speed – short waffle …
  All I heard was ‘we never stopped people going home’
  Some people where in Auckland, live outside and the bridge to the east Coro was blocked? FOR FUCK”S SAKE, THIS WOMAN CAN NOT STOP TELLING LIES!!!!!!
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:28pm
kevn

Goodbye ardern… covid queen.
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August 23, 2021 4:13pm
Fletch

So Auckland to stay at level 4 until the 31st. Rest of the country until the 27th…
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August 23, 2021 4:20pm
- Wired-one
  
  And then some.
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:06pm
I remember when

So we are now in extended Level For or, if you are a golfer, Level “Fore.”
Is it what for or perhaps B fore.
Hand me the Vitamin ‘D’ pills.
I feel like an astronaut – suspended in time rather than suspended in space though.
Have you noticed how Jacinda’s dissertations are a lot like lockdowns – they seem to go on forever.
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August 23, 2021 4:21pm
Wired-one

South Island still in lockdown, zero cases down there as has been the case for over a year, waste water testing has also come back negative for Covid, yet level 4 continues. Nothing she has said justifies this response. Wake the hell up NZ! The world is opening up, vaccinating their people and living with it. Whilst we are aiming for the folly of zero cases ever. What a fucking joke. 18 months after the initial outbreak and our only answer is to all stay scared inside. Come on kiwis!
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August 23, 2021 4:28pm
- cmm
  
  Time to chop the cable holding SI and NI together and let the madness float off into the sunset.
  
  I do see that the dopey “expert” Baker was suggesting that we might need to do different lock downs for different parts of the country (“like Australia” – forgetting of course that AUstralia is a federation of states – each with different law making bodies). He wants to split NZ into 4 zones. I suppose 2 in NI and 2 in SI.
  
  But the Jaffas will no doubt get restless if they’re still in Level 4 and South Island is off to the ski fields or travelling overseas.
  
  More fun would be if the SI opened a bubble with Australia and Aussies could fly in for a bit of skiing, while Jaffas can’t leave town.
  
  I can’t see even the New Lynne luvvies falling for that.
  
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  August 23, 2021 4:46pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Spare a thought for those in the North cmm – can’t go anywhere apart from north of Te Hana!
    
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    August 23, 2021 4:51pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Can we let Wellington and the chunk of land between the Bombay Hillds (south) and Johnson’s (north) float away. The rest of us do not need the stupidity of wellington or urban Auckland.
      
      4 0
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      August 23, 2021 5:58pm
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        Probably not hull to be fair. It is really only the isthmus between the Brynderwyns and Bombays. Remove that and Wellys will probably return to normalcy seeing most are domestic immigrants anyway.
        
        2 0
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        August 23, 2021 6:59pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Speaking of dividing the country up into four dictatorships, isn’t that what the 3 Waters dictate was/is all about? He Puapua implementation under cover of Covid-19. As they say in the storybooks, “never let a chance go by”.
    WAKE UP NZ.
    
    6 1
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    August 23, 2021 5:07pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  We will remember. Perhaps it’s time to secede?
  
  6 1
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  August 23, 2021 4:58pm
  - Nickc2
    
    To where? If it’s Aust you are dreaming of, best think again. They won’t want us back with the Socialist Baggage and dictators we currently have.
    
    5 1
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    August 23, 2021 5:12pm
Liberal Cliche

So the government can give 3 million of my money to extremists, yet if i give my money to extremists i get charged with financing extremists?

Are you only an extremist if you don’t win?

Terrible message sending here.
23 0
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August 23, 2021 4:30pm
70andstilllearning

O dear – 70+ family went into hysterics as PM advises coughing into your elbow ( through your mandatory mask). Perhaps Hendy can give her some advice on the physics of aerosol distribution when flexible covering devices/materials are blocked. Might be more useful than his models!
14 1
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August 23, 2021 4:32pm
Ian Hawthorn

I am willing to go along for a bit longer because not everyone who wants a vaccine has had a chance to get it yet. However my patience is rapidly running out.
14 0
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August 23, 2021 4:35pm
- Cinematic
  
  There’s some logic to your logic. I agree.
  
  6 0
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  August 23, 2021 5:19pm
ABS4EVA

COVID is OUT OF FN Control in OZ
VIC is BAD
NSW is a NIGHTMARE

Honestly find an alternate way to PROTEST PEOPLE
2 7
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August 23, 2021 4:37pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Organise your protest here ABS. OZ is not that important atm. We are waiting for your call …
  
  5 1
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  August 23, 2021 4:45pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Well those over the hill can drop a
level on Friday, but us Jaffas have no free weekend. Fuck of you Labour commies.
Remember this at the polling booth
14 2
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August 23, 2021 4:42pm
- doggone7
  
  Obviously some won’t remember it at the polling booth. Their apoplexy at seeing Ardern and her having anything to do with covid will see to them and they won’t make it to 2023.
  
  Hopefully they stick around long enough to be entertained by the protest marches against vaccinations for polio, whooping cough, measles,
  mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
  
  2 5
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  August 23, 2021 4:58pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s not yet a done deal Steve. If numbers continue to increase, and if there is spread beyond Auckland or Wellington, I expect L4 to be extended further.
  
  6 0
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  August 23, 2021 5:37pm
Prince

566 comments today so far.
Almost as though people are frustrated they are not getting a say through the usual media comms channels.
21 1
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August 23, 2021 4:48pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Now 609. I can’t remember numbers like this since the last time we debated the fella with the dodgy jerseys!
  
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  August 23, 2021 5:38pm
Clownworld

In summary , update on news
1) Folded splotchy nz map with dots on it to justify keeping S Island shut ( perhaps hoping a case to appear in next few days to keep at level 4
2) Church to blame for holding an event
3) Red herring planted questions like the Crown Plaza Atrium to find a scapegoat or reason
5) Locking parliament down to justify stopping opposition holding govt to account. ( select committees dont count)
6) Elimination strategy is so good no challenge to it till next year
7) Get vaccinated if you want to. Ooops only Get Vaccinated.

In other words nothing to see here. No solutions ,no admission they can’t keep a failed strategy going.
9 1
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August 23, 2021 4:58pm
- Cinematic
  
  Everything is going to plan. Their plan. Not a good medium/long term plan. But it’s their plan and they’re gonna stick to it to the very very bitter end.
  
  6 1
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  August 23, 2021 5:21pm
Critical Thinker

Tonight at seven, a major new study finds that people who have received the annual full dose of 12 COVID vaccines instantly absorb twelve litres of viral load and explode if they come within six metres of an unvaccinated Untermensch.

We’ll be bringing you exhaustive analysis from the approved experts as to why these vaccines, COVID passports, quadruple masking, and our new normal level 10 lockdown are still our best defence against the terrifying Omega+++ variants, the ongoing climate apocalypse, and the surging white supremacy worldwide. So stay tuned my fellow proles ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciwMDLn2Sks
8 2
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August 23, 2021 5:14pm
- Liberal Cliche
  
  Ah, i see you’re a man of culture.
  
  5 0
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  August 23, 2021 5:37pm
DeepBlue

I spot an opportunity. JA said she listens to her experts and they are all in agreement.

The opposition needs to just restart their own Epidemic Response Committee on Zoom and bring in their own experts to have an alternative say.
9 1
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August 23, 2021 5:15pm

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