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August 26, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 26 August 2021

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krazykiwi

An Unconformable Certainty

Fact: Unless there is a brilliant new vaccine discovery, one that guarantees >99.9% protection indefinitely, your body and mine will almost certainly be called on to deal with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the next 12 months.

Your response to this fact will be somewhere on the spectrum between Oh, ok and Absolutely Terrified. No matter. It is what it is. But if your response is Bullshit! then feel free to stop reading now. Sorry for wasting your time getting this far.

As you are reading David’s blog you are probably a little more informed than your friends and family. They almost certainly snack on The Herald for lunch, sip on the Podium of Truth, and then tuck into One News for dinner. There’s a good chance many of your friends will tend towards the Absolutely Terrified end of the spectrum, as designed by the political and health elites. Those friends are model citizens of the new normal.

The problem with being Absolutely Terrified is that is suspends one’s ability to rationally sift and process information, and to then make informed decisions. Those terrified minds are a sponge for fear-porn, and over the last 18 months our MSM has willingly obliged with an unfiltered, 24×7 stream.

So what follows is some random interweb chap’s (aka krazykiwi’s) suggestions on what you could consider by way of preparation for the epidemiological certainty that awaits each of us. First a disclaimer: This is not medical advice, and as always you should consult your GP. But for transparency I am pursuing each of these things now.

1. Do your own research on vaccination. I have learned a lots, and still have some important unanswered questions. For me too many of these unanswered questions have a significant bearing on my personal risk/benefit assessment, so I am waiting on getting vaccinated. Novavax is currently my preferred vaccine, but there are others on the horizon. Getting to this point has required a huge amount of reading and skilling up in fields about which I’m not classically trained. Steep learning curve. My advice to anyone not able or not prepared to do similar research is to consult your doctor and take their advice I respect of the vaccine.

2. If you do get the Pfizer jab, advice that is not part of the official narrative (but should be based on what I’ve learned) is to try and self-isolate for a few days afterwards. Not always possible, but there is emerging evidence that the Pfizer treatment results a temporarily suppressed immune system, meaning you’re more susceptible to Covid-19 over those days.

3. Research treatment protocols, so you can apply some or all of them. Examples are here, and here. I recommend reading the disclaimers attached to any published treatment protocol.

4. Ignore, or actively avoid the media’s fixation with infection numbers. This information might be titivating, but I believe it is psychologically harmful. A better approach is to assume that there are hundreds of bodies in your neighborhood currently, and unbeknownst to the owner, quietly dealing with the illness. It could even be you… and if it is, you will be developing strong mucosal immunity against future Covid-19 infections.

5. We know that adipose tissue (body fat) and SARS-CoV-2 are not great companions. So, if you are carrying a few too many kilograms, have a crack at losing some of them. There are gazillions of ways to do this, so do your own research. Anything that improves your cardiovascular performance – even if those pesky kilograms stubbornly stick around – will help your body be stronger and healthier.

6. Don’t be anxious. Anxiety reduces your body’s ability to fight off any illness. Focus on the evidence, and proactively avoid hype that is designed to create fear. That messaging is mostly untrue, and unhelpful. The truth is that deaths from Covid-19 are astonishingly rare. Focusing on this truth may require you to unplug the TV.

7. Boost your immune system. Again, do your own research. I’m taking 200-400IU Vitamin D3 (the ‘sunshine’ vitamin), Zinc, Vitamin C and Kyolic Garlic each day. Eat fresh foods. Green fruit and veg includes loads of Omega-3. Yum, yum.

My belief is that despite the honourable intentions of some individuals, the state has a primary interest in pursuing a globally choreographed narrative, and that this will lead to sub-optimal outcomes for me personally.

So, I choose to front-foot this challenge, and meet it on my own terms.
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August 26, 2021 8:00am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Nice post kk. I agree except I would say 24 months rather than 12, as our masters will cling on to their elimination stradagee for quite some time yet and then throw us into a permanent level 2
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Socialists never relinquish power without a fight – History repeats
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:39pm
- Taieri
  
  My belief is that despite the honourable intentions of some individuals, the state has a primary interest in pursuing a globally choreographed narrative,
  —————–
  
  “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:20am
  - westernScientest
    
    Would give this more upticks if I could
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:37am
  - all true
    
    We have to get rid of this clownery as soon as possible before they completely ruin the entire country and their habitants.
    May be we have to do same thing as the farmers did, just every day until these clowns throw in the towel.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:44am
    - Paulus
      
      Its well underway to complete ruin and cannot be stopped for another two years and the sheep will do it all over again.
      It appears many people love being on holiday, and for the foreseeable future, for as long as they get paid by somebody – anybody, so who cares.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:13am
      - sooty
        
        Do you think there will be a masive change in plans just before the next election?
        
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        August 26, 2021 10:54am
    - paulscott
      
      all true [ 9.44] yes true. In 2017 their people were talking about an asset tax to relieve the boomers of their unnecessary wealth, possibly at inheritance time. This is still on the cards I would think, and it would be a final redistribution solution in a third term. This woman is a socialist and the goal of socialism as Lenin stated is … Communism.
      
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      August 26, 2021 1:46pm
- PhilBest
  
  https://chriswaldburger.substack.com/p/bombshell-uk-data-destroys-entire
  
  From the 1st of February to the 2nd of August, the UK recorded 742 Delta deaths (yes, the dreaded Delta has not taken that much life).
  
  Out of the 742 deaths, 402 were fully vaccinated. 79 had received one shot. Only 253 were unvaccinated.
  
  The report is here.
  
  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1009243/Technical_Briefing_20.pdf
  
  Furthermore: (bottom of page 18)
  
  402 deaths OUT OF 47,008 cases in vaccinated; 253 deaths OUT OF 151,054 cases in unvaccinated.
  
  Draw your own conclusions.
  
  And 742 deaths, in any case, must put Delta somewhere down around 40th place for cause of mortality in the UK
  
  Krazykiwi: superb comment. Everything you said is good, especially looking after yourself. I’d add: understand that fresh air is your first line of defence against a virus that is infecting via buildup in indoors air. But losing the fear is top of the list. Cut through to the actual numbers and see that where we are now, with “Delta”, is a virus winding down towards the end of a pandemic.
  
  I would also sadly opine on mere philosophical grounds, that everything that has been done in a state of hysteria over all this, will have made the net outcome worse. Immune Deficit, mental health, stunted development of children in every way including immune system and cognitive system and psyche, and hell to pay one day in the form of the consequences of QE to the Moon.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:28am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    Re: mental health, suicides among Victorian teens has increased by 184% in the last 6 months (and it was probably higher than pre-Covid times 6 months ago).
    
    https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/victorian-teenage-suicide-threats-jump-184pc-amid-pandemic-20210607-p57ypu
    
    Also, this article provides good commentary on the totalitarian police state that Australia has now become. I note that signs around Melbourne read “Staying Apart Keeps us Together.” What an Orwellian nightmare.
    
    https://www.revolver.news/2021/08/australian-professor-reveals-dark-truth-about-tyrannical-covid-lockdowns/
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:59am
  - krazykiwi
    
    I’ve been investigating this, and I’m not sure its the smoking gun that many of us suspect is out there. The Table 5 data is skewed by age bracket. For example, under 50 there were 23 deaths in the vaccinated, and 48 in the unvaccinated. To do a proper analysis would require including vaccination status by age bracket.
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:23pm
    - PhilBest
      
      True, but it is still not what the media and official narrative is. The truth is somewhere in the middle between the “numbers” and the media/official narrative. The really important thing is that the numbers are low overall anyway, there is certainly no justification for asserting that “the unvaccinated” are driving a situation that is so overwhelming that lockdowns can’t be lifted.
      
      There is still also a lot of work needing to be done on the issue of infection progress in the vaccinated. Apparently their viral shedding from the upper respiratory tract when they do get infected is several TIMES greater than the unvaccinated.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:27pm
- R
  
  It comes down to thinking for oneself, or having the ability to do so.
  
  But many people seem to be terrified. They shouldn’t be. Only 26 people have died with or from the virus. Meanwhile since January 2020, about 48,000 people have died in New Zealand if you are worrying about Covid, you’re worrying about the wrong thing.
  
  Further context: there have been more Lotto millionaires than deaths from Covid-19 since January 2020. If anyone is scared of dying from Covid-19, they should buy a Lotto ticket!
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:32am
  - PhilBest
    
    Sue Gray and NZ Drs SOS claim to have the names of post-vax deceased, in increasing numbers – 80+
    
    Of course these people could be people who would have died anyway, but that is also the case with a very high proportion of “Covid deaths” in many countries – like 80 to 90%
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:30am
    - R
      
      Philbest
      
      I agree but in Norway, an expert panel was set up earlier this year following 100 sudden deaths in residential care. The experts found that 10 of the deaths were “probably” caused by the Pfizer vaccine and another 26 were possibly caused by it. The experts questioned why elderly people with perhaps only months to live should get the vaccine as it might do more harm than good.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:25am
      - Sede Vacante
        
        It’s fair to say that adverse reactions are fairly common if they are now developing treatments for some types of reactions.
        
        “A drug candidate for treating adverse reactions caused by pathogenic antibodies inducible by COVID-19 virus and vaccines”
        
        https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.13.452194v2
        
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        August 26, 2021 12:03pm
      - PhilBest
        
        My logical mind has been raising the question all along; if a virus kills people who have a weak or non-existent antibodies response, why would a vaccine that relies on an antibodies response prevoke one?
        
        I suggest the same people are dying, who would have died of Covid. The same tiny minority we are prepared to destroy the world to prolong their life a few months, we are dispatching anyway.
        
        This is not just an “own goal”, this is burning down the entire stadium hoping to avoid losing a match; and still losing the match with an own-goal.
        
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        August 26, 2021 12:58pm
      - Paulus
        
        My cousin recently died in Arizona and it was classified as from the virus.
        He was in a secure home for some years with Parkinsons and was 89.
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:12pm
      - paulscott
        
        As soon as I see the word “expert” PhilB [10.25 ] I turn away. We know about ” the science ” and the experts .
        You mention the experts in your short post three times. Three experts is three to many.
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:54pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Paul Scott: that was “R” replying to me; that was not me. Take a more careful look at the comment.
        
        The comment from “R” still makes a valid point; perhaps you could suggest an improvement to the comment so “R” can keep you happy in the future.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:31pm
  - cmm
    
    People do not like thinking – or acting – for themselves because then they must take responsibility for those thoughts and actions.
    
    Most would far rather go with the flow, then if something goes bad it is not their fault. Enough squealing and the taxpayer will take care of you.
    
    I see that too in risk-adverse managers. Go with the flow because it won’t come back to bite you.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:31am
    - sooty
      
      The same happens in bigger businesses with holding meetings, so no ones arse is in a sling!
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:57am
  - dcrane
    
    Shush. We don’t want Jacinda to find out about all of those other people dying. We’ll be in lockdown Level 6 forever.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:49am
  - Ruahine
    
    Big Up to R.
    
    You have more chance of winning Lotto than dying from Covid-19.
    You are also more likely to get hit by lightning than winning Lotto.
    Is that why the Gov’t has banned Lotto sales from the Supermarkets etc.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:36am
- tf78
  
  KK – My 7 month pregnant daughter is law is keen to get the vaccine. I don’t want her to for all your reasons above. What would you advise if you were me? Thanks for your post.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:48am
  - Tall Man
    
    My daughter inlaw is also at that stage and did not take the vaccine. Her husband, a trained clinician, advised her not to do so.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:29am
    - Spoff
      
      Introduce her to the inventor of the mRNA process:
      https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/censored-dark-horse-podcast-bret-weinstein-robert-malone-inventor-mrna-vaccine-technology/
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:27am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Tough one. It is her decision. Whatever advice you give, you need to present both sides. The govn say this because abc, the counter argument by these scientists is xyz.
    
    You could do research together, across the spectrum, so she comes to her own conclusion. That research in particular about pregnancy.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:30am
  - cmm
    
    KK would be ill advised to give anyone specific advice for any specific case.
    
    C’mon: stand up and do your own research.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:32am
  - Exclamation Mark
    
    Mate, that’s entirely up to your daughter in law. She should be following the advice of her doctors. It is clearly a worry for you so, if possible, speak to your own GP about it.
    
    What ever you do, DO NOT take the advice of random people on the internet over your own doctors advice.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:39am
    - cmm
      
      Remember that almost all doctors will just give the “go with the flow” advice because it is low risk for them and won’t come back and bite them if something should go wrong.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:15am
      - krazykiwi
        
        I had a conversation with a friend last night. He is a surgeon – and a very good one (leads various Australasian medical bodies) – and after a few minutes it became apparent I knew significantly more about these vaccines that he did. He acknowledged ask much.
        
        Your go with the flow is probably on the money for most medical professionals. After all, at the end of a hard day at the end of a scalpel who wants to come home and research immunity, vaccine technology etc
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:29pm
      - cmm
        
        kk: Very few medics have the time (or inclination) to do a lot of research or learn extra skills etc.
        
        For the most part GPs are really technicians that follow a manual. Everything they do is prescribed on the DHB websites and they follow along. Of course it helps if they are good at diagnosis too.
        
        So long as they do what it says they won’t get into trouble. If they deviate from “best practice” and a patient dies then they’re in a world of pain.
        
        A lot of medicines – even bloody harsh ones – are prescribed “just in case”. They might help save your life in a very small % of circumstances but they can cause a lot of long term damage. Many GPs are not very good at riding the risk/reward curve and just do what they are told by the online manual.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:37pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    CMM is correct. Sorry, ft78.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:48am
  - dcrane
    
    Definitely ask your most trusted doctor.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:49am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Just to note, the research on the safety of the Pfizer vaccine for women in pregnancy is ongoing and no result has been released. So this is specifically being tested; as is the safety and efficacy of the vaccine for those under 12.
    
    The recent final approval of the vaccine excluded those categories.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:55am
    - Don Beckett
      
      If she’s in good health, there is no need for her to have the vaccine. Pregnancy gives women a lot of natural biological benefits to keep them healthy during pregnancy – let her give birth, then have the jab if she wishes .
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:49am
      - Batman
        
        Pregnant women all get shots like boostrix in order to boost their infants immune system before birth.
        
        Advising people not to get vaccinated is tantamount to endangering the life of that new baby.
        
        It is now advised that women benefit from getting the covid shots and the risk of serious harm by covid far outweighs the risk of vaccination which has not caused any difference between normal pregnancy complication rates and vaccinated.
        https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/11/1026555595/pregnant-cdc-urges-covid-vaccination-icus-fill-unvaccinated-delta
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:46pm
- Simon
  
  Good post KK. There is a fat woman heavily promoted, as heavy as she is, in MSM & social media as a corona “expert”. Its quite disgusting that this obese woman, who gaslights for Cindy, wants children vaxxed and in favor of lockups because she cant stop eating donuts.
  
  Bad news out of Israel, with bad news to follow from the UK, on the vax front.
  
  NZ will still be a closed country 2 or 3 years later. The information is all bad on the vax front. NZ doesnt have the hospital capacity to open up, regardless of the rate of vaccination.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:56am
  - Ruahine
    
    That women of course does not have any children.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:38am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      That would require a donor
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:23am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Pfizer is already conducting phased trials in children aged 6 months to 11 years.
    
    https://www.pfizer.com/science/clinical-trials/children
    
    I would expect Medsafe to approve the vaccine for emergency use in children aged 5 – 11 by the end of this year and children aged 6 months to 4 years sometime next year. By 2023, Covid vaccines will just be part of the routine scheduled vaccinations for all children in New Zealand.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:25am
    - Sede Vacante
      
      So Pfizer is marking their own homework now?
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:07pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      There are 67m people in the UK
      
      In the entire year-to-date, there have been 8 Covid deaths for people under 15 years old.
      
      This represents 0.00001194% of the population.
      
      Where is the moral justification for vaccinating these children?
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:21pm
      - guardianista
        
        D’oh, to protect the aging boomers in their nice homes, holding onto their high level jobs past their use by date! Kids, just naturally selfish!
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:21pm
      - Batman
        
        MMR and meningitis kills even fewer but we still get vaccinated for those.
        
        The moral case is that it saves lives, unlike the pro-death approach of doing nothing.
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:48pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I would add though, apart from kids being virus spreaders, about 2 kids in a thousand who get covid have severe illness with Covid, with many of these having comorbidities.
        
        So you would vaccinate kids if severe adverse effects from the vaccine were less than 2 in 1,000. The clinical trials will most likely demonstrate that the risk to kids from the vaccine are 1,000 fold less than risks from covid. But we shall see.
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:52pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        We have more than 50 years of the safety and efficacy data on the MMR vaccine that is administered twice in the first 18 years of life.
        
        You are advocating for a novel therapy (which by definition has no long term safety data), and this will need to be administered at least annually.
        
        Nope, there is zero moral justification.
        
        But evidence doesn’t seem important to you. I recall you claiming that there had been zero deaths from adverse reactions to vaccines, a claim devoid of objective fact.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:11pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      When children get covid they are highly contagious.
      
      Anyway I am not acting as an advocate – I don’t know enough about the evidence – I’m just predicting that this time next year all children over 6 months will be offered the vaccine in New Zealand.
      
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      August 26, 2021 1:00pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        I’m interested in any data you have on this. My reading is that viral load is identical for the vaccinated and for the unvaccinated although I’ve seen no age-based analysis.
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:32pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Benedict, not sure that is correct. CDC seem to have concluded that children with Covid seem to spread the virus relatively poorly.
        
        For healthy children, the actual risk is extremely low and the risk from the vaccine is quite possibly of the same order of magnitude for those children. I don’t think it is at all acceptable to be advocating a medical procedure for children that may do more harm than it is supposed to prevent.
        
        The vaccine risks aren’t perhaps as high as first thought, but they are not zero, and the Covid risk is also very low.
        
        And just for Batman, MMR isn’t a disease, that refers to a combined vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), and just so you are aware, measles is a damn sight more dangerous to children than Covid – witness the mini epidemic in Samoa not too long ago that killed quite a few children. Rubella too has specific problems for pregnant women, if you catch it when pregnant it can lead to a number of serious problems for the unborn child including deafness and deformities. The MMR vaccine is also very safe though not perfectly so, there are negative reactions to it and even on rare occasions deaths. But the risk/benefit ratio is high. The Covid risk/benefit for otherwise healthy children is quite possibly negative, so it is quite a different situation.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:22pm
- Ehlana
  
  Yes, it is looking increasing like: we have a new virus. Like the old ones it spreads around people and mutates over time. Unlike them it seems to be easier to catch and have more severe symptoms. Despite which, the death rate is not high and mostly concentrated among the very old and those with other serious medical conditions.
  So what can you do? I’m glad you asked. Stay home if you’re feeling sick. Sneeze into your elbow. Wash your hands.
  Keep yourself as well as you can: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Stay hydrated. Get a good nights sleep. Move more. Let the fresh air in, and go out in it. Take time to smell the roses. Be grateful for what you have. Treat other people the way you would like them to treat you.
  Be well and live well.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:01am
  - Tall Man
    
    Same symptoms as the common cold yet you think it is a new virus.
    
    Wasn’t there a report claiming covid mark “fuckwit” was found 30,000 years ago.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:31am
  - DeepBlue
    
    We should all try and be more happy, we’re all becoming a bit grumpy at the moment.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:32am
    - Tall Man
      
      Placed another order with Whisky & More last night as I have a feeling the idiot will continue this madness on Friday so I’m pretty happy 😉
      
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      August 26, 2021 9:59am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Drink beer/whiskey. Alcohol will not cure your problems, but neither will milk
    
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    August 26, 2021 12:40pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Unless there is a brilliant new vaccine discovery, one that guarantees >99.9% protection indefinitely, your body and mine will almost certainly be called on to deal with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the next 12 months.”
  
  Yes agree but a new vaccine would only need to be about 95 percent effective to effectively wipe out SARS-COVID 2. Not like ‘small pox wipe out” but it would not be a problem.
  
  But as things stand I totally expect to get COVID in the next 5 years. I’m OK with it .
  
  I also take 3,000 units of Vitamin D daily – good evidence around that lowering serious illness in COVID patients. (You don’t need to take it in summer.)
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:47am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I totally expect to get COVID in the next 5 years. I’m OK with it .
    
    as I wrote last year..
    I’d rather I had caught it in 2020 and developed some natural immunity when I was younger and fitter. In 5 years time, I’ll be well into my 70s and be more arthritic and perhaps less fit.
    
    However, I have no great desire to linger into a dribbly old age…
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:24am
    - Tall Man
      
      “I have no great desire to linger into a dribbly old age”
      
      Have a look at some of your lefty mates … they’re already there …..
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:27am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Baaaa!
        
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        August 26, 2021 12:40pm
    - surfing
      
      The vaccine provides stronger immunity than natural infection. I’d certainly prefer the vaccine myself.
      
      So, what age is dribbly old age? 65 is retirement, so maybe then?
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:25pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        The vaccine provides stronger immunity than natural infection
        
        Those claims are coming from CDC, WHO, NHI proponents of the “Vaccinate! Vaccinate! Vaccinate!” narrative. I don’t regard their advice as objective on this matter.
        
        Published medical research is increasingly showing that natural immunity is both stronger, and more lasting than immunity created by the current generation of vaccines. I’m investigating this at the moment.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:17pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        The statement that natural immunity is not as good as vaccinated immunity is almost certainly not just false but utterly false.
        
        A worldwide reporting system that records reinfection of previous Covid sufferers list (as of a couple of weeks ago) 155 people. By contrast, many thousands of fully vaccinated people have been diagnosed with Covid.
        
        I think you will find that the opposite is correct, natural immunity is very strong and long lasting. Vaccine immunity is weaker and fades with time.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:27pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Hell no. When I’m still working. I have had zero sick days in the last 10 years. If I’m going to get seriously ill, I’d like it to be on my employer’s dime.
        
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        August 26, 2021 6:44pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “But as things stand I totally expect to get COVID in the next 5 years. I’m OK with it .”
    
    Based on some theories it may be that you have already had it.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:26am
  - rangitoto
    
    Also keep up your zinc and Ivermectin.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:59am
- Surely Knott
  
  Medsafe has put out the latest safety report today (to Aug. 7.) 4 more people have died following vaccination. Total 26 deaths.
  
  Medsafe say “By chance, some people will experience new illnesses or die from a pre-existing condition shortly after vaccination, especially if they are elderly. Therefore, part of our review process includes comparing natural death rates to observed death rates following vaccination, to determine if there are any specific trends or patterns that might indicate a vaccine safety ”
  concern” “To date, the observed number of deaths reported after vaccination is actually less than the expected number of deaths.”
  
  But on an older NZ report to the Health Select Committee re Adverse Events on all vaccines. Their table shows that the number of expected deaths after a single dose of vaccine for 10 million people, after a time period of 7 days would be .98 dead, or 5.75 dead after 6 weeks. We have 26 dead after administering 2 Million doses. (time period unknown) . 4 have insufficient information?! And 5 are still under investigation!
  
  There is no detail on what they did die of, age ,preexisting conditions so we can see trends.
  
  RE the Serious adverse events (eg, Bells Palsy, heart attack, stroke, anaphalaxyis. etc) = 266.
  
  Compare that to the health committee report on our 5 traditional vaccines including flu , over a 4 year period they administered 1.9 million vaccines (so similar to the pfizer vax) , and they had 174 serious reports.
  
  Flu vax they had 1 report of death.
  
  I’d like more answers and details about the serious events.
  
  https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-22.asp
  
  https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/topic_sheets/adverse-event-summary.pdf
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:10am
- backster
  
  K.K…….200cases, 12 in hospital, Nil in ICU Nil Deaths. No information on the age of those twelve in hospital, or race, or obesity. No elective surgery being done. Dr consultations exclusively by telephone (same charge). The whole of the South Island closed down. The response seems unbalanced to me.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:29am
  - Sede Vacante
    
    It entirely depends what the goal of the seemingly unbalanced response is. If a stated explanation or justification makes no sense on its face, we must look for one that does.
    
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    August 26, 2021 12:12pm
- Alwyn Poole
  
  Our leaders also ought to be asked why NZ is not at the front of the queue for the therapeutic in this article (US, Japan and UK have it): https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/uk_approves_regenerons_covid-19_antibody_cocktail_1375587
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:34am
  - TWEEDSE
    
    Hard to ask our leader at the moment as she has gone AWOL for the last couple of days.
    
    Great leader, where art tho?
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:58am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Too expensive for our health service I expect. I doubt that it will be offered except for special cases (such as important politicians and their mates).
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:29pm
- Spoff
  
  With currently proven treatments, the IFR (infected fatality rate) drops to about .015% (about one tenth of the seasonal ‘flu).
  I don’t know if anyone has done the numbers on the costs of current policy but it must be in the billions.
  Surely putting that money into improving the health system instead of “elimination” is a no-brainer?
  
  Although I think they are a little out of date with their IFR, Covid Plan B have what seems to me to be a sensible option:
  https://www.covidplanb.co.nz/our-posts/protocol-for-re-opening-new-zealand-society/
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:24am
- surfing
  
  Where is a link that states the pfizer vaccine suppresses the immune system?
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:57am
Happychappy

Why don’t Senior Journalists grow some balls and stop fawning over the Government, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield our Health Director instead of pushing there views and bullshit about the National Party with headlines that are under the pay wall that many cannot read.
“Thomas Coughlan F….. ballistic knives out in National Caucus feud spills into the public”.
We have Pandemic out there and the Government, Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield are covering up a major fuckup by their team and trying to hide it from the public, not once but twice and many people that were in the groups of this cockup cannot find out if the jab they have recieved is the right one. So why have we got a Government that blames and accuses others of misinformation when they themselves have hidden this from the Country and those who have received the jabs, which is totally dishonest.
Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister and the Health Director Ashley Bloomfield are getting a free pass from Senior Editors and Journalists for their incompetence without being challenged on their poor implementation and record with lies being used to cover it up.
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August 26, 2021 8:00am
- Weinerpoop
  
  I just read that article, the worst part of it is that it seems that we still have leaks in the National Caucus. When will National learn that a divided party has no absolutely no fucking chance of getting re-elected into government?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:45am
  - lifesgood
    
    And you believe everything you read in the Herald?
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:01am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Any of us could have written that article without fresh ‘leaks’. Of course the three liberals were upset, but that comes with belonging to a liberal/conservative party. You get your wins sometimes, you get to suck it up sometimes. You’d be a very flacky MP if you tried to roll your leader everytime you threw your toys out of the cot.
    
    The article is beautifully timed to undermine the three liberals when they are actually getting stuck into the government. Tellingly they aren’t going to the media themselves. I can’t believe National MPs would self destruct just when they are getting some traction, more like MSM are trying to stir again. This would just be Muller v2.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:12am
    - Nickc2
      
      Muller v2 and Hooton inc?
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:43pm
  - Ruawai
    
    All parties have divides but some get a lot more negative media attention and slanted reporting against them than others.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:20am
  - Tall Man
    
    It “seems”.
    
    More likely is that the writer spent many hours “grilling” his keyboard and m,aking shit up,.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:25am
    - Paulus
      
      No – Tova told him !
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:16am
- Tricati
  
  Happy, clearly the wheels are falling off the governments trolley as you say, we have the predictable inane article of Nationals supposed internal ructions and leadership issues in the Herald today.
  Its too much to ask if these supposed journalists could focus on the constant government cock-ups, but guess the Monday message from the 9 Level has gone out to deflect, deflect, deflect.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:48am
  - Ruawai
    
    The media want voters to think there is no real alternative to this current government.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:21am
    - Lance
      
      That is 100% correct.
      As evidenced by Nash’s idiotic outburst on the Hosking show the other day.
      Their strategy is to make National and Act look worse by innuendo and smears.
      The MSM sock puppets rush to the fore as the enablers
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:27am
      - Ruawai
        
        Yes heard Nash say “Would you rather have Jacinda or Judith” then he added “By the way that was a rhetorical question”. Very witty, not!
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:12pm
- RockyJ
  
  To quote Mark Twain “reports of the demise of Judith Collins have been greatly exaggerated”.
  When she leads National to victory in the next election these reports of her imminent ousting as leader will be starting to wear a bit thin.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:49am
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s still important to point out how useless the National Party is, so when people hear from them regarding the pandemic they can remember how useless they are.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:53am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    And your incompetent party, thanks to the paid media, is a paragon of success.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:20am
  - igm
    
    Hey pal, National get absolutely no media exposure as Labour/Greens use taxpayers’ money to buy a narrative compliant press, under the guise of supporting impartial and professional news.
    National/ACT press releases mainly end up in the diss bin and the only decent exposure they receive are from a few decent blogs.
    If MSM releases any to the public they have the guts subbed out of them to give a read that satisfies the wokes they are pandering to.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:24am
  - Tall Man
    
    Whereas ardern daily displays how useless she is so I suppose doesn’t really need the media to do their job.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:26am
  - Happychappy
    
    Ha ha, this from you a hypocrite and Labour Party stooge that has showed your ignorance of political lies for many years and continues to support corruption from your own Party whilst criticizing others.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:26am
- Simon
  
  NZ will not open up for quite a few years. Because the hospitals dont have the capacity. Regardless of the ro vaxx rates.
  
  You read it here first.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:59am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    People are currently dying on waiting lists because the hospitals don’t have capacity due to the nurses all being out on Covid patrol.
    In fact more are dying early of other causes than are dying of Covid.
    I’d rather have my overdue issues fixed and take my chances with Covid.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:29am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Nonsense. Another 12 months of Cinders will see her out of her fireplace into the streets, homeless.
    She’s not governing but prancing, grimacing and sticking her nose in where she has no understanding.
    There is going to have to be a reckoning about the lack of performance of her duty of care.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:29am
    - igm
      
      Went off that new talkback guy (Mills) on Newstalkzb Wellington in a real hurry yesterday. He was hailing the greatness of Ardern being clever, responsible, and believe it or not, attractive . . . sure needs a trip to specsavers and a course in commonsense.
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:01pm
- gravedodger
  
  The massive problem here is the Card records the date time batch number, so the cockup was recorded in error along side the diluted dose or saline? where in the tracking that will the pts given the wrong shot be corrected from? The security camera footage perhaps?
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:20am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Saline is not a lawful vaccine so an assault has occurred.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:30am
    - Sede Vacante
      
      Doesn’t this “saline” story sound a bit like a red herring? I confess that all I know about it is that there are claims some people were given saline instead of mRNA. Doesn’t it make more sense, given what we know from other countries, that these are simply instances of the vaccine not actually vaccinating people?
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:24pm
Vory v zakone

Dr Jay Bhattacharya,
Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, is one of the scientists behind the Great Barrington Declaration. They have advocated against ‘lockdown’ measures since the start of the pandemic.

Now he says the war on Covid should be over – We do not need lockdowns…

https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1480182/covid-war-over-no-more-lockdowns-coronavirus-comment
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August 26, 2021 8:00am
- krazykiwi
  
  Dr Bhattacharya is one of the more intelligent, credentialed, and reasoned leaders in the debate over Covid-19 policy. Definitely worth listening to.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:34am
Scott

The world is laughing at New Zealand about our stance on Covid. About our desire to eliminate Covid. Here are some millennials who have a following of hundreds of thousands of people laughing at New Zealand’s decision to lock down for one case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQEcwLDAmk4&t=200s

Even our closest neighbour, Australia, witnessed the Prime Minister Scott Morrison speak truth when he said that they can’t eliminate Covid. They have to learn to live with it.

So far as I can tell, throughout the whole world, we are the only country whose official policy position at the highest levels of government, is to eliminate Covid. We have a Queen Canute who believes she can roll back the tide of Covid with her commands to the peasants to get to their houses and stay there.

We are the only country in the whole world who believes we can eliminate this virus. The UK is learning to live with it. The United States is learning to live with it. The Australian Prime Minister has admitted that they need to learn to live with it. Only New Zealand says that we can eliminate Covid. Someone is wrong. Either we are wrong or the rest of the world is wrong.
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August 26, 2021 8:03am
- artemisia
  
  Everyone’s out of step except our Johnny.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:33am
  - gravedodger
    
    In this case with the woke army parading past it is our wee Jaz not Geordie??
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:27am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  While our master of puppets has been gloating about the response to COVID over the last 18 months, there have been quite a few commentators saying we are going to get cut off from the rest of the world if we dont vaccinate quickly and get on with it
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:40am
  - kowtow
    
    Funny how our Media Pardy not terribly long ago , in relation to a full stadium with their usual gloating Little Aotearoan attitude ” is there any other place you’d rather be in the whole wide world”
    
    Well it didn’t take too long for that house of cards to crash.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:04am
  - fisho
    
    You don’t think that’s the plan?
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:05am
- Tricati
  
  The government, and it’s expert enablers, are so far down the ‘elimination’ rabbit hole they just can’t admit they are wrong and change tact.
  It maybe when the pissed off public start to get stuck into the ‘at risk’ back benchers, and them losing a place a the trough, we will see some questioning.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:53am
  - rangitoto
    
    change tack.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:43am
- Muttonbird
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  The rest of the world is wrong.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:54am
  - Don Beckett
    
    A typical Muttonturd comment – shit for brains.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:22am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Perhaps this iteration of Muttonbird is very young, timid and without much real life experience?
      
      28 1
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      August 26, 2021 9:48am
      - igm
        
        Reckon he would be an unemployable envious loser . . . typical Labour supporter.
        
        11 1
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        August 26, 2021 10:54am
    - Muttonbird
      
      Not my comment, it’s Scott’s comment.
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:11am
      - Tall Man
        
        Except like most ardernists you leave out the most important part, it’s almost as if you are all primed to lie.
        
        “Either”…… Makes a big difference doesn’t it.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:42pm
  - Tall Man
    
    And there it is people, classic leftwing stupidity out in front for you all to see.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:22am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Right. What stage is denial again?
    
    19 1
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    August 26, 2021 9:25am
  - pseudonymous
    
    Are you playing devils advocate or are you really incredibly dumb?
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:35am
    - Tall Man
      
      Rhetorical I assume …..
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:24am
- Maxx
  
  What is striking about sticking with an “elimination” strategy is if the the rest of the world isn’t, then the only way it works is to stay isolated from the world in perpetuity.
  
  I’m sure the PR agencies have polled that if they change the public statement to one of “closed until vaccinated” will both show that a)the elimination strategy was wrong and b) the government fucked up the vaccine roll out.
  
  So I’m sure in Jacinda’s world it is better to keep touting the elimination strategy and then magically one day just change her tune to one of “mission accomplished, we saved you until we could open up again”. And I’m sure she who doesn’t lie will start bleating that this was always the strategy, and you can’t stop a global virus. The media and her fans will hail her as the savior who comes in our darkest hour.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:55am
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    There are 5000 government communications staff sitting at home in their pyjamas working on this speech at the moment for when it has to be delivered by the master of muppets in November 2023
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:14am
  - Tall Man
    
    Every poll ardern has done has only asked one fool, much like muttonbird, so she’s still convinced that the whole world is wrong and she will get re-elected ……….
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:24am
    - Paulus
      
      She will get reelected, the fawning woman will not let her go – they voted her in and will never see they might have been wrong.
      Human nature today version.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:19am
      - Tall Man
        
        Downticked for being pessimistic ……
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:43pm
  - Philview
    
    In the South Island the virus is eliminated but we are locked down. I am starting to wonder if we will be kept locked down until significant vaccinations are done.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:10am
  - ecco
    
    Another 10 point drop in the polls will focus the mind and Ardern will change her tune then. The polls are the only thing driving the woman.
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:22pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      And they’re only going one way
      
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      August 26, 2021 6:48pm
- kowtow
  
  If I could play Devil’s Advocate ;
  
  the ‘world ‘ were shivering in their boots , running for the hills and full of fear and panic not that long ago ( army convoys of dead in Italy , sirens and mass graves in NY , no oxygen in Delhi etc etc )
  
  Now they’ve had their vaxxes they’re being disingenious .
  
  As to Scomo , he’s a hypocrite , he’s turned Oz into a huge prison while pointing the finger at state premieres , recall he travelled to Cornwall when no other citizen could leave the country .
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:02am
  - Tall Man
    
    Citizens could and can leave, they just need permission.
    
    The operation within each state has little to do with the Federal Government.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:23am
  - Nickc2
    
    Sounds like you’ve transgressed to the Dark Side kowtow?
    
    1 2
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    August 26, 2021 11:31am
    - kowtow
      
      Not at all .
      
      Just pointing out the Media can have their cake and eat it .
      
      They’re the ones who through the fear factory drove us all into lockdowns , by scaring the shit out of Pollies and the populace , and yet now they’re having a larf at NZ for doing exactly what they wanted …….
      
      Hypocrites.
      
      Same with Scomo . Hides behind the lefty dictators but himself was very draconian.
      
      People here should not equate criticism of one lot of nincompoops as being pro Ardernism .
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:47pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Point taken TKS. However, I disagree with you about the Aust PM. IMO he will be proven to be right. BTW, who are the lefty dictators he hides behind? He sure as hell doesn’t hide behind McGowan (WA), Pałaszczuk (Qld) Marshall (SA) and especially Andrews (Vic) or Gunner (NT). To him, they are the enemy.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:24pm
      - kowtow
        
        nc2
        
        He ‘s happy to pose himself as a freedom lover by pointing out Dandemic and the Q’land prems as being too lockdowny ,while as I said before he’s happy to not allow Oz’s not to travel .
        
        He’s a hypocrite.
        
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        August 26, 2021 4:14pm
      - Nickc2
        
        kowtow@4:14PM
        
        Currently, Australian citizens and permanent residents are banned from leaving Australia, and have to apply for an exemption to do so, which can be granted for employment, study, or compassionate reasons, among others.
        
        I for one don’t think that’s draconian. The Aust Govt doesn’t want to be put in an adverse position whereby they have to go get their citizens back as they are currently having to do from Afghanistan and should a severe outbreak of Covid-19 occur in the foreign country of travel.
        
        Advice to NZ Citizens from a Govt Website:
        
        Do not travel
        New Zealanders are advised not to travel overseas at this time.
        The New Zealand Government has raised its travel advice to “do not travel” — the highest level — for all destinations except the Cook Islands.
        For the Cook Islands, the New Zealand Government advises you to “exercise increased caution”.
        Travel advice at SafeTravel
        https://safetravel.govt.nz/covid-19-coronavirus
        Statement from page 1 of this site:
        Do not travel overseas at this time.
        Who made that decision? The NZ Govt. And who is the person i/c NZ Govt? Got it in one, Cindy.
        Does that make Cindy “draconian” like the Aust PM?
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:28pm
- Nickc2
  
  Going along with your ‘in the world’ theme, it would be a logical assumption that our PM and her Govt alone have put us in this disastrous position.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:05am
- tavita
  
  I think viet nam is following the same path as Cindy. It is probably the same psychology – they had it totally under control before delta came along. Lockdown worked last time so let’s lock down again. But it isn’t working this time. Saigon has been locked down for two months but numbers keep on growing. And when I say locked down, it’s not like here. Households have one pass that allows one member to grocery shop – rigidly enforced by security. Saigon is a bit different from here, crowded apartment buildings etc. We might still be lucky.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:06am
  - oldfella
    
    tavita, if crowded cities are breeding grounds for pandemics – and we’ll get more of them down the line – perhaps our plans to cram more Kiwis into densely populated cities is flawed.
    With more and more people working from home, wouldn’t it make more sense to financially encourage people to move to smaller centres, or build city hubs where people can have room to move. Maybe even en0ugh land to plant a garden and where kids can play in their own backyard?
    If fresh air and uncrowded living conditions are an antidote to illness it’s an idea worth considering.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:54am
    - PhilBest
      
      Plus 100. “Vibrant urbanism” has been getting rammed down our throats by urban planners for 20 years now. This is one obvious consequence
      
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      August 26, 2021 1:02pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Maybe not encouraging low value immigration would also assist
      
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      August 26, 2021 6:52pm
- Stu2
  
  Hipkins has said a couple of times we can’t keep locking down forever, he is preparing the ground for opening up when our vaccination levels are better
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:55am
- Sede Vacante
  
  NSW has been in lockdown for weeks, yet I believe they are still registering hundreds of daily cases. What does that tell us?
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:26pm
  - Nickc2
    
    It tells us Cindy thinks she knows best.
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:53pm
artemisia

National median rent up by 10% year on year and supply shrinking, according to Trademe. While Trademe says that is the largest yoy increase since they started collecting numbers in 2015, the real surprise is that the increase is not higher due to government policies that increase cost, compliance, risk and hassle. Though the oversupply of Auckland rental apartments will have dragged down the median.

Apparently the supply issue is being sorted due to record number of consents issued.

Can’t live in a consent.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/126184719/rents-leap-by-largest-amount-on-record-trade-me
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August 26, 2021 8:04am
- WaveyDavey
  
  There’s a pretty obvious reason for that
  
  The govt suspended the removal of tenants and rent increases during 2020 – that expired about this time last year
  
  They also changed the tenancy rules to only allow annual rent increases
  
  We’re seeing the delayed wave of those actions.
  
  Some of which is landlords getting ahead of the curve and effectively giving rent increases to take rent to where they expect it to be in 12 months time. ie 2 years worth of increases in 1 year. Especially given the expected introduction of some kind of rent control
  
  Some of it is also “making up” for the large part of 2020 when LLs weren’t allowed to increase rent, even when the tenants had already been notified of forthcoming rent increases
  
  Some is also a reflection of the increased risk of tenanting a property. The inability to remove tenants, increased tenants’ right to cause damage to a property, the doing away with fixed-term tenancies
  
  Some will also be a reaction to the removal of the ability to offset interest costs. Y’know the thing that every other business is allowed to do
  
  But hey when the govt asks for advice from those in the know and instead relies on activists…
  
  TL:DR – Make being a provider of accommodation riskier and less profitable and you’ll reap the (not always good) rewards.
  
  Also screw tenants; this is what they voted for…
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:46am
  - artemisia
    
    Also the increased bright line period will be delaying rentals being on the market for sale. This may well mean a surge from 2023 as the 5 year bright line begins to expire and tax free capital gains look highly attractive.
    
    Good for first home buyers. Provided they suddenly have the deposit and serviceability. Will they? Probably no different from now, so will it be a wash?
    
    The number of rentals potentially subject to the 5 year bright line test is north of 120,000. For each $100,000 of capital gain owners will generously pay $39,000 to the government. Why would they?
    
    Numbers are indicative, based on number of bank borrowers for rentals (Reserve Bank) and probably marginal tax rate but aiming to show this is potentially a massive tsunami. Not a few here and there.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:42am
    - Paulus
      
      Bright Line test only comes in when the property is sold – not before.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:22am
      - artemisia
        
        Well obviously. But given potential numbers there is a red flag that needs to be taken into account in the housing modelling by any number of experts these days. Seen that? Me neither.
        
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        August 26, 2021 11:13am
- Maxx
  
  And think back to when all the laws have changed to make it harder for property investors and hoe labour all crowed about how it won’t increase rents. And a month later when rents didn’t increase they howled how they were correct.
  
  That’s right you morons who have never been in business. Prices don’t change straight away and all in sync. It happens when it is right for that business to do so.
  
  No doubt Robbo and Nash will come out saying this has nothing to do with legislation and is natural. Along with they’re disappointed that landlords are doing this to people when they’re struggling etc etc. Maybe announce another review?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:59am
  - artemisia
    
    Yep, asset owners have choices.
    
    Meantime there are about 8,000 rental vacancies advertised on Trademe, couple of thousand fewer that 3 months ago, but still more than enough for all those in emergency and transitional housing.
    
    Might be a slight problem there ….
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:57am
  - paulscott
    
    Its almost impossible to believe how bad the tenancies Act is till you read it and experience tenancy tribunals Maxx . One only evil here. The Tenant has the right by default to sublet or onlet your property . To prevent this you will end up in a tribunal which sees you as an enemy . Think about your property was just sublet for a fee to people who could not achieve a tenancy straight up, and for obvious reasons. and now you are in great danger
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:12pm
    - artemisia
      
      That is correct, a new law allowing a tenancy to be assigned to someone else. The owner can decline the assignment for cause but the existing tenant can pay the 20 bucks and have evidence of that cause examined by the Tenancy Tribunal. And quite possibly overturned. The kicker is that the cause has to be reasonable, though what that means is not defined and is anyone’s guess.
      
      In any case there is significant paperwork, time and effort required by the the owner. Plus a tenant they don’t want.
      
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      August 26, 2021 4:03pm
- coge
  
  10% is not surprising. That’s the annual increase needed to meet Labour’s additional tax impost, being levied on the nations accommodation providers. Ten percent each year for four years. Which will see most rents increase approximately fifty percent over that time. Most of that 50% will be handed over to the Govt.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:40pm
dave_c_

I’m somewhat confused.

With the thousands of Covid tests being performed, and many more now, due to the latest increase in Covid spread :

– Who is executing the tests?
– What credentials do they have, ensuring correct processing, assessment and reporting?
– How long does it take to complete a test
– How many resources are there in each of the ‘Testing camp’, and ‘Vaccine delivery camp’ ?

– Apparently resource was taken off ‘delivering vaccine’ to the masses, in order to assist the
‘testing effort’, yet the statistics being thrust into our faces during the speeches from the
throne, would indicate, that simultaneously we are a) delivering the vaccine at an unprecedented rate and that b) the ramping up of testing sites.

How can this be the case ?

I think that we are being treated like imbeciles, and that the statistics are being plucked out of thin air.
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August 26, 2021 8:10am
- PhilBest
  
  Always remember:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHmVj3LTqrU
  
  Kary Mullis: “With PCR you can find almost ANYTHING in ANYBODY”
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:33am
- Inandout
  
  Dave, at least Dr Mengels is not one of the ‘experts’ involved. Some may say his spirit lives on in the virus labs worldwide.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:36am
- RoboRob
  
  We are being treated like imbeciles but in this case I suspect this is the truth.
  
  1. Back ‘office’ staff in labs process the test whereas we finally have pharmacies and doctors issuing the vaccine. So different staff.
  
  2. Despite what you might read here, there are plenty of people waiting for vaccines and supply has been the issue. The government has finally unleashed the supply.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:01am
- cmm
  
  Taking resources off delivering vaccines is not a problem because that is not where the constraint is.
  
  The constraint is in the availability of the vaccines themselves. Last time I checked, we have less than 300k doses available. If the 11,000 trained vaccinators got off their arses and jabbed arms they’d run out of vaccine in half an hour.
  
  Therefore they can divert 90% of the vaccinating staff into testing and it really would not change anything.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:38am
  - dave_c_
    
    Tick !
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:58am
kowtow

The UK Daily Telegraph reports ,from figures released by the ONS “very high non covid mortality in the UK.”

Deaths are 14 % above the 5 year average.

Deaths due to heart disease , diabetes and cirrhosis are well above normal levels.

It is thought conditions that were left untreated last year have begun to claim lives.

Prof Carl Heneghan director of the Centre for Evidence based Medicine at Oxford Uni said ” I think we’re now seeing the effects of delayed and disrupted preventive care coming through”

The same thing will be happening here , wouldn’t it be nice if our Media Pardy also reported all the facts around this scamdemic. Not just Covid porn.
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August 26, 2021 8:13am
- PhilBest
  
  Plus “Immune Deficit” – the elephant in the room
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:33am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Possibly, if widespread we would expect to see more evidence of it than is known so far.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:19am
    - paulscott
      
      What evidence would we see of Immune deficiency. I doubt it’s able to be seen’
      
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      August 26, 2021 1:02pm
    - PhilBest
      
      How about unprecedented levels of common illnesses suddenly occurring once lockdowns are lifted? Even with the RSV outbreak in NZ, the term “immune deficit” was actually mentioned in the MSM. It will be much worse in places where lockdowns were more prolonged. The original commenter says “The Daily Telegraph” reports mortality in the UK running 15% higher than normal from NON Covid causes. I am just saying that Immune Deficit is a completely likely contributor to this as well as all the missed medical treatment for other diseases.
      
      At some stage the “pissed-off because of Covid policy” are going to outnumber the “hysterical because of Covid”. Imagine losing a parent because the lump on their spine wasn’t looked at for months, or losing a child from immune-deficit-related RSV.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:36pm
- krazykiwi
  
  This is an emerging trend in countries that have had strict and/or long lockdowns.
  
  The net harm caused is starting to be laid bare.
  
  People who tried to kick the can down the road must be called to account.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:39am
  - Cinematic
    
    There will be a reckoning. As more and more are told, sorry it’s too late to save you now.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:00am
  - kowtow
    
    Talking of kicking cans down the road , and we well know this ; when we eventually open the borders this thing is coming in with a vengeance and vaxxed or unvaxxed an awful lot of very elderly , sick , fat etc folk are going to be knocked over .
    
    So long term what the hell has all the debt and destruction of the economy been about , along with what will be the other consequences , social , health , mental etc
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:16am
    - oldfella
      
      kowtow, one thing we all know. Cindy will not want to be the one to open the borders and risk a backlash when covid reality hits.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:59am
    - krazykiwi
      
      I predict Ardern will open NZ up, and immediately introduce an inheritance tax in preparation for a windfall.
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:52pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You would hope our Director General of Health is keeping his eye on these matters.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:45am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    St Ashley’s eyes only ever seem to be on the prize
    
    Too busy politicking to do his actual job, part of which is keeping the MoH in line.
    
    Something he has singularly failed to do while its been engaged in empire building
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:49am
    - PhilBest
      
      I have been quietly hopeful that the MoH people who advised against lockdown in March 2020 and were over-ruled, have in fact been suitably pissed and ready to rebel ever since.
      
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      August 26, 2021 9:34am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Just record them as COVID deaths and move on. And you – dont ask any more questions alright. Next, Jess?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:47am
  - Nickc2
    
    Oh yes, the ever-present Jess complete with prepared questions from the spin doctors in the PM’s Office. You will know these questions because Cindy has pre-prepared answers also from her spin doctors and you will see her referring to her script when answering them.
    Don’t forget, [Deleted – Mod]
    
    [Mod – keep the family stuff out of it]
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:53am
- cmm
  
  Yup, last year my outpatient checks for a newly discovered heart condition were cancelled and rescheduled 4 months later. Luckily for me the check came back clean.
  
  When I went for the check, I got talking to a guy with cancer who had similarly had his checks bumped. Unfortunately for him the delays meant that they missed some significant deterioration in his condition. I didn’t probe but it seems he’d lost a few years of quality of life.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:43am
- Happy1
  
  How can we be sure that the increase in deaths are not a result of Covid infections last year? It’s not hard to imagine that Boris lost a few years life expectancy.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:58pm
Vory v zakone

Further to yesterday’s useful information from Critical Thinker, comes this from NZDSOS:

EYES OPEN PARENTS! ?
They’re coming for your kids!! ?

The latest (declaration) from the Ministry of Health is the vaccine consent process for kids as young as 12. Yes, you read that right – TWELVE! ?

Your tween may be interested in climbing trees, playing computer games, hanging with their friends, making dancing TikTok videos, riding bikes, baking, dressing up & playing with make up… But did you realise they are now considered mature enough to make complex medical decisions too?

We want to know HOW a health care provider makes an assessment that a child is competent enough to give their own consent? ?

Some kids this age think ice-cream is a healthy option for breakfast or playing Minecraft for 10 hours straight is a perfectly fine choice!

WHY are parents being locked out of such important decisions? Decisions that have potential life-long consequences? ⁉️

Is this so the in-school programmes can snare our kids while we aren’t there to protect them?

? One outlet for your frustrations, while you are stuck at home: we are encouraged to complain here: https://www.hrc.co.nz/enquiries-and-complaints/complaint-form/

Ideas:
✍️it is unethical to jab 12 year olds without their parents consent,
✍️it is unethical to experiment with children and adults on the scale that is now happening,
✍️it is unethical to lock a whole country down on the basis of one unscientific test case,
✍️it is unethical to discriminate me on the basis of my view on vaccination,
✍️it is unethical to discriminate and stop me from working based on my view on vaccination
✍️it is unethical to stop me from attending the funeral of my (jabbed?) family member
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August 26, 2021 8:14am
- Monique Watson
  
  Glad we’ve got room for the big thinkers on this blog. Covid has takin’ millions of lives up here. The vaccine is proven effective against it. Any parent would want to protect their child against a disease if a vaccine is available. I myself have vaccinated my teens and 12 yr old and pride myself on being a good parent in doing so while ignoring anti vaccination fucking nonsense perpetrated and circulated widely. I know it’s an inevitable byproduct of the human condition. At least me and mine will be protected.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:34am
- Nickc2
  
  As I posted the other day, the role of what used to be known as parents has been taken over by the state.
  A couple of people (one a real male and the other a real female) sow the seed, give birth to the growth and hand it over to the state for the rest of its nurturing and through life support (including a house and EV) and so life repeatedly goes on. Simple eh?
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:06pm
Critical Thinker

Powerful Video: Australia Is Leading The Way Into Global Tyranny.

This is an interesting and relatively short video about the vaccine mandate from an Australian’s perspective.

The incredibly difficult thing to understand for millions of us around the world (at least those paying attention) is why such a rush to “vaccinate” the entire population over what amounts to a case of a strong flu that has an over 99% recovery rate?

Let’s not allow fear to control our actions.

Your health is YOUR choice.

https://rumble.com/vlle3a-powerful-australia-is-leading-the-way-into-global-tyranny.-resist-covid1984.html
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August 26, 2021 8:14am
- Critical Thinker
  
  VIDEO: Tucker Carlson on Australia’s Insanity
  
  The world is watching Australia in disbelief as their leaders strip their citizens of their rights, freedom and dignity.
  
  They are being mocked and ridiculed daily on the international stage because of the pure insanity of the decisions their State & Federal leaders are making.
  
  They have been living in this dystopian world for the past 19 months, is it possible that Australians can no longer see this insanity for what it is?
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USGEPuSuyYE
  
  The great and hugely underappreciated irony of the last 19 months is that the so-called “free world” did more than backward, oppressive, unfree regimes to deprive ordinary citizens of their freedoms and civil liberties…. ?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:21am
- kowtow
  
  ‘Your health is YOUR choice.’
  
  Interesting isn’t it , for the past at least 50 years we’ve been treated to the so called progressive mantra of the feminists ” My body my choice” when it comes to slaughtering millions of babies .
  
  Then a bat gets to go to dinner in China and suddenly there’s so called Public health mandates everywhere. And your choice has been destroyed in a fascist rush to command all to get the vax , or else.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:07am
Benedict Yu

Some news. The Pfizer vaccine has now been given full approval by the FDA. It was previously approved for “emergency” use. Now Pfizer can brand it and advertise it. And they have a brand name “Cominarty”. Yes that is what the vaccine will be marketed as.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine

But what is interesting is the FDA press release says that the vaccine is “91 percent effective” in preventing infection. This is the number from March for the alpha variant. The actual number after 8 months is 64 percent and declining.

Commentators have picked this up including an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal.

This matters. Jacinda could read the 91 percent number and think her elimination plan is good to go.
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August 26, 2021 8:16am
- krazykiwi
  
  Regarding elimination, every advisor will be telling her that that is unachievable. She know. She simply lacks the backbone to admit she has it wrong, and that in abandoning an elimination strategy we will need to accept some Covid-19 deaths.
  
  She is the definition of weak a weak leader. Unaware of her shortcomings, and having surrounded herself with sycophants she cares only for one prize: promotion to the UN. Any damage to New Zealand is a piffling inconvenience.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:31am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Unfortunately her hand-picked advisers (the pink-haired fraggle, Audi-driver glasses man and Neil Fergusson’s chubby Mini-Me) are all telling her what she wants to hear
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:57am
  - Muttonbird
    
    She had her picture on the side of the Burj Khalifa.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:01am
    - Tall Man
      
      And her phone number in the phone of a convicted drug dealer.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:18am
  - RoboRob
    
    Would love to believe that ‘ every advisor will be telling her that that is unachievable’ but suspect not. If we look at the ‘experts’ involved, like Souixie wells(?) and the moeller guy who thought 80,000 people would die, its quite possible they are still pushing for elmination. Fools.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:05am
    - westernScientest
      
      Quite possible? Both of them have been in the media in the last few days doing exactly that.
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:05am
      - Sede Vacante
        
        They are all paid to give legitimacy to pre-determined political decisions. “Look, it’s not me telling you this, it’s the experts”
        
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        August 26, 2021 12:34pm
  - cmm
    
    The thing to remember is that Cindy grew up in a Mormon household so has Mormon logic embedded in her brain.
    
    To paraphrase an aspect of Mormon doctrine: Only those with the Magic Sight can see the truth.
    
    She is such an up-herself narcissist that no doubt believes she has the Magic Sight when it comes to CV19 (well I guess with everything). Hence she is “not fussed” when others can’t see the Truth she sees.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:48am
    - Paulus
      
      Understand she said she did not reject Mormonism until she was about 25 years old – less than half her life so far.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:25am
      - cmm
        
        My limited understanding is that her reason for rejecting Mormonism was that it says homosexuality is a sin and she had homosexual friends.
        
        I don’t think there is any evidence that she has a problem with Mormon Logic.
        
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        August 26, 2021 10:44am
  - Ed Snack
    
    I think you may be a little unfair. At least initially the strategy may have appeared possible, and if the vaccines lived up to their hype, even feasible.
    
    The point being it is no doubt time for a serious rethink of whether elimination is viable and if not, how we move to a maximum reduction of harm procedure instead.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:25am
    - cmm
      
      Possible, but very unlikely. It depended on keeping the borders shut until a perfect vaccine comes along. Two problems with that:
      * Nobody has ever developed an effective vaccine against coronaviruses (hint: no vaccine for the common cold).
      * These vaccines are a moving target (just like common cold and flu). They are not a static target like measles or whatever.
      
      The whole elimination strategy is driven by trying to avoid uncomfortable facts. It’s like not having road deaths targets because we don’t want anybody to die. Instead of making a sensible target and a plan to reduce to, say, 300 road deaths a year we end up with the bullshit feelz-based zero road deaths or nothing “targets”/’goals”/whatever and bury our heads in the sand.
      
      Elimination was never a realistic option. It requires the belief in unicorns etc.
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:42am
      - Nickc2
        
        Hypothesis: Think of Covid-19 as the EIGHT BALL and plan ahead. All balls are on the table, you have the que ball and cue at your disposal, what do you see and how would you play things?
        
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        August 26, 2021 12:27pm
- Inandout
  
  BY, ‘Comirnaty’ is a most unusual name for a vaccine when compared with existing ones.
  https://www.drugs.com/drug-class/viral-vaccines.html
  Spike Milligan’s ghost was obviously consulted.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:32am
- PhilBest
  
  Benedict, you are a thinker. I say they don’t know how really effective the vaccines are because the official experts have stayed in the dark, culpably so, about what makes an infection worse or deadly in the first place. The “three C’s” have been known for a long time. It is not just a question of higher risk of catching the infection, it is also a risk of how large a dose your immune system will find itself fighting.
  
  Superspreader events like all-night raves are creating significant breakthrough infections; 15 minute trips to the supermarket are not. I have spent more than a year in a state of increasing disbelief and fury at how blind so-called top official experts are. What did they actually study in “Epidemiology” at Medical training school for several years?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:41am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Epidemiologists are just the latest version of the witch doctor, they just wear a lab coat as opposed to a bone through the nose.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:15am
- Taieri
  
  The Pfizer vaccine has now been given full approval by the FDA
  —————-
  
  Has it been done in accordance with the principles of Te Tiriti? If not, it’s not valid.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:45am
  - RoboRob
    
    We will need to wait 10 yrs for the ‘experts’ at medsafe to get around to approving it.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:06am
  - Ehlana
    
    It’s possible the FDA don’t know what’s in the Treaty of Waitangi.
    Then again, neither did our PM.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:08am
  - oldfella
    
    Taieri, I hope it was also done using the highest standards of Maori Science.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:06am
- The Housekeeper
  
  Is the FDA approval for the existing Pfizer jab or for the Comirnaty, not yet available jab? from Robert Malone
  
  https://rumble.com/vlmd4g-pfizer-seeking-full-indemnification.html
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:01am
  - PhilBest
    
    I’ve been reading this same criticism from multiple sources, including Dr Peter McCullough. Apparently the people saying the FDA hs granted approval, do not read the actual documents or understand them. Including the poor old President of the USA
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:45pm
- hmmokrightitis
  
  Reminded me of my law units at uni a very long time ago. “Commorientes”
  
  Maybe there is some irony at Pfizer after all.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:03pm
Greg Ettridge

My Grandfather had a saying,
“When everyone is walking west, might pay to go East.”
Your comments are always measured and well thought through.
I was sickened to hear Jacinda come out and say the reproduction of Delta is over six, not one Journo has questioned this outrages claim.
The CHO didn’t know what the Reproduction rate is when asked by Mike Hosking.
The 7 day rolling rate in NZ is 2.25.
It takes 1,000 tests to get one positive.
This is just looking more like theatre than health outcomes.
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August 26, 2021 8:16am
- Dairy Flat
  
  Just call her statement out for what it is ; yet another bare faced lie.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:43am
- Yvette
  
  Greg Ettridge – “I was sickened to hear Jacinda come out and say the reproduction of Delta is over six, not one Journo has questioned this outrages claim.”
  
  From “Explaining the variable that has a Covid-19 modeller most worried” [1]
  
  On Sunday, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins appeared on TVNZ’s Q&A talking about how viable the New Zealand elimination strategy is.
  … The next comments were the most telling. “Less than 24 hours between someone getting it and passing it on to others, that’s like nothing we’ve dealt with in this pandemic so far, and that does change everything.
  
  – The definition of the R number is … the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to
  
  – “the serial interval is the gap between the onset of Covid-19 symptoms in Person A and Person B, who is infected by Person A.”
  
  – If a virus has an R number of 2 and the serial interval is seven days, after a week one infectious person would have infected two people. So after seven days, there are three cases.
  Now, [if] the R number is still 2, but the serial interval is only three and a half days. The first infectious person will infect two people and those two people will each infect another two people. After seven days, there are seven cases.
  
  [Rodney Jones is an economist and modeller who has been an informal adviser to the Government throughout the pandemic] says the shorter serial interval for Delta is why the R value could appear as high as 6 in some Covid-19 models. We may think one person infected six people but what actually may be happening is that one person is infecting two people and those two are infecting another two. Yes, there are still seven cases by the end of the week, but there are more chains of transmission.
  
  “Use the wrong serial interval assumption [in your modelling] and you’ll generate a higher R value. It’ll look like one person has infected six.”
  
  The crux of it is this: Jones believes the serial interval for Delta is, on average, four days. The older variants had a serial interval of seven days, he says. As an aside, it’s worth noting there are a range of opinions on this point.
  
  But according to Jones, this means Delta can outrun contact tracers much more easily.
  
  Ardern may say the reproduction of Delta is over six, but the important reason is why.
  
  [1] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126156922/explaining-the-variable-that-has-a-covid19-modeller-most-worried
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:47am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Very crude stats.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:38am
Chuck Bird

The Taliban’s Conquest of Afghanistan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejgPPZ39ITE
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August 26, 2021 8:20am
Souvlaki

Random questions…how is it there is such a preponderance of Polynesians infected compared with others? Is the Crown Plaza a red herring?
Is there in fact a link between the LARGE gathering where Ardern delivered her apology for the dawn raids on August 1st, and the subsequent explosion of cases on 17/8/21 . This was obviously primarily a ‘Polynesian event’….did a MIQ security guard, unknown at the time to be infected, seed the event?
Public Health will know the answer to these questions…. but it maybe too ‘sensitive’ a subject to explore openly however ?
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August 26, 2021 8:24am
- kowtow
  
  If any of that were the case , they’d never tell us .For one spurious reason or other .
  
  Open and transparent is as fake as hard and early , be kind or any number of other catch phrases that she uses to pull the wool .
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:32am
- PhilBest
  
  People of color are more affected everywhere outside of the tropical climates where they originated, in winter, due to lack of vitamin D (sun and dark skin are the factors).
  
  Polynesians in NZ do in any case perform absymally in numerous health outcomes; they actually get to draw old age pensions for much shorter periods of years on average than everyone else.
  
  But that is a gobsmacking point about the “dawn raids” apology event. Yep, you bet that is highly classified information.
  
  Ivor Cummins in Britain argued back a bit that even the centres where mass PCR testing was done, were sources of superspreading – an eminent example of scoring “own goals” if there ever was one. Sure they use big halls and make everyone queue 6 feet apart – but spread is via buildup of aerosolized virus in the air indoors, especially in wintertime when there is no fresh air being let in.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:47am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Just a random, chance thing when
  an infected person attends a large gathering in enclosed rooms.
  
  Similar has happened elsewhere… Large outbreak in Korean Church:
  https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/19/south-korea-coronavirus-scapegoat-shincheonji/
  
  and remember one of last year’s first clusters was in a Wedding Party Group:
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120863226/coronavirus-bluff-wedding-cluster-now-the-largest-in-new-zealand
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:50am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    St Pat’s Day in Matamata’s Redoubt bar
    
    The cattle-breeders bash in Queenstown
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:58am
  - Cinematic
    
    Is it the sipping from the cup thing?
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:04am
  - PhilBest
    
    Maggy – please – this is the main way this thing has spread all along. In indoor spaces, in the air. The larger the numbers present, the bigger the explosion of cases, that’s all.
    
    It doesn’t have to be a one-off event; rest homes are 24/7 superspreading events.
    
    I highly recommend Zeynep Tufekci in “The Atlantic”, October 1, 2020:
    “This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic. It’s not R”
    
    The “R” number being around 1, or 2, or maybe 4 for delta, has deceived people into imagining spread is occurring because each Covid case is infecting 1 more person. Actually most Covid cases are infecting NO other person. What happens is, either no-one is infected, or if the indoors conditions align, along with the infectious person being “shedding” – which much of the time they don’t – the infectious person will infect “just how many other people ARE there”. Whether it is one, or whether it is 100.
    
    All those fancy computer generated infographics of little red dots or balls knocking into each other and passing infection on, were WRONG. Maurice De Hond, who was right earliest and to the greatest extent about all this, did an infographic that properly represented spread; one infectious person occaisonally creating an “eruption” around them.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPM84WsJA7I
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:49am
    - Stu2
      
      One difference though – Delta seems efficient at infecting everyone in a household. The earlier variants were more hit and miss
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:26am
      - PhilBest
        
        Yes, it does indeed seem to be around 4 times more effective at getting picked up. This makes indoors aerosol spread even more obvious as the means. But the flipside to this is that it is following the common evolutionary trend with viruses, that as it gets more transmissable, it gets less deadly.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:51pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Maggy – please – this is the main way this thing has spread all along. In indoor spaces, in the air. The larger the numbers present, the bigger the explosion of cases, that’s all.
      
      That’s basically what I meant…
      probably not as well expressed as you have put it.
      
      It’s a respiratory virus… so of course it is going to be spread through the air.
      and humid, recirculated air will be just the thing… in enclosed spaces.
      
      Out door, fresh air and UV will soon kill respiratory viruses… Haven’t we known this for yonks?
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:32am
      - PhilBest
        
        Thanks Maggy, sorry if my tone was unwarrentedly critical
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:47pm
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Plausible but the story sold by Simon Shallow for the peasants is more likely to be a question of did it come in on a bag of frozen wings or nuggets?
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:57am
- maggiemay
  
  Further random question. Why are there no cases in the Coromandel?
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:08am
  - Tall Man
    
    Maybe “dope” is a natural antiviral …….
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:16am
- Yvette
  
  Souvlaki – “Random questions … how is it there is such a preponderance of Polynesians infected compared with others?”
  
  • In L.A. County, Pacific Islanders suffer the highest infection rate of any racial or ethnic group, more than 2,500 per 100,000 residents. That’s six times higher than for white people, five times higher than for Black people and three times higher than for Latinos, according to county health demographic data that exclude Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments.
  
  Health experts say the reasons are similar to why Black people and Latinos are falling ill and dying at higher rates: reduced access to healthcare; higher levels of poverty; crowded housing; multigenerational households that make it more difficult to physically distance or quarantine; and higher rates of underlying health conditions that increase risk for severe illness from COVID-19, such as heart and lung disease, asthma and diabetes. Many Pacific Islanders also work in front-line jobs, such as food service, hospitality and healthcare, at which they are more likely to contract the virus and bring it home.
  
  But community leaders say there are other factors that are unique to the culture of Pacific Islanders, and they say that public health officials have failed to adequately address them.Among these factors are cultural traditions that center on large family gatherings, in-person church services, funerals and birthday celebrations that, in some cases, have continued despite orders to maintain social distance. Leaders in the Pacific Islander community say also that a cultural stigma associated with a positive diagnosis may be facilitating the spread of the virus. [1]
  
  • As of March 2021, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) in the United States have lost more than 800 lives to COVID-19—the highest per capita death rate in 18 of 20 US states reporting NHPI deaths. [2]
  
  Is there much difference between Pacific Island communities in Auckland compared to Los Angeles?
  Apart from exposure to a full wave of covid infection.
  
  [1] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-19/california-pacific-islander-native-hawaiian-communities-hit-hard-by-coronavirus
  [2] https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306370
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:34am
Tony Stuart

National, via Judith Collins, has launched a petition calling on the Government to reinstate the Epidemic Response Committee. Here’s the text of the petition:

The Prime Minister has suspended Parliament while New Zealand faces its worst outbreak of COVID since April 2020. There are serious questions for the Government to answer about how this happened, why we have the slowest vaccine roll-out in the western world, and how we get through this latest lockdown.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that Select Committees will provide Opposition opportunity to scrutinise her Government. That has turned out to be laughable.

Labour are blocking motions, dictating which questions can be asked, and are doing everything they can to reduce the amount of time ministers and officials have to face Opposition questions.

We need the Epidemic Response Committee back, chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, with the right to ask tough questions of Ministers and officials.

Sign your name to send a message to Jacinda Ardern and her Government that their undemocratic behaviour is totally unacceptable.

https://www.national.org.nz/bring-back-the-epidemic-response-committee?recruiter_id=953696

When she announced the suspension of Parliament on Monday the PM promised that the Opposition would get the opportunity to question Ministers at select committee sessions. Yesterday, at the Health select committee, Chris Bishop’s questioning on Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins was shut down by committee chair Dr Liz Craig. Bishop tweeted thus:

Christopher Bishop @cjsbishop

Here we go again. Hipkins up for only an hour before Health Committee while Parliament not sitting. Chair Liz Craig says I can’t ask about contact tracing numbers and tests; can’t ask about Highbrook saline debacle. Just ridiculous and a continuation of Labour’s obstruction

2:42 PM · Aug 25, 2021

https://twitter.com/cjsbishop/status/1430360012900028418

As usual, the PM’s promise was a hollow one. Labour controls the select committee process, and without doubt, select committee chairs have been given riding instructions as to what lines of questioning will be tolerated.

Scrutiny and accountability for the Government is currently missing in action. Please consider signing this petition.
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August 26, 2021 8:27am
- pdm
  
  I signed yesterday afternoon when I saw it.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:36am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And I wonder how many MSM are carrying this information today.
  
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  August 26, 2021 8:52am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    To quote Scribe’s immortal words:
    
    Not many, if any
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:55am
  - Tricati
    
    Sweet FA
    
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    August 26, 2021 8:58am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Liz must have had an online tutorial with Mallard on how to obstruct
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:00am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Dr Liz Craig has been an expert on obstruction and deflection for a very long time…
    
    Remember who was “asleep” when the Young Labour Grope fest was on?
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/labour-mp-liz-craig-believed-processes-in-place-for-summer-camp-party/FCDP4SOCZTK4BOSTKY6MYNXEJE/
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:34am
- Maxx
  
  Labours promises only go as far as it takes to give the media a line to play to appease the public. That’s what open and transparent means in a socialist world
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:03am
- Cinematic
  
  Signed.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:04am
- curry4me
  
  Tony Stuart: I’ll put the petition link on my FB page.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:10am
- Ruawai
  
  Current committee being controlled by Labour chair Marja Lubeck so Michael Wood doesn’t have to answer any hard questions.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:30am
Maggy Wassilieff

It was good to hear Fiona Tollich get to the heart of the matter about the saline vaccine cover-up:

“People have a right to know what is being put in their body and they have a right to honesty and to me this screams of a lack of honesty and integrity and a lack of ethics.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/450022/covid-19-ministry-of-health-confirms-another-possible-vaccine-mistake

RNZ did a follow-up interview of Ashley Bloomfield about this matter and I suspect he’s been infected with the word-soup virus.
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August 26, 2021 8:29am
- Tricati
  
  As this is the administration of a health service, they should make a complaint to the Health & Disability Commissioner.
  Of what I have seen from them, they are not politically driven and could embarrass the MoH & Government.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:01am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Bloomfield is your consummate, unflappable career bureaucrat. He is a master of maintaining an even temperament whilst answering difficult questions by saying: I have an excellent team working on that very issue as we speak; I don’t recall ever giving infection update figures to you in the morning; or, the classic, I was always always going to give that information to you, so no, I didn’t lie…
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:10am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Yes, I thought Fiona T was most articulate
  
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  August 26, 2021 7:02pm
DeepBlue

Over on The Daily Blog, Martyn is putting up a good fight against the woke and Covid coverage oppressing response to Sir Wiri et al interfering in the court case re Maori Foster child in a white placement.

Martyn reckons if this gets out further to mainstream talkback Labour are done for. Any talkback callers out there?
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August 26, 2021 8:30am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Yeah. Nah!
  
  Look at today’s headlines on the DB…
  
  By the way for those of you who think that the FOB Trotter is anything but an old-school Trot:
  
  …her right-wing opponents seem to be inspired by nothing more edifying than sexist antipathy towards a young, female prime minister…
  
  Yep, dare to criticise our glorious, invariably-right-about-everything , brain-the-size-of-a-planet leader and you’re nothing but a sexist pig
  
  As I’ve said before, despite Bradbury and Trotter’s protestations, these are the actual layers of the groundwork who have led us to where we now find ourselves
  
  It’s all well and good them having buyer’s remorse but quite frankly f*ck ’em until the recognise and apologise for it
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:08am
  - Tall Man
    
    Also from trotter
    
    “Had Ardern followed the Swedish prime minister’s example, her country would have sustained upwards of 7,000 deaths. By following its leader’s strict elimination strategy, however, New Zealand’s “Team of Five Million” kept their country’s Covid death toll to 26.”
    
    If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:56am
    - Muttonbird
      
      Sweden is wrong. The rest of the World is wrong.
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:17am
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Just waiting for Batty-boy to show up and give us his “every sperm is sacred” routine
      
      Which seems to get rolled out when anyone dares to suggest that we have to learn to live with Covid becoming endemic
      
      Bonus points if he also adds the “you want granny to die” argument
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:43am
      - Ian Boag
        
        @waveydavey
        
        I’ll come back to somewhere close to where I started. We wouldn’t be all that thrilled if 60% of critical care/ICU beds were taken up with covid sufferers, be they old or young ….
        
        FWIW if you look at Sweden they had a spell with 75% of ICU/critical care beds taken by covid sufferers. Admittedly it was was a while back. They have about 10 beds/100k.
        
        What to do ….. ? Jabs in arms seems a no-brainer. Ivermectin if it makes you feel better.
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:36pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        So your original argument doesn’t hold water and you’ve moved the goalposts. Fair enough
        
        But I’ll again say that the UK and Sweden’s health system didn’t collapse and the figures are similar to NZ’s
        
        You based an argument on “reasonable assumptions” when the r/l evidence to instantly disprove them was available, had you bothered to check
        
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        August 26, 2021 6:46pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      18 months – 7000 deaths would have been about 80 deaths a week. Pretty much all of them would have happened in an ICU bed where the victim dies from respiratory failure.
      
      For a 12-month period – 5000 deaths – that would be about 5000 ICU beds tied up for a week each. Call it 5000 bed-weeks. Given that about 50% of those who go into an ICU bed die, the total beds tied up by covid cases would be 10,000 bed-weeks. We have 250 ICU beds. That’s 250×50 bed-weeks available – call it 12,000. I think I have the decimal in the right place …..
      
      I’m quite happy to have someone demolish my numbers …..
      
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      August 26, 2021 11:48am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Dunno …
        
        I made assumptions that seemed reasonable to me at the time. You pointed out the hole in my assumptions. I acknowledged it.
        
        The NHS wasn’t overwhelmed and was in fact underutilised.
        
        If you say so. NHS was groaning a bit in Jan/Feb …. Seems to be some consensus that vaccination has helped ….
        
        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/24/one-third-englands-nhs-trusts-now-have-no-covid-patients-intensive/
        
        Only 6.6 per cent of critical care beds were occupied by Covid patients on April 20, the latest NHS England data shows – a tenfold fall from the worst days of the second wave in January, when more than 60 per cent of beds were occupied by people with the virus.
        
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        December 26, 2019 3:31pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Meanwhile, in the real world…
        
        NZ has about 5 icu beds per 100,000
        
        The UK similarly has about 5,600 icu beds (7.3 per 100,000) and has seen 130,000 deaths
        
        23 deaths per bed if you like as opposed to a notional 28 per bed in NZ
        
        Guess what. The NHS wasn’t overwhelmed and was in fact underutilised if the Tik-Toking nurses were anything to go by
        
        BTW, the majority of deaths didn’t take place in icu beds
        
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        August 26, 2021 1:00pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        No need to be clever. Like I said, I am quite happy to have the errors in my numbers pointed out. I did look up some ICU/covid numbers for Sweden for a few months back and they were quite sobering.
        
        Seems my mistake was assuming that most covid deaths happened in ICU beds. Since your post I looked up some NHS numbers and it seemed that covid patients took up a bit over 5% of the mechanically ventilated beds and a similar proportion of all beds. Assuming I read it right ….
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:16pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Consider your numbers demolished I think …..
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:49pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Every need to “be clever” when your figures are clearly disproved by real-world experience
        
        You made invalid assumptions in an attempt to prove your point and then asked anyone to disprove them
        
        No point getting snippy when they get disproved is there?
        
        Otherwise you might as well say that the utterly bogus claim made yesterday that Germany was suspending vaccinations should be allowed to stand
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:11pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        The NHS is always “overwhelmed” in the Winter months. Unsurprisingly it’s the peak time for respiratory illness
        
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5229733/Thousands-NHS-operations-cancelled-winter.html
        
        Happens every year, makes front page headlines every year 2020/21 was nothing new on that front
        
        BTW, you didn’t just “acknowledge it” you decided to be snarky and I responded in kind.
        
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        August 26, 2021 4:34pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @waveydavey
        
        Point taken about normal seasonal NHS stuff, but this Guardian article did say ….
        
        second wave in January, when more than 60 per cent of beds were occupied by people with the virus.
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:14pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        Most of which was because many NHS hospitals were not accepting non-Covid non-life threatening cases.
        
        They were reserved for Covid sufferers so of course they were 60% occupied by them
        
        The first-wave deaths in care home were precisely because of this. Elderly people were cleared out of hospitals by the NHS trusts (not the UK govt btw, despite what the Groan will tell you) and sent back to the care homes where they infected their fellow residents
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:25pm
    - paulscott
      
      Just reading Totter is sad Tall [9.56 ], and its contraindicated , Trotter is a twisted antiquated socialist whose breadth of thought is the thin red line, The rest is just word sewerage over good water don’t do it .
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:57pm
Critical Thinker

US Government ‘Flying Blind’ on Breakthrough Infections, as COVID Infections Among Fully Vaccinated Soar

The CDC tracked all breakthrough cases until the end of April, then abruptly stopped without making a formal announcement.

The CDC’s decision to stop tracking COVID in vaccinated people, unless they are hospitalized or die, means we have no full understanding on how the Delta variant spreads among the nearly 200 million partially or fully vaccinated Americans, or on how many are getting sick.

Individual states now set their own criteria for collecting data on breakthrough cases, resulting in a muddled grasp of COVID-19’s impact, leaving experts in the dark as to the true number of infections among the vaccinated, whether or not vaccinated people can develop long-haul illness and the risks to unvaccinated children as they return to school.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-stopped-tracking-breakthrough-covid-infections-vaccinated/
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August 26, 2021 8:31am
RockyJ

In response to approaches from the public nanny state strikes again. As a semi amateur bee keeper I will soon be expected to apply the “Bee Welfare Code” being introduced by the Minister of Agriculture.
Here are some of the gems it contains:
“• The life experience of bees is important as it matters to us as a society how animals are treated.
• Bees have opportunities to exhibit behaviours they are strongly motivated to engage in
• Bees do not show signs of disorientation approaching or leaving hives.”
No beekeeper I know deliberately harms his bees. We all have a vested interest in maintaining their health and happiness.
Now I have an appreciation of the kind of fuckery being imposed on the rest of the rural sector.
I have personally experienced a tirade from a bicycle riding, vegan harridan who (wrongly, but so what) assumed I was feeding my bees sugar and how cruel I am. I know the ignorant thinking behind this.
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August 26, 2021 8:38am
- Cinematic
  
  Please tell me this is a joke.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:06am
- westernScientest
  
  That will just be the start, wait for the environmental regulations to start seeping in. I bet bees are full of methane and pollute water ways.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:06am
- Ehlana
  
  If the Ministry of Agriculture turn up to inquire into the life experiences of your bees, I hope they take the opportunity to exhibit behaviour they will (no doubt) be strongly motivated to engage in…
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:14am
- Gravelroad
  
  I hope there are regulations included re living and working conditions for bees.
  Hours of work for drones and worker bees be adhered to?
  Mental health assistance for bee stress?
  Tax on honey to pay for minimum wage for bees.
  Abolition of any penalties for unauthorised stinging?
  And really, shouldn’t Queen bees be cancelled?
  Isn’t that privilege introduced by the white, elite colonisers?
  Surely there must be a few sentences about this in Te Tiriti.
  Suggest a working group or enquiry be set up to address discrimination and historical abuse of bees.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:34am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Honey Bees are a colonial import!
    
    19 0
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    August 26, 2021 10:37am
    - Tall Man
      
      From memory, I think they have a moko so I think you’re wrong …….. Don’t they?
      
      https://earthsky.org/upl/2014/03/tiger-bee-face.jpg
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:53pm
      - oldfella
        
        And I think that buzzing sound is actually Te Reo.
        
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        August 26, 2021 4:06pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Might be, I can’t understand it…
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:57pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Bee hive!
    
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    August 26, 2021 7:05pm
- Albert_Ross
  
  I am sure you are right that no beekeeper you know deliberately harms his bees.
  
  I am equally certain that none of them emerged from the womb knowing all about best practice in bee welfare. They all had to learn, starting from a position of ignorance. It’s even possible that some of them might have made mistakes early on.
  
  Don’t you think it at all possible that – among people you don’t know – there might be ignorant, ill-prepared, incompetent people who fancy having a go at bee-keeping without any real idea or understanding as to what it entails? People who might be ever so well-meaning, and don’t intend any harm, but who nevertheless might unintentionally do harm, if they don’t get good advice and guidance about how to ensure bee welfare?
  
  Where do you think they should get that advice from, if not the Ministry of Agriculture? Perhaps you would rather leave it to the bicycle riding, vegan harridans to provide advice and guidance to newcomers to the business?
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:57am
  - RockyJ
    
    You have a point. There are a number of keen amateurs who do more harm than good to their bees through ignorance.
    I have always found the Ministry bee staff expert and helpful. That is, up until now. Unfortunately the compliance that is likely to come out of this is just likely to drive more amateurs underground and so make things worse not better. There is no need for this level of interference.
    Like so many initiatives this government undertakes the real purpose is other than what is stated (Three Waters being a good example) and the results counterproductive. This initiative is not solving any problem I can think of.
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:59am
    - Albert_Ross
      
      Thank you for giving my comment some thought, but I don’t understand your conclusion that this initiative is not solving any problem that you can think of, when you just said that there are a number of keen amateurs who do more harm than good through ignorance. If Ministry advice and guidance, supported by monitoring and enforcement, is not the solution to that problem, then what is? What do you think should be done to help the ignorant and stop the incompetent and unwilling?
      
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      August 26, 2021 1:58pm
      - RockyJ
        
        The main risk to bees from amateurs is that they are ignorant of their legal requirement to manage American Foul Brood disease (AFB). That is already addressed by existing legislation.
        There are a myriad of other factors that cause amateurs to have beehives die and die they do. So ignorant enthusiasts are self-selecting. Apart from AFB they do no harm to the wider industry and it is from their ranks that the commercial industry is renewed. The commercial sector is pretty up to the mark in bee care.
        So any problem this proposal is addressing seems to aimed at pastoral care for insects. My personal values find that incomprehensible. Maybe that says a lot about me.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:43pm
- cmm
  
  Do you smoke your bees? Imagine the mental distress that must be inflicted on the bees by smoking?
  I hope you provide post-inspection counseling for the Team of 50,000!
  
  Biologically, bees are not much different from flies. I wonder how long it’s going to be before setting fly traps is illegal and flies need to be individually captured and euthanased by a vet.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:25am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Smoking! The Greens want to ban that!
    
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    August 26, 2021 7:07pm
- Durden
  
  RockyJ
  
  I searched for this code. On the MPI website and all .NZ websites. Using “Bee Welfare Code” and some of the words you list from the code.
  
  And could not find anything.
  
  Can you pleass provide a reference link to source please?
  
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  August 26, 2021 4:19pm
  - RockyJ
    
    It was sent to me via email by NZ Beekeeping Inc. I have their email and a PDF of the code. Maybe if you contact NZ Beekeeping they can send you a copy.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:45pm
Tony Stuart

Maggie Pie will be distraught today. Why?

Krispy Kreme at Westfield Newmarket has appeared on the Locations of Interest list, which now totals 491!
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August 26, 2021 8:39am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Home delivery now Maggie?
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:03am
- I remember when
  
  Another week and the list will be replaced with a much shorter, List of Places that aren’t Locations of Interest.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:11am
- Ehlana
  
  Whew! Google says I didn’t go there that day. I walked in a Park instead. Ahh, the rewards of virtue…
  
  Does anybody else want a donut now?
  
  9 0
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  August 26, 2021 10:11am
  - sooty
    
    All sweet, they are good. They come in a box to keep the rona out! Yum yum!
    
    3 1
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    August 26, 2021 11:33am
BAM

After reading this article there really is little to no hope for National.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-coronavirus-thomas-coughlan-knives-out-in-national-as-caucus-struggles-to-show-unity-despite-obvious-division/PKJ2PZM6ABLWKZQCLRXK2BKYZE/

The complete lack of ability to
1) Work as a team
2) keep your mouth shut.
3) Not have a tantrum if things don’t go your way

This means the party is completely out of the running in 2023.

It’s rather obvious the liberal side of the party is unhappy with current management and have decided the best course of action is to white ante the party until it comes around to their way of thinking.
Are they going to sulk and cry until that happens? by the looks of things probably.

The question is why is there a liberal wing in National? it’s MMP, you don’t have to cater for everyone like you had to in an FPP environment.

I think it’s time the liberals left and formed their own party or were “encouraged” to leave, if that means the party splits, so be it, without stability there is no hope of National ever getting elected.

And it has to happen soon, Nationals brand is getting completely trashed and it will soon be at a point where it’s completely worthless.
9 27
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August 26, 2021 8:41am
- Cinematic
  
  I haven’t read the article. I haven’t seen any division in National of late. Is Thomas interviewing his keyboard?
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:09am
- Tall Man
  
  And of course you accept the totally unbiased reporting of a media person……
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:16am
- Gravelroad
  
  Once the state controlled media has destroyed the National Party, it’s “journalists” will turn their attention onto ACT and Seymour.
  Am a bit surprised that Mr Seymour has so far seemed to escape the blow torch of “investigative journalism”.
  Wouldn’t be surprised if some manufactured scandal isn’t being worked up though.
  Then NZ will be back in the days of one party governance (Labour) supported by an “opposition” in name only (Greens).
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:24am
  - BAM
    
    National is doing a fantastic job of destroying itself.
    You’d have to be utterly blind to not see that the liberal MPs are undermining the party because it doesn’t like the direction the party is going.
    
    It won’t stop until one side or the other is gone.
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:36am
    - Tall Man
      
      Whereas ardern is doing a fantastic job destroying New Zealand but the fools can’t see it yet.
      
      26 4
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      August 26, 2021 10:14am
      - BAM
        
        National is not demonstrating that they are an alternative government, so it’s hardly surprising.
        
        Yes we all know the media are against National, that’s obvious to everyone, but until National gets rid of the MPs who are working with the media then they’re never going to win over enough voters to govern.
        
        I’d actually encourage that fuckwit muller to form a National liberal party and encourage the liberals in National to go join him.
        
        1 2
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        August 26, 2021 11:09am
      - Tall Man
        
        All I ask is that warts and all approach be directed at labour then you and many others would a comparison.
        
        MIA, kelvin davis, twitford, mahuta, all back bench and list mps.
        
        Turn the spotlight on them and then try tyo tell me National are unfit to govern. You only think they aren’t, we all now know these idiots aren’t.
        
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        August 26, 2021 2:56pm
  - westernScientest
    
    While I suspect your right about them manufacturing something on Seymour, unless it is really horrible, and still believable ACT will probably fair better than the Nats do. They tried it a while ago claiming he owned a bunch of houses, when it turned out he was a beneficiary on a trust, and had no real claim to them. But it didnt really do any damage because of the parties ideology.
    
    ACTs brand is still quite freedom orientated and results orientated (although their covid policy not so much), if they stick to that as their core, tell people to take care of themselves and to keep the state out if their lives. It means most criticisms that the Nats get ACT can just pass off as well yeah, go read our policies, of course we think that, because that is the best way to do things. Where as the Nats still want big government to be everything to everybody, so it becomes really easy to say to them, well you want x but not y, so you hate y. its obviously a straw man, but it is a consequence of them moving too far Left (with a capital L).
    
    Seymour is a weird dude, he comes across as so awkward and goofy, but is quick witted and humorous. So people dont expect such a ‘proper’ response from him as they do from the Nats. Just look at the when both Nats and ACT made the same mistake in their alternative budgets, Nats made a real hash of it and tried to argue that Treasury was wrong, and then moved on to some mistake Labour had made as a result of the error. While Seymour off the cuff says; well who can keep up, they spending so fast that no one can, even them. or something to that effect.
    Its a different style coupled with a different ideology which means a lot more can just be water of the ducks back.
    
    The third thing is the Nats dont really stand for anything any more. And I think this has been a problem for quite a long time, since before Key and it is just getting worse. The Nats are asking the voters what they want, and trying to give them that, which inevitably turns out badly, because the loudest ones are Leftests in the media, who are morons. ACT do better here, because they say: this is what we believe, and this is why it is the best option. They are convincing people their ideas are the best options, not trying to create a mishmash of ideologies and policies which cater to everyone. The Nats policies dont reflect their original values any more, they reflect what the focus groups think they want.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:22am
    - BAM
      
      It’s because they don’t see themselves as a political party
      
      They see themselves as a business selling product and they’re constantly changing that product in hope that someone will buy it.
      
      This is why they give the impression that they don’t stand for anything because they don’t.
      
      They will just promote whatever they believe will give them enough votes to get them over the line
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:58am
    - paulscott
      
      good stuff western
      
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      August 26, 2021 12:49pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  The solution is to vote ACT.
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:25am
  - Tall Man
    
    If you wish but seriously, who has more competent members in the party?
    
    There is a large gap below David Seymour and he has zero ministerial experience.
    
    We currently have a bunch of inexperienced wallys running the show and look at what we have.
    
    Now you may hate National with a passion but there are few other options and at least they have a “library” of experienced people from the not too distant past to call for advice.
    
    Who do ACT have, Rodney and Don ….
    
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    August 26, 2021 9:41am
    - westernScientest
      
      I partially agree, a pure ACT government at this stage would be a bad outcome, for the very reason that they are inexperienced, although I do think a few of them could become good with a bit of time.
      
      The problem with just voting for National is that they effectively now arguing,
      “vote for use because we can cause New Zealands destruction more efficiently than Labour can.”
      I do fear that Nats are putting off too many people who will protest and vote ACT in the electorates, I hope ACT follow the same strategy as last time, where they encourage an electorate vote for the Nats and a party vote for them. A coalition where ACT has a lot of sway I think would be the best outcome, where the Nats have experience but ACT can keep them in check and not let them listen to the leftests too much and provide more out of the box ideas to be considered.
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:31am
      - Tall Man
        
        Can’t argue with that although ACT’s “enforce a vaccine” plan is a bit OTT in my mind.
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:59pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      You say that but ACT’s down party representatives have been doing pretty well (mainly because most of them actually have experience in their areas of responsibility).
      
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      August 26, 2021 10:34am
      - Tall Man
        
        And they are reported daily in …… which media outlet?
        
        2 1
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        August 26, 2021 2:45pm
      - Libertarians are right
        
        Sorry Tall Man, I don’t get your point.
        I understand that your belief is common, because ACTs non Seymour MPs get no coverage but that doesn’t make it true.
        
        My point was regarding their ability to do their job, not their ability to make a noise and force the biased media to look at them.
        
        The forcing of the common belief that they aren’t competent by ignoring them, waiting for them to do something stupid and then plastering it everywhere is dirty politics that will cost ACT votes but it will not make those MPs incapable of doing their jobs.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:04pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Sorry, brevity can be a sin.
        
        What I meant was that they are literally doing nothing so there is nothing to report.
        
        Sure they have little meetings and put out press releases but they are all window dressing really and I doubt even they expect their ideas will ever become reality.
        
        Plus they are ignored by and large so even if they do make a dick of themselves they are not the media’s priority.
        
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        August 26, 2021 6:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  There is a visceral hatred for National from many folks.
  
  Each time there has been a balls-up by Labour, the MSM has run major hit jobs on National.
  
  Labour know there is nothing they have in their favour at the moment apart from Jacinda and her elimination lockdowns.
  
  If the lockdowns fail to keep the virus at bay and if folks start dying, then Labour loses all their warm fuzzies.
  Best to create a stinking pile of muck over at the opposition’s camp before the Journos’ find the public turning on our beloved Leader.
  
  49 1
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  August 26, 2021 9:29am
  - BAM
    
    People/MPs in National keep talking to reporters.
    They do it because they want to damage the party.
    The media are happy to oblige.
    
    6 19
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    August 26, 2021 9:37am
    - Tall Man
      
      And disgruntled labour mps do the same, the difference is the media report them to the party rather than print the stories.
      
      Look how quickly the “new nash party” story faded ….
      
      20 1
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      August 26, 2021 10:13am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      And imputing impure motives to National in every instance is damaging too.
      
      8 1
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      August 26, 2021 11:49am
  - Happychappy
    
    Maggie it is suprising that there has been no leaks of Labour Party polling and the percentage of people standing behind our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over the lockdown and what measures go with it. That a change from the last Lockdown as they used good polls to get the public inside for the way they appeared to be hand9 the pandemic.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:32am
    - Tall Man
      
      There is noe need to “leak”. The media get a Monday order sheet of the business for the week.
      
      Anything that a non “approved” labour mp had to say would be probably handed back to srdern’s pr team in a heartbeat.
      
      2 0
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      August 26, 2021 6:03pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The economic situation Labour will have to deal with will do them in.
    Cinders is already fragile from worry. She won’t take what is to come.
    
    14 1
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    August 26, 2021 11:48am
- nathie
  
  Soooo … after Ardern appeared to go into “witless protection” for a day or two due to the spreading covid outbreak and resulting failures (will she re-emerge today?), and when her Labour Government have done a “cut and run” and have traitorously left our Afghan translators and families to suffer Taliban reprisals including death … the MSM are still fixated with “National’s leaks”? What does that tell us?
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:44am
- Durden
  
  I am waiting to get Tony Stuart’s take on this.
  
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  August 26, 2021 4:22pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I’m not especially worried about it, to be fair. I’m more concerned with a FOURTH illegality by Labour, this time from the PM’s electorate team
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300391806/labour-lockdown-ads-pm-disappointed-after-delivery-in-her-electorate
    
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    August 26, 2021 4:48pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump ad. Biden got it so wrong.
https://rumble.com/vlmyq6-trump-releases-powerful-new-ad-attacking-biden-as-the-surrenderer-in-chief.html?
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August 26, 2021 8:42am
- Inandout
  
  SO, Joe is dropping so fast in the polls the political Dems at the top are fearful of their jobs. As anyone who has dealt with the feeble elderly knows, stress merely exacerbates the mental condition. It is bloody cruel to watch.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:39am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Soon they will have to put up with another idiot – horizontal Harris
    
    3 2
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    August 26, 2021 12:33pm
Southern Raider

Our future under Cindy

Just got notification from my gas provider that daily fixed and usage rates going up by around 10% from October

How is anyone going to be able to live in this socialist republic. It’s not like electricity, gas, water and petrol are luxury items and you can easily choose to go without
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August 26, 2021 8:49am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  All sorts of costs increasing by double digits on an annual basis, I can see Gwanties super strong economy taking a nose dive
  
  17 0
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  August 26, 2021 9:07am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Must be the day for it as now just got an email from my electricity provider that there prices are going up over 10% as well!
    
    5 0
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    August 26, 2021 1:03pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘How is anyone going to be able to live in this socialist republic.’
  
  As they do already , through wealth transfers via the tax system from productive working folk to those that won’t.
  
  And unlimited “borrowing” by Tane Mahuta ( reserve bank).
  
  18 1
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  August 26, 2021 9:21am
- DeepBlue
  
  That is only the start of annual increases. The idea is to price gas out of the system.
  
  The Climate Commission required 7% reduction in emisions EVERY year.
  
  21 0
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  August 26, 2021 9:23am
- MCos
  
  We’ve got to take control back off the the corporations.
  https://twitter.com/meidastouch/status/1430607835629461505?s=21
  
  1 17
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  August 26, 2021 9:47am
  - Tall Man
    
    FFS go for a walk and stop watching minority idiots.
    
    If you really want to obsess on fools then have at it
    
    https://www.labour.org.nz/
    
    11 2
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    August 26, 2021 10:11am
    - MCos
      
      Lighten up. It’s just a laugh.
      
      2 0
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      August 26, 2021 3:33pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Replied in the same vein 😉
        
        1 0
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        August 26, 2021 6:20pm
curry4me

ASTERISK PRESIDENCY: Episode 32.
Direct from Harveywood, here is this week’s episode of Asterisk Presidency. Brought to you by the CCP, MSM, Wall Street, $oros, ANTIFA, BLM, CDC, Nordstream, globalists, ‘academia’, FBI, CIA, NSA, and Cuba.
Will Quemala’s Vietnam trip attract Saigon memes? Will the Republicans win another special election? Will Millie resign? Will the Taliban give him a medal? Will he send them a Pride flag, and some CRT DVDs? Will they send Kabul Joe’s favorite icecream to the WH? Will they implement CRT? Will there be a downfall parody of the Afghanistan debacle? Will the Taliban get a state dinner at the WH? If a Taliban fighter is LGBT, does that make them Talitrans? Did ‘Build Back Better’ include the Taliban? Will the rebuilt Taliban take Pakistan next? Will ‘Dr Jill’, and Quemala wear color coordinated burqas? If there was another election, and Trump won, would that make it 2-0? Do the Taliban spokesmen look more credible than Jen Psaki? Is Hunter still Kabul Joe’s worst pull out? Does owning his failures increase Dems buyer’s remorse? Do sandals trump nukes if you oppose the US government? Is chasing a C-17 easier than keeping up with Kabul Joe? If you give an army weapons, do they need willpower too? Is Kabul Joe the Talban’s ‘Man of the Year’ Was General Millie the runner up? Did Osama Bin Liner really forbid the Taliban from killing Kabul Joe? Has ‘Dr Jill’ failed America by letting Joe run? Will the spending package pass? Are some donors relying on it? Should they keep the champagne on ice? Will the Afghanistan debacle relegate the ruling class to the dustbin of history? Will Kabul Joe answer questions? Will the UK parliament send him a Christmas card? Will Teacher’s Pet still think Kabul Joe deserted them? Does everything woke turn to s—? Will the presitator spend Ramadan in Kabul? Stay tuned folks!
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August 26, 2021 8:56am
Muttonbird

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
I’m going to report every anti-vax post on GD today.

Might take a while.
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August 26, 2021 8:57am
- Tall Man
  
  Even that will be above your level of competence.
  
  Maybe go sit outside and join the rest of your idiot mates in reporting people walking around their house to the police.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:08am
- MrTips
  
  Congrats MB, pleased to hear you got the new disinformation job. While you’re at it, report Shaun Hendy, who’s admitted publicly now his modelling amounts to disinformation…….
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:21am
- Charmaine Hawke
  
  Why?
  
  4 0
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  August 26, 2021 10:26am
- Grant
  
  Who to?
  G
  
  4 0
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  August 26, 2021 10:31am
- westernScientest
  
  Have a good time Muttonbird, if thats what floats your boat.
  
  8 1
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  August 26, 2021 10:36am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Don’t do it until you’ve been appointed to that $110,000 job in the PM’s department.
  
  No need to do the Govt’s dirty work for free..
  
  (ps. I’m more than happy to write you a glowing reference for a large backhander)
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:42am
  - Paulus
    
    No body will do it for the pittance you name – poof $110,000 – that all – double it and it can be considered, unless you want a list seat next time – and a high one because the lower ones will be out.
    
    1 0
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    August 26, 2021 1:33pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Hahah – and what difference will that make?
  If our host here and the mods banned posters for offering differing views and opinions, there would be few remaining on here.
  That is the point of having a forum – to debate issues.
  How absolutely typical of the communists to report and try to cancel opinions and people that they do not agree with or approve of.
  Pathetic.
  
  11 0
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  August 26, 2021 11:03am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Go for it Muttonhead. Here’s a start. The vax is approved but not fully tested. The person that approved it is the same person that approved Fentanyl. Report away
  
  6 2
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  August 26, 2021 12:31pm
  - Muttonbird
    
    As far as I know Fentanyl is only dangerous to reprobates who misuse it.
    
    2 5
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    August 26, 2021 1:41pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      How many have you reported so far? Have the Mods had a gutsful of you yet??
      
      1 2
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      August 26, 2021 2:45pm
dcrane

Interesting details on the FDA “approval” of the Pfizer vaccine. The claim has to do with a distinction between the “Pfizer-BioNtech” vaccine and a newly branded “Comirnaty” vaccine by the same company. The former is still EUA only, still technically “experimental”, and still technically covered by the government-granted liability shield. Most doses of Pfizer vaccine in existence at the moment do not count as the Comirnaty vaccine.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mainstream-media-fda-approval-pfizer-vaccine/

This group has been strongly critical of the vaccines so far so it would be interesting to hear if they’re not being complete with the truth.
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August 26, 2021 9:04am
- Ed Snack
  
  As noted above, the vaccine has not been approved for some groups, including the young. The approval has specific exclusions.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:34am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Those FDA approvals do not apply to NZ. We are our own nation.
  
  1 1
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  August 26, 2021 11:52am
- Batman
  
  Children’s Health Defense is an anti-vax grift designed to make the Bollinger family money off you. They are actively spreading disinformation.
  
  Please don’t trust what it says or link to it.
  
  https://apnews.com/article/anti-vaccine-bollinger-coronavirus-disinformation-a7b8e1f33990670563b4c469b462c9bf
  
  https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-health-pseudoscience/anti-vaccine-propaganda-robert-f-kennedy-jr
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Health_Defense
  
  https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/covert-anti-vaccination-in-childrens-health-defense/
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:57pm
  - dcrane
    
    You will get nowhere with that sort of ad hominem in this age of elite crisis. Deal with the information. If it is wrong, say so, which is what I suggested.
    
    If we went by track records, we would never again listen to the government officials who gave us Russiagate, the “Insurrection”, and, for goodness sake, Afghanistan (i.e., the place where there is no chance of the Taliban taking over).
    
    Wikipedia is state managed propaganda when issues bear on favored narratives.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:18pm
I remember when

COVID:
We were going to control the curve – now it feels like we have gone around the bend.
We all know what Groundhog Day feels like.
It started as Covid-19 now we are talking about covid-22.
We have numerous variants but they all mean the same thing.
The rest of the world talked about Jacinda being the world’s best PM – now they don’t.
The world is level – Level 4, Level 3, Level 2 and Level 1 – then for variety try it the opposite way around.
When people ask us, in the future, what we did in 2020 and 2021, we will have collective amnesia.
Death notices will say 1923-2023, lived for 98 years.
We told ourselves we had more freedom than anyone else in the world – but we couldn’t go anywhere.
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August 26, 2021 9:06am
Cassandra

I’ve just discovered that fishing is allowed during this Level 4 lockdown but only if you are Maori. The racism in this Government policy is flabbergasting.
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August 26, 2021 9:16am
- kowtow
  
  Link please.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:06am
  - Cassandra
    
    Covid19.govt.nz in black and white.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:54am
  - kowtow
    
    Found it.
    
    Page 3/7 of the table of covid levels under Personal Movements .
    
    ‘You must stay at home , other than for essential personal movement. This includes;’
    
    among a number of other items
    
    “Maori customary fishing and food gathering”
    
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    August 26, 2021 11:47am
  - Nickc2
    
    Fishing and whitebaiting
    
    At Alert Level 4, recreational fishing and whitebaiting is not allowed, except for Māori customary fishing and food gathering.
    
    https://covid19.govt.nz/activities/sports-and-recreation/#sports-and-recreation-at-alert-level-4
    
    I’m assuming that if Maori get into difficulty during Customary Fishing/Diving, only Customary Maori Life Savers are permitted to go and help same lives?
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:30pm
- Ehlana
  
  Presumably, emergency service responses to fisherpersons in distress will only be carried out by those of Maori descent too? Since the rest of us aren’t allowed in the water.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:47am
- Inandout
  
  Cass, that would be why a sports outlet is specialing whitebait nets. The brown market no doubt are the biggest whitebaiters.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:50am
- dcrane
  
  From the MPI Alert Level 4 website:
  
  “Is recreational fishing allowed?
  
  All water-based recreational activities, including fishing is not permitted under Alert Level 4. These activities expose people to danger and may require rescue services.”
  
  (Commerical fishing is deemed essential.)
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:29am
  - Bluegrass
    
    “… expose people to danger and may require rescue services.”.
    
    And there you have it.
    
    Beyond parody.
    
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    August 26, 2021 12:32pm
  - dcrane
    
    Interesting that according to kowtow above, the MPI website is missing the key bit.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:20pm
    - Nickc2
      
      dcrane, see my post @ 1:30PM. The first paragraph re (whitebaiting and fishing) is a copy and paste from the website.
      The link to the website is also there.
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:51pm
I remember when

So if we continue to vaccinate to ever lower age groups – does that mean that covid will keep moving to the point of least resistance.
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August 26, 2021 9:18am
- cmm
  
  No.
  
  It would only do that if the vaccine was effective at stopping the virus from spreading.
  
  If a vaccine stops a strain of a virus from spreading, then resistant strains can keep spreading. This effectively creates an evolutionary filter than replaces the non-resistant strain with the resistant strain.
  
  One benefit of the vaccine being useless in this regard is that it does not stop the virus from spreading and thus does not put evolutionary pressure on the virus. Therefore it does not have this effect.
  
  It seems the only useful effect that this vaccine has is potentially reducing the impact of the virus (ie. how sick you get).
  
  Sickness of victims is in itself is not a useful property to the virus. All that really matters in evolution is whether they can reproduce (or in the case of a virus – replicate – because a virus does not really reproduces in the true sense of the word).
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:54am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yeah, it’s a pretty crappy vax, really.
    
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    August 26, 2021 7:13pm
doggone7

Happychappy is unhappy that the Herald has bullshit from Thomas Coughlan about the National Party behind its paywall
No drama, the article is about the mirage of unity that’s being cultivated.
The wheels of unity falling off because some caucus members wore rainbow ribbons at the conference?
If leadership is about going off your head at Chris Bishop and being upset when adults have consciences so be it.
Identifying where the bullshit lies in the article is the thing. Is it in the article itself or the behaviour of the players?
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August 26, 2021 9:22am
- Happychappy
  
  Listen peanut brain everyone is allowed a opinion.
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:32am
  - paulscott
    
    Your underlying nature pops out all the time Happy
    
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    August 26, 2021 12:43pm
  - doggone7
    
    Indeed everyone is. You, me, Thomas Coughlan.
    
    I can spend the afternoon considering how reiterating you were unhappy that the Herald carried bullshit from Thomas Coughlan about the National Party behind its paywall means I have a peanut brain.
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:42pm
- kowtow
  
  When Labour are in trouble ( vax roll out , MIQ escape , Highbrook saline etc) you can be sure there’ll be a big deflection story towards the Evil White Tories .
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:34pm
Frank the tank

Lol. Fakenewshub cross to their UK correspondent who reports with shock that nobody gives a shit about WuFlu anymore.

What’s the bet this same reporter sans report is off to Harrods, catches the tube and then goes to the walkabout for a pub lunch all sans muzzle.

Meanwhile in (little) Aotearoa…….
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August 26, 2021 9:24am
Monique Watson

You anti vaxxers are crazy. Why would you risk infection? Is it because you’re at the bottom of the world and are not exposed to the reality of a deadly virus? Oh I vaccinated my twelve year old without a qualm and it’s still circulating at the Muddle School and the High school. A handful of cases. Do you see what’s happening in Georgia and Mississippi? A totally different ballgame to our community: 80% vaccination rates.
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August 26, 2021 9:26am
- Tall Man
  
  I’m not an anti vaxer by any means and if it becomes a requirement for me to travel then I will line up like a good little boy but I’d rather get one of the later generations that are not yet available in NZ.
  
  However, I am not bothered by the possibility of contracting covid as I am a healthy person with zero comorbidities so statistically I am at low risk of serious infection.
  
  Also, the current vaccines have shown low ability to restrict the flow of infection and it seems those that are “high risk” are still dying, vaccinated or not.
  
  I am happy with your decision so why are you not able to happily accept mine?
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:05am
  - Inandout
    
    TM, at the moment the average person is far more likely to contract cancer, die in a motor accident, have a stroke than even have a mild C19. Meantime the hospital waiting lists just get longer.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:55am
  - kowtow
    
    Exactly , your body your choice.
    
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    August 26, 2021 10:58am
- dcrane
  
  People who live in New Zealand are not taking much risk of infection at all. The country has an elimination strategy.
  
  If the government reverses course and opens up, or if Delta cannot be eliminated and continues to spread, the calculus will change.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:12am
- cmm
  
  “Why would you risk infection?”
  If you’ve read anything at all you will know that you still have massive risks of infection with the jab.
  
  It would be silly to compare with Georgia and Mississippi and put it all down to vaccination rates.
  I don’t know where you live but I suspect you’re in a higher economic zone area. Mississippi has the highest rates of obesity in USA. Mississippi and Georgia have the highest % of black people after DC.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:16pm
- Fletch
  
  Because it’s an experimental vaccine. I am not anti-vax at all but I will not take the Pfizer jab if I can help it. I would hold out for Novavax or one of the traditional vaccines. Or even a therapeutic. From the news stories I can see, more and more are emerging which show the vaccine isn’t having the effect that authorities thought it would, Israel being a prime example.
  
  Some examples –
  Two-thirds of Delta deaths in the UK are in the jabbed – https://chriswaldburger.substack.com/p/bombshell-uk-data-destroys-entire
  
  Most Covid patients at Israeli hospital fully vaccinated – https://www.spectator.com.au/2021/08/most-covid-patients-at-israeli-hospital-fully-vaccinated-what-does-this-mean-for-australia/
  
  A fully vaccinated Australian MP suffers from Bells Palsy (a well known side effect of the vaccine) – https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/victor-dominello-wears-eyepatch-after-droopy-eye-during-covid19-update-led-to-bells-palsy-diagnosis/news-story/495b1ae803cf98f87840d94c59beafad
  
  52% of Southern Nevada COVID-19 Deaths Were Fully Vaccinated – https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/25/52-of-southern-nevada-covid-19-deaths-were-fully-vaccinated-thats-what-this-data-says-n432117
  
  And I could go on. According to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) website, there have been 13,068 deaths attributed to the vaccine, 1,607 miscarriages, 5,882 heart attacks, 17,228 permanently disabled etc.
  
  https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data
  
  I do not believe it is safe.
  
  [Mod. Note: This disclaimer (from your link) is also relevant https://www.openvaers.com/f-a-q/cdc-disclaimer ]
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:17pm
I remember when

Was interesting when Chris Bishop told Speaker Trevor that they (National) had to take his word about the ‘letters of complaint’ he received regarding interjections drowning out answers during Question Time.
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August 26, 2021 9:26am
curry4me

https://www.bitchute.com/video/4PxPeQOsPXCx/

Is the Australian Government Backing Down in the Face of Protests?

They’re belatedly admitting zero case loads are unachievable. There have been major protests. [4:49.]
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August 26, 2021 9:40am
curry4me

https://www.bitchute.com/video/sAHXX51C84Q/

Is Taiwan next?

Is Taiwan Next? With Bumblin’ Biden abandoning our allies in Afghanistan, many pundits are concerned that China sees a new opportunity to annex Taiwan! In this video, we’re going to look at the content of those concerns, we’re going to look at how Taiwan fits in with China’s global economic aims, and we’re going to see how scholars believe China’s resurgent nationalism may indeed be the tipping point for a renewed conflict in the Pacific. [10:48.]
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August 26, 2021 9:40am
- westernScientest
  
  Really hope not, abandoning Taiwan is akin to abandoning Japan and Korea, and I suspect that will be made very clear by those countries if push comes to shove. Japan has already made it clear to China that they are not F*in around when it comes to Taiwan, as if Taiwan falls, Japan is next. Then on to the pacific inc. Hawaii.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:49am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Taiwan, Korea & Japan are very solid members of the West (non geographically speaking). Any of them falling to China would be major.
    
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    August 26, 2021 7:16pm
    - curry4me
      
      NeverMindTheBollocks: Yes, I agree. I wouldn’t like to see any of my Korean friends under CCP tyranny. Japan should have three nuclear subs. Korea too.
      
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      August 26, 2021 8:00pm
  - curry4me
    
    westernScientist: I don’t think they’ll invade as such. They might try to win by attrition. Multiple violations wearing out the Taiwanese planes, personnell, and ships.
    
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    August 26, 2021 7:58pm
Rusty

As much as I agree with Scott Morrison calling NZs lock down mentality absurd it is a bit rich when half of his country and people are locked down under more stringent laws and bullying police than NZ has.

Apparently their is some sort of dead line for ending of the their lock downs which Morrison expects all states to honor —- be interesting to see what happens.

As to our dear Jacinda and her Labour comrades who run many of the Aust states — you can bet your bottom dollar they will both up the fear mongering ..the Grim reapers coming for you…up until their election times.
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August 26, 2021 9:47am
- Bluegrass
  
  The Australian Feds have no jurisdiction over the states in these areas and Morrison has also criticized various state Premiers.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:40pm
PhilBest

This is an interesting development on the issue of “misinformation”

https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/breaking-disinformation-dozen-faulty-narrative-no-evidence-says-facebook-despite-1

The rate at which the notorious anti-vax influencers were being watched and followed was always only tiny, their impact has been over-rated. Covid vaccine hesitancy has always had very little to do with this, and more to do with misgivings based on common sense, about the development time and the sheer novel-ness of the mRNA approach.
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August 26, 2021 9:56am
- paulscott
  
  its fakebook PhilB , everything fakebook puts out is fake , but I know what you mean Supreme right wing fanatics, they’re everywhere and nowhere eh PhilB.?
  
  [Mod.note: It hasn’t stopped you posting fb links though. Once more and I will be recommending a longer ban period. Mod.]
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:38pm
ecco

I’m pro the vaccine. For me there’s enough evidence in places like Florida, where there’s low vax rates and delta running wildfire that vaccines are the best option open to us to lessen the blow of delta variant and covid.

On Sydney Morning Herald they had an estimator of when countries will be fully vaccinated at the current rate they are vaccinating at.https://www.smh.com.au/national/covid-19-global-vaccine-tracker-and-data-centre-20210128-p56xht.html (you scroll down to the ‘vaccine progress in’ and type in a country.)

Unsurprisingly NZ comes in at ‘60% fully vaccinated by January 2022’.

Ardern needs to state timeframes and vaccination %s of when she plans to open up. Before she does irreperable damage to the NZ economy, leaving an absolute economic mess for all of our kids and the next government who will have to tidy up the mess.

Ardern, Bloomfied and Hipkins need to come clean and state predicted vaccine rates they are aiming for in their announcements. Forget all the waffling announcements about nothing much, they are carrying out at 1pm. Unfortunately the NZ media have no choice but to be their mouthpiece due to the media fund Labour set up. Clearly if they don’t toe the line their funding will be cut off. I’m glad I have access to overseas sites where commenting on the NZ situation is uncensored. Unlike is the case here – apart from on Kiwiblog. As well, in NZ any article remotely right wing is hidden behind a paywall. Another censorship by stealth tactic.
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August 26, 2021 10:15am
- paulscott
  
  eeco > check Israel, and come back to us
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:35pm
Fletch

On Israel again, this time from the very liberal Daily Beast site. Over 80% of the country is vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and yet they are having case numbers in their thousands.

In June, there were several days with zero new COVID infections in Israel. The country launched its national vaccination campaign in December last year and has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 80 percent of citizens above the age of 12 fully inoculated. COVID, most Israelis thought, had been defeated. All restrictions were lifted and Israelis went back to crowded partying and praying in mask-free venues.

Fast forward two months later: Israel reported 9,831 new diagnosed cases on Tuesday, a hairbreadth away from the worst daily figure ever recorded in the country—10,000—at the peak of the third wave. More than 350 people have died of the disease in the first three weeks of August. In a Sunday press conference, the directors of seven public hospitals announced that they could no longer admit any coronavirus patients. With 670 COVID-19 patients requiring critical care, their wards are overflowing and staff are at breaking point.

“I don’t want to frighten you,” coronavirus czar Dr. Salman Zarka told the Israeli parliament this week. “But this is the data. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t lie.”

Israel vaccinated its population almost exclusively with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which received full FDA approval on Monday and remains the gold standard for the prevention of severe illness due to the coronavirus.

But in early July, with citizens over the age of 60 almost completely vaccinated, Israeli scientists began observing a worrisome rise in infections—if not in severe illness and death—among the double-vaccinated.

Fully vaccinated people with weakened immune systems appeared particularly vulnerable to the aggressive Delta variant.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ultra-vaccinated-israels-debacle-is-a-dire-warning-to-america

What does this mean for NZ, where the only strategy of those in authority is lockdown until they can get most of the country vaccinated? In Israel, who also solely have the Pfizer jab, they have begun a third shot for the elderly. Will we need that here as well? Will a third shot end up being enough? Will we need a firth, then a 10th, etc?
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August 26, 2021 10:16am
- paulscott
  
  The tide is turning Fletch, all we have to deal with now is the Police State, psychopaths who want to impose eugenics, messianic leaders, sheep with their heads pressed against the fence .
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:34pm
Fletch

Angry Afghani yells at Biden –

“Mr. Biden, you did this! You planned this! You made the deal with the Taliban,” the man told ITV News.

“This is the consequences of it! This is the repercussions of it! Mr. Biden, it’s your ill calculation! You were against Trump, now we’re against you!” he raged. “Go to hell, Biden!”

https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1429524966526046211
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August 26, 2021 10:23am
Critical Thinker

NZ Police Arrest Man For Not Wearing A Mask ?

Police kneel on man’s neck as they arrest him in front of his young children, all for not wearing a mask which he had an exemption for.

While a CovidKevin also assaults and detains the fathers young son for complaining and getting too close to the police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=500ZuPauPX8

You do not need to wear face coverings if:

– It is unsafe, for example if wearing one means a driver cannot safely operate the vehicle.

– There is an emergency.

– You have a physical or mental health illness or condition or disability that makes wearing a face covering unsuitable.

– You need to prove your identity.

– You need to communicate with someone who is Deaf or hard of hearing.

– You need to take medicine.

– You need to eat or drink, if eating or drinking is usually allowed.

– It is not required by law.

https://covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/protect-yourself-and-others-from-covid-19/wear-a-face-covering/#who-does-not-need-to-wear-a-face-covering

Over 50 Scientific Studies Conclude Masks Do Nothing to Prevent the Spread of Illness, So Why Do People Keep Claiming They Work?
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/08/general_debate_25_august_2021.html#comment-3001150

The Ministry of Health has developed an exemption card specifically for those who cannot wear face coverings safely or comfortably due to a disability or health condition. If anyone asks why you are not wearing a face covering, you can show them the card ??

https://abcnz.org.nz/news-and-events/exemptions-for-face-coverings-and-masks/
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August 26, 2021 10:25am
- Taieri
  
  Over 50 Scientific Studies Conclude Masks Do Nothing to Prevent the Spread of Illness, So Why Do People Keep Claiming They Work?
  —————
  The best explanation I’ve seen so far has been provided free to the disciples of Stuff courtesy of one Virginia Fallon:
  
  ” Among the many benefits of our new mandatory mask wearing is that stupid people are far more easily identifiable. It’s brilliant. Where once you had to endure at least a few minutes of interaction before being able to make a call about someone’s intelligence, masks make it almost instant.”
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:10am
- Inandout
  
  CT, imagine if that maskless person was a Mob member. I suspect the police would be urgently required elsewhere.
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:14am
  - doggone7
    
    If it were a Mob member people would be screaming for him to be tased or shot and complaining if the cops didn’t do it.
    
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    August 26, 2021 1:38pm
- Prince
  
  That youtube video is distressing. This is happening in New Zealand !
  I guarantee you will not see this on any State-sponsored News or ‘Discussion’ programs
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:51pm
  - Batman
    
    If you walked down the middle of a motorway because “I have rights and freedoms!” You’d also find out what handcuffs feel like as a side effect of your stupidity.
    
    This is no different. Those promoting anti-mask rubbish are merely prolonging our stints at home.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:12pm
    - cmm
      
      Evidence batty?
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:28pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Some ‘anti-mask‘ rubbish for you: –
      
      A May 2020 meta-study on pandemic influenza published by the US CDC found that face masks had no effect, neither as personal protective equipment nor as a source control. (Source)
      
      A Danish randomized controlled trial with 6000 participants, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in November 2020, found no statistically significant effect of high-quality medical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting. (Source)
      
      A large randomized controlled trial with close to 8000 participants, published in October 2020 in PLOS One, found that face masks “did not seem to be effective against laboratory-confirmed viral respiratory infections nor against clinical respiratory infection.” (Source)
      
      A February 2021 review by the European CDC found no high-quality evidence supporting the effectiveness of non-medical and medical face masks in the community. Furthermore, the European CDC advised against the use of FFP2/N95 masks by the general public. (Source)
      
      A July 2020 review by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of face masks against virus infection or transmission. (Source)
      
      A November 2020 Cochrane review found that face masks did not reduce influenza-like illness (ILI) cases, neither in the general population nor in health care workers. (Source)
      
      An April 2020 review by two US professors in respiratory and infectious disease from the University of Illinois concluded that face masks have no effect in everyday life, neither as self-protection nor to protect third parties (so-called source control). (Source)
      
      An article in the New England Journal of Medicine from May 2020 came to the conclusion that face masks offer little to no protection in everyday life. (Source)
      A 2015 study in the British Medical Journal BMJ Open found that cloth masks were penetrated by 97% of particles and may increase infection risk by retaining moisture or repeated use. (Source)
      
      An August 2020 review by a German professor in virology, epidemiology and hygiene found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of face masks and that the improper daily use of masks by the public may in fact lead to an increase in infections. (Source)
      
      And from WHO in mid 2020, this: –
      
      Guidance on mask use in community settings
      
      At present there is only limited and inconsistent scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (75). A large randomized community-based trial in which 4862 healthy participants were divided into a group wearing medical/surgical masks and a control group found no difference in infection with SARS-CoV-2 (76). A recent systematic review found nine trials (of which eight were cluster-randomized controlled trials in which clusters of people, versus individuals, were randomized) comparing medical/surgical masks versus no
      masks to prevent the spread of viral respiratory illness. Two trials were with healthcare workers and seven in the community. The review concluded that wearing a mask may make little or no difference to the prevention of influenza-like illness (ILI) (RR 0.99, 95%CI 0.82 to 1.18) or laboratory confirmed illness (LCI) (RR 0.91, 95%CI 0.66-1.26) (44); the certainty of the evidence was low for ILI, moderate for LCI
      
      Why do you talk such shit, batty? I can’t figure of if you’re lying, or genuinely stupid.
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:35pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Again, you post a deletion not accurately reflecting my comment.
        
        The question was asked, “Why do you talk such shit, batty? I can’t figure of if you’re lying, or genuinely stupid.”
        
        Look at where he works ….. (Batman has made it pretty clear in the past where he worls and who he often associates with therefore the employment reference shows a link to where some would call “bullshit” castle”.
        
        I suggested to one company that they remove question 1 on their application form ..
        
        The next part references how some are selected for their jobs, possibly in “bullshit castle”
        
        1) Are you an idiot, if no please screw this piece of paper up and fuck off.
        
        They assured me there was no such question but I pointed out that interaction with their staff proved them wrong ?
        
        It made perfect sense to me and I did not post any info concerning Batman’s job.
        
        [DPF: You need to stop this. The rule here is play the issue not the person. Even implicit references to employers are to close to doxxing. Take a month off]
        
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        December 26, 2020 5:38pm
      - Tall Man
        
        [Deleted – your comment makes no sense, and referring to a posters outside employment is unacceptable. A warning not to repeat it. Mod.]
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:22pm
    - Taieri
      
      Those promoting anti-mask rubbish are merely prolonging our stints at home.
      —————-
      
      But you’re free to wear mask anytime you choose and nothing and nobody can’t stop you from doing so.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:07pm
      - Batman
        
        Given how the last 18 months has proven that the general public are germ ridden and don’t wash their hands enough, yes I will continue wearing a mask in places like public transport during winter.
        
        There’s a reason that Asian cultures have been doing it for years… It works.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:11pm
    - Taieri
      
      Given how the last 18 months has proven that the general public are germ ridden and don’t wash their hands enough, yes I will continue wearing a mask in places like public transport during winter.
      —————–
      That’s what Howard Hughes used to do. It’s called Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:45pm
      - Observer of Life
        
        “There’s a reason that Asian cultures have been doing it for years… It works.”
        And yet for decades and decades we have been just fine without masks… hmm.
        
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        August 27, 2021 3:48pm
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Batman bangs away everyday but he has never put a scientific link to back up his snake oil claims.
      Pretty simple really you don’t stop a virus with a mask that is designed for blood spills.
      Batman should be charged with actually putting peoples lives at risk, promising something that could lead to their death.
      The false news deal cuts both ways.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:48pm
      - Batman
        
        Greg you’ll find that I have, often.
        
        Commenters here can believe all of the alt-science and believe the various discredited former doctors and cranks they like. The rest of us will do what is required, even if a small group choose to deny reality.
        
        Here is some science:
        
        96% reduction https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33671300/
        
        More
        https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118
        
        And a bit more
        https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent
        
        The evidence and science is rapidly evolving, sure. There is evidence to suggest masks have varying effectiveness depending on situation.
        
        Where they don’t have effectiveness, is when half the population turns not wearing them into a political virtue signal because they’ve spent years being told that contrarian behaviour is essential to political identity.
        
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        August 26, 2021 9:13pm
  - cmm
    
    … including George Floyding his neck/head!
    
    I thought it was only racist cops that did that!
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:27pm
- Ehlana
  
  The video starts with a man kneeling on one knee in the supermarket carpark with both hands behind his back. Why is he doing this? What has happened to this point?
  
  When the police officer goes to handcuff him, he moves one arm away, preventing the cuffs being applied. Again, why? Was he not expecting to be handcuffed at this point? He seems to have been, since both arms were behind his back.
  
  The other officer goes to assist her colleague, taking hold of the wayward arm and he is quickly on the ground. It almost looks like he threw himself to the ground, trying to move away from the two officers. Once more, why?
  
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  August 26, 2021 3:12pm
thirteenstars

Last night’s ACT TV episode, on Law and Order:

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

From about halfway they take questions, and Seymour is revealed to be a relaxed and engaging speaker, the kind of bloke you might actually want to have a conversation with. Can’t say the same of the other party leaders.

This format is fantastic and Seymour should continue it way past the current suspension of parliamentary democracy imposed by the PM.

Tune in again, tonight, 7pm. Ask a question.
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August 26, 2021 10:27am
- kevn
  
  @13… I would be more than happy to chat with Collins.
  ardren? nah
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:50am
- godruelf
  
  Watched a couple of these, Beats 7 sharp every time.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:55am
- Cassandra
  
  I went to his Tauranga presentation – he is indeed an engaging speaker. Sensible policies presented well. He will be a highly competent Minister.
  
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  August 26, 2021 10:57am
Fletch

A paper from the American Journal of Therapeutics detailing a metastudy on the drug Ivermectin showing that it yields very good results.

Conclusions:
Meta-analyses based on 18 randomized controlled treatment trials of ivermectin in COVID-19 have found large, statistically significant reductions in mortality, time to clinical recovery, and time to viral clearance. Furthermore, results from numerous controlled prophylaxis trials report significantly reduced risks of contracting COVID-19 with the regular use of ivermectin. Finally, the many examples of ivermectin distribution campaigns leading to rapid population-wide decreases in morbidity and mortality indicate that an oral agent effective in all phases of COVID-19 has been identified.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8088823/

Govts around the world seem to have their hopes pinned on a vaccine and all but ignore therapeutics. Ivermectin worked well for India though where it was issued by the govt.
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August 26, 2021 10:32am
- Muttonbird
  
  We’re not horses, Fletch!
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:37pm
ABS4EVA

In 2019 Cindy LECTURED Melbourne on

Why does good government matter?

and it appears they Unfortunately LISTENED.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern’s ANZSOG address: Why does good government matter?

Full Speech here:

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

Melbourne and Victoria have gone from almost the best place to live in the world

TO THE WORST Governed part of Australia
that is now a SOCIALIST HELL HOLE
most Australians laugh at it or feel sorry for

30,000 have voted with their feet and moved
away from the Communists

This is Clear evidence of DAN and JACINDA’s
COOPERATION

I suspect they will be chatting this week

Comparing Notes on how to SPIN things
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August 26, 2021 10:34am
- Libertarians are right
  
  Actually, she was supposed to lecture on why does good Governance matter but she didn’t understand what governance meant so spoke about good Government instead. Even then, she still managed to completely ignore the subject of good Governance despite the fact it’s clearly the most important aspect of good Government.
  
  Basically, she has no idea what she’s doing or what she’s talking about. Her “lecture” was just early campaigning to expat voters.
  
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  August 26, 2021 11:38am
  - ABS4EVA
    
    snippets of this VOMIT are on other websites
    
    The Best Comment I read was (from memory)
    
    Getting Jacinda Adhern to talk about good Government is like asking Joseph Stalin to talk about Freedom
    
    They are both out of control and High on their own supply I also suspect they are using the same
    Media Strategists
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:26pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  ABS4EVA… Neither Cindy or Dan will see the year out in ‘power’ and ‘control’ ?
  #thebestisyettocome
  
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  August 27, 2021 12:32am
ABS4EVA

Malcolm Roberts

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

Gives a good speech

Australian Politicians have declared the People
the Enemy and declared WAR on them.

The people of Aus could have been brought on the journey through intelligent dialogue.

Without Intelligent Dialogue
Governments only option
is FORCE and Tyranny

No one Wins
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August 26, 2021 10:43am
WaynelSexton

Do the math…
https://voxday.net/2021/08/25/vaccinated-5x-more-likely-to-die/
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August 26, 2021 11:02am
- Fletch
  
  Few states in the US keep data on rates of Covid deaths and cases, but Southern Nevada does. If you look at the data, 52% of Southern Nevada Covid-19 deaths were fully vaccinated.
  
  https://redstate.com/scotthounsell/2021/08/25/52-of-southern-nevada-covid-19-deaths-were-fully-vaccinated-thats-what-this-data-says-n432117
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:09pm
- [email protected]
  
  Yes, do the math. If 100% of the population was vaccinated, then 100% of the deaths would be vaccinated people and there would be zero deaths of unvaccinated people.
  
  I’m not vaccinated but not anti-vax. Just waiting to get clearer data with which to make an informed decision.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:28pm
CAKE FACE1

I know most of the people on this forum are old, so probably won’t agree with me on this point, but:

I would LOVE to see mass protests against the lockdowns, like Oz has recently had. If it’s not worth protesting against totalitarianism, what is it worth protesting against?

Alas, New Zealanders seem to be majority collectivists now. Its happened so fast. I came back a few years ago to NZ, after 23 years away. It is a huge shock, how the people and country changed, during my time away. The central government is reinforced by virtually every city council in the country in being socialist and defeatist. This has, I think, ground normal people down over time.

The 1984 – 1990 Labour government was inspirational, when I was finishing school. In those days, anything and everything were possible. What times! What drama!

I then went to University, and in the mid 1990s left for Europe. I never doubted I’d work for the best banks in the world, although now it would seem deluded to have such certainty. Belief came partly from our culture then. The 1987 All Blacks were class, the Olympic teams awesome, the Americas Cup inspiring (albeit it lost). Great times.

At some point since, NZ has collectively lost its MOJO. The aspirations are gone. Now people just want to hide under their beds. Achieving anything is dangerous – socialists will want to punish and re-educate you.

I suppose socialism is all about bringing people down to the lowest common denominator, so all are equal. It is so sad.

I’m not sure there is any way back, at least for awhile. Socialists are happy, because they’ve successfully dragged everyone else down to their level of unhappiness. Therefore there can be no change.

I suppose what has happened is that Cindy has adopted the policies and persona of Sir Robert Muldoon.

Muldoon’s “Rob’s Mob” were insular freaks who believed in Fortress NZ. Cindy promotes exactly the same policies, but puts a completely different spin on it.

1981 had the Springbok Tour protests. I’d like to see something similar now, but it won’t happen. New Zealanders have given up on freedom.
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August 26, 2021 11:08am
- westernScientest
  
  I do somewhat agree CAKE, but I suspect if this goes on things will change. Remember vic has been in lookdown for over 200 days now. Where I live, there was a marked increase in traffic after the extension announcement, and it hasn’t slowed down, its at typical weekend traffic levels. I am told it is the same in the city, people are just going and doing what they want. I think we are just further behind in the ‘ignore it’ stage rather than the full on organised protest stage.
  
  L3 in the south island with no cases will ware thin fairly quickly I suspect, and they have said that is the lowest they will let it go.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:11pm
- paulscott
  
  Cake. Not all of us have given freedom away. But some of us have had it taken away. I can not get back to NZ to activate because New Zealand is the first country in he world to ever lock out its own citizens. Especially those it does not want back.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:23pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Well said.
  
  Though can assure you that a Rob’s Mob mentality is still alive and well in the National Party, particularly the kneejerk authoritarian aspect.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:10pm
- ABS4EVA
  
  They were always Bastards even then
  
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  August 26, 2021 5:29pm
dave_c_

We are not alone – Those of us in NZ who believe that the NZ govt’s attempts at a ‘Zero Covid policy’ are doomed to fail, here’s support elsewhere !
We are fast becoming the laughing stock of many.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9926053/New-Zealand-Australias-zero-cases-policy-continues-crumble-record-infections.html
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August 26, 2021 11:10am
- thirteenstars
  
  Just so.
  
  The world has moved on. The virus is endemic, it mutates into variants (just like any flu does, every year), and vaccines offer helpful prophylactic protection and reduce the severity of symptoms, but that’s all.
  
  Therefore COVID cannot be eliminated. There is no such thing as Zero COVID. It is all a lie and the facts are damning.
  
  NZ has transformed itself into a fortress. It has become a deeply dumb example of not keeping up with the facts.
  
  What’s even more disgusting than bad policy and the jackboots to enforce it, is the slavishness with which Kiwis have submitted to the oracles in Wellington.
  
  Violations of the Bill of Rights are openly occurring, conducted with almost self-righteous glee by the police egged on by their boss, Coster, setting the most horrible precedent for future “emergencies”.
  
  Ship of Fools.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:22pm
Maggie Pie

As a kid I used to watch The Wizard of Oz and wonder how someone could speak if they didn’t have a brain.
I’ve just been reading some of Muttonbird’s comments.

😀 😀 😀
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August 26, 2021 11:24am
- Muttonbird
  
  I’m dumbing it down for you guys.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:33pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Again you prove my point.
    
    Lowering something when you’ve started at the “crayon level” that most ardernists seem to peak at just makes it completely stupid, as we’ve already pointed out.
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:12pm
Clownworld

Wonder what’s next?

Digital permission slips to work?
Handcuffing, detaining people for walking in fresh air?
Shooting pellets, spraying pepper at peaceful protestors that are not rioting?
Refusal to enter places for food and essentials?
Refusal to keep a job or aquire a universal basic income?
Multiple faux tests to move or travel?
Curfews on a healthy population?
Digital learning only?
Not allowed to leave house?
Denied access to elective surgery?
Refusal to grieve at a funeral?
Refusal to hold celebrations including weddings?

Oh wait….this would never happen in a first world democratic country. People would throw the despots out?
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August 26, 2021 11:26am
skyblue

Would it be appropriate to hang a 6 x 2.5 foot Nazi flag with a swastika in the middle of it from a window with a picture of our dear leader next to it.
Asking for a friend.
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August 26, 2021 11:33am
- paulscott
  
  I have that flag, and if I am ever allowed out of exile and back to NZ you will see it fly as described .
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:14pm
  - Batman
    
    Sick.
    
    Of course you have a Nazi flag! Sheesh.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:05pm
- Ehlana
  
  Picture of dear leader should take the place of the swastika in the middle of the flag, skyblue. The appropriation of the eastern symbols by westerners is, of course, now recognised as inappropriate.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:27pm
- doggone7
  
  Check the company you keep.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:33pm
Stu2

Victoria has a more severe lockdown that NZ, and a higher rate of vaccination.

Despite being in lockdown for some weeks, daily cases have gone from the 20s, to the 50s, and now the 80s. Having said that, their lockdown compliance may be worse than ours

Makes you wonder if NZ getting back to zero has much chance. Has political capital been invested in an impossibility?
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August 26, 2021 11:51am
- Fletch
  
  What is interesting is that after the UK eased all restrictions, their case numbers dropped by 40%.
  
  https://abcnews.go.com/International/video/whats-great-britains-recent-drop-covid-19-cases-79253736
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:02pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Jaspinda wants the NZ numbers to increase – more control – such is the socialist way
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:32pm
- paulscott
  
  Stu [11.5]1 Yes , the entire world outside New Zealand recognises that the Sars combination virus is now endemic. Contrary to false propaganda the reality is that massive numbers of people world wide are now immune, care of that most useful bodily gift > natural immunity. The price many pay is that they feel crook for several days before that occurs.
  
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  August 26, 2021 12:19pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Reality is a pesky thing to authoritarians.
  
  To your point: what does happen when the infections continue rising despite the severity of the lockdown? How stupid and vicious do the rules become?
  
  Three metres distancing while queueing at the supermarket? Masks at all times? Then proof of vaccination to access essential services? Demonisation of the un-woke? A crackdown on online dissent?
  
  I guess Princess Leia said it best when confronted by the megalomania of the Grand Moff Tarkin:
  
  “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:34pm
westernScientest

How is this not mis-information:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300390979/covid19-daily-case-numbers-are-increasing-quickly-this-simple-mathematical-concept-gives-us-reason-for-optimism

It is still arguing that we do not have an exponential increase in cases.

in the article among a lot of other things, it says:
For a more recent example of exponential growth, we can look at New South Wales.

Our case growth rate is FASTER than NSW was at the same point. By the end of their second week they were only at 171 cases, we are already over that at only 10 days.
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August 26, 2021 11:56am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Presumably they think exponential only means a doubling or tripling of numbers each day.
  
  Exponential means that something is growing by an extra increment each measured time period. … There can be slow exponential growth as well as rapid…
  
  Here’s how the extra covid positives have increased
  
  We started with 1 positive on Day 1,
  then there were an additional 3, then an additional 4, then +11, +20, +20, +22, +35, +41, +62, +68.
  
  So, until the number of extra positive cases each day stays steady or declines, we have exponential spread of the virus.
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:44pm
  - dcrane
    
    This is more like a logistic curve now (S-shaped curve).
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:15pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      we haven’t got enough readings to say that we’ve hit an inflection point yet… next couple of days should see if we are heading out of the J curve into the S-curve.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:37pm
      - cmm
        
        Yup.
        
        Over-fitting the data to such a small data set, and such a small population is fraught with problems.
        
        In NZ we are almost always beset with the tyranny of small numbers. Just the slightest noise, or a lag, can completely upset the apparent trend of a curve.
        
        While Planck is saying this, Hendy is skating all over the place.
        
        These people should really say one thing – and one thing only: there is not enough data to detect any long term trend information and any talk of R numbers, exponents, etc etc is irresponsibly speculative.
        
        I hope, for the future of UC students, that Professor Michael Plank has been terribly misquoted.
        
        The media tends to do that. Take a 15 minute conversation, with all the caveats, and just snip out the few soundbites they want.
        
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        August 26, 2021 5:56pm
CAKE FACE1

I just saw allegations by Chris Trotsky that people who don’t support Zero Covid nut job policies have this view because they are sexist. These sexists presumably then support Judith Collins instead.

Mr Trotsky was particularly angry about the international media. In the past, he’s loved the adulation Cindy has got from the international media, but when its gone bad – it seems not so much.

Anyway, not supporting Zero Covid nut jobism is sexism.

His theory is nonsense, as always.

I must confess, I have no time for socialists or communists.

I’ve been to many socialist paradises – Albania, Belarus, Czechoslovakia… It can be traumatising.

Socialists and communists are responsible for more deaths and destruction than probably any other ideology in human history.

The socialists believe in central planning everything, which means taking away our freedoms.

It comes as some surprise to me when I’m told by centre right people that I should be tolerant towards socialists and communists. Even in this blog, you are supposed to be polite to the half a dozen or so idiot socialists who post here. I personally think this is irresponsible.

I believe that its correct and responsible to have no tolerance whatsoever towards these people.

They wish to take away our freedoms – forever. Give them both barrels. They have it coming to them. I see no need to be nice with the other side. They want to ruin my life. I’ve had enough of them.
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August 26, 2021 12:02pm
- paulscott
  
  Cake You are free to do whatever you like mostly. But reading Christ Trotsky is unhealthy Cake, and it is forbidden, You are forbidden from reading the antiquated screwed up devious Trottersky.
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:00pm
  - CAKE FACE1
    
    I tried to post the following on Comrade Trotsky’s site, but not published, so I’ll try here:
    
    People don’t support Zero Covid nut job policies, because they are sexist against the Prime Minister?
    
    Absurd.
    
    The Zero Covid conspiracy is a hoax promulgated by socialists, who support having lockdowns forever. The pinnacle of a socialists’ life is the period they spend locked down, hiding under their bed. Socialists love central planning. Life has never been better for the committed socialist.
    
    The socialist government has appointed socialist “experts” such as Baker, Plank, Skegg, Hendy and Wiles. All these so-called “experts” are Zero Covid nut jobs and socialists. Only one of them is allegedly female.
    
    Mr Trotsky was particularly angry about the international media. In the past, he’s loved the adulation Cindy has got from the international media, but when its gone bad – it seems not so much. How sad…
    
    The socialism disease can be compared to Covid. Socialists and communists are responsible for more deaths and destruction than probably any other ideology in human history. The socialists believe in central planning everything, which means taking away our freedoms. In summary, the socialist disease is far more deadly than Covid, by a huge factor.
    
    However, there is hope. Socialism usually infects teenagers and younger people. It is not usually dangerous for the older people, who typically brush this terrible disease off with great immunity. By middle age, most people have recovered from all bouts of socialism, and can become useful members of society.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:36pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      Cake: A++
      
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      August 27, 2021 4:00pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Dan Crenshaw update. Some say he is a RINO. Smear. A guy that has 5 tours under his belt is not a RINO. This man knows his shit – btw, he is a Scot by birth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW_ZUtdSjtI
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August 26, 2021 12:23pm
- Nickc2
  
  100 upticks.
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:32pm
oldfella

The Curious Case of the Time Travelling Japanese Embassy: How Did They Know About the Lockdown at Least a Week before Everyone Else?
https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/08/26/the-curious-case-of-the-time-travelling-japanese-embassy/
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August 26, 2021 12:37pm
- dcrane
  
  Probably the same reason I did all my shopping three days before. Just seemed that rumors+official denial was reason for concern.
  
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  August 26, 2021 3:17pm
rouppe

I guess these guys are also unlikely to be charged with breaking the covid order to stay home?
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August 26, 2021 12:41pm
- cmm
  
  Is/was he Maori?
  Maori can collect seafood during lockdown due to customary rights.
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:15pm
jon

Wonder when the deputy leader of the Labour Party Kelvin Davis will get his turn at podium for one of these 1pm standups???
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August 26, 2021 12:54pm
- Stu2
  
  He is just behind Faafoi in the queue
  
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  August 26, 2021 2:06pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Pretty sure he’s been permanently parked in the “far queue”.
    
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    August 26, 2021 3:04pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      TM: Love it …
      
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      August 27, 2021 4:01pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Who’s into conspiracy theories?

Here’s an interesting one….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/26/samoas-former-pm-accuses-jacinda-ardern-of-plot-to-replace-him-with-a-woman

With EVIDENCE!
Tuilaepa said her prompt congratulations was “proof” that the New Zealand government had “planned this all along”.

“The proof is, as soon as the [court] decision was handed down, the prime minister of New Zealand immediately sent her congratulatory message … The fact that she quickly sent Fiame her well wishes makes me think that they had planned all of this.”
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August 26, 2021 1:00pm
Ehlana

Good news. Doesn’t seem there are any more people in hospital or anyone in hospital getting worse, at least as far as Covid is concerned.
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August 26, 2021 1:29pm
- kowtow
  
  So how ‘deadly’ is delta ?
  
  They keep telling us , it’s a whole new virus …….
  
  Meanwhile they conveniently find it in the sewerage in CHCH , the day before they won’t let the SI out of their fake levels.
  
  SI should go back to L1 , now.
  
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  August 26, 2021 1:49pm
  - Batman
    
    Just because reality doesn’t fit your view doesn’t mean you should have your way.
    
    How many South Islanders would you let die to enable your personal ability to do as you please?
    
    Selfishness is not a right.
    
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    August 26, 2021 2:15pm
    - dcrane
      
      That calculation is made every day we allow 100 kph speed limits on the roads. I guess you would lock us all down at Level 6 permanently.
      
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      August 26, 2021 2:22pm
    - Tall Man
      
      You persist with an idiotic question.
      
      How many of the 48,000 that have dies ion NZ since covid emerged can we blame ardern for not “saving”.
      
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      August 26, 2021 3:01pm
      - Batman
        
        Find a mirror if you want to see an idiotic question. Though I’m sure your sense of importance wouldn’t see any issue.
        
        Meanwhile, the argument that people die anyway continues on as a zombie contrarian argument against even a slight inconvenience like wearing a mask at the supermarket.
        
        The pandemic is not everyday life and the risks we all take for granted as part of that. Nobody should die through a viral infection that they are not to blame for catching, unlike drink/dangerous driving, cliff jumping, or any of the other stupid arguments put up.
        
        It’ll be a grim satisfaction watching the devout individualists suddenly scream that Ardern failed and lay the blame directly on her if covid starts killing people they know, despite their rejection of the measures that could have prevented it.
        
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        August 26, 2021 3:07pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Covid will kill people, that is a given and I have maintained that from day 1. Will it kill more than the measures imposed, and no I don’t mean masks, I can’t say but I see many arguing that it will not.
        
        The stupid question you keep repeating is “how many will you let die”.
        
        I have zero responsibility for the lives of others and it is not an “either” “or” situation. If you are highly vulnerable and choose to not vaccinate, surely that is your right. If you are highly vulnerable and choose not to vaccinate then whinge if you catch covid because you did not take other steps then tough.
        
        Opening the borders does not by extension mean the death of anymore than will be normally be expected to die. Only a fool would fail to protect the vulnerable so possibly, ardern, would not do so and people may die needlessly.
        
        Vaccination does not guarantee zero deaths, as per Israel , the UK and the US, and few non political advisors anywhere in the world support the “elimination” theory.
        
        Normalising life will lead to death, probably 30,000 of them over the next 12 months although I, like many, believe the current strategy will create more deaths in the medium term than it purports to save in the short term.
        
        As an aside, for quite a few years, well prior to covid, my wife and I self isolated to a high degree when we had a cold. We did not want to pass it on to others and if we were expecting visitors we always canceled citing our colds. Now that strategy also gave a perfect reason to not do something we were reluctant about as well.
        
        6 0
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        August 26, 2021 5:55pm
    - Taieri
      
      How many South Islanders die every day from all causes and what actions should the Government take to bring this number to zero?
      
      7 2
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      August 26, 2021 3:12pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “They keep telling us , it’s a whole new virus …….”
    
    They keep telling us ardern doesn’t lie ……
    
    7 2
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    August 26, 2021 3:03pm
- Stu2
  
  Lots of very recent cases, wait a week and see what admissions have become
  
  6 0
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  August 26, 2021 2:07pm
  - dcrane
    
    Yes 5–10 days after symptoms is often when severe cases develop. We may begin to see the signal of the vaccine reducing the chances of this.
    
    4 3
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    August 26, 2021 2:24pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Or we may not.
      
      6 2
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      August 26, 2021 3:02pm
Wired-one

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300391806/labour-lockdown-ads-pamphlets-delivered-in-pms-auckland-electorate

So much for not politicizing a pandemic eh Jacinda. Keep this Covid-19 response going for as long as you can, it’s all you’ve got!
8 1
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August 26, 2021 1:39pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ‘My Electorate? That’s a surprise to me’ JA //
  
  5 2
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  August 26, 2021 2:23pm
Batman

Since everyone is a medical expert these days, here’s some expert advice. Do not take Ivermectin as a prevention for anything!

It will cause you to shit the lining of your digestive and rectal passages out. You’ll think you have worms but actually you’re just eating away at your insides ?

https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/1430672445229387781?s=19
3 17
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August 26, 2021 2:08pm
- dcrane
  
  Hm, you better tell the millions of Africas who use it prophylactically to save them from River blindness.
  
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130201090816.htm
  
  Many sources say it’s a mild drug in terms of risks and side effects.
  
  10 2
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  August 26, 2021 2:26pm
- MrTips
  
  You do realise you have spread misinformation Batman. IVM is on the WHO list of essential meds, it’s helped millions of people and it’s prescribed here in NZ. A bridge too far buddy, I hope you don’t get in the shit for it.
  
  15 2
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  August 26, 2021 2:49pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Batboy won’t give a toss Mr T. He’s probably already left on his next pamphlet delivery.
    
    13 2
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    August 26, 2021 3:11pm
- Tall Man
  
  ardern makes me sick but doesn’t give me worms.
  
  10 2
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  August 26, 2021 2:59pm
  - Batman
    
    The cure for that is a cold beer and only reading the information from the press conferences, rather than watching or listening.
    
    3 8
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    August 26, 2021 3:09pm
cmm

Apparently us Mainlanders are feeling guilty that we’re not having it as bad as Auckland.

Bullshit. Why should we feel guilty? I don’t.

And apparently we feel guilty that we’ll probably go to a lover level sooner than Auckland.

This is just “white guilt” style guilt – the same as why Pakeha should apparently feel guilty for poor Maori outcomes when Maori are already being treated like babies and being spoon fed.

Perhaps the subtext is this: Please Cindy, save us from this constructed guilt:
* Please Cindy keep us all locked up for a month so we can empathise better with the Jaffas.
* Please Cindy, keep telling us it is our fault that Maori have bad outcomes.
* The worse we feel about ourselves the more we feel You are Awesome.
* We team of 5 million are undeserving, please go forth and serve Team of 8 billion.

Sorry, but I refuse to play this guilt game. It is destructive for everyone. It is just rehashed Original Sin – one of the most destructive tenets of Catholicism.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hamish-clark-why-south-islanders-care-about-auckland-this-delta-outbreak/FZJCQGUIECN3NEL5B6BMX7IL2Y/
16 1
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August 26, 2021 2:13pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ‘lover level’ Can’t see that happening //
  
  3 2
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  August 26, 2021 2:18pm
- greybeard
  
  I wish people would stop using that shit word “pakeha”:
  it has no documented provenance, it has no documented translation, it is a meaningless word in its current usage as there are lots of races who are not white and who are not maori.
  If I am Chinese am I a “pakeha”?
  If I am Rarotongan am I a “Pakeha”?
  
  8 1
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  August 26, 2021 4:30pm
  - cmm
    
    Greybeard, I try to use it in the voice of a luvvie.
    
    I thought Pakeha means foreigner (or “other” person). By that definition a South Island Maori visiting NI could be a foreigner. But what the hell do I know.
    
    In South Africa there is a similar term: umlungu (quite literally the white foam that blows from the sea) that is used by Zulus and Xhosas. While this is most commonly used for white people, it is sometimes used by Zulus against non-Zulu black people to call them “others” or foreigners not worthy of ruling over Zulus.
    
    4 0
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    August 26, 2021 5:37pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Speaking as a Jaffa I fully agree. Leave us in Lockdown and let the rest of the country go free to L1.
  
  Except Wellington. They need to be punished as harshly as we Aucklanders.
  
  5 2
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  August 26, 2021 5:04pm
- westernScientest
  
  cut the cable, let them float away…
  
  1 0
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  August 26, 2021 9:04pm
ABS4EVA

The More You Analyse and look into
THE DISASTER that is
Melbourne Victoria Australia

You see Jacinda’s influence

You see Labour NZ and Labour Aus
exchanging ideas with Disaster in
BOTH COUNTRIES

Let’s take GANGS

Labour Victoria and their POLICE
Don’t even CALL THEM GANGS

That is how they solve their Massive Gang Problem

70-100 youths in coordinated violence
theft kick ins etc etc is not “A GANG”
ok

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdYj8SR2qs

DO not be surprised at all

In the Near Future if perhaps

The Mongrel Mob

is referred to as a

Health and Well Being Provider

Why does good government matter?

It matters more to Gangs than the Tax Payer of
NZ and the…

2-nearly 3 million for THE MOB

A NZ Labour
Health and Well Being Program

Because good government matters

Be Kind to one another
3 1
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August 26, 2021 3:22pm
cmm

Of course now we have CV19-positive waste water in Christchurch… Now we probably need to keep Chch in L4 just in case (and so the Jaffas don’t get upset about unfairness and start non-compliance).

While waste water testing is sensitive, it is not supposed to be so sensitive that 3 people in MIQ would trigger it.

So, far more likely, is that the virus is out and about. Such a terrible virus that people don’t even realise they’re crook!
14 1
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August 26, 2021 3:25pm
- westernScientest
  
  maybe they are just taking the samples just out side of MIQ, kind of like when they F*ed up early on and didnt realise they were sampling just down stream from jetpark…
  
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  August 26, 2021 9:03pm
Ehlana

So, how many isolated incidents does it take to make a non-isolated incident?

Stuff is now counting 4 different places around the country where Labour Party volunteers appear to have breached lockdown rules to deliver Party propaganda: Mt Albert (the Prime Minister’s own electorate) and Ellerslie in Auckland, as well as Christchurch and Tauranga.

Anyone else received this free food for their snails?
13 0
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August 26, 2021 3:50pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Looks like Labour folks know that nothing will come of any complaints about them distributing their propaganda.
  
  Other political parties should do similar and record what happens when the Heavies come calling.
  
  14 0
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  August 26, 2021 3:55pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Just what the MSM are hoping for so they can attack rather than try and excuse recidivist Labour Party behaviour. Way better than interviewing their keyboards.
    
    8 0
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    August 26, 2021 5:21pm
ABS4EVA

You could fill Pages upon Pages with

COVID CLICHES

Let’s start with the BIG LIE

“We are all in this Together”
7 1
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August 26, 2021 3:50pm
CAKE FACE1

I’ve spoken to quite a few of my friends, who live in Europe.

They say pretty much everything is back to normal there. No one really discusses Covid anymore. People have moved on.

I wonder if here in little Aotearoa we’ll spend the remaining four and a bit months of 2021 hiding under our beds?

Will we be let out from under our beds in 2022?

Or will the Great Terror march on through next year?

I suspect the government will continue to lock us down as much as they can. It seems to be a vote winner.

Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?
15 1
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August 26, 2021 4:08pm
- Southern Raider
  
  Skeggs is trying to talk up a multi year war against the virus in NZ
  
  I say fuck off to that
  
  9 0
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  August 26, 2021 6:21pm
Southern Raider

Just heard another exception to Level 4 rules

If fishing or hunting under “customary rights” you are except for the stay at home order
7 0
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August 26, 2021 5:55pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I should be surprised, but I’m not.
  
  6 0
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  August 26, 2021 6:49pm
ABS4EVA

“Be Kind to one another”

Another VOMIT
COVID Cliche

From people on GVT Guaranteed Salaries
who DO NOT GIVE A RAT’S
3 0
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August 26, 2021 6:00pm
Ian Boag

I’ll start another thread. We seem to have run off the end of what “report” does …

I have some concern about a situation where 60% of out ICU beds are occupied by covid sufferers. The UK and Sweden numbers suggest this is quite possible.

The only way out seems to be a jab in every arm that one can find. Seems to have worked for the poms …

Open to other solutions …
2 4
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August 26, 2021 7:12pm
- Southern Raider
  
  A smart plan would have been to be jabbing everyone who recently went through the testing process. Wouldn’t have taken no more time, already collecting all the personal details and could of jabbed an extra 20,000 per day
  
  4 0
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  August 26, 2021 7:21pm
- westernScientest
  
  well maybe, just maybe we could have spent some of those billions of dollars wasted on all sorts of rubbish vanity projects on increasing the national ICU capacity?
  
  7 0
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  August 26, 2021 9:00pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    True. But it is what it is …. counterfactuals don’t solve current problems 🙁
    
    0 2
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    August 26, 2021 9:06pm

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